#LET ME MAKE WWX SUFFER!!!!!!

[abcdfghjklmpqrobin]

People will hate on LXC for telling WWX he was a mistake, but honestly we're not giving the guy enough credit

Like, things from his perspective ARE. A. SHITSHOW.

I mean imagine you're being supportive of your little brother's crush, he's funny, he challenges him and makes him happy, so you're like 'wooooo let's go baby brother!' and then that mf starts doing the equivalent of harcore drugs. And you're like (•᷄ △ •᷅ ;)

Then your brother starts running after him constantly, trying to help, being like 'please stop, this is bad for your health, let me help' and his crush. not only does not stop. not only does he get worse. not only does he starts fighting your brother every time they speak and making him miserable. But he doubles down and becomes a. Fucking. Convicted. Felon.

And you're like 'bro, drop this hoe omfg😰' and your brother is like 'no, I love him :('.

So then his crush kills somebody and goes on the run. And you have to watch as your baby brother decides to go against the law, against your family, ruining his life, his future and everything he has worked for. To go after this bitch that doesn't even love him back (that you know) .

Your baby brother is gonna go to fucking jail for being an accomplice. You start scrambling. Thank. Fuck. Your family is influential, so you burry his involvement and go after him. But then, WHILE PROTECTING THIS DUDE, that is constantly telling him to fuck off, mind you. Your brother hurts important people and gets LASHED.

Your baby brother gets literally almost killed. He gets send straight to the ICU. He can't walk, he can't move. Doctors aren't even sure he's going to fucking survive.

You have to see as your brother suffers, and worsens his condition by trying to get back to his crush. See him overwhelmed with pain to the point of self harm. See him sad and grieving for years.

And then. After all of that. This piece of shit, that ruined your brothers life, that ruined his mental and physical health for 13 years. That has been taunting him and testing his boundaries for months. That you let into your mother's house and into your family's secrets, only for him to break your brother's heart, again. Looks at you straight in the eye, on one of the worst days of your life, while you are going through your own breakup. And, honest to God, asks you 'Does your brother's pain have something to do with me?'...

Bruh...

I'm just saying, LXC is better than me, because if that was me 'a mistake' wouldn't be the only thing I would be calling him.

[factsilike]

Really tired of constantly seeing posts declaring that everyone in MXTX novels is complicated and 'morally grey' and that's what makes her works wonderfully written, and that everyone else who doesn't see that is stupid, or is 'demonising' characters and bashing them for rightfully criticising their shitty, very much unjustified actions.

And ironically it seems so simplistic to just declare that, because yes her stories are wonderfully written and complex, but not for that reason. You're clearly not reading her works and only spouting what you think her stories say. There are many morally grey characters in morally complex stories out there, but MDZS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

NONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS (i.e protagonists and their male leads except for LBH maybe) ARE MORALLY GREY OR MORALLY COMPLEX.

THEY ARE ALL MORALLY RIGHTEOUS.

Just take a closer look at their actions compared to the actions of literally everyone else around them, it's not that hard to see.

Not to mention that MXTX herself literally says that WWX and LWJ are both morally ideal and that ahe hopes her readers can be like them, but people seem to have no respect for the word of authors in the name of their self projection onto the characters being contradicted nowadays 😒

(also saw someone dismissively say that HC may think that the world revolves around XL or whatever, but others don't and they're right??

First of all, did you even read the novel? HC made his judgement based on how others treated him versus how XL did when he was a CHILD. And how XL continues to treat others to this day. He is well within his rights to think the world of XL, especially since XL suffered more than every other person and still doesn't succumb to evil, despite having every right to do so, miles more than others. He all but regards XL as his moral compass, because he's proof that truly good people do exist in this world, and not ONE other person in the novel is shown to be as good as him.)

One of the reasons why I really don't like the Xianle Trio is this; neither FX nor MQ seem to regard XL as his own person with his own agency, who is capable of making his own decisions initially as HC does, and only near the end of the novel do they let up a bit when their asses had to be saved by XL multiple times. (especially considering what fools they made of themselves in that spiderweb cave lmao)

Both of them try to enforce XL ALL THE TIME ("Your Highness don't do this or don't do that or don't say this or don't go there or don't talk to him"), as if XL has not survived perfectly well on his own without them FOR 800 YEARS.

The difference between them and HC is clearly spelled out when FC asks HC about why he is not stopping XL, and HC replies that while he may not agree with some of XL's decisions, he would never force him to do what he thinks is correct, something both MQ and FX are CONSTANTLY shown to try to do.

Like please. Xianle Trio who? More like suffering XL and his pair of nuisances who think themselves to be his babysitters. And most of the time he's the one babysitting them.

Another thing that irks me is that their frequent arguments are often played off for laughs, but XL is truly a saint, because if my friends were constantly bickering over petty things all throughout our dangerous journey and giving me nothing but headaches, especially in survival situations, I'd given them the boot a long time ago.

[rhysiana]

Because I saw a post about how modern AU WWX would probably actually be as tall as LWJ, if not taller, since so many modern AUs don't feature him suffering as much childhood privation as canon, which reminded me of another thought I have had, about how an early life period of interrupted growth can in fact just delay a person's growth spurts rather than eliminating them. Thus: WWX who gets confusingly taller after graduating from college.

3 People Wei Ying Talked to About Suddenly Getting Taller and 1 Person Who Definitely Noticed On His Own

[Now also on AO3]

Wen Ning

Wei Ying looked down at his feet, perplexed. "Wen Ning?" he yelled down the hall. "Did something weird happen to the washing machine that you didn't tell me about?"

Wen Ning popped his head around the door to Wei Ying's room. "No? I don't think so."

"Then why are all my pants suddenly too short?" A new thought occurred to him and he looked up, now delighted. "Wen Ning! Are you actually pulling a prank on me? I know I don't have all that many clothes, but still, this must have taken so much work! I respect the dedication." He held out a fist.

Wen Ning just blinked at him. "I think... maybe you got taller, actually?"

Wei Ying scoffed. "I'm way too old for a growth spurt. Seriously, did Nie Huaisang put you up to this?"

Wen Ning gave up arguing and simply produced a tape measure instead.

~*~

Wen Qing

Wei Ying burst into Wen Qing's lab, which he might have felt worse about if she hadn't been babysitting an experiment while no one else was around. He still received an impressive glare, but he didn't have time to worry about that right now.

"Wen Qing, I need you to test me for every weird kind of chemical exposure you can think of!"

