❛ Jealousy ❜
Jiang Cheng X Fem!Reader
WC;3.4 k+ | !MDNI! | TW/CW; afab reader, she her pronouns, jealous feelings, NSFW, smut, PIV, PWP, rough sex, begging, breeding, praise, implied manhandling, possessiveness, implied size kink, reader is depicted to be shorter that him + probably more i cant think of
⋆·˚ ༘ * 𝑅𝐸𝒬𝒰𝐸𝒮𝒯:: (filled request) Hii! I read your fic with LWJ and oh my gosh I fell in love and cant wait for part 2 🤩I have some idea and I'd like to ask you very very nicely if you could write a fic with jiang cheng (fluff to smut if it's okay) when wwx returns and he finds out that JC is married and maybe reader is busy answering all the questions that wwx has and JC gets jealous? 🤭Thank you in advance and take care! <333 - ANON
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You stood at Lotus Pier's busiest entrance, awaiting Jiang Cheng's return, the autumn breeze playing with your hair. News had reached you: the one who was famous for his cruelty, Wei Wuxian, had reappeared. And you couldn't help but feel bubbles of anxiety rising up in your chest. You've never seen Wei Wuixian before but knew he was Jiang Change brother.
When Jiang Cheng finally arrived, he had a guarded expression, his eyes darting around the crowd. His gaze landed on you, and immediate relief crossed his face before it settled back into its usual stoic mask.
"Jiang Cheng," you called softly, stepping forward. "Glad to see you back."
He grunted in acknowledgement, attention captured just a moment by the reappearance of Wei Wuxian from the crowd, as brash and bright as ever.
"Jiang Cheng!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed, his loud voice attracting the attention of everyone else in the courtyard. "It's been so long!"
There was a tense muscle in Jiang Cheng's jaw, but he returned the brief greeting. You watched as Wei Wuxian immediately peppered Jiang Cheng with questions, asking him everything that had happened over the years. You knew Jiang Cheng's temper did not hold much patience for Wei Wuxian's antics.
"You must have so much to tell," you cut in, diverting Wei Wuxian's focus from Jiang Cheng. "Why don't we sit down and catch up?"
You pulled Wei Wuxian out, leaving Jiang Cheng by himself, his expression inscrutable, but you sensed that he was irritated. All the time as you answered Wei Wuxian's questions on you, and in particular on how you and Jiang Cheng are married, that it is of very recent development, you could not resist peeking at Jiang Cheng.
Even his face was tense, with crossed arms, as he just stood watching the two of you. Occasionally, his gaze would flicker to you, and his features would tighten subtly.
Hours passed with stories and laughter until finally, Wei Wuxian seemed to run out of questions. "I should let you get back to your duties," he said, grinning as he gave you a playful nudge. "But we'll catch up again soon, right?"
"Definitely," you assured him and watched him walk back through the crowded streets back to Jiang Cheng. As one or two more words were exchanged between the two, a feeling arose within you that something must have changed that profound relationship between you and Jiang Cheng.
The courtyard had emptied now, and Lotus Pier was settling into its nighttime calm, when Jiang Cheng found you standing at the edge of the water, looking out over the moonlit surface.
"It really seemed like you were enjoying your catching up," he said, his voice betraying evident jealousy.
"He had many questions," you said carefully, turning toward him. "I only wanted to make sure he felt welcomed."
Jiang Cheng's face slightly darkened. "You were busy," he grumbled back, his voice a shade sharper than usual.
"I'm sorry if I neglected you," you said softly, drawing closer. "But you know Wei Wuxian—once he starts talking."
"He never stops," Jiang Cheng finished, his face twitching slightly with annoyance. "It's like nothing's changed."
You hesitated, trying to find the right words. "Things have changed, Jiang Cheng," you said at last, meeting his gaze. "We've changed."
His face averted, jaw clenched. "Have we?"
You reached out to touch his arm. "Yes," you persisted, pressing on with a firm tone. "We have come a very long way since those days."
