#but now I Have thought of a better name and I feel bad that wwxs playlist is the only one w out a fun fancy name

[stiltonbasket]

prompt for the fem!wwx au: what about the fallout of jyl's broken engagement?

On the morning of Wei Wuxian's first day back at Lotus Pier, she wakes to the sound of raised voices in the audience room.

Squinting against the light, she stumbles out of bed and opens the sliding door to the corridor outside, where she finds Jiang Cheng hovering on the threshold of his own doorway with his arms folded over his chest.

"What's wrong?" she yawns, rubbing her eyes. "Is it bad news?"

"Bad news for Mother," Jiang Cheng mutters. "Fuqin just told her about A-Jie's engagement."

Wei Wuxian feels as if someone had thrown cold water over her. In the midst of her private delight that Shijie's betrothal had ended, she had not thought of how Madam Yu would take the news: and now, both she and Jiang Cheng are about to find out.

"Did Jiang-shushu tell Auntie that I..."

Jiang Cheng shakes his head. "No. I don't think it would have made much of a difference, but Father didn't say a word."

They tiptoe across the narrow bridge between the family compound and the audience chamber, hardly daring to breathe; and then, like a firework bursting on a dark, still night, they hear Madam Yu's shrill voice rising over Jiang Fengmian's.

"Who will she marry now?" she shouts. "Ouyang-zongzhu has no children, and all the other men in the Jin clan take after Jin Guangshan. How can I let her go to Lanling without Yuyan's protection?"

"I thought perhaps Lan Xichen might—"

"I knew it. You've had your eye on him since the year Zixuan was born, but that boy will do no good to any woman as a husband!" shrieks Madam Yu. "He has had no one but Nie Mingjue in his eyes since he was a child. What will become of our daughter now, Jiang Fengmian? Zixuan was the only man who might have suited her, the only one—and now, just because he complained about the betrothal, you—"

She takes in a great, heaving breath, and Wei Wuxian hears the thud of her heeled boots striking the floor.

"And now, thanks to you," she chokes, "I will have to watch as Wei Ying marries Lan Wangji—" Wei Wuxian winces, "—and as she becomes mother to the next Lan-zongzhu, whilst my child must settle for the heir to some backwater clan in Changlun, or a commoner—"

Jiang-shushu sighs.

"If I had not broken Yanli's engagement," he says quietly, "then you would have had to watch A-Ying live as she ought to do, in comfort and plenty with a husband who cares for her dearly, while our daughter lived in a gilded prison with a man who has made no secret of the fact that the very mention of her name is a burden to him. You would have watched A-Ying's children growing up without a care in the world, and A-Ying adored by the whole of Gusu Lan as she deserves—and all the while, our daughter, who used to weep whenever she trod on an insect in the path, she—"

He sounds as if he might burst into tears. "Could you bear it, Ziyuan? Can you bear to think of A-Li's children, growing up in Koi Tower, and hearing some relation from the branch clan saying that their father would never have wed their mother if their nainai had not forced him to accept her? Can you bear to think of our granddaughters watching Zixuan treating A-Li unkindly, and entering their own wedded homes with the belief that that same unkindness was due to them?"

Yu Ziyuan falters for a moment. "Yuyan would never let Zixuan treat Yanli that way. I have often thought that she loves A-Li more than she loves him."

"Then you are a fool," Jiang Fengmian says wearily. "Quan Yuyan might be your sworn sister, but she is Jin Zixuan's mother before all else. She knows that A-Li will be filial to her husband, and her in-laws, and she knows no other maiden would make a better mother for her grandchildren. Do you truly think that she would let A-Li go, if the choice was left to her?"

"I—"

"What does it matter if Quan Yuyan can ensure that A-Li is treated well?" Jiang-shushu asks. "Jin Zixuan does not want her, and she knows it. For the love of heaven, the entire Jianghu knows it—so how could you even think of asking to A-Li waste her life with him?"

Madam Yu must have opened her mouth to say something, but Jiang Fengmian cuts her off before she can make a sound.

"It does not matter if A-Li likes him. In fact, that makes matters worse," he says brusquely. "If she marries him, she will not leave him, no matter how unhappy he might make her. And I would rather keep her here unmarried all her life than watch her in pain.

"And then there is Jin Guangshan," Jiang-shushu continues, now sounding faintly ill. "I will not speak of my fears regarding him, but you are a woman, Ziyuan. Ought you not to understand them better than I?"

Madam Yu is silent for a long while.

"If you had such thoughts," she hisses at last, sounding very much like Zidian usually does in the midst of strangling a particularly fierce yaoguai, "then you ought to have spoken sooner, so that we could have found a better match before Yanli came of age."

"I made my thoughts known the year Jin-zongzhu tried to lay his hands on Li Shuai," Jiang Fengmian replies. "You were convinced that I was wrong, because A-Shuai was too young to understand what he might have done to her; but I know what I saw, and you still refused to change your mind."

A moment later, he turns and walks out of the room. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng exchange panicked glances before jumping off the footbridge to keep from being noticed; and after Madam Yu stalks off in the other direction, Wei Wuxian drags herself out of the shallow water under the bridge and makes a beeline for Jiang Yanli's room.

"Wait for me!" Jiang Cheng yelps, before cursing under his breath. "Wei Wuxian, for heaven's sake—"

But she does not slow her pace until she reaches her sister's bedroom and slams the door behind her, startling Jiang Yanli out of what must have been (judging by the look on her face) a very peaceful sleep.

"I'm glad you're not going to marry that stupid peacock," Wei Wuxian blurts out, the instant Jiang Yanli opens her eyes. "You deserve better, Shijie. Your husband ought to be the most honorable man in the world, and I won't stand for less."

Her sister's mouth twitches. "I'm glad you think so," she says mirthfully, reaching out to stroke Wei Wuxian's wet hair. "Who should it be, then?"

Wei Wuxian gulps.

"What about Lan Zhan?" she asks. "You could marry him instead of me, couldn't you?"

Jiang Yanli bursts out laughing.

"A-Xian," she gasps, "when we left Gusu, didn't you say that I ought to have a husband who loved me just as much as Third Shidi loves Li Shuai?"

"Well, yes."

"Then how could you possibly imagine that I might want to marry Lan Wangji?"

"But Lan Zhan is the best junzi in the world, in all ways. I'm certain of it," Wei Wuxian insists, ignoring the sudden ache in her chest. "He loves all things that are good and true, so why wouldn't he love you? I mean, he treats me well, and I make him carry my packages at the market and chase me all over Lufeng to keep dogs away while I'm running errands. I'm sure he'd treat you a hundred times better."

Her sister leans forward and rests her brow against Wei Wuxian's.

"A-Ying?"

"Hm?"

"You're a very silly girl, and I love you very much," she says tenderly. "Now go take a warm bath, or you'll catch cold."

Puzzled, Wei Wuxian drips her way out into the corridor and back into her own bedroom, where she finds a damp Jiang Cheng lying flat on his back on the rug under her window.

"No more peacock," he sighs, propping himself up on his elbows. "You know, I almost feel sorry for him."

"What? Why?"

"Because A-Jie could have made him the happiest man in the world, if he'd only given her a chance."

"I suppose so," Wei Wuxian says reluctantly. "But, Jiang Cheng—who do you suppose Shijie will marry now?"

Jiang Cheng puts his face in his hands.

"Not Lan Wangji, definitely," he mutters. "Did you really ask A-Jie if she wanted to take your place as Madam Lan?"

"Of course I did. Didn't you hear me?"

He looks at her in disbelief. "Really?"

Wei Wuxian nods.

"Lan Wangji has the patience of a bodhisattva," Jiang Cheng groans. "When it's time for your wedding, Wei Wuxian, I am going to laugh. Just wait and see."

[lgbtlunaverse]

I think i need to explain why this line makes me go so feral

I think the "fine! I'll kill myself after I kill you" line from nie mingjue in chapter 49 permanently altered my brain chemistry and it has something to do with precisely how i got into the mdzs fandom space in the first place.

I've mentioned it a few times but i started watching the untamed in late 2019 right as it was blowing up everywhere and, likely due to a combination of undiagnosed adhd wrecking my ability to be interested in anything for longer than 4 seconds and me very much not being used to the specific style of acting, especially during fightscenes, i never finished it. The only concrete memory i have of it is seeing wen qing's face and meng ziyi completely short circuiting my little gay brain. I remember more of staring endlessly at pictures of her than I remember of the plot. Press F to pay respects.

Flash forward a few years and a friend recommends me a fic writer for an fma fic (the fic riter in question is metisket) and i like their stlye so much i decide to read other stuf they've written. Here we get to our prime suspect: "the one body problem" a genuinely hilarious fic where jingyi gets posessed by wei wuxian like a year before the plot happens and they become awkward brain buddies. 10/10 i loved it (and still do) even though i remember huasiang showing up in my first reading and I, having fully forgotten his name, had no fucking clue what was going on. (Little did i know...)

Anyway flash forward ANOTHER year and I decide to reread that fic, and then the other untamed fic metisket wrote, a wen qing time travel fix it that's also real fun. And then i'm like. huh. that's fun. wonder if there's anything in their bookmarks.

And then, within 20 days, I had read approximately 350 fics. Many of them 100k+ words. I cannot stress enough how much this CONSUMED my brain's ability to do or think about anything else. I now think back to the early days of getting my adhd diagnosis and insisted that while i had pretty much all other symptoms, I did not get hyperfixations. Lol. Lmao, even.

I am mainly focused on wangxian and the junior quartet becuase they are my baby ducklings and i love them. I do come across some 3zun fics and I think huh... this is interesting. But the 3zun brainrot is LIGHT at this point.

The thing about reading more than 350 fanfics is that at some point you kind of piece the plot of the source material back together backwards. Especially because my favorite genre was time travel fix its, where characters relive the whole plot and like to make allusions to all the ways everything went wrong last time.

Because I'm still squarely in my wangxian + juniors (plus a heavy dosis of yunmeng sibling reconciliation) corner here... the feelings on jin guangyao in my fandom corner are. different from where I'd end up soon after. He is my special little guy though, so I do kind of immediatley develop a fondness for him, and I approach my 3zun and early nieyao thoughts specifcially from the assumption that the widespread opinion is that nie mingjue is a fine good guy and jgy is the evil one (I have not seen the bad nmj takes yet. well... I am seeing DIFFERENT bad nmj takes but they're nice to him. In, like, the wrong way. With no solid undertanding of the inherent tragedy at the heart of him that makes him so blorbo to me. But still.) major reactions to the stairs scene as I see them on twitter are "girlboss! He should've kicked him harder 💅"

And the baby jgy apologist in me goes :/ me no likey. And at this point I am also actively seeking out metas and analysis posts so i'm seeing some better opinions than that and getting a halfway solid graps on the themes. wwx and jgy being foils becomes very obvious to me very quickly. So, with my curent understanding of the plot, I go... you know all you people who are like "god i wish nmj would have killed jgy sooner" it uhh... kinda sounds like he'd have died if he did that. If he'd killed him before meng yao had gone off to spy there is a very big chance they'd have lost the sunshot campaign and most of the main cast would be dead. If he'd killed him at the stairs that's... well that's killing your sworn brother, which by the canon's own admission is a universally reviled crime, and jin guangshan could easily take advantage of this by demanding nmj's head in retribution, since he already wanted to get rid of him anyway. He doesn't give a fuck about a-yao of course but he could pretend well enough that he does. And what leg would nmj have to stand on? The jin clan is canonically both willing and able to slaughter entire clans for the murder or attempted murder of the leader or his family, and nie mingjue is the kinda guy who'd immediately offer himself up if it meant the rest of his clan would be spared.

This combined with jin guangyao specifcally dying for his murder of nie mingjue, with huaisang basically not caring much about everything else he does and wanting to get revenge only for his brother, it gives nieyao a sort of mutual doomed soulmates feel. For either of them, killing the other would spell death for themselves. They either both die or they both live, one cannot live on without the order. That's crunchy. I like it.

The fire palace though? well, on meng yao's part there is a real argument that if he'd let nmj get killed immediatly instead of dragging it out he wouldn't have been able to get wrh alone and distracted enough to assasinate him, so that's one half of the mutual doom coin, and if nmj had killed him during their fight there he's also done for. But after? Right before Xichen intervenes? I had no answer for that yet.

(You know what's coming. I did not)

It is at this point that i realize that if this is gonna keep being A Thing then i need to read the source material before I catch fatal fanon poisoning. Yes, I can piece together the plot and themes from seeing what stays consistent across fics and what are the author's own opinons. But I know just as well that sometimes fanon just agrees on shit that didn't happen and treats it like canon, and I have no way of knowing which is which. So I start reading the novel.

And of course, eventually I get to the empathy sequence. And remember, my "nieyao both live or both die" theory is heavy on my mind at this point, and the only stickler is that nmj could sort of have killed meng yao after the confrontation with wrh, still believing meng yao was actually working for him, and not a spy, and get off... not scott-free, Xichen won't be happy, but it's not gonna cost him his life.

And then I read THIS.

Please Imagine dropping a whole block of pure elemental sodium into water. Except the sodium is this quote and the water is my poor little delicate brain. Not only is my theory right, it is ten times more unhinged than i thought it was.

And considering that Nie Mingjue does not seem like the kind of guy who'd consider something like a life debt to have an expiration date, and because after this he will link himself legally and socially to jin guangyao as family and declare that one among their brotherhood turning against the others is to be met with a painful death, I can no longer read the scene at the stairscase in jinlintai without the impression that he is still planning to die afterwards. Which, if you wanted to make that scene even more painful, this is a very efficient way of losing all your remaining hinges.

I think I'd have gone crazy about this line no matter what context I heard it in, but this one specifically? where I'm already obsessed with idea of nieyao's deaths being connected by the narrative and missing just this one piece and having it confirmed? out loud? from one of the characters himself? It's like giving cocaine to a baby.

