#like jiang cheng's desire to die about it also has this

[whetstonefires]

Hey here's an angle on the Jiang family dynamic and its impact on Wei Wuxian that I haven't seen discussed:

Wei Wuxian grew up seeing Jiang Yanli routinely having her agency cut off and denied in both large (betrothal) and small ways. That were largely tied up in her gender, sure, but this was also a family containing Yu Ziyuan. A daughter in this household had every chance of having her gender treated as of secondary importance.

She just had to earn it.

The way Jiang Yanli was hemmed in and her potential as an independent actor dismissed was at least as strongly correlated with her failure to be a powerful sword cultivator.

So Wei Wuxian's total refusal to let anyone know that he'd lost access to his cultivation and his violent reactivity against being diminished or condescended to during his Sunshot-to-death period, when before he was pretty immune to being looked down on, could have a lot to do with having been presented with this clearly labeled diagram of how your personhood gets stripped away when you are, by the standards of your society, disabled.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i think it is extremely weird that parts of this fandom have just definitively decided that the principle antagonist is an irredeemably evil monster because he has his minion burn down a brothel (where said antagonist was born and abused and watched his mother suffer and die) with people still inside it, then hires a bunch of sex workers to rape his rapist dad (who raped so many women that he lost track of who his victims were, and ended up approving of a marriage between said antagonist and his own half-sister as a result) to death

when the protagonist’s chosen means of killing the people who razed the only home he’s ever known and murdered his foster parents involves 1) choking a woman to death by forcing a table leg down her throat, 2) forcing that dead woman to bite off a man’s genitals, and 3) forcing that man to eat his own legs. this plus the protagonist’s multiple day-long murder-torture bender where he kills and tortures a bunch of other wen sect disciples in front of each other, and owns doing this because it was fun and would have been too boring to kill then quickly. like jiang cheng and lan wangji find wwx by following the trail of bodies he leaves in his wake ok, that’s pretty awful

if wei wuxian can do these things and and still be considered good, then that only makes it harder for me to understand why jin guangyao is denied goodness

fun fact: when i describe both of these characters to people who are totally canon-blind and know nothing about mdzs, cql, or any of the other adaptations, the initial response from most people isn’t “hmmm but what was the protagonist’s interiority while he was making that woman’s corpse eat that man’s junk? was he very sad about it? that will surely tell me whether his corpse desecration and autocannibalism is morally defensible or not.” most of the time what they say is “ray what the fuck are you reading, both of those guys sound like evil people, i don’t care what their motivations are! also get help”

it just seems weird!! that certain corners of this fandom have decided that goodness is not only a quality that wwx intrinsically possesses (something i don’t necessarily disagree with fwiw), but that he gets to be defined by this goodness above all else. wwx gets situated at the centre of all subsequent discourse as the moral lighthouse of the whole novel—even though he has done objectively heinous shit entirely to satisfy his own desire for vengeance. doing all of those things does not detract from his fundamental goodness, in their estimation. or if it does, it doesn’t detract enough to significantly impact his role for them as the goodness barometer in the novel.

and that’s fine with me actually! if this is where the bar for what it means to be good in this novel is set, then it should logically follow that jin guangyao’s heinous actions can similarly be ‘offset’ by paying the appropriate ‘goodness tax’ through his other canon actions (e.g., loving and remaining filial to his mother, saving and protecting lan xichen, saving nie mingjue, funding the rebuilding of the cloud recesses, caring for his orphaned nephew, etc). he has done yuckydisgusting things, yes, but so has wwx! and as we all know, wwx is not evil! so jgy isn’t evil either!

…but this isn’t what happens in these conversations, because jgy seems to begin all fandom discourse at a goodness deficit that is depressingly reflective of the goodness deficit he experiences in the novel post-canon. (or, honestly, at the beginning of his life as meng yao.) and unlike wwx whose character gets to be defined principally by his goodness in spite of his genuinely horrendous acts of violence, jin guangyao’s whole character becomes defined by his horrendous acts of violence in spite of his goodness, even though the text demonstrates clearly that their capacity for both good and evil is evenly matched.

tl;dr it would be nice if the goodness goalposts would stop moving around so much in these discussions. maybe we should just get rid of them entirely.

[danmeichael]

chengxian and biting ;)

well this was not 100-200 words, oopsie

Jiang Cheng loves his brother. Really, he does. He loves him more than sunlight, he loves him more than breathing, more than can fit in all the lakes in Yunmeng. He also wants to smother him with a fucking pillow right now.

"Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng."

Maybe he wasn't picking up on his lack of response. Maybe he was taking the way his eye is starting to twitch as encouragement.

"I'm wasting away. I'm dying of loneliness here."

"Die, then."

(continues under the cut)

There's an offended noise from behind him, but soon enough Wei Wuxian quiets down. His brother is so magnanimous, deciding he can be quiet for twenty minutes while Jiang Cheng finishes paperwork.

Except, even in his bliss of concentration, he can't ignore that it's too quiet. If Wei Wuxian isn't making a nuisance of himself, he's doing something else. Fidgeting with a toy, drawing, humming, something. But there is absolutely no noise at all. Silence means he's focused on something, and the fact that it isn't a toy or his phone means that it's--

Jiang Cheng's chair is suddenly yanked out from under him.

This isn't the first time Wei Wuxian's pulled this shit, no, he's pulled this shit so many times in fact that Jiang Cheng doesn't even hit the ground when he feels his seat suddenly dematerialize. He's already twisted around and set into a run, clawing at the air in an attempt to snag his fingers into his brother's shirt, before he even hears the chair clatter against the floor.

He grabs a fistful of air instead of anything helpful because Wei Wuxian is already halfway toward his door.

"WEI WUXIAN YOU GET BACK HERE!"

He's glad his parents aren't home right now. Surely, they'd hear the both of them running like animals down the hallways of their ancestral home and have something to say about it. Maybe in another situation even he'd have something to say about it. But not right now, not when Wei Wuxian is just within reach.

Just a little further, just a little faster, just one more push and--

Wei Wuxian vanishes in front of him faster than his eyes can track, but there's only one way he could have gone. Jiang Cheng looks down and sees his brother on all fours, scrambling back onto his feet and running in the opposite direction toward his own bedroom.

Slippery little shit.

But not slippery enough. He gets to his room, yes, but not in time to close the door. Jiang Cheng bodies his way through it as Wei Wuxian shrieks.

He's cornered. The only way out is through.

"Mercy! Mercy Jiang Cheng, you wouldn't hurt your gege would y--!"

He yelps when Jiang Cheng slams into him.

The begging was for show, obviously. The moment Jiang Cheng gets hands on him, he starts fighting again. He squirms, thrashes, elbows him in the kidney while Jiang Cheng tries to put him in a headlock.

The position they end up in, sitting among the dirty laundry on Wei Wuxian's floor, back to chest, Jiang Cheng's arms around his middle to hold his arms down, Wei Wuxian thrashing in his lap as he tries to throw the both of them backward, is nothing close to the sort of fighting they were trained for. Fencing, archery, boxing. All of them had an almost ritualistic set of established positions. Rules, stances, posture. This was more like two deer awkwardly smashing their antlers together as a show of power. No ritual, just physicality

Everything starts adding up, and Jiang Cheng made a miscalculation.

Wei Wuxian's kicking legs, his heaving chest, his panting giggles and near-growls as he strains against his grip. Wei Wuxian is squirming in his lap, and he's getting hard. The panic rushes to his head. The desire to win, to -- to what? what was he even going to do once he caught his brother? what was his plan? -- punish has been drowned out by the desire to hide, to run, but his arms won't let up.

"Stay still," he grits out.

Wei Wuxian throws his head back, ignoring him. The movement jostles them, presses Wei Wuxian's ass against his half-hard dick and he sees red.

He bites down on Wei Wuxian's shoulder, the one exposed by an oversized t-shirt for a band neither of them listen to.

The noise it gets him, a sharp inhale that chokes off into the briefest whimper, does not help him with his problem.

For some reason, his brain thinks biting down harder is a good idea.

Wei Wuzian yelps and arches his back, grinds against him, and only then does Jiang Cheng's ape brain activate to make him unlock his jaw and release his arms.

"Aiyo, Jiang Cheng! Am I bleeding? I feel like I'm bleeding!"

He is not bleeding. There's only deep red indents that will surely purple, leaving bruises on his skin in the shape of Jiang Cheng's teeth by tomorrow. The way his body responds to the thought is something Jiang Cheng is going to stuff deep, deep down in the back of his mind so he never has to look at it again.

"It's just spit, dumbass."

"Don't call me a dumbass after biting me, biteass!"

Jiang Cheng grabs a pair of dirty sweatpants off the floor and throws them at his face.

"Don't fuck with me while I'm doing paperwork then, fuckass!" Not his best retort. His blood is still struggling to return to his brain.

Wei Wuxian splutters, but his face turns into a vicious grin as he balls the offending pants up and rears back to throw them.

The front door slams. Muffled talking echoes through the walls of the estate and both he and Wei Wuxian freeze. His heart pounds in his ears and it only takes Wei Wuxian glancing at the door for him to scramble out and back to his room.

He feels like he gets there faster than he left it, completely silently too. By the time he puts his chair back into place and straightens out his paperwork, he can imagine it was nothing. Nothing happened. Wei Wuxian didn't comment on it, right? He probably didn't notice it.

[sombredancer]

Asian dramas and familial dynamics

There are my favorite familial dynamics as a list.

Brotherly love

Drama: The Untamed / 陈情令 Characters: Wei Wuxian & Jiang Wanyin Screentime: Secondary

My favorite brother couple! They tore my heart into million pieces and it's still broken. There is jealousy and love and difficult moral choices between them. Wei Wuxian is an extraordinary man, as the main hero should be. He is brave enough to go against the rules if he feels it's right thing to do, also he is ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good and hides all of his pain tightly inside. Jiang Cheng is a mere person. He is not strong (or insane) enough to put everything on the line, because he shoulders responsibilities for his sect. Although they love each other, Wei Wuxian is ready to die for the truth and chooses to fight if fight is inevitable. Jiang Cheng tries to go the path of "minor evil" and sacrifice his sense of justice in order to save as much as possible. The both views are OK and each goes the chosen by himself path and bears consequences of this choice. Consequences are awful. They are traumatizing. And, what is the biggest pain of mine, they never discussed it. They never found out about sacrifices they both made for each other. They never found out that they still love each other as brothers.

Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽 Characters: Gong Shangjue & Gong Yuanzhi Screentime: Secondary About these two I wrote two posts here and here . In a nutshell: one is carrying the responsibilities for everything and anything, strictly follows the rules and teaches his younger cousin how to live this life. The little cousin is yandere, who is obsessed with his older cousin, has no conscience and does his best to make his cousin's life better. I like this unusual dynamics: they both love each other and care for each other on the same level, even if one of them is yandere.

Master-servant relationship

Drama: Word of Honor / 山河令 Characters: Gu Xiang & Wen Kexing Screentime: Secondary I like this type of dynamics when servants become someone more than just servants to their masters. Chinese drama makers love it and use it a lot, but this scene was so powerful that made me cry. Beautiful transformation from a servant to a family member (unfortunately, post mortem).

Seeking out love

Drama: Word of Honor / 山河令 Characters: Xie Wang & Zhao Jing Screentime: Secondary

Zhao Jing adopted a very skillful and absolutely ruthless killer as his son. The killer is self-confident and does his job playfully, but his weakness is his passionate desire to be loved by his adoptive father. He feels that Zhao Jing just uses him for his skills and will throw him away as soon as his adoptive father will not need his skills anymore, so he even paralyze his adoptive father to force him being always near. He ends up not being capable to choose his life over his father's and dies with him. A very sad type of addiction with "A little mermaid" type of moral: you can bring the whole world upside down, but if one doesn't love you, one will not, no matter what.

Drama: Painted Skin 2020 /画皮 Characters: Wang Sheng & Xiao Wei Screentime: Main In this B̶L̶ version of Painted Skin Chinese legend the fox demon is male and wants to get one of the humans that brought him home. But humans love each other, no one is interested in a fox demon, so he makes them pay for their previous kindness with blood, sweat and tears. In the end the demon gets a human heart, feels something (e.g. how hard it is to be a human) and makes up one more lie, giving to the soul of the man he wanted for himself a strand of his own hair instead of human's wife's hair in order to meet him in another life. The same moral as in the previous drama. The same sadness.

