By Eu
Erha Volume 3 finally came out! I was excited about this book and had been waiting patiently for September 26 to come. Only to find out that, for Kindle users, you have to wait for another week before it gets released. (I don’t know if this is only for Seven Seas books?) To soothe my disappointed heart and refresh my memory, I decided to re-read the first two books while waiting.
I forgot that volume 1 was a tough read as I could hardly stand Mo Ran and Chu Wanning in the first few chapters. For those who made it to volume 3 without reading a spoiler (or at the very least, knew what was coming, a.k.a Mo Ran’s redemption arc), I admire your tolerance of the main characters. I wasn’t as tolerant though (and quite impatient at that), but I took a peak and skimmed through some parts of the story. Lurking around NU’s spoiler thread helped as well.
The tyrant Emperor Taxian Jun was reborn to his teenage self and vowed to protect the person he failed to protect in his past lifetime. But in this world, his archenemy in the previous life, the person he dragged from hell and back, was also alive. That’s no other than his shizun, Chu Wanning.
Taxian Jun/rebirthed Mo Ran (MR) was egotistical and domineering. He was so cocky to anyone except for his shige, Shi Mei, and especially to Chu Wanning. He’s not exactly the type of MC you’d want to cheer on. Instead, you’d rather see him get dragged off his high horse.
Chu Wanning (CWN) was not any better. His first appearance gave off the impression of a heartless, overbearing shizun. Not at all gentle and magnanimous. Both characters were tough to like and might even turn off any reader. But as I read, I began sympathizing with CWN more. His POVs were just so self-deprecating, which was surprising knowing the status and power he had.
…However much he might have feigned composure to brave it, even sealing the veins so that he wouldn’t pass out from blood loss, he was still only human. He still felt pain.
But so what if it hurt?
…All these years, everyone had respected him, feared him, but never had anyone dared to stand by his side. Never had anyone concerned themselves with his well-being. He had long since grown used to this.
Yuheng of the Night Sky, the Beidou Immortal. Unloved from head to toe, uncared for whether alive, dead, sick, or suffering.
My heart hurts from reading that again.
But I just have one problem. The one that took me a while to get over… CWN’s feelings for MR. Like, how? Mo Ran was what, fifteen? when he first joined the sect. I guess, age was kind of fuzzy in the cultivation world and maybe, danmei in general. Putting their ages aside, I couldn’t really understand why CWN developed feelings. Was it because MR was persistent and noticed him at the beginning? The first, if not the only person to do so?
I set my concerns aside after reading passages like this:
He couldn’t accept these feelings, which he had long held toward Mo Ran. His only wish was that he could dig out his own heart and cut out the despicable thoughts inside — tear, rend, and throw them away.
Where was his decency, his propriety? Was Mo Weiyu someone he ought to think about in such ways? What kind of a teacher was he? Truly he was worse than a beast!
Chu Wanning was actually a lot better at criticizing himself than I do.
What made me actually like CWN was when he knew he wasn’t above the rules of the sect or anybody else despite his status. If he committed a mistake, he would face the consequences of that, no matter how hard it would be.
Chu Wanning didn’t feel like wasting his breath, so he simply said, “I hold others to the rules, and I will hold myself to the same.”
I didn’t mean to make this a Chu Wanning appreciation post. It’s just that his real self was a stark contrast to the front he showed most of the time, and that made reading this book a lot more bearable than when I started. It made me actually care about these characters.
The second half of the book was slightly better as we finally got to the plot. Things had changed from Mo Ran’s first life and they’re not for the better. It made me want to know more about what would happen next as this enemy seemed to be targeting MR.
Series: The Husky & His White Cat Shizun (Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun)
Written by: Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (肉包不吃肉)
Translation: Rynn and Jun
Cover and Interior Art: St
Available at: JJWXC (the series is currently locked), Seven Seas Danmei (English)
Volumes (English): 1, 2, 3, 4
Have you read this book? If not, do you plan on reading this? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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