#i never know if i should tag mdzs as well

[zelkam]

— chuck palahniuk, haunted

[maryqueenofmurder]

Hi! um ok... so.

Now I'm not some long-timer in the mdzs fandom who's seen everything and was there when it went down. but.

I've seen posts from both sides of the "canon jc" tag issue.

Now I'm not a stan or an anti of jc. I dislike seeing him portrayed as an evil scumbag who behaves completely irrationally and i dislike seeing him portrayed as an uwu boy who only wants to do good and is actually so!! supportive!! of wei wuxian. because neither of these things are true. jc is just a deeply, deeply flawed human. with a bucketload of emotional issues/trauma. none of which make him a bad person or a good one.

stans are trying to "reclaim" the canon jc tag from antis, despite the fact it wasn't theirs to begin with.

antis don't like stans posting technically canon supportive jc posts in the canon jc tag.

I personally don't think the "canon jc" tag should be just restricted to stans or antis. Canon jc has done good and bad. it's all a matter of perspective. a stan can love canon jc for raising his nephew & personality and an anti can hate canon jc for leaving innocent people to die.

I just feel like the tag doesn't necessarily "belong" to the antis or the stans. an anti can post a canon supportive meta about why jc is bad in the canon jc tag and the anti jc tag. a stan can post a canon supportive meta about why jc is good in the canon jc tag and the main jc tag. neither of these would be incorrect uses.

if people want to post non-canon/more fanon/speculative or just plain anti jc stuff it should go anti jc tag.

if people want to post stuff that isn't canon and is just jc lovebombing they should go to the main jc tag.

if it bothers jc stans so much that they don't have a separate tag from the main jc tag to post in then they should make a pro jiang cheng tag

Hello any mdzs fans moving from twt to tumblr and old mdzs tumblr ppl. Many jc fans/stans or even appreciators know that here the “canon jc” tag is overrun with antis, and honestly the jc fans are tired of it. It’s bad sportsmanship to post negative things in a tag meant to be jc friendly. We’re taking it back and if you try to harass us we’re just gonna block you. If you want a friendly discussion that’s okay, a lot of us would be glad to explain why we’re stans or fans. Please direct all hate and anti behavior to the #anti jiang cheng tag.

[dilfyjilfy]

I'm sorry, but i'm just gonna need the jc stans who say shit like "Omg, just ignore the canon jc tag and the antis won't bother you" to stop talking, and for multiple reasons.

1) Uh, the whole issue is that jc antis don't actually stick to the canon jc tag. Jc antis will use the canon jc tag as well as every other general mdzs tag (including the regular jc tag), so that their posts still show up even when you're actively trying to ignore them. The only tag I visit on tumblr is the regular jc tag, and you know what I would see every time I visited it from jc antis? 'This post contains filtered tags'. There is no reason I should have to block multiple people from multiple mdzs tags every single time I visit tumblr, but the fact that I had to just shows that jc antis weren't following basic fandom etiquette, and haven't been for a very long time.

2) I guess the jc stans who say shit like 'I love jc, but he is fictional so I don't feel the need to defend him' are ignoring the fact that 99% of the jc antis (on here and twitter) are mentally ill cyberbullies who 100000% have attacked REAL PEOPLE over liking a fictional character. If you have never seen a jc anti account send insults and threats to a jc stans page, hop on their posts to insult their intelligence and more, take screenshots of jc stans work (while showing their account name) just to post it somewhere else to make fun of them, bully stans out of fandom spaces, create alternate accounts once they get blocked by too many stans just to continue wrecking havoc, blaze their anti jc stan and anti jc posts so that everyone can see it, etc...then you must have been interacting with this fandom with both of your eyes closed. When I first joined this fandom a few years ago (and even then, the only tag I ever went in was the regular jc tag), the behavior of jc antis was soo bad that creating an account was necessary, just so I could block them and protect myself. Nobody should have to take such measures against people who think that it's appropriate to torment people over liking a fictional character that they don't. These are not people who deserve to be shown grace.

3) JC antis are like roaches, in that you could spend an hour blocking them, and as soon as that hour is up, here comes another one, not respecting fandom etiquette, or the other people involved in the fandom who are not apart of their clique. So I'm not gonna disparage any stan who is fed up and thinks it's time to stop taking the high road, and I'm gonna use whatever tag I want, cause that's what the roaches do.

4) And before you say anything like "I saw jc stans doing the same thing jc antis have done", then I just think that's interesting, because in all the years I've been apart of the fandom, I've never seen a stan start an argument. Engage in one once prompted by an anti (after they've made a jc stan hate/insult post and posted it in the regular jc tag), make a rant post in response to something an anti has said or done? Yeah, but never the level of bullying that jc antis regularly engage in, so please keep your delusions and comments to yourself.

TLDR: some of y'all are in denial about how bad jc antis have been, and you need to stop with the delusions.

[bunnycoffeeumcat]

post of the fics I read (wangxian) because they're getting v hard to manage, and also for recs if anyone wants them

also like this is gonna be ongoing forever, cause its mainly for *points to self*

Guys dont be like me, and read tags.

*slowly updating*

ALL COMPLETE UNLESS I SPECIFY OTHERWISE

the GOOD ones

impossibility brought to life series A little harmless role-play for stress relief leads to an impossible fantasy becoming reality and a dream come true that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian could never have anticipated. 163k

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(dreaming of) being human “Pets are not allowed in the Cloud Recesses.” Lan Wangji stares at the animal in his older brother’s arms. It is his understanding that they went to rescue a group of children, not hunting for...whatever this creature is. Lan Xichen chuckles, strokes the creature’s fur. “He is not a pet, Wangji. He is a person. A Huli Jing.” Lan Xichen moves to take his leave, the door to the jingshi already open when Lan Wangji asks, “What should I call him?” His brother turns back, a few snow flurries catching in his hair and instantly melting. “His name is Wei Ying.” 109k

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A Matter of Time After Wei Wuxian's death, Lan Wangji went insane, doing everything in his power to get back his most precious person. Willing to sacrifice every single person in the cultivation world to reclaim his love. 41k

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love, in fire and blood In which the Sunshot Campaign ends through an arranged marriage to the Yiling Patriarch, and Lan Wangji suffers the mortifying ordeal of falling in love with his own husband. ft immortal wwx 360k

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all i want Wei Ying leaned a little closer. "The conversation we're having right now is about how it turns out I'm a bearer and we weren't careful and I'm not expecting anything from you, but now that you're here you should know that I'm...ah...you know..." "Pregnant," Lan Zhan said mechanically. "Pregnant," Wei Ying agreed. "You knocked me up, Lan Zhan. Sorry." 47k this one is so so good

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silver & gold Wandering through a rather busy night market on the boundaries of Gusu after a successful night hunt, Wei Wuxian with his son and nephew chance on a mysterious cultivator who rivals him at talismans. Curious as to the wares she has spread out over her table, he forgets the simple rule - you break it, you buy it. AKA Wei Wuxian gets turned into a child and because it is Wei Wuxian, no one has any idea what to expect. 161k

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how to be a heartbreaker “Lan er gege,” Wei Ying sings out an old nickname, his lips curving up into a well-rehearsed smile. It’s adorable, and it’s pretty, and he knows it mesmerises anyone who lays their eyes on him. He has done it a million times—bewitching and convincing men who need to be convinced. He just doesn’t expect to hear the hitch in Lan Zhan’s breath, too, and feel the taller man’s grasp around his wrist tightening. He fell for it. A sickening thought suddenly enters his brain, and Wei Ying wonders if he should be so cruel. “Do you want to find a private space for us, Lan Zhan?” 105k

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A Myriad of Blossoms Eight months after surviving the First Siege of Burial Mounds, the Yiling Patriarch, stronger than ever before, asks for Hanguangjun's hand in marriage. To refuse Wei Wuxian is not really an option and Lan Wangji, still recovering from the events of Nightless City, is left learning to live with a man he barely recognises. 56k

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Twelve Moons and a Fortnight the one where Wei Wuxian spends the year before his wedding as Yunmeng Jiang's acting sect leader, and the cultivation world's greatest love story finds its happy ending with the help of three juniors, a teenage romance, and one very involved (and exasperated) younger brother. 290k

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the scarlet lotus a Scarlet Pimpernel-inspired fix-it featuring Wei Wuxian in disguise, Lan Wangji determined to bring the nefarious Yiling Patriarch to justice, and the hijinks that ensue when you accidentally marry your greatest enemy/love of your life. 137k

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MDZS: The Golden Engine  In the modern era, immortals Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian return to Gusu. New evil and old friends + new friends and old evils. 82k read the tags!!!

