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spockandawe · 4 years ago

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mmm, thinking about the guanyin temple scene, and the things jin guangyao finally says once people corner him.

Wei Wuxian laughed from anger, staring at Su She. “Have I ever done anything to you? I didn’t see you as an enemy— I didn’t even know you!”

Jin Guangyao said, “Wei-gongzi, shouldn’t you be the one who knows this best? Would you be safe just because you didn’t see him as an enemy? How could that be? In this world, everyone begins without enemies. Yet someone eventually moves to strike that first blow.”

and we only see a sliver of his childhood, but like, in just that TINY moment, first

The woman said, “Oh, why would I lie to you about something like this? Her son is running errands for us right now. There, that’s him.” The woman twisted her waist, waving at a boy holding a tray. “Xiao-Meng! Come here!”

The boy did as he was told and walked over. “Anxin-jie, what is it?”

All at once, Wei Wuxian understood everything.

The clients studied Meng Yao with judgmental eyes. Meng Yao asked again, “Am I needed for something?”

Anxin grinned. “Xiao-Meng, are you still learning all those things lately?”

Meng Yao paused. “Which things?”

Anxin said, “The things your mother wants you to learn, like calligraphy, etiquette, swordsmanship, meditation… How are those things going?”

Before she even finished, the clients began to chuckle as if they thought something was funny. Anxin turned around. “Don’t laugh, I’m telling the truth. His mom’s raising him like a young master of a wealthy family. She taught him to read and write, bought him all sorts of swordsmanship pamphlets, and even wants to send him to school.”

A client exclaimed, “Send him to school? Did I hear wrong?”

“No! Xiao-Meng, tell these gongzis. You’ve gone to the library before, haven’t you?”

The client asked, “Is he still going?”

Anxin said, “Nah, he came back just a few days later. He refused to go back, no matter what. Xiao-Meng, did you not like studying, or did you not like the place?”

Meng Yao didn’t say anything. Anxin giggled, poking a red-painted finger at his forehead, “Little one, are you angry?”

She pressed quite hard. A light, red mark appeared in the center of Meng Yao’s forehead, almost like a shadow of a vermillion mark. He touched his forehead. “No…”

an adult woman makes a point of calling him over just so she and her clients can laugh at his expense. and then moments later

Suddenly, someone screamed. The sound of cups and saucers shattering came from the second floor as a guqin crashed down, smashing to pieces as it hit landed in the hall. It scared the wits out of the people enjoying themselves at the nearby tables. Anxin stood, almost tripping, yelling, “What happened?!”

Meng Yao cried, “A-Niang!”

Anxin looked up. A burly man dragged a woman out of a room by her hair. Anxin tugged the sleeve of the client next to her. It was unclear whether she was nervous or excited. “She’s at it again!”

Meng Yao rushed upstairs. The woman covered her head, trying her hardest to pull her clothes up her shoulders. As she saw Meng Yao run over, she hurriedly cried, “I told you not to come upstairs! Go down! Go down this instant!”

As Meng Yao tried to peel away the client’s hands from his mother, he was kicked in the stomach and rolled down the stairs, causing a wave of exclamations.

This was the third time Wei Wuxian had seen him kicked down a flight of stairs.

The woman screamed as the client grabbed her by the hair again, dragging her all the way downstairs, where he stripped her and threw her onto the street. He spat on her naked body, cursing, “Hags do nothing but haggle— This old whore thinks she’s fresh meat!”

he watches his mother get physically attacked and thrown naked into the streets, just because she tried to get decent payment for her work. and he’s kicked down the stairs for trying to help her

After the kick, Meng Yao hadn’t been able to get up, and was still lying on the ground. The lady grabbed one person with each hand and dragged away both the mother and son.

that’s so much unnecessary cruelty! in such a small time! and it’s not like everything is magically fixed once he enters the cultivation world, he still has to deal with all the pointing and laughing, getting kicked down the stairs of jinlintai when he just tried to present himself to his father, the gossip without regard for whether he can hear it, people wiping their hands after they accept a cup from him, madam jin beating him, hearing his father drunkenly talk about how his mother was such a huge pain in the ass, and he didn’t want to support her because it would have been annoying. there was so much suffering that he never ““asked”” for in any sense.

and given the ways that wei wuxian and jin guangyao are parallels for each other, especially in terms of the hardships they endure, i definitely think it’s both interesting and important that the story repeatedly emphasizes 1) wei wuxian’s terrible memory, and 2) jin guangyao’s perfect memory.

Wei Wuxian knew that ‘for once’ referred to how his memory had been good, for once. He couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t always be so angry about it. It was my fault before, alright? Besides, my terrible memory is thanks to my mother.”

Wei Wuxian propped his arm on Lil’ Apple’s head, spinning Chenqing in his hand. “She said you have to remember the things others do for you, not the things you do for others. Only when people don’t hold so much in their hearts will they finally feel free.”

This was one of the only things he remembered about his parents.

Jin Guangyao could remember the name, title, age, and appearance of any person after just one encounter. Even years later, he’d be able to greet them without any fault, and carry out a solicitous conversations as well. If he’d seen someone more than twice, he would remember all of their likes and dislikes, and would therefore be able to cater to their needs.

there’s a lot at play in the different ways that the two of them react to the suffering they lived through, but that line about ‘someone always moves to strike that first blow’ really stuck with me. preemptive hostility doesn’t feel like wei wuxian’s style in general (post-burial-mounds ptsd excluded), but the difference in how they react to being singled out and mistreated is really striking. madam yu hits wei wuxian for being shirtless in the summer heat, even though everyone else was too, and when there’s a quiet moment he’s kind of :(( over ‘why is it always ME’, but he gets distracted in like two seconds, and pushes it all away. jin guangyao can compartmentalize like a motherfucker, and even as a child, he’s good at keeping a smile on his face no matter what, but he isn’t able to forget.

i don’t have a clean-cut conclusion to come to, only that i’m a picky binch when it comes to how people characterize jin guangyao’s actions. this is a story where i personally struggle a lot with how badly these characters hurt each other, and how sympathetic i am to all of their motivations. i find the story agonizing, in a lot of very good ways, and i’m constantly overflowing with thoughts about how jin guangyao specifically parallels the people around him, and how his actions compare and contrast to the decisions those other people make. rereading the flashback sequences was one of the most painful parts of this whole reread process, and then the guanyin temple scene in general hurt way much more than i was expecting. for the most part, i have too many feelings screaming for attention right now to do justice to any of them, but this particular character note jumped out at me, and i felt compelled to share.

#mdzs #jin guangyao #wei wuxian #long post/

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yiling-daddy · 4 years ago

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Yes, that was me! I can definitely expand on my thoughts re: how Madam Yu’s behaviour reads differently to me due to my traditional, Chinese upbringing.

There is a lot of subjectivity as to whether Madam Yu can be read as abusive, and this reading is often influenced by culture—hence you often see completely off-base takes floating around. However, to me, the way that cultural context influences the reading will actually change depending on the relationship, so I will discuss each one separately. Most of the culturally insensitive takes are about her being an abusive or uncaring mother (she’s not), or that she’s a spurned woman (it’s more complicated than that), so you can skip down to the JC, JYL, and CSSR sections for that.

Madam Yu and Wei Wuxian

As a trend, I think western fandom tends to simplify Wei Wuxian’s dynamic with the Jiang family into an entire adopted family. Consequently, Yu Ziyuan gets perceived as this two-dimensional, evil stepmom figure—but I think this doesn’t capture the truth.

There’s a bit more variability among Chinese audiences when they read the Jiang family dynamic, partly due to our deeper familiarity with wuxia tropes, but mostly because there's a mediocre Netflix translation colouring the western interpretation. Though many Chinese fans do view them all as a sort of family unit and read Madam Yu as a stepmother, I do not. To me, Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli view Wei Wuxian as family—but Madam Yu does not. Madam Yu views him as a servant, a disciple of the sect, and an outsider at the dinner table—and it’s not wrong for her to do so. It’s not gracious, but it’s not unfounded. I don’t think Wei Ying ever gives any indication that he views her as a mother, either.

If you agree that they don’t have anything like a mother-son relationship, all these insults/complaints that Yu Ziyuan levels at him—that he’s the “son of a servant”, that Jiang Fengmian is weird for openly favouring Wei Wuxian over his own son, etc.—these start to make sense? Like, it’s shitty to listen to, but none of it is wrong. Suddenly it reads less like pointless insults and more like actual points.

Additionally, if we consider that Wei Wuxian is a disciple of the sect who goes around and raises the ire of the Wen clan, corporal punishment suddenly looks very normal (again, within the culture). Hence, when I watched the donghua and CQL, I hated seeing Wei Wuxian getting whipped, but I didn’t perceive this as abuse—especially because of the political nature of the decision.

But it is definitely still possible to mistreat a disciple.

In CQL, you see Madam Yu throwing an unnecessary amount of vitriol at Wei Ying. In the novel extras, it's revealed that she regularly whipped him but never whipped the other disciples, indicating that it wasn't normal corporal punishment. She also whipped him for absurdly stupid reasons. To me, this signals that she tended to abuse her authority over him. Even if you don’t view her as an abusive mother to Wei Ying, it's fair to read her as an abusive authority figure.

Importantly however, "abuse" is a loaded word suggesting a violation of social norms, and again, the situation is complicated because the social norms of the setting don't match those of the modern world. Madam Yu is not overstepping her bounds as master of Lotus Pier—hence, people do not think very much of this treatment in-universe, including Wei Ying himself.

Madam Yu, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli

Okay, when I first watched CQL, I cringed when Madam Yu started dragging her family because she sounded like My Actual Chinese Mother. I felt for a second like I had transmigrated into Jiang Cheng’s body and I was experiencing his agony firsthand!

Madam Yu reads very realistically, and I think this is why it gets personal for a lot of Chinese people when this fandom discusses her character. Yes, she belittles and hurts her children for their perceived failures, but many Chinese people can tell you that this is just a common parenting style. And while it might look like bullying to an outsider, this behaviour is usually motivated by love. It is often also motivated by fear that the child’s future will be substandard. This is textually obvious when you consider what exactly Madam Yu yells about:

She snaps at Yanli to stop peeling lotus pods, because she shouldn’t act like a servant. If Yanli keeps behaving so passively, what kind of role is she going to fall into in the future—especially given that she is not a cultivator?

She berates Jiang Cheng for always being inferior to Wei Wuxian no matter what he does. If Jiang Cheng is constantly overshadowed by Wei Wuxian, what will that mean for his future as sect leader? Or his future status and reputation among the sects?

I can do these Chinese Mom Translations because parents in real life will actually say things like this out of concern for their children (insults included), in an attempt to motivate them... and it really does light a fire under our asses. I attribute many of my personal successes to this parenting style. Thus, when I see posts like “Madam Yu didn’t show any sign of caring for others” or "Madam Yu was a purely selfish and arrogant person" or “Madam Yu is an abusive mother and nothing else"—well, I can tell most of these people are not Chinese, or if they are, then they likely did not have a traditional upbringing.

While I don't think these uninformed readings of Madam Yu are necessarily racist, I do think they they are unpleasant for Chinese fans to constantly see. For those of us in the west that had this type of upbringing, we often struggle with trying to frame and process our relationships with our parents. For me, this was partly due to the emotional baggage of my upbringing (Jiang Cheng winning!!!)... but it was also because white society kept telling me that my parents didn't give a shit about me when obviously they did. That’s fucked up to experience. It reeks of cultural imperialism. Thus, when I see Chinese people getting annoyed at these Madam Yu takes, I’m not surprised. This is unfortunately a fictional discussion that very much resembles a real one for us.

Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Fengmian, and Cangse Sanren

A lot of people view Madam Yu as a spurned woman and assume that is her motivation for constantly antagonizing Wei Wuxian and her husband. But because I assume that a lot of her chaotic yelling stems from her concerns as an Actual Chinese Mother, my take is different.

Remember the scene where Madam Yu catches Jiang Fengmian scolding Jiang Cheng just after praising Wei Wuxian? She drags Jiang Cheng up to his father and, in both CQL and the donghua, says something to this effect (paraphrased from memory):

This is your son, the future master of Lotus Pier! Even if you don’t like him because he was born to me, his surname is still Jiang!

And in CQL, she also says this right after berating Jiang Cheng for not measuring up to Wei Wuxian:

But it’s not your fault. Your mother is no match for his mother.

Yu Ziyuan isn’t angry about Cangse Sanren because she’s jealous; she is angry about Cangse Sanren because she thinks Jiang Fengmian’s feelings for her are jeopardizing his competence as a father to Jiang Cheng. Viewed in this light, it also makes sense why Yu Ziyuan is hostile to Wei Wuxian in a way that alienates him from the family—constantly calling him the son of a servant, pointing out the rumours about his parentage, etc. She’s not doing this because she hates Cangse Sanren or Wei Wuxian; she’s doing it because Wei Wuxian’s presence in the family is threatening Jiang Cheng’s future in her eyes.

Bonus: Did Yu Ziyuan love Jiang Fengmian?

Yes! In both the donghua and CQL (I ashamedly admit I don’t clearly remember the novel), I thought their final moments made it quite evident that they cared for each other. They fought together, died together to protect their home, and reached out to one another in their final moments.

But when I rewatched Madam Yu’s scenes in CQL and the donghua, I realized we got other hints that westerners probably missed. I'll focus on CQL:

Right before Jiang Fengmian sets off with Yanli for Lanling, Madam Yu sees them off. She gives Yanli some snacks and then—without making eye contact with Jiang Fengmian—says that she’s also giving them medicine in case someone gets a headache. Jiang Fengmian pauses, because it’s obviously for him.