She blinked at him, looking remarkably like her brother for a moment. "Wei Ying, you're in computer science. Exactly when do you come in contact with chemicals?"

"Uh. A leak on the science campus somewhere?"

"What is actually wrong with you? Tell me in the next," she glanced at the clock, "three minutes or leave."

"I apparently grew another inch in the last month without noticing. That can't be natural. I'm 23."

She stared at him for a moment, frowned, and then her expression cleared. "You said once that you had a bad time when you were younger. Stopped growing for a while."

"Why do you even remember that?" Wei Ying asked with an uncomfortable laugh, looking away. He must have been drunk; he didn't usually bring that time of his life up in any detail. It just made people sad.

Wen Qing turned away briskly, ignoring his minor display of emotion, and checked some readouts he was pretty sure hadn't actually changed in any way yet. "Well, that's why. Your growth spurts just got delayed, not erased. It's normal. I'll send you some references tomorrow."

He swept her up in a relieved hug. "Thank you, Qing-jie. Even if this does mean I'm not developing some weird superpower mutation."

She poked him cruelly in the ribs to get him to let go. "Go away, you're distracting me."

~*~

Jiang Cheng

"You what?!" Jiang Cheng demanded at full volume. It'd been a while since they'd managed to get together in person--Wei Ying had nearly forgotten how red with frustration Jiang Cheng could get.

Wei Ying grinned and bounced a little on his toes to really rub it in. "Grew another inch."

"No! This isn't allowed! The universe can't do this to me!"

"What's the problem, little brother?" Wei Ying edged closer so he could prop his elbow on Jiang Cheng's shoulder and really lean on him. "I think I should get jiejie to measure me again and mark it on the door frame. Really make it official."

"Don't you dare!"

"Why don't I ask her now, so she'll be all ready when we see her next weekend?" Wei Ying fished out his phone and then held it up over his head, laughing, as Jiang Cheng lunged for it.

Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed. "An inch isn't really that much," he growled, and hooked Wei Ying's leg in a takedown they'd both learned when they were 11.

Wei Ying tossed his phone out of wrestling range and turned his full attention to finding a hold that would make Jiang Cheng tap out.

~*~

Lan Zhan

"Wei Ying."

Most people claimed Lan Zhan's voice (and face) didn't have any expression, but Wei Ying could clearly hear the shock underlying his name.

"Lan Zhan!" he returned brightly. "You're back! Did you have a good trip? You've been gone for months and months!"

Wei Ying was used to the intensity of Lan Zhan's regard under normal circumstances--one of the many things he loved about being friends with him--but he didn't think he was imagining that it was particularly intense today.

"It was as I texted you," Lan Zhan said shortly, and then, surprisingly, continued before Wei Ying could get a teasing reply in. "Wei Ying... did you get taller?"

"Oh, that!" Wei Ying felt himself start to blush, for some reason. "Yeah, I did. It was so weird at first, but Qing-jie assures me it's normal, and I've almost gotten used to it now. It was just an inch but I had to go buy all new... pants..." He trailed off as Lan Zhan pushed into his personal space much closer than he ever had without Wei Ying initiating it first, as far as Wei Ying could recall. "Hi?"

They were nearly chest to chest now, and he could see it when Lan Zhan actually had to tilt his chin up just a bit to meet Wei Ying's eyes.

"Hello," Lan Zhan said, grave and low and very, very focused.

Wei Ying wasn't entirely sure what was happening right now, but he was pretty sure he was into it.

[robby-bobby-tommy]

Honestly, I can't stress enough how important the theme of family is in mdzs. IMO it is the main theme of the book. Of course romance and devotion is important, but there's something so special about the way families are portrayed in mdzs and how important they are. (I watched donghua and read some of manhua btw)

Let's start with sibling relationships:

The whole plot started because of love for a brother and rage for how unjust his death was. The whole Cloud Recesses arc is an amazing set up for Wangxian etc, but it also shows the complicated yet sweet relationship between WWX and JC. How they both care so much about each other, how they tease each other. IMO JC did see WWX as a brother and loved him as such. Every time he scolds Wei Ying, it's always about Wei Ying's safety. Usually it's not "How dare you use demonic cultivation, you're gonna get our clan in danger", it's " If you keep it up, I won't be able to protect you". Even during the Wen invasion, the they're still together, they sacrifice themselves to save another. And don't get me started about Jiang Yanli, she loves her brothers very much. Despite Madam Yu creating a competition between the boys or Jiang Fengmian's lack of action and even enablement of WWX' dangerous and irresponsible behavior, they still love each other. I can ramble about yunmeng trio so much, but in short despite everything they went through, they cared for each other deeply. After Jiang Yanli's death everything changes, because imo the boys fully internalized Madam Yu's last words. WWX bring pain and destruction to Yunmeng. I think I need to stop, or we'll be here all day.

Or, another example: Nie bros. Nie Mingjue had to basically raise A-sang. They do deeply care about each other, and despite everything they'll be here for each other. Yet the desire to protect NHS from sad reality of golden core and qi deviation, their relationship soured a little. But it's obvious even for an outsider like WWX, that NMJ loves his brother. He pressures NHS, because he feels that he's starting to lose it. He wants to prepare his little bro to be a decent leader and to live without him. And NHS literally makes it his life mission to avenge his Dage even if it means having a blood on his hands.

Lan brothers show a good brother relationship. Lan Xichen supports LWJ in everything he does. Even his love for WWX. He gets protective, when he thinks WWX is laughing at LWJ's feelings. Lan Zhan is deeply saddened when his brother is missing and helps him discover the truth about his best friend's death. They're almost perfect siblings. (Plus they're super funny when drunk).

MXTX deserves an award for writing so many different sibling dynamics. And that's not all, she also portrays this different parental relationship so interesting.

Like, the nephews you didn't want, but care so much about, that you don't want them to suffer like their father did (Lan Qiren and this family drama); the kid of your husband's unrequited love, whom he seemingly loves more than your own children (Yunmeng Jiang happy house), JGS and the myriad of the kids he has ect. I love this variety so much.

I just love so much how MDZS has so much themes. Every time I think about MDZS, I find more and more interesting points and moments that change my perception of the characters. Every character is so humain and has their own motivation, that I can't truly hate some of them (apart from Wen Chao, his mistress and JGS, they suck).

TLDR: MXTX is a queen of writing complex human characters.

[sonik-kun]

Saw this post that tried to imply that if WWX had been around to help raise JL, he'd be JL's favourite uncle, and I just had to roll my eyes to the sky. Antis really can't cope with the fact that JC is JL's favourite in the canon, that they have to make WWX into some perfect Mary sue who is everyone's favourite. Such a cope, lol.