[stiricidewrites]

The Damage You Do: ch 23, pt 2

Previously

~

wwx hovered outside the door, bouncing nervously on his toes. Wen Qing had taken one look at him, standing in his kitchen—not even fucking moving!—and demanded to know what had happened. Many ice packs and heating pads and anti-inflammatories later, his ankle ached, but not nearly as badly as it had yesterday morning. Then Wen-popo had done some fancy traditional medicine on him, which left his foot smelling and looking a bit weird, but overall feeling practically perfect! Wen Ning had still insisted that it be wrapped up, though, dragging himself over that morning to apply more of Wen-popo’s salve and wrap it back up, before passing out on the couch.

“Give it some extra support, so you didn’t fuck it up again”—wwx’s words, not Wen Ning’s.

He bounced again. Again. Again.

“Don’t be a coward,” he whispered to himself before knocking on the door. Not too loudly—he had no idea if anyone else lived in the apartment opposite lwj’s—but loud enough that, unless his dom were still sleeping—which lhr had assured him he most certainly would not be—the other man would most certainly hear him and—

The door opened and wwx’s thoughts sparkled away, overtaken by his dom’s sweat-slick presence.

“wwx,” lwj said, and wwx hadn’t realized until that moment how much he hated that name on his dom’s lips. His dom should always call him wy or A-Ying. wwx was much too formal.

“Mr. Lan,” he replied, smiling as he fought down a frown. If wwx was too formal, what the fuck was Mr. Lan!?

The other man blinked at him, his eyes a little blank with the early hour—or confusion—but awake.

wwx felt like he was in a fucking dream.

He bounced again. How long could you stand in front of someone’s front door without being asked in before you were forced to ask if they were going to let you in? His smile wobbled as lwj simply stared at him. If the other man hadn’t said his name, he would have been convinced his dom didn’t know him, for all the emotion he could see in those eyes.

Maybe he had fucked up, coming here.

“Ah… is now a bad time? Cause I can, uh, leave…” he trailed off, glancing to the elevator behind him. He’d noticed the day before that it required a pass card to use, regardless of which direction you were going. There must be a stairwell, though? That would definitely fuck with his ankle, but fucking up his ankle would definitely be better than this horrible, awkward, no-good situation!

“I didn’t mean to bother you,” he added, trying to smile as brightly as he could at him dom. “I can—”

“Do not.”

wwx started, smile faltering. “Do not…?” Do not what? What kind of thing to say was that? Do not bother me? Do not speak? Do not exist? Do not leave? Do not ever come here again!?

“Do not give me that smile.”

wwx’s smile froze. “Wha— what’s wrong with my smile?” he asked. What even was this conversation!? Maybe lwj woke up this horrifically early, but wasn't actually a morning person? Maybe he was a total morning grump? Or didn’t appreciate his alone time being interrupted? He’d assumed the man liked his company, but that had been presumptuous, and he had totally fucked this up, and he was so totally going to kill lhr and—

~

A/N: in reality, the inside of lwj's head is probably more like:

BE COOL! Do not throw your sub up against the closet door and fuck him in the entryway @_@

[truly-morgan]

[JC better life in Qishan]

RuoCheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 11-04-2021

[#ruocheng - modern] 

A modern au where jfm decided that he would give the company to wwx when he would be ready, instead of jc. He doesn’t change his choice even after wwx was the one to say he didn’t really want that title and that jc would be better for it. But this is kind of the last straw for jc after years of their father not giving a shit about him, so he decides to go “fuck it” and change his course of study, deciding to pursue his interest in cooking, going far from yunmeng to study in Qishan 

He barely keeps contact with his parents, his father calling to see how thing goes, but jc thinks it is more by obligation than anything else. On the other hand, at least wwx and jyl are genuinely interested in his studies and make sure everything is doing alright, visiting him when they can. 

Then on days, he’s at the airport, waiting for his parents to come and pick him up since he was supposed to come back for the summer since it was in between his semester. He’s anxiously waiting as no one comes, hence why he jumps when he heard his name being called out to. 

He turns around, only to see wrh, a business rival of his dad (although he has often been around the wen family in the past since they still have a semi-friendly relationship at the time). He forces a polite smile on his face when the man approaches, greeting him. They talk a bit, the man mainly asking about how things are doing on his father's side as he waits for his own ride to arrive (although jc doesn’t know much about how jfm is doing). 

Then he’s interrupted by his phone, apologising as he steps aside to answer his father's call. The man seems a bit surprised that he’s already here (he forgot when he was supposed to arrive...) and suggests calling his mother instead. “She cannot, she already said she would have an important meeting on that day” he explains, hence why it had been said jfm should come (or at least find someone). 

He knows wwx semester finishes a bit later than his so he doesn’t want to bother him in his finals, while jyl was probably occupied with taking care of baby a-ling, he didn’t want to bother her either. “It’s okay, I'll but call a cab,” he says, receiving a distracted “good good” before being told jfm need to hang up. 

Jc clenches his phone with shaky hands, unsure why he had not seen it coming. It truly hurts. 

“Do you maybe need a ride?” he hears from a couple of meters away, where wrh was now standing next to a car. “I can bring you home if needed, I can assume safely you are going back to the jiang residence?”. 

Jc hesitate. Sure, he has known the man for a long time, but he doesn’t /know/ him really, he seems a bit intimidating and his father never really had anything good to say about him, even when things weren’t as bad as now. 

But he doesn’t want to call a cab, it would cost a lot of money and he wouldn’t be able to actually ask his dad to pay for it. So he accepts, assuming wrh wouldn’t do anything bad to him either. 

The start of the ride was awkward and jc was still trying to get over the fact that he had been /forgotten/ by his father (wasn’t really new, but still hurt as much). “Were you on the flight from Qishan?” wrh says after some time, making him startle out of his thoughts. 

“Hum, yes I was” jc replies, a bit curious how he figured that out, only to remember the man had help handling his luggage. Probably then. 

"Was your trip there interesting?” wrh asks, jc starting to feel like the man was trying to have a small chat with him, which he had not expected. He wouldn’t complain though, it helped to forget about his father. 

“It wasn’t really a trip, I was... studying in Nightless City actually” jc admitted. He only received a slight humming, the man showing he understood. 

“I thought you would be studying at yunmeng university in business” wrh explained. It was logical, it was probably something his father had mentioned when the two men happened to meet. No surprise that the word of his changing his study field had not really reached anyone his father knew. “Is the program better back in Qishan?” 

“I did... but I changed to study to become a cook” he admits, wondering why he was talking so casually about his studies with a man he barely knew. 

“To become a cook? What an interesting change, do you like it better?”. Jc was both surprised and relieved by the reaction, the man sounding amused and curious (it was indeed a weird jump). No question why he did what he did, no trying to say maybe he shouldn’t have done this, no criticising his choice. Just genuine (at least it felt like that) curiosity about what he decided to do. 

This made him more at ease, talking more easily this time about how his studies were doing, until his stomach decided to make itself known, wanting some food. This made jc blush in embarrassment. He had forgotten he was hungry, having been too stressed about meeting back with his father to eat before the flight. (and barely ate the night before). 

“You are hungry,” wrh says, not as a question, “Do you want to join me for lunch? It's more interesting if I am not alone and we can keep talking about your stay in Qishan”. 

Jc wants to say he wouldn’t want to bother, but he also doesn’t really want to go back home where he will be alone. He decides to refuse one time and /if/ wrh insists a bit he will give in. Which is exactly what ended up happening. 

They went to a restaurant near the hotel wrh would stay at, somewhere kind of fancy, but not too much where he would need to change out of his casual clothes. It was still nice, he couldn’t afford to go to fancy restaurants with his part-time job (and the money his parents sends went all into his rent). 

And they talked about his stay at Qishan, what he did at culinary school, how he passes time, if he liked the city. It was so refreshing from people asked about his father all the time, it made him feel nearly /weird/ to talk about himself a little bit. 

The man was truly far from what his father had painted him to be. He looked way less intimidating now that he was talking rather casually about living in Qishan. 

“Let me give you my number, just in case you ever need some help when you are back in Qishan for the next semester” suggested wrh when he finally dropped him off at the jiang residence. Jc accepted, noting that he would only ever use it if he was /really/ unable to find another option, not wanting to inconvenience the man more. 

Next time they met is actually rather quick, as they were again on the same plane (but different classes obviously). Wrh suggests again taking him out for lunch, the both of them casually talking about things (jc notice how the man did not bring up his father once). 

The next semester rolls in and jc ends up meeting up with wrh more than once, always ending up in diners. The more time pass, the more he gets attached to the man, probably because he’s not used to having someone seemingly genuinely interested /about him/. Wrh is really interesting to talk with and really nice to be around. 

No need to worry about performance. No need to worry about what image he might be giving. No need to wonder if this might be bad. The man made it clear from the start that he likes when jc is more natural with him (or as natural as he feels comfortable being around people without being a nervous mess). 

The man helps him with his study, not minding being his test subject for his food (at some point their meeting got more intimate and they ended up more often at wrh place). He even takes him out for diners so jc can try specialities from Qishan, but also tries a bit of everything to take notes about food. Things go great and it evolves to the point he’s not sure if the man is flirting with him, so he tries flirting back and this is how he ended up realising maybe he’s not just happy someone is finally giving him attention: he has simply fallen in love with him. By the end of the semester, jc is officially dating wrh in secret, happy with him. 

Instead of going back to yunmeng for the break he stays at Qishan with him. Why go somewhere where he would end up frustrated and hurt when he could stay with wrh? 

He doesn’t know how he managed to find this, but he won’t complain about it either. This is the first time in his life where he can be himself unapologetically, not needing to try and reach some stupid expectation. No need to worry about things, no need to feel anxious all the time over the time over the smallest thing. He can just be jiang cheng. 

Wwx mostly ends up learning about it because he keeps bugging jc about /who/ is your lover, I totally saw those hickeys on your neck. Of course, he won’t tell a soul about it because he understands what it would do. Jyl ends up being suspicious when she stumbles on them one night when she was out for dinner with her little family, a-ling runs directly for his jiujiu when he saw him. Of course, he was there with wrh on a date. She did not mention it later, but after seeing how her suspicions (did he find a sugar daddy?). 

Of course, neither of their parents knows and all three siblings keep it that way (while wrh keeps it secret because this is what jc wishes, he doesn’t want him to feel distressed).

(I feel like all my ruocheng are similar skjdcusnje I just like the idea of wrh being soft for jc and jc falling for wrh after finding out "oh, people can love me? ... Nice")

Original

[chaos0pikachu]

tldr: I disagree that mxtx was trying to say “bad actions make bad people” and more “society is the real bad guy” 

[pic of the tags I’m responding to under the cut so user doesn’t feel attacked lmao]

I ain’t gonna put this person on blast by like showing their name or anything or even tagging this post but I fundamentally disagree lol

like, firstly I don’t think this is even what that passage in SVSSS was referring to. It’s a meta-commentary on how when an antagonist is layered, and complex, fans get cranky as fuck b/c they want simple, clean, and morally simplistic b/c it’s easier text to engage with. If a character does bad things but is sympathetic in some way fans get cranky and flame wars start racking up. It’s actually kinda cool to know this is a global fan issue lmao

second, like what I get from MXTX’s novels isn’t “these people are bad actually, and you shouldn’t excuse their actions” but rather “these people made horrible choices, but what societal and structural oppression and problems contributed to those choices?” 

like, the tragedy in MXTX’s work is - from my reading - society failed these characters and thus the cycle of harm continues on. Example, what would Shen Jiu’s life had been like if he wasn’t sold into child slavery, and horribly, horrifically abused his entire formative years? If he hadn’t been subjected to the whims of powerful people (by class, classism is such a recurring theme in MXTX’s work)? Would he still have been as resentful? As harmful? As abusive? We’ll never know but it’s something to ponder and part of the tragedy of his life. Could he have been a better person if he was treated as a human being? If society didn’t deem him lesser than and the cycle of violence didn’t continue but was instead broken?

XY is another example, he was a child who was mistreated not just by the powerful adult cultivators, but by enablers surrounding him. No one offered a helping hand to a hurt child, and no one held the adult who hurt him to justice. He had no recourse for justice even b/c of his position in society. Now, does this “excuse” him of killing the entire sect? No. But that’s why cycles are so hard to break. Why systemic issues are so hard to address b/c their are no easy answers for them and require systematic change.  

WWX did try to be a good person - and the world killed him for it. 

That’s the point - again for me anyway. WWX, save for some super violent war crimes, did what he thought was right and it bucked against the status quo. The system in place. JGY did not kill WWX, neither did XY. Hell, JGS didn’t kill WWX. The cultivation society as a whole enabled the mistreatment of the Wen refugees (including “righteous” characters like NMJ!!), their continued mistreatment, enabled the Jin’s power grab, enabled JGS Harvey Wienstien-ing it all over the cultivation world, enabled the siege that lead to WWX death and the death of all the surviving Wens, and willingly murdered WN and WQ. 

It is far to easy to simply look at the novel and say “yes, JGS, JGY, and XY are Bad People and therefore the Root of All the Evil”. JGS is most certainly a Bad Person dude was a full on rapist. But the society surrounding him enabled that behavior, they looked away, they didn’t confront him, they saw his behavior and turned their heads and said “not my problem”. Sure they judged him, but no one every questioned him, the Jin’s, or the system until WWX. And then WWX was killed for it. 

It’s why in the end, what is WWX’s happy ending? Riding off into the sunset with his husband away from cultivation society. Sure they make Cloud Recesses their home base, but they are no longer an active part in the politics, they decided to play no part in the society as a whole. Which uses, abuses, and hurts people they deem “lower class”: poor people, non-cultivators, servants, sex workers, etc. 

