Transform - 12 Days of Mingcheng
Hii! So, this fic fills the prompt Transform of @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng. I hope you enjoy it and remember to stay safe and healthy!
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Nie Mingjue loved Jiang Cheng for many reasons. The younger Sect Leader had rebuilt his home with almost no resources and in such a young age with almost no resources and managed to thrive once again, he was determined and knew when to stand his ground, when he loved, he did it with his whole heart and cared deeply. Still, Mingjue knew that he didn't trust easily and, often, it took a long time for him to believe that someone cared back for him.
So, maybe, that was the reason he was surprised when a letter arrived for him and Nie Huaisang, asking if they wanted to participate in the festival they would be having at the end of the harvest season. The festival happened every year after everything was done and, while it was open for everyone to participate, it was known that it was organized especially from the Yunmeng people to the Yunmeng people. There was music, food and dances that anyone could join if wanted and it lasted, at least, three days.
It had been one of the things that Jiang Cheng was more adamant about and even though the rebuilding wasn't finished yet, he insisted on doing it in the first year and never stopped after that. The disciples still talked about that first time and often said that nothing else could ever compare to it, they talked about the music, the food and all the laughs and jokes that occurred that day. And how they talked. It was no secret that the Jiang disciples loved their sect and their leader with their whole heart, but when the topic changed to festivals and music, they always said that nothing would ever compare to the first edition of the Harvest Festival.
That year's harvest had just ended and they all were around a fire, tired and sweaty, but still laughing at the stories of the past and joking about what the future reserved for them while passing food around. At some point, someone brought out a pipa, another one went home to bring a tanggu back and slowly more instruments were brought until there was music and everyone was dancing and playing around. To add to the surprise, not much time later, Jiang Cheng started to sing and the bravest ones joined him, too drunk in the euphoria of still being alive after a war to care if they were out of tune or not.
Jiang Cheng said once that it was important to them because that was their way of saying We are still here. We are alive, we survived and that is reason enough to celebrate. After it, the festival had only grown and nowadays, many people come to Lotus Pier to prove their food, see them dancing and joking around. It was a big event in their routine and Nie Mingjue was honored that Jiang Cheng had asked if he wanted to go.
So, he talked to Nie Huaisang and they agreed that it would be a good idea to take some of their older disciples there as well. In their haste to get there, they ended up arriving a day earlier than they should and were quickly eloped on the lotus picking. The only one who escaped getting knees deep in the mud was Nie Huaisang and only because the grandmas pulled him into one of the boats to help give the others water and sweet dumplings while trasportanting the lotus flowers already picked.
"Thank you." Jiang Cheng said, skin dark from being under the sun for the whole day and a drop of sweat running down the side of his face. "Though I don't know if I should be happy or angry because your people helped." He joked, grinning at the blush that appeared on his cheeks. Indeed, the Nies disciples had gotten quite competitive with the Jiang disciples and decided to do a game to see who could crop more lotus flowers till the end of the day. They chose an unbiased judge in the form of one Wang Yijin, an old woman who loved both the Jiang and the Nie disciples. "Next time, come earlier, I bet that we will be done in no time with your disciples competing against mine."
"We will see about that. Even more now that they know that they can beat your disciples in that." Nie Mingjue grinned back, approaching him slowly.
"That's debatable." He whispered, smiling up at him and putting his hands on his hips. "We all know that Wang Yijin loves you. No doubt she counted more crops on your side than in ours." He said against his lips as they got closer.
"Lovely woman." He said before diving in for a kiss and ignoring the "Gross!", "Ew!" and "Get a room!" screams coming from their disciples. They kissed slowly, just savoring the fact that they were still there, alive and well, that things were good once again. It was more just a press of lips than anything and it filled Nie Mingjue with happiness to still be able to do that.
"Baieyu!" Jiang Cheng screamed when a wall of water fell over them and the disciples started to laugh.
"Baieyu, I love you!" One of the Jiang disciples, Wang Yin, screamed while being held back by the Zhou twins, who too were laughing. Nie Mingjue saw the white crocodile swimming away, growling in a way that sounded like a laugh, while Jiang Cheng glared down at him.
"I didn't teach him that. I swear." He said, trying his hardest to not let his smile break out.
