ShortCircuit

LXC practically was LWJ's only friend (somewhat - LWJ maybe didn't see him as a real friend but as someone he loves and respects - but he has nobody else. At all. Except for WWX when he waltzes into his life and won't take no for an answer, LOL. He's a typhoon in LWJ's ordered life, that's what WWX is.)

He's the only one who knows how LWJ's mind works... and so he can put into words because LWJ won't.

So - spoilers (big time, if you intend to read the novel).

In the story, WWX doesn't die falling off a cliff. LWJ takes him from Nightless City after he loses control and hides him for a few days in a cave in YiLing. Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen take 33 top disciples to find WWX and punish him and LWJ fights them all off, seriously hurting them all (that flashback to him telling Su She - "you're not worthy to talk to me" when he's so badly wounded in the Burial Mounds comes from a version of what happened then.) So WWX still dies and his body is still never found, and LWJ is punished to 33 strikes of the Discipline Whip (that is the surest way to make the scars never disappear). He was so badly wounded he couldn't leave his bed for three years.

And then he would go on Night Hunts all alone and be aloof and cold to anyone - except LXC who gets to see him one night being drunk on Emperor's Smile (that WWX had hidden under his room's boards, LOL) and desperately rumaging the Lan Clan's treasure rooms for a flute - and when LXC offers him one, it's NOT the one he wants - he wants a dizi, he wants WWX's flute, he wants WWX. And so when he can't find it, he takes one of the Wen Irons (those used to mark a triangular burn on someone) and brands himself with it at the same point where WWX had been branded by Wen Chao's mistress.

Remember when they got back from wandering around (and getting married LOL) when LWJ chose to YOLO that night? At question time, WWX asks if he ever drank Emperor's Smile in Cloud Recesses and he says no? It should actually be yes, and it was that one time.

IMHO, one of the best FMVs about LWJ's love is this one - the music fits and they chose the perfect scenes to portray it. But it's a HEA anyway, so all that pain isn't for nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPFIhgntV5M

LOL, yeah, well, he's not really qualified to talk about moms and dads, he thought kids multiply if you plant them in the dirt :D

3 - Exactly that. Not just LXC who has the sharpest nose, but ALL OF THEM were aware LWJ was madly in love with WWX. Everybody BUT WWX knew LOL. (Even Jiang Cheng was suspecting a lot, which is why he goes around all puffed up like a porcupine).

5 - YES!!! You saw it. First immediately after they got to Cloud Recesses (him watching WWX wearing his underclothes then even getting some skin shows LOL. He must've been in heaven). And even the next morning - the only time WWX is wearing white under black is when he's wearing LWJ's clothes LOL. Indirect skinship, yay!

7 - Just let me ask you. You know that second scene after the return to the present timeline, when WWX went out and found LWJ in the spring, and got to see the whip marks AND the burn mark on his chest? Did you ever wonder how LWJ got that burn mark? *waiting online for an answer LOL* (not really, seriously, that's just one expression I like from Chinese novels).

I guess you got to the Silence Room scene in the snow. That's my no. 1 scene in the whole drama. It's amazingly shot (WWX in the snow, LWJ under the cover, separated by nature in the night). And then the emotions - who WWX REALLY IS. Why it doesn't matter to him how anyone thinks of him - anyone but himself AND LWJ. He says there (and it's lost in translation, but you can hear the word if your ear got a little bit attuned to Mandarin) - "At least in this lifetime I have a true soulmate" (he's using the zhiji word). (They TLed like "at least in this lifetime someone understands me" or something like that, which, while not wrong, is pretty dry and doesn't convey the true meaning of what he's saying.)

And the second scene in my great-TU-scenes is the one just before it, where LXC explains to WWX what it means to LWJ to "take him to Cloud Recesses and hide him away". Remember he said that on the day of WWX's defection by going to rescue Wen Ning and the rest of the Wens?