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Canon Divergence / Canon Compliant

Little Death The resentful energy thrums within him as he scans the room, whispering all kinds of unspeakable wishes. It wants blood. It wants life. He does not have to take either in strong measures to stave it off. The itch growing inside him will dissipate if he gives it a little of what it wants. A little blood, a little vitality, as one does in acts performed in a place such a this. A taste, and it will be sated. For now. He is still in control, after all. 28k

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inevitable everything The Yiling Laozu demands Lan Wangji's hand in marriage in exchange for his aid in the failing Sunshot Campaign. Or so it seems. Three months earlier, Lan Wangji is rescued from the Xuanwu of Slaughter's cave by a handsome man with a brilliant smile who wields a power he always believed corrupting and uncontrollable as easily as breathing. 193k

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When the Words Stop Coming Wei Ying had been openly declaring his love for Lan Zhan ever since they met at The Cloud Recesses. Confused and emotionally constipated, Lan Zhan rejected him, until everything went wrong, until he lost Wei Ying in the end. 13 years later, Wei Ying cannot trust Lan Zhan with his heart. 7k

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To Love a Lonely God Lan Wangji wasn't supposed to die, but he did, and the Yiling Patriarch will burn the world to the ground to bring him back. 6k

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Post Canon

Far Away You Are Suddenly, it snaps into place. The weary way Lan Zhan has been holding himself is suddenly cast in a new, much more distressing light. Somebody is responsible for it, a real live, horrible, blind, stupid person. The combination of guilt, sadness, and anger that sets in all at once is hard to contain. Lingering wisps of resentment that remain from the night-hunt flock to him, like calling to like. All four boys stare at him with wide eyes. “Wei-qianbei,” Sizhui says. “You look...um…” “Scary,” Zizhen breathes, beaming. “Who has rejected Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asks. Or; during one of his visits to the Cloud Recesses, the juniors strike a blow to Wei Wuxian's certainty that his feelings for Lan Wangji are one-sided. 17k

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a kind of emptiness Recovery is complicated. 11k

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the absence of hunger  “He told me that you have not been eating.” Wei Wuxian chuckles. This is not the appropriate response. 27k

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Aus

meet me at friday at seven Wei Ying is a romantic and dreams of meeting the love of his life some day. After a string of bad dates he’s set up with a friend of a friend, and when Wei Ying sees a man across the bar with his gold eyes and white ribbon he’s immediately taken with him—too bad it turns out that’s not actually his date. Lan Zhan, Wei Ying learns, isn’t really into dating, but after he runs into him two more times by coincidence he believes, romance or friendship, he and Lan Zhan are destined to be together. 128k

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there's no promised goodbye here Wei Wuxian navigates the trials of living with his ex-boyfriend in apartment 1301. 54k

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leading tone The first time you touch someone you're fated to love, you leave a mark on their skin. If they will love you in return, they'll mark you where you touched them. The deeper the color, the deeper the connection. Wei Ying has no marks at all. 32k

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我的皇后是農民 | sowing seeds in the cold palace  Wei Ying is wed to emperor Lan Wangji in order to save the Gusu Lan empire. But instead of the blissful marriage he was promised, he is spurned and sent to the cold palace—until a chance encounter changes his fate. 84k

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The Last Concubine  Humiliated and taken as a concubine (but not touched) by Wen Rouhan, Lan Wangji is taken to a deserted area of the Imperial Palace and forgotten there, ignorant of all the political changes happening around him. When the new Emperor, Wei Wuxian, finds him, he has to choose between lying to Lan Wangji about everything that has happened and risking his life. 13k

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my memory plays our tune, the same old song Someone moves into the vacant flat adjacent to Lan Wangji. They have a small son who cries himself to sleep every night. Reminded of his own troubles as a child, Lan Wangji takes the music box his mother gifted him and knocks on his new neighbour's door. If the music box was able to help him, there is no reason to believe it won't be able to help another child in distress, right? 15k

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Reluctant partner how Meng Yao ended up being Wei Wuxian's birth partner. 31k

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Closer Than Eternity In a world where immortals keep to themselves, one of them has decided to let himself be seen. 26k

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I'll buy you the moon (I'll buy you two) Wei Wuxian swallows and exhales shakily. Lan Wangji is acting very collected for someone who just spotted a ghost. Shit. If Wei Wuxian survives this, he is going to have to fake his own death again. 28k

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Post Mortem Life is a horror movie sometimes. You ignore all the warning signs. You end up standing there in the final scene, covered in blood, contemplating your life choices. Wei Ying is used to that. But it’s harder when you’re in love with your best friend. 28k

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take me back to a time So, yeah. There’s enough on Wei Ying’s plate already, meaning it’s not entirely welcome when he comes home and finds a man standing in his bedroom. A man in extravagant white robes, a ribbon tied around his forehead, long hair gathered into a topknot, fist clutching a sword at his side, who asks him, “Where am I?” 143k

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other earths and skies Increasingly desperate, Wei Wuxian turns to unconventional means to help the Wens. If one can call trading away a year of his life to live in a secluded estate with a mountain spirit 'unconventional'. Or, the 'east of the sun, west of the moon' one. 53k

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how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) Wei Wuxian plots to expose a catfish using strategic memes and turtle pictures while wiggling his way out of family dinner. Lan Wangji just wants companions. 54k if the loml could be turned into a fic, it would be this fic

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always be closing

During a long overdue divorce and messy custody battle, Wei Ying gets demoted to small business finance. There, he's partnered with a new closer who clearly hates him, until he finds out Lan Zhan is far more verbose—and dare he say flirtatious?—in writing than in speaking. 32k

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finally safe (for me to fall) When he meets his first client, Wei Wuxian, he’s fully confident he can gain experience while also keeping details of his personal life from the caring older man. But as time progresses, and his relationship with Wei Wuxian begins to shift, Lan Wangji can’t stop the lines between professional and personal from blurring. 77k

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Nothing but your heart

Thirteen years after Wei Ying received no response to his letters about their son, he meets Lan Zhan again. 21k

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Smutty filth lol w maybe some plot

to know, to be known series Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian got together, of course. They're still figuring things out. Just gratuitous prn. Sometimes that's all you need.

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plant the seed of your love, let it take root Lan Wangji has moved out of the city and back into his mother's old home in the country, inviting his alpha best friend Wei Wuxian to live there too. Platonically! As Friends! Then, the stay-at-home order hits...Then, his heat hits... 37k

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at your feet Wei Wuxian brandishes his hand, coquettish like an empress. “Kiss my hand, Hanguang-Jun,” he says 2.6k

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crawl on hands and knees until you see the fic where Lan Zhan verbally degrades Wei Ying while fucking him with Bichen, and also loves him very much. 4.3k rip bichen

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A Lesson in Patience  Just a moment ago Wuxian's dearest husband had walked out to take care of something; he requested that Wuxian wait until he was back to do anything. Of course he chose not to listen. What could he say, Wangji was hot when he got mad. 4.4k

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to know that you're mine  Lan Wangji immobilizes Wei Wuxian and fucks him all throughout his normal business day as Chief Cultivator, even with others around. 3.9k

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The Strength to Hold Him  Wei Ying's new golden core has grown stronger. Lan Wangji has some feelings about that. 7.9k

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Thorough Investigation Wei Wuxian makes a minor mistake on a talisman he's testing. Or he makes a "micro" mistake. Lan Wangji is happy to help his husband work out the kinks. Kinks. Get it. This summary is a mess sorry. 6k

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love like a hand at your throat Wei Ying catches wind of his horny, pregnant mate stuck in a meeting for the day. He intervenes. 3.5k

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For Everyone To Hear Lan Zhan fingers Wei Ying under the cover of their dinner table. It leads to bathroom sex and embarrassment. 5.5k

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walk my days on a wire To the rest of the tech industry, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are former classmates and bitter rivals. But the truth is quite different. During their monthly meet-ups at discreet hotels, they enjoy a very different kind of relationship. One evening, a fantasy spins out of control, forcing them to confront the truth: it's not just sex anymore. They both want something deeper, something serious. 27k

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Tonal Vibration

One too many comments of “tag ur porn” on Lan Wangji’s extremely popular Youtube ASMR channel gets him thinking. Wei Wuxian, a middlingly popular camboy, and long-time fan of Hanguang-jun’s ASMR finds the new smutty dirty talk channel and films his reactions to it. 7k (podfic available)

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Maybe You're the Reason

Lan Wangji clutches his phone in a tight grip. The dial tone drones a steady rhythm in time with his fluttering heart. Suddenly, the cloth of his shirt feels suffocating.