[noswordinourlake]

@tavina-writes asked for arranged marriage fic recs, which turned into...this. Sorry Tav some of these are just very politically plotty but I figured those also fell into your mandate! I was going for a vibe. ANYWAY.

All fics MZDS/the Untamed!

Also under a read more because this got. Long.

CANON DIVERGENCES

marry for love by tuesday (3k, T, complete)

"Nie Huaisang snapped open his fan and covered his face. "Be careful. I'll take advantage.""

50-50 cute and intrigue!

from the other side of sorrow (series) by Sour_Idealist (128k, E, complete)

"Yu Ziyuan cuts off Wei Wuxian's hand. The cultivation world changes."

I couldn't tell you the split on emotional devastation and intrigue on this one because it's all happening all the time.

CANON? I DON'T KNOW HER

The Other Mountain by nirejseki (287k, T, complete)

"Lan Qiren still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it.

He was married.

He had a wife.

That wife was Wen Ruohan."

I feel like anyone who likes politically plotty fics is already following nirejseki but I also feel like this list would be incomplete if I left off THE arranged marriage fic of all time so.

love, in fire and blood by cicer (360k, E, complete)

""You want Wen Ruohan dead," the Patriarch continued idly. "You want his corpse puppets eliminated. You want his halls burned to the ground and his soldiers disemboweled and begging for mercy. Have I about covered it?"

He gave another knife-edged smile.

"But what will you give me in return?"

"We would be willing to offer quite a bit in return for Wen Ruohan's defeat," Lan Xichen admitted. "But I'm afraid we don't know what an immortal such as yourself desires. Please advise us."

The Patriarch waved at hand at the front of the tent. "I want Second Young Master Lan.""

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

not too strong by fluffysocks (89k, E, complete)

"He sinks back, closes his eyes again so he doesn’t have to look at all that red silk for a moment. He takes a deep breath.

It’s done. Jiang Cheng is married.

Now he just has to live with it."

Yes this is a Jiang Cheng/Lan Qiren arranged marriage AU. Trust me. Trust me. It's GOOD STUFF.

Restoration by ritualist (85k, M, complete)

"They say he was thrown into Luanzang Gang by the man who killed his parents; they say that he is an immortal cultivator who had been in a deep trance until the Wen sect disturbed his rest and incurred his wrath; they say that he is the fierce corpse of a cultivator who had somehow regained his mind and his spiritual powers. When Lan Wangji sees him for the first time, he understands why people talk.

Meng Yao wants safety. Xue Yang wants vengeance. The Sunshot Campaign wants victory. Yiling Laozu provides, for a price."

I'm a sucker for a nonlinear narrative! I don't want to know what is happening and no spoilers you won't for most of this fic. In a good way.

Give Me A Chance To Fall by brooklinegirl (38k, E, complete)

"Jiang Cheng just blows his breath out and rolls his eyes right back at Wei Wuxian. "Stop being an asshole," he says. "You're lucky this is being set up for you. Do you know how many people would die--literally die--to get the chance to be betrothed to Lan Wangji?"

"Betrothed." Wei Wuxian rolls the word around in his mouth. "It even sounds stupid.""

The classique arranged marriage AU.

JOKES JOKES JOKES

I Started From The Bottom/ And Now I'm Rich by x_los (58k, E, complete)

"Wen Qing traps Wei Wuxian in the Demon Slaughtering Cave, but Wei Wuxian isn’t interested in being the beneficiary of the Wen Remnants’ noble sacrifice. His efforts to free himself accidentally send him back to the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign. Coreless but armed with demonic cultivation, knowledge of the future and his wits, Wei Wuxian takes advantage of this opportunity to come out on top of both the war and its aftermath—before either has a chance to happen—by marrying and swiftly burying the cultivation world’s worst men.

Lan Wangji is confused, hurt, and uncomfortably aroused by Wei Wuxian’s improbably elaborate series of Sect-themed bridal negligees."

I hesitated to include this fic in this section because it does get pretty dark and psychologically heavy but it is also. Hilarious. So!

Best Friends Forever by varnes (17k, T, complete)

"It happened like this: Jin Ling was a sect leader now, which was, and Jingyi really meant this, fucking hilarious. There were few things funnier, in his honest opinion.

Because he was young, and inexperienced, and also — it had to be said — a real shithead, there was apparently some belief amongst his advisors that the best way forward, to promote the picture of a stable, mature sect leader who absolutely did not cry at the drop of a hat, was for Jin Ling to get married.

-

OR: Jin Ling and Jingyi get engaged.

Things spiral from there."

Jingyi POV from varnes is a gift. Jingyi POV trying to figure out the post-canon political landscape is a treasure.

[flautistsandpeonies]

¿What if Yu Ziyuan survives after the fall of Lotus Pier and her terrible actions (abuse of Wei Wuxian, willingness to let her allies die, being primarily responsible for the Lotus Pier massacre) come to light? Let's not forget that some people (Jin Guangshan) would try to use the situation to their advantage to gain power through slander and manipulation.

Oooo, I love this ask!

I believe that if Madam Yu lives, nothing would really change for her other than that she would probably treat Wei Wuxian worse. With Jiang Cheng being sect leader, I highly doubt that her actions when the Wens came to invade would get out, and if they did she could easily just play it off as mindless gossip or Wen remnant lies.

Her abuse of Wei Wuxian would both be encouraged and only pretended to be looked down upon. Everyone was jealous of the Jiang Sect for having Wei Wuxian as a part of their ranks, the story even goes on to say that Jin Guangshan tried to lure him with treasures and women, so I can imagine that people would try and schmooze Wei Wuxian by talking about Madam Yu's treatment of him, but only in the scenario that they can get him in private- can't get caught talking down about the mother of a great sect leader to the son of a servant. There would also be people who would say that Wei Wuxian deserves to be treated that way because of his cultivation and because he is a servant's child. Madam Yu could probably even bring up how- she believes- Wei Wuxian owes the Jiang a debt, so she can treat him any way she desires until he pays it off- which, also, in her head, he never will as she believes he owes them his life. The only person who would be against it would be Lan Wangji, but it isn't as if he has any power to go up against Madam Yu; the only thing he could most likely do would be to ask Wei WUxian to come back to Gusu with him, and we know how that is going to end.

There is a possibility that Madam Yu would try and have Jiang Cheng expel Wei Wuxian from the sect before he runs into Wen Qing and saves the remnants from the camps because she sees him as a threat to the sect's reputation/Jiang Cheng. It's really hard to determine this because Madam Yu does not like giving up power, and Wei Wuxian is a powerhouse, but she also hates that Wei Wuxian is better than her son in everything. So her decision in this would be affected by outside factors/the other sects.

I also believe, however, that Jin Guangshan is smart enough to get Madam Yu to do the above and make Wei Wuxian vulnerable early on. He also has the added help of his wife and her unending quest to marry their son and Jiang Yanli. I can imagine Madam Jin painting Wei Wuxian as a danger to Yanli to her best friend, adding fuel to the fire.

I believe that the rest of the story would go as normal, except that Jiang Cheng doesn't get to have Zidian, and I can see Madam Yu trying to get people to siege the Burial Mounds earlier than they did in the canon timeline. She would probably be lobbying for a siege the week after Jiang Cheng's and Wei Wuxian's fight just because her darling heir got his non-dominant arm broken.

When Wei Wuxian resurrects, if Jin Guangyao hasn't had her killed, I can see Madam Yu being an extra obstacle in Wei Wuxian's and Lan Wangji's quest. I can see her whipping Wei Wuxian in Qinghe after Wei Wuxian saves Jin Ling from the man-eating castle, and I can see her kicking up a fuss in Lotus Pier after the second siege of the Burial Mounds.

[madtomedgar]

umm genderbend 3zun (obviously) and yanli? (maybe lan qiren?)

unfortunately sometimes my genderbend thoughts on a particular character are "no." And to me, Nie Mingjue's character is so intrinsically wrapped up in toxic hyper-masculinity that I just can't make it work. Like. Part of my philosophy of gender-bends is that a character's relationship to gender should be mirrored. So a very gender-conforming character should stay gender conforming. A character that is perceived as effeminate should in a genderbend be seen as kind of manly or unladylike or like. crude/harsh/rough in that particular "failing at woman" way. And with Nie Mingjue and characters like him, they just can't fill the same role in the story as a devotee and enforcer of the worst aspects of femininity. I know a lot of people love "butch" f!Nie Mingjue, by they mean "big muscly woman with an undercut," and like. I hate that. To me it's reminiscent of a particular type of butch fetishization where we are seen as like. Big, hypermasculine canvases to project fantasies onto, and also a collection of negative stereotypes where we're angry, violent, kind of dumb, gruff, pushy, negging, dominant, with no real feelings or desires beyond the erotic fantasy and the psychosexual repulsion etc. So. Those are my feelings on r63 3zun. Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao as women is the best, but he just... he can only be a guy. I could get behind a trans guy Nie Mingjue who has bought into the worst parts of masculinity and thinks by going as hard as he can in that direction he can completely rid himself of any lingering trans-ness, but that is definitely not my story to tell or explore, yknow.

In terms of Yanli. I also don't love taking the one or two women in a cast of men and... making them men also. What, were there not enough men here already? But, ok. Madam Yu's firstborn, and he's... ah. He's ill. He's weak. He's sweet and sensitive, and he wants... oh no. He wants to be a Scholar. Where did those genes even come from what the fuck. I think a lot about how this goes though depends on whether or not Jiang Cheng is also gender-bent, and if Jin Zixuan is gender-bent, and what's going on with Wei Wuxian. Because sickly nerd m!Yanli and f!Jiang Cheng who is... Jiang Cheng and canon Wei Wuxian is basically Madam Yu's personal nightmare and that'll be a Whole Fun Thing. But if Jiang Cheng is still himself, and Wei Wuxian is still himself... I think Wei Wuxian might be more annoying to her but less threatening. I don't think m!Jiang Yanli would be a Mei Changsu mastermind type, he's just a fucking nerd in a family of jocks. He's writing poetry to praise Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's exploits and doing really interesting things with it that you only get if you know a lot of literary theory. He is like. Mr. Older Brother but has no interest or ability to be the heir. Idk Jiang Yanli is also hard because so much of her character is just... feminine domesticity and passivity. And like. You could keep that but that's just a bodyswap OR it's a very different character because then they have Gender Issues bigtime, as opposed to having issues of like... conforming too well. Idk if that makes sense.

... Actually I could get behind trans woman Jiang Yanli. That would be AMAZING. Like. oh man. ok. Her brothers are both like "yes this is our sister duh. do you need glasses are you stupid do you want to die." Jiang Fengmian is like... well he can either have a failson or he can have a daughter who is... fine. So sure, let the kid be happy. Yeah ok it burns out the golden core a bit to make their body conform to their spirit like that but whatever, this kid was never going to be a great cultivator, this way she's happy. Jin Zixuan is like. A mega dickhead about it and the Yunmeng brothers are Going To Murder Him in this life and the next :D. (Jiang Yanli wishes they would stop because all it does is draw more attention to this and she just... she just wants to be a normal girl.) Jin Zixuan comes around post-sunshot and realizes he was a mega-dickhead and that Jiang Yanli is the best woman alive, actually. And Madam Yu. Oof. The thing is she would be much cooler, proud and happy even, if Jiang Yanli took after her. But from her perspective, Jiang Fengmian let one of her sons become weak and useless on purpose to insult her specifically, and now her daughter is setting herself up to be a defenseless laughingstock and doormat, and everyone will blame her for it. So she is awful about it. And like... Jiang Yanli was just never going to be a warrior, or a hero, or a strong assertive person, because that's just not who she is. She just wants to love people and have her family close, and make food, and take care of kids, and it's... not about gender but it kind of is, but not like her mother thinks. She gets exactly what she wants in the end, and nothing bad ever happens to her or Jin Zixuan or Jin Ling (Wei Wuxian created a method to have magic babies just for shijie). Yeah. This, I love.

[factsilike]

I read an excellent meta about how fandom tends to severely misunderstand and distort WWX's moral values as 'self sacrificial' in order to fit western story tropes, in a fic by Kryal on Ao3, that I think deserves to be mentioned,

"Which, on a related note… where does the whole “oh, Lan Zhan doesn’t want me! I’m a burden!” characterization of Wei Wuxian come from, anyway? Is that an import from CQL, or is it another example of “it would make sense for him to react that way, so of course he does”? Because Wei Wuxian never thinks, says, or does anything like that in the novel. From the moment he realizes that Lan Wangji knows who “Mo Xuanyu” really is, he doesn’t question if Lan Wangji wants him around. Even when he’s revealed at Jinlintai, he only asks once if Lan Wangji’s sure about standing by him. Once Lan Wangji says yes, Wei Wuxian accepts that. Heck, even with him telling Jiang Cheng to kick him out after he rescues the Wens – that’s always read more as a furious “well, eff you too!” than “oh, don’t let me be a burden!” to me!

