#the part abt jyl I do buy

[llycaons]

Fengmian finally divorces Madam Yu and sits down with his kids after to have a talk. They all go to family therapy, even Yanli because she snapped at her boyfriend once and started crying after because she didn't want to turn out like their mom. Wei Ying probably gets properly adopted into the family.

wow guys good thing myu was the only problem in the jiang family dynamic and excising her will solve all the problems they have/s

[carolyncaves]

Oh, it’s happening - WWX goes to Gusu: Part 4. 10171 words, continued underlying vague mental illness from WWX, angry wedding planner JC, elder sibling appreciation hours now including JYL as well as LXC, shotgun-wedding-related drama, wedding resolution, Yunmeng sibling feelings and fluff, gratuitous Wangxian

part one | part two | part three | also on ao3

When Wei Wuxian woke, full bright light filled the jingshi and his body ached with too much sleep. It was late. Lan Zhan’s five-in-the-morning wasn’t even in the picture. For all he knew, it could be after noon.

It was, he discovered slowly and hazily, just after lunchtime. Lan Zhan had ordered him something and was going to wake him if he didn’t wake on his own soon.

He would have thought he might feel better, finally getting a powerful dose of the rest he’d lately been deprived of. Instead he just felt a different sort of unwell. But it faded to the background as he ate his lunch and worked some life back into his limbs.

It came to him distantly, nearly halfway through the meal, that he was married. Not quite, but at the same time more than he’d need a lifetime to process and believe. He should be doting on Lan Zhan. Being happy with him, and letting Lan Zhan – always so grim, so restrained – be happy in return. A husband had a number of duties, really, and Wei Wuxian had fulfilled none of them. He’d laid in bed for twelve hours and was now being dully led through the necessary task of eating as if he were a child.

Some portion of this train of thought must have shown on his face, because Lan Zhan said, “No talking during meals.” This prompted Wei Wuxian to actually look at him, and he looked frowny. “Unless …” Lan Zhan bit himself off mid-thought, as if realizing he himself was breaking the rule, and then after a brief vacillation was apparently unable to restrain himself. “Unless you have regrets.”

Did Lan Zhan think it was possible Wei Wuxian was sorry they were married? Was that the most likely explanation he could conjure for whatever dissatisfaction had touched Wei Wuxian’s face? The snort escaped before Wei Wuxian could contain it. “Lan Zhan. The only regret I could possibly have is that I am so unworthy of you.” He waved his hand, trying to banish Lan Zhan’s deepening dismay. “But for whatever reason, you want this with me regardless, and for that I will be grateful and as worthily unworthy as possible all my life. It’s too late for you now, Lan Zhan, you’re stuck with me!”

Relief. The softening of Lan Zhan’s face at that statement was relief. Wei Wuxian wanted to give him all the water in Yunmeng. He settled for asking if Lan Zhan had eaten his fill, and serving him a little more when he didn’t say yes, as if this wasn’t Lan Zhan’s house and every morsel of this meal wasn’t his to begin with.

It was all right, though. This next part would be where Wei Wuxian got to give something to Lan Zhan, hopefully over and over again for the rest of their lives.

The relief fell away too fast, and Lan Zhan parted his lips once more. But he didn’t actually speak – he simply closed them and turned back to his meal. It was as if he’d decided whatever was still bothering him wasn’t worth breaking the rule of silence for. Only Wei Wuxian’s worries measured that high.

“Lan Zhan, what about you, though? Do you have regrets?”

Lan Zhan’s bowl hit the table hard. “Never.”

Wei Wuxian allowed himself to drink in the powerful balm of his certainty for one moment before smiling and pushing back. “Lan Zhan, I’m think at some point in your life you’re going to have a regret, however small.”

Lan Zhan looked unhappy at Wei Wuxian. “Never this.” He looked unhappier at the table. “But.”

Wei Wuxian wasn’t even bothered by the dull ache of that drop. “But what? You have to tell me, since I’m your husband.”

Lan Zhan shook his head, and of course Wei Wuxian was joking anyway, but he did answer. “You were promised two weeks. I forgot myself, in my eagerness.” He hung his head, all beautiful and ashamed. “You should still have them, if you want them.”

Wei Wuxian had in fact been carefully ignoring that he was going to have to go back to Lotus Pier today. Their marriage was actually a fabulous excuse, a very distracting conceit, to keep him from having to think about having to conduct himself like a person again in front of Jiang Cheng and Shijie and Lotus Pier and the cultivation world, to leave this delicate bubble of quiet and rest.

A heavy dread stirred low in his belly, and he smothered it down – a dance so familiar he couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it had been absent for several days. It would be better this time, though. He would be better at talking, better at being, better at ignoring the dark pit at his center and getting on with the things he had to do – and as well, Lan Zhan would be there. Lan Zhan had done this thing so he would always be there. Wei Wuxian’s heart bloomed, or rather felt some feeling that was wonderful even though it hurt, and he said, “Lan Zhan, do you not think the rest of my life is a great deal more than two weeks?”

Lan Zhan looked up at him.

“I don’t have any idea why you want to do this. I still think you must be mad – are you sure you haven’t been tying your headband too tight? Maybe your fifteen layers of robes are too constricting and you haven’t been getting enough air. Nevertheless, you have to understand that it’s everything. Do you think I wouldn’t do anything to make it happen? For you to have what you want, and for me to have you?”

Lan Zhan was staring at him, leaning forward, as if the small tea table between them was an intolerable barrier – and then apparently it was, because he moved, gathered his robes and shuffled around it until he was right beside him and he could pull Wei Wuxian into a slow, firm embrace.

“You should still have them, if you want them,” Lan Zhan repeated – not like he actually thought he could convince Wei Wuxian, more like he wanted to make sure he knew he really did have the option.

“Please, Lan Zhan, I have to get you all tied up before you come to your senses. I’d be willing to leave for Lotus Pier this instant, except we’re in the middle of a meal and I’m sure there’s a Lan principle about that.”

“Mm,” Lan Zhan said. He released him but sat very close next to him, the same way he had for Wei Wuxian’s first meal after he arrived here those few days ago.

Wei Wuxian reach across for his bowl and set it in front of him. It occurred to him this was going to be Lan Zhan’s last meal in his jingshi – at least like this, with him living here and not visiting as a guest.

“Of course, if you’d rather linger, we can,” Wei Wuxian said. “This is your home, Lan Zhan. I’m not trying to drag you away from it.”

Lan Zhan was quiet for a moment, like he was building up to a confession, and Wei Wuxian was ready for him to ask for a few days. But then he said, “I’ve already prepared,” and moved the edge of his sleeve aside to reveal a qiankun pouch. “There are disciples waiting to pack the remainder of my belongings and send them after us. Once we’ve departed.”

The gentle, happy flush on Lan Zhan’s cheeks and ears made Wei Wuxian feel like the insane one.

They finished their meal together, and Wei Wuxian laughed at him, and perhaps also got teary-eyed and clung to his husband (he was going to say it counted). When Lan Zhan escorted him from the jingshi and along the walkways of Cloud Recesses, it was in mutual triumph.

Lan Xichen was actually standing around in front of the hanshi as if he were waiting for them.

For a moment, Wei Wuxian felt ashamed himself – for being the reason all this upheaval was necessary in the first place, and for sleeping so long and making Zewu Jun wait. But he looked so pleasant, and not irritated at all – he was certainly well-suited to his position as sect leader. Wei Wuxian forced himself to smile as well as he said, “How are you doing on this beautiful day, Zewu Jun?”

“I am content.” He looked vaguely puzzled at Wei Wuxian – who wasn’t even sure himself why he’d chosen the title instead familial address. Maybe it was that now, in the light of day and without their red robes and dizzy urgency, it seemed ridiculous to presume Lan Xichen would recognize him as his family. But Lan Xichen replied, “And yourself, Dixu?”

Wei Wuxian was sure some measure of his thrill at being invited to address Lan Xichen in that way seeped through in his grin. “I’m plenty more than content, Da-baizi.” And what a miracle it was, for both him and Lan Zhan, that the good and lofty Lan Xichen was against all reason in favor of him.

“Xiongzhang,” Lan Zhan said, with a slight bow. “I will miss you, Shufu, and Cloud Recesses, and I know I am meant to cry, but I am not very sad.”

Lan Xichen’s responding smile overflowed like the most silver moon. “I’m glad, Wangji. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

These two exchanges, right on each other’s heels, connected a sticky and muddy pathway in Wei Wuxian’s mind – the possibility that Lan Xichen’s approval was somehow related to Lan Zhan’s quiet desperate joy. That inexplicably he, Wei Wuxian, might somehow truly add happiness to Lan Zhan’s life.

He would have to try very hard. He would have to be diligent, and careful, and true. There was something precious in his hands, and he’d dropped everything he’d ever been asked to hold, but … not this. Please, let him not drop this.

“Let’s go, then,” he said suddenly, before he could second-guess himself. “If you’re both ready, of course, esteemed Twin Jades – take out your swords and let’s depart.”

Lan Zhan immediately abandoned his fond gaze at Lan Xichen to squint at Wei Wuxian. “We will walk to Caiyi town and go by boat.”

“Lan Zhan, a boat would take forever! Of course we’ll fly.” The fear – the exposed horror of being high in the air on someone else’s sword, the memory of the plunge – was already stirring in his belly, but he disregarded it.

