Chapter 52 and I have what may be classified as a stupid ass question

THESE FUCKASS FLASHBACKS

im gonna be so fr man, I've reread ts so many times and tbh i still have no clue. i suspend my disbelief at that part cuz the rest of it is so well written there are a few reasons i've come up with but none of them actually rly explain it. in one chapter lau brushes it off by saying "oh but even if they do come theres no guarantee we can catch them" which sounds like bs imo. it makes sense why they wouldnt be able to catch the culprit once we figure out who it is (but its spoilers so) but lau doesnt know who it is so it doesnt rly make sense imo. i copy pasted this bit from another comment i left but:

idk if uve noticed all of the cameras in xin's room that the head family uses to monitor him. that means the head family is aware of whoever is coming in to tattoo xin at night and they arent doing anything to stop it for some reason. so either whoever is doing this is either doing it with permission from the head family or the head family cant stop them for some reason (the former seems more likely). so im guessing even if lau just stayed with xin at night, the tattoo culprit wouldnt come because theyre working with the head family and thereby know when lau is there thru the cameras. also frankly if the head family is the one behind this, (i dont wanna get too spoilery) but theres basically no stopping them. these are all just my guesses tho.

the main issue with that theory is that LAU HIMSELF DOESNT KNOW THIS. so he shouldve at least tried out staying first. im gonna be frank... lau's stupid but i never expected he could be this stupid like??? it makes sense why xin would never propose for lau to stay with him because he's smart enough to figure out the head family is somehow tangentially involved in this, but lau seriously man?? he literally mentions it sometimes he gets so close to figuring it out (ie, ch 31 "i dont understand why the head family would let someone break in" BROTHER PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER???)

actually yk what as im typing this out im starting to realize this honestly makes a little bit of sense for the story if my current theories abt how the story is going to go are right im starting to think lau being too stupid to figure this out was the point

about the supernatural part, i find it interesting. the author leaves it unclear on purpose if many of the "supernatural" elements of the story are actually real or not. the tattoo part, yes is an actual person coming into the annex and doing it. but the part about the dragon is not clear, one character even mentions it probably never existed and that it might've just been a lie for the zhou family to gain power. lau's supposed ancestor was a literal wolf... which yeah also probably wasnt true. keep in mind all of the supernatural stuff we know comes from the zhou family's teachings. and they're not exactly trustworthy

the only real supernatural part of the story we know so far is the part about some guardians hearing their heirs calling for them. the rest of the supernatural elements are left unclear which gives the story a fantastical element to it despite taking place in modern times which i rly like.

THE SIDE CHARA FLASHBACKS ARE THE LOW POINT OF THE STORY I PROMISE IT GETS BETTER

Thank you for the in depth response and I'll get to responding to this properly in a bit but as I was reading this up until this point, Lian mentioned herself that she does what she does under the head family's orders so if she truly is the one that's behind it all, it makes no sense for her to do it through her own motives. She might have some resentment given that she's the head of the colateral line and Xin is set to be the head of the Zhou's entirely so that might explain why she took on the task of tattooing Xin's back. I think it's been hinted from the way beginning that the head family is behind this all and knowing this, there is no stopping it like you said. I feel like i am just letting lau's stupidity get into my head lmao. I'm still trying to wrap my head around things but this makes sense to us readers. The head family is behind it all so there is no stopping it. but then again, lau didn't know this for some reason. or maybe he did and he's just been trying to figure out the motive? in the very beginning, it would have made sense for lau to stay with xin. FUCKING HELL, I SHOULD HAVE ANNOTATED AS I READ ALONG.

I think Lian said this when she was explaining the dynamic between the colateral lines and the head family. It was somewhere in chapter 20-32? Can't remember exactly

yeah. chapter 26. It's one of my favorites which is why i stored it into the back of my head. Lau asks Lian if she is in danger since all the collateral lines are in danger of being cleared out. and she said verbatim " Nah, I'm an exception, 'cause I, the heiress of the first collateral line, am THE agent for the head family's authority. basically, i'm the one who implements, on a practical level, the wishes of the head family, which is the highest decision-making authority." this next part is what made me suspicious of her but i didn't think anything of it because I'm a dumbass. "That's why I always adhere to head family's wishes, and act in the interests of the head family and Xin, No matter what."

