#Zhao Zhuliu

[heebiebeebies]

Memories of someone with a different name

Day 5: secrets @mdzsrarepair24

I don't even know what their ship name is. I just know I like them a lot.

[oh-dameron]

I don't sincerely think that Zhao Zhuliu was Jiang Cheng's father and Yu Ziyuan was high-octane projecting all of the "you were in love with a rogue cultivator and had an affair baby!!" onto Jiang Fengmian and Wei Wuxian, but. It does have a certain internal consistency to it.

It doesn't excuse Jiang Fengmian's shitty parenting, even if he low-key suspected it. Either throw your two-timing wife out of the sect and disclaim the kid, or accept that you've raised him since birth and you're his father in all respects that matter. Don't let the suspicion fester into resentment and stop yourself from bonding with your child, it was extremely not his idea.

That would also mean that Wen Zhuliu melted his own son's golden core. Is it crunchier if he knew that and did it anyway? Or if it didn't occur to him until much later when he's ruminating on his past and then sits bolt upright in bed and urgently goes to find out when exactly the Jiang sect heir was born?

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

MDZS fanfic ideas I have that most likely won't go anywhere and are mainly just titles atp

@fandom-trash-goblin ‼️

Wish You Were Sober (Chengxian but not necessarily outright)

Post Sunshot when Wei Wuxian is going out drinking everyday

Jiang Cheng being pissed about that (rightfully so, Jesus Christ)

They still love each other but it's hard when you're a sect leader and your SiC is dodging his responsibility's and by extension YOU

Jiang Cheng feels

Jiang Fengmian bashing

idk really I just felt like sharing

Modern AU Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling road trip

The end of the Summer holidays

And they have to get from Yunmeng to Lanling but Jin Ling's flight has been cancelled so Jiang Cheng has to drive him there

All types of shenanigans, for example:

Car breaks down

There's a storm so they have to stop for the night in this shifty ass motel

Jin Ling's awful (in Jiang Cheng's opinion) music

Jiang Cheng's awful (in Jin Ling's opinion) music

There isn't really anything dramatic or overly emotional about this

Just a bit of a laugh

Jiang Fengmian bashing (idk how but I will fucking get it in there idc)

Zhao Zhuliu/Wen Zhuliu is actually Jiang Cheng's real father AU (thank the Lord he looks like his mother)

Major Jiang Fengmian bashing obvs <3

pretty ooc except for Wen Zhuliu who doesn't really have a personality to mischaracterise

Wen Zhuliu being a bit #suspicious when Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian pull up for the Wen indoctrination

Just cause. how can anyone Like That be Jiang Fengmian's son??????

Anyways they're in the cave and Wen Zhuliu refuses to fight Jiang Cheng because by then he's worked out that the boy's birthday is like... suspiciously 9 months away from the last time he and Yu Ziyuan were last Together™

And bby is just like nope

not doing that today

Anyways burning of Lotus Pier and it all goes down the same

EXCEPT

Wen Zhuliu doesn't have anything to do with the death of Yu Ziyuan (if anything he's holding them all back)

Instead of taking his core, Wen Zhuliu takes that child out of Lotus Pier and straight to Wen Qing and renounces the Wen name, going back to Zhao Zhuliu (independent King, we love to see it)

Basically pledges pledges allegiance to Jiang Cheng and kinda follows him around like a guard dog for the entirety of Sunshot

OR

Wen Zhuliu doesn't make the connection of Jiang Cheng potentially being his son until he's got his hand in his chest and is melting Jiang Cheng's golden core

In this AU there'll be some weird thing where you have parts of your parents in your core I don't really wanna explain it

"Jiang Cheng’s golden core was strong for a seventeen year old and was filled with unbridled potential that only the son of the Violet Spider could hold or hope to live up to"

"It spills all over his fingers then onto the floor and he lets it, staring transfixed as his son’s livelihood falls through his fingers"

Basically, Wen Zhuliu gives up his core for Jiang Cheng via Wen Qing and surgery instead of Wei Wuxian and everything else plays out the same minus the demonic cultivation

Jiang Cheng still kills Wen Zhuliu however when he searches his robes he finds a letter addressed "Jiang Wanyin"

Edge of Seventeen (Jiang Cheng Sect Leader succession during Sunshot, potentially Zhancheng 👀)

Pretty much just a character study of Jiang Cheng

Set during the 3-6 months that Wei Wuxian was in the burial mounds

Lan Wangji being there when Wei Wuxian wasn't...

Not a fully fledged idea yet

Jiang Fengmian bashing <3

[lewiscarrolatemybrain]

I love AUs where Wen Zhuliu ends up a good guy for whatever various reasons but most of them do Not capture this man’s comedy potential. Wen Zhuliu doesn’t tell Wen Chao jack shit. Wen Zhuliu willingly drinks the wine he KNOWS Wen Ning spiked because it’s not lethal and therefore Not something he has to care about. He knows full well WWX doesn’t have a golden core and just stands there letting Wen Chao threaten to have him destroy WWX’s golden core. Like. The sheer overworked minimum wage employee energy this man exudes.

And I know, okay, I know that we’ve all collectively decided that it’s because he fucking hates his job, he hates Wen Chao, he hates the Core Melting Hand, but he feels honor-bound to deal with it, so he is going to do The Bare Minimum to comply with his personal code of loyalty and not a fucking shred more. Presumably, if he were working for someone he actually liked, who’s ideals he supported, he would be more engaged and enthusiastic!

But I still don’t think he’d tell anybody anything. I think he’d be more proactive and even more protective and compassionate (yes, compassionate, Wen Chao didn’t deserve it but the man was downright tender when treating his wounds; he clearly is capable of gentleness and even kindness) but I also think that if somebody tried to hurt you you would be the last person to know.

It would be like six months after the fact and you’d be like “Huh where did this stain come from?” And he would be like “yeah sorry I tried to get the blood out but that assassin flopped all over the floor I guess I missed a spot” and you’d be like “ASSASSIN??!” And he’d be like “yeah here I brought you tea” and then just Never Elaborate.

“I know this sounds crazy but these robes that look exactly like my favorite robes are Not my favorite robes and Cannot articulate how or why”

“Oh yeah the laundress was paid to soak them in poison so you’d die the next time you wore them. I threw the old ones out, commissioned an identical pair, and then killed the laundress and the guy who paid her.”

And you would just have to be like “Oh. Okay. Got it… thanks?”

[khattikeri]

if wen zhuliu had survived the sunshot campaign but the wens still lost the war then cultivation society absolutely would've done its best to 1) gain his loyalty in light of his unique talents 2) vilify him if he refused to submit 3) kill him just like they did with wei wuxian

[asksythe]

Hello! In this amazing meta (https://www.tumblr.com/iamwestiec/721509969822908416/is-there-any-cultural-significance-or-reasoning?source=share) you referred to Wen Zhuliu's given name as Zhao Zhuli. I'm writing a series of fics centering him. I know he comes from the Zhao family , but could you please tell me about the Zhuli part (& how it does or doesn't relate to Zhuliu)? Many thanks!

Umm…. it’s a goof. It’s my goof 😅 🙏. I meant to type Wen Zhuliu but made a typo and typed Wen Zhuli instead. Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea! 

How about I write out what I know about Wen/Zhao Zhuliu instead? 

Let’s start with the name! 

1. The ancient, obscure meaning of a fairly common surname: 

Wen Zhuliu’s birthname is Zhao Zhuliu 赵逐流. Zhao 赵 is a common Chinese surname. This is what most people would know it as. However, according to the Kangxi Dictionary (1716), Zhao 赵 also means ‘to repay.’ The Kangxi Dictionary attributes this ancient meaning to a specific legend in the Yunbu, an even older Song dynasty text published in the 12th century. This specific legend in the Yunbu is about Qi Huayi repaying Zhao (the kingdom) by giving Zhao the territories of Ganluo and Tongya. The legend is from a pre-Qin era (so in the BCE).   

In other words, the Zhao surname is a discrete nod to Wen Zhuliu character being defined by his ‘debt’ to Wen Ruohan and his life as Wen Zhuliu being all about repaying Wen Ruohan’s ‘wen’ to him to the point of death. 

Just like Qin Huayi repaying his debt by slicing off long-held territories and giving it to Zhao. Zhao Zhuliu gave up his own life and fate to the Wen, Wen Ruohan specifically, to repay his debt. 

2. The name that signifies how out of place the person is: 

Zhuliu 逐流 means ‘racing current’ or ‘chasing current.’