"Yeah, sure. I believe you." He said, too laughing and they finally moved to get out of the water. Once out, they went to take a bath and Jiang Cheng told him about the plans for the festival on the next day while washing Nie Mingjue's hair.
Apparently, he had lost a bet to the Zhou twins - Mingjue called it karma for laughing at him when he fell on their pranks, Jiang Cheng called it being sleep-deprived at the time - and now he would have to dance at the festival along with some other disciples. After the first time, where he sang with the others, he didn't participate in any of the activities they did, mostly just watching from afar and helping with the organization of the event. But Nie Mingjue knew that every year, all his disciples always tried to make him take part in those activities and he never did.
One time, the twins had asked him what he thought that would be able to make Jiang Cheng do something that he refused to do, but that would be good for him and he said that a bet would probably have that result. Their faces had light up at that, instantly making plans and talking too quickly for him to keep track of what they were saying before they walked away. Now it made sense why they had asked that, albeit he still thought that it would have been more productive if they had asked Wei Wuxian or even Jiang Yanli.
Even though they lived a little bit away from Lotus Pier - Jiang Yanli in Lanling and Wei Wuxian in Yiling City with the Wens - they visited often enough that they would be able to ask them and receive good answers too. Anyways, now the twins had already asked and made good use of that new knowledgement and he couldn't really say that he was angry at that. So, after Jiang Cheng finished washing his hair and he began washing his, he asked when he would be dancing and discovered that it would be the next day at the opening of the festival "because the twins are evil like that."
That night they slept together in Jiang Cheng's chambers instead of kissing goodnight and Mingjue going to his own chambers like usually, wrapped around each other and feeling safe. The next morning, he got to watch Jiang Cheng sleepily getting ready for the day before getting ready himself and kissing him good morning as they walked out the room. Almost instantly, he noticed that the atmosphere on Lotus Pier was different than usual, feeling more electric and full of energy than before.
Wherever he looked, there were people laughing and joking, clearly excited about what was going to happen at night and it would be a lie if he said that he too wasn't excited about it. At some point of the day, the twins came looking for Jiang Cheng and took him away, probably to get him ready for the night. After that, the Jiang juniors kept him busy with having him to play judge to one of their games that he understood nothing about, no matter how many times they explained it to him.
When the time came for them to go to Yunmeng's market, where the festival was traditionally held, the Jiang disciples made a point of dressing him up in new robes that he didn't even know that Jiang Cheng had ordered. They were beautiful, adorned with golden accents and little green beads forming designs, and were a type of comfort rarely seen in robes so elaborate. Nie Mingjue loved them and he didn't hide that fact.
"I feel like your ego has grown like six times just in the small time you took from the entrance to here." Nie Huaisang said, hiding a well-known grin behind his fan.
"Maybe that's why you are looking so small from up here." Nie Mingjue said, narrowing his eyes at him.
"Da-ge!" He shrieked, snapping his fan close while he laughed loudly. "C'mon, you besotted fool, let's go before we are late."
"Hmmph, who is the one between us that takes forever to get ready when they haven't already selected a set of robes beforehand?" He looked at him by the corner of his eyes, seeing the way that he puffed his cheek in outrage.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He pouted, making Mingjue laugh even more. They walked to Yunmeng's market, talking and joking on their way there. Once there, the Jiang disciples said that there was going to be a stage where the opening dance was going to be performed and that their sect leader was going to be on the front. It was clear that they were excited to see Jiang Cheng on stage again and that the Nie disciples weren't losing to them on that matter either, talking animatedly about how they wanted to see him dancing.
And, oh, how he danced! They arrived right on time when the first notes were being played and the dancers were already on stage. The dancers were wearing light robes with bright makeup, only half of their hair pulled up, and Nie Mingjue couldn't say that Jiang Cheng wasn't beautiful there, smiling wide as if he belonged there. As the singers began to sing, they opened their arms as if they were greeting the people there and it was noticeable that most of them were singing along too.
Around then, the people from Yunmeng chorused the song at the top of their lungs while clapping along, the small kids and juniors disciples imitating the dance and giggling. Besides him, his disciples too were clapping and trying to sing along with the Jiang disciples, and he smiled at the silliness of it all. There were people from the other sects there as well, enjoying the show and he couldn't help but think about how much it had changed since the first time celebrating it.
