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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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Prompt: what if jc was lxc's age (and jyl maybe 2 or 3 years older) and wwx was lwj's/nhs' age when he was brought to lotus pier? (Or anything that involves a much bigger age gap bw the jiang sibs and wwx - where wwx is babey)

Untamed

“You know what,” Jiang Cheng said to his sister, who looked at him. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not marrying a woman.”

Jiang Yanli’s lips started twitching uncontrollably and she hid her smile behind her sleeve. “Oh?”

“Nope. I’m going to marry Chifeng-zun.”

“On the basis of…?”

“If you take two adult men in charge of two Great Sects,” Jiang Cheng said, doing his utmost best to keep a straight face, “with all the power we can generate between us, we might – maybe – have a chance at disciplining our baby brothers.”

Jiang Yanli burst out laughing.

“There, there. It’s all right,” he said, grinning, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. “You can join us if you’d like. There’s enough room in Qinghe for two wives.”

“We are not both running away to Qinghe,” she said, giggling. “A-Cheng!”

“What? I think it’s a great idea. If our parents want us back, they can negotiate with Chifeng-zun for it – may they have more luck than they had with the whole medicinal herb debacle.”

“A-Cheng, I am officially tabling this idea,” Jiang Yanli said, still snorting. “Older sibling privilege.”

“I let you out of the womb first as a matter of courtesy,” Jiang Cheng sniffed. “And now you use it against me? A-Li, how could you?”

“Call me jiejie! It doesn’t matter how much older, a few shichen or a few years, older is still older.”

“You probably elbowed me with those sharp pointy things you have on your arms. Weapons of war.”

“Older is older!” she sang. “Now tell me, what did A-Xian do this time?”

“Would you like it in chronological order, or in order of severity? I can also group it by theme, if you prefer.”

“Oh no,” Jiang Yanli said, covering her eyes. “Oh no.”

“And the chief-most theme,” Jiang Cheng said, continuing anyway, “is still called Lan Wangji.”

“Oh no!”

“He has the worst crush,” Jiang Cheng said, shaking his head with endless amusement. “And he just – refuses to admit it. ‘Nooooo, shixiong, we’re just friends, he can’t even stand me most of the time, he’s always trying to get me in trouble, but sometimes he lets me sit next to him and spend time with him and he’s so handsome and I really just want to make him laugh –’”

“We have,” Jiang Yanli said thoughtfully, “raised an idiot.”

“He was fine when we got him,” Jiang Cheng disagreed. “We have spoiled an idiot.”

“This is true. Maybe we should go form a mutual complaining society with Chifeng-zun; isn’t his little brother also an idiot?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Jiang Cheng said. “Worse: they’ve teamed up. Nie Huaisang buys Wei Wuxian porn now.”

“Oh no…”

“In return for help cheating on his tests!”

“Oh no!”

“So that’s why I’m going to marry Chifeng-zun,” Jiang Cheng concluded. “Our parents may be disappointed by my decision, but with our powers combined, we might be able to save the world from our respective younger idiots.”

“Maybe,” she said, and shook her head. “A-Cheng – about our parents…”

Jiang Cheng shook his head as well, echoing her action but more in denial. It wasn’t anyone’s fault that she took after their father and he took after their mother, that she was born a shichen prior to midnight and he a shichen after and their personalities completely different as a result; it was no one’s fault that their parents didn’t get along, with their mother disdaining what she perceived as Jiang Yanli’s passiveness and lack of passion and their father despising Jiang Cheng’ prickly temper and difficulty communicating his affection without scolding.

It certainly wasn’t Wei Wuxian’s fault for being younger and more brilliant, talented at everything he did and with just the sort of personality their father liked best – the combination of his former best friend and the girl he’d once thought of marrying – and that he’d always made that preference very clear to everyone, even to their mother who often worried that her husband would dispossess her children in favor of his foundling and who lashed out at everyone in response.

That had hurt – hurt a lot, even, and Jiang Cheng was soft and sensitive underneath all his defensive layers, but any time he got angry over it he would look at Wei Wuxian, their little A-Xian, baby Xianxian, who adored his older siblings more than anything and was adored in return, and he forced himself to get over it. He was old enough, by the time Wei Wuxian arrived, to know to whom the blame really belonged.

“I spoke with Nie Huaisang while I was at the Cloud Recesses,” Jiang Cheng said in an undertone, one reserved just for his sister. “He’s asked me to pass along a message to his brother, the next time I go night-hunting, about the whole debacle – he’s so terribly apologetic, you understand, he couldn’t wait for the post – if we get to Qinghe by tomorrow, Chifeng-zun will be able to get to Gusu in time to intervene before our father does something wretched like cancel your engagement and take A-Xian home early from his studies.”

“The engagement I wouldn’t mind,” she remarked. “If Jin Zixuan feels so strongly about it that he’d get into a fistfight with A-Xian, it’s better not to marry, no matter what our mother might think. But on no account is A-Xian to be sent home early! He needs his education!”

Unsaid was everything else he needed, things he could get better at the Cloud Recesses than anywhere else.

“Then we go?”

“We go,” she agreed. Between the two of them, Jiang Cheng had more talent at cultivation, but she was steadier, even in her overall mediocrity: when the two of them flew on a sword together, they could make it much further and faster than anyone expected.

Qinghe wasn’t really close enough for a quick jaunt – they flew all night without stopping – but Chifeng-zun was amendable to their scheme, jumping at once onto his saber and making his way straight to Gusu. A waste of spiritual energy all around, really, but far faster than their father would move, with his Sect Leader’s dignity and retinue, rushing to the Cloud Recesses to save his precious little Wei Wuxian from having any connections in life that weren’t to the Jiang sect, and the Jiang sect alone.

And never mind how much he needed those connections: needed to have friends his own age, needed to have more time with that crush of his, needed independence and freedom and everything the Jiang sect supposedly stood for - needed for them to support him and act as the foundation beneath his feet, rather than the chains tying him down to earth.

Chifeng-zun – who was only a few years older than they were – was really a very understanding person, getting the problem at once and immediately agreeing with their view on things. Perhaps there really was something to be said about the difference in generations…

“Let me show you to rooms where you can rest,” Chifeng-zun’s aide said, a slender young man with a polite smile on his face as he saluted. “I’ll arrange for refreshments as well.”

“We hate to trouble you, but in all honesty you are a lifesaver,” Jiang Yanli said to him warmly, and he unexpectedly flushed red at the cheeks. “A-Cheng, let’s follow this handsome young man and rest a while before we return to the Lotus Pier.”

The young man was blushing.

“What’s your name?” Jiang Cheng asked, and the blush faded away at once as the man paled a little: it would be one he expected them to recognize, then, and not in a good way.

“This one is Meng Yao,” he said, and saluted again even though he’d already saluted once before, and Jiang Yanli’s eyes flickered to Jiang Cheng’s very briefly before she caught his arms and raised him up.

“I’ve heard of you. Smart and talented enough to get Chifeng-zun’s attention, even so far as becoming his personal deputy - you must be brilliant. Truly, you deserve a better father,” she told him, and he stared up at her, dumbstruck.

“Don’t mind her,” Jiang Cheng said. “She’s trying out this new thing in which she says everything she feels without thinking first.”

She elbowed him. “And isn’t it your fault?” she asked snappishly. “You’re the one who needs to speak your mind more; I’m just modeling good behavior!”

If she’d been older than him – really older, rather than just a few shichen – maybe she would have held her tongue more and played the role of the peacekeeper, trying to protect him from his father’s indifference the way she had tried to when they were both younger, just as he had tried to distract his mother from her with his hard-fought accomplishments. It wasn’t until they had little Wei Wuxian to spoil and care for, a joint task that required both of their attention, that they realized that splitting their forces like that was pointless and self-defeating: it wasn’t actually helping that Jiang Yanli suppressed so much of her spirit until she felt like little more than a reflective mirror with no content, nor that Jiang Cheng nearly worked himself to death trying to prove that he was worthy of his father’s love and respect that he would never receive, and it never would.

So they stopped.

They were trying very hard to stop, anyway.

“You’re very kind,” Meng Yao murmured, and led them to their rooms.

The moment he closed the door behind him, Jiang Yanli turned to Jiang Cheng and said, “I’ve changed my mind about your plan – we can run away to Qinghe. You marry Chifeng-zun, and I’ll marry that charming boy out there.”

There was an audible thudding sound from the corridor outside, as if someone had accidentally walked into a wall, and they both grinned at each other.

“Mother would kill you,” he warned her in an undertone.

“And being married to someone who disdains me enough to fight over my worthlessness in public wouldn’t?” she retorted, smiling even though her expression was tinged with pain: if she had one ambition in life, it was to never become their mother. “The marriage agreement might have been forged by our mothers, but the text of it says ‘the Jin sect leader’s son to the Jiang sect leader’s daughter’. Why can’t I marry him?”

“He hasn’t been acknowledged.”

“Only technically. Everyone knows he’s the real deal, or else his father wouldn’t have made such a fuss about it.”

“But –”

“Anyway, he must be a good man, or Chifeng-zun wouldn’t have promoted him.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jiang Cheng said. “Chifeng-zun doesn’t have the sense of self-preservation the heavens bestowed on a lemming.”

There was a vaguely audible snort from outside their door. It seemed Meng Yao, at least, had the good sense not to leave guests in his house unattended, and no discrimination against the very useful business of listening at doors.

He also had a sense of humor, which was good given Jiang Yanli’s newfound ambitions in his regard.

“Yes, well, I wasn’t saying I’d elope with him tomorrow or anything,” she sniffed, eyes dancing. “Give him some time to prove himself to me.”

Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but smile back. “That’s true,” he said, raising his voice a little. “At Chifeng-zun’s side, he’ll be able to make a name for himself until the whispers all say that his father was an idiot for keeping him away.”

“And if even that doesn’t work, I’ll marry him in and make him help me run the Jiang sect,” she said cheerfully. “Who needs Lanling Jin?”

“Wait, since when are you inheriting the Jiang sect?”

“I’m older! And anyway, aren’t you marrying Chifeng-zun? That means you’ll be away helping run his sect, and that leaves an opening at home for me.”

“…huh. Good point.”

“Maybe you can just swap places with Meng Yao,” she said, starting to giggle again. “And we can all see how long it takes anyone to notice…”

“Our parents might not,” Jiang Cheng said dryly. “But Chifeng-zun would. If only because I have my sights set on his bed, and I don’t think Meng Yao does.”

“You don’t know that; everyone wants Chifeng-zun. Maybe you have competition.”

“Better to have competition than be oblivious. Do you want to hear the whole story about A-Xian and Lan Wangji’s tragic mutual pining disaster? Xichen-xiong told me all the details he’s been leaving out of his letters.”

“Tell me everything!”

#mdzs #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #meng yao #nie mingjue #my fic #my fics #jiang sect twins #crazycat27 #mingcheng #meng yao/jiang yanli

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somereaderinblue · 3 years

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Jiang Wanyin; Love=Convenience

.........................sometimes, I look at JC’s resentment and I’m scared. Not scared of him per se but rather, scared of what I discovered.

The thing about love is that it’s never easy. Love, whether we thrive in it or are wary of it, is capable of turning toxic. I mean srsly, just look at the Jiang family (*koff* Madam Ew *koff*).

And one thing that I’ve come to realize about how JC views love? To him, it’s a convenience. He treats love like a convenience. WWX once loved him like a brother and look at how that ended. YZY claimed to love him too and she’s not getting best mom of the year award in a million lifetimes.

And even JYL, perhaps the one positive love JC had in his life was eventually turned into a convenience. Because if JC truly loved her, if he truly respected and wished to honor her memory, he wouldn’t have used his love for her as an excuse to hate WWX.

When you use someone’s love as an excuse to hurt and torture innocent ppl simply on the basis that they remind you of someone you're blaming, a love that’s meant to be pure and cherished, aren’t you tainting it in the worst way possible? Especially if it’s love towards a person like JYL, who for all her mediocracy, would definitely not approve of all the screwed up shit JC committed for the past 13 years.

It made me realize how so many ppl can end up repeating the same thing, perhaps without even knowing it. It made myself terrified of loving someone for fear that if I were to lose them, I would become just as bitter & miserable as JC.

JC also viewed love as a convenience in the sense that he believes it should just be handed to him. Like how there should be toilet paper available in all restrooms. He expects it to be handed to him when he himself makes no effort to give it.

He saw WWX’s brotherly love for him as a convenience too; for it conveniently granted him a guard dog/powerhouse during the SSC and a scapegoat post-SSC. When JFM seemingly didn't give him his 'love', he saw it as him being derived of a convenience he's owed. He used it as a convenient excuse to resent WWX more and to believe his toxic mother's bs accusations.

