#jin ling is a crazy dog person

[sillygoofyqueer]

The Untamed review: episode two!!

Yes, Wei Wuxian, Little Apple IS a picky eater, because he deserves only the best and KNOWS IT

Bro's complaining about a donkey to a donkey, what a guy

"You're like MY master"

"Yo, there's a well!" Wei Wuxian immediately moves out of the way, what a gentleman

HE'S JUST TALKING TO THEM, WOAHHHH

Wei Wuxian helplessly listening to them argue over his inventions is so funny to me

"IS WEI YOUR DAD?!??" "HE'S MY IDOL!!"

The way that Wei Wuxian just gives up and peaces out

Fighting with a donkey now

Take the fucking apple, you dumbass

How old is this woman? She looks about twenty five

IT'S JUST LIKE IN MINECRAFT

Push her off, it'd be so funny and no one would know

Yo, what is Yan doing?? She's busting some moves

Does he just flick any random person?

Ohhhh, I see

Got killed by the mist, that's an embarrassing way to go

Bro is dead, goddamn. Poor lass has no soul

This woman has been through so much, she doesn't deserve it

Someone's catching humans, cannibals in every universe

JIN LING!!! <3

Laughing at the richness of people

"Naur, stay up there. See you later xoxo"

How is this woman here????

LITTLE APPLE BEHAVE YOURSELF

It's fine, he's wearing a mask that covers his eyes

"It's you?" Aw shit, the guy who was a baby when you were around is onto you

Joking, he knows Mo Xuanyu

Mock him and see how it ends up

BRO JUST INSULTED HIM BECAUSE HE'S MOTHERLESS

Stop trying to get up, jesusss

Nice throw

He looks so done with people's shit

STOP FUCKING MOCKING HIM, WEI WUXIAN

Oh, hey Jiang Cheng, you're baby girling quite hard today

No need to crush it

"break his legs? No, feed him to your dog, kiddo"

His boyfriend has come to rescue him

"I'm so unlucky today", on the contrary, I think you're very lucky, these characters are key to the plot and you didn't even have to go looking for them!!

I like the music that plays when the Lan Clan is around

Lan Jingyi stepping up for his father- teacher

Lan Sizhui, how do you know so much

HE CAST THE SILENCE SPELL, I LOVE HIM

He says it like a slur hahahaha

Lan Wangji is too busy mewing, don't break his streak!!

"If you don't get that spirit, don't come back to me!!" Jin Ling was never seen again 😔

He's like a grumpy toddler, I love him so

"Don't worry, we'll pay for the nets we broke!" "Nuh uh!!" Lan Sizhui, you're an angel, don't listen to him

HIS MEWING STREAK NOOOOO

Nice voice though

"I thought I saw my boyfriend 😔"

There are spirits in the lake, I wouldn't suggest drinking from it

Jiang Yanli 😭😭😭

Stop smiling, you're hallucinating

Slander my boy and sees what happens

Slap yourself, go on, like the books

Don't put the blame all on him!!!

Nice, like the books

Feel the shame

That cannot be comfortable, those are literal rocks

LITTLE APPLE!!

He's like they're little leader

That's a fast old man

Lan Jingyi's first instinct is to point a sword at an old man, lmaaoooo

"anything strange here?" "Duh"

Leaving him alone while he's trying to give important plot information, rude

Glowing grass, what the fuck

I think you should eat some

He just wants to clean, leave him alone

WEN QING!!!!!!

Flashbacks lmao

Where'd the old man go

Dirty

No way is that naturally formed

Lan Jingyi, you're surprisingly knowledgeable..I didn't know you could read

Jin Ling and his group of people

AAAAAHH WHAT THE FUCK

"what's up baby girls"

Ugh, it's been moving for a while now

Maybe you should, I don't know, LISTEN TO THE GUY WHO KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING??

Also, y'all ditched him, minus points

"We're out" "fuck, y'all are gonna soooo be punished"

The look he gave, as if this isn't like, a sixteen seventeen year old. No, wait, he's probably eighteen...how old was he before Wei Wuxian's death? ANYWAY

Criticising the Lan education system while you're at it

"wait, you can't be crazy, because that makes sense!!" Lan Jingyi my beloved

Shit, my cover as a crazy person has been blown

Are they having a mewing contest or what?

Well done, Lan Jingyi

WHERE'S MY NEPHEW

I swear it wasn't that big before

Y'all are doing a shit job at running from something this slow

Nice attack, it's still stone though

Dude, listen to Lan Sizhui

"Hey, my sword 🥺😔"

Considering this flute playing is supposed to be shit, it's not too bad

"ugh, you're playing the flute this bad? You must be crazy" Lan Jingyi, make up your mind

STOOOOOP JIN LING

Nice kick, it's still stone though

WEN NING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE'S HERE TO KICK SOME ASS FOR YOU!!!!

They both look mildly terrified

Dude killed it so easy, well done. Naur, it's just an illusion.

"y'all, no need to be scared, the Yiling Patriarch ain't here" he's standing over there, wearing a mask

I THOUGHT THE LANS WERE BETTER THAN THIS

Luring him over with shitty flute playing

LET GO OF THE COMEDIC RELIEF

His robes are even blowing, just for you

Me leading my next snack away from the bag

Walk faster, goddamn

"hey bbg, it's been a while"

Listen guys, I know you're in love but there's a corpse there

He flew away, like Jesus

So...how is everyone surprised when they do turn out to be gay???

DON'T PIN THE BLAME ON HIM. MY MAN'S IS GUILTY BUT PRETTY

Uhh uh oh. Mom and dad are fighting again

Lan Wangji already looks so bored

The fucking GLARE I CAN'T

"Take off the mask!!!" "Nuh uh, I'm too handsome"

Lan Jingyi needs to stop being smart, it's scaring me

Stoooop, he didn't kill his brother

Okay, so he did, but he didn't want to!!!

He passed out, okay man

Answer the stupid call

FAMILY!!!!!!!

They're so happy 😔

Give him what he wants, it's SYMBOLISM

Lecturing him better than Lan Qiren

You lost him already, not very good at this, ey?

Alcoholic

Of course he will, it's Wei Wuxian

They're so happy :(

[icyolive]

"'The 'head of the family' said to drive him away?!' [Jin Ling] yelled. "Why didn't I hear anything about that?!" He had then turned to the master of the Bai family and said, 'You're from the Bai family? The ones who live ten kilometers west of the city? I got it. Go back now. Someone will go find you in a few days.'"

IDK why, but this reread I'm suddenly just like.... noticing Jin Ling? As a person? Sure, he's a bit whiny, but he really kinda blossoms into someone who wants to do the right thing.

As a Wei Wuxian stan I want to say it's his influence—he certainly takes an interest. But it could easily just be the experiences he's had.

Even early on, he frees his crazy uncle (who is might be WWX) from his angry uncle. He's pretty good about keeping the dog away from WWX. He starts off loathing WWX and WN, but struggles with his resentment after learning the whole story—plenty of people just double down no matter how irrational, but he actually wrestles with it. Channeling both parents at once, he tries to repair the relationship between WWX and JC while being super awkward and antagonistic about it. And in the extras, he channels his horrible grandfather by pushing someone down the stairs... but instead of an illegitimate son, it's a guard who rejected a merchant/civilian's request for aid (and subverted JL's authority).

And lest I forget, he goes from crying his eyes out to bawling out that Yao asshole:

"So what if I wanna cry?!" [Jin Ling] hollered. 'Who are you? Who do you think you are? What do you care if I cry?!' Sect Leader Yao had clearly not expected his lecture to be so thoroughly rebuffed, nor that he'd wind up being the one getting yelled at."

Good for you, Jin Ling.

[needtherapy]

Jiujiu Gets A Puppy

Wei Wuxian wants to get Jiang Cheng a gift.

He’s trying to be brave, okay? And no one can be afraid of dogs forever. Have you SEEN puppies?

There’s now a part 2! Mao’er Makes A Friend

Read more Kristina Writes Tiny Stories

“Please don’t make me do this. I don’t want to do this.” Wei Wuxian knew he was whining and hoped it worked.

It did not. 

“This was your idea,” Lan Zhan reminded him implacably. He continued to move up the stairs at an unnecessarily brisk pace, in Wei Wuxian’s opinion.

“It was a terrible idea. Why do we let me have ideas?” Wei Wuxian tugged Lan Zhan’s sleeve. 

“It is a good idea. A kind and thoughtful idea because you are a kind and thoughtful man.” 

Instead of pausing, Lan Zhan moved his arm around Wei Wuxian’s waist and propelled him forward.

“That’s not true. Ask anyone.”

Finally, Lan Zhan stopped. “Wei Ying. Do you truly want to leave?”

The genuine concern in his voice made Wei Wuxian feel guilty. He switched tactics.

“Why do I have to do it myself? Couldn’t we just have Jin Ling pick one out and send it to Jiang Cheng with our compliments?” He thought this was a particularly good plan, but Lan Zhan shook his head.

“Jin Ling said if you pick it out yourself, you will be less likely to be afraid when it grows up.”

“What if I’m afraid of it now?” The whining was back, and this time he actually meant it. The thought of going near a slobbering toothy monster weighed like a heavy stone in his gut.

“Wei Ying.” This time Lan Zhan’s voice was soft and soothing. He took Wei Wuxian’s hand and pulled him up the last stair. “They were only born a week ago. Jin Ling says you will be safe.”

Wei Wuxian snorted. “What does he know? He’s a child.”

“Thanks, da-jiu.” The young man striding toward them had a frown on his face. “Now I am sorry I left the rest of my dogs inside.”

Attempting to distract Jin Ling from that terrifying thought, Wei Wuxian laughed and bypassed propriety, folding his nephew into an enthusiastic hug. Jin Ling accepted it for a brief moment, having learned it was hopeless to argue, before pushing Wei Wuxian away.

“Come on, then. Even you can’t hate a newborn puppy.”

Wei Wuxian hesitated, but his traitorous husband followed Jin Ling across the plaza, and eventually Wei Wuxian had to jog to catch up.

To his surprise, they didn’t go to the dog yards behind the stables. One of the first things Jin Ling had done after officially being named the Lanling Jin zongzhu was to start getting dogs. It had seriously made Wei Wuxian doubt his nephew’s sanity, but he had to admit, it was nice of Jin Ling to build the low, tidy buildings to keep the dogs when Wei Wuxian visited. The gesture had made for a peaceful three years of visits.

Instead, they headed through one of the inner courtyards of Lanling Tower to the guest quarters that were set aside for his and Lan Zhan’s use. 

“We can only stay for a few minutes. They’re too young to be away from their mother for very long and I thought you’d rather not encounter a full grown dog,” Jin Ling explained as they entered the room, and Wei Wuxian looked at him suspiciously, the words sounding a bit too much like mocking.

There was a huge wooden box in the center of their room and it was making noise. A squeaking noise. Wei Wuxian decided he would be fine here by the door, but he didn’t get a choice.

“I know you’re rolling your eyes,” he complained when Lan Zhan tucked an arm around Wei Wuxian’s elbow and dragged him forward.

“Da-jiu, just sit here,” Jin Ling said, gesturing to a wide cushion on the floor. “I’ll bring you a puppy.”

“Lan Zhan, just sit here,” Wei Wuxian said, gesturing to the cushion, and without rolling his eyes, Lan Zhan did, letting Wei Wuxian settle in front of him.

He knew it was foolish, to be a grown man afraid of dogs. He had fallen from the sky into hell. He had died. He had watched so many people he loved leave him and yet it was always the sound of barking, the expected flash of teeth, the feral eyes that made reason abandon him. He scooted backward until he ran into Lan Zhan. 

Lan Zhan. 

Lan Zhan. 

He repeated the name over and over in his head, a calming mantra, while he watched Jin Ling. His nephew’s face looked completely different crouched next to the box. He was softer, his mouth tipped in a sweet smile, and Wei Wuxian could suddenly imagine him as a toddler. Or a child, being handed his first dog by his uncle, and Wei Wuxian was suddenly sorry that it hadn’t been him.

And then Jin Ling was sitting in front of him, and Wei Wuxian felt Lan Zhan’s steading hand in the middle of his back.

“Their eyes are just starting to open, but this one’s hasn’t yet,” Jin Ling told Wei Wuxian, holding out his cupped hands.

Wei Wuxian didn’t really want to touch it, but he couldn’t help it. It was so small, it could hardly be called a dog at all. It made a strange grunting noise when he touched its nose, and he jumped, looking at Jin Ling with worry.

“Is it okay? Should it make that noise?”

Jin Ling was clearly making an effort to be patient. “She’s fine. She’s just a baby. Puppies are hungry all the time, so anytime you touch their face, they think you’re going to feed them. I’m going to hand her to you now, okay? Please don’t drop my puppy.”

Oh, that was a bad idea. That was a much worse idea. He tried to say no, but Lan Zhan interrupted him.

“Hold the puppy, Wei Ying, and I will hold your hands.”

Jin Ling slid the puppy into Wei Wuxian’s cupped hands, supported by Lan Zhan’s hands, and it made the noise again, this time accompanied by wiggling on his palms like a fat furry fish. He could feel her tiny toes digging into his skin, but it didn’t hurt, just tickled. He looked at Jin Ling, who was hiding a smile.

Wei Wuxian held the puppy up a little higher and peered into her black and white face. As Jin Ling had said, her eyes were closed, and her ears were barely even triangles. She had a pink nose with a black smudge under it, right above her frowning mouth.

“She has eyebrows,” Wei Wuxian said in surprise. “And a mustache.”

Lan Zhan moved his hand to pet the puppy’s back and she squirmed again, grunting and crying, tracking the touch with her wobbly head. Wei Wuxian felt Lan Zhan’s delighted inhale, and he gave in a little. He was not going to admit out loud that the puppy was cute, but she was. She was very cute. He wanted to sniff the puppy and pet her nose again, but before he could make a complete fool of himself, Jin Ling moved to take her back, returning her to the box.

“Well, da-jiu? Still scared?”

“They grow up,” Wei Wuxian argued, without answering the question. “They grow up and bite.” “Not if you raise them well and give them love,” Jin Ling retorted. “Only if you starve them and treat them badly. Are you planning to starve and abuse the puppy?” Wei Wuxian glared at Jin Ling, who glared back before raising his eyebrows and laughing.

