#Lan Xichen is by no means my favourite character

[darksynkka]

Who’s saying that JC is a better brother than LXC?! I mean, LXC is by no means perfect but JC has set the bar so low that it’s in hell.

I have my criticisms of LXC but nothing he does is out of malice. He’s, at worst, ignorant and willfully blind. For all that I wanted to punch him in his mouth in the Guanyin Temple scene, in his defence, considering that LXC had been testing the song that JGY used to drive NMJ to a qi deviation on himself (points to LXC for not being willing to use anyone else as a guinea pig), just found out that the bff he spent over a decade going to bat for was gaslighting and manipulating him this entire time and legitimately believes that WWX was toying with his brother’s feelings, it could have been much worse 🤷‍♀️

Meanwhile, just about everything JC does is out of malice. He actively tries to hurt WWX in any way he can at every opportunity, uses his own sister as a bargaining chip (nothing unusual for the time period but still), tarnished her sacrifice, lied to her son about how she died and abuses said son verbally, emotional and, yes, even physically.

LXC, at worst, treats LWJ like a child instead of an adult man by blaming WWX for his brother’s own choices. And his actions make a whole lot more sense if what I suspect about him being a parentified child is true. I mean, his mom was in prison and he only saw her once a month, his dad fucked off and it’s never entirely clear if the twin jades had any sort of relationship with him, and the book says that they were “raised by others” until they were old enough to be taught by their uncle. Unless I’m missing something that’s in the original Chinese version, it doesn’t say anywhere that Lan Qiren was a parental figure to his nephews. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that LXC stepped into that parent role for his brother.

Or maybe I’m reading too much into things.

There are some absolute balls to the wall crazy posts on here about how JC is a better "brother" than LXC.

The way some people in this fandom will literally rewrite an entire novel just to make their favourite character less of a prick never ceases to astound me...

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Oct 23rd

~*~

1. itmf fics where lwj (or even one of the other characters like nhs or the juniors) gets mad about what lxc said to wwx about being lwj’s only mistake?

Thank you for your help!

break by justdoityoufucker (orphan_account) (T, 3k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LXC Critical, JC Critical, Canonical Character Death, Guānyīn Temple Scene, BAMF WN, Protective WN)

🔒💖 When has silence saved anyone? by Vrishchika (T, 6k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, post-canon, LXC  critical, family feels, angry LWJ & LSZ, LXC gets scolded)

~*~

2. hello! itmf request for fics where lwj punches people. like we know he's good with the sword but his lan arm strength should also be used for breaking jaws with his fists. no jc bashing tho. i mean lwj can beat him up, but id rather the author not, yknow? thank you very much in advance and blessings come your way!

~*~

3. Do you know of any fics where wwx's ghost sticks around to help raise lsz? @dawnforger-fr

🧡 Lan Sizhui Sees Dead People Series by darkbrokenreaper (T, 30k, WIP, WangXian, LWJ & LSZ, JC & LSZ, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Kid Fic, Hurt/Comfort, lsz sees dead people, Paranormal)

🧡 Ghosts Shouldn’t by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 15k, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending)

From the beyond Series by apathyinreverie (T, 11k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Some angst, Ghost WWX, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX, Domestic WangXian, rogue cultivators wangxian, of sorts, Ghostly Sunshine Husbands: A Guide on Accidental Sect Creation by Hanguang-Jun, Cultivation World Critical, Fix-It, Oblivious WWX, Smitten LWJ, Time Skips)

A-Yuan’s first Inquiry by SaiaiSaiko (G, 1k, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, LWJ Plays Inquiry, LSZ Plays Inquiry, Canonical Character Death, Spirits)

~*~

4. (First part moved to FF) where wwx goes to the future (modern) if you have any fanfics like that, I would appreciate it @quwieiidkd

🔒Confusion by Vrishchika (Not rated, 4k, wangxian, time travel)

🧡 The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal (T, 363k, WangXian, Ridiculously Long Notes, History, Canon Divergence, Modern AU, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, Slow Life, Action/Adventure, Magic Returns, BAMF WWX) which isn't tagged as time travel but has a canon-era Wei Wuxian frozen in a block of ice and, after being discovered in current times and thawed, he has to adjust to the future. / One of my all time top favourites

🔒I Got Isekai'd into a High School Romance But I Used to Be the Founder of Demonic Cultivation! by LizzyPanic (T, 20k, WangXian, Minor XuanLi, Canon Divergence, Modern AU, Reverse Isekai and Transmigration, High School, wwx is a cultivator, no one else is, Pining, Flirting, attempts at humor, gender nonconforming nhs, First Kiss, Good Uncle LQR, Light Angst)

~*~

5. Yilingwei type fics, some have protective commoners. I really wanna say murder of crows by cerbykerby or cradle by dragonesque had that element. I know I've read ones where the locals find the visiting cultivators sus and the cold welcome unnerves the visitors (cause they expected the locals to hate the "great evil") or where locals scam the voting cultivators by over charging for items they wouldn't be familiar with cause snooty & don't shop for themselves

~*~

6. In the mood for:

a) Canon characteristics compliant fics.

b) Fics where Lan Xichen is shady, mean, condescending, or doesn't like Wei Wuxian (Preferably with LWJ standing by his man)

c) modern Fics where WWX is disowned or kicked out of the Jiang but goes on to do well. (Preferably, confident!WWX)

Please 🥺 and thank you 😊 @myblurryreality

For 6B, I didn't mention it but it can be in canon or an AU.

6A)

It's Only Time by etymologyplayground (T, 8k, WangXian, Epistolary, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, It's About The Yearning., Getting Together, Love Confessions, Cuddling & Snuggling, Humor)

and he sang about the stars by hauntme_then (M, 29k, WangXian, Brotherhood, Growing Up Together, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst, Grief/Mourning, Canonical Character Death)

Gathered Herbs & Sweet Grasses by hansbekhart (Not Rated, 19k, LSZ & LWJ, WangXian, dad wangji, LWJ’s Questionable Parenting Skills, Grief/Mourning, Recovery, Injury Recovery, Hopeful Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Gathered Herbs & Sweet Grasses [podfic] by someplacelikebolivia)

Florescendo by flowercity (FaoriE) (T, 9k, WangXian, Sentient Burial Mounds, Canon Compliant, POV Second Person, POV Third Person, Introspection, there are wangxian scenes but theyre not the focus, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, poetic prose, the mortifying ordeal of having hope, Character StudyParallels)

6C)

crimson blue by cherrywhiskey (E, 138k, WangXian, Modern, Arranged Marriage, Angst with a Happy Ending, Marriage of Convenience, genius WWX, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Supportive LQR, Bottom LWJ, Eventual mpreg, Protective WWX, protective LWJ, Soap Opera, with plenty of telenovela tropes, like scheming in-laws, sizzling drama, Romance, AND SO MUCH LOVE & DEVOTION, Power Couple Wangxian, they're smitten with each other, WWX × LQR bonding, soft LWJ, but he also has a temper, WWX's debt & duty factor is heavily focused, baby is not having a good time im sorry, let me show you what Wei Wuxian's love looks like, comes with gorgeous arts) he doesn't get kicked out, more like leaves

Crazy, Rich Cultivators by ShanaStoryteller (Not rated, 13k, wangxian, Modern Cultivation, Idiots in Love, Misunderstandings, POV LWJ, īthis started as a crazy rich asians au but quickly got away from me, light moments of angst but mostly shenanigans)

🔒 Step by step by apathyinreverie (T, 12k, WangXian, Modern AU, JFM and YZY Bashing, not particularly Jiang family friendly, Guilt, Fluff, past angst, Flashbacks, Protective LWJ, Soft WWX, adorable a-yuan, Friendship, Family, Getting Together, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff)

Catharsis by Starfell123 (T, 9k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, mentions of abuse, Mentions of Disownment, Swearing, Friendship, Attempted Arranged Marriage, WWX has gone through therapy, Catharsis, supportive friends, Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Genius WWX, Rich WWX, Bad Parent YZY, Bad Parent JFM, BAMF WWX)

you'll always know me (ana_cp) by anaphoricae (E, 127k, WangXian, Modern, Actor WWX, Teacher LWJ, Getting Back Together, Exes to Lovers, is it exes to lovers if you never quite defined your relationship?, for WangXian it is, Angst with a Happy Ending, LWJ being cute with children alert, WWX rides a motorcycle, LWJ writes as a hobby, ALL THE GOOD THINGS, Back hugs as a love language, Sharing Food as a Love Language, Really anything between them is a love language if you squint hard enough)

~*~

7. Hello! Could someone recommend some fics where wwx is believed dead at the burning of lotus pier/the burial mounds/the beginning of the war and everyone mourns him??? Thank you in advance, have a nice day <333

The Scarlet Lotus by rainbowninja167 (M, 137k, WangXian, Marriage of Convenience, Secret Identity, Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Canon-Typical Violence, canon-typical war crimes, Yunmeng Bros, the mortifying ordeal of getting seduced by your own husband, nonlinear chronology we die like cql, just kidding nobody dies in this fic, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication) doesnt die, but everyone believes he's gone crazy

Lay my body down by tawaen (M, 48k, WWX & WQ, WWX & WN, wangxian, WWX & JYL, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Eventual WangXian, No Golden Core Transfer, Not Cultivation World Friendly, Canon-Typical Violence, Not JC Friendly, What if WWX saw the first siege of the burial mounds and said Nope to the war, OCs, OC point-of-view for one chapter for plot reasons)

Go Hiking With a Blindfold On by Hauntcats (Not Rated, 12k, WangXian, WWX & JC, WWX & WQ, Not JC Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, No Golden Core Transfer, Canon JC Characteristics)

when you’re doing all the leaving (then it’s never your love lost) by tardigradeschool (T, 26k, wangxian, canon divergence, hurt/comfort, canon-typical violence, sharing clothes, sharing a bed, fix-it, golden core transfer)

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts)

only the dead (have seen the end of war) by comforting_monachopsis (T, 42k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, temporary amnesia, BAMF WWX, sad LWJ, grief/mourning, loneliness, mild gore, secret identity, loss of identity, identity porn, angst, humor, crossdressing)

~*~

8. Hello 🥰!

Itmf:

A) Artist Lan Wangji and muse Wei Wuxian. Whether it's painting, photography, sculpture, I'm happy!

