#Nieyao my beloved

[noenvyy]

Yet another shameless WIP fanart plug for the fics

"All Men are the Same" by the awesome @mostlikelytofangirl and it's corresponding fic "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by yours truly. My last one was an angsty one so I really wanted to give this one a romcom vibe. Ah Nieyao you messy, messy pair. Can't get enough of em! Hope to have the finished piece out soon <3 Links to the fics can be found below.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find"

And the awesome original piece "All Men are the Same"

[duohensheng]

hello and welcome to the how do i save this guy’s life rn eyelash flicker

[3cosmicfrogs]

if you're still taking requests for weird nieyao/3zun this but good

(it's supposed to be a dog collar over his decapitated stitches that says 'IF LOST RETURN TO OWNER--Jin Guangyao)

sdkjbhafjsgh i love you you are brilliant. i see your vision and have expanded upon it.

i am however incapable of simply making shitposts, because at some point Vaguely Horny Brain took over. linking the outcome of That in the rb.

[tavina-writes]

From the destruction, out of the flame You need a villain, give me a name I'll be your friend in the daylight again There we will be, like an old enemy I'll be your friend in the daylight again There we will be, like an old enemy Like the salt and the sea Like the salt and the sea

"Salt and the Sea" by the Lumineers, covered by Gregory Alan Isakov here (x).

ANYWAY how could I not make a bad image edit of this song for NieYao + NHS.

[ohsweetflips]

once again the award for “technically not in my ranked list of favorite characters but by god do i think abt u a lot” goes to nie mingjue like. his grief. his rage. his resentment. him noticing meng yao in the sunshot campaign not bc of his fighting prowess but bc he is the only one who stays back to tend to the common people. the dichotomy of his black/white sense of righteousness vs the fact that he can be reasonable- and reasoned with. his death and the tragedy that he probably would have qi deviated anyway, but not that soon. speaking of his qi deviation, the way that completely accelerated his anger and the question of, if he wasn’t careening towards qi deviation, would things have gone differently. do u ever think abt how at some point he accepted that he was going to die and stopped caring abt saving himself and instead shifted gears to prepare nie huaisang for his death. bc i do!

[littlesmartart]

DRAWTOBER #28 - something to believe by @menelaus-blue

The Lan Sect received a letter urgently requesting their assistance in a series of deaths that had occurred in a small village in the outer reaches of Gusu. Jumping on the opportunity to leave his ever-growing pile of paperwork behind, Lan Xichen personally agreed to see to this case himself. Inviting his sworn brothers was a spur of the moment decision, motivated entirely by his own desire to see them. And, he’d reasoned to his uncle, they would work faster together, and he would be back to his duties as Sect Leader much sooner if he had some assistance.

case fic my beloved!!! I love a good case fic and this one is really great. I've said it before and I'll say it again, usually the fastest way to reconcile nieyao is to put LXC through the whump wringer, and this fic does just that. can they work together and put aside their issues before LXC, under a curse from a vengeful ghost, runs out of time?

[keyjamm]

NieYao week day 4 😌AKA Wen Yao my beloved

See the whole piece here ! (Edit: link updated!)

Also included, live NMJ reaction (it was all a nightmare! phew!)

[least-carpet]

Hiiii, if it's not too much, can you describe the biggest differences between the live action characters and the novel characters in MDZS? They are a lot, so I will love even the difference between few of them! I haven't seen the live action and I don't know if I will ever, but I am curious, considering all the meta. Anyway, thank you in general, even if you don't answer!

Hello anon! This has been in the inbox forever because there are soooo many ways to answer this! However, let me be transparent that I've watched maybe like 1/10 of CQL. Among other obstacles, I simply do not care that much about Lan Wangji and he's always there (even though Wang Yibo is giving it his all... it's not his fault I'm a hater...). Chewing through a book with Ms. Mxtx's commentary was just more enjoyable to me, and even then, to be honest, I still liked SVSSS better. (I just love Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu so much. That dude is wild.)

Still, the live action definitely affected how I understood certain characters (...primarily Nie Huaisang) and made me interested in relationships that I didn't pay any attention to in the novel. (I freely admit that the nieyao brainrot is 100% CQL's fault.) Also I found Wang Zhuocheng's Jiang Cheng very cute and loveable. It definitely contributed to my Jiang Cheng Brain Disease.

