#The reason Jin Guangshan saying that Wei Wuxian doesn’t respect Jiang Cheng works as well as it does is that

[winepresswrath]

Because it's been rattling around in my brain for a couple of days, and i love your takes: what do you think would change (dynamics wise, or just in general) if jiang cheng and yanli were age swapped?

Are we making Wei Wuxian Yanli’s age? I’m going to make Wei Wuxian Yanli’s age. In a lot of ways it simplifies the relationships between all three of them. Per that one excellent post, Jiang Cheng is now the sect heir, the oldest, and the oldest boy, so he’s just got to step up and be responsible for everyone always. He’s got a lot of tendencies in that direction anyway, and I think you can extrapolate from how he is with both her and Jin Ling in canon that he’d be informed he had a baby sister, decide he loves her even more than he loves puppies, and proceed to crankily dote on her with great enthusiasm. She’s the princess, she gets what she wants, join the tea party or he’ll break your legs. Yanli actually gets a childhood in this universe because he’s doing his best to step up and shield her from their parents’ dysfunction, even if his temperament is not quite as suited to being a nurturing almost parent as hers is. 

I honestly find it kind of hard to imagine a Jiang Cheng who isn’t the baby of the family. Having Yanli as a quasi-parent is a big deal, developmentally. I really don’t know what he looks like without that; so much of the best of him can be traced back to his ability to trust and rely on her. Needing to look after her might be an adequate substitute, but I think he comes out of it somehow even worse at bonding with and trusting outsiders than he is in canon.

I also think that furious determination to prove himself is at least partially a response to the way everyone in his family coddles him or acts like he’s incompetent or both, and they’d do that less if he wasn’t officially designated the youngest, so he might actually calm down about some things.  

I don’t think Jiang Cheng throws the same fit about giving his dogs away but he’s still furious, especially if Yanli is also down a puppy. Presuming Wei Wuxian picks up on his anger and runs away over it I think Yanli is the one to come and get Jiang Cheng. He panics because a child is missing but takes Yanli with him to search instead of leaving her behind to get help, because he’s internalized the idea that adults just make things worse even more than both of them did in canon. They find him together, and Jiang Cheng angrily yells about how Wei Wuxian could have been hurt as he climbs the tree to retrieve him and carries him home. Yanli is still the person saying “he just yells when he’s worried; it means he likes you” and it all basically works out. 

His parents might actually be less terrible in this universe, because it’s less easy to draw direct comparisons between him and Wei Wuxian. Even when they’re mostly peers he’s actually pretty good at not taking out his inferiority complex on his brother (see: the kite shooting scene). Your little brother being a once in a generation talent is worse than your older brother beating you at everything in some ways, but it takes them out of direct competition if they’re father apart in age and puts Jiang Cheng in a teacher/mentor role. He’s already inclined to take pride in his brother’s accomplishments! It could be OK.  Meanwhile rather than being just one step behind Wei Wuxian, Yanli can’t keep physically up with him at all, which means she’s excused from the competition and they can focus on the important things like tormenting Jins, wheedling Jiang Cheng into buying them forbidden quantities of candy, and extremely elaborate tea parties. I don’t think Jiang Fengmian’s parting message is “take care of Jiang Cheng” and I think even Madame Yu is more likely to have said something like “make yourself useful” than “protect him with your life.”

It also means Wei Wuxian can’t justify his protective streak with some combination of “well I’m older,” and “well I’m better,” which really changes up their dynamic. I’m sure eventually he’d catch up and surpass Jiang Cheng, but I’m not sure it happens before the fall of Lotus Pier. Assuming Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian’s unfiltered parenting hasn’t completely broken him, Jiang Cheng’s been in the babysitter/pseudoparent role for most of their childhood instead of Yanli. That means there is actually a chance Jiang Cheng is capable of exercising some measure of authority over Wei Wuxian.  Yanli being the youngest also means Jiang Cheng gets to be like “it’s very important that you be good and live up to your responsibilities so we can protect her together, as her big brothers,” and I think that’s very effective emotional blackmail. You don’t get the core transfer, because I don’t actually think Wei Wuxian would think it was his job to make that kind of choice for this version of Jiang Cheng. Of course that changes everything, especially because this is a universe where Jiang Cheng has built his entire identity on two things: being the Sect Heir, and being the protector and provider for his younger siblings. Now he can’t do either, but also he’s their primary source of emotional support and functionally their parent, so if he peaces out and lets himself die they’re going to be orphaned all over again. Jiang Cheng is, as ever, having a miserable life!

[bloody-bee-tea]

Vision

Jiang Cheng tries his best to appear unaffected, but going by how skittish his disciples are around him, he’s not quite managing it.

But Jiang Cheng can’t help it; it’s the first time since Lotus Pier burned and he rebuilt it, that another Sect Leader is coming to visit and Jing Cheng feels like he’s being tested.

He doesn’t like that feeling one bit.

Jiang Cheng straightens up, when the first disciple comes into view, because he’s going to excel whatever test this is, and if it’s going to kill him. 

“Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang calls out when they are still a good distance away, but Jiang Cheng can still see how Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes at his over-enthusiastic brother and a tiny part of Jiang Cheng relaxes. Their relationship is a bittersweet-familiar one and Jiang Cheng thinks if they are just here to check in on him, then he can do this.

“Nie-zongzhu,” Jiang Cheng greets Nie Mingjue, bowing low, because even though they are both Sect Leaders now their status couldn’t be more different.

Yunmeng Jiang barely escaped extinction while Qinghe Nie came away as the victor of the Sunshot Campaign, despite the losses they had to endure.

“So formal, Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang complaints and his brother cuffs him over the head for his troubles.

“At least he remembers his manners,” Nie Mingjue says with a sigh and slightly shakes his head when Nie Huaisang makes puppy eyes at him over his fan.

“We’re old friends, there’s no need to be this formal,” Nie Huaisang whines and something in Jiang Cheng goes warm and pleased to hear that Nie Huaisang still considers them friends, even after everything that happened.

“Jiang-zongzhu, please excuse my brother,” Nie Mingjue tells him, overly formal and stiff, but there’s a teasing glint in his eyes and Nie Huaisang puffs out his cheeks in mock outrage.

Jiang Cheng has to bite back a laugh at that, and when Nie Huaisang whirls around to him, he at least pretends to be serious.

“Let me show you to your rooms, you must be exhausted after the travel,” Jiang Cheng says, remembering his manners and starts to lead the Nie delegation towards the guest quarters.

They haven’t been one of his priorities during rebuilding Lotus Pier, but when Nie Mingjue’s formal request of a visit reached him, Jiang Cheng had done his utmost best to get them ready.

He does not want anyone to complain about his hosting skills; besides hurting his pride it would seriously damage the image of his Sect and truth be told, they can’t take much more.

They are barely scraping by as it is.

“It almost looks the same,” Nie Mingjue says suddenly when they are halfway there and Jiang Cheng stiffens. “I heard everything burned down?”

“It did,” Jiang Cheng presses out and he tries to see Lotus Pier with Nie Mingjue’s eyes, but all he can see are the smouldering remains of what used to be his home.

No matter how he rebuilds it, in his mind it will always be the new Lotus Pier. And no matter how he tries to make it look the same, there are subtle differences. Enough of them to make him wonder what his parents would say of it; what his sister and Wei Wuxian would say of it.

Jiang Cheng thinks at least his mother would scold him for not remembering his home correctly and doing such a piss-poor job.

“You did a great job rebuilding it,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng works his jaw.

“Thank you,” he gets out.

“Did you do a lot of the construction work?” 

“Of course I did,” Jiang Cheng stiffly says. 

Mostly because there was no one else around who remembered how Lotus Pier used to look like, but also because Jiang Cheng would never only order his disciples around. If he isn’t willing to do something, how can he ask the same of his people?

“Would you like to compare notes later? I did a fair share of construction in Qinghe myself and there are not many Sect Leaders I can talk to about this. Jin Guangshan is not known to get his hands dirty like that,” Nie Mingjue says, and Jiang Cheng can feel the rage bubble up inside him again.

How dare Nie Mingjue say this; how dare he imply that Jiang Cheng’s work isn’t up to par, that he’s lowering himself to do the dirty work. It’s hitting a very vulnerable part of Jiang Cheng, because his father used to say the same whenever Jiang Cheng was quick to help people rebuild after a flood or another disaster.

His mother only ever watched him with piercing eyes, but his father was of the firm believe that they had disciples for this exact reason.

And to hear these similar words out of Nie Mingjue’s mouth now makes his blood boil with anger.

But Jiang Cheng can’t afford to offend Nie Mingjue and Qinghe Nie, so he forces a smile on his face.

“Sure,” he says, aiming for a light tone, but going by the small frown on Nie Mingjue’s face he doesn’t quite manage to do that.

“Jiang-xiong, are you alright?” Nie Huaisang asks, flicking his fan open and moving it in a nervous gesture.

“Of course I am,” Jiang Cheng gives back, because he can’t afford to be anything else.

Not with reconstruction still going on and especially not with Jin Ling being at Lotus Pier at the moment.

Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang share a look at that, one that makes Jiang Cheng’s skin crawl, but he clenches his jaw and simply shows them to their quarters. 

He can’t afford to make a mess of the situation, so he swallows all of his rude remarks down and bids them a farewell once he’s sure they are situated.

Jiang Cheng flees and then spends the rest of the afternoon trying to get himself back together. He appointed his most trusted disciple to keep an eye on the Nie delegation, in case they need something and so he spends his time pretending that he’s not vibrating out of his skin with nervousness about this visit.

The first day passes without another incident, and on the second da Jiang Cheng almost feels like himself again. He spends breakfast with the Nie’s, entirely unremarkable except for Nie Huaisang’s incessant shatter and Nie Mingjue’s fond eyerolls, and then he leaves for the training grounds.

He might have to entertain guests, but he’s still the Sect Leader and since they are still in the process of building up again, there are not enough disciples who could reliably teach the new ones. 

It’s just one of the many things Jiang Cheng has to oversee himself, so he’s standing at the side-lines, watching his disciples in their training fights.

There are a lot of different styles, since he simply picked up any willing cultivator he could find and while it looks chaotic, it certainly has its merits.

At least the Yunmeng Jiang will always be unpredictable, Jiang Cheng thinks when he watches one of the kids he picked up on the street go for the hair of her opponent.

“Sect Leader Jiang,” Nie Mingjue suddenly says from beside him and Jiang Cheng stiffens.

“Sect Leader Jiang was my father,” he gives back, because it still feels wrong to be addressed like this.

“Jiang Wanyin, then?” Nie Mingjue asks his eyes never leaving the training disciples. 

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng agrees and he sees Nie Mingjue nod from the corner of his eyes.

“Nie Mingjue, then,” Nie Mingjue tells him and while it feels so wrong to address Nie Mingjue this casually, Jiang Cheng nods as well.

He keeps his gaze trained on his disciples, hoping that Nie Mingjue will get bored and leave, even though he should offer some entertainment to him, but Nie Mingjue stays where he is.

“They have an interesting fighting style,” Nie Mingjue eventually says, almost offhandedly and Jiang Cheng tenses again. 

He has a snappish reply on his tongue, but then his attention is brought back to one of the disciples who make a grievous mistake with the sword and Jiang Cheng is walking up to him, before he can consciously decide to do so.

The disciple tenses in apparent fear, seemingly ready to accept Jiang Cheng’s scolding, and he does scold. A lot. And then he shows the disciple how it’s done right and from that point on it just goes downhill because everyone keeps asking him about this technique and that form and before he knows it Jiang Cheng was roped into giving a lesson.

And all the while Nie Mingjue stayed at the side-lines, silently watching them.

“Apologies,” Jiang Cheng says when he finally manages to get away from his disciples. 

“No need,” Nie Mingjue easily says. “You’re good with them.”

Jiang Cheng snorts bitterly at that, because he knows that more than half of them are deathly afraid of him, like the old disciples were of his mother, and the other half barely has the respect for him that he deserves, but there is nothing he can do about it. 

It is what it is, he just doesn’t need Nie Mingjue to rub it in even more.

“Let me show you around Lotus Pier,” Jiang Cheng says instead of saying something biting, something that he will regret later, and as if on cue Nie Huaisang materializes next to them.

“I would love to see everything!” he exclaims, not so subtly elbowing Nie Mingjue into the side and Jiang Cheng frowns as he wonders what’s that all about.

“Yes, that would be—nice,” Nie Mingjue says and the delay is noticeable enough that Jiang Cheng can tell that he does not care to see Lotus Pier at all.

Still, he has appearances to hold up, so he dutifully shows them around and with Nie Huaisang’s excitement it’s almost not awkward at all.

“I’m sorry we’re taking up so much of your time,” Nie Mingjue says when Nie Huaisang ran yet again to another stall and Jiang Cheng shrugs awkwardly.

He wants to ask why exactly they are here, but he really does not want to hear that this is an inspection and so in the end he stays silent for so long that answering would be awkward.

So instead he points out one of his own favourite stalls and it seems to be enough for Nie Mingjue to relax, because his shoulders slump and Jiang Cheng hadn’t even realized that he was so tense.

It seems that even if this is an inspection Nie Mingjue is also in great need of some relaxing downtime himself and even though they just came out of near extinction, even though they are barely scraping by, the Yunmeng Jiang always knew how to have fun.

“Come,” Jiang Cheng tells them out of the blue and leads Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue towards one of the outer piers. 

They can hear laughter and yelling before they even get close and both Nie’s seem rather intrigued by that. 

When they finally come into view of the people playing in the water, they stop and Jiang Cheng gives them some time to catch up on the game rules before he speaks again.

“You’re free to join them if you want,” he says and while Nie Huaisang’s eyes go wide Nie Mingjue smiles at him before he reaches for his belt, clearly content to let his clothes drop right where they stand, like the other disciples as well.

Jiang Cheng did not calculate for that at all and he hurriedly averts his eyes from the new stripe of skin that Nie Mingjue reveals.

“Do you have many games like this?” he asks as he gets off his shoes and Jiang Cheng tenses again.

He wonders what it is about Nie Mingjue that always so easily hits him where it hurts; to imply that they do nothing but play is a blow Jiang Cheng is not sure how to deal with. It brings back memories of Wei Wuxian, whining at him to join them in their game, and of his mother’s cutting voice berating him that an heir shouldn’t spent his time with useless play like this.

But before Jiang Cheng can figure out how to reply to Nie Mingjue, Nie Mingjue already jumped into the water, clearly ready to get right in on the fun, and Jiang Cheng is left with Nie Huaisang on the pier.

“Da-ge doesn’t get enough fun,” Nie Huaisang says from behind his fan. “Being Sect Leader is so demanding and it’s good that he gets to enjoy himself a little here.”

Jiang Cheng bites back on the words that being a Sect Leader is not supposed to be fun, and instead he only awkwardly shrugs, making Nie Huaisang frown at him again.

“Why don’t you join them as well?” Nie Huaisang asks with a curious glance and Jiang Cheng scoffs.

“Not all of us have the time to play around like this,” he bites out and when he sees Nie Huaisang flinch Jiang Cheng turns away from him.

“Feel free to roam Lotus Pier as you see fit, there will be people around to answer your questions,” Jiang Cheng tells him, head held high and then he simply marches off.

He’s aching with the want to join his disciples in the water; he misses playing around like that. But he knows that the moment he would start to shed his clothes people would stop, would stare, would freeze in fright and it’s not untrue what he told Nie Huaisang; he does have too much to do to simply slack off like this.

When evening finally falls, Jiang Cheng is bend low over paper work. His eyes are burning and his back is aching, but he can’t stop yet. There are still piles upon piles on his table and if Jiang Cheng doesn’t make a dent in them soon then he might as well drown under them.