JL is literally a carbon copy of JC. He inherited his grumpy, tsundere attitude (and his father's brattiness!). Whilst he will love WWX, I can also see him growing exasperated with him at times, just like JC used to whenever WWX would tease him! JC and JL will be able to relate to the fact that they're always on the butt end of WWX'S shenanigans! Their reactions would be the same, and WWX would thrive on that!

Not only that, JL is literally just JC but under better circumstances. He wasn't traumatised by war, nor has he ever had to make the same sort of decisions JC did at an early age. I know he too was made SL young and had the trauma of losing both his parents and discovering that his beloved uncle, JGY, was the huge mastermind behind everything and tried to kill him. But at least he had JC and WWX's guidance in the end. They both won't let him make the same mistakes they did.

Which brings me to my next point that had there been no sunshot campaign, no core loss, no DC, JC would have simply turned out a lot like JL. A grumpy SL with a cold exterior and a warm interior. It was trauma that brought out those "ugly" traits antis like to criticise JC for. Remember, before the war, he was just a normal kid. A kid suffering emotional abuse from his parents.. but still.. a normal kid. I have no reason to believe he would have turned into this monster, antis love to paint him as being. I feel like JL is meant to be JC's parallel. How he would have turned out had the circumstances been better. The fact that he turned out to be a good kid under JC's care is a testament to that.

Stop trying to take their relationship away from them just to elevate WWX. JiuJiu and JL will always be eachothers favourites for only they can understand each other, and that's fine! It won't make WWX any less of a good character, I promise.

[acearohippo]

Don't mind me, just rambling

Sometimes, I see childhood!Wei Wuxian and think "wow, the untreated ADHD is really powerful with this one". And then I see him post ressurection as mo xuanyu and go "wow, he really be suffering from that lack of oxygenated brain" and then I pause and think.

"Wait. holy crap... Did mxtx purposely make him TBI (traumatic brain injury) -coded?? Did she understand that, as he wouldn't be in his original body, the ADHD wouldn't've followed him, but mxy being legally dead for who knows how many minutes (aka, no oxygen/blood flowing to the brain) before the soul of wwx completely merged, WOULD cause a whole load of similar symptoms but with less executive dysfunction??"

Because if that was on purpose, I am blown away at the attention to detail. And if it wasn't on purpose... I'm still blown away at the difference! Not to mention, the more stable he became with support from Lan Wangji the less debilitating his symptoms were to him.

And I was already shook by Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Cheng's autism-coded personality clashes. It's not often we see (accurate) portrayals of when two (or more) neurodivergent characters clash, usually there's more emphasis on solidarity vs neurotypicals. There's no "trauma-bonding", no "coming to a truce through marriage", no "I hate socialising, you hate socialising, let's avoid it together". And it's accurate, because when stuff goes down and they need to work together, there's no hesitation because the expectation is that- well, they need to handle the shit that hit the fan. And when all is over and done with? They don't fall under the societal pressure to bond with each other, there's no need. They did their jobs, they're good.

Mxtx is just really damn good at writing complex characters with complex neuroses. I ain't even touch how you can almost always tell who's the "coded" ones in her stories and they're not all the same character archetype. It's glorious.

[weirdocat83]

obsessed with your tags, talk mdzs at me pls

Uh.

1) thank you, I really just put the random thoughts I have in the tags and/or accidentally steal other people’s tags

2) some thoughts about mdzs below the cut (I have a lot of thoughts about this novel) ye ask any ye shall receive. If you want to hear my thoughts on something specific plz ask :3

• My fav characters in MDZS are Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang. I love how WWX can be very complicated when he wants to be and has many layers and sides to him. Like, the fandom likes to simplify his character to someone self deprecating but always smiling but he is very complex. He acknowledges his faults and has only tried to do what he deemed right at the time even if he regrets what he does in hindsight. He isn’t infallible. He literally tortured a man to death (even if it felt right to do it considering said man orchestrated a massacre and tossed him into a literal pit of suffering to die in) and was a major player in a WAR. He’s probably killed more than he can count. I feel like a lot of people forget that the main cast is a bunch of war heroes that must’ve had insane kill counts. Including LWJ. It’s quite tragic that none of them really had any good authority figures to lead them seeing as the majority of them were at most 20~30ish and cultivators usually live extremely long lives (at least, that’s my assumption) anyhow, WWX is very aware of his faults, especially post-resurrection as he did kinda fuck up when he accidentally killed JZX. He acknowledges that and makes an effort to apologize and atone. That being said, his faults don’t stop him from being confident and above all likable. Yes he can be annoying but he does know how to behave himself probably better than most (unlike what many members of the fandom like to think). He knows his position well and that it is incredibly precarious (in both lives) but still manages to fit in well enough with essentially nobility that he is good competition for the best in his generation. He is a genius and a great leader and that isn’t stressed enough. Though I think one of the small details in his character that I think gets overlooked is how he “parents” A-Yuan in the burial mounds. Because for as immature as he is when he’s burying A-Yuan in the ground, he also knows that he isn’t the only one caring for A-Yuan and therefore is allowed to be silly but when they’re out at the market and A-Yuan asks for a toy he makes the mature decision to save his money (although LWJ spoils the kid immediately after). This reflects a lot on WWX because it shows he can be very mature when he needs to be but when he doesn’t need to be he’ll happily rely on others. It also reflects on his upbringing showing he knows how important money is (in contrast to the lans who are shown on various occasions to not really think about money much) Personally I love his character because he seems like a person I’d get along with if he were real (which, the incredible writing makes his seems very realistic) meanwhile my other favorite, Nie Huaisang, I love because he is misleading. Some of my favorite fictional characters are very misleading because of the masks they put up to fool people to achieve their goals. How a character will know more than they should but not let anyone know until the moment is right. NHS is someone who is easily underestimated because he seems helpless and unintelligent. And yeah, for a majority of his life he really didn’t care to further his education or really practice cultivation but later he takes this preconceived notion that everyone has of him and uses it to his advantage so nobody suspects a thing while he plans JGY’s downfall. It’s a scarily intelligent move and I think the fact that he takes pleasure in looking at art/books really adds to the fact of how intelligent he is. Most people see his art as pointless hobbies but I think it says a lot about the qualities of his character. I think a lot of people take for granted the patience it takes to make good art or the intelligence it takes to appreciate good literature. So when NHS's older brother dies under mysterious circumstances that just so happen to help the Jins? of course he catches on! He proceeds to keep his enemy close for over a decade until he finally gets his moment of revenge. Which, to me? Props, man. plus only one person even realizes what happened. WWX. 

