Bian Jin thinks about how she doesn't want Shen Ni to enter her dreams, because she doesn't want Shen Ni to see 'that scene'. Even though it's been many years since she had that dream, she's still very worried about that possibility. Then we get some mysterious references to it being an absurd greedy wish and how it has to be locked away, and the reason is apparently 'something that glows with enough light to imprison her soul', and that being 'the tomorrow she's heading towards'
What does this mean WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

and Zeng Qingluo gives her a progress report
Yay, she's back!

Cui Ning, however, takes this as a sign that Shen Ni is emotionally unattached and flirtatiously offers her a box of home-made cakes
Shen Ni is just attracting suitors EVERYWHERE.

So she runs off in the rain to buy some coloured silks, puts on a tutorial video, and starts making one
Bian Jin, terror of the north, weapon of the empire, making a doll.

Last paragraph: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Shen Ni also presents Bian Jin with a rensheng that she made. This one is red and pink, with a cute face that is definitely not crooked
Awwww. Also, extremely on brand of Shen Ni to have done this well.

she couldn't have imagined that the tongue behind those abstemious lips could be so warm and soft
Well. We're all thinking the same thing, aren't we.

Bian Jin is astonished as, understandably, no one has ever compared her to a kitten before
As Ning Yuan said in her author's note for this chapter:
Bian Jin: I am a terrifying all-consuming beast who is an emotionless void
Shen Ni: She's a cute little kitten

Li Shan mentally describes her as a fox in sheep's clothing
Excellent description of Shen Ni.

One of the officials asks her in hushed tones whether they need to check to make sure the machine is functional, and Shen Ni, ever-helpful, repeats this to Li Shan in tones of great concern. Li Shan hisses at them all to fuck off
HEEEEEEEEEE. An excellent demonstration of Shen Ni's fox-in-sheep's-clothing nature.

perhaps the person Bian Jin was always cruellest to was herself
BIAN JIN JIEJIE

When the coach stops in front of Shen Ni's house, Bian Jin wakes up to realise that she's been slumbering on Shen Ni's shoulder for quite a while, and hastily sits up. Shen Ni tells her that it's fine, and Bian Jin can pay her back by not making her sleep on the floor. Bian Jin replies, 'When did I ever do that?' They both flash back to their younger days, when Shen Ni used to insist on going with Bian Jin up some quite far off mountain peaks to look for medicinal herbs. Once Shen Ni got tired, Bian Jin would carry her on her back, and Shen Ni would fall asleep. Now though, Shen Ni has slept on the floor of their room every night since they got married. When the realisation of this hits them both, things get kind of awkward, and they both fall silent.

Once they go inside, Shen Ni insists on being the one to ask Cheng Zhe, Bian Jin's boss at the archive, if Bian Jin can have the next day off (Bian Jin had originally been intending to do this herself). Bian Jin gazes at Shen Ni, reflecting on the woman she's become, as Shen Ni speaks to Cheng Zhe over... her digital watch? Some other similar device? Cheng Zhe is, of course, only too happy to grant Shen Ni's request. Shen Ni hangs up (or does whatever the equivalent is) and tells Bian Jin that someone has arrogant as Li Shan probably won't pester Bian Jin again for the next little while after her lack of success today. Shen Ni then leaves for Firewall Construction HQ, and Bian Jin heads back to their room to rest. However, she's tormented by the images of her fallen comrade.

When Shen Ni returns, she grabs a few bites of dinner and heads straight into her workshop to continue crafting Bian Jin's new mechanical spine. There are two things which make this a particularly challenging task: first, the damage to Bian Jin's jade core, which is vital for allowing her to control the mechanical spine; and second, the fact that Bian Jin needs a super high-quality jade core to match her natural, and very very great, martial abilities. The jade core she currently has was crafted by their late shifu. With it, she was able to single-handedly kill a yinglong-level monster (mystical beast?). We're told that yinglong-level monsters are just a step below the legendary and terrifying, taixu-level monsters, not one of which has ever been seen in real life. Shen Ni intends to craft Bian Jin a new jade core as well. The jade core fashioned by their shizun might be powerful, but it's still not a match for Bian Jin, she thinks. Only a jade core crafted by her — Shen Ni's — own hands would be worthy of Bian Jin.