This is recognizable behaviour for a lot of Chinese people. I can’t tell you how many times my mother got apoplectic at me, and then the only follow-up was her going out of her way to make me my favourite meal. The chaotic yelling you see between Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan is also pretty typical to many Chinese parents, and again, the follow-up in my household was often one of them going out of their way to do something for the other.

This is just how the culture is in a lot of families. “Sorry” isn’t expressed in words; it's expressed in actions. “I love you” isn’t expressed in words; it’s expressed in actions. In Chinese culture, the dominant love language is acts of service. It's fleeting, but we get glimpses of that kind of love between Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian.

#the untamed #cql #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #yu ziyuan #madam yu #jiang yanli #cangse sanren #jiang fengmian #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #damn i guess its madam yu loving hours here #my meta

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fengshenjunlang · 10 months ago

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@owl-it-here

First of all, Whooa, I can't believe I actually act like JFM's attorney. Not when in reality I'm not impressed by him, at all. But I'm just fed up at people "antagonizing" him as if he'd committed all the 3 Buddhist Poison. Even more fed up when people actually blame him compared to Yu Ziyuan ?? Really?? It's said that discrimination is only against women, but in this case, people often discriminate against men when a couple had a failed marriage.

This is my reply to your (1-5) points that you've mentioned regarding YZY.

(1) Regarding YZY's punishment and the corporal punishment of the era. First of all, nope, there is no mention at all in the novel that YZY is the one responsible for the punishment in YMJ.

Most importantly, corporal punishment will only be fair and just when the right and wrong is clear. Just like GusuLan's punishment. They didn't whip WWX at the slightest rule breaking, but only when it's exceeding a certain limit would they give corporal punishment.

But what about Yu Ziyuan? Did she have a clear motive to punish WWX with corporal punishment?

NOPE.

What's mentioned in the novel is out of her personal reason :

"It was lucky for him if she didn't give him a few whips and send him to kneel in the ancestral hall so that he'd keep his distance from Jiang Cheng."

Excerpt from Chapter 29.

Then how much frequent was her "personal punishment" to WWX to be called as abuse? It's mentioned again later in chapter 87:

Wei WuXian mused, "How did you know? That's right. Madam Yu punished me almost every day."

Lan WangJi nodded, "I have heard of a few things."

Wei WuXian, "It's so famous that even people outside Yunmeng, even you Gusu people know-how could it be 'a few things'? But, to be honest, in all these years, I've never seen a second woman whose temper was as bad as Madam Yu's. She told me to go to the ances- tral hall and kneel no matter how small the matter was. Hahaha..."

Without basis, without rules, merely out of personal feelings, she punished WWX almost everyday, frequent enough to be heard thousands of miles away in Gusu by LWJ who didn't even listen to gossip.

Do you think that's a fair and just corporal punishment of the era?

Let's look again at the example clearly written in the novel to show how YZY whipped WWX with Zidian:

Wei WuXian yelled, "Sorry! I didn't know Shijie would come! I'll go look for my clothes right now!"

Madam Yu was even angrier, "How dare you run! Come back right now and kneel!" As she spoke, she let loose her whip with a flip of her wrist. Wei WuXian felt a searing pain slash across his back. He loudly exclaimed, "Ow!" And almost tripped on the ground.

Excerpt from Lotus Pods chapter.

What exactly happened at that time, it was later explained by Jiang Yanli still from the same chapter:

Jiang YanLi almost cried from her mother's pinching, mumbling, "Mom, A-Xian and the others were hiding here to relieve the heat and I came here on my own. Don't blame them...

Without knowing right or wrong, the first thing she did is to whip WWX. Is that a fair and just punishment??

In addition, look at that, Whooa, a mom who loves her daughter to pinch her to tears.

What about toward her son? Let's see in chapter 51 how she treated her own son:

Madam Yu squeezed his arm with her slender fingers, then slapped his shoulder loudly, scolding, "There's isn't any improvement in your cultivation at all. You're seventeen already, yet you're still like an ignorant child, fooling around with others all the time. Are you the same as others? Who knows which sewers other people will be splashing in, but you're going to be the leader of the Jiang Sect!"

Jiang Cheng stumbled from the slap, head lowered, not daring to protest.

Whooa, a loving mother who hit her own child, until a 17 years old male Cultivators with trained body stumbled from the slap.

Under what reason? Just because he doesn't improve much (according to her own liking).

While the real reason why JC has to "fool around" like she said in the above was because she told them herself, not to go around outside to provoke the Wen:

"It's not that we want to shoot kites in Lotus Pier but, right now, isn't it that none of us are allowed to leave? The Wen Sect assigned all of the nighthunt areas to itself. Even if I wanted to nighthunt, there isn't anywhere for me to go. Το stay at home and not go outside to provoke or fight for prey with the Wen Sect-isn't this what you yourself made clear to Father?"

Whooa, is that a reasonable mother or teacher?

She told the children not to run around, but she hit them when they're not improving??

While in fact, her son was currently "training his archery" even when they can't train it outside.

Those actions from YZY, are they still a fair and just corporal punishment?

Fair and just mean everyone should receive the consequence with a basis. But YZY's punishment have no basis, have no rules, have no fairness.

The largely spread accusation about JFM's not being involved enough in his children's life. As you've said:

-not being active in your child live enough is one of the form of it, i think it was stated that he do not spend enough time one on one with his children,

I'll answer it with this excerpt from the novel:

The framework had been assembled by Jiang FengMian himself, then given to Jiang YanLi to paint. This was why, whenever they took the kite out to compete, they both felt a sense of pride.

Excerpt from chapter 32.

Look there, a father who actually spend his time with his son and daughter, OMG!

JFM, who allegedly had ignored his children, was actually the one who gave his son a normal childhood. He made kites for his son and his friends, to play like a real child should be.

What did YZY ever give to JC?? And people dare to say JFM is worse than her???

That is also an answer to your 7th point about JFM not giving explanation for JC's dogs.

Yes, he send away JC's dogs but in return, he personally made him a toy and push him to play with his friends. He shows his affection by action. He gave compensation and explanation directly using action. If that is not a parents love, I don't know what is.

Please do note that JC had also understood the reason why his father had to send his dogs away was because WWX had an extreme trauma with them (not because JFM is discriminating against dog lovers as many accused). Which is why JC later said "I will drive the dogs for you". This is showing that even child-JC already understood his father's intention.

Of course, people will argue that JFM shouldn't send the dogs away and keep it nearby, etc, etc, which is why JFM isn't the best parent out there. But let's first look at his intention, to determine whether he is cruel toward his child or not.

Next, JFM's not being involved with his children's life is even more fanon than fanon.

When it's already mentioned in the novel that he has tried to teach JC since childhood.

(see chapter 56).

The founder of the YunmengJiang Sect, Jiang Chi, was born a rogue cultivator. The ways of the sect were honest and unrestrained. Madam Yu’s manners were the exact opposite. And, both Jiang Cheng’s looks and personality took after his mother. He hadn’t ever been to Jiang FengMian’s liking. Since birth, he taught him in many ways, yet he still couldn’t change, which was why Jiang FengMian had always seemed as though he didn’t favor him too much.

JFM trying to teach JC the way of YunmenJiang Cultivator is equal to LQR teaching LWJ their 3,000 rules and righteousness. The foundation of their Sect. The essence of a Lan Clan's cultivator.

Imagine if a Lan Clan'a heir didn't abide by their rules and be a gentleman, what would they become?

Yes. Another Su Minshan.

"- I don't think that he spoke with JYL about her marriege agreement"

This.

You're asking me if I judge JFM and YZY using modern standard, but others are clearly using modern standard here.

In the past, marriage for women is up to the parents and matchmaker. Which is why YZY could wilfully engage her baby daughter when the girl has yet to even know what engagement is.

Not just JFM, but even JGS couldn't prevent their wives from initiating the engagement.

And JFM breaking the engagement is clearly the wisest move, seeing how JZX trampled JYL's dignity like a rag.

And people still said YZY is better than JFM?

Or JFM is "equally" worse with YZY?

Nope. Not even a little bit equal. Stop discriminating against men in a case of Marital failure.

I don't understand why people say Yu Ziyuan is the better parent while Jiang Fengmian is worse, whereas in the entire MDZS, Jiang Fengmian is the only one who tried to teach Jiang Cheng right from wrong (read how JFM tried to teach JC how to control his temper and his words after Xuanwu Cave).

But what about Yu Ziyuan? Aside from instilling the idea "Your Father doesnt like you" and mentally belittling her own children, what did she ever teach to Jiang Cheng? To Jiang Yanli?

She taught JC how to keep feeling unreasonable jealousy and envy of others. JFM never praised JC, but has YZY ever acknowledge JC either? What she did was to tell him that he is not good enough. Never good enough. What she did was keep comparing him to other people's children without ever acknowledging her own son's capability.

She taught JYL that the act of affection between people is servitude. Her, giving her Xiongdi a peeled lotus seed as an affectionate gesture between loved ones, was implied as humbling herself, as she was told "You are not a servant!"

Look at what good teaching this woman gave to her children.

And people say she is the better parent??

#jiang fengmian #yu ziyuan #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #madam yu

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jiangwanyinscatmom · 3 years ago

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I got into mdzs through the donghua and at first I was like "the baby grape's life is so sad 🥺" but then I see him do nothing but yell and scream and keep getting in wwx's way and I got really annoyed. Like dude if you loathe conflict so much then why don't you take a page out of your sister's book and cook soup instead of berating the guy who is actually doing something. He and yzy don't want to make any efforts but scream like a banshee when things don't go the way they want. Whenever I see his stans say "oh but he was manipulated/didn't had a choice!" I feel like eye rolling my eyes out of the eye socket. Is he some damsel in distress that couldn't do anything? Hell even mianmian who once was a damsel in distress, had the guts to stand up for someone who helped her and when those trash sect leaders talked shit about her, she left like a self respecting person unlike jc who keeps licking their feet. SoCIAl hE1rArcHy? more like cowardice lol

Late replies~ (I'm sorry so sorry lol it has been very very busy in life)!

But I agree with a lot of what you write here, a lot of MXTX villains hold the same theme of very much having the free will (despite varying degrees of harshness within life) to do better, kinder, choose love over resentment/power/jealousy etc, yet at every turn not taking that choice. They choose to relish within that hate.

In MDZS when it comes to the likes of Madam Yu, Jiang Cheng, Jin Guangyao, and Xue Yang, they each have in common using their lack of happiness in their life to act like they never really had a choice when they chose their extremes. They place the blame on others,

Madam Yu places her lack of finding love not on herself because she is cruel and abrasive, but on Jiang Fengmian for not liking her as she is, he needs to change himself. Jiang Cheng uses the guilt he thinks Wei Wuxian should feel for saving others that were not the Jiangs as a vice grip promise that Wei Wuxian has chosen his loyalty wrong and betrayed him constantly, Wei Wuxian can not do right by the standards of Jiang Cheng much like what his mother used to do to him. Jin Guangyao uses the fact that his low status meant he had no choice but to choose cruelty to protect himself, even long after his own father was gone and dug his hole of violence even deeper than it was ever needed. Xue Yang blames the world for what he is and refuses to say he himself had any part of the cruelty he set on others for despising the way people judged him however rightly.

Jiang Cheng does not hate conflict, he actively creates it several times when it comes to Wei Wuxian, he simply uses that as the excuse that Wei Wuxian makes problems for him as the inverse of what Madam Yu tried to stir up with herself, Jiang Fengmian, and Cangse Sanren. The rumors of them conveniently mirror Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji later in life. And Jiang Cheng actively fueled the rumors against Wei Wuxian when he simply could have stood with Mianmian and Lan Wangji before everything spiraled. He chose his own jealousy first out of spite even when the tools not to were in front of him.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #canon jiang cheng #jiang cheng #my love for this trash is the only right way to express it #admit it JC stans

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plan-d-to-i · 3 years ago

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Istg takes like this will be my vilain origin story

God forbid JC loses his pets so the orphan homeless child who endured more trauma in his short life than most people suffer in a lifetime wouldn't have to live in constant terror

Jfm did the right thing sending those dogs away, he even tried to wait a few days to see if wwx got over his fear but when he didn't jfm had no other choice (unless these stans think jfm should've sent wwx away so JC could keep the dogs)

I think jfm's only mistake in this matter was not having a conversation with JC about empathy, compassion, and selflessness and turning the situation into a learning experience that would have helped him grow into a less selfish and entitled person later (but then maybe he tried to do that and Madam Yu lost her shit like always and accused him of hating his son in front of said son)

YES. She was huffing and sneering all over the place so it's clear JFM didn't have much space to teach jiang cheng but also when did jiang cheng ever learn anyway?

Perfect time to answer this ask right after THIS post. Also the scene was :

"As soon as he went in, he saw a proud young master running around the training grounds, leading a few leashed puppies."

The only thing that would be friends w jiang cheng at the time were dogs. Understandable since that's how jc treats people. JFM also comforted him after giving them away:

This angered Jiang Cheng so much that he threw a big tantrum. No matter how much Jiang FengMian comforted him gently, telling him that they should ‘be good friends’, he refused to talk to Wei WuXian.

