#not friendly to lan qiren either

[jin-zixun]

MDZS Reread - Chapter 4 (Part Two) - The Elegant Flirt (Refinement 11-18)

Manhua Chapters 30- Well 35 in this post.

Ch 4.1 ; Ch 3.2 ; Ch 3.1 ; Ch 2 ; Ch 1

"When Wei Wuxian reflected on it later, the start of his poor relationship with Lan Wangji could probably be traced back to the year when he was fifteen."

Poor relationship, yeah sure. Last we saw these two like zero lines ago they were snuggling in bed together. Come on Wei Wuxian get it together man.

"There was a highly respected and reputable elder named Lan Qiren in the Lan Clan of Gusu. ... Over the years, he had raised countless exceptional Lan disciples. Anyone educated under him for a couple of years, no matter how terrible they were going in, would appear decent coming out—or, at the very least, their poise and etiquette would see considerable improvement. Many parents wept streaming tears of excitement when they picked up their sons upon completion of their tenure."

Okay I did not remember Lan Qiren specifically being so sought after but like good for him? Maybe my feelings are colored from watching CQL but like Lan Qiren's classes in CQL at least... Kind of suck? But you know what, if the novel says he's the best damn teacher there is and everyone wants their kids in his class then like, sure. Send your kids to Lan camp.

What is with threatening to break legs? Is this a thing? I've gotta assume it's just a thing.

"Nie Huaisang continued, “And that Lan Zhan, he’s…sheesh. He’s the same age as us, but he’s not as lively as a boy should be. Stiff and strict. He’s the same as his shufu, or worse.” “Oh,” Wei Wuxian said. “Is he a pretty good-looking fellow?”

Presented without comment. I have no words. Okay okay, this is clearly Wei Wuxian's "hey this is the guy from last night" conversation but still "oh the hot guy?"

And Jiang Cheng's response like "Uh, they're Lans, they're ALL hot." Like thank you Jiang Cheng. What a great point.

The clan REJECTS DISCIPLES WHO AREN'T HOT ENOUGH oh my GOD

Wei Wuxian: "no no but he wears all white and has a forehead ribbon and also a silver sword" Buddy in what way are you narrowing it down that's literally all Lans. All Lans wear white and have forehead ribbons and have silver swords, probably. Silver is the standard color for swords, I think?

Yeah, Original/Novel Wei Wuxian absolutely was a little shit here.

Nie Huaisang and co being fully engrossed in this story, but unwilling to do the troublemaking themselves I guess. Tiny Jiang Cheng's expression here though... He's so unimpressed. He's just like "*sigh* and then what happened? Did you make it worse? You made it worse didn't you? Why am I even asking that of course you made it worse."

"Wei Wuxian wasn’t scared in the least. He waved dismissively. “What’s there to be scared of? Didn’t they say Lan Zhan is a child prodigy? If he’s so precocious, then his shufu should’ve taught him everything by now, and he should be spending his days in secluded cultivation without any free time to keep eyes on me. I…”

"Jiang Cheng tapped Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and whispered, “His eyes are on you. Best of luck.”"

Now I know (or at least Wei Wuxian does) what you might still be asking about all this...

"Lan Qiren was tall and thin, his back as straight as a brush. Although he had a long black goatee, he was most definitely not old, and in line with the Lan Clan of Gusu’s tradition of birthing beautiful men every generation, he was most definitely not ugly."

Is Lan Qiren hot? Well sure, but Wei Wuxian isn't really into dilfs. If you're into dilfs though... Well, just be careful he's very strict!

He then reads them out all 3000 rules one by one as the kids sit there in silence, gets mad about the kids not already knowing the rules, singles out Wei Wuxian (not unearned he's been a little troublemaker) and then scolds him for getting the right answers because he shouldn't be proud anyone could get right answers (but when Lan Wangji gets an answer right that's a reason to look up to him ok buddy). Then Wei Wuxian, the known troublemaker, the guy who Lan Qiren is apparently targeting as a known troublemaker and trying to humble because he's an arrogant little shit or whatever, that guy, he says some edgy shit and Lan Qiren gets immediately outraged and kicks him out of class.

Lan Qiren... He isn't THAT great my dudes.

"“Wei-xiong! You’re amazing! He told you to get out and you actually left! Ha ha ha ha…” “He couldn’t wrap his head around what happened for the longest time after you left, his face was so sour!”"

Wei Wuxian is an arrogant little shit though. But like... Maybe Lan Qiren should ask... If he is the one... Who needed to be humbled... Hmm... What about that huh?

Power move. No notes.

You know what? I'm gonna say it. Using your nephew like that in class, as an example to humble others... Hmm... Kinda shitty to Lan Wangji. That's literally an awful position to put him in oh my god. And LWJ is probably just like "this is normal" like why would you do that to him. And Lan Xichen like "uwu Wangji needs more friends" I WONDER WHY HE HAS NO FRIENDS OH MY GOD

Anyway.

"Nie Huaisang contemplated this. Then envy began to surface on his face. “What Wei-xiong said is actually very interesting. Obtaining spiritual qi requires cultivating and laboriously forming a golden core. Who knows how long that’ll take for someone like me? Any aptitude I have seems like it got chewed on by dogs in my mother’s womb. But resentful qi… That’s abundantly produced by all those nefarious creatures out there. If it could be put to use, how nice would that be?”"

Demonic Cultivator Nie Huaisang! Demonic Cultivator Nie Huaisang! Demo--

"Wei Wuxian laughed. “Why would I leave the grand avenue under the sun to walk the single-planked bridge in the shadows?"

Oh no an arc phrase that will reappear inverted ironically later on in the story oh nooooo what an emotional time to have emotions.

"The Righteousness Collection was the Lan family precepts. Their family precepts were so numerous that Lan Qiren had edited and assembled them into a thick collection, and the “Highest Justice” and “Standard Etiquette” chapters took up most of the work."

Stop! Stop! I already hate the Lan! I don't need any more incentive I am a Su She stan and you had me at 4000 rules. No one needs that many rules. You can cut those down. Some of those things probably just don't matter that much.

"Wei Wuxian spat out the sprig of grass in his mouth, dusted off his boots, and said, “Copy three times? I’ll ascend after the first time. I’m not a Lan, and I don’t plan on marrying into the Lans, so what do I need to copy their family precepts for? I refuse.”"

See it's funny because he does marry into the Lan and become a Lan. Bad Ending Should have realized it would be a Bad End after they killed JGY

"He was graceful and elegant, as if he himself were a tree of jade, mottled with the shadows of the leaves and the sun’s rays."

"Wei Wuxian, however, jumped down and went over to call after him, “Wangji-xiong!”"

"Wei Wuxian didn’t care. He chuckled aloud. “He can ignore me all he wants. It’s not like he’s even that pretty.” But then when he thought about it, yes, the boy was indeed that pretty. So he nonchalantly tossed that pouty feeling to the back of his mind."

Wei Wuxian falls first. He is smitten. Like, you're seeing this right?

"“Please, I beg you, Wei-xiong. This is my third year attending school at Gusu..."

Huh really wow Lan Qiren must be such a great teacher lmao. (Sorry, I'm bagging on poor Lan Qiren now, does he deserve it? Probably not, but like... Maybe a little bit yeah.)

"This Wei Ying really was as he had expected—the largest threat to humanity!"

He's an edgy 15 year old. You know there's people actually killing each other. Dude there's at least four types of evil things you taught in class as standard stuff everyone should know about.

Is it because of the crush on Lan Zhan? It's the crush on Lan Zhan isn't it?

"Wei Wuxian blurted praise in spite of himself, “Beautiful writing! Best of the best.”"

"Seeing that he’d finally been able to tease Lan Wangji into talking, he was secretly delighted, like he’d seen the bright moon at last after waiting for the clouds to part."

Then he tricks Wangji into reading porn and I've got nothing to say to that. I'm sure that's very funny if you are an edgy 15 year old and very not if you are Lan Wangji.

It's a very cute Lan Wangji though.

Alright, I'll listen to him. No need to send him off.

We'll uh... Well I'll try to power through the rest next time (there's no chance it doesn't just devolve into me fawning over little baby minshan forever and delaying the end of Chapter 4 even more. No chance. It's Minshan all the way down.)

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

@cullen-blue23

😴😥😰 (Lan Qiren doesnt know how to explain to his nephew and in-law their friend is dead. Wen Ning just wanted a nap dammit)

Lan Qiren looks solemnly over his nephew and his husband, his expression stony, even more so than usual. He appears incredibly solemn, as if he is about to deliver life-altering news, and Lan Wangji distantly remembers this is the same expression he wore when he told him and his brother that their mother was gone.

A chill runs down Lan Wangji's spine. Had something happened to the juniors? Sizhui? Or Lan Xichen? Lan Jingyi? Jin Ling?

"I will not mince my words." he begins, at last, his voice grave and level as always. "Wen Ning is dead."

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian blink, twice, in sync. Lan Qiren tries not to sigh at the ridiculousness of that - this is a serious matter after all. He can mumble to himself about how those two just have to be... like that later

"Teacher Lan," Wei Wuxian carefully begins, speaking slightly slower and enunciating every word with clarity, "Wen Ning has been dead for over 15 years."

Lan Qiren closes his eyes and sighs. He's trying so hard not to yell at Wei Wuxian right now, does he think Lan Qiren's lost his mind or something?! Of course he's dead, he's a fierce corpse!

"I am trying to say," Lan Qiren begins, pressing onto every syllable, "that he is completely dead now. As in, he is unresponsive."

There is no expression on either of the two's faces. Now Lan Qiren can't say he's particularly fond of Wen Ning, but to see him laying still, stiff beneath the tree overlooking his little house did... stir something within him.

He had expected some kind of reaction, if not from Wangji, at least from Wei Wuxian. He did, after all, die to save the Wens and he always appeared very friendly, almost brotherly, to the fierce corpse... shouldn't finding out that he was gone elicit an emotional response of some sort?

"Uncle, Wen Ning can't die twice." Wangji finally says, reading the slight confusion on Lan Qiren's face.

"I think he took that sleeping potion again." Wei Wuxian sighs. "I told him to hang a sign about it around his neck or something."

"A sleeping potion?"

"Yeah, he misses sleep, apparently, and found some kind of doctor that's invented a concoction that'll knock him out. He just randomly takes it and falls asleep wherever. People always think he's dead dead, but he's just..." And Wei Wuxian smiles, wide and mischievous, "...dead asleep."

Lan Qiren hurls a book his way but Lan Wangji catches it with ease before it lands on target.

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

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1. Hiiiiii! Lovely work with the blog!

For the next itmf, I’d like some fics in which there’s someone posing as either wwx or lwj, and the other realizing something is wrong. Wangxian please!!!

Thank youuu<3

seeds by antebunny (G, 3k, WangXian, SS & LWJ, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Identity Porn, Dramatic Irony, identity theft, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, the Inherent Romance of Being Known, BAMF WWX, protective boyfriend!wwx, simp!lwj)  

When The Deep Purple Heaven Turns Blue by overmountainandmeadow (Not rated, 50k, wangxian, canon divergence, Cinderella fusion, canon-typical violence, spells & enchantments, YLLZ WWX, amnesiac WWX, servant LWJ, LWJ pov, mute LWJ, one-sided identity porn, fluff, angst, happy ending) there is a masking spell on lan zhan so no one knows that he is lan zhan

Vagabond by xantissa (E, 65k, WangXian, Slow Burn, Mystery, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Frottage, Case Fic, murdersSupernatural, Fluff, Happy Ending, extreme fluff, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, badass!LXC, Canon-Typical Violence, top!lwj, Bottom!LWJ)

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2. Hey! I'm in the mood for some rich or secret heir WWX! Only canon era please ✨✨ @utxqia

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3. Hello! Do you have any good mpreg fics with wangxian, but without a/b/o?

A Complicated Kind of Happiness by fr_yya, Prince_kun (M, 28k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Mpreg, Kid fic, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Male lactation, Happy Ending, Miscarriage scare)

💖 Things better shown by deliciousblizzardshark (M, 5k, wangxian, trans LWJ, pregnant LWJ, accidental baby acquisation, fix-it)

Littlest Miracles by Vrishchika (M, 5k, wangxian, dragon wangxian, established relationship, mpreg, tenderness, fluff, not JC friendly, noodle babies)

walk my days on a wire by cicer (E, 27k, WangXian, Modern AU, they were business rivals(oh my god they were were business rivals), mentions of mpreg, Pregnancy Kink, Light BDSM, Praise Kink, Dirty Talk, Barebacking, Subspace, Lingerie, Mutual Pining, Bottom LWJ/Top WWX, Intersex)

A Fox Demon Fathered My Children by bonbonsbunnies (Not Rated, 26k, WangXian, Fox Demon WWX, Dragon LWJ, Eggpreg, Mpreg, Some angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Fertility Issues, Implied/Referenced Unsafe Pregnancy, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Mildly Dubious Consent, Outdoor sex (almost) but Wangxian get cockblocked by the Wens, Anal Fingering, brief thigh fucking, Bottom LWJ/Top WWX, Implied/Referenced Cheating (not real), unrealistic depiction of having kids, Eventual Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fear of Abandonment) 

reunion ‘verse by everythingispoetry (G, 21k, wangxian, modern, reunions, mpreg, fluff, idiots in love, unplanned pregnancy)

so, your roommate’s an alien by ariskamalt (Not rated, 11k, wangxian, modern, roommates au, mpreg, eggpreg, aliens, alien LWJ, dream sex, mildly dub con, oviposition, somnophilia, male lactation, established relationship, body modification, aphrosidiacs, crack treated seriously, gendered language) 

more than you’ll ever know by appledtea (M, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Mpreg, WWX has shitty memory, Animal Traits, Animal Instincts, Fox WWX, Dragon LWJ)

9E from this post

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4. hiee first off I wanna say thank you for even doing this at all you are SAINTS!!! whew alright I'm looking for wwx vs the in laws type of stuff or some wwx and lqr bonding happening idk I just find those so fun! thanks again!!!

Righteous at a Cost by thunderwear (G, 21k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, no one dies, Lqr finds out about wwx’s core, Fluff, WWX goes to Gusu, little bit of, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal)

The stuffed bunny, the beautiful nephew, and other gifts from Lan Qiren by deliciousblizzardshark (G, 8k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Modern AU, Single Parent WWX, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Uncle Acquisition, Found Family, Fluff)

Inconceivable by merakily (G, 3k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, post-canon, fluff, humor, in-laws, chief cultivator LWJ)

❤️ Joy In the Midst of These Things Series by Glitterbombshell (T/G, 53k, WangXian, Angst with Happy Ending, Post-Canon, Teacher WWX, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff)

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5. For your next ITMF: I’d love wangxian fics featuring Awkward Besties LWJ & JZX. Along the lines of mating rituals by detectorist or save a sword, ride a socialist by sysrae (modern setting not required, though idk if I’ve ever seen this done in a canon setting). @porcupine-girl​

💖 The Lotus Defense Society by mondengel (T, 3k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, humor)

An Unlikely Friendship Series by EmBlu (IcyDeath) (G, 25k, WangXian, XuanLi, LWJ & JZX, rogue cultivators, Kidnapping, Hurt, the start of an unlikely friendship, Protective LXC, Protective WWX, Pre-Relationship, Canon Divergence, Hurt LWJ, Hurt JZX, Awkward conversations, Oblivious WWX, Fluff, Humor, Jealousy, Friendship, Bunnies, lwj and his gay panic, Gifts, Embarrassment) 

💖 mianmian the disaster lesbian saves the cultivation world by likeshipsonthesea (T, 27k, wangxian, LWJ & LQY, LWJ & JZX, fix-it, friendship, awesome LQY, war, blood & injury, light angst, self-acceptance, awkward JZX) 

wanna know that body like it's mine by perfectlyrose (M, 3k, wangxian, JZX & LWJ, modern, clubbing, dancing, first meetings, flirting)

Dashing through my heart by TheRealFailWhale (E, 12k, wangxian, JZX & LWJ, modern, delivery person WWX, fluff, smut, no angst, attraction, bunnies)

correspondence of two fools madly in love by serenedebeautea (G, 2k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, JZX & LWJ, awkward frienship)

A Fruitful Correspondence by theleakypen, westiec (G, 3k, JYL & LWJ, JYL/JZX, JZX & LWJ, JC & LWJ, LXC & LWJ, canon divergence, writing letters, wife guy JZX, friendship)

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6. Hello! I love what you guys do! I'm looking for fics where Jin Guangyao just loses it and plans a meticulous revenge plot on his father and executes it. I don't have any other criteria? I just want to see him go full Revenge.

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7. Any fic recs where the cultivation world gets their comeuppance after the Wen Remnant’s death, or where the civilians lose trust in sects? @rowenredberry

To Do Nothing by xxxMiaHikarixxx (G, 7k, WangXian, Revenge, non Canon, Not JC Friendly, Not Lan Friendly, lots of A-Yuan, Canon Divergence, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, BAMF WWX)

So Faithful, So Few (So Pardon, and Done) by azri (M, 3k, WangXian, implied XiYao, Canon Divergence, Post-First Siege of the Burial Mounds, Revenge, Zombies, Blood and Gore, Horror, Horror Elements, The Wen Remnants Deserve Better, Not JC Friendly, Not Cultivation World Friendly tbh, Implied/Referenced Character Death)

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8. Hi dear Mods. Thank you for your hard work. For the next itmf I’d like to ask for damsel in distress!LWJ. I read „ silk threads and precious metal “ and liked it a lot, but I can’t seem to find more of it. Thank you so much! @desperation-is-my-middle-name

The Last Concubine by deliciousblizzardshark (T, 13k, WangXian, Royalty, Emperor WWX, Concubine LWJ, LWJ Whump, Forced Marriage, Starvation, Non-physical spousal abuse, Fluff and Angst, Doing the Wrong Thing for the Right Reasons, Happy Ending, WWX Takes Care of LWJ)

Sunlight through an open window by Inessencedivided (T, 45k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fairy Tale Retellings, Rapunzel Fusion, Madam Lán Lives, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt WWX, Hurt LWJ, (not at the same time), Hair Brushing, First Kiss, No Smut, Strangulation, (Not the sexy kind), Minor Character Death, (only OCs), Happy Ending, Hair Braiding)

Home Before Dark by la_muerta, lordvoldemortsnipple (T, 7k, WangXian, Dark Fairytale, Canon Divergence, twin jades of Lan sibling feels)

maybe the lan zhan whump tag on ao3 might be up the requestors alley?

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9. Hi mods; thanks for all you do! For the next "in the mood for": I'm looking for fics where Jiang Yanli decides "FREE BROTHER" and takes on a big sister role for someone (e.g. Jin Guangyao, Mo Xuanyu, Nie Huaisang, etc.), and they become as ride or die for her as WWX/JC.

picking up the pieces by KouriArashi (M, 111k, JYL & LWJ, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Alternate Canon, Grief/Mourning, Angst, Regret, Family, Kid Fic, Families of Choice, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, canon typical political bullshit, Eventual Happy Ending)

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10. For the next ITMF (or ficfinder?), fics bringing up the increasingly pointy and lethal looking hair thingies that LZ wears, going into late/post canon era... @mreisse

For 10, I did mean the hair ornaments. Just anything that mentions how elaborate and beautiful they are, WWX helping with (or even wearing some) would be extra wonderful...

re:10, can they clarify what they mean? lan zhan wears a guan; as do other members of the gentry. the actor wang yibo isnt as tall as wei yings actor which is why his headpeices are on the taller side, it was meant to add height. does the requestor want fics that mention this the guan? if so in what context? like Wei ying helping him take his hair down?