Often when people think “justice” they associate it with “punishment” which is something activists are trying to combat (speaking from an entirely American POV here) with “restorative justice”. MXTX doesn’t really give an easy answer to the societal issues she brings up in her novels, if anything the only “answer” she provides is “removed yourself from it” in the cases of MaimMaim and WWX/LZ. But I implore people to look into restorative justice, and more community/societal based thinking rather than individual and punishment based thinking. 

also tapping in one of the MDZA experts I know, @thatswhatsushesaid​ in case I got any book shit wrong lmao 

anyway here’s the tags I’m responding to that gave me Thoughts:

[llycaons]

ep31 (1/2): things are not so bad yet

tw: eye horror

I had to watch this on my mobile hotspot because my apt's wifi sucks in the living room :( anyway this is one of the most fucked up episodes in the show

but first: a happy boy planting lotuses. bare legs look. he's so handsome I love him

wq watching fondly ���� you know I love a lesbian wq reading but there's subtext in this episode that points readily to her having a thing for wwx

there's also subtext that she has a thing for jyl so pick your tragedy ig. the one sibling she definitely isn't into is jc

I love this face it's so cute!!

like here. she sees the invite and pauses heavily on lwj's name. wq isn't a selfish person by any means, but it's easy to see her settling into their lives here, content, with wwx, only to be reminded that the outside world - and someone wwx shares a deep connection with - is still out there

but when she hands over the invite, she only mentions jyl. so who can say

previously, wwx tried to keep wq from discovering the visit from his siblings because he didn't want to make her feel guilty, I think. but she doesn't seem guilty now, she just seems...taken aback. a little reluctant, if still perfectly pleasant. it's easy to read as self-denial. I think in her life, whatever she's wanted, wq has practice in self-denial for the sake of the group. that's something that lends itself rly well to a wlw reading

I thought it was three month/100 days this entire time....we went to my cousin's three-month, they rented out the whole upstairs of a restaurant and we had like eight courses. she's like, nine? now

I always feel bad for this baby in this scene. wonderful symbolism and all, it comes back really well later on. but this poor child is clearly not having a great time at the shoot

STOP this hurts so bad. wwx loved jl so much already and worked so hard and wanted to give this gift to him!!! and he never will know!!!

okay this is one of the things that was much better done in the book. in the novel wen ning attacked jzx BECAUSE of wwx's animosity towards jzx, long-held since childhood. obviously wwx didn't want to kill jzx in that moment, but he really did lose control of wn and wn acted on what he perceived wwx's feelings to be

in the show it was su she taking control of him and directing him to kill jzx, which despite my bias even I can agree is a weaker dramatic narrative

what a way to start this fight. wwx was almost DEAD dead

LEGEND. zixun has had altercations w wwx in the past and is a prominent member of the jin family, so the fact that wwx didn't remember him is genuinely so funny

YESSSS tell him

THIS EXPRESSION IS SO FUNNY. the doubt.jpg. like 'you really think you can do that? YOU? kill ME?

well he can still hurt wwx with his words I guess 😭

oh he tried so hard. he had such good intentions. he would have been a good dad

I find this aside neat bc we barely see jyl with other jins. jzx has accepted her into his family but is willing to go over her head for revenge and apologize later. and he's clearly panicked and afraid about this curse, which is really nasty

BUT jzx is loyal to his wife!

zixun talking about wwx like any association with him is a stain that will affect everyone he comes into contact with is so representative of how the cultivation world sees wwx and he knows it. they're talking feet away from him

FUCKED UP!!!!!!

IT'S NOT PARANOIA IF THEY'RE REALLY OUT TO GET YOU

if wwx had agreed to stand down, I don't think jzx would have tried to kill him. but who can say what zixun or the panicked archers would have done. and once they get to koi tower, I don't see any way out for them

dang, fucked up

and then-

you can see the instant he goes FUCKKKKK

DROPPING HIS SWORD HE DROPPED HIS SWORD

[lancabbage]

WWX does insinuate something along those lines, in terms of JC needed his golden core to feel validated (and I mean, I do get that because he was a sect heir who had just been thrust into the role of leader the minute his father died.) But it was more a comment about how JC couldn't live with such embarrassment, such failure - after all JC pretty much said he'd be better off dead now he did not possess a golden core.

“Wei Wuxian, why did you save me? What’s the point of saving me? To let me live on uselessly while I watch the Wen dogs run rampant?”

And

“I can’t get revenge even if I live, so I might as well die. Who knows, maybe I can even turn into a malicious ghost,” Jiang Cheng said.

So, he wasn't taking the loss of his golden core in his strides by any means.

I'm sorry but I don't really see any signs of brotherly love. As someone who loves to make connections with people, Wei Wuxian has a barrier up between him and JC - by calling him Jiang Cheng, not shidi or didi or anything like that. He calls JYL shijie and the other disciples shidi as well. Heck, he even calls his only just discovered martial uncle XXC his shishu (because he is his mother's shidi). So, as someone who so easily addresses people as such, the fact he does not call JC anything like that is very telling. It's a deliberate choice MXTX made and it's something that she likes to do as a hint to people's true relationships. JC also addresses WWX by his courtesy name - another induction of the lack of closeness between them. JC treats WWX as a subordinate, someone that owes his family and him everything. We see what WWX truly thinks of JC when he is thinking about JL and all his bad traits that are from JC and JZX (which oddly enough seem to overlap with each other and we all know how he felt about JZX). In a world where WWX wasn't a part of the Jiang sect, he would not be friends with JC, they are too different. They represent what each other actually despise - WWX hates privileged, haughty young masters who look down on others (JC and JZX) and JC is a snob who hates servants and anyone of lower status acting above their station, he does not like people outdoing him and acting brave (WWX and the sly digs he has at people who are servants). So I would have to disagree with what you said above. Of course, WWX can get along with most and I do think he had times where he looked past their conflicting personalities and just had fun (his adventures at LP), but that's because WWX can always find joy in the little things.

Also, WWX is not legally a ward of the Jiangs either, he was never officially made a part of the main family - a deliberate choice of JFMs as well. It kept his status ambiguous and easily broken. WWX felt a responsibility because he thought he had a life debt to repay JFM for taking him in off the streets - when JFM was actually paying back him own life debt, which he owed CSSR and seemingly neglected to mention to her own son.

Where did the whole "WWX did not regret giving up his golden core" theory from?

He did.

Truthfully, he wasn’t unaffected. Could a person so easily resign themselves to such a loss?

Of course not. It was impossible.

WWX reflecting upon giving up his golden core.

But whenever he found himself tossing and turning in the dead of night, unable to sleep and plagued by thoughts of how he’d never again follow the orthodox path to the mountain’s peak, never again display the astounding swordplay that made people’s jaws drop…he would turn his thoughts around with a simple fact.

If it had not been for Jiang Fengmian bringing him to Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian might never have crossed paths with the cultivation world. He would never have been conscious of such a mystical and magnificent realm. He’d merely have been the leader of some homeless street urchins who roamed the streets and fled at the sight of dogs—or perhaps herded cattle and stole vegetables in the countryside, playing his flute and living one day at a time. He’d have had no way of cultivating, let alone a chance to form a golden core.

He did, and that's alright. He's only human! People seem to think he gave his golden core up because "he loved his brother" and "he's just a kind idiot". Nope. WWX is kind, but he's not stupid and he definitely didn't give JC his core because of affection.

So he treated it as a repayment of his debt, or an atonement for his sins. Treated it as if he had never obtained that golden core to begin with.

After bringing himself around so many times this way, he was almost able to actually feel as wild and carefree as he acted on the surface. He could even half-jokingly praise himself for the state of acceptance he had reached, while he was at it.

He gave him his golden core because he felt like he had to. He had been told, time and time again this was all his fault (by JC and YZY) and the last thing both YZY and JFM said to WWX, although worded differently and said in complete opposite tones, was a reminder that WWX "owed" the Jiangs everything and should look after JC no matter the cost.

This is what drove him to give JC his core, debt. Honour bound to repay the Jiangs. And as the above clearly shows us, WWX really struggled with that. Struggled with the fact he felt he had to pay them all back (when he never actually did, but we won't go into that here...) and trying to convince himself the golden core he worked so hard for wasn't even his to begin with.

It wasn't an easy decision to make for WWX. He's not some self-sacrificing idiot like some make him out to be. It's absolutely heartbreaking and I think this is all so often overlooked.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: WWX and NHS's adventures in both children's storybook and adult porn publishing

ao3

“It’s not that we lie,” Nie Huaisang explained to the very nice lady at the convention booth next to his. They’d both been placed at complete random by their publishers, or possibly the organizers of the literary convention they were attending; at any rate, not knowing someone had never stopped Nie Huaisang from pouring his sorrows into their ears. “It’s that no one ever believes us.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, look at me,” Nie Huaisang used his fan to gesture at himself. “I mean, really look at me. I’m soft. Round-faced. A bit chubby, even. Short. Harmless. Cheerful.”

“Well, of course you are, dear! Not, mind you, that those are anything bad to be.”

“They aren’t! Standing alone, I’m sure no one would judge me purely based on my looks – authors come in all shapes and sizes, wouldn’t you say…? But, you see, the problem is that I’ve shacked up with…him.”

Him being Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian was tall, dark, and rakish. He had a devilish smirk and swagger, and he looked like trouble.

He was trouble.

What he was not, however, was an author of pornography.

Unfortunately, everyone thought he was.

See, there’d been a fairly terrible mix-up at some point. Wei Wuxian had moved out of his home – there’d been a fairly complicated sequence of events which Nie Huaisang was no longer even trying to keep track of, which given his usual love for all sorts of terrible gossip was saying something – and ended up briefly in Yiling with a group of Wens in what was an even more complicated sequence of events, but long story short…really, honestly, this was the short version…he’d ended up getting his happy ending, true love and all.

(The true love, Nie Huaisang wanted to be clear, was not Nie Huaisang. This was something that was very important to make clear, on account of Lan Wangji – the true love in question – being exceptionally jealous and also rather viciously petty, albeit only in ways that Nie Huaisang would notice. They were childhood sandbox enemies, these things stuck around.)

Anyway, finding a happy ending didn’t necessarily excuse Wei Wuxian from having to make a living, so he’d decided to become employed. Only, see, for all of his talent and competence, Wei Wuxian actually wasn’t very good at the whole ‘daily work’ thing. He could work non-stop for three days, then sleep for a week, he could work wonders and be competent at everything, but with his problems with authority, quick mouth and quicker temper…well, he couldn’t keep a job.

Now, again, this wouldn’t necessarily seem to be a problem, as Wei Wuxian had grown up shoulder-to-shoulder with a wealthy family (Jiang Cheng might sulk all he’d like about some of the aforementioned not described complicated sequence of dramatics and all, but he’d probably shove an unlimited credit card and a new apartment into Wei Wuxian’s hand if Wei Wuxian would take it) and had also married a very wealthy husband (it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for even casual acquaintances to have heard of Lan Wangji, actually, though usually under the name by which he was better known, ‘Hanguang-jun’), and he also had a fair set of wealthy friends – Nie Huaisang included – but apparently Wei Wuxian didn’t like the feeling of being a kept man.

(More fool him. Being a kept man was awesome…not that Nie Huaisang would know about that. The only person who kept him was his extremely long-suffering older brother.)

Anyway.

Long story short – too late, yes, but whatever – at any rate, when Nie Huaisang – who was an author of pornography, and an exceptionally good one, too, with a range that spanned the high-brow type that was traditionally known as erotica and the much more pedestrian smut that made up the majority of sales – went to go visit his dear friend Wei Wuxian, he found him telling stories to a bunch of fascinated little brats that he’d been babysitting. Having listened to them and thinking they were quite good, he suggested that Wei Wuxian take up a writing career similar to his own.

Only, you know, more kids and less porn.

Wei Wuxian had been doubtful, but he’d given it a shot, and the agent Nie Huaisang had introduced him to had gone from mildly bored to exceptionally enthusiastic upon reading the draft.

And that, really, was that.

…except for one little thing.

See, Wei Wuxian worked better with people around, and since his so-respectable husband had an actual job, that meant he needed someone else – someone, say, who kept similar hours to him, meaning sleeping late, staying up late, and not, say, waking up at ungodly hours of the morning every day because that was the routine they’d grown up with since childhood unlike some people.

(Lan Wangji. Nie Huaisang was talking about Lan Wangji. All the Lans, really, but Lan Xichen made up for his terrible waking habits by being perfect, so the problem clearly was with Lan Wangji.)

They’d ended up solving the problem by buying a penthouse duplex, where Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian lived on the bottom floor and Nie Huaisang on the top, and if Wei Wuxian slept with Lan Wangji at night he still spent most of his days with Nie Huaisang – it was a bit like having a part-time roommate, really, which was quite nice. Also, they’d tried it the other way around (meaning Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian at the top apartment, Nie Huaisang in the bottom one, not by mixing around who lived with whom) only there had been an awful lot of floor shaking if one got the drift.

Not that that’s relevant, just, you know, he was stating for the record.

(He was a porn author. He had to make sure these things got into the record.)

Anyway, and, really, he swore he was getting to the point this time, the main issue with that set up, really, was that most people one look at short round smiling Nie Huaisang and his roommate, lanky smirky bad boy Wei Wuxian, and made a snap decision as to which one of the two authors was which – and they were always, always wrong.

It would be one thing if it was just strangers, or maybe someone from the publishing house, or whatever…but the person putting together the dust covers for their books (a first for each of them: Nie Huaisang’s first officially published collection of erotic and filthy short stories, when before he’d mostly been working in magazines or online or whatnot, and Wei Wuxian’s colorfully animated children’s story about a little boy who was planted in the earth like a radish) had also made the same mistake. And people had continued to make that mistake right up until they’d put the wrong picture with the wrong book.

By the time anyone figured it out, the books had already been spread out in bookstores throughout the country, flying off the shelves – they were both very good at what they did – and that wasn’t counting the people who’d pre-ordered…well, long story short, it was too late to take it back.

People had expectations now.

“…and that,” Nie Huaisang concluded, “is why he signs for my books and I sign for his. You see?”