Some things I don’t particularly like about MDZS (some people may yell at me for this and I'm sorry but this is my opinion): 

- how weird the yi city arc felt? It feels very out of place as we go on this whole journey to learn about all these people and what happened to them but after that they are pretty much no longer relevant. I only found out later that the yi city arc was initially intended to be its own story. So that might be why.

- how certain things are just *left* and never touched on again? We hear all this stuff about baoshan sanren but we never see her or really learn much about her at all. Similarly, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s parents? We hear all these things about them but never learn much at all. Which is weird all things considered when you look at it. It feels like a lot of background info for not much payoff. Yes, it gives us a lot of vital information on why things played out the way they did but it doesn’t stop the feeling that there should’ve been more. Part of me appreciated it though because it gives us no more information than the characters really have. Just passing information that is common knowledge but never really looked into just like many actual people have.

- how everything ended off. So we have that whole scene at the temple and then everything just… calms down? They all go home??? It felt anticlimactic. Especially with Nie Huaisang’s character as (in the novel at least) it sets him up to be the next chief cultivator despite being just as, if not more, sneaky than Jin Guangyao. And that’s probably intentional. The chief cultivator position was likely never meant to be a position of absolute good. It’s politics. But it is a bit weird that we never really see what happens to Nie Huaisang after, post revenge and all. 

[wangxian-the-zhijis]

I didn’t want to say something. But I’m seeing a lot of posts that irritate me lately.

I saw a twitter/X thread back then that calls out artists who draw WWX as someone who’s shorter/extremely shorter than LWJ. Reading the comments on that thread and people just supported it and even said that those artist have no idea about canon. They also mentioned CQL and said that WWX is obviously much taller than LWJ there.

And the thing is… so what? If artists draw WWX as shorter than LWJ so what? Firstly, it’s canon but that’s not the main point of this argument. The main point is: Let artists have the freedom to express themselves however they want. If they want to draw WWX as a baby-height and LWJ as an overly tall man, then LET THEM! It’s their fucking right and who the fuck are y’all to shame them for doing something that they enjoy? If you don’t want the art, simple, SCROLL PAST IT. Or much better, try to fucking do your own version.

You see, these artists have probably spent years practicing/perfecting their own craft so they have the freedom to do whatever the hell they want because they earned it. None of you have any say to tell what an artist is supposed to draw except for the artist himself/herself.

And these days, I’ve also seen posts here in tumblr now shaming fanfic writers for liking a certain trope. I’m not gonna elaborate but they’re simply just saying stuff like “i can never understand people who depict lwj as—“ “why the hell do people think wwx is—“ I’m not gonna elaborate but basically they’re calling out fanfic writers.

So again, SO WHAT?! SO. FUCKING. WHAT? Whenever you click a fic, you are already in the writer’s territory. You are already in the writer’s mind and imagination that you are lucky enough to be in because the writer was skilled enough to share it to the world. These writers have talents and that’s why they chose to express themselves. Just like artists, writers also have the freedom to express themselves HOWEVER THE HELL THEY WANT and none of you have any say in it. If you don’t like a content, SCROLL PAST IT.

So what if I want to depict LWJ as a shy teenage girl who gets flustered every time his crush is around? So what if I make WWX suffer even in his second life just because I want angst? So what if I make LWJ a damsel in distress?

You see, artists and fanfic writers all have different perceptions and imaginations. So please stop shitting on it. Or I will fucking step on you.

If you have time to complain, then you also have time to draw or write your own imaginations. And it’s better to do the latter than to fucking shit on someone’s happiness and freedom.

[pieridae-art]

Special Lan Xichen analysis post

As I’ve previously said, Lan Xichen is a very flawed person and that’s okay! I want to examine him at several parts of the story and pick apart some of the criticism he gets. So let’s talk Lan Xichen!

Siege of the Burial Mounds: I really like this one shot from the donghua where the Sect Leaders of each sect (NMJ, JGS, and JC) are shown at the siege and beside them representing the Lan sect is… Lan Qiren. Not LXC. Setting aside the perfect storm JGS set up for the siege to occur (I don’t care who led it; JGS is the problem post-Sunshot Campaign about 99% of the time), I think this is because LXC stayed back in the Cloud Recesses with LWJ tending to his wounds post-whipping. Not assuming LXC’s absence, however, the siege was led by JC and orchestrated (because separating the twin prides of Yunmeng and artificially creating tension within the jianghu was a deliberate action) by JGS. Not saying LXC’s participation is okay just because he wasn’t the driving force behind it but imagine if the Lan sect stood against the other sect’s wishes. Standing up for WWX would have been the right thing to do but were the Lans in any position to oppose the siege with their sect in the process of rebuilding? Going along with the siege, to me, is an act of cowardice, not malice. Extra note: we see his capability of defending the Wen remnants when JGS is talking shit about them and WWX but he is shut down immediately and does not speak up any further. This is not a matter of hypocrisy; it’s a matter of fearing the consequences.

NMJ’s death: this is rocky territory. It was a bad idea full stop to force proximity between them hoping everything would sort itself out. But you simply cannot blame him for NMJ’s death because he couldn’t have known. One could argue that he endangered JGY by forcing him to be near someone who tried to kill him several times. I think that’s an oversimplification of the situation. To me, this was a gesture of trust. Trust that NMJ will make an attempt to restrain himself/get better and trust that JGY will aid him in doing so. As we know, this trust is misguided. He’s rather naive to think this would work. But he is humored anyway by two people with bad intentions toward each other. LXC is not at fault for this going south when it was at a certain point inevitable. But he did enable it.

That one line about WWX being LWJ’s only mistake: I get so defensive because honestly I’d have said much worse in his position! Think about what he knows about Wangxian’s relationship leading up to it. He saw his brother devastated that the man he loved was being corrupted and harmed by his cultivation, watched as LWJ despaired over him and fought the elders and got whipped for him. He’s only seen his brother suffer due to his love for WWX. Was saying this okay? No. Consider the circumstances surrounding this line, however. Also criticizing him for this is just plain nit-picky to me lol there’s plenty this man has actually done wrong to criticize him for.

