#Jiang Cheng deserves and gets nice things

[incarnadinedreams]

This isn't really new or anything but the more I reread random passages the more convinced I am that there's something very unique about the way Jiang Cheng reacts to Wen Ning and it's just so interesting!

I'm convinced it's more than just being angry. It's more than just hating him, or blaming him for Jin Zixuan's death or his sister's life. It's more than being a Wen, and it comes long before so many of those tragedies unfold anyway.

There's a sort of urgent, visceral reaction to Wen Ning's presence that just has this different feeling to it than how he reacts to any of the other characters. Even characters he has strong emotional responses to, it's never with the same panic or recklessness. It's not the same as the whole "vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy" situation he's got going on with Wei Wuxian (sexy as that might be).

When it's Wei Wuxian, it's all "...well, well. So you're back?" and "Haven't you got anything to say to me?" Even when he's not being very nice, even when he's throwing teacups and furious at Wei Wuxian, there's still an edge of calmness in the way he lashes out. He's fucking mad but he's had more than a decade to think about this and he's got things to say and he's trying so hard to get a reaction from Wei Wuxian that he just won't give him.

But he can't tolerate having Wen Ning anywhere near him. Much of the time he instantly lashes out, physically, in ways to create space between them. He's mean to Wen Ning, but he doesn't really have much to say to him; he just wants to get away from him.

It really stuck out to me how instinctive and instantaneous and emotional that reaction is when I was reading this passage from chapter 81 (ExR translation since I've got it on hand in digital text form), when Jin Ling returns Zidian and rushes back into the fray during the Second Siege:

When Jiang Cheng was unaware, he stuffed Zidian's ring back into his hand and sprinted toward the crowd, all the way up to the most dangerous area before the mouth of the cave. Jiang Cheng was about to chase after him when he managed to slice a few corpses, staggering. He felt that Sandu was no lighter than hundreds of pounds. Two female corpses threw themselves at him from both directions.

Jiang Cheng cursed. As he lifted his sword again, another pair of hands tore the two corpses into pieces, "Sect Leader..."

Jiang Cheng lost his temper as soon as he heard the voice. He kicked Wen Ning away and cursed, "Get the fuck away from me!"

Obviously that is not very nice and poor Wen Ning didn't deserve a kick for being legitimately helpful there, but the point is that not only does he lash out - the reaction happens even when he's clearly got higher priorities going on in a chaotic situation. Throughout that entire event he reacts in a somewhat more even-keeled way to almost everything except Wen Ning being in his vicinity.

And it's not just after Wen Ning's death, not just after he became Wei Wuxian's greatest weapon, not just after he was forced to kill Jin Zixuan - it's specifically a pattern established from the moment he woke up in the Supervisory Office without a core:

Before he could say anything, those sun robes reflected against Jiang Cheng's eyes. His pupils suddenly shrunk.

Jiang Cheng kicked Wen Ning, toppling over the bowl of medicine. The black liquid all spilled onto Wen Ning. Wei WuXian wanted to take the bowl of medicine. He pulled up Wen Ning as well, who had been shocked speechless. Jiang Cheng roared at him, "What's wrong with you?!"

At this point he doesn't even know how he was rescued, since he was unconscious for all of that, and thinks they're in a Wen trap and likely going to die (or worse). But there's so many echoes of that interaction again, and again, and again between them.

And combined with Wen Ning's remarks during the scene just before this, where he tells Wei Wuxian about the discipline whip injuries and how Jiang Cheng 'should have other injuries as well', the way the narrative is so deliberately ambiguous on what exactly occurred, it all makes me want to crawl up the walls and gnaw on the light fixtures wailing WHAT DID YOU SEE, WEN NING?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?

At a minimum, Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning was there at Lotus Pier prior to his capture by the Wen guards, because they'd both seen Wen Ning examining Jiang corpses on the training field before they fled for Meishan.

But everything after that is only implication and subtext and suppositions and speculation, not directly stated in the text. But based on his reaction, you can pry my headcanon from my cold dead hands that that Wen Ning probably witnessed all or much of what happened to Jiang Cheng after he was captured, and Jiang Cheng knows it.

I've also posted before how I think there's an at least nonzero chance that Jiang Cheng was never directly told that Wen Ning wasn't actually there with Wen Chao when they saw him early on, but came later to try to help (because when Wen Ning gives Wei Wuxian that information Jiang Cheng isn't conscious, and nobody tells Jiang Cheng anything. I don't think that headcanon changes much either way, but there is a slight difference, at least emotionally, between 'I helped you while I was there to slaughter your clan and destroy your life' and 'I came when I heard my crazy cousin was slaughtering your clan and tried to help you' and I think it's a juicy thing to add to the pile of misunderstandings they each have of the other's motivations and actions).

Which, if I go with these two ideas together, really drives home what a bespoke and specific nightmare the way the Golden Core reveal played out - not only the substance of the reveal, but the fact it was Wen Ning who revealed it.

He was already furious that they were even there at Lotus Pier, particularly Wen Ning. But the way it all happens it feels like it's not just echoes of the amplified emotions of the confrontation with Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian in the Ancestral Hall, it's not just Wen Ning being a Wen, or even Jin Zixuan's death, the way the narration calls out. It feels like there are deeper layers to it.

I also feel a bit stupid for not noticing before this probably extremely obvious to literally everyone else who isn't a dumbass like me parallel of Wen Ning getting a gruesome scorching whip mark across his chest at Lotus Pier in the course of saving Wei Wuxian (more or less, sort of - we know as readers Jiang Cheng was intentionally trying not to hurt them with Zidian, but I don't think Wen Ning knew that when he jumped in).

Jiang Cheng looked to find that the uninvited guest was Wen Ning. Immediately, he raged, "Who let you inside Lotus Pier?! How dare you!"

He could manage to tolerate others, but definitely not Wen Ning, the Wen-dog who put his hand through Jin ZiXuan's heart and ended both his sister's happiness and her life. Just a look, and he felt the urge to kill him right there. How dare he step foot on the earth of Lotus Pier—he really was looking for his death!

Because of the two lives and many other reasons, Wen Ning had always felt guilty, and so he'd always been somewhat scared of Jiang Cheng, consciously avoiding him all the time. Right now, however, he blocked Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi as he faced him, taking the hard lash. A gruesome scorch climbed across his chest, but still he didn't flinch.

I don't know that it actually means anything but it's making me FEEL THINGS incoherently at this specific moment, so. Also I find it legitimately sad that Wen Ning has to live with guilt over things that happened when he was controlled by someone else, though the scene before the Ancestral Hall when Jin Ling starts crying on the boat is probably a better example of that. Anyway.

It's just there's so, so many layers to how uniquely horrible it is for Jiang Cheng that he not only finds out about the Golden Core transfer this way, but also that Wen Ning, specifically, directly witnessed this life-shatteringly huge deception and sacrifice too - while Jiang Cheng was unconscious, no less.

