#elder lan fang

[silviakundera]

Lighter and Princess ep 36 - the finale!

What Gao Jianhong explains is honestly what I had assumed: Li Xun's sister's death and the ramifications ruined 2 lives, not 1. Geo Jianhong obviously never expected her to die at that hotel. (It was an accident, not even Fang's fault either as much as a POS he is.) But just like LX wasn't thinking clearly, neither was GJH- he was panicked and also consumed with guilt. Objectively, it was an unconnected accident. But she wouldn't have been at that location if not for Gao. So he just triples down on being the villian. Ok, I'm a monster. So be it. I'll play that role to the limit. Maybe this is how I finally win. After all these years, I think he's still been feeling guilt over Sister Li Lan's death. He can't stop being the villain because he doesn't believe in his own redemption. And this gets all mixed up with the resentment and hate that persists because of his inferiority complex.

This doesn't absolve him of anything, btw. He's a bastard who has stolen from & stepped on more amateur game designers; caused Li Xun mental anguish, betrayed his trust in a disgusting manner; abused his wife, blackmailed Zhu Yin with 'social death'... He tried to send Li Xun back to prision. Objectively a trash person.

But it's consistent, layered characterization. It's an explanation. I was glad to see the subtext I'd interpreted become explicit text.

gawwwwdd but I'M EVIL in that it's so satisfying for Gao Jianhong to hear that Li Xun has the inner strength & capacity to forgive him and let go. ("Impossible! It's me. It's me who wanted to step on him. It's me who stopped from from standing up.") BWAHAHAHAHA you fell short yet again, you pathetic man child. He bests u in everything. ❤ And now you're living for him, at his command.

They got the name back \o/

The biggest surprise in this drama is how I ended up loving class president Fang Shu Miao. Just a minor character but it's fun that she grew up into an awesome lady and good friend.

smh but up to the very end, this drama still trying so hard to convince me that ML is handsome lmao sorry I have eyes, no. Love u anyway rat boy 😍🐀😍

The Flying team scenes in the finale really were too perfect and made me so emotional. Mr Dong is still the boss! They're all shareholders! Eating ice pops again, the sacred tradition 😂😭

Mr Dong: "Your daughter is my boss now. She works for herself."

asdfghjk (whispers) it's true tho

99% of the time I dislike the "this company is my found family" storyline tbh. I've seen a lot of toxic situations in rl, especially young lgbt who were rejected by their families and had nowhere else to go, only to be taken advantge of. But this drama has been a big exception to that. A group of odd balls who aren't loyal friends at the start (originally out for themselves) but go thru adventures together. My favorite flavor. And now Mr Dong is defending Li Xun as an elder, when he has no one else to bring to the table. This drama earned it! (And it helps that the protagonists are clearly the leaders of this gang now, no power imbalance.)

"Mom, this is our home. You have no right to interfere. You have no right to make the decisions." 👏👏👏 i love herrrrrrrrrr

After Zhu Yun's mother makes an absolutely disgusting declaration (to an orphan whose parents & sister are dead) that she must marry her daughter to someone "with a happy family" of an equal social status, and invites him to bring his parents to meet them... It's now Li Xun's turn to be an absolute badass and instead of centering his own pain and insult, simply points out that he knows Zhu Yun has the ability to change the world, but her parents just want ZY to obey them. It's her parents that are wronging HER most of all and he sees that. Maturity!

I love how they roll. She suggests they have a baby because 30 is the right age, but then they'd need to get married. He's like ok, let's have a baby. And then a couple days later buys them a house. She's basically quasi proposed to him and then they just decide to get it done. Very them.

The marriage certificate guys' FACE. "You have many family members." !!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭

The marriage was absolutely perfect. Loved the final group picture and that their friends gathered to support them in lieu of blood family.

I normally don't get attached or care too much for supporting characters. But Lighter & Princess and A Journey to Love broke that mold for me. Sorry Ren Di, though you are smoking hot I never could care about your angst. But the friend group really endeared themselves to me.

What a truly fantastic story from beginning to end. Never falters. I feel like modern cdramas have a bad rep compared to kdramas but there are some real gems. note to self: make a modern cdrama rec post this year

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 45 - What Follows in Shadow

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dragon's fang icon)(1) In which we travel the Mines of Mor-- no? No, not quite, but very nearly.

Their lanterns will just reach to light the edge of the other side of the bridge. Loial is surprised the decay has gone so far. The bridges could be falling behind them even now, he may not be able to find another path forward or back.(2) Moiraine says it may not be as fast as he thinks, confident in his ability to find their way. Loial does so, though he’d rather find a path anywhere but Fal Dara. Rand tries to cheer him, suggesting they show each other their homes when this is all said and done

Sometimes they pass an island with a white line, indicating a Gate nearby, and they all stare at those lines, knowing that on the other sides of them are sky, sun, and wind. Even wind would have been welcome here. But they go on.

Eventually Moiraine says they'll stop for the night on their current island. Nynaeve asks if she plans to set wards, and Moiraine says the taint is so thick in the Ways, anything she tried to do would be corrupted. Everyone eats a few bites and then ignores their food, but Moiraine says there is something cheerful: she doesn't think Thom is dead. Whitebridge is a small enough place that news of a dead Gleeman would have been all over the place, but she heard nothing of the sort, and Min's visions indicated future things for him, too.(3)

At the mention of Min, Egwene inquires jealously, and Perrin says Min was nowhere near as attractive as Aram, at which Egwene chokes on her tea and declares she's going to sleep. Everyone else follows shortly. The next morning, or what passes for it, Lan wakes them and says someone or something is following them. Loial goes on about how he should have listened to the Elders and only dealt with Aes Sedai inside a stedding, but the others are on their guard.

As they approach another Guidestone, Loial talks of a path near here, a half day's journey to Tar Valon. Then they're all struck silent by deep lines carved into the stone, as it comes into view. Moiraine says she should have guessed sooner. Trollocs have been using the Ways, there's one at Manetheren, surely at least one in the Blight, and several across the continent. That's how they got so many out to the Two Rivers, and yet more to Shadar Logoth and to Caemlyn. Lan points out some Trolloc bodies nearby, saying clearly they don't have an easy time of it either, at least.

For the first time, Loial is almost as eager to get on their way as Moiraine. Egwene clings to Rand's arm for a few bridges, and Rand finds it easier to be brave when someone needs protection.(4) He misses her closeness when she lets go.

Eventually, Rand hears a wind off in the distance, and thinks it'll be good to feel wind again. Hang on, he asks, Loial, isn't there supposed to be no wind in the Ways? Machin Shin, the Black Wind, is coming for them. They rush onward, getting finally to the Waygate they're looking for, but the key leaf is gone. Moiraine uses her staff to focus fire on the Waygate, melting an arch through it for them. Lan uses Mandarb to crash into it with his shoulder, and knocks the stone free, and they all rush through. The Black Wind crashes into the gate, but cannot pass.

“What was that?” Nynaeve demanded. “What was it?” Loial appeared confused. “Why, Machin Shin, of course. The Black Wind that steals souls.”(5) “But what is it?” Nynaeve persisted. “Even with a Trolloc, you can look at it, touch it if you have a strong stomach. But that.…” She gave a convulsive shiver. “Something left from the Time of Madness, perhaps,” Moiraine replied. “Or even from the War of the Shadow, the War of Power. Something hiding in the Ways so long it can no longer get out. No one, not even among the Ogier, knows how far the Ways run, or how deep. It could even be something of the Ways themselves. As Loial said, the Ways are living things, and all living things have parasites. Perhaps even a creature of the corruption itself, something born of the decay. Something that hates life and light.”

Moiraine climbs into her saddle with a grateful sigh, and says that Agelmar will have to send men to wall the door back up, once they reach Fal Dara. She points toward towers in the distance.

=====

(1) Fun fact: I had to triple check this icon. My paperback lists the fang, and both the wikis I checked list the fang. For some reason, my ebook copy that I'm reading primarily from (because an 800 page paperback is HEAVY on my aging wrist and hand joints) shows the Flame of Tar Valon, its complementary piece. (2) Loial, keep in mind, your time scale is at least 5 times as long as a human's if 90 is considered not quite really old enough to be journeying on your own. If you're a solidly adult 300 when you have kids, that means you're only ten generations removed from the Breaking, that renders 3000 years (think: ancient Greece to now, for us) down to ten generations (for humans, call this about 200 years, the 1800s). And that's just a guess based on his age vs relative maturity, if Ogier live proportionately longer to humans. If they live 1000 years instead of 400-500, then Loial's great grandparents might have witnessed the Breaking. And, nobody's been in the ways in a few hundred years. Of course he thinks it's decayed fast, he sees decades on the scale we see years. (3) Now, just why would Min's visions indicate something for Thom? What do you think she saw? Does this change your opinion on whether or not he's dead? (4) Always easier to be strong for someone else than yourself, isn't it? Especially the more unsure you are of yourself, and Rand's been having a bit of a crisis of identity all book long. (5) So, not quite a Balrog.

[incorrect-web-novels]

Yue Peng licked his lips. After a long while, he said, disappointed, “That’s really... great. I have one thing to announce. The day after you went down the mountain, Elder Lan Fang came out.”

Good for him

[eenasbabysmom]

Fic ideas that keep me in a fog at inappropriate times throughout the day: Part 4

The twisted Soulmates AU-Zhancheng

*mostly inspired by qi-ling‘s chosen zhancheng quote “you are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand”. I’ve been a little obsessed with that imagery ever since*

The premise is simple: fated pairs are a rarity, but also considered a blemish. Like, the sign of a fated pair is a bad omen. The link doesn’t necessarily mean soulmates and love-they are literally fated to have their lives entwined, but it never works out okay. Throughout time, wars have been waged, blood spilt, families torn asunder because the push of fated pairs trying to come together, or worse, trying to force their way apart. When fated pairs are born to the gentry, it signifies an upcoming time of strife and death.

JC and LWJ are fated. LWJ is born first, and the Lan sect covers it up. The babe is born with a faded mark on his back, one that blooms into colour when he is nearly two-a purple snake with bloodied fangs wrapped around a wilting lotus bloom. Lan elders aren’t obtuse, they get the imagery and they’re pissed because their erstwhile sect leader, who once had so much promise, then ran off to marry a murderer, lock himself away from his responsibilities, and then spawned this ominous child who had the potential of destroying the very world they lived in.

JC is born in Lotus Pier with a fated mark in stark black lines that glow an iridescent blue when he is agitated. It is in the shape of a sword with an ornate hilt and broken blade. It is surrounded by dead and trampled flowers, that might be orchids (YZY knows they are, but she’ll never say it out loud.). JFM is horrified at the sight of it, and YZY mistakes his welling grief for their son as rejection-it is the final miscommunication in their tenuous marriage that sends her off to her own corner of LP with her ominous son cradled to her chest.

Neither sect lets out what’s happened. The children are told from a young age to never mention their marks, and from a slightly older age why they can’t. LWJ likely told younger than what was necessary, driving him further into the arms of his clan’s rules and disciplines as if they could hold back the oncoming storm of his fate. JC is told by his mother and father separately, both inadequate in their own way, and comes out of it with a bigger inferiority complex than before.

WWX is brought back to LP at age 7-YZY feeling threatened that JFM will actually try to replace her fated child with this one-the one who doesn’t have doom hanging over his head. JC also thinking this, but maybe also hoping for it a bit underneath it all. He wants his father’s approval and love, but he’s also afraid that he is poison and doom foretold and wants not to bring calamity down on his family. Fated children cannot be killed to avoid the dark times they portend-in fact, in history, murdering a fated child in their youth has led to more bloodshed as the one left behind rips everything apart to find its pair-whole countries burnt to ashes in the rage of not finding them.

How does it play out?

-LWJ discovers JC is his second half during the Waterborne Abyss arc (clothes get wet, JC gets agitated and before he can calm down, LWJ sees the glowing outline of Bichen’s hilt through Jiang gonzi’s white disciple robes). He retreats from the discovery completely, thinking to delay the catastrophe or avoid it all together (he knows he can’t, but he wants to hide behind his clan’s rules and also, he’s kind of more interested in WWX).

-the Wen come to Cloud Recesses and LWJ thinks he is to blame for ignoring JC. He goes to the Indoctrination and refuses to speak with WWX, trying to steel himself for a terrible conversation with JC, but being unable to have it due to Wen interference and WWX shenanigans.

-Tortoise of Slaughter arc happens. JC starting to suspect that these things are building up to the awful thing that his fated status foretold. Severe guilt pushing him to bring WWX back to LP. The Wen still coming, JC not blaming WWX but internalizing this as being the fault of what he is. JC running out to distract the Wens, trying to save WWX and also get the Wen to kill him because calamity always befalls those who kill a fated one before they meet their other and it always happens fast. JC thinks this will be the way he can avenge his parents and his sect. It almost works, but after WZL melts his core, the mark goes supernova and kills WZL, WLJ, and half of the Wen at LP. WC barely makes it out alive and when he realizes what JC is, he hightails it back to Qishan. The burns from the blast never heal and he dies of infection in Nightless City after warning his father about JC.

-WN arrives and drags an unconscious JC to safety. He doesn’t know about JC being fated, brings him back to WWX and WQ to heal. WWX tries to convince WQ to go the golden core transfer and she refuses once they discover JC’s mark. She says it would bring more calamity if they meddle with it. JC is definitely suicidal and tells WWX that everything happened because JC was born a curse.