He didn't answer right away, but when he turned back to you, the tension did seem to relax a bit in his face. "I know," he agreed in a low voice. "It's just that."
"Just what?" you pressed on softly.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Seeing him again, it brings back memories," he finally admitted, almost whispering. "And seeing you with him."
You squeezed his arm reassuringly. "You don't need to be jealous, Jiang Cheng," he said softly. "Wei Wuxian and I share a history, but you and I share something different."
"It doesn't matter," he replied, reaching out his hand to squeeze my plump cheeks. "You are my wife." He put an emphasis on the 'My'. Very sacredly and respectfully, you murmured, moving in closer to his touch, the warmth of his hand on your cheek. "And you are my husband."
He looks at you again with an expression that softens to relief tinged with possessiveness. "I don't want to lose you," he tells you with the whisper of fear folded into his voice.
"You won't," you reassured him, reaching up to place your hand over his. "Wei Wuxian may have returned, but my heart belongs to you."
His eyes locked onto yours for a really long time while the moonlight gleamed off his. "Promise me," he whispered, and his thumb stroked your cheek lightly. "Promise me you'll be standing with me here forever."
"I promise," you whispered back. "I'll be here always, Cheng."
"You're mine, Y/n," Jiang Cheng huffed before he yanked your face toward his and press his lips roughly against your own, staring for a second before you closed your eyes,.
His tongue slid inside your warm cavern, tangling with your tongue and causing a gasp to slip from your mouth against his. The noise was muffled by Jiang Cheng's mouth, and your hands shakily placed themselves on his chest, still in shock from the surprising action he did, in public, no less.
He wasn't usually this forward, but you weren't protesting, you loved the feeling that you received when Jian Cheng kissed you.
Jiang Cheng's hand resting on the centre of your back trailed down, slipping around to your chest, where it was about to untie the sash that held your hanfu together. You pulled away hastily, a pout on your lips as Jiang Cheng looked down at you confused.
"What?" he scoffed.
"Not outside," you mumbled, head falling to his shoulder and he sighed, realizing.
He only wanted you to the extent of proving to everyone that you were his and his alone.
So that Wei Wuxian would finally leave you alone.
A gasp left you at the lips when Jiang Cheng picked you up, seamlessly making your figure appear minute in contrast to his own as he carried you to your shared room and placed you with slight haste onto the bed.
Jiang Cheng undresses his robes, revealing a body—bared, yet meant only for your eyes. You watch the muscles on his back ripple slightly as he unties the knot in his hair, black stands falling down his back before he makes his way over to you.
Straddling your hips, he began slowly undoing the sashes and ties to your hanfu. You let out a sigh at the pace that your lover was going at. Small hands hold the wrists of Jiang Chengs and he quirks a brow.
"Cheng, p-please," you breath out, face flushed and embarrassed. ".please b-be faster."
"Alright," Jiang Cheng hummed, untying your Hanfu at a faster rate.
He made room on top of you, tousling tongues again as he slipped your socked panties down your smooth legs. Jiang Cheng's long, thin fingers slide down your slicked folds and burrow past them, a mewl eliciting from your mouth.
Your arms tighten around his back and neck as his fingers press against your throbbing clit, and you are washed with pleasure, breathless and craving more. A moan leaves your parted lips as your back arches into his touch.
Your eyes were screwed shut, but Cheng studied every minuscule movement and reaction your body made as his fingers toyed with your puffy clit, getting slicked by your arousal. Your legs squeeze around his hips, moans stringing out your mouth before you felt his digits slid to your seeping hole.
In less than an instant, the two fingers slipped inside your gummy soaked walls, causing your eyes to snap open. "Feel good?" Jiang Cheng questioned. You could only nod frantically.
"So good," you whimpered as he slowly pumped in and out your spongy walls. "I–It feels so good, Cheng."