Though I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the whole “doesn’t value himself” characterization, which (I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear) I also don’t buy into. As noted, Wei Wuxian is perfectly willing to stand up to Madam Yu. And when it comes to things like Wang Liangjiao’s demands to have him punished …

When a soldier makes a stand at the bridge, sacrificing himself to buy time, we don’t say that he’s self-destructive or that he doesn’t value himself. We say he is courageous and resolute. When a knight gives his prince his sword, shield and horse so that the prince will live on, the knight is brave and loyal.

Doing your duty is not the same as not valuing yourself.

And as for Wei Wuxian giving up everything to protect the Wen survivors…

Here’s the thing: standing by your moral code in the face of opposition is not an act of low self-worth. In fact, it is, in a way, an act of profound self-respect. There is a reason why it’s practically a cliche for someone to say, “if I didn’t do something, I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the eye.” It requires caring about your own values, morals and conscience.

Having values you’re willing to die for is not self-destructiveness.

…though part of me suspects that idea that Wei Wuxian is self-destructive is connected to fandom’s intense desire for fix-its. The problem is that, all too often, creating a “fix” for the situation changes the circumstances so that Wei Wuxian’s sacrifice isn’t actually necessary and therefore is actually meaningless and a product of just Not Trying Hard Enough and that means he didn’t care enough about himself (or the people he was trying to help, apparently) to Find A Better Way…"

I think, all in all, it sums it up perfectly.

For all the very self-sacrificial Wei Wuxian takes out there, I think they may actually fit Lan Wangji more?

…Before you disagree, there’s a big caveat to this – I don’t think these takes fit either of them well. But it’s interesting to compare their default responses to situations. Both want to help others – but whereas Wei Wuxian’s first instinct is to redirect (redirecting attacks to other targets, redirecting enemies’ attention to distract them, etc), Lan Wangji is much more direct in his protection*. And generally, that’s going to lead to putting yourself in harm’s way more often.

My favourite scene to demonstrate this is when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji (alongside Jin Zixuan) are protecting Mianmian in the Xuanwu cave. Wei Wuxian does this by redirecting Wen Chao’s attention to him, provoking him and causing him to step out of Wen Zhuliu’s range of protection. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji stands in front of her, blocking her from danger directly… despite being at a disadvantage and already injured!

Wen Chao was enraged, shouting, “How dare you! Kill them!” A few of the Wen Sect’s disciples unsheathed their swords, rushing toward Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan (...) the two boys were at a loss in terms of both weaponry and sheer numbers. Even more, after the past days of being constantly on the move, they were in quite a bad state, not to mention that Lan WangJi had been injured. They definitely wouldn’t be able to last long. Chapter 52, EXR translation

This is a scenario with high stakes (Mianmian’s life), but also with multiple solutions, meaning that their choices aren’t muddied by there only being one option. Yet we still see Lan Wangji directly defend – despite the fact that, if Wei Wuxian hadn’t intervened, he almost certainly would have died! And that’s true of another moment in the Xuanwu cave I never hear anyone talk about:

Before Wei WuXian could think of what to do next, his body tilted as somebody shoved him to the side. Lan WangJi had pushed him out of the way. With this opportunity, the jaws of the beast had closed, biting down on his leg. Wei WuXian’s right leg hurt from simply watching the scene. Lan WangJi’s face was still expressionless. He had only frowned slightly. Afterward, he was immediately dragged away! (...) Lan WangJi didn’t expect that [Wei Wuxian] could catch up even under such circumstances. He was utterly shocked. Chapter 53, EXR translation

Admittedly, this is a scenario with more limited options, which is why I mentioned Mianmian first. But his reaction stays consistent – directly blocking somebody from a threat with his own body. And again, he didn’t think Wei Wuxian could do anything to rescue him! He does not expect to survive, and we just… don’t talk about this???

(And note that when Wei Wuxian rescues him, he actually puts himself in less danger! Again, this is mainly due to the limited solutions – you can’t rescue someone who’s already bitten down on by blocking the mouth from biting down on them – but he’s still in a position where he does have the option to get out of the situation if he chooses (he’s not between the teeth! His hands are opening the teeth from the outside, his feet are on its shell, he can jump into the water at any time and does after Lan Wangji is safe. There is danger of the Xuanwu choosing to attack him, but his position on its own doesn’t put him in mortal peril, which is not the case for Lan Wangji here). So though it doesn’t give us that much insight into how he prefers to deal with situations, the dynamic is still interesting to consider with regard to how fanon!WWX is often treated.)

Now, maybe these examples are unfair. Maybe Lan Wangji here was very tired (he was), stressed (he was) and not thinking straight, and so he just didn’t think of other options that he would’ve chosen in normal circumstances. If that’s the case, it still supports my point – no matter his eventual course of action, his first thought/instinct is still to obstruct directly – but this isn’t just a pattern limited to this arc, and to such high-stakes situations. For example, look at his reaction when the Wens order the Lans to burn the Cloud Recesses (and though I’d be very surprised if Lan Wangji wasn’t stressed here too, he’s at least less tired).

Wei WuXian, “Is Lan Zhan’s leg related to this?” The disciple, “Of course. The first place that Wen Xu ordered them to burn down was the Library Pavilion. He declared that he’ll teach anyone who wasn’t willing to do it a lesson. Lan WangJi refused. He was attacked by Wen Xu’s people and they broke one of his legs.” - Chapter 52, EXR translation

I say this is low-stakes because actions won’t actually have that much of an impact – though there is danger, the Cloud Recesses are going to be burned down no matter what, so it’s not something you’re risking by not acting to prevent it. Yet Lan Wangji still chooses to directly oppose, to directly protect the pavilion as much as he can (even if that’s very little, and even if I do think the main factor here was actually his refusal to go against his principles and burn down the Cloud Recesses, not him trying to protect them. But that still leads to the same course of action: to act very directly). And again, that results in direct bodily harm to him**! 

But even in situations where he’s not stressed or under any pressure, we still see that direct protection is his default. Just look at the way he acts towards Wei Wuxian in the present day. One of his very first actions towards him (and pretty much the very first after finding out his identity!) is to block Jiang Cheng from hurting ‘Mo Xuanyu’ with Zidian – to quote EXR, “[Wei Wuxian] hadn’t been hit by the whip yet only because Lan WangJi acted as a barricade in front of him.” – and after that we often see him protecting Wei Wuxian from dogs, we see him let Wei Wuxian stand behind him when Jiang Cheng is angry at the Golden Core reveal (Chapter 102), we even see him protecting Wei Wuxian from things they both know he can face (Su She):

On the other hand, Lan WangJi gripped Bichen in one hand as he grabbed Wei WuXian’s waist with his other, pushing Wei WuXian behind him for better protection. In reality, Wei WuXian had no need for his protection, but he still leaned against his body with both comfort and compliance. Chapter 104, EXR

None of this leads to any harm of either of them, but it still holds true to the pattern of Lan Wangji protecting by physically putting himself between what he’s defending, and harm’s way. This response of his is extremely consistent! And it’s not just towards Wei Wuxian either – there’s a tiny moment in the Lotus Seed Pod extra which you could argue fits this pattern, where Lan Wangji chooses to physically hold the heavy roof of an abandoned shed to block the rain from reaching an injured man and a few other people, rather than trying something like using wood from the shed (including the four pieces of unattached wood propping the shed up) to build a temporary shelter for them until help arrives. The circumstances and therefore actions are slightly different, but the process leading to them is still the same – Lan Wangji still acts in the most direct way he can to protect the people from the rain, which does involve exerting himself even in a situation where there would probably be other ways to solve it (even if his Lan arm strength means he can hold the roof up without a problem). It’s not a deliberate choice to do whatever puts him in harm’s way the most, but directly using himself to protect people, whatever form that takes, is his main and default course of action.

The final thing I want to mention is that even Lan Wangji’s ‘big reveal’ moment – him being the one to take Wei Wuxian away from Nightless City, fighting 33 elders to protect him – calls back to this trait as well (MDZS is so well put together)! Once more, Lan Wangji is directly protecting, risking and suffering serious bodily harm as a result. Recovering took a few years!

…And yet. I never see anybody thinking Lan Wangji is self-sacrificial. I’d argue they’re right – but why? Why, when he puts himself in harm’s way more than Wei Wuxian does?

Maybe it’s because of something like this: ‘but he does this because he loves Wei Wuxian and doesn’t want to see him hurt, and protecting others is just part of his morals! It doesn’t point to any issue within him, he does have a stable sense of self and self-worth – at least there isn’t anything pointing to the opposite’.

Which, again, I’d argue is right.

But… does that really not apply to Wei Wuxian, too?

---

*And there are moments where they don’t act like this, especially for Wei Wuxian, but that’s generally in situations where there aren’t any other options which still lead to them accomplishing their goals. Protecting the Wens by… redirecting the Jianghu’s hatred towards other people? How would he do that? How would that help anything??

**It’s quite interesting to think of how Wei Wuxian would act in these situations, actually – both being forced to burn down the Cloud Recesses (or Lotus Pier, in this case), and in preventing (in this case) Lan Wangji from being eaten by a Xuanwu rushing towards him. The first, I’m not actually sure what exactly he would do (especially as nothing he can do will stop the burning) – I’m not sure he’d just go along with it, but I don’t see him just refusing to despite that not doing anything, either (especially since if he’s unharmed, he’ll be more able to protect his shidi and shimei if they’re in danger, since he’s a much more skilled cultivator/fighter than they are), at least not in the same way. Hearing people’s thoughts on that would be really interesting, actually!

As for the second – if there’s really no time to change anything about the head or its direction, he would probably do the same (with the only other option being letting Lan Wangji die). But if there was the smallest room to change something, I could definitely see him activating another fire talisman (to distract the Xuanwu and redirect its attention to the pillar of flame instead of Lan Wangji, even if just for a moment). And even if self sacrifice really needed to be an option, with no way out beside it, I think Wei Wuxian’s would take the form of redirecting the Xuanwu’s head towards him rather than directly blocking it from reaching Lan Wangji. When he does put himself in danger in canon, this is usually how he does it (see: him redirecting the corpses towards himself during the Second Siege, while Lan Wangji is protecting him and blocking them from reaching him… another nice example of their situational response!).

I do plan on writing a separate meta about Wei Wuxian’s tendency to redirect, though, so some of these points may be reiterated there.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 30 part two

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)

Homesick

On the way back to the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian tells Wen Ning not to tell Wen Qing what happened. Wen Ning is excellent at keeping secrets for Wei Wuxian and not revealing them in a fit of justifiable spite or anything. Then Wei Wuxian sits at dinner with a 1000 yard stare, and tries to pretend everything is fine.

He’s so sad, you guys. Even sadder than after parting from Lan Wangji. 

He dodges Wen Qing's several attempts to find out what's wrong, and changes the subject to his farming ambitions. He wants to plant lotuses, and declares that he'll show them that it's possible. Everyone acts like he’s talking about a totally insane idea.

How dare anyone be doubtful of Wei Wuxian’s abilities at this point? I mean, come on. They’re up here surviving on corpse vegetables on his personal corpse mountain that he tamed with a flute while being mostly dead himself.  But their skepticism and his bragging do serve to lighten his mood a bit. 

(more behind the cut!)

Secret-Keeper Wen Ning

Outside, Wen Ning feeds the lotus soup to A-Yuan right in the main courtyard where Wen Qing will definitely catch him. Also he apparently stole Yanli’s green lotus bowl, which is a bit of a clue about where the soup came from. 

Wen Qing lovingly menaces Wen Ning until he fesses up about seeing the Jiangs.  

Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing are both utterly devoted older sisters who live and (literally) die for their didis, but are totally different in how they express their love and how they interact with those didis. Wen Qing’s tenderness comes with directness and a sharp edge, not at all like Yanli’s softness and occasional manipulation. It’s nice to see how different they are even if they don’t, you know, end up differently. 

Wen Qing goes to talk to Wei Wuxian, and she shuffles back and forth in front of the door, not going in. She knows he needs something, but doesn't know how to approach him; her usual methods aren't right for the pain he's feeling right now, and she's not the sister that he's missing. 