Wei Wuxian is the same age as jc and he wouldn't take a bun when he was STARVING because he didn't want to cause conflict between a bun seller and his wife. jc was a spoiled prick with zero ability to empathize with others since childhood. He knows threatening WWX w dogs is something his father would completely be against because it's wrong and he does it anyway. Then ofc he doesn't want to take responsibility for his actions. He doesn't call for help to find WWX and is just a liability himself in the search. BECAUSE HE AGAIN does not prioritize WWX's safety, he's just scared he'll get in trouble. He's a selfish, self absorbed shitbag just like his mother AND he's exactly the same as an adult. Unwilling to do the right thing but blaming everyone around him for it. Even when he acts heroically for once in his life he can't bear the consequences of it and resents WWX and thinks WWX owes him shit for the rest of his days.

Thinking how WWX was on the streets eating watermelon rinds so as not to bother others begging, or steal food, this hits that much harder:

Jiang Cheng told him from inside, “Go sleep somewhere else! This is my room! You’re even gonna steal my room?!”

At that time, Wei WuXian didn’t know what Jiang Cheng was mad about at all. After a pause, he replied, “I didn’t steal anything. It’s Uncle Jiang who told me to sleep with you.”

Hearing that he was still bringing up his father, almost as if he was purposely showing off, Jiang Cheng’s eyes reddened as he yelled, “Go away! If I see you again, I’ll call a bunch of dogs to bite you!”

Standing outside, as Wei WuXian heard that dogs would come bite him, fear immediately bubbled within him. Twisting his fingers, he hurried, “I’ll go, I’ll go. Don’t call the dogs!”

Dragging behind him the sheets and blanket that were thrown outside, he ran out the hall. Having only arrived at Lotus Pier for a short period of time, he didn’t dare jump around yet. Every day, he obediently holed up in the places that Jiang FengMian told him to stay at. He didn’t even know where his room was, much less have the courage to knock on other people’s doors, scared that it’d disturb someone’s dreams."

jiang cheng ís just a twisted person. He can only imagine others thinking and acting as he would. WWX bringing up JFM is interpreted in his mind as WWX showing off because that's how jc sees the world and moves and acts in it. I've seen plenty of children be kind and empathetic. jc is just a rotten person. I'm not surprised other self absorbed individuals who can only sympathize with their own issues relate so hard to him actually.

#mdzs #answers #Wei Wuxian #Canon jiang cheng #Yu Ziyuan

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untaemedqueen · 4 years ago

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Third Wheeling

CEO!Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Strangers to Lovers!AU, Angst, Fluff, Smut

Chapter 5.

Warnings (Updating Still): Smut, Cheating, Unexpected Pregnancy, Unfaithful, Emotional Damage

A/N: Shout out to my squad @ppersonna, @xjoonchildx, @ladyartemesia, @underthejoon for always spitballing ideas with me and reading over what I have written. I’m seriously so lucky to have my girls and my heart is so full with them around <3

Also the beautiful banner is by @xjoonchildx so now we have two gorgeous banners to alternate every other chapter! I’m so happyyyyyy!! Enjoy guys!

It's usually relaxed Sundays at the Yu penthouse like God intended them to be but instead this Sunday was filled with raucous screaming and over dramatic whining which you aren't exactly used to.

"Leena." Jin warns, almost as if he's speaking to a child.

You watch as your best friend takes the stuffed animal you won at the Fall Festival out of it's cardboard box before chucking it back onto your unmade bed. It's her act of defiance and it warms your heart slightly to know how much she loves you.

"Relax, would you?" Jin asks, wrapping a painting of yours in bubble wrap.

"No." She huffs out as she folds her arms.

You find yourself smirking as you wrap your arms around her. She stiffens slightly before melting into the hug and rocking you from side to side.

"I hate him. I hate him. I hate him!" She chants bitterly as Jin sets the painting against the wall.

"Why don't you tell us about your date with Taehyung?" Jin offers, trying to take her mind off of it.

"No." She replies childishly as she hugs you tighter.

Jin sighs gently as he picks up the contract. It's a thick packet with words and legal jargon you find yourself unable to understand.

"I'm going to go read this in the living room. Leena, come with me." Jin commands and she pouts at you as she pulls away.

"At least he bought her pretty things." She grumbles to your other best friend as she follows him out of your bedroom.

You sit on the edge of your bed, taking in the almost empty room. Your heart feels heavy in this moment. It's been almost six years since you moved into this apartment with Leena.

This new journey will be the start to something extremely different from your norm. This will be the first time that you won't be seeing your best friend everyday, or when you wake up in the morning. It's jarring and more importantly frightening.

You had already quit your managerial position at the hospital, you've already packed up all of the things deemed "acceptable" for Yoongi's home. It really is a new path for your life.

Your parents loved you so very dearly from when you were quite young. They always knew what to say and what to do, always pushed for you to do the right things quite like them. They worked so hard for you to have a better life than they did when they were young.

You can only hope to be as good of a parent as they were.

Telling them you were pregnant was terrifying at first. You expected them to be disappointed with you. But, surprisingly, they were supportive. It was incredibly comforting, because no matter what happens you could count on them.

Looking down at your flat stomach, although you don't look different, you feel different. With a sigh, you close your eyes for a fraction of a second before taking in a deep breath.

Everyone keeps telling you to be strong, to have strength and everything will work out but unfortunately it isn't that easy.

"Hey Y/N." Jin whispers as he leans against the door frame.

Opening your eyes, you give him a smile to try and tell him you're alright.

"The contract looks good. Namjoon did right by you." He tells you, holding up the packet and a pen.

You hold your hands out and he enters the room.

You can hear Leena's feet stomping down the long hallway as you put the packet on your lap.

She arrives in the doorway with a martini in hand and you tilt your head to her as she scowls.

"You can't have sex? Is he serious?" She scoffs.

You give a smirk as you sign the contract, "Seems like it. I asked him if I could have sex with him because he's the father and he sat there and literally told me he doesn't understand why I would have sex if I'm pregnant. He seemed repulsed."

"I'll punch him in the dick." Leena murmurs into her martini glass.

"Yu Leena." Jin scolds as you set the pen down on your lap.

"What?! He's a huge fucking dick suck." She says waving him off with her hand.

Both you and Jin snort loudly and he lays his head on your shoulder before hugging you tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you, princess." He whispers.

"Me too." You mumble as you wrap your arms around his.

"Shouldn't you let the madam buy the child's furniture?" Yoongi hears Maya ask over his shoulder as he scours through the furniture website.

"If her ability to pick out furniture is as bad as her clothing or her shoes, my heir will end up sleeping in a rickety old basket made out of straw and hair." He retorts as she hands him his Irish coffee.

He hears her gentle sigh and he knows it's because somehow, something he said had disappointed her.

"What's wrong, Maya?" He asks as he locks the iPad, throwing it on the other side of the couch to look up at her.

She hums undecidedly before looking down at him as he sips his coffee, "Maybe try to be nice to her. She's going to have a hard time being pregnant in this household with your wife here."

Her suggestion makes a shiver run up his spine. Just hearing the word pregnant sends him into some deep spiral.

Maya always has been kind hearted. She's always been understanding of others. Even if they don't deserve it.

Like with Sera, Maya will bust her ass to try to make the leech smile even if she gets sneers and snarky remarks in turn.

She's too pure for this world. Too amazing for this cheap lifestyle.

"I am being nice to her. She gets to move in here." He responds as he sets the coffee cup down on his marble table.

“Min Yoongi.” Maya breathes out above a whisper before closing her eyes.

He watches her brow furrow with shame and he clears his throat uncomfortably before looking around the open gallery of the mansion to try and find any reason for her to leave.

“I didn’t raise you this way. You know that.” The older woman chides as she dusts off some of the priceless paintings that line the walls beside where he sits.

He lets out a gentle snort as he leans back into the chaise lounge.

“At least someone raised me, right?” He quips to her as he looks out the bay windows.

The garden seems well tended as of late, after the last fiasco with the uneven hedges he appreciates how much work his new gardeners have put into it.

He begins to wonder what you enjoy, what your hobbies are besides getting pounded in the back of your best friends club. Do you enjoy the finer things? Like yachting or horse racing? Do you even know what they are? Just how sheltered are you?

“What do poor people like? Swap meets?” Yoongi asks as he watches the rose bushes sway in the wind.

“Yoongi.” Maya whispers dejectedly and he turns his head to her before shrugging.

“Just asking.” He murmurs as a sparrow lands on the marble bird bath beside the window.

“Why don’t you just try to get to know her? Ask her things like that without being rude.” Maya replies as she turns to him.

With a grimace, he finishes his coffee before handing the cup to her, “Why do I have to get to know her?”

“Oh my goodness.” Maya mumbles as she leaves the gallery.

The billionaire watches her leave before slowly turning back to the window to stare aimlessly for a little while longer.

He's always been so jaded, always been so absolutely fucking ruthless because if he didn't protect himself from the outside world who would?

And even if it causes rifts, he just has to be this way. Because you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

The sounds of construction break him out of his thoughts. The contract must have gone through to Namjoon, if your room was already being renovated. Kira must have called and set up everything like she was supposed to.

It's a good thing she isn't just good for her tight snatch.

Standing up with a groan, he stretches high up to the ceiling. He can hear and feel his bones popping and groaning to welcome a new day in front of him.

As he steps onto the heated marble flooring of the second floor, he knows he should be getting ready for work yet instead his curiosity begins to eat at him.

What is your room starting to look like? How about the kids room?

Walking past his walk-in closet, he can see dust and wood shavings on the floor in the hallway. His first thought is to curse out the constructors and threaten them if even a single wooden shard enters his room. But, before he can even open his mouth the shrill voice of his wife enters his ears.

"MIN YOONGI!" He can feel his brain rattling around in his skull, like a cry for help. He sighs loudly, it's really not a surprise that she can be even louder than the construction right in front of him.

Turning to her, he takes in her half asleep look. Her sleeping mask is stuck to her forehead, her black hair jutting out on all sides as she narrows her big, doll-like eyes at him.

"Some people are trying to sleep!" She screeches from the entrance of her wing in the mansion.

He chuckles to himself at her disheveled state and proceeds into his closet to get ready for work.

It probably won't end at that. And, he is absolutely correct.

Peeling off his sleep shirt, his eyes meet his wife's through the mirror as she storms into the room.

"I need beauty sleep, asshole!" She yells at him and he stares at her for a fraction of a second before clicking his teeth and tilting his head.

"You don't need beauty sleep, I paid for that face, leech." He deadpans.

His body is quick to duck out of the way as she takes the nearest object to the door before lobbing it at his head.

"Did you do as I told you?" She asks, watching him grab his crisp white work shirt.

He doesn't reply, which in turn makes her repeat the same question louder with a high shrill added to her tone.

She's always been impatient and bratty. Once which was endearing to him is now like nails on a chalkboard.

"Hello?! I'm speaking to you! Answer me, asshole!" She yells as she snaps her fingers in his face.

Pressing his tongue to his cheek, he lets out a gentle snort before taking a deep inhale through his nose.

"When do I ever just do as you tell me to, Sera? When has that ever been a goal of mine?" He asks as he grabs his pinstriped tailored pants to match his shirt.

"What? So you didn't?" She asks, clearly shocked.

"Of course I didn't, what are you? Insane? Stupid? I'm a dick but I'm not heartless." He retorts.

"No! Just heartless to me!" She cries out angrily and he chuckles to himself as he grabs a tie.

"I'm sure you'll survive." He mumbles as he pulls the drawer full of his watches open. He watches them spin on their platforms before picking a black Rolex that would go nicely with his pants.

"The plan was for you to make her say that she's my surrogate! Since I'm so beautiful and so famous, she would be carrying my child instead!" Just hearing her ridiculous plan again makes him almost as uncomfortable as the first time he heard it.

In all honesty, as soon as those words left her mouth he didn't even entertain the idea. It seemed so wholly horrible and so absolutely fucking selfish. But, this is Sera we're talking about.

"That was your plan. You think I would ever force her or anyone to have to go in front of people and say their kid isn't their own? Jesus Christ. You really are a fucking leech." He spits out.

"But! But, she's going to use you for your money! She's going to ruin everything!" She screams above the incessant construction.

The sentence sends something akin to fire flaming throughout his gut.

"Well, leech, it's not like I'm not used to being used for my money. If anything you can teach her first hand what it's like to milk me like a money cow." Her mouth opens slightly, as if she's appalled by the notion.

It's then that his patience snaps like a thin twig beneath weight.

"Do you want to see my dick?" He asks briskly.

"Ew! What? No, of course not!" She yells at him as he gathers his clothes onto one arm.

"Then get the fuck out. I have to get ready for work." She stomps her foot loudly as if in protest but he brushes by her without a word back to his bedroom.

"Fucking money grubbing leech." He whispers to himself as he slams his bedroom door closed behind him.

Thursday nights were appointed for one thing in Min Yoongi's eyes. Poker.

The library which he barely ever entered as well as his wife that couldn't read more than ten words without having a seizure was always occupied on Thursdays.

Usually, the other five members of his social circle were always present but today he only had the pleasure of four of them.

"I love that Maya deals." Taehyung chuckles as he pulls the pile of poker chips in the middle of the table towards him.

Yoongi snorts gently, clamping the cigar between his teeth tighter as he stacks his chips with one hand.

"Maya, can I please have some more ice?" Namjoon asks softly as he holds up the bucket.

"Oh of course!" She says quickly as she takes the bucket from him.

Taehyung and Jimin watch her leave before slyly smirking to Yoongi as he leans back in his chair with a groan. The way they look at him makes him feel like prey in a baron forest.