This is a mistake. He never should have written that number down—not from a flyer promising something so shameful. 67k

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The Grandmaster of Dildonic Cultivation

Wei Wuxian invents a new toy. Lan Zhan helps him test it out. 7k

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Curse shenanigans

come to my heart On a night hunt, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get cursed and stuck in each other's bodies. As you would expect, shenanigans ensue. 29k

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and fall to desire After a nighthunt, Wei Wuxian takes a curse meant for an inadequate husband. Lan Wangji happens to be in the wrong (right) place at the wrong (right) time. 14k

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beneath six layers of silk  While exorcising a haunting, Lan Wangji gets cursed with a brand of honesty, and is forced to speak his every thought out loud. 12k

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with such a suffering, such a deadly life Staring down at their hands, Lan Zhan shakes his head. It's a slow, loose shake, so different from his tight movements of just moments ago. Almost like he's drunk. An uncomfortable thought arises at this apparent level of relief. "How...how long have you been in pain?" Wei Wuxian asks. Lan Wangji is so preoccupied on one of his precious, rare nighthunts with Wei Wuxian that he does not feel it when a tiny, quiet curse latches onto him. 7.1k

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Linger in the Sun "Tell Lan Zhan that I'm weeping uncontrollably," Wei Wuxian says to the juniors. "Tell him I'm truly pitiful and he needs to do everything I say until I'm well again." Lan Congyi is in the middle of carefully holding his eyelids open to check his pupils, but he still obeys, bless him. "Hanguang-Jun, Senior Wei would like us to tell you that he can't stop crying and he'd like for you to do everything he says until he's better." There's a moment of silence, and then Lan Congyi says to Wei Wuxian, "Hanguang-Jun says he already does everything you tell him." -- Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find themselves cursed, unable to see or hear each other. They figure things out anyway. 39k

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grow “Okay,” Jingyi says, as Sizhui puzzles this out aloud. “Okay! So the demon has been turning its victims into children.” “I think so,” Sizhui says. “To make them easier prey,” Jingyi says. “Yes,” Sizhui says. “So—” Jingyi’s voice cracks here, “this kid is Senior Wei.” Wei Wuxian, still tangled in his own massive robes, blinks politely at them. (Or: Wei Wuxian is cursed on a night-hunt, and the junior quartet rapidly finds themselves in over their heads.) 14k

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moonlight caught in mutton fat It wasn’t bone. It was too smooth. It caught the light like something greased. “A curse,” Lan Wangji breathed, because it could only be such. The Twin Jades of Lan get turned to jade. 45k

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your hand in mine

A curse brings Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji together—literally. 20k

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Others (pov of other characters, humor, other minor ships, etc)

anyway, here's wuji  Lan Jingyi comes of age. 18k

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Losing My Mind On a drunken dare, Jiang Cheng drinks a potion that allows him to hear other people’s lustful thoughts. It’s just his luck that he’s stuck in close vicinity with the guy who is completely and utterly besotted with his idiot brother. 6k

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Bestseller  when Wei Wuxian writes the Xianxia cut-sleeve equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, based entirely on his experiences with Lan Wangji, he doesn’t expect it to become the next big hit 7k

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Important Distinctions Father arched an eyebrow and lifted his chin. Jingyi said, “Hanguang-jun would like to respectfully state that he thinks you are a punk-ass bitch.” “Lan Jingyi!” another Lan disciple hissed, horrified. “He said it with his eyes,” Jingyi protested. “It’s Expression 321.” Sizhui fished the book out of his qiankun pouch and flipped through it. One of the Ouyang junior disciples sidled over to him and peered over his shoulder. “There really is a book.” 5.3k

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Model Behaviour  Jiang Cheng watches his nephew attempt the impossible: seducing the purest Lan disciple. If Lans could bet, Lan Xichen would have wagered in Jin Ling’s favour. 1.3k

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you are my chosen family  5 times sizhui and jingyi accidentally call wei wuxian and lan wangji dad, and the 1 time they do it on purpose. 14k

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My heart in my sleeve Wei Wuxian needs a new workshop. Lan Wangji has room in his qiankun sleeves. 2k let lwj spoil his husband

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Audience Of One

that AU where everyone is famous in some way or another, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have been dating in private for years, and Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng pretend to date publicly for their brothers' sake. 181k

This is XiCheng, Wangxian is bg only.

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Attempting the Impossible

Jiang Cheng gathers up his determination in both hands and goes to the Cloud Recesses to embark on one of the most difficult endeavors he can imagine: Repairing his relationship with his brother.

To his surprise, he discovers he's become an uncle again... several times over.

Wei Wuxian, what the fuck?! 36k

Back to the river (so learn how to swim)

THE Yu Ziyuan fic

[cuckoo-among-beasts]

SHIPPING INFO. Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog.

What’s your OTP for your Muse(s)?

You should all know that by now. It's SangCheng.

What are you willing to RP when it comes to shipping?

That depends on the other muse tbh. Platonically, a lot is on the table. Romantically, Huaisang is considerably pickier. It's basically only Jiang Wanyin so far xD Besides some Discord talk about Huaisang and Echo's Binghe xD

How large does the age gap have to be to make it uncomfortable?

No one under 20 in his main verse as well as no one over the age of his dad's generation (so around Lan Qiren's age). Obviously the rules are different for immortal beings, should that ever occur.

Are you selective when shipping?

For romantic ships, yes. For platonic ships, mutuals is usually enough.

How far do steamy moments have to go before they’re considered NSFW?

I will not rp anything beyond kissing and touching outside the clothes. Anything else will fade to black.

Who are other muses you ship your muse with?

Romantically, Huaisang has no ongoing ships. He had a Wanyon, but they've been on hiatus for many months not and I doubt they will return, which is sad but also the reality for rping. He has a verse where he's married to Garuda ( @demcngeneral ) though, but that's out of mutual respect and necessity, there's no romantic love involved and the... intimacy only happened to produce and heir. Huaisang hopes to never have to redo that with a woman again, please and thank you.

Does one have to ask to ship with you?

Yes for romantic ships. Platonic, not necessarily, as long as we're mutuals. Unless you want a very specific platonic ship.

How often do you like to ship?

Platonic, any time. Romantic, only if it feels natural. (As I mentioned, my Huaisang seems to struggle beyond Wanyin, he wants his purple grape xD )

Are you multiship?

Yeah, each ship is their own verse.

Are you ship obsessed or ship more-or-less?

I love platonic ships. Romantic ones aren't as important to me.

What is your favorite ship in your current fandom?

In MDZS, it's SangCheng, but also XiCheng.

Finally, how does one ship with you?

Contact me.

Tagged by: @ghostlypath

Tagging: Anyone interested.

[loriache]

for the ask game, go start a war: C, I, W

ask game

wow, you drama fiend! OK.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will

Ho-hoh. This is actually rather difficult. I’m a multishipper and I can usually find a take on any ship that I’d enjoy at least theoretically. Especially within dungeon meshi; I might have to reach further back.

Oooh I know. This won’t mean anything to you, but JC (purple guy, older martial brother of the MC) and LXC (older brother of the ML) from MDZS. Using initials so this doesn’t show up in searches. People ship them and it’s the most blatant pair the spares I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t read anything with that pairing in even in the background. I’ve tried it from authors I enjoyed other fic by to see if I can make it work for me, but I just can’t. It’d be just like JC’s parents 2.0… actually, I could really go for it if it WAS like that. Cycles and repeating your parents’ mistakes and toxicity and the cycle of abuse - but everything I’ve seen is all nice and about ~healing~…. Bleh. Boring and ooc.

But I guess I came up with a version I would like, so you see why this question is hard for me!!

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I’m going to take this to mean disliking a fandom I had previously liked, since that’s more interesting. Which is pretty rare! I usually curate my fandom experience extremely ruthlessly to prevent being annoyed by stuff. Even homestuck, I wouldn’t say I ever really stopped liking it, though I was embarrassed that I’d liked it for a bit.

I’d say probably Voltron: I was never really into it but I had lightly enjoyed the first few seasons, and more than the show going downhill, it was really the fandom that made me sour on it before it ended. Lots of popular stuff that felt very ooc and pretty immature and lots of fighting, that sort of thing.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom

Ending with an easy one! Coffee shop and similar low-stakes modern aus, especially if they’re used as an excuse to shoehorn characters into various tropey professions without seriously thinking about what those characters would be doing in a modern setting. It’s like incorrect quotes to me (hate those too). They wouldn’t do that. Why don’t you think about what they WOULD do instead?

Also if there are magic/vampires/monsters etc and you get rid of them….. why? You hate me. I’m reading fantasy for a reason!

Also soulmate aus. I hate the idea of love beginning with the assumption that this person should matter to you or should have a certain role in your life - and when I start thinking about the wider implications of a world like that it just sounds like a nightmare!

And, boring and obvious answer, but a/b/o - the biological essentialism just gives me the ick.

Any of those could be done extremely well or handled interestingly and I’d enjoy them but in general that’s rare and if I see the tag I’ll steer clear.

ask game

[aroceu]

memes i've been tagged in

thank you @telomeke for tagging me in a couple of these! i'm gonna answer them all in one post since i don't do these very often but i do like talking about myself :)

get to know me

do you make your bed?

no-ish. sometimes i do if i wake up early enough but uh. usually i wake up late. on the weekends i try to, with varying results.

what’s your favourite number?