Wei Wuxian lies on his bunk listening to The Cure’s entire “Disintegration” album on repeat. 

Oh just one more and I'll walk away All the everything you win turns to nothing today So just one more, just one more go inspire in me The desire in me to never go home

He has a montage of memories of the steps that led to where he is now, going from Yanli in her wedding clothes from earlier in the day, then his (now-broken) promise to Jiang Cheng to stay by his side. Then it goes way back to his vow of goodness in the cloud recesses, then to his rainy confrontation with Lan Zhan over that same promise.  His vow of goodness and his vow to Jiang Cheng can’t coexit. 

He looks at the lotus tassel and thinks, in voiceover, "Yiling Laozu Wei Wuxian."  Then he says his future nephew’s name as a tear rolls down his cheek, and asks himself, "Wei Wuxian, would you really still make the same choice?"

Giving up his family is just...too much for him. This is the first time we see him entertaining doubts about the path he’s chosen, although he still won’t express that to anyone but himself. 

Lotus Seeds

Later, he's sitting around doing fuck-all while everyone else is working (fuck yeah feudalism), and Wen Qing comes up and tosses a bag of lotus seeds at him, challenging him to get them to grow.

Parenting with Depression

After a brief time skip, a lone seedling has finally sprouted in Wei Wuxian’s mud lotus pond. Before he can check it out, A-Yuan goes and pulls it up. Wei Wuxian gets super upset about this, hollering at A-Yuan and making him cry.

Also making him pout adorably.

Wen Qing comforts A-Yuan and asks Wei Wuxian to forgive him. She doesn’t say “what the fuck, why are you yelling at a baby about a plant” because they live in a genre where whipping your stepkid with magic lightning is legal. Wei Wuxian’s mini tantrum is still pretty chill parenting, by comparison.  

Wei Wuxian realizes he needs to be the grown-up here, despite barely being an actual grown up yet, and tells Wen Qing and A-Yuan that it’s fine. 

Then he goes back to his cave to listen to Pink Floyd’s entire “Wish You Were Here” album on repeat. 

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun Shine on you crazy diamond Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky Shine on you crazy diamond You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

Wen Qing explains the situation to A-Yuan in a way he can understand, saying that Wei Wuxian misses his sister. A-Yuan says he should visit her, and Wen Qing tells him to go tell Wei Wuxian that. When you can’t bring yourself to talk to your friend about what’s bothering him, sending a 3 year old to talk to him instead is an awesome idea. 

A-Yuan goes and makes the suggestion, and Wei Wuxian, back to being a nice dad again, obligingly plays at being able to fly to see her. This is cute for 2 seconds, and then it's soul crushing. Remember when Wei Wuxian actually could fly? 

Yeah, I think he remembers it too. 

Jins Are Boring

All of this is intermixed with a couple of short, not-gif-worthy scenes at Jinlintai, where we see Jin Guangyao being cheerfully helpful and Jin Zixuan thinking Jin Guangyao is cheerful and helpful. Jin Guangshan is nervous because he knows that Jin Guangyao is actually a murderous little snek--in fact, that’s his favorite thing about Jin Guangyao--and his own legitimate heir is a trusting dumbass person who has a giant target on his back.

Brand New Day

In Yiling, the lotuses are finally growing properly, and the Wens are all very pleased for Wei Wuxian

Wei Wuxian is kind of overcome with feels, but quickly moves to swaggering and having way too much eye contact with Wen Qing.

Yikes, get a room cave, you two.

1 Year Later

Then we have an entire year of time jump in a single title card. Wei Wuxian has changed outfits to an absolutely devastating simple black robe with a dark red belt. Not to be bisexual but oh my fucking god. 

Wen Ning is still wearing the same shitty straw hat with holes in it. Corpses don’t get a clothing allowance.

Aw, Wei Wuxian has been this sad for a whole year, you guys.

WWX and WN catch up on the latest news, which comes to them in the way of all news in Wuxia and Xianxia dramas: two guys sitting around loudly discoursing in public. 

The News Guys say that Jiang Yanli had a baby son five days ago, and since he's the "first legitimate grandson" for Jin Guangshan, he's well-loved. Presumably there are several illegitimate grandsons who are poorly loved. Future grandson Jin Rulong will also be poorly loved, by which I mean “assassinated.” 

Wei Wuxian is briefly overjoyed, gripping Wen Ning’s shoulder and sharing the news with him. In this moment he speaks from the heart, using familial terms, not sect terms, to speak of his sister and nephew: jiejie and waishengle, not shijie and shizhi. 

Then his mood comes crashing back down again, as he realizes this is one more family joy that he’s excluded himself from. 

Baby Fever

Next, at Jinlintai, we have the infamous scene where Jin Guangshan won't let Jin Guangyao hold the baby. I know some viewers see this as a tipping point for Jin Guangyao, but I'm reasonably certain he was already evil. He has intended to murder his (admittedly, terrible) father for years and years, and he’s already put his brother-killing plan in motion. Not to mention that he’s got Xue Yang on speed dial. 

Jin Guangshan is wise to keep him away from his vulnerable lineal descendant. However, he doesn’t need to be such a dick about it.

You Are Not Worthy To Party With Me

At the party planning meeting, Lan Wangji is making all of his best bitch faces while interacting with the Jins, because he hates nearly anyone who isn’t a Lan or a Wei at this point. 

“I’m not a hate monger, I’m a hate stylist” - Punchline, 1988

He sticks his neck way, way out to say that Wei Wuxian should be invited to the baby party. This is a terrible idea, Lan Wangji. But it’s also an amazing step in Lan Wangji’s journey toward accepting Wei Wuxian’s choices. He’s advocated for Wei Wuxian as a person before, but this time he’s advocating for him to be treated as a clan leader. 

When he realizes that the Jins plan to use this opportunity to have a Yin Tiger Intervention, he starts to backpedal.

Lan Wangji: What will you do when Wei Ying tells you to fuck off? Jin Guangyao: I’m sure once he sees Jin Ling he’ll want to stay here forever Lan Wangji: Only one baby has that much cuteness power, and that’s Wei Ying’s our baby 

Unfortunately, Jin Guangyao knows exactly how to get around Lan Wangji’s concern, telling him that he should handle the invitation personally. 

This instantly short-circuits Lan Wangji’s higher brain functions in a wave of pining, and he he accepts his brother’s (honest) and Jin Guangyao’s (dishonest) promises that they will respect Wei Wuxian’s choices, bowing his agreement with the terrible, terrible plan.

Jock Itch

Meanwhile, asshole cousin Jin Zixun is dealing with a little skin rash caused by Su She cursing him, at Jin Guangyao’s direction. Jin Guangyao is such a prick;  he made sure not to risk the rebound-curse himself, allowing Su She to suffer those consequences instead. 

Then we get to see the only good Jins, father and baby son, having a nice family moment together with Jiang Yanli, happily unaware of Jin Guangshan’s nefarious plans and Jin Guangyao’s even more nefarious plans.  

I’m sure this upcoming party will be a return to better times for everyone, right?....Right?

Soundtrack: “Homesick” by The Cure, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond  parts I–V” by Pink Floyd

[ennuijpg]

Hi! I'm introducing some friends to the untamed and making some notes on where the netflix subs don't give enough information/good translations, according to the fandom. I saw your translation of the 'to die by your hand' scene and it KILLED me, so I was wondering if there are any other particular scenes you think it's important to note a different translation? Thank you so much if you can!

ooh so there aren't any scenes i can think of where the translation falls so so short of the actual emotion and meaning as much as that one, however there are definitely some less dramatic instances.

in general, i would say that mandarin (and a lot of other languages from what i've heard) has a lot more inherent emotional depth than english, so in translation, a lot of the subtitles sound very emotionally neutral or ambivalent when they really aren't.

the instance of this that sticks out to me the most is during the confrontation between wei wuxian and jiang cheng at the guanyin temple (ep 48, ~9 minutes in) where wuxian says to jiang cheng「都不要放在心上了」(dou bu yao fang zai xin shang), which the subtitles translate as "please don't keep it in your heart," which i'm actually not really mad at as a translation, but it's just not a phrase used much in english, so it sounds slightly awkward/doesnt convey the emotional context of that phrase.

so for context, mandarin has multiple ways of saying, loosely, "don't worry." there's「不要擔心」(bu yao dan xin), which is probably the most common and versatile to say it, and there's「不要放在心上」(bu yao fang zai xin shang), which is the one wuxian says to jiang cheng. (there's other ways too, they're just not rly relevant here) the literal translation of it is "do not put it on your heart," which the netflix is pretty close to, but ofc that doesn't tell u much abt usage. the way i've explained it in the past was, say u made a mistake at work and were beating urself up over it.「不要擔心」is something your coworker or boss might say to you to essentially say "hey it's no big deal, don't worry about it, ur fine;" it can be very casual. whereas, once you get home and start talking abt ur bad day at work,「不要放在心上」is more likely something your parent/sibling/partner/other loved one would say to you as they put a bowl of ur favorite soup in front of u. it has a level of inherent familiarity and deeper desire to comfort the person ur talking to than「不要擔心」. (note: i say inherent bc「不要擔心」doesnt have to always be casual/relatively emotionally neutral, it can be said w emotion ofc but the words themselves do not carry as much emotion as「不要放在心上」.

other than that, i’m not remembering any other specific scenes rn (if i remember smth, i’ll rb w the addition and @ you), but one thing that happens throughout the show is translation discrepancy when characters are addressing each other. for example, when wuxian and jiang cheng talk to yanli, the subtitles always have them both addressing her by name, but in chinese, family members often dont address each other by name, like my younger brothers both call me 姐 (jie), which means older sister. jiang cheng calls yanli 阿姐 (a-jie) most of the time (the 阿 at the beginning is just a prefix used in front of names and other forms of address to express familiarity, it’s the same character used in a-yuan). wuxian calls yanli 師姐 (shijie), which is what you call a senior female fellow student studying under the same master/in the same school/etc.

(rest under the cut bc this got rly long)

nie huaisang calls mingjue 大哥 (dage)/哥 (ge); 哥 means older brother and 大 means big, so 大哥 is often used for the eldest brother (esp common if there are multiple brothers). an interesting thing is that wangji does not call xichen 哥 or any variation of it, rather he calls him 兄長 (xiong zhang), which also means older brother but is a term of respect and much more formal, so that’s also a reflection of their characters and upbringing. 兄長 is not in common use nowadays but 哥 very much still is.

after nie mingjue, lan xichen, and jin guangyao take their oath of sworn brotherhood, they also change their forms of address with each other. for example, guangyao calls xichen 二哥 (er ge), which means second older brother (since xichen is the second oldest) and calls mingjue 大哥 (like huaisang does). (i feel like i vaguely remember guangyao being called 三弟 (san di), which means third younger brother, by someone but don’t remember if it was xichen or mingjue.)

(also impt to note that in chinese culture, familial terms as forms of address aren’t strictly reserved for family (whether that be blood or found). for example, in a casual setting, you can address any woman who is your parents’ age or between their age and your grandparents age as 阿姨 (a-yi) (or name + 阿姨), which is the term for your maternal aunt, and you can address any man of the same age range as 叔叔 (shu shu), which is what you’d call your paternal uncle. similarly in a familiar/casual setting, you can call women older than you but younger than your parents 姐姐/name + 姐, like the daughters, who are all younger than me, of my parents’ friends call me jessie jie-jie. and you can call men in the same age range 哥哥/name + 哥, like how wang yibo calls xiao zhan, zhan-ge. the same applies for people younger than you, with which you would use 妹妹, younger sister, and 弟弟, younger brother.)

another example is that jin guangshan calls jiang fengmian 江兄 (jiang xiong), 江being his family name ofc and 兄 meaning brother (same character as in 兄長, which wangji calls xichen), since they’re of the same age and status and their wives are sworn sisters. xichen, on the other hand, calls fengmian 江宗主 (jiang zong zhu), which means sect leader jiang. in the subtitles, these are often just translated as “you,” when they’re talking directly to him. 

so in general, there is a lot of information abt characters’ relationships, level of familiarity with each other, age, etc that is contained in their forms of address that just doesn’t come across in the netflix subs, since those default to their names like 80% of the time.

hope this helps!! if u (or anyone else) have other questions/scenes ur wondering abt, feel free to ask, i’m always down to talk translations. and if you want to see more of my beef w netflix subs a;lskjdf, all of my cql gifsets with dialogue on them have either been translated from scratch by me or i’ve edited the netflix translations, and i usually put some notes abt my translation in the tags. any sets that i’ve translated from scratch are under my translations tag, though most of these are actually for word of honor/shan he ling and not cql.

edit: check my reblog in the notes for some more additions!!

