[WoH Rewatch] Episode 3

[shadaras]

Some highlights from the ep2 discussion:
WKX’s humanity (poetry, emotions, and calibrating himself to the outside world): [link]
Gu Xiang being offended about people pretending to be ghosts:
[link]
A reminder that AvenueX’s video essays about poetry and gayness in SHL are very cool (if video essays are a format that works for you!): [link]

This week:
Introducing so many characters! Also, WKX keeps following ZZS even when ZZS doesn’t want him to.


List of Five Lakes Alliance Brothers In Order
1 - Gao Chong, Yueyang Sect
2 - Zhao Jing, Tai Lake Sect
3 - Lu Taichong, Dayang Sect
4 - Zhang Yusen, Mirror Lake (Jinghu) Sect
5 - Shen Shen, Mount Dagu Sect


Scenes in This Episode
WKX attempting to investigate ZZS’s disguise
Discussion of the plot-rhymes
Shen Shen arrives at Mirror Lake Manor
Introduction of Tao Hong, Lv Liu, and Huang He
ZZS and Chengling depart the temple, leaving WKX behind (and not taking his boat)
Shen Shen et al. in Mirror Lake Manor; more exposition about history and swearing of revenge
WKX accosts ZZS on the road
Huang He talks with Tao Hong and Lv Liu about how the Five Lakes Alliance needs to be put in its place (but Ghost Valley is dangerous for everyone)
ZZS and Chengling arrive at the inn WKX rented out
ZZS tells Chengling to sleep and gives him medicine
ZZS and WKX talk about “true faces” and WKX implies that ZZS is the loveliest person in the world
Huang He tells the beggar gangs to find Chengling
Chengling wakes up, gets told to wash his hands outside, and gets spotted by the beggar gangs
Gu Xiang scolds Chengling about not eating and relying too much on other people
Gao Chong declares his intent to get revenge on Ghost Valley and hold a Heroes Conference
Ao Laizi tells the last survivors of the Danyang Sect that he’ll protect them from Shen Shen and the Five Lakes Alliance.
ZZS calms his qi, some ghost-clad people show up at the inn, and Chengling has nightmares
WKX tells ZZS about how similar ghosts and humans can be and offers him wine


A Rough Timeline
The rhyme about the Five Lakes Alliance’s ambitions “spread throughout Jiangnan these past few months”, while the Glazed Armor addition spread from Yue over the past few days (according to WKX).
Before the Mirror Lake Sect attack, Danyang Sect was attacked and killed. (Likely this didn’t happen much before the Mirror Lake Sect attack, because otherwise why is Lv Liu the first person to bring this up?)

I think this episode needs to take place over two days? From the early hours of the morning in the temple, walking the whole next day and night (based on “you were walking all night” conversation in the inn), and then arriving at the inn. Scenes take place across that second day, ending sometime during the night.



Recap and Commentary!

We open on everyone eating nicely around the fire, with WKX watching ZZS very intently. And offering him wine, when ZZS realises he’s out of his own. (WKX is also trying to get ZZS to stop calling him Wen-gongzi, because that’s ‘too formal’ for someone who’s helped him kill people and bury bodies.)

A-Xiang lets Chengling take over warming wine for ZZS, because she doesn’t want to serve “these two idiots”.

WKX stretches as an excuse to touch ZZS’s cheek/jaw and learn more about his disguise. ZZS does not like this, and is especially unnerved by this person who recognised the Swift-Moving Steps and can see through his disguise. (WKX would’ve had the experience of touching Siji Manor skin masks before, since Qin Huaizhang disguised WKX’s parents using this same technique. Plus, he knows Liu Qianqiao and her disguise skills, which are also Qin Huaizhang’s; I don’t know if WKX knows the name of her master/made the connection there, though? Perhaps this came up and I have simply forgotten. Anyway, she’s perfected her disguise skills more than ZZS cares to, which is fun.)

We get WKX telling ZZS about his figure, and the beginning of his shoulder blades thing, and then WKX explicitly says that he knows ZZS is wearing a mask. ZZS asks if it’s pretty, and they gaze at each other very intensely (and silently) for a while before ZZS turns away to drink wine and WKX says “it’s perfect”.



WKX then turns to Chengling to ask why Mirror Lake Sect was attacked by people wearing Ghost Valley masks. He doesn’t know, and WKX laughs about this, then turns to ZZS. WKX says that ZZS must know about Ghost Valley and its strength, and then wonders why ZZS got involved in “such a major issue for no reason”, and asks if he wants “to know what’s behind all of it?” ZZS says he doesn’t know, and he’s not interested, because he’s still trying very hard to not get dragged into everything.

Despite saying he’s not interested, ZZS makes a guess about why the ghosts did this. He starts by talking about how jianghu matters are always about greed, hatred, and ignorance (the three evils of Buddhism, iirc), and then gives a lovely speech about how Ghost Valley disappeared for many years (so it’s not hatred), Qiu Yue Jian (Zhang Yusen) has “always preserved moral integrity” (so it’s not ignorance), and therefore it must be greed.

WKX then, of course, brings up the rhyme about the Five Lakes Alliance’s ambitions, and ZZS fills in the second half easily. WKX then adds the second half, though he needs to make Gu Xiang ask what it is because he’s being dramatic. ZZS laughs and asks what’s sad about the ghosts; they’re all full of evil. WKX agrees, but tells him the rhyme isn’t about that: it’s about Rong Xuan, the “great demon” who died twenty years ago.

WKX adds that Rong Xuan left behind “a martial arts treasure called World’s Armory” and describes what it should hold, as well as that it’s locked with the Glazed Armor. ZZS scoffs (and continues to call him Wen-gongzi) and says that only unlearned folk could be fooled by such stories about treasures that could make one invincible. (We’re given a reaction shot, though, of Chengling’s downcast face when the Glazed Armor is brought up. He knows about it by now, and that it’s real, since he’s carrying a piece of it in his body.)

ZZS goes on to say that every few years, some martial arts treasure (technique, weapon, etc.) gets made up, causing the jianghu to scramble for it and leading to countless deaths. He thinks it’s ridiculous, and all just greed. WKX laughs, and says he’s surprised ZZS agrees with him about how “Though peace reigns over the land, ignorant people create trouble for themselves”. (WKX’s tone of voice here is… I don’t know how to describe it? But it’s smooth and self-satisfied. They’ve been verbally sparring this whole conversation, and WKX’s tone makes it feel like he thinks he’s won, or that he confirmed something that he was looking for.)

Gu Xiang interrupts, saying she’s finally figured out some of the references that ZZS and WKX have been throwing around, and talks about how people are gonna die because they’ve got weak martial arts and want a quick way to get strong.

ZZS says she is indeed quite smart, in a way that makes it hard to tell how much he thinks that vs is humoring her, and then WKX asks what Chengling thinks. Chengling doesn’t have an answer, so ZZS suggests they nap, as it’s almost dawn.

WKX looks off into the distance, and agrees that it is indeed almost dawn. Probably some more planning/plotting going on in his mind that he’s pleased about.

The scene shifts, finally, to something with nicer lighting and literally any color. I am so happy. I have been staring at gray and brown and night for so long. I have missed colors.

The burnt-out husk of Mirror Lake Manor is very sad! There are servants and Yueyang disciples cleaning it up and taking the bodies out!

Shen Shen (the leader of Mount Dagu Sect; I don’t think we ever see his sect…) arrives on a boat that doesn’t seem to have anyone/anything powering it? It’s just him, and the boat drifting forwards? He also doesn’t want to wait for the boat to reach the dock, preferring to jump out and rebound off the water to make it to land.



Deng Kuan is leading the clean-up efforts when Shen Shen arrives. Deng Kuan has two nicely-dressed flunkies whose names I do not recall, which means there’s a 50/50 chance we’ll learn them later.

Shen Shen asks what’s happened, Deng Kuan really doesn’t want to respond, and Shen Shen’s gaze falls upon the blood-stained cloths covering the bodies of Zhang Yusen and his two older sons. (I return to wondering about Zhang-furen, who isn’t mentioned at all during any of this.)

Deng Kuan prevents Shen Shen from looking more closely, and tells him about how everyone had already been killed by the time Deng Kuan and his people had arrived last night. When Shen Shen keeps trying to get past him, Deng Kuan kneels and begs him not to look, because Zhang Yusen and his sons were tortured and “their remains are in a poor state”.

Shen Shen almost faints from hearing this and taking it in, and Deng Kuan’s flunkies catch him. Deng Kuan takes responsibility for not arriving sooner and asks for punishment.



Shen Shen is very upset, unsurprisingly, and rages about Deng Kuan not saving Zhang Yusen. Deng Kuan talks about how the boats were destroyed, and Shen Shen promises to pay back the person who enacted this cruel scheme a hundredfold.

We now begin to hear from the other people of the jianghu! The pastel grandparents arrive! (Their names are Grandmother Tao Hong and Grandfather Lv Liu.) Tao Hong is laughing about Shen Shen’s boast, and she mocks him for swearing brotherhood but not actually dying together with his brother.

Lv Liu picks up the thread by critiquing the Five Lakes Alliances’ sense of honor, and how “they didn’t meet together for decades” but are showing up as soon as Zhang Yusen dies.

Shen Shen asks if they’re trying to provoke him, which they obviously are. Tao Hong keeps going on the topic of how poor their brotherly bonds were, even asking “Who knows if Zhang Yusen even recognises you as his brother?” and implying that he’s a flunkey and not a brother.

And then Shen Shen draws his sword because they’ve gone too far.



Huang He, leader of the Beggar Gangs, shows up to stop them from fighting! (Shen Shen calls him Huang-zhanglao [长老, zhǎnglǎo], Elder Huang. Huang He calls him Shen-zhangmen [掌门, zhǎngmén], Leader Shen, which is the generic sect-leader term of this jianghu.)

