#nei mingjue

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

Feb 1st

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1. Hey! Thank you so much for your hardwork!

So I've been looking for this fic for days now, I just cant find it. I can't remember if Wwx is the omega but its an abo fic where wwx had 4 children i think. And he thinks theyre all dead but theyre not. He definitely had 2 daughters? Or was it one? But basically there was this scene where they all reunited in the jingshi and they were crying.

Can somebody help me find this fic please? THANK YOU :") @losing-victor

FOUND! I think the fic for #1 of the most recent Fic Finder, where WWX has kids and they reunite in the Jingshi, may be Like The Butterfly by Setari (T, 18k, wangxian, WIP, Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies AU, Next Generation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Unresolved Emotional Tension) on AO3. It’s part of a series ‘The Wei Family’, with three stories total.

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2. Hello all! I am looking for a fic where Wei Wuxian is blind and the Jiang he grew up with know but the Lans don’t know until the lectures when Lan Qiren yells at Wuxian for taking sloppy notes and he is like “I can’t see, how can I tell if my writing is sloppy?” It is not “Close Your Eyes, Feel My Heartbeat” by ThatDesiGirl, I just reread it to check. Any guesses? Thank you!

FOUND? The Darkness Before Dawn by PsycheStellata707 (M, 113k, WIP, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, BAMF WWX, Time Travel, Attempt at Humor, PTSD, Oblivious WWX, WWX-centric, Blind WWX, Sentient Burial Mounds, Self-Indulgent, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Oblivious Pining, Not Canon Compliant)

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3. Hi; for fic finder, could you help me find shapeshifter!WWX fic? Its an old fic. Its a series too i think (3 fic with the first in the series completed and the second part is WIP). I think its tiger WWX (not sure). After WC throws WWX to burial mound, WWX shift to tiger. He cant shift back to human. He hunts the wen in tiger form. He help NHS when he is in the river. NHS was attacked by the wen (either wen or a yao). They then goes to Qinghe. In Qinghe, JWY and LWJ bring back WC to Qinghe to interrogate him. But WWX sees WC and bite him to death. I think WWX is the one who killed WRH too. He bit WRH to death i think

In the second part of the series, after war it was found out that WWX is shapeshifter and many wants to kill (?) Him. The last time i read this, it still only has 1 or 2 chapter.

That all i can remember. Thank you! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

FOUND! The Tiger has Destroyed his Cage by updatebug (G, 54k, WangXian, Shapeshifters, Fix-it fic, Animal Pelts, Tiger WWX, Found Family, adopted family, Yungmeng Siblings, Canon appropriate angst and violence, Gratuitous OCs)

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4. i read this a while back but can't remember the name of it, if anyone can find it or knows the name please let me know .

Nie huaisang, lan zhan, Jiang chang active a time travel array. Huaisang and land zhan did NOT know JC altered the array to erase WY. LZ eventually forces JC to fix it and bring WY back.

When JC altered the array to bring WY back he messed up somewhat and the price was his own core disapp //

I read a FF a while back and cannot remember the name of it, if someone could help me out, I would LOVE to reread it.

Years after Wei WuXian died, Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang want to travel back in time to save Wei Ying and Nei Mingjue. NHS and LWJ finds an array but realize they cannot activate it without Jiang Cheng's help.

However they didn't realize that JC changed the array until they were back in Cloud Recess lecture. LWJ punches JC and

JC had erased WWX from existence. Eventually LWJ made JC fix it and bring back WWX.

After WWX is brought back he reveals the gold core transfer along with other secrets.

However when JC redid the array and brought WWX back is made his own core slowly disintegrate.

They do save the Wen Remnants and and Wen Qing actually helps LWJ finish destroying JCs core when he is challenged to a dual.

@prissyp2014

FOUND? The Way It Wasn’t by KouriArashi (T, 72k, WangXian, XiYao, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fix-It, (eventually haha), Slow Build, Family Feels, Moral Ambiguity, Eventual Happy Ending)

FOUND? Not This Time by Marinelifeclub (M, 93k, WangXian, SangNing, NieLan, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Angst Dark LWJ, Protective LWJ, YLLZ WWX, Resentful WWX, Established Relationship, POV Alternating, Sunshot Campaign, Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, Minor XuanLi, not for jc fans, eventual 3zun, Kid Fic)

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5. Hello! For the fic finder/s, thank you in advance. ♡

For days I've been trying to find this fic. I'm not sure with the details like if wei wuxian is a farmer here or older (i think he is a farmer though) but what I remember is lan wangji making advances to wei wuxian while sleeping (wei wuxian here is known as a heavy sleeper ) but at some point wei wuxian got awake during those and from then on anticipate what lan wangji gonna do, so he knows what lan wangji is doing and there's a number of that that happens. Also, lan wangji is running out of time because he was about to go to the main central or the palace to take an imperial exam (? I'm not sure if that's the term) anyway, he was going with lan sizhui to take that exam. I'm not sure if he goes on the day of the exam but I vaguely remember that he confess his feelings to wei wuxian before or on that day. Then they did the everyday. ヾ(＠゜▽゜＠）ノ

FOUND? #5 is "like the waves return to the shore, again and again" but it's been deleted. There's a link to a cache on the @wangxianficrecs blog around Jan 20, maybe Mod Kay can help?

Regarding #5, I have that story saved. So, if anyone wants to read it, send an ask for WangxianFicRecs or a message to @the-last-d-boy with your mail adress and I'll send it to you. ~Mod Kay

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6. Hi! I've been trying to find a fic (I believe it's a time travel au where Lwj and Jc, or just Jc I'm not sure, travel back in time), but the only scene I remember is a scene where Jc for some reason gets mad with Wwx during the Sunshot Campaign after finding Wwx in the woods around the war camp (I don't remember what Wwx was doing). Jc hits Wwx with zidian and Wwx is sent flying into a tree. Jc gets scared after Wwx doesn't get up and goes see if Wwx is ok, only to find out Wwx's heart is no longer beating. Lwj (I don't remember if he arrived after Jc hit Wwx or if he was already in the woods with Wwx), then, manages to make Wwx's heart beat again by performing CPR on him.

can't find the fic, but I remember it. Maybe these details will help. Lan Wangji found out about WWX not having a core after he gets back from being missing (I think by grabbing his wrist maybe?), but Jiang Cheng doesn't know. He didn't expect that hitting WWX with Zidian would be much of a problem for him and he's totally freaked out when WWX collapses and LWJ starts doing CPR which is what you'd do for a non-cultivator

FOUND? these colours fade for you only by doodlebutt (T, 36k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Everybody Lives, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, ...eventually, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, bed sharing, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Sunshot Campaign) it isn’t a time travel fic, but it has the scene where jc hits wwx with zidian

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7. Completely unrelated to my last ask, I’m looking for a Dragonji fic where his hoard is bunnies. Lan Xichen tries to talk to him in the bunny field but he’s just chilling in his dragon form with the bunnies finding him Good. Lan Xichen flies to the Burial Mounds for desperate negotiations with Wei Wuxian. Eventually Wei Wuxian mentions that Lan Wangji didn’t have any bunnies until WW gave him some. LX has some realizations from that. @any-mouse

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8. hii!! i was searching for a fic where lwj finds wwx's corpse at the BM and things happen. i don't know much but it was cracky. i hope you can find it!! thanks already :D @for13years-i-play-inquiry-foryou

FOUND? (we make) a good pair by gamayuglagay (gracon_bacon) (E, 1k, WangXian, Canonical Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Necrophilia, Foot Fetish, Vajankle, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Crack Taken Seriously) Warning: NECROPHILIA

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9. I read this time travel fic a while ago which I can't find!

I vaguely remember a lot of dimension travel and a-yuan js sort of helping wei wuxian doing the said travel and a-qing is also there. in one part they reach the past but like not really cultivation world (not sure on that) and meet lan xichen, there's also lwj and wwx of that world who help them get back, there's an spaceship and stuff and I think wen qing was also there maybe?

i just realized that the request i sent was way too vague and so is the summary of the fic, which I was misled while looking for it. also if u could add this to the ficfinder post, to explain why this is the fic I was looking for, it is very confusing I'm sorry!!

apparently it wasnt a-yuan who was helping wwx, but rather an original character and its more parallel universes than time travel!! its abeautiful fic!!

FOUND! counterpart by queensmooting (E, 37k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Parallel Universes, Multiple Selves, Kid Fic, some child endangerment (everyone will be fine), lwj can and has gotten pregnant, Bottom LWJ/Top WWX, bittersweet ending (ymmv))

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10. hello! i'm looking for a fic where wwx and lwj have a biological child (i'm not sure if it's a-yuan). i think this fic has an omegaverse setting? lwj doesn't know about the child until a bit later on and even then he's unsure bc when he sees the child and asks wwx, wwx tells him to ask again the next time they meet (or he'll tell him more? i'm not sure). but they don't meet again bc wwx dies at qiongqi path on the way to jl's 1 month celebration via a bunch of arrows courtesy of jin zixun and co. he brought along wn and his child, but wn brings the child to cloud recesses secretly, so jzx doesn't die due to wn. i remember there was a scene where they brought wwx's body to jinlin tai and stripped him naked to scan for the hundred holes curse scars, and jins were creepy about it. lwj was dissociating in this scene and he's sorely disappointed in his brother for not helping stop them. please help, i've been thinking abt this fic for days now 😭 @aracchiii

FOUND! 🧡 Born to Blossom, Bloom to Perish by LadyMithiel (M, 113k, WIP, WangXian, A/B/O, Mpreg, Angst, Mostly Canon compliant)

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11. Hi!!! I'm trying to find a fic (it's an one-shot, if I remember correctly) that happens during the Sunshot Campaign. One of the soldiers sees Jc and Wwx fighting, and they see Wwx flinching, and trying to back away. This soldier (I think they either were sexuality assaulted or knew someone who was sexuality assaulted and reacted like this towards the abuser, I don't remember which one it is now), and they find Wwx's reactions to Jc way too similar to the reactions of someone towards their abuser and comments this with another soldiers. The "Wwx reacts towards sect leader Jiang like someone who was sexuality assaulted does" comment spreads around, and soon becomes rumors that Jc did rape Wwx. Wwx is confused by how suddenly everyone is sympathetic towards him, treat him with care and don't let him alone with Jc. One of the last scenes is Jc mad because Wwx "tarnished his reputation", Wwx not understanding shit of what's going on and Jc getting real scarry. They were in a secluded place, I think. Lwj is walking about and sees Wwx backed away on a tree while Jc is looking really agressive, Wwx looking scared, and he (who has heard of the rumors), goes like "nope, he's not about to take Wy against his will again. Not on my watch" and totally trashes Jc (I don't remember if only verbally or also physically).

FOUND? might be chapter 15 of Vrishchika's short prompts?

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12. heyyy, I read the summary of this fic some time ago and I can't find it anymore.

I think it was a modern au in which wwx dies and lwj is looking for him. might be modern with cultivation or maybe wwx just disappeared and everyone thinks he's died. I dont really remember a lot, help me out.

I'm pretty sure he dies though.

FOUND? when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis (E, 176k, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern Cultivation, tech cultivation, Necromancy, Angst with a Happy Ending, insecurity around adoption, Dad!WWX, dad!lwj, Grief/Mourning, Mistaken Identity, Mood Whiplash, Body Swap, sex tears!, Falling In Love, Consensual Somnophilia, apocalypse (localized), Smut, unrealistic sexual stamina, Flashbacks, Time Skips, Illustrations)

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13. I'm looking for a fanfic where wwx gave his golden core to jc but then developed a black one, and if he uses too much demonic cultivation he can die or something like that. also I don't remember if it's from the same fic or not but I think the annoying cousin of Jin z dies from a curse

FOUND? 🧡 a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (M, 180k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, arranged marriage) 

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14. hello! how are you doing?

i once read a ff in which WWX is rescued/saved/something like that by the Lan Clan i think in the middle of war or something but WWX helps Lan Clan to tackle the problem of crops with his yin energy talisman/array. i hope you will be able to find it (i know its not enough information 😭) @let-it-be-rainbow

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15. hello im looking for a fic where wen ning shoots an arrow at wrh and it hits him in the eye. i think it's a time travel fic but im not sure. also wn asks wq like uncle isn't a good person, is he. i appreciate the assistance

hello im anon on the latest ff #15. sorry, but it's not the fic i was looking for. i remember it being multiple chapters, also the sunshot campaign did happen. the part where wen ning shot wrh was during the final battle of ssc and he was at a high vantage point with wq away from the fighting

NOT FOUND! 💖 Where The Arrow Points by Nillegible (G, 4k, WN & WQ, WN & WWX, WWX & JC, WIP, Time Travel Fix-It, No Sunshot Campaign, Because Um. Wen Ning murders Wen Ruohan, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, really)

SIMILAR The Ghost General by English is my death (Lena013) (T, 5k, WN & WWX, WN & WQ, WN centric, BAMF WN, Time Travel Fix-It, what's a conference without someone killing their uncle?WN murders WRH, WN Lives, Ghost General WN, WN looks into his uncle's eyes before killing him, Fierce Corpse WN, Canon Divergence) Actually, I just read the italicised part of the ask for 15, so my suggestion is definitely not it. But it did have time travel WN killing WRH with an arrow!

