#may not be about punishing lxc so much as making sure that jgy died in the most pain that nhs could imagine (btwn mutilating meng shi’s body

[amorremanet]

For Fandom confession ask game: I think jiang cheng loved Wei wuxian in a more than brotherly or platonic way but didn't have the emotional knowledge to recognize it and that's why it hurt him so bad when Wei wuxian defected from the jiang sect and later went off lan wangji because Wei wuxian was supposed to be his person and he left him behind

Y E A H

YEAH

And this isn't even me being amatonormative about it, because it doesn't even have to be romantic or sexual to be an intensity that is beyond what is typical of siblings or best friends or sworn confidantes. I posted once about how Jiang Cheng embodies Jo March's reaction to John Brooke asking to court Meg in Little Women:

“Of course not. It would be idiotic! I knew there was mischief brewing. I felt it, and now it’s worse than I imagined. I just wish I could marry Meg myself, and keep her safe in the family.“

IF ONLY HE COULD MARRY WEI WUXIAN HIMSELF AND KEEP HIM SAFE IN THE FAMILY!!

Of course, if you are interpreting this in a romantic/sexual context, there is SO MUCH to unpack there, especially re: his resentment towards Wangji, and it is outrageous to me that it's not one of the top Jiang Cheng ships.

[ibijau]

I’ve sent you an ask like this before but like. reverse au where nhs’ goal is wrh instead of jgy - imagining little nhs with his father’s blood on his saber unable to stop bawling but insisting that he has to go on trial for the murder of his father - being furious when he’s not pronounced guilty because it has to be someone’s fault - little nmj crying sympathy tears and trying to guard huaisang against whatever’s making him cry -

lxc only starts to let go of his jealousy of how frivolous sect leader nhs is allowed to be when wrh attacks nhs in the middle of a cultivation conference and is bravely defeated by now-jgy and lxc sees nhs first realize through his tears that wrh may have been the one to kill his father - he lets go of it entirely as he begins to suspect the decimation of the main branch of the wen clan took a lot more hard work than chance

oops, I went for something centered around the Nie brothers with this orz

It was just the three of them in that room when it happened, and though Mingjue is quite young, he is brought to testify at that trial his da-ge insists on having. When the elders ask, he explains that he had closed his eyes and didn't see much. He doesn’t tell them that his da-ge had just ordered him to close them. If it’s relevant, his da-ge will say something.

But Huaisang stays silent, except for some quiet sobbing.

“You didn’t see, but you heard,” one elder insists. “So what did you hear?”

“A-die was angry,” Mingjue replies, eyes darting toward his brother. “He was shouting at us.” He hesitates. “It’s words da-ge says I’m not allowed to know and if I use them around grown-ups I’ll be in trouble.”

The elders smile weakly at this well-behaved boy of seven.

“Just for today, you can say it. We need to understand, er-gongzi.”

Mingjue glances again at his brother. He only speaks again when his da-ge nods at him through his tears.

“A-die said that I was just the son of a whore and he was tired of me scheming against da-ge,” Mingjue recites, the accusation branded onto his mind. He can still hear the exact tone of his father’s voice, feel the power of his unrestrained aura oppressing him to the point he nearly fainted. “A-die also said that da-ge was a disgrace anyway and he was going to get rid of both of us and have real sons, instead of a Wen and a bastard. Then I heard blades hitting, and A-die shouted a-die couldn't hurt me, and there was a fight, and then everything was very quiet and da-ge said I needed to go get help.”

The elders nod solemnly. Huaisang sobs harder, his face awash with tears. He presses both hands against his mouth in an effort to keep quiet, so he won’t disturb the trial too much, but it’s not very efficient. Their cousin Zonghui, standing next to him, pats Huaisang’s shoulder to try to calm him.

“What did you see, before you left the room?” one elder asks.

Mingjue doesn’t answer right away. It’s fine to take time to remember, they told him early on, so he does that. In truth though, it’s not like he could ever forget the sight of his brother, usually so soft and funny, standing over the still twitching corpse of their father. He hasn’t forgotten that their father was breathing and even moaning when he left. He recalls, also, how different his da-ge had looked with his bloody sabre in hand, that hard look on his face.