And, well, we know how everything got capped off in that scene...

Obviously the shock of the information was going to get a huge reaction no matter what, no matter who or how he found out. Even without the Wen Ning element, it already hits every one of his deepest weaknesses and insecurities and fears.

But to come from the guy who'd witnessed his family being slaughtered, who'd witnessed who-knows-what humiliations heaped on him (who also happens to be the same fucking guy that Wei Wuxian thought it was worth leaving Yunmeng Jiang for, breaking his promise for...), the guy he blames for his sister's tragic fate (whether that blame is misplaced or not), the guy he exhibits a panic response towards even decades later, and goddamn.

There are just so many layers to this perfect little nightmare reveal on so many different levels aren't there?

There's just SO much meaty stuff for these two to dig into post-canon and all we get is an extra with a 'oh yeah sometimes Jiang Cheng yells on night hunts and Wen Ning is there' about it?!

I should probably just shut up and go read some Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning focused fics or something (whether romantic or platonic that's probably an area I really haven't explored enough vs. the amount of sheer interesting hints and material the novel gives to work with! If by some miracle anyone made it to the end of this beast feel free to drop any recs that explore them, especially that 'what did Wen Ning see?!' aspect of the whole situation because that is the current little brain worm haunting me right now).

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride!!!! Living Blood or Lady Mo please!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Xuanyu disrobes unashamedly, hesitating only at the last second with the sleeve covering her left arm.

Jiang Yanli laughs. “Bit late to be modest, I think.”

“Modesty is overrated,” she returns, which is something that Zixuan would say and A-Yao would think. She slips the rest of the robes off and steps into the steaming bath, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction.

The changes her body has undergone are even more obvious without the thick layers of the robes obscuring her form. The extra weight seems to have settled in ideal places, not only thickening her waist and limbs but settling heavily along her hips and breasts, which hadn’t exactly been small to begin with.

She sits behind Xuanyu, filling a bowl with water and then pouring it over her hair to rinse it of blood and dirt that had been hidden by her dark hair. Acting as a bathing assistant is far below her station, but Xuanyu had sent all the servants away and she doesn’t mind, really. Xuanyu is her sister, likely the only one she’ll ever have considering A-Cheng’s track record with matchmakers, and she’s been worried about her. This gives them time to speak alone. “How has your marriage with Lan Wangji been? Has he been kind?”

Xuanyu pulls a face, which isn’t encouraging. “I guess. He mostly left me alone, and then we had a couple fights and he was a jerk, and now I think he’s trying to make up for being a jerk, but it’s a little – well, it’s nice that he’s making an effort. I suppose.”

Not as good as she’d hoped, but not as bad as she’d feared. “Sect Leader Lan seems fond of you.”

“Oh, Lan Xichen is great,” she says easily. Better than reaction to Lan Wangji, but still not what Jiang Yanli had been hoping for. Then her eyes light up. “Sizhui is wonderful! I’ll give Wangji one thing, he’s raised a good kid. He’s so sweet, and a great cultivator, and he’s always trying to help out everyone around him. I’m glad Jingyi’s always hanging around – without him, I think everyone would just take advantage of Sizhui’s good nature.”

Well, that’s something. Surely Lan Wangji can’t resist Xuanyu’s charms for long, not when she dotes on his son and gets along with his brother.

“What trouble did you get into on the road?” she asks, running her hand over the wound on Xuanyu’s shoulder. It looks nearly fully healed already and there’s another mostly healed wound on her hip, a thin slice on her left arm, and the shadow of various bruises that were likely much worse a couple hours ago. It’s of course a good thing that Xuanyu has a strong golden core, but Jiang Yanli can’t help a moment of wistfulness.

Her own core never lived up to her mother’s expectations, or her own. If she’d had a stronger core, she could have given A-Ling siblings. A child should have siblings. She would have had a calmer childhood without two little brothers underfoot, but a lonelier one too.

Xuanyu shrugs, lazily scrubbing herself down. “Looks like Xiao Xingchen picked up the girl, A-Qing, while he and Song Lan were separated and was trapped in this place that was basically a ghost town.” How could he be trapped by a place that had no people? “And I’d heard some rumors so when we ran into Song Lan I helped him find Xiao Xingchen, but there was a bit of a fight with someone who didn’t want him to leave. I just happened to get caught in the crossfire, so to speak.”

She’s stretching the truth to outright lying. Before Jiang Yanli can call her on it, her stomach growls.

“Didn’t get a chance to eat on the road?” she teases.

Xuanyu flushes, ducking briefly beneath the water to hide her flaming cheeks before resurfacing. “Things were a little hectic. It may have slipped my mind.”

How has she managed to put on weight while also forgetting to eat? Perhaps Lan Wangji deserves more credit.

“I think I have some candies in my room, if you want something before the banquet,” she offers. “I know the speeches take forever.”

Her eyes light up before dimming and she slumps in the bath. “Thanks, Yanli-jie, but I better not. Sizhui gave me some on the road and I usually love them but just putting it in my mouth almost made me sick. It was awful. And weird! They’re my favorite.”

Jiang Yanli blinks then gives Xuanyu’s significantly larger chest a considering look. It could be nothing. It’s probably nothing. She hasn’t even been married a year and it doesn’t sound as if she and Lan Wangji have been seeing eye to eye.

Then again, the same could have been said about her and Zixuan.

“Can I ask you something personal, Meimei?”

Xuanyu nods. “You can ask me anything, Yanli-jie.”

“Are you and Lan Wangji having sex?”

She turns bright red and ducks beneath the water for so long that Jiang Yanli is starting to get concerned before she resurfaces, still red faced. “Um. We did once. Well – I guess, technically, it was three times, but it was only one night.”

Well. Apparently Lan Wangji has stamina on and off the battlefield.

“One moment,” she says, briefly squeezing Xuanyu’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

It takes one whispered conversation with the servant outside the hall and approximately ninety seconds before her personal healer is standing in front of her. Jiang Yanli ducks back inside to see Xuanyu out of the bath, in a thin bathing robe that’s clinging to her as she wrings her hair out. “I’d like my healer to take a look at you, Meimei.”

Xuanyu freezes, slowly standing straight with a wary look on her face. “That’s really not necessary. The wounds were just superficial and they’re basically healed already.”

“It’ll be quick,” she says, because if she’s right then she can’t let Xuanyu go down to the banquet without letting her know. “She’s very discreet – she’s been my personal healer since I was a child.”

“Jiang Xingyi?” Xuanyu asks, some of her tension draining away.

Jiang Yanli nods, trying to think of some reason that Xuanyu would know her healer’s name, or her reputation, but all the servants are terrible gossips and her health is a frequent topic of derision. “Just your wrist, okay? Your golden core has changed a lot. I just want her to take a look.”

She feels bad about lying, but Xuanyu had lied to her first.