“I do indeed,” the nice lady said, nodding along gamely. “In fact, my own first publication was a bit of a comedy of errors as well – I really wasn’t expecting it.”

“What, really? You?” Nie Huaisang’s eyebrows arched. “But you’re – I mean, you’re famous! You’ve written so many books! You’re…you’re Jessica Fletcher!”

She smiled. “Oh, don’t you flatter me! I’m far too wise to that sort of thing. Anyway, it wasn’t just the first publication that’s been odd, it’s that I keep getting all wrapped up in all sorts of strange situations, time and time again, and sometimes I just like to lend a hand���oh, heavens, I’m getting distracted again! It must be contagious. Tell me, now – what was that you were saying earlier, about your roommate having once been friends with the victim?”

“Oh, Wen Ning? Well, see, that’s also a bit of a long story…”

Her nose wrinkled a little, involuntarily. “Make an effort,” she said dryly. “Keep it short.”

[besanii]

Oka so lxc has feelings. Amazing. How and when did he realise them?? Does wwx know?? How does he feel?? Are they gonna tell wangji?? Ahhhhhh i am dying thank you so much

[ part one (LWJ) | two (LXC) | three (WWX) | four (LWJ) | five (NQY) ]

Lan Xichen doesn’t touch him. Not the first night, nor any other night he has called upon Wei Wuxian in the month after he enters the inner palace.

Even though Wei Wuxian cannot help but be somewhat relieved—truth be told, he had been dreading that particular aspect of his duties as a consort—he knows it will have to happen eventually. Even if Lan Xichen himself insists there is no need, people are already talking, speculating on the true nature of their relationship, questioning whether there are ulterior motives behind his new status as an Imperial consort.

You must serve the Emperor well, Jiang Cheng’s most recent letter had read. Do not give them any opportunity to pull you down.

With Jiang Fengmian severely ill and unlikely to recover, the management of Yunmeng’s affairs have fallen onto Jiang Cheng’s shoulders under the guidance of his mother. And while Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan’s reputations maybe enough to keep Yunmeng’s adversaries at bay for now, if—when Jiang Fengmian passes, Yu Ziyuan alone would not be enough to fend off the vultures already circling around them, eager to be first in line to tear out a piece of the fresh meat.

Wei Wuxian crumples the letter in his hands.

He should be there with Jiang Cheng, supporting him, watching his back. Helping him forge his standing amongst the older generation of nobility. Doing what he can—what he must—to defend against those who wish to harm the ruling family of Yunmeng, as a loyal vassal should.

Instead he is here in the capital, trapped in the gilded cage of the Imperial harem, his wings well and truly clipped. 

Consorts are forbidden from interfering with politics on pain of death. 

It is the first cardinal rule of being an Imperial consort, and the one used to placate Qishan in the aftermath of his confrontation with Wen Chao. It is frustrating, to say the least—all his years of studying and training to one day become a pillar of support for both Yunmeng and Jiang Cheng gone to waste—but he contents himself with the fact that he is alive. And as long as he is alive, he will find a way to live.

--

“Wuxian.”

There is something deeply intimate in the way his name falls from Lan Xichen’s lips, something soft and gentle that stirs warmth in the recesses of Wei Wuxian’s chest, in the hollow left behind by Lan Wangji. It is immediately chased away by the guilt that curls in pit of his stomach at the thought, so he does not allow himself to dwell on it for too long. He schools his expression and turns to pay his respects.

“Your concubine greets Huangshang.” 

Lan Xichen is helping him upright with hands under his forearms before the words have fully left his lips; when he raises his head, he is greeted by the sight of Lan Xichen’s smiling face. He feels his own lips tug upwards in response.

“Huangshang looks to be in a jovial mood today,” he observes. “Will you share the good news with your concubine so that your concubine may also have something to celebrate?”

“Good news indeed,” Lan Xichen agrees. “Come, sit with me.”

He lets Lan Xichen lead him over to the table in the centre of the sitting room with a hand on his lower back and takes a seat, waiting patiently for Lan Xichen to settle himself in the seat beside his. The servants back out of the room at a wave of his hand, leaving the two of them alone. Lan Xichen takes his hand in both his, brushing his thumb tenderly over his knuckles with a tenderness that has Wei Wuxian’s heart tightening in his chest.

“Wuxian,” he says gently. “I know it has been difficult for you to be confined here in the Inner Palace for the last three months.”

“Huangshang...” Wei Wuxian feigns a smile. “Huangshang does not need to apologise. Your concubine understands the necessity.”

“I knew you would,” Lan Xichen says with a sigh. He squeezes Wei Wuxian’s hands. “Envoys from the Northern border tribes arrived today with their yearly tributes. Including fifty of their finest war horses.”

Wei Wuxian nods. “A generous tribute indeed,” he agrees. “I have heard the horses bred on the Northern plains are taller, stronger and faster than the ones we have here in Gusu. I’ve always wanted to see one for myself—”

“Is that so,” Lan Xichen says, patting the back of Wei Wuxian’s hand, expression deceptively thoughtful. The almost...playful tone catches Wei Wuxian’s attention at once.

“Huangshang,” he says slowly, suspiciously. “Would you perhaps be hiding something from your concubine?”

His suspicions grow with the twinkle in Lan Xichen’s eyes.

“Come with me and find out.”

--

He’d forgotten the feeling of the wind in his hair, the thrum of hooves pounding in the dirt beneath his feet, the warmth of the sun on his face as he throws his head back with an exhilarated laugh. The black stallion he’s riding tosses its head with a grunt, panting with exertion. Wei Wuxian pats its mane and tugs them both around to wait for Lan Xichen to join them.

“Wuxian,” Lan Xichen calls as soon as he is within earshot. “I see your horsemanship skills have not waned in the slightest. I willingly concede to your superior skills.”

“Huangshang is just out of practice,” he laughs, nudging his horse against Lan Xichen’s own. “And I cannot take all the credit. This is such a fine horse—I felt as though I were flying!”

He laughs again, loud and joyous, feeling as light as air. The hills beyond the outskirts of the city are reserved for Imperial use, so they are blessedly alone. Even the attendants have been ordered to remain in the palace, leaving only a small retinue of Imperial guards trailing behind them in the distance, enough to be within view, but completely out of hearing range. It is easy to forget the shackles of the palace, to pretend as though he is once again Wei Wuxian, the ward of the Marquis of Yunmeng, and not Wei Wuxian, the consort.

“I am glad you like it,” Lan Xichen tells him. “It is yours.”

Wei Wuxian whirls around, jaw dropping.

“Huangshang!” he gasps. “You cannot be serious—” He catches himself and his lack of composure, and clears his throat. “Huangshang, as the people say, one should not accept a reward without due. Your concubine has done nothing to deserve such a generous gift. I dare not accept it.”

Lan Xichen laughs and waves away his protests.

“After witnessing the way the two of you flew across the hills as though you would be one with the wind, there can be no other person more suited to taming this creature.” He reaches over to brush a stray wisp of hair back from Wei Wuxian’s face; his fingers linger over the arch of his cheek. “From now on, should you desire to ride again, I will accompany you.”

His touch is feather-light, fingers barely grazing, but Wei Wuxian feels it spark and tingle, vibrating beneath his skin like a plucked string, rippling through his entire body, freezing him in place. His heartbeat quickens and his face warms.

He is the Emperor.

He is only doing this out of pity, he reminds himself firmly.

He is your husband. Is it not improper.

It is, the other part of him insists. It is improper. It has only been three months—

He is kind. And he is honourable. Would it be so bad?

The sound of thundering hooves breaks the fragile silence between them. Lan Xichen sighs and withdraws his hand, curling it into a fist briefly before bringing it back to his side; if Wei Wuxian had not known better, he would have thought he looked annoyed by the interruption. But then the moment passes and the Emperor is back, expression level as the soldier pulls up alongside them and swings off his horse onto his knees.

“Huangshang, urgent report from the front.” 

“What is it?” Lan Xichen asks calmly.

“It’s Hanguang-wang.” Wei Wuxian stiffens and turns, startled, to meet Lan Xichen’s equally wide eyes. “He’s alive!”

--

buy me a ko-fi!

more paper-thin fic | verse

--

[silverflame2724]

WWX decides to kill two birds with one stone and with the help of WQ reforges the Stygian Tiger Seal into a artificial golden core replacement which she implants into WWX.

WWXs eyes are now permanently red and he has the full power of the seal at his fingertips at all times because its part of him now.

Another side effect of this Stygian Core is discovered when WWX misses JZXs ambush and is instead attacked and disembowled in Carp Tower in full view of the cultivation world but then immediately regenerates without a scratch and blood ruined robes.

Watching WWX be more annoyed at the bloody robes than being disembowled because the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation has apparently cultivated to immortality USING RESENTMENT shakes a lot of people.

“Huh.” Wen Qing says as she observes yet another failure of Wei Wuxian’s inventions quite literally blow up in his face. “So this Seal of yours protects you?”

Wei Wuxian coughs from the smoke of his busted invention, “Well, yeah. What about it?”

“It’s sentient, correct?”

“Yeah....?”

“Hmm.” Wen Qing observed the Seal slowly bobbing up and down. “Can you circulate resentful energy through the Seal for a moment? Don’t make it do anything. Just channel resentful energy through it like you would if you channeled spiritual energy normally.”

“Okayyy??” Wei Wuxian was perplexed but nevertheless obeyed and watched as Wen Qing’s eyes brightened. “What? What is it? Wen Qing, tell meeeeee! Don’t leave me out!!!!!”

“Brat, I’m trying to concentrate.” She scolded him, but her tone was fond.

Wei Wuxian waited a few more moments before it seemed like Wen Qing had seen enough.

“I want you to calm down when I say this, but I think you can reforge the Seal into a core which I can transfer into you.”

Wei Wuxian was silent......for about two seconds. “............What?”

Wen Qing sighed. “Wei Wuxian, when you channeled resentful energy through the Seal, the Seal acted much like how it would if someone were to channel spiritual energy through their core. The Seal can be made into an artificial core is what I’m saying.”

“I.....you are sure?” Wei Wuxian asked. He knew Wen Qing wouldn’t joke about this.

“Yes. I’m about eighty percent sure this will go well. I can even knock you out when I cut you open this time.”

“I.....okay.” Wei Wuxian was at a loss for words.

“So I’ve rendered you speechless.” Wen Qing smiled. “That kinda feels good.”

Wei Wuxian pouted.

...........

It took a few days to reform the Seal into a form that would resemble a core but Wei Wuxian was a genius and having Wen Qing there to bounce ideas off of helped in giving him a clue as to how a core should look and feel like.

“Are you ready?” Wen Qing asked.

Wei Wuxian, who was one hundred percent not ready, said, “Yes.”

Wen Qing saw through this. “It will be alright.” She squeezed his hand. “This time, it will be alright.”

That was the last thing he heard before he was knocked out.

.

.

.

When he awoke, his eyes had burned for a little before the pain dissipated.

Wen Qing had been in the midst of declaring the operation successful when she suddenly paused, “Huh.”

“What is it?” He asked nervously. Did something go wrong?

“Oh.....it’s, hmm. A’ Ning, get me some water, will you?”

Wen Ning returned not long later and locked eyes with Wei Wuxian. He seemed quite startled and that made Wei Wuxian even more curious. Based on Wen Qing’s reaction, it wasn’t anything bad, but still.....

“Wei Wuxian.”

“Yes?”

“Look at your reflection and you’ll understand why A’ Ning and I looked startled.”

Wei Wuxian did.

And he was shocked to see that his eyes have now become a brilliant shade of red. “What the hell?”

“Mmhm.” 

“Why are my eyes red???”

“Well, Wei Wuxian, I’m not sure if anyone’s told you, but you’re aware your eyes turn red everytime you use demonic cultivation, right?”

“Umm, no??”

“Well, they do. And considering what your core is, well. I’m not entirely surprised this happened. It was certainly unexpected though.” She finished cleaning up and left Wei Wuxian to just sit and admire his reflection.

...................

A week and some carefully supervised experiments later, Wei Wuxian had full control over his core. It was really just the same thing as how one would normally use a golden core, so it didn’t take long for him to get the hang of it. However, considering his core is the Seal, he also had the ability to control thousands of corpses and this time without any of the side effects.

He also spent time trying to get Suibian to respond to him using resentful energy. Considering that the sword was a spiritual sword, he was unsure of the compatibility but Suibian seemed to adapt well enough and Wei Wuxian was so glad he didn’t have to give up ever using his beloved sword again.

The next step on his agenda was to update the wards. Using the power of the Seal to strengthen it was a walk in the park and Wei Wuxian finally felt like despite how the cultivation world was always on the verge of killing him and the Wens, they’d be safe. The wards would hold out.

He then started absorbing all the deep-seated resentment in the soil to make it more fertile as well as trying to clear the Burial Mounds resentment by listening to the stories of the dead and helping them pass on. He also painstakingly dug up all the strewn about corpses, burned them and held proper funeral rites for them.

The crops flourished, the Wens and him were well-fed, and the Burial Mounds started to lighten up. Wei Wuxian no longer looked to be on the verge of death and he was able to cultivate without any problem.

Like this, time passed peacefully.

..........................

He was invited to his nephew’s one month celebration not long later and Wei Wuxian decided that this would be a good time to show the cultivation world that he truly is the grandmaster of demonic cultivation they all claim him to be. (In truth, he never considered himself to be any sort of grandmaster considering how little he knew of demonic cultivation, but it was different now.)

He told Wen Ning and the other corpses - of the resentful spirits that stayed behind saying they wanted to help him - to watch for any Jins since he trusted they’d take this chance to attack the Burial Mounds.

After he put on a concealing talisman for his eyes - since he knew that his different eye color would make a huge uproar -, he took to the skies with Suibian and nearly teared up. He’d missed flying. He’d missed this feeling. Laughing happily, he circulated the resentful energy in his core and sped up, becoming a black blur as he flew straight over Qiongqi Path.