But liu 流 is also used to denote a ‘class of people,’ or ‘grades of people.’ Words like Shangliu 上流 literally mean the upper echelon / upper class. And ‘Zhu’ can also denote ‘separate’ or ‘separated,’ or ‘exiled.’

So Zhuliu 逐流 can also be understood as a ‘Class of itself,’ or ‘separated from the rest.’

Zhuliu 逐流 reflects Wen Zhuliu’s situation among the Wen, separated from the rest and a class of himself. Wen Ruohan bestowed the surname Wen on him. This should be an incredibly high honor, especially in this particular time period. It is an act that symbolically adopts and accepts Zhao Zhuli as kin, as blood, as inseparable relation. And yet Wen Zhuliu is effectively treated as a servant by the Wens around him. 

He has no official authority of himself. He is neither retainer 客卿 (Keqing, a retainer can carry out missions, act in a House’s interest, and get a monthly payment and all sorts of benefits of being a member of a House, but has no power to decide a House policy. Su She, after being banished from House Lan, spent some time as a low-ranking retainer of House Jin. Mian Mian also worked to become a low-ranking retainer of House Jin before rejecting the actions of House Jin, taking off her House robes and abandoning her status as a retainer of Jin), nor elder 长老 (Zhanglao, an instated member of a House whose seniority or accomplishment allows him to become Zhanglao, and thus gains a say in a House policy and all sorts of diplomatic relations). 

This confusion of Wen Zhuliu’s official position among the Wen is most glaring in his interaction with Wang Lingjiao. Wang Lingjiao may be Wen Chao’s favorite mistress. However, her official position is still either a female servant (as she was first introduced in the novel as Wen Chao’s wife’s handmaiden/close servant), or at most a mistress (not even a concubine as the concubine position requires specific rites not dissimilar to a kind of wedding to be carried out). If Wen Zhuliu had any actual official position beyond ‘honorary Wen,’ then Wang Lingjiao wouldn’t be able to just boss him around like that. Because the official position in a House is not something even the second young master of the House can disrespect without serious repercussion.

In terms of ability and personal integrity, Wen Zhuliu is also in a class of himself, especially when compared to Wen Chao and the bootlickers he surrounded himself with. Wen Zhuliu never once insulted another person for their background or social station. Wen Zhuliu also protested and refused to desecrate Yu Furen’s corpse, very much against Wen Chao’s order. During the Jiang massacre, he very obviously did not want to go through with it, going so far as to apologize to Yu Furen for his having to face her this way at all.

Considering the Jiang massacre probably wasn’t even in the Wen’s original plan in the first place, and only happened because Yu Furen decided her ego was bigger than the lives of everyone else in House Jiang, down to young disciples not even 10 years old. Had the Wen truly wanted to wipe the Jiang out, Jiang Fengmian (who went to House Wen to ask for the swords back right before the massacre) wouldn’t have been able to get back to Lianhuawu in the first place. Wen Zhuliu probably wanted nothing to do with the whole ordeal and only went through with it because Wen Ruohan ordered him to take care of Wen Chao. 

3. About Wen Ruohan 温若寒: 

If you are going to write extensively about Wen Zhuliu, then you probably will want to know about Wen Ruohan as well. As I said before, MXTX character names tend to foreshadow or hint about certain things in their characters, their positions, or their story arc. Wen Ruohan is no exception. 

The word Han 寒 signifies his status as the last leader of House Wen. Why? It’s all to do with heat. 

The surname Wen 温 means ‘Warm,’ or ‘Warmth.’ Yet the name Han 寒 means ‘freezing.’ So Wen Ruohan can be understood as ‘warm like freezing.’ In modern Chinese slang, cold also means ‘dead.’ So saying things like I’m going cold, or it’s cold, are also ways to say ‘I’m dead,’ I’m dying,’ ‘He/she is dead.’ 

The middle part of the name Ruo 若 is also very interesting, because while it can be understood as ‘As,’ or ‘like,’ the ancient meaning of Ruo is ‘god.’ Specifically, Ruo is the name of a sea god in Zhuangzi (5th century BCE), one of the oldest and founding classical texts of Chinese culture and Daoism. In Zhuangzi, it is said that there is a sea god in the North named Ruo. One day, after a particular incident, Ruo said: “You cannot speak to a toad stuck at the bottom of a dry well of the vastness of the ocean.”   

So the word Ruo in Wen Ruohan’s name is another discrete nod to the character’s status in relation to those surrounding him, that as a god who has much better foresight and vision. When you really look into the details of the novel, you will find Wen Ruohan really did tower over the rest of the cultivation world not only in terms of power (he was the strongest cultivator in the cultivation world) but also in vision. His plan to unite the cultivation world and lay down actual laws and rules of conduct is eventually enacted and seen as necessary and natural to the development of the cultivation world. His plan to build Supervisory Offices ended up being plagiarized by Jin Guangyao and given a different name (Far-seeing Towers). In the novel, Jin Guangyao won high praise from regular people, other Houses, and even Wei Wuxian (after resurrection) for the Far-seeing Towers. You can say that if it weren’t for the other Wens (specifically Wen Ruohan’s own sons) being morons in executing his plan, and for the existence of Wei Ying (who was effectively an entire army during the Sunshot War), then Wen Ruohan would have had a very different ending.    

4. Other Miscellaneous things:

Since you want to write a story about Zhao/Wen Zhuliu, you can dig further into history, particularly the Zhao Kingdom, which was one of the seven Kingdoms of the Warring State Period. Zhao and Wei were historical peers, as they both belonged to the same seven kingdoms and were embroiled in the same events of the period. (You can check my post on the historical basis for WWX for that)

Another avenue would be… to look at Wei Ying himself. Because Wen/Zhao Zhuliu is a mirror image of Wei Ying, especially in Wei Ying’s first life. I haven’t really dug deep into the history and genealogy of the Zhao Kingdom, but I’m not gonna be surprised if there’s an actual historical basis for Zhao/Wen Zhuliu in there, the same way there is a historical basis for Wei Ying.        

[westiec]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Madam Jīn & Wēn Zhúliú & Yú Zǐyuān, Madam Jīn & Yú Zǐyuān, Wēn Zhúliú & Yú Zǐyuān Characters: Yú Zǐyuān, Madam Jīn (Módào Zǔshī), Wēn Zhúliú Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Méishān Yú Sect (Módào Zǔshī), Zǐdiàn Spiritual Tool (Módào Zǔshī), Coming of Age, Slice of Life, Knives, both literal and metaphorical Summary:

“Which weapon will be yours, daughter of Meishan?” Yu-zongzhu asked, loud enough for all the assembled to hear.

It was the question Yu Ziyuan had been waiting for all year—really for her whole life—but an excited shiver ran down her spine all the same as she stepped toward the display of spiritual tools.

[theleakypen]

Qingchengxian or Zhao Zhuliu prequel story WZL for the WIP ask game! Both sound very intriguing

qingchengxian preview here!

as for the Zhao Zhuliu prequel story, I've been working on it since November 2020 and it is getting incrementally closer to complete! it's the story of WZL in the days before he gets that name -- from his creation of the core melting technique to his friendship with Yu Ziyuan and the woman who will eventually be Madam Jin.

When they reached the Long River, they flew across on their swords. Touching down on the southern bank, Yu Ziyuan looked to the west. "My intended lives upriver from here," she said.  Zhao Zhuliu startled and looked at her sharply. Until that moment, she had given no indication of any attachments. He looked closely at her face. He had now seen her in many moods, far from the sharp hauteur that was her armor, but this one seemed new. A little frustrated, a little wistful. There was a divot between her brows, like the one she sometimes got when they were sparring and he was winning. "When will you marry?" he asked. He didn't know how it worked for gentry. "When he agrees," Yu Ziyuan said, and Zhao Zhuliu had no idea how to respond to that. She looked round at him, then, and her face smoothed into its customary lines. "Let's go. We should get to Jingzhou Town before too long."

[treemaidengeek]

@hunxi-after-hours the noise I made out loud when I finished reading this amazing piece & went back to the top to see who else out there is this invested in my man Zhuliu & what his life could be out of WRH's shadow, and then realized that it was YOU MA'AM SEMPAI HELLO

i know you're not doing so much MDZS/CQL these days but if you ever want to talk about the above AU I am all the ears of a cornfield 🌽🌽🌽

I have a whole series that arrives at some similar notes from a different point of departure, in the off chance that you might have an interest. (he & Meng Yao get messily entangled during & after the Sunshot Era & bond over their very complicated relationships to loyalty and authority, power and powerlessness, and the assumption that all good things come with strings; WZL survives, sort of, & shifts his focus to the Wen remnants)

If you could change the fate of one character from The Untamed, whom would you choose and what change would you make?

