#lan sizhui does canonically bring up “what wwx taught [him as a-yuan] to say when he saw a pretty woman” but he never finishes the thought

[besanii]

Hii i just wanted to say I loved your analysis of what lan sizhui would actually call lan zhan and totally agree with you! But now I wonder why does sizhui's demeanor resemble so much lan xicheng's 🤔 like to me it mostly looks like it was him who raised lsz it has always been a curiosity of mine since I adore that character 💘 what do you think??

[from here]

Thanks nonny!

(I noticed a lot of people in the tags of the previous post talking about the timeline and age differences between CQL and the novel, so I just wanted to point out that wasn’t the point I was trying to make—the point has always been that, culturally, it would have been Extremely Disrespectful to Wen Yuan’s birth father if he started calling LWJ “father”, knowing that he has an actual biological parent. And LWJ Would Not Do That. Especially since he knows that LSZ is the last living member of the Wens. 

There’s a saying in Chinese that goes 百善以孝为先 (of all the virtues, filial piety is the most important). It is one of the foundations of Chinese culture. And LWJ, knowing LSZ is the last of the Wens (even if LSZ himself doesn’t know it, and even if the Wens are widely regarded as Evil), wouldn’t want to take that away from him in case LSZ ever does remember (and even if he doesn’t, it’s still a sign of respect. He knows the branch of the Wen clan LSZ is from were good people). It’s also why LSZ and WN go back to Qishan to erect memorials for his family post-canon. To honour them and due his filial duty to them.

The age part is just to highlight that he would have been raised with the other Lan children and taught proper etiquette and forms of address, hence why he would always call LWJ “Hanguang-jun” because he’s 1) not related to him, even though he was raised by him as a Lan and 2) it shows respect. The 義父 idea was just IF you really had to make him call LWJ ‘father’ in canon verse. it’s not canon.)

ANYWAY back to your question, nonny.

I think LSZ’s personality is just...who he is as a person, really. Wen Yuan was a happy child despite his rather traumatic circumstances before he lost his memories, so it shows that he is very resilient and quite likely to retain his happy, smiling demeanour after he loses his memories?

I’m going to say LWJ or LXC organised for someone to nurse him back to health upon their return to the Cloud Recesses. LWJ was punished and then had to go into seclusion to heal, and LXC is sect leader and they’ve just come out of a war with heavy losses, so no doubt both the sect and the entire cultivation world would have required his attention. Neither of them would have been able to look after LSZ personally. LQR might have though, once LSZ got older and started attending classes. Maybe he would have taken an interest in LSZ once he saw how bright he was and saw how much potential he had, and also because LWJ took special interest in the boy as well.

My guess is that he was raised communally with the Lan children for the most part, and when LWJ came out of seclusion, he became LSZ’s mentor/caretaker. Kind of like a 入室弟子 (rushi-dizi, a closed-door/live-in disciple). It was a very common practice in China for disciples to live with their masters during their training, and become part of their “family”. They’re slightly higher in rank than regular disciples and are given the honour of being personally taught by the master (rather than by senior disciples). That’s where the saying 一日为师，终身为父 (one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father) and consequently the word 师父 originated. 

(@baymaxnostalgia​ compared it to a Jedi Master and his Padawan and that’s...a pretty accurate depiction of the 入室弟子 dynamic, actually. Now someone please give me a Star Wars AU.)

(Which brings up the interesting tangent of disciple rankings. Which isn’t really discussed at all, but since the sects are organised by bloodline and they differentiate between clan disciples (家族子弟) and non-blood-related disciples (外姓门生), I’m willing to bet that they’re big on the 嫡庶 dishu system of hierarchy/inheritance as well. Which kind of puts LSZ in the 嫡 category, but by adoption, kind of like 庶 sons being 过继 guoji to the 嫡 house. A completely separate discussion altogether.)

Although I don’t think LSZ would have lived with LWJ like a normal 入室弟子  arrangement, he’d probably have stayed with the other disciples in the dorms (or wherever they live). Remember, LWJ spent the majority of his time away from the sect, searching for WWX and nighthunting in those thirteen years (hence why people describe him as 逢乱必出 (appearing wherever there is chaos)), so he would not have been at the Cloud Recesses to actively take care of LSZ very much at all.

So LSZ would have been allowed the benefit of LWJ’s private tutelage when he was around (e.g. LWJ personally taught him guqin, which—by the way LJY made sure to point it out in Yi City—must have been a rare honour), while also living and attending regular classes with the other Gusu Lan disciples. 

As for why his demeanour would resemble LXC, well. LXC is their sect leader, and probably held up by their teachers as the Embodiment of Gusu Lan values. Wouldn’t it make sense for the juniors to look up to him? Perhaps LSZ and LXC’s personalities are just very similar to begin with, so growing up in the same environment would have made them very similar too.