#'Keep It In Your Heart And Be All Awkward' is the title of Jiang Cheng's unauthorized biography

[poorlittleyaoyao]

pot-kettle interaction of all time

[veliseraptor]

Hey Lise, I was wondering if you could maybe just give me a quick and dirty synopsis of The Untamed characters? I really like your fics and wanna read them, but I have NO idea who anyone is hahaha

I was gonna like. Link to someone else’s rundown of this, but then I decided it might be fun to write my own, which was a mistake. But I make all kinds of mistakes! So unsurprising.

This is going to, by virtue of being a character overview, contain spoilers, so if you think you’re gonna want to watch and want to avoid spoilers then watch out for that. This is also broken down by sect because that makes it easier.

The degree to which I explain the plot here varies wildly and I’m not actually sure how coherent it is. If you want a more detailed rundown that has pictures and shit and also other information, see here; also some of these characters have more than one name, which I’ve noted where the usage of multiple names is likely to pop up in fic.

This is very much QUICK and DIRTY and NOT COMPREHENSIVE, just to underline that a few times. It’s also show focused rather than novel focused, because that’s most of the canon I’m working with. I have also not translated titles here (Hanguang-jun, Zewu-jun etc.) because they just sound better untranslated.

THE JIANG SECT

Wei Wuxian: Also known as Wei Ying or (if you’re nasty) the Yiling Patriarch. One of the two main characters of the show. He died (killed himself) in disgrace, universally reviled as evil, but it’s okay, he got better. Or rather, his soul got swapped into the body of a man named Mo Xuanyu, whose life really sucked and who almost never gets acknowledged by the narrative. Sunshine boy on the outside, but it’s complicated. 

Sort of invented necromancy, or at least perfected it. Will kill you with his magic ghost flute, but mostly only if you deserve it. Mostly. Self-sacrificing to a fault due to basement level self-worth and a tendency to believe that he can handle things other people can’t. Swapped out his ability to do magic to keep his brother alive via nonconsensual surgery. This had a lot of somewhat unexpected consequences, it turns out. Got thrown into a very bad place called the Burial Mounds and came out with new powers and a whole new pile of trauma.

Rescues the Wen remnants from being killed in a prison camp after the war against the Wen Sect; this is not a popular move. Founds a commune with them in the aforementioned Burial Grounds. Also raises Wen Ning from the not-dead. 

Adopted older brother (ish) to Jiang Cheng and younger brother to Jiang Yanli, adopted father to Lan Sizhui, eventual husband to Lan Wangji (at least according to novel canon and many, many post-canon fics).

Jiang Cheng: Also known as Jiang Wanyin, but only if he’s being a little bitch. He technically has a title (Sandu Shengshou) but I don’t remember if it’s ever actually used in the show. The youngest of the triad of Yunmeng Siblings (Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli), and possibly the most dysfunctional. Expresses all his feelings as anger, and he has a lot of feelings. Abandonment issues and inferiority complex the size of the lake that he grew up on. His entire family died and it fucked him up pretty bad, along with all the other terrible shit that happened. 100% Slytherin especially in terms of “protect my own people first and probably nobody else second.” 

Adopted younger brother to Wei Wuxian, biological younger brother to Jiang Yanli. Uncle to Jin Ling (see below). 

Jiang Yanli: I’ll take “oldest daughter who doubled as parent figure” for 500, Alex. Jiang Yanli is relatively quiet and mild-mannered but she loves her brothers very much and will throw down for them in a pinch. Tends to wilt in the face of people treating her poorly; not very good at standing up for herself. A professional at taking care of other people and not herself (Wei Wuxian and she have this in common!). She dies and it really does a number on her siblings.

Oldest sister of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, wife of Jin Zixuan, mother of Jin Ling.

Jiang Fengmian & Yu Ziyuan: Parents of Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng and source of the above’s dysfunction, in a lot of ways. Jiang Fengmian plays favorites (with his adopted son Wei Wuxian) and takes out his feelings about his wife (complicated) by ignoring Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli. Madame Yu is straight up abusive; physically of Wei Wuxian, emotionally of everyone else. In her first appearance she walks into dinner and specifically targets everyone’s weak spots, demolishing three children emotionally in about two minutes, then leaves.

This family! It’s a disaster.

THE LAN SECT

Lan Wangji: Also known as Lan Zhan or Hanguang-jun. The other main character. Has a reputation for being very upright and righteous and rule-abiding; is that, sort of, but also kind of a socially awkward, deeply lonely boy who is trying to be a good person and thinks he can get there by following the right rules. Eventually figures out that’s not how it works. Doesn’t make friends easily but when he loves someone it is with all 500% of his heart. 

His circle of people is very small, though. It’s kind of just two: his brother and Wei Wuxian. That’s all! Lan Wangji could use some friends, maybe.

He’s good! Also learns to rebel when appropriate, and “appropriate” especially involves things having to do with Wei Wuxian, for whom he will do just about anything, at least after he comes back from the dead. Before that it’s a little harder. 

Younger brother of Lan Xichen, nephew of Lan Qiren, adopted father of Lan Sizhui, eventual husband to Wei Wuxian (see above).

Lan Xichen: Also known as Zewu-jun. He does have a birth name (everyone does!) but it doesn’t get used in canon. Also parented his younger brother (there’s a lot of sibling parents in this show!). Is the peacemaker, does not like conflict, diplomatic to a fault. Noticed how everyone else is very quick to jump to conclusions and decided he has to take all of the giving of the benefit of the doubt and good faith and “let’s wait and see and not jump to murder” because no one else is going to.

People in fandom give him a lot of shit for being stupid but he is not! He is just conflict-averse and cautious and inclined to reserve judgment on people. It just turns out that he happens to place his faith in the wrong person, which is to say Jin Guangyao. It does not work out. He ends up getting tricked/manipulated into killing Jin Guangyao by Nie Huaisang, and is about to stay and die with him when Jin Guangyao surprise pushes him away and thus saves his life. 

