#and lan qiren just wanna quit

[carrot-felisidad]

Commented something on Pinterest and realized I should post it on tumblr

[gentlegentian]

I feel like the true cruelty of the lan sect is a really overlooked topic in the mdzs fandom, because when you think about it...

they practically forced madam lan into marriage so she wouldn't be executed because she killed one of her teachers, but gave her no trial or chance to explain why, and once she was married they simply locked her away and that was that. qingheng-jun then locked himself into seclusion once he had a kid and that was that, had no business with the rest of the sect and left xichen and wangji to grow up alone.

not to mention the fact that wangji even being born is suspicious... xichens conception makes sense, as they would've needed a sect heir, but wangji? how would he have been concieved, if madame lan was trapped away and qingheng-jun was in seclusion. either this is a plot hole im looking way too deep into or theres something darker happening there

in any case, the twin jades most likely did not have a good childhood. like at all. their father was completely absent, and once their mother died they were practically parentless. sure lan qiren raised them, but he was also acting as the lan sect leader whilst qingheng-jun was away, so i doubt he held much involvement in their raising other than making sure they stuck to the rules and were fed etc

SPEAKING OF THE RULES. the punishments the kids in the lan sect had to deal with?????? the fact that nhs, wwx and jc were beaten for rule breaking whilst they were staying at the lan sect as pupils just makes me wonder how badly they treat their own lan disciples if thats how they treat special guests from other clans. they were fifteen when that happened, FIFTEEN, so clearly the lan sect has no problem with LITERALLY BEATING children to teach a lesson.

its basically just abuse to keep a system in place, and it makes me wonder just how many times the twin jades suffered like that as kids to be as 'perfect' as they are as adults

the lan are so corrupt in their ways and i hate how we dont fully see that in the story until wangji is whipped for protecting wei ying. the whole situation is so fucking cruel and unnecessary it makes my blood boil whenever i reread/rewatch that part, because yes wangji did wrong by injuring the elders but the only reason he did so was because they were refusing to listen to him and quite literally trying to murder his lover.

i get he committed treason or whatever by fighting the elders but 33 whip lashes all in one go with NO breaks or healing time?? with a magical cultivated punishment whip as well, its genuinely like they were trying to kill him. even if he didnt die from the lashings themselves he could've gotten an infection, or had severe blood loss, or hell they coulve broken his spine with the force of it. it took so long for him to heal from that, and it left him with so many scars both physical and mental. that level of injury would've likely left him with some form of chronic pain or illness as well, and it was just so cruel for a situation that didn't ever need to come to this.

they forced him into seclusion, just like his father, and punished him for defending himself, just like they did his mother. xichen ended up similarly as well, with his seclusion after the events with jgy. the lan elders had seen the horrific end qingheng-jun and madame lan had, and yet did nothing to stop their children from facing the same trauma, even making theirs worse.

the lans praise themselves as a sect that sticks to righteousness and principles, when realistically its just full of hypocrites holding onto power by means of fear and punishment. they say that lwj broke the rules by fighting to save wwx, and yet somehow torturing him was completely within the rules of the clan.

their rules and image are merely a cover up for the downright abuse and silencing of their disciples, and its just so fucked up. i could rant about this for so much longer, but also wanna see what other people think before i delve into some of the other topics i have in mind that relate

[fengshenjunlang]

Hello, i just wanna ask what do you think of the manhua JC? dont get me wrong but there scenes that i haven't read in the novel that were shown in manhua even briefly. For example, that JC hugging his puppies. While it was outrightly said that he did have dogs that were sent out after WWX came to lotus cove, I don't really think he was that emotionally attached to them considering how fast he changed his mind. Those little panels of things that were probably implied makes a lot JC delulu stans make him more uwu. While i dont think that child JC is that bad, he is a child for one thet throw tantrums. Even teenage JC is redeemable probably since he was not that bad yet, but i just dont get how they justify him being secretly uwu kind etc whatever it is a positive trait because of his innocent? past self. isn't it ironic how WWX said that JC didn't change at all in the 13 years he was dead, implying he is still immature and the same as ever. I also dont get the part where somehow someone who has such personality is becoming likable to many people, changing his character to fit their description. A few others, i dont really remember but im sure ive seen some, who have evidence of their claim that are too weak to support and does not give the whole picture. As someone who likes JC's patheticness, this is so bizarre to me that i dont really want to involve myself in tiktok or twt. sorry for the long rant, have a great day!

Hello there, Anon.

To be honest, I don't particularly pay any attention to mdzs manhua aside from simping its WangXian moments, lol. Like, my only basis is the original, mdzs novel, whereas other adaptations are just entertainment. And for entertainment, obviously I will only focus on WangXian.

So far, among the other adaptations, mdzs manhua is the closest to canon. Even then, there are things that were changed due to various factors, such as to shorten the lengthy original content or to add more humor, which is common in comic, manga, or manhua.

I mean, things about softening the characters in the manhua was not only done toward JC as far as I know. We saw how Lan Qiren being pretty much drawn like a comedic relief. Even Su She moments in the Second Siege was also drawn in quite a funny way, that makes us the readers find it hard to really immerse ourselves in the severity of the incident, in fact.

Is that a good or bad thing? That depends. For entertainment, mdzs manhua is really good, both from content and arts. Just don't take them as canon material or meta material, since there has been changes due to various consideration. And when things change, it's not Original anymore🙃

The fact I have Twitter just to use the username to login on other websites, and the fact that I don't own TikTok at all, makes me unqualified to say things about mdzs fandom on Twitter or TikTok, lol. I'm sorry, Anon. Honestly, aside from Tumblr and Lofter, I don't really engage in mdzs fandom on other platform...?

But characters with pet attribute generally spark more interest with fans. Just like how WangXian and rabbits and Lil Apple are. Canonically, kid-JC is indeed fond of dogs (puppies or adult dogs I don't know).

Though, whether this fondness is a long lasting fondness is a question. Because after Wei Wuxian left YMJ he didn't try to own any dog. Some fans take it as JC being loyal to WWX, like, he was waiting for him to come back, etc. But, another fact is that, if he is still fond of dog but didn't want to own it due to WWX, then why wasn't he the one who give the dog to Jin Ling? Isn't he supposed to be the best Uncle for Jin Ling?

My headcanon is that, the adult JC likes dog, but not particularly fond of it like how other Dog lovers are. It's like how most people are enthusiastic when they saw stray cats, but that's it, most people won't dedicate themselves to adopt them, gave them foods, or help them. Most people just "like" But not fond enough to dedicate their life for pets. And so is Jiang Cheng toward Dogs.

[robininthelabyrinth]

@flowerchildasriel said in a comment: I really wanna see LQR and the cat he didn’t really want but is now his secret bff (wwx) doing stuff together

And then I laughed and wrote a fic

Bagatelle in E Minor - ao3

(series: Variations on WWX & LQR in Assorted Keys)

1

“We are not getting a pet,” Lan Qiren said firmly.

“There’s no rule against it,” Lan Xichen said. He looked earnest and hopeful, and the small puppy in his arms matched his expression perfectly, tail wagging furiously, as if it wanted to help convince him to buy it from the equally hopeful-looking merchant selling it. “Shufu, just give me a chance! Look how soft and sweet he is, and of course, I’ll take care of him in every respect…you’ll won’t even noticed him, I swear!”

Lan Qiren highly doubted that.

His nephew was adorable and well-meaning, serious and studious and responsible, but…a pet? While it was true there was no sect rule against it, and naturally there were always servants to help with maintaining any living creature they wished, Lan Qiren just had the distinct suspicion that the person who was going to end up with responsibility for the creature was going to be himself. Moreover, if he permitted this, what sort of precedent was he setting – was Lan Wangji going to ask for something next?

“Please, shufu?”

On the other hand, his nephew asked for so very little. He’d grown up far too early, long before he should; normally, he was quite mature, even overly mature…it wasn’t really that bad for him to be showing a bit of childishness, was it?

“…fine,” Lan Qiren said. If Lan Wangji showed up with an inappropriate request, he’d hold the line and refuse at that later time. “You may keep the dog.”

Lan Xichen really did take care of the dog, or at least he did for the first few months. It was only – he explained apologetically after a little while – the dog really did seem so very drawn to Lan Qiren in particular, and it seemed unwontedly cruel to keep separating them. The dog was always spending time in Lan Qiren’s quarters, napping at his feet, accompanying him on his morning patrols, running to fetch things that Lan Qiren threw in a fit of temper, playing cute to try to soothe said temper, being quiet when he was truly busy…surely this was simply meant to be?

“Fine,” Lan Qiren sighed. He’d expected this from the start, hadn’t he? And the dog – an energetic and rotund little piggy named Zhuzhu – was rather more pleasant company than he’d expected when the idea of a pet had first come up, having actually lived up to the merchant’s promise of being housebroken and being really quite clever. Lan Qiren had to admit he liked the dog much more than he expected. “Fine, Xichen. It’s fine.”

Anyway, Lan Qiren was used to managing things for other people. What was one more?

2

“No more pets.”

“But…shufu…!”

Lan Qiren glared fiercely.

“…is this about Yunyun?” Lan Xichen asked meekly.

“No, but you should visit her more often,” Lan Qiren scolded his elder nephew. “You’re the one who insisted on adopting a cat in the first place, but now she lives at my house! Just like the dog, and the fish, and –”

“You said you found the fish peaceful! You built them a pond they could stay in without even asking!”

“That’s not the point.”

“And it’s not my fault Yunyun loves you so much! She purrs whenever you’re around, and cries whenever you’re not!”

“…she does not cry.”

“She meows piteously, shufu. Piteously. Like her heart is breaking. Even Wangji will tell you! She waits by the door, too – it’s as if she thinks no one will feed her if you’re not there.” Lan Xichen thought for a moment. “Zhuzhu does it, too, except he’s more excitable about it.”

Lan Qiren was well aware of how excitable Zhuzhu could be when he was worried about someone leaving. He was starting to suspect the dog had abandonment issues.

“And I’ve seen you petting Yunyun –”

“The point is not that the cat is soft,” Lan Qiren said, endeavoring not to get distracted from what he was saying, even if Yunyun was in fact extremely soft and cloudlike, her warm quietly purring presence in his lap remarkably soothing and helpful to meditation. She got along very well with Zhuzhu, too, and to his pleasure, neither of them bothered the fish – they were exceedingly intelligent animals, clearly superior to others of the same kind. “The point is not that the dog is loyal. The point is that they were supposed to be yours, and now they are mine. This ends here. No more pets.”

Lan Xichen pouted.

“No, Xichen. Do not disrespect your elders.”

“All right, all right, shufu, you’re right, I’ll obey…what am I supposed to do with these songbirds, then?”

“I don’t know,” Lan Qiren said, exasperated. “Give them to Nie Mingjue to take home or something. Maybe someone in the Unclean Realm will appreciate them!”

3

“Rabbits,” Lan Qiren said, and rubbed his forehead.

“Mm,” Lan Wangji said. He had a mulish expression on his face as if he expected resistance and was firmly committed to fighting through it with every last ounce of strength he possessed.

Lan Qiren was almost tempted to try, but he’d been too indulgent with Lan Xichen to be firm with Lan Wangji now, and he did try to avoid hypocrisy.

“You’re taking care of them,” he warned, and Lan Wangji brightened like the sun. “You can recruit junior disciples to assist you, if you wish, but I’m not getting involved. I had enough of that with Xichen. Is that understood?”

“Yes, shufu. I understand.”

“Good.”

4

“Should we do something?” some junior disciple whispered to another. “I’d remove them, but…Teacher is finally sleeping, and I don’t want to disturb him.”

“Leave them where they are. We’ll pick them up later.”

Lan Qiren wasn’t actually sleeping, the pricking pain of his still-healing wounds tormenting him too much to manage it. He could have called the junior disciples over to take away the small group of rabbits that had, for whatever ridiculous reason, decided that he was, however big, one of them and decided to nestle themselves by his side for a nap.

Just as they’d done in the terrifying aftermath of the burning of the Cloud Recesses, when Lan Xichen had been missing, Lan Wangji had been taken involuntarily to the Nightless City for indoctrination, and Lan Qiren himself had been trapped in his sickbed, unable to move but still continuing to work without cease, trying desperately to keep his sect together and start salvaging whatever they could. That had been when the rabbits had first come to hide next to him, right alongside the cat and the dog he’d had for what seemed like forever by now, seeking shelter from the storm – shelter he couldn’t provide to his nephews, to his sect, to himself, but which he could provide to these little helpless creatures.

…whatever.

He didn’t really need the junior disciples to take them away. That would only disturb their rest, and his, and anyway it wasn’t like they were bothering anyone. They were surprisingly cute, for rabbits…

Lan Qiren closed his eyes and drifted back into sleep once more.

5

“Absolutely not,” Lan Wangji declared.

Lan Qiren blinked owlishly up at his nephew, who had come into his rooms rather abruptly and without introducing himself. What’s more, Lan Xichen was there as well, following a step behind him, and most unusually of all, Lan Xichen was smiling – a rarity after the events of the Guanyin Temple, although not completely unheard of now that he had re-exited seclusion and rejoined the sect once more. A smile that broad was especially rare, though, and a pleasure to see, even if Lan Qiren didn’t entirely know what was motivating it.

“Hey, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said cheerfully, raising his hand in a jaunty wave. “There you are! Teacher Lan and I were just going over some musical notation together – I’d been looking for you, but then it turned out Teacher Lan was sorting through some really interesting documents and I offered to help. I must have lost track of time…Were you looking for me?”

“Shufu,” Lan Wangji said to Lan Qiren, rather uncharacteristically ignoring Wei Wuxian. “Shufu, this is unacceptable.”

“What is?” Lan Qiren asked, utterly bemused. He had assigned himself the work of sorting through everything in the forbidden section of the library after what had happened with Jin Guangyao, wanting to make sure there was an index and a record, but also curious to know what other songs might lay in there – it had been the latter that had drawn Wei Wuxian’s attention, of course. No surprise, really, given that Wei Wuxian, although a complete rascal, was an expert of musical cultivation in his own way; they had been having a very productive conversation. It was almost enough to make Lan Qiren think that living with him in the Cloud Recesses wouldn’t be a complete disaster.

Anyway, he’d thought that Lan Wangji always been quite hopeful that his uncle and his husband would start improving their relationship…?

“It was one thing when it was Zhuzhu that you ended up raising on xiongzhang’s behalf,” Lan Wangji said solemnly, and behind him Lan Xichen raised his sleeve to cover his mouth to (unsuccessfully) hide his growing laughter. “Or when it was Yunyun, who likes you best, or the fish, or even my rabbits, which I have always taken care of by myself but which seem to prefer you regardless. But you are not permitted to adopt my husband!”

[featherfur]

WangXian daemons!

Lan Wangji has a white stag, because I thought it would be funny. His daemon is also named Wangji just like his guqin because I thought it would be funny. (But also any names you got I’ll accept) Reasons? Because Stags wanna fuck shit up and get laid, Lan Wangji wants to fuck shit up and get laid, perfection. Also because it looks really really cool. Wangji, stag, is also male and idk maybe Xichen has a doe because I think the twin jades should have something cool like that but idk it’s 2am

Wei Wuxian’s daemon is currently unnamed but I’m open to suggestions. She is a crow and is in Mo Xuanyu’s daemon’s form. She was originally a raven and as Wei Wuxian settles more into his new body she’ll start subtly shifting as well. She’ll never be quite the same but she won’t be pure crow either, a weird mix since their soul is damaged.

Wei Wuxian’s daemon loves stealing things to put into Stag Wangji’s antlers because she made a nest, this does in fact include both her human’s flute and Jiang Cheng’s clarity bell. On occasion she has been known to steal Lan Qiren’s brush from his fingers and pretend like she doesn’t know how it got in her nest. He is not amused, she thinks it’s the best game.

