#This is the Jiang Cheng becomes a cat fic I was talking about
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neverwalka1one · 2 months ago
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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin/Lan Huan | Lan Xichen Characters: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Lan Huan | Lan Xichen, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji Additional Tags: Getting Together, (....sort of??), Animal Transformation, this is extremely dumb, I have No Excuse, But I'm not sorry Series: Part 1 of Paws for thought Summary:
Jiang Cheng doesn’t like the feeling of a curse sinking through his skin at the best of times, and now he’s a fucking cat, because Wei Wuxian thinks he’s hilarious. Well, he won’t find it so hilarious when Jiang Cheng changes back and breaks his legs.
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vvienne · 3 years ago
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SANGCHENG FIC RECS
flight of a one-winged dove by bloodletter
Talking at someone is only fun for so long. That's all being a sect leader is: talking and talking to people bound by courtesy to listen to you. It's so fucking dull. A relief, then, to face one’s equal, and no less an old friend who is inclined to interrupt you whenever you ramble. He likes it. It’s one of Jiang Cheng’s best qualities.
In the years after Guanyin Temple, Nie Huaisang attends to unfinished business.
whipped by reindeercolin
Jiang Cheng blinks. “Dammit, they do think you’re dating one of us! I hate it when Wei Wuxian is right.” “Excuse me?” Nie Huaisang gives him an incredulous look. “First of all, they think I’m dating you, and if anything, they’re getting more aggressive!”
(or, the one in which Jiang Cheng has too many relatives, not enough patience, goes through a brother-divorce and finds out he has a boyfriend - in that order, more or less.)
Ponder the Manner of Things by Pip (Moirail)
It's not that Jiang Cheng can't do a quadruple flip followed by a triple toeloop. It's that his mother seems to think that's still not good enough.
Jiang Cheng is grateful that Huaisang doesn’t have the same kind of family life that he does, all - messy with expectations and cravings for closeness and nothing but vague filial piety where love is meant to be.
a matter of time and organ donation by nev_longbottom
This is it. The call he’s been waiting for. His brother had ‘an accident’ or ‘died in his sleep’ or some other lie to cover up the murder.
“Please, Mingjue is missing. He got into one of his moods and he was gone when I came back from grocery shopping. He’s not answering his phone. I don’t know if he left or was kidnapped or if something else happened. Huaisang, please, if you’ve heard anything,” Meng Yao begs.
Nie Huaisang hunts his brother's killer.
no tip necessary by tattletold
With all the nervousness of a virgin in a whorehouse, Jiang Cheng closes the door behind himself and enters, sitting on the low seat across from the escort. The pretty young man keeps his face hidden behind the delicate fan, and Jiang Cheng thinks for a moment that he recognizes the design painted onto it now that he’s closer.
It’s only when he lowers the fan and opens his eyes, wide, does Jiang Cheng paralyze with realization.
They speak at the same time in equally horrified tones.
“Jiang Cheng?”
“Nie Huaisang?”
Your Place in the Family of Things by raisedbyhyenas
No matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, Wei Wuxian will always leave and Jiang Cheng will always get stuck trying to rebuild from whatever’s left.
*************
In which Jiang Cheng makes friends; gets a cat; begins to rebuild a relationship; and maybe, possibly, potentially, learns a little bit how to be happy.
sigh yourself to sleep by merthurlin
“Let me take care of you, A-Cheng.”
No one—no one has ever said that, not to Jiang Cheng. He wasn’t a very sickly child, true, but the few times he remembered being sick it was never—he had a-jie, and later on he had Wei Wuxian, for what it was worth, but he never—
halcyon days by serein
They're in a forest, it seems just the two of them.
"You have to be patient," Nie Huaisang says, "I once waited for three days to catch a sparrow."
"Three days?" Jiang Cheng replies, sceptical. He can't imagine Nie Huaisang having the attention span for that.
"It's not that hard," Nie Huaisang says, "if you know what they want, and find a way to get it for them."
[JC stumbles across an array and gets physically de-aged to be 16/17. NHS kindly offers his help to an old friend, but things... escalate.]
To Distraction by isozyme
It’s the third night of Yunmeng’s kite festival celebrations. Nie Huaisang has come visiting, eager to partake in the food, the arts, and Jiang Cheng.
-
Jiang Cheng wants to forget. Nie Huaisang has some new lube and wants to see if he can put his whole fist in somebody’s ass.
Lights, Camera, Kiss by MissMagus
When Nie Huaisang gets paired with straight porn star Jiang Cheng for a five-part series, he’s sure it will be an utter disaster. Until the cameras start rolling and their chemistry alights like wildfire.
(Or, the five times Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng have sex for their job, and the first time they have sex outside of it.)
Only the Shallow by hamburglar
When Nie Huaisang gets bored and convinces Jiang Cheng to make out with him, he’s probably not expecting to still be dealing with the guy 16 years later.
OR the story where Jiang Cheng goes into: the Cloud Recesses, denial, some bushes, the private porn library at the Unclean Realm, and subspace.
Blind for Love by manamune
Jiang Cheng is poisoned with an aphrodisiac and needs to orgasm repeatedly in order to flush it from his system.
The first person he thinks of going to for help is Nie Huaisang, who does what any good friend would do: he shoves his three decades worth of feelings for Jiang Cheng deep into the recesses of his mind, locks them up so he can pretend they don’t exist, and then fucks him so hard that he passes out.
Descending by lightningwaltz
“I want to… to not be embarrassed.”
“To not be embarrassed during what?”
“During sex.” There. Jiang Cheng can say it. “In general. Also with you right now.”
“Very good.”
“When did you become so authoritative?” Jiang Cheng wants to sound irked, but can’t quite manage anything beyond nervous curiosity.
dark water by Morgan (duckwhatduck)
There are words, somewhere, for this. Words that would put a shape to the thing that sits between them, would seal their understanding. There are words for sympathy, for friendship, for understanding, for that touch, for this feeling.
Jiang Cheng can feel them, somewhere, fluttering formless at the back of his throat, squirming under his ribcage, but he cannot grasp them. They swim beneath the surface, fish in muddy water - and like fish, they will dart away if he grabs for them incautiously, and leave him nothing but cold splashes and grit.
Or: Why talk about things when you could fuck about it instead?
never knew i was a dancer by isozyme
“What’s a stone butch and why aren’t they real?” Jiang Cheng asks, too buzzed to care too much about not being up on lesbian culture.
Huaisang pats Jiang Cheng on the no-man’s-land between her boobs and her shoulder. “You’re so useless, Jiang Cheng. A stone butch is a fictional hottie who doesn’t make you do any work at all, just wants to give head and fuck you stupid on her strap.”
“Fictional?” Jiang Cheng echoes, having - not a moment, per se, but sort of a problem where her thoughts are going too fast for her poor drunken brain to keep up with.
“Nobody actually wants to fuck a chick who’s too lazy to eat you out after,” Huaisang mumbles.
-
After leaving Wei Ying and Lan Zhan’s bachelorette party, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang decide to experiment with some outdated stereotypical lesbian sex roles.
lights out by rynleaf
“Nie-zongzhu makes the most sense,” Sect Leader Yao nods sagely, to murmurs of assent across the Jin Sect’s gold gilded banquet hall. Jin Ling, clad in opulent robes that look somewhat comical on a boy of sixteen, inclines his head as his scribe makes a notation, and the noise rises as sect leaders pat themselves and each other on the back for a decision well made.
Jiang Cheng groans and downs his cup of wine in one go.
-
In which the Sect Leaders elect a new Chief Cultivator.
shadow eternal by rynleaf
“You want me to distract the Chief Cultivator from the Annual Cultivation Conference, so you and other sect leaders can… what. Sign contracts without adult supervision?”
“If Jiang-zongzhu is amenable,” Sect Leader Ouyang repeats with a nod.
Jiang Cheng pinches the bridge of his nose. The pressure he felt building behind his eyes all morning is swiftly coalescing into a bitch of a headache. “Just what do you all think I’m capable of?”
Sect Leader Ouyang bows with a cheerful smile. “We have utmost faith in Sandu Shengshou’s abilities.”
-
In which a night hunt ends in disaster, Jiang Cheng catches a glimpse of Nie Huaisang's heart, and feelings are discussed after a certain fashion.
Four Days in Lanling by halotolerant
Nie Huaisang looks at him. ‘You are confusing me, Clan Leader Jiang, perhaps I misunderstand, but…’
‘You didn’t misunderstand. You don’t misunderstand. You understand all of it.’ For six months Jiang Cheng has been mulling this over, and now with Nie Huaisang in front of him he can’t figure out if he most wants to knock him down or kneel at his feet. What he does is try and breathe. Clench his hands at his sides. ‘And now I am going to ask you to do something for me. You have to do something for me. You have to help Jin Ling.’
Lean for Love Forever by Pip (Moirail)
Having a crush on your roommate is really embarrassing, except that's apparently the opposite of a problem. Jiang Cheng can't deny that's pretty convenient.
Wei Ying holds it up, a series of straps and buckles and velcro and wow, really a lot of leather. It has absolutely no conceivable form beyond tangled.
Nie Huaisang opens the door at exactly the moment that Wei Ying holds the thing up to Jiang Cheng’s chest, as if he’s trying to imagine how exactly it would fit onto a person, and it falls into a tangled pile between them while they stare at Huaisang in mild mortification.
acquired momentum by mongrelmind
Had Madam Yu known that this is where her son would end up, she would have gouged his eyes out with her bracelet before he made the grave mistake of looking in the direction of Nie Huaisang.
-
in which Nie Huaisang has an art show, Jiang Cheng is begrudgingly topless*, and there are. Shenanigans.
*Nie Huaisang excluded.
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gffa · 4 years ago
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There was this viral tweet that went around about THE UNTAMED awhile back that was basically the cycle of every fan of the series that I have ever met: 1. Wtf, THIS is the show everyone is losing their minds over? This isn’t even good! 2. Well, I guess it’s not that bad, it’s pretty watchable and fun, it’s all right. 3. I would now die for these characters. So, when I swore this drama wasn’t going to be a big fandom for me, I was just going to watch the show and then fuck off again, I should have known better. Because here I am, crying about feelings about the entire cast and devouring fic and yelling at anyone who will spend even five minutes listening to me about how much I love the OTP, how much I love the Yunmeng Siblings and their Terrible Communications Issues, and the Tragic Sibling Duos and the Tragic Doomed Loves and The Cutest Juniors In The World and how I want to lock ALL OF THEM IN A ROOM until they sort out their feelings! THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - EMOTIONAL CONSTIPATION RUNS IN THE FAMILY - YUNMENG SIBLINGS FIC: ✦ Still in the Water by airgeer, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin ling & lan sizhui & jiang cheng, 45k    A year after Jin Ling’s early succession to the position of Sect Leader, a letter is delivered to him under strange circumstances. A night-hunt follows. ✦ no one lights a candle to remember by asravine, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jiang yanli (& wangxian), 7.9k    “Didi,” Wei Wuxian says softly. His thumb on Jiang Cheng’s cheek is calloused and warm and burns of affection. Jiang Cheng barely stops himself from leaning in. “Didi, don’t cry because of me.” ✦ can people untie themselves, uncurling like flowers by annemari, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji, 19.3k    Wei Wuxian gets hurt on a night hunt. Jiang Cheng is displeased to find out that he’s been wandering around on his own instead of living with Lan Wangji in Cloud Recesses. He ends up fixing it. ✦ bark, bite by chashmish, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & lan wangji & jin ling (& wangxian), modern au, 3.4k    Jin Ling finds a dog and learns some new things about his uncles. ✦ before you stumble by ribena, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui (& wangxian), 9.8k    “Uncle,” Jin Ling says. “Just because Uncle Wei - I mean, Wei Wuxian - just because he’s leading the night-hunt, he’s teaching, he’s not doing anything wrong, he even notified you ahead of time -” ✦ Five Dogs, One Cat by ryfkah, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi & nie huaisang, 13.4k    If you’ve ever believed me in anything, believe I want what’s best for Jin Ling, the first line of the letter reads. Jiang Cheng has to stop and take a moment before he continues on to the next line: You must come to Carp Tower as soon as you can and lavish praise on the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen. ✦ Life is Very Long by Vamillepudding, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi (& wangxian), 12.7k    Wei Wuxian is a good for nothing, possibly evil, possibly fake uncle. But he’s Jin Ling’s good for nothing, possibly evil, possibly fake uncle. So it stands to reason that when Jin Ling starts to suspect that Hanguang-jun is mistreating his husband, he immediately recruits Jiang Cheng for a rescue mission. ✦ a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see by paperminds, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui & lan jingyi & ouyang zizhen, 9.7k    For as long as Jin Ling can remember, he has been immune to the majority of supernatural hauntings that plague the cultivation world. Or: what if Jin Ling had received his first-month birthday gift. ✦ plea from a cat named little plum blossom by rolameny, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling, 5.1k    Jiang Cheng is trying. Jiang Cheng is having a very trying day. At least the cat likes him. ✦ JC and WWX’s Get Along Sweater by newamsterdam, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan wangji & lan sizhui (& wangxian), 29.6k    Convinced Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian will never reconcile of their own accord, Jin Ling takes matters into his own hands by trapping both of his uncles alone, together, without their cultivation. ✦ passed down like folksongs, our love lasts so long by finedae, wei wuxian & jiang cheng (& background wangxian), 6k    winning a drinking contest, wei wuxian finds out yunmeng has got new folklore since he’s been gone. those are the stories of the Twin Prides of Yunmeng. naturally, he has to go confront jiang cheng for doing the opposite of talking shit about the dead; this is a confession of love. ✦ sorrow waited by curiositykilled, wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 2.3k    No one gets out of the Burial Mounds alive and so Wei Wuxian cannot have been in the Burial Mounds — but sometimes Jiang Cheng starts to think it might be the inverse instead. No one gets out of the Burial Mounds alive and so Wei Wuxian didn’t get out at all. Someone, something, else crawled out. ✦ the trick is to keep breathing by alessandriana, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling, 3.4k    Jiang Cheng probably should have anticipated the assassination attempt. He’d spent the last three weeks in Lanling browbeating the more intractable elders into supporting Jin Ling before his nephew’s first discussion conference, and he hadn’t exactly been kind about it. Still, he was a cultivator– if someone was going to try and kill him, he expected swords, or curses. Not poison in his tea. ✦ the road in leaves no step had trodden black by Skadiseven, wei wuxian & jiang cheng & wen ning & wen qing, 1.6k    Jiang Cheng gets a little therapy session from Wen Ning, learns to plant potatoes, and decides he’s not giving up on something he wants. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - JUST STRAIGHT UP WANGXIAN OTP FIC: ✦ Fire in the Blood by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle), lan wangji/wei wuxian, nsfw, 20.7k    Wei Ying is traveling, and he gets busy. Lan Wangji knows that sometimes, Wei Ying forgets things. ✦ scapegoat by astrobandit, lan wangji/wei wuxian, 1.3k    Four ridiculous things the Yiling Patriarch was blamed for, and one ridiculous thing that was positively his fault. ✦ Content Warning: Romance by Ariaste, lan wangji/wei wuxian, nsfw, 5.9k    Wei Wuxian just wants a little warning before Lan Wangji says nice things. Lan Wangji just wants to love on his husband, thanks. ✦ Where the Lonely Ones Go by CSHfic, VSfic, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & cast, 23.9k    Accidental (haunted) baby acquisition ✦ devotee by tagteamme, lan wangji/wei wuxian, NSFW, 5.8k    Lan Wangji does not control Wei Wuxian. Not in the way many wish he would. But like this— ✦ nothing gold can stay by rikke, lan wangji/wei wuxian & cast, nsfw, 10.3k    Before Wen Chao can throw him into Yiling Burial Mounds, Lan Wangji finds Wei Wuxian. ✦ Wait, What? by MarbleGlove, lan wangji/wei wuxian & lan xichen, time travel, 1.5k    AKA, that time sixteen-year-old Wei WuXian showed up at Cloud Recesses, took one look at Lan WangJi and declared, “That’s my future husband!” … and Lan WangJi said, “Mm” ✦ Beyond All Reach by airinshaw, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & nie huaisang & lan xichen, NSFW, 27.4k    Wei Wuxian heads back to Cloud Recesses to find out more about a curse someone has placed on him, that appears to do nothing. Until he meets back up with Lan Wangji and finds out that what the curse really does is stop them from being able to touch. ✦ Key Differences by pupeez4eva, lan wangji/wei wuxian & cast, 5.6k    Wherein Wei Wuxian ends up meeting an alternate version of himself who, much to his horror, never married Lan Wangji. Obviously he has to do something to fix this. ✦ the heart is hard to translate by vespertineflora, lan wangji/wei wuxian, NSFW, rough sex, non-con play, 10.8k    The moment comes almost out of the blue when, one relaxed spring afternoon, Lan Wangji decides that he’s ready to offer Wei Wuxian an opportunity to play out that very delicious fantasy about their stolen first kiss. ✦ Pigtail Pulling by protos_metazu_ison, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & nie huaisang & lan xichen, 3.7k    Wei Wuxian trips over Jiang Wanyin and sends both of them to the ground in a tangle of limbs and bruises. ✦ The Last Three Feet by etymologyplayground, lan wangji/wei wuxian & lan sizhui & lan wangji, 3.7k    A moment of down time in the Cloud Recesses. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - SOMETIMES YUNMENG SIBLINGS FIC, SOMETIMES WANGXIAN FIC: ✦ put your heart where your mouth is by protos_metazu_ison, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 19.9k    Having lost a month’s worth of memories might have been fine if Wei Wuxian hadn’t managed to forget the part where he and Lan Wangji got engaged. If that was, actually, what happened. He hasn’t figured out that part yet. ✦ Orchids in Lotus Pier by Vamillepudding, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & lan xichen & jiang yanli & jin zixuan & cast, 21.6k    Against all odds, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng become friends. It’s just Jiang Cheng’s luck that people think they’re courting. And it’s just Lan Wangji’s luck that regretfully, Wei Wuxian is also People. ✦ Deeper grows my longing by feyburner, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 4.4k    Jiang Cheng stared at him. “How are you this dense,” he said flatly. “Wei Wuxian. The common people aren’t scared of you, they’re scared of your husband.“ “My what,” said Wei Wuxian. ✦ A Civil Combpaign by Ariaste, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin ling/lan sizhui & cast, 31k    “And,” said one of the pompous ministers, “there’s the matter of a marriage to consider as well!” Jin Ling, who at the beginning of that sentence had expected to slam into the very last wall of his patience and lose his temper entirely, paused. “A what?” ✦ Being Known by dragongirlG, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jin zixuan/jiang yanli & jiang cheng/wen qing & nie huaisang & wen ning & lan xichen & yu ziyuan & lan qiren & cast, 36.3k wip    Teenage Lan Wangji drunkenly confesses his lust for Wei Wuxian during the guest disciple lectures at the Cloud Recesses and wakes up betrothed to him by way of forehead ribbon. It all goes from there. ✦ heaven and earth as witness by scheherazade, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & jin ling & lan sizhui, 8.5k    Jin Ling has an emotional meltdown involving Lan Sizhui. Lan Wangji predictably overreacts. Somehow, it helps Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian finally have a conversation that they should have had years ago. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - SOMETIMES CASE FIC, SOMETIMES WANGXIAN FIC: ✦ grow by cafecliche, lan wangji/wei wuxian & lan sizhui & the juniors, case fic, de-aged, 14.4k    Or: Wei Wuxian is cursed on a night-hunt, and the junior quartet rapidly finds themselves in over their heads. ✦ Linger in the Sun by etymologyplayground, lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng & ocs & cast, 39.4k    Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find themselves cursed, unable to see or hear each other. They figure things out anyway. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - WHEN I WASN’T LOOKING, I DEVELOPED NIE BROTHERS FEELINGS FIC: ✦ Pushover by nirejseki, nie huaisang & nie mingjue & lan xichen & jin guangyao & cast, 1.9k    Every once in a while, not often, people who know them well will say that Nie Mingjue lets Nie Huaisang walk all over him. That isn’t quite right. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - YOUR HONOR, HAVE YOU SEENA-YAO’S PRECIOUS FACE? - LAN XICHEN/JIN GUANGYAO FIC: ✦ half cloak & half dagger by Fahye, lan xichen/jin guangyao (& background wangxian), NSFW, 13.1k    Jin Guangyao lifts his head and smiles. "I’m considering a problem.” “Can I be of any assistance with it?” He drops a kiss on Lan Xichen’s chest. With the nail of one finger he lightly traces the characters for irony on Lan Xichen’s side. “Not this one, er-ge.” ✦ Hindsight by clockwork_spider, lan xichen/jin guangyao, ~1k    Three years after the incident at the GuanYin temple, Jin GuangYao and Nie MingJue’s coffin was unsealed and their corpses, depleted of resentful energy, were finally laid to rest, their spirits released. In his dream, Lan XiChen is visited by the spectre of his sworn brother. ✦ beyond reasons by welcome_equivocator, lan xichen/jin guangyao & lan wangji, 5.2k    “a-yao,” he says, and you are almost surprised to hear it, but he is still facing away from you, “i know about the music.” ✦ Spring Dawn 《 花落知多少 》 by iskendaris, lan xichen/jin guangyao & nie mingjue, modern au/reincarnation au, 4.5k    Meng Yao is given a second chance when he’s reincarnated. He doesn’t want a repeat of the past. However destiny has a way of interfering, and he finds himself working together with student president Lan Xichen?! Really, what is this fate?! ✦ Hold the Baby by Moonsheen, lan xichen/jin guangyao & jin zixuan/jiang yanli & lan wangji/wei wuxian & jiang cheng, 6.4k    A collection of shorts: In which a chance encounter and a fussing baby causes a slight change to Jin Guangyao’s MO. ✦ Ornament by syriala, lan xichen/jin guangyao & nie mingue & lan qiren, 1.6k    He starts to go into the bow again, and Lan Xichen intercepts his movement, stops him from bowing in a move that he might have learned from Nie Mingjue, and then his brain must short-circuit, because the only thought Lan Xichen has is that Meng Yao has the perfect height for forehead kisses. THE UNTAMED/MO DAO ZU SHI RECS - EVERY OTHER KIND OF FIC: ✦ fierce corpse Jin Zixuan by EHyde, jin zixuan/jiang yanli & jin ling & cast, 10.6k    Jin Zixuan died at Qiongqi Path. Then, Wei Wuxian brought him back. But what place does Koi Tower have for a fierce corpse? ✦ The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere by FairestCat, jiang cheng & wen qing & lan sizhui, 2.3k    There are rumours going around of a woman – a healer – travelling the countryside alone. Jiang Cheng needs to know if the rumours are true. ✦ If you only knew then (the things I only know now) by Nillegible, jiang fengmian/yu ziyuan & wei wuxian & jiang cheng & nie huaisang & lan wangji & & lan xichen & jin zixuan & cast, time travel (of a sort), 34.7k wip    Yu Ziyuan receives a warning, a letter in Jiang Cheng’s handwriting, familiar, though it seems to have evened out over long years of practice. This was from her child, but not. This Jiang Cheng, grown up in ways that it hurt to contemplate, had endured the death of his family, his Sect, and his soul. ✦ partly frozen, partly flowing by astrolesbian, lan wangji & lan xichen & lan qiren (& background wangxian), 4.9k    To discourage Lan Wangji from this idea would be to discourage him from loving, and Lan Xichen has always known that to be impossible. All he could do was nod as his brother looked at him, and finished, calmly, “Zewu-jun, I accept any punishment you see fit.” ✦ Delight in Misery by nirejseki, lan wangji & jiang cheng & lan sizhui & jin ling & lan xichen (&background wangxian), 17.4k wip    For the first time in his life, Lan Wangji didn’t want to go home. (what if he had another option?) ✦ into the light of a dark black night by dragongirlG, lan wangji & lan xichen & madam lan, 3k    On a snowy night in the dead of winter, Wu Yuhua, formerly known as Madam Lan, unexpectedly spends one last night with her sons before escaping from the Cloud Recesses. FULL DETAILS + RECS HERE
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scarletjedi · 4 years ago
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untitled Untamed time travel au but make it Mingcheng PART 2A
@piyo-13
Part 1: The Setup
Part 2A: GUSU REVISITED (part 1)
EDIT: Part 2B now up!
y'all...I tried to do one part, but this notefic is quickly becoming fic, and I need to keep it small enough to fit on tumblr, lol. The second half of this should be up in the next day or two!
Okay, the next day they arrive in Gusu, have the run in with Zixuan, which....almost goes the same? Zixuan still buys out the inn, but WWX saw this dude, who made Yanli happy, die (and while JC says it wasn’t him, he still feels that guilt) and JC looks at him and sees Jin Ling’s father, and they just... leave. Do not engage. Perhaps with a look at each other like - we need him to see her for herself, but we don’t want to put her through the pain of losing him.
...okay, JC can’t leave without saying something along the lines of “we’re in Gusu to learn, but also to form alliances. Open your damn eyes, and you might actually make a friend” - Zixuan is shook, but Mianmian looks at JC assessingly. I am here for “isolated and therefore socially awkward Zixuan” and I think it’d be hilarious if he takes this as a sign that JC wants to be friends. So, he will kind of randomly show up where JC is, like a cat trying to signal that they’re friends by mirroring you? Luckily, JC speaks “stray animal” and eventually figures out that Zixuan isn’t trying to spy on him but trying to make friends. It eventually leads to a conversation where JC turns to him and just asks “Why don’t you like my sister?” ...but i’ll get to that.
So, they leave, and this time they double check that WWX has the invitation. He does, but they’re still delayed just a bit going up the mountain, so when they reach the top, Lan Wangji is waiting.
The party stops when they see him, mostly because it looks like he’s barring entry, but JC sees the way LWJ looks at WWX and *knows* that somehow, LWJ is back too.
Now, in The Untamed canon (which we’re in) I fully believe that WWX was in love with (and knew it) LWJ before he died, but either felt that his love was not returned, or that LWJ’s love would end if he knew, the time was never right, etc - so, he’s looking at this like and opportunity to present the side of himself that he thinks LWJ wants.
Meanwhile LWJ is like “THERE IS MY GREMLIN ALIVE AND WELL. THIS TIME I WILL LOVE HIM AND STAND WITH HIM NO MATTER WHAT.”
But when JC announces themselves and WWX pulls out the invitation, LWJ says “Wei Ying” in that WAY of his and WWX freezes because a) he realizes that LWJ is also back b) this doesn’t fit into his plan and c) stall. So he does that awkward laugh, flicking his nose, like “Ahaha, Lan Zhan. It’s me.”
And LWJ *SMILES* “It is good to see Wei Ying.”
And WWX *melts* because he is weak, and JC is like “kill me now” (JYL is confused but thinks its sweet) and everyone else is just *confused*.
Not taking his eyes off WWX, LWJ gestures for Yunmeng Jiang to follow him, and leads them (well, WWX and by proxy everyone else) to the student dorms where they will be staying. (WWX walks next to LWJ, and there is something about the way they fit together that makes JC *feel things* all over again, because here was one more thing WWX lost because of *him* and—
When they arrive at the dorms, the other disciples and Yanli all retire, but JC stays because if LWJ is back then they need to talk before JC leaves those two to “count each others eyelashes or whatever they do when they’re alone together” and the absolute bitchy-ass angry *look* that LWJ sends him has JC standing taller and WWX stepping between them.
“Ayia, Lan Zhan, there’s no need for that. Jiang Cheng and I talked it out. We’re good.”
Lan Zhan looks over at WWX, softening for a moment, before bringing the heat back for JC. “He killed you.”
“You-!” JC clenches his fist, and is thrown because there *aren’t* sparks because Zidian is on his *mother’s* wrist, and it’s enough to make him settle, enough for WWX to step in again and say:
“That fall wouldn’t have killed me if— If I hadn’t lied to him, then Jiang Cheng wouldn’t have had every reason to believe I would survive that fall.”
*That* causes a reaction, a widening of his eyes that would be subtle on any other face, at the implication that Jiang Cheng hadn’t been trying to kill him. But, it doesn’t make the frown disappear. “He did not stand with you.”
“Neither did you!” Jiang Cheng snaps, going for the *jugular* without even realizing, and LWJ just fucking *wilts*
“That...is my regret.”
But before he could say anything else, WWX spoke again.
“Look, there’s no reason to rehash the past. I’m alive! And I know what I need to do to not be bad again, but I would really appreciate it if my brother and my soulmate” and didn’t THAT cause JC’s eyebrows to rise “didn’t hate each other.” Suddenly, several things about the last few years made a lot more sense.
“I don’t hate him,” Jiang Cheng said, as Lan Wangji said “Wei Ying is always good.”
When *that* caused the three of them to stare at each other again, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Look, we need to talk soon about this whole time travel... thing, but I want nothing to do with whatever this” and gestures between them “is. So, I’m going to bed because I have been awake for two days straight and I would like to sleep. Figure it out!” and Jiang Cheng turned and went to find his bedroom (which he shared with WWX. Considering the way they were looking at each other, JC was pretty sure he’d be spending the first night without a roommate. Again).
MEANWHILE, outside, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are left staring at each other. (Well, WWX stares after JC for a minute, mouth open, but that fades quickly when he sees Lan Zhan staring at him, all intent.)
Wei Ying would normally begin to fidget, but he’s transfixed, heart in his throat, without a clue as to what to do next and—
“A-Yuan.” Lan Zhan said, and Wei Ying’s focus sharpens.
“A-Yuan?!”
Lan Zhan nodded. “I found him, after. He was sick. I brought him here, gave him the name Lan to hide him.” He opened his mouth as if to say more, but fell silent.