When he landed at the foot of Koi Tower, invitation in hand, the Jin guards seemed surprised to see him there but had to let him in, not wanting to offend him. 

Jiang Yanli-- no, it was Jin Yanli saw him and waved excitedly, beckoning him over. Out of his sight, Jin Guangyao and Jin Guangshan seemed surprised to see him there.

“A’ Xian!”

“Shijie!” The form of address slipped out.

Her face softened. “You made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

The whispers of the people around him, wondering why he was there, surrounded him, but he ignored it. “Shijie, here’s my present!”

She looked at the bell with a little bit of wonder. “What does it do?”

“It’ll ensure that high level resentful beings and below won’t be able to move!”

“Oh, A’ Xian! This is perfect.”

“Thank you.” Jin Zixuan said, awkwardly. Wei Wuxian had forgotten he was there.

“No need! If it’s for Shijie’s son, I’d do anything!”

“He’s my son, too.”

Wei Wuxian made a face at that. “Well, yeah.”

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng called and then stopped. “You have your sword?”

Wei Wuxian shrugged, “Yep!” He twirled around. “I started picking Suibian up again! But let’s not focus on that, Jiang Cheng!”

Jiang Cheng seemed hesitant but dropped it readily enough as they started bickering like they used to.

Suddenly--

“Wei Wuxian!” Someone yelled.

Wei Wuxian groaned. Can one day go on without someone yelling my name with hatred??? Like, please??

“Yeeeeeees?” He drawled tiredly.

And some Jin guy that vaguely looked like Jin Zixuan stomped in, looking murderous. “You, remove the curse that you put on me!!”

Murmurs started up all around them.

“Curse?” Wei Wuxian looked confused. “What curse? And who are you anyway? Am I supposed to know you from somewhere??” 

“You know who I am!!”

“No, I don’t actually.” Wei Wuxian scratched his head as he walked forward to get a better look. He really didn’t know!

“That’s Jin Zixun.” His shijie said, coming up to him. “From the Phoenix Mountain hunt?” Before Wei Wuxian could say anything, she continued. “The one that was supposed to apologize to you.”

“Hmm?” Wei Wuxian thought really hard. “Oh! I remember you now!” He said to a rather red-faced Jin Zixun. “Sorry about that buddy, but uhh I didn’t curse you! I didn’t even remember you until now!”

“It must be you! It has to be you!!” He screamed and it was really grating on his nerves. “See! Look at this!” He ripped his robes open and everyone gasped at the evidence of the Hundred Holes curse on his torso. 

Wei Wuxian whistled. “Well, that’s quite some curse. But I still didn’t do it.” Jin Zixun looked ready to refute so he continued, “Why would I curse you secretly when I usually make a big production of those I kill?”

People had to admit he had a point.

Jin Zixun continued to scream expletives until he finally rushed forward and in a rather bold move, drew his sword, plunging forward. However, in his anger, he completely missed his target and the direction of the blade pointed towards Jin Yanli.

“A’ Jie!!” Jiang Cheng screamed

Wei Wuxian was the closest to her and pushed her back, stepping in front of her taking the sword to his gut.

“A’ XIAN!!!” “WEI WUXIAN!!” “WEI YING!!” Jin Yanli, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji, who was actually there, all screamed.

And Wei Wuxian who had just been disemboweled, grit his teeth and pulled out the sword. Which, in hindsight, was a horrible decision since blood got everywhere. Though not so much when his stomach stitched itself back together. “................Huh.” I knew I regenerated quickly considering how often I got hurt plowing the fields and digging up the corpses to put them to rest, but damn that was quick. Though..... “My robes!” He fake-cried, turning his attention to a stunned Jin Zixun. “You ruined my robes! I just managed to scrounge up enough money to buy this new pair and you ruined them!!!!” He fretted over the large rip over his abdomen. “What am I going to tell Wen Qing? She just told me not to stain them!”

The entire cultivation just stared at him in silent shock, making Wei Wuxian feel a little self-conscious. 

“Uhh, what are all of you staring at me for?”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said with all the patience of an exasperated brother. “Is that the only thing you can ask?!” He glared, signaling for two Jiang disciples to restrain Jin Zixun from anymore stupid ideas he’d like to enact. “When did you cultivate to immortality?”

“I didn’t??? What do you mean??”

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan said, checking him over. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm? I’m a little dizzy considering all the blood I’ve lost, but it’s nothing big!” He grinned. It felt nice to have Lan Zhan care for him rather than fight with him.

“Wei Wuxian, stop flirting with Hanguang-Jun and answer the damn question.”

Wei Wuxian turned his attention back to his brother and pouted at him, missing Lan Wangji’s red ears. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“A’ Xian.” Shijie said and Wei Wuxian abruptly realized her robes had his blood on them. 

“Shijie, I’m sorry I got your robes dirty!”

“It’s fine.” She patted him. “But A’ Xian, I know you didn’t pay attention to those lectures, but only immortals can heal from wounds like that that quickly.”

“Really?”

“Mn.” Lan Zhan confirmed.

“Huh. So I’m immortal?”

“Yes.” Jiang Cheng deadpanned. “And you didn’t even notice it. In true Wei Wuxian fashion.”

Lan Zhan frowned then. He had still been checking Wei Wuxian’s pulse. “Wei Ying, what happened to your core?”

“Hmm? .........Oh shit.”

“Why is it covered in resentment?”

“Oh. Umm.” Wei Wuxian really was at a loss for words now. “We can discuss that later?”

“Wei Ying.”

“Aiya, how do you make my name sound like reprimand?”

“Don’t try to deflect the conversation.” Jiang Cheng said, now paying attention.

Wei Wuxian groaned. “Okay. Well, everyone would have found out sooner or later but umm. I might have cultivated to immortality accidentally via demonic cultivation? Haha, ha......”

No one laughed with him. They all looked pretty shaken and Wei Wuxian wanted to laugh at their reaction. He felt pretty detached from it all, to be honest.

“Can we all just forget about this and continue celebrating Jin Ling’s one month celebration?”

And everyone collectively said, “No.”

“Aww.”

___________________

To this day, I’m still unsure of whether it’s Carp Tower or Koi Tower.

[admirableadmiranda]

I posted 5,592 times in 2022

That's 3,019 more posts than 2021!

437 posts created (8%)

5,155 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@angrybi-king

@kelssiel

@sienne-k

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I tagged 4,481 of my posts in 2022

Only 20% of my posts had no tags

#mdzs - 2,620 posts

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#wei wuxian - 926 posts

#lan wangji - 672 posts

#svsss - 354 posts

#asks - 311 posts

#tgcf - 288 posts

#cql - 270 posts

#the untamed - 261 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#is they forget why their love interest is into them too because they’ve reassigned and stripped every trait from them but the undying love

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Look. We all know the Lan sect. Austere, reserved, founder is descended from a Buddhist priest who met their one true love, started a sect and then disappeared when their love died. They participated in the first and the second siege and then their leader had a crisis of made all the wrong moral choices in a video game and ended up with a bad ending. It’s okay though, now he can actually think about what he says and be a better person.

We know them, probably love them, the love interest proceeds to be fascinating by living up to the tenets in spirit and being an austere almost monk person who also loves to fuck his husband until he can’t walk the next day. The Lans- very variable fascinating sect. I personally adore writing them- once they’ve put in a little character development to be worthy of our beloved heroes.

Modern aus usually make them very old wealthy families. They’ve got the houses all in white and the rooms you can’t touch and the forty thousand house rules. I suppose this is a valid take, although in my opinion it sucks balls because it completely forgets things like the fact that they are raised in Buddhist principles. That level of rich arrogant snobbery just goes against a lot of what the Lan sect actually is supposed to be, Lan Qiren is not supposed to be the moral compass of our story, otherwise we would have a story where the Lan sect gets wiped out by someone when they refuse to stand up for anyone and fall for anything. Listen to Lan Wangji, not his rigid discipline stick of an uncle.

But, I digress. Rich Austere Lans is a take that works for modern aus, but listen to your dear Sangsang as she offers you a much better option…

Hippie Lan commune instead. Lan Qiren meditating with goats standing on him. Clothes made of hemp. Lan Wangji has never eaten a piece of food that he didn’t help grow himself. Lan Xichen names the meat they eat. They go to deforesting protests and show up as four hundred people all in white clothes and preach harmony with the earth and following Buddhist and tantric principles. What we take from the earth we must give back. We must passive aggressively stand in the way of injustice and wish good tidings on our enemies.

Lan sect. Hippies. Just think about it.

357 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#4

How to you feel about wwx sort of taking advantage of lwj when he’s drunk re: the kiss? (It’s a genuine question, I’m trying to instigate a fandom war or bash any character!)

Well first off anon, I think that framing it as "sort of taking advantage" already states where your thoughts on it lie. I recognize that you do likely mean to be neutral and are asking in good faith and just accidentally missed the word not, but the way you phrased the question does have a lead in.

Which is really unfair because I wouldn't call either stolen kiss in Modaozushi either one of them taking advantage of the other. They are both impulsive actions, taken then immediately regretted with neither of the kissed party punishing the other in any way.

The Phoenix Mountain Kiss has been done to death, but let's go ahead and talk about the DrunkJi 2 kiss. It might be a bit scattered because I was having some revelations myself about this moment when I was rereading the scene. Namely that LWJ is being a lot more consenting than it first appears.

They are both not sober in the moment. Wei Wuxian was drinking before Lan Wangji joined him, at the end of the scene he discovers that the whole bottle is empty while he's all rattled about it. I would hesitate to call Wei Wuxian drunk, but as someone who has had more than my own fair share of drinks, there is a point where you can still be very aware of your actions, your senses yet your instinct that pulls you back is numbed. And it does not necessarily take a lot of drinking to get there.

They have been playing a very flirty game. Lan Wangji was threatened if he got caught during chase to get licked and his response was to turn around and walk right into Wei Wuxian to be licked. He gets all shuddery and fluttery about it like the flustered maiden he is, but also goes back in for more. He is definitely very drunk, but every sign that Wei Wuxian is getting is not only a level of enjoyment, but actively seeking out more. In addition, this is the second time Lan Wangji has gotten drunk around Wei Wuxian, so it's not like it's a surprise to either of them that he's a bit of a wild child, running around, causing trouble and being a pouty baby when Wei Wuxian doesn't give him what he wants. Lan Wangji choosing to drink alongside Wei Wuxian is both of them acknowledging that this is going to go in interesting directions; Lan Wangji is not going to remember it and he trusts Wei Wuxian with his drunken inhibition free self.

Here's where we get to the first amazing thing I've discovered on rereading this. There is a lot more going on beneath the surface than framing this as Wei Wuxian suddenly kissing Lan Wangji out of nowhere. This whole scene is showing us what their dynamic really was when they were younger and how only now do they have the ability to actually pick up on these confused signals that they were sending each other as teenagers.

Lan Wangji may be drunk, but for the first time, Wei Wuxian is absolutely picking up on what he wants.

As he was pondering, Lan WangJi turned around, his face as calm as always, “Again.”

Wei WuXian, “Again? Again what?”

Lan WangJi hid behind the wooden screen once more and peeked at him with only half of his face showing.

His intentions were as clear as could be—again, you chase, I run.

Speechless for a moment, Wei WuXian obeyed and did it again. This time, having only been chased for a short while, Lan WangJi ran into him again.

Wei WuXian, “You really are doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Again, Lan WangJi brought Wei WuXian’s arms around his neck as though he couldn’t understand what his words meant, waiting for him to fulfil his promise again.

These are not the actions of someone who just wants to play. There is a whole other layer going on beneath the surface. A context clue clicks into place for Wei Wuxian and presumably the audience as well, although that latter one I strongly doubt given that I only really caught onto it now myself.

Lan Wangji is not running because he is afraid or because he isn’t enjoying it. Lan Wangji is running because he wants to be chased and caught. He wants to resist up to a point and then give into Wei Wuxian and surrender the need to pretend and protest. Wei Wuxian is teasing him as though he were a playful kid, cause licking is gross at that age and it theoretically should make Lan Wangji run faster. Instead he makes it a few steps, turns around and walks right into Wei Wuxian’s arms.

It is rather an intensely vulnerable scene as I reread it for this. For just a moment, Wei Wuxian lets his guard down because Lan Wangji is asking him for something very different than he might sober and he is responding to that deep attraction within the both of them. He has picked up on that Lan Wangji was a little frightened of the deepness of the emotions within, but also he really does want it. Thus he continues because he for a brief few splendid moments has no doubt.

With his arms around Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian returned to the bed with him, then asked, “You like this, don’t you? Don’t turn around. Speak. Do you like it or not? If you like it, we don’t have to run around every single time. How about I let you have as much fun as you want?”

As he spoke, he held up one of Lan WangJi’s hands, bent down, and kissed between two of his slender fingers.

Lan WangJi wanted to take his hand away again, but Wei WuXian held it tightly, not allowing him to do so.

And then, Wei WuXian’s lips pressed onto his distinct knuckles. Softer than the touch of feather, his breaths wandered to the back of his hand, and he kissed again.

It is easy to forget, especially since the extent of Lan Wangji's strength won't be shown until the Guanyin Temple, about sixty chapters away from this point, but he is very strong and Wei Wuxian is in the body of a normal person who has not cultivated a golden core. The text here in ExR Allure says that Wei Wuxian wouldn't let him pull his hand away, but if he actually really wanted to stop it, he could easily pull his hand away or push Wei Wuxian off. He is not resisting because he doesn’t want it, he is resisting because he is continuing to play hard to get.

He is still being chased, Wei Wuxian is about to catch him.

Lan WangJi couldn’t pull his hand back no matter how hard he tried. He could only clench his fingers together into a tight fist.

Wei WuXian lifted up his sleeves, revealing the pale-skinned wrist, then kissed it as well.

After he kissed, he didn’t raise his head. He only turned his eyes to Lan WangJi, “Is that enough?”