…just one, anon? Just one?? Do you know the sheer body count of this show???

All of my gut instinct responses are the ladies of CQL, because they all get royally screwed over by the plot for reasons of various legitimacy (they were fridged. let’s be honest here. they were completely and totally fridged)

Jiang Yanli deserved a life outside of the men in her life. Wen Qing deserved to be respected for the leader and healer she was. Lan Yi deserved to be respected as an innovator and a sect leader, regardless of her gender. Cangse-sanren deserved to live in defiance of societal expectation, to love the man she chose, to raise their brilliant, beautiful son together. A-Qing deserved an entire life beyond her not-childhood.

But fate means more than just life or death; changing someone’s fate could mean a version of Jiang Cheng who forgives himself much earlier than canonical Jiang Cheng does; changing someone’s fate could mean a Lan Xichen who holds his blade and spares Jin Guangyao’s life, and never confronts the emotional agony of murdering his sworn brother, never goes into an indefinite seclusion. 

You know what? Fuck it – for novelty’s sake, I’m going to say Wen Zhuliu. Change his fate, and change it early – he never falls in with the Wen Sect, remains Zhao Zhuliu, rogue cultivator, Core-Melting Hand, dark-robed vigilante. He haunts the five provinces; he enacts a cold, unseen kind of justice. He occasionally turns up at Lotus Pier in the middle of the night, silent and shivering and bloodied, and Madam Yu snaps at the guards to fetch a healer for him. He’s almost always gone by the morning. Sometimes, when Madam Yu gets particularly vicious, a toxic kind of violence bubbling low in her gut, resentment and dissatisfaction boiling over, she ignites a talisman and meets Zhao Zhuliu in the woods beyond Lotus Pier a few nights later, and they go night-hunting together, taking aim only at the most ferocious of legendary beasts, the most vicious of vengeful spirits. Their exploits only make their way into public knowledge as gossip and myth, but Zhao Zhuliu is long accustomed to being the subject of both.

He is afforded a terrified kind of respect; he is left alone.

Of course, this means that Jiang Cheng never loses his core to Wen Zhuliu; this means Wei Wuxian never makes his sacrifice, the Yunmeng Shuangjie never experience that particular heartbreak. I’d love to see Zhao Zhuliu interact with Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, two other rogue cultivators who choose to remain outside of sect politics. I’d love to see him defend the Wen refugees, just glare everyone else into terrified submission with implicit threat. I’d love to see his blank-faced surprise when Wei Wuxian, lead disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, a boy he’s watched grow up over his erratic visits to Lotus Pier, now a young man he’s seen cut ruthlessly through opponents during Sunshot, shows up in the fragile settlement Zhao Zhuliu’s helped the Wen refugees establish; I’d love to see Wei Wuxian offer to help with that wide, guileless smile of his, and in between building up the foundations of new houses, he breaks down Zhao Zhuliu’s walls, becomes the first to see Zhao Zhuliu for the man he is behind the fearsome reputation, the awful technique.

Would you teach me? Wei Wuxian asks one night, when everyone else is asleep. The cookfire burns low between them, occasionally spitting a spark into the darkness.

Zhao Zhuliu knows exactly what Wei Wuxian is asking. No, he says. After a moment, he adds, but I would consider it.

Why not? There is no hurt in Wei Wuxian’s tone, just idle curiosity as the lead disciple of Yunmeng Jiang leans back to look at the stars, long legs stretched before him.

I’ve always intended for the technique to die with me, Zhao Zhuliu says. It’s just taking longer than expected.

And Wei Wuxian looks at him with those dark, heavy-lidded eyes that have always seen more than he lets on in his carefree, careless demeanour, and Zhao Zhuliu feels seen, inspected, assessed, judged.

He thinks about his solitary night-hunts, the weeks spent in hard, lonely pursuit of brutal criminals on the fringes of society, where sect law wears thin and evil deeds go unreported, unpunished. He thinks about the invisibility of the justice he metes out, about a society that never wanted him, a world that barely tolerates him. He thinks about the suicidal missions and the dangerous night-hunts, thinks about the number of times he’s stumbled back to Lotus Pier in a haze of blood-loss and injury, thinks about how accustomed he’s grown to saluting death as it brushes his shoulder on its merciless path. He realizes that people feared him because he was fearless, and that he was fearless because he’d always expected to die young and unmourned.

Zhao Zhuliu lets out a long breath, one weighted now with the self-awareness that he’s always assumed his years were running out soon, and leans back against the wall of a half-built house, crossing his legs at the ankles and staring up at the stars. Around him are the delicate skeletons of lives he’s saved, lives he’s helping rebuild, living and breathing and laughing proof that his hands can do more than destroy.

Zhao-ge, Wei Wuxian says, eyes closed. Do you think Wen Qing would let us plant potatoes if you suggested it instead of me?

Not a chance, Wei-gongzi, Zhao Zhuliu says, and feels something warm and glowing settle in his chest, like the dying embers of the fire between them, barely visible in the dark.

[lilnasxvevo]

Twenty bucks says Wen Zhuliu was Wen Ning’s gay awakening and he feels real weird about it

[jaimebluesq]

Fic Rec!!!

We did a little "Women of MDZS Flash Exchange" - 72 hrs to get a prompt and write the fic - and the answer to my prompt was so awesome and well done - go give them some love!

“Which weapon will be yours, daughter of Meishan?” Yu-zongzhu asked, loud enough for all the assembled to hear. It was the question Yu Ziyuan had been waiting for all year—really for her whole life—but an excited shiver ran down her spine all the same as she stepped toward the display of spiritual tools.

[eatmyass-x]

Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying do not speak.

It’s been years since either of them has even tried to reach out to the other and Jiang Cheng has absolutely no intention of changing that. Or at least he had no intention until tonight, in this seedy club, where he’s just seen Wei Ying’s—

Where he’s just seen Lan Zhan, second heir of Lan Enterprise and the man Wei Ying walked away from the Jiangs for, cosying up with someone that is decidedly not Wei Ying.

Jiang Cheng sees red.

He hadn’t even wanted to come here, to this less than reputable part of the city in this less than reputable club. But his mother has been insistent that a good businessman needs to do more than just spend time in the office. ‘Networking’ she’d called it, but he can think of several far less flattering words for it right now as he sits at this suspiciously sticky table with the Jin cousins and their Wen… business partners.

His only solace is that Jin Zixuan looks just as reluctant to be here as Jiang Cheng himself feels, but he shows it much more openly. Jiang Cheng’s perpetual Resting Bitch Face™️, as Wei Ying liked to call it when they were younger, is a good cover for when he actually is feeling pissed off or uncomfortable or any other emotion really. Jin Zixuan however looks positively queasy. He wonders if it’s the thick plumes of cigar smoke, the writhing bodies on the floor below them, or the scantily clad boys in Wen Chao’s lap that have his brother-in-law looking so nauseous.

Jiang Cheng quickly looks away when one of the boys starts giving Wen Chao a lap dance, sees Jin Zixun grinning at the scene like it’s him getting the lap dance and looks away even quicker. That leaves him with no choice but to look at Zhao Zhuliu, who is already looking at him.

Zhao Zhuliu is a stoic looking man, probably handsome in his younger days but Jiang Cheng refuses to think about that. Because the first, and only, thing the man has said so far is to look Jiang Cheng up and down when he first arrived and tell him just how much he looks like his mother. By this point in his life Jiang Cheng’s had this said to him enough times that he doesn’t let it get to him anymore. But Zhao Zhuliu has not looked away from him since. Jiang Cheng isn’t sure he’s seen him blink once. He feels like he’s being undressed by the man’s eyes, and the setting certainly doesn’t help.

And his mother, a woman notorious for her scathing tongue and inability to praise anyone, had spoken suspiciously highly of Zhao Zhuliu. That, combined with Zhao Zhuliu’s penetrative glance… Well, Jiang Cheng refuses to even think about what any of it might mean.

Which leaves him with his gaze wandering around the smoky club. They are on the upper floor in the VIP section, with a view down at the dance floor where all manners of debauchery are occurring. But the lights are dim so he can pretend it’s all just shapes and colours rather than people grinding on one another.