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16. Hi I’m looking for a specific fic that I thought I had saved, but alas😑

It’s a ‘watching the memories’ type of fic. With protective Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan and juniors.

Anyway I don’t remember much but what I do remember is that the story is set after guanyin temple and that they watched a memory of wwx going about his birthday alone. Qiren and many others were assholes to wwx who just wanted to spend the day with his husband and son, but was constantly denied and berated.

This in turn lead to JG, LZ and LXC I think being angry and protective on his behalf.

That’s all and thank you for the endless effort you all put into finding all these fic’s. @ravenwithwings

FOUND! Music Heals All Forms Of Misery by idontknowwhatimdoinghalfthetime (T, 63k, WIP, WangXian, Fix-It of Sorts, Songfic, Past Character Death, Heavy Angst, Self-Esteem Issues)

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17. Hi hi! Im looking for an Ao3 fic where WQ and WY go to cloud recessess because theyve negotiated protection for the wen remnants with the Lan Clan. The condition is that WY must be purged of all resentful energy, which he and WQ think will kill him, and they believe the Lan clan knows it. Theres a scene where during the purge Lan Zhan realizies whats happening and asks Wei Ying why he would think the Lan wanted to kill/harm him. Pretty sure its a happy ending, or at least hopeful!

Thanks so much, hope youre all well! @la-voce-to-me

FOUND! decay by antebunny (G, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst, Misunderstandings, Miscommunication, Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, the fluffiest ending, Hurt/Comfort)

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18. Hi, I am looking for a Wangxian fic that has a lot of twin jade feels I think its starts after the burning of Recesses where both jades are captured by WX and a lot of bad things happen to LWJ after which he ends up forced to work in a brothel where he meets WWX who came to rescue JWY and maybe JZX from the indoctrination and I also remember that LXC was allowed to visit Lan Zhan but only when he was drugged to sleep and that WX knew that the jades kept in line only cause of the other. It probably followed canon divergence and it was a complete fanfic. the story is pretty hazy in my head so I am hoping someone remembers it. thank you.

FOUND! Alter by Solmae (E, 162k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, Slow Burn, Canon-Typical Violence, Rape/Non-con Elements, Gang Rape, Forced Prostitution, PTSD, Top/Bottom Versatile | Switch WangXian, Explicit Sexual Content, Sexual Slavery, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Torture)

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19. I remember reading a fic where Wei Wuxian was taken as a prisoner, I think maybe by the Nie, and everyone expected him to practice Inedia while kept captive just for him to become extremely ill from lack of food, revealing his lack of golden core. Everyone freaks out a bit

FOUND? ❤️ whipstitch by curiositykilled (M, 131k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Torture, WWX Lives, but basically no one else, Case Fic,   Cultivation Sect Politics, Past Abuse, WWX Whump, YL WWX, JL Needs a Hug, JL Tries, Yunmeng Bro Reconciliation, Past Character Death, Body Horror, Non-Consensual Body Modification, POV Alternating, Flashbacks,   Eventual Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Suicide Attempt, PTSD, Depression, Not A Fix-It, Mouth Sewn Shut)

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20. Hi👋🏽

I love looking through your fic-finder posts and discovering ‘new’ fics to read !

I’m trying to find a fic taking place after the SunShot Campaign, where WWX takes the role of a Jiang Elder instead of Head Disciple. I’ve tried looking for it by AO3’s filter but was only able to find a similar fic series - Rest of Resolution by MarbleGlove.

Details: WWX somehow fools the JGS into thinking WWX is older than he actually is (Lan Qiren is in on the joke too). @animewatching

FOUND? Like a Water-Worn Stone by meyari (T, 41k, wangxian, major character death, Hurt/Comfort, very little hurt, lots of comfort, Chronic Illness, Serious Injuries, Self-Medication, Disability, PTSD, Depression, Self-Worth Issues, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, aftermath of war, Aftermath of Violence, Prisoner of War, Identity Issues, Warning: Jīn Guāngshàn, enslavement (discussion of), abuse (discussion of), actually very fluffy despite the warnings)

FOUND? Elder, an Aesthetic by MarbleGlove (G, 8k, JC & WWX, Fix-It, Post-Sunshot Campaign)

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[robininthelabyrinth]

Lao Nie doesn't die after his sword is broken. The mad Nei leader stays in power. Huisang gets the opportunity to remember his father. Some memories are good. 🙃🙃🙃

survival (of a sort) - ao3

“You can paint, right?” Nie Mingjue asked, and Nie Huaisang hummed in something that wasn’t quite agreement, but wasn’t disagreement, either.

After all, he could paint. He was actually quite proud of his painting, really. He thought he was getting pretty good at it, and he practiced it all the time when he was alone – it was certainly a lot more fun than anything else he could be doing. He’d even gotten a few compliments from people when they saw things he’d made, though he usually didn’t let them know that what they were admiring was his own work. He never admitted anything.

It went against his principles to admit that he had any skills.

It wasn’t good to have skills.

Skills could be used, after all. Look at Nie Mingjue, who had so many skills – who was blessed, or cursed, with the ability to be good at any martial art, a talent for saber that hadn’t been seen in a thousand years, a natural grasp on strategy, tactics, and even command. He didn’t have any artistic skills, couldn’t draw a straight line or keep a tune to save his life, but that was about the only thing he couldn’t do.

He could even control that nasty temper he’d inherited.

Not that he’d had much choice but to learn that. None of them had any choice, when it came to that – the only person allowed to be angry was their father.

Their father, the Sect Leader.

Their father, the madman.

It’d all started when Wen Ruohan had broken their father’s beloved saber, Jiwei. Nie Huaisang had been quite young at the time, so he didn’t know why the other sect leader had done something like that – according to Nie Mingjue, they’d actually been pretty fond of each other before that – but if it had been meant to assassinate him, it hadn’t worked. Their father had survived…mostly.

It was that mostly that was the real problem.

If you asked Nie Huaisang, they probably would’ve been better off if the assassination had worked.

Not that anyone ever asked Nie Huaisang.

“If I asked you to paint something…” Nie Mingjue started to say, then trailed off, his expression distant as he studied the wall next to them with great interest, not looking at Nie Huaisang for too long lest someone tell their father that they were plotting together again – that had happened about a year ago, some waste of space trying to show off, trying to play on the mad sect leader’s qi-deviation-induced paranoia to make themselves seem valuable, try to climb up the ladder to power by stepping on the existing heirs. It had resulted in the two of them not being allowed to see each other for a month, two broken bones for Nie Mingjue to add to his extensive collection, and Nie Huaisang having taken his first life, though no one knew about that last one. They just knew that the bastard that had tried the little scheme hadn’t even finished convalescing from the beating the sect leader had given him for interrupting his day when someone had made their way into his bedroom in the middle of the night and slit his throat.

No one had bothered checking on who might’ve done it.

After all, the obvious assumption was that it had been the sect leader himself, out on one of his midnight walks – he didn’t sleep anymore, too red-eyed and swollen with fury to ever properly rest – having somehow remembered the poor bastard’s name and face and decided to go finish the job.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

So, really, there was no point in checking, no point in looking. The only thing that could be done was to wait until the sect leader was distracted by something else – when there was another, newer target for his rage.

There was always something to be angry about.

It was usually the wars. Or, well, it had been the wars, consistently, these past few years; war was messy and unpredictable, always good for a distraction. But with the Nie sect’s ascendancy to the position of supreme sect rapidly growing ever more steadily consolidated, there were fewer and fewer sects daring to stand against them, and fewer excuses for war. Who wanted to be slaughtered like dogs, their lives and those of their families fed to the sect leader’s shoddily reforged saber like meat to a fattened pig?

They’d started surrendering instead of fighting, picking life over dignity.

Sometimes it even worked.

That was all well and good for them, but not so good for the people of the Unclean Realm.

Here, people were starting to worry what life would be like when the sects willing to fight back ran out. The streets of the Unclean Realm were filled with whispers, people asking each other how much longer could Lanling Jin afford to pay for mercenaries, or perhaps more accurately, given how swiftly they died, how many more mercenaries would be available to be bought. They asked each other if the Lan sect was still holding strong, proud and rigid in their morality and rules, or if they’d retreated into the safety of seclusion at long last, the cost of chivalry finally too high for them to pay. They asked if the much-reduced Jiang were thinking of rebelling again, or if they’d finally learned their lesson the last time around. They asked…well, that was all they asked.

(Once in a while, someone asked about the Wen sect. They were forcibly made to shut up as swiftly as possible.)

The important part wasn’t what sect led the war against them. The important part was the war.After all, if there wasn’t a war, then what would they have with which to distract their terrible sect leader?

If he wasn’t leading a war, then he’d be at home. At home all the time.

That would be bad.

“If you wanted something painted, I could probably whip something together,” Nie Huaisang said casually. Too casually, as if he wouldn’t break his own back if it meant doing something for his brother, who never asked for anything for himself. His brother, who was the only reason they still had anything resembling a functional sect – who’d taken on all the horrible chores of sect leadership that their madman of a father was no longer capable of, the mundane and boring stuff about fixing the laundry when it broke or making sure there wasn’t a shortage in shoes. His brother, who was the only person who still spoke up to their father to stop him, as much as possible, from bringing the atrocities committed outside their borders back home.

There was a reason he had all those broken bones.

Nie Mingjue insisted, to this day, that it wasn’t their father’s fault that he was like this. He’d been driven mad by the loss of Jiwei, the rage from the saber sinking into his own soul and corrupting it, the qi deviation turning black into white – the closer he had been to someone, the more he hated them now.

If you thought about it that way, their father must have adored his eldest son.

Nie Huaisang thought cynically sometimes that he himself had gotten lucky: when the break had happened, he’d been too young to have much of a personality, and so his father’s love for him had been of a more generic nature. It didn’t exempt him from his father’s current hatred, the resentment in him seething at the mere sight of Nie Huaisang, but it did mean that his father’s memories of him were largely composed of waiting for him to get old enough to teach. Waiting for him to get down the basics of cultivation and the saber well enough that they could really start spending quality time together, so that he could pass down the Nie sect’s cultivation to him the way he had to Nie Mingjue.

Too bad that Nie Huaisang was never, ever going to get the basics down.

What a good-for-nothing he was!

“How accurate can you get?” Nie Mingjue wondered, still not looking at him directly. He had a black eye again, swiftly fading – he’d probably be dead if his cultivation wasn’t as good as it was, and Nie Huaisang hated that he had to thank his father for that, for giving Nie Mingjue the foundation in cultivation he needed to survive the wreckage of their lives, survive the monster that his father had become. “I mean, that bird you did a few days ago was pretty dead on, true to life.”

“Uh-huh,” Nie Huaisang said. “Really. What type of bird was it again?”

Nie Mingjue shot him a comically betrayed look that made Nie Huaisang have to force down laughter – his brother couldn’t tell the difference between a cuckoo and a quail, with a habit of calling everything with talons a hawk, everything black a raven, and everything else divided neatly into being either a songbird or a chicken.

“I can do it,” he said again, and meant it this time. “Don’t worry about it, da-ge, I can do even better than that bird if I try. What is it?”

“Oh, just some abstract designs I think are pretty,” Nie Mingjue said. “I’ll show you sometime. No rush.”