When Mingjue had returned with help, his father had stopped breathing, and there was no hardness left to Huaisang who had dropped his sabre and was sobbing in a corner.

“There was a lot of blood,” Mingjue says, which isn’t a lie.

His eyes catch Huaisang’s. His da-ge, who doesn’t let anyone insult him for his mother, who told Mingjue many nice stories about her, since he never got to meet her. His da-ge who encourages him even when others say that the son of a servant shouldn’t be given the education of a young master, shouldn't dare to be better than children of higher birth. His da-ge, lazy and spoiled, but always putting in the effort when he feels Mingjue needs protecting.

It’s Mingjue’s turn to protect him now.

“I onlyremember the blood, and that I was scared,” he claims.

This time, it’s a lie.

But he can’t let them hurt his da-ge.

-

At the issue of that trial, it is decided that Huaisang acted out of self defence, and cannot be too harshly punished for the murder of his father. He has to offer sacrifices to the heavens and make public penance, but there won’t be lasting consequences, and he still gets to be sect leader.

Uncle Wen would not allow for anything else, Mingjue hears some of the elders whisper.

Uncle Wen went through a lot of trouble to make sure Qinghe Nie stopped bothering him, they also say. And now his sister’s child is ruling the only sect that used to stand up to him.

Huaisang laughs when Mingjue repeats this to him one night, while his da-ge puts him to bed for the night. Everything else has changed, but not this: Huaisang makes the time to take care of his didi, and Mingjue worries for his da-ge. Making time is harder than it used to be, the worries have become bigger than before, but fundamentally it’s still the same.

“Don’t listen to what those old farts say,” Huaisang advises as he tucks Mingjue under his blanket. “And don’t let them catch you listening, either. They’ll think you’re going to repeat things to me.”

“I do repeat things to you,” Mingjue points out. “And they shouldn’t be saying things like that. It’s not right to speak about people behind their back. A-die said people should speak their grievance in the light, or not at all.”

Huaisang smiles, and pets his hair.

“A-die was a good man,” he says. “Don’t let anyone make you forget that. A-die was the best man in the world. The way he was at the end, that wasn’t him. He was kind, and he loved you, and he was the best man any of us will ever meet… but this isn’t a world for good men.”

Mingjue frowns. His da-ge has always said odd things, but it has gotten worse lately.

“Da-ge is good too,” he mutters, unable to express the worry starting to form in his chest.

What he means is this: if good men are struck down by a cruel world, then his da-ge, who is good, might be at risk of dying. The thought terrifies him, and he would do anything to keep his da-ge alive. He lied for him at the trial, and he can do it again.

Huaisang laughs again.

“Don’t you worry about me!” he snickers, ruffling his brother’s hair. “I’m not good at all. Haven’t you heard people complain how little good I am?”

“You’re lazy not good, not bad not good,” Mingjue corrects. "Not like uncle."

Da-ge's good humour is shattered, replaced by a severe frown which makes him look too much like he did, that night their father died. Mingjue doesn't like it.

"MingMing, you remember the rule about uncle, right?"

"I don't say anything bad about uncle where others can hear," Mingjue meekly recites. "Only da-ge can say if it's safe to talk about uncle. Sorry. I know you didn't say."

"It's fine this time, but be more careful. Uncle is dangerous. He killed a-die, he'll kill us too if he realises we're not on his side. And we're not. Whose side are we on?"

"Each other," Mingjue dutifully replies.

He knows it's the right answer, but only if they're alone. If there are sect elders, Mingjue must claim loyalty to the sect. If they are in front of Wen Ruohan, he must say family. But the truest of truth is that he'd do anything for his da-ge, and da-ge has proven more than once he'd do anything for Mingjue.

"You're a good boy," da-ge said, ruffling his hair once more. "Don't think too much about these things. Da-ge will take care of all the problems for you."

"But I can help!"

