#he gave up his dogs and stood against them for Wei Wuxian's sake

[amynchan]

I vaguely recall a take somewhere that Wei Wuxian never actually liked Jiang Cheng and hung out with him due to the life debt he owed Jiang Fengmian. While I personally disagree (and no, I won't elaborate. I don't have enough knowledge to argue it academically within the frame of the surrounding culture and I'm painfully aware of that), thinking about it makes me hurt.

Because regardless of Wei Wuxian's motivations, Jiang Cheng did love him. Fiercely and recklessly and stupidly. Enough to warp him forever. Enough to hate as fiercely and as stubbornly as he did for so long.

This interpretation makes me want to bundle Jiang Cheng up, whisk him far away for a long while, and help him find himself after giving too much of his own worth to someone who wasn't truly on the same page as him (this isn't bashing. Wei Wuxian needs to do what he needs to do. And Jiang Cheng has to learn to live without him and his ghost).

Just... the thought of doing what you can and it not being enough. It never being enough.

Aaaaargh.

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

WHY WE'RE GOING TO DECONSTRUCT THE PREVALENT MISCONCEPTION THAT LAN WANGJI IS THE POSSESSIVE AND/OR OUT OF BOUNDS ONE AT THE START OF MDZS ON THE PART OF THE AUDIENCE SINCE WEI WUXIAN ALREADY HAS PRECONCEIVED BIASES

As it says, we'll start right after the Dafan Mountain hunt. We are already shown the direct opposition between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji in regards to trying to deal with Wei Wuxian. Remember, this was after both had walked away once before until Wei Wuxian, as he is apt, gets himself caught up from something he could have walked away from. His proclivity with summoning Wen Ning is what set of the realization for both men. Jiang Cheng to want to torture him into admittance of being Wei Wuxian, while Lan Wangji keeps up the pretense of him being Mo Xuanyu and taking him as a witness of the Mo Manor arm.

A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. After thinking it through, he made a gesture. The disciples understood his intention and came over.

Wei WuXian hurriedly jumped behind Lan WangJi with the donkey, and exclaimed while holding a hand over his chest, “Ah! What are you going to do to me?”

Lan WangJi gave him a look, putting up with his extremely discourteous, noisy, and exaggerated behavior.

Seeing that he would not move over, Jiang Cheng spoke, “ Lan-er-gongzi, are you purposely making this difficult for me?”

These two scenes are barely moments apart Wei Wuxian thinks he has one upped both enough to get away, but Lan Wangji and Sizhui seem well-versed with Jiang Cheng's methods.

As expected, Jiang Cheng’s face darkened, “Oh, really? Then, may I ask which type you’re interested in?”

Wei WuXian replied, “Which type? Well, I am very much attracted to people like HanGuang-Jun.”

Lan WangJi would never tolerate this sort of frivolous and foolish joke at all. If he felt disgusted, he would definitely draw a line between them and keep his distance. Disgusting two people at once—this was killing two birds with one stone!

However, as Lan WangJi heard this, he turned around.

His face was emotionless, “Mark your words.”

Wei WuXian, “Hmm?”

Lan WangJi turned back, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, “I will take this one back to the Lan Sect.”

Wei WuXian, “…”

Wei WuXian, “…Huh?”

Lan Wangji here is already shaking up Wei Wuxian's past expectations of him. He has already turned Wei Wuxian's jokes against him in a subtly sarcastic way, just as Wei Wuxian was hoping to pull against him.

Given that the Lan by default are one of the Sects that do help commoners Sizhui and Jingyi point out word for word just why "Mo Xuanyu" has been brought to Cloud Recesses on Lan Wangji's say.

Lan SiZhui tried to reason with him, “Mo gongzi, it was for your sake that HanGuang-Jun brought you here. If you do not follow us, Sect Leader Jiang will not be willing to let the matter go. During these past years, there were countless people whom he has caught and took back to Lotus Pier, and none of those people were ever let out.”

Lan JingYi spoke, “That is right. You’ve seen Sect Leader Jiang’s methods, haven’t you? They’re quite cruel…” He paused here, remembering the rule that stated “talking behind other people’s backs” was prohibited, and subtly glanced at Lan WangJi. Seeing that HanGuang-Jun didn’t show any interest in chastising him, he was bold enough to mumble on, “It’s all because of the unhealthy trend that the YiLing Laozu started. There are so many people who copy him and cultivate that foolish method. With Sect Leader Jiang being so suspicious of everyone, is it even possible for him to catch all of them? Just look at you and your flute skills… Heh.”

Lan Sizhui and Jingyi affirm again just why Wei Wuxian was brought with them, for being part of the debacle of the arm as well as a form of safety from Jiang Cheng who is implied to still follow demonic cultivators he suspects.

This trend continues as Lan Wangji keeps Wei Wuxian with him as a form of protection. Wei Wuxian is still under the assumption he is passing off as Mo Xuanyu to Lan Wangji, until they are separated. Wei Wuxian to tend to Jin Ling and Lan Wangji to catch the spy. Once he does move to rendezvous he runs into Jiang Cheng who had been the one Lan Wangji was trying to keep him from.

The black-haired spiritual dog sprinted over from the other end, passed Wei WuXian, and threw herself toward Jin Ling’s legs, affectionately brushing him with her tail.