“You like her! Da-jiu, I’m proud of you. Come look at all of them.”

He was being condescended to by a child, Wei Wuxian thought, but he didn’t resist when Jin Ling grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the box to stare down at five wriggling potatoes. They were all different colors, from the black and white one he had held to one that was almost completely white. One rolled on its back, exposing a spotted belly, and it snorted irritably until Jin Ling turned it back over.

“Next time you come, you can pet one of the other ones. They should all have their eyes open by then. Hanguang-Jun, will you make sure he comes back every week until they’re ready to go to new homes? It should be about four months.” “Four months?” Wei Wuxian yelped, but Jin Ling would not be dissuaded.

“Four,” he said firmly. “They’ll be weaned and trained by then. I won’t let you give one of my dogs to jiujiu until it’s been properly trained.”

“I always knew you’d be a tyrant,” Wei Wuxian muttered, following Lan Zhan back out into the courtyard.

“Well, then you shouldn’t have saved my life,” his nephew reminded him cheerfully.

Wei Wuxian turned to grab Jin Ling’s arm, remembering something serious. “Jin Ling, don’t tell Jiang Cheng. If...if I can’t do it...when they get bigger...I don’t want him to be disappointed.”

Jin Ling looked at him with his mother���s face when he patted Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. “I won’t. But you won’t disappoint him.”

It was daunting to have Jin Ling have such faith and trust in him, and Wei Wuxian took a deep breath.

“Fine. I’ll be back.”

Wei Wuxian was quiet on the walk back down the tower stairs and when they got to the bottom, Lan Zhan stopped him, angling his head curiously, waiting for Wei Wuxian to say whatever it was he was thinking.

“Do you really think this is a good idea? Or will it just remind him of all the dogs he couldn’t have because of me?”

Lan Zhan’s forehead creased in consideration, and Wei Wuxian loved him for taking his question seriously. “Yes. It is a good idea. Moving forward is a good idea.”

When Wei Wuxian still didn’t look convinced, Lan Zhan sighed. “Do you want to walk or fly with me?”

The question got the response it intended. “Fly, please.”

“Does flying with me make you happy? Or does it remind you of all the times you could not?” Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes. “Well, it didn’t until now,” he grumbled. “Fine, you’re right. It’s a good idea. Are we still going to fly home?”

In answer, Lan Zhan pulled him onto Bichen and Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around Lan Zhan’s waist, resting his head on his shoulder.

“Are you proud of me too?” he whispered, not sure if Lan Zhan would hear him, but of course he did. He always did.

“Of course I am. I always am.”

And that was enough.

[dilfyjilfy]

I wanna read a Dr.Doolittle-esque AU fic for Jiang Cheng.

-He has been able to talk to/understand animals since he was a child (which made his dogs being sent away all that more heart breaking; they were his best friends), and whenever he would mention it to a family member, they would either ignore it or consider it a childhood delusion, so as he got older, he just stopped telling people about his gift. That doesn't mean that he stopped talking to the animals, though.

-Jin Ling grows up thinking that his Jiujiu is a bit mentally ill (well, more than he actually is) because of the highly in-depth yet seemingly one-sided conversations he will often have with Fairy (and other random animals he meets), until Jiang Cheng confronts Jin Ling about some fears he has, that he has only ever revealed to Fairy. Though Jin Ling winds up glad that he was able to talk about things with his Jiujiu, it leaves him thinking "maybe those conversations with Fairy weren't as one-sided as I thought😰"

-One day when Jiang Cheng is visiting the CR for sect business, he wanders into the bunny field and discovers Wangji fussing over one of the rabbits, worried because he hasn't been eating the food he's been providing. Jiang Cheng walks up to Wangji and says "he hasn't been eating the lettuce because recently it's been giving him gas, and the carrots from the east field are too bitter for his tastes. He'd much prefer the ones that grow in the west field, they're the sweetest". When Wangji does what JC suggests, the rabbit starts eating again just fine, and Wangji is just like 'WTF😶'

-Sometimes when Huaisang shares gossip with JC, Wanyin will say "I know, I heard". When Huaisang asks JC who he heard such hot, exclusive gossip from, he'll give him a small smile and respond with 'A little birdie told me'. After Huaisang walks in on Jiang Cheng giggling and whispering with one of his birds, he starts to believe that Jiang Cheng wasn't just being mysterious

-The only person to ever immediately, wholeheartedly believe Jiang Cheng when he revealed that he could talk to animals is Wei Wuxian. He remembers how Jiang Cheng would always protect him from dogs when they were growing up, but also offer advice for whenever he might encounter a neighborhood dog when he's alone. "You don't have to be scared of the dog that lives by the market, the only reason he even runs after you when he sees you is because he says you seem like fun. He thinks you're inviting him to play chase. Plus, 9/10 you have food in your pocket, and he's always down for a treat. The dog that lives by the docks though? He's an asshole. He said the fear on your face whenever you catch sight of him brings him joy, but he's still no real threat. He's lazy, and gets tired of chasing people after 2 blocks, so as long as you sprint by, you should be fine"

-After Wei Wuxian is bought back to life, it is him who reveals to everyone Jiang Cheng's gift.

-Jin Ling: I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes, I think Jiujiu can talk, like actually talk, to animals😰

Wei Wuxian: OH yeah, he can, has been able to since we were kids. That's why I keep him away from Little Apple, cause I'm pretty sure Little Apple has a big mouth and no loyalty to me. Who knows what embarrassing things she'd reveal😝

Jin Ling: WhAt?!?! And also..eww

[gutscenes]

mdzs vol. 1 chapter 6: the malevolent– first readthrough thoughts

Early in this chapter Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji plan to split up and meet at an inn. The way Lan Zhan so obviously does not want to leave Wei Wuxian’s side…”The exchange was extremely rushed, and Lan Wangji only paused for a moment. But still, Wei Wuxian added, ‘Go on. Take any longer and they’ll get away. I’ll be there!’ At the ‘I’ll be there,’ Lan Wangji gave him a deep look.’ This is him saying, like: how can I bear to let you out of my sight again? Do you know how long thirteen years is? And then he bears it. Jeez.

Also Lan Zhan continuously protecting Wei Wuxian from Jin Ling’s dog. WHAT A MAN!!

I love how strict Jiang Cheng is with Jin Ling, and yet apparently he is the relative who dotes on him the most. Do you understand how much that makes me love Jiang Cheng?? He’s so contrary. It’s so endearing.

“Suddenly, Jiang Cheng gave him a side-eye. ‘What’s your name?’ Wei Wuxian’s wits were so scrambled that he couldn’t recall whether he said anyone’s name right then.’ and then: “[Jiang Cheng] said, ‘Speaking of, I forgot to ask you. Since when have you gotten along so well with Lan Wangji?’ He said Lan Wangji, holy shit. Call me by your name moment.

Jiang Cheng starts bad mouthing Lan Zhan: “‘How could someone like him, so lauded for his manners and solemn righteousness, possibly tolerate you? Perhaps he shares some sort of relationship with this body you’ve stolen’” and Wei Wuxian is Not Having It: “Wei Wuxian couldn’t listen anymore. He said, ‘Watch your tongue.’” Wei Wuxian may tease Lan Wangji up the wall, but he is probably the last person you want to insult Lan Wangji in front of. 

Also, Lan Wangji does not hang around Wei Wuxian DESPITE his manners and solemn righteousness, he hangs around Wei Wuxian BECAUSE of all his well-respected qualities. Because his being well-mannered makes Wei Wuxian flirt with him. Because I think he believes Wei Wuxian to be just as righteous as he is.

“‘Young man, sometimes in life, there are a few sappy things one must say.’ ‘What?’ Jin Ling asked. ‘Thank you and I’m sorry,’ Wei Wuxian replied.” I feel like this is going to be WEAPONIZED against MY HEART in the context of WWX and LWJ thanking and apologizing to each other? Ouch oof it already hurts just thinking about it??

God, Wei Wuxian apologizes so earnestly to Jin Ling, in a way he has never been apologized to before, that it makes him uncomfortable. This is just so…sweet. WWX is a good uncle.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji meet up again and Lan Wangji immediately knows Wei Wuxian took the curse on Jin Ling and transferred it to himself. He grabs Wei Wuxian’s wrist, he kneels down on the ground and starts hiking up his trouser leg. Like, anything to help Wei Wuxian, to ensure he is okay!!! 

Also lmao: “Lan Wangji stared at [the curse mark] for a good moment before he said, greatly embittered at the sight, ‘I was only gone for a few hours.’ Wei Wuxian shrugged. ‘Several hours is a long time. Anything can happen. Come now, come now, you may rise.’” And then he pulls Lan Wangji up. All the casual touching in this chapter…

'“A full-grown man needing to be carried on someone’s back is too unsightly.”

“Is it unsightly?” Lan Wangji asked.

“Is it not?” Wei Wuxian countered.

After a moment of silence, Lan Wangji said, “But you’ve also carried me on your back before.”

“Really? How come I don’t remember?” Wei Wuxian said.”

Lan Wangji replied impassively, “You never remember these things.”'

And Wei Wuxian continues to insist that Lan Zhan does not need to carry him on his back. So Lan Zhan, ever the one to look for loopholes (what?) and be playful (wait a sec?) and initiate touch (are we thinking of the same person…?) instead sweeps him up into a princess carry. Just another instance where Wei Wuxian drives him to act totally out of character. People do crazy things when they’re in love.

“[Wei Wuxian] batted at the sashes on Lan Wangji’s chest and then laughed as he moved his hands as if to pull them apart.” Homosexual behavior spotted. Forever obsessed with how much Wei Wuxian loves how Lan Zhan smells, btw

“Lan Wangji performed an extremely indecorous act. This was perhaps the most boorish thing he’d ever done in his life. With Wei Wuxian in his arms, he kicked the door open.” I’M ALIVE!!!!!!! THIS IS THE SHIT I LIVE FOR!! And he walks in holding WWX and places him down on the mat. Gentle, careful, strong. This is romance people!

Wei Wuxian cannot handle Lan Wangji taking a knee in front of him. And oh my god, as Wei Wuxian reveals the curse mark spread all the way up to his inner thigh, Lan Wangji suddenly cannot handle seeing all that skin. He needs to put his eyes anywhere but on WWX. I’m living for a flustered Lan Zhan.

The little things that Lan Wangji does for Wei Wuxian really speak volumes about his affection… He intricately mends Wei Wuxian’s bamboo flute so he can play better. It’s just such a sweet little moment, so doting. Who knew Hanguang-jun could be so soft??

But at the same time he can also be the scary, powerful cultivator he is in order to protect Wei Wuxian. “The evil-sealing qiankun pouch shot toward Wei Wuxian. The notes under Lan Wangji’s fingers swerved, and with a sweep across the guqin, all seven strings strummed in unison, letting out an angry roar akin to a landslide.” Don’t talk to me or my husband ever again.

Okay this is so hot and weird and endearing. But at the Nie Clan burial site, Lan Wangji gets JEALOUS of the corpses that Wei Wuxian wishes to enact trouser-removal upon (to like, check if they’re legs match the disembodied arm, or whatever). This is so wild and absurd and weirdly very attractive of him. He will not allow Wei Wuxian to take off the pants of any other man, even if that man is a corpse!!! 

I’m focusing a lot on the little (and big) Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji moments, because I am gay, but I am also adoring the worldbuilding and the mystery and the flashbacks and all sorts of character interaction. I would read an entire book about Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng. I would read an entire book that was just Wei Wuxian acting outrageously (one could argue that I already am). Needless to say I love it here

[robininthelabyrinth]

I need to know what u think of an AU where JC is the one who dies (sacrificing his life to save WWX) instead of JYL, he’s not as angry with WWX bc JYL is still alive so when he sees his brother about to get murdered he just steps in front of him while JYL and WWX see :) I don’t even know what I want u to do with this? Give me some headcanons? Is it a prompt? Idk I just want u to to see what u make of this (I promise JC is my fav but my mind likes to make me suffer :p)

1

It wasn’t a matter of conscious thought when Jiang Cheng threw himself between that cultivator’s sword and Wei Wuxian’s unguarded back, all his defenses down in the face of Jiang Yanli’s pleading, same as always; it was just instinct. Wei Wuxian was always the troublemaker, the crazy one, and Jiang Cheng always the one being dragged along; he’d long ago learned to spend all his time watching his shixiong’s back, keeping him away from dogs, away from angry shopkeepers, away from any harm. It was instinct, just as it had been the day he’d thrown himself out into the street to distract the Wens, and he’d always justified that instinct because he knew that Wei Wuxian would do the same for him.

Though – he didn’t know that anymore, not after everything that happened recently. Wei Wuxian had made him all the promises in the world, to stand by his side through wind and lightning, and he’d seemed to have no issue abandoning those promises, picking the remnants of the Wen sect over the remnants of the Jiang sect without a moment’s hesitation and not even the courtesy of an explanation.

The Yiling Patriarch was all but a stranger to him, and Jiang Cheng still didn’t understand why.

So it was probably stupid of him to react as if the person being stabbed at was Wei Wuxian, not the Yiling Patriarch – stupid of him to give up his life for someone who didn’t care about him nearly as much as Jiang Cheng cared for him.

But that’s why it wasn’t a thought. It was instinct.

He heard someone scream “Jiang Cheng!” as if their heart were breaking, and he thought for a moment that it was Wei Wuxian again, the one who loved him best. Wei Wuxian, not the Yiling Patriarch, who threw him to the dogs over and over again, put his sect at risk of utter destruction a second time over, just to indulge himself and his bizarre fixation on saving the Wens at the expense of everyone else. Who didn’t care about their duty to their sect, to their parents - who didn’t care about him at all.

Jiang Cheng’s heart hurt. It was probably just the sword that’d just been driven through it, though.

Hands grasped at his clothing, pulling him back; his sister’s face had lost all blood, and Wei Wuxian looked as if his world had ended – he wasn’t sure why. Jiang Yanli had her son to care for, a new life in Lanling that she refused to abandon even if Jin Zixuan was now gone; Wei Wuxian had his Wens, his new cultivation – perhaps it was some little regret, far too late, for the Jiang sect that would now come to grief, leaderless, the end of their family line and the disappointment of their ancestors. Jiang Cheng’s final and most absolute failure.