LISTEN. HE HAS BIG SAD EYES AND THE MEANEST SNEER AND HE MIGHT BURST INTO TEARS AT ANY TIME. HE IS A BABY. A baby who could kill you with his terrifying lightning whip! But a baby nonetheless, to me.

So if you want someone with a real and knowledgeable opinion on the live action, I'm probably not the right person for that! However, here's one difference that changed a bunch of stuff about the characters that I found compelling in the novel: the second flautist.

CQL adds Su She as a second flautist doing unorthodox cultivation in a couple of different places, including at Qiongqi Path, where he seizes control of Wen Ning and is therefore responsible for Jin Zixuan's death. Removing the responsibility for Jin Zixuan's death from Wei Wuxian creates a bunch of cascading character and relationship implications that I don't love.

Firstly, all of the people who cautioned Wei Wuxian against his unorthodox cultivation are now... wrong. If he never lost control, then actually his assessment that he could maintain control wasn't overconfidence, it was just true, and he was persecuted because the Jin needed a scapegoat and wanted the Yin Tiger Tally, not because his cultivation path actually involved significant risks and drawbacks. (To be fair, the Jins actively exploited those drawbacks, the public perception of his cultivation, and Wei Wuxian's failure to manage his reputation. But it matters whether the risks exist or are just made up.)

Secondly, removing his responsibility for Jin Zixuan's death transforms both Wei Wuxian's character and how we understand his relationships with Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng, and Jin Ling. Because, in the novel, he kills Jin Zixuan under duress but also after a lifetime of conflict with him. Like, he hates the dude, he doesn't think he's worthy of Jiang Yanli, and he's not willing to examine his hatred and resentment even though Jiang Yanli loves Jin Zixuan and wants to marry him, even after she marries him and has a child with him. (I would argue that a lot of the resentment is because of the eventual marriage; by marrying Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan becomes legally recognized family to the Jiang siblings, while Wei Wuxian's relationship with them has no social recognition; I think Wei Wuxian is deeply threatened by that but can't articulate it.) It's a huge failure! Like, dude, you loved someone and you killed that person's beloved spouse. That points to a certain degree of repressed jealousy, possessiveness, longing, arrogance, the list goes on... I am so compelled by that conflict, and the adaptation just erases it.

This also affects how we read Jin Ling's relationship with Wei Wuxian. In one scenario, a teenage Jin Ling is (eventually, minus one little stab) ending the cycle of violence by not seeking vengeance for his father's murder. In the other, it was actually someone associated with Jin Ling's paternal family that killed his father, and he's maybe just... coming to terms with that? One of these scenarios is so much richer and more interesting.

How it affects the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian is a little more subtle. It locates the responsibility for a lot of the harm done to the Jiang siblings with the Jin sect, not with Wei Wuxian, removing some of Wei Wuxian's culpability in the devolution of his relationship with Jiang Cheng. If Wei Wuxian isn't guilty of wronging the Jiang family (and instead is also a victim of the Jin sect), then all of Jiang Cheng's rage and betrayal was misdirected. They were both tricked. In some ways, maybe that's easier to patch up after canon? (I wonder if this is why many CQL yunmeng shuangjie reconciliation fics have Jiang Cheng apologize to Wei Wuxian, but not the other way around?) But it's so much less interesting to me!

Finally, it removes Wei Wuxian's tragic flaw! Dude is legitimately a genius but he's got hubris coming out of his ears and it fucks him up big time! This is classic stuff. Please stop flattening my boy!!

[sweetpollyolliver]

#OBSESSED WITH MOST OF THESE BEING JGY#would posit that JGY and Qin Su’s problem is that they did NOT divorce in a timely fashion

The follow up quiz to this should be "Which mdzs couples should have divorced but didn't?" You've got Jiang Fengmian/Yu Ziyuan, Jin Guangshan/Madame Jin, maybe even Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen's parents.

very important question for science:

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

3zun-Centric One-Shots - MASTERPOST

These fics are either 3zun properly or else focus on one of the pairings within the ship. They're spread across multiple collections, including: Xiyao One-Shots, Prompt Fills, MXTX Reverse Trope Fest, Polyship Week 2022, and Polyship Week 2023.

