#i don't think this was mxtx's intention when writing the novel

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I'm sorry but no one is ever going to convince me that #justice prevails at the end of mdzs (even the untamed), everyone seems so freaking sad about the events that unfolded. no one is going to convince me that nhs actually found satisfaction in the way jgy & nmj are now forever just chilling in a coffin, no peace whatsoever. jgy was someone who genuinely cared for nhs and i feel it goes vice versa. Don't even get me started on Jin Ling, that child is devastated, and then having to have dealings with the man that was indirectly/directly involved with your uncles death and that even depends on if nhs picks up the slack as sect leader cause huan and jiggy were doing the work for him.

The watchtowers probably going to get disbanded, don't even know what's going on with the Nie clan, Jing lin being forced to play the role of leader so early on in his life. This was not triumphant it felt so very depressing, like damn.

i mean you're preaching to the choir here, anon, i'm in agreement with you. the only people who are happy after the guanyin temple sequence concludes are wangxian, and i think it is entirely reasonable to presume that a lot of their happiness in that moment is a direct result of getting to fuck nasty. 🤷‍♀️ good for them, i guess.

[touchlikethesun]

TW: sa. Hi! I hope it's okay to talk about it but about your tags in that post about SVSSS and SA being a recurring theme, I agree with a lot of it. I would say that even Bingge can be argued to be have some trauma since his first time was coerced. Someone pointed out Bingge could've become hypersexual as a result of that trauma and that it made me see the whole harem thing in a new light (but it doesn't make him innocent since he forced himself on a bunch of wives). It really is such a recurring theme it's hinted for Shen Jiu and for Su Xiyan and Binghe with the Old Palace Master. Su Xiyan's story is even the catalyst for Binghe's tragic backstory... You made a very good observation OP!

hey anon, yeah it's alright to talk about! i do appreciate you including a tw, but this is a topic i find really interesting, i actually opened my laptop back up to answer you lol

as for luo bingge, i didn't get into it in my tags bc… lowkey didn't expect ppl to read them lol (ty for doing so tho xx) and also he's quite a complicated case. we obviously can't say for certain since we see so little of him and what we do know is told to us thru multiple layers of unreliable narration, but i do think there is enough to suggest many of luo bingge's early sexual experiences were probably coerced or non-consensual, leading to trauma-induced hypersexual behavior. (edit: i am adding this parenthetical a few hours later after writing the rest of this and i didn't know how to fit it in otherwise so apologies, but i think it's worth pointing out that luo binghe - both bingmei and bingge, so i think we can consider it to be a core trait - do naturally have a much higher libido than most people. with bingmei we see how this causes issues for him in his relationship with shen qingqiu, but it's managed with kindness because sqq loves him and is patient enough to teach him boundaries and managed by binghe himself who loves and doesn't want to hurt sqq and who has been taught consent and respect from a younger age. when it comes to bingge, who lacks the sort of safe space provided by sqq and has no education in the matter, i think it's easy to see how he would have a much harder time understanding and managing his libido - again it isn't an excuse for SA, but this is just another convention of the genre that were it to be realised has horrible implications and consequences.)

but also, luo bingge lives in a world where healthy consensual sexual dynamics are so rarely modeled for him (the aforementioned coercive sex, but also constantly being gifted wives by other men, and the normalisation of rape in a world with sex pollen (sorry ik i already said that but like really it is so incredibly fucked up if you think about the implications of sex pollen in a real world)), and where he is being taught that the only way to be safe is to have physical power over others - of course we the reader know this is because it's being written as a venting male fantasy revenge story with a target audience of incels, but concretely this is bad for luo bingge's psyche, and you know, also leads him to do horrible things in retaliation and hurt and innombrable amount of people

and again, i don't know how much of this was really intentional on mxtx's part and how much i am reading into it, but svsss is about making one-dimensional smut novel characters into fully realised people and extrapolating out the implications for what it would mean for that world to be a real one. like, shanq qinghua and especially shen qingqiu have to learn that the people they live with are not as simple as they might have appeared on the screen of the webnovel. and part of the extrapolating, from my read of svsss, involves interrogating the ways characters have and have had their agency infringed upon in the original pidw and finding ways to return their agency to them in svsss. this is perhaps most clearly seen in the way all the "wife" characters in svsss are allowed to be their own people separate from binghe, with different passions and drives and again, agency to direct their own lives, contrary to sqq's expectations of them. however this also involves bringing to light just how pervasive and damaging the sexual violence in the original story really is, by showing the abuse that su xiyan suffered, by showing how binghe is negatively affected by xin mo and the other coercive elements of this world, by subverting expectations with shen jiu and showing how he was also a victim, and by making the only truly irredeemably evil character the old palace master, a disgusting old pervert and sexual harasser.

anyways yeah i think it's a really interesting aspect of svsss, and while i can understand why it might not be at the forefront of everyone's mind (good lord is it a BUMMER to think about), it would be a disservice to the narrative to forget it entirely.

[mdzs-fanon-exposed]

MDZS Fanon VS Canon: 2/?

Wen Ning fits Jiang Cheng's list of requirements for a wife

Rating: FANON – NEUTRAL

A lot of ships involving Jiang Cheng will use a list detailing the characteristics of his ideal woman as evidence for one pairing for another, and the character brought to me to evaluate as a suitable match was Wen Ning. Unfortunately, I have to rate this as fanon because Jiang Cheng's wife requirements... aren't canon to the novels.

In terms of the official adaptations, Jiang Cheng's requirements for his perfect wife seem to be Untamed-only canon, as part of the Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing subplot the drama invented. However, the MDZS Fandom Wiki (which, side note, is a horrible source for anything) credits the following list of requirements to a since-deleted Tumblr post:

Naturally beautiful, graceful and obedient, hard-working and thrifty, coming from a respected family, cultivation level not too high, personality not too strong, not too talkative, voice not too loud and must treat Jin Ling nicely. (source)

Using the Wayback Machine, I managed to find the original Tumblr post in question (seen here). According to the user who posted it, this is a translated excerpt from a Weibo post written by MXTX herself, listing 10 supplemental facts about the books – supposedly posted a year before The Untamed was first announced.

I do not have Weibo and cannot verify this claim, but regardless, I do not consider "word of God" to be canon for the purposes of this blog. Whatever MXTX's intentions were when writing this list, Jiang Cheng's requirements are not mentioned anywhere in the actual text, and so I cannot rate this suggestion as anything but fanon. You, the reader, are free to choose whether you think MXTX's supplemental material is canon-accurate.

As for Wen Ning himself: Canonically, Jiang Cheng "could never tolerate" him (Seven Seas Ch. 19, p. 251), and so unfortunately this ship cannot officially sail. Even if Wen Ning does fit every entry on this list, Jiang Cheng would not consider him a prospective match. I do not consider the list canon, and so any attempts to figure out if Wen Ning fits the letter of the list (if not the spirit) can not be anything but subjective.