Nie Huaisang knew well enough by now to know that that meant he ought to be fully dressed and ready to go that night at midnight, when his brother appeared in his room with nothing for light but a night-pearl and a few cloaks to help them blend in better. If they were caught by their father on his endless nighttime prowls, they would be in serious trouble – not at risk of dying, since their father still remembered that he needed to preserve his heirs, though he clearly no longer understood the reason why – and it was better to avoid that if they could. Midnight was usually the safest time. That was when their father typically went to the forges, to try yet again to reforge his saber, as if the dozens or hundreds of times he’d tried before had simply been inadequate, rather than the task itself being impossible.

It was usually the safest time.

“If he sees us, stay still and don’t move,” Nie Mingjue instructed, after giving Nie Huaisang a great big hug that neither of them had wanted to break. “I’ll go forward and get his attention. I don’t want him seeing you.”

“He’ll be less angry if it’s me he sees,” Nie Huaisang argued, but his big brother shook his head firmly. “Da-ge, please. You still haven’t finished healing from that thing two weeks ago. It’s my turn. I deserve the chance to bear the burden.”

Sometimes that worked, now that Nie Huaisang was old enough to make the argument plausible, but not tonight – Nie Mingjue was implacable.

“I want you to focus on copying out the design,” he said stubbornly. “That’s more important.”

“You going to tell me what it is you need copied so badly?”

“It’s better if you see it yourself.”

Their path, this night, led them down the spiraling stairs into the belly of the Unclean Realm, the places lower down and further away. At first, Nie Huaisang thought they were going to go to the prison that was there, to copy a portrait of some poor imprisoned soul for their family outside, but they went past that place without stopping. So next he thought they were going to go to the family shrines, the locked-away places in the deep dark caverns beneath the mountain that sheltered and backed their home, but they went past that, too.

They went deeper.

It turned out that his first guess had been the right one: they were going to a prison.

“Welcome back,” Wen Ruohan said, and bared his teeth. The few people that Nie Huaisang had found that were willing to speak of the past had said that Wen Ruohan had had the appearance of a distinguished gentleman, his clothing beautiful and his manner impeccable, his smile always urbane and refined despite the atrocities he committed, but that was then, and this was now – his father’s former friend turned would-be killer had little left of whatever poise he might have once possessed. His clothing was still of fine material, but it had gone ragged and faded with age and too many washes; it couldn’t conceal how thin he had become, nor the viciousness in his eyes, red-rimmed and marked with dark circles underneath. It couldn’t conceal the way he no longer smiled but only grimaced.

It couldn’t conceal the two stubs at the end of his arms, where his hands had been chopped off at the wrist.

“He’s an array master,” Nie Mingjue told Nie Huaisang, a short sentence that explained everything. That was why their father had butchered Wen Ruohan’s hands, their family origin showing itself after all these generations of pretending to be noble; that was why he had locked him away in this pit with little light and nothing he could use to write.

That was why they were here, now.

His brother would have done it without him if he could, Nie Huaisang knew. To this day, the mention of the Wen was the surest way to drive their madman of a father into a murderous frenzy – those surviving few who had been surnamed Wen had changed it to preserve their own lives, most of them taking on the surname ‘Wei’ after the brave couple, Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren, that had come to rescue those of them that they could from the aftermath of Wen Ruohan’s fall; Nie Huaisang thought he’d heard that they’d gone to ground in Yiling, making their own little sect, isolated by a wary world but for a distant alliance with the Gusu Lan largely formed through the strength of Cangse Sanren’s old friendship with Lan Qiren. They teetered, as far as Nie Huaisang knew, on the edge of starvation, unable to leave the safety of the Burial Mounds for fear that the mad Sect Leader Nie would come try to finish the job he’d once started – and they were right to be afraid.

Their father would kill them if he could. He’d kill anyone who had anything to do with the Wen.

Anything at all.

This thing they were doing now, this newest plan of Nie Mingjue’s to try to save people because that was what it always was, that was always the reason, was more dangerous than anything they had ever done before. Nie Huaisang knew that.

He knew, too, that his brother would prefer that he was left out of it. He always tried to keep Nie Huaisang out of things, always tried to protect him, always worried first and foremost whether he would be safe. For something as dangerous as this, something involving the Wen and Wen Ruohan in particular, he especially wouldn’t want Nie Huaisang to be involved.

But his brother couldn’t paint a straight line if he tried.

His calligraphy was called bold and vigorous, but in truth was sometimes better called nearly illegible; he could draw talismans, if he had to, forcing the scribbles to bear some spiritual energy and do more-or-less what they were supposed to, but the ones he made never worked as well as they would if made by someone with actual talent in the art.

Talent like Nie Huaisang’s.

“You trust him?” Nie Huaisang asked, curious. He assumed the answer was yes, given that they were here, but in the end this was the man who had brought all of this trouble down on their heads. If Wen Ruohan hadn’t broken Jiwei, their father wouldn’t be so obsessed with trying to put her back together.

Nie Mingjue hesitated.

“I don’t think there’s any other choice,” he finally said, and Wen Ruohan let out a hacking cough that may have once been meant as a sardonic laugh. “The wars are ending. Sooner than people think – the other sects are basically crushed already. The Jiang lost their heart with the massacre, the Jin are in way over their heads, the Lan…”

The Lan had once been the Nie sect’s closest allies, and their main sect among the ones their father had counted as his friends. The more he once loved…

Best not to think about it.

“Without a war, he’ll turn on everyone else,” Nie Mingjue concluded. “Those of us here at home, yes, but not just us.He’ll kill everyone if that’s what it takes, or at least what he thinks it’ll take to get Jiwei back. His cultivation is so high now that I can’t catch up. I can’t stop him, even if I were willing to be a patricide, so that’s not the answer. We need a different approach.”

He nodded at Wen Ruohan – presumably, the different approach in question.

“What’s the array I’m going to be drawing meant to do?” Nie Huaisang asked, a concession and agreement, and his brother was going to explain, he could see it, except there was the sound of footsteps in the hall.

“Why is he here?” Wen Ruohan asked, his face growing pale. He’d brightened upon seeing Nie Mingjue, growing lively once more, a corpse coming back to life, but now he seemed weak once more – now he seemed afraid. He should be. “Why – he barely ever comes here anymore. Why is he here now?”

Bad luck, Nie Huisang supposed. Just plain bad luck.

They had a lot of that in their family.

“I’ll go distract him,” Nie Mingjue said, pulling off his cloak. “Huaisang, Ruohan – get to work.”

He was gone a moment later, before Nie Huaisang could stop him.

So instead, Nie Huaisang turned to look at the man in the cage.

“Ruohan?” he asked archly. “Really? For my brother to refer to someone so much older than him so intimately is most unlike him…I take it you’re on very good terms with each other, then?”

“Our cultivation styles are extremely compatible,” Wen Ruohan said. He looked more tired than anything else. “He’s come to visit me any number of times, but we only discovered it relatively recently. Under the circumstances, I thought it appropriate for him to call me by name… I will answer any question you like. He has already told me to be afraid of you.”

“He did?”

“He doesn’t know to be afraid,” Wen Ruohan corrected himself. “But I knew your mother, and I can tell from the way he speaks of you that you are often underestimated. I won’t make that mistake."

Nie Huaisang didn’t trust Wen Ruohan one bit. But he didn’t need to trust him to use him.

And they didn’t have time to waste. Not with Nie Mingjue winning them time to talk, trading his body and his pain for just a little bit longer. “Tell me what the array you want me to draw looks like.”

[slythmultishipper]

Say "I'm sad" to your boyfriend and see how he reacts

Jiang Cheng: Xichen-ge, I'm sad.

Lan xichen: *Holds out arms for a hug* It’s going to be okay.

Jin guangyao: Da-ge, I'm sad.

Nei Mingjue, nodding: mood.

(Yes, nmj's attempt at using slangs he learnt from Huaisang 😂)

[addercharmer]

Mo Lai had a difficult life, she had been born to a rich master and a servant to his house in an affair, her mother had died during her birth and her father had left her with the other servants to raise, she was treated like the second lady of the house or as a servant depending on her father's mood.

Then she had caught the eye of the Jin sect leader, and he had rushed into her life like a warrior come to save her from all hardships, and he had for a short time.

Then he had left, without giving her a proper farewell. Her father had called her ruined goods and had banished her to a shack on the border of his lands, then she had found out she was with child and sent a letter to Jin Guangshan to tell him of the news.

He never replied, and now her bastard son was six years old and Mo Lai was heartbroken from the betrayal of what she had believed was a righteous man. She had only been given two things from her affair with Jin Guangshan, her son, and miraculously enough a golden core.

She had been at her half sister's mercy for five years after the mysterious death of their father, and now it seemed to be her turn.

Mo Daiyu, the mistress of Mo village, was kneeling over her with her hands wrapped around her throat cutting off her air supply, Mo Lai had been starved for many years always giving as much of the little food they were given to her son in hopes that he would grow strong and prove himself to the world and pull her out of disgrace.

She was far to weak from starvation to fight against Mo Daiyu's strength, but then she remembered a spell she had seen in one of Jin Guangshan's books she had seen, what she had been able to understand from her very limited schooling was that it would give your body to a soul that you called on in return for your soul being shattered, and a favor.

She twisted her fingers into the complicated signs that had been sketched in the book and pulled on every crumb of resentment she felt for the world around her, and called on the only spurt she believed would understand her hate of being family to someone when useful then hated the next second for being the child of a servant.

"Wei Wuxain." She breathed, using the last of her air to send her plea past the veil. 'Save my son.' She demands from the pit of her soul as she dies.

-------

Wei Ying woke to the feeling of a small hand on his arm and the call of a child's voice. "Mama, wake up."

Wei Ying groaned he didn't want to wake up, his throat hurt and he feels like he hasn't slept in years.

"Mama, up. Mama told A-Yu that A-Yu needs a bath today." The child said again.

Wei Ying cracked his eyes open and took a look around, he was in an unfamiliar room. And when he looked towards where the child's voice was he didn't recognize who it could be.

"Ahhh, A-Yu?" Wei Ying said, his throat hurt even worse and his voice was oddly feminine even with how scratchy it was.

The child who looks oddly like he did nods, his large round eyes fixed on Wei Ying's face, searching for something that Wei Ying couldn't understand.

"What is mama's name?" He forces past the pain.

"A-Yu's mama is Mo Lai. But you aren't mama, who are you?" The child says firmly, Wei Ying is surprised that the child knows that he is not his mother.

"Ah, I was Wei Wuxain." Wei Ying answers, he sits up and looks down at himself to assess the state of his body and his mind stalls.

"Mama?" A-Yu breaks him from the blank state of his mind.

"Oh Hua Cheng!" Wei Ying yelps. "I was a man, I was born a man, I died a man, why am I a woman?"

He scrambles from the bed in a rush to get to the bowl of water across the room, the reflection that stares back at him is that of a very pretty woman, all long black silky hair and round gray eyes. She has many of his features just softened into a delicate female form. Then he notices the hand shaped bruises wrapped around his -her- throat and everything snaps into place.

"A-Yu, I am your new mama, go pack your things. We are leaving, I promise I will explain everything later." Wei Ying tells the small boy, he -she- needs to get them away from Mo Lai's murder.

A-Yu bolts out of the room with a skip in his step, whoever killed Mo Lai must abuse A-Yu as well. With a sigh Wei Ying starts pulling open trunks and throwing all the robes on the bed along with anything of value. When she finds a trunk that holds small bags and delicate jewelry she quickly pulls all the bags out, and drops to sit on the floor to make them into Qiankun bags for easier travel.

One of the bags when it was turned over has a small pearl button fall out of it, Wei Ying stares at it in disgust, he now knows who the father of A-Yu is, and now the monster of a man will not get his hands on a brilliant child.

The bags are finished quickly, and Wei Ying starts to fill them quickly, she leaves four of them on the floor for A-Yu to fill when he returns.

"Mama, I have my trunk." A-Yu calls from the door.

"Ah, good. Put everything from the trunk into those bags." Wei Ying tells the boy and points to the four Qiankun bags on the floor still.

She is quick to finish shoving the last of the jewelry into a bag when she catches sight of a large satchel that hangs by the door of the room, you can't put a Qiankun bag into a Qiankun bag. She had originally thought that she would have to tie them all onto her belt but was happy to see that she could just put them into an ordinary bag.

Wei Ying had left out a set of light gray set of three layered robes that were of a coarser weave than all the others to put on over her under robe that Mo Lai had died in, she wasn't ready to look at her naked body even if she was already calling herself female in her mind. Quickly pulling on the robes, Wei Ying looks at the progress A-Yu has made.

