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baihe_media2024-06-23 09:25 pm
douqi) wrote in baihe_media2024-06-23 09:25 pm
I don't know if it was necessary, but wearing a mask for the whole flight (except meals) did make me feel a lot more comfortable about being stuck in a crowded environment, and I remain thankfully Covid-free (and free of other respiratory illnesses) so far!
It's definitely a consummation. ;-)
Boy, Shen Ni sure connected the dots pretty quickly ... figuring out almost instantly why Bian Jin said what she did before blacking out. I guess she's very in-tuned with Bian Jin. As one should be with the love of her life. :-)
Boy, Shen Ni sure connected the dots pretty quickly ... figuring out almost instantly why Bian Jin said what she did before blacking out. I guess she's very in-tuned with Bian Jin. As one should be with the love of her life. :-)
Scans show that the repairs are now complete and there has been no contamination or overload. Shen Ni sets the mechanical arm to clean everything up. She studies herself in the mirror: her eyes are red and swollen, and she’s unkempt from three nights’ worth of sleeplessness. She takes a huge gulp of nutrient broth, and the strong taste of osmanthus blossom reminds her that all the nutrient broth in the house is flavoured with that paste.
Shen Ni goes over to the workbench, where Bian Jin is sleeping, and studies her beautiful face unrestrainedly for the first time since they reunited. Shen Ni undoes the leather cuffs, and discovers that there’s an unhealed cut across Bian Jin’s palm. She recalls seeing a bandage wrapped around that hand of Bian Jin’s a few days ago at breakfast, which coincided with the time an unidentified intruder was detected in the courtyard. Shen Ni stitches up the wound. Then she washes Bian Jin’s hair, which, despite her best efforts, still got some oil splashed on it.
After that, Shen Ni wraps Bian Jin up in a soft blanket and carries her back into their bedroom. Before leaving the room, she activates a quantum molecular resonance device, which will promote healing. The device costs ten thousand taels of silver to operate for two hours; Shen Ni sets it going for six, to start with.
Shen Ni steps outside, and sees the two female officials from Lijing Bureau who were tasked with making sure she and Shen Ni consummated their marriage. We’re finally given their names here: Dou Xuanji and Fang Pan. Rumour has it that the female officials of the Lijing Bureau are all orphans adopted by the head of the bureau, and have been trained to give their lives in service to the throne. Dou Xuanji and Fang Pan were initially nameless, and the two of them were awarded those names by the emperor for their services. Dou and Fang are the names of major noble clans.
Fang Pan informs Shen Ni that the emperor summoned her yesterday, and since she didn’t appear, Fang Pan and Dou Xuanji have been sent to fetch her. Shen Ni snarks at them as she takes her time getting washed and dressed, and snarks at them further as she gets ready to leave.
The three of them ride through the streets on horseback. Shen Ni notices that there’s no sign of the Great Wheel of Fire, and surmises that it must have been taken down after the Shangyuan festivities. To get one over her two unwilling escorts, she pretends that she’s about to fall off her horse, then straightens up again just as Dou Xuanji rushes up to her to prop her up. This leaves Dou Xuanji kneeling awkwardly before Shen Ni’s horse, as if she’s performing an obeisance. Shen Ni graciously tells her she may rise. Dou Xuanji is Not Amused.
Then they hear a low, feminine laugh. It’s Li Shan, passing by on a coach accompanied by two nobles from the Dou clan proper. Instead of her usual official’s robes, she gorgeously decked out in full femme clothing and makeup. There’s a barbed exchange where Li Shan cleverly insults Dou Xuanji, Shen Ni and the two Dou nobles in the same sentence, but Shen Ni gives as good as she gets, and does it with every appearance of guilelessness. Shen Ni wins this round: Li Shan is enraged, but not really in a position to take it out on anyone present, and Dou Xuanji decides that maybe Shen Ni isn’t the worst person in the world after all. Li Shan and her entourage continue on their way to the city of Luoyang, and Shen Ni and her Lijing escorts ride on towards the palace.
At the palace, Shen Ni projects her memories of the Liu Ji incident on the wall, to show Li Ruoyuan what took place. They have a discussion about the Black Box virus and possible strategies for defending against it, which culminates in Li Ruoyuan summoning Li Shan back from Luoyang immediately.
Li Shan comes rushing back, looking distinctly dishevelled from travel. As she enters the room, she trips over her own skirt, flinging her into a kneeling pose before Shen Ni — who, of course, doesn’t get up. Li Shan realises that Shen Ni must have known Li Ruoyuan would summon her back with all haste, and yet did nothing to stop her from leaving Chang’an. This merely stokes her anger.
Li Ruoyuan tells Li Shan that Shen Ni must immediately be given security clearance to enter the Supreme Bureau of R&D and the power to redirect its resources, and Li Shan has no choice but to assent.
As Li Shan and Shen Ni leave the emperor’s presence, Li Shan tells Shen Ni, ‘Bian Jin is just using you.’ She adds that Bian Jin is a creature of the Qin Wushang, the emperor of Xuanzhou, and is probably scheming to get hold of even more of TangPro’s state secrets via Shen Ni.
To Li Shan’s complete astonishment, Shen Ni only turns a captivating smile on her and says, ‘My wife is using me? Do you understand how wonderful every single word of that sounds?’
Li Shan is left speechless, and when Shen Ni archly thanks her for taking the trouble to tell her, Li Shan strides off in a huff.
We then cut to Bian Jin, who’s just waking up. She sees an ice-blue tanhua in front of her, in full bloom. She recalls that, a long time ago, when she was still at Shuangji Hall, she acquired two of these flowers, and planted them in the rear courtyard. Shen Ni was taken with them, and often came to look at the flowers. The tanhua were so delicate, however, that they faded after three days. Seeing Shen Ni’s disappointment, Bian Jin began furiously researching the art of cultivating ice-blue tanhua, and was so successfully that they eventually grew all over the courtyard. Despite many requests, Bian Jin never told anyone else the secret to cultivating the ice-blue tanhua, for reasons she has never thought deeply about.
Bian Jin then sees Shen Ni — or, as she puts it, the woman who forcibly restrained her onto the workbench — sitting in a corner of the bedroom. Shen Ni brings over a portion of nutrient broth. Bian Jin holds out her hand for it and Shen Ni gives it to her; their gazes don’t meet.
Shen Ni continues reviewing documents about the firewall, and as she does so she explains to Bian Jin that she sterilised everything multiple times and Bian Jin has nothing to worry about. Bian Jin replies, ‘It’s just a prosthetic. There’s no need for all this fuss.’ She’s still cross with me, Shen Ni realises, and says placatingly, ‘The proprieties must be observed.’ Bian Jin retorts, with an unusually high (for her) degree of vexation, ‘Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. I didn't see you observing the proprieties then.’ Shen Ni corrects her that it was three days ago.
Bian Jin falls silent, reflecting on what this must have meant — three sleepless nights, and multiple missed meals. A closer look at Shen Ni’s appearance confirms her guess, and she begins to regret her little outburst. After a long moment’s silence, she glances towards the ice-blue tanhua and asks if Shen Ni bought them. Shen Ni, still recalling how Bian Jin had described her to the Duchess of Chenghou, replies that it was a gift from a comrade.’
Shen Ni then explains to Bian Jin that she has a new mechanical spine and a new jade core, both of which will need further testing and fine-tuning. Bian Jin asks about the new jade core, and Shen Ni tells her, ‘It’s a jade core I made, called “Ni’s Heart”. It’s the only one of its kind in the whole world.’
Bian Jin thinks about the fact that an object with Shen Ni’s name on it is currently in her body, and has complicated Feelings about it. Shen Ni explains to her that they’ll have to run tests on her new mechanical spine and jade core every seven days for the next two months.