But, well, this post is about the list itself, not Jiang Cheng's feelings about it. So while I'm here, I might as well have some fun with it.... Feel free to use the notes to debate whether or not you think Wen Ning is secretly right for Jiang Cheng's dubiously-canon standards.

Naturally beautiful: Wen Ning is ADORABLE and I LOVE HIM. You can't look at him and NOT call him cute; even Wei Wuxian thinks his "side profile [is] delicate and refined" (Seven Seas Ch. 12, p. 141). Would Jiang Cheng think this? Um,

Graceful and obedient: He's pretty meek and he's described as a yes-man (Seven Seas Ch. 16, p. 22), and he does what Wei Wuxian says a lot (under magical flute coercion or otherwise), but he can be pretty stubborn when he wants to be. I wouldn't call him falling off a roof "graceful," but I suppose that was after he was zombified.

Hard-working and thrifty: Yes – I can't imagine he got all those Wen subordinates by being completely lazy. And if anything he's kind of the pack horse for the Burial Mounds crew lol.

Coming from a respected family: Technically? Yes. The Wens have historically been a powerful and influential family, and Wen Ning is the younger brother of someone of "a rank on par with Wen Chao" (Seven Seas Ch. 12, p. 148). Functionally? Uhhhh

Cultivation level not too high: This one is debatable, but probably a yes. We don't receive much information about Wen Ning's cultivation level, since his fighting prowess isn't really plot-relevant until he dies, but he is described as "unremarkable" in comparison to Wen Qing. Just like, in general, I guess. (Seven Seas Ch. 12, p. 149)

Personality not too strong: See #2. I would say yes with some caveats. Especially (and ironically) when Jiang Cheng is involved.

Not too talkative/voice not too loud: Also a match! Wen Ning stutters a lot and doesn't really raise his voice unless he's angry, so he's pretty quiet. Remember that time he and wangxian were on that boat and Wei Wuxian straight up didn't notice him for like five minutes? Poor guy. Can you believe this happened to him twice.

Must treat Jin Ling nicely: Do we count murdering his dad? Because if we don't, then Wen Ning treats Jin Ling very nicely. He even saves his life multiple times!

In conclusion: ?????????

[joys-of-everyday]

MXTX's women

Let's do ✨discourse™✨

Addendum: I checked out twitter (x now?) for the first time in ages and... um... maybe this isn't a good time for discourse. But hey, I love mxtx so I'm just going to do a Shen Yuan and pretend absolutely everything is fine.

I feel like a lot of the discourse around MXTX and sexism don't hit the mark? Things like 'there are few female characters', 'the female characters die', 'the female characters don't hold positions of power' are not indications as to whether a piece of work standing on its own is sexist. For example, you could write an entire novel about a sexless robot (which miserably fails the Bechdel test because there is only one character) and that says nothing about whether the work itself is sexist. This is an caricature of an example and of course, overall trends give a very different picture to individual works, so its not to take such works off the hook either. Similarly, including sexist troupes isn't inherently sexist, but equally arguing something is a 'critique' isn't a shield against criticism. Critique can be done badly, critique can become outdated, critique itself can be critiqued.

But equally the counterargument to this can't entirely be 'but look at x, y, and z - aren't they great female characters?'. Look, I love mxtx's women. I can write essays (plural) about mxtx's women. Many people already have. Then again, Eowyn from lotr is arguably a pretty deep character, but I would have problems if lotr was the best example of female representation we could come up with. The point being, the existence (or lack thereof) of strong female characters isn't (entirely) the point, even though it's often made out to be. Don't get me wrong, good female representation without strong female characters is... erm... hard. But if it was the crux of the argument, the discourse could be killed in three tumblr posts.

The bigger question(s) (possibly) is: What is its intent? How is that intent received?

SVSSS, MDZS, and TGCF are all extremely different pieces of work. SVSSS in particular stands out, because at its heart, it is satire. While debates around what kind of comedy is and isn't good exist independently of SVSSS, needless to say, judging satire in the same way you would say a murder mystery or a romantic fantasy is not advisable. Sha Hualing is a sexy demon lady whose clothes rip off in the middle of a battle. Why? Because that's saying something about a particular trope of a particular genre.

(Side note: I have opinions on how we shove different BLs together when they really shouldn't be under the same umbrella and how this muddies the discourse unnecessarily. I'm talking about Killing Stalking btw)

For SVSSS, if you get it, you get it (it's impossible to read without understanding this). While some loose threads exist about how female characters could have been more developed... man, do you know how much development my boy Mu Qingfang got? You're not sexist if you punch everyone (only half ironic here). (In terms of character development I also think this might be a fandom thing as well as a SVSSS thing.) But I think more relevantly, SVSSS tells you something about the way MXTX writes critique.

If you didn't notice, SVSSS is critique on two levels. First is the blatant critique of the harem genre, and the second is more subtle critique on BL, on fandoms, on webnovels, on literature. But while we get Shen Qingqiu's commentary guiding us through the first bit, this drops during the second bit. It takes Shen Qingqiu so long to realise that what he's living through is a crazy mishmash of BL tropes that the only narration you get on this is Pure Confusion. To realise Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's early interactions is commentary on the 'dark and obsessive love' trope, you need to immediately realise that Shen Qingqiu telling you Luo Binghe is trying to kill him is just... Wrong. So (possibly, ofc I've no idea what's going on in the author's head) the intent is critique. But intent is meaningless without it being conveyed to the reader. So how are we meant to 'realise' what is going on?

Firstly, MXTX tells you. Shen Qingqiu goes: 'damn Luo Binghe isn't acting like in those weird danmei novels' and you're meant to go 'oh weird danmei novels I know about those'. Second is her very obvious use of tropes (even flagged!). 'Clothes rip/disappear in the middle of a serious situation, isn't this weird? Where have we seen that before?'. And thirdly, by introducing a sense of absurdity. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu's relationship is presented in such an unconventional way (the master-disciple pair which generated a famous porno!) that it forces you to engage with it critically.

Okay, so what does that have to do with sexism? Take MDZS. We have a set of very tropey characters - 'the older sister', 'the scary mother', 'the strong independent woman', 'the damsel in distress'. We have explorations and subversions that go beyond tropes: Jiang Yanli's character shaped by her experiences in an abuse household, Yu Ziyuan's pride and loyalty, Wen Qing's well... everything, and Mianmian needs no explanation. We have flags to tell us we are meant to care about these issues: most obviously Mianmian experiencing gendered harassment for speaking up. All the women die! Yeah, isn't that a problem. Because it's the women sacrificing themselves, women silently taking on burdens, women chained by the circumstances of the world around them and still making choices about what is important to them (and it's often not themselves). The women aren't in positions of power/aren't shown to be as competent as the men! They're literally put down when they speak up, and don't the wives have a great time with their husbands. MDZS is critique of society. MDZS's women too are a critique of the society they (we) live in.