"Ah, good. Let's go then." She says when she sees that the trunk A-Yu had pulled into the room is empty.

"Mama, should we go to the treasury?" A-Yu asks, it's an innocent question but it makes Wei Ying smirk.

"Lead the way." She says with a dark chuckle as she drops the two Qiankun bags full of A-Yu's things and keeps the empty two in her free hand.

----

Wei Ying had been on the road with her new son for two weeks when she ran into the first cultivator, it was a Nei cultivator that was hunting the same fierce ghost that she was.

"Ah!" Wei Ying screamed in fright at the giant man who had swung his saber at the ghost just as Wei Ying had finished playing Rest on the dizi she had bought at the first village they had stopped in out of Mo village.

The Nei gave a shout of shock as well as he unbalanced himself enough to fall on his back and miss cutting off Wei Ying's head.

"Master Nei!" She yelps in worry as his saber cuts a clean line into his thigh from his fall and the momentum of his swing combined.

Wei Ying drops to her knees beside him and pulls out the medical herbs she had been collecting on her travels, she had been forced to use empathy with Wen Quin so they could work together to improve healing arts so now she had all the knowledge that her adopted sister had. She is fast to rip open the pants and robe the man wears to get a better look at the cut before she starts to pack in the cut with the herbs as she crushes them and feeds small amounts of her qi into the cut.

"Be more aware." She snaps at the man, channeling her inner Quin-jie.

"Y-yes mistress." The Nei stutters, Wei Ying huffs, who knew being a fierce female turned men into scared children.

Wei Ying ties a strip of clean bandage around the wound and slaps the man's shoulder before she stands and brushes off the grass from her robes.

"Ah, this one owes the mistress a debt, if the mistress would be willing to come to the unclean realm for a reward." The Nei says, looking a little dazed.

"We will pick up my son first." Wei Ying demands as an agreement, and spins on her toes letting her robes flare around herself dramatically to head back to the inn she had left A-Yu in.

The trip to the unclean realm is much shorter than Wei Ying had thought it would be, she is thankful though, A-Yu needs some food, a bath, and most importantly some sleep.

The Nei cultivator knocks on a door and opens it after a rough grunt is given to grant enterince. Wei Ying pauses as she hears the guqin being played, most of the song sounded like Cleansing but the last three bars are different and give a sense of disquiet.

"Sect leader Nei, I have returned. The night hunt was finished before I had arrived, I had almost lopped off this woman's head because I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I was injured by my own carelessness and she treated the wound. I would like to offer her and her son sanctuary for a short time so they do not need to pay for lodging." The cultivator says as he bows to Nei Mingjue.

"Do as you wish, leave them here to speak. Jin Guangyao leave." He barks at his subordinate and the golden robed man playing the song that had Wei Ying's Qi screaming.

Wei Ying bows deeply to the Nei sect leader, she had admired the man before he had turned against Wei Ying believing the Jin without any proof.

"Sect leader Nei, this one is Mo Ying, I am a wandering cultivator. I travel with my son Mo Xuanyu. This one thanks you for offering lodging to us and promises we will be gone in a few days." Wei Ying says to the frowning Nei Mingjue.

"Nei Mingjue. You are welcome to stay as long as you need for treating my cousin after he foolishly injured himself." The sect leader growls.

"Thank you sect leader. If I may ask?" Wei Ying bites her lip a little in fear that her question is going to cause problems.

Nei Mingjue waves his hand in acceptance.

"Why was the Jin cultivator playing a song of turmoil?" She asks slowly, speaking carefully to not make the sect leader fly into a rage and qi deviate.

"That son of a whore!" Nei Mingjue thunders as his face turns purple in his anger.

Wei Ying pulls his bamboo dizi from the belt of his robe and quickly starts to play Cleansing properly with more qi than is necessary put into the notes. Nei Mingjue's face turns back into a safe color as he is but with the calming effects of the song played properly.

"Oh." The sect leader says in wonder as the music washes over him. "Can you play for me until I have contacted the Lan? And then play the song you heard the bastard play for them?" He asks as his shoulders slump a little from the song.

Wei Ying nods as she keeps playing, she's pulled back on the amount of qi that she is putting into the notes so she can go a little longer. She had been lucky that Mo Lai had a golden core that was fairly good sized, nowhere what hers had been before she had given it to Jiang Cheng but she had found out she was only twenty having given birth to A-Yu at the age of fourteen.

----

It took a week of waiting before both Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji arrived.

Wei Ying had been playing Cleansing in Nei Mingjue's office with Nei Huaisang and her A-Yu sitting on the other side of the office soaking in the calm that the song provided when the two Lan's had entered the office.

"Xichen, Wangji, sit." Nei Mingjue demanded in his usual way.

"Dage, you sent a missive saying that something had happened and I was needed urgently?" The elder Lan asked.

"Yes. The woman playing is Mo Ying, the boy is her son Mo Xuanyu. They saved my cousin from his own stupidity a week ago." The Nei sect leader introduced them.

"When Mo Ying arrived Meng Yao was playing for me, but then she asked why he was playing a song of turmoil. Then she started playing this song that actually made me feel much better. In a moment both myself and the other two will leave so she can play the song that Meng Yao was playing, I want answers." He spoke louder than he had all week, he was angry but not constantly on the edge of blind rage.

Both Lan looked like they had been slapped by a dead fish, their eyes wide and lips parted in shock.

Nei Mingjue stood and gestured for his brother and Wei Ying's son to follow him from the room, once the door was closed Wei Ying stopped playing and looked the twin Jade's dead in the eye.

"I may have only met sect leader Nei, but if you taught this song to the man who played it I will not allow you to leave." She drew a talisman in the air and three it at the door to lock the two men in with her, then she drew two more and push them at the brothers.

"You are locked in this room with me, you are also bound to your chairs with a talisman that forces you to only speak the truth." She told them with her face a mask of cold indifference.

Bringing her Dizi up to her lips again, Wei Ying played the song she had heard on her arrival. Both Lan's looked disterbed that she was playing this specific song.

"Stop, please stop." Lan Xichen called, Wei Ying did as he asked and stopped playing.

"Who taught the Jin cultivator to play the guqin?" She asked sharply.

"I did." Lan Xichen answered.

"What did you teach him?" Wei Ying asked again, her voice sharper than before.

"Cleansing." Lan Xichen answered, his face was ashen.

"How could he have learned the songs of turmoil if you did not teach him?" Wei Ying asked, this was important, someone was trying to kill a sect leader.

"I gave him access to the forbidden texts." Lan Xichen whispered.

"Were either you in on his plan to slowly assistante sect leader Nei?" This question was asked with more anger behind it.

"No." Lan Wangji answers simply.

"I would never, I love Mingjue!" Lan Xichen screams, then he pales at what he had admitted.

"Good." Wei Ying chirps and cancels the energy she had put into the talismans she had drawn.

She stands and gives the two brothers a shallow bowl, then opens the door before taking her seat again. This time A-Yu sits in her lap and she hugs him close.

"The Lan are at fault for the Jin knowing the song, but they were not the ones to teach it." Wei Ying says simply, leaving it to Lan Xichen to explain.

"A-Yao…" he chokes out and stops, then takes a deep breath and starts again. "Jin Guangyao asked me to teach him Cleansing so he could help dage, I saw no harm in teaching him, I taught him the correct song. That is not how the Lan are at fault."

Lan Xichen takes a stuttering breath. "I gave him a jade token that gave him access to everything the sect leader could access. He learned the song from our forbidden texts, that is how the Lan, specifically me, are at fault."

Lan Xichen drops to his knees, at this point he is sobbing and pressing his forehead into the floor kowtowing and apologizing.

"Get up Xichen." Nei Mingjue says calmly.

They have to wait for the Lan sect leader to calm himself and sit back in his chair.

"This one has a question that is bugging her." Wei Ying says and then waits for acknowledgement.

"Speak." Nei Mingjue grunts.

"Ah, if this is the actions of the Jin, what else have they lied about?" She pauses for a moment then pushes on. "Wei Wuxain for example, did anyone actually investigate his 'army' or did you simply trust the word of someone else?"

"Wei Ying had no army." Lan Wangji snapped at her with a glare.

"I am not saying he did." She snapped back with the same amount of venom in her voice. "I am asking who actually saw the Wen living on that mountain?"

"I did, all elderly, one child, only Wen Quin had a core, and Wen Ning had his consciousness." Lan Wangji told her, not that she needed to be told. "Told brother, told uncle, they believed Jin Guangyao."

Lan Xichen flinched next to Lan Wangji, his eyes were downcast and he looked like his entire world was crumbling around him.

"Wangji." He says, then he stops himself after he makes eye contact with his brother.

"No, they killed my zhiji. You had me whipped thirty-three times. You almost gave A-Yuan to the Jin. You didn't believe me." Lan Wangji is yelling by the end of his sentence, he stands and walks out of Nei Mingjue's office radiating cold fury.

"Ah, well that's our que." Wei Ying says as she stands holding a sleeping A-Yu in her arms and making pointed eye contact with Nei Huaisang.

The small group of three exit the office quietly leaving the sworn brothers to fix their own mess.

----

Wei Ying knew she was too curious for her own good. After she had left A-Yu in the room that had been provided for them she went looking for the younger Lan.

"Second master Lan." She called when she finally spotted him in the garden.

The only reaction to her call was the fist held behind his back tightening. Wei Ying did as she usually would have and ignored the signs of his anger.

"I wish to ask you about A-Yuan, who is that?" She asks, she's pretty sure it's her little radish but wanted confirmation.

"A-Yuan is my son." He tells her in a bland voice.

"You saved him?" Wei Ying whispers.

Lan Wangji's head snaps to look at her, his golden eyes are cold but he scans her face. He must have seen something in her expression or eyes, his own flashed in surprise and bewilderment.

"Wei Ying." He says and the hand that was holding the hilt of his sword cupped the side of her face.

"Lan Zhan." She whispered back, and nuzzled into the palm of his hand.

"Come back to Gusu with me." He demands.

"Yes."

[thisdudesart]

dage-

[aheartfullofjolllly]

nie mingjue and his bde—big dage energy (but yes, also that bde) ↳ @mdzsnet | nie mingjue bday event ʕ •ᴥ• ʔ

[bye-school-boy]

She had more guts than all the men present there.

[vrishchikawrites]

Post-post-post cannon Wangxian being completely in love in the cloud recessess as teenagers who time travelled back to their own 16-17 year old bodies on accident.

In love. Wangxian are in love. In love. Just smooph and fluff.

Like they're effortlessly in love. (No matter how much Jiang Cheng yells and ties to control Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian casually refuses to hear any of it, as he'd been ignoring Jiang Cheng's homophobia and hate forever by the time they both came back by accident. )

Also wwx doesn't hide his genius and every one around him is like senpai *heart eyes* (honestly he's almost forgotten how to hide his effortless genius.)

(Just FYI, don't have to include this: this Wei Wuxian has long since come to terms with all his war and Sunshot and Shiji related trauma— just FYI.)

I just want to read as much of the smooph, smushy fluff and love you can stomach writing please.

Extra points if you can show them both just effortlessly and absentmindedly flirting.

(You don't have to incude this, but: They just take like a weekend off and go raze the main Wen family to the ground casually— back late with Starbucks— "We were night hunting. What do you mean the Wen family died? So sad. We feel so bad. Don't we feel bad?" " Mm. Feel bad.")

Thank you so much for existing in this fandom. I love your fics. I love you. 💖

Xichen is proud of his brother but he can't deny that he is sometimes concerned for him as well. Wangji is a dedicated and accomplished disciple but he is isolated from his peers. Xichen has friends and confidants but Wangji is simply content to be by himself.

That is concerning, even for a Lan.

He had hopes that incoming disciples would manage to shake him up a little but that hope didn't last long. Year after year, Wangji continued to remain aloof, not expressing any interest in the disciples.

But something has changed this year. Xichen didn't even know what was going on until a few weeks into the introduction of the guest disciples.

He spots them by chance. Young Master Wei is cheerfully waving at a vendor, his smile wide and bright, ensnaring the old woman's entire attention.

Wangji is right by him, Bichen in one hand but the other…

The other is placed on the small of Wei-gongzi's back.

Xichen watches as they move on from the vendor. He sees how Wangji seems to shield Wei-gongzi from the crowd, angling his body slightly to ensure his companion can walk freely.