Their father fell in love at first sight with their mother (even though LXC thinks she didn't love him back), and she even killed one of his masters (which is the equivalent of killing his parent). And he STILL took her home and married her and defended her from all Lan Clan members. But as punishment, he secluded her to one room/side house for the rest of her life, and secluded himself too in another part of the clan's domain. All for the love of her - because, says LXC, he would never love another in his life.

And that's what love means to LWJ - taking your one and only love in your life to somewhere safe for them, no matter what they might have done, and guarding them against the rest of the world for eternity. When he said he wanted to take WWX home and hide him away, that's what he meant, directly - this man is his one true and only love, and he'll take care of him no matter what, against everyone, EVEN IF it's unreciprocated.

And if THAT's not romantic, I don't know what is.

The censors either hadn't read the novel or it didn't make sense to them - but that's a direct love declaration from our man of few words.

That episode might be my favourite of all of them (though there are more great things coming :))

IT IS!!!! They always do that, ships are combining half the names and bringing up these titles, LOL. It's just that in the novel it's WANG(JI)x(Wu)XIAN and in the drama they turned it into WU(Xian)x(Wang)JI.

As if they fooled anyone with it, LOL :D

*Also generally it's the gong's half name first then the shou's, so WangXian also shows you who's the dad in that family for when the kids come, LOL. (Just kidding. Though WWX is the mother duck to all the clans' juniors right now, he stole them all away EXACTLY like mother ducks do, LOL)

Yeah, the Yi City Arc is tragic. And that final scene where he had kept the candy for five freaking years, long after it went bad, just because it was the last candy someone (and particularly because that someone was XXC) had given him. His heart's desire.

There's a similar scene in the novel that isn't in the drama (I kind of think it's in the donghua, I don't remember right now) where WWX is up in a tree thinking that everytime he fell it hurt and there was nobody there to catch him but he let go anyway - and now LWJ is underneath the tree and what if HE would... and before thinking about it he lets go. And LWJ catches him.

That's one of the sweetest interractions where they don't speak about it but just act their feelings - and it's pretty similar to XY's wish for a candy, IMHO. He could have been WWX if he only had someone to care, in time.

It's because of the rumour. Mo XuanYu was chased off the Jingling Tai because of having presumably been involved with / trying to assault Mme Jin. He's just curious to see if she remembers MXY's face.

Xue Yang is the opposite side of the mirror to WWX - gifted, independent, doing his own doings but unattached and basically a psycho. WWX could have ended up being XY if Jiang FengMian hadn't taken him home.

Meng Yao... he's a strange one.

There's just a donghua for TGCF, though, I don't know what's on NF, probably the donghua (two seasons out, there's a lot of story remaining).

You do know that WuJi is actually WangXian, right? That's what LWJ named it, but it's too well-known so censors asked for a re-naming. As if it hides anything LOL. I don't know about crossovers, but I really like mixed FMVs on youtube. Especially when they can pinpoint certains things that are already tropes in danmei, LOL. It's cute. And they mix/match other authors' work, too, if there are any sources.

Like this one - WangXian, WenZhou (from WoH), SuiTang (from The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty) and WeiLan (from Guardian) - and yes, they're all adaptations from danmei novels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGyEwDdsYA

And it's awesome even in donghua - like this one: MDZS, TGCF, SVSSS, Thousand Autumns (these last two are drawn in 3d, the other are classically animated, just so you know which is part of TGCF).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px4kG4bYSKQ

... I'm kind of obsessed with TGCF s2's ED song, to tell the truth. It's... so sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hjj4kfafw (no sequences from the donghua, no spoilers, just the song). I'm a fool for good music, haha~

... I have a looooong list. Danmei is so addictive (and most of them have no 18+ scenes at all, but the stories are mesmerising.)

MXTX wrote three novels so far - MDZS (5 volumes), Heaven Official's Blessing (or TGCF - 8 volumes), and Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (4 volumes). MDZS is an all-time favourite, but SVSSS is hilarious - these last two don't have dramas - they WERE filmed/filming but the censors basically banned danmei adaptation after WoH, LOL, they couldn't take Wen KeXing openly flirting. They do have donghua adaptations ongoing though.