"What?" He murmurs as he pulls the cigar from his mouth.

The tips of Taehyung's fingers slide over the green felt table as he lifts his glass of whisky.

"I heard something interesting about you." He replies to his older friend.

Namjoon clears his throat uncomfortably as he crosses his legs beneath the lip of the table.

"Oh yeah? What's that? Something about my board of trustees?" Yoongi asks with a laugh as he picks up his own glass.

"Not so much." Jimin murmurs as he ashes his cigar.

"Heard you got a girl pregnant." Yoongi chokes on his whisky as he hears Taehyung's smooth voice. His eyes widen and he spins his chair around to dab at his mouth.

His blood runs cold as the hotel CEO chuckles behind him. It scares the ever living shit out of him and he hates that.

"Where'd you hear that?" He asks gently, his voice audibly shaking as he turns back around.

"A little after I pulled my dick out of Yu Leena's tight ass." Jimin snickers at the admission and Yoongi closes his eyes in defeat.

"You won't say anything, right?" Namjoon asks quietly as he looks over at his best friend.

Hoseok, Yoongi's other best friend since childhood had only recently found out about you and his heir. While he was surprised, he was always loyal to the CEO and Yoongi knew he could count on his silence.

"I definitely won't. I like it when Leena comes over and if I say anything she won't let me take her to France in two weeks." The Kisung Connected CEO sighs in relief at the younger man's admission.

Maya returns with the ice and it gets quiet for a bit, just the gentle sounds of ice clinking against glass and poker chips smacking into each other resound throughout the large library.

"Leena loves her, y'know. She never shuts up about her. I feel like I know her with how much Leena tells me." Taehyung says as he rubs two poker chips together between his fingers.

This peaks his curiosity as he begins to relax into the chair once more.

"What does she say?" Yoongi asks softly and he watches as Maya smirks gently. Her motions are soft and smooth as she deals the cards.

"About Y/N? That she's really sweet and kind. She works really hard and enjoys simple things like most poor people." Humming inquisitively, he lifts his whisky glass to his lips to ponder that thought.

"Simple things? Like?" Taehyung rolls his eyes at Yoongi's question.

"Yeah. Simple things. She likes to paint and to watch romantic movies. She enjoys cooking and other poor people shit."

He begins to wonder how well you can paint. If you were any good at it.

"She's really sweet." Namjoon adds and Yoongi grimaces in his direction.

Noticing his grimace, the lawyer shrugs with a smirk.

"Is she the girl that was with Leena on her birthday?" Jimin asks and both Yoongi and Taehyung nod at the same time.

"Oh dude! She's so fucking hot! I can't believe you got to her before me!" Hearing those words roll off of his friend's tongue sets him in an uncomfortable state.

His body leans away from Jimin's as he clutches the cigar tighter between his index and middle finger.

"So she's moving in here?" Jimin asks happily.

"In two days. Yes. We have to go to the doctor and then she'll be in the mansion."

Hoseok nudges Namjoon as they watch their best friend move uncomfortably.

Yoongi loosens his tie around his neck, his face and chest begin to feel incredibly hot and flush. He can feel the sweat building on his hairline as he uncuffs his cufflinks.

"Maya." He whispers as he holds them out over the table.

Swallowing thickly, he stares down into his glass as the ice clinks against the crystal sides.

"You're lucky she's moving in. Now you'll have constant pussy." Jimin says as he scrolls through Leena's Instagram.

The concept is completely foreign to Yoongi, "She's pregnant. Why would I fuck her?"

Namjoon chuckles to himself gently as he looks at his cards, he tosses a few chips into the center of the table before looking pointedly at his best friend.

"Because man, pregnant pussy feels so much better than regular pussy. Plus, she's carrying your baby. That's fucking hot." Yoongi sneers at Jimin, the corner of his upper lip flicking upward at the notion.

"You're a fucking short little weirdo, Park Jimin." Yoongi's sentence comes out just a bit more acidic than he means it to but he doesn't apologize.

If anything the small flames of anger seem to burnish brighter as Jimin chuckles to himself. Park has always been so sure of himself, so absolutely ruthless in getting what he wants. But, you weren't his to have.

"If you aren't going to fuck her right, can I?" He asks as he tosses chips into the middle of the table.

Yoongi's hand grips into a fist, the edges of the chips he holds make uncomfortable indents into his skin as he focuses on Maya's face to calm himself down.

"Whoa. Jimin." Hoseok mumbles as Jimin laughs.

"Calm down hyung. I'm just playing with you. I'll just ask her out on a date and we'll see where it goes." Yoongi chuckles to himself.

He can't begin to understand why it bothers him so much to hear those words. Maybe it's because you're being treated flippantly or maybe it's because you were his. Or, should be his anyway. You were having his child. Doesn't that make you off limits?

But he was better than this. He was better than letting small, simple things beneath his skin.

"She won't say yes. She's pregnant with my baby." He says as he chucks his chips into the center of the table roughly.

"We'll see. If she does say yes, just know I'll treat your baby mama with a lot of respect...as I rearrange her guts with the head of my cock." Jimin and Taehyung chortle loudly as they knock their shoulders into one another.

Scoffing gently, he downs the rest of his whisky before wiping the back of his hand over his lips.

It takes all of his restraint to not get out of his chair and punch the shorter man in the face. It takes every single ounce of strength to just stay seated and look as if he's calm while on the inside he's burning bright with red hot rage.

"You watch your fucking mouth, Jimin. She's the mother of my child." He says as he points his finger over the lip of his glass at the younger man.

The laughs die down as they notice just how deadly serious he is.

"Oh, now you care about her? Seemed like she was going to be just another leech ten minutes ago." Jimin chuckles as he speaks his words and Namjoon's eyes flutter shut in defeat.

"Yeah well, if she was to be a leech. She would be my leech. Not yours. You watch your fucking mouth when you talk about the mother of my baby in this fucking house, do you understand me?" He doesn't even understand where this rage is coming from. He can't begin to process it, but he doesn't miss the smile that creeps onto Maya's face as he defends your honor.

Jimin holds his hands up with a laugh as he clenches his cigar between his teeth.

"Calm down Yoongi. I'm just fucking with you. I don't want to fuck your poor baby mama, alright?"

Namjoon sits up fast as Yoongi goes to stand up, "Let's just all relax. Calm down." He tells his best friend as he puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Get out." He says aloud as he brushes Namjoon's hand off his shoulder.

Jimin looks up at Yoongi as Maya gently sets the cards down on the felt table.

"Oh Yoongi. Come on, I was fucking around." He says half heartedly.

"I'm done for the night. Get the fuck out." He burns his cigar out before opening up the library doors.

Everyone stands and thanks Maya softly before heading out one by one. Yoongi catches Jimin by the shoulder as he leaves last.

His hand clasps roughly around his skin and Jimin cringes at the sharp pain, "You keep her fucking name out of your goddamn mouth. Do you understand me? Don't you dare ever disrespect her in this household again. Or, I'll release those pictures of you at your bachelor party to Dispatch. You keep your dick away from where it doesn't belong in this house."

The threat sends Jimin's eyes widening a fraction before he collects his composure, "I got it. Relax." He says before pulling his shoulder away and patting the older man's arm.

Taking a deep breath, he looks around the library before meeting Maya's gaze as she clears the cards off of the poker table.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that nasty stuff." He apologizes and her nose wrinkles sweetly as she smiles.

"Now that, that is how I raised you." He smirks gently at her praise before pocketing his hands and looking down at the floor.

"Can you order some paint brushes and canvas?" He asks softly.

"Oh of course! For you? You don't paint." Maya asks, her voice is riddled with confusion as she stacks the poker chips back in the oak box.

"No, I don't but Y/N does." He mumbles and Maya smiles widely before nodding.

"Of course I'll order her some painting materials! That's a great idea, Yoongs!" Seeing her, the woman who has raised him, get so excited about it makes him feel almost drunk off of delight.

But, then he gets brought down to Earth once more as he hears his wife giggle from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Maya." He mumbles as he sets off to his wing of the mansion. He eyes Hoseok chatting up his wife as they both lean against the bar and he snorts to himself in disbelief. At least someone would be getting laid tonight.

The problem with having a wife that sees other people is just how loud sex can get when you're not involved.

At one point Yoongi craved to be in Hoseok's position. He was dying to get in between Sera's legs albeit she was annoying and bratty since they were kids. He had a genuinely real crush on her that dissolved into distaste and pure hatred in a matter of moments.

Even across the whole mansion, he can hear her getting fucked like there's no tomorrow and he grimaces while turning to the window as he lays in bed.

"Music up to ninety percent." He calls out in the room and the volume of the classical piano piece rises quickly to drown out the feral noises of sex from the other wing in the mansion.

Pulling out his phone, he begins to scroll through Instagram before finding Leena's page. There were so many posts with just you and her or you, her and Seokjin. Your smile was pretty. He takes into account that you haven't really smiled around him all that much but he can understand why.

He can remember your giggle too, when you were in Namjoon's office. It was soft and gentle, like hummingbird wings. The noise instantly made him relax and he can remember how his eyes fluttered shut just upon hearing it.

You weren't a bad person. You weren't trying to trap him-- he could see it on your face when you had lunch. You were genuinely mortified. So fucking frightened. And, even though he doesn't know you, you don't deserve that.

You don't deserve to be terrified of him or anyone.

He can see in most of these pictures, you're wearing borrowed things. The Chanel, the Balenciaga, the Gucci-- it was all Leenas and none of it was your own.

How fucking depressing must that be? Did Leena make you wear her clothes or did you ask her to borrow some in order to not feel poor and unworthy around others?

Sighing gently, he presses his face deeper into the pillow as he continues to scroll.

Maybe he shouldn't treat you like another Sera. But, he doesn't trust a single person. He's learned to lock his heart away in an iron cage after Sera so brutally stepped on him.

He's not sure if he could ever truly open up to someone else that isn't the woman who raised him.

Next Chapter --->

Third Wheeling Taglist- @wickizer, @imluckybitches, @slothykreuger, @claireelise19, @ggukkieland, @rspbrryy, @iv-bts, @bambuzlee, @chanelbts, @mxxngxdss, @bluewhale52, @milesjeon11, @diamonddia-mond, @vinylphwoar, @yxnxxli, @hubbytaehyung, @140503at-dawn, @bts-7beauts, @jadeblackwoll, @sunshiine-hobii, @creatorspalace, @eclectically-esoteric, @nikkiordonez12, @kaitswrld, @skamlover200, @sevgilove98, @kooeuphoria, @jikooksgirl19, @hobbledehoy26, @singular-itae, @dchimminie, @lowlifeoeuvre, @laabellaavitaa21, @bloopbloopb, @pjmcth, @softysuho, @codeinbelle, @jaiuneamesolitaiire, @betysotelo18, @jeonmisha, @iwanttohitmyself, @ayyyocee, @neverthefirstchoice, @itsbangtanoclock, @little7bitchh, @veryuniquenamegoeshere, @deathkat657, @firstlovesuga-93, @namjoonia, @paperpurple, @muzikabijou, @liebeoppa, @veronawrites, @kleff03, @ruinsofangels, @brightwingr5, @leekanchol, @rkivemagic, @ithinkileftmycoatoutside, @melaninkpops, @y00ngisbabygirl, @ungodlyjoon, @prochnost513, @dunixxd, @athenakyle, @igotnotype, @chxmachxps, @tinymintyoongi, @vangameren-blog, @alpaca1612, @ohcarolinamin, @thegreatestsushi, @jooniebugg, @eltrain80, @btsmylife21, @deeepvibes

Some people couldn’t be tagged, I’m so sorry about that!

#third wheeling #thebtswritersclub #btscreatorscorner #btswritingcafe #ficswithluv #ceo!yoongi #ceo!au #yoongi x reader #yoong x you

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whetstonefires · 2 years ago

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#???? #most of the extras are about how teen wangxian was obsessed w each other lmao

this was such an extreme statement i had to go read all the extras i hadn't read yet in case they really were about that.

the extras i have cover:

1) couple in a row about post-canon life; wwx attends a fantastically shitty Lan party (nothing like a LAN party) etc

2) incense burner shared dreams; cottagecore fantasy and rape fantasy

3) deeply underrated villain interlude where the Tingshan He are sacrificed to Xue Yang's experiments to the last child by a Jin Guangyao who's very cheerful about doing this on spurious grounds for political reasons; Jin Guangshan says shitty things about jgy's mom. Song Zichen and Xiao Xingchen show up. Jin Guangyao explains why contrary to popular wisdom it's better to pick a fight with a crook than a gentleman because the lower classes can be murdered with impunity.

4) Incense burner 2. We start out with a cute flashback about how lwj started keeping the bunnies; teen wangxian data commences but only regards lwj. mildly uncomfortable porn. we are somewhat puzzlingly informed several times that wwx had a fairly fat ass in his original body, apparently as setup for dubcon spanking fetish segment.

5) Wei Wuxian comes home via window. Marital sex including mild exhibitionism re: sex noises, usual consent play, cockwarming, a bath. Discussion of lwj's critique style; companionate homework-marking segment, sleepy cuddles.

