#gong ziyu x yun weishan

[randomingoftherandomness]

Let's be real, Ziyu and Yuanzhi are a bit petty so think about if they had children and there it was a contest at school for the best halloween costume... Meanwhile Yun Weishan and Shangjue just stay quiet and enjoy the two idiots at work

The pettiness would be EPIC

Ziyu will go all out with a custom design by Virginia Viard herself that he flies her out for

Yuanzhi on the other hand pshaw-sh at getting other people to do his kid’s costume because he can do it so much better

Oh? Your kid is an Angel, well you should see my kid as the Heavenly Emperor

Oh, is that glitter I see? Well, I guess you can’t go wrong with tactile LEDs sewn into the fabric of the costume itself

Guess who is looking to rent a horse drawn carriage?

All the while, Shangjue and Yun Weishan are meeting up at the tea room with their kids to swap stories and tips to wrangling their beloved idjits over cucumber sandwiches and jam biscuits

While there, they’ll be plotting the costumes the kids will be wearing, with input from the kids themselves, when their husbands’ wild ideas eventually implode in their faces

More tea vicar? Don’t mind if I do.

[shewholovestoread]

My Journey To You - Thoughts and Impressions Part 2 of 2 - The Characters

Part 1 HERE

The format of the post will be as follows:

1) Yun Wei Shan

2) Gong Zi Yu

3) Their Relationship

4) Shangguan Qian

5) Gong Shang Jue

6) Their relationship

Spoilers below, beware all who enter.

Yun Wei Shan:

On paper, Yun Wei Shan seems like a perfectly fine character, she's empathetic, kind in an unkind world and willing to go to extremes (even putting her life on the line) to protect those she loves and cares about. The problem is just that though, in a book, we would have access to her thoughts and her perspective which would make for interesting reading. But when viewed visually, it's not as compelling. Visually, you have a character who seems to have the range of 2 expressions and there's no sense of internal conflict. Take her 'allegiance' to Wufeng for instance. From the very beginning, we the audience, can tell that she's not truly aligned with them or their ideology. She doesn't agree with their methods and if not for her foster sister, Yun Que she would have quit long ago. Not even the poison that Wufeng uses to keep all their assassins in check, would stop her.

What I will commend her characters for is her innate kindness. She is kind in a world that should have snuffed that light out a long time ago and yet, it persisted. This was in no small part due to her bond with Yun Que. She wasn't simply a dorm-mate, a fellow assassin. She was a sister in every sense of the word. She had someone to care for and protect. Even her mentor, Han Ya Si, is not like the cold and unfeeling mentors we meet later. You can tell that he genuinely cares about those under him. For all intents and purposes, he raised these women since they were children and unlike the others, he doesn't view them as tools to be used and then discarded when no longer useful.

When she goes to the Gong Family as a prospective bride, we also know that Yun Que is dead, her one tangible tie to Wufeng is gone. She's now thrust into this family that Wufeng claims is their arch-nemesis but throughout the show, we never find out what her actual mission is, what is she after? Why was she sent? She's clearly not supposed to kill anyone. Evade discovery but then what? We never find out. But because she's not particularly loyal to Wufeng, there's never any sense of conflicting desire inside her. So in that sense, she becomes a very one-note-character.

In terms of character growth, there is very little. Throughout the series, her one desire for freedom which, in a sense she does achieve (if you ignore the last 5 minutes of the show) All her life, she's been told what to do and that love is a weakness. At the end, she chooses to stay with Gong Zi Yu and embraces her love for him and those around her.

Gong Zi Yu:

Gong Zi Yu is perhaps the weakest link among the four main leads. If Yun Wei Shan's growth seemed negligible, Zi Yu's felt unearned.

I understand what the writer and director were going for, they set him up as a contrast to the other clan warriors who are cold and calculative, he was warm and kind. He starts off the series as someone who doesn't much care for the Gong family traditions, preferring instead the company of courtesans, he likes poetry and music. However, with the sudden death of his father and brother, he's thrust back into the family and worse into the role of Sword Wielder (SW), the leader of the Gongs. To officially become the SW, he must pass 3 tests and this is where things become a little strange. He passes them with ease and it feels unearned because while others who trained their whole lives took considerably longer to pass those tests, he came in with essentially no training and aced.

Now, you can be special but the fact that you are "special" must be made noticeable in text, like foreshadow it, or leave subtle clues that hint at it. The show does none of this and instead just asks the audience to believe it. That is not how you write a compelling character.

He's also probably the least mature character in the show (and I'll get to big reveal in a bit) but his blatant disregard for the Gong family protocols more than once, illustrate his cavalier attitude. Another way of looking at this is that he breaks tradition because he wants to create a better world for the generations to follow but all of that gets negated at the end.