That is until he spots a familiar face.

At first he thinks he must be mistaken. What business does a Lan heir have in a club like this? They don’t need to make seedy connections with seedy people like Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan do. The Lans are as strait laced and law abiding as they come.

But then the strobe light travels across the dance floor again, lighting his whole face up and yes, that is definitely Lan Zhan. He’s a whole head taller than literally anyone else in the entire club so it’s impossible to miss him now that Jiang Cheng’s caught sight of him. It’s disconcerting enough to see him here but when Jiang Cheng looks closer his heart starts racing in his chest.

Lan Zhan is not alone. He is over by the bar with someone clinging to him like a limpet. A woman. Jiang Cheng rubs his eyes just to be sure he’s not seeing things but no, when the darkness recedes from his eyes, the pair are still at the bar, bodies so close they look like they’ve been surgically attached to one another.

The woman is wearing a scandalously short skirt and an even tinier crop top and Lan Zhan has one hand underneath either item of clothing. Jiang Cheng feels sick. Lan Zhan is supposed to be Wei Ying’s— whatever he is. Sure, they haven’t spoken to each other in years and didn’t always see eye to eye even when they were on speaking terms, but he cannot just sit by and watch as Wei Ying gets cheated on. He has to do something. He knows without a doubt that Wei Ying would do the same for him.

He makes something up about needing some fresh air to excuse himself. Wen Chao’s grin is lecherous, as if Jiang Cheng is leaving the table for some nefarious purpose. For a split second Jiang Cheng imagines himself with a lapful of dancers and his blood pressure rockets so high he has to grab the railings on the stairs with both hands to stop himself from keeling over.

He loses a precious few minutes righting himself, and by the time he gets to the dance floor he’s lost sight of Lan Zhan. There are far too many strange characters in this club tonight. He gets swept up in a crowd of leather, glitter, and way too much makeup. He tries to push his way through to the bar but ends up sandwiched between a shirtless guy with more tattoos than skin, and an extremely pretty, extremely pierced young woman. They seem to be in cahoots of some kind, surrounding Jiang Cheng and dancing on him together.

Jiang Cheng is frozen from the shock of it all. Or he thinks he’s frozen, but when he looks down his body is swaying to the beat of the music, gently guided by the tattooed arms around his waist. He is shocked, appalled even, but there’s a pesky little voice in his head — one that sound suspiciously like Wei Ying — telling him to ‘Just let it happen, Jiang Cheng. Loosen up!’

That last bit is also whispered into his ear by the girl with the piercings. Or maybe it’s the guy whispering in his ear from behind, he can’t tell anymore. He feels almost drunk, even though he’d only taken two small sips of whiskey the whole night. Maybe he’ll listen to the pesky not-Wei Ying voice in his head and let himself get lost amongst these sweaty bodies tonight. What’s the worst that could happen?

It’s at that exact moment that he sees Lan Zhan again, now with his back to the wall beside the bar. His tongue is down that same woman’s throat, their hands in all kinds of untoward places. Jiang Cheng can’t believe he’d almost let himself forget his reason for being down here in the first place.

He extricates himself from between the still dancing couple and tries not to think too hard about the joint looks of disappointment they give him. They make a very attractive pair, even if they do look like they’ve walked straight out of one of his mother’s worst nightmares. He shrugs off the last of their touches and pushes his way through the crowd towards the direction he’d spotted Lan Zhan.

When he reaches the bar the woman is nowhere to be found, probably already off to get her hands on the next handsome stranger she can find. But Lan Zhan is still there, leant against the wall with his eyes closed, breathing heavily. He looks like his whole world has just been thoroughly rocked and Jiang Cheng feels sick for many, many reasons.

“You piece of shit!” Jiang Cheng shouts.

Lan Zhan’s eyes open. “Jiang Cheng.” He looks at Jiang Cheng like he’s just seen something distasteful.

Jiang Cheng crosses the remaining distance between them. “How dare you cheat on Wei Ying!”

Lan Zhan blinks. “What?”

Jiang Cheng feels absolutely furious. “So you’re gonna lie to my face?” He grabs the man by his collar and shakes him hard. “I saw you with my own eyes!”

Lan Zhan grips Jiang Cheng’s arms and pushes him away from himself. “Have you perhaps… taken some kind of substance?”

“You bastard!” He shoves Lan Zhan hard into the wall. “Wei Ying left us all, he left everything for you! And this is how you repay him? You cheat on him with some, some fucking whore in broad daylight?” He realises just a second too late that there is no daylight, but he can’t back down now. “You don’t deserve him, you piece of—!”

“You think,” Lan Zhan frowns like he cannot believe what he’s hearing, “that I am cheating on Wei Ying? The love of my life?”

As he speaks his face is still covered in that fucking floozy’s bright red lipstick. Jiang Cheng feels murderous. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Cheng punches him square in the face.

Someone nearby screams. He hardly gets a moment to bask in satisfaction before Lan Zhan straightens up and punches him right back. His fist hits Jiang Cheng directly in the nose and the pain that shoots through him is positively eye-watering. Jiang Cheng can barely see through it but he jumps at Lan Zhan with a growl, even as he feels the blood from his nose begin to spill into his mouth.

He gets both his hands around Lan Zhan’s throat. The screams and yells around them are getting louder, but he has no intention of letting go until he sees the light dim from behind those creepy, golden eyes. But a straight punch in his stomach from Lan Zhan has him doubling over in pain, leaving him with no choice but to loosen his grip and clutch painfully at his own abdomen.

He stumbles for a moment and then tries to go straight back for Lan Zhan’s throat, only to be stopped by someone getting in between them. Jiang Cheng realises that it’s the woman who Lan Zhan had been swapping spit with not long ago.

He grabs her by the shoulders and shoves her away. “Move, you fucking—!”

“Jiang Cheng!”

Jiang Cheng stops. Stops and really looks.

It’s Wei Ying.

“What the fuck?!”

It’s at that very moment that the club security decides to intervene. Jiang Cheng gets grabbed by two bouncers about twice his height and dragged out of the club like he’s a child throwing a tantrum. They toss him onto the cold pavement outside, no care for his clearly very expensive clothing. He skids along the rough concrete, ass cheeks burning at the impact until he comes to a stop. His trousers are bound to be ruined beyond repair.

Lan Zhan on the other hand still looks as dignified as ever as he’s escorted out of the club. Jiang Cheng wants to kick him in the shins and trip him up, but he only just manages to hold himself back. Wei Ying is cackling at the top of his lungs, kicking his legs in the air as one of the bouncers carries him out of the club over the shoulder and deposits him outside with the rest of them. The door is slammed shut on their faces.

Wei Ying is still laughing as he straightens up, teetering on his ridiculous platform heels and adjusting his appallingly short skirt. He walks over to Lan Zhan and kisses him on the cheek. “Are you alright, love?” He gently strokes the corner of Lan Zhan’s mouth where Jiang Cheng notices with some pride that a bruise is already blooming.

A long moment passes where it seems like the two of them have an entire prolonged conversation without any words, just looking into one another's eyes. Then Lan Zhan nods and says, “I will bring the car. Wait for me here?”

Wei Ying kisses him right on the bruise and says a soft, “Thank you.”

Lan Zhan walks away, but not without squeezing Wei Ying’s hand and shooting Jiang Cheng a look that can only be described as threatening. Jiang Cheng sneers back at him.

Wei Ying comes over and sits beside Jiang Cheng on the curb. It takes him a ridiculous amount of time to get settled with his constricting skirt and dangerously tall boots. Jiang Cheng doesn’t offer to help him once. Wei Ying has to sit with his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle. He looks like one of Jiang Yanli’s barbie dolls.

They sit there in silence for a while. Muffled music from the club leaks out onto the street. The neon sign above the entrance of the club paints them both in a strange purple light. Jiang Cheng pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket but doesn’t take one out. He spins it in his hand several times before finally opening the pack and offering it out to Wei Ying.

Wei Ying looks down at it surprised. “Oh! Thanks, but I—” He reaches out for one but his hand falters. “—I’ve actually quit. Lan Zhan doesn’t—”

Jiang Cheng scoffs. “Of course.” He pulls one out for himself and then snaps the box shut.

“He cares about me, Jiang Cheng. Doesn’t want me dying an early death.” He laughs lightly at that for some reason. “You should try to quit too. You know it’s not good for you.”

