#but of course there is also Jiang Cheng to consider. as the uncle who canonically stepped up and took charge of Jin Ling

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: Fuck-or-die, post Canon married Wangxian. WWX gets hit with sex pollen/curse when LWJ isn't present. He decide that 'yes he would rather die' than having sex with anyone else. His companions are trying to get LWJ there or convince WWX to fuck and meanwheile WWX are handing out instructions for how to resurect him/planning out possession/creating a new body/in general how to return from the dead again. You decide if LWJ gets there in time or they have to use one of WWX:s plans.

WANT: Wangxian

DNW: Wangxian with anyone else, unhappy ending

ao3

“So I guess I die then?” Wei Wuxian asked.

He looked disturbingly cheerful about the idea, but possibly that was just the aftereffects of his fit of laughter when he found out exactly what the curse he’d been hit with did.

Or possibly he was just laughing because he’d managed, through a considerable exertion of effort and purposeful obstinance, to get Lan Qiren to actually say the words “fuck or die” out loud. The latter was now looking thoroughly peeved and much less concerned about the imminent demise of the newest member of the Cloud Recesses than he had a little while earlier, which was also a benefit.

“What are you talking about?” Jin Ling demanded, having not calmed down in the slightest. He looked irritated and worried at the same time – he  reallyrather resembled his uncle at the moment, since both of them scowling at Wei Wuxian as if he had personally insulted their mothers. “Of course you’re not going to die!”

“You heard Teacher Lan,” Wei Wuxian said with a shrug. “It’s fuck-or-die, right? And Lan Zhan, who is the only person I’d consider for the first part, isn’t here. So I guess I’m just going to have to die.”

“Don’t be absurd,” Jiang Cheng hissed, even as the junior disciples started urgently murmuring amongst themselves, sounding similar to a flock of pheasants that had just been disturbed. “You lived – and died, and lived again – through too much to die to a half-rate curse like this. You’re not going to die. Can’t you just break it?”

“It’s tied to his cultivation,” Lan Qiren said, voice deep and grave. He had been amongst the most worried at first, rushing over to check Wei Wuxian’s pulse and run diagnostics over the array circle that had inflicted the curse, exerting himself to the utmost to try to figure out what had happened; it had rather thoroughly undercut his reputation for hating Wei Wuxian bitterly as the unworthy pig that had dug up his family’s prized cabbage. Perhaps as consequence, he was now almost pointedly ignoring the current goings-on, seated some distance away with a cup of tea and every appearance that he planned not to care about the results. Just as clearly, however, he wasn’t actually not listening. “If he was as strong as he was in his first life, it might be possible. But with his current level of cultivation…it is impossible to break it from within, and it cannot be broken from without absent a fulfilling of the curse’s conditions.”

The disturbed murmurs among the juniors grew notably louder, and more severe.

“Then he can take care of it, surely?” Jiang Cheng asked. His eye had started twitching. “If the solution involves – ah – if it’s a matter of – of pleasure –”

“Jiang Cheng, really! Are you suggesting I go jerk off to feel better?” Wei Wuxian asked, as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as he’d ever been. He offered an accompanying illustrative gesture, as if concerned that all around him might not know what he meant.

Lan Qiren closed his eyes and turned his head away, visibly grinding his teeth.

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng growled at Wei Wuxian, his cheeks having gone red with embarrassment. “Just – shut up! What’s wrong with the idea?!”

“Teacher Lan? Would you like to explain?”

Lan Qiren was still refusing to look at any of them, and even shifted slightly so that he was turned even further away from Wei Wuxian in particular.

“Well, for one thing, it wouldn’t work as a practical matter,” Wei Wuxian said, deciding to explain himself. “See, the amount of jerking off it would take for me to equal a single session with Lan Zhan would be just, you know, unbelievably enormous – even more enormous than Lan Zhan’s – mmmm!”

Lan Qiren had used the silencing spell on Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian waived his hands at the older man, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that was simultaneously obnoxious, obscene, and trying to convey as clearly as he could if you keep me quiet you’re going to have to be the one to answer the question, you know.

Lan Qiren, very bitterly and begrudgingly, removed the silencing spell.

“I was going to say his stamina, you know,” Wei Wuxian sniffed, although the shit-eating grin on his faces suggested he had been intending no such thing. “It’s well known throughout the cultivation world that Lan Zhan has remarkably stamina.”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said through gritted teeth. “Would you like to get to the point?”

“Fine, fine. Always in such a rush, Jiang Cheng – no wonder you never married! Some things are best taken slow…okay, okay, put Zidian away already! It’s like you think it’s your life on the line here, not mine!” Wei Wuxian laughed. No one else did. “Anyway, it’s quite simple. Using sexual pleasure in order to fulfil the fuck part of the curse has to involved at least two people in order to qualify as a curse breaking mechanism. It’s the same reason as before: the curse is attached to my cultivation, and it can only be broken from the inside, not the outside, only I’m not strong enough to do it myself. Dual cultivation is one of the few ways in which two cultivators can bring their spiritual energy close enough together that they would both be ‘inside’ the range of the curse’s prohibition, causing a disruption in the victim’s spiritual energy sufficient to disperse the prohibition and defeat the curse – thus, the ‘fuck-or-die’ nature of the fuck-or-die curse.” He beamed at everyone. “Educational, isn’t it?”

No one seemed especially impressed.

“Senior Wei,” Lan Sizhui said politely, after a short interval. “Please educate us. How would you break a – break this type of curse?”

“Silly question! It’s in the name: fuck or you die.”

Disturbed murmurs.

“And, again, I’m not fucking anyone who’s not Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian added cheerfully. “So don’t even ask. There is literally no one here that I would be willing to fuck.”

“So…you’re just planning on dying?” Jin Ling asked. He looked upset. He wasn’t the only one, either – any number of the juniors looked upset, and that was besides Jiang Cheng, whose eyes were starting to look glassy with tears of rage or possibly just unexpressed emotion. “That’s it? You’re just going to give up and die?”

“Hey, it’s not like I haven’t died before –”

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng roared.

Wei Wuxian promptly held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry. Sore spot, I know, I know…listen, it’s not that bad, okay?”

“What, because you’ve read up on all the cool new resurrection techniques?!”

“He’d better not have,” Lan Qiren muttered. “Not in the Cloud Recesses.”

“I swear I’ve only been in the Forbidden Section of the library for purely extracurricular purposes, and only when I’ve been very closely supervised by Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian told Lan Qiren virtuously, and just as virtuously ignored the scowl that immediately appeared on Lan Qiren’s face at what ‘supervision’ of ‘extracurricular’ activities his nephew might have been doing with Wei Wuxian in the library. “Jiang Cheng, you worry too much. Do I look worried?”

“That’s no guarantee that you know what you’re doing, Senior Wei,” Ouyang Zizhen pointed out. “Sometimes you’re just like that.”

“Ouch. You’re right, but, you know, ouch. Anyway, in this case, you should trust me. You’re all just thinking too hard.”

A lot of silence, and staring.

“Teacher Lan, work with me here. They’re thinking too much, right?”

Lan Qiren huffed, which was just about confirmation.

“…wait,” Lan Jingyi said. He looked suspicious. “Is that what this is? Have you been trying to get around the curse by fucking with us?”

“Jingyi!” Lan Qiren snapped, and Lan Jingyi jumped.

“Would a mind-fuck work?” Jin Ling asked his uncle, who scowled and shrugged, clearly unsure himself.

“It would not,” Lan Qiren said icily.

“Actually, the way I like to think of it,” Wei Wuxian said, grinning harder than ever, “is that it’s really just a matter of fuck around and find out –”

At this point, Lan Qiren huffed once more, got up, and walked over to Wei Wuxian in three long, purposeful strides. Lifting one finger, he jabbed it right at Wei Wuxian’s chest, over his heart.

“Fuck off.”

Wei Wuxian collapsed onto the ground.

A moment later, he blinked and sat up, grinning once more, and there was no longer the aura of curse hanging around him – even the remaining resentful energy was already dissipating.

“Such curses are exceedingly pedestrian,” Lan Qiren informed their audience, voice toneless as ever but a scowl firmly on his face. “‘Death’ is interpreted as the cessation of heartbeat, which temporarily disrupts the flow of spiritual energy in a manner similar to dual cultivation. A momentary freezing spell, aimed precisely, can simulate the effects, causing the victim of the curse to ‘die’ for the purposes of the curse – the disruption of spiritual energy is similar in nature to what happens during dual cultivation, just as Wei Wuxian described earlier, and there is therefore the same effect.”

“Thus, the ‘fuck or die’ aspects of the fuck-or-die curse,” Wei Wuxian said. He was beaming so hard it looked almost painful. “Teacher Lan, did you really tell me to fuck off?”

“It was richly deserved,” Lan Qiren informed him, and, with a flick of his sleeves, headed back towards the Cloud Recesses, his head held high. Presumably he was going to go punish himself for breaching the rule on vulgar language, and maybe the one about rage...again.

Wei Wuxian was so good.

“Thank you, Teacher Lan!” Wei Wuxian called after him. “You’re my favorite uncle-in-law..!”

He sniggered, then turned back to the juniors.

“See,” he said. “I told you that you were overthinking…”

He trailed off, presumably seeing something in Jiang Cheng’s expression.

“Uh,” Wei Wuxian said. “I would like to emphasize that at no point was I ever actually in danger of dying. That wasn’t going to happen. I was just playing around –”

“Pity,” Jiang Cheng said, and purple lightening started sparking around his hand. “Because I’m going to kill you –”

[lilnasxvevo]

I know that based on their roles in the story the Wens would be the Fire Nation in an ATLA AU but when you think about it there are only four nations in ATLA and once the Wens are gone there are only four great sects and, well, gold is just as fitting a color for a fire nation as red is, and what I’m trying to say is holy SHIT Jin Ling would be SUCH A GOOD ZUKO……

[spockandawe]

Well, this is interesting! So, in that post yesterday, there was one line that really baffled me, a thing about people brushing off a character as an asshole “because he shows literally zero growth.” I kind of set that aside because it was such a weird non-sequitur, and guessed that it was just someone’s sentences not quite keeping up with their train of thought, which has happened to me many times. Apparently I was wrong! I already spent long enough on that one post, I’m tired of talking about that, but this is new and interesting. 

Okay. I kind of wanted to see if I could talk about this purely in terms of abstracts and not characters, but I don’t think it’ll work. It would be frustrating to write and confusing to read. It’s about Jiang Cheng. Right up front: This isn’t about whether or not he’s an abuser. Frankly, I don’t think it’s relevant. This also isn’t about telling people they should like him. I don't care whether anyone else likes him or not. But I do like him, and I am always fascinated by dissecting the reasons that people disagree with me. And the process of Telling Stories is my oldest hyperfixation I remember, which will become relevant in a minute.

I thought I had a good grasp on this one, you know? Jiang Cheng makes it pretty obvious why people would dislike Jiang Cheng. But then the posts I keep stumbling over were making weird points, culminating in that “literally zero growth” line.

So! What happened is that someone wrote up a post about how Jiang Cheng’s character arc isn’t an arc, it’s stagnation. It’s a pretty interesting read, and I broadly agree with the larger point! The points where I would quibble are like... the idea that it’s absolute stagnation, as opposed to very subtle shifts that still make a material difference. But still, cool! The post was also offered up as a reason why OP was uninterested in writing any more Jiang Cheng meta, which I totally get. I’m not tired of him yet, but I definitely understand why someone who isn’t a fan of his would get tired about writing about a character with a very static arc. Okay!

Now, internet forensics are hard. I desperately wish I had more information about this evolution, because I find this stuff fascinating, but I have no good way to find things said in untagged posts, reblogs, or private/external venues. But as far as I can tell, that “literally zero growth” wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, it’s become fashionable for people to say that Jiang Cheng is an abusive asshole (that it’s fucked up to like) because he doesn’t have a character arc.

Asshole? Yes. Abusive? This post still isn’t about that. This is about it being fucked up to like this character because he did bad things and had a static character arc.

At first, that point of view was still deeply confusing to me. But I think I figured out the idea at the core of it, and now I’m only baffled. I’m not super interested in confirming this directly, because the people making the most noise about this have not inspired confidence in their ability to hold a civil conversation and I’m a socially anxious binch, but I think the idea is: ‘This character did Bad Things, and then did not improve himself.’

Which is alarmingly adjacent to that old favorite standard of ‘This piece of fiction is glorifying Bad Thing.’ I haven’t seen anyone accusing mxtx of something something jiang cheng, only the people who read/watched/heard the story and became invested in the Jiang Cheng character, but things kind of add up, you know?

Like I said, I don’t want to arbitrate anyone’s right to like/dislike Jiang Cheng. That’s such a fucking waste of time. But this is fascinating to me, because it’s like..... so obviously new and sudden, with such a clear originating point. I can’t speak to the Chinese fans, obviously, but exiledrebels started translating in... what, 2017? And only now, in 2021, do people start putting forth Jiang Cheng’s flat character arc as a “reason” that he’s bad? I’m not going to argue if he pings you in the abuse place, I’m not a dick. I’m not going to argue if you just dislike his vibes. I’m just over here on my blog and in the tag enjoying myself, feel free to detour around me. But oh my god, it’s so silly to try to tell other people that they shouldn’t like him because he has a static character arc.

I want to talk about stories. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to say, because it’s impossible to make broad, sweeping statements, because there are stories about change, there are stories about lack of change, there are all kinds of media that can be used to tell stories, and standards for how stories are told and what they emphasize vary across cultures and over time. But I think that what I can say is that telling a story requires... compromise. It requires streamlining. Trying to capture all the detail of life would slow down most stories to an unbearable degree. Consider organically telling someone ‘I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich’ versus the computer science exercise of having students describe, step by step, how to make one (spread peanut butter? but you never said you opened the lid)

Hell, I’ve got an example in mdzs itself. The largely-faceless masses of the common people. If someone asks you to think about it critically like, yes, obviously these are people, living their own lives, with their own desires, sometimes suffering and dying in the wake of the novel plot. But does the story give weight to those deaths? Or does it just gloss by? Yes, it references their suffering occasionally, but it is not the focus, and it would slow the story unbearably to give equal weight to each dead person mentioned. 

Does Wei Wuxian’s massacre get given the same slow, careful consideration as Su She’s, or Jin Guangyao’s? No, because taking the time to weigh our protagonist with ‘well, this one was a mother, and her youngest son had just started walking, but now he’s going to grow up without remembering her face. that one only became an adult a few months ago, he still hasn’t been on many night-hunts yet, but he finds it so rewarding to protect the common people. oh, and this one had just gotten engaged, but don’t worry, his fiancee won’t mourn him, because she died here as well.’ And continuing on that way to some large number under 3000? No! Unless your goal is to make the reader feel bad for cheering for a morally grey hero, that would be a bad authorial decision! The book doesn’t ignore the issue, it comes up, Wei Wuxian gets called out about all the deaths he’s responsible for, but that’s not the same as them being given equal emotional weight to one (1) secondary character, and I don’t love this new thing where people are pretending that’s equivalent.

When Wei Wuxian brutally kills every person at the Wen supervisory office, are you like ‘holy shit... so many grieving families D:’ or are you somewhere between vindicated satisfaction and an ‘ooh, yikes’ wince? Odds are good you’re somewhere in the satisfaction/wince camp, because that’s what the story sets you up to feel, because the story has to emphasize its priorities (priorities vary, but ‘plot’ and ‘protagonist’ are common ones, especially for a casual novel read like this)

Now, characters. If you want to write a story with a sweeping, epic scale, or if you want to tightly constrain the number of people your story is about, I guess it’s possible to give everyone involved a meaningful character arc. Now.... is it always necessary? Is it always possible? Does it always make sense? No, of course not. If you want to do that, you have to devote real estate to it, and depending on the story you want to tell, it could very possibly be a distraction from your main point, like the idea of mxtx tenderly eulogizing every single character who dies even incidentally. Lan Qiren doesn’t get a loving examination of his feelings re: his nephews and wei wuxian and political turnover in the cultivation world because it’s not relevant, and also, because his position is pretty static until right near the end of the story. Lan Xichen is arguably one of the most static characters within the book, he seems like the same nice young between Gusu and the present, right up until... just before the end of the story.

You may see where I’m heading with this.

Like, just imagine trying to demand that every important character needs to go through a major life change before the end of your book or else it didn’t count. This just in, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg go through multiple novels without experiencing radical shifts in who they are, stop liking them immediately. I do get that the idea is that Jiang Cheng was a ~bad person~ who didn’t change, but asdgfsd I thought we were over the handwringing over people being allowed to like ““bad”” fictional characters. The man isn’t even a canonical serial killer, he’s not my most problematic fave even within this novel.

And here is where it’s a little more relevant that I would quibble with that original post about Jiang Cheng’s arc. He’s consistently a mean girl, but he goes from stressed, sharp-edged teenager, to grief-stricken, almost-destroyed teen, to grim, cold young adult (and then detours into grim, cold, and grief-stricken until grief dulls with time). He does become an attentive uncle tho. He..... doesn’t experience a radical change in his sense of self, which... it’s...... not all that strange for an adult. And bam, then he DOES experience a radical change, but the needs of the plot dictate that it’s right near the end. And he’s not the focus of the story, baby, wangxian is. He has the last few lines of the story, which nicely communicate his changes to me, but also asdfafas we’re out of story. He was never the main character, it’s not surprising we don’t linger! The extras aren’t beholden to the needs of plot, but they’re also about whatever mxtx wanted to write, and I guess she didn’t feel like writing about Jiang Cheng ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But also. Taking a step backward. Stable characters can fill a perfectly logical place in a story. Like, look at Leia Organa. I’m not saying she has no arc, but I am saying that she’s a solid point of reference as Luke is becoming a jedi and Han is adjusting his perspective. I wouldn’t call her stagnant, the vibes are wrong, but she also isn’t miserable in her sadness swamp, the way Jiang Cheng is.

Or, hell, look at tgcf. The stagnant, frozen nature of the big bad is a central feature of the story. The bwx of now is the bwx of 800 years ago is the bwx of 1500+ years ago. This is not the place for a meta on how that was bad for those around him and for him himself, but I have Thoughts about how being defeated at the end is both a thing that hurts him and relieves him. Mei Nianqing is a sympathetic character who’s also pretty darn static. Does Ling Wen have a character arc, or do we just learn more about who she already is and what her priorities always were? I’m going to cut myself off here, but a character’s delta between the beginning of a story and the end of a story is a reasonable way to judge how interesting writing character meta is, and is a very silly metric to judge their worth, and even if I guessed at what the basic logic is, for this character, I am still baffled that it’s being put forth as a real talking point.

(also, has it jumped ship to any other characters yet? have people started applying it in other fandoms as well? please let me know if this is the case, I am wildly curious)

(no, but really, if anyone is arguing that bwx is gross specifically because he had centuries to self-reflect and didn’t fix himself, i am desperate to know)

And finally. The thing I thought was most self-evident. Did I post about this sometime recently? If a non-central character experiences a life-altering paradigm shift right near the end of the story (without it being lingered over, because non-central character), oh my god. As a fic writer? IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE. This is the most fertile possible ground. If I want to write post-canon canon-compliant material, adsgasfasd that’s where I’m going to be looking. Okay, yeah, the main couple is happy, that’s good. Who isn’t happy, and what can I do about that? Happy families are all alike, while every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, etc.

It’s not everyone’s favorite playground, but come on, these are not uncommon feelings. And frankly, it’s starting to feel a little disingenuous when people act like fan authors pick out the most blameless angel from the cast and lavish good things upon them. I’m not the only one who goes looking for a good dumpster fire and says I Live Here Now. If I write post-canon tgcf fic, it’s very likely to focus on beef and/or leaf. I have written more than one au focusing on tianlang-jun.

And, hilariously. If the problem with Jiang Cheng. Is that he is a toxic man fictional character who failed to grow on his own, and is either unsafe or unhealthy to be around. If the problem is that he did not experience a character arc. If these people would be totally fine with other people liking him, if he improved himself as a person. And then, if authors want to put in the (free! time-consuming!) work of writing that character development themselves. You would think that they would be lauded for putting the character through healthier sorts of personal growth than he experienced in canon. Instead, I am still here writing this because first, I was bothered by these authors being named as “freaks” who are obsessed with their ‘uwu precious tsundere baby’ with a “love language of violence,” and then I was graciously informed that people hate Jiang Cheng because he experiences no character growth.

[pennyofthewild]

when all is done and settled

could there be something left for us after all?

***

when all is done and settled //could there be something left for us after all? Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling I Jin Rulan, Jiang Cheng I Jiang Wanyin Word Count: 1,170 Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences, this is really self-indulgent, please don't judge me? (plot, what plot! can't a fic just be a long conversation?) Notes: written for sangcheng week 2021 day 3: grief//revenge but i am horrible at angst so have this mildly hopeful post-canon thing instead? Alternative Reading Link: [AO3]

***

Cultivation conferences have been particularly tedious lately. Truthfully, Huaisang never really enjoyed cultivation conferences – his idea of enjoyable social events does not encompass sitting in on a bunch of stuffy old men arguing pointlessly for hours on end – but lately –

Lately the meetings have been more grating than ever. It is probably because – well. Huaisang used to be able to catch his eye over his fan when Sect Leader Yao was being particularly odious – exchange half-hearted shrugs with a dimpled smile –

He’d won, Huaisang reminds himself. He’d come out the victor. He’d outwitted the cleverest person he’s ever known, so why –

It must be that cultivation conferences were never Huaisang’s favorite places to be, and now he has to endure being lonely on top of everything else.