6) Qin household fierce corpse case; still postcanon period. Wei Wuxian's habit of cold-reading people and basing his decisions on his surmises and being correct plays a starring role here, as does his tendency to play teacher and his tendency to tell outrageous lies, especially to liars. Lan Wangji and Lan Sizhui turn out to be acutely conscious of wwx's status of 'son of a servant' as something used against him. Lan Wangji is mistaken for a virgin. Sizhui's having picked up some Jiang moves is detected by sound alone and disparaged as bad for his cultivation; for some reason him learning Wen moves from Wen Ning is fine though.

7) Bai residence case, still post-canon

8) Finally teen Wei Wuxian! He is, in fact, reminded of Lan Zhan by eating watermelon. Jiang Cheng thinks this is weird; he does not suggest it is habitual. Wei Wuxian promises he could drive Lan Wangji insane in a month if they shared a room and boasts he could beat him in a fight. -Jiang Yanli asks who he's talking about; evidently Wei Wuxian hasn't mentioned Lan Wangji to her until now. Jiang Cheng points out Lan Wangji doesn't think they're friends and Wei Wuxian says if that's so, he'll annoy him until he changes his mind. Agrees when asked that Lan Wangji is good-looking. Jiang Yanli tells him to use himself as a yardstick and he says Lan Wangji is a tiiiiiiny bit better-looking than him. - Statement that Wei Wuxian would never go back to Cloud Recesses to visit Lan Wangji. Further argument about whether Lan Wangji would even want to visit him in Yunmeng. - Then Madam Yu catches them slacking, they get yelled at for being shirtless in front of Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian is briefly whipped as the assumed ringleader of shirking and toplessness but then Jiang Yanli performs a distraction tactic with watermelon and the boys abscond. Jiang Yanli is pinched and yelled at for eating too much. - Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian engage in an intense water fight with shidi audience until Wei Wuxian gets hungry and proposes scrumping lotus pods since they can't go home without being beaten. We're told about their habit of stealing for fun around Yunmeng knowing Jiang Fengmian will make it good. Wei Wuxian mumbles about treating someone to lotus pods while stealing them; this may be Lan Wangji. - There is a lotus pod stealing water ghoul, a shy dead child, whom Wei Wuxian catches bare-handed but it turns out the old man they like to steal pods from who beats them if they're caught is keeping it around on purpose, as company and a sort of undead boat engine. Wei Wuxian gets beaten some more; his shidi besides Jiang Cheng heap praise on him as explanation for why he's the one who gets hit all the time instead of anybody else until Jiang Cheng threatens to sink the boat. - Some young women come by on another boat, turn out to have left the watermelon from earlier as a gift; Wei Wuxian starts a wave of throwing the stolen lotus seeds into their boat as a thank-you gift and dispenses related flirting advice. Jiang Cheng seethes.

- Wei Wuxian brings Lan Wangji up a second time, reflecting on how as previously mentioned he turned down the invitation and stating someday he'll drag him there and get him involved in petty theft, mwahahaha. Jiang Cheng, sulkily eating lotus seeds, is condemned to Forever Alone. - Meanwhile, in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji is making conversation with Lan Xichen about lotus pods while they do handstands. Rabbits visit. A servant provides chilled watermelon pieces on a jade plate. The edibility of fried watermelon rind is raised. - The next day Lan Wangji goes into town and has the belated realization that his avoidance of other people is reciprocated. Girls peek at him and giggle. He is looking for lotus pods. He helps an old lady who gave him directions, walks a couple of miles, stares at dirty toddlers, gets rained on, encounters a man who has been trampled by an ox surrounded by worried neighbors and lifts a fallen shed four men were struggling with, one-handed, and stands there holding it up. - There's a ghost inside. It's mostly harmless and he only has the tools for violence with him so he leaves it alone, glaring it into not stealing heat from any of the people taking shelter. - He reaches the lotus lake hours late, when it's long closed, sopping wet and bedraggled, and gets laughed at for believing having the stems on changes the flavor of the lotus seeds. The lady in charge of the lake, who is not the owner, takes pity on him. - Lan Wangji obtained the pods with the stems, was happy, presumably ate some, and left the rest as an informal (due to lack of a tablet) but clearly intended offering for his mother. Lan Xichen, who apparently goes to the gentian house to practice his music, does not steal one, but he thinks about it.

glitch recurred when i continued, will try again in reblog

drives me crazy when the mdzs fandom still doesn’t understand wwx is just as obsessed with lwj as lwj was with him. dare i say moreso. how am i STILL coming across fics/meta where wwx is dating people after having met lwj. any attempted relationship would end after 2 hours cause he’s incapable of going 15 minutes without talking or thinking about lwj. even if he actually tried going on a date it would be like. he’d sit down sigh and his date would ask what he was thinking about and he’d say i invited lan zhan here last week but he rejected me :(((((( and i was so sincere :((((( and then they order food he’d start smiling to himself and they’d be like what’s up and he’d be like “ahahaha i’m imagining trying to get lan zhan to eat this dish!!” they walk around outside and he grabs a cute little trinket from a market stall and the date is like oh :)) and wwx would be like this is so silly and cute i’m gonna hide it in lan zhan’s bag and see his reaction. pre meeting lwj maybe there is a slim chance but after he sees that :| face it’s over for anyone else

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robininthelabyrinth · 5 years ago

Note

Wei Wuxian never had the patience for embroidery, and Jiang Yanli was passable, but preferred cooking. Jiang Cheng found it comforting, stabbing something over and over again, with a better result than breaking training dummies.

It started with Jiang Cheng being a sticky child, refusing to leave his jie’s side even when she sat for her embroidery lessons; with him being noisy and troublesome and the teacher just shoving the needle and thread into his hands with a muttered comment about it being good for men to know how to repair their own clothing – as if a future sect leader would ever need to know something like that.

Jiang Cheng quieted down and focused, all hard work and determination to please the way he went about all aspects of his life – he wasn’t a natural talent, in cultivation or swordmanship or even this, but he always tried his best.

His mother covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter when he presented her with the results of several weeks’ worth: it was just barely recognizable as the world’s ugliest duck.

“A symbol of loving devotion,” one of her maids said.

“There’s only one, though,” the other maid said. “They’re supposed to be a pair.”

“He’s still young,” Madame Yu said, and then held up a fabric with a vaguely incoherent green-white-pink blob. “And anyway, it’s still better than this – what is this supposed to be again, A-Li?”

“A lotus flower,” Jiang Yanli replied, utterly untroubled by her mother’s criticism.

Madame Yu and her maids studied the fabric for a little while longer, trying to identify a flower inside the knot of threads, helpless expressions on their face.

“A-Cheng is a duck without a partner and A-Li is unrestrained by commonly understood boundaries,” Madame Yu finally said, pinching her nose. “With signs as inauspicious as this…well, at least you still have your father to hold up the world for you.”

“Men care more about cooking skills anyway,” one of her maids said. “And A-Cheng is an heir to a sect: he’ll find himself a lady duck one day. Maybe even a whole set of them.”

“He’d better not find a whole set of them!”

There was a small needle on the floor of the hut where the Wen sect had stuffed him away – too small and thin to attack anyone, even if a useless waste with no golden core could muster an attack at all, and so it had been overlooked.

Jiang Cheng held it over the flame of the lamp to sterilize it, and then, with shaking hands, turned it on his own flesh.

He didn’t have a choice – it was that or die bleeding out onto the floor of some closet in the Lotus Pier he’d never even known existed, some of the cuts left by the Wens too deep to be left alone even for a little while, and he didn’t have spiritual energy to encourage the healing process.

Maybe he should just die. What was the point of living? He was a waste, now. Maybe the deep cuts were even meant to be a kindness – a way out of the misery that awaited him, a life of being Wen Chao’s slave, an object of pity and mockery.

Jiang Cheng’s hands might be shaking, but his embroidery was good: he’d kept it up, citing it as good training for precision, a way to improve his dexterity, but in fact it was the only thing that could make his mother smile at him anymore. Sure, she yelled about him wasting time with feminine pursuits when he ought to be cultivating, training, getting stronger, surpassing Wei Wuxian, but when she looked at the little things he made for her, she still smiled, almost as if she couldn’t help herself.

She wouldn’t smile for him any longer. Neither smile nor scolding.

Jiang Cheng would live to see Wei Wuxian take the revenge their parents deserved. He could wait until that was done to die.

A regular needle could prick the finger of a cultivator a thousand times before drawing a single drop of blood.

Jiang Cheng’s fingers were covered in bandages, but the new disciples of his Jiang sect had robes embroidered with lotuses, the way they should have, and they need not be ashamed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other sects in battle.

It wasn’t a job a sect leader should ever do, but there was no one else to do it; any money had to be spent on supplies, none left over for paying seamstresses to do something impractical, and the few women who joined up expected to be used for their skill at the sword, not the needle.

It was just another thing he had to do with no time to do it – he had to train himself in preparation for battle, teach the new disciples the Jiang sect techniques, make sure they had enough to eat and drink, keep one step ahead of the Wen sect’s forces that sought to destroy them, recruit new sects to join their cause and all of it while searching desperately for Wei Wuxian, who had gone missing.

(Sometimes, in his nightmares, Jiang Cheng wondered if Baoshan Sanren had seen through their mischief, recognized him as someone other than her disciple’s son, and demanded a price be paid for the gift she had given him.)

At least embroidery was something he could do at night when he couldn’t sleep, something productive that wouldn’t disturb the sentries or make anyone worry about him.

Sometimes, Lan Wangji – who had joined him in searching for Wei Wuxian – would come and sit next to him at the early hours of the night, undoubtedly fleeing nightmares of his own. His meditation didn’t bother Jiang Cheng, and as much as he hated to admit it, the company was welcome.

That didn’t stop him from embroidering a small awkward stork on the inside of Lan Wangji’s forehead ribbon the one time the other man had asked him for help fixing it after it’d been cut in battle.

“I know Madame Jin probably already got you something better,” Jiang Cheng said, his fingers twisting together – in fact, he hadn’t thought of it at all, not until he reached Lanling and heard the women on the street speculating as to which skilled seamstress had been retained to embroider all the auspicious signs onto the wedding clothing of the Jin sect’s new daughter-in-law.

It hadn’t even occurred to him that they would just buy a set pre-made – wedding clothing was traditionally embroidered by the bride herself, preparations made over the years, and of course the set Jiang Yanli had (with no real motivation or ambition) been working on had gone up in flames along with the Lotus Pier. When she’d come to let him know about Jin Zixuan’s impending proposal, and that she intended to accept, Jiang Cheng had panicked and ordered the silks and thread himself; his sister was passable at embroidery at the best of times, much worse when under pressure or a deadline, and he didn’t want the Jin sect to laugh at her.

He should have realized. What didn’t the Jin sect solve with money?

“As if I would wear anything other than what A-Cheng made for me,” Jiang Yanli said, voice warm as she ran her hands over the red silk he’d brought with him, the golden threads glinting. “It’s beautiful. Your ducks have gotten much better since your first attempt, all those years ago.”

Jiang Cheng covered his face with embarrassment. His mother had kept that stupid hideous duck for years, often just sitting in her pocket alongside regular necessities so that she could pull it out to embarrass him whenever she pleased; it had probably only died when she had.

“I left some undone for you to finish,” he said through his fingers. “I brought the thread…if you want?”

“Of course. A-Cheng will sit by me and make sure I don’t make any mistakes.”

The last pair of ducks ended up crooked, their heads too close together, their beaks at such an odd angle that it almost looked like a smile; they were Jiang Cheng’s favorite ones of all.

“For you,” Jiang Cheng said, shoving the box into Wei Wuxian’s arms and ignoring the look of confusion. “For when Hanguang-jun finally decides to live up to his responsibilities.”

“What are you talking about?” Wei Wuxian said blankly. “Why are you even at the Cloud Recesses?”

Jiang Cheng sneered because it was easier than doing anything else. It was the first time he’d seen Wei Wuxian since the events at the Guanyin temple: Wei Wuxian hadn’t come back to the Lotus Pier, not once, even though Jin Ling had tried several times to invite him.

“Am I not allowed, now?” he demanded irritably. “I’m a sect leader; I have a visitor’s token, same as anyone else. Anyway, I have other business to attend to – just take it and be done with it. Don’t make a fuss.”

It was a mistake to say that – as soon as Wei Wuxian realized there was the possibility of a fuss, he couldn’t wait to confront it at once, and disregarded all rules of etiquette to pull open the box right there as they stood, before even Jiang Cheng left.

“Red…?” Wei Wuxian’s eyes went wide. “Jiang Cheng, you got me wedding clothing.”

“Reused ones,” Jiang Cheng said before Wei Wuxian could get too emotional or anything. “The only adjustments were to the size and shape – don’t think too highly of yourself!”

“Sect Leader Jiang is too humble,” Lan Wangji said from the door. “It must have been a great effort to make clothing for a man from the ones your sister wore.”

“Sister…? You – this is what shijie married in?”

Jiang Cheng glared at the immovable Lan Wangji rather than look at Wei Wuxian. “Her marriage was happy,” he said stiffly. “Yes, it was cut short –”

Best not to say by whom.

“– but it was still happy. It’s not meant to be a bad omen or a curse…I thought you’d like it. Not that I expected you’d remember what it looked like, with your memory.”

“Of course I like it!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, hugging the red fabric to his chest. “You made it for shijie, and she finished it, right?”

“I had to add some more fabric to make up for the size difference,” Jiang Cheng said, still refusing to look at him directly. At least Lan Wangji had the good grace to be easy to glare at, that pig who dug up his family’s (lost, dead, resurrected) cabbage. “There are a few more that still need finishing. That way, it’ll have something from all of us – don’t you dare cry at me!”