"Yeah? And who's making you feel this good?" He asked, and you moaned as he inserted another finger into your walls.
"Y - You're makin' me feel s' good, Jiang Cheng," you whimper. "So good
It's too intense, the perfect combination of pleasure and pressure that you can't contain from being blasted by your voice and into his shoulder. You press your lips to his shoulder, muffling the sounds that come out from the depths of you. His fingers plunged into you, and the heat moved throughout your system, tormenting every thought within you. Each little movement, each curve, sent electric shocks of pleasure radiating through your body.
Jiang Cheng's fingers are slick as you surrender to the intoxicating rhythm of his touches. The combination between the fingertips of a master and the strength of the connection has you pressed ever closer to the edge, teetering on the precipice of release. Time stood still, a second of pure bliss, as you are consumed by wonderful pleasure coursing through your system.
His fingers did not stop their rhythm and went on pumping in and out of your getting-leak hole. There was a foreign tension developing inside your lower stomach; the pleasure tightened inside your stomach.
You shakily wrap your legs around his, your body quivering in anticipation of each and every one of his moves, responding to his every touch. Chant's of his name were leaving your mouth, voice filled with desire and need while comfort words left his mouth to stabilize you.
Tears welled in your eyes wanting to desperately release the coil that was growing in your stomach.
"Cheng, please," you sob out, wanting that euphoric tension to empty into your body.
But he complies, pressing the pad of his thumb into your clit with a soft groan, yet another layer of pleasure to stack onto what already was. It's pure electricity. You let my back arch in response. "Beg for it," Jiang Cheng hummed against your skin.
"Please, Cheng," I sob. "I need to. So good. Making me feel so good."
"More," he said, teeth digging into my neck, my head thrown back against the pillow.
"Please, please, please," you whimper. "I need it, Cheng," you mewl. "Please, I need it," you mumbled out and Jiang Cheng lifts his head from your neck, admiring the trails of splotches of red.
Jiang Cheng cupped your chin with his free hand, angling your face toward him with eyes staring intently into your own. "Louder," he hummed, leaning in, wanting to hear the words simply spill from those plumped, pretty lips.
Your eyes screw shut as you continued on, desperate for the release you so desperately needed. "Please, please."
"Look at me when you beg for me," he barked, his eyes working, trying to see you fall apart underneath him.
Your his, no one elses.
Eyes snapped open at his command, wanting to release badly. "I want it, please, Cheng, I want you so bad, only you, please," you whimper and you saw his eyes flicker in approval causing a swell of happiness to surge through your body.
"That's it," he reassured, allowing you to release, intertwining your mouths together, his mouth swallowing the moans that slipped out your mouth.
The pleasure rises, the tension building with every second that passes until you teeter on the edge of release. It's a pure moment of surrender, where the pleasure is supreme and you are overtaken by the overwhelming ecstasy that floods over you.
Waves of ecstasy hit you, leaving your legs trembling and weak, unable to stand even for the greatest sensation. He slips his fingers from your drenched hole, and you continue trembling from the aftertaste of the orgasm.
A mewl leaves your mouth at the sensation of his fingers leaving your soaked cunt. Jiang Cheng pressed his lips against yours, not as rough as before but still with the same impression, and you moan into the kiss.
"I wan' more," you whimper out through his tongue entangled with yours.
"Yeah?" Jiang Cheng hums against your lips and you nod.
"God, I need you, so bad," you add. "Cheng, please, can't leave me like this."
Jiang Cheng filled you around, your stomach pressed against the bed while his abs were flush against your back. His hands moved to grip behind your small ones, rendering your ability to squirm out of Jiang Cheng's hold.
Jiang Cheng's breath sent shivers down your ear, and you wiggled your head at the warm sensation. Now, your core was getting wetter; your body was trying to squirm away from the imposing hold he had on you.