Wei Ying was staring with shining eyes. “He lived? My little radish...” he trailed off, staring into the distance. He frowned, shaking his head. “But Lan Zhan, why would you—”
“I should have been there,” Lan Zhan interrupts *interrupts* angrier than he had ever sounded, but even Wei Ying can tell that it’s not directed at him. He cools quickly. “I will not make the same mistake.”
He catches Lan Zhan’s eye again and falls silent. “Oh.”
And Lan Zhan steps back, like he hadn’t intended to let that slip. “If Wei Ying does not feel the same—”
“I do!” Wei Ying bursts out, stepping forward and reaching out, not quite touching. “I do. Feel the same,” he said, quieter this time, for the two of them. Lan Zhan’s expression doesn’t change, but something shifts and Wei Ying knows him well enough to know it as *joy*
And, Lan Zhan reaches out and takes his hand.
(Yes, they use the next several months to actually talk though their relationship, but this is effectively a speed run from the way they feel in Episode 1 to the steps of jinlintai, bypassing all the *plot* that gets in the way of their romance, but whatever, it’s my fic. If this was a wangxian fic first, then I might do the “WWX needs to get a clue” thing he has going in the book, but.... Honestly, I *adore* the idea of *gremlin couple wangxian* on what is essentially their honeymoon in gusu. Like - pre-sunshot Gusu is not *prepared* for post-Yiling Laozu LWJ.)
The next morning, JC arrives to classes with the rest of the Jiangs, not at all surprised to see Wei Ying standing with LWJ (though everyone else seems to be weirded out by it, which may be because they’re standing far too close). LWJ nods at JC, who nods back, grimly pleased to see that there was no longer an open front of hostility. JC wasn’t foolish enough to think it was gone completely, but at least they should be able to discuss business when necessary. (And some part of his mind absolutely began planning the wedding. WWX was Yunmeng Jiang, and if JC had anything to say about it, he would REMAIN YMJ until he was damn sure to remember that he can’t get rid of Jiang Cheng that easily... and JC would be DAMNED if he let Lan Xichen steamroll the wedding prep, which he absolutely would, hopeless romantic that he was).
They enter and settle into their usual spots, though LWJ hesitates when he realizes that his seat would not let him watch WWX. JC continues on to sit in his old seat, determined to see *as little of this as possible* and turns to look at Nie Huaisang, who—
Oh, sonofabitch, Nie Huaisang was back too. How the fuck did their ritual have enough power to drag *four souls* back in time, especially one from *wherever the hell WWX was* JC widened his eyes at him, clearly saying *WTF* which had Nie Huaisang giving him a *look* from behind his fan, which fluttered, agitated. JC rolled his eyes, cutting them over to WWX, who was blatantly staring at Lan Wangji, chin propped on his palm. (And if LWJ had his head tilted so he could look back, well, *most* of the class probably couldn’t tell). Incredible. Jiang Cheng turned to look at JYL, who was hiding a smile behind her sleeve, when movement behind NHS caught his eye.
Meng Yao. Oh, that wasn’t awkward at all. Nie Huaisang flicked the corner of his fan, and JC turned back aground, knowing they would talk later, and then they were all standing as Lan Qiren walked into the room.
Which was when it dawned on Jiang Cheng that he would have to take these classes again. Judging by the soft whimper behind him, Nie Huaisang realized it, too.
The class runs the same, as clear as Jiang Cheng can remember, even if the recitation of the rules seems occasionally pointed at Lan Wangji, which is odd. He doesn’t dwell on it, however. He’s gotten good at looking like he was paying attention while thinking of other things, and Jiang Cheng had a lot to think about.
~*~
Like before, WWX invites NHS to go fishing (and JC isn’t sure if he realizes that NHS has also come back yet - in fact, he’s pretty sure he doesn’t), only this time, JC agrees to go with them and WWX pulls LWJ along, leading the group far enough ahead that JC and NHS end up waking behind. NHS keeps up with looked wide-eyed and confused until they leave the main areas for the backwoods.
“So,” Jiang Cheng starts. “Something went wrong.”
“Obviously,” Nie Huaisang hisses, snapping his fan closed. “I woke up in the same room as him.”
JC winces, because yeah, awkward. “I’m a little surprised he’s still alive, actually.”
NHS’s jaw clenched, and JC was reminded very strongly of NMJ. “No one would support flat out murder, even if they don’t really care about the victim.”
“And it’s messy,” JC offered, dry. NHS looked at him from the corner of his eye.
“It’s so hard to get blood out of white fabric,” he agreed and JC laughed.
THAT gets WWX to spin around. “You laughed!” he accuses, pointing a finger at JC.
“So?”
“So I haven’t heard you laugh in years, Jiang Cheng!” he pouts. “Why do you laugh at his jokes and not mine.”
“You are an *actual child*--”
Then, of course, NHS gasps, his fan falling from his hand. JC, catches it, reflexively, startled at the horror he sees on NHS’s face as the show drops. “Wei-xiong, you— but you—”
WWX laughs awkwardly. “No need to worry, I’m —” probably going to say something about not being evil anymore, or not following the demonic path, but NHS cuts him off.
“Back from the dead!?”
Which is when JC remembers that they used Baxia in the ritual, and if his core was enough to bring back WWX, then maybe...
“Da-ge!”
MEANWHILE, in Qinghe, Nie Mingjue wakes up, which is odd, considering the last thing he remembered was dying. Perhaps he didn’t die? Unless the doctors had some new pain medications, he didn’t feel as if he had just had a near-fatal qi-deviation.
Tentatively, he opens his eyes and sees...his bedroom ceiling. How long was he sleeping that they brought him from Lanling to Qinghe? His door opens and he’s reaching for Baxia before he can think — and stops when he recognizes Nie Zonghui (though not before Zonghui notices the aborted movement). “Sect Leader....troubled night?”
Nie Mingjue snorts. “That’s one way to put it.” There’s something rattling around the back of his mind, some detail that doesn’t quite add up as Nie Zonghui helps get him ready for the day. It’s not just that Zonghui doesn’t seem surprised (or relieved) to see him up and awake, it’s the names that Zonghui mentions in is reports — names of disciples who are, like Zonghui himself, long dead.
It’s when Zonghui mentions that a messenger bird had arrived from Gusu that morning, carrying word that Huaisang had arrived safely and that Meng Yao would be leaving tomorrow to return to his duties that the other shoe dropped.
“Zonghui, there’s something I forgot to tell Huaisang. I need to send him a message, the faster the better.”
Zonghui gave a short bow. “Consider it done.”
BACK IN GUSU
Nie Huaisang was pacing atop a long, flat rock on the river’s edge. It wasn’t a very long boulder, maybe 5 or 6 steps at most, but it was dry so Jiang Cheng wasn’t too worried about him slipping. Besides, Lan Wangji was sitting only a few stones away, playing a soft melody on his guqin.
Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were both in the stream, robes and pants hiked up to keep them from getting too wet, as they waited to catch their dinner. Jiang Cheng remembered getting upset about WWX fishing their second night there, blatantly flaunting the “no killing” rule, but if LWJ felt like indulging his soulmate, what the fuck, then who was Jiang Cheng to complain.
On the rock, Huaisang was plotting out loud, starting ideas and rejecting them just as quickly. “You know, if you put this much effort into your studies this time, you might not have to come back again,” JC called over. Nie Huaisand didn’t even break his stride, just flapped his fan irritably in Jiang Cheng’s direction.
WWX darted forward, pulling a wriggling fish into the air in triumph. “Jiang Cheng, catch!” He tossed the fish, and Jiang Cheng caught it with ease. He considered, for a moment, throwing it at Nie Huaisang, but he was getting hungry. He tossed the fish into the bank, where it wouldn’t flop back into the water. Lan Wangji side-eyed it, warily.
“You know, he’s not actually done anything wrong yet,” Wei Wuxian said. “Can you really hold him accountable for actions he hasn’t taken?”
That made Huaisang stop. “To a certain extent, yes, I can.” That got him a *look* from both LWJ and WWX. “Look, all the decisions we make are influenced by the lives we live. And no, as far as I can tell, Meng Yao didn’t come back with the rest of us - and I still don't’ know why you came back too, Lan Wangji,” LWJ makes a gesture that is far too elegant to be, and yet totally is, a shrug, “but so far, Meng Yao’s life is *exactly the same* as the Meng Yao who committed those acts. That means Meng Yao is the same man who WILL make those choices, barring a MAJOR shift in the way he views the world.”
“Can we cause that shift, then?” Wei Wuxian asked. “I just don’t know if ‘kill him dead’ is always the best course of action.”
Nie Huaisang’s eyes narrowed, a fraction of the coldness Jiang Cheng had seen that day seeping through, before his expression cleared a bit. “It would be a touchy subject for you, yes, but Meng Yao is not Wen Ning.” Wei Wuxian flinched, and, surprisingly, it was Lan Wangji that spoke.
“One cannot change another’s mind,” he said, vanishing his guqin and rising to his feet, one hand behind his back. “One can only show the path; only they can choose to walk.”
“And we have the path to show him,” Wei Wuxian argued. “Don’t we have a responsibility to try, knowing the damage he can do? If we know we have the opportunity to change things and save lives, are we not bound to try? Is that not why Jiang Cheng was sent back in the first place?”
“I’m fine with killing him,” Jiang Cheng said. “He deliberately uses his own weakness to learn the vulnerabilities of others, and then uses that as leverage to get what he wants and then discard them once his objective has been met. He uses Jin Zixuan’s better nature against him. He used Mingjue’s sense of fair play against him and then used his biggest fear to kill him, and he used Zewu-jun’s kindness as a shield.” He looked up at Nie Huaisang. “Though, if you’re right and he’s back too, Meng Yao might not live long enough for us to do anything about it.”
“Oh no,” Huaisang said, voice dryer than dust. “What a tragedy.”
“His information was key in winning the war,” Lan Wangji said. “Can we win against the Wens again without him?”
“Hey, yeah,” Wei Wuxian added. “Speaking of - am I going to have to...” he trailed off, miming playing a dizi.
“You better not!” Jiang Cheng snapped. Wei Wuxian looked at him in surprise, then smiled sadly.
“No, you said not to, and I won’t refuse a direct order from my sect leader,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I know how.”
“Meng Yao wasn’t actually that good a spy,” Nie Huaisang said, a faint frown between his brows that Jiang Cheng didn’t trust at all. It meant he had noticed something and was putting pieces together that Jiang Cheng wasn’t sure he wanted known. “More than once his information was either wrong or outdated. A lot of the correspondence was kept for our records, and I went back to check once I had my suspicions about him.”
“You think he was playing both sides?” Jiang Cheng asked. Nie Huaisang fluttered his fan and didn’t disagree.
Between them, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian caught more than enough fish to feed Huaisang as well, and he and Lan Wangji were both invited back to the Yunmeng dorms to eat with them and their sister. Yanli was surprised, of course, but rolled with it well enough. Luckily, she had chosen to make a soup that was in line with Gusu Lan’s dietary restrictions, so Lan Wangji was able to join them. WWX and JC exchanged smug looks when Lan Wangji blinked down at his soup in surprise, and began to eat more quickly.
Later that night, while WWX was walking LWJ back to his rooms, Yanli poked her head into JC’s room. “Second Young Master Lan seems to have taken quite a liking to A-Xian,” she said.
JC nodded, because that was certainly one way to put it.
“Which makes sense, A-Xian can be very charming,” she continued. “But from what the other female disciples tell me, Second Young Master Lan is ...” he paused, and Jiang Cheng filled in:
“A giant stick in the mud?”
“A-Cheng!” Yanli scolded, but there was laughter behind her voice. “...essentially, yes.”
Jiang Cheng sighed. He had no idea what to say here. He was never good at lies, never LIKED lies, preferring to neither confirm nor deny another’s suppositions when the need for secrecy was necessary...and he had never been able to lie to Yanli. Never wanted to. And besides, Nie Huaisang hadn’t covered this possibility with him.
“A-Jie,” he said, “There’s something I want to tell you, but it’s going to sound like a lie even though it’s the truth. I need you to hear me out, and to believe me, and I will do whatever I can to convince you that it’s real and true.”
And...he tells her. Flat out, just tells her about living the next ten years of his life - the end of her engagement, the indoctrination in Qishan, the burning of Cloud Recesses and Lotus Pier, the death of their parents, losing his core, gaining his core but losing Wei Wuxian, the War, her marriage to Zixuan, A-Ling, Nightless City, Nie Mingjue, death after death after death — and Nie Huaisang, like vengeance made flesh, with a crazy, desperate plan.
“So, yeah. They’re close because they’re, like, in love or whatever.”
“Because they’ve known each other for ten years.”
“Seven,” Jiang Cheng corrected. “They only had seven.”
Yanli looks a little stunned wild-eyed. She had looked sad yet resigned when she had heard about her engagement ending, hopeful when she heard about their wedding. Her eyes had shone suspiciously when she heard about Jin Ling...a few tears falling when she heard about Qongyi pass and Nightless City.
“Do...” he began. “Do you believe me?” he asked, voice small and hating it, but he couldn’t stand it if Yanli thought he would make this up.
Slowly, she nodded her head. “It sounds...wild,” she said. “But I know my A-Cheng. He is honest, and would not make up wild stories like this. So, if A-Cheng says it, it must be true.”
“A-jie,” He said, and had to stop, his voice choked off, and when Yanli leaned in to hug him, his tears were sweet with relief.
~*~
The next complication came the next day, at the presentation ceremony, when, once again, Wen Cho showed up to interrupt Yunmeng Jiang’s gifting. It took everything in him not to punch Wen Chao in his smug face with Sandu unsheathed, and Wei Wuxian was a dark, simmering presence next to him. Somehow, the steps played out like they had before - a brief exchange lead to swords drawn, lead to Xichen stepping in and Wen Qing soothing tempers with quick words.
Jiang Cheng wasn’t prepared to see her again. Her, or Wen Ning, who was a remarkably still shadow behind her. When they left, his eyes stayed lowered towards the ground. There was nothing to make Jiang Cheng think that there was something different, except the long running knowledge that he had the worst possible luck.
WWX was strangely unwilling to approach Wen Ning first, though he clearly wanted to. Some misplaced guilt, perhaps. He still clung to LWJ’s side, which was in no way avoidant behavior, WWX, but Jiang Cheng was surprised when Wen Ning found him first.
“I knew it!” Jiang Cheng cried out, to everyone’s surprise, even Wen Ning. He gestured at Wen Ning. “WWX’s here because he’s tied to me, and Wen Ning here is tied to Wei Wuxian.”
“That still doesn’t explain Lan Wangji,” Nie Huaisang said, tapping his fan against his cheek.
“Nothing explains Lan Wangji.”
“Aiya, Jiang Cheng, so mean!”
None of this has much of an effect on the present moment, however, save that it causes Nie Huaisang to adjust his plans *again*. “No one else has better come back!” he demanded. “All of these calculations are hard, and I am *delicate,* Jiang Cheng.”