Lan Zhan assembled his response for a long time. “You would suffer,” he said finally. “That is counter to the purpose of this.”

“Lan Zhan, it’s one little sword flight. It could hardly be called suffering – believe me. How could we not go as quickly as possible to Lotus Pier? We’re, you’re …” Lan Zhan was married out of his own family and was not yet married into Wei Wuxian’s. That couldn’t stand.

“I am fine,” Lan Zhan said obstinately.

“So am I, Lan Zhan! Believe me, it would be very nice if we had been betrothed for years and now finally I had sent a luxurious palanquin for you on Yunmeng Jiang’s grandest boat and you could be borne to Lotus Pier in luxury, but we’re far beyond that. You can’t rush us through your half and expect me to let us amble around aimlessly for mine. Come on – you can hold me close on Bichen, and we’ll be there before you know it.”

Lan Zhan looked like he wanted to argue further – but luckily he also wanted to be married to Wei Wuxian.

Lan Zhan wore his regular Lan headband on his forehead – they still had to negotiate the betrothal with Jiang Cheng, so he could hardly show up in conspicuous wedding adornments – but Wei Wuxian took the red one and tied it around Lan Zhan’s wrist, where it would be hidden by his sleeve. It wasn’t a fine silk veil, but it would have to do. Then Lan Zhan drew Bichen and took Wei Wuxian onto its blade.

As they climbed into the sky, the terror began to shriek in Wei Wuxian’s chest – but he’d meant what he said. A single flight was nothing for Lan Zhan. The Burial Mounds was not waiting at the end of it.

Lan Zhan would not drop him. Lan Zhan would return him safely to the ground.

///

Wei Ying did not speak a word after they left the ground, and within a quarter of an hour he was curled stiff and catatonic into Lan Wangji’s chest. Lan Wangji felt himself going wild with concern and fury – at Wei Ying, paradoxically, for advocating for something that would so clearly harm him, and more rationally at himself for giving in. This had been his first test at caring for Wei Ying in his new capacity as his spouse, and he had failed it. He would have to learn from this. He would do better. Perhaps he should land the sword now and insist they complete the journey on foot.

But they were already well beyond Caiyi town, which would have been the most reasonable place to get a boat. It seemed unthinkable to turn back, to force Wei Ying to retread any of the terrain he’d covered at such high cost.

Lan Wangji looked at Xichen. He flew with Wei Ying to Cloud Recesses, and would have witnessed the extent of this fear. Could he not have warned him?

Xichen inclined his head in apology. When he spoke aloud, it was to Wei Ying directly. “Dixu, I feel I must express my gratitude to you. You and I both know Wangji has extended himself greatly on this matter out of a true and unselfish devotion, and as the one who allowed him to do so, I will be quite anxious until he is safely ensconced on the other side of it. I hope neither of you will find anguish in your care for one another, in small things or in large ones, so I regret you are doing so now; nevertheless, it does comfort me to know his commitment is returned in full measure.”

Wei Ying made a quiet noise in the back of his throat, and his hand gripped more tightly at the front of Lan Wangji’s robes – but they were passing over a mountain that dropped off precipitously, so it might have been a coincidence.

Lan Wangji held him and tried to feel loved. He did, he supposed, after some thought. Wei Ying was miserable, so there was no joy in it.

///

Wei Wuxian would have vowed he would never ride on a sword again, but that was likely to be impossible. He was a cultivator, whatever his method, and associated with cultivators who used them. He would probably have to ride on swords regularly. Perhaps even recreationally, because how could he deny Lan Zhan the easiest way to visit his family and his childhood home?

Wei Wuxian instead vowed to invent a talisman that would blank his mind and senses. He could stand unthinking and unfeeling in Lan Zhan’s arms and make whatever journey he had to. It would be substantially the same as this, except perhaps without the sickening, drenching fear that by the end of the journey consumed every inch of his limbs.

Wei Wuxian supposed they landed before the gates of Lotus Pier and Lan Zhan guided him to step off Bichen, but only because he eventually realized he was standing on the wood of the boardwalk and Lan Xichen was conferring with a servant at the door.

Lan Zhan still had his arm around him, and his low voice vibrated soothingly in his ear. Wei Wuxian leaned into him. After a moment, Lan Zhan shrouded him in a more intimate embrace.

“Jiang-zongzhu and Jiang-guniang do not know we are wed,” he murmured in Wei Wuxian’s ear – likely an argument for them separating and holding more space between them – but he didn’t eject Wei Wuxian from the shelter of his arms. His too-many robes were comfortable padding. He, Lan Zhan, was the safest place to be.

“There is really no need for Jiang-zongzhu to receive us formally,” Lan Xichen was saying. “I believe Wei-gongzi” – it was interesting hearing the distant title fall from Lan Xichen’s lips, after earlier, hearing the familial one – “was going to speak with him about a personal matter.”

“Jiang-zongzhu was very clear,” the disciple said nervously. “He will receive you all in Sword Hall immediately.” His anxiousness was uncharacteristic, from all Wei Wuxian knew of him. He would only expect it if something were wrong.

He had only been gone for a few days. How could anything be wrong?

Wei Wuxian extracted himself from Lan Zhan’s hold, and they crossed the courtyard of Lotus Pier as if they were their own instead of each other’s.

Jiang Cheng had the flint-cut face that meant he was mad.

Wei Wuxian had not even been here. How could Jiang Cheng still have found a reason to be angry at him? Was he still upset that he’d left at all? That seemed unfair – it had already happened, and they’d discussed it at the time. Wei Wuxian did not know if the accumulated weight of all his past sins and mistakes was something he could bear.

Shijie stood at Jiang Cheng’s side looking a little wilted, and Wei Wuxian hoped that was only the summer heat. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. Jiang Cheng’s eyes raked over each of them in turn – Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan, Wei Wuxian himself.

It would be better for Shijie to be upset with him than for her to be unwell. If that was what was happening, Wei Wuxian would gladly accept those terms.

Jiang Cheng gestured at the tables that lined the room – they had been set, ominous in a way Wei Wuxian had not expected. Wei Wuxian took his place beside Shijie’s at the front of the hall, though Shijie did not come join him. Lan Zhan sat on his other side instead of across the aisle with his brother. Hopefully that wouldn’t be too conspicuous, since Wei Wuxian could hardly call attention to it by shoeing him away. They were known to be close. Wei Wuxian had gone to Cloud Recesses to be with him.

“I thought I told you to be carrying your sword when you returned,” Jiang Cheng opened, and his voice was acid and ice. “Though you’re back so quickly, I can’t help but wonder why you even left.”

Suibian was all the way back in Gusu, in the sword rack in Lan Zhan’s jingshi. It belonged there, after all, in Lan possession. Wei Wuxian had given it over to Lan Xichen, an elder member of Lan Zhan’s family. Lan Zhan had accepted it and offered his open hand in return. A more treasured return gift Wei Wuxian couldn’t imagine.

“I suppose we should feel blessed that Lan-er-gongzi has been relieved of his pressing duties to his sect. Mere days ago, he was so bound by them he could not have dreamed of visiting Yunmeng.”

His vitriol was bizarre. It meant something, certainly, but Wei Wuxian could not even begin to imagine what.

“How kind of you to return Wei Wuxian to my keeping early, Lan-zongzhu, after I let you take him from me temporarily as a favor. How fortunate he’ll be able to resume his post, and my A-jie won’t have to keep handling all his duties.”

Lan Zhan bristled and tensed to rise. Wei Wuxian clenched his fingers around his arm. They were not yet married by Yunmeng Jiang’s reckoning.

“Jiang-zongzhu,” Lan Xichen tried.

“A-Xian,” Shijie said, the first thing she’d spoken, and it was very much a warning.

“Jiang Cheng, let’s talk privately for a second,” Wei Wuxian finally got out. “I have something I really need to discuss with you.”

But Jiang Cheng was staring claws and daggers at Lan Zhan – at Lan Zhan’s wrist. “Is that red I see under your sleeve, Lan-er-gongzi? I thought you only wore mourning colors.”

Lan Xichen opened his mouth, but didn’t speak. He seemed to be warring between defensiveness of Lan Zhan and nervousness of Jiang Cheng’s mood.

Wei Wuxian tried to step in. “What do you mean, Jiang Cheng? Lan Zhan can wear what he likes, can’t he? I mean it, let’s go outside for a moment while the Lans get served some tea.”

“Lan-er-gongzi, raise your sleeve,” Jiang Cheng seethed, and that was when Wei Wuxian understood beyond any doubt that Jiang Cheng knew somehow and it was not good.

Searching for any information, he looked to Shijie again, and this time he finally was met with her eyes. They looked back at him with such sadness someone might as well have plunged a sword into his chest.

He had done something terrible. He couldn’t quite understand how – the thing he’d done was something that had made him feel more free and hopeful that he had in almost longer than he could remember – but he’d set out from Lotus Pier to try to drag the tattered scraps of himself more together so he could help Shijie and Jiang Cheng better again, and instead he had managed to cause them further grief.

Lan Zhan slid back his sleeve, revealing the red-and-gold ribbon.

“So it’s true,” Jiang Cheng choked out, eyes going wider with fury. “It’s true. You and Wei Wuxian are married.”

“Did you send disciples after him?” Lan Zhan asked frigidly. “Spy on the Lan sect?”