When Shen Ni finally stops for the night, she's exhausted. She walks out of her workshop into a freezing gust of wind, and decides to take a hot bath before going to bed. As she relaxes in the bath, she recalls an equally cold winter's day, when she was ten. She'd pestered Bian Jin to make her a snowman, not knowing that Bian Jin had suffered a serious leg wound the day before when she'd rescued some outer disciples from one of their enemies. Bian Jin had made her a big, beautiful snowman without even mentioning it. Shen Ni reflects that, had Bian Jin not rescued her on the battlefield, she'd probably have a prosthetic eye by now, if not worse.

Shen Ni also remembers that, when she woke up after the whipping Bian Jin had given her, she saw that Bian Jin had left most of a jar of very rare and precious healing ointment next to her. She reflects that Bian Jin had already shown her so much love even just as her shijie; she'd been greedy to want more.

Shen Ni then discovers that a packet of pear blossom-scented soap has been opened — it's hers, but she'd stopped using it as Bian Jin was sensitive to the smell. She then sees that Bian Jin's own unscented soap hasn't been used at all. Which means... that Bian Jin had been using her soap. Shen Ni takes out the piece of soap that Bian Jin had used and runs it slowly over her own skin, and thinks about how soft Bian Jin had felt in her arms last night, and how alone she is now.

When Shen Ni steps into the bedroom, she sees that her pillow and blankets are no longer on the floor, but are on the bed. Even the fat little goldfinch plushie she hugs to sleep has been placed neatly beside the pillow. Bian Jin is lying on one half of the bed, her back turned. There's a hint of pear blossom scent in the room. Shen Ni, taking the hint, lies down next to Bian Jin, and is a bit at a loss as to what to do with the plushie. In the end, she decides to place it between the two of them, like a shield or screen, to make Bian Jin feel better.

Shen Ni has trouble getting to sleep, due to Bian Jin's presence. When she rolls over, Bian Jin suddenly asks whether she's having trouble sleeping. Shen Ni says yes, a bit, as she got used to sleeping alone when she was on the battlefield. Bian Jin, after a moment's silence, asks her, 'What about your lovers?' Shen Ni had almost forgotten about that lie — but she's able to cover it up easily enough by explaining that those were just flings.

Shen Ni then falls asleep — so soundly that she doesn't wake up even when Bian Jin gets out of bed. Bian Jin heads soundlessly outside, where sees a snow-white mechanical raven flying straight towards Shen Ni. She captures the bird effortlessly — and a faint, slightly staticky voice comes out of it. This, the text tells us, is the voice of Qin Wushang.

The voice says, 'I dreamed of you again, I dreamed you'd come back to my side, that we spent our nights in carnal pleasure, that you were willing to be food for the "demonseed"... Why do you need to stay in Chang'an for another year? If your darling little shimei knew your true face, would she still love you? She would only find you repulsive ... I'll come and look for you in Chang'an ... we will meet again...'

Bian Jin listens to the message quietly, then crushes the raven in her hand. She buries it under the snow by the flowerbeds. When she goes back into the bedroom, she gazes quietly at Shen Ni, and thinks: A-Yao, you're all grown up now, but you're still so foolish. She lifts her hand, about to stroke Shen Ni's face, when she sees that there's a cut across her palm, left by the mechanical raven's carcass. She hastily draws her hand back, thinking: These hands are too unclean; I can't touch her.

Bian Jin gazes at Shen Ni for a while. Outside, the snow falls more and more heavily, covering up all footprints, and silently burying all secrets, making it seem as if nothing had happened.


Tech watch: Creepy mechanical raven
Named men: 5.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0

WHAT. SCENE.
WE NEED TO KNOW

I stared that this part for like 5 minutes with just ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!! scrolling across my brain the way I assume 2000s-hacker-style text scrolls across Shen Ni's screens. WHAT IS GOING ON?????
I KNOWWWWWWWWWWW. More fuel for the murderboard!!!

Did she look like that when she came to Shen Ni’s rescue on the battlefield? Inquiring minds want to know.
Chapter 1 does say she descended from the heavens, so I'm going to take that very literally.

