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情蛊
On countless sleepless nights, tossing and turning as if gnawed at by insects, I’ve had to admit one thing, I seem to have fallen in love with Shen Jianqing, that aloof and handsome Miao youth.
The bad luck began with that road trip.
Among the bustling crowd in the Miao village, I glimpsed a corner of a dark blue robe flash by; that was my first sight of Shen Jianqing. The cold, aloof youth was like a venomous snake coiled in a corner, his greedy gaze sending a chill down my spine.
At that time, I still didn’t know I would never leave this Miao territory again.
In this life, I have seen Shen Jianqing’s Gu container three times.
The first time, I stood beneath the window of the stilted house, pointing at the container with a smile: “Shen Jianqing, is this your Gu inside?”
The Miao youth stood in the damp shadows, the silver ornaments on his body gleaming with a cold, eerie light.
“Li Yuze,” he said, “I don’t cast Gu.”
The second time, I was trapped in the youth’s slender yet powerful embrace, my peripheral vision fixed on that pitch-black Gu container.
I asked, “Shen Jianqing, do you cast Gu now?”
The youth’s voice was close to my ear, it was damp and sticky’ “Li Yuze, I don’t cast Gu.”
The third time, that was a very, very long time later. My hands trembling, I very slowly opened that Gu container…
The bad luck began with that road trip.
Among the bustling crowd in the Miao village, I glimpsed a corner of a dark blue robe flash by; that was my first sight of Shen Jianqing. The cold, aloof youth was like a venomous snake coiled in a corner, his greedy gaze sending a chill down my spine.
At that time, I still didn’t know I would never leave this Miao territory again.
In this life, I have seen Shen Jianqing’s Gu container three times.
The first time, I stood beneath the window of the stilted house, pointing at the container with a smile: “Shen Jianqing, is this your Gu inside?”
The Miao youth stood in the damp shadows, the silver ornaments on his body gleaming with a cold, eerie light.
“Li Yuze,” he said, “I don’t cast Gu.”
The second time, I was trapped in the youth’s slender yet powerful embrace, my peripheral vision fixed on that pitch-black Gu container.
I asked, “Shen Jianqing, do you cast Gu now?”
The youth’s voice was close to my ear, it was damp and sticky’ “Li Yuze, I don’t cast Gu.”
The third time, that was a very, very long time later. My hands trembling, I very slowly opened that Gu container…
561 pages
Published January 1, 2023
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36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 17, 2025
Oh my god, I still want more! 情蛊 feels like it was crafted for my exact tastes: clinically insane, two-faced gong and shou who is slowly, inevitably confined—emotionally, mentally, existentially. Shen Jianqing and Li Yuze's relationship wasn't just enjoyable, it was intoxicating! Add the setting and the genre, and it becomes something dangerously perfect.
"To love someone is to possess them, isn't it?" Shen Jianqing doesn't merely exist in the story, he literally and deliberately haunts it. More specifically, he haunts Li Yuze's narrative, his thoughts, his fear, his unraveling sense of self. And what made the beginning so powerful was Shen Jianqing's near-absence. He barely appears, yet his presence is suffocating, pressing in from the shadows. I could feel Li Yuze being slowly cornered, long before he even understood what was happening. Usually, I'm impatient to meet the gong just to judge him or test the chemistry, but here? I wanted the dread to stretch, to ferment. The longer Shen Jianqing stayed unseen, the more terrifying—and irresistible—he would be.
Li Yuze's descent was delicious to watch! He spirals under the weight of the unknown while Shen Jianqing lingers like a curse that refuses to lift. That sense of being claimed without consent, of being marked long before love is named, was vivid not only to Li Yuze but to me as a reader. I wasn't just reading his fear, I was savoring it. My god, I was having the time of my life!
Moreover, the suspense and body-horror-like tension were immaculate. I could practically feel insects crawling beneath my skin, as if the Gu itself was seeping into the pages. The translator did an incredible job preserving the author's oppressive imagery and escalating dread. Every detail felt intentional, every sensation sharpened. I couldn't put the book down, even when I knew where it was heading. The predictability didn't lessen the impact; if anything, it made it worse in the best way. Knowing what was coming and still being unable to escape it is part of the obsession.
