NoirRoex

Let em COOK!!

Yes. But note there is toxicity and you have to pay careful attention. Binging might be helpful in keeping track of conversations about characters and their motivations.

Aww nah. I hated Ming til the end in that one. lol.

You mean I died and after death I STILL have to deal with your ass. It was okay but they literally used the Cdrama short trope. “I abused you but I fell in love with the wrong person. You were the person I fell in love with all those years ago for this random reason. Give me another chance.”

Ming didn’t directly kill him but ruined his dream. I’m petty. My hope is that in the fictional universe that is Ming he gets the “you ruined my dream now I’m in this other body” speech. I mean, dude, it was a nice body too! That was a LOT of work. lol.

I'm re-reading it and you say you don't back down from him being a prostitute but also say he's a side chick. So it feels like he's holding two statuses (in the comment) at the same time. I get that, cause it's a complicated story and the character developes, so one definition won't necessarily hold.

My problem with calling him a prostitute or side chick is that it is the same vein of logic ironically as degrading as Luqing tries to make their relationship. Xiaofan gets attached emotionally. I think that is part of the irritating rollercoaster with Xiaofan, in that he wonders from love to hating him to loving him since episode 6.

I think, I defined it as degrading when someone tries to make your relationship financial and without emotion when both parties know the premise of your relationship was that it was not. THAT is the betrayal.

Xiaofan wasn't having sex with Luqing when initially was doing nice things for him. Luqing does that on his own (the motivation behind it starts out kinda pervy on Luqings side). Xiaofan seems to have been holding out hope that maybe that person who took care of him before was emotionally still there. All Xiaofan got in return is escalations of Luqing (and his friends) treating him like a "prostitute" or "side-chick." Xiaofan's position is the equivalent of "look dude. My family was greedy before this relationship started and you wooed me. That does not mean you get to hang out with your ex and I don't get pissed. I bought into the degrading moment once (when he pulls his pants down) didn't like it and tried to leave. Now your coming for me and my family. You can't call me a greedy and force the circumstances (brother) in which I have to stay and be with you. You can't use the toxcity of the Bei name to crush the Lu name and think I'm gonna 'sit still and look pretty.'"

I don't think we are saying disimilar things about Luqing. But Xiaofan is fighting against that degrading status as openly as their power dynamic will allow. And we anticipate that Xiaofan has been moving in the shadows as well (get him Fan Fan!). I don't think the initial comment reflects that.

As for "you'll see that I never said that the drama specifically mentioned the shares thing..." I never said you or the drama says that either. In the very next sentence I say the drama implies it (which we both might be wrong about btw...I think Luqing literally says he's getting away from his mother and his ex implies Xiaofan can't protect himself against his mother in Episode 5). I agree with the crowd and say that the end of this episode implies that Luqing is trying to protect Xiaofan. But I also agree he is a more than terrible person and partner for the way he is doing it.

About the marriage. Luqing's marriage is supposed to help hide his relationship with Xiaofan. That's where that grossly arrogant pageboy conversation between Luqing's friend and Xiaofan comes into play. He says something like in ancient China, there was the position of pageboy who had a position at the King's side to hide the affair. In there era, they could be close in-law's who are both married. The King (Luqing) takes a wife and presides over the kingdom but still has his love affair with the pageboy.

I think the readers are saying that Luqing started out wanting to build a life for Xiaofan the way he knew how. Xiaofan let s it play until it becomes clear that he only knows how to really do that as a TYRANT if we continue the friend metaphor. And for me, that's where I want Fanfan to exit stage left. No happy ending for people who change so much that they want to treat you like a modern day side chick. But...since the writing seems to be layered and very human, they might just let Fanfan be with the walking black flag. Ugh...frustrating but still good writing.

I really need to stay off this board. I’ve written essays in college with less analysis. lol.

I feel like you might need to take a second look at some of the episodes because it’s easy to miss the context.

