"Nirvana in Fire"/"Lang Ya Bang" Group Read: Discussion Post for Chapters 1-4

[x_los]

We're taking a break from poetry to read Lang Ya Bang/Nirvana in Fire. We did try this before, over a year ago, but now we're doing it in concert with a larger Discord of people. If that's your preferred book-club method, contact superborb for an invite.

I'll be on there, but also doing a weekly post with thoughts over here. Feel free to join in/discuss here if Dreamwidth is your preferred method.

If anyone is interested in dankodes running further poetry content during or after NiF, please let me know what you'd be keen to discuss. I'm happy to work with you on that. I'll probably ask this again once NiF draws to a close.

For the first week, we're discussing chapters 1-4 of Lang Ya Bang. This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on May 9th.

Chinese text: https://sj.uukanshu.com/book.aspx?id=17338
English translation: https://merelhyn.tumblr.com/post/641747965727358976/the-langya-list-epubpdf

SPOILER POLICY: I personally don't give a fuck or even like to give unearned credence to the concept, so since I'm writing the post, anything's fair game.

Comments

Chapter 4

[x_los]

- Couldn't Nihuang be a second-wife to an already married man, simply supplanting a first wife she already ranked higher than?
- Would Nihuang *work* militarily for her new country, or simply be a liability/likely spy?
- Kind of weird they didn't hear the competition chattered about on the road, if common people know to come for it. Perhaps Changsu distracted them somehow, for some reason.
- Why does Yujin say Feiliu feels like a block of ice, is he--touching him, for some reason? That's not stated.

Last time, I said:

- “I think so too,” said Yan Yujin smugly. “You all know that the Princess has always liked me best…”

yujin, no one alive ships this. i don't even think you really ship this? like the MOST i could see is one wild hook up, Nihuang just raises an eyebrow&you promise to never tell
- 'Mei Changsu looked at Yan Yujin with great interest and asked, “How are you certain that someone gave them this idea?”'

Changsu never thought stage 18/57,000 of his Plan was so obvious that even *Yujin* could see it, but then the last time he saw Yujin, he HAD been teething--
- 'Mei Changsu laughed in spite of himself. “I’m not a fortune-teller. How could I know?”'

fuck you Changsu
- Changsu is like oh yeah guys i straight up robbed those envoys and everyone's like oh fair fair they were Foreign so--
- '“Oh, you don’t need to worry about it, I’ve already signed him up.” Yan Yujin grinned impishly.

“Oy… You two…”'

and so the fifth great cdrama jewish wank arose, when the precise nature of yujin's 'oy' was called into question-- (I bet that was an 'aiyoh')(No, apparently it's a 'wei')

Re: Chapter 4

[superborb]

I think this is in the tradition of 'only the emperor gets multiple concubines and everyone else is ahistorically monogamous unless we need convenient concubines'.

I think block of ice like 'icy demeanor'.

YYJ is so much more immediately obviously socially adept here.

Re: Chapter 4

[halfcactus]

+1 I also think FL being icy pertains to his demeanor and inexpressiveness. Him laying his head on MCS’s lap is supposed to be, I suppose, some kind of moe gap?? Iirc MCS describes it as a sajiao moment, clearly he thinks FL id adorable, but no one else is convinced. XD

He’s definitely characterized differently here, not as pouty as drama!FL.

Re: Chapter 4

[x_los]

Which is odd bc in my head, at least at the moment, he's still extremely drama!FL. It's going to take me a bit to stop back-reading the drama characters over this version thereof. x_x

Re: Chapter 4

[x_los]

Though at least in the drama, Jingyan has a concubine at the moment and later acquires a wife as crown prince. And I think there's some discussion of Prince Yu's wanting Banruo as a concubine.

'Feels' is what gets me, maybe.

Yeah we do see, much earlier or just easier, YYJ's facility with these situations.

Re: Chapter 4

[douqi]

Nihuang is far too high-ranking to be anything but a first wife, unlike Banruo and Jingyan's nameless concubine. 'Supplanting a first wife' gets into LOTS of politics because any woman high-ranking enough to be principal wife to any man high-ranking enough to marry Nihuang is not going to take that lying down.

Re: Chapter 4

[x_los]

Tho this competition is also, nominally, a crapshoot in which many commoners who'd presumably have no-name wives are competing (the likelihood of a commoner actually MAKING it through the lit portion of the exam--)

Re: Chapter 4

[xmarksthespotwhereistand]

Maybe it's also that the definition of unmarried would include people who have concubines but no main wife?
Because imagining someone with a wife proposing to Lord Nihuang sounds like it could get only messy, as you said. Bad times for everyone involved.
(Imagining Wei Zheng, Just Married entering the tournament and then stage whispering to Nihuang: don't worry, we won't let the young general's family get married to these morons, as a differently amusing thought.)