But not all critique is good critique! The first way that critique can fail is if it just isn't registered as critique by the reader. And this isn't always on the reader. If the author isn't clear enough on this, then they have failed to execute the intent of their work. And to this extent, I've heard enough people say that MDZS is maybe sexist as a first reaction (myself included) to think that yeah, maybe this wasn't well done. The flags are scarce. The subversions of tropes are subtle enough to be missed in it's entirety. Then again, MDZS often ends up as people's gateway piece into danmei, when it is probably better understood with more context - for me, coming back to MDZS after a big BL reading spree was exceptionally enlightening. As to whether it could have been better done in the bounds of the genre, without detracting from the banging story it was... I honestly don't know.

One way to go about it is, well... TGCF. Here everything is laid out to you to an almost bizarre degree. 'Look, isn't this a Hard Question' the narrative stops to tell you at multiple points, from Bai Wuxiang and Xie Lian's back and forths, to 'I don't know if what I did was right' speeches on a regular basis (maybe not regular but it was enough to notice). The troupes are still there but their twists are far more obvious. Xuan Ji is the 'deranged woman' who is (we are told multiple times) surprisingly normal and competent when she isn't around Pei Ming. Yushi Huang and Banyue are just obviously strong, competent, and in positions of power. Shi Qingxuan shines in all of her wonder, kindness, and unfortune. The flags are more glaring as well: Just Pei Ming's Existence, Ling Wen's whole backstory, Jian Lan's tragedy... And it probably worked? Since people seem to complain significantly less about any supposed sexism of TGCF.

Do I like it? I like elements of it. Ling Wen is honestly great.

But I love the subtlety with which MDZS weaves its themes and tbh I think some of the magic was lost there. (I love TGCF to bits for different reasons but yeah)

Does MXTX's writing of women merit discussion? Of course, everything merits discussion. Particularly MXTX's works which rely so heavily on genre tropes to craft themes. Is MXTX's work sexist? Idk, I would say no, but these things are Hard Questions.

But my feeling? My true feeling? At the very least, it is So. Much. Better. than a huge amount of work that tries to be feminist and pitifully fails.

My current pet peeve is the 'strong independent woman'. Depicting a sexist society then including a 'strong independent women' with no true appreciation of the realistic struggles she would face, as if the only barriers that we face within these societies is to stop being a loser... is worse in my books than not including any women at all. Or 'strong independent women' who turn out to be utterly pathetic and in constant need of saving. Or 'strong independent women' who have no other personality than being the 'strong independent woman'. The intent here is to come across as feminist and progressive without critically engaging in anything. It's paper thin.

Ultimately, the core theme of MDZS and TGCF isn't about women's experiences (whereas SVSSS is, I would argue, right into the nooks and crannies). Do these works explore such themes to the extent it explore privilege, conflict, and oppression? Not really. But you can't do everything - the role of an author is inherently about choosing what to prioritise. And given what it does do, I think it does some pretty neat things.

[screeching-painter-witch]

omg ty for the long reply i genuinely love when people answer my questions in detail!! <3 and i hope you feel better soon too!

i'm at volume 1 of the light novel, but i've almost finished s2 of the donghua and read so much meta and fic i think i know most big spoilers

i think he's a really interesting character too. tsundere type characters like him (at least regarding his attitude towards xie lian) sometimes annoy me, but he's well enough written and funny enough that i love him as he is

I really like that he brings a certain pragmatism and realism to the xianle trio, especially pre and during xie lian's first ascension. xie lian and feng xin are good people, but in those times they are both kids and still incredibly privileged and sheltered, as well-intentioned as they may be. i think that while mu qing made the mistake of letting his inferiority complex rule him at times, xie lian also didn't fully acknowledge the significance of the class differences between them.

I don't know how canon this is, but if mu qing had to look after his mother and work so they could both eat, that adds a level of responsibility that makes his life even more difficult, beyond just having to be perfect to get approval and be seen as on the same level as his peers, no matter how skilled and dedicated he was. he had more at stake than just his own career. if feng xin or xie lian were to fail, they would just get back up (pre xie lian's first banishment at least). if mu qing failed or didn't perform up to a certain standard, the consequences for him would be more dire.

but pre-ascension xianle trio aside, i love that mu qing's background shaped his character. his pragmatism and realism as you mentioned continues way beyond xie lian's and even his own ascension and i love that mxtx made his class background and experiences have such a realilstically lasting impact on his personality and behaviour 800 years in the future. I also love that he's not just pragmatic, but very very sensitive about any comments on his background as a servant, as exemplified by his and his middle court officials' reactions to the "sweeping general" comments.

i also love that this sensitivity around his own inferiority (as perceived by others, because he knows he is skilled and good enough to be on part with xie lian and feng xin and the other officials, and even above xie lian in status during the novel's narrative) makes him keep others at arm's length and even makes him come off as snobbish and unlikeable.

and i love that he still cannot help but worry about xie lian despite his theatrics. in novel one, even before he volunteers to help him disguised as fu yao, he's constantly and immediately in the array the second xie lian begins to speak there. and his response to xie lian not recognising him, and xie lian's explanation of "he didn't used to speak to me that way before" all add lovely levels of foreshadowing their very complex and fraught relationship and how it completely changed since their xianle days.

it's so funny how even though he makes such an effort to be seen as respectable, skilled, refined, tasteful he's still so silly. he's the only heavenly official who pesters his worshippers and sculptors until they make his statues pretty enough, he constantly gets into the goofiest fights with feng xin in the goofiest moments to the point where it's clearly just enrichment for both of them and not an actual feud, they just love to fight. it's all shaped by his background and his actions to get away from his background, but he's still a very endearing character and his interactions with other characters, especially with xie lian and feng xin but with anyone he speaks to. he is still fun to watch and read about. it's truly a testament to mxtx's writing and thinking because he could have very easily fallen into the archetype of the snobbish inferiority complex bully character. but he doesn't

anyway this got long but i love mu qing and i cannot wait to learn more about this character, i love mxtx's pacing in the novels especially and the way every character ends up interesting and truly special as more is revealed about them throughout the story.

as for headcanons i am now adopting the idea that he wrote the poems about feng xin. i fully buy him sitting at his desk in his heavenly palace and smirking evilly over his pen and paper.

i also think he has a very extensive skin and hair care routine but he doesn't want anyone to know just how insanely seriously he takes it. i'm imagining the ancient china equivalent of feng xin going to his house in the middle of the night and being startled to near death by hair rollers and the scariest face mask.