Sometimes, I wonder if he also sees JL’s familial love as a convenience for he conveniently has some remnant of his dead sister within easy reach & no matter how shitty he is, he won’t leave him bcz they’re family and they ‘love’ each other.

Love IS NOT A CONVENIENCE. If you view love as a ‘convenience’ then forget finding true love bcz at the end of the day, the love you give is always conditional and rlly, who wants to put up with that if they can avoid it? WWX certainly burned that bridge and never looked back once he stepped onto the narrow-planked one with LWJ, a man who loves him unconditionally.

Come to think of it, if JC had this same mindset while searching for a partner, it’s no wonder he was blacklisted. It’s no wonder at the end of the novel, he’s even more bitter and lonelier. It’s no wonder there’s a possibility that even if the core thrumming in him is strong enough to reach immortality, he’s most likely cursed to live a miserable lonely life without someone by his side.

If you wanna argue along the lines of arranged marriages then fine; but when it comes to familial love, it is not a convenience. Period.

JC stans who hc him loving his nephew, his brother, his disciples or whatever- pls just don’t clown my post.

#mdzs #meta #mdzs meta #anti jiang cheng #canon jiang cheng #jiang 'you still owe me a great debt' cheng

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gay-snom · 3 years

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contextualizing lwj’s coming to terms with his feelings subplot!

i wanna talk about the role of confucianism in this subplot because i think it’s something some western fans might not pick up on. basically, the sociopolitical climate of confucianism in his character arc, and a little bit about his interaction with the public image theme.

disclaimer: i’m not chinese but i do have a double minor in chinese and asian studies and have written a few papers on confucianism.

we’re gonna be talking about the novel bc i feel its a little more in-depth and nuanced than lwj’s “what is black, what is white” monologue in cql. namely the tension and misunderstanding in wwx’s first life and how lwj got his scars. i feel like it’s pretty well accepted that wwx made lwj reconsider his world view, so i’m just gonna expand on it. also i want to point out it's pretty unspoken in most of the text, but lwj is also affected by/used to explore the public image themes, as his image the is ideal confucian scholar.

confucianism is centered around the ideas of how to behave “good” in sociopolitical contexts. basically it boils down to a belief system on how society should be run. if everyone follows confucian beliefs, you will have an ideal society. the main text is the Analects, which you can read here. it’s been around for a few thousand years (like around 200 BCE ish), had a huge revival in the tang dynasty (618-907 CE). it was put on imperial exams, the emperor’s cabinet had confucian scholars, etc. this is just to say confucian values are important to historic society, especially upper-class scholars, which seems to be a role cultivators commonly fill in xianxia. here are some basic tenants:

being a gentleman/scholar/superior man (君子 jūn zǐ) : partly being learned in the arts, literature, music, poetry, etc., mostly behaving righteously and dutifully.

filial piety: usually described as obedience. it's not simply obeying everything elders tell you, it includes doing it with reverence and thankfulness for their sacrifices for you.

leading by example: if leaders/the government is righteous, the people will follow. lwj has his flock of juniors that are all strong cultivators and the lan sect is just generally known for being moral and good.

rites/rituals: a focus on politeness and holding proper ceremonies, sacrifices, and funerals

speech: there’s some great meta about the register he speaks in here, i just want to touch on think carefully before you speak, only speak sincerely, etc.

tldr; lwj is THE perfect gentleman (even his title contains the character suffix 君 -jūn, like lxc. which, while this character is not uncommon for cultivator titles, it wasn’t chosen carelessly either. also not to be confused with 尊 -zūn). seriously, look at almost all of book 10 and you'll see don't do/consume in excess, don't talk during meals, sit only when your mat is straight, etc.

okay, so Why is understanding his feelings for wwx so troublesome?

1.2 "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion... Filial piety and fraternal submission! - are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"

in other words, people who are filial will never create political tension. so like, morally, wwx should be considered horrible person! he’s not only snubbed the jiang sect. he was a head disciple who undoubtedly had younger students looking up to him. and then he goes and stirs up some huge political issues! he is now a bad role model for the people below him and disrespected the people above him. lwj has an entire image to uphold, he has poured his entire life into following these rules and beliefs, and then wwx comes along. would continuing to be in wwx's life taint lwj? there are some contradicting teachings in regards to interacting with wwx:

15.4: "Do not take counsel with those who follow a different Way"

15.28: "When the multitude hates a person, you must examine them and judge for yourself. The same holds true for someone whom the multitude love."

15.36 "When it comes to being Good, defer to no one, not even your teacher."

this is part of the reason lwj had so much trouble accepting his feelings. he didn’t know how to handle this situation, making him appear distant during/directly after sunshot. if he judges wwx's intentions to be pure, it's then not wrong to be friendly with him. but wwx still is morally wrong by society's standards. now, lwj has to not only figure out his feelings, but also reconcile this with how he still thinks wwx is Not a bad person, despite everything. what if he does get "tainted" by wwx? will it hurt the reputation of his sect? that would be un-filial, right? he spent his whole life memorizing rules that are probably extremely similar to sections in the Analects, and now these mixed messages (coupled with the relatable gay panic) are overwhelming.

onto the next! there’s something unspoken in the scene where wwx discovers why lwj has the whip scars. as other posts have mentioned, lwj taking wwx back to the burial mounds and nursing him is high treason. however, this action is also extremely un-filial. also his entire image is built around being a perfect gentleman, if this were to get out to the public he would lose absolutely everything. he would be just as irreparable as wwx.

“I was worried if those from another sect found you first, WangJi would be considered your accomplice. The best scenario was his name being forever tainted, and the worst was his life being taken away right then. Thus, along with Uncle, we chose thirty three seniors who had always thought highly of WangJi... ”

there’s no way lwj didn’t know what would happen if he did this. obviously as lxc says, if this got out, he would lose basically his entire face. and even though lxc didn’t mention this, it would definitely lose a lot of face for the lan sect as well since lwj is so prominent. the decision about what elders to bring is also notable.

“...As if he knew all along he would be discovered by us, he said that there was nothing to explain, that this was it. Growing up, he had never talked back to Uncle, not even once. But for you, not only did WangJi talk back to him, he even met with his sword the cultivators from the Gusu Lan sect...”

so yeah, he obviously knew they would come for him and what the consequences would be. and he still talked back! that’s already not a good look for the lan sect. but attacking them? totally unforgivable! lwj gives up how he was raised and the importance of filial piety, what he has held on to until this major plot event. since it's basically the biggest "fuck you" to his uncle and his clan, this was not a decision he made lightly. lwj shows them he cares more about wwx and His Own ideas of right and wrong than the sect’s or society’s.

Wei WuXian dug his hands into his hair, “...I-I didn’t know... I really...”

when was the last time wwx was at a loss for words? wwx spends a few paragraphs after this lamenting how he hurt lwj, but he's not unaware of the gravity of what lwj did. it's an underlying assumption from being raised in the culture. i would argue his first instinct is "oh god he gave up what for me?" since those lamenting paragraphs are after lxc finishes speaking.

"But he said... that he could not say with certainty whether what you did was right or wrong..."

this is something thrown around a lot in the Analects, that not even confucius can say for sure what is right or wrong. what better way to show lwj is still a perfect confucian than have him paraphrase confucius himself?

“...WangJi was a model for the disciples when he was young, and a prominent cultivator when he grew up. In his whole life he had been honest and righteous and immaculate--you were the only mistake he made!”

here’s the confirmation that the world and even his family thinks of him as a perfect gentleman, the top tier of society, and it was all thrown away for wwx. this is just so heavy. the mistake thing? thats not only because lwj is fraternizing with an enemy. lxc and the rest of the sect who knew are terrified this will forever corrupt lwj personally, not just publicly. lwj was so devoted to believing this was the right thing to do he offered up everything he had. the gravity of this decision is insane. it’s very obvious that he loves wwx, it’s just that he struggles a lot internally to accept everything that is happening.

as for helping wwx leave after the massacre, is this gentleman-ly of lwj? was it actually in-line with his image? is it more honorable to save someone who is dying, at the cost of your own health, than to look away? isn't looking away a form of resentment? i wasn't able to find a specific passage about bystander-ness, but personally i think it qualifies as "bad intentions." there is also this passage for what it's worth, originally it was about government suppression:

12.19: "...What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "...why should you use killing at all?..."

lwj is always more actions than words, and he was not fucking around. his core beliefs really haven't changed, and remain very strong throughout his life. he is still righteous enough to accept his punishment, graceful enough to search for wwx's body since there was no one else to do the funeral rites (10.22/10.15), caring enough to take in a-yuan, upright enough to still spend his years going where the chaos is.

just with this one action, the audience knows he has come to terms with realizing that authority isn't always just, and neither is the public opinion/opinion of other gentlemen. he has reconciled. this is him standing for what he believes is right. this is his devotion. this is his own choice. just. poetic cinema...

anyway that's it for my first meta post! i would love to hear your thoughts, feelings, opinions, discussions, other meta ideas, whatever! thank u for reading! <3

#its My post and i get to pick the subplot #i have...brainworms #wwx and lwj are foils in the public image theme change my mind #mdzs #mdzs meta #lan wangji #mo dao zu shi #stfu #meta

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plan-d-to-i · 3 years

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I feel like on some level Wei Ying was sort of aware of his crush on Lan Zhan back in his first life, but because of constant rejections, homophobic society/ Jiang Cheng, Lan Zhan's reactions to the rabbits being male (read Lan Zhan finding being gay wrong), and comphet, he pushed his feelings way deep down and suppressed them somewhat. Not that's it canon but if you take into a account the audio drama extra where Wei Ying throws the peony at Lan Zhan and he's more than aware of meaning that says a lot too. That's probably why he realized his feelings so fast in his second life, but didn't want to make assumptions about Lan Zhan's.

I personally think that he knew somewhat of his feelings the second time Lan Zhan got drunk and he kissed him, but due to Lan Zhan's reaction he pushed his feelings down and tried to suppress them and not let himself be too hopeful. I think he meant every word he said to Jin Ling about Lan Zhan at Jinlin Tai, but seeing Lan Zhan stare at him, he felt guilty for liking Lan Zhan that way because he thinks Lan Zhan is straight and would possibly reject him. He doesn't want to lose his friendship with Lan Zhan so he pushes everything down acts like everything is fine so that way he can stay by his side (another reason him and Lan Zhan are so similar at their core). The chapter he wakes up in CR after being stabbed is called Inseparably in Love. I think that's the defining moment where Wei Ying can't lie to himself anymore that he is in love with Lan Zhan, because Lan Zhan stood by his side, but certain events make them take two steps forward, three steps back. The biggest moment of that is when they are hiding in the hay stack. He is so happy until the couple comes along and ruins it. They talk mad shit about him and then he can no longer look Lan Zhan in the eyes because maybe on some level he feels like Lan Zhan did hate him back then and maybe somewhat agrees with the couple is saying about back then even if he doesn't now. So he doesn't let himself hope too much with his domestic cottage core fantasy.

Anyway the biggest tell of Wei Ying being somewhat aware of his crush on Lan Zhan back in CR is the dream come true extra where he kind of admits it. "I'll admit it. All that was nonsense. Back then, I really wanted to play with you." "Rejecting me like that so coldly every single time-it really made me lose face, don't you know?" Even if his feelings were subconscious, they are not as subconscious as people like to think.

This was so beautifully written. I completely agree. It also made me want to reread the novel again because so many moments between Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian are so sweet.

This is the audio drama chapter being referred to btw. This post also lists a few of the sweet moments between them that I see as further proof of WWX's feelings! I just get the sense that WWX realized early on that he'd met his match with Lan Wangji. In terms of talent and morality. Especially after LWJ punished himself alongside him.

I think a lot of the time Wei Wuxian just doesn't let himself think directly & fully about what he would like to have when he believes there's no way he will have it, or when he's clearly not getting it. In that manner he can remain grateful for what he gets instead of becoming resentful for not having more. So as he begins to trust LWJ more and more and grow closer and closer to him, and hope that LWJ might return his feelings, he can finally begin to open himself up to everything he was feeling for so long, look at it straight on, and say I really wanted to play with you.

#mdzs #answers #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #WangXian

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drwcn · 3 years

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《 Without Envy 》 storyboard 9 - concubine/sleeper agent!wwx & prince!lwj [Master List], you should also have read [6] [6.2]

Lan Qiren coming to visit Hanguang-fu effectively put an end to Wei Wuxian's time as Lan Wangji's servant. He wanted to send Wei Wuxian back to Jiang-fu, but luckily, Jiang Yanli interfered.