At some point of the presentation, they started to swirl around and everyone gasped as their robes started to glow, creating the illusion of them flying and having small lights around them. The dance lasted for more four minutes and, when it ended, the cheers and applause drowned the music when the dancers made their final bow. Behind him, some Jiang disciples were explaining the meaning of it to the Nie ones.
"This is a traditional greeting dance from Yunmeng. Jiang-zongzhu taught us." One of the Jiang disciples, maybe Liu Min, said, a grin so big on his mouth that Nie Mingjue feared that it was going to rip his cheeks apart. "But this is the first time he dances with us since that time. It took the Twins tricking him to get him to do so."
"Wow, really? How did they do it?" One of his disciples, Zhang Nuoting, said, eyes wide as he looked at the other girl.
"They involved Nie-zongzhu, obviously." She whispered, trying to not let him hear. "They bet that he would be able to come to this year's festival opening and if he did, Jiang-zongzhu would have to dance in the presentation, but if he didn't, the Twins would stop pestering him for the rest of the year."
"That's a good bet, actually." She whistled and Nie Mingjue knew that she was nodding knowingly.
"Yeah, but like, Nie-zongzhu never came to the festival opening before and Jiang-zongzhu thought he was safe. But, as you see, the Twins are never wrong." Giggles came from behind him as the dancers left the stage and he watched as all the bystanders went away talking about the performance and how it had been something akin to magic.
He stayed there, waiting for the dancers to appear in the front of the stage again though he dispatched his disciples to get to the fair. Ever since he and Nie Huaisang had told them that they would pass the week in Yunmeng, for the harvest festival, they had been so excited to see the fair they had that it was the only thing that they talked about all the way there. The disciples had just disappeared in the crowd when he felt someone hugging him from behind.
"Who the hell gave you these robes?" Jiang Cheng whispered, his hands coming to a stop over his chest, his face pressed against his shoulders.
"Your disciples." Nie Mingjue said, his own hands going up to cover his. "You were amazing up in there, my heart."
"Just up in there?" He said, patting his chest and Mingjue could imagine the presumptuous smile on his face.
"Oh, now, you are fishing." He turned around, wrapping him in his arms and smiling.
"And who spoiled me on that?" He retorted, scrunching his nose up to him. The make-up had been removed, though there was still some reminiscent, like the red eyeliner and sparks of gold on his eyelids. Most of the white had already been taken out, but there were still some traces of it.
"I have no idea, but I can tell that you are amazing, both up in there and down here up close." He started, kissing the tip of his nose. "You have achieved so many things that I actually envy you for thinking about half of them. You have not only rebuild your clan, you have transformed it and everyone knows it. All your disciples would kill for you and your people, common and not, love you with their whole hearts." At every word, Jiang Cheng got redder and Nie Mingjue's desire to kiss every freckle on his nose and cheeks. "All of your doings are amazing because you are amazing, my heart. You are kind, you are compassionate, you are strong-hearted and you always fight for justice and for what is right. And that's only some of the infinite reasons why I love you."
"Alright, I think that's enough." He said, hiding his face on his chest. "Enough with your compliments."
"No, no. It's never enough with you." He chuckled, kissing the top of his head and tightening his grip around him until he grunted.
"Asshole." He pinched his side before looking up at him. "Say it one more time?"
"What? That you transformed the Jiang Sect to something million times better? That you are kind, compassionate and strong-hearted? That those are only some of the infinite reasons why I love you? That I love you? Because they are all true!" His eyes were shining at that and, oh, how Nie Mingjue loved to see that big smile on his face.
"All of that." He said, giving him a little peck on the lips before stepping away. "C'mon, I want to buy some tanghulu from Huang-nainai." He pulled on his hand like an over-excited child and he could only admire how much he changed since they started courting.
Jiang Cheng had learned so much through those past years, learning how to trust again, how to relax and joke around like he did when he was a teen. The whole sect had seen the change and they had credited it to Nie Mingjue, but he knew the truth and the truth was that all he needed was to have someone there for him, no questions asked. And he would be there for, right by his side, as long as he let him.
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