B) Wangxian (one or both) being acrobats like in Cirque Du Soleil. I'm talking aerial silks, those things in the air where performers throw other performers to each other, contortionists, etc.

C) One or both of Wangxian as dancers. It can be any kind of dancing (if it's sexual, I'd prefer it if there wasn't a lot of actual sex). Ballroom dancing, ballet dancing, swing dancing, whatever! (I've already read Unstrictly Ballroom by Ariaste).

Thank you!! @acebookdragon47

8A)

when you say nothing at all by sysrae (T, 4k, WangXian, Modern AU, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, artist LWJ, tattoo artist WWX, past angst, Getting Together, emotionally significant art installations, Soulmates)

🔒a reunion is made of words by spookykingdomstarlight (T, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, Artist LWJ, Estranged Friends to Lovers, Reunions, Chance Meetings, Second Chances)

Muse by LadyVamp (E, 9k, WangXian, WangXianXi, Modern AU, Romance, Tragic Romance, Artist and Muse, Painting, Sex, Explicit Sexual Content)

8B)

fear you won't fall by anaphoricae (E, 87k, WangXian, Modern, Circus, Fire Dancer WWX, Trapeze Artist LWJ, Slow Burn, Rom com vibes, No Angst, Just an overall good time I hope, Come as Lube, Rimming, WWX and LWJ's 'mutual dislike' to 'let's get married tomorrow' pipeline, some scenes of WWX and LWJ being really cute with children. Beware!, Bottom LWJ) circus au with trapeze artist lwj & fire dancer wwx

8C)

Falling to the Rhythm by Selenay (E, 128k, WangXian, Modern: No Powers, Dance, Strictly Come Dancing Fusion, Ballroom Dancing, Dancer!WWX, Violinist LWJ, Pining While Dancing, Oblivious WWX, Gratuitous Costume Descriptions, Gratuitous dancing descriptions, Slow Burn, [Podfic] Falling to the Rhythm by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona)) Both fics are explicit but I don't believe there're too many explicit scenes in either story.

varied my velocities by fantasiavii (E, 58k, WangXian, Modern AU, Ballerina LWJ, Football/Soccer player WWX, Enemies to Lovers, Top WWX/Bottom LWJ, Dom WWX, Angst with a happy ending, Internalized homophobia) Both fics are explicit but I don't believe there're too many explicit scenes in either story.

Pas de Deux by TriviasFolly (M, 62k, WangXian, Modern AU, ballet dancer lwj, Hip Hop Dancer WWX, dance teacher au, reference to career ending injuries, referenced injuries, Addiction, Drug Addiction, we attempt some pining)

Ugly Duckling by Witch_Nova221 (T, 57k, WangXian, NieLan, Romance, Friends to Lovers, Ballet Dancer WWX, Ballet Dancer LWJ, Theatre, Dance School)

🔒space, skin, muscle, bone by tombenough_and_continent (T, 23k, WangXian, Modern AU, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Non-Linear Narrative, Dance, Background SongXiao, background NieLan, a surprising amount of texting, gratuitous use of ballet terminology)

~*~

9. ITMF where WWX's title is not yiling patriach. Like ghost flute or red lotus or something. It could be that his title was yiling patriach and he or someone change the title to something else. Thanks!

Hand in Hand Together (All Your Life) by sami (T, 41k, JC/WZL, WangXian, Asexual JC, Queerplatonic relationship, Implied future NMJ/JYL, Not Everyone Dies, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Honestly at this point you probably know what you're getting with me, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Slow Burn)

~*~

10. ITMF where LWJ runs away/defecting the lan sect and join the jiang sect. Like after his punishment, he feels trapped in the lan sect and leaves his forhead ribbon and then join the jiang

Bonus if JWY and LWJ become a reluctant partner in crime/coparenting

Another bonus if WWX is the only casualty

Thanks

The Price of Freedom by meyari (T, 32k, WangXian, JC/LWJ, Past Character Death, Grief/Mourning, PTSD, Post-War, Children In Danger, Past Rape/Non-con, Warning: JGS, Physical Abuse, Chronic Pain, Canon-Typical Violence, seriously a lot of grief and loss, no resurrections (yet), LQR Bashing, Execution, excessive discipline, Platonic Relationships) note that it's tagged for JC/LWJ but it actually is more platonic

Delight in Misery by nirejseki (Not rated, 44k, WangXian, JC & WWX, JC & LWJ, JC/LWJ, WIP, Canon Divergence, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Accidental Life Partner Acquisition)

First Love by Kaunakukko (Liitohauki), translation of Первая любовь by AlexVulpinus and Mathew, (M, 109k, JC/LWJ, Memory Loss, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Drama & Romance, Post-First Siege of the Burial Mounds, Translation - English, Original - Russian)

picking up the pieces by KouriArashi (M, 111k, JYL & LWJ, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Alternate Canon, Grief/Mourning, Angst, Regret, Family, Kid Fic, Families of Choice, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, canon typical political bullshit, Eventual Happy Ending) is an AU where Jiang Yanli lives while Jiang Cheng dies. Lan Wangji takes Yuan to Lotus Pier to raise him alongside Jiang Yanli raising Jin Ling.

❤️ For Both Of Us (And Time Is But A Paper Moon) by sami (E, 65k, WangXian, Time Travel, Some People Live/Not Everyone Dies, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Yunmeng Shuangjie, Canon Divergence, Asexual JC, First Time, Getting Together, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, [Podfic] Cold read of For Both Of Us (And Time Is But A Paper Moon) by kisahawklin, Для нас обоих (И время лишь бумажная луна) (Russian translation) by nomuad) I'm not sure if this is exactly what OP it's looking for, as this is a) a time travel fic and b) LWJ defects to the Jiang sect after the Cloud Recesses lectures. But hopefully OP can still enjoy

~*~

11. ITMF a fic where lwj pines/crushes hard on wwx. light hearted and indulgent vibes, preferably modern au but cloud recesses arc also welcome. thank youu @f1sh1ng4gl0ry

every time we kiss i swear i could fly by sarahyyy (T, 2k, WangXian, College/University, Kissing Booths, Misunderstandings, Getting Together, First Kiss, Love Confessions)

How Wei Ying Went from Oblivious Idiot to Shameless Boyfriend in Three Days by misscam (T, 5k, wangxian, Modern, College/University, Getting Together, Humor)

💖 love on 35mm by fakeplasticlily (M, 26k, wangxian, modern au, college/university au, pining, LWJ is BFFs with JYL)

mating rituals by detectorist (E, 16k, WangXian, XuanLi, Modern AU, College/University, Humour, Pining, Getting Together, Idiots in Love)

🔒 you’ve ruined my life (by not being mine) by cicer (E, 132k, WangXian, Modern AU, Developing Relationship, Idiots in Love, Awkward Flirting, teenage romance, Shameless WWX, slowburn, Demisexuality, references to lqr’s a+ parenting, references to jfm’s a+ parenting, but we’re gonna get a happy ending ANYWAY, references to yzy’s a+ parenting, Background NMJ/LXC, hints of nmj/lxc/jgy, bottom LWJ in chapter 15)

r/relationships by vespertineflora (T, 8k, WangXian, Modern AU, Social Media, Viral Reddit Post, Pining, Crushes, Friends to Lovers, Awkward Flirting, Romantic Gestures, Romantic Comedy, Love Confessions, Kissing, Happy Ending)

it’s just (aah) a little crush (crush!) by sweetlolixo (T, 9k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Romance, Fluff, Pining LWJ, Humor, Courting Rituals, Teen Wangxian)

~*~

12. For the next itmf I wanted some time travel from post-Canon to the Sunshot campaign, I haven't been able to find anything like this but I'm fairly dure it exists 😢 thank u ♡

🔒 Forget Myself in Memories by geethr75 (T, 10k, JC& WWX, JC & JL, JL & LSZ & LJY & OYZZ, WangXian, LXC & NMJ, JYL/JZX, Junior Quartet Dynamics, Time Travel Fix-It, Juniors travel to the past, Post-Canon, Canon Divergence, double trouble, Past WWX meets future WWX in MXY's body, Past JC meets future JC, Sect Leader JL, Sect Leader OYZZ, Sect Heir LJY, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, JGY dies as Meng Yao, SS and JZN dies, JGS dies, WQ & WN lives, JYL & JZX Lives, Canon doesn't exist anymore, no golden core transfer, No golden core melting, The Juniors save the day, WWX saves the day too, Alternate Timelines)

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Fix-It)

Stubborn Shadows by secretlyteo (teobunn) (T, 24k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, comes in at the moment WC dies, Wangxian ducking around with their past selves, LSZ is tired and would like to go home)

Time Travel, Obviously by nirejseki (Not Rated, 1k, Time Travel, Crack)