“We didn’t need spies! Zewu Jun sent a small army of disciples to Caiyi town yesterday, scouring the streets to find red fabric and auspicious decorations and any wedding clothes that might fit two young masters on immediate notice. They were shouting it up and down the canals. My sister heard it from her handmaidens, who heard it on Yunmeng’s docks in the evening. The very last people between Yunmeng and Gusu to know there was a wedding being held in Cloud Recesses yesterday were the two of us!” The spots of color on Jiang Cheng’s cheekbones had blossomed from faint impressions to full angry blooms. “Then, of course, we turned to the spies – what choice did we have? You had spirited Wei Wuxian away from us mere days before, apparently on false pretenses. For all I knew, you were forcing him into vows with a minor Lan disciple or bartering him over to some worthless Jin subordinate in a bid to remove him from Yunmeng Jiang. But no – from the spies we learn that gossip among the junior Lans indicates Lan-er-gongzi and Wei Wuxian were seen weeping in one another’s tender embrace the night he arrived at Cloud Recesses! Which makes it seem as though he and you were conspiring against me right to my face that day, so you could take him away from here and carry out some secret wedding neither I nor my A-jie knew anything about. We tried to tell ourselves there had been some mistake, some other conclusion to draw that we were missing, but we received word this morning confirming their tea ceremony last night!”

“Jiang-zongzhu, there has been a grave misunderstanding,” Lan Xichen said.

“Then Wei Wuxian is not married to Lan Wangji, and all that I have heard otherwise is in error?”

“He is not,” Lan Wangji intoned, before Wei Wuxian or even Lan Xichen could respond. “Wei Ying is not married to me. Yet. But I am indeed married to him. Xiongzhang means there was no deceit.”

“No deceit? How could he have left here three days ago to pass a short visit with Lan Wangji and come back married to him, without any premeditation?”

“Wei-gongzi and I truly had no ulterior motives when we left Lotus Pier that afternoon. Wei-gongzi and Wangji spontaneously decided they wanted to wed.”

“And they also spontaneously decided to do it immediately and in secret, and without my permission? And you along with them? Why, Lan-zongzhu, so you could carry his amulet off to Gusu for yourself? What do you take me for?”

“Wei Ying will not come to Cloud Recesses,” Lan Wangji corrected. “I will join the Wei Ying in the Jiang sect at Lotus Pier.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be a secret,” Wei Wuxian said to Jiang Cheng, to Shijie’s stunned gaze, begging them to believe him. “It was only to save time. So we didn’t have to travel back if you agreed.”

“That’s why we’re here now, Jiang-zongzhu, with minimal delay – to negotiate the betrothal with the Jiang sect.”

“To save time?” There was a pause. Jiang Cheng was visibly rocked when he finally decided they were telling the truth. It didn’t seem to calm him. “To save time? Wei Wuxian! And what if I don’t agree? What position do you put me in now?”

“It’s my fault, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian said, because whatever else it was, it was surely that. “Shijie.” Did she believe him? “It all happened suddenly, and I thought …” Wei Wuxian looked for the rest of that sentence, but it wasn’t there. What had he thought? The inside of his mind was the same thick grey as the air in the Burial Mounds. Maybe he hadn’t thought at all.

Lan Zhan’s arm appeared around his shoulders. “Jiang-zongzhu, the responsibility is mine,” Lan Zhan said, close by his ear. “I pressured Wei Ying to perform the ceremony before we came here.” Wei Wuxian tried to shake his head.

“In that case, how dare you, Lan-er-gongzi – but do you really claim Wei Wuxian should have allowed himself to be swayed? Since when would he not stick up for his own family?”

“Wei Ying is … tired,” Lan Zhan said. Wei Wuxian’s own mouth was still stuffed with cloth.

“Tired? In what way does ‘tired’ justify this?”

“Jiang-zongzhu,” Lan Xichen interjected, “the fault in this case truly lies with me, and I owe you, Jiang-guniang, and the Jiang sect my deepest apologies. Their only crime was to be eager in their affections, which I believe are deep and true. I, as sect leader, should never have allowed them to rush into this without negotiating your approval.”

“That’s right – you shouldn’t have! And you, Lan Wangji, you, you … But Wei Wuxian. Lan-er-gongzi says he will join you in the Jiang sect – not that he has my leave to do so – but it really seems as if you decided to go off and make decisions with him and the Lan sect, and never mind us one bit!”

“That’s not true,” Wei Wuxian intoned, prayed. “Jiang Cheng, it’s not true, I …”

“It is true!” Jiang Cheng snapped. “He wears red for you, and neither I or A-jie are involved.” He launched himself from the carved lotus throne. Shijie startled, but didn’t move or stop him. “If the Jiang sect means so little to you, don’t pretend to seek my permission. If you really feel so little respect for it and for my family, there was no need for you to return!” Jiang Cheng had to struggle with his cape for a moment, but he subdued it and stormed out of the hall.

Wei Wuxian stared after him. Every word he knew he’d never say sat on his tongue, heavier than lead or gold. It rendered him dumb.

///

Lan Xichen had not even considered the gossip.

He had indeed broadcast what was happening at Cloud Recesses; he had not even instructed the disciples to be circumspect. He had known they would travel to Lotus Pier immediately afterward, to close the circle with the Jiang sect. It had never occurred to him that news travelled on winds faster than any sail.

Wei Wuxian looked dazed, like he’d been struck. Or like he’d just been passed down a terrible sentence.

Wangji rose swiftly to his feet.

“Wangji,” Lan Xichen said, but he ignored him completely. Wangji strode with rigid purpose after Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Yanli had looked pained when they arrived, which turned tentatively relieved when it appeared the Jiangs’ worst fears were unfounded, then increasingly dismayed at Jiang Cheng’s escalating fury. Now she watched Wangji’s egress with true panic. “A-Xian.” She darted from her position on the dais to Wei Wuxian’s side, shaking his shoulder. “A-Xian, you have to go after them. You can’t let them argue.” He wasn’t rousing himself fast enough, and she dragged him to his feet.

Lan Xichen made to rise also, but she said, “No! Ahem, Lan-zongzhu. Please allow us to handle this within the Jiang sect.”

Her request was flawlessly polite and reasonable and she was halfway out the door with her shidi when she said it, so Lan Xichen reluctantly sank back into his seat, alone in the Jiang’s Sword Hall. He had, perhaps, done all he could do for now.

If Jiang Cheng could not be mollified, if this marriage had been ruined by their impulsive preemption, Lan Xichen will have done far too much.

///

Jiang Yanli dragged A-Xian along the walkways of Lotus Pier. He was too limp, sluggish and slow, and they could not afford that now. A-Cheng had not had too great a head-start, but he would be quick from his ire, and Lan Wangji was certain to find him before they would.

He did. When she and A-Xian rounded the pavilion, they stood facing each other on the uncovered platform before the ancestral temple. A-Cheng had obviously been heading there, to seek privacy, feel his anger and move through it, but Lan Wangji had stopped him on the boardwalk, and A-Cheng was bristling the way Zidian might.

“Lan-er-gongzi,” Jiang Yanli called out. It was vital that a wedge not be driven between them. For the time being A-Cheng was just momentarily upset. The thing he was most upset about, A-Xian’s apparent betrayal, was not true. But if he and Lan Wangji said things that could not be unsaid … A-Cheng could be as stubborn as their father and as venomous about it as their mother. The thought made her want to cry. A real fight now could sour the chances of A-Cheng relenting forever. “Please, Lan-er-gongzi, if you would go back to the hall. Let us discuss this matter as a family.”

“Yes, Lan-er-gongzi,” A-Cheng sneered. “Despite your unsanctioned tea ceremony, Wei Wuxian’s family matters do not concern you.”

Lan Wangji did not back away. He stood rigid and unyielding, his hand iron-tight around his cold white Bichen.

“Lan-er-gongzi,” Jiang Yanli repeated, almost desperately. She shook her didi. “A-Xian, say something.”

Lan Wangji fell to his knees.

Jiang Yanli felt her feet lurch to a stop, a few paces away from them. This tugged A-Xian still as well, and he swayed back beside her. A-Cheng gaped – there was no other word for it. “Lan Wangji … You …”

“Jiang-zongzhu. This cultivator begs you to allow him to marry Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji set the luminous Bichen down on the weathered wood of the boardwalk. He circled his arms, straightened them, and bowed all the way to the ground at A-Cheng’s feet.

“Lan Zhan,” A-Xian croaked, which made A-Cheng’s gaze snap up at him. He stared back and forth between them in bewilderment – at Lan Wangji, in supplication at his feet, and over his head at A-Xian, who stood limp and hollow in the crook of Jiang Yanli’s arm.

“Wei Wuxian?” A-Cheng asked, in a very small voice.

“This cultivator understands the disrespect shown to the Jiang sect by our premature ceremony,” Lan Wangji continued. “This cultivator knows how and why it transpired. This cultivator begs Jiang-zongzhu to lay it at his feet alone.”

“Wei Wuxian?” A-Cheng asked again.

“This cultivator will accept any punishment Jiang-zongzhu would administer. This cultivator will do anything if Jiang-zongzhu will allow him to marry Wei Ying.”

“Lan Zhan ...”

