Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu

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Pairing
Pairing: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
Alternative name(s): WenZhou, 温周
Gender category: m/m
Fandom: Word of Honor/Faraway Wanderers
Canonical?: yes
Prevalence: main ship
Archives:
Other: Gong Jun/Zhang Zhehan
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Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu is the most popular ship in the fandom for the danmei novel Faraway Wanderers and its live-action adaptation Word of Honor. They are the main romantic couple in the original novel, and their relationship is heavily implied in the adaptation.

Ship Dynamic/Ship Appeal

Zhou Zishu is a retired assassin and meets Wen Kexing by chance while disguised as a sickly beggar. Fans appreciate Wen Kexing immediately clinging to Zhou Zishu and flirting with him, although other fans have pointed out that both in the novel and in the show Wen Kexing uses the flirting as a ruse at first and only later falls in love.[1]

Fans on fail_fandomanon described why they shipped it:[2]

the fact that it is when ZZS has lost everything (family, purpose, his sense of what is right, his own life) that he meets the love of his life is so incredibly good to me personally and I can't get over it. The look they exchange when they first see each other is very much "oh, this person is going to fucking ruin me". Their progression from exasperated/fascinated to genuinely attached to each other to utterly fucking in love to married is just... beautiful, as is ZZS's realization that he does want to live (and his transformation from bitterness and loss to a snarkiness and tenderness) if he gets to be with WKX. They just love each other so much. ;________; Also: the scene where they're at the tavern in ep 12, just repeating each other's names and smiling stupidly at each other, is one of my favorite shippy moments in any canon.

God, I love these two idiots so much. I love how deep they get under each other's skin and that we get to see it develop from first meeting all the way to dying and living for each other multiple times over. I love how happy they make each other and all the ways in which they tenderly care for each other. I love their hugs and the way they look at each other and how they accept each other for who they are. I love Wen Kexing's flirtatiousness and Zhou Zishu's pretended coldness that hides the softest heart. I love how they play with each other and tease each other. I love how they defend and rescue each other. I love how they build a family together and find meaning and hope in each other.

They are both pretty bad people but they fit each other in these unique ways. They’ve both done terrible things, made some very bad choices, and they’re sort of beyond judging each other for them? They are in many ways a revelation to each other. That there could be a person who can match them and challenge them and snag their attention just as they’re each busy setting their own world on fire and salting the remains. In many ways they meet at the worst time, but it’s also the best time because they grab each other just as they’re each hanging over the abyss?

Some of the above fans may have been reacting specifically to the ship dynamic on the show. Fans who've read the novel have commented on some key differences between their relationship on the show vs. the novel, one being that in the novel the characters acted less overtly tender toward each other, and Wen Kexing did not so much quote poetry at Zhou Zishu as make outrageously frank sexual comments. Another issue was brought up by meta writer verycharismaticdragon, among others: Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu in the novel are "strangers who met by chance" yet profoundly understood one another, whereas in the show they are long-lost martial siblings and have several major misunderstandings.[3][4]

Tropes and Fanon

Fanart by lofter user shinianjiushi of the Wenzhou hug scene. All the shippy moments from the drama have been commemorated in fanart, even those like this one that are available only in outtakes.

Modern AUs:

Zhou Zishu as a cat or with cat attributes and Wen Kexing with dog attributes, mostly fanart:

Genderswap "fem!wenzhou" femslash:

In the book Wen Kexing is the gong, and Zhou Zishu is the shou, and this dynamic is carried over in a lot of fanfic, with Wen Kexing topping during sex. However, in the English-speaking fandom some percentage of fanfic dispenses with strict top/bottom roles and either has Wen Kexing bottom or makes it clear that they switch. These stories are not always labeled, but some can be found in the Bottom Wen Kexing/Top Zhou Zishu and Bottom Wen Kexing tags on AO3. Sexually explicit stories that directly address the characters' preferences may also include Wen Kexing having been sexually abused in Ghost Valley, a backstory that is suggested in book canon and hinted at in show canon but never confirmed.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction and Podfic

  • a meeting of worlds by drifloon (May-June 2022), podfic by glittercracker (September 2022). Novel!Wen Kexing and Show!Wen Kexing trade places, and Zhou Zishu contemplates their differences.
  • If We Are Fated by d (Jun 2021 - Jan 2022). Present day Zhou Zishu meets reincarnated Wen Kexing. The story switches between the present and their time on the mountain.
  • The Immortals of Siji Valley by purplesky24 (May 2021). An AU where Wen Kexing refuses to open the gates to the wedding guests from Qingfeng Sect and it changes everything.
  • Mine series by incendir (Jul-Sept 2022). An AU with Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics where Zhou Zishu is willingly kidnapped by the Chief of the Ghost Valley. The series switches between the developing romance between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing, and the horrific marriage between Zhou Zishu and Helian Yi.
  • Sanguine by jaemyun (Sept 2021). Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing meet while Zhou Zishu is still leader of Tian Chuang.
  • The Tiger and its Skin by manic_intent (Aug-Sept 2021). An AU where WoH!Zhou Zishu transmigrates into an alternate version of himself and as a result of arranged marriage marries Novel!Wen Kexing.
  • 替我踏遍天涯; walk the edge of the sky for me by yiqie (Mar 2021). Set after the end of episode 36, Zhou Zishu takes an injured Wen Kexing homes.

Fanart

Fanvids

Meta

Fannish Resources

References

  1. ^ tumblr post by verycharismaticdragon, Archived version, April 25, 2021.
  2. ^ Re: Name a ship, nonnies say why they like it, 2022-08-06.
  3. ^ June 16, 2021 meta post by verycharismaticdragon
  4. ^ TYK / SHL comparisons masterpost, tumblr post by verycharismaticdragon, 27 July 2021.
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