Whatever it takes by Moonlit_dewdrops (T, 115k, JC & WWX, WangXian, JC & WWX & JYL, JC/WQ, JYL & WQ, WWX & WQ, WWX & JGY, WWX & JZX, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies, yunmeng prides, POV JC, POV WWX; WQ & WN live, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, WWX & JC actually communicate, Yunmeng Siblings fluff, But Also Some Angst, Lots of WangXian moments, Protective JC, Protective LWJ, JGS & JXN will die for sure, NMJ Lives, Twin Prides of Yunmeng Feels, Slow burn but not for Wangxian, Brotherhood, justice for the wen remnants, JYL & JZX Live, Wen Remnants Live, Cinnamon Roll WN, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Cannibalism, reference to wwx’s suicide, Established Relationship, Torture)

🔒 if you can’t beat them, recruit them by moeblobmegane (T, 228k, Wangxian, NHS & WWX, WWX & WQ, Time Travel Fix-It, Conspiracy, Spies & Secret Agents, Team as Family, Found Family, Burial Mounds, Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Pining, Morally Ambiguous Character, Rumors, Politics, Developing Friendships, Good Uncle LQR, Demonic Cultivation, YilingWei Sect)

~*~

13. Hey do yall have any fic recs where wwx needs more recovery after the battle at nightless city at the end of the sunshot campaign? @turtleoftheabyss

Tether by WithBroomBefore (T, 40k, WangXian, SangLi, WWX’s passive suicidality, Canon Divergence, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, WWX Lives, JYL Lives, Golden Core Reveal, Minor Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, POV JYL, Grief/Mourning, Sunshot Campaign, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, LWJ makes friends, Fix-It, Happy Ending)

~*~

14. Hi so do you have any fix where wwx is like a mother to the juniors like he gives motherly advice and is a comfort to everyone and acts like a mother too and the juniors secretly refer to him as their mother or some kind of mother figure @constancebloodstone

~*~

15. Hello! ITMF a fic where wangxian spend at least part of the fic living far away from the cultivation world, something where wwx gets a chance to heal and live away from all the politics and drama.

Thank you so much for all the work you do! I’ve found so many wonderful fics scrolling though this blog, you’re amazing!!

💙🔒Away from Trouble by Ilona22 (M, 15k, WangXian, Not JC Friendly, LWJ/WWX Get a Happy Ending)

Discarded by teawater (E, 187k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Dying Lan children, Hurt/Comfort, YL WWX, Golden Core Reveal, Case Fic, Depression, Family Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Worth Issues, Angst with a Happy Ending, and it’s not always dark, POV Multiple, BAMF WWX, dubious morals in the Lan sect Feels, Pining, Grief, Fix-It, BAMF LWJ)

And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Screw the Cultivation world tbh, The Lan precepts deserves better, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, domestic life, Social justice boyfriends wangxian, Happy Ending) These next two may also work but Wei Ying develops amnesia in both and doesn't remember his past

🧡 the river brought you here by chilianxianzi (Not Rated, 11k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, POV Outsider, Amnesia, Past abuse, Strangulation, Found Family) These next two may also work but Wei Ying develops amnesia in both and doesn't remember his past

wide enough and wild by impossibletruths (E, 64k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Getting Together, Canonical Accidental Baby Acquisition, Families of Choice, References to Depression, Happy Ending, I Swear To God I’m Giving Them A Happy Ending, Overzealous Use Of Imagery, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Well Except WN But He Was Already Dead So, Fix-It of Sorts, [Podfic] Wide Enough and Wild by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona))

~*~

16. ITMF where peoplw found out/relized that the resentful energy is the one that keep WWX alive or functional. Thanks

The Core Issue by Hauntcats (T, 21k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Not JC Friendly, Canon Divergence)

❤️ three surgeries and a mercy kill by MarbleGlove (T, 11k, medical procedures, fix-it, Demonic Cultivation, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Self-Indulgent, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies)

🧡 decay by antebunny (G, 15k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst, Misunderstandings, Miscommunication, Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, the fluffiest ending, Hurt/Comfort)

~*~

17. Hi, I'm hoping that someone has recs of mxy being pregnant before bringing back wwx, so when wwx comes back he is pregnant

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[thepurplewombat]

Character headcanon ask: LXC + JGY!

Okay, so it's finally cooled down enough that my computer has stopped making distressed noises whenever I turned it on, PLUS! we even have power for a few hours today, so here goes:

Lan Xichen

Sexuality Headcanon:

I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't give a lot of thought to characters' sexuality, at least not in terms of having headcanons for them. In my head, LXC is probably some flavor of bi, except that in practical terms, he's A-Yaosexual.

Gender Headcanon:

I think I've read one fic where LXC was actually a woman - not in the sense that he any flavor of trans, at least that was not the impression I got, he was biologically and emotionally a woman, but he was presenting male because of Political Reasons, and I thought that was quite interesting. But in general, I think he's a cis male.

A ship I have with said character:

Oh I don't know, I just don't know, who could I possibly ship the incomparable First Jade of Lan with - it's Jin Guangyao. Like, I'm not going to say that xiyao is canon and everyone who disagrees is wrong (even though they are) because everyone is allowed to be wrong on Beyonce's internet, but any version of Lan Xichen that isn't in love with Jin Guangyao is a Lan Xichen who is so wildly out of character to me that I just don't know what to do with him.

A BROTP I have with said character:

I think he'd get along really well with Jiang Cheng as friends - like, among the reasons that I don't think they work as romantic partners is that I think Lan Xichen would find being in a relationship with JC utterly exhausting. As a romantic partner, you feel somewhat responsible for managing your partner's moods, in a way that you don't necessarily feel the need to do in a friendship. I just think that the distance of a friendship would give him the opportunity to enjoy Jiang Cheng's cunty tendencies and temper, while not making him feel in any way responsible for managing Jiang Cheng's moods.

A NOTP I have with said character:

That being said, Jiang Cheng is not actually my NOTP for this character. I remain convinced that chengxiyao is a viable ship that just needs the right story to take off, and I'm sure that if I were to read a really good x!cheng fic, where Jin Guangyao is not demonised or erased, I would probably enjoy it.

No, my NOTP is Nie Mingjue. Mainly because I think he's an abusive jerkweed who reminds me of both my murderous ex and my late father (although to be fair to the Great Old One, he never tried to kill me) and I don't think that someone who is incapable of understanding that maybe other people have different priorities and points of view, is a good fit to be in a relationship with anyone who doesn't precisely share his values.

Oh and also Nie Huaisang. Just no. NOPE.

A random headcanon:

Not long after the end of canon, Lan Xichen disappears from his house of seclusion and is never seen again, because he's given the entire jianghu the middle finger and fucked off.

General Opinion over said character:

When I finished the book he was my favourite, and I was initially drawn into thinking more about Jin Guangyao because I was looking for stories where Lan Xichen has a happy ending, and a lot of the time, a happy ending for Lan Xicnen requires a happy ending for JGY as well. In the months since, he's been somewhat supplanted by JGY - it's not that I love him less, it's that I love JGY so much more (send help I am genuinely unwell about Jin Guangyao).

More general opinion - I think Lan Xichen should have the opportunity to go absolutely feral.

Jin Guangyao

My lovely boy, my sweet cheese, my rotten soldier, I love him so much.

Sexuality Headcanon:

I mean, canonically he loves both a man (LXC) and a woman (QS) so, bisexual?

I do think he has a complicated relationship with sex, because of his mother's profession and his father's...everything, but I think that like most of his traumas, he pushes it into a box and never ever thinks about it.

Gender Headcanon:

I think that when he was a small boy, his mother went on her knees every day and thanked all the gods and ancestors that he was a boy, because at that point she must have still hoped that JGS would come for them.

So I don't think that JGY has ever actually thought about his gender beyond 'thank the gods I wasn't born a girl'. Like, he could never allow himself to even consider anything other than being a man, because he was his mother's son, you know?

A ship I have with said character:

Xiyao. They're just so *clenches fist* I love them, your honor. Like, they just so obviously love each other - it's more obvious in CQL, but it's not exactly subtle in the novel either, and I just...my heart breaks for them and I love them so much.

I can also be convinced about Chengyao, because I think that Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao have got some things in common, and the ways in which they differ are very complementary.

A BROTP I have with said character:

I think that he and Wei Wuxian could have been great friends, if the stars had aligned properly.

A NOTP I have with said character:

Obviously it's a free internet and everyone can do what they want, but personally I can't ship my blorbo with someone who tried to murder him three times and hated him so much that even without knowing that JGY had killed him, he became a fierce corpse and escaped the grave to come after him. Just nope.

A random headcanon:

I don't think that JGY would have left the temple that night. I think he was genuinely trying, because at base he's an engine of survival, but honestly I think when push came to shove and he had to leave Lan Xichen and never see him again, I'm not sure he would have done it.

General Opinion over said character:

I love him. he's my favourite character in MDZS, and he's near the top of my list of all time favourite characters.

[eohachu]

So. Some time ago I reached 1000 followers on this blog, and I'm in the mood to celebrate, chat, and most importantly, take requests!! This is how it works:

Send me...

