#it matters that JC isn't interested in stirring anything up

[xiyao-feels]

The thing is I do get the, like, instinctive suspicion of JGY? Or—well, no, I think a lot of it is classism. But suspicion is honestly a really reasonable response to JGY's activities under JGS! It's worth it to ask: was he really in danger of his life? And even if he was, having had to do this to survive—what will he be like, when he doesn't have to anymore?

They're fair questions! The problem is they're questions we can answer from the text. He absolutely was in danger of his life. And as to what he'd be like when he didn't have to anymore—

I've talked about the watchtowers a lot because they're such a good example, and the kind of thing that would never have happened without him. But sometimes I want to shake people and say, look at the result of his governance! Look at the world WWX wanders through, post resurrection! Look at the peace, look at the way the juniors really get the chance to be kids!

This isn't something that happens automatically. Or really what I want to say is, it means something about the powers of the cultivation world. You can't just treat it as an interesting background fact to the juniors' characterization, with no depth beyond that! The cultivation world under WRH was the way it was because of WRH; the cultivation world under JGS was the way it was because of JGS; the cultivation world under JGY was the way it was because of JGY, and the way it was was better than any other time we've seen it.

[jiang-cheng-therapy]

It's interesting bc the more meta I see the more sympathetic I am to Jiang Cheng...the less I think he is a terrible person and the more I think he is someone who was abused and traumatized in his own right, who was stuck between a rock and a hard place with lots of responsibility as a teenager, and who *does* make terrible decisions

Kinda like WWX actually

The difference is JC's traumatic experiences usually only served to confirm his own way of thinking, he was never truly taught to (and of his own accord didn't choose to, partly bc he was never taught but also of his own accord) value more than power, and had it thrown back in his face when he tried.

No matter what, WWX had better, more (at least openly) loving parents than JC. You can tell me "but JFM *tried* to teach JC but JC never listened" and I will counter you with this - JFM never did the most important thing he could've done, which was something, ANYTHING to disabuse JC of the one awful thing that YZY continued to drill into his head: that JC was unloved by his father.

Do you think a little kid, who seems to have known nothing of fatherly affection *even prior* to WWX arriving to stir the pot of JFM and YZY's relationship, is going to believe that his father loves him when his mother constantly tells him his father doesn't love him and he's not good enough, while his father only ever tries to teach and lecture him but shows a strange boy not his own his affection? And refuses to straight up refute YZY when she a) implies/straight up says he loves WWX more + JC isn't enough and b) implies he had an affair/WWX is his son? If he actually addressed things and communicated with his family, his relationship with at least JC would've improved.

If JFM had actually put in the effort to communicate and *show JC affection* instead of assuming "he is my kid and needs tough love because future sect leader" , he would've been the exact counterbalance to YZY that JC needed.

Oh the irony. JFM my dude:

This is why even though I don't think JFM is a bad person I do absolutely hate him. He had good qualities and he's not the worst person in the story but he is to me THE most disappointing and frustrating. Like I've said before, I *know* he could've done better. I had *expectations* of him. Guh.