-WWX discovers not Song Lan, but XXC and they go to BSSR for a core swap. BSSR can’t do it because JC’s mark is becoming too volatile after his core was melted. She tells them to leave JC with her abc they would try and figure out a way to stabilize him. She says it would be easier with the other half, but no one knows who it is. With the war on, there’s a good chance the other may die, which could make JC more unstable. BSSR theorizes he could do to the jianghu what he had done to the Wen at LP, killing millions.

-WWX reluctantly goes to join the SSC as the leader of the Jiang forces; he recovers some disciples not at the LP during the massacre and recruits others. He meets up with LWJ in Qinghe and their thing intensifies. LWJ constantly back and forth, wanting to be close to WWX and also being afraid to be. Asks WWX about JC and gets no real answer. WWX only says Jiang zongzhu would join them shortly.

-JC arrives eventually. His mark has evolved, gotten bigger and more detailed. It covers his entire back and chest, crawling up his neck and over the left side of his face. It is undeniable what it is. He cannot cultivate, but uses Zidian and Sandu through the power of the mark. The lines go Bichen blue and infuse power into the spiritual weapons. Good news is that he’s good at killing. Bad news is that using it too much causes him to supernova like before, taking out everything around him in a one mile radius. He cannot lead armies, but he can be deployed as a weapon on the battlefield. The Wen know who and what he is and no one wants to risk killing a fated one. It allows for JC to rip through their ranks and explode whenever. But each time he does it takes a toll. He nearly dies on the field weekly and nothing his siblings say will get him to stop. Halfway through the war, he named WWX the new Jiang sect leader because he will never cultivate again.

-LWJ gets pulled into the squabbling between Yunmeng siblings despite himself. He is also concerned about JC and feels guilty about hiding their connection. One particularly bloody day, JC disobeys orders and flies off to fight deep in the Wen lines. He is nearly taken hostage, but manages to supernova exponentially more powerfully than ever before. The problem is once it’s done, he can’t stop lighting up and exploding. LWJ grabs him and pulls him from the battlefield. They end up in a secluded area, both sides looking for them, LWJ reveals that he is JC’s other half and is stumped when JC replies that he knows. Bichen is recognizable, JC explains, and the other imagery of his mark isn’t exactly subtle. LWJ angrily demanding to know why JC didn’t tell him that he knew and JC calling him a hypocrite.

-“These aren’t the calling cards of an epic love story. I never wanted to meet you, never wanted a confrontation about it. They mean nothing except you and I are destined to ruin each other and everyone around us. Who would go looking for that?”

-LWJ refuses the excuse, even though he’s grown up thinking the same. He grabs JC and transfers qi, which ends up stabilizing JC enough that he stops supernova-exploding. Gets a bit smug about it, like ‘see? We’re not just made to hurt one another’ and JC responding with ‘oh, just go fuck my brother and pretend like this stupid confession didn’t happen’. LWJ realizing that it’s not that JC doesn’t expect to outlive the war, but that he doesn’t want to. Acknowledging the link between them makes emotions and thoughts muddled. LWJ never wanted anything from his fated pair, but now he is slowly becoming desperate to keep JC alive and well.

-LWJ is in love with WWX, becoming slowly, darkly consumed by JC, and JC is ready to shuffle off this mortal coil as soon as he can get close enough to supernova inside the Nightless City and take WRH out at the same time. WWX is in love with LWJ, obsessed with JC as he ever is, and not sure what to do when he finds out about the fated pair.

-JYL cannot make enough soup to fix any of this, but she is gamely trying. JZX makes some sort of comment about JC and him being a fated one and she nearly upends a pot of hot soup over his head. In a series of strange outbursts later, JYL is somehow engaged to NHS and using his brains to do something about what the anti-JC grumblings among the Jin disciples and other minor sects will mean.

-JGY still kills WRH, but JC still goes into supernova to bring down the Sun Palace, killing almost the entirety of the remaining members of the Wen clan. It is a scene of unbelievable carnage. The SSC is over and now questions are starting about what to do with JC- who has proven himself unhinged and catastrophic. JGS asks if the other sects are meant to look the other way while YMJ has such a weapon in their grasp- a weapon that can only lead to tyranny.

-“He’s not a weapon; he’s our brother.”

-JC makes things worse by peacing out and leaving without telling anyone. YMJ has an alliance with Qinghe Nie that gives them support because NMJ wholeheartedly supports the inclination to bomb the Wen Sect. Also, his little brother has decided that he’s in love with JYL and might cry if the engagement is broken off. The sworn brotherhood never happens- the jianghu is divided into two camps: Nie and Jiang combined against Lanling Jin and a number of minor sects, with Gusu Lan declaring neutrality.

-WWX reluctantly returns to LP as sect leader. JYL and LWJ accompany him and start to help him rebuild. LWJ loves WWX fiercely, but the itch to find JC and be near him gets stronger and stronger. He confesses to WWX eventually, who wavers between indignation for JC because LWJ didn’t stand beside his fated one and sadness that this means there is no path for him and LWJ. Fated pairs don’t always fall in love, but they always end up together because the alternative is disaster.

-JC wanders through LP one day almost two years later. JYL is married to NHS and they split their time between LP and Unclean Realm. They have one child, Nie Ling, and another is on the way. The second will be a Jiang abc the next sect heir, as WWX insists his successor be if the Jiang line. LWJ is still there and furious and delighted that JC is back. JC’s hair is streaked through with grey and white. His skin is youthful and clear, but the mark has changed from black lines to ugly red scars. Only the original mark remains in black lines, lighting blue in his agitation. He ignores his siblings’ anger, kisses his nephew, and makes vivid threats to his brother in law to ensure his devotion to JYL. LWJ he ignores entirely, making the other fairly seethe.

-two months JC stays, often huddled up in some corner with his sister or brother. He plays with A-Ling, scares NHS, and dances out of LWJ’s reach. Eventually he says he has to go, and that LWJ should go too. He points out that the rainy season has been getting worse and worse since LWJ arrived and there were some whispers about a plague in the outskirts of Yunmeng. Fated ones cause catastrophes wherever they go, but more so when they are without their other.

-“you don’t have to come with me, but you can’t stay here. Yunmeng probably wouldn’t survive.”

-tearful parting between Wangxian. JC has already fucked off days before-he does not care where LWJ goes, but he doesn’t want him in LP. LWJ is desolate at leaving WWX, but also infuriated that JC cares so little about him and what he is meant to do. Leads to a vicious hunting down of JC and some pretty rough sex in the outer rims of Qishan. They claw and fuck and come together-and the volcano before Nightless City erupts almost at the same time. They do not see it, but they hear it and feel the tremors.

-JC laughs, darkly, and goads LWJ into another round.

[drwcn]

For the YllZ! Chief Cultivator for some reason my mind went to the rest of WWXs gen of Major Sect leaders and siblings can have a little darkness as well. As a treat.

Like publicly they're lowkey against WWX and his reign but behind close doors, they are in alliance. With Nie Huisang, yes he begged for his da-ge life,but in order his da-ge to be in line the Yilling Laozou was offered the most treasured thing Nie Mingjue valued: Nie Huisang's life. (Nie Huisang would anything for his da-ge's life even using his friend as a way to hold himself hostage.)

With Sect Leader Lan he's done with the old men's greed of power and their arrogance that can only ferment with age . First it was Wen Ruohan's greed and the whisper's and warnings Nie Mingjue told him in confidence to prepare when he was just the heir. Yet when he brought his worries to the elders to seek action, he was dismissed for his and Nie Mingjue's youth. Oh how the satisfaction tasted smoky sweet for a second as he was grabbing the scared texts to flee. Then when peace was tentative, Jin Guangshan inherited Wen Ruohan's greed and his mechanisms brought more ruin to his still recuperating sect as disciples numbers were yet again cut down for his bid for the Sygian Iron. Lan Xichen is tired of the youth being sacrificed for the whims of old men.

So when he is summoned for Nevernight for his monthly report on the elders and their rousing of sects to possible rebellion, he feels no guilt as harsh luck befalls certain parties at certain times. He knows they were willing to sacrifice his brother who willing put himself in the custody of the Yilling Laozu for the Lan Sect's safety. (As if Lan Xichen in his heart of hearts doesn't sympathize with Wei Wuxian in the hearts destruction of losing your baby brother especially due to the demands of others. As if he didn't know Lan Wanji went to Wei Wuxain long before the thought of the demand he go him. At least he is at peace that his brother will be protected against those who would say his death was duty. Was necessary. Was the price to be paid.) Once he leaves after visiting his brother, he once again goes back to Gusu to listen to his elders and offer sympathy to those who were somehow cut down by the trechous Wei Wuxain.

As the last Jiang alive, Jiang Yanli was given Lotus Pier. How Wei Wuxian had the audacity to gift Jiang Yanli her ancestral home is whispered between breaths when the news was told. (Its stewardship was one of the things begged to her as her A-Xian katoowed at her feet as he begged for forgiveness for not have the strength to protect their baby brother. For breaking that last promises her parents asked of him. In the hours after his body was gathered. Please only until. Until.. Until... Until...)

Jiang Yanli has with certainty what Jin Guangshan thought he had: the hold of two Great Sects. With the JiangYunmeng their loyalty is a tenuous as a river running but the JinLanling is one were loyalties can shift sudden like the tide. Thankfully Jiang Yanli was raised in water. They think her naive and soft as if she wasnt raised to spot venomous snakes in water that can pull you down. That her mother, the Purple Spider, neglected her education in weaving webs because she wasn't able to develop strong enough fangs. Let them. Let them think she the grief stricken widowed wife who is the prized puppet they wish to gain control of. It makes it easier to watch them carve each other down to the shapes she wants them to as she directs each strike without them knowing. Its because of their greed she can never have both baby brothers. And then later, she finds out why she couldn't have her husband as well.

Now in Nevernight City, Wei Wuxain tolls. Day and night he researches. Looking through, studying, marking pilfered and demanded books from across the cultivation world. As in the deepest and most secured treasure room lies two clear coffins. Complex arrays and sigils carved into and all over the coffins signaling one thing if one looks long enough to decifer without crossing their eyes: preserve.

(Sorry for this ramble if its unwanted. For some reason for the Jiang Cheng dies au my mind went to like a Clone Wars situation were the Great Sect leaders play both sides of going against Wei Wuxain on the down low publicly to have the minor sect leaders and the public's support but really help and support Wei Wuxian's bid as Chief Cultivator b/c they are so sick and tired of being reactive of other political mechanisms which causes them to lose or have the great possibility to lose the things they love. Like they lost their youth and loved ones to such mechanisms, it will not take anything more in their adulthoods.)

Hi friend!! Hahaha yes I love that evil!WWX gives people so much joy. I took a slightly different approach (i'm totally guilty bc I watched Dune and I just want a bene gesserit wen qing that's the only reason i wrote this au LOOL).

YES! I totally thought of Star Wars when I wrote this. Just...galactic empire feel you know? Although I guess my take on Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue is more like "......so we have a evil overlord now? I guess? okay."

[aurora077]

The Irwin Agenda (Chapter 5~ End)

Chapter 5 - Lan Qiren’s no good very bad day

“Wangji, we have a meeting with the elders in five minutes, where is your brother!?” said Lan Qiren frustratedly. 

“Brother is at the Hanshi. He said if Fang can’t come to the meeting then neither will he. He refuses to go anywhere without his ‘emotional support crocodile’ and has sent me in his place,” Lan Wangji said sullenly. Since the elders learned of the crocodile they had told Lan Xichen that he wasn’t allowed to bring it into the council chambers. He was the sect leader so they couldn’t ban it outright if he insisted on keeping it, but they could keep it out of their meeting room. Lan Xichen had not been happy about this development. Fang was of course a comforting presence at his side whenever he had to deal with stressful matters (dealing with the elders was always stressful in his opinion) and so he decided if Fang wasn’t allowed in then he wouldn’t go either.

“Emotional what!?” fumed an enraged Lan Qiren. When Lan Huan said the crocodile was his companion Lan Qiren wasn’t happy but he couldn’t contradict the sect leader so he pretended it didn’t exist, but this was getting ridiculous! 

“Come Wangji, you will help me get your brother to this meeting!”

“Yes shufu 😞.” 

—--------------

“Lan Huan! What is that cacophony!? Cease this nonsense at once!” screeched Lan Qiren who had scarcely gotten up the path of the Hanshi before being assaulted with the most horrendous sound he’d ever heard in his entire life (and he’d heard Cangse Sanren’s cackling after she’d shaved off his beard!).

“Ah uncle, it’s not nonsense! Fang likes some strange newfangled type of music. The kids are calling it Rock and Roll? It seems to be a very natural type of thing. I’m not sure what instrument is used but I tried my best to replicate it with the ones we have here, though it doesn’t seem to be working out very well. We simply don’t have the right instruments since it appears to be quite foreign music, but Fang seems to like it anyway. Fang’s previous owner’s moniker is Jagged Stone. He must be very in tune with the mountains and the earth,” Lan Xichen said sagely. 

Wei Wuxian had a great idea that time when they misunderstood why Lan Wangji was upset. They initially thought that Lan Wangji was upset that the crocodile couldn’t talk, i.e. communicate more openly with them, which made Wei Wuxian later come up with a brilliant plan. He’d lent Lan Xichen the incense burner that they had in their possession to see if it would allow him to enter dreams with Fang. It had been a wild shot because they hadn’t known if crocodiles could dream. But it worked magnificently!