Huang He says that he invited Tao Hong and Lv Liu here to help them, acting very much like the nice righteous/orthodox sect leader the beggar gangs usually have in wuxia (I’m fascinated by this trope, especially since I only learned about it after watching SHL and seeing Huang He’s reversal/inversion of it).

He also tells them to restrain themselves for his sake, and “forget about our past grievances for now. For now.” We’ll see how they talk when not in front of the Five Lakes Alliance, later.

Huang He plays this role very well, and Shen Shen asks who he fucked up Mirror Lake Sect. Huang He leads them all into the manor, and the scene ends for now.

Back at the old temple with WKX and ZZS, it’s morning and WKX is watching ZZS meditate. ZZS gets fed up with his staring, and WKX responds by wondering what he looks like under his disguise.

ZZS wakes Chengling up, then says, “Fate let us meet.” WKX responds with, “And fate will reunite us,” and ZZS actually smiles at him momentarily here!



WKX then goes “Actually, what if we didn’t wait to be reunited?” and starts going on about his boat and wanting to appreciate the scenery of Lake Tai (where Zhao Jing’s manor is), and ZZS ignores him and leads Chengling out onto the road.

As ZZS continues ignoring him, WKX smiles and thinks to himself “I’m looking forward to finding out who you are”, because that’s the real reason he’s trying to get ZZS to travel with him.

Gu Xiang continues being scornful of ZZS and thinks he’s about to keel over and die. WKX says she hasn’t met enough people yet, and describes ZZS’s loveliness and how it’s at odds with his appearance—and that he can’t find any trace of a disguise. He’s very admiring of that skill, and of ZZS’s sword.

WKX walks out of the temple, and smiles about how “Fate will reunite us,” clearly very ready to take fate into his own hands.

Back at Mirror Lake Manor, Deng Kuan tells Shen Shen about how the only remains they haven’t found are Chengling’s, and then Huang He explains where the other bodies were found. There’s some Soul Winding Threads (the Hanged Ghost’s special weapon) strung across a door they almost but don’t quite pass through.

Shen Shen comments on the yellow paper (without using any more specific a term than that), and identifies it as relating to Ghost Valley. Huang He confirms, and adds that “Ghost Valley always creates a scene before it carries out its evil deeds. I was worried that someone would do evil under the guise of Ghost Valley,” and so he asked Tao Hong and Lv Liu to show up.

Tao Hong says that “There is no-one left in the world who understands these damn things better than us,” because Ghost Valley turned her and Lv Liu into who they are today.



She identifies the Soul Winding Threads, and Shen Shen declares that he’s going to destroy Ghost Valley. Tao Hong scolds him for overestimating himself, ending with “It’s Ghost Valley that will destroy your Five Lakes Alliance.”

Shen Shen and Tao Hong continue bickering, because she really doesn’t like him, and Tao Hong and Lv Liu recite the rhymes. Lv Liu threatens Shen Shen in a backhanded way about there being nothing to fear if you don’t do something wrong, while implying that Mirror Lake Sect must have done some sort of evil to beckon Ghost Valley to their door.



Shen Shen turns to storm out, but when Deng Kuan follows him Shen Shen stops. He tells Deng Kuan to tell Gao Chong about what’s happened, and then hands Deng Kuan a token of authority and orders him to find Chengling as soon as he can.

Huang He then offers his help in finding Chengling, because “It is all about the duty of righteous people” and that’s how he wants people to see him. Shen Shen says that the Five Lakes Alliance is indebted to Huang He, and then he leaves. Huang He gives a slight smile, and this scene ends.

We cut to ZZS and Chengling walking along the river. Chengling is obviously panting, and ZZS notices and declares that he’s tired, because he cares a lot more than he wants to let on.

Unfortunately, the place where ZZS wanted to rest is where WKX has set himself up with Gu Xiang and tea. ZZS grumbles to himself about how WKX won’t leave them alone and must be after the Glazed Armor, then leads Chengling past them without a word. WXK watches him go with a considering smile.



Next, ZZS and Chengling pause to drink some water from what ZZS calls a lake but sure looks like a river to me. WKX shows up and quotes poetry at them about the cleanliness of the water, and ZZS wonders if WKX placed some kind of tracker on them, and then asks himself “Is there really a tracking technique I do not know about?”

This time, when ZZS leads Chengling off without a word, WKX’s smile fades. ZZS isn’t doing what he expects, it seems. It makes sense that after two attempts to show up and needle ZZS about what’s even up with him while he’s journeying, he escalates so far in his next attempt.

But first, Huang He and the grandparents talk in that flowering forest next to the incongruous boat.



Tao Hong is delighted that “someone can put [the Five Lakes Alliance] in their place”, while Huang He points out that Ghost Valley’s appearance will cause more than just the Five Lakes Alliance to suffer. Lv Liu agrees (in a more restrained way) with Tao Hong, because the Glazed Armor brought so much death and the Five Lakes Alliance got all the benefits.

He also mentions the Danyang Sect (and says its “bloodline was cut first”), which is that sect with the “baby Lans” in their white robes and headbands, and I think it’s the first time the Danyang Sect is brought up in the show. I didn’t remember this mention, because wow on a first watch I was overwhelmed by just trying to keep the names of on-screen characters straight, but it’s a good lead-in to the end of this episode where we meet the remnants of the Danyang Sect.

Huang He builds on this, telling us about how the surviving disciples of Danyang Sect ran to Ao Laizi (leader of Mount Tai Sect) and presumably brought (Danyang Sect Leader) Lu Taichong’s piece of the Glazed Armor with them. Huang He says they need to find Ao Laizi quickly, so that the Glazed Armor won’t fall into Ghost Valley’s hands. He’s being distinctly framed as the reasonable one of this set (which he is, to be fair!), and all three of them are being really beautifully written as characters who seem on a first viewing to mean well but go about it in perhaps not the greatest way, but on a second viewing all their own personal ambition is just as easily read into all their lines and actions.

ZZS and Chengling make it to an inn, and they learn that a rich guy bought out the whole place, so there’s no room for them (not even a woodshed).

Then, of course, WKX appears and smirks at them. He tells the inn worker to prepare the best room in the place for ZZS and Chengling (“For this beautiful… this gallant man,” more specifically; ZZS has an incredible series of eye-rolling/”why.” faces throughout), and then gets upset when ZZS bars him from entering said room with them. ZZS manages to speak only a single line throughout this, which he says through the door after he shuts it in WKX’s face, telling him to go find another room to relax in.



WKX did prepare new clothes for them, though, which is nice. ZZS checks them for trackers/traps, because he’s (rather justifiably) paranoid, and Chengling is confused by that (because he’s had a much safer life). Chengling says that “Wen-gongzi doesn’t look like a bad person,” which is true. He doesn’t look like one. But contrast this with how everyone in Mirror Lake Sect was nervous and thought ZZS looked like a bad/sketchy person—and all the literal masks that appear—and it’s clear that appearances being deceiving is a fairly solid through-line in this show.

In the end, yes, Chengling is right that WKX isn’t a bad person. But right now—at the beginning of the show, when he’s at his ghostliest—WKX isn’t a good person either. Completely reasonable for ZZS to be so suspicious and paranoid and checking for traps and danger everywhere, since they’ve been forced into WKX’s company by WKX’s gratuitous use of money.

(Also, as ZZS points out, Chengling thinks everyone is a good person.)

ZZS tells Chengling to take a nap, since they’ve been up all night, and Chengling tries to be a good junior and let ZZS take the bed, while ZZS (who has got to have spent much longer sleepless in Tian Chuang) just tells him to do as he’s told.

After Chengling reluctantly lies down (still fully clothed), ZZS comments on how he’s still dressed, makes a note that it’s “inconvenient while [he’s] here”, and then asks after Chengling’s injury. When Chengling puts a hand to his wound but doesn’t say anything, ZZS sighs, says it’s okay if he doesn’t want to talk about it, then tosses him some medicine and leaves.



(I have a lot of feelings about this scene, and how ZZS notices so much but doesn’t press about any of it, but also most of those feels are wrapped up in specific fic/AU thoughts.)

Once ZZS (having picked up his own set of new clothing) leaves, Chengling undoes his clothes and reveals the bandaged wound he’s been hiding. It looks bad! I am glad he can re-bandage it!

ZZS, meanwhile, has gotten dressed so that he is only wearing a bad mask instead of also ratty hair and clothes, and is now descending the inn’s stairs. WKX is, of course, waiting for him at a table with tea. He continues discussing how they clearly have a deep fate (that he definitely isn’t creating himself), while ZZS retorts that it’s more like he’s being haunted by a lingering ghost. (Which is much sadder—and more pointedly accurate!—knowing about Zhen Yan.)

But ZZS does sit at the table with WKX. He asks why WKX keeps following him, and WKX says he’ll tell ZZS if ZZS shows him his true face. ZZS asks “Why not show me your true face first?”, and WKX says that while ZZS must be very handsome, WKX’s “may not necessarily be that appealing” and implies that it may be scarred and/or terrifying (which is quite honest of him, really). ZZS says he doesn’t care (which is true, eventually), and changes topics slightly to advise WKX to stop being so interested in things that don’t concern him.

WKX asks about his relationship to Chengling and wonders if ZZS wants to get sucked into trouble if he doesn’t know what it is. ZZS says that he “[does his] best to accomplish what was entrusted to [him]” and protests that the job entrusted to him is quite simple really, since he only needs to bring Chengling to Zhao Jing and then none of this will be his business anymore.

There’s a very charged exchange as WKX attempts to touch their cups together and ZZS doesn’t want to let him, where we hear a musical cue that I associate with trouble/strife at the moment their eyes meet and ZZS stops contesting this. Which is interesting! I don’t know what ZZS is catching, beyond WKX’s evident skill!



