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ghost_valley2021-09-24 03:18 pm
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2021-09-24 03:18 pm
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 16
The end of the First Heroes Conference, and its immediate after-effects.
List of Scenes
Gao Chong invites people to attack him, and Huang He accepts
Qing Feng Sword Sect leaves before they get dragged into the fighting
ZZS prevents Chengling from getting involved and fights Zhao Jing
The Beggar Sect shows up and challenges ZZS for Chengling
WKX keeps Huang He from stealing Chengling
Gao Chong tells them to get Chengling out of there, and they agree
Gao Chong’s hair is loose! Feng Xiaofeng topples the Five Lakes Monument.
Zhao Jing shouts and cries to get the fighting to stop
Huang He demands the Glazed Armor
Gao Chong agrees, then breaks the Glazed Armor and kills himself to redeem his honor
Everyone is very sad about Gao Chong
Mo Huaiyang is revealed to have the real Glazed Armor as Qing Feng Sword Sect travels home
WKX, ZZS, and Chengling at the cave
WKX and ZZS talk about schemes, failure, and what WKX even wants
Xie-wang and Zhao Jing’s relationship is fully revealed, and they scheme together
Flashback to Xie-wang killing Song Huairen
YBY shows up at the cave with a bag
YBY and WKX bicker a lot
Huang He, Tao Hong, and Lv Liu scheme; Xiaolian learns her father’s dead
Shen Shen leaves Yueyang/the Five Lakes Alliance in search of Xiaolian
WKX and YBY insult each other; YBY says Longyuan Pavillion is the key to learning the truth about Rong Xuan and the Glazed Armor
Timeline or Something
The first half happens very fast!
The second half takes at least long enough for Shen Shen to grow visible stubble. Time is tricky, but I get the vibe that a couple days have probably passed between the debacle of a Heroes Conference and all the post-Conference stuff going on
Recap
Deng Kuan has just stabbed himself! Gao Chong is very upset! We begin with a gorgeous overhead shot of the Heroes Conference, and Gao Chong shouting to the other attendees about how he’s been trapped and given no recourse, but he’s been framed. Shen Shen supports him, and says he’ll fight anyone who disagrees.
Gao Chong claps his hands, spreads his arms, and offers himself in challenge to the assembled heroes. Shen Shen (and the Yueyang disciples) support him. Huang He accepts the challenge, saying that evil never beats good, and thus the assembled heroes will of course beat the Five Lakes Alliance.
Everything descends into a brawl. Gao Chong picks up that big stone sword and defends himself from the attackers.
Qing Feng Sword Sect doesn’t get involved, despite Mo Weixu asking Fan Huaikong if they will (and saying he believes Gao Chong has been framed). Fan Huaikong leads Qing Feng Sword Sect away, and WKX questions why (when they’re such good friends with Gao Chong) they’re leaving.
Shen Shen is also fighting people off! He’s being quite effective. He makes it to Gao Chong, and Yueyang disciples surround them protectively.
Chengling looks at Zhao Jing, who actually has a pretty similar expression of watchfulness on his face as WKX does in the immediately subsequent shot. From a rewatch perspective, this is not surprising, but it is very cool.
WKX wonders why Gao Chong isn’t fighting back (why he’s pretending), and tells himself he can’t be wrong (that Gao Chong must still have a trick up his sleeve).
Huang He rallies the attackers, and they all charge Gao Chong and his people. Gao Chong is surrounded and quite outnumbered at this point!
Chengling stares at Gao Chong’s sword, still stuck in the deck right in front of him, and reaches to take it. He’s halted by ZZS, who tells Chengling to come with him. Zhao Jing turns, shouts “Let him go!” and attacks ZZS with his sword. He’s not particularly hard for ZZS to avoid, but ZZS’s not out to hurt Chengling’s uncle, so Zhao Jing succeeds in distracting ZZS.
Chengling watches Gao Chong and Shen Shen continue fighting. There’s a lot of swords and stabbing and death!
ZZS draws his sword to throw Zhao Jing out of the way, just in time for the Beggar Sect to surround him. Huang He asks who ZZS is, and says he’ll help ZZS “rescue” Chengling from Gao Chong. ZZS insults him, and thus the Beggar Gang attacks ZZS. They’re not particularly effective, especially since ZZS has a lot fewer compunctions about hurting them.
Huang He heads over to Chengling, who is defended first by Gao Chong calling out a warning and then WKX’s fan knocking Huang He back. ZZS finishes defeating the Beggar Gang as WKX arrives. WKX’s first action is to ask if ZZS is okay.
Meanwhile, Gao Chong and Shen Shen are finally starting to get tired. Chengling is worried for them! His worry draws WKX and ZZS to watch the fight instead of staring at each other. Neither of them allow Chengling to go down to Gao Chong, and Gao Chong shouts for them to take Chengling away.
WKX and ZZS agree, and carry Chengling away from the fight, each of them holding one of Chengling’s arms. Zhao Jing watches, seeming rather upset about this.
This is the narrative sign for the fight to start going poorly for Gao Chong! He starts getting hit, and his hairpiece is knocked off so that his hair is flying loose around his face as he fights.
The fighting continues! Gao Chong watches, and then realises that Feng Xiaofeng and his large friend are knocking down the Five Lakes Monument. It collapses. WKX, ZZS, and Chengling watch this from WKX’s little watchtower in the distance.
Gao Chong stares at the fallen monument in horror. Feng Xiaofeng shoots a dart at him, and one of the Yueyang disciples (Gao Shan, our favorite recurring disciple!) throws himself in its path to protect Gao Chong, which doesn’t make Gao Chong any less horrified by what’s happening.
Gao Chorg knocks a fallen sword up off the ground and launches it at Feng Xiaofeng, killing both him and his large friend.
Zhao Jing descends to the battlefield, shouting for everyone to stop fighting. Gao Chong and Shen Shen return to standing back-to-back. Other sect leaders look at Zhao Jing. Surprisingly, Zhao Jing’s shouting worked. Possibly he had bargains made before this to ensure that. Zhao Jing says they’ve lost, and tells Gao Chong to give up the Glazed Armor.
Shen Shen’s mad about this idea, and Zhao Jing says they’ll get themselves killed if they keep fighting.
Huang He makes a speech about how Gao Chong has brought the Five Lakes Alliance to ruin due to his evil ways. He asks if Gao Chong wants more people to die, and asks for the Glazed Armor. Shen Shen continues to be mad about it, and argues with Huang He.
