The first half of 2021 was full of rebrands for companies that I use/buy from. I found this interesting, so here’s a look back at the changes that had occurred, as it seemed like suddenly all the companies I was aware of decided to refresh their look and missions:
The entire color scheme changed with this rebrand and everything felt a little retro. The pixelated logo is reminiscent of 8-bit graphics and the colors are a throwback to the 70’s, especially if you go to their website. They also changed the styling of their name from Quick Base to quickbase or Quickbase. My favorite color is purple, so I was sad to see the change, but it did mean a pretty cool new cream hoodie, camper mug, and white water bottle that were available at the 2021 Empower Conference.
This was a pretty major overhaul, with a completely different name in addition to a new font and color scheme. The choices here also remind me of Quickbase’s, with pastel colors and a move away from all caps. I like the color scheme here, which is softer and includes my favorite with shades of purple. The products they provide are as great as ever and I’m a happy subscriber who often wishes this was bimonthly instead of quarterly, because I’d love to get them more often!
I like the new boldness of GlobeIn’s change. They sort of did the opposite of the prior companies (particuarly Quickbase) and went from a softer palette to a bright, vibrant one. Their logo is spunky and does remind me of the products that you get from their boxes. I like that it’s also a reminder of the people behind the products, which is a big part of their marketplace.
Some versions of the old logo have even more stuff on it, so it’s nice that they chose to simplify. Now it’s very bold and geometric. The connected m’s make it a unique look. They also went for a flatter, bold look like GlobeIn. And they seem to be dropping the “the” from their name and refer to themselves as just Grommet now.
All in all, I like the rebrands, though I’ve always been a person who enjoys change and something different. It’s interesting to see two of the brands choose to go pastel with cute serif fonts while the other two went bold with stronger, cleaner lines. What do you think of each of their choices?
Man, when I realized that I had basically forgotten it was my zodiac year this year, I was pretty disappointed, but my dad made a good point that I still have a month yet, since Chinese New Year isn’t until Feb! So I’ll be sure to make the most of this final month in the Ox year, wearing some extra red, finding some of the various oxen items I have, and generally just remembering that it is my year.
It’s been insanely rainy here the past two weeks, so I’ve been holed up at home staying dry and spending time with the cats. I’m catsitting Zephyr again and she and Smokey have both learned which side of the house is for them, so they don’t even go looking for each other. I try to make sure both of them get a fair share of attention, so there’s some switching back and forth between the sides.
Today I got a chance to get in a nap with Smokey, which was nice, since she was in an unusually happy mood that made her snuggly. By mid-afternoon, I cooked some food but before I could eat it, I had to get ready to head to my parents. They got tickets to see Shen Yun and we were going to eat dinner together first. The food was really tasty and I enjoyed all the dishes, feeling very satisfied and full. We got to the event with plenty of time and got a chance to wander around before settling in. I’ll review the show another time, but overall impression is that it was a quality performance that gives a good glimpse into Chinese performances. If you can’t make it to China to find something like this, it’s a good intro.
And just like that, I’ve returned home to hungry cats (and now, self). It was a nice relaxing day for me, just the way I like and I really enjoyed not thinking about work. That’s one of my favorite things about my birthday, I never work and refuse to. It’s my one sacred day.
I’m generally one to avoid saying things that feel contrived*, which to me is just about any situation (often a holiday or celebration) where you’re expected to say the same things. Case in point:
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful for you.
Happy Veterans’ Day! Thank you for your service.
It’s not that I’m not grateful, but it feels so forced and fake when you all have to say the same thing at the same time. I know that this can make me seem like a grinch but I really hate insincere things and when I feel obligated to say it, then it’s not exactly wholehearted.
I much prefer when things come naturally – something happens that reminds you of why you care for someone or are grateful for something, and you express it. Why wait for a certain time to year to do that?
I understand that it’s a reminder to think of things like that, but in that case the holiday probably doesn’t come often enough. Shouldn’t we apply thoughtfulness, reflection, and appreciation in our lives more often? I really struggle with a set time that everybody says the same things but who knows how much they actually mean it.
It’s a similar vein of thought that leads me away from gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays. It started sometime in my teens, when my parents and I came to an agreement that there was no need to wait until my birthday each year for them to get me certain presents that I could start making use of sooner. So instead of gifts on those days, it’s more about spending time together and doing things together. Meanwhile, throughout the year we are cognizant of gifting as appropriate based on various other factors (need/desire, sales/deals, etc.). While it’s nice to take advantage of holiday sales, the timing doesn’t always make for a practical decision.
I really struggle to do enough to satisfy common courtesy so people don’t think I’m being rude, yet not spouting out fakeness that makes me uncomfortable and feel fake. I hope it comes off ok.
*Also, side note that in writing this I almost wrote “contrite” a few times before I caught myself, which led me down a tiny rabbit hole comparing contrived, contrite, and trite: 1. contrived = not natural/spontaneous, but created or artificial 2. contrite = remorseful, feeling guilty 3. trite = overused, unoriginal
I had heard that this was loosely related to the Eternal Love universe, so I put this next on my list after watching Eternal Love of Dream. I did like having the same kind of world, but I found this couple to be weak. I actually much preferred one of the secondary couples in the show instead. I saw that a bunch of reviewers loved the chemistry of the main couple, but I didn’t get it at all. Plus, the main male seemed a bit old? (Sorry dude.)
Thanks to Drama Slot’s summary that was useful in putting together my own summary.
Listen to the OST on Spotify (my fav song is Yun Shang De Sha Gua 云上的傻瓜=fool in the clouds, which is an upbeat song that reminds me of the secondary couple that I like in the show)
Title in Chinese is Chen Xi Yuan 宸汐缘: Chen = imperial, Xi = night tide, Yuan = fate. In this case, the chen refers to the male lead Jiu Chen (九宸) and xi refers to the female lead Ling Xi (灵汐), so this is the story of their fate together.
What I like about the storylines in this show is that they really cover a lot of ground with interesting situations, like disabilities and possible gender dysphoria. Also what one may do when faced with the romantic pursuit of the person who (kind of) caused the death of your beloved.
This one really only made it on more lists because of one minor character, but hey:
star-crossed couple who can bring each other (or the world) danger by being together
jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
male love rival who fights to win the female lead
main leads who need to stay away from and/or be mean to each other to protect each other
main lead who needs to do something completely against their character to accomplish a larger goal; in the mean time they alienate their loved ones and have a falling out
main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
main lead is key to the destruction of the world (or preventing it)
childhood connection between the main leads
quirky old man
Show Summary:
Ling Xi is an immortal who lives in the peach blossom forest with her dad, a doctor. She’s a free-spirited girl and her dad just wants to keep her locked up at home all the time. She sneaks out though and ends up falling into an ice cave and finding a frozen body there. She inadvertently awakens/unfreezes him; he’s the god of war, Jiu Chen, and he’s been stuck there for a very long time. Ling Xi gets into some trouble with the heavenly palace and ends up having to stay there to be Jiu Chen’s maid, so she can help him recover his health.
He is also curious how she was able to awaken him and has his aide, Shi San, keep an eye on her. At one point, he starts to turn to ice again and Ling Xi ends up saving him from completely freezing back. Jiu Chen is still suspicious of Ling Xi’s background and tries to get answers from her dad Le Bo but he won’t say anything. There’s got to be some backstory to this.
Yuan Tong, a female general, is excited to hear Jiu Chen is back and goes to visit him. She seems to have a thing for him, but her mom blames him for leading her son and others into the battle that killed them.