“Sect Leader,” one of his disciples suddenly speaks up from the door and Jiang Cheng turns bleary eyes on her.

“What?” he snaps and then immediately winces.

It’s no wonder everyone here is afraid of him.

“It’s young master Jin,” she says apologetically, but Jiang Cheng is already on his feet.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asks, the worry already settling in his gut.

“He’s been screaming for the last half hour. I think he misses you,” she says with a small smile and something warm replaces the worry.

At least Jin Ling is too little to fear him yet.

“I’ll be right there,” he promises, and hurries to finish up the letter he was working on before he makes his way over to Jin Ling’s room.

True to her word, he’s screaming at the top of his lungs, and now that he hears this Jiang Cheng can’t help but to worry again. What if it’s something more serious? He rushes inside the room and immediately snatches Jin Ling out of the arms of his disciple.

“It’s okay now,” Jiang Cheng says, more to Jin Ling than to her. “I have him now.”

“Alright,” she says with a bow of her head and immediately leaves him to it.

“What’s wrong, little one?” Jiang Cheng softly asks when Jin Ling continues to scream but he seems to react to his voice, because the cries get a little bit softer. “I’m here now, there’s no need for you to make such a fuss, brat,” Jiang Cheng whispers, his voice fond, and Jin Ling really stops crying.

He blinks up at Jiang Cheng with his big eyes and then simply snuggles deeper into his embrace.

“There you go, it’s not that bad after all, is it?” Jiang Cheng says, mostly so that he has something to say, because his voice does seem to relax Jin Ling.

Jiang Cheng continues to whisper nonsense to him, until he’s sure that Jin Ling feel asleep and only then does he dare to put him down in his crib.

Jiang Cheng holds his breath once he lets go of Jin Ling, but the boy blessedly slumbers on and Jiang Cheng lets out a soft sigh.

He would never say that it’s a chore too look after his sister’s son, but it is time consuming; and Jiang Cheng doesn’t have much of that even without caring for an infant.

Jiang Cheng knows that he should get back to his paper work immediately, that he shouldn’t stay and linger and simply stare at Jin Ling, but it’s another handful of minutes before he can tear himself away from him.

When he steps outside of Jin Ling’s room, Jiang Cheng immediately tenses when he sees Nie Mingjue leaning against the wall.

“What are you doing here?” Jiang Cheng snaps, but he’s still mindful of the sleeping Jin Ling and Nie Mingjue shrugs.

“I came to find you, but your disciple told me to go here,” Nie Mingjue easily says and Jiang Cheng vows to have words with that disciple.

“You’re good with him,” Nie Mingjue says with a nod towards Jin Ling’s room and Jiang Cheng clenches his jaw.

He knows he’s not good with Jin Ling, barely knows enough about kids to not kill him immediately and he still hears the whispers from Jinlingtai, how he’s bad for the kid, how he’ll corrupt him, how Jin Ling will turn out as angry and cold as him and it’s all too much for Jiang Cheng to take right now.

“Fight me,” he presses out through clenched teeth and when he sees the way Nie Mingjue lights up at that, the anger turns into cold rage.

He brings them to one of the more remote training fields and then he just waits until Nie Mingjue has Baxia ready. Jiang Cheng doesn’t hesitate to bring out Zidian as well as Sandu and then they are off.

It’s a vicious fight and the first time since the war that Jiang Cheng doesn’t hold back. Nie Mingjue has no problems parrying Sandu, but he seems at a loss with Zidian and Jiang Cheng takes shameless advantage of that, though he does keep the electricity running through it to a bare minimum.

He doesn’t want to kill or permanently injure Nie Mingjue after all.

Still, Nie Mingjue is a force to be reckoned with, and while it’s clear that he too is struggling, there’s a smile on his face that only enrages Jiang Cheng further.

Their fight goes on for longer than Jiang Cheng expected, Zidian singing and Sandu clashing with Baxia, but in the end Nie Mingjue tackles him to the ground.

When Jiang Cheng’s back hits the ground, his breath leaves him in a rush and his vision turns black for a moment, before stars appear everywhere.

Jiang Cheng blinks up at the sky, trying to get his lungs to work properly again, but it still takes him an embarrassingly long time.

In the end Nie Mingjue seems to tire of waiting for him to compose himself and he holds out a hand to him.

“You’re a good fighter,” Nie Mingjue says, just as Jiang Cheng is about to reach for his hand. “And you wield Zidian almost better than Sandu,” he tacks on, and Jiang Cheng goes cold.

He wouldn’t have minded this much, before—his mother never did after all—but after what happened with Wei Wuxian, after everyone came after him for not using his sword like he should, it leaves a bad taste in his mouth now.

“What do you know,” Jiang Cheng snaps and slaps Nie Mingjue’s hand away, getting up out of his own strength.

“Jiang Wanyin?” Nie Mingjue asks with a frown and Jiang Cheng squares his shoulders before he faces him again.

“Don’t tell me I fight well when I just lost and don’t ever imply that I am favouring Zidian over Sandu ever again,” he hisses out and when he sees Nie Mingjue’s surprised look on his face, Jiang Cheng quickly turns away.

“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue calls after him, and the informality stops Jiang Cheng in his steps. “I haven’t had a fight like this in a while. Not many people can hold out against me for as long as you did. Of course you fight well. And I didn’t mean anything with my comment about Zidian; it’s a spiritual tool and you wield it well. That’s all,” Nie Mingjue explains, almost awkwardly, and Jiang Cheng wants to leave, he really does, but he’s rooted to the spot.

“Is that the problem?” Nie Mingjue asks and it sounds like he came closer, though Jiang Cheng didn’t hear any footsteps. “Have I offended you all this time without knowing?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and Jiang Cheng lets out a hard breath.

“I’m not lowering to do the dirty work when I help with rebuilding,” Jiang Cheng says bitterly, even though he knows that’s what everyone thinks.

“Of course not,” Nie Mingjue immediately says. “And that wasn’t what I meant. I really do help with construction every now and then, if my time allows for it. It’s hard work, but also rewarding. I really hoped to compare notes with you. It’s not like Jin Guangshan would ever lift a finger to help any of his disciples like that so I don’t usually have someone to talk to about this.”

Jiang Cheng gives a short nod at that, and then he figures he might as well lay it all out. It’s almost easy, now that he doesn’t have to face Nie Mingjue.

“And when you say my disciples have an interesting fighting style?”

“It’s just that. Interesting. The Yunmeng Style is very clearly still there, but they are not as rigid as before. It’s good to see them fall back to the things some of them clearly learned on the streets. It won’t make that much difference against a monster, but if they ever have to fight another cultivator or something with sentience, it will give them the upper hand. It’s a good thing.”

“The game?” Jiang Cheng whispers, now thoroughly embarrassed by how low he thought of Nie Mingjue and how easily believed he was just here to insult him.

“We have a few with balls, but none in the water. I never saw such a game and I was simply curious if there were more. I’d like to try them all, the last one was fun,” Nie Mingjue says with a chuckle even though he thoroughly lost that game, as Jiang Cheng learned.

“And Jin Ling?” Jiang Cheng asks.

“I just meant that you’re good with him,” Nie Mingjue gives back and Jiang Cheng can almost imagine him shrugging. “He clearly loves you if he settles down by just hearing your voice and you didn’t get impatient once. You clearly love him as well.”

Jiang Cheng takes a shuddering breath when Nie Mingjue falls silent and he finally turns around to him.

“What do you want from me? Why are you here?” he asks, because for all that it has been a few days he still doesn’t know why Nie Mingjue is here.

“I thought I made that clear in my letter,” Nie Mingjue says with a frown that only gets deeper when he sees Jiang Cheng’s confused look. “I’m here to see if we’re compatible. If a courtship between us might work out.”

“You’re what?” Jiang Cheng blurts out and before the frown on Nie Mingjue’s face can get any deeper Nie Huaisang appears at his side.

“This might be my fault,” he admits, tipping his fan against his mouth and seemingly not at all bothered when both Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng turn incredulous eyes on him.

“Explain,” Nie Mingjue grumbles and Nie Huaisang gives him a winning smile.

“I stole that page of the letter,” Nie Huaisang says with an easy shrug and Jiang Cheng is so confused he doesn’t even know what to say to that.

“Why would you do that?” Nie Mingjue asks as he pinches the bridge of his nose, but he doesn’t seem angry and Nie Huaisang seems to know that very well.

“Because I know Jiang-xiong and if you had written anything about a courtship he would have clamped right up and then you’d get nowhere,” Nie Huaisang cries out and Jiang Cheng goes red in the face, because Nie Huaisang might not be wrong.

“Huaisang!” Nie Mingjue yells at him, but Nie Huaisang only hides behind his fan and blinks his big eyes at Nie Mingjue.

“I’m sorry?” Nie Huaisang asks, but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.

“No, you’re not,” he heaves out with a sigh. “Go scram before I make you practice your sabre,” Nie Mingjue threatens but when Nie Huaisang laughs Jiang Cheng knows that it’s an empty thread.

“Alright, da-ge,” Nie Huaisang says and promptly dashes away leaving Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng in uncomfortable silence.

“I’m sorry about him,” Nie Mingjue eventually says, but Jiang Cheng shakes his head, because there’s only one thought in his mind.

“Courtship?” he asks, because he cannot wrap his mind around this as all and he was not prepared to see Nie Mingjue blush like that.

“See, this is why I wrote it down,” Nie Mingjue grumbles. “It’s easier when it’s written down.”

“Mingjue, courtship?” Jiang Cheng asks again, because it still doesn’t make any sense at all and Nie Mingjue sighs again.

“Yes, Wanyin, a courtship.”

“Between us?”

“Do you see anyone else? Did I go visit anyone else?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng simply sits down on the ground again, because of all the reasons why Nie Mingjue could have come, this possibility didn’t enter Jiang Cheng’s head even once.

“You must be joking,” Jiang Cheng whispers and then tenses when Nie Mingjue simply sits down next to him.

“I assure you, I’m not,” he says.

“But then you surely must have changed your mind by now,” Jiang Cheng tries next, because there is no way in hell that Nie Mingjue, esteemed fighter and Sect Leader, would still want to court him after he saw what a mess Jiang Cheng is.

“Between praising your fighting, your way with Jin Ling, your disciples and your construction work, where do you think I changed my mind?” Nie Mingjue shoots back and Jiang Cheng goes still.

“Were you just giving me meaningless compliments?” he asks and that thought suddenly hurts more than he expected.

But if Nie Mingjue had an ulterior goal in mind then of course he’d praise Jiang Cheng. And of course they would all be hollow and empty words.

“Do you know me to be like that?” Nie Mingjue wants to know. “If I don’t like you, then I’ll say so. If I do like you, then I’ll say that as well.”

“You don’t like Jin Guangshan and you never said that to him,” Jiang Cheng gives back, his mind still spinning.

“Oh, rest assured, he knows I loath him. No need to say it out loud,” Nie Mingjue easily gives back but then he falls silent. “Huaisang was right, wasn’t he. You’re totally clamping up on me.”

Jiang Cheng flushes again at that.

“I mean, who wouldn’t? Courtship? With me?”

“With who else? You’re a hero of the Sunshot Campaign. You rebuild your Sect, you’re parenting your sister’s son and you’re not cowering before anyone. There’s much to admire about you, Wanyin.”

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng breathes out as he hides his face in his hands.

“I will if you give me an answer, Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says and the way he says Jiang Cheng’s name sends a shiver down his back.

“Can we—how long are you going to stay?” Jiang Cheng asks instead of giving him a concrete answer but Nie Mingjue doesn’t seem to mind that much.

“I can squeeze in a few more days,” Nie Mingjue says with a shrug. “Why?”

“I think—I’d like you to stay for a while longer now that I know why you’re here,” Jiang Cheng gives back.

He can’t quite agree to a courtship just yet, but he thinks he’d like to spent more time with Nie Mingjue, especially now that he knows what he wants from him.

“Sure,” Nie Mingjue easily replies and he doesn’t seem to mind Jiang Cheng’s lack of an answer much.

Nie Mingjue doesn’t behave any different in the next few days either, but at least now Jiang Cheng knows to simply accept the things Nie Mingjue says without searching for a hidden meaning behind his words and since Jiang Cheng knows that this is not an inspection but something completely different he can actually enjoy spending his time with Nie Mingjue.

So much so that when Nie Mingjue eventually has to depart, Jiang Cheng has a courtship gift ready for him.

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[robininthelabyrinth]

An AU where NHS is the one JGY kills? How would NMJ react to this? Would he care about his morals in the wake of his little brother murder? Would he take JGY life as enough “justice” for his brother bc if u think about it the last time a sect killed one member of his family (the Wen) he was down to go to war and kill them all and that wasn’t someone he had swore to protect :)

Something, once shattered, could never be put together quite the same way as before; it was a truism as applicable to the soul and the heart as it was to objects. And when his brother was killed over a matter of politics, a stupid disagreement between sect leaders over a question of principle, Nie Mingjue’s heart shattered – and his convictions with it.

Wei Wuxian had once heard it said that one should fear most of all the patient man, a gentleman waiting ten years for vengeance; whoever had said that, he thought, had never met Nie Mingjue after he’d blackened. The man wasn’t patient in the slightest.

It hadn’t seemed so bad in the beginning. The man had brought his brother’s body to the Burial Mounds, the corpse curled in his arms like a child, and he had knelt before Wei Wuxian could stop him.

“You revived Wen Ning, even though he was a child of a Sect,” he said, and his eyes were like black coals, the fierce light that had once shined within them utterly extinguished. “Can you revive him, too?”

Wei Wuxian hesitated.

“I will not hold it against you if you can’t,” Nie Mingjue said. He should have been angry, Wei Wuxian would later remember thinking; Nie Mingjue was known for his anger, his rage – why wasn’t he angry? Why wasn’t he raging? It was only later that he realized that Nie Mingjue’s grief was so complete, so all-consuming, that it had pushed him somewhere beyond rage. “But I would ask that you try. In return, I will help you defend those you protect, now and going forward.”

That was a tempting offer. Wei Wuxian had been forced to split from the Jiang sect because they could not protect him; the Nie, on the other hand, were more established, stronger. If they survived this loss, they would be very good protection.

Still, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t sell a false bid of goods.

“He won’t come back to life,” Wei Wuxian said, coming forward to put a hand on Nie Huaisang’s chest. There was resentment there, not as much as Wen Ning, who had suffered so much and kept it all to himself, no, but enough. Whoever had killed him had been someone he had trusted, and he had died angry and betrayed – and no one did anger better than the Nie. It would probably be enough. “He’d still only be a corpse. You know that, right? Your sect above all others abhors the existence of evil –”

“I don’t care,” Nie Mingjue said. “It was my righteousness that failed him; I will not let it stop me again.”

“He wouldn’t be evil,” Wei Wuxian tried to explain. “Wen Ning isn’t evil. But he’d still be a corpse.”

“Even if he is evil, it doesn’t matter,” Nie Mingjue said. “I won’t be able to stop until I see him again.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t know what Nie Mingjue meant, and he was so uncomfortable with having the unbending, unyielding sect leader kneeling before him, begging him the way Wen Ruohan could have only dreamed of, that he doesn’t ask any more questions, merely agreed to give it his best effort.

He should have asked.

He should have –

He didn’t know what he should have done. At any rate, he would later learn that Nie Mingjue spoke the truth: he would not stop. He couldn’t stop.

He left his brother in Wei Wuxian’s care, and he returned to the Unclean Realm, and from there he set for to Lanling, to Koi Tower, where the people who had killed his brother lived. Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure what happened there, isolated from gossip as he was; by the time one of the Wens dared go down to the village and heard about it, everyone had universally started to refuse to talk about the entire event, naming it taboo.