Bian Jin recalls, unbidden, the argument they had in Shen Ni’s workshop before the anaesthetic took effect, and the sensation of Shen Ni’s arm against her leg. If we need to do again what we did that night…
‘Shijie?’ asks Shen Ni, and Bian Jin blinks and says, ‘Yes.’ Shen Ni, gratified that her shijie has agreed, albeit grudgingly, tries obliquely to find out what Bian Jin had been up to on Shangyuan night that had gotten her so badly hurt. Bian Jin answers briefly that it was a personal matter, and Shen Ni doesn’t ask any further questions. However, she does decide that she’ll graciously disabuse Bian Jin of a misunderstanding.
She opens a message that she received from Diwu Que a little while ago. Diwu Que had asked whether she and Zeng Qingluo could come and visit Shen Ni and Bian Jin the day after tomorrow. Shen Ni tells her to come tomorrow instead. Diwu Que is confused by this.
Shen Ni then tells Bian Jin that an old friend of hers is coming tomorrow, and that if Bian Jin is free, she’s going to have to trouble Bian Jin to play the role of her wife again for the duration of the visit. Bian Jin asks what she should do. Shen Ni’s gaze falls on Bian Jin, and Bian Jin finds her heart suddenly beating faster. ‘Whatever a wife would usually do,’ says Shen Ni.
Bian Jin looks away from Shen Ni only to find her gaze being drawn to the box of sex toys. ‘I’ve never been a wife before, so I don’t know what a wife usually does,’ she says.
Shen Ni thinks this over for a moment. ‘Just act as if you love me, shijie.’
Tech watch: quantum molecular resonance device; possible flying coaches (belonging to Li Shan’s entourage).
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
Shen Ni goes over to the workbench, where Bian Jin is sleeping, and studies her beautiful face unrestrainedly for the first time since they reunited. Shen Ni undoes the leather cuffs, and discovers that there’s an unhealed cut across Bian Jin’s palm. She recalls seeing a bandage wrapped around that hand of Bian Jin’s a few days ago at breakfast, which coincided with the time an unidentified intruder was detected in the courtyard. Shen Ni stitches up the wound. Then she washes Bian Jin’s hair, which, despite her best efforts, still got some oil splashed on it.
After that, Shen Ni wraps Bian Jin up in a soft blanket and carries her back into their bedroom. Before leaving the room, she activates a quantum molecular resonance device, which will promote healing. The device costs ten thousand taels of silver to operate for two hours; Shen Ni sets it going for six, to start with.
Shen Ni steps outside, and sees the two female officials from Lijing Bureau who were tasked with making sure she and Shen Ni consummated their marriage. We’re finally given their names here: Dou Xuanji and Fang Pan. Rumour has it that the female officials of the Lijing Bureau are all orphans adopted by the head of the bureau, and have been trained to give their lives in service to the throne. Dou Xuanji and Fang Pan were initially nameless, and the two of them were awarded those names by the emperor for their services. Dou and Fang are the names of major noble clans.
Fang Pan informs Shen Ni that the emperor summoned her yesterday, and since she didn’t appear, Fang Pan and Dou Xuanji have been sent to fetch her. Shen Ni snarks at them as she takes her time getting washed and dressed, and snarks at them further as she gets ready to leave.
The three of them ride through the streets on horseback. Shen Ni notices that there’s no sign of the Great Wheel of Fire, and surmises that it must have been taken down after the Shangyuan festivities. To get one over her two unwilling escorts, she pretends that she’s about to fall off her horse, then straightens up again just as Dou Xuanji rushes up to her to prop her up. This leaves Dou Xuanji kneeling awkwardly before Shen Ni’s horse, as if she’s performing an obeisance. Shen Ni graciously tells her she may rise. Dou Xuanji is Not Amused.
Then they hear a low, feminine laugh. It’s Li Shan, passing by on a coach accompanied by two nobles from the Dou clan proper. Instead of her usual official’s robes, she gorgeously decked out in full femme clothing and makeup. There’s a barbed exchange where Li Shan cleverly insults Dou Xuanji, Shen Ni and the two Dou nobles in the same sentence, but Shen Ni gives as good as she gets, and does it with every appearance of guilelessness. Shen Ni wins this round: Li Shan is enraged, but not really in a position to take it out on anyone present, and Dou Xuanji decides that maybe Shen Ni isn’t the worst person in the world after all. Li Shan and her entourage continue on their way to the city of Luoyang, and Shen Ni and her Lijing escorts ride on towards the palace.
At the palace, Shen Ni projects her memories of the Liu Ji incident on the wall, to show Li Ruoyuan what took place. They have a discussion about the Black Box virus and possible strategies for defending against it, which culminates in Li Ruoyuan summoning Li Shan back from Luoyang immediately.
Li Shan comes rushing back, looking distinctly dishevelled from travel. As she enters the room, she trips over her own skirt, flinging her into a kneeling pose before Shen Ni — who, of course, doesn’t get up. Li Shan realises that Shen Ni must have known Li Ruoyuan would summon her back with all haste, and yet did nothing to stop her from leaving Chang’an. This merely stokes her anger.
Li Ruoyuan tells Li Shan that Shen Ni must immediately be given security clearance to enter the Supreme Bureau of R&D and the power to redirect its resources, and Li Shan has no choice but to assent.
As Li Shan and Shen Ni leave the emperor’s presence, Li Shan tells Shen Ni, ‘Bian Jin is just using you.’ She adds that Bian Jin is a creature of the Qin Wushang, the emperor of Xuanzhou, and is probably scheming to get hold of even more of TangPro’s state secrets via Shen Ni.
To Li Shan’s complete astonishment, Shen Ni only turns a captivating smile on her and says, ‘My wife is using me? Do you understand how wonderful every single word of that sounds?’
Li Shan is left speechless, and when Shen Ni archly thanks her for taking the trouble to tell her, Li Shan strides off in a huff.
We then cut to Bian Jin, who’s just waking up. She sees an ice-blue tanhua in front of her, in full bloom. She recalls that, a long time ago, when she was still at Shuangji Hall, she acquired two of these flowers, and planted them in the rear courtyard. Shen Ni was taken with them, and often came to look at the flowers. The tanhua were so delicate, however, that they faded after three days. Seeing Shen Ni’s disappointment, Bian Jin began furiously researching the art of cultivating ice-blue tanhua, and was so successfully that they eventually grew all over the courtyard. Despite many requests, Bian Jin never told anyone else the secret to cultivating the ice-blue tanhua, for reasons she has never thought deeply about.
Bian Jin then sees Shen Ni — or, as she puts it, the woman who forcibly restrained her onto the workbench — sitting in a corner of the bedroom. Shen Ni brings over a portion of nutrient broth. Bian Jin holds out her hand for it and Shen Ni gives it to her; their gazes don’t meet.
Shen Ni continues reviewing documents about the firewall, and as she does so she explains to Bian Jin that she sterilised everything multiple times and Bian Jin has nothing to worry about. Bian Jin replies, ‘It’s just a prosthetic. There’s no need for all this fuss.’ She’s still cross with me, Shen Ni realises, and says placatingly, ‘The proprieties must be observed.’ Bian Jin retorts, with an unusually high (for her) degree of vexation, ‘Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. I didn't see you observing the proprieties then.’ Shen Ni corrects her that it was three days ago.
Bian Jin falls silent, reflecting on what this must have meant — three sleepless nights, and multiple missed meals. A closer look at Shen Ni’s appearance confirms her guess, and she begins to regret her little outburst. After a long moment’s silence, she glances towards the ice-blue tanhua and asks if Shen Ni bought them. Shen Ni, still recalling how Bian Jin had described her to the Duchess of Chenghou, replies that it was a gift from a comrade.’
Shen Ni then explains to Bian Jin that she has a new mechanical spine and a new jade core, both of which will need further testing and fine-tuning. Bian Jin asks about the new jade core, and Shen Ni tells her, ‘It’s a jade core I made, called “Ni’s Heart”. It’s the only one of its kind in the whole world.’
Bian Jin thinks about the fact that an object with Shen Ni’s name on it is currently in her body, and has complicated Feelings about it. Shen Ni explains to her that they’ll have to run tests on her new mechanical spine and jade core every seven days for the next two months.