Jiang Cheng lights up the cigarette and takes a long, deep drag. He doesn’t tell Wei Ying that he has actually been trying to quit recently and this is his first smoke in a while. It’d feel a little bit like admitting defeat in the face of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan’s whole… deal.

He gestures at Wei Ying’s body with his lit cigarette. “You a fucking girl now?” It comes out much harsher than he intends it to, taking on a completely different meaning. He winces internally but can’t take it back now.

“Hmm?” Wei Ying looks down at himself, like he’s forgotten the very glaring details of how he’s dressed. “Oh. No, it’s not—” He laughs, thankfully taking it lightly. “It’s not like that. It’s just… me, you know?”

Jiang Cheng decidedly does not know, but for once he decides not to argue. The less he knows the better. There is silence again while Jiang Cheng breathes in smoke. The cigarette is slightly stale but he’s committed to the bit now, he has to see it through till the end.

He feels Wei Ying nudge his side. “So you do care about me, huh?”

“What?”

“Swooping in to defend my honour like that,” Wei Ying grins. “You must care about me, just a little bit.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t get what the joke is in all of that. “Are you stupid?”

“Well, yeah.” Wei Ying’s grin flickers as he looks down at the pavement. “Just a little bit…”

For fuck sake, Jiang Cheng is definitely not going about this the right way. He flicks ash off the end of his cigarette and watches it get blown away by the wind. “Wouldn’t have had to ‘defend your honour’ if you weren’t being shameless in seedy club corners.”

“It’s not seedy, Jiang Cheng. It’s just gay, that’s all. Nothing seedy about it,” Wei Ying tells him. “What were you doing in there?”

Jiang Cheng frowns, first at Wei Ying and then up at the entrance of the club. He hadn't even realised it was a gay club. “Had to meet with Wen Chao for business. Mom’s orders.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Wei Ying grimaces like he knows a little something of Wen Chao’s preferences. Jiang Cheng tries not to think about Wei Ying being cornered by the Wen and Zhao pair in a dark club like this. “Be careful, he likes pretty boys.”

“I can look after myself,” Jiang Cheng bristles, but he doesn’t bother fighting the pretty boy allegations. He sees more and more of his mother in the mirror every day. It’s disconcerting to say the least.

“Well clearly.” Wei Ying points at Jiang Cheng’s still bloody nose with a laugh. It hasn’t been kissed better like Lan Zhan’s cheek, Jiang Cheng thinks bitterly. Wei Ying’s laughter gets louder. “I can’t believe you thought Lan Zhan was cheating on me! With a woman!”

Jiang Cheng scowls. “Fucking hell, don’t get too cocky.”

“No, no, I just mean Lan Zhan is gay. Like, very, extremely gay.” He throws his head back with a cackle. “A woman!”

Mistaking Wei Ying for a woman wasn’t as embarrassing as this mistake feels for some reason. He’s grateful for the purple lights hiding the redness of his face. “Sexuality is fluid, isn’t it?”

Wei Ying stops laughing abruptly and whips around to face him. “Who the fuck have you been hanging around with?”

Jiang Cheng chews at his lip, staring hard at the cars parked on the opposite side of the road. “…Nie Huaisang.”

“I see.” And Jiang Cheng does not like the tone of his voice. Wei Ying is looking at him like he’s seeing Jiang Cheng in a whole new light. It makes him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. After a long moment, Wei Ying says, “It’s not just that though.”

“What?” Jiang Cheng hears the alarm in his own voice.

“Lan Zhan. He…” Wei Ying picks at the edge of his skirt. Jiang Cheng breathes a sigh of relief at the change of topic, and then immediately takes it back when he sees the movement of Wei Ying’s hands. He really hopes Wei Ying doesn’t accidentally move his skirt any further up. It already sits horrifyingly far up on his thigh as it is. “He wouldn’t do that. He really loves me, A-Cheng. Heaven knows why, I certainly don’t deserve it but—”

“Shut the fuck up.” Wei Ying looks at him in alarm. Jiang Cheng is quick to continue, “He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Oh.” Wei Ying blinks in the same owlish way Lan Zhan had blinked at Jiang Cheng’s accusation in the club. It just pisses Jiang Cheng off even more. “I know you’ve never liked him much, but—” Jiang Cheng scoffs at that but Wei Ying pays it no heed. “He’s so good, A-Cheng. There aren’t enough words in any language to tell you just how good he is.” He smiles down at his hands, fiddling with his empty ring finger. “He’s the best thing to ever happen to me since being taken in by Uncle Jiang.”

That makes Jiang Cheng stop short. He hadn’t expected Wei Ying to say anything of the sort. Still he can’t help but intone bitterly, “And look how that turned out.”

Wei Ying drags in a deep shuddering breath and maybe Jiang Cheng feels bad, maybe he doesn’t. It doesn’t matter either way.

“Argh!” He feels a sudden, blistering pain in his hand, where his cigarette has burnt down right to the stub and is burning into his fingers. He quickly flings it onto the ground and shakes his still burning hand, trying to ease the pain. “Fuck!”

“You know I didn’t leave the family for him,” Wei Ying says, sparing only a cursory glance at Jiang Cheng’s fingers. “If anything, I tried to leave Lan Zhan for you all. Several times.” He chews on his bottom lip, eyes downcast. “But it still wasn’t enough for Madam Yu.”

Jiang Cheng stops fussing over his fingers and tucks his hand away. He recalls that terrible night when Wei Ying walked out of their house for good after everyone found out about his relationship with Lan Zhan. He’d disgraced the Jiangs and chosen the stupid Lan boy over them. That’s what Jiang Cheng’s mother always said.

He didn’t know Wei Ying had tried to leave Lan Zhan for them. He gets the feeling there are a lot of things he doesn’t know. He’d gone to therapy for the first time at his sister’s suggestion a few months back. The therapist had looked at him with far too knowing eyes and asked, “And what impact do you think your relationship with your mother has had on other important relationships in your life?”

His mind had immediately supplied the image of Wei Ying, head tossed back in laughter, ponytail swaying with the movement. Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, come back to haunt him. Jiang Cheng doesn’t even celebrate Christmas.

He’d given some blatant non-answer in reply to the therapist’s question, tried not to pay too much attention to the responding scribble of her pen on her stupid little notepad, and then never gone back to see her, or any other therapist, ever again.

Jiang Cheng gets the feeling that there are a lot of things he doesn’t know, that he is yet to find out. He sees the therapist in his mind’s eye now, looking at him with those stupid, knowing eyes. He never quite got around to deleting the number to her office off his phone. Jiang Yanli would certainly be happy if Jiang Cheng just so happened to hit the call button.

“What does A-jie think of him?” he asks. He’s not meant to know that Wei Ying and her keep in touch, but he’s known for a while now. Jiang Yanli is a terrible liar.

Wei Ying looks like a deer caught in the headlights. “Who, Lan Zhan?” Jiang Cheng nods but Wei Ying still hesitates. And then very quietly he admits, “Jiejie loves him.”

Jiang Cheng sits with that for a moment, letting it sink in. He’s not sure if he’s surprised or not and the flickering streetlights certainly don’t provide an answer. Eventually he gives Wei Ying a noncommittal hum.

Wei Ying continues, “They get on really well too. It’s strange but they’re actually quite similar.” He gets a disbelieving look from Jiang Cheng at that. “I’m serious,” Wei Ying says. “Quiet, selfless, full of love.” He sighs. “Great at cooking, and—”

“Terrible taste in men,” Jiang Cheng adds to the list.

Wei Ying stops and grins at him widely. “Oh, the absolute worst taste in men.”

“Horrific taste in men, if you ask me.” Jiang Cheng grins back just as wide.

And maybe.

Maybe things will be alright after all.

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

I'm a very big fan of those lace gloves the cql design team gave Wen Zhuliu, very evil

[stiltonbasket]

For wen!wwx: "I may have made a mistake in taking you to Nightless City, A-Ying" were the last words Wen-shushu had spoken to him, a little more than a fortnight after he was slain in battle. Contrary to popular belief, it was Wen Zhuliu who saved A-Ying and took him to Nightless City. Wen Rouhan raised him to be a weapon, but Wen Zhuliu raised him as a son.

(link to part 1)

By the winter Wei Wuxian turned thirty-six, Qishan Wen had been at war for two years; but in those two years, very little had changed behind the walls of the Nightless City.