At least one of the Lan brothers gets a happy ending!

Older brother of Lan Wangji, nephew of Lan Qiren, sworn brother/boyfriend of Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue.

Lan Qiren: Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen’s uncle who essentially raised them due to family dysfunction involving a mother who was basically on house arrest (because she killed someone??? not sure what happened there, information minimal) and their father seems to have been absent, and both died before series start. Rigid and hidebound, very much not a Wei Wuxian fan, very strict with both the Lan brothers and sometimes that involves corporal punishment and yelling.

There are no good parents or parent figures in this series.

Uncle to Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen.

Lan Sizhui: Also known as A-Yuan / Wen Yuan. Originally a Wen kid, first adopted by Wei Wuxian when he founded the commune with the Wen remnants, then adopted by Lan Wangji when everyone in his family was killed and also Wei Wuxian. Grew up a Lan with no memory of his past. Lan Sizhui has two dads.

Cousin/brother (??) to Wen Ning and Wen Qing, adopted son of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.

Lan Jingyi: Sassmaster extraordinaire; the Lan kid who gets to say everything the rest of the Lans are holding back. Of the younger generation quartet formed by him, Lan Sizhui, Ouyang Zizhen, and Jin Ling. If a Lan kid in a scene is sassing someone, it’s Jingyi.

THE NIE SECT

Nie Mingjue: Also known as Chifeng-zun. Very strong opinions about right and wrong with not a whole lot of room for nuance. Formidable warrior. Anger issues, also daddy issues but we don’t get into those as much. Not exactly the friendliest of fellows but it’s not completely his fault, he’s being gradually poisoned by the malevolence of his own weapon. It’s a thing. Dies as a result of being poisoned by evil music courtesy of Jin Guangyao.

Sworn brother/boyfriend to Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao. Older brother of Nie Huaisang.

Nie Huaisang: Mastermind (sort of) of questionable morality, sometimes in order to get revenge for the murder of your older brother you have to wait ten years while building up a reputation as someone utterly useless, then get your old best friend resurrected as part of a series of dominoes meant to demolish your brother’s murderer’s entire life and reputation. Loves art and fans, not a fan of losing his mind to violent sabers as is traditional for the Nie Sect. Smarter than he wants you to think he is, and also just really good at winging it.

Younger brother of Nie Mingjue.

THE JIN SECT

Jin Guangshan: The actual worst. Sect Leader for the first half of the show. Should’ve been kicked down several sets of stairs; the world would’ve been a better place.

Father of Jin Zixuan, Jin Guangyao, Mo Xuanyu, and too many other bastards to list. Possibly Jin Zixun? I’m not clear on that.

Jin Zixuan: Disaster Straight. He comes off as aloof and arrogant but partly this is because he’s just really bad at interacting with people and incredibly awkward. Eventually marries Jiang Yanli after failing to express his feelings for 26 episodes. Shortly thereafter ends up dying when he’s fisted by Wen Ning (through the chest, you filthy animal). 

Husband of Jiang Yanli, father of Jin Ling.

Jin Zixun: The other actual worst. When Jin Zixun is having fun no one else is, and when Jin Zixun is not having fun no one else is either. Just generally a tool. As far as I can tell has no redeeming qualities. His ambush of Wei Wuxian provokes the rolling disaster that results ultimately in the deaths of (in order) Jin Zixuan, Wen Qing, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian. 

Cousin of Jin Zixuan.

Jin Guangyao: Also known as Meng Yao and Lianfang-zun, the former before he gets promoted by his absolute bastard of a dad. He’s complicated! A good boy, also responsible for a lot of the bad things that happen, with varying degrees of culpability depending on who you ask. Son of a (in everyone’s words, ever) prostitute, and he’s really got a problem with it. Made some valid points but also got possibly too much revenge on people who hurt him, including some preemptive revenge on people who might have. Does a lot of murder but mostly via other people or evil music. Gets kicked down the stairs twice, which if you ask me is a pretty good reason to be kinda worked up about things.

His hat is very silly and I will not pretend otherwise.

Dies at the end and it’s real sad, if you ask me. Incredibly gay for Lan Xichen, and who can blame him? 

Son of Jin Guangshan, half brother of Jin Zixuan, sworn brother/boyfriend of Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue. 

Jin Ling: Part of the quartet of juniors including Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and Ouyang Zizhen. A mess of a child. (Half)-raised by Jiang Cheng and it shows. Spoiled brat but also just like. Brimming with loneliness and desperation for someone’s approval. 

Son of Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, grandson of Jin Guangshan, nephew of Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao (and Wei Wuxian, and Mo Xuanyu, and too many other bastards to name, he’s got a lot of uncles). 

Mianmian / Luo Qingyang: Mostly known as Mianmian, which is her nickname. She’s technically a servant but Jin Zixuan is her best friend. Ditches the Jin Sect when they start being jackasses about Wei Wuxian in a seriously epic mic drop moment. Actually lives to the end of the show which makes one female character!

THE WEN SECT

Wen Ruohan: The first Big Bad of the show. Pursuing world domination by the power of the Yin Iron, aka evil metal that lets you control corpses. It doesn’t go well for him. 

Dies at the hands of Jin Guangyao - going, at the time, by Meng Yao.

Father of Wen Xu and Wen Chao.

Wen Xu: The oldest son of Wen Ruohan; he barely appears but he does exist. Or did, he doesn’t make it very long.

Wen Chao: Absolute worm of a human being. Like Draco Malfoy in early Harry Potter, but with more killing people. Dies an absolutely horrifying death courtesy of Wei Wuxian, but he did throw Wei Wuxian into a place he was supposed to horribly die in, so I don’t feel that bad for him. 