“Jagged Stone? Who named that guy? If I didn’t know better I’d have said Jiang Cheng made it up!” cackled Wei Wuxian, who had been on his way to visit the Hanshi to see if his idea had worked and had joined Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren on their way to see Lan Xichen.

He probably did, thought Lan Wangji sourly. It must have been an excuse to bring the crocodile to the Cloud Recesses and cause havoc. Really, who would believe that he just happened to come across the croc as some random yao dressed in strange black and green clothing dropped it almost on top of a boat of fishermen on one of the lakes at Lotus Pier. 

Sure Sect Leader Jin was also there with him at the time but Jiang Wanyin was his uncle, he’d back him up if necessary.

Besides, who ever heard of a yao that looked like a human crossbred with a fly but also happened to have strange wheels on its feet? And which yao spoke (spoke!!) about their plans to hurt some guy called Jagged Stone by sending his precious friend (the crocodile!) Fang where he could never retrieve him? And then even more unbelievably, if that was possible, the yao got hit by Zidian and just disappeared! They could find no trace of it! 

Sect Leader Jiang claimed to have hung a clarity bell on the crocodile's collar because it was not attacking anyone but it was clearly very agitated. The upset crocodile was scaring the locals, who would not usually encounter such an animal in that area, and only with the clarity bell did it calm down. Jin Rulan claimed that despite their attempts to relocate it to a more suitable location, the crocodile got so attached to Jiang Wanyin that it was trailing behind him like a dog and refused to stay behind. Since the crocodile was acting like a trained pet and it was also doing wonders for preventing trouble in Yunmeng he let it stay. 

And in Lan Wangji’s opinion that should have been the end of it! But noooo. Jiang Wanyin had the brilliant idea to send it to Lan Xichen as a ‘late dowry for his wayward shixiong’ and because he thought that Lan Xichen of all people deserved an uncomplicated companion like a pet would usually be but since the Cloud Recesses couldn’t have pets then he’d just send Fang who was somehow trained but who was also a crocodile and hence people would have a hard time trying to make it stick that this was a pet. If his brother wasn’t so obviously happy having the crocodile around, Lan Wangji would have fought to prove it was a pet and gotten it kicked out. 

He begrudgingly admitted it was a better companion than Jin Guangyao at least. The crocodile wouldn’t manipulate his brother and make him doubt his own judgement.

Lan Xichen, oblivious to the thoughts of his brother, just laughed at Wei Wuxian’s words. “It does sound made up, doesn’t it? But I am happy to say that Wanyin isn’t playing a joke on us, it really is Fang’s past owner’s name. The incense burner worked! That’s how I knew he likes this type of music! If you don’t believe me you can ask Jingyi and Sizhui, somehow they got pulled into the dream too.” 

Wei Wuxian was vibrating with excitement. “I can’t believe it worked! Xichen-ge you have to let me try next time. I’ll have to trouble you to sleep in your guest bedroom!” 

“Wei Ying,” said Lan Wangji dejectedly.

“Oh of course you can come too Lan Zhan! Don’t look at me that way, you wanted to be able to understand Fang too, right?”

But before Lan Wangji could reply, Lan Qiren had finally lost his last strand of patience with them all.

“Forget the crocodile, Lan Xichen, do you intend to step down as sect leader?”

“What? Of course not uncle! What would make you say a thing like that?” Lan Xichen said, aghast. “Well it seems like you have forgotten your duty. The elders are waiting on the sect leader’s report, but the sect leader is too busy playing house with a reptile and leaving his brother to carry on without him!” 

Lan Xichen sighed. He’d not wanted to give in to the elders’ banning Fang from the meeting room but he also didn’t mean to upset his uncle. As angry as Lan Qiren seemed there was an undercurrent of hurt in his voice and Lan Xichen had a sinking feeling that he’d possibly just reminded his uncle of his father. 

“I’m sorry shufu, I’ll go now. Xian-di do you mind keeping Fang company?”

“Just leave it to me Xichen-ge!” saluted Wei Wuxian. 

—---------

Lan Qiren had had a stressful day. After the meeting he’d gone straight to his rooms to meditate and to have an early rest. 

The next day he decided, was a day for clearing his mind and lowering his blood pressure.

After breakfast he set out on a walk around the Cloud Recesses. The exercise and fresh air would bolster his spirit and soothe his mind. 

Or so it would have if not for–

There it was again!!!

“What is that mysterious ticking noise!” shouted Lan Qiren, at his wits end. It had been following him for half an hour. 

“Oh that’s just Tick-Tock, Fang’s mate,” said Lan Jingyi gleefully, “It seems she likes you! I’ve been looking for her everywhere but she was here following you all along!”

“That infernal crocodile has a mate!?” he said, too appalled to wonder how Lan Jingyi was suddenly there and why he didn’t notice the crocodile that had apparently been stalking him the entire time!

“Well I couldn’t let Fang be lonely, could I?” said Lan Xichen, popping up suddenly behind them and almost scaring ten years off of Lan Qiren’s life. (The precious little he had left after being terrorised by both his nephews’ pets. And no he did not mean Wangji’s rabbits!)

 “But don’t worry uncle, you have nothing to fear,” continued his nephew, “She’s perfectly harmless. Unless of course you happen to have a hook for a hand in which case she’ll turn feral and you should probably run for your life.” 

“Indeed, that one ship captain learned the hard way,” said the Chief Cultivator, fluttering his fan slowly.

Chief Cultivator!? Lan Qiren clutched his chest, what was with these people? Was it a trend nowadays to try and give him a heart attack? And where did they keep popping out from? None of these people had been here before and he hadn’t heard any of them approaching. Was he faltering in his cultivation? 

Composing himself, he said, “My apologies Chief Cultivator, I did not realise you were visiting.” 

“No need, Master Lan. I just came to deliver Tick-Tock and have her settled in comfortably.” 

“Yes, A-Sang was astute enough to recognise that Fang might be lonely since he is the only one of his kind here. I am ashamed that I did not consider it before.” Lan Xichen realised that when he had to do his sect leader duties it wouldn’t be possible to have Fang with him at all times even if he was his emotional support animal. But he had only been thinking of how unfortunate it was that he couldn't keep him around the entire time, totally disregarding that Fang himself might be lonely in the times that Lan Xichen (or the others) couldn’t be there. 

“Oh don’t feel bad. It was unexpected for Jiang Cheng to get a crocodile like Fang in the first place, it’s no wonder you didn’t think of finding another. For anyone other than myself it might not have been possible anyway. But yes Master Lan, Tick-Tock was my gift to Er-ge. In the spirit of making amends.” 

“Y...you gave Xichen that..that beast!?” Oh, his poor heart. How could he tell Xichen to get rid of it if it was a gift from the Chief Cultivator. Woe is me, he thought. 

“Master Lan, are you alright?” asked Nie Huaisang, when Lan Qiren appeared pale.

No... no he didn’t think he was.

“Uncle!”

“Shifu!”

He fell into a dead faint. Lan Jingyi was just a second too late to catch him. But unbeknownst to Lan Qiren, the crocodile was not. He would later wake up and wonder why his robes were torn. 

—------------

Lan Qiren also wondered if he too needed an emotional support animal with the way his life was going. Luckily (or unluckily, he couldn’t make up his mind) the female crocodile seemed to have really taken a shine to him for some reason and often ended up keeping him company. She was a surprisingly good listener and seemed to commiserate with him when he ranted about all the idiots he had to deal with on a daily basis. 

He would never admit it to Wangji but truly, having to learn how to read his face did come in handy for reading the crocodile. And he found that Lan Huan was right. Crocodiles were easier to deal with than people. 

Huh. Who would’ve thought?

A/N:

As for the origin of Fang, it’s Miraculous Ladybug crossover time: Something something Alix got mad at Jagged Stone for some reason, got akumatised as Timebreaker, sent Fang to ancient China, got whacked by Zidian and went back to her own time, got defeated by Ladybug but the Miraculous cure didn’t get to take Fang back because Jiang Cheng’s clarity bell is a cultivation item which interfered with the magic as two types of ‘magics’ clashed.

The Miraculous magic just shrugs and straight up creates a clone of Fang instead since it needed to fix things but couldn’t get back Fang. Tikki is the kwami of creation after all, her magic could make anything so nobody is any the wiser.

[stiltonbasket]

blue of sea, blue of sky

by stiltonbasket

The year Nie Mingjue turns twenty-three, he marries the youngest moon god, Lan Xichen.

(In which Lan Xichen is the Emperor of Night, Nie Mingjue is a humble fisherman, and Lan Jingyi is the half-mortal child growing up between them.)

As far as Nie Mingjue can remember, none of the stories about mortals falling in love with gods have ever ended well.

“They all end with the mortal lover dying, and the god grieving for eternity,” he grumbled, long before he knew just who—and what—his own best friend would grow up to be, someday. “Why do you like them so much, A-Huan?”

“Well, the moon goddess bestowed immortality upon her husband,” Lan Xichen laughed. “And though he could not join her, she could come when the moon was full, and visit him.”

 It is only later that he learns that the moon goddess from Xichen’s stories had married a young scholar and had two children with him; both sons, one human and one half-divine, and that the elder was fated to join his mother among the stars while his brother would remain on earth, with his father.

“That’s a sad story, too,” he complained—now with Xichen’s lips brushing his cheek, even though Mingjue’s skin smells of salt and the sea, and with their hands entwined on the soft grass beneath them as they gaze up at the sky. “She had to leave her husband, and now her son has to leave his didi.”

That last stung most of all, because Mingjue has a brother of his own, and leaving Huaisang would break him in a way that even his parents’ deaths never did.

“It doesn’t have to be,” his beloved whispered back. “Not for us, my heart.”

Perhaps it was then that Nie Mingjue knew the truth, but he refused to accept it until a year later, when Xichen finally kissed him goodbye on the prow of his little fishing boat and ascended in a blaze of silver starlight.

“I’ll bring something back for you,” Xichen said tenderly, dabbing the tears off Mingjue’s face. “Something very small and sweet, for you to remember me by until I can come to see you again.”

And then he could no longer doubt that his husband would return, because Xichen always keeps his oaths; and he keeps this one, too, descending on the tenth full moon after his departure with a drowsy infant in his arms.

“This is our son, beloved,” he smiles, as Nie Mingjue bows his head and soaks the baby’s sleeping face in tears. “His name is A-Yi.”

None of the other stories have happy endings, he thinks, when his newborn son fills the night with a wail that frightens away all the fish within a hundred yards of their boat. But this one—this one does!  

Lan Jingyi is four years old when he decides to find out why he can only see his A-Die once a month.

“Your A-Die is traveling far away,” his father tells him, bouncing him up and down in his lap while he takes apart a chicken carcass for soup. Father is very good at that, since he can disassemble birds and beasts and great fanged fish no matter how big or small they are, and then he makes delicious meat soups and stews in the kitchen with xiao-shushu’s help. “He can only come once a month. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Can we go see him?” Jingyi asks instead, chewing on a dirty spoon until his fuqin pokes his nose to make him stop. “Fuqin, I miss him.”

The look in his father’s eyes is very sad and far away, and sometimes he wonders how much Father must miss A-Die, if it hurts Jingyi so much to be without him.

“I miss him too, A-Yi,” Father sighs, kissing the top of his head. “More than you can imagine.”

Father misses A-Die with all his heart, so much that he covers the wall with charcoal sketches and paintings of him. He keeps them hidden with thick black curtains whenever anyone visits, though–to keep guests from losing their senses to A-Die’s divine beauty, Uncle Huaisang says, even though Jingyi insists that the whole world should know how pretty A-Die is.

“They already do!” Father laughs, when he says so for the tenth time. “Go ask anyone you know what the most beautiful thing in the heavens is, and you’ll see.”

Jingyi tries this out at school one day, and his teacher–Maiden Jiang, father always calls her, though Jingyi just calls her Aunty–tells him that the loveliest thing in the night sky is the full moon, fully risen and surrounded by twinkling stars.

“The stars come second,” she goes on, very seriously, as if Jingyi had begged her to fill his chubby little palms with treasure instead of just asking her a question. “But the moon rules the realm of night, just as Lord Sun rules the day.”

“You were right,” Lan Jingyi says to his father, when he gets home that afternoon. “Even Aunty Jiang knows that A-Die is the most beautiful person in the world, and she knows everything.”

And A-Die is the most beautiful person in the world, because when he visits, everything he touches glows silver and white like moonlight kissing the ground, and his skin is so smooth and fair that even Jingyi’s favorite bracelet–a first-birthday gift from his little uncle, strung with round beads made of mutton-fat jade–looks dingy and dark when he holds it up to his A-Die’s high forehead.

“Is this a present to remind me of my A-Yi?” A-Die laughs, cradling Jingyi close to his breast and covering his face with kisses. His dark hair slips over his shoulders and covers Jingyi’s back like a blanket, if blankets were cool and silky and soft and covered with little sparkling gems that nearly outshone the stars. “Then A-Die will wear it every day, to think of his little moonbeam.”

“No, no!” Jingyi giggles, snuggling deeper into his A-Die’s embrace. “A-Die has to give A-Yi presents. That’s the rules.”

“Hmm.” The soft gleam in A-Die’s eyes dances like light reflected on moving water, and he thrusts his soft hands into his pockets before pulling out–

“A bird!” Jingyi gasps and lets the little creature perch on his hand. It isn’t like the birds he sees every morning, but it sings even more sweetly than they do, and its wings are made of pure white snow with tiny carved-ice feathers. “Is he a real bird, A-Die? Can A-Yi give him a name?”

