#Ning ning rambles

[ning-ningx300]

omgggggggg I'm backkk from my trip to Bangkok!!!! I had so much fun and ate lots of different kinds of food and desserts and went and took so many pictures!!!!!! sjsksksksksk!!!!!!!

[unreliable-narratoe]

Headcanon that MDZS (from his sister's BL rack) was one of the BLs Shen Yuan read for Plot reasons and Genre Diversification (sure, buddy) . Around volume 2 he even thinks it isnt BL, and meimei must have surely gotten her genres mixed up. He only realises when wangxian have sex and at that point it's too late to go back - he needs to know what's going down with wen ning.

He reads all the extras (including incense burner) for the Plot ("I need to know what happens to wei wuxian!!"), is an ardent wen ning fan (he can't escape strong puppy coded characters) and gets that one specific YLLZ figurine.

Binghe comes to know of this and promptly figures out necromancy.

[chirpycloudyrobin]

do i wanna sit here and think long and hard abt wen qing, wen ning, and wei wuxian's dynamics and how amazing the three of them could have been together if they only had more time and they weren't doomed by the narrative

[incarnadinedreams]

This isn't really new or anything but the more I reread random passages the more convinced I am that there's something very unique about the way Jiang Cheng reacts to Wen Ning and it's just so interesting!

I'm convinced it's more than just being angry. It's more than just hating him, or blaming him for Jin Zixuan's death or his sister's life. It's more than being a Wen, and it comes long before so many of those tragedies unfold anyway.

There's a sort of urgent, visceral reaction to Wen Ning's presence that just has this different feeling to it than how he reacts to any of the other characters. Even characters he has strong emotional responses to, it's never with the same panic or recklessness. It's not the same as the whole "vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy" situation he's got going on with Wei Wuxian (sexy as that might be).

When it's Wei Wuxian, it's all "...well, well. So you're back?" and "Haven't you got anything to say to me?" Even when he's not being very nice, even when he's throwing teacups and furious at Wei Wuxian, there's still an edge of calmness in the way he lashes out. He's fucking mad but he's had more than a decade to think about this and he's got things to say and he's trying so hard to get a reaction from Wei Wuxian that he just won't give him.

But he can't tolerate having Wen Ning anywhere near him. Much of the time he instantly lashes out, physically, in ways to create space between them. He's mean to Wen Ning, but he doesn't really have much to say to him; he just wants to get away from him.

It really stuck out to me how instinctive and instantaneous and emotional that reaction is when I was reading this passage from chapter 81 (ExR translation since I've got it on hand in digital text form), when Jin Ling returns Zidian and rushes back into the fray during the Second Siege:

When Jiang Cheng was unaware, he stuffed Zidian's ring back into his hand and sprinted toward the crowd, all the way up to the most dangerous area before the mouth of the cave. Jiang Cheng was about to chase after him when he managed to slice a few corpses, staggering. He felt that Sandu was no lighter than hundreds of pounds. Two female corpses threw themselves at him from both directions.

Jiang Cheng cursed. As he lifted his sword again, another pair of hands tore the two corpses into pieces, "Sect Leader..."

Jiang Cheng lost his temper as soon as he heard the voice. He kicked Wen Ning away and cursed, "Get the fuck away from me!"

Obviously that is not very nice and poor Wen Ning didn't deserve a kick for being legitimately helpful there, but the point is that not only does he lash out - the reaction happens even when he's clearly got higher priorities going on in a chaotic situation. Throughout that entire event he reacts in a somewhat more even-keeled way to almost everything except Wen Ning being in his vicinity.

And it's not just after Wen Ning's death, not just after he became Wei Wuxian's greatest weapon, not just after he was forced to kill Jin Zixuan - it's specifically a pattern established from the moment he woke up in the Supervisory Office without a core:

Before he could say anything, those sun robes reflected against Jiang Cheng's eyes. His pupils suddenly shrunk.