Why didn’t anyone tell him victory would feel so hollow? How long will it be before he stops waking in cold sweat, the crack san-ge’s neck had made when he’d been dragged into the coffin resonating in his ears?

I never thought you would be the death of me, Nie Huaisang.

Across the room, Lan Wangji is rising stiffly from the chief cultivator’s position, announcing we will now adjourn for the noon meal sounding practically relieved, for Lan Wangji.

Ironic, Huaisang thinks, how he’d brought about Lan Wangji’s eternal earthly happiness and his elevation in the eyes of the cultivation world through his machinations (though he’d also driven his brother into seclusion, to be fair), and had been unable to secure any such joys for himself.

Perhaps if Wei Wuxian were the sort of person to attend cultivation conferences Huaisang might have at least a conversation partner, but Wei Wuxian, like Huaisang, has a particular distaste for this sort of gathering, and unlike Huaisang, is not at all obligated to actually be present.

And then, Huaisang thinks with a slight pang, trailing in the wake of his fellow sect leaders, there is the matter of another erstwhile old friend. The one who is currently several paces ahead of Huaisang, (tall and unattainable), walking with his hands behind his back, head tipped to the side to listen intently to whatever his nephew is whispering into his ear.

See – Huaisang used to have a long-standing agreement with Jiang Wanyin, at cultivation conferences – to meet up after the day’s agenda had been wrung dry – and poke fun at the general state of the cultivation world’s leadership over greasy street-stall food and a several drinks. Late at night and slightly inebriated is when Jiang Wanyin’s dry, sarcastic wit is at its most razor-sharp; their conversations have always been Huaisang’s favorite part of being at a cultivation conference.

Unfortunately, in the months since Huaisang’s decade-long plot had finally run its course, this agreement has quietly fallen through. The worst of it is, Huaisang cannot be sure why.

As far as he is aware, he hasn’t quarrelled with Jiang Wanyin – unless he is mistaken, the Jiang sect leader had been pretty pre-occupied, that night in Guanyin Temple, and can’t possibly have realized the extent of Huaisang’s role in the night’s events. It is understandable, then, that to Huaisang, this new distance that has cropped up between them is especially frustrating. Could it be, he wonders, that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had revealed his plot to Sect Leader Jiang? But as far as Huaisang is aware, Jiang Wanyin is still not on speaking terms with the Chief Cultivator or his one-time martial brother.

Lost in his musings, Huaisang runs headlong into Jin Rulan, who has, in the meanwhile, unhooked himself from his uncle’s apron strings in favor of catching up with the Lan sect’s head disciple. As he stumbles backward, Huaisang finds himself on the receiving end of an appraising look from Jin Rulan (he looks down his nose just like his uncle!). He turns away from Lan Sizhui with a murmured give me a moment, A-yuan, and gives Huaisang an appropriately deferential bow, sect-leader-to-sect-leader.

“Sect Leader Nie,” he says, grave, polite (he used to call Huaisang Nie-shushu, once upon a time, Huaisang thinks with a twinge of pain).

Huaisang nods back, crinkles his eyes over his fan. “Sect Leader Jin,” he says, cheerfully. “You look well.”

Jin Rulan takes a step closer, casting a cursory glance around the room. Lan Sizhui is pointedly looking elsewhere.

“I feel I should tell you,” Jin Rulan says, expression frank, straightforward, “I am aware of an obligation I have to return a favor you have done my late uncle.”

Huaisang’s breath catches in his throat. To think he would actually come out and say it, and in such a place! Or perhaps it is because of the place – but if this is a warning, he is doing a horrible job – . The part of Huaisang’s mind that is not absorbed in self-preservation thinks, dimly, that perhaps certain things are in fact passed down, from father to son, like naivety, and a sense of justice.

“I am afraid I must be misunderstanding you, Sect Leader Jin,” Huaisang says, easily, giving Jin Rulan his most innocuous expression, from above his fan.

Jin Rulan smiles. “Rest assured,” he says, a sardonic tone in his voice that, once again, is all Jiang Wanyin, “you are not. But –,” here, he pauses, takes a breath, “ my objective in telling you is to let you know I have in fact decided to let the matter rest.”

Now Huaisang is sure he must be misunderstanding, because none of this conversation is making any sense. “You have,” he says, faintly.

Jin Rulan nods, decisive. “Yes,” he says, “I am not quite sure I will be able to properly forgive you, Sect Leader Nie, but the truth is I have precious few family members left to me. Besides, my jiujiu has assured me that revenge is not a road lightly taken, and that I probably do not have the temperament for it.”

A laugh – rather like a sob – climbs its way out of Huaisang’s throat. “Your jiujiu doesn’t mince words,” he finds himself saying.

Jin Rulan gives him a considering look. “My jiujiu is lonely, too,” he declares, a non-sequitur if there ever was one, “I’d rather he not lose anyone else precious to him, if it is all the same to you, Sect Leader Nie.”

From across the pavilion, Jiang Wanyin – who is caught in what looks like an excruciating three-way conversation with Sect Leaders Yao and Ouyang – turns, as if by some protective maternal paternal instinct. He looks from Huaisang to Jin Rulan, and back. Catches Huaisang’s eye, holds. Gives Huaisang a brief nod. Something bright and painful flares in Huaisang’s chest.

“Thank you, for your magnanimity,” Huaisang tells Jin Rulan – to himself, silently, he adds: perhaps, one day, I will be worthy of it, and then, “and to your point; I think I will go rescue your jiujiu before he embroils us in another diplomatic situation.”

Jin Rulan’s answering smile is blinding.

The feeling in Huaisang’s chest grows brighter.

Ah, Huaisang thinks, this is what it feels like to hope.

[captain-shippard]

So, scrolling past some MDZS posts about Jin Ling and it seems so many people willingly ignore how many actual uncles he got and how much this guy is related to almost everyone :

The obvious :

Jin Guyangyao

Mo Shuanyu

Jiang Cheng

The adopted one :

Wei Wuxian

But there’s also...

The aunt by blood and marriage (poor girl) :

Qin Su

The blood uncles (blood brothers with one uncle) :

Nie MingJue

Lan Xichen

And their own brothers :

Nie HuaiSang

Lan WangJi

Actually for this last one, he could also be considered uncle by marriage with Wei Ying.

The blood granduncle :

Lan Qiren

The martial granduncle :

Xiao XingChen (WWX martial uncle)

The one I remembered while tagging :

Mo ZiYuan (Mo XuanYu half brother that died not soon enough)

The potential “uncles” that depends on your fan-verse :

Song Lan if you consider he’s married to XXC (it was never stated as clearly in canon as WangXian which it’s why it’s there)

Wen Ning + aunt Wen Qing either by JL marrying Lan Sizhui or either Wen marrying any previously listed characters

A-Qing is his aunt if you consider her as XXC younger sister. If she’s adopted by XXC (and potentially Song Lan), she would “only” be JL cousin

Xue Yang for those who ship him with XXC (I hate him and the ship but I will acknowledge the existence of it) (if you consider him A-Qing older siblings, it’s also a way to make her JL’s aunt)

Any other character marrying into Jin Ling weird horizontal family tree

Of course if I forgot anyone don’t forget to add the relevant information to the list.

[zhuilingyizhen]

Tsundre Jin Ling who has no idea how to deal with his feelings for his (only) 3 friends

Side Note: Wow this ended up long- & thank you anon!! I really loved this ask.

At first he thinks that he’s supposed to feel like that towards all his friends. I mean, the three juniors are the only expieriences with friendship he’s had so far. So of course he loves likes them! Thankfully, he’s not as oblivious as Jingyi or as self-sacrificing as Sizhui. He is possibly more afflicted with dumb bitch disease than Zizhen, though. Very, very possibly.

But once the feelings of “I wanna hold his hand.” and “How would it feel to kiss him?” and “I never noticed how attractive he is.” start settling in, he realises two things. One, he’s a cutsleeve, and two, holy shit he’s in love with his friends.

There’s some major problems with this revelation. Of the 4 juniors, barely one and a half of them can healthily express their feelings, and I can guarantee that Jin Ling is not a part of that minority, being the tsundere he is. His mommy/daddy issues (rather, the lack of having living parents) also play a part in his not being able to successfully process or display his feelings. Plus, he’s not stupid just blind. He only has three friends. He’s in love with all three of them. In the scenario that they all reject his feelings and decide leave him, he would be alone again.

Imagine how he’d feel. Though his parents both left, that was due to their deaths, not them wanting to leave (though there is the fact that his mother was willing to give up her life for her brother possibly knowing that she would be leaving her son behind, but even then her main concern at the time was her brother’s life so it isn’t exactly a fair comparison and oops I’m rambling-). Jin Ling wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing that his only friends (the ones that he loved & cared about) had willingly left him. Not that they would ever do that, but he doesn’t know that yet.

Another problem with his feelings is that he really doesn’t have anyone to talk to. The only parental figures in his life are his three uncles (JGY, WWX, and JC) and possibly WN? I’m not too sure about their canon relationship but them having a nice uncle-nephew like relationship would be nice. JL, seeing his uncle’s past experiences in romance, immediately crosses out JC from the list of possible confidants. We all know what happened with JGY (though assuming this was before everything went down, I would say that JL isn’t as close to JGY, & asking romance advice from him wasn’t exactly an appealing solution). WWX & WN both have strong familial connections with LSZ, so it would definitely be awkward talking to them about JL’s feelings for him (and almost worse having to tell them he also liked LJY & OYZZ). Plus, he wasn’t very much interested from getting a shovel talk from LWJ, who would most certainly hear about it from WWX. His friends weren’t exactly an option either, unless he went to them talking about his feelings for their mutual friends. And the idea of that was so mortifying that JL almost puked from embarrassment. Almost.

Plus, even if he asked in a hypothetical context, his friends know that he wouldn’t have a crush on anyone outside his tiny group of close knit juniors. Well, Sizhui and Zizhen know that. Jingyi is too dense to realize that Jin Ling is 1. Gay and 2. Desperately in love with them. The other two assume that JL likes one of them, but for the life of them can’t figure it out. JL is just too tsundere-y around them.

He has several options on how to deal with his quickly progressing feelings.

A: He confesses to them, and hopes that they don’t end their friendship.

B: He could slowly distance himself from his current friends, and possibly make some other friends. Leave them before they can leave him.

C: (similar to B) He could throw himself into his sect leader duties and use it as an excuse to not spend as much time with his friends, and brush them off whenever they ask about him. Become a bratty JC.

D: He hides his feelings for all three of them. Lets the feelings build up inside him, push his friends away whenever they ask, and accidentally act extremely suspicious and moodier than usual towards them.

He obviously picks a combination of the last three. Also probably has vehemently denied having feelings for any of them whenever the mere mention of romance is brought up, which has led to many awkward silences.

At this point, Zizhen is sure that JL has a crush on one of them (he’s betting on Sizhui). Sizhui himself is still trying to figure out who it is that JL likes (but he’s a bit closer to the truth than Zizhen) and Jingyi... Jingyi is questioning the odd behavior that’s going on between his three besties.

Sizhui is the first to figure it out. The juniors excluding JL (who’s busy on so-called sect stuff) are hanging out. LJY & OYZZ are discussing a romance novel that OYZZ read, and LSZ is just listening in. The gist of the novel is that a warrior falls in love with a young maiden from his hometown and the prince of a neighboring kingdom, who they are soon going to war against. The warrior has to choose what’s best for his home, and ends up slaying his male lover. Though he goes back to the young maiden and his family, the warrior ends up drowning himself in despair and guilt at having to kill the prince.

(The next part was kinda written as a fic, cause I didn’t wanna do like a screenplay of what happened.)

The two chat about it, with Sizhui occasionally offering his opinion, before Jingyi interjects. “Why couldn’t the warrior have just been with them both?”

Zizhen asks what both Sizhui and he were wondering. “What do you mean?”

“Well, he clearly loved them both. There had to be some way for him to date both of them.”

(End short dialogue fic thingy.)

It got Sizhui thinking about their situation. It was clear that Jin Ling had feelings for at least one of them, if his defensive behavior and blushing were any clue. But he hadn’t really considered the idea of him liking more than one of them, or even all three of them. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. LSZ could never exactly pinpoint who JL likes because JL had always acted the same (tsundere-y, blushing, & defensive) around all three of them. The different behavior most likely meant that...

Jin Ling liked all three of them.

Discovering this had left Sizhui reeling. The fact that he was on a picnic with the other two people one of his closest friends had a crush on didn’t exactly help, so he quickly excused himself (though this suspicious behavior went noticed by Zizhen and Jingyi, and they vowed to figure out what was afflicting the usually calm member of their group).

For one thing, Sizhui wasn’t completely sure how he felt about his friends. He was certainly fond of all three of them, but in love with them? That was quite a revelation. But it made sense. He was already close to the other three juniors, and he certainly loved them. However, the question was whether or not it was platonic or romantic love. Most of the physical contact he had with people were with his friends (mostly Jingyi, since they live at the same place & are usually together). So it would make sense that he would seek more romantic touches from them, right? Sizhui wasn’t quite sure about this all. The first thing to do was to confront Jin Ling about his feelings. Maybe they would figure it out together, all four of them.

Turns out, Jin Ling doesn’t want to talk about his feelings (seriously Sizhui, what were you expecting? Emotional maturity?). Sizhui quite literally had to chase him around Lotus Pier. Eventually he catches him, and gets Jin Ling to sit down with him for tea. (Sizhui didn’t even have to restrain him! That went better than expected.)

Not one to beat around the bush, Sizhui is pretty blunt with his questions.

“Do you like a zhen, a yi, and I romantically?”

Jin Ling was only half expecting that and chokes on his tea.

At first he denies it, but Sizhui refuses to let him leave until he tells him the truth. Which means JL either has to go with option A, or wait until Sizhui let’s him leave.

They sit there for almost an hour before the owner kicks them out. After that, they just kinda... chill. Jin Ling won’t say anything, and Sizhui won’t leave until he gets an answer, so they’re stuck in a deadlock.

Meanwhile, Jingyi and Zizhen are looking all over the Cloud Reccesses for Sizhui, but he is nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Jin Ling breaks first (he really needed to get this off his chest) and tells Sizhui that he likes them. After that, he immediately kicks Sizhui out the door and goes to mope around somewhere. Preferably with Fairy.

Sizhui finally returns and Jingyi breaks both the the no running and making loud noises rule once he sees him. Zizhen has to go back home, because by now it was pretty late. Thankfully, they got back before curfew.

The next step in Sizhui’s plan to get Jin Ling, Zizhen, and Jingyi together (he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it all himself, but he could at least make his best friends happy, right?) was to talk to Jingyi and figure out if Jingyi liked the Young Mistress & Zizhen.

This was easier than expected, cause though Jingyi is oblivious, he isn’t oblivious to his own feelin- oh wait. Well, at least he won’t deny his own feelings after figuring out that he has them. He and Sizhui have a very long talk, and yup he has feelings. He also holds Sizhui’s hand a little because feelings.

Meanwhile Jin Ling is freaking out back at Lotus Pier because he just remembered that there is a night hunt that week (and everyone will be suspicious if he doesn’t attend).

(Jiang Cheng is moderately concerned so he follows Jin Ling on the night hunt decides to visit Xichen on the day of the night hunt. On business, of course.)

The night hunt happens as usual, though Jin Ling is suspiciously quiet. Sizhui and Jingyi are more attached by the hip than usual.

They kill a few fierce corpses. Woohoo. But then Zizhen gets attacked from behind and Jin Ling pushes him out of the way. The two Lans deal with the corpse and Zizhen smiles and thanks Jin Ling, which leads to an incredibly blushy Jin Ling. Which makes Zizhen think. Because blushing + close proximity = signs of a crush. And currently Jin Ling is almost on top of him from tackling him earlier. So...

“Oh my god, you have a crush on me?”

Which was not the response Jin Ling was looking for. It also almost gives Sizhui a heart attack because oop this isn’t gonna go well. At this point, Jingyi can’t be fazed by the disaster that is his friends. Until Zizhen straight up kisses Jin Ling on the mouth, which makes him do a double take cause really guys? Right in front of his salad chicken wings?

Jin Ling is confused, Jingyi is confused, Zizhen is kinda confused and a bit dazed cause kisses sometimes do that, so Sizhui has to deal with this clusterfuck of emotions.

He gets everyone to sit in a circle (crisscross apple sauce) which, looking back on it, probably wasn’t the best idea considering they were on a night hunt. Sizhui, now knowing that at most of them have feelings for each other (still isn’t sure about Zizhen), decides to go first.

“I like all of you romantically.”

Yay confession! Jingyi isn’t surprised since he knew from their talk, so he just kinda smiles. Jin Ling, having never figured this out, would have spit out his tea again had he had tea. Zizhen just accepts it, because yeah, it makes sense.

They sit in awkward silence as Jin Ling tries to not choke on the air, Jingyi moves a bit closer to Sizhui, and Zizhen & Jingyi eventually breaks it.

“I like you all, too.”

“Same here.”

Which leaves Jin Ling, who has been attempting to find an excuse to get out of here at. It’s one thing to have feelings and another to find out that they’re returned. This wasn’t one of the outcomes he had prepared for. So he sits there until he realizes that his friends are waiting for a response.

“What’re you all looking at me for?! You can’t expect me to say it after you guys already went.”

Jingyi silently threatens to tickle him, which is somehow worse than having to spill his feelings?

“Fine, fine. I like you guys too. Can I leave now?”

Sadly for Jin Ling, Jingyi forces him & the others into a hug, because feelings.

They all just kinda sit there for a while, before Jin Ling realizes that it’s time for them to get the heck out of there because he has to get home before his uncle yells at him.

Little did he know, Jiang Cheng had been watching him from the bushes and his new boyfriends would be getting the shovel talk very, very soon...

[tanoraqui]

AU: Hányǐng-jūn

(”Shadowbearing Lord”, translation by @lyratalus)

(see, this is my problem. I decide, “yes, damnit, I AM going to write this longfic!” and then 0.0003 seconds later I’m absolutely swarmed by other plot bunnies.)

anyway, Yiling Patriarch!Lan Wangji but, like...better

Lan Wangji gets out of seclusion and 3 days later takes a mostly sleeping Lan Yuan, a couple days' worth of provisions, and leaves for Yiling. Lan Xichen somehow catches him just outside of Cloud Recesses and LWJ freely admits that he's going to Yiling - the city, not the Burial Mounds themselves - and he's going to raise A-Yuan there and cleanse the Burial Mounds like Wei Wuxian was starting to do with the life he brought back to them

Lan Xichen lets him go, doesn't even bother to play the "shouldn't A-Yuan grow up somewhere healthier and wealthier" card, bc a) cheap shot, b) he knows Wangji has already thought of it (he's right), and c) this is doing NOTHING to convince him that his brother won't commit some sort of passive suicide if he doesn't get to keep that child. God damn, he thought they were over this phase of mourning but Apparently Not

so Lan Wangji gets a house in Yiling, has to deal with 50 tons of gossip - of a new variety; he's used to political gossip and "isn't he hot" gossip but wow he was not prepared for small town "ooh new hot single dad" gossip with a side order of random advice from elderly women about how to care for a six-year-old

(he is, in fact, very grateful for the advice)

(there is no way in hell that Lan Wangji knows how to be the sole provider for a six-year-old)

in the internal war between "do not let A-Yuan out of my sight" and "do not take the vulnerable child to the death mountain", I think the former wins, considering the small child already lived on the death mountain for about a year, and seemed fine except for malnutrition. Which was...well, yes it was a problem with the death mountain, but not directly. Lan Wangji has money and they live in town and commute to the Burial Mounds each day for LWJ to play Cleansing while A-Yuan runs around catching imaginary butterflies or practicing reading; it's fine

...though possibly the nosy grannies convince him to get a babysitter

and maybe to take a break?

oh no i would want so many OCs of just Lan Wangji's neighbors in this

anyway, it doesn't take long for it to become clear that even playing Cleansing all day every day is like being a bird scraping its beak once a millennia on a mountain. Sure it works, technically, but...not really. Frankly, the resentful energy grows back if he stops for a single day. And even Hanguang-jun only has so much power and endurance

he's going to have to handle the resentful energy himself. If he wants to do this, wants to leave some sort of positive legacy for Wei Wuxian, he's going to have to demonically cultivate himself. Siphon the stuff off, and do...something with it. It won't just vanish. Subdue corpses and monsters, probably? Go back to night-hunting?

