#oh! Wei Wuxian's also a lot more angry with him

[lansplaining]

Protagonist-centric readers will do anything but admit that their MCs did lie and impact other characters' decisions. It's not the side-characters fault that they did not know the whole truth because *drum roll* they weren't told anything and/or was deliberately lied to.

LQQ being hated bc he impaled XL in a coffin for a long time but like... XL admitted to killing the King of Yong'an and committing the bloody massacre so what was LQQ supposed to do? Sit down and ask his Guoshi for the truth when we know damn well XL will just continue to admit to it? XL didn't want to tell LQQ the truth to protect LQQ and the two groups of people, and that's completely admirable, but what LQQ saw was his Guoshi stabbing a sword through his father's chest and admitting to everything so him reacting the way he did was completely valid. The single act of killing the king was treason 100x already, and as the son of the king, LQQ's reaction was not out of the ordinary. we don't want XL to suffer and be even more traumatized, but XL already knew that the consequences wouldn't be pretty and lied anyway. idk why fans can't grasp that.

Or for JC's case, HE IS LITERALLY THE ONE PERSON ALIVE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD WHO ACTUALLY DESERVES SOME KIND OF EXPLANATION FROM WWX HIMSELF, THE MAN WHO ACCIDENTALLY CAUSED WN TO KILL JXZ AND INDIRECTLY KILLED JYL DESPITE CLAIMING THAT HE HAD EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL. These two aren't strangers to JC at all; they're his sister and his brother-in-law, or more importantly, his sister's beloved husband and father of his nephew. He deserves to be angry and bitter at the one person who did all that, and there is no time limit for how long he should remain bitter and angry about it. The GCT was a whole mess and they both made HUGE sacrifices out of love but the only one whose sacrifice is made invalid is JC because one, it was short-lived and two, they already didn't like JC so no matter what he does for WWX, it will be seen as something negative.

I don't even want to get into the hell-hole regarding LXC but... damn...

the revelations after a character found out the truth should be "oh man, so that's what really happened" not "this character was a dick because they didn't know about the major sacrifice the MC made for them that would only be revealed many years later, and it's not even voluntary because someone else told the truth, not the MC themself"

I'm not the first nor am I the last person to say this but a protagonist is just a character we see, mainly, from their POV or the character that we follow the story through. That's all there is to it. I feel like a lot of danmei readers have yet to read a variety of stories about an MC that's completely shit but serves to tell a story just as important and interesting.

okay, first of all-- people hate LQQ?? The sweetest, most violent himbo of all????????????? even Xie Lian doesn't hate him for what he did??????

i have nothing to say to such people

i'll be honest, it is really only relatively recently that i've fully come to realise how completely Jiang Cheng deserves an explanation or even just acknowledgement of any kind from Wei Wuxian, and how cowardly and selfish it is that Wei Wuxian refuses to give it. and I say this with a heart full of love for WWX-- he is dealing with Some Trauma (tm) but that doesn't mean his refusal to even speak to JC isn't hurtful and unfair, even if it's what he needs... but man everyone in fandom and fanworks is focused on WWX taking what he needs in this situation and not even remotely considering that just maybe he also justifiably owes something to someone he harmed and who he supposedly (formerly?) cared about (i think he still cares)

the lan xichen thing is literally inexplicable to me and i will never understand it

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

tbf, lxc is valid for noticing how one-sided is the wangxian dynamic and it's true that wwx didn't give an f about lwj in his first life... and except for some moments when he went "oh no, he's hot", lwj is the reason people ship them because that ship has no real basis on wwx's part...

In the end, it feels as if he falls for lwj only because he's literally the only one there for him. What's ironic is that he even ponders on how it used to be the other way around and he used to have jc by his side and lwj against him...

MXTX created a mess of a fandom because of all these mixed signals she gives so no wonder there are a lot of wwx / jc shippers. I mean, it's OBVIOUS that she didn't intend for jc to be a love interest at all... but she still made him "ex"-coded. The fact that he's the one wwx made a big sacrifice too for, and not lwj when, on the other hand, lwj sacrificed a couple of important things for a wwx that didn't care about him in their first life, and that won't get the same devotion in return is just. weird.

Well hello there, little troll.

This is certainly a bad/sad understanding of the entire point of Lan Xichen's angry rantings, as the audience was supposed to be exasperated on behalf of all involved due to each one only having their own perception of this entire situation and the ongoing theme on relying on self-biased thought and perception.

Just as Lan Xichen has only his own understanding of one-sided reciprocity(on Lan Wangji's behalf), Wei Wuxian was terrified of being the only one to have thought he was taking his feelings to an inappropriate level that was not reciprocated, mind on the heels and only hours after Jiang Cheng accused them of being more and mocking Wei Wuxian.

1:

In the time they’d been traveling together, he’d gotten the feeling Lan Wangji thought highly of him. That he thought of him differently than he once had. But at the end of the day, he didn’t dare guess how far that “highly” stretched, nor whether “differently” really was the kind of “different” he assumed.

Wei Wuxian had never considered confidence a bad thing and was often smug and frivolous as a result. The cultivation world had once gossiped that the Yiling Patriarch was the sort who frolicked among the peach blossoms, always surrounded by the sweet smell of their fragrant flowers. But in reality, he had never experienced this kind of flustered confusion before. In the past, he had thought Lan Wangji was an open book, but now he found him difficult to read. He was terrified that he was lost in this fantasy all alone; that all of this was only his own wishful thinking and that he was overly confident to presume

otherwise.

2:

Wei Wuxian could not believe that had just happened.

It seemed like a nightmare had intruded on his tender, enchanting dream—one that upended a basin of cold water directly over his head and chilled him to the bone, from head to toe. It was also like he’d been slapped hard across his face, so hard that his ears rang, his heart pounded, and his world spun. He couldn’t react for the longest time. It was with difficulty that he managed to open his mouth, but his voice was hoarse.

3:

One of his worst theories had just been confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt. Lan Wangji was indeed very nice to him, but…it was probably not the kind of nice he had been hoping for.

4:

Do not take it to heart?” Lan Wangji echoed again.

He’d initially thought he’d rather have Lan Wangji think him fickle and abominable than endure the awkwardness of knowing his feelings, which would surely make their friendship delicate going forward. But now, he regretted all the foolish things he had just blurted out without thinking.

"...Sorry,” he muttered under his breath.

5:

Wei Wuxian reached out and brushed a hand across two figures with puckered lips kissing on the wall, before trailing up to the words “Lan Wangji was here.” The sentence needed to be cleaned away, but before Wei Wuxian did so, he traced the strokes of Lan Wangji’s name with his fingertips.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The more he traced them, the more he was loath to part.

6:

While leaving Lan Wangji behind and freely roaming the world alone did not seem an impossible thing to consider…

...a voice deep inside Wei Wuxian told him the clear truth: It was impossible.

The nonsense he’d spouted back at Golden Carp Tower had really come true. The Wei Wuxian of today could not do without Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian has only stopped trying to rationalize (comphet) and explain away their close relation as only being friendly, he knows very well his own advances can't be explained as being a joke any longer and, doesn't want them to be seen as such especially by his own self. He is terrified of Lan Wangji seeing this as either a cruel joke or Lan Wangji not feeling the same. He wants it to be reciprocated and always has.

And within the extras we see the blatant proof, while he may not understand he was in the midst of a crush, given he was fifteen and once more, he have Jiang Cheng being nasty, he much exhibited his fixation upon Lan Wangji by mentioning him within Lotus Pier and being happy to discuss him with Jiang Yanli without the excuse of wanting to just mess around with him.

1:

Jiang Yanli sat down between them. “Who are you two talking about?” she asked. “A friend you made at Gusu?”

"Yeah!” Wei Wuxian answered happily.

"You have the cheek to call yourself his ‘friend’?” Jiang Cheng said. “Ask Lan Wangji about that, see if he’s willing to accept you as one.”

"Screw off. If he doesn’t, I’ll just pester him—we’ll see if he caves.” Turning to Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian asked, “Shijie, do you know Lan Wangji?”

Yes,” Jiang Yanli said. “He’s the second young master of the Lan Clan, the one everyone says is very handsome and capable, right? Is he really very handsome?”

"Very!” Wei Wuxian gushed.

"Compared to you?” Jiang Yanli probed.

Wei Wuxian thought for a moment. “Perhaps just a tiny bit more handsome than me.”

He held two of his fingers a tiny distance apart to demonstrate. As Jiang Yanli collected the plates, she smiled.

"Then he must be really very handsome. It’s a good thing to make new friends. You guys can drop in on each other to have some fun in the future, when you have nothing to do.”

For the very next extra to make good on this, almost 20 years later and Wei Wuxian to admit he had always wanted Lan Wangji's attentions romantically and poking at Lan Wangji seemingly not sharing that interest, that was dispelled as soon as both were able to out their shared romantic love.

1:

He turned his head and said to Lan Wangji, “When I was at the Cloud Recesses way back then, I kept urging you to come visit Lotus Pier. I especially wanted you to come with me to steal lotus seed pods from him. Do you know why?”

When it came to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji always answered every one of his questions and acquiesced to all his requests. And so, he answered him seriously, “I do not know. Why?”

Wei Wuxian winked at him and snickered. “Because that old man sure was something whenever he hit people with his boat-pole. It hurt way more than your family’s disciplinary ferule. I thought I just had to trick Lan Zhan into coming here and let him take a few beatings too.”

Lan Wangji smiled slightly at this. The cold glow of the moonlight on the lake melted at the sight.

In that instant, Wei Wuxian felt dizzy. A smile also unconsciously rippled its way onto his face.

"All right, I admit—” he began.

2:

Amid smiles and laughter, they grabbed hold of each other and embraced in the water before exchanging a kiss.

After their lips parted, Wei Wuxian raised his hand and continued their earlier topic of conversation. “I admit it, I was talking nonsense. I just wanted to hang out with you back then.”

Lan Wangji lifted him from behind, and Wei Wuxian clambered back onto the boat. He looked back and held out a hand to grab Lan Wangji.

“So tell me honestly, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji got on the boat and handed him a red cord. “Of what?”

Wei Wuxian held the red cord with his mouth as he pulled back his hair, which had come loose in the water. “Tell me if you felt the same way,” he said solemnly. “You know, your callous rejection of me every single time I asked really made me lose face

back then.”

"You can try and see if I would deny you anything now,” Lan Wangji said.

The unexpected statement hit him right in the heart. Wei Wuxian choked for a moment, but Lan Wangji was still as composed as ever, like he didn’t fully grasp the weight of what he had just said.

Pressing his palm to his forehead, Wei Wuxian said, “You… Hanguang-jun, let’s agree that you’ll give me a heads-up before you say sweet nothings in the future. Otherwise, I won’t be able to take it.”