Still, they heard enough.

Perhaps Jin Guangshan had hoped that his younger brother’s death would drive Nie Mingjue into a qi deviation, or perhaps he’d thought that Nie Mingjue would be so bound up in his belief in justice, his respect for etiquette and law, that he would not be able to respond in force. Perhaps he simply didn’t think it through at all.

He certainly didn’t think that Nie Mingjue would come to Lanling in the middle of the night, without warning nor declaration of war, and raze Koi Tower to the ground before half the cultivators of the Jin even knew what was happened. Who knew what salt was used to sow the fields, what monsters were willingly unleashed, but the entire city died almost overnight, the ground turned to ash, flames hot enough to melt gold rising up to the heavens with a roar like a dragon, the people was put to the sword – some people believed the children had been spared, others denied it. Nobody knew anything for sure.

They said Nie Mingjue was like a martial god, eyes indifferent even as he reaped life after life – Wen Ruohan had carefully cultivated his inner sect disciples from the most powerful he could find, and they almost all fell before Nie Mingjue’s blade; Jin Guangshan’s cultivators, who were selected on the basis of other considerations, didn’t stand a chance. There was no mercy, no humanity left; Nie Mingjue had left that all behind along with his righteousness, disregarded as useless and unimportant because it couldn’t even keep his brother safe – and Wei Wuxian thought of Jiang Cheng, thought of Jiang Yanli, and couldn’t say that he’d do it any differently.

Some people even said Nie Mingjue wielded demonic cultivation in his anger.

Wei Wuxian didn’t know if that was true.

He didn’t know how he’d feel if it was.

He didn’t know what to feel, when Jiang Cheng came to him – they’d broken all ties, not so long before, and so it was a surprise to see him.

“Did anyone see you –” he began.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Jiang Cheng said. His clothing was disorderly, his face unclean; he did not seem to be well. “Nothing does – the Jin sect is gone.”

Wei Wuxian felt fear for the first time. “But – shijie?”

“She’s safe,” Jiang Cheng said. “Jiang Ling, too; they’re at the Lotus Pier.”

“Jiang Ling?” Wei Wuxian echoed, eyebrows arching.

Jiang Cheng shrugged. “A surname is a small price to pay for life,” he said shortly, and that really said it all, didn’t it? “I don’t know what happened to the peacock, but I’m not holding my breath; rescuing shijie was already more than I expected…I’ve agreed not to interfere, in the future.”

“The future?” Wei Wuxian echoed. “What – what more is there? I thought the scheme was Jin Guangshan’s –”

“It was, but he wasn’t the only one who would benefit from it,” Jiang Cheng said. He ran his hands over his face. “The Jin were second only to the Wen when it came to the number of allied clans – anyone who had anything to do with it, even under suspicion, is considered guilty…I’ve all but given up our Jiang sect’s independence. If Nie Mingjue wants to wipe out one of the sects that answers to us, I won’t be able to stop him. My ancestors will be ashamed of me.”

“You did it for shijie.”

“I did it for all of us,” Jiang Cheng said. “I heard during the Sunshot Campaign that Wen Ruohan once sought an alliance with Nie Mingjue to dominate the rest of the world, which was rejected on account of what happened to the former Sect Leader – I believe it. I never thought it was true back then, but I believe it now. The masterless sabers –”

He shook his head, sealing his lips, and no matter what Wei Wuxian did, he couldn’t get another word out of him, just that ominous final phrase – the masterless sabers – how could a saber not have a master? A sword was only a spiritual weapon, guided by the cultivator that wielded it – even the Stygian Tiger Seal was only a tool.

“Why are you here, then?” Wei Wuxian finally asked.

Jiang Cheng looked at him as if he were stupid. “If I die, the Jiang Sect dies with me – where else would I be?” He saw that Wei Wuxian didn’t understand and snorted, shaking his head. “Didn’t Nie Mingjue promise you that those you protected would be kept safe? Well, here I am.”

Wei Wuxian licked suddenly dry lips. “Why would he kill you?”

“Because I would benefit,” Jiang Cheng said simply. “Whether or not I support what happened, I would benefit, a fellow sect leader…out of recognition for our former relationship, he told me that if I were here, I would live. The Lotus Pier won’t be touched. Besides, I’m here for another reason, on behalf of the cultivation world.”

“Oh? For what?”

“To get you to hurry up and bring Nie Huaisang back, of course. I don’t think anything short of that will make Nie Mingjue stop.”

I won’t be able to stop until I see him again.

“The process takes time,” Wei Wuxian protested. “Even though I have an idea of what to do, it’s not easy, it’s tricky –”

“I brought you help,” Jiang Cheng said shortly. He nodded down the mountain, where he’d left –

“That’s a small child,” Wei Wuxian said blankly.

“Somewhat undernourished,” Jiang Cheng conceded. “His name is Xue Yang; he’s a delinquent from Kuizhou, rather famous – well, infamous – for being pretty handy with demonic cultivation –”

“Jiang Cheng. That is a small child.”

“The Jin Sect took him in as a guest disciple –”

“Small! Child! How old is he, eight?”

“Twelve.”

“Jiang Cheng!”

“He’s pretty annoying, but he’ll shut up if you give him candy,” Jiang Cheng said. “I brought a bag. Now get back to fucking work before more people die.”

At first meeting, Xue Yang was a nasty little gremlin, full of spite and not a little bit of brilliance; it was extremely annoying how much it felt like looking into a slightly off-kilter mirror. He’d lost a finger, somewhere along the way, and while there was a sword buckled onto his belt he never used it – it took a while before Wei Wuxian noticed it, given that he himself didn’t use a sword and he’d assumed Xue Yang was following his example, but in fact the boy was terrified of swords.

More specifically, of sabers.

Even Nie Huaisang’s, which was – to be frank – the daintiest, frilliest saber Wei Wuxian had ever seen.

“You were a guest disciple of the Jin sect before,” Wei Wuxian said. “You saw what happened? The masterless sabers?”

Xue Yang averted his eyes and didn’t answer, which meant yes; he would otherwise have had a snappy answer of some sort.

“Was it that bad?”

“It was worse,” Xue Yang said, uncharacteristically solemn. “The masterless sabers - they hate evil. Who told them that people were evil?”

“I did,” a low voice said from behind him, and Xue Yang froze, the whites of his eyes showing; he resembled a small rabbit that had tried to demonstrate its toughness being suddenly faced with the teeth of a tiger.

“Sect Leader Nie,” Wei Wuxian said, much more respectfully than he might have otherwise, before the rumors. Nie Mingjue looked much the same as he had the first time: back straight, wearing his clan’s colors, his eyes dead inside. Even Baxia looked the same.

But he felt – wrong.

Maybe he really was using demonic cultivation, but if he was, it wasn’t anything like what Wei Wuxian had invented.

“How is my brother?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“The process is going very well so far,” Wei Wuxian hedged. “I should have a result for you within a week.”

Nie Mingjue nodded and turned to go.

“What are you going to do when he wakes?” Wei Wuxian asked, and Nie Mingjue stopped. “You said you couldn’t stop until he was back – what does it mean, that you’ll stop? Stop the killing? What will happen next?”

“Bring my brother back,” Nie Mingjue said. He didn’t turn back. “And we’ll see.”

That wasn’t reassuring. “Where are you going next?”

“The Cloud Recesses.”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened. “You can’t possibly believe that the Gusu Lan sect had anything to do with it – that’s your sworn brother’s home!”

“We made an oath together,” Nie Mingjue said. “I will uphold my end of it.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t understand; he simply stood there, helpless, watching the other man leave.

There was a tug on his sleeve.

He looked down at Xue Yang.

“The one who killed his brother, on behalf of the Jin sect,” Xue Yang whispered. “It was Jin Guangyao.”

Wei Wuxian thought about what he’d heard about the contents of the oath that the three war heroes had sworn and cursed, torn between chasing Nie Mingjue and stopping him and realizing that that would be futile. Even if he could raise an army of corpses to stop him, a man with an army that could defeat the Jin sect wouldn’t be afraid of him – and he didn’t dare use the Tiger Seal now.

“Let’s do what we can,” he told Xue Yang, who nodded furiously, all reluctance and moodiness gone. “If we can get Nie Huaisang back before Nie Mingjue reaches the Cloud Recesses, that’ll – that’d be good.”

“I don’t know if it’ll help.”

Neither did Wei Wuxian.

part 2

[ceescedasticity]

Jin Guangyao’s Hoarding Problem, version 2, part 1

Okay I’m still not writing this PROPERLY.

Canon notes: This is mostly but not entirely CQL-canon. If I write it through to the end, it will probably turn out better than canon for JGY, but not what you’d call WELL.

***

Jin Guangyao has a lot on his plate: scheming for the Jin Sect’s advancement and Jin Guangshan's elevation to Chief Cultivator; scheming for his personal advancement within the Jin Sect; trying to get Qin Cangye to let him marry his daughter; trying to juggle his sworn brothers; dealing with the tragic death of his half-brother; dealing with the weird thirteen-year-old half-brother that's been dropped on him in some sort of power play; managing the whole Yiling Laozu… thing. There's a lot. He didn't particularly want more. Really.

So Xue Yang — all right, technically Xue Yang is his fault, in that he went and found Xue Yang and brought him back, but his father wanted someone who could do demonic cultivation for them, and that basically meant Xue Yang. The demonic cultivation (n.b.: demonic cultivation may involve any or all of animated corpses, murderous ghosts, and visible resentful energy!) was Jin Guangshan's idea, so Xue Yang is his fault. The whole demonic cultivation… workshop in a subsidiary Jin property near Jinlintai is also Jin Guangshan's fault.

(…This "workshop" needs a name. Wiktionary tells me that "dizang" (地藏) can be a literary term for cellar or basement. The workshop is not completely underground, but it partially is; plus, the word is also the name of a bodhisattva and the irony appeals to me. Hopefully this is not a terrible mistake, but: let's call it the Dizang.)

The Ghost General being chained up in a cell rather than being destroyed was… mostly Jin Guangyao's idea, actually. Jin Guangshan wanted to destroy the thing that killed his precious son, but he accepted that having an example fierce corpse — an example conscious fierce corpse — could only help their research. He also salivates at the idea of being able to control him.

Jin Guangyao floated the idea of also keeping Wen Qing, who after all was an unmatched physician…? Jin Guangshan blew him off. Who cared about a stupid Wen bitch, probably the Yiling Laozu's whore… he hopes she screams when she's burned.

The heavily bruised woman in Wen Qing's clothing does scream. She doesn't say she's not Wen Qing, because at least this way she doesn't have to go back to Xue Yang. None of the Jin cultivators assisting at the execution notice a thing, because they are all stupid.

Jin Guangyao doesn't know Wen Qing, but he knows of her, from his time in Qishan, and Xue Yang has met her and contribute a little more information. Wen Qing isn't afraid to get her hands literally dirty, but metaphorically — she doesn't like it. But she would do anything to keep her brother safe. Wen Ruohan kept her on a leash for years. It's doable. He can just keep her shut away in the Dizang, and no one will know.

He wants her to cooperate, not try to escape, treat anyone he brings to her for treatment, and prepare medicinal compounds upon request. In exchange, she gets to live, she'll be decently treated, Wen Ning gets a break from being a research subject to come see her at least once a month, and Wen Ning will be used only as a research subject — they won't use him to kill anyone.

She agrees.

Wen Ning gets his attention, when he's being escorted away after the first visit, and says that if his sister is given any victims to patch up and send back for more, he will end the deal himself, by killing everyone involved if necessary. He's… probably bluffing? Jin Guangyao really wasn't expecting conditions from that corner but agrees, sort of — any such patients will be negotiated for separately.

Then he has to go, cause there's a pledge conference he has to get to.

Jin Guangyao's reasons for having Su Minshan use a teleporting talisman to take Jiang Yanli to Wen Qing may include, but are not limited to, the following:

He actually kind of likes her, as much as he likes anyone in Jinlintai. She's always respectful to him. Her kindness reminds him a little of Lan Xichen.

If her life is saved because Jin Guangyao's man took her to Jin Guangyao's personal physician, then Yunmeng Jiang will owe Lanling Jin and Jiang Wanyin will owe Jin Guangyao. Granted Jiang Wanyin wasn't a whole lot of help to the last people he owed a massive debt to, but Jin Guangyao is a lot more willing to aggressively hold it over his head than Wen Qing and Wen Ning were.

Having Wen Qing's first patient be someone she would like to save, who is not a prisoner, may help… start slow. Ease into things.

If Jiang Yanli dies, Jiang Wanyin is going to become intolerable, and Jin Guangshan will probably push dealing with him off on Jin Guangyao.

So that happens.

Su Minshan is not otherwise occupied with a second flute. Wei Wuxian is running on too much resentment and not enough sleep, his own grief and guilt and fury tangled up with all the feelings he's been around — from the Burial Mounds, from the history of Nightless City, from the live people right there. He was at least half out of his mind when he arrived and it only got worse from there, and things… happened, and the corpses weren't listening to him anymore. He did try to stop it, when Jiang Yanli asked him to. He couldn't, but not because of outside interference. He just couldn't. And he's vaguely aware that Jiang Yanli might not be dead, that someone was yelling about a doctor, but she looked pretty dead and it was his fault and everyone wants the goddamn Seal and they're killing each other over it and he ruins everything he touches and there's nothing left, nothing, and Jiang Cheng is telling him to go to hell—

He falls.

The bloodbath grinds to a halt, slower than it should have with one primary driver. A lot of people are dead; a lot of people are still alive; many of them are even ready for action.

In another universe, Jiang Sect might have elbowed its way into taking the lead in the hunt for the Yiling Laozu's body. Jiang Cheng would have found Chenqing (and maybe something more, that he discreetly buried and never spoke of). In this universe, either someone stole Jiang Yanli's body or else — and he doesn't even want to let himself hope but he can't not — she is alive and he doesn't know where she is. Neither of these scenarios is acceptable. Finding her body (don't hope for more, don't hope for more) is the highest priority. Jiang Sect mostly clears out.

Much of the available members of Jin Sect take off for the Burial Mounds for plunder and wiping out the remaining Wens! [Who did not turn themselves in with Wen Qing and Wen Ning, that was stupid.] It really wouldn't do to have anyone else get the loot and/or have everyone realize the Wens are noncombatants. (The Jin know perfectly well they're noncombatants.) They aren't alone — there are a number of tagalongs from sects great and small — but it's mainly Jins. This is roughly as it is in the usual universe.

Lan Sect is abruptly preoccupied with internal issues, which internal issues are also taking off for the Burial Mounds, also as in the usual universe.

Nie Sect gets left with more than its share of cleanup, most likely also as in the usual universe.

Jin Guangyao, who as we recall rose to a position of significant trust in Wen Ruohan's Nightless City, takes a shortcut down to the bottom of the cliff (which is not actually lava that is very unsafe). Just to look, before he follows to the Burial Mounds to make sure they don't miss anything important in the looting.

He isn't expecting to to find Wei Wuxian somehow still alive. Just barely.

The logical thing to do would be to finish him, or summon everyone and let the careless handling kill him in minutes. Everyone wants him dead, he's clearly dying, simple enough.

Except…

Wei Wuxian is insane, and has been at least since he walked away from power and privilege to go camp in a mass grave with a pathetic bunch of fugitives. Probably longer. But there's no denying he's brilliant. No one every cultivated with resentment without Yin Iron before him, at least not at such a scale. And it's not like he's dangerous in this condition. And would anyone really be surprised not to the find a body? Maybe he turned into evil smoke and floated away. So maybe…

He has to wait for Su Minshan to get back, because trying to move Wei Wuxian in any normal way would probably kill him straight out.