And then there's the whole rest of them, LOL (there are some great ones that are not yet licensed by SSE or other publishers got their license and do nothing with them yet (yes Rosmei I'm looking at you, How to Survive as a Villain WHEN?!) They do have ebook versions too, but I ALREADY read most of these stories in fan TLs, I don't want them in ebook form, I want to feel real paper and smell that amazing book smell.

Here's a long list of what they have (completed or ongoing), just so you can follow it back to their site and look at the covers :D

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/danmeibooks/#home

There are two extra movies but they don't involve the MLs, sadly. One is about Wen Ning and the juniors going on regular Night Hunting missions, the other is about a very important pair of brothers but don't include WWX or LWJ *sad*

I highly recommend at least one of them - Fatal Journey - but not immediately after finishing the drama.

There are two donghua (animated) versions of MDZS - one is the serious one, with pretty much the same story as the drama / novel, but following the novel a bit closer (still censored, but not as much as the drama. They even included resurrected WWX opining that LWJ is his type so he'd rather go with him and not Jiang Cheng when they first met after the Mo Manor story ends, LOL. The plot flows more like in the novel, with more and shorter time flashbacks between the past and the present. The animation is amazing, the music is great, have a try at it!) The other one is a chibi short-form (some 5-mins eps) that is the cutest thing of them all, and has a lot of sweet moments from or inspired by the novel.

There's also an audio drama (links above, if you're interested). They cover pretty much the whole novel, and don't shy even from the riskier scenes, LOL. (The confession!!... and the aftermath of it, LOL)

There's obviously the novel - the fan TL still floats around the internet somewhere, but the novel has been officially TLed by Seven Seas Entertainment (they're amazing - the books aren't exactly cheap but they look worth the price. They have glossaries, inserted art, beautiful cover art, the works. I've spent more than I'm comfortable thinking about on those books - they are pretty good at keeping to release schedules and are publishing practically all my favourite danmei novels, can't help myself). MDZS has 5 volumes. SSE is also publishing a manhua (comic/manga) version that's not finished yet, but I don't have that one and I kind of don't want to read it.

So, you have options. The best would be the novel, IMHO, since it has a lot more story (particularly the romance) that isn't in the drama - plus the extras. But the donghua also rocks :)

PS I love it when this is the reaction of people coming closer to the end eps - before even starting it, there are usually quite a lot of comments on how the drama is so long, who can watch 50 eps. it can't be done, LOL. And then some watchers get so entranced they want more (we all do :D) and 50 is too few :D

I don't know either, but doesn't it fit? He put them together in the same classroom, didn't he? It's his fault LOL.

You might be mixing it with the first two eps (where he does call him that). He first (chronologically) calls him that when they meet again at that Wen waystation after WWX returns from the Burial Mounds.

That's because NHS is smart, LOL. He's just a porcelain doll :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8331QxSmWg (no spoilers at this time)

They probably just wanted to skip over the whole thing, it's simpler if LXC appears to be the leader from the beginning. But the thing is, he's not. And the story of why his father was secluded and everything carries a LOT of weight in LWJ's growth.

Also, it kind of skews the whole stratification of generations. All the older leaders have their own perspective, the younger ones another etc, and part of what makes this story great is the way it subtly (or not so subtly) presents the contrasts between generations.

It's a bit frustrating, LOL. Sorry.

I guess when you use which title or name depends on the intent of the person speaking, LOL. Like in, it's clear when they want to insult them or be respectful, otherwise, it depends on how the conversation flows and how familiar they are with the person they're talking to.