Bian Jin recalls, unbidden, the argument they had in Shen Ni’s workshop before the anaesthetic took effect, and the sensation of Shen Ni’s arm against her leg. If we need to do again what we did that night…
‘Shijie?’ asks Shen Ni, and Bian Jin blinks and says, ‘Yes.’ Shen Ni, gratified that her shijie has agreed, albeit grudgingly, tries obliquely to find out what Bian Jin had been up to on Shangyuan night that had gotten her so badly hurt. Bian Jin answers briefly that it was a personal matter, and Shen Ni doesn’t ask any further questions. However, she does decide that she’ll graciously disabuse Bian Jin of a misunderstanding.
She opens a message that she received from Diwu Que a little while ago. Diwu Que had asked whether she and Zeng Qingluo could come and visit Shen Ni and Bian Jin the day after tomorrow. Shen Ni tells her to come tomorrow instead. Diwu Que is confused by this.
Shen Ni then tells Bian Jin that an old friend of hers is coming tomorrow, and that if Bian Jin is free, she’s going to have to trouble Bian Jin to play the role of her wife again for the duration of the visit. Bian Jin asks what she should do. Shen Ni’s gaze falls on Bian Jin, and Bian Jin finds her heart suddenly beating faster. ‘Whatever a wife would usually do,’ says Shen Ni.
Bian Jin looks away from Shen Ni only to find her gaze being drawn to the box of sex toys. ‘I’ve never been a wife before, so I don’t know what a wife usually does,’ she says.
Shen Ni thinks this over for a moment. ‘Just act as if you love me, shijie.’
Tech watch: quantum molecular resonance device; possible flying coaches (belonging to Li Shan’s entourage).
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
Edited 2024-07-14 13:20 (UTC)
the female officials of the Lijing Bureau are all orphans adopted by the head of the bureau
Not to get ahead of myself, but as I've been reading ahead I've already met the head of the Lijing Bureau, and she is AMAZING.
Really enjoying all of Shen Ni's (continued) little digs at people who've annoyed her. Though I can't help wondering whether it's going to rebound on her at some point. I'm also enjoying the subtlety with which she's trying to communicate to Bian Jin: That was NOT my girlfriend you saw hugging me!
Continuing to greatly enjoy the relationship development, which only gets better in the later chapters that I've read.
Not to get ahead of myself, but as I've been reading ahead I've already met the head of the Lijing Bureau, and she is AMAZING.
Really enjoying all of Shen Ni's (continued) little digs at people who've annoyed her. Though I can't help wondering whether it's going to rebound on her at some point. I'm also enjoying the subtlety with which she's trying to communicate to Bian Jin: That was NOT my girlfriend you saw hugging me!
Continuing to greatly enjoy the relationship development, which only gets better in the later chapters that I've read.
Bian Jin married a spunky woman ... she probably doesn't know what she's in for. ha ha I vacillate between who's stronger between the two. Actually, I think they complement each other really beautifully.
‘Just act as if you love me, shijie.’ --> For some reason, this really punched me in the gut. There's such a yearning from Shen Ni that she herself won't even acknowledge. The fear of rejection, non-reciprocity ... they really have a long way to go. A bittersweet love.
I'm also really enjoying the relationship development. I like when the growth of a relationship is interspersed throughout the story. Sometimes, a story goes on for too long without doing this and it makes me lose interest.
‘Just act as if you love me, shijie.’ --> For some reason, this really punched me in the gut. There's such a yearning from Shen Ni that she herself won't even acknowledge. The fear of rejection, non-reciprocity ... they really have a long way to go. A bittersweet love.
I'm also really enjoying the relationship development. I like when the growth of a relationship is interspersed throughout the story. Sometimes, a story goes on for too long without doing this and it makes me lose interest.
That night, Shen Ni receives the long-desired clearance to enter the Supreme Bureau of R&D, with the right to peruse any of its documentation she wants and to reallocate its resources. This is subject to one condition: that she must first get the approval of Li Shan, as the head of the bureau.
She thinks about the Liu Ji incident. Notwithstanding the terrible force of the Black Box virus itself, the only real losses arising out of that, other than a houseful of alarmed mourners, had been Liu Ji’s expensive coffin and Shen Ni’s lovely cloak. Shen Ni finds this suspicious: she doesn’t believe in coincidences.
Shen Ni has a message from Zeng Qingluo on an encoded channel. The message says that the Lijing Bureau has already tracked down all eyewitnesses to the Liu Ji incident and forced all of them to install confidentiality modules to prevent them from speaking about it. If they do, all of their senses will be immobilised, and only the Lijing Bureau will be able to reverse it.
Shen Ni tells Zeng Qingluo that she’s going to send over all of Liu Ji’s movement and location data (which, naturally, she has obtained through hacking), so that Zeng Qingluo can start constructing a virtual map of all the places he’s been. Once that is complete, they can use it to narrow down where he was infected by the Black Box virus.
Zeng Qingluo assures Shen Ni that she’ll get it done in three days (instead of five, which would normally be expected), such is her hatred of the Black Box virus for all the losses it has caused her. Shen Ni tells her that the virus will have difficulty spreading through Chang’an; Zeng Qingluo is reassured by this, believing that Shen Ni has a strategy to counter it.
Shen Ni then sends a message to her contact in the northern territories, asking them to find out of Liu Ji has ever been there. The contact doesn’t respond, at least not yet. Shen Ni recalls that this contact has been responding more and more slowly. She wonders if this has something to do with ‘that mad emperor’ Qin Wushang, who has been launching occasional skirmishes against TangPro’s northern border.
Later that night, Shen Ni is about to walk into the bedroom she shares with Bian Jin, then recalls that she walked in on Bian Jin changing her clothes the last time, and knocks instead. Bian Jin tells her to come in. Bian Jin herself is sitting on the bed, not looking at Shen Ni.
Shen Ni gets the feeling that she’s about to be banished to the floor again, so without Bian Jin saying anything, she collects her blankets and pillows from the bed — just as Bian Jin is pushing hers further to the side to give Shen Ni more room on the bed. They each do a double take. Then Shen Ni, pretending that nothing’s happened, places her things back down on the bed and lies down next to Bian Jin.
Bian Jin, lying with her back to Shen Ni, tells her they should just treat this as a rehearsal. Bian Jin adds that she needs to practise being Shen Ni’s wife, telling herself that it’s just like a military drill. She immediately regrets it because it all sounds so suggestive. She also thanks Shen Ni for sewing up the cut across the palm, as well as all the efforts she’s gone to in crafting the new spine and new jade core. She adds that, since she has nothing else to repay Shen Ni with, she can do a few small things to make Shen Ni happy (implication: like playing the happy couple in front of Shen Ni’s friends).
Shen Ni replies that Bian Jin used to take great care of her too when she was younger, and never asked for anything in return. Then she promptly falls asleep. In her sleep, Shen Ni knocks the goldfinch plushie that basically functioned as a barrier between her and Bian Jin to the floor.
Bian Jin lies awake, thinking back to the first time she taught Shen Ni to ride a horse, when Shen Ni was ten years old. She had placed Shen Ni on the saddle in front of her, and at one point, when they were galloping down a slope, Bian Jin had put an arm around Shen Ni to stop her from falling over.
Just as Bian Jin is smiling over the memory, Shen Ni rolls over and wraps an arm around her, believing drowsily that Bian Jin is her goldfinch plushie, and wondering why the plushie has suddenly gotten so thin. Still, Shen Ni decides, the plushie smells really nice, and is really huggable.
And then we get several paragraphs of Shen Ni, mostly asleep, basically groping Bian Jin as she wonders about her plushie’s sudden shrinkage, and it making Bian Jin incredibly horny, because Bian Jin is now very, very sensitive to Shen Ni’s touch for some reason. Bian Jin is reminded of the day she and Shen Ni went horseback riding, only now their positions are reversed. Bian Jin thinks about pushing Shen Ni’s arm away, but then realises that it would only disturb Shen Ni’s sleep, and she’s not going to do that given how worn out Shen Ni from repairing her.