Shen Ni wakes up to find Bian Jin sleeping next to her. She watches as Bian Jin slowly wakes up, blinking her eyes like a newborn fawn. Bian Jin starts to sit up, then realises she's only wearing her underclothes and pulls the blankets up uneasily around herself. Shen Ni very considerately gets out of bed and hands Bian Jin her outer robe. Shen Ni thinks about how, back when she was younger, Bian Jin never used to be self-conscious about being only in her underclothes when she was coaxing Shen Ni to sleep. Bian Jin thinks about how she can no longer be as relaxed around Shen Ni given that their relationship has changed, and also she can no longer see Shen Ni as a child now that Shen Ni is all grown up (and hot).

As Bian Jin is washing her face, she notices the cut across her palm. She frowns at it briefly, her thoughts wandering, then goes and asks Auntie Wan for the first aid kit. Shen Ni, meanwhile, is checking on updates from the court as well as household logs. The logs indicate that there was an unidentified intruder last night. Shen Ni inspects the courtyard, but finds nothing. As they sit together at the breakfast table, Shen Ni asks about the cut on Bian Jin's palm. Bian Jin replies that she cut herself accidentally, and it's nothing major. Shen Ni doesn't ask any follow-up questions.

Shen Ni's digital watch keeps beeping with messages from her various group chats. Her colleagues and acquaintances are excited about the Shangyuan festivities that are taking place the following night. That was the merriest festival in TangPro before the invasion of the Black Box virus, and now that the virus has been temporarily destroyed, the people are keen to celebrate. This was also why Li Ruoyuan commissioned the Great Wheel of Fire.

Bian Jin mentions that she received the governmental invitation to attend the Shangyuan festivities. Shen Ni asks if she wants to go.. Bian Jin thinks to herself that Shen Ni probably wants them to go together in order to keep up appearances, as they did when the rensheng incident. She says yes, much to Shen Ni's surprise. Bian Jin even asks if Shen Ni is planning on doing the lantern riddles, and adds that she'll start preparing if that's what Shen Ni wants to do. Shen Ni reflects on how Bian Jin is the kind of person who wants to do everything she sets her hand to properly, even a leisure activity like guessing lantern riddles.

Shen Ni had been originally planning to spend the Shangyuan festival working the late shift at Firewall Construction HQ, so that her subordinates could all go out and participate in the festivities, but now she decides to see if there's anyone who can swap shifts with her. If not, she plans on writing a monitoring subroutine. Shen Ni then tells Bian Jin that she needs to go to Firewall Construction HQ early the next day, and that Bian Jin should wait at home for her. After she returns home, they'll go to the festival together. Bian Jin says yes, and Shen Ni finds herself thinking what a good girl Bian Jin is, even though she knows it's not the case.

The next day, Shen Ni leaves for Firewall Construction HQ, and Bian Jin remains at home, waiting — something she's not good at. A full four hours before Shen Ni is due back, Bian Jin opens their closet to choose an outfit for tonight. Most of the clothes are from the set that Shen Ni gave her on the occasion of their wedding. They're all brightly-coloured, and the height of fashion. Bian Jin remembers telling Auntie Wan that these clothes don't suit her, and Auntie Wan replying that Shen Ni thought they suited Bian Jin very well. Bian Jin hesitates by the closet, her eyes lingering on the clothes Shen Ni gave her.

Shen Ni reaches Firewall Construction HQ to find Zeng Qingluo sorting through a large stack of accounts and invoices left by the previous administrator, which are a mess. As she stands up, she suddenly loses control of her left leg, a prosthetic, and Shen Ni has to catch her. Shen Ni scans the leg, and discovers that it's an A-tier prosthetic, which exceeds the capacity of Zeng Qingluo's B-tier jade core. Zeng Qingluo is risking overload, which in turn could lead to madness.

We're given a bit more lore about how the people of this world, greedy for power, started using more and more powerful prosthetics. This led to madness, death, and war. Legend has it that the Black Box virus was birthed in the filthiest corners of these battlefields. The jade cores gave humans a way to achieve greater control over their prosthetics, but there are still limitations. Using a lower-tier jade core with a higher-tier prosthetic can still lead to overload and madness, and the tier of jade core which each individual is able to use depends on their own natural-born abilities.