Zhao Jing bargains with Huang He, asking him to agree to trade the Glazed Armor for Gao Chong’s life. He even says “I’m willing to give up my wealth and become a monk with [Gao Chong]”, which really feels like a sign that Zhao Jing doesn’t expect this to work (but needs the pretense of it for his persona).
He kneels, and bows, and Gao Chong tells him not to kneel to “such a conniving man”. Zhao Jing sounds like he’s about to cry as he says that the monument has fallen, the Alliance is broken, and that Gao Chong shouldn’t want Xiaolian to live with the weight of Gao Chong’s crimes.
Gao Chong tells Zhao Jing to stand up, and that he’ll give them the Glazed Armor. He asks Shen Shen (who doesn’t like this) to take care of Xiaolian and let her live an ordinary life. Shen Shen starts crying and continues protesting. Gao Chong also starts crying, and then knocks Shen Shen out. (We’re shown Chengling and ZZS’s faces as they watch this. The framing pointedly excludes WKX.)
Gao Chong insults the methods Huang He used to gain the Glazed Armor, then pulls a pouch out of his robe. He holds it in the air. Zhao Jing stands up. The long-threatened rain begins as Gao Chong unwrapped the Glazed Armor.
Gao Chong says he was framed, that he’s breaking his ties with the Alliance to prove his innocence, and that he’s destroying the Glazed Armor to prevent it from harming the jianghu anymore. He closes his hand around the glazed armor, shattering it. Huang He shouts in dismay. Zhao Jing is distressed. Gao Chong tosses the cloth into the air, and it lands to show that all that remains is shards. WKX is also distressed by this!
Before anyone else can react, Gao Chong charges at the fallen monument. His disciples trail him as he launches himself at it, head-first, and kills himself. Chengling cries, and ZZS keeps him from running back to the heroes conference.
Gao Chong collapses. Zhao Jing nods the tiniest amount; he has the least distressed expression on his face out of everyone here. The Yueyang disciples cry over their shifu. WKX hasn’t figured out what emotions to have, but this sure wasn’t what he expected to happen.
There’s some more senseless fighting as the Yueyang disciples try to keep people from going and beating up Gao Chong’s body yet more. ZZS holds onto Chengling. Thunder cracks.
The scene cuts to Qing Feng Sword Sect, calmly walking away from everything despite the disciples’ confusion and protest. Mo Huaiyang leads them. In his carriage, he pours the Glazed Armor out onto his palm.
The scene cuts to rain. WKX stands at the entrance to a cave. Inside the cave, Chengling still isn’t over everything. He’s sitting down, and ZZS offers him food (ubiquitous flatbread he’d been keeping in his robes). Chengling asks about WKX, and ZZS tells him to eat first; ZZS will find WKX.
ZZS does indeed go find WKX. (I’m not sure what the song playing in the background here is.) They stand and watch the rain. WKX asks ZZS if he’s evil, and ZZS replies that “So long as your heart is kind, you’re not evil”, which doesn’t seem to really help WKX. ZZS continues trying to cheer WKX up, in his special slightly-insulting way, saying that it’s okay that WKX got tricked for once (and that WKX’s moodier than Chengling).
WKX says he made a big mistake. He’d expected to gloat at a play, not to become an actor, and wonders if he was too smart for his own good. ZZS says he was too dumb for his own good. WKX asks ZZS what he thinks happened, and ZZS says that there was at least one person (possibly more) pulling strings behind the scenes. He doesn’t yet know what the end goal was, but it certainly wasn’t just the Glazed Armor.
WKX says Gao Chong’s reputation is ruined and the Five Lakes Alliance is done for. ZZS says Zhao Jing might be able to save it, since he pretended to be weak and thus avoided all blame. Tianchuang had a nickname for Zhao Jing: Zhao Xuande. ZZS mentioned this last episode, andsabriel had a nice explanation of it in the comments there.
ZZS calls Zhao Jing’s performance (crying and using morals) truly spectacular. WKX wonders who called him Zhao Xuande, and says that Zhao Jing is “almost as bad as you”. ZZS questions if he’s bad, and says that he’s always been nice to Philanthropist Wen. It’s nice to see them smiling and teasing each other again.
ZZS continues talking about schemes and plans, and how one can’t outsmart the heavens. He ends by saying, “As long as you have the patience to peel back the layers [of a scheme], you will definitely find the missing key”, which is very pointed on a rewatch considering that this is pretty directed at WKX anyway.
WKX sighs, and says that means a “perfect scheme” is always adapting to the situation. He holds out a hand to the rain, and says that “It’s hard to read someone’s heart, but easy to control human nature” because of how greedy people are. ZZS scolds him and tells him to stop believing he understands human nature; WKX keeps making mistakes, and it’ll only harm him. People might be greedy, but also righteous and loyal.
ZZS asks what WKX really wants. When WKX asks if ZZS will help him, ZZS says he can only help WKX if WKX tells him what he’s doing. WKX says he wants “all the demons and monsters that don’t belong to this world to go back to hell/diyu”. ZZS doesn’t respond immediately. We do not see his response!
We cut to Zhao Jing and Xie-wang. The camera very carefully avoids Zhao Jing’s face at the beginning, while Xie-wang talks about how Gao Chong could’ve fought his way out if he’d wanted to. Xie-wang wonders, “If you’re no longer alive, then haven’t you lost everything?”, which feels like a question the characters keep coming back to, again and again, throughout the show. What death is, what makes it worth it, and what you lose (or gain) in death.
Zhao Jing turns, revealing his face, as Xie-wang praises his Yifu for understanding Gao Chong and predicting his actions so well. Zhao Jing says it’s easy to stain the innocent, and that he’d been playing this game with Gao Chong for twenty years. This was just the final straw, and now Zhao Jing has accomplished everything he wanted—though it didn’t go perfectly.
Xie-wang acts so young here, as he bounces up to his feet and across the room, asking Zhao Jing what didn’t go well. Zhao Jing says Huang He fooled him, and he didn’t expect Xiaolian to get kidnapped. Xie-wang (who refers to himself as Xie’er here) says he’s already sent people after Tao Hong and Lv Liu, and then asks if they should kill Xiaolian. Zhao Jing says “no” because he needs Xiaolian as his “living mascot”; the better he treats her, the better his reputation will be.
