withsubtitlesplease

(the other half hasn’t watched it yet)

If I can make up a rumour that’s spanned three years so far, with two leads who’ve spoken, well, shouted almost every romantic phrase at one another in the least romantic ways possible; if I can re-create those broken phrases that are cliche at times and cringe-worthy at others, if I can make a symphony of them with the cacophony of workplace noises and melodies blasted from screeching mobile speakers, put a note on every bar of that music that the mood is meant — only meant — to be jest and ridicule and sleeve-hitting and rainbow farts; if I can pen that with the least savoury noodles and wontons and crackers in my mouth and yet still manage to convey feelings so buried and exposed at the same time;

If I can do both,

If I can understand both,

Then, maybe, just maybe I can finally say I can write a romance.

*

Today on this side of the Earth, tonight on that side of the Earth, I can’t tell a story like that. I can’t make up a rumour like that.

And so, I listen to a song about stars and while I know it’s just a song about stars and there’re millions of songs like that out there, and while I know the stage on which the song is sung has five stars on its flag and nothing on it is un-scripted, un-supervised, un-authorized,

I still think of them. Of them.

ohhhhhh we’re hitting some peak wangxians tonight!

okay so for a little context, this is right about when we find out that Lan Wangji has taken on the responsibility of Chief Cultivator. Wei Wuxian expresses his surprise at Lan Wangji’s choice, to which Lan Wangji responds that the two of them swore an oath, to 锄奸扶弱 chujianfuruo / eliminating the wicked and supporting the weak，无愧于心 wukuiyuxin / to have a clear conscience.

Wei Wuxian thinks about Lan Wangji’s words for a moment, then nods sagely before this exchange:

Wei Wuxian: 蓝湛 Lan Zhan, 你不愧是含光君 ni bukui shi Hanguangjun. / Lan Zhan, you are truly worthy of being Hanguang-jun.

Lan Wangji: 你也不愧是魏婴 niye bukui shi Wei Ying/ And you are truly worthy of being Wei Ying.

The key word that’s tripping people up here is 不愧 bukui – literally, ‘to not disappoint’ or ‘to not be unworthy of’ or ‘to not fall short of.’ The idea is that there is some kind of image or trait or archetype that something is associated with, and to say that something 不愧 bukui that image/trait/archetype is to say that it does not disappoint that image/trait/archetype – or, removing some of those double negatives, that something lives up to its reputation. So for example, we could say:

 此剑 cijian / This sword

不愧是 bukui shi / is worthy of, does not disappoint

干将铸造的 Gan Jiang zhuzaode / forged by Gan Jiang [a legendary Warring States swordsmith]

to get to a sentence that more or less conveys 

this sword does not disappoint its making by Gan Jiang, 

or, with less negatives, 

this sword truly lives up to its reputation of being forged by the legendary Gan Jiang.

It’s a little twisty in English, that’s for sure. But back to wangxian! What Wei Wuxian is saying here is that Lan Wangji truly deserves his title as Hanguang-jun, Light-Bearer of the cultivation world. He’s marvelling that Lan Wangji is exactly as good as people think he is. It’s also fun to note that Wei Wuxian starts out that sentence at Lan Wangji’s most intimate, informal address – Lan Zhan – and ends it at his formal title – Hanguang-jun. Re-translated a little more loosely, we’d get:

Wei Wuxian: Lan Zhan, you truly live up to your title/reputation as Hanguang-jun.

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, completely turns the compliment back on Wei Wuxian by inverting the sentence/sentiment. What he says might be best understood as straddling several English translations of the phrasing:

Lan Wangji: And you do not disappoint Wei Ying / 

And you are worthy of being called Wei Ying / 

And you live up to the reputation of Wei Ying.

The idea, here, being that 1) Wei Wuxian has lived up to the idealistic young Wei Ying who’d promised on a floating lantern all those years ago to eliminate the wicked and support the weak, and 2) that Wei Ying is the highest, idealized form of Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian comments that Lan Wangji has lived up to his lofty title of Hanguang-jun; Lan Wangji, in inverting the sentence and placing Wei Wuxian’s personal name where Wei Wuxian put Lan Wangji’s title, is effectively saying that Wei Ying is the most admirable thing Wei Wuxian could be, and that he lives up to it.

god, no wonder we get the adorable scrunchy smile of pure loving joy from Wei Wuxian at that compliment, Lan Wangji is such a smooth-talking little MINX I canNOT–

I just love the way Lan Zhan says Wei Ying. I read a fic the other day where they mentioned how each Wei Ying has a different tone and a different emotion and can mean a lot of different things and I think that’s true. Like, Lan Zhan may not show emotion on his face, but you can tell from the way he says Wei Ying’s name exactly how he feels. 

Back when Cloud Recesses was burning down and you were fleeing for your life, who saved you in dire straits? Who? And then, who heartily helped the Lan Clan of Gusu rebuild Cloud Recesses? All these years, have I ever tried to hold down the Lan Clan of Gusu? Haven't I been supportive every single time? Besides suppressing your spiritual power this time, have I ever done you wrong?

Er-ge... do you really not believe in me at all?

Rick: Thank you.

Michonne: For what?