Jiang Cheng looked at them both, the ones he loved the most and who had left him without a single glance backwards, and found with his last breath that he had nothing to say to them.

He closed his eyes so they wouldn’t have to.

2

The battlefield was full of corpses, and Jiang Yanli didn’t care about a single one of them.

“Do you think he can be brought back, the way Wen Ning was?” she asked, holding the corpse in her arms as if it were still the baby brother she sang songs to as a child, the little crybaby who was so fierce on the outside and so soft on the inside. She had been able to lie to herself with Jin Zixuan’s body – he almost looked as though he were sleeping, head on the pillow beside her own – but Jiang Cheng had never slept well in his life, his brow always furrowed as if he was worrying about something even in his dreams, and the blank peace on his face was so wrong that she couldn’t bear to look at him.

She wasn’t asking Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian had only stopped the massacre when Lan Wangji, of all unlikely people, had bodily tackled him; everyone had always said that the Second Jade was like oil and water with her A-Xian, but he’d unexpectedly taken their side in this battle and was even now letting a barely-conscious Wei Wuxian sob Jiang Cheng’s name into his collar. He looked silently at her, his gaze a quiet reminder that her question was inappropriate – one Ghost General had already been enough to cause all of this tragedy, and certainly no one would ever accept another as a sect leader.

She looked steadily back at him, indicating in return that she didn’t give a damn about the standing of the Jiang sect if it meant she wouldn’t have to bury her baby brother.

Lan Wangji hesitated, looking down at Wei Wuxian. “You cannot stay at Yiling,” he finally said. “After this…”

They’d killed people from virtually every sect; no matter who had sympathized with Wei Wuxian before this or how much they felt he was wronged, they would have no choice but to raise up arms against him.

Jiang Yanli understood. They would be fugitives, condemned by all. She didn’t care. “Will you help us?”

He nodded and stood, Wei Wuxian cradled as gently in his arms as she held Jiang Cheng in hers.

“Will you come with us?” she asked. Anyone who loved her brother enough to defy his sect, to stain his untainted blade with the blood of his own kin, deserved a chance to court him properly, if she hadn’t misunderstood his intentions; she didn’t think she had, not with the expression so clear on his silent face.

“I will help you,” he said, and that wasn’t an answer, wasn’t the one she wanted, but it would have to do for now. “Let us go.”

3

It was Jin Zixuan who figured it out, oddly enough. Perhaps it was because he was an outsider, looking at the situation without affection to blur his eyes.

“You gave him your golden core,” he said, less than a week into his resurrection – Lan Wangji had been very efficient in his help, not only finding a new place to hide Jiang Yanli and the remaining Wens but also returning to Lanling to steal Jin Zixuan’s corpse and little Jin Ling before returning to his own sect at the first sign that Wei Wuxian would awaken from his coma. He hadn’t sent word since that time, whether from regret or other reasons; their only consolation was that there was no news of his death. “That’s why you couldn’t do anything other than demonic cultivation – is that right?”

Wei Wuxian looked at him through blood-red eyes. “Get lost,” he said; the phrase made up the majority of his vocabulary, these days, and because he refused to curse his shijie he mostly ended up not talking to her at all.

“Wen Qing was a famous doctor – she could have figured out a way to do it, and that would explain why you felt so indebted to them,” Jin Zixuan continued. “You never told him because you didn’t want to burden him. But instead you left him without any reason, any explanation: he must have felt that you abandoned him because you didn’t want him.”

“Get lost!”

“You broke his heart,” he said, and looked down at Jiang Cheng’s body – still perfectly preserved, but unmoving. The resurrection spell had already failed three times. “No wonder he doesn’t want to return.”

“I did it for him!” Wei Wuxian screamed, tears of blood dripping down his cheeks. “He didn’t – he wouldn’t – he has to come back!”

Jin Zixuan said nothing.

4

They ended up back in Yunmeng, rather unexpectedly; the new leadership of the Lotus Pier, a distant branch cousin who’d survived the massacre because he’d been night-hunting elsewhere, had all but begged Jiang Yanli to return. Against all odds her reputation had survived the massacre at the Nightless City; the loving wife, sister, and shijie that nearly sacrificed herself to save what lives she could and to banish the dreadful Yiling Patriarch who was never seen again from that day forth –  she was very nearly regarded as an incarnation of the goddess of mercy.

She had no idea where that ridiculous notion came from, but it did mean that she could live in Lotus Pier again, with Jin Ling by her side – she’d told Jin Guangshan to name someone else as his heir, or at minimum as regent; the Jiang sect needed her and her son more. It wouldn’t have worked if Jin Zixuan hadn’t snuck into his mother’s room to convince Madam Jin to throw her support behind it; officially he was still in his tomb, since Lan Wangji had been very subtle, but in fact he lived within shouting distance of the Lotus Pier, spending his days playing with his son.

They all did, actually, the whole lot of them resettled into a tiny adjacent water town populated largely by civilians that relied on the Jiang sect for their prosperity. As long as Wei Wuxian never did anything, which he didn’t, the illusion that he was gone for good in a cloud of self-destruction after his terrible massacre could be maintained; no one expected they could possibly be so daring as to simply go home after all of it.

Lan Wangji was in seclusion, they were eventually told; Wei Wuxian hadn’t believed it for one second, smuggling himself into Gusu to check – he’d come back unconscious, slung over Jin Zixuan’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Struck by the discipline whip,” her husband, the fierce corpse that wasn’t fierce at all, said, and didn’t comment when she instinctively reached out to touch Jiang Cheng’s body, to trace the scar he had; she often spent her days next to the bed that preserved his corpse. “Many times; his body is ruined. It will take years for him to heal – the Lan sect saying he was in seclusion was their way of saving face. Wei Wuxian wants to bring him back to the Lotus Pier to hide him.”

Jiang Yanli rubbed her face, thinking not for the first time that the world would be an easier place if only her two brothers weren’t so stubborn. One who wouldn’t wake up, his spiritual consciousness all in pieces; the other who wouldn’t give up – “The Lan sect wouldn’t accept that.”

“He wasn’t planning on asking. That’s why I knocked him out. Anyway, they’re distracted with the Xue Yang matter now – my father’s still insisting on protecting him, and the Nie sect gets angrier about it by the day; without the Jiang sect, there’s only the Lan to play peacemaker, stop there from being another war.”

Jiang Yanli, who was very nice but also very much not the goddess of mercy, tilted her head to the side; something of her mother was in her eyes. “A war would be a good cover, though, or at least the rumblings of one. If we were going to steal Lan Wangji away from his sect, that is.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’ll sneak into Lanling to talk to my mother, maybe see if I can follow Xue Yang and see what he’s up to. You go talk to the Nie.”

5

Jiang Yanli’s visit to the Unclean Realm turned out to be more fruitful than anyone had expected. The moment she walked into Nie Mingjue’s receiving room, her Jiang sect bell rang so hard that it shattered, which it definitely hadn’t done during the war – they both stared at it wordlessly for a while.

Eventually, he cleared his throat, averting his eyes. “You know my family history,” he offered as an explanation, embarrassment at the public revelation of his problem already turning to anger but suppressed by his strict adherence to etiquette.

“That’s no family history,” she said, bemused, as she crouched down to poke at the pieces. “The silver bell of the Jiang sect can steady focus and calm the mind, and the ones made for the family are the strongest by far; it would only shatter like this in the effort to resist a spiritual poison…how are you feeling now, Sect Leader Nie?”

He considered for a long moment, and his face grew black with rage. “Better. I feel – like my mind has been filled with fog, and a clear breeze has blown it clear.”

She smiled up at him. “Perhaps you should visit Yunmeng.”

He scowled, and she realized he must know about Wei Wuxian’s presence, though she wasn’t sure how; despite that, in the end, after a roaring argument with Nie Huaisang in another room, he agreed to go, even if the idea of staying willfully blind clearly pained him to the core.

Jiang Yanli quietly approved of his decision to put family over principle.

When they put their mind to it, the Nie sect  had an underrated talent for saying ‘I don’t know’ to just about everything. Neither brother blinked an eye at the Wen sect remnants that still teetered every time they went on a boat, very clearly not Yunmeng locals; they politely greeted Jin Zixuan as if he’d only been gone a while and not murdered; much to his older brother’s very evident irritation, Nie Huaisang even leapt over to give Wei Wuxian an enthusiastic hug while Nie Mingjue was still talking with Jin Zixuan about what it meant that Jin Guangshan had hidden away the still intact Wen Ning, who Jin Zixuan had found in a hidden part of Koi Tower during his most recent visit and immediately liberated.

“Definitely a case of spiritual poisoning,” Wei Wuxian said after a short examination, and the most reliable doctor they had left in the Jiang sect concurred. “The silver bell can help a little –” 

They’d already shattered seven of them, but Nie Mingjue had actually cracked a smile for the first time in months, to hear a sobbingly relieved Nie Huaisang tell it. 

“–but it can only help so much; that technique is really only meant for acute cases. And you really need to figure out what was doing the poisoning; there’s no point in curing you if you’re only going to get poisoned again.”

“A matter for a later time,” Nie Mingjue, who clearly had some suspicions that made him look as though he’d been stabbed in the back, said. “Now that we know it’s a poisoning, and my mind is clearer, I can take some action myself – the Nie have plenty of techniques to stabilize the spirit.”

Wei Wuxian’s smile was full of self-hatred, as it always was these days. “I don’t suppose any of those are designed to work on the dead.”

“Actually,” Nie Huaisang said. “Several are. Why do you ask?”

6

Jiang Cheng opened his eyes.

[rosethornewrites]

Wednesday’s T and G reading

I’ve reached page 1 of my to-read list on AO3. Once I’m done with this page, I’ll be going back to page 58 to repeat the backward-reading process, this time with all fics under 5k words. So future lists may be smaller.

Finished:

Tumblr:

LQR redemption for the creepy!JFM prompt, by @angstymdzsthoughts

Teen:

bunnies, by wearing_tearing

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, the papers will still be here in a few hours,” Wei Ying says and brushes a soft kiss to the hinge of Lan Wangji’s jaw. “Come spend time with your husband, Lan Er-gege. I miss you.”

*

Lan Wangji rarely finds within himself the strength to deny Wei Ying.

recovery, by wearing_tearing (third in a series)

The brand on Lan Wangji’s chest does not hurt anymore.

wherever the chaos is, by wearing_tearing (fourth in a series)

“But, Teacher Wei—”

“I believe in you! If you really need my help, I’ll come down from the tree, I promise.”

*

Lan Wangji does not regret his decision to let Wei Ying teach classes in the Cloud Recesses.

emperor’s smile, by wearing_tearing (fifth in a series)

“What are the conditions?” he asks, going back to the point. If he does not know the conditions, he will miss Wei Ying’s kisses.

That’s unacceptable.

*

Lan Wangji knows he does not have to, but he does not stop himself from grabbing a cup, filling it to the brim with Emperor’s Smile, and gulping it all down.

My Brother's Keeper - Vinegar, by ArchiveWriter (second in a series)

Jiang Cheng is angry and not quite sure what to do with it, so he as usual directs it at Wei Ying (for being stupid and crazy) and Lan Wangji (for being a stuck-up arrogant self-important snooty... well, the list is long, but mainly for being possessive of Wei Ying. Watching them from afar allows for silent fuming. Not to be taken too seriously - some Jiang Cheng soul-searching bound to result in self-conflict. Image a fly in a glass with no lid and still banging against all the glass walls... This is set post-canon, post 'Love Song', pre 'My Brother's Keeper - Most Treasured' and elaborates on what went on in Jiang Cheng's head when watching WWX and LWJ in the markets with them being oblivious. I had fun cramming as many adjectives as I could think of into this, so it's probably 'purple prose' :-) This might be a bit more light-hearted but I still can't see WWX and Jiang Cheng reconcile.

Though the Good and the Bad, by TheKrystalSakura

Wei Wuxian can’t sleep because intrusive thoughts keep plaguing his mind after all these years. Lan Wangji is there to listen to everything his husband has kept bottled up.

Right of First Approval, by AerinD

You know how "based on a true story"...isn't really? Five hundred years later, Jiang Cheng hates that phrase.

under the starlit sky, by b_ofdale

There have always been people who wanted to hurt him, learn from him, steal from him. . . but Lan Wangji?

Lan Wangji has only ever wanted to love him.

Practical Lessons in the Backhills, by Eliza (third in a series)

The Jiang motto is “Attempt the Impossible” but Wei Wuxian’s personal one is closer to “You don’t know until you try.”

Love Me Over Sunrise Tea, by Eliza (fourth in a series)

On the days they aren't on morning watch, Sizhui makes tea. Jingyi doesn't really like tea.

But for the World to See, by Eliza (fifth in a series)

Lan Wangji can't keep his hands off of Wei Ying.

Every Good Boy’s Dream, by Eliza (sixth in a series)

Temptation has never been a problem for Lan Xichen; he’s been giving in to it for years.

We Blossom in the Water, by Eliza (seventh in a series)

Jiang Yanli basks in the Yunmeng sun, her husband’s love, and a moment of freedom.

A Good Idea at the Time, by Eliza (eighth in a series)

Not every bad decision can be blamed on blood loss, but that doesn’t stop Wei Wuxian from trying.

Grief and Blame, Interwoven, by donutsweeper

Wangji's punishment was supposed to be severe, not fatal.

But since it was, Xichen needed to find a way to change that.

things that go honk in the night, by worldoshaking

Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi investigate a fearsome beast that has been terrorising the villages nearby. No one is quite sure what it looks like, but people live in fear of the sound of its honk and the patter of its webbed feet.

greens, by silverclaw

Wei Ying’s plants have been flourishing ever since Lan Zhan moved into the apartment next door. This causes more misunderstandings than one might expect.

The one I like…is you., by Liebing

The one I like has long dark hair, and a perfect smile, he is truly the handsomest Lan!” Wei Ying announced with his usual levels of endless enthusiasm.

Lan Zhan's shoulders dropped. That description had to be his brother. So Wei Ying liked his brother. He tried to ignore the heavy disappointed feeling as it washed over him. As much as he tried to ignore Wei Ying, he had to admit that the boy was irreversibly etched into his heart but it seemed the feeling wasn’t mutual.

someone i could save, by yuer (vintageblueskies)

Lan Wangji has nightmares of Wei Wuxian falling. It gets worse before it gets better.

Encounter - The Broad River, by ArchiveWriter (second in a series)

A meandering study of Lan Zhan's and Wen Yuan’s bond as Elder / Younger Brother during the years of LWJ’s grieving for WWX.

General:

family, by wearing_tearing (sixth in a series)

The warm bubble of happiness inside of Lan Wangji’s chest expands. The people he loves most in the world—his family—are here, around him, and even the day’s exhaustion could not dampen the joy he feels.

*

After an exhausting day, Lan Wangji has dinner with his family.

A Letter, Addressed to Sect Leader Jiang of Lotus Pier, by darth_meg

Jiang Cheng,

Please don't throw this away when you see who it’s from. There are many things I want to say, but I know I talk too much, so I think it’s best to write as few words as I can. I’ve rewritten this letter many times, crossing out what isn’t completely necessary. I hope you believe me.

Or, Wei Wuxian writes one letter to his brother.

Remedy, by abbymyg

Lan Wangji has been vomiting and with a fever all night, and Wei Wuxian hadn't slept at all.

Lan Qiren calls the doctor to treat his nephew and enters the Jingshi for the first time in years.

Where you ought to be, by Lucky_Moonly (second in a series)

Lans were Ravenclaws.

Which was why Lan Wangji wasn’t as stressed as the other first years as he awaited his sorting in one corner of the Great Hall.

Talk to Me, by MillenarianHappinessTheorem

Lan Huan hasn't spoken to his brother in three weeks. Maybe Jiang Cheng can give him some much-needed relationship advice.

dog days, by silversshadow (second in a series)

Yu ZiYuan will not allow weakness to hold back the Yunmeng Jiang sect.

Jiang Chengs dogs do not leave the Lotus Pier.

i need someone, by aurora_chiroptera

Jiang Cheng is worried about his brother. He thinks if Wei Wuxian marries someone respected from another sect, that he will be safer.

Wei Wuxian is not so sure.

From the prompt: “No one’s going to hurt you.”

Music Jams..., by Ladycroft4evr (third in a series)

It's a musical day at Cloud Recesses... we open with a WangXian music jam, followed by some family bonding over music for Wei WuXian and Sizhui... let's join Lan WangJi and enjoy a leisurely evening with their little family ❤

blinding, by acoostic

Lan Wangji grew up around snow. His hometown of Gusu was up north in the mountains.

The same can not be said of Wei Wuxian, who grew up in Lotus Pier, where the lakes and rivers kept the climate humid and relatively warm year round.

And you'll still be by my side, by hamlets_ghost (fourth in a series)

Nie Mingjue meets the young Lan Clan heir.

He also gets stuck in a tree.

Where His Heart Resides, by Preludian_Staves

He realizes belatedly two months after his marriage that his heart has finally found itself a new home.

Unfinished:

Rated T:

Another Letter, Addressed to Sect Leader Jiang of Lotus Pier, by darth_meg (second in a series)

Sect Leader Jiang,

I write to inform you of my intention to take Wei Ying as my husband and cultivation partner.

Or, Lan Wangji invites Jiang Cheng to discuss something.

The Red Ribbon, by NoMore_17

What if Mo XuanYu sacrifices his soul out of love instead of revenge?

[m0rgan-sims]

can we love the untamed’s villains? # spoiler alert

( sorry, i’m not good at writing in english ) The answer to this question is, of course, yes. Can we love those little shits? Of course, why not? But can we justify them? Well, nope. The Untamed’s evil characters are very, very complex, well written and full of different shades and reasons behind their actions... hard not to appreciate, I think. I noticed that someone wants to justify their actions just because they love them and... guys, I think it’s wrong ( of course you can do whatever you want, this is just my opinion lol ). I’ll explain it with two examples: Jin GuangYao / Meng Yao and Xue Yang. ( I can’t consider Su She a credible villain because he’s just Jin GuangYao’s guard dog even a bad one, a little shit who suffers from an inferiority complex next to Lan Wangji due to his lack of skills, personality, ideals... basically everything. He sucks, stop. )

So, let’s talk about the # No.1 Shit, Jin GuangYao. In my opinion, he’s probably one of the best character in the novel / drama: he makes the others believe he’s naive, pure and innocent, but we soon or not so soon find out that he’s a two-faced snake, a cruel and ruthless man who has planned his entire life just because he wants revenge. He is the representation of the evil INTJ, the mastermind who stays in the backstage and moves the pieces on the chessboard I still can’t believe we share the same sun sign and mbti type, jeez. Now the question is: is he really evil, or his personality is the result of what happened to him? I think that justify him is impossible. Okay, he suffered a lot: he was the son of a prostitute, his father’s always ignored him, he’s been bullied and kicked down the stairs many times it’s really a record, lol. Is his past an excuse for what he did during his life? No. He could’ve had his revenge only on his father ( he did it and even if Jin Guangshan’s death is disgusting he deserved it ), but after it he didn’t stop: he used many people for his social climbing, he killed his brother and his cousin to make sure he would have been Jin Guangshan’s successor as the leader of the Jin Sect even if he was a bastard. He’s a liar, he used Jin Ling, his own nephew, and ordered to kill Fairy. He manipulated Lan Xichen for many years to push him to teach him the Song of Clarity; at the end of the story, when Jin GuangYao is dying, he pushes Lan Xichen away from him not because he wanted to save him from being trapped with Nie Minjue, but to force him to live feeling the guilt every single day of his life. Can we really justify all of this just because he had a shitty past? I don’t think so. He said that he had no choice - especially when he was “forced” to marry Qin Su - but is it true? So why did he have a son from his younger sister and then killed him? I’m sorry, but there’s no excuse for this. He has a God complex and his only purpose in life is to gain power by using people around him, no matter who they are. His mother and his wife sister loved him, Lan Xichen trusted him... and he did it anyway. He’s a good character, but is he a good person? Jeez, of course not. Psychological trauma doesn’t allow you to be a manipulative and abusive person.

Here he is: # No.2 Shit, Xue Yang. What’s the different between Xue Yang and Jin GuangYao? Easy: the first one is a sociopath, the second one knew exactly what he was doing. Xue Yang, just like Jin GuangYao, had a traumatic past and both of them wanted revenge on the people who hurt them. Xue Yang is a criminal; he’s crazy, manic, a sadist: he loves to see other people suffer. Can we justify him? No, but... yes? Kinda? We cannot say he’s a good but traumatized person, because he’s just out of his mind since the beginning ( remember when he said he killed all those people just because one of them break his finger because it was his finger and their lives were theirs ). The difference between him and Jin GuangYao is this: Xue Yang couldn’t control what he did ( coff coff Xiao Xingchen’s suicide coff coff ), while Jin GuangYao planned everything because he wanted to be the most powerful cultivator of the world.

What about him? He’s a very complex character and he genuinely surprised me, so the question is: can we consider him a villain, even if he’s always been a good, naive young man? I think I’ll write an entire post about him, because he deserves it. I’d love to read more about him, because he is the real mastermind of the story and I loved that.

Just remember this: it’s okay to love villains or grey characters, but don’t try to justify them. Loving them doesn’t make you a bad person, so don’t try to make the character a victim of fate when it’s clearly not true.

[mdzsgildedfate]

Gilded Fate - Chapter 7

Reincarnation AU [Chapter 7/?] Characters: Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, Original Characters. Pairings: Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen, Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi

Qi obscuring talismans. That explains why this place was so hard to find. That and the fact that the opening to the cave is barely a crack in the ground, hidden among a thicket of bushes. If Jin Ling hadn’t been specifically looking for it, it would be nearly impossible to stumble upon it accidentally. Which makes the use of obscuring talismans all the more suspicious. Whoever left these here wasn’t worried about regular people finding the cave.

The distance from the opening to the bottom of the cave was about six meters, a straight drop down with nothing to hold onto to climb. Jin Ling secured a rope around a nearby tree and dropped down, taking a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness after his feet hit the ground. The cave itself seemed rather ordinary, but the floor was split down the middle by an underground river flowing from a waterfall placed in the far corner. That explained where the water from the pond was draining from at least.

With nothing else noteworthy about the cavern, Jin Ling followed the river to where it disappeared through a smaller opening. It was large enough for a person to pass through, but he had to step into the water and crouch slightly to fit. With no light reaching inside the tunnel, he walked slowly with his hands feeling along the wall, careful not to slip and be carried away by the current. After about ten meters, Jin Ling felt the walls open back up, allowing for him to climb out of the water and onto solid ground.

A flame talisman was ignited and almost immediately dropped, as the light revealed a cavern full of about two dozen corpses scattered across the floor. Instinctively, Jin Ling grabbed the hilt of his sword, preparing to defend himself against walking corpses. Several moments passed though and none of them rose. He released his grip on the sword and stuck the flame talisman to one of the walls, freeing his hands to inspect the corpses.

Most of the bodies were quite old, already black and leathery and dressed in rotting rags. A handful of them, however, looked like they couldn’t have been killed more than a week or so ago. Each one bore no unusual lacerations or markings except for a single long bruise across their throats, indicating that each of the fresher corpses had all been strangled to death. It seemed likely the walking corpse he’d seen before had come from here, but then why hadn’t these corpses transformed as well?

Jin Ling pulled out the qiankun pouch he used to store the walking corpse in and laid its body out to inspect again. At first glance, there was no obvious difference between it and any of the other rotted corpses, so he moved on to inspect one of the other corpses. Cutting off the ragged clothes, he looked over every inch of the body, from the tip of its toes to the top of its head. Nothing stood out until he reached the thing’s hairline, fingers brushing over some strange protrusion at the base of its skull.

Flipping the body over, Jin Ling parted the hair to reveal a black piece of metal with a strange sigil engraved on it. Once he’d pulled the thing out, he could see that it was actually a thin, iron nail the length of one of his fingers. A moment later, the corpse jolted and opened its pupil-less eyes. Jin Ling stood and watched it thoughtfully as it struggled with stiff limbs to climb to its feet. Before it had the chance, he killed it and went back to inspect the corpse from the qiankun pouch.

Just as he suspected, that corpse had no iron nails inserted into its skull.

“Hmph… So this nail keeps them from transforming…” He said to himself, spinning the nail between his fingers. “What’s the point of that? Why didn’t this one have a nail?”

Jin Ling kicked the corpse at his feet. A quick check through the rest of the corpses confirmed that they all had nails, each one with the same sigil engraved in it. As strange as the situation was, one thing bugged Jin Ling more than anything; With his uncle being Wei Wuxian, the most infamous demonic cultivator, how was it that he didn’t recognize the sigil used on these nails? If this cultivator was delving into wicked tricks as a novice, they shouldn’t be able to create their own sigils yet.

After a moment longer of letting his mind wander over the evidence at hand, Jin Ling packed away the original corpse, as well as the iron nail, and extinguished the flame talisman to head back to the main cavern. He climbed back up the rope and out of the cave, pausing to take another look at the qi obscuring sigils. There was nothing unusual about them, each stroke painted correctly in black ink on standard talisman paper. Whatever the reason may be, someone was intentionally storing these corpses for later use and was using these sigils to hide from Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen.

As much as he wanted to think this was the work of Xue Yang, ultimately it wasn’t possible. A quick read on Xinyi’s spiritual energy showed that he still hadn’t fully awoken. Furthermore, the complex sigils present could only be made by someone who’d spent years cultivating a golden core. Even if Xinyi had regained his memories recently, his body’s spiritual energy would be too low to use qi obscuring talismans.

Jin Ling sighed. “That kid’s a priority. No point in worrying Sizhui and Jingyi about this just yet.”

Arriving back at the temple confirmed the need to put the cave on a backburner. Gongzhu was pacing back and forth anxiously, clearly agitated by whatever had the group of students looking equally anxious. Once his eyes fell on MingYue, he rushed to her side immediately, putting his hands on either side of her face and guiding her to look up at him.

“I was only gone a few hours, what happened?!”

She pulled away from his touch, trying to reassure him with a shaky smile. “It’s nothing, really! You don’t need to worry-”

“MingYue, you’re crying. Don’t waste my time by saying it’s nothing.”

The student at MingYue’s side spoke up for her. “Wang Xinyi went crazy and attacked her!”

MingYue put her hands up, shaking her head. “You make it sound so much worse than it is-”

“Look at her neck! He tried to kill her!”

Jin Ling tilted MingYue’s chin up, grimacing at the light bruising around her throat.

Again, she pulled out of his grasp. “Really, it was all my fault. I’ve been bothering him ever since we arrived, even after he asked me to leave him alone several times.”

“So what? Since when is being annoying deserving of a death sentence?” Jin Ling snapped back coldly. “If that were the case, I would’ve killed you a long time ago. Why are you protecting that bastard?”

MingYue looked down, her smile faltering slightly. “Well… The thing is… We used to date, and I still…”

Jin Ling sighed, stifling the urge to roll his eyes. “MingYue, forget about those kinds of feelings, okay? Men who are ok with hitting women are worse than trash. Stay away from people like Wang Xinyi.”

She trembled, but nodded her head still. Jin Ling grabbed MingYue’s sleeve and pulled her into a tight hug. At their feet, Gongzhu finally stopped pacing and whining. A short moment later, Jin Ling released her from the hug and guided her inside to their room, the spiritual dog chasing after them without a command. He sat her down and quickly set to work making a pot of tea.

“I’m sorry.” He said after a long silence.

MingYue looked up, surprised. “Sorry? For what?”

“I dragged you here and then kept leaving you alone.” Jin Ling’s tone sounded cold and his eyes never glanced her way. “If I’d been there today, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“You’re blaming yourself?” She asked with a laugh, her face brightening with a smile again. “How could you have known A-Xin, I mean-... Xinyi… Nevermind. You’re right. I won’t pursue him anymore.”

Jin Ling gave a satisfied nod and handed her a cup of tea. “Good.”