It is a gesture of protectiveness. It is a gesture of possession.

Xichen studies their body language carefully. Wangji seems content to follow Wei-gongzi around, his expression closed but gentle. There are no frosty glares or pursed lips. His brother, for once, looks entirely relaxed. Everything about him is loose and easy underneath all of his Lan elegance. His shoulders slope gently, his spine isn't as rigid, and his walk is steady.

The First Jade has never seen his brother look so settled.

Wei Wuxian seems happy too, his smile incandescent and lovely. Almost as tall as Wangji, the boy is the very antithesis of his brother. While Wangji is sedate and content, Wei Wuxian is nearly bursting with energy and joy. His silver eyes sparkle in the sunlight and his long hair sways with every movement of his body.

Xichen's heart softens at the glimpse of such open beauty. There's certainly something alluring about Young Master Wei. He seems to suffuse his surroundings with happiness.

There's something in the air around them.

Despite his lively mind wandering from one stall to another, Wei-gongzi always finds his way back to Wangji, looking at him with a hopeful smile and a cheerful comment.

His brother's expression is unfamiliar to him. Wangji looks like his entire world is smiling up at him.

'Is this love?' He wonders to himself as he watches his brother gently pull Wei-gongzi out of a running child's way. He doesn't miss how the touch lingers, fingers curling slightly around the slender wrist before pulling away.

There are many eyes following Wangji and his friend, and all of them have indulgent expressions. The people of Caiyi town have seen Wangji since he was a child. They know him and his nature well enough.

Xichen suspects they're just as happy to see Wangji roaming the markets leisurely as a pretty butterfly flutters around him.

"Is that Lan Wangji?" Nei Mingjue observes, stepping up beside him.

Xichen nods, "And his friend, Wei Wuxian."

"Hm," his friend says, "I've been hearing that name a lot recently. They say the only reason Jin Zuxian beat him in the rankings is because of his looks."

Xichen chuckles at Mingjue's tone, "Ah, Da-ge, you must hate that."

His friend rolls his eyes, taking a sip of his tea. "How do looks matter when you're facing down Fierce Corpses?"

"From what shufu says, Young Master Wei is Wangji's equal in many ways." Shufu had been wary at first, wondering what sort of chaos the son of Cangse Sanren would bring to Cloud Recesses. So far, Wei Wuxian has proven to be a mischievous but brilliant student. "He challenges shufu in class. They end up having loud, angry debates," Xichen chuckles because he knows his uncle, despite all appearances, loves being stimulated, "He mentions the boy often." There's a comment about Wei Wuxian almost every time he has tea with his uncle.

He looks at the two younger master's thoughtfully, "I didn't expect this."

"Are they courting?" Nei Mingjue asks bluntly, "Because your little brother is acting like a husband already."

Xichen stills and looks at the pair again. That is what's off about their body language. They move around each other confidently, not like a young couple in fresh blooms of love.

There are no tentative glances, awkward touches, and hyperawareness. Wangji touches Wei Wuxian like it is his right. Like he is confident that his touch is welcome and desired.

For a moment, he feels a pang of worry. Xichen looks at Wei Wuxian, studying him carefully to see if there's any sign of strain or distress.

He finds nothing. Wei-gongzi responds to every gesture of affection like a flower blooming under the Sun.

"Ah." He realizes, "You think…?"

"Strong bonds form quickly between cultivators with matching potential." Nei Mingjue observes, "It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Your brother looks a little too enamored for this to be a teenage fancy."

Well, isn't this an interesting development?

---

"Your hair looks nice," Nie Huaisang says, hiding a smile behind his fan. Wei-xiong always looks good but there's something particularly radiant about him now. He seems to stand a bit taller, carry himself with a bit more confidence. His gestures seem stronger, somehow carrying more authority than before.

But the hair intrigues him. There's a glittering silver hairpiece in it and the strands of ebony are tied up in a neat style.

Neater than Wei-xiong's usual style. While Huaisang is certain Wei-xiong is perfectly capable of making himself as elegant as the Jades of Lan, he usually doesn't bother.

This was done by someone else's careful, loving, hand.

Jiang Yanli isn't at Cloud Recesses and Jiang Cheng would rather burn his own hands than show even an ounce of love towards his shixiong - something pricks when he thinks about that.

So there's someone else, someone willing to comb Wei-xiong's hair until every strand is glossy and straight, before tying it up with a silver and jade pin that looks expensive.

Wei-xiong is courting- no, he corrects himself, watching his friend wave enthusiastically at Lan Wangji, 'Wei-xiong is being courted.'

Wangji-xiong bows to his brother and walks towards Wei-xiong, his gaze softer than usual. His friend is smiling widely and immediately dissolves into excited chatter. Wangji-xiong doesn't seem bothered, just nodding occasionally and watching with indulgent patience.

There's something entirely lovely about the way Wangji-xiong's eyes remain fixed on Wei Wuxian's face. It is like nothing else is more important to him than Wei-xiong's smile and cheerful voice.

Standing together in the courtyard, both clad in white and glowing under the warm light of the morning sun, they look stunning. Huaisang's romantic heart sighs at the sight.

"What is he doing?" Jiang Wanyin hisses and Huaisang looks at him, startled by his icy tone, "I can't believe he's making a nuisance of himself again!"

"Jiang-gongzi-"

"Wei Wuxian! What are you doing, messing around?"

The loud voice catches almost everyone's attention. Wei-xiong looks over his shoulder and Wangji-xiong's expression turns frosty, all warmth draining from it immediately.

"Aiya, Jiang Cheng," Wei-xiong grins but it doesn't have that sheepish, placating quality that Huaisang had seen before, on those rare occasions he visited Lotus Pier with his da-ge. This grin was full of confidence and almost... dismissal. "Why are you angry now?"

Was that tone... mocking?

Huaisang's lips twitch as Jiang-gongzi swells further with rage, "Wei Wuxian! How can you be so shameless? Imposing yourself on Lan Wangji, always trying to distract him. Think of our sect's reputation for once!"

"Do not speak for me." Wangji-xiong's voice is icy and it cuts Jiang-gongzi's rant short immediately, "Wei Ying is free to seek me out whenever he wishes. No one may stop him."

And that seems to be that. Wei-xiong laughs and Wangji-xiong guides him away gently like he's someone delicate and not the strongest cultivator of their generation.

But, Huaisang muses, even strong people deserve gentleness.

---

"Da-shixiong! Show us that one again," A Jiang disciple demands and Wangji looks up from his work. He has clear sight of the training ground from where he's sitting. Wei Ying is standing in the middle, surrounded by a few Jiang and Lan disciples.

They're all looking at him in adoration.

Wangji feels a flood of amusement and sets his work aside, content to take a small break. It is always a treat to see his husband in his element; teaching people and nurturing young minds. They may be back in their teenage bodies, but their soul is much older.

Wei Ying, with his natural ability to charm juniors and his hard-earned wisdom, is the perfect teacher.

"It is amusing to see you so smitten," Wangji looks up to see his brother smiling at him, "Wei-gongzi must be very special, yes?"

His brother probably aims to fluster him, he is so fond of teasing Wangji. But Wangji had been Wei Ying's husband for more than a decade before an accident sent them back in time. He is no longer flustered or overwhelmed by his feelings. "Very special," He agrees, unable to help glancing back at his beloved, "Very lovely."

Xichen chuckles, "He is indeed lovely." His expression turns sly, "Do I need to speak with Uncle? Betrothal negotiations may be complicated in this case."

Wangji remains unphased, "You may," He says calmly, much to his brother's surprise, "Wei Ying will marry into the Lans. Give no concession to the Jiangs. He is just their Head Disciple, not the part of the family."

"Wangji," His brother breathes, "You're that invested?"

"Un. Will marry Wei Ying. Give him a better life. A life of dignity, freedom, and respect. Free of unnecessary debt that no one should foist on a child."

That is enough for Xichen to understand. His gaze turns solemn and he looks at Wei Ying carefully, "If that is what you wish, brother, you will have it."

---

Wangji feels his heart still when he steps into the library pavilion. He gazes at the scene before him, feeling the stiff formality of his expression melt away.

Wei Ying is beautiful, sitting there and reading peacefully. The evening sunlight envelopes him, giving him an ethereal glow. He traces his husband's features, feeling something akin to desperate love. It has been so since he saw this face and this body. Mo Xuanyu didn't lack beauty and Wei Ying's radiant personality had only added to it.

But this is Wei Ying's true body.

Helplessly drawn, he steps forward. "Xingan."

Wei Ying looks up, startled to hear such an endearment aloud. Immediately, his face is aglow with a pretty blush even as he laughs teasingly, "Lan Zhan! Don't be so bold!"

He walks towards Wei Ying and settles down by him, closer than truly appropriate but this is his husband. "Research?"

Wei Ying smiles, drawing Wangji's attention to his lips. There's no one in the library so Wangji permits himself the touch, reaching forward to gently caress them, "Such beauty." He whispers.

Wei Ying blushes again, "Er-gege," He protests, "Have mercy on my heart."

His fingers slide under Wei Ying's jaw, drawing him in gently. His husband is sweet and compliant as Wangji kisses him, an innocent brush of lips and nothing more. "My Wei Ying." His voice is low, heated in ways Wei Ying recognizes. He watches as those enchanting silver eyes brighten with passion.

His Wei Ying buries his warm face in his neck with a moan of protest, "Mercy, husband. You're so cruel to tease me like this when you can't take me to bed."

It is indeed a challenge to not have their 'everyday' but Wangji can be patient. Xiongzhang is already working on it.

For now, he is content.

They sit like that for a long time, Wei Ying leaning against him, trusting and calm. No one disturbs them and Xichen only stops by once, smiling knowingly in their direction and pointedly ignoring Wangji's restraining hand around Wei Ying's waist, stopping him from pulling away.

They spend the rest of the evening exchanging soft murmurs and softer kisses.

Nothing will stand in their way this time.

[1000lightszine]

The brilliant Sen has us all grinning along with Wen Qing at poor Nei Mingjue bumping his head on a lantern🏮

See more of this charming scene by snagging a copy of the zine today!

✨Click here to order NOW! 

[sizhuyu]

Nei Mingjue, Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji with suicidal reader and they had a bad fight then reader bad thoughts, afterwards and tries to act on them but gets caught before she could do anything

GOODBYE- I have no idea on how to write this properly and so I gave up 😭 It’s a good request though

[meltingheartsandcores]

A tale of Wangji misunderstanding his brother.

I had the idea of LWJ misunderstanding LXC’s insistence on discussing WWX as LXC being interested in WWX and viola! I hope you enjoy!

Wei Wuxian wasn’t expecting a letter from Lan Wangji, in fact, considering their latest interaction, it was the last thing he expected. But, here it was. In plain view. Waiting to be opened. It wasn’t any notice of expulsion, or else it would be from Teacher Lan. Maybe it was a warning? Gloating?

No. No. Lan Wangji wouldn’t gloat.

“Stop worrying and just open the stupid letter. You’re keeping me up!” Jiang Cheng protests. Wei Wuxian sticks his tongue out at him but opens the letter and reads.

And grows more confused.

“He, wants to meet me after curfew.” He also gave a place, well, he said to meet where they first fought and Wei Wuxian doesn’t feel like explaining it to Jiang Cheng or telling him. Ever.

He lost two good jars of wine that night.

“Good for you. Maybe he wants to bash your head in.” Jiang Cheng grumbles and rolls over, finally going to bed. Wei Wuxian would never actually sleep at nine, but he’ll suffer waking up at five. Mostly because he has no choice in the matter. Still, he’ll meet Lan Wangji for this weird meeting. Why it can’t just happen within Wei Wuxian or Lan Wangji’s room, he doesn’t know. Maybe he does want a rematch. But, would he break the rules for that?

An hour passes before Wei Wuxian sneaks out and heads to the rooftop he met Lan Wangji on that night. His curiosity was palpable but he stayed silent as he sat on the roof. Lan Wangji wouldn’t be late, right? It was impossible for Lans to be late, right? Their body clock was incredibly accurate. Maybe he fell asleep? Lan Wangji would’ve grown up going to bed at nine, maybe he couldn’t stay awake?

Wei Wuxian’s worrying was pointless as minutes after he starts, Lan Wangji jumps onto the roof and sits down beside him.

“Ah, Lan Zhan. What’d you want to talk about?” Wei Wuxian asks, but Lan Wangji doesn’t answer. Instead, he puts a silence barrier around the roof they were on. Ohhkay. This is weird. “What’s going on?”