A-Die nods and pulls Jingyi even closer. “What will Jingyi call him, then?”

“Xiao-Bai,” he decides, missing the tender, loving looks his parents exchange over his head. “He will sleep on my pillow, and I will feed him Wei-shushu’s tianzi xiao. And chicken.”

Father makes a choking sound before throwing his head back and laughing, curving his arms around A-Die’s waist and pulling his magnificent head down onto his shoulder. “Perhaps you should try the roast duck in the kitchen, too,” he says merrily, his fingers entwining themselves with A-Die’s like vines curling into a knot. “Xiao-Bai might like it. What do you think?”

“No, Father! Jingyi wants it, so Xiao-Bai can’t have it.”

A-Die leaves before Jingyi wakes up the next morning, as usual, but there is a cool dent on his side of the bed, and Xiao-Bai is singing his jiujiu’s favorite lullaby on the windowsill. He wonders for a moment (as he always does) if A-Die was a dream, and if he was ever really here at all–but then Father comes back in with the laundry, and his lips are stained with sparkling stardust like frost on an early peach.

“There’s a new gift coming for you,” he says, helping Jingyi clean his face and hands before carrying him to the table. “Even nicer than your Xiao-Bai. Can you guess what it’s going to be?”

“A sword?”

“A-Yi is too young for a sword,” his father grins. “Guess again.”

“A dog?”

“Absolutely not, your Wei-shushu would drop dead on the spot and then Wangji would haunt me to the ends of the earth.”

“…Two dogs?”

“Jingyi!”

But on the next full moon, A-Die doesn’t bring him more snow-birds, or rattle-drums with stars for beads, or even a new puppy. He arrives on an icy winter night with a little bundle of blankets in his arms: a bundle with toes and two small hands and a pair of big round eyes, and Father gives the bundle a name of her own to go with his, and with Jingyi’s.

“We can’t call a baby Xiao-Bai, darling,” he says, when Jingyi pouts at his new sister and cuddles up against his A-Die. “We’ll call her Ying’er, for now, and when she’s bigger, we’ll call her Jueying.”

Lan Jueying, Jingyi thinks. It sounds a little sweet, like Lan Jingyi, and a little happy, and a little mischievous, too.

“….Do I have to share her with xiao-shushu? I won't! Papa can't make me!”

A-Die tries not to laugh, at that. “A-Yi!”

[besanii]

double happiness at your door

part 14 | previous parts here

Wei Wuxian shifts in his seat as he listens to his parents haggle and bargain with Lan Qiren over the terms of the engagement. He’d underestimated just how uncomfortable it would be to be in the same room as your elders while they debated on how much you were both worth in material value. This was definitely not what he had signed up for when he had decided he wanted to marry Lan Wangji after all.

Across the aisle, Lan Wangji looks as placid and unruffled as ever, nodding along occasionally to what was being said, taking the occasional sip of tea and smiling at Wei Wuxian when their eyes meet. The happiness radiating from Lan Wangji’s person is the only thing that keeps Wei Wuxian from bolting from his seat in search of freedom, though he supposes the knowledge that these negotiations were happening at all was enough to please him.

“—will live in the Nine Heavens after the wedding, of course—”

“Wait, what?” Wei Wuxian’s mother interjects suddenly, leaning forward in her seat with a frown. “No, they’re going to be living in Qing Qiu.”

Lan Qiren doesn’t quite slam his teacup on the table, but it definitely rattles more than necessary when he sets it down.

“All spouses who marry into the Nine Heavens live here,” he says imperiously. “Wei Wuxian will be no different when he marries Wangji.”

“Who said my son is marrying into the Nine Heavens?” Cangse does slap her hands against the arms of her seat, indignation written across her face. “If anything, your nephew is the one marrying into Qing Qiu!”

“Preposterous!” Lan Qiren splutters. “You have already accepted our pingli, so Wei Wuxian will be the one to marry here!”

Oh yeah. Wei Wuxian is suddenly reminded of the betrothal gifts stacked up in the sitting room of his chambers here in the Nine Heavens. He hasn’t touched a single one—had almost forgotten about it altogether, actually—so does that still technically count as having accepted them? Or does he need to return them?

His mother seems to be thinking along the same lines.

“Then you can take them back,” she says. “They’re just sitting there gathering dust anyway, we haven’t touched a single bit of it, you can even count them if you don’t believe me. In any case, A-Ying is Qing Qiu’s future emperor and he must stay in Qing Qiu.”

She has a point. Wei Wuxian is next in line to the throne in Qing Qiu after his parents, he has no siblings who can step up if he chooses to renounce his claim unless his parents decide to have another child—he shudders at the thought—and Lan Wangji...well, Lan Wangji is neither next in line to the throne of the Nine Heavens nor an only child. It does make sense for him to be the one to marry. But Lan Qiren’s face is turning a truly horrifying shade of puce and is looking like he might actually burst a blood vessel, so he doesn’t say anything.

The idea of paying a bride price for Lan Wangji is definitely amusing though, and he smiles into his tea. 

“You want Wangji to ruzhui?” Lan Qiren near-shouts.

Cangse sits back in her seat and raises her eyebrows.

“Well, he could always jia,” she says lightly.

All the men in the room break out into a collective coughing fit at the suggestion. Even the tips of Lan Wangji’s ears have taken on a pink flush as he picks up his teacup with slightly trembling fingers. Although the idea of Lan Wangji marrying him stirs some very pleasant and smug feelings, Wei Wuxian actually doesn’t mind who is marrying who, as long as someone is getting married at some point and this whole conversation ends without anyone losing a limb. And from the look on Lan Wangji’s face as their eyes meet, he knows he feels the same.

“A-Niang,” he says, “I don’t mind—”

Cangse rounds on him with a furious finger waggle.

“Do not say a word,” she hisses under her breath. He swears he catches a glimpse of her fangs under her curled upper lip; he shrinks back into his seat with a meek nod. “Lan-laotouzi, either your nephew marries into Qing Qiu, or this engagement is called off.”

Wait, what? No!

Wei Wuxian looks at Lan Wangji, who is looking back with widened, slightly panicked eyes. Call off the engagement entirely?

Lan Qiren grunts.

“That’s fine with me,” he says. “I don’t know why we even bothered in the first place. Absolutely outrageous—”

“Shufu,” Lan Xichen interjects, glancing worriedly between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, who looks about ready to burst. “Surely we can reach a peaceful solution to this matter. There have been precedents—Xiao Xingchen-shangshen and Song Zichen-shangshen, for example—”

“Absolutely not,” Cangse says, folding her arms over her chest with a huff. “It’s the principle of the matter. Either Lan Wangji be the one to jia, or this engagement will be dissolved right now.”

Lan Qiren surges to his feet, spluttering and jabbing at finger in her direction, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly in anger. Lan Xichen grabs his elbow before he can lunge across the aisle at her.

“How dare you—!”

“Take your pick, laotouzi,” she taunts.

“You—outrageous—!”

“I’m waiting.”

“—absolutely ludicrous—”

“I will marry.”

They all stop and look at Lan Wangji, who is still sitting calmly in his seat. His ears are now bright red, but his expression is determined as he looks around at everyone in the room.

“I will marry,” he repeats in a clear voice. “It is the logical choice, and I do not mind, as long as it is Wei Ying.”

Lan Qiren’s eyes roll to the back of his head and collapses where he stands; Cangse lets out a victorious “Hah!” and throws her hands in the air with a smug, satisfied smile. Lan Xichen is torn between making sure his uncle is still alive and looking at his brother with concern. And Lan Wangji—

Wei Wuxian blushes under Lan Wangji’s soft, tender gaze, his heart swelling to three times its size in a rush of affection. He squeezes his eyes shut and reverts to his original form so he can launch himself at Lan Wangji, peppering him with kisses and nuzzles.

“Aw,” his mother coos. “I knew this was a good idea.”

Notes:

pingli (聘礼) - bride price, paid to the woman’s family in the event of an engagement or marriage; the opposite of this is jiazhuang (嫁妆), or the dowry the woman brings to her husband’s family upon marriage

ruzhui (入赘) - a man joining the woman’s family after marriage, not very common and usually because the woman’s family is richer and/or more influential/powerful

jia (嫁) - a woman marrying into her husband’s family; the opposite of this is qu (娶), where the man takes the woman into his family after marriage

laotouzi (老头子) - Old Man

// buy me a ko-fi //

[ruensroad]

unexpected

I have fought myself a while in whether or not I want to get into this AU, but then @bloody-bee-tea​ had me gushing about the Nie Brothers in it and I just... I am weak, okay? weak and soft. So here you go. XD

---

For a deathless Immortal, life didn’t often change. Each golden morning heralded the same blue skies, the same sweet breeze. The same flowers grew in his garden, the same sun-flies and rain-birds came to visit in the warmth of the afternoons. The violet evenings under the same shimmering rainbow; the night under the same glittering stars.

Lan Huan’s life had a pattern. He woke early, roused his younger brother, and made breakfast and tea. He taught A-Zhan his characters and numbers and how to paint. The early afternoon saw A-Zhan hurrying out to be with his beloved rabbits and Lan Huan out to his favorite patch of garden, covered in the lilies his father had planted for his mother. For that story was a tragedy, he loved the flowers nonetheless, and he spent his time in the golden light tending them.

He was uninterrupted, most days, until evening, when it was time to make dinner and more tea for himself and A-Zhan. Then it was music lessons before bed, just to start the cycle again. Unchanging, unending. A blissful, uncomplicated existence, as it was for all Immortal children in the Heavenly plane.

But not today, it seemed.

He’d just bid A-Zhan farewell to retreat into his garden, just grabbed a watering can when he heard the crush of grass and the excited snuffling of an animal, then watched the daisies at his feet sway to the ground under a rolling ball of scales and fur. Lan Huan stood shocked a beat too long, long enough the cub blinking up at him lost interest after a few chirps went unanswered, then its wide, dilated eyes fixated on a rose and got thoroughly distracted.

He’d seen the Guardian Lion Dogs before, of course. On the few occasions his life’s pattern did change, it was to follow his Uncle to the nearby temple for prayers and reflection, all while under the watchful gaze of the twin Guardians standing guard over it.

But they’d all been… huge, however, towering over him and his brother when they passed. This was just a baby, all puffy fluff and too big paws and what seemed to be a keen interest in flowers and adventure. Lan Huan had never heard of a Lion Dog leaving its assigned temple, let alone galavanting into unsuspecting gardens, but he was instantly charmed regardless and knelt down while the cub batted happily at the rose.

They were considered lucky, and Lan Huan could admit he felt lucky to bear witness to the cub’s obviously delighted play. He rolled in the grass, knocking over flowers and upending stones, and growled fiercely at a sun-fly when it lighted on a petal.

“Such a fierce Guardian you are,” Lan Huan praised, knowing the Lion Dogs to be proud beasts. He stood the best chance of stopping the casual destruction of his garden by distracting the cub with it. At least he hoped. Cute as it was, these were special flowers. “I daresay no sun-fly dare return to that flower after such a roar.”

The cub puffed up, obviously preening, and tottered over, wobbly and unbalanced due to his overly large paws. Da-ge is scarier, he said, proud of that fact, and wagged his nub of a tail at Lan Huan. He’s always looking like this.

The cub pulled back his lips, baring fangs and wrinkling his brow. Lan Huan had to take an extra breath not to laugh.

“Oh, fearsome indeed,” he agreed, nodding seriously.

Da-ge is no fun though, the cub continued, tired already of pulling faces, and pounced on a daffodil before rolling and kicking at the tall leaves. Always work, no play! No pretty things. I like these pretty things.

“Flowers,” Lan Huan told him, unable to stop a worried smile. “You haven’t seen flowers?”

Seen them, but not close enough to smell! The cub purred so hard his whole little body rattled with it, golden eyes squinted into glowing half moons. I really like flowers.

“I like them too,” Lan Huan chuckled and gently eased a few blooms out of the cub’s path. “They are delicate and lovely. So fragile yet beautiful.”

Fragile? The cub blinked at him then around at the mess he’d made. He sniffed and sat up, looking as though he hadn’t just done that, like there wasn’t grass caught in his scales or a daisy stuck in his ear. Why must pretty things always be so easy to smush?

“It’s part of their charm, I suppose,” Lan Huan told him and wondered if it would be safe to brush away the mess from the cub’s fur, or if he’d be bitten for even daring to try. He knew the protocol with big Guardians, which greetings to use, which offerings to lay, but what about touching? There were no rules he knew of regarding touching them, let alone a cub already breaking the rules. Would it be safe?

The pad of heavy feet cut through his indecision, and to his surprise another cub hopped over the garden wall, bigger than his current trouble-making guest, but obviously not close to grown. Still, its scowl was impressive for so young a Guardian, even if the growl in its throat was still a bit higher with youth, not the low, timbered rumbling it would be one day.

Lan Huan felt himself go utterly still as the larger cub approached, its golden gaze fixated on him and the tiny terror. But when it spoke, it wasn’t to Lan Huan, and the voice was boyish, the way Lan Huan’s was. A-Sang!

Da-ge found me! The cub - A-Sang? - chirped happily and rushed over, uncaring it seemed of the sharp tone or the growling. He rubbed happily under the larger one’s chin, purring and rattling, before pouncing on his paw. Found all the pretty things, da-ge! See?