All Bian Jin can do is resign herself to her fate. Even after Shen Ni stops groping her and falls deeply asleep, Bian Jin is still wide awake, dealing with the ah aftermath.
The next day, Shen Ni wakes up hugging the goldfinch plushie. As she puts it aside, she realises there’s something a bit off about it. There’s dust on the plushie, but how did it get there? She eyes Bian Jin, who is standing with her back to Shen Ni, getting dressed. Shen Ni says a soft ‘good morning’ to Bian Jin, who eyes her silently and walks out of the room without saying a word. Confused, Shen Ni dusts off her plushie and asks it, ‘Do you know why shijie is angry with me?’
Bian Jin doesn’t quite know, either. She’s confused as to why Shen Ni’s touch would have that effect on her — to the point that she’s still, right this moment, experiencing its after-effects. She drinks a cup of cool water to settle her nerves. Then she goes into the courtyard and experiments a little with her new prosthetics. She pulls out the whip she bought online, tosses a stone into the air, and strikes it with the whip, not particularly hard (by her standards).
This produces dramatic results: the stone is reduced to powder, the force of the blow lops off a corner of a distant hill, and the whip itself literally goes up in smoke. Bian Jin is, for the first time in a long while, excited by this development, and starts wondering about how much more powerful she’ll become once Shen Ni perfects both her new spine and new jade core.
Shen Ni breakfasts by herself, after which she’s informed that her guests have arrived. She walks out of the dining room to see Bian Jin wearing the cloak Shen Ni got her for their wedding, and holding Shen Ni’s matching cloak in her hands. Bian Jin puts the cloak on Shen Ni in the most conscientiously, wifely manner possible. Shen Ni looks into her face, noting the dark circles under her eyes, and asks if Bian Jin slept badly last night. ‘It’s fine,’ Bian Jin replies coolly. ‘I just have to get used to it.’ Shen Ni wonders what on earth she’s talking about.
Diwu Que and Zeng Qingluo turn up, laden with gifts, and Bian Jin immediately recognises Diwu Que as Shen Ni’s ‘girlfriend’. She asks Shen Ni if she should leave the room, and Shen Ni is immediately certain that Bian Jin saw Diwu Que hugging her that evening at Firewall Construction HQ.
‘There’s no need,’ says Shen Ni. ‘Can I borrow your waist to put my arm around?’ Bian Jin surmises that Bian Jin and Diwu Que must have had some sort of lovers’ tiff, and Shen Ni is trying to get back at Diwu Que. Bian Jin swallows at the memory of last night, and thinks to herself, ‘This is ridiculous.’ But what she says to Shen Ni is, ‘Yes.’
Tech watch: Does mechanically-enabled horniness count
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
She thinks about the Liu Ji incident. Notwithstanding the terrible force of the Black Box virus itself, the only real losses arising out of that, other than a houseful of alarmed mourners, had been Liu Ji’s expensive coffin and Shen Ni’s lovely cloak. Shen Ni finds this suspicious: she doesn’t believe in coincidences.
Shen Ni has a message from Zeng Qingluo on an encoded channel. The message says that the Lijing Bureau has already tracked down all eyewitnesses to the Liu Ji incident and forced all of them to install confidentiality modules to prevent them from speaking about it. If they do, all of their senses will be immobilised, and only the Lijing Bureau will be able to reverse it.
Shen Ni tells Zeng Qingluo that she’s going to send over all of Liu Ji’s movement and location data (which, naturally, she has obtained through hacking), so that Zeng Qingluo can start constructing a virtual map of all the places he’s been. Once that is complete, they can use it to narrow down where he was infected by the Black Box virus.
Zeng Qingluo assures Shen Ni that she’ll get it done in three days (instead of five, which would normally be expected), such is her hatred of the Black Box virus for all the losses it has caused her. Shen Ni tells her that the virus will have difficulty spreading through Chang’an; Zeng Qingluo is reassured by this, believing that Shen Ni has a strategy to counter it.
Shen Ni then sends a message to her contact in the northern territories, asking them to find out of Liu Ji has ever been there. The contact doesn’t respond, at least not yet. Shen Ni recalls that this contact has been responding more and more slowly. She wonders if this has something to do with ‘that mad emperor’ Qin Wushang, who has been launching occasional skirmishes against TangPro’s northern border.
Later that night, Shen Ni is about to walk into the bedroom she shares with Bian Jin, then recalls that she walked in on Bian Jin changing her clothes the last time, and knocks instead. Bian Jin tells her to come in. Bian Jin herself is sitting on the bed, not looking at Shen Ni.
Shen Ni gets the feeling that she’s about to be banished to the floor again, so without Bian Jin saying anything, she collects her blankets and pillows from the bed — just as Bian Jin is pushing hers further to the side to give Shen Ni more room on the bed. They each do a double take. Then Shen Ni, pretending that nothing’s happened, places her things back down on the bed and lies down next to Bian Jin.
Bian Jin, lying with her back to Shen Ni, tells her they should just treat this as a rehearsal. Bian Jin adds that she needs to practise being Shen Ni’s wife, telling herself that it’s just like a military drill. She immediately regrets it because it all sounds so suggestive. She also thanks Shen Ni for sewing up the cut across the palm, as well as all the efforts she’s gone to in crafting the new spine and new jade core. She adds that, since she has nothing else to repay Shen Ni with, she can do a few small things to make Shen Ni happy (implication: like playing the happy couple in front of Shen Ni’s friends).
Shen Ni replies that Bian Jin used to take great care of her too when she was younger, and never asked for anything in return. Then she promptly falls asleep. In her sleep, Shen Ni knocks the goldfinch plushie that basically functioned as a barrier between her and Bian Jin to the floor.
Bian Jin lies awake, thinking back to the first time she taught Shen Ni to ride a horse, when Shen Ni was ten years old. She had placed Shen Ni on the saddle in front of her, and at one point, when they were galloping down a slope, Bian Jin had put an arm around Shen Ni to stop her from falling over.
Just as Bian Jin is smiling over the memory, Shen Ni rolls over and wraps an arm around her, believing drowsily that Bian Jin is her goldfinch plushie, and wondering why the plushie has suddenly gotten so thin. Still, Shen Ni decides, the plushie smells really nice, and is really huggable.
And then we get several paragraphs of Shen Ni, mostly asleep, basically groping Bian Jin as she wonders about her plushie’s sudden shrinkage, and it making Bian Jin incredibly horny, because Bian Jin is now very, very sensitive to Shen Ni’s touch for some reason. Bian Jin is reminded of the day she and Shen Ni went horseback riding, only now their positions are reversed. Bian Jin thinks about pushing Shen Ni’s arm away, but then realises that it would only disturb Shen Ni’s sleep, and she’s not going to do that given how worn out Shen Ni from repairing her.
All Bian Jin can do is resign herself to her fate. Even after Shen Ni stops groping her and falls deeply asleep, Bian Jin is still wide awake, dealing with the ah aftermath.
The next day, Shen Ni wakes up hugging the goldfinch plushie. As she puts it aside, she realises there’s something a bit off about it. There’s dust on the plushie, but how did it get there? She eyes Bian Jin, who is standing with her back to Shen Ni, getting dressed. Shen Ni says a soft ‘good morning’ to Bian Jin, who eyes her silently and walks out of the room without saying a word. Confused, Shen Ni dusts off her plushie and asks it, ‘Do you know why shijie is angry with me?’
Bian Jin doesn’t quite know, either. She’s confused as to why Shen Ni’s touch would have that effect on her — to the point that she’s still, right this moment, experiencing its after-effects. She drinks a cup of cool water to settle her nerves. Then she goes into the courtyard and experiments a little with her new prosthetics. She pulls out the whip she bought online, tosses a stone into the air, and strikes it with the whip, not particularly hard (by her standards).
This produces dramatic results: the stone is reduced to powder, the force of the blow lops off a corner of a distant hill, and the whip itself literally goes up in smoke. Bian Jin is, for the first time in a long while, excited by this development, and starts wondering about how much more powerful she’ll become once Shen Ni perfects both her new spine and new jade core.