She also likes bringing Stag Wangji flowers and occasionally makes flower crowns and spends 30 minutes getting them over the antlers, Stag Wangji is okay with this, Wei Wuxian wishes she would stop stealing the flowers he got for his Wangji.

Should I color this? Probably! Will I? No it’s 2am and I’ve learned that I hate deer and their dumb faces

[baoshan-sanren]

There that really good post going around about Xiao XingChen and Song ZiChen that talks about their relationship with class and reputation, and I keep circling back to it like once a day, thinking about all the ways this affects other characters and how they’re seen by the cultivation world at large.

And I know I’m back on my Wei Wuxian didn’t deserve all the shit he got train, but what consistently bothers me is that everyone treats him/uses him in a way they find convenient, and that the sheer ambiguity of his place in the cultivation world is what allows 90% of damage to happen. 

Compared to the other orphans of his (or close to his) generation, he seems to fare better than most, because Jiang Fengmian decides to take him in. But that action alone just serves to broaden the ambiguity, and to make his place more uncertain. He is Jiang Fengmian’s adopted son when convenient to other people to see him as such, or he is the son of Jiang Fengmian’s servant when seeing him as the adopted son would give him too much importance. He is part of the family, except when he is not. He is Jiang Cheng’s and Jiang Yanli’s brother, except when he is not. 

His time at Cloud Recesses is a really good example of this because the distinction is easy to see. Nie HuaiSang is known as a terrible student. We literally see him bring a bird to the class. He has a stash of porn he shares with others. We never see him answer a single question, and we don’t even know if he is capable of it if Lan Qiren were ever to call on him. But he is also the younger brother of the Nie Sect Leader, and likely to be the next Sect Leader himself. Would Lan Qiren ever dare throw a book at Nie HuaiSang in front of all the other future Sect Leaders? Of course not. And these little distinctions are everywhere. 

I wanna say, just put aside Wei Wuxian’s obnoxious personality for a moment, but even that is impossible to do, because most of it seems to have developed as a coping technique for the sheer ambiguity he is forced to live with. He is literally moving across shifting ground his entire life, as the son of Cangse Sanren, or the adopted son of Jiang Fengmian, or the son of a servant, a brother to the next sect leader, or a companion to the next sect leader, or a servant of the next sect leader, trying to be whatever people around him expect him to be, whenever it is convenient for them. There isn’t a single person around him that is blameless of this, except maybe Jiang Yanli for her simplicity of affection, and Lan Wangji for his sheer complexity of it. 

And I think there is no greater example of this than the golden core transfer. Sometimes I wonder what is it that hit him harder (in CQL at least), Madam Yu’s admonishment that he is to protect Jiang Cheng at all cost, or Jiang Fengmian’s? Is he to protect Jiang Cheng as a brother? As the next leader of his sect? As a servant protecting a master? As an orphan who has brought his bad luck to the entire sect? As a son of a man he owes his life to? As a son of a woman who has despised him his entire life? What range of possible sacrifices covers all those bases? 

If Jiang Cheng was incapable of medical consent for the golden core procedure, which Wei Wuxian gets to make a decision? The Wei Wuxian who is his brother and equal? The Wei Wuxian who is his older brother and a protector? The Wei Wuxian who is responsible for its loss in the first place? The Wei Wuxian who is destined to forever be inferior in rank? The one Madam Yu despised or the one Jiang Fengmian loved? Do any of them get to make it? How is he to know? And who else could possibly go from being a powerful cultivator to a coreless, powerless human being, and still go on, except a child forced to build his entire life on other people’s constantly shifting perceptions and expectations?

Sometimes I think how easily he slipped into the Yiling Patriarch role, like he’s just putting on another suit people expect him to wear, and I wanna cry all over again. This ambiguity of status, in a wold that is literally built around it, can be applied to quite a few of the other characters as well, but nowhere else does it do such profound damage as it does with Wei Wuxian. 

[bloody-bee-tea]

Not the end of the world

Previous part

Jiang Cheng feels numb when he sees the percentage on his test, though he knew to expect this already when his teacher handed him the paper.

Her looks spoke volume and the glaring red 61% is not as surprising as it should have been.

But still. Jiang Cheng’s hand shake as he quickly puts the test away, hoping that no one else saw that he barely—just barely—passed something that seems to be so very easy for everyone else in class but of course Wei Wuxian notices that something is wrong.

Ever since he learned that Jiang Cheng is no longer living at home, he has been a lot more attentive; usually, Jiang Cheng would love that, but right now he would give anything to have his oblivious brother back.

“What’s wrong?” Wei Wuxian asks as he sits down next to Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji in tow like always these days and Jiang Cheng briefly debates if he’d get away with just getting up and sprinting off.

Probably not.

“Nothing,” he still tries, even though Wei Wuxian’s look already tells him just how much he believes him and then Wei Wuxian is reaching for his bag.

“Don’t,” Jiang Cheng rushes out, just barely managing to catch Wei Wuxian’s hands before they can get to the test but Wei Wuxian only raises an expectant eyebrow at him.

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?” he asks again and Jiang Cheng works his jaw, because he really, truly doesn’t want to tell him.

“You passed,” Lan Wangji says, as if that is the most important thing and Jiang Cheng glares at him until Wei Wuxian moves between them.

“A-Cheng, did you pass or not?” he asks and Jiang Cheng deflates.

“I did,” he whispers, though he knows it will still be a problem.

He doesn’t know how Lan Qiren reacts to bad grades, didn’t have to experience that yet, and he can’t say that he’s looking forward to changing that.

“He won’t be mad,” Wei Wuxian tries. “Really, what is the worst that could happen? What is the worst that Madam Yu ever did?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng flinches.

“A-Cheng?” he more carefully asks when he sees Jiang Cheng’s reaction and Jiang Cheng huffs out a bitter laugh.

“You wouldn’t know,” he mutters. “You always brought perfect grades home. Mother resented you for that, but it wasn’t something she could scold you over, so instead she turned to me when my grades weren’t as good,” he tells them, without meeting their eyes.

“You mostly weren’t there when I brought back bad grades, because you were busy celebrating your good ones,” Jiang Cheng goes on. “I only stayed to find out her reaction once,” Jiang Cheng admits and shudders with the memory, desperate to push it back into the farthest corner of his mind again.

“Usually, I would just put the test on the table and then—not be there.”

“For how long?” Wei Wuxian wants to know and just by the tone of his voice it’s clear that he’s already expecting the worst.

Jiang Cheng shrugs and tries to be as nonchalant about this as he can be, but it’s hard, especially with Wei Wuxian’s desperate and Lan Wangji’s searching gazes on him.

“For as long as necessary,” Jiang Cheng finally admits. “I’d stay with Huaisang, sometimes, when he was available.”

“And the other times?” Wei Wuxian asks.

“Well, the university’s library is partially open at all times,” Jiang Cheng admits. “And remember how mother insisted on me going to a gym? I chose one that’s also open during the night. It worked out somehow. No one in the library cared if I fell asleep there and no one in the gym bat an eye when I went there early in the morning to shower.”

Jiang Cheng knows that it’s only thanks to his grumpy face that no one dared to ask any questions; otherwise, people would have probably taken note of an underage boy out and about in places where he really shouldn’t be alone in the night.

“A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian breathes out and he sounds close to tears. “I am so sorry!”

Yeah, it’s a little late for that, Jiang Cheng thinks bitterly, but then he reminds himself that Wei Wuxian is only a few months older than him and really shouldn’t have to deal with any of this shit either.

It sucks that it all fell on Jiang Cheng, but it’s not really Wei Wuxian’s fault that he didn’t pay enough attention to Jiang Cheng to notice this.

At least like this one of them had a somewhat happy and relaxing childhood with some good memories.

“It’s done now,” Jiang Cheng awkwardly gives back when he sees tears in Wei Wuxian’s eyes.

He says it easily, but deep inside there’s a part of himself that’s shaking in fear.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how Lan Qiren will react to a grade like this. He was helpful when Jiang Cheng struggled with his homework a few weeks back, but homework and a test are two different things, Jiang Cheng knows that very well.

Lan Qiren’s helpful nature then is no indicator of how he will react to the glaring red mark on his test.

“Brother said you looked familiar,” Lan Wangji suddenly says and effectively jolts Jiang Cheng out of his thoughts.

“What?”

“After the first dinner. Brother said you looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t place you. He probably saw you in the library.”

“It’s possible,” Jiang Cheng says, his face burning with shame at the realization that Lan Xichen saw him effectively being homeless and it’s yet another thought he simply pushes away.

Lan Xichen doesn’t know about that after all; Jiang Cheng has other things to worry about than this.

“But you’re not going there, right?” Wei Wuxian suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng has to admit that it’s a tempting idea.

He knows Lan Qiren works late today, so it would be easy to simply slip into his house, put the test on the table and then simply not be there when he comes home.

It’s a nice thought, but absolutely useless, too.

“What good would it do?” Jiang Cheng scoffs out. “Lan Qiren is the headmaster. He probably already knows about my result.”

A chill goes down Jiang Cheng’s back when he realizes that Lan Qiren probably knew about the almost failed test before Jiang Cheng himself and Jiang Cheng can’t deny that it makes him sick with worry.

“Uncle will not be mad,” Lan Wangji tells him with a firm nod.

Jiang Cheng is just about to relax, because if someone has to know this then it’s Lan Wangji, right, but then he goes on.

“He will be disappointed.”

“Oh,” Jiang Cheng breathes out, going cold all over.

Disappointed is always so much worse than mad.

“I see,” he whispers and quickly gathers his things. “Well, I better get going then. If dinner is not ready by the time he’s home, he’ll find even more reason to be disappointed.”

There’s a rushing in his ears that Jiang Cheng doesn’t like at all, but at least it prevents him from hearing whatever it is that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji say after this.

Nothing can make this better after all, and in the end, Jiang Cheng really only has himself to blame. Again.

~*~*~ Jiang Cheng is still in the middle of preparing dinner for this evening when he hears the door. He freezes for long enough that he almost hurts himself but by the time Lan Qiren steps into the kitchen he mostly has himself back under control.

“I’m sorry dinner is not done,” Jiang Cheng says, keeping his eyes on the food instead of turning around to Lan Qiren and Jiang Cheng knows that it’s a stupid thing to do.

It will tip Lan Qiren off to the fact that something is not right, because this is not how Jiang Cheng usually greets him, but Jiang Cheng can’t help himself.

In situations like these he still—foolishly, stupidly—operates on the believe that if he can’t see Lan Qiren or how mad he is then it won’t be so bad.

“Wanyin,” Lan Qiren says and Jiang Cheng flinches at his serious tone. “What’s wrong?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng huffs out a laugh.

He never knew he was that easy to read, but it’s also quite cruel of Lan Qiren to make him say it himself when Lan Qiren so very clearly already knows what’s wrong.

But before Jiang Cheng can put any of that into words—or simply admit to his failure, like he knows he truly should—the doorbell rings.

“Are you expecting someone?” Lan Qiren asks him, but when Jiang Cheng shakes his head, he simply leaves to open the door.

“Xichen, what are you doing here? Did something happen?” Jiang Cheng hears Lan Qiren ask and he can’t quite make out Lan Xichen’s answer, but he must have asked after him, because Lan Qiren leads him into the kitchen a moment later.

“Wanyin,” Lan Xichen greets him warmly, but Jiang Cheng can only nod at him.

He didn’t expect to disappoint two people this evening.

“What’s going on here?” Lan Qiren demands to know and Lan Xichen sighs.

“Wangji called me, and said that he made a mistake,” Lan Xichen says.

Jiang Cheng finds that hard to believe because he doesn’t know Lan Wangji to make any mistakes but then Lan Xichen steps up next to him and gently turns him away from the stove.

“You did not yet talk with uncle,” he says and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“What mistake did Wangji made that affects Wanyin?” Lan Qiren wants to know and he sounds tired.

Jiang Cheng feels bad all of a sudden, because Lan Qiren worked long hours today and he shouldn’t have to deal with this at home now. He should get to relax however he wishes and not have to be disappointed with the kid he practically picked up on the streets.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng gets out and he hunches in on himself before Lan Qiren can even open his mouth. “I almost failed a test.”

“Almost?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how to feel about the fact that Lan Qiren apparently doesn’t yet know about his grade.

Jiang Cheng can’t decide if that makes it better or worse.

“Wanyin, there’s nothing to worry about,” Lan Xichen suddenly says lowly and it’s only then that Jiang Cheng realizes that he’s shaking all over.

“I’m so sorry,” he chokes out but when he wants to run away, wants to leave this horrible situation, Lan Xichen won’t let him.

“Wangji didn’t mean he will be disappointed in you,” Lan Xichen suddenly says and it’s surprising enough that it freezes Jiang Cheng where he stands.

“What?” he breathes out and now it’s Lan Qiren who sighs.

“What happened? Can someone please tell me what is going on here?”

“I only got 61% on my test,” Jiang Cheng whispers when Lan Xichen gives him an encouraging nudge.

“So you passed,” Lan Qiren says and he doesn’t sound angry or disappointed and it’s confusing enough that Jiang Cheng dares to look at him.

“Barely,” Jiang Cheng says, but Lan Qiren should know that, he has to know that, he’s the headmaster after all, but Lan Qiren seems as confused as before.

“Will it be alright if I explain?” Lan Xichen asks and Jiang Cheng gives himself a moment to feel betrayed that either Lan Wangji or Wei Wuxian told him everything, before he gives in to the gratefulness that he doesn’t have to say anything at all, so he nods.

“Wanyin was afraid of your reaction to this grade,” Lan Xichen says as he guides Jiang Cheng over to sit down at the table. “It seems barely passing was not something his mother liked to see. As far as I understood it he was afraid you’ll be mad. Wangji told him that you wouldn’t be mad, but disappointed without further explaining anything to Wanyin.”

“What’s there to explain?” Jiang Cheng mutters because he damn well understands the concept of disappointing a parental figure.

One could almost say that it’s his most defining character trait.

“That uncle won’t be disappointed with you,” Lan Xichen explains, “but with your teacher or the teaching material. Or maybe even the fact that he didn’t realize that you were struggling.”

“Wanyin,” Lan Qiren now speaks up and he takes a seat at the table as well.

The table that should be set with dinner, Jiang Cheng realizes with a start, but when he’s about to get up, Lan Xichen puts his hand to his shoulder and pushes him back down again.

“I got it,” he says and then turns away to tend to dinner, leaving Jiang Cheng and Lan Qiren alone at the table.

Jiang Cheng can’t say that he likes it.

“Wanyin,” Lan Qiren says again, and Jiang Cheng jerks.

“I’m sorry. I am studying, I promise, it’s just—I’m too stupid to understand that concept, you saw me struggling with the homework before, and I’m sorry even your help wasn’t enough, I’ll study more, there’s still—I can—” Jiang Cheng rushes out but he only stops to take a breath when Lan Qiren puts a hand to his arm.

“Breathe,” he says and Jiang Cheng sucks in breath after breath until he doesn’t feel like he’s drowning anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng whispers again and by now he doesn’t even know what he’s saying sorry for.

There’s just too much to choose from.

“Don’t be,” Lan Qiren gently tells him but he also takes his hand back and Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what to do with those mixed signals.

“I’ll work harder, I promise,” Jiang Cheng says, more to the table than to Lan Qiren but he still sees how Lan Qiren shakes his head.

“You’re already working so hard. It’s not your fault if you can’t grasp a concept. You can’t excel in everything; Huaisang for example is brilliant in poetry and the arts but he couldn’t solve a math problem to safe his life. It’s okay if you struggle with this. It’s normal,” Lan Qiren says and he sounds stilted, like he isn’t sure at all what the right thing to say here is.