Xie-wang says he’ll listen to Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing praises his actions, especially how he controlled Deng Kuan. (Youtube subtitles say he used “sorcery” to do this. Hanzi suggests the word being translated as “sorcery” is 蛊, gǔ, which… uh my association with that in wuxia and wuxia-adjacent cnovels is parasitic insects/worms that sure can be used to control/fuck people up. Anyway! It probably also could mean sorcery-poison things. That’s fine. I just wanted to know what the original words were.)
Zhao Jing continues, discussing the loyalty of Yueyang’s disciples. He specifically brings up Song Huairen, who died a while ago; Zhao Jing says he treated Song Huairen very well, and didn’t expect him to be a double agent. Xie-wang mumbles out a protest about saying Song Huairen wasn’t a good person, but Zhao Jing didn’t listen to him and even took Song Huairen as his godchild. (Which adds to the ehhhhhhh feelings about what Zhao Jing meant about “treating him well”, considering what’s up with Zhao Jing and Xie’er…)
We get a flashback to Sanbai Manor, when Song Huairen and Yu Tianjie were both after the Glazed Armor. This time, we see Xie-wang waiting in the woods. Song Huairen shows up and asks if Yifu sent him. Xie-wang says he did, and then asks for the Glazed Armor. Song Huairen asks for a token of Zhao Jing’s orders; Xie-wang says he’s here in person, and that’s all Song Huairen should need. Song Huairen says Yifu only told him to steal the Glazed Armor at night, not to give it to Xie-wang.
Xie-wang is not happy about Song Huairen’s refusal to give it to him. Xie-wang calls them both Zhao Jing’s trusted assistants, implies a comparison he doesn’t finish, and then tells Song Huairen he can leave. As soon as Song Huairen turns his back on Xie-wang, Xie-wang kills him and finishes the comparison: “Only one of us can live.” He takes the Glazed Armor from Song Huairen’s dead body and says he can’t let anyone ruin his plans.
Back in the present, Xie-wang invites Zhao Jing’s praise over his choice to kill Song Huairen, because otherwise Zhao Jing’s plans would’ve been destroyed. Zhao Jing laughs a little, admits his mistakes, and tells Xie’er he’s sorry. Xie-wang smiles at this, especially as Zhao Jing says “From now on, you’re my only son.”
Zhao Jing then asks for the Glazed Armor, of course, and Xie-wang calls it “your trust in me” and shows Zhao Jing how he’s wearing it on a necklace under his robes. Zhao Jing says that “My life and all that I have are in your hands. You are the only person I trust in this world.” and then promptly asks Xie-wang to go comfort Mu Siyuan (the father of that guy who died at the ghost wedding; Yu Qiufeng’s friend) so they can use him later.
Xie-wang is very petulant about this, because he doesn’t like Mu Siyuan. Zhao Jing says they’re going to use him as a leader for all the other sheep in the Five Lakes Alliance to draw them into Zhao Jing’s plans. Xie-wang praises Zhao Jing’s planning skills, and says he’ll always listen to Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing says that their collaboration will naturally lead them to rule the jianghu (and the rest of the world).
The scene changes to the cave, where ZZS and WKX are sitting next to each other and drinking. A bag is tossed into the cave! YBY follows, bearing a nice white parasol, and immediately starts in about fast ZZS ran despite his shitty martial arts. ZZS smiles and politely greets him. WKX ignores him. YBY says he’s been following ZZS and WKX, but the person in the bag delayed him.
Chengling comes and joins them, and ZZS introduces him to YBY. YBY calls Chengling dumb, and WKX defends Chengling (calling him “my child”) by starting to insult YBY back. YBY goes “Your child? Are you also from Siji Manor?”, which is so funny in hindsight. WKX doesn’t respond (possibly because he doesn’t want to say the truth, but also doesn’t want to lie to ZZS ).
This standoff is delayed by Long Xiao grumbling to be let go. WKX and YBY start bickering, as they do, and ZZS tries to keep them from actually getting into a fight. Meanwhile, Chengling goes and opens the bag to reveal Long Xiao.
Chengling is surprised by this! WKX asks who he expected, and Chengling says he thought it’d be Xiaolian. ZZS says that Xiaolian will be safe as long as they need her to find the Glazed Armor. It is not specified who “they” are; ZZS could easily be talking about rescuing her from people at Yueyang when he promises Chengling they have time to rescue her.
WKX calls Xiaolian ZZS’s “disciple in law”, which is a hilarious way to refer to her, and agrees that they need to rescue her. ZZS goes over to Long Xiao, who is understandably upset about his situation, and addresses him.
The scene immediately cuts to Huang He entering a building where Tao Hong and Lv Liu are holding Xiaolian captive. Tao Hong and Lv Liu ask Huang He how it went, and Huang He is grumbly about how all that fighting was for nothing (since Gao Chong broke the Glazed Armor). They still have a hostage, though, and Huang He is thinking about if she’d be useful for negotiating with Zhao Jing (or for tricking Shen Shen).
Tao Hong asks about the Glazed Armor, and Huang He tells her that Gao Chong destroyed it before he died. Huang He doesn’t believe this, but he knows that Gao Chong didn’t have it with him. (During this, Xiaolian wakes up.) Lv Liu asks about Gao Chong’s corpse, and Huang He says everyone tore Gao Chong’s body apart. Xiaolian starts crying.
The scene changes to a rainy night in Yueyang. Shen Shen, almost unrecognisable in his new angst robes, is walking away. Zhao Jing (very recognisable in his white-and-gold robes) chases after him. Shen Shen stops to allow him to catch up. Zhao Jing asks where Shen Shen is going, if he’s leaving all the mess for Zhao Jing.
Shen Shen asks why he should stay. He blames himself for making trouble for Gao Chong. Zhao Jing says they’re the only brothers left; what alliance is there if he leaves? Shen Shen says he needs to find Xiaolian, since Gao Chong entrusted her safety to him. Zhao Jing says the Alliance will search for her (specifically, he names [Zhu] Yaozhi, another recurring Yueyang disciple), and again begs Shen Shen to stay because “the Five Lakes Alliance needs a leader”.
Shen Shen says it’s better if he leaves. He’ll take Xiaolian to Mount Dagu if he finds her, not back to this place of sorrow. Shen Shen gives Zhao Jing a hug and tells him that the Five Lakes Alliance rests on his shoulders, because Shen Shen considers himself useless. Zhao Jing doesn’t return the hug. Shen Shen walks away.
