Wen Kexing

Character
Name:	Wen Kexing (温客行)
Occupation:	Ghost Valley Master
Relationships:	ward Gu Xiang, husband Zhou Zishu
Fandom:	Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor
Other:
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Wen Kexing (温客行) is the main love interest in the Chinese danmei webnovel Faraway Wanderers and second male lead in its live-action dangai adaptation Word of Honor. In the drama adaptation he is played by Gong Jun.

Canon Background

Wen Kexing is a young man in his late twenties who is also the master of Ghost Valley, a society of outcasts and criminals. He has a ward, Gu Xiang. His tragic backstory (involving parental death, cannibalism, child abuse, and possible sexual abuse) is revealed very late in the novel and is told in pieces throughout the drama.

He meets Zhou Zishu by chance after he leaves the valley on a secret revenge quest and follows Zhou Zishu for the rest of the story, flirting outrageously. In the drama adaptation it is later revealed that his birth name is Zhen Yan (甄衍) and that he and Zhou Zishu are long-lost martial brothers.

In the drama adaptation, Wen Kexing says that he thinks of Zhou Zishu as zhiji (知己), a word sometimes translated as soulmate but that doesn't require the same romantic connotation.

Fans have written meta and fanfic about the differences in his personality between the novel and the drama.

Shipping

By far the most popular ship in the fandom is Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu or WenZhou, the end game canon relationship in the novel and heavily implied in the drama.

A few rarepair ships also include Wen Kexing. On AO3 as of September 2023:

• Wen Kexing/Ye Baiyi (104)
• Han Ying/Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu (75)
• Wen Kexing/Ye Baiyi/Zhou Zishu (56)
• Han Ying/Wen Kexing (43)
• Wen Kexing/Everyone (33)
• Wen Kexing/Xie Wang (26)
• Wen Kexing/Gong Jun (26)

Fans also sometimes write crossovers where Wen Kexing is paired up with other popular cdrama characters (for example, from The Untamed) or same-actor crossovers where Wen Kexing is paired with other characters played by Gong Jun, or just Gong Jun himself. There are very few het ships with Wen Kexing in them, and although a few stories exist pairing him with his ward or Zhou Zishu's disciple, these are not very popular ships.

Tropes and Fanon

Wen Kexing's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Childhood Trauma

Especially in the drama fandom, Wen Kexing is considered a woobie (to be clear, Zhou Zishu is also a woobie). In a discussion on fail_fandomanon about "Who in your canon had the worst childhood?", one person argued that Wen Kexing had the worst childhood in any canon. Another anon commented that "I think what's most painful is WKX will make some light-hearted joking comment and then later on, surprise! It was actually a reference to some terrible thing from his past. We don't even know we're being stabbed until suddenly the story gives the knives a twist."

Wen Kexing's Childhood Trauma has its own AO3 tag and is a popular source of angst and hurt/comfort in fanfic. Fanfic often dwells on sexual trauma in particular. Canon implies, but does not confirm whether Wen Kexing was sexually abused during his time in Ghost Valley, but a lot of fanfiction assumes that the previous master raped him.

Other

• Top - In WenZhou fanfic Wen Kexing is most often written as topping during sex, and in omegaverse as an alpha, probably because he plays the gong role in the novel. A novel extra in which he and Zhou Zishu wrestle for who gets to top, with neither giving in until Wen Kexing cries strategically, has been interpreted in fanfic as Wen Kexing refusing to bottom ever. Sometimes the fic leans on his childhood sexual trauma as the reason he refuses to bottom.
• Monster Wen Kexing - AUs where he is a nonhuman monster or creature of some kind
• Fanart - In the drama Wen Kexing's weapon is a fan, and at the end of the show his hair turns white, so he is often depicted in fanart with white hair and carrying or brandishing a fan.

Example Fanworks

fanart by muziqianyu

cover of Trapped: A Horror Zine, art by zazrichor

Fanfiction and Podfic

• Let Me Love You, ^{Archived version} by hansbekhart. Canon setting Wen Kexing POV (2021-08-13)
• ours is a vast country, ^{Archived version} written by drifloon for SHL Big Bang. AU set during the Republic of China (1912-1949) with Wen Kexing as hidden folk. (2021-10-29) Later podficced by Spinifex (2022-05-23)
• hunger, ^{Archived version} by lastembers. Modern AU with monster Wen Kexing (2021-11-01)
• the breaking storm, ^{Archived version} by northofallmusic. Space AU with fishman Wen Kexing inspired by The Shape of Water (2022-06-14)

Fanart

• little ghosts, ^{Archived version} by verycharismaticdragon on tumblr (March 25, 2021)
• fem!wenzhou week, day 7: fave fandom trope, ^{Archived version} by annannjay on tumblr. Monster Wen Kexing trope (Dec 11, 2022)
• Wen Kexing fanart, ^{Archived version} by yotsuba_1003 on twitter (May 14, 2021)
• Wen Kexing fanart, ^{Archived version} by luanqiao_Max on twitter (Apr 28, 2021)
• so yeah uh #wenkexing again. from the very fun sitcom "I wifed the ghost valley master", 10/10 would recommend., ^{Archived version} by MTKay13 on twitter (Jul 9, 2022)
• collection of Wen Kexing fanart, ^{Archived version} by MTKay13 on tumblr (Nov 26th, 2022)
• Ghost Valley Master Philanthropist Wen, ^{Archived version} by snarkspawn (May 29, 2022)
• “在下受人之托，来送你一程！”, ^{Archived version} by gin-uzumaki on tumblr (March 31, 2022)
• 想留的人，来不及 (Those who want to stay are too late), ^{Archived version} by qingrihuanghun on lofter. Scene from the drama in which Wen Kexing plays his xiao sadly in the rain because he just found out Zhou Zishu is dying (March 12, 2021)

Video

• A Little Bit Ghost Valley, ^{Archived version} by alpheratz. Premiered at CON.TXT (2021-06-27)

Fannish Resources

• Wen Kexing fanworks tag at AO3
• Wen Kexing (drama) and novel canon info at Faraway Wanderers Wiki