Younger son of Wen Ruohan.

Wen Qing: Incredibly gifted physician, can probably fix anything, including transferring a golden core from one person to another which no one has ever done before. (That’s how Wei Wuxian’s ended up in Jiang Cheng.) Starts out as determinedly loyal to Wen Ruohan basically to protect Wen Ning and keep him safe, but keeps ending up helping our protagonists basically against her better judgment. This does not earn her any points with the Wens, and being a Wen does not earn her any points with anyone else. 

Ends up getting swept up by Wei Wuxian when he finds her destitute in the street and they charge off to save her brother together. Subsequently lives in the Burial Mounds commune up until things go to shit and she goes to give herself up with Wen Ning in the hopes of mitigating damage after Jin Zixuan dies. She is executed.

Has a non-thing with Jiang Cheng because they’re very alike in ways that mean that, under the circumstances, they keep missing each other.

Older sister of Wen Ning, sister/cousin (??) of Lan Sizhui, adopted older sister of Wei Wuxian, sort of.

Wen Ning: Also known as Wen Qionglin, but like, once in canon. So you probably won’t see it much. Neither he nor his sister are actually related to Wen Ruohan - they’re from a branch of the family but serve him. Wen Ning doesn’t get to have a lot of nice things. He saves Wei Wuxian’s life (after Wei Wuxian saves his), and (along with Wen Qing) helps get Jiang Cheng out when he was captured by the Wens and protects Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli after their family and sect are killed. 

After the Sunshot Campaign he is killed by Jin cultivators (or almost, it’s complicated) but brought back to unlife by Wei Wuxian. Unfortunately this makes him vulnerable to control to make him do things like, say, kill Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun. He and Wen Qing go to be presumably executed in an attempt to mitigate the damage to Wei Wuxian/maybe?? save his life; Wen Ning gets kept in a dungeon for sixteen years and comes back when Wei Wuxian does. 

Younger brother of Wen Qing. brother/cousin (??) of Lan Sizhui, adopted younger brother of Wei Wuxian, sort of.

Wen Zhuliu: Mysterious assassin/bodyguard of the Wens, we know almost nothing about his backstory save that he owes them some kind of debt and he and Yu Ziyuan seem to have some kind of history. The main thing is that he’s capable of destroying the golden core of cultivators, aka rendering them an ordinary person devoid of special powers, forever. Gets killed by Jiang Cheng, whose golden core he destroyed. 

Various Wen Remnants: You don’t get a lot of individual characterization from these folks - basically they are the remains of the Wen Sect after the Wen Sect is defeated in the war (called the Sunshot Campaign) that forms the arc of the first part of the show. Pretty much everyone wants them dead. Wei Wuxian rescues them and takes them off to the Burial Mounds, where no one else wants to go, and builds a commune with them, which works for a while until it doesn’t anymore.

They all die. It’s bad.

YI CITY CREW

These got long because I felt like I had to explain more about plot stuff.

Xue Yang: The gremlin! Will cheerfully murder just about anyone at the drop of a hat, he doesn’t really need a reason. Driven initially by a revenge quest for the guy who crushed his finger when he was seven; he kills his whole family, which is a reasonable response when you think of your own life as worth significantly more than anyone else’s. Subsequently and also during fixated on Xiao Xingchen. Kind of a genius?? but he’s pretty low key about it.

Really involved with the plot in a lot of weird ways. Introduced Wen Ruohan to the Yin Iron and taught him how it functioned-ish, worked with Jin Guangyao for a while on necromancy stuff, after the inevitable betrayal ended up getting picked up by a now blind Xiao Xingchen (more on that later) and a-Qing, and lived with them in domestic semi-bliss for three years while also tricking Xiao Xingchen into murdering a lot of people, up to and including his sort-of-ex-boyfriend Song Lan. Turned Song Lan into a zombie, sort of. Fell apart when Xiao Xingchen died (killed himself, on account of Xue Yang demolishing his entire life, whoops) and spent the next decade or so trying to bring him back from the dead.

Dies messily, as you might guess, and I’m still sad about it.

Xiao Xingchen: Grew up on a secret mountain isolated from the rest of society, came down from the secret mountain to help make the world a better place, it really does not work out for him. Travels around for a while being best friends/boyfriends with Song Lan, getting poetry written about him; unfortunately then he and Xue Yang run into each other which is widely regarded as a bad move. Things get messy, Xiao Xingchen ends up with his eyes in Song Lan’s head and blind, he adopts a teenage con artist (see below) and rescues Xue Yang (who he doesn’t know is Xue Yang). 

Three years of domestic bliss (sort of) ensue, with the wrinkle that while Xiao Xingchen’s sword Shuanghua can sense corpses so he can still hunt things, it has a glitch where sometimes the corpses it senses are in fact living people that Xue Yang has poisoned and cut out their tongues. Whoops. 

After he kills Song Lan (whoops), Xiao Xingchen finds out from a-Qing who he’s been living with and, uh, is upset about it. Xue Yang drops the bomb of “oh yeah so you’ve been killing people this whole time and also! yeah! killed Song Lan too! eyyyy” upon which Xiao Xingchen, his entire world wrecked, kills himself and shatters his soul.

He ends the series basically fragments of soul in a little pouch being carried around by Song Lan. When I put it that way it sounds kinda funny but it’s really not.

A-Qing: Teenage con-artist who pretends to be blind and adopts Xiao Xingchen after stealing his money (he notices, but he also just gives it to her). Knew Xue Yang was bad news but didn’t know how bad. Smart cookie. Xue Yang blinds her and cuts out her tongue (he just loves doing that) after she tells on him to Xiao Xingchen; she gets her revenge by leading Wei Wuxian & co. to figuring out what’s going on, and ultimately enabling the first mortal-wounding of Xue Yang. 

