#god I love jiang cheng

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Parallel Lines and Brothers.

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[thatswhatsushesaid]

i’m behind you 100% da-ge

like… like way, way behind you. 100% behind you and also outside the blast radius

[tls123]

thirty-one days of jiujiu(ly) — 2024 edition // day twenty-nine + with bonus lan wangji ! + find the 2022 edition here

[barawrah]

800 year old martial god causes problems on purpose by kidnapping the heir of a great sect . or something

[rhymaes]

The Untamed (2019) // Dan Bellm, Deep Well

[fistfuloflightning]

The cloud maiden and the river god.

It’s an old story, worn soft round the edges from generations’ worth of retellings. A cautionary tale for those daring to reach for greater things beyond their station. A story to teach young children not to be greedy. A warning.

Lan Sizhui hates what his parents’ story has become.

[khattikeri]

honestly my case for aro/ace Jiang Cheng stems heavily from his list of traits he'd want in a future wife.

like putting aside the fact that his "pickiness" got him canonically blacklisted from a majority of their world's matchmakers, we have this:

naturally beautiful

graceful and obedient

hard-working and thrifty

coming from a respected family

cultivation level not too high

These are all just Standard Things That Ancient Chinese Society Says It's Good For Women To Be.

A woman who is too strong will surpass her husband which is a huge no-no in their society. Too weak and she's a disappointment (read: Jiang Yanli). Marrying within or above your own social class is just expected common sense, especially if you're born upper class.

Then you have these next three points:

personality not too strong

not too talkative

voice not too loud

Of course these are also generic Standard Things That Ancient Chinese Society Says It's Good For Women To Be, but they also stood out to me more than the previous points because all of them remind me of Yu Ziyuan.

Jiang Cheng is very similar to her, and of course even without that he still cares about her. But she was very difficult to please and nurtured his inferiority complex for years. Growing up with her volatility hurt everyone in that house.

AND THEN TACKED ON AT THE VERY END OF THE LIST:

must treat Jin Ling nicely.

So almost all of these bullet points are generic, intangible societal ideals. Rather than being actual preferences for a marriage or to fall in love with, his list reads to me more like this:

Things Everyone Says It's Good For A Wife To Be IDFK

Actually Now That I Think About It Don't Be Like My Mom.

BE NICE TO MY NEPHEW.

Even the 'must treat Jin Ling nicely' can be tied back to Yu Ziyuan if you choose to view it a certain way. A new wife might dislike Jin Ling since he was already there prior to her marriage to Jiang Cheng, even if he's a blood relative rather than a good friend's orphaned child.

An official wife could easily get angry or misguidedly jealous. She could distance or mistreat Jin Ling, an elder male child born to people who are now dead. Who does that remind you of...?

Really all this list proves is Jiang Cheng really, really cares about his nephew + Wei Wuxian and wants the child to be raised with sincere kindness and love. Everything else is just like a dart thrown at a dartboard blind. Sure, write that down. People say it's good for women to be like X and say Y and do Z, right? Sure. Okay.

TL;DR - It's easy to view Jiang Cheng as actually being that arrogant and holding people to every single standard in his list, but IMO he just can't think of traits he actually finds attractive in a person beyond Be Ideal, I Guess. Which is painfully relatable and a primary reason why I see him as aro/ace.

[zelkam]

— the untamed (2019), episode 17

[beefdogcoffee]

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng relaxed. “You don’t have to worry either. From now on, if I see any dogs, I’ll chase them all away for you!” he promised.

[waitineedaname]

I love that the best emotional acting when it comes to facial expressions comes from Lan Wangji (microexpressions) and Jiang Cheng (macroexpressions). Lan Wangji doesn't emote much but when you're keyed in, the tiny little changes in his facial expression are Devastating. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng is feeling Every Emotion, All The Time, and you are going to see it on every inch of his face. He'll go through twenty different expressions in the same amount of seconds and that face journey will be but a brief glimpse into the awful emotional rollercoaster that is Jiang Cheng's life

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lecture tips: Be naked and wet for the most convincing rhetoric.

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[yuhenglesbian]

Thinking once again somehow of how important it is to me that when Wei Wuxian came back to life in Mo Xuanyu's body, the only two people who recognised him were Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng.

Nothing is more proof of the fact that Jiang Cheng cared deeply for Wei Wuxian. Yes, he was hurt and there was anger but the fact that he held onto his rage and grief for years doesn't read to me as, "he hated Wei Wuxian so much he never forgave him for anything." Rather it reads as anger being the manifestation of Jiang Cheng's grief around losing his brother and closest confidant.

[sodrippy]

purple is my favourite colour for aesthetics AND for prose

[qiu-yan]

jiang cheng mdzs and sayaka pmmm have almost nothing in common, but somehow being a fan of both feels very familiar

let's see:

childhood friends with the morally outstanding protagonist

rather ugly reactions to life-altering trauma, does NOT just walk that shit off like a good woobie should

disliked by the stoic love interest of the protagonist

bodies nonconsensually altered

not as op as the protagonist

let's see:

disliked by large swathes of the fandom

accused of being entitled

canonically complex and thematically-relevant reasons for questionable behavior flattened into more easily recognizable story tropes

blamed for being tricked

accused of being selfish

why does this keep happening

[lgbtlunaverse]

It's a really heartwrenching sequence as it's happening but looking back at the part where jgy grabs jin ling as a hostage in guanyin temple I always crack up when he starts to assure everyone that he really likes a-ling, actually! He practically raised him, he really doesn't want to hurt him so don't worry and please just do as he says.

A-yao. Sweetheart. The point of taking a hostage is that the people you're negotiating with believe you're going to kill the hostage so you can use their wellbeing as a bargaining chip. Saying "Oh yeah I really like this hostage I don't want to hurt him" kind of ruins the point of a hostage. What are you doing?