“And I am not disappointed in you. I know you’re trying your best and that’s all I can ask of you. Xichen is right. I’m mostly disappointed in myself for not noticing that you required more help in that area. We can go over it together again if you’d like,” Lan Qiren offers and Jiang Cheng realizes that this must be hard for him as well.

Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen probably weren’t students who failed a lot; it’s likely that Lan Qiren has no clue how to deal with a situation like this.

“If you’d like, I could help,” Lan Xichen suddenly says. “I’m studying to be a teacher; I should probably get a bit of practical experience with a student, if we’re being honest,” he says with a sheepish smile but Jiang Cheng understands it for the easy way out that it is.

He would probably refuse knowing that Lan Xichen would take precious time out of his schedule to help him when Jiang Cheng really should be able to grasp this stupid concept like all of his classmates did.

But like this is sounds like he’d be doing Lan Xichen a favour and it’s much harder to say no to that.

“I see what you’re doing there,” Jiang Cheng mutters and the sheepish smile on Lan Xichen’s face only gets bigger.

“Don’t see it. Accept his help. It’s something that has to be learned as well,” Lan Qiren chimes in and Jiang Cheng jerks with his words.

It’s not like a lot of people offered him help before; there really hasn’t been any opportunity for him to learn this but Jiang Cheng swallows his angry words down.

“Alright,” he whispers.

“And my offer still stands as well,” Lan Qiren says, and pats his arm again. “We can go over it again, together.”

“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees and he doesn’t know what to do with all of this confused, panicked anticipation inside of him.

This didn’t turn out like anything he expected and it leaves him floundering.

“There really is no need to be sorry about an almost failed test,” Lan Qiren says again as he gets up. “You passed. And even if you did not, one failed test is not going to ruin your future. Xichen failed a test in chemistry once and Wangji in philosophy. Philosophy, can you even imagine?” Lan Qiren asks him, clearly aiming for a lighter mood, and he succeeds too because it startles a laugh out of Jiang Cheng.

“I can’t speak for Wangji, but chemistry is entirely evil and doesn’t make sense at all,” Lan Xichen complaints clearly not at all too bothered by the fact that he failed something once and going by the small smile playing around Lan Qiren’s mouth he doesn’t mind it much either.

That, more than anything, proves to Jiang Cheng that maybe a failed test doesn’t have to be the end of the world for him.

Jiang Cheng watches as Lan Qiren shoos Lan Xichen away from the oven, clearly intent on taking over preparations himself and Jiang Cheng is just about to get up to help him when Lan Xichen sits down next to him and leans in close.

“Wangji also told me what else you said. About staying elsewhere,” Lan Xichen mutters and Jiang Cheng goes cold as his eyes dart over to Lan Qiren.

“I do not want to see you in the library again,” Lan Xichen whispers and then puts a piece of paper in Jiang Cheng’s hands. “This is my and Wangji’s address. We keep a spare key hidden in the third red pot on the left side of the house. If you ever feel like you can’t go home, then you come to us.”

Jiang Cheng’s eyes start to burn and he clutches the paper close.

“Okay,” he chokes out, desperately trying not to let the tears fall but he loses that fight when Lan Xichen pulls him into a hug.

“It’s alright now, Wanyin. We’re your family now, there’s no need to be afraid anymore,” Lan Xichen whispers into his hair and Jiang Cheng clutches at his shirt, frantically trying to keep even a last shred of composure.

He fails that spectacularly when Lan Qiren joins in with a hand to Jiang Cheng’s shoulder and squeezes lightly before he says “Family is not something to be afraid of, Wanyin. It’s something to draw strength from.”

Jiang Cheng almost breaks down at that, but he also nods as best as he can.

“I’m trying,” he sobs out and Lan Qiren pats his shoulder.

“No. You’re learning. That’s much more important,” he says and then leaves Jiang Cheng to cry into Lan Xichen’s shoulder again.

A tiny part of Jiang Cheng is aware that he should be embarrassed over this, but the bigger part just figures that if they are family, surely this should be okay.

And going by how patiently Lan Xichen keeps holding him until Jiang Cheng can compose himself again, and how Lan Qiren makes just enough noise to let Jiang Cheng know that he’s still there as well, it must be okay.

And that is all the reassurance Jiang Cheng needs right now.

Next part!

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

[fficaway]

nie huaisang/jiang cheng 2.4k wc [scrapped wip]

I have nowhere else to post this and I’ll never finish this but I just found this on my comp and it made me chortle lol 

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It was a surprisingly long while into their time at the Cloud Recesses before Jiang Cheng first actually laid eyes on anything from Nie Huaisang’s impressive porn collection. Not for lack of Huaisang flaunting it about — he was very clear about wanting everyone to know that he was the go-to for contraband erotica — but because when it came to Huaisang’s erotica, Jiang Cheng more usually found himself trying to stop Wei Wuxian from using them in his childishly one-sided prank war against a certain second son of the GusuLan clan. 

“I wanna see his face while he looks at it,” Wei Wuxian said almost dreamily, absorbed in a fantasy. “He destroyed the last one without really giving it a proper read. I just wish he would have opened it up on that one page — you know the one I’m talking about — so I could have seen him faint at the indecency of it all! Huaisang-xiong, have you got anything else you’d be willing to let me use?”

“Hm,” Nie Huaisang hummed. “For young master Lan? How about the Secrets of Lanling Ladies…?”

“You’re not giving Lan Wangji any more porn!” Jiang Cheng yelled. “Do you want Lan Qiren to find out? Do you want to be shipped back to Lotus Pier?!”

“Honestly, yes,” Wei Wuxian said. Then he scratched his head thoughtfully. “I guess I’m not done playing with Lan Zhan yet, though… but I’d really rather be back home shooting kites and eating lotus seeds… but, Lan Zhan… It’s hard to decide.”

“Don’t go home yet,” Nie Huaisang said. “If you’re gone, who’ll help me cheat on exams?”

“That’s true,” Wei Wuxian said. “I’m doing good humanitarian work by helping Huaisang-xiong pass his classes.” He slapped Huaisang lightly on the back. “Lanling Ladies sounds good. I’ll dog-ear the smuttiest spread, leave it on Lan Zhan’s desk before class, and—”

“The hell you will!” Jiang Cheng said, directing a smack at Wei Wuxian’s head, which was artfully dodged. “Stop giving him your dirty books, Nie Huaisang!”

“Don’t be jealous, Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang said with a wide-eyed look on his face. “I’m happy to share my books with you, too…”

“Not interested!” Jiang Cheng said through clenched teeth, and then the classtime bell rang, and that was the end of that for the moment. 

But it wasn’t the end of Wei Wuxian’s tomfoolery (of course it wasn’t — the universe would never be so kind). Nor was it the end of the pornography. How Nie Huaisang was able to house such a collection of dirty books was astounding to Jiang Cheng — it seemed that whenever any of the other boys so much as thought about sex, Nie Huaisang would pop up and eagerly offer to lend one or two of his picture books. Sometimes Jiang Cheng almost suspected that he only kept so many books to be able to loan them out and curry favor with the other boys — but then again, Nie Huaisang was also always unabashedly complaining about how he wasn’t popular with girls at all and had never so much as kissed one. So his porn likely served multiple functions for him. Not that Jiang Cheng had ever thought about what Nie Huaisang did with his porn when he was alone; or if he had, it was only because Huaisang brought it up all the damn time. 

But this night in particular, he found he didn’t have it in him to be quite so uptight about it. 

Jiang Cheng wasn’t the hugest stickler for rules, but his constant proximity to Wei Wuxian had instilled in him a desperate urge to prove that not everyone from the YunmengJiang sect was an utter degenerate, so he generally steered clear of the flagrant disobedience of which Wei Wuxian was so fond. But at the same time, it was exhausting keeping to all the thousands of rules of the Cloud Recesses. And it was a welcome respite when Lan Qiren was off on a days-long trip and they didn’t have classes. And if other boys did flock to his and Wei Wuxian’s room to carouse and let off steam in the evenings, then he supposed he would give in and join the merrymaking. 

“You dare to challenge me in dice?!” Wei Wuxian yelled spiritedly. “Bring your worst! I’ll use my secret technique to take you all down!”

“Wei-xiong,” someone called, “isn’t dice a game of luck?”

“Doubters, nonbelievers!” Wei Wuxian cried. “Fine! Play me and try your luck then! Loser has to down three cups in ten seconds!”

The boys cheered at that, and then someone reported, “We’ve drunk all the liquor already…”

Nie Huaisang raised his hand. “Oh! How about the loser has to sneak down to Caiyi and buy Emperor’s Smile for everyone?”

“What an idea, Huaisang-xiong!” Wei Wuxian said. He brandished the dice in his hand. “The terms are set! Everyone gather up so I can beat you all!”

In ten minutes Wei Wuxian was thoroughly defeated in dice. No matter how much he pleaded for a rematch, the other boys were resolute, and soon there was a slight lull in the rowdiness as they all waited for Wei Wuxian to return with the Emperor’s Smile. 

Jiang Cheng had settled in to watch the others play dice, each game assigned low-stakes bets, when he felt someone tugging on his shoulder. Turning, he found Nie Huaisang, a bit flushed in the cheeks, grinning and brandishing one of his books. 

“No,” Jiang Cheng said on instinct. Even as he spoke, he knew that the slur in his voice made him sound less intimidating than usual. 

“Jiang-xiong,” Huaisang whined, “when will you open your eyes to the wonders of the Lanling Ladies? I can’t believe that you don’t at least want to see the pagoda scene, I’m sure Wei Wuxian told you about it already—”

“Why do you care so much if I see them or not?” Jiang Cheng said loudly. He didn’t mind raising his voice; it wasn’t as though the other boys would pay them any mind either way. “I’m not Lan Wangji. Is it so fun to see my reaction to your lewd books?”

“It’s not like that,” Nie Huaisang said, looking a bit taken aback. “It’s just fun to talk about them. Jiang-xiong, aren’t we close? I want to talk about things with you.”

“You already do,” Jiang Cheng said, rolling his eyes. “You never shut up.”

“But still,” Huaisang said resolutely. “Oh, Jiang-xiong. There’s another book I could show you.” He glanced around the room. “This one I haven’t shared with anyone else yet.”

Jiang Cheng fixed Nie Huaisang with a long look. The thrum of alcohol through his veins made the world feel hazy and vivid in fits and starts; at this moment, everything behind Huaisang was a blurry backdrop, and Huaisang himself stood out with unusual clarity. His hair was a little mussed, his collar crooked — Jiang Cheng recalled they had been wrestling earlier, and he had pinned Huaisang to the floor, only releasing him when Huaisang began to whimper pathetically — and his dark eyes sparkled in a way Jiang Cheng didn’t usually allow himself to appreciate. 

“If I let you show me this book,” he said slowly, “will you promise to stop bothering me about it from now on?”

Huaisang solemnly raised three fingers to the heavens. “I promise.”

“Fine then,” Jiang Cheng said, standing up. “Let’s get this over with.”

No one seemed to notice as they left the room and made their way down the hall to Nie Huaisang’s quarters. Outside of the clamor of the gathering, Jiang Cheng could hear, in the quiet of the moonlit night, how loud his own footsteps were, and the rustle of Huaisang’s robes. He followed Huaisang back to his room, which was dark and empty. 

“Shit,” Huaisang muttered. He’d stubbed his toe in the pitch-black room. After a bit of fumbling, he threw the windows open, and then lit a candle on the table in the middle of the room. “Wait just a moment, I’ll find it…”

“You don’t ever feel embarrassed?” Jiang Cheng asked abruptly. Nie Huaisang was crouched on the floor, rifling through several plain-looking books at the bottom of a bookshelf. “About your porn and your fans and your blatant cheating on tests?”

“No,” Huaisang replied without turning around. “Why should I? I’m not going to be a sect leader, like you are. And I won’t be a great cultivator, either. I’m not good with a sword. I’m not good at schoolwork. I might as well stick to what I am good at.”

“Which is collecting porn.”

Huaisang turned back around, book in hand. “Also known as appreciating beauty. You needn’t be crass.”

Jiang Cheng snorted. “Alright.”

“Come here,” Huaisang said. He sat on the bed and patted the space next to him. “Sit.”

Jiang Cheng did so, leaving a wide gap between them. Huaisang promptly scooted closer, until their thighs were touching. It was probably innocent on Huaisang’s part, but Jiang Cheng startled at the sudden contact. He forced himself to keep his hands on his knees, balled into fists. 

“I didn’t know why you weren’t interested in my books,” Huaisang said. “Whether you truly felt no curiosity about the things in the pictures, or whether you were too shy to look at them around others. Either way, I hope this solves the problem.” He opened the book to the first illustration. “No one else is here but us.” His fingers ran lightly over the surface of the page. “And this collection has every kind of thing you can imagine.”

Jiang Cheng didn’t know what to focus on — the image of a courtesan wantonly spreading her legs for a king, or the sound of Nie Huaisang’s voice, low and intimate beside him, cool velvet as his slender fingers flipped to the next page. Jiang Cheng took a measured breath, and exhaled slowly.

“You can be hard to read, you know?” Huaisang went on. “So I don’t know what you like. But whatever it is, I’ll bet it’s somewhere in this book.”

“What I like,” Jiang Cheng repeated, his throat tight. 

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to,” Huaisang said. “I’ll try and guess.”

He watched Jiang Cheng as he held up the next illustration: a girl, naked on all fours, hair swept over her shoulder, looking back coquettishly at the noble positioned behind her. There was text on the side, but Jiang Cheng was too on edge to read it properly — he could only pick out a few phrases. Her cries of pleasure — a frenzied rhythm — his throbbing manhood —

Jiang Cheng swallowed. “This is weird.”

“Onto the next one, then,” Huaisang said. 

The next one didn’t have any words. It did have two men. One was copulating with a woman, the other watching and touching himself. Jiang Cheng didn’t know what he was supposed to do with himself, how he should react. He couldn’t stop looking at the details of the painting, the curvature of the men’s cocks. Then he was thinking about his own cock, and when he glanced up at Huaisang still staring at him, he was thinking about Huaisang thinking about his cock. Jiang Cheng knew his face was heating up, but he couldn’t stop the blush; it was too embarrassing, he didn’t want to have any future associations in his mind between his cock and Huaisang.

“Enough,” he said. He screwed his eyes shut. “I’ve had enough.”

“Really?” Huaisang said softly. “There’s a lot more left though — here, look.”

In spite of himself, Jiang Cheng opened his eyes as Huaisang turned to the next page. 

There were two men again, but this time, no women. Jiang Cheng’s face was aflame as he took the illustration in: an older man leaning back on a garden bench, a younger man kneeling and pleasuring him with his mouth with his hand curled around his own cock. Jiang Cheng clenched both his fists so tight it hurt. 

“This is fucking weird,” Jiang Cheng snapped. “Nie Huaisang!”

“Okay,” Huaisang said. “I’m sorry.”

He set the book down on the table, still open to the cut-sleeve picture. 

“Why did you show me that?” Jiang Cheng asked. 

“I don’t know,” Huaisang said. “Just trying to figure out what you like.”

“Is that,” Jiang Cheng made an abbreviated gesture at the book, “what you like?” 

“I don’t know,” Huaisang said again. “I don’t hate it.” He gave Jiang Cheng a panicked look. “You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“Like anyone’d believe me,” Jiang Cheng muttered. “You’re one of the most girl-crazy people I’ve ever met. Now, suddenly, you’re… like this?”

“I guess, just, of all of them,” Huaisang said, “this picture is the only one that’s close to being in my grasp. So, it’s just, I’ve… thought about it.”

“About,” Jiang Cheng’s mind went white for a moment, “doing this? With another man?”

“I’m not popular with girls,” Huaisang said. “I’m only surrounded by boys. You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about it?”

