#Not so sure wwx learned his lesson

[add1ctedt0you]

Some time later:

[twilightarc-gm]

💥👓💛👻

😍 Specs!! Hi!! I see you with these questions 🕵️‍♂️

From this Ask Game: Here

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change? (MDZS) YOU KNOW ME!!! But instead of the super obvious answer about the romantic subplot or whatever, I gotta say like, I really don't think JYL had to literally die for WWX's man-pain. Would the Present Timeline story be drastically different? Yeah, but I think it would have been better. I think it would have forced WWX to confront and resolve his past in more satisfying ways even if MXTX still makes him break off everything with JC-JYL-YMJ. Hottake, but I think it's spicier if he keeps trying to leave everything in the past but his mistakes are still alive and would like a real apology. With JC there's the whole transfer thing, mucking up who might need to apologize to whom, but with JYL it's very clear and very devastating. Where is all the angst this story could have given me?? No, I'm not going to rewrite MDZS about it 😩 I'm just going to suffer in my Yunmeng Trio feels.

👓 What helps you focus when you write? You're going to use this against me, I know it. I'm gonna be like, "Specs I can't focus." And you're going to go, "Well YOU said this helps you focus so are you doing it???" And I'll be like... "🥺" Not to be all aging-Millennial on main or anything but a shot of hard liquor, wordless music, a clear idea of a scene, and someone waiting to read what I wrote. It's a hard combo to achieve, let's be real. I have written 5k at a time with that combo though, so it's a big winner. @robinade knows nothing motivates me more than someone on discord going 👐🙏. And then I feed them the snippet and then they grade me with emotes. I'm very rewards based, who isn't? They tell you to write for yourself first, but it's always nice if I have an end goal of entertaining someone else as well, otherwise the ideas just stay in my head la-di-da style.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing? I got nothing inspirational to say here. I think a game changer for me was doing this thing with "scenes" but like... as a roadmap. So what I do now that helps me figure out what to write is listing off all the scenes I want to write and a little blurb about those scenes (or a lot of blurb depending on how specific I have it in my mind). It's like an outline, but not very high level. Anyone that reads my stuff lately can see I label my scenes with section titles and that's from this process. It sort of fills in the for the writing advice about how, when you get to the end of one scene, make sure to write the first sentence of the next so you don't get stuck on how to start a scene when you get back to it. This format is really working for me and it's not as cumbersome as an outline (even though for big fics I have those too).

👻 What is your wildest headcanon? HOOOO it's really hard to have a "wild" headcanon in this fandom (MDZS) without someone taking the biggest offense to it. And honestly the word "wild" is doing a lot of work here, it can mean anything. So basically I have a lot headcanons but what's wild enough for this question??? BAM!! JGS uses women as human cauldrons to further his cultivation. And JGY used that knowledge to kill him.

🧡 😎 Alrighty, I think my work here is done. 🌹 🎩

[stiricidewrites]

All the Things We’ll Leave Behind: ch 29, pt 4

Previously

~

“Well, Wangji ran off into the woods a few hours ago—chasing something—and jyl didn’t have shoes, so we couldn’t chase after him.”

“Uh huh…” wwx sighed, shaking his head slightly. Yup, this was how it was for young people, wasn’t it? He could remember similarly stupid stories from his own wild days—and a few from his more recent, calmer ones—although usually he had been the one fucking things up. Sometimes he’d been shit-faced drunk, more often he’d been completely sober and stupid, thinking himself invincible. Honestly… he still kinda thought of himself like that. Sure, he’d learned his lesson on a few fronts, but for the most part… Nah, he might be calmer, wiser, but he was still a little shit inside, just waiting for a chance to stir things up.

It really was unfortunate that his company was so damn popular, it left him much too little time to play. Perhaps now, with a mate waiting for him… He definitely had enough money to retire, or at least take a step back and let someone else—like the Luo girl—start to take over for him…

“And she didn’t have her phone—well, she did have it, her brother brought it to her—but she left it at the restaurant, so we had to go back, and then we ended up recruiting all these teens to help find Wangji.”

“How in the world did you convince teenagers to help you?” wwx asked, twisting on his chair as he drank his coffee. “Teenagers aren’t usually that cooperative—not the ones I know, anyways.” He smiled, thinking back to all the horrible things he’d done as a teen. They still told stories about him in Yunmeng. Some of the older folks still bolted when they saw him coming. Others pulled him over for a lecture about some decades old gripe, but even that was still amusing, even if he generally found himself volunteering to somehow make it up to them. He’d repaired a lot of random shit around town, although he’d never been able to figure out why exactly everyone was always asking him to fix shit? He also wasn’t sure how there were still so many people he had wronged and not made nice with? It always seemed like there were new people complaining to him, whenever he visited. It was actually a bit odd…

“They were treating it as a friendship run. They were actually creepily eager to help… but anyways, then jyl’s heat came—”

wwx grunted in acknowledgement, immediately regretting it when he inhaled his coffee and ended up spluttering liquid everywhere, including on his last clean shirt. Awesome.

“Fuck,” he hissed as jzxuan continued rambling about their night. He grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the spot, not that it did any good. Fuck. Wait. “Did you just say you spent the last few hours bringing rabbits into my house?” he didn’t quite scream into the phone.

“Yep.”

wwx blinked into space. His assistant had reappeared at the door and was giving him a look that told him he looked about as shocked as he felt. “How many?”

“I dunno,” jzxuan said. “At least three.”

“It took you several hours to bring three rabbits into my house?”

“No, it took us several hours to bring a few dozen bunnies into your house.”

“Then why did you say three?” wwx asked incredulously. What even?

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Food for thoughts: Lan Sect Wei Wuxian could lead Lan Qiren to reconsider the rules, the amount, the purpose of them, and what they truly stand for.

If they're just there to give guidance, shouldn't lessons or morality their sect motto be enough?

If they're there to contorl their sect members, to leave them little agency and choice, then what kind of sect do they want to become?

Wei Wuxian's presence within the Lan Sext could be the catalyst for that kind of a change. A reflection for Lan Qiren on how far he has allowed the rules to contorl his life, and those if his nephews.

Does he want the Sect to stifle Wei Wuxian, to mold him into the antithesis of himself? More importantly what does Wei Wuxian want?

How can Lan Qiren reconcile the idea that a child has desires outside of what are considered appropriate for a child (talismens designs, staying up late, trauma inspired habits from living on the streets, like hiding food, hoarding every little thing he considered 'useful' or every gift he's given. His tendency to hide food based gifts because he doesn't think/know he can have them again... etc)

How could he ask? And what would it look like to his nephews if he gives freedom for a strangers child that he does not them? How can he balance caring for Wei Wuxian who is traumatized in a different way without Lan Huan and Lan Zhan questioning if he loves them?

Two things could happen for Wei Wuxian in the Lan sect depending on where you want to take it.

One: he absolutely enthralls his teachers with his enthusiasm to learn, to consume anything related to Cultivation and quickly proves his genius.

In turn the Lan sect comes to the uncomfortable realization that they have a static way it teaching, one that does not help their students, but browbeats them and expects them to confirm to the Lan thinking.

Two: the teachers are annoyed and their dicks to Wei Wuxian and his presence in the Lan Sect always feels unwelcome.

Character driven stories like this focus on the feelings of everyone involved, ultimately is this a story where Wei Wuxian finds a home in the Lan Sect? Or does he find a home in the world beyond?

If your goal is to make the Lan sect a home for Wei Wuxian, it is the people around him that will sell that.

Lan Qiren- resolution for his character (given the story so far. I haven't read all the updates, don't get mad, I'm sorry I'll read them soon.) I think taking the mantle of sect leader completely would be best. Him stepping into a role he doesn't want, but can't make room or a home for his nephews or Wei Wuxian if he doesn't, might be a good way to go?

Wei Wuxian-considers Lan Qiren a second father? (Er-fuqin?) He sees what Lan Qiren had done for him, out of kindness and love? And sets forth to do the same?

A theme running through canon and fics : family isn't just blood and big dramatic displays. It's a daily choice.