Zeng Qingluo tells Shen Ni she's aware of the risks, but she wants to be more powerful in case the Black Box virus returns. We learn that Zeng Qingluo's original left leg was cut off by her own mother, who was infected by the Black Box virus. Under the influence of the virus, she maimed her own daughter, then committed suicide. That's why Zeng Qingluo has devoted her whole life to Shen Ni's crusade against the virus.

Shen Ni promises to craft a new leg for Zeng Qingluo, who is deeply appreciative. She promises that she'll visit Bian Jin and Shen Ni at their home as soon as possible. Just then, both their watches buzz with a message from Diwu Que, an old comrade who has just arrived in Chang'an on a mission. We're told that Zeng Qingluo's right hand was chopped off during a battle, and it was Diwu Que who retrieved four of her fingers from where they'd been buried and Shen Ni who sewed them back on.

Shen Ni mentions that she has plans that night. Zeng Qingluo immediately guesses what's going on, and tells Shen Ni that she's happy to take Shen Ni's shift for the night — after she has dinner with Diwu Que — so that Shen Ni can spend time with Bian Jin.

Bian Jin, meanwhile, is leaving the antiques market, holding a snow globe with one gloved hand. It's a present for Shen Ni, to thank her for having looked after Bian Jin all this while. Bian Jin remembers how she'd given Shen Ni a snow globe when Shen Ni was little, and how Shen Ni used to stare at it, lost in thought — perhaps of her parents, who had disappeared. Snow globes are no longer widely available, which is why Bian Jin had to hunt for one at the antiques market.

Bian Jin decides that, instead of waiting for Shen Ni at home, she should just head to Firewall Construction HQ to meet Shen Ni there, and they can go to see the Great Wheel of Fire from there. She arrives to see Shen Ni by the entrance, back turned, wearing the cloak that matches Bian Jin's. Bian Jin is about to call out to her when she sees another young woman rush up to Shen Ni and embrace her happily.

Bian Jin reflects that it was a good thing she hadn't called out, after all. She decides that Shen Ni had never planned to attend the Shangyuan festivities with her, and had only said yes in order not to make things difficult. Bian Jin feels guilty at the thought that she'd asked Shen Ni to keep her — her wife in name only — company during Shangyuan, while neglecting her actual girlfriend. She wonders whether or not to go up to the couple and tell Shen Ni to spend the evening with her girlfriend instead, then decides it would make things worse. She tucks the snow globe away and leaves. She thinks that now Shen Ni is grown up, and a battle-hardened veteran as well, she probably would have no interest in a boring little toy like a snow globe.


Tech watch: Snow globe
Named men: 5.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0

As Bian Jin leaves, Shen Ni disentangles herself from Diwu Que's embrace, and reminds the latter that she's now a married woman. Diwu Que, reminded, instantly steps backwards. We're told that while the two of them were comrades, Diwu Que wasn't one of Shen Ni's subordinates. Instead, she's the deputy military governor of Luzhou, one of the northern provinces. Not only did she send provincial troops to support Shen Ni, she also fought alongside Shen Ni on the battlefield herself.

Diwu Que, for her part, is fairly sure that Shen Ni had lost her heart to someone a long time ago, because while she was fighting in the north, she was also searching hard for a person, though Diwu Que doesn't know who. She remembers the time Shen Ni got word that said person might be buried somewhere in a mass grave. She rushed there through the night, burning out her hovercraft in the process, and searched through the whole mountain of corpses, most of them infected with the Black Box virus.

Diwu Que remembers how, as the sun rose, Shen Ni looked up at her with eyes so red they were nearly bleeding. 'Did you find them?' she'd asked. 'No,' Shen Ni had responded, and looked up at the sky. Then she'd added, 'As long as I haven't seen their corpse, there's still hope.' Knowing how madly devoted Shen Ni is to that unknown person, Diwu Que thinks what a shame it is that she's had to accept a marriage decreed by the emperor.

Shen Ni had heard the sound of familiar footsteps before Diwu Que pounced on her. Now she turns around, but sees no one. The snow has covered up any footprints that might have been there. She banters with Diwu Que for a while, then Zeng Qingluo shows up and greets Diwu Que happily. Diwu Que embraces her, talking about how huggable Zeng Qingluo is and complaining about how Shen Ni, the wicked fox, won't let herself be hugged.