Jiang Cheng was silent. There was no safe response. He could hardly say that he had thought about it, that he’d thought about holding another boy like that in his hand, that he sometimes thought about it while he got himself off, that he’d been kissed by girls but been too scared to do anything more for reasons he’d been too scared to look at too closely. 

But on the other hand, neither could he lie. Huaisang would see right through him. 

So he bit his lip and said nothing. 

“If it would put your mind at ease,” Huaisang said, “we could try it.”

Jiang Cheng was sure he had misheard. “What?”

“Just once, we could try,” Huaisang went on. His hands were folded on his own lap, fingers twisting anxiously. “To definitively know. One way or the other.”

“That’s,” Jiang Cheng said, struggling to find words. He was fairly certain that if anything flammable came within a foot of his face, it would set fire from the radiating heat. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Huaisang looked rather flushed now as well. “I don’t — how could we — what do you mean? There is no ‘other’ way. We can’t, that’s—”

“We could, though,” Huaisang said quietly. He was looking down at his lap. “Only if you wanted to, I mean.”

“If I wanted to,” Jiang Cheng repeated hollowly. “Wanted to… what, exactly?”

Huaisang looked up at him then, eyes flashing in the candlelight. 

[useless-slytherclaw]

Relationships: Lán Jǐngyí/Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī Characters: Lan Jingyi, Lan Yuan | Lan Sizhui, Lan Qiren Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, All of the angst is in Jingyi's head, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Light-Hearted, Getting Together, Gay Panic, Disaster Gay Lan Jingyi, Friends to Lovers

Fresh spring air drifts through the windows and open doors of the Orchid Room, making the students even more restless than usual.  Lan Jingyi sits in the second row at the second table from the center aisle right next to Sizhui.  It’s their usual place and a compromise found over the years between Sizhui’s desire to be up front and Jingyi’s desire to be as far away from Lan-Laoshi’s sharp eyes as possible.  

Their seats are directly in a pool of golden sunlight filling the room.  The warmth combined with the fresh air, a smell that’s a tiny bit floral and a tiny bit pine but entirely indescribable, mixes to make it almost impossible for Jingyi to focus.  It doesn’t help that they’re reviewing material that Jingyi already knows.  If it was something interesting, he might be able to sit still.

“Lan Jingyi!” Lan-Laoshi’s voice is sharp, and Jingyi jerks into a more upright position, turning his gaze back to the front.  “This is your last warning to pay attention.”

“Yes, Lan-Laoshi,” Jingyi says, ducking his head low in a show of apology.  

He catches Sizhui’s tiny- probably disappointed- headshake out of the corner of his eye.  It’s not Jingyi’s fault that he’s easily distracted or that Sizhui is as unfairly good at modeling proper Lan behavior as he is at everything.

Jingyi picks up his calligraphy brush and starts taking down notes rather unenthusiastically.  He already knows these things, and they weren’t particularly interesting the first time.  Beside him, Sizhui sits with perfect posture, dutifully taking meticulously neat notes.  There’s even the faintest hint of a smile in his serene expression.  

Jingyi watches Sizhui’s paper, copying down what he’s writing, but his gaze drifts to Sizhui’s hands: elegant musician’s hands, with slender fingers that are deceptive in their strength.  Even his hands are nice: holding an artist's brush, playing the guqin, gripping his sword… Jingyi blinks and drags his gaze back to his own paper.  

He manages another few lines of characters before his gaze is drifting back to Sizhui, as it so often does.  The warmth of the sunlight suits him, bringing out the warm highlights in the deep black of his hair and kissing the curve of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose with a note of bronze.  Jingyi has a perfect view of his profile from his seat, and though it’s more familiar to him than his own face, he finds his gaze drawn back, again and again, lecture after lecture.  

He’s the picture of refinement and masculine beauty from his perfectly neat ponytail, to his upright but never stiff posture, to his somehow lovely hands, to the soft curve of his lips.  Some part of Jingyi longs to touch him, to see if his hair is as soft under his hands as it looks and to see what his smile tastes like-

“Lan Jingyi!”  Lan-Laoshi’s voice snaps Jingyi back into the present, and he turns towards the front, spine straightening so fast his back cracks.  Mentally, he braces himself for the next words.  Punishment is coming, handstands probably, the question is really how many.  He is not at all prepared for the next words out of Lan-Laoshi’s mouth.  “Stop admiring Lan Sizhui and pay attention.  You can daydream after class.”

For a moment, Jingyi is absolutely frozen as his brain processes the words, not quite able to believe that he’d heard what he’d just heard.  His whole body goes hot and then cold as the mortification sets in.  A murmur spreads through the class, but Jingyi can’t hear it over the ringing in his ears.

He catches a movement from Sizhui out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t dare to look at him.  If he had, he might have seen the slight widening of Sizhui’s warm brown eyes or the way his lips part ever so softly in surprise.  He might have seen the blush, pale as cherry blossoms, that spread across his cheeks or the expression in his eyes that looked a little bit like hope.

Jingyi opens his mouth to say that he hadn’t been staring at Sizhui, but he had, and lying will only get him in more trouble.  He shuts his mouth.  Then again, the punishment for lying might be better than Sizhui knowing the truth.  Before he can untangle his tongue to come up with some kind of response, Lan-Laoshi has resumed teaching.  

Jingyi can feel the heat on his face and knows it must be nearly crimson.  Part of him wants to glance at Sizhui, to try and gauge his best friend’s reaction, but he doesn’t dare.  Not only is he afraid of what Lan-Laoshi might do, but he’s also not ready to face Sizhui’s reaction.  Sizhui is his best friend, the closest person to him in the world, and he’s not ready to lose that.  

Of all the insane scenarios that Jingyi’s brain had come up with, Sizhui finding out about Jingyi’s feelings from Lan-Laoshi was not on the list.  His feelings.  Feelings he doesn’t have words for if Sizhui asks.  Feelings he has very been ignoring, very studiously if not very successfully, until now.  He’s screwed.

Jingyi wants nothing more than to vanish into the floor; well, perhaps dying might do it.  He keeps himself perfectly upright with his gaze on the front of the class, terrified that if he looks away Lan-Laoshi will somehow make this worse.  He doesn’t know how, but he doesn’t want to test it.

His brain scrambles desperately for a solution to this mess.  He momentarily considers lying to Sizhui about it and instantly discards the idea; he’s never been able to lie to Sizhui.  Sizhui would know he was lying, which would defeat the point of lying, and Sizhui would be upset that Jingyi lied to him, which would make things worse.  

Time seems to warp around Jingyi for the last two hours of class.  Every moment seems to drag on as he tries to manage the absolute panic growing larger with each second, but time also seems to race forward to the end of class no matter how much he wants it to stop.  Sizhui looks at him several times, and each time, Jingyi wants to fall into the floor a little more.  

His heart starts to race faster at the last few minutes of the class.  Two hours and he has heard not a single word out of Lan-Laoshi’s mouth, and he has gotten no closer to knowing how to handle the situation with Sizhui.  As soon as the bell is rung, Jingyi grabs his bag.  

“Jingyi-” Sizhui says, voice quiet and with an inflection that Jingyi is too panicked to read.

Jingyi turns towards Sizhui, unable to resist answering to the sound of his name on Sizhui’s lips.  He looks at Sizhui for maybe a whole second, taking in the tiniest crease between his brows and the lack of serenity in his expression before his courage fails him, and he runs for it, leaving his notes, brush, and ink block on the table.

“Jingyi!” Sizhui calls after him, half-rising from his seat as he does so, hand outstretched a moment too late.  Jingyi turned away too fast to see the blush on Sizhui’s cheek or to see past the confusion in his eyes.

All the other disciples turn to stare at the pair of them.  Jingyi can feel their eyes on him, but he doesn’t care right now.  It’s Sizhui’s expression that’s burned into his mind.  There’s a rush of voices behind him as whispers spread from disciple to disciple and then Lan Qiren’s sharp voice: “Gossiping is forbidden!”

Jingyi isn’t sure where he’s heading other than away as fast as possible as he takes the shortest route out of the Cloud Recesses.  He doesn’t slow down as he races past several older cultivators.  Their admonishments about running and disturbing the peace fall on deaf ears.  He skids to a stop past the last building and presses himself against the back of it, breathing hard in a way that has less to do with the run and more to do with anxiety.  

He scrubs his hands over his face, trying desperately to gather himself.  He can’t run from Sizhui forever, and he doesn’t really want to, but he also can’t face him yet.  Probably, he should be embarrassed for running away, but he’s never had delusions about his own bravery.  He might be scared of being killed by ghosts, but losing Sizhui’s friendship forever sounds worse.

Except he knows that Sizhui wouldn’t do that.  Sizhui’s too good to just stop being his friend.  He’ll be polite and calm- nice even- when he rejects Jingyi.  Jingyi can picture the exact expression, gentle and consoling.  He’s so… so… Sizhui that Jingyi won’t even be able to be upset with him when he breaks his heart.  What he’s really scared of is things changing between them.  He’s not sure he can handle Sizhui treating him with the same warm but distant politeness that he uses with most people.  

Jingyi presses the palms of his hands into his eyes.  He has to figure out how to make this mess right again, and he has to do it soon, but first, he has to figure out where to go.  He can’t go back to his and Sizhui’s dorm room, not yet.  Every place he can think of to hide is also a place that Sizhui would think to look for him.  Their lives are so entwined that he can’t seem to untangle them even for a few hours.  

Eventually, he starts off around the edge of the Cloud Recesses for the Cold Springs.  It’s one of the last places he’d thought of, which hopefully means it’s one of the last places someone would look for him.  He has never been one for silent meditation and has never gone to the Cold Springs entirely of his own volition before.

It’s empty, blessedly, but not surprisingly, since dinner is soon.  As Jingyi strips off his outer layers and folds them to set on the bank, he realizes this may not have been the smartest idea.  He really hopes Sizhui doesn’t come here- either to find him or to meditate- because this is a conversation he really, really doesn’t want to have half-naked.

Jingyi hisses as his feet hit the icy water, and he starts to wade in, but he keeps walking.  He lets out a shaky breath and focuses on the flow of his spiritual energy through his meridians until he feels, if not warm, at least not freezing.  

He sighs, breath turning to white vapor in the chilled air, and resists the urge to cross his arms for warmth.  The waters are supposed to have soothing and calming powers, and ancestors know he could use both right now.  

Jingyi stays in the water until the sky starts to purple with evening, turning the problem over and over in his head.  He’s no closer to knowing what to say to Sizhui, he has a dozen half-formed speeches in his head, but none of them seems quite right.  He has however realized two things.  One, he is hopelessly in love with Sizhui: a realization he has been shying away from for longer than he wants to admit.  Two, he can’t stay here all night because he will either freeze to death if he’s lucky or be buried under more punishments than he wants to think about if he’s not.

Slowly, grudgingly, he climbs out of the Cold Springs and dresses himself.  His feet are practically numb and the gravel feels strange underneath them.  Once dressed, he pauses again, staring up the path into the rest of Cloud Recess, but he really can’t put this off any longer, and so, he starts slowly walking up the path and back to his dorm.

There’s candlelight in the window of their dorm, which means Sizhui is there; not that Jingyi expected him to be anywhere else.  Despite the number of junior disciples housed here, the building is quiet when he enters, as all buildings in the Cloud Recesses are, and his footsteps sound loud in his own ears.  He can hear, faintly, the sound of Sizhui’s guqin close by, and the soft melody of a flute from further away.

He hesitates for just a moment outside the door, but he knows that Sizhui would have heard his footsteps, and he doesn’t need to look more like a coward than he already does.  He pushes the door open.  The room is lit by the dying daylight and a lantern on Sizhui’s table next to a music score, and Sizhui is exactly where Jingyi expected him to be, sitting at his desk with his guqin before him.

“Welcome back,” Sizhui says softly, fingers continuing to move over the strings without any interruption.  

“I-” Jingyi says and stalls.  All the words he’d thought of earlier fail him as he looks at Sizhui.  

Jingyi steps into the room and softly closes the door behind him.  He hovers by the door, anticipating something more from Sizhui but nothing comes.

“I’m sorry,” Jingyi says, looking at the ground.

“For what?” Sizhui says.  The tune of the guqin under his hands changes.  Jingyi hadn’t been paying attention to what he’d been playing before, but his trained ear picks up the shift.  “For running away when I tried to talk to you?  For leaving me to eat dinner by myself? For making me cover for you when you didn’t show up to feed the rabbits?”

Sizhui’s voice is calm and not at all accusatory, but Jingyi winces.  He’d forgotten that they’d been assigned to the rabbit meadow tonight.

“For embarrassing you in front of everyone,” Jingyi says.  “Mostly myself, really, but you got caught in it.  I know you don’t like to be the center of attention.”

“Ah, that,” Sizhui says.  His tone is closed off, and it’s hard for Jingyi to read.  Sizhui is usually reticent about his feelings, but Jingyi can generally tell them anyway, not right now; he’s shut himself down too far.  “I accept your apology.”

Jingyi steps further into the room, not looking away from Sizhui.  The silence between them stretches with the soft melody of the guqin the only sound.

“You aren’t going to ask about… earlier?” Jingyi asks tentatively, feeling unsure and wrong-footed.  He hates it.  This is exactly why he didn’t want this to happen.

“You clearly don’t want to talk about it,” Sizhui says without looking up at Jingyi.  There’s something in his voice under the forced calm: disappointment, maybe.  Jingyi isn’t used to having to work so hard to understand his best friend.  Something about Sizhui’s tone urges Jingyi forward until he’s standing in front of Sizhui to better see his face.  His bangs cast shadows on his face, partially obscuring it from view.  Though he’s not sure why it’s obvious to Jingyi that Sizhui wants to talk about this.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Jingyi says, “still don’t know what to say.”

It’s not much of a statement, he knows, but it’s an offering, an attempt to bridge the odd gap between them, a way of letting Sizhui know that it’s okay to ask questions.  For a moment, Jingyi thinks that Sizhui will remain quiet, rejecting Jingyi’s attempt, and that hurts more than he wants to admit.

“Were you?” Sizhui asks.  He doesn’t look up from the instrument in front of him, but the motions of his hands are exact, deliberate, not at all his usual easy motion.  “Was I?” Jingyi asks.

“Were you looking at me?” Sizhui asks.  His voice is as careful as his motions.  The answer to this question matters to him.

“Yes,” Jingyi says.  “I was.”

“Why?” Sizhui asks, and the note from the guqin is ever so slightly off, slightly out of tune, and too sharp.

“Because you’re beautiful,”  Jingyi answers his question without thinking, still trying to put together Sizhui’s reactions.  He realizes what he’s said the moment after it’s left his mouth.  

Sizhui lays his hands over the strings, stopping the music, and finally looks up at Jingyi.  His eyes are intense, searching Jingyi’s face for something, but Jingyi doesn’t know what.

“Is that all that you think?” Sizhui asks.  

Something in his tone, in his expression, in the way he’s leaning towards Jingyi now, emboldens Jingyi.  

“No,” Jingyi says, watching Sizhui’s reaction as closely as Sizhui is watching his.  “I think you are clever.  I think you are talented.  I think you are good, kind, and generous.  I think you are the most important person in my life.  I think that you are my best friend.”  Sizhui’s expression flickers ever so slightly, but Jingyi pushes on because if he doesn’t say it now, he’s not going to.  “I also think that,” he hesitates, “that I’m in love with you.”

The words hang between them in absolute silence without even the sound of the guqin to soften it.  Jingyi’s heart hammers against his ribs, and some part of him thinks he’s going to faint.  

Then, a smile spreads across Sizhui’s face like the rising sun, and all the air goes out of Jingyi’s lungs for an entirely different reason.  It’s not a polite smile or a consoling one, it’s a genuine grin: the kind where his eyes crinkle at the corner and his cheeks dimple.  If Sizhui is beautiful normally, when he smiles like this, Jingyi doesn’t have the words.  