~X~

After Xinyi’s outburst, everyone in the courtyard felt on edge. They’d all known him from class for the past year and never seen him get genuinely angry over anything. He was someone who always seemed in good spirits, even when he showed up to class looking like he hadn’t slept all night. Any foul mood was quickly recovered from and grudges were quickly forgotten, so for Xinyi to snap so fiercely over something as small as a misplaced belonging- No one knew what to say about it.

“A-Qian.” Chen stood close to his friend, still watching the temple door long after Xinyi and Xingchen disappeared. “Something’s really wrong with Xinyi.”

“It’s his notebook…”

“Huh? What is?”

QianHua held up Xinyi’s bag, having picked it up not long after the man had run off into the temple. “The thing he was accusing that girl of stealing. His notebook isn’t in here.”

Chen looked down at the bag in QianHua’s hands, seeing that the notebook was indeed missing. “I saw him with it this morning. He never went back inside after that…”

“He’s been transcribing that book for at least a year, it’s no wonder he got so mad.”

MingYue’s twin in matching robes had reappeared in the courtyard, already rushing to her side. Although he was comforting her, it looked more like he was lecturing her. Something about his personality always gave him that kind of look though, making it hard to understand why MingYue would hang out with such a harsh guy. Either way, she stopped crying and went back inside with him.

Chen grabbed QianHua’s hand and dragged him into the temple after them. They followed the two at a safe distance all the way back to their room where they stationed themselves against the door to listen.

“Should I even bother asking what you did that Xinyi found so unbearable?”

“I’m… not sure, honestly. He seemed to think I took something of his, but he didn’t say what.”

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Take something of his?”

“GeGe, how can you ask me that? You’re so mean!”

Chen and QianHua exchanged a tired look, rolling their eyes in sync with each other.

“I’m not being mean. But if I say you didn’t when you did, it’ll make me look bad.”

“We’ve been together over two years, and you still don’t trust me?”

Jin Ling sputtered, coughing a few times before answering.

“Don’t say it like that, you make it sound like we’re dating.”

“No, I just let you drag me all over China, to haunted houses and temples in the middle of nowhere.”

“Hardly! Who’s letting who? You begged me to take you on as my apprentice, and in case you don’t remember, I never said yes.”

Chen shook his head and stood up, leading QianHua back to their room. “Well that answered no questions.”

“Yeah. I still don’t know if those two are dating or not.” QianHua replied.

“That’s not what I meant.”

They entered the room, their steps stuttering for a moment at the sight of an empty room. Having assumed Xinyi would come back here after his outburst, they exchanged a puzzled look when they didn’t find him inside.

“Where else would he have gone?” Chen whined, giving QianHua a distraught look.

“He must be somewhere with that other Daozhang.”

Chen’s expression fell. “Why would he run off with a stranger? We’re his friends, shouldn’t we be the one comforting him right now?”

QianHua shrugged and gave Chen a quick pat on the shoulder. “Don’t get too worked up about this. You said before he hasn’t been sleeping much, he probably just snapped because he’s tired and now he’s embarrassed about it. He’ll come back when he calms down.”

“Yeah, maybe… but…” Chen sighed and slumped onto his bed. “That Doazhang…”

“A-Chen…”

“What.”

“You’re not getting your hopes up about Xinyi, are you?”

Chen met his gaze, a sinking feeling manifesting in his gut at QianHua’s expression. He shook his head slightly, averting his eyes.

“A-Chen. I know you like him, but it’s not gonna happen. Don’t misplace your disappointment on the Daozhang as jealousy.”

“I’m not… I’m just worried. He creeps me out.”

QianHua laid down next to Chen, propping his head up on one hand. “Sizhui Jiaoshou used to creep you out too.”

“This is different!” Chen slumped back, looking up at the ceiling now. “They’ve never met until now, but everytime Daozhang is around, he stares at Xinyi like… I don’t know. Like he’s waiting for something?”

“Well, maybe they do know each other.” QianHua offered simply. “The Wang family are antique collectors, maybe Xinyi met him through that.”

“I guess…”

~X~

I SWEAR I’LL STRANGLE YOU TO DEATH AND TAKE IT OFF YOUR FUCKING CORPSE!

The shouts really had been loud enough to hear all throughout the whole valley. The sudden break of silence jolted Sizhui and Jingyi from whatever aimless conversation they’d been having, sending a jolt of panic through each of them. Standing up at once and dashing out of their room, they started heading towards the direction of the shouts. Before they’d gotten even halfway back to the front entrance, they ran into Xiao Xingchen walking in the opposite direction. Xinyi, who looked positively shaken to the core, was held close at Xingchen’s side.

“Xiao Xingchen-!” Jingyi started, not even sure what to say.

“Daozhang, we heard shouting.” Sizhui intercepted, taking over for his partner. “Is everything ok?”

Xingchen pulled Xinyi closer and gave the two a nod.

“Is he…?”

He shook his head, holding up his free hand.

A quick lookover confirmed what Xingchen ‘said’; Xinyi’s energy was still unchanged. Sizhui and Jingyi exchanged an unsure look, recalling Song Lan’s concerns from their earlier conversation. Xingchen was standing slightly ahead of Xinyi, acting as a barrier between him and the two Lans. It was obvious the man intended to take care of the problem himself and would not easily allow the two to intervene.

Silently, Xingchen gave the two a polite smile, bowed to each of them, and carried on with Xinyi in his grasp. Neither one of them dared question Xingchen on the matter and could do nothing but step aside and let them pass. They disappeared around a corner, leaving Sizhui and Jingyi gaping after them.

“That was weird, right?” Jingyi asked, still staring down the hall.

“Song Lan was right, Xingchen is acting strange about this.” Sizhui agreed, nodding his head.

“After everything Xue Yang did to him-?”

“He was way too insistent on being left alone with him.”

“Should we tell Song Lan?”

Sizhui shook his head. “I don’t know. This situation is complicated. I don’t know if this is something that he needs to know about or if we’d be overstepping our place by telling him.”

“What about our place as Xinyi’s teachers? Should we be worried about his safety with Xiao Xingchen?”

“I don’t think so.” Sizhui sighed and continued down the hall, altering his direction. “As a Fierce Corpse, his killing intent would’ve been unmistakeable. Whatever his true intentions are, I don’t think Xinyi is in any danger.”

A few quick turns brought them to the corner of the temple Jin Ling was staying. They knocked, not really expecting him to answer. He was almost never at the temple, disappearing into the forest for hours at a time. Jingyi had definitely made a handful of annoyed comments implying that Jin Ling was avoiding them.

“Ah. It’s you two.”

Jingyi bristled, almost ready to pull his sword already. “What do you mean ‘Ah’? Who else would be at your door? Do you-”

Sizhui put his hand up to Jingyi and interjected. “A-Ling. Are you alone?”

Jin Ling smirked at Jingyi before shifting his eyes to look at Sizhui. “No. MingYue is here. Do you know about what happened yet?”

Sizhui frowned slightly. “Not entirely. Did he… Is MingYue okay?”

Jin Ling stepped aside for the two to enter his room, their eyes quickly falling on the bruise on MingYue’s neck.

“She’s fine, but this situation is progressing.”

“We just passed Xiao Xingchen in the hall, with-” Jingyi turned slightly, lowering his voice.

“His spiritual energy is the same, but-”

“Xingchen was acting weird about it.”

“We barely got a word in with him before he ran off.”

“Ok, I get it!” Jin Ling waved a hand in irritation. “I hate it when you two do that!”

“MingYue.” Sizhui turned to face her now, kneeling down in front of her. “Can you tell me what happened with Xinyi?”

Her eyes flicked to Jin Ling for just a moment. “I’m not sure what set him off, to be honest. I was in here, feeding Gongzhu, and when we came back out, Xinyi suddenly grabbed me and started accusing me of taking something.”

“Taking something?” Sizhui asked.

“He never said what it was, he just kept demanding I give it back. It took four people to hold him back, and then Xiao Xingchen…”

“Don’t trail off. Tell Sizhui what happened.” Jin Ling snapped, his arms already crossed over his chest.

“Xiao Xingchen pulled him back and slapped him. Xinyi looked so shocked, like he suddenly woke up and didn’t know where he was. Then he ran back into the temple.” MingYue looked around the room anxiously. “Is he going to be in trouble because of me?”

Sizhui smiled reassuringly. “Of course not. We just want to make sure everyone’s okay.”

Jin Ling scoffed. “So what if he gets in trouble? I told you not to defend him.”

Sizhui stood back up and walked back over to Jingyi, giving him a look before exiting the room. Jingyi wordlessly followed after him into the hall, urging Jin Ling to trail after them indignantly.

“Hey! What are you two going to do?” Jin Ling called after them.

“What can we do?” Sizhui asked, shrugging his shoulders. “Xinyi is with Xiao Xingchen. Until they reappear, there’s nothing we can do but wait.”

~X~

The door slid shut behind them, closing Xingchen and Xinyi off from the rest of the world. Xingchen walked past the smaller man to a trunk in the corner of the room and opened it, pulling a stack of neatly folded clothes out. Xinyi idled in the middle of the room, staring down at the floor blankly. Even at the sound of the trunk closing, he didn’t react in the slightest.

Drip… drip…

Xingchen put a hand on Xinyi’s shoulder, still getting no response out of him.

Drip… drip…

“Xinyi. Your clothes are wet.”

“...That’s okay.”

Xingchen pushed the clothes into his hands. “Change out of them.”

He looked up at Xingchen, looking a little startled. When the man’s expression didn’t change, he looked at the clothes and took them. Quickly stripping out of the wet robes, Xingchen took them and hung them up to dry. Now dressed in the plain pants and undershirt, Xingchen guided Xinyi to sit down on the bed, kneeling on the floor in front of him.

“What happened back there?”

Xinyi shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never gotten mad like that before.”

The image replayed in Xingchen’s mind. The way he spoke, the look on his face, the reaction was undeniably Xue Yang. It was a complete 180 from the sweet, boyish behavior exhibited in the river only moments before.

“You saw something, didn’t you?” Xingchen laid his hands over Xinyi’s. “At the river, when you fell, and again in the courtyard. Right?”

Xinyi nodded slowly. “I feel like I’m going crazy… seeing and hearing things no one else… It was deafening. I could barely hear myself screaming at MingYue when I-...”

“You need to sleep.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to. It’ll get worse if you don’t.” Xingchen pushed on Xinyi’s shoulder, urging him into the bed.

Xinyi resisted briefly. Xingchen persisted and ultimately he gave in, laying back against the bed with a worried look. He sat down on the bed in lotus position beside Xinyi and closed his eyes. Only ten or fifteen minutes passed like that before he could hear Xinyi relax into slow, sleepful breaths. When he was sure the man was asleep, Xingchen opened his eyes again and held out two fingers over his chest, sensing the unsteady spiritual energy coursing through him.

It’s strange… He’s on a precipice. He should have awakened by now, but there’s something resisting against it.

He looked at Xinyi’s face, studying the peaceful expression he wore in sleep. Was this how he looked in Yi City when they shared a bed together? Did he look this peaceful laying beside him? Or did he watch him with wicked eyes, waiting for the moment to reveal his true identity at Xingchen’s expense?

A gentle hand reached out, hovering over Xinyi’s face. The tips of his fingers brushed across the soft skin, hesitantly, before the rest of his hand flattened against his cheek. His heart fluttered and he pulled his hand back quickly, turning his head to look away. Refocusing his attention, Xingchen went back to analysing the eb and flow of Xinyi’s qi, trying to find the source of the block.

It was unstable, as expected, but stuttered at random points. It was almost as if there was a physical block in Xinyi’s pathways, keeping the qi from circulating properly. As far as he knew, the other cultivators had not sealed Xinyi’s energy, and the Song of Clarity should have only calmed its erratic nature, not set up blocks like this. He laid his hand flat against Xinyi’s chest, feeling the beats of his heart mixed with the flow of energy.

“Mm…”

Xingchen looked at Xinyi’s face again, pulling his hand back. The peaceful expression had tensed slightly. Restlessly, Xinyi rolled onto his side and grasped the sheet beneath him. For a moment, he relaxed, making Xingchen wonder if his touch was bothering him. He closed his eyes and went back to meditating, leaving the man be while he slept. Another thirty minutes or so passed and, again, Xinyi became restless.

This time, Xinyi rolled back onto his back with a pained expression on his face. His forehead glistened slightly and his breathing had picked up. Xingchen passed his hand over Xinyi’s body again, feeling the energy surge.

Hardly any time is passing between falling asleep and having nightmares… It’s just like back then. He only ever slept for an hour or so at a time.

The thought ruminated in his mind for a moment. Back when Xue Yang was just the nameless house guest, Xingchen could hear him getting out of bed all throughout the night to wander the house or disappear outside before settling down again. It only stopped when he started sleeping beside Xingchen and A-Qing.

Xinyi breathed in sharply and clenched the sheet with tight fists. The longer Xingchen waited, the more distressed Xinyi became. With the memories still fresh in his mind, Xingchen laid down on the bed beside him, wrapping an arm around Xinyi and pulling him close. With his free hand, he grabbed Xinyi’s and laced their fingers together. Almost at once, Xinyi’s muscles relaxed and his breathing returned to normal.

Xingchen couldn’t help but smirk. You still sleep better at my side.

[evadingreallife]

Guys, guys, guys, can I get a mdzs au where something, anything, happens to jin zixun and he never goes to attack wei wuxian before jin ling's one month celebration, so that wei wuxian can go and be a doting uncle to jin ling, reunite with jiang cheng and jiang yanli, reinforce himself as a good person instead of Mr Lord of Evilness And All That Bad Stuff, uncover all of jin guangshan's rotten deeds and the budding jin guangyao's evil plotting??

Tbh tho I would settle for him and lan zhan confessing their love and eloping after the celebration.

Oh and mxy never goes to carp tower but gets adopted by wei wuxian as a little brother, xue yang is not a murdering psychopatic serial killer but gets taken in by someone (part of wei wuxian's brood of adopted children? Jin guangyao reformed? Jiang yanli? Cloud recesses? Jiang sect? Song lan and xiao xingchen? I don't care as long as he doesn't go batshit crazy), xiao xingchen and song lan go on to become sect leaders and elope wangxian-style, and maybe adopt a qing again.

Oh and nie mingjue, lan xichen and jin guangyao become thick as thieves and nobody betrays and murders anyone.