A long, tired sigh, then the growling cut out in resignation. Lan Huan bit down a wide grin to see the all too familiar brotherly exasperation cross the Lion Dog’s face. This is not the temple, he reprimanded. You trespassed and ruined someone’s garden.

“It’s alright,” Lan Huan was quick to say around A-Sang’s contrite pouting. “I didn’t tell him to stop so the fault is mine.”

He got a huff for that and a considering look, before the Lion Dog sat down, then flopped. Right on top of A-Sang.

The cub whined, biting and pawing playfully at his brother’s face. His brother who was unmoved, uncaring of the tiny teeth. You are so damn tiring, he said to A-Sang, who gave up on fighting and started wiggling.

And you are heavy da-ge! He whined. Unable to get free, he flopped over his brother’s paw and pouted, though was already yawning now that he was no longer moving about.

Deal with it, the older cub warned, then his eyes were back on Lan Huan, curious, but not hostile, he was relieved to see. Forgive him, he’s just a cub.

“Nothing to forgive,” Lan Huan assured and shifted a little closer to the two brothers. “Unexpected, maybe, but all in good fun. And I can fix up the garden.”

The Lion Dog looked dubious, but didn’t argue, and waited for another wide yawn from A-Sang before lifting his head. Like a well-known dance, A-Sang stayed put, snuggling down in his brother’s fur and scales and purred, content it seemed, and warm.

“I didn’t know you could leave the temple,” Lan Huan said, still awed that this was happening at all.

We can, though we’re not technically supposed to. A sigh, which had Lan Huan smothering another grin. But I doubt even our General would be able to keep this one contained.

Lan Huan huffed a soft laugh, just imagining little A-Sang skirting under the giant paws of their elders. It was far too easy to imagine. “He is spirited.”

And easily distracted, the older cub sighed in exhaustion. Poorly suited to temple life. I don’t know if he’ll make it.

“With a big brother like you, i’m sure he will,” Lan Huan assured, not certain what happened to those Lion Dogs that didn’t meet expectations. He was suddenly afraid to ask and swept the worry to the side by offering his hand, as well as a bow of his head. “I am Lan Huan.”

A large paw was stretched over his hand, a very heavy, reassuring weight against his palm. Nie Mingjue, the cub told him.

It was a courtesy name, which meant this cub at least was a full on Guardian in training. Lan Huan had to wonder if that meant it would be the last time he’d see Nie Mingjue and A-Sang in his garden, or if the tiny cub’s need for adventure would make this a common occurrence. He found himself hoping it was the latter and shook his paw with a wide smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nie Mingjue,” he said earnestly and smiled down at the slowly blinking A-Sang. “You and your brother.”

Nie Mingjue snorted again, but gently nuzzled the ball of fluff curled against his chest and sighed. Sorry again. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen a second time.

“No, please!” Lan Huan said quickly, startling them both. He blushed when he realized he was still squeezing Nie Mingjue’s paw. “You two are welcome here anytime. If he wants to come, he can.”

Nie Mingjue studied him in a silence that had him squirming, but finally nodded. Thank you, he said and bowed his head. Honestly you’d be doing me a favor, because I doubt he’d let me stop him from coming here, honestly.

Lan Huan chuckled, relief making something in him sing, and he patted the paw in his hand in gratitude. “I understand. So please, come anytime you like. You’re welcome here.”

His wrist was nuzzled, then the Lion Dog breathed in deep against his skin. Smelling him, perhaps, or scenting his sincerity. A low purr had him nearly puddling on the spot.

Thank you, Lan Huan. Knowing A-Sang, I will probably take you up on that offer.

[needtherapy]

soaring, carried aloft on the wind...continued 3 / 4

A story for Xichen and Mingjue, in another time and another place.

The Beifeng, the mighty empire of the north, invaded more than a year ago, moving inexorably south and east.

In order to buy peace, the chief of the Lan clan has given the Beifeng warlord a gift, his second oldest son in marriage. However, when Xichen finds out he makes a plan.

He, too, can give a gift to the Beifeng warlord, and he will not regret it.

The story continues...

Part 1: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / ...  HOME

It’s on AO3 here if that’s easier to read.

NOTES: This story starts out G but will eventually be E for Explicit.

Chapter 3

The boy accompanies him through the encampment, talking non-stop the entire way, but Xichen isn’t listening. He’s observing this army with a commander’s eye. It helps him to pretend that he’s a spy, not a slave. He notes the neat lines of tents, the clean smell despite hundreds of horses, the smiles on the faces of the soldiers—men and women. This is not the bloodthirsty and chaotic rabble he had expected.

Who hasn’t heard stories of the Beifeng? They have devastated even the strongest clans, whose swords and magic were no match for the Beifeng archers and cavalry, not to mention their own unknown power. Some of the clans retreated into the hills, some sought sanctuary in the Cloud Recesses. And the man Xichen has just met—just kissed—is the demon they fear the most. 

Xichen can’t believe all the stories. No man can disappear and reappear at will, nor fly to the top of a building, nor drive an arrow through the heart of a soldier a full li away. He does not have wings or fangs. He is certainly tall enough to be fearsome, Xichen thinks with irritation, if less hideous than reported. His broad shoulders must make him as dangerous with a sword as he is known to be with a bow, but surely no more deadly than Xichen himself.

They reach a tent larger than the rest, hung with colorful panels of embroidered linen. Despite his churning fear, Xichen evaluates the workmanship and the cost of the dyes with favor. He sees purple and gold mixed with blue and less expensive yellows and greens, yet somehow the riot of color is pleasing. It is a far cry from the grey and white serenity of Xichen’s home. 

Not his home anymore.

“This will be your home while you are here,” the boy announces, gesturing to an exquisitely embellished panel hiding a doorway, stitched in a beaded pattern of clouds that almost seem to be drifting in the wind.

Xichen’s stomach clenches at this small reminder of the Cloud Recesses, and he’s instantly nauseated. He closes his eyes and tries to breathe away the bile, flinching when he feels a touch on his arm.

“Zewu-Jun, please come inside,” the boy implores, and Xichen lets himself be led through the tent flap.

“If you need to throw up, there’s a basin in the corner.”

Xichen’s eyes fly open, staring at the boy, whose eyes are dancing with repressed laughter. It makes Xichen furious that this child can find his distress so hilarious, and some of his feelings must be evident on his face, because the boy takes a step backward, hands up.

“I meant no harm, Zewu-Jun. The negotiations with your family ensured your safety, but you would be treasured regardless. Whatever comforts you need, please ask.” “Ask who?” Xichen snorts, more acerbic than he intends.

The boy’s grin turns his face into a dancing butterfly, light and carefree, and again, Xichen wonders who he is to the warlord.

“Me, of course. In your language, you can call me Huaisang. I will see you daily, whenever I can, but you can always ask your guards for me. Just say my name. They’ve been informed.”

Xichen looks around him. He has been given every luxury as far as he can see. The tent is warm, thanks to a covered brazier sitting on a ring of stone tiles. There are overstuffed cushions to lounge on, light blankets for summer, heavy wool blankets for the approaching autumn chill, paintings hanging from the tent ribs, a small but sufficient desk stocked with paper, ink, and brushes, and a table he assumes must be for meals, because it holds a pale blue tea service, plates, and bowls. Furthest from the door, next to the thing he will not yet acknowledge, is a wash basin, pitcher, and an unnecessarily large copper bathtub. 

It is all exquisitely made: the wood masterfully carved, the pottery glazed to a mirror shine, the artwork elegant and refined. The finest prison Xichen has ever seen.

He looks in a trunk near the tub, and surprise escapes him in an involuntary gasp. It is filled with books. He hadn’t realized what they were at first because they are wrapped in dark leather with no identifying marks on the bindings. He touches them reverently, opening some of their covers to reveal histories, books of folklore, even musical notations. Some he knows, some he doesn’t, but they are all beautiful. Tears sting his eyes and he inhales, rolling his eyes upward just enough to stop any drops from escaping.

“There’s a guqin too,” the boy—Huaisang—offers, pointing to a wooden case in the corner. “We understand your clan values music and learning. Elder Brother wants you to be comfortable.”

As comfortable as any concubine or sex slave, Xichen’s harsh inner voice reminds him, and he finally looks at the bed that dominates the tent. At home, this bed would be an extravagance. Even in the emperor’s palace, Xichen guesses, although he’s never been there, this bed would be excessive. It looks easily big enough for four people to lay in and never touch, and the thought heats his cheeks. The bed sits low on the ground, but its tall, carved posts are draped with silks thin enough to see through, and the mattress that looks soft enough to sink into is covered with a creamy blanket woven in a blue pattern Xichen would know anywhere: the graceful, curving seal of the Cloud Recesses.

This has all been made for him.

No, he remembers. Wangji. 

It was made for Wangji.

Chapter 4

In his twenty-two years, Xichen had never knowingly broken the rules of his clan. It had been something he was proud of, that obedience and propriety came so effortlessly to him. It made his life uncomplicated, and it allowed him to protect his brother’s small, secret rebellions from notice.

Now, it made it easy for him to deceive without being questioned.

He asked to see the letter his father was sending to the Beifeng warlord, to check it for errors, because there could be no mistakes to disgrace Wangji. His father was grateful for the assistance. He even apologized awkwardly to Xichen for not telling him what they were planning.

“We knew you would resist, Zewu-Jun, and there was too much at stake for your soft heart to interfere.”

Soft heart. As though that was all Xichen was. As though he did not earn his military title at the age of fourteen, two years before his father did. As though he had not defended the Cloud Recesses successfully until he reached his majority and switched his focus to preparing to lead his clan. As though his kindness and integrity were not regularly praised by all his family’s allies. 

What his father meant was, you would have told us we were wrong, and we did not want to hear it.

His father would have been right. He would not have agreed to give away his brother—Wangji, who did not like to be touched even by people he was acquainted with—to be what? A warlord’s concubine? A servant? Xichen was filled with a rage he had never known before, and it blazed like a funeral pyre.

No, Xichen would not be ashamed of his soft heart, no matter how it sounded in his father’s stern voice. 

It was far too simple to imitate his father’s hand and rewrite the letter accepting the warlord’s terms, changing the names and some of the details like his age and accomplishments. Truly, the warlord was getting a better bargain than he intended, Xichen thought. The first jade instead of the second. The heir instead of the spare. In light of the trade, he altered the letter to ask for Yunmeng’s safety as well, rationalizing that it would be suspicious to give a greater tribute than had been asked for.

He gave the letter back to his father, rolled in leather, scented with jasmine, and placed in a bamboo tube, already prepared for travel. His father accepted without suspicion. Xichen hid his smile with practiced ease. Perhaps there was some value to living a life above reproach.

The only thing Xichen regretted was that he could not tell his brother. He knew Wangji’s stubborn pride too well, and his brother would never let Xichen sacrifice himself, even if it was for Wangji’s own happiness.

Under the plum tree, he had wiped the tears from his brother’s cheeks and reassured him that he would tell Wei-gongzi anything Wangji wished. He could deliver a letter to the Yunmeng camp, if that would make it easier, and it strengthened Xichen’s resolve when his brother’s usually impassive face lit up.

The letter Wangji gave him the day before he was scheduled to leave was heavy, several pages thick. Xichen wondered what you told your soulmate when you had been sold in marriage to save your clan and maybe even your region from being overrun and destroyed.

Xichen had no way of knowing. Now, he never would.

He added Wangji’s letter to one he had written and hid them both under a floorboard in their mother’s empty home on the edge of the great forest. She had laughingly explained that as a healer, she needed to be closer to nature, so it had not been a scandal when she had moved away from their father so many years ago. But Xichen remembered the difference in her smiles before and after and the way she seemed to take fuller breaths here in this little house. It was a place he knew Wangji visited regularly, and the only place he could think of where his letter explaining what he had done and why, would be safe.

And then he prepared to get his brother drunk.

Xichen hated to lie to him, but by now, it was just one more promise he couldn’t regret breaking. His brother would leave at dawn in a caravan of horses, mules, and guards that would convey him and his dowry north to the Beifeng camp on the southern border of Lanling. The night before, Xichen invited Wangji to his rooms to share a hot pot of aged white tea, one of the oldest their family possessed.

“If there was ever a time to drink the best tea,” Xichen said, the misery in his voice unfeigned, “Today is the day.”

It was a family joke, Wangji’s intolerance for alcohol. Xichen had put in just enough so the taste would be masked by the sweet, rich honey flavor of the tea, but it would still put his brother to sleep. He was developing a talent for subterfuge, he thought, staring down at the limp form of his brother, sprawled across the table. Wangji’s face had lost the hard planes that masked his emotions, and he looked exactly his age.

It was easier than he expected to disguise his brother as himself, undressing Wangji down to the silk underclothes they both wore, switching their hair ornaments, and turning his face away from the door. Xichen pulled the blankets high around his head, and reinforced his brother’s sleep with a brush of magic. He felt a twinge of sadness to leave his beloved Shuoyue behind, but he couldn’t very well take the sword. Someone would definitely recognize it by his side, and he didn’t want to deprive his brother of Bichen. What would he do with a sword where he was going anyway? 

He put a note on his door with a single angry word—no—and hoped it would be enough to keep anyone from entering for a while.

“I am sorry, and I love you,” Xichen whispered before he left. He told himself it didn’t matter if Wangji didn’t hear him.