Jiang Cheng kicked Wen Ning, toppling over the bowl of medicine. The black liquid all spilled onto Wen Ning. Wei WuXian wanted to take the bowl of medicine. He pulled up Wen Ning as well, who had been shocked speechless. Jiang Cheng roared at him, "What's wrong with you?!"

At this point he doesn't even know how he was rescued, since he was unconscious for all of that, and thinks they're in a Wen trap and likely going to die (or worse). But there's so many echoes of that interaction again, and again, and again between them.

And combined with Wen Ning's remarks during the scene just before this, where he tells Wei Wuxian about the discipline whip injuries and how Jiang Cheng 'should have other injuries as well', the way the narrative is so deliberately ambiguous on what exactly occurred, it all makes me want to crawl up the walls and gnaw on the light fixtures wailing WHAT DID YOU SEE, WEN NING?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?

At a minimum, Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning was there at Lotus Pier prior to his capture by the Wen guards, because they'd both seen Wen Ning examining Jiang corpses on the training field before they fled for Meishan.

But everything after that is only implication and subtext and suppositions and speculation, not directly stated in the text. But based on his reaction, you can pry my headcanon from my cold dead hands that that Wen Ning probably witnessed all or much of what happened to Jiang Cheng after he was captured, and Jiang Cheng knows it.

I've also posted before how I think there's an at least nonzero chance that Jiang Cheng was never directly told that Wen Ning wasn't actually there with Wen Chao when they saw him early on, but came later to try to help (because when Wen Ning gives Wei Wuxian that information Jiang Cheng isn't conscious, and nobody tells Jiang Cheng anything. I don't think that headcanon changes much either way, but there is a slight difference, at least emotionally, between 'I helped you while I was there to slaughter your clan and destroy your life' and 'I came when I heard my crazy cousin was slaughtering your clan and tried to help you' and I think it's a juicy thing to add to the pile of misunderstandings they each have of the other's motivations and actions).

Which, if I go with these two ideas together, really drives home what a bespoke and specific nightmare the way the Golden Core reveal played out - not only the substance of the reveal, but the fact it was Wen Ning who revealed it.

He was already furious that they were even there at Lotus Pier, particularly Wen Ning. But the way it all happens it feels like it's not just echoes of the amplified emotions of the confrontation with Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian in the Ancestral Hall, it's not just Wen Ning being a Wen, or even Jin Zixuan's death, the way the narration calls out. It feels like there are deeper layers to it.

I also feel a bit stupid for not noticing before this probably extremely obvious to literally everyone else who isn't a dumbass like me parallel of Wen Ning getting a gruesome scorching whip mark across his chest at Lotus Pier in the course of saving Wei Wuxian (more or less, sort of - we know as readers Jiang Cheng was intentionally trying not to hurt them with Zidian, but I don't think Wen Ning knew that when he jumped in).

Jiang Cheng looked to find that the uninvited guest was Wen Ning. Immediately, he raged, "Who let you inside Lotus Pier?! How dare you!"

He could manage to tolerate others, but definitely not Wen Ning, the Wen-dog who put his hand through Jin ZiXuan's heart and ended both his sister's happiness and her life. Just a look, and he felt the urge to kill him right there. How dare he step foot on the earth of Lotus Pier—he really was looking for his death!

Because of the two lives and many other reasons, Wen Ning had always felt guilty, and so he'd always been somewhat scared of Jiang Cheng, consciously avoiding him all the time. Right now, however, he blocked Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi as he faced him, taking the hard lash. A gruesome scorch climbed across his chest, but still he didn't flinch.

I don't know that it actually means anything but it's making me FEEL THINGS incoherently at this specific moment, so. Also I find it legitimately sad that Wen Ning has to live with guilt over things that happened when he was controlled by someone else, though the scene before the Ancestral Hall when Jin Ling starts crying on the boat is probably a better example of that. Anyway.

It's just there's so, so many layers to how uniquely horrible it is for Jiang Cheng that he not only finds out about the Golden Core transfer this way, but also that Wen Ning, specifically, directly witnessed this life-shatteringly huge deception and sacrifice too - while Jiang Cheng was unconscious, no less.