Here's what I'm thinking and I think it's quite obvious to piece together but maybe I shouldn't make assumptions since i'm only on chap 60. Lian is doing all of this to save herself and wei because the head family will stop at nothing to wipe out the collateral lines. We've already seen what has happened to Yajin and Mali and what happens when you stick up against the head family thanks to alex and chen. Everyone is doing whatever they can to save themselves, from the wen to the mo to the jun. It all leads back to Lian though. She's basically guaranteed survival by taking on the head's orders, the rest can only scramble to her to live. Even then, there is no telling if Lian won't be disposed of by the head family once they get what they want from her. at this point, I shouldn't take her words at face value because she may have said this to fool Lau but she specifically points out that she "acts in interest of the head family and Xin." She's singling Xin out to signify the importance of their relationship but despite that all, he's still in charge of her. She could have just said, I act in interest of the head family, which includes Xin. I may be thinking too much into this but authority that Xin has over Lian makes her resent him. I don't think that she resents him entirely though. It's clear she cares for him which is also another reason she singles him out; to justify that she's doing all this for the greater good of Xin. Regardless, Lian most likely believes that Xin will live. And his absolute survival means Lau's absolute survival. Could also explain why she doesn't hide her resentment for Lau specifically. Again, I may be thinking into this way too much and pulling at straws but idk. Hopefully, what I said has some validity otherwise, the further I read, the more embarrassed I will be if I'm wrong.

nah ur smarter than me cuz i didnt even pick up on that the first time i read it i felt so smart for predicting she was the one behind the tattoo back in the day. since uve finished reading it im p sure yk which parts of ur theory are right so far. so i somewhat agree. idk if im just snorting copium and being a lian defender but i honestly think shes doing this for the betterment of xin and all of the collateral lines. i feel less resentment towards xin from her and moreso just manipulation. i genuinely think shes trying to help but in the most convoluted way possible. its like half a year since i read this so some details might be off but my reasons for this are:

- she genuinely seems to care for xin like u mentioned. "this is all for u xin" seems pretty telling.

- the tattoo seems to be depicting the head family burning down due to their constant execution of the collateral lines. so im hoping that she's doing this tattoo as a way to stand up against the head family. but again im not rly sure if its the head family who ordered this tattoo to be completed or she did this of her own volition (probably the former).

- both lian and xin want lau to find out who is doing this, despite knowing the entire time. they give him the right amount of hints but they do it very strangely. they drop feed him hints like they're stalling for time maybe? (maybe so the tattoo is still able to get completed by the time the new years holy ritual begins?) or something like that. lau seems to be playing some part in their master plan to do idk... something? im not to sure abt this tbh

- like u mentioned, theres that whole flashback of her as a child in ch 26. the mood of that panel seems idk... sad? idk if im reading too much into this but with her gazing at the lotus (which is supposed to be the symbol of the 1st collateral line) seems rly melancholy, like she was molded her whole life into being just a lotus (theres probably gonna be some metaphor about the 1st collateral line heir having to be a lotus or smth like that im calling it rn).

- about the thing u said where she's singling out xin as opposed to just the head family. i think all of the ppl who know the inner workings of the zhou family wouldnt call xin the same as the head family because of the whole him just being a trapped figurehead thing. i think its more like she obeys the elders for the betterment of xin. but maybe she also obeys xin? i dont rly know my brains fried rn. u mentioned that talking about all of this is making u feel as stupid as lau and im the same lol

- about lian having a sort of immunity. like u said idk if she was fully being honest so i dont think this is entirely accurate. it is well established over the course of the series that the head family has tried to kill off every single collateral line. yajin & mali got "killed off" in that fire. the 3rd collateral line's heir died in a car accident arranged by the head family. theres also that whole coma thing with alex. but another thing that stands out to me is that chen mentions his parents died in a plane crash (or smth like that i might be wrong). there wasnt any mention of foul play but tbh in the context of the head family's bs, maybe they arranged that too? i think its basically just a matter of time before they come after her next. the zhou family has their own mercenaries and private police force basically so who knows. so it could be for her own survival as well.

- wei seems to actually care about xin and lau. notice his last words in ch 77 "xin, hang in there for just a bit. its almost over" he comforts xin and in other chs it seems like he has a certain level of camaraderie or friendship with lau. idk if the authors is setting up him potentially being at odds with lian's methods or them being completely in tandem. but i think it speaks to a certain level of trust between wei and the mcs. so i think wei will end up being a good guy. and if he becomes a good guy who knows what lian will become.

- about lian believing xin will live, i wouldnt take this as a sign of xin actually living because im starting to think maybe she doesnt realize that the tattoo ink is killing xin? only suna knows the ingredients to the dye, along with chen. but chen lwk seems like he wants to kill xin at the same time tho im not sure why xin passing out and having an extremely high fever wouldnt raise some alarm bells in her mind, so who knows.

uhhh so ik this whole thing was just lwk me contradicting myself but im sure at least part of what i said will be accurate maybe? ill make a full post with all of my theories sometime when i reread it (eventually #－.－) but basically lian doesnt seem like the ultimate bad guy to me and she's probably working with xin on a certain level. even if she is legitimately evil i think the head family is the ultimate villain of the series. i also made a full post with the timeline so far but again i wrote most of it from memory so feel free to tell me if some of my details seem off. https://www.mangago.zone/home/mangatopic/18746111/ anyways im super excited for s3, and especially to know lian's intentions.