Xuanyu relaxes even further. “Okay, Yanli-jie. If it’ll make you feel better.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, then opens the door to usher Jiang Xingyi in.

The old woman doesn’t smile, but Xuanyu grins back undeterred, and says, “Hi, Granny,” before paling and adding, “uh, um. Sorry.”

Jiang Yanli feels a familiar pang of grief go through her. A-Xian had referred to Jiang Xingyi as Granny, the only disciple both bold and beloved enough to get away with it.

Jiang Xingyi ignores her, instead reaching for her wrist and pressing her fingers against it. Xuanyu fidgets, shifting from one foot to the other, but says nothing as the moments stack on top of one another.

Finally, Jiang Xingyi drops her wrist and steps back. Her stern visage breaks, a smile stretching her mouth across her face. “Congratulations, Madame Lan.”

She knew it!

“Thanks,” Xuanyu answers before wrinkling her nose. “Um. For what?”

“You are expecting,” she answers. “At least a couple months along, I believe, although I’d have to do a more thorough examination to be sure.”

Jiang Yanli moves to embrace her, but Xuanyu’s face drops and she turns dangerously pale. “What? No. That’s not possible. I can’t be.”

“Three times,” Jiang Yanli reminds her, trying to goad Xuanyu into laughter.

But instead she just shakes her head. “No, no I can’t, I – this can’t be happening,” she whispers to herself, grabbing her own arms in a white knuckled grip. “It’s not. It’s impossible. I can’t be.”

She’s young, and this wasn’t a marriage of her own choosing, and it’s so new. Of course she’s surprised and nervous. Jiang Yanli touches her elbow, intending to say something soothing, but Xuanyu collapses into her arms, gripping her waist and hiding her tears in her shoulder.

“Xuanyu!” she says, hugging her back just as fiercely, her heart breaking for the younger girl’s anguish. “Meimei, it’s okay, I know this is scary, but it’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not,” she says, voice thick with tears, “A-jie, this is awful, this is – it can’t happen! It can’t, Wangji is going to be so mad, he’s going to hate me, and everything is ruined and awful, I can’t be – I can’t! I’m going to die!”

Jiang Yanli’s whole body goes cold and she grips Xuanyu even tighter against her. “You’re going to be fine,” she says, pushing her conviction into every syllable.

No matter what Jiang Yanli has to do, Xuanyu is going to be fine.

[randomness-is-my-order]

i have a severe disliking for the concept of wei wuxian & jiang cheng reconciliation which honestly, didn’t start out that way. my first reaction to seeing these tags and also stories was that “oh nice, jiang cheng growth will be shown post-canon” because for me this reconciliation is only possible in the scope of a redemption story. and yes, jiang cheng’s redemption specifically. but much to my surprise, alot of these conceptualisations put the weight of reunion and reconciliation squarely on wei wuxian’s shoulders and that feels fundamentally wrong somehow, when i know that it wasn’t wei wuxian’s outlook that needed changing but jiang cheng’s.

sometimes, it is so funny how my experience with mo dao zu shi keenly parallels my experience with the my hero academia fandom. for anyone in the know and for anyone who would relate, jiang cheng & bakugo katsuki are so hilariously alike–especially in the way the fandoms treat these characters and how the fandoms place the weight of mending things on the wronged main characters. (and if i allow myself to get even more meta–even the tag wars are so alike i feel myself going through deja vu these days lol)

listen, i get the appeal of creating fanon explanations for unsavoury actions of characters we like and i know that some things can be enjoyed in a varied manner but there’s a way to make a canonical asshole more likable that doesn’t handwave away their wrongs or create justifications out of thin air for them or–and this one actually grates on my nerves–recontextualise things so the person they wronged somehow “deserved it” and it is: taking accountability and atoning and having that introspection and awareness, through whatever journey of growth, that yeah i fucked up and now i need to unfuck things if possible. but now that i have dipped my toes into stories of reconciliation and found myself a bit, uh, repulsed, by how wei wuxian had to make more efforts (or even equal efforts), it has permanently soured me on the concept. which is a bit of a shame.

[khattikeri]

i don't think enough people talk about how the backbone of nie huaisang's plan hinged heavily upon jin guangyao's low birth, and the jianghu's willingness to dogpile on such people.

nie huaisang is upper class. he's specifically stated in the novel as behaving more like the idle rich than like a distinguished second young master of one of the five great cultivation sects, but he's still an heir by birth. even if nie huaisang had been more openly caught, who would do anything to him?

wei wuxian notices that bicao's testimony was bought with a few shiny baubles— that nie huaisang was the one who bribed her with a nice bracelet for her testimony. he intentionally kept his own sect half dead, barely afloat for years, just to keep up the guise of an incompetent loser!

but the only actual consequence he's faced for such poor leadership that probably hurt a lot of common folks in his territory over 13 years is that people think nie huaisang is an annoying, useless crybaby. nie huaisang has a level of protection from consequences that jin guangyao had to fight much harder for (and that jin guangyao ultimately never truly got).

nie huaisang knew his own class and social position extremely well, and he knew how most people of that position behave and think. he was more than willing to use this in his revenge.

we know lan wangji is the type to use his wealth and position to do good for others. nie huaisang is the opposite— he's the type to use his wealth and position for himself and his own personal goals.

and this wasn't just something that started after his brother died! avoiding responsibilities, never carrying his sword, ignoring the fact that he wasn't honoring his sect or ancestors the way others wanted… his underground ring of selling porn as a teenager even got him out of the worst part of the wen indoctrination camps, because he bribed the wen cultivators overseeing everyone else.

my point is, nie huaisang is self-aware enough to know he doesn't really ever do the "right" thing! at no point in the story does he delude himself or others with grand ideals of how one ought to behave. he doesn't care.

unlike almost every single other upper class cultivator in the story— jiang cheng, jin zixuan, nie mingjue, lan xichen— who all think of themselves as righteous in a way, who are always able to justify their thoughts and actions, rarely if ever able to conceive of those thoughts and actions as flawed or wrong... nie huaisang KNOWS his own selfishness.

like lan wangji, nie huaisang recognizes that his class can easily be used as a shield to do whatever he wants. while lan wangji at worst uses this nifty privilege to silence people he doesn't like, refuse to explain himself in inconvenient situations, and bring wei wuxian along with him everywhere, nie huaisang uses it to shirk his duties for decades and tear jin guangyao apart in revenge.

jin guangyao being the son of a prostitute automatically amplifies bad rumors around him. bringing to light his incestuous marriage and the gruesome way he murdered his upper class father, however deserved, is obviously going to impact him in a way that someone higher class wouldn't be as hurt by. combining that with a final lie to get his sworn brother to stab him in a flash of doubt, and well...

is that good or righteous or just? no, of course not. nie huaisang doesn't spend any time pretending that his actions were conducted based on morality, or that he "had no choice".

nie huaisang just wanted to destroy jin guangyao, and damn did it feel good to finally do it.