I dunno how or how fast word gets out, but I guarantee you Jiang Cheng is the first person of note to hear about it and come furiously flying. The fight that follows is raw and possibly literally bloody, and 99.99% about Wei Wuxian (of course.) I think the only reason it stops is that even though they took it outside, A-Yuan wakes up (as does most of the neighborhood) and pokes his head out the window to ask what's going on, and Jiang Cheng puts two and two together with the kid he saw when he visited to disown Wei Wuxian and- 

He can't quite bear to destroy something even halfway adjacent to family He wants Wei Wuxian to have a slightly good legacy, too He storms off.

the only reason he doesn't pass Lan Xichen in the air is that they aren't quite coming from the same direction. This night is becoming very long but Lan Wangji is happy to explain himself to his brother: the careful methods he's started to use, never very much resentful energy at once, and the careful checks he has on himself, meditation and Cleansing and purification rituals. Lan Xichen isn't happy, but he has to concede that it all seems sound, and the goal is certainly a righteous one, and...there are worse ways to mourn

so when an emergency sect leader cultivation conference is called, because the news that Hanguang-jun has not only moved to Yiling but started practicing demonic cultivation has spread like wildfire, Lan Xichen calmly stands forward and defends his brother, states that Lan Wangji is working on noble goals with careful precautions and the full support of GusuLan, he can confirm it himself as Sect Leader but of course any who wish are welcome to visit Yiling as well and judge Hanguang-jun's precautions for themselves.

I cannot put in words how close Jiang Cheng comes to punching him in the face

So that’s what happens: people visit, see what careful measures Lan Wangji has in place, and are convinc- ha ha lol no it’s politics. But it works out. i wish I could say that it's some sort of tie between who Jiang Cheng hates most: Wei Wuxian for everything, but particularly for not even bothering to try to make it safe like LWJ clearly is; Lan Wangji for thinking he can just get away with this shit; Lan Xichen for helping him do it; everyone else for going along with it when they couldn't give Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng and YunmengJiang a single shred of goodwill; or himself for not standing up for either Wei Wuxian (a la Lan Wangji, however post-mortem)/his brother (like LXC)

but we all know it's nowhere near a tie

so...Lan Wangji doesn't plan to teach Lan Yuan (he's still a Lan! They're both still Lans!) any sort of demonic cultivation, but no matter what he does there's still So Much Dangerous Stuff around here, and they have no backup nearby, and demonic cultivation is just so much easier for those without a well-developed golden core yet -

so he teaches him, you know, some basic chords to make a ghost or corpse go the fuck away

(to start)

UNFORTUNATELY I'm pretty sure the timing is such that the Yi City Affair happened mostly while LWJ was in seclusion? Or at least, the start of it, such that the finding of Xue Yang by the side of the road happened either shortly before or shortly after he got out (and, in this case, went to Yiling)

and they have no reason to visit Yiling, so...all that...plays out. as in canon

no reason to visit Yiling, that is, until Xue Yang is sitting on the floor of the coffin house clutching a bag containing the shards of Xiao Xingchen's soul and feeling something like remorse for the first time in his life and he HATES it, he hates it SO GODDAMN MUCH, he wants to burn everyone who contributed to this to the ground and then torment their ghosts for centuries

so, he might then visit Yiling and the man said to be some sort of inheritor of the Yiling Patriarch's power. He almost certainly tries to play nice and helpless, just a good young man who made bad choices and lost his friend, and Lan Wangji probably tries to give him the benefit of the doubt and...yeah that does not last long.

especially if A-Qing has anything to say mime about it

Xue Yang has a fierce corpse on call and the won't-stay-down attitude of a feral weasel on crack who hates you personally, but Lan Wangji has a the home court advantage, including extensive practice siphoning and applying power from the Burial Mounds, and he's fucking Hanguang-jun.

Result: Lan Sizhui gets a sad fierce corpse uncle and a cheerfully-refusing-to-pass-on ghost-jie

HARD CUT uh...10? Ish? Years later? Wei Wuxian aka Mo Xuanyu is quickly giving up the idea of subtle launching fierce corpses at this hand bc at this point it's either out himself or people die, and the latter is not acceptable. He's just about to whistle them in when a ghost whips in and probably saves someone's life by knocking them out of the way. One of the Lan babies shrieks and hides behind another one - but a third points excitedly to the sky and shouts, "Oh, it's Lan Sizhui! Sizhui, over here!"

and who should descend by sword but one Nice Young Man(TM) with a guqin that he plays while switching effortlessly back and forth between spiritual and resentful energy, which, damn, Wei Wuxian didn't even know that was an option. I mean, it wasn't, for him, but...damn! What a clever kid! Did someone teach him?!

oh yeah, imminent danger of death by angry left hand -

Wei Wuxian does have to openly intervene, or at least, obviously intervene by fierce corpse and shouting some instructions at the kids, and then letting this Sizhui kid take the credit for the fierce corpses and trying to book it but, uh...getting caught. By aforementioned Sizhui kid. Who is polite and formal and, Wei Wuxian points out, extremely un-GusuLan-like, what with the bothering him and also the demonic cultivation. There's probably still the ghost of a teenage girl following them and making rude gestures at Wei Wuxian for insulting her little brother

"That's because I'm from the Yiling branch," Lan Sizhui admits, a little shame-facedly except that it's definitely fake shame. 

"Hmm?" says Wei Wuxian, like he knows what that means but is curious for more information (as opposed to have no goddamn idea what that means and desperately wanting more information)

"I, ah, study with Hanying-jun" says Lan Sizhui, who doesn't want to make a big deal out of his parentage. 

"Hmm?" says Wei Wuxian, who is fucking Dying here "I thought I might escort you home with me, so you can get properly cleansed after manipulating those corpses. One must be careful, of course." He sighs in a slightly teenagerish way. "It'll take most of a day, probably, after that arm. I try to use only spiritual energy on night hunts, but that was...pretty bad." 

Wei Wuxian, internally: okay, CONS: getting spiritually cleaned by Lans, even possibly Cool Lans - ugh, why are Lans always like this. PROS: finding out who the fuck this "Hanying-jun” is, bc...what the fuck. In Yiling? Is he stealing MY schtick?? And I can't just ASK, because clearly this kid expects me to recognize the title, which means Mo Xuanyu would probably recognize the title, and even a Lan who practices some sort of resentful energy manipulation isn't just going to be okay with suddenly meeting the Yiling Patriarch...And i can always run if I have to. 

WWX: I mean...okay! I don't have anything else to do!

except they do detour to Dafan Mountain a little because Lan Sizhui wasn't raised quite Lan enough to beat out the rebellious teenager streak and he wants to fight a big monster, and Jiang Cheng nearly fucking draws Zidian on sight bc he really. Hates. The Yiling Lans. And then Lan Wangji shows up just bc he heard about a ruckus and figured it was a good place to find his son

and then goddess statue, Wen Ning, terrible bamboo flute...

it's definitely not 'til after Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng have started and maybe finished fighting before Wie Wuxian finds out that the mysterious bastard who totally stole his spot as Dark Lord of Yiling is Hanguang-jun

or, you know...different title now

apparently

and then LWJ takes him and orders him bathed and - wait actually if they've developed elaborate formal spiritual purification rituals to balance handing resentful energy, he. he probably does order Wei Wuxian bathed

and then brought to his room

oh wow

beautiful

AND THEN PLOT RESUMES AS NORMAL?!? except possibly several questions of romance and Lan Sizhui's history get cleared up much faster 

also Lan Wangji - Hanying-jun - doesn’t have as peerless a reputation to trade on. Public opinion is probably fairly split between camps of, like, “he’s doing a good and noble thing, cleaning the Burial Mounds” vs. “the Lans say it’s okay so it must be, but wow that seems dangerous and/or useless” vs. “demonic cultivation is always eeeevil!” Among cultivators specifically, it’s more the first two, but...performatively more the first, genuinely more the second.

[quicktothebatjalopy]

OK now you've gotta give me your list of Jiang Cheng's talents that have nothing to do with cultivation! I'm very curious.

Well, there is plenty of overlap with your thoughts so a round of pats-on-back for us all! My thoughts:

Stick-to-it-tivity, bloody-mindedness, DETERMINATION (It fills you with!)--whatever you want to call it our boy has it in spades. The only times it really falters are understandably extreme (and extremely horrible) situations: other than that he digs his feets in and will not be budged! My little badger buddy! (I mean badger in the best possible way, namely as someone who grew up reading Redwall novels)

Intelligence: he’s got a brain and he’s not afraid to use it! This is combined with what you described as an ability to ‘read a room’. That social awareness is no doubt muchly based on his dreadful upbringing, which also explains why he isn’t practiced in how to use it to his advantage: if he learned to manipulate what he sees he would be indomitable. This also lends itself well to solid battlefield awareness--he recruited followers as a teenage leader of a destroyed sect during a war where they were outnumbered, I don’t think he could do that if he didn’t have a reputation for getting his people off a battlefield alive. No core needed--just give him some armor and a bullhorn and he could still lead a battle.

Dazzling good looks. It counts. 

He is a TERRIFIC duncle. Not perfect, but then no parent is perfect, and he certianly suceeds marvelously in not carrying the sins of his parents into the next generation. You’ll never make me believe that Jin Ling ever doubted his uncle’s love: he has never even considered that his uncle’s love for him is contingent on his usefulness to his uncle. (If Jin Ling lost his core he would be horrified, of course, but he would go straight to uncle. “What do we do now?”. And if ‘what we do’ doesn’t include getting a core back somehow, he loves and trusts his uncle enough to deal with it, I think.)

Excellent taste in women. Ok, the matchmaker list is silly, but it was clearly written by a boy who thinks Jiang Yanli is the best woman in the world and in that regard I respect him entirely. That and he met Wen Qing and was in no time flat like “*gentle gasp* Yo.”

as tumblr user @souridealist devastatingly said, he has an immense capacity for love--what would he be like if that had ever been treated as a strength instead of a weakness?

Very capable in many arts/skills honestly--the fact that he was always JUST behind WWX when the latter is a horrifying genius speaks to his abilities, I think.

Martial skills. Obviously this would be hampered by losing spiritual power, no more fukkin flight, but that doesn’t mean his skills with a sword or bow would disappear. In the fic I’m never gonna write (cause I already got 3 others in the pipes) where either WWX or WQ realizes he’s an adult human who deserves a say in his own fate and consult him before golden core transplant, I think this would be the gist of his argument against--because of course he wouldn’t agree. “You can’t be a sect leader!” WWX would argue, and JC would say “One, what sect! Two, who the fuck says! It’s my core that’s gone, not my brain. And what, are you and A-Jie going to not help me? Idiot.” “But, you are helpless! Defenseless,” WWX would say. “No kidding! After the war I look forwards to watching you travel around Yunmeng informing all the hunters and rangers that they are no longer capable of using a bow on account of they lack golden cores. IDIOT.”

(this is tangential, but related to the above: based on show-canon, at least, I don’t see how it’s a given that he couldn’t control Zidian without a golden core. Another spiritual implement we see, Suibian, responds to WWX’s-core-without-WWX but also to WWX-no-core. Madame Yu attuned Zidian to Jiang Cheng, not to his core. idk I just think it would be neat!)

This isn’t very well-articulated as a ‘skill’, but I think JC’s big problem is that when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Given space to breath (you know, without constant war or murder or That Family Life) I think he could easily learn other ‘tools’ that make him a very effective leader, person, whatever.

[restingdomface]

Okay I can’t believe I’m going there, but, Lan Wangji’s magical healing cock and also mpreg AU:

Okay. So. Instead of Jin Zixuan being a dick to his crush, he genuinly never had a crush on her at all, and in fact, it never came to light until the Sunshit Campaign started, but JZX had a crush on Jiang Cheng all along. Jiang Cheng, who, reluctantly, returns his affections. Wei Wuxian is disgusted. His brother has terrible taste in men wtf.

So. Things went differently this time. What’s the change here? Meng Yao never left Nie Mingjue’s side. Of course, he did the spying thing, but he never betrayed him (this could be a part of my idea where NMJ and MY plan to actually have him be a spy and send him off after a planned execution of a soldier that NMJ decided needed a death sentence more than banishment, or, an AU where MY presented the idea to Wen Rouhan that his coming to WRH’s side was the betrayel itself). Now how does this change things? Because I honestly and truly think that if MY didn’t go to Jin Guangshan’s side afterwards, JGS wouldn’t have had the sway to execute anyone else in the Wen Family, or do anything horrible like that.

TBH he tries to wipe out the rest of the Wens, but it goes so badly and this time MY isn’t on his side (lol you know JGS would have tried tho, imagine how humiliating it would have been to be publicly denied by your own bastard son at the banquet after wow) and so JGS ends up removed from power entirely and JZX gets made sect leader instead.

This means, that since JZX is about to marry JC, they’re going to have to move to LanlingJin instead of both of them arguing over if they’d move to Lotus Pier or not. Cause they would argue over that. This means that Jiang Cheng is going to be the next Young Master Jin and Jiang Yanli is now officially the Jiang Sect Leader. Nice.

So. We’re rid of JGS and everyone’s happy and MY probably isn’t gonna kill anyone cause now he can marry NMJ in peace and not have to deal with anyone else, where does LWJ’s magic healing dick come in? Hold on I’m getting to it. Impatient.

So. The Wens. Of course, before JGS was removed from power, Wei Wuxian was actually running around saving Wen survivors and gathering them in the Burial Mounds, so he actually has to be coaxed into leaving by his siblings and LWJ and even JZX and NMJ (who thinks this is rather like that one time he had to coax Nie Huaisang out from under his bed when he became convinced NMJ’s cat was a demon because it wouldn’t stop attacking his songbird and he couldn’t come out cause she was in the room and she would steal his soul but she’s just sitting on the windowsill and meowing at them and NMJ is just silently planning to feed her more and keep her away from the atrium and tbh plz NHS you’re 16 years old you’re too old for this plz stop crying) and it’s great. It’s just great.

Anyways. WWX is paranoid af. Like so fucking paranoid. Cause they have been attacked. He’s got 12 year old girls talking about what the adult men in the Jin sect did to them. He’s got a traumatized toddler on his hip that screams when he sees Jin robes. He’s got children with branded scarring on their faces and wounds you can’t even imagine to come from anything but torture. He’s paranoid. He’s trying to keep the kiddos safe. They’re healers, and he’s given them the tools to heal, but they’re scared, and he’s paranoid without his Golden Core, and he’s scared, and he’s not putting down the toddler plz stop asking, he’s keeping this one, shut up.

So. What can he do but make a few demands? The Lan sect may have strict rules, but they would never attack innocent civilians, and they have rules about killing even animals in Gusu. He asks them to send all the Lan guards they can to escort them to GusuLan. He doesn’t think they’d hurt them in YunmengJiang either, but he can’t risk it. He was there when Lotus Pier burned. Cloud Recesses didn’t lose nearly as many people, and he’s still too traumatized to spend much time in LP rn.

So they go to Cloud Recesses. This actually, also gives the other sects a lot of time to get some glimpses at everyone that came from the Burial Mounds.

Not a single one of them was a cultivator.

This is a little different than canon. WWX can’t handle the loss of his golden core in this one. Not to say that he shouldn’t have done it, but that the resentful energy is dragging him down to the point where all he can feel is paranoia and fear. He’s almost completely unresponsive at this point. He follows after LWJ when told to, and he holds little A-Yuan in his arms, but he doesn’t pay much attention to anyone.

Wen Qing tells them of the loss of his core, but not how it happened. Lan Qiren doesn’t much like WWX still, but he accepts that a cornered animal will bite, and WWX lost his main weapon right before a major war. Of course he would do all he could to keep himself safe.

Jiang Yanli offers for the Wen Survivors to be integrated into YunmengJiang, since they lost so many people. It could help a lot. They accept, since she’s offering them protection and help.

Of course, Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli used to Spend A Lot Of Time Together in Cloud Recesses, so love is blooming there between the two sect leaders, and by the end of a year, they’re getting married themselves.

WWX doesn’t go back to LP with them. He couldn’t do it. A-Yuan and Granny and Wen Ning stay with him in Cloud Recesses. Granny talks with Wen Qing regularly, and A-Yuan is attached to Lan Wangji enough that Lan Xichen starts mentioning that he could attend classes there when he’s old enough. LXC is a WangXian shipper and is trying to get his brother to adopt the child. Y’all know he would. WWX spends his time arguing (loudly, but in a room with magical wards for sound so they don’t get in trouble) with a Lan mind healer that talks through his bullshit with him, sleeping the day away in one of the rooms of the Jingshi (because LWJ made him move in right away and WWX couldn’t even argue cause A-Yuan loves him too and he can ask LWJ to play Their Song whenever he wants to hear it) and following after A-Yuan as he enchants (and terrifies) all the rabbits in the field. Also getting yelled at (softly) by LQR for breaking rules. LQR and LWJ have been making it their personal mission to find a way to either purify the resentful energy so WWX can go back to his normal cheerful self that doesn’t jump or hide when startled, or to regain a Golden core so the yin and yang energies can balance each other and keep him stable.

Of course, JYL sends him a message that she’s getting married, and WWX pulls himself out of the fog enough that he can ask them to go to the wedding (he’s being polite, he’s going no matter what they say lol,) and LWJ accompanies him to the wedding. His siblings are so happy to see him there.

Anyways. Things get rocky when WWX hears them talking about kids.

Jiang Yanli will carry Jin Zixuan’s children, and they’ll keep the Jin name. They’ll know that all four of them are their parents, but it’s a way to pass on the name.

Wen Qing will carry Jiang Cheng’s children, and they’ll carry the Jiang name. This also helps to keep track of what kids are heir to what sect.

Of course, Wei Wuxian, the master of ‘I know The Most Obscure Bullshit Ever’, asks why they don’t just have their spouses children. There are spells and potions for that.

Well. No one else in the room knew that but him apparently. Well, they’re still going to go with their idea for the first few kids, and then they’ll decide if other means of pregnancy options are viable.

Anyways. Guess who else didn’t know it was possible for men to get pregnant? You guessed it. Lan Wangji. Who was also in the room at the time.

So. Wedding is lovely. They all have an amazing time. WWX is able to pull himself out of bed every day. He was even able to work on some cultivation items that LQR begrudgingly admits are amazing items and very useful to cultivation.

They go back to Cloud Recesses, and Lan Wangji combs through his and his uncle’s notes till he finds a viable solution to a return of a Golden core that they had originally scrapped because WWX wasn’t a girl.

To return a Golden core to a body by means of very careful pregnancy. Of course, such a thing would be considered stealing under normal circumstances, and most mothers would rather die than harm their child in the womb in a way that could kill them. But this was a method made to keep both parent and child from harm. A way to build the slightest lump of core in the parent, enough to stick and allow a base to build off of later.

Of course, without consulting Uncle (because the man would be horrified at the idea, and LWJ would rather be rejected by the man himself thanks very much) he takes the proposal to the man in question.

WWXA has to think about this one for a long time. He thinks about it while helping Wen Ning with zombie stuff so he can maintain a stable body. He thinks about it while writing letters to his siblings. He thinks a LOT about it while tucking their two year old into bed and reading him a story with the funny voices. He thinks about it when he spends a night in the cold springs with LWJ one night, close enough to touch the man, because without a Golden core, the water is too cold for him to survive in on his own.

He asks why LWJ would besmirch his honor like that. Having a child out of wedlock, his uncle would throw a fit. His name would be in tatters.

LWJ blinks, once, and twice. He quietly tells him the offer could involve marriage if WWX thinks it’s of import.

So. They get married. So they can have a child. Another child. Just. Yeah. Let’s get married so we can mate like rabbits.

They’re in love. Of course they are. But they’re also shy idiots. LWJ is a sex fiend like usual, and WWX quickly gets addicted to it, but they’re both too shy to say anything sappy yet. Well. No. Scratch that. LWJ is fully willing to admit his love to the world. But he’s a very quiet person. So he mostly just tells WWX how much he would do anything for him, and even eats his horrible poison cooking. Not even A-Yuan will touch that shit.

A-Yuan is so excited to be a big brother. His favorite place to lay is curled around WWX’s big belly and giving it kisses while A-Die scratches his hair and reads him stories.

A-Yuan finally gets his baby and Wei Wuxian gets the stability that a Golden core provides so he can continue using resentful energy to dodge the many many scrolls Shifu Qiren will throw at him over the years to come. LQR swears that if that man hadn’t given his nephew happiness and also many great nephews-

Anyways. The Lotus Flowers are all gay and all happy send tweet.

[ibijau]

Worst engagement AU // on AO3

War is declared. Jiang Cheng does his best. Lan Xichen, concerned over something he's been told, returns to Gusu for a conversation with Nie Huaisang.

warning for minor character death and even more canon divergence also this is another very long chapter at nearly 9K so, uh. Grab a hot cup of something, some biscuits, and get comfy?

By the time Lan Xichen reaches Gusu, his uncle has declared war on Qishan Wen on his behalf, joined in doing so by Nie Mingjue. In the mountains behind the Cloud Recesses, Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren debate whether to reveal the young leader of Gusu Lan is alive or not. In the end they decide that it is better if Lan Xichen does not appear in public for a little while longer. Although many small sects know the truth, it is unlikely that Wen Ruohan does, and they figure it's better to play weak a little longer. 

