#sad backstories involving false imprisonment...

[nibinsects]

they suck

[mxtxfanatic]

As I'm reading and re-reading through your post, it just hit me that a lot of people have this idea that YZY and JFM were engaged for a long time. I've read many fics and some meta that try to excuse YZY a bit because they accuse JFM of cheating on her essentially. That he confessed to WWX's mom while they were engaged and already set to marry, uncaring of her feelings. When, in reality, he didn't say yes to the match until after WWX parents got married. I'm not sure if there were ever genuine feelings on YZY's side of things but the fact that she's that pressed over him liking other people before they were involved is pathetic and weird honestly.

On another note, what would happen if a sect heir was discovered to not actually be the leader's son? Specifically in C-novels, are there any common actions taken?

Yeah I already covered all that here. Idk why people invented some spurned lover backstory for them except because the donghua (and cql, maybe?) kept tryna make her seem more sympathetic by playing sad music around her. Like bro, I see her whipping a child, I promise you I do not care if her husband really cheated on her, a child abuser, or not. On the other hand, the idea that Jiang Fengmian "cheated" on her because he liked another woman (false) who went on to marry someone else at a time when he, himself, was not engaged is the type of possessive you'd see on a "signs your partner may be abusive" chart.

As for the second part, in a cnovel that includes a conflict where the heir is not actually the leader's biological son, either they are keeping that shit real hush hush (because the leader doesn't care, cares more about not being labeled with a green hat more than he does about revealing he's been tricked, or just really needs that "son" as an heir for whatever reason) and killing/imprisoning/divorcing his wife or, uhhhh, they're definitely killing mom and child. In a novel with this type of plotline happening amongst people of similar status and wealth as their mdzs counterpart? The man is definitely disappearing his wife and "son." His wife is gonna fall "mysteriously ill" so as to need to go to the countryside "for recovery," and his "son" is gonna have a convenient accident far away from home while the rest of the clan and probably the officials look the other way. But if this was just mdzs, I think Jiang Fengmian would just quietly divorce Madam Yu with an explanation to her family and an agreement that they both be quiet and Madam Yu never be allowed out of her natal clan again, and the kids still get to keep their "legitimate child" statuses, likely without ever being told the truth about their mother. If this was mdzs but written as a dogblood, the kids would definitely be told by the elders that they are not Jiang children, and if Jiang Fengmian fights for them to stay in the clan, he definitely could not fight for their right to inherit or else risk being ousted by another branch with accusations that he is trying to give up the Jiang Clan to the Yu Clan by allowing Yu children to inherit.