“I’m not crying! My eyes are watering from laughter at how sentimental you are, that’s all!”

“It is good that we will both have signs of Sect Leader Jiang’s approval with us,” Lan Wangji said mildly.

Wei Wuxian turned to him at once. “Both? What do you have?”

Jiang Cheng was equally confused, and only when Lan Wangji reached up to his forehead ribbon did he remember his fit of pettiness in horror. “Wait, no, don’t – it can’t still be there –”

It was.

Wei Wuxian’s cackles followed him as he fled.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #yu ziyuan #jiang yanli #lan wangji #wangxian #my fic #my fics #I really like how this one came out actually #Anonymous

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years ago

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 11 first part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Goodness)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Okay! This episode is a real slice of healthy family dynamics, not triggering in any way. [Uh if this is your first Restless Rewatch: that is sarcasm, dear readers]

Goodbye to You, Goodbye to Everything We Knew

Nie Huaisang asks why Meng Yao has to leave and Meng Yao says "I killed a guy without permission, so your brother fired me."

Ha ha ha ha no he doesn't. But he does give Nie Huaisang a sweet, sad smile; he seems touched by NHS's distress.

Meng Yao carefully removes Nie Huaisang's hands from his shoulders and bows to him, wordlessly signaling the change in their relationship from intimate friends to formal strangers, while Nie Huaisang looks crushed.

They will return to intimate friendship in the future, but falsely. Meng Yao believes that truly loving a person can include destroying their family and using them as an instrument in your murder plots as long as you don't directly harm them. Nie Huaisang eventually learns to use people just as brutally, but he doesn't lie to himself about what he's doing. This farewell may be the last harmless moment between these friends.

Jiang Cheng is distressed by what's going on, while Wei Wuxian crosses his arms and watches, fully in Sherlock Holmes mode, instead of his more usual concerned-for-my-friend mode. This may signal mistrust of Meng Yao, who refused his initial attempt at friendship, and not in a sexy, slice-your-face-off way. Or it may mean that he's reserving judgement on a complicated family situation. He maintains his uncharacteristic reserve through the entire encounter.

(more behind the cut!)

Nie Huaisang runs in and asks his brother WTF happened. Nie Mingjue says "he killed my subordinate without permission, when he knows perfectly well power must flow from the ruler; it's like he didn't even read that Foucault book I gave him."

Ha ha ha actually he just yells at his brother, as if NHS doesn’t have his own relationship with Meng Yao after being wonder twink powers with him for probably a couple of years now. NHS has to sit and process his loss and confusion in silence.

As a younger sibling who would make friends with my older siblings' girlfriends and then lose those friends if they broke up, for reasons having nothing to do with why I liked their girlfriends, I super feel Nie Huaisang's pain here.

OTOH, older siblings are entitled to have break ups and not explain themselves to anyone besides their lover because that's the nature of intimacy. The moral is, uhh...don't have a family curse that makes you unreasonably angry.

Jiang Cheng steps up to advocate for Meng Yao, because Meng Yao is injured, and because Jiang Cheng is actually a born leader who knows better than to throw away a useful subordinate. For example, even when Wei Wuxian is at his drunkest and most defiant, Jiang Cheng tries to reform him, not kick him out, only drawing the line at having unpopular zombie friends.

Wei Wuxian continues to keep his mouth shut, waiting for Nie Mingjue to calm down, and speaking only about the tactical situation. He clearly knows there's more to this story but he's pretty good at keeping his head down in a family ruckus, and we're about to learn why.

Yunmeng Town

The Yunmeng bros go home to Lotus Pier, where they are greeted in town with bows, smiles, and free stuff.

We've mostly been seeing them in their roles within the cultivation community, where Jiang Cheng is grumpy and anxious, and Wei Wuxian is sassy and iconoclastic. Here among common people, they are both charming, friendly, and polite, like the imaginary good kind of gentry.

They hear the news from a local lotus seller that the small clans are coming to the Jiang Clan for shelter, but that otherwise everything's ok, which doesn't sound like everything is ok at all. He gives Wei Wuxian a giant bag of lotuses for his sister to make soup from.

Home to Lotus Pier

All the disciples practicing in the courtyard at Lotus Pier are excited to see them, and one girl goes running to tell Jiang Yanli. Thanks to the admittedly beautiful design of Lotus Pier, she is running for a long time.

A long, long time. Getting around on all these insane walkways must be a real drag if you're not the flying sort of cultivator.

Discipline and Punish

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian immediately go and kneel while they wait for their official punishment. Jiang Cheng is kinda worried about the punishment and Wei Wuxian is like, I'm good at being punished, just let me do it.

Much later, and for a really long fucking time

He also tries to get Jiang Cheng to stop being mad, even giving him skritches while he says they should be brothers after they die.

Which they will, as it happens, although Jiang Cheng after the Wen torture is only mostly golden-core dead, while WWX dies for real.

When Jiang Fengmian shows up Jiang Cheng starts to explain that they were with Lan Wangji, but Wei Wuxian hushes him; he is still keeping the secret of the Yin Iron. Although he's keeping it in exactly the manner that a teenager keeps their weed stash secret: immediately tell literally every teen friend about it, but keep it extra secret from everybody's parents.

Happy Families Are All Alike

Now we get to meet Yu Ziyuan, who is generally styled Madame Yu but who I'm going to call by her name just as if she was a male character. More on that concept in a minute. She rolls up looking, smelling, feeling like a million yuan, with her two murder bitches in tow.

Her marriage is an unhappy one, and her husband does his best to avoid her and avoid conflict, lying to the kids that she's tired and then sending her away later with the same line about being tired, which is a particularly gendered kind of gaslighting. She is obviously not tired, other than being tired of Jiang Fengmian's shit.

I'm not going to say she's the worst mother ever, because parenthood in a feudal society entails a wide range of skills, many of which she has in abundance. She starts off with a relatively tender greeting to Jiang Cheng, tuning up his always-amazing sartorial style, which is exactly like her own. They are all ready for the mommy & me fashion show.

That said, she dishes out hellacious verbal abuse to everyone in her family. She targets each one in turn, making Wei Wuxian the focus of most of her ire, but without ever directly speaking to him. He is not, in her view, part of her family.

The Stages of Family Dinner

1. Try to fix it and defuse the situation

2. Yeah no

3. Just keep your head down and be glad it’s not your turn in the hot seat

This family meal hammers home how much Wei Wuxian is not, actually, part of the family. Jiang Fengmian adopted him into the clan, and told A-Cheng and A-Yi to treat him as a sibling, but he didn't give him the Jiang name, and he didn't get his wife's approval. He also doesn’t expect him to dress like any other clan member, apparently.

Compare this to how Lan Wangji, actual good parent, fully integrates his own adopted son into his clan and family, starting with giving him the Lan surname.

The hits just keep coming as she goes after Jiang Cheng for being less gifted than Wei Wuxian, Yanli for performing labor for Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Fengmian for possibly begetting Wei Wuxian.

On first watching this scene I took her question "Is this how you raise someone else's son?" to mean that she thought Jiang Fengmian was being too nice to a kid who was actually an outsider, taking resources away from the real kids. But on rewatching, it's pretty clear that she's saying his favoring Wei Wuxian is evidence that Wei Wuxian is NOT someone else's son; that he's Jiang Fengmian's bastard.

Jiang Fengmian doesn't say a thing to this, or to her mentioning WWX’s mother. This shit is why WWX is running around in the world desperate for any crumb of info he can get about his Mom; he hears about her all the goddamn time at home, but only as insults to her character.

A Bitch is Not Wrong

Here's the thing, though; a lot of what Yu Ziyuan says is correct.

Jiang Fengmian should be a lot more concerned about the danger to the children, and should not leave it up to the kids to decide who's going to bear that danger.

Yanli does a lot of food=love, which is ok in the right doses, but causes her to pretty extremely lose face during the whole "soup for Jin Zixuan" debacle. And her doting on Wei Wuxian is...kinda excessive. I mean, yeah, she’s more like a mom than a sister to him, but still. Running out onto an active battlefield to look for him, frex, will be a skosh too much.

I have a dictionary too, mom

Jiang Cheng, as the future clan leader, shouldn't let his attachments affect his decision making, and should let Wei Wuxian, who's the superior cultivator, fend for himself more often. We love Jiang Cheng for those moments where he puts himself in harm's way to protect his loved ones, but it's not a good strategy. He constantly yells at Wei Wuxian for the exact same thing he does all the time himself; he just limits who he does it for.

After she roasts the shit out of everyone for these failings, she leaves, and everyone sits around being miserable and not talking about what just happened.

Not to be gender studies-y on main but: the awful things she says to her children are really not very different from the things that Jiang Cheng says to Jin Ling, although her targeting is more adept. JC also says a lot of mean things to WWX when he’s angry. When a man says cruel or insulting things, it's often presented as real love hidden under a rough exterior. When a woman does it, she's a monster.

If you enjoy this sort of interaction you should definitely have a look at Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and the plays of Eugene O'Neill.

Road Runner

Oh thank god, moving on

Lan Wangji is headed back to Cloud Recesses, and gets ambushed by the roadside with the most ridiculous trap this side of Wile E. Coyote.

Wen Chao thinks the "rug over a hole" trap is a good idea for someone who can literally fly.

Lan Wangji doesn't faff about with sword riding, he just fucking goes up in the air and stays there until he is good goddamn ready to come down. A hole in the sidewalk is really not going to be a problem for him.

Wen Zhuliu does get in one kick before Lan Wanji yeets backwards away from him, in a moment that's scarier on rewatching, now that I know what Wen Zhuliu is capable of.

Wen Chao talks some smack to Lan Wangji, hilariously complaining about "your patronizing tone" to a man who has literally never spoken a word to him, IIRC, and certainly isn't speaking now. Maybe it's a mistranslation and should be "attitude," or maybe Wen Chao is just that dumb.

Apparently Wei Wuxian made a stack of talismans for Lan Wangji to take on the road with him. This talisman is a twin to the one Lan Wangji brings out way, way later in Yunping, when Wei Wuxian says "you even have kept it until now." Missing scene alert! What else did he make for him?

In Yunping this talisman is used to distract some random harmless street bullies. Here it is used against a seven-man murder squad.

This works.

Assault on Cloud Recesses

Forgettable disciple #1, Su She, comes rushing in to tell Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen that Cloud Recesses is under attack.

I'm pretty sure these dudes already know it, because they are meditating extra hard with a buttload of incense, and Lan Qiren is about to cough up some blood. So I think they're trying to hold the ward, rather than just, like, chilling while their disciples get stabbed.

Cloud Recesses is super on fire, you guys; it's going to totally burn to the ground; look at that conflagration, oh the humanity, etc.

Lan Qiren Rises to the Occasion

Ok, I like to rag on Failmaster Qiren and he is definitely an authoritarian dick a whole lot of the time, but in this scene he is fucking amazing.

He starts off worrying about Lan Wangji, not just out of affection but out of strategic planning, probably in equal parts. All three of these Lans take their clan responsibilities extremely seriously.

Then he calmly assesses the situation while imperturbable Lan Xichen freaks the fuck out.

Lan Xichen is right to be alarmed, because he knows his uncle, he knows one of them is likely to die, and he knows that Lan Qiren will choose to take the hit.

I love, love, love Lan Qiren's physicality here; how centered and assured he is, as he holds his nephew steady and explains what is required of both of them.

Lan Xichen knows Lan Qiren is right. He is utterly fucking devastated, and all he can do to show his love...

...is to obey.

This whole scene just. kills me.

Su She and forgettable disciple #2 are in the room for this whole conversation, and they join Lan Xichen in this deep bow. Note: I will be reminding everyone of this fact in Part 2.

Whew. This episode is a LOT. Part 2 Coming Soon!

Writing Prompt: What other goodies did Wei Wuxian put in Lan Wangji's care package before Lan Wangji hit the road without saying goodbye?

Soundtrack: 1. Michelle Branch, Goodbye to You 2. Ludacris, Stand Up

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #wei wuxian #yu ziyuan #lan qiren #restless rewatch the untamed #the untamed spoilers #lan xichen #canary3d-original #my gifs #the untamed meta

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madtomedgar · 5 years ago

Text

The Case For Wang Lingjiao

Ok. I’m going to make the case for the Untamed’s third most unlikable character, Wang Lingjiao, being sympathetic.

Wang Lingjiao starts out her story as a servant. She’s not a cultivator. She doesn’t have a golden core. She has no social or spiritual power at all. She’s just the servant of either Wen Chao or Wen Xu’s wife. And Wen Chao, who has both a ton of social and spiritual power and can literally set people on fire with his mind, decides he likes her. Wen Chao is the worst person to decide he likes you. Jin Guangshan is second worst, only because he doesn’t have a habit of setting people on fire with his mind.

Wang Lingjiao has two options here. Option one: try to fight it and get set on fire at worst and merely fired at best. Option two: go with it, and try to do whatever she can to keep Wen Chao, CQL’s first ranked douchebag, happy and happy with her. When and if Wen Chao gets tired of her, she doesn’t have a lot of options. They are: get set on fire, at worst, and get cast out to fend for herself as a now fallen woman with a bad reputation at best. So she has a big vested interest in doing whatever she thinks will keep Wen Chao interested in her.