And another thing: stop saying he favored JGY over LWJ!! The entire point of his denial surrounding JGY is that there was no solid, tangible proof that was damning enough for him to outright condemn JGY without some level of unfair assumption! He was trying to be fair about the investigation! Might I add: WWX was the only one who saw NMJ’s head in Jinlintai. Had it been LWJ to see it and approach him I think the story would’ve gone differently! But it wasn’t. And he wanted to have faith in his friend from an underprivileged background constantly facing slander and mistreatment despite doing good things for the world against the jianghu’s wishes because isn’t that what LWJ did with WWX? LXC learned his lesson from WWX’s death, he just practiced it on the wrong person.

What have we learned? Lan Xichen was complicit in and enabled a lot of Bad Things if he was not an active participant, most of it willingly and some of it unknowingly. He’s unfair sometimes. He’s weak willed and lacks the strength to actually stand up for anyone in a meaningful way. He’s naive. In my opinion, he was in denial for a large portion of his story about the harmful effects of his actions.

And I adore him! He’s got the capacity for so much good and he fails to live up to it! He wants to be righteous and he doesn’t know how without putting the people he is responsible for at risk! He thinks he can do conflict resolution and he just can’t! By the end of the story, he is painfully aware of all of this and he lives knowing he did the wrong thing over and over and over again. He got the only outcome he could ever have. I don’t think he deserved his ending but I do think he might have earned it.

[sillygoofyqueer]

I wrote this when I read the latest chapter of losing hope but I didn’t have time to send, so here:

Four, I love you so much.

The comfort to the hurt of the previous (and probably future) chapters?? Unparalleled. It is so late it’s early as of reading it so reading comprehension is a bit weird but frankly? I’m probably going to do a reread. Maybe of the entire fic. Who knows! Everything in this latest chapter has me squealing of joy and also crying over how bittersweet it all is! The lan juniors doing everything they can to make Wwx comfortable? And Wwx realizing who lan yuan is??? Adorable. I’m going to cry over this until the end of time. LWJ and Wwx misreading each other hurts tho. Like,

LWJ: he’s been suffering for so long while I have done nothing to stop it. Helping him and showing we care for him would be the bare minimum and I should be ashamed of myself for letting this wonderful man suffer so.

Meanwhile, Wwx: sooooo… is he going to turn me in…? Not that I want to go back but just wondering. No…??? But he hated me back then?? Guess this is the best I’ll get since everyone else wants to kill me..?

They’re idiots. I love your portrayal of them. I also can’t wait to see when LWJ realizes how much of this was done by Jin Guangyao. That man is dead twice over considering if Nie Huaisang joins LWJ in making Jin Guangyao regret living? Oh jgy is going to be begging for death.

Can’t wait for the next chapter but remember to take breaks and take care of yourself :3

Looking up at you with big ole eyes. BIG ole eyes. I am quite literally dead. Gone. On the floor and wiped out. Cough cough cough, bleh. ...... ANYWAY!!!!!!! I was really concerned when portraying Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji this chapter because...well, it's their first interaction together after thirteen years! There are complete different circumstances to canon!! So, hearing that you like how I am portraying them is nothing but literal music to my ears. Lan Wangji being the repenting worshipper and Wei Wuxian as the traumatised prisoner??? Mmmmmm. It is something that I've been wanting to write well, but I've been PETRIFIED. Also, Wei Wuxian hasn't figured out who Lan Yuan is just yet because boy oh BOY if I'm not going to make this reveal dramatic. I did Drama for GCSE, it's in my blood. And AND, I shouldn't be telling you this but because I'm so madly in love with you, you get little hints towards the plot. I literally cannot wait to introduce Nie Huaisang. I've been wrestling myself the the floor every time I want to prematurely introduce him, but trust me when I say it's going to be brilliant when he's finally dragged into the plot. And he will be. By his ear, kicking and screaming, but oh..he will be. And it will not be helpful for Jin Guangyao when he is. Don't worry! After all of this hurt I would be truly criminal to deny a little comfort. Not much though - what do you take me for? FUN FACT!!! There may be certain guest appearances in the next chapter. Who knows? Maybe you'll never know. I can't believe I haven't mentioned it yet, but I am truly violently sobbing. I'm thrashing around in my grave (where I'm writing this from) every time I reread this ask. I LOVE YOU TO BITS. YOU BRING SUCH JOY IN MY LIFE. AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH. On another note...am I writing chapter ten?.....DON'T LOOK AT MY DOC. DON'T LOOK AT IT. THERE'S NO PROOF. I'm not procrastinating my summer work to write it.. (listen, I've only just realised that this is exactly what I'm doing. Will I sort that out? No. BACK TO THE DOC-) (context here)

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Lol jc stans: if you want to talk about his negative traits we can talk about his positive traits in the canon tag.

Like there's nothing wrong with that? Talk about all the canon positive stuff about him? Its real funny for them to say that when majority of stans have been making up weirdest fanons in the 'reclaiming it for beloved jiujiu' moment, including straight up denying jc hitting jl, or if he hit jl 'thats just typical asian discipling!' (Yikes), or excusing wen remnants murder 'because jc was grieving' or that jc raised jl, talking about headcanons in canon tag intentionally and then straight up attacking people over talking about canon, (typical jc stan behaviour) is what people have an issue over, after harassing fans out of main tag now all this bs in the canon tag when stans refer to edited donghua and manghua changes as canon (and that stuff isnt even adaptation supported, like in cql jc did stab until wwx let go, falling off the cliff but best bro jc fanons are more common from that side) and all the xicheng fanart/talk of mingchen or whoever the hell they can find to ship with the homophobe (but how dare you call him one when he's one!) is 'just the poor jc stans interpretation of canon who the evil antis harass by asking for source'

I encourage this. Yes please bring up how he had good intentions as a child when he said he'd protect Wei Wuxian from dogs. Bring up how he felt empathy and tried to stop Madam Yu from a whipping that was worse than they both had to witness before. Yes bring up how his first intentional reaction when he saw that Wei Wuxian would be caught was to distract the Wen soldiers with himself.

He had underlying good intentions at first. I certainly have never denied that in his own capacity he loves and does care about others, all people do. The matter is the conditions that he started to see that love as worthy of providing. It is and was a transactional love from the start of their friendship. Might not have been the intent at all, but that was how it morphed and was expected to be given as they grew older.

Relationships can't grow or be good for another when they are built on "If you do this for me I will do this back". It's already placing a denotation of what you are worth emotionally. And once you start building up a list of resentments against another person, that worth has already begun to shift less in favor of equality and share of burdens. My burdens take precedence over the suffering of others, because my suffering and pain matter more in the long run. This view enforces a lack of empathy and kindness and begets further cruelty and apathy.