I'm not sure if any of those helps. It's been a few months since I read the fic, I'm sorry if this is just a waste of time

That's not a waste of time at all! (And don't feel bad about not being caught up, I'd never be mad at that ❤)

I think you're absolutely right that a lot of LQR's growth needs to come from re-learning his own place in the Sect and some of the things that maybe he'd always taken for granted that WWX helps him see don't necessarily need to stay as they are. It's something he's already done in small doses throughout the entire fic/his relationship with raising WWX as a very traumatized and free-spirited child alongside his own differently-traumatized and much more reticent nephews, so I don't think there's any reason not to expand that to the Sect/rules as a whole!

And as far as WWX goes, I definitely want him to have a permanent home in the Sect which means yes, some things will need to change to accommodate him, and that's something that can be done out of love for a boy who's a truly prodigious cultivator who can help everyone see that there's more than one way to do things.

These are all very good thoughts, thank you for taking the time to send them in!

[mdzs-fics]

To the Heavens and the Earth by IsilmeLasgalen

Explicit AU where WWX is a Wen. 15 chapters (complete) 77k words

He heard the snap of the whip and waited for the pain to come only to hear it hit a sword. For a second he feared one of the young ones had interfered, his sweet Jingyi had always had more heart than he had sense but the voice that spoke up was unknown to him. "He's mine."

"Wen Chire, get out of my way!" He heard Wen Chao grit his teeth and strike the sword again. "I'm going to teach this little shit a lesson."

"I said he's mine, ChaoChao. Surely you wouldn't dare raise your hand against my fiance now, would you?" Fiance? Wangji was pretty sure he would have known if he had managed to engaged at some point in his life! He did get drunk that one time but… no, it couldn't be that. And his brother would have told him if the clan had arranged something for him already, so what was this stranger talking about!? Was he mistaking him for someone? Would he stop defending him when he realized Wangji wasn't who he thought he was? He did suppose he was pretty unrecognisable in his current state. "We wouldn't want to have to duel over it, that would be just bad manners as hosts of this esteemed program. You and your brother are lucky I don't take offense to the condition you drove him to as it is!"

To the Heavens and the Earth begins in a world where there are … differences.

Wen Rouhan has only recently declared himself Chief Cultivator. The Sects are invited to send junior disciples to attend Guest Lectures in Nightless City. The Lan elders decide to accede to the request, while the Lan juniors object and fight. A 35 year old Lan Wangji joins the fight, as his son, Lan Jingyi, will be affected. Lan Wangji's leg is broken during the battle, and he is "asked" to join the Lan juniors. The first day in Nightless City is not going well. Wen Chao decides it's time to use the discipline whip. And then … there is an extremely impromptu wedding ceremony.

Immediately following we have Wen Qing healing Wangji, a hot bath in a large porcelain tub and the beginning of a journey that will unite the world of the sects under the banner of an Emperor.

The culture and laws of the Wen may be strict, but they are fair. There are no street children in Nightless City. Young children attend a sort of preschool, both clan and commoner. Lan Wangji spends a lot of time before the war attending them.

During a discussion about birth control (male and female may become pregnant in this world), Wangji learns that Wen Chire obtains a rare flower from the base of the Burial Mounds. It is here that we learn that the Burial Mounds had engulfed Yiling and its peoples over 30 years ago, the barrier broken, when Wangji was four years old.

There is an interesting anecdote about the Xuanwu of Slaughter.

And there is the war. And near death experiences. And unplanned pregnancy. And an end to war. With surprises. And consequences.

I enjoy author IsilmeLasgalen's works. They contain what I consider to be a blend of daily life and grand epic woven into a story that is ultimately satisfying. The journey is as engaging as the destination.

[grewlikefancyflowers]

Something something about WWX being kinky because of the painful and unimaginable things that have been done to his body without his consent during his first life (from the dogs in his childhood to YZY’s punishment, to whatever happened in those three months alone in the BM and being eaten alive at the end) and how he wants to give control to someone he knows will never hurt him and only wants the best for him to turn pain into something good to erase all the bad pain he’s experienced but drawing a line at spanking bc it’s the only thing no one did to him on his first life so he sees it as the only pride he was able to save 👨‍🍳💋

Hello anon, I'm very lukewarm on this take, and I don't think it really aligns with how both WWX and LWJ are presented in canon for several reasons.

First off, post-canon wangxian are having fun with their sex life !!! Why make it angsty? Why can they simply not be kinky without needing some tragic backstory or trauma to justify it?

This idea of WWX needing to reconcile or process the things he's experienced doesn't really ring to true to his character either - one of his defining traits is that he doesn't fixate on the past like that. Following on from that, out of everything WWX has experienced throughout his two lives, I would not say pain itself has much of a lasting effect on WWX. He has never been fearful of, or severely affected by pain.

Looking at the way WWX looks back on some of the painful things he's experienced, such as when he recalls the golden core transfer in Ch.103 (the whole passage is just a bit long to paste in here), he never even thinks about how painful it was.

We can also possibly see this in how he recalls YZY's treatment of him -

'But, to be honest, in all these years, I’ve never seen a second woman whose temper was as bad as Madam Yu’s. She told me to go to the ancestral hall and kneel no matter how small the matter was. Hahaha…”

But, apart from this, Madam Yu had never really done anything to harm him.' (Ch.87, exr)

It can be said that there are some other things at play here - WWX's very questionable memory, his tendency to view the Jiangs through rose tinted glasses combined with a typical instinct to remember the dead more fondly than they were in actuality. But regardless, I think WWX's focus on this tells us a lot about him, the physical pain YZY inflicted on him isn't what stays with him, but rather her temper itself, that she'd take issue with WWX over any insignificant thing, for no real reason.

WWX's comments throughout the Lotus Seed Pod extra reflect this as well. He never takes any particular note of the pain he's experienced from YZY whipping him, or the lotus lake owner beating him, instead he says

'“It’s not fair! Why do you only hit me! Why is it only me again!”'

and

'He felt his back, covered in scars both old and new, and still couldn’t hold back the question he’d be thinking about, “How awfully unfair. Why is it that I’m the only one who gets beaten up, whenever something happens?”'

Clearly what WWX takes from these experiences isn't the pain, but rather the inherent unfairness of it. So I think it's pretty far off base to suppose that WWX needs to come to terms with this pain post-canon, when it wasn't even what bothered him at the time.

The only experience that WWX seems to be affected by due to pain specifically is dogs biting him. Ironically, I guess? biting is one of the things LWJ does more than once to WWX, without his consent, before they have even established a relationship. WWX was extremely freaked out in Ch.54 when LWJ bit him, he also makes the comparison to LWJ biting him like a dog himself, and does so when LWJ bites him in Ch.93, and Ch.95.

It's a bit of a weird line to draw from 'LWJ canonically bites WWX out of nowhere without consent or negotiation, in a way that does specifically reminds him of past trauma'* to 'WX engage in pain/biting play consensually to help WWX reconcile with past trauma in a safe environment... with someone he knows would never hurt him like that without his consent.' :?

*(Before anyone accuses me of pissing on the poor, I'm not saying LWJ is ~traumatising WWX by biting him like a dog~ or anything like that. I'm just saying WX's kink progression is messy and not at all defined by any careful negotiation or consent.)

I also think this interpretation does quite a disservice to LWJ's role in their relationship. He's a character who is known for careful self restraint, but has very intense desires that he keeps hidden for much of his life. Until he and WWX get together, and WWX tells him he can 'do anything he wants to [him]' and 'don't hold back'.

A key feature of their relationship, that we see throughout MDZS, is this lack of enforced boundaries, not the careful setting of them.

Onto the part about spanking, which I guess is probably what prompted this ask...

To start with, while I do think that the it's as simple as WWX disliking it & LWJ never doing it again interpretation is completely valid, and is cute and cathartic in its own way. WWX's reaction to it is very deliberately ambiguous, to varying degrees depending on what translation you're reading. I'm using these three x x x as reference.

What is consistent is that while WWX does feel ashamed and embarrassed, he also does feel pleasure from it, enough so that he does come untouched.

Aside from that, WWX's reaction to being spanked can be compared in pretty interesting ways to his reactions to other things LWJ does to him.

For example, when LWJ bites him in Xuanwu Cave, I've bolded the parts that are particularly relevant -

'Lan WangJi glanced at him, who seemed to forget all past pain as soon as the wounds had healed. Just as Wei WuXian was about to give him a large grin, he suddenly saw Lan WangJi lower his head.

Wei WuXian wailed, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh stop!!! Stop stop stop!!!!!!”