Unfortunately, also dies.

Song Lan: Also known as Song Zichen, rarely. A Daoist priest (I think that’s right?) and “rogue cultivator” (in the sense that he’s not affiliated with any sect). He is definitely affiliated with Xiao Xingchen. “Affiliated with.”

Ends up getting caught in the vortex of Xue Yang when his entire temple-family is killed and he’s blinded; says some harsh things and a guilty Xiao Xingchen trades out his eyes to pay him back for being the cause of Xue Yang targeting his temple, then vanishes. Song Lan spends the next long time trying to track him down, eventually finds him in mid-domestic bliss (sort of) with Xue Yang (yikes), promptly attempts to kill Xue Yang, ends up getting his tongue cut out and himself corpse-poisoned and killed by Xiao Xingchen, who thinks he is a random evil corpse instead of his best friend/ex-boyfriend. Xue Yang turns him into a zombie controlled by him. He gets better (from the control, he’s still a zombie).

Literally the only one of the Yi City Crew to make it out alive and he’s not technically alive.

MISCELLANEOUS OTHERS

Ouyang Zizhen: Part of the juniors quartet with Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi. A budding romantic. Very good, has the misfortune of having Sect Leader Ouyang as a dad, but at least it’s not Sect Leader Yao (see below).

Su She: Due to a confluence of factors having to do with jealousy but also class/rigid hierarchy issues, ends up as Jin Guangyao’s right hand henchman. He’s very loyal when you’re actually nice to him. Really doesn’t like Lan Wangji. 

Sect Leader Yao: Mostly just there to have really bad opinions all of the time.

[honibee-arts]

Wen Qing has been alive the entire time, and Jiang Cheng is the last to find out. What does our disaster boy do? And what does Wen Qing do when he produces the comb again out of nowhere (a la Chenqing in episode 50)?

Jiang Cheng grit his teeth and sighed as he wandered through the crowded streets of Yiling. Since the first siege, the people regarded him with an understandable wariness and unease. He could feel the eyes bearing into the dark violet fabric of his cloak, trying not to watch as a mother huddled her child closer to her side and out of his way. It was easy to forget at sometimes that most outside of Yunmeng and Lanling feared him to some degree. With all the lofty titles and accolades, he had undoubtedly sacrificed some of humanity. The price of becoming the Sandu Sengshou.

Really, he knew he should not be in Yiling.

Jin Ling was too old for Jiang Cheng to follow him on his night hunts, and Wen Ning had proven himself somewhat trustworthy after ensuring Jin Ling returned to Lotus Pier unscathed on multiple occasions. After watching his sisters heart shatter upon the death of her husband, only to hold her in her arms as she drew her last breath, then have to listen Lan Wangji’s cries as his brother threw himself off that cliff edge in Nightless City, Jiang Cheng would say his paranoia was justified. 

Jin Ling was his only family left aside from the complicated relationship he now had with Wei Wuxian, denying himself the chance to grieve the man who was once his brother and the woman he once loved as a boy, who sacrificed herself in his name.

Sometimes he thought he saw her, her wide, brown doe eyes under the hood of a travellers cloak, but when he looked back, she would be gone, and his heart would ache anew behind the comb he still kept in his robes all these years. In his thought, his shoulder bumped with someone smaller than him, pushing a soft grunt from him.

“Forgive me, sir. I was not watching where I was going.” The small woman said softly, steadying herself on his arm.

That voice !-

“Are you alright?” He asked gruffly, reaching to help her, only for her to pull away from him pointedly.

“I don’t need your pity, sir.” she said sharply, keeping her head bowed.

It couldn’t be...

He felt stupid to hope, the longing such an alien feeling after so long of denying himself it. Without thinking, he reached for her hood, only for a smaller, slender hand to clamp his wrist in a bruising grip. He grit his teeth and winced. It was too late though, he had nudged the hood just enough that it fell back onto her shoulders, and sure enough, those wide reddish brown eyes were glaring up at him.

“Wen-Guniang...” He said dumbly, eyes wide in shock. “You’re... You’re alive...”

She ripped her hand away from him, shoving him back and pulled her hood back up, pushing through the sea of people and through the main street. He was losing her.

No!

He grit his teeth and gripped Sandu tightly, weaving through the crowd, eyes trained on the smaller, black cloaked hooded figure. He couldn’t lose her, not again.

“HEY!” he shouted, mumbling an awkward apology to the old man he almost ran into. “Hey! Stop running! Come back!”

He followed her into the thick, dead forests that lead toward the Burial Mounds, nearly tripping up over the gnarled, exposed roots as she weaved expertly around them.

“WEN-GUNIANG!” he shouted after her.

He was too old to run after women like this. He should have given up when he’d been blacklisted. He stopped against a tree trunk to catch his breath, wincing in pain. The wounds from Guanyin Temple had never quite healed right, both physically and mentally. He cursed as he tasted the all too familiar tang of blood on his lips.

What was it with the Burial Mounds and making him cough up blood? Every time he came here he always wound up coughing it up in some way or another. He sighed tiredly, catching his breath for a minute before marching on. She can’t have gone much further.

“You’re staggering.” she said steadily, appearing from nowhere and pressing her hand to his abdomen. 

“Gah! Gods, woman! You run away from me and then appear out of fucking nowhere?” He jerked back, feeling mildly scandalised to say the least. 

“Shut up, there’s blood on your lips. What did you do now?”

“What did I do?! What did you do?! You’ve been dead for 20 years! What is it with Wei Wuxian and his friends and not staying dead?!”

“Believe me, you wouldn’t want to know. Open your robes so I can see the damage.” she deadpanned.