With the dog appearing here, it must have meant that Lan WangJi had already caught whoever was spying near the stone castles and went to the point of rendezvous that they settled on earlier. However, at the moment, Wei WuXian had no time to think about any of that..

As he ran, he just happened to end up right before Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling, and a bunch of other Jiang Sect disciples.

This is the first time now that Lan Wangji is not present to help Wei Wuxian. Who, has already become used to being under Lan Wangji's care and has quickly begun to stop questioning the reasons why. He is already comfortable enough to associate Lan Wangji as actual protection from Jiang Cheng as he had been warned earlier.

Seeing that the large, snarling dog closed in on him in less than a second, his ears were full of her low growls and his entire body numbed. He had forgotten about much of his early years of wandering on the streets. The only things he still remembered was the terror he felt as he was chased by dogs and the slicing pain of teeth and claws digging into his flesh. The fear that had been planted deep within his heart couldn’t be overcome or eased no matter how he tried.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng glanced sideway at him, “Whose name did you call?”

Wei WuXian was in such a state of distress that he couldn’t remember whether or not he called someone’s name at all. He only managed to pull himself together after Jiang Cheng commanded the dog to back away. After a moment of hesitation, he abruptly turned his head away. On the other side, Jiang Cheng left his seat. There was a whip attached beside his waist. With one hand on it, he bent down to look at Wei WuXian’s face. After a pause, he straightened up and asked, “Speaking of it, since when have you been so close to Lan WangJi?”

Wei WuXian immediately understood whose name he had unconsciously called out.

Jiang Cheng smiled menacingly, “It really is quite curious how far he went to protect you, back on Dafan Mountain.”

A moment later, he corrected himself, “No. You weren’t necessarily the one whom Lan WangJi was protecting. After all, the GusuLan Sect couldn’t have forgotten what you did with that loyal dog of yours. How could someone so celebrated for his righteousness tolerate the likes of you? Maybe he’s familiar with this body that you stole instead.”

His words were cruel and sinister. Every sentence seemed well-meaning on the surface, but was actually derogatory. Wei WuXian couldn’t bear hearing it any longer, “Watch your language.”

To Jiang Cheng his assumptions of Wei Wuxian being alive are correct, yet, he thinks that Lan Wangji is protecting him due to assuming he has some sort of relationship with Mo Xuanyu. Wei Wuxian seemingly subconsciously voices his objection of Lan Wangji being spoken of in that way. This is the first major step post-resurrection of Wei Wuxian speaking up vocally in Lan Wangji's defense and Lan Wangji has been physically protecting Wei Wuxian.

Lan WangJi knelt down on one knee to examine his leg. Wei WuXian was rather shocked, “N-n-no, HanGuang-Jun. You don’t have to do this.”

Lan WangJi raised his head slightly, the pair of light-colored eyes boring into him, then looked down again and continued to roll up the leg of his trousers. Still under his grip, Wei WuXian could do nothing except to look up at the sky.

His entire leg was covered with the black bruise of the Curse Mark.

After staring at it for a while, Lan WangJi spoke in a bitter voice, “… I only left for a few hours.”

Wei WuXian shrugged, “A few hours is a long time. Anything could have happened. There, there. Straighten up.”

Once more Lan Wangji reiterates his stance of keeping Wei Wuxian safe and Wei Wuxian's penchant for taking on trouble.

Lan WangJi looked in the direction of a signboard that stood in front of a shop far down the street. Wei WuXian continued, “Let’s deal with the stone castle issue first.” He then walked toward the shop. He didn’t notice before, but his leg felt a bit numb, probably from Zidian. It was a good thing that Jiang Cheng controlled Zidian’s force so that he wasn’t made into a scorched corpse that had been struck by lightning.

Lan WangJi stood behind him. He suddenly called out, “Wei Ying.”

Wei WuXian paused. A second later, he pretended as if he didn’t hear the name, and answered, “What?”

Lan WangJi, “This was transferred from Jin Ling’s body, was it not.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

Wei WuXian didn’t say anything. Lan WangJi spoke again, “You met Jiang WanYin.”

It wasn’t hard to figure out due to the mark that Zidian left on top of the Curse Mark. Wei WuXian turned around, “As long as both of us are alive in this world, we’d meet for sure, sooner or later.”

Lan WangJi, “Do not go…”

Wei WuXian, “If I don’t go, how am I supposed to leave? Are you gonna carry me on your back or something?”

“…” Lan WangJi looked at him in silence. Wei WuXian’s smile froze on his face, just as a foreboding feeling crossed his mind.

If had been Lan Zhan from back then, he would definitely be shocked speechless by these words, and either leave with a cold expression or completely ignore him. However, it’d be hard to say how the Lan Zhan now would respond.

And finally Wei Wuxian takes it in stride that Lan Wangji knows exactly who he is while continuing to let Wei Wuxian follow him for his safety along with his own interest in the case. Only being baffled as to why he is helping him as he believed Lan Wangji never liked or approved of him. Of his own volition though he stays close to Lan Wangji due to the sense of safety and help Lan Wangji has already offered. As a give and take of equality between them as they try to hunt down the body parts that turned into a bigger case than what it was supposed to initially be. Turning into something larger than just keeping away from Jiang Cheng himself. This is also keeping in mind, Wei Wuxian as the one to still initiate any physical contact and sleeping in the same bed with Lan Wangji even after his ruse is revealed.