Shen Ni breakfasts by herself, after which she’s informed that her guests have arrived. She walks out of the dining room to see Bian Jin wearing the cloak Shen Ni got her for their wedding, and holding Shen Ni’s matching cloak in her hands. Bian Jin puts the cloak on Shen Ni in the most conscientiously, wifely manner possible. Shen Ni looks into her face, noting the dark circles under her eyes, and asks if Bian Jin slept badly last night. ‘It’s fine,’ Bian Jin replies coolly. ‘I just have to get used to it.’ Shen Ni wonders what on earth she’s talking about.
Diwu Que and Zeng Qingluo turn up, laden with gifts, and Bian Jin immediately recognises Diwu Que as Shen Ni’s ‘girlfriend’. She asks Shen Ni if she should leave the room, and Shen Ni is immediately certain that Bian Jin saw Diwu Que hugging her that evening at Firewall Construction HQ.
‘There’s no need,’ says Shen Ni. ‘Can I borrow your waist to put my arm around?’ Bian Jin surmises that Bian Jin and Diwu Que must have had some sort of lovers’ tiff, and Shen Ni is trying to get back at Diwu Que. Bian Jin swallows at the memory of last night, and thinks to herself, ‘This is ridiculous.’ But what she says to Shen Ni is, ‘Yes.’
Tech watch: Does mechanically-enabled horniness count
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
As Diwu Que and Zeng Qingluo enter the house (leaving their horses to be valet-parked by the servants), Bian Jin decides that she’s just going to let Shen Ni take the lead, and otherwise play the role of a wife-shaped statue. She’s rather taken aback when Diwu Que rushes towards her, arms spread wide, screaming with excitement about finally seeing Bian Jin in the flesh.
Bian Jin evades the embrace, and is pondering whether to kick Diwu Que away when Shen Ni shows up and gives Diwu Que a shove. Shen Ni introduces Diwu Que to Bian Jin as a former comrade who has an inexplicable habit of hugging everyone she meets. Diwu Que objects mightily to the latter part of the description. Bian Jin realises that Shen Ni has set this whole thing up to subtly let her know that she’d misunderstood Shen Ni and Diwu Que’s relationship. She feels much better about having Shen Ni’s arm around her waist.
Shen Ni then introduces Bian Jin to Diwu Que. ‘This is my—’ She pauses, allowing Bian Jin to fill the gap, and Bian Jin obligingly finishes her sentence with, ‘Wife.’ She reflects that, after all, she’s never denied that cunning little fox Shen Ni anything. Shen Ni’s expression doesn’t change, but her fingers twitch slightly on Bian Jin’s waist.
Diwu Que hadn’t realised, until Zeng Qingluo told her the previous day, that Shen Ni’s imperially-bestowed bride was Bian Jin. At the time, she was so shocked by the news that she dropped her spoon into the boiling hot soup she was eating, splashing so much of it on her boss (who was sitting next to her) that her boss literally kicked her in the ass.
In the northern territories, both Bian Jin and Shen Ni are venerated like gods; people hang paintings of them side by side in their homes as protective spirits. Seeing the two of them right before her eyes gives Diwu Que the urge to offer up some incense.
Diwu Que wishes the pair of them congratulations on their wedding, and Bian Jin, slightly embarrassed by the frankness of her words, shakes Shen Ni’s arm from her waist and excuses herself, announcing that she’s going to see how Auntie Wan is getting on with preparing lunch. Shen Ni invites both guests to join her for tea.
As they walk along, Shen Ni gets a message from her contact in the north, telling her that Bian Jin’s bone whip was last sighted in the Xuanzhou Empire. She looks up to see Bian Jin talking to a serving girl, and thinks about all the rumours linking Bian Jin to the Emperor of Xuanzhou.
Meanwhile, Bian Jin has been thinking about how weird she’s felt the last few days, and how she sometimes seems to lose her grip on the passage of time. She thinks about asking Shen Ni, but then recalls the sensations of last night.
Zeng Qingluo catches up with her, and we’re told that Zeng Qingluo had always felt warmly towards Bian Jin ever since Bian Jin expelled an inner disciple — the son of their shibo no less — for bullying her. Zeng Qingluo considers Shen Ni to be the only possible match for someone as good as Bian Jin, and on the day of their wedding, she rushed off to a temple to offer up prayers for them.
Zeng Qingluo is concerned that her two shijie don’t seem to be getting on, making them vulnerable to the condemnation of their military and political enemies. As she and Bian Jin walk along, she tells Bian Jin all about her adventures with Shen Ni when the two of them were fighting side by side in the north, and is concerned that Bian Jin doesn’t seem to be taking any interest or asking any questions.
They reach the study, and Zeng Qingluo, slightly embarrassed to go on speaking, makes the excuse that she’s thirsty. As she sips hot cider brought by one of the maids, she starts to turn on the TV, claiming that she needs to catch up on the news. Just then, Bian Jin urges Zeng Qingluo to carry on with the story of what Shen Ni was doing in Lili Crater #3. Zeng Qingluo then realises that Bian Jin had actually been listening closely to her all along.
The Lili is a fantastical creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and we’re told that the book itself was included in the reverse time capsule seemingly sent from the future. The four largest meteorite craters in TangPro are all named after it, with Lili Crater #3 being the largest — and most dangerous, as it’s still filled with radiation.
Zeng Qingluo explains that Shen Ni had gone in there to collect rare meteorite elements to use as raw material for chip construction, though Zeng Qingluo isn’t sure what type of chip. When Bian Jin hears this, she suddenly loses her grip on her own cup of hot cider, sending it splashing over her glove and exposed wrist, leaving a burn on the latter.
Bian Jin, however, doesn’t really feel any pain from the burn; she only removes her gloves. She reflects on the fact that Shen Ni went all the way into that hellish crater to retrieve the elements she needed to craft Ni’s Heart, and on all the risks of radiation that come with it (up to and including liquefaction of the human body).
Zeng Qingluo adds that Shen Ni had had a very high fever for days after her visit to the crater. Bian Jin asks why Zeng Qingluo and the other Shuangji Hall disciples didn’t let her know: after all, that was before she disappeared, and while she was on the front lines, she was still the main decision-maker for Shuangji Hall. Zeng Qingluo replies that Shen Ni forbade them to. Bian Jin doesn’t say anything in response, and Zeng Qingluo, recalling how much Shen Ni had suffered then, sighs that it wasn’t worth it. To which Bian Jin responds, ‘Yes, it wasn’t worth it.’
At about lunchtime, Shen Ni and Diwu Que emerge to find that a whole host of fellow disciples (all female) from Shuangji Hall have also turned up, following Zeng Qingluo’s example. They’ve surrounded Bian Jin and are chattering away. Shen Ni sees Bian Jin smiling politely at them, and reflects that all she’s ever gotten from Bian Jin since their wedding are cool stares.
Shen Ni looks at Bian Jin, thinking about how she’s so aloof that no one could ever hope to possess her heart or body — or could they? Her mind goes to the mysterious Emperor of Xuanzhou again. She wonders whether, in their six years apart, Bian Jin’s unstained hands had ever willingly embraced another, or caressed another’s body with desire.
Bian Jin, for her part, isn’t particularly interested in the chatterings of her various shimei, and is only being polite. Her eyes fall on Shen Ni, and she’s once again struck by how hot Shen Ni is as she remembers — not to put to fine a point on it — Shen Ni’s breasts rubbing against her back the night before. Shen Ni happens to meet her gaze, and Bian Jin hurriedly looks away and stops smiling. This makes Shen Ni even feel more hard done by than before.
Their assorted fellow disciples start questioning Bian Jin about whether Shen Ni is treating her well (they all remember the whipping Bian Jin gave Shen Ni, and are concerned that Shen Ni might hold a grudge). Bian Jin is about answer awkwardly, when Shen Ni pops up next to her.
