This review contains major spoilers for Joyful Reunion Vol 2.
Fei Tian Ye Xiang is in the running for “danmei author who has made me cry the most.” And that is specifically with his series, Joyful Reunion. For the danmei fans who’ve been following me, you all know I’m currently reading everything available by Fei Tian. I’ve been reading To Rule in a Turbulent World, Legend of Exorcism, Dinghai Fusheng Records, and Joyful Reunion simultaneously between releases. While I love them all so much for different reasons, Joyful Reunion has been tugging at my heartstrings since page one of volume one.
Where The Story Is
Volume one of Joyful Reunions ends with Li Jianghong dying at the hands of the enemy. Shangjing has been breached, and thousands have died in the city. Duan Ling has escaped with Cai Yan, but they end up separated. During this separation, Lang Junxia finds Cai Yan, and they assume Duan Ling has died. Cai Yan assumes Duan Ling’s identity and goes to Xichuan to act as the crowned prince.
Against all odds, Duang Ling escapes his predicament and makes his journey to Xichuan. Once there, Lang Junxia seeks him out and invites him to his home, only to poison him and dump him in a river. Wu Du, one of the famous assassins, finds him and takes him in. Duan Ling takes on a fake identity and grows close to Wu Du after being in his care. He also grows close to the Prime Minister, Mu Kuangda. Mu Kuangda assigns him a mission to kill Bian Lingbai, a commander suspected of planning a rebellion. On this mission, Duan Ling assumes another false identity and reunites with his childhood friend, Helian Bo.
Woeful Separations
At the beginning of the book, Duan Ling has no idea that his father has died. His sole motivation for surviving the battles and making it to Xichuan has been to reunite with Li Jianghong. I felt like I had a block on my chest reading this part of Duan Ling’s journey. Duan Ling has gone through so much, and now, the only person he had is gone, and he doesn’t know. At every turn, Duan Ling seems to have brief moments of happiness, only for it to be ripped away somehow.
When Duan Ling overhears Wu Du’s conversation with his shifu and learns that his father has been killed, he is distraught. The moment Wu Du walks the shifu to the door to say goodbye, Duan Ling takes a fatal poison and ingests it. Without his father, he has resigned himself to die.
What I find interesting about this sequence is that from the moment Duan Ling takes the poison until he is hallucinating seeing his father, the events are told through Wu Du’s point of view. We do not get the internal monologue of Duan Liang deciding to commit suicide. Instead, we see Wu Du grappling with Duan Liang’s actions, trying to make sense of the sorrow that leads him to do this.
When the point of view returns to Duan Ling, he is lost in his memories of his father. In his haze of pain and sorrow, he has the clear thought that it must have been by fate that he didn’t learn of his father’s death until now. Otherwise, he would have given up and died sooner. Fate led him to this man, Wu Du, who rescued him, now twice. This divine intervention by his father is no mistake or fluke; Li Jianghong is guiding his son to where he is meant to be.
Whenever he dreamed of Li Jianghong, someone came to his aid, as if moved by the hand of fate －and this time, Li Jianhong’s silhouette faded away to reveal Wu Du, still seated on the threshold with a puzzled look on his face.
Joyful reunion vol 2
In Duan Ling’s return to self, he then decides he is alive for a reason and must continue forward. “He couldn’t leave Xichuan, and he couldn’t die just yet.” Even after learning the horrific news, Duan Ling moves forward. “One step at a time.”
This scene painted the reality of what Joyful Reunion is. It’s not just a story about Duan Ling reclaiming the throne, or revenge and political struggles. It’s about deciding to move forward, deciding to fight for your life, no matter what you’ve been through. Even though Duan Ling tries to commit suicide at first, Fei Tian grants him grace. The audience never sees Duan Ling giving up in his own words. Instead, what we always get from Duan Ling is his will to go on.
The Father of it All
This part of the story, so early on in this book, absolutely broke me. But with the pain comes the beauty of the moment. As I reread this part, I realized I missed the moments that specifically call out Wu Du. Moments that foreshadow Wu Du’s future role in Duan Ling’s life. Not only that, but the significance of Duan Ling seeing his father in Wu Du which is a theme that continues throughout this book.
As the story goes on, we see Duan Ling and Wu Du grow closer. Wu Du also reminds Duan Ling of his father. Of course, we know that Wu Du worked with Li Jianghong, so they have some similarities. But, I also think Wu Du shows a deep level of affection towards Duan Ling in his actions that he only received from his father.
Towards the end of the book, when Helian Bo questions Duan Ling about his relationship to Wu Du, Duan Ling is unsure of the relationship. “He’s just −him. I guess he’s just Wu Du.” A separation forms in his mind of who this man is to him, and it’s not just a caretaker figure. When Wu Du rescues him from Helian Jie, he thinks of his dad, but then understands what Wu Du is to him.
Hearing this sound, it was as if Li Jianhong still lived, was still standing in front of him. He was him, but also not. Duan Ling glanced up, feeling for a brief moment as though he saw his father’s face. But the one holding him was Wu Du—this man who had also unconditionally protected him without reason, and at all costs.
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There are conflicting opinions on this pairing in the fandom because many see that Wu Du took Duan Ling in as a “father figure.” But from the start, I did not see it this way, and I don’t believe this is because I knew they were endgame. From volume one, Duan Ling has been under the care of three distinct men: Lang Junxia, Li Jianghong, and now Wu Du. They all cared for Duan Ling differently.
Lang Junxia may have emotionally kept his distance from Duan Ling, but he acted in a very fatherly way towards him. From guiding him, playing Joyful Reunion at his dorm, and not wanting to see Duan Ling hurt. Li Jianghong was obviously very physically and emotionally affectionate with Duan Ling. Wu Du, on the other hand, initially doesn’t understand why he’s taken to Duan Ling the way he does. He cares for him, but a lot of that stems from what he believes Duan Ling has gone through. He also sees a lot of himself in Duan Ling. As the two grow closer, Wu Du feels a level of protection over Duan Ling, but a lot of it stems from jealousy (even if he doesn’t admit it).
In a way, he didn’t with Lang Junxia; Duan Ling believes himself to be fated to Wu Du. “We must be connected by fate, you and me.” His father’s direct affection is all he knows, so it makes sense Wu Du’s affection reminds him of that, but even Duan Ling can understand that it’s not the same.
Moving Forward
This is only volume two of six, so there is a lot more to go. Duan Ling still hasn’t revealed his true identity to Wu Du, and we have no idea how Wu Du will react to this information. It’s clear from this volume that both Wu Du and Duan Ling are on the brink of identifying their feelings for each other. I worry that the reveal of Duan Ling’s true identity will cause a rift between the two. But I also trust Fei Tian will not bring us to a place we cannot move forward from.
