#jyl & wwx
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The dog days are over.
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#poorly drawn mdzs#mdzs#wei wuxian#jiang cheng#The childhood flashback is one of my favourite scenes in MDZS and yes I am disapointing myself in how little I am covering it.#If it is any consolation...I'll be bringing JYL's piggyback scene into another comic later on.#There truly is something so specific and yet resonant in the way our bonds as children feel so deep.#But the world doesn't stay as small as it does when you are a kid. The problems you argue about get bigger and more serious.#You still hold so much love for this person despite how much you want to throw hands with them.#To have such a complicated history with someone and then fall apart...You always think you have time to heal the wound.#Why wouldn't you! You've never had anything but time with this person. A brother not in blood but in true and genuine bond.#And then the fucker dies! It's horrible and sudden and the last words you exchanged were cold and awful!#What do you do with those dead end feelings? What do you do but grieve bitterly and angrily?#There is no resolution for all the love you wanted back. There will never be an opportunity to bridge the gap between you.#Someone you loved died thinking you hated them. Because you thought you had more time.#If anyone dares say Jiang Cheng didn't love WWX I'll be the first to fire up the powerpoint presentation on why he absolutely does.
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yunmeng sibs go brr (mdzs/untamed tpmeme pt 10)
#im backk#yunmeng siblings#yunmeng trio#yunmeng shuangjie#jiang yanli#jiang cheng#wei wuxian#mdzs#the untamed#text post meme#aphelion.txt#got a lil heavy at the end there whoops#yunmeng duo#jyl#jc#wwx
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The ship:
The shippers:
The anti:
The legendary third wheel:
#i was only supposed to add lxc only#but i remember that one time wwx just woke up after defeating wrh#and jyl was all like lan er gong zi here lan er gong zi there#the the point that wwx had to ask why jyl is always mentioning lz#so yeah#shijie is here#🥰🥰🥰#the untamed#cql#lan wangji#lan zhan#wei wuxian#wei ying#wangxian#lan xichen#lan huan#jiang cheng#jiang wanyin#jiang yanli#attempt at making humor#wen ning#wen qionglin
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MDZS and asshole victims: thoughts on the second siege of the burial mounds scene
this post is not about morality judgments. this post is about reader sympathies only.
one rather clever rhetorical trick MDZS employs is putting all the more background "surviving victims of wei wuxian's actions" into one big angry mob at the second siege of the burial mounds, instead of letting them crop up anywhere else in the story. it's easy for a first-time reader to write off the guy who lost a leg at nightless city, or the guy whose parents died at nightless city, because both of those guys are being dicks. they're part of an angry mob baying for wei wuxian's blood--unfairly baying for wei wuxian's blood, because this time he didn't even do the thing they're saying he did. by putting these two victims into a mob of not just fellow victims but also unaffected individuals (ie. sect leader yao, who just showed up for kicks), the story can effectively equate these victims' grievances (ie. "you killed my parents") with unreasonable mob rule--even if these two things might not actually be equivalent.
the effect of this rhetorical trick, then, is that the reader can at once perceive the themes about mob mentality MXTX wishes to convey, and also effectively write off the victims' complaints. "yes, i did that to you, but i literally died already, what more do you want me to do? shall i walk on my knees repenting?" becomes easier for the reader to accept. and more importantly--wei wuxian's likability as a moral and just protagonist is not impacted.
ngl tho. it would be a bit more difficult for the reader to write off these victims' complaints if, instead of meeting said victims in an angry mob, the reader instead met these victims almost anywhere else. imagine if, instead of meeting mr. "you killed my parents" at the second siege of the burial mounds, we instead met him getting smashed at the local bar and crying about how his parents are dead. imagine if, instead of meeting mr. "you chopped off my leg" as a member of an angry mob, we instead met him begging for alms on the side of the road because his disability rendered him unable to work in a wuxia-esque setting. or imagine--if either of these background characters, overcome with survivor's guilt and trauma from nightless city, hung himself in his bedroom, and the next day his body was discovered by his 15-year-old daughter.
all of these scenarios are entirely plausible. you could easily include any of them into the story without changing the main plot at all. but suddenly shit just got a lot more depressing.