and i think he and feng xin hang out for tea sometimes and it's not fully a secret but they don't tell anyone because they really like being seen as feuding enemies. also i think they are in love but that goes without saying

this got me out of the brainfog somewhat so ty for answering and asking me what i think about him too <3

i am tired and a bit sick and my head is cotton and the mental illness is hitting so i wish i could phrase this better or be more specific but

what are your favourite things about mu qing? or headcanons? i didn't appreciate him before but the tumblr artists are changing my mind at breakneck speed and now i need to talk about him

hi there :3 dw, i myself am brainfoggy af today so i hope i'm coherent lmao, thank you for asking though! :D

so mu qing is such an interesting character because, yes, ofc he's kind of an asshole but there's a lot to it imo. idk how far you are in the book, i actually know more about him than i could where i am right now (light novel 4) because i spoilered myself but i'll try to keep it spoiler free? (~book 2) i don't really have headcanons except that he was the one that probably wrote the ju yang poems about feng xin's dick. reason is that he can recite it from memory, which is so fucking funny fsdjhfksd

but his fav thing about him is probably that he's sooo fucking desperate to be liked and respected. like he grew up poor surrounded by the richest people ever ofc he'd have some kind of feeling of inferiority. that's always why he has to put up such defenses, it's because he was bullied and constantly put down. when xie lian is friendly to him he so wishes to be his friend but because of the severe class difference (that xie lian doesn't realise they have or he doesn't deem as so important) stands between them, especially from mu qing's perspective. he's imo incredibly jealous of feng xin who he thinks holds xie lian's respect more so than he does. all that together then makes him so blind to the fact that they are friends, or at least could be if he didn't push them away so much (which, again, is a defense he puts up).

he also is incredibly practical, which stands in contrast to xie lian's idealism, which makes them fight or disagree with each other a lot too, which mu qing takes to heart more (he's more sensitive to criticism because of him always having to be perfect in order not to be kicked out of the palace ig, and also because he's just more sensitive in his personality in general). all of this is probably the reason why he thinks he's not as important to xie lian. i've not read their actual parting yet but ig mu qing is very fond of xie lian and cannot stand seeing him destroy himself anymore. ig he also doesn't see the point of staying, like i said he's more practical and is more focused on not getting hurt himself than saving everyone, simply because he thinks it's unrealistic. though he appreciates that trait in xie lian i think, he's just too much of a coward to think that way (not an insult, i think he states it himself later on in the series). but as i said, i don't really know that yet.

there's so much to his character and he's just so complex, i'm really looking forward to read the whole series so i can just talk about him more and in more detail. he ofc does things that are really fucking shitty but there are clear reasons he does them yk. he and feng xin are such dorks too i love them. and mu qing is just a very grumpy black cat that can't help but snap at everything lmao

thank you again for the ask hehe, yess the art of him is so good, he'd be so pleased😌(he's such a pretty boi) what do you think of him? :D

[ninjakk]

LWJ's POV - Meeting WWX in MXY's body

I've often thought about what LWJs point of view would be during the novel. So I thought it might be interesting to write a little about what I think might be going through his head when he first meets WWX in MXYs body. Obviously this is conjecture, but I will try to base my thoughts on the text as much as possible. Also, as I've read the book many times, I already know the entire plot, so this will come into play as well. Otherwise we'd have no clue what LWJ was thinking, unless you're LXC I guess!

So I think it's pretty safe to assume that our lovely Lan SiZhui, being the exemplary junior he is, reported everything that happened at Mo Village back to LWJ once he arrived on the scene. LSZ probably would have told LWJ about someone controlling the fierce corpses and that MXY went missing once he arrived.

Chapter 8

Lan SiZhui had probably informed Lan WangJi of his suspicious behaviour in Mo Village already. Even so, he had nodded in acknowledgement, probably thanking him for helping out the juniors from the Lan Sect. Without thinking, Wei WuXian immediately returned a salute. When he looked up again, Lan WangJi had already disappeared.

When LWJ meets "MXY" for the first time at Dafan Mountain, he is polite and gives him a slight nod in thanks for helping the juniors back at Mo Village. At this point, LWJ doesn't know "MXY" is in fact WWX, so their interaction is brief. Although WWX does hold eye contact with him as he brushes past him - because he's a minx. So their first meeting is brief and interestingly enough, LWJ is the one to leave first - not WWX trying to get away as fast as he can, as he apparently does later in the chapters. (I personally don't think he tries much at all!)

After JL and the other juniors look like they are in trouble, WWX summons something to help defeat the soul-consuming goddess. To WWX's shock it turns out be WN. Eventually WWX has to play a calming tune to stop WN from developing a killing intent and harming others. WWX clears his mind and a soft song naturally comes to the forefront of his mind.

Chapter 10

To stifle it, Wei WuXian calmed his feelings and assuredly played another melody. The melody had drifted over his mind naturally. It was relaxed and tranquil, contrasting with the bizarre and ear-piercing one from before.

I just absolutely love the second interaction between WWX and LWJ. I can almost imagine LWJ hearing the melody of Wangxian being carried on the wind, floating down the mountain towards him. Calling out to him in a teasing, evocative tone - daring his heart to accept what he was hearing. Evoking so many strong emotions within him, it would have been such a moment of utter turmoil for him. Simultaneously wanting to believe that WWX was back from the dead, as the only logical explanation, and being frightened to let his heart believe such a thing could have actually happened. As no one else knows the song apart from the two of them, he really can't deny it.

We could even go as far as to say LWJ assumes WWX knows what the melody is called. When asked what the tune was called back in the Xuanwu of Slaughter cave, LWJ mumbled something to him twice before WWX passed out. So LWJ may well think, just like he assumes in the cave after the bloodbath of Nightless City, he heard what he said to him back then as well. MXTX likes drawing parallels, so it's not too much of a stretch to assume both apparent 'cave confessions' link up to the some of misunderstandings that surround their relationship.

Chapter 10

Wei WuXian retreated while playing the flute, guiding him to follow. Walking like this for a short distance, they moved into the forest, when suddenly, Wei WuXian caught the chilly scent of sandalwood. Immediately after, his back bumped into someone. With an abrupt pain on his wrist, the flute melody had stopped. Wei WuXian thought, oh no, and turned around to look. His sight collided with Lan WangJi’s eyes. They were light-colored to the point of appearing to be physically cold.

Hearing the music, we can assume LWJ probably got onto Bichen and flew up the mountain as fast as he could. He probably landed in the nearby forest up the top of the mountain and started searching for where the music was coming from. I think he would have been nervous, excited and very confused at this point. The back of "MXY" would have come into view as he edged into the forest, luring WN away from the crowd. Without any doubt, LWJ would have silently walked towards what he now knows is WWX. LWJ then grips WWXs wrist to stop him playing the flute any further.

He decisively ignored the hand that gripped him and raised his arm to continue playing. This time, the tempo was faster, as if it was urging or scolding. His air was not steady and each note cracked at the end, sounding shrill and harsh. Suddenly, Lan WangJi’s hand tightened, almost causing his wrist to break. Wei WuXian’s fingers loosened from the pain and the wooden flute dropped to the ground.

What WWX assumed is LWJ being angry at someone daring to use Demonic Cultivation in front of him, was in my opinion, LWJ trying to protect him. It is even confirmed in the text, that LWJ doesn't pay any attention to WN the whole time he is holding WWX's wrist. LWJ knows that JC is also somewhere around the mountain and that he absolutely hates anyone who mimics WWXs cultivation style. Which I think is why he is trying to stop WWX, to ensure he doesn't attract any attention from JC again. WWX continued to play the flute in order to make WN leave before more trouble ensued. LWJ intensifies his grip on WWXs grip to stop him playing.

Wei WuXian feared that Lan WangJi would chase after Wen Ning, so he backhandedly grabbed him instead. But, surprisingly, Lan WangJi never even looked at Wen Ning once, but stared at Wei WuXian the whole time. The two stood face toface, gripping each other’s arms, and stared.

I love the scene where they are gripping each other's arms and staring into each other's eyes. Whether WWX wants to admit it or not, there must have been some sexual tension there surely?! We aren't even privy to WWX's thoughts at this moment, which is quite interesting. As such, we can only imagine what's going through his head! Probably something to do with LWJ's sexy icey gaze - my personal headcanon! (Never mind WWXs obsession with his eyes - I think I'm developing one! ) On the other hand, LWJ is most likely thinking about how WWX must have seized someone's body, as I'm pretty sure he would not be aware of the technique MXY used.

At this point JC appears and is told about "MXY" summoning WN. JC doesn't need anymore proof, he knows this has to be WWX as WN was summoned - and he was supposed to be ash by now! JC decides to attack WWX with Zidian, in an attempt to whip his soul out of MXY's body.

He let go of his left hand, and a long whip dangled from it. The whip was extremely slender. Like its name, it was a streak of purple lightning which sizzled, as if it had just been taken away from a sky full of storm clouds. He held one side of it in his grip. As it was brandished, it seemed to let out rapid slashes of lightning! Before Wei WuXian moved, Lan WangJi had already placed his zither in front of him.

LWJ instantly protects WWX knowing that his soul will be whipped out of the person's body if it had been forcefully taken. So when WWX is whipped and nothing happens, LWJ (and JC!) are utterly shocked. LWJ is still convinced "MXY" is WWX, because he played Wangxian and no one else has ever heard this song - so he must be perplexed as to how WWX has managed to come back.

LWJ continues to protect WWX to ensure JC doesn't take him back to Lotus Pier and torture him. Personally, I think LWJ had every intention of taking WWX back to the Cloud Recesses this time around anyway - especially to protect him from JC. WWX tries to escape both of them by making them feel so uncomfortable around him they leave him alone. So he uses MXY's reputation as a lunatic and a cut-sleeve to try and scare JC and LWJ off.

Wei WuXian replied, “Which type? Well, I am very much attracted to people like HanGuang- Jun.” Lan WangJi could not tolerate this sort of frivolous and foolish joke at all. If he felt disgusted, he would definitely draw a line between them and keep his distance. Disgusting two people at once—this was killing two birds with one stone! However, as Lan WangJi heard this, he turned around. His face was emotionless, “Mark your words.” Wei WuXian, “Hmm?” Lan WangJi turned back, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, “I will take this person back to the Lan Sect.” Wei WuXian, “...” Wei WuXian, “...Huh?”

As we're assuming this from LWJ's POV, we are privy to information we weren't if we were reading MDZS for first time. With that in mind, LWJ is under the impression WWX remembers his confession to him after the Bloodbath of Nightless City. As such, he probably thinks WWX is being flirty and teasing him when he is acting as "MXY" out of gratitude towards him for saving him all those years ago. LWJ continues to protect WWX by taking him back to Gusu. Which I find quite poetic, considering LWJ wanted him to come back with him in WWXs first life.

Later still, WWX is apparently trying to get thrown out of the CR by climbing into bed with LWJ, attempting to 'disgust' him.

Chapter 12

Lan WangJi spoke, “Are you sure that this is what you want?” “...” For some reason, Wei WuXian felt that he should carefully consider his reply. As he was about to curl his lips into a smile, a numbness suddenly came from his waist, and his legs gave out. With a thump, he fell onto Lan WangJi’s body. The curvature of a half-smile was frozen on his lips. His head was at the right side of Lan WangJi chest and he couldn’t move at all. Lan WangJi’s voice came from above him. His voice was low and deep. His chest vibrated slightly as he spoke each word. “Then stay like this for the whole night.”

WWX teasing LWJ is something he has done since his first life, so LWJ probably assumes he's up to his old tricks again. LWJ has matured over the years and has accepted his love for WWX. As such, he can fully embrace WWXs teasing and can now even tease him back! Which is exactly what he does! In fact, I'd say LWJ has gotten very good at teasing WWX. WWX had already met his match with LWJ in nearly every way, but now he is competing for biggest tease as well!

Obviously everyone reads characters and text differently at times, so I'm sure there are many different ways to interpret LWJ's POV. But I just thought it would be fun to share my interpretation of one of my favourite characters.

[the-butterwitch]

There's something deeply wrong with mdzs fandom lately

I have the impression that many of you are losing the deep meaning of mdzs (and, yes, cql) in order to follow wholesome headcanons and fanon conceptions of characters.

Let me explain.

There's a reason for all this hate against Wei Wuxian, wangxian, even the concept of "yep they're all equally flawed" or "Wei Wuxian is morally grey" (and i would appreciated it if it was true, but it simply isn't). The reason is to depict Jiang Cheng as a better person, belittling his mistakes or, at least, placing him (morally) on the same level of Wei Wuxian, through the protagonist bashing or wrong interpretations of his character.

It's not that I hate Jiang Cheng so much I couldn't stand a wholesome headcanon in which he's a cute tsundere protective brother. I could *write* an entire Fanfiction in which he's the best friend of Wei Wuxian, a supportive brother and so on. I don't need you to point out, every two minutes, that the canon is different and Jiang Cheng would not behave like this in the novel.

the problem is: maybe, some of *you* need a reality check. Because when you write metas based on a completely errate vision of a cute, supportive, tsundere Jiang Cheng, when you talk about your headcanon like it was just canon "behind the scenes", when, suddenly, people has to EXPLAIN that Wei Wuxian was morally right all along and the cultivation wold is corrupted (which is the meaning of the novel) like it was a hot take, when, also suddenly, you become the bad guy because you answer those delusions about Jiang Cheng pointing out the FACTS... Like it was morally wrong of you to talk about canon Jiang Cheng, well. There's a problem.