Wen Qing gets about an hour break between healing Jiang Yanli to the point where Su Minshan can safely take her back to the normal Jin healers and Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan teleporting in with 90% dead Wei Wuxian.

(If he's here, no one is protecting the Burial Mounds. It was all for nothing.)

She thinks it might be kinder to let him die. She seriously thinks about letting him die. But she can't bring herself to do it.

There's only so much she can do, of course, in the absence of a golden core. But she can keep him alive, for the moment.

When he's stable — for the moment — Jin Guangyao comments that she wasn't surprised by the lack of a golden core.

Wen Qing says of course she wasn't, she was his doctor in the Burial Mounds for a year.

Jin Guangyao says that he was surprised, because he'd read Wen Zhuliu's reports and he never said anything about destroying Wei Wuxian's core — just Jiang Wanyin's. (He's lying. He noticed the oddity of Jiang Wanyin's non-missing core almost immediately after the war, and while at first he suspected Wen Zhuliu must have lied for once in his life, Wei Wuxian's non-use of spiritual energy led him to suspect something close to the truth. He wasn't sure Wen Qing was involved until just now, but that's not a surprise either.)

He says he knows she did it. (He's not lying. Wen Qing schools her expressions well, she had to in order to survive Wen Ruohan's Qishan, but Jin Guangyao is on another level.)

Wen Qing says it doesn't matter, it doesn't work without a voluntary donor, so it's of extremely limited utility. (This is not technically a lie, as it has definitely never been done without a voluntary donor. And it might be true in general.)

He lets it go, for the moment.

Wei Wuxian is slow to wake, and not in a very good place once he does. It's a relief and a comfort to know that Jiang Yanli is alive, and Wen Qing is alive, and Wen Ning is no less alive than before.

But with Wei Wuxian out of the way the Jins are going to kill everyone in the Burial Mounds and all of them know it.

Practically speaking it doesn't make much difference — the sects were going to attack the Burial Mounds one way or another, and Wei Wuxian was in no condition to defend anything. But dying trying to defend them would have been better than dying for nothing and abandoning them.

Wen Qing mostly doesn't blame him, because it doesn't make much difference and she knew he wasn't going to be making many rational decisions. But she tells him the best thing he can do to try to make up for it is not abandon her and A-Ning now.

He lives.

That doesn't mean he's well enough to reconstruct the Stygian Tiger Seal, or interpret any of his notes, or even talk to you, Xue Yang, does Jin Guangyao know you're here?

Xue Yang is eminently unsuitable for delivering supplies to a sickroom, and Su Minshan has a sect he's supposed to be running and can't be lurking around Lanling all the time. So, Jin Guangyao conscripts Mo Xuanyu, weird thirteen-year-old, who is desperate for any scrap of attention and approval and becomes instantly devoted to him, and who no one is going to miss anywhere else.

(If Jin Guangyao had waited a little longer to pull Mo Xuanyu into his orbit, this wouldn't have been the case — Jiang Yanli would have taken him under her wing. But right now she's isolated, still both convalescing and mourning, and Madam Jin keeps Mo Xuanyu well away from her.) (Mo Xuanyu considers Madam Jin's treatment of him completely normal, incidentally.)

And for a little while we have a status quo.

[tanoraqui]

[Part 1] [Part 2]

[now all on AO3!]

As Nie Huaisang pulls his horse to a halt, as he clumsily dismounts and begs his san-ge to speak with him in private and they walk off to the side of the road together, Nie Huaisang’s eyes down and his fan covering most his face in embarrassment, he thinks very quickly, and decides faster. He’d promised himself he would do that, next time something like this happened

Here is some of what he thinks:

if the lifeblood of Qishan was power and the heart of Qinghe is strength, then the vital spark of Lanling is appearance. Nie Huaisang has always admired this, even yearned for it - imagine being born to a sect in which it was okay to just sit around and look pretty! Sure, they go a bit overboard with gilt, but who wouldn’t, if they had the money? QingheNie has a fortress in the mountains; LanlingJin has a golden tower overlooking one of the biggest ports in the empire, trade and art and culture all within reach

Conversely, they also thrive on secrets - the dark side of golden, glittering appearance. They’re not so different from QishanWen like that, because information is power. That’s why gossip is a thing 

Nie Huaisang has no particular reason to distrust Jin Guangyao, personally. He’s always been very kind to Nie Huaisang, bringing him lovely new fans and paints and a beautiful finch one time. Da-ge doesn’t trust him, for reason of some things JGY did in the war, but da-ge has such high standards for conduct that it’s a miracle he trusts anyone after the Sunshot Campaign. (And it’d help if he told NHS anything about those alleged untrustworthy “things”...) Wen Qing doesn’t trust him, but in fairness, it was her side that he betrayed. That could sour anyone. Even putting aside the possibility that she’s deliberately sowing discord for some devilish Wen reason. 

Admittedly, anything that Nie Huaisang says to him will almost certainly get back to Jin Guangshan, unless it’s of a truly personal nature - and perhaps even then. Secrets and gossip and power, after all, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that Jin Guangyao is desperate to please his father

even if the old bastard doesn’t deserve it an inch

So the question is, what is Nie Huaisang comfortable having known, and to whom? What does he want to appear as, to whom? And what is he willing to risk coming to light?

He thinks very fast, and soon as they’re well-out of earshot of his disciple-assistants and newly acquired Wen grandmother, he flings himself into Jin Guangyao’s arms, wailing. 

(it’s a little difficult, because Jin Guangyao is one of the few men Nie Huaisang knows who’s shorter than he is.) 

“San-ge, it’s not my fault! It’s all gone wrong! I just wanted to get out of saber practice, but then Wen Qing told da-ge something completely different, and then she made be get a baby, and - ”

The whole story comes out, in stops and starts mixed with helpless, hapless sobs. Nie Huaisang downplays Wen Qing’s successes with his brother, or at least mostly ignores them. He mentions A-Yuan’s nightmares only so far as they inconvenience himself, doesn’t comment on the Wens’ state of life at all, and generally exaggerates every terrible and bewildering situation he’s found himself in since he first happened to glance at Jiang Yanli at Phoenix Mountain

He figures Jin Guangyao probably sees through at least 20% of it, but that’s okay - that’s only deep enough to pierce the outer layer of overdramatics, which are mostly embellishments of the truth anyway, and maybe judge that Nie Huaisang has a soft heart for a cute kid

it’s a very cute kid, okay. NHS saw Nie Mingjue sneaking A-Yuan a piece of candy once. No one is safe

he doesn’t tell Jin Guangyao that

Nearly an hour later, Jin Guangyao peels Nie Huaisang gently off of his (now quite tear-damp) shoulder and smiles at him. It’s gentle, sympathetic, and the only thing it seems to be hiding is a laugh

Nie Huaisang is 99% sure of this assessment. Fortunately, he’s free to let his relief show, along with some healthy trepidation

“I won’t tell da-ge,” Jin Guangyao says, and there’s barely any humor to be seen dancing in his eyes. It’s really impressive, now that Nie Huaisang is learning what to look for.

“Really?” Nie Huaisang sniffles. “I just- He tries so hard, you know. I don’t want to disappoint him, not really.”

it really is all about using the truth. if it wasn’t so stressful, it’d be an incredible high

“Of course not.” Jin Guangyao squeezes him gently by the shoulders. “What is a san-ge for, if not to look out for his littlest brother?”

Nie Huaisang could definitely make a crack about his height smiles shakily and flings his arms around JGY’s shoulders again. “Oh, thank you! Thank you for your help!”

Jin Guangyao hugs him back gently and efficiently, then starts to tug him back to the waiting horses and by-now-dismounted companions. “Go on, get your A-Yuan’s granny back to Nie Sect and get yourself a good night’s sleep. I’ll make sure they’re both marked correctly as requisitioned for labor in Qinghe”

Nie Huaisang thanks him several more times, wiping away his tears like someone who just remembered that he’s not supposed to appear so weak in public. Jin Guangyao waves goodbye as he mounts his sword and flies away, and Nie Huaisang waves back, and then he and his assistants and his newly acquired A-Yuan’s Granny ride home

[they’re never going to be relevant again but I want you all to know that in my mind, these two dumb bastards are brothers with rhyming names, like, Xi Ping and Xi Ying or something. RIP Xi Ping and Xi Ying and their eardrums after NMJ reams them out for helping NHS do something stupid again]

And then...

they actually have peace for several months. 

Oh, the cold war between Jing and Jiang - or more accurately, between Jin and Wei Wuxian - is still brewing like fine tea, and Nie Huaisang finds himself paying more attention than usual to the gossip about it, because Wens come up as often as not. They're the prime example of the destructive power of the Stygian Tiger Seal, after all. And NHS has four of them living in his house, now

the gossip spikes deliciously when Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan get engaged, though it somehow neither eases nor increases the tension in either side

{the timeline is rubbish anyway, so it’s whatever’s convenient for this fic, thank you very much}

Nie Sect’s physicians are too proud to let Wen Qing take over their infirmary wholesale, but they don’t hesitate to consult with her on pretty much everything. Wen Ning turns out to be pretty fun to play checkers with, whether he lets Nie Huaisang win or gets invested enough to actually put up a good fight. Despite Granny’s addition to the orphan-caring staff, A-Yuan still slips away most days and follows Nie Huaisang around like a particularly persistent curse-construct. On the plus side, he’s learning how to be patient enough that the bolder birds will sit on him as readily as on Nie Huaisang himself, and he painted an entirely acceptable butterfly the other day.

Oh, and the veins in Nie Mingjue’s neck are only visible when he shouts, now, and enough time has passed that he’s forgotten about Nie Huaisang’s earlier, rash promise to practice saber for an extra half hour each day. Or maybe he’s just resigned to the fact that such promises never last. This is truly the best timeline!

And then the worst happens, out of the blue yet in retrospect inevitable: Nie Mingjue has a severe qi deviation

He’s coming back from a meeting in Lanling, which wasn’t so much a discussion conference as Jin Guangshan calling a handful of sect leaders together to bitch about the Wei Wuxian and the Tiger Seal again. Wen Qing is in the infirmary, setting a young disciple’s broken leg. Nie Huaisang is in his bedroom, trying to write an ode to snowflakes that, read aloud, is a single tone off from a recitation of curse words for the entire poem. They both hear the shouting from the main courtyard

Wen Qing has a doctor’s reflexes; she leaves the leg to an assistant and arrives in the courtyard in time to watch Nie Mingjue collapse out of the air. The disciples who accompanied him to Lanling are there to catch him, ease him down gently, but Baxia clatters to the ground

Nie Huaisang sees it from his window. By the time he gets there, his brother is laid out flat and Wen Qing and the Chief Physician are snapping clipped phrases at each other as they assess his status, in the mode of emergency responders everywhere

the Chief Physician doesn’t like Wen Qing, doesn’t like Wens, but he can respect her medical talents. Both sentiments are mutual - Wen Qing has a much more comprehensive skillset, but if there’s anything Nie healers know, it’s how to handle qi deviation

qi deviations are difficult and dangerous to treat - the spiritual energy starts cascading through a cultivator’s body, untamed and harmful, and adding soothing energy may help but it may make it worse, or even cause the chaos to spread to the would-be healer

{I actually have no idea how any of this works, and will henceforth be making up my own worldbuilding}

Nie Mingjue’s eyes have rolled back in his head, bleeding, and he shakes like a leaf in the wind, incongruous to the warrior who led attacks on the Nightless City itself. Who held his brother like a guarding stone wall at their father’s funeral. Nie Huaisang cannot breathe

they get him stabilized enough to move up to the infirmary. Someone eases up their grip on Nie Huaisang’s body so he could follow (he won’t remember until later that he was being held back)

It takes four hours to stabilize him fully (unlucky). His golden core tries to collapse three times, his heart stops twice, and his fucking saber tries to attack them once, seemingly of its own initiative. Several other healers join in as needed, even Wen Ning - he’s always been good at getting seizing patients to still. Wen Qing rates it below the 39-hour golden core transfer with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, in terms of worst surgeries of her life, but above nearly everything else, including the emergency liver transfer where the girl turned out to have all her organs on the opposite side and a side order of demon-induced pneumonia

Nie Huaisang has been sitting in the corridor outside, on the floor. Someone's put a cloak on him. He looks up when they exit, forgetting how to breath again.

“He’s unconscious,” says the Chief Physician, who is probably some sort of distant uncle/cousin. “But he should wake. He will wake,” he corrects. 

Wen Qing takes a deep breath. “We need to talk somewhere private.”

By the time Nie Huaisang has at least gotten to see his brother, get proof that he’s still breathing, the First Disciple has joined them as well (I mean, that position is sure as hell not held by NHS). Her name is Han Xiaoshi and she’s built in the same mold as the sect leader: tall, broad, wields her saber like a third hand. She leans against the closed door of the Chief Physician’s office while the Chief Physician - let’s say Nie Fengji - gives a slightly less brief explanation of the sect leader’s current state. 

(it’s not good. he’s in a semi-medically induced coma. he is bleeding neither blood nor spiritual energy. he...should wake, in his own time, if they continue to carefully feed his healing energy)

(if he wakes within three days, he will be fine. for now)

Nie Huaisang’s blood pounds hot and panicked in his ears; an unthinking fan covers his face. 

they all turn to Wen Qing, who wanted privacy. 

Wen Qing soothes hands over her skirt, still blood-flecked, and lifts her chin calmly. Addresses the First Disciple more than anyone. “Before I begin, would you please put a guard each on my bedroom and the apothecary, and my brother’s room as well?”

“What? Why?” asks Nie Huaisang, bewildered. Han Xiaoshi echoes more sternly

She smiles thinly. “I’d rather not be accused of trying to assassinate Chifeng-zun.”

Nie Huaisang’s blood turns cold

“Keep talking,” says Han Xiaoshi

Here’s what Wen Qing explains: there’s an herb grown on the same volcanic slopes into which the Nightless City is set, a grass that absorbs so much yin energy from the volcano that it carries it over into anyone who consumes the stalks, offsetting the natural balance of their spiritual energy. A closely guarded inner clan secret. It can allow for rare, advanced cultivation techniques (including demonic ones)...or it can spark a fatal qi deviation the next time the user tries to do anything spiritually strenuous. Like flying from Carp Tower to the Unclean Realm

“It’s almost impossible to detect in the blood,” she finishes. “But I recognize the pattern of its effects.” Her hands are clasped loosely in front of her. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find some planted in a place that draws suspicion to A-Ning or myself.”

“Who else would know about it?” Nie Huaisang demands, trembling even as the ice is settles into his veins 

“Someone who was close to Wen Ruohan,” she says calmly

they all know who she means

(oh, how she wants to tremble, too, too aware of every sword in the room that could be turned against her. Aware of A-Yuan and Granny and Wen Ning, her brother in the corridor just outside, and how it still hasn’t been a year since Wen blood ran in the flagstones of this castle. But Wen Qing has never been one to shake)

“There’s something else I should say,” she admits, to Nie Huaisang more than anyone. “I don’t actually know much about qi deviation - I’ve had a crash course, obviously, and I’m not a fool, but I’m mostly been treating it as a blood pressure problem - ”

“Obviously,” the Chief Physician scoffs

“ - but my Uncle Six is a true expert. Wen Zhichen - he was friends with your aunt, Huaisang-gongzi; your older sister, Fengji-shifu [the previous Chief Physician, killed in battle in the fifth month of the Sunshot Campaign]. If anyone can wake Nie-zongzhi, it’s him - ”

she could have said this earlier, could have said it weeks ago, or even from the start - but she had Wen Ning to think of before anyone else, and then A-Yuan who was too young to have accumulated crimes even as a Wen...