Diwu Que proclaims that she's treating them both to dinner. Shen Ni replies that she has other plans. Diwu Que asks curiously if she's spending the evening with her wife. Just then, Shen Ni's watch buzzes with message from Bian Jin. Shen Ni opens it, a faint smile on her face, only to see Bian Jin telling her that she won't be coming after all. Shen Ni's face resumes its normal cool expression, and she replies, 'All right.' Since Bian Jin always keeps her promises, she assumes that something urgent has come up. Then she tells Zeng Qingluo and Diwu Que that she'll join them for dinner after all. Zeng Qingluo is somewhat confused — didn't Shen Ni say she was spending the evening with Bian Jin?

Bian Jin wanders through the streets of Chang'an, thinking about the unexpected turn her life has taken. She never planned to marry, much less to become Shen Ni's wife. She thinks about how that sort of warm domestic life doesn't belong to her, and about how she'll be leaving once the time comes. She wanders down a deserted little alley.

Two men who have been following her block her path. They used to be soldiers under her command, whom she punished severely for desertion. They're never allowed to join any part of the army again. The two men attack Bian Jin, keen to take their revenge. Bian Jin avoids their initial attack deftly, but her mechanical spine, unable to bear the force of the movement, starts aching, and she drops the snow globe. It shatters into pieces against some steps.

The two men continue to attack. Bian Jin closes her eyes, silently reflecting on how she's going to have to completely destroy Shen Ni's hard work, and then she essentially rains down hell on them. They're left badly wounded and unconscious. Even broken, we're told, the empire's blade is still more than capable of handling a couple of mere insects.

As the sounds of celebration grow louder, Bian Jin, her whole body wracked with pain, looks quietly down at the shattered snow globe, and looks away again.


Tech watch: Electrified staff (wielded by one of the men)
Named men: 5.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0

Diwu Que leaves soon after she, Shen Ni and Zeng Qingluo finish their meal, as she has to carry on with her mission. She arranges with Shen Ni to visit her (and Bian Jin) at home soon.

Shen Ni and Zeng Qingluo ride through the city. Zeng Qingluo looks at the silent Shen Ni, and wonders if she’s upset because Bian Jin broke their date. To cheer her up, Zeng Qingluo suggests that they visit a florist which has just brought in a shipment of rare plants, reminding her that Bian Jin likes flowers.

One part of the florist’s shop has been curtained off in white fabric — the family who runs the shop is holding a wake. A half-open casket sits in the main hall. The deceased is Liu Ji, the family patriarch. His widow (Madam Liu née Xu) and children are receiving mourners. One of the mourners, a man on crutches, turns out to be a former subordinate of Shen Ni’s, for whom she’s crafted a new prosthetic leg.

Shen Ni, entering the shop, sees that on display are several ice-blue tanhua — very rare flowers that bloom only at night. She calls out to the shopkeeper. Madam Liu out her eldest son to deal with her. Shen Ni offers to buy the flowers, and before the young man can respond, they hear Liu Ji’s wife call out ‘no’.

It turns out that Liu Ji’s corpse has sat up in its coffin.

Liu Ji’s corpse climbs out of the coffin, and the assembled mourners scatter in a panic. The corpse lurches towards Madam Liu and is about to pounce on her when Shen Ni appears and stuffs it back bodily into the coffin and slams the lid. Zeng Qingluo, white-faced, mutters, ‘It’s impossible.’

The coffin breaks open, and Liu Ji’s corpse re-emerges. It snatches up one of the pieces of wood from the coffin and swings it at Madam Liu. Shen Ni smashes the plank back into the corpse’s face.

Zeng Qingluo draws her weapon from (presumably a sheath) behind her. It crackles with purple electricity, and in the time it takes her to bring it fully forward, it transforms into a broadsword. She chops mercilessly at the corpse with it, but it only draws sparks and leaves the corpse mostly unharmed.. Madam Liu shouts out that her husband’s body is mostly prosthetics. Her eldest son drags her behind a wall to take cover.