[mxtxfanatic]

@reinedeslys-central While I am enjoying our convo on that other post, I figured it would better to move it off of op's post since they haven't engaged with it. So in response to your last reblog, I don't think we're really disagreeing with each other for the most part, but I do have a question for you about when you said this:

It's weird for me to think he actually feels no remorse over his actions with the wen remnants though, because, hey, killing innocent people, so I guess that's why I'm more inclined to that interpretation of mixed feelings?

Why do you feel this way? Why is it "weird" that Jiang Cheng feel no remorse about this in canon? He certainly doesn't show remorse about it at any point in the text. He certainly never thinks about the wrongs he committed against the Wen remnants in the text as "wrongs." Jiang Cheng has a reputation for attacking, torturing, and killing a lot of people off the strength of his hatred for Wei Wuxian and the QishanWen along with him just being an overall bully (like at the Dafan Mountain hunt where he attacks smaller cultivators to force them to leave the competitive nighthunt). For me, to say that it would be strange for Jiang Cheng not to feel remorse is like saying it would be "strange" if Xue Yang didn't feel bad for all those villages he tricked Xiao Xingchen into massacring. Xue Yang didn't see those villagers as people deserving of life. Jiang Cheng didn't see the Wen remnants as people deserving of life, either.

Jiang Cheng brought Jiang Yanli to see Wei Wuxian because Jiang Yanli asked for it. Just like Wei Wuxian was invited to Jin Ling's 100-day celebration because Jiang Yanli asked for it, not because Jin Zixuan wanted to be nice all of a sudden. Jiang Cheng shouldn't get the credit for the idea just because he fulfilled it. On that note, the defection duel was agreed upon by Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng because Wei Wuxian refused to return the Wen remnants to the labor camp, and Jiang Cheng kept saying that it would affect the Jiang's reputation that he would do such a public thing while still a part of their clan. In this story, reputation doesn't mean shit if you have the power to put your money where your mouth is. But Jiang Cheng's character is that he is always seeking approval from figures he considers more esteemed than himself. So he could have stood up against the Jin and been fine, just like the Jin stood up for Xue Yang and were fine. His refusal to do so was pure vanity, not strategy.

As for how the Jiang were left off after the war: Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian didn't have to rebuild because Lotus Pier was never destroyed. Wen Chao and co. were living in it because it was the supervisory office. The only thing damaged in the place were the lotus symbols that the QishanWen had intentionally defaced. Whatever wealth the Jiang had was either kept in Lotus Pier, meaning it was reclaimed immediately with the reclamation of Lotus Pier, or it was transferred to Qishan, which means it was reclaimed after the war ended. On top of all that, all of the land and wealth of the QishanWen were split amongst the victorious clans of the Sunshot Campaign, likely with the biggest clans who contributed the most receiving the largest cut. Since Wei Wuxian was a one-man army key to the Sunshot Campaign's victory, that means the Jiang would get a good portion of this bounty, which means they would be richer than when the war started. And Jiang Cheng had recruited disciples during the war, while Wei Wuxian drew in cultivators during and after with his new cultivation. There's not a single piece of textual evidence that suggests the Jiang were struggling after the war, not material-wise and not reputation-wise. It was only Jiang Cheng who wanted to attach himself to the Jin Clan by any means necessary because the Jin were very overtly trying to fill the power vacuum that the QishanWen left behind in their downfall, and Jiang Cheng wanted on the boat.

[robininthelabyrinth]

@thedarkline ask which disappeared:

Can you do one where Huisang is upset about the loss of his best friends? After the cloud recesses and the training camp he looked forward to seeing Wei Wuxian and JC again and now they don’t even like each other and WW is so cold now. Maybe they deserve a forced vacation?

ao3

Nie Mingjue blinked.

“Oh,” he said. “I see. This is a hallucination, and I should go get checked out by the doctors.”

“Rude, da-ge,” Nie Huaisang sniffed. “Also, you should in fact go get checked out by the doctors some more. I’m still worried about you, you got out of bed too quickly after everything. But also: rude!”

“All right, I’ll concede that maybe I didn’t hallucinate and you in fact said what you said,” Nie Mingjue said. “But…why? I thought you liked Wei Wuxian!”

“I do like him! Of course I like him!”

Nie Mingjue threw his hands into the air. “Then why in the world would you want me to bring him to trial?”

“Because he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Nie Huaisang said. “It’s all a bunch of rumor and innuendo, and now Jiang Cheng had to throw him out of the sect and pretend he doesn’t like him – which is ridiculous – and we can’t all hang out the way we used to and it’s awful, da-ge! Just awful!”

“Pretty awful for Wei Wuxian stuck living on the Burial Mounds and Jiang Cheng having to rebuild his sect all by himself, but yes, by all means, let’s focus on how it affects you personally,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “No fun hangouts with your friends. How will you survive?”

Nie Huaisang ignored him.

“My point is,” he said loftily, “if he’s found innocent after a trial, then he can come back. It’s perfect!”

“Huaisang…”

“I’m serious.”

Nie Mingjue rubbed his forehead and, reluctantly, started trying to actually think it through. Nie Huaisang could sometimes be distracted by shiny things, like a shopping trip or a new fan, but sometimes he would demonstrate his heritage by getting his teeth into something and stubbornly refusing to let up on it, ever.

It was nice to see him living up to at least some family traditions.

“Wei Wuxian did murder some Jin sect guards,” he pointed out. “He’s unquestionably guilty of that.”

“First off, no one cares about that,” Nie Huaisang rebutted. “And you know it.”

“They should. The fact that the Jin are soulless bastards isn’t exculpatory.”

“No, but also you’re wrong. The fact is, Wei Wuxian didn’t kill them.”

“What?”

���He didn’t! Wen Ning did.”

“…I’m not sure how it’s better that the Ghost General was involved.”

Nie Huaisang waved his fan at him. “Da-ge, don’t be obtuse! Wen Ning wasn’t the Ghost General at that point – he was just a fierce corpse. No consciousness.”

Nie Mingjue waited for his brother to explain his logic. He assumed there was some, anyway.

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes as if he thought Nie Mingjue was being purposefully slow just to mess with him, which he wasn’t, for once. “Da-ge. Wen Ning was a fierce corpse who had been killed by the Jin sect guards. If he’d resurrected without Wei-xiong’s help, would anyone have said anything?”

“Of course not. A murderer’s victim seeking vengeance for the crime committed against them is a classic case that calls for liberation, provided they haven’t killed anyone else in the process or gotten a taste for killing people such that they would continue doing so afterwards.”

“Exactly.”

“But Wei Wuxian did resurrect him.”

“Naturally he did! He was looking for his friend, he wanted to speak with him; he’s a demonic cultivator. What could be more natural? It’s no different from a Lan playing Inquiry to see if they can find a lost soul. How was Wei Wuxian to know that the Jin sect guards had murdered him, and that Wen Ning would therefore arise as a fierce corpse bent on immediate vengeance?”