“Stop!” A-Cheng’s voice was high and thin, like only his anger was keeping him from bursting into tears. “What is the meaning of this? Why is Wei Wuxian tired? Why is Lan-er-gongzi on his knees in front of me? Why did you want to save time? What’s happening?”

“Wei Ying was injured during his time in the Burial Mounds,” Lan Wangji said, and Jiang Yanli felt A-Xian jerk in her arms at the mention – the two combined sending a shiver of horror down her spine.

She’d known in some ways that A-Xian was different when he reemerged from his disappearance. She had … only suspected about the Burial Mounds. She had been afraid to think about it precisely, the what or how or why. She had been afraid to ask too often or look too closely. She had not wanted to make things harder for A-Xian. She had been giving him time and space, and waiting for him to go back to the way he belonged.

Now Lan Wangji was kneeling at A-Cheng’s feet over it, and she forced herself to consider – shamefully, for the first time – whether that might not ever happen.

“He is my counterpart, and I would give him my support. Please, Jiang-zongzhu, permit this marriage. I wish to stand always at his side with the Jiang sect.

“He was injured? He came back months ago. Wei Wuxian, what’s he talking about?”

“Jiang Cheng, he’s making too much of nothing, I’m fine, just fine, I …” But A-Xian had rarely been less fine in his life. That had been clear all along.

“A-Xian,” she murmured, stroking his arm gently. She was careful to avoid the touch of his Chenqing, the powerful and dark thing he now carried with him always, but she tried to lend him comfort regardless.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” A-Cheng asked him. “Why did you run off to Gusu to get Lan-er-gongzi to marry you instead of telling me you were hurt?”

“I didn’t go there to marry him,” A-Xian said. “It was just to visit. And then he asked, and I knew, and I …”

“Jiang-zongzhu, I care for Wei Ying. Please allow me to marry him.”

“Well, does he care for you? Wei Wuxian, you don’t have to do this for some desperate reason. You could just ask me for help. You could always have just asked me for help!”

Jiang Yanli thought of the thing A-Cheng had told her last night – they had been pacing the floor sleepless while, as it turned out, a great distance away A-Xian was getting married. He’d told her of how he’d made the choice to leave her to A-Xian’s care after the fall of Lotus Pier, how he’d given himself up to the Wen soldiers so they could get away. How A-Xian had let him down by going back for him instead of taking care of her, just like he was letting them down now by abandoning them in favor of Gusu Lan. She’d heard the underneath-story – the story of how he would do anything for his lifelong brother, and he couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t do the same in return – at least the way A-Cheng saw it. She looked at A-Cheng now. His face was flushed, and his eyes were bright. He was fighting back tears because A-Xian had kept all these things to himself. Because A-Xian had gotten married without them.

She also thought of A-Xian, and how his whole life the thing he’d been told was to always, always help them. He was her didi, not her shidi, and she had tried to live it so thoroughly he would believe it even if she had never really able to speak the words – not as able as she should’ve been, not as able as was right. But she glimpsed, at moments like this, how impossible it was for him to see himself as their equal. She knew he used his dark new power, the one that put a worrying terror in Lan-er-gongzi’s eyes, to protect them – and she felt uneasily responsible. She believed he would carve off pieces of himself, just like A-Cheng would, if he were asked to, only he would never feel entitled to anything in return.

Had it even occurred to him A-Cheng would be upset? Not because it flaunted his authority as A-Xian’s sect leader, but because he would want to be involved?

A-Xian stepped out of her grip – his hand trailing down her arm and squeezing her fingers, a silent ‘thank you’ – and went over to stand next to Lan Wangji. “Jiang Cheng.” He sank to his knees, head high and tilted back, tiredly. “Jiang-zongzhu. I will always return to the Jiang sect. I would never abandon my duty to protect and serve it. I … you … it means very much to me.”

Jiang Yanli pressed her hand to her chest, to both capture and restrain the feeling of those words. A-Cheng’s mouth had opened slightly, a silent plea for help. He was so silly, so dear, unable to bear hearing the thing he most wanted to know.

“I do care for Hanguang Jun, very much. Somehow, miraculously, he is willing to join our family and be with me always, and there are few things in the world I could ever want more. So please, forgive my disrespect, and I beg you to allow me to marry him.” Then he also began the gesture to bow at A-Cheng’s feet.

A-Cheng grabbed him by the arm before he could get that far, physically preventing him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he seethed wetly. “Both of you, get up off the ground and stop embarrassing yourselves. Two of the greatest heroes of the Sunshot Campaign, acting like maidens who’ve read too many love poems.” He practically hauled A-Xian to his feet. “I can’t believe I wish you were drunk,” he muttered, and gave him a shove. It was surely meant to be affectionate, but A-Cheng’s emotions were high and A-Xian staggered back.

Jiang Yanli reached one of A-Xian’s elbows and Lan Wangji surged up and caught the other, and together they prevented him from falling. She sensed Lan Wangji move in unison with her to stare pointedly at A-Cheng.

For his part, A-Cheng looked a little startled. He stared closely at A-Xian. “You’ll let him take care of you, then, won’t you? You’ll let all of us take care of you?” He scowled in desperate worry. “Is it that flute?”

A-Xian was paying no heed as he continued, stuck in growing elation at the first of A-Cheng’s statements. “You mean …”

“Of course! You can get married to the most stuck-up Lan alive if you want to. Bring as many illustrious spouses and concubines into the Jiang sect as you please. If you regret it and come whining to me later, see if I care.”

A-Xian sagged against Lan Wangji. “Just the one will do.” His eyes tracked over to Jiang Yanli, and he grinned. “Shijie, I’m getting married! Though maybe I should apologize. You really should have been first.”

That wasn’t why he might have needed to apologize, but Jiang Yanli would not hold ill will over that. She felt her own gaze draw up to Lan-er-gongzi’s face. He returned it steadfastly. His arm was circled protectively around A-Xian, strong and sure, and he would not easily let him go.

“There’s no need to apologize,” Jiang Yanli said, letting her relief spread a smile across her face. “I’m so happy for you, A-Xian – and you as well, Lan-er-gongzi.”

He nodded at her respectfully. He was quiet and perhaps odd, but for all A-Cheng’s scorn, she’d never found him objectionable. He was good, polite. He would be a fine person to have as a brother-in-law.

He already was, in some ways. “Shall we call for tea now, then, if you two are in such a terrible hurry?”

“Yes,” A-Xian said, his somewhat-husband nodding in agreement.

“No!” A-Cheng exclaimed. “You think is the Lan sect, and you can just drape some red bunting around your shoulders and call it a wedding? This is Yunmeng Jiang. We have some self-respect.”

///

Jiang Cheng made them wait three entire weeks to finish get married.

Lan Zhan was outraged – but where Lan Zhan had been able to sway Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren, since when it came down to it they loved him and wanted their dour young Lan Wangji to be happy, Jiang Cheng did not care one bit about Lan Zhan, so he dug his heels in and would not budge one single inch.

He did ostensibly care about Wei Wuxian, but that didn't seem to matter either.

“We need time to have robes made, time to decorate, time to plan the banquet.” He spoke as if Wei Wuxian was a five-year-old shidi who didn’t know his sword forms. “You’re lucky I don’t make you wait three months, so it would be after the Group Hunt and we could invite the other sects. As it is, we can’t upstage the Jin sect by holding a surprise event beforehand, not without insulting them, and I’m not about to jeopardize A-jie’s invitation from the peacock’s mother on your impulsive behalf.”

Wei Wuxian would never want that either, his low opinion of the peacock notwithstanding, but he also certainly wasn’t going to wait or make Lan Zhan wait three entire months. He tried to take the three weeks as the gift they were.

In fact, Wei Wuxian suspected they were more in deference to Lan Xichen’s uneasy heart than either his or Lan Zhan’s. Once everyone’s tempers had calmed, the two sect leaders had a very long, very sect-leadery conversation in which Lan Xichen once again expressed his apologies for any disrespect, and Jiang Cheng circuitously admitted he had probably gotten angrier than necessary considering everything that had happened had been done in good faith, and the Lan sect was a valued ally of the Jiang sect, and if for some reason Lan Xichen was willing to marry his younger brother to Wei Wuxian – which he clearly was – he himself was honored to welcome the Second Jade of Lan into the Jiang sect. In other words, he of course approved of the match, and he hoped he had not offended his new and powerful in-laws too terribly much with his outburst or the overt acknowledgement of the spies all the major sects had but pretended not to, please and thank you.

Lan Xichen was of course endlessly gracious about it. Perhaps this was simply due to relief that everything had worked out all right. Perhaps it was because he was Lan Xichen.

Once it was all settled, Jiang Cheng was deliriously happy for Wei Wuxian, in his own way that involved a lot of punching and shoving and rude words.

“How dare you, Wei Wuxian – we spent our whole childhoods planning the most extravagant wedding of the age for A-jie. How could you think I would ever let you do something slipshod for your own? Between you and Hanguang Jun, this should be an event the cultivation world talks about for generations, but you decide you can get married in front of me and the lotus stalks and that’s a grand enough wedding for Yunmeng Jiang?”

“We did that because Shijie is our beloved, beautiful, perfect sister!”

“Yes, and you’re a disaster – who even thought you’d get married at all? You’d need twice the pomp and grandeur for it to seem grand enough to be my head disciple’s wedding.”