Shen Ni’s old subordinate mutters, ‘Is he mutating? Could it be the Black—’ He’s silenced by a cold glare from Shen Ni.

Shen Ni takes off her cloak, and is about to hang it from a nearby chair, when she remembers that, if she gets blood or mechanical fluid splashed on it, Bian Jin would probably bar her from the bed, and even their bedroom itself. She sighs and hangs it from her left arm instead. Then a staff appears in her hand, seemingly out of nowhere; she moves her hand, and it doubles in length. She tells Madam Liu’s son to get her out of the room, because Madam Liu is not going to want to see what happens next, and he complies.

Shen Ni basically lops off the corpse’s head with her weapon, and easily evades the oil that gushes out from its neck. However, she hadn’t anticipated that the Zeng Qingluo’s earlier blow had also left a wound on the corpse’s back. Under the force of her own blow, the wound splits open and spurts out black blood and oil, covering the hands and the front of her robes.

Shen Ni then fishes out Liu Ji’s jade core from within his ruined corpse. It’s gone from its normal white to pure black. The jade core grows feelers, and creeps up Shen Ni’s gloved hand.

Zeng Qingluo, her voice trembling, proclaims that Liu Ji has definitely been infected by the Black Box virus. She wonders how it could have recovered from the near-fatal blow they struck it so quickly. Shen Ni scans the jade core with the scanner built into her palm, and observes that this iteration of the virus seems somewhat different from the one they encountered before.

Shen Ni puts the infected jade core into the ‘goldfish pouch’ at her waist. It’s a ceremonial accessory, meant to hold her official seal. Shen Ni added a layer of electronic insulation to it some time ago, so that it can conceal the infected jade core from detection.

She instructs Zeng Qingluo to take the jade core beyond the city walls, dig a hole ten chi deep, bury it, and seal the hole up with mercury. Zeng Qingluo assents, and also assents to Shen Ni’s command not to tell anyone what happened.

By the time Madam Liu and her son re-enter, Liu Ji’s corpse has been placed back within its coffin. Shen Ni smiles at them as if nothing had happened, and asks if they can delay Liu Ji’s burial so that investigations can be carried out. Madam Liu says yes. Shen Ni then asks to buy the ice-blue tanhua, and Madam Liu’s son brings them to her.

Shen Ni is about to take the flowers when she notices her blood- and oil-stained hands. She asks for a basin of water, and washes her hands multiple times, and sterilises them as well, before she accepts the flowers. She keeps them in their crystal case, so that no trace of blood will get on them.

When Shen Ni gets home, Bian Jin still hasn’t returned. Auntie Wan is shocked to see her covered in blood. She sends Shen Ni off to take a bath. After the bath, Shen Ni sniffs herself, and worried that she might still smell of blood, lights some incense and sits by the incense burner letting the scent wash over her. She hopes her shijie will find this acceptable.

She wonders where Bian Jin is and what she went off to do. She heads towards the entrance to the house, texting Bian Jin as she goes.

Bian Jin, meanwhile, is literally dragging herself home; she’s at the very edge of what her body can endure, given the state of her mechanical spine. Luckily, one of their neighbours, the Duchess of Chengqing, drives by in her coach and spots Bian Jin. The Duchess has always been grateful to Bian Jin, who saved her from drowning (and social humiliation) when she was much younger.

Seeing Bian Jin in her current state, and recalling the rumours about Shen Ni’s animosity towards her, the Duchess of Chengqing delicately asks how things are going between them. Bian Jin, recalling the scene of Shen Ni with her ‘girlfriend’, replies, ‘It’s quite awkward being married to an old acquaintance you don’t really know.’ Shen Ni, arriving at the front entrance of the house, hears this. That familiar heartlessness, she thinks.

Shen Ni’s eyes sweep over Bian Jin, and over the hand which the Duchess of Chengqing has wrapped around Bian Jin’s. She declares that it’s late and that she and Bian Jin should retire to their room. The Duchess takes the hint and swiftly departs. Bian Jin, not looking at Shen Ni, walks past her, step after slow, laborious step. Finally, she can no longer move, and stands there gripping one of the lamp-posts in the courtyard, allowing the snow to cover her.