Nie Mingjue wanted to laugh, and also possibly to suggest that Nie Huaisang consider picking up a sideline in advocacy, except that he really didn’t actually want a lawyer in the family.

“All right,” he said, suppressing his amusement. “Let’s say I’m following where you’re leading. Then why didn’t Wei Wuxian, demonic cultivator, stop the murder?”

“Da-ge, please,” Nie Huaisang cast him a horrified look. “You’re not suggesting a cultivator can be held responsible for not acting swiftly enough to stop something, are you? Imagine how much of the cultivation world might be at risk if that were the rule!”

“Mm. A good point. Didn’t I hear somewhere that Wei Wuxian had already known that the Jin sect guards had killed Wen Ning…?”

“Surely Wei-xiong would never make such an assumption about the good, upstanding people that a good, upstanding sect like Lanling Jin took on as their own. It must have been a misunderstanding. You know how young heroes are, all bluster and hot air. Are we kicking people out of sects just for that?”

Nie Mingjue’s shoulders were shaking with the effort to keep his laughter inside.

“There, you see! Perfectly logical,” Nie Huaisang concluded, throwing his sleeves up with a flourish. “Obviously the entire sequence of events that led to Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian out is simply a misunderstanding. Easily resolved!”

“Right. And the Wen sect? They were supposed to be in Jin sect custody.”

“Uh, da-ge, the Jin sect appointed guards that killed some of them, a fact we know for sure because we’ve gotten it based on the testimony of the dead – again, like Inquiry. Are you saying we can’t rely on things like Inquiry? What will the Lan sect say if they hear you suggest such a thing?”

“I’m suggesting that we still need to do something with the Wen sect.”

“Let Jiang Cheng take them and put them to work.” Nie Huaisang shrugged. “He’s got a whole sect to rebuild, hasn’t he? Anyway, they were the ones who were massacred, they should get first call on what to do with them.”

“Firstly, taking them in means that Jiang Cheng has to feed them –”

“The Jin sect can pay for that, if they’re so enthusiastic about helping deal with them.”

“Secondly, why would Jiang Cheng want the kinsman of the people who killed his parents? I thought you liked him?”

“I’m getting him back Wei Wuxian,” Nie Huaisang said. “He’s going to have to deal with the baggage Wei Wuxian picked up along the way on his own. What do I look like, someone who fixes things for people? Please, da-ge. I’m only human. There’s only so much that I’m capable of.”

Nie Mingjue gave in and started laughing.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

hello! I saw your recent post for asks, so don't mind me! x) someone said that Jiang Cheng lost his Golden Core because he saved Wei Wuxian, which is.. not true at all? I would've asked where they got that take, but I don't feel up to receiving hate ;-; have a nice day!

Hi there!

I will answer some of these seriously and others not so (Yours is one of those to be taken seriously even if Jiang Cheng doest deserve that).

On to the question... I believe this is conflated with the assumption "Jiang Cheng decided to chase away the Wens that would have seen Wei Wuxian" hence this saved Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian losing his core. And to that: there is nothing in text as to what would have happened if the Wen soldiers saw Wei Wuxian instead. What we found know is that Jiang Cheng led the soldiers away, we don't know how else he had been caught by Wen Zhuliu eventually or how he had been retained long enough by them for Wen Zhuliu to use the core melting technique.

As to saving Wei Wuxian, in one way, at the time, yes he did. But this is immediately rescinded when he chooses to strangle Wei Wuxian, again, and regrets very resentfully, the sacrifice this cost. Jiang Cheng does not like to make sacrifices, especially on s detrimental to himself or what he sees as more trouble than that sacrifice would be worth. He did not expect to sacrifice anything from this saving of Wei Wuxian. And even after this his hate is enough that he expounds on what he thought Wei Wuxian owed to the Jiang parents to himself and reasons them as debts owed by Wei Wuxian. Yet sacrifices aren't supposed to be repaid and to do without. Even thirteen years later after Wei Wuxian had died and provided Yunmeng Jiang with a better place and chance it had before, Jiang Cheng still expects continued sacrifice from Wei Wuxian as he does think he is entitled to it, even when that goes against Wei Wuxian's ideals.

We have two instances where Jiang Cheng decides to protect Wei Wuxian, once when they are nine and he says he will protect Wei Wuxian from his fear of dogs, which he stops doing and uses a dog against Wei Wuxian rescinding his own promise. And when he chased the Wen soldiers from Wei Wuxian where he did not expect to lose a thing, and even after getting a core, he chooses to frame this all as Wei Wuxian abandoning those that gave him life and helps to have Wei Wuxian killer one way or another.

What he wanted was an outlet to hate with what he hater in himself and his lack of taking his own choices and actions into account. This is only stopped when he is faced with Jin Ling under worse circumstances as Wei Wuxian once had and goes out of his way to leave his faith in someone finally unquestionable and unable to be exploited.

[alipeeps]

Episode 40 (aka Hold me, I am not ready for this!! 😭)

Gods I think I love Xue Li almost as much as Xiao Heng.

And that dude loves her a LOT.

LOOK at how he looks at her. LOOK!!

"Kill Xiao Heng and we'll live happily ever after"... dude, you have completely lost touch of reality. How can you believe for even a fraction of a second that she'd do that, that she'd choose you over him? She just told you a moment ago that she'd rather die with him that be with you.

YES XUE LI!!! Put the next one through his eye please!

Actually no, don't kill him. Let him live and suffer and regret.

"Killing you would dirty my hands." You tell him girl. He's nothing. He's not worth the blood on your hands.

I reckon 75% chance he's gonna throw himself off the battlements anyway. Coward.

Ahahahaaaa he's standing on the edge! Am I right? Am I?

CALLED IT!! 😂😂

Last thing he saw was her walking away. Love that for him.

Ooooh she's gonna cut her own throat on the sword....

Shiiit where's that tumblr image of apollo's dodgeball? I'm getting too good at this.

There goes your last leverage, shithead.

Aaaaand there goes your ability to breathe anything other than blood.

Yeah baby, get your revenge.

Ey up, the wind machine's back.

Hahahaa fucking hell grandpa Xiao making Xiao Heng serve him drinks on the excuse that he was injured saving Xue Li?! I'm pretty sure Xiao Heng was actually *more* injured - he took at least 3 sword slashes in the battle with Lord Cheng!

Okay but now I am really intruiged/worried cos the rebellion is over and there's like 30-odd minutes (and the much giffed scene of Xiao Heng in his armour with the pendant in his teeth) left to go so... wtf is gonna happen now?

Oooh Xiao Heng's going north to protect the border...

Bros 4eva!

Daddy Xue's back? For reals?

"She's got a husband now, how can she go back with us?" 😂

Awww and she's got daddy's approval for this one too! 😁

What do you think she means, Su Guogong, you dumbass? You gotta make that place fit for a wife! 😁

Hahaha Xiao Heng has bluescreened again!

