#and jiang cheng being ace in my head

[truly-morgan]

[AA cross-over, JC moves to the US, befriend Edgeworth]

Jiang Cheng + Miles Edgeworth | Mo Dao Zu Shi Cross-over Ace Attorney + Modern AU 30-05-2022

[#mdzs #AceAttorney cross-over, #jiangcheng #milesedgeworth, modern sett.]

Jiang Cheng hadn't been surprised when he was basically shipped to America.

"We are expanding our company, I need someone to look over it in America" his father had said.

He knew very well this was all so he wouldn't be close to him all while not angering him too much his wife as he wasn't kicking him out.

But it was alright, he could roll with it, he would show them.

and with that Jiang Cheng had started to work even harder than before, ready to prove what he could do. He was pretty satisfied that the result he had were better than what anyone else had expected at first.

all this was achieved by him never really taking a break, working hard nearly every day without much care for his health.

All this to his assistant exasperation. The man had known him even before he started working at his father's company, caring about the younger man. This lead him to force him to take a break once everything was more stable and no one could really argue about the incredible job he did.

this is how Jiang Cheng ended up forced on a vacation for a weekend, driving himself to some kind of somewhat isolated retreat spa or something like this, he didn't really follow what his assistant said as he was only thinking about the work he would be missing out on ("the tickets are already bought! You have no choice but to go" he was told).

"Maybe some calm will help me" he had sighed at some point on his way there.

He did raise a brow when he saw a car speeding in the opposite direction, wondering why anyone would drive so fast away from somewhere that was meant to make you relax.

"Gumshoe, I swear your pay will be revised in the next evaluation" he heard mumbled as he got out of his car, finding a man on the side typing on his phone.

"Everything's good sir?" Jiang Cheng asked, unsure if he should really intervene with the angry-looking man.

"I am trying to call the man who dare call himself my friend, but I have no signal" the man sighed in frustration, "May I ask if you might have any?" he politely asked while joining him.

Jiang Cheng did take a look at his own phone, offering a sorry smile to the man. "No signal either" he replied, "I see I am not the only one being forced here".

The man looked a bit surprised by his word, before letting another frustrated sigh leave him. "Dare I assume it is also because you are 'working too much'?" the stranger asked.

This made Jiang Cheng chuckle a little, still a bit frustrated about it too. "Yes".

There was a silence afterwards, making Jiang Cheng a bit awkward, unsure of what to do from here. He was relieved when the man decided to extend a hand towards him, presenting himself "I am Miles Edgeworth, prosecutor".

Jiang Cheng was a little surprised. He had heard about the man more than once before, although not always presented in a good light. He did suppose it changed a bit in recent times.

"Jiang Cheng, COO of the Jiang Corp. branch in America" he said next.

Some recognition seemed to also pass on to the other man's face. He was still not used to people vaguely knowing who he was.

"Why don't we head inside?" suggested Jiang Cheng, "If we are to be stuck here, might as well settle down and have some tea".

Edgeworth seemed to think about it, before another sigh left him, this time looking resigned to stay here. "I suppose it couldn't do too much damage to take the weekend off" he admitted.

Like this they went inside, taking care of their reservation ("It must be fate, our rooms are next to each other" Jiang Cheng had joked a little when they were given their keys).

It was already getting late on a Friday night and so they decided to have dinner together. "I am sure having some company will make this trip a little bit better" Edgeworth commented.

And it did make the weekend pass by more quickly and in a less boring (and lonely) way than he first thought it would be. He dared to assume it was the same for the lawyer.

He never expected to connect so easily with the man, both borderline workaholics.

sure the treatments at the spa helped him relax, but having someone to talk about (or sometimes bitch about) work was nice and surprisingly therapeutic. He felt like he couldn't really do this with his assistant since he was still trying to keep a vague impression of professionalism between them.

After their little forced vacation, they decided to keep in contact, meeting only now and then at first, usually to have tea or dinner.

but soon their little rendez-vous became more frequent. It was their own little way to have a day away from work (before being forced to have one again) where they could talk about work without it technically really being work.

Edgeworth would complain about his cases and how bad the investigation would have gone while drinking his tea, sometimes exasperated despite something in him not complaining that justice had been done right.

"You complain about him quite a lot, but you seem to like him just as much" Jiang Cheng teased him after yet another trial where he was up against Wright. This did earn him a scoff.

"You don't see me mentioning you also enjoying a certain young master's visit more than you would let shown" the man had argued back, which man Jiang Cheng roll his eyes, not without a small smile on his lips.

Sometimes they'd be joined by Jiang Cheng's nephew as he came to visit him with his parents. The boy had been shy at first towards the other serious-looking man, but had slowly warmed up to him despite not understanding what he would say, his jiujiu needing to play translator for them.

"I sadly never learned Chinese" Edgeworth admitted with a small smile, "maybe it could be something I should pick up one day"

"I could help you if you ever need someone's help" Jiang Cheng offered with a laugh, a little a-ling also giggling with him despite not understanding what was happening before going back to his drawing.

They enjoyed sharing a good cup of tea every Saturday, talking and sometimes just sitting in silence, enjoying the time spent together. Maybe the reason they met wasn't one they enjoyed, but they weren't so mad to have find a good friend at the same time.

====

(I ran out of ideas here but maybe one day I'll pick up this cross-over, I dunno why, I just feel like I wanna see more of these two workaholic sarcastic men together)

Original

[wheresunandseameet]

I don't have everything figured out yet but i have the like base background.

Under the cut cause i am rambling haha (color coded to show like change in like topic)

So my Si is named Idunn, the same as my tolkien universe one for Fili ngl, and technically should have been a Dwarf since her mom is as is the person she was raised by alongside her sister named Glain & assumed was her dad Lalin.

But actually, she is a changeling who was kinda conditioned by her mom to never change from the shape of a dwarf, one her mom specifically "crafted" for her and never let anyone see her if she did.

It turns out that her mom was tricked by a doppelganger who was in the shape of her husband, the previously mentioned dwarf who raised Idunn, and you know slept together, which resulted in Idunn.

Her mom, while she loves Idunn to some extent, mostly feels ashamed that she was born at all since y'know: she was tricked, this counts as some kinda cheating in her mind even though she was tricked, and (instead of coming clean to Lalin about it since it was her being tricked) she never told Lalin & made him believe Idunn was his by blood.

Idunn ended up leaving home because she slipped up and was caught changing forms. She basically ran away from home since she assumed her dad and sister would hate her for not really being Lalin's blood child.

It is a wrong assumption on her part because both love her to bits and are more mad at her mom since she didn't come clean about it. But they also finally have an understandable reason why she always mentioned feeling like she didn't belong or felt like an imposter.

She ends up changing forms and names a lot, both to hide and because she is struggling to find out just who she is & dealing with a lot of general dysphoria.

For class, i am honestly not sure.

I could see her like going for a jack of all trades route (multiclassing as all but like sorcerer, warlock, cleric, just any that require outside sources directly).

But i could also see like her multiclassing as either Bard and rogue, Druid, or ranger.

Or possibly either a paladin or fighter.

I really like the idea of her as a bard even if idk how that would go tbh. Or a Paladin, but idk which oath she would even be.

As mentioned, i don't know a lot about Fjord and his character arcs yet but from what little i read, i feel like our struggles would be potentially similar? And i am honestly (an ace) Slut for Honorable men especially when they are also kind.

I have thoughts of how they might meet, how my si might join the mighty nein if she does, or like if she just wanders in and out of the adventure.

Also i already have thought of angst, Jester is mentioned ngl but like i adore Jester (and Nott) so like it isn't anything directed at her specifically in any negative way, but more of Idunn making an assumption based on what she sees and what little she knows of the different relationship types.

Plus, with a side of being so very jealous of someone that you love as a best friend and that very fact filling you with self disgust because that isn't how best friends feel about each other.

my friends would say it is a good indicator of my interest when i think up Angst so easily lol.

~

Yes ^^ Wen Qing iss so beautiful and i can literally relate to her so much and ngl part of that ship is usually Poly (in my head) with Jiang Cheng and lemme say the potential for angst has me flailing. I do need to rewatch more though cause i keep getting distracted haha.

This is the main of @wheresunandseameet and i need you to know i have started shipping with Fjord on a mix of vibes and a small wiki read alone tho i am starting to rewatch the campaign.

I am (half jokingly) blaming you lol

Lmaoooooo YES!!!! Yes!!!!!!

Tell me about your dnd self-insert!!! I want to hear! Class and race and background and goals, go go go!

Also unrelated but WEN QING SELFSHIP??? I'm so utterly starstruck by the concept. I don't have any Untamed characters on my list because if I started dating in that universe I simply wouldn't stop and I'd need a million different AUs, but that is so very cool and awesome

[veliseraptor]

Do you have opinions on chengyao or chengsu(Jiang Cheng and Qin Su, although you could also go for Su She if you have an opinion there)?

I have opinions on almost everything! That isn't true, there are a lot of things I don't actually have an opinion on, but I do have a lot of them.

So on this subject, the continuing adventures in Possible Jiang Cheng Ships (I guess):

Jiang Cheng/Jin Guangyao

This is one of those things where I'm so here for the concept, haven't read any fic, and have a hard time articulating exactly what I want from it. I mean, I am kind of obsessed with the coparenting energy - legitimately love that little exchange where Jin Guangyao is like "don't be too harsh to a-Ling, he's been so upset he barely ate anything" and Jiang Cheng is like "yeah sure I bet you didn't" because it's very permissive parent/strict parent but it's clear that (a) these are familiar roles that they've played before and (b) they're both comfortable with it - like, I don't get the impression that Jiang Cheng is actually upset with Jin Guangyao for arguing leniency, as it were.

(Not that I think that Jin Guangyao is always "permissive" - I think there's a combination of (a) it's a role he's good at playing (the mediator, smoothing over a conflict), and (b) it's a move he can make that'll let Jiang Cheng let Jin Ling off the hook where it doesn't just mean Jiang Cheng backing down on his own. But this is not an ask about their respective parenting styles, exactly.)

It's just...I have definite feelings, I think, about the way that Jiang Cheng actually does seem to trust Jin Guangyao with Jin Ling's welfare, at least as much as he trusts anyone who's not in his own sect. Like, Jiang Cheng is paranoid and overprotective and worries a lot, but I think he believes that Jin Guangyao will keep Jin Ling safe, right up until he's confronted with a very immediate reason to think otherwise - and for Jiang Cheng that goes a long way.

I think Jiang Cheng will let a lot of things slide if someone is good to his nephew. He has his priorities.

Anyway. I don't even know that I want them to, like, hook up or whatever. I think I just want their relationship during the time skip - how the way they relate to each other evolves over time, facilitated by their mutual connection to Jin Ling.

Although my brain is also looking at this pairing and going "humiliation kink" so I'm not quite sure what to do with that. (It isn't Jin Guangyao with the humiliation kink.)

I have these thoughts and I am compelled to share them.

Jiang Cheng/Qin Su

I'm gonna level with you - I don't quite get this one. I mean, I see that significant glance/nod/small smile as much as anyone, but I just don't quite...jive with it as a pairing? I think partly that may be because I associate it with people being nasty about Jin Guangyao, which is a pretty hard nope for me.

However, I will note that I'm deeply intrigued by the concept of Jiang Cheng/Qin Su/Jin Guangyao and now I'm wondering how much of that there is out there. I feel like there's a lot of possible configurations of that triad that I could work with, potentially.

Though I do feel like probably part of the problem is that I don't have a great sense of Qin Su's character, I don't think - I have a vague sense and definite positive feelings, but I don't feel like I have a firm handle on her general personality and motivations in a concrete way that might give me a better hold on a ship for her that's not in canon/involves relatively little character interaction (because it involves doing more work speculating on dynamics, which requires, at least for me, having more of a sense for a character).

So I guess this is all a long-winded way of saying "not necessarily opposed but I'd have to be convinced and I'm not at this point, also don't be rude to Jin Guangyao about it because that makes me sad. :("

[lordhelpme0-0]

Behind the scenes:

Me: alright boys! Wanna watch some YouTube shorts?!

Mitsunari: yay! I wonder what is being shown next!

Napoleon: I still can’t get the twerking chicken shirt out of my mind……

Jamil: same…

Me: nah~! It isn’t that bad! It’s funny!

Jiang Cheng: it’s traumatizing!

Me: too bad. We’re watching more~!!

Short FYP: *politics and random videos on cake, memes, and etc.*

Me: …alright. That’s enough internet for today.

Sizhui: but—

Me: no. We’re not talking about politics so shut your mouths.

Sizhui: I just wanna talk about the memes.

Me: …which…memes…

Ace: GenZmemes. Also why do women use those mask and products—

Me: moving on—!