Lan WangJi was buried into the crescent of his elbow, biting firmly into his arm. Hearing Wei WuXian, not only did he not stop, his teeth sunk deeper inside.

Wei WuXian, “Are you gonna stop?!?! I’ll kick you if you don’t! Don’t think that I won’t kick you just because you’re injured!!!!!!”

Wei WuXian, “Stop biting! Stop biting! I’ll go away! I’ll go away!!! I’ll go away, I’ll go away if you stop, I’ll go away!!!!!!”

Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan you’re mad today!!!!!! You’re a dog!!! You’re a dog!!!!!!!! Stop biting!!!!”

When Lan WangJi had finally finished his fit and felt satisfied, Wei WuXian sprang up and scrambled to the other side of the cave, “Don’t come over!”

...

Wei WuXian glanced at the bite marks on his arm and squatted down, still shaken. Curled up in the corner, he continued to poke at the flames, not at all comprehending the situation, How could Lan Zhan do this? ... Don’t tell me that… that I’m really as annoying as Jiang Cheng makes it to be?!

Just as he was doubting himself, Lan WangJi spoke up, “Thanks.”

...

Wei WuXian was so delighted that he couldn’t help but want to move over again. He was the type of person who loved to be shoulder-to-shoulder with others, but the slight pain from the bite marks on his arm reminded him that Lan Zhan had just thrown a fit a moment ago, and maybe he’d be at it again just a moment later.

He gained control over himself at once.'

Firstly, WWX's frequent habit of 'forgetting the pain once the wound has healed' - when LWJ bites him, his reaction is severe enough that he actually does stop himself from going over to LWJ, for fear of being bitten again. Post-spankpocalypse, however - 'In the dream, Wei Wuxian’s flirting came back and hit him in the ass; but seeing this upright, self-contained Lan Wangji upon waking, he couldn’t stop himself from starting to joke around.' In response, LWJ 'swatted his ass, just enough to be playful.' (dragongirlg's tl)

So it seems that how WWX felt about being spanked was far less extreme than how he felt about being bitten...

Looking at WWX's reactions when LWJ bites him in Ch.93 and Ch.95, he is similarly not exactly pleased by it, comparing him to dogs. Both times LWJ does not stop when WWX protests.

'And one of Wei WuXian’s fingers was already caught within his mouth [...] “…” Wei WuXian, “Open your mouth.” [...] Leaning forward slightly, he moved his teeth from the first knuckle to the second. He bit down even harder. Wei WuXian, “Ow!” [...] The bite made his hair rise. Anything that bit made him think of dogs, and his hair rose whenever he thought of dogs.' (Ch.93)

'Suddenly, he exclaimed with an ‘ah.’ ... Opening his eyes, he wiped a tinge of blood from his lips as he scolded, “Lan Zhan! Why are you biting like a dog again?!” ... Lan WangJi responded with another bite. Sore from all the biting and sucking, Wei WuXian frowned.' (Ch.95)

Sooo... WWX allows LWJ to bite him after they are together, after having an initially far stronger reaction to it than he did being spanked, after LWJ simply ignores all his complaints about it!

There are also parallels between WWX's reaction being spanked and when LWJ carries him in Qinghe.

WWX's initial reservations about LWJ carrying him are because he thinks it would be shameful and embarrassing for a grown man to be carried like that. As we know, LWJ does it anyway, WWX reacts like this -

'Wei Wuxian had never expected that this was the consequence of saying “no”. In both his previous and current lifetimes, this was the first time that anyone had treated him this way. He cried out in fear, “Lan Zhan!!!”' (Ch.25, TW translation)

Which immediately makes me think of WWX's 'My whole life, no one has treated me like that!' after being spanked in Ch.119

As I've mentioned in this post before, that phrasing was added to chapter 25 during the edits of MDZS, in a scene that is otherwise largely unchanged, so I don't think it is coincidental.

So once again we have LWJ doing something to WWX without his consent, WWX expresses some almost terrified disbelief that he could be treated like that, but as with being bitten, we know that WWX ends up liking being carried by LWJ anyway.

That line is also repeated right at the end of Ch.119, with a completely different tone...

'With three nights of toil, he felt the fatigue slowly rise. Wei WuXian couldn’t keep going either. He snuggled into Lan WangJi’s arms again and mumbled, “Nobody had ever treated me like this…”

Lan WangJi stroked his hair and landed a kiss on his forehead. Shaking his head, he smiled.' (exr)

While the initial 'no one has ever treated me like this' is alarmed, the second sounds... softer, somewhat disbelieving, but almost accepting? And LWJ shakes his head fondly, something he does at other points throughout MDZS when WWX is being silly. Overall the final tone here isn't really one that fits with the idea of WWX having a boundary crossed in a way that he associates with past trauma.

Also, the version dragongirlg translated is slightly different to exr's -

'My whole life, no one has treated me like that! I’m telling you, you can do what you want, but don’t hit me! And especially don’t hit my…!”

Lan Wangji pulled him back to the couch. “I won’t hit you. Rest now.”'

Compared to exr's

'“Nobody had ever treated me like this!!! In the future you’re not allowed to this either. Really, if you wanna fuck me then do it, I’ll open my legs and let you do whatever you want—just don’t hit me!!”

Lan WangJi pulled him back onto the bed, “I will not.”'

The lack of 'in the future...' in the former tl leans more towards WWX's reaction being a purely in the moment thing. The 'I won’t hit you. Rest now' makes it sound like a less serious placation, which aligns more with the tone at the very end of the chapter.

When taking all of the above into account, I don't think, as is the case with most things in MDZS, that what happened in incense burner 2 is really as simple as a surface level reading might suggest. While WWX has secured his promise for now for LWJ to never do it again, I also think its entirely possible, or likely, that WWX will 'forget the pain as soon as the wound has healed' and tease LWJ into doing it again. In fact I firmly believe it happens.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Would you be willing to write something about LQR and WWX bonding (maybe against at least one of their wills 😂) over them both being horrible musical cultivation geniuses / gremlins?

Prelude no. 81 in A Major - ao3

(series: Variations on WWX & LQR in Assorted Keys)

"What an interesting choice in melodies," Lan Qiren said, and Wei Wuxian startled so badly that he nearly dropped his flute.

Lan Qiren frowned slightly, but reached up to stroke his beard to cover it up. They'd had their disagreements, to be sure – he’d even thrown him out of one of the lessons on account of his shameless unorthodoxy, or perhaps more accurately Wei Wuxian had excused himself at Lan Qiren’s inadvertant encouragement – but he hadn't thought he had been so harsh on the boy in their first few classes to justify such an outsized reaction. Especially not from Wei Wuxian, who Jiang Fengmian was constantly praising as carefree and fearless, even reckless.

Of course, Wei Wuxian had been acting quite unusually these past few days...

There was a pretty self-explanatory reason for that, though.

"Teacher Lan!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting - I thought you'd gone to Qinghe at this time - uh, that is…"

"Important matters superseded," Lan Qiren said, omitting to mention that the 'important matter' in question was nothing more than a desire to observe Lan Wangji in the grips of what was very clearly his first real infatuation. 

For a long time, Lan Qiren had believed that he wouldn’t be able to recognize it when it happened. Lan Qiren ruefully reflected that he’d completely missed it when it was his brother suffering from love, and again when his nephews had both developed an unusual fondness for Nie Mingjue’s training lessons – he’d initially thought they were just curious about the ways other sects went about their cultivation, and only realized his error after Nie Mingjue had left…there had been so much sighing…at any rate, although Lan Xichen had managed to get most of the way through his adolescence without being struck by it, Lan Wangji clearly had. The signs were rather self-evident. Longing looks, excess thoughtfulness, smiles, and from his most reticent and self-contained nephew...

No, the evidence was clear: Lan Wangji was positively sick with love for Wei Wuxian.

In all honesty, Lan Qiren was relieved. 

He hadn’t thought he’d be – he’d been terrified of the day, in truth – but now that it was here, he was really, truly, genuinely relieved.

Perhaps Wei Wuxian was impertinent and insolent, arrogant and foolhardy, a terrible student who thought his genius excused him from having to learn discipline, but at least he was a proper orthodox cultivator from a Great Sect - a known quantity. He wasn't likely to tear off and start murdering people left and right. If he led Lan Wangji into trouble, it at least wouldn't be of the sort and severity that Lan Wangji’s doomed predecessor had entangled himself with. It might result in shame and embarrassment, but it wouldn’t bring him genuine harm or suffering.