The big reveal at the end, where we realise that everything that happened since Yun Wei Shan's reveal as a Wufeng assassin, was his grand plan does not make sense one bit. It comes completely left of field with little to no set-up at all. There was no foreshadowing, no little seeds left by the writer/director, little things that the audience could notice upon rewatching the show. In their effort to be ‘unexpected’, they sacrificed coherent story-telling.

Even his relationship with Yun Wei Shan is boring. I get that it was meant to be sweet but sweet will only take you so far especially in a show where the tone is anything but that. I know we're meant to swoon because of how steadfast he is when it comes to her but there are times when it seems straight up stupid. She is an assassin who has infiltrated his family and her mission could possibly be to kill him or someone close to him. Unlike the audience, he doesn't know that she is kind and even if he sees it, how can he know that it's not a facade? This also makes it seem like their relationship has no stakes, like what could she possibly do to make him doubt her or vice-versa.

I know you could be thinking, "but this is a healthy relationship." Okay but how is it healthy? It would have been if they explicitly trusted each other and communicated (like a Dream of Splendor, now that was a healthy relationship) but Zi Yu and Yun Wei Shan don't do that either, at least she's not always honest. If we're meant to believe that they do indeed communicate, then we need to see it, you can't plug it in as an extension of a previous scene and call it a day.

One of the best ways of making a compelling couple is the push and pull of the relationship and this ship had all of the ingredients; The Assassin and The Target, both suspicious of each other but inexplicably drawn together, so much sexual tension and angst. Instead, all we got was bland love at first sight and then sticking through it.

Shangguan Qian:

Shangguan Qian is the other assassin sent by the Wufeng (why send only one when you can send two and double your chances of success) and her character is infinitely more delicious than Yun Wei Shan's.

Shangguan Qian is very hard to pin down and stays so till pretty much the end of the series. Her motives are complex and you can never tell just whose side she's on. I also love the way she gradually warms up to the Gong brothers. I think that Wufeng feeds it's assassins a lot of lies about the family and her being with them, i think starts to dispel some of the myths.

She is also set-up as a foil to Yun Wei Shan. Where Wei Shan is kind and straighforward, Shangguan Qian is cold and unpredictable. Her demeanour makes sense when you look at her relationship with her mentor, Han Ya Qi, who in contrast to Han Ya Si, does seem to view his pupils as expendable. He recognises, correctly, that the only person Shangguan Qian cares about her is herself and that's because of the world she was raised in, caught in a perpetual dance between survival and death, there was little time for luxuries like love.

But even here, the show and Shangguan Qian surprise us. At the end, we learn that Han Ya Qi did take steps to protect Shangguan Qian and when he is at death's doorstep, alone, she does come back for him and tries to save him. The Shangguan Qian we met at the beginning of the series, would have left him there to die without a backward glance. Her time with the Gongs and especially with Yun Wei Shan and Lady Wuji, gave her glimpse of what life could be like, it's subtle but it's there. Every time Wei Shan helps her without asking for anything in return, there's always a beat where you can tell that Shangguan Qian is wondering what her motives could be. She never trusts the other women fully, they are after all Wufeng assassins but I do believe, by the end of the series, her opinion of them is kinder at the very least.

I also loved how unapologetic Shangguan Qian is. She's not sitting there wringing her hands, fussing over things she has to do. To her knowledge, if she fails her mission, she dies. Her mentor doesn't seem to care beyond training her, she has no one to fall back on. She has a job to do and she's gonna do it to the best of her abilities.

I must also talk about the actress, Lu Yu Xiao, and her performance. Her character is someone who is always on alert, always plotting her next move, carefully observing those around her for weaknesses she can exploit. She goes from seductive to hurt to unaffected in a beat and conveys it all through her eyes and the minutest of facial expressions. Her performance is so understated and it's a pleasure to watch.

Gong Shang Jue:

Gong Shang Jue is the resident emo dude and he is easily one of the best characters in the show. He makes no bones about his opinion of Zi Yu and for the most part, his criticisms are on point. He is an also incredibly traumatised character, having lost his mother and younger brother during the previous Wufeng attack. His zeal, therefore, to find and root out any and all Wufeng assassins who could have infiltrated the family makes sense, he's already lost the people closest to him, he doesn't want to lose any more. He is so single-minded that he doesn't even spare his own prospective bride when he suspects her of being from Wufeng.

Unlike Zi Yu, Shang Jue realises why the Gongs put in the protocols that they did. At the beginning of the show, he is painted in a more antagonistic light (this is to land the big reveal at the end) but you can see that Shang Jue doesn't really care about power. His quest for position of SW, is more about keeping his family safe and he believes that he is the best candidate for that job.