Someone you knew from school isn't necessarily more respected because they got famous or are better than you - that might explain JC's "Lan Er-Gonzi"'s, LOL. He wants to be sarcastic, our eyerolling king :D And he has personal beef with him anyway, since he thinks WWX did all those things around the Wen Clan trying to shield LWJ and getting their attention fixed on the Jiang Clan instead - then everything comes from that. Jiang Cheng can't vent his anger so he's out there finding targets to blame, unmerited as it may be. And then there's the jealousy - remember the "twin jades of GuSu" versus "the twin heroes of YunMeng" thing? He wanted to boast about his own and his brother's prowess and just when they could have become famous, WWX decided to drop the sword out of the blue (from JC's POV). So he takes some small pleasure out of calling him "second" LOL, as if it mattered to anyone.

Nie HuaiSang was everyone's friend in school, LOL. Not all of them were his friends back though. He's seen as meek, easily frightened, pretty much a coward - the Head-Shaker (一问三不知, lit. one question three don't knows says MDZS wiki, just so you see that descriptive character of Chinese, LOL.) He'd address everyone as -xiong ('bro), just to be friendly.

And his backer is his big brother. People would be friendly to him because Nie MingJue is at his back and he's (literally) a madman. (People in the Nie Clan were established by a butcher who cultivated a broadsword and not just the elegant sword, and the way they cultivated ALWAYS, no exceptions, turned them mad. Their broadswords are also mad and they get entombed to keep them safe, too - the tomb WWX and LWJ visited after the return to the current timeline was a sword-tomb of the Nie Clan). Nie HuaiSang is basically the ONLY clan leader who does NOT cultivate his own sword technique, because he doesn't want to go mad himself (people also think he's a coward not to do it, but it's simple self-preservation. He's a smart cookie, NHS.)

So to sum it up, it depends on situation, how familiar are you with the one you're speaking to, how friendly do you want to keep it, how much do you want to insult them (they do subtle insults like nobody's business in danmei, it's extremely entertaining :D), and if you can put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, LOL.

Lan XiChen only became the official clan leader after the Wen attack on Cloud Recesses. Until then, the titular clan leader was his own father, who lived in seclusion. Lan QiRen, his uncle, was only one of the respected teachers, not the leader.

The drama kind of skips over that attack a bit - the thing is, their father was alive until then and Wen Xu (Wen Chao's older and better brother) killed him. So LWJ not only lost his clan home, didn't know the fate of his own brother for a while, became a captive etc, he also lost his father.

I don't know where you are in the drama ATM, so I won't say more - but there's something very similar between LWJ and his father and that will be shown a bit later in the present timeline.

Yeah, LWJ calling WWX by his full official name is like mom calling you when you did something REALLY bad. You know you're in trouble, LOL.

WWX became the YiLing Patriarch when he settled in the Burial Mounds with the Wen refugees. It's what they call him in the town close to the Mounds, and it's spread by word of mouth, nobody planned it. He himself didn't push to be called that, but he's an easygoing person and didn't care about what others did. YiLing is the region they settled in, so he's the Patriarch (because he settled a new "town" but also because they thought he invented a new school of cultivation - demonical but still, new).

The personal (childhood) name is used in the immediate family and among friends (or lovers) - Lan Zhan, Wei Ying, Jiang WanYin (he's an exception and I think it bothers him a lot). When people use the personal name with someone they're not close to, it's basically insulting the person (that's why some of the cultivators call WWX "Wei Ying" - they're not close to him but want to demean him).
The official name is to be used in formal meetings and by anyone who isn't close - Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian, Lan XiChen etc. Nobody but WWX is calling LWJ by his personal name, LOL, not even XiChen. The one time WWX uses LWJ's formal name, IIRC, is when they meet the first time after he ended up in the Burial Mounds, when LWJ wanted to take him to Cloud Recesses and "cure" him of demonic cultivation.