Gu Xiang comes down and asks why she wasn’t invited to drink with WKX and they have this delightful exchange:
WKX: “What is the second cutest person in the world like?”
GX: “Someone who treats me to dinner.”
WKX: “It’s someone who is tough on the surface but soft at heart.”
[ZZS rolls his eyes]
GX: “And who is the cutest person in the world?”
WKX: “A person with a slim waist, long legs, who is tough on the surface but soft at heart.” [looks directly at ZZS.]
ZZS sighs loudly and settles back in his chair as he drinks. WKX smiles at him, greatly amused and pleased.
(The word being translated as “cute” here is 可爱, kě'ài, which looks like it could also mean “lovely”.)



“Tough on the surface but soft at heart” describes so many characters on this show. It’s great. WKX is clearly describing himself and ZZS in this exchange, but it’s not a bad description of Gu Xiang either. Even Ye Baiyi fits into that schema.

But enough flirting for now! Huang He’s beggar gangs are being shown Chengling’s image and told to look for him. (Huang He gets called “Law Elder” here? Which, yeah, that sure does seem to be what the words all mean, but I have no idea why he’s called that. Is this some wuxia trope/reference that I am not aware of because I did not grow up immersed in it?) Huang He says that his people should bring Chengling to him “no matter what it costs” if they find him, and that they shouldn’t let anyone know that they got Chengling if they bring him back.

Chengling had been sleeping (though it feels like it might not have been the best sleep), and now gets up to join the rest of our protags. They’re all sitting around a food-laden table, waiting for him because ZZS won’t let them start eating until Chengling is there too. ZZS continues delaying them by telling Chengling to go wash his hands first, and Gu Xiang whines about how they aren’t even eating with their hands so why does it matter?

WKX tells Gu Xiang to behave herself, since they’re travelling in the martial arts world, and to look at how other girls conduct themselves. ZZS glances at him, because this is yet another clue in the “who are you really?” compendium.

Outside, Chengling gets spotted by some members of the beggar gangs, who then go off to notify the rest of their gang. This begs the question of how much time has passed and how quickly news has spread, since literally the last scene was the beggars being told to be on the lookout for him. But I guess they haven’t travelled that far, and it’s hard to say how long Chengling was asleep for (it’s been ambiguously daytime this whole time, so it could be an afternoon or most of the day).

Inside, ZZS puts food in Chengling’s bowl as the four of them begin eating. WKX comments on how Chengling hasn’t started eating (despite ZZS’s bowl pretty solidly having less food in it), and asks if the food isn’t to Chengling’s taste. Chengling says that isn’t it, thanks him for the hospitality, and continues not eating.

(ZZS, meanwhile, is drinking but not eating anything either. After rekishi pointed out the way he doesn’t eat much on the last post, I’m paying attention now and it’s sad.)

Gu Xiang begins scolding Chengling for how his lack of appetite brings everyone else’s down too, and says she “really dislike[s] spoiled people like [Chengling]” who haven’t had hardship in their lives and aren’t skilled at anything. She goes on for a while, but neither ZZS nor WKX stop her until she pauses, at which point WKX steps in and tells her to stop bullying Chengling and eat.



Gu Xiang does not stop! But she manages to wrap around to something sort of almost positive, as she points out that if Chengling wastes away by not eating he’ll need to rely on “outsiders” like the rest of them to avenge his family. Chengling stops looking quite so much like he’s going to cry, and WKX looks melancholy.

Gu Xiang continues, mentioning the same saying about “At home you rely on your parents, outside you rely on your friends,” that Chengling quoted at ZZS last episode to try and get him to take the name token. Here it takes on a different meaning, though, since Gu Xiang is pointing out that perhaps Chengling should learn to rely on himself instead of taking advantage of people like ZZS.

Chengling starts shoveling food into his mouth. Gu Xiang and WKX continue eating. ZZS continues drinking. Gu Xiang tells Chengling he can slow down, since nobody is trying to steal food from him, and Chengling starts crying as he continues to eat. Poor boy.

(ZZS has said nothing this entire scene. He’s just watched, and listened, and been drinking.)

We cut to Yueyang Sect Manor, where Gao Chong is seated in front of a hall full of other people. There are a bunch of nameless sect leaders, a couple sect leaders who keep showing up but never get names other than “Leaders of Haisha Gangs & Water Transport Gangs”, and two named disciples of Yueyang Sect who I don’t remember: Zhu Yaozhi and Gao Shan (whose surname matches Gao Chong’s).

Gao Chong is telling them about how Ghost Valley attacked and slaughtered Mirror Lake Sect, and how this is “unprecedented shame and humiliation” and it’s time for revenge! Everyone agrees, and then Gao Chong tells us about the agreement made twenty years ago between the jianghu and “the masters who developed Ghost Valley”: so long as Ghost Valley doesn’t harm the people of the jianghu, the righteous people will not step inside Ghost Valley.

But since Ghost Valley hurt them, Gao Chong’s going to hold a Heroes Conference on July 15th, and use that to gather everyone to eradicate “this cancerous evil.”



We cut from everyone chanting agreement to Ao Laizi (leader of Mount Tai Sect) standing in some pretty treetops at night. He meets with one of his disciples (Qing Bai), asks after the health of another disciple (Qing Hua), and then Ao Laizi says that they can’t light a fire yet; it’s not long until they reach Mount Wudang.

Qing Bai offers to keep watch while Ao Laizi rests, but Ao Laizi says he’s fine. He also says that “Because of the fire at Mirror Lake Sect, Shen Shen let us get away” as we pan over to see the Danyang Sect kids.



When Qing Bai says that they’d just battle to the death if Shen Shen catches up with them, the Danyang kids suggest Ao Laizi just hand them over (since Shen Shen is their master’s sworn brother and all).

Ao Laizi sighs and says that Shen Shen is chasing them to steal the Glazed Armor. (Poor Shen Shen; he’s a lot nicer than this first introduction of him makes him see, but this show is built on reversals of expectation like that.) He promises to keep the Glazed Armor from falling into the hands of the Five Lakes Alliance, and the scene ends.

Back to ZZS, who is having some nice fun nail times. We get a surprising number of shots of his chest (because his robes are quite open) as he settles his qi, and then an owl calls and we’re shown some people dressed as ghost valley minions jumping around on rooftops.



Chengling is shouting for help as he has nightmares, and the ghost masks peer through a cracked-open window. ZZS (now with his robes more properly covering his chest) wakes Chengling with a touch, and Chengling shouts for his dad before recognising ZZS. ZZS tells Chengling it’s fine now, and that Chengling should get some sleep.




ZZS leaves the room, hears some sounds of fighting, and turns to follow the noises. We’re shown those two ghost-masked people lying on the ground outside, and ZZS comes to examine them. (His robes now show some of his chest again. This progression is very funny to me.)



WKX is, of course, waiting for him, and says that he handled everything for ZZS and ZZS can go to sleep. (I get vibes of, like, a cat who brought dead prey back as a gift.) ZZS ignores that suggestion, commenting on how it’s Ghost Valley again.

“It’s difficult to tell a ghost from a human,” WKX says. “Someone wearing a ghost mask is not necessarily a ghost. Someone who looks like a human may not necessarily be a human.” Talking about the ‘ghosts’ here, of course, but also himself. He’s giving ZZS so many clues to his identity, if ZZS wants to take them. And then he waits for ZZS to look at him before saying, “Who knows?”

ZZS just looks at the wine jar WKX is holding instead, and WKX praises his taste in wine before asking if he can call ZZS “A-Xu,” and proceeds to do so without any sign of acknowledgement from ZZS. But ZZS doesn’t stop him, so it’s fine. WKX says that ZZS’s ability to judge wine is on par with WKX’s ability to judge people, and then offers the wine to ZZS.



ZZS brushes WKX’s hand aside, but they remain in this pose (keeping contact between the back of ZZS’s wrist and the underside of WKX’s) as the conversation continues. ZZS scoffs at WKX’s skills, WKX says he’s sure that “a big surprise is hiding underneath [ZZS’s] outermost skin”, and the music shifts to one of the soundtrack’s more intimate songs as ZZS flips his hand over and runs it along WKX’s hand to take the wine from him without a word.



After taking a swig of wine, ZZS says, “You might as well rip it off and take a look” before leaving. WKX smiles after him, says he’s in no hurry, and we end this episode.




General Commentary

Travel time is so strange in shows like this. It makes sense that Deng Kuan is at Mirror Lake Manor the morning after the attack, but that Shen Shen, Huang He, and the grandparent pair were all so nearby as well… I dunno! It makes sense plot-wise, and it’s a general convenience, but it does make it harder to tell how far apart anything is from each other. (It’s especially interesting with Mirror Lake Sect, because Zhang Yusen seems to have been trying to stay out of jianghu politics, so it feels like there’d be less reason for so many people to be so nearby…)

I’m so fascinated by this introduction of Huang He! I hadn’t remembered that he’s introduced in a way that frames him as a nice and reasonable person, because it’s not an impression that lasts very long once he starts acting on his own. (And next episode it’ll become even more apparent how much ambition and shit-stirring potential he has, iirc…)

Similarly, for all that Tao Hong and Lv Liu are being dicks to Shen Shen, they’re making some very good points about the Five Lakes Alliance and how it’s going to get fucked up. They also continue framing this all as Ghost Valley vs Five Lakes Alliance, of course, because we’re still early in the show and those supposedly clear-cut lines haven’t been turned into a muddle of shades of gray and a tangle of debts, ambitions, and revenge plans.

I also am really fascinated by all the discussion of appearances and what is hidden/what is pre-judged simply by the outermost layer. WKX especially makes a lot of comments about layers and explicitly talks about personality vs appearance when Gu Xiang is whining about the person with fantastic shoulder blades but an unattractive face, and applies that same logic to ZZS (and himself!) later in the episode.