“I think Xiongzhang has a crush on you.”

“...what?” Does Lan Wangji have another brother? Because he can’t be referring to Zewu-Jun. That’s just- no. Not possible. Maybe he misunderstood something? Lan Wangji doesn’t always seem to grasp social situations correctly. “Uh, why do you think that?”

“He talks of you a lot. And asks me about you, along with asking how I feel about you.”

“How you feel about me?” Lan Wangji feels something other than annoyance with Wei Wuxian?

“Not relevant.” Okay, rude. “Xiongzhang seems interested in you.”

“Ohkay?” People have had crushes on Wei Wuxian before. He mostly ignored them. And considering he rarely interacts with Zewu-Jun, that won’t be a problem. Except that it’s Zewu-Jun. Lan Wangji has almost certainly crossed some wires. “Are you sure it’s a romantic interest? Maybe he’s just invested in you having a friend?”

“We are not friends.”

“Ah, Lan Zhan, I painted you a portrait.” Wei Wuxian wasn’t entirely sure what he did with it once Wei Wuxian handed it over because there was an incident that distracted him. He hopes Lan Wangji didn’t shred it like that book. “And we’re gossiping on a rooftop about your brother. We’re friends.” Wait. Wei Wuxian grins, “Lan Zhan, isn’t there a rule about gossiping?”

“We are not in Cloud Recess.” Wei Wuxian huffs a laugh, his smile growing at Lan Wangji using his own reasoning from that first night.

“Fair enough. So, have you talked to your brother about his alleged crush on me?”

Lan Wangji shakes his head, “I don’t believe he realizes.”

“No offence, but I think Zewu-Jun is more attuned to emotions than you.” Wei Wuxian’s comment earns him a glare and he shrugs, “You’ve been mostly isolated with only other Lans for company, Zewu-Jun has to go to clan meetings and shit. He’s more socialized than you. You literally have rules about being too happy or too sad.” Wei Wuxian could, annoyingly, recite the 3500 rules by memory now and write them all by muscle memory now. And there were far too many rules dictating what emotions you were allowed to feel and how to express them.

Lan Wangji’s glare softens back into his default expression and nods. “He is blind to his own feelings. He had a crush on Chifeng-zun throughout childhood, it was annoying. And he has no recollection of it.”

Wei Wuxian has never met Chifeng-zun, but from what he’s heard, he’s pretty sure most cultivators of their generation have a crush on him. Wei Wuxian included. He’s ripped, he’s giant, and he’s hot. Wei Wuxian has no plans on proposing marriage, he has enough anger issues from Jiang Cheng and Madam Yu thank you very much, but he’s not oppose to anything less.

“Most people have crushes on Chifeng-zun. It’s not that surprising, him allegedly having a crush on me, however…” It was doubtful. “Lan Zhan, if you’re so sure he has a crush on me, why haven’t you talked to him about it?”

“It would be inappropriate.”

“But it’s not inappropriate to talk to me about it?”

Lan Wangji shakes his head, clearly, Wei Wuxian misunderstood. “He would deny it regardless. The feelings are inappropriate.”

Wei Wuxian’s first thought was the fact that the feelings are of a cutsleeve, but immediately dismisses that because they were just talking about Chifeng-zun. No, so, why… ohhhh. “Because I’m a junior disciple under GusuLan’s protection and he’s sect leader. If he were a worse person, he could use his influence to get what he wants. And if Uncle Jiang heard he might assume the worse.” Ugh. Stupid politics. Even if Uncle Jiang didn’t, someone would. They would see a Clan Leader taking advantage of a visiting junior disciple. Despite only being three years apart. Great.

Wei Wuxian hates politics.

“So, what’s your plan? Why tell me about it?” Because Wei Wuxian can’t see a reason.

“Do you return the feelings?”

Wei Wuxian shrugs, because he can’t answer definitively, “I don’t know him well enough. I don’t really interact with Sect Leaders. Physically, yes, I am attracted to him. And from what I’ve heard he sounds like someone I’d be attracted to but I don’t really know him.”

Lan Wangji nods, “So you will get to know him. If you do not return the feelings then there is nothing to be done. They will disappear on their own.” Wei Wuxian isn’t sure about that logic, but maybe it was true for Zewu-Jun? According to Madam Yu, it was not true for Uncle Jiang. “If you do return the feelings…” Lan Wangji trails off, clearly at a loss.

“Offer to keep in contact once I leave? Maybe visit? If I’m not a guest disciple, but just a guest, it wouldn’t carry the same negative weight.” Lan Wangji nods in agreement.

“You should return to your bed.” Wei Wuxian nods and hurries back to his room, thankfully, he was not caught breaking curfew.

He did, in fact, wake Huaisang and immediately tell him about what Lan Zhan said. Huaisang was too groggy to properly react.

Immediately anyways.

About half a schichen later he shoots awake and wakes Wei Wuxian back up to interrogate him on Zewu-Jun’s apparent crush.

_-Morning-_

Regrettably, Operation Get To Know Zewu-Jun is on hold as Zewu-Jun left that morning for Qinghe. However, that meant Wei Wuxian had ample time to drag Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji away from people to make a plan. Since this was apparently happening.

“I still can’t believe Xichen-ge has a crush on you. No offense Wei-Xiong, but,” Huaisang looked doubtful.

“Lan Zhan said so. He knows Zewu-Jun best, right?” Wei Wuxian protests, turning to look at Lan Wangji at the same time as Nie Huaisang. Lan Wangji, looked determinedly uncomfortable.

“I do not understand what else he could be feeling. He talks about Wei Ying all the time, asks me about him, what else could that mean?” Ok, Lan Wangji sounded like he was actually confused. Well. He sounded vaguely unsure, barely a change in his tone, but, still. For Lan Wangji that’s complete confusion.

Nie Huaisang taps his fan to his chin, “That’s a good point. So what’s our plan?”

“Wei Ying will get to know Xiongzhang, if he does not return feelings we will cease.”

“And if he does?” Wei Wuxian blinks, realizing what he said and corrects, “I mean. If I do?”

Lan Wangji does not answer. Still clearly as unsure about that as last night.

Nie Huaisang, thankfully, has some ideas. “You wait until the classes are over, and you graduate, then you offer to keep in contact. Maybe do some night hunts or meet up. Go to dinner.” Nei Huaisang’s face scrunches up, “You’re going to have to get a taste for Gusu food.”

Wei Wuxian makes a similar face to Huaisang, “I can bring in chilli oil, right?” Wei Wuxian turns to look at Lan Wangji.

“Do not poison Xiongzhang with it.” Was Lan Wangji’s only response. Which was as good as agreement.

“Great. Now how do I get to know Zewu-Jun better?”

“Da Ge might know. I’ll send him a letter today, he’ll probably respond in three days. And we have at least a week before Xichen-ge comes back. So. We’ll have lots of time to practice.” Nie Huaisang informs, then asks, “But Wei-Xiong, why didn’t we bring Jiang-Xiong with us?”

Wei Wuxian makes a face, “Jiang Cheng might not respond well to my potential lovelife.”

“He makes many remarks about your lovelife.” Lan Wangji states.

“He jokes. Let’s just say it’s best if he finds out later. Will Da Ge really be that helpful though?” Nie Huaisang looked offended at the mere idea.

“Chifeng-zun became friends with Xiongzhang at a young age. His advice may be out of date.” Wei Wuxian was thankful for Lan Wangji’s support.

“But he’ll offer a different opinion!”

_—_In Qinghe_—_

Lan Xichen would appreciate it if Mingjue would stop laughing. It was not that funny! “What is so funny?” Lan Xichen didn’t think him bemoaning Wangji’s failure of a lovelife was funny!

Mingjue didn’t answer for another minute, too busy laughing. He takes a deep breath before he does, a smile still on his face, Lan Xichen couldn’t be angry with him. Mingjue wasn’t happy often anymore. Especially not to this extent. “You think Wangji is in love with Wei Wuxian.” Mingjue repeats, looking very close to falling back into laughter.

“Yes. Why is that funny?”

Mingjue chuckles a little before he says, “Because. Wangji thinks you’re in love with Wei Wuxian.”

What.

“What?”

How-

Why-

Mingjue bursts into laughter again. “Stop laughing! Why does Wangji think that?” Lan Xichen demands, very much at a loss.

Mingjue’s laughter titters off, “I don’t know. He told Wei Wuxian who told Huaisang who told me. I was not privy to the inner workings of your brothers mind Xichen.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I barely know Wei-Gongzi.”

“So does Wangji but that didn’t stop you from assuming.” Mingjue refutes.

“They had a fight under the moonlight and Wangji started calling him Wei Ying after a week.” Lan Xichen deadpans.

“...Fair enough.”

“Why did Huaisang write to you?” Lan Xichen asks, he can’t imagine Wangji thinking he has a crush on Wei Wuxian was that noteworthy.

“He wanted advice on getting to know you. Apparently their current plan is seeing if Wei Wuxian likes you back after actually knowing you. They have no plan further than that.”

That… sounded regrettably like his didi.

Lan Xichen sighs, then furrows his brow slightly when he notices Mingjue looking at him intently, clearly thinking. Mingjue, was not a tactful person, he would say what’s on his mind eventually. He’s sure Mingjue has something meaningful to say. Maybe about their brothers. Maybe a solution to their new problem of his brother, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang believing Lan Xichen has a crush on Wei Wuxian. Since Wangji will take any denial on Lan Xichen’s part as polite denial based on Wei Wuxian’s current status as a guest disciple of GusuLan. So. Lan Xichen waits.

“Is there a chance you have a crush on Wei Wuxian?”

He shouldn’t have waited.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Lan Xichen/Nei Huisang NH spoils LX and gets cared for in return. He teaches LX to be more selfish and take care of his wants without making sure to consider his sect and his sworn brothers wishes first. I feel like so much could have gone better if Lan Xichen trusted his guts over his urge to avoid conflict.

ao3

Modern AU

Most people, upon finding out that Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang had gotten together, made certain assumptions about their relationship.

Lan Xichen didn’t blame them.

He could see how it happened. Nie Huaisang was shorter than him by a head, younger, less powerful – he was the younger brother of a general, possessed of the same ancestral military lineage, but everyone knew he was flighty and unserious, little better than a fuerdai, the useless younger generation of the wealthy, whereas Lan Xichen was already moving in the same circles as his father and uncle before him, turning his law degree into a position in civil service. He was even sworn brothers with Nie Huaisang’s elder brother!

He knew how it looked.

He knew, because as soon as word got out, he received all sorts of knowing looks – don’t let your little lover spend too much, one colleague advised, chuckling, they get used to that! Another, more kindly inclined, suggested he arrange for his secretary to send flowers on an irregular schedule, and so reap the benefits. A third made some frankly obscene suggestions –

Luckily, Lan Xichen hadn’t had to do anything in regards to that one. Nie Mingjue had been visiting by chance, and overheard, and very shortly thereafter Lan Xichen could rest assured that no one – and he meant no one– would be making any more crude comments about Nie Huaisang.

Even Jin Guangyao had made an offhand comment about not letting Nie Huaisang wear him down too much.

Nie Mingjue knew the truth, Lan Xichen thought, but then, the Nie brothers had always been thick as thieves, and Nie Huaisang, for all his surprising discretion in relationship matters, would probably explode if he hadn’t had the chance to tell someone – probably in far, far too much detail. But Nie Mingjue would never say anything about it, and so it was very nearly like having no one at all know.

Lan Xichen…didn’t mind it.

It wasn’t that he was ashamed, of course. But it was something private, something that was just theirs – something that the rest of the world didn’t need to know about.

The world didn’t need to know that when Lan Xichen got home, he hung up his jacket, checked to confirm that no one else was there, and then took off his forehead ribbon and went to his knees next to the desk Nie Huaisang used to work from home, insofar as his extremely active social life (both online and off) could be seen as ‘work’. They didn’t need to know that Nie Huaisang would drop a hand into his hair, casual and dismissive, and tight his grip just a little bit, pulling Lan Xichen’s head back a little.

“Good boy,” Nie Huaisang said, and Lan Xichen melted inside. “I’m not done yet, so you can just wait for me to finish.”

Lan Xichen nodded. He was a good boy – he was Nie Huaisang’sgood boy – and good boys didn’t speak until given permission.

Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t still communicate, keeping his eyes fixed on Nie Huaisang for a little longer than he should. It took a few minutes for Nie Huaisang to notice, but eventually he did, and he turned his head down, smiling.

“Do you want to be punished tonight?” Nie Huaisang asked, and Lan Xichen shook his head. “No? Just tied up, then?”

Lan Xichen nodded happily, and Nie Huaisang laughed.

“I spoil you rotten,” he said warmly, and Lan Xichen responded by leaning his head against Nie Huaisang’s thigh, letting Nie Huaisang curl his fingers into his hair for another moment longer before taking his hand back and going back to typing. Having not been instructed to return to a sitting position, Lan Xichen took advantage of Nie Huaisang’s lenience to drift off in that position, years of meditation allowing him to easily slip into a state of calm.

He was pretty sure this wasn’t what his uncle had intended when he taught him how to do it, but he also didn’t really care that much. He neededthis: this surrender from the pressures of the world, this blissful moment where he could be wholly selfish and think of nothing beyond himself – no work, no friends, no family, no public good, nothing.

He could, for once, just stay within his own skin.

Nie Huaisang understood that urge the way no one else did. He didn’t mind if Lan Xichen didn’t live up to the expectations the world had of the First Jade of Lan – Nie Huaisang had never lived up to an expectation in his life, no matter how low, and so he would never inflict them on anyone else. All he expected from Lan Xichen was to be himself, to be good for him, to be his, and Nie Huaisang would spoil him and reward him for nothing but that.

No - the rest of the world didn’t understand.

They didn’t need to understand.

This was just theirs.

[veronica-nardi]

E comunque ricordiamoci tutti che il più grande cattivo di The Untamed è Jiang Cheng.

Non Wen Chao che ha gettato senza rimorsi Wuxian nei Monti della Sepoltura, con la precisa intenzione di farlo morire di una morte orribile.

Non Xue Yang che ha massacrato gente a destra e a sinistra per combattere la noia, e che ha distrutto la vita di Xiao Xingchen per puro divertimento.

Non Jin Guangyao che: ha rovinato la vita di Wuxian, ha sposato la sorella all'insaputa di lei, ha ucciso il figlio, ha costretto delle prostitute a fare sesso col padre morente fino a condurlo alla morte stessa, ha ingannato il povero Lan Xichen che ne è uscito come un uomo distrutto; ha portato alla pazzia Nie Mingjue con conseguente dipartita dello stesso, ha mentito a chiunque e manipolato tutti i Clan del mondo della coltivazione, fatto il doppiogioco e lasciato al nipote adolescente una famiglia disastrata.

Ma no, il più grande cattivo è e rimarrà sempre Jiang Cheng, che nonostante la gelosia, la rabbia e il dolore, non ha esitato a farsi catturare e a rischiare la vita per salvare quella del fratello.

Errori ne ha fatti, e sono sempre stata la prima ad arrabbiarmi a morte con lui, ma non posso ignorare il suo palese e profondo affetto per Wuxian.

Mai visto un personaggio più equivocato.

[wangxianficrecs]

I am what I am, I know what I know by Ibijau

I am what I am, I know what I know

by Ibijau

M, 55k, xisang (lan xichen x nie huaisang)

Summary:  The engagement between Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue might have been politically motivated, but the love between them is real. That makes it all the more awkward for Nie Huaisang when he inherits his dead brother's fiancé.

My comments:  Very interesting journey, with a pairing I'd never once considered. We see Nie Huaisang blossom from a clever but somewhat naive youth into the cautious, untrusting and revenge-driven schemer we knew him to be by the end of mzds. Xichen has his own arc, where he graduates from a man who misses his love and just... adapts to Mingjue's younger brother out of necessity and grace into someone who actually SEES him, and appreciates him for who he is.

Nei Huaisang is in a serious bind, though, because as much as he's learning to trust Lan Xichen... Lan Xichen has one GIGANTIC blind spot -- Jin Guangyao -- that he couldn't see around even for Mingjue. So how could he ever possibly believe Mingjue's runty little brother? (Nie Huaisang might have A LOT of self worth issues after a lifetime of being put down by everyone in the sect except his big brother for being weak and inadequate.)

Story covers the full 13 years, the growth of their personal relationship, the steps NHS goes through and the things he slowly uncovers, the decisions he has to make and how it makes him feel about himself. We also have LXC's POV, as he starts to see glimpses through the 'I'm just a frightened little idiot' mask that nhs adapts for all the world except, slowly, for his husband. But as much as lxc wants to trust nhs, he knows there are secrets he just won't tell....

***this is now part of a series of unrelated xisang stories, and the second one is a time-travel in which everything goes even worse than it did the first time***

arranged marriage, betrothal, Mama Nie is alive, manipulation, nie huaisang is a planner, lan xichen isn’t quite as dense as the books suggest, lack of communication, angst, canon divergence, 13 years, slow burn, top nie huaisang, bottom lan xichen, trust issues, self-worth issues, trust, betrayal, loyalty, intimacy, happy ending, @ibijau​

(You may wish to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[pastthevaulteddoors]

It’s not Wednesday... but I don’t care. Here’s a little bit of If-WWX-was-raised-by-the-Wens story.

“I still find it hard to believe that you stood up to your father like that.”

The Unclean Realm had nothing on Lotus Pier’s scenery or Cloud Recesses’ serenity, but it definitely gave Wei Wuxian a sense of security with its sturdy walls and many guards posted along the parapets. Although he felt that if he started flashing his unorthodox talismans those many blades would turn inwards on him.

Jin Zixuan shook his head, shame clear on his face. “It was the only decision I could make,” he began. “I couldn’t sit back and watch Qishan Wen tear apart our livelihood.”

Nie Mingjue sat at the head of the hall, his blade safely kept to his side. Wei Wuxian noticed how Meng Yao moved from his usual right hand post to stand at Sect Leader Nie’s left, closer to where his brother sat. Jiang Cheng’s fists were clenched tightly over his knees and Nie Huaisang looked among his friends with wide, worried eyes.

“Thus far, the Wens have been unable to establish their supervisory offices within Qinghe’s territory. We can spare a few troops to assist you in Langya,” Nie Mingjue stated.

“That would make a world of difference,” Jin Zixuan said. “Qin Changye is wavering on his jurisdiction and continues to cower under my father’s influence. Laoling Qin Sect might not stand for much longer, if they haven’t already fled to Carp Tower.”

Sect Leader Nie slammed his fist on top of his table, rage clear in his brown eyes. “Lanling Jin Sect is sitting, waiting to see who wins before they pick a side. Are they going to sit in their tower and watch the rest of us burn?!”

Jin Zixuan frowned. “Qin Changye’s daughter, Qin Su, was a helpful voice on pushing the sect to fight, but her cultivation is low and has already gone into hiding with her mother. Assuming they join in with Lanling Jin Sect, we might have a voice among the populace.”

“This is ridiculous!” Jiang Cheng scowled. “The Wens are slaughtering our people and raising them again for their corpse army. They’re not even sacrificing their people to devour our freedom, but using bodies as puppets and shields.”

Wei Wuxian looked down at his full tea cup. It was difficult to get him down, but he couldn’t escape his hand in this disaster. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” he said eventually. “It was… they were supposed to overwhelm the sects into submission, not murder everyone.”

“You’re young and not a war strategist. It’s not at all surprising for you to be deceived by human nature’s darker side,” Meng Yao said diplomatically.

“What you can do now is use your skills to undo the mess your talents created,” Nie Mingjue followed up to Meng Yao’s comment, although he did not sound as soothing as his Vice Envoy.

“Don’t blame this all on him,” Jiang Cheng said. “Qishan Wen would have attacked regardless. Wen Qing warned us of a pending plot.”

Wei Wuxian had to admire Jiang Cheng’s bravery to talk back to Sect Leader Nie and not back down to the glower directed his way. He certainly didn’t get his balls for his dad!

“What’s done is done,” Jin Zixuan injected. “What we need to do now is figure out how to disable Wen Rouhan’s power.”

“The Unclean Realm is not out of hot water yet,” Wei Wuxian said. “Do you know about the Yin Irons?”

A flash of confusion crossed Nie Mingjue’s eyes. “No.”

“I’m not surprised,” Wei Wuxian went on. “Each major sect has housed a Yin Iron for several centuries and the information was forcefully buried to hide them. It provides a subtle pulse of protection and growth of cultivation, which is why the five have been able to remain firmly stable for as long as they have.”

Nei MingJue frowned at him but did not interrupt. Wei Wuxian stood then, and stretched with his new spotlight. “Do you really think your warriors are strong from blade cultivation alone? No, of course not!”

“Wei Wuxian, do not insult our practices!”

“Not insulting, but I’m coming around to a point!” Wei Wuxian began to pace. “The Yin Irons used to be one, and so Wen Rouhan has been gathering them to bend resentful energy of core-hosted corpses. They’re stronger than resentful corpses, if you haven’t noticed.”

He suddenly turned and held up a hand. “He already has two. His own from Qishan and,” he lowered his fingers as he counted them off. “The Yunmeng’s Iron is likely in his possession now. I had a moment of it’s control, but…” he lowered his counting hand and gave a short look to Jiang Cheng.

“Then where are the other?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“One is here, somewhere,” Wei Wuxian waved a hand wide. “And one is in Lanling, likely controlled by the Jin Sect. But with how close Sect Leader Wen and Sect Leader Jin are, I doubt I is a buried secret and being used as a negotiation tool.”

“I have not heard of any Yin Iron in Lanling,” Jin Zixuan stated.

“You weren’t supposed to. No one really was,” Wei Wuxian scratched his cheek with in index finger, looking to play this off as a poor joke. “I may have found it through my research, then confirmed such things at Cloud Recesses.”

Nei Mingjue didn’t look pleased. Who would with new information? “And what would you have us do about it? We’re fighting a war. We don’t have time to play detective and puzzle this out.”

“That’s… ah, kind of important to the puzzle of winning,” Wei Wuxian stopped pacing. “I don’t know the details, but I know the gathering of the Yin Iron will result in a weapon. No one will be safe.”

“What weapon? What does it do? What defenses can we put into place.”

“That’s… just it. I… don’t know,” Wie Wuxian winced at Nie Mingjue’s terrifying expression.

“Then what use are your assumptions?” Sect Leader Nie’s voice boomed through the hall and felt like a hard punch to the stomach. “We can’t rely on these magic artifacts that we don’t even know if they exist. What we need to do,” Nie Mingjue slammed his fist once more against the table and a cracking sound could be heard. Baxia shivered with murderous glee in her stand. “Is start pushing them back and raze all the Wens until they are nothing but a bad memory.”

“If I just had a little time to research—”

“We don’t have time!” Nie Mingjue hollered, and somewhere in the ringing of his voice, Nie Huasang pleaded with, “Brother.”

“Wei Wuxian, he’s right,” Jiang Cheng spoke up finally. His chest was out, feeling the comradery to agree with a sect leader in his father’s place. “We have to act now. Every day they kill and raise our cultivators while losing none of their own if only through their resurrection. We need to focus on the fight.”

“But if we could find the Iron we could disable his ability,” Wei Wuxian began.

Nie Mingjue looked ready to bellow yet again and another of Nie Huasang’s pleas were lost when the chamber door shyly pushed open.

“We’re in the middle of a meeting!” Sect Leader Nie finally did bellow, making the courier shiver in fright.

“A- apologies, Sect Leader, but there’s urgent news.” The courier didn’t dare enter further than the threshold. Luckily, Meng Yao sprang into action and swept through the hall to accept the poor bowing man’s missive. “Thank you,” he said softly and dismissed him.

When Meng Yao turned he held two scroll with a darkened expression. “It’s from First Young Master Lan,” he said the name formally before he rushed back to the dais. A collected intake of breath came from the room of young men. No one had heard from Lan Xichen in months. It was a horrible oversight to not look in on one’s allies, but they never called out for help, nor did they stand down. All anyone knew was that the Wens burned the mountain and was followed by an eerie, frightening silence.

Nie Mingjue unrolled one of the scrolls given to him by his Vice Envoy, the second, Meng Yao unrolled himself. The two read in silence for a few minutes with matching stoic and pained expressions, then slowly resolve.