“Yeah, a real wilting flower.”
Later that night, just before curfew, a missive arrived to Nie Huaisang from his brother. Huaisang walked as fast as he could manage from the Nie Quarters to the Jiang, bursting into Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian’s room, holding the letter aloft, speaking as soon as he’s through the door: “It’s him! He’s alive! Da-ge’s back!”
Huaisang slammed the letter on the table, reaching for the nearby inkbrush, quickly grinding some ink to circle letters on the page. There, written in an otherwise standard letter reminding Huaisang to mind his studies and practice his saber, was the phrase: Do Not Trust Meng Yao.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years ago
Text
sequel to A Sick Thought (aka the Mo Xuanyu & Wei Wuxi-cat fic)
-
“Did I do something to make Hanguang-jun not like me?” Mo Xuanyu asked.
Jiang Cheng wasn’t expecting the question, so he reacted as usual – incredulous glare with a side order of ‘who are you to dare talk to me directly?!’ – which to nobody’s surprise was massive overkill for a shrinking violet like Mo Xuanyu, who quailed at once.
“I’m sure he likes you fine,” Jiang Cheng said hastily, trying to make up for it. He hadn’t had much practice at trying to be not scary in years. “What makes you say that?”
He wasn’t really good at making conversation, either, but he was the only one here right now. They’d all been taking shifts to support Mo Xuanyu with spiritual energy per the doctor’s recommendation for treating the mercury poison that was still affecting his mind, and Jiang Cheng usually volunteered to take the late night-early morning shift because Lans simply weren’t properly functional at those hours until their official wake-up time hit.
Also, it was the one time he could generally guarantee Wei Wuxian would be either busy or napping and he wouldn’t have to deal with – any of that.
He knew he’d eventually have to deal with Wei Wuxian, but…not yet.
Right now, he turned to look at Mo Xuanyu, who was lying very still, covered in acupuncture needles to the point that he resembled a pincushion; he had very large eyes that suggested trembling even when he wasn’t, and that irked Jiang Cheng, somehow, when he’d already made an effort not to be scary.
“He doesn’t seem happy when I’m around,” Mo Xuanyu explained.
“That’s not about you,” Jiang Cheng said gruffly. “Hanguang-jun just doesn’t like anyone. You wouldn’t believe it based on his righteous reputation, but he can be a real ass to people.”
Jiang Cheng supposed that the ice-block must like someone, given how often jokes were made about him looking as though his wife had died, but he’d never seen it in person. When they were young, Lan Wangji had already been stern and cold, with occasional bouts of being snappish – especially towards Wei Wuxian. There’d been a few months during the Sunshot Campaign when he’d been a little softer, during the time they were looking for Wei Wuxian together, but he’d gone straight back to asshole right after, sticking his nose into everyone’s business and harassing Wei Wuxian for his demonic cultivation. And once Wei Wuxian had died, he’d gone into seclusion for years on end, only to come back as his current glacial self –
“No, that’s mostly just to you, I think,” Mo Xuanyu said. “He’s very polite to all the juniors, everyone in the Lan sect…even Jin Ling.”
Jiang Cheng really hated that his first thought was at least I’m unique because being the only man Hanguang-jun is consistently rude to was a stupid prize to be happy to win and he knew it. He didn’t even like Hanguang-jun enough to care what the man thought!
“But I really do think it’s something about me in particular. Recently I’ve noticed that he seems to scowl when I’m around –”
“There’s a time when he’s not scowling?”
“…I mean, actually scowl, as opposed to being expressionless?”
Jiang Cheng tilted his head to the side, reviewing instances in which he’d observed the two of them, then nodded. “That might be the case, actually.”
Mo Xuanyu sighed, sounding almost relieved by the confirmation. “I don’t know why! I didn’t think I behaved all that badly when we first met, and I never met him at Koi Tower before –”
Jiang Cheng didn’t like to think of Mo Xuanyu and Koi Tower.
He’d only ever seen Mo Xuanyu distantly, a wallflower even when decked out in Lanling gold, and Jiang Cheng hadn’t been in Lanling for very many visits during the short time Mo Xuanyu had been there – a few years, maybe, half a decade at most, and most of that time Jiang Cheng had been focused on his sect or his nephew to the exclusion of everything else.
Still, his first up-close view had been truly disturbing.
All the more so because Jin Ling clearly hadn’t realize that it was so disturbing, because Jin Ling – his Jin Ling – thought it was somehow normal for what had once been a perfectly ordinary, if shy, man to suddenly become a lunatic, raving with fits and terrified of everyone dressed in yellow…
(He’d have to have words with Jin Guangyao about it, whenever he found the time. Had they done something wrong in raising Jin Ling? And who was it that had so tormented Mo Xuanyu while he was there? Surely Jin Guangyao would know something…)
It was all extremely uncomfortable, and doubly complicated by the fact that Jiang Cheng himself had been driven to the edge of a nervous breakdown when he heard Wei Wuxian’s voice again after all these years. He’d dreamed of his shixiong coming back, back the way he used to be before the war had ruined everything; he’d had nightmares of him coming back, too – not again I don’t want to have to kill him again please no – but somehow the idea that he’d come back as a cat had just been…too much.
They said only the worst sort of people reincarnated as animals.
Later, of course, he learned about the body sacrificing array (he’d nearly been sick at the thought of Wei Wuxian’s familiar gaze looking out at him from Mo Xuanyu’s big trembling eyes, the actual man’s soul gone who-knows-where), and the fact that someone had taught that and only that to Mo Xuanyu, intending on squeezing him dry and then discarding him to use the shell…
It was sickening.
He should have paid more attention.
“- and anyway I can’t figure out what it might be.”
“Well, think over what the instances that you saw him scowling were, and figure out what there was in common,” Jiang Cheng said. Circulating spiritual energy into another person was tiring, but not necessarily mentally stimulating – it wouldn’t be too much to devote some time into the puzzle of the mysteriously scowling Hanguang-jun. “Were you at a particular location?”
“No. Once I was at the dining hall, once walking through the field, a few times in here…”
“Were you doing anything in specific?”
“I don’t think so? I don’t really – do anything.”
That was certainly true. Maybe they should be encouraging Mo Xuanyu to pick up a hobby.
Jiang Cheng thought about it a bit more. “Would you say Hanguang-jun scowls at me?” he asked.
Mo Xuanyu was caught by surprise and failed to hide his smile – it was a surprisingly cute smile, broader and more full-fledged that Jiang Cheng would have expected from such a shy person. It transformed his whole face: his eyes crinkling at the sides, his cheeks dimpling, his nose scrunching up.
Really, surprisingly cute.
Was that what Mo Xuanyu would have been like, if it wasn’t for the poison and the abuse?
“Yes, Sandu Shengshou,” Mo Xuanyu said, his eyes twinkling a little in his amusement. “Hanguang-jun always scowls at you.”
Jiang Cheng felt a stupid little spike of pleasure, which, damnit, he does not care. Stupid prizes were not worth winning – he just had to keep reminding himself of that.
“Well, that’s something, then,” he said, deciding not to think about it. Much like he was not thinking about Wei Wuxian: very purposefully. “That means it’s not you he doesn’t like, because then he’d scowl every time, instead of just sometimes. Is there anyone with you during those times?”
Mo Xuanyu pursed his lips when he thought. “I don’t think so?” he said doubtfully. “It’s usually just me and Wei Wuxian…it couldn’t possibly be Wei Wuxian, though. They like each other.”
“You think so?” Jiang Cheng asked, surprised. “Why?”
“Well, I mean, they’re always together, aren’t they? Unless Wei Wuxian’s with me, Hanguang-jun is always keeping him company – in the library pavilion, in the dining hall, in the cold spring…”
Jiang Cheng was starting to get flashbacks to his teenage days. “Surely you mean that Wei Wuxian is the one keeping Hanguang-jun company?” he said, because that sounded much more likely. “Or, well, pestering him?”
Mo Xuanyu shook his head. “Hanguang-jun brought him a little bit of meat from the town outside,” he said. “He must have gone there especially to get it, since there’s no meat in the dining hall here. And he even let him have a jar of some wine.”
That – did not sound right. Whether from the perspective of what Jiang Cheng knew about Lan Wangji, or about Lan sect rules, or even, well, general guidelines for what was appropriate to feed to a cat.
“You’re sure?”
“Mm. Here, come to the window, I’ll show you.”
Somehow Jiang Cheng found himself on the bed next to Mo Xuanyu, shuffling around carefully so that he could look out the window without being too obvious about it.
Just across the way, Lan Wangji was standing guard at one of the central areas of the Cloud Recesses – judging the time, he would have just finished up the last leg of his patrols, having presumably utilized his considerable willpower to stay awake until this hour. As they watched, a faint wind picked up, ruffling Lan Wangji’s hair and causing the ends of his forehead ribbon to gently flutter.
The picture would have been one of the classic cultivator, lonely but righteous, standing sentinel on behalf of others, except for the fact that Wei Wuxian was crouched right behind him, red ribbon and black tail and all, trying his level best to leap up high enough to catch the ribbon.
Jiang Cheng briefly closed his eyes. “That idiot.”
Mo Xuanyu elbowed him lightly. “Open your eyes, you’ll miss it!”
Jiang Cheng felt absurdly proud over the fact that Mo Xuanyu had apparently gotten over his fright well enough to do as much as that, and opened his eyes.
His eyebrows went up as he watched Lan Wangji – still stone-faced as always, but (and it was perhaps a trick of the light) a little softer than usual – lean down to rub behind Wei Wuxian’s ears, and to pull out a bit of dried fish from his sleeve where he’d clearly been keeping a stash.
He even crouched down to better speak to him, taking in account that Wei Wuxian was, while moderately porcine for a cat, now much smaller than him.
There was a great deal of staring happening.
It took nearly the length of two incense sticks for Jiang Cheng to actually process what he was seeing.
“Hanguang-jun likes…cats?”
“No,” Mo Xuanyu said, his lips twitching. “He likes Wei Wuxian. Isn’t it obvious?”
It was, in fact, a little obvious.
“When you say like –”
Mo Xuanyu reached out his own paw and patted Jiang Cheng’s arm in sympathy. “Trust one cutsleeve to know another,” he said, and then he left his hand on Jiang Cheng’s arm.
“But when did they even start?” Jiang Cheng asked, honestly bemused. “They were always at each other’s throats before! And – and he’s a cat now. Don’t tell me that Hanguang-jun has some sort of – some strange – I’ve heard things about catboys –”
Mo Xuanyu burst out into giggles. “Where did you hear about that?”
“An old acquaintance with bad taste and a penchant for sharing it,” Jiang Cheng said, since obviously Mo Xuanyu wouldn’t know who Nie Huaisang was. “It’s not that, though, is it? They must have – before.”
That would explain Lan Wangji’s decade-long mourning for a dead wife, he supposed. Also his seemingly inexplicable resentment of both the Jin sect and Jiang Cheng personally.
“I think so.”
Jiang Cheng was going to murder Wei Wuxian for not telling him that he’d apparently run off to have a whirlwind romance with Lan Wangji during the time he’d been the Yiling Patriarch – that was the only time when it was possible, since Jiang Cheng had been there all the other times, and he was pretty sure they didn’t get together before that.
If only because Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have been able to resist boasting about it.
In fact, it was a little strange that he hadn’t done so now, cat or no cat – it wasn’t as if everyone didn’t know he was planning to cultivate towards a human form as quickly as possible, so why wouldn’t he –
A horrible thought crossed Jiang Cheng’s mind. “Does Wei Wuxian know? Does he – does he like him back?”
Mo Xuanyu pursed his lips. “You know, I’m not sure?”
“I thought you said cutsleeves could tell.”
“Well, the whole cat thing has been throwing me off a bit.”
Jiang Cheng covered his eyes with a hand. “I don’t think I can deal with this. The cat thing was bad enough…at least it explains your issue.”
Mo Xuanyu, who’d finally removed his hand, blinked. “What?”
“Wei Wuxian is a perpetual headache that exists for the sole purpose of tormenting me,” Jiang Cheng explained because really it was the only logical conclusion at this point. He wished that he loved the man (cat) a little bit less; it would make every bit of it much less agonizingly personal. “But apparently Hanguang-jun like that sort of thing, so whenever Wei Wuxian is spending time with you...”
“…you think he’s been drinking vinegar? About me? Hanguang-jun?”
“Why not? You’re open about the fact that you cut your sleeve, Wei Wuxian is already protective of you, and it’s not as if you’re not cute – it make sense that he’d be worried, especially if he’s been pining all these years.”
Mo Xuanyu had turned pink. “Cute,” he said dazedly, reaching up and pressing his hands to his cheeks as if that would help cool them down. “Uh –”
“Don’t do that,” Jiang Cheng said irritably, reaching up and catching his hands. “You’re covered in needles that you really shouldn’t be moving around – here, lie back down already.”
Mo Xuanyu obediently shuffled back into place, and Jiang Cheng returned to his previous place as well.
“I’ll need to talk to Wei Wuxian about it,” he said mournfully. Even after everything that had happened between them, it was his duty as Wei Wuxian’s only living relative to make sure the idiot wasn’t getting involved in something he shouldn’t. “I don’t want to talk to Wei Wuxian. He doesn’t even like me anymore.”
That was the problem, too.
“Uh, Sandu Shengshou –”
“Just call me Jiang Cheng. Everyone else does.” He was pretty sure he hadn’t even heard his courtesy name without a heavy dose of sarcasm or cringe-inducing toadying at any point in the last five years, and his title was far too formal if the goal was to be less intimidating. “What, do you have an idea on how to make it easier?”
“It’s just a thought.”
It couldn’t be worse than any of Jiang Cheng’s. “I’m listening. What is it?”
“Have you considered…catnip?”
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ohmypreciousgirl · 4 years ago
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Xicheng Rec List
I compiled my favorite fics for @waterandsilver after they posted they were finally seeing the appeal of Xicheng. I volunteered to give them good fics to help them understand better the appeal of our ship! So, here we go!
Post-Canon Fics
A Bit of Ruthlessness 110,111 When Jiang Cheng hears that Lan Xichen went into seclusion following Jin Guangyao’s death, it’s almost as if he can see the grabby hands of a restless ghost, reaching out for something to keep him company. For something warm and living and devastated. And as history has proven time and time again, the Lans are perfect victims when it comes to giving in to ghosts.
Yeah, no. Not on Jiang Cheng’s fucking watch.
Moments of Clarity 5,201 Snapshots of Lan Huan's road to recovery with a helping hand from Sandu Shengshou. Companion piece from Jiang Cheng’s POV: A Present so Promising 
Faith 8,109 [Part 1 of the The Provenance of Hope series] Lan Huan isn’t sure he’s ready for this. (or, Lan Huan and Jiang Cheng meet on a night hunt.)