The problem with that strategy is that Lanling Jin, in appearance, is made to choose between an alliance with Qishan Wen or Qinghe Nie, and with one of the two significantly stronger than the other. That, they decide, means that Jin Guangshan has to be personally informed of what Lan Xichen is doing and the true situation of what Nie Mingjue wants to call the Sunshot Campaign. They simply cannot afford to lose Lanling after having lost Yunmeng, even if it means revealing that they are not fully broken yet. 

"Send Wangji there at the same time," Lan. Xichen suggests when his uncle worries. "We still look similar enough that if I'm seen, people might think it was him. It'll buy us a little more time because the truth is revealed" 

Lan Qiren sighs and shakes his head.

"If I let him leave Gusu, he'll go look for that Wei boy. He's been playing inquiry every day and keeps begging for permission to go to Yunmeng, the idiot." 

Lan Xichen smiles weakly. If it had been Qinghe instead of Yunmeng, if he had been told that Nie Huaisang and his brother had died like this, he doesn't think he would have accepted it until he had seen it with his own eyes and tried every trick possible to reach the soul of the boy he loves and his closest friend. If anything, in asking for permission, Lan Wangji is showing more restraint than Lan Xichen thinks he would be capable of. Even now, he wants to go to Qinghe. He can't imagine what it must be like for Nie Huaisang to have lost his closest friend and though still unsure where they stand sometimes, he’s aching to comfort him however he can. 

"Wangji would not dare disobey a direct order," Lan Xichen says. "He understands how dire the situation is, and he won't act rashly." 

"Fine. Then I'll tell him you are well, and that he'll see you in Lanling." 

"You hadn't told him yet?" 

Lan Qiren scoffs and crosses his arms. "The less people know, the better. Most elders don't know either that I've been in contact with you for weeks. Gossiping bunch, most of them. I don't see the point of telling anyone what they don't need to know." 

It is distressing to Lan Xichen that his brother might have been worrying about him this whole time, but he can't exactly scold his uncle. At least, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang probably know by now. Meng Yao must have reached Qinghe and shown his letter, or will do so very soon. 

"How do you think I should act to convince Jin Guangshan?" Lan Xichen asks to avoid an argument. 

"He'll only agree to help if it's in his own personal interest,” Lan Qiren replies, uncrossing his arms to stroke his beard. “Listen to what he wants but make no promises. Pretend you are still too young to make your own choices and you must defer to me first. It will annoy him that it makes negotiations difficult, but since he's always saying young people should respect their elders, he won't be able to complain too much. Remain careful and calm at all times. Make sure to keep Nie Mingjue's temper in check as well. Jin Guangshan is a very clever man with a good head for business, and he'll use any weakness he can find to his advantage."

Lan Xichen nods, and they get discussing the sort of arguments he might use toward the other sect leader, what Lanling Jin is likely to want, what Gusu Lan can accept to give. It is distasteful to Lan Xichen that Jin Guangshan will probably not be swayed by the sheer righteousness of the cause, nor by the fact that his own son was almost killed by Wen Chao. But they need this man’s cooperation, and Lan Xichen will not let his emotions get in the way of that.

-

The reunion of the Lan brothers in an inn of Lanling is a very emotional affair, at least by their standards. Lan Wangji takes his brother’s hand and squeezes it, which coming from him is the equivalent of throwing himself into Lan Xichen’s arms and bawling his eyes out in relief. Lan Xichen himself can’t help a tear or two, especially as they head together toward Carp Tower and Lan Wangji starts telling him about his time in the indoctrination camp. What Lan Qiren called ‘a minor injury’ turns out to have been a broken leg that wasn’t allowed the rest it needed to heal. When Lan Wangji was able to come home again, it took the Lan healers a lot of work to resettle the bone and ensure their second master would not have to live with a limp.

Lan Xichen beams with pride and love when Lan Wangji explains how Nie Huaisang did all he could to help with his injury. It is concerning that his fiancé put himself at risk by befriending the Wens guarding them, but it is not surprising that he would attempt it, and even less so that he would be successful.

When they reach Carp Tower, Lan Xichen remains one step behind his brother, head low, as Lan Wangji asks to see Jin Guangshan in his uncle’s name. Lan Xichen, still dressed in the modest way Meng Yao taught him, is mistaken for a servant and ignored by everyone even though it is not in the normal ways of Gusu Lan to travel with attendants. Those are confusing times, and Lanling Jin tends to expect everyone to share their extravagant ways.

They are brought inside Carp Tower without delay, and asked to wait in a room with some others while Jin Guangshan finishes settling some other business. Lan Xichen rankles at seeing his brother treated this way, until they enter the room in question and find Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli sitting there together. They both raise their heads at their entrance, exhausted and broken, Jiang Cheng’s eyes burning with frightening intensity. He looks first at Lan Wangji, his expression growing darker for a moment before he notices Lan Xichen and surprise takes over whatever rage he feels. 

"Lan Xichen?" he gasps. "They said you were dead." 

"That makes two of us," Lan Xichen awkwardly replies. "If you are here… am I to understand that the news about Lotus Piers have been distorted?" 

"No. It's only us," Jiang Cheng retorts, sitting a little stiffer while at his side his sister tenses. "A handful of disciples who had accompanied my sister to Meishan, a few who were on a night hunt. Everyone else is gone." 

"I'm so sorry." 

"Sorry won't bring them back," Jiang Cheng snaps, as if the slaughter had been Lan Xichen's fault. As if he were ready to blame that loss on every single person around him. Even when his sister touches his shoulder and whispers a few soothing words to him, Jiang Cheng continues glaring. Lan Xichen doesn't blame him for it. Loss of that magnitude… He cannot imagine what that's like, and Jiang Cheng is only seventeen. 

"What of Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji anxiously asks, as if even after hearing this he cannot give up on hope. 

Jiang Cheng's scowl darkens, he spine straightens even more, but Jiang Yanli manages a weak smile. 

"He is alive. A-Cheng and him became separated and we're unsure where he is, but he is alive and we will find him." 

There is not a trace of doubt in Jiang Yanli's voice as she says this. It sounds almost like an obvious fact. Of course they will be reunited with Wei Wuxian. Anything less would be impossible, and the Jiangs don’t care much for that. Her certainty, in turn, seems to soothe both her brother and Lan Wangji, who relaxes somewhat for the first time since Lan Xichen met with him in that inn.

They do not get a chance to discuss more in detail what happened in Lotus Piers, nor how Wei Wuxian came to disappear. A servant quickly returns to inform them that Jin Guangshan and his son are ready to see all of them, and leads them to his masters. To their surprise, they discover that Jin Guanshan already has a guest: Nie Mingjue is there, looking furious until his eyes meet Lan Xichen’s. His expression instantly softens.

“Well, I’m glad to find the Wens have not been nearly as deadly as everyone has been saying,” Jin Guangshan notes with a satisfied smile. He doesn’t appear to notice how the Jiang siblings tense and reach for each other's hands, or if he does he pretends not to see it. “Jiang guniang, I fear these talks would only bore you. With your brother’s permission, you might prefer to go join my wife for now?”

Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng exchange a look. He only nods reluctantly, as if it costs him to be separated from his sister but he dares not refuse the offer.

“Good, good, Zixuan will take you there,” Jin Guangshan offers, again pretending not to notice how the Jiangs pinch their lips, how his own son seems uncomfortable.

Still, Jin Zixuan smiles politely and doesn’t object to his father’s order, which Lan Xichen finds surprising considering the things he’d heard about that engagement. As for Jiang Yanli, although a little hesitant, she still lets go of her brother's hand and follows her former fiancé out of the room, gently asking him how his mother is doing as they walk away.

As the rest of them sit down to discuss the current state of affairs, Lan Xichen soon wishes that he too could have left. Dealing with Jin Guangshan and his lack of interest in joining a war until he’s sure to profit from it is unpleasant enough. Doing so while Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng cry for revenge and struggle to at least pretend to respect the older sect leader is awful.

Lan Xichen finds himself forced to play the peacemaker between the others, if only because someone has to. He hates that it is him thrown in that role, when his anger again Qishan Wen is hardly lesser than the others’, when he resents Jin Guangshan’s refusal to commit to anything until he can extract promises from them just as much as Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng do… but the Jins have money, the Jins have men, the Jins have territories, the Jins have so many things which they need and Lan Xichen wishes he could grab everyone and tell them to be reasonable for just one hour.

Since he cannot do that, he only smiles and tries to calm everyone around him.

It works, somewhat. Jin Guangshan agrees to lend men to Jiang Cheng and to keep Jiang Yanli safe in Carp Tower. He also deigns, after bitter negotiations, allow the alliance against the Wen to camp in Jin territories, and promises more help to come as soon as he can properly check what his sect can afford in terms of men and money. It is a long cry from the small sects Lan Xichen has dealt with so far, all of them ready to give anything to put an end to Qishan Wen’s crimes, but… they will take what they can.

When Jin Guangshan puts an end to their meeting, Jiang Cheng quickly disappears, followed by Lan Wangji who clearly won’t be satisfied until he learns what, exactly, happened to Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen himself should leave Carp Tower, send a message to his uncle, and go back to getting small sects to join into their alliance. But when Nie Mingjue suggest they take a little time together, he is tempted. He hasn’t seen his friend in so long, so much has happened… surely it won’t harm anyone if Lan Xichen follows Nie Mingjue to the room Jin Guangshan offered him. He can leave tonight, or early tomorrow. It won’t change much for the war, but it will make a difference for him to sit down and chat. 

"You really had us worried," Nie Mingjue scolds him when they are alone and in private. "No news for this long, even your uncle kept saying he had no idea where you were…" 

Sitting right next to him, Lan Xichen hunches his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I never wished to upset you, but it seemed like the best course of action at the time. We wanted them to think us weak."

"Hm. Huaisang cried, you know. He was convinced you had died." 

Lan Xichen startles. The thought of Nie Huaisang crying because of him, again, tugs unpleasantly on his heart. It wasn't his fault this time, he certainly didn't want to disappear this way, but to have caused Nie Huaisang any pain is awful. 

He tries not to think too hard about what it might say of his fiancé's feelings. Nie Huaisang is an emotional person, and those last few months have been rough. It's normal that he would cry at such unexpected news, they've become rather friendly, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. 

"Mingjue, I'm so sorry. I'll apologise in person when I can, but please tell him I'm sorry when you get back to Qinghe." 

Nie Mingjue's eyebrows rise.

"He's in Gusu, actually. I sent him there as soon as we declared war."

Lan Xichen frowns. His uncle did not tell him that. It's for the best though. If he had known that Nie Huaisang was close by, he would have been tempted to go see him when he passed there and at that time, he couldn't afford any delays. In fact, he half wishes Nie Mingjue hadn't told him either. He isn't supposed to return to the Cloud Recesses for a while longer but now he aches to, the same way he recently ached to travel to Qinghe. 

"Does he know about the Jiangs?” Lan Xichen asks. “That they survived, I mean ?" 

"I doubt it. I didn't know until I saw them earlier. He cried about them too, I thought he was going to make himself sick,” Nie Mingjue admits, trying to sound annoyed but only coming off as worried. “Brat. He brings home a good hundred kids who all told me he was oh-so-brave and guided them and everything, and then the second he's home he turns again into a cry-baby who can barely tie his own clothes. I can't wait for him to be your problem, not mine."

"I've heard good things about him too," Lan Xichen retorts with now familiar pride. "Your brother might not have killed a century old monster, but he's done a lot of good too." 

"He's still a brat," Nie Mingjue says, fighting a smile as he observes Lan Xichen. "You really think well of him these days, don't you?" he suddenly asks. "I haven't heard you complain about him in ages, I realise." 

Lan Xichen smiles and looks down, certain he must be blushing. "I'm very fond of him. I only wish I had been less stupid before but aside from that… I’m not unhappy with the current situation between us."

Nie Mingjue stares at him a little longer, and grins.

"The past is the past. Now we just need to all make it out of this alive, and I'll make sure my brother has a wedding so beautiful people will still talk about it in a century. No Gusu Lan sobriety for this,” Nie Mingjue announces with a grimace and an eye roll. “I'm going to empty our treasury. That brat is going to get the best of the best, even more bling than the Jins! There won’t be a bolt of silk left in the country, not a drop of wine, not an ounce of gold: it’s all going to my bratty brother’s wedding."

For the first time since that fateful morning when Wen Xu barged into the Cloud Recesses, Lan Xichen bursts out laughing. He laughs and laughs and laughs until he breaks into tears, the way he's wanted but did not dare to all these weeks. His shoulders shake and he curls on himself, some of his fear and guilt spilling alongside his tears while Nie Mingjue holds him by the shoulders. 

Nie Mingjue lets him cry without judgment, as long as he needs to, until Lan Xichen runs out of tears. When that happens, Nie Mingjue gets up and fills a glass with water for him. 

"In case you'd like to cry some more," he says, handing Lan Xichen the glass. His friend takes it and empties it eagerly. 

"Thanks. I think I'm good now. Sorry for that." 

"I've cried too after my father's death,” Nie Mingjue says, patting his shoulder. “It's fine." 

It's different, Lan Xichen dares not say, because Nie Mingjue probably never had to wonder if he loved his father, if he was loved by him. Lan Xichen has thought, sometimes, of coming into Qingheng-Jun's house by force to ask him why his brother and him were never enough for him, why he abandoned them so easily. Now he'll never get the chance. 

It's probably for the best. He's sure the answer would have been unpleasant. 

Unwilling to dwell on this, Lan Xichen asks his friend about the preparations he's making for the war, and what sects he thinks would be most valuable to bring to their side so he can go to them next and brings them into the Sunshot Campaign. War is an easier topic to handle than whatever he feels about losing his father. 

They continue talking for a while, until there's a knock at the door and Lan Wangji comes in, asking for a moment with his brother. Looking at the shadows, Lan Xichen realises that it is getting quite late and he needs to decide what to do. It would be inconvenient to stay longer in Carp Tower, he figures, so he bids Nie Mingjue goodbye and asks his brother to walk him to the gates. Lan Wangji is quiet at first, until they leaving the buildings behind and start on the path through the gardens.

"Wei Ying is alive," Lan Wangji quietly says as they walk.

"I've heard, yes, but…" 

"I wish to assist Jiang Wanyin's search for him." 

Lan Wangji stops on his tracks, and there's something hopeful in his eyes as he stares at his brother. Lan Xichen feels for him because while he understands the impulse, it’s obvious Lan Qiren is never going to allow this. 

Then it hits Lan Xichen. Lan Qiren isn't sect leader. He doesn't have the final say in things anymore. 

"You want my permission," Lan Xichen gasps. "Wangji, that's…" 

"Jiang Wanyin needs help, he is working with limited resources but plans on investigating several locations and taking them from the Wens. Let me help him. Please." 

“Did you discuss this with Jiang Wanyin? As I recall, he’s never seemed particularly warm toward you.”

“We both worry about Wei Ying. We do not need to be friends for that.”

Lan Xichen hesitates. He’s sure that his uncle has plans for his brother, even if they haven’t talked about it. Even aside from that, to run away with Jiang Cheng on a quest that might prove futile just isn’t very wise. At the same time Lan Xichen sees the hope and terror in Lan Wangji’s eyes. He wonders what, exactly, happened during those days when Wei Wuxian and him were stuck together in that cave, because his brother’s feelings seem to have grown deeper than they were before.

It’s not very reasonable.

Lan Xichen, who would give anything to be unreasonable himself, gives in and allows his brother to do as he pleases. Wei Wuxian is probably dead, this is probably madness, but… there’s been more than one miracle already since this mess started. If anyone can do the impossible, it’s Wei Wuxian.

-

In the weeks that follow, Lan Xichen continues travelling from sect to sect. His job is made easier now that the three surviving Great Sects are openly standing against Qishan Wen. Before long, it also appears that even the fate of Yunmeng Jiang, and more importantly the survival of its heir, is also a rallying point. People take it as proof that Qishan Wen, no matter how powerful, cannot crush them, cannot destroy their spirits. Lan Xichen starts to realise that he doesn’t need to convince those small sects anymore: he’s just there to point them in the direction of the front.

With his initial role becoming superfluous, Lan Xichen has to consider how else he might be useful to the war. A chance for this is given to him when he meets with Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng on their way to the indoctrination camp where Qishan Wen pretended to bring them to heel. Teaming up together, with an indiscriminate team of cultivators from several sects, they manage not only to destroy the camp, but also to find the swords confiscated at that time and steal them back.

It is not a major tactical victory by any means, but it is a slap in Qishan Wen’s face and that counts as well. It intends to send a message: the Sunshot Campaign is something Wen Ruohan had better take seriously.

It is only a shame that they find no news of Wei Wuxian there, but Lan Xichen is starting to feel hopeful about that. At this point, if Qishan Wen had him, they would try to use him as leverage against Jiang Cheng whose personality keeps attracting more and more people to follow him. Many young cultivators have hastily dyed their clothes into a colour that can vaguely pass as purple this past month, and Lan Xichen expects for this trend to continue. He's heard that some allied of the Wens have even defected and offered to follow Jiang Cheng, should he accept them.

With the swords reclaimed and the camp destroyed, the Twin Jades of Gusu Lan and Jiang Cheng return to Lanling to organise how to return those weapons to their rightful owners, and to consult with Jin Guangshan and Nie Mingjue on what to do next. Jiang Cheng, unsurprisingly, wants to start reconquering Yunmeng as soon as possible, but he’s reasonable enough to accept that other targets might need to take priority.

When they arrive in Carp Tower, Jin Guangshan congratulates them for their victory and insists on a throwing feast, as if they’ve won the war already. It makes all three of them uncomfortable, but Lan Xichen can control himself, Lan Wangji pretends to ignore everyone, and Jiang Cheng has started recovering enough from his loss to show appropriate politeness towards an elder. Nie Mingjue, who came to Lanling under the impression they would be having a war council, is the one struggling the most to control his temper when he sees how lightly Jin Guangshan appears to be treating the situation. 

All evening, Nie Mingjue whispers to Lan Xichen what the money spent on the feast could have bought all their men. This dish alone costs enough to have fed ten people for a week. This wine is enough paper for a hundred talismans. Jin Guangshang’s robes are swords for two of Jiang Cheng’s new recruits. Those dancers' fees are enough to compensate handsomely one of the villages that Nie Mingjue uses as his operation base.

Lan Xichen can only listen and beg him not to start anything. Until they’ve won a few real victories and proven the Sunshot Campaign’s chances of success, they can’t be sure that Jin Guangshan won’t find he’d rather be on the Wens’ side. So for tonight they nibble at food too rich, and watch their host keep trying to get the attention of a pretty dancer while his wife glares disapprovingly and his son desperately tries to entertain the Jiang siblings who he’s sitting with. 

That proves to be more fun to look at than anything Jin Guangshan paid for. Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue agree that Jin Zixuan seems be trying to impress Jiang Yanli, but her brother keeps ruining all his efforts, apparently without even realising it. It’s really a shame Nie Huaisang isn’t here, because he’d either make sure that goes smoother, or laugh alonside Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue.

It’s a shame that Nie Huaisang isn’t here, because Lan Xichen misses him terribly. He hopes that whatever they decide for the war tomorrow morning will give him an excuse to drop in Gusu and see him. They probably won’t have time to chat very long, even if Lan Xichen does go to the Cloud Recesses, but simply seeing Nie Huaisang after this long and being teased by him would make him happy.

Instead of a chance to return to Gusu, morning brings the news that Jin Guangshan has died.

Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji learn of it a little after dawn, as they just finish getting ready for the day. They’ve heard that some commotion was happening somewhere in Carp Tower when they were waking up. Considering how noisy the place always is by their standards, they didn’t pay it any mind. Not until Nie Mingjue comes into their room without knocking and shares the news with them.

“When did it happen?” Lan Xichen asks, hurriedly finishing to tie his ribbon. “How?”

“Sometimes during the night apparently. They can’t be sure the exact hour, he lives separately from his wife and he was supposed to be alone.”

His hands freezing in the middle of tying that knot, Lan Xichen stares at his friend.

“Supposed… you mean he wasn’t? Then who… oh. The dancer?”

Nie Mingjue nods. “She must have seen it happen, unless she did it herself. Either way, they’re looking for her now. Discreetly. Nobody wants it to be known the great Jin Guangshan might have died at the hand of a terrified girl without even an ounce of cultivation.”

It is not a very glorious death for a sect leader of Jin Guangshan’s calibre, but Lan Xichen can’t help feeling that end is mildly deserved. Mostly though, he worries for this girl who might have just been defending herself, and for what it might mean to the war.

If the question of the dancer remains unanswered throughout the day, that of the war is quickly clarified. By the time Jin Guangshan’s death becomes actual news rather than gossip shared from person to person, his murder is explained away as a vicious attack by a Wen assassin, obviously intended to destabilise the last Great Sect with an experienced leader. 

Madam Jin and her son lose no time in promising that they will avenge the husband and father they’ve lost, and offer more to the war effort than Jin Guangshan ever hinted he might give. A week after the murder, and before the former sect leader has even been buried, Jin cultivators have joined Nie Mingjue’s troup, with more placed under Jiang Cheng’s command and the rest set to open a new front in Langya, led by Jin Zixuan and some Jin elders.

