"Nirvana in Fire"/"Lang Ya Bang" Group Read: Discussion Post for Chapters 166 - 169

[x_los]

Week 41 of the "Lang Ya Bang" book club, chapters 166 - 169 (inclusive). This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on February 13th.

I'll be doing a weekly post with thoughts on this community. Feel free to join in/discuss. If you'd like to join the Discord, contact superborb for an invite.

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.

(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.)

Comments

Chapter 166

[x_los]

- It’s interesting that this domestic disaster has in a way been the making of Xie Bi, and has also made Liyang and Jingrui’s relationship more genuine. It kind of bears out a thesis statement that the costs of truth can be extreme, but that only a truthful life can be otherwise authentic and thus meaningful.

- Fff, this letter. ‘Some war crimes what I did’.

- Didn't Jinyang strangle herself? Or was that only Consort Chen? Why was there blood?

- Why don’t Liyang and Jinyang share a generational particle at the beginning of their names? Prince Ji doesn't seem to, either.

Re: Chapter 166

[halfcactus]

I’m not entirely sure, but I think Liyang, and Prince Ji are titles, in the same vein as Prince Yu, Prince Jing, etc, and not personal names. I’m pretty sure that Jinyang is not Lin Shu’s mom’s personal name, because her name was similar to the place in MCS’s travel journal that he was avoiding writing.

PS. I don’t think this is helpful, but the ”yang” in Liyang and Jinyang are the same character! (阳)

Chapter 167

[x_los]

I guess the capacity to take this bold step is about the only element of her original character Liyang ever manages to recover--that, and perhaps her emotional authenticity in her relationship with Jingrui.

Re: Chapter 167

[halfcactus]

I also like that Liyang and Jingyan were once both naturally impulsive characters, but they’ve learned to temper their impulses in different ways.

Chapter 168

[x_los]

- 'Jade' tiles? Again, that's confusing.

- This ‘Jingyan’ finale is good.

Re: Chapter 168

[superborb]

I think the change is to think of 'jade' as like, a color/translucency quality instead of a material adjective?

Chapter 169

[x_los]

- ‘this will everyone misunderstand’ ?

- Officially adopt Tingsheng then, and you’ll be good? That happened a lot, historically. This is a fake problem. You’re going to be emperor: make it happen. Or have Tingsheng marry some cousin of his who's a princess. ‘UwU, the clan system is strict!’ If a stable bureaucratic system that valued the rights and prerogatives of imperial family members held sway, the emperor couldn't have enabled and been complicit in the massacre of Prince Qi without proper proof. You can’t have it both ways.