Shen Ni’s normally calm eyes light up with flames as she scrutinises Bian Jin’s back. She disappeared again, and got herself hurt again, Shen Ni thinks. She’s so badly wounded that she can’t even walk, yet she still hasn’t asked me for help.

Bian Jin is about to take another step forward when Shen Ni puts an arm around her. She’s about to protest when Shen Ni sweeps her up into a bridal carry. The sudden movement makes her lose consciousness.

Shen Ni races through the snow with Bian Jin in her arms. When Bian Jin wakes up again, she realises she’s pressed against Shen Ni’s chest. Shen Ni doesn’t look down at her or speak to her.

Being completely in another person’s grasp frustrates Bian Jin, and also gives her other Feelings that she can’t quite explain. Her voice unsteady, she tells Shen Ni to put her down.

Shen Ni says darkly that she’s afraid she can’t comply. She adds that she knows she shouldn’t touch Bian Jin, but Bian Jin also shouldn’t have disobeyed her advice and put all that strain on her spine. She’s put so much effort into repairing Bian Jin, she goes on, and that now Bian Jin has damaged her body so seriously, there’s no way she can let Bian Jin have her way.

Bian Jin bears with the pain, clutching so hard at the front of Shen Ni’s robes that they’re twisted into a knot.


Tech watch: Shen Ni and Zeng Qingluo’s weapons
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0

Shen Ni kicks open the door of her workshop and places Bian Jin on her workbench, lowering the intensity of the lamp to make it less glaring as she does so. Bian Jin reflects that she hasn’t been held by anyone for a long time. The last person was Shen Ni, when she’d been a child. And now she’s being held by Shen Ni still, but everything is different.

Given the state of her spine, Bian Jin can’t sit up straight, and wobbles unsteadily. Shen Ni puts an arm around Bian Jin and tells Bian Jin to lean on her. With her free hand, Shen Ni lays her cloak over the workbench, to make it warmer for Bian Jin. Bian Jin continues to refrain from looking at Shen Ni as Shen Ni lays her on the workbench on her back.

Shen Ni goes to mix an anaesthetic, so that she can roll Bian Jin over painlessly. But even as she’s doing so, Bian Jin attempts to roll over herself. Shen Ni sees this, and goes to give her a hand. With Shen Ni’s help, Bian Jin is able to roll herself over, but it exhausts most of her strength. She’s sweating, trembling, and breathing heavily.

Shen Ni knows that, even with Bian Jin’s extraordinary resilience, she’s at the limit of her strength. Placing a hand on Bian Jin’s pelvis, she scans Bian Jin with her built-in palm scanner, and confirms that Bian Jin’s jade core is 96% damaged and can no longer be used. Bian Jin’s spine also needs to be replaced, even though Shen Ni hasn’t fully tested the replacement spine out yet.

There’s also the issue of the jade core. If the jade core is fully destroyed while it’s in Bian Jin’s body, she’s likely to die. Shen Ni had been crafting a new jade core for Bian Jin, but it’s not fully completed yet. She decides, however, that she’s just going to have to risk installing the new jade core. Bian Jin can then use both the new jade core and the new spine while she continues to monitor them and make adjustments.

Shen Ni then realises that’s she still got an arm wrapped around Bian Jin’s waist, and thinks about how slim it is, and how thin Bian Jin has become. Bian Jin too, realises that she’s fully within Shen Ni’s grasp and under Shen Ni’s control. This makes her feel weak. Her voice trembling with pain, she asks if Shen Ni can allow her to take control of the mechanical arm used for repairs.

Shen Ni asks if she’s planning to repair herself. Bian Jin replies unsteadily that she’s repaired her own broken leg before. Shen Ni laughs lightly then, and says quite directly that, given Bian Jin’s mediocre mechanical skills, she’s not going to be able to treat her own strong and talented body the way it deserves. She adds, ‘The only person who can repair you, is me.’

Bian Jin thinks to herself that Shen Ni has finally ripped off the mask of mild benevolence she’s been wearing all this while. She glances over her shoulder at Shen Ni, a glance that seems almost submissive, seductive. But Shen Ni knows that’s impossible — that it is, in fact, a glance from a woman who’s burning from the indignity she is being subjected to.