If there truly was a Wen assassin, then Wen Ruohan’s plan backfired spectacularly.

Although the course of the war is about to change, Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng all remain in Carp Tower until the funeral is conducted. It is a lavish affair, true to Jin fashion, but unlike the feast Nie Mingjue doesn’t complain about the waste of money this time. Lan Xichen has to remind him once or twice that they’re supposed to be sad about this loss, but that’s hard when even Madam Jin doesn’t manage more than mild indifference. Even Jin Zixuan seems more worried about his new responsibilities than truly mourning his loss, which is a sentiment Lan Xichen knows too well. 

If they were a little closer, if there wasn’t a certain incident between them, he would probably try to chat with Jin Zixuan and offer his sympathy. Things being what they are, he encourages Nie Mingjue to do that instead, pointing out how similar their situations are, and how Jin Zixuan might profit from his experience. Nie Mingjue is quick to let himself be convinced, and at the first chance he gets, takes Jin Zixuan aside to have a chat with him.

This is how Lan Xichen finds himself alone after the banquet held in Jin Guangshan’s memory. Nie Mingjue is gone with Jin Zixuan who looked both awed and grateful. Lan Wangji has long ago disappeared, disliking those public affairs as much as ever and unwilling to put up with them if their uncle isn’t here to force him. After this rather intense week Lan Xichen looks forward to being alone for a moment, but as he steps into the Jin gardens, he quickly spots Jiang Cheng sitting on his own, looking grimmer than ever. Lan Xichen isn’t exactly any closer to him than he is to Jin Zixuan, but their history is less complicated and he figures Jiang Cheng too could use a little sympathy. Without thinking, he goes to meet the other young man.

“Enjoying the gardens, sect leader Jiang?” 

“Enjoying the quiet,” Jiang Cheng retorts, not even bothering to stand from his bench to greet him.

“Ah. Then I suppose I should let you be?”

Jiang Cheng shrugs. “Out of everyone in Carp Tower, you’re not nearly the most annoying one. And you’re probably the only one who’ll let me get away with calling them annoying. You can stay if you like.”

It’s not the warmest invitation to a conversation that Lan Xichen has ever received, but he takes it as one all the same and sits on that bench as well. He trusts that Jiang Cheng would not hesitate to tell him to fuck off if he really wanted to be alone, and in these circumstances… 

Lan Xichen wonders what it must have been like for Jiang Cheng to attend this funeral of a man who he had to beg for help, when he hasn’t been able to give one to his parents, to his entire sect.

“How are you holding up so far?” Lan Xichen asks.

“What? Being sect leader? It sucks and I hate it,” Jiang Cheng replies, sitting straighter. “Not much of a choice though. If I don’t do this, they’ve all died for nothing.”

“You’re doing very well so far, everyone says so,” Lan Xichen assures him. “How many people have you recruited so far?”

Jiang Cheng shrugs again. “Not really sure. I think we’re at around fifty that say they want to be Yunmeng Jiang, but I expect most of them to return to their own sects when this is over.”

Lan Xichen can't help smiling. Some of those might go home, yes, but if Jiang Cheng continues on his current path, he'll have a sect of decent numbers by the end of this war. Yunmeng Jiang might just accomplish the impossible and be reborn from its ashes.

“Is that counting the people Lanling Jin is putting under your orders?”

“No, there’s a good hundred more of those,” Jiang Cheng replies with a grimace. “It’s a nightmare to organise supplies and all that stuff. I wish Wei Wuxian were back already to help with that stuff, that's what first disciples are for. That asshole better have a good reason to have disappeared like that.”

Although they’re not close enough for it, Lan Xichen is tempted to pat Jiang Cheng’s shoulder to comfort him. He decides against it. Jiang Cheng doesn’t strike him as someone who would take kindly to such a gesture if it comes from anyone but those closest to him. It’s a shame that Nie Huaisang isn’t here, his friends could probably use his company... but travelling is really too dangerous at the moment, only the leaders of sects very close to Lanling came to the funeral.

“I’m sure he’ll return when the time is right,” Lan Xichen promises. “Whatever is keeping him away won’t hold him forever and he’ll come back to you.”

Jiang Cheng snorts. “You sound like my sister. She has blind faith in him, saying that of course he’s safe, of course he’ll come back.”

“You don’t think he will?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t answer, his eyes falling to his knees as he curls on himself. He looks younger like this. Far too young for all of this, and yet there they all are.

“I think that nothing has been going the way I thought it would for a while now,” Jiang Cheng whispers.. “I think I don’t know what to expect of anything or anyone anymore. That idiot has always been one to do the impossible, but this whole…” he makes a vague hand gesture, as if to encompass the war and all the tragedies it brought. “Maybe this is too impossible, even for him.”

“I hope Wei Wuxian will surprise us again,” Lan Xichen retorts, thinking not just of the Jiang siblings but also of his own brother. With each passing day, Lan Wangji gets a little more restless, a little more desperate to find the boy he… the boy he loves, there’s no doubt possible on that matter, not anymore. Calling this a mere crush wouldn’t do it justice.

“Time will tell,” Jiang Cheng mutters. “At least, the rest is starting to look a little better now. I swear I would have stabbed Jin Guangshan myself if he had kept trying to use my sister to his advantage but… she’s safe now.”

"What do you mean?" 

Again, Jiang Cheng snorts, a cruel smile on his lips and he straightens his spine.

"Jin Guangshan was thinking of renewing his son’s engagement to my sister,” he spits. “Pretty sure he was just thinking I'd get killed in action, and having her in Lanling like that would give him a claim over the Yunmeng area. I'm glad she won't have to go deal with Jin Zixuan's bullshit again."

"She seems to like him," Lan Xichen hazards.

It’s hard to say, when he doesn’t know Jiang Yanli very well and she’s so polite to everyone, but she always has a certain smile when Jin Zixuan speaks to her… and he speaks to her often enough if given the chance. Of course it might just have been his father pushing him to it, and now his mother as well, but still...

"He's handsome and that helps his case, but it doesn't change his personality and the way he's treated her," Jiang Cheng snaps, clenching his fists on the fabric of his robes. "I'm sure she'd have tried to look past that if they became engaged again, but I know how badly she's been hurt by him and I'm glad she won't have to put up with him after all.” He grimaces. “Of course, you'd know what that's like." 

Lan Xichen smiles and blinks a few times.

"I'm not sure what you mean." 

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

"You and Huaisang,” he huffs with a sharp hand gesture. “You're trying to make the best of it, but it's not like you two like each other.” He pauses, as if to consider that. “Well, maybe you too could end this farce at this point. The war's here already, Gusu Lan and Qinghe Nie are fighting side by side, it's not like you still need to marry him, right?" 

Lan Xichen keeps smiling, not without effort when his heartbeat starts racing so fast it makes him nearly nauseous.

“Is this something Huaisang has talked to you about?” he asks, struggling to keep his voice neutral. 

Jiang Cheng shrugs, as if the answer to that were too obvious to be said aloud, or too rude. Lan Xichen wants to insist, but someone comes looking for Jiang Cheng who leaves immediately, and he finds himself alone with his thoughts.

They are not pleasant ones.

Nie Huaisang only agreed to friendship after Lan Xichen begged for it, and even then his reluctance was obvious. He did not want for them to be friends, objected that it hadn't work before, and showed clear discomfort when Lan Xichen complimented him to point out how much they had in common.

Worse than that, he only agreed after his affair with Jin Zixuan was uncovered. Everything that has happened since that could have been just to ensure that Lan Xichen wouldn't get him punished, wouldn't endanger the alliance between their sect. 

Of course Lan Xichen told him he wouldn't do that anyway, but… what reason would Nie Huaisang have to believe him? Lan Xichen had done before at that point to earn his trust. He's not sure he's done much better since then. And if that's the case, if Nie Huaisang only played along for fear of a scandal, then every time they've kissed has just been... 

It was just…

Nie Huaisang told him that it was not, not even the first time. Of course he'd say that. If he’s forced himself each time, if he did all that to protect his reputation and Jin Zixuan's… 

If so, he’s a good actor because Lan Xichen was completely fooled. He believed it when Nie Huaisang forgave him, when he smiled, when they kissed, when they chatted. Of course he believed it. He wants this so badly, how could he not have believed it. 

He believed it so much that if anyone else had told him that it was fake he might have laughed to their face.

But this is Jiang Cheng who is Nie Huaisang’s closest friend, the person who knows him best. Jiang Cheng who more than once has tried to shield Nie Huaisang from his fiancé. Jiang Cheng who has always made it clear he’s not too impressed with Lan Xichen. Even that time in Nightless City, when they were caught kissing, Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan laughed at them but Jiang Cheng nearly got angry, as if he knew something the others didn’t, and...

Lan Xichen really is his father's son if he so easily convinced himself that Nie Huaisang, after all this, after how much Lan Xichen hurt him, could really want him. 

Unlike his father, though, he can still make things right.

He needs to talk to Nie Mingjue.

-

There’s no legitimate reason for Lan Xichen to come to Gusu. Since he is a skilled flyer with great speed and endurance, he should be on the front, playing messenger and helping communication between the different battlefields. Coming to the Cloud Recesses is selfish but he needs it, needs to know where things stand before the fighting continues.

He still comes through the back mountain rather than the main door, out of habit more than anything at this point. Although he is no longer trying to pretend he is missing, there’s no need to alert any Wen spies to his presence. Without being seen, Lan Xichen finds his uncle in the house they used to share, or what’s left of it anyway. It was hit by the fire, but suffered less damage than other places and Lan Qiren has mentioned before that he refuses to leave the place that has been his home all his life.

Lan Qiren isn’t too impressed by his nephew’s visit, and even less so when Lan Xichen explains that he is here to see Nie Huaisang rather than him. He seems, at best, resigned as he indicates the place where Nie Huaisang lives at the moment, and doesn’t grumble too much when Lan Xichen immediately leaves to go meet his fiancé.

The children’s dorms where Nie Huaisang has been given a room of his own aren’t too far from Lan Qiren’s house. Before he’s really ready for it, Lan Xichen is standing before his fiancé’s door, heart beating so loud he can feel it in his throat. When Lan Xichen opens the door, he feels time slow into an eternity as Nie Huaisang and him stare at each other. After so long, to finally be in front of his fiancé again, even knowing that he must…

Before Lan Xichen can say anything, Nie Huaisang breaks into tears and runs to hug him with enough force they nearly fall down. His embrace is so tight that Lan Xichen can hardly breathe but he doesn’t mind. Lan Xichen had missed him so much, that even knowing what he's come here for, he wants to cry from joy at being near Nie Huaisang again, at the feeling of holding him in his arms. He closes his eyes and allows himself to enjoy the moment, pretending he never had that talk with Jiang Cheng.

“I’m here,” Lan Xichen says, returning the hug even when he probably shouldn’t. “It’s fine, I’m here.”

“I thought you were dead!” Nie Huaisang sobs, sounding more angry than sad.

Lan Xichen doesn’t understand at first, because Meng Yao carried his letter, because Lan Qiren has known all along… but if Nie Huaisang left the Unclean Realm as soon as war was declared he might have missed Meng Yao’s arrival, and Lan Qiren kept the secret even from Lan Wangji, didn’t he?

Without thinking, Lan Xichen presses a brief kiss to Nie Huaisang’s face, aching too much on his behalf to control himself.

“I’m so sorry. I assumed uncle would have told you. I should have guessed he wouldn’t, I should have asked him to tell you. We were trying to keep it secret but I trust you, I know you wouldn’t have told anyone. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“I missed you,” Nie Huaisang cries out, sounding so broken. Lan Xichen holds him closer.

“I missed you too,” he whispers. “I kept thinking of you. I was so worried when I heard about the indoctrination camp and about Dusk Creek Mountain. I’m so glad you’re fine. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

“I thought you were dead.”

Unsure what to answer, Lan Xichen prefers to stay silent and tries to comfort Nie Huaisang until he stops crying. This isn’t what he was expecting to find tonight. He had steeled himself for Nie Huaisang’s playful teasing, for his anger perhaps. Finding him in such a state of despair is awful, not least of all because it makes him hope… but it doesn’t mean anything. Nie Huaisang can have a mean streak when he feels he has been offended, but he is not cruel as such, of course he wouldn’t have wished for Lan Xichen’s death, if only for his friendship with Nie Mingjue.

It doesn’t mean anything, no matter how much Lan Xichen wants it to.

“May I come inside?” Lan Xichen asks. “I want to talk to you about something. Well, I want to talk about… many things, really, but one of them must come first.”

Lan Xichen finds his resolve tested again when Nie Huaisang only ends his hug to take his hand, the way he’s starting doing when they were in Nightless City. He had half forgotten how pleasant it feels. He’s going to miss it.

“I’ve talked with your brother about something,” Lan Xichen announces as he closes the door behind him. “It is a matter on which he said he had no strong opinion, but you might, and that we should let you have the final word. Whatever you decide, it will be so.”

“Now you’re scaring me a little,” Nie Huaisang jokes, still sniffling a bit. “What is it I’m meant to decide?”

“I want to cancel our engagement,” Lan Xichen says, pulling his hand away. “It makes no sense to keep it going now that the Wens have already attacked.”

Nie Huaisang pales and stumbles, which isn’t quite a surprise.

Nie Mingjue too was shocked when Lan Xichen made this offer. In fact Nie Mingjue looked furious, and only calmed down once Lan Xichen explained his reasoning. At that point he announced that although he did not care either way, it would be better for Nie Huaisang to be the one making that decision. He was right of course, and Lan Xichen had been hoping his friend would say exactly that. 

They have all pushed Nie Huaisang around too much for too long, it is high time they let him have his agency back.

“I see. So in the end, it’s really like that,” Nie Huaisang bitterly remarks. “I’d thought we were getting along decently now, but at the end of the day, I still make too pitiful a spouse for Lan gongzi, don’t I? I don’t suppose I can blame you for wanting to be freed from my company.”

“You are mistaken. That’s not why I’m offering this.”

“Why not?” Nie Huaisang shouts, clenching his fists. “Everyone’s right, I’m useless! And I’m also stupid enough I thought… well, it doesn’t matter.”

“Huaisang, I’m trying to free you, not myself,” Lan Xichen objects, horrified that even for this, he can't do things right. “If it were up to me, I would gladly have you as my husband this very instant. I love you, and I want to have you near me, in any capacity. But I know you feel differently, and it would be wrong of me to trap you at my side when that’s not where you want to be. I’d rather see you happy with whoever you choose than miserable at my side.”

Nie Huaisang stares at him, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, his mouth open in shock. He’s a little cute like that, when he forgets to act confident. Lan Xichen wants to take him in his arms and kiss him and…

And it’s not something he’s allowed to want.

“You love me,” Nie Huaisang mumbles.

“I do.”

“But you’ll still drop the engagement if I ask for it.”

“That’s what I just said,” Lan Xichen points out with an indulgent smile, hoping he won’t start crying. He doesn’t want to embarrass the other boy.

Nie Huaisang doesn’t hesitate.

“I don’t want to marry you for a political alliance,” he says in a firm voice. “I don’t want to be an asset to be moved around. I want to marry for love.”

Even though it was expected, the rejection still hurts as much as if Lan Xichen’s heart had been stabbed. He closes his eyes, and forces himself to breathe in. He knew, he feared it was coming, and it just confirms that he made the right decision in offering to end the engagement.

Nie Huaisang deserves better than the life Lan Xichen’s mother had.

He startles at the feeling of warm hands taking his. When he opens his eyes, Nie Huaisang is staring at him with an oddly hopeful expression.

“Well?” he asks, sounding almost amused. “Will you, then?”

“Will I what?”

“Marry me for love, of course,” Nie Huaisang says, as if it were obvious.

Lan Xichen must make a funny face at those words because Nie Huaisang laughs even as he threads their fingers together. The gesture is so simple and yet so intimate that it sends Lan Xichen’s heart racing.

“But you… you don’t like me,” he mumbles. “You’ve made it quite clear that…”

“I did make it pretty clear before,” Nie Huaisang agrees with a grin, blinking away a few tears. “Just as you had made it clear, once. You’ve changed your mind about me. Can’t I have changed mine about you? I love you, Xichen.”

"You love me?" Lan Xichen gasps. 

"Hm. Now ask me."

Everything is confusing, nothing is going the way he planned, but Lan Xichen doesn’t hesitate either.

"Nie Huaisang, will you marry me?" 

Nie Huaisang lets go of his hands to throw himself at his neck instead. 

"Yes! Yes, of course I'll marry you!" he exclaims, dropping kisses all over Lan Xichen's face until his fiancé manages to capture his lips. The kiss remains brief, both of them smiling too much for it. 

"You really want to?" Lan Xichen insists as he brings their forehead together, still thinking of what Jiang Cheng said the other day.

Nie Huaisang nods, grinning brightly. "Say it again," he orders. 

"I want to marry you." 

Nie Huaisang’s eyes widens and he blushes, but still laughs and shakes his head. 

"Not that. Well, that too! But, ah… the other thing." 

"The other… oh. I love you," Lan Xichen says, hesitating to ask if he can hear it again as well. 

He doesn't need to.

"I love you too, A-Chen," Nie Huaisang says, burying his face against his fiancé's neck, his arms tightening around Lan Xichen's shoulders. "Is it fine to call you that?" 

"Call me anything you like, A-Sang," Lan Xichen replies, pulling the other boy as close as he dares, because he can, because it's not unwanted, because he didn’t misunderstand, because Nie Huaisang loves him.

Nie Huaisang who laughs and pulls back a little, smirking at him dangerously.

"That’s a risky thing to say!” he teases in a playful voice. “Now I’ll want to find something very silly to call you. Hmm… Treasure? You are as precious as fine jade, that could work. Or darling? What do you say to that?”

“If it pleases you.”.

“My heart,” Nie Huaisang suggests.

“My love,” Lan Xichen retorts, delighting in the way his fiancé blushes a dark shade of red at having the teasing turned against him. He’s never really dared to flirt before, not the way Nie Huaisang has boldly done for a while, but he might have to learn because it is wonderful to see Nie Huaisang get flustered this way.

“Shameless!” Nie Huaisang grumbles, before pulling him down for another kiss, one which Lan Xichen savours, now certain beyond doubt that he’s allowed to want this, that he is wanted back.

They continue kissing like this for a while, only stopping when it becomes too hard to breathe, or when Nie Huaisang wants to hear Lan Xichen says he loves him again. All too soon, the curfew bell rings. Lan Xichen tense, worried that he'll get in trouble on his way home, not really caring if he does because this is worth it, any second spent with Nie Huaisang is worth a scolding.

He remembers, then, that it's unlikely anybody will dare to scold their sect leader, so he can linger a little longer. There have to be good sides to everything that has happened, and this is one.

“What if you stayed the night?” Nie Huaisang asks, barely a whisper as he coyly looks away, his arms still locked around Lan Xichen's neck.

“What?”

“Just to sleep!” Nie Huaisang exclaims, pressing his forehead against Lan Xichen's chest. “I... it's stupid but this all feels too good, like it's a dream. But if you stay here, if you're here in the morning... then I'll know for sure that it's real, right?”

It's highly improper. Sect leader or not, Lan Qiren is going to give his nephew the scolding of a lifetime tomorrow for this.

But Lan Xichen has spent the last few months being miserable, being reasonable, and he wants this. He wants every moment he can get at Nie Huaisang, every moment of being loved and wanted. He wants to give Nie Huaisang the same, after accidentally making him worry so much, for so long.

Lan Xichen wants this, and it would take a stronger man than him to refuse.

“Of course I'll stay with you,” he promises, kissing the crown of Nie Huaisang's head. “Now and always, I'll stay with you, my love.”

Nie Huaisang makes an embarrassed noise at the pet name, but there's definitely a grin on his face, even if he's trying to hide it. Lan Xichen kisses his hair again, simply because he can.

Outside war is still raging, there is still fear and uncertainty, but here and now, in this room, they are happy and the rest no longer matters.