The drama doesn’t say in words that Luqing is trying to get away from his mother. It implies it by the historical context of the characters and conversations by side characters. The change happens when Xiaofan’s wife tells Luqing’s mother at breakfast that he is not living at the dorms. You can see panic flash across Luqing and Xiaofan’s face. The context is, she knows Luqing is gay and has brutally went after and broken up one of Luqing’s relationships before. Luqing immediately puts distance between himself and Xiaofan.

Prostitute? That’s callous. Most relationships can be classified as prostitution if you’re implying one partner being a provider makes the whole relationship customer and servicer. There are a myriad of forms of degradation in between that and a healthy relationship. Which is why Xiaofan is also acting the way he’s acting, he has ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in exploring the many ways of degradation from a man he did love and still has feelings for.

Is it degrading to sleep with someone so the family gets money? Yes. Is it prostitution. No. Is of the same vein as prostitution because it’s degrading. Yes.

I’ve stated this before. I liken Xiaofan to a 1950s American housewife without the title. He’s not just there for sex. He takes care of the home as best he can but still has to bother the husband about the family because the wife has no income to provide. It’s a similar power imbalance and similar burdens if the family doesn’t appreciate the strain it has on the relationship. Similar ways the husband can be financially abusive and make the caring wife’s life hell if he isn’t pleased. Similar ways in which the housewife has to secretly plan to get away (and be able to stay away) because a wealthy husband has all the means and opportunity to sabotage any other life the wife tries to make.

But also, have you not heard the VERY annoying soup/congee conversation? I’ve never heard of a prostitute who care if you ate.

Side chick - to who? Luqing has no main chick. Xiaofan plain and simple refuses to be pushed to the side when he sees his ex come in the picture. That’s why Xiaofan tries to get away from the family.

The fact that no one knows about their relationship. I’m only addressing it because it was stated. I think every BL drama implies that there are elements of society that may not accept them. Mid 1990s China implies most of their society. If Luqing is out, that Bei name is gone. And all the privileges that go with it.

Let me make this clear, I have not read the novel. I think Luqing is a diabolical character. But I am WAY against demonizing the prey so the predator can look worse.

iQIYI is pretty good with what they put on there but their library isn’t that big. Once you get through, they only have about maybe 4-5 new shows a month. When I came from Viki, it just didn’t seem like that much for new content. It only feels worth it when I buy the Viki pass and the iQIYI pass when they are half off. I think it’s around November for iQIYI.

Or let them start messing up their own lives and ACTUALLY live with consequences.

Go Fanfan!!

Subs are just above the title and video info on the left on tik tok.

Found it with subs. I could kiss everyone of you!!!! I love it!

Wait. We don't have to wait!!!! I have to find it?

There actually is. Because of the class difference, Xiaofan speaks indirectly about stuff and Luqing has a tendency to try to deflect because he doesn't want to actually address the issue. The easiest example to show this are the movie scenes, in one, when Xiaofan talks about how sad it is that the character gets cheated on (he's alluding to Luqing abandoning him for his ex) and how can she trust the other character again. Luqing replies directly that Xiaofan doesn't have to worry about it. It's not that they aren't communicating.

Xiaofan doesn't have the luxury of being direct because it might appear ungrateful. So he communicates in other ways. Some of it becomes funny once you realize it. For example, the freaking soup (the most annoying conversations). At first Xiaofan is learning what Luqing likes and perfects it. After he feels betrayed, he asks questions about the soup and wonders what he could have done better. After he's pissed, he's making congee and adds ingredients Luqing doesn't like. Lol.

Not sure if you're American or not but I liken Xiaofan to a somewhat of a 1950s heterosexual housewife in America. There are a lot of portrayals that are similar in media portraying that time. Unless the wife was bold, they often would not address the issue head on because of the power imbalance. But similarly they had ways to get back at their husbands if there husbands made them mad. "Oh honey, I didn't starch your shirts this time. I usually do it EVERY time huh?" Xiaofan's version is "Oh, you don't like all the onions in the congee I made. Oh, maybe I will add celery so it suits you better. *smirk*"

I all of a sudden loved the stupid soup conversations after realizing that Xiaofan was being catty. LOL.

