Comment on The Shade of Old Trees

  1. What will be fun, is if chilies aren't actually a thing in his time. Because they aren't supposed to be there, historically. That means someone will have the pleasure of introducing it to him.

    I also want to see him introduced to a hardware store, actually.

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    1. Oh, dang, I'd kind of internalized the various anachronistic foods in MDZS/The Untamed, I completely forgot chilis weren't a thing when he's from!

      Ooooh, I wonder how few of those vegetables he ate were anything he fully recognized? Like, all the mustard cultivars we've developed in the last 1500 years, plus the various imports that would have become local fair!

      Carrots used to be blue. I have no idea if they were a food available in his region that long ago. He'd know some musk melons I think? But watermelon is from Africa, and was mostly white and not very sweet at first.

      The amount of food available in the modern era is going to stagger.

      A hardware store, yes, but can you imagine his face in a library? I feel like we'll see that much sooner. Consider the size of Gusu Lan's legendary library in canon, and then consider how big the average modern university library is? He might CRY. He'll definitely get the zoomies like an overstimulated cat.

      And wait, you mean he can press a page into this thing over here and it will produce a near perfect copy that he can keep? Or he can stay and read and take notes by hand if he wants?

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      1. Library nothing. Imagin his face in a Chinese equivalent to Barns and Noble or other large bookstore. I 'd also love to see his reaction to someone playing a Boehm keyed flute, AKA the modern metal monstrosity seen in any orchestra. IIRC, a dizi is your standard 6 holed transverse flute similar to an unkeyed Irish flute. I used to play the flute and still have my metal Boehm that I got 45+ years ago.
        Just my $.02.
        >^.,.^<

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        1. *G* I love this comment thread so much, because let's be real, unleashing Wei Wuxian on the modern world and seeing him sparkle about everything is half the fun of this story!

          That being said: you're going to love one of the later chapters. But I'll just say, there's a type of store he's going to love at least as much - maybe even more than - bookstores...

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          1. Re; stores that WWX would be excited to see... Oh, that is so difficult to consider, because I can't think of a type of shop he would NOT find fascinating?

            Grocery store? Toy store? Hardware store? Music store? Clothing store?

            A good old fashioned flea market/street market?

            He'd be thrilled by any and all so I have no idea what you'd decide on!!! It'll be so much fun to see!

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          2. tag0: Brightspot, my first love.

            Hm.

            Stationery store? Crafts store?

            Also loving this comment thread!

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        2. Oh I'm sure! I'm not a musician myself, but I did have some vocal training way back when, and I think instruments are /interesting/. I wonder what WWX would make of a continuous instrument like bagpipes? Or a hurry gurdy, but he might be less interested in a strung instrument. Really, most modern instruments aught to get a good geeking out from him! :D

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      2. Heh! I'll be honest, I get a little lost myself trying to track what foods would and wouldn't be available in China in the 500s. Rice agriculture, for example, is still solidly associated with the Yangtze. A lot of foods now seen as classic were very late imports.

        "He'll definitely get the zoomies like an overstimulated cat."
        *eyes an upcoming chapter and cackles*

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    2. *EG* Yes, Wei Wuxian gets to meet his first chili oil in a couple chapters...

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