🦋 + make me choose (between dramas/films/characters/dynamics) 🌵 + ask me my favourite (drama/film/character/dynamic) ❓ for a surprise bag gifset 👀

Much love to everyone who supports my gifmaking, it really means a lot to see people enjoy my art <3

Took prompt inspo from @khaotunqs 🌈

Tagging a few people who I want to especially thank:

@bienmoreau @bitterfrosts @dengswei @evakant @flamingwell @gege @hedvig-ulrika @highwarlockkareena @huaschengs @jiaoliqiao @lan-xichens @lesbianmangoes @sandushengshou @shuangdaozhang @suibianjie @treemaidengeek @weiwuxian @yibo-wang @yohankang

i hope i forgot noone, if so, i'm so sorry and i love you 🥺💙

[sentienceisoverrated]

I never wanted to get involved in fandom politics but I’ve seen so many posts blaming different characters and putting others on a pedestal that I feel the need to say something.

If you think that jc or wwx or any other characters are better than the rest, undeserving of what happened to them, and that they did no wrong and everyone else is to blame, then you’ve misunderstood the fundamental point of the entire story.

We all know that mdzs is a story about class, but there’s more to that than just Jin Guangyao and Mianmian. It doesn’t just stop at them, it applies to ever character in the entire novel, and applies to every situation they find themselves in. Mdzs is a novel about how situations shape people and affect their decisions, and by saying that one character is released from that blame while others are not is wrong.

As a reader, we know information that other characters do not, and since the novel is focused around wwx pov, then we know more information about his situation than the other characters do. We know he was tossed into the burial mounds, we know that he wanted to protect his family, we know that he loved Jiang Yanli as a sister and would never hurt her. But above all, we know everything Wen Qing and Wen Ning did to help him.

Except, the other characters don’t.

(And before I say the next bit, I would like to say I am not glorifying wwx’s actions or Jiang Cheng’s. They both did horrible things to each other)

In the novel, Jiang Cheng was pretty much unconscious for the entire time after he was rescued by Wen Qing and Wen Ning. The only time he did wake up was for mere seconds before he saw the Wen uniforms and was so afraid he was literally screaming before Wen Qing stabbed him with her needle and put him to sleep. By the time wwx woke him up, they were already travelling on a boat away from Yiling, and the Wen were nowhere in sight. In addition, Jiang Cheng didn’t know they brought back his cultivation. Jiang Cheng was unconscious, and could not remember much of what happened to him. All he remembers is waking up in a Wen stronghold, and then waking up outside of it. What reason did he have to believe that the Wen Qing and Wen Ning helped him at all?

On the contrary, wwx could not tell him any of this, because that would mean admitting to the golden core transfer. Wwx did not accept help, did not ask for help, but he was at a point in his life where he went to hell and back and was being blamed for it. To tell people he lost his core would 1) alert Jiang Cheng of the transfer and 2) would actually make him more of a target of the cultivation world. Unorthodox methods x2?? Absolutely not.

Lan Xichen did not see Jin Guangyao for what he was because he wanted to see someone better. That, and he was mourning one sworn brother and he did not want to mourn the other, or to even blame him for his death. Sure, he didn’t see any of the clues, but he didn’t want to see them, and that doesn’t make him a bad person.

I could go on and on about every single aspect of each characters situations and how that affected their actions (and I might in a reblog) but this post is getting long.

The point is this: Do not rise your favourite characters to pedestals and do not incessantly blame others for their mistakes. Each character has their own motivations, fear, and was each stuck in a situation that forced them to make bad decisions.

EDIT: It has come to my attention that Jiang Cheng was, in fact, aware of what Wen Qing and Wen Ning did for him prior to wwx’s death. So, I was incorrect in that regard.

However, Jiang Cheng was under great scrutiny by the cultivation sects, had just rebuilt Lotus Pier and its reputation, and then suffered the blow of wwx leaving. I do believe that his actions were a result of all that pressure being put on him.

[commonpigeon]

its that time of year thats exciting exclusively for me. fanfic spreadsheet wrapped 2023.

this year i read 9,020,674 words :O thats over a million more than last year lol (7,815,414). i read 1172 fics total, which was less than last year (1325). so i suppose overall i was reading longer fics.

top ten fandoms

teen wolf - 405

fall out boy - 202

the untamed - 81

stargate atlantis - 53

the witcher - 50

the sandman - 48

x-men - 47

merlin - 46

ted lasso - 20

les miserables & atla & pride and prejudice all had 17 each lol

top ten pairings

derek hale/stiles stilinski - 389

patrick stump/pete wentz - 193

rodney mckay/john sheppard - 50

erik lehnsherr/charles xavier - 46

merlin/arthur pendragon - 45

geralt of rivia/jaskier - 44

dream/hob gadling - 43

lan xichen/jin guangyao/nie mingjue - 36

enjolras/grantaire, elizabeth bennet/fitzwilliam darcy, sokka/zuko - 17 each

aziraphale/crowley - 15

break down into months

january

top fandom was the sandman, top pairing was dream/hob. makes total sense because i was still clinging on from 2022.

top fic - And Not Ask Leave of Any - dream/hob 15th century faeries au. i have no recollection of this but january me loved it.

february & march

top fandom was the untamed, top pairing was lan xichen/jin guangyao/nie mingjue. i had been rewatching the untamed and was going insane despite not even getting to the best bits for that ot3 lol

Feb top fic - Some others I've seen - steddyhands established relationship - ed and izzy have a tavern and stede visits. again i have no recollection of this and i think its mostly sex

March top fic - An Elegant Solution - nie mingjue/wei wuxian/lan wangji. by far one of my favourite fics EVER and this was a reread and it still hurt me just as good as the first time. arranged marriage fic that fixes so many problems and weirdly the thing that hurts me most wasnt even the main pairing it was the nie minjue/lan xichen/jin guangyao. never has a fic made me pivot from hating to liking a character so effectively

crazy that neither of my fav fics were from my top read pairings lol

april

top fandom was x-men and top pairing was cherik.

my mum died in late march and i lost my MIND and could exclusively watch media i enjoyed between the ages of 12 and 14 and xmfc was The movie when i was that age

top fic - Weekend at Casterly - jaime lannister/brienne of tarth regency au. sorry i will always come back to these two altho ill admit this was rogue and came out of no where

may & june

top fandom was teen wolf, sterek

may top fic - Yes is a World - sterek. derek rejects stiles and then they get together after a few years and have to reassert boundaries. didnt finish where most fics finish and i enjoyed that extra insight into what happens after the get together

june top fic - it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) - geraskier. reread. geralt is an omega who wants too much. soooo embarassing to put omegaverse on here which i usually avoid but this fic is soooo good their dynamic is perfect

july

top fandom was the witcher, geraskier

THEY MADE THAT BARD BISEXUAL

Jinx Removing - sterek. this is saved as dr pepper fic on the spreadsheet which means nothing. another case of derek waiting for stiles and planning for them to be good for each other

bit funny that last month sterek was my top pairing but my fav fic was geraskier and now its swapped for july

august & september

top fandom was merlin, and merthur

august - Once & Future - geraskier, warlord au where geralt is a statue awoken by jaskiers kiss. really beautifully written

september - the devil's in the details - merthur. arthur lists the ban on magic and thinks merlin just learnt really really fast

i left a specific note for myself in september to lmk i was really into reece shearsmith but he simply has no fic. thanks past me

october

top fandom was sherlock, but the pairing was enjolras/grantaire. i simply have no idea how this happened

Epiphanies - enjolras/grantaire. modern au where they do a christmas reunion and enjolras isnt doing too well. i found this too relatable thumbs up emoji

november & december

ah. well this was the time of fall out boy and peterick. what a way to end the year

nov - Schrodingerverse - covid verse that was written during covid and the series that got me back into peterick. guilty pleasure fic for me

dec - time is luck - there was like 3 good fics this month it was very very hard to choose between. but this ons is the ultimate dynamic that im seeking from modern peterick fic where pete is entirely dedicated to patrick and completely accepting of their friendship and not wanting anymore. But What if He Could Have More???

in summary. when your mum dies make sure you read like a shit ton of sterek fic for 2 months in a tiny box room in a village itll be so good for you. and then go to see your favourite band from when you were 14 live and get back into rpf while trying to start 2 new jobs.

seriously though how did i read 405 teen wolf fics in like 2.5 months and then just never touch sterek again. i didnt even finish teen wolf

[comefeedtherainn]

tagged by love of my life @saltsanford thank u bb

How many works do you have on AO3? 27

What’s your total AO3 word count?

608,101

What fandoms do you write for?

this varies bc i revisit old fandoms often, atm im deep in the untamed and also working on drafting a sleuth of ming dynasty, might try guardian if the mood strikes. i also have wips i'd like to return to for mass effect, rdr2, and bioshock

What are your top five fics by kudos?

your darkest roads - the untamed (1,417)

scars and scratches - the untamed (1,307)

break of dawn - mass effect (865)

it starts with a lighthouse - bioshock (385)

here's a truth - IT (233)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i used to, i stopped recently because i got busy with grad school and cant always find the spoons lol i try to at least respond to questions, concerns, and also if i finish a fic!!

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably a tie between sparks amidst snow and unseen, both very depressing character studies for the untamed. jin zixuan and lan xichen, respectively. you can understand where the angst came from lmao

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmmmm probably break of dawn?? i like to write happy-ish endings esp for long things, just to reward the reader for sticking around for a long fic lol. but break of dawn ended with john and kaidan getting married, leaving the military, and getting a dog. so. absolutely the best case scenario and very happy lmao

Do you get hate on fics?

honestly not really. i got some on mass effect ones but that was more character hate which i shut down hard, rather than hate on the fic lol i either dont write much that's controversial, or i sell it well enough no one bitches lmao

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

i do! most of my longfics feature smut, i enjoy it in my romance

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i do occasionally, though not as much recently. i despise fusions though lmfaooo

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

if i have im not aware! lmao

Have you ever had a fic translated?

sadly no :c

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

i have not!! im a control fic idek if i'd like it if im honest lol

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

why would you ask me this. i have way too many favs but i do think tuckington of rvb and mshenko of mass effect will be with me foreverrrr

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

i choose to believe i will finish all my WIPs, no matter how long it's been since i touched it!! if i start it i intend to finish.