This explains the whiny “gooongziiiii” pouting, it explains her vendetta against Mianmian, because if Wen Chao decides to replace her? She’s fucked. He could literally just kill her and no one would care. It explains her being so insanely ride-or-die for both him and the Wen clan, because if he goes down, she goes down with him. It explains her coming along places where it really doesn’t make sense to bring your mistress, because a) gotta keep him interested and keep him from bringing home a new side-piece, and b) do whatever and go wherever he says, enthusiastically. It explains her being extra nasty towards Wei Wuxian, because Wen Chao hates him, and that will impress Wen Chao. It also explains her pouting about being “sooooo scared” after the sack of Lotus Pier and harping on Madam Yu’s qualities as undesirable, in sharp contrast to her. She’s painting herself as dependent, devoted, and desirable. It’s a strategic performance as much as anything, and she’s playing Wen Chao to keep herself safe and in a good position.

Her imperiousness towards Madam Yu also, I think, makes a lot of sense. Madam Yu is exactly the kind of person who Wang Lingjiao has lived her whole life under the boot of. She was born to social power, she is a strong cultivator. Wang Lingjiao spent her whole pre-canon life bowing and scraping and cleaning up after the Madam Yu’s of the world, and, when she didn’t do a good job, getting slapped or beaten or insulted. Of course she’s going to lord it over the current stand-in for the oppressive system she lives under, and have way too much fun with it. Also, in her eyes, Madam Yu’s refusal to offer tea is an insult, not just to the Wen clan, but an insult to her, personally, because Madam Yu thinks she’s better than her, because of her birth and marriage and cultivation. All of these things are completely off-limits to Wang Lingjiao. And when Madam Yu does insult her, it’s not based on her terrible behavior or her violation of Jiang sovereignty, it’s based on her birth (low), her job (a servant), and her lack of cultivation.

On the last night of her life, she knows she’s screwed, not because of Wei Wuxian, but because Wen Chao has grown bored with her. She’s scared of Wei Wuxian, scared of the war, just scared in general, and all he does is yell at her, threaten her, and insult her. We see later that he’s perfectly willing to kill her when she’s bloodied and asking him for help. Of course she was taking the jewels and running. She knew what she was in for the day he lost interest, and she knew that day was tomorrow. Wang Lingjiao never had a chance, not because she wasn’t a good person, but because the circumstances she was in didn’t give her the option to both be a good person and live.

#untamed stuff #long post #wang lingjiao

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crossdressingdeath · 4 years ago

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I feel people forget we have canonical examples of people adopted into the family and that going better for the adoptee. People who argue that there's no difference between Wei Wuxian's position in the cultivation world compared to others forget that we have both Wen Yuan and Meng Yao for comparison. You can clearly see how the family treats them affects their standing.

Wei Wuxian was a young master (and yes that's relatively privileged) but he's clearly not considered part of the Jiang family and their equal. And that directly affects how he's treated and what he can get away with. People keep talking about how rude he is but others have been ruder and got away with it. Everyone knows what Madam Yu thinks of him. Everyone also knows what position he holds relative to Jiang Cheng, it's why it's so easy to make allegations about him to Jiang Cheng about insubordination. It's why it was easy for Jin Jixun to openly disparage/yell at him. He may be a desciple but he's got no actual authority or place in the Jiang sect, he's closer in postion to Su She then even someone like Jin Zixun (albiet a much more favored then Su She). It's sort of like the mc of Knives Out.

Compare this to Jin Guangyao, who even with the snub of his name, was still adopted into the family proper. His treatment at the Jins left much to be desired but he's still got all the privileges of rank. He's considered Jin Zixuan's brother and he's in line to inherit. And while the Jins are like that, clearly people from the outside treat him as a part of the Jin. See how Jiang Cheng treats him compared to how others treat Wei Wuxian, despite both having common backgrounds.

Finally we have Lan Shizui. He's adopted into the Lan clan proper, he's given the ribbon of the main family, and the Lans treat him as one of them. He's never ever treated as anything other then as a young master of Lan. He's given all the privileges of his rank. Even when Jc snipes at lan jingyi or Shizui, he's still wary of going over the top and incurring the Lans wrath. This is directly down to how Lans treat Shizui and how rumour proof they are. Note that his circumstances sort of mirror Wei Wuxian's (Lan Wangji just turns up with a child) and yet there's not horrible stuff said about him. People argue that Madam Yu makes sense with her yelling about what Wei Wuxian would have meant to Jiang Cheng's position, but Lan Wangji turns up with a child and his reputation doesn't suffer. And Jin Guangyao is adopted into the clan and no one really thinks he's above Jin Zixuan. It's her own insistence of constantly believing in the rumours and being part of the gossip that probably makes them worse. If she really cared about her son, she should have just laughed. But she doesn't, because she's not doing it out of care or political savvy, she's just doing it because she wants to berate Jiang Fengmian.

Yeah, that’s a good point. JGY isn’t fully respected, there are clearly people who still see him as just the bastard son of a prostitute, but the name “Jin” does buy him a lot of respect. Even before he becomes sect leader (or even the immediate heir) people at least won’t insult him to his face; even when JC is talking about how he’ll never amount to anything, he says it to WWX, not to JGY’s face. And yeah, no one seems to think that JGY outranks JZX despite actually being JGS’s son, because... he doesn’t. That’s not how it works. And LSZ very clearly has the full support of the Lan sect; as you say, we see JC sniping at them (picking a fight with teenagers, that’s real mature) but he doesn’t dare go too far for fear of annoying the Lans. He... might actually be the heir after LWJ, it’s unclear (he’s certainly head disciple and was adopted into the main clan, but we don’t know who adopted him; if it wasn’t one of the Twin Jades he’s likely not near the top of the succession line), but either way he’s clearly well respected and liked within the sect. So like... clearly most of the time there isn’t concern about the succession when someone is adopted into the sect. Also, I seem to recall getting someone telling me once that an adopted child wouldn’t be above a blood child in the line of succession regardless of age, at least not automatically.

Honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason there was gossip about WWX being JFM’s bastard was because YZY kept shouting about it. I mean, the one person who really brings up anything related to it is JZX, who is the son of YZY’s best friend. I don’t think JFM taking in his best friends’ orphaned son and giving that son the rank of head disciple when he turned out to be super talented was actually suspicious on its own. I mean, LWJ brings a completely unknown kid back from the Burial Mounds after fighting his sect’s elders to defend WWX and no one says shit about it! But if JFM’s wife is constantly shrieking about WWX being the result of an affair between him and CSSR... Well, that would draw some attention.

#mdzs #lotus mom #anon #asks

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trilliastra · 4 years ago

Text

our hands reaching out

[Modern setting Xicheng, very Lan Xichen centric. I also posted on my AO3 if you prefer reading there]

Two weeks after Jiang Yanli dies, Jiang Cheng disappears. He takes Jin Ling and simply leaves his house, his friends and family behind.

He did not say a word, not even a call, a message to anyone.

Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu stop looking after a month, Wei Wuxian takes a while longer and Jin Guangshan even more. Lan Xichen is ashamed to admit he did not help them, simply trusted that Jiang Cheng needed some time alone, that he would come back to them once he was ready.

A year pass and then three, five, six , and nothing changes. And, just like that, Lan Xichen has to face the utmost truth – Jiang Cheng is gone for good , and Lan Xichen doesn't know him as well as he thought.

–

Lan Xichen doesn't drink. He doesn't have the same problem as his brother, but he doesn't particularly enjoy the taste, but it is said that drinking helps one forget and tonight he just wants to forget everything.

Seven years. At this point he spent more time without Jiang Cheng than with him. So why is it so hard to forget? Why is it so hard to move on?

He takes another sip of the whiskey, lets out a humorless laugh. He knows why, it is in his blood. When Lans fall in love, they love forever . Why would Lan Xichen be any different?

He throws caution to the wind, decides seven years is enough and he deserves to have this drink and the next one and perhaps that entire bottle of tequila the bartender offered when he arrived.

It all hurts too much, his head, his body, his heart . He just wants to forget.

–

When he wakes up, the first thing he notices is the sunlight through the curtains. Lan Xichen closes his eyes, pulls the covers over his face and groans.

He supposes he deserves this, he knew what he was getting into, after all. But then the nausea hits and he has to scramble towards the bathroom. And that's when he realizes he is not in his house.

–

“Take this.” Wei Wuxian says, placing a painkiller and a glass of water in front of him. “Trust me, it helps.” He smiles and Lan Xichen feels like covering his eyes, his smile is that blinding.

Wangji sits next to his husband, watching Lan Xichen the entire time. He said good morning when Lan Xichen walked down the stairs and nothing else, but his eyes are worried, Lan Xichen can see and feels guilt settling in his chest when he realizes he caused this.

“I'm sorry.” Lan Xichen says. He has no idea how he ended up at his brother's house, supposes someone must have recognized him and called Wangji – he's thankful they didn't call his uncle. “I'll leave you as soon as I'm feeling better.”

He watches as his brother and his husband trade a worried glance, feels uneasy when Wei Wuxian finally sighs and turns back to him, expression filled with guilt.

“Xichen-ge,” he says, “do you remember anything from last night?”

Lan Xichen arches an eyebrow and forces himself to think about the bar, the countless glasses of alcohol he consumed. He remembers bits and pieces, a glass falling to the ground, a confused yell, his brother's face, tears . His own?

“I –” he shakes his head, ashamed, “not much.”

Wei Wuxian nods in understanding, but is Wangji who talks first. “Brother called me last night.” He says. “Crying.”

Oh, no. Lan Xichen closes his eyes, runs a hand over his face. This is humiliating.

“I am truly sorry.” He reaches out for his brother's hand, feels his heart swelling with affection when Wangji accepts the touch easily. Wei Wuxian really changed him, Lan Xichen couldn't be prouder of how far his little brother has come.

Wangji nods. “Brother,” he adds, “you're in love with Jiang Wanyin.” He says, as upfront as always. Lan Xichen startles so badly, he pulls his hand back, a gasp escaping his lips.

“I –” it is clear they won't believe him if he tries to deny, and what good would that make? He can blame the high levels of alcohol in his blood, but in reality, this is a secret he was tired of keeping, “yes, I am. Still.” He admits, finally. If only he could have done that sooner.

This time it is Wei Wuxian who takes his hand. “I'm sorry, Xichen-ge. If only I knew .” There are tears in his eyes and he notices Wangji's hand on his back, supportive, loving .

“Wei Wuxian, there is nothing to be sorry for.” He tries his best to give him a reassuring smile. This is not his fault. “He left and –”

“No, it's not that!” Wei Wuxian shakes his head frantically, takes his phone and forces Lan Xichen to hold it. “Xichen-ge,” he points at the phone, “I know where he is.”

Baffled, Lan Xichen blinks down at the phone in his hands, almost drops it when he finally sees the photo.

Lan Xichen thought about him almost every day, dreamed about Jiang Cheng's smile, his beautiful eyes, but in his imagination, Jiang Cheng still looks the same as he did when he was eighteen. That same mischievous smile, the annoyed expression that Lan Xichen always found endearing.

This picture – this is the real Jiang Cheng. Older, hair longer, his smile isn't as big as it used to be, but he looks happy as he waves at the camera, holding a little boy that Lan Xichen assumes is Jin Ling.

Oh , gods. Lan Xichen collapses on the closest chair, holding the phone so tightly it could break. “How?”

Wei Wuxian sniffles audibly, sits on the chair next to him. “I'll tell you.”

–

“He wanted to leave, even before-” Wei Wuxian trails off. Lan Xichen nods, he's always known how hard it was for Jiang Cheng at his house, his relationship with his parents toeing the line between neglect and abuse. He never voiced his complaints but it was obvious to anyone who was close enough to see. Especially when they knew his siblings as well.

Jiang Yanli getting married, Wei Wuxian going to college and all but moving in with Lan Wangji only worsened Jiang Cheng's situation.

“And when jiejie died,” ha pauses, closing his eyes as more tears begin to fall, “he knew Jin Guangshan would try to take Jin Ling away. We all know he tried.” Lan Xichen nods, Jin Guangshan went insane when Jiang Cheng vanished, there are rumors about him cursing at his servants, throwing furniture around and then getting drunk for days. But there was nothing he could do, really. Jiang Cheng is Jin Ling's legal guardian, the police wouldn't accept his attempts at reporting the boy missing.

He says as much out loud and Wei Wuxian nods. “That's where Jin Guangyao walks in.” Lan Xichen frowns. “Jin Guangshan hired a private detective, one of the best, but he never actually met with him. It was always Jin Guangyao.”

That is the part that always confused him. Jiang Cheng isn't a spy or a master of disguise, a private detective could have found them, but nothing came back despite Jin Guangshan's many attempts.

“Without Jin Ling, Jin Guangshan had no heir, except for Jin Guangyao.” Wei Wuxian explains and Lan Xichen closes his eyes again. He was so stupid, how could he not have noticed it before? After Jin Guangshan died, Jin Guangyao did inherit most of his assets. He turned the company around, practically doubled their profits in a year and is living happily in his mansion.

He stopped looking for Jin Ling as soon as Jin Guangshan was cremated and they never talked about it. Lan Xichen still trying to mend his broken heart and Jin Guangyao, he had assumed, had given up after trying for all those years.

It all makes sense, except for – “so how do you –” he asks and watches as Wei Wuxian lowers his head. Lan Xichen has never seen him like this before.

“I've always known.” He admits finally, voice small and shy. Lan Xichen takes a deep breath, closes his eyes to try and calm himself. He feels the anger bubbling inside him, closes his fists so tight he feels his nails prickling the palms of his hands.