Wen Qing had once noted that the second son of Nie had likely never felt fear, true fear, in his life. That’s not true anymore. His brother is unconscious in the next room over and it’s not sure if he’ll ever wake. And it’s consequences catching up with him again, for real this time, this maybe-first time - was it the Wens, villainous duplicitous Wens that he brought into their home himself? Was it someone else, equally traitorous, suspicion roused to a killing intent by something Huaisang did himself?

People do a lot things when they’re feel fear deep down to their souls. They scrape and bow; they make bargains they shouldn’t, accept costs they can’t. They bend or they break

Nie Huaisang is a fop by preference, but it turns out that he breaks like a Nie

He shoves Wen Qing against the wall, hand on her throat. “Tell me this isn’t a trick. Tell me this isn’t some fucking ploy to get more Wen-dogs into my home, so you can finish killing my brother.” He shakes her, drops the fan to put his hand on the saber he's terrible with (it still hums eagerly for blood.) “Tell me.”

“I am,” she gasps

There is a tableau. Then Nie Huaisang drops her and strides for the door. “Shijie, put guards on her rooms, her brother’s, and Granny’s,” he snaps to Han Xiaoshi. “Don’t let anyone enter. Gather the Wens all in the third guest bedroom and keep them there - make sure A-Yuan has some paints to keep him quiet. And I’ll need your two fastest - no, those with the best strength and endurance in flight - ”

“Nephew - ” says the Chief Physician, and “Young Master,” says the First Disciple, a little impressed and a medium dubious

the closest Nie Huaisang has ever gotten to this commanding before was the early days of the Sunshot Campaign when there were no battle lines to hide behind yet, when he sometimes followed Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji as they tore across the country and directed the clean-up of their wake

“The best strength and endurance,” he repeats over them. The fan stays on the floor. “We’re flying to Qishan - we’ll be back with an extra expert for you in a couple days, Uncle. In the meantime, you can have Wen Qing if you need her, but otherwise they all stay in the third guest room.”

It takes a full day to fly to the Wen settlement in Qishan, at Nie Huaisang’s best pace. Starting already late in the afternoon, full of anger and terrified panic in equal measure, it’s beyond late by the time they near - and all but the anger has simmered away. Nie Huaisang lets them settle near the nearest halfway decent city instead, forces himself to lay on the ground and try to sleep, and sends one of his disciples out to buy the nicest fan they can find. He left so fast, he forgot to pick one up again

When they land in the filthy little town just after dawn, he stumbles off his sword more than lands (he is genuinely tired, at least) and runs to hammer on the door of the supervisory office, all terror and panic. “Jin-guniang! Jin-guniang! Help, help! It’s me, Nie Huaisang! I need - ”

“What?!” The captain yanks the door open (she sleeps above the office) and he very much does fall into her arms

“Ah, you have to help me!” He’s disheveled with flight and weepy with tears. “Wen Qing poisoned my brother and now he won’t wake up, so I have to find her sixth uncle - ”

“What - Nie Huaisang, what? Is she threatening - that Wen-bitch - ”

“No, no, we beat up her brother until she said - please! He’s the best at qi deviation, even Uncle Physician admitted it - ”

make sure to have Wen Ning beaten up just enough to look good, he notes in a small, back corner of his mind. in case there are spies in the castle. I’d have spies, if I could

“Okay, okay!” Jin Qixian ushers him into the office, half-holding him up. “Let me check the list of residences - sit down, Huaisang-gongxi, someone will brew tea...”

[five minutes later...]

“A different camp?” Nie Huaisang cries, fluttering his new fan in dismay

“They needed a healer...” Jin Qixian says apologetically. “But you just wait here, I’ll send someone - ”

“No, no,” Nie Huaisang gets to his feet, shaking his head. Happy to let the exhaustion of a 10-hour flight and 4 hours fitful sleep in the woods show, and the desperate helplessness that’s really not hard to fake. “I have to- Da-ge is counting on me - ”

He waves off all her attempted reassurances, bullheaded with anxiety, and accepts an officially sealed note of authority with babbling gratitude, and...

[about an hour and a half later...]

the other town the remnants of the Wen sect and soldiers have been relegated to is more of a city, really - cramped and filthy, where the other one was merely destitute and filthy. Families living all in one room or worse, and it’s okay because they’re only home to sleep; the fields are already filled with everyone old enough to work. They probably do need healers, because there’s not enough attention being paid to waste management. But - 

“What do you mean, he’s gone?” Nie Huaisang demands more sharply than he’d intended

Focus, A-Sang. It’s Nie Mingjue’s voice in his head, always, as though this was just another hated saber practice

“I’m sorry, Young Master Nie,” says the disciple in charge of this place - Jin Guangchao, another stray cousin. does everyone in that family spread seed like a watering can? “There was an incident a few days ago - ”

“He’s dead?” Nie Huaisang wails, sinking to ground

“No!” Jin Guangchao looks a little disgusted at his helplessness, but bends down to pull him up anyway. “Jin Zixun came around on an inspection and that one you wanted, he was impudent. Jin Zixun ordered him sent to the work camp at Qiongqi Pass.”

mother of fucking fucker [meaning Jin Zixun; meaning the whole situation]. the man probably made eye contact and that overbearing asshole - 

“That’s so far away!” Nie Huaisang whined, staying limp, crying into his fan

“Nie-shixiong, it is on the way - ” one of his disciples offers uncertainly (poor bastards - he’s really yanking them around. They’re not sure if they’re helping a con or offering real support)

“We’ll get him back to Chifeng-zun, and get Chifeng-zun back on his feet,” says the other, slipping her arm under his and pulling him to his own feet. “Come on, you’ll see”

(whether it’s for the con or not, Nie Huaisang appreciates it. They’ve never been this genuinely nice to him before)

there’s a conversation in the air halfway to Qiongqi Pass. It goes like this:

“Nie-shixiong, we have to rest. You have to rest.”

[gritted teeth] “I’m fine.”

“You’re going to fall off your sword.” (Liu Lifang, the older woman)

“Then you’ll carry me, won’t you? We’ll already have Wen Zhichen - we’ll double up.”

“Your, uh, dramatics - ” (Zhao Huandi, younger, male - there aren’t a lot of Nies, in Nie. There’s a lot of guest cultivators. There’s a lot of turnover.)

“Will be just as good, if not better, when I’m fainting from spiritual exhaustion.” [slightly bitter, mostly factual] “Don’t worry, I won’t deviate - I don’t use my saber enough for that.” [definitely exhausted] “We don’t stop.”

The work camp at Qiongqi Pass has all the bully-filled charm of Jin Qixian’s town and all the overworked labor je-ne-sais-quoi of the other one, and it’s started raining so there’s a really nice note of despair. If Nie Huaisang had any room left in his brain, he would mourn the beauty of the frescos being destroyed, grand and glorious works of art even if their glory was that of the Wens

he slides off Liu Lifang’s sword in the middle of the densest group of workers, cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, “Hey! Wen Qing’s Sixth Uncle, Wen Zhichen of DafanWen! Nie Sect requisitions you!”

the prisoner-workers all shrink away; an inspector hurries over. “Hey, who are you - ”

“You will respect Second Master Nie Huaisang,” snaps Zhao Huandi, hand on his saber while Nie Huaisang starts to cry on cue for the third time that day, and god, either they’re really getting it or he’s just blessed with a sect full of perfect straight men.

“Please,” Nie Huaisang begs, leaning on his disciple and waving the letter from Jin Qixian. “I need a healer - that healer, it’s my brother, he’s been poisoned - ”

they’re real tears of exhaustion. maybe he should have let them talk him into a rest

(Da-ge will be fine, he knows, he insists to himself and the world. He was stable 24 hours ago and Nie Huaisang left him with the most competent people he knows)

the inspector has no idea what to do with him and neither does the Chief Inspector, really, when he rides up. That’s perfect - it means their half-hearted objections are easy to push past

they’re still shit at actually helping, because they don’t know a single person in this goddamned work-prison, and all the Wens just shy away, or pick up a pickaxe and try to keep working if anyone comes too near. The inspectors seem to regard this as ideal

Nie Huaisang honestly doesn’t care right now, but he does notice

Finally Nie Huaisang has wailed loudly enough up and down the valley that one prisoner hesitantly steps forward and admits to being the Dafan Wens’ Sixth Uncle. He has Wen Ning’s ears and Granny’s eyes and the same needle callouses as Wen Qing, so Nie Huaisang calls it a day

except they still have to fly back to the Unclean Realm, a flight of six hours unburdened

Nie Huaisang’s groan is entirely genuine

Wen Qing has taken to pacing by the time the Chief Physician comes to fetch her, personally, from the third guest bedroom. Night has come and gone and come again; A-Yuan and Granny are both asleep in the bed and Wen Ning is lying beside them, though she can tell he’s only pretending to sleep to make her feel better. What a good boy. 

Sixth Uncle is sitting by Nie Mingjue’s bed in the infirmary, eating soup. There’s a couple Nie disciples in the room as well, one sending a slight stream of energy into Nie Mingjue and one simply watching the Wen, a hand on his saber hilt 

(no one’s told her if they’ve searched her or anyone else’s rooms, yet; if they found anything)

“Keep sitting and eating!” snaps Nie Fengji, the Chief Physician, before Sixth Uncle can leap up at the sight of Wen Qing. “I need you talking qi balance, not falling over again.” He mutters under his breath, “People can’t even work if you let them get so weak - can’t trust a Jin to do anything with care.”

She sinks to her knees to hug her uncle instead - and notices a cot that’s been brought in to sit beside Nie Mingjue’s, its occupant also as still and wan as the grave.

“Huaisang!” She springs to her feet. “He didn’t - ”

“Exhaustion. The boy overworked his golden core and passed out.” Nie Fengji pushes her back with a roll of his eyes. “Bullheaded as their father, the both of them.”

He rolls up his sleeves and nudges the attending physician out of the way, to take over easing calming energy into Nie Mingjue without a single quiver in the stream. “Now, you two prove to me why I should trust any sort of Wen.”

To be continued...but Part 4 really will be the last, so, that’s p good actually. By my standards of mis-estimation of how long a piece of writing will be. And it’ll definitely be a short one! Unlike this Part 3, which is...*checks* 4.5k WTF.

[paradife-loft]

Close reading all the Jin Guangyao scenes: episode 10

Episode 11 | Episode 22 | Episode 23

So, when I was talking to @fatalism-and-villainy​ the other day, I mentioned how while doing this third watch of The Untamed, I was feeling really quite tempted to make a semi-liveblogging project out of doing a close analysis of basically every episode where Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao has a substantial scene.... Their response was only to encourage me in this further obsessive descent, and well, here we are.

I’m starting with episode 10 where we are in this watch right now, rather than going back to episode 4, because while ep4 is utterly delightful, I don’t really feel like I have a lot to say about it that hasn’t already been hashed to death.

Meanwhile, episode 10... oh boy! So much going on here. This episode is most interesting to me because the main theme we see in a majority of Meng Yao’s scenes, is how wholeheartedly invested he is in advancing the cause and prominence of the Nie Sect that he serves. Particularly in light of how we see him later giving the same loyalty and effort to the Jin sect, it’s a really cool (and tragic, tbh) precursor that shows a lot about how much he’ll make a point of doing well by those who’ve elevated him in turn.

So he first shows up with Nie Huisang, when WWX/LWJ/JC are all discussing with Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen what they ought to do with Xue Yang. Noticing the latter two (who are established already as being well-known heroes throughout the cultivation world), he asks if they wouldn’t come along to Qinghe to figure out how best to punish Xue Yang, and also what the best course of action would be for dealing with the Wen sect. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan rebuff this offer... because they understand, accurately, that what Meng Yao is suggesting/asking about is for them to establish a relationship tying them, however informally (for now), to the Qinghe Nie sect.

(^This, incidentally, is the face he makes when they say “yeahhh, but no thanks,” or specifically, “We give less value to blood heritage and more to like-mindedness. We don’t want to depend on any cultivation family.” This is the face of “oh, okay, tell me no in such direct terms, when I went to the trouble of phrasing my suggestion a bit more obliquely, thanks so much,” and also, “Wow, doesn’t that sound nice to be able to do :/”)

Then a few minutes later, we get this wonderful facial expression! ...which I don’t actually have a whole lot to say about, except that I take it for... curiosity, mostly, about someone who’s had such an outsize effect on the local area, what with murdering a handful of minor cultivation clans? Interest in what inter-clan strategic advantages could be gained in one way or another with Xue Yang as a bargaining chip, source of information, etc.? Possibly also interest in the sense of, this is also someone who came from nothing and has been able to get a lot of important people to pay attention to him (even if not for a good reason), depending on how much he’s heard about Xue Yang as a person? There’s a lot of possibilities this is opening up, and I think he’s basically curious to see what happens.

Again, we just have him being very good at working the angles to get an advantage to the Nie sect (compared to the Wen sect in this case). Jiang Cheng even comments on him being thorough and formidable! (And Huisang mentions that Nie Mingjue really admires him; and Wei Wuxian says it looks like Jin Guangshan doesn’t know how to recognise talent... anyway.)

Mmmm, yep, douchebags gonna douchebag.... Nothing terribly interesting here that hasn’t already been noted a zillion times, since the basic fundamentals of his character relate to how poorly others treat him for his birth. (It is noteworthy though, I think, how the condensed timeline & events for Meng Yao killing his superior and ruining his relationship with Nie Mingjue in the process compared to the extended version in the novel, alters the first bit of screen time we get here seeing what Nie Mingjue is actually like as a leader. In the novel, his men in the army have a bit of a nasty gossip problem, but the person who mistreats Meng Yao and takes credit for his ideas later is a part of the Jin clan; in the drama, various Nie sect disciples have a gossip problem that he berates them for, but even so he still is, at best, ignorant of how his men’s mistreatment of the person he promoted and thinks highly of has continued.)

Oh boy, here’s where it starts to get fun! This is Meng Yao’s face as Wen Chao has just threatened to do “housecleaning” of the Nie sect if they don’t hand over Xue Yang, and it’s looking as though Nie Mingjue won’t be able to contain the conflict in a single one-on-one duel with Wen Zhuliu. It’s curious - he has a smirky face looking over toward Huisang when NMJ initially throws Baxia out in front of Wen Chao, like he’s thinking clearly the offered duel would go their way. Was he expecting the duel to be between NMJ and Wen Chao, who he’d clearly clean the floor with, and Wen Zhuliu stepping up instead took him off-guard? - Because that’s when he looks down thinking very quickly for a couple moments, and then tells Huisang he’s going to go check on Xue Yang.

As @veliseraptor​ and @ameliarating​ and I hashed out as this scene continued: what makes the most sense here is that, seeing how things might be going downhill for the Nie sect very quickly if something isn’t done to get the Wen sect off their backs, Meng Yao makes the snap calculation that the best course of action to keep them from getting massacred would be to free Xue Yang to hand him over. He doesn’t really look happy as he heads away from the entrance here; he looks like someone making the unpleasant decision to let a known murderer avoid justice because it will be better for his immediate concern of preserving the sect and clan he serves. Mingjue is uncompromising, but Meng Yao will look for the most advantageous option he can see and go for it, even if it’s a bit shady and perhaps not what his sect leader would prefer. Nie Mingjue respects him and listens to him well when he explains, after all, so with so much at stake, taking this gamble is probably worth the risk.

Aaaand, then we get to the part where he quite deservedly stabs the army commander who’s been treating him like shit for the past while! It’s not terribly clear (especially at this point) the exact chain of events that occurred before NMJ showed up, but from the number of other bodies in the back of the scene, I do think it’s quite plausible that Xue Yang actually did kill most of the dead Nie disciples there, as that would be... a lot of people for someone with a weak cultivation base to off very quickly. And the commander himself - I take that as a highly relished stroke of opportunism, honestly. Meng Yao picks up a Wen sword to use to kill him because he is good at quick thinking to avoid self-incrimination, but I don’t think he’d been intending on multiple homicides when he initially went back to grab Xue Yang before Wen Chao ordered his men to attack everyone and all hell broke loose.