The setting really elevated everything. Secluded forests, indigenous tribes, forbidden rituals, and taboo practices created an atmosphere where love and horror blur into something indistinguishable. The idea that there are cultures untouched by modern morality, where possession can be devotion and cruelty can be intimacy, made the story even more unsettling. The author wielded elements so effectively.
I also love the extras! Getting Shen Jianqing’s POV confirmed everything I wanted. He is unrepentantly insane, obsessed to the core, and utterly unapologetic about it. Li Yuze may be "fooled" but he knows that Shen Jianqing hasn't truly changed. And still, he chooses him. Surrendering yourself to someone you know is dangerous? That's love in its purest, most unhinged form. Li Yuze is crazy himself. Anyway, Hong Hong’s extras were a soft mercy, protect this child! Lol! On the other hand, I wanted more of Wen Lingyu and Ah Song, but I’m grateful they found their way back to each other. Also, congratulations to Xu Zirong and Qiu Lu as well. In the end, this book made everyone's love stronger in its own twisted, beautiful way. I can't wait to read this again!
"To love someone is to possess them, isn't it?" Shen Jianqing doesn't merely exist in the story, he literally and deliberately haunts it. More specifically, he haunts Li Yuze's narrative, his thoughts, his fear, his unraveling sense of self. And what made the beginning so powerful was Shen Jianqing's near-absence. He barely appears, yet his presence is suffocating, pressing in from the shadows. I could feel Li Yuze being slowly cornered, long before he even understood what was happening. Usually, I'm impatient to meet the gong just to judge him or test the chemistry, but here? I wanted the dread to stretch, to ferment. The longer Shen Jianqing stayed unseen, the more terrifying—and irresistible—he would be.
Li Yuze's descent was delicious to watch! He spirals under the weight of the unknown while Shen Jianqing lingers like a curse that refuses to lift. That sense of being claimed without consent, of being marked long before love is named, was vivid not only to Li Yuze but to me as a reader. I wasn't just reading his fear, I was savoring it. My god, I was having the time of my life!
Moreover, the suspense and body-horror-like tension were immaculate. I could practically feel insects crawling beneath my skin, as if the Gu itself was seeping into the pages. The translator did an incredible job preserving the author's oppressive imagery and escalating dread. Every detail felt intentional, every sensation sharpened. I couldn't put the book down, even when I knew where it was heading. The predictability didn't lessen the impact; if anything, it made it worse in the best way. Knowing what was coming and still being unable to escape it is part of the obsession.
The setting really elevated everything. Secluded forests, indigenous tribes, forbidden rituals, and taboo practices created an atmosphere where love and horror blur into something indistinguishable. The idea that there are cultures untouched by modern morality, where possession can be devotion and cruelty can be intimacy, made the story even more unsettling. The author wielded elements so effectively.
I also love the extras! Getting Shen Jianqing’s POV confirmed everything I wanted. He is unrepentantly insane, obsessed to the core, and utterly unapologetic about it. Li Yuze may be "fooled" but he knows that Shen Jianqing hasn't truly changed. And still, he chooses him. Surrendering yourself to someone you know is dangerous? That's love in its purest, most unhinged form. Li Yuze is crazy himself. Anyway, Hong Hong’s extras were a soft mercy, protect this child! Lol! On the other hand, I wanted more of Wen Lingyu and Ah Song, but I’m grateful they found their way back to each other. Also, congratulations to Xu Zirong and Qiu Lu as well. In the end, this book made everyone's love stronger in its own twisted, beautiful way. I can't wait to read this again!