The last thing he did, a risk he couldn’t help but take, was to visit the library. His library, as he always thought of it. He breathed in the smell of leather and ink, touched the bindings of books he loved and scrolls of poetry he would never see again. He tried not to think about the music he had not yet committed to memory. Some of these books were ones he had bought himself, when he used to travel to other clans to contract and trade. Some had belonged to his family for generations. Next to his brother, this library was the thing he would miss the most.

Xichen was ready to leave at dawn, waiting on his horse before anyone else was awake to see him off. It felt strange to be riding again. He had not left his city in years, not since he had traveled to Qishan for the grand wedding of the Wen clan chief mere months before the Beifeng invaded. After they invaded, of course, he was too valuable to send into battle, despite his experience.

“You are too valuable to risk being ambushed and lost,” his father had said, but what Xichen heard was, your life only has value inside these gates. 

He wore a heavy riding coat with a tall collar and a plush scarf—too warm for late summer— that covered most of his face. He refused to look at any of his family, disdaining them as he knew Wangji would have done. He wasn’t sure if he was grateful or offended that no one, not even his father, noticed the change.

Notes: This story is about 40k words, so if you want to follow along, it’ll be on my pinned post, and tagged with #soaring au. It’s also on AO3 (same title).

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 17 - Watchers and Hunters

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dragon fang icon) In which flames, on the side of the inn.

Rand goes to the common room, to forget what Nynaeve said and the danger she may put them in. Thom is performing again, first another story of the Horn of Valere, and then playing music for dancing. The boys join the dancing when it goes to a group dance, and Rand finds himself startled at various points dancing with Nynaeve and then Moiraine.(1)

Eventually Thom packs away his flute, and the dancing stops. Everyone heads toward bed, but Rand decides to get a cup of milk first. As he's leaving the kitchen with it, a Myrddraal comes down the hall toward him. As it's about to reach him, Lan comes crashing down the stairs, and the Fade retreats. Lan tells Rand they're leaving now, not waiting for first light.

Moiraine is trying to warn the innkeeper about Darkfriends, but he's hearing none of it. Nynaeve says she came to see them back to Emond's Field, and if it means she has to go with them for now, she's still not going home until she can get them home.

They get to a gate to leave the city, and bribe the gatekeeper to open the gate. The governor says not to let anyone enter the city at night, but no mention is made of not letting people leave. Unfortunately, the Whitecloaks show up and ask what's happening, and what evil purposes could drive people out of town in the middle of the night. As they notice Rand, and Bornhald says he's going to take them to their camp for questioning. Moiraine pulls some heavy magic to get them away.(2)

The Whitecloaks get stuck inside the city, as the gate closes behind our crew. As they get a little further away from Baerlon, they see a fire somewhere in the city, big enough to be seen from miles away. They realize it must be the Stag and Lion.

Nynaeve asks if Moiraine thinks at all about the people whose livelihood has just been damaged because of her. Moiraine points out that she could go back, but it would bring unwanted attention on those she helped, and it would expose the Emond's Field Five not only to whoever set the fire, but also to the Whitecloaks, Myrddraal, Draghkar, and Darkfriends waiting for them in the city. Nynaeve mutters that she'd still try to do something, and Moiraine points out that any action would just as likely let the Dark One win the boys he's after.

Rand just hopes Min is alright.

Lan lets them stop and rest for just one hour. The boys have a short discussion about thinking they were safe, just for a moment, but Rand gets tired and decides an hour of sleep is better than none. He gets a few minutes of sleep, despite the stony ground, grateful that he had no dreams he can remember.

They ride off as the sun is rising, Lan clearly expecting an ambush at any moment.

=====

(1) Nynaeve clearly enjoys dancing, but as Rand points out, she probably can't dance at home because what would either of the councils think? She's already so young to be a village's Wisdom, so dancing and flirting have been denied her if she wants to maintain any respect from her elders. Poor Nynaeve. As for Moiraine, well. (2) What do you think she really did?

[thewickling]

Winding Moonrise - interlude

master post

I haven't written Winding Moonrise in a while so here take a ficlet of the Lan juniors being good boys who have in their uncle. Since that is what my brain decided to write. (They all have names now Sanxian (三弦) Liuqin (柳琴) Zheng (箏) Qiben (起奔) Meihuaqin (梅花琴) Ruan ( 阮))

-

"Repeat that," Lan Qiren says. His tone is so terse the hairs of the Lan juniors neck rise. It isn't helped by the fact Lan Qiren also taught them until they were old enough to control their transformations. If they were in wolfskin, they would have already shown their necks.

Lan Liuqin glances at his other three cousins. Each stares wide-eyed at Lan Qiren with the tails obviously lowered even in their human forms. The halls of the Lan residence are by no means narrow but he feels like a cornered pup. While, Lan Qiben looks as if he wants to crawl into the earth to escape their former-partiarch's thousand mile stare. Swallowing, he wishes he wasn't the eldest out of the group.

He repeats, "Second Uncle left with Mister Wei."

Lan Qiren grinds his teeth. If he didn't know better he would suspect his clear as ice and clean as jade nephew followed in his father's footsteps and eloped. His pulse rises at the thought. Except it is worse, the child he raised in his palms is more foolish than that. No, he apparently runs away without even the intent of marriage. The pressure builds behind his temples. He has no fondness of fated pairs but this... He clenches his jaw.

A hint of fang of grazes his gums. He inhales. Drawing on all of training, he forces the red haze around his vision down.

"Where did they go?"

"They went to investigate da-ge's aduction," Lan Liuqin says. His inflection relays his confusion. He wonders, Did uncle forget to tell Sir?

It doesn't cross his or any of the other junior's minds that Lan Wangji has disobeyed a pack elder. It's unthinkable. If Lan Wangji left without notifying other elders, it must be urge. Or, he recalls how haggard yet fierce the jade of their pack was during the short period Lan Sizhui was gone. Understanding dawns on him.

He spiritually aligns himself with Lan Wangji. Lan Qiren is much too terrifying to defy openly. The only one dumb enough to do that is er-ge, Lan Jingyi. Speaking of his older cousin, he peeks behind Lan Qiren. His support is a little selfish. If Lan Qiren catches wind of their plans, they might have to copy rules again.

"They left an hour ago, Sir," he subtly increases his volume. He prays that his voice carries down the hallway.

Lan Qiren wasn't born yesterday and he's spent several decades as an educator. In this regard his senses are honed to a fine edge. He counts the group. Pointedly, he addresses the others, "What are you doing in this wing? Where are Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi?"

Lan Zheng and Lan Qiben exchange glances. A silent accord is made. They each nudge their youngest cousin.

"They went to get snacks," Xiao-Ruan says, omitting that the snacks mentioned are junk food. His naturally curved, crescent moon eyes hide his nerves. While junk food isn't prohibited from their residence, it isn't exactly approved. "We wanted to invite san-jie and liu-jie."

Lan Liuqin chews his cheek. They squirreled the snacks away in Lan Jingyi's room. Even at their slowest, the two should be back soon. He sticks his neck out. "They didn't go with Second Uncle and Mister Wei."

As their voices carry, Lan Jingyi grabs Lan Sizhui. That familiar terse, lecturer's tone freezing him. His reflexes send him half a step back. Then the words process in his brain. He backpedals, dragging his best friend. He lights incense for his younger cousins in his heart.

He does the Lan pack equivalent of booking it. Moving too quickly isn't allowed so it ends up more a bit more of a brisk walk. He shushes Lan Sizhui.

When they exit the interiror, Lan Sizhui whispers, "What's going on?"

"Sir, caught Liuqin and them." He pauses and adds, "And I think..."

The thought seems strange to him. His brain insists it is impossible, but it seems that Lan Wangji left their residence aganist the explicit wishes of Lan Qiren. Briefly Wei Wuxian's voice taunts him, "Your uncle is so aggressive".

In your dreams, he retorts to the memory Wei Wuxian coyly rubbing his waist.

Lan Sizhui's concerned face crosses his vision. He nods to himself. Everything makes sense. Of course, Lan Wangji bend the rules to pursue justice.

"Second Uncle left without Sir's permission." Grabbing Lan Sizhui's arm, he urges, "We should warn him."

Lan Sizhui reads the Lan Jingyi's ulterior motives. It's written in his eyes that he wants adventure. Lan Sizhui isn't blind but he wonders why once more Lan Wangji has defied their pack. All these pieces hover in the web of his mind and something tells him he'd understand if he spends a little bit more time with Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. He nods.

"Wait." Lan Jingyi hops, climbing the nearest tree in seconds. He's already breaking the rules he might as well toss in another infraction. Leaping down, he snaps a picture. He grabs Lan Sizhui as he sends a message.

Lan Sanxian glares at her phone: 'Sir caught Xiao Liu and them. Delay Sir. We going to warn Second Uncle.'

Pushing her fringe from her face, she curses Lan Jingyi out. Going to warn uncle? You're escaping.

If they weren't cousins, she'd... Swallowing her frustration, she inhales deeply. He's been a thorn in her side since birth - he won't let her forget that he came into the world a half month before her.

What nonsense is Lan Wangji causing any problems. But if Lan Jingyi's words have an ounce of truth, she's willing to do anything to help her uncle. After all, he would have a good reason for angering Lan Qiren.

It helps that she very much wants her chocolate. Messaging Lan Meihuaqin, she plans. Then immediately deletes the evidence.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the phoenix - Episode 13

So you would think tencent would be the first one to air episodes on youtube, but no. They are coming out on Viki first. One thing I don’t like about Viki for Chinese dramas is that I can’t watch them with the Chinese subtitles. I guess you can’t watch any show really with the original subtitles which is a shame when it comes to Chinese mostly because any Chinese person would watch TV shows with subtitles: they are needed. Also just for learning purposes. I improved my Chinese a lot just by watching shows. When I come across a new word, I pause the video and write it down to study it later. I started doing this with songs and dramas and TV shows when I got more comfortable. I think that’s a good learning oportunity. Anyways. I’m too much looking forward episode 13 to not watch it even though there are no Chinese subtitles on Viki. So here we go.

Last episode, Feng Wu decided to climb up the Peerless Tower and managed to reach the last floor and trial. However this is going to be a hard one. I hope she succeeds.

She won’t give up, so the last boss of the tower orders to kill her to his undermen. But then the shadow assassin saves her. Okay this review might be less complete than usual, I never realized I rely that much on the subtitles. Anyways. The big boss talks about the shadow assassin daughter, seems like he’s trying to threaten him and they engage into a fight. Then Jun Linyuan also comes into the fight. As he’s about to get killed, the boss doesn’t have a choice but to free Feng Wu.

Yu Ming ye goes to report to his father and asks him why he came to the capital. He has a mission for him, but of course they won’t let us know right away like that.

Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan are so cute together. He says he came because he happened to be there. Then he asks her if she faced such a big danger only to gain more spiritual power and she says of course not, she did it for her friend. But I smell a little lie here. I think she dit it for both reasons. She says she forgives him for their last fight and the shadow assassin brings her the prize for getting through all the trials of the Peerless Tower. Feng Wu then tries to give the assassin the flower, because his daughter needs it too, maybe more. But then he says she’s already gone. They finally get out and Feng Wu hands the flower to Zhaoge and everyone is happy.

Yu Mingye tries to get in to the Yan mansion, but he’s stopped by elder Fang.

Awwww. Feng Wu is so adorable. Once Zhaoge ate the medicine, she goes out to meet with Jun Linyuan and she grabs his sleeve and just too cute! I just can’t. My heart is melting. She says she’s sorry, that she knows he only meant for her to improve, but she’s worried about the obstacles that could be on their way later and he says he doesn’t care about that, he only cares about her and she wonders if he’ll treat her as well when he knows she’s not Feng Wu. Poor baby girl. I hope she gets her memories back. He loves you, he liked you as Feng Xiaowu too. They hug each other and Yu Mingye sees them and I am so sad for him, my poor baby. He goes out to drown his pain in alcohol and bumps into Zuo Qingluan whichi is quite surprising. So they drink together. And the elder is really worried Yu Mingye and his wounds when he comes back.

So Zhaoge is skinny again. I thought she still would have to go through a weight loos journey, but no. She’s already back to normal. She’s so happy that she cries. While Zhaoge shows Qiu Ling how pretty she became (can we all agree that she was still damn cute with a few more pounds? Yes? Thank you). I see my baby Yu Mingye coming in from the roof. And even Feng Liu comes here, she wants to get into Feng Wu’s room. What does she want again? Such an annoying girl. She has guards with her. Yu Mingye scares Feng Wu but won’t let her scream. Qiu Ling tries to stop Feng Liu from coming in, but she still does, they say they saw a dark figure get in. Feng Liu wants to search Feng Wu’s room, but Feng Wu scares her away with her powers. When they are alone, Yu Mingye comes out and offers to teach a lesson to Feng Liu. Feng Wu tells him to come through the main door next time and he asks her if she’s not worried people would misunderstand. She gives him the book and he says he’ll accept it’s as a birthday gift. So she asks him if it’s his birthday and he says it is. Then he asks her if she will spend all of his birthdays together with him and she gets uneasy. Poor baby TT I love my yu Mingye so much... I hope they don’t ruin him.

As soon as Yu Mingye leaves, she’s summoned inside the ring by the colorful phoenix. He tells her that the next step to wake up her master is to get the starshards. He says she should follow the trace with Yu Mingye, because he could sens he touched it recently.