XiYao:

Take Care Of Me - A quiet but important morning spent together on the run from the Wens (read it on tumblr: X)

Close Your Burning Eyes - Lan Xichen comforts Jin Guangyao the day after his birthday (read it on tumblr: X)

Bite The Hands That Feed - NSFW Dark, possessive Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen who wants to give him anything he wants (mild body horror) (read it on tumblr: X)

Restraint - XiYao must part ways at the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign (inspired by art by littlesmartart) (read it on tumblr: X)

NieYao:

Sworn Protections - Canon divergence in which Jin Guangyao runs from Jinlintai and finds a reluctant home in Qinghe again (based on art by asparklethatisblue) (read it on tumblr: X)

War Manners - Meng Yao loses control of himself for one second and kisses Nie Mingjue on the battlefield during the Sunshot Campaign (read it on tumblr: X)

3zun:

Ring My Bell - NieLan watch Jin Guangyao do some rock climbing at a work retreat (read it on tumblr: X)

Professionally Unprofessional - NieLan compete to see who can headhunt Jin Guangyao away from his father first (read it on tumblr: X)

Performance Art - NSFW, based on the Hysterical Literature performance art project (read it on tumblr: X)

You'll Have To Trust Me - NieLan are injured on a nighthunt and need to rely on Jin Guangyao to get them to safety (inspired by a post by guqin-and-flute) (read it on tumblr: X)

The Shadow's Call - Hurt no comfort, Lan Xichen is in mourning long after canon is over, and fierce corpses NieYao come to claim what's theirs (inspired by a post by universesvisiting) (read it on tumblr: X)

Jaegers Are Not Meant For That - Pacific Rim AU where 3zun learn they're Drift Compatible and sort out their issues real quick in the Drift, written for the trope 'Communication' (read it on tumblr: X)

The Last Piece of a Really Shitty Puzzle - Reincarnation AU in which this isn't the first time they've all reincarnated together and Meng Yao's memories of other lifetimes come back when he sees Nie Mingjue, written for the trope 'Soulhates' (read it on tumblr: X)

Pull No Punches - married XiYao pick up Nie Mingjue as their third, written for the prompt 'Compersion/vee' (read it on tumblr: X)

Awkward and Uptight - broken-up NieYao hook up 'for Lan Xichen's sake' while they're snowed in at a hotel, written for the prompt 'Only one (big) bed' (read it on tumblr: X)

Starlight Within Will Guide - Android!Lan Xichen keeps watch over his beloved human crew as they sleep through deep space flight, written for the prompts 'Sci-fi AU' and 'Growing old' (read it on tumblr: X)

Looking For My Family - Meeting each other's families, with mixed success, written for the prompts 'Meet the family' and 'Domestic fluff' (read it on tumblr: X)

Cut From The Same - Reincarnation AU in which NieYao find themselves returning to a hard-to-reach shrine over and over again, unsure of what they're waiting for until they finally meet him, written for the prompt 'Soulmates' (inspired by a post and art by guqin-and-flute and littlesmartart) (read it on tumblr: X)

[3cosmicfrogs]

i'm just having a silly goofy time smushing my barbies together in new and interesting ways.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

We have so much in common with are feelings 😂😂💕 (Nieyao/Nielan vs Xiyao anon). I loved the angst we got from Xieyao the show wise (and idk the Dougha did an amazing job in some aspects with making my heart wretch for them) but a lot of the fanworks are too fluffy for me (I do ofc have exceptions, I’m drawn in by good premises). And also I too dislike “Nielan was broken by that mean Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao” and I rather like the dynamics “Nielan had a budding romance in their tween years but after experimenting and growing older have other responsibilities and relationships now. Maybe some old memories come up but both are rather happy”. My favorite (ships) for JGY has to be Suyao (one sided? Sure! Requited? Absolutely. Mutual pinning? Yes yes.) and Sangyao (I like it messy and I want them to make each other worse :)) On occasion they can murder people together if NMJ isn’t killed). I too think I could shove JGY in any situation and enjoy (same w/ Jiang Cheng but too a less degree. I can see him with everyone but kinda enjoy the angst of him on his own. If that makes sense). Also, I feel though there’s less Nieyao novel wise it’s pretty palpable. But maybe that’s just me “every time I saw them interact my shipdar went insane”. Some of my “I still like them but in certain scenearios” Jgy pairings are XueYao and JGY/Lan Qiren (it was a realllllly good fic)