“Sizhui,” Jingyi says, voice sounding ever so slightly panicked, “please say something.”

Sizhui grins even wider, a glimmer of amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Jingyi, I love you.”

There’s no ‘I think’, no qualifiers, no doubt whatsoever in his voice.  

“What?” Jingyi says, faintly.  Not quite sure that he’s heard this properly.

Sizhui gets to his feet in a single graceful movement.  He steps out from behind his desk so that the two of them are standing together.

“I love you,” Sizhui says, slowly, deliberately.

“You do?” Jingyi asks, a grin spreading across his face.

“Yes,” Sizhui says, and there is laughter in his voice.  

He steps closer to Jingyi, and Jingyi mirrors him, moving so they are nearly touching.  This close, Jingyi has to look down at him.  He can smell the cinnamon and smoke smell of incense clinging to his robes and the hint of almond from his hair.  His eyes are bright, and his lips are curved into a smile.  

His lips.

“Sizhui,” Jingyi says, dragging his gaze up from Sizhui’s lips to back to his eyes.

“Yes?” The undercurrent of excitement in his voice is obvious to Jingyi now.

“Do you know what I was dreaming about in class today?”

Sizhui tilts his head slightly, curious, and blinks.  “No?”

Not quite breathing, Jingyi reaches out and cups Sizhui’s face in his hand before leaning in to kiss him.  His heartbeat is loud in his ears.  Part of him still expects Sizhui to pull away, but he leans in closer, eyes falling closed.

Their lips brush together, hardly more than the touch of a butterfly's wings, but Jingyi’s heart is still trying to pound its way out of his chest.

“This,” Jingyi whispers and kisses him again.

The kiss is more solid this time but no less gentle.  Sizhui sighs ever so slightly, leaning into Jingyi’s hand, and Jingyi’s brain whites out for a moment when his soft lips part.  

Jingyi knows, from their friends, that kissing can be more than just this tender press of lips, but he doesn’t dare push further even though he wants to.  The most he dares is to allow his own lips to part and perhaps to hope that Sizhui will dare to be bolder than him.  Sizhui’s breath catches much the way Jingyi’s had, and Jingyi can feel it.  They linger there for another moment, neither daring to take that next step before pulling away.

Jingyi is relieved to see he’s not the only one who’s breathing a little fast.  He lets his hand fall away from Sizhui’s cheek and down to his side.  Sizhui takes a step back and takes a breath, composing himself.

“I think you owe me dinner,” Sizhui says. 

Jingyi blinks.

“If you saved me dinner-”

“Mn.”

“Gods, I love you!” 

Sizhui just laughs and moves back to his desk, putting away his guqin.  Jingyi settles on the opposite side of the desk.  The movent is familiar and comforting in its familiarity.  It feels just like always, just like them, just like it should be.

Sizhui sets a neatly wrapped fabric bundle on the table and starts to untie it.  The smell of food almost immediately makes Jingyi’s stomach rumble.

“Sizhui, I could marry you,” he says as he snags the chopsticks that Sizhui sets down.  He doesn’t think about the words.  He’s made the joke a hundred times before.

“Careful what you say, Jingyi,” Sizhui says, lips turning up into a smile that isn’t entirely joking, “or I might take you up on that.”

[issa-wasteland]

List of dynamics I think about and only wished there was more moments (Headcanons involved)

Wei wuxian and jiang cheng

- they need to be bros again as I don't like this distance they got going after everything that's happened.

- jiang cheng realizes he's an uncle again

(likes sizhui cause he's nice and freinds with jin ling. They have sleepovers)

- they finally talk about the golden core issue, their family's death as jiang cheng feels sorry for blaming wei wuxian, cry and hug it out. The hug is long because of the years that's passed that they haven't see each other.

- acknowledges that jiang fengmian and madam yu were both wrong for putting making their last request of having responsibility over jiang cheng and yanli on wei wuxian's shoulders at such a young age. Also how jiang fengmian slightly favored wei wuxian.

Wei ning and lan wangji

- it may be awkward first but they have their own talks.

- lan wangji tells wen ning when he found a-yuan (sizhui) and what happened after.

Lan xichen and lan wangji

- their talks are cute yet funny to me cause lan xichen knows lan wangji is so in love with wei wuxian.

-gives hint to lan qiren that lan wangji and wei wuxian are together before they could tell him themselves.

Jiang cheng and lan xichen

- angry uncle grape and soft uncle

Nie huaisang and lan xichen

Nie huaisang and meng yao

-They give off being the middle bro/ young bro as nie huaisang is the older bro.

- Meng yao protected nie huaisang before everything went down.

- nie huaisang was shocked seeing meng yao having to leave and ran to ask his brother what was going on.

Nie huaisang and nie mingjue

-Their moments are cute

- there's a movie focused on them and I hope to see it cause I seen a few gifs from the movie and it looks promising.

Wei wuxian and nie huaisang

-They can go fishing again

- still doing unintentional shenanigans

Jiang cheng and lan wangji

-they had decent moments that involved looking/worried about wei wuxian.

- it's just wei wuxian's bro and husband having a moment as they can be out whoppin ass together or jiang cheng is coming for lan wangji.

Jiang yanli and wen qing

- I'm pretty sure they talk about how obvious wei wuxian and lan wangji's relationship is.

- two beautiful women just minding their business.

A-qing with xiao xingchen, song lan, and xue yang, or all of them.

-She's obviously the little sister and if anyone messed with her, that person is gonna be sorry.

Meng yao and jiang cheng as I wanna see how it went down to raising jin ling.

- meng yao must've got jin ling from Friday and the weekends while jiang cheng has him on the other days.

-Jin ling most likely gets spoiled when he's over with uncle meng yao.

Lan xichen and wei wuxian

- lan xichen likes the fact that wei wuxian makes his brother happy.

Wei wuxian and xue yang

-xue yang would go on about how wei wuxian should be respected as he's the only guy he would give respect to.

Song lan and xue yang as I just wanna see what would happen if they were put into a room and no fighting was allowed.

- I'm pretty sure xue yang would find a way to make song lan tick.

Song lan and xiao xingchen

- Dudes was just roaming around the world together and song lan gives off those vibes of being so serious that he can't take a joke.

- in all seriousness, what could they be talking about in general?

- I m sure xiao xingchen be bored as hell cause (shamefully) xue yang makes him laugh.

Jiang cheng and nie huaisang

- they'll drink ALOT

- probably have their own hide out to avoid responsibilities.

Nie mingjue and lan xichen

- he's gentle to lan xichen

- trusts him

- lan xichen goes to the nie sect only to come home with his hair braided as lan wangji observes before complimenting on it and walks away.

Wei wuxian, lan wangji, and all the junior disciples.

-They all make fun of wei wuxian's cooking if he ever volunteers to cook.

- got him a cook book for his birthday for sure

- wei tells stories from his life

Wen ning and the junior disciples

- there's a chance that jingyi and zizhen make wen ning do something that's gonna cause some trouble until lan sizhui is able to stop it in time.

- for jin ling, it's uncomfortable to hang out with your father's murderer but he'll be civil for sizhui's sake.

Wen ning and lan sizhui

- wen ning would tell sizhui about their family before everything that's happened.

- there's based on wen ning and him traveling with lan sizhui but his character is ooc. Idk I want to watch it but I also don't??? Is it promising? Does it live up to the hype???

All the junior disciples hanging out

-if they were to play a game, jin ling would get cocky until he sees that he's losing and wants to quit or call everyone a "cheater" before walking off.

Wei wuxian and jin ling as he apologized to wei for stabbing him as wei is just like "Dude don't worry about it 😄"

Wei wuxian and lan sizhui as he just got his baby boy back after thinking he was dead 🥺

- wei would shush sizhui if he says a "wrong thing" around lan zhan.

- guarantee sizhui would hug wei's legs for old time sake.

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 45 - watching notes

I'm at this stage of fandom rn where it's really hard to concentrate on anything else 😅

Every song I listen to gets dissected for how it relates to wangxian

I need to concentrate on my thesis but instead I'm pondering how the untamed raises questions about collectivism vs individualism and how my western perception of that might differ greatly from a native chinese person or even the author's intention

Can't I just write my thesis about THAT?

Alas, I digress ...

Back to our regular programming :D

Last time one Sophie watches the untamed wwx went all Sherlock on us and used his formidable skills of deduction to expose Backpfeifengesicht's plan of killing everyone and blaming it on wwx

I've heard from several people that the next few episodes are their favourites, so no high expectations at all :D

Nobody wipes the blood on their chins away. Might be about the aesthetic

I adore detective-duo-wangxian so much!! Especially because wwx does 99% of the talking but then lwj will chime in with a single word and it's 100% devastating :D

If anyone knows any well written case-fics for these two, please, I need recs! (For after the show)

Backpfeifengesicht makes good one point and that is that jgy already is at the top of the cultivation world. So what does he gain from all this?

Or is it simply that he's afraid of wwx because he's a rebel and might act against him? (Don't answer that. I wanna find out through the show ;))

Wwx just casually revealed that he's been to cloud recess and that he handles went to the restricted section forbidden chamber. What will you do about, Lan Qiren? Huh? 😂

Oooh! Backpfeifengesicht is the ghosted faced man! I thought it was Jiggy himself!!! 😱

That makes way more sense though!

Lan Sizhui! Jin Ling! Oh you brave boys! 😭

Someone hold me 😭

But why does he not take zidian now? He's done so before!

"You little fool!" Is "I love you" in Jiang-Cheng-speak :D

"We're done for! What can we do??" - wwx *strips*

Sorry

Bahahaha 😂😂😂

I just burst out laughing waaay to loudly for the fact that I've got people sleeping in the room next to mine

But look at Lan Qiren when he sees wwx strop to reveal anat is probably his nephew's undershirt 😂😂😂

He's probably questioning every decision that's let him to this point :D

This is completely inconsequential,but I couldn't keep quiet about it anymore because I every time he makes this motion, it always sends a shiver down my spine!!! Notice that wwx (or rather Xiao Zhan) is one of these people whose fingers bend in the opposite direction??? I know it's just a normal thing some people can do, but I can't watch it!! It makes my fingers hurt just looking at it 🙈🙈🙈

Is he turning himself into a demon lure flag?? 😱

Lan Jingyi 🥺🥺🥺

Also does wwx now just transfer his self-sacrificing tendencies to lwj?

Nothing is as hot as these two together in a fight scene

Jiang Cheng doesn't want to leave them behind. He does care! :') he just never unlearned how to unravel his love from his anger

Sizhui running up to greet his dads :')

Look at them! I'm soft guys 💔

He called him Yuan!! 😭😭😭

So this is it. Any doubts I ever had about Sizhui's identity are gone

Will he finally recognize him??

Why don't you say anything lwj? This one time, I beg you!!

Sect Leader Yao still at his gossip shit even 16 years later 🙄

Lam sizhyi is seasick! Why is this so cute! 😭

Oh Wen Ning!! He recognized A-Yuan? Right?

I want to hug Lan Sizhui for his openness and kindness towards everyone he meets, no matter their status or what other people say about them! (Wen Ning now or who he thought was Mo Xuanyu the supposed mad-man) and I wanna hug lan Wangji right after for raising him to be like this :')

Oh Wen Ning! 😭

That's how I'd look at Sizhui, too, if I met him - poor unadulterated wonder :')

And just think about what that means for Wen Ning! He's not the last of the Wens! All their fight wasn't for nothing. This child, their legacy, survived 😭😭😭

"Can I call you A-Yuan" "Of Course." God I'm gonna burst into tears 😭

I'm actually bursting into tears!!

Isn't this the dream of anyone who has ever lost someone? :')

"He's like a brother and father to me" :')

And he raised him from when he was 4 or 5? So ... A-Yuan was about 2 when the Wens died? Right? Then 5 would fit with lwj's 3 year isolation

Ob god, it's the butterfly-toy!!! 😭😭😭

Wen Nings smiling through his tears! I can't! 😭💔And he's got the one from the market!

Aww, wax isn't wearing the white undergarment anymore. Too bad

Oh poor Jin Ling ...

So much grieve that he could probably never process. There so many lost kids in this story, hurt by things they had no control over 😔

I mean, I get it. That's the person who killed his parents (without being in control, but he doesnt know that) and everyone is just talking to him as if it's normal and that didn't happen. But he can't forget,but he doesnt really understand either and he has no outlet. Of course he'd just ... crash 😥

And who would have thought I'd ever try at a flashback of Jin Zixuan's death :(

For once, it'd be nice if the adults actually acted like the parent figures they're supposed to be and explain things to their children 🤦‍♀️

I'm so thankful though, that no one even thinks of scolding him for crying. Jismg Cheng only asked who it was that made him cry (and looks like he'll kick their ass). Generally, thus show has a very healthy attitude towards tears. Most characters cry when they are faced with tragedy, regardless of gender. Men being allowed to have appropriate reactions to grieve (instead of a single men tear or just punching things) is really nice to see

Oh Yao dude whose courtesy name I can't remember, shut up!

Thanks Ouyang Zizhen! You get me

I live for these children standing up to their elders

Meanwhile Nie Huaisang is just on the sidelines, enjoying the show :D never change!

The Lotus Pier theme song alone is making me cry rn 😢

Why can't wen Ning come in?

Oh Sizhui!

He many times do you want to make me cry happy tears today?? :')

Little turnip-baby ❤

But why doesn't lwj say anything ??? 😭

Lan Wangji raised A-Yuan smong a bunch of rabbits??? 😭

Now he's a turnip baby with a taste for carrots, how cute is that? :')

Holy shit, wwx and lwj are really joined at the hip these days of lwj won't enter the hall if wwx isn't allowed to :D

Lwj 😑 "no misbehaviour"

Someone. Knows. Their. Husband.

Okay sorry, but as painful as these cuts must have been and yes, while you do see scars on this prostitute's face, they in no way warrant these horrified gasps as of they had all seen a monster 🙄

Xue yang. Fancy seeing you here in this not at all disturbing sub-plot 😬

Okay that's creepy. That's really creepy

Shouldn't Jin Guangyao have a bit more compassion for these women?

On the other hand, he was born to menacingly stand behind a curtain 🤷‍♀️

W. T. F. ????

Jin Guangshan??? o___O

That's the most skin we've ever seen on this show and it's in a scene like THIS? 😬

THIS IS HOW JIN GUANGSHAN DIED? 😱😱😱

How?

How can you die from sex?

And then jgy made them keep going?

UGH

These poor women :/

So there's someone who set her free on purpose, right?

Bicao has really interesting eyes!

Oh wait, took me some time to catch up. This is about Quin Su and why she killed herself, right?

WHAT??

They were siblings o_O

They just went full game of thrones on this ...

Hey Jin Guangshan, screw you for raping that woman

Wait, is that why jgy had him die like THAT?

I'm so confused about how that happened btw

But why would Jin Guangyao merry quin su anyway? Was this some kind of political marriage that he couldn't call off?

This episode answered some of my questions but raised about a dozen more 😅

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose

5 episodes to go. I'm both happy because I can't wait to brows the untamed tag without looking for spoilers and extremely sad 🥺

Right now I'm planning to watch one episode each day until friday and then watch the last two on Saturday, hopefully quite early, so I can spend the rest of the day crying my eyes out over it, without having to worry about such trivial things as being a functioning adult or a responsible student 😅

[nikosomething]

Hehe you can call me bunny! I like it! Oh wow your art is so pretty, Niko! I love all your favorite characters too but Jiang Cheng is my most favorite. So, I'm just going to ask your random questions now. If you could spend your life living in one of the sects in MDZS, what sect would you choose? Did you listen to the character songs of CQL? What all songs did you like? Oooh, who do you think had the best fashion in CQL? I have many more questions I wanna ask but I'll stop now. We have an entire month after all. - 🐰

Heya bunny! Glad you like it haha

Ohhhhh danggg, thank you!! You’re making me blush haha

Jiang Cheng is great, I love him so much! My best friend is actually a lot like him (it’s uncanny), so I love him even more than I normally would have I suppose haha

Which Sect Would I Choose?