“The fuck?! I’m fine! Don’t try and medically violate me again! I know about my golden core!”

“Yes, A-Ning mentioned that.” She rolled her eyes. “Stop screeching and let me see, I’m not going to sedate you unless I need to.”

“That’s fucking reassuring!”

She shoved his back against the three trunk, gripping the front of his robes and forcing them open, exposing his chest and abdomen. He made a startled sound, feeling his face and neck burn as she studies the stitches and scars on his chest and abdomen, pressing her hand against a particularly fresh wound on his hip. 

“A-Ning mentioned the little bastard injured you... Should have healed by now if you rested enough. Knowing you though...”

“The fuck was that supposed to mean?!”

Unbeknown to the pair, the comb that was usually in Jiang Cheng’s pocket had fallen to the ground, lying by their feet as the snapped at each other, Jiang Cheng failing miserably to conceal his mortification that the object of his adolescent affections had shoved him against a tree trunk in a desolate burial mound and began to - medically, Jiang Cheng reminded himself, medically - feel up his bare torso after pulling his damn robes open.

“You and your stupid brother are too thick headed to rest properly after injury or surgery. The idiot got up and started walking around again after I had pulled his golden core out and stitched him up, and he’d been awake the entire time. Yunmeng men, I swear. There is something seriously wrong with your brains.” She huffed, pressing diligent fingers against his abdomen, checking his core. “You need to be careful, if you continue as you are, carrying as much resentment as you, you risk deviation.”

“I... I know...” He mumbled, ashamed. It was difficult to let go and forgive after all these years aching alone. Still so many unanswered questions, new grudges, fresh wounds.

“Jiujiu?” 

Jiang Cheng startled and pushed Wen Qing away, pulling his robes shut.

“What the hell are you doing here? It’s too dangerous for you to be here.” He questioned his nephew.

“I’m not a child! You would have died in the second siege if it weren’t for us!” Jin Ling snapped back. Jiang Cheng felt his migraine come back. “What are you doing here anyway? Were you following me again?”

“No!”

“Then why are you in Yiling?”

“Why are you in Yiling?!”

“Answer the question!”

“Don’t talk back to me!”

“Or what?”

“I’ll break your legs!”

“Pah! I’m not scared of you, you’d never actually hurt me!”

“Will everyone just stop shouting? Please?” Pleaded Lan Sizhui, stepping into the forest with Wen Ning, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen in tow. “We were in the area and I just wanted to visit my cousins and pick up some medicine from Auntie Qing, okay? Ba got sick again, his core still isn’t strong enough.”

“Hold on... Jin Ling. You knew Wen-guniang was still alive?” Jiang Cheng asked, brow furrowing.

“Uh, yeah. We all do.” He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, hugging Suihua against his chest. Jiang Cheng felt his heart twinge at how similar he looked to his father.

“All of you?”

“Yeah. Jin Ling was getting so desperate on his wife search for you he insisted to tag along to beg Wen-guniang to be your wife.” Lan Jingyi snorted, earning an elbow in the ribs from Ouyang Zizhen.

“Jin Rulan.”

“Uh oh, he’s using the courtesy name.” Lan Jingyi commented.

“What the hell is he talking about.”

“Nothing!”

“He’s a Lan, Lan’s don’t lie. Tell me. Now.”

“Do you seriously think he abides by their 50,000 rules?”

“4136 actually.” Lan Sizhui added.

“There’s more?” Wen Qing asked.

“Shufu keeps making rules to stay away from Ba.”

“Rules I would happily follow if Lan Qiren didn’t curse my name every time he needs me to heal one of his disciples.”

“Lan Qiren knows?!”

[jcs-writing-hell]

@my lovely anon | thanks for requesting & sorry for the delay but when I got your request my app bugged & I couldn’t read what you wanted for like a day

Junior Trio/JL centered | Category: Hurt/Comfort | Keyword: Mishap/Slip of tongue(or so xD) | kinda deep & angsty | Word Count: 2441

-

Jiang Cheng had tried his best, Jin Ling was completely aware of that.

Other than what most knew of Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling had really started to see how his uncle truly cared for him.

It started almost instantly after Jin GuangYao died, the back & forth & pulling on Jin Ling. At the time he was around 16, his mental state a mess - yet with the mess the Jin Sect, once again, ended up in.. Who cared about his emotions? Well, Jiang Cheng did.

Jin Ling slowly healed, at least on the surface, while his maternal uncle tried his best to cover his back. Making up excuse after excuse, with them ranging from "He has just lost his uncle.", to "He is too young." & if anyone tried to dare say "But you were" Jiang Cheng made sure to clarify that the times had been different, that the youths nowadays didn't have the pressure and experience they had had back in the day.

-

Jiang Cheng had tried his best, Jin Ling was both thankful and aware of that.. yet sooner or later, of course, things couldn't go on that way. With 17 he had started to take extra lessons, less physical training, just to get the history & knowledge he needed to be the new leader memorized. And then, now, with almost 18 Jiang Cheng also had run out of plausible excuses. The last thing his uncle had managed was to invite his friends before his ceremony where he'd be first shown off as the "new face of the Jin Sect", "the person that'll finally, for real this time, bring a true change",..

Needless to say that Jin Ling was stressed. He felt exhausted, strangely enough growing more lonely by day - just like he'd been in his early childhood.

Even his friends, that were adults by then & had brought Emperors Smile in mass along, couldn't quite drown out the fact that.. Jin Ling felt like a toy & as the most important day of his life so far came closer fast without his parents..

Jin Ling didn't even take note of the fact that his friends had disappeared at first. They were camping out & he had one of his moments again where his heart ached, chest tight & air hard to catch in his lungs. Poking around in the fire, he couldn't help but question again.. If all of that was what he wanted with his life. That he shouldn't think that way, because even if his mind would say "no", he had no right to say so. How he was supposed to lead a sect so wrecked & scary as the LanLing Jin Sect.. If his fate was the same as the crooked one of his ancestors, which honestly scared him to death.