No - in comparison to what it might have been?

This was fine.

Accordingly, Lan Qiren had determined with himself that he needed to improve his relationship with his prospective son-in-law immediately. After all, with cutsleeves, either one of them could choose to marry out, and Lan Qiren very much wanted Lan Wangji to remain with the Lan sect - and that meant getting Wei Wuxian to want to stay, too. 

Either way, it was far more important than yet another fruitless planning session with Nie Mingjue over the growing threat of the Wen sect.

(Do not tell lies, after all...)

"Did you come up with the melody yourself?" Lan Qiren prompted, seeing that Wei Wuxian was hunting for a safe subject of conversation.

Unfortunately, however innocuous musical cultivation was, that didn't seem to be it: Wei Wuxian abruptly flushed red. Lan Qiren hadn't even known the boy knew how to blush.

"Uh, no. It's...Lan Zhan made the tune. I was just...uh..."

"You were trying to apply spiritual energy to the tune to cause certain effects," Lan Qiren said, not bothering to make it a question - it was pretty obvious what Wei Wuxian had been trying to do - while inwardly marveling at how devoted his nephew was. To compose a song for a boy you'd known hardly more than a month...! Honestly, what was wrong with his family, that they fell in love so thoroughly, so quickly? "I'm not sure what you were aiming for, but if you’re hoping to achieve an orthodox song-spell, you're going about it backwards."

"...backwards?"

"Mm. You have already chosen the purpose you are aiming towards, and you are now trying to make the spiritual energy in the song reach that purpose, are you not? It will work if the song and the purpose happen to be naturally compatible, but that is a matter of luck, not skill. So while the brute force method can work, it’s inelegant and inefficient, and I wouldn’t recommend it."

Wei Wuxian was looking at Lan Qiren, bemused. "What would you recommend instead, Teacher Lan?"

Lan Qiren thought about the snippets of the song he’d heard for a moment, stroking his beard once more in thought, then, after having contemplated it, whistled one of the livelier sections of the tune, letting it find a more natural path. 

Flowers bloomed all around them.

“Songs associated with more joyous emotions are better for generation of spiritual energy,” he said, “while more melancholy ones can be grounding and settling. I wouldn’t use that particular tune as a means of calming ghosts unless you’re already familiar with them – you would need an already preexisting connection of friendship at the bare minimum before a love song would work as a lullaby.”

Wei Wuxian was staring at the flowers.

“It’s just an example,” Lan Qiren said, nodding at them. “As the person guiding the song, there are many options for what you could seek to achieve with it – for instance, you were seeking to use it as the basis of a summoning, weren’t you?”

“Well, yes…”

Lan Qiren whistled again, this time a different part of the song. Rabbits emerged from the bush around them, drawn in by the siren sound of the song and smell of fresh growth.

“The song is full of life, so it’s better for living creatures,” he said, and noted belatedly that he’d slipped into lecturing, which he hadn’t intended on. “Ah…at any rate, if you truly wish to use this particular song in night-hunting, I would recommend you use it for mo or yao, or for something originating in a place that is familiar with you, friendly to you – something in the Lotus Pier, in your case.”

Wei Wuxian was staring at him now.

Lan Qiren frowned at him. “What is it? I already know you’re familiar with the different between types of evil creatures, you demonstrated that quite well in class…”

“No, no, it’s not that!” Wei Wuxian said quickly, recovering. “I wasn’t aware that Teacher Lan was – actually, no, now that I think about it, it’s pretty obvious. Uh. It’s only, see, I was trying to do something a little…different with it – I don’t think Teacher Lan would approve –”

Ah, of course.

Lan Qiren sighed. “Is this your idea of manipulating resentful energy again? The song is completely inappropriate for that.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, bug-eyed.

“Putting aside the issues with the idea, both ethical and practical, as I explained, a song composed with love will best resonate with creatures that have love as well, ideally love for you,” Lan Qiren explained, deciding to focus on the music because otherwise he’d just get angry and start shouting again, and that would be contrary to his goal of making nice. “Do you want to accidentally summon your ancestors from their graves?”

“But what if I use the res- the spiritual energy to emphasize the upbeat parts of the song, which are more generalized and generic in nature?” Wei Wuxian asked, and it was actually a good question, well within the bounds of orthodox experimentation. What a relief!

“Then you’ll end up summoning a mob of amorous ghosts,” Lan Qiren said, then grimaced. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“…wait. Are you saying that actually happened to someone?” Wei Wuxian peered up at Lan Qiren. “Not – not to you, Teacher Lan?”

Lao Nie had once asked Lan Qiren to play a particular song while they were night-hunting, omitting to mention that it was a romantic song popular in brothels; Lan Qiren, not being the sort of person to frequent such places, had not realized that he merely wanted background music and had thought that he’d meant for him to utilize the song as a weapon. He had added spiritual energy accordingly, thinking that it was some song-spell he was unfamiliar with, but game to try.

The effects had been…not quite what he would have wanted.  

In fact, if Lan Qiren recalled correctly, the only person who had laughed harder at the end result than Lao Nie had been –

“Your mother nearly got her head bitten off by a jiangshi because she was laughing too hard to lift her sword,” Lan Qiren said, then added, dryly, “You should endeavor not to follow her example if you are planning on using a dizi as your primary weapon. A sword can be used while laughing; a flute cannot.”

“I…would…bring both – wait, Teacher Lan, you night-hunted with my mother?”

“On rare occasions.” Now would be a good time to strike, Lan Qiren thought. “Come to me after classes tomorrow. If you are interested in improving your understanding of how spiritual energy interacts with musical composition, I have some texts that may be of interest to you.”

Wei Wuxian blinked, and then smiled lopsidedly, almost as if he were laughing at himself, then turned and grinned at Lan Qiren. “Absolutely, Teacher Lan! You bet!”

Satisfied, Lan Qiren inclined his head and turned to go.

“Oh, Teacher Lan, one more thing!”

Lan Qiren paused and turned back, looking at Wei Wuxian in silent question.

Wei Wuxian had on a rather deliberate appearance of being casual. “This is probably a weird question,” he said, “but it’s just something I’m curious to get your thoughts on. If you were to find a – let’s say, an item with considerable amounts of resentful energy, something that had been refined into a spiritual tool of great power. What would you do with it, assuming if you wanted to use it?”

“Full of resentful energy? That would be demonic cultivation,” Lan Qiren said, a little puzzled – not to mention annoyed at the subject coming up again. But then again, he supposed that such things had their place in most sect’s treasuries, even if they didn’t especially like to admit to it; the demonic cultivators of the past were uniformly insane, bloodthirsty monsters that had defaced tombs and used the blood of other cultivators to strengthen themselves and their tools, but the orthodox world often played games with whether their tools were as forbidden as the practice itself. Anyway, he supposed it was a good sign of trust that Wei Wuxian was asking, and he was trying to build a relationship with Wei Wuxian. “I assume that you would have already sought to liberate the guai?”

“The – guai – huh, yeah, I guess it would be a guai in some ways. Just without intelligence.”

“Are you entirely sure about that?” Lan Qiren asked dryly. “Guai made from objects tend to have intelligence in ways we don’t anticipate or recognize as intelligence. In the same way, a beast yao has discernable desires because beasts are similar to men, whereas a plant yao often act in ways that seem completely inexplicable to us. If the item in question were originally a rock, who is to say that we would understand how a rock thinks well enough to identify if it has intelligence or not?”

Wei Wuxian wrinkled his nose, thinking it over.

“First, seek to liberate the guai, or at least suppress it,” Lan Qiren said, easily falling back into pedagogy. “Depending on the type of guai, there are different songs that can be used. After that, if you really wish to use the item, there are arrays and talisman that get used for containing and guiding resentful energy – for instance, the Nie sect is well known for their expertise in this regard.”

“Because of their sabers?” Wei Wuxian blurted out, then looked horrified at himself.

Had Jiang Fengmian really told his ward such a secret? Lan Qiren thought to himself with irritation. He should know better; such a thing was meant to be limited to the sect leaders of the Great Sects alone – but then, Lan Qiren had never had a very high opinion of his fellow sect leader to begin with, so he supposed there was no reason to be disappointed.