Shen Ni cleans her hands using a supersonic vibration device, then sprays anti-bacterial spray everywhere. She turns to see that Bian Jin has placed a hand palm-down on the workbench by her waist, and seems to be trying to prop herself up. Opposite Bian Jin is a floor-length mirror. In its reflection, they can both see that she’s covered in sweat, her lips are unnaturally red, and on her face is an unaccustomed expression of weakness. She seems so fragile that anyone could shatter her easily.

Shen Ni’s heart aches uncontrollably as she wonders how Bian Jin could have sunk to such levels. She reflects that, perhaps Bian Jin could bear with it more easily if someone other than Shen Ni were carrying out the repairs — but who else would devote her all to repairing Bian Jin, or have the ability to perform to do it in the first place?

Shen Ni grabs Bian Jin’s wrist, and says with a sort of studied harshness, ‘Stop worrying, shijie. Right now, I’m a doctor, and you’re my patient. To me, you’re just a broken machine, and I could never harbour designs on a broken machine. If you insist on leaving this workbench, you’ll be dead before you can get to the door.’

Bian Jin pauses in the face of Shen Ni’s words. Then Shen Ni cuffs each of Bian Jin’s limbs to the workbench with the leather cuffs that have been fixed to its surface. Bian Jin protests, calling out her full name: ‘Shen Ni!’ But Shen Ni merely tells her that this is necessary to prevent re-injury.

The tips of Bian Jin’s ears are already crimson as Shen Ni injects her with anaesthetic (via the port in her pelvis). Suddenly, she recalls the shattered snow globe, and how there might not be another one available for her to buy. She asks Shen Ni, ‘Do you do this to all your women?’ and falls into unconsciousness.

Shen Ni turns that last sentence over in her mind. Bian Jin had referred to their relationship as one between two ‘women’, not one between shijie and shimei, or between friends who’d grown up together. This is something that’s never happened before, and it doesn’t seem like Bian Jin.

Shen Ni remembers the familiar-sounding footsteps she heard outside the entrance of Firewall Construction HQ while Diwu Que was hugging her, and wonders. She suddenly wants to ruffle Bian Jin’s hair, but feels that she doesn’t have the right. The ticking of the countdown to the effects of the anaesthetic wearing off reminds her that she needs to get to work.

She sterlises a pair of scissors and cuts Bian Jin’s robes open from the back (rather than rolling her over again to get to the ties at the front). Then she realises that Bian Jin is wearing one of the outfits Shen Ni gifted her for their wedding, which Bian Jin had previously told Auntie Wan was too bright for her. And yet Bian Jin had put it on, to go out with Shen Ni for the Shangyuan festivities. Bearing that in mind, Shen Ni wonders what Bian Jin felt when she saw her ‘wife’ being embraced by a strange woman. She also wonders how Bian Jin got so seriously injured.

Shen Ni carefully slices Bian Jin’s skin open, and covers up the rest of her with a surgical blanket, leaving only the small part of her body that requires attention exposed. Shen Ni works intensively, battling against the clock. Finally, she manages to remove Bian Jin’s jade core, and holds it in her hand. She remembers how excited Bian Jin had been the night before their shizun installed it in her body.

Then Shen Ni chucks the product of their shizun’s life’s work carelessly into a nearby bin, and draws out the jade core that she crafted for Bian Jin. She isn’t going to call it a ‘jade core’; it’s ‘Ni’s heart’, created exclusively for one person only. Shen Ni was only six years old when she was seized with the inspiration for it, and it’s taken her so many years to acquire the skill and financial means to actually craft it.

Shen Ni places ‘Ni’s heart’ into Bian Jin’s body and connects the new spine to it. Then she activates it. Bian Jin’s slumbering body trembles with the force of the new energy running through it, but the leather cuffs hold her securely to the workbench. Once the indicators show that the new jade core is fully activated, and that Bian Jin’s vital signs are returning gradually to normal, Shen Ni finally relaxes.

Shen Ni raises her weary head, her reddened eyes reflecting the newly-risen sun. She checks the date, and sees that three full days have passed since the Shangyuan festival. They must have taken down the Great Wheel of Fire by now, she thinks.


Tech watch: Too much stuff to enumerate
Named men: 6.5
Reverse Bechdel passes: 0