His cold exterior only ever cracks when he's with his other brother Gong Yuan Zhi (he's the resident psychopath) With Yuan Zhi, you can see what Shang Jue could have been like, if not for the events of the past.

The relationship between Shang Jue and Shangguan Qian is a treat to watch. There was so much sexual tension between them, so much suppressed yearning, I loved it. Theirs was such a cat and mouse game with each constantly trying to outwit the other.

Is it a healthy relationship? Not really, he literally interrogates her and threatens to torture her even more if she doesn't talk. But he's not someone who is demonstrative of his emotions and feelings, like I don't think he knows how to open up. But with Shangguan Qian, his cold heart begins to thaw and you can see that in their interactions.

Every time, Shangguan Qian initiates physical intimacy or tries to, you can see the confusion on his face and the inner conflict. On the one hand, he doesn't fully trust her and is suspicious of her motives, but on the other, there is a part of him that genuinely likes and yearns for it. There are instances where he wants to reach out to her or touch her but always holds himself back.

Shangguan Qian is also only ever honest with Shang Jue, she tells him the truth and I think a lot of their later interactions (at least on her part) are largely genuine.

They are also unnervingly similar to each other, both owe their allegiance to something larger than themselves and are shaped by their trauma (Shangguan Qian with the loss of her entire family and Shang Jue with the death of his mother and brother) They are drawn to each other despite everything because they see that they are the only people who are capable of understanding exactly what the other is going through.

What differentiates them however, is that while Shang Jue is driven by loyalty, Shangguan Qian is driven by vengeance and therein lies their greatest obstacle, the one thing that neither is willing to compromise. They are so beautifully written and executed that, even knowing that it could never work out, they still make the audience root for them.

And yet, by the end of the show, they are both fundamentally different people. Shang Jue chooses to let her go when he finds out she's pregnant and instead of going back to Wufeng, Shangguan Qian chooses to stay in a small isolated house with azaleas planted around the house. She chooses to peace and safety for her unborn child over her thirst for revenge.

If there is to be a season 2, a Shangguan Qian and Shang Jue reunion is inevitable and I for one, would love to see how that unfolds...

[mengyan]

破晓; daybreak (PROLOGUE — 处暑 | heatstroke)

🌫️ 1.3k~ words 🪶 gong ziyu has waited nearly three months for yun weishan to come home, but what greets him at the gates may not be what he expected. 🌫️ main story begins updating next week! 🪶 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58230550/chapters/153217594

[gusucloud]

MY JOURNEY TO YOU I Let You Go (Yun Weishan x Gong Ziyu)

[randomingoftherandomness]

Fic: Forget Me Not

Tag: Amnesia, Angst

Pairing: Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi

--

Shangjue rides through the night just to arrive as the sun rises. He barely registers jumping off his horse, racing up the steps to the clinic where he is greeted by Ziyu and Elder Yue.

"Sword Wielder," He greets, a little winded. "Elder Yue."

He makes to walk past them, only for Ziyu to grip him by the forearm. "You should prepare yourself."

"Prepare?"

"He's..." Ziyu hesitates. "There were some complications."

Pulling away, he stalks to where the treatment rooms are, mind racing at what he may find there. Crossing around the treatment screen, he stops at the sight of Yuanzhi sitting up in his bed, calmly eating a bowl of porridge.

But before relief can soothe his nerves, Yuanzhi turns his face to him. Smiling, he tilts his head in acknowledgement. "Hello. May I know who you are?"

A fluke accident, Elder Yue tells him awhile later when they'd wrangled him out of his dusty boots and cloak, and by sheer willpower alone (Yun Weishan and Gong Zishang are tenacious when they put their minds to it), they get half a pot of tea in him before laying out the timeline of events.

Yuanzhi had been experimenting with a new sort of herb that Elder Yue had been cultivating in the back hill. While its medicinal properties have been somewhat ascertained, its more venomous applications have not been explored. This was what Yuanzhi and Elder Yue were doing when they'd mixed it with a concoction of snake venom, and it had, for lack of a better word, blown up in their faces.

Elder Yue was across the room at the time, so Yuanzhi had taken the brunt of it.

"And that's how he lost his memories?"

Elder Yue pauses. Delicately, he pours Shangjue a fresh cup of tea. "I suspect that the fumes of that concoction must have interfered with how he is processing information. He seems to remember how to do things just fine. Muscle memory, we reckon, but as to who he is, and who we all are, where we are, none of that has been retained."

Shangjue shakes his head, hand gripping the cup of tea tightly.

"Will they ever come back? His memories?"

Elder Yue's eyes flicker with sympathy. "I don't know."

And that was all they had to offer him.

Part of Shangjue blames himself for not taking Yuanzhi with him for his visit into the martial world when he had asked. Maybe they could have avoided this whole mess if he hadn't left Yuanzhi in the valley. The other part is just relieved it wasn't something worse.