[luukeskywalker]

i see so many arguments about whether or not it's okay to like jiang cheng; whether or not he's abusive, whether or not he's deserving of a "redemption" or reconciliation with wei wuxian, whether or not his actions and pain are justified, etc. and because he's such a complicated person, and because we all interpret his actions differently, we are never ever going to come to a general consensus on him.

but i'll give my take on him, because i love him, and i really don't see a lot of, uh, more lenient takes on Why He’s Like That. also i’m putting this under a readmore bc this is literally just for me i don’t think anybody else in the world wants to read this rambling hahaha

anyways!~

the man has problems. lots of them. he doesn't know how to truthfully voice his emotions outside of a frame of anger. he was not raised to be a wife like jiang yanli, he was not taught to perform emotional labor for the sake of his future spouse. he was taught that he is the next sect leader, and that emotions are both his weakness (from his mother) and his strength (from his father). he was brought up from a young age under the belief that there was always an unattainable goal placed right in front of him.

of course that's not all officially "canon", but you can easily see it if you read between the lines. you really can't take anything jiang cheng says seriously. not when he was a kid, and not when he’s an adult, either. and i don’t say this to excuse his actions, or to say that he’s necessarily justified because he had a tough childhood. everyone in mo dao zu shi had a tough childhood, he’s not special for that! but the way he was raised, in my opinion, explains a lot about who he is as a person, and how he interacts with the world around him. again: it doesn’t justify his actions. it merely explains them.

i think he’s terribly interesting. every character reacts to their traumas in different ways - lan xichen covers everything up with a gentle smile, wei wuxian cracks jokes about his own mortality, lan wangji searched out evil as often as he could to make the world a little safer - hell, even nie huaisang adapted to trauma by creating an entirely different persona so that he could gather information and plot in peace. jiang cheng’s reaction to trauma was to take that anger he grew up with, all his frustration at never being good enough, all his worry about his family, all his rage at the people who have betrayed and left him - and he turned it into armor. 

he doesn’t know how to take the armor off. after years and years (thirteen or sixteen, it’s really up to the reader, i suppose), he’s worn it so tightly that he thinks that anger is all he is. everyone else thinks so, anyways, and when have the greater masses ever been wrong in mo dao zu shi?

oh, that’s right, literally every single time. 

call me an apologist if you must but i highly doubt jiang cheng ever actually tortured and killed demonic cultivators that reminded him of wei wuxian. the only time we have ever heard that was through idle gossip, and if mo dao zu shi has taught us anything, it’s that idle gossip is never to be trusted. he tells jin ling to kill wei wuxian in the beginning, but instead he decides he wants to take wei wuxian back to lotus pier. His first instinct is to feel anger, is to lash out. and he was still angry, but can you really blame him? he’s spent so many years with the weight of his family’s death weighing on him - practically all alone - and the man he considers responsible for it shows up out of the blue one night. 

and yes, wei wuxian’s isn’t solely responsible for jiang cheng’s loss. duh. but he had a pretty big part to play in all of it, and trauma can do weird things to someone’s memories. jiang cheng may know on some logical level that his brother isn’t responsible for all of it, but years pass and pain doesn’t really fade as much as it should, and feelings and memories warp into something more easily digestible - it gives jiang cheng something to feel besides conflicting mourning. anger is where he feels safest.

and that brings me to another point - his relationship with jin ling. now, this one is a bit of a hot topic (lol). there’s, afaik, a lot of discourse around whether or not jiang cheng is abusive towards jin ling. and i do understand and see why people would think he is abusive - for all the reasons i mentioned above. he’s a traumatized man who finds comfort in anger. he’s particularly strict with jin ling when it comes to night hunts, especially during that hunt in dafan mountain. he makes threats of physical harm and is pretty much always yelling. i can see why people see these actions and label him abusive.

but i really don’t agree. he is strict with jin ling on night hunts - he’s terrified something will happen to his sister’s child, at the same time he wants jin ling to succeed. who set up all those nets for him during that hunt? clearly jiang cheng. the whole “if you can’t catch something, don’t bother coming home” line dripped with “i have said this exact phrase a million times before and i’ve never meant it” energy, as does every “i’ll break your legs” comment. jin ling himself admits it - jiang cheng has never, ever laid a hand on him! the only uncle to ever smack him around is wei wuxian. 

of course abuse is more than physical harm. but i don’t really think he abuses jin ling at all. jiang cheng really loves jin ling, he cares for that boy more than literally anything else in the world. a scene that really sticks out to me is “who made you cry?!” - he does not admonish jin ling for crying. he wants to know who made his boy upset so he can go beat them up. jin ling clearly knows he’s not in any real danger from his uncle - if he was, why the hell would be continuously disobey him and do shit that directly pisses him off? the ONE time he was truly afraid of going back to jiang cheng was because he’d lied and disobeyed jiang cheng’s direct order. sure he wouldn’t be like, beaten for that, but he’d been nervous as all hell at koi tower, and i’d personally attribute that behavior to guilt. he knew he’d done a bad thing, but he’d done it anyways. 

this post is really insanely long so i’m just gonna try and wrap it up here: jiang cheng is a really complicated and fucked up dude. i get why people don’t like him but i don’t really agree with the sentiment. he’s fucked up and crazy and so is everyone else in mdzs, he’s just the most vocal about it. call all of this fanon if you want, idc, it’s just how i’ve perceived his character after experiencing mo dao zu shi like five times in different formats. his anger is his protection, because nobody else is gonna protect him. he tries to use it to protect jin ling, but to anyone who isn’t jin ling, it comes off as overtly harsh. love languages are hard to understand sometimes. jiang cheng’s love language is more complicated than the entirety of the fucking homestuck shipping chart.

if anyone has even read all of this, why, why did you decide to do that, also thank you? please don’t fight with me on this my mind will not be changed lol

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break, ch. 7

Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wēn Qíng, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Granny Wēn, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Wēn Remnants, Wen Meilin, Fourth Uncle

Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Secrets, Crying, Masks, Soulmates, Truth, Self-Esteem Issues, Regret, It was supposed to be a one-shot, Fix-It, Eventual Relationships, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, wwx needs a hug, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Filial Piety, Handfasting, Phobias, Sleeping Together, Fear, Panic Attacks, Love Confessions, Getting Together, First Kiss, Kissing, Boys Kissing, Family, and they were married, Bathing/Washing, Hair Braiding, Hair Brushing, Feels, Sex Education

Summary: A little making out, and family time.

Notes: Soft chapter, but one that was difficult to write. Definitely look up the song Wei WuXian plays on the dizi. There’s a version on YouTube played with the xiao, and it’s lovely. Last week of summer semester, so it might be a bit before I update.

AO3 link

Chapters:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

------------------

Though at first their teeth collide a few times, Lan WangJi discovers that kissing, as with anything else, is a skill one can improve with practice. He is startled a bit when Wei Ying opens his mouth to deepen the kiss, but he finds the sensation of his tongue against his own more than enjoyable. 

He finds it even more enjoyable to be able to finally give attention to the mole under his lip that has taunted him all these years. Wei Ying seems to realize his focus because he laughs, joyous and breathless and beautiful. 

Lan WangJi hooks his arm around Wei Ying to pull him closer, but he freezes at his pained hiss.

Of course; Wei Ying was injured by Wen Ning, and likely hurt himself last night falling to the hard cave floor in his haste to escape the dog spirit.

As much as he would prefer to continue this, Lan WangJi forces himself to stop. He can’t help but remember Wei Ying’s reminder that their union hasn’t been consummated, and that doesn’t make it easier. He has, after all, been waiting since he was fifteen. 

“You are injured,” he says softly, sitting. “And malnourished.”

Wei Ying pouts, but doesn’t protest vocally or move to get up, which tells Lan WangJi he truly is in pain, and judging from the way his eyelids are drooping, absolutely in need of more sleep.

“I will meditate here, and we will have breakfast together when you wake. We should also discuss my brother’s impending visit.”

“Ah, I guess you want to tell him we’re married, then?” Wei Ying says with a sigh. “Can we at least ask him to keep quiet about it until after shijie’s wedding? She deserves better than to have her happy day overshadowed.”

Lan WangJi has not, in fact, thought yet of how he will tell his brother he married Wei Ying all those years ago and neglected to tell him. But he does agree that the news should not detract from the marriage of Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan, though he disagrees with the idea that the their marriage could be a dark thing.

“Agreed, but…”

He pauses, considering how to say what comes next, how not to risk driving Wei Ying away again.

“Please consider telling my brother you no longer have a golden core, if not the circumstances,” Lan WangJi finally says.

He is relieved when Wei Ying doesn’t pull away, only grimaces, but his relief is short-lived.

“You think he’s more apt to help if he knows I’m broken,” he whispers.

Lan WangJi feels his jaw drop, horror rising as he realizes just how deeply Wei Ying’s self-loathing goes. He wishes he could assure him of his own worth, but he also knows it will take time to convince him. But this, he knows, is his fault. He did not help Wei Ying until he knew the truth, when he should have helped from the beginning, should have trusted him.

Does Wei Ying believe he pities him? The idea chafes.

“You are not broken,” he tells him, “and certainly not simply by virtue of being without a golden core.”

Wei Ying snorts derisively. 

“Then what am I? A cultivator who can only cultivate on the crooked path?”

Lan WangJi gently pulls Wei Ying closer until he’s pillowed in his lap, until he can look at him directly, if upside down.

“Wei Ying is Wei Ying. You need be nothing more.”

His zhiji looks away, his eyes shining in the dim candlelight. Lan WangJi feels helpless in the face of his despondency, knows he is in part the cause.

“I haven’t even told Jiang Cheng. He’s going to be so angry.”

He understands; the secret involves his brother, and he has a duty to tell him first, regardless of how long it will be before he sees him next. Wei Ying’s public break with the Jiang clan makes that uncertain, and it is not the sort of revelation that would be appropriate in a letter. In fact, if it were known he sent a letter to Jiang Cheng at all, problems could arise.

Perhaps XiChen could send one on their behalf, though, asking Jiang Cheng to at least visit in secret.

“I will tell no one, Wei Ying. Not even xiongzhang, if you do not wish it. But… eventually you will no longer be able to hide it.”

Lan WangJi strokes Wei Ying’s cheek, hating to have to think about or reference the inevitability of his mortality. Hating that it is an inevitability.

“I ask only that you consider it, nothing more. I will honor whatever decision you make.”

Wei Ying doesn't reply, instead curls closer, shifts until his face is hidden against Lan WangJi’s side, his arms around his waist, his body further in his lap.

“You are not broken,” he repeats, running his hand through Wei Ying’s hair. “You are beautiful and honorable.”

He wishes the rest of the world could see Wei Ying as he does.

In the silence, he has little to focus on, noting the brittleness of his hair, how it seems as unhealthy as the rest of Wei Ying. But Lan WangJi has never had much opportunity to touch him this way—after XuanWu and when he fell after Wen RuoHan’s death notwithstanding. 

Neither are pleasant memories, particularly the latter. The image of Wen RuoHan dangling Wei Ying by the throat over the steps of Nightless City still fills him with dread. He was certain then he was about to witness his zhiji’s death, to watch his neck snapped, to see him tossed aside like a broken doll.

Afterward, in the days he was unconscious, watching the bruises around his throat fade slowly, fearing he may never wake again as his spiritual energy did not seem to be recovering… It did not recover, but it was not, as he suspected then, due to demonic cultivation.

Lan WangJi wishes he realized sooner. He will always wish that he somehow was able to help Wei Ying more, will always feel the sting of having failed him for so long.

Wei Ying’s breathing evens slowly as he falls asleep, and Lan WangJi matches his breathing. Though he has never attempted meditation with someone in his lap, his zhiji’s presence is soothing, and he slips into the necessary trance easily. 

He slips out of it just as easily a couple hours later when he hears footsteps approaching their chamber of the cave. From the sound, very short legs, the pace puttering against the stone and dirt of the cave.

Lan WangJi is unsurprised when a-Yuan enters. The child surveys them quietly for a moment.

“Xian-gege sad?” he finally asks.

Only then does Lan WangJi remember that Wei Ying is asleep in his lap, arms still twined around his waist.

“Mn,” he says with a nod.

Because despite Wei Ying’s happiness at his insistence that he indeed wanted to be married to him, his request regarding his brother upset him. And it had taken far too much convincing for his liking for Wei Ying to believe he was worthy of him. 

“Hugs make me feel better when I’m sad,” the child says. “I can hug Xian-gege, too.”

Lan WangJi nods again, and a-Yuan toddles over and chooses the most expedient way to deliver a hug: flopping onto Wei Ying and then hugging him. 

He resists the urge to scold the child when Wei Ying wakes with a pained grunt, and instead lifts a-Yuan off, settling him on one knee.

“Ah, a-Yuan, be careful,” Wei Ying murmurs, his voice a bit strained. “You’re getting big.”

“Xian-gege needed hugs. And gugu said you need to wake up for breakfast. And popo said you’re too skinny.”

“Popo always says that.”

Wei Ying winces when he sits up, which lets Lan WangJi know Wen Qing should examine him. He hopes he will not injure as easily once he’s in better health.

“She is not wrong, Wei Ying.”

He pulls a face in response, but can’t help but laugh when a-Yuan imitates him. 

“All right, all right. Let’s go eat.”

Lan WangJi is relieved when Wei Ying doesn’t need help getting up, though he doubts very much he would ask if he did. He carries a-Yuan with them, and the boy seems content with being carried. 

“I did not inquire yesterday about bathing facilities,” he comments as they make their way to the communal area.

Wei Ying laughs shortly.

“‘Bathing facilities.’ You’re so proper. We have a river, Lan Zhan. That and basins and rags. That’s about it right now.”

The river was practical, but not in the long term. Perhaps that was something to address with Wen Qing, then, whether tubs could be purchased. Before winter, when bathing in a river would be less than ideal. 

“I know you’re used to better, but I’ll show you where later today,” Wei Ying says. “Honestly, I’m probably overdue for a wash myself.”

“Xian-gege stinky?”

Wei Ying drops back to tickle a-Yuan. 

“Stinky, eh? You just wait, stinky radish. I’m sure your gugu will want us to give you a bath, too.”

“A-Yuan not stinky!” the boy squeals with a giggle.

Wei Ying darts in and makes a show of smelling him.

“Oh, my little radish is ripe. It’s almost time to pick him and cook him up for dinner!”

“No cook a-Yuan!” he shrieks, still giggling, as they enter the communal area.

“Oh? Should we sell the little radish at market instead?”

“Noooooo! Gugu, tell Xian-gege!”

Wen Qing scowls at Wei Ying, but it’s without heat, a sort of play-acting likely affected for a-Yuan’s amusement.

“I swear sometimes you’re a child yourself,” she mutters.

“Xianxian is three,” Wei Ying sings with a grin.

“Brat,” she says, rolling her eyes, her voice fond.

They’re a family here, Lan WangJi has come to see. The closeness of their relationships brings light to the darkness of the Burial Mounds. He is glad they have been there for his zhiji when he has not.

Wei Ying winces when he settles on one of the seats and Wen Qing’s sharp gaze catches it. She looks between them with an expression that looks far too amused, and despite the fact that her assumption is incorrect, Lan WangJi can feel his ears heat.

“Dog spirit,” he explains. “Wei Ying fell.”

Wen Qing’s expression shifts to concern. It’s clear she knows of Wei Ying’s phobia.

“The damn thing came back again?”

Lan WangJi glances at Wei Ying—he didn’t mention it had bothered him on previous occasions.

“Bad dog,” a-Yuan contributes.

“Lan Zhan eliminated it this time,” Wei Ying says, avoiding both their gazes.

Wen Qing shoots him a grateful look. 

“Last time he knocked into the cave wall and almost broke his nose,” she tells him. “Hopefully all he’s got this time is a few bruises, but at least it won’t be back.”

She turns her attention back to Wei Ying.

“I’ll examine you after breakfast to be sure. Cooperate or I’ll make you.”

“Aiya, no needles, Qing-jie! No need to bully me.”

Wei Ying grabs a-Yuan from Lan WangJi’s lap to use as a shield. The boy just giggles, like this is a common occurrence. Knowing his propensity for dramatics, it probably is.

“A-Ning is giving you double portions today,” Wen Qing continues, ignoring his antics. “And I’ll trust Hanguang-Jun to make sure you’re not feeding it to a-Yuan. He’s getting plenty, too, and we have radishes ready to harvest in a few days so we’ll be fine with food for a little while at least.”

She glares at him when he looks like he might protest.

“You’re unhealthy and everyone is worried about you. Popo was encouraging me to use needles and find a way to shove it down your throat earlier. Don’t think I won’t resort to that.”

Wei Ying, thankfully, takes her seriously enough to behave throughout breakfast. He eats enough that even popo, who seats herself at their table and manages to look both sweet and intimidating throughout the meal, seems satisfied.

True to her threat, Wen Qing has popo take charge of a-Yuan and drags a lightly protesting Wei Ying back to the Demon Subduing Cave to be examined. Lan WangJi hesitates, but follows at his zhiji’s pleading look. 

“Sit,” Wen Qing orders when they’ve reached the alcove “I want to make sure you didn’t break anything, at least. You have horrid luck. Where did you fall?”

“Shoulder and hip,” Wei Ying says with a resigned sigh. “But it’s really not—”

He goes silent at her glare, which Lan WangJi has to admit is formidable. 

“Don’t even,” she huffs. “You always lie about your injuries. Strip.”

Wei Ying, to Lan WangJi’s surprise, actually blushes, glancing at him. Wen Qing takes notice, looking between them.

“Ah, you told him, then?” 

She looks almost amused. 

“Wait, you told her?”

Lan WangJi almost winces at the bit of hurt in his tone.

“That he’s besotted with you? Any fool could tell, except you,” Wen Qing snaps.

“I did not tell her,” Lan WangJi confirms.

He is a little concerned when a slightly gleeful look passed over Wei Ying’s face, replaced with one that is utterly fond.

“So I was the first one you told that you handfasted me when we were sixteen?”

Wen Qing makes a noise that sounds almost like a choke, looking at them uncertainly.

“I did not even tell xiongzhang,” he confirms. “I would tell no one without telling you first.”

Wei Ying’s expression turns to one of adoration, and Lan WangJi starts mentally reciting the Lan principles, as he is sorely tempted to revisit their morning activities.

Wen Qing is still staring at them, and Lan WangJi takes pity, explaining in brief what occurred in the Cold Spring cave, with Wei Ying contributing details. He finishes by explaining the meaning of the forehead ribbons in a wedding ceremony and the bow to Lan Yi as essentially an elopement.

“You’re married?” Wen Qing murmurs, her voice hoarse with shock. “Married.”

Her gaze turns shrewd.

“Has it been consummated?”

It’s Wei Ying’s turn to choke. 

“Qing-jie!”

Lan WangJi doesn’t trust himself to answer verbally and simply shakes his head.

To his surprise, she starts pacing, hands clasped behind her back. He didn’t expect her to be someone who paces.

“And you want to be wed, correct?” she asks after a moment.

Wei Ying’s “definitely” and Lan WangJi’s “of course” are simultaneous.

“Good,” she says, her tone surprisingly emphatic, as she turns to them. “So you’ve had quite an extended engagement, and we can figure out what this idiot gave as courting gifts since you bought a-Yuan toys and provided the Burial Mounds with money. I hate to simplify what is obviously a love match to political terms, but you need to consummate before Zewu-Jun arrives, in anticipation of the question of its validity.”

Lan WangJi can feel his ears heating, and Wei Ying’s face blushes more fetchingly than before. Wen Qing looks between them, and her brief look of glee is ever more concerning than Wei Ying’s was.

“Well, since you’re both clearly virgins—” 

She ignores the “hey!” from Wei Ying.

“—and I am familiar with all forms of sexual hygiene as a doctor, I’ll go ahead and explain exactly what you’ll need to do to make it a safe and enjoyable experience.”

Wei Ying’s jaw drops. Wen Qing gestures for Lan WangJi to sit, and he’s honestly grateful to as she starts talking. She brusquely yanks Wei Ying’s robes from his shoulder to check his injuries as she does, and Lan WangJi has to avert his gaze from his zhiji’s milky skin to avoid reacting to it.

He cannot deny he has thought quite a bit about what he wanted to do with Wei Ying very often almost since first meeting him. Wen Qing’s very detailed and blunt explanations make those imaginings far less fuzzy than they were before. She even includes a discussion of aftercare, advising they keep a basin of water and rags nearby for the “mess.” By the time she’s finished, Wei Ying’s very red face is buried in his hands, and Lan WangJi has to avert his gaze as she pulls his trousers away from his hip, revealing the curve of one bruised buttock.

“And I guess I’ll have to send Merlin-yi to market for the oil,” Wen Qing says as she wraps up both her lecture and her examination. “I’ll send a-Ning, too. Even if we can’t provide a proper banquet, a marriage deserves celebration. You’re family, Wei WuXian, and we’ll do our best.”

“Qing-jie,” Wei Ying whispers, sounding touched.

She offers him a smile and shoves his robes at him.

“If we could afford red silk, we’d throw a whole wedding. You don’t mind the others knowing, right? They’ll be very happy for you.”

Lan WangJi glances at Wei Ying, careful to keep his eyes on his face—he may be wearing trousers, but he might as well be naked and it’s terribly distracting. The look on his face assures him he doesn’t mind, so he nods affirmation to Wen Qing.

“It’s just some bruising, thankfully,” she assures them. “I’d put on salve, but I heard you discussing bathing at the river, so I’ll leave that for later. It’d be a waste to apply it twice.”

Wei Ying pulls his robes on, still red in the face.

“Right, a bath.”

His gaze is shy when he looks at Lan WangJi, who is trying to imagine how they’ll get through bathing together without engaging in some of the activities described by Wen Qing. 

Some of that thought must have been apparent to Wei Ying, because his face flushed again. 

Wen Qing snorts. 

“Not so shameless after all, are you? We’ll be sure to give the river a wide berth.”

Wei Ying’s response is to hide his face in his hands again.

“We will bathe separately,” Lan WangJi states, pulling Wei Ying to his feet.