17 but it's not that serious to me

what is your job?

generally speaking, data entry

if you could go back to school, would you?

no

can you parallel park?

yes, it was mandatory for my driving test.

a job you had that would surprise people?

i think i've been pretty upfront about the jobs i've had so i don't think they're really that surprising? i also think they are very me-core. except maybe the last one (receptionist at a pet place) but that's how i met duke :)

do you think aliens are real?

my belief system does not include whether or not i think things that we have no definitive proof of but can theoretically exist are real

can you drive a manual car?

no

what’s your guilty pleasure?

telling people on reddit that they're wrong

tattoos?

yes! i have two - a stick n poke, and one i got on my birthday a couple of years ago. i'm also looking to get another one for my birthday this year :)

favorite color?

a slate grey-ish light blue. but when it comes to personal customization related things (such as fashion) i also like pink and reds because they stand out more than blues

favorite type of music?

any kind of pop! my music taste is vast but generally the closer to pop a song is, the more i will like it

do you like puzzles?

yes

any phobias?

yes

favorite childhood sport?

basketball (yes i am short)

do you talk to yourself?

yes, a lot of times i record voice memos in my car just to talk to myself (even though i usually don't listen to them back). otherwise i'm just muttering to myself

what movies do you adore?

kimi no na wa, the iron giant, and wreck-it ralph

coffee or tea?

tea because i can drink it more regularly, but i do love the taste of coffee as well

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

an actor, even though i was never into even the idea of acting, it was just the first career i knew that was associated with being famous (i no longer want to be famous). however i do think this contributes to me being surrounded by theatre kids my whole life

get to know me (better)

3 ships:

pat/pran from bad buddy

wangxian from mdzs

[insert one of my shameless rpf ships here]

first ship: gonna be real i started off being really into self-insert stuff and harry potter (neither of which i really want to detail here) so uhhhhhhhhhhh sasuke/naruto

last song: alligator tears by beyonce

currently reading: don't worry about it

last movie: i should watch movies again. pretty sure it was glass onion

currently craving: nothing

not tagging anyone but if anyone is interested in any of these please feel free to pretend i tagged you :3

[groundzero-v]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

Thank you @gracelesslady23 for tagging me! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Only 8 (one is still waiting to be revealed in the prongsfoot fest!)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

121,775 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Harry Potter, and then mostly barely known fandoms haha (I have a soft spot for rareships), I'm thinking about writing for svss or mdzs too though

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

I don't wanna listen anymore - prongsfoot, multi-chapter, misunderstandings

Ad Infinitum - cyberpunk game, one-shot

Rising over dying flames - bnha gen fic, percy jackson au, two shot

Kintsugi - prongsfoot, multi-chapter

Marauder's Guide to Saving the Wizarding World - prongsfoot longfic, current wip, Marauders fight Voldemort AU, Triwizard Tournament arc, overload of pining, Marauder banter

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely! I really treasure nice comments and re-read them often. They are very special to me. I try to always reply, even when the comment is only a word, but sometimes responding takes me some time

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angty endings haha. I'm a very happy ending oriented person, I like my angst only before the very end. So angstiest? Probably nothing

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them! But so far probably the unrevealed prongsfoot festa fic

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I got some slightly weird comments but so far (thankfully) not any outright hate. I'm very lucky that people in the prongsfoot fandom are so incredibly nice

9. Do you write smut?

Ah, not really. I do like to read spicy fics sometimes but it depends

10. Do you write cross-overs?

It depends on the definition, I like to put characters into different universes, but the original characters of that work don't exist when I do. So it's more of an Alternate universe!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Hopefully not? I'm afraid to know, but I don't think my fics are popular enough to be stolen haha. (Whoever steals fics should be deeply ashamed though!)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Once so far, to russian

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I haven't, I imagine it's really difficult, but it could be a lot of fun as well

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Prongsfoot!

I fell in love with them a long time ago and I really love writing or reading about them. The characters feel so comforting to me and I love the intensity and devotion they have for each other.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

I currently have only one real WIP published, the Marauder's Guide. For me its really easy for self-doubt to set in when writing long fics so it becomes harder and harder to push myself to write next chapter after not picking it up for a while. But I really want to finish it. I think it will take a long time but I will do it! Hopefully?

So I suppose the answer is my wip for the Sirius Black fest. I have this great idea in my head, but when I try to put it to page it sounds so bad it makes me lose motivation. We will see if I can push through haha (It's prongsfoot by the way because of course it is).

16. What are your writing strenghts?

I saw banter mentioned a lot in comments so probably that! I really like writing dialogues between the Marauders and especially James and Sirius. I also really like adding in tiny character or worldbuilding details

17. What are you writing weaknesses?

Description definitely. Pacing too, especially in the first drafts. Actions during dialogues maybe? I sometimes struggle to describe who is doing what to show exactly what I have in my head. The biggest problem is definitely endings though. I always rush them :(

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

Overall I don't add another language to my fics. I never know how much to translate, how much time spend with it and so on, so I use it very very little.

Technically though, English is my second language, so I'm always writing in a different language haha.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter! I think it was Prongsfoot as well

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

I think I tend to like my newer works because the older ones make me embarrassed by their writing haha. So probably Marauder's Guide! It's an idea very dear to my heart, even if it's not perfect in the slightest

Tagging @plecotusauritus @padfootastic @roalinda (no pressure!)

[thebansacredbanned]

Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Tagged by @yletylyf!!! <3

The covers lift up, letting in the cold air and stirring Xiao Chong from where he was about to drift off to sleep. [And there was only one bed (fraternal edition), The Blood of Youth, Xiao Chong & Xiao Se]

The demon from his past standing in the doorway is all it takes to ruin the Reunion Dinner. [housekeeper, The Disguiser, ah-Cheng]

It had been a restless night for all three of them, but, well, Huli had never needed much sleep anyway. [Hormones and other horrors, Oh My General, Hu Qing/Ye Zhao/Zhao Yujin]

Jingyan emerges from the tunnel to shouting. [Things we need, Nirvana in Fire, Mei Changsu/Xiao Jingyan/Lin Chen(ish)]

Of all the elders and members and disciples, it is Xichen who runs to his fuqin’s house. [the walls around my father's house, The Untamed, Lan Xichen & Qinghen-jun]

There’s a change coming to Beili. [Know we'll sing your name (when you come home), The Blood of Youth, Tang Lian & the Tang clan]

“Now that we are all sworn brothers… I was wondering…” [As the saying goes..., The Untamed, 3zun]

It doesn't take long for Mingjue learn to that if he can’t find a-Sang, the way he should be looking is up. [I'll always catch you, The Untamed, Nie Mingjue & Nie Huaisang]

When Madam Jin had finally conceded that she was never going to bear her husband a son, Jin Zixuan was old to know that she was not the child either of her parents wanted. [such stuff as dreams are made, The Untamed/MDZS, Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan/Luo Qingyang (pre-relationship)]

Nie Mingjue is a dead man walking. [Dead Man Walking, The Untamed, Nie Mingjue & Wen Ning]

Me, starting this: oh I don't think there'll be a pattern

Me, 10 minutes later: ... huh

Like obviously there is some variation in there but wow yeah there are more similarities than I expected, especially between the most recent ones! I don't tend to necessarily think about first sentences other than getting them out on the page, so seeing them side by side is a lot of fun actually

Tagging: @nemainofthewater @wishthefish @circumference-pie @dcderringer @sinni-ok-sessi and yeah anyone else who's curious!

[sasukimimochi]

Last Ten Opening Lines

Rules: post the first sentence of your last ten fics. If you haven’t written ten fics, share as many first-sentences as you have.

got this from @wifiwuxians (I started typing this yesterday i just was so sleepy haha)

i don't know if anyone i know writes fanfics except one person, and i also don't have a lot of fics to give an example for...however, i'll give what i can cuz this sounded fun to do. Plus, maybe you'll see a few things you haven't seen yet!!

so i guess i tag any authors who follow me or see this. @foxyyaoguai is the only one i know personally, don't feel pressured tho!

man this list gives me a bad reputation for finishing things, i just haven't done many fanfictions in my life (i usually write original stuff)

“Oi, brat.” Eren sighed quite verbally from where he was laying, looking up at the tree above him shortly after his eyes cracked open. - Hey Brat (AOT/Attack on Titan fanfic, coincidentally the first fic i ever started to attempt writing. Ereri i believe. incomplete/not finishing)

Tight breaths were ragged in Tommy’s chest, his own screams covering the sound of bruised knuckles slamming against the two fighters’ bodies. - AHTFF/A Height to Fall From (Minecraft, Tommyinnit centric / SBI, sorta a fantasty/timeline hop AU...never posted it and its unfinished...should i post it anyway sometime? i wrote a lot for this one and it has a full outline for 3 fics & 2 epilogues. i also drew a bunch of designs for them...seems like it'd be a shame to let it rot.)

