1, 3, 7, 10 for a heart weighed and measured 👀 (hi hello user macbethisms here 😊)
Hiii hello!! Thanks for the ask :3
What inspired you to write the fic this way?
Ohhh it's been a while since the idea was born, but it took shape during many hours of blorbo rotation with @detweilerboy - his idea of mafia AU and my love for Dangerous Liaisons actually seemed to fit together pretty well! I thought Madam Zhang and Wang Baoxiang are in some ways similar to the protagonists of Dangerous Liaisons, and putting them in the modern-ish organized crime setting highlights the power dynamics between them and the need to uphold a certain reputation while actually wanting more freedom/power for themselves. Plus it has a certain allure...
3. What’s your favorite line of narration?
I think my fave is the early description of Madam Zhang!
She looked like she could advertise this place: dressed perfectly fashionable and with taste, sitting gracefully but motionlessly on a bar stool.
I wanted to highlight her elegance and her beauty, but also the feeling of it being very studied and purposeful/artificial. Also it took me so long to find the proper words here (esp "motionless''). I also like the fragment where WBX is annoyed at un-businesslike attitude of Ouyang and the other mafia goons, i think it's funny :)
He toys with the idea of making an excel sheet with delivery hours and just emailing it straight to all the mafia soldiers in his family’s service, before he realizes that they are the same sort of people as Ouyang, which is to say: wouldn’t think of checking their email inbox if their life depended on it.
7. Where did the title come from?
I took it from the opening of a Florence + the Machine song, Which Witch! I felt like it fit the themes of the fic as well as Wang Baoxiang and Madam Zhang because a big part of them is using love/attraction in this very detached, cold way as means of manipulating other people. I wondered if it's not too pretentious but my unbiased source (@detweilerboy) said it was cool :3
10. Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
As I said before, one factor was the similarities between WBX & Madam Zhang and Vicomte de Valmont & Madame de Merteuil from DL. The second most important factor was that with my friend we thought it would be very cool for Madam Zhang & WBX to have more time together because it felt like their relationship - or more like their alliance - was really underexplored in the book. To us it felt like their scheming together and their relationship for power's sake could have been made even more interesting... and sexier. Plus it would be cool if Madam Zhang had a chance to actually put WBX in his place for once, being the older and more experienced person, haha.