It's kinda disturbing how rare it is in a cdrama for the main couple to get together, both survive and get to happily marry. HOWEVER... there's still 20 minutes and that scene to go!! 😭😭

Also am i the only one that keeps getting very nervous about the combination of wind machine, billowing drapes, and naked flame candles... 😬

Is she gonna admit to pappa Jiang that she's not Jiang Li? I'm pretty sure he already knows...

Yeeeeeah that's a nice lie Xue Li but it's a lie nonetheless. She did suffer and she was in pain. But okay...

I want this to be between you and me - and all the servants that just overheard our conversation.

Shit I thought for a second there he'd stroked out and died on the spot! 😂

This feels like she's saying goodbye to the Jiang family for good. She's married into the Xiao family now and the Jiang family are leaving the capital... and she's not really related to them, she's got no real reason to see them again...

Shijie is just too goddamn good and precious.

Ooft one thing that bugs me about the subs in this is that they don't properly translate titles/honorifics, they translate everything to the person's name. So the significance of her calling him ge is entirely lost to anyone who doesn't understand at least a little bit of Chinese.

(Also they do this with single syllable names which is even more egregious. They translate didi as Zhao, they don't even have the fucking courtesy to make it A-Zhao)

Awww I am sad that the haircombing scene was just her imagination... and I'm also worried that it's some kind of portent... 😭

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THEY KILLED LU JI!!!! 😭😭😭😭

I don't deserve this. After 40 episodes i do not deserve this how could you do this to me

Okay but Wen Ji I feel you fam I really do but Xiao Heng needs help!!

YOU BASTARDS!!

WHYYYYYYYYY??!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME?!! Why could they not just have a happy ending? What plot purpose does this even serve at this point?

Oh thank fuck I genuinely thought it was gonna end with it implying he was about to die on the battlefield.

I am dead. RIP me.

This was a fucking RIDE and I LOVED IT.

(Apart from them killing Lu Ji and Wen Ji for no reason 😭😭😭)

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

@sandumilfshou

Okay, I didn't really explain myself when answering my previous anon, so I'm gonna do that now as well as the new editions (warning: i am a hater)

Chengxian:

Chenxian compels me so much, childhood romance, what could've been, body mutilation on two linked occasions. What more do you want? I understand why people despise it, however I am a JC stan and honestly just want at least one person from his teen years to still be with him and love him. I think that he deserves it.

Xicheng:

I am not a xicheng enjoyer. I feel like every fanfic I read of them is just Lan Xichen taming and flattening Jiang Cheng's "bad" emotions. They dull down his character until he's nothing more than a plain digestive biscuit, and all for a man. There's also something of a running theme in Jiang Cheng ships where a lot of them are centred around WWX, and I fully believe that Xicheng is one of them. "Oh, my brother has a Lan? Well then so am I!" Guys pls let him have his own things 🙏

Zhanchengxian:

I don't really have any opinions on this other than good luck trying to write the Jiang Cheng x Lan Wangji dynamic in character whilst also making it romantic and not ooc, I feel for you. I think that this is 100% just WWX trying to tie all the people he loves to himself and never let them go again, which isnt exactly healthy but where's the fun in the ship if it is. Imo, it's 50/50 on whether or not we get diluting juice Jiang Cheng or not, which can be a bit tricky. I do however understand it for the porn. Which is nice ig.

Wangningxian:

You are a WWX enjoyer and like it when he is happy. Fair enough. I think the relationship regarding Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian (platonic and otherwise) is really under explored in this fandom along with Wen Ning's lack of agency and autonomy, which would be really interesting if worked into this trio. I'm always a bit worried about Lan Wangji and throuples, just in case Lan Xichen's curse is biological.

[spriteofmushrooms]

Goofy AU but one day after everything goes down, WWX gets nibling fever and really wants to see some little baby Jiang Cheng’s running around. He managed to miss all of JL cute little toddler pouts and first swims, after everything he’s missed he deserves to see a cute little Jiang glaring at him in a little lotus outfit. So he takes it upon himself to find JC the perfect wife to have the cutest babies with. If matchmakers won’t take JC, he’ll have to take matters into his own hands and become the Grandmaster of Matchmaking! What ensues is the most embarrassing set of situations where WWX keeps making a fool of himself as he keeps getting caught between his competing desires to hold the next Jiang baby and the fact that no woman is good enough for JC. Needless to say this results in shenanigans and embarrassment for all involved before it finally gets revealed that ChengQing was canon all along and the reason she wasn’t in the main story is because she’s been in seclusion to have her and JC’s second kid. The first one has been running around getting under foot throughout the fic but WWX didn’t register them as JC’s kid. WWX is simultaneously thrilled and outraged, but is pacified by holding the latest Jiang baby who happens to have JYL’s eyes.

WWX: Stop thinking about it all the time. I know you'll never be able to, but it really feels like all of these things happened in another life.

~3 months and 1 day later~

WWX: Actually no I want to see Jiang Cheng's chubby cheeks again. Jiang Cheng, when are you going to find a nice girl and settle down?!

JC, who's with WQ because she's Mean™: Never, go fuck yourself.

[least-carpet]

Jin Zixuan, Jin Guangyao, and their Opposite Trajectories

Listen, I never thought I would give a shit about Jin Zixuan but apparently I have Thoughts and I'm tired of this post sitting in my drafts. (This was literally the first MDZS post I ever started writing.) I give up.

The thought is (loosely) that their tragedies are opposite, not in source (piece of shit rapist dad, the Evils of Society, etc.) but in the like... the shape they make? I'm using the word "trajectory" but it's not quite right either.

Firstly, I'm reaching the point where I hate it when Jin Zixuan gets blamed for his own death. Being a dickhead as a teenager should not make it OK for your wife's sect brother to kill you with a zombie, even if that sect brother is much more charming then you.

Like he's not very nice and honestly the ass-kicking he got from Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses was fully deserved. But a lot of the stuff we see him do in the background indicates that he values integrity and is trying to work out what it is and how to do it (badly)—even Soup Drama is about giving credit correctly. (Does it reflect badly on him for him to have been engaged to Jiang Yanli for so long and not know jack shit about her interests? Oh yeah. Is it him fucking up a social interaction trying to do the right thing? Also yes!) So he has zero social graces and is a big loser BUT from what he does he seems like a big loser trying to figure out how to be a good person in a hot mess of a sect.

There's also no reason to assume that he didn't sincerely love Jiang Yanli, given that he dies still trying to fulfill her desire to see Wei Wuxian. Who kills him!

Jin Zixuan's tragedy is that his actual promise—not the handsomeness or the wealth, but his ongoing semi-pathetic attempts to become a good person and do the right thing—is never fulfilled because he's cut down at, like, 20. By someone he's trying to do a favour for, to add insult to injury.

