Hiiii! I'm nowhere near caught up on the comments on the last post myself, but now that I made this post - soon, very soon. :D :D
"He's the victim of Evil Worldbuilding™ too, so yes, absolutely!"
Hah, the main villain of this story, the Evil Worldbuilding. *nodnod* :D
"I can't tell yet; I'll need to see how it ends."
100% valid, and fwiw, this is basically where it ends - it turns out that it is where the book came from and that's it? I may be forgetting something minor, but the whole time travel thing is this tiny and brief. :)
"Excellent choice, yes! Especially since the shop doesn't exist any more in the present; take that opportunity while you have it!:D"
Hahah, true! :D I got a bit confused when he just left the ice cream behind when he left but I guess it was in a glass or something, not in a takeout container. xD
"Since we've been talking about realms - descended from where? I'd normally assume from the Heavenly Realm, but all the gods seem to be running around in the Mortal Realm anyway ..."
I think the gods used to leave in the Heavenly Realm, and they all ended up living in the Mortal Realm eventually after they descended to it.
"NOOOOO!!!!! Kunlun is so bad for baby!SW. :(
(I'm so glad the drama changed that completely, and had ZYL actually be good for YOHE!SW.)"
He's just regurgitating what he was told - if his emotions were too much for everyone, then he can teach SW that having emotions is just too much? Doesn't make it any better for SW whatsoever, but Kunlun doesn't actually know what he's doing.
(ITA on that though! ♡♡♡ None of this can compare to YOHE ever. ♡♡♡)
"Come on, Kunlun! Take it in the spirit it's given!"
He doesn't know the spirit, though? It's all SW's thoughts, all Kunlun can see is the necklace itself. (I mean, I guess getting a gift could give him a hint of what the spirit is, but later with the flowers he's still not even sure if it's not just an attempt to get out of the Seal.)
I don't like the part where they never talk about it again (they should, and this is where the intention should be revealed), but the first reaction, with a thank-you and a genuine attempt to smile and no criticism at all is already pretty impressively nice to me, considering no one has ever been nice to Kunlun about the things he did. He parrots all the criticism that used to be directed at him, and here he doesn't even do that. :) (Though he may be parroting someone else's fake smile at a gift that he made for them. But at least he knows to choose the kindest of the reactions he knows?)
"But honestly, I find Kunlun so inconsistent in his behaviour towards Xiao-Wei, he's veering wildly from judgmental and patronising to teasing to earnest and generous. It's giving me whiplash, it's a wonder Xiao-Wei isn't even more confused by everything!"
Hah, ITA, he's a mess. The way I see it, it's all him flip-flopping between his upbringing and knee-jerk reactions and how he actually, genuinely feels. (Again, it doesn't make it better for SW, and it must be super confusing indeed.)
"(And we're entirely back in "Kunlun is an adult, Xiao-Wei is a teen" territory, which I find unpleasant because it's so unbalanced ...)"
To me this is SUCH a case of telling and not showing! There's nothing that Kunlun does (or even thinks privately) that makes him even remotely more mature than SW, and there are definitely several things that make him a lot less mature (for example throwing around words he doesn't understand, when SW thinks about them quietly and wonders why they're being used). The way the narrative seems to say that he actually is more mature is just very confusing to me because there's just zero proof.
"Time to link this meta by foxghost! Spoiler warning for the ending."
Oh, neat, thank you!! ♡
"Alas, this is exactly my problem with the novel: I don't know what's true, and so anything and everything is suspect, which makes it harder to engage with anything."
I kinda love this lampshading, like, this is the reading experience and this is Zhao Yunlan's actual life. :D
"Because the image of a "fierce handsome man eating shaved ice" was so eye-catching, several girls couldn't stop looking at him and thus, uncontrollably followed his gaze, extended their necks, and looked outside.
This resulted in forming a basketball team of meerkats."
This is hilarious and adorable. :D :D :D
"He claimed that this talisman would be more than effective even if it was to be used to investigate the romantic relationships of the great ancient gods."