The wine ran as freely as it always did, and even the lowest-ranking guest disciples were allotted more treasures and fine foods than most well-to-do commoners would see in a year. The rare few of the clan who had spent time in the halls of the mortal emperor—Wei Wuxian among them, for his master wanted the emperor to know something of the raw power that lurked in Qishan, in case he ever thought of claiming even an inch of Wen territory for his own—were aware Wen Ruohan's sect banquets were far richer than anything the imperial court had to offer: and even if the war were to last another decade, the cities clustered around the great Sun Palace in Bu Ye Tian would flow with gold for ten times that span at the least.

Strength counted for much in the Jianghu, and for a great deal more outside it—and Wen Ruohan treasured the cultivators who labored for him as he treasured his own saber, so long as their younger selves had proved loyal enough to be permitted to reach adulthood.

Of the four children Wen Zhuliu brought back to Bu Ye Tian some thirty-odd years ago, only one had achieved that honor: the youngest, Wei Ying, plucked from the streets in upper Yiling some months before his fifth birthday.

He had grown up well, Wen Zhuliu thought, as he watched Wei Wuxian move across the banquet hall with a double-eared wine cup in his hand. The handmaidens at the Wei-fu had braided his hair with gold, so that the full, shining mass of it reflected the light from the lamps on the walls like a mirror; and though Wen Ruohan recalled him from Langya nearly six months ago now, he had not yet lost the watchful bearing of a general waiting under cover of darkness for his enemy to strike.

"Zhao-shushu," he said, toasting him with his half-empty cup of wine as Wen Zhuliu drew closer. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since..."

"It's been nearly a year, I think," Wen Zhuliu replied, inclining his head. "When we were stationed together in Jiangling."

A shadow crossed Wei Wuxian's face; and too late, Wen Zhuliu remembered that Jiangling was where his erstwhile ward bore witness to the execution of Yu Hengshan, in spite of Wen Zhuliu's best efforts to ensure that he was occupied elsewhere at the hour of Yu Hengshan's death.

He was absurdly soft-hearted for a man who had spent the last two years between war fronts and Wen Ruohan's great strategy chamber, and it discomfited Wen Zhuliu immensely.

"How is A-Yuan?" he said softly, for Wei Wuxian's yang son was one of the few subjects they could speak of without stirring the dreadful shuttered look in Wei Wuxian's eyes—though that had been present in some form or other from the day he was sworn into Wen Ruohan's service, and would likely never leave him throughout the remainder of his life.

"He is well," Wei Wuxian answered, nodding towards the artificial stream carved into the ground of the garden adjoining the feasting hall. Wen Zhuliu turned and saw a gaggle of youths and young girls kneeling by the water's edge, scribbling verses of poetry onto plain white lanterns; and then, following the line of his ward's outstretched hand, he saw that the boy at the front of the group looked like a smaller, light-hearted version of Wei Ying.

"How old is he?"

"Eighteen." Wei Wuxian's hand tightened around the base of his cup. "He's nearly old enough to wear a proper guan, if you can believe it."

Ah, Wen Zhuliu realized, with no small amount of pity—for if the war did not end within these next two years, Wen Yuan would be among the new soldiers sent to war, perhaps as part of his own father's regiment.

He reached out and grasped Wei Wuxian's arm.

"A-Ying," he said urgently. "This war will not last long enough to draw your A-Yuan into it. You know Lanling Jin cannot endure for much longer, what with Meng Yao—and once Lanling falls, Yunmeng will crumble soon after. Yu Hengshan was Yunmeng Jiang's greatest backer, and now that he has been slain—"

"Yes, but what then?"

Wen Zhuliu paused, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Once the Jianghu has been brought under our colors, what then?" Wei Wuxian murmured, before taking a long drink of wine. "The Jin might live peacefully under Junshang's rule—they will have no choice, for they are not strong enough to do otherwise—but the Jiang will abandon their clan seat if needs must, and flee to rebuild elsewhere. And once they rise to prominence again, what will our lord do next?"

And what will you do? his eyes seemed to say; and though Wen Zhuliu had vowed to murder Yu Hengshan when he was a child of sixteen, his ears were suddenly filled with the screams of the civilian woman who had discovered the man's decapitated corpse in a rowboat on Lake Lianhua.

He had not lingered long enough to listen to the screams of Yu Hengshan's sister, for fear that his heart would break at the knowledge that Yu Ziyuan grieved this brother of hers despite all he had done to them both—but now, the echoes of her cries were so clear in his mind that he was half-convinced he had heard them in truth, all those months ago.

"I will do whatever Wen-zongzhu commands me to do," Wen Zhuliu said at last. "I was sworn to him for life, just as you were."

In answer, the fingers of Wei Wuxian's right hand rose and fluttered restlessly over his shoulder: the left shoulder, where his wide collar hid the set of obedience sigils that Wen Ruohan carved into his flesh on the day he came of age.

"Yes," he whispered, his gaze straying once more to his son. "I am sworn to him for life—just as you are."

They parted not long after that, for Wen Zhuliu had only come back to the Nightless City for Wei Wuxian's birthday banquet, and he was due to return to Hejian early the next day. He had other generals to greet, and Wei Wuxian had gone off to judge the results of the winding-stream contest taking place in the garden; but shortly before dawn, Wen Zhuliu sought Wei Wuxian out once again and drew the younger man into his arms.

"Happy birthday," he said. "May you have ten lifetimes' worth of them, my child."

Wei Wuxian smiled tearfully—and suddenly, Wen Zhuliu was certain that after tonight, he would never lay eyes on this ward of his again.

"I wish it had not been like this," he blurted. "If I had not brought you back to the Nightless City all those years ago, then perhaps..."

Wei Wuxian's eyes flickered toward the throne at the front of the hall.

"What other purpose could I have served than this one?" he said quietly. "You had your revenge, and I was given the honor of serving Junshang. That is the end of it."

And with that, he kissed Wen Zhuliu on the brow, and vanished into the night.

Wen Zhuliu never did see him again, for he met his death on the Hejian front within the next fortnight; and when his jian was brought back to the Bu Ye Tian, it was sent to Wei Wuxian's residence, the High General's manor, where it would remain until the Wei-fu went up in flames with its master still locked inside it.

[asksythe]

Is there any cultural significance or reasoning for Xiao Xingchen giving both his eyes to Song Lan, instead of just one?

I can certainly see there being plot and/or thematic reasons for it (like it makes a better parallel with Wei Wuxian who couldn’t give just half his golden core; it’s necessary for Xiao Xingchen to be completely blind for the Yi city tragedy to play out as it did; etc.) but I’m wondering if there is more to it then that.

Your insights on other bits of MDZS lore have been really interesting!

That’s a tough question. The short answer is: yes. It’s a cultural thing. 

The longer answer is that I’m not sure I can adequately answer your question... because I feel that I'm not qualified. It goes deep. This is reaching the DNA of Chinese culture and the value system itself. I would say it’s probably better if you read more Chinese classics or immerse yourself in the culture. This is one of those things that are immensely difficult to put into words. The best way is to experience it.    

But since you asked me, I’m going to at least give it a try. 

The reason that Xiao Xingchen gave both eyes to Song Lan and the true root of the Yi City tragedy includes three different cultural concepts: Jishi 济世 (the Chinese ideal of saving the world), Enyuan Yinguo 恩怨因果 (Karma and Karmic Debts), and the quest to find Dao 道 (truth). 

1/ Jishi 济世 

济世 Jishi is a Chinese term denoting a philosophical ideal pursued by certain classes or castes of people since ancient times in China. It means to sacrifice and save the world. It’s self-sacrificial heroism in the most ideal and purest sense of the concept, similar to our modern-day Doctors without Borders.   

This is Xiao Xingchen’s higher calling, his chosen purpose. Xiao Xingchen came down from Baoshan Sanren’s mountain at 17 years old with one purpose: to make the world a better place. He rejected no one who needed his help. He went out of his way to reject the invitations from the cultivator Houses to join their ranks and enjoy the wealth and privilege it might bring because he didn’t want to be distracted from a higher calling.

Using modern Western vernacular, Xiao Xingchen is a hero. That’s his religion and identity. That’s on top of a personality that already holds high self-responsibility. So is there any wonder he feels he’s responsible for Song Lan’s loss and must give Song Lan both eyes?  

2/ Enyuan Yinguo 恩怨因果

恩怨 En Yuan. Yuan is resentment, spite, hatred, grudge. But En is a lot harder to nail down in English. It’s commonly translated as favor, but ‘favor’ has none of the cultural weight and encoded social obligation of En. The pure meaning of En is ‘a good deed done from the heart.’ A kindness. A mercy. A gift. 