Lan Wangji nodded. “All right.”

"Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said, “Oh, you…!”

Of all the millions of possible words, there was nothing left to say. There was only laughter and hugs.

As for Jiang Cheng, yes he is jealous, yes he is a homophobe, no there is no mixed signals from Wei Wuxian to anyone other than Lan Wangi. Me, unlike you, understand what logical comprehension is and can read what MXTX meant for her CP. Have fun with your salty Jiang Cheng/Chengxian fic ideas though, save that energy for that instead of bugging me.

[incarnadinedreams]

What do you think about jc and wwx's relationship? And how sometimes it seems like wwx is not very kind(?) thinking about jc? I don't perceive him having a good opinion about jc (as he does with wn and lwj that he praises)

Oh, this is a tricky one for me! Thanks for the ask, it sparked a lot of thinking... probably too much, oops... and sorry it took so long to reply, there was a small tornado over the weekend so I've been busy picking up the yard for the last couple days...

I definitely agree that's the overall vibe. It's tough because I go back and forth on this and can probably be swayed in different directions depending on my mood or if I read a persuasive argument or something. (And if anyone has any thoughts on the topic I definitely welcome commentary or different perspectives! It's an interesting topic with a lot of different angles to explore, I think.) Or rather what I think the cause of it is, because I agree that he doesn't think of him in particularly nice ways, especially post-resurrection.

Because of the framing of the story, it's a little hard to tell if it's how he's thought about Jiang Cheng all along, or if it's his post-resurrection resentment coloring his recollections.

So then the question I waffle on is exactly how much of these opinions are from anger over everything that happened, how much stem from avoiding painful topics, and how much are from his ideas of Jiang Cheng that took root long before everything that happened? Or why not a little bit of all three!

(Cut for length. 'Challenge: Shut the Fuck Up and Have a Concise Point' has been a spectacular failure. Brevity is the soul of wit but these two make me stupid, so.)

As much as I do dearly love the most precious purple darling of my heart Jiang Cheng, from Wei Wuxian's perspective I can't really blame him for being at least a little bit peeved! There was a siege, after all, and it's not like Jiang Cheng is exactly nice to him either in the present timeline. So there's some 'turnabout is fair play' involved there. I might think he's simply objectively wrong in some of his evaluations of Jiang Cheng, but from an emotional perspective it makes sense and is probably on the mild side, all things considered.

In some ways, I think Wei Wuxian is somewhat invested in the idea of being someone that lets anything and everything go. Partially because it's true that he really does let go of a lot, perhaps to the point where the line is between a healthy amount of letting go and plain avoidance could be called into question, but also because it's what Jiang Yanli told him that's what he was like:

Jiang YanLi said that he was born with a smiling look. No matter what unfortunate thing happened, he wouldn't cling on to them; no matter what situation he was in, he would be happy.

-- Ch. 24, ExR translation

To some extent I think he wants to live up to that, to still be who his shijie said he is, back before everything horrible happened and he was trapped in a downward spiral. So he tries to suppress the greater part of both his anger and resentment, but it still sort of... leaks out, in all those small comments.

In some ways they're mirror opposites of each other: Jiang Cheng is aggressively bitter and angry to suppress how much he still cares about Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian is comparatively civil and pleasant, considering the circumstances, to suppress the genuine pain and anger he feels.

And in some way, that response - the muted sort of civility - sets Jiang Cheng off even more, because it plays so strongly into his fears and insecurities that he cares more about Wei Wuxian than Wei Wuxian cares about him. The way their personalities and coping mechanisms and miscommunications all compound and echo off each other and create this awful swirling chasm between them is tragic but also rings so painfully true.

I think their first big confrontation after Jiang Cheng knows for sure that he was right, that it's really Wei Wuxian - in the inn after Jiang Cheng 'borrows' Fairy - really encapsulates that dynamic between them.

Although his face had always been clouded, marked with arrogance and satire, it seemed as if every corner of it had come alive. It was difficult to determine whether it was vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy.

-- Ch. 23. Love or hate, that's... a lot of feelings going on right there on Jiang Cheng's side. And then (from his perspective) he gets a whole lot of bland nothing back.

For a moment, no one spoke a word. The cup of tea was still steaming hot. Without having a single sip of it, he hurled it onto the ground. Jiang Cheng pulled a curt smile on his face, "... Don't you have anything to say to me?" […] With a sincere tone, Wei WuXian replied: "I don't know what to say to you." Jiang Cheng whispered: "You really don't learn, do you?"

And then to add insult to injury, later in the scene what finally provokes a real response from Wei Wuxian is insulting Lan Wangji.

If I had to take a stab at it, I'd probably say that Jiang Cheng's terrible reaction to non-reactions probably has something to do with his father's vague non-confrontational disappointment and general apathy, on top of just being infuriating in general.

But it's the scene in ch. 32 where the random children are playing out the Sunshot campaign where we see that Wei Wuxian's really not so unbothered about what happened between them at all:

"Jiang Cheng", "Hmph, I can't be better than you? Do you remember how you died?" The light smile on Wei WuXian's face dissipated at once. It was as if he had suddenly been pricked by a poisonous needle. A faint, sharp pain came from all around his body.

Even though it's the situation as seen through third parties who only having rumors to go off of (and the novel reminds us over and over again how accurate that is, even following up in later chapters to have Wei Wuxian clarify), it's obvious that being reminded of the general situation actually is pretty painful for him even if the details aren't particularly accurate. It takes him by surprise and hits where it hurts.

I think this whole pattern between the two of them plays heavily into the lead-up to the Ancestral Hall confrontation, actually - which is also where Wei Wuxian's sourness and dismissiveness is at its peak, and so is Jiang Cheng's fury and bitterness at Wei Wuxian's flippant attitude.

From Jiang Cheng's perspective, he's having just how little Wei Wuxian cares about him shoved in his face right after he'd just been prepared to do something that looks vaguely like dying for him at the Second Siege. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Wei Wuxian doesn't know any of that preparing-to-sacrifice-himself stuff even happened, since he was a little busy turning himself into bait with spirit lure flags and all.

So, as usual, everything is horribly amplified by all the things each of them doesn't know about the other. All the things they don't know they don't know come to a head.

Unfortunately only Jiang Cheng comes out of that Ancestral Hall really knowing anything that he didn't know before.

For most of the novel, there's also just... less that he knows about Wen Ning and Lan Wangji. There's so much less baggage, less intensity.

Wen Ning, bless him, Wei Wuxian only knew as a living person for one afternoon at an archery tournament and then for three days at the Supervisory Office in Yiling. (Well, plus the time spent on the mountain for the golden core transfer but I don't think they were sitting around chatting over a nice cup of tea for that.) Of course some of what Wen Ning does really does deserve praise - he did help them at great personal danger to himself. But does Wei Wuxian even really know him? Wen Ning's suppressed resentment in life becomes a powerful tool for Wei Wuxian later, but how much does he really know about his hopes and fears and dreams? A significant chunk of time in the Burial Mounds is spent with no consciousness on Wen Ning's part, and once he regains consciousness there's still this sort of... lingering weird vibe with them until the very end of the novel when Wen Ning becomes more independent. There's genuine friendship, but there's also a sort of avoidance of ever really touching the topic of how Wen Ning feels about being used as his weapon, about being raised as a fierce corpse, about the possibility of being controlled by him, about the decisions Wei Wuxian made for him.

Wen Ning is also just... easy to like. He's sweet and polite -- and he never really pushes back or questions Wei Wuxian's decisions or hits him where it hurts the way Jiang Cheng does.

All he really knows about Lan Wangji for a good chunk of the novel is that he's the goody-two-shoes Lan from summer camp who condemns evil or whatever. Obviously that perception changes drastically throughout the story as more information is revealed and misunderstandings from the past are corrected, but he'd never really had any expectations in his past life for LWJ, and so it left far less room for disappointment, since he didn't realize how LWJ really felt. So what's not to praise?

Of course from a more meta standpoint LWJ is frequently used as a direct contrast to Jiang Cheng, often in ways that are intentionally deceptive on MXTX's part in service to the overall goal of trickle-truthing us about Jiang Cheng over the course of the novel. The setup is constantly reframing his character with tidbits of new information. For example the way Wei Wuxian reacts when seeing Lan Wangji's discipline whip scars in ch. 11 is clearly meant to lead us to believe Jiang Cheng committed some horrible transgression to recieve his own discipline whip scar... and then we find out actually it was from Wen Chao torturing him after the fall of the Jiang sect, because he foolishly, impulsively rushed back to recover his parents' bodies from Lotus Pier, forcing his long-suffering shixiong to sacrifice his own core... except oh wait, that's not what happened at all, except Wei Wuxian doesn't know that last part. So some of the early comparisons I think were also meant to serve that purpose.

But in terms of how Wei Wuxian uses this sort of dismissiveness to avoid confronting how much he's really lost, I think the way he regards Lotus Pier itself is pretty telling:

Although he had always dreamed of returning to Lotus Pier once more, he didn't want to go back to the tattered one nowadays!

Because isn't it just easier to think about how it's not that great anyway, so who cares if you've lost it?