Wen Qing just laughs at them.

When they reach the river, which is a short trek from the settlement, Lan WangJi insists Wei Ying bathe first, pulling the fragrant soaps he uses for his body and hair from is qiankun pouch for him to use. He knows they are likely a luxury, and he is happy to share it with him.

He plays his guqin while his zhiji bathes, starting with “WangXian” and moving into “Cleansing,” infusing the latter with spiritual energy. He is pleased when the resentful energy in the area eases, and hopes it helps Wei Ying as well.

When Wei Ying returns, clad in fresh robes, he takes his own turn to bathe. The water is chilly, but not inordinately so in the summer heat. He is pleased when the notes of a dizi fill the air, playing “WangXian” as well. Though he composed the song with the guqin in mind, the rendition Wei Ying plays on ChenQing is lovely. Lan WangJi is glad it has brought him comfort.

The notes shift into what he recognizes as “Plum-Blossom in Three Movements,” a song he rather likes but didn’t know Wei Ying knew. Lan WangJi has heard xiongzhang play it on the xiao and can play it on the guqin, though it was originally composed for the dizi. But he shouldn’t be surprised; Wei Ying is a master of the six arts and has displayed such with references to literature and poetry even in his playful moments.

The plum blossom is an apt symbol for the resilience of life on the Burial Mounds and for Wei Ying, who always endured despite the hardships he faced. Perhaps the song is an expression of Wei Ying’s hope, his faith in Lan WangJi. He wants to give his zhiji hope, longs to ease his hardships. 

When he has finished and dressed in fresh robes, he rejoins Wei Ying and asks if he may comb his hair.

He uses his own sandalwood scented oil, giving it the proper treatment.

Wei Ying is swaying slightly when he finishes, the pampering lulling him nearly to sleep. Lan WangJi longs to style his hair, to put it in the GusuLan style as though Wei Ying was marrying into his clan. But he is not, and so he refrains. 

Instead he brushes the hair from the nape of his neck, leaning forward to brush his lips against the soft hair there.

Wei Ying shivers and turns to him, pulling him in for a proper kiss before taking the comb and hair oil from him to return the favor. 

Lan WangJi didn’t expect the sensuality of his husband brushing his hair—husband. They’re married. Wei Ying’s deft fingers make short work of his tangles, gently spread oil to treat his hair, grazing his scalp in blossoms of sensation, love in every touch.

Wei Ying braids his hair, his fingers weaving the locks with care, and Lan WangJi lets him. He is not in Cloud Recesses, not required to wear his hair in GusuLan style. When it is finished he turns to see a flourish of red, Wei Ying having used his own ribbon to tie off the braid.

And so it is natural to braid his hair in return, to weave the sacred ribbon that usually rests on his forehead in his hair, leaving the cloud symbol at the top, adorning the top of the braid like a jewel. 

“Your forehead ribbon?” Wei Ying asks, startled, when he catches sight of the very pale blue ribbon tying his hair off.

Lan WangJi cups his cheek in his hand, moving forward until their noses are almost touching.

“Airen, you may touch it.”

A soft smile blossoms on Wei Ying’s face, and he rests his forehead against Lan WangJi’s.

“Airen. I like that,” he breathes.

They stay like that for a while, basking in each other’s presence.

[scottspack]

My Wife Has An 18 Hour Drive Fic Rec Roundup

I wanted to make a fic rec post for the insane amount of Untamed fic ive been reading anyways, and Chi @got2ghost​ is driving halfway across the country tomorrow, so there’s no time like the present to put all of the really great fics ive read over the past couple of weeks in one location! Let’s get it poppin!

Ones That Chi Already Read:

A Lot of Edges Called Perhaps by hansbekhart (Wangxian, E, 21k)

The funny part is - and it is a little funny, even if Wei Wuxian has no one left to share the joke with - they never have. Not anything. He has never kissed any part of Lan Zhan besides his slim hands; never been even partially undressed with him anywhere besides a miserable, xuanwu-infested cave. It’s always been like this between them, this simmering need, this desperate understanding: a knowledge so deep that it lives somewhere in his bones, that if he wanted to have Lan Zhan he could have him, and if Lan Zhan wanted Wei Wuxian he could have that too. But they never have.

I found this fic on someone’s blog when they said that it was the definitive fic to read directly after finishing the series so i saved it, read it directly after finishing the series, and felt completely and wholly fulfilled by the resolution found in this fic. 10/10 cant recommend enough. 

One Rouge Spark In My Direction by hansbekhart (Lan Wangji/Xiao Xingchen/Song Lan E, 5k)

He’d thought, in Yueyang, that they’d seen something in each other, something familiar. That maybe they’d recognized something in him. But it’s been many years, and many things have happened since, and he’s guessed wrongly at other people’s hearts before. Lan Wangji looks back down at the table, at his steaming, bitter tea. He’ll beg if he has to.

In “A Lot Of Edges Called Perhaps” Wangji mentions that he has had sex before and this is the in-universe story of that time and WHEW BABY!!!! AHHHHHH!!!

Gathered Herbs & Sweet Grasses by hansbekhart (Laz Sizhui & Lan Wangji, G, 19k)

Later, when he’s older, it’s this that A-Yuan will remember most: the stretch of silence, the two of them both dirty and shaking with fever, as he looked at Brother Rich, and Brother Rich looked back at him.

This is a fic about Lan Wangji raising Sizhui from when he brings him back from the Burial Mounds until they bring Wuxian back to Cloud Recesses after he’s resurrected. It made me cry about 18 times and I consider it fully canon in relation to the show. I reread this fic at LEAST once a week. *chefs kiss*

Seldom All They Seem by Fahye (Wangxian, E, 25k)

or, one hundred and thirty-three principles of the Gusu Lan, pertaining to the state of marriage

***

He bows to Wei Wuxian, sword in hand, sleeves falling properly. Wei Wuxian bows in return, and the sect leaders begin the opening courtesies, and for all of ten minutes Lan Wangji is under the impression that he is betrothed to a boy who is perfectly normal and acceptable apart from an unfortunate tendency to fidget with his clothes.

That impression does not last.

A canon-divergent fic exploring “what if Wangji and Wuxian were betrothed from when they were young like Yanli and the peacock?” It’s extremely good and very compelling and also made me cry multiple times. (The confrontation in the rain doesn’t get any easier even if they’re betrothed!)

Half Cloak & Half Dagger by Fahye (Lan Xichen/Meng Yao, E, 13k)

Jin Guangyao lifts his head and smiles. "I'm considering a problem."

"Can I be of any assistance with it?"

He drops a kiss on Lan Xichen's chest. With the nail of one finger he lightly traces the characters for irony on Lan Xichen's side. "Not this one, er-ge."

In the “Seldom All They Seem” universe but focused on xiyao. Has hands down the best written characterization of meng yao in any fic ive read so far. I continuously come back to this fic just to read the absolutely genius way this author writes the Head Bitch In Control of the cultivation world.

Hurricane by gdgdbaby (Wangxian, E, 6k)

"Haven't you heard?" Nie Huaisang replied, clicking his tongue, though he was clearly pleased that he could be the one to break the news. He leaned in to announce with a dramatic flourish: "Lan Wangji just took emergency family leave this past weekend."

WANGXIAN AS SPIRK STAR TREK PON FAR AU!!!!!!!!!!!!! WEEWOO WEEWOO WEEWOO!!!!!!!! This was actually recced to ME by CHI and I have not stopped thinking about this fic for a full month. It’s like author gdgdbaby sat down one day and was like “Tumblr user Liv Scottspack deserves everything she wants in this life.” and then wrote this fic. Thank you author gdgdbaby, I love you.

Ones That Chi Has Yet To Read:

My Age Has Never Made Me Wise by idrilka (Wangxian, E, 63k)

“We hear that His Excellency might be married by summer’s end,” the merchant’s wife says and Wei Wuxian freezes, his heart in his throat. “The Gusu Lan sect has been buying enough red silk and brocade that the merchants in Caiyi can’t satisfy the demand.”

He feels himself grow brittle inside, like a flick of a finger to his temple might make him shatter. His ears are ringing.

“Who’s the lucky bride?” he asks despite himself. His tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.

Or: The story of a marriage.

I LOVE THIS FIC. The absolute best kind of slow burn and I think such an extremely accurate representation of the canon material. I’m always surprised by the authors in this fandom’s ability to write shit that is so concretely grounded in the universe. This could and should be a real companion novel. Amazing. I love it.

The Year of Drought by idrilka (Wangxian, E, 24k)

Wei Ying could not be contained by the walls of the Cloud Recesses, alive again and overflowing with it, bursting like a dam in spring with the force of two lives unspent. And so he had to go. Lan Wangji understands that—he understood it when Wei Ying told him of his plans, looking at Lan Wangji above the rim of his cup with an apologetic smile, like craving freedom was something to apologize for.

Wei Ying would go, and Lan Wangji would see him off; this has always been the only way it could be.

Or: In the absence of Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji waits.

The previous fic but from Wangji’s perspective. Absolutely required reading if you read the other one. Wangji baby.......i love you.....

A Civil Combpaign by Ariaste (Jin Ling/Lan Sizhui, T, 20k)

“And,” said one of the pompous ministers, “there’s the matter of a marriage to consider as well!”

Jin Ling, who at the beginning of that sentence had expected to slam into the very last wall of his patience and lose his temper entirely, paused. “A what?”

Thing was… it wasn’t such a bad idea.

Jin Ling gets it in his head that as sect leader he should get married and sets his sights on Lan Sizhui. I cannot stress enough how FUCKING CUTE this fic is!!! Sizhui being the best boy! Jin Ling having more uncles than he knows what to do with! Jiang Cheng being the worst at relationship advice! It’s so fucking good it love it so much.

Anyway, Here’s Wuji by kakikaeru (Lan Jingyi/Lan Sizhui, T, 18k)

The melody gets a little clearer when he breaks out of the trees, and Jingyi changes course with certainty, barreling down the back hill and through the Cloud Recesses, dodging scandalized disciples left and right. He throws open the doors to the Receiving Hall without announcement and bows nearly double, eyes on the floor instead of on the shocked faces of the Mei delegation and the impenetrable gaze of the Chief Cultivator.

"Forgive this disciple," Jingyi shouts, because he's going to get punished for rule breaking regardless. "From the back hill, Hanguang-jun, there is a song in the wind!"

Lan Jingyi comes of age.

A Jingyi-central fic about Jingyi growing up and falling in love and being a hero and being the second best boy of my heart right after Sizhui. Not only is this fic sweet and romantic but it’s another one that explores a lot of interesting things within canon and all of the supporting characters are written very well and are just as interesting as second best boy Jingyi.

Ok, JiuJiu by kakikaeru (Jin Ling/Ouyang Zizhen, T, 16k)

Uncle's jaw works in the way that suggests he's about to say something irredeemable. Jin Ling, in a move of diplomacy he hopes the Chief Cultivator appreciates, distracts him with spicy food and his favourite subject: the incompetence of his own officials.

"I hear the lakes in the south east are having drainage problems?" he asks nonchalantly, sticking three big slices of braised pork belly into his Uncle's bowl.

Jin Ling just wants to get through the Discussion Conference with his Sect, his dignity, and his heart intact.

A follow up fic to “Anyways, Here’s Wuji.” I LOVE the Jin Ling/Ouyang Zizhen dynamic of Jin Ling having been raised by Jiang “I keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die” Cheng being hopelessly charmed and smitten with Ouyang “President of the I Love Love Romance Novel Book Club” Zizhen! I LOVE IT! EXTREMELY CUTE!

This Side of Paradise by greenfionn (Wei Wuxian/Wen Qing, E, 3k)

Wei Wuxian does some very quick math in his head that goes something like this: He is pretty sure he’s in love with Lan Zhan - Lan Zhan is not here and likely never will be here - Wen Qing is here, not to mention very hot and let us not forget, actually interested in sex with him - there’s a solid chance he goes genuinely crazy or dies, or both, in the next few months and really, who wants to die a virgin?

Listen.......the fic premise is “Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing, noted bisexuals, figure life sucks enough at the Burial Mounds, they might as well have any fun they can before they die” and........I Am Looking Directly At It. It features Wen Qing bossing Wei Wuxian around and Wei Wuxian’s canon he-wants-to-be-pregnant kink. It’s........I liked it.

To The Act of Making Noise by words-writ-in-starlight (Lan Sizhui & Lan Wangji, G, 19k)

His father in white plays the song late into the night, and when A-Yuan wakes up confused and afraid, the guqin lulls him back to sleep.

Lan Sizhui hears his father play the same song every night for his whole life, and never, ever get an answer.

Another very moving and heartwarming fic about Lan Wangji raising Sizhui and Sizhui figuring out Wangji’s past and then eventually reconnecting with Wei Wuxian. It’s cute and soft and Sizhui is my best boy!

History (Proud To Call Your Own) by words-writ-in-starlight (Wen Ning, G, 5k)

“A-Yuan? Um—Lan-gongzi,” Wen Ning corrects, trying to set a good example. The children are young, seven and eight, exactly a dozen of them lined up in two crisp lines of tiny blue and white robes. Wen Ning can feel them staring at him, even though most of them have already mastered that Lan trick of neutrality. The smallest, a little girl with liquid dark eyes, is clinging to her nearest shijie’s sleeve and half-hiding. “Can I—what can I do for you?”

Wen Ning gets himself recruited for services, while he and Sizhui are visiting Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian gets a fan club.

Set in the same universe as “To The Act of Making Noise,” a very cute fic about Wen Ning finding his place in the post-canon world and being proud of his cousin Sizhui and being the world’s best substitute teacher. As the official Wen Ning Fan Club President, I had to include this.

Lan Sizhui's Guide to Courtship by Kimblydot (Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi, T, 23k)

In which Jingyi is a little oblivious, Sizhui is patient (and should have said something in the beginning), and everyone else is resigned to watching them dance around each other for far longer than necessary.

(Or: five things Sizhui tries to do in his courtship, and the one time Jingyi realizes there was one happening in the first place.)

I’ll stop describing fics about the juniors as being “cute” when they stop being SO FUCKING CUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Grow by cafecliche (Lan Sizhui & Wei Wuxian, T, 14k)

“Okay,” Jingyi says, as Sizhui puzzles this out aloud. “Okay! So the demon has been turning its victims into children.”

“I think so,” Sizhui says.

“To make them easier prey,” Jingyi says.

“Yes,” Sizhui says.

“So—” Jingyi’s voice cracks here, “this kid is Senior Wei.”

Wei Wuxian, still tangled in his own massive robes, blinks politely at them.

(Or: Wei Wuxian is cursed on a night-hunt, and the junior quartet rapidly finds themselves in over their heads.)

What I expected to be a goofy, silly fic turned out to be extremely emotional and made me FULLY CRY! It’s a very moving fic about Sizhui coming to understand himself and Wei Wuxian a lot better AND features all of the juniors arguing over who’s turn it is to hold 6 year old Wei Wuxian. A true win/win of a fic.

Your Name, Safe In Their Mouth by astrolesbian (Lan Sizhui & Wei Wuxian, G, 10k)

“You’ve got a fever,” Wei Wuxian says soothingly. “You just keep still as well as you can. We’ll have you fixed up soon.”

Lan Sizhui recognizes his tone—this is the voice that Wei Wuxian uses on hurt people and young children, a very calm and no-nonsense voice that has none of the mischief and cheer of the way he sounds the rest of the time. Lan Sizhui looks up and meets his eyes, and they are dark, stormy gray, muddled and concerned.

“I’m all right,” he croaks.

“Hush,” Wei Wuxian says, in a low croon, like someone quieting a baby. Then he blinks, and looks away, awkward. “I mean—you shouldn’t speak. You’re tired. Rest if you need to.”

or: lan sizhui gets sick on a night hunt. wei wuxian comforts him. they both have a lot of feelings about it.

The Wei Wuxian and Sizhui bonding fic that I so desperately desperately needed to read. Scratched the very particular itch of “but have they REALLY talked about what it means that they’re reunited after 16 years???”

Stainless by Fahye (Wangxian, E, 6k)

"I'm starting to feel," says Lan Xichen, "that this was a counterproductive suggestion."

Wei Wuxian looks down onto the pristine, tranquil cold springs of the Cloud Recesses. Sitting in the water, their bare shoulders rising like dumplings carefully spaced in a steaming-basket, are a large number of Lan disciples.

"They seem to be doing better," he says, encouragingly. "If they--oh, no, I see what you mean."

At the near bank, someone has pressed someone else against the rocks and is kissing them frantically.

It’s smut! What is getting into a new pairing if not an excuse to read sex pollen in new and exciting ways!

Sweet Night by thejillyfish (Wangxian, E, 10k)

It was like coming back to life again, like being restitched into existence, cell by cell, nerve by nerve. From the surface of his skin to the marrow of his bones, everything new and purposeful. Like being pulled back from oblivion into an embrace of pure light. A feeling of absolute asylum.

That’s what it felt like, to realize Lan Wangji was in love with him.

In-show au of “what if they just admitted they’re in love and fucked during episode 43?” Soft and romantic and hot!

Shadows In The Sun Rise by Yuu_chi (Wangxian, E, 25k)

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji says, voice slow and a pitch too quiet. A second later Wei Wuxian understands why. “I cannot hear.”

Or; Lan Wangji is cursed into internal isolation. Their ability to understand one another remains as unwavering as ever.

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD. I have been thinking about this fic nonstop since I read it. It is.....fucking incredible. One of the best qualities of wangxian is that they’re so in tune with each other and able to work so cohesively with little communication and this fic is like “what if we take that and DIAL IT UP TO ELEVEN” and i was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! 

WHEW OKAY that’s enough for right now!

I’m constantly reading new fics all the time so maybe eventually I’ll make a second one if Chi actually reads/likes any of these (they’re picky!), or if anyone else likes this list and wants updates.

TO CHI: Thank you for getting me into The Untamed! I love you! I had the best time texting you every thought that passed through my head while I watched it. I’ve loved all of the content you’ve sent me from the book and the comic. I’ve loved making fun of Yibo with you. I’ve loved being your fic taste tester. Life sucks right now but at least we have wangxian!

TO EVERYONE ELSE: If you read any of these fics please come to my DMs and talk to me about them! I have a lot of feelings and love to cry over fics! Thank you!

[linxuelian]

The various MDZS fans // Under The Magnifying Glass

Alright, fans! As a fellow fan, I know you’re out there - I’ve lurked, I’ve chatted with, and I’ve disturbed a great many of you. Now I’m going to treat you like a specimen, and you can’t escape!

I’ve compiled a short meta piece about the various fans in the MDZS fandom, one that should be taken, once again, with a grain of salt. You know I love all of you, but here’s a sprinkle of, “I see you, I’m calling you out”. 😉

This is by no way accurate, obviously, but I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Wei Ying fans are shameless

And they tend to be more open in the real world than most other fans in comparison. Cheerful and belligerent, these fans are the ones who’ll loudly push their agenda and rope you into the slippery, slippery rabbit hole of the MDZS fandom, shouting about how “LAN ZHAN IS THE MOST WONDERFUL BOYFRIEND.”

You’d look into what a Lan Zhan is, and fall into the trap of Xianxia hell, unable to claw your way out of it until you’ve completed at least forty different works, either in paint or in letter. This is when they’ll cackle and attempt to figure out what your AO3 username is.

When dealing with Wei Ying fans in the real world, consider employing a milder approach. Do not allow them influence you into making more explicit fanfiction than you probably should, if you can. Apply caution in public, for they can be extremely boisterous in their sharing of many overly-stimulating pictures with your friends who may not know or want to know what WangXian is about.

Lan Wangji fans

Are Wei Ying fans. No person who can directly relate to Lan Wangji would read a BL light novel like that.

Or they do, but you just don’t know it.

Lan Xichen fans

Secretly want to sleep with him.

Jin Guangyao fans are social animals

When they’re not sobbing over their coveted redemption arcs for their favorite character, or coming up with excuses reasons for his misconduct, that is.

Small gatherings are likely to be favored by fans who relate to Jin Guangyao, enjoying parties and the like that are quiet and easy to mingle in. It is either this, or they enjoy in-depth online discussions, mostly involving intrigue and character building or thesis, and spend much time on social media networks.

More than half the time, people in the real world don’t even know that Jin Guangyao fans read fanfiction, look at fanart, or create them. At least 80 to 90 percent of Jin Guangyao fans would have read the novel, since they are more or less discourse and/or research-driven.

Just like the two-faced Jin Guangyao, many fans of his hide their true nature very well, appearing in public as general mass-media consumers. However, upon further engagement, they may reveal themselves to the possible Er-ge’s in their lives.

Jiang Cheng fans are mama dragons

Whatever you do, don’t make them angry.

This doesn’t mean that they’re not sympathetic, however. It’s just that their quick tempers and fiery typing skills can break your e-legs. Whether it’s a disagreement about a pairing, or about an interpretation, they’ll want to come up on top and victorious.

On the flip side, if a Jiang Cheng fan favors you and you’ve gotten into a spot of trouble, they’ll be out there on a war path trying to find out who bullied you in an attempt break the perpetrator’s legs. Using their keyboard typing skills, of course.