His friends had done a pretty good job over all so far though when it came to both distracting and comforting him - not that he really admitted what was going on, or wrong. Due to that, as Jin Ling finally noticed neither Sizhui nor Jingyi being around he grew understandably worried and got up to search for them. He also managed to find them within no time, yet.. what he heard really.. got his blood to boil.

,,Do you have an idea what we could try still, A-Yi? I don’t think we’re really being of much help..” Sizhui was clearly worried, Jingyi however acted and sounded a bit too much like his “jerk” self.

,,I know we wanted to help him.. I mean, we barely got to meet him for like a year now, but.. Don’t you think he has enough help already? Or in general, what are we supposed to help him with? I mean, you also don’t have parents, but to be frank - Doesn’t he have everything else one could dream off? Money, support from pretty much everyone, a bright future ahead of him.. What are the chances that we’d be able to do for him that he doesn’t have already?”

Sizhui was just about to give his friend a good beating as both of the Lan’s flinched quite hard when Jin Ling stepped - quite literally - out of the shadows, his tone full of betrayal, rage and frustration.

,,Do you think that’s what I want? Do you actually think that I want any of that, after all that our way of living caused? Don’t you think I’d rather have my parents, or just one of them, instead of all the money and maidens and luxury items on this world? You know what? Forget it. Who even cares. Thanks, thanks a lot.”

,,A-Ling-” Sizhui’s try to call out for the youngest lead nowhere; all the latter did was lift up a hand in almost a warning like manner as he had already turned and began to storm off. ,,That was really not necessary, A-Yi.. When will you ever learn to think before you speak?”

,,Stop acting like it’s not the truth that we can’t help him. That we can’t give him what he wants or needs either.” Jingyi snapped back as the oldest glared at him, only to get another glare directed at him before Sizhui walked off as well while saying in an upset tone.

,,What he needs right now are at least his friends with all the things that are missing in his life - that he should have in his life at such a moment in time. You could do at least that much for him without worrying about whether or not it’ll bear fruit before you even properly tried.”

~💙~

It took a while before the Lan’s found the other sitting in front of a lake against a tree. He looked worryingly gone out and upset, in truth though not half as much as he actually was. Pushing Jingyi forwards, the younger Lan spoke up in a tone so awkward and hesitant.

,,Uhm.. I.. I just wanted to say that.. I shouldn’t have said what I did.. not behind your back especially.. I.. I’m sorry.”

,,It’s not even really your fault.. It’s just..” Jin Ling started, only to stop a few words in - causing both Lan’s to exchange a worried look before Sizhui sat down; dragging the other Lan with him.

,,A-Ling.. What’s wrong? You’re not quite.. yourself, or more how you were a few years ago..”

Jin Ling only briefly looked at Sizhui, who spoke in a carefully gentle tone, turning slightly away from them at the end as he stared at his hand that was resting above the leg he had bend at the knee. A bit of time passed before he began to open up, not talking too loudly and with pauses here and there.

,,The problem is more.. What isn’t wrong? The closer my ceremony and 18th birthday come.. I don’t know, there’s just a lot of pressure.. Ever since I can think, even when at the time still both of my uncles sheltered and pampered me.. I was always.. The nephew of, the son of, the future sect leader..”

Both of the Lan’s heads dropped, but especially Jingyi didn’t dare look at either of his friends as he fiddled with a piece of his robe in such an ashamed manner.

,,I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my sect, already now.. It’s so.. wrecked, cursed.. How am I supposed to lead this complete and utter mess with people around me that don’t care if it keeps running that way or not. Or with the only person I have left still living hours away, in charge of a sect of his own.. And in between they only keep adding pressure and pressure.. The first time someone gave me letters with maidens that would be good for my sect’s sake to marry was years ago, now they really want me to find a wife - if possible yesterday..”

Jin Ling turned his head as he heard a few muffled noises, only to see that Sizhui held his hand over Jingyi’s mouth - more than likely to stop the latter from saying something inappropriate yet understandable like “What do you even want with a wife already?”, or so.

,,And what do you want, A-Ling?”- To both of the Lan’s shock and surprise all the youngest could give as a response for quite a while were empty stares, then shrugging and shaking his head before he said what they could gather already at this point.

,,I don’t know.. There’s a part of me that when I try to think about it.. does its hardest to stop me from doing so.. Even if I would find an answer, what would it change or matter? I don’t even know who I am deep down inside, apart from the son and what not of.. Even looking back now, to how I behaved from early on.. I tried often to run away. And yeh, honestly even I can’t say A-Yi’s misstress nickname doesn’t somehow fit me.. but it wasn’t that, I ran to have some sort of freedom.. Only to ultimately hide behind what everyone always hides and excuses everything with when it comes to me - or even in front of me.. my title, my heritage, my role in life..”

Jin Ling paused, clenching the hand he kept staring at into a rather tight fist. ,,Who am I.. What do I want.. I know neither and I’m afraid to find a answer for both, knowing it doesn’t matter..”

Neither of the 3 knew what to respond to that and Jin Ling couldn’t blame his friends for being at a loss. He was himself, but more than anything he was so.. so incredibly confused and empty deep down inside.

,,Have you tried talking to your uncle before? .. I mean.. Wasn’t he in an even worse situation?”

,,The last thing I want is to sound childish and irresponsible.. even worse: make him worry, A-Yi.” The youngest said as he let out a breath far too heavy for a boy in his age. He didn’t know what to do, and even if Jiang Cheng had changed a lot to the better the past few years since the temple incident.. Jin Ling was still worried about how to approach his uncle, really not wanting to disappoint at the end of the day.