Awooga

Me: *mindlessly scrolling through phone*

Malleus: Child of Man. I have a questions that all of us want to ask.

Me: alright *looks to see the boomers* …what’s the questions?

Kenshin: what is… “awooga”?

Me: what?

Kenshin: awooga.

Me: …oh my god..the god of war saying awooga…

Issac: this has been on my mind after Sasuke said awooga at something.

Me: oh my go-! Mnh!! Alright, who else said..awo- pfft! Awooga??

Jiang Cheng: Wei Wuxian, Lilia, Mammon, Cater, and that’s it.

Me: …alright sit down boys. *Kenshin, Nobunaga, Jiang Cheng, Malleus, Riddle, Issac, Dazai, okay basically all the boys who did not socialize on the internet much*

Me: awooga is a slang term..for something you really like.

Nobunaga: as in..?

Me: alright, you all know I love my matcha chocolate or in your attraction. Women. Say if Shingan sees a hot lady from the street. If he really like her, he would say “awooga”.

Malleus: so if I like gargoyles, I say awooga?

Me: I-..yes..

Comte: if I love baguettes, I say awooga, correct.

Me: ..yes.. *trembling not to laugh*

Kenshin: I love war so I say awooga..

Me: mhm…yep..

Dazai: since you call me windowlicker, and I climb windows. Do I say awooga when seeing windows?

Me: *nods with tears coming out*

Jean: … *looks at there Jesus cross sanctioned on a wall* awooga.

Me: *dies*

Aftermath of Awooga

Sebek: Lord Malleus told me that I will say awooga to me whenever seeing him. Now I always say awooga to him!

Epel: what??

Nokto: *sees a pretty maid* awooga~!

Licht: brother please.

Jean: *looks at macaroons* awooga.

Sasuke: …why is Kenshin-sama always yell awooga when fighting any of us?

Me: they ask what awooga was. The boomers..I’m dying!! *laughs*

Kenshin: AWOOOGA!!!! *slices sword at Lan Wangji while Wei Wuxian laughs*

Me: I’ve done a bad thing…

Ace: yeah, you did. I think they misunderstood.

Me: *crying tears from laughter*

Cooking

Me: alright, today. We’re taking cooking lessons. Have fun and don’t burn the kitchen!

4 hours later…

Kitchen: ded

Them: …

Me: …I SAID DONT BURN THE KITCHEN!!!—

Everyone got hit on the head with a shoe that day…may they Rest In Peace…

Arsenals

Sinbad: why is it..that you use a sledgehammer to hit us, then a bamboo stick, and now a shoe?

Me: character development.

Jafar: well she hit you real good, and it makes me relieve someone is reaching you.

Ja’ [insert]

Arthur: Ja’far! Ja’near!

Nie Huasiang: Ja’everywhere~!

Kalim: Jamil! Ja’see! Ja’know everything!

Mitsunari: *got roped in somehow* Ja’bear! Ja’bills! Ja’berry!!

Clavis: Ja’beer, ja’made, and ja’wiggle~!

Edger: Ja’be, jaleby.

Luke: Ja’sus (Jesus).

Jade: fufufu~! Ja’seen. Ja’real.

Jamil and Jafar: …

Me: lel

History books

Sasuke: I’m a history nerd.

Sebastion: I love with history and a historian.

Blanc: I record history!

Ugo: I write the history…

Sariel: I help the history.

Lan Qiren: I’ve been in history and teach the history.

Mozus Trein: I teach history.

Lilia: I’m apart of history, I’ve been in history, and I lived through many histories and eras!

Them: …

Lilia: :)

Wars

Me: …why am I the peacemaker?????

Kenshin: cause you live in time of peace. And we live in war.

Me: …touché. So why are we playing dungeons and dragons??? With the game of life and monopoly over there?

Sasuke: I said we settle our griefs and anger through games.

Me: you do realize it just makes it stronger..WHY ARE YOU GUYS GAVE TWO TEAMS ALREADY!!!

Malleus: to settle scores with the same intention.

Rielle: it’s best to fight the opposing sides.

Me: but why not three???? There is always the—

Harr: already done.

Me: …MC(S) PICK ME UP!!! PLEASE—!

Ten hours later…

Me: ….

The Three teams: *already had their weapons and claws out fighting each other cause they’re even in scores*

Me: mC!!!

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 07 part two

(Masterpost)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Lantern Lighting

Now we have the famous lantern scene, where everybody gets to express their character and have dates, ranging from disastrous to delightful, with the objects of their affection. 

Wei Wuxian continues to be ridiculously good at drawing. 

We’ve all seen Lan Wangji’s lovely first smile in the show a million times, so...let’s look at it again!

This scene is important not just because of the smile, but because there’s a distinct shift in the way they talk about their growing relationship. In the pond, it was “come visit me” and “never!” “I want to be your friend” “No need.” Basically Lan Wangji firmly saying no to Wei Wuxian’s offers of friendship.

This time, Wei Wuxian says “let’s do this together” and Lan Wangji says “I’m used to being alone,” which is not actually a No, just an explanation. And WWX says, you can change that. And then Lan Wangji DOES change it, sharing the lantern and the promise with Wei Wuxian.

Whoever painted this flower is even better than Wei Wuxian at plein air painting. 

(more after the cut!)

Everybody’s wishes

Nie Huasang makes a practical wish. Wen Qing prays for her brother and Jiang Cheng notices how she’s like Yanli. Jiang Cheng isn’t very intense about Wen Qing, which could be a sign of his shyness but could also be a sign of his gayness or aceness. After all, later in life he’s an apparently wealthy clan leader who is hot as fuck, and needs an heir, since his nephew is a Jin. But he’s still not married, 16 years after breaking up with and uh, helping to kill and cremate, the girl he liked in summer school.

The Promise We Made Together

Wei Wuxian makes an ultra-idealistic wish/promise while Lan Wangji watches and falls the rest of the way in love with him, and silently makes the same pledge inside his head. Later they will each refer to this as a promise they made together, which is a really super high level of face-reading by Wei Wuxian, to understand that he really is speaking for both of them here.  While making this promise, Lan Wangji brings out his Yin Iron Magic Bag and waves it around in front of everyone, but nobody notices. 

Let’s take a moment to consider *why* this moment is so powerful for Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji is a boy whose emotions are always on the boil. He’s 100% upset all the time, at this age, and he keeps it clamped down all the time. His cultivation level is probably as high as it is partly because of all the work he does in emotion regulation. (note: if you haven’t read all the meta at @howpeacefulislwj​ , go read it; it’s awesome and hilarious)

Wei Wuxian doesn’t GAF about emotion regulation; he just expresses what he feels, all the damn time. 

He is openly bored, lusty, playful, hungry, whiny. He straight up tells Lan Wangji “you’re boring and you have a stick up your ass” as part of saying he wants to be friends; no deference and also no falseness.  

And he can see right through Lan Wangji’s reserve, barging into his loneliness and isolation without any regard for all of his wards. Wards are made to be broken.

(Unrelated note: Young Lan Wangji's rare moments of contentment seem to come from looking at something beautiful--the moon, falling petals, these lanterns, his mirror.)

But Wei Wuxian is also good. Lan Wangji desperately wants to be good. And here’s Wei Wuxian embodying this awful, amazing, tempting alternative path, in which all the interesting things in life get explored thoroughly, all the sweetness and beauty gets consumed unreservedly, all the pain and ugliness gets confronted and endured without hesitation. 

In this moment, Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji “you can change,” and then offers up this prayer/promise that is just pure chivarly, speaking straight to Lan Wangji’s heart. Very simply, I want to spend my life doing right. Not 3500 rules; just one.

This infuriating boy, who breaks rules and who flirts indiscriminately and who pushes and pushes and pushes, reveals himself in this moment to be a hero at the beginning of his journey, and Lan Wangji sees it, and his heart goes right over the cliff.

The Girls’ Room

The girl cultivators all rush over to Yanli to get in her business about her betrothal, inspiring Jin Zixuan to act like a jerk to her and get even further onto Wei Wuxian’s bad side. 

Talk Shit, Get Hit

Yanli’s wish was that Wei Wuxian would grow up and be good. He promptly launches his own personal Sunshot campaign, punching her fiancee so hard that the sun falls out of the sky and the previously well-lit scene transitions to full night.

So, in English, “don’t mention it again” is really mild, akin to “I don’t want to talk about it.” Wei Wuxian’s reaction makes it seem like Jin Zixuan said something really shitty, like “don’t you dare mention that woman to me!” So I’m assuming something is being lost in translation. 

Lan Wangji tries to calm him down. He grabs Wei Wuxian’s sexy arm muscle and basically holds it until the Jiangs exit the scene. 

Nie Huaisang has placed himself between the opposing factions, which is unusually direct of him. In the future he’ll stick to being an unindicted co-conspirator when Wei Wuxian starts trouble. 

Ants in my Pants

Lan Wangji thinks kneeling can make Wei Wuxian cry, which is adorable of him. 

He really relishes this opportunity to be a pedantic tool to his new boyfriend that annoying boy he hardly ever touches, and it really doesn’t work out for him, poor lamb.

Jiang Fengmian stops by to show exactly how deep his affection for Wei Wuxian runs, and to give him whiplash from constantly changing parental expectations. In a couple of hours he’ll be laughing over WWX & JC’s hijinks.

Wei Wuxian takes this opportunity to fantasize about bad things happening to the other boy in the fight, which is in no way foreshadowing of anything.

Douche Dads Conference

We now convene this meeting of the douchebag council. Jiang Cheng is also invited even though he’s a prick, not a douche. <--important distinction

This is our first time meeting Clan Leader Jin Guangshan. He's actually the most sensible and best parent in this scene, but his smug self-satisfaction hints at his true nature. This actor, Shen Xiaohai, has been active in cdramas for a long while now. I wonder what he looked like 15 years ago?

...Holy mother of god.

Jiang Fengmian is the worst dad and the worst husband here. His clan believes in letting children do what they want - uhh YOUR child wants to marry Jin Zixuan. “I wrote a letter to her mother, who arranged this marriage.” Uhhh she arranged for her sickly, low-cultivation-level, sweet and vulnerable child to marry the heir of a rich and powerful clan, with a powerful mother-in-law who’s looking forward to loving and protecting her. Basically she’s guaranteed her daughter’s safety and comfort, and even potential happiness, since her husband may learn to appreciate her (and in fact, does, thanks to soup and repeated beatings from WWX).

Mom worked hard and probably spent a fair amount of social capital to achieve this. And you’re going to toss that aside because the boy thinks he’s too good for her? What the everloving fuck, how are you a clan leader in the first place? 

You can see that Jiang Cheng understands all of this and what a terrible choice his father is making here. 

So do the other adults in the room.

Jin Guangshen: our wives are going to kill us

Lan Qiren: I'm looking at a couple of dead men

Jiang Fengmian pointedly won’t listen to Jiang Cheng or let him speak, showing that all his talk about being free is actually bullshit, that only applies to other people’s children.

Jiang Chang vaults off of the deck to tell Wei Wuxian about it. Hottt

Sorry Sis

Wei Wuxian goes to Jiang Yanli to sorta-apologize and sorta ask to be let off the hook for fucking up her engagement, which he absolutely did. He knows it, which is presumably why he bows to her in paperman form while hiding outside.

At no time has Jiang Yanli indicated to anyone that she doesn’t want to marry Jin Zixuan, as far as I can see, or said she wanted to be defended from insults with punching. Look how good SHE is at defending a person from insults, for comparison.

Yin Iron Blah Blah Blah

The senior Lans meet with Jiang Fengmian  to talk about the Yawn Yin Iron. Yawn. 

Jiang Fengmian addresses Lan Xichen as Lan Gongzi, which is adorable, since he is a big boy to everyone else. His family calls him Xichen and other people call him Zewu-Jun.

Farewell and Fuck You

The three Jiang kids come to say goodbye.

Lan Quiren says goodbye with a heap of criticism for Wei Wuxian and the horse he rode in on, and Jiang Fengmian basically says, yep, that’s what he’s like, all right.  

Good thing Wei Ying gets so much verbal abuse at home he doesn’t take it very hard when he finds it in the field. 

Wangji doesn’t say goodbye properly, which will be a recurring theme for the two of them.

I don’t know if this is because he has a problem with goodbyes, or is just being a jerk, or because he’s so bad at lying he doesn’t dare talk to Wei Wuxian lest he reveal his travel plans. 

Indulgent Dad Continues to be the Worst

Jiang Cheng complains at Wei Wuxian for wanting to say goodbye to Lan Wangji, and WWX says he likes him because he is equal to WWX in fighting, whereas JC sucks. JC hits him tries to hit him--gosh, he DOES suck, comparatively. 