January 18, 2026
[note: i realise that the preferred term in english is hmong, not miao, but this novel is set in china, where they do in fact refer to themselves in mandarin as 苗 miao, so that’s the term i’ll be using in this review.]
before i start this review, i should probably say that i initially wasn’t interested in this novel because i thought the premise was a bit racist. a han youth being kidnapped and raped by a miao youth who lives in an unassimilated miao village in the deep mountains? sounds just like the stereotypes han people have been perpetuating about miao people for ages. the title 情蛊 doesn’t help either; though the concept of 蛊 gu poison does exist in miao folklore, its stigmatisation today has been largely shaped by northern/han prejudices (see this article for more information). if you look up 苗人下蛊 / miao people casting gu on chinese websites, one of the first results you might get is: “is it illegal for miao people to cast gu on han people?” yikes.
but this novel/audio-drama has been so viral lately that i inevitably got many spoilers about it on my douyin/xhs feed, and one of those is the fact that . that made me interested enough to listen to the audio-drama, and oh, what a journey it has been.
so the premise of the novel is that li yuze, a final-year undergraduate, goes to dongjiang miao village to do research for a project on ethnic minorities in china. there, he encounters shen jianqing, the leader of the unassimilated branch of dongjiang miao village, known as shidi miao village, who falls in love with him at first sight. shen jianqing then tricks li yuze into following him back to shidi miao village, trapping him there and doing all sorts of horrible things to li yuze (rape, confinement, mental torture, etc). i don’t usually read dark romances, but as mentioned above, this is quite literally freak-4-freak, so perhaps it’s not surprising that i enjoyed it so much.
this is a novel about the struggle between love and freedom—specifically, what happens when you love someone, but you want your freedom even more. li yuze doesn’t have a problem with the all-consuming love shen jianqing showers him with; in fact, that’s what draws him to shen jianqing. what he does have a problem with is the fact that shen jianqing treats him like a possession to be held tight in his grasp, never letting him see the light of day or even the light outside shen jianqing’s house. and yet despite all the terrible, fucked up things shen jianqing does to li yuze (e.g. 卧槽), it’s heavily implied throughout the entire novel—yes, even at the start—that li yuze is in fact just as in love with shen jianqing as shen jianqing is with li yuze.
but this love is not enough to make li yuze’s confinement palatable. it makes it worse, and it infuriates li yuze shen jianqing’s captivity is not love, no matter what he claims, and li yuze will never feel anything but hatred for him until he’s free.
the portrayal of the miao people was quite interesting. there are still a lot of the same fear-mongering stereotypes (e.g. if a miao youth likes you, you’ll never be able to go home), but several of the side characters disprove those stereotypes almost immediately. the author has clearly done some research on miao villages as well, because many rituals line up with what i’ve seen of them in travel vlogs.
overall, i think it’s definitely worth a read/listen. the audio-drama is definitely much better than the novel, though. it made a number of changes to the plot which i think make the story even better, like li yuze taking shen siyuan’s memorial ribbon out of shidi miao village and then returning it to his mother. also, the author’s writing style isn’t exactly the best. i ended up skimming it while listening to the audio-drama, and it’s not really a novel i find myself interested in reading. as for the audio-drama, 呃怎么说呢？不愧是马好用 🤭 疯得好带劲儿。 (basically: ma zhengyang is known as one of the best new-gen voice actors for a reason, and ma yang is equally good.) i highly recommend the audio-drama if you can get access to it!
—⋆⋅☆⋅⋆—
接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红。 / joining the sky, lotus leaves form an endless jade-green; reflecting the sun, lotus flowers glow a striking red. li yuze, shen jianqing, may your days be filled with ever-blooming lotus flowers.
before i start this review, i should probably say that i initially wasn’t interested in this novel because i thought the premise was a bit racist. a han youth being kidnapped and raped by a miao youth who lives in an unassimilated miao village in the deep mountains? sounds just like the stereotypes han people have been perpetuating about miao people for ages. the title 情蛊 doesn’t help either; though the concept of 蛊 gu poison does exist in miao folklore, its stigmatisation today has been largely shaped by northern/han prejudices (see this article for more information). if you look up 苗人下蛊 / miao people casting gu on chinese websites, one of the first results you might get is: “is it illegal for miao people to cast gu on han people?” yikes.