Embers by xantissa (E, 38k, Jadecest, WangXianChen, Fluff, Falling In Love, sex pollen trope (curse), dub con, Comfort, Grief, Forgiveness, Happy Ending, Sibling Incest, Switching, Flirting, Learning to live again, Magic, Curses, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Threesome - M/M/M, Slow Burn, Angst and Hurt/Comfort) For #10 i can rec Embers by Xantissa. But it's WangXianChen do i don't know if the requestor is comfortable with it

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11. Hi! Hi! I hope I’m doing this right. Can you recommend me some fics where LWJ fell out of love to wwx? I don’t mind if it is because of a curse, memory loss, or whatever. Thank you so much

Blue water by huxiyi (E, 24k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Temporary Amnesia, Case Fic, Curses, Cultivation Sect Politics, Established Relationship, Angst with a Happy Ending, References to Depression, Discussion of Grief, Discussion of bodies, Explicit Sexual Content, Dom/sub Undertones, Under-negotiated Kink, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note) Maybe?

Infidelity AU Series by Asmayi (M, 38k, WangXian, WangYu, XianNing, Modern AU, Hurt No Comfort, Sad WWX, Cheating, Infidelity, Emotional Infidelity, OOC, Professor LWJ, Engineer WWX, Student MXY, Teacher-Student Relationship, College/University, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Heavy Angst, Married WangXian, Mental instability, Break-Up, Divorce, Not MXY Friendly)

tonight i can write the saddest lines by sarahyyy (G, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Amnesia, Falling In Love, Domestic Fluff)

Unavoidable by diamondbruise (T, 18k, wangxian, post-canon, amnesia, jealousy, misunderstandings, falling in love again, happy ending)

Head and the heart by Janelle24601 (M, 100k, WangXian, Angst,Family, Isolation, Jumps in Time, Amnesia, Dark WWX, Protective LQR, LXC Needs a Hug, lies exposed, Not Canon Compliant, Deception, Betrayal, Idiots in Love, Memory Loss, Misplaced Anger, Mental Anguish, Emotional Baggage, mental and emotional confusion, Confused LWJ, JYL Lives, Protective JYL, Protective JC)

Lie Open To One Another by levament (M, 40k, WIP, WangXian, Divorce, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Feels, Emotional Manipulation, Brotherly Angst, (minor - freeform), References to Depression, Evil Plans, Foiled Again, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Weird Plot Shit, Plot Devices, Some Plot, Bad Decisions, Prostitution, Forced Prostitution, Sex Work, Period Typical Attitudes, (to sex work), Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault)

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12. Hey! Hope everything's good! I have two requests if that's fine. No pressure though! I don't mind either way since they're both connected/similar to each other.

I just want to ask if you have fanfic recommendations where LZ ignores (or blatantly hates) WY until WY just stops and now LZ misses all of it and he has to *somehow* grovel? Or anything about groveling, really! It would be nice if LZ doesn't like WY because he makes him feel things but he hurts WY in the process.

And also, this is kinda similar to the first one but do you have fics where LZ misunderstands WY? The same process of groveling because I'm really in the mood for that lol. @nichiraeth​

and here comes the summertime by ribena (M, 72k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Academia, this is set in America, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Slice of Life, Humor, Light Angst, Falling In Love, Found Family) it is so hard for me to find fics where lan zhan, after being mean/misunderstanding Wei ying,  actually grovels? these are my 'enemies to lovers' wangxian bookmarks where I think the reader might be satisfied with lan zhans actions to make up for his snippiness😬

Surrender by autumnprincess (E, 33k, WangXian, Modern AU, Jock LWJ, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, Angst with a Happy Ending, High School, Enemies to Lovers, Family Fluff, Minor WWX/Other(s), That Euphoria show vibes, Dark LWJ, Fear Play, Physical Abuse, Blood and Violence, mentions of main character being hurt, Memory Loss)

no certainty of doors between us by betts (T, 6k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Roommates, Crack Treated Seriously, Drunken Confessions, Idiots in Love, dubiously consensual spooning, Enemies to Lovers, Sharing Clothes, Hurt/Comfort, Tooth-Rotting Fluff)

我的皇后是農民 | sowing seeds in the cold palace by sweetlolixo (E, 49k, WIP, WangXian, Imperial Palace, Emperor LWJ, Imperial Consort WWX, Farmer WWX, Angst, Romance, Wingman LJY, Wife-chasing-LWJ, Arranged Marriage, Best Boy A-Yuan)

Honesty is the Best Policy (Except if You're an Asshole) by piecrust (E, 22k, WangXian, Porn with Feelings, College/University) I swear it never fails to make me cry from the angst I think it’d be great for this ask!

~*~

13. I'm in the mood for an idol AU

Confessions of a (Dumbass) Pop Idol by lemonlush with art by Neeska (T, 8k, WangXian, Modern AU, Pop Idol AU, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Crack, Eventual Romance, Diary/Journal, Mojo’s Post)

🧡 I Don’t Want to Debut! by countingcr0ws (G, 56k, WangXian, Modern AU, Reality show, Idols, Actor LWJ, Forced Contestant WWX)

The Brightest Star In His Sky by Liebing (M, 5k, wangian, modern, idol LWJ, past relationship, break up, angst w happy ending, pining, fluff, idol JGY, making up, concert setting, songwriter WWX, jealous WWX, love confessions, kissing, handjobs, dominant LWJ, soulmates)

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14. Hi! In the mood for Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian fics set during their teenage years at Lotus Pier? Aka, them growing up there, dealing with family, training, messing around in the marketplace, sneaking out to swim, general teenage ChengXian shenanigans? Thank you!

did they mean to use the / (romantic relationship) or & (familial and platonic relationship)?

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15. Hi! Any reccommendation where other people (including junior squad) learned that Lan Sizhui is the last remaining Wen.

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16. hello i have an itmf request for non-lan twin jades. as in they weren't raised as lan but either as rogue cultivators or just civilians. thank you so much for all that you do

My Boy Builds Coffins by enbysaurus_rex (Not rated, 48k, wangxian, canon divergence, coffin maker au, YLLZ WWX, autistic LWJ, falling in love, hurt WWX, pining, deathscapes, farmer LWJ, burial mounds settlement days, tenderness)

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17. Hi! For the next I'm in the mood for~ I would like some wangxian fics focused on injury recovery and hurt/comfort. Just injury recovery. Preferably injured wwx but anything else is fine too. Thank you sm for your hard work!!!! Fighting!!! @vntaebun​

feast and famine by luckymarrow (E, 49k, wangxian, rape/non-con, aftermath of gang rape, modern au, trauma, PTSD, medical procedures, rape recovery, non-consensual drug use, hurt/comfort, angst w/ happy ending, mind all the tags)

Orchid Teeth by FairyGardenCorgis (E, 93k, WangXian, Fluff and Angst, Romance, dragon lwj, fox wwx, Chinese lore, Hurt/Comfort, Dark elements, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sexual Abuse, Starvation, Torture, Sexual Humiliation, Lesbian Sex, Sounding, kinda omorashi in chapter 16, proceed with caution guys, Gang Rape)

The Dawn Shepherd by FairyGardenCorgis (E, 145k, wangxian, hurt/comfort, angst w/ happy ending, PTSD, trauma, emotional & physical abuse, sexual abuse, torture, trust issues, slow build, gang rape, MIND ALL THE TAGS!)

the anteroom of golden age by everythingispoetry (M, 92k, wangxian, canon divergence, disability, recovery, mental health issues, grief/mourning, hurt/comfort, families of choice, developing relationship)

Weep You No More, Sad Fountains by athena_crikey (T, 48k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-it fic, Whump, Curses, Fever, Delirium, Stabbing, Loneliness, Confessions)

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[bnnywngs]

catxian was, is an asset to yunmeng jiang sect.

when he was adopted, he was scrawny and undeveloped, and it took a while for him to look like a healthy child of his age but they got there.

wei wuxian liked to be petted either as cat or human, and can, and will, bite or slap your hand away when after he had enough. he loves his shijie lap the most, her hands are always soft and gentle, making him purr loudly.

madam yu liked to put him as a cat in her lap when dealing with difficult people, or when she just didn't like them (almost everyone), making him be still and staring eerily at them as she caressed his back slowly and menacingly.

(he was a black cat, after all, something passed down from his father)

jiang shushu liked to play with him as a cat a lot, and mostly away from the public eye, tossing a ball or dragging a ribbon with a content smile on his face every time wei wuxian acted like a true cat.

wei wuxian looked extremely small beside his sect mates when they were in their animal forms - all jiangs were tigers nevertheless how far from the main family they were, and most of the disciples were big animals.

and although wei wuxian was a very friendly cat who loves cuddles and scratches and petting, he definitely does not want any stranger touching him, often turning aggressive.

all the jiang disciples present were as shocked as one could be when they saw their da-shixiong headbutting lan wangji's feet on the first day of classes in the cloud recesses, purring loudly and happily when the young master used his finger to scratch between his ears.

who was lan wangji, after all, to say no to such a cute creature? even more when he cuddled and bathed the bunnies him himself gave as gifts to lan wangji.

the only one not amused at all was lan qiren. he was forced to follow the "love all animals" rule but, if he was honest, or not a lan, he would say he hates cats the most.

(especially because cangse sanren was a white cat herself - the reason behind wei wuxian white paws)

[admirableadmiranda]

Hey!

Just to clarify, I always thought he was working with the spirits to almost "spend" their resentment and allow the part left behind to move on and join the rest of the soul waiting to reincarnate - is that right?

It's strange because it sounds more caring than the "suppression" and "elimination" options. Because correct me if I'm wrong, but suppression is a quick fix and does not solve the issue. The resentment will come back one day and need suppressing again? And elimination destroys that part of the soul left behind, resulting in disruption of the reincarnation process? Neither of these options help the rest of the soul to move on and reincarnate as WWXs method does.

Is that correct?

That is correct as far as I can understand it! It of course being the web of souls and resentment and such. I’m just gonna go in a bit of a tangent here.

Of course this does come with the caveat that sometimes suppression or elimination is the superior choice when it comes to the situations you find yourself in. It’s very nice to think of everyone being able to let go of their troubles and move on with a friendly interaction or helping get some simple revenge, but not everyone is like that.

Wei Wuxian even makes that argument himself in the book when he decides to wind up Lan Qiren and get out of class because Lan Qiren is picking on him. We want to emphasize liberation (and I do love that Lan Wangji and the teachings he recites specifically say that liberation comes first and suppression and elimination are only solutions if liberation fails because look at those ideals, we’re gonna do the best we can first) over the others, but for example Nie Mingjue was not going to be set free by killing Jin Guangyao, he was just going to kill everyone in his path until either someone suppressed him (as Wei Wuxian did by sealing him in the coffin) or eliminated him for good. Suppression is a “quick fix” that will cause more trouble down the line, but in this case the answer for Nie Mingjue and his rage monster, the answer isn’t liberation because there’s nothing they can do to sooth his spirit.

Unfortunately the world is a little too rounded and while Wei Wuxian is doing a very caring and good thing, not every spirit will respond to that. So while it’s a much better solution, it’s not a one size fits all and we can’t eliminate the other two even if guidao is more widespread just cause people don’t always work like that.

Thanks for the ask!

[mojoflower]

MDZS Prosopagnosia (face blindness) AU

I want an AU of MDZS except Wei Wuxian is face blind. I just feel like that would change so much, adding both comedy and terror to the story overall.

Innocent Youth

Jiang Cheng unwittingly cultivated his shouty persona from a very young age, because he subconsciously realized that his shixiong was more comfortable with him when he stood out from the crowd in this way. Similarly, in the post-resurrection days, jc always lets Zidian spark purple in a very obvious and prolonged way, so wwx doesn't have to linger uncomfortably in an awkward is-he-or-isn't-he-my-brother zone.

Jiang Yanli slowed herself down as a child, becoming very calm and quiet and slow-moving, because that's when her shidi is the most relaxed. She quickly learned the look on his face, when he's trying to figure out who someone is without giving away his weakness... when he's desperately waiting for someone else to use a name, to give him a toe-hold. She always greets everyone by name: just for wwx. She also often announces herself in the third person: others might find it weird, but her didi is always so grateful.

Wwx actually needs to use Jiang Fengmian's unfortunate teeth as a marker to differentiate him from his son, once Jiang Cheng reached his adult height. (The frog on Sandu's hilt really helps, too.)

A lot of the shidis in the Jiang Sect know about wwx's special issues, and totally riff on him by switching their swords and hair ornaments just to fuck with him.  They can't switch their fighting styles, though, so the Jiang quickly become a sect where instant spar-offs happen often and are no big deal.

All the people who love wwx have adjusted for this in many ways, realizing that they either need to verbally identify themselves or adapt distinctive clothing/mannerisms/scents/body language.

Wwx wears clothes that don't match any sect because sect uniforms make everyone so homogeneous that he can't even discern gender, much less individual people. (Uniforms actually give him mental heebie jeebies, because they make his life so hard and uncertain.)

Cloud Recesses Student Arc

Wwx has to ask before he fights whether it's going to be friendly or to the death, since he doesn't always know if the person he's fighting is a friend or foe. Wwx defaults to treating all fights as friendly fights (which is why he never even unsheathed his sword when lwj attacked him that first night in Cloud Recesses) because he can't stand the thought of hurting a friend, or just someone innocent.

Lan Wangji is very still. Very still, very quiet, very tall and always wears white and smells of sandalwood. He is easy to recognize.  ... Except when he could be Lan Xichen. If there's a smile, or any color, then he's Lan Xichen.  (This means that wwx immediately knows who kissed him on Phoenix Mountain, because he doesn't use his sight to identify, well, anyone.)

Nie Huaisang becomes a friend because of his choppy, erratic, fast-paced motions, both when he is speaking and moving. Also, he's unusually short so that helps.

He is secretly fond of Lan Qiren because that dreadful and unflattering beard is such a great identifier. He loves Nie Mingjue because he's literally and distinctly larger than everyone else. Later, he will become immediate friends with Sisi, because dramatic facial scarring is the best cue there is for someone like him. (Is anyone fat? He likes fat people. He likes tattooed people. He'd have loved Mo Xuanyu with his Hanging-Ghost-painted face, because, wow, that's so obvious. Xue Yang's missing pinky finger is  so helpful.)

Wei Wuxian knows everyone's swords VERY WELL because he can recognize them and use them to identify which asshole in gold with a peony on his chest (for example) this dude might be. This is what he calls "my poor memory". But it actually means that Jin Zixuan looks exactly like Jin Zixun to him, if not for Suihua.

Burial Mound Days

He's got a string of orphans, and calls them all A-Yuan. No, seriously. Word has got out, and all the homeless babies know they can move into the Burial Mounds and get doted on by EVERYONE because no one there is about to correct the Yiling Patriarch.

Dead Wen Ning is easy to pick out because of his stiff gait, awkward stance and distinctive pallor with the black veins. This makes him an automatic wwx favorite. (The stuttering helped, even back when he was alive.) Wen Qing is tiny, and also, no one else is wearing Wen robes, so she becomes a good friend, too.

He actually really likes all fierce corpses, because the way they move is so distinctive that he always knows what he's dealing with.

Can you imagine how fucking terrifying the world must be when you know that all Wen Zhuliu needs to do is put on a different robe and then he can walk right up to you and wreck your core? Same goes for wrh, jgs, jgy, wc, you name it. Talk about hypervigilance.

Think of all the talismans he's invented to keep himself and the Wen Remnants safe because he knows he can't tell friend from foe and has to count on magic to do it.

Post-Resurrection

Lwj picked up on Jiang Yanli’s habit announcing herself by name instead of using “I”, and consequently uses third person for himself, too. The Junior Ducklings do it, too, although they don't understand why, at first. 

Wwx cannot, for the life of him, tell lsz and ljy apart if they just stand quietly next to each other.  Ljy will never think this is not hilarious.  Especially because wwx will offer them chicken to see which one accepts it.  (It’s foolproof.)

He is utterly and completely unable to tell the Twin Jades apart unless they're speaking. Lan Wangji has learned to announce himself simply to protect his brother from being leaped upon and kissed at random intervals. The whole sandalwood thing? Lwj marinates himself in it to give wwx a clue about who he is before he's within liplocking distance.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Tricks of the Trade - ao3 - chapter 5

- 5 -

It turned out that either Lan Qiren was a miracle worker or else Jin Guangyao had made a serious strategic error regarding how to effectively manage his eldest sworn brother. He liked to think it was the former, but he had the sinking suspicion it might very well be the latter.

At any rate, Nie Mingjue had barely arrived at the Phoenix Mountain hunt before he was pulling Jin Guangyao aside and - well, he still berated him, but anyone who knew Nie Mingjue well could tell the difference between a genuine tongue-lashing filed with anger and a friendly scolding that was the big lunk’s method of expressing affection, and this was definitely the second sort. 

"Why didn't you tell me you'd arranged a punishment for your conduct with Teacher Lan?" Nie Mingjue demanded, sounding incredibly put-upon, as if Jin Guangyao has personally wronged him in neglecting to mention that very private personal interaction. "Do you know how much peace of mind it would have given me?"

Jin Guangyao stared.

"I...didn't realize da-ge would care," he said carefully, since he was pretty sure his knee-jerk understanding of Nie Mingjue’s statement had to be wrong. Nie Mingjue wasn't like Lan Qiren, wholly disinterested in matters of physical lust, but he was remarkably oblivious to innuendo, even when it was obvious - Nie Huaisang had apparently inherited all the lasciviousness in the family. There was no way that Nie Mingjue was saying that he would have wanted to know all about Jin Guangyao getting beaten and then cared for in a way that had featured heavily in his nighttime self-satisfaction since that time…right?

"Of course I would! Have I been flapping my mouth for nothing all this time?" Seemingly seeing something in Jin Guangyao's face, probably a lack of understanding, Nie Mingjue sighed. "Ah, it looks like Teacher Lan was right. You really haven't been understanding what I've been trying to get at these past few months."

"Would da-ge like to enlighten me?" Jin Guangyao asked, deciding that Nie Mingjue’s inexplicably good mood allowed him to be a little impertinent. Nie Mingjue had liked him acting like that before it had all gone wrong, though he hadn’t dared to risk it in the time since.

Sure enough, the man just smirked, visibly amused, and absently smacked him in the shoulder in what was clearly more encouragement than censure. Lightly, for him, but still enough to stagger a man of Jin Guangyao's stature if he hadn't braced himself in advance. 

"I thought you felt no remorse at all for everything you’d done," Nie Mingjue explained. "People like that show up every once in a while, and they're invariably trouble - or worse, if they're also clever. You're brilliant, A-Yao. If you didn't know what guilt was, you could bring forth calamities!"

Jin Guangyao had absolutely no idea how Nie Mingjue’s brain worked.

He could understand the logic, a bit - the sort of person who felt no guilt at all for anything they’d done would indeed be terrifyingly unrestrained, capable of any atrocity, especially if they had a mind like Jin Guangyao's - but he had no idea how Nie Mingjue’s suspicious questioning of all his actions was meant to teach him the concept if he hadn't known it before. Nor could he understand how everything was better now that he had agreed on a punishment with Lan Qiren, given that he was exactly the same person he'd been before, still willing to make tough choices if it meant achieving his ambitions.

Was the idea just that his willingness to accept a punishment – any punishment – suggested to Nie Mingjue that he had an innate moral boundary and therefore could be trusted to keep to it in the future? Or did Nie Mingjue think that in making the request, he had made a demonstration of regret that could only be appeased by cathartic punishment, showing that the guilt Nie Mingjue had wanted to see was in there after all, albeit well-hidden?

Possibly Nie Mingjue would be less enthusiastic about all of this if he realized that Jin Guangyao had been getting off on both the punishment and care he received afterwards. 

…all the more reason not to tell him.

(It occurred to Jin Guangyao that it was also possible that perhaps Nie Mingjue just respected - or maybe feared - Lan Qiren to such a degree that he just assumed any absolution granted by him was valid. But if that were the case, Jin Guangyao might have to think about what it might mean that Lan Qiren had given him that absolution, and he...wasn't sure he wanted to think about that.)

It was nice to be back on Nie Mingjue’s good side, though. Jin Guangyao had never exactly taken the other man’s regard for granted, he didn’t think, but having lost it certainly brought into focus how important it had been to have it – the last few months had given him some insight into why Wen Ruohan had been so annoyed by Nie Mingjue. The man was damnably persistent! Like a dog with a bone, he never let anything go; once he decided you were up to something, there was simply no convincing him otherwise. Yet on the other side, if he believed in you, there was no one more loyal, and there were practically no limits to the support he would offer.