Jiang Yanli has been slowly recovering since her drug-induced miscarriage, and while Wei Wuxian had slowed her progress with sedatives, he's been careful to keep an eye on her intake to make sure Jin Ziyan hasn't been messing with her again. As well, with Wei Wuxian occupying Lan Wangji's time and keeping the Jiang family in his good graces, Jiang Yanli had the time she needed to recover fully without needing to push herself to entertain Lan Wangji for favour.

“妾身见过太师，给太师请安。” “阿离啊，听说你小产后一直身体不好，这下着雨，你怎么来了。起身吧, 孩子。” “承蒙太师与陛下惦记，殿下垂怜，阿离的身子已经大好了。阿羡本是妾身院里的，是妾身的陪嫁，一直都安分守己，对王府对殿下忠心不二。是妾身无用，身子一直不见好才让阿羡到王爷身边侍奉。刚见阿羡被太师训斥，相比是阿离平日里管教无方，无心顶撞了太师。有什么过错，都是妾身的错，还请太师责罚。” ~translate~ Jiang Yanli dipped into a proper curtsey, kneeling before Lan Qiren, "This humble concubine greets Taishi. I pray that you've been well." "A-Li, I've heard that you've not been well since your miscarriage. It's raining today, what troubled you to come? Rise, child." Lan Qiren's stance softened upon seeing Jiang Yanli. His late sister-in-law had no daughters, and so often summoned the daughters of nobles into court to dote on and mentor as her own. Jiang Yanli, gentle and proper, has long been known to be a favorite of the late empress. She may not be the greatest beauty in her generation, but was second to none when it came to etiquette and grace. "Thanks be to His Majesty and taishi for remembering, and thanks to dianxia's for his care, my health is much improved now. A-Xian was once a member of my court, my peijia. I've always known him to be obedient and conscious of his place, and loyal to wangye and this princely manor. It is only on account of my poor health that he's been summoned to serve at wangye's side. Earlier, I heard Taishi chastising him; surely it must be A-Li's fault for failing to teaching him propriety and thus causing his unintended offence. The fault is with A-Li, and so I humbly submit myself to your discipline, taishi." Lan Qiren sighed. He did not wish to stir up trouble over a servant. If Jiang Yanli was willing to stand up for this Wei Wuxian, then he must have his uses. At the very least, he'll be a confidant for Jiang Yanli against Jin Ziyan. Lan Qiren so hoped that one day Wangji would choose the Jiang girl as his legal spouse and secure his marriage once and for all. If sparing one lowly servant was the price then so be it. "Very well, A-Li. Since the servant is yours, then his training and discipline shall be your responsible. He is unsuited to serve at the prince's side. It is good that you have recovered; Wangji should not be without a caring partner."

And so, Wei Wuxian returned to Jiang Yanli's side as a servant. Lan Wangji had to watch him go and could not interfere. The next several days was depressing for both of them on multiple fronts.

Xue Yang was very unimpressed:

"So you're tell me that you got to spend quality time with Lan Wangji for months and then... didn't get anywhere?" "I was getting there okay? How was I supposed to know his stupid uncle was gonna barge in like some nosey busybody and ruin everything!? I haven't seen Lan Zhan in days..." I miss him. How horrifyingly embarrassing. He probably forgot me already. "Don't tell me you actually miss him??? That you - barf - fell for him? Whatever happened to standards??!" "You watch your mouth, Xue Chengmei! I'm still your shixiong! And I have standards; Lan Zhan is...very good." Xue Yang: ( ˘︹˘ ) whatever.

Lan Wangji, the sulky boy that he is, brooded for days until Lan Xichen finally sought him out for some good ol' brotherly heart to heart.

"I hear Uncle took away your shiny new toy." "Wei Ying is not a toy." "Wei Ying is it?" Lan Xichen wiggled his eyebrows. "Ah, didi, you have to think a little more creatively. So your Wei Ying has gone back to his mistress, but is his mistress not your concubine? Jiang-furen is still unpregnant, I might add. Visit her. Then surely you'll get to see him." Lan Wangji grimaced. The thought has occurred to him, but the idea of bedding anyone not Wei Ying is intolerable. "Yes, Yanli is lovely, but I'd rather not...you know..." His brother was too polite to roll his eyes. "You've done it before, Wangji." "I would not have had to, if xiongzhang simply did his duty." Lan Wangji bit back icily, and instantly regretted it. Lan Xichen's eyes widened, his cheerful-teasing expression stuttering and crumbling in seconds. "Yes...yes that's true." "My sincerest apologies, huangxiong - no - bixia." Lan Wangji rose to his feet and then bowed down deeply. "I forgot my place. I accept any punishment." Lan Xichen sighed and extended a forgiving hand to pardon him. "Not necessary, Wangji. You're right. I haven't done my duty for Gusu." He pulled the younger man to sit beside him again. "You are doing this in my stead, stepping up where I have let the country down. I should not make light of your sacrifice. The matter of a harem is inevitably complicated, which is why I never cared for one. Neither did Father. His harem had always been sparse, and his first empress was not one of his choosing. When she died in childbirth and our unborn sibling along with her, he elevated our mother's rank to Empress and visited no one else henceforth." "Mother was never popular with the ministers for that reason." "Yes. They suspected that she had something to do with...well, in any case I imagine they were quite relieved when she passed." Lan Xichen shook his head. "The harem is not a happy place, Wangji. You were born after Mother was already Empress, you would not have remembered a time when she was consort. But I do. Like you, your concubines did not get to choose their fate. The fault, ultimately, lies with me." "Huangxiong -" "It's true, Wangji. The fault is mine." Lan Xichen patted him on the arm placatingly. "You cannot love them, and clever as they are, I don't think your concubines would expect you to. However, you can ensure their happiness in other ways. Jiang-furen seems the kind to very much want a child of her own. It will make the rest of her life in your harem more bearable."

After some deliberation, Lan Wangji went back to his routine of visiting different concubines regularly, but never more than just sharing a bed-space. With the exception of Jiang Yanli. Lan Wangji could see it in her eyes; she knew who he really wanted, but those words never needed to be said aloud. Jiang Yanli was kind to him, and he was kind to her in return. All things considered, it wasn't awful being with someone who wasn't your preferred, but who knew you for yourself and shared your struggles.

"Dianxia, you must've heard, that before I married into your wangfu, I was betrothed to Jin Zixuan." She mentioned one evening over a game of weiqi. Of all his concubines (which he has 4) and friends (which he has few), Jiang Yanli's skill on the weiqi board was unparalleled. Lan Wangji half wondered how the Marquis and Marchioness of Yunmeng could have buried this talented daughter of theirs under the shadow of their son for so many years. "Yes I am aware." "I loved him." "...." For a minute Lan Wangji did not know how to reply. He stared at the chessboard. Jiang Yanli's black pieces had surrounded his white ones and forced them into a corner. "Why are you telling me this?" "Your court, my clan: we are their creatures." Jiang Yanli 's smile was knowing. "I am not A-Xian; I can see what he cannot." "Which is?" "You've fallen for each other. Completely. He denies it, heaven knows why." Jiang Yanli took a delicate sip of tea. Fleetingly, Lan Wangji imagined that if he could not have Wei Ying, if he were forced to take a legal wife to make empress, that she would make a magnificent one. "Father loved Mother. Loved her as a wife even when she was only a consort -" "And his love spurred the hate of the royal court." "They blamed her for his loving a woman more than his country, as though she should have persuaded him to love her less. I do not want the same to happen to Wei Ying." "Nor I." "Huangshu says I would need a legal spouse one day, someone virtuous and from a strong pureblood family." "Is that what dianxia wants?" "I want it to be Wei Ying, though I know it to be impossible. Barring that, I'd want to keep him safe in the harem, the size of which will only grow after I succeed the throne." "For that, dianxia will need a spouse who will reign over the harem as you rule over the country." Lan Wangji contemplated his choices and the options available to him. After some time, he placed the white piece he fiddled between his fingers back into the bamboo bowl, conceding that he'd lost this round. Jiang Yanli waited patiently for him to come to terms with the offer she already knew he would make. He wondered how long ago she had foreseen this moment, whilst simultaneously realizing that if his uncle had any idea just how intelligent she truly was, he would not be so quick to suggest her as a candidate for princess consort. A weak emperor and a strong empress never boded well for the stability of the realm. This was dangerous waters Lan Wangji was wading into, but he knew beyond doubt that the only way to survive was to keep straight ahead. He had no other path to take, none which maximally balanced what he wanted with what he needed. Jiang Yanli was his only solution, his only ally. "Huangxiong suggested that we have a child together." He finally said, staring her squarely in the eyes. "You and I can agree that the son of Gusu Lan and Yunmeng Jiang would certainly be a strong contender amongst his brothers." "She could be a daughter." "Then I'd cherish her more. A child and a crown - would they make you happy, Yanli?" "If I said yes?" "Then they're yours." Jiang Yanli smiled.

Two months after Wei Wuxian was dismissed from Lan Wangji's service and the prince began visiting Jiang Yanli, good new was delivered to Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan. The message was this: Hanguang-wang's Jiang-furen was with child yet again.

#cql #the untamed #wangxian #cql ficlet #corie fics #without envy #i said i'd do this for yall #and so i did

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antebunny · 3 years

Text

Parent Trap AU Part 2

...with a side of on-the-run hacker!wwx AU and celebrity!lwj AU. Full series here).

“It’s not going to work,” Wei Sizhui says when they corner him after breakfast the following morning.

The three boys fold their arms and block the path, as if Wei Sizhui can’t just walk around them on the grass.

“Why not?!” Ouyang Zizhen wails.

“You don’t understand,” Lan Jingyi wheedles. “This is the most interesting thing that’s ever happened to me. Yeah my uncle is a celebrity, but he’s so boring.”

Jin Rulan huffs. “Why do we even need his help? We can just find him on the last day of camp!”

Wei Sizhui pinches the bridge of his nose with two fingers. He can feel a headache coming on. “Guys. No. They really cannot meet,” he says.

“But why not?” Ouzang Zizhen says again.

“Because,” Wei Sizhui says patiently, “my dad is wanted for kidnapping. Kidnapping me. From my other dad.”

All three of them just stare at him.

“So if your uncle met my dad while I’m there…” Wei Sizhui shakes his head. “That’s really just bad.”

Lan Jingyi plonks himself down on the paved path right there. “Okay, wait, wait,” he says. “Explain this to us again.”

“We have class in twenty minutes,” Jin Rulan complains, but he sits down too.

“Yeah!” Ouyang Zizhen hurries to scoot in between them. “Tell us the story, Sizhui.”

“I told you yesterday,” Wei Sizhui protests, but when none of them so much as blink, he sighs and sits down as well. “My dad was in prison,” he begins, and they all nod along. “Someone hired by the Jins attacked him in prison and he realized that he wasn’t safe, and I wasn’t safe.” They’re still nodding along, so Wei Sizhui continues. “So he broke out of prison,” he finishes, “and took me from my other dad’s house, and we’ve been on the run ever since.”

They stop nodding.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Jin Rulan says plainly. “Why didn’t he go to my mom? Or my uncle?”

“Or Jingyi’s uncle?” Ouyang Zizhen puts in. “Why didn’t he go to Jingyi’s uncle?”

Wei Sizhui shrugs helplessly. It seems rather straightforward to him. He doesn’t understand what they’re confused about. “Why would he? That makes no sense.”

“And why wouldn’t Lan Jingyi’s uncle be a target if you were?” Jin Rulan demands. “They were married! That doesn’t make any sense!”

Once again, Wei Sizhui can only shrug in the face of their questions. “Maybe he thought nobody would expect him to care about an ex who abandoned him.”

“My uncle would never,” Lan Jingyi says, face red. “You take that back! That’s–not what happened!”

Wei Sizhui is indeed taken aback by Lan Jingyi’s insistence. His dad doesn’t talk much about his ex-husband, it’s true. Well, his dad really doesn’t ever talk about Wei Sizhui’s other dad, but Wei Sizhui knows that even after they divorced, his dad still carries their wedding photo around every country they go to, so he supposes he just assumed.

“Yeah, why would Lan Wangji keep a photo of your dad in his wallet if he doesn’t care?” Ouyang Zizhen challenges.

Wei Sizhui rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands. It’s too early in the morning for this. He just wants to go to class and stop thinking about his dad’s former love life. “Can we please just go to class?” He begs.

“No!” Jin Rulan refuses. “Until you explain why we can’t get them to meet!”

“Even if everything does go well, my dad is still wanted for forgery and hacking in half a dozen countries,” Wei Sizhui argues. “What would them meeting do other than make them both sad? And even if Lan Wangji didn’t divorce my dad, he can’t be happy that my dad just ran off with me. It’s been nine years! They’re probably both over each other.”