Wei Wuxian had an emotional feeling when Jiang Cheng said that. He began to understand, possibly, where he had gotten things wrong.

Jiang Cheng kept haranguing him, but Shijie said something about it just once – “A-Xian, I wasn’t there to fix your hair, or help you decide to get married and prepare.”

“Shijie, you’ll be here this time, you’ll fix my hair when the day comes. That was mostly just Lan Zhan’s part, and he had his family there to help him.”

“You poured tea too, didn’t you? You made a promise to them. Weren’t you nervous?”

Wei Wuxian had been terrified. He remembered sitting in the jingshi, writing messy notes on Lan Zhan’s nice paper, trying to get his thoughts in order. When Lan Zhan had walked in, when he’d seen him, he’d decided everything was actually clear … but it would have helped, surely, to have Shijie there with him. Jiang Cheng too, even if he would’ve been intolerable about it.

“What I’m most nervous about is that Lan Qiren will decide he really can’t take it and come kidnap Lan Zhan back before I can secure him properly.”

Shijie smiled and laughed and consoled him over his agonizing wait, and made extra lotus and pork rib soup for Lan Zhan and Zewu Jun, and even helped Wei Wuxian evade Jiang Cheng’s extremely unnecessary sentries and sneak into Lan Zhan’s room at night.

That was an important balm, because being back at Lotus Pier was harder than Wei Wuxian would have thought, even with the blessed distraction of the wedding. Jiang Cheng wanted his help with everything – planning and preparing for the ceremony, Sect business, even picking what tea to serve the Lans at dinner in the evenings. This was probably an effort to make amends, for missing that Wei Wuxian was unwell, for needing Lan Xichen to come and whisk him away to compel him to acknowledge it. It was Jiang Cheng’s way of spending as much time with him as possible – but it was exhausting. Wei Wuxian tried to lean into and match his enthusiasm, but he was a tired person. His betrothal to Lan Zhan had not made a new golden core spring to being inside him, or made the seething darkness he’d replaced it with any less demanding.

So he poured all his energy into Jiang Cheng, and at the end of the day Shijie ferried him to his almost-husband’s side and he collapsed on the floor beside the tea table so Lan Zhan could pour him a drink, or lay with his head on Lan Zhan’s lap, or sat on the bed and meditated while Lan Zhan played him music – and even though beside that last thing this was objectively no different from relaxing or lying still in his own room, it was a thousand times better, because Lan Zhan knew he was tired and it was all right. He didn’t even seem to mind.

When one evening Wei Wuxian rubbed at his shoulder and called Jiang Cheng a barbarian, Lan Zhan looked very serious and told him he would come up with a way to stop it from happening. That doing so was, in fact, why he was here.

“Lan Zhan, you’re here because you enjoy my thrilling company, and also to kill low-level ghosts and monsters with your sword so I don’t have to use my cultivation all the time, not to defend me from my family. What can we say? ‘Jiang Cheng, please stop using your spiritual power to hit your shixiong and running him ragged with robe fittings, he’s a fragile man and can no longer take it’?”

“Yes,” Lan Zhan said. “We told them you were injured at the Burial Mounds. We can imply that is the reason. We cannot spread this story to other sects, because strategically you must not be made to appear weak, but among your family, it is a version of events that will let us do whatever we need to do.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said, impressed. “You’re an esteemed Lan, and your brilliant solution is for us to simply lie?”

“Is it entirely a lie?” Lan Zhan asked severely, and Wei Wuxian was forced to admit it wasn’t.

They slept together, usually. Wei Wuxian lay with his head on Lan Zhan’s chest, listening to his heart beat. He curled around Lan Zhan possessively, running his fingers through his hair. He collapsed boneless on the bed while Lan Zhan got undressed, and was unconscious before he joined him.

Sometimes he made himself go back, sleep alone in his bachelor’s quarters. He felt like he should, for some reason – like he didn’t have the right to lie next to Lan Zhan at ease yet. Not without reservation, anyway.

He was unhappier that way. He thought Lan Zhan was, too. He didn’t like it, itched against it. Soon, soon.

Lan Xichen and Jiang Yanli took tea together nearly every afternoon. Sometimes they would invite one or all of the rest of them to join them, but more often they wouldn’t. A small part of Wei Wuxian hoped these intimate meetings would spark some romantic connection – he would much rather marry Shijie to the First Jade of Lan instead of some tasteless Jin. But probably that was a hopeless prospect. When he pretended to needle her about it (a clever ruse for actually needling her about it), she told him they were simply becoming fast friends over their shared experience being elder siblings to completely hopeless young men.

“That’s not a very nice way to talk about Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian joked back.

Shijie laughed at him. His heart was full.

“If that peacock isn’t as nice to you as Lan Zhan is to me, you can’t marry him,” Wei Wuxian told her.

“A-Xian, very few people could claim to be as devoted as your Lan-er-gongzi is to you,” she said, amused. “But I do take the two of you as an example – that rarely pure things can exist, and as a worthy ideal against which to measure my companionships.” She smiled. “It will only be ten more days now.”

“Jiang Cheng is torturing me! He’s abusing his power. Perhaps you should be Jiang-zongzhu.”

“So it’s mutiny, now,” Jiang Cheng said from the door. “The disrespect grows without cease.” He rolled his eyes so far back in his head Wei Wuxian wondered if he was looking for a nonexistent speck of kindness or mercy in his brain.

/

Wei Wuxian got properly finally married on a beautiful day. The air was muggy and thunderclouds rumbled over Yunmeng, but it was beautiful because Wei Wuxian put on fine, crisp red garments and went to the gates of Lotus Pier, and Lan Zhan – in ethereal robes and a red weimao – was there waiting for him. They stepped across the threshold of his home together and walked across the courtyard to the joyful din of firecrackers, and bowed in front of Jiang Cheng and Shijie, and bowed to heaven and earth and his ancestors at the Jiang ancestral shrine, and returned to Sword Hall to pour more tea, and then bowed – finally – to each other.

Then they had the greatest banquet of Wei Wuxian’s life. It wasn’t substantially different from other banquets he’d attended in terms of the refreshments or the guests – though Jiang Cheng had done an exceptional job on both, considering he only had twenty days and couldn’t invite anyone from the other sects. It was the greatest banquet of his life because Lan Zhan was sitting next to him in the most elegant crimson clothes, and the thing they were celebrating was that they could keep sitting next to each other forever.

Wei Wuxian was not required by tradition to cry, which Lan Zhan kept quietly reminding him, but he had to periodically wipe a tear off his cheek all the same.

/

When it grew late and it was time for them to leave their guests and retire, there were no petty guards between him and Lan Zhan. They could walk before every eye in the world to the same quarters, and no one alive could make an argument they should instead be apart. The bed and the room had been dressed in red and hung with symbols of happiness, and there were dates, oranges, lotus seeds, and wine laid out on the table.

Shijie had taken him aside and given him a gentle, private talk about wedding nights. When she’d brought it up, he’d asked her what she might possibly know about his and Lan Zhan’s wedding night, in a reflexive, panicked effort to either turn the situation toward the ridiculous or prevent the conversation entirely, and she’d replied very matter-of-factly that she’d asked Lan Xichen all about the considerations of other anatomies so she would be able to adequately advise him. This had been the most horrific revelation of Wei Wuxian’s life, on a list that included a number of quite horrific things, because it meant he now had to picture Zewu Jun and his Shijie – two luminous and pristine people – sitting at their tea table pragmatically discussing the explicit particulars of things that would be shredded into confetti if they were printed in a lewd book and presented to a younger Lan Wangji in the Lan Library Pavilion.

It was all for nothing, too, because nothing like that happened on Wei Wuxian’s and Lan Zhan’s wedding night. It wasn’t that Wei Wuxian had no interest in such things, either in general or with Lan Zhan (beautiful, lofty, his) in particular. It was just that they were both so relieved to be married they weren’t really worried about anything else. They sat very close together in their half-undone wedding clothes, and shared fruit, and drank wine (well, Wei Wuxian drank wine). Lan Zhan kept looking at him like he was shocked he hadn’t disappeared yet, and Wei Wuxian kept touching Lan Zhan’s hand, and arm, and knee, and hair, because he was right there and he could. Lan Zhan kissed him once, fast enough Wei Wuxian wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t imagined it, and then they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Wei Wuxian woke up the next morning, long after five, in that soft tangle of red sheets and red-and-gold robes and half-combed-out hair and a discarded weimao, and found himself gazing into Lan Zhan’s luminous eyes. He couldn’t imagine a more auspicious start.

/

Wei Wuxian spent the next few days showing Lan Zhan around his home. Jiang Cheng whined that he’d gotten used to Wei Wuxian’s assistance with things, and Shijie shushed him – which meant Wei Wuxian didn’t have to. He took Lan Zhan out on the lakes, they frolicked in the lagoons and pools (well, Wei Wuxian frolicked – Lan Zhan ‘enjoyed the natural beauty of Yunmeng’), and they visited the nearby townships and perused the towns.

Lan Zhan kept almost meeting him halfway and then drawing back. When their hands were close, their fingers would bump and then Lan Zhan would pull his own away. When they sat side by side in a small boat, Lan Zhan would put his arm around Wei Wuxian, shift even closer so they were almost very intimately embracing, then shift away so only his hand was on the small of Wei Wuxian’s back. It was a little maddening and very hard to read. Was Lan Zhan feeling out his own boundaries, or Wei Wuxian’s? Wei Wuxian didn’t know, and he was giving the situation a little time to run its course in case maybe he wouldn’t have to summon the energy or courage to confront it. They had all the time possible, after all. If Lan Zhan needed some, Wei Wuxian would not rush him.