Meng Yao couldn’t seem to shake himself from the words, but when Nie Mingjue set the missive down, appearing grave. “Xichen is the now Sect Leader Lan after the death of his father,” he informed the group. Wei Wuxian didn’t realize he was wavering on his feet until a hand reached out and pulled him down by the wrist. Nie Huasang shuffled so they could share a cushion.

“And the others?” Jin Zuxian barked.

“When the Wens attacked, the surviving Lan Sect was forced into hiding in the back mountains. Some magically protected barrier is there,” Meng Yao spoke when Nie Mingjue did not continue. There was a catch in his voice as he tried hard to reign in his emotions. “But they were smoked out this past month.”

“And Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but interrupt, his nerves on edge for news of the man he.. he…

“Taken by the Wens as compensation for the delay of handing over their Yin Iron,” Meng Yao said tightly. “Which is also now in their possession. Cloud Recesses, or what remains, has been forcefully turned into Gusu’s first cultivation office.”

Jiang Cheng cussed under his breath, and Jin Zuxian smacked a fist onto his low table. Wei Wuxian felt dizzy, and if Nie Huasang had not put his hands on him he surely would have fallen over.

Wei Wuxian never felt so guilty for what he had aimed the Wen Sect to do until this very moment. Once, he was giddy with the thought of inviting Lan Wangji to his Sect, to show off the patchy hills where he and Wen Ning went hunting, or showed him all his projects and experiments in his workshop. Surely he would have been able to impress the peerless Lan Wangji with his intelligence and cunning, but not like this. Not as a prisoner.

Suddenly filled with adrenaline, Wei Wuxian jumped to his feet, throwing off his friend, and bowed very low. “Sect Leader Nie,” he began in an impassioned rush. “Let me return to Qinghe. Sect Leader Wen might not know of my defection, he might not know what I did at Lotus Pier. Please, let me try to get the Irons out of his grip and rescue Lan Zhan.”

“Out of the question,” Nei Mingjue’s answer was swift as a butcher’s knife. “You can’t go gallivanting across the countryside to rescue your schoolyard crush when we need you here to paint your arrays.”

Jin Zuxian was next on his feet, bowing as well. “With all due respect, he is our friend and we should not abandon him.”

“Sect Leader Nie,” Jaing Cheng was up next, bowing for permission. “We need strong forces, and Lan Wangji is as strong as they get.”

Nie Huasang was next to his feet. “Brother, I—”

“Not another word!” Nie Mingjue slammed his fist onto the table. It finally cracked down the middle but did not break entirely. “Listen to yourself! You are heirs to your sects. We have people to protect. Your responsibilities lie with them. One man will never rise above the strength of your sects.

“In an hour we’ll begin a new campaign. Jiang Cheng, Jin Zuxian, I expect you to be there was heads of your sects while your fathers are unable to represent them. Wei Wuxian,” he pointed an angry finger at the boy. “Resume working on your arrays.”

“Brother—”

“Huasang, make sure the Jins are hosted properly,” Nie Mingjue stood suddenly, concluding the end of their discussion. “No more talk of a rescue mission.”

[momentsofweakness]

Broken Hearts

Rated: Teen

Warnings: guns, violence, suicide, implied child abuse

Fandom: The Untamed

Characters: Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, cameo by Jiang Cheng

Pairings: XiYao (about the same level as you get in the source material, really, but Zhu Zanjin said they’re soulmates and that’s all that matters)

Summary: Some souls, when they came back, fought tooth and nail to change what had happened before. Other lives ended up more or less following the same path, over and over.

Reincarnation AU: Xichen tries to save A-Yao again and again and again. But they always end up in the same place.

Additional notes and warnings under the cut.

Additional notes: So, I didn’t have enough time or inclination to go into all the worldbuilding details like I would have liked to do. But basically in this AU if you don’t reach immortality through cultivation your soul just starts going through reincarnation cycles, more or less forever. LWJ and WWX became immortal, because there was no power in the universe that wanted to decide who died first the second time around so they just… didn’t. Also, I don’t mention any additional lives for the juniors, so lets say they all reached immortality through the power of love and friendship.

Xichen always remembers his past lives. He starts gaining memories as a teenager and by the time he’s an adult he remembers everything and takes up the quest to search for his friends. The rest of the characters don’t remember their past lives every time. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they just live and die like everyone else. Jin Guangyao usually starts remembering after meeting Xichen for the first time in each life. (Xichen noticed this at one point and tried to stay away from him, but they were somehow always brought together anyway.)

Now my note is almost as long as the fic. Oops.

Extended warning (with spoilers): There is nothing graphic depicted in this fic, everything is more or less implied. But to be clear the suicide occurs when Jin Guangyao points a gun at a police officer knowing that he will be shot and killed for it. (This is usually referred to as ‘suicide by cop’.) The child abuse is really ‘blink and you’ll miss it’, in a paragraph where Xichen is thinking about the different ways that Jin Guangyao has been hurt throughout his lifetimes.

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Broken Hearts - Prompt #19

Some souls, when they came back, fought tooth and nail to change what had happened before.

The first time Lan Xichen found Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan they were living on a mountain in what is now Thailand, with a house full of orphaned children. (It had taken nearly twenty years for Wei Wuxian to find a way to painstakingly piece together a shattered soul, so that the two of them could finally be released from the world and move on.)

They were happy there, in a way they had never been allowed in their first life, and when Song Lan had escorted Xichen off their mountain he had asked him not to look for them again. “I don’t know where our lives will lead in the future, but I want nothing to do with… that life. Not ever again.”

Xichen had kept his promise and never looked for them in all the time since.

Xichen had found all of them, at one point or another. Sometimes it was harder. Sometimes their souls went far away and it wasn’t easy to track them down. But he always tried.

He had found Nei Mingjue in almost every life, and so too had found Huaisang. They were always brothers. Always.

That didn’t happen with the others. Jiang Cheng wasn’t always a part of Yanli’s family. Sometimes he was a neighbor, sometimes a coworker, sometimes he didn’t know her at all. Xichen ached for him in those lives, for the loss Jiang Cheng felt that he didn’t even understand.

But Mingjue and Huaisang seemed to have a soul deep connection that always brought them back to each other. Xichen likes to think that it is the universe’s way of making up for tearing them apart in the first place.

He also ususally found Jin Zixuan and would attempt to send him Yanli’s way, if she hadn’t already found someone else. (Several times the person she had found was Mingjue, and Xichen wondered what their world would have looked like if that had happened in their first life. Once it had been Wen Qing, and that made sense too. Jiang Cheng, the poor thing, only ever got as far as being gently rejected by the Wen doctor, but he always tried in the lives where they knew each other.)

Other lives ended up more or less following the same path, over and over.

Xichen never looked for Jin Guangshan but sometimes he found people he wasn’t looking for and the Jin sect leader was one he had crossed paths with more times than he liked.

It had taken several lifetimes worth of self control to not strangle Jin Guangshan the first time he met him. In every life the man always found his way to power and he always found a way to abuse that power. He was also always murdered, oftentimes by his own children. Xichen is fairly certain the man had never lived a long and happy life and in his pettiest of thoughts he was glad of that.

The Sunshot Campaign had been the fault of Wen Ruohan and the corruption of the Yin Iron, but everything that came after… that was Jin Guangshan’s doing, and it all started the day he had his disciple kick his own son down the steps of Jinlintai.

Xichen had spent a hundred lifetimes wondering what their first life could have been, if Jin Guangshan had not been able to break his son.

And that was it, wasn’t it? That breaking.

There was a fundamental part of A-Yao that, once broken, could never be repaired.

His father had done it the first time, shattering that part of him at the bottom of golden steps, and in every life after there had been another.

Other father’s with cruel hands and empty hearts, lovers that promised him the world then stripped it all away with malice and violence. Sometimes the breaking came when he was very young, too many times left orphaned on the streets, that need for survival building up before he ever felt love - strangling out the parts of him that were soft and kind, like an ivy choking the life from an ancient tree.

Once he had been stolen from his home when he was just a child. Xichen had found him, too many years later, a terrible, broken thing. (It had taken centuries to wipe the blood of that lifetime off his hands; the blood he had spilled in order to find him and the blood he had spilled in revenge after he was found.)

But, somehow, he was always always broken. Xichen had tried so many different ways - so many different lifetimes - but he never got there in time.

He never got to A-Yao before he broke and once he broke Xichen could never put him back together again.

So they always ended up here, like this, just like the first time.

“Die with me, Er-ge.”

The gun in A-Yao’s hand trembled, but did not waiver, pointed at Xichen’s heart.

I never thought to hurt you, he had said, so many lifetimes ago. And Xichen believed him. He had known in that moment that - despite all the lies, despite all the deaths A-Yao had caused, despite all the horror that had been done by him or for him - that what the two of them had between them… that was real.

The love they had was real, the time they spent together for all those years was real. Xichen believes that he has seen the true heart of the man standing in front of him now. Perhaps he is the only one who ever has.

Xichen steps forward and A-Yao steps back, his hand still shaking. There are sirens far off in the distance - Xichen’s squad searching for him even though he told them not to - but A-Yao’s eyes do not leave his.

He takes another step and so does A-Yao, but this time the other man’s back hits the wall and he has nowhere else to go.

Another step. “Stop,” A-Yao demands, his voice broken; angry and afraid and full of sorrow.

Another step. “I’ll kill you, I swear I will.” The sirens are getting louder.

A final step and Xichen feels the barrel of the gun push against his chest, just below his heart. His hand comes up slowly and his fingers press against A-Yao’s wrist.

“I will,” Xichen whispers. He feels the thud of his own heart against his ribs, sees the tears finally fall from A-Yao’s eyes and leave wet trails down his pale skin. “I will die with you.”

Brakes squealing. Car doors slam. Feet pounding on the pavement. 

Xichen’s fingers slide around A-Yao’s wrist and hold him tight. Let me die with you.

The door at the other end of the warehouse bursts open and Xichen’s squad rushes through.

A-Yao finally looks away, looks to the people bearing down on them. It had been hot in the temple, despite the storm. It is cold here, surrounded by concrete walls and empty space, and A-Yao shivers.

Xichen’s hand on his wrist tightens, forcing his attention away from the other officers who are surrounding them, shouting, their own guns raised.

Let me die with you. Xichen wants to beg. Wants to get down on his knees and beg A-Yao not to leave him alone again. Not again. He can’t take it anymore. A hundred lifetimes and they always ended up here.

But he doesn’t. His knees do not bend, his mouth stays closed. His hand tightens, tightens, holding on as long as he can. It would bruise A-Yao’s thin, fragile wrist if there was time. But there isn’t. Xichen knows how this ends.

The officers around them barely move, they are afraid for their captain, but one of them is young and eager and his finger looks ready to pull the trigger.

“Don’t.” Xichen begs, but he is not asking his junior. He is asking the man in front of him whose pulse beats like a hummingbird’s wings under Xichen’s fingertips. But they both know how this goes.

A-Yao’s eyes are on Xichen’s, those same dark eyes that had captured him heart and soul a hundred lifetimes ago, and he smiles, that sad broken smile that breaks Xichen’s heart again and again. His hand moves, the barrel of his gun sliding away from Xichen’s chest - I never thought to hurt you - and when it points to the youngest of their squad shots ring out, the sound filling the empty spaces all around them.

Twenty minutes later Xichen - in this life he is Li Qiang, only child, first in his class, youngest in their precinct to be promoted to police captain - sits on the steps outside the warehouse as the coroner arrives and the investigation team takes over.

Zhang Jie, who long ago was named Jiang Cheng and who in this life had never remembered that first one, sits beside him. “Why didn’t you try and stop him?”

Xichen knows he will be asked this question over and over in the following days. He will lie and tell them how he thought that he might be able to reason with him; how he hoped he could save him.

Lan’s do not lie but Xichen has not been a Lan for a very long time.

The only other choice is the truth and he cannot tell them that.

Because I wanted to die with him.

Xichen pats Jiang Cheng on the shoulder before standing up. “Your cousin’s son is graduating soon, right?”

The other man looks at him as if he’s gone a little crazy. That’s alright. Xichen knows that look well. “Yes. Yes, next month. He’s graduating a year early. He’s starting university in the fall.”

Xichen nods and heads in the direction of his squad car. “I’d like to send him a gift.”

“Oh, okay. Captain… are you alright?”

Xichen doesn’t bother answering. That is also a question he’ll get a lot in the next few days, weeks, months.

As he drives away leaving A-Yao’s body behind again and again and again he thinks about next time and wonders how long he’ll have to wait.