Yanli, who has been keeping these boys in line all summer, sighs deeply at her Dad’s tolerance for their hijinks. OP has five brothers and this sibling-hijinks behavior is 100% accurate, except for the part where it is happening at someone else’s house in front of the hosts. 

WWX pretending to be Lan Qiren where Lan Wangji can see him doing it, in front of Lan Qiren’s colleague and supposed friend, and just earning a laugh from the patriarch? Good lord.  Dad Jiang tolerating this is shocking, particularly in the in-show culture where corporal punishment is as common as tea. 

We’ve tried Nothing, and we’re all out of ideas!

Uggghh why are you like this?

Here in the real world, OP uses “positive discipline” with her child, and encourages other parents to consider it, particularly if your child is neuroatypical or asynchronous.  That said, JF should be punishing the crap out of both boys for this behavior every time it happens, or should quit being a clan leader.  He’s relying on Jiang Yanli to keep them in line while he gets to just be amused by them. And he’s letting Lan Qiren discipline Wei Wuxian instead of doing it himself. He suuuuuuucks. 

Lan Wangji watches all of this. Lan Xichen reminds Lan Wangji that without Wei Wuxian, he’s completely fucking miserable. Lan Wangji still doesn’t plan to bring him along on his trip, though.

Time to return to our lives of crushing loneliness

Rabbits

At this same moment when Lan Wangji is staring down the barrel of future loneliness, Wei Wuxian is already deciding to leave the (forbidden) rabbits in Cloud Recesses “In case Lan Zhan gets lonely.”  This small decision by Wei Wuxian - breaking the rules of Cloud Recesses for the millionth time - is kinder than he knows. Because what is the job of these rabbits? Let’s have a desaturated flashback. 

Lan Zhan spent 3 years in the ice cave. The rabbits kept Lan Yi company in the ice cave. So...did the rabbits sneak in to keep Lan Wangji company in the ice cave as well? I’m going to say yes. By ep 43 they are following him to the gate of Cloud Recesses so they are very attached to him.  Well done, Wei Ying.

Where my bitches at? Seriously, our warren needs bitches

(Is Watership Down still a thing people read? If not, just go ahead and assume all of OP’s rabbit jokes are about Watership Down because OP ain’t going to stop making them)

While Wei Wuxian annoys the bunny he has a flashback to the scene that happened 4 minutes earlier. The Untamed editors assume the viewership has the attention span of a goldfish, and I personally appreciate that they understand me so well.

Wei Wuxian figures out that Lan Wangji is going on the road alone, and tells the bunny immediately. The bunny is very concerned.

Writing Prompt: What do next-generation cultivators Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi wish for at lantern-lighting time?

[ranlinjin]

Things I will write (jokes on me) at some point

-My crossover of MDZS x AC

-Jiang Cheng switching with Shang Quinghua for one day - feat Jin Ling being done with Nie Huisang.

-Shen Yuan transmigrating into madam Yu instead and complaining about the woman-killing author while trying to avoid a lot of trauma for all of his new children. (Jiang Fengmian does not help. What’s new.)

-Shen Yuan x Luo Binghe demon Au continuation that I read and now want to write something to ( Communion, go read it, it’s good.) (currently releasing)

-Jin Ling really wanting to kill Wei Wuxian (he has good reasons) feat Nie Huisang (This is also a continuation of something I read and want to continue. Go read that too, though I only read the second part.)

Jin Ling Vampire Au (This one even got a name! “Take a bite, night by night”). I have no idea where I want to go with this yet, just that the Jin’s are vampires (the Wens were too, at some point), the Jiang’s are vampire hunters who kill with passion, the Jiang-parents are dead (The Wens really should have killed them all. Idiots), Jiang Yanli (dead too) really loved her vampire peacock. Jin Ling, a half vampire and basically the crown-prince of his very big kingdom somehow manages to grow up being treated as royalty and a hostage while still being spoiled. (Jiang Cheng and Meng Yao don’t like each other. They still go to parents’ day at school.) Feat Wen Yuan. More to that another time.

-Continuing to translate “A Butterfly’s wish” into English - because translating a story actually is work!, who would have thought that. (Done.)

-My Natsume x Jujutsu Kaisen Au! It’s cute? And full of trauma! I love it. (Done)

-Fae Jin Clan AU! Because I love the concept.

-Vampire Wen Ruhoan and his pets au (a continuation of something I read too. so many people to quote~) Jiang Cheng’s family finally shows up (what’s left of it - not much) and is promptly taken in - kind of. Hostage/prisoner kind of. Meng Yao thinking about just letting Jiang Cheng go so Wen Ruhoan will be focused on him again, but Wen Ruhoan likes Jiang Cheng. HE likes Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng - has conflicted feelings, to say the least. Wei Wuxian (who is a tiger, which will make no sense right now, but that’s a you problem) really wants to have his family back. He is ready to kill.

-Vanitas and Luis having one more one-shot. It’s set during Christmas.

-Something for the Spy Au Shang Quinghua! (You know the one.) Will involve being balanced over a cliff and conditioning in general.

-Jiang Cheng taking in Wen Yuan (I’ve already read some ideas that were executed perfectly, but I want more angst and anger issues). So basically Jiang Cheng gets to play both his parents while being very self aware and even more frustrated about it. Feat Jin Ling. (Who totally wants to take his new friend to Crap tower, no matter what either uncle says! Grandma said yes! Go to grandma if you want to complain!)

-”I bet it would be something like having a really catchy song stuck in hc's head /wwx trying to control hc would have the same effect as putting on a really good bop. Hc doesn't have to dance- but it would be tempting” - TimeOfK night, on some random video about Wei Wuxian’s power - or lack thereof over Hua Cheng. I just want to write something about that.

-Jiang Cheng + System + time travel + body swap with Wei Wuxian - alas, Jiang Cheng is forced to act like his brother. Unsurprisingly to no one but himself, it’s totally not what he thought it would be. Feat anger issues and severe depression.

[chenqingssuibian]

Jiang Cheng for the ask meme? :)

from this post!

Hear that, Kris? It’s me, screaming

How I feel about this character: JIANG C H E N G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, THE DADDY ISSUES YOU CAN FIT IN THIS BOY! AND THE MOMMY ISSUES RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM! HE’S GOT IT ALL, FOLKS! /j

In all honestly, Jiang Cheng is. God I love him. He’s so mean, and he’s hurting all the time, and at the heart of it is this gooey, fragile center that he guards with barbed wire and probably land mines. No one can know that Jiang Wanyin has felt a single feeling, ever, that was not anger. No, not even his nephew. (Jin Ling knows he’s loved anyway, because for all his grumbling, Jiang Cheng is not subtle.) He’s one of the best developed characters in the series, likely due to the fact that Wei Wuxian, our POV character, knows him so intimately - has known him for a large portion of his life. He’s still got this mystery about him, too, because his emotions are at times contradictory. Jiang Cheng loves and hates and longs for so much, all at the same time. He is a ball of prickly thorns with a newly-budded lotus flower in the middle. He is so good. I have a whole post about it. 

Romantic Ships: SangCheng, WangCheng (hate sex, as previously mentioned) and Xicheng are my mains for him. I like ChengQing, but exclusively one-sided. Is it because I want to date Wen Qing? Not telling. I also ship ChengNing, which I have a fic in the works for and will get to when I get to it. There are others, too. Jiang Cheng is my fandom bicycle of choice (that being said, I DO love ace-spec Jiang Cheng. All Jiang Chengs are good Jiang Chengs.)

Non-Romantic Ships/BrOTPS: i wish this boy had noncomplicated relationships i wish he had noncomplicated relationships SO BAD. Okay, so look, I don’t entirely see the Twin Heroes as brothers in canon. Martial siblings are not actual siblings, and I think there is 100% valid interpretations of canon where Jiang Yanli might see Wei Wuxian as her brother, while Jiang Cheng does NOT. That said, there are few people Jiang Cheng would bring soup to in bed. Whatever your interpretation of the Twin Heroes is, they are a JUICY dynamic, and a fun one to play with. They make me so sad. Honorable mentions: Nie Mingjue would be a good big brother for him. If he and Lan Wangji would get their heads out of their asses, they would be petty brothers-in-law and it would be wonderful. Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao had to have at least SOME rapport, fight me. (Jiang Cheng should be his anger translator.)

Unpopular Opinion: Is it an unpopular opinion that Jiang Cheng should get to punch Wei Wuxian in the face for the golden core thing? I think he should. Just one free hit for that. Get it out, buddy, he deserves it tbh. (I am joking. I want to make it clear I am joking. I am JOKING)

What I wish had happened/would happen in canon: Do I even need to say it? RECONCILLIATION, BABES! GIVE ME JIANG CHENG DEMANDING TO PLAN THE WANGXIAN WEDDING AND PRETENDING HE ISN’T CRYING DURING THE BANQUET! GIVE ME JIANG CHENG RELEARNING HOW TO BE WEI WUXIAN’S FRIEND AND VICE VERSA! I WANT A FUCKING H U G, WILL SOMEONE HUG THAT MAN, IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?! 

[featherfur]

One of the best things for me as a writer to shove in an OC into the Jiang sect and give her a back story that involves being close to Yanli but NOT with her brothers (maids like Madam Yu had) is that I now not only get the raw agonizing angst of the OC herself hating herself for not saving Yanli, but also Jiang Cheng’s vitriol anger at her not dying with/for Yanli and instead after her death moving back to the Jiang sect to protect *him* (her sister protecting Jin Ling) and none of it actually directly affects the story line beyond one or two moments because Yanli was both not really involved in the direct lines but also because they only serve Yanli. Not the Jiang sect, not Jiang Fengmian or Madam Yu, theyre here to protect Yanli, and when they fail they separate one to serve Jiang Cheng one to serve Jin Ling.

So I get to torture both the OC head disciple and Jiang Cheng because Jiang Cheng knows she should have died instead of his sister BUT Yanli ordered her maids to stay behind and they don’t have morals they have orders so they couldn’t just disobey and they thought she’d be safe with Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and so he hates her but he also doesn’t because she’s now part of his sect and she’s the only one he can trust to be 100% loyal because they’re raised to follow their master/mistress without hesitation. He knows how Yinzhu and Jinzhu were and he knows if OC says she won’t betray him that she won’t. So he trusts her but he hates her for it but she’s also one of the last remnants of Home and it hurts.

And by 13-16 years later that basically equates to them finally forming what anyone else would call a friendship but they call a series of debt repayments and trauma inducing meetings with that one advisor who insists they should get married but their ace asses are running in the opposite direction.

So I get to play around with the Jiang Sect without overly changing any sort of plot or characterization but I do get to write a scene thats just

Jin Ling: Are you in love with my uncle?

Head disciple: Only when Sect Leader Yao is trying to marry me to one of his sons

Jin Ling: what does that even mean??

Jiang Cheng: I thought it was pretty clear

Jin Ling:??? I wanted dating advice but now I just wanna go home

[inessencedevided]

Ah, but what scenes in particular did you enjoy? The wangxian ones in general? Or were there any particular ones that stuck with you?

-the axe cultivator

Oh, ac, I missed some of your question last time didn't I? So sorry. My head is kinda in the clouds these days

There are so many scenes that stuck with me, so I'll make a bullet list and probably still miss some ^^

It's such a small thing but in ep 1 the transition from the tale of how wei wuxian was killed transitions to the tea house via a shit from within sizhui's trea cup as he's pouring tea "onto the camera". It's nothing special but remember loving that shot so much the first time I watched that it was one of the things that kept me watching

Wangxian-wise in the first two episodes, I'd be remiss not to mention that handgrip when wei wuxian plays wangxian to calm wen ning down. Because it goes on ... and on ... and on. When I watched it for the first time I was like "ooohhhh so it's gonna be this kind of gay". You know the endless-longing-stares kind. And now when I rewatch it's just devastating. The last time they saw each other before this scene, they also held onto each others wrists but wei wuxian let go and fell to his death. And here lan zhan is, holding on for minutes and only let's go once jiang cheng threatens wei wuxian. Just ... 💔

i started shipping xiyao from their very furst sxebe together. Those two actors (i try to remeber their names but i always forget them again. My memory is shit when it comes to names :/) really just did want some of that sweet sweet homoerotic tension. Also, their first interaction stand out to me as the moment i really started to like lan xichen. In a setting that was shown early on to be highly hierarchical, he exhibited in the very forst scenes that he is willing to disregard someone's standing and look at their character and abilities instead. I just really love xichen ❤

Okay, i can't name one scene per episode, so let’s sum them up a little

I adore this progression during the cloud recesses and the yin iron arc from a flirtratious rivalry to genuine deep freindship and love. There are so many little moments that stand out because of the subtle acting joices made my wang yibo and xiao zhan, as well as the script, The lantern scene, when Wei Wuxian doesn’t betray the yin iron secret to huaisang and lan wangji goes “hu, so your bullshitting has reasons”, when they are in the market and lan zhan actually communicates that he doesn’t like crowds and wei wuxian pulls him closer but not into the crowd and so many others. When you watch closely, you see them realising little details about each other and I’m honestly so impressed with how amazingly the process of their falling in love was portrayed

fast forward a bit: obviously, the freaking montage quasi-fan vid in the middle of the cave scene set to their freaking love song. I remeber when I first watched this scene I actually, literally screamed. I could not believe it because their was no fucking way that this could be read as anything but romantic and I was not used to that much blatant queer romance!