The usual trip home was late at night today. - His Forever Home (Minecraft, Tommyinnit / SBI / Awesamfam childhood AU, unfinished, unposted)

In hindsight, it was a childish mistake. - BB/Boar Brothers (Minecraft, Tommyinnit / SBI childhood AU, unfinished. I believe this was a companionfic to HFH.) unfinished

Screams were ringing in the teen’s ears. - His Lullaby (Minecraft, Tommyinnit centric / SBI this one is complete and posted, a simple one-shot with a lot of feels)

“A-Yuan.” - Ghost of Mine (MDZS/Mo Dao Zu Shi - Wangxian, half a fix it ? Ghost wwx AU - In progress and being posted as we speak)

Someone’s memories crashed into him like a storm. - GOM-MXY (Companion fic to Ghost of Mine, the MXY one. in progress, will be posted at gom's halfway point).

“Wei…Ying…are you alright?” - COI / Clash of Immortals (Demon/Angel Wangxian AU but with my own universe version of Hell. you guys know what this is, no Ao3 yet- in progress.)

Lan Wangji couldn’t stop crying. - IMBSB/In My Blood, Stardust Blooms (MDZS one/two shot abt angel lwj and angel wwx, in progress)

Greetings sect leader Jiang, I hope this letter finds you well. - The Wild Plum Tree / TWPT (MDZS Xicheng Companionfic for GOM) in progress.

BONUS (11.) : Lan Wangji stumbled through the streets of Yiling, leaning heavily on his sword as he did. - TDKW/The Dead Keep Walking (MDZS one/two shot abt corpse wwx. in progress.)

fuck it i added the rest here because i honestly haven't started that many fics lmao i didn't know i had actually made 11 fics, even if half aren't going to get done (aka anything that isn't the mdzs fandom stuff) so like, 1-4 are dead fics, bc im not interested anymore or fell out of the fandom for personal reasons. The rest though are things im currently working on and am striving to complete! see the project list here with summaries.

um...i'm done ig?? go make your own posts!

[melannen]

Not policy and abuse, but unless things have changed since the last time I talked to them:

If something's a TOS violation, don't hesitate to report it just because it seems small. Catching small things early is good for P&A's workload, and having small simple things you can easily take care of is really great in between the big frustrating problems.

That said, telling people the right way to tag is not really P&A's job, and they are not usually going to make a call on whether a tag is "correct" or not, except in a few specific cases:

If an archive-required warning is clearly missing (i.e. it has a rape scene and isn't warned for noncon), or the rating is definitely too low (it has explicit sex and is tagged General Audience) they will add the Choose Not To Warn tag or change the rating to Not Rated.

If the fandom is clearly wrong, they will fix the fandom tag: if it's RPF in the FPF tag or vice versa, definitely report it, or it's a Steve/Tony fic in the The Avengers (TV 1961) tag, or it's in the BNHA tag but the author's note said "this is an original story but I put it in this tag so people will see it", report it. However they're probably not going to do anything about a fic in the MDZS tag where LWH and WWX are hunting yin iron, or a Spiderverse fic tagged Marvel Cinematic Universe, or stuff like that.

If it's got the wrong language tag, they'll fix the language. Feel free to report English fic in the Chinese tag or Russian fic in the English tag or whatever.

However, they're almost never going to do anything about tags in the other categories. If an author says their fic is A/B ship, AO3 is not going to argue with them even if A and B insist they're just friends the whole time. If C is listed as a character and there's no plans for C to appear, oh well. If it's tagged "fluff" and somebody gets horribly murdered, people have different definitions of fluff and P&A isn't going to tell them they're wrong. If it's tagged F/F and has no female characters in it, hey, stranger things have happened. So I wouldn't bother going to P&A if it's just someone who's consistently using a pairing tag on something you consider gen or whatever.

They will, however, yell at people for spam, so if someone is blatantly and consistently overtagging for spam reasons and admitting it, that's worth reporting.

If someone's tagging wrong it's also always OK to leave them a polite comment letting them know, especially if it seems likely to be a mistake or misunderstanding ("I think you may have missed adding the Major Character Death warning" or "I don't know if you realized that / always means romance on AO3" or "I know you're used to other sites, but on AO3 people get upset if you deliberately tag things that aren't in the story, and I wouldn't want you to make a bad first impression".) Most of the time this works and it's much faster and friendlier than going through P&A, and AO3 is designed for a lot of things like this to be handled via users sharing their own norms, not official TOS enforcement. (Of course, if you have reason to feel unsafe commenting directly, you absolutely should not.)

nothing pisses me off more than when i see a fic on ao3 talking about reach. "this ship isn't here but i added them for reach" "this fandom tag isn't necessary but i'm adding it for reach" "reposting for reach" STOP IT!!!! this is not tiktok this is not twitter this is an ARCHIVE this is not how it works!!!

[notasinglethoughthere]

So I saw the Erha post. Based of the notes I'm sure people are going of at you right now and while I will say the way you worded your post was kinda rude I wanted to approach you in good faith and give my view of the stuff you mentioned.

You say you find Mo Ran awful but I find him to be a complex and fascinating character. He starts of very flawed and confused but the story quickly starts unraveling and challenging that. This then increases as we see him and Xia Sini and the softer moments between him and CWN after. Then when the HR opens he faces a massive shit in perspective which sees him realise his mistakes and start the work to become a better person. 0.5 TXJ is an awful person but if you read as far as you did then you should have picked up on enough of the hints to known there's more going on behind that.

Beyond that I cannot understand the claim that MR's bad behavior isn't challenged by the narrative? It very much is and he is forced to recon with the consequences of his actions both as TXJ and MR 1.0 a lot over the course of the story.

I also don't know where you are getting the claim that CWN thinks of love as a contract or that MR shames CWN for his body. TXJ does do that but the story calls his behavior out and has them deal with that.

If you didn't like SM or get his plan that's fair, I think it works but that's personal taste. I guess all of it is personal taste to a degree but (and I don't mean to be rude here) you seem to have somehow read through enough of the story to reach that reveal without noticing any of the character development.

I saw someone in the notes say you like WangXian so imagine if someone complained about them and said that WWX only fell for LWJ because he had no other options and felt indebted to him. Or called LWJ cold and unfeeling? I'd say the text of MDZS proves that false and I'd say the same about Erha.

I hope that clears up some stuff.

hi, thank you so much for reaching out!

after your response (as well as the other ones) I realised that I wasn't being really nice barging in the fandom's tag with that attitude, it was kinda rude and I apologize

I must say that I read the novel a while ago, so my memory may also be biased, but I feel like that the character development didn't "cover" (sorry I don't have a better word for that) the negative aspects I saw in the story, that are also obviously easier to remember

despite that, I now understand where you all are coming from, especially considering that I might have glossed over some important aspects of the plot by focusing more on the duo's relationship

the wangxian comparison is interesting to me because I actually never taught about it this way, I see it as totally valid point and I should take it in more consideration

thank you again for taking the time to help me clear things up, I'll also make a new post tagging everyone in the replies to answer them as well

I hope I was able to explain myself better than before

have a nice day!

[hellofavillain]

Fic rec

I decided to create a list with some fics I enjoyed in this fandom, thank you to all the amazing fanfic writers blessing us with your stories ♥

This House of Ill Repute by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle):

“They are not rogue cultivators. Wei Wuxian is pretty clear about that. A few weeks after Lan Zhan joined him on the road, Wei Wuxian is still getting used to the new, unnamed normal when they get caught in a rainstorm and have to make an unplanned overnight stop.“

Even A Shallow Heart Can Still Beat by JemTheKingOfSass:

“Jiang Cheng is the baby of the Jiang family. They are far from the perfect family, be he has always had the security of parents and older siblings surrounding him, filling his life with noise and love and protection. One by one, their flames are extinguished, and Jiang Cheng suddenly realizes he is all alone with no one left to remind him of home.”

wraps around my heart, wraps around your head by Kika988:

“Lan Wangji's head spins; he knows Lan Xichen had likely relayed this information to him in the past, but he'd been too fevered and out of his mind with pain to process it. A-Yuan is his son. Wei Ying's son is his son.

Lan Wangji made exceptions to his personal rules for Wei Wuxian, and that caused him nothing but pain. Now someone else - someone small who smiles with the same brightness Wei Wuxian once did - is slipping under his guard.”

A Dragon Lies in Wait by Ulan:

"This could be harder, I can tell," Wei Ying says across the field, "if Hanguang-jun was not busy ogling his opponent."

"I was not ogling," Lan Wangji immediately denies, but the tips of his ears feel hot anyway.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji spar for the first time in years.

