March 2025

Pa Ying’s Book Review

We begin this volume with Shen Qiao encountering Bai Rong while on his way to rescue Yan Wushi from an ambush. She tells him that Yan Wushi isn’t worth the sacrifices Shen Qiao is making, especially after his betrayal in volume two. Shen Qiao justifies his actions by saying his need to save Yan Wushi is for the greater good, insisting that his political influence has world-saving implications. He maintains this insistence with Ben Rong and everyone else who tries to argue with him over his efforts to save and protect Yan Wushi. 😑

In this volume, we continue to see a lot of character growth for both Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi. As we see more of Shen Qiao’s inner thoughts, we also see how much more comfortable he is with taking up space and voicing his thoughts. His comments can cut deep when he’s angry and I love that for him! On the other hand, for Yan Wushi we see a more vulnerable side to him. We don’t have his full background yet but, through his split personalities, we see that there is a gentle and rational side to him. We also see that most of his problems stem from paranoia and chronic cynicism.

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Shen Qiao should be top ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We are now just over halfway through reading Thousand Autumns. And while we haven’t gotten to any substantial physical intimacy between Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao just yet, we have thoughts on it. While Yan Wushi is canonically the top and Shen Qiao the bottom, everything we’ve seen so far really indicates that this arrangement isn’t the one we’d imagine.

What is:

• Shen Qiao has a commanding personality.

• Yan Wushi has a praise kink.

• Yan Wushi has a preference to take pleasure in receiving affection from others and is not the giving kind.

What could have been:

• Shen Qiao is a service top.

• Yan Wushi is a pillow princess.

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The Personalities of Yan Wushi

In this volume, we gained unique insight into the complexity of Yan Wushi's character. Although we didn’t learn more about his past, we observed him express three distinct personalities. Each of these personalities reflects a core truth—they are all Yan Wushi—while omitting certain aspects of his personality and amplifying those he had previously suppressed.

It’s not Danmei… BUT SK8 THE INFINITY IS BACK!!

Sk8 the Infinity's highly anticipated OVA was released this month. Pa Ying and Arlo love this series. And if you love the bickering, aggressively flirtatious rivals that are romantically coded elements of Yanshen, you will definitely like Sk8 the Infinity for the Matchablossom ship alone.

Arlo is very passionate about this series and has created a lot of art for it. Right now, in honor of the release, he's running a sale on everything in his shop, including all MXTX art and the last of his in-stock Renga keychains. The Matchablossom keychains were very popular and sold out, but if you missed out on grabbing them, don't worry! Inspired by the OVA, Arlo is working on some new art for the shop.

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UP NEXT, we’re reading The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish Vol.4

Prince Jing, with the emperor’s blessing and four heirs, seems destined for the crown. However, Li Yu can’t celebrate just yet; Prince Jing’s scheming brother plots in the shadows. As Li Yu investigates, he uncovers a conspiracy rooted in Prince Jing’s childhood, threatening to plunge the imperial palace into chaos. Li Yu must use every trick he knows to protect his new family!

This is the final book in this series!

We’ve updated the release schedule! Check it out here.

We’ve updated the release schedule to reflect our new drop date. Episode releases will now occur on the last Thursday of each month. 

The release schedule includes release dates and all of the books coming up on our reading list. We will keep this list updated. Many of the books on this list are new or upcoming releases; sometimes, the release date gets moved. When that happens, we adjust the list.