,,There aren’t all too many that know about this, but I was raised to take over the Gusu Lan Sect; just in case… Not that anyone dares to think of a nightmare huge enough to happen for Master Qiren, Zewu-Jun and Hanguang-Jun to die, but.. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is.. If this scenario would happen, and I’d be left with nothing but the ashes of my sect.. I would rebuild it entirely, change the things that are going wrong already in its core..”

,,That’s not a bad idea, A-Yuan.. If I got it right you were trying to say that our little mistress should completely clean up the mess his sect is, right?”

Sizhui nodded before looking at Jin Ling who looked as lost in thought as he was.

,,Maybe I should talk to my uncle after all..” Jin Ling then finally said, hesitantly turning back around so he could look at his friends that wore confused expressions - not that he could blame them. ,,I might not know a lot currently, but I know for sure that I don’t want to lead the LanLing Jin Sect how it is now.. It would be mildly risky, yet..”

,,Stop torturing us and speak properly already!” Jingyi whined, getting nudged in the side from the older Lan for that.

,,It might be quite the gamble, yet I know they won’t be able to disagree.. I will need some help though, definitely.. I think I.. I think I will set up this massive plan where I tell the elders of the LanLing Jin Sect that I will only take it over if it’s under my own terms. Be it the throwing out of disciples and so forth, close examinations of each member so what happened in the past will remain there.. Closer bonds to the other sects, more openness,.. I also have the birthright to decide how I want the relationship with Yunmeng Jiang to turn out..”

As half-confident as Jin Ling might’ve sounded, he could feel his heart race, hands shake and palms grow sweaty from all the nervousness; paired with this weirdly thrilling rush. His mind was going all sorts of places, no dark ones for once - to the point where he needed a minute or two maybe before realising that his friends looked at him.. like he had gone nuts, while they looked like they were in the process of doing so themselves.

,,But what if they-”

,,We will definitely help you, A-Ling! Whatever support you need, I know most sects will be willing to agree.”

Jin Ling felt his own lips and teeth hurt from how hard Sizhui had slammed his hand once again over Jingyi’s lips as the latter had tried to say something rather understandable - that could cause his mood to go downhill again.

At the end they all nodded.. before awkward silence spread between them as none knew what to do or say now.. Or well, at least until Sizhui spoke up again, his tone giving away that there’d be no chance to say "no", or even argue.

,,That calls for a group hug.”

,,Forget it!” For once Jingyi and Jin Ling were in sync, even sharing the same opinion.. just like a moment later when their expressions distorted into both fear and horror as Sizhui’s turned into one so spine-chilling similar to Lan Wangji’s.

,,Group. Hug. Now.” Even his tone was.. scarier than anything Jiang Cheng could manage - For the sakes of their young lives, the two younger ones then simply spread their arms in defeat as Sizhui pulled them together.. In one of the many group hugs he forced them into secretly; usually and mostly when drunk though.

A few moments into the hug Jin Ling glanced down at Sizhui who had turned out to be quite a bit smaller than him over the years.. and as guessed, the oldest looked up at him and winked. Jin Ling only smiled a shy one..

Yet as several minutes later they had returned back to their fireplace it was more than evident that the super glue of their group - Sizhui - had done a pretty good job at comforting him.. And Jingyi had also done his usual small amount, even if it was only provoking Jin Ling until he finally spilled what was going wrong; which Jin Ling couldn’t quite believe was accidental, neither that day or on any other.

-

Check out my MDZS Writing Game | Requests open anytime

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 14/?

MeetCute modern!AU [mianqing edition]: “Don’t Bother Looking Down”

[title is from the song “We Fell in Love in October” by Girl in Red]

[let me live vicariously through my baby girls ok?? let me have this]

*

Qingyang wishes she never moved in this damned country in the first place. Coach Nie followed her alright, so she should be fine and, really, she is thankful for this amazing opportunity. But now she kind of regrets giving up her Lanling citizenships in order to move back to her mother’s home country and fence for the Qishan national team. She understands the language to some extent, but the people there immediately notice her accent and they glare at her whenever she speaks.

Coach Nie moved country as well just to make a champion out of her and, although he respects her for the choice she made, Qingyang knows he misses Qinghe and the people he left behind.

Getting into the national team was nothing compared to the impossible task to fit in and live a normal life. Even her new teammates don’t talk to her unless it’s strictly necessary and they always speak in that quick dialect of theirs just to gossip behind her back. Some of the guys in the male team are actually friendly and manager Xiao Xingchen is always offering to help her with this or that. Meng Yao had to leave Lanling to make the team and even his mother is, coincidentally, from Nightless City just like hers. She doesn’t like Xue Yang: barely seventeen, never heard of manners in his life, but he’s a genius in his own way and Qingyang has a lot to learn from his swordsmanship. However, his younger step sister A-Qing is the loveliest girl and the foulest mouth on the planet whenever she begrudgingly cheers for him, so maybe Qingyang could, potentially, relax a bit and have some fun while training.

But no. Their respective teams captains are actually evil and want them to suffer through impossible training sessions just to let them bask in glory without doing much themselves. Wang Lingjiao especially hates Qingyang’s guts and does everything in her power to make her leave.

It’s not Qingyang’s fault if her disgusting boyfriend had tried to give her a lift home too many times already. She wouldn’t even accept a drink from Wen Chao, let alone a lift. But one day Qingyang has enough, honest to the gods she has.

So it’s with a hollow heart that she stumbles into a random library to check if they have something to consult for her anxiety... when she sees her.

The girl that lives above her in her new apartment complex with her Grandma and younger brother. The one who always scowls at her because she never gets the trash out in time. The one who their landlady refers to with the ever lovely title of “our little overachiever” and “med-school dropout” any chance she gets. The one who apparently went to Lanling University along with Qingyang’s cousin ZiXuan and was the top of their class. The one who always runs around with the child she babysits for the rich couple at the end of the street.