Xie-wang comes down the steps behind Zhao Jing, holding an umbrella. He stands at Zhao Jing’s side, so that the umbrella shelters them both, and asks Zhao Jing if he’s just going to let Shen Shen go. Zhao Jing says that Gao Chong was “smart and conniving” and anticipated much of what was going to happen, so Shen Shen wouldn’t have the Glazed Armor. Xie-wang doesn’t care; he just wants to kill Shen Shen.
Zhao Jing forbids him from doing so, and says that if Xie-wang acts on his own he shouldn’t blame Zhao Jing “for being heartless”. Xie-wang looks down and accepts this. Zhao Jing says he’s waited all his life to be successful; he wants an old friend as a witness to his success, or else it doesn’t count. Xie-wang says he’d bear witness, and Zhao Jing says he doesn’t count because they’re family.
Then Zhao Jing gives Xie-wang a list of people he wants to die cruelly, and says that greed isn’t the only thing that controls human hearts. Xie-wang asks what else does, and Zhao Jing says “Fear”.
We return to the cave, where YBY is still calling ZZS “Qin Huaizhang’s disciple” and ZZS is finally like “...I have a name.” YBY is too old to care, and says he’ll call ZZS what he wants, and ZZS kind of just accepts this. He also then gives YBY the food he’d been asking about, but YBY is scornful of the generic flatbread and doesn’t think it fit for humans.
WKX is fed up with YBY! He asks Chengling if he studied a certain teaching scroll, and if YBY’s picture was next to the idiom “hated by immortals and devils”. YBY scoffs and points out how WKX got tricked/used at the Heroes Conference, and asks if he has any shame. Then he goes back to Chengling and says WKX’s face must be next to “laughingstock”.
YBY asks if WKX knows where to find “the truth”, and WKX doesn’t quite dare actually fight him about this. ZZS asks YBY to instruct them, and YBY sighs and tells them why he kidnapped Long Xiao. YBY calls Long Xiao “the key”; when WKX asks about that, YBY says Longyuan Pavillion (and Long Que) are the key to knowing what happened with Rong Xuan and the Glazed Armor.
WKX protests that he wants to know about that, a petulant child. YBY, mirroring what WKX was failing at earlier, says that “When you’re as old as I am, you’ll know why. It’s not always difficult to find out what someone wants.” (And, y’know, WKX will get to be as old as YBY eventually! So! There’s that!)
And then the episode ends.
General Commentary
This episode makes me sad! The first half, at least. The second half also makes me sad, but it gives me a lot of interesting things to think about, too!
I like Gao Chong spreading out his arms like a bird displaying its wings/puffing itself up to look bigger and more threatening.
It’s really interesting to see Zhao Jing fight here. He does better against Zhou Zishu than I’d expect, and really the only explanation I can find for that is that Zhou Zishu was going easy on Chengling’s uncle.
We’re told, later, that Zhao Jing isn’t that good at fighting! We see it, too, in the Second Heroes Conference. But this fight does explain why Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are the only ones really going “wtf this is a staged fight” at the Second Heroes Conference… Zhao Jing isn’t awful at fighting, based on how this goes (when compared to Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing most people are bad at fighting; makes it hard to really judge). He’s just not good at it.
That Ye Baiyi had to have been watching the Heroes Conference himself and the extent of his interference was to shove Long Xiao in a bag and follow Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing after is kind of hilarious. He really doesn’t want to be involved in politics! He’s interfering only because he’s decided he’s got some obligation to Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing.
I feel so bad for Gao Xiaolian. First she’s kidnapped, and then she finds out her dad died, and then she learns his corpse isn’t even whole… Her life really sucks right now!
I have a lot of feelings about Zhao Jing and Xie’er’s relationship, and none of them are good. But it’s neat seeing all those patterns of behavior laid clearly out in this episode, since it’s the first one really given the space to explore Xie’er as Xie’er and not Xie-wang.
We’re also shown how Song Huairen died! And told that he’d been one of Zhao Jing’s godchildren/adopted children as well. Which, like, really adds to Xie-wang killing him. (And lying to Zhao Jing, to a certain degree, about why he killed him; Song Huairen wasn’t betraying them so much as it seemed like Xie’er didn’t want anyone else to have his yifu’s attention.)
Zhou Zishu’s commentary to Wen Kexing about schemes and how it’s okay to be tricked sometimes feels like it’s basically a statement of forgiveness/acceptance about what Wen Kexing did (or tried to do) at the Heroes Conference. Which is interesting, since it wasn’t that long ago Zhou Zishu was going “We walk different paths” and acting like he was going to leave him. Maybe Wen Kexing coming to help Chengling made the difference. Maybe Wen Kexing’s clear confusion and upset at Gao Chong’s death did. Maybe they talked more between scenes. Regardless, it’s interesting to see!
I love Ye Baiyi and Wen Kexing’s bickering every single time it comes up. Especially this iteration, where they’re going “well, in the dictionary—” at each other.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Who predicted what parts of the Heroes Conference debacle? There were so many factions, with so many goals, and most of them weren’t really working together much (if at all)!
2. Zhao Jing’s acting skills! He’s got quite a lot of them. We’re finally shown how different his true plans/emotions are than the face he presents to the world, and it’s very cool to see even as he’s a terrible person.
3. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are back together. What brought this forgiveness and understanding from Zhou Zishu?
4. Shen Shen’s choice to leave the Five Lakes Alliance! I’m curious how much it feels like a potential (albeit much less dramatic) parallel to Zhou Zishu’s exit from Tianchuang, as well as anything else you have to say about it.
Next Time: Gu Xiang and Liu Qianqiao hang out with their men. Tao Hong and Lv Liu still have Xiaolian captured. ZZS, WKX, Chengling, and YBY travel towards Longyuan Pavillion. Zhao Jing meets with Wuchang Gui and his faction of ghosts. ZZS puts a drunk WKX to bed.
List of Scenes
Gao Chong invites people to attack him, and Huang He accepts
Qing Feng Sword Sect leaves before they get dragged into the fighting
ZZS prevents Chengling from getting involved and fights Zhao Jing
The Beggar Sect shows up and challenges ZZS for Chengling
WKX keeps Huang He from stealing Chengling
Gao Chong tells them to get Chengling out of there, and they agree
Gao Chong’s hair is loose! Feng Xiaofeng topples the Five Lakes Monument.