Even if it hurts him like the cuts of a thousand knives every single time Yuanzhi smiles, polite and distant when he visits him in the clinic.

"I don't understand why you visit me so often," Yuanzhi says as they take one of their morning walks in the garden. "I don't understand why any of you care for me."

Elder Yue and the doctors in the clinic will be discharging him soon, and Shangjue will be taking his didi with him to the Jue residence no matter what the others may think. Not that he expects any resistance.

Shangjue looks at Yuanzhi and forces a smile. "Because you're important."

He gently takes him by the elbow and guides him down a path. This close to Yuanzhi, Shangjue can feel the exhaustion that clings to his body. He has been sleeping a lot, recuperating even if no one has told him much beyond how he has to heal and get better.

Shangjue aches for him. Aches for them. Aches for the possibility that the Yuanzhi he knows will never return, and is anguished at the thought that this stranger who is not a stranger shares none of the love he and Yuanzhi have built together.

There have been many times in the last few days that have left him crippled with grief at the thought that he has lost his Yuanzhi. He mourns the loss of a life and all the facets and beauty that that entails.

But at the same time...

But at the same time, he cannot help but wonder. He sees how Yuanzhi looks at him. Like a puzzle he cannot quite fit the pieces to. He catches the way his eyes follow him in a crowded room, how he stands close to him when they're taking a light stroll. Shangjue sees and hopes. Hopes that it's not all lost.

Yuanzhi's grip on his arm turns his attention back to him, meeting his dark-eyed gaze.

"This might sound strange," Yuanzhi starts. "But I look at you and I feel like there is something in the back of my mind trying to break through. I see you and I feel my heart race. When you aren't with me, I feel restless but when you are, I feel unsettled. Like, there should be more to us. Why is that?"

Shangjue swallows tightly. Smiling gently, he directs them to a bench. Seats Yuanzhi down and goes to his knee to help rearrange the hem of his cloak.

Yuanzhi stops him with a careful touch to his hand. Boldly, as if spurred on by some instinct, he slides their palms together. "I don't know you," He whispers. "But somehow, I trust you. Why is that, Young Master Jue?"

"That's because you do," Shangjue insists, leaning up to cup Yuanzhi by the cheek and brushing back his hair. "You know my blood better than I know myself. You're the one person who does."

Yuanzhi blinks, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "But I don't remember you."

Shaking his head, Shangjue allows himself the comfort of pulling Yuanzhi close. Pressing their brows together, they share shuddering breaths. "You know me here." Laying his hand over his left breast, he nuzzles his nose to Yuanzhi's. "Just believe in that."

Yuanzhi sighs, sniffling when he tilts his head. Shangjue doesn't let him get too far, brushing his lips to salt-tracked skin. "I want to remember," He sobs. "I want to remember everything because I can see how much it hurts you."

Shangjue shifts them until Yuanzhi is safely tucked into the crook of his neck. Holding him tightly, he promises. "You don't have to remember anything because I can remember it for the both of us. Even if you forget everything else, you just need to remember this one thing."

"Remember that above all else, above everything, you are the most important person to me. And even if you don't remember a thing about us in the past, as long as you're willing, I will fight for us. I will fight for you."

Under the quiet morning rustling of the trees, Yuanzhi nods, holding on to Shangjue. He doesn't know what comes next. He won't pretend and lie that he isn't a little bit scared. But as long as Yuanzhi is happy to be by his side, Shangjue will always be there.

Memories are, after all, something that they can always make.

[randomingoftherandomness]

Fic: I know I love you

Tags: Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi, High School AU, Cousin Incest, Singer Gong Yuanzhi, Pining, Talent Show, Age Difference, Businessman Gong Shangjue, gonna add the underage tag just coz of the age difference

A/N: This is the song that got me back into Kpop. As a Gen 2 fan, I never thought I would ever get back into it once I left that group of friends who loved it as much as I did. But there I was, diving headfirst into Gen 4 Kpop and thus far, it's been great.

This is all to say that it's okay to be a fan of something. There's no age limit to be a fan and as long as you're not hurting anyone with your passion and enthusiasm, you're good :) If you needed to hear this today, there's always a place in fannish spaces for us older fans. No matter what other people might say x

If Gong Yuanzhi were to say that he didn't feel an ounce of nervousness, that would be a lie.

Sneaking a peek at the auditorium's crowd, he hears a loud cheer - definitely led by his cousin Ziyu, the absolute simp - when Yun Weishan's voice starts going into the chorus of that earworm of a song by Esther Yu. Next to him, he can feel Jin Fan pushing at his shoulder so that he can steal a glimpse of his other cousin Zishang who had partnered up with Yun Weishan.

He's surrounded by simps, he swears.