There’s definitely an essay that could be written about this canon and the use of masks both as literal objects (the “ghost valley” mooks that are actually Zhao Jing’s men, ZZS’s skin mask, Liu Qingqiao’s masks…) and as social constructions (Zhao Jing’s public actions vs actual goals, WKX’s nice young master persona and his Valley Master history, Shen Shen and how he’s presented at the beginning here vs the true layers we see later). Even Ye Baiyi letting people think that he’s his own disciple at first plays into this, because the show is so fascinated narratively with how first impressions can be deceiving. Which makes a rewatch really rewarding, because you get to see the ways all those reversals are set up!

Also, it is really clear from how Gu Xiang and Wen Kexing talk about the “ghost” mooks that yeah these aren’t really Ghost Valley people. I’m curious how they know this/why they believe this, because there’s no way they know every person in Ghost Valley. Fighting style? Probably?

I’m really fascinated by how we’ve been introduced to all the Five Lakes Alliance leaders now, and seen all of the living ones (Lu Taichong, the Dayang Sect Leader, is dead) except for Zhao Jing. I hadn’t noticed, on a first viewing, how long it took us to meet him—I don’t think we’ll see him in ep4 either—because his name comes up a lot. But we don’t meet him! We’re just told about him, and that gives time for a viewer to get an idea that he’s a good person, and possibly better than these other sect leaders (Shen Shen, Gao Chong, even Ao Laizi [who narratively sort of takes Lu Taichong’s place]) who we’ve seen negative aspects of already.

And then there’s the ending of this episode, where ZZS actively invites WKX to try and get under his skin. He’s spent a fair amount of time avoiding WKX on the road, and then all this last day at the inn studying him. This is half a taunt, I’m sure, but it’s also framed as ZZS finally returning some of the interest that WKX’s been directing at him; there’s no other explanation I can think of for how his hand slides over WKX’s. I’m not sure it’s quite flirting for flirting’s sake yet, but they’re both perfectly capable of flirting as a means to an end, and recognise that information-searching drive in each other.


A final note! This is the inn that WKX rents out. I’m pretty sure the Tianya here is the same as the Tianya in Tian Ya Ke’s title, which is neat.




Questions And Other Things That I’d Love to Hear Opinions About

1. Shen Shen! I love Shen Shen’s character arc, but here he’s not introduced at his best. Understandably so, considering all the emotions going on!


2. What do you think WKX and ZZS think of each other at the end of this episode? It does feel like a shift happened, but how far has it gone? (ZZS is still denying WKX as a travel companion/doesn’t want that kind of intimacy next episode, so…)


3. How do you think Ao Laizi came to the conclusion that Shen Shen wanted to steal the Glazed Armor? Is that something Lu Taichong said, or purely because of actions Shen Shen had been taking before Mirror Lake Manor was attacked? (Shen Shen is not a very good communicator either way, I feel.)


4. Please tell me any thoughts you have about masks and the use of masks in this show! :D They were brought up a lot, this episode!


5. Gao Chong rouses people to attack Ghost Valley because of Mirror Lake Sect’s destruction; do you think he just doesn’t know about Dayang Sect’s destruction yet? (I forget who knows what about its destruction when, because Dayang Sect just isn’t focused on very much later on…)

Next Week: The Beggar Gangs attempt to kidnap Chengling, meeting Qin Song and the other Scorpion Assassins, and WKX’s flute-playing.

Comments

[dryadfangs]

i disliked shen shen so much at first, and by the end of the show i had adopted him.

[shadaras]

Seriously! They gave him such a good character arc, to start by showing us him at his worst and then make us realise why he was acting like that and bring us around to caring about him by the end. <3

[trobadora]

Haha, right? Oh, Shen Shen.

[aurumcalendula]

The way WKX kept turning up put me in mind of a screwball comedy.

On my first watch, Chengling's hesitation about changing clothes made me briefly wonder if he was a girl in disguise.


1. I totally thought Shen Shen was one of the bad guys for the longest time!

2. I LOVE that exchange at the end of the episode! (and that despite all his eye-rolling, ZZS is flirting back relatively quickly) Like ZZS doesn't trust WKX, but he's definitely interested. I wonder if part of it is ZZS seeing that WKX has already dealt with the 'ghosts'. I find it interesting that we don't WKX seriously fighting (without his face obscured) until I think the next episode.

3. Maybe because of the rhyme?

4. I'd forgotten how much they'd talked about masks in this episode. It definitely ties in with the identity and appearances vs reality stuff running through the show.

5. I suspect he doesn't know yet (iirc he meets the survivors/and learns about it around the same time ZZS, WKX, and Chengling arrive).

[shadaras]

On my first watch, Chengling's hesitation about changing clothes made me briefly wonder if he was a girl in disguise.

ah yes my trans!Chengling feelings, I have so many of them and they are all about that scene. xD Yeah, or that he was a girl in disguise.

I totally thought Shen Shen was one of the bad guys for the longest time!

They frame him as one! Starting with Ao Laizi thinking he's out to steal the Glazed Armor, they set him up as the antagonistic one of the sworn brothers!

I find it interesting that we don't WKX seriously fighting (without his face obscured) until I think the next episode.

We never see him fighting enough. It's clear that he's skilled by now, because of how he matches ZZS, but you're right that we've seen him do single actions (or his brief spats with ZZS) instead of outright fighting and killing with all the lethality he's capable of. I'm looking forward to seeing him fight. :)

I suspect he doesn't know yet (iirc he meets the survivors/and learns about it around the same time ZZS, WKX, and Chengling arrive).

The secrecy around Dayang Sect's destruction, given that, is so interesting in contrast to Mirror Lake Sect's burning.

[rekishi]

[It took me almost 3 h to write this because I got sidetracked by someone on Discord watching NiF ep 1 and there was a good discussion going on, so I might be repeating other people's points? Apologies.)

WKX and his shoulder blade fetish are a thing that makes me snort every time and I sort of want to write a very short fic on it in connection the scars on ZZS' back, but I can't quite get there. Possibly I need narie to help.

ZZS goes on to say that every few years, some martial arts treasure (technique, weapon, etc.) gets made up, causing the jianghu to scramble for it and leading to countless deaths.

Which sort of describes a LOT of wuxia drama and is therefore just a little self-ironic.

It’s just him, and the boat drifting forwards?

I wonder if he can, like, imbue his qi into the boat?

“Fate let us meet.” WKX responds with, “And fate will reunite us,”

If, if, WKX knows that he's ZZS and therefore his shixiong, this has an intentional double meaning. If this is chance (by WKX, not from the writers, the writers made this totally intentional) then it was very.....serendipitous chance. I'm not sure he does because of his inner monologue later, but he must have an inkling at least. Especially because he does mention Baiyi.

Next, ZZS and Chengling pause to drink some water from what ZZS calls a lake but sure looks like a river to me.

Never drink from standing water, kids.

which is that sect with the “baby Lans” in their white robes and headbands

You can't imagine how glad I am that you mention it because that's what I thought the first time I saw them. "Did you kids take a wrong turn somewhere, should someone call LWJ to pick you up?" (which gets more hilarious now that I see WX and LWJ as brothers from another mother with their lack of chill).

Completely reasonable for ZZS to be so suspicious and paranoid and checking for traps and danger everywhere, since they’ve been forced into WKX’s company by WKX’s gratuitous use of money.

Dude is loaded.
Also, it plays into WKX words later about masks, ghosts, and people. Plus, WKX is totally introduced in the villain role. If I hadn't known him and would have gone into this drama completely naive, he would totally ping as a villain!

I have a lot of feelings about this scene, and how ZZS notices so much but doesn’t press about any of it,

The thing is, I think he's still in the "I cared for people for so long and they all died and I don't want to care about anyone anymore who then die [under my hands] (not at, mind you)" phase in which he also left the Court. And he doesn't want to care about Chengling bit he clearly already does but he doesn't want to admit it. And he thinks the less he asks about stuff and obviously shows that he....is interested, has a care, the less this child will attach to him (hah, as if) and so he doesn't. He refuses to care. It...just doesn't work.

ZZS, meanwhile, has gotten dressed so that he is only wearing a bad mask instead of also ratty hair and clothes, and is now descending the inn’s stairs.

I have...thoughts about this. I'm not sure what they are! But he washed and yes, combed his hair and he looks more like a person than something the cat dragged in.

But also, he voluntarily wears the clothes WKX provided for him. Because...gift horses? I have no clue.

And WKX has provided clothes that are more in the 'style' (if we call it that) that ZZS has been wearing with his disguise rather than proper robes like WKX is preferring (and even he has varying styles of formality). Which feels significant for reasons I can't articulate well? But it feels like even though ZZS doesn't want to, he's taking a step closer to WKX and WKX knows where he has to make concessions without even mentioning it. (Or I'm overthinking it.)

Inside, ZZS puts food in Chengling’s bowl as the four of them begin eating. WKX comments on how Chengling hasn’t started eating (despite ZZS’s bowl pretty solidly having less food in it), and asks if the food isn’t to Chengling’s taste. Chengling says that isn’t it, thanks him for the hospitality, and continues not eating.

Actually, ZZS' bowl doesn't have any food but the basic rice probably pre-set which you would then garnish with whatever (the way ZZS is doing for him, that's btw a very caring gesture). The thing is, what strikes me about this scene especially and actually many of the food scenes in this drama, at least all of my Chinese friends and colleagues have a huge focus on food-in-a-social-setting. Easting is best done as a communal thing and we see that reflected in this scene (by ZZS insisting they wait) and the fact that ZZS himself doesn't eat is actually quite striking. And thank you for noting this, I also paid extra attention to it this time around. At the same time he puts food in Chengling's bowl which... Yeah, I have feelings in food scenes, clearly.