OMG. I JUST realized. Feng Xun’s actor... IT’S PRINCESS LAN JINGYI! I knew when I was making my tags that I already wrote that name somewhere. Omg. Now I love him even more hahaha. I have been crushing hard on him since episode 1. Well ever since episode 2 because he’s not in episode 1. Now that I’m done about this, back to the story. Okay. One last thing. OMGGGGGGG! I’m always so happy to see again actors I liked in a drama I liked. Back to the story, for real.

So elder Fang guessed the intruder must have been Yu Mingye and he didn’t want to mention anything about it before consulting Jun Linyuan. Apparently he was after the water sky vase which belongs to the spiritual master Yan. But there seems to be nothing too special about the vase. Even though he likes art, it would be surprising for Yu Mingye to risk his life for a vase. So Jun Linyuan reveals he wants that for Wu Youdao. And who is Youdao?

So Wu Youdao is known also as the ageless child and is close friend someone who is named Ning Shi En. I don’t know who that is. Oh okay they want to give him the vase because he has been looking for it for a long time. Ning Shi En is from the Junwu Academy. Wu Youdao was never part of any sect. He has traveled for the past ten years but the Junwu Academy hired him as supervisor. They want to take that opportunity to learn how he improved his cultivation base so they can gro stronger. Not a stupid plan. Now I guess the was is what Feng Wu need.

Feng Xun loses Yu Mingye while he’s tailing him and bumps into Feng Wu was also following him. Feng Xun tells Deng Wu to leave but she manages to make him spill the tea. Hehehe! Dear Feng Wu. Poor Feng Xun.

Yan guy is hosting a party for the birht of his son. How much do you bet Feng Wu and Yu Mingye will bump into each other trying to steal the vase? Yep they do. Meanwhile Jun Linyuan is meeting with Yan dude and his wife. Feng Wu and Yu Mingye decide to work together. Then a fire gets in the garden. As soon as Jun Linyuan hears about it he gets suspicious. So Feng Wu and Yu Mingye are about to get caught. But they are not. There’s a secret room where it’s hidden and they got in just in time. Jun Linyuan notices that the was is fake and when he checks the secret door master Yan realizes someone went inside. At that same time, Jun Linyuan finds Feng Wu’s pouch and he hides it. Oh no. I’m not confident about what is going to happen.  Master Yan calls for his servant to catch the thief. But Jun Linyuan asks if there is another exit in the secret room. Gets the indications to open it and convinces the guy not to send in everyone and let him go alone first since they don’t know yet the motives of the thief.

And there’s the end of episode 13. Damn. Cliffhanger much and two episodes in a row. I can’t believe this. It’s too late to keep watching and no subtitles is really a pain for me, I concentrate extra heard and go back over the same scene to make sure I understood and it’s tiring. I won’t do it anymore.

[fuyonggu]

Biography of Zhang Chang (Book of Jin 100)

(Zhang Chang was a rebel in Jingzhou who seized considerable but brief power in the southern provinces during the War of the Eight Princes. Chapter 100 of the Book of Jin contains biographies of such rebels against the state. Almost all of this biography was adapted into ZZTJ. Despite the mention of his changed name to Li Chen, I continue with Zhang Chang throughout for convenience.)

張昌，本義陽蠻也。少為平氏縣吏，武力過人，每自占卜，言應當富貴。好論攻戰，儕類咸共笑之。及李流寇蜀，昌潛遁半年，聚黨數千人，盜得幢麾，詐言台遣其募人討流。會《壬午詔書》發武勇以赴益土，號曰「壬午兵」。自天下多難，數術者雲當有帝王興于江左，及此調發，人咸不樂西征，昌黨因之誑惑，百姓各不肯去。而詔書催遣嚴速，所經之界停留五日者，二千石免。由是郡縣官長皆躬出驅逐，輾轉不遠，屯聚而為劫掠。是歲江夏大稔，流人就食者數千口。

Zhang Chang was a fellow of the Man people of Yiyang commandary. As a young man, he was employed as an official in Pingshi County. His martial strength was more than human, and whenever he performed divinations on himself, his predictions stated that he would become wealthy and honored. He was fond of discussing offensive warfare, but all of his peers laughed at him.

When Li Liu and the other northwestern refugees invaded the Shu region (~303 AD), Zhang Chang hid himself away for half a year, gathering several thousand people as a host for himself. They stole pennants and banners, and Zhang Chang falsely claimed that his host was a group of recruits for a campaign against Li Liu. This was during the time that an edict, issued on the day Renwu, was drafting strong fighting fellows for an army to fight Li Liu in Yizhou, and this came to be known as the Renwu Draft. Because of the many difficulties then facing the realm, many skilled fellows with imperial aspirations appeared in the regions south of the Yangzi. And when this draft went out, none of the people were pleased at the prospect of going west on such a campaign. Zhang Chang and his partisans were thus able to deceive and mislead them, and the common people were all swept up in the matter. The enforcers of the draft edict were especially strict and swift, and in the territories that they passed through and stayed in for five days, even those of Two Thousand 石 salary rank were stripped of office. Because of that, the commandary and county ministers and officials all personally came out to see them when they visited, but before the enforcers had gone very far, the officials all began to band together and engage in plunder. And during that year, there was an abundant harvest in Jiangxia commandary, and thousands of people came there seeking food.

太安二年，昌于安陸縣石岩山屯聚，去郡八十里，諸流人及避戍役者多往從之。昌乃易姓名為李辰。太守弓欽遣軍就討，輒為所破。昌徒眾日多，遂來攻郡。欽出戰，大敗，乃將家南奔沔口。鎮南大將軍、新野王歆遣騎督靳滿討昌於隨郡西，大戰，滿敗走，昌得其器杖，據有江夏，即其府庫。造妖言云：「當有聖人出。」山都縣吏丘沈遇于江夏，昌名之為聖人，盛車服出迎之，立為天子，置百���。沈易姓名為劉尼，稱漢後，以昌為相國，昌兄味為車騎將軍，弟放廣武將軍，各領兵。于石岩中作宮殿，又於岩上織竹為鳥形，衣以五彩，聚肉於其傍，眾鳥群集，詐云鳳皇降，又言珠袍、玉璽、鐵券、金鼓自然而至。乃下赦書，建元神鳳，郊祀、服色依漢故事。其有不應其募者，族誅。又流訛言云：「江淮已南當圖反逆，官軍大起，悉誅討之。」群小互相扇動，人情惶懼，江沔間一時猋起，豎牙旗，鳴鼓角，以應昌，旬月之間，眾至三萬，皆以絳科頭，撍之以毛。江夏、義陽士庶莫不從之，惟江夏舊姓江安令王傴、秀才呂蕤不從。昌以三公位征之，傴、蕤密將宗室並奔汝南，投豫州刺史劉喬。鄉人期思令李權、常安令吳鳳、孝廉吳暢糾合善士，得五百餘家，追隨傴等，不豫妖逆。

In the second year of Tai'an (303), Zhang Chang gathered his host at Mount Shiyan in Anling County, eighty li from the commandary capital. Many of the refugees and those avoiding the draft call flocked to his side. Zhang Chang changed his name to Li Chen.

The Administrator of Jiangxia, Gong Qin, sent soldiers to campaign against Zhang Chang, but they were all routed. Zhang Chang's numbers grew by the day, until at last he came to attack the commandary capital. Gong Qin marched out to face him in battle, but was greatly defeated, and he fled with his family south to Miankou.

The Grand General Who Guards The South and Prince of Xinye, Sima Xin, sent his Cavalry Commander Jin Man to attack the rebels in the west of Sui commandary. They fought a great battle, where Jin Man was also defeated and fled. Zhang Chang looted the enemy army's weapons and equipment, and used them to capture Jiangxia, where he took over the government storehouses there.

Zhang Chang spread a false prophecy stating, "A sage shall appear." There was a certain official from Shandu County, Qiu Chen, present at Jiangxia; Zhang Chang named him as this sage, and prepared abundant chariots and clothing to come out and welcome him, raising him up as the Son of Heaven and creating the imperial offices under him. Zhang Chang changed Qiu Chen's name to Liu Ni, as a descendant of the royal line of the Han dynasty. Zhang Chang himself became the Chancellor of State, his elder brother Zhang Wei became the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and his younger brother Zhang Fang became General of 廣武; each of them commanded armies. They built a royal palace at Shiyan. They weaved bamboo above the ridges there in the shape of birds, dressed them in the Five Hues, and placed all kinds of meats at their sides. When many birds gathered there, they falsely claimed these were the imperial phoenixes descending, and they also said red robes, jades seals, iron sheets, and gold drums had naturally appeared there. So Zhang Chang issued a letter of amnesty, and declared a new reign era title of Shenfeng. The conducting of sacrifices and the clothing worn were thus all done in imitation of the old Han style. Whoever refused to serve in Zhang Chang's army was executed along with their clans.

Another rumor spread: "Everywhere south of the Yangzi and the Huai River is already in rebellion, so the government will raise a great army and kill everyone." This rumor spread rapidly, and so people became very afraid. Everyone living between the Yangzi and the Mian River sprang up like a whirlwind: they lifted serrated banners, sounded the drums and horns, and came to join Zhang Chang. In the space of a month, his army swelled to thirty thousand. They all wore crimson materials on their heads and plucked them to use as beards.

In all of Jiangxia and Yiyang, there was no one among the gentry or common people who did not follow them. Only a fellow of an old family of Jiangxia, the Prefect of Jiang'an, Wang Yu, and a Flourishing Talent nomiee, Lü Rui, would not go along with them. Zhang Chang sent his Three Excellencies ministers to campaign against these holdouts. Wang Yu and Lü Rui secretly fled with their clans to Runan commandary, where they took refuge with the Inspector of Yuzhou, Liu Qiao. There were some of their fellow natives who assembled many good men: the Prefect of Qisi, Li Quan, the Prefect of Chang'an, Wu Feng, and the Filial and Incorrupt nominee, Wu Chang. They got together more than five hundred families and then followed after Wang Yu and the others, not wishing to serve under evil traitors.

新野王歆上言：「妖賊張昌、劉尼妄稱神聖，犬羊萬計，絳頭毛面，挑刀走戟，其鋒不可當。請台敕諸軍，三道救助。」於是劉喬率諸軍據汝南以禦賊，前將軍趙驤領精卒八千據宛，助平南將軍羊伊距守。昌遣其將軍黃林為大都督，率二萬人向豫州，前驅李宮欲掠取汝水居人，喬遣將軍李楊逆擊，大破之。林等東攻弋陽，太守梁桓嬰城固守。又遣其將馬武破武昌，害太守，昌自領其眾。西攻宛，破趙驤，害羊伊。進攻襄陽，害新野王歆。昌別率石冰東破江、揚二州，偽置守長。當時五州之境皆畏逼從逆。又遣其將陳貞、陳蘭、張甫等攻長沙、湘東、零陵諸郡。昌雖跨帶五州，樹立牧守，皆桀盜小人而無禁制，但以劫掠為務，人情漸離。

Sima Xin sent up a petition stating, "The evil traitors Zhang Chang and Liu Ni have presumptuously proclaimed themselves divine, and their dogs and sheep number in the tens of thousands. They have crimson heads and hairy faces. They dance with their blades and shift stances with their halberds, and their spirit is too keen to be overcome. I ask that the court dispatch armies along three roads to reinforce us against them."

So Liu Qiao sent several armies to occupy Runan in order to ward off the bandits. The General of the Front, Zhao Xiang, led eight thousand elite soldiers to occupy Wan, in order to aid the General Who Pacifies The South, Yang Yi, in his defenses.

Zhang Chang appointed his general Huang Chen as Grand Commander and sent him with twenty thousand soldiers towards Yuzhou. Huang Chen's vanguard commander Li Gong wanted to pillage and take prisoner the people living around the Ru River, but Liu Qiao dispatched his general Li Yang to counter-attack, and the bandit army was greatly routed. Huang Chen and the others then went east to attack Yiyang commandary, where the Administrator Liang Huan withdrew into the commandary capital to defend himself.

Zhang Chang also sent his general Ma Wu to break into Wuchang; they killed the Administrator there, and so Zhang Chang led his host to that place. They marched west and attacked Wan, where they routed Zhao Xiang and killed Yang Yi. They continued their advance and attacked Xiangyang, where they killed Sima Xin.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chang's subordinate commander Shi Bing marched east and took over Jiangzhou and Yangzhou, where he appointed his own false Administrators and Chiefs.

At that time, the whole of five provinces were compelled through fear and oppression into going along with the rebels.

Zhang Chang also sent his generals Chen Zhen, Chen Lan, Zhang Fu, and others to attack the commandaries of Changsha, Xiangdong, and Lingling.

But although Zhang Chang now stood astride five provinces and appointed his own Governors and Administrators, such people were all cruel brigands and miscreants without a shred of discipline or restraint, and their only duties were how they could plunder their territories. So the people became alienated from them.

是歲，詔以甯朔將軍、領南蠻校尉劉弘鎮宛，弘遣司馬陶侃、參軍蒯桓、皮初等率眾討昌於竟陵，劉喬又遣將軍李楊、督護尹奉總兵向江夏。侃等與昌苦戰累日，大破之，納降萬計，昌乃沈竄於下俊山。明年秋，乃擒之，傳首京師，同黨並夷三族。

That same year, an edict was issued ordering the General of 寧朔 and acting Colonel of Southern Man Tribes, Liu Hong, to guard Wan. Liu Hong sent his Marshal, Tao Kan, his Army Advisor, Kuai Huan, Pi Chu, and others with an army to attack Zhang Chang at Jingling. Liu Qiao also sent his general Li Yang and his Protector Yin Feng to lead another army towards Jiangxia. Tao Kan and the others fought a bitter battle against Zhang Chang for several days. In the end, they greatly routed the rebels, and accepted the surrender of tens of thousands of them. Zhang Chang then scurried away to Mount Xiajun.