Turning back to where Jin Fu, Jin Fan's fraternal twin, is twirling his drums and this quiet dude they only know as Ah Yue is testing out the keyboards, Yuanzhi meets the latter's eyes and nods.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Yuanzhi huffs, fiddling with his guitar for the umpteenth time. Ah Yue takes pity on him and claps him on the shoulder. He doesn't even ask him the question he knows he wants to ask.

It's fine, Yuanzhi tries to reason. It's fine if he doesn't come tonight.

Logically, he knows that Shangjue gege is probably busy if not on another plane to another city to negotiate another deal to fatten up the family's coffers. More than that, he knows that Shangjue would have about a million things better to do on a Friday night than to attend some high school talent show just because half of the family's younger cousins are part of it.

Still, hope springs eternal. Even if reality is proving otherwise.

From where they stand at the curtained eaves of the stage, they can hear Yun Weishan and Zishang jie's voices bleeding into the final notes of their performance. It's show time.

"Deep breaths, yeah?" Ah Yue says, bumping fists with Yuanzhi as they step onto the stage to the applause of the audience.

They take their place as the emcees of the night announce their names and their class number. Breathing in deeply, Yuanzhi squints out at shadowed faces of the crowd, trying to quell the rapid-fire beating of his heart.

Positions himself at the microphone, he takes a deep breath, fingers pressing down on the opening chord.

I know I love you

Yuanzhi pours his heart into that opening growl. Behind him, he hears the guys start up on their instruments just like they'd spent hours and hours practising. Part of him wants to turn around, grin with glee at how cool this all is, but he holds on to what he needs to do.

In this world of zero, I know you're my one and only 

Try as he may, he cannot help his mind from turning to his gege. The lyrics of the song speak to a truth that his soul knows -- has known for a while now.

My life before you was a mess

Yuanzhi blinks and he can pick out Ziyu cheering him on in the shadows with a borderline maniacal grin. A warm sort of glow settles in his chest. This silly cousin of his...

He can’t help the grin of his own as he sinks his voice into the words. Adrenaline pumps through his veins when he hears Ah Yue’s voice harmonise with his own.

Now I can't stop thinking 'bout you, When I'm sinking alone

The beat kicks up. The drums start to pound through his chest and Yuanzhi closes his eyes as the guys all start singing together.

I know it's real, I can feel it

Yuanzhi feels free in the words of the song. Fingers strumming along as he tastes the way the crowd begins to cheer.

When he opens his eyes again, there he is. Standing in the back of the auditorium, haloed by the exit sign, but he’s here. In the shadows.

Yuanzhi can hardly believe it.

No.

He can’t bring himself to believe it.

I'm a loser in this game

For the longest time, Yuanzhi had trusted in the emotions that tells him he loves Shangjue gege like a brother. Fond and protective in a familial way, respect and admiration all wrapped into how Shangjue gege is so capable and strong.

There was always a thread of gratefulness, too, when Yuanzhi thinks about his emotions. Grateful that Shangjue took him in and practically helped to raise him.

If there was anyone who deserved his love, it’d be Shangjue gege.

All or nothing, I want all of you 

But emotions change.

And recently, Yuanzhi’s heart hurts whenever he thinks about how Shangjue is being expected to marry and have kids.

Even more so when he thinks of gege having someone to love and hold in that way. In the deepest darkness of the night hours, Yuanzhi can admit into the shadows that he wants to be the person that Gege holds and loves. Especially if it’s in that way.

I'm full of problems, love sick 

Yuanzhi keeps his eyes fixed on the shadowed halo on the fringes of the room.

Everything else fades away and he bleeds his heart and soul into the words. Meaning every syllable, every beat, every lilt and crescendo.

In some distant part of his senses, he can hear his band mates carry their own parts as they harmonise together. Yuanzhi doesn’t linger on them.

He keeps his eyes on his prize.

Say you love me, to the end of the world 

Logically, Yuanzhi knows it’s wrong.

If he ever verbalised the exact emotions he feels about Shangjue, chances are he’d be excommunicated from the family. He can imagine the looks of disgust and contempt; can see it in his nightmares.

He knows Shangjue gege can tell something is wrong, but how does one even begin to tell the object of your affections that you love them in the romantic way that begs to burn down any bridge that could cultivate it back into familiar familial feelings?

Loss of his gege is unacceptable. The only thing left for Yuanzhi is to sing it.

All or nothing, I give all of you 

The auditorium shakes with the force of the audience’s cheers. Ah Yue, Jin Fan, and Jin Fu all clamour around him to wrap him up in a hug before they take a bow to the standing ovation they receive.

Yuanzhi turns back to the spot in the shadow and has to kill the bud of disappointment that starts to flower. He doesn’t have a right to feel that way, no.