Jing Xiu, who is the main advisor for a bird tribe and has a cool tattooed head, goes to the heavenly palace for some business and bumps into Ling Xi. Then there is a confrontation with Jiu Chen and a magic needle/nail thing attacks him. It was Yuan Zheng’s (Yuan Tong’s brother) relic and it makes things seem like Jiu Chen might have been a bad guy who let his people die.
The ruler of the bird tribe, Ling Yue, had lost a child many years ago during a conflict and she comes across an item she had left with the baby. You know she’s going to go down that rabbit hole to try to find her child.
Yuan Tong has proof from her brother Yuan Zheng (in a letter) that would absolve Jiu Chen of any accusations related to his people dying, but she is advised to burn it to protect the reputation of her family. It would implicate her brother turning bad instead.
Meanwhile, Jing Xiu is found to be doing some dark magic and sacrifices. Ling Yue tries to stop him and finds out her father Yuan Du isn’t dead but has been stuck in an abyss. Or was it Jing Xiu who found it out? I can’t remember who it was a surprise to. Jing Xiu’s father had been killed by Yuan Du and Jing Xiu had been forced to sell him out as a child to survive.
So, funny little story about Shi San, she used to be a male soldier with Jiu Chen and then during the boss’s slumber, decided to become a woman. She’s some sort of fish spirit that can choose gender it seems. She starts to fancy Si Ming, the immortal of fate.
Shi San & Si Ming, the couple that never really was Source: MyDramaList
Le Bo shows up to try to take Ling Xi back but she won’t go. Jiu Chen is put under house arrest for destroying evidence about the war that put him in his slumber. He did it to protect the Yuan family, but others think he was trying to protect himself. He sends his younger disciple brother, Yun Feng, to the old battleground to investigate the current situation. It is creepy and oozing with bad energy.
Bao Qing is Ling Xue’s adopted daughter and has been in love with Jing Xiu, but Ling Xue doesn’t approve. Bao Qing finds out her mom is looking for her biological daughter. Ling Xue eventually learns that her daughter is alive, but doesn’t know any more than that.
Ling Xi goes back home to the peach blossom forest to try to find medicine to help with Jiu Chen’s illness. She’s pretty dedicated to trying to help him and puts herself at risk (and of course he comes to save her).
Qing Yao, Le Bo’s disciple and Ling Xi’s older disciple sister, is a no-nonsense kind of lady who is dedicated to her craft of medicine. Ling Xi goes to try to restore the evidence Liu Chen burned and Yuan Tong finds out. When she confronts Ling Xi, they fight and Ling Xi gets pushed into a pond that is very dangerous for immortals. Qing Yao finds her and saves her.
Qing Yao takes the evidence and eventually shows everyone, including madam Yuan, who has been so bitter towards Jiu Chen all this time. She is shocked to learn the truth. Man I hate when people are like her, feeling so self-righteous judging others when they don’t have a clue what the truth is. But then again, from a mother’s perspective, what else was she to believe? With the truth out, Yuan Tong gets her position stripped and she has to start at the bottom again.
Yun Feng starts to like Qing Yao but she is cold and disinterested. She apparently had a husband before, or someone she loved.
Jiu Chen takes on punishment on behalf of his soldiers who had died, and he is gravely injured. Yu Li, the medicine lord’s daughter, also fancies Jiu Chen and shows up with some things to help in his recovery. She is jealous of Ling Xi who gets to stay with him.
There’s a bad guy Zhong Hao who wants to release the demon king that was sealed when Jiu Chen last fought. Somehow Ling Xi has the ability to help unlock the seal.
Ling Xue goes to visit Le Bo because her late husband, Mo Huan, was his disciple brother. She wants to find out more about where her daughter might be.
Qin Yuan, evil Zhong Hao’s adoptive son, goes seeking revenge thinking his father was killed by Jing Xiu. But Zhong Hao is a demon now and Qin Yuan needs to get him a magical cauldron. He goes asking Jiu Chen for it but Jiu Chen doesn’t have it, it’s with Ling Xi.
Yuan Tong starts practicing dark magic. Oh boy, that can’t be good.
Yun Feng has been pursuing Qing Yao and she angrily tells him about a mortal man that he inadvertently caused the death of a very long time ago. He is confused as to why she cares so much about that story and situation. Only later did he find out that that man was Qing Yao’s husband in the mortal realm when she had visited to help heal people.
Jiu Chen takes Ling Xi to the mortal realm and she acquires a cute immortal pet along the way. Somehow she and Bao Qing get into a fight and Ling Xi ends up at Jing Xiu’s. Jiu Chen then tests his theory that Ling Xi has some sort of special power or connection to the demon lord and confirms his suspicions. It flashes back to when he fought the demon lord and saved a little baby.
Jiu Chen takes Ling Xi back home to her dad and Le Bo admits he saved Ling Xi from the aftermath of the battle. Ling Xi doesn’t want to leave Jiu Chen and even kisses him when he leaves, but he has to keep her at a distance to protect her.
Zhong Hao started capturing girls who were the right age to be the one with the powers he wants. He doesn’t know it’s Ling Xi of course.
At a banquet, Ling Xi sneaks in nearby and happens upon a sad beast they had captured. She frees it and fights with Zhong Hao. The beast eventually is killed and Jiu Chen shows up to take Ling Xi to his secret hideout, which might be at the south pole. Yuan Tong follows and finds out where she’s hiding, then exposes her.
Ling Xi is tested for demonic energy and shows none. But now Zhong Hao knows it’s Ling Xi he’s been looking for and he tells Qin Yuan. Qin Yuan captures her and Jiu Chen has to go rescue her. By then, Yuan Tong had tattled on Ling Xi and gets her in trouble again. This time Ling Xi is sentenced to death. Jiu Chen wants to retire from his position and keep watch over her at his hideout, never to be seen in the world or pose a risk again, but they won’t let him.
Qing Yao makes a concoction to make everybody pass out and she saves Ling Xi from execution. Yuan Tong kills all the sleeping guards to frame Qing Yao, how evil!! On the run, Le Bo protects Ling Xi with his life and gets killed by Yuan Tong. Ling Xi has a powerful energy activated and wards off Yuan Tong. She then collapses and gets drawn to the demon king’s evil energy, but Jiu Chen stops her.
Yuan Tong gets imprisoned at a special tower that houses a lot of demons and she figures out a way to manipulate others so that she can look like a hero. She is reinstated in the army, that cunning woman.
Ling Xi gets sent to the mortal world to go through a trial, I think it’s supposed to help cleanse her soul of any demonic energy. She is born into a family deaf and named Lin Mo now. She had given her hearing to Jiu Chen at some point when he was in danger, so that continued through into her mortal version. She has a younger sister Lin Zhan who bullies her, but she’s still got a sweet personality and a very close relationship with her mortal father, who is also a physician. Lin Mo is very much into medicine growing up.
Yun Feng follows Qing Yao to the mortal realm and shows her the reincarnation of her husband. He is happily married with a pregnant wife now, which is bittersweet for Qing Yao.
Lin Mo is supposed to get engaged to a family friend’s son, Song Ziyu, but Lin Zhan is jealous because she wants to marry him. But then the crown prince falls ill and somehow all girls born on a certain date are considered inauspicious and related to causing him to get sick, so guards start hunting down all these girls. Of course Lin Mo is one of them, but her father Lin Shaohai hides her and explains how he had actually been adopted by him so that wasn’t her real birthday. His wife faked a pregnancy, or had a miscarriage I think.
Shaohai has to choose between his beloved daughter or the rest of his family, so he reluctantly pushes Lin Mo to float in a river and eventually drown. She doesn’t and returns home to learn the truth. She decides it’s time for her to go live her own life. She runs into Jing Xiu along the way and is kind to him. Jiu Chen sets up a place for Lin Mo to stay and has Si Ming secretly guide her there. He plants a tree there that will heal her senses when she eats its fruit.