And, well, we know how everything got capped off in that scene...

Obviously the shock of the information was going to get a huge reaction no matter what, no matter who or how he found out. Even without the Wen Ning element, it already hits every one of his deepest weaknesses and insecurities and fears.

But to come from the guy who'd witnessed his family being slaughtered, who'd witnessed who-knows-what humiliations heaped on him (who also happens to be the same fucking guy that Wei Wuxian thought it was worth leaving Yunmeng Jiang for, breaking his promise for...), the guy he blames for his sister's tragic fate (whether that blame is misplaced or not), the guy he exhibits a panic response towards even decades later, and goddamn.

There are just so many layers to this perfect little nightmare reveal on so many different levels aren't there?

There's just SO much meaty stuff for these two to dig into post-canon and all we get is an extra with a 'oh yeah sometimes Jiang Cheng yells on night hunts and Wen Ning is there' about it?!

I should probably just shut up and go read some Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning focused fics or something (whether romantic or platonic that's probably an area I really haven't explored enough vs. the amount of sheer interesting hints and material the novel gives to work with! If by some miracle anyone made it to the end of this beast feel free to drop any recs that explore them, especially that 'what did Wen Ning see?!' aspect of the whole situation because that is the current little brain worm haunting me right now).

[skullsandcorals]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @apiratefellinlovewithastar 🤭💜💜💜 !!!!

I hope you like it ;)

(click for better quality if you're on the mobile app. do not repost.)

[thisonelikesaliens]

on this fine saturday morning I'm thinking about the burial mounds arc again and how the official translation doesn't seem to fully capture the sacrilege of 亂葬崗 which is a mass grave where you dump bodies without the respect they deserve (i.e. nameless. think mass death from massacre and plague and other unclaimed bodies in general)

(亂 luan means messy/chaos which is a key word here)

that wen qing and her family were able to make a name and a life for themselves at a mass grave, however ephemeral that was, just hits that much harder

[the-girl-with-too-many-ideas]

Okay, but what if the entire Cang Qiong mountain turns into silent hill post-PIDW.

Decades after Shen jiu died and the burning of the sect, Luo Binghe, Ning Yingying, Liu Mingyan, and perhaps even Qiu Haitang, visit the burnt husk of what was once Cang Qiong. Only to find themselves trapped in a hell of their own making. Forced to confront their guilt and feelings about the downfall of both the sect and the world they all had a hand in ruining.

Forced to face hard truths about both themselves, and that perhaps everything they thought they knew wasn't entirely true.

[foldingfittedsheets]

One visual gag I wanted in Faun’s Love Story that didn’t make it was to have Clove in the foreground talking to a customer and Ning in the background hovering at a tall shelf. First there’d be a customer coming up under Ning, glancing up when she dropped something, then blushing and hurrying away, implying that Ning saw no reason to wear underwear.

It didn’t fit in anywhere but it would have been so fun to have that happening in the background.

[evie-doesnt-write]

My MXTX faves are so fucking wild because none of them fall in remotely similar troupes. From MDZS, it's Wen Ning and Nie Huaisang. Tianlang-jun and Liu Qingge from SVSSS. And Shi Wudu and Mu Qing from TGCF. Not only are these characters not remotely similar, but also none of them would get along together (except maybe TLJ and NHS)

[twistedappletree]

Actually obsessed with the idea of Jin Ling trying to teach Lan Sizhui archery and getting smug as hell because he finally found something Lan Sizhui isn’t an instant prodigy at but at the same time, he sees how determined Lan Sizhui is to learn it and can’t help but love teaching him and wanting to see him succeed so they can hunt together

[polarisjisung]

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO MOTHER NINGNING ‼️

[vlupshittous]

Can I just say how much I deeply adore tumblr? Like yeah, hellsite this, dying website that, but truly I love this place. I don't feel like I doomscroll on Tumblr because the experience is so different from like TikTok. I read thought provoking fiction by talented authors. I see fanart and fics of my favorite characters that influence the way I see them in my head and interact with their canon media. I learn new facts that cause me to go deep into rabbitholes, often through links provided by OP. I get a sense of connection and love when a mutual sends me an ask, or a see a barrage of posts from a blog that shows me that they've just fallen in love with something new. I receive support for the things I make and get advice from more qualified people to improve my skills. Sometimes I get news, some days I get the wonderful feeling of being in the in-crowd when we all spend the day booping one another.

