douqi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
douqi) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
baihe_media2024-06-13 06:48 pm
douqi) wrote in baihe_media2024-06-13 06:48 pm
To Embers We Return (焚情) Read-Along: Chapters 1 to 10
Ning Yuan (宁远) started serlalising her much-anticipated (especially by me) historical cyberpunk novel To Embers We Return (焚情, pinyin: fen qing, formerly known as Burning Passions but that sounded too much like the kind of historical romance that has a clinch cover with the leads' hair blowing dramatically in the wind) today. Since I know at least one other comm member is reading it as it serialises, I thought I would set up this read-along post.
Here's the updated summary for the novel (I posted about the original summary here):
Here is the link to the novel on JJWXC. I'll write a summary of each chapter in separate comments. Please feel free to join in, even if you're not reading the novel but are have questions/reactions. Obviously, there will be spoilers in the comments!
Here's the updated summary for the novel (I posted about the original summary here):
When Shen Ni returned home covered in glory, the emperor granted her the position of an official of the first rank, as well as the hand in marriage of the woman she had been in love with ever since her youth, Bian Jin.
Bian Jin had once been the empire's sharpest blade — a weapon in human form whose very name filled their enemies' hearts with terror. But after a string of serious battlefield injuries, she could only stand upright with the aid of a mechanical spine.
After their wedding, unresolved conflicts between the two meant that their marriage remained unconsummated, and they continued to address each other as 'shijie' and 'shimei'. Shen Ni kept a record of every single change in the sensitivity readings of every part of Bian Jin's new cybernetic body.
Each time she made adjustments to Bian Jin's body, Shen Ni would wear gloves. She knew her shijie had an obsession with cleanliness, and hated being touched.
Bian Jin: It's just a prosthetic. There's no need for all this fuss.
Shen Ni: The proprieties must be observed.
Bian Jin: Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. I didn't see you observing the proprieties then.
As Shen Ni was fine-tuning Bian Jin's body, a small mishap resulted in Bian Jin's skin developing a heightened level of sensitivity that only Shen Ni was able to trigger. The temperature in their bridal chamber rose instantly from 'cool' to 'scorching'.
Bian Jin: Are we going to test my body again tonight? Every time my sensitivity readings go up, I'll reward you.
***
Shen Ni straightened her official's hat, and met the 'gaze' of the spybeast hovering in the air. The monster who wanted to destroy the world had finally shown its cold, poisoned claws.
Her human genes summoned her to the aid of the ancient and noble civilisation that had birthed her. She would defend it to her last breath, even if it meant having her guts smeared across the landscape.
Random passerby: Hey, I think the monster who wants to destroy the world might be your wife.
Shen Ni: (nonplussed silence)
Shen Ni: What's there to love about this greedy, corrupt world? Let it be destroyed!
The fall of a degenerate society was close at hand. The land ran red with blood.
Bian Jin, her body now in peak condition thanks to Shen Ni's efforts, placed the point of her sword against Shen Ni's heart. 'Don't you understand?' she said. 'I was just using you.'
Shen Ni, completely drenched in blood, took a step forward. 'And after you're done using me, will you reward me?'
Bian Jin: ...what.
Here is the link to the novel on JJWXC. I'll write a summary of each chapter in separate comments. Please feel free to join in, even if you're not reading the novel but are have questions/reactions. Obviously, there will be spoilers in the comments!
Chapter 10
Bian Jin is indeed busy. She was about to try and explain to Shen Ni that Shen Ni had completely misunderstood her meaning, when the chief archivist Cheng Zhe tells her to help store away damaged cyborg bodies (it's one of the things the archive preserves). Cheng Zhe has a major grudge against Bian Jin, who refused his application for a promotion back when she was still in charge of the northern border, pointing out that someone like him — who had abandoned his first wife and their daughter in favour of marrying another woman who could help further his career — was sure to betray his responsibilities for his own ambitions. He had been looking forward to making her life hell once she was transferred to the archive; unfortunately for him, she's now married to Shen Ni, and he doesn't dare to touch Shen Ni's wife.
In the file room, Bian Jin finds today's duty officer, a young, petite woman named Meng Chu, struggling to maneuver the cart containing the heavy cyborg bodies. Bian Jin whisks the cart away silently and effortlessly; Meng Chu is surprised, and also struck by her beauty. Bian Jin demonstrates to Meng Chu has to efficiently use a giant mechanical arm to lift up the bodies and put them away. Meng Chu asks her name, is told it, and has a brief blue-screen-of-death moment as she recognises the name.