I repeat. I don't mind headcanons that are treated like headcanons.

I don't mind even some critical view on the novel, or canon complaint. A sane "I'm sorry mxtx, I know that your values are these, but I have some other values and I think..." Which at least TAKE IN ACCOUNT what the writer want and this is positive.

What bothers me is that: lately, many of you don't talk about actual mdzs, or even the drama. You talk about some other thing, a thing in which Wei Wuxian is morally grey (or a shit) and in which Jiang Cheng is a tsundere character. Even wangxian shippers, who are not Wei Wuxian haters, depict Jiang Cheng like he was well intentioned. And they act all offended when you say: no.

No, Jiang Cheng was not willing to help Wei Wuxian with the Wen remnants at all, it's not like he had no money or something like that. He tried to kill Wen Ning. He led the siege against burial mounds.

No, the thing about Jiang Cheng torturing random people is not a rumor. He tortured Mo Xuanyu even if Zidian proved he was not Wei Wuxian. Jin Ling freed Mo Xuanyu because he knew that his uncle did to that people.

No, Jiang Cheng didn't hug Jin Ling when no one was watching. Because it would have been ooc, and because it doesn't make sense to Jin Ling character. Jin Ling struggles because he has no family figure to help him grew emotionally.

No, Lan Qiren would not like Jiang Cheng, they would not get along well just in name of their mutual hate for Wei Wuxian. Maybe Jiang Cheng stans are not ready to hear this, but there are things called values, that Lan Qiren has and of which Jiang Cheng lacks. Lan Qiren maybe cannot exactly love Wei Wuxian, but, for his righteousness, he would totally like him better than Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng doesn't incarnate at all Lan Qiren's values. Not all people are toxic and comfortable in bonding on the basis of hatred for someone else. Some people have moral standards.

These are all cold takes I actually read about mdzs world. And they're really an absurdity, and the fact that you can't even answer back with facts, like it was rude or something... These people even answer with other even more delusional and stupid headcanons, shitting on the novel like the metaphorical pigeon on the chessboard.

Maybe some of you brag about being woke, cultural relativity, open minded, social justice or something. Yet here you are, disrespecting an author and the values of her people, because (I repeat, I think it's important because some of you can't read properly) the fact it's not that you're CRITICAL of her thinking, which is a honest confrontation between two people (or two cultures). You're not even acknowledging her values and her culture, you appropriate her work. You're awful people and it's not a surprise that you stan an awful person.

Buon anno, stronzi.

[nyerus]

Hi, nyerus.....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

Thank you so much for asking! I would love to! (Apologies for the delay, and also for how long this is lol....)

TGCF

1.) Xie Lian: I could write forever about why I love him, but XL is just a really great character who subverted my expectations. He's gentle and compassionate, but also funny and snarky on the inside. His character arc is the classic hero's journey but told out of order. So we meet him when he's already wise and world-weary, then get to see what he was like before, and how he finishes his journey later on. He's extremely inspiring, to show that our choices and our actions are what make us, and ultimately no one can take those from us.

2.) Hua Cheng: This is no surprise! I also just adore HC for being a very intense character! He's completely devoted to XL and that zealotry is very unique in a character. He's 100%, not 50, not 75. While he has a lot of relateable aspects, this part of him is utterly fantastical, on the level only myth and fable can achieve--which tracks. After all, he isnt a Ghost King for nothing. In the story, he is the embodiment of the purest devotion, no strings attached.

3.) He Xuan: I actually like him for the same reasons as HC! He too is a walking fable, only instead of devotion, he represents vengence. (They're actually like foils of each other, which is quite neat.) I really adore his arc, and how murky his whole character is. It tells a cautionary tale of how sometimes, our worst enemy--the one who makes us most miserable--is often ourselves. SWD wronged him greviously, but HX's obsession with vengence ultimately prevented him from getting the peace and recompense he wanted in the end. Absolutely stellar storytelling.

4.) Mei Nianqing: While I often question his motives and methods, he is still a really good character. Caught between wanting to be a mentor and protector to XL, but still loving (platonically or romantically, that's up to you) JW. He's the only father figure in XL's life that actually took him seriously, even if he did have to come around to it. But ultimately, he was proud of who XL became even before he ascended. He was just terrified of XL drawing the attention of the one man he shouldn't--and did. However his belief in superstition and fear of Hong Hong-er also makes sense, even if it's sad. MNQ is also just a quirky and fun dude lol.

5.) Mu Qing: I really like how complicated and murky MQ's is in terms of his inner turmoil. I'm somewhat similar to him in the way he thinks, and it's real work not to make things worse for myself by expecting the worse. His background makes him naturally suspicious of... basically everyone, all the time, and it's honestly understandable. Ultimately, he does understand that you can't make assumptions about people's intentions by projecting your own insecurities onto them--which I think is something everyone can relate to. I really like his subtle journey of self-realization and self-forgiveness, and he ends up far better for it.

MDZS

1.) Lan Wangji: I love the fact that LWJ was just so ready to Night Hunt himself to death upon the loss of his beloved. As you can tell, I really like complicated characters who have extreme traits, haha! That being said, I just also really like his stoicism and reliability.

2.) Wei Wuxian: Naturally, it's hard not to love WWX! He decided "yeah maybe the ends do justify the means" and went for it. To us, he is the hero. To the regular people of the world? Whose ancestors were dug up and disturbed to be used by the Yiling Laozu? His blackened reputation is not without cause! (Like... JGY literally has done more positive and helpful things for regular people than Wangxian, but those metas already exist lol.) Once again, his gray morality is what makes him so damn good, and can be debated at length!

3.) Jiang Cheng: JC gets a bad rep, but oh boy he doesn't make things easy for himself at all. However if I was in his position, I probably would be much worse off. He lost EVERYTHING, and still trudged on because there were people who depended on him. His hatred of the Wens also makes sense in the context that... that's often how humans react to and process extreme trauma. We find something to blame and *waves at literally every major conflict since the dawn of time.* (His rumored torture of innocent people due to that is reprehensible, of course, but given that MDZS is a book about how rumors can make or break someone's life... we should take that line with a grain of skepticism, much like all other hearsay.) He's not typically the type of character I like, but I found him really interesting to read.

4.) Jiang Yanli: I really love JYL, who decided to be the emotional backbone of her family from the time she was a child. It was an undue and extremely heavy burden to bear, but she did all of it without complaint. That's strength. I think many elder siblings can relate to her having to step up and be the third parent, when the actual adults fail at it.