Hmmm, that’s an interesting question! I quess motto-wise it’s the Jiang sect, ‘attempt the impossible’ sounds pretty sweet and I like that they are so down to earth and free, in a way.

The strong hierachry and etiquette within the Jin sect would probably frustrate me to no end and while the Lan sect has a good motto ‘be righteous’, their endless amount of rules is just... oooph. I would probably go crazy and leave the sect at some point (or I would have stayed a quiet wallflower, had I been born into it, but I like who I am now, so... sry for disappointing you, Lan Qiren)

The Nie sect wants honour, but probably not my kind of honour, so that could be problematic. Also they have that dark problem looming over them.

I like the idea of the Wen sect ‘compete with the sun for radiance, match the sun in longetivity’, so with the right leader, it could be quite cool, it’s all up to interpretation

So yeah, I guess the Jiang sect it is - or I’d attempt what XXC and SL wanted to do. I’m a big fan of that. - what about you? <3

CQL Character Songs

Omgggg I did! And I love all? But the character songs I listened to the most are (lemme quickly check Spotify):

Qu Jin Chen Qing (That melody! Xiao Zhan! These lyrics! ahhh)

Huang Cheng Du (It makes me so sad)

Duo Hen Sheng (I just love the changes in pace and the lyrics)

Bu Wang (Wang Yibo! The sadness!)

Gu Cheng (my heart!!)

I love them all, tho. All of them give me feels, all of them remind me of what a great time I had watching CQL, though Zui Shi Shao Nian Bu Ke Qi always amuses me a bit. These sweet youngsters.

- what about you, bunny?

Best Fashion

Danggg! I can’t do a rangking, cause I suck at that, but LXC had amazing outfits, esp that dark blue one I drew a while back. Oh and JC!! Man, he dresses up so fashionably! I also adore WWX’s choice of clothes, he got great taste in fashion and I totally get that he doesn’t usually wear long sleeves cause they - are - in - the - way - all - the - time (yet long sleeves are extremely elegant and beautiful). I also loved XXC’s choice, I myself like wearing white and light grey or black for contrast, such a simple yet ethereal aesthetic. Oh and how could I forget my boys XY and JGY! As you can see the more I think about it the harder it gets for me hahaha Now I wanna name them all. Insert everyone, please hahaha

When it comes to my personal taste I’d probably either go for XXC’s clothes or WWX, or both, depending on my plans for the day, you know? haha

Overall I ADORE THE COSTUMES for CQL, big fat kudos to the costume department. From an artist’s perspective there is so much I want to draw bcs of the sheer beauty of it all and how well it fits the characters.

What about you? I suspect you’ll choose JC, because if he is ur fav how could u not haha HE LOOKS SO DAMN GOOD IN HIS OUTFITS

Sorry for the long break, my week was a little intense, but I’m back from night hunting for now and I’m healing up nicely hahaha

[robininthelabyrinth]

NMJ is in Cloud Recesses while LWJ is being punished for visiting WWX at Burial Mounds. LXC tells him what happened, and the 2 decide to go there to see with their own eyes exactly what is going on. A-Yuan has them wrapped around his little finger in .5 seconds, and NMJ is not inclined to put him down. Also, WQ takes one look at him and tells him he's deviating and he's gonna die in less than a year if it's not cured. He might just be in love.

“Your brother is being punished?” Nie Mingjue asked, more than a little surprised. “Your brother? Did we switch brothers again?”

Lan Xichen had to press his lips together to stop from laughing at the reminder of that time when they’d tried to swap the two babies (well, baby and toddler) while their elders had been distracted during a discussion conference – Nie Mingjue’s father was always complaining about how weak and low-energy his new son was, while Lan Qiren scowled about how much noise Lan Zhan made, and they’d thought it was a perfect solution to both problems. It hadn’t worked, of course, given the difference a year made for very young children, and they’d both been punished (while their elders coughed badly-suppressed laughter into their sleeves), but all in all it’d been an interesting first meeting.

“He visited the Burial Mounds without permission,” he explained. “Uncle was very upset.”

“Your uncle isn’t sect leader,” Nie Mingjue said, a little sharply. He’d had some struggles for control and respect when he became sect leader himself, given how young he’d been – at the time Lan Xichen had thought they were being ridiculous, though in retrospect he realized with a pang exactly how much of his friend’s childhood had been lost to a responsibility exceeding that of even most adults – and it remained a sensitive subject. “And merely visiting a place isn’t against your family rules…you approved the punishment, then?”

Lan Xichen hesitated, because he hadn’t. Approval wasn’t considered as necessary in the Lan sect as it was in the Nie; elders were allowed to discipline juniors without consulting the Sect Leader even when it was outside the family rules – the two of them often argued whether such a system left openings for abuse (Nie Mingjue’s position) or encouraged trust (Lan Xichen’s view). 

“Well, he went without permission,” he temporized.

Nie Mingjue snorted, seeing through the excuse at once. “He hasn’t needed to get permission to go places even before he fought in a war, Xichen,” he pointed out. “He was a very good general.”

That was very high praise, from Nie Mingjue, with particular emphasis on Lan Wangji’s reliable judgment; otherwise, he would have used different words.

“It’s the Burial Mounds,” Lan Xichen insisted, still trying to defend his uncle’s judgment. “Wei Wuxian is dangerous –”

“So is night-hunting.”

“You’re just being contrary for the sake of arguing with me,” Lan Xichen said. Nie Mingjue didn’t deny it, though he wouldn’t: it was a measure of his trust in Lan Xichen that he would break etiquette enough to casually pick a fight like this. “Fine, have it your way: I’ll put an end to the punishment now, and we’ll go ourselves to Yiling. If it’s more dangerous than night-hunting, the punishment resumes; if it’s less, it’s absolved, and I will apologize to Wangji myself. Agreed?”

“How did I get roped into this?” Nie Mingjue pretended to complain. “What business is it of mine how your Lan sect teaches its disciples…? But since you insist, I will of course accompany you.”

“Your acquiescence is appreciated – even if a less polite man than I might speculate that you just don’t want to meet with all the minor sect leaders that routinely take advantage of your visits to come by with requests.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t smile – he never did, anymore, which was a pity – but his brow wasn’t furrowed in anger for once, and that was very nearly the same.

Lan Xichen was just as inclined to avoid the inevitable pestering as Nie Mingjue, so he put his plan into action at once and headed out before his uncle could notice what was going on outside his door – not that it was a problem if his uncle objected, of course, he was the sect leader now, but still, why start trouble that could be avoided? Especially since Lan Xichen was going with Nie Mingjue, which significantly lessened the chance of danger; there was little that could stand up against the two of them together. Including Wei Wuxian’s defensive arrays, brilliant as they were, which shattered after a few gestures - after all, it wouldn’t be much of an evaluation if there was time for the Yiling Patriarch to cover things up while they were waiting for permission to enter.

Not that there seemed to be much to cover up.

The Burial Mounds weren’t anything at all like what Lan Xichen had heard, and judging by the increasingly black look on Nie Mingjue’s face, the same was true for him; the ragged collection of farmers tending to an even more ragged collection of crops was far away from the roving army of fierce corpses Wei Wuxian was reputed to be raising here.

“He’s not raising people,” Lan Xichen murmured.

“Well, one,” Nie Mingjue said. Lan Xichen turned to look, but it appeared that what Nie Mingjue was referring to was a small child, buried waist deep into the mud and beaming about it. Lan Xichen gave Nie Mingjue a look, because now was not the appropriate moment for his friend’s deeply buried sense of humor to re-emerge as if greeting the spring…great, now he was making planting jokes, even if only within his own mind. “Xichen, there are hardly any cultivators here.”

“The remnants of the Wen sect?” Lan Xichen guessed, politely ignoring the piece of spiced meat Nie Mingjue had taken out from his pocket to give to the child, who was trying to wiggle his way out of the dirt in order to demand a ride on Nie Mingjue’s shoulders. “I hadn’t realized they were quite so reduced. Rumor seems to have blown things quite out of proportion…”

“Don’t touch him!” a woman snapped, and they both turned; her clothing was faded, but still recognizable as the colors of the Wen sect, and Lan Xichen could feel the way Nie Mingjue tensed, the way Baxia, on his back, began to quiver in anticipation. “A-Yuan, come here, quick.”

“No!” the child said, clinging to Nie Mingjue’s leg. “I wanna ride!”

“I don’t give rides to radishes,” Nie Mingjue said, his eyes still fixed on the approaching woman – Wen Qing, if Lan Xichen is recalling her name correctly. A doctor, once. “Didn’t you say you were a radish?”

“I’m human! I’m human!”

“If you’re a human, you need to listen to your seniors. Get her permission first.”

“You don’t have it,” Wen Qing snapped. “Get away from him at once, A-Yuan. That man is dangerous.”

“We don’t mean any harm,” Lan Xichen interjected quickly before things went south.

“You may not,” she said. “But the one next to you is halfway down the road to a qi deviation; I wouldn’t trust him with any child, least of all one of blood that he despises.”

There was no way to salvage this, but Lan Xichen was determined to try regardless. “Lady Wen –”

“If I recall correctly, her title was Supervisory Office Leader.” Nie Mingjue’s voice was cold and biting. “In Yiling, no less. If I recall correctly, Office Leader Wen Qing refused to dirty her hands by raising a sword directly, and, valued as she was by Wen Ruohan, he did not force her. And so Yiling became a place to keep prisoners – isn’t that right?”

“I was a doctor,” she said, voice equally stiff. “I cared for all sick and injured without distinction –”

“Until they were well enough to be executed –”

“We are guests here, Mingjue-xiong,” Lan Xichen reminded him desperately. “And the war is over, and Lady Wen is a civilian now.”

“She’s still a cultivator,” Nie Mingjue said through gritted teeth. “I do not generally permit cultivators of any sect to say that I harm children; would you prefer I challenge her to defend her words against my saber? I am willing – Office Leader Wen can name the time and place. Unless she prefers to continue to hide behind the cloak of the powerful?”

This was a disaster.

“No one is fighting anyone,” Lan Xichen said firmly. “Lady Wen will apologize for the implication, said in a moment of anger and out of concern for her…for her young relative; in return, we will apologize for arriving without an invitation or forewarning, and then we will all limit ourselves to saying only polite things.”

Both of them open their mouths to protest, and he adds sharply, “Now, if you please.”

He shot Nie Mingjue a look, urging him to recall that he was here at Lan Xichen’s invitation, and his friend scowled but begrudgingly nodded his agreement. Lan Xichen turned his stare onto Wen Qing next – her lips were pressed tightly together, unwilling to yield, but after a few seconds, she finally gave in.

“The implication was wrongly said, and inappropriate,” she said begrudgingly. “Sect Leader Nie’s strict discipline and ethical code are well-known. Even in battle, I’ve never heard of you attacking children…your qi is unsettled, though.”

“That isn’t any of your business,” he said, and she shrugged.

“You’re right, it isn’t, except that you’ve challenged me as a monster when I believe myself to be a doctor,” she said, and now it was her turn to cross her arms. “My own ethical code demands that I treat any injury in those I see; if I fail to do so, then my forbearance during all those years of war will be rendered meaningless and I’d be as guilty as you say I am.”

“I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts as a doctor,” Lan Xichen said, deciding to ignore the way the two of them were still glaring daggers at each other. “I’ve read your works before; they were highly innovative.”

They both looked at him as though he was absolutely crazy, pretending that there hadn’t been a war since the last time one of Wen Qing’s medical texts had been passed around at a discussion conference, but Lan Xichen was determined to ignore the awkwardness until it passed and he smiled that determination right at the two of them until they both gave in.

“You may as well come in for lunch,” she finally said. “We don’t have much, but we’ll share it.”

“We can share our provisions as well,” Lan Xichen said. “Thank you for the invitation…is Wei Wuxian not here? I would have thought he’d have come running with all the noise we’re making.”

“No, he’s down the mountain,” Wen Qing said, rubbing at her nose and turning to lead them further into their camp – there were some tables set out, clearly made by those lacking experience in carpentry. “His shijie’s wedding is coming up soon…he’s trying to find materials for a gift.”

Lan Xichen hummed agreeably, and elbowed Nie Mingjue. His friend scowled further, but obediently picked up the line of polite conversation. Or, his view of it, anyway. “What are you planning on sending?”

Wen Qing stopped and turned to look at him. “What? Me? Why would I send anything? I don’t know her.”

Nie Mingjue looked at her in disbelief. “Your benefactor’s shijie is marrying, and you’re not sending anything? Do you want to be accepted by the cultivation world or not?”

“I don’t think a wedding present is going to be the thing that helps convince the cultivation world that we’re not all blood-sucking demons.”

“Why not?” Nie Mingjue said. “My ancestors were butchers; you think the gentlemen cultivators of the other sect, whether yours or Xichen’s, accepted them as a legitimate sect at the start? The only way to win legitimacy is to force everyone to accept you as you are.”

Wen Qing had an expression on her face that suggested she hadn’t thought of that.

“They call Wei Wuxian the Yiling Patriatch,” Lan Xichen said thoughtfully. “A patriarch should have a sect beneath him, shouldn’t he? And it’s the sect leader’s right hand’s duty to send gifts on behalf of the sect, in addition to any personal gifts sent on behalf of the sect leader himself.”

“…even if I wanted to send something on behalf of - of Yiling Wei, or whatever, we don’t have anything.”

Lan Xichen smiled. “Neither did the Cloud Recesses, during the years of war. You’re very fortunate: etiquette covers that precise situation, and suggests you reach out to another sect to borrow something. That helps bind your sects closer together as allies in the future – and before you say you don’t have anyone to ask, you have two Sect Leaders right here.”

Wen Qing appeared dumbstruck. “Would you share?”

Nie Mingjue huffed. “We’re not so poor that we can’t afford to lend out wedding gifts,” he said. “Even to a criminal. If you’re a sect, you’re a sect - this would hardly be the first sect that hosts someone I want to see dead.”

“I’m pretty sure that would be most of them,” Lan Xichen laughed. “I’ve seen you at parties.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be a complete disaster after all.

