Liu Minting: Thirst Trap! (First Note of Love)

[amedia]

I watched a Taiwanese BL called First Note of Love because Liu Minting (Lin Jing) played a secondary character. His character had a much more important arc than I expected. His character was also dressed more sharply than Lin Jing, which looked good on him.

For example:


More about the show, plus more screencaps of Liu Minting, on my DW (unlocked entry): https://amedia.dreamwidth.org/573119.html

Guardian Readalong: Vol. 2, Chapters 9 & 10

[facethestrange]

But first, a reminder that sign-ups are open for the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange! ♡

The 520 Reverse Exchange covers the Guardian novel, drama and RPF. And it's multimedia - see our info/rules/schedule post for the kinds of offers you can make.

As it's a reverse exchange, it has a two-part sign-up process: first you make your offer, and then you choose from everyone else's anonymised offers to make your requests. Part 1 of sign-ups (offers) is open until 11:59pm UTC on Friday 28 March 2025. (What time is that for me?) Only people who’ve signed up with an offer can participate and make requests.

Sign up with your offers here!

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Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong!

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions on the schedule post (vol. 1 part 1, vol. 1 part 2, vol. 2), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

• Chapter 9: Shen Wei goes to the Netherworld to temporarily mend the Great Seal that is falling apart. Daqing visits Sangzan in the library. Daqing's cultivation is too low to read Soul Book, which Zhao Yunlan has learned sorcery from. In West Plum Village, Zhao Yunlan encounters and fights a crow yao, who uses a bell to blind him and force some of Kunlun's memories on him. Ghost Face brings unconscious Zhao Yunlan back to Shen Wei.
  



• Chapter 10: Zhao Yunlan wakes up blind, but adjusts to his blindness very quickly. It turns out that the bell that hurt him used to be Daqing's before it was lost. Zhao Yunlan gains access to his Heavenly Eye, watches Shen Wei with it, and locates his missing soul fire in Shen Wei's pendant. He tries to seduce Shen Wei when a reaper visits his apartment. He hides Shen Wei from the reaper, and then falls asleep in Shen Wei's arms and has a mysterious dream.
  

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are 57 to 60.


Excerpts:

( 1) Daqing is worried about Zhao Yunlan )

( 2) Zhao Yunlan loses the fight to the crow yao )

( 3) Zhao Yunlan adjusts to his blindness )

( 4) Daqing's bell )

( 5) Shen Wei, as seen by Zhao Yunlan's Heavenly Eye )

( 6) Zhao Yunlan's dream )

Questions:

Which of the supernatural imagery is your favorite - the fight with the crow yao, the warm light inside Shen Wei, the Great Seal, something else? Did you enjoy the Daqing and Sangzan interaction, or do you think Sangzan deserves better treatment? Do you think Shen Wei should have known that Zhao Yunlan didn't listen to him and went to West Plum Village? Which contents of Shen Wei's pendant do you prefer - soul fire or a lollipop wrapper?

You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, or just comment without answering any of them at all! And if you see this post and you're not actually reading the novel: As always, I would love to know what you think about any of this with limited context. :D

And here is the schedule, and that's where you can sign up to host a post.