Zhao Jing shouts and cries to get the fighting to stop
Huang He demands the Glazed Armor
Gao Chong agrees, then breaks the Glazed Armor and kills himself to redeem his honor
Everyone is very sad about Gao Chong
Mo Huaiyang is revealed to have the real Glazed Armor as Qing Feng Sword Sect travels home
WKX, ZZS, and Chengling at the cave
WKX and ZZS talk about schemes, failure, and what WKX even wants
Xie-wang and Zhao Jing’s relationship is fully revealed, and they scheme together
Flashback to Xie-wang killing Song Huairen
YBY shows up at the cave with a bag
YBY and WKX bicker a lot
Huang He, Tao Hong, and Lv Liu scheme; Xiaolian learns her father’s dead
Shen Shen leaves Yueyang/the Five Lakes Alliance in search of Xiaolian
WKX and YBY insult each other; YBY says Longyuan Pavillion is the key to learning the truth about Rong Xuan and the Glazed Armor
Timeline or Something
The first half happens very fast!
The second half takes at least long enough for Shen Shen to grow visible stubble. Time is tricky, but I get the vibe that a couple days have probably passed between the debacle of a Heroes Conference and all the post-Conference stuff going on
Recap
Deng Kuan has just stabbed himself! Gao Chong is very upset! We begin with a gorgeous overhead shot of the Heroes Conference, and Gao Chong shouting to the other attendees about how he’s been trapped and given no recourse, but he’s been framed. Shen Shen supports him, and says he’ll fight anyone who disagrees.
Gao Chong claps his hands, spreads his arms, and offers himself in challenge to the assembled heroes. Shen Shen (and the Yueyang disciples) support him. Huang He accepts the challenge, saying that evil never beats good, and thus the assembled heroes will of course beat the Five Lakes Alliance.
Everything descends into a brawl. Gao Chong picks up that big stone sword and defends himself from the attackers.
Qing Feng Sword Sect doesn’t get involved, despite Mo Weixu asking Fan Huaikong if they will (and saying he believes Gao Chong has been framed). Fan Huaikong leads Qing Feng Sword Sect away, and WKX questions why (when they’re such good friends with Gao Chong) they’re leaving.
Shen Shen is also fighting people off! He’s being quite effective. He makes it to Gao Chong, and Yueyang disciples surround them protectively.
Chengling looks at Zhao Jing, who actually has a pretty similar expression of watchfulness on his face as WKX does in the immediately subsequent shot. From a rewatch perspective, this is not surprising, but it is very cool.
WKX wonders why Gao Chong isn’t fighting back (why he’s pretending), and tells himself he can’t be wrong (that Gao Chong must still have a trick up his sleeve).
Huang He rallies the attackers, and they all charge Gao Chong and his people. Gao Chong is surrounded and quite outnumbered at this point!
Chengling stares at Gao Chong’s sword, still stuck in the deck right in front of him, and reaches to take it. He’s halted by ZZS, who tells Chengling to come with him. Zhao Jing turns, shouts “Let him go!” and attacks ZZS with his sword. He’s not particularly hard for ZZS to avoid, but ZZS’s not out to hurt Chengling’s uncle, so Zhao Jing succeeds in distracting ZZS.
Chengling watches Gao Chong and Shen Shen continue fighting. There’s a lot of swords and stabbing and death!
ZZS draws his sword to throw Zhao Jing out of the way, just in time for the Beggar Sect to surround him. Huang He asks who ZZS is, and says he’ll help ZZS “rescue” Chengling from Gao Chong. ZZS insults him, and thus the Beggar Gang attacks ZZS. They’re not particularly effective, especially since ZZS has a lot fewer compunctions about hurting them.
Huang He heads over to Chengling, who is defended first by Gao Chong calling out a warning and then WKX’s fan knocking Huang He back. ZZS finishes defeating the Beggar Gang as WKX arrives. WKX’s first action is to ask if ZZS is okay.
Meanwhile, Gao Chong and Shen Shen are finally starting to get tired. Chengling is worried for them! His worry draws WKX and ZZS to watch the fight instead of staring at each other. Neither of them allow Chengling to go down to Gao Chong, and Gao Chong shouts for them to take Chengling away.
WKX and ZZS agree, and carry Chengling away from the fight, each of them holding one of Chengling’s arms. Zhao Jing watches, seeming rather upset about this.
This is the narrative sign for the fight to start going poorly for Gao Chong! He starts getting hit, and his hairpiece is knocked off so that his hair is flying loose around his face as he fights.
The fighting continues! Gao Chong watches, and then realises that Feng Xiaofeng and his large friend are knocking down the Five Lakes Monument. It collapses. WKX, ZZS, and Chengling watch this from WKX’s little watchtower in the distance.
Gao Chong stares at the fallen monument in horror. Feng Xiaofeng shoots a dart at him, and one of the Yueyang disciples (Gao Shan, our favorite recurring disciple!) throws himself in its path to protect Gao Chong, which doesn’t make Gao Chong any less horrified by what’s happening.
Gao Chorg knocks a fallen sword up off the ground and launches it at Feng Xiaofeng, killing both him and his large friend.
Zhao Jing descends to the battlefield, shouting for everyone to stop fighting. Gao Chong and Shen Shen return to standing back-to-back. Other sect leaders look at Zhao Jing. Surprisingly, Zhao Jing’s shouting worked. Possibly he had bargains made before this to ensure that. Zhao Jing says they’ve lost, and tells Gao Chong to give up the Glazed Armor.
Shen Shen’s mad about this idea, and Zhao Jing says they’ll get themselves killed if they keep fighting.
Huang He makes a speech about how Gao Chong has brought the Five Lakes Alliance to ruin due to his evil ways. He asks if Gao Chong wants more people to die, and asks for the Glazed Armor. Shen Shen continues to be mad about it, and argues with Huang He.
Zhao Jing bargains with Huang He, asking him to agree to trade the Glazed Armor for Gao Chong’s life. He even says “I’m willing to give up my wealth and become a monk with [Gao Chong]”, which really feels like a sign that Zhao Jing doesn’t expect this to work (but needs the pretense of it for his persona).
