villainousfriend, 3 months ago

I believe we have just met the book version of Xu Dong!

#ZhangGongAn

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

Also very exciting news: book Zhang Ping has a courtesy name, Qinyong! I don’t think he ever mentioned one in #ALeagueOfNobleman.

芹 qín: celery

墉 yōng: (literary) city wall

I will go looking to see if this is a reference to anything, but if it already rings a bell for you, please let this non-erudite friend know.

#ZhangGongAn

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

#ZhangGongAn update: book Xu Deng is definitely not the same character as series Xu Dong, although I still think there might be some inspiration there. (It might also be wishful thinking, because I liked series Xu Dong so much.)

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

The Lan Jue/Shulin meetcute in the snow happens just the same in #ZhangGongAn as in #ALeagueOfNobleman! 😍

No word yet on whether his character is anything like what it was in the show, ofc, but please enjoy tsundere baby Lan Jue.

to buy some more festive calligraphy and painting stickers, but no one wants the shabby things he wrote and painted. A paper umbrella stopped in front of his stall. The person under the umbrella raised his hand and touched the calligraphy and paintings on his stall, with his plain sleeves and fair and slender hands. He said coldly: "I don't write happy couplets, nor do I draw New Year pictures." The man under the umbrella raised his head, removed the umbrella, and smiled at him: "Brother, your calligraphy is so beautiful. Did you also write this poem? Great! Great!" He still said coldly: "Things that cannot be sold are nothing to praise. I have no business today. If you want to buy it, I will give it to you cheaper, ten cents a piece." The man shook his head: "It's a pity, it's a pity that a person with a thousand pieces of gold has suffered such a fate at this time." Then he looked at him again, his black spar eyes were bright, "In the spring of next year, you will definitely be in high
school, and even if these calligraphy and paintings are Even a thousand pieces of gold are rare." He sneered coldly, and the man looked at him with a smile in his eyes: "Don't believe it, I know how to read faces, and there is a place for you among the top three." Lan Jue woke up from her dream with a hoarse cry. She forgot to close the window, and a cool breeze entered the room. An old bird flew from nowhere and squatted on the tree branch outside the window. It screamed a few more hoarsely, and flew away with flapping wings..

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

#ZhangGongAn: I am obsessed with the Lan Jue-Wang Yan-Gu Qingzhang (Shulin)-Liu Zhihui dynamics in the flashback scenes here; it’s even messier than in the show. (For one thing, instead of unnamed scholar friends on the periphery, it’s Liu Zhihui, a single troublesome dude getting involved.)

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

#ZhangGongAn: Also obsessed with Zhang Ping being every bit as autistic rep as in the show, and how much he infuriates Lan Jue, to the point where he feels himself regressing back to the old self who hadn’t spent ten years pretending to be refined and serene. 😂

LJ: “You don’t understand, I was just different from them, a different kind of person, and it was very hard for me!”

ZP: “All people are different from one another.”

LJ, sulking to himself: You’re different too! Why doesn’t it bother you?!?!

villainousfriend, 3 months ago

#ZhangGongAn: anyway, I’m supposed to be in a meeting right now and only wanted to share this perfect description. Pangolin!

(Sidebote: yes, Lan Jue has been assigned She/Her by the MTL; it happens to him twenty times as much as to anybody else. I do wonder why.)

villainousfriend, 2 months ago

Doubt.jpg

#ZhangGongAn

villainousfriend, 2 months ago

Meanwhile, Chen Chou, wandering through the snow in the gathering gloom, being directed to a place to shelter by an old woodcutter who then suddenly vanishes and discovering that it’s an old, abandoned temple full of cobwebs: Why do all the genre tropes have to happen to me?!

#ZhangGongAn

PS: I am delighted to report that Chen Chou is the best boy and best friend in the book, too.

villainousfriend, 2 months ago

#ALeagueOfNobleman gave us so much and I would never complain, but it did hold back the scene where Lan Jue faints while being impeached in front of the Emperor* and wakes with his son howling at the bedside, officers from the Ministry of War turning his room upside down, and an expressionless** Wang Yan standing at the head of the bed to inform him he’s been… poisoned!

Then a messenger comes in to say that Dali Temple wants to take over the case from the Ministry of Justice because it’s so politically important and Wang Yan gets to tear his head off. 😄

• it’s Wednesday
  ** I know, that’s what it says in the text, but we can all imagine his expression

#ZhangGongAn

villainousfriend, 2 months ago

#ZhangGongAn arc 4:

Zhang Ping has a new boss who can’t stand him, thinks he’s a smartass sent to spy on him, and keeps yelling at him… and he’s right (except for the spying part)! Get that boy some forensic rigour, Feng Tai!

Zhang Ping, meanwhile, is grateful for all these useful tips. His new boss really cares about helping him improve! It gives him a warm feeling.

Feng Tai sneered: "That's it. No matter how carefully you observe, one person's eyes cannot cover everything in one moment, so the survey site must be careful, the evidence collection must be detailed, and the step by step record must be recorded. If there is no such rules and regulations, in the future, when the case is filed, will it be based on your dictation? When the case is reported, will the Jingzhao Mansion be required to listen to your recitation when it is reviewed? "
Zhang Ping watched attentively from the side. He remembered that there was a saying in "The Record of Suspicions and Suspicions" written by Feng Tai that the taboo
in collecting evidence was to destroy it before it was obtained. Look at this time, Mr. Feng and his subordinates are all wearing black blouses, cloth towels on their faces, mulberry paper covers on their fingertips, and cloth covers on their feet, because they are worried about the soil on the soles of their shoes. The soil in the grave pit is mixed. Afraid that sweat, breath, or sneezing may damage the evidence. And using a silver spoon to check, you can also test for poison while looking at the soil.

villainousfriend, 22 days ago

#ZhangGongAn: after putting this book aside for several weeks, I’m back!

Many thanks to past me for writing this thread so I could refresh my memory of what’s going on. Unfortunately, the current mystery is deeply connected to nuances of Daoist texts, the bagua, feng shui, and character riddles, none of which Google Translate has handled well. I’ve been skimming through Lan Peizhi, Wang Mowen and Zhang Ping being impressed with one another’s cleverness & just assuming they’re correct about it.

villainousfriend, 22 days ago

#ZhangGongAn: anyway, why does 八卦 mean ‘gossip’?