What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and describing environments!! also plot.

What are your writing weaknesses?

pacinggggggg, and character arcs imo. i can do them and they turn out well if i try hard, but i do have to try really hard/do a lot of rereading and organizing

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

if im writing fic for a fandom that's not english-speaking, like the untamed, i will use words in mandarin if they are a proper noun/name of a place/etc. i also tend to keep it untranslated for titles and for diminutives/honorifics that lose meaning or impact when translated to english. that's it, though.

if i were to be writing a character liiiike james vega in mass effect who speaks spanglish occasionally, i'll be real sparing about it tbh. if i dont know someone who speaks a lot of spanglish or speak it myself, i'd rather just take it easy on that and not look like a dumbass/be offensive lol esp since with a property like mass effect it's really questionable if canon is even accurate lmao so you cant even go off of that

First fandom you wrote for?

starfox adventures dlgkhapodih yeah the gamecube rpg. best game ever btw

Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

this is so hard lmao but i think it's probably break of dawn. writing that fic was such a joy and the interaction with the fandom was something i haven't experienced since!!

if you read this, you're tagged!!!

[areuils]

Cql songs tier list - I have never studied music theory and can barely put together a coherent thought about music on a good day. Only the songs that I actually enjoyed would rank nicely on the whole mdzs song tier list because cql has a lot of songs and a lot of them I don’t care for.

曲尽陈情 - The Ending Melody of Chenqing

Where are the bird sounds? This song is predominantly about Wei Wuxian whilst having enough about Lan Wangji that you know he’s gay and longing.

孤城 - Lonely Town

Chen Zhuoxuan is the star of the song and is so nice here. Good instrumentals and the flow of the song is good.

疏林如有诉 - Woodlands

Instrumentals are so good in this and Gao Qiuzi has such a powerful voice and it just works really nicely together. This and 孤城 can switch spots anytime but I listened to this one after so positionally, it’s lower but spiritually they’re the same spot.

无羁 - Unrestrained

I’m biased towards this song but it sounds nice even if it’s a bit slow for my tastes. You can really tell Xiao Zhan is a better singer than Wang Yibo during this time but Yibo’s voice is still nice.

多很生 - Duo Hen Sheng (they didn’t even give the pinyin for this why)

This is the last song I listened to for this and it’s a good note to end on. Zhu Xingjue sounds so good and the lyrics flow really nice with the nice melody. This starts the songs I would actually listen to in a playlist.

最是少年不可欺 - Never Bully the Young

Quite possibly one of the funniest song titles. Strong vocals, song’s entertaining, not enough for me to actually listen to it outside this but it’s higher than middling. Also isn’t Wang Yibo like younger than the people singing this during filming lol.

清河决 - Qinghe Jue

In which a powerful voice saves you from being middling enough to be lower than me being biased towards Lan Wangji. Also I wish Lan Xichen’s song was like this. Maybe I’ll even watch Fatal Journey one day (doubt).

不忘 - Indelibility

My problem with Lan Wangji songs is that they’re mostly about Wei Wuxian and his longing rather than defining his own character. I like the instrumental break. Not slow enough for me to hate it and I can’t put a Lan Wangji song that low anyways (he’s my favourite cabbage).

赤子 - Utter Innocence

This song is only below Lan Wangji’s because Lan Wangji is my favourite cabbage. Otherwise it’d be above it. Nothing that makes me hate it but nothing that makes me put it higher either.

恨别 - Parting

This and Never See You Again is like equally placed and their position depends entirely on how I am feeling because both songs only get better during the latter half. Higher now because I have listened to Wang Zhoucheng sing other stuff and his voice is enjoyable in the other stuff I listened to.

咏隔 - Never See You Again

This got to escape bottom tier because it actually picks up in the second half and becomes bearable to listen to. Down so low because the first half is horrid for me.

荒城渡 - No One Knows

If it was .25x faster, it would not be down here but alas I do not care for songs on the slower side.

不由 - Can’t Help

This song is so slow, which would normally mean it’s pure bottom tier, but I like Liu Haikuan’s voice and the instrumentals. Too much longing for Lan Xichen but fits the CQL version of him.

意难平 - Hard to Let Go

This song is slow, boring, and about a character you’d have to pay me to care further about outside of she exists. Also no offence to Yin Lin but I don’t like her singing voice.

[sazzafraz]

this is for honest xiyao enjoyers only. respect yourself

one of the reasons im creatively stuck on no return is that i also have to decide what Sir Not Appearing lan xichen is doing in jin lings section. which is suffering, obvs! am i going to write his fic, probably not historically speaking, but its timeline defines parts of no return so i am here. in my own bullshit.

why can't i decide? well i think this fic is xiyao. and i have little?? opinion??? on that. its not quite a pairing that baseline works for me, which isn't a problem because thats not how i write. what i want is to understand it, and i don't. i think its a pairing of 'like-to-like', in that they're clearly people who are pleased with eachother, but in my own reading of the novel i don't think they understand eachother, which is my usual shipping motivator. i also think sasunaru don't always understand eachother. so im like. banging my sns brain. he solution is to read what popular xiyao looks like and figure out what we're working with. but i think hmmm. that my interpretation of them individually gets in the way.

for instance, in this interpretation, i don't think jgy knows about lxcs fucked up conception* because of how lxc self conceives. in the creation i do have of his story he omits what is not useful, and has an austere knowledge of his own history, because what he does know doesn't match his own morality (if i do write this story i think we're going to get a whole lot of 'hey mxtx what did you mean? by that?' with what Madam Lan means for people who aren't wangxian). i don't even think his keeping this is a thing he'd conceive of as a 'secret' its like. lore. in the way the history of the rules is lore**.

and i'm like. working back from the idea that jgy probably would consider it a bit harsh. he can intellectually get it! and respect it! but the idea of someone you revere finding you on some level untrustworthy is a thing i think could stick for him. i can't see this changing their relationship but i don't know how a jgy who has to rationalize the specific unplumbed id of er-ge does. this is compelling to me, a horrid, but is this what other people like? does this make a xiyao???? probably not, but it is the only hook i have.

(some amount of this series is me, unfairly, kicking mxtx for being lazy about how she views her own characters. this is why i have decided to grandfather her into my own favourite literary tradition: shounen author)

but errrrrr jgy is also dead in this pov! what do i do with this? apart from have lxc suffer. what are the steps to compelling xiyao. how do i achieve. i'm sure someone has a manifesto if u've got this far and have it please give it to me so i can add it to the soup. thank u for coming to my tedtalk etc etc

honestly i'll probably also just design them some fucked astrological synastry. maybe divination will fix it!!!!***

*minor chance this comes up on jgy's The Library is Open routine at guanyin temple and i have forgotten

**sazz special: when ur childhood it too fucked consider it a mythology! depersonalize, baby!

***hi, hello, this also gives him Cursed Sexy Synastry with jin zixuan which is another objectively funny fic.

[qinghe-s]

Hi,.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from MDZS? And why do you love them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

oh my gosh of course i don't mind!! the opposite! ♥

i could be cheeky and just list huaisang, but different adaptations (in order it'd be novel, donghua, cql, audio drama, manhua, just ftr) (donghua comes high on the list bc his scenes are more canon compliant than cql) but i'll take you more seriously than that:

nie huaisang still comes first, he's my sun and moon and the reason i got into mxtx at all. i've told this story before but in 2020 a friend of mine played a character based on him in a d&d oneshot and i was instantly charmed, saw her reblog a gifset a while later and then i started watching cql Just For Him. i started reading the novel around episode... 13? whenever they're in the xuanwu's cave, and he just kept ticking all my boxes. some boxes i didn't even knew i had! he might genuinely be my favourite character ever. he's a spoiled, adorable boy and a horribly bitter and devastatingly lonely adult who does awful things for someone he loves? the most character. no one beats him.

nie mingjue, lan xichen, and lan wangji get to share second place because i couldn't choose if i got paid to. they're so good. all three of them are so deeply loyal but show it in very different ways. i adore how nmj has such an incredibly big heart even though he's not presented as especially kind or nice, but his actions speak volumes if you take the time to look beneath the surface. lxc is kindness personified in contrast, serenity in the shape of a man, and the fact that that's both his strength and weakness in context of the main plot is *chef kiss* — plus, you know, he's the perfect man. who doesn't love him! lwj is an angry, petty, jealous, horny bitch and righteous and brave and so unbelievably good. kind without being nice. incredibly stubborn. objectively kind of terrible in bed (i mean HONESTLY) but it genuinely just endears me more. what a guy.

wei wuxian isn't someone i talk about a lot but oh my god. darling boy. i'm constantly overwhelmed by how kind he is to the dead, how gently caring. when he, lwj, and wen ning go back to the burial mounds before the second siege and he holds a skeleton hand to his mouth, holding it so gently? the way he cares? i'm tearing up just thinking about it. he isn't even the type of character i'm usually drawn to because he has such a severe case of main characteritis but i LOVE how his arrogance is his downfall and how, at the end of the day, what he really wants is a place to come home to. i could write way too much about about him & homes but that's for some other day.

