#no one ever lets jiang yanli off ??

[unfotp]

something something about being a woman born in traditional society and following all the rules and yet never meeting expectations and still being villified for situations that are completely out of your control (would have been worse had you not been present).

vs

being a slut and just straight up never bothering to conform to social standards and being a general menace means you apparently get more peace in your life lmao

The virgin jiang yanli (tries her best, only allowed to be mother or martyr, dies, still gets targeted for fandom discourse) vs the chad sha hualing (loser femcel, downgraded from demon nobility to minimum wage no paid overtime worker, hates kids, never a target for fandom discourse and is beloved by all for her cringe fail bisexual demeanor

[nillegible]

Threefold

(For @ladyteldra, who shoved me into this unexpected rabbit hole, but then stuffed it full of content to make me happy)

No one had noticed during the war, as wars were rather distracting. But it was hard not to notice when they got home.

What was left of home; it was still a work in progress.

At first Jiang Yanli excused it away as the magic of Lotus Pier going awry because of what it had been through, but by the second week of reconstruction she tracked down a copy of the Entail from one of the surviving caches.

It shouldn’t have mattered.

Jiang Cheng was the chosen Sect Heir, their Father had made that clear when Jiang Cheng turned fifteen, and Lotus Pier should know that.

(Except Lotus Pier would have felt Mother, then Father, then Jiang Cheng lose their cores here. It might have thought… Perhaps that would explain why…)

When she gently probes Wei Wuxian for his thoughts on their misbehaving inheritance, his face goes stricken and over the next week he dives into the scrolls himself, more thoroughly than she had.

Jiang Yanli had not meant to distract Wei Wuxian from his own self-loathing and his eerie ghost-brides, but that is what it amounts to, in the end.

“Do you think,” Wei Wuxian says finally, over dinner, eyes red and wild like he’s been drinking (clearly distinct, to her, from the red and wild from raising ghosts), “That when Wen Zhuliu. When he – that it broke what marks you as heir?”

Jinag Cheng stiffens at the reminder, and frowns at their brother. “Would that…? But BSSR fixed it.”

“What if it’s not the same core as before?” asks Wei Wuxian, vehemently. “Doesn’t it” he waves a hand towards their surroundings, “feel like it did when we were younger? Before you came of age?”

That’s exactly what it was, Jiang Yanli realizes. The magic of Lotus Pier felt familiar for all it was acting slantwise; it was exactly how it had been before the heir had been named.

“What does that mean, then?” asks Jiang Cheng, standing up. “I’m not the heir, then?”

“You shouldn’t be the heir,” Wei Wuxian says. “You should be the Sect Leader.”

“You’re saying the Lotus Pier doesn’t want me,” says Jiang Cheng. Jiang Yanli lays a hand on Jiang Cheng’s elbow.

Before she can speak a word, Wei Wuxian says, voice final, “No. I’m saying I think the Lotus Pier thinks you died.”

Their ravaged, gutted home is recovering steadily, with new disciples, new responsibilities, new buildings.

Their new Sect Leader and his right hand aren’t doing so well.

“If it thinks you’ll do better, then fine! Be the sect leader!” Jiang Cheng had yelled at Wei Wuxian one day, terrifying Wei Wuxian who insisted he didn’t have the right nor did he want to, and setting off quite a row (“Oh, so Lotus Pier just isn’t good enough for you, huh? Where DO you want to go then?”). Naturally, that escalated into a more physical fight, and when punches were landed and brothers elbowed in the gut and flipped onto their backs, swords were drawn (“You still won’t use your sword? What if I run you through with mine? Pick up your sword, goddamn you!”) which came to a screeching, horrific halt when Suibian unsheathed for an incensed Jiang Cheng.

Wei Wuxian had a lot to explain.

Jiang Yanli doesn’t think Jiang Cheng will ever forgive Wei Wuxian for this, but she patches them both up as best she can, listens while each rants about the idiocy and foolishness of the other. She talks down one little brother from his stated plan to find Wen Qing and make her switch the cores back, and coaxes the other one to rest with promises that she wouldn’t let Jiang Cheng try something like that while he sleeps (“I promise, you can sleep now, A-Xian, I won’t let him.” “Oh but HE can, HE can decide for me-!”)

“Since we’ve decided not to keep secrets from family,” she tells them, after a week of indulging them both in their childishness, “you should both know. The Jiang family has, now, in the direct line me and Jiang Cheng. And then there’s Wei Wuxian, son of Wei Changze, who was a shu-son of Grandfather’s and, technically, broke the oath he made when he left the sect that he would not have children of his own.”

Their faces, when that finally sinks in, makes her giggle.

[“So you could be Sect Leader, since Lotus Pier would accept you. This explains so much about Mother.”

“I told you that Uncle Jiang wanted it to be you! But…yeah. It really does.”]

[“Wait, so the Waterborne Abyss tried to grab you in Gusu… do you think that it wanted…”

(That particular conversation ended abruptly when the plank Jiang Cheng was standing on crumbles, dumping him into the river below.)]

[“Without Uncle Jiang’s mark on Jiang Cheng showing Lotus Pier who the heir is, I think it’s confused about who to pick,” Wei Wuxian tells them, after more time with scrolls and an unexpected visit to Meishan Yu and Gusu Lan sects. “Should it go with strength, or primogeniture? Dad was older than Uncle Jiang, but Shijie’s older than me. And I don’t have a core – but mine’s not gone, it’s still-”

Wei Wuxian shuts himself up before Jiang Cheng can, that time.]

For some reason, the issue seems to weigh more greatly on her and A-Xian than A-Cheng. Perhaps because even though Lotus Pier had not yet acknowledged Jiang Cheng as Sect Leader, the Jiang Sect had. And Sect-Leaderly duties did not wait on the convenience of an ancient dwelling and what may or may not dwell beneath the watery foundations.

Which is why it’s surprising when it’s Jiang Cheng who finds them the solution.

“Are you sure?” she has to ask him.

“Honestly, I always imagined that when I’m Sect Leader, Wei Wuxian would busy-body his way into doing half my work anyway. The only difference is that you can stay here at Lotus Pier and help instead of marrying out.” The sect leader of a clan could not, after all, marry out.

“You should thank me for getting the engagement called off, then!” says Wei Wuxian. “Can you imagine? If we went through with this, then we’d all be engaged to the peacock.”

“A-Xian,” she chides, and her brother looks at her sheepishly. The grin is more naturally like himself, and not like he’s forcing himself to act like he once did.

“Is that okay with you, A-Jie?” asks Jiang Cheng.

“Yes,” she tells them. She had wanted a husband, children, a family of her own. But asked to make this choice; her sect or herself, her brothers or a family that one day might be. She knew her answer. “When shall we do it?”

In the aftermath, very little changes.

The bemused Jiang disciples are told to address both Young Mistress Jiang and Wei-shixiong as Sect Leader also, which takes them some getting used to, but they adapt soon enough.

The civilians from Yunmeng think it’s splendid, and take great pride in their three Sect Leaders.

The other sects receive a letter informing them that Jiang Yanli, Jiang Wanyin, and Wei Wuxian were ‘…henceforth by mutual agreement, to be recognized as one entity, encompassing legal and spiritual dimensions alike. As leaders of the Jiang sect, they will jointly bear the responsibilities and obligations attached to this esteemed position.’ Naturally this brings about some interested speculation in their allied sects.

[“Are you alright, Wangji? Do not worry, there is no need for you and Xichen to do likewise, it is an old ritual meant to rejoin the branches of a Clan that are at risk of a schism, without the messy business of pruning one side to disallow heirs, or line adoption."]

[“How utterly absurd. That girl, and the Ghost Flute, to be acknowledged as Sect Leader Jiang, when little Jiang Cheng can barely fill the role himself? What is the world coming to. Fetch us some wine, boy.”]

[“No that is not a euphemism for them deciding to have an incestuous polyamorous marriage, Huaisang! It probably has to do with that thing they don’t talk about; though why the Wen were not eaten when they stepped foot in Lotus Pier we’ll never know.”]

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride!!!! Living Blood or Lady Mo please!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Xuanyu disrobes unashamedly, hesitating only at the last second with the sleeve covering her left arm.

Jiang Yanli laughs. “Bit late to be modest, I think.”

“Modesty is overrated,” she returns, which is something that Zixuan would say and A-Yao would think. She slips the rest of the robes off and steps into the steaming bath, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction.

The changes her body has undergone are even more obvious without the thick layers of the robes obscuring her form. The extra weight seems to have settled in ideal places, not only thickening her waist and limbs but settling heavily along her hips and breasts, which hadn’t exactly been small to begin with.

She sits behind Xuanyu, filling a bowl with water and then pouring it over her hair to rinse it of blood and dirt that had been hidden by her dark hair. Acting as a bathing assistant is far below her station, but Xuanyu had sent all the servants away and she doesn’t mind, really. Xuanyu is her sister, likely the only one she’ll ever have considering A-Cheng’s track record with matchmakers, and she’s been worried about her. This gives them time to speak alone. “How has your marriage with Lan Wangji been? Has he been kind?”

Xuanyu pulls a face, which isn’t encouraging. “I guess. He mostly left me alone, and then we had a couple fights and he was a jerk, and now I think he’s trying to make up for being a jerk, but it’s a little – well, it’s nice that he’s making an effort. I suppose.”

Not as good as she’d hoped, but not as bad as she’d feared. “Sect Leader Lan seems fond of you.”

“Oh, Lan Xichen is great,” she says easily. Better than reaction to Lan Wangji, but still not what Jiang Yanli had been hoping for. Then her eyes light up. “Sizhui is wonderful! I’ll give Wangji one thing, he’s raised a good kid. He’s so sweet, and a great cultivator, and he’s always trying to help out everyone around him. I’m glad Jingyi’s always hanging around – without him, I think everyone would just take advantage of Sizhui’s good nature.”

Well, that’s something. Surely Lan Wangji can’t resist Xuanyu’s charms for long, not when she dotes on his son and gets along with his brother.

“What trouble did you get into on the road?” she asks, running her hand over the wound on Xuanyu’s shoulder. It looks nearly fully healed already and there’s another mostly healed wound on her hip, a thin slice on her left arm, and the shadow of various bruises that were likely much worse a couple hours ago. It’s of course a good thing that Xuanyu has a strong golden core, but Jiang Yanli can’t help a moment of wistfulness.

Her own core never lived up to her mother’s expectations, or her own. If she’d had a stronger core, she could have given A-Ling siblings. A child should have siblings. She would have had a calmer childhood without two little brothers underfoot, but a lonelier one too.

Xuanyu shrugs, lazily scrubbing herself down. “Looks like Xiao Xingchen picked up the girl, A-Qing, while he and Song Lan were separated and was trapped in this place that was basically a ghost town.” How could he be trapped by a place that had no people? “And I’d heard some rumors so when we ran into Song Lan I helped him find Xiao Xingchen, but there was a bit of a fight with someone who didn’t want him to leave. I just happened to get caught in the crossfire, so to speak.”

She’s stretching the truth to outright lying. Before Jiang Yanli can call her on it, her stomach growls.

“Didn’t get a chance to eat on the road?” she teases.

Xuanyu flushes, ducking briefly beneath the water to hide her flaming cheeks before resurfacing. “Things were a little hectic. It may have slipped my mind.”

How has she managed to put on weight while also forgetting to eat? Perhaps Lan Wangji deserves more credit.

“I think I have some candies in my room, if you want something before the banquet,” she offers. “I know the speeches take forever.”

Her eyes light up before dimming and she slumps in the bath. “Thanks, Yanli-jie, but I better not. Sizhui gave me some on the road and I usually love them but just putting it in my mouth almost made me sick. It was awful. And weird! They’re my favorite.”

Jiang Yanli blinks then gives Xuanyu’s significantly larger chest a considering look. It could be nothing. It’s probably nothing. She hasn’t even been married a year and it doesn’t sound as if she and Lan Wangji have been seeing eye to eye.

Then again, the same could have been said about her and Zixuan.

“Can I ask you something personal, Meimei?”

Xuanyu nods. “You can ask me anything, Yanli-jie.”

“Are you and Lan Wangji having sex?”

She turns bright red and ducks beneath the water for so long that Jiang Yanli is starting to get concerned before she resurfaces, still red faced. “Um. We did once. Well – I guess, technically, it was three times, but it was only one night.”

Well. Apparently Lan Wangji has stamina on and off the battlefield.

“One moment,” she says, briefly squeezing Xuanyu’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

It takes one whispered conversation with the servant outside the hall and approximately ninety seconds before her personal healer is standing in front of her. Jiang Yanli ducks back inside to see Xuanyu out of the bath, in a thin bathing robe that’s clinging to her as she wrings her hair out. “I’d like my healer to take a look at you, Meimei.”

Xuanyu freezes, slowly standing straight with a wary look on her face. “That’s really not necessary. The wounds were just superficial and they’re basically healed already.”

“It’ll be quick,” she says, because if she’s right then she can’t let Xuanyu go down to the banquet without letting her know. “She’s very discreet – she’s been my personal healer since I was a child.”

“Jiang Xingyi?” Xuanyu asks, some of her tension draining away.

Jiang Yanli nods, trying to think of some reason that Xuanyu would know her healer’s name, or her reputation, but all the servants are terrible gossips and her health is a frequent topic of derision. “Just your wrist, okay? Your golden core has changed a lot. I just want her to take a look.”

She feels bad about lying, but Xuanyu had lied to her first.

Xuanyu relaxes even further. “Okay, Yanli-jie. If it’ll make you feel better.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, then opens the door to usher Jiang Xingyi in.

The old woman doesn’t smile, but Xuanyu grins back undeterred, and says, “Hi, Granny,” before paling and adding, “uh, um. Sorry.”

Jiang Yanli feels a familiar pang of grief go through her. A-Xian had referred to Jiang Xingyi as Granny, the only disciple both bold and beloved enough to get away with it.

Jiang Xingyi ignores her, instead reaching for her wrist and pressing her fingers against it. Xuanyu fidgets, shifting from one foot to the other, but says nothing as the moments stack on top of one another.

Finally, Jiang Xingyi drops her wrist and steps back. Her stern visage breaks, a smile stretching her mouth across her face. “Congratulations, Madame Lan.”

She knew it!

“Thanks,” Xuanyu answers before wrinkling her nose. “Um. For what?”

“You are expecting,” she answers. “At least a couple months along, I believe, although I’d have to do a more thorough examination to be sure.”

Jiang Yanli moves to embrace her, but Xuanyu’s face drops and she turns dangerously pale. “What? No. That’s not possible. I can’t be.”

“Three times,” Jiang Yanli reminds her, trying to goad Xuanyu into laughter.

But instead she just shakes her head. “No, no I can’t, I – this can’t be happening,” she whispers to herself, grabbing her own arms in a white knuckled grip. “It’s not. It’s impossible. I can’t be.”

She’s young, and this wasn’t a marriage of her own choosing, and it’s so new. Of course she’s surprised and nervous. Jiang Yanli touches her elbow, intending to say something soothing, but Xuanyu collapses into her arms, gripping her waist and hiding her tears in her shoulder.

“Xuanyu!” she says, hugging her back just as fiercely, her heart breaking for the younger girl’s anguish. “Meimei, it’s okay, I know this is scary, but it’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not,” she says, voice thick with tears, “A-jie, this is awful, this is – it can’t happen! It can’t, Wangji is going to be so mad, he’s going to hate me, and everything is ruined and awful, I can’t be – I can’t! I’m going to die!”

Jiang Yanli’s whole body goes cold and she grips Xuanyu even tighter against her. “You’re going to be fine,” she says, pushing her conviction into every syllable.

No matter what Jiang Yanli has to do, Xuanyu is going to be fine.