For example, Jiang Fengmian taking Wei Ying into Jiangshi is En. Wen Ning saving Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying is En. Wen Ning reclaiming Jiang Fengmian and Yu Furen’s corpses and artifacts is En. Big En, comparable rebirthing an entire household. Wen Ruohan teaching Zhao Zhuli (later on known as Wen Zhuliu) and granting him a chance to prove himself is also En. Nie Mingjue doing the same to Jin Guangyao is the same level of En (granting critical knowledge and opportunity to completely change one’s life). Jin Guangyao taking in Lan Xichen and hiding him from Wen pursuers before the Sunshot campaign is En.   

因果 Yinquo = Karmic Bonds, the fruits that bloom from the seeds one sow. It’s also understood as a link between people’s life. Our lives collide, intertwine, and diverge like threads on a tapestry. We are each bound to each other by the threads of Karma and our debt to each other. This is yinguo. 

There is a deep-seated belief in China that a person’s life is a ledger. To live is to constantly add to and take away from the ledger. When other people perform En for you, that means you take from their ledger and add to yours. When someone takes from your ledger, a yuan/grudge is born. From the moment you were born, you were granted the greatest of En, the gift of life from your parents.   

In Chinese culture, it’s believed that one must try one’s best to square the ledger. One must repay En and reclaim Yuan. Entangled Enyuan eventually leads to tangled Yinguo, and that’s just a big headache nobody wants because it directly impacts your afterlife, your next life, your descendants, and sometimes even your ancestors that are already dead. 

To strive your best to repay En is seen as a virtue. Of course, not everyone is capable or even wants to reach this ideal. Like when we say it’s good to be honest, but being truly and completely honest in daily life is… a task, shall we say. Sometimes, it’s very hard to truly repay what you owe. And sometimes, your Enyuan with a person or with a House is so entangled that it’s either hard to really say who owes who, or hard to admit to the fact that you are the one in the reds.  

You are seeing parallels between Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian because they both embody this ideal to the extreme. Both would take it upon themselves to repay. Xiao Xingchen paid with his eyes. Wei Wuxian repaid Jiang Fengmian’s En by giving Jiang Cheng his jindan, helped Jiang Cheng rebuild Jiang Shi using Guidao (Path of the Dead), gave up all his war achievements for the rebuilding of Jiangshi and left Jiangshi without a penny to his name despite being a major contributor to victory, and then… repaid Wen Ning, Wen Qing’s En to Jiang Cheng and Jiangshi in Jiang Cheng’s place when the other didn’t.  

In some ways, you can say that both Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian are flawed in that they underestimate their own value and well-being and overestimate what other people do for them. You can even say that they are foolish because they pay for En that isn’t theirs to pay, and that eventually leads to their suffering and death. But this is just the kind of people they are. They are true idealists who genuinely believe in a Truth greater than mortal squabbles. They are pure, uncorrupted Daoists, the kind that holds the founding precepts of Daoism in their heart.  

In the novel, there are many examples of different people and how they see Enyuan Yinguo and how much value they put in them. 

We have Su Se, who was saved by Wei Wuxian twice but didn’t even acknowledge it. Instead, he saw that as a Yuan because he probably hated the fact that it showed how weak and insignificant he was. Yet Jin Guangyao merely remembered his name and gave him some support to create his House, and he was willing to be Jin Guangyao’s attack dog, going so far as to abandon his own House members in Fuma Cave when Jin Guangyao’s plan failed and using his life to buy time for Jin Guangyao in Guanyin temple. 

We also have Jiang Cheng, who was well aware that he owed Wen Ning and Wen Qing, but didn’t want to acknowledge it because he was poisoned with trauma and hatred at the hands of Wen Chao and felt that because of his relationship with Wei Ying, he was entitled to Wen Ning’s En. And yet he is rational enough to understand that admitting to owing this ginormous En and not repaying it is a huge stigma on House Jiang, and so even when he answered Nie Mingjue, confirming that the Wen remnants did have En with him, he answered in such a way that downplayed the enormity of En. Answering truthfully would have exonerated Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants because the laws regarding Enyuan are so foundational that no one could have blamed the Jiang for saving the Wen remnants. But answering truthfully would have been admitting to his owing the Wen, setting House Jiang against House Jin, and turning House Jiang into a target of ridicule for other Houses because such an En should have been paid long before Wei Wuxian had to take drastic measures and jailbroke the Wen remnants from Quiongqi Path.   

We also have Lan Xichen, who effectively compromised his entire House and compromised his own judgment because he saw Jin Guangyao as having granted him a huge En (which is not wrong, per se). 

And then we have Jin Guanyao, who killed both people who bestowed En on him (Wen Ruohan and Nie Mingjue both gave Jin Guangyao critical knowledge, opportunities, and elevated him above his station. And yet when it came to Lan Xichen, despite his effectively pushing the Lan to death in the second Burial Mound Siege, Jin Guangyao still acted like Lan Xichen was in the wrong for not paying Jin Guangyao’s En even more than he already had. 

Then finally, look at these Enyuan and consider the way it binds the various characters in both good and bad ways. 

So it’s a deeply embedded and very nuanced concept that manifests differently in different characters.  

3/ The Quest for Truth 道 Dao:

Dao/Tao 道: the truth, the path, the knowledge, the faith, the ideal, the natural order of the universe, that from which everything comes and that from which everything returns. 

What does Dao have to do with Xiao Xingchen? 

Well, because Xiao Xingchen is a Daoist. Remember when he reminded A-Quing to address him as Daozhang? That. 

He’s not the only Daoist in MDZS, either. The man who created Dao as a philosophy and spirituality, Laozi, is also the man who created the concept of cultivation in the first place. So every single cultivator in MDZS, indeed every single cultivator in xianxia genre, treads in Laozi’s footsteps, takes from his wisdom, and stands on his shoulders in their quest for heavens. 

The first sentence in Laozi’s definitive work on Dao, the Tao Te Ching, says: 

‘Dao that can be told is not Dao. Truth that can be named is not truth. Path that can be walked is not the right Path.’

The Tao Te Ching is a foundational Chinese Classic. It is the shortest but also the most complex and hard to understand. 

This first verse of the Tao Te Ching means: truth is not something that is fixed. Truth is nuanced. Knowledge is not something that can be given to you by words only. You must find this knowledge by yourself. Path is not something that anyone else can tell you. Your path must be walked by your own feet. Faith is not something that can given to you by someone else. You must find faith in yourself.  

So then, apply this sentence to Xiao Xingchen’s journey. Do you see it? Xiao Xingchen choosing Jishi is his journey to find and prove his Dao. Jishi is Xiao Xingchen’s Dao. 

Yi City is not a tragedy. Yi City is Xiao Xingchen’s tribulation and the unavoidable consequences of choosing to remain pure to the founding precepts of Dao while the rest of the cultivator Houses, including Nie and Lan, have long betrayed their origin. 

Even if, by some miracle, Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen never entangled with each other, there will always be a Xi City or a Zi City for Xiao Xingchen. Because it is a consequence and a price to pay to find the truth that he desires. And he did find that truth. Song Lan, who he had left in a decisive gesture of severing their Karmic Bond, returned and would likely spend decades if not centuries walking Xiao Xingchen’s path, waiting for the day Xiao Xingchen awoke. And A-Qing never left Xiao Xingchen, never gave up on him either. 

   

Ugghh, such a heavy topic. I usually don't like to write too much on such topics because... it's hard to write and it's hard to read, and most people don't really have the patience to read. But it is a question. So I tried. In any case, have this fanart I commissioned from Nguyen Linh.

[robininthelabyrinth]

I messed up my prompt, I left some out so I’m going to awkwardly regroup it.

Au where Wen Zhuiliu is Meng yao’s dad instead of JG. Meng Yao is raised in the wen sect, as his son also the idea of the golden-core-snatcher thing being hereditary or not would be fun to explore. It’s be the ultimate dagger-up-the-sleeve move. Meng Yao joins Wen Qing and Ning to study at the Lans sect.

ao3

"Question," Lao Nie said, and Wen Ruohan tried not to groan - the other man had a tone that suggested trouble. "Do you remember that time in Yunping when that Jin bastard was so drunk that he couldn't find the brothel stairs?"

"Why do you care?" Wen Ruohan grumbled. He just wanted to sleep - Lao Nie was one of those irritating people that got more energy after sex rather than falling asleep like any normal man. Freak. A freak who wouldn’t stop poking him, and not with anything fun, either. "Fine, fine, yes, I remember. What about it?"