Jiang Cheng slid his hands in this subtle push-and-pull motion, changing his hold so one of his hands can grip both of yours above your head and careful not to get your hair caught in-between the movements. You let out a content sigh as Cheng rose his body just a little, trailing his free hand down the expanse of your smooth back before his fingers meet your slick entrance.
"Sodden," he murmurs against your ear, and then takes a bite of the collagen, and you gasp at the unexpected move.
Then, you felt a heavy, pulsing head press against your clit, and you moaned from the contact. You tried to squirm away from the cause of pleasure, only to be unable to do so, for Jiang Cheng knew your body better than you did yourself—he knew you were going to try to run from his body due to the pleasure. So, he pressed his weight on you once more.
You held your breath as Jiang Cheng sank his flesh into your spongey walls, the ridges squeezing his length with every thrust into your soaked cunt. A moan left both of your mouths as Jiang Cheng's length nudged the deepest spot within you.
"'Look how you take me in,' he grunts. 'Such a good little slut.' You sigh in pleasure at degrading praise—the way he knew you enjoyed being worshiped in an abasement. He savored his words, words that hit so deep, and in a way, he never wanted to call you anything else.".
But he didn't move, he wanted to savor how you wanted to cause friction, desired to move against his touch, but couldn't. Jiang Cheng's cock prodded so deep in your gummy walls that you whimpered in pleasure, but that didn't stop him from not moving. He was still snug inside.
Those hot, tender kisses made their way from your ear down to that dip of your neck to your shoulder right as, with an exhale that breathlessly kills you, Jiang Cheng rolled his hips into yours. A moan slipped out from your mouth, his thick length scraping over all the sensitive spots of your heated insides.
Jiang Cheng splay your legs apart with his knees, so any inclinations from you are ensured to be suppressed with his efforts to keep you still. Underneath him, your beautiful body paled in comparison to his colossal frame. He hoped that you would not budge from his ensnared arms. And true enough, he had his way.
He speeded up further in his own movements, his cock thrusting deep in my needy hole, strained moans and whining leaving your throat. Jiang Cheng could be heard panting in your ear, letting out the occasional deep groan with the sounds that made your cunt flutter tightly around his length.
Jiang Cheng was filling you up to the hilt, his throbbing pink tip knocking against that soft, gummy spot inside my cunt, and I felt I could fly over the edge, scream out in fulfilment. "Found it," he breathed into you, making you let out a moaned sigh, shaking against him with the pleasure. "Found it, hm?" Jiang Cheng smirks. "Am I making you feel so good, huh?"
Your body tried to arch away from the pleasure, not being able to take the strong rolls of his hips, but as you arched back away, his thrusts only aimed deeper, harder into your G spot. "Y-yeah," you sobbed out, tears filling your lash line. "B-but. Too much. Slow down, too much."
His hips picking up in pace now, loving how your cunt squeezed his cock even though you wanted him to slow down, how contradicting he thought your words were, you were denying your body the release that you so desperately needed. "Your taking me so well though," Jiang Cheng added. "You can take it, your so close."
Repetitive moans left your mouth while he pounded into your tight heat. You had the sudden instinct to press yourself into his length, but you couldn't; his weight was too heavy for you to move against him. You were utterly hopeless as his thrusts became faster.
"I—I wanna come," you cry out mewling. "So big, you feel so big, Jiang Cheng."
Your body trembled beneath him and the hold he had on your hands loosened, your hips getting held, then, the strength he possessed lifting you onto your knees before a bicep wrapped around your throat, lifting your head. It wasn't a tight grip but the power lifted your head from the futon while you shakily rested your weight on your elbows.
Your back arched heavily, finally being able to sink more into him. Jiang Cheng hunched over you, pulling you closer to him and connected your mouth in a sloppy, wet kiss, forcing his tongue inside your mouth, grunting into you while he swallowed your moans. "Taking me so deep, making me feel so good, making you feel so good, aren't I?" Jiang Cheng moaned, drawing back from your mouth and pushing the arch into your back deeper.