but this novel/audio-drama has been so viral lately that i inevitably got many spoilers about it on my douyin/xhs feed, and one of those is the fact that . that made me interested enough to listen to the audio-drama, and oh, what a journey it has been.
so the premise of the novel is that li yuze, a final-year undergraduate, goes to dongjiang miao village to do research for a project on ethnic minorities in china. there, he encounters shen jianqing, the leader of the unassimilated branch of dongjiang miao village, known as shidi miao village, who falls in love with him at first sight. shen jianqing then tricks li yuze into following him back to shidi miao village, trapping him there and doing all sorts of horrible things to li yuze (rape, confinement, mental torture, etc). i don’t usually read dark romances, but as mentioned above, this is quite literally freak-4-freak, so perhaps it’s not surprising that i enjoyed it so much.
this is a novel about the struggle between love and freedom—specifically, what happens when you love someone, but you want your freedom even more. li yuze doesn’t have a problem with the all-consuming love shen jianqing showers him with; in fact, that’s what draws him to shen jianqing. what he does have a problem with is the fact that shen jianqing treats him like a possession to be held tight in his grasp, never letting him see the light of day or even the light outside shen jianqing’s house. and yet despite all the terrible, fucked up things shen jianqing does to li yuze (e.g. 卧槽), it’s heavily implied throughout the entire novel—yes, even at the start—that li yuze is in fact just as in love with shen jianqing as shen jianqing is with li yuze.
but this love is not enough to make li yuze’s confinement palatable. it makes it worse, and it infuriates li yuze shen jianqing’s captivity is not love, no matter what he claims, and li yuze will never feel anything but hatred for him until he’s free.
the portrayal of the miao people was quite interesting. there are still a lot of the same fear-mongering stereotypes (e.g. if a miao youth likes you, you’ll never be able to go home), but several of the side characters disprove those stereotypes almost immediately. the author has clearly done some research on miao villages as well, because many rituals line up with what i’ve seen of them in travel vlogs.
overall, i think it’s definitely worth a read/listen. the audio-drama is definitely much better than the novel, though. it made a number of changes to the plot which i think make the story even better, like li yuze taking shen siyuan’s memorial ribbon out of shidi miao village and then returning it to his mother. also, the author’s writing style isn’t exactly the best. i ended up skimming it while listening to the audio-drama, and it’s not really a novel i find myself interested in reading. as for the audio-drama, 呃怎么说呢？不愧是马好用 🤭 疯得好带劲儿。 (basically: ma zhengyang is known as one of the best new-gen voice actors for a reason, and ma yang is equally good.) i highly recommend the audio-drama if you can get access to it!
—⋆⋅☆⋅⋆—
接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红。 / joining the sky, lotus leaves form an endless jade-green; reflecting the sun, lotus flowers glow a striking red. li yuze, shen jianqing, may your days be filled with ever-blooming lotus flowers.
September 29, 2025
I don't regret getting audiodrama song-baited into reading this. It was a bit of a ride but I enjoyed it. At some point, it starts reading more like a psychological thriller/horror, haha.
ok, back to listening to 情蛊 on repeat
ok, back to listening to 情蛊 on repeat
January 21, 2026
*3,5. Enjoyed the kinda horror-like character introduction for ML at the beginning a looot. First person POV felt quite right for this novel as it compliments the story with a sort of... diary from the research trip - but was surprised to see it used in danmei. Liked how sane the MC was and how insanse ML was. There is a good amount of wasted potential in terms of narration and sometimes pacing, but overall enjoyed it.
October 26, 2025
This novel is INSANE. It’s my new obsession
November 2, 2025
chắc do không phải gu, sau ngoại truyện dưới góc nhìn của Thẩm Kiến Thanh và cái sự "dắt tất cả như bò" của chả thì lại càng không thích truyện 😊 có lẽ một ngày nào đó sẽ thử đọc lại xem cảm nhận có khác đi không chứ hiện tại là vậy nha
December 20, 2025
Love me a yandare ML always
January 9, 2026
╰┈➤ [ 3.5/5★]
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews