#jiang yanli is our queen

[rourouxiaobao]

The Power Of soup Compels You Ch9

I've finally returned (slooooowly) to my WIP fics! Starting with a Soupfic update!!

Link to fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35896033/chapters/126341815

Twitter promo tweet: https://x.com/rourouxiaobao/status/1701543222206751149?s=20

[shake-this-poet-out-of-the-beast]

Saw this & all I could think of was Jiang Yanli

[medievalandfantasymelee]

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are now preparing for the second round of contest in the Queen of Love and Beauty mini-tournament.

This round will consist of 6 polls of 6 contestants each, with the three contestants with the most votes on each poll advancing to the next Round. Two polls will be posted per day beginning on Sunday October 27, with each poll lasting one week.

In this round we will be accepting and circulating propaganda for the candidates. Propaganda will not be posted on the polls themselves but will be circulated prior to and during the competition.

The following is a list of our remaining candidates:

Æthelflæd of Mercia [Millie Brady], The Last Kingdom (2015-2022)

Aliena [Hayley Atwell], The Pillars of the Earth (2010)

Anne Boleyn [Genevieve Bujold], Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

Arwen Undomiel [Liv Tyler], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Aykız Hatun [Hande Subaşı], Diriliş: Ertuğrul (2014-2019)

Princess Buttercup [Robin Wright], The Princess Bride (1987)

Brienne of Tarth [Gwendoline Christie], Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Danielle de Barbarac [Drew Barrymore], Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

Eleanore of Aquitaine [Katharine Hepburn], The Lion in Winter (1968)

Elizabeth Woodville [Rebecca Ferguson], The White Queen (2013)

Éowyn of Rohan [Miranda Otto], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Galadriel of Lothlórien [Cate Blanchett], The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Giulia Farnese [Lotte Verbeek], The Borgias (2011-2013)

Guinevere [Angel Coulby], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012)

Princess Gwendolyn [Angela Lansbury], The Court Jester (1955)

Isabeau of Anjou [Michelle Pfeiffer], Ladyhawke (1985)

Princess Isabella Maria Lucia Elizabetta of Valencia [Karen David], Galavant (2015-2016)

Jade Claymore [Erin Kellyman], Willow (2022)

Maid Jean [Glynis Johns], The Court Jester (1955)

Jiang Yanli [Xuan Lu], The Untamed (2019)

Kate [Laura Fraser], A Knight’s Tale (2001)

Lagertha [Katheryn Winnick], Vikings (2013-2020)

Princess Lili [Mia Sara], Legend (1985)

Lucrezia Borgia [Holliday Grainger], The Borgias (2011-2013)

Queen Lucy the Valiant [Rachael Henley], The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010)

Queen Madelena [Mallory Jansen], Galavant (2015-2016)

Margaery Tyrell [Natalie Dormer], Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Margaret of Anjou [Sophie Okonedo], The Hollow Crown (2012-2016)

Lady Marian Fitzwalter [Olivia de Havilland], The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Lady Marion of Leaford [Judi Trott], Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986)

Morgana Pendragon [Katie McGrath], BBC’s Merlin (2008-2012)

Mu Nihuang [Liu Tao], Nirvana in Fire (2015-2018)

Padmavati [Deepika Padukone], Padmaavat (2018)

Rebecca of York [Olivia Hussey], Ivanhoe (1982)

Sansa Stark [Sophie Turner], Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Sibylla of Jerusalem [Eva Green], Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

[robby-bobby-tommy]

Honestly, I can't stress enough how important the theme of family is in mdzs. IMO it is the main theme of the book. Of course romance and devotion is important, but there's something so special about the way families are portrayed in mdzs and how important they are. (I watched donghua and read some of manhua btw)

Let's start with sibling relationships:

The whole plot started because of love for a brother and rage for how unjust his death was. The whole Cloud Recesses arc is an amazing set up for Wangxian etc, but it also shows the complicated yet sweet relationship between WWX and JC. How they both care so much about each other, how they tease each other. IMO JC did see WWX as a brother and loved him as such. Every time he scolds Wei Ying, it's always about Wei Ying's safety. Usually it's not "How dare you use demonic cultivation, you're gonna get our clan in danger", it's " If you keep it up, I won't be able to protect you". Even during the Wen invasion, the they're still together, they sacrifice themselves to save another. And don't get me started about Jiang Yanli, she loves her brothers very much. Despite Madam Yu creating a competition between the boys or Jiang Fengmian's lack of action and even enablement of WWX' dangerous and irresponsible behavior, they still love each other. I can ramble about yunmeng trio so much, but in short despite everything they went through, they cared for each other deeply. After Jiang Yanli's death everything changes, because imo the boys fully internalized Madam Yu's last words. WWX bring pain and destruction to Yunmeng. I think I need to stop, or we'll be here all day.

Or, another example: Nie bros. Nie Mingjue had to basically raise A-sang. They do deeply care about each other, and despite everything they'll be here for each other. Yet the desire to protect NHS from sad reality of golden core and qi deviation, their relationship soured a little. But it's obvious even for an outsider like WWX, that NMJ loves his brother. He pressures NHS, because he feels that he's starting to lose it. He wants to prepare his little bro to be a decent leader and to live without him. And NHS literally makes it his life mission to avenge his Dage even if it means having a blood on his hands.

Lan brothers show a good brother relationship. Lan Xichen supports LWJ in everything he does. Even his love for WWX. He gets protective, when he thinks WWX is laughing at LWJ's feelings. Lan Zhan is deeply saddened when his brother is missing and helps him discover the truth about his best friend's death. They're almost perfect siblings. (Plus they're super funny when drunk).

MXTX deserves an award for writing so many different sibling dynamics. And that's not all, she also portrays this different parental relationship so interesting.

Like, the nephews you didn't want, but care so much about, that you don't want them to suffer like their father did (Lan Qiren and this family drama); the kid of your husband's unrequited love, whom he seemingly loves more than your own children (Yunmeng Jiang happy house), JGS and the myriad of the kids he has ect. I love this variety so much.

I just love so much how MDZS has so much themes. Every time I think about MDZS, I find more and more interesting points and moments that change my perception of the characters. Every character is so humain and has their own motivation, that I can't truly hate some of them (apart from Wen Chao, his mistress and JGS, they suck).

TLDR: MXTX is a queen of writing complex human characters.

[just-troy0-0]

Happy birthday to the sweetest older sister and our soup queen.

Its late but heres a quick doodle of jiang yanli, i love her^-^

[tallochar]

Sometimes I write OC backstories and ideas for myself that never see the light of the day. I tend to write male OCs more often than female OCs, so I was kinda confused why my brain kept coming up with female MDZS OCs.

And then I realized just how raw-ly women get shafted in the MDZS / Untamed universe.

List under the cut because of potential spoilers for new people in fandom and also so this post is easy to skip for anyone not interested in me pointing this out.

That I can remember, off the top of my head:

Jiang Yanli (amazing, perfect, queen of all our hearts, who is the only girl born to a major sect leader who is legitimized has a terrible fiance and then they break up and then he's more horrible to her but then he turns around and redeems himself and they get to be happy for a little while and then he dies and then she dies and leaves behind a child)

Wen Qing (amazing, kickass, fantastic, a queen, we stan, who dies)

Assorted Wen women like Wen Popo (who all die)

Lan Yuan's Wen mom (who died before the Wen got out of the labour camps)

Madam Yu (who is a bitch and a queen and HIGHLY controversial for very good reason who has a terrible marriage and dies protecting her home and people after sending off her son)

Madame Jin (whom we don't know much about except that she supposedly was Madam Yu's best friend and adored Yanli and was a bitch about Wei Wuxian and had a terrible marriage to a known philanderer that had bastards all over the place, who dies sometime off screen in the time skip)

Madam Mo (who is a terrible woman who treats her relative horribly and enables her family's shitty actions and her son's shittier ones and then dies in short order)

Mo Xuanyu's mother (who was the daughter of a servant, got into an affair with Jin Guangshan, we don't know if it was voluntarily or if he pressured her / cajoled her into it, was the subject of praise and jealousy when her son was brought to Jinlintai and then when he was booted out for being a homosexual and a not that great of a cultivator 'died soon after' because she was 'unable to bear the shame', which I always read to imply that she killed herself)

Qin Su (who gets to have a shitty marriage because she unknowingly marries her own half-brother [who knows he is marrying is half-sister but can't figure out a way to get out of it], this half brother then [uberknownst to her, at least for a while] kills their child for being the product of said incest and then he threatens her before she decides to die by suicide)

Meng Yao's mom (was a prostitute who was left pregnant by her client and then abandoned to the wayside and died at some point)

Women that were abused by the lecherous Jin Clan head (most of whom died except for like, one or two)

Supposedly a matriarchal sect Madam Yu came from that we never actually see characters from

Madam Yu's lethal handmaidens (who both die)

Wen Chao's concubine (who is depicted as a jealous, crass, bitchy, terrible woman and who dies)

Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen's mother (killed the teacher of her future husband, future husband became husband because HE decided that that was the only way to protect her and then she got confined to the Jianshi and only allowed to see her kids once a month until she killed herself)

Wei Wuxian's mom (who died pre-canon in a hunt gone wrong with her husband)

Baoshan Sanren (mentioned immortal woman with her own peak and disciples that we only hear about and never see)

Lan ancestor lady (who self-proclaimed herself as having failed at her aims in life and spent centuries of her afterlife watching over a piece of the Yin Iron until she finally got to hand it over to the two protagonists and then moved on, died centuries before canon started)

A-Qing (who lived on the streets and faked a disability to get by and then died before we even met her and remains around as a spirit)

Luo Qingyang / Mianmian who actually gets to live even post timeskip but only because she quit the Jin and retired from the Sect world to live as a rogue cultivator but hey, at least she's alive and she's got a husband and a female child (who gets to interrupt Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian while they are about to have sex in the appedinces)

The girl who got cursed by the fairy statue that we never see beyond the very beginning of the story.

Most of these are dead, almost all the ones who were married had terrible marriages and only a couple escaped the novel with their lives.

Like, holy fuck this is such bad percentages.

[aitchnkay]

Jiang Gunian Made A Change Part 28

It was almost ridiculously easy to take Koi Tower from the Wen. She lost only four members of her strike teams. There were a few dozen casualties from the LanlingJin cultivators. Thirty-seven QishanWen survived, out of almost a thousand who were holding the place.

Yu FangSu looked like a queen standing in the Flower Palace, watching servants wipe up blood. Jin ZiXuan wept over the bodies of the fallen, which Jiang YanLi found refreshing. It made him appear more human, more decent. At least until he opened his mouth to remind Meng Yao that Koi Tower was never going to be his.

Jiang YanLi immediately pulled her advisors and strike teams from the city.

"Where are you going?" Jin ZiXuan protested. "We can use your help!"

"Koi Tower is yours to keep, remember?" Jiang YanLi tried, and failed, to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Deal with the mess yourself. Our Wen Xu spies say he's starting to make preparations to attack the Unclean Realm. I need to discuss with Meng Yao on how to arrange my teams to best support Nie ZongZhu."

"This was once going to be your home, too. You showed no care for Lotus Pier and now no care for Koi Tower. What kind of a woman are you?" Yu FangSu snapped.

"My home is well cared for in my absence," Jiang YanLi retorted. "As for Koi Tower?" She looked around at the opulent setting. "The engagement was dissolved. Jin GongZi has shown no interest in courting me, and I am no longer interested in being courted by him. Koi Tower is not my responsibility now that it's back in Jin control."

Leaving a sputtering Jin Furen behind, Jiang YanLi kept her head high. It was rude, perhaps, to talk back to her mother's friend like that. But what else was she supposed to do? Act as if she was still going to be Jin ZiXuan's wife?

"Meng Yao, report," she ordered once she was halfway down the stairs to the city and saw him open the communication box to QingheNie.

"Wen Xu has attacked the Unclean Realm."

"Find someone who can send a butterfly to our people. Regroup at camp. Then we go to support the Nie."

"Yes, General Jiang."

[lesbian4lqg]

mianmian is a chapstick lesbian and i will die by that

[kaikkilai]

THE UNTAMED IN COULOURS

江厌离 – Jiāng Yànlí

[mxtxfanatic]

Welp, I finished it (minus the extras), and now I don’t know what to do with myself 😭

This was such a tight story and I really had no qualms with how anyone was written, how the plot progressed, or how everything ended. With that said, I guess my view on some characters may have changed or been complicated though, so roundup!

Jiang Cheng: still don’t like him, but now I think of him as more of a manbaby loser than someone who’s a real villain or threat (even when he was)

Jiang Yanli: an absolute delight until the burial mounds era; denial’s a real bitch

Jin Zixuan: bitch, but also dumb. If only he didn’t side with his corrupt family on instinct. Better luck next time

Jin Guangyao: STUNNING PERFORMANCE, A+ villain, at the end where he chooses death by nie mingjue’s hand all while STILL manipulating lan xichen? *chef’s kiss* may he rest in piss

Nie Mingjue: if only you weren’t a self-righteous hypocrite blinded by your own lust for vengeance, smh. Also, pick better friends

Nie Huaisang: YOU LOVE TO SEE IT. I hope he basks in that resounding victory, our true morally gray king

Lan Qiren: hypocritical bitch, but his tantrums were amusing. Him targeting a child for continual punishment cause he mad at his dead mom? Not so much

Lan Xichen: bitchmade. Pathetic faux pacifist. Loser behavior. He’s lucky jgy fucking hated him cause he earned that coffin ending. Maybe has the most chance at growth over all the other bitch characters? (Am still surprised at how much respect I lost for him at every appearance; no wonder mxtx used him as her example of “not smart” 😬)

Wen Ning: too good, too pure for this world. Also should’ve gone for broke and punched a hole in jc’s chest, you know, just for shits and giggles

Wen Qing: boss shit. Why has nobody drawn her dark(er)-skinned LIKE THE NOVEL SAYS SHE IS??? Should’ve sown jc’s organs together while she was in there, you know, just for shits and giggles

The Wen Remnants: pour one out for the homies, cause they ain’t deserve that shit, but also, how are they better people as CORPSES than the whole of the cultivation world? 🤔 how embarrassing

Luo Qingyang: queen shit, deserved a standing fucking ovation. We stan a side character who appears for only a chapter and EARNS her happy ending (unlike her loser male counterparts 😒)

The juniors: love them, love them connecting with each other, love them connecting with wen ning, love jin ling finally having friends and not turning into his loser maternal uncle (please somebody get him some therapy tho 😭)

Wangxian: 💖💖💖💖💖💖

The cultivation world: 🔪🔪🔪🔪

If i missed anyone, no I didn’t. They simply did not make waves enough to be mentioned 🤷🏽‍♀️

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25 part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Jin Jerks Continued

Jin Furen is all judgy about Wei Wuxian, so it's hard to like her, since WWX is our protagonist and whatnot. But! Jin Furen is actually totally awesome. She adores Jiang Yanli and takes sides with her against her own son. She knows he likes Yanli and works her ass off to do all the courting for him, since he sucks at it, rather than picking a random wife for him and sticking him with her choice. She's always gentle with Yanli in her tone and body language. And Jin Zixuan had to get his good side from somebody.

Wei Wuxian politely tells Jin Furen that it's all over (again/still) between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, and cousin Jin Zixun rushes up to argue with him, saying he's being too proud and that he shouldn't talk to Jin Furen that way, since she is his senior. Wei Wuxian, still politely, explains the clan politics that underlie every one of these Zixuan-Yanli interactions. As a matter of clan pride, the Jiang Clan can't allow Yanli to be insulted.

Cousin Jin Zixun immediately goes all in on the clan rivalry, beefing with Wei Wuxian about how much prey he caught. Everybody forgets all about Yanli's situation while they talk about the hunt results instead.

The Jin cultivators--parroting what they heard from Jin Guangyao--say that Wei Wuxian has flute-walked 30 percent of the prey into nets by himself. Lan Wangji actually decides to react to something, saying "30 percent? and giving Wei Wuxian such a series of LOOKS, oh my god. 

This Wangxian moment is an important one, I think, because it shows where Lan Wangji's priorities are, and they're...wrong. He's continually telling Wei Wuxian "be good," in one way or another; trying to help him back to the correct way of being a cultivator.  Meanwhile the Lans are totally fine with the Jins being murderous shits who feel entitled to insult high-ranking ladies.

CJZX continues to snipe at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continues to judge WWX for being unsportsmanlike.

(more after the cut!)

Wei Wuxian says that he's just showing his capability, and CJZX tries to tell him both that 1. he's practicing evil cultivation and 2. he's just playing the flute. WWX offers him Chenqing and says "show me your capability" which I think is cultivator speak for "fight me, bitch." 

Cousin Jin Zixun moves the goalposts, saying that Wei Wuxian broke the rules, and starts in with class-based dogwhistling, saying "it's understandable that you don't know the rules," and citing examples of Wei Wuxian’s previous bad manners at cultivation events. 

Things escalate and pretty soon Wei Wuxian is yelling at everybody, threatening to tell them why he doesn't carry his sword, (which would actually clear up SO much) and saying he's going to beat them all using necromancy whatever is just this side of necromancy. 

Cousin Jin Zixun tosses his birth status at him, and then it's ON. Scary music, shaking fist, Chenqing booting up...

Lan Wangji, who has been singularly unhelpful since CJZX started talking, suddenly forgets his judginess as he's swept into motion by his constant fear of whatever is going to happen next time Wei Wuxian loses his temper. 

He rushes to Wei Wuxian’s side, grabs his wrist, says his name, and wills him to chill the fuck out. Jiang Yanli joins him, grabbing Wei Wuxian's other arm, and Wei Wuxian manages to get control of himself.

Queen Yanli

Yanli has had it, and she has Wei Wuxian stand behind her while she goes to politely reduce Cousin Jin Zixun to a heap of smoldering cinders.

First she recaps CJZX's accusations against Wei Wuxian; says she doesn't know a lot about the hunt, and apologizes formally on her brother’s behalf. WWX says "Shijie!" but she shakes her head at him and he shuts up.  

CJZX laughs and tells her, in a tone designed to infuriate Wei Wuxian even further, that Wei Wuxian doesn’t rate her apologizing on his behalf, and says that their clans are like family; reinforcing WWX's outsider status. I don't think CJZX is taking orders from Jin Guangyao, because he's way too big of a snob for that, but he's definitely helping JGY to move his agenda forward.

Even Lan Wangji is having trouble staying cool during this exchange; he is focused on keeping Wei Wuxian in check but he’s also angry himself, judging from what his neck is doing here, anyway. *Stares at his neck for way too long*

Wei Wuxian is super upset about Jiang Yanli apologizing, and he’s unable to hold back tears, even with Lan Wangji using the power of extreme staring to help him. 

Jiang Yangli is nowhere near finished, though and she turns around and proceeds to tell everyone that they suck, that it's not Wei Wuxian's fault if he's more talented than everybody else, and that they are just making up rules because they are a bunch of losers. 

Clan Leader Yao has the nerve to say that they know the rules "in their hearts" which is just another class-based dogwhistle. 

Yanli defends Wei Wuxian's cultivation method to everybody, saying it's something he worked at and put effort into--that it's different, not wrong. She's literally the only person who defends his cultivation style, even though they all have benefited from it.

Then she gets right up in Cousin Jin Zixun's face and tells him that it's not ok for him to insult WWX by calling him the son of a servant, and she wants CJZX to apologize. (full gifset here) All of the Jins and Captain Blowhard Clan Leader Yao are SHOCKED at this idea. Jin Furen tries to talk Yanli down but Yanli politely nopes her away, so JFR tells CJZX to apologize.

He's saved from having to actually do it by the arrival of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, who jump down off a box fly over to find out what's wrong.

Jin Furen yells at smiley, blinkey Jin Guangyao, telling him he should be able to figure out what's wrong, saying "aren't you good at judging the situation," i.e. aren't you a conniving little creep? She's bitchy but she's not wrong.

When the "30 percent" thing is explained again, Lan Xichen gives Wei Wuxian the same Lan Glare of Sportsmanship Disappointment that his brother did. 

Lan Xichen: It's fine for my boyfriend's obviously power-hungry family to insult my brother's war-hero best friend in a bid to reduce his social status, but him using magic powers in our magical creature hunt is super wrong.  

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen explain that they're going to open up more area for the hunt, but it's too late to make Cousin Jin Zixun happy. He takes his ball and goes home. 

The Breaking of the Fellowship

The remaining group stroll slowly through the woods, Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli together, while Wei Wuxian walks at a bit of a distance and Jin Zixuan follows right behind his mother. His mother offers to beat him to make Jiang Yanli feel better. See? Perfect Mother-in-Law material.

Jiang Yanli tries to leave again, and is stopped again. This time Jin Furen tries to convince her to come back to the stands to sit with her and Jin Zixuan, and not to go with Wei Wuxian. First she tries saying that it's not appropriate for her and Wei Wuxian to be alone together. Yanli shuts that right down, saying that Wei Wuxian is her didi. Then Jin Furen says that Wei Wuxian has "strong wicked energy" and that he may do something evil. Like fighting back when he is ambushed on his way to a party.

Jiang Yanli repeats that Wei Wuxian is her didi, and says that she'll never leave him. JFR keeps trying but Wei Wuxian steps up and takes Yanli by the wrist and goes to lead her away. Jin Zixuan finally, FINALLY admits that he likes Jiang Yanli. 

He is embarrassed, Jiang Yanli is delighted, and Lan Xichen is amused. 

Jin Zixuan runs away and Jiang Yanli agrees to go back to Jinlintai with Jin Furen. Wei Wuxian is super immature unhappy about it....

....but he accepts her decision, in a nearly wordless exchange that we’ll see echoes of much later, between him and Lan Wangji. (Exceptionally cruel gifset here)

Wei Wuxian formally bows to Jin Furen, asking her to take care of his sister. Because he recognizes this for the parting that it is.

Jiang Yanli isn't wrong to make this choice. She deserves to be happy, and married women in this environment can't live with their original family. But she told Wei Wuxian, over and over, that the three of them have to stick together, only to change course and leave him behind with no warning. It’s not even five minutes since she said "I will never leave him."  Wei Wuxian isn’t the only person making impossible promises in these parts.  

Jiang Cheng and some Jiang cultivators show up, and everyone, including Wei Wuxian, tells Jiang Cheng that he missed an important scene, but nobody will tell him what actually happened. 

Wei Wuxian says he's going into town, and he leaves Jiang Cheng behind just as abruptly as Jiang Yanli left him.

Jiang Cheng asks Lan Xichen what happened, and Lan Xichen says "there was an argument but it's mostly smoothed over now; also, Jin Zixuan says he likes your sister."  Ha ha ha ha! Of course he does not say that, he says "You should ask your sister at the banquet" and Jin Guangyao says it wouldn't be appropriate for them, as outsiders, to comment.

I would like to see Jiang Cheng respond to this by beating the crap out of them with Zidian for being a couple of coy bitches, but he just furrows his brow. 

JGY hangs back from the group for a second to tell JC that WWX is sooooo great, before they all head back to Jinlintai.

Insecurest Boi

As everyone is walking Jiang Cheng hears Captain Blowhard saying that Lotus Pier made a strong impression today, and that they'll be able to recruit a whole lot of disciples. The cultivators are of two opinions about whether having Wei Wuxian is a good thing for a clan. 

Then a Jin cultivator says he heard that the Yin tiger amulet is made of the missing piece of Yin iron. He says he overheard it from Jin Guangyao. He says even if it's not for certain, the timing fits. Jiang Cheng reacts to this as if he 100% believes it, because Jiang Cheng is a dumbass sometimes. 

He should just frickin’ ask Wei Wuxian about the amulet. Lan Wangji asked where he got it and Wei Wuxian told him, and Jiang Cheng, while they have their issues, is officially on WWX's side, so there’s no reason for WWX not to tell him.

The Jin cultivator goes on to say that the Jiang Clan ain't shit, that all their deeds belong to Wei Wuxian.  Jiang Cheng takes all of this on board totally unfiltered. Literally everything that any Jin cultivator other than MianMian says is propaganda coming from Jin Guangyao, but Jiang Cheng thinks they're friends and doesn't know how to recognize manipulation. 

Jiang Cheng is hearing the exact same criticism that Jiang Yanli heard, but he's not equipped to handle it, and instead of fighting back he gets angry at Wei Wuxian. Despite all his recent growth, he is still crushingly insecure, and this is hitting him right in his tenderest spot. Jiang Fengmian has a lot to answer for.

Instant Replacement Sister

Wei Wuxian is off working through his own feelings; he's wandering the street in Lanling with a bottle of wine in hand. Wen Qing, in her red Wen robe and her hooded cloak, is wandering the street in the opposite direction. They pass each other without seeing, in a moment that's excruciating to watch the first time. 

But then some Jin cultivators obligingly push her to the ground, and Wei Wuxian, with his beautiful heart of fucking gold, hears someone who needs help and turns around.

For a moment he smiles in recognition, before the smile clouds over. Wen Qing, for her part, looks horrified; perhaps it’s everything she’s going through, but perhaps she can see that he, in his own way, is struggling nearly as much as she is. Meeting with her will galvanize him and give him the life direction he desperately needs.

A Day Late and a Tael Short

Lan Wangji wants to solve Wei Wuxian's problem, but he lacks imagination, so his best idea is to hide him in Cloud Recesses. 

Lan Xichen points out that Wei Wuxian might not be on board with that. This conversation is short, but it has some layers, once you know about their parents' relationship. Lan Wangji frowns but doesn't have a second idea.

[randomprose]

jiang cheng with the junior quartet in which they've outgrown their fear of him and they realized sect leader jiang is just a giant grumpy cat with mother-hen tendencies.

when they night hunt with him occasionally he always has snacks and buys them street food if they finish early. he'll scold them for eating unhealthily but buys them the treats anyway. once, ozz said he's never had zongzi so jc bought them all one each from a stall.

he doesn't even say anything to wen ning anymore. when he sees that the juniors are with him, he just gives an acknowledging nod and a gruff reminder directed at the four of them to don't do anything stupid before going on his way. like he trusts them with him.

but anyway, these juniors start to pester jiang cheng whenever they're in yunmeng and they've somewhat learn how to decipher his scowls and screams from normal fond-bordering-on-affectionate ones to actually angry ones—the latter of which is rarely ever directed at them.

they're over at lotus pier whenever JL is. JL doesn't get to go there much now because of his sect leader duties but when he is, he is sure followed by his friends. it's like they've decided lotus pier is their go to headquarters where they can fool around and shit. jiang cheng would pretend he hates it and finds them all a nuisance ("don't you kids have your own sects to go home to?? lotus pier is not your play place! why are you brats always here?!") but he's really glad JL's got friends with him now. he used to be such a lonely child.

overtime, they just randomly pop up even when JL isn't there. jiang cheng is always surprised to see either lsz, ljy, or ozz in the compound saying they were in the area and decided to pop in for a greeting like: hi sect leader jiang! how are you? been to any night hunts lately?

they're over there a lot that they even have their own regular guest quarters by now. ones close to JL's suites in the family compound. they sometimes train with the disciples but otherwise they just mess around lotus pier and swim in the lakes. especially in the summers.

JL is ecstatic! finally! people who understands his jiujiu's weird show of affection other than wwx! JL thinks his jiujiu is just severely misunderstood but he really is just a Big Softie with grumpy tendencies.

oh and he teaches them stuff too obviously, but not in the way that's playful and interactive like wwx or direct like lwj. jiang cheng's wisdom comes in random bouts in the middle of night hunts. small tidbits on fighting born out of experiences from the war and life in general. the profound ones come when he's two bottles deep just before turning in or when they're strolling on busy night markets going home and he doesn't even mean to but the juniors are like 'wow that makes so much fucking sense we never thought of it that way what the fuck.'

when the juniors are night hunting near yunmeng or if lotus pier is their meeting point and jiang cheng doesn't get to come with them, he makes the servants pack them extra snacks or pile them on to JL to share with his friends. the servants are careful not to say anything but they all know it's under sect leader jiang's orders

ohmygod jiang cheng is such an overbearing mother hen. but in a good way! the juniors learned to enjoy it the best they can and needle him into buying them snacks or letting them do stuff they normally wouldn't get away with from wangxian. he's literally the grumpy uncle who's also the most indulgent.

on god can you imagine jiang cheng being THAT UNCLE who lets u get away with small misdemeanors?? ABSOLUTELY INSANE. but he does with the juniors!! like he trusts them to not be so stupid and call for help when need (also they have a fierce corpse as a companion most of the time anyway, so).

some sprinkles of wangxian bc i'm a slut for them: 

wangxian notice that they've been talking a lot about sect leader jiang. “oh,” wwx says, “you went night hunting with jiang cheng? when was this how come i’ve never heardof it?” he's clearly itching to ask more he's practically vibrating.

ljy: don’t worry wei-qianbei you're still our favorite! sect leader jiang is our close 3rd  wwx: 3rd? who's 1 and 2? ozz: you and hgj are #1 of course! wwx: we tied for #1?   ljy: yeah you're practically a package deal. do not separate and all that wwx: who's #2 tho? ozz: wen-qianbei! wwx: huh. valid.

jl: speak for yourselves. jiujiu is my #1. wwx: that's also very valid too a-ling. otherwise i'll have to scold you for being unfilial and jiang cheng will break your legs for breaking his heart.

once while relaying a report, lsz called jiang cheng ‘shūshū’ and wwx had to do a double take because um what? what did you just call jiang cheng? lsz blushed and stuttered an explanation before jl explained obnoxiously:

jl: jiujiu told him to call him that. told him to go to the ancestral hall to pay respects too. he must really like you sizhui.  ljy, #1 sizhui fan: of course he likes sizhui! everyone does! wwx: is it true sizhui? lsz, blushing:...shūshū's nice... wwx:...jiang cheng...shushu...nice..ok....okok...

lmao one of them (either ozz or ljy but i think it will be more hilarious if it's ljy) slipped and called jiang cheng 'jiujiu' once just because he kept hearing jl calling him that. jiang cheng just turns to him with a mild "that's jiang-zongzhu to you, lan jigyi."

and god!!! ljy is so mortified!!! this is worst than that one time he accidentally called hgj 'dad'!! it doesn't help that his friends are assholes (yes even sizhui!!) and never let him live it down. especially JL!! he's all "don't go stealing my jiujiu now" fuck you JL!! as if ljy will!!

also, once when they were sassing jiang cheng, (they get!! to sass sect leader jiang!! and he only threatened to break their legs once!!) and ljy got the last word in, jiang cheng hit him w/ a "is that any way to talk to ur uncle? huh, nephew?" which effectively shut up ljy as his friends roared in laughter propriety be damned!!

((yes i was thinking of that B99 episode where jake peralta called captain holt dad and holt went in for the ride and called jake 'son' lmao))

goodddd!!! i live for the junior quartet discovering that underneath jiang cheng's rough exterior he's a Big Softie who's also hilarious even when he doesn't mean to. JL is very happy with this development and wwx is happy to hear stories about his brother having fun with the kids.

this ran long but i also just wanna says this is because of queen jiang yanli's influence (you guys notice how yunmeng trio are all good with kids?) 

ANYWAY! this is me again with my 'Jiang Cheng is Great With Kids So Give Him More Kids To Take Care Of' agenda and you all should jump in on it thank you.

[posted on twitter]

[hunxi-guilai]

I would *love* any additional linguistic details you can provide on the Baifeng Mountain scene where Queen Yanli absolutely eviscerates asshole-cousin-Jin (as Jin Zixun is known in our household). The subtitles are incredible enough, but I'm sure there are so many details I'm missing that would make me love Yanli even more (if that's possible). Anything you wanted to share would be welcome!

okay okay so I went back and rewatched that scene to answer this ask and god is it painful to sit through, because:

Wei Wuxian is like, on the edge of tears for this entire scene, which prefigures the entire conflict in episode 32 during the second siege of Nightless City. Both times, he’s frustrated and furious, and every single one of his arguments made in cold, cool logic gets shouted down by louder voices who want nothing more than to see him dead, punished for his aberrant genius. Both times, they cast aspersions on his ambition, his person, his audacity, his upbringing -- and most of all, they insult (without knowing) his greatest sacrifice, the likes of which no one knows, no one can even really comprehend. It makes me SO MAD. 

This is the last time Wei Wuxian has both of his emotional anchors — Lan Wangji and Jiang Yanli — present to pull him back from an emotional brink. Not that anyone, y’know, appreciates the immense emotional effort it took him to not eviscerate Jin Zixun on the spot. We don’t really talk about the immense emotional control and self-discipline Wei Wuxian has to not go berserk at literally any second — we should talk about that more. Can I get some snaps for our resident demonic cultivator?

Sect Leader Yao is in this scene, for some unknown reason, and speaks. Ugh. Can he stop doing that

Jin Zixun gets out of this scene without actually delivering the apology that Jiang Yanli demanded, the weasel.

But! In the name of shijie, we persevere!

I’m not going to translate the entire scene (because I’m not, I’m not re-translating the entire show, if I say it enough times I’ll believe it), but here are some interesting blocking/dialogue things I noticed this time around:

Jin Zixun is so?? breathtakingly??? rude????

which, I know, is not exactly a surprise or a deep insight, but this scene really hammers home how goddamn infuriating he is.

Wei Wuxian spends this entire confrontation trying to get away — he turns his back on Jin Zixun, speaks to other people, anything to rein himself in and, y’know, not smash Jin Zixun’s face into smithereens — but Jin Zixun continually chases him around the clearing, constantly getting in Wei Wuxian’s face. It’s like Jin Zixun is trying to get in a fight with Wei Wuxian, and yet, when Wei Wuxian offers him that fight, Jin Zixun backs off.

I might be overthinking this, but it really seems like Jin Zixun is trying to employ a variation on 苦肉计 kurouji (one of the 《三十六计》，The Thirty-Six Stratagems) by deliberately goading Wei Wuxian towards violence. It’s almost as if he’s trying to get Wei Wuxian to attack him, so that, during the inevitable fall-out, he can point at his own injuries and yell loudly about Wei Wuxian’s lack of culture, lack of control, lack of education, etc etc. 

It’s also a pretty high-risk gambit in this case, which makes me wonder if someone put him up to it… cough Jin Guangshan cough

Or, y’know, Jin Zixun is just that obnoxious, his arrogance cultivated through a childhood of luxury and that unquestioned belief in his inherent superiority. That’s also possible.

Anyways, Jin Zixun’s asshole-ry doesn’t stop with Wei Wuxian; right after Jiang Yanli apologizes to Jin Zixun — apologizes! — on behalf of Wei Wuxian, Jin Zixun straight-up walks away from her bow. She is literally still bowing to him, torso inclined, eyes lowered. The correct and courteous thing to do in this moment is to acknowledge the apology, whether that’s accepting it or denying it, so that Jiang Yanli can straighten up and they can talk face-to-face like two people of the same rank and generation. But no-o-o — he walks away from her, goes over to Wei Wuxian, rubs it in his face a bit more, before finally acknowledging the apology with a magnanimous and dismissive gesture, declaring that the apology is not necessary.

Seriously? You just went after Wei Wuxian for a solid four minutes, and now you’re saying that apologies aren’t necessary? What the fuck do you even want, you piece of--

UGH. Anyway. Let’s talk about Jin-furen, who’s bobbing along concernedly in the background.

Jin-furen’s shifting role

So I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings on Jin-furen, but most of my uncertainty about her is because we don’t get much of her onscreen at all. I love that she is completely and totally unafraid to call Jin Zixuan out on his disaster het bullshit, and she does try to defuse the situation here by intervening both with Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixun (let’s remember that Jin-furen is the one to yell at Jin Zixun, backing up Jiang Yanli’s demand for his apology). And I absolutely adore seeing the solidarity between Jin-furen and Jiang Yanli in the brief moments where they’re allied against the men in the scene.

At the same time… Jin-furen is complicated. She has, objectively, the worst husband in the series, yet manages to maintain an air of dignity and command that belies her petite height (everyone in this cast are goddamn giants but words cannot encompass my love for the fact that Jiang Yanli, in all her five-foot-six glory, tells local necromantic six-foot beanpole and younger brother to stand behind her). As she watches Jiang Yanli tear Jin Zixun a new one, you can see this mix of emotions on her face — the instinct to tell Jiang Yanli to back off, to keep her head down, to silence herself because that’s how women stay safe in this world, that’s how women survive, balanced equally with a respect and unspoken support for Jiang Yanli because you go girl, knock these asshole men down a few pegs, they deserve it.

Part of the reason why this scene’s so complicated is because there are so many parties, and so many different agendas at play. We have:

Jin Zixuan, disaster het, trying to communicate his affections to the love of his life and failing spectacularly

Jiang Yanli, resident queen, too good for this world, too pure. Trying not to get her heart broken and also defend her little bro

Wei Wuxian, necromantic beanpole, trying to defend his shijie from this man who keeps hurting her feelings, trying not to lay waste to everything within a square mile

Lan Wangji, just passing by, trying to make sure the love of his life doesn’t cause an inter-clan incident

Jin-furen, the only grown-up around, trying to get her disaster son to talk nicely to his former betrothed while looking out for the daughter of her best friend

Jin Zixun, local asshole, trying to get Wei Wuxian to attack him

Literally everyone has a different motive in this scene, which makes this moment delightfully complex. But at this moment:

don’t pretend I can’t see you, Jin Zixuan

Another thing I couldn’t help but track was Jin Zixuan’s presence in the background of this scene (remember when this scene started with Wei Wuxian interrupting disaster hets Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli? Ah yes, gentler times) — he’s there, watching everything unfold, watching his beloved roll up her sleeves and go toe-to-toe with Jin Zixun, watching even his mom yell at Jin Zixun — and he does… nothing?

“你这个臭小子” -- Jin-furen, actually

I keep thinking about how Jin Zixuan grew up — lonely, proud, adrift — and why he doesn’t try to intervene in this scene, to talk Jin Zixun down the way he does in episode 31 (RIP. For Jin Zixuan. Not Jin Zixun). I wonder how many people he can call close friends — he’s the sole legitimate heir of the Lanling Jin Sect, elevated and isolated in his status and skill in a way not-unlike coldly aloof Lan Wangji (and boy do I have thoughts about how bitterly lonely Lan Wangji is throughout his life thanks to his reputation), except Jin Zixuan doesn’t have an elder brother who understands him, doesn’t have someone who can tease him and listen to him and watch out for him. No, he’s just got this one asshole cousin around his age that he tolerates because Jin Zixun’s foul mouth and foul temper is never directed at him. I can’t imagine that Jin Guangshan was a particularly good father to Jin Zixuan, even if he does do, y’know, the bare minimum of refraining from kicking Jin Zixuan down the steps of Jinlintai; and considering that Jin-furen was the one to bring up suspicions about the ‘‘‘‘‘‘propriety’’’’’ of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli walking together (seriously Jin-furen, the thought had never crossed my mind before you brought it up), I can’t imagine that she would let Jin Zixuan get too close to, say, Mianmian/Luo Qingyang.

Nothing particularly coherent here, but this scene got me thinking about how profoundly lonely Jin Zixuan must have been while growing up, although I doubt he admitted would ever admit such a weakness to himself. Which might explain why he doesn’t try to rein in Jin Zixun, here — he doesn’t want to alienate, the only other person his age that his parents let him talk to.

He’s still a disaster of a man, though. Someone get him some proper socialization, stat.

Hands, Feet, and Siblings

All right let’s get some dialogue and translations up in this post. I did (deep sigh) do the thing where I muted the episode on YouTube and turned on the English subs, and shockingly… it’s not terrible? I mean it’s not great (seriously, what’s going on with ‘preys,’ just use the verb ‘hunt’ like a normal person please) but the meaning of the lines are pretty well-communicated. I do want to look a bit at these two lines, because I’m in the business of appreciating language AND Jiang Yanli:

Jin Zixun, right after Jiang Yanli apologizes to him, before she utterly roasts him: 但是，看在江姑娘还有江宗主的面子上，道歉就不用了。毕竟云梦江氏和兰陵金氏本来就情同手足嘛。/ But, considering the feelings of Jiang-guniang as well as Jiang-zongzhu, this apology is not needed. After all, the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng and the Jin Clan of Lanling are as dear to each other as hands are to feet.

Jiang Yanli, in the process of absolutely destroying Jin Zixun: 阿羡是我云梦江氏子弟，自小同我姐弟二人一起长大，情逾手足。你脱口而出家仆之子，恕我不能接受，因此还希望金子勋公子向我云梦江氏魏无羡道歉。/ A-Xian is one of our disciples, of the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng. Ever since he was small, he grew up with the two of us, dearer than hands or feet. You threw out the words ‘son of a servant.’  I beg your pardon*, but I cannot tolerate this. And so, I hope that Jin Zixun-gongzi will apologize to Wei Wuxian of our Yunmeng Jiang Clan.

*Jiang Yanli, here, uses the words 恕我 shuwo, which literally means “forgive me” but often appears in phrases like 恕我直言 shuwo zhiyan / ‘forgive me for my blunt speech,’ and thereby has this vague aura of ‘sorry-not-sorry’

Okay! So I’ve bolded the relevant chengyu in both lines of dialogue: Jin Zixun says that the Jiang and Jin Clans are 情同手足, which gets translated in the YouTube subs (and on Pleco, for the record) into “as close as brothers.” Totally correct! Absolutely conveys the appropriate sentiment! Pretty much means this in Chinese! But on a character/semantic level, has no thing to do with brothers or siblings:

情 qing - (n.) feelings, sentiment

同 tong - (adj.) just as, like

手 shou - (n.) hand

足 zu - (n.) foot

Literally, the idiom expresses ‘as dear as hands and feet, such that you are never apart from them, even for a day.’ Since it’s often used to express the closeness of two people on a sibling-esque level, it’s not surprising that it gets translated the way it does. But if we want to get down to the meaning of it, it’s like saying that someone is as close to you that they’re practically the same body — inseparable as hands and feet.

So Jin Zixun says that about the two sects, but Jiang Yanli takes that one step further and modifies the chengyu into:

情 qing - (n.) feelings, sentiment

逾 yu - (v.) to exceed

手 shou - (n.) hand

足 zu - (n.) foot

which is pretty much the same sentiment as another established chengyu, 情逾骨肉 qingyugurou / ‘dearer than one’s own bone and flesh.’ The point here is that Jiang Yanli, by changing the second character, emphasizes that Wei Wuxian is dearer to her than any political alliance with the Jin Sect. Sure, fine, our two sects are close as hands and feet, she says, but Wei Wuxian is more important to me than hands or feet.

Shijie is the literal best.

Throughout this whole confrontation, Jin Zixun tries his level best to isolate Wei Wuxian, attacking him for his alternative cultivation, for his parentage, questioning his morality, his righteousness, deploying all sorts of verbal abuse isolating and demeaning Wei Wuxian and his achievements. And since Wei Wuxian is trying not to cause trouble for Yunmeng Jiang (Yu-furen’s last words to him still echo in his mind), he doesn’t try to call on any sort of relationship with Yunmeng Jiang to defend himself, taking all of the insult onto himself alone.

Jiang Yanli will not stand for this. Wei Wuxian is hers, is Yunmeng Jiang’s, is not alone. It would be so, so easy to leave Wei Wuxian out in the cold — they’re surrounded by an overwhelming majority of Jin Sect and randos (including — ugh — Sect Leader Yao); they’re on their own. She doesn’t usually pull rank or assert authority loudly in public debate, but in this moment she does. When Jiang Yanli goes off on Jin Zixun, she claims Wei Wuxian, makes it known that there will be no dividing of the two of them (which, I think, is part of what prompts Jin-furen to switch sides and demand that Jin Zixun apologize as well), that an attack on Wei Wuxian is as good as an attack on Yunmeng Jiang.

Someone is attacking her little brother, so she’ll go to fucking war for him. 

pour one out for Jin Guangyao

Jin Zixun narrowly avoids having to apologize to Jiang Yanli (still seething about that, by the way) thanks to the arrival of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen. Jin-furen immediately storms over to Jin Guangyao and lays into him, since he’s a convenient scapegoat whom she already holds a grudge against (is it logical? no. is it good of her? no. but does she have the literal worst husband who needs to be set on fire? yes. and does Jin Guangyao remind her of that fact? unfortunately, through no fault of his own, yes). What upsets me the most about this, though, is that Jin-furen calls Jin Guangyao 废物 feiwu / ‘good-for-nothing, useless thing.’ Underneath it all is the the implicit judgment of class and status — Jin Guangyao’s eternal raw nerve, son of a prostitute.

Jin-furen smacks the pleasant smile right off of Jin Guangyao’s face, and it’s decidedly… unpleasant. There’s colloquialism in modern Mandarin, 躺枪 tangqiang, which literally means ‘to get shot even while lying down.’ The idea here is that there’s a conflict going on (usually somewhere on the internet) and someone, who’s trying to lie low, definitely not engaging, still gets dragged into the whole mess. They’re keeping their head down and they still get shot.

Yep, that’s Jin Guangyao in this scene; just tryin’ his best to be helpful, to smooth things over, to resolve conflicts, and Jin-furen slaps him in the face. Even Lan Xichen looks actively uncomfortable, and steps up to defend him.

Man, this whole scene is such a mess (from an in-universe perspective, not a production standpoint. The production is impeccable and needs no notes), and part of it is because there are so many personalities and agendas clashing in a high-stress environment.

But one last dig of the knife:

Jiang Cheng shows up late to the no-good-very-bad party, and he’s all concern for Wei Wuxian. Where are you going? he asks. Come with me to the Hundred Flowers Feast.

And Wei Wuxian removes Jiang Cheng’s hand from his arm--

I can’t get over the fact that Jiang Cheng stares down at his hands, totally disbelieving that Wei Wuxian just shrugged him off

says, I’m going into the city to roam for a bit. Go on your own, and Jiang Cheng watches him walk away, disbelieving, confused, left in the dark and the dust.

(and the next time Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng see each other, it will be in the grand hall of Jinlintai, when Wei Wuxian stands before the assembled clans and snatches away a cup of wine, sets fire to his bridges and counts down from three, because that single, fateful trip into the city will be when he meets Wen Qing again for the first time since she reached inside him and cut away his childhood at his own request, the beginning of an end long in coming)

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

[theuntamedaus]

So, previously on my Ice Skating AU.

I finally am covering the XuanLi drama going on.

I have left things with WWX going off to the Gusu rink and living the best life with LWJ and JC teaching ice skating to kids and being in love with NHS.

This leaves us with good, sweet Yanli, who is still doing championships as a solo in the women's category in the Meishan Yu rink, whilst JZX is competing as a solo in the men category.

Yes, they split up, but to add oil to the fire, whilst it was a conscious decision that fell completely in line with the double divorce, there is still something stirring underneath.

"Unfortunately", JZX and JYL, though they would never admit it, have fallen in love with each other. They are just too proud and/or dumb to admit their own feelings for each other.

YZY has a reunion with her bestie, former Madam Jin, and she brings along Yanli.

Ofc Yanli and JZX are happy to see each other, but OMG they can't act normally around each other. It will be up to our beloved queen Luo "Mianmian" Qingyang, currently one of the best skaters in the Lanling rink, to make the two dumb pining idiots get together.

Ofc JZX still embarrasses himself in front of everyone and manages to let out his own feelings of undying love towards JYL, then runs away hiding.

JYL finds him again at the rink some time later and he apologises and offers her a plush teddy bear holding a lotus flower - he specifically went to Build-a-Bear for this, but he won't tell.

She also confesses that she is in love with him. JZX asks her if she would like to compete as a pair together with him of her own will and says that if the answer is no he will be ok with it anyway.

JYL smiles and tells him that yes, she would love to compete as a pair wit him again. The two will get married and have a ton of kids, Jin Ling being their firstborn.

At the news, both WWX and JC take it with the usual Yunmeng Jiang aplomb, aka

LWJ and NHS have to invoke the help of their respective big brothers before blood gets spilled.

They will eventually make peace with the thought when faced with actual evidence that their beloved sister and the Peacock love each other dearly.

Everything ends well.

BONUS STUFF

1. Mo Xuanyu is one of JGS's bastard children. He will leave the Mos and rent a flat with Qin Su, his newly discovered half-sister. Mo Xuanyu is a quite successful make up artist and owns a YouTube channel called "Let's summon make up".

2. Qin Su will learn the hard way that she is the result of her mother's rape by JGS and decides to make up for it by being an activist and defending survivors of rape. She will eventually become a quite successful lawyer.

3. In this AU Xue Yang is a doll customizer, he has a Youtube channel called "Demonic Customs". He lives with Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen and a-Jing. XXC is blind and trusts people a lot. SL and a-Jing are convinced that XY is a murderer, considering that sentences like "now that I have decapitated her, let's put the head into pure acetone", "time to find some eyes" and "today I will need my trusty saw" have come out of XY's mouth pretty regularly and XXC has to constantly remind them that "he is a doll customizer, OF COURSE you re mistaking him for a murderer, but look, the shelves are full of dragon dolls and pokemon dolls, come on guys :D"

"Xingchen, we love you, but his channel is literally called 'demonic customs', you catch?"

"It will be fine :D"

[besanii]

shattered mirrors 56

WangXian ; 1280 words

Lan Wangji enters the Imperial study as he has done since he was fifteen years old and first starting out in his political career. And as always, his brother is seated behind the desk with his uncle standing to one side, both of them waiting for him—only this time, Lan Xichen is no longer wearing the dark blue robes of the Crown Prince with silver clouds along the collar, but in Imperial black. Amongst the clouds now are dragons stitched in gold, winding their way around his sleeves and the length of his robes; the formal headdress is nowhere in sight, but the usual silver headpiece has also been replaced by one of gold.

The sight gives him pause once he steps over the threshold, a stark reminder of what else they have lost in the months since the war ended.

“Your subject, Lan Wangji, greets Huangshang,” he says, sinking to his knees and touching his forehead to the tiles. “May our Emperor live for ten thousand years.”

Lan Xichen raises a hand briefly in his direction.

“Hanguang-wang may rise,” he says.

Lan Wangji rises to his feet and turns to his uncle with a shallower bow, his hands clasped before him in a wide circle.

“Huangshu.”

Lan Qiren nods. “Wangji.”

They have not spoken at much length since Lan Wangji’s return from the front lines—marred by his very public punishment and subsequent seclusion, as well as Lan Qiren’s own official duties—but Lan Wangji knows his uncle disapproves of his actions and behaviour in the past year. It shows now with the tension in his jaw and the rigidity of his spine, the way he glares at a spot just over Lan Wangji’s shoulder instead of directly at his person. Lan Wangji does not fear censure, but being the subject of his uncle’s displeasure has never been a comfortable experience.

Fortunately, however, there are more pressing matters at hand.

“Huangshang sent urgent summons for me,” he says, bowing his head as he addresses Lan Xichen once again. “Is there perhaps an important issue Huangshang wishes to discuss?”

Lan Xichen turns to the servants in the room.

“You may leave us,” he tells them.

“Yes, Huangshang,” they chorus, bowing in unison. They back out of the room in two lines, heads and bodies still bowed; the last two eunuchs pull the study doors closed behind them.

Once they are alone, Lan Xichen reaches for one of the missives on his desk and opens it. The gold fabric cover is embossed with a familiar motif that sends a uneasy chill down Lan Wangji’s back. Lan Xichen, however, sounds only thoughtful as he studies the contents.

“A messenger arrived from Lanling this morning,” he says, eyes still scanning the missive. “Jin Zixuan has renounced his title and left Lanling.”

What?

“Renounced his title?” Lan Wangji repeats, stunned. “And left Lanling?”

Lan Xichen nods gravely, refolding the missive and holding it out to him; he takes it with a bow and quickly scans the contents. Jin Zixuan, the eldest and only son of His Majesty Jin Guangshan and his queen—making him the only legitimate heir to the throne of Lanling—had been betrothed to Jiang Yanli before Yunmeng had fallen and the princess herself had vanished. Lan Wangji has had very few personal dealings with the former Crown Prince in the past, but if rumours were to be believed, he was a great deal more capable and trustworthy than his father.

“The official reason is that Jin Zixuan has taken ill and has been sent away from court to recuperate,” Lan Xichen says. “But our ambassador has written separately that, a day or so prior to this announcement, father and son had fallen out over the subject of his marriage.”

“Jin Zixuan refuses to enter into another arrangement,” Lan Wangji guesses.

Lan Xichen nods again.

“Jin-wang has been looking into prospective matches from all their major allies, both within Lanling and outside of it,” he says. “Qinghe has several princesses of marriageable age and a marriage alliance would help them gain a foothold within the court, of course, but Nie-wang has never seen eye-to-eye with Jin-wang so it is unlikely. Qishan and Yunmeng are…out of the running.”

He grimaces and falls silent. Almost three years on from the massacre, the fall of Yunmeng still weighs heavily on all of them. The ongoing search for Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian’s whereabouts has so far yielded no results, even with the combined efforts of Gusu, Lanling and Qinghe—although, Lan Wangji notes with disdain, Lanling had been the first to consider the venture fruitless and withdrawn their support.

“We do not have princesses of marriageable age here in Gusu,” Lan Xichen continues. “Unless we include shu princesses—but Jin-wang is unlikely to accept anything other than a princess of the di line.”

Lan Wangji is inclined to agree.

“What is Jin Zixuan’s opinion on the issue?” he asks.

Lan Qiren snorts.

“He insists that Jiang Yanli may well still be alive,” he says. He does not roll his eyes, but the disdain is evident. “He refuses to dishonour their existing arrangement unless there is concrete proof to the contrary. He would rather abandon his family than accept the very real possibility that she is already dead.”

The bluntness of his words stirs within Lan Wangji a mixture of irritation and exasperation, but he curls his hands into fists and holds his tongue. There is no sense in disagreeing with his uncle, no matter how passionately he feels about the issue, or how sympathetic he is to Jin Zixuan’s plight. But deeper still, there is admiration and envy—for Jin Zixuan’s decisiveness, for his bravery in choosing to walk away from his country, his duty and his family.

But where Jin Zixuan has many siblings waiting in the wings to fill his position, Lan Wangji is keenly aware that, without him, Lan Xichen would be alone. Their uncle may provide support and advice where he can while remaining impartial, the truth of the matter is that, ever since their mother’s death and their father’s illness and seclusion, they had learned very quickly that they could only depend on each other in the treacherous world of politics. No matter how strong his own personal desires may be, Lan Wangji cannot abandon his brother to the mercies of their political foes.

“Such devotion and loyalty should be commended,” Lan Xichen says, looking at him as he speaks. There is an infinite kindness and sympathy in his voice, with an underlying finality that brooks no argument. “Although it is a shame to lose a valuable future ally, especially as the new Crown Prince has yet to be decided.”

Lan Wangji feels a rush of gratitude towards his brother, who offers him a small smile. Their uncle huffs, clearly displeased, but does not argue.

“Do we know where he has gone?” Lan Wangji asks then. “Or what he plans to do?”

Lan Xichen shakes his head.

“Only that he has left Lanling alone,” he says. “We believe he intends to continue the search for Yanli-gongzhu and Wei-gongzi.” He gives their uncle a quick sideways glance, almost in warning, at the derisive little snort he makes under his breath. “We will, of course, continue our own search. Those in charge have been instructed to keep us abreast of the situation. I have asked them to report directly to you.”

Lan Wangji sinks to his knees and bows low at the waist, before pressing his forehead to the tiles.

“Your subject thanks you, Huangshang, for your generosity,” he says.

--

Notes:

di (嫡) - ‘legitimate’, usually in reference to the legal wife and her offspring (as opposed to concubines)

shu (庶) - ‘illegitimate’, referring to concubines and their offspring

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