A little less happy (okay a lot). The entire destruction of the jiang clan with a special mention to the scene when Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian just saw the bodies and run into fields where they fight and Jiang Cheng chokes Wei Wuxian and then they just fall back in exhaustion and sleep right there under the open sky. Everything about that scene was brilliantly done and also soul-crushing. The loss of innosence in that moment devastated me. It was so obvious that in the moment of deepest despair, all of these children’s traumas and deep-seated fears reared their ugly heads. So Jiang Cheng directs all his grief at the easiest target for his anger and Wei Wuxian just takes it because that is what he thinks is his job. And the real tragedy? This dynamic will not be broken until Wei Wuxian’s literal death. These children need therapy so goddamn badly and all they get is more trauma on top of their excisting trauma.

“The single log bridge” scene. I. Am. A. Sucker for the found family trope, especially for characters who cronically think they have to do everything on their own. So there Wei Wuxian is saying he will walk his dark path alone, but instead he finds lit lanterns and a humble feast prepared for him by people who love him. That juxtaposition kils. me. every. time. YOU ARE LOVED WEI WUXIAN! FOR YOURSELF!

(Shout out to the second time his word are refuted, this time by lan wangji and *gasp* verbally. Because there is NO better love declaration than that scene in front of basically every leader of cultivation world who politely wait for their turn to attack them)

Luo Qingyang removing herself from the narrative. I literally cry every time.

Talking about women: jiang yanli defending wei wuxian and calling him her brother. That moment is the "three things all wise men fear" quite incarnat, only it's the anger of a gentle woman

“Let me go” So ... I have SUCH a thing for couple who grapple with questions of when it is time to let go and when it is time to hold on. So Wangxian hits all my buttons. I will go further into this in my last bullet point (about the very last scene)

Oh god, this list is gonna get so long and i’m still going to forget things

In the present timeline:

Again, to sum it up, all the gentle wangxian moment where they look at each other and their entire face grows soft. Every almost-smile lan wangji sends wei wuxian, every "oh. He really loves me huh?"-look from wei wuxian. Especially in the Jingshi just after lan Xichen's loredrop. These two intensly guarded people (yes, wei wuxian is guarded,he just hides behind smiles) are so open with each other. I only have to see a guf of lan wangji with his heir down and I go feral!

Talking about that episode, the lan family backstory as a scene does things to me. And I remember watching that the first time and so much of lan wangji's behaviour suddenly making sense. Especially little lan zhan kneeling in front of his mother’s house and that being how he showed his grief really drove home just how this man exhibits emotion. I'm pretty sure that that was the moment he really became my favourite character.

Same episode and a start juxtaposition to the domestic scene between wangxian before: the talk between lan xichen and Jin Guangyao just afterwards. You could probably write an essay of meta about the parallels and differences between those two scenes and I think that's deliberate because they're back to back. The lan brother's share tea with the person closest to their hearts. One is finally able to open himself fully, the other closes up more than he ever has before with this person. The framing in that scene alone drives that message home, never mind its content. It's heart-wrenching and so well done!

Talking about xiyao: jin guangyao's death for similar reasons. Just ... arrrgh

I'm sure I've missed a ton but thus is already so long so I'll close with my favourite overall: the last scene. The parting and subsequent reunion on the mountaintop. I've stated before why this means so much to me. It is such a reassuring message to me: to have two intensely different people learn to understand and love each other exactly as they are. Being who they are, the occasionally walk different paths. But they don't limit each other. They learn to improve each other by just being there when they are and therefore know and trust that their love will return.

This was mostly cql because you asked for "scenes", but have some honorary novel mentions:

Lan Wangji: "The face says nothing. Listen to the heart-beat." 😭😭😭

The moment when wei wuxian collapses after the second siege and lan sizhui expresses surprise over this, lan wangji says something like "We are all human." I love that moment for many reasons. 1) it's one of the rare direct insights into lan wangji's thoughts. No matter how brief he is here, you don't say something like that just because. 2) and it's significant that he is the one saying it because he, too, is placed on a pedestal. In fact, I think a lot about mdzs boils down to the conflict between the inner self and outer perception and how that dichotomy can be both a deliberate shield (lan zhan being the perfect example) and a curse

I hope you and your axe are having a wonderful day 🥰

[lady-of-the-lotus]

In honor of Ace Awareness Week, some personal ramblings about ace!Jiang Cheng. Under the cut because this is mostly me meandering on about how I relate to him in this specific way.

Also, seeing all these ace!JC posts makes me so happy.

1) This post pointed out that his very specific list of marriage requirements is very common for ace people (and reads more like he’s looking for a replacement for Yanli, someone who loves him and cares for him in a decidedly platonic/familial way). In my case, there’s a suffocating expectation of marriage in my corner of the world, the 40+ girls in my high school grade, plus the majority of my childhood friends, are married with kids--and we’re all still in our 20s.

To me, Jiang Cheng’s requirements are a lot like my list in my head, because someone would have to be pretty darn special to make me want to be with them instead of being single. As in, perfect. As in, likely doesn’t exist. But it’s something to stall my parents with. I feel like Marian the Librarian except aroace.

2) The author of the book said that JC’s “bad personality” while doing the equivalent of dating got him blacklisted. That resonated with me. I mean, the guy can clearly fake being pleasant and politic when he wants to. So clearly he doesn’t want to fake it.

For years, I was pushed by family to go on dates (the threat still lingers), and I would be in an incredibly foul mood for days before the date, and then when I’d meet the guy I was told by people that I wasn’t smiling and was making it obvious that I didn’t want to be there even though I thought I was being perfectly pleasant.

So, to me it seems like he’s subconsciously sabotaging himself.

3) His attachment to family. He’s very attached to Wei Wuxian and is clearly devoted to Yanli. Now, the Yanli thing makes sense--she basically raised him--but really, his attachment to WWX to me (great as WWX admittedly is, he’s still a ripe target for resentment) bespeaks the fact that for many ace people, family and friends take on a special importance. Couple that with the sad fact that JC’s not exactly adept at making friends outside his family, WWX’s perceived abandonment is particularly hard-hitting. The precious plum now has nobody, as he doesn’t have a healthy friend network. Yanli left him to get married, and he’s thrilled for her, but he’s alone now, and likely to stay that way. Nobody to share the burden of leadership with or be anything other than the Sect Leader to. This makes her death even worse. He’s not just losing a sister, he’s losing his entire support system.

4) Yes, I’m going to go here--his anger. Not for all aces, but for me specifically. I just relate to that feeling of being out of place in a world not designed for me and how that’s affected my mood. I’ve been feeling happier since coming out to my mom. She told me she’d be okay if I stayed single, and that look a huge weight off me though she doesn’t really get it and still wants me to date “just in case.” I feel like the weight of JC’s family and his clan’s general expectations are crushing, and he has no real way out of any of it even if he wanted it. And yes, I know I'm reaching on this one.

5) Purple. That’s all. He’s a walking ace flag. Obviously not meant by anyone involved, but if the flag fits, wear it. Plus his beringed ace ring finger.

6) And, of course, the fact that I relate to him on various levels and that connection makes me want to see even more of myself in him.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

THE UNTAMED, YOUR CHOICE OF OURAN AU, SOUL EATER AU, S&S AU, OR CORPSE BRIDE AU

OKAYI’M GOING TO DO THE OURAN AU BECAUSE I THINK IT’S REALLY FUNNY AND I MADE THEBAD CHOICE™ OF READING A BUNCH OF NEWS TODAY.  Uh.  Mycomputer crashed halfway through this and I think somehow it got longer,so.  Sorry about that one.

ONE

Wen Ning is a scholarship student.  He’s more than ascholarship student, really, he’s a here by the grace of every godever and also his sister student who also, incidentally, is ona scholarship.  The phenomenally wealthy Wen family recently went down ina blaze of indignity and political scandal, but newly-broke Wen Qing is not hearing any arguments about sending her babybrother to a less-than-top-of-the-line high school, especially since he acedthe tests and was given a full ride except for books and uniform.  SinceWen Qing was halfway through med school at the time of the Wen scandal, they’reburning through their meager inheritance to get her degree and make ends meetfor food, on the gamble eventually they might be able to move out of their absolutelyshit one-bedroom apartment on a doctor’s salary and also because Wen Ning pointblank refused to let her drop out.  Therefore, when Wen Ning tries to hideout in an empty music room and accidentally breaks a very expensive vase, he hasa moment of abject dread and–well, yeah, okay, he’ll work it off, he guesses.

TWO

WeiWuxian isn’t actually planning to charge this kid for a vase that is definitelyworth more than the entire apartment building he lives in!  Wei Wuxian isnot an asshole!  It’s just that he hasnever seen this scholarship kid with the secondhand clothes and the long hairhiding his face and the unfortunate name speak to anyone outside of absolutelymandatory conversation, and it’s kind of depressing.  So, Wuxian has decided to adopt him, teachhim how to talk to people, and maybe buy him a ponytail holder.  He has about five seconds to get all of thatout on the third day since recruiting Wen Ning, when a very petite woman in ared coat storms in like a hurricane and corners Wuxian alone (or rather, withonly Lan Wangji, which is as close as it gets) with apparently homicidal intentto snarl, “If you’re messing with my brother’s head, no one will ever find yourbody.”

(WenNing did not mention being low-key press-ganged into a host club on the firstday.  On the second day, he came home ina real uniform that actually fit, with his hair cut into something thatresembled a style and pulled back from his face, and he had to spill hisguts because not even Wen Qing’s sleep schedule was going to make her miss thatone.)

Turnsout that the sister Wen Ning mentioned, implying that she was the same kind ofangelic creature as Jiang Yanli, is fucking terrifying.  Wei Wuxian rambles through hisexplanation so fast that he kind of doubts Wen Qing gets all of it, and then hewaves his hands helplessly and says, “I don’t know, he just seemed kind oflonely?”  Wen Qing narrows her eyes athim.  “It’s true!  I never see him talk to anyone!”

“A-Ningis a good kid,” she says, shoving a finger into Wuxian’s chestthreateningly.  “Our family never likedhim because he’s too nice, and no one else likes him because of his name, so ifI hear you’re messing with him…”

“Iswear,” Wuxian says, raising his hand.  “Ijust thought maybe it would be good for him, having some people to hang outwith.”

WenQing studies him for another moment, and then she steps back and nods and says,“It will be.”

Andthat’s how the host club gets a part-time manager in addition to its latestrecruit.

THREE

Thehosts are:

[rose_petal_animation.gif]

WeiWuxian, whois nominally in charge because he came up with this whole idea, on the argumentthat, quote, “Jiang Cheng needs to learn to be nicer.”  It was also tacitly agreed that he and JiangCheng needed something that would keep them out of the house and therefore outof Madam Yu’s way after school, and they’d already been kicked out of themartial arts club after a slight incident involving Wei Wuxian’s fist, JinZixuan’s face, and Jiang Cheng’s unapologetic support.  Wuxian went around and recruited some folks,and now he has a host club, which, in his opinion, is markedly more fun thanthe martial arts club.  The Mischievoustype.

JiangCheng,who has spent three years in this circus and is not noticeably nicer.  He’s likable enough with the guests, but nomatter what Wei Wuxian says, Jiang Cheng does know how to be civil whenthe situation calls for it.  He spends mostof his time trying to reign in his brother’s more wild ideas, but his successrate isn’t great, because their sets-and-costumes guy is a horrible enablerwith family money who is more than willing to contribute to all kinds ofnonsense as long as he can show up with a fan and look mysterious while hewatches the chaos at their events.  JiangCheng says he’s the Long-Suffering type but actually he’s the Bad Boy typebecause of his temper.

JinZixuan,who is only here because his mother said he’d be grounded until he graduatesunless he found a good extracurricular and he didn’t know who ran the host clubwhen he blurted out that he was planning to join it.  Now he’s committed because his mother will notsupport him leaving and it’s been three years and also he still hasn’t gottenJiang Yanli’s phone number, which has become absolutely necessary because thethree minutes he sees her every Thursday when she comes to get her brothers fortheir weekly sibling dinner are the best of his week.  There is a good chance Zixuan’s going to getpunched again when he finally gets his courage up to ask her out, but sometimesit be like that.  The Princely type, althoughhe’s hopeless when he’s not playing a part.