Jing Xiu then shows up Lin Mo’s new place with injuries and stays to recuperate. He was blinded and has nails in his body to suppress his powers. They fall into a rhythm and eventually the tree bears peaches, but Lin Mo doesn’t eat them and makes wine to sell instead. Lin Mo then becomes an apprentice with Sun doctor, who had helped treat Jing Xiu. Eventually, Lin Mo is able to help Jing Xiu remove the nails in his body, but that is something only someone from the phoenix tribe is supposed to be able to do.
Yuan Tong is shunned by pretty much all of the heavenly clan and nobody trusts her. The only person supporting her is Du Yu, who she was engaged to.
Ling Yue, the leader of the bird tribe, is being controlled by Zhong Hao now. I think he has her drugged? Her daughter Bao Qing has been captured and is being kept to use as bait or leverage later.
Jing Xiu drinks the peach wine and regains his eyesight. He realizes this woman he fell in love with is Ling Xi. Jiu Chen goes to visit and the two guys secretly battle it out while Lin Mo remains pretty clueless haha. But then they both try to claim her and she just wants to be left alone. Jiu Chen ends up having to fight a beast later and Lin Mo helps treat him. He’s a lot weaker these days because he had a sacrifice a stone that was keeping him alive to try to protect Ling Xi and give her a chance to be demon-free.
Yu Li and Yun Feng get mistakenly engaged when the elders think they like each other, but Yu Li was just trying to find out where Jiu Chen was. Bao Qing is let out by Qin Yuan, since he likes her and doesn’t want her to die.
There are some mortals wandering around and one of them, Zhu Zizai, sees Jiu Chen and Jing Xiu fighting. He immediately wants to become their disciple lol. He eventually comes across injured Jiu Chen who had to fight a beast and because he saved the guy, he and his disciple are taken in as a disciples (reluctantly). They are random little comedic relief guys.
Yun Feng has been proving himself worthy by fighting all sorts of bad creatures. Qing Yao finds out and she softens towards him, eventually realizing she likes him. When he gets badly injured once, he gets her to confess haha, but of course she gets mad when she finds out he was exaggerating his injuries.
Jing Xiu finds out Bao Qing was gravely injured while escaping and goes to heal her. He needs some special pill.
To protect Lin Mo, Jiu Chen has to use magic powers and it raises suspicions. He tries to help her remember him and says some sweet things and kisses her. She has mistaken him for Song Ziyu, her fiance, this whole time. She learns from the Song family that he is not the right person and questions his true identity. She doesn’t believe he’s an immortal and they have such a long history together, so he makes up a new story.
Yun Feng and Qing Yao finally got together, but then her old flame returned. He had been stuck reincarnating in the mortal world, unable to get through his love trial after his relationship with Qing Yao. Si Ming gives him a boost and he is finally able to break free and return to his former life as an immortal himself. Now that he’s back, he and Qing Yao catch up and Yun Feng is jealous. One day while discussing it, she’s teasing him and he gets all flustered, then she gives him a kiss on the cheek to show him where she stands and he’s stunned haha.
Lin Mo is supposed to undergo one final trial that would allow her to return to the immortal realm, but Jiu Chen has a tough time leaving her as he should. Jing Xiu is worried about Lin Mo and goes to take her from Jiu Chen. Jiu Chen has to fight off bad guy Zhong Hao, which gives Jing Xiu a chance to leave with Lin Mo.
The demon energy that was sealed back in the last epic battle tries to recruit Yuan Tong but she refuses even though she was drawn to him. She is given defective pills by Qing Yao and eventually notices, so she frames Qing Yao for soldiers’ deaths by giving them the pills and sending them towards the demon. She then looks like the hero emerging again at the end… wow, her conniving really is impressive.
Qing Yao gets in trouble but then Yun Feng pleads for her and she is let off easy while he is turned into a statue to reflect frozen for 1,000 years. Qing Yao is heartbroken and goes to visit Yun Feng, making sure his statue form is cared for.
Qin Yuan decides to rebel and lets Ling Yue go so she can open the abyss. To prevent herself from being misused for evil purposes, she jumps in and finds her father Yuan Du at the bottom. They have some grudges because he killed a bunch of her loved ones when he was against her relationship with Mo Huan. Now they team up for the same cause, to prevent the abyss from getting opened.
Lin Mo is found and Yuan Tong wants to kill her, but the demon lord needs Lin Mo to break free of his seal. When Jiu Chen shows up, Lin Mo is sad that he seems to love Ling Xi and not her (though they are the same person so are they really that different?), so she gives up the pearl that was keeping her alive and dissipates.
Back as an up-leveled immortal, Ling Xi gets caught up on what happened. She has been cleansed of the demonic aura and has her true form as a phoenix. She finds out about her mother and goes to see her. Jing Xiu has been keeping Ling Yue in a coma. He won’t kill her since she’s Ling Xi’s mom. Ling Xi and Qing Yao find something wrong with the medicine, so Qing Yao works on her own concoction. Ling Yue eventually wakes up but Jing Xiu secretly kills her when Ling Xi goes to get help.
Yuan Tong had the demon lord’s spirit take refuge in her when Lin Mo died and then she gets banned after they find out how she lured soldiers to their death. Now she has to find the next host for him.
After a complex situation with lots of people getting killed and Jing Xiu’s secret almost coming out, but then framing a maid, the truth eventually surfaces. He runs off and Yuan Tong convinces him to take on the demon lord work. She then goes to the abyss and when they sense the disturbance, Jiu Chen goes to fight. He would get trapped there so he gets Yun Feng released and he’s supposed to pretend to be Jiu Chen locked up in his room drinking. He wants Ling Xi to give up on him since he’s never coming back.
Ling Xi was getting ready to get married to him after they finally got a blessing from his master and had one happy night. Instead, she is now told he claims to be unfit to be a husband. She eventually figures out the man behind the screen is not Jiu Chen and forces Yun Feng out to tell the truth. Ling Xi jumps into the abyss to be with Jiu Chen forever.
Jing Xiu goes too and is forced through the portal. Jiu Chen goes in after him and tells Ling Xi she must seal it after him. He promises to find a way back to her.
300 years later, Ling Xi has a daughter and they are at Jiu Chen’s retreat at the pole. Shi San had turned from human back into a fish to recover from an injury and they are waiting for her to regain human form. She has no memories when she’s back. At the retreat, mother and daughter are at the entrance when Jiu Chen re-emerges. And thus the family is reunited (but no explanation??).
Last weekend I was having trouble sleeping and somehow thought about czars and czarinas, so I started to read about them again. That led me into the typical rabbit hole I was expecting at first, but then I came across an unexpected other meaning:
a person appointed by government to advise on and coordinate policy in a particular area
I mean, I guess I’d heard of a “drug czar” before, but I never really thought it was a legitimate title! These folks are appointed by the executive branch and sometimes even undergo Senate confirmation. That’s pretty official.
In the US, we have not just drug czars, but also intelligence czar, terrorism czar, cyber security czar, and even war czar (according to Wikipedia). It’s sort of fuzzy how and why they came to be, but it’s definitely an established practice to have these folks who have a topical focus but may be restrained by resources.
At work, we decided this would be fun to adopt, so I dubbed myself the business czar, which my colleagues quickly turned into a hilarious pun: the biz-czar (sounds like bizarre, haha). I decided our head of IT should be the tech czar and our boss could be the tsar czar. What do you think?
9/11 doesn’t feel like 20 years ago. Somehow the memory feels less distant, as if it was closer to 10 years ago. Long enough that so much has changed, but not long enough for the pain to belong to another era. I think that’s a good thing, because it hasn’t faded too quickly. I believe it’s important to keep it in our hearts, to honor those who were indelibly affected.