Chengling is shouting for help as he has nightmares, and the ghost masks peer through a cracked-open window. ZZS (now with his robes more properly covering his chest) wakes Chengling with a touch, and Chengling shouts for his dad before recognising ZZS. ZZS tells Chengling it’s fine now, and that Chengling should get some sleep.

Hmmm, ZZS, your sect leader is showing. Quick, cover it up!
He just can't help himself, can he? It's so ingrained in his bones, and I think he's more and more giving in to his instincts until he accepts Chengling formally as his disciple. Sure, anyone who cares for someone would wake them from a nightmare but...

[I'm not sure is it in the drama or the book where he says Chengling can sleep because he will stay up and look out?]

A final note! This is the inn that WKX rents out. I’m pretty sure the Tianya here is the same as the Tianya in Tian Ya Ke’s title, which is neat.

There's actually even the ke in there (客) which makes sense because alone it just means "guest". (I can't read the last character, but I'm sure someone else can!) [ETA: Might be 栈 (zhan) since 客栈 means inn/lodge/small hotel, but I'm not good with this sort of writing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

I'll think about your questions tomorrow, lol. I think. Or just answer on other people's comments!

[shadaras]

It took me almost 3 h to write this because I got sidetracked by someone on Discord watching NiF ep 1 and there was a good discussion going on

it was a super fun discussion, though xD <3

If, if, WKX knows that he's ZZS and therefore his shixiong, this has an intentional double meaning.

I think in the comments on previous posts we've discussed how much WKX knows about ZZS? I feel like he likely knows ZZS's name and connection to Siji Manor, but I cannot tell/recall how much he remembers his shixiong at this time? I'd need to go rewatch a bunch of the middle stuff to figure out if WKX's memories of his shixiong have been there all along or not, because I could see that going either way!

But yes, the writing about their meetings and fate is delightful regardless. :)

You can't imagine how glad I am that you mention it because that's what I thought the first time I saw them.

I swear I've heard other people call them this! And as much as I resent MDZS working its way into everything, I do think the design echo is interesting. :)

WKX is totally introduced in the villain role. If I hadn't known him and would have gone into this drama completely naive, he would totally ping as a villain!

xD He did ping as villain to me coming in having no clue who he was! (by this point it was clear that he was also the love interest, though.) And I love that they let him have that; it's delightful.

He refuses to care. It...just doesn't work.

A very nice summary of like... so much of this show! But yes, especially in this specific instance, it's very true. ZZS doesn't want to care about anything or anyone (including himself!) right now, but unfortunately he has been given a child to take care of and he cannot help caring. (see also: when he gives Chengling food later, yes, which is such an intimate gesture...)

I have...thoughts about this. I'm not sure what they are! But he washed and yes, combed his hair and he looks more like a person than something the cat dragged in.

xD okay since we keep talking about this, here is the screenshot of when ZZS first descends the stairs all nicely dressed:



It's especially clear when this is a small image (click if you want the full-sized screenshot; I actually linked it here because it's such a contrast), because when it's small his sad mask is way less noticeable and he just looks like himself!

WKX choosing to give him (and Chengling) relatively cheap/common clothes (but in nice colors! and matching colors!) instead of the expensive/well-made robes he clearly has access to (and the taste for!) is such a telling point, yeah! It's a concession he makes first, I think, and that ZZS allows himself to accept for Chengling's sake almost more than his own. (ZZS would probably have been fine, but if he's having Chengling change into new clean clothes then he should as well...)

ZZS also cleans the dirt off his face and neatens up his hair, which actually is a step closer to showing his "true face"; there's still the mask, of course, but it's easier to see the grace and beauty he carries himself with when he's wearing these new robes (they're less bulky) and is admitting he needs to look like something other than a beggar.

...that's more coherent about this than either of us were being yesterday, at least? xD Please, I'd love to hear more thoughts if you have them!

Eating is best done as a communal thing and we see that reflected in this scene (by ZZS insisting they wait) and the fact that ZZS himself doesn't eat is actually quite striking.

Mhmm! But it's easy to miss, because he's so quiet during this scene, so the focus of attention is on the people who are eating. And he's engaged with the food in giving it to Chengling, so it's less noticeable in that respect too.

[I'm not sure is it in the drama or the book where he says Chengling can sleep because he will stay up and look out?]

I was waiting for that line too! xD It's not in this episode, at least.

There's actually even the ke in there (客) which makes sense because alone it just means "guest". (I can't read the last character, but I'm sure someone else can!) [ETA: Might be 栈 (zhan) since 客栈 means inn/lodge/small hotel, but I'm not good with this sort of writing

I recall you DMing me having gotten confirmation of that last character from a friend! Yes, thank you for this; it's super cool!

[rosaxx50]

But also, he voluntarily wears the clothes WKX provided for him. Because...gift horses? I have no clue.

I... actually hadn't picked up on that. This is hilarious. Here he is, wearing the clothes WKX picked out (because they were the only ones available), sleeping in the room WKX paid for (because there was no other choice), and yet he still takes the wine that WKX offers.

Dude, I watched WoH unspoiled, and I totally thought that WKX would be the villain for the first few episodes!! I'm still surprised at how few villains there ended up being, overall. It's really a "everyone's the protagonist in their own story" sort of show.

[trobadora]

And WKX has provided clothes that are more in the 'style' (if we call it that) that ZZS has been wearing with his disguise rather than proper robes like WKX is preferring

Oh, that is a really great point!

Also, I love 天涯客栈 and getting the novel's title in there that way. :D

[bladedweapons]

"The thing is, I think he's still in the "I cared for people for so long and they all died and I don't want to care about anyone anymore who then die [under my hands] (not at, mind you)" phase in which he also left the Court. And he doesn't want to care about Chengling bit he clearly already does but he doesn't want to admit it. And he thinks the less he asks about stuff and obviously shows that he....is interested, has a care, the less this child will attach to him (hah, as if) and so he doesn't. He refuses to care. It...just doesn't work."

Yes! I love this interpretation of how he is at this point.

"But also, he voluntarily wears the clothes WKX provided for him. Because...gift horses? I have no clue."

It certainly, extra-textually, makes them gorgeously matchy matchy for their first upcoming water fight etc. because isn't he still wearing it at that point? (And I *think* WKX is also wearing the same outfit he'll be wearing then - green outer, white inner with big collar, reddish belt?)
(Actually, looking at the screenshots above also at the end of the episode, I had been assuming ZZS was in that constantly for the next few episodes, but in the evening he's down to some soft whiteish robes? Are those just the inner robes without the blue outer? Idk but they remind me of his soft "sickly look" robes from eps 16-17, with the sheer layers.)

[rosaxx50]

Oh yeah, the line that sabriel mentioned about Gu Xiang getting offended at people ~jian gui~ and ~zhuang gui~ made me laugh, but I'm wondering in retrospect, I thought those were real ghosts, but under Wu Chang Ghost's purview instead of Wen Kexing's. But then, at the same time, surely real ghosts wouldn't have thought Gu Xiang was an easy target, once she appeared, much less Wen Kexing. Hmm.

My other source of amusement was that, on rewatch, it's apparent how much ZZS gets cleaned up through the course of the episode. At the halfway mark in the inn, he's wiping off half the dirt, and basically recognizable as a ZZH character! I think ZZS here is happy to flirt, but not for anything more lasting than that, which Wen Kexing following him around would imply. Intrigued. But it's not until the next episode that he really sees something more real about Wen Kexing (that he can play the xiao in a healing, calm way), which leads directly into actually letting him tag along. Plus, by the next episode, Wen Kexing has betrayed that trust by letting Chengling get chased around after promising to "look after him". Not sure if Wen Kexing feels more genuine attachment yet, either.

Shen Shen!!!! I love him. He's so ineffectual, and I kind of like that he really takes the role of That Bystander, who is fumbling, but actually does mean well, and has, in fact, always had his priorities right. He's the epitome of "don't mistake incompetence for malice", and I think that through Wen Kexing's journey through jianghu (and Gu Xiang's), there is a level of symbolism that WKX eventually recognizes that, and that he, That Guy Representing jianghu's follies (rather than its corruption), lets Gu Xiang go.

[shadaras]

But then, at the same time, surely real ghosts wouldn't have thought Gu Xiang was an easy target, once she appeared, much less Wen Kexing.

Yeah! That, along with all the commentary that GX and WKX offer on these ghosts, makes me feel like while we're meant to read them as real ghost-valley-ghosts on a first viewing, coming back all the information is there to see them as people just dressed as ghosts.

He's the epitome of "don't mistake incompetence for malice"

Yes! That's exactly it! The way everyone (in-world and as viewers) comes to realise that Shen Shen really is trying; he's just not great at following through productively! But he gets there, pretty much, by the end. :)

[trobadora]

He's the epitome of "don't mistake incompetence for malice"

Haha, OMG, that is so spot on. And excellent point about him representing the jianghu's follies rather than its corruption. ♥

[sabriel]

Gao Chong rouses people to attack Ghost Valley because of Mirror Lake Sect’s destruction; do you think he just doesn’t know about Dayang Sect’s destruction yet?

I personally think he didn't mention Danyang Sect because it didn't reflect very well on the Five Lakes Alliance!

(Some of this is inferred from information from later eps.)
1. Danyan Sects surviving junior disciples were explicitly instructed to go to Ao Laizi instead of Lu Taichong's sworn brothers in the Five Lakes Alliance by Lu Taichong himself. Shen Shen was VERY dissatisfied with this. Did Lu Taichong not trust his 'brothers' enough?

2. Lu Taichong's sect wasn't murdered in the night by Ghost valley, or in some grand battle with some other people. I don't remember which episode exactly, but the phrasing was that Lu Taichong was "被氣死的". He was so furious/worked up, he died! (I'm also assuming he was in bad health at the time because otherwise, this isn't normally a thing.) It's not exactly the most honorable way to die!