Lan Xichen was delighted by this new development, of course, but more importantly, Jin Guangyao was finally able to just ask Nie Mingjue for things again, and that made his life so much easier. When he noticed that Wei Wuxian had siphoned off nearly a third of the prey he’d arranged for the night-hunt, with another third already in the process of rapidly falling to the Nie sect's sabers, he didn’t have to panic or scheme to try to bring in more, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop either sect from completely dominating the field – instead, he just flew over to Nie Mingjue’s side to point out the problem.

"Oh, well, I suppose we should let everyone else have some fun, even if their talent is insufficient to get the prey in a fair match," Nie Mingjue said, disturbingly cheerful as he wiped his saber clean. Jin Guangyao had no idea what martially inclined people like Nie Mingjue got out of night-hunting, but it was clearly something considerable; the man looked positively blissful. "You’re not wrong that the smaller sects might be resentful otherwise…ah, you know what, I'll just go talk to Wei Wuxian myself, tell him to stop. You can redistribute the remaining beasts for all the rest."

"Thank you, da-ge," Jin Guangyao said gratefully, and left to do just that. 

Thanks to his timely intervention, the rest of the event was an overwhelming success, with smaller sects left and right able to boast about their prowess to each other without feeling shamed by having been so thoroughly outclassed. The only wrinkle was that Jin Guangyao belatedly realized, from some of the rumors that some people rather unsuccessfully tried to start circulating, that his father had been hoping to use the event to start trouble for Wei Wuxian, knowing that the man’s arrogance and rudeness would probably lead him to stamp on the faces of others without care for how they might feel about it. Unfortunately for those plans, to which Jin Guangyao had not been made privy, the smaller sects had had a very good time once Nie Mingjue left the field and somehow managed to get Wei Wuxian to stop as well, meaning that they had little rancor and even less interest in picking fights instead of celebrating, and moreover the starring actor in the planned play was nowhere in appearance - apparently he hadn't been seen since Nie Mingjue had gone after him. 

Actually, come to think of it, Jin Guangyao hadn't seen Nie Mingjue since then either, not even when the Nie sect had come to collect their much-deserved first place tie with the Jiang sect. Perhaps they'd gotten into an argument and retreated to their respective camps to sulk? 

But no, they both appeared a little later at dinner, each one looking completely unscathed, and Wei Wuxian even looked unusually lively - he normally had a pallor that resembled his ghouls, dark circles under his eyes and a gloomy atmosphere, but today he was positively exuberant, talking excitedly with Jiang Cheng about something that was making the latter man hold his hands over his ears in a thoroughly undignified matter. Nie Mingjue looked the same as ever, at least, though for some reason he seemed to be spending his time pestering an even more wooden-faced than usual Lan Wangji instead of mingling with the group at large or retreating to hide next to Lan Xichen the way he usually did when he started losing patience with these events.

That, in turn, freed Lan Xichen to come spend time with Jin Guangyao – his second sworn brother might be better at faking it, but secretly he hated large crowds just as much as Nie Mingjue did – and his smilingly oblivious presence meant that no one in the Jin sect dared to come make trouble for him. On the contrary, Lan Xichen very cheerfully went around boasting to everyone that it had been Jin Guangyao that had arranged the entire event, insisting on making a point of it despite Jin Guangyao’s demurrals…if the event had turned into a disaster, as it had briefly threatened to, Lan Xichen’s behavior would have been embarrassing and caused him more trouble later on, but as it was Jin Guangyao thought he’d be able to sell the situation to his father as his attempt to keep the focus on the Jin sect’s success rather than a self-centered attempt to increase his own standing.

It was all very pleasant, which made how awful the next few months were even starker by comparison.

Jin Guangyao’s father was not inclined to believe Jin Guangyao had been acting for the sect’s benefit rather than his own, and he was irrationally angry that Jin Guangyao had solved the problem of Wei Wuxian’s arrogance in such a way that he couldn’t capitalize upon it for his own purposes – even though he hadn’t told Jin Guangyao that that was what he’d wanted. He was even more angry that Jin Guangyao had repaired his relationship with Nie Mingjue, despite having previously demanded that Jin Guangyao do just that, and his anger was only magnified by the fact that Nie Mingjue seemed to have increased his visits to the Lotus Pier as of late – perhaps he thought that Jin Guangyao had encouraged his eldest sworn brother to be more interested in events outside of Qinghe, which he most certainly hadn’t.

It burned when his father scolded him, and burned still more when he threw things that Jin Guangyao wasn’t allowed to dodge, whether writing blocks that bruised him or still-full teacups that scalded him in a more literal fashion. It burned when his father very pointedly continued to favor Jin Zixun in every instance over Jin Guangyao, despite the other man’s obvious stupidity, and burned most of all when Jin Zixun casually used Jin Guangyao as his scapegoat for all sorts of things, with Jin Guangyao’s father fully aware of the lies and yet wholly supporting them regardless…

Jin Guangyao was starting to realize that there was simply no way to win over someone who didn’t want to be won over. There was no merit, no talent, no success, no scheme that would work – there would never be a moment that his father would ever see him as anything less than trash that had forced its way into his home. There would never be a moment when Madame Jin stopped wanting to hurt him for disturbing her life, for having dared to want even a fraction of what she thought belonged to her son, even though it was a fraction so small that Jin Zixuan would never notice the absence.

Jin Guangyao’s first instinct in response to this was to double down and try even harder to win his father’s appreciation, however begrudging. He had never been willing to accept no as a final answer. He had always been persistent, even foolishly so, and yet it had always worked out for him in the end, so far – he had been cast out of Lanling City and had returned in triumph and glory (of a sort), he had lost Nie Mingjue’s regard through his own actions and then won it back, he had been told that he would never make anything of himself and yet see how far he had come…

He would have done it, too, but then he had remembered what Lan Qiren had said, about family and about being supported, and suddenly he’d felt empty, as if all the gold and glory he was fighting so hard for would never, in the end, fulfil the need deep inside of him. It occurred to him that even if he did work harder, smarter, even if he schemed and plotted and ultimately succeeded in forcing his father to give him some small measure of what was his due, that even then it still wouldn’t satisfy him, because he would always know that it had not been genuine.

His father would never voluntarily accept him, or appreciate him. He would never respect him. And wasn’t that what Jin Guangyao really wanted?

The realization was unhelpful. Jin Guangyao was already here in Lanling City, trapped in misery, having bound himself in the chains of filial piety to a man he could not bring himself to genuinely respect – there had to be some way out, some way through, or else what was the point of all the suffering he’d endured?

He wished he had someone to confide in.

Someone with whom to share your doubts, Lan Qiren had said. Someone to speak with when you don’t know the way forward, when you’re questioning your understanding…

A spouse would do that, maybe. A trusted lover would be better.

(Lan Qiren would be better.)

But that wasn’t really appropriate, so Jin Guangyao wrote to Lan Xichen instead.

He couldn’t actually share his troubles with Lan Xichen – even if they were brothers, they belonged to different sects, and that was an impassible divide between them. Even if Jin Guangyao was frustrated with his father, with the entire Jin sect, he couldn’t say it, not with the way he knew they read his mail, and not even if they hadn’t; until he decided once and for all that he was done with them, he would say nothing and leave no trace of his indecision. He would take being alone over being unsafe.

He did allow himself, in a brief moment of weakness, to ask about Lan Qiren, mentioning some mundane conversation they’d had and asking if Lan Qiren had had any further thoughts on the subject. He was careful to frame it in such a way that there would be nothing that anyone would see anything suspicious in; most people would probably only see it as an inquiry raised wholly out of politeness, a fiction that need not even be addressed in response…but he wanted that response. He longed for it.

He was sure that Lan Xichen, good filial child, good brother and nephew that he was, would not hesitate to actually ask Lan Qiren if he had anything further to pass along on the subject, and he was equally certain that Lan Qiren would be unable to keep himself from insisting on including several pages of his thoughts, filling pages with words that Jin Guangyao could use to distract himself.

He was surprised, therefore, when Lan Xichen’s next letter wasn’t long at all.

On the contrary, it did little more than beg Jin Guangyao’s indulgence and asking if he could inquire with his father whether Jinlin Tower could spare Jin Guangyao for a little while to come to the Cloud Recesses to help supervise some aspects of the rebuilding that were proving particularly tricky – there was some work that Lan Xichen thought Jin Guangyao was especially suited to handling, if he had the time.

“I suppose it’s good that they’re coming to us and seeking our help,” Jin Guangyao’s father grumbled, throwing down the note when Jin Guangyao brought it to him. “Though the request should have come to me…don’t these Lan pride themselves on their etiquette and propriety? You’d think they’d know better!”

Jin Guangyao didn’t point out that only a subsidiary sect would address all their requests directly to the sect leader, and that the Lan were not, and would never be, another sect’s subsidiary. He didn’t point out that the only reason the Lan had any tie at all with Lanling Jin was through his personal relationship with Lan Xichen, and it had been Jin Guangyao himself that had been asked for help, not the Jin sect more generally. He didn’t point out that it would have been a mortal insult to him if Lan Xichen had asked his father to send him, as if Jin Guangyao were merely a servant kept around the house that could be lent out at his master’s will.

He kept it all locked down tightly behind his smile, and let his father complain about it. Complain about Lan sect arrogance, complain yet again about Nie Mingjue not bowing his head to age and experience (as if he ever would), complain about how inconvenient it was that the Lan sect was making the request now, right before yet another party they were planning – this one to be hosted by Jin Zixun, who wanted glory similar to Jin Guangyao’s Phoenix Mountain Hunt except without the work that went into it, which in reality meant that everyone expected Jin Guangyao to do all the preparations and claim none of the credit – and how it would be such a bother, such a pest, even though obviously a request from another Great Sect couldn’t be so easily turned down for such petty reasons…

In the end, his father begrudgingly agreed that he could go.

“A-Yao, I’m so happy you could make it,” Lan Xichen said, face full of genuine smiles. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Er-ge has barely been gone long enough to miss me,” Jin Guangyao teased. “Anyway, aren’t you coming to Lanling soon enough for the party..? You could have seen me then.”

“Don’t talk to me of missing you; I would have you be here all the time if I could,” Lan Xichen said, shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m the one to blame, it was me that invited you here so urgently, even at risk of making you miss that party, for which I apologize.”

“No need to apologize, I don’t mind missing it at all,” Jin Guangyao said, having never meant anything more in his life. Providing requested aid to one of his sworn brothers was quite possibly the only excuse that would serve to explain his absence at an event thrown by his family, and it also very neatly served as a reason why he wasn’t the one playing host when he’d done such a good job last time – it would have started rumors about his incompetence if he’d only served as door-greeter after having previously managed everything, something Jin Zixun had known and no doubt maliciously intended, but now instead everyone would just shrug it off by saying that he was naturally too busy with important matters to bother with something so minor…

On reflection, it occurred to Jin Guangyao that it was quite possible that the Lan sect’s “ill-timed” request been deliberately aimed to achieve that very end. Lan Xichen wasn’t quite savvy enough yet in the ways of sect politics to think of such a move, but Lan Qiren certainly was.

“What is the work you need help with?” he asked, now genuinely curious. “I thought your rebuilding was well in hand…?”

“It is, it is,” Lan Xichen said, waving a hand. “It’s actually my uncle.”

I knew it!

Jin Guangyao rejoiced privately, but kept his expression neutral in case of watchers. “Oh?”

“Mm, yes. It’s something of the same difficulties as last time – he wants to get involved, but doesn’t want to impede my authority. Given your expertise in logistics and in managing people, he suggested you might be able to help us with coming up with a way to balance the two.”

Jin Guangyao nodded. He could most certainly do that.

“Though unfortunately it seems that events have passed us by,” Lan Xichen added, and looked a bit contrite. “In between the time I wrote to you and your arrival, my uncle has fallen ill once more. He’s quite upset over it, as grumpy as anything; I know he was looking forward to seeing you, and of course we both deplore having wasted your time in coming here…”

“No waste of time at all,” Jin Guangyao said, a plan immediately springing to mind. “Let me help care for him while you attend the party.”

Lan Xichen looked surprised. “What? No, A-Yao, I couldn’t possibly ask –”

“I insist,” Jin Guangyao said firmly. “It’s very important to my father that you attend, though I know you are too filial to leave your uncle while he’s unwell. Isn’t this a perfect solution? You know your uncle and I get along well. We can discuss strategies for how he can help with rebuilding without impacting your authority while I care for him, and with any luck, the intellectual stimulation will help improve his mood.”

“But surely you have better things to do with your time than play nurse for my uncle…”

Jin Guangyao very firmly crushed the thought of exactly how much he would enjoy playing nurse underfoot, deciding that it was something he could dwell on at greater length later that night when he was alone in his bed.

“I don’t mind,” he said, in what was probably the understatement of the century. “Please, er-ge, you know I’m grateful to your uncle for all that he’s done for me. Let me help.”

It probably said something about Jin Guangyao that he would weasel his way into getting the chance to dote on Lan Qiren the way he often longed to do by pretending to be grateful, when in fact he was grateful. He didn’t care to think about it too much, though, because it would only make him feel like he didn’t deserve the chance, which was a pointless feeling; in the end, he didn’t care if he was unworthy, as long as he got to do it anyway.

Lan Qiren was indeed grumpy as anything, just as Lan Xichen had warned, his ill health making him even tetchier and shorter in temper than usual, but Jin Guangyao didn’t mind it in the slightest. Not when he got to take advantage of caring for him to insist on helping him sit up or move around, getting regular chances to steal embraces that he allowed to linger a little more than necessary.

Lan Qiren allowed it.

Jin Guangyao even allowed himself to imagine that Lan Qiren was hugging him back when he did, feeling the other man’s arms tighten around him more than once or twice – but surely that was only the fever that chilled had him, making Lan Qiren instinctively reach out for a source of warmth.

Nothing more.

[bloody-bee-tea]

Sweat

Jiang Cheng knows that it’s a risky move to show up to this office party with Nie Mingjue in tow, but then again it’s not like he cares. Much.

He had tried to introduce Nie Mingjue to his parents countless times, but they always shot him down, citing that they don’t have time for things like this. So Jiang Cheng never got to introduce them.

But the invitation to the party had said he could bring a plus one. It didn’t specify any further than this and Jiang Cheng had waved the invitation at Nie Mingjue, who of course hadn’t gotten one of his own.

Jiang Fengmian wanted to cut a deal with Jin Corp. and everyone knew that Jin Guangshan didn’t make deals when the Nies were involved. So Nie Security hadn’t gotten an invitation at all.

Jiang Cheng is aware that his father will be furious with him for bringing Nie Mingjue but he will be going in his capacity as Jiang Cheng’s boyfriend. It won’t be work related. And it isn’t either of their fault if Jiang Fengmian wants to make a deal with the slimiest bastard in their business.

Jiang Cheng is going to give his dad a metaphorical fuck you by bringing Nie Mingjue.

At least that had been the theory. Now that they are actually at the party, Jiang Cheng is getting pretty damn nervous again, sweat clinging to his temples and back.

“It’ll be alright,” Nie Mingjue whispers and pulls him close with a hand on his hip. “I’m right here.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t say that that is part of the problem and instead leans into the contact. He has to admit that it does feel pretty nice to not be alone for once.

“Until someone steals you away and then where will I be?” Jiang Cheng grumbles, mostly just to be contrary, because he does feel better this close to Nie Mingjue.

“I hope you’ll be on your way to save me,” Nie Mingjue gives back and brushes a kiss over Jiang Cheng’s temple. “Since work is not what I’m here for. Look, there’s Wei Wuxian,” he then tries to distract Jiang Cheng and he has to admit that it works reasonably well.

Wei Wuxian drags Lan Wangji over to them as well and Jiang Cheng is sure that Lan Xichen is mingling somewhere, too, so there are at least four friendly faces around. Five, if you count Jin Zixuan and with how hard he’s trying lately with Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng is inclined to count him.

Jiang Cheng tries to follow along with Wei Wuxian’s excited chatter about his newest project, but his nerves are getting the better of him once he catches sight of Jiang Fengmian and so most what Wei Wuxian says flies right over Jiang Cheng’s head.

“Uh-oh, here he comes,” Nie Mingjue mutters and steps that little bit closer to Jiang Cheng, making sure that he knows he’s there and he’s supporting him.

Wei Wuxian throws a wide-eyed look over his shoulder before he turns the same wide eyes on Jiang Cheng and Jiang Cheng sighs.

“Go,” he tells him, secretly a little bit relieved that Wei Wuxian wants to remove himself from this situation and Wei Wuxian is gone faster than Jiang Cheng can blink.

Speaking to Jiang Fengmian is never pleasant, but it’s always worse when Wei Wuxian is present. It seem like the sheer existence of Wei Wuxian makes Jiang Fengmian forget that Jiang Cheng even exists and no matter how much time passes or how many therapy sessions Jiang Cheng goes to, it never stops hurting.

Nie Mingjue puts a steadying hand to the small of Jiang Cheng’s back and presses another kiss to his temple where anyone can see and Jiang Cheng loves him for how little Nie Mingjue minds all that family drama that comes with dating him.

It had been one of his big worries when they started dating, but Nie Mingjue seemingly never cared beyond hating how it always hurt Jiang Cheng and that more than anything helped Jiang Cheng to seek out help and to realize that this isn’t normal.

It isn’t normal how he tenses more and more the closer his father gets. It isn’t normal how his heart starts to beat faster when Jiang Fengmian’s eyes fall on him. And it’s certainly not normal how Jiang Cheng starts to shake when clear displeasure clouds over Jiang Fengmian’s face.

“What is the meaning of this?” he asks once he reached them and he’s not even looking at Jiang Cheng anymore.

All of Jiang Fengmian’s attention is on Nie Mingjue.

“What a surprise to see here, Mingjue,” he says and Nie Mingjue tenses with the address.

Jiang Cheng knows that Nie Mingjue hates how overly familiar Jiang Fengmian and Jin Guangshan get whenever they talk to him and so he leans just a little bit more back into Nie Mingjue’s hand.

“Fengmian,” Nie Mingjue gives back, his voice pleasant, though his jaw is clenched. “I’m here with Wanyin.”

“Wanyin,” Jiang Fengmian repeats and turns to look at Jiang Cheng as if this was the first time he noticed him next to Nie Mingjue. “You should be mingling with the Jins.”

“I should be showing my boyfriend around,” Jiang Cheng gives back, hating how there’s the tiniest shake to his voice.

“Your boyfriend,” Jiang Fengmian repeats and looks back at Nie Mingjue. “You’re colluding with the Nies?”

“I am dating a Nie,” Jiang Cheng says, forcing himself to remain calm and collected. “Which you would know if you had ever taken the time to meet my boyfriend.”

“Ah, you know how it is,” Jiang Fengmian says and Jiang Cheng hates that tone of voice, especially when it’s aimed at him. “I am a busy man and who knows how long this fling of yours will last. There’s no need to introduce us when this is bound to end sooner rather than later. I mean, Mingjue is a busy man himself. You shouldn’t hog his attention.”

It’s a reprimand that Jiang Cheng has heard several times before, in different contexts, but it still cuts him deeply. Deeply enough that he can’t even find his voice and it only worsens his mood, because he should be able to defend his boyfriend and their relationship from his own father.

“Enough about this now,” Jiang Fengmian decides as if Jiang Cheng had actually managed to say anything. “Mingjue, about that contract—” Jiang Fengmian says, his attention completely on Nie Mingjue already, and Jiang Cheng has to bite back some tears.

“I am not here for work,” Nie Mingjue bites out and takes Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “I am here as a plus one to my boyfriend. If you really do want to talk about the contract, you should make an appointment with my secretary.”

Jiang Fengmian blinks, clearly surprised by Nie Mingjue’s firm rebuke and Nie Mingjue takes that opportunity to drag Jiang Cheng away from him.

“I know he’s your dad, but I seriously hate him,” Nie Mingjue mutters once they are out of earshot and Jiang Cheng laughs wetly.

