Welcome to Litsy!

The image is technically from the next volume, but it illustrates well where the story ends.

Love this quote from the final chapter, when he overreacts to being asked about Luo Binghe: “It was Shen Qingqiu who was overthinking the skeletons in his closet.“

That sounds about right for Shen Qingqiu!

Anyway, as ever, loved this reread, and feel like I notice/absorb more and more each time.

“It's only, long ago, I began to suspect that Cucumber-bro was a faithful reader, just one who didn't like expressing his feelings in a normal way. To think you were able to recall an obscure, throwaway plot point that I used only once. I'm very moved.“
- Shang Qinghua aka Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky to Shen Qingqiu, aka Peerless Cucumber

And yep, SQH, that's about right in summing up SQQ.

Choosing this image as my favourite for this chapter feels heartrending, given how the chapter ends. I actually forgot that there's a little more after the fall, since the donghua ends with it. One more chapter to go, a short one.

I'd say I don't get how Shen Qingqiu doesn't notice/understand Luo Binghe's crush on him, but the man's powers of self-delusion are unbelievably strong. Love him strutting his stuff to impress Binghe re: the monsters.

Another chapter finished! Shen Qingqiu just keeps jumping in front of Luo Binghe -- technically this image is from the previous chapter, but he does it again in this one already. Binghe is running away with all sorts of confused ideas about why his Shizun is protecting him, poor boy.

But then, he's beginning to be cared for, for the first time in a long time, so “poor boy“ might not be the right words.

And that's chapter two read! I love how quickly Shen Qingqiu begins to forget that he's in a story. In the clash with Sha Hualing and her minions, he's all about protecting all the disciples of Cang Qiong Sect, and risks himself selflessly, even under threat of death. He's far braver than he thinks he is; throughout, it's very obvious that he has very little insight into himself, so this isn't surprising.

And Liu Qingge's joined the story! 💙

Time for a reread! I love these books: they were the first danmei I read. The setup (a master/student relationship) is immensely problematic to a Western reader, but it's important to consider the context and also how the story absolutely mitigates that and rebalances the power scales between the two. In this TED talk I will...

Anyway, so far in this reread I have been enjoying how genre-savvy SQQ is, and how that is his strength AND weakness.

I really enjoyed this. This was my first official Danmei novel and I'm glad I started with this. It was very light and humorous, made fun of and then subverted common tropes, and was a fun read.

#ReadYourDamnDanmei #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I am in such a mood. PMDD with pain, it's cold, I want pizza but gluten and dairy makes me ill... I'm in bed, little heater going and trying to start this because the book is so pretty

I am so happy more danmei are being officially licensed. Now I hope they decide to license QJJ. ❤️

This book! Yes, I know I say this a lot. But this one sucked me in right away. Our hero just finished a crummy book as he dies and finds himself sucked into said book! Now he is the hero of that bad book and has to work his way around to stay alive in this new world he finds himself in. Fast paced, clever and great world building. Off to start the next in the series. #mangalightread

Throwback to bedtime last night. I‘m sad to report I found the first volume of HEAVEN OFFICIAL‘S BLESSING underwhelming all the way through, but this one‘s cool right from the get-go. It‘s about a guy who gets transported into the crap book he just read. An all-seeing System orders him to make the story better, but he‘s in the villain‘s role and he can‘t act out of character without severe consequences. I‘m excited to see where it goes.