Is that enough for Lan Wangji, hapless fragile maiden being seduced by the man he really, really likes? No, no he would like a little more romancing please.

Lan WangJi pursed his lips, refusing to speak a single word. Wei WuXian finally sat up straight again and continued, his voice unhurried, “Tell me. Have you burnt any paper money for me?”

There was no answer. Wei WuXian laughed out loud and inched toward him. Over the clothing, he kissed where his heart was, “If you don’t talk, I’m not gonna give you any more. Tell me. How did you know it was me?”

See the full post

360 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

#3

In a world in which Wei Wuxian had plant growing/summoning powers, he would use them to make sure that Lan Wangji always has the shojo flower backdrop he deserves. He told us himself when he drew him. Lan Wangji just doesn’t look right without flowers in his hair.

374 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

#2

One of the lovely things about rereading Modaozushi and talking about it with people is that you realize new things about the text that you’d never noticed before.

One of those things is Wei Wuxian’s absolute need to flirt with Lan Wangji regardless of what else he is doing in the moment. Even when it involves other people.

We know a lot of the bigger ones pretty well, but let me offer you one that I think slips by a lot of people because it’s a pretty subtle moment in a big chapter. I’ve copied a few lines of text around it to show how clear the transition and Wei Wuxian’s complete lack of focus on everything else once Lan Wangji enters the scene is.

The sucking force of the lake became stronger and stronger. Wei WuXian’s sword was superior in terms of agility, but inferior in terms of strength. He was almost weighed down to the point of hovering right above the surface of the lake. He steadied himself while using both hands to haul Su She, and shouted, “Can somebody come here to help?! If I still can’t pull him up, I’m gonna let go!”

Suddenly, Wei WuXian felt his collar tighten, and he was lifted into the air. He turned around to see Lan WangJi holding the back of his collar with one hand. Although Lan WangJi merely looked into another direction with an indifferent look, he and his sword carried the weight of three people, and fought with the mysterious force of the lake at the same time. Moreover, their position was still rising at a steady pace. Jiang Cheng was rather shocked, If I went down to pull Wei WuXian before him, using Sandu, I probably couldn’t have ascended so quickly and steadily. Lan WangJi is only around my age…

At this point, Wei WuXian spoke, “Lan Zhan, your sword is quite strong, isn’t it? Thank you, thank you. But why did you pull my collar? Can’t you hold on to me? I don’t feel comfortable if you do this. Why don’t I stretch my hand to you and you can grab it?”

Lan WangJi replied with a cold voice, “I do not have physical contact with others.”

Wei WuXian, “We’re already this familiar with each other, so how am I ‘others’?”

Lan WangJi, “We are not.”

Wei WuXian pretended to be hurt, “You can’t do this…”

Jiang Cheng really couldn’t hold it any more. He scolded, “You can’t do this!!! Can’t you speak a few sentences less while you’re held in mid-air by your collar?!”

The group travelled on their swords and evacuated Biling Lake as fast as they could. When they landed, Lan WangJi let go of Wei WuXian’s back collar and calmly turned to Lan XiChen, “It is a waterborne abyss.”

Source: Exiled Rebels translation, Chapter 17 of Modaozushi.

So have you all noticed what Wei Wuxian forgot in his need to flirt with Lan Wangji for coming to save him? Do you see the subtle note that the book gives us on the context of this arrangement with Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian up in the air?

Su She is still being held up by Wei Wuxian while he’s busy flirting!

Wei Wuxian either forgets or ignores that he has a whole other person dangling from him in midair while he immediately turns his attention to flirting with Lan Wangji because that is where his fifteen-year-old brain is at and where his focus is for... the entirety of the Cloud Recesses Classes arc.

Su She may be a classist asshole who went out with only a glimmer of dignity, dying for a man who gave fuck all about him, but for this one moment, let us be sympathetic to him, as he dangles from Wei Wuxian’s hand, completely ignored because Wei Wuxian needs to flirt that badly.

I love this book so fucking much.

377 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

One of the sweetest things about all the juniors shipping Wangxian even as early as Yi City (as well as one of the funniest if you’re a fan of irony), is that it’s really easy to realize, but also really good why they’re the first ones to accurately name what they’re seeing.

The Multi-Clan Duckling Squad are the first people to ever see Wangxian together without any preconceived notions about their relationship — including Wangxian. They alone get to just see them as they are, two dorks who perfectly match and are clearly in love with each other, and they never assume that there’s something else going on because of their understandings of the men involved.

The juniors continue to prove that you can’t really understand someone if you’re coming at them with an assumption in place, and only with clear eyes can you see what was there all along to see.

1,139 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

Hello Mojo, hope you're doing well and that you had a good break! I wanted to signal boost the MDZS May Diaspora event collection on AO3, and point out my favorite fic from there: 归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home by dragongirlG! It's both tender and bittersweet and it features such mature writing. The author got some hate for it when it initially got posted so I wanted to counter that and give it some love instead! [Who would do such a thing?!  @dragongirlg-fics I’m sorry that happened to you, and here, have *so many hugs!* I’ll try to do a thing just for the diaspora event, but meanwhile, I’ll just treat this as a follower rec.]

归心似箭 | Longing to Go Home

by dragongirlG (M, 8k, wangxian)

Summary:  The destruction of the Yin Tiger Seal does not kill Wei Wuxian; it ages him instead. He takes shelter in a cave expecting to die, but instead he lives, slowly learning to embrace life with each new day.

Thirteen years later, a young man with a Lan forehead ribbon stumbles into the cave. His name is Lan Sizhui.

~*~

Hi Momjo!!! I recently read the most *adorable* fic, and I loved it so much that it dragged me out of seclusion (read: social anxiety cave) to rec it. It's called 'Covered in Bees' by ScarlettStorm in which the Cloud Recesses is an apiary, and Wei Wuxian has suddenly found himself host to a swarm of bees. ~ @akyra-talanoa

Covered in Bees

by ScarlettStorm (T, 8k, wangxian)

Summary: “Cloud Reccesses Apiary,” says a toneless, deep masculine voice, with zero question in it. Wei Ying doesn’t care, because whoever possesses that voice is probably going to come save him from bees like a fucking hero while wearing like, a suit of armor. That’s what you wear to catch bees, right?

“I have like, so many bees outside my front door right now,” he says, mouth running out ahead of him before he can even begin to think about reining it in. “It’s like a sandstorm of bees out there. There are so many bees. I got out of my car and there were just bees and I don’t want these bees. Do you want these bees? Please tell me you will come get these bees. I can’t leave my house and I have enough food for maybe a week but then I’m gonna have to learn how to cook dry beans and no one wants that, especially not me.” Wei Ying runs out of air, takes a breath, and belatedly adds, “My name is Wei Ying. Hi.”

Or: The beekeeping AU that no one asked for.

~*~

Hi, you are a bless to this fandom. Your blog feels like a library, so thoroughly arranged and always within hand reach. [Thank you, wow!]  Recently, I was going through Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn is a Wēn tag and came across a fanfic, it has 3 chapters till now and is so intriguing that i thought to recommend it to you. I don't know if I can recommend or if you have already checked the story, The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon by Devipriya. I am in love with this story. I hope you will enjoy it too, do check it out

The legendary Phoenix and his Dragon

by Devipriya (T, 7k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wen Wuxian, the essence of who he is, he is a naughty child, a prankster, an enchanting dizi player, a graceful dancer, an irresistible lover, a truly valiant warrior, a ruthless vanquisher of his foes, a man who left a broken heart in every home, an astute statesman and kingmaker, a thorough gentleman, a righteous individual of the highest order, and the most colorful incarnation.

He has been seen, perceived, understood and experienced in many different ways by different people. Different people saw different facets of who he is. For some, he is God. For some, he is a crook. For some, he is a lover. For some, he is a fighter. He is so many things.

But the phoenix, seen from the eyes of time was just a playful man. A man who plays with his awareness, with his imagination, with his memory, with his life, with his death. An individual who does not just dance with somebody. He dances with life. He dances with his enemy, He dances with the one he loves, He dances even at the moment of his death.

To taste an essence of who is Wen Wuxian, be with me in the journey of exploration, NO! playful exploration of life of a playful man.

~*~

Hi! Thanks for running this blog, it's helped me find so many fics. For your next follower recs post, I wanted to rec "This love like a flood, a fire, a fear" by natcat5. Its summary is vague (which I suspect is why it isn't better known) but it is a beautiful retelling of canon from LWJ's POV with slight canon divergence. I love the author's characterization of him and the prose is gorgeous. It is easily my favorite fic in the entire fandom, and I don't say that lightly. ~ @nyanja14

This love like a flood, a fire, a fear

by natcat5 (M, 57k, wangxian, lan wangji & lan xichen)

Summary:  “I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch everything go wrong.”   - Lemony Snicket

~*~

i came to this ask to rec this baseball one called "Waiting for Spring" by thievinghippo on ao3. It somehow made me care about baseball soooo 'nough said ~ @scifikimmi

Waiting for Spring

by thievinghippo (E, 131, wangxian)

Summary:  “It is a well-known fact across the major leagues that one does not smack Lan Wangji’s ass.”

Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes. Everyone smacks everyone’s ass in baseball. It’s how the game is played. Lan Wangji does not get to be exempt from this most sacred of baseball traditions.

Wei Wuxian will make sure of that.

Or, a Major League Baseball AU

~*~

hi mojo! i wanted to rec Something Good by boxoftheskyking (a loose sound of music/canon divergence au) and also MDZS: The Golden Engine by iffervescent (immortal wangxian modern au where they gotta solve a mystery and save china, featuring jiang cheng/lan xichen)

Something Good

by boxoftheskyking (T, 43k, wangxian)

Summary:  "That Wei Wuxian, you know he used to be such a promising cultivator. Head Disciple of the Jiang Clan, can you believe it? You see, juniors, the punishment for traveling the path of demonic cultivation. No golden core, not so much as a whisper of spiritual power."

As a punishment for real and imagined crimes, Wei Wuxian is sentenced to work at Cloud Recesses as the lowest of servants. When a surprising reassignment lands him with eleven children to care for, everything changes again.

A Sound of Music AU

MDZS: The Golden Engine

by iffervescent (E, 82k, wangxian, xicheng)

Summary:  In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils.

~*~

Hi Mojo! First of all let me just tell you that you are amazing and this blog is like a gift from the gods! Bless you and your endless patience and hard work. [Oh, thank you so much!]  I know that you have just accepted follower recs and I have missed miserably but I still wanted to write and bring attention to a writer by the pseudo Xiao_Hua on ao3, I think they are quite good and I just recently found the account with so much content. If you do have the time to check them out, I'd rec catfish, my fox or the red ribbon.

The Red Ribbon

by Xiao_Hua (M, 21k, wangxian, TGCF crossover)

Summary:  Wei WuXian died but not before saving HanGuang-Jun and A-Yuan, leaving so much more behind than just his ribbon.

My Fox

by Xiao_Hua (E, 13k, wangxian)

Summary:  Once he headed to YiLing that all changed for him. His priorities have been mingled with and ordered in complete disarray even without him noticing as he was left heavily influenced by a creature.

Or one where Lan WangJi is a dragon-spirit and he finds his mate in the form of a fox.

Catfish

by Xiao_Hua (E, 15k, wangxian)

Summary:  Wei WuXian has a common sense that believes it has a nine-to-five job while Lan WangJi finds that incredibly hot.

Or one where two catfish realise that neither of them truly catfished.

~*~

Hi Mojo i'm recommending this amazing fic it is called song of joys and regrets. it's a time travel AU it's amazing. And your Blog is a Godsend Thank you! [Aw, you’re so sweet!]  ~ @highgoddess

Song of Joy and Regrets

by HelloKitten (not rated, 59k, wangxian, WIP)

Summary:  The Archery competition at Qishan this year has hit a snag. As the Sects face the wrongs perpetrated by their future selves, Wei Wuxian finds himself adopted by half of the cultivation world who are determined to save him from himself.

Baby Wangxian suffers. Adult Wangxian's job here is done.

"I'm starting to see a pattern to all his plans..." "Do they all involve him being bait?" "Yes" came deadpanned responses.

~*~

Here’s a 2021 Reverse Big Bang entry, in time for Father’s Day; [Oops, my bad, sorry!]  Under a Blanket of Black Wings, by ChaoticAndrogynous (#31398395); LWJ, recuperating from the 33 lashes, tells A-Yuan a series of fairytales about a heroic monster and the brave little boy he befriended. Vampire! WWX (in the framing story as well as the story-within-the-story); happy ending.

Under a Blanket of Black Wings

by ChaoticAndrogynous (T, 19k, wangxian)

Summary:  Lan Wangji tells A-Yuan a bedtime story about a beautiful monster and the brave little boy who was his friend. Thirteen years later, the monster returns.

~*~

Hello Mojo! Have you read ‘Key Differences’ by Pupeez4eva? Its a MDZS!WWX meets CQL!WWX and its really good! [It’s on my list!]

Key Differences

by pupeez4eva (T, 6k, wangxian)

Summary:  “I don’t understand,” Wei Wuxian said, while his alternate self continued to stare at him with almost a look of hurt in his eyes. There was longing in there too, which Wei Wuxian would have easily recognised if he paid enough attention. “How could you not get together, after everything. What even went on in the Guanyin Temple if you didn’t confess?”

“The Guanyin Temple,” Wei Ying repeated incredulously. “You’re asking me if I confessed at — honestly, a lot went on that day. It was a life and death situation. There was no confessing.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, appalled.

(Wherein Wei Wuxian ends up meeting an alternate version of himself who, much to his horror, never married Lan Wangji. Obviously he has to do something to fix this).

~*~

Hey Mojo i would recommend this fanfic if you already haven’t, it’s called “ take me back to a time “ by DizziDreams. It’s sooooo good

take me back to a time

by DizziDreams (T, 144k, wangxian, 3zun)

Summary:  Wei Ying has a lot on his plate right now.