3. Related to #2, in ep 10 during the ghost valley meeting, Wen Kexing mentioned Xi Sang Ghost held at least 1-2 of her wedding games and killed off Lu TaiChong's direct line of disciples. So, was Lu Taichong so furious that his disciples are dead, or was he furious that his disciples lacked so much honor that Xi Sang Ghost thought them 'worthy' of being in her wedding game (implying he was a bad teacher)?

[shadaras]

I personally think he didn't mention Danyang Sect because it didn't reflect very well on the Five Lakes Alliance!

Thank you for all this analysis! :D It's very good, and I hadn't noticed a lot of those references to Dayang Sect in my initial viewing. (And I definitely didn't remember them now, even if I did notice them!) :) I'm looking forward to noticing (and retaining) more of the references to them in this rewatch!

[trobadora]

Oh wow, I didn't remember #2 and #3 at all! Thank you for bringing it up here.

[trobadora]

WKX would’ve had the experience of touching Siji Manor skin masks before, since Qin Huaizhang disguised WKX’s parents using this same technique. Plus, he knows Liu Qianqiao and her disguise skills, which are also Qin Huaizhang’s; I don’t know if WKX knows the name of her master/made the connection there, though? Perhaps this came up and I have simply forgotten.

That's a great point about his parents - his knowledge of this kind of disguise goes way back, not just the few years that Liu Qianqiao has been in Ghost Valley. No wonder he recognises it. And I'm pretty sure he must know where LQQ learned it. I wonder how that made him feel when he first found out - Qin Huaizhang helping someone else, but also ultimately not enough, just like him and his parents?

he’s still trying very hard to not get dragged into everything

He's trying so hard not to care about what's going on, and not to care about the people involved! And he's totally failing already. *g*

ZZS goes on to say that every few years, some martial arts treasure (technique, weapon, etc.) gets made up, causing the jianghu to scramble for it and leading to countless deaths.

I love that they're lampshading the typical McGuffin plot. :D

He thinks it’s ridiculous, and all just greed. WKX laughs, and says he’s surprised ZZS agrees with him about how “Though peace reigns over the land, ignorant people create trouble for themselves”. (WKX’s tone of voice here is… I don’t know how to describe it? But it’s smooth and self-satisfied. They’ve been verbally sparring this whole conversation, and WKX’s tone makes it feel like he thinks he’s won, or that he confirmed something that he was looking for.)

I think it's mainly about feeling ZZS out, and he's satisfied with what he's got so far, ZZS being disdainful of the greed that drives people into these plots.

I return to wondering about Zhang-furen, who isn’t mentioned at all during any of this.

Yeah, she doesn't even get mentioned. :(

Deng Kuan calls Shen Shen "shishu", and they seem very familiar, which says something about their sects, I suppose - two of the five have apparently distanced themselves, but the remaining three are close.

On rewatch I also really notice the genuine grief behind Shen Shen's anger, and his apparent inability to express his feelings without resorting to anger. He means well, poor guy, but he should really buy a clue and some anger management.

The pastel grandparents arrive! (Their names are Grandmother Tao Hong and Grandfather Lv Liu.) Tao Hong is laughing about Shen Shen’s boast, and she mocks him for swearing brotherhood but not actually dying together with his brother.

It's very interesting on rewatch how much these two draw attention to how fractured the alliance actually is, and how very much Shen Shen really doesn't want to acknowledge it. Also, Tao Hong is totally right when she calls him a flunky!

(Random aside, apropos of Lü Liu: this pinyin workaround irrationally frustrates me so much. I mean, I know why people use v for ü - because they're using keyboards that don't have an "ü" key - but it still makes me twitch.)

Huang He says that he invited Tao Hong and Lv Liu here to help them, acting very much like the nice righteous/orthodox sect leader the beggar gangs usually have in wuxia (I’m fascinated by this trope, especially since I only learned about it after watching SHL and seeing Huang He’s reversal/inversion of it).

What I'm fascinated with is how insincere he came across, even on first watch, and I wonder what the intention was. Tension between the trope and his actual behaviour making you question which one's the red herring, I suppose ...

He also tells them to restrain themselves for his sake, and “forget about our past grievances for now. For now.”

The Youtube translation is misleading here - he repetition of "for now" makes it sound very very different from the original, where it's the "放下" (set aside) that is repeated!

WKX responds with, “And fate will reunite us,” and ZZS actually smiles at him momentarily here!

It's a very sarcastic smile! Even before WKX so visibly keeps taking fate into his own hands.

WKX smiles and thinks to himself “I’m looking forward to finding out who you are”

How literally do you take this? I'm still convinced he must be reasonably sure already that it's ZZS, or at least suspect very strongly, and I think he means less that and more finding out more about who ZZS is. Having met him once as a kid doesn't tell him very much, after all.

Shen Shen comments on the yellow paper (without using any more specific a term than that), and identifies it as relating to Ghost Valley.

Which makes it absolutely ridiculous how long it took him to notice the paper, given that it's strewn absolutely everywhere! Oh, Shen Shen. :D

(I wish we had a more specific term for these things!)

WKX’s smile fades. ZZS isn’t doing what he expects, it seems. It makes sense that after two attempts to show up and needle ZZS about what’s even up with him while he’s journeying, he escalates so far in his next attempt.

Yeah, at the lake/river he clearly recognises just how stubborn ZZS is going to be about this,

ZZS, meanwhile, has gotten dressed so that he is only wearing a bad mask instead of also ratty hair and clothes

ZZS was so irritated to have to accept the room from WKX! And I feel he really only accepted because he wasn't going to force ZCL to sleep rough. But also, he could totally have refused both the clothes and the conversation with WKX, and he doesn't. He's changing track here, starting to feel WKX out more directly.

ZZS retorts that it’s more like he’s being haunted by a lingering ghost. (Which is much sadder—and more pointedly accurate!—knowing about Zhen Yan.)

Oh, ouch. OUCH.

WKX says that while ZZS must be very handsome, WKX’s “may not necessarily be that appealing” and implies that it may be scarred and/or terrifying (which is quite honest of him, really)

And he sounds sad while he says it, doesn't he? It's the precursor to his later line about how ZZS won't see him as a friend any more once he's seen the truth. So much less at stake here, emotionally, but it still says something about his self-image, at a time when he's mostly being smug and pushy otherwise.

There’s a very charged exchange as WKX attempts to touch their cups together and ZZS doesn’t want to let him, where we hear a musical cue that I associate with trouble/strife at the moment their eyes meet and ZZS stops contesting this. Which is interesting! I don’t know what ZZS is catching, beyond WKX’s evident skill!

Yeah, there's something in that moment - I think WKX shows a little of his ghost!self here in his expression, and ZZS catches it, but also, rather than escalating the fight, WKX pulls back to clinking cups. Idk, I can't put my finger on it, but I'm going to think about this more.

WKX tells Gu Xiang to behave herself, since they’re travelling in the martial arts world, and to look at how other girls conduct themselves. ZZS glances at him, because this is yet another clue in the “who are you really?” compendium.

Yes! And WKX could be making more of an effort to hide this, but he doesn't. So interesting what he lets slip in front of ZZS ... as you say further down, he's giving so many clues!

Gao Chong is telling them about how Ghost Valley attacked and slaughtered Mirror Lake Sect, and how this is “unprecedented shame and humiliation” and it’s time for revenge!

I have no idea what to make of Gao Chong, honestly. I don't feel I have a grip on his character at all.

(His robes now show some of his chest again. This progression is very funny to me.)

Hee!

(I get vibes of, like, a cat who brought dead prey back as a gift.) ZZS ignores that suggestion, commenting on how it’s Ghost Valley again.

1) yes about the cat! :D

2) ZZS talking about Ghost Valley following him closely is so funny. How much does he suspect WKX's connection at this point?

ZZS brushes WKX’s hand aside, but they remain in this pose (keeping contact between the back of ZZS’s wrist and the underside of WKX’s) as the conversation continues. ZZS scoffs at WKX’s skills, WKX says he’s sure that “a big surprise is hiding underneath [ZZS’s] outermost skin”, and the music shifts to one of the soundtrack’s more intimate songs as ZZS flips his hand over and runs it along WKX’s hand to take the wine from him without a word.

There’s definitely an essay that could be written about this canon and the use of masks both as literal objects (the “ghost valley” mooks that are actually Zhao Jing’s men, ZZS’s skin mask, Liu Qingqiao’s masks…) and as social constructions (Zhao Jing’s public actions vs actual goals, WKX’s nice young master persona and his Valley Master history, Shen Shen and how he’s presented at the beginning here vs the true layers we see later). Even Ye Baiyi letting people think that he’s his own disciple at first plays into this, because the show is so fascinated narratively with how first impressions can be deceiving. Which makes a rewatch really rewarding, because you get to see the ways all those reversals are set up!

Yes! It's such a consistent throughline, and it's really fun to watch knowing what's coming.

This is half a taunt, I’m sure, but it’s also framed as ZZS finally returning some of the interest that WKX’s been directing at him; there’s no other explanation I can think of for how his hand slides over WKX’s.

THIS SCENE OMG.

Yeah, it's fascinating, because WKX may keep hinting and poking about ZZS's disguise, but he doesn't actualy try to force things on that end - and then that taunt. Is he trying to provoke WKX into acting? Idk, but they're definitely both continually testing each other when they're interacting.

How do you think Ao Laizi came to the conclusion that Shen Shen wanted to steal the Glazed Armor? Is that something Lu Taichong said, or purely because of actions Shen Shen had been taking before Mirror Lake Manor was attacked?

Since Shen Shen later gets framed for killing Ao Laizi (complete with Wuchang Gui claiming to act on Shen Shen's orders) I assume something similar must have happened here too - someone chasing them claiming to be working for Shen Shen.