So yes, bring up his good, but also remember that good is used to remind everyone t how Jiang Cheng would not have ever done this if he knew what it entailed and immediately regrets extending his kindness to Wei Wuxian because the benefit didn't outweigh the suffering for him.

You do not say he suffered so much and deride others for accepting that without asking for more or, having known in the first place. Grace requires being humble and saying no more than needed to exchange care. Jiang Cheng doesn't know how to do this as he views kindness given to him as pity or looking down on him.

[twilightarc-gm]

💥👓💛👻

😍 Specs!! Hi!! I see you with these questions 🕵️‍♂️

From this Ask Game: Here

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change? (MDZS) YOU KNOW ME!!! But instead of the super obvious answer about the romantic subplot or whatever, I gotta say like, I really don't think JYL had to literally die for WWX's man-pain. Would the Present Timeline story be drastically different? Yeah, but I think it would have been better. I think it would have forced WWX to confront and resolve his past in more satisfying ways even if MXTX still makes him break off everything with JC-JYL-YMJ. Hottake, but I think it's spicier if he keeps trying to leave everything in the past but his mistakes are still alive and would like a real apology. With JC there's the whole transfer thing, mucking up who might need to apologize to whom, but with JYL it's very clear and very devastating. Where is all the angst this story could have given me?? No, I'm not going to rewrite MDZS about it 😩 I'm just going to suffer in my Yunmeng Trio feels.

👓 What helps you focus when you write? You're going to use this against me, I know it. I'm gonna be like, "Specs I can't focus." And you're going to go, "Well YOU said this helps you focus so are you doing it???" And I'll be like... "🥺" Not to be all aging-Millennial on main or anything but a shot of hard liquor, wordless music, a clear idea of a scene, and someone waiting to read what I wrote. It's a hard combo to achieve, let's be real. I have written 5k at a time with that combo though, so it's a big winner. @robinade knows nothing motivates me more than someone on discord going 👐🙏. And then I feed them the snippet and then they grade me with emotes. I'm very rewards based, who isn't? They tell you to write for yourself first, but it's always nice if I have an end goal of entertaining someone else as well, otherwise the ideas just stay in my head la-di-da style.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing? I got nothing inspirational to say here. I think a game changer for me was doing this thing with "scenes" but like... as a roadmap. So what I do now that helps me figure out what to write is listing off all the scenes I want to write and a little blurb about those scenes (or a lot of blurb depending on how specific I have it in my mind). It's like an outline, but not very high level. Anyone that reads my stuff lately can see I label my scenes with section titles and that's from this process. It sort of fills in the for the writing advice about how, when you get to the end of one scene, make sure to write the first sentence of the next so you don't get stuck on how to start a scene when you get back to it. This format is really working for me and it's not as cumbersome as an outline (even though for big fics I have those too).

👻 What is your wildest headcanon? HOOOO it's really hard to have a "wild" headcanon in this fandom (MDZS) without someone taking the biggest offense to it. And honestly the word "wild" is doing a lot of work here, it can mean anything. So basically I have a lot headcanons but what's wild enough for this question??? BAM!! JGS uses women as human cauldrons to further his cultivation. And JGY used that knowledge to kill him.

🧡 😎 Alrighty, I think my work here is done. 🌹 🎩

[kanene-yaaay]

Hi it's me, the anon with the sending hcs ask! I finally got to finish reading the last book rn and like.... was anyone gonna tell me that WWX canonically reaches out to tickle below LWJ's chin several times???

And yes ofc LWJ doesn't react but still-

Anyway now I can't stop thinking about it, about how LWJ might react to it if he let's go of his self-control enough to let himself act on that knee-jerk impulse (which would be easiest for him when drunk, in canon, but also hear me out.... what if incredibly sleep-deprived LWJ who just doesn't care about controlling his facial expressions anymore if only his husband will finally deign to stop bouncing around and come to bed)

I think WWX would probably suffer a heart attack if the habitual little tease of reaching out to tickle LWJ under his chin would result in LWJ shivering and tucking his chin down and swaying back slightly with the corners of his mouth quivering. Especially if, flustered by his own "inappropriately unrestrained" reaction, LWJ refused to meet WWX's eyes and respond to his teasing beyond quiet hums like that'd hide his pink ears or the way his chin keeps twitching down whenever WWX starts to reach out towards his face. WWX would have a field day with the knowledge that he can make his husband struggle to keep his composure with such a small, innocent touch - especially once he discovers that drawing his fingertips up and over LWJ blush-warm ears actually makes his perfect posture falter because he can't help but twitch away from the horribly soft tickle,,

If you can't tell I'm going insane and I'm having to hold myself back from writing a whole essay on this in your askbox - I hope you enjoy my little brainstorm session though :D!

I ALMOST SCREAMED WHEN I DISCOVERED ABOUT THAT LIL TICKLE UNDER THE CHIN like aaaa!! Can you imagine? The very own HuangJun, quiet, controlled and calm being undone by a few tickles?

I love the idea you just brought with extremely tired Lan Zhan feeling comfortable enough to just let go around his dear husband and Wei Wuxian, being the GREMLIN he is, using that to his favor to tease and push (lovely) his buttons, going for that usual lil tickle and not expecting much, except that this time his lover's eyes get wider and a quiet huff escape his lips before he can stop it and now Wei Wuxian is looking at him with playfully dangerous gaze. He just got a taste of the melodious, beautiful laughter of his husband and he wants to listen to it again. Cue the usual shenanigans between these two being silly and so much in love.

Tickling Lan Zhan, I imagine, is always an unclear adventure. You never know if in the next second it will be him snickering and laughing under palyful fingers or you being lost in laughter and joy as he decides to end thsi game. Wei Wuxian is always more than happy to take this gamble, tho.

Also!!!!! YOU ARE! SO! FREAKING RIGHT!!!! Gosh, look, look. Those blushy ears are the cutest thing ever! All I can imagine is WWX getting absolutely endeared by how red Lan Zhan's ears are and then he decided to ATTACK this very spot with all the light traces and soft scribbles and loving kisses and playful nibbles, which only makes them redder, of course, which makes WWX want to tickle them more, which makes them red-

You get it.