In the autumn of the following year (304), he was finally captured. His head was sent to the capital, while his fellow partisans were all exterminated with their families to the third degree.

[aurora077]

The Irwin Agenda (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 - What kind of uncultured name is Fang?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33385993/chapters/86299207

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13942581/3/The-Irwin-Agenda

Lan Wangji had finally been apprised of the project Wei Ying and his brother were working on.

Unfortunately he’d only found out when his brother and Sect Leader Jiang flew up the mountain and straight to the back of the Hanshi (where Wei Ying was excitedly showing him the results of his hard work), with a monster in tow.

No. A crocodile.

Named Fang.

Wei Ying laughed at Jiang Wanyin and told him that his naming sense was still bad. He was inclined to agree. What kind of a name was Fang? Really you’d think a sect leader would choose a more… sophisticated name. Something like Chomper maybe? Or Jaws? He sniffed internally. It was obvious who had superior naming skills.

Jiang Wanyin’s hands were too full of crocodile to retaliate effectively, barely managing a scowl and a weak retort of ‘He came with that name and nothing’s wrong with it anyway!’. Luckily he was wholly unable to tussle with Wei Ying or throw anything. Lucky for Jiang Wanyin that is. *insert pre-emptive glare here*

The monster didn’t take too kindly to his instinctive need to defend his husband though. It twisted out of the sect leaders’ hold (they’d both been holding up that 12 foot, 700 pound croc like a large baby- what the heck…he knew his brother was strong but this was… and he was most assuredly not thinking of Jiang Wanyin’s muscles and how strong he must be… how dare anyone suggest otherwise!) and pounced.. pounced in his direction, growling all the while.

Luckily xiong zhang had attached a leash to it’s collar (but why was the collar black and spiky??? That wasn’t the Lan aesthetic...Jiang Wanyin must have bought it, it reflected his personality) and was able to make it stop short with his formidable Lan arm strength.

‘I didn’t know crocodiles could pounce’, he thought, as he unconsciously took several steps back.

‘Or maybe it was just this one. Would be typical, really, of Jiang Wanyin to have an unorthodox and unruly animal,’ he mused, while controlling his breathing to get his heart rate back to normal… even he wasn’t immune to the fear of a large, antagonistic beast like that in such close proximity.

Except Jiang Wanyin had gifted this one to xiong zhang… and claimed it was because of them.

He would need to apologise to xiong zhang. His elopement with Wei Ying was because he had waited long enough to be reunited with his love and he also didn’t think the elders would allow it so they’d decided better to ask forgiveness than permission. He had never ever expected this to be a consequence.

Jiang Wanyin’s excuse was that his shixiong had eloped and thus skipped the necessary betrothal customs including obligatory gifts, so his official ‘apology’ as the reinstated head of Wei Ying’s sect was that he needed to give a personal gift to the sect leader of the clan his shixiong was marrying into. And he’d decided that since his own animal companion had done wonders for him, he wanted Sect Leader Lan to experience the same and thus presented him with the monstrosity they brought back.

Lan Xichen was currently cooing and petting the croc as an apology for pulling so tightly on his leash and Jiang Wanyin was giving it a stern talking to.

“Now Fang, what did we say about attacking others?” he wiggled his finger disappointedly at the croc.

Silly Jiang Wanyin, an animal can’t unders--

He did a double take.

The croc was giving Jiang Wanyin 🥺 eyes and making chirpy noises as if to answer him.

Chirps!!! **

And Jiang Wanyin was acting as if this were a perfectly normal conversation.

“Yes I know Fang, but you can’t menace everyone who looks at me wrong. Besides, you’ll be staying here now and that’s your new friend’s little brother. You have to get along with him.”

It gave a forlorn chirp and hung its head sadly. It looked the picture of a contrite reptile.

“It’s okay Fang, I know you’re just looking out for Wanyin. And cheer up, you’ll be happy here I promise. And he can come visit you anytime,” cooed Lan Xichen, petting its head soothingly.

Wanyin??? Since when was brother on a first name basis with Sect Leader Jiang? And why was xiong zhang acting like he understood the crocodile too??? What did Jiang Wanyin do to his sensible brother? “Aiyo look at you being all cute and pouty,” said Wei Ying, bouncing up to the pair and crouching down to scratch the croc underneath its chin like it was a dog. Except, unlike with a dog, Wei Ying was not running and screaming or clutching at him for protection. (Cute and what?! thought Lan Wangji. ‘It’s a crocodile!’ he longed to say. Had whatever madness Jiang Wanyin contracted spread to everyone but him?)

Lan Wangji thought that maybe it would be better for his heart if Wei Ying was afraid of crocodiles rather than dogs. That way he wouldn’t have to worry about his husband being eaten, as the croc’s mouth opened dangerously close to Wei Ying’s head.

“Aww you’re tired aren’t you little one. [Little?! Wei Wuxian had no idea that his husband was currently pterodactyl screeching into the void in his mind at the moment] Well it’s to be expected. You had a long journey. We should give you a tour of your new home and then you can go rest. I made this place specially for you, you know?” Wei Ying was saying.

“Good idea Xian-di,” agreed xiong zhang, and they looped arms and walked away, his brother still holding the leash as the croc trailed alongside them while Wei Ying gestured animatedly to all the features of the makeshift wetland behind the Hanshi that he and Lan Xichen had created.

X..xian-di? What was happening? Was this a weird dream? Did Wei Ying leave the incense burner on without him knowing? Was he sick?

“Hanguang-Jun, are you alright? You don’t look well. I’m sorry about Fang’s behaviour, you’re a stranger to him and he was just being protective,” said Jiang Wanyin.

Okay yes. Fever dream then. There was no way Jiang Wanyin of all people noticed (or cared about) his feelings of discomfort.

“Hanguang-Jun?” said Jiang Cheng, who was concerned that the normally less-than-expressive Lan Wangji was even more unresponsive than usual.

“It’s okay,” Jiang Wanyin soothed, correctly guessing at part of his worries, but also missing the mark about his current thoughts, “Fang will get used to you soon. You don’t have to worry about Zewu-Jun and Wei Wuxian either, he’s already accustomed to them. He’s not your typical crocodile.”

Since when did Jiang Wanyin know how to soothe? And why would he bother trying to make him feel better? He wasn’t exactly on good terms with the man who had unconsciously moved closer in his concern. Close enough for him to make out the drop of sweat making its way down his neck, disappearing beneath his robes.

He gulped. He was suddenly conscious of the heat of the day.

It was really hot. He didn’t envy his brother toting that crocodile back here all the way from Yunmeng. Even if Jiang Wanyin helped, it couldn't have been easy.

After all, Jiang Wanyin couldn’t have been as strong as xiong zhang.

His eyes narrowed in on Jiang Wanyin’s purple covered arms.

Right?

---

Whatever madness Jiang Wanyin spread to Wei Ying and xiong zhang seemed to have caught him too. What was he thinking?

No, his poor brother must have suffered so much bringing the crocodile here in this heat, having to deal with Jiang Wanyin slowing him down for the entire trip.

“Hanguang-Jun?” queried Jiang Cheng, who was genuinely starting to get worried now. Lan Wangi had turned red and had a funny look on his face. He still hadn’t responded. Maybe he went into shock because Fang almost attacked him?

But he seemed to come back to himself as he jerked suddenly and without looking Jiang Cheng in the eye he said, “Will go find Wei Ying and xiong zhang now.” And without another word he turned on his heels and did the Lan approximation of fleeing.

“What a weirdo,” Jiang Cheng muttered to himself, and followed to find the other sect leader and his erstwhile shixiong.

----

A/N: ** Yes I did say chirp. Apparently, saltwater crocodiles communicate using several sounds, including barking, hissing, growling and chirps.

https://oceana.org/marine-life/sea-turtles-reptiles/saltwater-crocodile

[stiltonbasket]

this is my own little indulgent headcanon for my daydream universe in which the universe you've created heavily features in, but what are your thoughts with chunyang falling in love with the reincarnation of wen qing or even just another woman? maybe its bc im gay but even tho i love jz/jyl i think jyl should have gotten to be with a lovely young lady. and the line about "i'd like to choose [who i marry]" makes me go *thinking emoji*. idk if its ur thing but i would die if u wrote smth for this

I could not stop thinking about this, so have a little au with fem!jin hong! <3

__

To his most esteemed Excellency…

“Chun-bao?”

Considering the decade of close friendship between our clans…

“Hm?”

“Is everything all right?” Wei Shuilan asks, poking her younger sister in the shoulder. “You’ve been staring at that letter for the past five minutes.”

And the closeness of age between my son Zhang Xiting and your daughter, the second Young Mistress Wei--

“Oh, it’s just--just a petition for Father. I’m sorting them out so he knows which ones to look at first when he comes home.”

...I would be most honored if you would consider his suit when the time is right for Wei Chunyang-xiaojie to be married. 

--

Even though Wei Chunyang and all four of her siblings have long since grown old enough to move out of their parents’ house, the whole family still eats meals together in the jingshi at least four times a week. The whole family includes Jingyi, of course, since he was part of the family even before he and Chunyang’s xiongzhang decided to adopt a son together, and her Yu-gege’s own husband and son. Her sister Shuilan is here, too, since she and Chunyang still live with their A-Die and Fuqin, and sometimes Xichen-bobo or one of their more distant cousins comes along, too. 

Today, the cousin in question is Rulan-ge’s daughter, Jin Hong. She was Wei Chunyang’s best friend growing up, since the two of them are the same age, but they drifted apart as they grew older--out of no fault on either of their parts, but because of circumstance. Jin Hong rarely has the time to leave the Jinlintai or answer Chunyang’s letters, and Chunyang never had the chance to go to school with her because she studies the dao of healing cultivation like her Uncle Xichen, while Jin Hong follows the jiandao. 

These days, Chunyang doesn’t really know what to say to her on the rare occasions their paths do cross, which is why she only gives Jin Hong a close-lipped smile and slides into her usual seat at A-Die’s right when lunchtime rolls around. 

“Jin Hong,” she says, inclining her head as A-Die (doting as ever, just like Papa) fills up her plate with soft white rice, and adds a little bowl of her favorite spicy noodles on the side. “It’s lovely to see you again!”

And confusing, Chunyang doesn’t add. But there’s not much talking at meals anyway, because her brother-in-law Nie Zhuyan (who managed to woo her brother Lan Yu after five long years of courtship, even though Lan Yu didn’t know he was being courted for the first four years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days) is more of a stickler for the sect precepts than the rest of the family, out of the fear that he might offend Papa by accident. 

A-Die is enough conversation for the whole table, though, and there is plenty of laughter--both his and Yu-gege’s, and then everyone else’s, which is why Chunyang could probably have chosen a better time to tell her parents about Zhoushan Zhang’s request for her hand in marriage. 

“They what?” A-Die gasps, overturning his cup of tea. Xiongzhang gives him a handkerchief, but he looks as worried as A-Die and Papa do when he turns around to stare at her. “You can’t get married! You’re only twenty-one! You’re a baby!”

“She’s of age,” Shuilan-jie points out, in a vain effort to distract everyone from the rivalry-slash-courtship-slash-bitter enmity thing she has going on with one of the sect’s best music teachers, Lan Fang, who spends all his time writing sad love songs for her and crying every time she tells him she hates him. “She can get married if she wants to, right?”

“If she wants to, then certainly,” Papa says, trying to sound like he isn’t fretting. “But that is not your elders’ place to decide, Chun-bao, and certainly not Zhoushan Zhang’s. Do you know the young master they offered?”

“No,” she admits. Zhang Xiting attended the Lan sect lectures when she was around fifteen, but Chunyang only ever met him at the opening and closing ceremonies because her classes were in the physicians’ compound with her uncle. “I was going to write back this afternoon with a rejection, actually.”

Across from her, Jin Hong’s shoulders relax a little. 

“Ah, that’s good,” A-Die sighs, patting her hand. “I knew we were going to have to think about this sometime, of course, but you really are too young! Look, even your jiejie isn’t married yet.”

Wei Shuilan looks so offended that Jingyi-ge starts choking in an attempt to hide his laughter. “I’m never going to get married. A-Chun doesn’t have to wait for me.”

“I meant that Chunyang should follow your example, A-Lan. Marriage is overrated.”

Nie Zhuyan gives A-Die an incredulous sort of stare. “But father-in-law, you’re happily married! And so am I. Being wed is wonderful!”

“Not for my baby girls,” A-Die counters, while Lan Yu covers his face with his sleeve to hide his blush. “Where in the world am I supposed to find a man worthy of A-Lan, hm? Or a nice young master for my sweet little Chun-bao? I don’t believe they exist, so they’re going to be good little radishes and stay with their poor old A-Die until he dies.”

“Wei Ying,” Father says, clearly pained by even the thought of A-Die dying. “Do not say such things.”

I don’t want to marry any young master, Chunyang thinks, as Yu-gege starts teasing Shuilan about Lan Fang again. I just want to stay here, with my parents. 

(She doesn’t think of warm orange fur, or a pair of laughing golden eyes, or the countless letters to Lanling Jin that her once-best friend never answered.

It’s better this way, after all.)