20 years ago, I was a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, about an hour north of NYC. It was either the 2nd or 3rd period of class at Brewster High and I had a math class with a young teacher with strawberry blonde hair. One of the school leadership came into class and quietly said some things to her; I can’t remember if it was the principal but I think it was. The shock on her face didn’t make sense to us.
At some point, we got moved to another classroom, which I don’t recall being one I normally went to. If my math class was on the eastern side of the school, then this one was in the northwest. I remember one of my classmates, Craig, seemed to get news that his aunt might have died. I don’t remember what exactly we had been told at that point, but not long after, we were sent home.
Back at home, the news channels had nothing but horror to share with us. Did I get home before the second plane hit? Or did I watch that unfold in front of us? My mom was home and my dad was on a business trip near the Pentagon (which I didn’t know at the time). I later learned that my mom had nearly taken a job either in one of the towers or right across the street. She could have been right there. My dad was at a hotel and heard the plane fly overhead before it struck the Pentagon. Thankfully, that’s as close as we got to being affected by 9/11.
Home in New York state
A year later, we had moved to California after nearly relocating to Texas. I felt so alone on this side of the country, with brand new friends in a state that I (at that point) hated and nobody who understood what it was like to be a New Yorker on 9/11. For years, I would quietly remember the day and mourn.
Since then, I went to college, studied abroad, worked abroad, fell in love, got married, moved to Virginia, returned to California for business school, got divorced, bought a house and have now settled in southern OC. I think I’ve only been back once since leaving, back in 2013. I got a chance to visit the memorial to pay my respects and it gave me a solemn, haunting feeling very much like Holocaust memorial I visited in Berlin.
This year, I almost didn’t realize what date it was until yesterday; I still can’t believe it’s September. Today I woke up and began to read articles. There were many beautifully-written, poignant stories about the bravery and tragedy witnessed on that day. For over three hours, I let myself be consumed by articles. It’s a strangely quiet and peaceful day, with a gorgeous view of the coast. I feel like I should do something special to commemorate the day, but I’m also perfectly content to stay at home with the cats and chow down on the samosas I just made.
I recently watched Addicted (also known as Addicted: Heroin, Addicted the webseries) and I’m a fan. Those two boys were cast perfectly and I really wish they could make more of the show. I can’t really pinpoint what I love so much about it, but I’ve learned that they’ve got quite the cult following and I’m happily on board.
I did a ton of research on the whole situation and it seems that when the show came out in 2016, it played until episode 15, at which point it was banned by Chinese censorship for the saucy, salacious, gay content. There were supposed to be 3 more episodes to the season, which never got released. I’ve seen some claims that you can find the episodes online, but maybe they’ve been taken down in subsequent years because I couldn’t find a thing. The actors were even banned from being at events together! I didn’t even know the government could do that.
It seems that the two main actors, Timmy Xu/Xu Wei Zhou (许魏洲) and Johnny Huang/Huang Jing Yu (黄景瑜), then had trouble getting work because of their affiliation with the show. From what I’ve seen, Timmy had to release his own songs for awhile and didn’t really get acting gigs. Johnny apparently had his comeback a little easier/sooner and continued acting.
This video lays out the situation with a terrible voiceover lol, but you get the point.
Other than the 15 episodes that aired and that you canwatch online, there seem to be 3 other scenes available:
This shows a cut scene from one of the episodes that aired, then a bunch of the intimate scenes.
This music video features beach scenes and a tent scene that I think were also going to be in an episode that never aired. Sung by Timmy Xu.
Ok, so if you watch the show, I know that their relationship isn’t exactly healthy but dang it’s truly addictive, no kidding. I love watching them interact and even in the behind-the-scenes, they’re so buddy buddy and close and sometimes flirty.
This is one of my fav BTS clips, which really showcases their interaction.
It’s been 5 years with no sign of the rest of the show airing, but they might be doing a second season out of Taiwan… however I’m not sure it’ll be the same cast, which definitely dampens things. Since this was based on a novel, I found an online translation that I started to read so I guess I’ll have to imagine my way through the rest of the story.
It started off with very extensive due diligence forms we had to fill out for a client. Everybody’s concerned about cyber security these days, so they wanted to know all about our practices and measures. Focusing on that delayed invoicing, which usually kicks off the 1st of the month.
My friend reached out to me to plan some travel now that things are starting to reopen again. We considered some locations that weren’t too far and that didn’t require any quarantining, ultimately landing on Turks & Caicos. Then started the planning for that — flights, hotel, activities. We decided we wanted to go scuba diving so I embarked on getting certified prior to arriving there. I also applied for a new credit card so I could get a bunch of bonus miles for future travel.
One fun thing I got to do was a safari tour at the San Diego Zoo, for Bestie’s birthday! We got to see rhinos and giraffes and all sorts of birds including a cassowary and a screaming salmon-crested cockatoo.
I had put off doing my taxes until the days leading up to the deadline and the software was a bit wonky. Ultimately when I tried to submit them online, it wouldn’t let me so I had to print them and mail them out at the post office. I owed the IRS some money while CA FTB owed me money. Between that and paying property taxes a month prior, I was getting low on funds and felt the monetary pinch.
Then I went and got my second COVID vaccine shot, which knocked me out for an entire day. Thankfully it was over the weekend so I was able to lay around and barely move.
At the end of the month, I had a digital conference to attend, but it was disorienting to do that while trying to hold down the fort with work. I’m looking forward to attending in person next year and putting work aside for that week. Simultaneously, I was trying to complete the e-learning course for my PADI scuba certification that same week, so I was really drained of brain power.
The entire month, I felt like I had a bajillion balls in the air between work, travel planning, and getting my personal life in order. Adding to that stress was a tightening in my cashflow that made me concerned if I could meet all my payment needs (thankfully I got through it). Have you ever had a month that you were glad was over? That’s how I felt.
Firstly, I wanted to continue the storyline and see what could happen with Donghua Dijun and Bai Fengjiu from Eternal Love. Secondly, the leads are such beautiful people I wanted to watch more of them. So, this was up next for me immediately after watching Eternal Love.
Total episodes: 56, about 40 min each (watched it on Viki)
Listen to the OST on Spotify (my fav song is Yuan Zi Shu 缘字书 / 緣字書=book of fate’s word)
Title in Chinese is San Sheng San Shi Zhen Shang Shu 三生三世枕上书: San = three, sheng = life/lives, san = three again, shi = world, zhen = pillow, shang = on top, shu = book. So three lives, three worlds, book on the pillow. I really don’t understand the pillow reference here, maybe it makes more sense with the novel.
I didn’t mention Cheng Yu in Eternal Love, but she was the Celestial Tribe/Heaven Clan’s 3rd prince Lian Song’s love interest. She’s sassy and independent. The new actress for Cheng Yu in this felt a little too young for Lian Song so it was a bit awkward to me, but I did like her as an actress (and outside of that mismatch).
They did a fun repurposing of the actor who played Zi Lan, the 16th disciple in Eternal Love. Now he becomes his demon twin brother, Yan Chiwu, and briefly notes his good-for-nothing “good” brother as a nod to the other character, lol. I think I like him as a demon better? At least he got to be more interesting.
jealous female love rival who thinks she deserves the male lead
main leads who need to stay away from and/or be mean to each other to protect each other
side character who also falls in love with main lead, but can never be with them and ends up accepting it
main lead who sacrifices him/herself to save the other
main lead is key to the destruction of the world (or preventing it)
someone schemes to catch main lead in compromising situation
Show Summary:
A very long time ago, Donghua Dijun battled demon king Miao Luo and defeated her, sealing her. He is a legendary figure revered by pretty much everybody and became the emperor of the Heaven Clan. 30,000 years later, Bai Fengjiu of Qing Qiu kingdom (where the nine-tailed foxes live), wanders to Mount Qinyao and gets lost. She trespasses on an area the demons run, near where Miao Luo is sealed. Donghua senses something amiss and goes to check it out, killing a beast that was chasing Fengjiu. Not sure if he’s even aware she was there. She decides she has to repay him for saving her life. This is similar to Eternal Love but the situation for where she is rescued is different. She goes and begs Si Ming up in Heaven Clan to get her into Donghua’s palace so she can be a maid. Si Ming is in charge of mortals’ fates and he is friendly with Donghua.