“In part,” he said neutrally. “The Nie are also descended from butchers, a unclean profession. They have any number of ancestral inheritances that have become soaked in resentful energy over the decades, which they cannot eradicate and have instead opted to use. The current Nie sect leader, Chifeng-zun, is not inclined to use those things, so you wouldn’t have seen them, but the former sect leader, his father, was a little more liberal, so I have.”

Lan Qiren didn’t want to encourage Wei Wuxian’s obscene interest in demonic cultivation. But he did want his nephew to stay at the Cloud Recesses, rather desperately…

“I can write some examples up for you to review, if you like,” he offered begrudgingly. “Provided you promise to only experiment with them in my presence.”

Wei Wuxian was gaping at him, seemingly completely disbelieving. “…Teacher Lan would allow me to?”

Lan Wangji staying in the Cloud Recesses. Remember your goal.

“We shall see,” Lan Qiren said. “We would need to discuss the ethics involved first, and make a determination that it is acceptable, but I’m sure we can find a way to agree on that…I’ll be going now. If you happen to see my second nephew before I do, tell him I wish to speak with him.”

It was probably too late to cure or dissuade Lan Wangji from his love, if he’d reached the level of composing love songs, but at minimum Lan Qiren could encourage him to keep Wei Wuxian focused on…better things. Things like musical cultivation, for example, and not near-demonic cultivation. Well, as things went, even such a strange interest was still better than his brother’s disaster of a love, Lan Qiren reflected. He ought to count himself as fortunate – imagine if Wei Wuxian were not still so young and in a safe environment, and the war they were all expecting came to pass. That curiosity of his could get him into real trouble!

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

So, with the new update of the manhua showing LXC telling WWX about the things that LWJ went through, the fandom once again is bringing up the discourse of “you were his one mistake” and hating on LXC. They are saying that he is talking crap about WWX, while knowingly letting JGY do heinous crimes and giving him information on LWJ’s feelings and therefore his weakness for WWX. Funny how they keep hating on LXC for literally one sentence, when the man was probably the biggest facilitator in getting LWJ and WWX together, and also seem to ignore that this speech which includes that line they hate so much is the reason that wangxian finally came to be.

But hey, LXC is apparently a monster who hates WWX and should suffer and bla bla bla

First, from a past ask I received:

I can very, very much understand why people would have a distaste for Lan Xichen as a character. He like many of the others are able to preach of the good while failing to actually practice it or really ever meet the basics of it when they did have the tools for it and just stepped back. I think it sort of entails “what manner of person am I able to respond to better”, when it comes to a myopia of social blindness and privilege.

I do not think Lan Xichen is a bad guy, or even morally bankrupt. I think he is naive, very blind to the worst in life, and a bit selfish given he does love others, but he is not the best at expressing when to keep his mouth shut and being unsure of what he himself should do. He has very very little worldly experience to understand a lot of harsh truths and can callously say things, even if that isn’t his intention. We see this when he casually says that Wei Wuxian has changed, which just ends up him completely misconstruing his own brother’s turmoil and worries for Wei Wuxian. He does this again with Wei Wuxian in Guanyin Temple, calling him his brother’s life’s mistake.

The exact words being, “这辈子唯一犯下的一个错误就是你!”, The only mistake he made in this life was you!“

The fun little thing about 犯/fàn, in connection to 错误/cuò wù is that is very very accusatory, it is mean, it is not a simple accusation of a problem, it means a criminal offense, which is what Lan Wangji had committed in the eyes of the Lans, and was a ruination of the little brother that Lan Xichen always could reassure by himself, or so he thought. This speech is him being as biting as he can (well for a Lan), to someone he sees as causing pain for years to his brother. All while he himself has, and continued to, treat Lan Wangji as a child. He is mocking a bit in his surety of his friend while he admits that he saw his brother’s trust in Wei Wuxian as wrong. It’s not calling Wei Wuxian just some sort of minor inconvenience, he is saying he is what had ruined his brother’s prestige and ideal daoist reputation for something so worldly.

But I think he is one for realization and can pursue that to apologize and really try to reach out to Wei Wuxian to understand him as family given he in no way decried their marriage as false. He in the least seems shocked at his own fall out and consequences for what had happened. His foundation he was sure in was broken in just a few hours. That’s a massive blow for an ego, but he tries, and seclusion at any rate, or the way he is practicing it is healthy and he knows what mistakes he himself had made as he reflects. His lesson is that he has much to learn, I don’t think that is a bad end for him at all.

As for the rest, he didn't want these two to be together, he thought that once he knew "Mo Xuanyu" was Wei Wuxian, he had been, in his eyes, continuing to be cruel to Lan Wangji. He made assumptions on very little information very unjustly while earlier within the book mocking Lan Wangji's absolute trust in Wei Wuxian next to Jin Guangyao who he had known for longer. I don't quiet agree that he was the tipping point for them to get together, after all the reason they had sex to begin with was impulsive and just off of Jiang Cheng's very homophobic and accusatory words mocking their feelings for each other. If Jiang Cheng previously hadn't mocked them, I feel it would have been a far smoother confession without anyone intervening to tell them about their outside perceptions. Lan Xichen included.

He is not the catalyst of anything just yet another factor that Wei Wuxian finally discarded to really let his feelings be known openly once and for all after the countless rumors everyone seemed to make up for them. It is him taking his own romance into his hands and not letting any of them assume for them without their say.

[rarepears]

This time Itachi would be way more invested in his brother's happiness in this life. After he fucked up Sasuke and got Edo Tensai'd and saw how badly he messed up would probably not do that again.

He'd probably appreciate no overbearing father pushing him to be the best since LQH is in seclusion until he's killed. Although he gets an upright (uptight) uncle instead. But at least LQR really does want the best for his nephews even if he can't express it properly.

He probably really misses having a mom and doesn't appreciate her being locked away from him and LWJ. I think he might feel he deserves no parents after killing his last ones but he really isn't happy about LWJ not having parents either.

The Elders should definitely be afraid. If not over the issue with his mom (and he Will Remember That) then over their problems with WWX and LWJ.

Does Itachi ever feel like he got reborn into some bizarre mashup of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan? White everywhere, stoic clansmen, Love problems.

Does Itachi equate the Sects with Villages? What does he think of cultivation and the monsters they have to fight on Night Hunts?

How would he feel about his new baby brother falling in love? Most fics I've read implied that LXC ships them, at least during the Cloud Recesses School arc. Would Itachi follow that or be even more Extra about it?

Would he be determined to keep his brother's Love here, where he can make sure nothing can ruin his brother's happiness? Barely deciding not to do what LQH did and lock LWJ and WWX into a safe house, saving LQR from a heart attack, qi deviation and apolexy, since he learned how poorly that went with the clan. Does LQR have to keep his nephew from sending marriage proposals for WWX on his brother's behalf to LFM? Does Itachi take the time to try extolling his brother's virtue and how WWX should totally think about marrying LWJ? Does he sabotage JWY's attempts at telling WWX that LWJ doesn't like him? Does he meet JWY in a dark corner of the Sect with a Very Sharp Sword to tell him to knock that shit off? Does he recruit NHS to run interference? Does he tell LWJ of all the ways he's heard love described so LWJ doesn't think he hates WWX? Does LWJ appreciate all this or does he want his brother to stop embarrassing him?

And most important of all. DOES ITACHI FOREHEAD POKE LWJ?

I have a lot to say to your (very) long ask, so I'm going to SS sections of your ask to make it more clear to what I'm responding to.

I wouldn't say that Itachi is more invested in his younger brother's life here. He's equally invested; he merely better understands what "happiness" is and where it is derived from.

I don't think Itachi, the one who was a (isolated) prodigy put on a pedestal for his brain and pedigree and sent to murder people at an elementary school age, exactly experienced true happiness. He had short burst of happiness from eating pocky sticks and whatever, but that's not true happiness from family and friends.

By being in the Gusu Lan clan, Itachi doesn't exactly experience as much "happiness" as he would have if he was born in the... say Jiang clan, but he does have a whole lot more happy memories. Plus seeing the results of his good intentions in his previous life turn out to be... not so great also taught him a lesson on what NOT to do.

So yeah, Itachi is better at achieving his goal of making his little brother happy in his second life. He's learned from his first life (and Itachi now doesn't have to worry about a Danzo-like evil mastermind kidnapping, torturing, and/or brainwashing his little brother); but ultimately the goal is still the same.