Wei Sizhui has precious few memories of his other dad, and he’s never quite worked up the courage to ask for more from his dad. Lan Wangji is a tall, sturdy giant in his memories. He recalls large, warm, gentle hands, a deep voice that sung him lullabies, and a steady presence that watched him stick his tiny toddler hands through the bars to pet their two pet bunny rabbits.

But the most vivid memory Wei Sizhui has of his other dad is his warm, steady presence carefully lifting Wei Sizhui away from the glass and blocking his view of his dad. His large, warm hand came down to pat Wei Sizhui’s head, but he was talking to Wei Wuxian.

“I am sorry,” he said. “You cannot see Sizhui anymore.”

“Whose decision was this.” Dad’s voice was distorted through the glass, but even then, Wei Sizhui knew he’d never heard his dad so angry before.

Wei Sizhui clutched his dad’s leg. Pat pat, went the hand.

“I am sorry,” his dad repeated.

“Whose decision, Lan Wangji.”

“...Mine.”

Afterwards, after the yelling was over and Wei Sizhui went home with Lan Wangji, he remembers gripping his dad’s hand with all the strength in his chubby little fingers, like he might disappear at any moment, and asking; “When are we gonna see Papa again?”

Wei Sizhui was too small to see his dad’s face at that moment. Too young to remember whether it was sidewalk or carpet he walked on, what shoes he wore or what the name of the city he lived in was. What he remembered was the way his dad squeezed back, even tighter, and said never.

Wei Sizhui remembers never once considering that his dad could be lying. Not even when he woke up months later, in the middle of the night, to find his dad back and in the middle of a very intense game of hide-and-seek.

It’s been nine long years since then, and Wei Sizhui doesn’t think he wants to see his other dad again.

If only his friends could be convinced of the same.

“That…sounds like a whole lot of excuses,” Jin Rulan says, rubbing his eyes as well.

“He’s not guilty of any actual crimes, just cool crimes,” Lan Jingyi asserts. Wei Sizhui wants to scream.

“Your dad doesn’t have to be alone anymore!” Ouyang Zizhen says enthusiastically.

“Hey,” Lan Jingyi says. “Don’t be mean, he has Sizhui.”

Wei Sizhui instantly forgives him for everything. Still, he thinks his dad could be perfectly happy without Lan Wangji. Maybe without the Jins after him, and the FBI, but the idea still stands.

“Guys,” Wei Sizhui intervenes, trying to stave off the coming argument, “it doesn’t even matter, because my dad’s not gonna be here on the last day of camp.”

“What? Why not?” Jin Rulan squawks.

“He’s picking me up two days early,” Wei Sizhui explains. “So that he’s not seen by any of the other parents.”

Summer camps care far less about identification than they do about money, which is a bit of a problem because it’s far easier for Wei Sizhui’s dad to forge identities for them than to open a bank account. If there’s one time that someone actually manages to track down his dad, it’ll be through the money he’s spending on Wei Sizhui’s summer camp. So just in case, they’re disappearing two days early.

The plan is for his dad to break into the camp two nights before the end of camp. Wei Sizhui’s been keeping him updated on the best ways to do so.

The three of them are staring at him again.

“The campus security is pretty terrible,” Wei Sizhui adds thoughtfully.

“So…you’re just going to disappear?” Jin Rulan asks blankly. “When were you going to tell us?”

“Tell you?” Wei Sizhui asks, equally blank. “Why would I–that ruins the whole point of sneaking out two days early! We have to ditch everything. Phones, the fake bank account, the passports, everything.”

“But then how would we keep in touch?” Lan Jingyi asks plainly. “How would we text?”

“We wouldn’t?” Wei Sizhui says uncertainly. “We wouldn’t stay in the country after disappearing from a summer camp. I mean, I don’t know where we’re gonna go, but–somewhere. Probably Thailand,” he adds pensively.

There’s complete silence for one stunning moment.

“Wow,” Jin Rulan says flatly. “Is this is how Jingyi’s uncle felt when Sizhui’s dad disappeared?”

“Probably,” Ouyang Zizhen says.

“No, no, we can work with this,” Lan Jingyi declares. “We just need to get my uncle here two days before camp ends.”

“And how are we doing that?” Jin Rulan asks.

“Easy,” Lan Jingyi says cheerfully. “I do something that gets my uncle called down here.”

“So, expelled,” Ouyang Zizhen says, nodding along.

“Wait, what?” Wei Sizhui says, baffled, but nobody’s listening.

“Exactly,” Lan Jingyi says, beaming. “My uncle will forgive me once he learns why I did it!”

“But what is he getting expelled for?” Jin Rulan asks curiously.

Lan Jingyi grins, and a shiver runs down Wei Sizhui’s spine despite the heat of the morning summer sun shining behind him. It's a smile that says there's little he won't do to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji reunite. At least Jin Rulan and Ouyang Zizhen also look a little apprehensive.

“Hacking."

#y'all asked for it #the juniors #lan sizhui #jin ling #lan jingyi #ouyang zizhen #lan wangji #wei wuxian #mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #my writing #writeblr #antebunny's ficlets

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twolonesomestars · 4 years

Text

BJYX III

Japan Trip

This is a compilation post explaining the Japan trip and related theories (along with my own thoughts). Most of the theories in here are well-known. If you know the general gist of the Japan trip, you probably won’t see anything new.

Warning: This is all fake. Don’t take what I say to heart. These are just my random thoughts.

Extremely long post. Please beware.

All my explanations and thoughts will be bracketed and italicized: [like this]. If you would like to just read about the theories, ignore the bracketed and italicized bits.

I suggest reading all of the theories first and creating your own opinion on the trip before reading my commentary, especially if you’re a new fan. (AKA ignore the bracketed & italicized parts for now).

[One last thing before I start (and a test for those who want to read the theories first… ignore this for now): I believe this Japan trip changed their relationship… In that, I believe they began their romantic relationship after this trip. A quick timeline mention: truthfully, their relationship before and during CQL filming isn’t too important for this theory. However, I do believe that there was some sort of confession from WYB at the end of filming, which may have played a role in XZ’s decision to take the trip to Japan. I’ll provide my reasoning later in the post. All my explanations and thoughts are going to be based on these particular assumptions; although, I will try to include rebuttals & explanations based on countering arguments.]

OUTLINE

DATES

PRE-JAPAN TRIP

Character Bleed Changed Phone Number

MID-JAPAN TRIP

XZ’s 180911 Post + Story

POST-JAPAN TRIP

XZ’s 180913 Post & Story XZ’s 181119 Post WYB’s 181119 Post Time Gap WYB’s 190322 Post

FINAL THOUGHTS

Let’s get into it!

DATES:

180416 - 180823 Filming for CQL

180908 - 180912 XZ’s Japan trip

180913 - XZ posted his 521st Weibo post & 18th Weibo story

181005 - XZ’s Birthday

181119 @ 17:42 - XZ’s Japan trip post

181119 @ 18:47 - WYB’s response post

190322 - WYB’s Rome trip post

PRE-JAPAN TRIP:

Character Bleed

XZ’s reasoning behind his Japan trip in this interview @ 9:31

XZ explicitly says, “I told myself I had to walk out of it.” His reasoning being, “[I had to] leave him there. [I had to] return him to the one he loves.”

You can unpack a lot from that. I got two main things from it:

(“I had to walk out of it”): you can assume that XZ took everything from WWX and made it his own, including, and specifically, WWX’s love for LWJ. Essentially, by the end of filming, XZ himself was in love with LWJ.

(“return him to the one he loves”): XZ separates himself very clearly from WWX. He points out his reasoning to walk it off is him wanting to return WWX to the one he loves… the implication is that he figured out he doesn’t love the one WWX loves.

[The reason I think there was some sort of confession at the end of filming that pushed XZ to take this trip and figure himself out is because he already knew he loved LWJ. I think he may have attributed any romantic feelings he felt towards WYB to the fact that he plays the character he loves. So, if WYB confessed to wanting to pursue a romantic relationship with him, it makes sense that XZ would hesitate. I doubt he’d want to lead WYB on just to later realize all of his feelings were for LWJ and not him. I’m sure XZ would’ve walked off WWX eventually, but I think he did it as quickly as he could to give a certain person (and himself) answers.

Obviously, I don’t know how XZ goes about with his acting, so these are all just random assumptions.]

Changed Phone Number

I’ve gotten a few asks wanting me to clarify and give my opinion on the rumor about XZ changing his number and WYB asking around for it. I’ve heard two versions of this:

The first version has two variations:

XZ changed his number sometime after his DDU appearance in 2017 and before CQL began shooting, and WYB was asking the CQL crew for it.

XZ changed his number during CQL filming sometime, and WYB was asking the CQL crew for it.

The second version is that XZ changed his number before he left to Japan and WYB was asking around for it for months (who he was asking was undefined).

A related rumor I want to note: a fan who was at the airport when XZ was waiting for his flight to Japan supposedly saw him not answering his phone.

Let me clarify the relationship between WeChat & phone numbers:

In WeChat, every registered user gets a WeChat ID. There are three main ways people can add someone: (1) have the person’s WeChat ID (2) have the person’s phone number (3) have access to the person’s QR code. For (1) and (2), the other person must enable the option to be found via WeChat ID or phone number in order for you to find them. You can also choose to not show your phone number at all, so even if someone adds you via (1) or (3), they may still not have access to your number depending on your settings. To sum it up, you do NOT need to know another person’s phone number to message them on WeChat. Practically everyone in China uses WeChat as their main social messaging application… you can send messages (text & voice) and you can call (voice-only & video). People don’t use their actual given numbers to message or call too much (ex. iPhone messaging/ Facetime); phone numbers are typically used when making accounts on various social media apps, online payment, etc.

There’s a pretty well-backed up theory that WYB asked one of his DDU co-hosts (specifically DZW) if he could get XZ’s WeChat ID for him during/ after filming the episode with XNINE. If this theory is true, we can only be sure that he got XZ’s WeChat ID, not that he got his phone number.

If you do want to change your number or WeChat ID (prior to 2020, you could only change your WeChat ID once per account), you can simply go into the WeChat settings and update; this process won’t change your WeChat account and it won’t affect any of your contacts or chat history. If you want to stop receiving messages & calls from someone, you can either block or delete them from your contacts on the app.

I’m pointing all of this out because I’m pretty sure most of XZ’s & WYB’s communication takes place in WeChat. WYB has said in several interviews that he now prefers his phone and wifi access; he’s also said that he can’t go without WeChat now.

[I honestly don’t think this rumor is real. But, out of the two versions, I’d say the first version (either variation) makes more sense than the second version.

I have three reasons for thinking the second version is the most unlikely:

It’d be easier to block the other person for however long you need (and then unblock them or delete them depending on your choice later) rather than going through the hassle of changing your number. Remember when WYB’s phone number got leaked and he had to change it (August 2019)? He asked people to not use his number to log into accounts; he even mentioned that he would need to change all of them, which would be a large hassle. Sure, there could be circumstances where you’d want to change your phone number… but I don’t think this situation is that extreme, especially since it was supposedly at the airport before his trip and before he decided.

I don’t think XZ’s the type of person to leave someone hanging, no matter how much internal turmoil he may be dealing with, and especially not when that someone is close to him. I believe he’d at least inform others that he’ll be out of range and to not message or call him. Not to mention, if he told WYB to not contact him for the next couple of days, I’d like to believe WYB would respect that wish, whether he knew the reason or not. Since I do think that WYB confessed prior to the Japan trip, I believe he knew. But, even if he didn’t, he has integrity and self-respect. He’s going to respect others’ wishes, and even more so if he respects the other person… and he does respect XZ.

The theory specifically points out “months” … WYB literally celebrated XZ’s birthday with him about three weeks after this trip.

As for the first version:

Variation #1 implies that this happened at the start of filming/ bootcamp; it also implies that WYB got XZ’s number after he contacted him on WeChat. One assumption I have is: I don’t think celebrities/ people in the industry exchange phone numbers much, just their WeChat IDs. This is why I don’t think XZ & WYB exchanged numbers when they first met, only their WeChat IDs. As for WYB asking the crew for XZ’s number… if he already had XZ’s previous number, I kinda doubt he’d go around asking others when he could just ask XZ himself.

Variation #2 probably makes the most sense out of all three, and even then it’s a bit of a stretch. This variation implies that it’s a few months into filming, at which point XZ & WYB were extremely close. I doubt he’d be too nervous to ask XZ directly for his new number. The only rebuttal I could think of for this is that perhaps WYB asking around instead of asking XZ himself was him being coquettish.