And Huaisang? Huaisang is the masterming that made all of this happen~

Oh and wen qing and wen ning start an itinerant order of medics and emergency aid because nobody knows how to actually cure stuff besides handwaving spiritual energy at it and hoping for ths best. They get intersect recognition and fame and money and live happily ever after. Wen qing finds someone to get together with (nie mingjue? Mian mian? I am not picky, as long as it's not jiang "forced romance" cheng), while wen ning remains a pure little zombie boy at heart and opens an orphanage for street kids (ooh, maybe that's where xue yang ends up, gets taken in and then when he grows up he stays to help and protect the other children, they all love him).

Let's see, who else? Jiang cheng grows up, leads the sect, doesn't have anger issues as serious as when he was younger thanks to the Power of Therapy and marries an OC, maybe someone that works in a kennel or a veterinarian! Then he has dogs, many dogs to take care of, and eventually children, many years later.

Btw, of fucking course the 3zuns are in a loving threesome and nobody can convince me otherwise.

Jin guangshan dies ingnored and stupidly and madam jin becomes sect leader, the most badass sect leader ever. She and huaisang have tea every other week to gossip and scheme and veily mock-insult each other, and everybody is afraid of even knowing what the hell goes on during those encounters. Is she his sugar mommy? Idk, maybe, maybe not, but they develop this sort of friendly game where they have to sneakily one-up each other with snark and snobbery, it's all very funny and entertaining for them.

She has a fling with Sisi, Meng Shi's old friend, and nobody even dares to say anything because madam jin is terrifiyingly captivating when she wants.

Mo xuanyu's mother gets help and therapy and finds happiness somehow, while her awful relatives live forgotten in an old house far away from there. She then finds one of the Wen Medics and joins the order and makes wonderful memories and even better friends.

Then, perhaps, something happens between huaisang and mo xuanyu? They meet as an accident, and then they keep on meeting, and thrice is not a coincidence anymore so maybe that's fate or maybe it's just concerned friends that would like them to finally confess and stop this game of cat and mouse thay have had going on for way too much time.

Eventually wei wuxian, friend extraordinaire, has to get himself involved because his grubby hands itched to help his school friend and his unexplainably-not-blood-related twin get together and be happy.

Afterwards he gets a scolding from a yuan that explains to him that he souldn't interfere this much with other people's love life, and wei wuxian is forced to stop plotting how to matchmake every single cloud recesses inhabitant to find love. But his students love him very much so everyone is happy.

He becomes an inventor, and spends his time in a frenzy of creative flux and kinky, kinky everyday sex. After a while his particular kind of crazy spreads and now he teaches classes to little juniors to learn how to access their spiritual energy and for university-grade students on harnessing energy and creating talismans and all those things he can do because he is awesome.

Everyone is as happy as they can be, all the sexually inclined people have loads of kinky (basically everyone) sex or even just old fashioned vanilla sex (but, let's be honest, this is mdzs, who doen't have some hidden kink? Xiao xingchen maybe?), and all the kids grow up happy and loved and awesome.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phoenix - Episode 6

So yes. I am weak. I decided to watch one more episode ather the cleaning. I mean... after watching something like this I will surely have sweet dreams. Maybe meet with Feng Xu or something, who knows.

Minister Bi reveals there are words that Xiaowu went to see Old Ba. He then offers them to stay at his place as he prepared nice rooms for them, but Jin Linyuan says it’s not necessary. Feng Wu Wants to protest but they decide to leave before she can say anything more.

Are we finally going to know who is this Zhao Ge girl ? Seems she was from the same school as Qingluan, but it’s not the case anymore. Zuo Qingluan wants her to come back, she would even beg their master, but Zhao Ge says it’s fine. While Mu Yao And Zuo Qingluan go take care of something, Zhao Ge leaves a note saying she’s going back to the capital by herself. Mu Yao and Zuo Qingluan are going to go to the border city.

Back in said city, Jun Linyuan and co go to see old Ba who’s still being threatened by Yu Ming Ye. Jun Linyuan forces the door open, but there is nobody inside. Then he notices the hand print left by Yu Ming Ye earlier to scare poor Old Ba. Our little prince is so smart and makes their favourite opponent come out. Again, during the fight yu Ming Ye uses Feng wu to threaten them and again Jun linyuan’s venom is acting up, but not as much since he claims her back. Yu Ming Ye escapes but Jun Linyuan says not to chase him, they need to find the celestial fruit. They ask old Ba about Feng Xiaowu, but he has a little trouble lying about it. Well in the end they leave because they heard enough and Jun Linyuan knocks on Feng Wu’s forehead. I can’t understand this guy. As they leave, Jun Linyuan’s chest hurts again and Feng Wu is like wow this guy is a male version of Lin Daiyu, which is extremely funny. Well to me. Lin Daiyu is a character from the Dream of the Red Pavilion and she’s always sick.

Feng Wu treats Jun Linyuan’s pain with acupuncture once they are back home. When she takes his pulse she feels there’s something unsusual and Feng Xun says it might be the loveless venom she made him eat back then. So she realizes that when he said she wasn’t one of them to Yu Ming Ye it was probably the curse.

Xuan Yi meets with and old man to tell him something but those screen writers won’t let us hear it DDD:

While she’s making medicine at night, Yu Ming Ye gets in her room to ask about Feng Xiao wu. He thinks their smell is similar. Is he a dog or what% But he says Feng Wu isn’t as pretty as Feng Xiaowu. They are all so dumb... But she tells him it seems Jun Linyuan found Xiaowu, so he should go and save her then. And he dropped a charm while leaving and now Jun Linyuan is finally being smart and suspects  that Feng Wu might have informed the darknight court of their whereabouts maybe and that she’s Feng Xiaowu. You’re half right... So he takes her out to look for Feng Xiaowu and she almost exposes herself.

From afar, Yu Mingye looks at them and a town’s person tells him he doesn’t stand a chance with the fifth lady. She’s loved by many as she’s nice and pretty. He follows them while Jun Linyuan tries to expose her.

Feng Liu th crazy cousin is getting more and more greedy, she even wants the pheonix chant sword for herself now and to become the next head of the family so she would be a match for Jun Linyuan.

Yu Ming Ye tries to go and save Xiaowu from the mean Jun Linyuan but both Feng Xun and Xuan Yi are waiting for him. Non-epic fight scene. Jun Linyuan joins at that moment too.

When Feng Wu comes back home, crazy cousin is ready to attack her and she wants to scar her face so Jun Linyuan won’t like her anymore. They are always that crazy, right? Side girls in dramas are really scary honestly. Qiu Ling tries to protect Feng Wu, which makes Feng Liu even more angry and crazy. Feng Wu fights her back with a pin takin from Qiu Ling’s hair.

Oh!!! EPIC FIGHTING SCENE! Nothing too crazy but the coordination there between Feng Xun, Xuan Yi and Jun Linyuan was awesome to look at.

And then it’s the end of episode 6. And no more episode. So I have no choice but to go to bed. However this is pretty annoying because this cliffhanger is killing me. I want to know what is going to happen next. This drama is really good seriously. Even though many things in the plot aren’t new, it still has somme freshness. The story really is addictive, the visuals are gorgeous, the OST is enchanting, the acting and dubbing are good. So far, 10/10!

[ruensroad]

Your greek gods! Au is super cute. I love the way you've mstched the characters to the pantheon and was wondering who Yanli, Zixuan and Jin Ling correspond to?

Ah, the trio most badly translated into the mortal’s mythos XD *cracks knuckles* Okay, so this is where things really start to skew. I’ll start with the least complicated ones first!

Jin Ling is Artemis! Archery, hunting, with the symbol of a hunting dog. I mean, this one was pretty cut and dry, though it does go deeper than that. Artemis was known as a guardian of the forests and hills and I love the idea of him just being this gremlin child always covered in leaves (though he cleans up very well, he is his father’s son after all).

Hilariously, to the mortals he is a virgin goddess, which leads his friends (read: Jingyi and Wei Wuxian) to calling him Mistress Moon and all that fun stuff XD

I know he wasn’t on the list, but Jin Ling also represents the Moon, so I had to find the corresponding Sun, and believe me or not it’s Jin Rusong! As Apollo, he is guardian of the sun and light and art, as well as baby animals and children. I thought this was a good nod to the tragic canon, where he was killed by his own father. And where Jin Ling is a gremlin, A-Song is a gentle child who is usually carrying around a baby animal of some kind and either following Jin Ling around or Lan Xichen, who, as Spring, is the start of all that good animal birthing time, and that makes Lan Xichen his favorite uncle. (Jin Ling is still his favorite person tho).

A bit more complicated is Jiang Yanli, who is Hestia. Now Hestia is pretty much reknown as being a virgin goddess and was worshipped extensively as one. Yanli is not, personally, virginal, and is married now, BUT to the mortal realm she is still very much one.

Besides that, she fits Hestia perfectly. Hearth, home, family. The domestic life. She is the center of every home in the mortal realm and the center of her own family, so it’s wonderful for her.

Jin Zixuan is where this skews terribly. To start, he is based on Helios, the sun god who’s chariot helped the sun’s path through the sky. Where Jin Rusong is the personification, Jin Zixuan is his supportive uncle, which is lovely. HOWEVER, his mythos is different.

For starters, he wasn’t always a god. He was born one, given who his parents are (which differs already, since Helios was not the son of Zeus and Hera), but Madam Jin was concerned that Jin Zixuan was becoming too much like his father, haughty and preening and ignoring that very good heart he actually has, that she stripped him of half his godhood and cast him back to earth after a very long argument. Now a demi-god, he had to fight his way back to the skies, or so he believed.

In truth, it was his love of Jiang Yanli that opened the path back to godhood for him. He met her in passing when he was lost in a forest and was immediately stunned by her. Her first and second attempts to help him were rebuffed, but by the third time he was desperate enough to say yes. And he just never stopped saying yes to her

Hope that wasn’t too confusing! Thank you for asking and letting me brain vomit about this AU! :D

[needtherapy]

Mao’er Makes A Friend

Wasn’t it enough that Wei Wuxian got his brother a puppy? Now Jiang Cheng wants him to LIKE her, like he likes all the other dogs. Wait. What other dogs? Lan Zhan? What does he mean “other dogs”?

Part 2 of JiuJiu Gets A Puppy

Read more Kristina Writes Tiny Stories

His eyes narrowed at Mao’er. He hadn’t seen her move, but he suspected she was plotting.

“Wei. Wuxian. Are you paying attention?” He looked up at Jiang Cheng, offended. “Of course I am. You were talking about irrigation. Do I need to give you input on irrigation?”

He looked back at Mao’er. This time, she had definitely moved. Still sitting, but sitting...closer.

“First of all, I didn’t ask for your opinion on irrigation.” Jiang Cheng sounded dangerously calm. “Second of all, that was ten minutes ago. Lan-zongzhu asked for your report on how the Yunmeng Jiang juniors are progressing.”

Oh. Oops.

Wei Wuxian dragged his attention back to the meeting he had been forced to attend at Cloud Recesses. Well, “forced” might not be wholly accurate. He had been very nicely and very firmly asked to attend by Jiang Cheng, Lan Zhan and finally, da-baizi, with full Zewu-Jun formality. And everyone else was there, so he suspected it would have been considered rude if he had declined. Although, he thought, it was very unfair that Nie Huaisang seemed to be dozing behind a fan in the corner.

It wasn’t so much that he didn’t want to be there. He liked talking about the different training curriculums, and he was the only person who regularly taught in both Lotus Pier and Cloud Recesses. But these days, being around Jiang Cheng meant being around Mao’er. And Mao’er was—complicated.

Wei Wuxian was perfectly aware that giving Jiang Cheng a puppy had been his idea. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, and he had worked very hard to accept that dogs did not have to be the terrifying beasts of his nightmares. Mao’er had been one of Jin Ling’s prized husky puppies, so Wei Wuxian had been able to spend the first four months of her life petting her soft baby fur, feeding her pieces of meat from his fingers, and trying not to flinch when her tiny teeth playfully nipped his fingers. His heart had melted a little more every time she had rolled on her back, legs curled up for a belly rub. Jin Ling had even made Wei Wuxian teach her to sit and stay, explaining that it would help Wei Wuxian bond with her.

And oh, it had been worth it. There had been the smallest twinge of apprehension when he’d slid her into a basket to give to Jiang Cheng. But the look of hopeful love on Jiang Cheng’s face when he’d seen Mao’er for the first time had dissolved whatever trepidation Wei Wuxian harbored. It was one of the best moments of Wei Wuxian’s life, and not just because Jiang Cheng had cried.

Somehow, though, over the last year, puppy Mao’er had turned into adult Mao’er, and it worried him. No, she wasn’t big. She didn’t bite or snarl or try to steal his food. In fact, she was very well behaved, always glued to Jiang Cheng’s heel, moving when he moved, sitting when he stopped. But she was smart. Eerily smart. 

For one thing, she could sword fly. Not on her own, of course, but in a moment of weakness, Wei Wuxian had made a flat platform that expanded like a fan and hooked to Sandu’s hilt. He never thought it would actually work, but of course, Mao’er turned out to be adept at balancing. Jiang Cheng took her everywhere with him, her nose always turning up to sniff the wind as they flew. It was unnatural.

And for another, she would carefully hold anything Jiang Cheng handed her until he asked for it back. He even let her carry Sandu once, glaring at Wei Wuxian when his mouth had dropped open in shock.

Most unnervingly, Wei Wuxian was sure she watched him when he wasn’t looking.

Today, she was inching closer to him, and he couldn’t figure out why. He’d only caught her doing it once, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that every time he looked away, she did this odd sitting scoot that moved her closer to him without ever standing up.

“Stop looking at my dog like that,” Jiang Cheng snapped, and Wei Wuxian blinked up at him, surprised by the sharp tone. It had been a long time since Jiang Cheng had seemed this upset with him.

“She’s moving toward me,” Wei Wuxian tried to explain, but it sounded ridiculous even to him.

“Of course she is.” Jin Ling smoothly interrupted Jiang Cheng’s growing annoyance, patient as always when it came to dogs. “She adores you.”

“But why?” Wei Wuxian asked, trying not to whine and failing. Next to him, he felt Lan Zhan’s tiny sigh. 