Visiting Cloud Recesses 7,566 [Part 1 of the Visiting Cloud Recesses series]   Since the sunshot campaign they haven't interacted a lot outside of sect business, but Jiang Cheng has always found the First Jade of Lan gracious and pleasant to be around. Especially in comparison to his younger brother, who would never smile at Jiang Cheng the way Lan Xichen is right now, as if he's genuinely happy to see him.
It's easier to let go (let me hold you) 24,464 Five times someone noticed something was wrong and the one time someone did something about it.
Carried on the wind 1,129 [Part 1 of the The courtship of Jiang Wanyin & Lan Xichen series] Lan Xichen’s voice is very soft when he says: “Today is the day our mother died.”
Overgrown 1,408 [Part 1 of the Coming home to you series] Jiang Cheng has better things to do than follow Lan Xichen around Lotus Pier, and yet here he is.
Regret 2,290 Lan Xichen is left standing in his garden, his garden of regret and shame and all the bad things Lan Xichen hates about himself, and suddenly he can’t stand it for one second longer.
A lovely name 3,146 [Part 1 of the Paws for thought series] Jiang Cheng doesn’t like the feeling of a curse sinking through his skin at the best of times, and now he’s a fucking cat, because Wei Wuxian thinks he’s hilarious. Well, he won’t find it so hilarious when Jiang Cheng changes back and breaks his legs.
Breaking Anew 20,389 There are different ways a person can break. It is a lesson Jiang Cheng will spend his life learning.
Under The Morning Sun  22,739 Jiang Cheng returns to Cloud Recesses to find peace and stability. Instead, he finds an unexpected romance with Lan Xichen. Sequel: Strength of Your Love 
(nothing special) (something special) 4,950 Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen both have jagged edges. But perhaps their broken pieces can fit together into something new. Sequel: won't you say you love me later
Come to Decide 2,381 [Part 1 of the Little Talks series] “This is why I lose sleep over you,” Jiang Cheng murmured. “You might think I’m pining for your touch or your voice or your gaze, but no - I’m just worrying about you being an idiot.”
Don't stop being rude 2,582 “The Hanshi,” Lan Jingyi suddenly says, effectively jolting Jiang Cheng out of his thoughts, and bowing again. 
“Please talk some sense into Zewu-Jun.”
“Oh, that I will,” Jiang Cheng promises and when a tiny spark of fear enters Lan Jingyi’s eyes, he gives him his sweetest smile before he walks off.
“Oh gods, what have I done,” he hears Lan Jingyi mutter behind him, but he doesn’t try to stop him.
Clever boy.
Don't let him win 1,685 “What are you doing?” Jiang Cheng asks him, voice much softer now, and he’s quick to carefully rub some warmth back into Lan Xichen’s hands.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Lan Xichen whispers, the same thing he always says when Jiang Cheng forces his way into Lan Xichen’s seclusion, but Jiang Cheng couldn’t give less of a fuck about this.
“Well, neither should you,” he gives back, a well-rehearsed dance by now, and Lan Xichen’s mouth twists in that all too familiar way.
Good things about Yunmeng 3,343 Or, the one where Jiang Cheng attempts the impossible.
Love Is For Other People 3,704 It wasn’t that Jiang Cheng never thought about it. About love, that was.
Listless 1,787 When Jiang Cheng came up with his list, he knew that everyone else's would be different from his. It just hurts to find out again and again that he would never be the first.
And then there's Xichen.
twinkle of a bell 7,821 Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan meet at the abandoned village, looking for at least a glimpse of a new life.
Tread 1,647 “I’m going to take him with me,” Jiang Cheng says and even though Lan Xichen can’t see them, he can feel the tension in the air.
“No,” comes Wangji’s almost immediate answer, his voice leaving no room for argument.
Not that it ever stopped Jiang Cheng before.
these tears flowing down aren't a waste 2,002 “How do I confess my love to someone?” Jin Ling asks.
“Do I look like someone who has been in love?” Jiang Cheng questions back.
Through a Storm that Never Goes Away 32,948 For all of that, for his inherent complicitness in Jin Guangyao’s crimes, for trying to maintain impartiality until he had enough evidence, Lan Xichen could understand wanting him dead.
He could even understand if there were those who still felt the need to take some revenge for what Jin Guangyao did and were dissatisfied that he was dead. Lan Xichen might look like an acceptable target.
But to target Wangji as well...
I am cursed to love you (to the grave) 39,410 Jiang Cheng can't sleep.
The Comfort of You 24,904 [Part 1 of the The Belonging series] On the eve of Jin Ling's 20th birthday, Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen take a step forward into a life that will forever be changed.
(Three years after the events of Guanyin Temple Lan Xichen asks a pivotal question of the man he's been falling in love with for the past year. Jiang Cheng has never really felt what he feels for Lan Xichen and falls apart in his hands. And that's okay.)
I Put You First 7,178 Lan Xichen gets a little jealous when the Other Boys thirst over Sect Leader Jiang. Luckily, Jiang Cheng only has eyes for one man.
Canon Era Fics
A Small Measure of Peace 122,790 With his brother in seclusion, Lan Xichen finds himself in temporary custody of his nephew with little to no expertise in the child-raising department. Uncertain and alone, Zewu-Jun is willing to do everything to be the person Yuan needs—even if it means inviting Sandu Shengshou to a playdate.
There's Hope for the Hopeless 11,791 Part of being Sect Leader means going to weddings, both those important to him and those that he is convinced to attend.
5 times Jiang Cheng went to a wedding + his own.
A good night's rest 1,795 [Part 1 of the Sing for me series] Jiang Cheng is standing at the end of the pier, clad in simple sleeping robes, and he’s walking up and down, bouncing a sniffling Jin Ling on his arm. And he is singing to the boy, his voice soft and low, but clear enough to ring out over the water and carry.
Lan Xichen stops dead in his tracks and keeps still, not wanting to disturb Jiang Cheng or upset Jin Ling again. The boy is clearly fighting sleep, but the steady movement of Jiang Cheng and his lullaby are doing wonders in dragging him to sleep anyway.
Beside You 6,624 [Part 1 of the Lan Furen series]
Jiang Cheng leaves Lotus Pier behind him, giving up his position, his family and his home to start a new life as a rogue cultivator. He can't quite make himself leave Yunmeng completely though, not just yet, and as he loiters on the outskirts he comes across Lan Xichen, evidently on the run.
Together, they fret for themselves, their loved ones and each other as the Wens and impending danger draws closer.
The Desperate Search Began 2,361 [Part 1 of the Some Day I'm Gonna Make You Mine series] It starts with a fight, Jin Zixun and Jiang Wanyin bumping heads over a battle plan. The Sunshot campaign will not slow for one brush of ego, but Jin Zixun has found himself outranked by a boy that he feels of no consequence compared to a member of the shining Jin sect.
When Nie Mingjue is present, or even Jin Zixuan, Jin Zixun keeps his counsel. He does not push. Sadly, the bruise to his ego will not appear to have forgotten that while he is a valued member of their war council, Jiang Wanyin is a sect leader now. The fact that he’s a boy younger than even Jin Zixuan, rankles.
Add that they are only witnessed by Lan Xichen and Jin Zixun becomes a discredit to Lanling Jin.
remember these words i say 4,133 “Please, allow me to fix this.” Lan Xichen finds himself asking, begging. It is for his own peace of mind, but it is also for Jiang Cheng and for Jin Ling, for the people of Lotus Pier who have watched their home burn and fought hard to build it back.
“I do not know how you could.” Jiang Cheng points out.
Lan Xichen nods in agreement. “I do not know either, now, but –” Wangji isn’t the only stubborn one in the family, “I will find a way.” He promises, determined.
fill the cracks in (with your light) 2,947 [Part 1 of the moments through the years series] Lan Xichen's voice doesn't have the usual light note in it when he asks, “What are we doing, Jiang Wanyin?”
Waxing Moon 1,925 [Part 1 of Soft] After Wei Wuxian was sent home from Cloud Recesses, Jiang Cheng realizes it's pretty lonely without him. Luckily, sulking on a rooftop leads to a new friendship.
Tipsy at best 2,458 Jiang Cheng tugs Nie Huaisang along, and they are stumbling more than walking, but in their inebriated state even that is funny.
They are snickering still when they suddenly see a figure in white appear at the end of the path.
“Uh-oh,” Jiang Cheng says, and it’s entirely too loud, but he’s still too drunk to care about that right now.
Nie Huaisang, on the other hand, seems to have sobered up, because his eyes take on a calculating glint behind his fan.
“Say, Jiang Cheng, what were your requirements for a partner again?” Nie Huaisang asks and it’s enough to make Jiang Cheng stop.
it all passes someday 13,638 A week before the anniversary of Wei Wuxian’s death, there was a commotion outside Lan Wangji’s house.
Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji over the years.
Punishment 5,415 [Part 1 of the The Rules of Living series] “33 lashes,” one of the Elders suddenly coldly says and Lan Xichen’s stomach turns over. “20 for his brother and 13 for daring to defy us,” he goes on and Lan Xichen bows his head in acceptance.
The same punishment Lan Wangji endured. Lan Xichen can do it, too.
And he manages, without a sound, like Lan Wangji, if only just barely.
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niets-is-onbeduidend · 4 years ago
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The Untamed recs: humour
Humourous fandom offerings :-)
* indicates a personal favourite
*The Absolute True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli
Wei Wuxian’s hand jolts, spilling a drop of wine onto the tabletop. “Love?” he croaks, then clears his throat and tries again. “Lan Zh— uh, Hanguang-jun, in love?”
“Have you not heard the story?” the other young woman asks, looking pitying. “You must, it is a truly heartrending tale of star-crossed romance and mutual pining — go to any storyhouse in town, everyone has been requesting a reading of this book.”
“There’s a book?” Wei Wuxian says blankly.
In which the junior disciples (namely, Lan Jingyi, Ouyang Zizhen, and a reluctant Lan Sizhui) turn to RPF in an attempt to rehabilitate Wei Wuxian's reputation so that he and Hanguang-jun can get together and get married and live happily ever after. It's... surprisingly effective.
Words: 19.000/ Post canon/ too good not to include
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20969189/chapters/49859369
how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) by bwyn, Yuisaki
A new plan hatches in Wei Wuxian’s head. If this nocturnal, bottom-feeding, slimy, invasive mudcat posing as a beautiful actor thinks he can sway Wei Wuxian with animal pictures and a sob story and an unbelievably stilted way of texting with still no dick pictures in the first five minutes of conversation, he has another thing coming. Wei Wuxian’s got it, alright, he has this in the fucking bag.
Wei Wuxian plots to expose a catfish using strategic memes and turtle pictures while wiggling his way out of family dinner. Lan Wangji just wants companions.
Words: 54.000/ Modern AU/ too good not to put on this list
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028141
*The Lost Cause by KouriArashi
AU in which Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao work together to take down Jin Guangshan from the beginning.
Or: the story in which Nie Huaisang just wants to paint fans and feed birds and he doesn't understand why this is so much to ask.
Words: 18.000/Canon AU/Nie Huaisang centric/ Gen/ love this fic read it!
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23156497/chapters/55420840
The Games We Play by Mayarene Rose (Paradise_of_Mary_Jane)
3 times no one questions Nie Huaisang's friendship with Sect Leader Yao and 1 time someone does.
Or, the one where Nie Huaisang becomes the headshaker much earlier just for the fun of it, and for absolutely no reason that can be considered serious or important, what are you even talking about?
Words: 11.000/ Gen 
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23696347
A Dramatic Reading by pupeez4eva
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian make out in a room full of Sect Leaders, Jiang Cheng tearfully declares his love for his estranged brother, Sect Leaders Yao and Ouyang beg for the Yiling Patriarch’s forgiveness, and Lan Qiren openly welcomes a new nephew-in-law into his family.
None of them want to be doing any of this. Thanks to the Juniors, they don’t exactly have a choice.
(Or, wherein the Juniors accidentally write a cursed fanfiction, and everyone has to reenact their parts in it, or potentially cease to exist).
Words: 5.500/ I laughed out loud
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23613328
A Sick Thought by nirejseki
“It’s not wrong if you write it down,” Mo Xuanyu muttered to himself like a mantra as he scribbled down a rough explanation of what he was going to do. “If you write it down, it’s just an experiment, and that makes it okay.”
That’s what they used to say back at Koi Tower, back when they were doing all those bad things.
They also said that you’re supposed to try stuff out before you do the real thing, because practice makes perfect. And anyway, surely it wouldn't hurt to put the cat in the middle of the body-sacrificing array before he put himself in - the array ran on resentment, on revenge, and how much resentment could a cat possibly have?
Words: 7.000/ I laughed out loud
Link: https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/25509526
5 weird Nie traditions nirejseki
Prompt: One of my favourite Untamed moments of NHS so far is the soft smile of "ah, home sweet home" while everybody else are clearly "is the Unclean Realm a supervillain lair?" 
So, a prompt: 5 times the Nie sect's perfectly ordinary sect things got everybody else freaked out, much to NHS' puzzlement.
Words: >1.000/ gen
Link: https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/24424165/chapters/59665753
Chief Cultivator Yao by nirejseki
"You can't seriously be suggesting that we elect Sect Leader Yao to be Chief Cultivator!"
“I don’t see the problem,” Nie Mingjue said, heroically maintaining a straight face despite the slightest curve in his eyes that indicated a man who knew exactly what the problem with his suggestion was. “According to all the stories I’ve heard him tell, Sect Leader Yao has been at the forefront of every action in the past few years, large or small - no matter where or how implausibly quickly he must have traveled to get there.”
Words: 1500/ post canon/humour/ gen
Link: https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/24947782
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tentative-wanderer · 6 years ago
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Grandmaster of Legal Cultivation 律道祖师
Law Students + Flatmates AU. Enjoy!
The Exam Life + A Whole New World
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“Lan Wangji.”
Pin-drop silence.
“Lan Zhan.”
The person in question remained as immutable as an ancient stone statue of the Buddha.
“Second Brother Lan~”
“WEI WUXIAN!” Jiang Cheng roared, slamming his evidence law notes onto the table.
Slightly cowed, Wei Wuxian gave him a sheepish glance, but mumbled: “I wasn’t calling you...”
“I don’t care if you were calling god or the devil; if you don’t shut the hell up, I swear I will stuff this book down your throat.”
Pursing his lips, Wei Wuxian surveyed the web-like blood vessels spreading across the whites of Jiang Cheng’s eyes and his tattoo-like eyebags. “I think you should take a break. If you keep this up, your mum is gonna bring a claim against the uni for inhuman and degrading treatment.”
Wei Wuxian didn’t think it was possible for any more blood to drain from Jiang Cheng’s pallid face, but Jiang Cheng managed it. “Shit, what article was that again? And what’s the relevant case...” Rubbing a hand wearily across his eyes, Jiang Cheng dragged his laptop towards himself and started typing. “E-C-H-R...”
“Article 3, Gafgen v Germany.” The glacial presence at the table finally broke his silence.
“Unfair! You answered him but not me, even though I was practically begging.” Wei Wuxian sprawled across his notes, his cheek on the paper.