Irl, I often recommend Tumblr to my friends or try to explain my experiences to my partner but I don't think they ever really get it. Unlike most socials, my life is ultimately richer for having been part of the hellsite and I have a distinct pride in it.

[princess-earthquake-the-third]

Halfway through league of dragons and it's really funny to me that Ning came out of the shell with Temeraire's cleverness and iskierka's lack of any shyness when it comes to things she wants, and with a mix of the two very dangerous breaths as well, she's a disaster that's already happening and I can't wait to see what comes of her

[chirpycloudyrobin]

hey do you know that one plotline in violet evergarden where the dying mom leaves letters to her kid spanning the kid's birthdays for the next 50 hears ?

work with me here.

in another AU, yllz!wei wuxian knows he's not really going to make it. the others know too. theyre all running on borrowed time. but they all agree that a-yuan should at least live. so all of them (wwx, wen qing, all the wen remnants) got together one night and write letters to a-yuan for him to open on his birthdays for the next 50 years in case they never do make it.

they hand the qiankun pouch with all the letters to wen ning. their plan in case all goes to shit is to give a-yuan to wen ning and for the two of them to escape as far as possible while wwx sets himself up as one final bait. wen ning doesnt like this last resort. no one does. but theyre all running out of time.

in this AU, things go a little differently. there is no ambush at qiongqi pass because there is no yllz traveling to give jin ling his gift. instead, wwx got lwj to hand the gift over to jin ling to avoid bringing chaos to such an auspicious event. jzx and jyl live.

there is no nightless city massacre because wwx isnt there to get the wen siblings because the wen siblings havent given themselves up. everyone is far too busy preparing a-yuan's escape.

that doesnt stop the sects from besieging the burial mounds though. they want the yllz gone, you best believe they will find other reasons to justify the siege.

a miracle happens though. by some stroke of luck, wen qing survives with a-yuan and she gets to escape with him and wen ning. wwx still dies but his death is enough to give the wen sibs and a-yuan time to escape.

so a-yuan grows up in some obscure fishing village so far removed from the great sect territories that not even lwj has passed by the place. all three of them are under new names. they make a living as the village's only healers. nobody talks about wen ning being a fierce corpse because he really isnt any danger to them. in fact, he's the favourite grandchild of all the elders (after a-yuan of course)

a-yuan grows up with just his qing-jiejie and ning-gege physically, but he has a stack of letters from his departed loved ones waiting for him for each of his birthdays, each of his milestones. his favourites are always from his xian-gege, pages upon pages of wwx rambling to him every birthday. maybe wwx snuck in some cultivation tips and tricks there. maybe there are a couple of sketches and drawings too. sketches of their family, sketches of their old home. one sketch of lwj.

a-yuan's family may have been shaved down to just the three of them but the others' spirits remain with them always.

a-yuan grows well. he's a healer, but he's also a cultivator. one wandering cultivator (maybe another incognito baoshan sanren disicple?) had given him a sword and a couple of manuals.

"you're a promising one, kid. unfortunate that you're so far away from the nearest cultivation centers, but these should be of help"

so thats their life now. quiet, peaceful.

theyre so far away from the great sect's world that they dont even hear about anything happening over there until months have passed since.

until one day, something compels wen ning to travel as fast as he can to a certain direction.

[weirdocat83]

Would Ruoye and Wen Ning get along?

[facefullofsadness]

guys I miss rider!ning so bad, stg I was tweaking for WEEKS when these dropped (still am tbh)