Oh, ow! NMJ is getting ready to attack him, as Meng Yao frantically tries to talk him down - and Meng Yao still instinctively jumps in front of a sword for his sect leader! Like, truly, honestly, I do believe he had great regard for and loyalty to Nie Mingjue at the very least up through the end of this episode. Whether or not this particular sword thrust could have been fatal to either of them, it still says quite a lot about how he values Chifeng-zun’s person more than his own, even as he’s quite possibly gearing up to kill Meng Yao for what he’s done. That is just... a real intense instinctive sense of obligation and value differential between the two of them that he has, here. Ouch, ouch.

When they resume in the throne room, I think there’s a lot that’s already been said and/or is obviously central, with the line about “fame for merit” and how much it matters to him being the big one. (Why should being recognised for your merit matter so much??? says the one who essentially always has been - lining up one of the central conflicts that continues between the two of them until the ends of their lives.) But I do think it’s pretty fun and telling how seamlessly (performance-wise) Meng Yao slips in the definite lie about the army commander freeing Xue Yang, amongst all the other (pretty certainly true) reasons to condemn him, and then claims it’s all true. I think it definitely speaks of... familiarity with being in a position where others won’t take your own actual reasons for doing something as a good enough justification, and so you develop an intuition of how to mix in motives that also target and appeal to the person you’re talking to as well, to avoid harsh punishment.

Also... hmmmm..... >>>

Hey look, I’m just saying there’s some interesting thematic comparisons going on in this show regarding moral worth and who a person considers to have enough ethical standing and goodness in them to judge them for their actions and have them accept it, okay?

Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian are amazing narrative foils and I am probably never going to get tired of saying it.

.

.

.

Bonus round!

(When you’ve just been stabbed but you’re still really worried about the attack on the Cloud Recesses that Wen Chao has just revealed, because of what it means could be happening to one incredibly wonderful person! Better go make sure he’s okay, right?? ~*~ XiYao feels intensify ~*~)

[quillium]

A fic where the Wens never get power-hungry and everyone lives in peace:

Jin Guangshan dies of an STD or something before this all begins btw. There’s no evil plotting here, just him being real dumb. His wife took over the sect while he was being dead. So this entire fic is set in a world where Jin Guangshan is dead.

Mianmian befriends Jiang Yanli at one of the conferences. Mianmian teaches Jiang Yanli some cultivation stuff while Jiang Yanli teaches Mianmian how to cook it’s very cute

Jin Zixuan becomes closer friends with Mianmian due to the fact that they’re in peacetime

Jin Zixuan falls in love with Mianmian but Mianmian knows that Jiang Yanli has a crush on the peacock so she’s like “oh, you want to go out in the city together to grab dinner? Of course, let me bring my friend! :)))” and of course Jin Zixuan can’t say “no it’s a date” because he’s a shy dork underneath his proud exterior

Jin Zixuan sees that Jiang Yanli’s actually real nice when they’re out together and he doesn’t fall in love (yet) but he is by now humble enough to realize he should apologize so they make up and become friends

Meanwhile Gusu trio watches (aka spies from afar) Lan Zhan walk around the city pining and Wei Wuxian is like “he’s PINING” and Nie Huaisang’s like “no he has no heart Wei-xiong” and Jiang Cheng’s like “can we do literally anything else and who on earth would someone like him be pining after anyways you’re being dumb”

Wei Wuxian’s like “I’m going to PROVE he’s in love with someone” it’s peak comedy and they set up a betting pool

Cue Wei Wuxian trying to get closer to Lan Zhan to find out who he’s in love with

Meng Yao isn’t like evil or anything yet so Nie Huaisang’s like “let’s go make a scheme to get you into the Jin family if that’s what you really want” and Meng Yao’s like “okay” and Jiang Cheng is like “I am not involved in this at ALL”

Jiang Cheng is like okay cool so I can’t talk to the Lans because my older brother’s flirting with one of their heirs, I can’t talk to the Jins because arrogance and drama and can’t get into the way of my sister seducing the dumb peacock, and I can’t talk to the Nies because Huaisang is plotting and Mingjue’s low-key scary so I guess I’ll have to talk to the Wens

We get like two chapters of Jiang Cheng kinda just wandering the city being lost in between all the other drama (it’s HILARIOUS) and then he bumps into Wen Ning who’s like “!!! a FRIEND!!!” and they end up wandering the city together. It’s real cute because Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning are pretty respectful and formal people so there’s a LOT of bowing and the two calling each other “Young Master”

Wen Qing eventually gets out of, I dunno a meeting or something, and finds Wen Ning and he’s like “come walk with me and Jiang-gongzi” and she doesn’t know how to say no so she’s like “yeah okay”

I’m going to say that since the Wens aren’t evil here, Wen Qing isn’t being threatened or anything to stay but she is getting the financial support that her family needs and the Wens are pretty good to her in this universe so she’s staying for financial reasons but actually wants to be a wandering doctor, see the world and help those who can’t help themselves

Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng have a long conversation about loyalty to family above all else, what it means to be responsible to a big group of people, etc. and they’re very similar people so it’s nice

Sometime while this is happening, Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian get tangled in Nie Huaisang’s plot to get Meng Yao into the Jin family and then they see Wen Ning and drag him off so this is just a one-on-one convo between Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng

Jiang Cheng leaves with a lot to think about, because Wen Qing admits that she values her family and the sect is just a means to an end. For Jiang Cheng, as sect heir, his family and sect are tied together so closely yet also Wei Wuxian can leave the sect at any moment (and Jiang Cheng would let him if that’s what he really wants but he won’t be happy about it) so he’s thinking

While he’s thinking, Wei Wuxian takes his fingers out of his pies and goes and teases Jiang Cheng about Wen Qing. Jiang Cheng is totally unphased and straight up says “yeah of course she would make a good wife, are you stupid?” Wei Wuxian is shook that Jiang Cheng is not responding to his teasing by getting flustered and they have a conversation about love and Wen Qing and how Jiang Cheng feels about her and it ends with Wei Wuxian feeling weirded out that Jiang Cheng seems so logical and detached about a future wife, doesn’t he want love?

While Wei Wuxian’s walking away from Jiang Cheng and thinking this over, he bumps into who else but Lan Zhan! Ah, Wei Wuxian thinks, here’s someone who’s ALWAYS super logical and detached! I’ll interrogate him to understand more! but surprise surprise Lan Zhan is a ROMANTIC who wants eternal love with a single person who will always be his

Wei Wuxian: What if the person you’re crushing on doesn’t like you at all and never wants to be with you? Isn’t it kind of ridiculous to keep pining like that? Lan Zhan, talking to his crush that very moment: If they want me to stay away, I’ll stay away. I’ll just die alone then

I think they end up having a conversation where Wei Wuxian talks about change, how it can be positive and good, and how even if it’s romantic to always love one person, there’s nothing wrong with loving new people. Lan Zhan says something about how it isn’t making him unhappy, that he’s okay with loving without having it reciprocated--but admits that he’d like to be able to honest about it without suppressing his feelings

It ends with a confession. Wei Wuxian doesn’t respond immediately and Lan Zhan leaves

Jiang Cheng has a conversation with Jiang Yanli about love. When she’s describing how she feels about Jin Zixuan, he says that he can’t understand/feel any of that. She says that everyone’s different, but he’s starting to suspect that he, especially, is very different

Wei Wuxian talks to Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli about Lan Zhan’s confession. Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand anything and Jiang Yanli tells him that if Lan Zhan is the person she thinks he is, nothing has to change if Wei Wuxian doesn’t want it to--they can still stay friends, Lan Zhan won’t hold the refusal against him

Wei Wuxian goes to talk to Lan Zhan and says something like “I can’t choose you over all else so we can’t get together, but I want to still have you in my life as a friend” and Lan Zhan says something like “you never have to choose me, because I’ll always choose you”

Wei Wuxian’s like oh shit I literally JUST turned you down and now you’re making me fall in love with you??? What the hell???

We spend about five chapters alternating between Nie Huaisang cleverly putting together all the pieces for his brilliant plan to get Meng Yao into the Jin sect and Wei Wuxian’s ridiculously stupid attempts to seduce the man who is already in love with him

Nie Mingjue, who is totally bros with Meng Yao at this point because this is a magical au where it’s all good and nothing bad ever happens, is in negotiations with Madame Jin while Nie Huaisang is weaving this convoluted plot to get Meng Yao in and like. Madame Jin is a reasonable woman so she’s like ‘yeah if he’s a hard worker and this great then we’ll just let him in the sect’ and Nie Huaisang’s like ‘but... my plan...’

For comedic purposes: the plan is NEVER revealed, but we hear more and more ridiculous things referencing it as the fic continues and everyone’s like how on EARTH does all this work together??? and we just. Never find out.

Wei Wuxian, walking into Nie Huaisang’s room with a rare blue dragon with feathers: Hey I finally got the mythical creature from the cave-- Nie Huaisang, miserably: The plan’s a bust. Madame Jin let him in.

Lan Xichen: Um... whatcha got there...? Lan Zhan, carrying five jars of wine with red bean paste mixed in: Well it was for Nie Huaisang’s plot but now I’m going to try and seduce Wei Wuxian with them Lan Xichen, holding up a cheap one yen seal that he bought at a very specific location from a lady with a red scarf: Oh yeah same but I can’t seduce anyone with something this cheap

Just. The comedy gold. Continuously ridiculous things.

Jiang Yanli: I was supposed to seduce the shopkeeper of the bookstore for Nie Huaisang’s plot but then it stopped and now I just have a guy who’s crushing on me... Jin Zixuan, starting to realize that he’s falling in love with Jiang Yanli: Oh--uh--haha--that’s um awful--

Anyways obviously Wifi gets together with Lan Zhan, Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli get together, we get a few chapters of Meng Yao missing parts of the Unclean Realm while he’s with the Jins, Jiang Cheng realizes he’s aroace, etc, etc, we get a really happy ending.

Anyways that’s all I’ve got in me but if you want to add please do!

[curiosity-killed]

a bow for the bad decisions

canon-divergent AU from ep. 24 (on ao3)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12 | part 13 | part 14 | part 15 | part 16 | part 17 | part 18

There are seven paths through the mountain, and Wei Wuxian strikes off on one of his own. His fingers still twitch, itch, with the indignation and rage that had licked up his arms when the Wen prisoners were drug out in front of the targets. He draws in long breaths, tries to remember what it felt like to harmonize his qi with the rhythms of the air and the ground beneath him. It’s harder now, with resentment hissing where golden energy once sang. As he passes away from the rest of the participants, winding through the quiet wood, his heart steadies into an easier rhythm, and he can feel his shoulders loosen. “No mess,” he breathes out. He turns in a slow circle, more for the sake of movement than any surveying purpose. Energy winds restless and eager through his limbs, unsatisfied by the long walk up the hills. He’s tired and antsy in a way he can’t wholly blame on the competition.

Since that night, since Jiang Cheng found out, he’s been trying to bully Wei Wuxian into getting more sleep, as if the problem is Wei Wuxian not wanting to rest. It’s sweet, almost. For all that the world has hardened and sharpened Jiang Cheng, it’s nice to know he’s still naïve in some ways.