Jin Guangyao on the other hand...Jin Guangyao's tragedy is it seems like he starts out pretty decent and then gets all fucked up.

One of my Jin Guangyao frustrations is the way people who hate him read his future behaviour into his past behaviour. (This also happens to Jiang Cheng.) I don't think MDZS's final version of Jin Guangyao, who during his evil monologue announces that he has committed ancient Chinese peak crime bingo¹, is the same person as the Meng Yao who enters the narrative. He gets loaded up with formative trauma, exposed to a wild amount of violence, and then enters the Jin sect, where up is down, his "family" hates and abuses him, and he's only rewarded when he does evil deeds for his shitty dad, while publicly maintaining a facade of goodness and justice. That is a scenario designed to pickle this guy's brain in evil! That's a scenario basically designed to pickle anyone's brain in evil! He gets ping-ponged furiously from one trauma engine to another and comes out all fucked up and paranoid.

Anyway if he'd died at 20 instead of Jin Zixuan, he would have died lauded as a hero. Instead he's going down in sect history as the creep who murdered his father and married his sister, and it'll be blamed on his poor mom, who he revered and loved.

I guess the uniting factor is maybe the ways in which their promise was squandered by their father and their sect, although the specific details are different. Man, the Jin sibs are all so depressing. (I include Qin Su and Mo Xuanyu in that statement.)

Footnotes:

I don't know that we're meant to take that completely literally—like some of the stuff he claims to have done he didn't do—but he certainly committed at least some of them. And omitted some other stuff that's also pretty bad, to be fair.

[incarnadinedreams]

What do you like about jc?

Oh my goodness what don't I love about him!

Well, first and most importantly, he has a purple lightning whip.

Secondly, you know how the elements of a tasty dish are salt, fat, acid, heat? Well he's salty, he's acidic, he's a spicy Yunmeng boy, and some sources of mixed repute claim he's got a nice fat ass. All the elements for a delicious snack are right there!!! He has the range, the depth, the complexity!

Jokes aside, a lot of it really is just based on vibes. I just... liked him pretty much immediately. My heart was won at "I'm his uncle. Any last words?" and it only got better from there. He's got most of my favorite lines in the book - whether funny or completely heart-wrenching, both directly in his dialog or about him. His sarcastic comments are always hilarious, and he's often enough actually a voice of reason and responsibility (promptly ignored). The vast majority of the time when he's not in some absurdly extreme and traumatic situation he's being pretty normal and seems perfectly likeable to me.

I enjoy that from the start he's mostly pretty practical. One of the first times we see him, he desperately wants to smack Lan Wangji but he's run the cost-benefit analysis in his mind and it's not worth it, so (grumpily) he does not. Some people point out his 'definitely don't start a petty fight unless you know you can win' reasoning as some sort of point of cowardice, but my reaction to that scene was thank god, finally someone in a fantasy novel has some common fucking sense!

Except, of course, on one very specific topic: Wei Wuxian. And then there's like a 50/50 chance all that consideration goes out the window instantly. A little pinch of unhinged obsession adds so much extra flavor! With the amount of overtime he's pulling in sect conferences he deserves a little derangement from time to time, as a treat. And that intensity goes both ways.

That fervent certainty that Wei Wuxian would be back some day, that not even death could hold him - a conviction bordering on madness, except in the end he was right? Hot.

On the other end, he's willing to sacrifice himself for Wei Wuxian and other people who loves over and over and over again throughout the story (even if he's mad about it), until he can't do that without throwing other people he's responsible for under the bus.

To the point that when we get to the big reveal after Guanyin Temple about how he was captured by the Wens... once the shock fades, you step back and think 'wait, why was that even a surprise to me at all?' The guy just took a sword through the chest for Wei Wuxian like an hour earlier (even if it was unnecessary and therefore mostly embarrassing), and was about to run back into that cave at the Second Siege with no spiritual power and a sword he couldn't even lift three days before that, and yet we're surprised he gave himself up back then?

And of course, the same goes for his nephew and I just love them so much. He doesn't hesitate for a moment to offer himself as a hostage instead of Jin Ling at the temple. He may sometimes struggle to express his love in a way that's more palatable than the prickly sharp thing it can sometimes be, but it's undeniably there. When Jin Ling is crying after the Second Siege, it's Jiang Cheng he goes to without hesitation - and that "Who did this to you?!" line, the way he doesn't hesitate to pull him away somewhere private and stick by his side.

Even things that are meant to cast him in a bad light, like his 400 spirit nets fiasco, show him also anxiously helicopter-uncling his way through baby's first "solo" night hunt, complete with undercover agents just in case, is proof that he at least cares very deeply. I think if you look beyond the surface, it's also pretty obvious why he'd spare no expense and use any method to give his bullied nephew the best debut night hunt possible in a society where talent and prestige are incredibly important to his future ability to consolidate power as the Jin heir. He wants to shield him from the same insecurities and pain he felt, especially where being overshadowed was used against him in ways that had specific negative impacts on his ability to protect people he cared about.

Another of the reasons I love him so much is because his grief is so intense that it's palpable. Those scenes post-fall of Lotus Pier where he's oscillating between numbed shock and fury, just... feel so real, and relatable, and resonate in way that's just horribly accurate. It's like his grief jumps off the page, you can feel the hurricane of horror and loss crashing into him. The scene at Nightless City, that moment where he says "Didn't you say that you could control it, that it would be fine?", where the last of his faith in Wei Wuxian shatters and the fracture is complete, like two halves of a whole have finally snapped apart and there's nothing left... I just love the intensity and desperation.

But even more, he keeps going after. He's stubbornly alive, despite it all, and I don't think he gets nearly enough credit for the fact that he's actually able to handle things pretty well, considering the situations involved. He has a breakdown about it and then he picks himself up and gets back to work. He's remarkably resilient, in ways that aren't necessarily flashy or obvious at first. Too much is made out of the ways he's broken or bitter when for the most part he's actually remarkably functional in the face of horrible traumas!

I have been trying very hard not to just spam my favorite quotes in here but this is really my favoritest favorite (from chapter 61) because it just sums him up so beautifully:

... the most laughable one was the YunmengJiang Sect, the people of which either had been killed or had scattered, leaving only Jiang Cheng, who was younger than even Lan XiChen and was still a child born yesterday, who had nobody in his hands but still dared call himself sect leader, holding up the banner of rebellion as he recruited new disciples.

Because he does the hard work, day in and day out. The boring, tedious, constant work - the endless late nights dealing with the constant problems. But he does it, and he mostly accomplishes what he sets out to do.

It's so sad that all the things he does very well get overshadowed by his insecurities, because in the end, hasn't he done incredible things? Hasn't he survived? Hasn't he gone from the youngest sect leader with nothing and nobody that Wen Ruohan could only laugh at, to "No matter which clan you choose to offend, you shouldn't offend the Jiang clan, and no matter which person you choose to offend, you shouldn't offend Jiang Cheng"?