[drwcn]

concubine/sleeper agent!wwx and prince!lwj bullshit continues: 

[story board 1] -  The two empires and the Imperial Lan Family [story board 2] -  WWX, Qishan Wen’s sleeper agent   [story board 3] -  The inner court (harem) of Hanguang Manor, prior to WWX

→ [Story Board 4] - “A-Xian”, the attendant of Jiang Yanli 

Wei Wuxian lived with the Jiangs for 2 years. After he came to Gusu as a 16-yro, he charmed/scammed his way into the Jiang manor, won the favour of Jiang Fengmian, the affection of Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng, and waited.  For a long time, no further instructions were given to him from Wen Ruohan. Then, one day, he saw Zhao Zhuliu on the streets of the Capital. Zhao Zhuliu was the head of Wen Ruohan’s intelligence bureau and incidentally, was also Wei Wuxian and Xue Yang’s shifu.  

— “Shifu, does bixia finally have an assignment for me?”  — “He does. Jiang Yanli is set to marry Lan Wangji. You are to find a way to accompany her to Hanguang-fu and get close to him.”  — “Close to him as in...?”  — “Any means necessary. He has a harem already, so you will not be the only one vying for his attention. Do think you can handle it?”  — “Well I don’t know, shifu,” responded WWX coyly. “ Word on the street is that this Hanguang-wang prefers pretty men. His ce-wangfu Jin Ziyan is famous for his handsomeness, and that mianshou Mo Xuanyu he keeps around is a looker too. Do you think I’ve grown pretty enough?” — “You seem very aware of his household, I’m surprised.”  — “Bixia sent me here to observe and learn; I’ve not been idle.”  

Wei Wuxian knew Jiang Yanli was set to marry Lan Wangji before she even knew herself. This was not a coincidence. Originally, three years ago, when Lan Wangji was first choosing members of his harem, Jiang Yanli had been considered, but at the time Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan were already engaged to be wed. Jin Zixuan had promised Jiang Yanli that as soon as he passed the imperial scholarly exam and secured a position for himself in His Majesty’s court based on his own merit and not on the influence of his father Jin-guogong (Duke Jin), that he and Yanli would marry. It was a marriage that his late mother had arranged with her best friend Yu Ziyuan, and both Yanli and Zixuan were amenable to it. However, when Jin Zixuan finally passed the exam and ranked 6th in the national polling, he chose to take a position far away from the capital and left without a word of affirmation regarding the engagement. The position was an important one given to Jin Zixuan by Emperor Lan Xichen himself and so in some ways, it was understandable that he could not refused. After Jin Zixuan left the capital, Jin Guangshan went to his “old friend” Jiang Fengmian and “apologized” profusely on his son’s behalf, spewing all sorts of words about how a young man ought to make his way in this world and such. However, this left the Jiangs in an awkward position. Jiang Yanli was 21 yrs old, already older than any unwed noble lady should be. The Jiangs were angry with this outcome, but given the politics of it, they could not say much...and that was when Lianfang-jun Meng Yao revisited an idea that had been put aside three years ago. — “Hanguang-wang...desires to marry A-Li?” Jiang Fengmian was somewhat flabbergasted. “But...” — Meng Yao smiled, “Jiang-houye*, three years ago I came on behalf of er-di to broker a marriage between our two families, but you and Yu-furen both refused on account of her engagement with Jin-xiao-gongye. But I must say ling’ai* is a fine young woman, eloquent and mild-mannered and would make a fine wangfei* some day.” — “Wangfei? but -” — “Yes, Hanguang-wang did say he would choose his own princess or prince consort, but as you can see, even with Jin Ziyan as he ce-wangfu, Qin-fu’ren and Luo-fu’ren at his side, our prince has not shown any desire for any of them to be his legal spouse. He is still waiting, searching, and who’s to say Jiang-gu’niang is not equal if not better than the lot of them?” 

What the Jiangs didn’t know was that Jin Guangshan was a traitor and had already sold his loyalty to Wen Ruohan, who promised him to make him a fanwang* when Qishan eventually annexed Gusu. JGS was a mole inside Gusu’s government secretly helping to further Wen Ruohan’s agenda. Nevertheless, Wen Ruohan wanted Wei Wuxian to get close to Lan Wangji, because as helpful as Jin Guangshan was, he was never fully trusted by the royal family and did not know their inner workings. Breaking Jiang Yanli’s marriage with Jin Zixuan was just a matter of convenience. Jin Guangshan was not fussed regarding a simple marriage when the reward would be much greater. As per WRH’s instruction, he used his influences in court to maneuver Lan Xichen into giving Jin Zixuan a position far away from the capital, thus removing his son from the dangerous political atmosphere and freeing up Jiang Yanli as a potential concubine for Lan Wangji. Then, Jin Guangshan sat back and allowed Meng Yao to finish the game that he started. Meng Yao was not a willing participant. He loved Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue but Jin Guangshan held the secret to his past and thus a noose around his neck. Everyone in court knew that Lianfang-jun Meng Yao was once a lieutenant in Nie Mingjue’s army and later became his personal secretary. He was known for his wit and silver tongue and the charming dimples on his cheeks whenever he smiled. However, not many knew that Meng Yao was the bastard son of Jin Guangshan and a prostitute. Meng Shi’s hope was that one day her son would be legitimized by his father, but alas her hopes were in vain. A child born to a whore would be condemned to a live in the “jian” caste unless otherwise freed. It was Nie Mingjue who chose to raise Meng Yao above his station and respected him as a person for the first time in his life. When Nie Mingjue and his long-time sweetheart the crown prince Lan Xichen were set to marry, Meng Yao thought his days of freedom would be over. To his surprise, Nie Mingjue opted to bring him back with him from the borderlands where Nie Mingjue’s battalion was stationed and introduce him to court and to Lan Xichen. It seemed almost impossible that Lan Xichen would love him as unapologetically as Nie Mingjue, but somehow he did. Meng Yao became the only concubine person in Lan Xichen’s harem other than Fengjun Nie Mingjue. Life was perfect, so perfect in fact Meng Yao even entertained the idea of coaxing Lan Xichen to take on a lady or two to be his concubine so that the palace could be filled with little ones. Of course he’d be a little jealous...but they would have children...and Lan Xichen loved babies.  Then of course, Jin Guangshan found out who he was, and from that point on, Meng Yao was no longer a free man. Every single moment of his life, his father threatened him with exposure. If anyone were to find out just how unseemly his origin had been, how not only was his mother a prostitute, but he himself had been nearly no different (given to the Nies as a gift by a stupid pandering official), his life would be over. At the very least Lan Xichen would be forced to banish him, at the worst, he’d be dead. Oh there would be no public announcement of course, but it would be said that he had taken ill and succumbed to his frail health, and with his death the smear on the Lan imperial family would be cleansed.  Meng Yao didn’t want to die, so he did as Jin Guangshan asked, even when the ask became Nie Mingjue’s life. (But NMJ isn’t really dead...Meng Yao was nothing if not a fighter. He could not let the father who’d cursed him to a less than hellish existence take away from him the first man who’d ever shown him love and kindness.)   — “Jiang Yanli must marry Lan Wangji.” Jin Guangshan instructed. “And you must ensure that when she does, the boy goes with her.”   — “What boy?”  — “The ward of Jiang Fengmian: Wei Wuxian.” 

So when Meng Yao came to speak with Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan, naturally he brought up the subject of Lan Wangji’s “preference.”  “The Qin family did very well in this regard. They were quite clever in allowing Mo Xuanyu to serve Hanguang-wang; the boy is too low-born to be of any threat. Even if Hanguang-wang’s harem of today becomes the imperial harem of tomorrow, Mo Xuanyu would not be more than a mianshou. His success, on the other hand, would ensure that Hanguang-wang’s favour stay with the Qin family. As we can see, their effort was not in vain. Qin Su became with child rather swiftly. Little Kaisong was born more no later than three months after Jingyi.” Meng Yao explained the delicate nature of the situation to the Jiangs. “If Jiang-guniang is to marry Hanguang-wang, forgive me for my boldness, but she would be wise to bring a male attendant of her own. Wangji is kind and would honour her as his concubine, but the man cannot control his inclinations, as none of us could.”  Yu Ziyuan exchanged a look with Jiang Fengmian. Yanli was older now; waiting for Jin Zixuan to keep his promise had delayed her and possibly ruined her prospects. If this marriage to Lan Wangji were to succeed... he is an honourable man who treated all his concubines equally and with respect. If he grew to like Yanli enough to make her his legal spouse as Meng Yao seemed to think is possible...then one day she would be Empress.  — “Hanguang-wang’s preference is men. Would he not prefer to have a wangfu instead of a wangfei?” Jiang Fengmian was still hesitant.  — “Indeed I’m sure he would, but politics being what it is...” Meng Yao sighed. “I’m sure Wangji understands that having the mother of his heir be his wangfei and his future empress is the best course of action to ensure the stability of the nation. We certainly have no shortage of examples to learn from in history: a shuchu prince with competing shuchu brothers walks a perilous road.”  — “Lianfang-jun is wise.” Yu Ziyuan nudged her husband. “Which young man do you suggest we include in the bridal party?”  — “That I have not decided, which is why I’ve come to see you today. Jiang-fu is a large manor, surely there must be some servants worthy to catch the eye of our Hanguang-wang. Yu-fu’ren, why don’t you assemble them, and we can have a pick?”  — “Lianfang-jun, that is a delightful idea.” 

Wei Wuxian was not surprised at all when all the young men of Jiang-fu under 21 and above 16 were assembled in a courtyard. He scanned the crowd; there were about 20-ish of them. One by one, they were beckoned forward, and when it was his turn, he walked with his head bowed towards the man sitting under the eave on a luxurious wicker chair, holding a fan. The fan was very expensive, drawn by an artist in the previous dynasty. An antique. This must be Zewu-di’s* only concubine, Meng Yao.  — “Greetings to Lianfang-jun.”  — “Raise your head, boy, let me take a good look at you.”  — Wei Wuxian obeyed. Meng Yao looked him over once, appraising and evaluating, before making a pleased little noise. “Hm. Your name?” —  “Wei Wuxian.”  —  “Wei...Wuxian?” Meng Yao gave a pretty laugh. “A rather boastful name for so young a person. My, but you are a lovely thing. Tell me, what is your age?”  —  “Eighteen.”   —  “Eighteen, excellent. It’s unfortunate that your name isn’t something a little more humble. What does your family call you?” —  “My family calls me A-Xian, dianxia.” — “Well A-Xian, if I were to tell you that you’ve been chosen to accompany Jiang-gu’niang to serve Hanguang-wang, what say you?”  — WWX thought *I’d say Lan Wangji better sleep with one eye open*, but said with a gracious and deferring bow of his head, “That would be my honour.” 

[next]

Note: 

houye - marquess ling’ai - a formal way to address someone else’s daughter  wangfei - princess consort  fanwang - a type of high-ranking prince with their own region/land to govern and possibly even their own army to command under imperial rule.  Zewu-di - emperor zewu. 

[dvasva]

Oooh, I get where youre coming from here so Ill go more in depth in my thoughts, cause i always love different interpretations, and imo my initial post is a bit weak and I think i have something better now thanks to you reminding me of something i just completely forgot somehow. I spent all of college doing this and ill never be able to ride that high anywhere but tumblr again.

Firstly, when it comes to interpretation, especially for stuff like this, imo theres no such thing as 'mistake in interpreting' unless you just plain dont read it or lie about details. Me saying 'I think jiang cheng had these thoughs according to my reading of the text' is not me saying 'this is the correct answer' nor is it like a mistake cause i dont necessarily interpret the text the same way. None of what either of us has interpreted is clearly stated as the intent of the work. People draw what they connect with out of the work, and come up with conclusions based on a lot of different contexts and lenses. If we read MDZS through a marxist/class concious lens, we have a different interpretation of jiang cheng and wei wuxians relationship than reading it through a philosophical lens of brotherhood. blah blah blah, yknow?

So, to elaborate on what i think of jiang chengs reveal, and all that I gotta first say that my interpretation for the meaning of mdzs is that it, (and all mxtx stories so far) is a work about outcasts trying to find happiness in the world, and the societies that refuse to let them and cast them out. Wei Wuxian is the outcast, scorned and killed by the cultivation world. Jiang cheng, imo, is a representation of the status quo. He is the manifestation of public opinion. He starts this early, as he's always the one to tell wwx to behave at the cloud recesses or point out when wwx is doing something inappropriate. When the war hits, jiang cheng is supportive of wwx's demonic cultivation, the same way everyone else is, because its winning the war. After the war, when wwx's habits are socially unacceptable and theres no enemy to turn them against, jiang cheng is less enthusiastically supportive of him. And so on and so on. Part of jiang chengs arc in the story is having to come to terms with this mob mentality he is swayed by, having to grapple with his desire for public approval and his relationship woth his brother.

And that's where I think jiang cheng running out to save wwx is interesting! Cause it's all at the same time very out of character and also very in character. It's jiang chengs first pushback against the thing that controls his life, status quo. Because, in theory, wwx is his servant, lower in rank then him, not as 'important' as he is in the grand scheme of like. Society. But, society is upended in that moment, jiang cheng has no sect to hold obligations to and wei wuxian is his brother. So he runs out with the knowledge that he will die. That is where I think I got it wrong in my initial post. Not a matter of wanting to die, but no longer having the chains of society in that brief moment and being willing to die to save wei wuxian.

But, after that, I still maintain that Jiang cheng saw living without a golden core as less valuable than dying with honor. Like, I maintain that there was the thought in his mind that he gave up too much and would rather die, and wei wuxian saying 'ill take you to baoshan sanren' was like enough of a repayment that the thoughts in jcs mind never turned into a resentful 'i lost this thing cause of you'. And you can kind of see this dynamic in play with Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. Song lans entire clan died, and he lost his eyes, he blamed xiao xingchen, xiao xingchen got him his eyes back at the cost of his own etc etc, it ended in tragedy. There's a connection there, and jiang cheng not being aware of any of the machinations behind the scenes made his view of the situation as kind of transactional. 'I lost my core, you gave me a no strings attached way to get it back, things are back to exactly how they should be'. So I do think jiang cheng not mentioning he saved wwx is a matter of 'oh that doesnt matter anymore, its be solved no harm no foul. things are as they should be.' or something like that, and so jiang cheng returns to the 'shackles'of public opinion. Because its solved no strings attached I think theres a level of putting that event in a bubble of abnormality. That happened, its a thing we dont need to bring up, why bother with it since none of us are living with the results of that action. And I dont think jiang cheng is the type to guilt wwx into staying with bringing up stuff like that, obviously.

And then, that brings us to the end. The lack of reconciliation is an important part of the novel imo, because wei wuxian has rid himself of any regret about the past, accepted things for how they are, and has decided to live happily with lwj. Jiang chengs entire arc is about his struggle with his relationship with his brother and the expectations of society, so him letting wwx go without mentioning saving him i think can be interpreted in two ways, but i choose to interpret it in the less depressing way: He decided that bringing it up will just make another aspect of the past a shackle for wwx, and respects wwxs wish to free himself of the past.

I still do think there's an ongoing theme of the cost of relationships in the story. The exchange of suffering for the sake of another person and how that is weighed against what they do for you and if that even should be a consideration at all. A lot of the characters of mdzs sacrifice themselves for other characters in some way and those debts are a constant reminder. Wen ning and wen qing turning themselves in, wwx and the golden core, jiang cheng running out, lwj's 33 whips, yanli's death, xiao xingchen and song lan, wwx ruining his reputation further for wen qing and the wen remnants. its all a push and pull of sacrifice and prices paid, what other characters are willing to give and how theyre willing to be repaid.

In any case, thanks for the reply!

something i think i dont necessarily agree with in mdzs discussionnis the idea that 'jiang cheng sacrificed his golden core for wei wuxian' which, while technically true, kinda wasnt jiang chengs intention.

jiang cheng intended to die.

like, think about it. he had just lost his family and clan, he was basically incapable of taking care of himself due to grief and anger, and wwx had to find them food and keep them moving, and wwx had the legitimate fear that jc would go back to lotus pier. jiang cheng ran out, yes with the intention to save wwx, but also knowing he was trying to die. he didnt trade his golden core for wwx, he tried to trade his life and ended up losing the golden core which is more unbearable to him than death.

thats why hes so shocked and upset about wei wuxian giving him his golden core. because giving someone your life is one thing, but purposefully choosing to live without a golden core is unthinkable to him. imo, jc doesnt tell wwx about saving him for two reasons at two times. the first, directly post war, because jc sees his sacrifice as more than he intended to give and therefore too much to bring up especially since wwx seemingly gave jc a wish to get it back making them even, and then after the golden core reveal, he sees his intended sacrifice as too little, something not worth mentioning in the scale of exchange. he intended to give his life, unintentionally lost something more valuable, then instead was intentionally and knowingly given something he was unwilling to live without.

[gloriousmonsters]

had a very stressful morning so i was trying to think about something dumb and fun to distract myself, hit upon ‘there are jin guangyao&su she to wei wuxian&wen ning parallels... what if you swapped the Loyal Dudes in those equations’ and let me tell you I am now entertained as FUCK thinking about it

jin guangyao and wen ning is honestly fascinating because i’ll be honest: wen ning is a sweet, sweet boy but he also has, canonically massive pent-up reserves of Going Apeshit buried deep inside him and doesn’t... really seem to have... much of a moral compass? I mean, you could assume he does, but the way he primarily seems to assess the world is simply through ‘there are people I’m loyal to (my family, Best Friend Who Was Nice To Me And Whom I’d Die For) and I’ll do anything for them. that’s it’. he doesn’t seem to have a particular drive to be violent unless that gets unlocked via fierce corpse beast mode, or any desire to be cruel--but he doesn’t seem to really balk at anything, either. I’m not saying he’d ever be The Darkest, but I am intrigued at the idea of a wen ning who’s loyal to--instead of wei ‘my reaction to you saying I would kill and/or die for you is ‘it’s finnnnne lol let’s just hang out’ wuxian--jin ‘my reaction is ‘perfect! could you also pick up my dry cleaning?’ guangyao. I’m getting this mental picture of them initially meeting in Nightless City, and then JGY stashing him in hiding after the Wens are taken down. wen ning + xue yang odd friendship? wen ning going more the doctor route, since he wouldn’t be a fierce corpse? the possibilities are wild and i want to see them explored

wei wuxian and su she is making me lose it just thinking about them because they would be. A Lot. here’s why. I can actually see them becoming friends easily under the right circumstances--alter things slightly so wwx talks to him instead of LWJ after saving him from the WB abyss, or substitute some event where wwx speaks up/shows him sympathy after some other event. sms being kind of a bitch is fine, wwx is used to that with jiang cheng. they even--going off sms picking up things like teleportation and the HH curse, and wwx’s everything--might share some interests in weird and neglected areas of cultivation. they could really hit it off!

there’s uhhh just one problem and it’s that wwx being wwx, his adhd ass is going to fully forget about sms after he’s been out of his sight for 15 minutes. and we’re not dealing with ‘it’s fine wei-gongzi, no hard feelings! no not about me dying either it’s cool :)’ wen ning, we’re dealing with su ‘takes literally everything personally, hates being forgotten’ she. buuuut he does get an A grade in loyalty. so we have someone who does care about wwx and feels indebted to him, but is pissed as all hell at him. (jiang cheng, you have competition). whether or not sms still commits his obligatory Sin of Cowardice is ymmv, I think--moving over that, I’m imagining a scenario where sms winds up dying right at the end of Sunshot, and wwx happens to come along juuuust a bit too late and feels guilty enough about that + the fact he kind of forgot about this guy until now, to try resurrecting him.

but I think that even that wouldn’t really like... fix the relationship. wen ning was dealing with kind of a bad hand, cultivation-wise, before his corpsification, and is generally the kind of person who rolls with the punches a bit more--he lost stuff when he died and came back, but it was overall a little more chill for him. sms actually had pretty strong cultivation, which he’d lose as a fierce corpse, and is. as previously mentioned. really bad at handling things.

I have no idea what the Yiling Laozu&Ghost--whoever-the-fuck-that-dude-in-white-is-that-turns-up-to-yell-at-the-Yiling-Laozu-sometimes--relationship would look like, for the most part, I’m just massively entertained by the idea of wwx coming back to life in present day, tootling on a flute, and sms shows up and just decks him before leaving

(then coming back ten minutes later to actually save his life, and yell at him for ‘pretending to be dead’ for sixteen years)

[demoiselledefortune]

Post canon sangcheng fic recs for @runespoor7

(wooohoo that’s only 25 fics haha)

Silence by inberin

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17441771

a conversation in the snow.

Wonderfully nuanced characterisation. It hints at whole relationship and dynamic with a lot of delicacy.

Windrose by offlight

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18997546

Nie Huaisang is forced into a coma to stop his qi deviation. Jiang Cheng is tasked with waking him up.

There’s a lot of intriguing dreamscapes in this one, and I love Jiang Cheng (and in the background Wei Wuxian)’s desperation and obstinacy.

All the innocence we give by shamiran

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18864910

Learning to renavigate the ground between them is easier than Nie HuaiSang expects. It's also harder than he could have imagined.

Just a sweet story.

Taste the wine off your lips by ExNihiIo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20129245

A light pat lands against his back, and a cup of water is pushed in front of his face. “Not even Zi Shi, and you’re already tipsy?,” asks a teasing voice, while a thin hand puts down the cup. Jiang Cheng coughs a little more, shaking his head, and sends a dirty look at his host. “I am not tipsy.” “Hm, and yet your cheeks are all red. What would your disciples think, if they saw you in this state?” “They’d think about running away while they can. I can break legs more easily than I can drink alcohol.” A smile curves the edges of Nie Huaisang’s mouth, and he closes his fan with a curt jerk, sitting across the table. He’s wearing lighter clothes, Jiang Cheng notices, compared to the ones he had during the Discussion Conference. Where those had been tight and rigid against his body, these now fall softly on him, the large sleeves sweeping delicately as Nie Huaisang moves to pour himself a cup.

I like the melancholy tone of this one.

The light of autumn: you will not be spared by crooows

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901467/chapters/47138221

Nie Huaisang arrives a week early for the conference which will be held in Yunmeng to discuss the position of chief cultivator.

[Title is from a poem called "October" by Louise Glück!]

A bit funny, a bit melancholy

You can run but you can’t hide by ThirtySixSaveFiles

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21119297

Nie Huaisang has noticed something about the way Jiang Cheng takes compliments; Nie Huaisang has a theory, and he intends to test it out.

Just Huaisang figuring out Jiang Cheng has a praise kink. Established pairing.

Evening Bloom by dragonofeternal

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20958518

Jiang Cheng is spry and lithe well into his twilight years, living well off Wei Wuxian's stolen youth; Nie Huaisang's golden core, on the other hand, has always been poor- he blacks his hair with ink and dyes, hides the pudge of indolence and the wrinkles of age behind the latest fashions and the finest fans. Perhaps for their peers, finding the space to be vulnerable came easy, but for them it's taken this long to maybe think of letting someone in.

I have a big weakness for stories about old people falling in love and this is one delivers very sweetly.

Four Days in Lanling by Halotolerant

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21722695/chapters/51817036

Nie Huaisang looks at him. ‘You are confusing me, Clan Leader Jiang, perhaps I misunderstand, but…’

‘You didn’t misunderstand. You don’t misunderstand. You understand all of it.’ For six months Jiang Cheng has been mulling this over, and now with Nie Huaisang in front of him he can’t figure out if he most wants to knock him down or kneel at his feet. What he does is try and breathe. Clench his hands at his sides. ‘And now I am going to ask you to do something for me. You have to do something for me. You have to help Jin Ling.’

Ok so perhaps it’s misrepresentating to call this a post canon fic  since most of the action is mid-13-years-of-WWX-death but the fairly important framing part is post canon. Also it’s one of the best sangcheng fic out there and a must read.

Shadow eternal by rynleaf

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23162944/chapters/55439032

“You want me to distract the Chief Cultivator from the Annual Cultivation Conference, so you and other sect leaders can… what. Sign contracts without adult supervision?”

“If Jiang-zongzhu is amenable,” Sect Leader Ouyang repeats with a nod.

Jiang Cheng pinches the bridge of his nose. The pressure he felt building behind his eyes all morning is swiftly coalescing into a bitch of a headache. “Just what do you all think I’m capable of?”