[layzeal]

hi hi ~ why do you think lwj hates/doesnt like when wwx speaks formally/politely (esp when wwx is thanking him) to him? what is your whole view on this part of their relationship? lwj really loves his goofy silly boy, it must make things weird and awkward when wwx acts so formal? it seems when theyre going to have a more serious conversation where thank you’s are being thrown in is when things go bad :((( LIKE NO PLWASE JUST KITH T_T

oh god okay so this goes both into LWJ and WWX's speech patterns and also elements of chinese culture that i have zero authority to talk about (there are some great posts by @hunxi-guilai) but i'd have to hunt them down and i dont rly have the time right now)

but all you have to know basically is that

LWJ's speech pattern is very formal, polite and brief, using few words to convey a lot of meaning

WWX's speech pattern is for the most part very casual, using a lot of interjections and not worrying about saying too little or too much

BUT!! this changes when wei wuxian gets angry or tries to draw distance between him and someone else. it shows that he knows exactly how to speak to someone to get what he wants (ie in carp tower, when trying to find wen ning's whereabouts, he is angry but his speech is polite)

with lan wangji, we can see how this plays out when they're hanging out in a friendly manner VS fighting VS amicable but with distance, and the most heartbreaking example for me is when they're parting ways in the burial mounds. wei wuxian had been very relaxed in how he speaks for the most part, but when it came to saying goodbye, his speech turns very polite and distant, and even thanks him, as if lan wangji coming to spend time with him was a favour he was thankful for, rather than something two friends would do

all that is on purpose on wei wuxian's part, and lan wangji understands it. but the thing is: EVERYTIME wwx tried to draw a line and distance himself from lan wangji, things get worse by the next time they meet, and lan wangji starts slowly acquiring a bad reaction to it. so, by the time of post-ressurection, and especially when they both start suspecting that their feelings are requited, everytime wei wuxian thanks lan wangji, he freezes, because it feels like wwx's affections are coming from a place of gratitude rather than sincerity (especially after you learn about the things that wwx doesnt remember)

JUST. *GESTURES VAGUELY* lan wangji doesnt want gratitude, he doesn't want wei ying to treat him with distance, he doesn't want this bond they have to be tied by anything other than genuine wish to be close to each other. when wei ying starts talking to him with such distant words of politeness rather than the overfamiliarness of their younger years, it hurts him a lot

[pharahsgf]

(1/2) hi penta, I thought of you today bc I saw a yunmeng bros compilation and the person rbing it was like 'oh you can get remarried but you can't grow a new brother' and I got sooo mad because like, I get where they're coming from but for wwx neither person is replaceable? even if you get another sibling that wouldn't replace a sibling you lost? also it makes no sense on the other side bc literally no person could ever replace lwj, hes that special and singular

(2/2) I just feel like pitting types of love against each other or trying to prove that one is inherently better or more foundational than another is SO annoying and also directly contradicts a lot of the messaging in mdzs which is about actively choosing someone who's good for you and to you and not just someone you have history with who you don't have like, a choice in being involved with. sob. anyway hope you're having a good one 👍

ah thank u ♡ i can't find the heart hands emoji but imagine me doing that

that quote is literally just 'blood is thicker than water' in a different font & i don't feel like i need to add to the thousands of essays countering that concept, but i will say that applying it to mdzs is very umm, interesting, given the way the story juxtaposes the inextricable connection shared by wx and the mounting incompatibility and estangement of the ymsj. like, wei wuxian can remarry but never get another jiang cheng, really? lan wangji is completely irreplaceable to him but there's several dozen angry cultivators who'll treat him exactly like jiang cheng does (= badly)

anyway. as u said. comparing wwx's various relationships to see which one is better (this is not quantifiable) or more foundational (also not quantifiable) is silly no matter what, but when it's coming from jc fans i do have to wonder what the thought process was, because when lan wangji is in the running jiang cheng is going to lose every time. why... would you set your fav up like that

[frogizz]

The Untamed Episode 32ish spoilers

I've been real quiet about my thoughts watching The Untamed. I haven't read the novel yet but I've been looking at the fan wiki so I know how different things kinda are. Anyways, I'ma list how I feel about the characters and what not. I am at episode 32 or 33 btw.

Yanli is a sweetheart, an angel, a gift to this Earth AND HOW SHE DIES IS HEART WRENCHING! She just gave birth a month ago, she just lost her husband to some stupid fight, her injury and death is blamed on her kinda innocent brother, IM FURIOUS. She deserved so much more than she got, I knew she died young but not like this!

I never trusted Jin Guangyao from the start, I don't like his face (It's the character, not the actor, the actor is fine). He is shady and from the looks of his wiki page, I was right about my gut feeling.

Jin Zixuan has been a tough guy for me to like, but honestly, as long as he made Jiang Yanli happy, he was decent in my book.

THE HYPOCRATES THE JIN CLAN ARE. Explain to me how they think they can do whatever they want just because they aren't the Wen Clan? Their mentality is that they can do what they want because they believe they're already incapable of doing or being bad, when they should really be having the mentality of avoiding doing bad actions and reflect. Jin Zixun annoyed the hell out of me because he was the main culprit of acting just like he was all high and mighty.

Jin Zixun and the other smaller clans just HAD to point fingers and antagonize somebody, didn't they? Like of course, the Wen clan did terrible things, but you don't kill innocent people! Wei Wuxian didn't need to play the hero, but honestly, who would've stepped up to save them? Everything would've been fine if jin Zixun didn't assume Wei Wuxian cast that spell on him and went for the violent route.

I know Wen Qing doesn't show up as much in the novel, which I'll be sad reading through scenes I expected her to be in after watching The Untamed, but she is one of my favorites. She is innocent, or at least mostly, in my eyes. Her actions were those of "I don't want to exactly get involved, and I also kinda think that my clan is doing some bullsh*t but I can't exactly rebel now can I?". I could be wrong, but she deserved a better fate.

Wen Ning, oh my gosh, he deserved better too, he was such a good kid, SUCH A GOOD KID, and he got abused and basically tortured. He deserves more than to be a ghost puppet.

WEI WUXIAN YOU IDIOT, YOU MADE A PROMISE TO YOUR SISTER, YOU TOLD HER THE THREE OF YOU WOULD BE TOGETHER FOREVER YET YOU RUN OFF SO EASILY TO SAVE THE WEN REMNANTS?! Of course, who would've saved them if not Wei Wuxian, that's not necessarily bad. But he just didn't think twice about the promise he made to Jiang Yanli when he just left like that. Not cool dude. Not. Cool.

I don't hate Jiang Cheng, and I don't love him either. I like him, his actions are valid and especially his thoughts are too. To me he is reasonable and makes judgement based on what the audience sees, so I think he is sometimes portrayed as some angry guy when really, he is reacting to things without knowing the full story.

OOH I JUST KNOW THAT MOFO WHO WAS MAKING THE SPIRITS GO OUT OF CONTROL AT THE NIGHTLESS CITY WAS JIN GUANGYAO. Now, I have no evidence, but hear me out, where TF did he go after all the fighting broke out?

I really wanna write some fanfics of 2-5 chapters of different "What if" scenarios regarding Wei Wuxian's decisions in his life and how things could've been better.

Wen Yuan is so adorable and I will protect him with my life. I don't know too much about how he is as Lan Sizhui (btw, I think he's only an adult in The Untamed because he's around 3 when he was Wen Yuan and 16 passed so he's older compared to the novel which makes him 16 years old as Lan Sizhui. Fact check me please).

The music has me in a choke hold.

I have no opinion on Lan Wangji besides he's cool and Wei Wuxian's biggest supporter.

I care a lot more for Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian relationships being fine and healthy than I do for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangi. Mostly because we don't get to see the romance in The Untamed but I hope to see that connection and care for their relationship more when I read the novel. Until then, the siblings are all I care about because they're family and they could've been so happy together.

The way I sobbed when the Jiang clan was attacked and the previous Jiang clan leader and his wife died. The way the Jiang siblings were now orphaned and Wei Wuxian was orphaned a second time. (I call all three of them the Jiang siblings, is there another thing I can call them that would make more sense? I know Wei Wuxian was a part of the Jiang clan but he doesn't have the family name nor is he part of the clan anymore.)

Lan Xichen is another one of my favorites. Never hated any of his actions or words for one second. He is so agreeable and likeable for me. Reminds me of how I felt towards Yue Qingyuan when reading SVSSS. 10/10 character, mwah.

Where TF are my Nie Huaisang scenes, he barely shows up and I kinda wanna see him more.

Jin Ling is so adorable as a baby but damn does he take after his uncle.

I find it sweet that even after leaving the clan, Wei Wuxian was still allowed to see Jiang Yanli's wedding dress and even name his nephew. So sweet, I cried at that scene. She was so pretty, she was so generous to give a portion of the soup to Wen Ning and I love her generosity and kindness to the heavens.

I'm not gunna lie, I wasn't expecting Jin Zixun's death to be like how it was but it was kind of deserved? I was a little sad when Jin Zixuan died though, only because Jiang Yanli would be a widow with a newborn. Can't hurt my girl emotionally like that, just can't.

Last but not least, I can't remember his name and that one chick, but that Young Master Wen, I hated his face, his smug look, I think his death was deserved. And that lady he had with him all of the time, so annoying, so pitiful, they did a great job acting because they made me hate their faces.

Oh yeah, and, Wei Wuxian is an idiot, but a thoughtful idiot. I say that affectionally and I don't think he's actually full of himself (my interpretation can be so wrong and I'll realize that later). He does things for others not to look good (or at least that isn't the main concern), but to actually do something that no one else does. He plays the hero because no one else will help. Although, yeah, he does take on big challenges to look cool but at the end of the day, It's not really all for his own gain.

Okay, that's it. See another post like this when I finish Ep. 50 and I can't wait to find access to the animated MDZS!

[madtomedgar]

umm genderbend 3zun (obviously) and yanli? (maybe lan qiren?)

unfortunately sometimes my genderbend thoughts on a particular character are "no." And to me, Nie Mingjue's character is so intrinsically wrapped up in toxic hyper-masculinity that I just can't make it work. Like. Part of my philosophy of gender-bends is that a character's relationship to gender should be mirrored. So a very gender-conforming character should stay gender conforming. A character that is perceived as effeminate should in a genderbend be seen as kind of manly or unladylike or like. crude/harsh/rough in that particular "failing at woman" way. And with Nie Mingjue and characters like him, they just can't fill the same role in the story as a devotee and enforcer of the worst aspects of femininity. I know a lot of people love "butch" f!Nie Mingjue, by they mean "big muscly woman with an undercut," and like. I hate that. To me it's reminiscent of a particular type of butch fetishization where we are seen as like. Big, hypermasculine canvases to project fantasies onto, and also a collection of negative stereotypes where we're angry, violent, kind of dumb, gruff, pushy, negging, dominant, with no real feelings or desires beyond the erotic fantasy and the psychosexual repulsion etc. So. Those are my feelings on r63 3zun. Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao as women is the best, but he just... he can only be a guy. I could get behind a trans guy Nie Mingjue who has bought into the worst parts of masculinity and thinks by going as hard as he can in that direction he can completely rid himself of any lingering trans-ness, but that is definitely not my story to tell or explore, yknow.

In terms of Yanli. I also don't love taking the one or two women in a cast of men and... making them men also. What, were there not enough men here already? But, ok. Madam Yu's firstborn, and he's... ah. He's ill. He's weak. He's sweet and sensitive, and he wants... oh no. He wants to be a Scholar. Where did those genes even come from what the fuck. I think a lot about how this goes though depends on whether or not Jiang Cheng is also gender-bent, and if Jin Zixuan is gender-bent, and what's going on with Wei Wuxian. Because sickly nerd m!Yanli and f!Jiang Cheng who is... Jiang Cheng and canon Wei Wuxian is basically Madam Yu's personal nightmare and that'll be a Whole Fun Thing. But if Jiang Cheng is still himself, and Wei Wuxian is still himself... I think Wei Wuxian might be more annoying to her but less threatening. I don't think m!Jiang Yanli would be a Mei Changsu mastermind type, he's just a fucking nerd in a family of jocks. He's writing poetry to praise Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's exploits and doing really interesting things with it that you only get if you know a lot of literary theory. He is like. Mr. Older Brother but has no interest or ability to be the heir. Idk Jiang Yanli is also hard because so much of her character is just... feminine domesticity and passivity. And like. You could keep that but that's just a bodyswap OR it's a very different character because then they have Gender Issues bigtime, as opposed to having issues of like... conforming too well. Idk if that makes sense.