He watched your ass ripple again against his lower abdomen, watching your pussy with grey eyes'. Watching how your walks sucked him in, leaving a creamy white rind of arousal around the base of his cock. "Making you feel so good, aren't I?" Jiang Cheng groaned with his head tilted forward, sweat beading on his forehead as he watched you fall apart and tremble from his dick, with broken moans slipping past your plump lips.
A satisfied smirk came onto Jiang Cheng's face as he watched those tears that welled in your fluffy lash line spill down your smooth cheeks. "Look how good you are taking me," groaned Jiang Cheng. "So good. Love you so much."
"'Wanna come, please," you beg, wanting to feel the release, desperate as the tears stream down your flushed cheeks. "Want it so bad. 'M love you too!"
You clench around his length as he picks up his pace. Instantly accommodating the speed, your moans escalate. Chasing with a deep moan, he mumbled in my ear while he leaned down, and my insides stirred, clenching around his length. "How much you need me?" rasps Jiang Cheng in your ear.
"Want you bad!" you whimper, being unable to grasp any thoughts that swelled into your head. "You make me feel so good!"
"Say it again, wanna hear it," Jiang Cheng grunts his teeth grinding together.
You moan out, your body trembling. "You make me feel so good, Cheng, want you so much," you hiccup out as the coil in your stomach tightened while his heavy balls slapped against your swollen clit.
"Nnggh, that's it," Jiang Cheng groans back, not allowing you to say anything towards the end, wantonly ready to fill your cunt up with his seed.
"Please, Cheng, I wanna come," you moan. "Want you to make me come."
"That's it," he groaned, and you spasmed around his length, as your high washed over you, your legs shaking, as his weight pressed down even more than it already was. He didn't slow his thrusts—a fact rather evident, as I let out whimper after whimper of overstimulation—but Jiang Cheng continued to help it, his hips rutting into mine, helping me ride out my orgasm as he chased his own.
With a groan he was back, lips planted against mine once again as his hips slammed into mine, hard, cumming, spilling inside me which caused me to moan into his kiss. Jiang Cheng slipped his softening length out, and pulled away from the kiss as you slumped to the futon, his eyes chained to the white splotches of silky come that spilled from your gaping cunt before fingering the liquid back into your cunt.
The grip of Jiang Cheng's hands on your hips tightened a bit as he gracefully rolled you to lie on your back and pulled back far enough so you could see the intensity in his eyes as he dipped down, taking your lips in a chaste but at the same time almost possessive kiss. The world faded away. There was just you two in that shared moment of intimacy.
And when the kiss finally ended, his forehead rested against yours. "You are mine," he murmured with voice filled with affection. "Mine and nobody else's."
Your heart swelled with the words he uttered, causing a warmth in your chest as you nodded. "Yes, Jiang Cheng," you replied softly, your voice tender and kind. "I'm yours and yours only."
Do not copy, steal, modify, etc.
Relogs and like are appreciated.
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Tell us your theory on why he says that PLEASE. I don’t think it’s true they have to fix things 😭
So, this post points out a huge flaw in Wei Wuxian's response and its discrepancy to what we know of their relationship in canon. The Golden Core transfer is one of MANY things they need to discuss to get past their estranged, brittle, slightly obsessive relationship.
When we take a close look at why Jiang Cheng is so angry and so hurt here, it's not just about his family or any debt Wei Wuxian might have had to his parents. Ultimately, it's about Wei Wuxian's promise to remain by Jiang Cheng's side. He lost his parents and their entire sect, then he lost his own core trying to protect Wei Wuxian (who doesn't know!) then his "martial brother/brother/best friend/whatever" not only goes missing for three months but returns with new powers and new issues he won't share with anyone. Not even Yanli.
Jiang Cheng wanted to protect Wei Wuxian but was unable to due to larger political circumstances and the fact that he didn't know about the transfer. He didn't know why Wei Wuxian was using demonic cultivation! He warns Wei Wuxian again and again that there are larger risks of his cultivation, and he turned out to be right. Trouble found Wei Wuxian even when he ran off and hid peacefully! And he never knew why.
To Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian asking to leave the sect -- regardless of whether or not it was to protect them from further scrutiny by the other sects -- is him asking to leave Jiang Cheng's side. To break their promise without any explanation. He already lost so much and all he can see here is losing another person he loves.
I want to drive that point in, really.
Any insecurity Jiang Cheng feels over Wei Wuxian's capabilities is often outweighed by his sense of responsibility towards rebuilding his sect and attempting to protect what remains of the family he had before the attack on Lotus Pier.
He didn't want to tell Wei Wuxian about why he lost his golden core for the same exact reason that Wei Wuxian kept the surgery a secret. They didn't want to hurt each other with the knowledge of such a great sacrifice. A sacrifice no one would have ever asked of either of them, no matter what was "owed." The Transfer was experimental and pretty much something no cultivator would even attempt. That's what made this choice so risky and so hard to account for.
Neither had any real way to weight the risks and consequences of this situation, and by never talking about it even during a tearful argument, we got canon events. (I've seen people talk about how Wei Wuxian's circumstances meant he had very little else to choose but survival, but this is true for Jiang Cheng too.)
And really. They both tried so hard to survive. And yet, when faced with terrible choices, they chose to protect each other. Putting their cultivation on the line to save each other's lives is not something anyone would normally do. Duty could have been a factor, but in my opinion, it wouldn't have taken Wei Wuxian that far. It wasn't even a factor in Jiang Cheng's.
And I think this is why people feel so put off by Wei Wuxian claiming it was done out of duty to the Yunmeng Jiang family. But it doesn't start with him. Their entire confrontation starts out with Jiang Cheng questioning what the sect meant to Wei Wuxian, if everything they gave him (everything they were to him) was worth nothing. This is almost entirely a projection of what Jiang Cheng asks when he cries. What he really feels is hidden in questions about martial duty.
"Why did you not tell me?"
For all his words, it was less about their sect and so much more about Jiang Cheng feeling like he was worth nothing to Wei Wuxian.
We know this. But Wei Wuxian doesn't.
I didn't notice it immediately, but Wei Wuxian's whole thing is deflection. It's about telling small truths and laughing things off or forcing himself to forget entirely. By the end of their confrontation, he does it again by asking Jiang Cheng to let it stay in the past, now that it's out there, but this does nothing to reduce the tension. It just deflects it again.
I think Wei Wuxian's response to Jiang Cheng's questions was to focus on what he thought was most important. Duty, debt to the Yunmeng Jiang. It was a deflection from what was really wrong. He didn't want to address his own complicated feeling, much less try to untangle whether Jiang Cheng hates him or loves him, so he doesn't.
Whatever broke between them wasn't about duty of any kind. It was about sacrifice, and the pain of carrying its burden alone. It was about loving someone enough to do something so drastic and never being able to say it.
Jiang Cheng hearing that the transfer was out of duty hurts him deeply, because he doesn't know that Wei Wuxian loves him. But Wei Wuxian doesn't know that's what Jiang Cheng is looking for. He hears the first part of their confrontation and responds to that.
Not, "Why did you never tell me?" But 'Did the Yunmeng Jiang mean nothing to you?'
Those are two different questions.
Wei Wuxian is trying to tell Jiang Cheng that it did mean something. That Lotus Pier's destruction, the Jiang parents and Yanli's deaths mattered to him. He's trying to release Jiang Cheng's burden without realizing that, by saying it had nothing to do with him, he's saying that Jiang Cheng didn't matter enough.
This is not how Wei Wuxian feels, we know this. But, again, Jiang Cheng doesn't.
They're talking right past each other, and because of all their other issues, they not only don't realize it, but might never be able to truly address it. They're so used to keeping their feelings hidden from each other that they can't even see how much they, as individuals, matter to each other.
TL;DR.
