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Meng Xi Shi’s “Thousand Autumns” third volume opens with Yan Wushi being attacked by five other martial artists who work together to defeat him. There is no honour in this type attack but it is effective, which leaves him so badly injured that he would most certainly have died if Shen Qiao’s had not rescued him.

Despite Yan Wushi’s betrayal in the previous volume, Shen Qiao saves him and spends the next section of the book, helping him heal. On the surface it makes no sense that Shen Qiao is willing to put himself in danger to save the man who handed him over to an enemy, but there is more than meets the eye. On a very basic level, Shen Qiao is a thoroughly decent man who sees the injustice in a single man, being attacked by many. That is in itself enough for him to act. On a deeper level, Shen Qiao senses that there is more to their relationship and so he is compelled to ensure that Yan Wushi is saved.

Since Yan Wushi is unconscious, Shen Qiao resorts to feeding him soup with his own mouth to prevent him from starving. This act is medically necessary and also subtly intimate and even vaguely sensual. “Shen Qiao was bent at the waist, gripping the alive-dead man’s chin as he pressed their mouths together… Beneath the blending sunlight she (Banna) could even see their tongues briefly intertwine. To be more precise, Shen Qiao’s tongue was prying apart Yan Wushi’s teeth, then pushing inside as far as it could go, all so that he could successfully pass the soup into Yan Wushi’s mouth.” (p. 58-59). The tenderness is obvious to Banna who is watching them. The irony is that Banna sees the scene for what it is whereas Shen Qiao is in denial.

A massive head injury, however, leads to Yan Wushi’s personality splitting into distinct parts, which allows the ensuing plot to explore his gentler and innocence side. Xie Lang is the name given to the personality who calls Shen Qiao “meiren gege” as a term of endearment and Xie Lang is very straightforward in declaring his affection. There is a touching scene where Xie Lang is choosing a shape for his tangren, which is sugary snack in the shape of animals. However, instead of asking for a sheep or cow, Xie Lang simply says, “I want you” (p. 205). On the surface, it is merely a shape twisted out of melted sugar, but it is clearly also a declaration of love. Whether Shen Qiao actually picks up on it is an open question, because he is embarrassed by it but when Xie Lang disappears after Yan Wushi’s head heals, Shen Qiao mourns the disappearance of his soft personality hidden deep within the cynical man because, “Perhaps deep within every stonehearted person was hidden a trace of gentleness, and even though it was infinitesimally small that gentleness had been allotted to Xie Lang…” (p. 219).

Much of the rest of the volume is concerned with adventures in caves with monsters, the treachery of Chen Gong and another duel which again leaves Shen Qiao seriously injured. This leads to a scene in a temple, where Yan Wushi decides to leave the wounded Shen Qiao in order to lure their enemies away. On the surface this looks like another betrayal, but his goodbye kiss implies otherwise both because of the gesture, but also because She Qiao recovers his strength so quickly afterwards that his enemy is confused and, “even suspected that Yan Wushi must have copied Hehuan Sect’s pair cultivation techniques.” (p. 335).

The last section of the volume focuses on palace intrigue and allows Shen Qiao to demonstrate that he has recovered and that he is willing to protect young children who are caught in the middle of this power struggle. Shen Qiao is a beautifully written character who finds strength in weakness and protects those in need. He is not perfect and accepts that life is a learning process. He is a very human character, precisely because he is not perfect.

The second volume of Meng Xi Shi’s "Thousand Autumns" sees the relationship between Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi develop further. The first volume was full of world-building detail, while this second volume dwells more on character development. There are quite a number of duels but the nature of each combatant is revealed in their fighting style and so the duels are not mere martial artistry, they move the plot on as well.

The central relationship between Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi is very slow burn and the romantic aspects are more implied than shown in this volume. They are clearly very different people: Yan Wushi believes that, “Humans are evil by nature” (p. 64) whereas Shen Qiao believes in the kindness of humans and thinks that, “You mustn’t reject others just because they are different from you” (p. 230). The clash of these philosophies echoes in the real world, too.

It is precisely this difference that creates the push / pull in their relationship but it is also Shen Qiao’s obvious big-hearted nature that creates the shock when he is so spectacularly betrayed in the middle of the book. Yan Wushi believes that, “Life is never fair” (p. 182) but even so this betrayal seems astonishingly cruel.

There is some sugar as well, though, since Yan Wushi revels in teasing Shen Qiao and creating scenes that deliberately give outsiders the wrong impression of their relationship. The kiss scene (p. 108) is multi-layered, because Yan Wushi is teasing Shen Qiao who is incapacitated, which is slightly problematic, but the embrace is not entirely orchestrated. Yan Wushi is both pretending and perhaps not; however, he definitely delights in giving an onlooker to wrong impression.

Ironically, Shen Qiao is able to turn his weakened situation around, which allows him to grow as a person and as a martial artist. So, there is a nuance in the betrayal even though the impact is not lessened by its positive consequences. The last section of the book is dominated by Shen Qiao’s touching relationship with the little boy, Shiwu, and the Bixia sect. His capacity for caring has not been lessened by the unfairness of his own life and he is able to provide the boy with parental love, despite not being related. The episodic nature of these books means that Shen Qiao is forced to leave Shiwu with the Bixia sect, but perhaps this is foreshadowing of his future…