He might be a little scarred, but isn't he succeeding all the same?

(He should probably hire a PR firm to handle the rumors his resting bitch face causes though.)

[lansplaining]

About how jc didn't move on from his family's death, I think people pick up wwx's quote where he is : 'after 13 years jc didn't move on!' I know that wwx's coping machine is 'Conceal, not Feel', so I get his point, but everyone mourns in their own way! Also I think that's a nice detail to have at least one of her brother to still mourn jyl

also-- like so many things, is Wei Wuxian really correct? it wouldn't be weird if Jiang Cheng HADN'T gotten over the trauma, but also... once again... is Wei Wuxian seeing what he expects to see, or what's actually there? does Jiang Cheng keep bringing up his family because he's not over it, or because he's actively trying to provoke a reaction from Wei Wuxian about them?

also like..... yeah, the poor Jiangs deserve to have someone still care, jeez

[coffeeandritalin]

Sudden incoherent Jiang Cheng thoughts...

Let's get this bit off my chest first: JC can care about WWX and still be a toxic and destructive presence in WWX's life. Those things are not mutually exclusive.

Next: Compared to a lot of characters, I don't find JC's end to be all that terrible. If anything, I actually find it to be rather hopeful.

JGY's comments in the temple have forced JC to fully reckon with the fact that he is, to put it nicely, not a very nice person. With regards to WWX, he's forced to acknowledge that he has failed this person on a lot of different levels.

What's satisfying for me is that we get to see almost immediate growth in JC. As the temple fiasco is wrapping up, we get this little moment from JC:

After a moment of hesitation, his lips moved slightly, as though he wanted to say something else. However, Wei WuXian had already turned to Lan WangJi. Seeing this, Jiang Cheng remained silent. (ExR, ch. 110)

He isn't forcing himself on WWX for once. He isn't yelling at WWX and forcing him to pay attention to him. WWX has moved on, and JC is respecting that.

Later, JL criticizes JC for not asking WWX to stay back (presumably to make up), but JC knows there's no point in doing so. There's no point in apologizing. There's no point in telling WWX about what happened before the golden core exchange went down. Making WWX sit and listen through all of that would only absolve JC of his pain/guilt and do nothing to alleviate all of WWX's pain. Finally, JC isn't pinning all of his turmoil and emotions on WWX and is instead letting WWX have the peace he deserves.

And I am so proud of him for that!? Like, don't get me wrong. The man has been a toxic person for almost his entire life, and he has a VERY long and arduous journey ahead of him to potentially undo even a little bit of that toxicity and atone for his past behavior.

Still, it is progress! It is change! And right next to JC is JL - who JC loves and cares for, who isn't afraid to challenge and call his jiujiu out, and who will continue to be there and care for JC in return. There's actually hope that JC might change a little bit for the better, and (for me) there's a lot of hope in that potential.

[mxtxfanatic]

It's interesting how Madam Yu is so adament about Jiang Fengmian hating Jiang Cheng because he's her son, and yet she... Doesn't do that with Jiang Yanli.

Of course, we understand that it's because JYL does not have a lick of her personality, but also. Madam Yu's been saying that since before WWX came to the sect. Probably their entire life.

Do you think she ever said such things to Yanli too, when she was younger? Or did she only start with Jiang Cheng because she barely considered her daughter as her actual kid due to the internalized mysoginy that I feel she's definitely suffering from?

That the only kid that matters is her son, and so she made her son to be (like) her, because I feel like the kids were too young to exhibit such behavior consistently enough for Madam Yu to see that only her son acted like her.

It's a very interesting thing to think about.

Why did Jiang Cheng never realize the dissonance between what Madam Yu said (Jiang Fengmian hates you because you're my son) and how Jiang Yanli was treated by both of her parents, both so different with her than with him? Did he think that JFM hated Yanli too? Or did it just never occur to him because, like to his mother, Yanli didn't ACTUALLY matter as a person?

I feel like this is an entire new can of worm opened here. So much to think about.

Idk, I think Madam Yu just dissociated from Jiang Yanli because from the moment her daughter was born, she was "someone else's wife." No need to live vicariously through a kid that's gonna eventually end up in someone else's household. Instead, she spends the few times we see her intact with Jiang Yanli admonishing the poor girl for acting "beneath" her station (interacting nicely with Wei Wuxian). Jiang Cheng is the child who will eventually inherit the Jiang Clan. Better to sink her claws into him so that her influence on the Jiang Clan is unshakable.

I don't think Jiang Cheng thinks Jiang Fengmian hates Jiang Yanli, but he realizes that Jiang Yanli has a better personality than him and his personality is why he doesn't get along with their dad. But also like, Jiang Cheng's logic around Jiang Fengmian's parentage is that as his actual children, they deserve his love and affections exclusively. Jiang Yanli is Jiang Fengmian's daughter, so she deserves to have a good relationship with him, meanwhile he is robbed of the affection that is "rightfully" his "because Wei Wuxian, the outsider's child, robs it from him." In the end, Jiang Cheng is truly his mother's child: he knows the reason why things are the way that they are, but to accept it means that he has to accept that he is at fault for the consequences he has reaped. He doesn't want to acknowledge his responsibility in his own failed relationships, so he believes in the lie that paints him as a victim to others' scheming.

[neuxue]

May I have a WWX for the Blorbo Bleebus sheet?

you most certainly may!

The divorce is jiang cheng. neither of them is doing well about it.

The thing about Wei Wuxian is that he's absolutely the protagonist of this story as it's told, and the narrative itself plays with that concept... but if you zoom out a bit, he is also very much Just Some Guy who was chosen due to a combination of his own choices and external factors as a convenient target for society's ire. And you can see the way even that shifts with the times, and the way while he ends up tangled up in so many other people's stories, those stories are not so much centred around him as observed by him or colliding with him, depending. All of which is to say: he is the protagonist of this story only, because he is the one whose eyes we see it through.

whether he's inventing new and creative ways to torture you into insanity and death (in that order) or teaching you Talismans 101 just because he can really depends on his mood and when in his life you're meeting him. I might have been a little unfair on this one and perhaps he should be further over to the right, but I feel like I'm trying to compensate for the fact that the crueller parts of him often get sanded down in fandom.

enemy of god (in his first life); at peace with life (in his second, eventually)

oh, the hot takes. He's not the only character to inspire them, and he's not really even the worst, but yikes.

He deserves healing and peace and nice things! I'm glad he has them! But I am who I am and I like him best when he's bleeding and bitter and furious and losing his tenuous grip on who he is or who he once wanted to be.

In this case The Realisation and consequences pair nicely: the moment where it all falls apart at Qiongqidao in particular is absolutely choice. More of Wei Wuxian realising far too late that there are consequences for his actions that are no longer within his control, that moment of frozen horror right before it spirals but after the point of no return. That's the good shit.