He kneels, and bows, and Gao Chong tells him not to kneel to “such a conniving man”. Zhao Jing sounds like he’s about to cry as he says that the monument has fallen, the Alliance is broken, and that Gao Chong shouldn’t want Xiaolian to live with the weight of Gao Chong’s crimes.
Gao Chong tells Zhao Jing to stand up, and that he’ll give them the Glazed Armor. He asks Shen Shen (who doesn’t like this) to take care of Xiaolian and let her live an ordinary life. Shen Shen starts crying and continues protesting. Gao Chong also starts crying, and then knocks Shen Shen out. (We’re shown Chengling and ZZS’s faces as they watch this. The framing pointedly excludes WKX.)
Gao Chong insults the methods Huang He used to gain the Glazed Armor, then pulls a pouch out of his robe. He holds it in the air. Zhao Jing stands up. The long-threatened rain begins as Gao Chong unwrapped the Glazed Armor.
Gao Chong says he was framed, that he’s breaking his ties with the Alliance to prove his innocence, and that he’s destroying the Glazed Armor to prevent it from harming the jianghu anymore. He closes his hand around the glazed armor, shattering it. Huang He shouts in dismay. Zhao Jing is distressed. Gao Chong tosses the cloth into the air, and it lands to show that all that remains is shards. WKX is also distressed by this!
Before anyone else can react, Gao Chong charges at the fallen monument. His disciples trail him as he launches himself at it, head-first, and kills himself. Chengling cries, and ZZS keeps him from running back to the heroes conference.
Gao Chong collapses. Zhao Jing nods the tiniest amount; he has the least distressed expression on his face out of everyone here. The Yueyang disciples cry over their shifu. WKX hasn’t figured out what emotions to have, but this sure wasn’t what he expected to happen.
There’s some more senseless fighting as the Yueyang disciples try to keep people from going and beating up Gao Chong’s body yet more. ZZS holds onto Chengling. Thunder cracks.
The scene cuts to Qing Feng Sword Sect, calmly walking away from everything despite the disciples’ confusion and protest. Mo Huaiyang leads them. In his carriage, he pours the Glazed Armor out onto his palm.
The scene cuts to rain. WKX stands at the entrance to a cave. Inside the cave, Chengling still isn’t over everything. He’s sitting down, and ZZS offers him food (ubiquitous flatbread he’d been keeping in his robes). Chengling asks about WKX, and ZZS tells him to eat first; ZZS will find WKX.
ZZS does indeed go find WKX. (I’m not sure what the song playing in the background here is.) They stand and watch the rain. WKX asks ZZS if he’s evil, and ZZS replies that “So long as your heart is kind, you’re not evil”, which doesn’t seem to really help WKX. ZZS continues trying to cheer WKX up, in his special slightly-insulting way, saying that it’s okay that WKX got tricked for once (and that WKX’s moodier than Chengling).
WKX says he made a big mistake. He’d expected to gloat at a play, not to become an actor, and wonders if he was too smart for his own good. ZZS says he was too dumb for his own good. WKX asks ZZS what he thinks happened, and ZZS says that there was at least one person (possibly more) pulling strings behind the scenes. He doesn’t yet know what the end goal was, but it certainly wasn’t just the Glazed Armor.
WKX says Gao Chong’s reputation is ruined and the Five Lakes Alliance is done for. ZZS says Zhao Jing might be able to save it, since he pretended to be weak and thus avoided all blame. Tianchuang had a nickname for Zhao Jing: Zhao Xuande. ZZS mentioned this last episode, and
sabriel had a nice explanation of it in the comments there.ZZS calls Zhao Jing’s performance (crying and using morals) truly spectacular. WKX wonders who called him Zhao Xuande, and says that Zhao Jing is “almost as bad as you”. ZZS questions if he’s bad, and says that he’s always been nice to Philanthropist Wen. It’s nice to see them smiling and teasing each other again.
ZZS continues talking about schemes and plans, and how one can’t outsmart the heavens. He ends by saying, “As long as you have the patience to peel back the layers [of a scheme], you will definitely find the missing key”, which is very pointed on a rewatch considering that this is pretty directed at WKX anyway.
WKX sighs, and says that means a “perfect scheme” is always adapting to the situation. He holds out a hand to the rain, and says that “It’s hard to read someone’s heart, but easy to control human nature” because of how greedy people are. ZZS scolds him and tells him to stop believing he understands human nature; WKX keeps making mistakes, and it’ll only harm him. People might be greedy, but also righteous and loyal.
ZZS asks what WKX really wants. When WKX asks if ZZS will help him, ZZS says he can only help WKX if WKX tells him what he’s doing. WKX says he wants “all the demons and monsters that don’t belong to this world to go back to hell/diyu”. ZZS doesn’t respond immediately. We do not see his response!
We cut to Zhao Jing and Xie-wang. The camera very carefully avoids Zhao Jing’s face at the beginning, while Xie-wang talks about how Gao Chong could’ve fought his way out if he’d wanted to. Xie-wang wonders, “If you’re no longer alive, then haven’t you lost everything?”, which feels like a question the characters keep coming back to, again and again, throughout the show. What death is, what makes it worth it, and what you lose (or gain) in death.
Zhao Jing turns, revealing his face, as Xie-wang praises his Yifu for understanding Gao Chong and predicting his actions so well. Zhao Jing says it’s easy to stain the innocent, and that he’d been playing this game with Gao Chong for twenty years. This was just the final straw, and now Zhao Jing has accomplished everything he wanted—though it didn’t go perfectly.
Xie-wang acts so young here, as he bounces up to his feet and across the room, asking Zhao Jing what didn’t go well. Zhao Jing says Huang He fooled him, and he didn’t expect Xiaolian to get kidnapped. Xie-wang (who refers to himself as Xie’er here) says he’s already sent people after Tao Hong and Lv Liu, and then asks if they should kill Xiaolian. Zhao Jing says “no” because he needs Xiaolian as his “living mascot”; the better he treats her, the better his reputation will be.
Xie-wang says he’ll listen to Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing praises his actions, especially how he controlled Deng Kuan. (Youtube subtitles say he used “sorcery” to do this. Hanzi suggests the word being translated as “sorcery” is 蛊, gǔ, which… uh my association with that in wuxia and wuxia-adjacent cnovels is parasitic insects/worms that sure can be used to control/fuck people up. Anyway! It probably also could mean sorcery-poison things. That’s fine. I just wanted to know what the original words were.)