To give the world to you by pomidor:

“All Lans knew that Hanguang Jun would only consider an offer of marriage from someone who was able to win a duel with him. Of course, he just had to choose one condition Wei Wuxian was unable to fulfil.

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji travels to Yunmeng to request help from an unlikely ally.

That something was impossible, never stopped either of them before.”

16 Years by KucatsHouse:

“Four moments of grief and one moment of hope in Lan Wangji's life during the 16 years following Wei Wuxian's fall at Nevernight.”

the symmetry of scars by ennta:

“A silence hangs between them, filled with the past and the present--their silences always are, laced with the comfort and catharsis of finding themselves together again. But there is something new in this silence: the unspoken question of the future, winding about them like fog.

or

Killing is as easy as dying; neither are as difficult as unraveling the mysteries of intimacy.”

you're moving away again - i'm back here, again by iamjustakiddo, VishCount: a series with 5 parts set after the ending - it’s amazing! ♥

medium blues by dark_and_terrible: WIP, modern AU with Paranormal Investigators, I like the world-building a lot 👀

a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke: 

“When the entire cultivation world turns against Wei WuXian, Jiang Cheng comes up with a plan to save him and arranges a marriage between his brother and the Second Jade of Lan, Lan WangJi.“

[admirableadmiranda]

Hi, I'm new to this fandom and saw about your stand against Jiang Cheng and I'm genuinely curious, could I ask you why do you hate the character so much? I'm genuinely curious.

Hello! Welcome to the MDZS fandom! It’s a really interesting place to be.

I do think you are perhaps misunderstanding my fight, and it’s understandable, there’s a lot of history behind it. But I don’t actually hate Jiang Cheng the book character at all.

He’s a fantastic antagonist, one who has enough happen to him that he’s understandable without justifying his actions. His anger and bitterness make him incredibly active, which can help move the plot along well, and the fact that he is also Wei Wuxian’s personal antagonist makes him very fun and relevant as you need the antagonists that can make a character hurt personally for stories of this type.

As his general character archetype, I think he’s done really well. I quite enjoy him in the context he is supposed to be seen as, the younger person who grew up with the hero who instead of attempting to better himself, tore down those around him in an attempt to put everyone on the same level.

My problem (and my fight) is that the character of Jiang Cheng in Modaozushi is not the Jiang Cheng that is in the fanfics and the art and the meta and discussions.

The Jiang Cheng that you see in fanfics and metas that isn’t under the Not JC Friendly on Ao3 or #canon jiang cheng tag on tumblr is one that is no longer an antagonist or in character, but someone else entirely. Someone who no longer slots into the world of MDZS as if he were actually the person they posit him to be, the events that he is responsible for would have never happened. Quite simply they take the character I enjoy, erase all of his actual traits and then show up to scream at me for writing him wrong, or lying about the book, or not knowing how to read.

Or they are gleefully celebrating classism and homophobia with him. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve seen that are basically “he’s right to be homophobic because Wangxian are annoying and he should hate them for that”. In a danmei fandom. About the lead couple. I already have dealt with more than enough homophobia in my daily life, why do I have to deal with it in a fandom for a novel in which the leads are a happily married queer couple?

I have been in this fandom for a year and a half. I tag my posts appropriately. When I was requested to not put character hate in the main tag (and novel quotes qualified as character hate), I did as they asked and invented my own tag. Sure it’s a little snarky, but it’s also an easy one to block and allows others like myself who enjoy the character as he is in the book to find my stuff. On ao3, I’ve written a few fics that use him in it as he is in the book and tagged it not for JC fans as they requested.

Do you know what I got?

I have anon hate for using my tag, the very tag I created in response to their request. On my fics that use him, I have people showing up to cry that he’s out of character and I can’t write. When I did all that I could do to try and enjoy a character as he is in canon and as they continually say is what they want. “You don’t have to like him, just tag your stuff so we don’t have to see it.”

I do stand against his stans. I have blocked many of them and gotten in arguments with many others. You are new to this fandom so you wouldn’t have seen this, but a year ago one of them wrote a fanfic about Lan Wangji murdering Wei Wuxian because they were mad about the very existence of the not for jc fans tag, and tagged it with romance and fluff tags so that fans of wangxian would click on it and read a horrible, deliberately hurtful fic and gleefully celebrated it on Twitter.

Why should I not stand against them? They have bullied so many people out of this fandom for not writing Jiang Cheng in the way they want. That is not okay. This is a massive fandom in places where it is very easy to filter and tag, and they try to bully and chase us out of the whole fandom because we don’t like their made up version of a character, or the fact that they are homophobic and shitty to the leads and to me and my friends and my followers.

Welcome to Modaozushi fandom, new reader. It’s a very volatile place with a long history. This is my section of it. And that is why I tag with canon jiang cheng and do not take any shit from people who have umbrage with that.

Thanks for the ask, I hope you have a really great day and at least consider my words even if you don’t agree with them. I suspect if you do, we will never have a problem with each other.

[lvicevlk]

tag roundup because there are some good ones:

#THIS POST AND THE OP’S TAGS ARE WONDERFUL#CHEF’S KISS#literally this is so good and how i see all mdzs characters#i am deeply sympathetic for jgy and nmj but also the two of them both have valid reasons to not fuck with each other#i feel very bad for jgy and how he died and it was very unfair but also nhs absolutely has a reason to hate his guts#esp the ‘people think nhs was blind to how nmj treated him’#very much like. not how that works!#nhs loved his brother he grieves for his brother he is going to turn jgy’s own tactics against him#god the nmj parts of this post are getting me#nhs did not give a whole song and dance abt the nuances behind the saber spirit and how it is not easy to abandon ur family path#only for people to turn around and say ‘nmj could have just not done that’#like that’s not the point#that’s like saying at any point wwx couldn’t just stopped following the ghostly path#or jgy could’ve just stopped following his father#that’s not the point!!! who gives a fuck abt what a character can or cannot do#they can do anything! that doesn’t mean anything!#what matters is if they /would/ do something. would it make sense for them to do so.#jgy won’t give up his place in the family. wwx won’t stop cultivating guidao. nmj won’t give up the nie family cultivation.#they have other options but they are options they will not take#and that’s why these characters are so interesting and multi-dimensional and why i feel for basically all of them#mdzs (via @luobingmeis​)

#YES this is worded so perfectly#mdzs gives everyone brain worms because the actions of each character makes perfect sense in the context of the story#which makes it so easy to understand why they made the choices they did!#like that one picture review of the untamed ‘it’s a masterwork in character writing. youll never think of anything else again’#the untamed (via @tamakey​)

#OMG THIS#FREAKING ALL OF THIS#that's what I love about this story and why I get so frustrated with a part of fandom at times#these characters are DEEP and REALISTIC#if you put yourself in their pov then their actions Makes Sense#no matter how morally questionable or plain wrong they look from an objective perspective#no one is purely good or evil#they are HUMAN#and I can't help sympathize with almost everybody there#bc their decisions are understandable given their unique circumstances and even personalities#like how can ppl get mad at such a rich mess!!#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#mo dao zu shi (via @mostlikelytofangirl​)

#mdzs meta#YEAH. just. yeah. so much.#this is something that happens a lot when I talk about why I find a character sympathetic that. bugs me.#its that people will read all that and reply with. well that doesn't mean he didn't hurt X character w their actions!! and Im like ??#yes bitch I /know/ that's why I literally never said 'everyone they hurt should forgive them' or even should have considered their#perspective or the fact that they were having a hard time NO lmao?? Im just saying from a. readerly. narrative standpoint!#understanding why the character did what they did/how they're conceptually sympathetic/how they reason to themselves#is important to understanding them AND much more interesting as a take then ''just an asshole for no good reason ''#but I just wish. it was easier to talk about why someone is like that™ in a. thinking fun analysis thoughts. way. without people jumping to#reply ''well that doesn't make it ok though!'' like. I never said that and in fact thats not the point at ALL#also mood OP your tags - I relate to JGY a lot more overall but one thing like#if someone pulled the novel verse fake suicide JGY does I too would literally never trust anything they said or did again much less#let them appeal to *any* sense of sympathy or desperation like. no no no that is allowed one (1) time & then idgaf why u did it. NEVER AGAIN (via @woobifiedvillain​)

#and that's how i can be an apologist or characters who are seemingly diametrically opposed#i always laugh a little whenever people turn sympathy of jgy into hate of huaisang becuase he 'should have realized nmj was mistreating him#if someone killed one of my siblings nuance is going out of the window for me too sorry y'all#complaining and whining about fandom#only a little bit tho#mdzs#nie huaisang#nie mingjue#meng yao#jin guangyao  (via OP)

See the thing about me is that I do care about characters' morality but it's more in the sense of wanting to understand their moral framework and why they take the actions they do. And because of that i'm always sympathetic to morally grey characters and try to look at things from their perspective, but I don't expect the other characters in the story- who unlike me are actually affected by each other's actions- to feel the same way.

For example, I care deeply about nie mingjue and the inherent tragedy of how he's been trapped by his own circumsances and his genuine will to do the right thing and can see how his reliance on punitive justice was created by the environment he's grown up in and the responsibility he holds towards his people and i don't think, in any stretch of the word, that he deserved to die or that it was in fact necessary to kill him.

However i do not except jin guangyao, guy who was just kicked down the stairs, to see all the nuances here.

In the same sense, i can see how jgy's "self preservation above all else" mindset was forged by a world that expected him to die for their convenience how his avoidance of accounability for his actions was created out of necessity because any punishment levied against him would be disporportionate due to his heritage. How punishing him wouldn't actually make the world a better place or him a better person and how his violence is always reactive and that as long as he feels safe eneough to do so, the thing that he really wants to do is help people.

But I don't expect Huaisang, guy whose brother just got murdered, to give a fuck about any of that.

And I think this is why I'm annoyed with a lot of "is [insert character] a good/bad person" discourse because a lot of it gets framed as "If A is bad, the other characters in universe should hate them. If A is good, the other characters should be sympathetic to them, and if they're not then they're bad." And that is just... not how this works.

[reileinaxiu]

How I became Anti Jiang Cheng/Wanyin and Anti Jiang in General

Fair warning/s:

Dramatic story sharing. MDZS meta that blur with some fanon pet peeves. Jiang family bashing (yup includes YZY, JWY, JFM, and even JYL). Lengthy story/experience sharing. Some cursing/foul language, okay a lot of cursing that I censored might have missed just in case. Some ranting I guess. And maybe some leaps in logic. Chaotic writing.

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So long story short:

I've read a fic with the JC bashing tag, enjoyed it and browsed and read more content about it and I was thoroughly anti JC by the end of it all.

An example is

"All will be well when the day is done" by abCEE. If you haven't read it I recommend it if the Lan clan still hasn't been ruined in your eyes.

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Long story not so short:

Okay as you all might know or not know, I was introduced to the MXTX fandom through a fanfic crossover and entered through the donghua.

When I watched the donghua I was sort of indifferent to the Jiang family as a whole. I thought YZY was just this super stern drill sergeant type of woman. Maybe unfair to WWX because of her own bias towards his heritage. JFM was this timid person in front of his wife who doesn't want to get into conflicts. JWY was this broken grieving person after the Lotus Pier Massacre. And JYL was this mother/sister role model that had an unfortunate end.

I did not like them(probably never will at this point), I did not hate them (I should have hated them more), thought they were developmental to WWX as a character (still true but for a completely different reasons). But that was it, they were characters that had fulfilled a role.

Oh what a foolish uninformed lamb 🐑 I was back then.🥲 The donghua did not even begin to skim the surface of it all. Or maybe it did in an artistic license type of view and it was the kind people on the internet who analyzed the story and the original work that just pointed out to me what was obvious now. 🤔

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Thank yous especially to: @flautistsandpeonies ,

@jiaoji2 , @withthewindinherfootsteps , @ladypfenix, @ninjakk and many more that I might have missed or yet to discover. Your mxtx content are entertaining and enlightening.

And thank yous to your works on AO3: Hauntcats, Karmiya, FlautistsandPeonies, Vrischika, miixz, glitteringmoonlight, justdoityoufucker and many many more great writers out there.

I definitely 😁 recommend their works.

Their works and posts have opened my eyes. 👀 And many others who I might have missed.

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This was how knowing more both ruined and saved my love for MDZS.

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It started when I began delving for fanfic on ao3, after finishing the donghua. Naturally, I began with the fics with the most Kudos, so I set my filters with the most words or the most Kudos along with the WangXian tags (Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian).

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Lo and behold one of the top fics at that time was a Jiang Wanyin centric time travel fic that I shall not name but bury deep within my reading history/bookmarks. I do not want to horrify you guys too much who are anti JC like me but the short synopsis was JWY travels back in time and fully supported WWX 🤢 throughout the Sunshot Campaign doing all the the things JGY pointed out in the Guanyin Temple incident getting a happy ever after of everyone lives(even JGY 😰) and noone dies(except mostly the Wen Sect not the Dafans) and JWY marries WQ 🤮.

Yes. I can't believe myself to have thought that was actually good. I got ulcers just thinking about it 🤢. What's worse 😱 is that I've read through several similar fics with JWY as a good brother, anger misunderstood trope and thought nothing of it at the time.

One of the worse of the worst were my ignorance when reading fics with side JWY/LXC tag.☣️🤮 If I knew I would have never touched any of these fics. But I absorbed the MDZS content through various media sources so my understanding was obscured at best and completely reconceptualized at worst. I hope my realization wasn't too late that I ended up reading about a homophobe in a same-sex relationship.

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My poor ignorant self,😔 I forgive you for ever thinking any of those were acceptable homage to the masterpiece that is MDZS. Alas those fics in my read history will be part of a dark past that I might visit some day again only to treat it as the radioactive ☢️ toxic waste it truly should be handled as.

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Don't get me wrong. It doesn't make any of those God awful plot devices better but at least those fics were still very entertaining and I appreciate all the work and effort the author had put in to writing them despite their uh...😦 misconstrued outlook on the actual canon personalities of the characters. Some of those fics were really long and well-written at least. So I find it a shame their great writing skills have gone in this direction.

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Maybe 🤔 if I read those as extremely, extremely OOC then I guess they could be slightly acceptable. But till today there are plenty similar fic being written out there, and published everyday. I must sometimes cope by completely erasing JWY or any OOC Jiang from my mind whilst reading these types of mistagged fics. OOC JC tag should really be common so I can filter them out of my searches. I will always be grateful for ao3's sort and filter system.

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Another, when exploring the fandom at first was that I was intrigued, amused and even confused 🤔 by all the controversy. On youtube, there were content creators fawning over JWY. So hey, I thought he seemed like a decently popular character.

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Then someone pointed some things out to me and I was like " OMG 😱 What sort of deranged sick scum is this person and why the f*** out of all the villains that got their karma he still lives with a position of power".

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Then I realized again after reading more mdzs meta, "Almost everyone in the Cultivation World except WangXian, the juniors(of every sect), WN, WQ, LQY and maybe NHS at some point are all corrupt assholes that deserve some sort of karma still lives with positions of power" 😱😱😱

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So yeah. One of my problems when identifying good not OOC fanfics was because tags like the good sibling jc, yunmengbros reconciliation, etc.😖 was normalized by a lot of writers that other writers started referencing OOC fanfics as the true personality of those characters. That's why a newbie like me entering the fandom just binge read anything that was popular at the time and thought that it actually somehow corresponds to the original work. I am sometimes tempted to unsubscribe from certain MXTX content creators because they are JC stans. But I am conflicted cause they make really good WangXian content as well 😰.

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For example:

Like when writers completely disregarding WWX's most important character traits to fit him into an OOC template @withthewindinherfootsteps discusses this very soundly and points out WWX's core philosophy. Writers have gone to create completely new characters and stamped them with the same name. They have lots of reblogs and discussion with this particular post

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Maybe it's because I haven't read the entirety of the original work yet (I've only watched the donghua, the cql, followed the manhua, and skipping to favorite scene in thenovel translations) but further evidence pointed out by readers of the original work had thoroughly converted me. I do not commend any of the Jiang Family's treatment of WWX.

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Feel free to skip to the rabbits if you prefer not to read some of these heavy criticisms about the Jiang Family and some cursing. Oh and maybe a bit of conspiracy theory meta.

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Let's begin with this literal raging b*tch, YZY.

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YZY was a child abuser, a hypocrite, and liar.

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"What do you mean what do we do?! Can't you see yet? They came here prepared. Today's fight couldn't have been avoided. Soon afterward there'll be herds of those Wen-dog arriving. Leave first!"

"Shut your mouth! It's all because of you little...!"

-Exiled Rebel Scans Chapter Poisons (3)

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These lines had been itching at me from the very beginning so... This was the Lotus Pier Massacre. A lot of others (particularly those who stan her) might think it was a sad heroic sacrificing moment as a mother that made a lot of people misconstrue YZY's true nature. She was neither self-sacrificing nor a mother.

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She knew. She logically knew that the Wens were prepared and the fight couldn't have been avoided yet she still had the absolute gall to blame WWX of all the people present just because she can and just because she saw him beneath her. After punishing WWX herself as an act of 🤬 subservience to the Wen Clan she couldn't admit it that she herself was the one that escalated the entire situation to the Wen's advantage when WLJ taunted her about the supervisory office. She made everyone including the children to fight in that bloodbath just so her pride as a lady of a great sect remain unquestioned only saving her child and asking the disciple she abused mentally, emotionally and physically to give his life for JWY's sake. And look where it got her. If you ask me now, I'd say she totally deserved that humiliating death and WN should have left her and JFM's body to rot compared to my tragic first impressions.