On the fourth day, he had run through most of the things he thought Lan Zhan would particularly enjoy, so he took the excuse to show Lan Zhan his favorite wine house – halfway between the docks and Lotus Pier, near enough to easily walk even when pleasantly drunk but far enough Jiang Cheng might not bother walking that far to fetch him back to do real work. It was well into the afternoon, and he had no responsibilities except being with Lan Zhan, so it was a perfectly fine time to get into his cups – and Lan Zhan kept pouring for him with the most delightfully soft almost-smile, so he kept drinking with little reservation. By the time they left, he was warm all over and feeling very light, and when they reached Lotus Pier proper, he was swaying a little bit. Not because he couldn’t have righted himself if he absolutely had to – but because it was nice and he was having fun. Lan Zhan took his hand, then took his elbow, then released him entirely, then took his elbow again. And some combination of Wei Wuxian’s heart only being able to take so much of this treatment and the more uncertain pieces of his mind being anesthetized with baijiu made him say, “What’s the matter, Lan Zhan?”

This brought Lan Zhan to a halt. He hesitated. He let go of Wei Wuxian again and moved a terribly distant half-pace away.

“Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian peered at him.

He looked very worried. “Wei Ying. I am not sure what you want for us.”

“What do you mean? I want us for us.” If the problem was he was worried about Wei Wuxian’s feelings, well … “You can do whatever you want with me, Lan Zhan. I think you own me, soul and body.”

Lan Zhan stiffened, aggrieved. “Wei Ying. No.”

“I don’t mean it like that, not like I’m obligated! I just mean, you don’t have to hold back with me, Lan Zhan. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Anything you want, I’m going to want as well.”

“Not anything.”

“Sure anything. I can’t think of any things I wouldn’t want.”

“It’s only you who can’t think of them.” Lan Zhan was giving Wei Wuxian a very harrowed look. “There surely are things.”

“No one’s ever accused me a lack of imagination before, Lan Zhan. Why don’t you try me, if there’s something you’re worried about?”

Lan Zhan was at first very still, but after a moment, he drifted toward him like a moth to a flame – a destruction he couldn’t resist. He cupped one hand at the base of Wei Wuxian’s skull. He looked long at him, searching. He kissed his lips to Wei Wuxian’s – lightly, like he was afraid Wei Wuxian would bruise like old fruit. Lingering, like he didn’t think he was going to get another chance. Then he pulled back.

He looked at Wei Wuxian mournfully, as if to say, see? I told you.

Wei Wuxian felt a smile tug at his lips, even if it was rude to laugh at him for being honest and vulnerable. He curled his hands around Lan Zhan’s shoulders, reeling him back in so they were chest to chest. “We’ve done that before, Lan Zhan, of course I could think of it. Try again.”

Lan Zhan held Wei Wuxian. “Wei Ying,” he said, pained, imploring. Don’t toy with me. Don’t tease. I can’t take it. Then he kissed Wei Wuxian again, and it was not light.

Wei Wuxian unsealed his lips and tried to follow along. He’d done this once or twice, with random people he hadn’t really cared about, and he didn’t know what he was doing – but Lan Zhan probably didn’t either, and they only had to get good at kissing one person (each other) so anything other than what Lan Zhan was doing was irrelevant.

Right now Lan Zhan seemed to be trying to devour him, mouth and teeth and grasping fingers, and Wei Wuxian … Wei Wuxian would gladly be consumed. He slumped a little, hanging on to Lan Zhan’s steady shoulders. Lan Zhan held him up.

It broke off suddenly. Lan Zhan stared at him, eyes terrified, chest heaving. Was I right? Was I too much? Do you despise it?

Wei Wuxian held that precious face in his hands. Why was this person so foolish? “Now I’m supposed to ask you to try a third thing, to complete the pattern, but we’re in the middle of Lotus Pier and I’m almost positive whatever’s next would be indecent. More indecent, anyway.” If a servant had seen them kissing passionately like that, it would get around like wildfire, and Jiang Cheng would probably whip him with Zidian. “I expect we’ll be happier to have a bed for it anyway. Am I right?”

Lan Zhan shook his head, and Wei Wuxian felt the brief drop of disappointment, but then Lan Zhan leaned in again and kissed him a third time. This one was slow, like the first, but deep – even deeper than the second. It moved, and moved, and moved, and Lan Zhan’s hands were in his hair. Then he drew back just far enough to kiss his cheekbone. Once, twice, three times. Each one purposeful, worshipful, sure, and he held and maneuvered Wei Wuxian all the while. He kissed his hairline. Kissed his jaw. Down the side of his neck. Across his shoulder.

“Mm,” Lan Zhan hummed in satisfaction into the top of his sleeve, while Wei Wuxian tried to put his heart back into a box that now seemed too small for it. Then, “There are some things I think of that would require the bed.”

“Me, too,” Wei Wuxian breathed, and Lan Zhan nodded serenely.

part five

[wangxianficfinder]

Fics Still Missing part 1

These fics are still missing!

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1. hi, happy holidays! i’m trying to find a fic where lan zhan is a single dad. he’s friends with yanli and it was a cute fic :3 there was one scene where wq drops by and realizes that lwj adopted ayuan? i think ayuan was adopted shortly after his parents died? I would appreciate any help in finding this #15 of post

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2. I still have a hope I can find this but there was a story where post-Sunshot Campaign an agreement was made with a Wen prisoner for WQ to transfer his core to WWX and when WWX goes to talk with the Wen before the surgery he finds out the prisoner is A-Yuan’s bio dad who volunteered. There is a chance this was a time travel fic but possibly not. YOU’RE AWESOME <;3 #7 of post

FOUND? Until The End  by abCEE (M, 365k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, war changes people,   resulting to OOC, no pinning, Established Relationship, Mpreg, Good   Uncle LQR, a little grey LWJ, a bit of JC bashing from LWJ, BAMF JYL, 16  years of yearning, mainly CQL verse but has scenes from the novel as   well, LSZ is WangXian’s Child, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Canon Rewrite,  Happy Ending, Fix-It of Sorts)  

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3. Hello there!!! Hope u r smiling everyday…  [Aw, thanks.]  Do u know a wangxian fic where jingyi is their biological child and he and sizhui timetravels into the past only to be picked up by a very pregnant wwx and (proud?? Smug??)lz .And lq even send a msg to lotus pier abt wwx-lz wedding bcz… grandchildren…. #2 of post

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4. Hey^^ Is this where I ask for ficfinder? I really really need help with this and you’re and everyone on this blog is doing such a marvelous job <3 So, I’ve been searching ages for this fic… it was during their time at Cloud Recesses. WWX’s pranks escalate after he shows LWJ porn, so he does small things that are affectionate? (This is where I’m not clear what exactly happened in the fic) and at the end I think it was, I remember WWX buying a red cloth/veil (he thinks it looks like a wedding veil) during a visit to Caiyi with NHS an JC and using it to prank LWJ by sitting on his bed and waiting for him, red veil over his head, greeting him as his ‘bride’ and LWJ reacts badly (thinking wwx cruel) and starts tearing up and I think at that point wwx realizes he went too far (he was panicking about making LWJ cry) and they communicate and get together. #8 of post

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5. Hi I was hoping that you could help me find a fic!! I remember that it was a modern au and wwx and lwj dated in high school but then broke up afterward. Wwx was broke in college but started a fashion channel on YouTube which blew up and now he’s kinda rich and part of the fashion community. He comes back to his home town for a reunion or smth and lwj is so happy about it and they manage to talk during the reunion. Lwj ends up kissing wwx but then wen chao walks in on them and accuses wwx of stealing his date bc lwj was forced to go to the party with wc. Everyone hears and gets mad at wwx, who gets pissed at lwj before running off. When Nhs finds out he chastised lwj for being an idiot. Uhh that’s all I remember! I think it was only a few chapters in when I read it tho…. Any help would be much appreciated 🙏🙏🙏 #6 of post

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6. hey mojo i love your account and YOU!!!! [back atcha, darlin] for the next ficfinder do you or any of your followers know this fic? it was modern au. all i can remember is that one day a burglar broke into cloud recesses and lwj fought him and managed to break a tree in half while doing so. and wwx(and friends?) visits CR in a later day and sees the tree and gets very surprised. oh and lwj has a real sword with him and knows how to use it? sry its not much details. thank you in advance if you find it <;3 #1 of post

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7. Hey, Mojo! Love your work. [Thanks!]  Can you help me find a time travel fic, only people have a “deja view” and the second time Wei Wuxian grows up with a mysterious mentor, most probably Baoshan Sanren? Jiang Cheng is lonely having grown up with only his dogs as friends, and when the Wen crash the Lan lectures, Niè Huaisang wonders why he thought someone from the Jiang would interfere. We’re being tantalized with the idea that as time goes on more definite things will be remembered. #5 of post

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8. Hi… can u pls help me to find a story where there is an attack in cloud recesses and everyone except wei wuxian died. Attack was done by cultivators wearing green robes… Thank u in advance #7 of post