Both of them love each other and couldn't say it because of their complicated. Well, everything. Instead, their misconceptions cause them both to focus on the wrong things at the wrong time. By asking about what the Yunmeng Jiang meant to Wei Wuxian, it hides what Jiang Cheng really wants to know: if it was done out of love and protectiveness as his sacrifice had been. By focusing on this deflection, Wei Wuxian hides his own feelings by placing duty to the Jiang sect in highest importance. He gives the answer that he thinks Jiang Cheng wants to hear.
So, no, I don't think Wei Wuxian wasn't telling the truth (or at least not the full truth) either.
In the end, this is not what either of them actually wanted from the confrontation and does very little to address their actual emotional issues. All it really does is open the door for something to change in the future.
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what happened when wwx went to gusu summer school in the wrh raises wwx au?
"Thank the heavens," Lan Xichen laughs, when Lan Wangji presents himself at the Hanshi after returning from his latest monthlong night-hunting tour in Huai'an. "Shufu has been at his wits' end in your absence, didi."
Lan Wangji lifts an eyebrow and begins to unpack the basket of tribute gifts he received from the Huai'an magistrate. "Why? My duties were to be delegated to Changyi-tangxiong while I was away; and whatever Shufu might find wanting in his temperament, I have never known him to be anything but diligent."
"No one has dared replace you as head of discipline," his brother says wryly. "And according to Shufu, this batch of guest disciples has worse manners than most."
"Shufu rarely has trouble with the guest disciples," Lan Wangji points out, frowning. The lone exception to this rule was Nie Huaisang; but no one in the Cloud Recesses has ever bothered disciplining Nie Huaisang, even before his older brother was betrothed to Xiongzhang. "Who does he wish me to discipline this time?"
Inexplicably, Lan Xichen only grins at him and scoops a handful of icy-red lychees out of the tribute basket.
"Go to tomorrow's lecture in the Lanshi," he teases, "and perhaps you shall see."
Lan Wangji could not see the sense in this. If one of the guest scholars was being impudent in the Lanshi, Shufu ought to have sent them to the Pavilion of Discipline to receive punishment instead of waiting for him to settle matters; for as Head of Discipline, Lan Wangji's main duties consisted of revising the codex of appropriate punishments and patrolling the Cloud Recesses after hai shi on alternate fortnights.
But the next day, he made his way to the Lanshi as bidden—and the moment he crossed the threshold, he understood exactly who had been making trouble for his uncle, and why he had been left for Wangji to handle.
As ever, all four of the other Great Clans were represented among the guest disciples: Yunmeng Jiang disciples in violet and jade-green, the Jin in cream and gold, Nie Huaisang and his shixiongdi in their familiar black and silver-gray—and by the window, the fiery scarlet and gold of Wen Ruohan's delegation, dressed in silks so fine that they would not have looked out of place upon an imperial concubine.
Lan Wangji narrows his eyes at them. Each one is haughtier than the next, though not quite brazen enough for Shufu to blink at; but then his gaze moves to the disciple sitting at the front, and freezes as the boy rolls his shoulders and turns around to greet Wangji with an insolent, lazy smile.
This is the one, he realizes, as the disciple flutters painted—painted?—lashes at him before turning back to look at Shufu. He is the one Uncle wants me to discipline.
"Wangji," Shufu says, with such open relief that Lan Wangji looks away from the Wen disciple in surprise. "At last. Have you come to attend lessons with the guest disciples?"
Wangji puts his hands together and bows. "Yes, Uncle."
"Excellent. But before you sit down, go take Wei Wuxian to the dormitories, and see that he washes his face and removes those ornaments from his hair."
Lan Wangji nods and takes three great strides towards the Wen disciple. "You heard your laoshi," he says. "Come."