‘My wife,’ Shen Ni calls out sweetly. ‘What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you would look for me? I waited for you for so long, but you never turned up.’ She puts on an aggrieved an expression, looking like a poor little puppy who has just found her mistress.
Bian Jin is fairly sure that Shen Ni is up to something. Sure enough, Shen Ni then exclaims how cold it is, and rubs her hands together and blows on them for warmth, leaning closer to Bian Jin as she does. Their assembled shimei are startled by this: not even ordinary married couples are this clingy, surely?
Diwu Que lets out a mental ‘ew’, recalling how Shen Ni once hunted down and killed a decomposing electronic tiger in minus twenty degree weather.
Shen Ni’s heart sinks when she realises that Bian Jin isn’t wearing gloves. There’s no way her shijie is going to touch her now, she thinks. Then suddenly Bian Jin puts a hand on top of hers, and asks if she’s cold. And then she blows warm air onto Shen Ni’s hands and rubs them carefully.
Shen Ni’s vision shrinks to encompass Bian Jin alone. She notes that Bian Jin’s fingertips are slightly pink, but given that her hands are so warm, she’s sure that the pinkness isn’t from the cold. When Bian Jin asks if that has made Shen Ni a little warmer, Shen Ni replies that her hands are still cold and she needs Bian Jin to blow on them again.
Bian Jin, slightly surprised, looks up to see laughter in Shen Ni’s eyes and realises that Shen Ni is teasing her. Shen Ni, noticing that her shijie is probably at the end of her patience, decides to end the little show there, only to be taken aback when Bian Jin puts an arm around her waist and somewhat inexpertly draws her close. ‘How about that?’ asks Bian Jin, so tenderly that Shen Ni is momentarily dazed.
Tech watch: Television.
Named men: 7 (added a 0.5 for the ‘fifteenth shixiong’ that Bian Jin kicks out of the sect after he bullied Zeng Qingluo)
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
Bian Jin evades the embrace, and is pondering whether to kick Diwu Que away when Shen Ni shows up and gives Diwu Que a shove. Shen Ni introduces Diwu Que to Bian Jin as a former comrade who has an inexplicable habit of hugging everyone she meets. Diwu Que objects mightily to the latter part of the description. Bian Jin realises that Shen Ni has set this whole thing up to subtly let her know that she’d misunderstood Shen Ni and Diwu Que’s relationship. She feels much better about having Shen Ni’s arm around her waist.
Shen Ni then introduces Bian Jin to Diwu Que. ‘This is my—’ She pauses, allowing Bian Jin to fill the gap, and Bian Jin obligingly finishes her sentence with, ‘Wife.’ She reflects that, after all, she’s never denied that cunning little fox Shen Ni anything. Shen Ni’s expression doesn’t change, but her fingers twitch slightly on Bian Jin’s waist.
Diwu Que hadn’t realised, until Zeng Qingluo told her the previous day, that Shen Ni’s imperially-bestowed bride was Bian Jin. At the time, she was so shocked by the news that she dropped her spoon into the boiling hot soup she was eating, splashing so much of it on her boss (who was sitting next to her) that her boss literally kicked her in the ass.
In the northern territories, both Bian Jin and Shen Ni are venerated like gods; people hang paintings of them side by side in their homes as protective spirits. Seeing the two of them right before her eyes gives Diwu Que the urge to offer up some incense.
Diwu Que wishes the pair of them congratulations on their wedding, and Bian Jin, slightly embarrassed by the frankness of her words, shakes Shen Ni’s arm from her waist and excuses herself, announcing that she’s going to see how Auntie Wan is getting on with preparing lunch. Shen Ni invites both guests to join her for tea.
As they walk along, Shen Ni gets a message from her contact in the north, telling her that Bian Jin’s bone whip was last sighted in the Xuanzhou Empire. She looks up to see Bian Jin talking to a serving girl, and thinks about all the rumours linking Bian Jin to the Emperor of Xuanzhou.
Meanwhile, Bian Jin has been thinking about how weird she’s felt the last few days, and how she sometimes seems to lose her grip on the passage of time. She thinks about asking Shen Ni, but then recalls the sensations of last night.
Zeng Qingluo catches up with her, and we’re told that Zeng Qingluo had always felt warmly towards Bian Jin ever since Bian Jin expelled an inner disciple — the son of their shibo no less — for bullying her. Zeng Qingluo considers Shen Ni to be the only possible match for someone as good as Bian Jin, and on the day of their wedding, she rushed off to a temple to offer up prayers for them.
Zeng Qingluo is concerned that her two shijie don’t seem to be getting on, making them vulnerable to the condemnation of their military and political enemies. As she and Bian Jin walk along, she tells Bian Jin all about her adventures with Shen Ni when the two of them were fighting side by side in the north, and is concerned that Bian Jin doesn’t seem to be taking any interest or asking any questions.
They reach the study, and Zeng Qingluo, slightly embarrassed to go on speaking, makes the excuse that she’s thirsty. As she sips hot cider brought by one of the maids, she starts to turn on the TV, claiming that she needs to catch up on the news. Just then, Bian Jin urges Zeng Qingluo to carry on with the story of what Shen Ni was doing in Lili Crater #3. Zeng Qingluo then realises that Bian Jin had actually been listening closely to her all along.
The Lili is a fantastical creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and we’re told that the book itself was included in the reverse time capsule seemingly sent from the future. The four largest meteorite craters in TangPro are all named after it, with Lili Crater #3 being the largest — and most dangerous, as it’s still filled with radiation.
Zeng Qingluo explains that Shen Ni had gone in there to collect rare meteorite elements to use as raw material for chip construction, though Zeng Qingluo isn’t sure what type of chip. When Bian Jin hears this, she suddenly loses her grip on her own cup of hot cider, sending it splashing over her glove and exposed wrist, leaving a burn on the latter.
Bian Jin, however, doesn’t really feel any pain from the burn; she only removes her gloves. She reflects on the fact that Shen Ni went all the way into that hellish crater to retrieve the elements she needed to craft Ni’s Heart, and on all the risks of radiation that come with it (up to and including liquefaction of the human body).
Zeng Qingluo adds that Shen Ni had had a very high fever for days after her visit to the crater. Bian Jin asks why Zeng Qingluo and the other Shuangji Hall disciples didn’t let her know: after all, that was before she disappeared, and while she was on the front lines, she was still the main decision-maker for Shuangji Hall. Zeng Qingluo replies that Shen Ni forbade them to. Bian Jin doesn’t say anything in response, and Zeng Qingluo, recalling how much Shen Ni had suffered then, sighs that it wasn’t worth it. To which Bian Jin responds, ‘Yes, it wasn’t worth it.’
At about lunchtime, Shen Ni and Diwu Que emerge to find that a whole host of fellow disciples (all female) from Shuangji Hall have also turned up, following Zeng Qingluo’s example. They’ve surrounded Bian Jin and are chattering away. Shen Ni sees Bian Jin smiling politely at them, and reflects that all she’s ever gotten from Bian Jin since their wedding are cool stares.
Shen Ni looks at Bian Jin, thinking about how she’s so aloof that no one could ever hope to possess her heart or body — or could they? Her mind goes to the mysterious Emperor of Xuanzhou again. She wonders whether, in their six years apart, Bian Jin’s unstained hands had ever willingly embraced another, or caressed another’s body with desire.
Bian Jin, for her part, isn’t particularly interested in the chatterings of her various shimei, and is only being polite. Her eyes fall on Shen Ni, and she’s once again struck by how hot Shen Ni is as she remembers — not to put to fine a point on it — Shen Ni’s breasts rubbing against her back the night before. Shen Ni happens to meet her gaze, and Bian Jin hurriedly looks away and stops smiling. This makes Shen Ni even feel more hard done by than before.
Their assorted fellow disciples start questioning Bian Jin about whether Shen Ni is treating her well (they all remember the whipping Bian Jin gave Shen Ni, and are concerned that Shen Ni might hold a grudge). Bian Jin is about answer awkwardly, when Shen Ni pops up next to her.