Donghua has been trying out his cooking skills and gets Si Ming to try out a dish he made, which nearly kills him LOL. Fengjiu has entered the palace as a maid and encounters princess Zhi He, Donghua’s foster cousin. The princess is bratty and in love with Donghua. She bullies Fengjiu and makes her do chores. A special butterfly accidentally gets triggered and creates a windstorm. Fengjiu helps the injured butterfly, but Zhi He then throws it in a pond.
Donghua hears about General Meng Hao being trapped at Baishui mountain. He’s stuck there because he’s too in love with a demon queen that the demon lord Chi had used as bait to lure him there. Donghua doesn’t understand this love thing. Oh but he will I’m sure! The general is a dragon in his original form and he chooses to stay trapped.
Demon lord of the red demon clan, Xu Yang, wants to marry his sister Ji Heng off to Donghua. Demon lord of the green demon clan, Yan Chiwu is in love with her and doesn’t want that to happen.
Fengjiu ends up in the kitchen at the palace and makes delicious food. She’s an excellent cook. She’s supposed to deliver desserts to Donghua but drops them, so she replaces them with ones she made. Everybody likes her desserts but Zhi He gets credit for them. Later, Fengjiu is frying fish and Donghua smells it and comes to see. He has her continue to work in the kitchen.
Ji Heng doesn’t want to marry Donghua because she’s in love with her personal bodyguard, Min Su. Yan Chiwu challenges Donghua to a duel lol but the man doesn’t have time for him. Demon lord Nie Chuyin then suggests Chiwu steal a soul locking jade to get Donghua’s attention and force him to duel.
Fengjiu hears about the battle and rushes to go help. The jade has morphed into some evil lotus. Chuyin has an obsession with furs so he trades half his cultivation for some of Fengjiu’s tails. She can’t maintain human form and reverts to a fox. She’s able to help out a little but burns herself in the process lol. While helping bandage her, Donghua is fond of her and takes her back with him as a pet fox.
Min Su gets sent to a dangerous battle because Xu Yang wants him to stay away from his sister until she’s married to Donghua. Ji Heng goes and finds her love anyway. They get saved by Meng Hao, the general, in his dragon form. He is actually Ji Heng’s father, that must be why he willing stayed trapped there. Donghua senses Meng Hao needs help and goes, but the man is already dying. He asks Donghua to cure Ji Heng’s cold toxin disease.
Ji Heng tells Donghua about her love for Min Su. Donghua strikes an agreement with Xu Yang to let Min Su go. Ji Heng is sent to Donghua’s palace and Fengjiu gets jealous when she finds out Ji Heng is going to marry Donghua. She and Donghua have been bonding but he probably just takes her as an adorable pet. She’s been in fox form the whole time.
Zhe Yan, the phoenix immortal, is a close family friend of the foxes. He, Si Ming, and Si Ming’s girlfriend Cheng Yu (a good friend of Fengjiu’s) go beat up Nie Chuyin to get her tails back. Fengjiu goes home to Qing Qiu and regains her human form. She’s sad and ashamed because she got in trouble at the palace and was being punished, so she left.
Chuyin visits Miao Luo. He wants to help her break her seal and become the new demon lord to replace Xu Yang. She tells him to find the soul locking jade.
Princess Zhi He of course is also jealous that Ji Heng is going to marry her cousin. She replaces herself as the bride only to get taken by Chiwu thinking it was Ji Heng lol. She gets in trouble and gets exiled. Ji Heng and Min Su had already escaped as part of a plan/agreement with Donghua. They are captured by Xu Yang and Min Su reveals he’s actually a woman and kills herself to get Xu Yang to let Ji Heng go. Ji Heng is shocked. She jumps off a cliff with Min Su’s body and falls into the mortal realm. She ends up getting saved by Chuyin but loses all her memory.
Min Su the guard Ji Heng was in love with, not realizing “he” was a woman.
Donghua is weak from the battle in the lotus, helping suppress Ji Heng’s poison, and then repairing Miao Luo’s seal. Lian Song, the third prince of Heaven Clan, suggests casting half of Donghua’s shadow away as a protective mechanism.
To restore his powers faster, Donghua decides to undergo trials in the mortal realm. He gets born as crown prince Song Xuanren of Chengyu kingdom. Fengjiu is told about this and wants to go check on him even though it could backfire on her. Immortals aren’t supposed to visit the mortal world and interfere with their lives. She goes anyway, helps him dressed as a soldier in a battle, and can’t be found afterwards. Xuanren sends his trusted general Ye Qingti to find the soldier but “he” has disappeared.
Chuyin is in the mortal realm convincing Chong’an’s (a foreign country) emperor to try to get the Lingbi stone, which is a legendary rock that helped Xuanren’s grandfather win a war. He uses Ji Heng as a pawn. She is called Chu Wan now and becomes the adopted daughter of Chong’an emperor. She is sent off to be married to Xuanren as part of peace talks. Chuyin makes something up to convince Chu Wan that she needs to find out where the stone is to help them.
Fengjiu’s interference in the battle caused Xuanren to not meet the woman he was supposed to fall in love with. Si Ming is upset with her and sends her back to get the two to meet. She poses as a soldier again and warns Qingti of an attack. She’s lauded as a hero and becomes one of Xuanren’s guards. She pretends she’s looking for her relative to find the woman that Xuanren was supposed to fall in love with. One night, she gets startled, falls in the water with Xuanren, and he sees her as a woman briefly when her hair comes undone. She escapes so he won’t know it was her. He sends people to find this mysterious women he fell in love with at first sight.
Fengjiu finally learns that the lady she was looking for ended up dying. So now there is nobody for Donghua’s love trial, which he needs to undergo to regain his cultivation. Si Ming asks Fengjiu to be Xuanren’s lover (who must break his heart), so he can complete his love trial. So, she reveals she was the woman in the water to Xuanren and he happily makes her an imperial lady. She gets maids and she picks a girl called Mu Yun, who she thinks is the butterfly that got killed by princess Zhi He.
Chu Wan has been searching the palace for the stone with no luck. She gets close to Xuanren so she can get in his bedroom as the final place to search. Fengjiu gets jealous. Later, she makes treats and has Qingti try them since he came by. Xuanren sees her feeding him since his hands were dirty and now he gets jealous. Qingti does have a crush on Fengjiu but I don’t think anyone knows. At various points, there are misunderstandings where Xuanren thinks she is talking about someone else when she’s really thinking about Donghua, who is really him… so he’s jealous with himself a lot lol.
Fengjiu is assigned dessert-making for a banquet and the taste tester dies of poison. She gets in trouble and is thrown in prison with her maid Mu Yun. Xuanren doesn’t believe it was her and has Qingti investigate. They try to get her to reveal her background because that mystery is partly why they can’t prove her innocence. She won’t tell though. Eventually Qingti figures out it was the plate that was poisoned and not her desserts, so Fengjiu is set free.