[shadaras]

I wonder how that made him feel when he first found out - Qin Huaizhang helping someone else, but also ultimately not enough, just like him and his parents?

Oh, that's a lovely question! :D I suspect it'd depend on how old he was when he found out, and how exactly he found out... there's some juicy fic possibilities in this.

I love that they're lampshading the typical McGuffin plot. :D

Yes! :D

Deng Kuan calls Shen Shen "shishu", and they seem very familiar, which says something about their sects, I suppose - two of the five have apparently distanced themselves, but the remaining three are close.

Yeah, I've been noticing that. It's really fascinating, and I'm curious about what led to this particular split. Was it all about the Glazed Armor and Rong Xuan's death? Or was there something else that Zhang Yusen and Lu Taichong were so upset by that they distanced themselves from their sworn brothers?

On rewatch I also really notice the genuine grief behind Shen Shen's anger, and his apparent inability to express his feelings without resorting to anger. He means well, poor guy, but he should really buy a clue and some anger management.

Yes! He's so upset! He's a really emotionally-driven character in general, I think, which is really sweet but it's unfortunate that he doesn't know how to control/deal with those emotions...

It's very interesting on rewatch how much these two draw attention to how fractured the alliance actually is, and how very much Shen Shen really doesn't want to acknowledge it. Also, Tao Hong is totally right when she calls him a flunky!

Yeah! It's there from the start, but I'd forgotten how strongly our attention is drawn to it...

(Random aside, apropos of Lü Liu: this pinyin workaround irrationally frustrates me so much. I mean, I know why people use v for ü - because they're using keyboards that don't have an "ü" key - but it still makes me twitch.)

<3 I'd put more effort into doing a find-replace to write "Lü" instead of "Lv" if the subtitles did... (but yeah, I get why that would be annoying!)

The Youtube translation is misleading here - he repetition of "for now" makes it sound very very different from the original, where it's the "放下" (set aside) that is repeated!

whyyyyy youtube that's such a different meaning/tone!

How literally do you take this? I'm still convinced he must be reasonably sure already that it's ZZS, or at least suspect very strongly, and I think he means less that and more finding out more about who ZZS is. Having met him once as a kid doesn't tell him very much, after all.

Finding out more about who ZZS is fits within a literal reading to me? I think I also read it as sort of a "I want to figure out what you're up to/why you're disguised like this".

I feel he really only accepted because he wasn't going to force ZCL to sleep rough. But also, he could totally have refused both the clothes and the conversation with WKX, and he doesn't. He's changing track here, starting to feel WKX out more directly.

Yes! :D

I think WKX shows a little of his ghost!self here in his expression, and ZZS catches it, but also, rather than escalating the fight, WKX pulls back to clinking cups. Idk, I can't put my finger on it, but I'm going to think about this more.

Yeah, that feels right? But I also can't figure out exactly what's going on, or what he's noticed. If you have more thoughts later, I'd love to hear them!

I have no idea what to make of Gao Chong, honestly. I don't feel I have a grip on his character at all.

My sense of him is that he's a really honorable man who cares about family and is a bit stuck in his ways. I cannot tell you how I got to those conclusions (my brain runs on emotional consistency, not on citing scenes! it's sometimes really useful and sometimes really unhelpful!), but I can tell you that it took until his death scene for me to substantially disconnect him from Nie Mingjue in my head...

ZZS talking about Ghost Valley following him closely is so funny. How much does he suspect WKX's connection at this point?

Great question! :D Gut instinct says he's probably got some suspicions from how much WKX knows about Ghost Valley, but isn't sure exactly what the connection is yet.

Idk, but they're definitely both continually testing each other when they're interacting.

Yes! I love how much they're testing each other; it's so wonderful to watch. :3

Since Shen Shen later gets framed for killing Ao Laizi (complete with Wuchang Gui claiming to act on Shen Shen's orders) I assume something similar must have happened here too - someone chasing them claiming to be working for Shen Shen.

That would make sense! :D

[mekare]

No wonder he recognises it. And I'm pretty sure he must know where LQQ learned it. I wonder how that made him feel when he first found out - Qin Huaizhang helping someone else, but also ultimately not enough, just like him and his parents?

Ooh good. He must be highly ambivalent at least!

I think it's mainly about feeling ZZS out, and he's satisfied with what he's got so far, ZZS being disdainful of the greed that drives people into these plots.

That is how I read it as well. And his question for Chengling directly afterwards was the same! But there ZZS intervened because he didn‘t want Chengling put on the spot or the conversation drifting into dangerous specifics. He is still not sure how unpredictable WKX is with regard to the Glazed Armour and there is no reason for him to believe WKX when he says he doesn‘t care about it.

WKX’s “may not necessarily be that appealing” and implies that it may be scarred and/or terrifying (which is quite honest of him, really)

And he sounds sad while he says it, doesn't he?

He does! These little moments made him so much more interesting although the peacocking was fun too.

[peachpai]

I'm convinced Shen Shen doesn't actually have a sect. It's just him and maybe his boat. He's trying to look cool and dignified by pretending he didn't just furiously paddle that thing across the lake on his own.

Can we TALK about what a fashion icon Ao Laizi is?? Me and my roommate lost our minds the first time around when he jumped out the tree and his robes fanned out to reveal the stripes.

4. Masks can indicate that appearances are sometimes deceiving, but I think more than that they first give permission to breach social boundaries, to do things the person would normally not be able to do. Even with a metaphorical mask like Zhao Jing's respectability, it gives him the freedom to do what he wants to do, no one is looking too hard. ZZS's literal mask does the same for him.

[shadaras]

xD Shen Shen is introduced as having a sect! We just never see them!

I love Ao Laizi's stripey robes! They're so much fun!

Ahhhh I love your mask thoughts! :D Yes, I agree; ZZS picks a mask (and a social role!) so that he doesn't need to take responsibility and is free to do whatever he wants (like sunbathe and wander and drink).

[trobadora]

I love the stripey robes! That is such a great shot. :D

Very random and minor thing

[sabriel]

Regarding Tao Hong and Lv Liu, their names, translated very literally mean 'Peach Pink' and 'Green Willow'.

Whoever designed their costumes took their names extremely literally, LOL.

Also, re: Shen Shen. It's a minor joke in the Chinese fandom to call him 嬸嬸 (shěn) -> i.e., 'Aunty'. I'm sure you can see why~

Re: Very random and minor thing

[shadaras]

Ah! I'd remembered Tao Hong's name, but not Lv Liu's. :) Thank you!

I like the effect of taking those names literally; the costume design is really lovely.

xD very nice nickname for him!

[bladedweapons]

Hi, so, with everything, I've restarted my restart of a rewatch and it occurred to me that I did not join this rewatch discussion by participating until episode 6 or 7, though I read through all the comments on the previous ones. But so anyway here are some now-belated comments since I am back at episode 3 again... (Many of these comments are probably minutiae/random that don't really need responses, but much has already been discussed and I find discussing details soothing...) (I also tried to answer things multiple people already commented on in threads below, more or less, but here's the rest—)

Random: I LOVE wkx's white outfit here. The wide angular padded shoulders and very structured top half with the belted waistline, the variety textures, the gorgous and completely inappropriate for camping, burying bodies, or fighting white color. (press F for SHL costume cleaners...)

Also: Chengling's styling - I was thinking both last ep and this one that it is really cool how good a job the hair/makeup/costuming departments + script + actor (sorry, fan chat always just call him didi so idk actor's name!) did in creating contrast between Chengling in these very early episodes and the way he is later in the show. We've talked before about him having protagonist syndrome and how in a more typical wuxia, he would be the star (with wenzhou both actually dying in 32 and the remainder of the show being his vengeance for that), but it is very cool that even with subverting that pattern and focusing on wenzhou, they STILL gave Chengling an arc where he matures and becomes tremendously more competent anyway.

Eating around the fire: I really want to know how to make those bread on a stick things that A-Xiang makes, I would totally want to make those on camping trips if they are fairly easy! Yet again the mystery of wuxia travel without luggage/camping supplies, so where does she keep flour and stuff?

Warming the wine: it is strange to me that it doesn't make the metal too hot to touch with your mouth, but I know that is definitely overthinking.

"Anyway, she’s perfected her disguise skills more than ZZS cares to, which is fun."

She has, hasn't she? ZZS's is fantastic, but when Liu Qianqiu does her disguise as Yu Qiufeng I was SO impressed. (I have not gone back and done a comparative examination but I am STILL not sure which actor it was who actually went to talk to Huang He (I think that is what her disguise is, the first time? Not a part I rewatch much, though.)

WKX says “it’s perfect”

Ugh, that leaning over nose-to-nose 美吗？/ 完美 gets me every time. So good.

ZZS makes a guess about why the ghosts did this. He starts by talking about how jianghu matters are always about greed, hatred, and ignorance (the three evils of Buddhism, iirc)

I really love that he boils them down to this. Which, to be fair, they're the three poisons because they are fundamental in the first place, so it makes sense that conflicts would boil down to essentials, but still.

The poem- I hadn't realized but WKX does say that the first part of the rhyme is "has spread through Jiangnan these past few months," with WKX's part being more recent ("a few days ago...has spread"). I was wondering why the first part existed at all, but then watching, WKX says "everyone knows this is the Five Lakes Alliance's campaign to compete for leadership over the martial arts world." But it does sort of make me wonder about who made the first moves - I had been assuming that WKX started everything letting the ghosts loose with the order to "retrieve" the glazed armor. And then any wish for mastery over the Jianghu by 5 Lakes bros, whether Gao Chong or Zhao Jing, was a reactionary move to that. In addition because afai understand it, in wuxia generally the only time sects really do unite and grant power to a single authority is when they are being gathered together to face a particular opponent. But from later on, we do know that Zhao Jing had a desire for power over the whole Jianghu...Sorry this is jumbled, it originally started out as wondering why on earth the 5 bros who had the armor would have ever let it become public knowledge to start with, but then morphed into a larger causality question that probably doesn't have an answer...