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9. Hi! I once read a fic were WWX got pregnant in high school but everyone reacted so badly that WWX lied and said he lost the baby before running away. The Wen sibs took him in and supported he and A'Yuan for a few years until LWJ runs into them at WWXs art gallery and immediately realizes what’s happening. They then get 50/50 custody and pine for each other whenever they drop off A'Yuan. #10 of post

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10. Hi so remember how canonically everyone thought Lan Wangji hated Wei Wuxian? And Wei Wuxian thought it was true? I’m looking for a fic that like, addresses that/also how Wei Wuxian was basically going crazy after he came back from the burial mounds. Particularly him explaining this to the juniors about how yeah, it was a little hard to figure out he had romantic feelings toward Lan Zhan, he had a lot going on #20 of post

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11. Hello! I was wondering if you could please help me find a fic. It is not Wangxian, it is Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng- wwx ended up in the hospital, and wq is his doctor, and that is how she and jc meet. Jc and wq end up going back to her apartment, and it turns out jc is part of the mafia or something, but wq had already figured that out and accepted it. He has a zidian tattoo, and also wq drives a specific car (I forget the make and model) bc ‘it makes her feel tall’. That is all I remember, and I really hope it can be found. I thought I had put it in my bookmarks, but when I went to reread it, I couldn’t find it. Thank you!!! :) #3 of post

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12. Hiii!! Can you help me find a fic where Lan Zhan scoured the Burial Mounds to find Wei Ying’s body, and he successfully did find WWX’s corpse. Then he digs a grave using Bichen to bury WWX body. Thank you in advance 💜 #8 of post

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13. Hi<3, help me to find a fanfic from wangxian omegaverse where wei wuxian is a boy and was raised by the two Wen brothers, so Lan zhan, hurt, ends up sleeping in his barn and they meet there. plis. #10 of post

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14. I read just a few words of this fic before my AO3 crashed but here goes: It’s in a universe where WWX can figure out who his soulmate is if he touches that person and he feels something/ envisions something.  He’s in a crowded place when this happens, his hand brushes against someone (and instantly knows it’s his soulmate) and he thinks it’s a maiden. He tries searching for her and in the bargain, bumps into LWJ, who is standing stoic looking at a hotel name or something. My AO3 crashed right after that so… #10 of post

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15. Hi! I’m looking for a fic where post-canon wangxian move out of the cloud recesses and get a fixer-upper type cabin/house. Except lwj is terrified of bugs and they’re everywhere. #12 of post

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16. Hi I’m looking for a fic and I wonder if you/your followers might know it. Modern era: WWX works at Gusu and went to quit bcuz he was pregnant with a-Yuan (wanted to tell LWJ) and then Xichen tells him that Wangji is getting engaged. WWX then leaves when a-Yuan is born to the US and return to China to see LWJ’s parents at the airport. They meet again at a party and LWJ knows that a-Yuan is his. Btw the engagement got cancelled bcuz LWJ loved WWX but it was too late. JC and JYL help/love WWX/Yuan #16 of post

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17. Hey Mojo, I was hoping you or your followers could help me find this fic I read a while ago. Pretty sure it was a post canon fic, where wwx keeps flirting with ppl and lwj starts having doubts about their relationship. I think the juniors are there too. #20 of post

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18. hi!! i was looking for a wangxian fic but i rlly cant find it anywhere and i cant stop thinking abt it 😭 it’s a multi chaptered fic (its a long one, at least 50 chapters) where wwx is not a prt of the jiang sect but was raised together with wen qing and wen ning in their own sect where wei ying’s dad is alive and is sect leader. The unique thing abt the fic is that all of the characters’ swords can change into a human form (i remember suibian has a crush on bichen on this one)… they were also looking for wwx’s mum but i forgot the reason why ~ #17 of post

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19. Hi! I am looking for a fic. Towards the end the elders of the Lan sect imprison or isolate Wei Ying, he has A-yuan (as a toddler) with him and the child he birthed. Lan Xichen helps Wei Ying and Lan Zhan to escape from the Lan sect. It was probably a/b/o but i am not sure. Thank you 😊 #6 of post

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20. Going crazy because I can’t find this Hunger Games AU fic _anywhere_. Basically LWJ & WWX are the last two surviving tributes and WWX has already decided LWJ is going to win so he kisses LWJ and slits his own throat, only Xichen stages a revolution to break LWJ out and they all live happily ever after (if traumatized). I _know_ I read it awhile back and it was really good but now all I can find is The Hanging Tree, which is great but not the one I’m looking for. #14 of post

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21. hi can you find the fic where wwx and lan wangji are married because of business. then later they adopt a-yuan, then after that since the lan elders have enough power from the SANREN company and baoshan sanren and wen ruohan are a couple, the lan elders wanted lwj to marry nhs but nhs fell in love with jiang cheng and lwj fell in love with wwx. nhs is lwj’s ex bf #3 of post

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22. the cultivator killed wen remnants INCLUDING wen yuan and wwx ran to lwj. what wwx didnt know is lwj forgot about wwx forcefully by lan qiren.wwx: l-lan zhan wen yuan- a-yuan is dead lan-lwj stabbed wwx

wwx: lan zhan??. then after that wwx laughed until he had resentful energy, jin zixuan was only in a coma. lan xichen and jiang cheng ran to koi tower jc : wei wuxian lxc: young master wei wwx: ahahah! since you wanted me to be a demon then ill be a demon AHAHAHAH then wwx flew to burial mounds , the lan clan has lost support because they were scared of wwx. #badguyjinguangshan #badguylanqiren #jinzixuan and jiang yanli is alive –  #7 of post

FOUND? THE DAY THE SUN BLACKENS by FongLian (Not rated, 16k, wangxian, WIP, Angst, Family, Regret, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Affection, NMJ is caught up in the Cross-fire, LXC & LWJ left Gusu Lan, WWX Finally Gave In, He Wants To Destroy The Whole Cultivation World, And Create New One For His Baby, A-Yuan is Stuck in Between Life and Death, Yes A-Yuan is Like the Lucrecia Crescent of MDZS, Sayings: "Be Careful What You Wish For", LQR Made A Very Huge Mistake, JGS is Doomed, JZX is in a Coma, He'll play a Role Later)

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23. Ahhh I’ve been desperately looking for a while but since I can’t seem to find it I figured i might as well ask here: does anyone remember a wangxian modern au fic where lwj is wwx’s tutor but then finds out that Wwx doesn’t need a tutor (I think he was top of his class or something?? Also lwj might have mentioned Wwx being better than him at whatever subject was?? I think???) and wwx admits that he’s only attending tutoring because he wanted to spend more time with lwj. Pretty sure it was a college/university au, but it might have been a high school au! I think the tutoring took place in a library? That’s all I can remember tho :( ahh I hope someone can help!! #1 of post

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24. Hey I’m looking for a wangxian fanfic featuring hurt!lan wangji. Also, this is all happening post-canon. Ok, so if I remember correctly, in the fic the juniors mess up during a night hunt, and when they go back to the Cloud Recesses they are supposed to be punished with the discipline whip. But then Lan Zhan manages to orchestrate things so that HE is the one being punished in their place (I think he locks Wei Ying in the Jingshi so he won’t interfere). Can you find it? #6 of post

FOUND? Stand By You by LFMH021 (T, 7k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Eventual Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Brotherly Love, protective!wwx, Scars, Post-Canon)

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25. dhhdh i accidentally scrolled past a fic one day and so i only know the synopsis. i want to say that its completed (not sure) but it was long like probably >80k. i think it was jinsect!wwx but i might be thinking that bc i read othersect!wwx during that search. the description wwx to jin guangshan like “there are some treasures you cannot have” and the synopsis was formatted with lots of line breaks rather than one paragraph. #7 of post

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26. Hi! Maybe a long shot but I was wondering if you’d know of a WWX-JC reconciliation fic… There’s a scene where WWX and JC are discussing the flight from Koi Tower, and JC explained that nobody approached because they were all scared of LWJ, which stuck in my memory because I always found it hilarious that they all just paused on the stairs to let them speak, though I do love the scene. I think there was wedding planning as well. Appreciate your time for reading this anyway, and all the recs!  #5 of Post

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27. Hello, I don’t really remember much from the fic other than its a wangxian romance and I remember a scene when the two are in the library (as teens) and wwx asked lwj to read to him. The chapter (or maybe the whole fic) was from lwj’s pov as he thought something along the lines of “nobody liked his voice and the other kids wouldn’t listen when he read in class.” Thank youuuu, if you can find it or just for looking anyway. #13 of post

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28. I’m looking for this fix where Mo xuanyu was the Yiling Patriachs disciple and they were called to help the sects take care of the Wens. I don’t remember. Whole lot it was a long fic the main ship was wangxian #14 of post

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29. Hi!! I was hoping you could help me find a fic.The basic  premise was post-canon wwx goes to lotus pier to give jc a gift for his   birthday. The gift was painting of old yunmeng? But then jc invites wwx in. That’s all i can remember. Thank you!!! Love all the work you do! ❤ #1 of post