[merlinsbed]

I am so invested in thinking about this untamed star wars au now like I haven't actually written any scenes yet (or even the short fic I wanna do for the 30 day challenge that has definitely taken me more than 30 days although I maintain that nobody said it had to be 30 consecutive days so) but I've been writing down some info

like I picked out some lightsaber colors for the lans and wei ying! lan zhan gets blue, not just because it's his color, but because in the star wars extended universe it was associated with jedi guardians and things like righteousness and bravery.

xichen and lan qiren each get green, associated with values like harmony, helping others, spirituality, and just a color that's generally associated with older, wiser jedi.

wei ying gets purple because 1) it's my favorite color and he's my favorite character and 2) it represents moral ambiguity, uncertainty, and reconstruction, being a combination of red and blue (the two colors associated with the sith and jedi respectively).

there's a bunch of other stuff too like how baoshan sanren was once an active member of the order until Lan Yi's death when she went into seclusion and eventually started training her own students in ways that give various jedi masters premature grey hair. she's never bothered to actually leave the order and they've never bothered to kick her out even though they probably should at this point but you know whatever.

wei ying's path to the jedi is kinda chaotic lmao they actually tried to nab him at the age of 4 after his parents died but jiang fengmian beat them to it so he was raised by the royal jiang family for the next five years until madame yu got fed up with rumors of wei ying being her husband's biological child and you know just kinda fed up with wei ying in general so she got in touch with the jedi and was like "I know he's older than you typically take but pls take him off my hands" and the jedi were like "sure we'll come pick him up"

lan zhan and wei ying probably don't lose their virginity to each other when wei ying is still part of the order. they share some awkward teenage kisses that lan zhan freaks out about because they are jedi and they're not supposed to be romantically involved with other people. this all manages to go out the window when wei ying leaves the order because they don't see each other for like a year and when they finally run into each other again lan zhan is like "fuck it I still think this is a terrible idea but I am a lovesick fool" plus wei ying kind of dresses like a sith now even though he never joins them and lan zhan would be a liar if he didn't admit to himself that it's kind of hot

nie huaisang is the most terrifying senate representative ever but no one really knows this because he cultivates that image of someone who doesn't know what's going on while manipulating things behind the scenes. as far as everyone else is concerned though he's just this timid, soft, art loving guy who understands nothing but he still somehow gets things done?? so mingjue is like "idk how you're managing to be both incompentent and competent at the same time but it's working so just keeping doing you I guess"

in this au the first betrothal between yanli and zixuan is never broken and their marriage has a pretty rocky start. zixuan isn't outright mean to her, on account of the fact that wei ying is a powerful force user who dabbles in the darkside and zixuan will never admit it but yanli's adopted younger brother scares the shit out of him (wei ying is quite proud of how scared his brother in law is of him), but he's very cold and distant. they slowly get to know each other though and end up falling in love. yanli is more like she is during the confrontation at phoenix mountain where she straight up tells zixun that it's not her little brother's fault the rest of them suck at their cultivation and oh yeah he should also fuckin apologize to said little brother for that completely unnecessary remark about his parents. like she literally lets zixun get all puffed up on his ego and then sticks a pin in it and refuses to back down it's one of my favorite scenes. anyway the jin family is a fuckin mess of political backstabbing so yanli does her own manipulations, usually through her husband and, like huaisang, nobody really suspects her of it except her siblings who are well aware of how terrifying their sister can be when you manage to run through all of her patience

idk who wei ying's master would be. he makes it to knight before he leaves the order so he obviously was a padawan to someone, but off the top of my head I'm not sure who. baoshan sanren is busy being isolated and no padawan trained by her is considered a jedi anyway (so says the order and she was like "fine you guys suck anyway"). it definitely can't be lan qiren. for one, he would never train wei ying. he knew cangse sanren when she was alive and he's seen enough of wei ying to know he does not want to be responsible for that. plus, lan zhan and wei ying are padawans at about the same time and you can't have more than one padawan at a time so even if lqr was willing to train wei ying he couldn't.

wen ning is force sensitive, but the wens have always had close ties to the sith and during the war they're part of the seperatists so he never gets picked up by the jedi. wen qing actually does everything she can to keep him being force sensitive secret because she's afraid of a sith lord coming and taking her little brother away. wei ying ends up finding out wen ning is force sensitive and helps wen qing keep him protected while also providing some training and support so wen ning can actually make use of his force sensitivity in ways that help him and his people, but don't make it obvious that he's force sensitive.

I could go on but I wanna go watch the phantom menace for more inspiration plus I'm doing some laundry

[tonyglowheart]

The Untamed is unequivocably a love story, and here’s why

+ ft. off the cuff character analysis

--

So my thing with The Untamed vs the original novel is, I think they made some subtle adjustments to the MCs’ characterizations that I think ended up working for The Untamed to still tell a plausible love story, and also working within censorship issues of not doing anything like having them kiss or whatever. (more on this, but I really don’t think in the long run it came at the detriment of them telling a romantic story)

Now, I came into MDZS through The Untamed primarily and the novel secondarily, so I’m curious to see what other ppl who read the novel (and even consumed other adaptations) think. But for me, I think the way The Untamed worked with the characters make sense in that I think CQL!Lan Wangji is a naturally private and nondemonstrative person, which was underscored by his upraising by Lan Qiren. Where novel!Lan Wagji gives me more of the vibe of his stoicism maybe comes more from his upbringing, more like the feeling of a dam holding back floodwaters, vs CQL!Lan Wangji who I see more as “still waters run deep.” This is why it makes sense for me, censorship aside, that Lan Wangji wouldn’t be prone to emotive outbursts while drunk the way he sort of was in the novel. (and tbh... I actually kind of appreciated that more about the drama, vs when I was reading the novel I was kind of like “....what the heck... is this...”) This is to say, to me it makes more sense that CQL!Lan Wangji’s way of expressing his love would be more along the lines of the “tsuki ga kirei” kind, vs only having a kiss of “I love you” to confirm his feelings. And that, since it’s a drama and we’re not REALLY in someone’s head for the PoV, it makes sense to me that we wouldn’t see things that are physically or overtly demonstrative between the two of them. Except for, like, the way Lan Zhan’s eyes always go to Wei Wuxian in almost every scene they’re together XD

And on Wei Wuxian’s side, ma boi is dumb as a bag of rocks about his own feelings, because self examination whomst, amirite? I think he goes with the flow and doesn’t really stop to think about it until it hits him like a ton of bricks. I think this goes for both CQL and the novel. Like, he’s the one who would be like “I like you” to LWJ all the time, but not realize WHY or how much lol (fellas, is it gay to toss flowers of admiration on your best bro??). The whole “wait did you just flirt with me?” “have been for years, thanks for noticing” thing XD

I also think CQL really went in on depicting Wei Wuxian as... pretty depressed following fighting his way out of the Burial Mounds. There’s moments in CQL where Xiao Zhan’s acting really seems to indicate this to me - like his reaction after seeing the lotus sprouts in the Burial Mounds, before he turned around to put a brave face for the remaining members of the Wen clan, he had this utterly heartbreaking moment of, like, grief and incredulity that I thought was incredibly poignant. CQL really underscored Wei Wuxian’s shitty, shitty circumstances, and just HOW much it seems like people Could Not Stop Giving Him Shit, and honestly, like I don’t blame him for breaking emotionally. He must have been suffering from some pretty bad emotional burn-out, or like wavering on the edge of burnout, for quite some time even preceding that. So I don’t want to say that CQL!Wei Wuxian is a casualty of his circumstance while he makes the best of it, since I think that takes some credit (or blame) away from his choices, but I think CQL really set it up to illustrate HOW much stuff was piling on him.

Whereas the vibe I get more from novel!Wei Wuxian seems more like that meme that’s like “the risk I took was calculated, but boy am I bad at math” lol. (Still is a dumb dumb tho and also, I have this headcanon that Wei Wuxian was subconsciously like “that was an option??” when he found out Mo Xuanyu was a cutsleeve and was subsequently like immediately faced with Lan Zhan again lol. I’ve seen a bunch of things say one difference between the drama and novel is that WWX didn’t show interest before he died, but I think there are moments there, people are just taking too much for granted the framing of ppl around him interpreting his actions as “I wanna be your bro” actions when to me it mirrors a lot of romantic tropes still too. the flower being an example XD)

The other thing is, The Untamed is a live action drama. Which means we can and should be looking beyond just the dialogue and explicit action, and into the visual and audio cues. And to not do so, and only obsess over whether or not they kiss, I think does a disservice to the drama and the nature of the medium. Because, like, lmfao slow lingering shots of the two gazing at each other while Wuji plays in the background... like Could Not Be More Obvious the romantic nature of their relationship lol, it’s a classic romantic trope/audience cue in audio-visual media. Like c’mon. It sure ain’t no brotherly romantic montage of the two of them like any and every time they reunite, I can tell ya that lmfao

[hozukitofu]

the kids are doing espionage

He would like to preface everything by a singly stated -

It was Qing's idea.

He is only a simple tech boy, a robotic engineering undergrad, someone who just wants to corrupt enough of the capitalistic system and its funds to fund his recycling robot, to delete the littering problems around campus.

The facts that he happens to know like one bad form of martial arts and by virtue of being a robotics student, great with tools and improvised weapon creation, are irrelevant. Besides the point.

But Qing is deep down, within that core of his questionably existing heart, an opportunist - an investor of assets. She sees potential, she invests in it. That's always how it goes.

Zizhen is eating, simply existing, thinking about robots and redeeming himself at a round of chess with uncle Shao when Qing barges into his absolutely mundane life, waving a USB stick in front of his nose, crowing about how she cracked the capitalism code.

Normally he would care.

"That's great, cool, jie, but -" he doesn't even have time to bat the excited blonde away before a proposition is coerced into his food.

"You! Wanna be an anti-government agent?"

Zizhen almost drops his fork.

"I'm sorry," he blinks, not even bothering with his food any longer because his appetite had taken a nose dive out the processing plants by the back of the college. "What. Did you just say?"

Qing was going to elaborate, but he doesn't let her.

"No, it was rhetorical - jie! I'm not becoming your agent for hire! I'm too soft for killing people!" He denies, vehemently, because look at him! He wears clothes that have to oblige by fluffy and big standard, and his hair cannot be let loose outside of the house if it isn’t wavy and bouncy. 

Doctor Wei calls him marshmallow unironically, on top of Romantic Guy, with debatable nuances under the friendly moniker because that’s his life goal, to be as soft and sweet as humanly possible. He is only someone who strives to dismantle the system in the ways he clumsily knows how to, but he always goes back to helping people at the end of the day. 

Becoming a hitman for hire is never something he would consider, or ever would. 

Qing badgered and wheedled, bombarded him with the benefits, the sheer overwhelming scale of everything good and pure tipping and burying onto his side of the balancing plates, to which he avoids, like one would, if a pack of mosquitoes with malaria starts heading your way. He had blended into the crowd. Worn disguises to avoid this woman's hawkish eyesight. Climbed out a window to avoid persecution and inevitable screeching. Legitimately broke into a dead sprint across the canteen as soon as he spotted Song-Xiao Qing looking for him.

One of these days she will catch up to him, and she will skin him alive, but not today. He weaves around busy college students arriving and leaving their lecture halls, his long arms tucked closely to his chest so that nobody snags them off him. It is a laborious chase that she incurred onto his person, and he dreads the reality where she finally hacks into a computer somewhere and puts a tracker onto him so that she can be two steps ahead of him and then she can beat him into the ground on the basis of him avoiding her like she will personally break all of his robots inside and out.

"Ouyang Zizhen!" He hears a death roar, and runs faster.

Gotta put that threefold authentication code into all of his login devices so that the two steps pre-planning stage doesn't happen. Yes. But run first.

-

He’s fallen asleep across a horizontal surface - he’s pretty sure that this is the first horizontal surface his eyes park on and his brain immediately decreed that We’re napping. Now. ASAP pronto LOL.

He comes back to the world of living when he is toed awake by a person, voice vaguely threatening and familiar to his ears -

“Ouyang. Ouyang.”

“Noo,” he whines, thinking it to be his father. “Dad I have the day off.”

“Zizhen. You will wake up or I will walk all over your face. Your choice, sweet guy.”

He sits up, immediately awake.

Look, he’s a coward. He has high sensors in-built to detect approaching danger to his person. It’s how he made it beyond high school to go where he does now. It’s nothing to be proud of - surviving, just barely, in this cutthroat world is a goddamn miracle, if he has to say so himself. So what if he’s a coward. He’s still alive. That’s what matters.

Also he has a feeling that if he had keep on sleeping, he will open his eyes in the next life, as a bug. Because he had been horrifically murdered in this life and that death was so bad that a bug’s body is the only viable and painless reincarnation the gods deem fitting for little poor him.

“I’m up,” he wheezes, vertigo slamming onto his head. “I’m physically with you but my brain had just taken a holiday. Please allow it some time to return.”

“I don’t need your brain for this,” Qing beams at him, mouth spreading in a Joker-ish feral look. “I’ve got a favour to ask.”

I’ve got a favour to ask sounds exactly like those questions that ask you for something but if you deny, you will die on sight. 

The way his upperclassman is smiling at him gives him all the answers he has. 

“What,” he grouses, mouth twisting, pulling his hoodie even more over his forehead and eyes, covering the majority of his freckles. They’re still here despite the lack of hours he spends in active avoidance of the sun and the majority of this goddamn school hates the sight of freckles like they’re something contagious so his instincts mostly had been ‘cover up’.

“Someone took something from me and I need a boy to get it back for Yours Truly,” she smiles, still feral and not the least friendly.

He squints suspiciously at her. “Why a boy. Is this hard even for you, lawbreaker extraordinaire?”

“I need a boy, you stupid robot builder,” she rolls her eyes, throwing a hairband onto the table in front of him. “Because someone from Gusu took my things and on virtue of me being a woman, I can’t enter without the security shooting me on sight.”

He groans out loud and slumps even further onto the table, hoping to become one with the recycled plastic. 

“I don’t even go there. They’ll shoot me on sight too. They have stun guns -”

She cuts him up, retying her space buns. He lets out a huff of hysterical air and rethinks back to every wrong decision he had ever taken in this life. 

“Which they’re not allowed to use on trespassers, chill. Listen, how you get it isn’t my problem. Get me the thing and I’ll squander all the favours you owe me.”

This sparks his interest. A-Qing is stingy. The stingiest person he has the misfortune of ever running across. She studies economics. She lives on cash alone. Just. Cash. She hoards money and favours and then harvests them like produce of her questionable farm.

Ouyang Zizhen owes Qing a lot of money for the completion of his robotics projects and the launch of his career as a junior lab assistant to the research team of the mechanical engineering department. She did all that, knowing that her investments were wise, and she constantly lords the favour over his head.

It sounds great, to get rid of one Song-Xiao Qing infinitely, but he can’t help but wonder if the catch, beyond You’ll die if you trespass Gusu like the absolute moron that you are. This sounds like it’s much more than just a suicide run. It sounds more like...a test? Of sorts? 

“All the favours?” He looks up, hood slipping, his freckles all in glorious sight and judging his upperclassman. “Are you sure?”

Qing-jie grins at him, looking every bit like the crook she is. “Are you?” 

“Heck, yes, why do you even ask. But I feel like you’re betting too much on this. How do you know if I’ll come back for you to squander all your favours for me? Seems fishy.”

“You’ll come back,” she waves him away. “I wouldn’t swear on it if I’m not sure. So, what of it, marshmallow? You want in?”

He can’t say no anyways. “You know I can’t say no,” he scowls, and refuses to shake her hand. “If I don’t come back, tell my father to take all my robots. And burn me paper money.”

Qing cackles right at his face. “You’re exaggerating, kid. It’ll be fine. I swear on it.”

“Your words are all lies anyways! Shut up!”

-

Research on how to get into Gusu? Actually kinda fun.

Actually sneaking into Gusu unscathed? Less fun. Bordering on traumatic.

Technically he knows the blueprints. Technically he knows that the scanning gates at the southern entry can fit an entire person if they just, like, lie down and limbo through the gaps of the plastic closing gates. Technically eight twenty-seven in the night is the time gap that he can safely limbo through without getting zapped by a stun gun. Technically from here he can just jog to the international student’s dorm and scale to the second floor, open the window fourth from the right, slide in, get the thing from under the desk, get out the way he did before, go home, change his name, get plastic surgery, genetically rewrite his fingerprints and DNA makeup, move back to Baling, call it quits.

Technically he knows all of this, but he had just slid through a scanning gate and his heart is trying to punch out of his own ribs. He’s wheezing as if he climbed up a mountain twice for no reason at all. None of this makes sense. Why is he here. He should go home. There’s still time. Father will be tired and disappointed but when is he not. 

No, his brain, traitorous, but also wanting to get rid of the human leech Song-Xiao Qing, mutters. No we will get back that bundle for Her Highness and then leave her presence indefinitely. That’s what we’ll do. 

He swings his feet, nothing short of Spiderman, into the intended room, huffing as it wastes him no effort. 

Too easy. Smells exactly like a trap.