In the end, this rumor doesn’t make too much sense to me. But take it as you will.]

MID-JAPAN TRIP:

XZ’s 180911 Post + Story

We know that he kept deleting his Weibo posts before the number could reach *520. (*520 & 521 are both kadian for “I love you” even though 520 is more widely used.)

XZ posted his 520th post on 180911 (right in the middle of his trip). It was an ad for AHC. AHC is the first brand both WYB & XZ shared and spoke for; I believe WYB stopped his spokesperson duties on 180829 & XZ began his on 180907.

XZ posted his 17th story, also on 180911, of him on a ferry during the trip.

[I burst out laughing when I realized he posted an ad for his 520th post. He kept deleting posts to make sure he stayed away from #520; he could’ve easily deleted another post to make the ad his 519th. A lot of solo fans were looking forward to his 520th post being dedicated to them (exhibit 1), and then he did that. Sly as per usual. And the 17th story... leading up to the 18th. I think XZ pretty much knew/ made his choice/ accepted his feelings by this point, which is why he posted like this.]

POST-JAPAN TRIP:

XZ’s 180913 Post & Story

XZ posted this video on Weibo on 180913. It was his *521th post & *18th story. (*52118 = “wo ai ni yi bo” A BXG posted about counting XZ’s posts to find these numbers.)

His caption was:

以为在拍照的找🤣... (夏天的风结束了，假期也结束了🌿🌿🎋)

which roughly translates to:

“I thought I was posing for a photo🤣... (The summer wind is over, the holiday is also over 🌿🌿🎋)”

There are several theories about the caption.

the emojis:

The bamboo emoji refers to WYB. In this behind the scenes footage, XZ compares WYB’s face to a bamboo stick.

the words:

XZ is referring to the season ending and the weather in the video where the wind is blowing across his face.

When XZ states that both the summer wind and his holiday are over, he is implying that he has left the character he became that summer (WWX) behind and moving forward.

XZ is referring to the song Summer Wind (夏天的风) by Liu Rui Qi (刘瑞琦). I’m not going to go too deep into this; the lyrics in question are:

夏天的风我永远记得清清楚楚地说你爱我我看见你酷酷的笑容也有腼腆的时候

roughly translates to

The summer wind, I will always remember [you] saying clearly that you love me. I saw your cool smile [yet] there are times when you are shy.

Interpretations are: (line 1) “summer wind” & “always remember” - XZ is reminiscing on the things that have happened that summer when CQL was filmed. (line 2) “saying clearly… you love me” - a confession from a certain someone… we know of one on camera: “zhan-ge didi ai ni.” (lines 3-4) “cool smile” & “shy” - these adjectives fit a person we know.

[I didn't find out about half of these caption theories until way later, and once I had already formed my opinion on this trip. A lot of it seems like a stretch, but all the theories make some sort of sense. Meh, there’s a lot you can do with a caption, so just take it all in.

Personally, I didn’t pay attention to the caption too much. I knew about the lyrics, but I purposely avoided them precisely because they were lyrics; you can do a lot with them. I finally explored it for this post, and I actually like it a lot; it’s very sweet. I’m still leaning towards the reference being unlikely; however, XZ is very sneaky, so I wouldn’t put it past him. I also knew about the bamboo reference, but I never gave it much thought. I didn’t think that one scene of them joking around was enough to say that he used the emoji to refer to WYB. Though, if it was actually a reference, there’s definitely more to it that we don’t know about. Ultimately, for this one, my decision was based on the basics: the kadian (and later reinforced by the whole AHC ad post).]

XZ’s 181119 Post @ 17:42

A major theory for this post comes from his caption:

“一些存货... 现代人即将拥有姓名 [’silent giggling’ emoji]... ”

roughly translates to

“some stock [photos]... modern man will soon be named...”

The main focus here is the “modern man.”

Once the behind the scenes footage and interviews began releasing, BXG started noticing how WYB got whenever XZ mentioned LWJ. His facial expressions always changed… immediate frowns. BXG speculated that WYB was trying to show himself as separate from his character, but XZ didn’t take notice. The character LWJ is figuratively and literally from the past; the actor on the other hand is from modern society. Thus, XZ mentioning modern man was taken to be a reference to XZ’s love for the actor alone, not the character.

[To those who have sent asks about the “modern man” quote, I hope this clears it up. My interpretation of it is the same. At the end of the day, XZ most definitely separated the two.]

Another theory for this one is that the horizontal middle row pictures spell out “王一博” going from left to right.

王 (“wáng”)

The lines on the building look like the character

He could’ve meant “look towards,” which is what he’s doing in the picture. It is a different character (“望”), and has a slightly different pronunciation (“wàng”)

He could’ve meant “going in one direction,” referring to the arrow on the sign, which is a different character (“往”), and has a slightly different pronunciation (“wǎng”)

一 (yī)

The image looks like the character

博 (bó)

Another meaning for “博” is “extensive” or “rich” which you can take the design on the outside of the to be

The building is a museum, whose word (“博物馆”) begins with “博”

[For the spelling, my interpretations were all of the #1s. (I’ll explain a little bit more when we get to WYB’s 190322 post.)]

One last theory about this post: BXG then witnessed XZ editing his post in real time to change the position of the first two pictures. There’s a theory that he saw this post (below) from the previous day and changed the positions to match.

OP talking about the switch here and below.

[I was so enamored by this theory until I actually went looking for it. The post of WYB’s pictures is from a fan, and while I don’t doubt that they saw more of fans’ posts back then, this one wasn’t tagged or anything. It could easily have been XZ’s artist side popping up. But, maybe XZ was lurking on his private account. Even though it’s one of the more iffy ones, it’s such a cute theory that I actually don’t mind believing it.]

This is a side note and not part of the actual theory: On my search for all things related to this trip, I noticed one of WYB’s posts where he did a similar thing.

This was in June 2018, so before XZ’s post. Mayhaps inspiration.

WYB’s 181119 Post @ 18:47

WYB posted exactly *1:05 hours after XZ posted. (*105 = 10/5, XZ’s birthday)

His caption was “冒个泡”

He was using internet slang; it can be vaguely translated to “I am here.” In context, he’s using the slang to refer to him not posting for a long time; he’s ‘showing his presence.’

Notable Things:

He posted the day prior on 181118; it wasn’t an ad, but it wasn’t exactly personal either.

He posted a picture of himself with his DDU brothers during a trip on 181104.

He had not posted a selfie since 181004. (Back then, he updated personal posts once or twice a week, whether it was a selfie or something about his life, such as what show he was watching. The month & a half time gap between personal posts would’ve been unusual.)

The caption & selfie work as a response to XZ’s “modern man will soon be named.”

Another thing fans were intrigued about was the time stamp on the photo, 180525.

WYB never really posts throwbacks, especially with selfies, yet he did one here to a date in the middle of CQL filming. He also usually never adds the date to his photos.

Isn’t it interesting that he captions the post with slang that tells people he’s back from a break, but uses an old photo instead of a new one? If someone’s announcing that they’re coming back from a break (especially a celebrity), wouldn’t it make more sense to post a recent photo rather than an old one (in this case, one from 6 months ago)? And, why even bother including the date in the first place?

[I can’t believe I barely noticed that WYB posted 1:05 hours after XZ. What in the world WYB? I’m losing my mind. It’s down to the damn minute, and their minutes weren’t a “0” or “5” multiple either. I usually try to pass off a lot of things regarding YiZhan (especially kadian) as coincidences, but what even is this? If it wasn’t intentional… What kind of connection do these two share?

Yes, I do think this was WYB’s response. The throwback picture was probably the most telling for me; him including the date he took the photo was like a flashing sign saying: ‘hey look at this date. it’s important.’ And when you add the caption into the mix, it’s taken to another level. I feel the combination of hints in and related to the post is too much and too telling to be coincidental.]

Time Gap

There’s an interesting time gap between the two XZ’s posts (180913 & 181119). There are a few theories about what could’ve happened in those two months. Some of the ones I’ve seen and heard are:

XZ & WYB could’ve been taking that time to tell their parents and settle things with their agencies

XZ & WYB could’ve begun dating exclusively after XZ’s return

Both of these theories imply that everything got settled or made official around 181119.

[I never really thought about the time gap between the posts… mostly because I kept forgetting there even was one. They’re both ridiculously romantic so I don’t doubt that 181119 is something of importance to them. I think it’s especially proving that both of them did a throwback to the same seemingly important time period.]

WYB’s 190322 Post

This post is pretty similar to XZ’s 181119 throwback post to the Japan trip. The theory for this one is that WYB spelled out “肖战” using the vertical middle row, going from top to bottom.

肖 - The tree looks like the top part of the “肖” character; the branches look like the bottom part of it.

战 - Since WYB placed an image of the entire Roman colosseum (where gladiator battles took place) in the last spot, he may have been alluding to how “战” means “battle” or “fight” (similar to how XZ may have been alluding to the meaning of “博” instead of getting a picture of the character).

WYB filmed the DDU episode on 3/22; I don’t believe there’s another significance to the date.

[WYB spelling out the “肖” using the first two pictures backs up my thinking that XZ spelled out the “王” and “一” characters in his first two pictures. This also leads me to think that both of them alluded to each other’s last character rather than spelling it out in their third pictures.]

FINAL THOUGHTS:

[The reason I like this overall theory a lot is because I think the happenings really fit with the things they’ve told us in interviews and suit their personalities. It makes sense to me that XZ would want to take some time to think about it; it makes sense to me that WYB was probably the one who took the first step.

As for the theories about the details… some of them are really out there, but all of them are fun to consider. As usual, take everything with a grain of salt.]

Some of these posts & events have several theories (i.e. XZ’s summer wind caption); they aren’t mutually exclusive… more than one can be true at the same time.

I tried to be as neutral as I could when explaining these theories. I tried to include counters and other possibilities, but I’m sure some bias came out. Just take it all in and take it for what it is.

My intention with this post was to put everything into perspective and give a good timeline. (As well as get everything in one place.) If you’re interested in my thoughts, feel free to go back and read the italicized & bracketed parts (if you hadn’t already).

The following is something I want to say about these theories and the BXG community in general:

Every theory has inconsistencies and exaggerations… that’s what makes it a theory. As long as we discuss things knowing this fact, that’s all that matters. We’re here to have fun, not to prove what’s right or wrong.

I love seeing the various theories everyone in this community puts out, no matter how different or similar they are to the ones I like/ believe in. It’s fun to look into these things with different perspectives. Don’t feel burdened if you believe in a less popular theory. Besides, we will never know anything for sure.

Be kind. And, have a good time.

Once again, this is all fake. I do not personally know XZ & WYB, and I will never know anything about them; this includes the intricacies of whatever relationship they share. So, CPN.

#don't ask me why it took so long lol #japan trip #yizhan #bjyx

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perkynurples · 4 years

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HOW did the lan bros ever reconcile the whole "did you really fight 30+ of our esteemed clan members & break so, so many lan principles?" "did you really stand up at the pledging & swear along with the others to kill wei ying?" THING? like... jiang cheng got a decade-plus to sort out his feelings on his own (yes, he's super traumatized, but this is a lan bros ask. Yunmeng bros reconciliation is its own deal). The lan bros had to look at each other (and AFTER each other) that entire time like HOW

oh they absolutely understood what the other one was about

and to drive that point home, I first gotta refer all of you to: THIS POST by @baoshan-sanren that explains the difference between an individualist and collectivist society, and THIS ONE by @acutebird-fics that talks about LXC’s motivations re: LWJ’s punishment

Basically, LXC knew from day one that a) LWJ was hopeless for WWX and b) that WWX would be trouble, there was just absolutely no guessing how much trouble. There’s a lovely conversation they have about halfway through everything unfolding, when LWJ asks him something along the lines of ‘are there set rules for everything in the world?’ and LXC basically goes ‘look, I thought so too, but then I did A LOT of reading from the one source everyone always told me would have all the answers (aka all the Gusu texts), and turns out... yeah, not so much. Can’t predict EVERYTHING.’.

And this really just precedes everything LWJ goes through because of WWX, on his behalf, and it also explains why LXC never once falters from his side. Is he heartbroken to see LWJ like this, sacrificing so much for the person he loves the most but is incapable of saving? God damn, of course. Is he appropriately horrified, watching him stand against the elders of their own clan? UH-HUH. Is he maybe the one to finally gently knock Wangji out when he won’t stop attacking, apologizing all the way but absolutely determined that this can’t go on any longer? ...I just thought of this and made myself sad, so who knows.