Zhao Jing continues, discussing the loyalty of Yueyang’s disciples. He specifically brings up Song Huairen, who died a while ago; Zhao Jing says he treated Song Huairen very well, and didn’t expect him to be a double agent. Xie-wang mumbles out a protest about saying Song Huairen wasn’t a good person, but Zhao Jing didn’t listen to him and even took Song Huairen as his godchild. (Which adds to the ehhhhhhh feelings about what Zhao Jing meant about “treating him well”, considering what’s up with Zhao Jing and Xie’er…)
We get a flashback to Sanbai Manor, when Song Huairen and Yu Tianjie were both after the Glazed Armor. This time, we see Xie-wang waiting in the woods. Song Huairen shows up and asks if Yifu sent him. Xie-wang says he did, and then asks for the Glazed Armor. Song Huairen asks for a token of Zhao Jing’s orders; Xie-wang says he’s here in person, and that’s all Song Huairen should need. Song Huairen says Yifu only told him to steal the Glazed Armor at night, not to give it to Xie-wang.
Xie-wang is not happy about Song Huairen’s refusal to give it to him. Xie-wang calls them both Zhao Jing’s trusted assistants, implies a comparison he doesn’t finish, and then tells Song Huairen he can leave. As soon as Song Huairen turns his back on Xie-wang, Xie-wang kills him and finishes the comparison: “Only one of us can live.” He takes the Glazed Armor from Song Huairen’s dead body and says he can’t let anyone ruin his plans.
Back in the present, Xie-wang invites Zhao Jing’s praise over his choice to kill Song Huairen, because otherwise Zhao Jing’s plans would’ve been destroyed. Zhao Jing laughs a little, admits his mistakes, and tells Xie’er he’s sorry. Xie-wang smiles at this, especially as Zhao Jing says “From now on, you’re my only son.”
Zhao Jing then asks for the Glazed Armor, of course, and Xie-wang calls it “your trust in me” and shows Zhao Jing how he’s wearing it on a necklace under his robes. Zhao Jing says that “My life and all that I have are in your hands. You are the only person I trust in this world.” and then promptly asks Xie-wang to go comfort Mu Siyuan (the father of that guy who died at the ghost wedding; Yu Qiufeng’s friend) so they can use him later.
Xie-wang is very petulant about this, because he doesn’t like Mu Siyuan. Zhao Jing says they’re going to use him as a leader for all the other sheep in the Five Lakes Alliance to draw them into Zhao Jing’s plans. Xie-wang praises Zhao Jing’s planning skills, and says he’ll always listen to Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing says that their collaboration will naturally lead them to rule the jianghu (and the rest of the world).
The scene changes to the cave, where ZZS and WKX are sitting next to each other and drinking. A bag is tossed into the cave! YBY follows, bearing a nice white parasol, and immediately starts in about fast ZZS ran despite his shitty martial arts. ZZS smiles and politely greets him. WKX ignores him. YBY says he’s been following ZZS and WKX, but the person in the bag delayed him.
Chengling comes and joins them, and ZZS introduces him to YBY. YBY calls Chengling dumb, and WKX defends Chengling (calling him “my child”) by starting to insult YBY back. YBY goes “Your child? Are you also from Siji Manor?”, which is so funny in hindsight. WKX doesn’t respond (possibly because he doesn’t want to say the truth, but also doesn’t want to lie to ZZS ).
This standoff is delayed by Long Xiao grumbling to be let go. WKX and YBY start bickering, as they do, and ZZS tries to keep them from actually getting into a fight. Meanwhile, Chengling goes and opens the bag to reveal Long Xiao.
Chengling is surprised by this! WKX asks who he expected, and Chengling says he thought it’d be Xiaolian. ZZS says that Xiaolian will be safe as long as they need her to find the Glazed Armor. It is not specified who “they” are; ZZS could easily be talking about rescuing her from people at Yueyang when he promises Chengling they have time to rescue her.
WKX calls Xiaolian ZZS’s “disciple in law”, which is a hilarious way to refer to her, and agrees that they need to rescue her. ZZS goes over to Long Xiao, who is understandably upset about his situation, and addresses him.
The scene immediately cuts to Huang He entering a building where Tao Hong and Lv Liu are holding Xiaolian captive. Tao Hong and Lv Liu ask Huang He how it went, and Huang He is grumbly about how all that fighting was for nothing (since Gao Chong broke the Glazed Armor). They still have a hostage, though, and Huang He is thinking about if she’d be useful for negotiating with Zhao Jing (or for tricking Shen Shen).
Tao Hong asks about the Glazed Armor, and Huang He tells her that Gao Chong destroyed it before he died. Huang He doesn’t believe this, but he knows that Gao Chong didn’t have it with him. (During this, Xiaolian wakes up.) Lv Liu asks about Gao Chong’s corpse, and Huang He says everyone tore Gao Chong’s body apart. Xiaolian starts crying.
The scene changes to a rainy night in Yueyang. Shen Shen, almost unrecognisable in his new angst robes, is walking away. Zhao Jing (very recognisable in his white-and-gold robes) chases after him. Shen Shen stops to allow him to catch up. Zhao Jing asks where Shen Shen is going, if he’s leaving all the mess for Zhao Jing.
Shen Shen asks why he should stay. He blames himself for making trouble for Gao Chong. Zhao Jing says they’re the only brothers left; what alliance is there if he leaves? Shen Shen says he needs to find Xiaolian, since Gao Chong entrusted her safety to him. Zhao Jing says the Alliance will search for her (specifically, he names [Zhu] Yaozhi, another recurring Yueyang disciple), and again begs Shen Shen to stay because “the Five Lakes Alliance needs a leader”.
Shen Shen says it’s better if he leaves. He’ll take Xiaolian to Mount Dagu if he finds her, not back to this place of sorrow. Shen Shen gives Zhao Jing a hug and tells him that the Five Lakes Alliance rests on his shoulders, because Shen Shen considers himself useless. Zhao Jing doesn’t return the hug. Shen Shen walks away.
Xie-wang comes down the steps behind Zhao Jing, holding an umbrella. He stands at Zhao Jing’s side, so that the umbrella shelters them both, and asks Zhao Jing if he’s just going to let Shen Shen go. Zhao Jing says that Gao Chong was “smart and conniving” and anticipated much of what was going to happen, so Shen Shen wouldn’t have the Glazed Armor. Xie-wang doesn’t care; he just wants to kill Shen Shen.
