#and once again i am BAFFLED that people think jgy's opinion would be crystal clear after such a rumor

[leatherbookmark]

the only minor gripe i have with posts arguing for the “mxy harassed jgy” option is that they often use the phrase “mxy said”. we don’t know what he said, because the summary is provided to us by wwx. the phrasing might have been “i guess i came on too strong? idk tho”. it might have been “he was my life, he was the only light in this miserable existence of a kid no one liked, he was unreachable but how was i supposed to just accept that? how could i just step down and not wish to spend every passing hour basking in his presence?”. or something else. we don’t know!

we only know that wwx is the one who introduces the “incestuous harassment” read to us. (and he wasn’t manipulated by jgy!)

and not as a rumor -- if mxy disagreed with it, if he was slandered without reason, i ASSUME he would have mentioned it in his notes. “everyone says i lusted after my half-brother!-- and it torments me that my boyish actions of a child starved of affection who only adored the first real brother he ever had would be interpreted like so!”, etc, etc. instead, wwx reads mxy’s notes, figures out that he was harassing* someone from the jin sect, and then he visits jinlintai and everyone, including servants who see a bunch of things the noble cultivators don’t, looks at him weird.

*another thing i’m not sure people are aware of is that the word “harass” doesn’t necessary mean like... sexual harassment in terms of strictly physically molesting, forcing kisses or other sexual contact. it’s more like, pester, annoy? following a class nerd around and shouting “hey, genius guy, explain the quadratic formula to us!” followed by riotous laughter also is harassment, for example. the japanese translation uses 付きまとう -- follow around, tag along. i don’t know about other guys, but when i say i do think mxy held Forbidden Passions for jgy i sure don’t mean that he, idk, forcibly kissed him in the great hall or tried to cop a feel. this is a society where it’s inappropriate for young unmarried ladies and young unmarried gentlemen to be together alone or, in jyl and wwx’s case, too emotionally close. i’m pretty sure mxy could have just surprise hugged jgy super tight for a/ jgy to be uncomfortable, b/ the present servants to go 👀 is he weird or what