Xuanren takes Fengjiu to see the Lingbi stone, which seems to be the soul locking jade. It lights up when he touches, then lights up when she touches. Perhaps because it recognizes them both? Xuanren brought her to the tomb where the stone is because he wants help improving the trap mechanisms.
Chu Wan and her assistant Ling Xiang get close to finding the stone. Ling Xiang attempts to enter the tomb and triggered some traps. She gets caught, kills herself. Chu Wan is blamed for involvement and imprisoned. She gets rescued by Yan Chiwu, but she still doesn’t remember anything so she doesn’t know who he is.
Qingti takes Fengjiu to watch the sunset to brighten her mood. He gives her a bracelet and promises to help her if she ever wanted to leave the palace. Xuanren notices the bracelet and suspects she’s hiding something. He needs to choose an empress and makes it her. Qingti is super sad and writes her a love letter. On the wedding day, Fengjiu disappears with Qingti and Xuanren finds the letter.
Xuanren has people chase them down and eventually brings them back. They are imprisoned but Xuanren doesn’t want to kill them. Xuanren’s older brother Xuanying brings people to attack. He’s been working with Nie Chuyin this whole time trying to find the stone. Xuanren takes Fengjiu with him to the tomb where Xuanying is. A massive fight ensues, Fengjiu gets stabbed, Qingti shows up to help. Xuanren activates a self-destruction mechanism in the tomb and Qingti locks himself in the tomb with the bad guys to ensure they can’t escape. Xuanren and Fengjiu escape and he wants to start over, but she feels a great debt to Qingti now. She tells Xuanren she loves Qingti and jumps off a cliff.
Fengjiu returns to the immortal realm and asks her friend Xie Guchou, lord of the netherworld, to help her revive Ye Qingti. She can do so if she can get a magical fruit that would enable him to become immortal. Meanwhile, Guchou keeps his body in a suspended state. Xuanren dies of heartbreak and Donghua returns to his immortal body. This is also similar to the storyline in Eternal Love, Donghua’s mortal identity falls in love with Fengjiu and she has to break his heart and he dies young. He can’t remember what happened but there’s a tear in his eye.
Chiwu helps Chu Wan regain her memory and be Ji Heng again. She leaves to enter Fanyin valley, a place that Donghua said would be good to help her with her cold toxin.
An immortal Cang Yi is interested in Fengjiu and comes to ask for marriage. Fengjiu gets drunk with her buddy Cheng Yu and decides to agree. She claims to be over Donghua but really she’s not. When she sobers up, she tries to undo her mistake and challenges Cang Yi to a duel lol. Her dad and Zhe Yan the family friend show up to stop them. Ever the mediator, Zhe Yan suggests they cancel the agreement and Cang Yi finally agrees even though he likes her. She’s stubborn but he says he’ll wait for her to change her mind.
Bai Qian, Fengjiu’s aunt is about to get married (this is the main couple from Eternal Love) and Donghua comes as part of the entourage to pick her up from Qing Qiu so he can look for his fox pet that he lost. He pays no attention to Fengjiu in human form, not recognizing her. She goes to Heaven Clan to attend the wedding. Her family sets up some blind dates while she’s up there. She acts very undesirably and scares them off lol. Donghua happens to witness this behavior, is amused, and invites her to drink with him.
While in the Heaven Clan, A’Li (nephew) and Bai Zhen (uncle) accompany Bai Fengjiu around. They’re so cute. Source: MyDramaList
Later he encounters her again when she saves some people from a beast attack. Then, she ran away from a mob of suitors into an indoor bath, so she took a dip. He came in and she had nothing on lol. He handed her her clothes and she sheepishly crawled away. She realized she left behind some things, which Donghua took with him. She goes to ask for it back thinking he’s alone but behind her were a bunch of other immortals there for a meeting haha.
Princess Zhi He begs to return to Heaven Clan and continues to be her rude self. She tries to mess with Fengjiu. Fengjiu turns into a handkerchief to hide from Donghua at one point, he knows it’s her and picks her up, then messes with her. He then goes to fight Chiwu for the duel that I forgot all about. During the fight, she (as the handkerchief) and Chiwu both fall into an opening into Fanyin valley and land on the 2nd prince of the Biyi bird clan, Xiangli Meng.
This valley can only be entered and exited on rare occasions every 60 years so they’re stuck there for awhile. It’s always winter there. (There’s a story to that.) The prince was trying to sneak out and to cover that up, he makes up a story that gets them out of trouble too. So they pose as students interested in the Biyi tribe’s culture and enroll in their school. Chiwu sees a lady who looks like Ji Heng there but she doesn’t acknowledge him. She’s a music teacher there.
I find it amusing in their red student garb, both with red marks on their faces. Source: MyDramaList
Fengjiu hears about a competition to win the fruit she needs to revive Qingti, so she goes from being a nonchalant student to an eager one so she can enter the competition. A substitute teacher is supposed to come teach a course that Donghua normally would do a guest lecture on and the students want to play a trick on him. Instead, Donghua actually shows up and the normal teacher falls into the trap.
Fengjiu is mad at Donghua for not coming for so long, he turns into a handkerchief to let her have revenge on him. But then he transports himself back to Heaven Clan to play Go with Lian Song (3rd prince). She confronts Donghua when she finds out and gives him back the handkerchief. She finds out Ji Heng is in the valley and assumes Donghua is there for her rival and not her.
Fengjiu and Ji Heng end up having to compete in tea-making and Ji Heng wins. Ji Heng is interested in Donghua now, probably because Min Su was a dead end.
Since she couldn’t get into the competition, Fengjiu tries to steal the fruit. She learns the serpents guarding it leave briefly during the full moon so she gets Chiwu to help her dig a tunnel. But Donghua messes with it and they get lost in different directions. She ends up seeing a woman seducing Donghua. It turns out to be Miao Luo’s spirit. Fengjiu fights the spirit with Donghua (they make some moooooves together) and they defeat her but then they’re stuck there because a barricade was triggered. Donghua gets her to bandage his arm, he acts all fussy to get attention from her lol. He lays in her lap and grabs her hand too. What a baby. They end up falling asleep next to each other. He’s intrigued by her since everybody else in the universe wants his protection, but she’s the only who wants to protect him.
Donghua and Chiwu trade rooms so they get to be in the courtyards with the girls they like. Ji Heng is not happy haha. Donghua gets Fengjiu into the competition and becomes her trainer. He trains her pretty hard and even uses it to vent his jealousy. At one point when she falls and he catches her, they end up kissing but she bit his lip so it wasn’t exactly romantic.
Oh yeah, Meng has a sister, princess Jie Lu, who comes in from time to time.
Bahaha Meng had a cricket that died and he’s devastated. He got it from a Qing Qiu princess when he was exploring once. That was Fengjiu! She was taking A’Li (her nephew) out back when she was recovering from her embarrassment up at Donghua’s. Meng has been in love with this lady ever since then even though never saw her face because she had a veil on.
The first round of the competition is music and Ji Heng plays a tune for the student to harmonize with. She purposely makes a difficult one for Fengjiu but Fengjiu still passes. On the next round, ice beams, Fengjiu and Chiwu are the last ones standing. Ji Heng secretly uses magic to control Chiwu and make him aggressive. Donghua notices and knocks her out, Fengjiu then wins. But all she notices is Donghua carrying Ji Heng away.
Donghua forces evil power out of Ji Heng and she begs him to give her the fruit. He agrees because he never intended to give it to Fengjiu. Why? Fengjiu is so let down by this. She decides she needs to go steal the fruit and she gets trapped in A’Lanruo’s dream. A’Lanruo was a princess of the tribe and her lover created the dream to keep her alive, or something like that. Fengjiu could get stuck in there and never come out, so Donghua goes to enter the dream with her and bring her back.