Back at home, Shen Ni decides to make lunch for Bian Jin — soup, steamed fish and a strawberry cheesecake. When she arrives at the archive, with said lunch packed away in an insulated lunchbox, she overhears a couple of men gossiping about Bian Jin. The thrust of the matter is that she still has a lot of former comrades and subordinates who remain loyal to her, and who petitioned the emperor to pardon her. One of them wonders how Shen Ni, who is known to hold a grudge against Bian Jin, tortures her behind closed doors. They also talk about how Cheng Zhe has been arranging for the staff canteen to add grease and salt to the food they prepare, and how he is right this minute treating all of the archive staff — with the conspicuous exception of Bian Jin — to tong sui.
Shen Ni marches into the archive, pausing to ask a female official where her wife is, and charming her completely in the process. In the main room, everyone is eating the tong sui which Cheng Zhe has bought, except Bian Jin. Bian Jin wouldn't have noticed that she was being deliberately left out if Cheng Zhe hadn't been staring at her, waiting for her to realise it. Then she hears a voice calling sweetly, 'my lady wife', and thinks the speaker must be addressing someone else — until Shen Ni bends over her and asks 'what's my wife so engrossed in?'
As far as Bian Jin's colleagues are concerned, Shen Ni's appearance, complete with lunchbox, puts paid to all the rumours about her harbouring a grudge against Bian Jin. Then Shen Ni exclaims in puzzled tones, 'Why are you the only one who didn't get any tong sui?' The text notes that she's always been like this since she was little: the wickeder she intends to be, the more innocent she seems. Cheng Zhe, of course, understands the meaning behind her words, and hastily hands over his own (as yet untouched) portion of tong sui, making excuses all the while. Shen Ni pushes it away, telling him that her wife rarely eats outside food.
Shen Ni then takes out the little box with the cheesecake in it, wipes her hands with an anti-bacterial wet wipe, scoops up a small piece of cheesecake with a spoon and brings it to Bian Jin's mouth. Bian Jin is about to tell her that she needn't go that far with the 'loving wives' act, when Shen Ni suddenly says, 'It's your favourite dessert, I made it for you especially.' On hearing that, Bian Jin's eyes soften.
Shen Ni leans closer to Bian Jin and says, in a whisper only the two of them can hear, 'Play along with me.' The text tells us that Bian Jin is used to being the one to give commands, and rarely receives them; on hearing Shen Ni's words, her eyes take on a certain glow. Meng Chu, staring at them from a corner, is so surprised at the sight of killing machine Bian Jin being so docile in front of her wife that she can barely blink.
Bian Jin compliantly removes her face mask (set to transparent) and slowly leans closer to the spoon in Shen Ni's hand. Her breath tickles Shen Ni's fingertips. The text tells us that Bian Jin has always been beyond Shen Ni's control; now that she's looking down at Bian Jin, and Bian Jin's looking up at her and doing as she says, Shen Ni is experiencing a sensation that she's never had before; a wicked electrical current seems to be running through her.
Perhaps because she's not used to being so close to another person, Bian Jin misjudges the distance and ends up pressing her lips against Shen Ni's fingertips.
Tech watch: mechanical arm thing; retina scanner (on the door to the file room); e-cigarettes (being smoked by the gossipers); anti-bacterial wet wipes.
Named men: 2.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
Re: Chapter 10
something called the Great Wheel of Fire will be unveiled
This looks like the Eye of Sauron in my head.
Shen Ni receives message after message, but none from Bian Jin
Shen Ni behaving like a high school girl with a crush is cute.
the wickeder she intends to be, the more innocent she seems
Ahahaha this is indeed rapidly becoming Shen Ni's brand.
The text tells us that Bian Jin is used to being the one to give commands, and rarely receives them; on hearing Shen Ni's words, her eyes take on a certain glow.
Bian Jin has always been beyond Shen Ni's control; now that she's looking down at Bian Jin, and Bian Jin's looking up at her and doing as she says, Shen Ni is experiencing a sensation that she's never had before; a wicked electrical current seems to be running through her.
I SEE I SEE.
Meng Chu, staring at them from a corner, is so surprised at the sight of killing machine Bian Jin being so docile in front of her wife that she can barely blink
Shipper on deck? Shipper on deck!
Re: Chapter 10
Li Ruoyuan should have tasked Meng Chu with verifying the consummation given how avidly she’s staring at this little performance.
Bian Jin, that ice-cold weapon in human form
OH THIS IS WHAT I AM HERE FOR!!
Bian Jin if you don't want that portion of tong sui please can I have it?
(Is there a Hui Lau Shan PRO in this world?)
Re: Chapter 10
(Is there a Hui Lau Shan PRO in this world?)
Now I'm wondering if there's a Haidilao PRO. Or a Ding Tai Fung PRO. Very off-piste but why is the only Hui Lau Shan in the UK in Nottingham of all places.
Re: Chapter 10
RIGHT?? What is it doing there?? I have so many questions.
Re: Chapter 10
I honestly don't know who'll feel the biggest tingle from the feeding incident: fingertips or lips?? Been on the fingertip end but not the lips, so if anyone can speak from experience, please stand up.
Re: Chapter 10