Sect Leader Ouyang bows with a cheerful smile. “We have utmost faith in Sandu Shengshou’s abilities.”

-

In which a night hunt ends in disaster, Jiang Cheng catches a glimpse of Nie Huaisang's heart, and feelings are discussed after a certain fashion.

One that’s between sweet and angsty.

The way is shut, and we cannot go back by saltedpin

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23592523

One month since Guanyin Temple, and some people are coping better than others (or not).

This one is a mostly sad and bitter take on Jiang Cheng reacting to Nie Huaisang’s plot (and being very drunk).

Living memory by ghosthouses

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24827980

Once Jin Guangyao has left, he gives himself two indulgences. The first, a day to scream in his rooms made soundproof with a talisman. The second, a physical list written in code, to keep his older self, who will have let the pain dull with time, accountable for what must be done.

It has only two commandments:

He will die.  

and 

He will know.

Nie Huaisang puts it in his sleeve with the intention of keeping it with him at all times, to be added to but never reduced, a living memory of his task.

This and its prequel which you should also read is quite short but probably one of my favorite depictions of their dynamic (and probably one I find most plausible).

What’s Left of us by cangse-sanren

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24979081

“Well,” Huaisang tries hesitantly, “both of us seem to have a rather fraught relationship with things like older brothers and the concept of betrayal. And regret,” he adds as an afterthought. "Perhaps you just understand me more than most."

Yet another that dwells into Jiang Cheng reacting to Nie Huaisang’s plan. I really like that take although it’s barely shippy (and quite short).

Descending by lightningwaltz

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25296595

“I want to… to not be embarrassed.”

“To not be embarrassed during what?”

“During sex.” There. Jiang Cheng can say it. “In general. Also with you right now.”

“Very good.”

“When did you become so authoritative?” Jiang Cheng wants to sound irked, but can’t quite manage anything beyond nervous curiosity.

Very interesting fic and in many ways unusual. I’d say it’s hypnosis kink, but it’s much more character driven than that. With a context of established FWB arrangement between Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang.

Tell him that I miss our little talks by xiaolongbaobei

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25232023

the post-canon fic where Jiang Cheng becomes the Chief Cultivator, realizes that it's not too late to fall in love and learns to ask for what he wants

Longish fic exploring Jiang Cheng as Chief cultivator working with Nie Huaisang and slowly falling in love with him. I adore this one, and not only because I love fics that explore the idea of Jiang Cheng as chief cultivator.

Blind for Love by manamune

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25760272

Jiang Cheng is poisoned with an aphrodisiac and needs to orgasm repeatedly in order to flush it from his system.

The first person he thinks of going to for help is Nie Huaisang, who does what any good friend would do: he shoves his three decades worth of feelings for Jiang Cheng deep into the recesses of his mind, locks them up so he can pretend they don’t exist, and then fucks him so hard that he passes out.

Mostly a long smutty piece, but with a lot of fun character bits along the way.

A Tight-Knit Family by aldalin

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500481/chapters/61862899

“Jing Ling, we need to talk.”

Jin Ling has too many uncles, and he’s about to get another.

Sect Leader Jiang announces his marriage to Sect Leader Nie.

A fairly different take, more focused on Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian reacting to Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang’s relationship.

A trip to Qinghe by Scorpiwriting

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26974741

An unexpected hunt forces Jiang Cheng to leave the Lotus Pier a bit earlier than he had anticipated, so he decides to send Jin Ling to Qinghe, for the sake of not sending him back to Lanling so soon: it turns into a learning experience for the young sect leader, who gets to peek into the life of the Headshaker.

or.

Jin Ling learns that not everything people say is true and that perhaps there is some merit to art. He also learns that loneliness is a dark beast and that his uncle should definitely do something about it.

Another one more focused on Jin Ling’s reaction to it. Honestly more of a gen piece about Jin Ling and Nie Huaisang, but an interesting one.

Silver bracelets on their wrists by mercurious

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25797715

“Can’t I find excuses to visit an old friend?”

Ok so this one is a bit fucked up in interesting ways. It combines Chief Cultivator Jiang Cheng and explicit longing about Wei Wuxian, and BDSM as catharsis. It’s a fascinating piece.

Welcome to love by amphigoric

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22412866/chapters/53549794

Desire, Jiang Cheng learned, flourished even in love’s absence. It surged hot and fast through his veins at the sight of Nie Huaisang’s spread thighs, marks still lingering from the last rendezvous they had. He felt it burning through his chest as Huaisang raked lines down his back, breaths coming in short, desperate gasps: “Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Wanyin, please, please.”

It’s a little bit clumsy at times, but also very passionate and intense in a way I still find compelling. Featuring a lot of self sabotaging Jiang Cheng.

When your stitch comes loose by heyninja

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27868454/chapters/68234434

Sometimes people see you for who you really are. Sometimes because you let them. Sometimes whether you like it or not.

A triptych of collisions between Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng.

Only the last part is post canon but it’s the most important part, isn’t it?

Peel your heart like a pomegranate by Izumi_silverleaf

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29458974

"It's an extraordinary feeling when parts of your body are touched for the first time. I'm thinking of the sensations from sex and surgery."

Sometimes you just need to read a very hot guro fic. It’s a weird fic but it’s a cool one.

If you give a Nie a cushion by LesbianLazerOwl

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470236

Prompt: Long enough After Canon that everyone's mostly okay these days, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang get drunk and wind up comparing masturbation habits; each is aghast at how the other spends their personal time.

Funny and hot

To Distraction by isozyme

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763816

It’s the third night of Yunmeng’s kite festival celebrations. Nie Huaisang has come visiting, eager to partake in the food, the arts, and Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng wants to forget. Nie Huaisang has some new lube and wants to see if he can put his whole fist in somebody’s ass.

Established pairing in which Nie Huaisang fists Jiang Cheng. It’s hot.

Safe in Your arms by Dragon_scribe

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070503/chapters/74058315

In the aftermath of a night hunt gone (very) wrong, Jiang Cheng wakes up to find himself in the Unclean Realm. As he recovers from his injuries, he and Nie Huaisang grow closer and as time passes, their friendship begins to shift to something more.

Very sweet/sappy and hurt/comfort orientated, with a small bit of reconciliation dimension too.

[smiting-finger]

I tripped and I fell and this HP AU came out

So I was chatting to @silverink58​ about the beautiful original picture of Professor LWJ, and they were saying that when they picked up the prompt for the inktober exchange, they were hoping to read Hogwarts student!LWJ, 

And I thought “oh how delightful, maybe I’ll think about that idea later”, and then that “later” became “now” and what I’m saying is they shouldn’t have let me download the google docs app onto my phone, because I clearly cannot be trusted.

@silverink58​ this is for you, lol. Thanks for naming “Little Apple” :’D.

He almost doesn’t see it: a flutter of black fabric, the edge of a student robe before it slips away out of sight. But he catches the movement from the corner of his eye, and pure reflex has Lan Zhan drawing his wand to fire off a quick body-bind curse.

There's a muffled noise of surprise, abruptly cut off, and then the thump of a body hitting the floor.

When Lan Zhan turns the corner, it’s to the sight of Wei Wuxian, lying face-down on the ground.

“It’s after curfew,” Lan Zhan says, turning him over with a quick Levitation spell. “You should be inside your dormitory.”

Dark eyes glare indignantly up at him. Calmly holding Wei Wuxian’s gaze, Lan Zhan lifts the curse.

“Report for detention tomorrow,” he says, as Wei Wuxian sits up and pointedly rubs the small pink spot on his forehead.

“Lan Zhaaaan,” Wei Wuxian complains, giving the edge of Lan Zhan’s robe a beseeching tug. Lan Zhan feels his own lips thin at the over-familiarity of both the form of address and the physical contact. 

“Don’t be like that! Let me off just this once? Think of the five wonderful years we’ve spent together as potions partners!”

“Just last week, you exploded our cauldron,” Lan Zhan reminds him flatly, and Wei Wuxian grins.

“Oh come on! Let’s not harp on about petty things like that,” he says, pushing himself up onto his feet. He shakes out his robes. “You wanted to know what would happen if we added the xiezhi horn, too, just admit it.”

Lan Zhan doesn’t dignify this with a response, and simply meets Wei Wuxian’s gaze and holds it.

He is a Lan of Gusu.

He would never admit to such a thing.

Wei Wuxian pouts, reaches out a hand and uses two fingers to give Lan Zhan’s sleeve a pleading tug.

Lan Zhan sighs. 

After five years of being a detention hall regular, if Wei Wuxian was going to learn anything from writing lines, he would've done it already.

“Return to your dormitory,” he says, and Wei Wuxian smiles brightly.

“Yup, sure thing, absolutely,” he chirps, nodding in enthusiastic agreement.

He doesn’t move.

Lan Zhan looks at him expectantly.

Wei Wuxian blinks back at him with wide eyes.

Lan Zhan continues to wait.

It’s Wei Wuxian’s turn to sigh.

“Okay, fine,” he says, shoulders slumping in defeat as he turns back to his original direction and beckons for Lan Zhan to follow. 

“There’s just something I have to do first - I swear it’s important. You can come with me to see, if you want.”

-

It’s a … bird.

A hatchling, almost completely featherless, that Wei Wuxian has hidden in a corner of one of the lesser-used greenhouses, and has been coming to feed every four hours.

It’s also, Lan Zhan thinks, staring blankly at its oversized head, squat little body, gangly legs and stumpy wings, really-

“Don’t stare at it like that just because it’s ugly!” Wei Wuxian hisses, turning from pouring whatever paste he’s made down the bird’s throat to swat Lan Zhan admonishingly on the arm. “You’ll hurt its feelings!”

“You just called it ugly,” Lan Zhan feels the need to point out. “But I’m the one who’s hurting its feelings?”

“Well, it’s just a baby,” Wei Wuxian replies reasonably. “It doesn’t understand anything that’s not bird-language yet.”

“It doesn’t understand anything but bird-language,” Lan Zhan repeats disbelievingly, “but it’s offended by stares?” 

Wei Wuxian nods gravely. 

“Everyone knows that body language is universal,” he claims loftily and Lan Zhan suppresses the desire to roll his eyes.

-

“You can’t keep coming every four hours,” Lan Zhan says, after the bird curls up and goes to sleep underneath a heating charm and Wei Wuxian’s threadbare toy demiguise (“What? I didn’t know if Jiang Cheng and I were going to be in the same dorm, and I was scared of getting lonely at night! I was eleven!”).

“Well, I’m going to have to,” Wei Wuxian replies carelessly, and shrugs. “Or it’ll die.”

“Its parents?” Lan Zhan asks and Wei Wuxian shrugs again.

“Didn’t seem to have any,” he says, quietly getting up and beckoning wordlessly for Lan Zhan to follow. “I waited an hour to see if one of them would come back, but nothing did, and it was crying, so.”

The moon is full and bright, providing ample light to guide their way back to the dormitories even now that all the lights have been put out.

“I did some reading in the library,” Wei Wuxian says around a yawn. “As it gets bigger, feedings will get less frequent. I don’t know what kind of bird it is, but it should only be like this for a couple of weeks, at most.”

Even for a couple of weeks, it’s not sustainable, Lan Zhan thinks when Wei Wuxian begins to list into his shoulder as they walk. He’ll have to leave halfway through every meal and risk getting caught by the other Prefects at night. He won’t be able to get enough sleep, which will affect his classwork, and, in turn, his learning, his grades, his disciplinary record-

“You can’t keep this up for that long,” Lan Zhan states firmly.

Wuxian groans. “I told you, Lan Zhan, I can’t just let it-”

“I’ll help you,” he says.

“You’ll - wait, really?”

-

They name it Little Apple because Wuxian says he's no fun.

("We should call it Little Ginseng, because that's what it looks like - bald and lumpy."

"...No.")

When it gets big enough to have a personality beyond eating and sleeping, Little Apple is surprisingly sweet. It loves: cuddles, being hand-fed and chasing after a love-knot tassel that Wuxian charmed to dance around in front of it.

It hates: eating by itself, being left alone for too long, cats (after Headboy Jin Guangyao's familiar somehow gets into the greenhouse and they have a very near miss), and Lan Zhan and Wuxian arguing.

It absolutely refuses to go to bed without being personally tucked in.

Soon, it starts to grow feathers; brown and grey patches of down sprouting all over its body, enough that they can stop renewing the heating charm.

It doesn't get less ugly.

