#feng xin loves xie lian. xie lian is his most important person. he doesn't want to have sex with him

[mikkeneko]

...this fic bunny has developed, if not exactly a plot, at least an emotional arc

:|

having now read all of the coffin rescue AUs, the hurt/comfort gremlin in me is blissfully sated, but finding myself a little saddened at the lack of Xianle Trio in them, particularly Feng Xin (this is why I probably won't get much into TGCF fandom, really -- I ship the wrong things.)

so in order to take this trope and, as usual, make it as stupid as possible, I am imagining what if Feng Xin were the one to coincidentally stumble over Xie Lian in the coffin? Because he'd certainly help him out! -- he cares too much to do otherwise! -- but he would be so incredibly unequipped to deal with the fallout of All Of That.

i am now picturing Feng Xin having broken the coffin and absconded with Xie Lian, possibly back to his palace, puts him on a couch and is now just staring at the absolute catatonic mess that is post-coffin Xie Lian while bluescreening and panicking because he doesn't even know where to begin. does Xie Lian need a bath? food? medical treatment? all of the above but where does he even start??

so, I'm thinking possibly in his panic he calls Mu Qing, because he simply doesn't know who else to turn to, and does a very bad job of explaining what he needs. and mu qing is just, ughhhh, why am I getting dragged back into this bullshit, but he goes over to Feng Xin's place complaining all the while, I am not a servant any more Feng Xin, you cannot ask me for favors just because you can't comprehend basic manual labor, it is 100% not my job any more to clean up after Xie Lian and this complaining monologue lasts right up until he lays eyes on Xie Lian and goes HOLY FUCKING SHIT

i am not going to write this

[ghooostbaby]

The take that Hua Cheng's displeasure with Feng Xin and Mu Qing is an example of Hua Cheng abusively trying to stop Xie Lian from having friends is baffling

Xie Lian is not friends with Feng Xin and Mu Qing as things start off in book one. I would say the novel is their journey back to being friends, and at the very end is when their friendship begins again after working out all their baggage... Xie Lian hasn't seen them in 800 years after pushing out / being pushed out of their lives under terrible circumstances. When he returns to heaven, they have an awkward/tense exchange but never come together, until Xie Lian is under house arrest. Mu Qing is presented as being openly malicious, while Feng Xin seems to nervously keep his distance but does want to help Xie Lian when he's in trouble. And then they appear by his side on missions but only in disguise and pretending not to be themselves, that they don't personally know him, and Xie Lian plays along.

Hua Cheng wants to harm anyone who hurts Xie Lian, not prevent him from having friends. (Also let's just accept that this is a story about ghost kings and immortal gods who have magical battles to the death not a morality tale about reasonable boyfriend behavior - Hua Cheng is allowed to wreak havoc and have mortal enemies and take revenge without being "sooo toxic".) Its clear that what he wants is to protect and defend Xie Lian, and when he challenged 35 gods who disrespected Xie Lian during his banishment, Mu Qing and Feng Xin were included in that. They clearly have their own complicated feelings about leaving Xie Lian back then, and Hua Cheng's take is, yup, they abandoned him, they are trash. Hua Cheng seems downright civil with Shi Qingxuan or Pei Ming on the other hand, who never wronged Xie Lian in his eyes. These hostile actions are reserved only for people who treat Xie Lian with disrespect.

Hua Cheng never stops them from being friends, he is just mean and bitchy in their vicinity. Who's saying he won't let Xie Lian hang out with those two? Hua Cheng never tries to take Xie Lian away from any of the heavenly officials, only when its the cataclysmic and dangerous moment of Black Water's revenge does he drag Xie Lian out, and even then he was riding along in a very awkward position for himself for a long time before doing that - and, AND! when he does he seems kind of miserable about having to hold Xie Lian back. Mount Tong'lu throwing-them-in-a-pit-and-tying-them-up-with-silk seems like he was just trying to detain them and not for reasons of trying to isolate Xie Lian but because they were at the doorway for his old studio where he'd spent some tortuous years obsessively painting cringe self insert porn SO GIVE HIM A BREAK. Otherwise, he simply wants to be allowed to tag along with Xie Lian wherever he's going and simply does not hide his contempt for the heavenly officials that he knows to have treated Xie Lian with disrespect, or are corrupt and hypocritical. He also has a general moral position against the gods that they are mostly ALL corrupt and hypocritical, and this is the opinion he expresses, which Xie Lian does not seem to disagree with. Meanwhile, he still helps out on most of Xie Lian's missions to protect or investigate these gods, although more just to keep Xie Lian from being harmed while allowing Xie Lian to do what he wants. This is important!!! The thing Hua Cheng wants most is allowing Xie Lian to freely do what he wants, whatever he wants.

Xie Lian thinks how Hua Cheng is with Feng Xin and Mu Qing is funny. He laughs at the way Hua Cheng is a little bitch at them when they're on their way to Banyue kingdom. He's not upset. He doesn't feel like Hua Cheng is obstructing their beautiful friendship from flourishing. He is always a little exasperated by them, he always has been it seems (re: the idiom trains he makes them do when their arguing is annoying him), he did also love them, but now with all the centuries of baggage things just aren't fully comfortable between all of them. When Jun Wu asks him who he'd like to do his next mission with after he'd down the last one with Fu Yao and Nan Feng and Xie Lian basically says, anyone enjoyable to be around, Jun Wu understands that to mean not those two again. lollll

Xie Lian sees Hua Cheng as the first person he's been able to be close with in a long time and genuinely enjoys all his time with him, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing do literally try to stop Xie Lian from being friends with him. But yeah, probably the centuries of getting into fights with Crimson Rain made them wary and then the porn painting but for the people holding this weird hua-cheng-is-trying-to-isolate-xie-lian line they completely ignore that Feng Xin and Mu Qing do this. And in the cave of a thousand gods that Xie Lian is more than capable of expressing his wishes and fighting literally to be able to hang out with whoever he wants - he fights Feng Xin and Mu Qing to be with Hua Cheng. And feng xin and mu qing are both fighting the other whether they really care about xie lian or should be around xie lian too! Through all this Xie Lian is able to hold the dissonance of finding his two old friends utterly annoying, understanding why his new "friend" wants to murder them, understanding why his two old friends want to murder this ghost king, and defending Hua Cheng from them at the same time as he tries to help them.

[jayktoralldaylong]

Xie Lian, Feng Xin and Mu Qing, suddenly became my favourite MXTX Trio and I've finally figured out why. They remind me of Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, and Jin Guangyao but without the angst! (Yet, I don't know. Lord have mercy on my heart).

It's like the story is being told from Lan Xichen's perspective now. Even better, they've already broken up so we don't have to deal with the ugliness of betrayal, just them trying to get back together.

The similarities between Xie Lian and Lan Xichen are obvious. They can both be a little naïve and see the good in others before the bad. They think they can solve their problems with kindness and try to shoulder everything by themselves, eventually breaking under the weight of their kindness, being left to ruin and having nothing to show for it. Fortunately, his friend's lives were not a part of the price that Xie Lian had to pay, so there's always chance to redo.

I saw Feng Xin and immediately thought of Nie Mingjue. They are blunt, curse from time to time, believe in the black and white of good and evil, overly protective of their goody-two-shoes friend and venomous with their sneaky friend.

Of course Mu Qing is Jin Guangyao. Because I already liked this trio, I worried there would not be a lot to like about Mu Qing. He acts really cold and seems to delight in Xie Lian's misfortune, which I guessed was jealousy because sure why not. Might be a god but was still once a human. Mu Qing like Jin Guangyao, wasn't born into nobility and had to take everything he gained from others. He knows suffering first hand, he knows pain, he knows struggle, he was forced to face reality at an early age, he's great with his sword but would rather use brains to solve his problems. Feng Xin thinks using brains is vile and disgraceful, Mu Qing doesn't care because it's how he has survived this long. I think what irks Mu Qing the most about Xie Lian is that he truly wants to protect the young crown prince, but the prince is too stubborn and naïve. He gets upset when Xie Lian puts himself in danger but can't help but enjoy the irony of lording over his former master. Mu Qing is definitely not an easy person to like, but he cares. Heck, sometimes it seems he cares greatly for Feng Xin (What in the romance is this? 👀), But gets upset because Feng Xin can only see Xie Lian. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Anyway, I'm hopeful and hope we get more moments with these three. 🥺 I love them so. They are part of the important people that Xie Lian loves. Even despite the circumstances.