He hates his dad sometimes, too, but he can’t bring himself to say that.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” Jiang Cheng says, slinging his arms around Nie Mingjue’s middle and just breathing for a few moments.

“Even though I just made it more difficult for you?” Nie Mingjue wants to know, but he squeezes Jiang Cheng back.

“He would have found something to criticise me over anyway,” Jiang Cheng mutters. “It’s easier to endure when you’re there.”

“I’m not leaving you out of my sight tonight,” Nie Mingjue promises him and Jiang Cheng is just about to breathe in relief when the severe clicking of heels announces the arrival of Yu Ziyuan.

“Oh, fuck,” Jiang Cheng whispers and moves away from Nie Mingjue only to come face to face with his clearly disapproving mother.

“Is this how we make business deals now? Whoring yourself out?” she asks, clearly not caring at all who hears her and Jiang Cheng is quick to shake his head.

“Mother, this is my boyfriend, Nie Mingjue. We’ve been dating for a while,” he rushes out, hopes to salvage this situation somehow and he has to admit that he wasn’t prepared for the surprised look on her face.

“Boyfriend,” she repeats. “The boyfriend you have been trying to introduce to us several times?”

Ah, so at least she noticed his attempts.

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng meekly gives back and Nie Mingjue holds his hand out.

“Nie Mingjue, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, finally,” he says with a small smile and Yu Ziyuan only hesitates a second before she takes his hand.

“I wasn’t aware my son was dating you,” she says and Jiang Cheng flinches.

He had told her, several times actually, but of course she didn’t listen to him. She listens more to him than Jiang Fengmian, but it is still not a lot.

“I am,” Jiang Cheng says, trying to sound surer than he feels, and he can’t read the glint in his mother’s eyes at all.

There is a very long silence before Yu Ziyuan speaks again.

“If you hurt him, I will ruin you,” she says and then turns around to leave in the same manner in which she arrived.

“Was she talking to me or to you?” Jiang Cheng asks, once his mother vanishes from his sight and Nie Mingjue sighs.

“I think she actually meant me,” he gives back and then pulls Jiang Cheng into a kiss. “That actually went better than expected,” he mumbles against Jiang Cheng’s lips and Jiang Cheng has to agree.

He has anticipated his father’s disinterest in his boyfriend, so even while that had still hurt, it wasn’t unexpected. But his mother is always a little bit of a wild card and Jiang Cheng never knows what to expect with her.

“Come on, after this I need something to drink,” Nie Mingjue says once they part and Jiang Cheng couldn’t agree more.

They mingle for a bit afterwards, speaking to Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, and even Jin Zixuan for a while before they retreat back into a relatively quiet corner.

“This wasn’t so bad so far,” Nie Mingjue says with a sigh and leans against the wall. “Being your arm candy certainly has its perks.”

“Like what?” Jiang Cheng snorts but he has to admit that having Nie Mingjue here did wonders to relax him.

“Like being able to simply walk away if someone starts to talk business to me,” Nie Mingjue gives back and threads their fingers together. “And I get to admire you all evening, so that’s a definite plus.”

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng hisses, but he can already feel how he turns red.

“Never,” Nie Mingjue whispers and kisses Jiang Cheng’s burning cheek.

“You’re an idiot,” Jiang Cheng tells him, aiming for stern but of course he softens immediately when Nie Mingjue looks expectantly at him. “And I love you.”

“I love you, too,” is the immediate response he gets and Jiang Cheng didn’t know how nice it was to never having to wonder or wait for those words.

Nie Mingjue always makes very sure that Jiang Cheng knows just how much he’s loved.

“What the fuck is your father’s problem?” Nie Mingjue mutters suddenly, breaking Jiang Cheng out of his pleasant thoughts and he leans around Nie Mingjue to see better.

“Fuck, he had something to drink,” Jiang Cheng whispers under his breath, because Jiang Fengmian is never a pleasant person to be around—at least not if you are name Jiang Cheng—but it only ever gets worse when he had something to drink.

“I’ve got this,” Nie Mingjue decides and hands Jiang Cheng his empty glass. “Get me some more, would you?”

Jiang Cheng works his jaw a few times, but when Nie Mingjue nudges him into the opposite direction of his father he sighs. “Fine.”

Nie Mingjue gives him a winning smile before he turns around to meet Jiang Fengmian halfway and Jiang Cheng can’t help it. He knows that no matter what’s going to happen it will hurt him, but he simply has to know.

He doesn’t leave to get them new drinks.

“Mingjue, what a nice surprise,” Jiang Fengmian says, just a tad too loudly and Jiang Cheng winces. “What brings you here?”

“We already talked today,” Nie Mingjue reminds him, his hands clenching at his side.

“Oh, did we? Remind me again, then,” Jiang Fengmian says, his voice now a little bit more appropriate and he leans into Nie Mingjue’s space. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here with your son. You know, because we’re dating?” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng knows what’s going to happen a split second before his father opens his mouth.

It feels like someone reached inside his chest and tore his heart out.

“Wei Wuxian? I thought he is with that Lan boy?” Jiang Fengmian says and Jiang Cheng sees how Nie Mingjue freezes.

Jiang Cheng has trouble breathing himself, but he keeps his eyes fixed on Nie Mingjue, because it’s the only safe place to look at right now.

“You piece of shit,” Nie Mingjue mutters, and before Jiang Cheng or anyone else can react, he moves.

Between one blink an the next Jiang Fengmian is on the ground, clearly knocked out cold, and Nie Mingjue is shaking out his hand as he turns around and looks for Jiang Cheng.

“Fuck, you heard,” are the first words out of Nie Mingjue’s mouth, before he rushes up to Jiang Cheng to crush him to his chest.

“You punched him,” Jiang Cheng mutters, blinking several times, because it doesn’t make sense.

His father is in on the ground and people are staring at them, but it doesn’t make sense.

“Of course I did!”

“You just punched him,” Jiang Cheng repeats and it’s only the arrival of his mother that prevents him from breaking down into hysterical laughter.

“What is going on here? Wanyin, an explanation!”

“Your husband forgot who his actual son is,” Nie Mingjue hisses at her, not letting go of Jiang Cheng and clearly not going to apologize for his actions.

“Ma’am, do you want us to call the police?” a security guard suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng tenses in Nie Mingjue’s arms.

He will not allow Nie Mingjue to get punished for this.

Jiang Cheng is about to tell his mother that when she waves them away.

“That won’t be necessary,” she says. “I think it was deserved,” she then adds, much more quietly, before she turns to the room at large. “It seems like my dear husband had a little bit too much to drink and he slipped in a rather unfortunate way,” she calls out. “Please don’t be worried and continue to enjoy the party.”

Jiang Cheng stares at her, his mouth open and it’s only when she turns back around to him and Nie Mingjue that he gets a little bit of control back.

“I think you should leave now,” she says, and Jiang Cheng isn’t sure she ever heard her sound so soft. “Well done,” she adds and pats Nie Mingjue’s arm before she goes to deal with the situation at large.

“What the hell just happened,” Jiang Cheng mutters, but he allows Nie Mingjue to pull him away from his father and from this party.

It’s only when the cold night air hits him that he starts to realize what just happened.

“You punched my father because he was an asshole to me,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue grimaces.

“Well. I would do it again,” he declares as if Jiang Cheng was about to tell him to not do that again. “He deserved it.”

“He did,” Jiang Cheng agrees and then steps close to Nie Mingjue. “You punched my father for me,” he repeats and Nie Mingjue frowns.

“I can’t tell if you’re angry right now,” Nie Mingjue admits, but he puts his hands on Jiang Cheng’s hips.

“I am in absolute awe of you and I love you so much,” Jiang Cheng tells him and leans in for a biting kiss. “And I think you should take me home now.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is? Me punching your father is doing it for you?” Nie Mingjue teases him, but he starts dragging him towards their car.

“Hell, yes,” Jiang Cheng breathes out, because no one has taken such a stance for him.

“Good to know,” Nie Mingjue says. “But I’d still rather not make it a habit.”

“I think the memory will serve me well, too,” Jiang Cheng says and before Nie Mingjue can get into the car, Jiang Cheng crowds him against the side of it, tucking his face into his neck. “Seriously, thank you.”

“My heart, I love you and no one gets to behave like that when it comes to you,” Nie Mingjue says and puts his arms around Jiang Cheng. “No thanks needed.”

“Oh, I’m gonna thank you,” Jiang Cheng says with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrow and Nie Mingjue barks out a laugh.

“Alright,” he says and then they scramble into the car.

It’s a quiet ride home, despite everything, but Jiang Cheng keeps a hold of Nie Mingjue’s hand and he has to admit that he has never felt so loved before.

And he will make sure Nie Mingjue knows how much he appreciates his actions.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

[ren-deru-16]

Mo Dao Zu Shi OC

Birth name:

Wen Nuan/Lan Nuan (Nuan - wholehearted)

Courtesy name:

Lan Yinuo (Yinuo - one promise)

Age: 16

Birthday: January 12

Height: 172 cm

Weapon: Sword and Dizi and Talismans

FAMILY:

Wen Yuan/Lan Sizhui (older twin brother)

Granny Wen (Grandmother, deceased)

Wen Ning (Cousin)

Wen Qing (Cousin, deceased)

Uncle Four (Uncle, deceased)

Lan Wangji (Guardian, adoptive family)

Wei Wuxian (Guardian, adoptive family)

Personality: 

Blunt like Wei Ying, mostly expressionless like Lan zhan. Despite her looks, she's straightforward and relies on her instincts more than her mind. She can be a sass queen with a resting bitch face. When she gets drunk, she's more provocative and more expressive. So like, if Sizhui is calm and level headed like Lan Zhan but more friendly and expressive like Wei Ying, imagine the opposite for Yinuo. Yep, imagine Lan Zhan's poker face combined with impulsiveness and rule breaking tendencies of Wei Ying. Also shameless.

Back when she was younger, ike her twin, they love to clutch on the leg of the person they like. She would also cry whenever Wei Ying serves them spicy congee because her tongue burns. She is always seen with her twin whenever they play with Wei Ying or being carried by Wen Ning. She's easily scared, especially when she first met Lan Zhan because of his expression.

Appearance:

Like her twin, Lan Yinuo posses a fair and refined appearance, with a stoic expression on her face. 

She wears the white robes of the Gusu Lan Clan and forehead ribbon with cloud motif reserved for members of House Lan.

History:

She was formerly a Wen like her brother and they are the only living Wen alive. When they were three and the siege at Burial Mound happened, they were hidden in the hole of a tree with her fever ridden twin. It was thanks to her cries that Lan Zhan found them and quickly whisked them to Cloud Recesses.

Sizhui lost her memories because of his fever but Yinuo didn't. She remembers everything but pretends that she also lost her memories after hearing that they were not supposed to be here. However, Lan Zhan knows and she would sometimes confide to him in secret and lived her life as a Lan.

Since girls are supposed to be separated from boys at a certain age when beginning their cultivation training, Yinuo was forced to live on the other side of Cloud Recesses. However, she was quickly taken back with her twin after noticing her sleep walks and her trauma of being separated from her family. Lan Zhan had to when she was found multiple times in the forest. Since then, she's practicing cultivation with her twin and with the males and is more comfortable with them.

Trivia:

Normal alcohol tolerance. Loves to eat spicy food. She never really likes Gusu sect's meals and she is mostly caught sneaking in the kitchen and cooking meat and spicy meals, hence the reason for her punishments. 

Calls Sizhui Sizhui-ge or gege when with others. But when they are just training alone, Sizhui calls her A-Nuan and she calls him Yuan-ge

While Sizhui is skilled in literary, arts and almost all subjects aside from sword skills (since he is a bit lacking in this field), yinuo is the opposite. Her hand writing is terrible as ever and she is normal in playing the guqin but she's the best in flutes and her sword skills are one of the best among the disciples. 

When night hunting, she uses either sword or dizi and talismans and she's always seen with Sizhui and Jingyi. 

She's not actually the worst student, Lan Zhan and Zewu Jun comments that it's because she follows her instincts most of the time that Lan Qiren keeps scolding her for not restraining herself more. 

Motto: if you want to eat, you eat. If you want to sleep, you sleep. 

The other disciples and sometimes Jingyi or Sizhui are tormented by her spicy meals when they would eat out after night hunting.

It was all because she got used to Wei Ying's spicy congee and meals years ago that she had grown to like it.

Confronted Lan Zhan about Wei Ying after arriving to Cloud Recesses and that she didn't lose her memory like her twin. She didn't try tell sizhui everything, but rather help him remember by doing the simple things they used to do when they were children.

If any male want to court her, they have to beat her in eating spicy foods. All attempted and failed.

Bad at money handling, terrible calligraphy, and shocking arm strength. Many are questioning her if she's really a girl or a gorilla in disguise.

Sizhui basically handles the money and controls their budget. She likes buying any food she sees on streets and she had to be held back. But her performance in night hunting were excellent, though not perfect because of her assaults the client who is in fact the blame, and her eccentricities and Lan Qiren would get stressed from the feedback.

[shinebrightlikeanarwhal]

Shen Jiu is a Lan and Qing Jing Peak becomes another Cloud Recesses with lesser rules (4000+ rules that doesn't repeat is just absurd and constricting) and lesser strict punishments. He could either be from XiChen, WangJi, or SiZhui's generation. I'd prefer if he was in SiZhui's generation since Lan Zhan is a much nicer teacher than Lan QiRen. Shen Jiu transfers to Qing Jing Peak as a visiting Disciple to study and gain his Mastery in the 4 scholarly arts. He meets everyone else and gains simps.

He’s could and illusive.

Just a dainty little cultivator grazing about. Gliding through the halls almost like a ghost.

QJPL snatched him up instantly. Shameless in her pursuit of making the boy her disciple. Clinging to him and trying to coax him in with treats and gifts. Pretty fans made from the finest demons and silks. Treats and sweets she sent disciples on missions to obtain. He’s just so precious that she couldn’t help but try to covet.

Of course, the other CQ disciples aren’t too happy with the sudden affection given to this stranger. Wondering if SJ is some kind of spy, or some rich kid paying his way in. YQ takes interest in SJ and is shameless in his undying attention and affection for the new boy. He felt like he knew the boy, but SJ made no reason to associate with YQ outside of their disciple duties.leaving a bad taste in LQGs mouth.

SJ put his cultivation before anyone else. He cared not for the others and grew distant day by day. Only finding joy in the rare contact with some long time friends that he would go visit, of course it was allowed by the sects heads. LQG got in trouble for trying to tattle on a approved outing of SJs. YQ is bitter that the pretty disciple doesn’t coddle or cling to him like the rest. He liked that attention others give. Hidden behind his calm and collected smile was a growing jealousy every time SJ brushed off his friendly advances to go study.

(The drama I can smell~, Ah. I love this MZVD!!! YOUR BRAIN IS TOP TIER IRS FUELINF MY LIK HAMSTER WHEEL!!!)

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for a Fic...

~*~

1. hey any recs for a fic that has wwx screaming "I'VE BEEN IN LOVE WITH HIM SINCE I WAS 15"

Rotten Work by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 63k, WangXian, WWX & JL, Post-Canon, Protective WWX, Protective JL, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, Reluctant Matchmaker JL)

~*~

2. hello!! do you have any fics that acknowledge how wangxian are basically a power couple thanks!! <3

built by the fires of volcanoes by isabilightwood (T, 25k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Established Relationship, Crack Treated Seriously, But Not Too Seriously, Fluff, Humor)

pitfalls of greed by glitteringmoonlight (T, 3k, wangxian, post-canon, outsider pov, BAMF WWX, kidnapping, violence)

~*~

3. hi!! do you have any fix-it fics where the wen remnants end up going to the lan sect for sanctuary (for whatever reason) thank you <3

these colours fade for you only by doodlebutt (T, 36k, wangxian, fix-it, fluff & angst, happy ending, WWX gets a new core, hurt/comfort, slow burn, pining, canon-typical violence & gore) and its sequel your love is sunlight have the wen remnants going to the lan sect!

❤️the kite string and the anchor rope by fleurdeliser (M, 39k, wangxian, Mojo’s post)

Good Guy Lan Qiren Series by thunderwear (G/T, 28k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, no one dies, Lqr finds out about wwx's core, Fluff, WWX goes to Gusu, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal)

❤️ a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (M, 180k, wangxian, Mojo’s post here, arranged marriage)

Lotus Flower Series by Mydla (T, 38k, LQR & WWX, wangxian, fix-it, angst w/ happy ending, canon divergence, trust issues, everyone lives au, major character injury)

bleed by justdoityoufucker (T, 5k, wangxian, time travel, sunshot campaign and post-ssc, families of choice)

~*~

4. Two asks combined for better dublicate checking ^^

 A) hihi! for the next iitmf, could we get lxc treating wwx like a little brother? or any fics where the two share a close, friendly/brotherly relationship :-) thanks so much!!

A War Of Brothers series by MusicPlotter (T, 38k, wangxian, LXC & WWX, canonical character death, canon divergence, fluff, angst, asexual character, post-canon)

Sail Away Sweet Sister by sami (M, 73k, WangXian, MingLi, YZY/Mdm Lan/CS, Time Travel, EXTREME Canon Divergence, Family, Wide Focus Narrative, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Most Named/Canon Characters Lives, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Families of Choice, Parenthood, Fluff, Angst, Underage Sex, PTSD, Unforeseeable consequences, The butterfly effect, Slightly Dark JYL)

Unstoppable by Netrixie (T, 149k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Eventual Happy Ending, Unreliable Narrator, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Wolf-shifter WWX, Resolved Sexual Tension, Resolved Romantic Tension, Fix-It, Werewolf, Shapeshifters)

--

B) Hi! I hope you’re still accepting these? but I’m on the mood for any fics where Wei Ying and Lan Xichen are friends or become close before Wei Ying and Lan Zhan do, please

elusive by bosbie (T, 1k, wangxian, LXC & WWX, canon divergence, pre-relationship, unresolved sexual tension)

This Tumblr Fic by ShanaStoryteller

~*~

5. Thank you for all your hard work. This page is my go to place for fics. For the next ITMF I would really love to see Wei Ying bromance stories. With either A) Wen Ning being Wei Ying's best friend and/or B) Nei Huaisang as his best friend.