Some of the names you noticed are normal titles. Chinese is a very descriptive language, and a lot of times people don't even use names (maybe you noticed that names appear in the TL that are NOT pronounced in the dialogue at all). Like, for example ShiJie - WWX NEVER calls her YanLi but ShiJie (elder martial sister), as she's his clan-sister, and older than him. He's her didi (younger brother, as a term of tenderness, and she calls him that a few times, and also ShiDi - younger martial brother). ShiXiong is a general term meaning "brother", kind of neutral, like you'd use with anyone you're in the same clan with and not close or distant. (Shizun or ShiFu would be TLed as "master"/"martial clan master", but they don't use those a lot). A much more personal word to use for a brother (though not apparent a lot in TU) is "ge" (you'd say - if you dared - Lan-Ge, for example, LOL). Or if you were a girl and you liked him OR he was your actual brother, you'd say "gege" - or "JieJie" for an elder sister, in the same circumstances. A younger sister would be meimei and a younger brother would be didi. Basically doubling the word means it's an endearment - or close/personal - term/meaning. YanLi also calls WWX XianXian a few times, or A-Xian. (A- affixed in front of the name is an endearment term also.)

Some of them are numerals, LOL. Lan Er-Gongzi literally translates as Second-young lord Lan. Gongzi means (young) gentleman, Er is the numeral for 2, and so they combine and describe him without naming him at all. You maybe had contact with other Chinese media, LOL, in the older wuxia movies everybody basically was numbered, not named - 13th sister, 4th uncle (maternal), 5th aunt (paternal), 2nd lady (by marriage) and so on and so forth. It's mayhem :D

For example, I've seen characters called SanDi - Third Younger Brother. In Wonderland of Love, also, the ML is called ShiQi Lang (because homonymically, ShiQi also means 17 and he's 17th LOL. His actual name is Li Ni).

As for the other titles, they got them also because people called them that. They ALL translate, LOL, and a good TL would have TLed them at all times. Sadly, the Netflix sub became official and they never TL the honorifics or adapt it so that you know who's speaking politely and who's showing their mannerless side (they do that with Korean subs too, it's so annoying).

All important/famous people got them. So, in short - one personal name for close family and friends, a second official name for everybody else, and a title showing off your prowess if you had any to show.

Hanguang Jun - Light-Bearing Lord
ZeWu Jun - Brilliance OverGrowth Lord
Chifeng Zun - Red-Blade Master (this is Nie MingJue)
LianFang Zun - Hidden Fragrance Lord (but actually LianFang is also his courtesy name, LOL).
SanDu ShengShou - Three-Bane Master (this is Jiang Cheng).

And so on, and so forth.

A lot of these names and titles use very different ideograms to be written even though they sound the same (at least to a Western ear, LOL) when pronounced. When written in a Latin alphabet, there are a lot of accents to indicate how they should be pronounced. When people introduce themselves, they usually explain their names, so that others could write them down correctly if needed - like naming the radicals they use or the actual words and their original meaning, because Chinese is so complex.

And then there are the dialects and the turns-of-phrase that have meaning in Chinese but it's cultural and subtle and only a little bit translated well (almost never in a direct-meaning TL, LOL). I am forever in awe and grateful to all TLers who work on Chinese novels, some of them take the time to explain what the words mean separately and how you'd go from what's written to the actual meaning, it's impressive and fascinating :)

PS as for the nicknames, they're just nicknames, LOL - JZX got to be called Peacock because he dresses so fashionably LOL, and Jin Ling became Lil' Miss because he's so sensitive. (Still, I think in his case it's warranted.)

Rental holy jewelry sounds about right LOL.

... We should all get some. I just saw these awesome earrings, too bad I can't afford them. But maybe rent...? As long as they're holy :D

That one who was a bit too helpful is gonna get dead right? Either that or he has a statue of his own buried somewhere and he's afraid he's on the ghost's list.

Jump scares are becoming my favourites.

The TL was wonky all ep this time, come on guys, this is BL, there's no chance someone's ex is a woman, LOL.

Also, Darin has the most honest screams of fear of anyone I've ever heard in a BL drama, LOL (I screamed with him and we sounded kind of same hahaha~)

ETA LOL @King wanting to get arrested (in the BTS), us, too, buddy, us, too wish that for you!

No, it's a huge (though hilarious) spoiler, it spoils the whole surprise. Wait for it, you're almost there. I'll send it when you're over the surprise, LOL. (Don't look it up :D)