my top favourite moments is honestly kind of hard! both because there are SO many but also, like... i can't decide if my favourite moments are the ones that make me happiest or the ones that make me have the most feelings. i'll try, though!

obviously i want to say "at least 70% of everything in the Guile chapters" but if i have to pick just one scene it's the one where nhs' things are burned. which seems horrible!! but it just says so much about him! the way he switches so quickly to fury and how easy it is to read fear into that reaction, like he's been holding things back for a long time and it just boils over. oh my god. baby. but also for real just. Guile. it's got the juice! and by juice i mean nmj/nielan/nie brothers

wwx coming back from the burial mounds the first time. it's so haunting! wwx, jc, and lwj all have so many things going on for them! jesus christ!!!

when the nie brothers arrive at baifeng mountain. they're both displaying such typical traits of masculinity, just on opposite sides of the scale (i've compared them to a lumberjack and a guy in a suit commercial before; the masculinity is equal but wildly different) and it Delights me. bonus: when jgy complains about how much prey nmj has captured and lxc LAUGHS OUT LOUD because he also finds nmj delightful (':

huaisang during the second siege ♥♥♥ i'm Obsessed with how he pushes his own agenda and the desperation you only see when you already know what he's doing. he's so precious to me, my perfect little guy, my most beloved.

i love almost everything about the extras. yes the bichen thing and the library pavillion too. my favourite extra is the lotus pod one, specifically lwj's chapter and absolutely everything about it. the way the lan brothers interact, the way lwj helps the common people, his insistence on picking lotus pods, the little glimpses of what lxc is like when no one's watching him... tearing up just thinking about how he loves the blooming magnolia so much he needs to paint it and how he goes to their mother's cottage to practice playing liebing. and how lwj put lotus pods in a vase there :((( they're such wonderful boys

[memory-lane-and-back-again]

Yeah, I definitely haven’t encountered stans at all. Probably a good thing because I just as a general rule like to dispute stuff if I can but also cannot be bothered with drama.

I think I like jiang chengs character because it is so complicated. He does have shining moments of good as well as abysmal moments of bad and I enjoy sorting through them and unpicking where on the spectrum of human I can stick him.

[though lately I’ve been trying to unpick more about lan xichen because his ‘niceness’ does not always mean good and it’s a much less explored character-type imo]

I do dislike people who have to shame other characters in order to elevate their own favourites though because it comes across as an unwillingness to accept flaws for what they are; they have to find a way to turn a blind eye to what they find unpleasant (even if that means shaming and putting down everything else outside of their little bubble of joy)

typically that makes them very difficult to get along with at all. 😓

I do just like tagging onto the end of your posts because you take such a strong ‘against’ stance that it’s very fun—and something that I suck at which keeps dragging down my essays because I lack conviction or am not making strong enough points. 😂

I think it is quite funny jc stans and their relentless tries in making jiang cheng good and likeable or going extreme lengths to prove "look wwx is bad too so it's all equal haha"

At the end of the day the text disproves everything they made up, they can blissfully accept and argue their deluded fanon to be true but it never will be. And I sleep well at night knowing that mxtx made him a loser miserable asshole and I had enough reading comprehension to know that.

Also I know jc stans seethe at the fact wwx is the ideal protagonist that he is cuz when you compare jc to wwx you truly see how big of loser jc is, how much lacking he is in comparison. Wwx is so abundant in positive traits, he is literally so good at everything except cooking and then there's jc who barely has any good traits. Their tries to paint wwx as morally grey make them look like absolute idiots cuz the narrative and the author disproves the claim. "Oh but I don't agree with the author" well your approval doesn't matter cuz in mdzs universe wwx's actions are justified and jc's aren't, also most of jc's actions are presented in a negative light anyways.

They try and make him less of a loser making stuff up like "best jiujiu" "best sect leader" "oh look jc knew/predicted everything abt wwx" "wwx is reckless and impulsive and jc is so level headed" and none of these mentioned claims are true and even when author says he is despised by women cuz of his rancid personality they are like "no she is joking ofc ofc" or "he is actually aroace" and don't even let me get started on how they want to pair him up with lan xichen or nie huaisang when in text neither of them cares about him and the fact jc himself is a homophobe and they do it just cuz they want him to not die alone pfft.

Jc stans so delusional, I bet mxtx finds them so funny, I mean how can someone be so bad at reading lol

[commonpigeon]

lan zhan 🐇

LAN WANGJIIII my specialest of boys...

first impression

ok my first impression was already skewed because i had been told "he was just like spock" and him and wei wuxian "are just like geralt and jaskier in many ways when i think about it..." so i already had my eye on him. but i thought he was insanely beautiful and also kind of mean but with a hidden depth and i loved it

impression now

genuinely one of my fav characters of all time because he IS like spock and he IS like geralt in many ways. i think he feels very deeply and he has a pretty solid moral compass that pulls him between his family and his soulmate. there is so much i could say about how tragic he is but it would be spoilers... but my point is he feels deeply but comes off as repressed to the vast majority of people and i think thats sooo fun

favourite moment

i literally cannot say its a spoiler. but it involves being very tragic and sad and widowed

was trying to think of any other but theyre all spoilers. he only gets better with age. OH WAIT when he fucking ruins all the magic nets during the night hunt that jin ling and jiang cheng put out and him and jiang cheng go toe to toe. theyre sooo funny

idea for a story

umm let me rewrite the fucking ending of the show its so silly he would not fucking want that

i would love for him to get a little holiday. Musical retreat spa day

unpopular opinion

umm not sure. i like him so much more than wei wuxian i am shocked when people like wei wuxian more

favourite relationship

well. it has to be with wei wuxian lol they are fucking soulmates. enemies to lovers. highschool sweethearts. theyve got it all. no but seriously lan wangji loves him soooo much he would destroy himself a million times over if it meant wei wuxian's happiness and prosperity

but i also love his relationship w lan xichen... lan xichen is one of the only people who can read lwj at all and they deeply love one another and lan xichen feels so responsible for him because they are orphans

but also LMFAO him and jiang cheng are so funny they spent like 6 months together trying to find wei wuxian and did not once bond over their shared love of wei wuxian. How is that even possible

favourite headcanon

i love to make him and jiang cheng to have tragic fucked up proxy sex while wei wuxian is dead despite that fact that they hate each other. Like i think they start angry fucking while arguing about wwx and jiang cheng's "hatred" of him and then it devolves into this weird soft thing where they both cry but dont talk about it. And then wei wuxian comes back from the dead and its sooo awkward. how do you tell your soulmate that you fucked his sort-of-brother

[fishwink]

Tops tips for finding things on your blog

Let us say, for instance, you have been here since 2012 on and off, and have over 200,000 posts in various fandoms/other random stuff.

Coughs

You may wish to find what you have reblogged before on your blog under a tag, well because, perhaps it is the birthday event of a favourite character let us say, um, lan xichen, and you have not queued much due to Real Life etc ahem coughs again.

If you go to your blog archive [I am using ahem mine for some reason] 

https://fishwink.tumblr.com/archive/

It will give you a nice list of ten top tags, which is great and all, but this one is not one of them so

https://fishwink.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/lan%20xichen

ta da

p.s yes i know you can search the blog for that tag like this https://fishwink.tumblr.com/search/lan%20xichen  but that means i would have to scroll through 115 pages and frankly this is a lot quicker

p.s I am an inveterate tagger [though less than I used to be], and I reblog a lot, seriously.  It’s sort of my thing really. if you’re interested in digging for something, have a look. 

So, 

(P.s. these links work just fine on my browser but not directly from mobile app. Copy and paste)

Update: there is a way of looking at posts for a certain tag in chronological order :) . It only works on a browser again, but still, that includes mobile browser, so

https://fishwink.tumblr.com/tagged/lan%20xichen/chrono

[warrioreowynofrohan]

I was thinking about D&D character alignments for characters in The Untamed, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there should be more Neutral-aligned character (on the good-evil axis) who are similar to Jiang Cheng.

Neutral diesn’t have to mean either ‘purely self-interested’ or ‘devoted to a balance between good and evil’ (the case of True Neutral characters) or ‘defined by Law or Chaos’ (in the case of the other two alignments. (The idea of a ‘balance between good and evil’ is fundamentally incohorent anyway. What, for every innocent person whose life you save, you have to murder an innocent person? Evil isn’t a different philosophical system, it’s evil.)

To me the most natural thing for Neutral to mean is “has committments and goals and attachments that aren’t primarily about good and evil”, which covers a lot of ground. Jiang Cheng’s overwhelming committment is to the well-being of Lotus Pier. Nie Huaisang’s committment in the latter half of the show is to avenging his brother’s murder. There’s a long list of other goals and committments a person could have that are neutral without being purely selfish, or even exclusively focused on immediate friends and family. A goblin could be sincerely committed to bettering the lives of goblins and not really give a crap about anyone else. A person from one empire could be focused of defending their home from another empire. Etc. (My favourite Neutral character from The Order if the Stick is Saha Kapoor from the side book Good Deeds Gone Unpunished, a skilled and pragmatic refugee whose central concern is the well-being of her family.)

Most people have those kinds of goals. The generalized benevolence and willingness to put your life into helping people you have no connection with besides their being people, that is characteristic of Good, is rather more rare. In The Untamed, Lan Xichen and Xiao Xingchen stand out as the most clearly Good and widely benevolent characters, though there are definitely other ones I would consider Good.