however, no such scene would ever be included in MDZS. the reason is that, as a work of fiction, MDZS's single most ardent goal is for us the readers to conclude not just that "we like wei wuxian as a character," but also that "wei wuxian is ultimately a morally righteous person." when the narrative focus shifts onto the people who were actually helped by wei wuxian's actions (mianmian and her family, lan sizhui, the few months of dignity the wen remnants were afforded) this becomes much easier for us to conclude; wei wuxian does indeed look like a hero. but the more narrative focus is given to the negative impacts of wei wuxian's actions--the more the "victims of wei wuxian" (whether actual victims or not) are given a face, instead of abstracted away by broad summaries--the more the reader might side-eye wei wuxian instead. every new victim given a name, given narrative attention that isn't just focused on making them look like an asshole, arouses the reader's sympathies in the opposite direction--and thus increases the risk that the reader might ultimately disagree with the novel's conclusion of "wei wuxian is a righteous person."
tbh, this does not seem like a risk MXTX particularly wants to take. instead, she's mastered the art of writing Asshole Victims.
which is an entirely valid writing decision, because imo basically every work of genre fiction out there does this to some extent.
#mdzs#yanyan speaks#yanyan haterpost#tbh this is also why jzx gets so little narrative focus#wwx kills him...so if the readers like him too much they might turn against wwx. which is no bueno.#this is also why jc is such a dick in the present half of the novel:#wwx did cause him a lot of harm (and vice versa) so it's easier to write him off and not get mad at wwx if jc is a huge dick about it.#jc's easy to hate lmao. asshole victim.#this is also also why jyl had to die.#she's too nice to be an asshole victim.#like if fucking jc starts ragging on wwx you can easily argue that he also did xyz wrong. also he's being a douche.#but if jyl starts crying about her murdered husband then shit just gets awkward and depressing.#anyways real apologists will say Skill Issue. godspeed kings
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One day this fandom will have a reckoning on how it likes to blame Jin Xixuan's death on Wei Wuxian—whether by maliciousness or a "loss of control"—while ignoring the fact that Jin Zixuan died because he lunged at Wei Wuxian with a drawn sword because he was angry that Wei Wuxian told him that he doesn't trust him after he refused to tell Wei Wuxian whether or not he was a part of the ambush his cousin set up after Wei Wuxian told him to keep his distance from him after he told Wei Wuxian to stop defending himself against an ambush that he showed up to and was plainly told was put together to kill Wei Wuxian after he had already been bodily pushing Wei Wuxian around to protect his cousin. But all of that is supposed to be forgiven and forgotten because the reason he wanted Wei Wuxian to ignore all logic and put his life in danger was for Jiang Yanli's temporary happiness? Lol. Lmao even.
#mdzs#wwx: why should i trust that you care about my safety and a fair trial#when you showed up and immediately started defending your cousin#who JUST ADMITTED TO TRYING TO MURDER ME?!?!?!#jzxuan: how dare you doubt me! *lunges with a newly drawn sword instead of doing LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE*#the tragedy isn't that wwx accidentally killed a 'good man' in self-defense#it's that *that* man happened to be his beloved shijie's husband and father to her child#if jzxuan was literally anyone else#this woulda been a fuck around and find out moment#because jzxuan is just an entitled dumbass who got lucky that jyl was orphaned and had no defenders with weight behind them#or else they wouldn't have gotten married and jzxuan WOULD have been “just some entitled dumbass”
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I just realized that Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli’s last words (that we hear in the story in his case) were directed at Wei Wuxian and not Jiang Cheng
Tbh I’d never get over that if I were Jiang Cheng lol at least he has Madam Yu
#jiang cheng#mo dao zu shi#mdzs#and I know it’s because wwx is the main character but it’s just so funny#all of jc’s immediate family is dead and the last words he heard two of them say weren’t to him#granted jfm mentioned jc by telling wwx to protect him and jyl was telling wwx to chill with the corpses but#still.#my point still stands#tbh I think jc centers wwx in his grief and anger because wwx was the center of his turmoil growing up and cannot stop being the focus poin#throughout his life. no fucking wonder he never gets over wwx#none of his family gave him a chance to be anything separate from him