... Actually I could get behind trans woman Jiang Yanli. That would be AMAZING. Like. oh man. ok. Her brothers are both like "yes this is our sister duh. do you need glasses are you stupid do you want to die." Jiang Fengmian is like... well he can either have a failson or he can have a daughter who is... fine. So sure, let the kid be happy. Yeah ok it burns out the golden core a bit to make their body conform to their spirit like that but whatever, this kid was never going to be a great cultivator, this way she's happy. Jin Zixuan is like. A mega dickhead about it and the Yunmeng brothers are Going To Murder Him in this life and the next :D. (Jiang Yanli wishes they would stop because all it does is draw more attention to this and she just... she just wants to be a normal girl.) Jin Zixuan comes around post-sunshot and realizes he was a mega-dickhead and that Jiang Yanli is the best woman alive, actually. And Madam Yu. Oof. The thing is she would be much cooler, proud and happy even, if Jiang Yanli took after her. But from her perspective, Jiang Fengmian let one of her sons become weak and useless on purpose to insult her specifically, and now her daughter is setting herself up to be a defenseless laughingstock and doormat, and everyone will blame her for it. So she is awful about it. And like... Jiang Yanli was just never going to be a warrior, or a hero, or a strong assertive person, because that's just not who she is. She just wants to love people and have her family close, and make food, and take care of kids, and it's... not about gender but it kind of is, but not like her mother thinks. She gets exactly what she wants in the end, and nothing bad ever happens to her or Jin Zixuan or Jin Ling (Wei Wuxian created a method to have magic babies just for shijie). Yeah. This, I love.

[wolffyluna]

I was just day dreaming about a fic premise/headcanon, and it hit myself in the face with "that's so *mean*"

I have been poking for awhile at how to best translate Wen Ning's story into a mundane AU, on account of him being undead not being an option.

So, it needs to be something that is not literally death but [wiggle hands] something Serious you Could Die from, something that could happen as an ""accident,"" and it would be nice if it could also cause a change in personality (to match the thing where fierce corpse Wen Ning is not so much with the emotional repression any more).

Modern AU Wen Ning gets a traumatic brain injury. He's in a coma and his chances are not looking good, but Wen Qing/Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji/etc do something and he does wake up, though he forever has a shorter fuse/way less ability to repress his feelings, and exciting "my central nervous system doesn't work right and I had to learn a lot of things from scratch again" problems.

That's not the mean bit.

In his school days, Wen Ning often felt stupid. Even when he knew the answer, he couldn't put his hand up and answer. Doing an oral presentation involved timidly walking up to the front, mumble stuttering for thirty seconds, and fleeing back to his seat. And he felt bad about this but... repressed it.

And he remembers this so, so clearly when he's doing occupational therapy. And how right now, even if he wanted to, he could not walk up to the front of a class room and mumble-- because his ability to walk and mumble is pretty fucking marginal.

And what's worse, is he can't bury those sorts of feelings any more! They make themselves very known and present! And also they make him worse at literally everything, so his ability to talk goes from 'marginal' to 'non-existant!'

In a little while, he'll be able to feel bad for the OTs dealing with the quivering ball of rage who is too angry to explain what the problem is (the OTs I imagine are somewhat used to this), but right now he is a little busy being a quivering non functional ball of rage.

...relatedly, I have a general modern AU Wen Ning headcanon that he went to speech therapy for his stutter, and had a Not Good Experience. Which would interact in an 'oh no' way with having to relearn how to talk entirely

[winepresswrath]

I have a question about novel!JC, if that's ok. I'm aware CQL changed things, but is JC in the novel trully such a selfish, abusive, irredeemable asshole some people paint him as? I will read the novel anyways now with the official EN translation, but I admit I'm afraid JC being anywehre near a one dimensional monster some insist he is may sour my experience a little.

I'd say no, but your mileage may vary! He's definitely softened for CQL. The drama writers included a bunch of scenes that make his feelings about Wei Wuxian very clear and also made him look directly into the camera and promise never to let any harm come to his clan just in case anyone was confused about his motivations, but I honestly think most of that stuff is also present in the novel, albeit less obviously. I would say the biggest difference is that because of the timeline hopping the question of whether Jiang Cheng really hates Wei Wuxian and wants him dead is strung out for longer, and there are a few deliberately misleading moments, like Wei Wuxian thinking about how Jiang Cheng was beaten by a discipline whip and then tried to erase the scars without clarifying that he was being tortured by Wen Chao at the time. I'd say there's also a broader range of plausible reads on his character in the novel- he's a less prominent character than he is in CQL, and the book leaves a lot more space than the drama for ambiguity. He is a dude who plausibly beat some demonic cultivators to death. The cultivation world is generally homophobic and he participates in that, (Wei Wuxian is also working through some stuff on that front, which is something I really wish I'd been warned about before starting the novel- we're mostly inside his head, so there are front row tickets to his internalized homophobia that I personally really did not enjoy, though I know a lot of people found it relatable or funny). For what it's worth, I know some people think CQL villainized him or made him less sympathetic! Personally I went in thinking that he'd be a terrible monster and then spent the whole time going "wait what? That is the opposite of what you said was going to happen, internet."

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: Time travel shananigans: Wei Wuxian, trapped in a cave with Lan Qiren (and Wen Ruohan, maybe??)

Concerto no. 183 in Ab Minor - ao3

(series: Variations on WWX & LQR in Assorted Keys)

“I thought this was going to be fun,” Wei Wuxian said, slumping against a convenient rock.

“Why did you think being stuck in a cave would be fun?” Lan Qiren asked suspiciously. “Also, sitting improperly is forbidden. You shouldn’t slouch!”

Wei Wuxian groaned.

He turned to look at Lan Qiren, who was sitting on top of a large rock. Quite properly, of course.

“How do you know so many rules?” he asked. “Aren’t you five?”

“I’m six.”

“Right, right. Six it is.”

Wei Wuxian wondered how in the world this had gone to such not fun places.

He’d thought meeting the great and fearsome Teacher Lan as a small child would be hilarious – he’d imagined a chubby-cheeked little hellion and an armload of stories that he’d be able to tell Lan Wangji and the juniors when he got back to his own time.

Instead, he got…well.

At least Lan Qiren was, in fact, chubby-cheeked.

He was also already a rigid old stickler who insisted on reciting the rules. A lot.

“That’s still an awful lot of rules to know, at your age,” Wei Wuxian said with a sigh, putting his chin on his hand. “You’ve already recited at least two dozen. Do you already know them all?”

Lan Qiren blushed.

He actually blushed.

Maybe this wasn’t that bad as all that. He was so cute.

“Not all of them,” Lan Qiren said meekly, hanging his head despondently. “Not on anything more than the surface level. I’m learning them as fast as I can, though.”

Wei Wuxian wanted to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair. Now this was more like what he’d been hoping for! Sure, he hadn’t expected someone who ended up with the sort of temper the elder Lan Qiren had to be such a shy cutie, but here they were, and where they were was amazing.

It’d be a bit better if they weren’t stuck in a cave, of course, but he supposed you couldn’t have everything…

“Senior Mo?”

“Mm?”

“Can I start reciting the rules again?” Lan Qiren asked. He was still looking at the ground. “It makes me feel better.”

Wei Wuxian pressed his hands to his chest as if it would contain the overwhelming feeling of having seen a tiny little kitten mew at him. This was so, so precious.

“Why would you feel bad?” he asked, smiling his best ‘trust me’ smile. “Just because we’re stuck in this cave? Don’t worry about it! We’re here together, aren’t we? We’ll find a way out.”

Boundless confidence usually worked on children, but Lan Qiren shook his head.

“I missed my schedule,” he said, and he sounded anxious, the poor thing. “I’m late for three whole things, and if we don’t get out, I’ll be late for the entire day.”

“So what? Think of it as a day off!”

Lan Qiren looked horrified. “Things have to be done in order,” he insisted. His little fists were balled up. “If they’re not done in order, they’ll be done wrong.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Yes,” Lan Qiren said, and something about his tone made Wei Wuxian turned to really look at him, surprised – Lan Qiren’s face was starting to scrunch up in genuine distress; he was very nearly on the verge of tears. “The rules are how people are supposed to behave. If you just follow them the right way, things will be all right. People won’t be angry at you, or hate you, or – or – not love you –”

“Oh, wait, hey there,” Wei Wuxian said, alarmed, reaching out for him, but it was too late; Lan Qiren curled himself up into a little ball and hid his face in his sleeves and…great, now Wei Wuxian felt like the world’s biggest bully. “Hey there, it’s all right, okay? Perform acts of chivalry is one of your foundational rules. I’m a guest here, your responsibility as the host, and you’re being chivalrous by caring for me. That outweighs the rules on punctuality or your chores, doesn’t it?”

Lan Qiren nodded. He seemed a little appeased, although he still looked miserable and anxious, his little hands twisting in his sleeves.

Wei Wuxian wondered, suddenly, whether there was some basis to that anxiety. He himself had never taken any of Madame Yu’s harsh words to heart – it wasn’t in his nature, he’d always been the sort of person who forgot pains as soon as they were over, but he knew others weren’t like him. Take poor Jiang Cheng, who tended to stew over the littlest thing, ruminating over things that were said long after the person who’d said them had forgotten them, even when they weren’t aimed at him. If Lan Qiren were more like Jiang Cheng…or worse, if some asshole in the sect actually did tell this poor child that he wouldn’t be loved if he didn’t get the rules right, which Wei Wuxian could definitely believe…ugh, no wonder the kid was terrified.

Wei Wuxian tried to suppress a grimace.

“Hey,” he said, aiming for casual. “Haven’t you ever taken a day off before? What does your mother say about that?”

“She’s dead.”

…oh, well done, Wei Wuxian. Well done.

First Jin Ling, now this – he just had a way of sticking his foot right in it, didn’t he?

“She died a few years ago,” Lan Qiren added, scrunching up his nose. “I don’t really remember her. My big brother said I killed her.”

Wei Wuxian had been about to try to change the subject, but he choked on air.

“He what?” he said, and then realized his volume had increased dramatically when Lan Qiren winced. “Sorry, I think I must have misheard you. He said you…what?”

“She got sick when I was born, it hurt her health,” Lan Qiren explained. “It was the same sickness that made it hard for her to go outside, and eventually she died because of it. So my big brother says…”

“He says that that makes it your fault?” Wei Wuxian asked, and Lan Qiren nodded. “Well, I say your big brother’s stupid.”

“You can’t say that! Talking behind others’ backs is forbidden!”

“Fine. He’s wrong, then. There’s no way that her death can be blamed on you, any more than my parents’ death in a night-hunt can be blamed on me needing to be fed and clothed and them needing to take on jobs no one else wants to make enough money to do that.” Wei Wuxian frowned a little. “How old is he, anyway?”

If this big brother (presumably the one who would be Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji’s father, and therefore empirically proven to be wrong) was only a year or two older, seven or eight, maybe such a terrible statement could be forgiven as lashing out in grief, but to lash out like that, especially to someone younger, was only just barely within the realms of acceptable – maybe if it had happened right at the time, with several years having passed since the time of the statement –

“He’s ten years older than me,” Lan Qiren said. “Which means he’s…uh…”

“He’s sixteen?!” Wei Wuxian yelped. “And he said – when did he say it? Right after she died?”

Lan Qiren blinked owlishly at him. “No, he says it every once in a while, whenever he’s really angry at me. The last time was a few months ago, I think? Why? Does it matter?”

Wei Wuxian had a sudden urge to play a very mean prank on a teenager. Which was immature of him, but also, what was wrong with Lan Wangji’s father? Well – wrong with him on top of everything Wei Wuxian already knew was wrong with him?

“Didn’t your father say something?”

“When?”

“…when your brother said that to you.”

“Oh. No. I don’t think he was there – I only see him once a month, and only if I’ve done well enough in my classes.”

Wei Wuxian could feel his eye twitching.

Lan Qiren must have noticed, because he tried to clarify: “There’s no reason for me to go see him if I haven’t done well, since there’s nothing worth saying to be said to him if I haven’t,” he explained, very earnestly and very obviously trying to be helpful, when in fact every word out of his mouth was making it worse. “My teachers have explained it to me. If I haven’t done well, it’s better not to see him at all – that way I’ll just get scolded.”

He looked a little wistful, though. As if he wouldn’t mind the scolding, if it meant he could see his father more often.

Wei Wuxian had seen a similar expression on Jiang Cheng’s face more than a few times.

“He wouldn’t have said anything, anyway,” Lan Qiren added, the wistfulness fading into sadness. “He likes my brother better.”

When they’d been young, every time Jiang Cheng got like this, Wei Wuixan would reassure him and then distract him, cheering him up with nonsense and promises of a better future. With this little doll-like Lan Qiren, whose future Wei Wuxian already knew – a future that saw him an old man before his time, stuck leading the Lan sect for years and years, raising his nephews, teaching brats like Wei Wuxian himself, absolutely none of which Wei Wuxian could say for sure that Lan Qiren had ever actually wanted because he’d never asked, never questioned, never wondered if the older man had a life or dreams or ambitions…

“I’m going to get us out of this cave,” Wei Wuxian said, suddenly reenergized. “And then, since the day’s lost anyway, we are going to go have some fun, you and me. I’m going to give you an adventure you’ll never forget!”

“I thought you said we were going to have fun,” Lan Qiren grumbled. “An adventure doesn’t sound fun.”

What a little old man he was.

When Wei Wuxian got back to the future, he’d have to…probably say nothing ever, except maybe to Lan Wangji; Lan Qiren would undoubtedly be horrified if Wei Wuxian ever made an actual overture of friendship or anything like that, and finding out that Wei Wuxian had met him in his childhood might very well drive him into an apoplexy of rage and embarrassment.

Not that that was going to stop Wei Wuxian. He’d find a way to make it up to the old man if it was the last thing he ever did!

[admirableadmiranda]

hi, hope you're doing well! so, i'm a bit confused about wwx being morally ideal vx morally gray esp when you take the golden core transfer into account? it's not exactly consensual considering the fact that wwx lied to jc. additionally, how was jc abusive to wwx or jl? idk i feel a lot of the anti jc arguments involve things he didn't do?

Thank you anon, I appreciate the well wishes. In fact, I am doing very well in part because your ask has made me realize my work against Jiang Cheng stans and their nonsense has not ended.

To all reading this, I am well aware this is a bad faith ask. This is specifically written in a way to annoy me especially given my usual reblog topics and some of the metas I've written before. Anon knows exactly what they're doing.

But too bad for them it's a Friday fucking night and I'm ready for an argument. Come at me stans, we'll see who's better in a slap fight.

You are right! Many of our arguments do include things he doesn't do. Let's go over some of them, shall we?

He does not: treat anyone in this story with respect.

He does not: uphold the tenants or ideals of Yunmeng Jiang in any way. He is a disgrace to his ancestors.

He does not: ever show one lick of gratitude for Wei Wuxian getting him back a golden core, and before we go into the consent shit he told Wei Wuxian he would do anything to get one. He willingly gave his consent to do anything to get a golden core. So how is it relevant that in the end it was a different method than Wei Wuxian told him? Given how Jiang Cheng treated him knowing that he only had a golden core because of a once in a lifetime favor, him knowing that Wei Wuxian gave him his own golden core would not have gone over any better.

He does not: tell Jin Ling any of the truth about his parents or what happened. He told Jin Ling that Wen Ning (who was supposedly already dead at that point) murdered his mother on Wei Wuxian's orders.

He does not: show any signs of humility upon being confronted with the fact that he is wrong, in fact he doubles down on his actions.

He does not: support Wei Wuxian in any way especially not when Wei Wuxian is busy fulfilling his debt to the Wens, in fact he makes sure to bury Wei Wuxian's name and reputation as gratitude for taking on his debts and allowing him to stay out of jianghu politics.

He does not: ever show any signs of character growth outside of one possible blip where he lets Wei Wuxian go at the end of the Guanyin Temple Hostage party, if anything he's more bitter and angry at the end of the story then he started.

He does not: do anything to deserve the whitewashing he gets from the fandom.

He does not: endear himself to me with his whiny petulant spoiled child attitude.

He does not get to get a jail out of free card for serial killing anyone who reminds him of Wei Wuxian after leading the massacre of fifty innocents including an old woman and a toddler.

Oh and just for a note as well anon, not only does he slap Jin Ling to the ground twice, but verbal abuse is also a real thing and that he heaps on Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling in spades. So kindly take your abuse apologism out of my inbox and out of my fandom. You are not welcome here.

[dual-domination]

Husband watching The Untamed: The ex-boyfriend is the spy!!!

So we reached episode 24 till now.

Husband started watching one episode per day. On Sunday’s night, he watched five episodes. This week he’s arriving home already saying: “I’ll take a shower so we can watch Wei Wuxian.”

He turned out to be addicted. Also very happy bc Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren are alive. And also very happy bc Wen Chao is dead.

He got some thoughts:

Jiang Yanli:

“She makes soup three times per episode. It’s the only way to keep her siblings under control.”

Nie Huaisang:

Husband: “Is he ever going to do something that’s not flirting with Jiang Cheng? I mean, like fighting?”

Me, in Neil Gaiman’s mode: “Wait and see.”

Lan Wangji:

Husband: “Is he going to take the guitar everywhere he goes?”

Me: “Is a Guqin. Mostly a type of zither or harp.”

Husband: “A Chinese guitar.”

Wei Wuxian:

Husband: “Now is he going to be badass?”

Me: “Sort of... no, mostly depressed.”

Husband: “But he’s going to drink in every Sect headquarters’ rooftop.”

Lan Xichen:

Specifically that scene when he’s drinking with Wei Wuxian.

Husband: “He’s doing exactly what Wei Wuxian taught in his book... (the book WWX draws abt how to get rid of Lan Sect rules in MDZS Q). He actually does this a lot... he doesn’t follow a lot of the Lan rules while he pretends he does.”

Me: “Perfectly accurate Xichen.”

Nie Mingjue:

Husband: “He scares out everyone with that fucking huge powerful sword, but is soft for Xichen and heartbroken for the Princess Dimples...”

Me: “Are you shipping?”

Husband: “Do I have a choice here?”

And then, the scene in Wen Ruohan’s hall happens:

Husband: OMG, HIS EX-BOYFRIEND IS THE SPY!!! And he (NMJ) was so worried about him and oh my... oh no... oh...

The 3zun scene when NMJ awakes:

Husband: “Xichen is calling him “a-Yao”?”

Me: “Yep.”

Husband: “A-Yao saved him... they were hidden together... No wonders why Sect Leader Mustache is so angry... his ex-boyfriend with his other boyfriend and... fucking complicated.”

Me: “Fucking AND complicated.”

Husband: “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

...

Husband: “Wait... you told me only Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan were Canon...”

Me: “Yeah, at least officially.”

Husband: “No way. This love triangle is VERY Canon for me. No way that this was not on purpose.”

Me: “Agree.”

Controversial moments: Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng

Husband noticed the draw in Wei Wuxian’s bed and some more details. I complemented with the book fragment abt the “childhood sweethearts” and also the context and meta this brought up here on Tumblr.

Husband: “Wen Qing said they don’t care about themselves, they both care much more about the other. The way they are. Each other’s first love. Now makes sense Jiang Cheng not liking Lan Zhan.

(We discussed this a bit more, both Psychoanalysts in this house. Once he finishes the show, I’ll try to share our conclusions about the Chengxian case - this is not about shipping, this is about pointing facts under the light of Psychoanalysis).

Sadly, half of his comments (probably the funnier ones this time) are not understandable if you’re not a pt-br speaker. :(

And now has three hours+ Husband is sleeping with The Untamed Instrumental Soundtrack. He ASKED for it. He always loved bamboo flutes, now he found out that guqin also calms him down. Yes, he already loves Lin Hai.

[liathebookwyrm]

Jin Zixuan and his...uh...lovely brothers in law

Imagine if you will, Jin Zixuan, new father and therefore completely sleep-deprived, deciding it is a good idea to personally deliver his wife's invitation to Wei Wuxian for Jin Ling's one month celebration. The political implications of the Jin heir visiting the Wen remnants, no matter the reason, sail riiiiiight over his head. Someone might have stopped him but he kinda wondered off without telling anyone (baby brain is a marvel, let me tell you) and by the time people realised he was missing, he was already at the Burial Mounds and having a slight crisis. Mainly because where are all the cultivators his father has been swearing up, down and sideways are lurking in Yilling. But also there's a nice old lady who, upon learning who he is and why he's here, insists he sits down, pinches his cheek and starts worrying over whether he and his wife get enough sleep, what with this being their first baby and all. Also he may have saw Lan Wangji burying a toddler in a nearby radish patch, but that much clearly be a hallucination.

And that is how Wei Wuxian manages to arrive at his nephew's celebration with A-Yuan, Wen Ning, Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan in tow. (Jin Zixun is a moron but he will not try to start trouble in from if both his cousin and Lan Wangji...) JIang Yanli takes one look at the toddler and wonders where they got another kid. When it is explained that this is actually her nephew (and Jiang Cheng already knew about him and didn't tell her)....oh boy!

"A-Xian, you had a child and didn't tell me?! Wait, who's the mother?"

Jiang Yanli doesn't even blink at that, she simply turns to Lan Wangji and very politely asks why she wasn't invited to their wedding, seeing as clearly (A-Yuan is currently clinging to his Rich-gege) he is the other parent in question and she knows he wouldn't be playing with her little brother's heart like that. In the background one might observe Jiang Cheng, the Jins and Lan Xichen all choking on air for entirely different reasons. Jiang Cheng is not certain whether he should be more outraged at the implication that these two disasters found a way to physically create a child together (look, he knows it's impossible but if anyone could figure it out!) or that Lan Wangji did not ask HIS permission to marry HIS brother before any potential baby making happened. Lan Xichen might be joining Jiang Yanli on the "I'm not angry, I'm disappointed you didn't tell me" elder sibling camp as soon as he gets over his shock.

Frankly, Wei Wuxian is just confused at this line of questioning.

"Well, OF COURSE Lan Zhan is the father? Who else would I have a child with?" Whether the implication registers or not is debatable.

Wen Ning, who deep down is a little shit and no one will tell me otherwise, leans back against a wall, accepts a couple of nuts from Nie Huaissang and starts a serious, if quiet, discussion with him on appropriate wedding gifts when the couple in question already has a child and whether they can be combined with gifts for the child in question.

Someone has the brilliant idea to make a snide comment about certain people's respectability. Lan Wangji decides that now might be a good time to mention that they have been technically married since they were sixteen. Second round of choking commences. Nie Huaissang marches up to certain people to collect money.

A-Yuan is not quite sure what is happening but suddenly a lot of people are being very nice to him and telling him to call them uncle (his favourite uncle is still Wen Ning though. He lets him ride on his shoulders!) and the really pretty lady is giving him more of that tasty soup and introducing him to his baby cousin who's even smaller than him and ok maybe they can't play together yet but she said they will when A-Ling is older so he's happy to wait.

Wei Wuxian would be melting to a puddle from the Cute , only he's having his own crisis because apparently he's married and "really Lan Zhan, this is the sort of thing you tell someone! How was I supposed to know?"

Lan Xichen is just smug because of course he knew about the teenage wedding, and of course he's just been saving the gifts he bought back then for when his little brother was ready to announce it. He will be entering the "favourite uncle" competition with an unfair advantage.

It is at this point Nie Mingjue walks in, sees Lan Xichen holding A-Yuan (whose dads are having a long overdue discussion in a corner), short-circuits and walks right back out. Lan Xichen runs after him, still holding A-Yuan because he just must introduce them!

No one tell Jiang Cheng there will be a favourite uncle competition, which he could have had a head start in if his first meeting with A-Yuan hadn't gone quite as it went... Nie Mingjue ends up temporarily winning anyway, simply because A-Yuan can't get over how tall he is or how big Baxia is, plus his braids are fun to play with. That, and a lifetime growing up with Nie Huaissang has left him extremely bad at resisting puppy eyes.

Jin Zixun, lest we forget his unfortunately continuing existence, tries to bring up the whole "The Yilling Patriarch totally cursed me" thing in the middle of all this. A-Yuan (still perched on Nie Mingjue's arms, fight him) hears it, frowns and informs him that what he said is mean and he should apologise. He may be imitating Lan Wangji's tone. Wei Wuxian goes from ready to jump at somebody's throat to absurdly proud because clearly this is an indication of his excellent parenting so quickly he gets whiplash. Everyone else is trying (with varying degrees of success) to hold in their laughter.

Jiang Cheng is the one to point out that whether eloping with your potentially dead ancestor's blessing is legally binding or not, there should really be a public ceremony, and the all the relevant negotiations between the couple's families must and will be done. For which they require Lan Qiren's presence. There's a pause, then everyone starts insisting they've got it all in-hand, no need to get him involved, we'll just tell him when it's done, he'll be so proud of us for arranging everything without help.

Lan Wangji tries to point out that, since they're already married, there's no need for discussions at all. Wen Ning (honestly, who's side is he on?) insists that granny Wen has been low-key planning their wedding since Lan Wangji's first visit and he wouldn't want to deprive her of that now would he? Do not imagine the clash of titans that would be Granny Wen and Lan Qiren trying to outmanoeuvre each other over organisational control of the wedding...

As always co-authored with/enabled by @sswangxian

[silverflame2724]

After a Yunmeng bros reconciliation after a night hunt with LWJ, WWX, JC, JL and the juniors with NHS (hosting them for the night) asks how LWJ and WWX fell in love in the first place. JC is reluctantly curious having also missed a lot of context.

No one is really quite prepared for the true scope and behind the scenes context behind the epic lovestory, all NHS knows is he desperately wants to write and publish it.

It involved a lot of a night hunt - in Qinghe - nearly gone wrong, drinking, crying and rough housing as it usually did when it came to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. The two of them had never been able to resolve their conflicts in an amiable and peaceful manner like the Twin Jades did and that was fine.

The Twin Jades were the Twin Jades.

And Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were the Twin Prides. They handled their emotions and conflicts differently and that was okay.

That didn't mean that Lan Wangji had to be happy with seeing his Wei Ying cry. He had barely held himself back from bodying Jiang Cheng for hurling cruel words at his husband, but Lan Wangji bore with it and was glad that he had a lifetime of training his restraint because it seemed like the two of them had resolved their differences.

Lan Wangji watched as the two brothers passed out from the alcohol and sighed, hauling the both of them up and returning to the rooms that Nie Huaisang had provided both him and the Juniors.

Somewhere during that trip, they had been joined by said Juniors - Jin Ling, Lan Jingyi, Lan Sizhui - and Nie Huaisang and the brother had both woken up from the commotion of their joined company.

Thankfully, they seemed a lot more sober as both had similar embarrassed reactions to being carried like some unruly cats. After placing them down and getting the both of them some water, Nie Huaisang glanced at both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian and asked a question that sparked Wei Ying's creative mind, "How did the two of you fall in love anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, us?" Wei Ying asked. "Do you really want to know?"

"I do." Sizhui said. "You never told us the full story, Baba. I'm curious."

"Same here!" Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling replied, one enthusiastic, one a little reluctant.

Jiang Cheng said nothing but seemed intrigued as well.

With so many people looking at them, Wei Ying caved, "Well, if you're sure you want to know......"

.....

"It started on a beautiful moonlit night. I had been a little bored and craving some alcohol so I left for Caiyi and returned passed the curfew to the Cloud Recesses."

"How did you get past the wards?"

"Hm? Oh, it was already partially broken by a fallen tree, it was easy to create a talisman to make the gap bigger." Wei Wuxian said casually. "Anyway! I was just going to admire the moon as I drank some delicious Emperor's Smile wine when out comes the most beautiful boy I had ever seen, scolding me for breaking the rules for trespassing, bribing him, and bringing in alcohol."

".........Bribing?"

"Yeah. I said, 'Emperor's Smile! I'll give you one if you pretend you didn't see me!' and when he told me to look at the Wall of Discipline, I brushed him off, saying that it was so long, no one would read it!"

Lan Jingyi shivered, "You're one brave man, Senior Wei....."

"Hehehe~ it's good that you know it!" He tapped his nose. "Lan Zhan got so angry! Especially after I drank a bottle in front of him and told him that it technically wasn't breaking the rules if I drank it on the roof. He drew his sword and we began to fight."

"You....You made Hanguang-Jun break the rules......"

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Yeah, it was honestly so amusing to see his stoic face break out into anger."

Lan Wangji closed his eyes, "Hmm. Wei Ying was beautiful in the moonlight."

Wei Wuxian turned red. "Lan er-gege, you can't just say that!"

"Can."

"Can we just move on?" Jiang Cheng said irritatedly, seeing them lovingly gaze into each other's eyes.

"Okay!"

What progressed from there was Wei Wuxian recalling how he was brought for punishment soon after, how he relentlessly chased after a seemingly uncaring Lan Wangji, teasing him, poking him, coercing him to break the rules....

Lan Wangji even began to offer some context.

"I wasn't angry. I was barely holding myself back from bending you over the nearest table. That's why I seemed mad."

and

"I always looked at you the second you looked away. I didn't want to be caught."

and

"I hadn't come to terms with my feelings and I took that out on you."

Eventually, they came to the day Lan Wangji first told Wei Wuxian to 'get lost.'

"I was very much remorseful." Lan Wangji wilted. Wei Wuxian comforted him and decided that the best way to cheer him up was through distraction.

"Hey, Nie-xiong, remember that book that you gave me during our study days. You know, that book, the one I never got to return to you."

"Oh yes, I do! A pity I never got it back, it was quite good, but Wei-xiong, what does this have to do with--Oh. Oh no. You didn't!" Nie Huaisang gasped. "Wei-xiong, tell me you didn't!!"

"I did." Wei Wuxian seemed exceptionally pleased with himself, telling everyone how he showed a yellow book to Lan Wangji. The reactions he got varied from shocked to embarrassed.

Wei Wuxian went on to tell them how he caught some rabbits for Lan Wangji as a gift, and perhaps an apology for bothering him.

"But then you caught me sneaking alcohol in again and we both got punished so I couldn't really leave you alone. You told me to 'get lost' again er-gege, I was really very sad. So much so that I was actually going to leave you alone after that. I may be shameless, but I wasn't about to continue to intrude into your space if you rejected me so vehemently like that. You really made me feel unwanted!"

Lan Wangji seemed to close in on himself, "I know that my attitude was beyond reproachful and I wanted to apologize." He sighed. "I don't know why I never did."

Wei Wuxian patted him.

"But perhaps it was because I was two seconds away from pressing you into the stones and just taking what I wanted."

"Lan Zhan." Wei Wuxian hissed. "There are children here."

"They are old enough." Lan Wangji replied.

Wei Wuxian 's tone then grew quiet as he told of the fight between Jin Zixuan and him when the peacock had insulted his sister. He glossed over his time in Lotus Pier and merely said he was waiting for Lan Zhan to take him up on his invitations to come to Lotus Pier or even write him letters. He got neither.

(Lan Wangji himself started to realize the scope of his actions and how he never really made an effort to gain Wei Wuxian's trust, but did add in how he went to the Lotus ponds in Gusu, picking the lotuses with stems, seeing if grilled watermelon rind was good, keeping the trinkets that Wei Wuxian had given him throughout their acquaintance, and trying spicy food just to see why Wei Wuxian liked it.)

They met up again at the Archery competition and Wei Wuxian recounted how he met a shy, stuttering Wen Ning and how he relentlessly pestered Lan Wangji, unable to stay too long away from him and how he took off his forehead ribbon. ("I swear I didn't know what it meant! I just wanted a reaction from him!")

They never met again until the indoctrination. And Wei Wuxian told a tale of the abuse they endured under the Wens and Wen Chao's hands. ("Keep in mind that not all the Wens acted like that." He said, looking at Sizhui subtly. "And others may have only acted that way under orders or duress.)

Then came the Xuanwu cave, the song Lan Wangji had made for Wei Wuxian, their plan to kill the Xuanwu and how Lan Wangji had taken care of a feverish Wei Wuxian.

They skipped over the Lotus Pier Massacre, but Lan Wangji recalled feeling extremely worried for Wei Wuxian, volunteering to look for him both during Wei Wuxian’s escape and after rumors of his capture.

The war was in full swing by the time Wei Wuxian exited the Burial Mounds and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian both told their own perspectives of meeting each other again and how they always fought about the silliest of things.

Post-war was better with Lan Wangji hopelessly pining over Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian beginning to feel something for Lan Wangji through the flower he tossed him. 

Phoenix Mountain and the stolen kiss. 

(”I thought he was a maiden....” 

“You thought someone that was able to press you down was a maiden?” Jiang Cheng deadpanned. 

“Hey, there are strong women, you know!”)

Wei Wuxian’s helplessness and rage over Wen Qing’s situation and Lan Wangji’s helplessness and confliction, being unable to help Wei Wuxian, wanting to hide and lock him away. 

(”Oh, Lan Zhan......” 

“Wei Ying....”

“Can you please stop lovingly looking at each other like that?” Jiang Cheng was ignored.

“Aww, but it’s adorable, Jiang-xiong!” Nie Huaisang fluttered his fan.)

They don’t meet for a few years and they meet through a child Wei Wuxian took care of from the Wen refugees. (Wei Wuxian didn’t reveal the name of the child for reasons.) Wei Wuxian giggled, remembering Lan Wangji’s utterly lost expression as the child hugged his leg. Lan Wangji sighed exasperatedly and continued, giving details of their date and rather sad parting.

Wei Wuxian’s expression became somber as he glossed over the events that came next and somewhat bittersweet as he told of the peaceful darkness that came with death. Lan Wangji told of his grief over his death and how he promised to be better should they meet again.

The two of them filled in the details of his resurrection and the events following that. How Wei Wuxian tried to flirt with Lan Wangji until he became angry like in their younger days, how Lan Wangji was seemingly immune to his charms......... 

(”I was not. I was barely holding myself back.” 

Jingyi, “Wow, Senior Wei, you really weren’t kidding when you said Hanguang-Jun made your back sore.” 

Sizhui, “Jingyi!” 

Jin Ling, “Wait.....what?” 

“Why is your love story turning out to be a cliche tragic romance novel?” Jiang Cheng said dryly.  

Nie Huaisang’s eyes glimmered at that. 

“I don’t know! Don’t look at me!” Wei Wuxian replied. )

......how Wei Wuxian got him drunk twice and how he began to feel something flutter in his heart every time Lan Wangji got close.

(”I will not be going into detail. Drunk Lan Zhan is adorable and only I need to know what happened in that room!”

Jingyi snorted, “Hard to do that when we saw a drunk Hanguang-Jun parading you around in his forehead ribbon.”

Jiang Cheng was outraged. “He did what?!”

“I did what.” Lan Wangji was just embarrassed.

Jingyi clutched his side as Sizhui elbowed him hard, “Ow, Sizhui! What the hell?”

“I thought we agreed to not talk about that.” Sizhui’s smile was terrifying.

Wei Wuxian coughed, “Anyway.”)

Before Wei Wuxian got him drunk the second time, they had traveled to Yi City and found joy in solving the mystery of such a complicated case. However,

Wei Wuxian grew quiet recalling Xue Yang’s words to Xiao Xingchen. “I really......couldn’t save anyone, in the end.”

The room abruptly went silent.

“You tried your best.” Jiang Cheng said quietly.

“My best wasn’t enough. I will always blame myself for the events at Nightless City.”

“You were not at fault.” Nie Huaisang replied.

“Nie-xiong......but I......”

“No, Wei-xiong.” Nie Huaisang put his fan down, face uncharacteristically grim. “You know, as well as everyone else in this room, that the people there at Nightless City did not have good intentions towards you. They were there to kill you.” He clenched his fists. “My brother, included.”

“......”

“We attacked first, in any case. You were just defending yourself.” Nie Huaisang smiled bitterly. “Are you really at fault for being so powerful that you could cause such severe damage to everyone?”

“Sometimes......it really feels like that. If, perhaps, I had shown that I was not too powerful, perhaps it would have been different.”

“It wouldn’t have.” Lan Wangji said. “They would have just grasped your weaknesses easier and used them against you.”

“........”

After an extending silence in the room, Sizhui eventually changed the subject as they continued the story.

Wei Wuxian shook off his grief and told them how shocked he was when Sizhui and Jingyi had told him the true meaning of the ribbon. “I just realized that I had basically been propositioning Lan Zhan for a long time, haha.”

“A long time?” Sizhui asked.

“Ah, yeah. I accidentally took Lan Zhan’s forehead ribbon off during the archery competition when we were young. He was so angry but I could never figure out why.”

“Didn’t you copy the rules a lot of times?” Jingyi frowned.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think I ever needed to remember all of them. I just remembered the more important ones.” He sighed. “In any case, either that time or when I found out, I didn’t get enough time to ponder it since Chifeng-zun’s corpse started hobbling out.”

“Luckily, Hanguang-Jun and Lan-zongzhu were there.” Jingyi patted his chest in relief. “I thought we were going to die.”

“You brat, what about me?” Wei Wuxian pouted.

“Hmph, you weren’t reliable, probably.” Jin Ling smirked.

The juniors had a little chuckle. Though not for long as Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji breezed through the Jinlintai conference and stabbing after that. Lan Wangji recalled how afraid he was to lose Wei Wuxian again and how he did the best he could to nurse him back to health.

“Lan Zhan took such good care of me.” Wei Wuxian cooed, scratching the underside of Lan Wangji’s chin.

Lan Wangji’s eyes darkened, “Behave.”

Wei Wuxian shivered. Ah, if only we were alone.....

The pair went on to mention the discovery of the missing Collection of Turmoil page and Wei Wuxian’s feelings about Lan Wangji being so close to him.

“In hindsight, I started becoming more aware of my physical attraction to him at that point.”

Wei Wuxian continued the story, giving some bits about their journey to the Burial Mounds. He even gleefully mentioned pressing Lan Wangji down into the hay when they stopped at some random person’s house and how nice it felt when Lan Wangji reversed their positions. 

Later, at the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian said how he expected to be left alone. He had experienced a lifetime of those he loved leaving him behind when it mattered most - though he didn’t quite phrase it like that. He expected this time to be the same. (In the back, Jiang Cheng looked away in shame.)

But just like in Jinlintai, Lan Wangji stood by his side. “Realizing that Lan Zhan would stick by me no matter what, no matter the opposition......it was overwhelming. I wasn’t prepared for it.”

“I will always be on your side.” Lan Wangji kissed his cheek. Wei Wuxian nuzzled him back.

The rest of the people in the room blushed various shades of red.

Jiang Cheng coughed, “Could we please continue?”

“Mmhm.” Wei Wuxian agreed, but still looked lovingly at his husband.

.........

They skipped over the sadder parts of Wei Wuxian’s return to Lotus Pier but did share Wei Wuxian draggin Lan Wangji around the markets of Yunmeng sharing everything that he had wanted to share should Lan Wangji had visited.

“I regret not taking you up on that offer.” Lan Wangji said. “Perhaps if I had, perhaps if I had gotten to know you better in those visits.....perhaps it would have all been different.”

Wei Wuxian leaned into his shoulder. “Ah, Lan Zhan, I really did feel hurt that you didn’t come, but I expected it, you know? We weren’t exactly all that close, so I don’t blame you for not coming.”

“Should’ve not rejected Wei Ying. I was foolish.”

“Aiya, it’s in the past. In any case, we’re together now. So don’t worry about it, er-gege.”

“Hm.”

Wei Wuxian continued the story, saying how he came upon a certain tree - he gave Jiang Cheng a look - and told everyone, “In my heart, I think that moment that I feel out of that tree and Lan Zhan caught me, was the first time I could really admit to myself that I loved him.” Wei Wuxian smiled. “I have fallen many times in my life and had hardly had anyone who could catch me, who could break my fall, who could hold me close and make me feel loved. Shijie was the first one. And Lan Zhan was the next. In different contexts, of course.”

“That’s....oh my god, Wei-xiong that’s so sweet!”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes softened. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. I really, really loved him then. And could admit it to myself. However......I did not believe that he returned my feelings.”

“But why!” Lan Jingyi asked. “Hanguang-jun obviously cares a lot about you!”

“Yeah, but I thought he was just making it up to me.”

“Wei-qianbei, you’re really dense.” Sizhui sighed. “Hanguang-jun cares about a lot of people, but it is only with you that he gets.....touchy.”

Wei Wuxian awkwardly scratched the side of his face with a finger. “Yeah. I know now.”

The two of them did not mention the golden core situation. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian had just reconciled and the revelation of the golden core was a....difficult topic to broach. They moved on to arriving in Yunping and mention discussing what to do next. But, they didn’t mention the details.

“Let’s just say that things happened and we misunderstood each other and leave it at that, okay?” Wei Wuxian blushed and Nie Huaisang looked between them, something knowing in his eyes.

“Aaaaanyway, I arrived at the Guanyin temple and was safe and just observing the situation when Jin Ling was in danger so I graciously saved him.”

“Hey, I had it covered!” Jin Ling squacked indignantly.

“What is this about?” Jiang Cheng asked suspiciously.

“Weeeeell, Little Jin Ling here was led to the temple by Fairy and wanted to peak over to see what was up and ended up nearly getting an arrow to the face!”

“Jin. Ling.” Jiang Cheng gritted out.

“Let’s just continue the story! How did you confess?” Jin Ling shouted.

Wei Wuxian grinned but nevertheless answered the question, “Hm, it was quite simple, actually. It only took Lan Xichen telling me what you sacrificed to help me and calling me your “only mistake” to really knock some--”

“Brother did what.” “Lan Xichen did what.” Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng darkly interrupted.

“Oh, uhh, I mean. Umm, calm down? You two look like your out for blood. Calm down! It’s in the past.”

“No.” Lan Wangji growled. “No, Brother does not have the right to say that. You were not a mistake, never a mistake. You are the one right I’ve made in this world, Wei Ying.”

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian’s face flared red.

“Lan Wangji, I have some words for your Brother.” Jiang Cheng said.

Lan Wangji nodded.

“Aiya, you two. It’s been what, months? Don’t worry about it!”

Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng did not look like they agreed with that sentiment.

“So, Wei-xiong, how did you end up confessing?”

“Oh, uhh, well, umm, Jin Guangyao had a chord to my neck so I made the executive decision to try and shock him with a confession of what I wanted Lan Zhan to do to me.” He could not get the blush off of his face for this. “In.....In bed.”

The faces of most everyone in the room went shockingly red.

“Of course I properly confessed right after that! But--”

“Wei Wuxian, how could you be so shameless?!”

“Hey, I had to shock my captor into releasing me!”

After a few more grumbles, everyone decided to get some dinner considering how late it had gotten.

“Well, Wei-xiong, I’d say that was a wonderful love story, but it sounds too much like those cliche tragic romance novels, right? Though the only differences is that you got a happy ending in the end.”

“Hmm, yeah. I never really thought about it like that. But it really does seem that way, haha!”

Lan Wangji settled by Wei Wuxian’s side, hugging him close and Nie Huaisang watched them and wondered.

Bonus:

“L-Lan Zhan! Th-There’s. There’s a book! I knew Nie-xiong was up to something!! Look, he actually published our story!!”

Lan Wangji set down his work and took a brief scan of the book. “It does not have our names. And some of the details are exaggerated.”

“I know.” Wei Wuxian slithered his arms around Lan Wangji’s back. “And er-gege, there are some scenes that might inspire you tonight.” He smirked as Lan Wangji’s gaze got dark.

“Mark your words.”

“Oh, they’re marked alright. Give me your best, Lan Zhan.”

_________________________

This....certainly took me a while. Hope this was what you wanted!

[giraffeter]

Characters in The Untamed, Ranked by the Extent to Which They Are “This Fucking Guy”

Sect Leader Yao: The ultimate This Fucking Guy. Chock full of opinions and all of them are bad. Couldn’t mind his own business if his own business was on fire. Also robs my terrible son Ouyang Zizhen of his rightful title of Worst Wig, which is rude and unnecessary. 10/10.

Su She: This Fucking Guy to such an extent that nobody knows his real name. I was shocked, upon rewatch, to learn that the other guy LWJ saves from the Waterborne Abyss and the guy who gives them up to the Wens were the same guy, and that guy was Su She. Only possible response to him is “who?” followed closely by “oh, THIS fucking guy.” So upset by his TFG status he does a bunch of murders about it. 10/10.

Wen Chao/Wen Ruohan/Wen Xu (tie): Could be chill about being villains but instead they’re all “bluh, bluh” about it like they’re a bunch of fucking Draculas. Nobody likes a try-hard, guys. 10/10.

Jin Guangshan: Can’t keep it in his pants; only person to achieve the title of This Fucking Guy literally as well as figuratively.  10/10.

Xue Yang: Look, he’s my emotional support sociopath too, and it’s very sexy of him, but imagine trying to have a conversation with him.  Such an edgelord he’ll stab a potato at you. People are constantly rolling their eyes as soon as his back is turned. 9/10.

Jin Zixun: Ugh. 9/10.

Lan Wangji: Listen, I love him, he is my favorite character, but you must admit that Lan Wangji is not exactly easy to get along with, and has no compunctions about being actively unpleasant to you if he doesn’t like you. I imagine meeting with him as Chief Cultivator being super stressful, even though he’s generally a pretty fair person, because the risk of being obliterated by a look of Icy Disdain is high. Su She is already launching a 20-minute rant about how he should be higher on this list. 7/10.

Wei Wuxian: I know. I KNOW. But my darling boy is a LOT. You can’t tell me the Lan disciples weren’t going “This Fucking Guy” during his class clownery. He and LWJ are constantly doing horny wrist grabs and staring at each other for a full minute of time, right in front of everyone’s salad. In the scene where the angry mob confronts him, they might as well be chanting “This! Fucking! Guy! This! Fucking! Guy!” Most of this is not his fault but he’d be exhausting to be around. Then again, so am I. 7/10.

Nie Huaisang: Nie Huaisang WANTS to be This Fucking Guy. Nie Huaisang is ACTIVELY TRYING to be This Fucking Guy. Nie Huaisang is angry he’s not higher up on this list but he’s just too Babie for me to give him more than a 7/10.

Jin Guangyao: “What?” you say. “How dare! Villainry!” But this is not a list of Who is a Bad Person, it’s a list of Who is This Fucking Guy, and JGY has spent too much of his life in positions where he can’t be This Fucking Guy indiscriminately. His dad and Nie Mingjue both think he’s TFG for their own reasons, but to people in general? Customer Service Smile all the way, baybee. Points off for all the murdering, though. 6/10.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan (tie): Happy to swoop in for some dramatic swashbuckling, completely uninterested in doing any of the ensuing administrative work. Like those people who only want to work on the fun part of the group project and then make the rest of the group do the rest. Would never say it, but deffo think they’re better than you. 6/10.

Jiang Cheng: Unless you are a demonic cultivator he’s torturing to death for complicated emotional reasons or his estranged brother-in-law, Jiang Cheng keeps his TFG tendencies more or less in check. 6/10 mostly for his behavior toward Lan Wangji specifically.

Lan Qiren: The actual literal Fun Police. Only reason he’s not higher on this list is because he never goes anywhere so most people aren’t exposed to his TFG-ness. 5/10.

Jin Zixuan: The flashback portion of The Untamed is, in a sense, the story of Jin Zixuan’s journey from This Fucking Guy to Wife Guy (and then Dead Guy 😬) Averaging out to a 5/10.

Nie Mingjue: We all know how I feel about da-ge, but man does Nie Mingjue think he’s right about everything. He’s willing to listen to arguments to the contrary and change his opinion based on new information, which is cool and better than a lot of people, but he really thinks he’s got it all figured out and has spent pretty much 0 time unpacking that. 5/10.

Lan Xichen: He’s like that guy in high school who’s like super hot and a big jock and smart and student body president and you can’t even hate him because he’s also really nice?? And somehow all that combines to make him, just a little bit, This Fucking Guy. 4/10.

Wen Ning: A baby. A precious baby. However, I am almost positive that his cousins referred to him as This Fucking Guy on occasion in between being Draculas. 2/10.

The Juniors: I don’t think it’s fair to rate the juniors on their This Fucking Guy-ness, because all teens inherently have a soupçon of TFG — it’s natural. N/A, with the exception of:

Lan Sizhui: Best boy. Number one best boy. -1000000/10.

Previously: Sect Leaders by How Likely Their Disciples Are to Accidentally Call them “Dad.”

[poorlittleyaoyao]

CQL Rewatch Episode 4: recalled as shouting “THANK GOD, IT IS MY BOY”

-LAN PEDAGOGY IS SO BAD. Too many words! Too many directives phrased as what you shouldn’t do and not what you should do!

-There’s great meta about NHS and the bird, and the foreshadowing for what he pulls off later, but I want to know what his thought process was that morning. He does not normally have a bird with him. It was not an “oops, forgot I had the bird with me!” situation. The boy made the CONSCIOUS CHOICE to hide a bird in his robes during the welcome ceremony. What happens in your head, Huaisang?

-I LOVE MENG YAO’S REACTION TO THE BIRD SITUATION SO MUCH. It’s one of the few times we see him trying to suppress a genuine smile rather than plastering on a fake one! His quiet amusement, plus NHS hiding behind him (and MY stepping in front of him!) even though MY is unarmed when Wen Chao tries to start shit later both convey SO MUCH about their relationship at this point in the narrative. They care about each other! And it’s going to go to shit!

-When you think about it, the first person to stand up for MY isn’t LXC, but Lan Qiren, who tells those random exposition gossip dudes to shut up. Where is my fic where MY decides that LQR is his new and better dad?

-”Wow, Wei-gongzi! You dared to face Wen Chao and nobody else did!” exclaims NHS, right next to Jiang Cheng (who ALSO stood his ground against Wen Chao), and somehow forgetting LXC disarmed everyone by playing a little flute solo.

-GODDDDDD THE FUCKING FAREWELL SCENE. IT’S SUCH! A SETUP! FOR ALL THE WAYS THIS RELATIONSHIP IS GONNA HAVE PROBLEMS! Meng Yao’s ultra-deferential “Meng Yao is just a guest of the Nie, not a disciple” (and I REALLY wanna know what the word is that Netflix renders as “guest,” bc “guest” in English conveys a privileged status IMO; “servant” or “assistant” or even “vassal” seems like it’d be more apt) combined with the carefully blank expression spawned 12k words and counting of fic because ohhh mannn is there baggage there. And LXC’s “In that case, I can’t urge you to stay” makes perfect sense for him, because he’s like “ah! it would be awful to disregard his wishes! I will respect them!“

Except unfortunately! Based on MY’s face journey when he turns around, and his general pattern of behavior that we see later! MY would actually have liked it very much if LXC had been like “Are you sure? I can write to Chifeng-zun; I’m sure he wouldn’t mind someone keeping Huaisang on-task” or something like that to intervene on his behalf! But LXC doesn’t do that! Because he’s trying to be respectful! (Or, less charitably, it doesn’t even OCCUR to him that MY doesn’t have the agency that a member of the nobility would, because for all his good intentions, his own privilege blinds him. But his quick reassurance to MY that NMJ definitely trusts him and will respect/reward his merits suggests that LXC noticed something was up with MY’s response.

oh no I’m emotional doing this while drinking was a m i s t a k e

-”There are only mountains back home, no rivers!” Huaisang. Honey. Where do you think the rivers come from. NHS out here flunking geography class as well as cultivation class.

-additional Wen Qing time was THEE BEST change that this adaptation made

-The sibling soup supper makes me irrationally angry. GIVE!!! YOUR SISTER!!!! SOME FUCKING!!! FISH!!!!!!

-Lan Qiren I am BEGGING you to learn what UDL is. Please engage your kinesthetic and visual learners. Please give them a brain break every 45 minutes.

-concept: AU where everything is the same except Lan Qiren uses Class Dojo and awards points for good choices.

-”Imp” sure was a bold translation choice, Netflix.

-“Why not dig up a hundred people to suppress this one (1) dude?” BECAUSE THAT’S NOT PRACTICAL, WEI WUXIAN. THE GHOST IS GOING TO EAT EVERYONE BEFORE YOU’RE DONE DIGGING.

-hey Wen sibs your spy mission would be a lot more subtle if one of you actually WENT TO CLASS EVER :|

-the degree to which “Careless Whisper” is playing in Wen Ning’s head as WWX helps him with his archery stance is truly stupendous

-“Wen-guniang, why do I always see you in the back hill?” girl what were YOU doing in the back hill?