The problem isn’t that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to sleep. He’s been walking around half-exhausted since he stopped using resentment to prop him up during the war. He would love to sleep if it weren’t for the screaming, clawing, raving hands that scrabble across his throat and rip into his chest every time he tries. He’s no longer sure how much of it is from the seal and how much he carries on from the Burial Mounds, wraiths as a reminder of his bargain. Either way, the only way to quiet their wailing is to wait until he’s so exhausted oblivion takes him out at the knees or to drink until everything is sodden and soft-edged. With Jiang Cheng and shijie’s new campaign to ensure he takes better care of himself, he’s been cut off from either option. Instead, he’s left dreading evening, skin crawling at the thought of lying down. It leaves him brittle, dry-edged, like a leaf turning crisped and fragile in autumn. He perches on a fallen tree and sets to playing. It’s a gentle song, softer and brighter than any he played in the war. Monsters like music, it turns out, as long as it’s played right, as long as it sounds like an invitation. He lures them on and into Yunmeng Jiang’s nets and stops when there’s just enough, when he feels the pressure on the mountain ease just-so. He could draw all the creatures of the mountain into their nets. He could lure the dead from their graves and send them dancing all the way to Jin Guangshan’s bedside in the middle of the night. With the seal humming against his chest, there is so very little he cannot do. But – Jiang Cheng doesn’t want a mess. So. Lowering Chenqing, he settles back into his perch and exhales. The air is sweet up here, purified by the trees and the living things growing through the soft soil. Closing his eyes briefly, he drinks it in and lets the sunlight dapple his skin with warmth. He’s tempted to fold his legs beneath himself and meditate in the afternoon quiet. As a kid, he always struggled with their meditation classes, too aware of the rest of the disciples sitting around him and constantly tempted to open his eyes, to check how much time had passed, if he was doing it correctly, if there was something he was missing. But outside of their classes, floating in the cool lake waters or sitting alone in the grasses, he had slipped into it like the softest sea. Listening to the gentle murmurs of the universe, feeling the expanse of his own breath, has always settled him. The way the rhythms of his own body echo those of the tide, the wind, the steady earth, makes him feel small in a way nothing else does: like he is only a piece of a whole, a bud on an endless tree, rather than a child running, bleeding, from hungry dogs. There’s a noise, the quietest scuff of feet on the road, and he shifts, opening his eyes. Lan Zhan walks carefully between the shadows, upright and alone. Sunlight catches on the silver of his hairpiece, the summer blue of his robes. A smile pulls at Wei Wuxian’s lips, instinctive, reflexive, and he straightens up to call out to him. Unbidden, Zewu-jun’s words return to him. I hope you will not be so selfish to the people who care about you. Back when they were young, before, he and Lan Zhan were an even match. Strong enough to challenge each other, to hold each other up. There was a reason they’d worked so well on the hunt for the yin iron. Now, though — how can Wei Wuxian possibly be Lan Zhan’s match? Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun, the righteous and indomitable. His stomach twists sickly, grief and regret and hurt coiling deep in his low belly. It would be selfish, to try to keep Lan Zhan, to try to bind him to his own dead weight. Steps sound steady up the slope toward him, and Wei Wuxian barely scrambles to his feet before Lan Zhan is there, directly in front of him. “Ah Lan Zhan,” he greets, trying to steady his voice with some of his old lightheartedness, “I heard you were tired of mending your family’s principles in Cloud Recesses.” “I made some progress composing the music score,” Lan Zhan says, “and I wanted to share it with you to see how it works.” Disappointment slides bitter down Wei Wuxian’s throat. Of course he’s only interested in fixing Wei Wuxian, as if he’s ever been anything but a problem. He taps Chenqing against his open palm. “Lan Wangji, who do you take me for? Can’t you leave me alone?” he complains. He’d rather be left on his own than have to deal with this constant nagging reminder of what he’s thrown away. “Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan says stubbornly, “who do you take me for?” He swallows, suddenly caught by the earnestness in Lan Zhan’s voice. That bitter part of him, the teeth and claws he grew in the Burial Mounds, wants to bite back that Lan Zhan is nothing, that he is only a mythic hero just like everyone else thinks him and Wei Wuxian has no need of his concern, his presence. Hanguang-jun, it wants to say. I take you for Hanguang-jun, cold and aloof and empty. He can’t. As much as he could lash out and fight back in the war, it never really lasted that long. From that first night in Gusu, the first shuddering connection of his sword against Suibian’s sheath, Wei Wuxian has had a tether sewn into his soul, pulling him always back to Lan Wangji. Now, he breathes out and looks away. “I had once taken you as the one who knew me in this life,” he says. It falls from his lips like spring blooms, delicate and easily bruised. His whole self feels newly raw with the admission, as if he has opened himself to Lan Zhan’s inspection. “I still am.” His eyes flit up to Lan Zhan’s face, startled and unsure. There is no doubt in his amber eyes, no hesitance in his reply. In the face of that certainty, Wei Wuxian is left shaken, rocked. How? he wants to ask. How can Lan Zhan stay so firm in the tempest wake of Wei Wuxian? How can he answer so surely when Wei Wuxian has lashed him with rebuke and insult and distance? It is terrifying to feel that unwavering gaze on him, the weight of his conviction too much for Wei Wuxian’s exhausted shoulders. “Lan Zhan,” he says, because the words are now pressing to his lips, the confession budding on his tongue, “Lan Zhan, there’s something I need to tell you.” His brow tenses, just the faintest line of shadow between them, and Wei Wuxian knows he needs to say it even as he can’t fathom how to begin. It was easier with Jiang Cheng and shijie, when it came out by accident. Now that he’s had time to think and prepare, he finds himself with none of the right words. “There’s— I—” he starts, stumbles. He wants to make it easy, to grab Lan Zhan’s hand and press it against his chest over that gaping hollow gnawing beneath his skin. “Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan asks, swaying half a step closer. Before he can find any word or betray himself by reaching out, Wei Wuxian catches footsteps behind him and twists, tugging Lan Zhan with him. It’s instinct more than anything, paranoia the smallest cost of survival. Annoyance rears up when he catches Jin Zixuan walking alongside shijie, boasting about Lanling Jin’s hunts. Shijie looks miserable, eyes downcast and posture carefully correct. She deserves better than this, deserves someone who brings the smile out on her lips and the brightness into her eyes. Jin Zixuan deserves far more than a single punch to the face. “Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan chides, a hand on his arm, and he subsides with a scowl. He holds out until Jin Zixuan plants his foot firmly in his own mouth and shijie starts stammering, nerves catching up to her. It’s far more patience than he really owes the peacock, he thinks. “Wei Wuxian? Why do you keep showing up?” “I should be asking you that question,” Wei Wuxian snaps back. “Why did you stop her after she rejected you?” For all that he’s tried to respect shijie’s wishes in regards to this match, he can’t understand what she sees in the man. Every encounter Wei Wuxian has had with him, barring a few councils in the war, has further reduced his opinion. He’s less of a peacock and more of an ass draped in fine silk; no amount of gold or perfume can cover that stench. The rustle of his sleeves is all the warning he has before Jin Zixuan has drawn his blade, swinging it down toward Wei Wuxian. He presses back, straightening to better shield shijie, but before he can lift Chenqing, there’s a ringing retort as the blade connects with another, far more familiar. “Hanguang-jun?” Jin Zixuan demands, stepping back in surprise. Lan Zhan lowers Bichen but remains just in front of Wei Wuxian and shijie, as if he’s taken up the role of guard. Despite himself, Wei Wuxian is glad for his presence.   Before any more can be said, before he can demand Jin Zixuan explain why he just drew a sword on an ally without provocation, there’s the sound of footsteps from either direction and a flock of descending Jin disciples. Wei Wuxian’s hand tightens briefly around shijie’s wrist in a wishful thought of just turning his back on all of them and walking away. “What happened? Zixuan, did Wei Wuxian cause you trouble again? I’ll deal with him,” one of the Jin cousins declares. He looks familiar in a way that means Wei Wuxian probably ought to know his name, but a cursory search turns up nothing in his memory, and he’s too irritated right now to try harder. “Wei Wuxian, what do you want? Why do you keep troubling Zixuan?” the man demands, shoving forward. Leaning back enough to breathe his own air, Wei Wuxian huffs out a breath and turns to face him fully. “Who are you?” he asks. Immediately, the younger peacock stiffens, all those gold feathers ruffling while Wei Wuxian waits with an eyebrow lifted. This is ridiculous. He just wanted to stop idiot Zixuan from bullying shijie and now this moron wants to take a swing. “How dare you not know who I am?” he blurts out. “Should I?” Wei Wuxian returns, breathing out a laugh. “You—!” He’s kept from drawing his own sword and waving it in Wei Wuxian’s face by Jin-furen’s arrival, along with her apricot-robed attendants. She crosses between the men as if she can’t see them, immediately reaching out for shijie’s hands. Wei Wuxian retreats half a step, lowering his gaze. Jin-furen’s always treated shijie well, cared for her like the daughter she wished she had. He’s glad of that, grateful someone else can see shijie for who she is and want to protect her. He just wishes she didn’t look at him the same way Madam Yu did: like he’s an animal brought in from the woods, something diseased masquerading as a pet that might bite at any time. “A-Li, why do you look upset?” she asks. “I appreciate your concern, Madam Jin, but I am fine,” shijie answers with a small smile. She’s not fine, Wei Wuxian wants to say, but he’d never shame shijie that way. Her eyes are still damp with tears that don’t quite fall, and her smile trembles a little. “Did my intractable son bully you again?” Jin-furen demands. She twists around to glare at Jin Zixuan. “Zixuan, what’s wrong with you? What did you promise me before leaving?” It is, Wei Wuxian will admit, a little satisfying to watch Jin Zixuan bow his head under his mother’s scolding. He holds himself on such an arrogant pedestal he ought to be reminded that the same dirt touches his shoes as everyone else’s. Beside Jin-furen, though, shijie has her head dipped and lips thinned in a way that signals embarrassment, her quiet retreat from the trouble she’ll blame herself for causing. Wei Wuxian steps forward and takes her wrist gently. “No matter what he promised, Jin-furen,” he says, “from today on, he and Yanli will no longer have any association with each other.” A little pull and shijie turns with him to leave. “Wei Wuxian! My aunt is your senior. How can you talk this way? Aren’t you being too proud?”

[marzaid]

Could you imagine if after Lan Wangji visits the Burial Mounds he hoes straight to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren and is like “look I know you don’t trust Wei Ying but you are coming with me back to the Burial Mounds.” So they take a family trip to the Burial Mounds, unexpectedly, and are greeted by Wen Ning, the Ghost General, who seems harmless. They ask to speak with We Wuxian, who is very anxious because he might trust Lan Wangji but he isn’t sure about the rest of his family. The Lans find how they’re just trying to farm and make do with what they have.

Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren are very confused because they were told by a Jin Guangshan that Wei Wuxian was forming an evil army but apparently he picked up fatherhood and farming instead? A-Yuan calls Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren uncle and great uncle respectively because he just assumes that they’re family. Lan Xichen takes it in stride because honestly A-Yuan is the most adorable child and I headcanon that Lan Xichen adores children. Lan Qiren is conflicted because on one hand this child is adorable and he probably secretly likes kids but on the other this child is apparently Wei Wuxian’s??

Anyway so the Lans all collectively lose their shit and go to Jiang Cheng because they want to know if he was aware of this, which he was but he had no power to take care of his brother. Lan Xichen is like “hmmm I will call my sworn brothers here” and Jiang Cheng is having a hard time because Jiang Yanli’s wedding is probably in a day or so so he’s STRESSED. They agree to let Jiang Yanli get married first even because trying to clear Wei Wuxian’s name will be a long arduous process that might delay their wedding. Plus the marriage will give them another Jin to persuade. So they get married and the Jiang siblings tell Wei Wuxian the plan.

About a week or so after the wedding everyone is called to Lotus Pier and the situation is explained. Nie Mingjue refuses to believe without seeing it first, so suddenly there are group tours of the Burial Mounds. Wei Wuxian and the Wens are tired and confused and they just want to live in peace maybe find a better place to reside that doesn’t have resentful energy and dead bodies but they’ll take what they’re given. Nie Mingjue might have hated the Wens but he’s a fair man (y’all can fight me on this one he is fair and kind fuck you), so he also backs the campaign to bring justice because he doesn’t believe in involving civilians in the fight. He also has a long conversation with Wen Qing because he wanted to understand why she never came forward if she didn’t agree with her uncle and cousins and learns that her younger brother’s life was what she was trying to protect. He thinks of Nie Huaisang and understands immediately as he would do anything to protect his brother as well.

Jin Zixuan and Jin Guangyao also go on one of the tours of the Burial Mounds and their reactions are very different. Jin Zixuan is horrified are the implications of what his family has done and vows as heir apparent to the Jin sect to do something about it. His father refuses to go, no surprise there, but Madam Jin and some of the elders go on one and they are equally as horrified, vowing to help in whatever way they can. Jin Guangyao, on the other hand, sees his plan falling apart and is freaking out. If everyone sides with Wei Wuxian and the Wens then he, Jin Guangyao, won’t be able to use him as a scapegoat and a means to help himself rise to power. He tries to frame Wei Wuxian by setting out traps around the Burial Mounds for people coming in on tours. The problem is that they catch some innocent civilians instead and Wei Wuxian is furious threatening to put up a barrier to stop anyone from coming in at all.

The other issue for Jin Guangyao was that he had promised Jin Guangshan that he would get the Yin Tiger Seal but was unable to convince anyone that the chief cultivator should have it. One of the agreements between Wei Wuxian and everyone else was that he would give half the seal to the Lan and the other half to the Nie. This way they could have it destroyed publicly. He originally wanted to hand it over to Jiang Cheng but other cultivators especially from smaller sects were wary of this and thought that the Jiang would use it to take over. So the Lan and Nie split it since they are considered the most fair of the major sects.

The Yin Tiger Seal is destroyed and the crimes of Jin Guangshan and crew are revealed. The rest of the sects, especially the smaller ones, want Jin Guangshan to step down both as chief cultivator and sect leader but he refuses. Even within the Jin sect there’s a rift. Half the sect wants him to step down and the other half support him for various reasons. The half that want him to step down rally behind Jin Zixuan and nominate him as their sect leader refusing to acknowledge Jin Guangshan. They work together with the other sects to rectify the wrongs their sect committed. However, there’s the part of the sect that still supports Jin Guangshan and they won’t go down without a fight.

Surprisingly, there are people from other sects that also rally behind Jin Guangshan and the remnants of his sect that stayed with him. They form an army hellbent on taking down Wei Wuxian and the rest of the Wen and anyone that gets in their way. Jin Guangyao, who has been vying for his fathers approval his entire life, stays by his fathers side despite the evidence and knowing that it’s wrong. He tries to convince Lan Xichen of this but is unsuccessful. The trust and affection he built up from Lan Xichen is gone and maybe he’s devastated but he convinces himself that once he has his fathers approval and then once he is chief cultivator and the most powerful that Lan Xichen will come crawling back. He won’t but Jin Guangyao keeps trying to convince himself otherwise.

A battle at the Burial Mounds ensues and Wei Wuxian is only just able to ensure that the Wens are taken to safety. The other sects back Wei Wuxian and there is another long, exhausting series of bloody battles just like those of the Sunshot campaign. Wei Wuxian uses resentful energy as best as he can but at some point realizes that he’s been regrowing a golden core (this is a thing in my mind let me dream). He uses a combination of spiritual and resentful energy and teaches Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and the rest of the Jiangi how to do it. They don’t have to use it to the extent that he used to but they still understand how to control it when needed (new Jiang technique besides what Jiang Cheng eventually develops too).

Jin Guangshan falls and his supporters lose. Some of them abandon him as they start seeing his side losing the war, others abandon him right after his death. There are still those who are extremely loyal to Jin Guangshan even after the man’s death but they become a small minority. Maybe they for, their own sect under Jin Guangyao. He can’t take the Jin name anymore because Jin Zixuan is still alive and rightfully claims that name. Maybe he goes back to Meng Yao, who knows, but he is still the face of that small group that want justice for their cause even if their cause means death to innocent people.

After the war is finally through, the position of chief cultivator is abolished, as none of the sects like the idea of one man having that much power. They saw it with Wen Ruohan, with Jin a Guangshan, and arguably with Wei Wuxian. They opt for a democratic panel where representatives from each sect regardless of their size have regular discussions to sort out problems arise. These discussions are not set in one spot and regularly move so that each sect regardless of size takes a turn at hosting everyone.

Wei Wuxian is reinstated as head disciple and right hand man of Jiang though if anyone asks Jiang Cheng he stubbornly says that it was a temporary hiatus. The rest of the Wen settle in Yunmeng because they liked being close to We Wuxian as they see him and now by extension the Jiang as their family. Uncle Four opens the best liquor shop in all of Yunmeng that has people from all over coming to it for a try of all his different brews. Wen Qing and Wen Ning because the official doctors of the Jiang but also regularly take people from anywhere and occasionally travel if needed. Granny and A-Yuan live in Lotus Pier with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng and Granny becomes everyone’s Granny. She cares for the young disciples and also always makes sure that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are taking care of themselves. How can they deny her anything anyway? Are you going to disappoint Granny? Plus she has Jiang Yanli on speed dial and they would die rather than make their big sister sad. A-Yuan becomes a new disciple of the Jiang.

It’s decided at one of the discussion conferences that it would be good for young disciples as they near adulthood to learn from other sects. Not necessarily all their techniques but to meet new people gain more knowledge. Some sects have occasional workshops while some of the bigger sects invite disciples to have an extended stay. A-Yuan, who’s already best friends with His cousin Jin Ling at this point, becomes good friends with the other juniors his age as well, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen. The four of them form an unbreakable group.

The Jiang under Jiang Cheng grow exponentially because he takes in people that remind him of Wei Wuxian. People in bad situations and in bad spots and gives them a safe haven. There’s a running joke among the disciples to see which brother, Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian, adopts more kids to take care of.

Somewhere along the way Wangxian probably elopes. Maybe right in the middle of the war. Jiang Cheng loses his shit because he’s been planning Wei Wuxian’s wedding since he moved to Lotus Pier when they were kids. So they have a ceremony when things settled down that neither Wei Wuxian nor Lan Wangji could say no to because their respective brothers had been so excited at the prospect of a wedding.

In the end, things are finally peaceful. Occasionally, some tries to rise up and gain power and hurt others but they’ve got a pretty good handle on things.

Everyone lives and is happy. The end.

[bloody-bee-tea]

BeeTober 2020 Day 1

Cliff - Mid-Autumn Festival

It’s October and you all know what that means! Another writing event, where I will post a fic every day. Since the Untamed Fall Fest is happening at the same time, I combined the prompts! There’s a series on my AO3 where you can read all of these as well, if that suits you better.

This first fic is Mingcheng, and it will probably change everything, plot-wise, but like always, don’t ask me about it XD

I hope you enjoy this event with me!

Jiang Cheng has a bad feeling about this conference. Despite what everyone thinks, he is in fact able to read a room and what he reads spells trouble.

And going by the looks Jin Guangshan keeps throwing him it will come from him.

The conference is just drawing to a close and Jiang Cheng finally allows himself to relax—if only a little bit—when Jin Guangshan turns his eyes on him.

Jiang Cheng immediately stiffens again.

“There is one more matter to address,” Jin Guangshan says and Jiang Cheng feels relieved to see that he’s not the only one who suppresses a sigh.

“And what would that be?” Lan Xichen asks, when Jin Guangshan falls silent, clearly waiting for someone to inquire after that mysterious matter, and a cold shudder runs down Jiang Cheng’s back when Jin Guangshan smiles at him.

“The matter of the Jiang Sect,” Jin Guangshan sweetly replies and everyone in the hall falls silent.

“What is the matter with my Sect?” Jiang Cheng asks with a slight bow and when Jin Guangshan looks at him like one might look at a particularly stupid child Jiang Cheng has to fight the urge to throw himself off a cliff.