5.) Wen Qing: I really like her arc in the novel, where she makes some of the hardest decisions anyone will ever have to make, over and over and over again. I don't typically love very "rough" characters, but she has ever right to be that way (and it makes sense for her character, and isn't just a tacked-on character trait like hair color or eye color in a CC), and honestly I want to marry her very seriously.

SVSSS

1.) Luo Binghe: Probably the most misunderstood main character of all of MXTX's works. LBH is neither truly a crybaby nor is he a ruthless maniac. He's right in the middle, in the valley of misanthropy. And yet, he knows just how to use his charisma to get his way. Cunning and devious, intelligent and ruthless. Meanwhile, he craves love and intimacy--something he could only ever dream of.

2.) Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan): Extremely refreshing to see an transmigrator know how to handle transmigration almost flawlessly. (Me reading/watching other works with this trope and wanting to tear my hair out at the protags = me sympathizing on a personal level with SQQ.) This also proves to be SQQ's fatal flaw!! His knowledge of the novel is both a boon and a obstacle to him, and prevents him from understanding the other characters as people until he lets go of his pre-conceived notions. And of course, his snarky as heck inner dialogue is amazing.

3.) Liu Qingge: I don't actually even know why I love LQG as much as I do. He's just neat.

4.) Tianlang-Jun: Honestly same goes for TLJ. He's just great though, and I have a blast reading about him. He wanted to see the good in humanity, and ultimately comes around after writing them off.

5.) Yue Qingyuan: He's a fascinating character. Harmless on the outside, but a quagmire on the inside. His love for Shen Jiu was quite... problematic, in that he saught forgiveness from SJ, without actually ever taking the time to understand him or to make amends. Patronizing and judgemental, yet willing to let SJ get away with literally anything because of his own unresolved turmoil, etc etc. Fascinating.

[ouyangzizhensdad]

Ok, I've been sitting on this awhile (mostly because I worry that my reaction stems from personal feelings, rather than the content of your actual post) but while I agree wwx's arc is not ABOUT trauma, I do think he IS traumatized. Like, he has a literal phobia of dogs due to childhood trauma w/ dogs??? And I take issue with the idea that someone cannot be simultaneously traumatized and resilient/always smiling. I mean, refusing to process and deal with negative experiences and emotions because if you can choose to be happy, why would you choose to be anything else can actually be worse for you than just letting yourself be sad for a little bit. People are supposed to feel the full emotional spectrum and refusing to acknowledge sadness doesn't make someone not actually sad. As someone with a sunny personality who almost always let's things roll off my back, that doesn't mean I don't have trauma to deal, it just means it presents itself in different ways than someone with a different personality. Everyone is entitled to their interpretation of characters, so I'm not trying to say yours is inherently wrong, my point is more that it's not a guarantee that having a happy personality = not traumatized, especially when there are other things to point to them being traumatized.

Hi anon,

I think it’s important to consider the context in which I addressed fandom’s discussions on “WWX’s trauma/ptsd,” which in this case was a response to people explaining many of his behaviours during his first life, from the Sunshot campaign onwards, as resulting from trauma. I never meant to suggest that WWX could not experience trauma, at all, especially since in an earlier post about my thoughts regarding the trauma argument I did highlight that we get in the narrative an example of how WWX reacts when faced with trauma through his cynophobia (although I can’t find that post because it I can’t remember exactly when I shared it 🤷‍♂️). It was more to oppose the ideas that (1) events are inherently traumatic and thus that because these distressing things happened to WWX, WWX must be carrying trauma from them (because if we’re going to use psychology/psycho-analysis for literary analysis, it might be good to consider that the perception of trauma in psychology is not that) and (2) that there are no other narrative or character explanations for those behaviours that are not rooted in trauma. 

In this case, I think the novel makes it clear that while WWX is of course affected emotionally by the events, the things that people point to as resulting from trauma are actually tied to his cultivation methods and him losing control. I do feel like that interpretation is coherent with the authorial intent, which seems to be confirmed in one of MXTX’s interviews. To share here the most relevant possage:

[WN killing JZX] was perfectly an example of how Wei Wuxian was losing control. The more he lost control over his demonic cultivation, the more likely he was going to receive a backlash.

Of course, authorial intent is not the end-all-be-all of everything, and, certainly, there exists probably as many interpretations of a text as there exists readers (or, in the case of MDZS, we should also probably include all the people who haven’t read it but still have an opinion on its content). However, my brand of meta focuses on reading the text closely and challenging interpretations that are floating around in the fandom space against the text itself--the narrative, the characterisation, the themes, the symbolism. To say, ‘perhaps some people tend to associate a certain behaviour with a specific thing (ie, emotional volatility with a traumatic response to a distressing event), however does it seem like the text wants to lead you toward this interpretation? Does the text provide other story-specific explanations, some of which might actually be more cohesive and coherent with the narrative/characterisation/themes (ie, emotional volatility in this specific instance is a side-effect of the influence of modao on WWX and his loss of control)?’ That doesn’t mean I’m always right, of course I’m not. But I also do not prescribe to the belief that every interpretations are equally credible. That is, I do believe that people are entirely free to interpret a text however they choose, even if it means reappropriating the text and completely ignoring parts of it or mentally rewriting parts of it; all the same, I do not think these interpretations are particularly helpful when it comes to understanding and analysing the text itself (though they are interesting in that they help understand how a work is received by certain demographics). So, yes, sometimes I will write posts that aim to contrast certain popular interpretations with what can be gleaned from a close reading of the text. 

In addition, let me clarify that when I contrasted “resilience” with “trauma”, it was not in terms of personality trait so much as a reference to terms used in psychology: where how a person processes a distressing event through a trauma response or through resilience. 

As for the “smiling thing”, I think it is important to remember the context of the discussion, where I cited the novel:

Jiang Yanli said that he was born with a smiling look. No matter what unfortunate thing happened, he wouldn’t cling on to them; no matter what situation he was in, he would be happy. Although it sounded a bit heartless, it really was not bad.

In the original post, I did reframe this quote by acknowledging that yes, smiling is not an inherent proof that someone has never experienced trauma.

To me, this is a clear move from MXTX to position WWX as the kind of protagonist who can face a storm and keep his smile on his face. I can imagine that some people take it perhaps as a subversion, as the text telling us that WWX is weathering it all with a smile but underneath it all he is just a bundle of unaddressed trauma. And that’s certainly a possible interpretation, but it’s not mine. In this case I think the text is being straightforward. What we see of WWX also seems to support that: the way WWX just rolls with being brought back from the death, how easily he finds a way to adapt to things, etc.

That was more of an acknowledgement that wrt this topic, the novel seemed to have chosen a very straightforward approach or, in other words, to choose to not be That Deep. The smiling disposition here is not part of a psychological diagnosis, but simply a story/characterisation shorthand. I also never suggested that this meant that WWX is not affected by events: “ My point is not that WWX is unaffected by the things that happened to him or the things he’s done during this portion of his life: of course he is! Especially as they are happening to him, or when he is still stuck in a very difficult situation. But I don’t think his character and his arc is about trauma”. I think that nuance is important. 

At the end of the day, I do not want to force people to change their minds. I only use my free time to over-analyse a novel and sometimes try to challenge people to reconsider their initial interpretations of the text or their approaches to literary analysis more generally. 

[aheartfullofjolllly]

Hello It's your 🦉 friend! This is going to be a 2 part ask because as usual, I like to babble a lot (I hope you don't mind! 😅) I agree with you 100% about Jingyi ohh my god that boy had me crackling every single time he spoke!😂 Also WWX as MXY was the thing that got me hooked to MDZS in the first place! 😂 I stayed on board because of his shamelessness and then I never left! 😂 As for having a favorite part in the novel..gosh so many scenes comes to mind! MDZS has such a vast universe that(1)

it's hard to pick one moment and call it my favourite.I loved the Xue Yang storyline a lot. I loved the part when where Wen Ning told Jiang about his core and left him shook! I loved every single one of the soft WangXian moments throughout the story. What LWJ went through after WWX died broke my heart and killed me. So, yeah I have too many favourite parts 😂 now as for your ask, talk about LWJ to me. What do you like about him? What do you dislike? (Just tell me anything I'll take it! 😂)—🦉(2)

Hellooo! Of course I don’t mind long asks. Type away! I enjoy them so much! 😂  HAHAHAHA mxtx was smart to write wwx as mxy at the very beginning because you really would want to read more of his antics.

Omggg the whole golden core revelation. Even I was left shookt despite already knowing what happened hahaha. Ngl, Yi City Arc was the hardest for me to get through (and the longest to read hahaha) because I was just so sad. the. whole. time. (but it gave us so many hilarious juniors moments hahahaha). LISTEN. Guanyin temple. When lxc was telling wwx everything and wwx was like I GOTTA GO (and jgy was all, YOU’RE HELD CAPTIVE WTF DUDE). I am here for it. Hahahahahaha.

So on to your question. 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… HAHAHA. Where do I even begin?

“Mark your words”, ‘nuff said.

DRUNKJI. I was living for all the drunkji scenes, I could cry.

Sad drunkji moment with the wen sect brand :( I’m not okay.

The ways he grieved wwx.

How it only took him 0.0000005 seconds to accept that he is now A-Yuan’s other father because A-Yuan is, for all intents and purposes, wwx’s son.

His loyalty

His utter devotion to wwx

All the times he stood up for wwx. That one in Jinlintai when jgs was sowing lies to malign wwx and at the steps post-time skip when he would not allow wwx to just take all the blame for himself. That whole single-plank bridge love confession in the middle of everyone else pointing their swords at him and wwx. Iconic.

His fighting skills. Nothing sexier than an angry lwj in battle.

His relationship with lxc

The hc of lwj and mian mian as bffs

The fact that he didn’t become like his father despite the potential to be

How attuned he is to the people he care about

Hanguang-jun and his little ducklings

GO TO HORNY JAIL LWJ - y’all know what I’m talking about hahahaha 

How he is so icy to everyone else except to a chosen few

The fact that he kept the rabbits t_t lwj in a field of rabbits all day everyday please.

SUNSHOT CAMPAIGN LWJ (the hair, the robes, the eyebrows) 

The idea of lwj teaching lsz Inquiry

Baby lwj with his mother and lxc

When he and jc got along for 3 months and then years later would have the funniest and tensest moment in the history of television. LMFAO.

“You are not qualified to speak to me.”

Yes, I used my own gif lmfao. Anyway, I think that’s long enough. I typed this at 2:30 in the morning so coherence has gone out the window. I hope you enjoyed this little mess of my love for lan wangji hahahaha. 

Hey 🦉, who is your favourite mdzs character and what do you love most about them? 💕

[ninjakk]

Reading between the lines - the nano moment that broke my heart.

The chapter where WWX loses his temper at Koi Tower and he sees his own 'hideous' reflection in LWJs eyes, is something I found painfully sad to read. I mean, you can't blame him for getting angry. The whole Wen refugees arc is just sad and disgusting. To see people who hold power and consider themselves morally righteous abuse them in such a way - no wonder he was enraged.

So the line in particular is:

Lan WangJi spoke, one word at a time, “Wei Ying, put down Chenqing.” Wei WuXian looked at him. From against the pair of eyes as mild as glass, he saw his own hideous reflection. He spun around, shouting, “Jin ZiXun!”

Chapter 72

To me, it symbolised so much. WWX is clearly momentarily disgusted at what he has become due to his rage. He actually can't bear to look at his reflection for very long and turns away. But there's so many layers to this short interaction.

There are few people that WWX truly cares about what they think of him. In fact, I might go as far as to say, it might just be LWJ and JYL. He obviously cares about others to a degree, but I don't think anything would hurt him as much as JYL or LWJ thinking he was a monster.

Using LWJs eyes as the point of reflection is a multilayered way to show so much, in such a short scene. This, I personally think, is something MXTX is particularly good at. It obviously lets WWX see himself, as we've mentioned above. And we can go as far as to say this is momentarily how LWJ sees him for a split second, as his worry for WWXs heart being darkened by the path he has chosen surfaces once more. Of course LWJ doesn't view WWX like that, it is just a second when WWX is extremely angry and not himself.

This is also how WWX thinks LWJ sees him anyway, so seeing the reflection of himself manifesting as such in the eyes of someone he always wants to look at him, must have hurt subconsciously. Obviously he's in the heat of the moment, so nothing is really noted. But, as the reader we are privy to know the subtext and indeed his own untapped feelings, even more than poor WWX at times. Knowing how much WWX truly cares about how LWJ regards him, it hits the reader where it hurts, in his momentary emotional absence.

WWX quickly turns away from LWJ and continues to threaten them for the whereabouts of WN, putting any emotions that might have threatened to surface, behind him.

To me, it's such a heartbreaking nano moment. The reader's pain is eased somewhat for a second by LWJ defending his intentions once he's gone, but this is no comfort for WWX, who is no longer there to witness this. But, only to have the knife twisted in once more, when LXC thinks out loud about how WWXs heart has apparently changed. With this LWJ is pained, by this frivolous comment. I mean, LXCs comment and his character in general is a whole other post! So we won't go into that this time!

It's so cleverly done, it really does deserve some praise! MXTXs novel is full of 'blink and you'll miss it' subtext and little nods to previous chapters. She never spoon-feeds the reader, she has trust in her writing, her characters development and her readers to fully immerse themselves in the story and read between the lines when required.