SUYAO MY BELOVED. ;_; I just have a lot of feelings about how Su Minshan knew about most of what JGY had going on (it's unclear if he knew about the patricide pre-Temple and even less clear if he knew about the incest) and was like "I understand bb 🥺 please let me help 🥺"

JGY's shipping potential lies in the fact that he ends up entangled with SO MANY PEOPLE in canon that there's something to work with for everyone except, like, Wangxian. The other ships for him that I personally am like "if you have multichapter explorations, hmu" are Chengyao and JGY/Yanli (Yaoli?), neither of which has as much to draw on in canon as other ships but there is potential that can either fix things or make things much worse depending on one's mood and I stand by that. Sangyao and XueYao are both great terrible fun, though, and I'm now very curious about how he and LQR would play out.

(That said. If I'm really being honest, the healthiest option for the man would probably be for him to take some time alone oh my god, because his chronic customer service "adjusting to what your audience wants" shtick is uhhh Not Great in a romantic relationship context and really Not Great if that relationship is also sexual. He and Qin Su make me so sad in part because he seems like he was pretty unguarded with her in novel canon... until he VERY MUCH WASN'T and trapped her in a godawful situation.)

[littlesmartart]

(Hope it’s okay that I come in with an askbox and say something). Your most recent NieYao drawing gave me all the feels. I liked the tags too, especially the “what’s your rage hiding” with Nie Mingjue. Even if he’s relatively straightforward he’s not necessarily a simple character, and his whole attitude toward Jin Guangyao especially probably requires multiple essays and diagrams to sort out. So yeah. I liked what you drew and it gave me thoughts.

ah, I'm so glad to hear that!!

oh boy, "what is the rage hiding" is actually a character starting point that I got from @ellethinthewoods whilst we were writing our AU @greenhills-woodtoburn-fic! NMJ is such an interesting character... whilst it is true that in a sense he wears his heart on his sleeve - bursting into tears at the slightest emotion, god bless you wang yizhou for your acting choices - I think he also uses rage to hide a lot, not only externally but also from himself! NMJ is not a person prone to introspection or self-reflection (and neither is JGY lmao but for different reasons), and I do believe he is exceptionally good at duping himself by slapping anger over whatever he doesn't like and pretending like he has no clue there's anything else under it. and obviously this gets less conscious and more uncontrollable the closer to qi-deviation he gets, but this is a tendency he exhibits from earlier in the story, when he is still more or less stable, so I definitely see it as a key character trait.

like, people enjoy hating on LXC for willfully ignoring stuff, but... hello, NMJ also uses anger to do that too???? he deliberately chooses to ignore a whole BUNCH of shit!!! so often he takes one look at a situation and goes "this is my opinion and I have decided that it is objective truth, and if anyone or anything disagrees it will be easier to simply Get Big Mad About It(TM) rather than consider that I might be wrong or whether there are more complicated emotions to address". he does it with Huaisang. obviously he does it with JGY. NMJ is really really good at refusing to see things - only in his case, he is usually refusing to acknowledge things that might refute his negative opionion.

so yeah. not sure where this is going, but I love NMJ's character! I think it's really interesting how he can be both our beloved self-sacrificing, loving, cares-so-much-he-cries da-ge, aaaaand also a big fat stinking pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps hypocrite who is sticking his fingers in his ears going "lalalala can't hear you" when an emotional situation might require something more complex than getting pissed off because feeling angry is easier than feeling pain or remorse.

[cqlfeels]

nmj for the character meme please!