It’s finals week -- which isn’t so bad. He’s never had to study much to do well in classes. But that just means that things are that much more tense with Jiang Cheng, who, as far as Wei Ying can tell, only takes study breaks long enough to glare at Wei Ying where he sits on the couch playing video games.

It’s not studies that have Wei Ying stressed out. It’s everything else. It’s the recruitment for the research trial he’s coordinating. It’s jiejie and her impending marriage to His Royal Douchebag Jin Zixuan. It’s the volunteer work at the palliative care facility. It’s Wen Ning’s worsening condition. It’s Wen Qing working herself thin to care for her brother and Wen Yuan. It’s the way Wen Yuan never seems to have enough food.

So, yeah. There’s enough on Wei Ying’s plate already, meaning it’s not entirely welcome when he comes home and finds a man standing in his bedroom. A man in extravagant white robes, a ribbon tied around his forehead, long hair gathered into a topknot, fist clutching a sword at his side, who asks him, “Where am I?”

~*~

Idk if this has already been rec’d (I’ve been off the grid for a while now), but there’s this absolutely incredible fic called Restitution by an anon on ao3 people should definitely check out!

this one?

on restitution

by Anonymous (M, 78k, wangxian, jin ling & wei wuxian, lan sizhui & wei wuxian, WIP)

Summary:  When Wei Wuxian regains consciousness, he is in a bed. A real, proper bed, not the slab he called a bed in his cave in the Burial Mounds.

Jiang Cheng is glowering above him.

Wei Wuxian doesn't die during the siege of the Burial Mounds. Rather, he is captured in secret and confined at Lotus Pier. Things change accordingly.

~*~

Hi momjo! I feel like every time I come to your blog there's twenty more new and amazing fics for me to read. Thank you for everything you do for this fandom!  [Thank you, sweetie!  And yes, I think there ARE 20 new fics every day out there in the fandom.  It’s amazing!] Today I come bearing my own rec to you. I've recently read this and it's IMO one of the best fics out there. It's called Lapsteel by carriecmoney and it's a modern stormchaser AU featuring country songs and coming home. ~ @manaika-chan​

Lapsteel

by carriecmoney (T, 42k, wangxian)

Summary:  Now and then, I think about you now and then...

It's been thirteen years since Wei Ying ran for the prairies, leaving behind a family in shambles and a secret on the Pacific wind. What happens when the storm he swirled catches up to him?

Modern AU with country music star Lan Zhan, stormchaser Wei Ying, and shared crossroads.

~*~

[plan-d-to-i]

(google translate again, yeah)

(I forgot to thank you for the last answer, I really didn't know that the drama used the music of my compatriot, it was a pleasant surprise for me)

I don't know if anyone has asked you this before, but do you think JC was good with WWX as a kid?

I mean not just their childhood, but the time of their training in Gusu.

I really love JC, and I understand perfectly well that he is the most dick in character, but I love him precisely during my studies at Gusu, I can not give any arguments that then JC was directly GOOD to WWX, but he is clearly cared a little about him and even ... worried? at least that moment after the punishment where JC helped WWX get to the room...

Yay - I'm so happy to hear about Stravinsky :)

Hahah loving jc as the dick that he is is the way to do it! go for it. :) also, sorry this was so delayed I wanted to reread the Cloud Recesses arc so it would be fresh in my mind before answering.

In terms of jc the Cloud Recesses arc is perhaps the most 'mellow' we see him aside from the Lotus Pod Extra but for me it's still impossible to find him a worthwhile person. I can already see the faults in his character that I know will only get worse as he grows older. Canonically I don't see how he would have any friends studying in the Cloud Recesses if he didn't come as a package deal w Wei Wuxian. I mean I doubt jiang cheng would have any friends without WWX period. In fact jiang cheng doesn't make any friends over the course of 13 years. He's also unable to find a wife bc of his temperament and behavior...

What we can glean about their relationship in the Cloud Recesses arc (and even the Lotus Pod Extra) is that any time WWX gets a kind word or understanding from someone, jiang cheng scoffs at it. Any time someone shits on WWX, jc is there to agree, to relish the idea of WWX being punished, and shit on him some more. He would be an immensely exhausting person to be around. He doesnt believe in WWX's ideas and ingenuity, (as NHS does for example), he doesn't believe WWX is hurt, he always assumes the worst of him, he doesn't believe LWJ might like WWX. The only thing he ever seems to believe is that WWX will dishonor YunmengJiang and that WWX should be punished. So for a kid who supposedly wants his father's approval so badly he instead constantly acts like his mother's mouthpiece/minion. He reprimands WWX like he's trying to become Madam Yu 2.0. I see jc stans all the time being like oh he had to keep WWX in check bc WWX was such a lOOooose canon, for the good of the Clan!! lol listen JFM didn't give a f...about WWX's behavior (in his letter to LQR) why are you so concerned? JFM would have preferred for jc to try & save his peers in the Xuanwu cave or at least to understand why that was the correct course of action rather than for him to just sit in front of the class in the Cloud Recesses and tell WWX off for giving LQR as good as he got, while actually still breaking the rules himself but eschewing punishment.

salt up here, quotes below :

Even when Nie Huaisang picks up on the fact that WWX is being treated unfairly by LQR, jc dismisses it and piles on WWX instead.

Nie Huaisang said, “Old Man Lan really seems like he’s coming down especially harshly on you. Every time he reprimands someone, it’s always you.” Jiang Cheng grunted. “He deserves it. What kind of answer was that? He can get away with saying that sort of nonsense at home, but he had the nerve to say it to Lan Qiren’s face. He was practically asking for the old man to kill him!”

But does WWX get away with ANYTHING in Lotus Pier? When we know he is punished constantly for EVERYTHING? This is jiang cheng fully being his mother's mouth piece. It's not something WWX would get away with, it's something jc knows JFM wouldn't mind. Which is why he's so pissed off. Which begs the question if JFM would not be upset with WWX's behavior why does jc need to criticize him? Again :

A dark expression shadowed Jiang Cheng’s face, and his voice was filled with anger. “Why are you so proud of yourself? What is there to be proud of?! Is being told to get out some amazing accomplishment? You’re making our entire clan lose face!”

and his glee at the idea that WWX will be punished leaves a bad taste in one's mouth considering how WWX was perpetually punished in Lotus Pier by jiang cheng's mother for... existing.

Jiang Cheng smiled grimly. “Now that you’ve thoroughly offended both Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren, you’re basically dead tomorrow. No one’s going to clean up your corpse either.”

and again

Without the old one, only the young one remained. This would be easy to deal with! Wei Wuxian rolled off the bed and laughed while putting on his boots. “Heaven’s charmed clouds are blessing me with shade.” Jiang Cheng was beside him polishing his sword with loving care when he decided to spill cold water over Wei Wuxian’s head. “Just wait until he gets back. You can’t escape punishment.”

Where others like NHS see value in WWX's thoughts

Nie Huaisang thought for a while. “Actually, I thought what you said was very interesting,” he said, not entirely able to hide his envy and yearning.

jc is always dismissive of WWX's ideas. These are inventions that WWX realizes. Demonic cultivation in the first conversation and The Spirit-Attraction Flag and The Compass of Evil in the second:

“Enough,” Jiang Cheng warned. “Whatever nonsense you spout, you better not head down that sort of dark road.”

-

Changing the topic, Wei Wuxian said, “If only there was something like fishing bait that could draw the water ghosts in. Or, something that could point in the direction they’re hiding, like a compass, that sort of thing.”

“Lower your head and watch the water,” Jiang Cheng said. “You’re letting your fantasies run wild again. Concentrate on looking for water ghosts like you’re supposed to.”

“Hey, mounting swords and flying was also only a fantasy once!” Wei Wuxian said.

He's also a hypocrite. Because even though he berates WWX for misbehaving, he himself breaks the rules. He drinks, he even goads WWX into buying liquor, the only difference is that he doesn't get punished for it, and he doesn't feel like coming forward and getting punished for it :

Naturally, Jiang Cheng was too embarrassed to talk about what Wei Wuxian had been up to. After all, all of them had egged him on to go and buy alcohol, and they all deserved to be punished as well. He could only speak vaguely. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s not that bad! He can walk. Wei Wuxian, why haven’t you gotten off yet?”

It's no wonder WWX is so impressed by LWJ's integrity in spite of his social status, when he's clearly used to the other dynamic :

“Lan Zhan, I really admire you,” Wei Wuxian said sincerely. “After I told you that you had to punish yourself too, you actually did it. You didn’t let yourself off at all. I can’t argue against that.”

A dynamic which is shown repeating in the Lotus Pod Extra where WWX is the only one to get punished for sunbathing, and which repeats here when Wei Wuxian here stops jiang cheng from confronting Zixuan over YanLi's honor (and jc's) and does it himself.

Zixuan :“Why don’t you ask what about her could make me satisfied?” he said in return.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng rose. Wei Wuxian pushed him away and stepped between them, smiling coldly. “You think you’re very satisfactory? As though you have the right to be so picky!”

Zixuan: “If she’s unhappy, then let her break off the engagement! I certainly don’t cherish your wonderful disciple-sister. If you cherish her so much, why don’t you take it up with your father? Doesn’t he love you more than his own son?”

After hearing the last sentence, Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed, and Wei Wuxian was no longer able to contain his own fury. He flew at Jin Zixuan, his fist raised.

WWX takes the punishment alone. Same way he offers to do when he hurts himself falling from a tree because jc threatened him with dogs. meanwhile jc is gleeful to see him being punished.

[Wei Wuxian] was kneeling on the stretch of pebble road to which Lan Qiren had assigned him when Jiang Cheng walked over from afar and mocked him. “You’re kneeling so obediently.”

“It’s not like you don’t know I have to do this all the time.” Wei Wuxian’s voice filled with schadenfreude. “But this Jin Zixuan guy, there’s no way he hasn’t been pampered and spoiled rotten since birth. No one’s ever forced him to kneel, I’m sure of it. If he doesn’t wind up crying for mommy and daddy today, I’m not named Wei.”....

Wei Wuxian "...It’s a good thing you didn’t do anything.”

“I was going to. If you hadn’t pushed me away, the other side of Jin Zixuan’s face would be hideous too.”

“Stop it. His face is uglier for being lopsided."

WWX is happy to have spared jc from getting into trouble but jc makes the whole thing about himself anyway (like everything else ever) and is upset JFM would rush over for WWX - in his mind. Even though JFM clearly had to rush over to meet with Jin Guangshan not to coddle WWX in any way.

"Jiang Fengmian had never rushed to another clan in less than a day because of him. Regardless of whether what happened was big or small, or good or bad." Never

WWX on the other hand tries to be observant of jc's feelings and reassure him & distract him from his moods :

When Wei Wuxian saw Jiang Cheng’s melancholy expression, he thought he was still upset with what Jin Zixuan said. “You should leave. You don’t need to keep me company any longer. If Lan Wangji comes again, he’ll catch you. If you have time, you should find Jin Zixuan and watch his pitiful kneeling.”

Later in the book after nearly dying in the Xuanwu cave WWX leaves his sick bed to run after jc and comfort him after his mother's rant, even though WWX had to listen to his parents (and himself) being slandered by YZY. jc doesn't spare any thoughts for how other people might be feeling or suffering. His entire perception of the world is centered around himself. To him even WWX's greatest fear doesn't generate empathy, only amusement or later on a form of torture.

From that point onward, they made trouble everywhere together, and if they encountered a dog, Jiang Cheng would always chase it away for him, then enjoy a peal of derisive, unbridled laughter at Wei Wuxian’s expense beneath whichever tree the boy had leapt atop.

he grew up on the streets, often having to fight for food with vicious dogs. After several bites and chases, he gradually became extremely scared of all dogs, no matter the size. Jiang Cheng laughed at him because of this quite a lot of times.

This brings me to the last point. jc's resentment of WWX's interest in Lan Zhan, or in a serious friendship outside of him. I see so many ppl say that bc WWX fought he was kicked out of the Cloud Recesses early... but was he?

Jiang Cheng was somewhat taken aback. “Lan Wangji? What was he doing here? He still has the nerve to come see you again?”

“Yeah, I think his bravery is laudable if he still has the nerve to come see me. His uncle probably told him to check on me and see if I was kneeling properly.”

Jiang Cheng’s instincts were sending him ominous signals. “So were you kneeling properly?”

“I was then,” Wei Wuxian replied. “But I waited for him to walk away a bit, then took a tree branch, lowered my head, and dug out a hole in the dirt near me. It’s the pile right by your foot—there are ant tunnels there. It took me so much effort to find them. Anyway, I waited for him to turn back and see my shoulders shaking. He had to have thought I was crying, so he came back and asked. You should have seen his face when he caught sight of the ant tunnels!

“…” Jiang Cheng said, “Why don’t you just get the hell out and go back to Yunmeng? I bet he never wants to see you again.”

Thus, that evening, Wei Wuxian packed up his things, got the hell out, and went back to Yunmeng with Jiang Fengmian.

Repeatedly throught his stay in the Cloud Recesses even while NHS was observing that LWJ's behavior around WWX was strange and unique, jc was telling WWX he is hated and bothersome. When WWX wanted to apologize to LWJ jc is completely dismissive of it :

“He hates me already? I was thinking of apologizing to him,” Wei Wuxian said.

“Oh, so you want to apologize now? It’s too late!” Jiang Cheng said derisively. “He’s exactly like his uncle. He thinks you’ve been wicked ever since you were an embryo, so it’s beneath his dignity to pay you any attention.”

Later on when WWX mentioned wanting to invite LWJ to Lotus Pier jc categorically says no.

“Jiang Cheng had on a stern expression, “Let’s make this clear. I don’t want him to come, anyhow. Don’t invite him.”