So, he accepts the applause with a smile, bows politely and jogs backstage where Zishang jie is squealing and pulling him into a rib cracking hug before she jumps right into Jin Fan’s arms.

“Are you alright?” Ah Yue asks, a hand on his wrist. Outside, the next group takes their place in the spotlight. Yuanzhi nods, moving quickly to where they’d stash their bags and cases.

He feels sick.

What was he doing thinking that Shangjue ge was even here tonight? More than that, what the hell was he even dreaming about that Gege would even understand that this song is dedicated to him?

He stuffs his guitar back into its case, snapping it shut and gathering his bag.

“I’ll see you guys on Monday ok?”

“Hey, where are you going?” Jin Fu frowns. “They haven’t announced the winners!”

Yuanzhi can only shake his head and plaster on a weak grin. “I…”

“He’s coming home with me.”

Yuanzhi thinks his soul jumped right out of him and into the underworld. Literal chills start breaking out down his spine when Shangjue gege steps confidently forward and wordlessly takes his school bag. Sliding their palms together, he tangles their fingers, guiding him away and out of the backstage area.

“Gege, what are you—“

“My Didi gave me a ticket to his school’s talent show. Did you think I was going to miss it?”

Yuanzhi wisely keeps his mouth shut.

Shangjue scoffs, weaving them through a sea of performers and their assortment of props and costumes. In no time, Yuanzhi is breathing in a lungful of cool, crisp night air, but gege doesn’t stop and he stumbles a little to keep up.

“Gege—“

“Get in the car,” Shangjue says, letting go of him to move to the driver’s side. When Yuanzhi doesn’t immediately follow, he turns, sighing. Coming back to Yuanzhi, he cups him by the cheek.

Running his thumb over his cheekbone, Gege purses his lips. “We need to have a conversation and I’d rather we do it in the car.”

Yuanzhi numbly tips his head, looking down on the asphalt of the school parking lot while Shangjue manoeuvres the guitar case off him and into the back of his Jaguar, and then shuffles him into the front passenger seat, buckling him in with a smooth practiced motion.

Panic and trepidation sits thick on his tongue.

“Where do you want to start?” Shangjue says over the hum of the car’s engine as he takes them out of the parking lot and into the main road.

“I don’t even know where to do that,” Yuanzhi admits. He starts to fidget with his fingers, stilling with a start when Shangjue gege takes his hand into his own again. Deftly switching lanes, Yuanzhi watched the streetlights wash over the dark interior of the car in measured intervals.

“You’re my Didi,” Gege says. “I’m your Gege. It’s as simple as that.”

The words twist something sour in his chest. It’s the undeniable truth and one he can’t even run away from no matter how hard he tries to.

“Yeah.” Yuanzhi mumbles. Squeezing Gege’s hand he makes to pull away, only for Shangjue to hold on tightly.

Shangjue’s eyes are focused on the road. Cool and calm as he safely merges the car into the evening traffic.

“Yuanzhi, once again you’re hearing and not listening.”

Not a little offended, Yuanzhi tries to pry his hand out of Shangjue’s only to fail miserably when his gege huffs.

“I know you love me.”

Yuanzhi blinks owlishly, brain shorting out at the soft smile that Shangjue gege sports when he inches the car forward.

“Did you think I wasn’t listening?”

“I didn’t know what to think,” Yuanzhi manages. Shangjue’s hand squeezes his thrice.

A gentle quiet settles in the hush of the car. It’s not unpleasant, more so when Shangjue carefully lifts their hands to his lips. The gesture sends a thrill down Yuanzhi’s spine, especially when he lets go only to change gears, then sliding their hands back together again.

“I was going to wait until you’re a little older to broach the topic. I didn’t…” Shangjue trails off, throat bobbing. “I didn’t want it to seems like I was pressuring you into anything…”

Yuanzhi feels his cheeks warm.

“You wouldn’t have—“

“But I would have.” Shangjue cuts with certainty. “You wouldn’t have been anything but willing and that’s what makes it dangerous.”

Carefully, with an infinite tenderness Yuanzhi was sure he could never pour into another person, Yuanzhi whispers, “And yet I would have loved you.”

Shangjue turns to him. “I won’t apologise for making you wait.”

“How long?”

Shangjue blinks, confusion colouring his brow. “How long?”

“How long do I have to wait?” Yuanzhi elaborates. “How long until you will be comfortable with… this?”

The laughter that bubbles up in the car makes him smile. His heart settles in the sound of it, then picks up again at the way Shangjue looks at him syrup soft with an intensity that Yuanzhi now has a name for.

“Get into your top choice for university and then we will talk.”

Yuanzhi smiles. “Do you promise, Ge?”

“All or nothing, Didi.” Shangjue replies easily, running his thumb over the back of Yuanzhi’s hand.