Jiang Cheng was less subtle. “I can’t imagine,” he snorted. “But she’s trying to win you over. She did it with Huaisang too.”

Wei Wuxian grimaced, thinking Mao’er might have been more successful with Nie Huaisang if she hadn’t eaten so many fans when she was teething.

Jiang Cheng misinterpreted the expression and splotchy red indignation bloomed across his face. He stormed across the room, followed by Mao’er, to stand in front of Wei Wuxian, hands on his hips. 

“How can you still be afraid of her? You picked her out! You trained her! You even got to name her! And you were never afraid of anyone else’s dogs until Fairy. Why is it just mine?”

The room got very, very quiet. Again, Wei Wuxian sensed Lan Zhan’s reaction, tension this time.

“What other dogs?” Wei Wuxian asked, confusion knitting his brows together.

Jiang Cheng exploded, shifting into outrage in the blink of an eye. “What do you mean, what other dogs? You live in Cloud Recesses with the country’s most famous dogs, and I have never once heard you complain about them!”

It did not seem possible, but the room got even quieter. Wei Wuxian felt the blood drain from his face as he turned to look at his beloved husband who would never, ever lie to him.

“Lan Zhan? What dogs?” Wei Wuxian’s voice cracked, and he could not believe the guilty look on Lan Zhan’s face. It was not possible.

“Wei Ying, I did not know you were afraid of dogs before...” Lan Zhan trailed off, a flush creeping up his neck. “Before you came back. You were here numerous times and did not seem bothered by them. But once I knew, we made sure you never had to be around them.” 

The tone in Lan Zhan’s voice was almost like pleading.

“Laodie, the pekes live all the way over in Mengshi,” Jingyi added unhelpfully, as if Wei Wuxian had any idea what Mengshi was. “In the last four years, they’ve never caused you any trouble, so what difference does it make?”

Wei Wuxian shot out of his chair. “Show me. Now.”

Lan Zhan clearly did not want to, so in the end, da-baizi sighed and beckoned for Wei Wuxian to follow him down a twisting path toward the edge of the great forest. They ended up at the gate of a house he’d only ever seen from a distance and had always thought was empty. There were half a dozen golden, furry logs galloping around inside a fenced courtyard, their flat black noses snorting with enthusiasm. It wasn’t a particularly graceful or elegant run like Mao’er’s, more of a rolling waddle, and Wei Wuxian had a hard time believing these were dogs.

A Lan disciple was sitting in the yard with them, throwing a small wooden ball and ruffling the long hair of the animals whenever they got close to him. Wei Wuxian knew that disciple.

“A-Yuan?” Wei Wuxian didn’t yell, but he didn’t have to. 

Sizhui glanced up and froze.

“Adie,” he started, jumping to his feet. 

Wei Wuxian pointed a finger at him. “Don’t ‘adie’ me! You knew? This whole time? I thought pets weren’t allowed in Cloud Recesses!”

Sizhui paled and looked around nervously, waving his hands at the yard.

“Wei-qianbei, don't say that. These are not pets. These are Lan-laoshi’s award-winning Pekingese. Lans have bred Pekingese for so many generations, they are considered members of the family. Lan-laoshi has been teaching me the art of bloodlines and traits for breeding.”

Sizhui smiled fondly at one of the ridiculous things that had come over to pant on his feet. Wei Wuxian surrendered immediately, swayed by Sizhui’s obvious pride and affection.

“How did I miss this?” he asked, turning to Lan Zhan for some kind of answer. But when he was immediately distracted by the dark pools of Lan Zhan’s eyes, the slope of his nose, and the faint curve of his lips, he remembered that perhaps he didn’t spend quite as much time observing his surroundings as watching his husband’s face. 

Jingyi patted his shoulder consolingly. “So now you know. Who cares?” He muttered under his breath, “They’re barely dogs anyway. Not like the Nie mastiffs.” “Yeah!” Jiang Cheng was annoyed again, and Wei Wuxian was confused again. “You aren’t afraid of the Nie dogs either, and I know you see them all the time!” 

“Nie Huaisang doesn’t have dogs?” He heard the question in his own voice.

Everyone turned to stare at him except Jiang Cheng, who grabbed his arm and dragged him over three decorative bridges, around one large koi pond, and down the hill to the Gusu Lan stables.

“I thought those were small horses,” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, peering at the shaggy animals Jiang Cheng pointed at. 

Granted, he’d never looked at them that closely, but now that he thought about it, it was very strange for horses to be rolling around on the ground. And those did look more like paws than hooves. 

But no.

Wait.

No.

“They have saddles. I’ve seen the saddles. I’ve seen your son ride them,” he accused Jiang Cheng, who did not look even remotely repentant.

“You didn’t think it was weird that Chifeng-Zun had miniature horses in his war room?” Jiang Cheng thundered, and Wei Wuxian looked at him blankly.

“No. Not really.” Everyone knew the former Nie zongzhu was crazy about horses.

They all paused for a moment until da-baizi laughed, the light music of his voice breaking the silence.

“That is exactly something Mingjue would have done,” he agreed with a wry smile.

Something occurred to Wei Wuxian, and he slumped heavily to the ground.

“Jin Zixuan’s dog statues? Those were real dogs, too?” 

He didn’t even bother to look up at their reactions. Of course they were. Those fragile-looking sculptures with the silky crested ears that sat on decorative pillows had been alive, and he’d just never noticed. He shuddered. Thank the gods he’d never tried to touch one.

To his surprise, Jiang Cheng sat down next to him, bumping his shoulder.

“You really didn’t know? This whole time, all these years, I thought…” Jiang Cheng swallowed audibly, and Wei Wuxian looked at the damp corners of his brother’s eyes with dawning horror.

“I thought it was just me. That you just didn’t like dogs and you made a fuss because you didn’t want to live with them.” Jiang Cheng’s voice was low and hoarse. “I mean, it was fine because you were more…”

Wei Wuxian cut him off so he wouldn’t say something that would make them both cry in front of everyone they knew. “I really didn’t know.”

He felt something cold and wet under his hand and he moved his fingers, absently scratching a soft nose and velvety ears, thinking about all the stupid misunderstandings of the past. Would he ever stop finding things he needed to apologize for?

He looked back at Jiang Cheng, ready to say he was sorry. But Jiang Cheng was looking past him, a soft smile on his face. Wei Wuxian followed his gaze to his own hand resting on Mao’er’s head, a wide-open doggie grin on her face. 

As soon as his eyes met hers, she licked his face and laid her head on his lap. He had to laugh. He had to. She had finally won.

He looked up into Lan Zhan’s face, overwhelmed by the love he always found there.

“Lan Zhan, I think we’re going to need to get a dog.”

Notes:

As always, thanks to @wangxianbunnydoodles​ for always having the best names and for the very good beta read.

猫儿 Māo'ér means kitten 猛室 Měngshì means fierce house.  大伯子 dà-bǎizi means husband’s elder brother 老爹 lǎodiē is a respectful way of saying grandfather, but as this is Jingyi, it is a little less respectful.

I did not call this “Crouching Mastiff, Hidden Pekingese” although I was very tempted

[poetatertot]

It’s Not So Bad (In LA): part three

The thing about living with the person you’re avoiding is that there’s no way to avoid them.

Jiang Cheng makes it exactly fifteen hours before Wei Wuxian is in his space again. He does his best to ignore him, but Wei Wuxian isn’t someone you can just ignore. He exists in a perpetual state of noise.

Like a goose, Jiang Cheng thinks, watching him squawk and drop the remote.

“Jiang Cheng, can you get that?”

He looks back at his computer. “No.”

“But it’s closer to you.”

“And you have arms. Use them.”

Wei Wuxian sighs loudly. Jiang Cheng watches him roll off the couch like an undignified slug and wriggle his way towards the remote. 

The bridge, a-Cheng. Mend the bridge.

“You know,” he says, testing the waters. God, is he going to regret this? “I might.. Um.”

Wei Wuxian peers up at him from the carpet.

“Lan Xichen,” he tries again. His voice is already sticking in his throat. “He’s very..” 

“Handsome?” Wei Wuxian supplies. “Dashing? Eye-meltingly gorgeous?”

Jiang Cheng’s face burns. “Shut up.”

Wei Wuxian sits up so fast he nearly collides with the coffee table. “Oh my God,” he breathes, crawling up onto Jiang Cheng’s chair. “Don’t tell me! You want my help after all? Is this real?”

“Get off of me!” Jiang Cheng smacks at him. “Your breath stinks like shrimp chips!”

“My baby brother is finally coming to me for love advice!” Wei Wuxian cackles gleefully. “Ling-er? Ling-er! Call the press, your uncle—”

Jiang Cheng slaps a hand over his mouth. “Would it kill you not to be annoying for five minutes?”

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian mumbles behind his palm, and then licks him.

“Forget it!” Jiang Cheng tries shoving his brother off, but Wei Wuxian is an octopus coming in for the kill. He’s holding onto Jiang Cheng tight enough to cut off blood supply. “You’re obnoxious—I don’t even know why I bother!”

“Because you looove mee,” Wei Wuxian sings, grin splitting wide. “I’m your favoritest brother in the whole wide world!”

Jiang Cheng glares at him. “You’re my only brother.”

“I know!”

Wei Wuxian’s laughter rings out around them as Jiang Cheng settles back into the cushions. If he’s not going to move, they might as well get comfortable. Squirming only makes Wei Wuxian more insufferable.

Annoying. But then, wasn’t he always?

Silence settles between them. Jiang Cheng can feel Wei Wuxian’s eyes on him as he surfs the web for a second-hand car stereo, but he won’t break the peace. Cold as he might be, he doesn’t like the distance arguments bring—the awkwardness, the walking on eggshells. It doesn’t suit them.

 Wei Wuxian is all he has left, after all. 

“I didn’t mean to push,” Wei Wuxian murmurs after a while. They’re both examining a promising model on eBay. “I just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” Jiang Cheng replies. And he technically is. He has a roof over his head. He has a strong nephew with a promising future. He has a job, and a car that mostly works.

“But you could be happier,” Wei Wuxian says, reading his mind. “It shouldn’t always be about surviving paycheck to paycheck. I..” He bites his lip. “I want you to live.”

It hurts. It fucking hurts, needling down into Jiang Cheng’s insecurities and jabbing furiously. Because he isn’t living, is he? This life they share—working, eating, sleeping, Jin Ling’s schedule fit into the cracks—is something, but it isn’t what Jiang Cheng had hoped for. It isn’t what either of them had hoped for. 

It takes every ounce of strength to quell his pride. He can’t even look at Wei Wuxian. 

“I don’t know how,” he admits. How to move on. How to become the After  instead of the Before. How to mend the gaping, infected wound in his heart that’s persisted for so many years.

“Then let me help you,” Wei Wuxian says. 

And really, what else can Jiang Cheng do but say yes?

☁️

The plan is simple. 

“You didn’t need to come with me.” Jiang Cheng sets Zidian into park, ignoring her wheezing. “I could have done this alone.”

“And chicken out at the last second?” Wei Wuxian snorts and turns around. “Come on, Ling-er. It’s time to get your uncle a date.” Jin Ling salutes from the back seat.

The family meeting they’d had the night before was embarrassing, to say the least. Jin Ling pulled out his poster paper and markers. Wei Wuxian got them meeting snacks. Jiang Cheng had to sit in the armchair—or, as Wei Wuxian renamed it, The Hot Seat.

“So what do we know so far?” Wei Wuxian tapped his marker on his lip. “Any takers?”

Jin Ling raised his hand. “Coach smiles at him a lot.”

Jiang Cheng flushes. “He smiles at everyone! And—why are  you helping with this?”

The look Jin Ling gives him is a little too much like Wei Wuxian’s. They really need to stop hanging out alone together.

“Okay, okay.” Wei Wuxian writes down open to approach. “What else? Oh, I know! He seems like he’d be too polite to turn down a date. That has to count for something, right?”

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng grits. “I don’t want to  corner him!”

“Nonsense. It doesn’t count as cornering if he wants to go!” Wei Wuxian writes down another point. “And.. let’s see. He asked about you when I picked Ling-er up—”

“He  did? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I didn’t think anything of it!” Wei Wuxian huffs. “Stop interrupting! You’re not even helping.”

Jiang Cheng sits back, thoughts swirling. “What.. what did he say?”

“I forgot.”

“Wei Wuxian!”

“When can we be done?” Jin Ling asks. “I want to go play with my Legos.”

After a bout of arguing, they move on to  approach. Whatever that means. 

“Wear that purple shirt I bought you last Christmas,” Wei Wuxian says. “When you ask him. It goes really well with your complexion.”

“And the doggy socks!” Jin Ling chips in. 

Purple shirt. Doggy socks. Wei Wuxian stands back looking satisfied—and frowns. “Oh, wait.” He adds another point: Wear extra deodorant.

“Are you saying I  smell?”

“I’m saying you’re a hormonal guy!” Wei Wuxian ducks under a thrown pillow. “You get sweaty! It’s a known fact—back me up, Ling-er!”

“It’s true,” Jiang Cheng’s nephew nods. The traitor. “He got all sweaty just looking at Coach.”

Jiang Cheng sinks into the cushions. “You guys are awful.”

But here they are anyway. Thursday morning, packed in Zidian like they’re on a family mission. Jiang Cheng even wore the doggy socks.

“Wait, no,” Wei Wuxian says. “Take a deep breath. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

Jiang Cheng feels like he’s going to pass out. “Is this even appropriate? I mean—he’s a-Ling’s coach!”

“And  you’re a handsome guy who’s going to miss his shot after tomorrow! Come on, a-Cheng. Don’t fail me now!” Wei Wuxian explodes out of the car before Jiang Cheng can strangle him. “Ling-er! Grab your backpack!”

They shuffle through the front doors in a pack: Jin Ling at the front, Jiang Cheng in the middle, Wei Wuxian at the back. Jiang Cheng suspects this is so he can’t escape into the bathroom. Not that he would do that. Would he?

Oh god, he thinks. I have to pee.

“Good morning!” Mianmian chirps. Her eyes flit over them. “Oh, the whole crew! How sweet.”