“Focus,” said Lan Wangji, a hint of reproof in his tone. The exam on Thursday was looming over their heads like a storm cloud, yet Wei Wuxian didn’t seem to worry about whether or not he had an umbrella.
“I’ve been focusing for hours, it’s my break time now.” Wei Wuxian turned and prodded Jiang Cheng. “You two should stop for a while too. Especially you, zombie man.”
“If I stop now, I will sleep and never wake up again in this lifetime,” said Jiang Cheng darkly.
“I would offer you some coffee, but I’m afraid any more of that will kill you. Bubble tea instead.” Wei Wuxian got up and stretched like a cat, the line of his back a graceful arch. He met Lan Wangji’s quiet gaze and threw a mockingly sultry look in his direction. “Wanna come with me to...get some?”
Lan Wangji knew Wei Wuxian was talking about tea, but his brow creased slightly anyway, to Wei Wuxian’s delight. Still, Lan Wangji refrained from expressing any admonishments as he tidied his books and papers and stood up.
*
“Look how far you’ve come,” said Wei Wuxian approvingly as he ambled down the street, Lan Wangji at his side. “Just last year you would have called me ‘pathetic’ if I so much as twitched the wrong way. Now you can even tolerate innuendoes.”
Lan Wangji lowered his gaze. “Mm.”
“Speaking of coming so far, I can’t believe we’re already approaching the end of our second year. Have you figured out your plans after this degree?”
“No,” said Lan Wangji. But he knew Wei Wuxian had. Wei Wuxian was going to become a barrister, and an incredible one at that. Lan Wangji was sure of that. No one could tear their eyes away when Wei Wuxian gave his speeches in debates and moot competitions. He was confident, eloquent, and excellent at thinking on his feet. Furthermore, he was sociable—a soft skill that Lan Wangji had never realised was crucial for life and for most employment prospects in the field of law until he was in his late teens. By then, Lan Wangji was already an ice cube. An ice cube who was unsure if he was cut out to be a lawyer. Lan Wangji was a stoic and single-minded worker, not a socially adept energy-filled multitasker. That was Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian, Wei Wuxian. Wei Ying, who barged into his room on the first day and proceeded to shamelessly make himself comfortable on Lan Wangji’s chair, in Lan Wangji’s life, in his thoughts and dreams.
Had Lan Xichen not coerced him into renting a room in a shared flat instead of a single room in a student hall, things would have been so different. He wouldn’t have had the chance to listen to Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng’s surprisingly witty bickering at mealtimes, watch Jiang Cheng wrestle the last muffin from Wei Wuxian’s claws (“If you eat more you’ll explode! I refuse to clean your guts off the floor.”) and grumpily push it towards Lan Wangji, or be dragged out by Wei Wuxian to plays, pubs, tourist spots and social events. He wouldn’t have had the chance to hear Wei Wuxian ramble, sometimes randomly and sometimes earnestly, about his ideas, opinions, and ideals, and be bugged until he shared his own.
It would have been a dreary world.
“...Lan Zhan? Earth to Lan Zhan!” Startling out of his reverie, Lan Wangji turned to face Wei Wuxian. He realised that Wei Wuxian had extended a finger, presumably to poke his cheek, and now that finger was closing rapidly.
Wei Wuxian’s fingertip brushed against his lips.
“...Oops.” The culprit removed the offending appendage sheepishly.
It was only a brief touch, but it made Lan Wangji feel something that lasted longer than a careless brush should.
Lan Wangji wouldn’t put it past Wei Wuxian to quickly follow up with an offhand tease, but Wei Wuxian unexpectedly remained silent as they resumed walking.
*
EDIT: there’s a new ficlet for this AU :) click the #my mdzs fic tag to read it
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peerless-soshi · 6 years ago
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Title: Lost & Found Series: Mo Dao Zu Shi Relationship: Wei WuXian & Jiang Cheng (side Wei WuXian/Lan WangJi) Setting: Canon/future Rating: G Genre: Family; hurt/comfort Link: AO3 Word count: 4893 Summary: "I mourned you, Wei WuXian!" His voice broke. "I cried too many times, I'm too tired to do this again. But you left me. Although you promised.”
[Future Fic] Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng talk about Jiang YanLi's death, fight like children and for the first time in forever feel like brothers. All may not be lost.
A/N: Is writing a concluding story before finishing the novel a good idea? No. Can it be contrary to canon facts? Yes. Is it going to stop me? No. Enjoy.  Also it's my first MDZS fic so be understanding and enjoy! I'll love you forever for a comment.
"The Cloud Recesses intends to accept new students? Seriously?" Wei WuXian asked, surprise ringing in his voice.
"Yes," Lan WangJi muttered under his breath, still eyeing the scrolls spread across the table, their edges frayed by fingers of time.
The afternoon sun was peeking into the library pavilion through a huge, round window, painting on the paper some bright flower-shaped stains with asymmetrical petals, which made the scrolls look even more golden and, in Wei WuXian's eyes, even older. Dust flickered in the air, soaring like on butterfly wings. So even here they can't clean everything, Wei WuXian thought with satisfaction. He expected the Lan Clan to polish paper.
"We do not accept new disciples," Lan WangJi added, "They are only sons of the important sects who will stay here for several months, learning and using our book collection. Nothing remarkable."
Wei WuXian put his elbows on the table and shifted towards his partner, smiling brightly. "How unpleasant of you, Lan Zhan! You call the sons of the most important sects unremarkable? Are you whispering behind their backs? Or maybe I should punish you for pride?"
He chuckled and waved his palm in front of Lan WangJi's face, brushing a few long hairs flowing down from between the white forehead ribbon like black ink on a white sheet. It wasn't a surprise that the second master of the Lan Sect didn't move. His eyes waved from one side of the scroll to the other; up, down, right, left, down.
"Any of them."
"How boring," Wei WuXian sighed with exaggerated indignation before lying down on the table. He glanced up. Still no reaction. Now Wei WuXian sighed honestly, but he was used to his husband's behavior and didn't expect more; the mere fact that Lan WangJi uttered five sentences, including the complex one, was quite a change. Who else could hope for such a privileged conversation?
And yet, Wei WuXien couldn't fight with boredom. Lan WangJi has been bending over the old texts for several hours now, studying carefully every sign. He had stopped once, but only to reach for the brush and make notes, then gone back to work. The scrolls were gathered on both sides of the table, arranged in even towers with paper foundations that Wei WuXian wanted to demolish. What was Lan Zhan trying to find if he knew all these texts by heart? Wei WuXian didn't understand. Somehow, he didn't want to go deeper into it.
After a moment, he lay down on the mat and yawned loudly, so that even the younger students, who were studying in the room next door, must have heard him. Lan WangJi finally looked up and sent him a berating gaze, like a rough sea. Wei WuXian has become a good swimmer in the depths of these eyes, so instead of humbling, he answered with a wide smile and waved. To his delight, the corners of Lan WangJi's mouth twitched.
Wei WuXian rose to his knees and moved closer. He glanced over his husband’s shoulder, brushing his lips against Lan WangJi's ear, and whistled.
"Behave yourself, Wei Ying."
"Do you really want to memorize everything?" Wei WuXian asked, deaf to the reprimand.
Lan WangJi nodded. "Using such important texts during lessons would make a bad impression."
"During lessons?"
Texts. Lesson. And Lan Zhan was preparing... Understanding washed through him like waves crashing against a cliff’s edge. Wei WuXian flinched in surprise, his fingers clutching his husband's collar and leaving, horrible, a delicate fold on the perfect white fabric. He felt as if he could dive into the new possibilities. Lan WangJi reluctantly turned his head, smoothing the collar.
"You are going to teach them, Lan Zhan? Really?"
Lan WangJi let out a soft murmur that Wei WuXian had learned to interpret as a variation of yes.
"I remember our punishment."
"Your punishment."
"You will be a great teacher, Lan Zhan," Wei WuXian said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Just talk to your students, you know? If you explain the sacred texts, not just tell them to read for two hours in silence, it's possible that they’ll learn something."
Lan WangJi's mouth narrowed as he pushed Wei WuXian's hand. The feeling of resentment reflected on his impassive face, just like a pebble leaving circles on water. "Do not lecture me. I know what to do."
"Are you sure?" Wei WuXian laughed, too loud as for the Lan Sect library. "Is the rule of silence, or coping three thousand principles of this place, really the best possible teaching method?"
"What would you suggest, Wei Ying?" LanWangJi asked. Belatedly he realized that he just committed one of the most shameful neglects in his life.
Wei WuXian grinned. "I have many ideas," he said and began to count on his fingers, thoughtfulness on his face, "First of all, I would give them more fighting lessons because your clan neglects them. You are a genius, Lan Zhan, but children? They won't learn how to fight fierce spirits by sitting in the classroom! It is irresponsible to let them go unprepared. And practical knowledge about spirits? If you want to teach them the theory then make sure they really need it."
He didn't intend to brag, but his classifications were still used by most cultivation schools. And which of them was better at sorting knowledge and creating tables?
His face must have glowed, lit from the inside, as Lan WangJi grimaced slightly.
"No."
"What? I didn't say anything! That's not fair, Lan Zhan, now you want to add clairvoyance to your endless list of talents." Wei WuXian winked at him.
"It is not difficult to guess your thoughts. And I repeat: no."
Wei WuXian pushed the table aside, so that Lan WangJi's hand hung limply in the air. His eyes widened in shock. What a victory. After that, Wei WuXian put his head on his partner’s lap, smoothing the white robes like a pillow.
"Tell me, Lan Zhan, what am I thinking about?"
"No."
"You are never fun! Say, or later I’ll be boring too and go to sleep early," Wei WuXian threatened and nudged him.
The window bell played when gentle wind slipped into the room and danced with Lan WangJi's forehead ribbon. Ting, ting... Like a cat, Wei WuXian reached out and touched the ribbon. The snow white shone between his fingers, marked by fights and work, reminding him of all he could do now, and everything he had. Then Lan WangJi grabbed his wrist. Wei WuXian expected his husband to feel offended by such frivolous behavior, but Lan WangJi drew the hand closer to his face. His eyes softened.
"No way. Even if children like you."
"So you admit that I'm popular with children!" Wei WuXian exclaimed triumphantly. "I would be more popular than you! Are you jealous?"
Lan WangJi nodded with seriousness disproportionate for this situation. "Yes. But you're proud for the wrong reasons. Do not bring any more trouble to the Lan Clan."
"Me?" Wei WuXian put his palm on the chest, his free hand brushing Lan WangJi's cheek. "If my memory is correct, you brought me, your trouble, to the Cloud Recesses! It's also your fault. You're on the wrong path."
A normal person would probably smile. The second master of the Lan Sect only cleared his throat with impenetrable expression, what sounded more like an elegant combination of a hidden snort and a sudden sneeze. Wei WuXian was getting better and better!
"Besides ..." Lan WangJi continued, "The cultivation world may not be ready to accept you as a teacher of their heirs. Even if you are going to teach only approved techniques, many still do not trust you. That may affect our reputation, and if the clan leaders decide to take their children out of fear... "
"Good observation, HanGuang-Jun." The voice came from the door. "As always infallible – to think that despite your decisions, you still didn't lose the ability of apt judgment. If you let him teach in the Cloud Recesses, your reputation will fall like a stone thrown from the top of this mountain."
They turned their heads at the same moment, though Wei WuXian knew exactly who would wait for them. The voice as sharp as a whip, destroying any obstacle in its path, and sarcasm thrown on HanGuang-Jun. Only few would dare to do that. A drop of bitterness, hidden at the end of the tongue.
Wei WuXian got up from his partner's knees and checked the clothes. He turned to Jiang Cheng, who was standing at the door of the pavilion, his hand decorated with Zidian on his hip. Wei WuXian sat up straight and forced a smile, as real as if painted with Lan WangJi’s brush.
"Jiang Cheng. Good to see you!"
His greeting had the opposite effect because Jiang Cheng grimaced even more and avoided his eyes, talking to Lan WangJi.
"I come to discuss the sect matters," he said.
Lan WangJi’s eyes narrowed. "What matter could bring you to me, Sandu Shengshou? It is not in my power to conduct diplomatic talks."
"It's not about diplomacy," Jiang Cheng corrected him, sitting on the mat. "It's rather a good thing since I wanted to talk with you, HanGuang-Jun. Like a clan leader with a clan leader," he added, and it didn't take much trying to see who those words were aimed at.
Crumpled by the weight of paper smiles and caustic tone, Wei WuXian wanted to leave, but Lan WangJi held his hand.
"The Lan Clan leader is away," he said officially, "If you want to talk with the representative, you have me as well as Wei WuXian, who plays this role on par with me."
Jiang Cheng clenched his teeth. Something was in his eyes, a flash of rage, then a flicker of envy. The ring began to spin on his finger.
"There's no need to annoy the sect leader, Lan Zhan," Wei WuXian said, a long silence announcing the words he wasn't ready to hear. He pulled away before Lan WangJi could grab him, and walked toward the door, his footsteps quicker than intended.
Passing Jiang Cheng, Wei WuXian risked one quick glance. But as expected, Jiang Cheng didn't even look at him.
*
Some games were eternal.
For example: spreading wings like a swallow and pretending you can leave the ground and worries far behind you... Maybe not literally – Wei WuXian became convinced that even ghosts can't observe everything – but such thoughts flashed through his mind as he was sitting on a stone bridge near the Orchid Hall. He was swaying his legs in the air, resting his chin on his hands and enjoying the warm wind that carried the scent of the evening, the familiar aroma of magnolia trees and river. Everything was covered in silence, like in the clouds.
Only the bell was ringing at his sash.
Similar to silks thrown carelessly on the floor, the water under his feet wrinkled and folded. The koi fishes, orange flecks of sunset, flitted near the surface. How strange, Wei WuXian thought, that in such a quiet place the water was not calm. When he had first come here, in his previous life, everything had seemed to stop in time, as if in a different dimension, on the other side of a mirror. Now, living with Lan WangJi, he has learned the Cloud Recesses’ slow and arranged rhythm. But how could he have seen it back then, with Jiang Cheng trying his best to obey the rule of silence in spite of fiery nature?
Wei WuXian blinked. He raised his head and stared into the distance, but it was too late; the water reflection blurred the face of the second master's spouse, and showed the fifteen-year-old heir of the YunmengJiang Sect, together with his faithful companion, passing the same bridge. Hand in hand. Distant memories flickered on the river, showing lost moments. Drops of their steps as they ran to the class, their innocuous fights the most clear. Wei WuXian remembered the wrinkle between Jiang Cheng’s eyebrows and the way he had given him a tongue-lashing for oversleeping, more out of habit than actual anger. His own laughter, Nie HuaiSang's moaning at the thought of entering the classroom late. Years have passed, but the memory of Jiang Cheng’s facade breaking when he had burst into laughter was still as clear as the fishes swimming in the river.
Then, somewhere to the right, Wei WuXian heard a splash; a pebble fell into the water, ringing like a drowning bell.