When he arrives they are in some sort of waiting area lol, not the dream itself (yet?). Fengjiu thinks she’s dreaming about Donghua again so she pulls him down for a kiss. When he gets over the initial surprise, he then pulls her in for a deeper kiss and they roll around on the bed hahaha. That doesn’t look comfortable at all. When Donghua tells her it’s not a dream, she’s confused. She’s lost some of her recent memories so she’s not mad at him or jealous. He tells her they already got married to get her to let her guard down and trust him more. She’s weak and needs to recover, he works some magic on her.
Then they enter the dream, where a bunch of maids are calling her A’Lanruo now. She has to orient herself and get answers out of the maids. Eventually she learns she grew up with the serpents and Shen Ye as a boy would come to visit her, then eventually saved her from her situation. He’s been in love with her all this time. Ok so the characters for his name are 沉晔, which should translate to Chen Ye, but I swear the pronunciation in the show is Shen Ye and that’s how it’s subtitled too, so that’s what I’m using. And A’Lanruo 阿兰若 sounds like A’Lanre in the show but the character is ruo and that’s what the subtitles used so I’m going with that. That one I believe could be an accent thing of why it sounds a little off, or when you say it fast it can easily be heard otherwise.
Donghua enters the dream and takes over Xi Ze, who is A’Lanruo’s husband. I think the real Lord Xi Ze is an older man probably in his 40’s. He is a doctor, so it’s a good cover for him to enter the palace to treat A’Lanruo’s sister, princess Ju Nuo. Donghua finds out Ju Nuo is pregnant and might be hosting Fengjiu’s primordial spirit. I guess she’s the incubator to help Fengjiu’s spirit recover?
Su Moye, A’Lanruo’s master, gets sent into the dream by Lian Song because he’s worried. Moye’s mom was the empress snake so he’s able to enter the dream. He’s been investigating A’Lanruo’s death and he knows a bit about the history. He tells Fengjiu that the dream was created as a chance to revive A’Lanruo. They need to find out how she died as a method to complete the dream and get out.
What do you think of his three looks? Source: MyDramaList
When Moye meets Xi Ze, he suspects it’s Donghua. Originally, A’Lanruo was married to Xi Ze but they never lived together. So a marriage in name only. Shen Ye is Xi Ze’s disciple and took over his position. He looks just like Donghua. A’Lanruo was really into snakes (having grown up with them) but Fengjiu is not, so she plots to get an excuse for A’Lanruo’s pet snake Qing to stay away from her. Moye helps with the plot that involves Chang Di, another princess who likes to bully A’Lanruo along with Ju Nuo. Donghua follows and sees, then approaches Fengjiu and she hands him a mask without looking, thinking he’s Moye. There’s some event/holiday/tradition they’re following. They go look at cool glowing flowers and she talks about the man she loves but cannot remember.
Fengjiu gets in trouble for letting the snake loose and is imprisoned. There’s a fire and Shen Ye rushes to save her. She talks to Moye about A’Lanruo’s life and her own. Donghua listens in and takes her back to her room when she falls asleep. She’s surprised to see him when she wakes up, thinking he is Xi Ze of course. Donghua then goes to meet with Moye and reveal his identity. They discuss how to get out of the dream safely.
There’s a banquet to enjoy the stars and Chang Di harasses Fengjiu for not knowing where Xi Ze is. He turns up, saying he went to the mountains to get herbs for her. He makes a big show of his concern for her, which the princesses are not happy with haha. Shen Ye doesn’t pay much attention to his fiancée Ju Nuo and stares at Fengjiu instead. He seems to sense that Fengjiu isn’t A’Lanruo. I guess he’s been trapped in the dream this whole time searching for her?
The princesses set up a trap to lure Moye to A’Lanruo’s room to frame them for being together. Instead they’re tricked to find Donghua with her haha. They even get the king to witness their trickery. Donghua carries her off to his room. Then Moye shows up to seal the deal by telling the king about the fake letter. YAS, win.
The princesses get punished (gently) but then Ju Nuo gets in trouble for an affair with her teacher. Oh the irony! She is set to be beheaded and Chang Di gets exiled for breaking a lamp. My my. Moye believes Ju Nuo can’t die because that’s not close enough to the real timeline and then they may not figure out how A’Lanruo died and get out of the dream.
At the execution, Fengjiu has to step up and stop it. She has to bleed on a sword as part of it and that triggers an alert for Miao Luo. She had some red Qi she hid in a fetus when she was defeated by Donghua and it turns out that baby was Fengjiu. That explains the red mark on her forehead. Miao Luo needs that blood back to break free of her seal. Donghua fights her, then Fengjiu gets sucked back into her real body.
Now she recovers her primordial spirit in her own body and she remembers Donghua. He’s fighting Miao Luo in flashes of blue and red. They fly off to who knows where and she goes looking for him, following a trail of blood until she reaches a cave. Eventually she finds him in there and he rushes her, kissing her until they back into a stone wall. Lol he acts like a little baby with her.
Now he gets a chance to explain he didn’t want her to have the fruit because he thought she was just going to make treats for Chiwu and he was jealous, ai. They rest but have to go back and continue pretending to be A’Lanruo and Xi Ze. A’Lanruo’s body is gone now that Fengjiu is back and Donghua figures there’s some sort of connection between the two. I mean come on, they look identical! He’ll need to create a magical mirror to investigate.
Shen Ye moves in to A’Lanruo’s place. To save him from punishment (because he’s Ju Nuo’s fiancé?), A’Lanruo had claimed she needed him to work for her. I guess in the original timeline, he got punished because he defended Ju Nuo. He has lots of memories at A’Lanruo’s. He’s still trying to figure out how to save his love.
Moye learns about Fengjiu returning and now A’Lanruo’s body disappearing. He says originally Shen Ye was in a bad mood upon moving in so A’Lanruo would write letters to him to help with his mood. So now Fengjiu needs to send him letters too, under the guise of or pen name of Wen Tian, a teacher. A’Lanruo had thought Shen Ye might not read the letters if he knew they were from her. Shen Ye has the original letters and compares them, they’re basically identical but he suspects she’s not A’Lanruo. He confronts her, gets mad, drinks.
Donghua shows up to take Fengjiu on a nice date. He makes butterflies and flowers float everywhere, then takes her out to town for a holiday. He tells her his intention to marry her and make her his empress. (The Dijun 帝君part of his name is a title essentially meaning emperor. It’s a less used way of calling one an emperor and a rather respectable one.) They share a nice kiss.
Miao Luo is lurking and Donghua secretly goes to fight her. Fengjiu is unhappy she was abandoned, not knowing what’s going on. Back at her place, Shen Ye is drunk and unhappy too. What a mess.
Donghua gets Moye to help him with the mirror. It’s an arduous task. He spends time with Fengjiu and she enjoys the attention.
Moye tells Fengjiu more about A’Lanruo and Shen Ye. They eventually finally confessed their feelings to each other and Moye left after that. Fengjiu suspects because he had feelings for A’Lanruo too. Two years after that, the bird emperor died, was succeeded by his son, then the son died. A’Lanruo would have been next in line but Ju Nuo took over instead. I guess A’Lanruo was blamed for supposedly poisoning the emperor and hanged herself.
Meanwhile in the real world, Jie Lu the bird princess had been trying to get the story of A’Lanruo from her mother the current empress. A’Lanruo was her sister and they loved the same man (Shen Ye). A’Lanruo’s dream was created by him because of his obsession. The current empress turns out to be Ju Nuo, the princess we meet in the dream.
Fengjiu finally reveals to Shen Ye she’s not A’Lanruo and gets him to confess he loved A’Lanruo. She tells him he shouldn’t have hidden his feelings. Donghua sees Shen Ye hugging Fengjiu and gets jealous and leaves. She sees him, runs after him, but can’t find him and it starts raining. He finally returns all wet after walking around for hours and takes a bath. He’s all jealous and pulls her into the bath as they talk it out, then she gives him a peck on the cheek. They happily get cozy and end up consummating their relationship. Does it count in dreamland? Lol.
A look at their three versions of couplehood. Source: MyDramaList
Shen Ye’s been trying to gather A’Lanruo’s primordial spirit with a soul gathering lamp. It gets broken when Miao Luo comes to attack. The spirit enters Fengjiu’s body and she can see/feel A’Lanruo’s memories. A’Lanruo had been so crestfallen when Shen Ye returned to the palace, thinking he abandoned her. Donghua and Moye finish the mirror and see A’Lanruo’s past too.
The empress arranged the war so the son could get killed in battle and her daughter Ju Nuo could take over. A’Lanruo was thrown in prison and saved by Xi Ze. She learns about her brother’s danger and goes to replace him. She sacrificed herself to kill all the enemy soldiers in a fiery blaze. In his grief, Shen Ye used all his powers to cut out 3 of the seasons, leaving only bitter winter as a reminder to everyone of A’Lanruo’s death.
Shen Ye is connected to Donghua; he’s Donghua’s shadow’s reincarnation. Remember back when Donghua sent his shadow off as a protective mechanism when he was weak? That became Shen Ye. Fengjiu had her shadow cast too, to go follow his shadow and repay his kindness, and that’s how A’Lanruo came to be. Her soul can’t be recovered, it’s now back with Fengjiu, so they need Shen Ye to give up his obsession. He kills himself since he can’t bring A’Lanruo back and re-enters Donghua. Miao Luo shows up and extracts the red Qi blood from Fengjiu. Now they exit the dream.
Miao Luo is getting close to breaking the seal and needs Nie Chuyin to get a blood tear that the demon clans protect. He will need to kill the leader Xu Yang (the guy who tried to marry Ji Heng off to Donghua) to get it. A bunch of the bird clan is going to stay in the valley to defend it and fight Miao Luo. It’s basically a death mission. They send off little Jie Lu princess because their clan needs a leader to survive.
Fengjiu is able to get the fruit to Qingti’s body in the netherworld but it will take time for him to awaken and she’ll give half her cultivation when the time comes to revive him. She now needs to make a sword for a ceremony for her to take over as queen of Qing Qiu. Her aunt Bai Qian was the monarch, but now that she married into the Heaven Clan, Qing Qiu needs a new monarch.
At the ceremony, Fengjiu is able to get through the trial, but then Chuyin shows up to challenge her to a duel. He beats her and wants to get a promise from Qing Qiu, but then he’s told he would also need to defeat her husband. Nobody has a clue who that is, lol. Even her family doesn’t know about her relationship. And then the big reveal, Donghua steps up as her husband LOL. He easily defeats Chuyin.
Donghua goes to Qing Qiu to talk marriage with Fengjiu’s parents. He promises to give her freedom to make her own decisions. He wants to hold the ceremony at his personal secret island thing, which nobody is able to access. They have sweet moments together, he takes her there and they talk about what they’re going to build in the future.
Donghua gets called away for duty and doesn’t make it to his wedding banquet. He needs to go help Xu Yang. Ji Heng meets with him too and wants him to stop his marriage. He helps absorb all of her toxin into his body and sends her off.
Fengjiu hears that Donghua was seen with Ji Heng and when she learns it’s true she’s super depressed, thinking he left her. She finds out she is pregnant and decides to leave Qing Qiu. She transfers her cultivation to Qingti as she intended and goes to live in the mortal realm with her child. She only returns to the Heaven Clan when it’s time for a ceremony for Qingti to get assigned a position now that he’s an immortal.
Qingti is appointed as the successor to Donghua’s palace, which surprises people. They expect Donghua Dijun to live forever and be forever powerful, after all. Donghua wants to meet Fengjiu one last time. She’s still hurt and thinks he left her for Ji Heng. He gives her a ring but she rejects it and he’s heartbroken but still loves her deeply.
Chiwu works with Donghua and others to try to seal Miao Luo into the valley since the crack is opening after 60 years. But they don’t quite get her in and Dong Hua has an epic battle with her.
Fengjiu smells something fishy and finally gets Donghua’s guard to tell her the truth. She learns of all the things Donghua’s been doing to save the world this whole time and that the ring was made of half of his heart. Now Fengjiu has to go see Donghua. He’s in the midst of fighting Miao Luo and has sealed them so nobody else can enter.
Fengjiu finds out she can actually enter because she’s wearing the ring made of Donghua’s heart. She goes to fight with him. They discover that Fengjiu’s blood works against Miao Luo so she smears the swords with them and Miao Luo is destroyed. They are both too weak to do anything else and they lay there. Their blood pools eventually touch and it cleanses all the dark energy.
Chiwu has been wooing Ji Heng this whole time and she finally realizes his importance to her and accepts him. Jie Lu princess’s clan is mostly demolished but the survivors get refuge in Qing Qiu. Who is there to be the monarch in place of Fengjiu now?
Donghua nurses an inured and unconscious Fengjiu when a white-haired child shows up. He runs to her calling “mommy” and Donghua stops him to ask him who he is. Ok, he’s got hair like you (and nobody else does) and he’s yelling “mommy” to your wife, who do you think he is?! Lol. Also why doesn’t the kid think he’s the father when he sees hair like his? Donghua finally learns he has a son and he’s shocked (I think that’s the only time in his entire life… he seems to take everything else in stride). Fengjiu eventually wakes up from her injuries and yay, happy family.
And the cute family united makes for a happy ending. Source: MyDramaList
Sometimes I look for behind the scenes or video clips from the Chinese dramas I’ve been watching and that leads me down a rabbit hole of video recommendations. That’s how I first came across this cool dance that is inspired by traditional Chinese dance elements. It was fascinating to watch for so many reasons:
great choreography matching the music
amazing gracefulness combined with powerful moves from these guys
incredible wrist and fan work
beautiful costumes
omg the facial expressions of Bai Xiao Bai 白小白 on the left!
At first I took it as a wonderful piece of entertainment and moved on. Days later, I was looking some other things when I came across more of the work from Bai Xiao Bai and his TranScend studio. [Side note: I was trying to find a website for them but came across this fascinating breakdown of their branding/logo instead!]
That’s when I started to realize the first video wasn’t just two random dudes who did a cool thing, but that Bai Xiao Bai is a choreographer and dancer who is quite prolific! From then on, I started to watch of a ton of his productions, which then led me to a bunch of covers that other groups have done of his pieces. These two are probably the most popular:
I loooooove the move at 0:39. There’s something so fun and graceful about it.
There are a TON of videos out there with people doing this dance as part of some Douyin (aka Chinese TikTok) dance challenge.
Here’s one of my favorite compilations of the 燕无歇 dance challenge:
And this is probably one of the more high-profile performances of 芒种, by an actress so seems to pretty popular in China. I love that she actually plays the guzheng/zither part of the song in this performance.
And finally, I wanted to end by highlighting a really cute one that Bai Xiao Bai did with this kid. It’s playful and fun! I hope you like him and TranScend as much as I do and I hope you enjoyed watching all these videos that I absolutely adore.
Update: omg I just saw this remix! Love it. Had to add it in.
My philosophy is simple: things change. Therefore, we are all on a lifelong journey of discovery. We should be flexible, questioning, learning, adapting, and growing. Always.
little fat notebook pays homage to Mead's "fat lil' notebooks" that I use to write down any thoughts that strike me throughout the day. I keep one by my side at all times. After all, inspiration waits for no one.