‘My wife,’ Shen Ni calls out sweetly. ‘What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you would look for me? I waited for you for so long, but you never turned up.’ She puts on an aggrieved an expression, looking like a poor little puppy who has just found her mistress.
Bian Jin is fairly sure that Shen Ni is up to something. Sure enough, Shen Ni then exclaims how cold it is, and rubs her hands together and blows on them for warmth, leaning closer to Bian Jin as she does. Their assembled shimei are startled by this: not even ordinary married couples are this clingy, surely?
Diwu Que lets out a mental ‘ew’, recalling how Shen Ni once hunted down and killed a decomposing electronic tiger in minus twenty degree weather.
Shen Ni’s heart sinks when she realises that Bian Jin isn’t wearing gloves. There’s no way her shijie is going to touch her now, she thinks. Then suddenly Bian Jin puts a hand on top of hers, and asks if she’s cold. And then she blows warm air onto Shen Ni’s hands and rubs them carefully.
Shen Ni’s vision shrinks to encompass Bian Jin alone. She notes that Bian Jin’s fingertips are slightly pink, but given that her hands are so warm, she’s sure that the pinkness isn’t from the cold. When Bian Jin asks if that has made Shen Ni a little warmer, Shen Ni replies that her hands are still cold and she needs Bian Jin to blow on them again.
Bian Jin, slightly surprised, looks up to see laughter in Shen Ni’s eyes and realises that Shen Ni is teasing her. Shen Ni, noticing that her shijie is probably at the end of her patience, decides to end the little show there, only to be taken aback when Bian Jin puts an arm around her waist and somewhat inexpertly draws her close. ‘How about that?’ asks Bian Jin, so tenderly that Shen Ni is momentarily dazed.
Tech watch: Television.
Named men: 7 (added a 0.5 for the ‘fifteenth shixiong’ that Bian Jin kicks out of the sect after he bullied Zeng Qingluo)
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0
Edited 2024-07-19 12:45 (UTC)
Author's note for this chapter: The wicked little fox decided to tease her mistress, only to have her mistress put her in her lap and rub her fur relentlessly.
In the northern territories, both Bian Jin and Shen Ni are venerated like gods; people hang paintings of them side by side in their homes as protective spirits.
ohmygod
The Lili is a fantastical creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and we’re told that the book itself was included in the reverse time capsule seemingly sent from the future
So exactly how far back in time are we (and TangPro)?? Given that the present version of the Classic of Mountains and Seas dates from the Han Dynasty.
Love that Bian Jin gets a chance to surprise Shen Ni back!
In the northern territories, both Bian Jin and Shen Ni are venerated like gods; people hang paintings of them side by side in their homes as protective spirits.
ohmygod
The Lili is a fantastical creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and we’re told that the book itself was included in the reverse time capsule seemingly sent from the future
So exactly how far back in time are we (and TangPro)?? Given that the present version of the Classic of Mountains and Seas dates from the Han Dynasty.
Love that Bian Jin gets a chance to surprise Shen Ni back!
Love having all the trauma splashed on a screen for people to watch!
Bian Jin drinks some nutrient broth sweetened with osmanthus blossom paste and falls asleep. Shen Ni draws Bian Jin gently closer, like any wife would, and lets Bian Jin's head rest on her shoulder, lending her a moment of peace.
very sweet!
I have a thing for hands and gloves so all these mentions are A+ to me
Bian Jin drinks some nutrient broth sweetened with osmanthus blossom paste and falls asleep. Shen Ni draws Bian Jin gently closer, like any wife would, and lets Bian Jin's head rest on her shoulder, lending her a moment of peace.
very sweet!
I have a thing for hands and gloves so all these mentions are A+ to me
oh man I am so behind (this is what I get for being pretty much entirely offline for a month, whoops), but going to do my best to catch up. A
Anyway, this chapter!
Feels like we’re getting into the weaponisation stuff for real now. The way it talks about Bian Jin’s talent, and the heights her battle-gift reached when their shizun had her fitted with a jade disc… the way it’s measured in what level of beast you could slay… the way it reads more like the forging of a weapon than the training of a person… *shovels it into my face like popcorn*
OKAY SO. *pins another red thread on the murder board* We were told that Black Box came into being the same year Shen Ni was born, right? And now we learn that Shen Ni’s and Bian Jin’s shizun was the previous super-amazing double-S-tier machinist. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this but I'm looking very closely at these dots to see if they connect somehow.
Also I laughed at the fact that the stuffed toy she hugs at night is a 黄雀. Something something the mantis stalks the cicada but PLOT TWIST the oriole is too busy being spooned by Shen Ni to do anything about it.
WHOSE VOICE?? YOU WERE WILLING TO BECOME THE **WHAT NOW**??
And the sneer as she crushes the messenger bird???? Hello.
A-Yao…You’ve grown up so much. And yet you’re still so foolish.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!
Anyway, this chapter!
Feels like we’re getting into the weaponisation stuff for real now. The way it talks about Bian Jin’s talent, and the heights her battle-gift reached when their shizun had her fitted with a jade disc… the way it’s measured in what level of beast you could slay… the way it reads more like the forging of a weapon than the training of a person… *shovels it into my face like popcorn*
OKAY SO. *pins another red thread on the murder board* We were told that Black Box came into being the same year Shen Ni was born, right? And now we learn that Shen Ni’s and Bian Jin’s shizun was the previous super-amazing double-S-tier machinist. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this but I'm looking very closely at these dots to see if they connect somehow.
Also I laughed at the fact that the stuffed toy she hugs at night is a 黄雀. Something something the mantis stalks the cicada but PLOT TWIST the oriole is too busy being spooned by Shen Ni to do anything about it.
WHOSE VOICE?? YOU WERE WILLING TO BECOME THE **WHAT NOW**??
And the sneer as she crushes the messenger bird???? Hello.
A-Yao…You’ve grown up so much. And yet you’re still so foolish.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!
oh I love what we’re doing with Zeng ‘I must be strong enough to protect people in the face of whatever comes and if that means risking overloading my capacity then so be it’, ‘I will give my life and loyalty to the one person on whom I have pinned all my hopes’ Qingluo here.
Also damn, what a backstory.
Anyway I love her.
I’m SO curious what’s going on with Bian Jin, because this chapter reads almost like she doesn’t remember what she did and thought that night, when she’s back to pining over (and inventing girlfriends out of whole cloth for) Shen Ni
Honestly for two clearly intelligent and capable people, these two are so very stupid (affectionate) sometimes.
Also damn, what a backstory.
Anyway I love her.
I’m SO curious what’s going on with Bian Jin, because this chapter reads almost like she doesn’t remember what she did and thought that night, when she’s back to pining over (and inventing girlfriends out of whole cloth for) Shen Ni
Honestly for two clearly intelligent and capable people, these two are so very stupid (affectionate) sometimes.
Oh I love Diwu Que already.
The image of Shen Ni desperately searching through a field of corpses is a lot.
Not to mention, when the time came, she would have to leave
So she DOES remember?? Bian Jin come here I just want tohold you upside-down by the ankles and shake you until all the secrets fall out talk.
BIAN JIN FIGHTING!!!!! BLADE OF THE EMPIRE IN ACTION HELLO!!!
The image of Shen Ni desperately searching through a field of corpses is a lot.
Not to mention, when the time came, she would have to leave
So she DOES remember?? Bian Jin come here I just want to
BIAN JIN FIGHTING!!!!! BLADE OF THE EMPIRE IN ACTION HELLO!!!
Zeng Qingluo's purple lightning sword!?!?!?! Damn girl
Shen Ni pulling out Liu Ji's jade core like 'well I'm already dirty, may as well DISEMBOWEL'. I love her.
I also love how the narrative basically pauses at the end of the fight to establish how hot Shen Ni looks while she's covered in blood. Honestly, fair.
And her then turning to Madam Liu and going 'I just came to buy flowers, can I buy these now?' Iconic.
Something something Bian Jin staring at the broken snowglobe, something something Shen Ni washing her hands over and over before touching the flowers, something something
Being completely in another person’s grasp frustrates Bian Jin, and also gives her other Feelings that she can’t quite explain oh I am Looking at that 互攻 tag...