He would have overbearing elders, however. And for all that Lan Qiren tries to protect Itachi and Lan Wangji, Lan Qiren is still only the acting sect head. Lan Qiren would also be not so popular among the elders due to his very upright personality - no corruption/taking morally incorrect political stances for the sake of personal gain (like bribes) which some of the elders would like to do.

But hey, at least the elders aren't pushing Itachi to become an assassin or make decisions which would put Lan Wangji's safety at risk. This time, Itachi's loyalty to his clan and nation aren't torn - the Gusu Lan is both his sect and clan, unlike how Uchiha was only a section of Konoha.

Itachi wouldn't miss his mom persay - his mom in the second life isn't the person that he considers to be his mom. That would be Mikoto Uchiha. Instead, Itachi misses the concept of "mother" - the person who cooks meals, the person who hugs him, the person who protects him from his father's overbearing expectations.

But Itachi does feel like he's too "old" to be missing "mother" and "parents"; and his original set of parents are dead, at his own hands.

Itachi is enough of a bro-con that I don't think he would be unhappy about Lan Wangji not having parents. If anything, he's happy that there are no parents to "mess up" Lan Wangji with unrealistic (or terrible) expectations. Itachi can be the one influential person for Lan Wangji to follow, listen, and obey.

Itachi the bro-con is quite happy about that, honestly.

(Also I don't imagine that Itachi really likes either Lan Qingheng or his birth mother.)

The elders aren't afraid; they are annoyed with Itachi not listening to them. But they have the protection of being elders (aka seniority) and family, so they aren't, like, afraid for their lives. They just know they have lost influence and political power compared to before.

Itachi doesn't think of the Gusu Lan as comparative to the Uchiha or any shinobi clan because cultivators do not have the same values as ninjas. All these concepts about morality, righteousness, good vs evil are more akin to the Land of Iron's sword wielding samurai.

Plus he's been away from Konoha for so long on his spying mission that I don't think his mind immediately leaps to Konoha comparisons.

Yep the sects = village.

Well, he appreciates that it doesn't weigh on his soul killing the monsters like when he's being sent out to assassinate innocent civilians and children because some rich person had the money for pay for such a mission.

Itachi is going to be a weird mix of "YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR MY BROTHER" and pragmatic "hm, what value does bringing this person into my sect and clan through marriage have?"

He's a shinobi at the end of the day. He's more concerned about the benefits (Lan Wangji marrying a person who can control a nearly infinite army to protect Lan Zhan or invent any and all talisman that would benefit Lan Wangji) outweighing the negatives (Lan Wangji not prioritizing him as no. 1 influential person).

First and foremost, Itachi prioritizes Lan Wangji's safety and survival. And then he considers Lan Wangji's happiness. Last and bottom of his considerations is his brother's love for him.

He does want Lan Wangji to value him, not just because he wants his brother to love him, but because it gives Lan Wangji extra protection. If Lan Wangji loves and trusts Itachi, Lan Wangji will listen to Itachi's commands and not put himself in danger out of foolhardy rebellion or stubbornness.

Itachi isn't going to interfere because generally when he interfered with Sasuke's life, it backfired. He does like Wei Wuxian and sees how it brings Lan Wangji out of his shell. So he subtly encourages things, but he's not going to do something so basic as to threaten Jiang Cheng - he IS a ninja and younger person to join the ANBU.

So instead, he arranges a series of coincidences that no one notices or realizes are not, in fact, funny coincidences. And no one can trace Itachi's involvement in them.

I want to be like, OF COURSE! But... there's the Lan ribbon.

So Itachi settles for booping Lan Wangji on the nose instead.

[Read more in the #imagine if itachi uchiha was reborn as lan xichen au]

[rynne]

So I know that probably most of LWJ’s more open behavior around WWX post-resurrection comes from having learned his lesson and deciding that WWX is more important than shame/reserve/etc. But I wonder if some of it came from helping raise A-Yuan.

LWJ definitely did not start off the perfect father figure. He was initially baffled and scared by a crying kid, and while he did improve rapidly, it doesn’t look like dealing with kids came naturally to him.

Kids need emotional responsiveness, and that doesn’t always come easily to LWJ. He probably wasn’t Sizhui’s primary caretaker (since Sizhui called him a combination of father and older brother figure), but he clearly played a significant role in Sizhui’s life, and Sizhui just as clearly loves him, so he had to have made an effort. He would have worked so hard to make sure that Sizhui got what he needed from him.

And then that experience being more emotionally open would have served him well when WWX returned. He better understood how to make an effort -- as well as how rewarding it could be.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Speaking of Fatal Journey: the bit of worldbuilding that I cannot get behind is JGY teaching NHS the Song of Turmoil

To be clear, it’s juicy as hell from a character standpoint. Sure, it’s reckless on JGY’s part, but this is the same guy who leaves two loose ends in every scheme and decided to just keep a vengeful severed head in his home office, so this is par for the course. Having been tricked into participating in his brother’s poisoning makes NHS’s vendetta that much more personal.

But from a worldbuilding standpoint... that’s not how musical cultivation works!

Musical cultivation isn’t like learning songs in Ocarina of Time, right? It’s not just about the instrument, but how proficient its user is. It’s also not about the notes themselves, but about how a cultivator understands and manipulate them. If some random servant with zero cultivation training overheard Turmoil, got it stuck in their head, and wandered around humming it, they wouldn’t be dealing psychic damage to everyone in earshot. Similarly, if someone who isn’t WWX (or SMS, if we’re talking CQL canon) makes cursed noises on a flute, they aren’t suddenly a necromancer. People outside the cultivation aristocracy play music all the time on the same instruments!

So given all that, it’s silly to suggest that NHS would be capable of inflicting much damage with Turmoil. His cultivation is weak all around, and his training is primarily in saber cultivation; he wouldn’t know how to make a flute work anymore than Jiang Cheng would. The other people we see play Clarity or Turmoil are the Twin Jades and JGY, all of whom are said to be highly proficient. There’s skill involved! It’s not just notes! It shouldn’t work for someone who doesn’t have that training!

So in order to offer some sort of Watsonian explanation, I posit that:

-NHS has been a musical cultivation prodigy all along but hasn’t told anyone.

-NHS is bad at musical cultivation, but JGY took time offscreen to give him lessons in that particular song, so he can play Turmoil and only Turmoil

-Musical cultivation actually IS like Ocarina of Time songs, which means that much of Xue Yang’s demonic cultivation research consists of him making the worst possible sounds on a flute and seeing what sticks, and the class hierarchy of cultivation society will crumble the second the music scores in the Cloud Recesses Library Pavilion get leaked to the general public.

[plan-d-to-i]

I remember seeing a post about how Lan Quiren is the best parent we see of the older generation in mdzs. Not a hard competition when your opponents are JGS and WRH. I thought JF might be legit competition for a minute, then I remembered how passive he is about Madam Yu’s abuse. But I remember you had some posts reminding us that JF was also dealing with her abuse, and was shown trying to get decent parenting in a few times until she ruined it. So I wanted to ask your opinion: If Madam Yu was out of the picture and JF was allowed to parent as he wished, would he then become the best parent figure of his generation, or would LQR still hold the title?

I think it's important to take into account who Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen were to begin with, versus jiang cheng. LWJ and LXC don't seem like they ever felt a desire to compete with each other. Even though LXC was going to be the Clan leader he didn't try to bend LWJ to his will. He didn't resent him for having to share his mother's attention. He respected his autonomy. LWJ also didn't want to usurp LXC's place as Clan leader or feel threatened by him; Or show any envy or resentment towards LXC's easy going, extroverted nature and resulting popularity. He only wanted to support him. So while LQR drilled all these Lan rules into them about righteousness - and it should be noted a lot of the Lan rules are actually great, and concerning helping people, not abusing power, and being a kind, selfless person- LQR was working with two great kids to begin with. JFM also tried to drill the Clan motto into jc and to make him a better, less self involved egotistical individual too- “Since birth, he taught him in many ways, yet he still couldn’t change”...but it didn't take at all. Even when they have the discussion by WWX's bedside after the Xuanwu incident jc acts like he's ok with the lesson but shortly thereafter hits WWX in the chest in his fresh wound to teach him about not "playing the hero" aka saving people. HE LEARNED NOTHING. While I'm sure that YZY exacerbated jc's toxic competitiveness and reinforced his crappy classist world views, I doubt jc would have taken to it so easily if it hadn't resonated with something in his own nature. Just as the rules about fairness and kindness and righteousness resonated with Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen- otherwise no matter how much drilling LQR did they would've meant nothing. Regardless of how JFM would have coddled him and praised him someone like jc would most likely have always measured himself against other people and envied or resented them for "making him look bad". Not to mention jc never felt instinctively driven to help others in need. He resented an orphan and tried to terrify him with his greatest fear as a nine year old... and he knew it was the wrong thing to do. That his father would not approve of his actions. But jc never wanted to resist the shitty parts of his nature or his petty, mean spirited impulses. He wanted his father's approval and praise without doing the things his father approved of. Even though he had his mother's influence his father was also there trying to guide him, repeatedly, but jiang cheng just does not understand JFM's way of thinking. Seems to not understand the very concept of altruism without an ulterior motive or payoff.