And fuck no, Luo Qingyang’s not gonna mess with that.

So when she readies herself for yet another awkward encounter with the angry looking woman, the last thing she expects is to be welcomed with a blinding smile.

“Welcome, how can I help you today?”

And if Qingyang has to rely on some forced pleasantries between retail worker and client just to experience some human connection... so be it. It may be sick to ask for kindness this way, but she’ll make do.

She has to.

[details underneath]

Wen Qing hates her job. Not because she hates books, although she’s not a great reader herself (save from poetry, but nobody needs to know that), but because her boss is the epitome of “welcoming host” and she’s suffering from a chronic case of resting bitch face and forcing smiles is the last thing she wants out of life.

She came back to Qishan to look after her grandma after she broke her femur and her brother Wen Ning is studying to become a teacher and the final exam is nearing. Wen Qing didn’t want him to drop out to look after their grandma, so she left her fancy scholarship behind and came back.

XiChen is her boss at the library and took her in after his brother WangJi asked him to: Wen Qing and A-Yuan are distant cousins, but she and her brother didn’t have a job by the time the child became an orphan and their grandma was too old to look after him; hence, WangJi and his husband Wei Ying adopted A-Yuan and didn’t want him to live separated from his original family, so they moved in Qishan and frequently meet with the Wen’s.

Wen Qing feels bad about dropping out of university, but she refuses to regret it since she’s more than happy to look after her grandma. ZiXuan is a pediatrician now and several years have passed since they were classmates and competing for grades, but he checks on her through video chats every once in a while.

(ZiXuan is -coincidentally- Qingyang’s cousin and they talk a lot more than what they used to do now that he’s married and his wife is waiting for their first child. Turns out, ZiXuan is a secret matchmaking mastermind now that he is happily married and has matured enough to want his dear ones to be happy as well. So he plants the seed of curiosity in Wen Qing’s head by talking about his “hot and exceptionally talented fencer cousin who could possibly bench press a grown man. have I mentioned she’s hot?”)

...

(“Ew, do you think your cousin is hot?” / “Hot as in... lesbian terms, you get me” / “No. I really don’t. I’m straight.” / “Sure Wen Qing. Sure.”)

...

Qingyang keeps going to the library after her practice, in full gear and with her hair messy and red cheeks just to see Wen Qing smile at her and being forced to be nice to her. She absolutely knows the other woman is forced to do so and so she annoys her with pleasantries and silly things, but she never outright flirts with her [the lesbian courtship prevents the subjects from using such direct and straight(pfffffft)forward ways of approach, obviously].

...

(“I’m so sorry for forgetting about the trash the other day” / “That’s [*clenches fists*] fine. Don’t worry about it” / “Will you forgive me, Miss Wen? Really? [*Qingyang used ‘Bambi eyes’. It’s very effective!*] / “Don’t worry, that’s fine [*Wen Qing wishes the ground could swallow her whole. The nerve!*])

...

Wei Ying obviously befriends Luo Qingyang: he has to. He’s never seen Wen Qing this flustered in his life and he needs something to entertain him while Lan Zhan is at work. So he meddles bc he’s a little shit, but we all love him for it anyway.

...

(“Did you make a library card yet or...?” / “I don’t want to give that woman my ID, she might call the police on me once she gets a hold on my name” / “You literally live in the same building” / “It’s a big building. And I always misplace the trash, I’m afraid she’ll call the police on me saying I’m actually hiding a corpse in my apartment. No thank you” / “It’s a library subscription, not a birth certificate for gods’ sake” / “I’m not risking it, Wei Ying” / “Then I’ll tell you what to do.......”)

The next day at the library...

(“I want to get a card” / [*internally screeching* “took you long enough, wasting my time”] “Name?” / “MianMian”)

...

Which is apparently the wrong thing to say, because Wen Qing loves poetry and goes ballistic for any reference she can pick in normal conversations. So when she hears ‘MianMian’ she immediately goes “Then my name is YuanDao” and it’s like a fucking switch has been pressed and now WEN QING IS THE ONE PURSUING but Qingyang doesn’t know anything about poetry and doesn’t know what to do. She’s created a butch monster who actually genuinely smiles at her now and that’s too powerful for a small femme like her holy fuck.

O_o

Additional content: Jiang Cheng goes to a million blind dates until he meets XiChen out of fucking nowhere and they move in together two days later + Meng Yao seduces Nie MingJue with hot fencing routines without even sparing a glance at the older man (his drive is focused only on the medal and... for NMJ that’s kind of hot) + Wen Ning is actually a heartthrob but he’s not interested and runs away from people actually swooning at his feet left and right + Xue Yang is not a criminal and only wants his sister to finally get the service dog of her dreams + Song Lan is a referee but he gets distracted by the Qishan team manager bc... boy is he fine

o_O

[I’m suffering. Can someone write this I do not have time to commit to my own writing and I don’t trust myself with the delivery.

I’m but a tiny prompt-machine help me D:]

*

[add1ctedt0you]

#'Keep It In Your Heart And Be All Awkward' is the title of Jiang Cheng's unauthorized biography#the scene immediately prior to this one is excruciating bc JFM is doting on WWX#and WWX keeps vainly trying to get JFM to acknowledge JC as well (by thanking him/ highlighting to JC's hardships/ saying how he missed him#but instead JFM yells at JC for doing his anxious scolding thing and worrying (correctly) about longterm consequences#which in turn causes YZY to storm in and yell at HIM for favoring WWX over JC in a way that is miserable for both kids and AUGHHH#BROKEN-ASS HOUSEHOLD!! OP tags

pot-kettle interaction of all time