5A)

This One Shadow by LtLJ (G, 3k, WN & WWX, wangxian, missing scene, CQL canon, domestic fluff, character study)

5B)

Friends, Sabers, and Other Essentials for Solving a Conspiracy by MeridianGrimm (T, 50k, WWX & NHS, LWJ & NHS, WangXian, Humor, Friendship, Love, Mystery, Canon Divergence, Smart NHS, WWX doesn't stay dead, LWJ gets a new friend, Happy Ending, Fix-It)

Story-Shaped by lingering_song (T, 13k, WangXian, NHS & WWX, Post-Canon, Chief Cultivator LWJ, Inventor WWX, Found Family, Mentioned Character Death, Alcohol, Protective NHS, WangXian Endgame, Not JC Friendly, Not particularly gentry sects friendly overall tbh)

Come From My Inkstone by magicgenetek (M, 150k, NHS & WWX, NHS & NMJ, eventual NHS/LWJ/WWX/WN, canon divergence, burial mounds settlement days, crack treated seriously, NHS character study, alcohol abuse, unrequited crush, polyamory, slow burn, WIP) fits 5A also

~*~

6. Hi! I've been working my way through your 'In the Mood For...' requests but I haven't found any asks for the plots I REALLY crave. So please please PLEASE help me out! I'm looking for A) Cannon Divergent fics set after WWX's resurrection - maybe someone else summoned him, or he reacted differently -or - B) fics where WWX leaves or dies to protect the Wens but lingers and keeps an eye on everything. THANKS!! <3 @alllicceon

6A)

By Any Other Name by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 31k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Crossdressing, Identity reveal, Misunderstandings, Identity Porn)

returning to the old homestead by cosmicfuss (M, 30k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Post-Canon, JYL Lives, Slow Burn, idiots to lovers, suicidal idealization, wwx travels and has some self-discovery, dubiously consensual intoxicated sex, Body Dysphoria, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, yunmeng bros reconcilliation)

the problem with authority by isabilightwood (M, 139k, WangXian, QingLi, Canon Divergence, Sacrifice Summon, only the summoner sticks around, slightly dark!JYL, WQ lives, Slow Burn for yanqing, Angst with a Happy Ending, Chronic Pain, Mild Sexual Content, Top/Bottom Versatile | Switch WangXian) this one picks up before WWX is back but he's not in MXY's body

The Tales of Despereaux by stiltonbasket (T, 21k, WIP, WangXian, Prompt collection, oneshot collection, Canon Divergence, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, (when applicable) ) chapters 1-23

Sunless Dry Geraniums by ghostybreads, Skyeline (T, 131k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Unholy combination of canons, Amnesia, Misunderstandings, Loss of Identity, Idiots in Love, WWX POV, Unreliable Narrator, Wangxian-centric, Case Fic, Junior Quartet, Attempt at Humor, Yunmeng brothers, Some original lore, Illustrated Fic, Mystery, Emotional Hurt/Comfort)

Love Song In Reverse by timetoboldlygo (T, 237k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Falling In Love, Slow Burn, the parent trap, but there’s only one kid and the divorce was death, agressively mixing and matching novel and cql canon, No Homophobia, Nightmares, Mentions of Starvation, Parental WWX)  

focal, filler, and line by bosbie ( T, 26k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Flower shop AU, Hurt/Comfort, Pining,. Falling in love, Slice of Life)

A Storm of Laughter in the Stillness of the Jingshi by OnlyMeAndMyBones (T, 73k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Recovery, Pain, Mental Illness, Depression, PTSD, Rehabilitation, slow burn but significantly less so than canon, miscommunication is still a thing tho, Empathy, Guilt, Forgiveness, it's not THAT dark actually)

So You Want to Start a War by JaenysBloodcourt (T, 35k, MY/QS, MengXian, WangXian, Reincarnation, WWX as a woman, Impersonation, QS brings back WWX)  

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7. I’m in the mood for fics where WWX forgets his memories, gets together with LWJ, and then thinks LWJ only likes him because he reminds him of his past lover. Like, “It Has Always Been You” by GusuBunnie. Thank you.

Love Song In Reverse by timetoboldlygo (T, 237k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Falling In Love, Slow Burn, the parent trap, but there's only one kid and the divorce was death, agressively mixing and matching novel and cql canon, No Homophobia, Nightmares, Mentions of Starvation, Parental WWX)

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8. I'm sorry beforehand, but can you please find me some WangXian story which WWX reincarnated or got his old body back after finishing MXY wishes? @ardhyan

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9. hi ❤️ i would love some fics where jiang yanli is referred as wwx's mother 🥺❤️

So You Accidentally Kidnapped A Qilin by Mikkeneko (T, 83k, WangXian, Juuni Kokki | Twelve Kingdoms Fusion, mdm yu's a+ parenting, Identity Issues, Cultivator Politics, Yin Iron Poisoning, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Feels, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, WWX Needs a Hug, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication, Getting Together, Temporary Character Death, Happy Ending, Pacifist WWX, MXTX Big Bang 2021) I don't think I've seen this a lot... but it you get no other hits at all, chapter 3 of So You Accidentally Kidnapped A Qilin by Mikkeneko has WWX explicitly say that JYL is the closest thing he has to a mother.

🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 40k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU)

Fatherhood's Calling by Fortune_Maiden (G, 1k, JYL/JZX, JZX & WWX, post-sunshot, crack, humor)

The Teapot Plot by ToxicAngel13 (M, 52k, wangxian, NMJ/LXC, misunderstandings, plots, protective Jiang sibs, golden core reveal, golden core transfer fix-it, post-sunshot, fix-it, hurt/comfort, happy ending)

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10. um.. could i ask you for fics where wei ying deals with the trauma of what he had to do in the burial mounds to survive? like people affirming to him that he's not a monster, even if it's hard for him to believe? thank you v v much!!

💖 the absence of hunger by parsnipit (M, 27k, wangxian, angst w/ happy ending, eating disorder, PTSD, food as a metaphor for love) absolutely does not pull any punches about the hardest times of wwx's life, and the second chapter has the kind of dealing with/catharsis/support from loved ones that I think the asker is looking for!

they who refuse to be blessed by sysrae (E, 7k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Whump, Golden Core Reveal, Developing Relationship, Bathing/Washing, Confessions, Sharing a Bed)

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11. Hi, I wanted to know if there is any fic which has the untamed or mdzs story told from LA wangji s pov. Does not have to be all the chapter just certain key wang xian moments and maybe what LWJ was feeling then. Thanks in advance!!!

The Price of Old Wishes by SoManyJacks (E, 67k, WangXian, Minor canon divergence, Angst, POV LWJ, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, semi-verbal!LWJ, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mojo’s Post )

Song of Clarity by vicchan (T, 59k, wangxian, LWJ pov, major character death, slow burn, canon retelling, missing scenes, pining, WIP, maybe abandoned?)

The Lone Jade of Gusu Lan by NoThanksSuddenDeathItIs (M, 24k, wangxian/OMC, major character death, LWJ pov, fluff & angst, hurt/comfort, humor, missing scenes, WIP, maybe abandoned?)

And He Knew Those Silver Eyes Were Trouble by PieceofLove (M, 311k, WangXian, Action/Adventure, Pining, Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Jealousy, Possessive Behavior, Love at First Sight, Unrequited Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Introspection, CQL-Verse, Reincarnation, Chronic pain, Slow Burn, Humor, PTSD, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions)

well-met by warlight by wukuiyuxin (Not rated, 2k, wangxian, WIP, Old English Style Poetry, Epic Poetry, podfic available) Lan Wangji’s account of meeting, loving, losing, and mourning Wei Ying and raising A-Yuan—in mock-Norse epic verse.

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12. Do you know any good fics where WWX finds out the real truth behind JC losing his core? @youkaimeimi

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, ChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, jc fixes everything through the power of brotherly love, knowing everyone's secrets helps too)

Take Care by Cerusee (G, 4k, JC & JL & WWX, uncle-son bonding time)

the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break by RoseThorne (E, 77k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Soulmates, Self-Esteem Issues, Fix-It, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Love Confessions, Getting Together, Family, Bathing/Washing, Hair Braiding, Sex Education, Aftercare, Morning After, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Torture, Scars, Chronic Pain, Adoption, Golden Core Reveal, First Time, Blow Jobs, Multiple Orgasms, Switching, sex-related injury, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, LSZ is a Wèi, Good Sibling JC, Dissociation, Burial Mounds Settlement Day, Disability)

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13. im neutral about jiggy, but im curious about canon-divergence fics where wwx is the one to finish wrh, and so he's the undisputed war hero and people can't turn on him that easily. do you know fics like that? much thanks!

wwx time travels and accidentally creates a platonic harem Series by moeblobmegane (T, 223k, WIP, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Conspiracy, Spies & Secret Agents, Team as Family, Found Family, Burial Mounds, Temporary Character Death, Pining, Morally Ambiguous Character, Rumors, Politics, Background XuanLi, Developing Friendships, Good Uncle LQR, Fluff, Angst, POV Outsider, POV Multiple)

Here With Me by iamwish (T, 42k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time travel Fix-It, No war AU, Not YZY Friendly, Somebody Lives/Not everyone dies, Established Relationship)

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14. hello!! for the next im in the mood for, do you know any commander wwx fics?? ive been thinking about a sunshot campaign were wwx was the commander of the war? thank you!

The River Runs Forever by Cerusee (T, 118k, wangxian, JYL & WWX & JC, NHS/JYL, WWX & NHS, character death, BAMF WWX, inventor WWX, sect leader WWX, WIP)

I Will Not Go Gentle into the Quiet Night by TriviasFolly (M, 89k, wangxian, rape/non-con, ABO, no cultivation au, alpha LWJ, omega WWX, royal au, slow burn, BAMF WWX, attempted rape, implied/referenced rape/non-con, murder)

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15. hi there! thank you for all of your hard work in running this blog 💕 for the next mood fic recs, do you have any recommendations for yu ziyuan (and ideally also jiang fengmian) bashing fics (or at least critical of them) that don't involve jiang cheng or jyl bashing? itll be great if they have yunmeng trio feels as well, but not necessary 🥰 thanks again! @bi-bi-bitteraf

🧡Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 394k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement)

🧡 Company by WithBroomBefore (T, 29k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Pre-Relationship, Getting Together, POV LWJ, Fix-It, Pre-Canon, at least to start, WWX goes to Cloud Recesses, But Not In The Usual Way, fear of character death, Everybody Lives Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Light Angst, good teacher LQR, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, brief discussion of past minor character suicide, Kitten)

Til Death Do Us Part by Thyone14 (Not Rated, 58k, WangXian, Time Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, WWX Needs a Hug, Protective LWJ, Soft WangXian, POV LWJ, mostly, POV Alternating)

crying like a fire in the sun by cl410 (T, 10k, WangXian, SongXiao, BSSR/LY, Runaway WWX, Canon Divergence, Everyone Lives/Nobody Die, srogue cultivator WWX, Angst, Post Cloud Recesses, Not YZY Friendly, Happy Ending, BSSR is WWX's grandmother instead of grandmaster)

🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 40k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU) (Link in #9 - Mod C)

I'd also recommend taking a look at moominmammashandbag's works - there are quite a few that are anti-YZY but not anti-JYL or JC!

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16. Hello mods!!! Do you have any recs for fics where wwx does not end up meeting lwj and jwy after his fall to the burial mounds and they think him dead???

my life’s journey is far from over by thelastdboy (E, 143k, wangxian, modern au, canon divergence, PTSD, post-sunshot, everyone lives au, depression, suicidal thoughts, unhealthy coping mechanisms, slow burn, case fic, recorvery, healing is a slow process, kink negotiation) in this one wwx disappears after his time in the burial mounds and is declared dead, but he didn't know lwj beforehand and they only met after that.

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If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[madtomedgar]

CQL Characters Coffee Orders

Wei Wuxian: Wei Wuxian has ADD/ADHD and is one of Those for whom stimulants have the reverse effect. He really enjoys coffee! He likes to have a nice freshly made espresso at the end of a long day to relax, or before bed sometimes. Not really in the morning, though. He also is That Guy about the tasting notes, which annoys Lan Wangji to no end. He will drink black coffee but his favorite is a well-made cappuccino.

Lan Wangji: Lan Wangji has tried coffee one (1) time. It was disgusting, he barely managed to swallow it, and he has to admit that he judges Wei Ying slightly for his over-fondness for Gross Bean Water.

Jiang Cheng: Jiang Cheng drinks fancy black coffee. You will not catch him dead at a dunks. However, ever since The Incident (he may have had to go to the er with heart attack symptoms. it may have been heartburn and anxiety from too much caffeine and not enough food), he is only allowed to drink decaff.

Jiang Yanli: Jiang Yanli is also not allowed to have caffeine but it’s because she has a heart condition. She usually goes for mint tea, but she likes the smell of coffee!

Lan Xichen: Lan Xichen has had enough coffee to know that he really does prefer green tea, but he does not judge others for their preferences. He might judge A-Yao’s habits a little, but that’s because that rate of consumption really cannot be healthy.

Lan Qiren: Does not drink coffee and does judge others for it. Has a whole spiel about how it is not healthy and is in fact a drug. Drinks tea and feels morally superior about it.

Wen Qing: Wen Qing is a combination coffee addict and coffee snob. She drinks single source, fair trade, organic, rain forest friendly pour-over from small roasters ONLY. She and Jiang Cheng bonded about this until The Incident and now she makes merciless fun of him for only being able to drink decaff.

Wen Ning: Hot chocolate ^_^

Jin Zixuan: Thinks he’s a like. Real Coffee Guy because he has a keurig. Buys the kinds of coffee that are expensive without being good. Would fail a blind taste test between gas station coffee and like. George Howell. Puts a truly insane amount of milk in it to the point where it’s like. Coffee flavored milk. Just an embarrassment.

Jin Guangyao: Jin Guangyao is a black coffee purist. If you leave room for other things in the cup, that is less caffeine you can fit in the cup, which means less energy to do your work. He appreciates good coffee but he will drink anything. He really isn’t picky. As long as it’s caffeinated. He also drinks coffee like it is going out of style because it is, first and foremost, a vehicle for caffeine, and this is the only stimulant he can justify using to himself. But he definitely knows the difference between the good stuff and the not-good stuff, and really appreciates the good stuff when it’s available. He is also a light-roast purist because light-roast has more caffeine in it :) :) :)

Jin Zixun: Is That Guy who simply Must find a Starbucks and thinks he’s like. Hot Shit because he Only drinks Starbucks coffee, specifically that extra dark roast garbage that tastes like it’s burnt. If you take him to a good coffee shop, he just bitches about how it’s not as good as Starbucks very loudly and tries to order Italian sizes regardless. He always orders either a latte or an americano, depending on how much of a douche he wants to look like today.

Nie Mingjue: Black coffee. He also cannot tell the difference between the good stuff and gas station coffee, but he knows this and thinks it’s a point of pride. He has had many arguments about how “coffee is coffee” with Jin Guangyao who would really appreciate it if they could get something maybe just a little nicer than folgers for the breakroom, you know, since they have it in the budget?? Maybe????? (They can’t because Nie Mingjue doesn’t see the point in spending money on something that in his opinion is identical to folgers but with fancy packaging).

Nie Huaisang: He goes to the Most Fanciest Coffee Shops and orders like. $10 rose-flavored cafe au laits and lavender lattes and shit. He also puts pictures of them on instagram like a clown. 

Xue Yang: He gets THE sugariest, childishest, most ridiculous drinks. Like. Funfetti frappacinnos. With extra whipped cream. And sprinkles. He has no shame about this. This is, in his opinion, Living The Dream. Jin Guangyao both indulges and judges him for this.

Xiao Xingchen: Xiao Xingchen has a whole Conspiracy Theory about antioxidants or something, so he Does Not drink coffee, but he is so happy to make you this nice herbal tea that he learned how to make on the mountain from wild foraged plants! 

Song Lan: Iced coffee all year round baybee!

A-Qing: A-Qing will drop a redbull into a large black coffee, chug the whole thing while making direct eye-contact with Xue Yang, burp loudly, crack her knuckles, leave, and return three hours later with like. 30 purses, eight to-go bags, and a cat on a leash, none of which belong to her.

Su Minshan: Su Minshan is the dunks loyalist. He simply must find a dunkin. He insists it’s actually good (it’s not). And yes, it’s the classic massive flavored (hazelnut) iced coffee with milk. Jin Guangyao wants to judge him for this but it’s kind of weirdly charming.

Jin Ling: Also orders like. Funfetti frappacinos. But he’s very defensive about it. He threw one on Lan Jingyi once for making fun of his “baby drink.”

Ouyang Zizhen: Chai lattes, which he thinks are Grown Up and Interesting.

Lan Sizhui: Hot Chocolate ^_^

Lan Jingyi: Mochas. He thinks this means he’s a cool grown up, but he will also Cut You if you make fun of Lan Sizhui for ordering hot chocolate.

Qin Su: Coffee with a respectable amount of milk.

Mianmian: Black with sugar, the absolute madman.

[d00m-d4ys]

Disclaimer: i know this could be better (quality-of-story-wise) but it could also be a whole lot worse, so imo that absolves me of both editing and basic grammatical discipline. Please enjoy the latest instalment of my ‘the subplot of jiang fengmian possibly cheating on his wife was boring; yu ziyuan and cangse sanren should have been besties’ agenda.

Curfew is one of the many rules that chafe, and so she disregards it as often as she can. As undignified as it is to scales the walls of Cloud Recesses, she seethes, it could all be avoided if she was allowed spar with Zidian and teach the second heir of Lan not to look down his nose at her.

This moon is high by the time she returns, and she nearly topples to the ground as a voice calls, “Don’t fall.”

She steadies herself, telling her racing heart to calm itself. She looks to her left and sees the girl: a rogue cultivator, hair diligently unkempt and at odds with her pressed student’s robes.

“Don’t concern yourself with me,” she tells her sternly.

Cangse Sanren sits up, eyes wide. “I wasn’t concerned! Merely speaking aloud. Ignore me, honoured Violet Spider.”

“You mock me?” Zidian crackles in her hands.

“But of course. Jiangs fight best when they’re angry.” She comes to her feet like a puppet tugged along by its strings, lighter than air and undeniably coordinated.

Zidian hisses louder. “I am not Jiang, you insolent—“

Cangse Sanren moves almost too fast to track, and Ziyuan strikes on reflex, Zidian splitting a layer of roofing in half as Cangse dodges back, landing safely out of reach on top of the guard tower. She whistles, long and low. “So this is Zidian. Why do you hide her away?”

She curls her fingers around her ring protectively, unsure of what the girl means to do.

“Is that why? Afraid someone will steal it?” Cangse lights back down on the roof, confident in a way that Ziyuan hates, but not enough to risk using Zidian again. “I’m sorry for insulting you. What are you, if not a Jiang?”

The question catches her off-guard, and she answers before she can think better of it. “This one is Yu Ziyuan.”

“Yu Ziyuan, Yu Ziyuan— I can’t promise I’ll remember, but I’ll do my best.” She bows, again catching her by surprise. “This one is Cangse Sanren.”

She swallows. “I know.”

Cangse straightens up and grins at her, tucking her sword into the crook of her elbow. “I think we’ll be friends. Yes?”

She’s about to answer when the roofing beneath her feet turns slick as ice, sending her plummeting to the ground. Cangse lands mostly on top of her with her many bony appendages, and for a moment all Ziyuan can do is sit there and quietly groan.

It’s probably not a good sign that the clan leader himself had caught them sparring out of grounds and after curfew, but at least she isn’t alone.

-

After that, it was quite obvious that Cangse would continue to be a permanent pest.

“A-Yuan,” she begs, already reaching for Ziyuan’s bowl. “Cangse is so hungry, how can A-Yuan be so cruel?”

“Eat your own damn food,” she snaps, and learns not to regret it. Cangse sighs and returns to her own bowl, identical to hers excepting the absence of bamboo shoots.

Cangse seems to attract trouble: she can see across the room Jiang Fengmian making a beeline for her table, followed shortly after by a disciple whose name escapes her.

The usual niceties are as excruciating as always, and they find themselves seated across the table. Cangse drops her chopsticks and slams her hands down, earning them several dirty looks. “Young Master, I must know your name.”

There is a moment where Ziyuan can see disaster blooming. Both men look delighted at the attention, and both move to answer her question.

She dumps her bamboo shoots in Jiang Fengmian’s bowl, interrupting his train of thought and drawing his attention to her.

It’s a risky gamble: the bamboo shoots are inarguably the best thing in a Lan’s diet, and she doesn’t want to invite implication into her actions, but something so grand and distracting and (hopefully) confusing is enough to render him speechless.

Unfortunately, it also draws Cangse’s ire, though the servant — Wei Changze — is blissfully unaware of her blunders, still basking under Cangse’s attention.

Jiang Fengmian colours a bright pink that she privately thinks is very becoming, and she can only hope that his interest in Cangse is only infatuation. “Thank you, Lady Yu.”

-

The Jin arrive, finally, and so too does her friend from across the river. Hua Yufei is just as ladylike as she remembers, but her immediate taking-to of Cangse Sanren is concerning, to say the least.

“Is it difficult, being a rogue cultivator?”

“Perhaps it is, when comfort is a concern. I have often slept outdoors on nighthunts, when no inn would have me.”

Yufei shudders. “I could never,” she swears, hand daintily resting on her collarbone. “Ziyuan, did you hear the news, or shall I tell you?”

“What news?”

“Sect Leader Jin is in want of a match for his son. I have it on good authority that I am in the running, and that Jin Guangshan favours me.”

Her mother had sent word that her own marriage now had a wedding date, and it filled her with equal parts dread and relief.

Cangse bumps her shoulder, jolting her out of her daydreams. “Congratulate your sworn-sister, A-Yuan, for I have no earthly idea what any of you are talking about.”

Yufei gets far more excited than she should, and hurries to sit next to Cangse. “See that one there? The Jin with peonies on his sleeve? He is Jin Guangshan. If I am to marry him, I’ll be Madame of the second-richest sect in Xianxia.”

Cangse looks critically at him and evidently turns up little to compliment, to Ziyuan’s vindication. “He seems very . . . friendly.”

It’s a very kind way of noting his lecherous staring at the servant pouring his tea. “He will not give up his ways under marriage, Yufei.”

“What do I care if he galavants through every brothel in Lanling? I need only bear a son, and my wifely duties will be complete. I will have Koi Tower, and he shall have his fleeting pleasures. Let others take care of him.”

-

The lectures end, somewhat successfully: Lan Qiren’s facial hair had suffered Cangse’s vengeance, Hua Yufei had secured a tentative proposal from Jin Guangshan, and Jiang Fengmian no longer looked scared of her when she spoke to him.

Yufei hugs her tightly before dashing after the Jin delegation. Cangse stands by her as the Jiang sect prepares to leave, disiciples running about accomplishing what they should have several hours beforehand. “Is Yunmeng your home?”

“For now.” Her betrothal was entering into its vital stages, and it wouldn’t do to return to Meishan just yet. “And yours?”

She lifts one shoulder, staring out over the bustling Jiangs. “Wherever I’m needed.”

Ziyuan spots Wei Changze trying to look as though he’s not watching Cangse Sanren, fiddling with something in his hands. If they’re not careful, the Jiang sect will lose two fine cultivators. “Then you should come with us.”

-

Yu Ziyuan knows that something is wrong. She knows it as well as she knows that her daughter is six, that her son is three, that she has not seen her ill-gotten sworn-sister since before either of them were born.

She leaves without a word, away on her sword and letting her heart guide her.

The last of her steady letters had come from Yiling, paper smelling faintly of sulphur from the Burial Mounds. So west she steers herself, flying hard through the gathering storm and buffeting winds until she hears Cangse calling for her husband. She descends hard and almost falls, Zidian flaring out and cracking against the encroaching fierce corpses. Two fall back, weak enough to be banished, but four more advance in their place, and she seizes her sword for the task of disposing of them.

Cangse does not struggle with fierce corpses. She has a way with them, tames them like dogs under her immortal’s teachings. Ziyuan is almost afraid to turn around, sheathing her sword and searching the gloom and thicket for a trace of teal robes, a beaded jade hairpiece.

“A-Ze!”

Her voice is near. She can hear two sets of footprints, one surer, the other more cautious.

Something was wrong with this forest, if it had separated Cangse and Wei Changze. She feels as though she might crawl out of her skin, the resentful energy mounting with each second she remained. She rushes through thicket and brush, forcing her way through layers of the maze array with sheer force of will, far too angry to be waylaid by such child’s play.

The final layer stretches like rice cake before snapping, and it felt as though a layer of wet cotton had been ripped from her ears, the sounds of the world coming into sharp focus with painful suddenness.

Cangse is there to catch her, though she seems disoriented. “A-Yuan?”

Her voice shakes, and she hates it. “We have to leave.”

Cangse’s mouth sets. “Not without A-Ze.”

The maze array changes even as they speak, and Cangse is too dizzy to do anything but slow them down and ensure they remain trapped. She feels her mouth twist grimly as she wraps her hand around her wrist, dragging her to the edge of the array. “I will find him.”

-

She doesn’t regret finding Cangse first. How could she, for her own sworn-sister? She refuses to regret. She will not regret.

It’s difficult to muster that conviction when she lays Wei Changze’s body down on the ground, overtaken by the hole in his chest where his heart once was.

Cangse wails when she sees him, a keening, heartbroken sound Ziyuan has never heard a person make. The sound is pure pain, and for a moment all she can do is stand there and think about how devestated Jiang Fengmian will be, when he hears the news.

She kneels, wanting to at least close his eyes. Cangse’s wails abruptly peter off and she screams, “Get away from him!”

The suddenness of it startles her away, and Cangse throws herself over his body, protecting him. “Don’t touch him. I won’t let him be sullied by such hands.”

“Such hands?” Already, she is angry. “Say your meaning.”

“You always hated him,” she accuses. “You could have saved him. Why didn’t you save him?” She touched his cheeks, crying over his glossy, dead eyes. “Why didn’t you help him first?”

“And risk the same happening to you?” She doesn’t regret. She doesn’t.

“You should have! He’s the one who should live. It shouldn’t be me.”

She stands, too angry to say anything constructive at the moment. “Wei Ying will be in Yunmeng, while you grieve.”

She’ll never be sure if Cangse Sanren would have heard anything of the living world in that moment, her ear pressed to a dead man’s chest.

-

Jiang Fengmian is in his office, and she lets herself in. “Wei Changze is dead.”

The news is sudden, and horrible, and Fengmian spends a good few minutes unable to speak. “What happened?”

She meets his watery gaze. “A nighthunt. He was overpowered.”

“And Cangse?” He licks his lips. “Is she—“

“You are aware they have a child?” She feels so very angry, and it is easy to blame it on his apparently poor memory, instead of its true source. “You do know that? Or have you only read their letters to trace Cangse’s calligraphy? Are you so eager that you forget your duty?”

He has the decency to look ashamed, but not enough to muster a response.

She scoffed and left the room, making her way to her children’s’ quarters.

-

Cangse Sanren arrives just as Ziyuan’s lies to her son began to wear thin.

She lands softly in the training grounds, leaving stunned and gaping disciples in her wake. She strides to wear Ziyuan stands, supervising Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying as they spar.

“I want my son back.”

Ziyuan lifts her chin, crossing her arms. It hides her anxiety: Cangse is dressed in mourning white, and her eyes are sunken with lack of sleep. She is much paler than she used to be, and much angrier.

Cangse scowls at her, at her silence. “Wei Ying. Come here.”

Wei Ying looks up with a gleeful cry, and rushes to embrace his mother. For a moment, Cangse is her old self again, swinging him into her arms and kissing him on the cheek.

But it soon fades, and Cangse Sanren fixes her with a steely glare and utters perhaps the last words Yu Ziyuan will ever forget:

“Until we meet again, Madame Jiang.”

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 07 part one

(Masterpost)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Clan Sanren

Lanny Granny gets a second wind and continues her Yin Iron Webinar.

Wei Wuxian explains that although he was adopted by the Jiang Clan, Baoshan Sanren is his grandmaster, via his mom. Lan Yi claims to think that this is pretty great.

Lan Yi: Wow, amazing, my ex girlfriend who I dumped has settled down and started her own family Clan now, that’s so great. I’m so happy for her. So happy. So great. I mean, when I left I didn’t really picture her finding happiness first, you know? I kind of expected to have settled down myself by now but it’s hard to date when you’re trapped in an ice cave putting headbands on rabbits for 100 years. But it’s fine! I love my life and I’m sure eventually I’ll find that special rabbit person.  Anyway I’m just...SUPER happy for Baoshan. Really. Really happy. For Baoshan. 

Lan Wangji also appears to have thoughts about it, because he reacts pretty intently.

 Lan+Sanren 4EvR. 

Wang Yibo is looking extra fine in this cave sequence, with no headband to distract from his fierce eyebrows.  

Lan Wangji asks Lan Yi if she’s the one who pulled them into the cave, and she says nope, and then nobody ever explains how they ended up in the cave. “Perhaps it’s destiny” does not count as an explanation. 

Lan Gran explains that her battery is running down. The Lan bunnies are not energizer bunnies, apparently. She also tells them that it’s impossible to destroy the Yin Iron and that the only solution is to put it back in the cave and try to suppress it again. 

(more after the cut)

However by Episode 23 it inexplicably becomes super easy to destroy the Yin Iron...

...meaning Lan Yi spent 100 years in a cave for nothing, other than writing the Definitive Guide to Rabbit Headbands. 

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get back into Hardy Boys cultivator mode, but this time with an extremely long held gaze, which I think is their first time doing this.

I mean...even if these boys are 100% neurotypical (and hello, they are not), this is a LOT of eye contact. I can't gaze that long at anything except my phone screen. 

We Will Achieve The Thing Together

Narrator: they will not achieve the thing

The reason I got into c-drama in the first place is, after decades of western storytelling tropes, it’s so refreshing to watch a story and have literally no idea what’s going to happen. Even when the story sets things up to happen a certain way according to my learned experience of stories, it just doesn’t play out that way. For example, if you’re watching The Lost Tomb Reboot and you expected the jade-mining sequence to end with a slave uprising, you were as surprised as I was. 

Here Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian promise to do their best to find and suppress the Yin iron. Lan Wangji is going to fail at this, allowing this here piece to fall into the hands of the Wens, because unlike his uncle he's not willing to let his clan die to protect it.  

Wei Wuxian is going to take his not-doing-the-thing several steps further, finding and refining his very own piece of extra-badass Yin iron. Yes, he has reasons for this and a lot of stuff happens along the way, but in terms of your typical quest storyline, it would be as if Frodo figured out how to use the one ring to kick Sauron’s ass, rather than (with help) destroying it. Again: this is why I LIKE c-drama. 

Lan Wangji tries to shut Wei Wuxian out of his quest and Wei Wuxian makes a short but utterly character-defining speech. 

You can’t stop me

I know what’s right. 

And then he says that his Grandmaster Baoshan Sanren was isolated because of the Yin Iron, and he has a responsibility to her. Lan Yi agrees. So...he just kinda quit the Jiang Clan right there, didn’t he? In favor of eventually becoming a wandering cultivator like his Grandmaster and clan uncle (Xiao Xichen), and like his mother. 

He is also going to follow in his father’s footsteps by upsetting his Clan Leader when he falls in love. Gosh, he also, like his parents, will die and leave an orphan to fend for himself. So -- the apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess.

He doesn't realize the pickle he’s getting himself into, of course. Being Wei Wuxian, he thinks he can balance all of his increasing obligations, but being human, he won’t be able to. 

Pardon Our Entwinement

Lan Yi leaves to catch the spiritual plane, the Yin iron drops, the ward breaks, and Wen Ning appears to download a new software update. The kind that breaks your video driver and photoshops your eyeballs.  

Wen Qing comes nosing around the cave wall, and Jiang Cheng stops by to ask what she’s up to. 

He hopes she’s trying to find his brother, just like he will fail to do for her & her brother one day.  

The boys fall out of the wall together, in a nice example of the “oops I’m accidentally humping you” c-drama romance trope. To keep it censor-friendly, Wei Wuxian is actually on the ground next to Lan Wangji’s right knee but the shot is framed so that at a glance he appears to be in a much cozier position. 

Lan Wangji goes on an expression journey don’t say facial through several “oh shit we’re caught” faces, while Wei Wuxian shows Lan Wangji a few iterations of his oh-face. 

Jiang Cheng wants to know what the fuck they have been getting up to for a day and a night. 

The movie wasn't so hot, it didn't have much of a plot, we fell asleep our goose is cooked our reputation is shot

Wen Qing detects that they were somewhere cold and decides it’s her turn to ask nosy questions. Lan Wangji does the guilty startle thing. 

Fortunately Wei Wuxian doesn’t have that problem.

He turns his answer into a prolonged whine about how cold it was, how lost they were, etc. This annoys Jiang Cheng into dropping it and saying they should head back. 

I’m awesome right? so awesome right?

Wei Wuxian gives Lan Wangji a significant look to show that he’s deploying a rhetorical strategy on purpose to distract his questioner. Lan Wangji super does not know how to do that. 

Flute + Yin Iron = Profit

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get to watch as Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen tame the hunk of iron and stick it in the bag of holding. Wei Wuxian pays verrrryyy careful attention to this whole “use a flute to control the Yin iron” lesson. 

Lan Xichen really should reconsider his music-lessons side hustle. Arguably this one doesn’t turn out as badly for him personally as teaching guqin to Jin Guangyao does, but it doesn’t turn out great, either. 

知己啊  - zhi-ji-ah

This mostly-tedious Yin Iron conversation with the elders includes a super-important WangXian moment.

Wei Wuxian calls Lan Wangji his zhiji. This is the same word he will use later in the “what am I to you?” conversation during the Jin night hunt, and the word Lan Xichen will use when saying why Lan Wangji wouldn’t repudiate him during his forced isolation. As always, for the full meaning of this word, @hunxi-guilai​ is brills.

A Wen spy bird shows up, and Lan Wangji really wants to chase it, but Lan Xichen says no. 

This happens a lot, actually. Lan Wangji is not a cool-headed person, despite appearances.  Likewise the boys want to go searching for the Yin Iron and the adults want them to slow their roll. 

Being a teenager is frustrating, particularly with a classic “I didn’t actually listen to you before making a decision” adult like Lan Qiren in charge. 

Lying is my First Class Spiritual Tool

Nie Huasang shows up and has his usual hilariously varied reaction to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji - an enthusiastic “Wei-Xiong!” followed by a nervous & meek “Lan Er Gongzi” and a bow to Lan Wangji.  

He wants to know what happened and Wei Wuxian once again shows his powers of rhetoric. 

I like to call it my “devil snake.” 

He puts off all of Nie Huaisang’s potential questions by really knowing his questioner well and completely distracting him.  

This time Lan Wangji seems impressed. 

Jelly Jiang Cheng

Young Master Cockblock shows up and lets loose with a display of total naked jealousy. That carving on Wei Wuxian’s bed back in Lotus Pier...is that him and Jiang Cheng? Because damn, this boi is jealous. 

...and so is Lan Wangji, apparently, or at least he’s disappointed to have Wei Wuxian taken away from him like that.  

Yearn Mode Enabled

Club Ruohan’s Foyer

Wen Chao and Xue Yang stand awkwardly in Wen Ruohan’s vestibule talking to the boss through a giant door, because sure, why not. 

This doesn’t bother Xue Yang, who as usual has no fucks to give. Except that today, Wen Ruohan tells him that the budget for his project finally got approved, which lifts his spirits quite a bit. 

His project to single-handedly slaughter an entire clan, and he is super excited about the kickoff meeting. 

Wen Chao is mopey because his brother gets all the good murder assignments and his dad doesn’t appreciate him. Boo fucking hoo. 

Periodic reminder that He Peng looks like this when he’s not playing Wen Chao.

Part 2 coming soon!

Soundtrack: Wake Up, Little Susie by the Everly Brothers

Bonus

[ibijau]

Losing their memory only to have it come back after a much awaited true love’s kiss Nie Huaisang & Lan Xichen please. Lan Xichen loses his memory (maybe on a night hunt?) And even though him and Nie Huaisang have been together for over a year they haven't told anyone else yet so Nie Huaisang tries to wait for him to remember on his own but when he doesn't Nie Huaisang eventually breaks down and ends up kissing him. (Either completely alone or in front of a huge crowd) again I don't mind changes

also on AO3

this got a bit out of hand and is nearly 6K, oops?

Lan Xichen turns toward Nie Huaisang, and smiles politely.

“And you are?”

Nie Huaisang nearly drops his fan. More than the question, it is the tone of theother man’s voice that shocks him. It is the polite but slightly distant tone that Lan Xichen uses when talking to sect leaders or people who have come to beg for Gusu Lan’s help. Nie Huaisang has only once before been on the receiving end of that tone, the first time he came to visit Lan Xichen after the events in that temple. 

It was a slap back then to be treated so coldly. 

It is even more so now, with the new balance they’ve tentatively started to reach.

Nie Huaisang is too stunned to answer, but the juniors around Lan Xichen seem unsurprised by this. They trade a few worried glances, then the most confident Lan junior grabs Lan Xichen’s sleeve and smiles up at him.

“Lan zongzhu, that’s Nie zongzhu,” he explains. “He’s the one who came with the Nie juniors to help supervise the Night Hunt. You really don’t remember that either?”

“Not right now,” Lan Xichen amicably admits. “But I’m sure it will come back to me very soon. I’m sorry if that was rude, Nie zongzhu,” he adds, turning his attention back to Nie Huaisang and bowing slightly. “I seem to have suffered through a slight mishap and cannot remember a number of things. Please be patient with me if I behave inappropriately.”

Behind Lan Xichen, a few of the Nie juniors grimace. Even the Lan kids look uncomfortable. None of them know how close the two adults with them are, but they’ve seen their friendly banter earlier in the day, miles away from this reserved manner of address. Lan Xichen has never called Nie Huaisang ‘Nie zongzhu’ outside of discussion conferences. It feels wrong, so wrong that Nie Huaisang almost feels dizzy.

He keeps himself calm though. The children are already very distressed, and Lan Xichen is obviously not in a state to deal with anything, so Nie Huaisang has to take charge until someone more competent comes along.

“What happened?” he asks the Lan junior who spoke earlier. “Did he get hurt?”

A wound to the head could explain temporary difficulties, but Lan Xichen doesn’t look unwell. Indeed, the Lan junior only briefly hesitates before shaking his head.

“We’d spotted the demon,” the boy explains, glancing up at his sect leader. “Lan zongzhu thought there was something strange about it, so he asked us to stay back while he got a better look. But the demon spotted him and did something, and now he’s like that and doesn’t remember anything.”

Nie Huaisang nods along. So does Lan Xichen.

“If that’s so, I’m glad I went ahead,” he says. “A demon? How frightful. I’m glad none of you children were harmed.”

In spite of his growing anxiety, Nie Huaisang can’t help a weak smile upon hearing this. Even like this, Lan Xichen is still the same person, and Nie Huaisang is impossibly fond of him. It must be terrifying to not know who anyone is or what’s going on, and yet Lan Xichen is so fundamentally kind that he’s still more worried about the children than his own state.

“Indeed, we were lucky,” Nie Huaisang agrees, opening his fan to hide that smile he can’t contain. “From the way villagers described it, I wouldn’t have expected that demon to be strong enough to harm Zewu-Jun. That’s you,” he adds, catching Lan Xichen’s confused gaze. “Your courtesy name is Lan Xichen, you are sect leader of Gusu Lan, and your title is Zewu-Jun.”

“It’s pretty,” Lan Xichen muses. “What is your title, Nie zongzhu?”

Nobody says anything, but Nie Huaisang can still hear the juniors of both thinking ‘Headshaker’. He doesn’t get called that too much these days, but he doubts that it will ever fully leave him. Usually he doesn’t mind, but somehow it’d be embarrassing for this more innocent version of Lan Xichen to know anything about Nie Huaisang’s tricks.

“I don’t have a title,” he announces, before turning again to the children. “Do you have everyone from your group? Did you count yourself after the demon escaped? No one missing or added?”

“No, Nie zongzhu,” a different Lan boy answers. “We’re the same number as before. Nie zongzhu, can you cure Lan zongzhu?”

However touched he is that anyone would have that sort of faith in him, Nie Huaisang grimaces.

“No, probably not. Let’s go back to the inn for now, and from there I’ll send a distress signal to warn Hanguang-Jun.”

“Hanguang-Jun?” Lan Xichen curiously repeats. “A friend of mine?”

Before Nie Huaisang can answer, the Lan juniors all start correcting their sect leader, eager to explain who Lan Wangji is. Even some of the Nie children join in, such is the fame of the great Hanguang-Jun. All Nie Huaisang can do is herd everyone toward the village where they’re staying, and make sure that nothing too outrageously untrue is said. 

He notices that while the children don’t hesitate to speak about Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen’s claims to fame from the Sunshot campaign and after, they are careful not to say anything about more recent events. The oldest among them can’t be much more than thirteen, but they already have enough good sense to guess that speaking of Jin Guangyao would only hurt Lan Xichen. Nie Huaisang feels proud of them, though he knows he has no reason. He’s not the one who raised them, and even his own disciples have not felt his influence much.

Perhaps more than pride, it is gratefulness that he feels. Or else, it might be admiration. Such is the effect that Lan Xichen has on people: it is impossible to know him and not care for him.

With the children chatting and Lan Xichen listening, they make it safely to the inn. That’s where Lan Wangji and the inevitable Wei Wuxian find them after a few hours. 

Things, after that, go very fast. Lan Wangji checks on his brother while Wei Wuxian interrogates the juniors to learn more about the demon. Nie Huaisang stands to the side, knowing he won’t be of any help. He pays their bill, and announces to the village chief that they won’t be able to eliminate the demon just yet, but will make sure the situation isn’t allowed to degenerate.

It is a bit of a surprise when Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian say that they have no idea how to get Lan Xichen back to normal, but it isn’t a huge shock either. Nie Huaisang is starting to suspect the demon might have been extremely powerful, but merely of mischievous temper rather than outright evil and thus only caused small problems for local people. It is a little worrying that Lan Xichen might have been cursed, but the Lan elders are wise people and they will set him right in a matter of days.

So while Lan Wangji takes his brother home, followed by his husband and the Lan juniors, Nie Huaisang gathers his own little disciples and prepares to do the same without having exchanged another word with Lan Xichen. It doesn’t bother him too much.

He knows he’ll soon hear from Lan Xichen, and together they'll laugh about this misadventure.

-

As days turn into weeks, Nie Huaisang tries not to worry about the lack of news coming from the Cloud Recesses. If things weren’t going well, he would have heard about it. Gusu Lan might have a rule against gossip, but servants and guest disciples still like to chat. Just as Nie Huaisang was among the first to hear when Lan Xichen entered seclusion after the death of Jin Guangyao, he’s sure he would know if his curse had proved impossible to lift.

Lan Xichen must be fine.

Which means, also, that his silence must be a deliberate choice. That for whatever reason, he cannot find time to spare to tell his lover that he is feeling better, nor to schedule when they might try to meet again. Lan Xichen is a busy man, and ruling Gusu Lan is a more involved job than ruling Qinghe Nie, so Nie Huaisang has been warned from the start that if they chose to change the nature of their friendship, there would be long periods where they wouldn’t meet.

Nie Huaisang, refusing to appear possessive or clingy, decides not to ask for news when none is given. He has distracted Lan Xichen from his responsibilities too often when he was playing the fool, he cannot continue doing so now that he is no longer hiding.

Weeks continue passing, and still not a word from the Cloud Recesses, except an official letter reminding Nie Huaisang that he is invited to a discussion conference set there. The letter bears Lan Xichen’s seal, further proving that he is fine and simply too busy to fool around. Or perhaps that incident with the demon, and how useless Nie Huaisang was in the aftermath, has reminded Lan Xichen that aside from plotting murder and painting, his lover isn’t good for much.

The advantage of a secret relationship, Nie Huaisang realises one day, is that there’s no need for a public break-up. Lan Xichen only has to stop contacting him, and things are over.

He realises, also, that it was Lan Xichen who insisted on keeping things secret as they figured out if this could work. He had said that Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji might have objections otherwise, which seemed like a wise consideration at the time, but now Nie Huaisang can only wonder…

If this was Lan Xichen taking revenge for being left in the dark about Jin Guangyao’s true nature, then he played his cards well. Nie Huaisang never saw it coming, though perhaps he should have.

Even for a man as kind as Lan Xichen, some things must be too much to forgive.

-

When the time for that discussion conference comes, Nie Huaisang considers not going. There’s never much there that interests him in those conferences, and he doesn’t quite feel ready to face Lan Xichen yet after what he is now convinced was a silent break-up. He also refuses to give anyone the satisfaction of having wounded him, though, and that means he has to go to Gusu and act unaffected.

Not so long ago, it would have been odd to arrive at the gates of the Cloud Recesses and not be greeted in person by Lan Xichen. Usually whoever is guarding the entrance has instructions to go warn their sect leader that his old friend has arrived, allowing Lan Xichen to lead Nie Huaisang inside even though he was given a jade token long ago, back after his brother’s death. 

This time, Nie Huaisang gets to use that token at last, because he is told to go in alone since Lan Xichen isn’t free to come at the moment. He supposes he should feel grateful that the token hasn’t been deactivated. Maybe Lan Xichen feared there would be a scandal. Maybe he doesn’t care enough to remember that Nie Huaisang even has that token.

Either way, Lan Xichen isn’t there, and ultimately it is Lan Wangji who comes to meet him and leads him to the guest quarters. Nie Huaisang figures it’s better than if it had been Lan Qiren, who still scares him a little from his time as a student.

At dinner that evening, Lan Xichen is absent. Nie Huaisang doesn’t ask any questions, but someone else does, only to be told that Lan Xichen has to deal with some urgent situation and likely won’t be present during the entire discussion conference. There’s some whispers about that, unsurprisingly, but no one is alarmed and Nie Huaisang least of all. With Gusu Lan’s reputation, they tend to be asked to help with very delicate cases that require great expertise. It is not so extraordinary for Lan cultivators to have to drop previous engagements to go help those in need.

Nie Huaisang may or may not be relieved that he won’t have to face his former lover just yet. Either way, he is careful not to show any emotion, especially once he notices that Wei Wuxian keeps glancing his way.

He will not give anyone the satisfaction of seeing his heartbreak.

Come morning, the discussion conference starts as it normally would. Lan Xichen’s absence is hardly felt at all. Lan Qiren is more than competent to represent Gusu Lan, having done so for many years. If Nie Huaisang’s eyes accidentally start looking for Lan Xichen every time someone says something particularly stupid… well, it’s unlikely anyone will notice. His reputation has improved, but Qinghe Nie is still not quite back to being a Great Sect again, nor is it likely to happen in his lifetime, so nobody really pays attention to him. Nobody except Lan Xichen, and…

Well, not even that anymore.

Which is fine.

Nie Huaisang has managed to be on his own for ten years, he doesn’t mind going back to that. The only regret he allows himself is that time passes so slowly in those damn conferences when he has nothing to look forward to. Inane chatter is so much worse without the promise of stolen tenderness later on.

But instead of being able to run to his lover’s arms

, when the discussion ends for the day, Nie Huaisang finds Wei Wuxian waiting for him at the door of the hall.

“Nie-xiong, let’s have a chat,” Wei Wuxian demands, grabbing him by the arm and kidnapping him so he cannot join others to dinner.

“I’m kind of hungry,” Nie Huaisang complains. “Can it wait?”

Wei Wuxian grins, and takes a small box from his sleeve, holding out for Nie Huaisang to remove the lid.

Nie Huaisang starts salivating the instant the smell hits his nose.

“Dumplings from that place you used to like,” Wei Wuxian announces. “It’s still the same man making them. So, can we have a chat, or would you rather have a proper Lan dinner with everyone?”

“Wei-xiong, you are the worst and I hate you,” Nie Huaisang grumbles, staring at the dumplings. “Fine, I’ll listen to you.”

Wei Wuxian grins and continues pulling him away from everyone. Lan Qiren, who leaves the hall last, notices them going away and glares at them but doesn't actually say anything. 

"I see the in-laws are liking you a little better these days," Nie Huaisang remarks, carefully grasping one dumpling. He would have preferred not eating with his hands, but he can make sacrifices for the sake of a good meal. "Not long ago, Lan Qiren would have gone mad, seeing you disturb his conference like this."

"I didn't disturb anything, you lot were done for the day," Wei Wuxian objects, letting go of Nie Huaisang’s arm. He too grabs a dumpling, and inelegantly shoves it in his mouth. "And he's glad I'm helping with Lan Xichen," he adds, spitting food. "It's a difficult situation." 

Nie Huaisang knows he's being baited. He truly knows it. 

"What about Lan Xichen?" he still asks, unable to stop himself. 

"Nie-xiong, don't you remember that curse he was hit with? We're still trying to lift it." 

Nie Huaisang stops in his tracks and stares at Wei Wuxian. 

"What do you mean you're still trying to… It's been months! What could take you so long? Aren't you supposed to be a cultivation genius? Isn't Gusu Lan a well of wisdom?" 

Wei Wuxian shrugs, and gobbles another dumpling. 

"So you really didn't know, eh?" 

"How was I supposed to know? No one saw fit to inform me of this situation. Excuse me for having too much faith in your competence, Wei-xiong." 

"Didn't it strike you as odd that Lan Xichen stopped contacting you after that incident?" Wei Wuxian retorts. "I know the two of you had become close again lately. Some friend you are, letting this much time pass without news." 

Nie Huaisang's face burns at those words, and he quickly opens his fan to hide behind. It shouldn't surprise him that Wei Wuxian guessed what was going one between him and Lan Xichen.

"Yes, yes, we both know I'm a terrible friend, especially to Zewu-Jun," he grumbles. "I just assumed he was busy. Not everybody can ditch their responsibility whenever they please to go Night Hunting like you do, Wei-xiong." Nie Huaisang pauses, and sighs. "Is it really serious? Is he in any danger?" 

Can I help? he wants to ask, though the very idea is so ridiculous it isn't even worth saying out loud. If all of Gusu Lan and Wei Wuxian have failed to bring Lan Xichen back to normal, Nie Huaisang won't be of any use. 

"It's more inconvenient than anything," Wei Wuxian says, lifting a weight from Nie Huaisang's shoulders. "Aside from the memory loss, he doesn't suffer at all. His cultivation is still the same. He hasn't even forgotten everything either. He recalls everything to do with cultivation or the arts quite well, he can still fight without problem… But anything personal is just gone."

"Oh. Well, then it might be more of a blessing than a curse," Nie Huaisang remarks. "Or have you told him…" 

Wei Wuxian quickly shakes his head, nibbling on another dumpling. Nie Huaisang steals another one and does the same, refusing to watch his dinner be eaten under his nose like this. 

"We only told him basic things, to see if it would help his memory. He knows he has an uncle, a brother, that I'm married to Wangji… But since that didn't really help, we figured it was better not to say too much. Lan Qiren decided it would just have distressed him."

Nie Huaisang nods. He still remembers the way Lan Xichen looked that night, at that temple, after everything had come to light. To inflict that upon him a second time would have been too cruel. 

"Truly a blessing then," Nie Huaisang muses. "Maybe it's for the best and we should let him be."

"Nie-xiong, you really are too dramatic," Wei Wuxian complains. "We've told him that his past has painful things in it, but he still wants to remember. And you should know, he's been asking about you." 

Hearing this startles Nie Huaisang who gapes at Wei Wuxian. 

"Didn't… Didn't you say he doesn't remember anything? Wei-xiong, make up your mind about this. I swear if you're lying…" 

"Not lying," Wei Wuxian retorts, biting into the last dumpling. "He can't remember anything from before that Night Hunt, but apparently you make a strong impression on him that day. He frequently asks about the 'handsome young man' and has said a few times he wants to thank you for helping and keeping the children calm that day."

"He's just being polite," Nie Huaisang grumbles, his cheeks heating up upon hearing that even without memory of their acquaintance, Lan Xichen still finds him handsome. His looks aren’t too bad, but he doesn’t quite compare to some other cultivators. "I suppose some things don't change."

Wei Wuxian shrugs, and puts away the now empty box.

“So, Nie-xiong, are you coming with me so see Zewu-Jun? We told him you’d be here, he’s very impatient to ‘meet’ you at last.”

“No,” Nie Huaisang says.

“No?”

“No.”

“And why not?” Wei Wuxian asks, his expression quickly losing its warmth. “Aren’t you two quite close lately?”

Nie Huaisang hides behind his fan, and looks away.

“Wei-xiong, me coming to see Zewu-Jun can only have two effects,” he says, and raises a finger. “One, it does nothing to help his memory, he realises that aside from my face I don’t have much to interest him, and he’ll be embarrassed for even asking about me. I’m not stupid, without shared experiences, there’s little to draw him to me. It will just be awkward for both of us. Or else...” He raises a second finger. “Two, seeing me unlocks his memory. And wouldn’t that be cruel? He has a chance to live free from the burden of what happened, I would not take that from him.”

“Nie-xiong, you’re still a coward after all,” Wei Wuxian remarks.

“Think what you will,” Nie Huaisang retorts. “I’ve had to hurt him once like this. I can’t do it again. Could you, if it was Lan Wangji?”

“I know Lan Zhan would want to remember. Without the bad, we wouldn’t have the good either. Zewu-Jun said he wants to remember too, and he said he wants to see you. Isn’t that more important than your guilt, Nie-xiong?”

Nie Huaisang grits his teeth. There’s no reasoning with Wei Wuxian when he’s convinced to be right, and for someone who was so blind for so long, Wei Wuxian certainly thinks himself an expert about romance.

Lucky him, if what he has with Lan Wangji is worth all the pain, all the suffering. Nie Huaisang, given the choice, would rather not have gone through all of that. Even if it meant never getting the chance to be with Lan Xichen, who surely would have picked someone else if life hadn’t pushed them together. And whatever Lan Xichen says now, when he doesn’t know what darkness lurks in his past, Nie Huaisang is convinced he will regret it if his memories return to him.

Nie Huaisang doesn’t mind making that choice for him.

It won’t be the first time.

Besides, he’s already mourned the romance that had only just started between him and Lan Xichen. He is quite fine with having lost this, even if it isn’t in the way he imagined.

It’s fine.

Everything is fine, and this is for the best.

“I’ve made my choice, Wei-xiong,” Nie Huaisang announces with all the confidence he can fake. “Please tell Zewu-Jun I cannot meet him. Even if he’s upset at first, I’m sure he’ll get over it quite easily.”

“Nie-xiong!”

Ignoring his old friend, Nie Huaisang turns around and starts walking back toward the heart of the Cloud Recesses.

If he feels a cold, gnawing sensation in his chest and stomach, he’ll blame it on hunger. After all, Wei Wuxian very rudely ate over half his dinner.

-

Due to a mistake, the disciples Nie Huaisang brought with him to the conference have been given their own separate room rather than to stay in the same guest quarters as him, as would be more usual. Or, well, it might be unkind to call this a mistake. It is an arrangement that became needed after things changed between him and Lan Xichen, so they could more easily have time alone. Nie Huaisang can’t remember what excuse they gave to justify the need for this, but apparently whoever is in charge of organising things for the guests wasn’t told that this isn’t needed anymore.

A shame, because Nie Huaisang isn’t particularly in the mood to be alone. Or at least, not in the mood to be alone in the damn Cloud Recesses, where he has no way of getting his hands on alcohol except through Wei Wuxian and… well, it’s not really an option. Nie Huaisang will have to face his renewed heartbreak sober, which isn’t something anyone should have to go through, he thinks.

Just as Nie Huaisang starts wondering if he should just go to sleep and try to forget this unfortunate situation, there’s a knock on his door.

It is odd for anyone to come see him. His disciples know they can’t wander around so close to curfew unless there’s an emergency, in which case they wouldn’t knock. Wei Wuxian is angry at him, and will probably remain so for a few days to a few weeks, until he forgets they had an argument. King of Grudges Lan Wangji has done his best to pretend Nie Huaisang doesn’t exist, just as he does with Jiang Cheng. Nie Huaisang can’t think of anyone who might come see him.

There’s another knock on the door, the rhythm of it familiar, yet also not. After some hesitation, Nie Huaisang decides to go check, though he carefully keeps one hand on the handle of the dagger he took to carrying everywhere since launching in motion his revenge plan.

Nie Huaisang opens the door.

And then very nearly closes it again when he sees who his visitor is.

“I’m sorry for coming so late,” Lan Xichen says with a polite smile. “And I understand that you told Wei Wuxian that you had no desire to speak to me, but I really must have answers for some of my questions.”

Nie Huaisang does some quick math. He could still try to close the door. Either Lan Xichen would accept his rejection and things would end for good, or he will force the door open and Nie Huaisang simply isn’t strong enough to stop that. He knows what Lan Xichen would normally do, but he has no idea how different this version of Lan Xichen is. Nie Huaisang would rather not risk antagonising him, not now that they aren’t even friends anymore, and not when he knows better than most how terrifying Lan Xichen could be, if he just bothered.

With a sigh, Nie Huaisang gestures for Lan Xichen to come in.

“I have little to tell you that your brother and his husband couldn’t say better than me,” Nie Huaisang meekly states, his heart clenching at the sight of Lan Xichen in this room, too much like other times and yet so different. “But I’ll try to be of use, of course.”

“I’ve tried asking them first,” Lan Xichen reveals as he steps inside, letting Nie Huaisang close the door behind him. “But they’ve admitted that they didn’t know the answer to some of my questions, and they were reluctant to share speculation with me.”

Nie Huaisang hides a grimace behind his fan. He supposes he should be grateful that Wei Wuxian and his husband have acquired such a distaste for gossip, but sometimes it’s really annoying.

“If they don’t know, I doubt I’ll know much more, Zewu-Jun.”

“And I think you do,” Lan Xichen softly insists. “I have done my own share of speculation. I have found some letters, some paintings, a few gifts, and so I must ask… Nie zongzhu, am I right in thinking we were not only friends?”

The hopefulness in Lan Xichen’s face, in his voice, are so unbearable that Nie Huaisang has to look away.

Of course Lan Xichen would have figured that out. However much they tried to hid in public, in private they were quite open about the way they felt, all the more so because they never had the chance to meet quite as often as they would have liked. Nie Huaisang’s letters were hardly restrained, though still more so than some of the ones Lan Xichen sent him. The content of those would have left no doubt possible as to the nature of their relationship.

“Zewu-Jun, I’m not sure this really matters,” Nie Huaisang says, avoiding the question. “Since you have no memory of anything, no matter what our links were in the past, it would be unfair of me to demand for them to be maintained. I will not make demands of you, don’t worry.”

“I would not mind if you did,” Lan Xichen protests, stepping closer. “All these weeks, I’ve been thinking of you a lot. Everyone else acted so worried, but you were the one person who kept his calm, you took care of the children, you made sure the innkeeper was paid, you even made sure to update the people who had called for our help on the state of their problem… I was so impressed by how level-headed you were, and that’s why I started asking questions about who we were to each other.”

Blood rushes to Nie Huaisang’s face upon hearing his behaviour that day being praised. To him, what happened back then is a bit of a blur because he was so worried for Lan Xichen, so he doesn’t really remember what he did at all. Surely he can’t have handled it that well, it must just be that Lan Xichen is too kind, as always.

“Zewu-Jun, things between us… I won’t deny that they were a certain way,” Nie Huaisang admits, gripping his fan a little harder. “And I am very touched if I made a good impression on you that time. But things between us… you have to understand, even if things were good, it had come at a heavy price. I have done many things that you did not approve of. Things I am not sorry about, because in the end, I got what I wanted, and I’m the sort of person for whom that’s what matters. To put it bluntly, I’m not a very good person, and I have no intention on improving myself.”

“I don’t think you’re quite so bad,” Lan Xichen retorts with amusement. “I have read the letters you sent me. You seem like a very soft and sentimental person, Nie zongzhu, and I think I like that.”

Nie Huaisang sighs, and shakes his head.

Suddenly, he misses Lan Xichen.

The real Lan Xichen, the one who knew his tenderness and softness didn’t mean he wasn’t also capable of horrors. The one who loved him in spite of it… perhaps even for it, at times. And the reverse was true as well. Although he'd always had a bit of a crush on Lan Xichen, it wasn't until everything was exposed, until they'd both known the best of the worst of each other, that Nie Huaisang had really fallen in love. 

He can't wish for this ignorant Lan Xichen to suffer what the original one had suffered, he isn't that unkind.

But he also can't love someone who doesn't have the life experience to understand why he is the way he is. 

"Zewu-Jun, I'm really not the way you think," Nie Huaisang states, as coldly as he can manage. "If you remember someday, then I'll be happy to resume what we had, should you wish it. Until then… for your own good, it's better to go our separate ways. I don't have anything to give you, not as you are now. And I love you too much to wish you the pain of remembering your past."

"So instead, you cause me the pain of being rejected," Lan Xichen bitterly remarks, walking closer, close enough to touch, if Nie Huaisang wanted. He wants to. He still doesn't move. "Can I do anything to change your mind?" 

"Zewu-Jun…" 

"Please understand it is very unpleasant to hear you say that you love me at the same time you’re pushing me away. If you gave me a chance…”

Nie Huaisang laughs behind his fan.

“Trust me, it’s better for you. Just walk away and forget about me.”

“Nie zongzhu, give me a chance,” Lan Xichen pleads, looking so heartbroken that Nie Huaisang has to avert his eyes.

“It’s better that way.”

It is.

It has to be.

It isn’t like things could have lasted anyway. They both have a duty to their sects, to their families. It really is better this way.

“Then at least… would you kiss me, Nie zongzhu?” Lan Xichen asks.

“Zewu-Jun, that’s not…”

“Give me this at least, if you won’t give me anything else. If we were happy once, don’t I deserve a last goodbye?”

That would be a terrible idea. Nie Huaisang knows himself. If he gets that small taste of what he used to have with Lan Xichen, he’ll be tempted to actually take that risk, and then when it fails, when this too innocent Lan Xichen realises what he’s capable of and starts hating him for it, Nie Huaisang will know it was his fault for being weak, for not making this end cleanly.

It would be stupid to kiss Lan Xichen.

But it’s been months, and the day has been so long, and Nie Huaisang is too tired to continue making the right decisions.

“Just one kiss,” he sighs, closing his fan.

In an instant, he finds himself pulled into Lan Xichen’s embrace, soft lips pressing against his own with a clumsiness that he once found endearing, when it all started. Lan Xichen was so inexperienced when they got together, though he learned fast. To be kissed against with that unskilled enthusiasm is a bitter reminder that this man isn’t quite his Xichen.

Even knowing this, Nie Huaisang returns the kiss with a touch of desperation, his arms around Lan Xichen’s neck, keeping him close while he can have him.

After a while, Lan Xichen’s mouth pulls away. Nie Huaisang, who had closed his eyes at some point, opens them again and finds his lover staring down at him with an air of shock, panting harder than the kiss truly justifies.

Before Nie Huaisang can say anything, Lan Xichen breaks into a smile and kisses him again.

This kiss is different.

This time, Lan Xichen isn’t so clumsy anymore, he knows how to lick into Nie Huaisang’s mouth, how to bite and suck on his lips just right, leaving the other man breathless. His hands are no longer just on Nie Huaisang’s hips either, they move to pet his hair, to grope his ass, his thighs, to pull him closer until there’s no space between their bodies, pushing him against the door until Nie Huaisang is trapped in the most perfect of ways.

When that kiss ends, Nie Huaisang too is breathless, and his legs feel so weak that if he weren’t clinging to Lan Xichen so tightly, he’d fall to his knees for sure.

“You ridiculous man,” Lan Xichen breathes against his lips. “You always have to make things difficult, don’t you?”

Nie Huaisang’s grip tightens. The other man’s voice seems different suddenly. Warmer. If it weren’t foolish to hope…

“Even after all this, you really can’t believe I’d trust you?” Lan Xichen accuses, sounding too amused, too fond. “We’re going to have to work on this, A-Sang. I really thought you’d learned not to try to handle everything alone.”

“Xichen,” Nie Huaisang gasps, half fearful that he’s misunderstanding. “A-Chen, are you…”

“I’m back,” Lan Xichen confirms, rubbing their nose together before stealing a brief kiss. “And I’m not letting you go, you silly man, even if I’m a little cross you’re still so convinced you don’t have my full trust. You’re really…”

“No, don’t scold me,” Nie Huaisang mumbles, suddenly a little embarrassed by how dramatic he’s been, even if he still thinks he wasn’t wrong. “You can scold me later. For now, just kiss me again. I’ve missed it, and I’ve missed you, so kiss me, A-Chen.”

Lan Xichen grins, and promptly obeys.

Nie Huaisang pulls him closer. He loves this man, loves him so much, and he’s so glad to have him back at last.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 23 - ao3 -

Lan Qiren woke with a start at the sound of something slamming to the point of cracking – a door thrown too hard, perhaps, or the shattering of a piece of furniture under the strength of a powerful cultivator.

Dazed at having been woken so abruptly at such a late hour, he at first thought that the sound was an aberration of some sort, someone making too much noise by mistake, even some cultivation maniac doing exercises in the middle of the night that had briefly lost control, but then the sounds continued, crashing and slamming and even indistinct shouting.

Indistinct, and unfamiliar, but still recognizable – that was Wen Ruohan’s voice.

Lan Qiren had never heard him shout before.

He stood up, instinctively checking over his clothing and fixing his forehead ribbon, and padded out towards the door to the hallway. The array used to create enough silence to let him sleep was glowing faintly, doing its work against overwhelming odds, but Lan Qiren didn’t hesitate to dismiss it and pull open the door, poking his head out to see what was going on.

“ – what use are you?” Wen Ruohan was shouting, some distance down the hall. “Good-for-nothing bitch! What do you think I got you for in the first place?”

He was standing outside his wife’s door.

Lan Qiren had not seen Madame Wen on this visit, other than in passing. He’d been relieved to discover that he had heard accurately and that she had not suffered on account of what she had done, except perhaps as a result of her husband making clear that he would give her exactly what he had promised her out of their marriage and nothing more. Despite that, every time she saw him, she generally had an expression that resembled smelling something bad, and he didn’t especially want to deal with her irrational jealousy. 

(Lan Qiren could understand and even appreciate the truth that she had shown him, but it didn’t mean he appreciated the reasoning behind her actions - just as Wen Ruohan might appreciate the cunning and ambition demonstrated by her actions, and begrudgingly acknowledge that the real fault for their divide was his own actions, but not feel any more inclined to her as a result.)

Lan Qiren thought he might have to deal with her more, particularly on the few times he had visited little Wen Xu, who was already a size or two larger than he’d started out – it was simply shocking in terms of how much time had passed since he’d had his argument with Wen Ruohan – but he found that the child was largely being watched by servants, not the Madame, who was busy ruling the social scene of the Nightless City. Whether that was true or merely an excuse, by now it was clear that they were in mutual agreement that they did not want to spend any time in each other’s presence.

She was also, very clearly, refusing to let Wen Ruohan into her bedroom.

Lan Qiren couldn’t blame her: he’d never seen Wen Ruohan in a state like this. His clothing was mussed up, his hands clenched, his face red, his aura frighteningly strong and overwhelming, his monstrously powerful qi roiling the air in the hallway into an incipient storm – and even from the distance he was standing, Lan Qiren could smell the distinct odor of strong liquor, suggesting that Wen Ruohan had overindulged in alcohol at some point after Lan Qiren had gone to sleep. Based on casual mentions in prior conversation, Lan Qiren knew that Wen Ruohan’s cultivation level was so high as to render him largely unaffected even by significant drinking, but the fact that he had bothered to try to seek solace in the wine jar suggested that there was something incredibly wrong with his mental state. 

It wasn’t a qi deviation - the violent emanations were unsettled, but not distorted - but it wasn’t good, either.

Wisdom would counsel that Lan Qiren keep back and not get in Wen Ruohan’s way.

Righteousness, on the other hand…

Anyway, Wen Ruohan was his sworn brother. What sort of brother would Lan Qiren be if he took only the good and not the bad?

“Da-ge?” he called, stepping out into the hallway. “Da-ge, come away from there.”

Wen Ruohan turned to him, and his expression was frightening. “Fine. You’ll do,” he growled, and it was only because Lan Qiren had grown wiser and stronger that he realized what was about to happen and dodged before Wen Ruohan could grab him, darting back into his room.

Wen Ruohan followed him in.

“What happened?” Lan Qiren asked, still backing away. “You were fine at dinner – what happened since then?”

For some reason, that set Wen Ruohan off again, turning his attention away from Lan Qiren, and he grabbed the table and threw it into the wall, smashing it all to pieces. 

“That fucker,” he snarled, his eyes blank and distant. He wasn’t angry at Lan Qiren, that much was clear, but he was filled with ceaseless rage, and he was taking it out on everything around him. “That fucker got married! He’s got a son!”

Lan Qiren blinked. “…what?”

Smash went the cabinet, and all the various things on it. At least Wen Ruohan hadn’t started in on the paintings, which were the only aspect of the room Lan Qiren actually cared or worried about.

“Who got married and had a son?” Lan Qiren asked, even though he knew it would only inflame Wen Ruohan further. At this point, it was clear that Wen Ruohan’s had gotten stuck in his chest, like black blood that needed to be coughed; he needed to vent his anger or else it would curdle within him and he would suffer. “Normally that’s a good thing, a cause for celebration. Why is it bad here?”

“Because it’s Lao Nie!” Wen Ruohan burst out, and Lan Qiren rocked back on his heels in shock.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t known that Lao Nie had been unusually distracted these past few months, even most of a year – the way he’d ignored or disregarded Lan Qiren’s letters about the situation with He Kexin, the breezy and almost manic tone of his replies to Lan Qiren’s brother, which Lan Qiren had seen, it all spoke of distraction and carelessness, all typical of Lao Nie, albeit of far greater severity than usual.

Nor was it truly a surprise that none of them had been informed: the Qinghe Nie had always been idiosyncratic about their personal details, unusually secretive and fiercely proud of it. They did not share their birth date or even year, other than for arranging a marriage. If Lan Qiren had thought about it, he wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find out that Lao Nie would have married and had a child all without having shared any information on the subject until afterwards.

Only…

“But aren’t you – with him?” he asked, and knew immediately that he had asked the wrong question.

Wen Ruohan roared and smashed yet another thing, sending a palm strike through a dresser and denting the stone wall with the power of it. “He’s mine,” he spat. His eyes were even redder than usual, the sclera becoming red alongside the iris; it made him look almost possessed, almost as if he really were having some sort of qi deviation. “He’s mine, damn it! Who is he to give himself to another? And he didn’t even tell me…!”

They were definitely in a relationship, Lan Qiren confirmed to himself. His guess had been right. There could be no doubt about it. And yet, despite it all, Lao Nie had –

No, he couldn’t even express surprise. Lan Qiren knew Lao Nie, knew what he valued and how he valued it: Lao Nie had always been passionate and powerful, strong and superior, friendly and often kind, and yet at his core he was ruthless, careless, and selfish, just like Wen Ruohan was so often selfish. He did not concern himself overmuch with questions of righteousness, other than to the degree necessary to win glory to his sect as one on the righteous path. After his sect, which he valued most of all, he was an indolent pleasure-seeker, with terrible taste in partners, the more dangerous the better; Lan Qiren had seen him flirting with people left and right long after he’d concluded that he’d entered into a relationship with Wen Ruohan.

In the past, Wen Ruohan hadn’t seemed to mind. If anything, he’d even encouraged him, looking smug and amused by the flirtations, taking the other man’s victories as his own; during one incident that Lan Qiren could recall, he’d all but applauded when Lao Nie had successfully wooed some rogue cultivator and taken her back to his bed, turning instead to his own separate amusements after.

Then again, that wasn’t a marriage.

(Of course, Wen Ruohan himself had also gotten married…)

“How dare he,” Wen Ruohan said, panting a little from his own exertion, clearly more moved by the feelings raging within him than any type of physical exhaustion. “How dare he – does he think I’m desperate? Pathetic? Does he think I’d run after him, begging and humiliating myself..? I don’t need him at all!”

He turned once more, and this time his gaze focused on Lan Qiren.

“I have something of my own already,” he murmured, and this time Lan Qiren wasn’t fast enough to stop him as he caught him up in his arms, slamming his back against the wall.

Lan Qiren tensed, suddenly for a moment back in his rooms in the Cloud Recesses, looking up at a different brother who wanted to hurt him – but no, Wen Ruohan wasn’t the same, Wen Ruohan liked him. He was acting out of fury, not malice; there was no He Kexin here to goad him on, nothing like that.

Even the force of being pushed against the wall hadn’t actually hurt – Wen Ruohan had been careful even in his mindless rage, making sure that any impact was cushioned by his own arms rather than Lan Qiren’s back; Lan Qiren hadn’t even had the breath knocked out of him.

“Da-ge…!”

Wen Ruohan didn’t want to hear him. He put his hand on Lan Qiren’s mouth and pressed down, cutting off speech at once. They were pressed together so closely that the movement inadvertently dragged his sleeve onto Lan Qiren’s throat, almost making him gag, and he instinctively tried futilely to kick his way out – it didn’t work, of course.

Wen Ruohan pressed up against him, the front of his body burning like flame against Lan Qiren.

“You’re mine,” he said, reaching in to nuzzle the side of Lan Qiren’s head with his cheek. “My blood brother, bound by oath and blood; my shining pearl, untouched by the world. All good things should belong to me.”

Lan Qiren reached up to try to push away the hand at this mouth, wanting to speak even though he did not know what he would say, and at first he thought he’d done it. But then suddenly he was in motion, his back landing hard on the bed he’d been given, the impact softened by the blanket Wen Ruohan had wrapped around him when he’d brought him back to the Nightless City from the Cloud Recesses. Shocked by the unexpectedness of the abrupt movement, he gasped, a wordless inhale rather than any coherent words.

Less than a heartbeat, and Wen Ruohan was on top of him, pressing him down. His body seemed even hotter than usual, as if his whole spirit were aflame, his qi boiling in the air around them until Lan Qiren had the impression as though he ought to be able to see steam; his hands were hot where they pressed down on Lan Qiren’s shoulders, his lips burning as they pressed against his collarbone, and between his legs there was something hot pressing against him, too.

And still, Lan Qiren – was not afraid.

He wasn’t sure why. He’d been terrified when it had been his brother who had stood against him, disgusted when it had been He Kexin pawing at him in ways he did not and had never wanted, but Wen Ruohan, who was bound to him through nothing but a tricked oath…

“Da-ge,” he whispered. “Please stop.”

Wen Ruohan stilled. He didn’t get up or pull away, but he didn’t make any further movements.

“Please let me go.”

Wen Ruohan’s breathing was harsh in his ear. “You, too, little Lan?” he asked. “Just like him, making me think – don’t you like me?”

“I do,” Lan Qiren admitted. He might be stupid when it came to social interactions, might be slow and miss things that were obvious, but even he could figure out what Wen Ruohan meant, with his confession of how Lan Qiren lingered in his thoughts and in pressing him down on the bed like this while mourning the loss of Lao Nie, his lover. And maybe sometimes he needed Cangse Sanren to point things out to him, but most of the time he knew himself. This past week had made clear enough that he enjoyed Wen Ruohan’s endless indulgences in a spirit that was more than just pure brotherhood. “I do like you. But I don’t like – this.”

Wen Ruohan was silent for a long moment.

“Not this, with me,” he finally said. “Or not – at all?”

“At all,” Lan Qiren said. He had thought when he was younger that he might change, but he was increasingly sure that he wouldn’t, that this was just what he was like. “I was never like the others my age. Even Yueheng-xiong, who I would’ve thought loved nothing but mathematics and explosions, has found himself distracted by the shape of the one he likes. But not me. I don’t yearn the way they do. I can love a person’s spirit, but I never much cared for the flesh.”

“Love,” Wen Ruohan echoed, his voice oddly uneven. “You speak of - love?”

“…isn’t that what we’re talking about?”

Wen Ruohan laughed, a jagged and choked up thing, and then he pulled away, letting Lan Qiren go, sitting up on the bed and burying his face in his hands. The qi around him was still too-hot, overwhelming, pulsing with his feelings, even as his shoulders shook and he stared blankly at the wall; any other man, and Lan Qiren might think he was crying, but he could see Wen Ruohan’s face through his fingers, and there were no tears there.

Perhaps he’d forgotten how.

Lan Qiren slowly sat up himself.

He could still feel the mild stiffness of old healing injuries, but he ignored them and got up off the bed, going to the one side table that had yet to be destroyed – the one where he’d laid his guqin to rest. It turned out that Wen Ruohan had only destroyed the things he himself had put into the room; he hadn’t touched anything of Lan Qiren’s.

Lan Qiren settled in front of his guqin and began to play.

Out of all the compositions he had created, his favorite was the one he had first created at the Nightless City, that strange hypnotic melody that brought to mind spilled pearls, but unlike some of the others he’d worked on, it had never felt fully completed. The music wrapped itself around the listener, at first intimate and then oppressive, a heavy stone in their chest and pressure on their skull, growing darker and darker, just as he’d written it – but now he played onwards, elaborating on the theme in ways he hadn’t planned or expected, letting the solemn notes brighten, the overwhelming pressure turning from suffocating into safe as it became clear that it would cause no harm, the storm passing by overhead and leaving things clean and clear and better, the lingering euphoria of finding oneself supported, rather than alone.

When his fingers finally stilled, Lan Qiren looked up and saw Wen Ruohan sitting there with his back straight again, hands resting gently in his lap, eyes closed as if in meditation and face calm once more. His qi no longer coiled around him, lashing out; it had settled once more.

“You will,” Wen Ruohan said without opening his eyes, “be an excellent traveling musician, little Lan. People will fight for the right to hear you, and you will never go without an audience.”

Lan Qiren hesitated, not sure what to make of such a compliment, or what Wen Ruohan meant by it. He’d only intended to play something to help him settle his qi and soothe his rage, which he’d clearly accomplished. He hadn’t even meant to play that particular song, other than in the way that he tended to default to it when he had nothing else specific in mind. It had always been unsatisfying, like an itch, but now it finally felt complete.

“Da-ge –” he started to say, not knowing what he would say next, but at any rate he never had the chance to continue.

“When you do finally go to fulfill your dreams, leaving the dust of the world behind you, I hope that you visit the Nightless City often,” Wen Ruohan said. His tone was still calm, settled, but not, Lan Qiren observed, peaceful: there were all sorts of seething emotions underneath it. “But for the moment, I think it is better if you return to the Cloud Recesses.”

Lan Qiren hesitated once again, this time feeling a little hurt. “You don’t want me here?”

“I do,” Wen Ruohan said, and his lips curved into something that was not a smile; it seemed almost painful a shape to contort into, and his eyes reflected no humor at all when he opened them. “Very much. Ah, little Lan, if only you knew…despite that, I would still have you go. Having made my views on you clear to your brother, it should be safe, and I do not want you to see what beast I make of myself when I am denied.”

Lan Qiren bowed his head a little. “About Lao Nie…”

“I know what he’s like,” Wen Ruohan said. “I’ve always known, from the start. If you had asked me a few days ago, I would have said that I did not have any illusions…”

He smiled bitterly.

“It seems that I misjudged myself.”

“I’ll go,” Lan Qiren said. He didn’t especially want to, but Wen Ruohan wasn’t in a rage, nor lashing out unthinkingly. To refuse him would be to deny him, to treat him as if he could not make his own decisions, and that, he thought, would be worse. “If you want me to, I’ll go, and later, I’ll return.”

Wen Ruohan said nothing, but he watched as Lan Qiren pulled on some more clothing, not caring which one it was, and did his hair back up in the simplest style, favoring speed over substance; he packed away his guqin and his sword and one of the paintings that he had liked best, but took nothing else – after all, it wasn’t as if he were going away for good.

He made it to the door before hesitating, then turned back to look at Wen Ruohan, who was still watching him.

“Is there anything…?” he asked haltingly. “Something I can get you…?”

“Send one of the maids to me,” Wen Ruohan said. “Any of them, it doesn’t matter which. If they’re still hanging around in the family quarters after an eruption like that, it can be seen that their ambition has overcome their good sense, making them a perfect match for me. It would be a shame to deny them the fruits of their victory.”

Lan Qiren didn’t quite understand, but he knew enough to get the gist; he felt his cheeks and ears go hot. Still, he had offered, and it wasn’t something he was willing to do himself, so there was really no basis for refusing to pass along the request. He nodded and slipped out – as Wen Ruohan predicted, there was one of the maids lingering at the far corner, looking around in blatant curiosity. She was pretty enough, Lan Qiren supposed, with an upturned nose and a slightly arrogant air, her clothing carefully arranged to be just a little mussed in a way that Lan Qiren understood most men to find attractive.

“Your sect leader is in my room,” he told her, and she blinked at him. “If you go to him now, he’d probably accept. Up to you, though.”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. He left, his head held high; when he glanced back anyway, he saw her going into his room, hair patted down and clothing even more carefully arranged – Wen Ruohan hadn’t been wrong when he speculated as to her ambitions. The life of a powerful sect leader, Lan Qiren supposed: desired but never known, as distant from those around him as Lan Qiren but as a consequence of his position rather than his inclination.  

He would definitely return, Lan Qiren decided. Perhaps he would even make the Nightless City the first destination on his travels. After all, why should he not? Was Wen Ruohan not his sworn brother, too?

Yes, Lan Qiren thought. That was right.

Wen Ruohan deserved to have someone possess him as he longed to possess others.