[randomingoftherandomness]

Fic: my love is all mine

Pairing: Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi

A/N: Listen. I have no reason why this is the next fic on the docket :) A classic fandom trope. Enjoy, fam ❤️

--

A note arrives with the serving of his lunch that Shangjue does not immediately pay heed to. There’s a mountain of paperwork that he needs to get through, and a tonne of logistics to sort through to rebuild and weed through what has been rotting in the foundations of the family.

Admittedly, he hasn’t been the best at keeping Yuanzhi company lately.

Most days he wakes when Yuanzhi is still asleep, falls into an exhausted fuelled dreamless sleep when he had already fallen asleep. Didi doesn’t complain in the scant moments they have to share a quick meal together before yet another pressing demand calls for his attention. He smiles and merely makes sure that Shangjue has enough to eat and to drink before he is whisked off, supporting him quietly from the side.

Shangjue knows better than to believe that he isn’t affected by the lack of quality time.

It’s also this train of thought that keeps him going. Sifting through the work piling up on his desk so that he can carve out a week’s worth of peace. He plans to dump whatever menial, low-priority tasks on Gong Ziyu’s desk, telling them to not send for either him or Yuanzhi unless the valley itself is on fire.

Then, he is going to take bring Yuanzhi to hopefully hide out in some secluded hut in the back hill (of which, there are many and not all are known to even the Sword Wielder) for a minimum of a week before he would even entertain the idea of looking at another document.

What they’ll do there will be between them, the heavens and the earth, and no one else.

Just as he is idly drawing up a mental list of Yuanzhi's favourite foods, Gong Ziyu sweeps into his study, robes billowing with his harried movements. Before he can even ask him what he is here for, the Sword Wielder holds up a familiar-looking note.

Sealed with blood-red wax and unfurling like a folded lotus, he reads the words, 'The valley gates at Xu Shi* or they die' with a piece of Yuanzhi's hair ornament nestled in the middle.

"I received mine half a shichen* ago. I'm assuming yours came around the same time." Gong Ziyu says just as Gong Zishang sweeps into his study bordering on a manic hysteria.

Cold rage courses through his veins, burning through the haze of fear and anguish like a summer fire. How dare they touch what is his?

"Calm down," Gong Ziyu advises, even as he is fiddling with what looks like one of Yun Weishan's earrings. Wrapping a cool hand around his wrist, he insists. "You'll do him no good if you intend to barge in head first with your sword swinging. Besides, he is more than capable of handling himself."

"We need a plan of attack. Or at least a semblance of one." Gong ZIshang interjects, unfurling her hand to show them a piece of Jin Fan's belt ornament.

The rage clawing at the back of his mind calms a little at the sight of them standing in front of him with determination in their eyes. Breathing in deep, he closes his eyes. Nodding perfunctorily, he manages to grit out. "What do you have in mind?"

--

Shangjue goes alone to the gates of Gong Valley.

Keeping a keen eye on the surrounding landscape; every rustle of the leaves in the trees, every shifting of the night air, every moment the clouds hide away the moonlight, he waits.

"Good evening, Lord Jue."

In the cover of the darkness, he spies the way the shadows flicker in the shape of a body. Calming himself, he calls out. "Where is he?"

The shadow slithers in the darkness.

"I'm surprised that you'd come alone. One would have thought the Gong family's Sword Wielder would have lived up to his romantic reputation of being deeply in love with his wife."

Gripping the scabbard of his sword, Shang Jue seethes. "Where is he?"

"We have him, don't you worry." The man in the darkness laughs. "Don't be so hasty, we haven't even gotten to what we want from you yet."

Shangjue listens to the speech, waiting out the sounds of goading amusement. Throwing out his senses until he hears the dull hoot of an owl that is not native to the valley.

At that, he relaxes.

"Good luck with that. My brother is not known for his patience. If nothing else, I should thank you. He's been rather restless lately and I appreciate you giving him a good workout."

The shadow stills. Shifting, moving in the darkness, it isn't long until the sounds of horrified screaming carry through the thick night air. The clouds in the sky clear and silvery moonlight wash through the clearing.

Unsheathing his sword, Shangjue grins, bloodthirsty and sharp. "Your only mistake here is that you took the ones the Gong family holds dear." Falling into an attacking stance, he chuckles. "You can atone for this mistake in the Underworld."

"B-but we have them! We caught them!"

"Oh," Shangjue clicks his tongue. Slowing down his breath, he moves into a strike. "You don't have them. They have you."

It takes only a few moves to tire his opponent out enough that he leaves him an opening to bury his blade in. Useless. How he ever thought he could walk out of Gong valley in one piece is beyond him. Right before he slices through, Shangjue leans in, savouring the terror in the other man's eyes. "You should have never touched what is mine."