Without YZY stepping in and poisoning everything and trying to spark arguments constantly JFM would probably have been more present vs. perpetually in avoidance mode. He seemed like a funny easy going guy and he clearly cared about his kids. He prefers to pass on a very beneficial alliance with the Jins rather that to see his daughter locked in a loveless, acrimonious marriage like his own. JFM already is an easier parent than LQR on his own kids. YZY is the one who's the problem. So while JFM would probably be a happier more at ease man in her absence, it's doubtful it would have a huge effect on jc's character and world views- Unless jc was born from another woman with a totally different character and nature to begin with.

[cqlfeels]

Do you think Xichen's speech "you can't judge people by black or white" is his natural lifestyle or the meeting with A-Yao encouraged him to follow this metaphor? after all we have that philosophical conversation between the Lan brothers in episode 21, after he was saved by Meng Yao and maybe that's not a coincidence, as Meng Yao must have told him why he left the sect Nie from what we understand in episode 23. So Xichen may have thought that it wasn't fair to judge Meng Yao by black or white just as Wangji didn't have to judge Wei Wuxian.

I believe that Xichen has always had an open mind and less rigid than wangji but choosing to trust and see the reasons in A-Yao, despite everything, it may have influenced that philosophical conversation. Which is funny because following Xichen's advice could be wise or fool depending on points of view, but it was a dialogue full of meaning that explains the feelings of both the Lan Brothers for people who are frowned upon by society.

Since you love XiYao and parallels, what do think about it?

To be extra clear: I'm talking about CQL here. MDZS might be different, though I'm not 100% sure it would.

Under a cut because this got slightly too long.

I think LXC is from the start much more prone to considering shades of gray than LWJ. You cannot be raised from birth to be a sect leader and be unaware that politics require compromise, or at the very least looking the other way if you don't want to start a fight with every fellow sect leader you meet. LXC has to be aware that strict morality isn't feasible - not even NMJ, who isn't nearly as diplomatic as LXC, can escape that, and if you pay attention, he does compromise when he thinks compromises are worth it.

But I still think LXC would have a few tenets that he would find very hard to not uphold. And the thing is, being ready to die for his sect is probably up there among the most important. "Self-sacrifice in the name of leadership" is probably how LXC rationalizes all those compromises in the first place!! He must do what is best for his sect, no matter what.

So I think having to run away and leave his sect to die must really mess him up. Like, yes, logically, it makes sense. But how to make emotional sense of this? At what point do "necessary compromises" become "convenient lies"? Did he really do the right thing, or did he put pragmatism so far above morality that he's thinking like a sketchy politician rather than like a Lan? This isn't an easy line to draw, and it's much harder when you're trying to deal with like ten different traumatic situations at once.

I don't know that LXC ever discussed this with JGY, but I think it must have been on his mind the whole time they were on the run. (Not that I fully understand how this arc plays out in CQL, but oh well. Handwave.) There has to have been a lot of soul-searching between the last time the Jades had seen each other and the time when they have this conversation. In a way, I think LXC speedruns LWJ's arc (in part because he was already more inclined to come to the conclusions LWJ will eventually come to.)

I do like the idea of JGY paralleling WWX, but with a caveat - I don't think WWX can be held responsible for the lessons LWJ learns, and therefore neither can JGY. (Not that you're saying they are, anon! This is just a common take I see and is a pet peeve of mine!) They are an important factor in a myriad of factors, and ultimately, they are so important because they seem to have mastered concepts the Jades are already trying to work out in their minds. Now, this is a false impression, actually - both JGY and WWX swing so far into gray that they could use with a little bit of "No, this is always Bad even if I could make a strong logical case for why it's a good idea." (Though..... These are the JGY and WWX that live inside my mind, who are a little more like their novel versions than it's probably fair to interpret them as being if we're strictly sticking to drama canon.)

This post is a mess.

ANYWAY. What I was trying to get to is that I think for sure, JGY played a part in LXC becoming even more comfortable with shades of gray. I tend to interpret xiyao as having a lot unspoken between them, so I don't imagining them having a heart-to-heart where JGY explains Everything and LXC Changes, but I do tend to think living on the run requires them both to be comfortable with less than morally upstanding things (at the very least, they have to lie, don't they? LXC can't go around calling himself the name on every wanted poster. And I personally doubt lying would be the only questionable thing they'd have to do), and while it must be hard for LXC to have compassion for himself for having been put in an impossible situation, I think it's easier for him to sort of... project? JGY is not wrong to do what must be done. Perhaps morality is too complicated for answers - easy or complex answers.

Because remember, the thing LXC says is that he no longer thinks you can find an answer to the morality puzzle, not even if you study every book. You have to judge things on a case-by-case basis, because you simply cannot account for the complexity of life otherwise. I think that, more than black vs white is the key thing to take away from LXC's conversation with LWJ. Black and white is something LWJ struggles much more than LXC, I think, and the thing LXC himself had to learn is to forgive himself if he doesn't have all the answers. Just... He's doing his best to be good and that's all anyone can do. There isn't a test where he'll be graded on whether the tradeoffs he makes are objectively Better than tradeoffs other people make. It's less about learning nuance, I think, and more about letting go of any certainty he might've had. Not that he lets go of morality itself, but he can no longer default to knowing ahead of time what is right - he has to judge as well as he can from moment to moment. And I do think JGY sees thing similarly, it's just that ultimately, they judge things rather differently, and I think part of the tragedy of xiyao is that they both think they're on the same wavelength - they have good reason to think that they are - but they... aren't.

.....the tl;dr is that I agree with you, basically. I don't know why I'm rambling, sorry

[wangxianficrecs]

❤️Teach Me The Ways by likeafox

❤️Teach Me The Ways

by likeafox

E, 58k, wangxian

Summary:  "I do not wish to leave my future spouse… dissatisfied with my intimate knowledge,” Lan Zhan says, very seriously. “I am hoping to find an instructor, to better prepare myself for such matters."

Wei Ying feels his mouth drop open. He's pretty sure the Second Jade of Lan just told him he's a virgin who wants to learn how to do sex good.

Rogue Cultivator Wei Wuxian is the stuff of local legends. Some of those legends are even true! The ones about his tremendous experience in bed, on the other hand, are not so true. Which becomes a problem when Lan Wangji, on the verge of an arranged marriage and worried he won’t know how to please his future spouse, enlists Wei Ying's help to teach him the art of love-making. Wei Ying's great at improvisation, though, and is pretty sure he's got this sex mentor thing under control. What could possibly go wrong?

My comments:  Oh, I loved this one! It's an alternate universe in which wwx is a rogue cultivator and there's really only one childhood incident relating him and lwj, so they're essentially strangers to each other. The venerable Second Jade is entertaining suitors, these days, and approaches the Yiling Rogue for sex lessons after overhearing some people musing that fucking him would be like fucking a dead fish.