Or maybe he’ll just throw Jin Guangshan off one, that should solve almost the same amount of problems for Jiang Cheng.

“You’re recruiting, and heavily at that,” Jin Guangshan says, just as Jin Guangyao nods in agreement. “One has to wonder if there’s a hidden reason behind that.”

Jiang Cheng works his jaw, before he gets up and bows low to Jin Guangshan, aware that all eyes are on him. And not all of them are friendly.

Jiang Cheng never did deal well with attention like this.

“There is no hidden agenda,” Jiang Cheng promises and then his petty streak makes an appearance. “I know Lanling Jin didn’t suffer the same losses, but Yunmeng Jiang nearly got destroyed when Lotus Pier was burned. I barely have any disciples as it is. I’m just trying to fill the ranks again.”

“And for what purpose?” Jin Guangyao asks him, clearly picking up on Jin Guangshan’s thread of thought.

“Yunmeng Jiang is one of the Great Sects. There is nothing Great about Yunmeng right now, and I’m just trying to rebuild it,” Jiang Cheng says through clenched teeth.

“Recruiting at this point of time seems suspicious. One could think you’re trying to replace Qishan When,” Jin Guangyao says, a polite smile on his face and Jiang Cheng wants to do nothing more than wipe it off.

Preferably with Zidian.

“I am not actively recruiting, though,” Jiang Cheng forces himself to say, because he can guess where this is going. “People come to me to pledge loyalty. I am in no position to send them away.”

“Even when they already have a Sect they belong to?” Jin Guangyao wants to know and of course this is the whole problem.

“I don’t question where my people come from,” Jiang Cheng admits. “If they are willing to be loyal, then I am willing to let them wear purple.”

“How can they be loyal if they already betrayed one Sect?” Jin Guangshan says and Jiang Cheng suppresses a sigh.

“What do you mean?” Nie Mingjue suddenly chimes in and when Jin Guangyao looks at him with much the same look Jin Guangshan just gave Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng feels his skin itch.

“People are falling over themselves to join Yunmeng Jiang. Even disciples who already pledged their loyalty to one Sect.”

“Ah, I see,” Lan Xichen says and stands up. “I don’t think that is much of a problem,” he goes on and Jiang Cheng inwardly shakes his head.

Of course he won’t think of this as a problem. Barely any Lan disciples came to Jiang Cheng after all. But his Sect is overflowing with Jin disciples and Jiang Cheng is honestly not surprised about that.

“Er-ge,” Jin Guangyao gently chides him and Jiang Cheng sees how Nie Mingjue works his jaw at the patronizing tone.

“I don’t see a problem with that, either,” Nie Mingjue says after a moment and Jiang Cheng is honestly surprised he is speaking up for him.

“But you should,” Jin Guangyao says. “I heard some Nie disciples defected as well.”

“As they should, if they can’t serve under me,” Nie Mingjue gives back without a beat and for once Jin Guangyao falls silent.

Jiang Cheng sees a dangerous glint in his eyes, and he thinks it might be better if someone interferes.

“Sect Leader Jin, I apologize if I offended you in any way,” Jiang Cheng says with a low bow. “But I am not actively recruiting and I am not doing background checks on my disciples at this time. Anyone who wants to serve me is welcome. I hope you understand the need to rebuild what was lost in this gruesome war.”

Jiang Cheng bitterly thinks back to his burned home, while Jinlingtai stands strong and perfect as ever and he wants to shake Jin Guangshan until his head falls off.

Besides, it’s not his fault that Jin Guangshan is such a shitty leader that his disciples are coming to Jiang Cheng in flocks. At this point, there are probably more Jin disciples in purple than any actual Yunmeng people.

Jin Guangshan narrows his eyes at Jiang Cheng, who keeps his bow low and respectful, even though he feels anything but, and eventually he waves his hand.

“Just see to it that your actions cannot be mistaken for anything but rebuilding,” Jin Guangshan warns him and Jiang Cheng suddenly understands that Jin Guangshan is afraid of him.

Jiang Cheng lost everything; his parents, his home, most of his Sect. His sister will marry into the Jin Sect and only the gods know what Wei Wuxian is up to these days and yet Jin Guangshan feels threatened by him.

It’s honestly a better feeling than Jiang Cheng has expected.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng is on his way back to his quarters when Nie Mingjue stops him.

“Do you have a moment?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng nods, despite how uneasy he feels.

Nie Mingjue had seemed okay with the fact that a few of his people decided to serve under Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng knows better than to trust it.

“Of course,” Jiang Cheng stiffly replies and when Nie Mingjue steps closer, Jiang Cheng is acutely aware of the fact that Nie Mingjue is a very imposing man and that Baxia is a very huge saber.

“Is it true? Did some of my people join your Sect?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng squares his shoulders.

These people came to him in hopes of finding a new home, and he will not sell them out to their previous Sect Leaders.

“And what of it?” Jiang Cheng snaps but Nie Mingjue only smiles slightly at him.

“Nothing,” he easily replies. “I meant what I told Jin Guangshan. If they found someone more worthy to follow than me, then I am fine with that. I only wish the best for my people and if I am not it, then I would always encourage them to go find it.” Nie Mingjue tilts his head slightly before he adds, “Unlike some other people.”

“I see,” Jiang Cheng replies, because he doesn’t quite dare to trust this.

It is still very fresh in his mind that the other three Great Sects now have a sworn brotherhood, while Jiang Cheng and Yunmeng Jiang are standing all on their own.

“I am looking for seven disciples,” Nie Mingjue says and holds out a small scroll to Jiang Cheng. “Those are their names. I try my best to give the families of my disciples an account of what happened to them during a fight, but I can’t find these seven. Maybe they are with you?”

“I will not sell them out to you,” Jiang Cheng hisses and Nie Mingjue seems honestly taken aback by the venom in his voice.

“I am not asking you to. If they are with you, then that’s okay with me. I just want to know if I have to tell their families that they are dead or not.”

Jiang Cheng mulls that over for a few moments before he snatches the scroll out of Nie Mingjue’s hand.

He quickly unrolls it and scans the names, before he rolls it up again and puts it inside his own robe.

“I recognize four of them,” he finally tells Nie Mingjue. “They are alive and well.”

“And the other three?” Nie Mingjue lowly asks and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“I haven’t heard their names. I’ll have to ask around.”

“Would you?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng scoffs.

“Do I have a choice?” he bites out and he almost—almost—softens at the surprised look on Nie Mingjue’s face.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I might be a newly appointed Sect Leader but I am well aware of the consequences refusing you would bring for me. Especially with the support you have in your back.”

“You have nothing to fear from me,” Nie Mingjue says with a small frown. “You have support as well.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Jiang Cheng sarcastically says. “I have your support, of course. Is that the reason you and your two sworn brothers decided to forget about me?” he can’t help but ask and Nie Mingjue rears back as if Jiang Cheng had hit him with Zidian.

“We didn’t mean to—,” Nie Mingjue starts but Jiang Cheng doesn’t let him finish.

“It doesn’t matter, it is done after all,” Jiang Cheng bitterly mutters. “I will see if I can find your missing disciples, Sect Leader Nie,” he then says with a mocking bow. “And please be lenient with me in the future.”

“Jiang Wanyin, we didn’t mean to.”

“And yet you did,” Jiang Cheng gives back. “You isolated me and now I am without support. Jin Guangshan must really love this. No wonder he comes after my disciples now. Thanks to you, they are the only support I have left. Now, if you would please excuse me,” Jiang Cheng finishes, before Nie Mingjue can find his words again, and he simply turns around and leaves.

He can’t even find it in him to care that he was rude. They don’t respect him anyway, one bow more or less won’t change that.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng is in the middle of the preparations for the mid-autumn festival, when a disciple finds him.

“Sect Leader Jiang, Sect Leader Nie is requesting to see you,” he politely says and Jiang Cheng let’s out a frustrated sigh.

This is the first major holiday since Lotus Pier burned, since Jiang Cheng lost everything. He had planned to spend it with the only remaining family he has left, had hoped to spend it with his disciples who will hopefully turn into a new family for him, and he was not prepared to have this all interrupted.

“Fine,” he still sighs. “Send him in,” he instructs the disciple, not even caring that it is incredibly rude that he didn’t go out to greet Nie Mingjue himself.

Well, better the other Sect Leaders learn to manage their expectations early when it comes to Jiang Cheng.

“Jiang Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue greets him when he enters Jiang Cheng’s study, and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.

“Sect Leader Nie,” he gives back, but Nie Mingjue waves him off.

“None of that, please.”

Jiang Cheng frowns but he doesn’t argue with Nie Mingjue.

“What brings you here,” he asks when it doesn’t seem like Nie Mingjue is going to talk, his gaze wandering around the study, and Jiang Cheng has a quick second to regret meeting him here.

But then remembers that this is Nie Mingjue, who is righteous and steadfast in a way not a lot of the other Sect Leaders are, and he reassures himself that he has nothing to fear from Nie Mingjue.

He would know it if Nie Mingjue wanted to harm him and his Sect, Jiang Cheng is sure of that.

“I have a proposal,” Nie Mingjue thoughtfully says but then stops himself. “But first I wanted to ask if you had any luck finding the other three disciples.”

“I did,” Jiang Cheng nods and gets the scroll. “Two of them are dead. I’m sorry. They died wearing my colours, which is probably why you didn’t find them. The third one is with me as well, and she is alive and healthy.”

Nie Mingjue scans the names and Jiang Cheng sees honest sorrow when he reads the names of the two deceased ones. 

Jiang Cheng knows the names of all his disciples, makes it a point to learn them, even though due to the recent influx of them he is a little bit behind, but he didn’t think anyway else bothered to.

Jin Guangshan certainly doesn’t seem the type, and neither does Lan Xichen, if he’s being honest.

“Thank you for finding them,” Nie Mingjue softly says and then quickly puts the scroll away.

“Don’t mention it,” Jiang Cheng gives back, more threatening than he actually means to, but this is making him uncomfortable now.

He shouldn’t be thanked for simply being a decent human being.

“Now, what’s the proposal?” he gruffly asks, desperate to change the topic and Nie Mingjue straightens up.

“We were wrong to leave you out of our sworn brotherhood,” Nie Mingjue starts with and Jiang Cheng already wants this conversation to end.

He doesn’t need to be reminded that despite whatever Nie Mingjue is saying right now, they did leave him out of it.

“And I know we can’t make up for it, because it’s already done, but I have an idea.”

Jiang Cheng hesitates for a moment, but then his curiosity wins out. He wonders what Nie Mingjue thinks he can do, given that he is already sworn brothers with Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao and a brotherhood of four is bad luck.

“Speak,” Jiang Cheng orders when Nie Mingjue falls silent again.

“You can swear brotherhood with Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan,” Nie Mingjue proposes and Jiang Cheng shakes his head, because what?

“I know it’s not the same, since neither of them are Sect Leaders, though Jin Zixuan is the heir. But it would still strengthen your standing. It would also help you to protect Wei Wuxian, because I have seen the greedy look on Jin Guangshan’s face when it comes to the Stygian Tiger amulet, but I have also seen how Lan Wangji looks at your brother. I doubt he would let anything happen to him, if he’s given a chance.”

Jiang Cheng has to admit that Nie Mingjue is right about that—he had noticed it as well—but he still can’t help the bitter huff he lets out.

“And you get out of this without any bonds,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says, because it didn’t escape his notice that there was no mention of the Nie Sect in any of this.

“I wouldn’t,” Nie Mingjue gives back and puts a box on the table.

“What is this?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, eyeing the box with suspicion.

“A courtship gift,” Nie Mingjue easily replies and Jiang Cheng freezes.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I am not. A sworn brotherhood can only get you that far, especially since you can’t swear with any other Sect Leaders. So I am proposing a marriage.”

“Between me and—?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, because he can’t quite believe that Nie Mingjue would sell Nie Huaisang like this, but on the other hand he can’t see Nie Mingjue accepting a spouse either.

“Me,” Nie Mingjue says, much to the surprise of Jiang Cheng and then chuckles. “I wouldn’t sell Huaisang. If I was proposing a marriage with him, he would be here.”

Jiang Cheng gapes at Nie Mingjue because this is so far from anything Jiang Cheng had imagined that he can barely wrap his head around it.

“You must be joking,” he finally manages to say, but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.

“I assure you, I am not.”

Jiang Cheng allows himself to imagine it for a few moments; not only the support this would bring to him, but also the marriage in itself. He can see himself falling in love with Nie Mingjue—he’s a catch, really, if you don’t mention the qi deviations—but Jiang Cheng knows better than to expect the same in turn.

“I will not enter into a loveless marriage,” Jiang Cheng declares, thinking back to his own parents, but Nie Mingjue shrugs.

“You are a very attractive man, Jiang Wanyin. And I admire your strength, your resilience and your biting tongue, and how you all use it to hide the fact that you love your family and people. I can see myself falling in love with you, but that is what the courtship is for, is it not?” Nie Mingjue gives back and effectively renders Jiang Cheng speechless. “And even if it doesn’t work out, I doubt I’m going to live to old age. You’d be free of me sooner rather than later.”

“You actually mean it,” Jiang Cheng finally chokes out, deciding to ignore the last part for now, and Nie Mingjue pushes the box towards him.

“Of course I do. I do not have the time for lies and deception.”

“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng agrees, because that he actually noticed before.

Nie Mingjue is the most no-nonsense person Jiang Cheng has ever encountered, and he knows Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng reaches out for the box with shaking hands, and he lets out a startled laugh when he opens it.

It’s full of nails.

“I thought you could need some funds to rebuild Lotus Pier. This was the easiest to carry with me,” Nie Mingjue sheepishly admits and Jiang Cheng chuckles again.

“You’re not actually wrong,” he admits and closes the box again. “If we’re doing this, there will be a proper courtship, Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng dares to say, figures if this is really happening then they better get used to this sooner rather than later, and Nie Mingjue nods.

“I wouldn’t want anything else,” Nie Mingjue replies with a smile and Jiang Cheng is startled to see dimples appear on his face.

He didn’t know about that. It could be a problem.

“Stay for the mid-autumn festival,” Jiang Cheng finds himself saying and is taken off guard when the smile grows in its intensity.

“With pleasure.”

~*~*~

When Nie Mingjue insists that they send a lantern off together, Jiang Cheng is not as surprised as he would have been a week ago.

Nie Mingjue stayed the whole week in Lotus Pier, helping with the rebuilding, but also actively courting Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng has to admit that he didn’t think Nie Mingjue even had one romantic bone in his body.

He had been wrong.

Sending off a lantern together, like only lovers would do, does not actually come as a surprise.

When the lantern drifts off, taking Jiang Cheng’s wish with it, he can’t help but to look over at Nie Mingjue.

The other man is already looking at him, and there’s something so soft in his look that it makes Jiang Cheng’s knees weak.

Jiang Cheng fights the instinct to run away and hide from that look—if this is going where Jiang Cheng finds himself hoping it will go he will have to get used to this, he’s sure of that—and instead he leans up on his toes to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s cheek.

Nie Mingjue freezes in surprise, Jiang Cheng can feel it, but he also puts a hand to Jiang Cheng’s waist, keeping him close and Jiang Cheng finds himself enjoying that more than he maybe should.

“I didn’t think my wish would be fulfilled this quickly,” Nie Mingjue mutters, much to Jiang Cheng’s embarrassment and he hides his face in Nie Mingjue’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m not used to getting what I wish for either,” he gives back and then feels how Nie Mingjue presses a kiss to the top of his head.

“Well, then it’s something we can get used to together,” Nie Mingjue decides and Jiang Cheng nods.

He’s actually looking forward to it.

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