And that applies to Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral as well. For example, going back to The Untamed: I would say that young Lan Wangji is the typical type of a Lawful character (deeply devoted to ruler, order, and structure), while Jiang Cheng is Lawful Neutral in a different way (has personal goals that aren’t define prinarily by either general benevolence or selfishness, therefore Neutral; and also having a disposition that prefers following the rules). Neutral is the primary drive, Lawful is a secondary one.

(I think Wei Wuxuan in The Untamed is Chaotic Good, but I gather from fandom that the moral lines of MZDS are rather less clear-cut, so someone could make a case for him there as being yet another type of Neutral, who’s not actively seeking a ‘balance’ but does enough of both good and evil that it evens out at Chaotic Neutral.)

[anotherlinewithout-a-hook]

(Preface : Okay so gollowing the news of Moonbin I have not been coping well and it is currently 4a.m as I write this. I guess in a weird way this is healthier coping mechanism than my other one's. So I am diving into different theories because I would much rather think about 3zun than....yeah.anyhow, my mind is still scattered so please excuse me if the wording and order and grammar is off. ) That being said,

This was really interesting to read! And as 3zun and the Yi City arc are quite literally most of my favourite parts of MDZS, CQL and all other abbreviations linked to this series. I had some thoughts.

I am not trying to argue or start anything, because I truly did enjoy the post above. And hearing from someone with like, you know...actual knowledge on literature. (As opposed to me ranting to my friend who knows nothing of MDZS qnd me who knows next to nothing of literature.) Also I am *not* a literature major(although I wish to be, sigh) my highest qualification is English A levels (which include a lot of literature but is not comparable to Uni Grad) so my thoughts have nothing to do with the structure from a literature point of view. Rather, how I interpreted the story.

I have watched all of the live action and donghua, however I have only read the manhua up till chapter 250 and I have about 40 chapters(excluding the extra chapters) of the book left to go. So my opinion on this is based only on that! Maybe my thoughts will have altered once I finished those.

So, with the parallel thing, I guess it had never been in the front of my mind. Like subconciously I noticed some similarities. But like OP I also think it is more fun to think about them as more than parallels BUT also the idea that they could be parallels is thought provoking.

I like the concept of the parallel in this instance(once again from a reader's pov) because it highlights exactly what I love about MXTX. The fact that her books can be interpreted thousands of ways based on your walk of life and all that. Also that the characters represent real people.

Where I get confused with this is the actual meaning of parallel. I have not studied literature in depth so I know of the concept but not deeply. The definition I am working with is this:

But in this definition, does that mean it is okay that the characters aren't exactly similar?

Because the way I understood it, if we used the more common comparisons (XC and XC, JGY qnd XY qnd SL and NMJ) then a comparison can be drawn because not only are their story lines similar, but so are their characteristics. So it becomes easier to see how the two arcs emphasize each other, which I think is the main point of a parallel?

Whereas if we look at it from annon's perspective, the comparisons drawn share a theme, but not an arc or even similar characteristics the way I see it. Is it then still a parallel if the story lines (because of the order of events)are so different?(or is this what a parallel is all along?)I am unclear on this so if someone can explain this to me, it would be great!

Either way the parallel notion made me compare the characters and that made me think more about their stories and what they represent to each of us. (Which I have been doing since 2019 seriously pls send help.)

Seeing as I don't understand fully what a parallel is, I am just going to draw Comparisons between the different Characters and Arcs and leave everyone to their own thoughts

Much like OP, I naturally assumed the comparison would be between these two so my thoughts on that.

There are a lot of similarities between all of them if we look at it from this perspective.

Similarities Lan Xichen and Xiao Xingchen

- Both meet their eventual (arguable) human form of a downfall at a time of loss.(XXC of his bestie [and eyes] and LXC of his home). 《Actually, in CQL Lan Xichen meets Jiggy on those teachings when they present the gift with Huaisang, yet for some reason I vividly remember Xichen in MDZS meeting Jiggy for the first time while in hiding. It could be that CQL changed it up for the sake of the audience but it could also be because of my terrible memory and my disorganized thoughts. This may not seem like an important change but here's the thing, if XC met Jiggy first as a member of the Nie Sect, then there was inherent trust on his part as he trusts the Nie Clan. It also changes Jiggy's intention if he already knew of Xichen's status amd kindness.》

- Both end up feeling as though they have failed on a basis of their moral compass nearing the end of their arc.

- Both are seen to be this pillar of morality within the story but a deeper look at their stories proves otherwise.

- They have a strong moral compass, yet a gentle approach(as opposed to their counterparts, SL amd NMJ). But this gentle approach is what causes their lapse of judgement?(if I can call it that?)

- Light element in their dynamics.

- They were both warned but chose to see the good in people(which technically goes against Lan Xichen's upbringing but makes sense with his walk of life) A-Qing aka "Little Blind" warned Xingchen continuously and expressed her distrust (and dislike) of Xueyang *especially in the novel*. As did Da-ge of Jiggy but this I saw more of in the live action(though, I just may not have reached that part in the book).

- They both come from a secluded background that doesn't really allow room for questioning their teachings? (To be fair no one really knows what happens on the mountain, but how much room does Xingchen have to question his teachings when he learns from Baoshan Sanren alone and is seperated from the rest of the world).

Xingchen is physically seperated from the world, and while it may seem Xichen isn't, I like to argue emotionally/mentally he is. Besides the Cloud Recesses being quite far from everything already, their teachings are done by Lan Teachers and they live in a weird moral Utopia where Good and Bad can clearly be divided, which cannonically does not stand true.

- Death. Xiao Xingchen's physically and Lan Xichen's emotionally. It really stands out to me when Wei Wuxian says to Xueyang (The spirit in this bag does not want to come back. It is utterly broken, fragmented. Something along those lines.) Which I think is how Xichen feels after Guanyin temple.

(There are many more but, yeah)

Differences between Lan Xichen and Xiao Xingchen

- One the room they are allowed to deal with their emotions. Xingchen roams the world with his bestie for a while. They are free to talk about their emotions and help each other cope. And it works for them. They share a similar world view and have similar goals.

However Xichen and his bestie in this case Mingjue, don't have time for that. They are clan leaders and can't be acting on emotions alone. And also have so much shit to get done. At first glance Lan Xichen is good, but the more you look at it, thete is no way he could have been without severely repressing his emotions.

- The third party(not because they are of less importance but in order that they entered XC²'s arcs) provides something different for them. Jiggy provides Lan Xichen a world away from High Class Society, comfort and the simplicities of life.

Xingchen seems to like how unserious (pos)life is with Xueyang. It seems he and Song Lan where so busy trying to eradicate evil and do right and start their sect not based on blood line. Not to mention how serious SongLan(and Da-ge) are. Jiggy takes care of Xichen(wherw Xichen has never been nurtured), while Xingchen takes care of Xueyang (where Xingchen has never really had anyone to nurture). Which I feel they both needed.

I don't fully understand annon's comparison but I feel it is always important to look at different views. So here is what I picked up from OP's analysis and theirs.(My interpretations might be wrong though)

Similarities bt. Xingchen and Nie Mingjue

-Disability narratives (or what they represent in their arcs)

- Both are within the novel and manhua(if I remember correctly) seen as standards for morality. And it is mentioned or at least highlighted quite clearly(to me) that they are in the different forms of media of the series.

- Their disability is taken advantage of by Xueyang and Jiggy, to lead them to their end after gaining their trust.

- They are both praised within the system that the major clans uphold and promote. They are at the top due to simple luck.(If you know about kpop, this could be simplified to BTS' song Baepsae. Xingchen qnd Mingjue are the Hwangsae or the one's feeding off of a silver spoon and Jiggy and Xueyang are left eating the crumbs of the system).

The differences between Xiao XingChen and Nie Mingjue

- Their approach. Yes they are moral paragons, but Xingchen has a more gentle approach that allows room for reformation. He is strict with his moral code but he is not as harsh or hot headed as Mingjue is. Ironically had each of them had a little more of the other's traits their arcs may have looked drastically different.

- This one is obvious but you know, the nature of their disabilities. (OP spoke about this). Xingchen is physically blind, and he was in control of the situation as he chose to give Song Lan his eyes. He has experienced life with his sight before and gave it up due to his personal belief and moral reasoning.(one could argue he didn't give it up willingly but felt it was the correct thing to do).

Da-ge has never had this chance. Qi- deviation is heriditary in his family and inherrits it. Much like someone who by today's standard we would call neurodivergent, his brain is just built that way. That has always been his view of the world. Made worse by the fact that his father did too! (Invisible disability is also different in some aspect to a visible disabilty, but I think someone with more experience with both should rather speak on this as I only have experience with the former.)

- Their experiences with I guess the antogonists(for lack of a better word) of the arcs?(Jiggy and Xueyang). Mingjue hadn't always hated Jiggy. He was the one who took him in and trained him and promoted him and even reccomended him to the Jin clan. He hasn't always been against him. Compared to Xingchen. Every run in prior to Yi City that he had with Xueyang was negative. Literally.

- Their downfalls were brought by due to different reasons. Yes they were both taken advantage of but also, Da-ge knew it was Jin Guangyao. But he trusted Xichen's judgement. He gave Jiggy the benefit of the doubt against his will, because they were sworn brothers (brought to you by my dearly beloved, Xichen) Whereas Xingchen gave Xueyang the benefit of the doubt from the get go off his own accord.

- Their deaths, although brought upon by other people, are different in nature. Da-ge's death was inevitable. Everyone, even Huaisang was always constantly holding their breath since Da-ge started cultivating amd showing signs. He was going to die at some point, Jin Guangyao sped up the process and made it much more painful than iy needed to be.