LanWangji, treasurer,who is only here because Wei Wuxian asked him to be, and everyone (except WeiWuxian) knows it.  He’s still remarkablypopular with the guests, despite the fact that most people are lucky to get fiveconsecutive words out of him and it’s a known fact that he’ll bow out of aconversation with nothing more than a brief apology and a nod the moment Wuxiancalls him.  Somehow, three years later,Wuxian has not picked up on the fact that Wangji is really not here tolearn to talk to women.  Save him.  The Stoic type.

LanXichen, generalsource of stability if not necessarily common sense, who is here because hisbrother is here.  He and Wen Qing bondimmediately over their shared Protective Older Sibling energies, although WenQing is very much here to beat up anyone who looks sideways at her brother andXichen is very much here to wingman his brother as hard as he can manage.  He’s a year older than the others, graduatingthis year, and the most popular host by a long shot.  The Chivalrous type.

WenNing, who,yeah, is wide-eyed and shy and tends to start stuttering if more than threeguests are looking at him at any given moment, but he has an apparently innatetalent for sweet and unassuming kindness that’s a big hit.  The guests are charmed by his nervousness andthey’re always happy to listen to him talk about his favorite subjects (his sister,his friends, and archery, which he currently can’t afford to do but knowseverything about, in that order). The Natural type.

Honorablemention to Nie Mingjue, who graduated last year and was only partof the host club because Lan Xichen made him. Which is to say, Xichen smiled at him and talked about how gladhe was that Wangji was making friends and how good it would look onMingjue’s college applications as a complement to his more athleticextracurriculars and how happy Huaisang would be to do something withhis brother, and then Mingjue blinked and boom, host club.  He doesn’t have any idea what happened.  Xichen is like that.  The Jock type.

FOUR

NieHuaisang has been Wei Wuxian’s top enabler and partner in chaos since they werein middle school and he also knows everyone and everything despite hisreputation as a top-notch dumbass.  Hisentire rationale for not being part of the host club is that it wouldrequire him to admit to knowing things, and he Won’t, which—top student Wei “IHandle My Adequacy Issues By Being Smart But Also Have Guilt About It” Wuxiandoesn’t totally get that, but sure, okay, proceed.  Huaisang does, however, have anexcellent grasp of how to acquire all manner of strange things, so he is theirone-man supply center for all manner of wild concepts.  One time he got an entire apple treenext-day-shipped just to prove he could.

Also,Huaisang is personally responsible for making most of the host club’s money,because he has a camera and a good sense for the kind of pictures that peoplewill pay for.  Even funneling most of the money back into funding the club activities, Huaisang is still managing to turn a decent profit all told.  He takes a nice 7% cut for himself (friends and family discount), which is half the reason Mingjue didn’t kick up even more of a fuss about it.

Huaisang’svisceral hatred of the head editor of the school paper is the best kept secretin the school but on god Huaisang’s connections are better than that JinGuangyao asshole’s and he’s going to take him down before graduation.

FIVE

Halfwaythrough the school year, Wei Wuxian gets in a car wreck and the way Lan Wangjireacts to being the first number the paramedics find in Wuxian’s phone is informative.  It’s taken five and a half years, four brokenribs, a punctured lung, a concussion, and a spirited yelling sessionfrom Jiang Cheng, among other things, but Wei Wuxian has finally managed to geta clue.

Anda boyfriend.

Nowall they need to do is resolve Huaisang’s vendetta, figure out how the hell afirst year like Xue Yang managed to so comprehensively destroy ex-teacher XiaoXingchen’s reputation, and try and make it to Wen Qing’s graduation on time,and they’re golden.

[veliseraptor]

I just discovered there is a JC/XY ship! Any thoughts on that?

this is one of those things where like...I know it exists but I haven't read any of it and I think it's because I have a hard time really wrapping my brain around it?

like...I don't know that I'd say I can't see it because I can kind of grok on a conceptual level what it's about, I think...but I can't quite make it work in my head. I think it's a combination of that I think Jiang Cheng would actually be someone that Xue Yang would be disinclined to hook up with under almost any circumstances (he's too...tense, and not in the fun neurotic way that Jin Guangyao is where he's fun to play with; he's just too brittle for that, and also doesn't have the common ground with Xue Yang that I think is part of what makes their particular dynamic possible).

and coming from Jiang Cheng's end...part of it is probably about headcanoning Jiang Cheng as ace pretty firmly such that the only sex I think about him having is pretty squarely in the "messy failure to emotionally process his bad feelings" category (see: Lan Wangji/Jiang Cheng), and Xue Yang in my head, in a context of most of his relationships pre-Xiao Xingchen, doesn't really do nonsexual intimacy, so that'd be a non-starter for him.

(sidebar: for some reason Xue Yang as Wei Wuxian proxy sex doesn't work for me in the same way that Lan Wangji proxy sex does? I'm not sure why that is. maybe it's because in the Lan Wangji instance the proxy sex isn't so much about LWJ being directly a proxy so much as it's like. "the inherent eroticism of the one other person who understands your grief but also who you profoundly hate partly for that very reason, and whose hatred for you is an echo of your feelings about yourself, or something.")

the thing I am sort of interested in, and keep gnawing on looking for a way to make it work, is the dynamic specifically of the way that Jiang Cheng might relate to Xue Yang as Wei Wuxian's dark mirror. but I still have a hard time figuring out how Xue Yang would relate to Jiang Cheng beyond a combination of wariness and his...usual disdain for people of higher status (and, well. people in general, by default.)

I've seen people do universes where Jiang Cheng adopts a pet demonic cultivator at some point, but I think that doesn't work with my sense of Jiang Cheng's relationship to demonic cultivation after Wei Wuxian's death (universally hostile) and also his general state of openness to forming new intimate relationships (in the negative digits).

this is one of those things where I'm sort of like "convince me!" on the one hand but also I'm having a hard time being convinced. which is really getting in the way of my #xue yang fucks the untamed agenda, but I guess I can put Jiang Cheng next to Jin Zixuan on the "having a hard time making this work in my head" list.

[carolyncaves]

Today is Day 7: Pastel (I checked!), and I thought of a fun clothes application, and then it took me 800 words to even get to it ... because that’s how that works. We’re back to ace!JC and Lu Lian’s spouses-to-friends situation. This follows this almost immediately.

1297 words, ace!Jiang Cheng & OC, post-CQL reluctant marriage. Fighting like a married couple (oh wait ...); JC’s lingering dead-sister issues get a shoutout (poor JYL); wardrobe movie makeover

Lu Lian spent a beautiful day on the water, with her bizarre husband and his equally bizarre nephew.

Jin Ling was her nephew as well, she supposed. It took her the entire evening and the next morning at her and Jiang Wanyin’s customary breakfast to try to understand her own reaction to the young man’s demand. It was, by all logic, something she should have bared her teeth at. She was not this petulant child’s belonging, something subject to his whims. But she had not felt the hot tight outrage she was accustomed to.

She too had lost her parents. Perhaps that was part of it. She herself been old enough to remember them, at least, but it meant she carried always a deep painful nostalgia for their all-encompassing care. Her own uncle had provided for her, but she had been a half-stranger in his home, an interloper he supported out of familial duty. She had seen something of herself in Jin Ling’s desperate yearning. Still, his behavior was extremely presumptuous. She should ordinarily not have tolerated it, empathy aside.

By the time she had finished her porridge and her second cup of tea, she came to an acceptable conclusion. It was because he had in fact been demanding to belong to her, instead of the other way around.

Apparently something in her heart had been keen to take a possession of her own.

“The robemaker is coming this morning,” Jiang Wanyin said, without preamble. “You need clothes in Jiang colors.”

“What?” she said, calm and placid even though she felt the coals spark. She was an interloper here, too, and though Jiang Wanyin had given her plenty of leeway, she still knew she was living on his grace.

“I noticed yesterday, when we were out in the fields – you’re still wearing your old clothes. You should dress like Madam Jiang, like the Sect Leader’s wife, not some stranger visiting from out of town.”

That ignited the flame. “Will I be permitted to wear my old clothes at Lotus Pier at all?”

There was a crinkling between Jiang Wanyin’s eyebrows. “You can wear your family’s colors whenever you want,” he argued, bewildered, “but most of the time you will want to wear the colors of Yunmeng!”

“Will I? So you know what it is that I want? I thought I was not going to be that kind of wife to you.”

“Of course you’re my wife! What are you talking about? What does it matter that we aren’t involved in some ways? Are you not Madam Jiang?” he demanded of her.

She was, she was, and she despised that he was the one being right, being honest with the situation, and she was being foolish, a paper tiger battering uselessly against the thin walls of the beautiful, prosperous room she’d been fortunate enough to find herself in. The outrage roared up in her chest, but she crushed it down. “You’re right,” she said tightly, from the strain. “You’re right. Of course I will see the robemaker.”

He looked so unhappy at her answer, wounded and then enraged from the pain. He cast around, searching for something, helpless to find it. “Fine,” he spat at her, and he stormed away.

When he was gone, when she was entirely alone in the stillness of the porch, she slammed her fist down on their breakfast table, making every piece of porcelain clatter. It wasn’t as satisfying as smashing a cup would have been, but Lu Lian had much more control than that. She would never break something that belonged to someone else.

………

She had cooled off somewhat by the time the robemaker arrived, which mostly just meant her unfocused fury had subsided and there was nothing else to distract her from her shame for her behavior.

They convened in her personal rooms. Her personal attendant joined them, along with the robemaker’s two assistants. Jiang Wanyin was there as well. He did not look at her, instead glowering angrily at the robemaker. The robemaker looked nervously between them.

It was possible Lu Lian was glaring at him as well.

The robemaker addressed a point on the wall behind their heads. “What will I be making for Madam Jiang? How many pieces, and what sorts?”

Jiang Wanyin did not answer. Not even as the silence stretched.

Jiang Wanyin was not going to speak for her.

Lu Lian sighed, letting the heat fall out of her. “I am not yet familiar with the customs of Lotus Pier,” she said, “and I would like to wear my title with grace and dignity. Therefore, I will ask my husband to decide.” It was meant as an apology. Hopefully he would hear it like one.

He stared sideways at her for some moments longer. Then he began. “She will need a full wardrobe in Yunmeng style, befitting her title and station. Daily wear suitable for presiding over Lotus Pier, and formal items for visiting other sects. Enough that she can dress with comfortable variety, and she can commission more pieces later as she decides what she would like.” Clearly he had given the matter – her matter – some thought.

“Yes, Sect Leader. What colors would be appropriate?”

“What do you mean, what colors? Light purples and pinks, good pastels.”

Lu Lian frowned despite herself, and every eye in the room snapped to her.

The robemaker bobbed his head nervously. “Would Madam Jiang prefer different colors?”

“No,” she said immediately.

Jiang Wanyin was certainly looking at her now. Was scowling at her, in fact. “What, you won’t argue with me with servants present?”

The flame in Lu Lian woke at that challenge. On top of that, Jiang Wanyin did not seem to mind her arguing with him on this point – in fact it seemed he was asking her to, perhaps as some apology of his own – so she squared her shoulders at him and said, “I would not prefer pastels.”

“Why not? They’re nice colors for Jiang women.”

“Nevertheless, I would not want my entire wardrobe in them. They’re not to my taste.”

“They’re what my A-Jie wore,” Jiang Wanyin fired back, and by his face, he’d surprised even himself with it.

Lu Lian dampened the flames, just a bit, so she could be gentle when she said, “I am not your A-Jie.”

“I know that! I know that.” Jiang Wanyin clenched his teeth, and then he sighed, and then he said to the robemaker, “Never mind what I said before. Madam Jiang will have whatever colors she pleases.”

“Perhaps you would like a set in those colors for yourself,” Lu Lian suggested.

Jiang Wanyin huffed scornfully. But he answered with, “Perhaps so.”

“I will have one as well,” Lu Lian said quickly. “A set of pale robes. We will wear them together, so we will appear matched. Then, I liked the deep purple robe you wore the first day I arrived here. I would like one to match that as well, and for the rest … I would ask for similar colors. Dark and rich.”

“Yes, Madam Jiang, very well, good choices …” the robemaker was muttering, but Lu Lian was most focused on Jiang Wanyin, who was watching her just as she was watching him. He looked … satisfied, in an almost ferocious way. She didn’t know if it was agitation from the mention of his sister, or if he was pleased with the wardrobe she’d chosen for herself. Perhaps it was both. He jerked his head at her, a sharp nod, and she nodded back. The robemakers’ assistants asked her to please stand up so they could begin taking her measurements.

Jiang Wanyin swept out of the room, and for the first time Lu Lian felt like she might in fact be Madam Jiang.