He turned his head and smiled. This time it came naturally.
"You always find the perfect moment, Jiang Cheng," he said.
Jiang Cheng stood on the other side of the bridge, his hands crossed on his chest. He looked surprised.
"I have no idea what you're raving about," he stated, passing him, and added, "Goodbye."
Wei WuXuian folded his hands and bowed. That was the right thing, he knew. He would obey all rules – at least those reasonable – and let his new home live in peace. He wouldn't bring any problems. It was just surprising that something as unnatural as bowing to Jiang Cheng quickly became his first reaction.
The purple robes fluttered in the breeze, the bell playing the melody of home. The home. Wei WuXian watched Jiang Cheng's silhouette, a cherry blossom against the whiten hill. It grew smaller and smaller until the gate almost swallowed it.
Wei WuXian stood up. Just a moment ago, he thought that he wouldn't cause problems... right?
"Jiang Cheng!" he exclaimed, running down the stone steps.
Jiang Cheng didn't slow down, though he must have heard him. Nevertheless, Wei WuXian was fast, so he caught up with him. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down and use this moment to decide what to say.
"Jin Ling will come to the Cloud Recesses, right?" he finally said.
Jiang Cheng frowned but still didn't look at him. "Where does this come from?"
"I can't think of another reason why you came to Lan Zhan," Wei WuXian answered and shrugged. "We talked about it today. The sons of the more important clans are going to be sent here for teachings. I think Lan Zhan intends to replace master Lan QiRen and hold the classes. It's a great opportunity for Jin Ling to learn... and make friends," he added cautiously.
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. "Even if you're right, it's not your concern."
"Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"What are you trying to say?" Jiang Cheng grunted, clenching his fist. Zidian gleamed in the setting sun, a drop of violet reflecting the rays of red.
"The situation in the Jin Clan is extremely tense, and Jin Ling is their only heir," Wei WuXian said, eyeing Jiang Cheng, "Is it wise to keep Jin Ling away from the Carp Tower now, when the succession begins?”
Jiang Cheng grinned. He looked as if he didn't want to answer, and did so only because of old habits.
"That's why A-Ling should stay here for a while. You may be right, the situation of the Jin Clan is extremely... difficult. And unstable. It would be unreasonable to let the only rightful heir stay in the heart of conflict. Do you have any objections?"
Wei WuXian shook his head. "There are few safer places than the GusuLan Sect. You can get here only through one, always guarded, gate, and leave with a special token. All known charms have been put on the walls. And we have the strongest cultivators of our age." He didn't need to add that he was one of them. "There is no safer place for Jin Ling."
Yes, he agreed; Jiang Cheng was right. And yet deep in his heart, Wei WuXian couldn't help but wonder if Jiang Cheng was harming his nephew. Of course, he understood – better than anyone else. Jin Ling meant the whole world to his uncle, so Jiang Cheng tried to shield him from this world. But pretending that politic was less cruel than the young master could see would do nothing good. At his age, Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng had experienced unimaginable things. Maybe that's why Jiang Cheng wanted Jin Ling to be a child for a one day longer.
Jiang Cheng broke into his thoughts. "Even if Jin Ling will be here, it has nothing to do with you. Stay away from him."
"Do you think I would deliberately draw him back from studying? You know how much I loved it. Of course I won't disturb him!"
Jiang Cheng didn't appreciate this brilliant joke. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Wei WuXian, who almost expected Jiang Cheng to jump at him.
"I'm serious, Wei WuXian!" he growled, looking him in the eyes, "I don't want you to follow A-Ling. I don't want you to talk to him. I don't want him to be in the same room as you. I want him to be safe."
“Safe?" Wei WuXian repeated, his voice louder than necessary. "What is this supposed to mean?! Do you think I would hurt him? I would give," he hesitated, and almost spat out his last words, "I would give up my life for shijie's child!"
"Maybe that's the problem? Maybe just being around you brings misfortune?!" Jiang Cheng said. Wei WuXian would rather be hit. "Leave A-Ling alone... please."
Someone who hadn't spent half of their life with Jiang Cheng wouldn't know how much it cost him to say this word. That person wouldn't notice that despite the commanding tone, his knees were shaking. But Wei WuXian wasn't that person; he took a step back and nodded.
"Very well," he said slowly, "I understand, Jiang Cheng. If that's what you want, Jin Ling will have nothing to do with the Yiling Patriarch. I will not even speak with him without the need."
The sunset doused Jiang Cheng’s face in the intense glow, making his features even sharper. "No, Wei WuXian. There's no need for it. Never."
He turned his back to Wei WuXian, heading for the gate. Wei WuXian considered following him, but his feet grew into the ground.
"I saved him. Earlier. I've saved his life. Don't pretend that I bathe my hands in blood," he said, more to himself, to the fate awaiting him than to Jiang Cheng.
However, Jiang Cheng hissed through his teeth, "Great. You saved him, huh? A-Ling doesn't own you anything. What would have happened if you’d made a mistake?!" He spun on his heel, his shadow lengthened by the sleeping sun like brush strokes. It almost seemed to overwhelm Wei WuXian. "If you’d made a mistake, you could kill him. Aren't you experienced in this? In both killing and making mistakes?"
There was irony in his voice, although Wei WuXian wasn't sure if Jiang Cheng wanted to laugh or cry. This uncertainty just made his hands hung limply on both sides. He bowed down his head; weak, tired, like something dead that was supposed be alive. Like one of the fierce corpses.
"I'm sorry," he finally confessed, the red sky his witness. The blood of that day had darker shade of red. "I'm sorry," Wei WuXian repeated. "Shijie... it was my fault. And I will never forget about it."
Looking back, Wei WuXian had apologized a lot in his life. There had been different kinds of apologies, often such as those given to Lan WangJi in the library or on the river of the water ghouls: pretending that nothing happened to avoid punishment rather than regretting mistakes. Sometimes he would say them with a smile, sometimes with seriousness. And with pain, suffocating him like a lump in a throat.
Jiang Cheng's eyes widened. He touched the ring and spun it, one way and the other.
"Stop it," he ordered, "I don't want to hear it."
"I know. This may not be the best moment, but you must know that what happened to shijie was an accident and I regret it every day. And I will never redeem for this sin, even if I pull Jin Ling out of the mouth of death a hundred more times."
It wasn't how he had intended to say those words, in the middle of the stone path, in a shaking voice, with talks of some students coming from a distance and furious Jiang Cheng in front of him, but life had no respect for plans. He had to say it now or be buried under the weight of grief. Like Jiang Cheng.
The YunmengJiang Sect leader glanced at his ring, mother's heritage burning memories in his head, then on Wei WuXian. An angry grimace appeared on his face.
"Do not say her name, Wei WuXian," he rasped. "You don't have the right."
He could be serious or carried away by anger and words he didn't mean. This time, Wei WuXian couldn't judge it. He regretted that he didn't have his flute, though he remembered that on the mountain there was no burial area suitable for his abilities. It was just a simple reaction to seeing the rage thundering in Jiang Cheng's eyes, and his whip, unexpectedly unfolded. And yet, Wei WuXian came closer. Once he would probably retreat and let Jiang Cheng face his sadness in loneliness, thinking that he deserved this cruelty. But it was long time ago.
"You are unjust, Jiang Cheng," he said, his words calm, reasonable. "I loved her too."
Then a crack could be heard. Did this place make Wei WuXian's reactions slower? Probably; he was still hunting for evil spirits, but a bunny bite was the only threat behind the walls of Gusu. Maybe that was why he didn't dodge in time when Zidian left a hole in the ground, as well as a deep wound in his hand.
"Shut up!"Jiang Cheng shouted, his scream thunderous among the silence of Gusu. "You loved her? You?! What do you know? Did you go to her funeral, Wei WuXian? Did you hold her baby when her body was wrapped in flames? Did you answer Jin Ling's question when he wanted to know why his parents are not with him? Tell me! Did you lose your sister?!"
"Yes!"
The words were faster than the thoughts.
Jiang Cheng looked as if someone slapped him. He staggered on his feet, about to fall, then rushed at Wei WuXian. His hands clenched on the black collar in an iron grip, taking them both to the ground. Wei WuXian let out a moan as his back hit the path.
"Wei WuXian! You have no shame!"Jiang Cheng hissed, straddling him, red on his face. "You don't have the right to say that. Not after everything you've earned! You insult her memory!"
"How?" Wei WuXian said brazenly, allowing emotion to take control. He grabbed Jiang Cheng by the wrist. "I loved shijie like a sister! She raised me. She was always good to me."
"And how did you repay?!"
"If there was a way to trade my soul for hers, I would do it without hesitation. She deserves a second life much more than me! I loved her like no one else. You know about it!"
But did he really know?
Wei WuXian wanted to believe in it; to believe that both Jiang Cheng and Jiang YanLi were aware he loved them with every word and every thought. Every decision. Every mistake. Every drop – of tears and blood. And he sold his soul to the hell for all kinds of reasons. To take revenge for them. To ensure their safety. To build a future for them. To pay off the debt. But never for himself; Wei WuXian loved them more than himself, and that's why he had never said the most important words – because who was he to say it? A stray at the great court? He was nothing. They were everything. However, it was all before, when no one would wait for thirteen years, convincing him that love was something he deserved by being himself; before he had found home in a place he considered ashes. That had been before Lan WangJi.
Love has built a new life.
"I loved her," he said again, calmer, a shimmer of sadness washing through him. "And I loved you, Jiang Cheng. And uncle. The entire Lotus Pier. I loved you all. I still love."
He always thought so.
He spoke these words for the first time in his life.
Jiang Cheng's grip melted. He looked at him, more a child than a warrior, questions on his lips and confusion in his eyes. Wei WuXian found out that his features weren’t as sharp as he thought.
His lip thinned. "Why, Wei WuXian?"
Wei WuXian was silent, letting the meaning of his words to find Jiang Cheng. The shadow of understanding finally reflected on his face. Before Wei WuXian noticed, Jiang Cheng raised his hand and hit him with all his strength. A wave of rusty taste flooded Wei WuXian's mouth.
This scene evoked many memories.
"I don't understand what you want to achieve, Wei WuXian!" Jiang Cheng shouted, hitting him again. Wei WuXian didn't resist. His head was spinning. "You're coming back after all these years thinking that explains everything? That your help, and petting you by the Lan Clan, can make me forget?"
"No," Wei WuXian replied. He felt blood on his lips. "There is nothing worse than forgetting."
"Don't talk like you understand me!" Jiang Cheng interrupted him, but this time didn't move. "I know that I have to remember. Do you think I have anything except of memories? No, I have nothing. My sister is gone... But you've come back. You've got a reward. I don't want to look at you. You love me? I don't care! I hate you!"
Wei WuXian pretended it didn't hurt more than the punch.
Jiang Cheng did not move. He was still, sitting on Wei WuXian, his hands on the black collar, his head lowered. "I'm sick of you," he said. "Go and die. I got used to. Do you know how many times I've buried you? After Xuanwu. After those rascals from the Wen Clan threw you into the Burial Mounds. After the siege. Again and again."
Thirteen years have passed, but some moments were immortal. Like his soul digging out of the grave and returning to the living, a long-forgotten memory appeared before his eyes. Wei WuXian saw it again: he on the ground, Jiang Cheng on him, hot tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I mourned you, Wei WuXian!" His voice broke. "I cried too many times, I'm too tired to do this again. You left me. Although you promised."
The sun finally disappeared behind the horizon, enveloping them with the red half-light. Wei WuXian closed his eyes. Droplets skittered across his cheeks. It was easier to believe they were raindrops, just like after the Lotus Pier death.
"I am sorry, Jiang Cheng."
And he was sorry.
That was right, Wei WuXian had left Jiang Cheng, again and again. Always to protect him. He would’ve never thought that maybe he'd hurt him the most.
"Uncle? What's going on... "
A panicked voice reached them. Wei WuXian looked back the moment Jin Ling stood frozen, watching the scene unfolding here.
Jiang Cheng got up and brushed off his robes. His eyes were dry, and under the cover of the evening it was almost impossible to see how red they were.
"Let's go," he said in a hoarse voice, not looking at his nephew or Wei WuXian.
Jin Ling stayed for a second, uncertain, wondering if he misunderstood or if what he just saw was not an illusion. In the end, he must have decided that following his uncle was safer because he run quickly after him, breaking one of the Cloud Recesses rules. He gave Wei WuXian a distrustful look.
Drowning in nostalgia, Wei WuXian was laying on the ground for a long time. The sky darkened over him, freeing valiant stars. The moonlight was streaming down his face. He spread his arms wide, catching it. The night sky had the smile of Jiang YanLi, and every wise word she had entrusted him.
"Are you looking at us, shijie?" Wei WuXian asked quietly.
And he prayed, with his eyes on the big moon and with even bigger heart, for the deities to let her see. Maybe he, the condemned one, had been forced to disappear in emptiness, but she has received some divine blessing and knew how much he tried for everything she had left behind. She would be happy. In the end, it was shijie who taught him that hate was simple, and never required any effort, never created anything. Love was the only thing that never died.
Wei WuXian wanted to create. It wouldn't be easy, but if he was good at something, it was aiming for impossible. And he felt that the tears shed today by Jiang Cheng could be a step on this path.
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Rules: DON’T REBLOG THIS ONE, MAKE A NEW POST! List the first lines of the last ten (10) stories you published. Look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any. Then tag some friends.
Thank you @randomcat1832 for tagging me!!
1. Jiang Cheng is waking up from a nightmare. This is not unusual. (Landslide, The Untamed, Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning)
2. This is going too far, Seungcheol thinks to himself as he stares at the hook on the wall that he is certain had, at one point, a hat on it. (Fall Into Your Eyes, Seventeen, S.coups/Jeonghan)
3. One of the first things Dan hears every morning as his systems slowly start to work is the sound of Phil already enthusiastically zooming around. (and they were roombas, Dan/Phil)
4. It’s not like Tang Yi ever really had trouble sleeping. Not like what he’s heard some people go through, twisting and turning the whole night before stumbling out of bed, bleary-eyed and miserable. (How Two Hands Touch, History 3: Trapped, Tang Yi/Shaofei)
5. Ram wakes up to King pressing soft kisses to his tattoos. (Unspoken, My Engineer, Ram/King, companion fic to Unrooted)
6. King wakes up to the sound of rain pattering softly on his window and the comforting warmth of Ram’s arms around him. (Unrooted, My Engineer, Ram/King, companion fic to Unspoken)
7. Camp is so much more fun than he thought, Duen realizes as he carefully puts another tree in the ground. (Duen Holmes and the Case of the Missing Cupcake, My Engineer, Bohn/Duen)
8. “I found a job,” Jack announces one day over dinner. (Jack Tries To Become A Normal Member Of Society, History 3: Trapped, Jack/Zhao Zi)
9. You first realize your feelings may have changed when you look at him pouring coffee, eyes bleary and curly hair flopping around chaotically as if he’s had a restless night again. (Just You, and Him, Dan/Phil)
10. Guinan had heard rumours. Of course she did, it’s what she does. She listens, and people tell her things. (on this fresh morning in the broken world, Star Trek: Picard)
Well I think it's safe to say I talk a lot about sleep (/the lack thereof / waking up) lmao. Which is especially ironic considering it's currently 2.30 am.