Loose strands of black hair fell across [Shen Ni's] eyes; all traces of tidiness, indolence, and charm were gone, replaced by something dark and sinister (lazy tl is lazy but) ohhhh this is a Look!!!
Shen Ni pulling out Liu Ji's jade core like 'well I'm already dirty, may as well DISEMBOWEL'. I love her.
I also love how the narrative basically pauses at the end of the fight to establish how hot Shen Ni looks while she's covered in blood. Honestly, fair.
And her then turning to Madam Liu and going 'I just came to buy flowers, can I buy these now?' Iconic.
Something something Bian Jin staring at the broken snowglobe, something something Shen Ni washing her hands over and over before touching the flowers, something something
Being completely in another person’s grasp frustrates Bian Jin, and also gives her other Feelings that she can’t quite explain oh I am Looking at that 互攻 tag...
Loose strands of black hair fell across [Shen Ni's] eyes; all traces of tidiness, indolence, and charm were gone, replaced by something dark and sinister (lazy tl is lazy but) ohhhh this is a Look!!!
Edited (html) 2024-08-15 20:07 (UTC)
Thoughts on this chapter: wow, that sure happened.
Okay but for real...
- Nearly incapacitated, pushing through without a word, reaching the absolute limits of her endurance is such a good look on Bian Jin. And every time her extreme pain tolerance is mentioned or demonstrated I gain years to my lifespan.
- (as Shen Ni is laying her on the operating table) Shen Ni's torso cast a shadow that enveloped Bian Jin... oh, no metaphors here, I'm sure.
- Bian Jin asking/trying/intending to like... field-medicine herself through this??? This is my entire jam. Bian Jin what the fuck.
- The part where Shen Ni is like nah any hint of gentleness/submission in Bian Jin is an illusion or is actually something else... one of the things I enjoy in weaponisation themes is the way it sometimes plays with the idea of these perceptions as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Bian Jin is (was) the blade of the empire, a machine, without gentleness or softness - and if all those around her see her as such, how long or to what extent can she hold to the humanity she does in fact possess? Catnip to me, every time.
- The part where Shen Ni grips Bian Jin's wrist and says, deliberately cutting, 'You're overthinking it, Shijie. I am the doctor, you are the patient. In my eyes you are nothing but a broken machine, and who could harbour designs on a broken machine?'. The face I made at this. Deliberate cruelty is such a good look on Shen Ni, I'm kind of obsessed.
- You know that fanfic trope where it's like 'X wished they could curl up inside Y's ribcage and live there'? Anyway.
- 逆芯... girl I hope you don't think you're being subtle.
Okay but for real...
- Nearly incapacitated, pushing through without a word, reaching the absolute limits of her endurance is such a good look on Bian Jin. And every time her extreme pain tolerance is mentioned or demonstrated I gain years to my lifespan.
- (as Shen Ni is laying her on the operating table) Shen Ni's torso cast a shadow that enveloped Bian Jin... oh, no metaphors here, I'm sure.
- Bian Jin asking/trying/intending to like... field-medicine herself through this??? This is my entire jam. Bian Jin what the fuck.
- The part where Shen Ni is like nah any hint of gentleness/submission in Bian Jin is an illusion or is actually something else... one of the things I enjoy in weaponisation themes is the way it sometimes plays with the idea of these perceptions as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Bian Jin is (was) the blade of the empire, a machine, without gentleness or softness - and if all those around her see her as such, how long or to what extent can she hold to the humanity she does in fact possess? Catnip to me, every time.
- The part where Shen Ni grips Bian Jin's wrist and says, deliberately cutting, 'You're overthinking it, Shijie. I am the doctor, you are the patient. In my eyes you are nothing but a broken machine, and who could harbour designs on a broken machine?'. The face I made at this. Deliberate cruelty is such a good look on Shen Ni, I'm kind of obsessed.
- You know that fanfic trope where it's like 'X wished they could curl up inside Y's ribcage and live there'? Anyway.
- 逆芯... girl I hope you don't think you're being subtle.
Edited 2024-11-28 08:53 (UTC)
- Fang Pan's metallic veil and metal lips are a Look
- I continue to kind of ship Shen Ni and Li Shan. The verbal sparring is just too good.
- The way this reappearance of Black Box - within the city and thus casting into doubt the capabilities of the tracing device that was supposed to buy them time to fortify the city's defences, not to mention in a shop that was guaranteed to draw Shen Ni's eyes - gets Shen Ni the permissions she wanted to access the R&D department and records feels almost too convenient. Like, if you were a mysterious figure who wanted the empire's top machinist to access the time capsule records for some purpose known only to you, is this not exactly how you'd arrange for it to happen? *pulls the murder board out of storage, brushes off the dust, and adds more red string*
- The way the entire interaction between Shen Ni and Bian Jin reads entirely like an awkward morning after and not at all like a medical procedure debrief!
- ‘Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. I didn't see you observing the proprieties then.’ Reader, I screamed.
- The way Bian Jin's anger makes Shen Ni's heart beat faster... ;) ;) ;)
- I continue to kind of ship Shen Ni and Li Shan. The verbal sparring is just too good.
- The way this reappearance of Black Box - within the city and thus casting into doubt the capabilities of the tracing device that was supposed to buy them time to fortify the city's defences, not to mention in a shop that was guaranteed to draw Shen Ni's eyes - gets Shen Ni the permissions she wanted to access the R&D department and records feels almost too convenient. Like, if you were a mysterious figure who wanted the empire's top machinist to access the time capsule records for some purpose known only to you, is this not exactly how you'd arrange for it to happen? *pulls the murder board out of storage, brushes off the dust, and adds more red string*
- The way the entire interaction between Shen Ni and Bian Jin reads entirely like an awkward morning after and not at all like a medical procedure debrief!
- ‘Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. I didn't see you observing the proprieties then.’ Reader, I screamed.
- The way Bian Jin's anger makes Shen Ni's heart beat faster... ;) ;) ;)
Nearly incapacitated, pushing through without a word, reaching the absolute limits of her endurance is such a good look on Bian Jin. And every time her extreme pain tolerance is mentioned or demonstrated I gain years to my lifespan.
I will not spoil but you are in for such a treat. A series of treats, even.
I read this and the next chapter and immediately went, 'I MUST MAKE EVERYONE READ THIS.'
I will not spoil but you are in for such a treat. A series of treats, even.
I read this and the next chapter and immediately went, 'I MUST MAKE EVERYONE READ THIS.'
Like, if you were a mysterious figure who wanted the empire's top machinist to access the time capsule records for some purpose known only to you, is this not exactly how you'd arrange for it to happen? *pulls the murder board out of storage, brushes off the dust, and adds more red string*
MY LIPS ARE SEALED.
The way the entire interaction between Shen Ni and Bian Jin reads entirely like an awkward morning after and not at all like a medical procedure debrief!
I mean... that was the one of the best sex scenes that isn't technically a sex scene that I've ever read.
MY LIPS ARE SEALED.
The way the entire interaction between Shen Ni and Bian Jin reads entirely like an awkward morning after and not at all like a medical procedure debrief!
I mean... that was the one of the best sex scenes that isn't technically a sex scene that I've ever read.
- Thinking back over the whole game of getting the R&D department access, it had been easier than she expected I don't trust it! I don't trust it!!!
- (Re the head of the Lijing Bureau) Li Ruoyuan was kind and gentle, so it was fitting that she would keep an attack dog. Oh I'm already in love
- Shen Ni sleepily groping Bian Jin... call that 擦边
- As for the rest of this chapter, RIP Bian Jin lol.
- (Re the head of the Lijing Bureau) Li Ruoyuan was kind and gentle, so it was fitting that she would keep an attack dog. Oh I'm already in love
- Shen Ni sleepily groping Bian Jin... call that 擦边
- As for the rest of this chapter, RIP Bian Jin lol.
Edited (html) 2024-11-30 09:15 (UTC)
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