Wwx, ever adaptable, immediately claims to be an expert and rushes to find out all he can so he can 'teach' this gorgeous man. (Nie huaisang's porn comes in handy.) So it's very hot, and very sweet. They get to know each other while they're already having sex, so things are a little backwards. (Later, lwj asks for dating/romance lessons, too, so very backwards.) There is plot, misunderstandings, pining, light angst, hurt wwx. Really, it's everything you could ask for.

rogue cultivator wei wuxian, kissing lessons, sex lessons, pining, humor, sooo much smut, pwp, The Porn Is the Plot, lots of banging in here folks, [slaps side of fic] this baby can hold so much weird sex stuff in it, porn with feelings, night hunts, hurt wei wuxian, jealous lan wangji, misunderstandings, idiots in love, teacher wei wuxian, getting to know each other, falling in love, first kiss, first time, love confessions, fix it, switching, favorite, @tofuidol​

(You may wish to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[vermillioncrown]

I know you did ZYX in other sects, but what about being directly born into the main family? How do you rate that unpleasantness? Obviously being WRH's kid is dead last because you're both on Team Evil and the losing side, but which is LEAST bad?

(like always, gonna be a stream of consciousness thing so i'll probably contradict myself multiple times)

I'm not really into writing ppl directly into the main family bc it's too easy to destroy the dynamics that made those relationships interesting (note that interesting does not mean healthy). zyx will be too close to do things without close scrutiny, and even if she's close it might not help at all in the grand scheme of things.

-

least bad will be the lans. it's basically lan wenhui, except she lives in the same house instead of a few buildings down. lqr's blood pressure is a bit higher, but he'll live. the age order is lxc, and then lwj+lwh as twins (bc i cannot see mme lan wanting another kid in a shorter interim, and it's just... lwh as baby if she's born way after lwj)

lwh looks a lot like the twin jades compared to as a cousin. when they were younger, lwh would 'persuade' lwj to let her do twinswap shenanigans, esp when he wanted to hide away or see their mom. lwj is definitely less socially stunted, but recalcitrant by choice.

lxc has to do a lot more wrangling in this situation. lwj might act out due to stubbornness, and he now is better at arguing his case w lwh egging him on. lwh, now as a direct line lan, is an unstoppable proto-jingyi. you can never be sure what lesson she takes from punishment, what she actually thinks of the rules.

(lwj is more equipped to handle someone like wwx, even if the gay crush still blindsides him. wwx is like 'oh? a worthy adversary!' and keeps trying to one-up lwj)

-

second bad... is the nie. just imagine the original answer i gave is middle child nie yunxun. nmj isn't harsh on her since she's a daughter and not expected to be the spare heir, and she's still in a position of power such that she can operate as she pleases in the sect.

know lxc pretty well since she had to tag along w nmj whenever he visited the cloud recesses or lxc visited the unclean realm. back at it again with the daai-gaaze babysitting life - she was assigned to watch over nhs and lwj whenever their da-ge's were hanging out.

-

starting to get bad: yunmeng jiang. with the mme yu and jfm situation, i don't think they'll want to have another kid after jc as long as jc is the first son in their family. thus this incarnation of zyx needs to be older than jc. let's switch up. jiang rongkun (榮坤 - luxuriant/glorious; Earth/female), the oldest of the jiang sibs. mme yu wishes she was born male to be sect heir, or soft enough for mme jin to want to tie jzx to her (mme jin took one look at her sworn sister's daughter and knew that girl would eat her son alive). jfm wishes she was born sweeter (not like his vicious-tongued, sharp-eyed wife), his daughter perpetually seems unimpressed with him and everything.

jyl is as she is in canon, except less passive because can she learn any different with a mom like that, and now an older sister like that?jrk doesn't give up on jyl, long after mme yu dismisses her softness as weakness and lack of will to cultivate, and jfm lost interest as she can't take over the sect.

jc could have a bajillion complexes (last choice for his parents, only in his position because they needed an heir, pressures near insurmountable since he now has jrk as a measuring stick since birth instead of wwx since 9)

but jrk thinks she can be a better sibling this life. between her and jyl they are like a second set of parents for jc (and wwx), and the emotional burden isn't entirely on jyl. and as the eldest sister, jrk is not afraid to say "no, that's stupid. go think about it and come try again" "use your words, you cretin, not your fist" "if you don't like it, just be honest. at least, around your family"

no one believes the og yunmeng trio that their eldest sister is like this. her outside persona is a bit curt and direct, but no one can say she lacks the decorum of a well-bred young lady from the gentry sects.

-

penultimate bad - jin sect. i get the feeling that jgs didn't care much for mme jin, even in terms of sexual attraction (and probably mutual on mme jin's part). they fucked enough to get jzx, a legitimate heir, and then jgs started his tart train.

the only way for zyx to be in the direct family is also to be the unnecessary first-born daughter (and i'll recycle the name from before, jin zi'ai 金子藹 (zi as the generational character, ai for affable/luxuriant)). bc jgs is a pos and i think lanling jin would be a cesspool of propriety and hierarchy hiding absolute bullshit, jza basically has no power (compared to being mme yu's eldest daughter).

stuck acting as a free nanny to her younger brother. even if jza wants to humanize jzx, if the little brat cries a little to mommy and daddy she'll get punished (didn't fucking miss that shit from her first life). bad cousin jzxun is even worse. it takes creativity to get these two brats to listen to and respect her. she gets there. she's not proud of the person she has to be in lanling jin.

as (good) jzx grows up he gets less bratty. and with his older sister guiding him, he's less out-of-touch and socially stunted. but uh. as a result, he has strong opinions on women who aren't like jza (you think wwx and jc had jiejie-complexes? meet the new and improved jzx(s)). instead of jzx passively eating the knuckle sandwiches being fed to him, he fights back.

("why would i want some passive ghost of a woman for a wife? no strength, weak-willed -"

"shijie's much better than that cold viper you call a sister!")

she can't be super-involved in the sunshot campaign (she decides that jzx(s) need the reputation more than she does, so she tries to hold the fort at home and keep her younger brother aware of political developments). jgy eventually ends up in lanling, can't stop that.

idk if jza will drive jgy to commit murder faster, or will she be able to assimilate him into her camp of 'protect jin zixuan'. bc jgy is never becoming sect leader if she can help it (too much needs to happen and their implications BAD if jgy is to be accepted as lanling jin sect leader).

maybe she'll convince him to give up on their father after starting a quest to collect the jin bastards. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-

worst, wens: with wrh having two sons, it implies that he either wanted an heir and a spare, or he's getting mad concubine ass and we can have a little wen!zyx and all the wen kids are half-siblings, and we can recycle the 'wen ling' (溫玲, ling for exquisite) name. wen ruohan would prob have a lot of fun pitting his children against each other for his affection/acknowledgment, so there's no short of availability of resources to grow and cultivate for his kids.

wl will have to grow up between wx and wc. we don't know much about wx, and he doesn't seem like the caring brotherly type. probably bullies his younger siblings, except wl is an adult on the inside and 1) doesn't give a shit as long as you don't draw blood 2) if you draw blood she has over twenty years of experience in getting even.

she'll try to establish contact with the wen branch healers, feeling out dissenting wens, all that jazz. she has to play a very fine line - survive long enough for the sunshot campaign to be well underway, and be the one that kills her father to 'usurp' qishan wen before the sunshot coalition can take down nightless city.

something something nasty cold war w this new qishan wen and the rest of the cultivation realm. it's harder to fend off jgs's ambitions at this point due to the wen's standing and now a female sect leader.

[accio-victuuri]

Hi Vi! Hope you're doing well. ❤ I'm so happy I stumbled on your blog. Love all your insightful posts (I always learn something new!) and cheerful, positive attitude even when dealing with negativity/hate *cough*antis/toxic solos, I'm shaking my head at you!*cough*

Not sure if this question has been asked before, but what do you think attracted GG to DD and vice versa? What made them each realize that the other is the one? As we know, they're surrounded by so many good-looking charismatic colleagues all day, but they only have eyes for each other. That's why I'm so soft for them. Their love is truly one in a million. 🥺❤💚💛

Hey Anon! I’m okay! I guess the haters will always be there. In fandom or irl. Just gotta tune them out.

There is no what Anon, It’s written in the stars. lol.

I just think their personalities match, the whole Leo x Libra thing and even if you don’t believe in that— i guess you have experiences with people who you immediately just ‘click’ with. I see it’s the same for them. They are good friends first before the whole *heart eyes* came into play. They may seem different when it comes to their hobbies and what they like ( kinda like wwx/lwj ) but their values are the same. I’m thinking about that sina interview where they talked about discussing acting and them having lessons on it someday. they have the same dream. they want to be better and better. If you read their interviews or just listen to what they say, it’s a similar message and state of mind.