Besides! How adorable that Lan Zhan can't hide both his ears and smile at the same time so Wei Wuxian takes turns in teasing him about both of them and snickering when that makes Lan Zhan falter and try to decide which one he must hide now. To imagine he getting all smiley and quiet (this part of him answering his husband with hums when he teases him is EVERYTHING TO ME) and Wei Wuxian just having so much fun and they both enjoying each other and being sweet and cute auuugh, my heart can't take it

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I don't know if you know, but the irony of wnxg is that they don't share with each others past experiences. It's not extremely important, but sharing is part of a relationship?? It's lxc who says to wwx about how lwj suffered for their mother's death; it's always lxc who reveals to wwx how lwj got 33 strikes. Instead, not having others, lwj doesn't know nothing about wwx past, only few rumors. It's me, I am boring, but sharing things with your partner, is important?? How are they gonna comunicate with lxc in seclusion?

Obv that's my opinion and mxtx did do a great job! I am still there, two years after, screaming about jl, jc, wq and jgy! She had a lot of plot, so maybe she couldn’t explore the romance properly!

This is a good point that I hadn't considered! It made me reflect on how much characters reveal in general about their own stories outside of undergoing Empathy, and the answer is... not many! JGY notably reveals his own experiences under duress at Guanyin Temple, but he still doesn't talk about his life prior to being kicked down the stairs in any detail; the flashback showing his and MS's abuse in the brothel comes via WWX doing Empathy with Anxin's ghost. Other than that, all the major revelations one character are told by someone else. Off the top of my head, we have WN (and not WWX) revealing the core transfer, LXC (and not MY) revealing that MY was a double agent, and Bicao (and not Madame Qin, QS, or JGY) revealing that JGY and QS were half-siblings. And even the subjects of Empathy aren't telling their stories so much as letting WWX come along for a ride in their memories.

So on the one hand, this is an established trend in the novel. On the other hand, given the sheer amount of TIME we spend on Wangxian Romance Content, it's quite strange that our two leads tell each other so little about themselves! I would find Wangxian much more interesting if they replaced even just some of the repetitive "one character initiates physical intimacy when the other character won't remember it later" scenes with actual conversations about their experiences and who they are as people. It hits LWJ especially hard, I think, because at least we as an audience know what's going on with WWX since he's our viewpoint character. For LWJ, we're dependent on what WWX knows or observes, which is deliberately lacking.

I disagree that MXTX simply didn't have time/space to fit that in alongside everything else, because CQL manages to do silly hijinks and personal revelations in THE SAME SCENE. Episode 6 opens with LWJ catching the One Braincell Trio drinking together. WWX makes LWJ drink wine, and we get a mini version of goofy Drunji shenanigans... but WWX also learns about the Lan forehead ribbons (which will be relevant later in the same episode), and LWJ and WWX learn that both have lost their parents. LWJ doesn't elaborate beyond "I don't have a mother," but his sad, faraway little face makes plain how keenly he feels about it. WWX notices, and he confesses to LWJ that he can barely remember his parents beyond the fragmented memory of riding a donkey. (He also tells him about the dogs!)

It's a lovely little moment, and it's what first had me going "aww🥺" about the two of them. (Still does, honestly! I know I'm salty on here a lot, but I genuinely do love Drama Wangxian when I'm actively watching the show and am away from fandom; I only wish they'd been able to be expressly romantic with it.) I was definitely entertained by them speedrunning fanfic tropes in the Cloud Recesses episodes, but I would have tired of them if that was all their interactions were. That tiny bit of genuine bonding is what made me interested in learning more about them both and invested in seeing how their relationship developed.

And the entire sequence is just 5 minutes out of one 45-minute episode! It doesn't take much, and the written equivalent was something I sorely missed in the two volumes of the novel I read.

[ninjakk]

Hello. Your blog really amazing and I love it very much.!!!

Soo there is something which is bugging me for a while. When WWX is in Jiang sect and is given very horrible punishment for even littlest things. Where are the elders of the sects?? Why are they not interfering?? Are they afraid of authority of YZY as a sect madam??? There are not mentioned in the novel, correct me if i am wrong. Do they even exist in Jiang Sect or is that position not there in teaching of breaking restraints and freedom.

And Wei Changze was second in command of Sect leader. Doesn't anybody have any kind of lingering affection for him. And correct YZY when she is spewing hate about him.

The classism of this makes me want to cry and pull my hair.

Hi Anon,

Thank you for the sweet comments. It's lovely to hear my blog posts are appreciated 🥰

This is a hard one, because there isn't really that much to go in the novel that can outrightly answer your question as such. We can summarise what we do know, and come up with a plausible explanation - but it would be purely postulation of course.

With that in mind, let's have a look at what we can gather from the novel 😊

Firstly, the Jiang sect is one of the Five Four Great Sects. They are one of the most prominent sects in the MDZS universe, competing alongside other major sects such as the Jin, Lan and Nie sects (and of course the Wen sect prior to its annihilation). Even though the sect claims to be "unrestrained", there is still a sense of hierarchy within it. So I think it's safe to assume the Jiang sect does have some form of senior/elder structure, as well as numerous adults present within the sect. As the narrative is somewhat influenced by WWXs POV, it's most likely they are just unimportant to the story and have not had much of an impression on him.

So we've established there most likely are senior cultivators within the sect. Now let's look at a snapshot of what we know about Madam Yu:

Madam Yu came from the prominent MeishanYu Sect. She was ranked third in her clan, so was also called Third Lady Yu. In the cultivation world, she went by the name “Violet Spider”. Just bringing up the name could scare quite a few away. Ever since she was young, she’d had a cold personality and never came off as likeable when conversing with others.

Chapter 51 ExR

We are first introduced to Madam Yu in the above chapter, where the reader is given a clear indication of her personality. She is well known in the cultivation world and it sounds like she is feared by many. From the text, we can gather she is quite formidable and has a fiery temper to match! As such, MXTX is intentionally giving the impression of a very unapproachable woman. We get further evidence of this whenever we see her shout interact with others throughout the novel. She is very argumentative and unreasonable. It seems even her own husband and children can't make her ratiocinate when she is abusing WWX - only hindering or postponing her abuse instead.

I think the general impression we get from the novel, is that Madam Yu has a rather imposing presence at Lotus Pier and no one would dare stand up to her. There may well be people within the sect who want to help WWX and stop or at least impede the abuse he suffers, but they might be too frightened of Madam Yu's wrath to do anything about it. That being said, as we don't have proof either way - perhaps others in the sect have stuck up for WWX before, and we aren't aware of it. Although sadly I very much doubt it, Madam Yu's reputation alone makes me hesitant to think otherwise.

Madam Yu is the mistress of Lotus Pier. She sees herself as someone with almost unparalleled authority - so we can safely assume she most certainly commands the respect it deserves amongst those at the Jiang sect.