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JFM is as much as an abuser as YZY was. He was an abuser through neglect, and some form of exploitation. A lot of context clues lead to YZY regularly punishing WWX excessively. It's never really mentioned that JFM stopped any of these especially since it is most likely those punishments were handed indiscriminately without just cause other than YZY's hate for WWX.

Shown in the Lotus Pod Extra where it's only WWX who gets punished despite every other disciple doing the same thing. Punished with a whip a that!😨 And that was just an Everyday probably casual occurence in the summer.

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The exploitation I have less evidence on that but from what I can understand (or don't) is that a disciple of a sect is more or less an employee and that they at least have some sort of regular stipend besides the facilities, housing and education given to them, otherwise why bother to become a cultivator of a sect when your financially challenged. I'm sure there's at least a few disciples who would send money back to their families because a cultivator's job has some monetary benefits that attracted them to Cultivation sects.

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(Ps. Someone argue the flaws in my logic or support it with further evidence that you can find, I'd be grateful)

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This isn't the case for WWX though. From the novel it was said that WWX explored the markets in Yunmeng and took whatever he pleased because the locals knew to send the bill to Lotus Pier and maybe he got an allowance that only equates to pocket money. It could be seen that he was well taken care of at least financially.

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But from my point view its an indirect form of exploitation. This could be seen as WWX not having his own money to spend for himself making him monetarily dependant on the Jiangs generosity (which was barely existent). It made WWX all the more differentiated from the other disciples who were compensated for their rendered services. Especially since he was made the head disciple at such a young age he should have gotten a comparatively larger paycheck(ancient china payrolls) maybe even equal to the senior disciples because he takes on a teaching job.

When WWX was in the Burial Mounds with the Wens I don't think he had his own assets to claim and fall back on when JWY removed him from the sect. He was one of the key figures to victory in the Sunshot Campaign don't tell me he wasn't properly compensated for his contributions? If someone out there thinks that he gave his spoils of war to the Sect, then f*** the Jiang Clan, I call fraud and exploitation.

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That's right folks! Lotus Pier was equivalent to a Japanese Black Company! Modern laws, on child labor and treatment addendums aside, at least in regards to WWX that is. Not only was WWX put to work in abhor conditions (abused; verbally and physically) he was also barely compensated, if not at all, for his services. YZY didn't make it any better siting unreasonable excuses of immeasurable debt that WWX took to heart. JWY also follows her mother's footsteps even when she died he also imposed this debt on WWX even when WWX already went above and beyond what stipulates on what a head disciple or even regular disciples owe to their sect. I could really care less how JFM didn't want to upset his wife or some other excuse, he is Sect Leader! He couldn't have not known what was going on. This has got to be some form of exploitation. 😡

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I should write a separate post for all the things messed up about JWY. But to sum it up he expected WWX to abandon his moral code to pander to his sect leader position and Sect's reputation and leave to the Cultivation World's bloodlusts what was essentially a village full of civilians, children or weakened cultivators. He blamed WWX for JYL's death when he clearly witnessed what actually happened, it wasn't WWX who landed the killing blow(WWX even killed that stupid attacker the moment that happened, JWY saw that as well). He went on torturing to death anyone who slightly resembled WWX or was suspected of practicing unorthodox cultivation (keywords on slightly resembled and suspected never proven or justified) for years! Also hellbent on torturing and killing WWX in his second life by using his fears and guilt and that d*mn whip he inherited from his b**** of a mother. And he is an overall bitter and unpleasant character to be in the presence of. I could keep going on and on because there's a whole lot more and there is not enough words to describe how much of a terrible person he was by the end of the book.

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Lastly, there is JYL. 🤨She wasn't very significant as the person WWX made her out to be. She wasn't a bad person but she also didn't make any strides to be better or do good. She always tried to make compromises but it was usually for the sake of others especially JWY and at the cost of WWX because she viewed him as being capable of carrying any burdens with a smile and not as a person that struggles or gets hurt by superficial or personal remarks. A peacemaker, timid like her father, avoiding conflicts instead of actually solving them. She claimed WWX a brother during the Phoenix Mountain Hunt and demanded an apology in the name of her sect but that all crumbled like a sandcastle on the beach and forgotten as dust in the wind when JZX confessed publicly and she secluded herself in her happy little married domestic life.😤 Either she was just an oblivious fool just like her husband and would have caused WWX's death by asking him to stand down when he was clearly being attacked or she really believed everything would go well if everyone calmed down or something. Or she was just incredibly gullible to the point of trusting her marital sect that repeatedly put down WWX. She is like LXC in this regard, and I have a lot of negatives and barely-there positives about him as well.

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What frustrates me in fanfics with her in it is that she acts like both her marital sect or natal sect could never be in the wrong and that it should be WWX who should adjust is behavior when they were literally trying to kill him.

Is it appropriate to rant about other fics that pissed me off on tumblr? I won't cause it feels rude on some level.

Also I hate the line she said about WWX being born with a smiling face. That's like putting unrealistic expectations on WWX's head. Just because he can bare a lot of things with a smile doesn't mean he cannot get hurt? Newsflash putting up a smiling front is just one way WWX protected himself emotionally from all the rumors and vitriol from YZY. I know I'm being overly harsh but I can't help but feel infuriated. WWX is a strong person for putting up with the Jiang's bull****, horse****, dog**** whatever **** I can think of under the sun and still manages to be an inherently good person but that doesn't really justify everything that was done to him.

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🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇

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@righteousinadversity sums it up pretty well WWX's sufferings in life and a good chunk of that list is because of the Jiangs or could be traced back to the Jiangs.

If these realizations weren't enough to get me to go anti Jiang Family, I'd be wondering where my common sense went. I became extra wary of those fics tags with something like Good parent YZY & JFM🤬, Good sibling JC 🤮, Yunmengbros feels🙄, and a surprisingly eye watering amount of word vomit. 🤢

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This doesn't mean I condemn all the fics out there that don't adhere to canon personalities even the ones I've already read. If the ficwriter was reasonable enough in writing a life altering event or tagging that the characters are going to act OOC. Then sure I might read a modern AU where JC is a reasonably less asshole of an adopted brother. Or an AU where the JWY and JYL try to makeup for their parents wrongs etc. I could probably stomach it with minimum nausea. Still doesn't mean I have to like it, I am just a poor deprived soul that seeks to consume as much mdzs media in my free time.😔

Although Post-canon fics where WWX or LWJ get along with JWY, 😑 yeah I'm drawing the lines where lines need to be drawn. I might make the time to delete a lot of bookmarks from my archives.

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The only thing that saved my love for MDZS was WangXian and that speaks for itself because there's a lots of scummy characters (scummy as irl people, they were perfectly fine characters that drove the plot) and WangXian happens to overturn all those flaws because they are the exact opposite to such toxic relationships and toxic people. Plus just because I bash the Jiang Family so much doesn't mean I should stan WWX for the novelty of getting behind the hero or protecting a victim.

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It's because WWX is genuinely a good person that I will stan him with all my squishy beating heart🫀!

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He sees injustice and seeks to correct it. He had literal life costing wrongs done to him and he does not seek further resentment . He knows not to forgive and not to forget but also knows when to let go. And LWJ learned a lot from WWX and he became his moral compass. God 🤩 they are just so good together, good for each other, and good for everyone.🥲

May they forever ♾️❤️ be a happy couple.🥰

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The rest of the trashy cultivators of the Cultivation World can get eaten by the Xuanwu for all I care. 🙄#turtlefood

I might get started about how I came to dislike the Lans in general or wished fiery deaths for most of Cultivation World. But that's for another time.

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Is it hypocritic of me to continue reading these awful OOC Jiang fics? Maybe a little. 😐

Does it take me away from potentially great reads?

On my sane days I'd avoid them like WWX avoids dogs. If I'm feeling curious or just really hoping to find something fresh to read, I'd suck it up and pretend the poorly characterized Jiangs are florid mouthpieces used by the author that I can probably forget and ignore.😖

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I think I have the same problem with Postcanon fics where WWX gets along with his in-laws. I read them ignorant of how the original work actually ended. Now I despair at how awful my reading history looks and I became very critical of the type of fanfics I presently enjoy.

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Taking a page out of @FlautistandPeonies

Jiang family stans don't shit my post. I have literally tagged this anti-everything I can think of the first few lines were literally in big font titled "How I became anti JC"

Fellow mdzs meta readers come at me with gentle criticisms or discussions or comments (emphasis on gentle please 🥺, I'm a sensitive soul that easily loses confidence)

I got the courage to post this after reading a fic with YZY being her petty bitchy self. It was gloriously infuriating that I console myself with the WangXian ending. I might recommend that fic after it's gotten more chapters out (I don't want anyone getting conniptions from the cliffhanger) along with other anti Jiang Family fics.