BONUS

jc also always doubts WWX. He suspects him immediately of wrongdoings. He doesn't believe that getting hit with the discipline ruler in Cloud Recesses actually hurt him until LXC confirms that WWX might take more than a few days to heal. He doesn't understand WWX is in actual trouble from the Waterborne abyss and assumes he's fooling around luckily Lan Zhan is there to rescue him:

The disciple’s lower body had already been swallowed by the black whirlpool. It spun faster and faster, and he continued to sink deeper and deeper, as though something hidden beneath the water was pulling down on his legs.

Mounted on Sandu, Jiang Cheng had risen calmly until he was about sixty meters above the whirlpool before he looked down. Filled with displeasure at what he saw, he shouted and dove down. “What are you up to now?!”

The suction force inside Lake Biling grew ever stronger. Wei Wuxian’s sword was optimized for agility, and consequently, its strength happened to fall just short, and they were nearly pulled to the surface of the lake. Wei Wuxian steadied himself and held on to Su She with both hands.

“Someone help! If I can’t pull him up soon, I’ll have to let go!” he shouted.

Suddenly, the back of Wei Wuxian’s collar tightened, and his body was lifted into the air. He twisted his neck and saw Lan Wangji holding him up with one hand.

He maintains this same mindset when he tries to whip LWJ and WWX as they're attempting to leave Lotus Pier after the ancestral hall confrontation when WWX passes out.

Is jc evil in the Cloud Recesses ? No. He's just an annoying, basic, disagreeable asshole who doesn't bring anything positive to someone like WWX. People like jc become obsessed with kind, outgoing, generous people, people who don't set boundaries on what they give and what others take in their friendships. Even though they're dependent on them for their social interactions, because who else would socialize with them willingly, they resent them in equal measure, but at the same time they wouldn't be drawn to another selfish, self centered piece of shit person like themselves.

On a personal note, even Cloud Recesses jiang cheng is someone I would exclude from any personal friend group. Friendship with him is adding a minefield of jealousies and snide comments to every interaction. Things that then others will need to compensate around because he won't compromise or empathize w issues outside of his own concerns.

Translation source : x

[kurowrites]

Can I give you 2 prompts for wangxian fics? 1: meddling Xichen (to ship) + jealous lwj + oblivious wwx and 2: kissing practice + childhood friends + caught red handed by lan qiren. Thank you so much! I love your modern au fics.

I am relatively sure that this is NOT what you wanted, but you know, something something beggars something. ;) Once it had been planted in my mind, I had to do it.

---

Lan Wangji was aware that due to his distant nature and his courtesy name, some people falsely assumed that he was blind to all worldly concerns around him.

This was, however, a completely wrong conclusion. He was very much aware of what was happening around him. Just as much as he was aware that this supposed ‘conference’ that they were all attending was little more than a shoddily hidden marriage market.

Which would have been fine, it was not like Lan Wangji did not see the necessity to build stronger ties between the sects. It was not his place to judge such things, and, after all, marriage was a necessity to sustain a stable society. He might not approve of the vulgarity of some of the participants of this conference, but he did not deny the necessity of such an event, however impractical and distasteful it might be to him, personally.  

However.

Why Lan Xichen, his own brother, seemed to have made a very strong connection with Wei Wuxian at this conference, was completely beyond him.

Out of all possible matches, Lan Xichen seemed to favour Wei Wuxian over anyone else!

Lan Wangji was unable to make sense of it, no matter how long he considered the case before him.

A marriage between them would not only be questionable in terms of inter-sect politics, he also doubted that their wildly different personalities would be a good foundation for a successful marriage. Lan Xichen should be perfectly aware of these things, and yet, he seemed to prefer Wei Wuxian’s company to that of anyone else.

And Wei Wuxian… Lan Wangji did not want to make unfounded assumptions, but aiming for a sect leader seemed to be reaching very high for someone in his position. Especially when there were other suitable matches to be made that were much closer to his own age and status. Such an attempt was sure to incur the displeasure of all other major sects, and several minor ones, too.

He considered bringing the evils of such an unsuitable match to his brother’s attention, but he did not want to hurt his brother’s feelings, and Lan Wangji knew that no matter how carefully he chose his words, they would end up sounding petty and biased.

His brother knew very well how he felt about Wei Wuxian. He had been a witness to more than one fight between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, and yet he seemed to have decided on Wei Wuxian without hesitation. None of Lan Wangji’s words would be able to change his choice now, he was sure.

It was just.

The thought of having someone like Wei Wuxian as his brother-in-law was unbearable. Loud and obnoxious and infuriating, how could his brother bear the presence of a person like that? And even worse, bring such a person to Cloud Recesses?

Perhaps, after the marriage, Lan Wangji would be allowed to go into seclusion for a while, in order to work on his cultivation in silence and contemplation. Once Wei Wuxian was installed at Cloud Recesses, there would be an end to all peace, that he was sure of.

He tried to make peace with that thought, and redoubled his own efforts to evade all the potential marriage partners and their families that seemed to have set their sight on him. As the second son of a prestigious sect, he had proven to be rather more popular on a marriage market like this than he had wished for, and by now, he sincerely regretted letting his brother convince him to accompany him to this sham of a conference.

He was determined not to accidentally fall into an engagement, and planned to leave the conference as the same staunch bachelor he had been before.

 “Lan Zhan!” came the loud voice that Lan Wangji would have preferred not to hear right now, or ever again.

One moment later, Wei Wuxian bumped into his shoulder.

“Ayoo,” he said once he had glanced into Lan Wangji’s face. “Someone is grumpy today. Are you getting tired of being hounded by pretty girls? You should be happy! You can pick any girl you like, they’re basically throwing themselves at your feet!”

If Lan Wangji had less self-possession, he might have felt tempted to strangle Wei Wuxian right there and then. Alas, he was in control of his emotions, and so he only levelled Wei Wuxian with a disapproving glare.

He did not want anyone to throw themselves at your feet. He did not want to get married. He did not care for pretty girls.

Wei Wuxian seemed to take his quelling glare as encouragement, and laughed heartily.

“I see, Hanguang-jun does not approve!” he teased. “There is no one good enough for Lan Zhan, after all!”

Lan Wangji wondered about that particular remark, because Wei Wuxian obviously believed himself to be good enough for Lan Xichen, who arguably was above Lan Wangji in dignity and respect. Lan Wangji was only the second son.

But perhaps Wei Wuxian was teasing him, alluding to his taciturn and forbidding nature. That made more sense. After all, Lan Wangji’s brother was the more friendly and approachable one between the two of them, no competition at all.

It needed far more than a gentle smile to impress Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian rambled on about all the dramatic scenes he had witnessed during the conference, the little jealousies that had been happening among those that were looking for a marriage partner in order to secure the status of their sect.

Lan Wangji did not really care about these things, but he let Wei Wuxian talk nonetheless, content to listen as long as he was not required to speak.

“Seriously though, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian ended his excursion. “You don’t have your eye on anyone? Come on, tell me! I’m not going to tattle! I’ll help you!”

That was precisely not what Lan Wangji wanted, and the last thing he needed was ‘help’ from Wei Wuxian, of all people. So he tightly closed his lips, and walked faster. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian was almost as tall as him, and so he easily kept pace with Lan Wangji easily.

“Lan Zhaaaaan, come on, don’t be so stubborn,” Wei Wuxian pouted, swishing his ponytail back and forth in disappointment. “I’m trying to be supportive.”

“Wei Ying had better mind his own business,” Lan Wangji said curtly.

“Wei Ying has no business to mind,” Wei Wuxian whined, his pout growing impossibly more pronounced.

“What were you discussing with my brother, then?” Lan Wangji asked impatiently.

He regretted his words as soon as they had left his mouth.

“Oh, you saw that?” Wei Wuxian replied, perking up immediately. “Xichen-ge has been trying to convince me to come to Cloud Recesses again, to study some more or something. I wonder why he’s so insistent on it, I wasn’t that bad of a student, was I? I shouldn’t need special education!”

Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian in surprise, but there was no impish glint in his eye, and no mischievous smile on his lips. Wei Wuxian was entirely serious.

“Brother asked you to come study at Cloud Recesses again?” Lan Wangji asked.

“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian agreed. “Though I’m not sure why he would ask. I feel Lan Qiren will have a qi deviation if I visit a second time.”

Lan Wangji needed a moment to process this new information.

Apparently, Lan Xichen had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu. But there seemed to have been made no promise of marriage, or Wei Wuxian was expertly deceiving him on that account.

But there was no real reason for Wei Wuxian to be deceptive. On the contrary, Wei Wuxian would probably enjoy to lord an engagement to his brother of Lan Wangji with gusto.

Which meant that his brother had never made an offer. And yet, he had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu.

He had invited Wei Wuxian to Gusu.

Deliberately.

Without making an offer of marriage.

Lan Wangji froze for a moment and gripped Bichen, considering.

He looked at Wei Wuxian, who looked back at him with a half-smile on his face, evidently confused about Lan Wangji’s strange reaction to his words.

Oh, it was starting to make sense now.

It was all clear.

He was going to have to commit fratricide.

“But, you know,” Wei Wuxian said, now smiling fully, clearly unaware of Lan Wangji’s dark, dark thoughts.

“If Lan Zhan asks me, I will come.”

[truly-morgan]

[Kinktober 2021: Fucking Machine (18+)]

XianChengXuanyu | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 30-10-2021

Day 30: P̷r̷o̷s̷t̷i̷t̷u̷t̷i̷o̷n̷ / [Fucking Machine] / H̷a̷t̷e̷ ̷S̷e̷x̷

Jiang Cheng didn't know what to expect upon entering Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu room. A weird machine was not on the list of possibilities.

====

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes as Wei Wuxian made grand gestures to show the small studio, which he was sharing with his shy roommate Mo Xuanyu. The shy roommate only blushed when he greeted him with a smile and replied shyly.

But jc couldn't hide how excited he was, it had been weeks since they last saw each other and he was overjoyed when wwx suggested he stay over for a while now that it was his school break.

After all, there was no one home anyway, it was better to stay with wwx and he might make a new friend. 

The first day went all great, finally able to catch up and even learn a bit more about mxy (he was surprised to hear he was related to the peacock too).

He felt a bit bad tho since wwx insisted on him taking his bed while he and mxy would simply share the other one, but the two roommates seemed more than happy to share the bed.

It's on the second that jc found something weird. He was pretty used to wwx peculiar machines and creation. But this one had him a bit flustered when he realised what it was.

A fucking machine with a weird-looking dildo on it (he pushed to the back of his mind that he knew it was probably some monster dick). The thing was even painted pink.

He acted as if it was nothing, trying not to think about either of them /using it/. But when wwx went out to grab the food he ordered as they waited for mxy to be back from work, curiosity got the best of him.

He found it again, pulling it more towards the centre of the room. It took a moment but he managed to find how to turn on the thing and jumped when he did so, not expecting for it to be /this strong/. How was anyone using this with that toy?!

But he did wonder how it would feel, it had been a while since he last had sex with someone.

He jumped again when he heard wwx voice yelling that they were back. How was he so fast?! He tried to quickly shut it off, only to have wwx open the door when he did just so.

“Would you look at that, chengcheng snooping around, were you curious" wwx teased as he walked in, mxy on his heel looking interested. 

Jc couldn't look up at them, feeling his face burning from embarrassment. He wished the ground would swallow him up right now.

“Cheng-ge can try if he wants to" mxy suggested excitedly, wwx grinning even more when he saw jc blush reach his neck now. “Ah, but we need to change the toy or we will hurt him" pointed out mxy as he walked across the room, finding a box filled with a fake dick that could be used with it. 

It took only a little bit of convincing for jc to accept, but he ended up doing so as he was feeling horny now and curious about the machine.

He simply asked not to be the only one naked, a bit surprised when mxy was so readily taking off his clothes, revealing cute panties underneath it.

He was nearly stripped down by mxy who had come to him to help him relax while wwx was taking care of putting everything into place. He ended up making out with the not-so-shy anymore mxy, feeling himself relax a bit with that.

All his nervousness came back thought when he placed himself on all four on the bed, the machine behind him as he was fingering himself. Having the two others watching nearly gave him the impression he was giving them a show.

“A-cheng looks pretty experienced, I'd believe he did it before" wwx teased, only to gasp when he saw jc blush again, hiding against the mattress. “No way!? Who dared to put their hand on my innocent chengcheng? Lwj? Nhs? Wn? Nmj?” wwx tried to guess as jc shook his head until nmj name. Wwx gaped at that, they needed to talk about this later.

Instead, mxy went to help jc, guiding his hips to put the toy inside of him. “I will start it slowly so you can get used to it" warned the young man, turning the machine on, looking at the way jc reacted.

He frowned a bit at first, as it was obviously bigger than his finger, but soon it passed and he was left moving his hips to find a better angle. He was a bit surprised when mxy was back in front of him to kiss him, shifting around a bit until he moaned into jc mouth.

The young man was riding his own toy in front of him, joining him in the fun as wwx was the one changing the setting for jc. For now, seeing him moan and shake from the pleasure he was getting from the fucking machine was really enough.

He was even mesmerised by the way jc would get used to the different settings quickly and beg for more. 

“Look at you, taking it so good for us” wwx cooed as he caressed jc back after his first orgasm, “What a good boy you are, isn’t he a-yu?”.

“Yes, Yes, a-cheng is a good boy” mxy moaned, kissing jc again who was moaning at the praises. This sparked something in wwx who already loves dirty talking, praising jc over everything.

At some point he also started jerking off and riding one of his favourite weird dildos, adding to the moaning mess that was on the bed.

“I want kisses too” he whined after a while of mxy not leaving jc alone, stealing him. Jc seemed to simply want kisses, whoever it was from, latching onto his lips hungrily.

After a couple of rounds, jc started whining that it was too much, feeling himself being too overstimulated. They stopped, the two roommates cuddling with jc between them, still kissing him.

Jc didn’t expect this by coming here for the vacation between the semesters, but he would not complain, he got even better than he expected. 

Maybe he could find himself a machine too...

Original - AO3