The disciple—Wei Wuxian—gives no reply; but luckily, he rises from his chair and follows Lan Wangji out of the Lanshi without protest. As soon as the doors to the lecture hall fall closed behind them, Lan Wangji opens his mouth to deliver a short lecture on the virtues of modesty and simplicity in dress—only to snap it closed again in shock, for he has never seen a man who painted his face like this outside the theater troupes Xichen used to visit with him when they were children.
Wei Wuxian's lips are a wet, shining crimson, as if he had dipped them in blood before arriving at the Lanshi; and his eyes are lined with fine black paint and red rouge mixed with some kind of bright, sparkling dust. Worse yet, he had even painted his eyelashes, to make them seem twice as long and dark as any man's lashes ought to be—and as if all of that were not enough, the heavy locks of his hair are fastened with chains made of solid gold.
"Why are you looking at me, Lan-er-gongzi?" Wei Wuxian asks. He puts his head to one side, and despite himself, Lan Wangji hears music; for someone had woven small golden bells into Wei Wuxian's braided hair.
"Enough talk," Lan Wangji says flatly. "Follow me back to the dormitories so you can wash and brush out your hair."
To his astonishment, Wei Wuxian does not object. He keeps pace with Lan Wangji all the way to the compound reserved for the Wen disciples; and then, without another word, he vanishes into his lodgings and leaves Lan Wangji behind to wait for him on the porch.
Puzzled, Lan Wangji seats himself on a convenient stool and wonders why Wei Wuxian had obeyed him so easily. It was only too clear that Shufu first tried to teach him the virtues of simple adornments at least a month ago, if not longer; so why had he flouted Uncle's wishes and honored Lan Wangji's?
Perhaps he is being too obedient, says a small voice in the back of Lan Wangji's mind. Perhaps he has run out through the back of the house, and gone off to frolic in Caiyi.
Lan Wangji frowns more deeply than ever and raps on the door with his knuckles. "Wei-gongzi? Are you finished?"
"Nearly," Wei Wuxian calls. "You can come in, if you'd like."
Wangji highly doubts that Wei Wuxian is really making himself presentable (or at least, not as he ought to be doing) so he enters the house and finds his charge wiping his face with a damp towel.
He lowers the towel at the sound of Lan Wangji's footsteps, and then:
"You were not meant to paint yourself in a different fashion," he says, incensed. "Wash your face properly at once."
Wei Wuxian blinks at him in confusion.
"I have washed it off," he says. "Look."
And then he leans forward and grabs Lan Wangji's hand, drawing it up to the damp skin of his face before Lan Wangji can turn tail and flee. He drags Lan Wangji's fingertips over the smooth bones of his cheeks and forehead, and across the bronzen skin circling his eyes—tanned and not painted, Lan Wangji realizes—and presses his full lips to the heart of Lan Wangji's palm, so forcefully that any traces of rouge left upon them would have been imprinted on Wangji's skin.
"There!" Wei Wuxian says, beaming—and completely unaware that Lan Wangji is very near to bursting out of sheer fury. "I'm as clean as a new jian."
"Your hair," Lan Wangji croaks; for if he dared raise his voice any further, he would scream, and then he would be the one submitting himself for punishment at the discipline pavilion. "Comb it."
Wei Wuxian nods and unravels his braids. Rather than undoing them one by one, he merely snaps his fingers and lets out a burst of spiritual energy; and immediately, the gold fastenings fall loose and clatter onto his dressing-table, leaving the glittering mass of his hair to slide down his broad back like a waterfall coursing down the face of a mountain.
Suddenly, Lan Wangji finds himself unable to breathe.
He flings himself out of the guest house and up the hill towards the Jingshi, where he spends an hour meditating in complete silence before he can bring himself to set foot out of doors again.
"Brother," he says, when he finally works up the courage to return to the Hanshi two days later. "I fear that I may be unable to take over the duty of disciplining Wei Wuxian. He made me angrier than I have ever been in my life."
Lan Xichen—who had heretofore shown no signs of being anything other than a kind, understanding brother—only stares at him, and bursts into laughter.
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