Lan Sizhui fans are anxious helicopter parents

Generally wishing to keep their little baby A-Yuan safe and happy, Lan Sizhui fans are mostly mama bear types. If a piece features even a miniscule part about Lan Sizhui, say, falling down in the mud or getting told off in an argument, be sure to receive comments almost entirely about said scene, even though it may only be a minor part of an entire 10,000-word story.

Stories and art revolving around Lan Sizhui put out by his fans are most likely to include either carrots, rabbits, radishes, Uncle Ning, or the WangXian parents. Similar to Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui fans tend to be fans of Wei Ying or WangXian.

A smaller subset of Lan Sizhui fans are fans of Jin Ling, but mostly in context of Lan Sizhui being the only one courteous enough to be polite towards him.

Jin Ling fans are split between two types

Namely those who’ve always dreamed of being a little prince/princess, and those who relate to Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian.

More than half of Jin Ling’s fans are fans of his uncle Jiang and Wei, and may relate to them in terms of being a parental figure, looking over their emotionally injured baby prince. Wei Wuxian fans are louder when it comes to demanding for a happy ending for Jin Ling, while Jiang Cheng fans may explicitly include him in every piece of fanfiction or fanart they’ve ever created.

Whether Wei Wuxian has started a family with Lan Wangji, or Jiang Cheng has gotten married to Lan Xichen or Nie Huaisang, you can be sure that any intersecting Jin Ling fans would have included him in their grand scheme of adoption, or eventually have him married to their only-begotten son.

The ones who’ve always dreamed of being a little prince or princess? They have very few friends in real life, and may have just written an article about you since they had the free time, for having no one to socialize with.

Ouyang Zizhen fans don’t like to be left out

He’s part of the quartet, dammit! It’s not a trio! Be it to your face in real life or over the internet, Zizhen fans would be sure to remind you that he’s part and parcel of the junior unit.

Usually also helicopter parents of the Sizhui Fan variety, Ouyang Zizhen fans desire him to find romance and inherit the sect safely, and may prefer pieces that depict him as intelligent, resourceful and the leader or champion of the junior QUARTET.

Lan Jingyi fans

Are the worst. 😤🖐️

Wen Ning fans are elusive

Likely because they don’t want to be the reason to split the canon couple up. Most Wen Ning fans may or may not prefer stories where Wen Ning pines for the extremely unavailable Wei Wuxian, or ones where he is seen as an uncle figure to Lan Sizhui. In some stories and artworks, Lan Wangji simply does not exist.

Wen Ning fans may also be periphery Lan Sizhui fans.

Wen Qing fans suffer from Aerith Lives Syndrome

She doesn’t actually die in a fire, guys!

They may also enjoy Wen Qing-marries-Nie Mingjue/Jiang Cheng-and-gets-pregnant stories.

Nie Huaisang fans like his nefarious, scheming nature

Have a piece depicting Nie Huaisang as a head-shaking idiot? There’s a fat chance that his fans won’t enjoy it, even if they won’t explicitly grill you for it. Hiding behind their virtual fans, watching you persistently every day while coldly plotting the closure of your account, these fans in particular are more inclined towards the unfolding of his crafty, terrifying nature, revealed only in the end.

Nie Huaisang fans tend to favor articles revolving around Nie Mingjue as well, and greatly enjoy pieces depicting brotherly affection in general. Whenever they write Nie Mingjue in their fiction, he is either extremely doting, or gruff but sexy.

As one might find it hard to question the gruff but sexy bit with a straight face, another alternative victim of fiction writers centering works around Nie Huaisang would be Jiang Cheng, who is usually manipulated into a happily ever after.

Nie Mingjue fans like putting him in leather pants

In most works created by fans of the mighty Chifeng-Zun, he’s usually smiling dotingly at his younger brother, Nie Huaisang, or at Meng Yao, his trusted aide, or at least giving them the best things in life.

In Mingjue County, Nie Mingjue has never kicked anyone down the stairs nor called them a son of a prostitute. In Mingjue County, nobody has ever burnt fine art. In Mingjue County, nobody dies of Qi Deviation. Mingjue County is civil, beautiful, and full of abs.

Wen Ruohan fans think he’s cute and sexy

Well, he is in their fannish pre-canon depictions of him as a young man, anyway. If Lan Qiren has grown his beard out for anyone, it would have been for the adorable Wen Ruohan, fifty years ago in the Cloud Recesses.

Lan Qiren fans don’t think he’s a joke

Never mind that the novel jokes about him all the time - having his beard shaved by Cangse Sanren, ignored by the juniors, and above all, getting up just to spit out blood after getting mad at Wei Wuxian for playing his flute very, very badly - he’s no joke, everyone!

Many Lan Qiren fans may also express desire to see his character adapt and open up to new ideas and rulesets, including a relationship with Sisi, or to explore a possible past where he is young, handsome and sexy, most probably also romantically entwined with Wen Ruohan.

Sect Leader Yao fans are SJWs who don’t know they’re SJWs

The irony lies thick in the fact that they actively dislike Sect Leader Yao as a character. Nobody knows that they’re actually a Sect Leader Yao fan, even after contracting the disease themselves.

Aaaaaand, I’ve run out of gas. If I’ve missed describing the fans of your favorite character, consider yourself lucky~

For now. I’ll be back! 😒✊

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 10/?

Single Dad AU (not the one you expect): “Water my Bones”

[Pushing Daisies meets florist!au]

*

First it was the beekeeper suit. Then the astronaut one. THEN the Darth Vader costume. Every time a different attire. Lan Zhan is starting to think he better be changing grocery shop soon if he wants to fill his cart in peace without stumbling upon that weirdo during his weekly visit at the store.

Things he knows about said man: 1) he is competitive af, 2) he seems around his age, thirty five at most, 3) he has a flower shop in town, 4) he has a son.

The last thing, he knows because the child is always perched on the man’s cart when they shop. The third thing, he knows because his brother Lan Huan is the owner of the building where said man works. The second, he noticed once in passing, as they both waited in line to pay at the express line. And the first, he got to realize since day fucking one, when they entered the shop together and noticed they were following a similar path and unconsciously started rushing their way through their respective lists as fast as possible to win over the other.

It’s been four weeks already and Lan Zhan regrets moving to that part of town big time. The day he discovers something new, however, is when the florist decides to wear a simple black mask over the lower half of his face instead a full on costume. So even the usual lady clients cannot flirt with him asking if it’s yet another laundry day. The lot of them surprised to see him dressed normally for once. If wearing a black mask, black latex gloves and a black turtleneck in August can even be considered normal to begin with. The fact that he also looks unbelievably hot dressed in such a manner goes without saying. Not that Lan Zhan’s looking, of course.

Yet, it’s one thing to dress to impress and another to be affectionate towards your own child without taking your mask and gloves off not even to kiss him on the cheek or to check if one of his baby teeth is really falling off or not. So, when one of the ladies jokes about it, nobody expects the child to plainly say what Lan Zhan ends up hearing that day.

“If Dad touches my skin I’m going to die.”

The fact that said dad also conveniently runs away and forgets to take most of their bagged groceries with him right afterwards is also telling. But for the life of his Lan Zhan doesn’t know what such a dramatic exit can possibly mean.

[under the cut for details]

initially I thought to let Mo XuanYu be the baby, but then I kept A-Yuan/SiZhui. Also he is not Wei Ying’s actual son, but more on that later. ALSO he’s a savage child with snark for ages and channels every ounce of his adoptive father’s mischievous spirit.

Just like in “Pushing Daisies”, Wei Ying can revive the dead for a minute or two just by touching them [from Wikipedia: “If something is revived for more than one minute, a similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead as a form of balance. If he touches the revived person or thing a second time, they die permanently.”]

But in this AU, ever since he was young, Wei Ying has revived a bunch of people, in the beginning without worrying too much of the consequences, not knowing someone of the same value (someone close to the revived dead person) must die if not given back to the realm of death after those two minutes.

His family used to take care of the needs of mourning families by running a funeral home. As a child he would simply touch the dead and go his merry way, happy to make others happy. But the dead would always run away, fearing their families would never take them back or not believe them to have been actually revived. Unaware of this, with bodies disappearing left and right, Wei Ying’s parents are accused of smuggling organs and corpses and are taken to prison before being put in house arrest for the rest of their sentence.

(In the meantime Wei Ying has been looked after by a new family, but after coming of age he decided to wait until the end of his parents’ sentence and buy them a house where they could live together again. In fact, he lives with them and his son) -> a perfectly rational choice bc I wanted to give them a chance to look after each other, okay? Also because a family trying to keep a common secret is fun and fresh and the exact opposite of the movie “Keeping Mum”, which is highly recommend btw.

He never experimented with the double-touch until (at fifteen) accidentally reviving a corpse of a dog, getting scared of it, and consequently smacking its tail in a (hilarious) fit of frustration bc “oh damn it... not again/go back to sleep I cannot deal with you/dogs are scary” and so on. The poor guy plopped down as if nothing had happened afterwards.

After that he learned his lesson and knew he could never touch a revived person again. Also dogs, especially dogs. They bite >:(

The first time Wei Ying actually understood something was wrong was when he was 21 and revived his stepsister YanLi, but her mother died as a consequence. He has brought his stepbrother Jiang Cheng back to life, but his own father was taken in his place. Before that time he had never considered the damage he had caused, because the consequences never involved his close ones but mere strangers up until then. So he vowed to never use his powers again afterwards.

The only exception being A-Yuan/SiZhui: the child was found in a dumpster, abandoned at three months old. Wei Ying revived him and didn’t want to wonder who might have died in the baby’s place... nor did he care. So he asked his parents to help. They’ve been raising the child together for five years, but Wei Ying has never directly touched him, always wearing gloves and masks around him.

He has also never hugged his step-siblings either since reviving them from their car accident from fourteen years back, but neither YanLi or Jiang Cheng knows the reason why. The only thing they know is that at the time, right after seeing them waking up from their “coma” and attending their parents’ funeral, Wei Ying has distanced himself from them, never to return.

(Insert shenanigans with Wei Ying trying his best not to run into his siblings, before they actually discover the truth along the way and bundle him up in quilts and coats just to be able to hug the hell out of him)

Lan Zhan is a detective and thanks to Wei Ying’s powers they solve crimes together. THEY REVIVE THE DEAD FOR TWO MINUTES and ask them what they remember before dying (which is basically the whole point of “Inquiry”, right?) and then Wei Ying touches them back and they drop dead for good.

Wei Ying knows his limits now and doesn’t play with empathy (got it? got it??)

Jin Ling has BOTH of his parents (can you imagine??) and he’s best friend with Lan Zhan and Lan Huan’s younge cousin, JingYi. And they SNOOP like nobody’s business bc they know there’s something fishy about “Uncle Wei”. But also they love to play with the other baby even if they pretend to be tough. They’re also friends with Wen Ning, who will teache them archery for their after-school activities as soon as they start elementary school and they are thrilled.

Wen Ning was actually one of the few corpses Wei Ying has revived in childhood that made it back home and was believed by others. (Wen Ning was still a child himself when he died, so he went straight back home and nobody questioned it, too happy to care......... which is basically canon)

His sister Wen Qing is the only friend Wei Ying has that knows about his secret and she’s the one suggesting Lan Zhan to..........wait a minute or two before leaving the morgue where she works at.

“You might never know what the dead could be able to say after you switch off the lights. You get me?”

He doesn’t get it. Not at first.

But! He grows interested in Wei Ying and the fact that he cannot touch his own child. Is it an allergy? Is it an illness? Lan Zhan has questions and he needs to find out the truth by himself.

Wei Ying’s child needs to be properly held by a parent at least once in his life tho... and Lan Zhan is made by very fine, very expensive husband material.

(I wanted him to meet Wei Ying’s parents. Sue me.)

Also I thought Wei Ying would like to make things grow (hence the florist!au you never asked for) bc he might feel guilty about the things he has done + his trust issues about getting attached to someone and then seeing them die AND THEN HAVING TO ACTUALLY LET THEM GO FOR REAL.

I’m sad now.

[enbyleighlines]

Since canonically wwx is a terrible cook and wn is actually really good at it what about everyones fave qpps making dinner for lan wangji and a yuan's family birthday dinner (not required but bonus if the whole family is coming over/comes over)? I think wn likes feeding people!

Ooooh, what a cute idea! I absolutely adore it, thank you. I hope you enjoy this drabble, my anonymous friend~

—

Wei Wuxian is a famously bad cook. It is a well known fact about him, primarily because he comes from a family which owns and runs its own restaurant.

But Wen Ning is an optimistic sort of person. He believes, fully in his heart, that anyone can be good at anything if they work hard enough. That includes Wei Wuxian, a man who once burned a hole through a saucepan. Even he, Wen Ning believes, can become a decent cook with time and effort.

Even so, Wei Wuxian is currently wearing Wen Ning’s faith thin.

“What is that?” Wen Ning asks.

On the cutting board, there lies a mass of... something. To Wen Ning’s best estimate, it’s a mishmash of different vegetables. The bits and pieces are all in various shapes and sizes. They also happen to be lying in a puddle of their mixed fluids.

Wei Wuxian looks between the cutting board and Wen Ning. The knife in his hand is disturbingly wet. “I diced up the vegetables,” he says.

Wen Ning wordlessly takes the knife Wei Wuxian is holding. It’s difficult to see under all the pulp, but Wen Ning notices that the edge is rather dull. “This is a bread knife,” Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian pouts. Really, he’s a master at playing the petulant child. “So? A knife is a knife! Does it matter what kind I use?”

“Yes,” Wen Ning answers. He doesn’t want to show any frustration. After all, this is meant to be a bonding experience for the two of them. And, he does love Wei Wuxian dearly. “This knife isn’t sharp enough for vegetables. Wasn’t it difficult to cut into them?”

Wei Wuxian enters a thinking pose. “Ah,” he says, “You’re right! But I didn’t want to dirty another knife...”

“That would have been fine,” Wen Ning assures him, “See, the problem with using a bread knife for cutting vegetables is that you have to apply a lot of extra pressure, and sometimes you end up mashing everything into a pulp.”

To Wen Ning’s amusement, Wei Wuxian listens diligently. He even looks regretful.

“I’m sorry,” Wei Wuxian says, after a pause, “Should I go to the store and pick up some more veggies?”

“No, it’s fine.” Wen Ning grabs a sharper knife from the drawer and gets to work cutting the larger pieces into proper cube shapes. “It shouldn’t affect the flavor of the dish,” Wen Ning tells his partner, “But they should all be bite-sized. Also, if they’re all the same size, they’ll be evenly cooked.”

Wen Ning can feel Wei Wuxian’s gaze on his hands as he chops with practiced ease. Soon, the vegetables look a little more edible than before.

When Wen Ning finishes, Wei Wuxian lets out a held breath.

“You know, I always get so nervous seeing you hold sharp objects,” Wei Wuxian admits, while placing a hand on Wen Ning’s shoulder, “It feels like it shouldn’t be allowed.”

Wen Ning frowns at Wei Wuxian. “Why’s that?”

“You used to be so accident prone,” Wei Wuxian explains, “I remember, in high school, you got accused of skipping class because you called sick in so often. Your immune system was basically nonexistent. And there was that time you twisted your ankle so bad in gym that the teacher had to carry you to the nurse’s office. And that time in college you slipped on a patch of black ice and got a concussion—”

“Yes, okay, I get it,” Wen Ning cuts him off.

“My point is,” Wei Wuxian continues with a chuckle, “I guess I’m just got into the habit of always watching out for you, to ensure you don’t get hurt. Letting you handle a knife seems counterintuitive.”

Wen Ning puffs out his cheeks, but it’s mainly to hide a very real hurt.

“Hey,” Wei Wuxian says, clutching Wen Ning’s arm, “I just want to protect my partner. Isn’t that a good thing?”

Wen Ning feels heat overtaking his face, and turns his head to hide the blush from Wei Wuxian’s perceptive eyes. He feels— well, he doesn’t have the language to describe it. Full of light, perhaps. Or fizzy, like a carbonated beverage. It’s neither entirely good nor entirely unpleasant.

Of course Wen Ning appreciates the concern. And the verbal confirmation of their queerplatonic bond thrills him. But there’s something else. After a second of thought, Wen Ning realizes what is bothering him.

“I suppose,” Wen Ning replies, “But... I’m not a child.”

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian releases his grip on Wen Ning’s arm. He moves into Wen Ning’s line of sight, connecting their gazes before speaking again. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to imply you’re childish. Just that I care about you.”

“I know,” Wen Ning assures him. He pauses a moment, and then pulls Wei Wuxian into an embrace. The warmth of his friend’s body loosens some of the tension in his muscles. It gives Wen Ning the strength to be vulnerable. “I’m glad you care about me,” he murmurs into Wei Wuxian’s shoulder, “I care about you, too. But I don’t want to be treated like a child. Other people do that a lot, when they find out I’m... not interested in sex.”

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian says again. “I... didn’t know that. That sucks. I’m sorry.”

“I know.” Wen Ning doesn’t believe for a second that Wei Wuxian would say anything to intentionally hurt him.

“I mean,” Wei Wuxian adds, “if anything, I’m the child here. Look at the complete mess I made out of the vegetables. I’m surprised you even asked me to help you cook dinner. Unless you want to give our entire extended family food poisoning?”

Wen Ning pulls back from Wei Wuxian with a sigh. “I won’t let you give anyone food poisoning,” he promises.

“Not even Jin Zixuan?”

Wen Ning snorts. “Not even him. Why are you even still pretending to hate him?”

“Hmm... to keep things interesting, I guess!” Wei Wuxian grins one of his dashing devil smiles. It might look menacing, if it didn’t also light up his eyes like heavenly beacons.

As usual, Wen Ning cannot help but reflexively mirror Wei Wuxian’s good mood. “If you say so. Anyway, we should get back to business. Do you know anything about making the dough for steamed buns?”

“From scratch?” Wei Wuxian asks, “Absolutely nothing.”

Wen Ning perks up. He personally finds making and kneading dough incredibly therapeutic. “Okay,” he says, “Let me show you.”

—

When Wei Wuxian said ‘entire extended family’, he wasn’t exaggerating. For better or for worse, they collectively consider a large expanse of people their family.

There’s Wei Wuxian’s adoptive parents and siblings, Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng. Jiang Yanli brought her husband and son, while Jiang Cheng brought his lovers Wen Qing and Nie Huaisang, the former being Wen Ning’s Jiejie.

Aside from Wen Qing, Wen Ning’s family includes Granny, and a few aunts and uncles.

And then Lan Wangji invited his Shufu and Fuqin, plus Lan Xichen, Lan Xichen’s wife Nie Yuyan, and their son, Lan Jingyi. And since it always feels weird to extend invitations to Nie Huaisang and Nie Yuyan without including Nie Mingjue, he’s also there.

Lan Wangji’s apartment is big, but it’s still an apartment. Fitting everyone inside is possible, but not ideal. By the time everyone has arrived, Wen Ning is starting to get just a little claustrophobic.

And he hasn’t even left the kitchen yet.

Wei Wuxian initially went out to socialize, but now he returns to Wen Ning’s side. Or rather, he hangs himself over Wen Ning’s shoulders like a backpack.

“How are you doing?” He asks gently.

Wen Ning almost plays it off, almost gets defensive. But then he swallows down the urge to reiterate that he is not a child. The truth is, he does have social anxiety, and he is feeling overwhelmed.

So instead Wen Ning squeezes one of Wei Wuxian’s hands. “It’s a lot of people,” he answers.

“Yeah... we might have invited too many people,” Wei Wuxian admits.

His breath tickles Wen Ning’s neck, but somehow it doesn’t feel suffocating. If anything, having a Wei Wuxian flesh barrier makes Wen Ning feel more secure.

“Maybe,” Wen Ning says, “but who would you choose not to invite in a hypothetical do-over? Everyone here is family.”

“True.” Wei Wuxian nuzzles their cheeks together. “I suppose, in the future, we can just invite one side of the family at a time. But that doesn’t sound quite as fun as having everyone together at once.”

Wen Ning nods his agreement. He grips Wei Wuxian’s hand tighter, not wanting the embrace to end so soon.

Wei Wuxian gets the message and cuddles closer.

“I’m having fun,” Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian, “Even if I feel claustrophobic, I’m still glad that everyone is here. I might just need to retreat to the kitchen once in a while.”

“Okay,” Wei Wuxian agrees, “To be fair, I think Lan Zhan feels the same way, though he’s too stubborn to admit it. Basically, I’m dating two introverts. Luckily for you guys, I thrive best in chaotic environments. I’ll handle all the socializing, whenever you want to take a breather.”

Wen Ning chuckles. “Thanks, A-Xian.”

They continue to cling for another moment. Wei Wuxian’s presence takes some of the edge off of Wen Ning’s anxiety, replacing the nervous energy with a calm warmth. When Wei Wuxian finally does draw back, Wen Ning feels rejuvenated.

“Okay,” Wen Ning says, and picks up a tray of vegetable spring rolls. “I’m ready.”