"Tsk, I missed all the fun."

The man's body crumples to the ground as the clearing fills up with members of the family. Shangjue turns and has to hold himself up by willpower alone when he sees Yuanzhi, cheeks blood-streaked but otherwise unhurt to his eyes, push forth.

Relief fills his lungs. Uncaring of how many eyes are watching, he exhales, not bothering to halt the long strides he takes to wrap Yuanzhi up in a hug. Breathing in deep, he lets his didi hold him.

"Ge, I'm ok. I'm alright."

"Mm."

Letting himself bask in the way Yuanzhi's whispers tickle against his jaw, he unhooks the plaque of his authority from his belt. Throwing it at Gong Ziyu, he pulls back to sheath his bloodstained blade. Before the Sword Wielder can say a word, Shangjue pulls his didi into his arms in a bridal carry.

"I'm taking a break. Don't look for us for a week."

Gong Ziyu stutters, mouth gaping around a protest before Yun Weishan peaceably settles him with a hand to his elbow.

Without a look back, he moves into a light-footed jump, skimming on the treetops until they are out of sight. Shangjue couldn't care less. They'll be taking their vacation a little early.

--

Notes

Xu Shi - The Hour of the Dog (7pm to 9pm) according to the Chinese Zodiac Time

Shichen - A unit of measurement to describe part of the 12 2-hour time system that makes up a day. Half a shichen is our modern equivalent of 1 hour.

[randomingoftherandomness]

But... what if Yun Weishan and Shangguan Qian can't have children because of the miasma and the responsibility to give an heir to both lineage fall on Yuanzhi's back? 👀

Tags: Mpreg, Consensual Cheating, Breeding, Breeding Kink, Jealousy, Broodmare Yuanzhi, Gong Ziyu x Gong Yuanzhi, Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi, Gong Shangjue x Shangguan Qian, Gong Ziyu x Yun Weishan

🌶️🍋🌶️🍋🌶️🍋🌶️🍋🌶️🍋

"I think congratulations are in order, Jiejie."

Yun Weishan doesn't bother deigning Shangguan Qian with an answer, merely smiles demurely and sips at her tea. Behind the lotus print of the screen that separates the bed from the rest of the sitting space, she spies the way Ziyu is fucking the last throes of his orgasm into Gong Yuanzhi's body.

Her core throbs with the phantom want of being where he is now under her husband.

The shape of her husband leans down and soon enough the wet sounds of sloppy kisses fill the air in tandem with the quiet panting of two satiated bodies basking in the bliss and afterglow.

Next to her, Shangguan Qian lifts her hand over her mouth, hiding a smile.

"Don't be jealous, Jiejie," She coos, laying a hand over her wrist to get her attention. Yun Weishan turns to her then, keeping her eyes fixed on Shangguan Qian's knowing smile.

Somewhere in the back, she hears Ziyu grunting, softly moaning as a breathless voice answers him thick with pleasure.

Against Shangguan Qian's breast, her daughter sleeps, softly snuffling against her. The heir to the Jue lineage, her heir, even if she was born from the womb of the man currently fucked by Yun Weishan's lord husband in the hopes of begetting him with a babe of their own.

A child that will be her heir.

Yun Weishan's attention is pulled once more to the hazy scene behind the screen.

Another figure has now joined her husband and Yuanzhi in bed. Beside her, she can feel the moment Shangguan Qian stills and tastes that bit of triumph on her tongue when the weight of jealousy is not only hers to bear. Gong Yuanzhi and Gong Shangjue were inseparable no matter what and this isn't something Shangjue was going to let his didi go through without him.

Gong Shangjue croons something low and mumbles to Yuanzhi, who hums tiredly in response. She can't blame him; Ziyu has always been able to last longer than anyone might expect.

It seems that Shangguan Qian can tell what's being said and if the way her lips purse is any indication, Yun Weishan can take a bit of glee at how unhappy she is by what she has heard.

She idly wonders if Ziyu is looking at Yuanzhi with the wonder he looks at her when they make love in their own bed. She thinks he'd be kind to Yuanzhi, at least. Ziyu's sweet like that. Even when they'd found out that they could never have any children from her womb, he'd never once stopped loving her as much as the day they first confessed their affections to one another, never blamed anyone, never even blamed the miasma that caused it.

Instead, he had gone to Gong Shangjue to ask for his permission to be next after him.

Kisses fill the air. Neither she nor Shangguan Qian can determine who was kissing whom.

But does it matter?

They'll keep doing this for as many times as it takes for Gong Yuanzhi's womb to be seeded by Ziyu. And once that child is a year old, they'll be back here again, sitting just beyond the screen to hear Elder Yue take his turn for an heir, then again after that for the Xue lineage.

A gift like Gong Yuanzhi is meant to be shared.