Tian by Edmund (Tkss)

Tian

edmund32 — 2025-07-22 04:08:23 UTC

Tian, as a character serves as a foil to Wei and as a stand-in for Sheng.

Many of his qualities are direct opposites to Wei, his worldly knowledge/street smarts vs Wei's academic knowledge, his chatty and social nature vs Wei's reserved nature etc.

However, his "story" is very similar to Wei's, travelling to Luoyang to find closure on old mistakes. Tian travels back to find any trace of Ai-li and find his peace with what happened all those years ago (stop dwelling in the pat despite his attempts to move on with many other women) while Wei travels to find Sheng and seek forgiveness.

Through his journey with Wei, Tian and Wei become close friends. Wei realises that Tian and Sheng share many similarities and Tian comments that Wei reminds him of his own father "though he never learned."

Tian eases Wei into the real world, teaching him about keeping his money and himself safe, while Wei helps Tian find closure and gives his journey a purpose other than aimless searching for Ai-li.

In the end, Tian does not find Ai-li but he finds that he can finally let go of the past and find new purpose and direction in his life without Ai-li.

Wei

tylerttt2 — 2025-07-23 00:10:50 UTC

The most significant parallel between Tian and Wei is in their journey. Both of them came to Luoyang searching for loved ones that they have lost, and have yearned for. Wei realises that Tian "might be one of the few people who would understand how he, too, had been led to this faraway city in search of a ghost". This draws a direct parallel between their journeys, how they are both searching for spectres or traces of their past far away from whatever life they have had up to this point who may or may not even be in Luoyang anymore. In relation to Wei, this gives him an element of hope in his journey, that he may find Sheng, transitioning what was previously a spur-of-the-moment decision to find Sheng (heavily influenced by his desire to run from the guilt of his family) into a true pilgrimage, where he accepts that his journey may be in vain but holds on to the hope that he will find Sheng. In relation to Tian, this parallel gives him a sense of closure - if Wei could hold out hope to find Sheng yet find closure even if he didn't, then Tian could do the same with Ai-li. In a way, they are both trapped by their pasts, and sharing their journey with each other shows each of them how to find closure.

Sheng (as a catalyst to Wei's development)

tylerttt2 — 2025-07-23 00:36:37 UTC

Tian serves as a strong parallel to Sheng, especially from Wei's point of view where Wei sees both of them as his son in a way. When Tian leaves Wei, Wei "felt as if he was letting go of one son for another". This draws an extremely clear parallel between Tian and Sheng, allowing as to see how he catalyses Wei's development as a person. While Tian does act very much like Sheng, a key difference is in their relationships with Wei. Rather than being a difference between Tian and Sheng themselves, this is a very clearly shown difference in Wei's own attitude towards the world. With Sheng, Wei was closed off, never going out of his comfort zone and still rather immature in relation to how he treated others. He came to regret this later, and it is because of his regret that he opened up with Tian, Wei's sharing of his story with him serving almost as a 'redemption' to Wei, where he forgave himself for his distant relationship with Sheng, allowing him to grow as a person. In other words, Tian's similarity to Sheng served as a catalyst to Wei's development, showing Wei that he could do better and still be forgiven for his past mistakes - showing Wei how to stop living in the past.

Tian: Moving On and Finding Purpose

edmund32 — 2025-07-29 05:37:45 UTC

Unlike many other portrayals of characters in fiction who cannot move on, Tian actively makes an effort to move away from his past. After waiting or Ai-li for a while after her disappearance, Tian eventually decides to move away from Luoyang and even tries to find other relationships and partners. Despite his efforts, he is unable to find peace and makes a pilgrimage back to Luoyang to seek some kind of closure.

On the journey to Luoyang, he bumps into Wei who is making a similar journey. They quickly become friends despite Wei's usual stoic and cold demeanor and eventually share with each other the reasons why they are going to Luoyang.

Tian decides to accompany Wei to find his son as he really has very few leads on Ai-li or much to do otherwise. In doing so, his journey is given a clear purpose, other than "chasing ghosts". He finds himself finally able to forget about Ai-li. Thus, Wei becomes the reason Tian can finally move on with his life.

Tian then leaves Wei to complete his own journey.