[bloody-bee-tea]

*unintelligible noises* *wriggles an arm out of the feelings mountain with a ball and throws* *lands on the happy pile*

20) "I love you so much and I would do anything for you, but if you ever ask me to tell them to put pineapples on the pizza ever again we’re fucking done.“

Jiang Cheng is nervous as hell. He knows he studied enough for this last exam—maybe even more than for his business exam—but this is where his heart lies. This is what he really wants and if he fails this exam and doesn’t get his degree then he’ll be devastated.

He did nothing but study for this for the past two weeks—ever since he got his business degree out of the way, so his parents can’t say anything about it—and logically he knows he did all he could, but that doesn’t stop him from worrying.

Jiang Cheng arrived a little bit early for the exam, so he still has time to kill and he pulls out his phone. He kind of ghosted Nie Mingjue for the last few days, because he wanted to concentrate on his studies and Nie Mingjue has been surprisingly understanding about this, but right now he needs to text him.

‘About to go in’Jiang Cheng writes out and it’s not even a minute before he gets a reply.

‘I know you can do it, but good luck anyway! I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you’ is the reply he gets and Jiang Cheng smiles down at his phone.

‘I love you, too’he sends back before he pockets his phone again.

He and Nie Mingjue have been going strong for years at this point, but it’s still a little bit unreal whenever Nie Mingjue tells him he loves him.

Even after all these years Jiang Cheng can hardly believe that he got this lucky. He’s not even sure he wants to get used to that feeling, if he’s being honest.

Jiang Cheng tries to cling to that feeling instead of giving in to his nervousness and soon enough it’s time for him to go in.

The exam itself is a whole blur and it’s only when Jiang Cheng leaves the room that he can breathe easy again.

He’s pretty sure he didn’t ace it—there were one or two questions that tripped him up—but he’s reasonably sure that he also didn’t fail it and that’s really all that matters.

As long as he gets the degree he is happy with everything. He doesn’t need to have the best marks, he will leave those expectations to his business degree and his mother.

Jiang Cheng is still debating how he’s going to celebrate the end of his exams on his own while he’s on the way home and he finds that he doesn’t really want to do anything.

He wants to celebrate it with Nie Mingjue but they are only going to see each other the next day and Jiang Cheng figures that a relaxing day with a new TV show might be a good time as well.

There’s no need to do anything fancy after all.

He is just debating if he should get pizza delivered or not when he opens the door to his apartment, only to find that it’s already unlocked.

Jiang Cheng frowns because he’s absolutely certain that he locked it twice like he always does when he leaves but then Nie Mingjue’s voice reaches him.

“Welcome home!” he yells through the apartment, moments before his head pokes around a corner.

“What are you doing here?” Jiang Cheng asks, but he can’t help the smile on his face. “I thought we were on for tomorrow?”

“We still are,” Nie Mingjue says with a shrug as he comes up to Jiang Cheng to pull him into a kiss. “But I wanted to celebrate with you today,” he says when they part and Jiang Cheng beams up at him.

“I love you,” Jiang Cheng tells him and is rewarded with a kiss for it.

“Love you, too. How did it go?”

“It was okay,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug as he toes off his shoes. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t ace it, but I think I passed.”

“Of course you did,” Nie Mingjue gives back as if he never expected anything else and Jiang Cheng is so happy to have the exam behind him and to have Nie Mingjue here with him that he steps forward and slings his arms around Nie Mingjue’s middle.

“I’m so proud of you,” Nie Mingjue lowly tells him and presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s head, bringing his arms up around him to hug him.

“I don’t even have a grade yet,” Jiang Cheng grumbles but he also doesn’t let go of Nie Mingjue.

“Doesn’t matter,” he easily gives back. “I’m always proud of you.”

“Stop it,” Jiang Cheng whines but he can’t deny how happy he is, here with Nie Mingjue.

“Never,” Nie Mingjue chuckles and then he simply continues to hold Jiang Cheng for a long time before he speaks up again. “So, what did you have planned for today?”

“Mh, nothing, really,” Jiang Cheng mumbles, his face still pressed to Nie Mingjue’s chest. “Thought about ordering in and relaxing.”

“Alright,” Nie Mingjue nods. “That’s what we’ll do then.”

“Did you have anything planned?” Jiang Cheng asks in return but Nie Mingjue is already pushing him away, so that he can get the phone.

Jiang Cheng sighs, because he’s pretty sure that Nie Mingjue has some plans for tomorrow and he hopes that he didn’t ruin it for him, but since Nie Mingjue is not outright saying anything Jiang Cheng trusts that it will be okay.

“Go sit, I have it handled,” Nie Mingjue calls over from the kitchen, and Jiang Cheng smiles when he realizes that he’s getting the flyer of their favourite restaurant.

As if Jiang Cheng needs that to know what he wants to order.

“You know where, right?” Jiang Cheng calls after him, despite knowing that this is like Nie Mingjue’s home.

“What do you take me for,” he predictably yells back and Jiang Cheng laughs.

Gods, he can’t wait for them to move in together. Now that he’s almost done with his degrees that day is getting closer and closer. Jiang Cheng’s pride wouldn’t allow him to move in with Nie Mingjue before he could pay his half of the rent, but once he has his degrees it will be different. Jiang Cheng already looked at some job offerings and he’s reasonably sure that he’ll get something soon enough.

And then they can finally start their life together for real.

“Your exam is over, what the hell are you thinking so hard for?” Nie Mingjue teasingly asks and flicks Jiang Cheng’s forehead.

“Nothing,” Jiang Cheng gives back and lets himself fall face first into the couch, body going completely boneless as he relaxes.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Nie Mingjue grumbles and Jiang Cheng chuckles.

“You just want me to take them off,” he gives back and he knows exactly what kind of face Nie Mingjue makes even without looking when there’s a brief pause.

“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Nie Mingjue eventually says and Jiang Cheng turns his head just far enough to peek up at him.

“Later, maybe,” he says, though he knows that it will be a definitely.

He hasn’t seen Nie Mingjue in a few days and Jiang Cheng has needs after all.

“Food first,” Nie Mingjue decides. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want,” Jiang Cheng says and does his best not to laugh out loud when Nie Mingjue makes the most disgusted face Jiang Cheng has ever seen.

"I love you so much and I would do anything for you, but if you ever ask me to tell them to put pineapples on the pizza ever again we’re fucking done,” he tells him and now Jiang Cheng can’t hold on any longer.

He laughs and then he laughs some more when Nie Mingjue fake glares at him and it feels so good to be as relaxed as this for a change.

With exams and stuff Jiang Cheng didn’t have a chance to laugh like this for too long now.

“Aww, but my soul, don’t I deserve a treat after my exams?” Jiang Cheng tries as he does his best to pout at Nie Mingjue.

“What you’re asking for is a punishment,” Nie Mingjue grumbles but he also leans over to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s head and so Jiang Cheng knows he has won.

Nie Mingjue quickly places their order and when he’s done with that, he climbs over the back of the couch and falls down on top of Jiang Cheng, knocking the breath right out of him.

“Uff,” Jiang Cheng wheezes. “What’s that for?”

“Making me order that abomination,” Nie Mingjue says as he arranges Jiang Cheng to his liking, mainly meaning that he slides off Jiang Cheng so he can hug him close.

“Aww, but you did it for me anyway,” Jiang Cheng says and smiles at Nie Mingjue. “I have the bestest boyfriend in the world.”

“Yeah, I hear he’s decent,” Nie Mingjue gives back with a serious nod, making Jiang Cheng frown.

“Hey, you’re not allowed to slander my boyfriend in my own home,” he tells Nie Mingjue with a light slap to his shoulder and then Jiang Cheng stills when he sees a suspicious glint in Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

“What about slandering your fiancé instead?” Nie Mingjue lowly asks as he pulls out a small black box.

“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng breathes out because what the hell is even happening.

They are not even living together yet!

“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue gives back, just as serious as before. “Will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?”

“You mean you aren’t happy now?” Jiang Cheng blurts out because of course he does.

He’s stupid and caught off guard and so happy he can’t even think straight.

“I’m decently happy, I’d say,” Nie Mingjue gives back with a teasing smile and Jiang Cheng buries his face in Nie Mingjue’s neck. “What do you say, my heart?”

“We’re not even living together! We’re doing this all out of order!”

“If we were doing this all out of order I would have presented you with adoption papers,” Nie Mingjue patiently gives back and Jiang Cheng jerks back, narrowing his eyes at Nie Mingjue.

“No, not yet,” Nie Mingjue says, clearly reading the question in Jiang Cheng’s eyes. “But yes. Kids will happen eventually, too. You said often enough that you want at least one.”

“But you were always on the fence about that.”

“Yeah, but then I realized that I want to have it all with you,” Nie Mingjue casually gives back. “But that really comes after living together and being married for at least a year.”

“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng breathes out because he feels like he could burst with happiness and love for this man.

“The living arrangement is just a technicality. It’s a given we’ll move in as soon as you sign your first employment contract, right? So I thought why not plan ahead a little bit with this.”

“Fuck, I love you so much,” Jiang Cheng breathes out and then pulls Nie Mingjue in for a long and thorough kiss.

“That’s nice and all, but you still didn’t answer me,” Nie Mingjue says when they part and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“Yes. Of course it’s yes. As if it could ever be anything else! Now give that ring here!”

“Good, because you had me worried there for a second,” Nie Mingjue teases him because of course there was nothing to worry about in the first place and they both know it.

Jiang Cheng’s heart does a funny little thing in his chest when Nie Mingjue slides the ring on his finger and Jiang Cheng never saw himself as the jewellery-wearing type, but he already knows that he’s never, ever going to take that ring back off again.

“I love you, my beautiful, wonderful, brilliant fiancé,” Nie Mingjue whispers as he peppers Jiang Cheng’s face with kisses.

“Stop it,” he complains, but it’s only half-hearted at best.

“Never,” Nie Mingjue promises and then simply continues with his mission until the doorbell goes off.

“That’s our food,” Jiang Cheng mutters when Nie Mingjue doesn’t get moving immediately and Nie Mingjue huffs out a sigh.

“And I already take second place,” he grumbles but he does get up to get their food and Jiang Cheng stares after him, hardly believing what just happened and when Nie Mingjue moves out of sight, Jiang Cheng turns his gaze towards his new ring.

It’s the most beautiful thing Jiang Cheng has ever seen.

He only tears his eyes away from it when Nie Mingjue comes back, their pizzas balanced on one hand, because if he’s being honest, Nie Mingjue is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

When Nie Mingjue leans down to put their food on the table Jiang Cheng darts in for a quick kiss but when Nie Mingjue tries to deepen it, he pulls away.

“I’m not eating cold pizza, again,” he decisively says and opens his carton to get right in while the pizza is still nice and hot. He did learn his lesson the last time after all.

“I want a divorce,” Nie Mingjue says, his voice absolutely deadpan and his face disgusted when he sees a piece of pineapple slide off Jiang Cheng’s slice but Jiang Cheng only smiles sweetly at him.

“Too late. There’s no getting rid of me or my disgusting pizza taste ever again,” he happily says and Nie Mingjue’s face immediately softens.

“Fine, I guess,” he still heaves out as if it’s the worst thing in the world but when Jiang Cheng leans in for a kiss, Nie Mingjue pushes him away with a hand to his face.

“I have to draw the line somewhere,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng bursts out laughing again.

He hasn’t been this happy in a long while and he’s looking forward to being happy like this every day of his life now.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

[by-mana]

Commissions Redux

Hi Folks!

This has been copied from my main blog and cleaned up a bit, since I’m trying to separate the fan stuff from the main to keep something like a semblance of an order. Commissions are therefore moved from Mana-chan’s Corner to here. They are still open and perfectly free, just read the rules, please. In case you wish to support me, you can do either of these things:

» Leave a Tip

» Buy Me a Coffee

As I am currently jobless (thank you Corona) every bit is appreciated. 

» Full Update

For a long time I didn’t take any commissions because the fandoms and pairings I have inspiration for is a limited fraction of my active fandoms (i.e. the fandoms I engage with via reading fic, commenting, enjoying content, reblogging, etc.) and I didn’t want to disappoint. 

Recently, in an unexpected strike of utter genius (which only took me like... 5 years to work out), I had the epiphany to compile a list of fandoms+pairings I’d be more than happy to write as you desire.

» Commission Rules/FAQ. Please read before commissioning.

» For full list of available fandoms/genres click below.

» Fandoms

» The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi

The most recent fandom, also the one that currently dominates my mind. 

Including: CQL, Novel, Movies. I haven’t read a lot of the source material, but I’m intending to and I already did some research. For now I think I prefer a mix of canons. 