Zhao Jing forbids him from doing so, and says that if Xie-wang acts on his own he shouldn’t blame Zhao Jing “for being heartless”. Xie-wang looks down and accepts this. Zhao Jing says he’s waited all his life to be successful; he wants an old friend as a witness to his success, or else it doesn’t count. Xie-wang says he’d bear witness, and Zhao Jing says he doesn’t count because they’re family.
Then Zhao Jing gives Xie-wang a list of people he wants to die cruelly, and says that greed isn’t the only thing that controls human hearts. Xie-wang asks what else does, and Zhao Jing says “Fear”.
We return to the cave, where YBY is still calling ZZS “Qin Huaizhang’s disciple” and ZZS is finally like “...I have a name.” YBY is too old to care, and says he’ll call ZZS what he wants, and ZZS kind of just accepts this. He also then gives YBY the food he’d been asking about, but YBY is scornful of the generic flatbread and doesn’t think it fit for humans.
WKX is fed up with YBY! He asks Chengling if he studied a certain teaching scroll, and if YBY’s picture was next to the idiom “hated by immortals and devils”. YBY scoffs and points out how WKX got tricked/used at the Heroes Conference, and asks if he has any shame. Then he goes back to Chengling and says WKX’s face must be next to “laughingstock”.
YBY asks if WKX knows where to find “the truth”, and WKX doesn’t quite dare actually fight him about this. ZZS asks YBY to instruct them, and YBY sighs and tells them why he kidnapped Long Xiao. YBY calls Long Xiao “the key”; when WKX asks about that, YBY says Longyuan Pavillion (and Long Que) are the key to knowing what happened with Rong Xuan and the Glazed Armor.
WKX protests that he wants to know about that, a petulant child. YBY, mirroring what WKX was failing at earlier, says that “When you’re as old as I am, you’ll know why. It’s not always difficult to find out what someone wants.” (And, y’know, WKX will get to be as old as YBY eventually! So! There’s that!)
And then the episode ends.
General Commentary
This episode makes me sad! The first half, at least. The second half also makes me sad, but it gives me a lot of interesting things to think about, too!
I like Gao Chong spreading out his arms like a bird displaying its wings/puffing itself up to look bigger and more threatening.
It’s really interesting to see Zhao Jing fight here. He does better against Zhou Zishu than I’d expect, and really the only explanation I can find for that is that Zhou Zishu was going easy on Chengling’s uncle.
We’re told, later, that Zhao Jing isn’t that good at fighting! We see it, too, in the Second Heroes Conference. But this fight does explain why Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are the only ones really going “wtf this is a staged fight” at the Second Heroes Conference… Zhao Jing isn’t awful at fighting, based on how this goes (when compared to Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing most people are bad at fighting; makes it hard to really judge). He’s just not good at it.
That Ye Baiyi had to have been watching the Heroes Conference himself and the extent of his interference was to shove Long Xiao in a bag and follow Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing after is kind of hilarious. He really doesn’t want to be involved in politics! He’s interfering only because he’s decided he’s got some obligation to Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing.
I feel so bad for Gao Xiaolian. First she’s kidnapped, and then she finds out her dad died, and then she learns his corpse isn’t even whole… Her life really sucks right now!
I have a lot of feelings about Zhao Jing and Xie’er’s relationship, and none of them are good. But it’s neat seeing all those patterns of behavior laid clearly out in this episode, since it’s the first one really given the space to explore Xie’er as Xie’er and not Xie-wang.
We’re also shown how Song Huairen died! And told that he’d been one of Zhao Jing’s godchildren/adopted children as well. Which, like, really adds to Xie-wang killing him. (And lying to Zhao Jing, to a certain degree, about why he killed him; Song Huairen wasn’t betraying them so much as it seemed like Xie’er didn’t want anyone else to have his yifu’s attention.)
Zhou Zishu’s commentary to Wen Kexing about schemes and how it’s okay to be tricked sometimes feels like it’s basically a statement of forgiveness/acceptance about what Wen Kexing did (or tried to do) at the Heroes Conference. Which is interesting, since it wasn’t that long ago Zhou Zishu was going “We walk different paths” and acting like he was going to leave him. Maybe Wen Kexing coming to help Chengling made the difference. Maybe Wen Kexing’s clear confusion and upset at Gao Chong’s death did. Maybe they talked more between scenes. Regardless, it’s interesting to see!
I love Ye Baiyi and Wen Kexing’s bickering every single time it comes up. Especially this iteration, where they’re going “well, in the dictionary—” at each other.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Who predicted what parts of the Heroes Conference debacle? There were so many factions, with so many goals, and most of them weren’t really working together much (if at all)!
2. Zhao Jing’s acting skills! He’s got quite a lot of them. We’re finally shown how different his true plans/emotions are than the face he presents to the world, and it’s very cool to see even as he’s a terrible person.
3. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are back together. What brought this forgiveness and understanding from Zhou Zishu?
4. Shen Shen’s choice to leave the Five Lakes Alliance! I’m curious how much it feels like a potential (albeit much less dramatic) parallel to Zhou Zishu’s exit from Tianchuang, as well as anything else you have to say about it.
Next Time: Gu Xiang and Liu Qianqiao hang out with their men. Tao Hong and Lv Liu still have Xiaolian captured. ZZS, WKX, Chengling, and YBY travel towards Longyuan Pavillion. Zhao Jing meets with Wuchang Gui and his faction of ghosts. ZZS puts a drunk WKX to bed.
no subject
I believe the song is Letter Forward (锦书来)
I love WKX defending Chengling (and referring to him as ‘my child’)!
Same! (re: Gao Xiaolian)
1) tbh I think my only prediction was it wasn’t going to end well.
2) It's neat to see the contrast!
3) They have the shortest breakups! And this is the second that’s partially resolved by them both going to save Chengling.
4) I didn't pick up on that parallel until now! I think Shen Shen's costuming here is somewhat reminiscent of ZZS' beggar outfit (Shen Shen has the better stubble though).
no subject
I didn't pick up on that parallel until now! I think Shen Shen's costuming here is somewhat reminiscent of ZZS' beggar outfit (Shen Shen has the better stubble though).
Shen Shen definitely has the better stubble. xD It helps that it's real and not painted on, I think!