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Hold me in your arms, you smell like home
#mdzs#wei wuxian#jiang cheng#yunmeng shuangjie#yunmeng bros#twin prides of yunmeng#mdzs fanart#remember the chapter where they ran away after the lotus pier got captured? and how jc tried to choke wwx and then they both started crying#yeah this is the moment you guys#jyl wasn't with them so they only had each other at that moment OFC THEY BOTH ENDED UP SACRIFICING THEMSELVES FOR THE OTHER#the background represents both smoke and clouds depending on how you look at it
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lan wangji and jiang chengs combined approach to Whatever The Hell Is Going On With Wei Wuxian is so so bad for him in this arc. lan wangji, who is practical and righteous and principled to a fault, who sees the world in black and white, seeking to remind wei wuxian at every turn that he's doing something wrong, that resentment will harm him. he takes every opportunity he can to try and convince wei wuxian to return to standard cultivation, to criticize his methods. because he doesn't know how to say that he's worried and scared, that he wants to help, so he tries to spit information wei wuxian already knows at him to see if it sticks
and jiang cheng, who cares so much about his family but was never taught affection, who clings to the status quo because it keeps him safe, completely ignoring that anything is wrong in the same moment that he's constantly pestering wei wuxian for acting strangely. he brings up suibian casually as if he really thinks wei wuxian will use it, acts like everything is normal and then is surprised when it's not. because he doesn't know how to reach out, to be tender, all he knows how to do is try to force things back together and get angry when they break
and they both care so much about wei wuxian but they're so bad at expressing their worry and their fear and their love that they are Actively making his mental state worse
#just watching jc KNOW that something is obviously deeply wrong but go on pretending like its Fine#so so frustrating#both of them are essentially going god can't you act normal and fine! in opposite but equally damaging ways#and then theres jyl who wants so badly to comfort but is automatically put at a disadvantage by virtue of being barred from the full contex#because she is the daughter of two cultivators and a disciple of a cultivation sect and she goes to the lectures and the trainings#but is undeniably still left out of the practical knowledge#the bigger picture#what wwxs cultivation truly means#ghost posts#text#lwj#jc#wwx#wangxian#yunmeng bros#cqltober lb
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Happy Pride!!!! Living Blood or Lady Mo please!
a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43
Xuanyu disrobes unashamedly, hesitating only at the last second with the sleeve covering her left arm.
Jiang Yanli laughs. “Bit late to be modest, I think.”
“Modesty is overrated,” she returns, which is something that Zixuan would say and A-Yao would think. She slips the rest of the robes off and steps into the steaming bath, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
The changes her body has undergone are even more obvious without the thick layers of the robes obscuring her form. The extra weight seems to have settled in ideal places, not only thickening her waist and limbs but settling heavily along her hips and breasts, which hadn’t exactly been small to begin with.
She sits behind Xuanyu, filling a bowl with water and then pouring it over her hair to rinse it of blood and dirt that had been hidden by her dark hair. Acting as a bathing assistant is far below her station, but Xuanyu had sent all the servants away and she doesn’t mind, really. Xuanyu is her sister, likely the only one she’ll ever have considering A-Cheng’s track record with matchmakers, and she’s been worried about her. This gives them time to speak alone. “How has your marriage with Lan Wangji been? Has he been kind?”
Xuanyu pulls a face, which isn’t encouraging. “I guess. He mostly left me alone, and then we had a couple fights and he was a jerk, and now I think he’s trying to make up for being a jerk, but it’s a little – well, it’s nice that he’s making an effort. I suppose.”
Not as good as she’d hoped, but not as bad as she’d feared. “Sect Leader Lan seems fond of you.”
“Oh, Lan Xichen is great,” she says easily. Better than reaction to Lan Wangji, but still not what Jiang Yanli had been hoping for. Then her eyes light up. “Sizhui is wonderful! I’ll give Wangji one thing, he’s raised a good kid. He’s so sweet, and a great cultivator, and he’s always trying to help out everyone around him. I’m glad Jingyi’s always hanging around – without him, I think everyone would just take advantage of Sizhui’s good nature.”
Well, that’s something. Surely Lan Wangji can’t resist Xuanyu’s charms for long, not when she dotes on his son and gets along with his brother.
“What trouble did you get into on the road?” she asks, running her hand over the wound on Xuanyu’s shoulder. It looks nearly fully healed already and there’s another mostly healed wound on her hip, a thin slice on her left arm, and the shadow of various bruises that were likely much worse a couple hours ago. It’s of course a good thing that Xuanyu has a strong golden core, but Jiang Yanli can’t help a moment of wistfulness.
Her own core never lived up to her mother’s expectations, or her own. If she’d had a stronger core, she could have given A-Ling siblings. A child should have siblings. She would have had a calmer childhood without two little brothers underfoot, but a lonelier one too.
Xuanyu shrugs, lazily scrubbing herself down. “Looks like Xiao Xingchen picked up the girl, A-Qing, while he and Song Lan were separated and was trapped in this place that was basically a ghost town.” How could he be trapped by a place that had no people? “And I’d heard some rumors so when we ran into Song Lan I helped him find Xiao Xingchen, but there was a bit of a fight with someone who didn’t want him to leave. I just happened to get caught in the crossfire, so to speak.”
She’s stretching the truth to outright lying. Before Jiang Yanli can call her on it, her stomach growls.
“Didn’t get a chance to eat on the road?” she teases.
Xuanyu flushes, ducking briefly beneath the water to hide her flaming cheeks before resurfacing. “Things were a little hectic. It may have slipped my mind.”
How has she managed to put on weight while also forgetting to eat? Perhaps Lan Wangji deserves more credit.
“I think I have some candies in my room, if you want something before the banquet,” she offers. “I know the speeches take forever.”
Her eyes light up before dimming and she slumps in the bath. “Thanks, Yanli-jie, but I better not. Sizhui gave me some on the road and I usually love them but just putting it in my mouth almost made me sick. It was awful. And weird! They’re my favorite.”
Jiang Yanli blinks then gives Xuanyu’s significantly larger chest a considering look. It could be nothing. It’s probably nothing. She hasn’t even been married a year and it doesn’t sound as if she and Lan Wangji have been seeing eye to eye.
Then again, the same could have been said about her and Zixuan.
“Can I ask you something personal, Meimei?”
Xuanyu nods. “You can ask me anything, Yanli-jie.”
“Are you and Lan Wangji having sex?”
She turns bright red and ducks beneath the water for so long that Jiang Yanli is starting to get concerned before she resurfaces, still red faced. “Um. We did once. Well – I guess, technically, it was three times, but it was only one night.”
Well. Apparently Lan Wangji has stamina on and off the battlefield.
“One moment,” she says, briefly squeezing Xuanyu’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
It takes one whispered conversation with the servant outside the hall and approximately ninety seconds before her personal healer is standing in front of her. Jiang Yanli ducks back inside to see Xuanyu out of the bath, in a thin bathing robe that’s clinging to her as she wrings her hair out. “I’d like my healer to take a look at you, Meimei.”
Xuanyu freezes, slowly standing straight with a wary look on her face. “That’s really not necessary. The wounds were just superficial and they’re basically healed already.”
“It’ll be quick,” she says, because if she’s right then she can’t let Xuanyu go down to the banquet without letting her know. “She’s very discreet – she’s been my personal healer since I was a child.”
“Jiang Xingyi?” Xuanyu asks, some of her tension draining away.
Jiang Yanli nods, trying to think of some reason that Xuanyu would know her healer’s name, or her reputation, but all the servants are terrible gossips and her health is a frequent topic of derision. “Just your wrist, okay? Your golden core has changed a lot. I just want her to take a look.”
She feels bad about lying, but Xuanyu had lied to her first.
Xuanyu relaxes even further. “Okay, Yanli-jie. If it’ll make you feel better.”
“Thank you,” she smiles, then opens the door to usher Jiang Xingyi in.
The old woman doesn’t smile, but Xuanyu grins back undeterred, and says, “Hi, Granny,” before paling and adding, “uh, um. Sorry.”