But like, he understands. He’s never shown disparaging LWJ for his choices. He is shown trying and failing to get through to WWX and explain to him that certain people care about him, and if he could please think for one second about those people’s feelings. He wants to protect Wangji with everything he’s got, but he also knows he ultimately has to let him make his own choices, and can’t really save him from the fallout of those.

And true, we never really get to see how LWJ reacts post-punishment, we never get those sweet sweet Twin Jades talks we so deserve, but. LWJ absolutely understands LXC’s choices, too. Because his are his own, and he wouldn’t dream of asking his Sect Leader of a brother to follow him and WWX down that single plank bridge, ever.

And besides, by the time he’s standing up against those sect elders, we’ve been afforded the luxury of his and WWX’s POV for ages, we sympathize. However, if you look at it from literally any other point of view, he’s chosen to defend a mass murderer and a guy who’s disrupted the very fabric of what that culture believes to be right, against his own damn family. It’s romantic for us, because we’re supposed to see it that way, but holy shit, dude. Like, from the point of view of someone raised in an individualistic society, of course it’s brave and heartwrenching and ultimately amazing, what both LWJ and especially WWX do, but when you take the time and learn a little bit about just how big of an issue disrespecting the dead like that is to that culture (I can’t claim to be an expert, others would have to take over here), you realize, okay, wow. This is kind of a big deal.

As to why LXC went along with LWJ’s punishment in the wake of all that? I refer you to the posts linked at the top, they’re both very important to this part of the discussion. It’s honestly doing the characters a bit of a disservice, not considering other angles and points of view, but to get back to the point of this ask and answer, fics where LWJ goes around actively hating LXC in the wake of all that do not sit well with me - like, he is aware which hill he’s chosen to die on, so to speak. Does he regret it? Abso-fuckin-lutely not. Is he going to accept the punishment anyway? Yeah. Is he going to understand that LXC did what was in his power to support him when it mattered, but ultimately had an entire sect to think of? Come on, of course.

In a perfect selfish individualistic move, LXC could have said fuck it and stood by LWJ’s side, refused the punishment the elders came up with, et cetera. Hell, we could spend ages speculating about what would have happened differently if he’d, say, sheltered the Wen, or even spoken out a bit more loudly in their favor. But we absolutely cannot take these characters and regard them outside their circumstances, outside their responsibilities and duties. WWX makes breaking the rules look easy, LWJ suffers for it but it’s ultimately framed as this grand romantic dramatic thing. LXC does his damnedest to keep his sect afloat while also being scared shitless for his little brother, probably, but we are not afforded the luxury of that POV, now are we.

In conclusion, I don’t think for a second that these two could ever hate each other, or look at each other and suddenly not recognize who the other one’s become. Unlike JC and WWX, these two don’t have any secrets in front of each other. They don’t feel the need to keep any, because the other one knows them as well as he knows his own heartbeat. They don’t fall into the good old ‘I’m going to protect you and not tell you about it and never talk about our feelings and it’ll work out somehow’ emotionally repressive grooves. Of course they have their issues, and of course Wangji probably resents everyone who tries to talk some sense into him immediately after WWX’s death, but this is Xichen we’re talking about. Wangji cried in front of him and only him when they were little kids, and he can cry in front of him now, only half because of the bandages Xichen is changing on his back.

Even after everything, especially after everything, there just simply isn’t a place for hating their brother in either of their hearts, is the point I’m trying to make, I guess.

#lan wangji #lan xichen #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #hey how THE HELL did this turn into another meta #it's bc I can't shut up about the twin jades in relation to each other #but especially can't keep my mouth shut about LXC to NOBODY'S surprise #lxc #lwj #twin jades #my meta #Anonymous

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merlinsbed · 4 years

Text

edit: now with a vaguely related fic! (I got really stuck on wwx doing star wars impressions to annoy his husband)

omg so thinking about this post and imagining a modern day untamed au in which the juniors are in college and taking classes from professor lan wangji and professor wei wuxian and like lwj tells his students NOTHING about his personal life like students will point blank ask him about things and he will just. not respond. a few times a question has been yelled out in class out of desperation to see if they can surprise him into answering and he won’t even stop teaching he’ll just continue on like nothing happened and the offending student will just slowly sink back into their seat in horrified despair because professor lan may not be acknowledging you but you can feel the silent judgement all the same

meanwhile wwx will walk into class and be like “last night my husband refused to have sex with me because I wouldn’t stop doing bad star wars impressions while he was on the phone with his uncle earlier but he made me pancakes for breakfast so I’ve decided I’m not divorcing him.” his students are kept up to date on all the latest jiang family gossip and exactly how much he dislikes his brother in law jin zixuan at any given time and also has he showed them these baby pics of his nephew yet? he has? well, see them again because they’re adorable. what’s that? oh we’ll get to the material in a moment just look at how cute his nephew was as a baby!

the thing is, despite knowing an almost disturbing amount about professor wei’s personal life, in particular his husband, they don’t actually know his husband’s name. they have no idea who professor wei is actually married to.

meanwhile over the course of the term all their shared students get caught up in the drama of professor lan and professor wei’s relationship with each other. because at first they could have sworn that professor lan finds professor wei annoying and they just tolerate each other as colleagues. but then someone sees them having lunch together one day and swears on all their ancestor’s graves that they saw professor lan smile so okay maybe lwj and wwx are actually friends. then they notice the way lwj tends to stare longingly at wwx whenever he’s around and how he’s always just a little bit softer when wwx is around and uh oh that’s not good because wwx is very much married but as they watch all of this unfold they notice that wwx is definitely flirting with lwj. which is just mean if they’re really friends he shouldn’t string lwj along like this and does his husband know he spends a lot of time at work flirting with another man?

they’re starting to wonder if they should stage some kind of intervention or if that would be way overstepping their boundaries but professor lan, despite being terrifying when you first meet him, is actually very nice and they don’t want to see him get hurt like this and even if professor wei sometimes complains about his husband he always insists he loves him so shouldn’t they stop this before it gets out of hand?

“anyway we’re thinking of planning some kind of intervention,” ouyang zizhen finishes explaining to his friends (who have somehow seemed oblivious to the professor drama going on). jingyi starts laughing so hard there are tears leaking out of his eyes. sizhui snorts inelegantly before managing to get his reaction under control.

jin ling frowns and tells zizhen, “my uncle isn’t trying to cheat on his husband with professor lan dispshit. professor lan is his husband.”

needless to say, after zizhen manages to process this massive misunderstanding, the information disseminates quickly. sizhui makes sure to tell his dads. lwj is touched that his students were so concerned about him. wwx finds it hilarious. he walks into his next class and says, “so for those of you who missed it I am, in fact, married to professor lan. when I told the story of that one time I busted out my palpatine impression in bed and my husband just got up and walked out of the room, that was him. he doesn’t like students knowing about his personal life though so I leave his name out when I tell you guys things. but now you know that was him.”

there’s a lot of mixed feelings about knowing this information as all of their students realize that all of the stories wwx has ever told them about his husband are about lwj and some of wwx’s stories about his husband are just. batshit insane and absolutely not something they can imagine lwj doing. (no way did respectable, rule abiding professor lan try to steal someone’s roosters in what wwx suspects in retrospect was some weird drunken proposal attempt from his then boyfriend.) lwj somehow manages to even more pointedly ignore anyone who asks him whether or not wwx’s stories are true.

#the untamed #au ideas #this idea just slapped me in the face so hard #I was editing my winter solstice fic #but I might write some of this instead #or just sit here and think about it #wwx apparently has a thing for star wars impressions in this au #and seeing how annoying he can be when lwj is on the phone with lqr

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wangxianficrecs · 4 years

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I’m looking for a specific wangxian social media AU fic. WWX and LWJ were famous and LWJ released a love song. All of the internet is trying to find out who he wrote it about, including WWX. I know that I bookmarked it, but I can’t find it in my bookmarks or on AO3 (which is where I found it) when I tried looking up wangxian fics w/ social media. I have a sneaking suspicion it got deleted, but I want to try any method of finding it before giving up. Thanks for the help!

@zensucht says, “Hi, I'm pretty sure the first one is "From me to you" by Ceta; and yeah, they have deleted it from AO3 ( according to their answer on tumblr, this was because they were dissatisfied with this fic, not because of any external causes!)

BUT

@ahhhnorealnamesallowed says, “You’re definitely looking for life, drama and action by Akai__hana. I've read it at least 2 and it is amazing!"

So y’all can make up your minds on that one 😉

~*~

Anon 2: I’m once again asking for your help to find a WangXian fanfic. I remember that Wèi Yīng is a witch along with Lán zhan but jiang cheng is Wèi Yīng a apprentice. Wèi Yīng trues to use a love potion on Lán zhan buy it does not work. That is all I remember from it I really appreciate what you blog does

I Didn't Know He's In Love With Me! by onzaimomo, suggests a helpful Nonny.

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Anon 3: Hi I was hoping either you or one of your followers could help me find a fic! It's a time travel fic where only (I think) wwx travels back in time. At one point he uses empathy with lxc and shows him his og timeline. A while later he and jc are doing a training exercise/competition, wwx pulls his 'course' from the Yi city event, which causes lxc to have an anxiety attack bc he remembers that from Empathy. Wwx realizes whats happening and hugs him and says like, 'im sorry I didn't realize it was still fresh for you, it's been like 50 years for me'. Also wwx excels at illusion magic and lqr asks him to teach him it. Please and thank you!!! Love this blog!!!

Thanks! And look, @sleepyandweepyandtired thinks this might be from And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami ... @librarian-in-waiting concurs.

~*~

Anon 4: Do you know if anyone’s ever done a Wangxian prince of Persia (movie) AU? I think it would fit well, so I be wouldn’t be surprised if there’s one or two out there...

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Anon 5: Hello, can you help me find a fic please? I thought you recced it but I didn't find it. It's Wangxian, a modern AU. They are at Lan college or university, LWJ is their protégé. Enter WWX, who is also very good, and bets with LWJ about who's better at math. WWX wins and LWJ has to take him to dinner (JC and NHS are there too). This is only the beginning, the fic was pretty long. Any clue?

Tempo Rubato by Spodumene, says @artemisisdiana. (Oh, this was on my list because of the lovely art here by @shamelesswngxian!)

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Anon 6: There’s a fic I’ve been trying to recover, set during the 13 Years of Inquiry; the POV character is one of the ghostly flower girls who attended WWX at Yunmeng. LWJ recognizes and questions her when she responds to an Inquiry; she doesn’t know WWX’s present state, but remembers him as kind; he’d invited her and her fellows to keep him company in their mutual loneliness. LWJ thanks the ghost and, with her consent, releases her into the afterlife.

~*~

Anon 7: Hello! I'm hoping you can help me find a fic i thought i had subscribed to but apparently i did not??? Anyways, it was omegaverse, with omega wwx and alpha lwj, cloud recesses era. Basically wwx accidentally starts stealing lwj's clothes because he likes the smell and tries to hide it. Thank you!

@ineversawagoddessgo says this one might be this mattress is a desert island by bbyminmaki (which cracks me up, I gotta go read that).

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Anon 8: Hello! Do you know a fic where wangxian get together in the cloud recesses but don’t tell anyone/have to sneak around. There’s actually a lot like that I know but this one had a distinct scene in the xuanwu of slaughter cave scene where they kiss and I think they almost get caught at the start when wwx falls??? it’s been bugging me and I know it’s vv vague but hopefully someone will miraculously find it. Thanks!!

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Anon 9: Hi! Do you know a fic that’s modern, with LWJ as a rich musician who takes WWX clothes shopping and then While WWX is trying on clothes, buys a Cartier engagement ring?

It Suits You by psiten, says @akinohikari (This is part 2 in the series What is Firmly Grasped Cannot Slip Away.)

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Anon 10: do u remember this one fic where lsz got super upset about wwx dying before and wwx and lwj let him sleep with them in their bed to comfort him? It was on a night hunt btw

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Anon 11: Hi, so I've been searching for a specific fanfic for weeks now and I just can't find it. I think it's supposed to be post canon. The premise is that lwj was cursed and after he was cured, he wasn't in love with wwx anymore? Kinda second chance-ish. I hope somebody knows the name bc it's driving me slowly insane. I appreciate your help, thanks!

tonight i can write the saddest lines by sarahyyy, perhaps??? [my post here]

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Anon 12: Hi! Can I ask if you know of a fic in which Wangxian are trying for a pregnancy, but once they stop trying, WWX gets pregnant, and LWJ gets on his hands and knees and begs WWX to keep the baby bc previous conversations gave LWJ the impression that WWX doesn't actually want to get pregnant but went along with it because LWJ wanted to have a baby?

Oh, @sweetheart-ninja says it’s In Sickness and In Health (And In Strange and Unexpected Times Too) by purplemonster, and I should have noticed that, derp (here’s my post).

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@spirits-tend-on-mortal-thoughts (13): Hello! Love this blog. You're my first source when I am in the mood for some wangxian. I was wondering if you could help me find a fic? It's a tattoo parlour AU where WWX has designed tattoos imbued with the power of wishes. He has one in the shape of a ribbon around his ankle and LWJ gets one in a flower on his chest. Thanks so much for your help! :)

@justgot1 says it’s wishes inked beneath your skin by Suspicious_Popsicle, which is very straightforward 😉

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@ladyaulis (14): I’m looking for a fic, but a specific one this time! I don’t remember anything that happens in it except (what I’m pretty sure is) the very end, where (I think pre-death/teenage) WWX/LWJ are getting married at the cloud recesses, and either at the end of the ceremony or just as they are leaving, Baoshan Sanren shows up, everyone bows profusely (I especially remember LQR being there and a jerk) except WWX, who basically climbs over a table in his wedding attire yelling Grandma and flings himself into her arms.

I don’t remember how long the fic is, but I know it’s complete. It may be a fix it. I don’t...think she had a big role in it? If you happen to know it, I would love the help! Thank you!

Could this one possibly be crying like a fire in the sun by cl410? It has a wedding and grandmother Baoshan Sanren in it.... (here’s my bookmark).

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@quillwritten (15): Hi! I love this blog so much! I wanted to ask for help, if I may: I'm sure I read this fic through a tumblr link on my phone but I can't remember if it was one of your recs or a different blog (you're the one I thought of first but I can't seem to find it on your blog). Anyway it's a fic where lwj and wwx are married and are living in the us (cali?) but now jc and jyl are coming to visit and wwx tries to pretend they've just started dating bc he hasn't told his siblings about the marriage

Love Me Just A Little by mostlynonsense (travelingpsycho) -- thank you, @wildlysobbingcheese

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@kianga (16): Hi! I've been searching for so long for this one JC/LXC fic. JC brings LXC to Lotus Pier and tries to help him cope with his grief through angry lotus weeding and its revealed that JC is experiencing serious side effects from repressing all of his emotions and so LXC tries to help him in return. It's so incredibly sweet but I lost it and can't find it again 😭 can you help?

~*~

@theweirdguyinthecorner (17): I was hoping you or a reader could help me find this fic i read a while ago and now can't find for the life of me, it might have been deleted but i'm not sure. It's post-story and wen ning is living in the burial mounds by himself but sizhui visits him often and jin ling starts visiting as well. he and wen ning start bonding as wen ning teaches him wen medical knowledge and gives him snacks. it's was a really sweet fic. i'm not sure if it was open ended, part of a series, or an incomplete fic.

#Anonymous #wangxian fic finder #wangxian #mdzs fic finder #crowd-sourcing #this is a SLEW of 'em #let's knock 'em out #also let me add #y'all are so sweet and polite in your asks #and I really appreciate all the love

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silverflame2724 · 3 years

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Have you ever how MDZS would've turned out if either JYL was also a demonic cultivator?

For this to make sense, I would like to say that I’m under the impression that resentful energy suppresses, not heals, wounds so taking it away would open all wounds up.

Now then, because of how this question is formatted, I have three different takes:

If JYL was a demonic cultivator alongside WWX but had her core:

So, in this scenario, JYL might have wanted to help during the war but her core wasn’t strong enough to support her. She saw how helpful WWX’s demonic cultivation was but also how it had hurt him and wanted to take some of the burden off of him.

So WWX tries to refine it for her in a way that won’t harm her core. JYL, of course, notices how different the method WWX taught her was in comparison to what he was doing. She also noticed that WWX did not code any of his notes and had heard the whispers of those jealous of his power. So she made him code his notes into something that only JC, her, and WWX would know how to read. She helps with the war effort and calms WWX when the resentful energy gets too much.

JYL realizes how irritated she is getting and gets LWJ or some Lan to help play for her after every battle she uses resentful energy in. And then she gets confused. Why does WWX not do the same thing? Something must be up. She confronts WWX who avoids the question like there’s no tomorrow. Of course, JYL stares him down for a few days and then WWX finally gives. He tells her to keep it a secret that he has no core and that the resentful energy is the only thing keeping his body together. JYL is extremely protective™, afterwards and keeps her promise to say nothing to anyone.

LWJ’s “come back to gusu” now sounds like a threat whereas before she thought it was worry. She tells LWJ to stop/what his intentions are because she knows that LWJ helped search for WWX desperately for 3 months. LWJ struggles for words and she understands how difficult voicing out your true feelings is as she has dealt with WWX and JC. She waits patiently until LWJ says something along the lines of “I am worried about him” or “I want to protect him.” So JYL asks if that isn’t what WWX wants, will he still continue this. LWJ says a hesitant “no.”

JYL then drags - maybe in a more polite way - LWJ over and says to WWX, “this one wants to protect you,” and LWJ nods, embarrassed. WWX is confused.

The war continues and then ends and while JYL stops demonic cultivation, she understands that WWX can’t and also understands the Seal cannot be destroyed without WWX dying. So when JGS asks about the Seal, with JC’s explicit permission, JYL says that they’ll destroy it but not now. WWX is nervous about that because he needs to protect the Jiang sect. JYL calmly talks him out of it and says he can still use demonic cultivation with her to protect the sect; he’s not alone.

WWX agrees and manages to come up with something (with LWJ’s help) to destroy the seal, which he does, later, in public. Afterwards, the Wen thing happens but WWX decides to talk it out with JYL who decides that the better course of action is to talk to a drunken Jin Zixun and find out the location of the Wen Remnants. After which, JYL tells WWX to go at night with LWJ to free the Wens and take them to a secure location in Yunmeng. WWX is skeptical about letting LWJ come along but JYL says “you need someone you trust to help you get there faster, right?” So WWX reluctantly agrees and LWJ nods along and helps WWX to get to Qiongqi Path and leads the Wens away secretly to the safehouse that JYL pointed out. After the banquet, JYL helps get clothes so that the Wens aren’t recognized and slowly integrates them into the town nearby.

Afterwards, JYL pushes WWX together with LWJ after several long painful months of them skirting around each other before focusing on her own relationship where Jin Zixuan is trying his damn hardest to court her. JGS is still a creep and a power-hungry bastard though and Jin Guangyao still wants to please his father. JYL is not stupid and while she is distracted by how cute Jin Zixuan is, she can recognize the greed at which JGS stares at her. She doesn’t do anything though, even if JGS has been subtly (not so subtly) implying to share demonic cultivation techniques. There isn’t much she could do until a strange attack leaves JGS near-death. JYL had nothing to do with it, of course. Nothing at all. JGS had stolen some of her A’ Xian’s talismans that attracted evil, so he only had himself to blame. No one saw those talismans though since they had burned to a crisp, so all’s well that ends well!

If JYL lost her core and became a demonic cultivator with WWX:

In this scenario, JYL lost her core because WZL got her too somehow. WWX would still try to find a way to lessen the effects even if it wouldn’t be too effective. JYL still realizes something’s up and feels herself getting more irritated but when she tells WWX about getting a Lan to lessen the effects, WWX panics and says no! JYL then asks why and WWX will have to tell her because removing the resentful energy will kill them. And then JYL is like “us?” and WWX realized what he just said. So now JYL knows he’s without a core but she also knows that WWX wasn’t caught by WZL like she and JC were and demands answers. Which WWX is veryy, very reluctant to give. But he does so anyway.

JYL hugs her brother and says that they’ll figure something out. WWX cries too and nods. LWJ still tries to help WWX but JYL, under the same ill effects of resentful energy, finds it more difficult to find the worry in LWJ’s words. But nevertheless asks him what his deal is. LWJ is unable to formate words and JYL’s temper is cut short so she yells “you’re planning on punishing my brother, right?” because she remembers Gusu Lan rules as well. LWJ is like, “no.” But he finds it difficult to speak and says, “not punishment”. JYL feels how the resentful energy is getting to her but tries to calm down. LWJ wants to help WWX and JYL very calmly says, “if you try to purify the resentful energy, you’ll kill us, understand?” LWJ then panics because he did not know that, sees WWX, apologizes and says he’d like to help.

WWX is very stubborn about not needing help but JYL is not and accepts on their behalf because they do need the help. The war continues and both JYL and WWX try to help as much as they can but the resentful energy is bad and even worse for WWX who’s using the Seal. Luckily, the war ends.

But both JYL and WWX are in horrible shape and JC is very worried and very mad (at WWX, for teaching her, and at JYL, for pushing herself). LWJ manages to use his music in a way that doesn’t harm them, though, so they’re both fine but JGS is still a horrible person who wants JYL to marry Jin Zixuan and well, JYL is a woman. She has to get married. But she can see the greed in JGS’s eyes and decides that no matter how much she likes Jin Zixuan, it wouldn’t be good to go to the Jins. Not until JGS is dead, of course.

Normally, she wouldn’t be so prone to murder but resentful energy does wonders in that regard. She gets rid of JGS in a way that wouldn’t make any blame fall onto her or WWX. With the threat out of the way, she allows a relationship with Jin Zixuan and helps WWX get together with LWJ. The Seal still gets destroyed somewhere along the line.

If JYL was the only demonic cultivator:

In this scenario, JYL found out about the golden core transfer and offered hers instead because WWX is an asset and it wouldn’t make a difference if she had no core or not. She’s thrown into Burial Mounds but survives because of her love for siblings or something like that. Also, because WWX always told her of his crazy idea which included the resentful energy manipulation. WWX would still try to help lessen the effects but not much can be done unless he goes on the path too, which he does because he’s not letting his sister do this alone. It’s more difficult for him though cause he has to be wary of not corrupting his core which he is able to do with help from LWJ.

JYL cannot handle the resentful energy very well and it shows. WWX tries to help but it doesn’t go very well. He still creates the Seal which lessens the burden on JYL’s shoulders but still doesn’t lessen the effect of resentful energy on her. At the end of the war, she’s at the end of her line and she’s very close to death. LWJ offers purification to help and WWX refuses. He understands her situation and it will kill her to remove the resentful energy. JC blames WWX for JYL’s condition and WWX is so guilty, he throws himself into finding a solution, uncaring of his health. He’s eventually able to refine demonic cultivation to a manageable point and JYL wakes up not long later. He gives her his notes and she follows the instructions, finding herself not to be so irritable anymore.

Despite all this, JYL is still a woman and now even more desirable because of demonic cultivation. JGS will do anything to let her come into the family so that he can learn about her cultivation. JYL has a very short temper now though. And Jin Zixuan’s attempts at courting aren’t making her heart skip a beat. Then Wen Qing comes along, but it’s WWX who finds her, so he’s able to get to Koi Tower, trick (read: threaten) Jin Zixun into spilling the location, brings LWJ and NMJ along (because he doesn’t want to offend anyone with how fragile the Jiang sect is) and they free the Wens.

Seal is somehow destroyed, WangXian gets together, but Jin Zixuan and JYL’s relationship takes a loooong while to bud, if at all.

_________

Phew. This took a while to write.

#jiang yanli #wei ying #wei wuxian #lan zhan #lan wangji #jiang cheng #mdzs #grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #if JYL was a demonic cultivator #golden core transfer #anonymous #reply

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

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I am grinning like a FOOL at nmj/wwx/lwj. Aaaaaahhh just imagine the looks on everyone’s faces ESPECIALLY the jins, can you IMAGINE. Every sect except their own has entered a marriage alliance in one swoop, and that marriage alliance includes three of the most powerful cultivators alive. I’m in love with this.

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, past 5 - aka Pastime (with good company)

“I can forgive you for getting married, but not for making me tell Uncle about it,” Lan Xichen said without ceremony as he swept into the room like a puff of aggravated white cloud – and yes, he was well aware that was how he was coming off, he had plenty of self-awareness. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was actually upset anymore; he hadn’t seen so many secret little smiles from Lan Wangji since their childhood. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him turn that shade of red before. I think he was even thinking of throwing something at me!”

“Did you mention the bit where it technically fulfilled his requirements regarding devoting to a single spouse?” Nie Mingjue asked from behind his teacup, eyes bright with amusement and not even a speck of shame. It was just like him, too; Nie Mingjue was not one to regret decisions he had made. “Huaisang mentioned that you’d said that: I rather liked that one.”

“I did,” Lan Xichen said, making a face at Nie Mingjue and causing him to laugh. “It didn’t help. As you probably could have guessed, you – oh! A-Yao, be careful, you’re spilling the tea.”