Those people have no boundaries. Also his instructions to his brother could have been, bring the family to the bedroom to discuss the divorce. PERFECTION. Unfortunately, we know the reaction from the intro each week. Only thing I don't like about Chinese and Taiwanese dramas; reveals in the intros. They select those critical moments A LOT for the intros. Also, why I tend to binge and skip intros during binge.

Ok. Just starting this show today cause I wanted to be able to binge a few episodes. BL has made me terrible at waiting for the end of the series for the full binge.

5 minutes in and this show is insane in the best way! I love it.
“This game truly celebrates the romantic love between a person and their killer.” These guys are unhinged. Lmao.

I have Viki and Gaga but they log out on Roku all the time. I use other apps all the time cause Im lazy. But not for this drama. I am totally obsessed. Lol.

Btw. If you watched the episode as soon as it released, make sure it included the last 3 seconds. I kept looking at the comments and was wondering what people were talking about. My version cut off with them just lying in bed. Holy crap! That is a terrible cut off point. GagaOOLala it is.

Hmm. As your user name is BlackHeart I assume you have authority on what you say. AGREED.

Xiaofan already made the choice to abandon his mother AND Luqing after Luqing didn’t handle Xiaofan properly. I understand Luqing may want to get away from Luqing’s mothers influence but why would Xiaofan’s brother need to be involved for that.

I also don’t think I ever indicated Luqing was Bi. I think I indicated Luqing was going to use the marriage as a cover. Why would Xiaofan, a usually kind person, want another woman person trapped in a loveless marriage. He doesn’t love his wife. But his wife didn’t love him either. But NOW Xiaofan is supposed to be the bastard who not only does not love his wife but gets back together with her to be close to Luqing after she indicates that she might try in their marriage and asks for forgiveness? When do we ever get the notion that Xiaofan is supposed to be that big of a jerk. Moreover, his wife is showing more contrition than Luqing for her actions and she hasn’t even slept with him.

There was a Netflix drama Grace and Frankie where they breakdown the emotional toll of there partners carrying on an affair. Because they’re gay and having an affair, there is this expectation that people are supposed to be okay because society made it so they couldn’t do it openly. Xiaofan, was willing to do the affair when his wife was unapologetically unfeeling towards them and there was no relationship. He’s not okay with his similarly love deprived wife also begging for love for him too and not receiving it. AND her own brother was okay with him doing that to her. It’s not the evidence but it makes me question whether Luqing is capable of love and confirms what the sister said all along; he does not love her even in a sibling way. WHO does that to a sibling starved of love for their own happiness. Like damn, would I even actively support that for someone I don’t like.

This is about Luqing making choices for Xiaofan whether he likes it or not. That’s why forcing Xiaofan to come back to the apartment is such a big deal. Xiaofan made his choice by asking for the divorce. His friend got in the way by sabotaging Xiaofans brother. But where Luqing loses it and becomes the villian is when Xiaofan tries to draw boundaries and Luqing basically tells him move in or we’re done (that’s Xiaofan’s brothers job too). Now Luqing even refers to Xiaofan’s family as greedy. Never looked down on his family before this.

Now Luqing is actively overturning his choice and destroying his family in the process. Even if that was his plan from the beginning when he stepped away from Xiaofan to make sure he wasn’t on his mother’s radar, he had no problem leaving Xiaofan alone and lonely. When Xiaofan asked for assurance, Luqing said don’t worry, didn’t make it clear what he was doing, and got caught hanging out with the ex. So not only does he leave Xiaofan whenever he wants without communicating, he let someone help sabotage his family, and compounded it by putting his brother in the position to make it worse AND refused to listen.

Looks like the last ride to me. To much reflecting to not be.

You’re right! I read her as young and inexperienced. In this sense, Xiaofan’s wife actually saved her. Xiaofan looked like he was about to concede in that moment when his Mom asked didn’t he. And he knew better and why it was wrong on so many levels. Maybe that was another reason why he needed to divorce and leave. He almost allowed his sister to be put in that trap. At the very least offered to it.