Omg I LOVE this, because this just happens to be exactly what Zhao Yunlan is doing. xD :D :D
no subject
"He's the victim of Evil Worldbuilding™ too, so yes, absolutely!"
Hah, the main villain of this story, the Evil Worldbuilding. *nodnod* :D
"I can't tell yet; I'll need to see how it ends."
100% valid, and fwiw, this is basically where it ends - it turns out that it is where the book came from and that's it? I may be forgetting something minor, but the whole time travel thing is this tiny and brief. :)
"Excellent choice, yes! Especially since the shop doesn't exist any more in the present; take that opportunity while you have it!:D"
Hahah, true! :D I got a bit confused when he just left the ice cream behind when he left but I guess it was in a glass or something, not in a takeout container. xD
"Since we've been talking about realms - descended from where? I'd normally assume from the Heavenly Realm, but all the gods seem to be running around in the Mortal Realm anyway ..."
I think the gods used to leave in the Heavenly Realm, and they all ended up living in the Mortal Realm eventually after they descended to it.
"NOOOOO!!!!! Kunlun is so bad for baby!SW. :(
(I'm so glad the drama changed that completely, and had ZYL actually be good for YOHE!SW.)"
He's just regurgitating what he was told - if his emotions were too much for everyone, then he can teach SW that having emotions is just too much? Doesn't make it any better for SW whatsoever, but Kunlun doesn't actually know what he's doing.
(ITA on that though! ♡♡♡ None of this can compare to YOHE ever. ♡♡♡)
"Come on, Kunlun! Take it in the spirit it's given!"
He doesn't know the spirit, though? It's all SW's thoughts, all Kunlun can see is the necklace itself. (I mean, I guess getting a gift could give him a hint of what the spirit is, but later with the flowers he's still not even sure if it's not just an attempt to get out of the Seal.)
I don't like the part where they never talk about it again (they should, and this is where the intention should be revealed), but the first reaction, with a thank-you and a genuine attempt to smile and no criticism at all is already pretty impressively nice to me, considering no one has ever been nice to Kunlun about the things he did. He parrots all the criticism that used to be directed at him, and here he doesn't even do that. :) (Though he may be parroting someone else's fake smile at a gift that he made for them. But at least he knows to choose the kindest of the reactions he knows?)
"But honestly, I find Kunlun so inconsistent in his behaviour towards Xiao-Wei, he's veering wildly from judgmental and patronising to teasing to earnest and generous. It's giving me whiplash, it's a wonder Xiao-Wei isn't even more confused by everything!"
Hah, ITA, he's a mess. The way I see it, it's all him flip-flopping between his upbringing and knee-jerk reactions and how he actually, genuinely feels. (Again, it doesn't make it better for SW, and it must be super confusing indeed.)
"(And we're entirely back in "Kunlun is an adult, Xiao-Wei is a teen" territory, which I find unpleasant because it's so unbalanced ...)"
To me this is SUCH a case of telling and not showing! There's nothing that Kunlun does (or even thinks privately) that makes him even remotely more mature than SW, and there are definitely several things that make him a lot less mature (for example throwing around words he doesn't understand, when SW thinks about them quietly and wonders why they're being used). The way the narrative seems to say that he actually is more mature is just very confusing to me because there's just zero proof.
"Time to link this meta by
Oh, neat, thank you!! ♡
"Alas, this is exactly my problem with the novel: I don't know what's true, and so anything and everything is suspect, which makes it harder to engage with anything."
I kinda love this lampshading, like, this is the reading experience and this is Zhao Yunlan's actual life. :D
"Because the image of a "fierce handsome man eating shaved ice" was so eye-catching, several girls couldn't stop looking at him and thus, uncontrollably followed his gaze, extended their necks, and looked outside.
This resulted in forming a basketball team of meerkats."
This is hilarious and adorable. :D :D :D
"He claimed that this talisman would be more than effective even if it was to be used to investigate the romantic relationships of the great ancient gods."
Omg I LOVE this, because this just happens to be exactly what Zhao Yunlan is doing. xD :D :D
(Thank you for the comparisons as always! ♡♡♡)