Jin Guangyao looked down at where he’d filled his teacup to overflowing. “Ah,” he said, and put the teapot down, reaching for a piece of cloth to clean up the mess on the table. “Forgive me, I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing…I’m sorry, er-ge, did you say that da-ge was marrying? And you – told your uncle about it, for some reason?”

“Well, there wasn’t much of a choice,” Lan Xichen sighed, sitting down and accepting the cup of tea that Nie Mingjue slid over to him instead. “Since one of his brides is going to be my brother.”

“Your brother? You mean – Wangji? And - one of his brides…?”

“He only has the one brother; who else could he mean?” Nie Mingjue pointed out, and Lan Xichen shot him a glare to remind him to behave – it wasn’t Jin Guangyao’s fault that he probably had more siblings than he could count on both hands and feet, after all.

“Yes,” he said, turning to Jin Guangyao. “Forgive me, A-Yao, I entirely forgot you weren’t at the Unclean Realm when this was all being discussed at the start. As it stands now, Da-ge will be taking two brides to share the position of first wife, one of which is my brother.”

Jin Guangyao was blinking very rapidly, clearly attempting to process the information and just as clearly having some difficulty. Possibly at the idea of Nie Mingjue getting married at all, much less in a cutsleeve marriage – in fact, Lan Xichen wasn’t sure he’d ever mentioned to him that Lan Wangji was a cutsleeve.

Did Jin Guangyao maybe have some lingering prejudices? It seemed unlikely, given what Lan Xichen knew of his personality, but such issues were more often seen among the common people…

“I see,” Jin Guangyao said. “And…who’s the other one?”

“Wei Wuxian,” Nie Mingjue said, and he looked so incredibly pleased about it that Lan Xichen reluctantly shelved the idea of scolding him further. A smile from Lan Wangji, a smile from Wei Wuxian, a smile from Nie Mingjue – anything that caused this many smiles was bound to be a good thing.

Even if poor Jin Guangyao’s smile did look a bit strained…

“He’s what?!”

Jin Guangyao held his hands apart as if to indicate he had no idea how it had happened either, and Jin Zixuan thought that for once in his life his duplicative half-brother might be completely and utterly sincere. “He confirmed it himself.”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jin Guangshan growled, having apparently decided to skip over shock in favor of paranoid theorizing. “Of course – all this time, Nie Mingjue pretended to disdain the Stygian Tiger seal, looking down on it, but in reality he was seeking his own means of obtaining it –”

Jin Zixuan didn’t think that was especially likely.

He’d fought with Nie Mingjue during the war as one of his lieutenants. Even though his father had insisted that the Jin sect fight under its own banner, it’d quickly become obvious that none of the generals his father had appointed had the slightest idea of what they were doing, unlike Nie Mingjue; to keep his people from enduring another slaughter, Jin Zixuan had forced himself to swallow his pride and ask Nie Mingjue for advice.

The other man had never once lorded it over him, even though Jin Zixuan was in the weaker position – his letters had been straightforward and to the point, answering his questions without any judgment, and when they worked together in person, he was the same.

Jin Zixuan had spent entire nights worrying about his motives, and a shamefully long time to realize that the reason Nie Mingjue was acting the way he did was because he was just – like that. Honest and forthright and disinclined towards scheming, the way everyone said he was; a man who was righteous in the sense that he did what he thought was right, not in the sense of flattering himself to think he was better than others.

(Somewhere along the line, Jin Zixuan had shifted from choking down his pride to choking down guilt at thinking that Nie Mingjue was a better leader than his father – and that he’d probably have been a better father, too, no matter how Nie Huaisang had ultimately turned out. He thought, though he did not know, that if he had not adopted some of Nie Mingjue’s straightforwardness in pursuing Jiang Yanli, she might not be his bride today.)

“ – why didn’t any of us think of that?” Jin Guangshan was demanding when Jin Zixuan tuned back into the conversation, and it made him nearly choke. “A-Xuan! What sounds are you making over there?”

“Nothing, father,” Jin Zixuan said, coughing a little to clear his throat. “Merely – admiring how unorthodox Chifeng-zun’s thinking must have been.”

Jin Guangyao’s lips twitched. It was only a second, there and gone, but Jin Zixuan had still seen the little glimpse of humor. It was truly a pity, he reflected, that his brother wanted his position more than his friendship; they might have been good friends, in another world. Of course, that was the way things went in Lanling, with each person out for themselves, but ever since he’d married Jiang Yanli, he’d started to think that perhaps the greedy, grasping, conniving world his father had cultivated around him wasn’t the right way to lead a sect.

He used to think that the Jin sect was better than everyone else because of the way they thought – that only they were honest enough to acknowledge the frailties in human nature and to make use of them, rather than pretending that people could really be brave and righteous and true, that friendship was a real thing rather than another name for allies of convenience, that love was anything more than a momentary lapse, a weakness – but he didn’t any more. The other righteous sects might be naïve in their belief in righteousness, but believing in righteousness encouraged righteous behavior; even if it was done only as a façade, for most people, the façade would eventually turn into truth after it became enough of a habit.

For most people, anyway.

Jin Zixuan had done his best to like his new brother – upstanding war hero that he was – but he couldn’t quite manage it. He was too familiar with people who came to him with gentle smiles that hid daggers, and his mother, while far too vicious, was unfortunately right that those who shared his parentage all seemed to have their eyes fixed firmly on his position. Jin Guangyao might pretend that he didn’t, but some of the moves he’d made were a little too obviously meant to be consolidations of power: courting the Qin girl, being friendly with certain dissatisfied factions…

Jin Zixuan heard that Jin Guangyao had once been Nie Mingjue’s deputy, wearing a façade of righteousness, and their current enmity had been birthed once the other man had seen what he was really like.

It seemed like a bad trade to him, scrabbling for scraps in Lanling instead of being respected as a man in Qinghe, but he supposed he was in no position to judge. He’d had all the advantages in the world given to him at his birth, and he’d still taken so very long to figure out that righteousness was actually worth something by itself.

His father was still ranting about Wei Wuxian, with his half-brother indulging him with nods and questions that didn’t achieve anything other than making his father feel good about himself for having guessed right, and eventually Jin Zixuan was sick enough of it to feel the need to divert the conversation.

“Whatever his motives may be for marrying Wei Wuxian,” he said, “surely those reasons don’t apply to Hanguang-jun, who possesses no secret power to be obtained. It’s not as though the Nie sect needs a connection to the Lan sect – Chifeng-zun is already sworn brothers with Zewu-jun.”

He paused, deliberately, then added, as if in afterthought, “And A-Yao, of course.”

Jin Guangyao might have mastered the ways of the mistress, sweetness and support and indulgence to win favor, but Jin Zixuan had grown up with a mother that had never allowed an infamously straying husband to bring home a single concubine – if Jin Guangyao thought a few tricks were enough to get his position, he was only dreaming.

Jin Zixuan would help him wake up.

“Do you think it’s that he doesn’t like A-Xian enough to marry just him?” Jiang Yanli asked, biting her lip, but her husband shook his head with a laugh.

“My father couldn’t think of a reason either,” he said, looking arrogant and smug in that charming sort of way he had when he was happy. “The only thing he could come up with after hours and hours was that he might be some sort of pretty flower vase meant as a consolation for having to marry the Yiling Patriarch.”

“But you don’t think that.”

“Of course not. Chifeng-zun is a good man, and even if he wasn’t, he’s old friends with Zewu-jun, who would never allow anything like that.”

Jiang Yanli conceded the point, but that still didn’t explain why. She’d known, of course, of Jiang Cheng’s desperate gamble to protect Wei Wuxian and keep him in the Jiang sect in some manner – technically not, since he’d be under the protection of the Nie sect going forward, but this way at least made sure that he’d always have his family backing. She’d even hoped, based on some things Jiang Cheng had said to her, that Wei Wuxian was happy with the marriage, looking forward to it.

But why would Nie Mingjue take a second wife – no, another first wife – at the same time? Wasn’t that looking down at her brother?

“Personally, my theory is that he just didn’t want to get cuckolded,” Jin Zixuan said, playing with her hair. “So he took precautions against it.”

“Cuckolded?” she asked, and she could feel him turn red – her husband was sensitive about such things, a remnant of his unhappy childhood. He was terrified that she might start to suspect him of crimes he hadn’t yet committed (as if he wasn’t a terrible enough liar that she’d know at once anyway if he’d really done anything), and he usually avoided any discussion of infidelity like the plague. She wasn’t letting him off this time, though, not if Wei Wuxian’s happiness was at stake. “What do you mean? A-Xian wouldn’t betray someone he’d sworn himself to.”

Not without a good reason, anyway. The way Wei Wuxian had been behaving recently towards Jiang Cheng – towards the Jiang sect generally, especially after the business with the Wen sect remnants – could almost make her think terrible things, and only the fact she loved her brother as blindly as she did could make her unswerving in her faith that there was some purpose behind his seemingly cruel behavior.

“Probably not,” Jin Zixuan agreed. “But I mean – come on. I didn’t notice it when I was younger, because I was an idiot back then –”

He said it, not her.

“– but Wei Wuxian chased after Lan Wangji the entire time we were at the Wen indoctrination camp together. Same way I chased after you, actually.”

“With no grace or tact or knowledge of women?” she teased, and he blushed and rubbed his cheek against hers.

“Well, yes,” he said. “But I got you in the end, didn’t I?”

That was a good point.

Jiang Yanli hadn’t seen them interacting enough to really judge – convention separating men from women the way it did – but Wei Wuxian had spoken of Lan Wangji rather a lot after his time studying in the Cloud Recesses. It was certainly a plausible guess.

“So you think Sect Leader Nie married Hanguang-jun for what reason?” she asked. “To keep A-Xian from pursing him?”

“Common wisdom in Lanling says that if it’s not to create connections, then there’s only two reasons for a man to take a concubine,” Jin Zixuan said with a shrug. “One is to keep the man company – the other’s to give company to his wife.”

Jiang Yanli’s eyebrows shot up. “Company for his wife?”

“Why not? Men and women move in different circles – if a man is worried his wife might be thinking of looking for company outside, it’s better to get her someone who will be by her side all the time, isn’t it?”

Jiang Yanli covered her mouth to hide her laughter. “I suppose so,” she said. “Please don’t get me company in the future, though; I’m quite capable of making friends on my own.”

“And I,” her husband said, perking up at once, “of keeping you too busy to even think about other company –”

“You really think it’s all right?” Jiang Cheng asked Jiang Yanli. He trusted his sister’s judgment, but he was still worried. “I don’t want Wei Wuxian to think he has to suffer in silence –”

Jiang Yanli patted his shoulder. “A-Cheng, think about what you’re saying. I’m not saying A-Xian wouldn’t suffer, but – in silence?”

“If he thought it might hurt one of us he would,” Jiang Cheng said stubbornly. “This was my idea, and you know he’s worried about messing up your relationship with Jin Zixuan by starting too much trouble, especially with the Jin sect being the first one to jump down his throat about it. And anyway, he wasn’t chasing after Lan Wangji! He was – he –”

He frowned. He’d always thought that they disliked each other – certainly Lan Wangji’s constantly cold expression didn’t suggest he enjoyed Wei Wuxian’s teasing, although Wei Wuxian did spend an awful lot of time planning out pranks centered around Lan Wangji in specific. Or even, as Jiang Yanli had pointed out, just talking about him.

Which he did. A lot.

“What if Lan Wangji doesn’t like him back?” he asked, suddenly consumed with a brand new worry. “If Chifeng-zun goes to all that trouble for Wei Wuxian, and gets his hopes up, and then it turns out that Lan Wangji really doesn’t like him –”

“I’m sure Sect Leader Nie must have thought it over carefully before he took any action,” Jiang Yanli said. “A-Xuan tells me that he’s a good person, a good leader, and a good general – he must have a plan. Don’t you think?”

“Well, he is all that,” Jiang Cheng admitted. He wouldn’t have been so confident in his plan to marry Wei Wuxian into the Nie sect if Nie Mingjue hadn’t been as righteous as his reputation. But still…

“Why don’t you see what Wei Wuxian thinks about it?” she suggested, quite reasonably. “And anyway, he’ll still need a chaperone for their next visit, and the seasonal floods are over – you could go supervise.”

Jiang Cheng brightened. His older sister always had the best ideas. “What would I do without you?” he asked, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

She laughed. “Starve, probably. Would you like some more soup?”

“Of course! Remind me, why am I letting you go off to Lanling again..?”

#mdzs #nie mingjue #lan xichen #jin guangyao #jin zixuan #jiang yanli #jiang cheng #my fic #my fics #pasttime in good company #Anonymous

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