“Wei Wuxian –” he says, takes a look at his brother, feeling wronged, betrayed. Wangji looks as confused as he feels and Lan Xichen understands then, that he also didn't know. Seven years married and Wei Wuxian kept this a secret from him as well.

“I'm – I'm not sorry about lying.” Wei Wuxian says, raising his head and giving them a defying look. “I made a promise to my brother.” He points out, turning to Wangji. Lan Xichen knows from the look on Wangji's face that his brother has already forgiven him. And he also knows – deep inside his heart – that there is nothing to forgive in the end.

There is nothing he wouldn't do for his brother, after all.

“I am sorry for not noticing before.” Wei Wuxian insists. “If only I knew you are in love with him – Xichen-ge, if only I –”

“Brother hid it very well.” Wangji interrupts, taking Wei Wuxian's hand but keeping his eyes on Lan Xichen. He doesn't sound angry, never does. His eyes are soft, but there's sadness in them.

Wangji feels sorry for him. Gods, how pitiful.

“Wei Wuxian,” Lan Xichen says after a moment, suddenly feeling like he's aged twenty years in the span of an hour. He's so tired of running from his feelings, hiding them because he's afraid of facing rejection, of losing a friendship. It was his apparent disinterest that led Jiang Cheng to feel backed into a corner, without another option but to run away to protect his most treasured person. Alone, “where is he?”

–

Jin Ling is on the yard when Lan Xichen arrives at the farm. Well, animal sanctuary, he corrects himself. Jiang Cheng was studying to be a vet when Jiang Yanli died and to be able to raise Jin Ling without help, he had to drop out of school.

“He works at an animal sanctuary now.” Wei Wuxian had said, showing him more and more pictures of Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling and the animals he works with – foxes (Wei Wuxian did not save the pictures of the wolves, he admitted, pulling a face), deers.

Lan Xichen is glad that he's still doing something he loves, even if it's not what he always dreamed about.

He parks the car, takes a moment to watch Jin Ling. The boy has a puppy with him and he seems to be teaching it how to play fetch, throwing a purple ball for the puppy to catch. It seems to be going well and Jin Ling always makes sure to give the dog a treat when it brings the ball back.

Lan Xichen startles when a man steps outside the house, waving for Jin Ling to get inside. When the boy doesn't immediately obey, the man goes to him, picks him up and throws him over his shoulder. The boy shrieks with laughter and the puppy follows them, yapping happily.

He doesn't realize he started crying until he feels the tears running down his cheeks.

They look happy, like a real family. A family Jin Ling lost at such a young age, a family Jiang Cheng never really had.

He watches Jin Ling squirm and Jiang Cheng put him down, running a hand over his hair. Jin Ling throws the ball again and when the puppy brings it back he smiles up at his uncle, chest puffing out proudly. Jiang Cheng smiles at him and Lan Xichen can clearly see him mouthing the words 'good job' at his nephew who smiles even brighter and throws himself at him.

Jiang Cheng accepts the hug with ease and Lan Xichen feels his heart swell with love. Oh, how he wishes he could have been there to watch him grow as a parent, to watch this little boy break down all Jiang Cheng's walls and help him accept that affection is something good and not a weakness. That love should be given freely and not earned through excellent grades or good behavior.

Lan Xichen doesn't know how long he stays inside the car, drinking on the sight of Jiang Cheng after so many years. He's a man now, not a eighteen-year old, and all his features are the same but more defined by the years. Lan Xichen stares at his broad shoulders, admires the curve of his neck, the cut of his jaw, gazes up to his mouth and when he reaches his eyes, Lan Xichen finds them looking at him.

–

“Wei Wuxian told you?” It's the first thing Jiang Cheng asks, defensive, when Lan Xichen finally steps out of the car and walks towards him.

“Yes.” He answers, stops a few feet away from them. Jiang Cheng stands in front of Jin Ling protectively, and Lan Xichen feels his heart drop to his stomach. What was he expecting, anyway? “How are you?” He starts, friendly, looks down at Jin Ling and smiles. “Hello.”

“Jin Ling, inside.” Jiang Cheng orders and the boy all but scrambles to obey. Lan Xichen closes his eyes, almost brings a hand to cover his heart. He wasn't expecting to be welcomed with open arms, but he was not expecting this level of hostility either. “What do you –”

“I missed you.” Lan Xichen confesses and watches as Jiang Cheng takes a step back, surprised. “Gods, I missed you so much.” He can't help but reach out to take his hand, to make sure he is really there, so close.

He knows Jiang Cheng will not come back with him, will understand if the other man doesn't ever want to see him again after this, but he waited, hoped, to do this for so long, Lan Xichen cannot help himself.

“You disappeared. It was like you died, Jiang Cheng, I –” he closes his eyes again, when everything feels too much, “I miss you.”

“After all this time?” He hears Jiang Cheng ask, looks at him just to find Jiang Cheng's eyes filled with tears, a mirror of his own. “I never dared to hope you could –”

“Yes.” Lan Xichen answers immediately, steps closer. He doesn't dare pull him into a hug like he's been wanting to, but just this – the warmth of his body so close to Lan Xichen's – is enough. “I love you. I always did.” He lets out. “After all this time – I never stopped.”

Jiang Cheng throws his arms around Lan Xichen's shoulder and collapses against him with a soft sigh. “I missed you, too.” He confesses against Lan Xichen's neck.

All his senses are Jiang Cheng, his voice, his touch, his scent. It is overwhelming in the most perfect way, Lan Xichen never wants to let go. And he never will, he promises himself, makes a mental note to tell Jiang Cheng as much.

Now that he finally found him, he will make sure to keep him forever.

#jiang cheng x lan xichen #xicheng #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #my fic #ooooooo

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jiangwanyinscatmom · 4 years ago

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[1/?] Sorry for venting. I just saw some bad takes that gave me a lot of feelings. Personally, JC stresses me out every time he comes on screen, but I don't mind it when JC fans say fan-typical things like how they like JC because he wears purple, or is grumpy, or they think he's hot, or that they ship x*ch*ng because the cql actors have nice jawlines. They're harmless, fun takes, and while I don't agree with some of them, I see where they're coming from

Hello there anon, vent away as that is what my blog is open for as I love/hate on Jiang Cheng as he is in the plot, as well as all of my beef with what has been done to him for the EN side of the fanbase! I am more than fine listening and engaging with the unsavory "unpopular" discussions of his canon behavior and this goes for anyone of course that needs an open play area. I'll try to engage with what you have sent point by point as succinctly as I can.

[2/?] (some of these are obviously crack, and I am a fan of a few problematic faves). But then there are stans that just have to put other characters down to make JC look good. Like, I think some fans take their freedom of interpretation for granted because most of these takes aren't even labeled 'headcanon,' 'ooc,' or 'crack' anymore. Stans feel that their interpretations are valid, and while they are, valid =/= canon, and they're treating these takes as canon, which becomes popular fanon.

I enjoy Jiang Cheng for what he is, however as I had said it took me another reread to get to my stance of him being the negative mirror to Lan Wangji's positive and my comfort with that for the story once I realized what purpose he served. He is only insofar tragic in regards to his circumstances, but it does not absolve him for what he is at his core (no pun, but I can make a very nice metaphor that even with a piece of Wei Wuxian in him he is still forever unable and unwilling to stand by him equally all while stagnating where as Lan Wangji is able to flourish, grow and mature with nothing of import left from Wei Wuxian in a technical sense). As for ships, I am a little dirty Xicheng whore for fun and can say there is a sense of entertainment for me making it work with two people where one is wildly ignorant and the other wildly rabid. But that is outside of what is established as canon in the work and I always try to keep the two strictly separate due to the skew fanon perpetuates.

3/?] And now, it's not clear what part of the fanon references canon JC or the canon events of mdzs. JC is an asshole; I don't like him as a person, but I do think that he's a complex character motivated by many issues (sup, YeeZY), which makes him fascinating to explore. Unfortunately, erasing his culpability also removes his agency. JC should be allowed to be an asshole character who makes his own decisions even if they're the wrong ones. He has made his own tragedy by constantly casting Wei Wuxian as the villain of his life.

Now thanks to you I will be using YeeZY to forever and now to acknowledge Madam Yu (this is your fault for the new tag). From a standing from storytelling I agree that he is complex in the Jianghu for MDZS. Where in the usual political intrigue of Wuxia, he would be the mustache twirling villain that is outright unforgivable in narration, it is by favor of Wei Wuxian's narration that has an early steeping of empathy for him. And he is not meant to be seen as ultimately sympathetic, the work builds up his hate against Wei Wuxian who tries to rationalize it all several times until he is finally unable to. Jiang Cheng is the antithesis to Lan Wangji and the false bait to get attached to in Wei Wuxian's first life. I will make the note their meeting in Yiling is lukewarm between both as they exchange nothing really in terms of conversation and all pleasantries are left in terms of Jiang Yanli for Wei Wuxian. By this point Wei Wuxian has already switched his yearnings of platonically wanting a part of Jiang Cheng's life, to subconscious romantic inclinations about Lan Wangji and the perceived loss of being in the other's life.

The very point of Jiang Cheng as the deconstruction, is that he has no passion in life despite his apparent exploits because he put a shadow to hang over himself as an excuse to say others think he is not good enough. He has no deeper motivations than pure selfishness by the end of the work and is pure frivolity that he has built up losing the meaning of his sect as a tradition. He had his agency (more than anyone I might add in the work due to his social position) that he used to build his reputation as a passive rich sect leader that has little to do with civilian problems.

4/?] And I think a JC, somehow, that realizes that he did something wrong and is working hard to change for the better and gain self-actualization to become that UWU best jiujiu the stans want him to be, who is ready to talk (not yell at) with WWX, apologize to him, and create a better, healthier relationship with him is a much more powerful reconciliation and happy ending than 'everyone is wrong and mean and they all apologize to JC, which magically gets rid of all his issues'.

He is forced out of culpability in reconciliation because simply put, his audience do not like the reality that relationships fray and dissolve with no further resolution other than we as adults both need to move on for safety and good health. It is not acceptable in real life and fiction is allowed to place that also in it's thematic relationships. He has a small, small spark of recognition at the end of the main story, however he himself seems to choose to ignore it, as change is hard and he has never taken to that well as was foreshadowed with his dogs and the idea of sharing a space with Wei Wuxian. To write this is an awful lot of work into his psyche which is not a nice place, he is a terrible being and downplaying that to make a sugar sweet person does not work instantaneously. He is the one responsible for the entire fallout with Wei Wuxian and he hysterically realizes that even as he tries to continue to blame Wei Wuxian.

The issue that I have with his current stan culture, is that they already view him as something he is not. They play at bicycle with all of the other protagonists that have positive traits that they strip as they see fit; Good affirming loving to children adult Lan Wangji, Self-sacrificing ultimately did it all for love and care Wei Wuxian, Hard exterior but softened to who they consider an annoyance Wen Qing, Loyal as partners in their exploits on the field and always have each others back Wen Ning. They even take Jin Guangyao's persona of playing damsel and using that as a positive to soften up Jiang Cheng into something he has never been for anyone for ships.

[5/5] Also, making WWX/WN/LWJ apologize just makes them look better than JC. Like, stans supposedly love JC, so they ahouldn't be lazy and work hard to give him actual character development. Again, I'm sorry for spamming your ask. It just really baffles me about where they get these 'hot' takes (All I'm going to say is that JC was ungrateful, and WN had a reason verbally dismantle him).

They see this, but, they will spin it in any way to excuse Jiang Cheng due to the story itself showing that he was in the wrong to everyone he flung accusations at and his hate. No one but him is at fault for his spite as he had gotten his revenge on the ones that had ruined Lotus Pier and killed his parents. His own resentment pitted him against good and well meaning people that he refused to help as he mimicked his mother's words about raising their heads higher out of goodness instead of keeping low and staying self-centered. There is the underlying criticism of taking individual arrogance as self-care at the cost of others. Each point that Wen Ning makes is exactly what Jiang Cheng himself knows as he hated Wei Wuxian for being something he could not be or even wanted to be. Jiang Cheng wants kindness but does not understand that kindness to others needs to be selfless and accept the hurt that can come with that in life. He encompasses the fall from the path of buddhist lifestyle, "The Three Poisons" to Wangxian's "Without Envy" at the stories end.

[6/5] P.S. I'm not saying I want reconciliation fics, but I just feel that if stans want JC to have a happy ending, then I think that he should actively work for it. I think it would be interesting to see what force of nature would push him through a character development because throwing a therapist at him would result in a murder.

"I'm not saying I want reconciliation fics, but I just feel that if stans want JC to have a happy ending, then I think that he should actively work for it."

They do not think he has to work for it, they say his tragedy is enough, while heaping accusations against Wei Wuxian and saying his own are not enough to absolve him. Something Wei Wuxian has never denied and told all present they are allowed to forever hate him for what he had done in the past, but that they need to find a way to live in a life that is always moving on. He learned that grudges do nothing once they are absolved and it leaves you with hate with nothing else to do with it once that object is gone. In terms of reconciliation, I do not ever think that either want anything other than a distant peaceful out of each other's life set up. Jiang Cheng does not need Wei Wuxian in his life to be satisfied and never has since he used him as the handicap to hide behind to stay angry and miserable. Being without that fallback opens the world far more for him to change than him ever interacting like an old friend with Wei Wuxian ever again, if he ever had the guts to do that.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #yeah I am using that tag block me if it upsets you #pokes this sorry for the length I tried #listen... only i am his trash queen

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