"Yes you can," Huaisang agreed, pinching his cheek. "You can help by doing as you're told. Can you do that?"

Past events prove that Mingjue, on the whole, isn't good at doing what he's told, not when he thinks he's told to do something stupid. Sometimes, he makes a big argument about that. He's young, not stupid, and he doesn't want to do things just because grown-ups have ideas about how things should be.

But da-ge looks really tired tonight, and Mingjue doesn't want to become yet another problem on his brother's mind. So he nods dutifully.

It makes da-ge smile, so it was probably okay to lie.

[crossdressingdeath]

On one hand, i can understand that JGY was a master manipulator and that LXC had good reasons not to doubt him, not to mention emotional attachments. I'm not exactly mad at him for getting manipulated.

But i am kinda mad that he perpetuated how easy it was for JGY to commit those crimes? Let me explain

As much as NMJ is plagued by his fully black and white morality, he had GOOD REASONS not to trust JGY. Remember, the guy killed a general, faked his death then turned up later as a subordinate to WRH ( who is responsible for the older Nie death) and KILLED NMJs ppl. With Glee!

Yes, he was a spy, but i felt like LXC kinda expected NMJ to just.... forget it? Get over it? Trauma doesn't rlly disappear when you have the reasons for it. NMJ had really good reasons not to get along w JGY and I'm pretty sure that, had LXC not meddled and convinced NMJ to it, their relationship would've been " one more asshole i try to ignore when i go to koi tower". But the sworn brotherhood allowed JGY to Qi deviate NMJ.

I'm not really sure how to word it, but i guess that my gripe w LXC isn't exactly that he got tricked, as much as his need for peace and belonging messing up NMJ

Bcs NMJ is the only one who compromised there, and the only one who got hurt. I'm not saying JGY wouldn't have killed him, but it kight have been quicker and less painful than Qi deviation and could have gotten a proper burial instead of having his limbs kept for trophies.

To be entirely fair, I don't know if LXC was expecting NMJ to totally forget about what happened? But NMJ wasn't prepared to so much as move past it. I don't think saying that NMJ was compromising is entirely accurate; I mean, he was still trying to kill JGY! He wanted his head on a plate! Basically, while I get what you're saying I think it's a little inaccurate to say that NMJ was the one compromising and getting hurt because he was determined to make JGY pay the whole time. JGY wouldn't have been able to ignore him, because NMJ wouldn't let him. I don't think LXC expected them to be best friends, he just wanted them less actively antagonistic! Hell, while it certainly isn't NMJ's fault that JGY killed him I'm pretty sure that if NMJ had stopped trying to punish him for actions that (aside from killing the general) were taken in the interest of killing WRH and ending the Sunshot Campaign before everything went totally to shit he may well have lived, or at least died less painfully.

So yeah, while LXC definitely made things easier for JGY he did it largely because NMJ kept threatening to kill JGY while JGY, being a master manipulator, was all "I only did what I had to and he wants me dead for it :(((((". There isn't actually a good guy here. JGY's actions were worse, but NMJ wasn't actually trying. Ironically the one time he tries outside of agreeing to swear brotherhood is when he agrees to let JGY play for him for LXC's sake, which is what gets him killed. But essentially what I'm getting as is that I don't think we can blame LXC for looking at JGY (very good at looking innocent and helpless, being blamed for things he did to end a war) and then looking at NMJ (calling for JGY's head on a platter and never actually giving him a chance to explain or justify his actions even though as a general himself NMJ shouldn't be unfamiliar with the concept of sacrificing men) and deciding that JGY probably needed his help more. We, the audience, know that that was the wrong call, but as far as anyone in the novel knew NMJ was the aggressor the whole way through and it just comes back down JGY being a master manipulator pulling a wounded gazelle gambit. And he did it so well that even when NMJ died no one considered that he might have been involved until undeniable proof emerged! Seriously, he spent a lot of time alone with the guy and it was no secret that NMJ was a dick to him and still no one considered he might so much as not be upset by his death, much less be involved in it. Now that's acting. I love NMJ, but he really didn't make a good showing of himself.