Jiang Yanli feels a familiar pang of grief go through her. A-Xian had referred to Jiang Xingyi as Granny, the only disciple both bold and beloved enough to get away with it.
Jiang Xingyi ignores her, instead reaching for her wrist and pressing her fingers against it. Xuanyu fidgets, shifting from one foot to the other, but says nothing as the moments stack on top of one another.
Finally, Jiang Xingyi drops her wrist and steps back. Her stern visage breaks, a smile stretching her mouth across her face. “Congratulations, Madame Lan.”
She knew it!
“Thanks,” Xuanyu answers before wrinkling her nose. “Um. For what?”
“You are expecting,” she answers. “At least a couple months along, I believe, although I’d have to do a more thorough examination to be sure.”
Jiang Yanli moves to embrace her, but Xuanyu’s face drops and she turns dangerously pale. “What? No. That’s not possible. I can’t be.”
“Three times,” Jiang Yanli reminds her, trying to goad Xuanyu into laughter.
But instead she just shakes her head. “No, no I can’t, I – this can’t be happening,” she whispers to herself, grabbing her own arms in a white knuckled grip. “It’s not. It’s impossible. I can’t be.”
She’s young, and this wasn’t a marriage of her own choosing, and it’s so new. Of course she’s surprised and nervous. Jiang Yanli touches her elbow, intending to say something soothing, but Xuanyu collapses into her arms, gripping her waist and hiding her tears in her shoulder.
“Xuanyu!” she says, hugging her back just as fiercely, her heart breaking for the younger girl’s anguish. “Meimei, it’s okay, I know this is scary, but it’s going to be fine.”
“It’s not,” she says, voice thick with tears, “A-jie, this is awful, this is – it can’t happen! It can’t, Wangji is going to be so mad, he’s going to hate me, and everything is ruined and awful, I can’t be – I can’t! I’m going to die!”
Jiang Yanli’s whole body goes cold and she grips Xuanyu even tighter against her. “You’re going to be fine,” she says, pushing her conviction into every syllable.
No matter what Jiang Yanli has to do, Xuanyu is going to be fine.
#oh wwx#our babygirl is going through it#dw everything is going to be fine#wwx is like i'm going to die before i can have this baby and kill lan zhan's baby and he's going to hate me forever#and jyl who obviously has no context for this hears that xuanyu thinks that lwj is going to kill her#which she'd think that lwj would never do but also she saw him during war and she's not the one married to him#and everyone knows he didn't want this marriage and also made a big thing about how sizhui's position won't be usurped#jyl to herself: do i have to kill lan wangji?#prompt answers#prompts are closed#asks#anon#untamed
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Canonically speaking, jc' reaction to someone he doesn't like/has strong negative feelings towards, because that person was a jerk to his sister, is to regulate his emotions according to how his sister feels. In a jyl lives au, after wwx's return, canon jc is going to his sister, saying something like: 'while I think we should throw at least a cup of tea at him because he left us you and a-ling like that, it's your choice, jin zixuan was your husband. What are we feeling now, jiejie?'
#I was reading a jyl live and in the notes the author wrote: 'I made jc & wwx meeting as painful as possible'. Why would you do that lol. jyl#jzx's wife- is right there. shouldn't she the one to be mad? no obv. she says to jc to back off and stop being a jerk lol#canon jc rebuild his sect and co-raised his wonderful nephew. Without no one but himself. A jc with his sister by is side is the healthiest#dude out there. The fact imo it's that most of jyl lives au aren't about jyl#Her life wasn't about her. Her childhood wasn't about her. Her death wasn't about her#Let at least her survival be about her lmao#jzx should divorce fanon jyl tbh and marry jc lol#Imo it boils down to people thinking that be mad about a loved one's death/lying make you the devil#Which is a bit strange#Or maybe it's that in a jyl lives au you kinda have to acknowledge how hurtful wwx's actions were. A crime in this fandom.#mar!nonsense
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ICONIC RESPONSE FROM JIN-FUREN HONESTLY
#is this yet another example of bad parenting? yes#did it make me burst out laughing? also yes#do you think JYL knows that she's the WWX of the Jin family#i.e. the kid who will receive preferential treatment from their dead parent's homoerotic bestie due to misplaced grief and affection?#masala necromancy wizard hour
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You made her cry, time to die.