Madam Yu, “What am I doing here? What a joke that I am asked of such a thing! Sect Leader Jiang, do you still remember that I’m also the leader of Lotus Pier? Do you still remember that every inch of the earth here is my territory?...."

Chapter 56

With that in mind, who would dare oppose their sect leader or the mistress of their sect - especially one with such a volatile personality. If anyone dared to stand up against her, she would most likely kick them out for disrespecting her and her position, or punish them severely. Unfortunately Madam Yu's status awards her the right to punish the subordinates however she sees fit - even if we know it is completely unjustified and excessively cruel.

As for WWX's father WCZ, as far as I am aware, his status within the Jiang sect was referred to as JFMs "most loyal servant", not second in command of the sect. We also know WCZ was a cultivator, because he became cultivation partners with WWX's mother CSSR and left to travel the world together.

Both Jiang FengMian and his wife, Yu ZiYuan, were quite familiar with Wei WuXian’s parents. Despite this, Jiang FengMian never reminisced about his old friend in front of Wei WuXian and, moreover, Yu ZiYuan never spoke properly to Wei WuXian at all. It was lucky for him if she didn’t give him a few whips and send him to kneel in the ancestral hall so that he’d keep his distance from Jiang Cheng. Other people told him most of the things he knew about his parents. He really didn’t know much more than what everyone else knew.

Chapter 29

So we can see JFM does not mention WWX's parents in front of him - whether this is because he feels he might upset WWX or if there is another reason behind his lack of reminiscing, is of course all up for interpretation. But WWX does mention that "others" have spoken to him about his parents, which I think hints that some of the disciples from the sect might have spoken about WCZ, although it seems not very often. Perhaps others are worried they will upset WWX by mentioning his parents also. Or maybe there could be lingering feelings and animosity around WCZ leaving the sect. Unfortunately we don't really know much more with regards to WCZ, as he was only mentioned very briefly on a few fleeting occasions, so we can only speculate. Either way, even if others remembered WCZ fondly, I think the fear of going up against Madam Yu would definitely eclipse such feelings.

You're right Anon, the classism in the novel is both frustrating and incredibly tragic. It has to be said though, that although Madam Yu is very classist, it seems the sect itself was already so way before she even arrived. Given the fact that the Jiang sect already had servants and WCZs status is constantly brought up - it's evidently the case. It's quite telling that a lot of people in the fandom overlook WCZ was also a cultivator, and only remember him as JFMs servant. Tragically, even in death WCZ never escaped his status as a servant, which is surprising considering he died a free man and a rogue cultivator with no affiliations to a sect. Yes, he seemingly left the sect without any consequences. But the prejudice against him was so strong, so ingrained in society and the sect he left, that it was passed on to his own son in the end nevertheless.

MXTX has a constant theme of classism running throughout the novel. Overall it plays a major part in WWXs fall from "grace" and the crumbling of his very fragile and superficial status, that was bestowed upon him so easily and taken away even more so. Fortunately for WWX, he is a lot happier without such restraints and can live his life how he wants to, now that he is not bound by obligations and an ostensible status. WWX is free to live happily ever after, with his loving husband LWJ 💕

[siblingshowdown]

YUNMENG TRIO PROPAGANDA!!!!!

I promise as the moderator of this competition I won’t campaign for any specific sibling sets after this but I cannot let my faves Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng lose in the first round when they were seeded pretty high.

For context, here is who I’m talking about:

Look at those babies!

The Yunmeng Trio are three siblings from the book Mo Dao Zu Shi or the TV show The Untamed.  They consist of oldest sister Jiang Yanli, middle adopted brother Wei Wuxian, and youngest brother Jiang Cheng.  Their relationship is crucial to the story, as it follows Wei Wuxian and his dynamic with both siblings (but especially Jiang Cheng) influences a lot of his decisions, which in turn influences a lot of the state of the world they live in as a whole.

Could these siblings win a physical fight against other sibling sets? YES.  Jiang Cheng is a very skill swordsman and has a magic lightning whip.  Wei Wuxian invented a new kind of magic and by and large is super overpowered (can take on hundreds of people at a time due to his ability to control ghosts/corpses/harness resentful energy).  Yanli, while not much of a physical fighter, can easily win over anyone’s heart with the power of soup.  (Seriously, in the book it lists her weapons as “love and soup”)  Everyone loves her, especially her brothers, which lowkey makes her an extremely powerful character because they’d do anything for her.

Do these siblings have sibling swag? YES.  They bicker! Especially WWX and JC.  Yanli loves to make her brothers soup and they always argue over who has the bigger portion!  They have inside jokes!  JC and WWX are always nitpicking at each other but will not allow anyone else to do so!  They’re all traumatized by their parents in different ways and therefore lean on each other and are unhealthily codependent because of it!  Whenever one of the brothers goes off by himself Yanli always asks the other one to go bring him back, and when she couldn’t do that she waded out into an active battlefield to try to find them!

Do they love each other? YES.  “We are the closest three in the world.”  Jiang Cheng sacrificing himself so Wei Wuxian doesn’t get taken hostage.  Wei Wuxian convincing his friend to perform ethically dubious and extremely dangerous surgery on him to try to get Jiang Cheng back to 100%.  The sole time Yanli loses her temper in the show, it’s because people are yelling at Wei Wuxian and not showing him respect!  She wore her wedding outfit when she and Jiang Cheng went to visit Wei Wuxian in exile because he wouldn’t be able to be at her actual wedding and she wanted him to see it!  Jiang Cheng suggested that Yanli let Wei name her son!  That scene made me cry no joke!

Are they interesting? YES.  I just described how much they love each other but the show actually begins with us seeing Jiang Cheng supposedly kill Wei before we jump back in time, so you know they have some intense emotional arcs going on!  Wei Wuxian was adopted when he and JC were around 6, and his status as an insanely talented and amazing cultivator plays really interestingly with the fact that his younger brother will be clan leader because WWX isn’t in the bloodline, and that influences JC immensely because in a way he has to deal with some of the worst parts of being a younger sibling while also having to deal with things an older sibling would otherwise have to.  Once Wei starts doing big plot things and becomes Public Enemy Number 1, JC and Yanli have to be careful with how they navigate the political world while trying to rebuild their clan and navigate an engagement that could unite their clan with a much more powerful one, but they still try to protect their brother.  Bodies start dropping.  They’re all traumatized over various events that occur before they’re even fully adults.  They make me feel so many emotions it’s not even funny.

tldr: I love them. please don’t let them lose in the first round please just give them this they’ve suffered enough.