“Good morning Mianmian,” Wei Wuxian sings, because he has no shame. “Your nails are looking lovely today.”

“And so are you!” She winks. “8-12’s are out on the blacktop today. Do you have any questions?”

Wei Wuxian leans in. “Yes, actually. You said Lan Xichen’s been working here for years, correct? Just how long would that be?”

Mianmian taps her pen to one cheek. “Oh, let’s see. He started taking on summer camps while he was still in college, I think? It was three years before I was hired, so that makes it six years now? Yes! Six years.” She smiles. “You can really tell he’s a schoolteacher, watching him work. The kids just love him.”

A strangled noise rips out of Jiang Cheng’s throat. A schoolteacher? The image of Lan Xichen in a sweater vest and tie pops into his brain. What must he look like standing at the board? Grading tests at his desk with his hair falling around him? Rolling up his sleeves to—wait.

Wei Wuxian slides him a little smirk. Jiang Cheng doesn’t want to know what kind of expression he’s wearing right now. “I see. Thanks, Mianmian.”

They make the torturous walk down the hall. Jiang Cheng’s never been so damn sweaty staring at macaroni art in his life. Is this what hell is like?

Wei Wuxian practically kicks the doors open. “Lan Xichen! We’re here!”

I’ll kill him, Jiang Cheng decides. I’ll kill him and then drive Zidian into oncoming traffic.

Coach Lan Xichen has never looked so good. Or has he? Jiang Cheng doesn’t know. He’s the most gorgeous man on Earth as far as Jiang Cheng is concerned, especially in those skinny jeans and that soft blue polo that brings out his eyes, and—is that a headband?

Jiang Cheng really needs to pee.

“I can’t do this,” he hisses frantically in Wei Wuxian’s ear. Jin Ling is already bounding across the blacktop to hug Lan Xichen’s leg. “This is crazy.”

“No,  you’re crazy for throwing your chance away!” Wei Wuxian snipes back. “Here we go!”

“No, wait—”

“Lan Xichen!” Wei Wuxian calls. He walks right up, all white teeth and messy hair, and slings his arm around Lan Xichen’s shoulder. Jiang Cheng wants to bury himself alive. “Do you have any plans this evening?”

Lan Xichen, to his credit, doesn’t flinch away. He does give Wei Wuxian a bemused smile like he’s questioning his sanity. “I spend my evenings walking my dog and making dinner. So, yes, if that counts?”

“Wow, Jiang Cheng! Did you hear that? He has a dog!”

Jiang Cheng can’t take it anymore. He runs up, yanking on Wei Wuxian’s other arm. “I’m so sorry,” he manages, tugging furiously. “He’s adopted, I swear.”

Lan Xichen actually laughs. Jiang Cheng’s legs promptly turn to jelly. “It’s not a problem,” he says, smiling. “Do you like dogs too?”

Jiang Cheng nods dumbly. “I—yes. Little dogs. Big dogs. They’re amazing.” Oh god, somebody shut him up. 

“Can he come and see yours?” Wei Wuxian butts in. “You know. For dog purposes?”

“What?” Lan Xichen asks.

“What he  means—” Jiang Cheng pinches Wei Wuxian’s forearm until he squeaks and jerks away— “is that. Um. Can I..”

I can’t do this. 

“Can you..?” Lan Xichen echoes, nodding. He’s so undyingly patient. Jiang Cheng could kiss him.

Do not think about kissing him!

“What I mean is. Um. If you want. Would you..” Jiang Cheng sucks in a shallow breath. “Wouldyouliketogogetcoffeeafterthis.”

Lan Xichen blinks once. Twice. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t catch that. Could you..?”

Forget jelly, Jiang Cheng’s legs are going to disintegrate entirely. Why didn’t he just go to the bathroom?!

“Coffee!” he blurts. “I want to take you to get coffee!”

Silence.

Lan Xichen stares open mouthed. Wei Wuxian looks positively gleeful, all raised eyebrows and poorly-covered giggles. The kids already on the blacktop are all looking over. Jin Ling has his face in his hands.

This is it. Jiang Cheng is going to pack his bags and move to Canada, or maybe Newfoundland, some place where nobody can ever find him ever again, because if he has to take one more second of this he’s going to—

“Alright.”

Jiang Cheng’s internal screaming cuts off. “What?”

Lan Xichen smiles, then: soft, that dangerous dimple appearing, eyes crinkling into two crescent moons. His cheeks are pink and it’s such a nice contrast from the blue shirt that Jiang Cheng is almost distracted by what he’s saying.

“I’ll have coffee with you—although, is it alright that I order tea? I fear coffee and I don’t mix well.”

Lan Xichen could order a pint of vomit and Jiang Cheng would be over the moon. “Yes,” he squeaks. “That’s—um. That’s fine.”

“Excellent.” And then Lan Xichen smiles  again, wide and bright like that first day they’d met, and Jiang Cheng is so far gone he’s practically on Saturn. “I’m afraid I have to get back to the kids now, but perhaps we could discuss this over text..?”

Text. Text.    

Jiang Cheng pats his pants frantically before realizing it’s tucked into his shirt pocket. “Uh. Here.” He nearly drops it in his haste to pass it over. “You can put your number in as a new contact.”

There’s a moment of suspended reality where Jiang Cheng is watching Lan Xichen use his shitty purple keyboard phone and Wei Wuxian is watching Jiang Cheng have a mental breakdown. Then Lan Xichen is passing his phone back, smiling, and Jiang Cheng really needs to pee, but he’d rather piss himself than break this moment.

“There,” Lan Xichen says. “I’ll be expecting your call.” He nods at Jiang Cheng and then Wei Wuxian, dimple popping. “Have a good day Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian.”

“See you later!” Wei Wuxian chirps with a wink. It’s all Jiang Cheng can do to wave.

They make it through the hallway, out the door, and into Zidian before Jiang Cheng finally realizes he has lungs and needs to breathe. He exhales shakily. 

Wei Wuxian beams from the passenger seat. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He flicks on the radio. It’s still staticy and terrible—the new radio doesn’t come for another few days—but soft vocals warble out above the mess, determined to shine through. He begins singing along.

Jiang Cheng smiles into the rearview mirror as he backs out. There’s no need to worry, Jiejie, he decides. Maybe everything is going to be okay.

Wei Wuxian is melodic in a way that once made Jiang Cheng jealous. Now, he can’t help but join in. He has a reason to sing again: a real-life, honest-to-god date with Lan Xichen. 

The clouds are burning away to bare blue sky. The trees are all in permanent bloom, green leaves and bright buds in the lazy summer breeze. The world is  warm,  waiting for Jiang Cheng to join it, and  god  is he ready to.

It really isn’t so bad in LA, he thinks, and drives home to plan for his date.

Thank you so much for reading! I’ve combined and edited all three parts and added an extra scene (yes, the actual date) on AO3. You can find the linking post here.

[dormantchrysalis]

For the MDZS Ask game - 8. Jin Ling, 10. Wen Ning, and 14. Meng Yao, if you please! My answers would be: Cat person, Brussels Sprouts, and I'm an only child. :)

Hello there!! 

Jin Ling: Are you a dog person or a cat person?

I’m the same! Also very much a cat person :) Don’t have any yet because crazy schedule and don’t feel responsible enough for a pet yet, but one day~

Wen Ning: What is the vegetable you dislike the most?

I have acquired a taste for brussel sprouts once I started making caramelized baked sprouts at home! But yeah a very hit or miss vegetable, I agree with you.

For me, I hate eggplant, and any of the gourd vegetables that have that kind of weird squishy texture? Bleargh.

Meng Yao: How many siblings do you have? Are you guys close?

Also only child! Though I grew up with an army of cousins who I met with every weekend, so I didn’t lack in sibling-like relationships. I have a fairly close relationship with many of my cousins still.

Thanks for the questions! Nice to meet you *waves*

[insomnia-productions]

modern mdzs: Jin Ling x Lan JingYi

fight me this ship is so good

[this is ridiculously long so I’ve put it under a cut]

They meet in high school, because of course they do. It’s freshman year and they’re both late on the first day — LJY overslept and woke up to LQR screeching at him from across the house two minutes before he had to leave, while JL was staying at JGY’s house that weekend and the both of them only remembered he had school today when JC called them 14 times to ask if they’d left yet.

They meet, specifically, at the principal’s office. LJY is in a panic, stumbling into the waiting area with his hair in a mess, books falling, tripping over his own feet. (LQR is going to murder him). So, when JL strolls in five minutes later in his expensive clothes, looking like he couldn’t care less, it pisses him off.

Actually JL is panicking just as much, but he’s learned that, when people have already decided not to like you, it’s better to act like you don’t give a shit than to try and share your point of view. So he throws himself into a chair and glares at the wall with his arms crossed over his schoolbag. When the kid next to him frowns and looks like he’s going to speak, JL just scowls at him, and they both huff and look away.

So begins the dislike.

Unfortunately, over the next few weeks, they find themselves constantly getting seated next to each other or paired up in class. This does not make them get along better — instead, they’re constantly bickering and getting sent back to the principal’s office, where (for once) they become united in falling to their knees and begging the principal not to tell their grandfather/uncle.

The only thing they have in common is LSZ, a senior: JL’s sort-of cousin and LJY’s childhood friend. Neither of them will allow the other to have LSZ all to himself, so whenever one goes to sit with him the other will follow, even though all they’ll do is sit on either side of him and shout at each other.

And then, one fateful day, they find themselves somewhere in the school where they really shouldn’t be. It’s a secluded little spot where people don’t often go, mostly because students aren’t allowed back there, mostly because it’s where the teachers go when they want to bitch about students.

JL goes there because he gets into a fight. The guy is just another asshole envious of JL’s money, who sees the shine and the gold and somehow doesn’t see the price it came for. (Because JL doesn’t particularly want the money he’s inherited; he’d give all of it away if he could just have his parents back.) He doesn’t want anyone to see him cry, so he storms off and (like a coward, he thinks) hides.

LJY goes there because he witnessed the fight and, even though he doesn’t like the Little Princess, he thought that JL looked really upset and he wants to make sure he’s okay.

When he gets there, JL is huddled against a wall. He tries to pretend he isn’t crying. LJY hands over a handkerchief in silence, letting him preserve his dignity. After a moment, JL stands up and shoves the handkerchief back into LJY’s hands. He’s about to stalk away when they hear a cane tapping the ground, and A-Qing, the head boy’s little sister, pops her head around the corner.

A-Qing is beloved by all students, but she’s also a lil shit who loves to gossip, and she demands to know what they’re doing back here. LYJ knows that JL won’t want anyone to know he was crying, but the other boy is still upset and looks slightly panicked—which is when LJY panics too and suddenly blurts: “W-we came here to make out!”

Then he immediately blushes, but not nearly as much as JL.

A-Qing is ecstatic — she snaps a quick photo while they’re both red and hurries off. Once she’s gone, JL screams at LJY: “WE CAME TO DO WHAT?!”

“I panicked! I’m sorry!!”

It’s too late to fix the situation: by now, the whole school will know about it. JL still refuses to admit to crying, so they decide that the only thing for it is to pretend to date for a week or so and then stage a break-up (as one does).

JL: “Are you sure this will work?”

LJY: “Trust me, you see it all the time in fanfiction.”

So they start fake-dating. The only person who knows the truth is LSZ. About a week into the farce, he asks them about it in private and they both burst into tears and spill the whole story as he pats their heads.

Thus ensues a series of your standard Fake Dating tropes: going on pretend dates, holding hands in the corridors, making up increasingly more ridiculous stories of things they’ve done together, getting stuck in awkward situations that only increase the romantic tension.

As partners in this whole messed up scheme, they start to get to know each other better.

LJY learns that, while JL is very proud, he’s also really insecure and never thinks that he’s good enough. That he hides at his paternal uncle’s house when his maternal uncle is angry, but always goes back because, somehow, he feels more at home in JC’s flat than in JGY’s mansion. That he’s trying, every day, to mend the relationship between his mother’s brothers, because even though Crazy Uncle is really weird and kind of annoying and Purple Uncle claims to hate him, he can tell that they really miss each other. LJY learns that JL absolutely adores dogs, and calls them cutesy names, and that his whole face lights up if he even catches a glimpse of a dog.

JL learns that, for all of LJY’s class clownery and chaotic nature, he’s very dedicated to his education and is determined to live up to his family name. That he cares deeply about his friends. That he’ll get pissed and defend anyone he feels is being treated unjustly, even if he doesn’t like them, because that’s what Hanguang-Jun does and he’s going to be just like him. That he acts like he’s scared of his grandfather, but he isn’t, really, because he knows that for all LQR’s sternness he really holds a soft spot for his grandson.

(Maybe they don’t really hate each other anymore. Not entirely.)

(Wait, weren’t they supposed to be broken up by now? How long has it been?)

Then comes the day when JC and LQR find out that their children are dating. Each summons their son for The Conversation, and all they want to know is: why him?!

JC asks JL what he sees in LJY and JL panics for a moment before the words suddenly come to him: his beaming grin, his dedication, his chaotic vibe, how fun he is, the way he cares about people, his weird adoration for Crazy Uncle’s husband, the fact that he likes bunnies, the jokes he makes under his breath in class, the fact that he’s always running late for something, his laugh that makes the air feel warmer.

Meanwhile, LQR asks the same to LJY and he ponders this before declaring: his pride, the way it contrasts with his insecurity, his drive to prove himself, his cute smile that appears before he can catch himself, his love for dogs and the cutesy names he gives them, the way he aggressively cares about people while denying that he cares at all, the way he complains about his uncle but also seems really similar to him, his competitive streak, the weird little snort-giggle he does when LJY says something funny and he’s trying not to laugh.

(Wait, hold on a second… where did all that come from?)

After all that, JL is sitting in his room, having a crisis because oh no feelings, when suddenly he hears knocking at his window. He turns to see LJY hanging onto the windowsill, frantically knocking to be let in. JL lets him in and whisper-yells: “What are you doing?! It’s like 2am!!”

LJY: “I don’t want to break up with you!”

A few very awkward, chaotic, and blushy minutes later, they’ve both managed to work out that they like each other and decide to start dating for real.

(Or, at least, they’ll start dating once JC and LQR stop yelling and they both get ungrounded…)

fuck now I want to write this