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30.  Hi! The work you do is very appreciated, thank you so much! If possible,  there’s a fic I’m looking for, for whenever you can fit this into a fic  finder post! I’m fairly sure it was post-canon, and Wei Wuxian was  living in Cloud Recesses, and when someone with a grudge against him  attacked it with demonic dogs, he locked the juniors in the library and  took the fight elsewhere to protect Cloud Recesses. I think there may  have been something about reliving bad memories or something similar? I  remember the Lans as well as Jiang Cheng and I think Jin Ling went  looking for him. I found a similar fic while looking for it, but it was a  single chapter WIP, while I’m pretty sure the fic I’m looking for had  multiple chapters up. That’s all I’m fairly confident about remembering,  sorry.    #14 of post

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31.  Hello there! Thank you for your hard work catering to our requests all  this time. I wonder if you can help me find a fic. I remember all the jiangs really love WWX, especially YZY, she loves him and spoils him so  much that even when he got in trouble in gusu, she said its just LQR   being a stuck up. I think WWX is the youngest out of the siblings and   they’re having a hard time accepting LWJ “taking away their baby”.   #18 of post

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32. I am not sure on how to do this loll this is my first time asking.  But Ima just try, also I love the stories you recommend (may have cried,   and laugh loll)

I am looking for a book that I read few months   back, I even went through the history and couldn’t find it loll. It’s   about how the mdzs characters watching wei wuxian life after the first   siege (?) Everyone (I think everyone) who died were resurrected to watch  his life as well. While watching they didn’t know that wei wuxian was still alive but not in their time period, he is alive, and pregnant and  now goes by the name Bai Ying or Bai Wuxian in the future. And when they  found out they decided to go and convince him to come back with them,  but he doesn’t remember them.    #5 of post

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33.  Hello! I am looking for a fic where LWJ has been visiting WWX in the   Burial Mounds often, and they consider A-Yuan their son. When WWX goes   to Jin Ling’s one-month, he also brings A-Yuan, but they are attacked at   Qionqi path. WWX eventually makes it to Koi Tower and says something   about how ‘they tried to kill our son.’ Thank you!    #17 of post

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34. Honestly, Idk how to use this. But im swallowing my pride asking for   help in finding a fic. Its about wwx and lqr, where they play a board   game then wwx apologized to lqr for being a terrible student then. Its   because wwx has a student who is as disruptive as he was. They talk, lqr  telling him about regretting sending his perfect nephew to a   troublemaker then fall in love. He realizes the parallel was his adopted  son, not lsz and his student.  #10 of post

FOUND? someone like you by Basingstoke (G, <1k, wangxian, Future Fic, Cloud Recesses, Teacher WWX)

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35.  Hi! Was looking for a modern AU where Sizhui is adopted by LWJ and WWX  as a teenager? It had some things about them as teens first and two   timelines. Thanks for your work!     #13 of post  

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36. Hello, I was hoping you could help me find a fic. I don’t remember much  of it, only that wwx was having some suicidal ideation. Like he was  sitting or standing at a cliff’s edge. I think lsz  stops him and lwj  stops him as well. It was post canon and they’re already together.   #14 of post  

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37.  i need help finding a fic, but in case it cannot be found anything alike  will do. so lwj is very worried of being the type of father his father  was, but lsz reassures him. thanks! you keep me sane with your recs!   #8 of post

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38.  hi! i remember reading a fic that was a post-canon fic centered around  jiang cheng and wei ying. i remember that after wei ying leaves lan zhan  he travels around and ends up at lotus pier. he attempts to do the  sacrifice mo xuanyu did for him in order to bring back jiang yanli and  jiang cheng catches him and stops him. i love the blog!    #10 of post  

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39. hello!!! im looking for this… time travel fic? i think wangxian got an  early engagement. but the only scenes i rememeber are where wen ruohan  wanted to match wen xu and wwx together bc wwx quoted the quintessence @  wen chaooh also i think wwx collapsed into like. nightmare dream sleep  and couldnt be woken up (i think this is all during a disc conference in  qishan)thank you!!    #12 of post  

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40.  Hey Mojo! I’ve read something on ao3 or wattpad I’m not sure but it’s about Wen Ruohan adopted Wei Wuxian but instead of calling him father he  called Wen Ruohan mother instead. He spoiled Wei Wuxian rotten! I would  like to reread this but I forgot the title. I’m not sure it’s completed  or not but the last time I read, it still ongoing. Thank you for your  help. Loves your blogs!     #14 of post  

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41.  Hey.  Does any know this fanfiction where wei ying from the past amd   future swap. And like all the characters are put in one room and can’t   leave until they have watched the entire thing. And there is this scene where they find out about the core transfers surgery and the future wei  ying talks about how he gave up one of his kidneys for his jiang cheng.  There is also a scene where they talk about how future lan Zhan and wei  ying meet, they meet at like high school or something and there is this  entire thing here they explain high school to the people of the past. I  think it was a series on A03, it also had a another story which shows  past wei ying in the future and he wakes up in a hospital and like many  yao and xue yang are like good people. If you could find this that would  be amazing.  Thank you.      #16 of post

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42.  Hi! First of all, you all are amazing! Your recs re amazing!I’m looking  for a fic where Jiang Cheng tells Wei Wuxian about how he doesn’t want  him to use demonic cultivation because he will loose control again and  die, and Wei Wuxian telling him that et he never lost control, implying  that he wanted to unalive himself.It doesn’t have to be fic focus on  that, but I think that I read a fic like that once, and now I cant find  it. And I apologise ize for my English Love you all <3       #19 of post 

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43.  i’m giving up after months of randomly trying to find this fic. it was   wangxian, i remember that it started with a mess at the cloud recesses, jingyi and sizhui had gone to koi tower because kingyi was going to be in trouble unfairly. i think the juniors were poly? i read it like ages  ago and i can’t remember anything more. help?     #11 of post  

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44.  Haaay, thanks for all your hard work! I’m looking for a fic but I don’t  recall much except that WWX is way OP and when he sees the scars on  LWJ’S back he gets furious and just takes them away completely. I hope  this is enough! It’s been a long time so I can’t remember anything else  #3 of post

Thanks  for the answers on #3. I know it’s not Imperfect Memory. I’m almost   100% sure I haven’t read Silver and Gold, but I’m going to start now to make sure this isn’t the one, but I really don’t think so. I do *think* I  remember them being at Cloud Recesses when it happens? And Wei Ying is  definitely aware of who he is.

Okay,  having looked through Silver & Gold, that’s definitely not it   (though thanks for the rec, this is going on the TOP of my To Read   list). A few more thoughts. I think they were in Lan Zhan’s bed in the   Jingshi and Wei Ying just kind of…pulls them off his skin or something? And it doesn’t hurt Lan Zhan or disturb him.

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45.  Hi, y'all are doing the work of gods.I’ve been looking for a fic and the  only thing I know is that the scars on wwx’s back from yzy’s last   beating healed poorly and lead to limited mobility in his arms and   shoulders, and this is why he wears his hair in a half ponytail after   the core transfer and surviving Burial Mounds.It’s ok if you don’t find it, I’m starting to think I dreamed the interaction where I heard about  it XD #6 of post

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46.  Hi! First of all, i’d like to thank for you for doing god’s work and for  the great fics i’ve found through u guys. Anyways, i’ve been looking  for this modern au (w/ a hint of mafia au) where lwj and lxc are  homeless and they were attack by thugs and lxc died(but it’s revealed at  the end that he survived and now worked as a hacker??). Lwj was found  by wwx and took him in. Lwj was younger than wwx here too. I’ve been  looking for it for ages but i dont remember much and couldn’t find it.     #9 of post  

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47.  PLEASE help me find this fic it’s been MONTHS. All i rememeber is: takes   place in the burial mounds, I’m 90% sure wx were married but not bc   they were in love (yet). The one scene I remember is someone talking to   WY abt deciding to officially be “the yiling Wei sect” w wy as sect   leader. Wy also married WQ + a-yuan’s mom as concubines?? Wq was a surrogate for wx? lz was ok w it bc it wasn’t for love?? The wens called   lz “wei-furen”. Idk if I’m putting this request in the right place I’m  sorry #5 of post

From #5 in today’s fic finders: it’s not Dreams of Youth (altho that one IS similar and also really good.)  

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48. Hello I’m looking for a fic with jiang cheng and lan zhan time   traveling. It had a scean where jiang cheng was telling a drunk wei ying  to put down that chicken. #1 of post

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49. Thank you so much for being here and coordinating this. I'vw been   trying  to refind a fic in which Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are married and   their  friends and family don’t realize it. The scene I remember is Wei Ying  being very offended when they find out because everyone was at   their  wedding, but didn’t realize it was their wedding. I’m fairly   certain  it’s a modern au. It’s not the delightful The F-Word by raspberrymocha.  Thanks so much for your help! #7 of post

Thank you so much for posting my ficfinder request on March 28, #7.  While swiss cheese theory is an absolute delight, it’s not the fic I was   looking for. In the fic I’m looking for WWX and LWJ know they’re   married; it’s their family/friends who didn’t realize that they are,   even though they were at the wedding. But again, thank you for posting   even though the fic hasn’t yet turned up. 

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50.  Hello, could you please help find a fic. I checked all time travel tags  but i can’t find a fic, all i remember is - LWJ time travels or   something to sunshot campaign times & Wuxian expects him to argue   but he just hugs him.Also Jiang Cheng n all keep leaving Wuxian alone in  battlefield but Wangji keeps finding him and keeps company. He also   keeps tent warm for Wuxian n feeds him food.  #7 of post 

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