I also feel like I have a distinct style? Though I can't quite put my finger on it.
I would love to hear what patterns other people see in these sentences though! Let me know!
Not tagging anyone because I think Cat had it covered but if anyone readings this wants to do this, go ahead! Consider yourself tagged by me.
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rosethornewrites · 3 years ago
Text
Sunday T & G reading
The usual
Finished
Teen:
The legend of the Lotus, by 5HINee_girl
Wei WuXian smiled and replied slyly, "Hm, SiZhui is really very level headed in such kinds of unexpected situations. A very good leader indeed. As expected of the disciple of HanGuangJun."
Lan WangJi insisted, "Yours too."
Wei WuXian openly grinned, " So are we heading to this night-hunt as well then? "
Lan WangJi, " You want to go? "
Wei WuXian yawned and stretched his body like a lazy cat, " Yes. It's been ages since I last visited Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling. Plus it's always the angry Sect Leader who is disrupting the peace of the Cloud Recesses. It's about time we return the favor. "
The Junior squad along with WangXian and Jiang WanYin head to a night-hunt in Lotus Pier that leads to a life changing discovery.
My heart knows (you’re the missing piece), by makexianxianhappytoday
At a young age, Wei Ying thought that Lotus Pier was his sanctuary. Wei Ying thought wrong.
What if Wei Wuxian had chosen to leave Yunmeng Jiang even before attending the cloud recesses, how does it changes things? Rogue cultivator WWX! fic (for awhile!)
Holding close the hopes and dreams of all that we hold dear, by Nadat
Today's prompt was: "I've waited for this." Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue try to grab a moment together despite how chaotic their world has become.
memories engraved, by bluecottontail (VOlympianlove), VOlympianlove
“I’m thinking of proposing,” Xichen said, almost under his breath. He had not chosen a ring yet, or even attempted to steal Mingjue’s promise ring to get a size. But they had been talking about it, and the idea sounded more and more appealing.
Spooky//Scary, by wildfrancium
Wei Wuxiand and Lan Wangji visit Sizhui's high school Haunted House.
Hei Mao, by Speechless_since_1998
Lan Zhan heard a knock. Not on the front door but on the balcony.
He stiffened. He was telling Wayzz to transform him but he relaxed when he saw Hei Mao out there, with an embarrassed smile on his face.
He had snowflakes in his hair, and was shaking.
It was no surprise to see him there, the hero often came to visit Lan Zhan, especially to ask him to be trained to use his powers and improve as a hero.
Lan Zhan hurried to open the window, "What are you doing? Why are you here?"
"Didn't think it through," the hero replied, his teeth chattering. "Just went for a run."
Pushing the door closed with only a few snowflakes having found their way inside, Lan Zhan looked him over again. Hei Mao had almost blue skin, and he wondered how long he had been out in those temperatures.
"I know I shouldn't use my powers for personal reasons ...."
"Bed."
"Huh?"
"Go to bed."
The hero looked to the side, and smiled mischievously, "Oh, Lan Zhan. You should buy me dinner first."
The Guardian's ears turned red, "Not like that. You have to warm up. Get the blanket."
A Disaster Halloween, by jusujuless
Really, this was all Lan Zhan’s fault for failing to mention that he’d never celebrated Halloween until the day of. If he’d said this earlier, Wei Ying could’ve planned the night out, gotten them matching costumes, and bought tickets to a nice haunted house—but maybe good company and a few spontaneous decisions are more than enough to have a memorable Halloween, anyway.
In Which Lan Sizhui Sees Things He Cannot Unsee, by AshurbanipalJones (fifth in a series)
“Where are Senior Wei and Hanguang Jun?” Jingyi asked, as if he wasn’t interested in seeing Sizhui at all.
“Why?”
“Just wondering.” He peered around Sizhui as if he was trying to get a glimpse into the Jingshi. “Zewu Jun sent me to get you. He wants to talk to you about your excursions.”
Sizhui nodded. “I need to write a note.”
“So you do know where they are.”
“Why would I know where they are?” He didn’t want to have this conversation. He felt like Jingyi knew something he didn’t, or was fishing for something Sizhui didn’t understand.
“Because you live here?”
“They’re meditating.” Sizhui hoped that would at least get Jingyi to quit asking questions. He headed back inside to write a note. The faster he left to see Zewu Jun, the better.
Jingyi scoffed. “Right. Senior Wei has been gone for weeks and now they're just...meditating.” He paused. “Wait. You mean they’re me-di-ta-ting? Together?”
General:
I’m just talking to you now as a friend, by StoriesOnlyScarsCanTell
“Zewu-Jun, please tell Lan Zhan that he’s being mean to me! He won’t give me back my Emperor’s Smile!”
“I am right here, Wei Ying.”
“Don’t talk to me! I’m still mad at you!”
a great honor to hold you up, by Anonymous
Wangxian get the news that they will be allowed to adopt A-Yuan. Weeks of tension combined with the stress of the day finally catch up to Lan Zhan. Good thing he trusts his husband enough to let his guard down around him.
Horizon, by butchtemari
“Don’t be looking at me like that, scolding me for doing exactly the same thing as you. The past is truly in the past, yes, and I know the blood of my family isn’t truly on my hands, but by that same logic my blood is not on yours.” He laughs, sitting up and continuing to rub his thumb along Lan Wangji’s cheek. “Lan Wangji, Lan Wangji, do you know that your hands are more spotless than my own? Do you know that your conscience is as white as the robes you wear? Even if I was manipulated, even if I was framed, it was still by my hands that my sister and her husband died. But you…”
A Courier, A Little Guest, by hersce
Lan Wangji is a normal cultivator. For some reason, a spiritual cat from the Yunmeng Jiang sect keeps coming to visit him.
the crow and the magpie, by LunaChi_KuroShihone (third in a series)
There it was again -- Hanguang-Jun had said something similar to him yesterday, both no doubt referencing whatever it was that had happened to the late Madam Lan. The same fear that Mo Xuanyu had, in regards to the Yiling Patriarch being kept under lock and key -- "You're free to do as you like as well?"
And then Xuanyu backtracked. That! Was too rude! "Ah, I mean-!"
Wei Wuxian snorted. "The rumors keep getting out of hand, I see. You're a good person, Xuanyu.
I'm free to walk around the premises of the Cloud Recesses and Caiyi Town however I like. There's a lot of elders who don't like me, actually, and I'm kind of sorry for possibly dragging you down with me, but Xichen-ge managed to put his foot down and they mostly ignore me now. Hmm. I can leave for night hunts as long as at least one senior disciple accompanies me, though I keep to Lan and Nie territory and don't promote that I'm, well, me." A sigh. "It's more restrictive than I would've liked, to be honest, but then again it's as much for my safety as it is for politics. I'm technically a glorified prisoner, after all."
when you're gone (who remembers your name?), by iamtheelvenprince (fourth in a series)
Lan Xichen babysits. He doesn’t want to give them back.
.
Lan Sizhui lights a lantern for the memory of a red ribbon, a grass butterfly and the sound of a dizi on a summer wind.
He thinks it was his mother.
Cold Spring Tales..., by Ladycroft4evr (tenth in a series)
Long past his bedtime in the Jingshi, Lan WangJi finds that he cannot sleep...all because his Wei Ying is sleeping under the same roof, mere steps away, right on the other side of the screen...And so HanGuang Jun makes a trip to the Cold Springs to...ahem, cool down. Of course Wei WuXian follows him because he cant sleep either 😂 Expect some silly WWX jokes, indulgent LWJ as always, slight dusting of angst...and wrap up in smiles, promise 😇
the name of a ghost, by MuseofWriting
Jiang Cheng knew he would have to explain who killed Jin Ling's parents one day, so he planned it out carefully. Of course, nothing Jiang Cheng has planned has ever gone smoothly.
Finishing Lines, by Sarehz (fourth in a series)
Lan Zhan is one step closer to figuring things out with exactly 0% help from his brother.
No Yelling, by StoriesOnlyScarsCanTell (fourth in a series)
“Don’t yell,” mumbled Lan Wangji in turn. “Yelling means you are angry...”
Unfinished
Teen:
Rest Hold, by scifigeek14
Eight years ago... up-and-coming rock climbing superstar Wei Wuxian disappeared in the wake of scandal and a tragic accident.
Now... with the first ever Olympic sport climbing event looming, Lan Wangji is closer to the end of his career than the start. But seeing Wei Wuxian's name on the list of qualified climbers for the World Cup Series rekindles old memories and his passion for climbing.
A sport climbing au
Revealed Truths Against Dragon's Fire, by Preludian_Staves
"What more can you want from me, dear shidi? Oh great Leader, what else do I give you now?"
the taming of wild rivers, by colorfullysarah
What price would you pay, child, if you could go back?
There’s no malice in the words, and Yanli can’t detect any trickery when she prods at them in her mind. Go back. She wants to resist, to say such a thing is not possible, but how is she to truly know? The world that they know is largely a mystery, so many questions are left unanswered.
It’s with hope that she answers: “I would give up all my future lives.”
Or, Jiang Yanli dies at Nightless City and is given the chance to go back to save the one's she loves most. No matter the cost.
General:
To Repeat, Repay, and Repair, by adrian_kres
Wei Wuxian has died again and his family grieves. Lan Sizhui, now married and with children of his own, grieves the loss of both fathers, as Lan Wangji has entered seclusion. But somehow, he unknowingly sends himself back to the time he spent in the Burial Mounds at three years old. Will his family take his confused, nonsensical warnings seriously? Are they doomed to repeat the same fate?
Told from alternating points of view.
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scarletjedi · 4 years ago
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I don’t think it’s a surprise that I read a LOT of fanfic. Recently, that fanfic has been almost exclusively in CQL/MZDS/The Untamed. I have read some truly *mindblowing* and *heartwrenching* fics. I have read some *epic* smut. I have seen some *amazing* art. 
And, of course, I have read a LOT of time-travel fixits. 
I think that time-travel fixits is, by in large, one of my favorite tropes. there’s something about character who have completed their arc going back in time to create a softer world for themselves, a better world for themselves and those they love, or simply addressing issues that they were too young/immature to make that just speaks to me. It’s highly reflective and deeply nostalgic and allows for a greater exploration of canon timelines. 
So, I’ve been thinking, recently, about what would make my ULTIMATE time travel fixit for The Untamed. A lot of this will sound like my Sangcheng Time travel fixit AU, which should surprise nobody, but hey - it’s been a few months. I want some new things now. 
Scarletjedi’s Time Travel Au Wishlist
Both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian travel back in time
Their type of all encompassing devotion is one of my favorite features of their relationship, post resurrection, and I want to maintain that. I don’t think it would be quite the same if Lan Wangji didn’t mourn for 16 years
...and a Lan Wangji who is willing to look the Lan Elders in the face and say “I recognize that the Council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I have elected to ignore it,” is comedy gold. Also, a force to be reckoned with, and one that will be necessary to facilitate change. 
Sneaking Around Gusu to Fool Around Shenanigans. If this is my AU wishlist, there’s a sprinkling of cherrypicked book canon, and “everyday is everyday” is part of it. Though, please boys, use oil. 
Yilling Laozu’s Wicked Tricks without the bad reputation. Subian and Chenqing. Wei Wuxian’s original body. 
Jiang Cheng has traveled back in time
Jaing “Right in front of my salad!” Cheng!
Sandu Shengshou is a badass, and I love my angry purple lightning baby. I want to see the confidence that he has, the sharp tongue that tells the truth even when inconvenient, because it’ll set some necessary foxes on the henhouse. 
I choose to believe that in cql canon that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng attempt to reconcile in some way. The “lets be brothers in our next life” well - it’s Wei Wuxian’s next life, so brothers, baby! Only this time they have been learning how to talk to each other, so they don’t need to rely on Yanli to do all their emotional labor. 
Jiang Cheng raised Jin Ling. He built his sect back up from ashes after losing everything and made it a force to be reckoned with. And then he’s a TEENAGER with a CURFEW and yesss
Grown up Jiang Cheng vs his Parents. 
A scene where, during Sunshot when Jiang Cheng is out re-earning his title, Jiang Fengmian is forced to confront the fact that his son is a badass and it had *nothing to do with him*. ...and the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon...
...fuck it, reunite the Yunmeng Trio! Jiang Yanli is back, baby!
absolution for the brothers that only she can give
Let Yanli get Angry, 2021
No, seriously, this is mostly to give Yanli the opportunity to have some fucking agency and be proactive. Perhaps she embraces her Yu side more -- or, as I think Jiang Cheng has embraced his into Yu, she learns to be more Jiang. I think I’d like to see Jiang Yanli out Jiang Jiang Fengmian. 
She deserves more time to be happy, so...
...Jin Zixuan and come back too...
mostly because I like the idea of having everyone come back before the Gusu Lectures start, and I want him to allow them to stay together at the inn. This pulls double duty of making Wangji wait longer for Wei Wuxian (and I would love to see him just loose all sense of propriety and lay on on him the minute they’re in proximity), but also gives us a chance to know this absolute goober. 
because he is a goober. he’s a himbo who loves his wife. They can also have fun sneaking around adventures. For a treat. But, knowing what’s coming, I’m sure they’re able to not bring Jin Ling into this world early....
Give Jin Zixuan friends, damnit. Also, having a Jin on the inside of Jinlintai will also help their plans. Speaking of plans...
...Nie Huaisang, but he’s the last one, I promise!
Listen. They’re facing Wen Rohan and Jin Guangshan, they’re going to need a schemer. 
I can do that think where nobody knows he’s back right away because Meng Yao is there and Nie Huaisang doesn’t want to give anything away, and he can totally figure the rest of them out first and then choose when to reveal himself - likely at the time he’ll find the funniest. 
I’m 100% behind him revealing himself to the group because he starts fooling around with Jiang Cheng. I am 200% behind him letting JC know quickly, and the two of them decide to wait to see how long it’ll take for the rest of them to figure it out. 
Nie Huaisang is Weak For A Nie (which means he’s strong to rival Lan Wangji)
Like I said, they come back as teenagers, before the Wen’s begin their attack. I’d like to see Lotus Pier and Cloud recesses survive, but they don’t have to be unscathed. I’d like to see the Jiang’s survive, but they don’t have to be unscathed. Wen Ning never becomes the Ghost General, but I’d like him and Wen Qing to stay Wens. 
I’d like a Meng Yao redemption arc. why not. and you can kill Xue Yang. Get. Rid. Song Lan and Xiao Xingcheng reconciliation with bonus AQ-Qing. 
A lot of time travel fixits do a lot of these, but none of them do all of it. 
I dunno. Anyway. Feel free to chat with me about this - I’d love to discuss details!
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