» Pairings

» Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

» Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian (mostly gen, but I believe I could do something sexual/romantic as well, but please ask first if you have any specific ideas)

» Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing (please read the rules)

» Jiang Cheng/Wen Ning (tentative)

» Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian

» Nie Mingjue/Lan Xichen (tentative, though I mostly see myself as writing them on the side)

» Any version of the 3zun (same as above)

» Lan Xichen/Wei Wuxian

» Jin Zixuan/Wei Wuxian

» Specific Canons / Prompts

The Untamed basically exploded over my head and didn’t leave me alone. In the past few months a few plotbunnies developed which I’d all love to write at one point. You can chose to prompt me either of these or pick any general prompt, or anything you’d like to read, as long as it aligns with what I can write.

» The First Witness

Genre: Case Fic, Modern AU, Canon retell, Drama, Tragedy, Romance, M/M

Pairings: WWX/LWJ

Includes: Forensic Medical Examiner Wei Wuxian, Inspector Lan Wangji, Single Dad Wei Wuxian, Wei Sizhui / Wen Yuan, the dead ones are dead, Badass Grandmother Baoshan Sanren, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, Businessman Jiang Cheng, Murder Mystery, Pining, Getting Together, HIV positive character, past off-screen rape (mentioned only). It’s basically what it says, a canon retell wrapped in a modern day case fic. It was the first thing that I had inspiration for.

» Nurse Wei Wuxian slice of life Modern AU

Genre: Modern AU, slice of life, recovery, drama, tragedy, adoption, M/M, hurt & comfort, getting together, romance, fluff

Pairings: WWX/LWJ

Includes: pediatric nurse Wei Wuxian, pediatric nurse MianMian, elementary school teacher Lan Wangji, pediatrician Lan Xichen, intense care nurse Jiang Yanli, intense care doctor Wen Qing, teacher’s aide Wen Ning, Yunmeng reconciliation, only some are dead, Wen family+WWX living together. 

Premise: Former convict Wei Wuxian, fresh out of nursing school, applies for a job at Dr. Lan Xichen’s pediatric practice. Lan Xichen (who sometimes takes pro bono foster children abuse cases) isn’t quite sold on the idea of a former felon turned nurse attending to already traumatized children, but upon interview decides to give WWX a chance. Not only does he never regret it, it turns out it’s to be the best decision he’s ever made, not only in regards to his practice. Meddling ensues, love blossoms, truths are revealed, happy end. Probably the fluffiest story on the list.

» ABO Yunmeng Shuanjie Fake Marriage AU

Not what you think. Does not involve pseudo-incest (at least not for a long time, haven’t decided on the end results yet). First ABO I’ve ever considered writing, but all the more exciting, since I know now what I want of it.

Pairing: WWX/LWJ (temporal, non-endgame - so far, platonic), WWX & JC (gen, ruling partners)

Includes: fake marriage, extra marital affair, male pregnancy, abo (mostly non-traditional, I think?), not actual pseudo incest, adoption, canon divergence, not everybody dies, Wen Chao being a monster, sexual assault (interrupted), golden core loss, NO golden core transfer, misunderstandings, complicated political situations, the Wens are saved and live in Lotus Pier, a-Yuan is still adopted, “sometimes love is not enough”

Premise: shortly after concluding the studies at Cloud Recesses LWJ starts courting WWX. Engagement is discussed between the two clans, but the Wen indoctrination and the burning of the Cloud Recesses gets in between. When LWJ refuses to lie in order to save WWX from Wen Chao’s assault, JC steps in and pretends to be the one engaged to WWX to save his brother from a forced bond. To prevent this from being debunked and to ensure a future marriage (which will now be more challenging to achieve, given the state of Cloud Recesses), LWJ and WWX mate and bond in the Xuanwu cave. Then Lotus Pier is sacked, JC loses his golden core, the Jiangs are dead and the Yunmeng siblings flee for their lives, find refuge in Yiling, etc. Plays out as in canon except they find out WWX is pregnant and transferring the golden core would cause an abortion. WWX still says do it, but changes his mind in the last minute, leading to JC finding out about his plan upon waking up and remaining coreless. They flee to Meishan and marry to protect WWX’s reputation (since a marriage would now be impossible for a long time on both sides - Gusu and Yunmeng, AND JC needs WWX more than ever and WWX is not abandoning his little brother) Sunshot happens, WWX invents the control tower & still saves the Sunshot campaign. The sixteen years that follow are utter chaos.

» Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian arranged marriage AU

You know what this is inspired by. 

Pairing: Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (unfullfilled, for a long time)

Includes: arranged marriage, some characters die, Nie Mingjue dies but later, revenge, wwx adopts a-yuan, canon divergence, slow burn, learning to love, the Wens live, political intrigues, wwx and nhs teaming up against jgy

Premise: To save the Wens and himself from qi deviation Wei Wuxian marries Nie Mingjue (in spite of being in love with LWJ). Slowly some truths are revealed and feelings blossom but some tragedies cannot be prevented. NMJ realizes the feelings that are between WWX and LWJ, but they both marry regardless. Later WWX realizes that NMJ is similarly in love with Lan Xichen. With time they learn to love and respect each other, NMJ learns about what WWX did for JC, WWX learns clarity to play for NMJ when JGY nearly succeeds killing him (WWX suspects but he has no proof). NMJ still dies (disappears) and widower WWX spends the next decade or so seeking revenge and searching for his husband’s body so that he can rest in peace. It’s all very bittersweet, but there’s a happy ending.

» Hakuouki + Extended Universe 

The longest active and steadiest fandom. I know exactly what I’ll write and what not.

Including characters from: Urakata, Toki no Kizuna, the most recent overhauls (Kyoto Winds, Edo Blossoms). I’ve seen all three anime seasons, played a few routes of Kyoto Winds and read some walkthroughs. I’m not completely done with all of them, but I’ll take the time to research if the commission demands it.

» Pairings

» Harada Sanosuke/Nagakura Shinpachi (I lovingly refer to them as my naval battle cruiser)

» Harada Sanosuke/Shiranui Kyou

» Shiranui Kyou/Takasugi Shinsaku

» Kondou Isami/Hijikata Toushizou (tentative)

» Hijikata Toushizou/Saitou Hajime (tentative)

» Nagakura Shinpachi/Saitou Hajime

» Saitou Hajime/Toudou Heisuke

» Yukimura Chizuru/Sen-hime

» Ibuki Ryuunosuke/Kosuzu (please read the rules)

» Specific Canons / Prompts:

I’ve had a number of inspirations for this, which I’ve never written, but would love to delve into. You can chose to prompt me either of these or, of course, pick a general prompt.

» Fabulous Family Series

The one in progress, you can check it out on AO3. You can prompt me in this, if there’s something you’d like to read.

Pairings (current and planned): Harada/Nagakura, Kondou/Hijikata, Okita/Chizuru (casual), Heisuke/Saitou, Takasugi/Shiranui, Chizuru/Sen-chan, Ibuki/Kosuzu, Ibuki->Saitou (one-sided crush), Saitou/Chizuru (temporal)

Tags: adoption, modern AU, lgbtq+ issues, M/M, genderfluid character, disabled character (future), teenage pregnancy (future), slice of life, sexual assault (future), child abuse (future reveal), romance, ace/aro character, casual sex, underage sex, 

» Gender Swap AU

Main Ship: Harada/Nagakura

Side Ship: Ibuki/Kosuzu

Summary: Sannan secretly tests a version of his experimental Ochimizu on a few of the captains. The result is that the new day dawns with some drastic changes to their bodies that have nothing to do with white hair, glowing eyes or bloodthirst, but with a whole other set of complications. 

Premise: Original story was supposed to be about Shinpachi developing and unexpected attraction to Sano, them “experimenting” together and Sano falling pregnant. While the others manage to turn back to their original bodies, Sano doesn’t and it is all very complicated. Eventually he does (after giving birth), but instead of it being a good thing it just makes things more complicated. In the end, he choses to live in a female body instead of death and marries Shinpachi. Would include trans issues, gender dysphoria, friendship vs. love, the nature of attraction, respect, feminism and female issues. I wanted to write it as a multi-chapter, but never got around to it. But I’d love to put it out there in any form I can.

» Prince of Tennis

Tentatively putting this down as one of my oldest fandoms. I never wrote for it as cosistently as with other fandoms, but a few years back I rp-ed it for quite a while and could probably still write for it, if the pairing’s right. 

Including: ShinTeniPuri characters up to Pirates and Black Holes (I haven’t read much further, but I’ll probably catch up at one point? I always do.)

» Pairings / Characters (mostly Shitenhouji and Higa centric)

» Oshitari Kenya/Shiraishi Kuranosuke

» Oshitari Kenya/Chitose Senri

» Oshitari Kenya & Oshitari Yuushi (gen, ask me about cest)

» Shishido Ryou/Oishi Shuuichirou

» Oshitari Yuushi/Kikumaru Eiji

» Oshitari Yuushi/Hirakoba Rin (this relates to that rp)

» Kai Yuujirou & Hirakoba Rin (both gen and slash)

» Kite Eishirou/Hirakoba Rin

» Watanabe Osamu/Sakaki Tarou

» Higa gen

» Shitenhouji gen and casual relationships (ask me about specific ones)

» Hara Tetsuya/Taira Yoshiyuki

» Mori Juuzaburou & Hara Tetsuya (mostly gen, but I probs could do casual slash as well)

» Ochi Tsukimitsu/Mori Juuzaburou

» Marui Bunta/Hara Tetsuya (you will never get this, but it derives from that rp I did and would still def write it if people are interested)

» Tango Pair (Sanada Genichirou/Atobe Keigo)

» Specific Canons / Prompts

Most of what I had in my head has faded but a few things remained. Of course you can also come with your own prompt at me.

» College AU, future fic

Premise: Everyone has grown up and moved on. The Oshitari cousins are now rooming together, both studying medicine at Tokyo University. They’re upper neighbors with Shishido Ryou (paedagogy) and Oishi Shuuichirou (medicine), who both miss their doubles partners, but have seemingly moved on from their middle school days and broken hearts. No such thing can be said about Kenya, who can’t get over his break up with Shiraishi following their graduation, or Yuushi, who seems to hold secrets of his own.

I haven’t developed much for this, most of it are scattered ideas, but I’d love to explore it. I’ve thought of some pairings for it, but none of them final. It would also leave a lot of room for casual stuff or one-night stands. It’s actually an ideal prompt premise, from that standpoint.

Pairings (at start, no necessarily final): Oshitari Kenya/Shiraishi Kuranosuke (past), Oishi Shuuichirou/Shishido Ryou (current), Oishi Shuuichirou/Kikumaru Eiji (past), Shishido Ryou/Ootori Choutarou (past), Oshitari Yuushi/Kikumaru Eiji (current, secret), 

» It takes two to Tango / Tango towards Destruction

An old fic that was supposed to be a series which I never finished, but could pick it up and remaster it. It’d be a nostalgia project. 

Pairing: Tango Pair

Premise: Atobe’s father finds out about him and Sanada dating and threatens to disown him if they don’t break up. In the original Atobe runs away, but I’m thinking now he simply might not take it seriously enough and then it would escalate. He ends up moving in with the Sanada family. Your typical rich boy loses everything and struggles through poverty, finding meaning, building a life for himself, coming off age. 

» One Piece

A fandom older than even TeniPuri it’s been with me the longest. Unfortunately it doesn’t inspire me anymore the way it used to, but I’d still be able to write some things for it, if the right muse struck me. I kinda want to. Nostalgia, you know.

» Pairings

» Zoro/Sanji

» Ace/Zoro

» Ace/Sanji

» Luffy/Law (tentative, like, I ship them hard but I don’t know if I’d be able to write something for them? Oh but I’d like to try)

» Mihawk/Shanks

» Mihawk & Zoro & Perona family dynamics

» Zeff & Sanji adopted family dynamics

» Usopp & Yasopp gen

» Izo? I’d like to try an Izo.

» Canons

» Canonverse

Set in the original canon of the fandom.

Including (not limited to): backstory - past canon, present canon, future fic (please specify), canon divergence

» Modern AU

Including (not limited to): no powers, modern with magic (potential, please ask), slice of life, mystery, case fic, ‘job AU’ (coffee shop, doctors, idols, etc., please specify/ask)

» Sci-fi AU

Including: original sci-fi canon, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, Dune (tentative), Hyperion (tentative), for everything else ask. I know a lot of sci-fi, but not enough lore for each of them to set a story in. I might be interested but it'd necessitate research.

» High Fantasy AU

Including (not limited to): original fantasy canon, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Witcher, but overall I’d prefer if you ask about this. I haven’t read/seen a lot of the most recent and popular franchises (mostly because I’m writing my own high fantasy and don’t want it to be too influenced by other things, and someone already told me it sounds like Game of Thrones, so that one’s a big no. Sorry...)

» No Powers, other than modern AU

Including (not limited to): everything that doesn’t fall under the modern AU list, but has no powers in it, i.e. historical AU (specify time & culture), future AU (near & far), cyberpunk dystopia (possibly), post-apocalyptic (possibly). I don’t write zombies.

» Superpowers / Hero AU

Including (not limited to): X-Men, Avengers, Wildstorm Universe, original superhero canon

» Genres

I do mostly serious stuff, like drama, tragedy, intrigues, arranged marriage, tragic backstory, etc. I like to put my characters through a lot of suffering. I always joke that it’s very easy to spot my favorite character by the amount of torture I put them through. I feel that it makes the happy ending weigh even more. Sometimes I even prefer a bad ending, if it gives the story more meaning (I mean, imagine LotR trilogy have a happy ending. It would totally take away all the development and the lessons the characters went through.) I wish I could write light stuff but so far I have not succeeded. I use a lot of sarcasm and irony though? 

My shorter fics tend to be fluffy and sweet rather than funny, if full of playful banter and teasing. Relationships are usually depicted in a naturalistic rather than romantic way (I’m ace/aro myself, and I have lots of opinions about the nature of love and attraction, and how a functioning relationship ideally looks like and it tends to seep into my writing). Instead of traditional romance I like to write a non-traditional one. Slow burn, instead of love on first sight. Learning to love instead of falling hard. But it also depends on the pairing. I can write most things if I put my mind to it, so don’t hesitate to prompt me and I’ll let you know whether it works for me or not.

I’m not shy of dealing with child abuse, assault, suicidal ideation, trauma, disability and other difficult topics in my writing, so if you wanna request any of these or something similar I’m a-okay with it, as long as you discuss it with me. I’m not knowledgeable in everything so it’s likely I’ll need to do research, but I’m more than alright with it. Honestly, it’s very probable that I’d love to try. 

» Kinks

I’m okay with most stuff. Where I draw the line is the really hardcore stuff like scat and kinks involving feces, some forms of humiliation, zoophilia, necrophilia, mutilation, stuff like that. 

I’m alright with both dub-con & non-con (although I refuse to depict is as normalized, or glorified), bondage, s&m, dom/sub, light bdsm (ask me about the harder stuff. I’m not against it, I’m just not always in the mood or right mindset for writing it), omorashi (tentative, ask me), daddy kink, breath play, age play, spanking, verbal humiliation, dirty talk, edging, come eating, orgasm denial,... all the good stuff. 

[stella-maria7]

THE UNTAMED FAN FIC: THE TANGLED HEART

Chapter 22: ESOTERIC IDENTITY

Jiang Cheng was fixated on Lan Xichen the minute he walked in. Despite the build figure, he could see that Zewu-Jun had lost some weight. His face was smaller and so did his waist. Even the smile that he was putting on his face seemed so weak compared to his usual smile five years ago. Was he living in seclusion or starvation? Jiang Cheng asked himself.

Lan Wangji was about to move away from the seat when Xichen held up a hand to stop him. “Please Wangji. Stay where you are. I am not here as a Sect leader.” He then turned towards Sizhui. “I am only here as an uncle.”

“Zewu-Jun.” Sizhui paid his respect to his uncle.

“Zewu-Jun.” Jingyi followed suit. “You are finally out.” He couldn’t hide his excitement at all. A big smile was plastered all over his face.

Lan Xichen smiled at everyone in the room who were welcoming his presence with warm hearts. “How about we all sit down?” Right after everyone was properly seated, he began to answer Jingyi's question. “We experienced a strong current of wind that came at the wrong season. More likely, it was the upshot of some disturbance activities.”

“Mine is different.” Said Jiang Cheng. Then, he started telling what phenomenon Lotus Pier had undergone.

“It was indeed different.” Wei Wuxian murmured with his fingers tapping his chin. “I can understand why Zewu-Jun and Jiang Cheng experienced different phenomenons since they were at two different places. But Lan Zhan and I were also in Cloud Recess, why didn’t we get affected by the same thing Zewu-Jun did?”

“You were deeply asleep because of that nightmare.” Wei Wuxian’s question was answered by Lan Wangji.

“Hmm…look like both of us were distracted by our own disturbances to notice that wind.” Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji and got a head nod as a yes from his husband. “Well then, Zewu-Jun was disturbed by the wind, Jiang Cheng by the Earth, Lan Zhan by the sound and I by the dream. What about you A-Ling?” He realized one person hadn’t told his side of the story yet. And that person was his nephew.

“Well…” Jin Ling talked about what happened at Carp Tower.

Jiang Cheng frowned and bellowed when his nephew finished. “How is a breaking of a tea cup counted as unnatural occurrence?”

“W-well, it gives me a weird feeling though.” Jin Ling stammered under his uncle’s glare and the discomfiture of his weak occurrence.

“You judge thing based on your feeling?! Tell me, is this befitting of a Sect Leader?” Jiang Cheng was almost on his feet to Jin Ling’s direction when Lan Xichen spoke in his usual gentle tone.

“Please calm down Sect Leader Jiang. I am sure Jin Ling hasn’t done with his explanation yet.”

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath and stayed still as if he was calm down right away. Wei Wuxian raised his eyebrows in bewilderment at his brother’s swift calmness.

“Yeah, well, what I am saying is even though what happened to me that night might be less conspicuous than any of you, it hit me with waves of anxiety. You know I was holding that mug tightly in my hand, it was highly unlikely for it to just slip out of my hand like that. And one more thing, the movement of that spilled tea when it moved was so weird. I don’t really know how to explain it but I just know that it wasn’t normal.”

“I think we shouldn’t take Jin Ling’s story lightly.” Wei Wuxian said. “Remember my dream? I saw both Sizhui and Jin Ling were in danger. Maybe the cup breaking is a warning for Jin Ling himself. Therefore, Jin Ling, you might as well be careful. Don’t be too snobbish. For the time being, try to stay in Carp Tower as much as possible. And don’t travel alone. Always bring group of your best men with you. Sizhui, you too. Now that Wen Ning is here, you must always bring him with you on every mission." he then turned to Wen Ning. "Please help looking after them."

"Yes, Gongzi." Wen Bing's voice was heard for the first time.

Wei Wuxian then turned to his son and nephew. "Be on full alert until we can confirm that everything is okay, alright?”

“Fine.” Replied Jin Ling.

“Yes, Senior Wei.” Sizhui said.

“Sizhui, now that our side of the story is finished, do you have yours to share?” Lan Xichen spoke as he looked at Sizhui.

“Not exactly, Zewu-Jun. I don’t experience any unnatural disturbance while I was away to the village with Master Zhang. However, I somehow encounter some outlandish situations during that visit.” replied Sizhui.

“Tell us everything, A-Yuan. Don’t leave out even the tiniest bit of information.” Wei Wuxian urged his adoptive son. His dream was heavily focus on the death of Sizhui so he must knew every peculiar thing whether it related or not.

Sizhui began narrating the whole story in details. As soon as he was done, Jin Ling, once again, was the first one to lash out. “Damn, that boy is a big sinner. I would have killed him right there and then. The crime he committed is inhuman."

“But Sect Leader Jin, we didn’t catch him red-handed so we can’t really say that he was responsible for the death of those people.” Sizhui said calmly.

“Do we even need to? He tried to kill that Master Zhang, he appeared in the crime scene and he even created those fog talisman. Who else can be the murderer except him?”

“But that is just your speculation Sect Leader Jin, we still need hard evidences before we accuse someone.”

“Lan Sizhui, why do you keep defending him?” Jin Ling frowned at Sizhui.

“I am not. I just don’t want to jump to conclusion.” Sizhui still maintained his calm demeanors even under Jin Ling’s scrutiny.

In fact, Sizhui didn’t completely disagree with what Jin Ling had said. Given the boy’s aura that he had felt during those time their swords clashed, Sizhui’s instinct told him that the boy was capable of doing such a thing. It made him curious of the boy’s upbringing. What kind of environment did he was raised in to have such a cruel thought at a young age like this? Was he bound by revenged? And it all went back to him. What about me? He asked himself. If Hanguang-Jun didn’t bring me to Gusu Lan that time, how would he live his life? Would he become a vicious and power-hungry just like his clan? Or would he become a vengeful man who lived his live taking revenge?

Before everything was revealed, he wanted to give the boy a chance. Just like he was given once.

“Sizhui, proceed with your story.” Said Lan Wangji when Jin Ling was about to talk back to Sizhui.

“Yes, Hanguang-Jun.” Sizhui addressed his acting Sect leader with a bow before continued. “He’s young but his swords skills is very good for his age. He was able to withstand my first two strikes. It seemed he was very well-trained. However, his sword fights are not cultivators’ common styles. He uses two swords, one longer than another. And he is an ace with daggers. I have never encountered a fighter like him before.” Sizhui frowned a little to himself. “But what peculiar is his spiritual energy. He does have it, but it is so unlike ours.”

“Don’t be so ambiguous. I don’t understand.” Jin Ling fisted his palm as he was so anxious to hear the whole thing.

“If you just shut up and let Sizhui finished his words, then you’ll understand.” Said Jingyi. He so had enough of Jin Ling’s restiveness.

Before his two best friends could tear off each other in front of the seniors, Sizhui hurried with his narration. “What I mean is, for us cultivators, once we do our swordfights, we are able to feel our opponents’ strength through the power of the Golden Core that is transferring towards our swords. In short, we get to feel each other’s Golden Core. But when I had a swordfights with this boy, despite him using those swords, I couldn’t register his Golden Core at all.”

“Maybe he just has no Golden Core. Look at Senior Wei. He can still be a cultivator without his Golden Core.” Jingyi unconsciously blurted what he was thinking out. And he regretted it the moment those words escaped his mouth.

Everyone in the room was silence still, too afraid to even breath. Jingyi gulped and looked around to see that all eyes were on him. He trembled as he knew what he had done. He had broken the taboo. The matter of Wei Wuxian losing his Golden Core might be known to the cultivation’s world but it was a taboo in Cloud Recess. Hanguang-Jun didn’t like that particular topic being discussed. Now he had done it.

Wei Wuxian was fidgety as he looked at Jiang Cheng to see his brother was lowering his head, hiding his guilty face. He wanted to walk there and consoled him but that would be too obvious. It would only arouse more suspicion. He knew that Jingyi only knew what the majority of the cultivation’s world had known. Only those few knew where his lost Golden Core went to.

“Jingyi, copy the Lan’s principles two hundreds time after this.” Lan Wangji said.

“Yes, Hanguang-Jun.” Jingyi replied weakly.

The room was quiet again. Wei Wuxian knew that if he wasn’t to do anything, the whole day would just ended with silence. “Oh, yeah, that’s very flattering Jingyi.” He stood up and went to stand besides the nervous Jingyi who still had his head lowered and his body slightly trembled. “But that is because I was born a prodigy. I am unique, you know.” He gave Jingyi’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. Jingyi looked up at him to which he added a smile to assure him that everything was alright.

“Oh shut up. Don’t you feel shame at all for bragging about yourself?” Jin Ling scoffed.

Wei Wuxian smiled to himself as the tense atmosphere was finally lifted. So now, things could get back to business. “But I have to clarify one thing. I was born with a Golden Core. I just lost it afterwards. However, the boy Sizhui has mentioned seems to have no Golden Core from the very beginning. Besides, I cannot draw my sword for long or else I will be way too drained. But that boy is able to use not only one but two swords during the fight without showing any sign of exhaustion. This is highly unprecedented.”

“Sizhui, what else do you remember about the boy?” Something about that boy caught Lan Xichen’s interest.

Sizhui took a brief moment to think. “Oh, I had injured him on his shoulder during the fight. And my sword that wound him was smeared with black liquid.” He thought back to when he was about to sheath his sword and saw the stain.

“Black?” Jin Ling and Jingyi asked simultaneously to which Sizhui answered with a nod.

Zewu-Jun stood up from his seat with his face as pale as snow. Jiang Cheng was the first to notice and the first to ask. “Zewu-Jun, are you alright?”

Finally, everyone’s attention was on Lan Xichen. Lan Wangji also stood up and walked to stand in front of his brother, his face worried. “Brother. Is it serious?” Years of brotherhood had made the two brothers understood each other even without asking.

Lan Xichen turned to look into his younger’s brother eyes and nodded. Lan Wangji frowned just as Wei Wuxian walked to stand next to him. “Zewu-Jun, what is it that you know?”

Taking a deep breath with his eyelids shut, Lan Xichen braced for his own answer. Once he opened them back, traces of trepidation were shown. “I have read a book in the Forbidden Chamber. According to the characteristics that Sizhui had described, I fear that the boy isn’t a human.”

“Not a human? What do you mean?” Jiang Cheng had left his seat and joined the standing line next to Wei Wuxian.

“It means, Sect leader Jiang, that we are up against a demon in human form.”