"Didn't you order that new retainer of yours to go upstairs and fuck that prostitute for him? Saying something like 'it's a waste not to get the value even if he can't'?" 

That sounded suspiciously like the sort of spiteful mean-hearted joke Wen Ruohan might make while drunk, yes. 

"What about it?" he asked.

"She got pregnant."

Wen Ruohan blinked.

"Now, she's saying it's Guangshan's, of course,” Lao Nie said. “They all do when they don’t realize how much of a miser he really is under all that gold. But if there's a chance...it was that Zhao Zhuliu fellow, wasn't it? The one with the core-melting hand?"

"Wen Zhuliu," Wen Ruohan corrected. "And yes. I think he was too new to realize I wasn’t actually serious...hm. You think the child may have inherited his talent?"

"Why not? Especially if you start teaching him early..."

What an interesting proposition.

"So…” Lao Nie scooted closer. Somehow. There was not enough room on this bed. “Can I have this one?"

"What? Absolutely not."

"But you already have the father!"

"And that means the son is mine as well. Get lost!"

"But -"

"Keep your grubby hands to yourself,” Wen Ruohan scowled. “All good things belong to me, least of all talents that I've put in time and effort to raise."

"Spoilsport,” Lao Nie said, though he didn’t look especially put out by the refusal. “Anyway, what if I were to put my 'grubby hands' here..."

“Get lost!”

-

"Sect Leader."

"Get lost," Wen Ruohan growled, not even bothering to turn to look at whoever it was that had entered. When he didn't hear the pitter-patter of fleeing feet, he added: "Or else I'm going to kill you."

It wasn’t a threat. It was a statement of fact, and a sincerely meant warning.

Wen Ruohan might have a temper and be inclined towards sadism, but he valued talent. Anyone with access to his study was a talent he had cultivated with great effort, and it would be such a pain to undo all of that by murdering them himself. 

Which was not to say he wouldn't, if his mood were bad enough, just that he'd make the effort to warn them away first. If they still didn't listen, that was their problem, and presumably a sign that they didn't really have as much talent or brains as he'd initially thought.

"Sect Leader, I have some news for you."

Wen Ruohan restrained the urge to throw something - did he seem like he was in the mood to receive news, either positive or negative? - but only because the longer speech had revealed the identity of the servant that had intruded: it was little A-Yao, Wen Zhuliu's boy.

He was being uncharacteristically stupid in stubbornly insisting on approaching Wen Ruohan now, which was most unlike his usually gentle and cautious character, but he was also ten years old - some stupidity was to be expected. Didn't adolescence start around then or something....? Or whatever it was that rotted teenage boys’ brains the way it obviously had his sons’? 

Wen Ruohan pinched his brow and exhaled hard, struggling to manage his temper. He had not yet descended to the level of squabbling with children.

"What," he forced out through gritted teeth, "is it?"

"Nie-gongzi wrote that he'd like to come visit," Wen Yao said, which was both exactly the type of "news" a child might be expected to think was earth-shatteringly important and which made Wen Ruohan nearly see red at how stupidly inane it was - and all the more because it included that accursed surname Nie. "He says his father is being intolerable."

Well, Wen Ruohan could scarcely argue with that.

After all, wasn't that why he himself was so angry at this precise moment? Lao Nie's cavalier behavior, his indifference, his disdain...

Wen Ruohan frowned, suddenly distracted from his anger. 

"Did you say Nie Mingjue was complaining?" he asked. "Nie-gongzi, not Nie-er-gongzi? Not Nie Huaisang, the littler one?"

Nie Huaisang complained about everything, being six, but loud with it. But Nie Mingjue?

Nie Mingjue was fourteen and fundamentally a good boy, with none of the typical self-absorption and moodiness of adolescence. For him to complain about another person, least of all his father, and to someone in another sect, no less, even if that someone was just a friend he'd made during his father's visits to the Nightless City or Wen Ruohan’s own to the Unclean Realm...that was out of character.

That was practically a cry for help, really. It suggested something might be genuinely wrong.

Something wrong with the Nie sect leader –

Wen Ruohan’s anger, entirely caused by the particularly aggravating behavior of Lao Nie, abruptly cooled so fast that it felt as though his entire body had fallen into an icy river.

After all, who didn't know about the Nie sect's famous inclination towards qi deviations...?

"Yes, sect leader," Wen Yao said, blinking up at him. "The older Nie-gongzi. He seemed very distressed. Should I write him back and ask about particulars?"

"No need," Wen Ruohan said, making a snap decision. "I'm going to go pay a personal visit to the Unclean Realm right now. I'll settle the details myself when I get there."

He swept out the door, tossing a "Get someone to clean this mess up, will you?" over his shoulder as he did.

-

It turned out the letter from Nie Mingjue was a fabrication, but after patching things up with Lao Nie, Wen Ruohan was in a good enough mood to forgive Wen Yao for his little schemes.

-

"How attached are you to Wen Yao?"

Wen Ruohan blinked, then stared incredulously at Lan Qiren, who was probably the last person he'd expect to try to poach talent away from him. It was Lan Qiren, after all, boring old-before-his-time teacher that he was.

Lan Qiren grimaced at him, which was an unusual posture with which to start such negotiations. Normally someone trying to steal someone away, much less someone actually surnamed Wen, servant or not, would put on a flattering expression and try to butter him up first. Lan Qiren’s disgruntled expression was completely out of place. After all, people didn't try to steal other people's servants involuntarily...

Unless.

"Wait, you're saying Mingjue's little scheme worked?" he blurted out, and Lan Qiren’s scowl worsened. "It did? Absurd. I don't believe it."

Nie Mingjue had only been talking for the last two or three years about how he had to introduce his two good friends, Wen Yao and Lan Xichen, and how well he was sure they would get along. Up until now, Wen Yao had been politely putting him off, mostly because of some ridiculous self-image issues - so what if he was a servant's son or born of a prostitute, he had the Wen surname, and that alone made him nobler by far than any of the smaller sect's true-born children, perfectly capable of speaking on equal terms with the heir of a different Great Sect, and really, Wen Ruohan needed to encourage the boy to pick up more of the arrogance that was now his right - but with Wen Ruohan sending him, Wen Chao and Wen Ning to the Cloud Recesses for lessons with Lan Qiren as a favor to Lao Nie, he presumably wouldn't have been able to avoid meeting Lan Xichen any longer.

Apparently, it had gone even better than Nie Mingjue had predicted, if Lan Qiren was already here to feel Wen Ruohan out about a potential marriage agreement.

Unless that had been what Nie Mingjue meant all along - Wen Ruohan wouldn't put it past Lao Nie's son.

He wouldn’t put anything past that family of rascals.

"Believe it or not, as you wish, but that doesn't change the reality of it," Lan Qiren said, sounding grumpy, and for the first time Wen Ruohan realized that the other man - who he normally avoided out of residual dislike of teachers, and perhaps some jealousy of Lao Nie having friends other than him - was completely unafraid of him. How interesting. "I assume you'll want to extract everything you can over this and naturally you have me over a barrel, so I thought it better to finish it quickly so that you wouldn't have time to think of any more outrageous demands."

How delightfully blunt. Had Wen Ruohan missed something here, seeing Lan Qiren only in his role as acting sect leader? He'd assumed that the overly-cautious pedant was all there was to the man, Lao Nie's unfathomable appreciation for him aside, but perhaps Lan Qiren was one of those rare people who was genuinely different in a different milieu. 

Perhaps Lao Nie might even be right about him, which, knowing that man's proclivities, would mean that this seemingly innocuous man was actually dangerous in some fashion. 

Interesting indeed.

"What's the rush?" Wen Ruohan asked, and suppressed a grin at Lan Qiren’s audible huff of exasperation. "This is their life we're talking about, after all. We should treat it seriously."

It was said that Lan loved only once in a lifetime, and irrevocably - if that were true, Wen Ruohan really did Lan Qiren over a barrel, as the other man had so forthrightly admitted. Given Lan Qiren’s obvious adoration of his nephews and Lan Xichen's role as sect heir, even sect leader presumptive given his father's seclusion, Wen Ruohan was in a position to make considerable demands.

Studying the man in front of him with curiosity, he wondered idly if he could even go so far as to obtain a person of the previous generation. A teacher renowned throughout the cultivation world had to have considerable talent, and, well, Wen Ruohan had always appreciated talent...