Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

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Comments

[anne]

Well, I was doing the Mist readalong on fedi, but then I forgot to stop at chapter 10. And I keep forgetting that I followed the hashtag? my brain, how does it work

And I'm still enjoying Evil as Humans. They're dating! \o/

[geraineon]

Haha did you also read all the way and finished it? Because that's what I did...

Yay! I love the CP in Evil as Humans. They are so wholesome weird

[anne]

No, I'm in...16? So not too far ahead, but I'll probably start zooming soon, now that I finished A Dream of Splendor (what a power couple)

[aurumcalendula]

I'm still enjoying Record of the Missing Sect Master! I like Ye You and Wenren Heng and I'm very fond of the Demonic Sect.

[geraineon]

Glad you're enjoying it so far! The Demonic Sect people are such a fun bunch XD

priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[halfcactus]

I'm sorry in advance for this wall of text, I'm still trying to process what I just read so I don't forget what's going on lmfao

I stopped taking notes after chapter 4 because there didn’t seem to be any point of tracking the typographical and continuity errors anymore and I thought I was getting the gist of what was happening. Now I kind of regret it because I can already feel the details slipping from my mind.

I like how the book reveals information promptly enough and “confirms” the reader’s (ie. myself as well as the in-novel ones') suspicions not long after those parts become apparent—I really hope that in chapter 8 the “unreliability” of the details is addressed because my curiosity wore off after chapter 4 and my weak heart is tired of being scared of the implications. I don’t know what to make of the webnovel titles—I thought at first foreshadowing (since “scissors”, the title for chapter 2, comes up in a later chapter... 6?) but that doesn’t seem like it lol. Anyway they are all eerily murder-y and idk who gets murdered, if anyone does at all.

Also, not really related to anything, but I like the concept of there being like… a digital water ghost in Qingshui. I also like the idea of the mystery rose-gifters being ghosts themselves, but tbh this novel is reading increasingly less supernatural so I’m not counting on any of this haha.

Chapter 3

Enjoyed the transition from the editor’s PoV to the writer’s, and the way they both put their opinions about the webnovel into perspective! They’re both uncharitable but in different ways haha. Also I’m kind of rooting for both of them to (re)discover their love for everyday literature.


Though I'm actually curious if the "novel" text genuinely reads badly? I can't tell if it is, as the editor described, very:

(My vocabulary of the week XD)

The line about the author entering a restaurant as a customer and being greeted with a smile for the first time really struck a chord for me. ;_;

Chapter 4

THIS CHAPTER SCARED ME SO BAD I decided to stop reading diary chapters at night. The combination of CSA PTSD *and* doppelgänger/bodyswap vibes that came from the changing details were a bit too much. Also there is a doll that looks a little like the MC????


“扔了鞋，果果就跑不掉啦” + “我们果果是小公主，长大会嫁给国王” + that creepy line about the stockings D:



It does make you wonder what happened to the parents in the past years because in the present day the creepy stepdad no longer seems to be in the picture, and the mother (or at least the mother’s body) is, in the water ghost’s PoV, a monster.

Chapter 5

This is the one with the counselor and her student who introduces her to the webnovel… I have, unfortunately, already forgotten their names. I don’t think we know the student’s username is, if she’s participating in the comments at all. I also no longer remember what school they're in, in case that's relevant at all.




Chapter 6

Interesting that the whole part about the “little sister” is very diary-like in the sense that it could mean so many things but without context the reader has no idea what’s going on??? (I don’t know what’s going on but it took me a long time to finally realize it was an object) (Likely a/the? doll) (Which I’m still not sure is a person trapped in a doll body) (But at this point, probably not hahaha)

A character named Lin Shuixian shows up, and Tang Guo is like her little doppelgänger. *zooms in* (The whole part where her [presumably] creepy stepdad is dressing her up like her neighbor is gross, obviously.) (As is the implication that the water ghost is likely her human abuser(s) who sneak into her room at night.)

Zhang Ting’s secret: another mystery? I like the part where Tang Guo “absorbs her spirit” and the water ghost wonders how many souls Tang Guo has absorbed… Maybe together this body can be the vehicle of justice,,,,




The editor still reading and speculating in the comments is so cute! I’d wondered if she was the commenter who complained about the grammar and this story topping the list, but it seems not? Unless she just switched to her main account.

Chapter 7




Interesting that this one has footnotes! It’s also interesting to see which web terms seem to warrant a footnote.


I really liked the final reveal of Wang Chai Niang’s true intentions for being a hater—it’s fun to reconcile it in real time because I remember her being around since chapter 1 and did not expect her to overtake My Husband Is A Paper Man in being a hater.

Zhang Ting's background is so similar to Tang Guo's, kind of like a mirror image (since in Tang Guo's PoV she has an awful grandfather while Zhang Ting has an awful grandmother). I was beginning to wonder how much of Tang Guo's story is her own at this point.

The entire exposé, with information coming from motivated haters, does now cast more doubt about whether or not this Douyin influencer (?) is the author? Like maybe there’s a narrative reason for why we don’t know Little Ms. Butterfly’s real name even though netizens have essentially doxxed her? The evidence seems simultaneously too much and too little. I guess it's just that I don't know enough about the influencer to care about her, though I do like the continued themes of becoming an imitation.

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[geraineon]

I think I'm gonna try to read this after all, so not gonna expand the details. Looking forward to reading them all when I get to them!

also no worries about posting long replies~!

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[halfcactus]

*drags you in by the feet like a water ghost who's been waiting for its prey*

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[geraineon]

It's super effective because I cannot actually swim xD

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[douqi]

I enjoyed the peek into the webnovel production process! I think there's also a bit coming up where priest makes fun of the JJWXC, I mean Qingshui Literature City app's 'antiquated interface'. 'Qingshui' is also a reference to smut-free works, which considering JJWXC's recent edicts, is quite fitting.

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[halfcactus]

'Qingshui' is also a reference to smut-free works, which considering JJWXC's recent edicts, is quite fitting.
Oh I had no idea. Thanks for the extra info!

NGL most of the webnovel / JJ bits are completely going over my head but it's been very interesting to see these characters and interactions written by someone "in the know".

I'm also really curious how much of the physical novel is censored + which parts are censored, but I guess I'll have to finish the main story first lol.

Re: priest - 桥头楼上 chapters 3-7

[douqi]

It would be an interesting comparison for sure!

[alterkrmn]

After missing last week's post because of ~everything~ I finished the first arc of Global Examination. I have some thoughts about why it's taking me time to read it and it doesn't have anything to do with the story. I really really want to read more but my brain is fighting with what I see. I am planning to write about it in my journal but haven't had much time or spoons to do it.

[geraineon]

Take your time with it~ definitely looking forward to your thoughts when you have the spoons to pen it down <3

[shipperslist]

Very much immersed in TGCF and enjoying myself. On book 3 now!

[geraineon]

You read really fast! XD

[shipperslist]

I do, yeah! 😁 If I really like the book and the style, I can read up to 500 pages a day, if I'm free. Which is why I enjoy my free time and vacations so much.