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#poorly drawn mdzs#mdzs#jiang yanli#jin zixuan#wei wuxian#This scene actually takes place many months before the previous scene.#Hence the outfits looking different!#Consider this a flashback within a flashback!#Speaking of outfits - no one noticed/commented on it so I'll give my little continuity nod away:#JZX's bandages on his wrist are from the *last* time he insulted Jiang Yanli.#I considered having WWX maul him like a chew toy again but I think this punchline hits funnier. A kickline. if you will.#And speaking of other outfit nods: This is a meta nod towards JYL's first appearance in this series.#Where I accidently made the flower on her dress look like a penis. Hoping no one would notice.#Then months later...just when I thought I was safe...someone pointed it out and I *wailed*. I AM SO SORRY SHIJIE...#I really to love this scene a lot. We have JYL just trying her best + JZX being a dickhead + WWX being full of rage. Mwah. Delicious.#I especially love how the audio drama comments that Jiang Cheng is on his way over. You *know* he's about to start swinging too.
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random things I forgot about until now: JFM apparently made the spines of the kites JC and WWX used to compete with. Which JYL personally painted.
Very normal about this one guys
#SO NORMAL ABOUT WWX'S WHOLE ACCOUNT#''lmao this JC. He isn't as skilled as I was. Did you know his father personally made the thing we competed with#and JYL personally painted it for us''. So normal about this#jiang cheng#wei wuxian#jiang yanli#jiang fengmian#mdzs#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#mo dao zu shi#kk's rambles tag
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Yunmeng siblings! I had fun messing around with their character designs to reflect my personal preferences in various ways.
#art tag#mdzs#yunmeng siblings#wei wuxian#jiang yanli#jiang cheng#i went down a rabbit hole for jiang yanli's outfit and im really happy w it#but now the other two outfits look plain by comparison to me. whoopsie!#i wanted wwx to be a bit of a tall beanpole with messy thinner hair bc I think that's cute#jc is a bit stockier by comparison and that confirmed one (1) cm shorter. he's always gotta lose by a hair's width#i love that aspect of him the most. i love a good vegeta character#and then jyl is ROUND and SOFT with SAD EYES bc im a HOMOSEXUAL#anyway enjoy!
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nothing in the world belongs to me but my love, mine all mine
#emmytheferret#emmy's art#mdzs#mdzs fanart#jiang cheng#jiang yanli#wei wuxian#wwx#jyl#yunmeng siblings
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The common thread tying together how mxtx treats all her well-rounded character across all her works is that a character's past is as real as their actions. That means that a character's tragic past is a key part of their character and should be considered while analyzing them. It also means that their actions are also their own and must be considered when analyzing them. One does not negate the other. The trauma that a character experiences in the narrative is not erased by their shitty actions, but those experiences also don't redeem their immoral behavior. Everyone must live with the consequences of their chosen actions, regardless of what drove them to make those choices. That is the lesson.
#mdzs#svsss#tgcf#ran into this banger of a text in a message i sent to someone:#'your tragic past is as real as your abusive personality'#wwx had to deal with the consequences of the qiongqi ambush even though he was defending himself#jyl had to deal with the consequences of saving wwx's life which she did instinctively and intentionally#neither of them were wrong but the consequences were still theirs to bear#jc had to deal with the consequences of turning his back on wwx#jl had to deal with the consequences of stabbing wwx in a fit of anger#jgy had to deal with the consequences of his multiple murderous schemes#whether by instinct or intention or planning or spur of the moment#they all must deal with the consequences of their actions#because that's life#and you live it with other people#who are *going* to react to the things you do#and these are just mdzs’s examples#sy has to deal with the consequences of becoming sqq#sj dealt with the consequences of allowing envy to rule his life bg suffering a qi deviation that made way for sy#xl has to deal with the consequences of attempting to destroy yong’an#which was that wuming got destroyed instead#mq and fx have to deal with the consequences of betraying and abandoning a friend#and so on and so forth
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