("As its mother, even I think it's hideous. We should've called it Little Dustball, but it's too late now ")

They do, however, become very fond of it nonetheless.

("Hey, Lan Zhan, look, we learned manners today!"

Wuxian bows to Little Apple, who bobs its head unsteadily in return.

"-Lan Zhan, what's happening to your face? Lan Zhan? Lan Zhan, is that a smile?!")

-

They get caught.

"Wei Wuxian I expected no better of," his uncle growls after the greenhouse doors fly open to reveal his thunderous expression. "But Wangji, you are a prefect. I am deeply disappointed in you, sneaking off to the greenhouses at night to-"

Little Apple squawks. 

(Although its adult plumage has started to come in, there is no colour pattern that Lan Zhan can see; it has three red feathers on this wing, two on that one, small tufts of white in a patch on its belly and a scattering of green along its back.

“It’s … really not going to get better, is it?” Wuxian asks, sounding like he doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.)

Lan Qiren stares.

-

"It's so…" his uncle says, still staring down at Little Apple, who squawks again and stares right back. "Ug-"

“Don’t listen to him, Little Apple!” Wuxian cries, hastily covering Little Apple’s ears with his hands. “It’s what’s on the inside that counts!”

-

And then one day Lan Zhan walks into the greenhouse and realises that Little Apple is ugly no longer.

Its wings are in fact red and black; red coverts edged with a line of striking black primaries and secondaries. A small plume of blue curls back off its forehead in a proud crest. The feathers on its back and shoulders are a shimmering emerald green, in some areas even tipped with gold, its belly is a soft pearlescent white, and its tail feathers are starting to lengthen into an impressive train.

Beside him, Wei Ying gasps and places a hand against his mouth, evidently coming to the same realisation. 

“Lan Zhan,” he says, deeply moved. “Our son is beautiful.”

-

It still can’t fly, though.

“I wonder if I should get my sword,” Wei Ying says, after an afternoon of running around flapping his arms has yielded no results beyond Little Apple having the time of its life chasing a new, human-sized tassel around the grounds like a particularly speedy chicken. 

He flops backwards onto the grass. Little Apple promptly jumps on top of his chest and starts to preen his hair.

"Or what if I flapped my arms and you Levitated me," Wei Ying wonders, squinting thoughtfully. With a lazy wave of his wand, he Levitates Little Apple, who squawks angrily in protest until it's brought back within range of his ponytail.

Lan Zhan takes the opportunity to re-tie the bandage on his wrist, and can’t help but hiss slightly when he has to unstick it from his burnt skin. It’s not a serious injury - a small graze from a ricocheted spell he’d been hit with between classes, while stopping an altercation in the hallway - but he hasn’t had the time to visit the infirmary to have it healed yet.

When he looks up, Little Apple is right in front of him, staring up with glistening eyes.

“Aw,” Wei Ying says, propping himself up on one elbow and looking enchanted.  “Look, Lan Zhan, he’s sad that his daddy’s hurt!”

Little Apple rests his face on Lan Zhan’s wrist for a moment, then sits back up and gives a self-satisfied squawk.

Lan Zhan looks down and finds that his wrist is fully healed.

“Huh,” Wei Ying says.

-

It turns out that they don’t need to worry about the flying, because the following week, Little Apple, eye caught by a firefly, simply spreads its wings, pushes off Wei Ying’s arm and takes off after it.

“Well,” Wei Ying begins after a moment of stunned silence. “I-”

Then Little Apple’s tail promptly bursts into flames and blazes a bright trail across the night sky.

“LAN ZHAN,” Wei Ying screeches, grabbing hold of Lan Zhan’s arm and shaking it. 

“LAN ZHAN, OUR SON IS A PHOENIX!”

-

There’s no keeping Little Apple in the greenhouse after that. It comes and goes as it pleases with the blessing of even Lan Zhan’s uncle, who is kept mollified by the fact that Little Apple is a phoenix, as well as the steady supply of tears and feathers for the school. 

Both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying take to leaving their bedroom windows ajar so that Little Apple can come in to roost at night when it returns, which it always does.

Until, one day, it doesn’t.

-

The next month, the Ministry announces that the Wizarding world is at war.

(And then, on a random morning after WWX comes back, there’s a tapping at the window of their shared bedroom, Lan Zhan gets up to investigate, and----!)

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Ep 19

Wow, Wei Wuxian looks so rough here. He’s spent some time under the knife (with no anesthetic), and then after that, he has just been waiting around for Jiang Cheng. It’s been seven days since Jiang Cheng went up that mountain. And of course Wei Wuxian is worried about him. What if something happened on his way down the mountain? What if he’d been captured or killed by the Wens? All the while, he’s basically defenseless here in Yiling (iirc). He’s sweating profusely, clutching at his middle—it’s possible he’s even suffering from an infection due to the transfer surgery. Seriously, the poor guy!

I love the visuals here: all these cloaked figures just filling this tea house, and not another soul in there other than the waiters. It’s both comical and heartbreaking the way that Wei Wuxian tries to immediately nope out of there, because he knows it’s a trap right away. Even with his Golden Core, I don’t know if he could have escaped them all—there were too many Wens, including the Core-Melting Hand. This part always really gets to me, because it truly is the first death of Wei Wuxian. It’s the death of who he once was: that smart, quirky, rascal of a youth, who made a very honest oath that essentially guided him to this point.

No joke, the first time I watched this, I was like, “Is that Lotus Pier? How tf did he get there?! How much did they change the story?!” And then a few seconds later, I realized this was a super sad dream/vision that Jiang Cheng was having and I channeled all my anger into sadness. This part is also super depressing. He has this vision of this happy family: his mother laughing, his father kissing his hand, just the picture of love. But it’s so far from what he had growing up, and you just realize that his greatest desire was really to have that happy family. But his parents are dead, he’s lost just about everyone at Lotus Pier—it’s so heartbreaking.

God, he just looks so broken! I’m sad now.

So even though I know the cost of Jiang Cheng’s happiness is Wei Wuxian giving up his own Golden Core, I still feel so happy here, seeing Jiang Cheng feeling like himself again. It’s because Wei Wuxian knows Jiang Cheng’s heart truly that he could offer up his own future so that Jiang Cheng could have a better one. I also just love this shot of Jiang Cheng kowtowing to the Immortal One, thanking her for healing him, and the camera pans past him, showcasing the beautiful scenery again. And then he walks down the mountain path with such a spring in his step! I love it!

I love that Wei Wuxian is still able to use his mind and play to their weaknesses. Wang Lingjao is extremely superstitious and fearful of the supernatural, and just the idea that he could haunt them scares the shit out of her. It’s just very cool to me that with all the abuse he endures, he still maintains a clear head and is able to fight back with his wit. This is yet another reason why I get annoyed when I see Wei Wuxian characterized as an idiot or someone who isn’t very smart. He proves his wit in just about every scene, so I don’t know why he gets this reputation in fanon. I feel like it’s derived from some overused yaoi/shojo trope where the “girl” has to be less smart than the “guy.” I don’t know how many things I’ve watched and read with a scatterbrained (but not charming) female lead—it’s overused.

This is so cool, because Wei Wuxian is scared out of his mind—he’s terrified of being left to die in the Burial Mounds. He’s heard all the stories: people don’t return, their souls get torn apart, etc. But what is cool is that he turns everything around and makes this place his source of power. He’s the man who conquered the Burial Mounds. It’s very satisfying to see that. FYI, I’m not going to talk about how he falls for like 20 minutes.

But I do think it’s really cool how the dark spirits catch him (and that’s all I’ll say).

This part still gives me major chills: you hear so many people calling out Wei Wuxian’s name, and then a “Wei Ying” breaks through. My breath always catches in my throat the first time I hear it. And then you hear it again, and the other voices have faded away before you hear it a third time. And that all feels nice until the screaming starts, which is hard to listen to, let alone hard to watch Wei Wuxian go through the mental turmoil.

Lan Wangji is back, bitches! He’s got a new title, a new headdress, and he’s hotter than ever. Jokes aside, though, this entrance is beyond epic. Other than that tiny glimpse of him in the last episode, it’s been ages since we’ve seen him, and it’s so satisfying that we get this great entrance, walking up this enormous staircase. Obviously by this point, I’m ecstatic to see him (it’s been way too long). Everything about this scene is great, from his entrance, to the way he uses his guqin as a spiritual tool, to the way he and Jiang Cheng are now a team. I don’t think there’s an awful lot of comradery there, but they have a common goal: find Wei Wuxian.

So we’re not really used to seeing a ton of emotion from Lan Wangji. Even when he’s annoyed, he doesn’t tend to show it. But, man, he is pissed here. Because of the magic of fiction, he’s probably heard the Wens’ conversation as he was walking up the stairs, so he heard them mocking Wei Wuxian (and the Yunmeng Jiang Sect), and he is not happy about it. He even uses the Chord Assassination Technique right off the bat against at least two of the Wen soldiers. Lan Wangji means business, and he’s not leaving until he gets what he wants.

The other great thing is that he doesn’t even need to come up all the way. He defeats them at a distance, while he’s still on the stairs. And the power and respect he commands is so great that they all know him by his face.

What Wen Chao does here is so relatable. His girlfriend is freaking out, having nightmares, convinced Wei Wuxian is going to turn into a ferocious ghost and haunt them until they lose their minds, and he, of course, rationalizes: they’ve sent so many people to the Burial Mounds and none of them have ever come back. In other words, “You’re being ridiculous.” But when he turns away from her, you can see the fear in his own eyes. When something spooky happens, my first step is always to rationalize—there’s a logical explanation for most things, right? And it always makes you feel better to rationalize it to someone else, but when you’re alone and thinking, your mind starts to wonder, your imagination starts to go wild. It’s easy to psyche yourself up in the dark and quiet of the night.

There’s this really gorgeous cello version of “Wuji” playing during this scene—it’s so beautiful, so moving, hitting me right in the feels. The look on Lan Wangji’s face when Jiang Cheng is telling him about how he and Wei Wuxian were supposed to meet in Yiling, how he thought Wei Wuxian had abandoned him to meet up with Lan Wangji in Lanling—he looks so defeated there. Defeated despite taking down the Qishan Indoctrination Bureau. Defeated because he hasn’t found who he’s been searching for. And then he holds Suibian so tenderly and lovingly—I’m emotional, okay?

It’s really cute and heartwarming to see Jin Zixuan starting to fall for Jiang Yanli. We’ve known for quite some time how Yanli feels for him, so it’s quite satisfying to see his walls come down as he starts to care more and more about her. He becomes protective of her. When she gasps at the hanging head at the gates of Qinghe, his instinct is to hold her—of course, he stops himself, but it’s very obvious that he wants to comfort her physically (and not in a dirty way, get your minds out of the gutter).

I love the dichotomy here: on one end, you have Jin Zixuan asking Lan Wangji where Wei Wuxian is, while you have Jiang Yanli echoing that on the other end with Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng can’t answer—he’s crying, trembling, emotionally responding to his sister without speaking. And Lan Wangji can’t speak either. His lips part, but no words come out. Again, you get this great sense of defeat from him—he’s completely at a loss, but he can’t or chooses not to show those emotions.

It’s also interesting how they kind of clipped the reunion between the Yunmeng Jiang siblings in favor of showing the conversation between Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji. In my opinion, it’s to remind us of the reunion that isn’t happening right now—the one that should have been—the one between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. And why isn’t it happening? The conversation reminds us that he’s still missing. I don’t doubt the importance of the Yunmeng Jiang siblings in this story—they are obviously instrumental to the plot and to Wei Wuxian—but it’s choices like this where the writers/scene directors remind us that the relationship to focus on is the one between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji, and not Jiang Cheng, holds onto Suibian, the only remaining item that is most spiritually connected to Wei Wuxian. Isn’t that interesting?

“A-Cheng, you’ve grown up. As your sister, there’s nothing I can do but worry about you.” Such a wise line—such a sad line. This really brings out how powerless she feels in the lives of her brothers. She’s a bystander, she has no influence. All she can do is watch and worry, and nothing either of them says or does will change that. It’s something we as parents and caretakers and guardians at some point have to admit: we can’t control our children’s lives, we can’t control those we take care of. Once they reach a point in their lives, it’s them who has to make their own decisions. They must thrive on their own, they must fail on their own. And all we can do is watch and worry and hope for the best. God, Yanli breaks my heart.

Me in bed when I watch a scary movie any time of the day.

She does crazy so well, though.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |