Thread by @meowzaku

Lip and Sword (唇枪 by 金十四钗)
Score: 7/10 (manhua), 9/10 (novel)

-official english translation available
-this series goes hard right from the start
-it can be really intense sometimes
-abundance of sexy times (ahem)
-PLS READ THIS 🥺🥺🥺

-diff score for manhua and novel bcs while I really like the artstyle of the manhua, i find it to be a bit confusing since it omits a lot of information from the novels
-SRSLY PLS READ THIS THE ART IS SO PRETTY

this is the ML, Yu Zhongye
-TV Station Director
-Boss King
-tend to appear unaffected
-likes doing it rough
-cold asshole except not really
-doesn't speak much
-in his forties

our MC, Xing Ming
-PRECIOUS 😭
-called Ice Prince in the broadcast station
-newbie news anchor
-very stabby, both with sharp glass pieces and cutting words
-looks cold
-bad at emotion
-always a hairbreadth away from exploding
-SOMEONE HELP HIM PLS 😭

I just finished the novel, so I'm still so full of feelings 😭would properly vent later when i have time. Just. All the things. All the cases. All the growth. HELLO TEARS ARE STREAMING DOWN MY FACE???

also love LOVE LOVE the trope where one party thinking he's the only one developing feelings, only for the other party to reveal in the end that "NOBODY ELSE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU, I'M ALL YOURS FOREVER"

my personal bgm for this series:

Here's the summary of the Lip and Sword novel :D

some sample chapters also available on their official site :D

https://twitter.com/ViaLactea_press/status/1517484844905013255

gosh I feel the more I re-read the more I love this novel.

looking at the beginning, you might think this story will end w/ Xing Ming being more stable emotionally, but it's the opposite: Xing Ming is still volatile emotionally, but he's very comfortable with it now.

and what do you know, it's actually the reason why Yu ZhongYe falls for him in the first place: that he's volatile, that he can be unpredictable, that he couldn't lie to his conscience... and that he's very, very dedicated to his cause 😭

I think for Xing Ming, it's all about acceptance: how to accept that himself as he is, with all his faults and his imperfections and his past.

For Yu ZhongYe, it's about being human: choosing to protect Xing Ming over his rise to Ministerial seat, over all the things he's built.

Scenes that keep haunting me:
1. when Luo You throws Xing Ming's father's watch over the railing, and Xing Ming watching, frozen, movement aborted as if he's about to follow after that watch and jump from the 8th floor railing.

2. After Lin's accident, and Xing Ming deciding to break up w/ Yu ZhongYe, while he's kissing him he just. suddenly gets up and starts breaking the floor-to-ceiling windows with a chair; as if possessed, he wouldn't stop smashing it until the thick glass breaks down into pieces.

3. Near the end, when he breaks down as he realizes he has to choose between saving a helpless kid or protecting Yu ZhongYe; his conscience telling him to help the kid, but his heart insisting he must protect Yu ZhongYe instead 😭

Yu ZhongYe embracing him and asking him helplessly what's wrong why are you crying please don't cry while Xing Ming makes himself sick and cries his heart out for a long time 😭😭😭

this is the one scene that I keep coming back to; I just. DAMN.

also another fav part: how Lao Lin, Yu ZhongYe's driver, likes to refer to Xing Ming as that vixen concubine out to destroy the kingdom by conquering the emperor 🤣🤣🤣

Mind you, lao Lin has been w/ Yu ZhongYe a long time, and pretty much knows his habits.

Lao Lin also pretty much deduces Xing Ming's meant more to Yu ZhongYe than just a plaything before any of them realizes.

Xing Ming: Teacher Yu is practicing calligraphy in the study.
Lao Lin, totally judging Xing Ming's disheveled appearance: ... sure.

🤣🤣🤣

meanwhile in his heart Lao Lin is lamenting that Xing Ming needs to come up w/ new excuses, this one is getting old 🤣totally unaware that this time, it's not a euphemism for sex and that Yu ZhongYe really is writing Calligraphy in the study lmao 🤣

lao lin, describing Xing Ming as someone whose eyes are like the vixen who is looking to harm the country and the people. Like any moment now, Xing Ming is totally going to say come on, from now on the emperor would not go to court early, and it's all bcs of me. 🤣🤣🤣

shouts out to lao lin honestly, who has been pretty much supportive of Yu ZhongYe/Xing Ming from the start lmao

lao lin's the one who suggests Yu ZhongYe to change his car into a bigger one (a Bentley) bcs Xing Ming keeps hitting his head on the roof every time they're doing it in the car since he's too tall 🤣🤣

...and Yu ZhongYe changing his car back to his old one once they broke up 😭

dir. Chen: how is he?
lao Lin: The Emperor's ready to let his fav concubine return into the palace.
dir. Chen: ...

Not lao lin using history as euphemism for Yu Zhongye and Xing Ming's relationship and infecting the rest of TV broadcast staff w/ his metaphors 🤣🤣🤣

Yu Shao Ai & Xing Ming: can you let us do [outrageous request]? Yu ZhongYe already agreed (a transparent lie).
random staff in charge: ...FVCK. The Crown Prince and the Concubine together? I'm outta here. 🤣🤣🤣

Yu Shao Ai & Xing Ming Destructive Combo is just Unstoppable🤣🤣🤣

Yu Shao Ai
-Yu ZhongYe's only son
-in his 20s
-has his father's eyes (very important!)
-grew up in the US
-very energetic
-interning under Xing Ming
-genuinely likes Xing Ming
-music-inclined
-likes to purposefully make his father jealous by getting close to Xing Ming

-Yu Shao Ai only appears in later part of the novels
-before they knew of each other's "real" identity, some moments make me think he has a crush on/at least attracted to Xing Ming
-nearly kissing Xing Ming once accidentally when he grabs his arm too hard and makes him unbalanced

-Yu ZhongYe probably heard about that last part since it happens in the office right in front of Xing Ming's whole staff
-Xing Ming finds out Shao Ai's YZY's son bcs he recognizes his voice during villa visit
-in his haste to run away, he ends up breaking his ankle in a fall

-Yu Shao Ai probably finds out Xing Ming's his father's lover when Xing Ming's delirious and grabs him, telling him while smiling softly, "Your eyes are beautiful. Just like your father's eyes."

LMAO I really think Xing Ming breaks Shao Ai's heart w/ that last sentence 🤣🤣

Sometimes I remember Xing Ming and the way he just has TOO many feelings and how he often explodes bcs his thin body just couldn't contain all his feels and i just. CRY.

some review says this is too unrealistic but to me this is the most #relatable shit in this novel

Xing Ming is smart and clever and has good instinct, and his personality would make him an untouchable iceberg.

EXCEPT then he has all these FEELS and starts exploding all over the place before his brain could interfere, and ain't that just the most #relatable thing ever

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