Whereas Xiao Xingchen could have continued to roam the Earth until he ascended really. (I know there is no ascension in MDZS as it is low fantasy but it is a metaphor, okay?). That being said their deaths were still painful to watch.

I guess this is part one? Thank you to OP and Annon for discussing this. And bringing the topic up. Once again, these are all just my thoughts and probably not what the author intended.

This isn’t a very popular opinion in the fandom but I think that XY & JGY, XXC & NMJ, & to some extent Song Lan & LXC parallel each other. XY & JGY are class narratives, XXC & NMJ are disability narratives (bc qi deviation is an actual condition in Chinese medicine) & Song Lan & LXC are displacement narratives. Song Lan is affected by the destruction of Baixue Temple while LXC is affected by the destruction of Cloud Recesses. Cql plays up the parallel by having XY get involved with the Wens.

It's a very interesting angle, Anon. The literature grad in me immediately wants to dig my nails into the source material (which, as a disclaimer, I haven't read much of at all. Most of my narrative knowledge comes from CQL. So, as always - take this with a grain of salt).

I would argue that any interpretation, popular or unpopular, should not be as straightforward as a direct parallel between each character in a certain group, simply because it's more fun and narratively rich to mix things up rather than simply using character B as a mirror or vehicle for meaning in character A's development. So that said, for the themes you've pointed out, it's very interesting to consider the alternately parallel characters - for instance, placing XXC and NMJ in parallel to each other when the easier interpretation would pair XXC with LXC, or SL with NMJ for their similar personalities and light/dark motifs.

I feel like the class narrative of XY and JGY speaks for itself, considering the main plot's occupation with status, power and orthodoxy, but where you could interpret XXC's blindness as allegory and compare his "blind trust" of XY with LXC's trust of JGY (which is a metaphor I'm not entirely happy making, to be honest, because I must stress: this interpretation reduces XXC's blindness to just an allegory, and I don't have enough knowledge of the novel to claim that as a true criticism of the source material or not), you can equally claim XY takes advantage of XXC's disability to manipulate him, in the same way that JGY orchestrates and uses NMJ's qi deviation for his own advantage.

In both examples, their 'weakness' is exploited and causes them a moral downfall, wherein NMJ and XXC were both once held up as paragons of virtue in that same system that discriminates against XY and JGY. It might also be interesting to compare the nature of their disabilities as well, within the context of the novel: XXC gives up his eyes for SL, yet another virtuous act, but NMJ's qi deviation is hereditary, and holds some stigma due to its - quite literally deviant - nature. Then we have SL and LXC, who both endure the traumatic destruction of their homes, and the displacement that comes after. Interestingly, LXC finds refuge with JGY and happily 'lowers' himself to JGY's status, while SL never gets that opportunity to find another refuge. He gets the inverse: Yi City, where (to circle back to the more popular parallel) he instead mirrors NMJ in that he is also reduced to something deviant in nature.

[drwcn]

I know you usually don't follow where the last snippet leaves off but I'm desperate to know how the conversation went with Lan Qiren after he interrupted Wangxian? Did he snap his sleeve and walk away? Did he tell head eunuch Yue to get rid of wwx?

《 Without Envy 》 snippet 6.2 - concubine/sleeper agent!wwx & prince!lwj [Master List] This snippet immediately follows [snippet 6]

Lan Wangji knew the minute his uncle showed up that this would not be an easy conversation. Up until now, Lan Qiren had been rather hands off with his nephew's personal life, leaving Wangji to do as he pleased. Once a upon a time when Nie Mingjue was alive and Lan Xichen hasn't sworn shut the doors to his harem forever, Lan Qiren had made some plans to see Wangji settled. Man or woman it mattered not, as long as they were of clean pedigree and cared for his nephew. No one expected Lan Wangji to be heir, so as long as his spouse was respectable, Lan Qiren would have advocated on his nephew's behalf if his chosen one was not up to the Elders' standards.

Then of course, Nie Mingjue had died, and everything changed.

Lan Qiren raised and cared for the two princes as though he were his own sons; he knew them better than anyone. Lan Wangji's displeasure with the state of his marriage was no secret. Still, Lan Qiren was quite proud that Wangji was able to put aside his own personal interests for the greater good of the nation. Now that Lan Jingyi and Lan Kaisong were born and the future of the crown was secure, what Wangji did in the privacy of his own harem, really, was his own business.

Lan Qiren knew Wangji did not desire women the way other men did, and he clearly found his ce-wangfu Jin Ziyan about as engaging as a bucket of apples, so when Mo Xuanyu caught his fancy, a servant bought as a child with no status to speak of, Lan Qiren held his tongue. Indulgence was frowned upon, but a little happiness was certainly allowed.

Lan Qiren didn't want to interfere. His nephew was a grown man, after all.

But this was getting ridiculous.

Lan Qiren had heard the talks amongst the officials and the gossips between the courtiers: Hanguang-wang has a "xin-chong". (Note: xin = new, chong = to adore, to spoil, xin-chong refers to a new favourite). But the xin-chong in question was not a new mianshou like Mo Xuanyu as would be expected, but a manservant, a boy of eighteen who was once the peijia of Jiang Yanli.

Apparently, this Wei Wuxian, or A-Xian as he was known, had served Wangji for one night, after which he was transferred from Jiang Yanli's court yard to serve Hanguang-wang personally. The correct, respectable thing to do would've been to raise Wei Wuxian's status to mianshou after that night, but Wangji didn't...instead he kept this boy close to him at all times and acted out all sorts of weird behaviours deviating from his norm!

From court: ...Last week, Hanguang-wang was seen with that servant of his at Zuixian Lou (The Drunk Immortal House) for lunch. Official Zhou from the Ministry of Rites saw it with his own eyes. That servant - A-Xian was his name I believe - sat with dianxia, and dianxia personally put food into his bowl...

From A-Yao when Jin Ziyan came to pay his respects in the palace: ... Lianfang-jun, ever since that A-Xian started serving dianxia, dianxia hasn't stayed the night with any of us. You know I wouldn't complain if it were just for myself, but Luo-meimei, Qin-meimei, and Xuanyu have all been affected! That A-Xian must be a seductive fox!

And most importantly, from Lan Qiren's own trusted eunuch: ... Taishi, this old servant has served you for decades; you know my character and know that I would not dare lie. A pupil of mine serves at Hanguang-fu; he tells me that this A-Xian has monopolized er-dianxia's attention. Morning and night, er-dianxia only wants him to attend to him.

...I hear that this boy is neither efficient nor obedient, but er-dianxia doesn't seem to mind at all. He's...word is he's asked the carpenters to set up a separate trifold and sleeping settee in his room, with silk mattress and fur quilts for this A-Xian so it would 'more efficient' for him.

...No maid, guard, nor eunuch, nor any of the furens in Hanguang-fu has greater sway with er-dianxia than this A-Xian. He even dares to go against ce-wangfu Jin Ziyan. Heavens, Taishi....this is unheard of!

Wei Wu Xian. The one without envy. What a...presumptuous name for a street urchin. The minute the boy looked up Lan Qiren knew: this one was trouble. There was something he did not like in those pretty rui-phoenix eyes. (reference: shape of eyes)

Harrumphing, Lan Qiren seated himself at the head of the room and grimaced when he realized the calligraphy he'd witnessed his nephew and his....whatever...practicing together was a poem named Wuji - unrestrained. A creation of Wangji's, no doubt. The boy has really fallen off the deep end.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Wangji was Gusu's future. A little bit of private indulgence was one thing, but Lan Qiren could not accept some back-street harlot leading Wangji astray.

"Your mistress, Jiang-furen, is the most courteous, amicable gentle lady. Tell me, boy, where did you obtain the skills and the gall to seduce Hanguang-wang?"

"Huangshu!"

~~~

Seduce. Huh.

Is that...what I've been doing? I mean if sleeping in, eating a fuckton, and making terrible congee could be considered seduction, then yeah I'm fucking ace-ing it. Xue Yang would be so proud.

Wei Wuxian looked confusedly between a sour-faced Lan Qiren and a pink-eared, mortified Lan Wangji and thought deep and hard about the last couple of months.

In the back of his mind he was half aware that he should probably be terrified right now if he were a normal servant, but he was not a normal servant (and Lan-taishi was about as scary as his silly mustache was weird) so the only thing Wei Wuxian said when confronted with this outlandish accusation was flat out denial.

"I ...haven't?"

I mean...I haven't? Right?

"Huangshu, Wei Ying has done nothing -"

"Wei Ying? You treat him better than anyone in your harem, like a master of your wangfu and you claim he has done nothing wrong?! We cannot live unrestrained; customs and ethics of a home must be upheld. Is it not true that this A-Xian repeatedly act above his station, taken liberties where he has no right nor authority, and offended your ce-wangfu without consequence?"

Wei Wuxian startled when Lan Wangji came to kneel beside him. Now they really look like a pair of unfortunate lovebirds about to be separated by the will of the family elder.

What the fuck is actually happening right now??? Is this old coo-coo really implying that Lan Zhan... Lan Zhan likes me??? Like...like me like me?

"A person like him cannot remain in your wangfu, Wangji. I would be doing you a disservice if I did not put an end to this. He is from Yunmeng-hou's manor; to not offend the Jiangs, I will not ask you to sell him off, but you will send him back there, at once."

What?!

It was not until now, when the threat of being forced to leave Lan Zhan became imminently real, that Wei Wuxian suddenly realized that he did not want to part with the prince of Gusu at all, not for any mission he may have... but for himself.

[tbc]