Sure! NMJ my beloved! <3

Sexuality Headcanon: Sigh. That's complicated. Uninterested in women, but his interest for men aligns perfectly with historical practice for men of his social position and would register to him and everyone else as more homosocial than homosexual. I have literally no idea how he would identify in a modern au

Gender Headcanon: Cismale, although I think a lot of fun can be had with the concept of transmasc NMJ. I haven't explored that much, but it could be fascinating

A ship I have with said character: LXC and/or JGY. That's it. Short list. But notice I am interested exclusively in messed up relationships for nielan, nieyao or 3zun (and xiyao for that matter) - I lose interest if I'm not alarmed by whatever is going on with them. Oh, and I could see NMJ/JC but it'd take a lot of work to make it believable for my undestanding of their characters, so I tend to prefer NMJ&JC

A BROTP I have with said character: Same as above. NHS. And, as I've mentioned, controversially, JC!!! NMJ&JC is a concept I love and rarely see!!! Come on, fandom, let's make it a thing!!!!

A NOTP I have with said character: Uh, probably anything I don't actively ship?

A random headcanon: His thing where he is uninterested in all kinds of entertainments is a coping mechanism. Why enjoy life when you're going to lose it very soon? Better to focus all your energy on fulfilling your duties and then you won't regret having wasted your limited time.

General Opinion over said character: I don't vibe with either NMJ Has Never Done Anything Wrong or NMJ Totally Had It Coming takes. So that already limits a lot of the NMJ content I have access to. But all the same, I'm always actively looking for good NMJ things to reblog because I adore him! And the sections in the novel that have him are some of the passages I have re-read the most, I believe!

[dual-domination]

Jaimeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the last sentences!!!!! For more that I've been far from MDZS fandom, I still have feelings and those feelings came all at once... I just LOVE this so much! It hurts as hell, but all the possibilities if that was the version, how the story would change (and I'd still get hurt anyway bc Nieyao jsjksjs). It's perfect! 💔💔💔 How I love a good Angst and plotting revenge...

My beloveds NHS and JGY, my poor Da-ge 😭😭😭

+ Your writing is always flawless and I dream of the day you'll be willing to write a snippet for Guardian, even if you don't actually remember that much, I know whatever you do would be great anyway ❤️

Thank you! 😘

for the 3 things Jaime would never write? 1 - Guardian (Weilan) in YOHE (the closest of Wuxia we have) Crossover with MDZS (especially Sangcheng) 2 - Xue Yang getting to corrupt Xiao Xingchen for real, no tricks 3 - NHS knowing JGY's plans to kill Da-ge and actually helping him to do so Oh, dear Jaime, good luck on that ;D

I started reading this and went “yeah, I wouldn't write #1 if only because it's been over a year since I watched Guardian and I only remember bits and pieces, so I wouldn't write about it” and then went “Yeah, I'm not exactly known for writing the Yi City Crew except on rare occasions, and corrupting XXC normally isn't in my wheelhouse”... and then you hit me with #3! My instinct was to balk and go “no!!!!!!!!!! NHS would never! Damn I need to write a snippet for one of the others because the very idea of this one is traumatizing me!”... and then my brain gave me a scenario that I would write even as my heart breaks writing it. So yeah, thank you for making me cry :-p

Ironically as I wrote this, some themes from my previous prompt response came through - ah, but NHS & JGY, the trauma gifts that keep on giving.

~ ~ ~

The boy rocked, stunned and speechless with tears falling down his cheeks, as his brother held him tightly. All around them, disciples and servants scurried about, some picking up debris, others bringing out buckets of water and mops to clean away the blood and viscera from the Unclean Realm's main hall.

One of the elders stopped at their side and crouched down. “Nie-gongzi- I mean, Nie-zongzhu. Perhaps it would be best if you were both elsewhere for this.”

He felt his brother nod against him and the next thing he knew, he was picked up and carried away to somewhere dark and safe.

“A-Sang? Talk to me, please,” his brother pleaded when they were away from listening ears.

“A-Die,” he sobbed. “He was going to- He killed A-Niang and then he was going to-”

“Shhhh.” His brother rocked him again. “He would never have hurt you.”

“This is why they say our family is cursed,” the boy muttered with his face pressed against his brother's robes. “It happened to Baba and it will happen to you and it will happen to me and I don't want to be cursed, Da-ge!”

“It won't happen to you, A-Sang.”

“But what about you?”

His brother sighed. “I will never, ever hurt you or anyone else we love. If I start slipping like Baba, I'd rather someone lock me in a room and leave me to die than to hurt you.”

...

It was with memories of a terrified child in the back of his mind that Nie Huaisang knocked at Jin Guangyao's door.