It’s nearly curfew, except that people haven’t been rushing back through the easy way in, because he saw people coming out and they pretended to not see him as he came in. Are they stupid. Are they not going to come back for roll call and suffer the wrath of Lan Qiren? Or worse, He Who Must Not Be Named.

He reaches for the bundle, stuffs it under his hoodie, and prepares for take off, when a door swing open and someone walks in, without turning the lights on. 

His danger alarms not only went off, but into overtime and exhaustive underpaid labour. 

“Ouyang?” He hears, hissed in the dark. 

He should have covered his face, because wow he didn’t think he was that popular outside of his own robotics class for setting off that fire alarm back in first year. But. He is digressing from this imminent danger! This voice. That sounds distinctly similar.

“Do we know each other?” He hisses, crouching back in a Spongebob stance, eyes narrowed at the boy in the cats-covered face mask. He can’t make a run for it here but he can try for the knee caps. 

“Yes. Oh my god, yes,” the person pulls his face mask down and lo and behold, it’s -

“Lan? Lan Jingyi?” He gapes, while sidestepping a stray tennis ball lobbing at his head. “Why are you here?” 

Jingyi shoots back at him - “I go here. Why are you here?”

He throws up one hand, the other preoccupied with the bundle - “Qing-jie!”

“Bad answer, but expected,” Jingyi tuts his tongue, and shoves him out of the way. “You don’t seem the type to engage in trespass and theft.”

“Ha ha, pot calling the kettle black,” he sneers back, tracing back his steps. “Why are you here here. I know you go here, but this isn’t your room. Or anyone else’s room that you are affiliated with. It’s the international student wing. You never answered my question.”

He would not receive any answers because there are footsteps, grave and reverent footsteps, that bring pandemonium outside the corridor and Jingyi, not even thinking twice, shoves him into a wardrobe, finger on his lips.

“Quiet,” the boy hisses. “And when he’s gone, you can scram.”

Zizhen thinks that is the end of it, but somehow his bundle! Had gone missing from under his hoodie! When! And how!

“Lan, give that back!” He hisses, almost lunging and falling out of the closet. Jingyi shushes him even louder, forcing the doors to close in on his nose and shoes.

He grabs onto a wrist, clinging onto the arm stubbornly. Jingyi jostles his shoulder violently like he’s got himself a human-sized limpet that won’t let go and he elects to kicking it back to the depth of the closet, telling him to ‘stay put, come on, don’t make this harder for us’.

Zizhen is shoved back into the darkness of a small enclosed space with hangers falling onto his head and clothes dropping onto his shoulders. The tracking sticker he placed on his fingertip had migrated from him to the inside of Lan Jingyi’s hoodie. Now he waits.

There is a polite knock - because that’s Lans for you, polite even in walking and knocking. 

Jingyi answers the door with a soft - “Hello, uncle.”

For a moment Zizhen thought he actually screwed up and somehow stumbled head first into Lan Qiren of all people on the night he attempted trespass and theft, but he listens some more, waiting for the dulcet tones of disapproval that the Lan Headmaster is so famed for dishing out at his relatives slash pupils.

“Jingyi,” he hears, and. Well.

This is worse than Lan Qiren. Somehow he had messed up even worse than Lan Qiren.

Lan Wangji, the Hanguang-Jun, is in the same room as him. The professor reliable for dishing out punishments at Gusu. The resting disappointed man. Doctor Wei’s long-term crush and object of pursuit. He’s caught. He’s gone. They’re going to string his corpse like a disappointing sight from here so that all across the country, people can see what happens when idiot college boys who sneak into prestigious Gusu get as a punishment. 

He is suddenly religious. He asks for protection from the Buddha to the corner ghost to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. 

“I suggest you return to your own dorm,” Lan Wangji gravely - and flatly - informs Lan Jingyi. “Unless you want to introduce me to your friend?”

Lan Jingyi, for someone doing a theatre degree, is woefully awful at lying. He starts laughing hysterically and like a bloody hyena under noise suppression and the target of at least twenty stun guns and he’s lost all sense of control so now his fight or flight response is to laugh. 

Ouyang Zizhen regrets not leaving his father with a dying letter. It’ll be awful and humiliating to find him as a human flag on the top of Gusu’s flagpole. 

“What friend, Uncle Wangji? It’s only me here!” Jingyi hacks out hysterically, as footsteps start heading his way, purposeful and brisk.

There goes living through tonight then. 

“Hmn, what’s in the closet, Jingyi?” Hanguang-Jun asks, as the doors of the wardrobe rattle and -

promptly stop. 

Jingyi, because he’s panicking and somehow is still the greatest and most shocking improvised line under possibly murderous circumstances, blurts out, completely and utterly from nowhere.

“That closet is fine. It has no one in it! Well, not me anymore!”

Zizhen can barely swallow down the wheeze that tries to climb its way out of his nose because what. 

To his credit though, Lan Wangji stops his advance onto his hiding place, and promptly takes Lan Jingyi out of the room, so he hopes that he’s not being thrashed thoroughly for well, being gay, but in keeping it and using it as a distraction tactic on their Hanguang-Jun.

Zizhen quickly kicks the doors open and tumbles out, sliding the window up and climbing out, his watch telling him dimly that he has two more minutes before curfew comes and security tightens. He would check on Lan, but he’ll be fine. Hanguang-Jun isn’t a blind rule follower as the people make him out to be - by people, he meant just Doctor Wei, who went through a period of time in his life actively cursing and mooning over Lan Wangji, and it’s entertaining and just embarrassing to bear witness to. No. Bad memories. Let’s forget that and go back and report to Qing-jie.

He’s going to start breaking ankles the next time Lan Yuan asks for a big hang out.

-

“He took the bundle from you? Without touching you?”

“I snuck in the death place for that stupid bundle and that’s all you cared about?”

“Damn Lan. Anyways, good job, it’s fine, I’m seeing the golden trio in, like, ten hours. We can haggle the bundle back.”

He hears this, but he also has the tracker sticker. Does it work? Does it not work? Unclear. He’s not too sure. He hasn’t been doing this illegal theft and tracking gig for long. He lets Qing-jie and her favours reinstate themselves as constant reminders in his life as he stumbles back to his laptop and kick starts it to see how he’s going to not set a hoodie and a person on fire. 

-

The good news is Lan Jingyi and his Lan Approved Hoodie will not be catching on fire.

The even better news is that he can get rid of Song-Xiao Qing for life now, because he knows where the package is.

The bad news is that the package is in Jin Rulan’s home. His room, to be specific.

Okay, so maybe he met Jin Rulan a few times when he went to archery tournaments to cheer on Lan Yuan, a friend but also practicing archer to become as great as Wen Ning, Olympic-level archer. Maybe he and Jin Rulan had gotten into a few arguments over pointless things in the past, like all stupid middle schoolers do. The point is that since his friend is a friend of Rulan, he has the honour of being flung at, in the face, with the address of his sizable family manor, because Jin Rulan can and will, with no preamble or social niceties, and so now Zizhen knows where he lives.

Not that a simple Google search wouldn’t tell him which place this is, but being reminded with Jin Rulan, a runt then, probably a runt now, he hasn’t seen the kid in like, two years. A-Yuan doesn’t want him to start testing his robots on real life people and everyone who had ever interacted with Zizhen knows who’s first on his list to be humanly pitted (sorry, tested) against his robots. 

He bikes to the manor, easily buzzes his way in with a screwdriver and some tinkling with the system, and strolls right through the front door.

He did do research before this. Everyone’s out. Jin Rulan is out. He’ll just take the bundle and leave, and they don’t have to talk about it anymo -

Lan Jingyi tackles him to the floor from behind the door to Jin Rulan’s room, with a distant bark of a guard dog and Jin Rulan’s dulcet tones shrieking the heavens, hard, so that his dead ancestors can rise as zombies in the night and slap Zizhen back to Baling.

“How is he here?” He can hear Rulan yelling distinctly, as he grapples with Jingyi and rips the sticker cleanly from under his sleeve. 

Jingyi and him get along okay. When A-Yuan wants people to wait for him after guqin recitals, he has Zizhen and Jingyi wait for him, and they play jianzi as they quiz each other on class things they should know, bickering back and forth. They played soccer together a few times, and Jingyi’s good - Jingyi’s training to be in the under 20′s representative Asian Games in a few months. They get along fine. They love literature and art. Zizhen doesn’t want to set a short-circuiting robot onto him. 

Literally there is no reason for Jingyi to wrestle him to the ground like this outside of the context of a soccer match.

“You found us, how,” Jingyi demands, frowning. “Did you put a tracker on me?”

He huffs, bunching up his knees and kicking up, before rolling away with the bundle. “I will neither confirm or deny your accusations. Goodbye.”

Rulan is at the window, slamming it shut, and holding out a hand, snarling rabidly at him. The scuffle he was tackled into had knocked over metal plates and car parts all over the floor, everything looks like it’s a disaster zone, if he was at home then Father would have lost it. The shining mistress of the Jin family snarls at him, forcing him to step away from the window with the sight of his sharp canines alone, eyes narrowing at him and his bundle.

“Give that over,” he frowns. “And then you can scram.”

“I broke into your house to get it back,” he stresses, with hysterical stress. “No.”

“No can’t do, Ouyang,” Jingyi’s voice drifts to him, as his wrist is seized. “We need it.”

“And Qing-jie needs it, but none of y’all are telling me what you need it for -”

The door eases open with a loud creak, like a bow on an erhu string gone wrong, and both boys might as well have screamed in his face because the expressions on their faces are thunderous. 

“Uncle!” Jingyi squeaks. 

“Uncle!” Rulan also yips, stepping away from the window, and coming over to -

Oh my god he needs to scream.

Doctor Wei and Hanguang-Jun are at the door, brows raised in vague interest at the war zone spilling out all over their socked feet, Doctor Wei humming interestedly at their thunderstruck and mutually devastated faces. 

Jin Rulan is almost the same height as his uncle but he’s looking as if somebody ran over his finessed bow. He and Jingyi, who unhands Zizhen quickly, are both standing and arms splaying, kicking and shifting so that the mess of robot parts are somewhat not so obviously sprawling all over the floor.

“A-Zhen!” Doctor Wei beams, and proceeds to squeeze him in a hug until he dies, stuffing his face into a shirtfront with too much Versace sprayed all over it. “You didn’t say you were friends with the kids!”

“We don’t know each other,” he squeezes out, gasping as he’s released.

“Not a friend,” Rulan vehemently denies.

Lan Wangji lifts two unimpressed eyebrows. Rulan swallows back whatever else he was meant to say.

“Occasionally a friend?” Jingyi amends.

He turns and gripes at the Lan boy - “How can someone be occasionally a friend, you lump of spineless potato?”

“His insults are creative,” Doctor Wei notes, half way between an explanation and a praise. “Listen, kids -”

He then gets cut off by Jingyi and Rulan, talking not only over each other, but in synching fragmented sentences. 

Jingyi  “Uncles, we’re going to pack this up, we know you need the house for guests to come over -”

“ - and we will introduce you and acquaint everyone, but this guy needs to hand over his things first and then everyone can go,” Rulan finishes, hand still reaching out to Zizhen and his bundle.

He tries to step away, but two much taller men - Lan Wangji and Doctor Wei, are in his way, benevolently smiling and stoically staring down at him, and he feels his resolve crumbling. In fear, but also they are educators and they’ve perfectly polished the I’m not angry at you, I’m just disappointed and very very sad. 

“Sounds like a party in here,” he hears the dreaded singsong, the sound of the dead coming to collect his soul and putting him through all the levels of hell.

Song-Xiao Qing pokes her head around Lan Wangji’s elbow and beams at him. “Oh you’re here! I thought I had to call for you! You made my job so easy, marshmallow boy.”

“Uh,” he’s still being held captive by Doctor Wei. “Please. Explain.”

Lan Yuan finally emerges, serene, beautiful, refreshing and soft-spoken. 

“Many apologies for my family’s treatment of you, Zizhen-xiong. Would you like some tea?”

-

The gist of it is this -

It was a test. And his gut feelings were correct.

And the test was Would Ouyang Zizhen Make Good Agent. Apparently he passed, because nobody expected him to pursue the bundle all the way to the Jin Manor, along with wrestling with Jingyi so fiercely. 

“You -” he looks at Qing-jie, who is sipping chrysanthemum tea so calmly, as if she hadn’t led him on some wild goose chase. “I actually have no words. That was very clever.”

“I have words,” Jin Rulan, apparently part of whatever the hell this is too, whinges from his post at the arm of Lan Wangji’s chair. “Why him?” 

“What, besides the obvious?” Jingyi looks at his friend. “He held me off, and snuck into Gusu. Like, impressive?”

“The sticker was a nice touch,” Qing-jie notes. “Although we did make it easy on ya.”

“He’s calm,” A-Yuan smiles at him. “You’re very calm, even though you opposed to this vehemently.”

He gestures broadly, to Everyone Present. “I can’t exactly freak out before this peanut gallery. I want to live past 5 pm today. I have an aunt’s dinner I have to go to. I can’t die before that.”

A-Yuan shrugs like that’s a good answer. It is. He knows. He has a few fire-breathing aunts himself.

“So,” someone prompts. “About this -”

“The answer is still no,” he looks over specifically at Qing-jie, who he knows no doubt will be sending him on more of these trips.

“You did good though,” Jingyi notes. “Considering that you improv like, 9 out of 10 things.”

“Well excuse me for being new at this stuff, how am I supposed to -” he stops his snapping tone as a familiar face walks by, blinking widely as the entourage of idiots who may or may not are influencing a youth in joining the forces to lawbreaking. How is Hanguang-Jun in the middle of this, he just wants to talk. He swallows his caustic words, and cautions a wave to the boy. “Hey, A-Song.”

A-Song bows back to everyone. “Zizhen-xiong -”

“Calling me gege is fine, sheesh, this kid -”

“I’ll see you at tutoring, gege,” A-Song, Jin Rusong, literally the sweetest kid ever, smiles back politely, before he retreats back to where he has to go back to, leaving their Idiot Entourage to their own.

“You know my cousin?” Rulan quirks a judgemental eyebrow. 

“Yes,” he replies, tersely. “Can you not pay attention? He said tutoring. I tutor him. Shut up, I’m only mean to you because you’ve an awful personality.”

Nobody is sure who laughed but there is a ripple of a muffled laugh as Rulan screeches that I’ll have your head, Ouyang! 

“Our deal is off,” Qing-jie snaps her fingers before his face. “You can go now.”

“Just like that?” He squints, suspicious. “No forcing?”

“No forcing,” Doctor Wei smiles, the same Jiang-Wei smile that put the cardiac arrest in people’s hearts. People being undergraduates. “We’ll win you over one of these days,” Doctor Wei slaps a fist to a palm. “Our doors are always open for you to join, A-Zhen.”

Lan Wangji levels a stare at him. “Hmn.”

He’s not quite sure how Doctor Wei isn’t freaking out in the presence of his beloved Lan-er gege but he’s not going to ask or go there. He has a dinner to go to.

“Well,” he stands, and bows, because he still has manners. “I’ll be taking my leave?”

“I’ll see you off,” Doctor Wei also stands, turning to the four idiot monkeys first. “Here ya go, kids. Don’t be playing hot potato with that now.”

It’s then that he realises that his bundle is gone, yet again, and Doctor Wei had only hugged him once.

“Shall we go?” The Doctor’s eye glints, and he wants to bolt out the door.

-

“How are you a part of this too?” He hisses to the Good Doctor, the top medical examiner of the goddamn country and youngest biology professor in his college, as he is shown out. 

“I’ll tell you when you join,” is the cryptic answer he gets, as the doors close behind him. 

Tell me, his Kermit brain says. But then you’ll have to join, his rational robotics brain whispers back.

Zizhen elects to just scream at the door and turns on his heels marching out.

The nerve of some people!