#also why the granny wen erasure!

[mostlikelytofangirl]

Yk something that really sucks in fic? How often people like to erase LSZ's complicated family history in favor of 'wangxian nuclear family'.

WWX (my absolute beloved) is at least partially responsible for the death of A-Yuan's parents, and the parents of any other kid the Sunshot Campaign orphaned (not to say it was his fault exactly, war is war and bad things happen in war). He also wasn't present for most of LSZ's life, and LWJ was also missing from his formative years.

Idk I know it's not malicious but it makes me feel cold when people try to paint over the inherent and defining tragedy of LSZ's backstory. Imo, in AUs with no Sunshot and especially no cultivation, it makes more sense for Lan Sizhui to simply remain Wen Yuan.

Sorry, I'm rambling. I don't mean any offense to fic writers that do this, I just think there's so much wasted potential.

- Regular Anon

I can understand where you come from, yeah.

I know it's adorable to think in terms of wangxian married with a son, but truth is that realistically any strong bond of wangxian with LSZ would occur post-canon.

Now, to be fair, we don't know how those 13 years passed for LWJ and LSZ. There is definitely a strong sense of mutual respect, but not much a feeling of father/son. And yes, I know the Lan are not prone to sentimentality and open displays of affection, but they at least address each other as family members. As much as LWJ got LSZ accepted not only into the sect, but into the main family, he didn't do it as a father of the boy. A mentor and tutor, most likely, but even there, we can only speculate about how truly close they were, given how we don't get many clues of their bond during canon. LWJ is out there "being where trouble is" (or something of the sorts), and LSZ is off carrying on missions with other juniors with little reference to any time they could spend together.

With WWX. Well, dude was dead. And during the year or so of Burial Mounts life, he was more of that one cool, funny uncle that babysat you from time to time. A-Yuan's main caregivers where granny Wen and the rest of the renmants. It's undisputable that WWX cared lots about the kid, but to claim that he raised him is a bit of a stretch. Their reunion was all sorts of feelsy, but that's bc both believed the other was dead (one actually was lol), and it was —again— like seeing that cool uncle/favorite nephew you thought you lost.

So yeah, I see what you mean with lost potential there. It would be interesting to explore LSZ's feelings and thoughts regarding his real family, and how those he thinks of as family now were in part responsible for him losing his first family. Even canon hints to this as his arc concludes with him and WN (his last blood relative) going on a journey to learn of their lost sect.

I don't want to be a killjoy with this, it is cute to think of them as a little happy family after all their pain, but imo, when it comes to LSZ, wangxian's canon relationship with him is more of supportive uncles than parents and I think they are pretty ok with that.