A-Xiang and WKX: I love the way A-Xiang here knows to be the prompting audience, so when WKX is trying to be particularly dramatic and hoping for audience questions, he can count on her to provide. So when he's like "and there's a new verse..." and he looks at her and clears his throat and she immediately perks up and asks, with great curiosity, "Master! What is it?" ...delightful.


"ZZS says she is indeed quite smart, in a way that makes it hard to tell how much he thinks that vs is humoring her"

A-Xiang, figuring out ZZS's comment about those pursuing wuxia magic macguffins being greedy fools, says "Looks like there are loads of people more stupid than me!" and seems honestly proud of herself, and ZZS says: "Gu-guniang is quite smart." - idk this time it just made me a little happy because I've just finished my TYK re-read and one of the slightly painful things I was reminded of is the frequent denigration of GX's intelligence that happens in it--not just in dialogue, the way the adult characters call all the kids fool/idiot/brat, but it's also in the narrative a lot, and in her own thoughts/pov, which makes it more painful, somehow. (A conversation more for the TYK re-read thread later, I guess...but just to say, it made me happy to see ZZS compliment her, even if he's mostly doing it to annoy WKX here or humoring her.)

Shen Shen and the boat moving itself! I did not notice that before! Something-something-qi manipulation, I guess?

"I return to wondering about Zhang-furen, who isn’t mentioned at all during any of this."

Not too surprising, though, given how little we hear about/see women involved with the sects (aside from some Yueyang disciples in the background)—related to my ongoing questions about what happened to Qin Huaizhang's wife, and Lao Bi's wife, both of whom are mentioned up in the 20s episodes but must have died, I guess...

Shen Shen- it is very different watching this while having fond feelings towards Shen Shen, of all the 5 Lakes bros.

Tao Hong and Lü Liu: I still have trouble feeling any sympathy for them. (I know they suffered and lost their son, but I still can't forgive them for how vicious they were when beating the second-to-last of the 4 Sages to death, especially since they did so when it was no longer the heat of the argument and Gao Chong and others were telling them to stop. Don't really have anything else to say about them here. (If I had been introduced to their story + how they are shown in 26 or so earlier, that might be different, to be fair.)

"Huang He says that he invited Tao Hong and Lv Liu here to help them, acting very much like the nice righteous/orthodox sect leader the beggar gangs usually have in wuxia (I’m fascinated by this trope, especially since I only learned about it after watching SHL and seeing Huang He’s reversal/inversion of it)."

Same! (I only learned that the beggar gangs are usually righteous in wuxia after, from one of the 五彩哥哥 videos + twitter) - But have recently been watching Legend of Fei, and it is true there!

"starts going on about his boat and wanting to appreciate the scenery of Lake Tai"

A fic I haven't seen but would read: one where ZZS grouchily agrees to go on his boat and then they spend days on the boat bickering.

"There’s some Soul Winding Threads (the Hanged Ghost’s special weapon) strung across a door they almost but don’t quite pass through."

Having now learned that this sort of thread is not uncommon in wuxia (in LoF too), which I have also watched with my parents, my dad the other day was messing with fishing rods and lines and for some reason had a lot of fishing line spread out and warned me not to step on it all by making a comparison to the wuxia thread weapon. It was adorable. (My dad is not, in fact, a fisherman, but he would like to be one.)

Huang He then offers his help in finding Chengling, because “It is all about the duty of righteous people” and that’s how he wants people to see him.

I know the standoff with the beggar gang is next episode, but I really do wonder if Huang He would have just handed ZCL over for the good opinion it would have earned him, or whether, once he got his hands on him, he would somehow try to hold him for ransom/get the glazed armor from him himself. We'll never know, of course, but they sure did want to get ZCL.

WKX has set himself up with Gu Xiang and tea.

I was reading some BTS thing about how this scene was supposed to be very different, but something happened and they had to improvise. So it was not originally supposed to be quite so absurd looking- them just sitting in the middle of nowhere with a nice tea set. But I actually like how it turned out, it feels ridiculous in exactly the kind of way WKX is ridiculous and incorrigible.

“Is there really a tracking technique I do not know about?”

It's still a good question! My first time watching, I really thought WKX was supernatural, so I didn't question it. But I guess it is just that his boat goes faster than ZZS can walk so it is easy for him to get ahead and then wait...

(Also, as ZZS points out, Chengling thinks everyone is a good person.)

Though that hits different once you know about Chengling and his stomach wound armor and just how long he manages to keep that to himself, despite considerable social pressure and literal torture.

"There’s a very charged exchange as WKX attempts to touch their cups together and ZZS doesn’t want to let him, where we hear a musical cue that I associate with trouble/strife at the moment their eyes meet and ZZS stops contesting this. Which is interesting! I don’t know what ZZS is catching, beyond WKX’s evident skill!"

I paid particular attention at this bit because I had not mentioned the musical cue!! Interesting! Though I don't really know what else to make of it besides that the exchange is very tense and sexy.

GX and WKX cutest person exchange: Again, like before when GX served as his audience prompter, I love how they know each other so well and play off each other so well.

It occurs to me that maybe one reason WKX is so confused/keeps trying to get ZZS to ask him questions instead of volunteering information is because he's used to having a willing partner in being dramatic in this way, and when he's in romantic or just generally private situations with ZZS but no GX, he hasn't got anyone to do that, since ZZS won't play.

"Huang He says that his people should bring Chengling to him “no matter what it costs” if they find him, and that they shouldn’t let anyone know that they got Chengling if they bring him back."

...ok revising my earlier comment, yeah: I am suspicious about whether Huang He would have just handed ZCL over easily, without making any demands.

"This begs the question of how much time has passed and how quickly news has spread, since literally the last scene was the beggars being told to be on the lookout for him."

Right, and it need not have been a long time, given that (afai understand it) the strength of the beggar gang in wuxia is that they are numerous and can be found everywhere, and are thus capable of acting with speed over distance in that way.

"Chengling starts crying as he continues to eat. Poor boy."

Ugh, I feel bad for him here. There is something very visceral about eating + crying at the same time and if you've ever tried to do that it is kind of messy.

Gao Chong tells us about the agreement made twenty years ago between the jianghu and “the masters who developed Ghost Valley”

I did not realize that the fact of GV as a planned community was mentioned so early here! Nothing mentioning Rong Changqing or Ye Baiyi, here, but still.

so long as Ghost Valley doesn’t harm the people of the jianghu, the righteous people will not step inside Ghost Valley...

I have...thoughts about what a weird thing Ghost Valley was intended to be, even at its earliest and best-intentioned point, in relation to retributive vs restorative justice and the logic of the mengpo's soup and just how it was intended to be sustainable, but it is probably a conversation for a much much later episode. (Actually even most of those thoughts can be summed up as "hm, this plan seems to have some flaws." But I'll say that again later...)

Ao Laizi: I think it was mentioned already, but I agree: He's an unsung fashion icon of this show. I LOVE his stripey underrobe that you see when it billows out as he is flying down to land.

The Danyang Sect kids: Are we sure that the Lan-like headband is a normal part of their uniform and not a part of mourning requirements? When we see...I forget which sect later but they are definitely in roughspun + headband mourning clothes, and also the hallucination of WKX's father in ep. 5—I had a vague idea that the white headband in some cases might be for mourning?

"I get vibes of, like, a cat who brought dead prey back as a gift."

Ahah, that is exactly WKX here, I love it.

Ah, the hand caress: hot! If there's a fic that covers that, I'm sure it must most certainly contain the obligatory comment that WKX's hand keep burning where he touched him for, like, the rest of the night.

There’s definitely an essay that could be written about this canon and the use of masks ...

Oh absolutely! There's so much.

Questions: (Somewhat perfunctorily answered because I covered some of it above)

1. Shen Shen - definitely one of the show's deceptions, I was definitely taken in and disliked him at first.
2. Yeah, I think there has been a shift, to some degree, although I think it shifts more once WKX demonstrates himself to be a reliable ally in a fight, over the next 2-3 episodes, even more.
3. I have no idea, I feel like a lot of this stuff is blowing smoke around to try to give the viewer certain expectations which will later be upset.
4. I too would like to read that essay, but unfortunately have not myself got the wherewithal to write it!!
5. Maybe??

[bladedweapons]

Oh shit, I did not realize how long that was going to turn out to be. Oops! Sorry!

[mekare]

I already went through almost all the other comments and my first question has already been answered. I‘m posting my thought on episode 3 anyway.

Episode 3 rewatch

I simply don‘t remember who those two kids being protected by Ao Laizi are. Was there a separate attack on another sect for the glazed armour? Or are they from Chengling‘s sect?

I‘m really happy that I can focus more on A‘Xiang in this rewatch. Her complaint of having to wash hands before eating s so telling, and all her interactions with Wen Kexing so lovely. Definitely brother-sister like.

Ha the ending surprised me. That was the first positive reaction to Wen Kexing‘s flirting. So much unnecessary hand touching!

[shadaras]

This is probably the question you said had already been answered, but:
The kids Ao Laizi is protecting are from Dayang Sect, the fifth of the Five Lakes Alliance sects. We never see any of their representatives other than these kids, because the sect was destroyed off-screen around the time Mirror Lake Sect was. Lu Taichong, who we only ever meet in flashback, was the leader of Dayang Sect. He's also dead, after having given his glazed armor and these kids to Ao Laizi for safekeeping.

I love Gu Xiang! Her growth throughout the show is so good, and, yes, she's got such a fantastic relationship with Wen Kexing from the start. <3