Reading

Entry tags:

Marry First, Love Later (先婚后爱) by Jiuqian Sheng (九千胜)

Just finished this contemporary baihe romance between an outgoing streamer and a sheltered professor. Enjoyable fluff, but a bit thin -- and not just because it's too short. At least two of the main couple have communication issues (the chapter title "It turns out Professor Xie is an idiot" applied to many earlier chapters as well). OTOH, I did enjoy the fantasy of both parties having the approval of the older generation, who set them up on a blind date.

Translation is here, the original here

Look! I remembered to post before December started this year!

Hello, friends! It's about to be December again, and you know what that means: the fact I am posting this actually before December 1 means

karzilla reminded me about the existence of linear time again. Wait, no -- well, yes, but also -- okay, look, let me back up and start again: it's almost December, and that means it's time for our annual December holiday points bonus.

The standard explanation: For the entire month of December, all orders made in the Shop of points and paid time, either for you or as a gift for a friend, will have 10% of your completed cart total sent to you in points when you finish the transaction. For instance, if you buy an order of 12 months of paid time for $35 (350 points), you'll get 35 points when the order is complete, to use on a future purchase.

( The fine print and much more behind this cut! )

Thank you, in short, for being the best possible users any social media site could possibly ever hope for. I'm probably in danger of crossing the Sappiness Line if I haven't already, but you all make everything worth it.

On behalf of Mark, Jen, Robby, and our team of awesome volunteers, and to each and every one of you, whether you've been with us on this wild ride since the beginning or just signed up last week, I'm wishing you all a very happy set of end-of-year holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and hoping for all of you that your 2026 is full of kindness, determination, empathy, and a hell of a lot more luck than we've all had lately. Let's go.

Entry tags:

The Secret of Girls

I've been meaning to post about this for some time, but these days life and most annoyingly work keep getting in the way. Anyway, The Secret of Girls (如果有秘密, pinyin: ruguo you mimi) is a newish baihe live action mini-drama that made it onto GagaOOLala about a month ago, starring He Lei (who plays Ji Qingqing in When We Met). Here's the official synposis:

Xu Jingxi sets out to Dali, Yunnan, to live her final days without regret. Losing her wallet upon arrival, she turns to Wen Shan, a quiet employee at the guesthouse, and works there to repay her debt. As the carefree Jingxi and reserved Wen Shan share daily life under the Dali sky, they gradually open up, finding warmth, healing, and love in each other’s company - a tender story of courage and connection between two women.

A heartfelt and healing Chinese sapphic mini-series, starring He Lei and Sun Cailun as two women who find love and courage in life’s final journey.

The main page for the drama is here. There are 16 episodes in total, of approximately 15 minutes each. The first two episodes are free-to-view.

This drama (and the team behind it) has had a bit of a torrid time. It originally aired in China via the production studio's own WeChat mini-app. Shortly after that, the studio licensed it to Rakuten Japan. That version featured an extended makeout scene that was not present in the version that was available in China (though enterprising Chinese fans soon found it). Shortly after that, the whole drama was taken off WeChat, leading to an absurd scenario in which a Chinese drama produced by a Chinese studio primarily for a Chinese audience was only accessible through a Japanese platform — and all for the crime of daring to include a kissing scene in its overseas version. Luckily, the drama found a home on GagaOOLala a few weeks later, where one hopes it will stay for the foreseeable future.