“Come in.”

Once the door had closed behind him, Nie Huaisang turned the lock so that nobody could enter. He wanted privacy for the conversation he was about to have today.

“What can I do for you, A-Sang?”

Nie Huaisang was too nervous to sit, and instead stood facing Jin Guangyao across the wide desk. “I know what you've been doing, San-ge.”

“What in heavens do you mean-”

“I know you're doing more than playing Clarity for Da-ge.”

There was a moment that Jin Guangyao was still, then his lips shifted into an easy smile. “I still have no idea what you mean. Have you been having strange dreams again? I could-”

“Don't lie to me!” He slammed his hand down on Jin Guangyao's desk. “You of all people, you know I'm not what people think I am. Don't treat me like I'm brainless.”

Jin Guangyao nodded and set aside the brush he'd been using to write letters before Nie Huaisang had entered. “So you know about Clarity. Have you told Da-ge?”

Nie Huaisang shook his head. “Are you doing it because you want Da-ge dead, or because someone's making you.”

“Da-ge and I have our differences,” Jin Guangyao sighed, “but I'm not so petty as to want him dead for those. But when Jin-zongzhu wants his opposition dead, and has decided that this is to be my test of loyalty... I'm sorry.”

Nie Huaisang swallowed hard. “Was it his or your decision to use Clarity?”

“Mine. I thought it would be untraceable.”

“It nearly was, I suspect there are very few who would figure it out.”

The two young men stared at each other for countless moments.

“So, what are you to do with me?” Jin Guangyao asked, his body tense like a cornered fox ready to bolt.

“You need to stop this horrible music-”

“Of course, I-”

“-and find another method.”

Jin Guangyao blinked.

“What you're doing is making his worst nightmares come true. He was already going downhill after the end of the war, and he's been getting worse and worse since then. You're just speeding up the very thing he has feared most. Da-ge would rather die than have a qi deviation so bad that he would hurt someone.”

Jin Guangyao's mouth opened, then closed again. Then he lifted a finger. “Are you trying to trick me into revealing something? Because there really isn't more to it than what you've figured out.”

Nie Huaisang shook his head. With a steeling breath of air, he sat down across the other man. “Da-ge is dying no matter what... so let's make certain he goes with dignity and honour. And after that... we're going to kill Jin Guangshan, and we're going to make him suffer.”

[mostlikelytofangirl]

I love how Guangyao and Mingjue represent two extremes both in terms of values and in terms of height (one is the shortest person in the book and the other is the tallest) but their names mean the same thing (bright jade) and they end up in the same place (the coffin) at the end of the book. Mxtx says wwx and lwj were created in binary opposition but their core was the same, and it feels like the same holds true for nieyao.

I'm right there with you anon!

Nieyao really are polar opposites, and more than once they are portrayed as the two sides of an argument. The height difference is also something I appreciate very much lol, but they truly seem to be designed to even look as opposite as possible.

ALSO, as I mentioned before, the coffin treatment is something mxtx gave endgame canon couples in her other works, so there's that :D.

I have to say tho that, unlike wangxian, idk about the "same core". The main conflict with nieyao was that their innermost values didn't align. NMJ upheld honor, justice and righteousness even at the cost of his own life (and others'), whereas MY/JGY was nothing if not a survivor ready to do whatever it took to achieve his goals.

I WILL grant it to this statement tho, they were both stubborn af and pure unadultered determination when they believed in a cause.

So the trick really is that, when they actually agreed on something, they were an absolutely brilliant team. Not only did they complemented each other to perfection by being so different and having opposite strengths and weaknesses, but also their egos got to play nicely: NMJ is not proud or petty in the sense that he will grant credit when credit is due, and will encourage and praise honest work; on the other hand, regardless of what some ppl say, MY/JGY is not power hungry for the sake of power, we have seen time and time again that he will submit to other's authority when they deserved his loyalty (aka treating him well).

All MY/JGY wants is to feel safe and appreciated; all NMJ looks in ppl around him is someone he can trust. If they bring that to the table for each other, like they did as superior-underling during Sunshot Campaign, then they will be ridiculously compatible and a force to be reckoned with in spite ---or even because of how different they are.

Opposite attract, after all 🤭