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 Turnabout by miixz

💙 Turnabout

by miixz (@miixz)

T, 32k, Wangxian

Part of the MXTX Epic Journeys Big Bang

Summary: Wei Wuxian stared openly at the man sitting across from him, unable to look away from the strange picture he made. He wore common clothes and had his hair up in a simple bun, his expression was contained, but soft as he looked at the baby held in his lap. Though nothing about the way he presented himself was outwardly remarkable, his mannerisms gave him a distinguished air. There was a gracefulness to him, the type that hid strength behind it. And he was beautiful. Even missing his usual mourning white and forehead ribbon there was no way Wei Wuxian would have mistaken him for anyone else. Still, the Lan Wangji with him right now might as well be a different person from the one he knew. He was still as stoic and silent as ever, but there was a warmth in him that he’d never seen before. Or: Wei Wuxian’s life takes a turn for the unexpected when he’s approached by Lan Wangji on his way back from a night hunt. Kay's comments: Definitely one of my favourite time travel stories, it's so well done and featuring some great fanart as well! A story in which after the Sunshot Campaign, Wei Wuxian gets sought out by Lan Wangji, only he's different and also, he has a child with him. Turns out that Lan Wangji is from the future and the child - their son, A-Yuan. Together, they set out to make sure the Wens and Wei Wuxian get to live and find their way together along the way. Loving the Yiling siblings vibes, Wangxian's relationship development and Wei Wuxian embracing his new role as a father immediately. Excerpt: Wei Wuxian made his way towards Lan Wangji in a daze, and for a moment he just looked at the little boy he was holding. He hadn't taken his eyes off him since they found him earlier. Though he'd looked at him countless times since their meeting, everything had shifted with this new knowledge in place. That was his son, that was a child who thought of him as a father. He ached with the need to take a better look at him, struggling to not impulsively take him out of Lan Wangji’s hands. “Can I hold him?” “Of course.” Lan Wangji came over to him and carefully arranged the baby in his arms. For a moment the cold scent of sandalwood enveloped him and then he was left with his son in his hold. He'd never been a person who paid much attention to babies before, but the moment he turned in his arms, little fist latching onto his shirt, Wei Wuxian was convinced that this was the cutest one he'd ever seen. Lan Yuan snuggled into his chest much like he did Lan Wangji's earlier, letting out a sigh of contentment. It was a wonder for Wei Wuxian to see such an action reflected back at him, and as though that wasn't enough, the little boy whispered, so softly he almost didn't hear it, "Die…" Any doubts he had about Lan Wangji's story were gone at that moment. He knew it was possible that he wasn't the one A-Yuan was calling for, but even so, something deep within his bones felt that acknowledgement. This was it. Wei Wuxian had a son. "He's adorable, Lan Zhan, the best baby in the world. I just know it."

pov wei wuxian, canon divergence, post-sunshot campaign, time travel fix-it, time travelling lan wangji, time travelling lan sizhui, somebody lives/not everybody dies, fix-it, wei wuxian lives, wen remnants live, burial mounds ensemble as family, good parents lan wangji and wei wuxian, child lan sizhui, older lan wangji, misunderstandings, getting together, developing relationship, love confessions, wei wuxian leaves the yunmeng jiang sect, not jiang cheng friendly, good sibling jiang yanli

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[ibijau]

Daemon AU / On A03 An AU never dies, it just goes on artificial comma until I'm reading to pick it up again. And so does this particular one return to life, three years after it last updated. Including this, I now have three chapters ready to post, so they'll put shared whenever I remember to do it A note on it: in this AU, cultivators are like witches and can be apart from their daemons (...in most cases anyway)(previous chapters dealt with Nie Huaisang and his botched separation from his daemon). Unlike witches, cultivator's daemons can take a number of forms. Jiang Cheng's daemon is a black dog called Fengyu. Wei Wuxian's daemon is a black swan called Pashou.

The pile of papers on Jiang Cheng's desk refused to get any lower no matter how many hours he wasted on it. Cries for help, bills, a staggering number of marriage offers, a less surprising quantity of veiled threats against his weakened sect, and a bunch of other bullshit that Jiang Cheng disliked having to deal with. It shouldn’t even have been his to deal with. If his sect were properly run, then his first disciple would be handling most of that correspondence, leaving him to deal only with important messages and with training the disciples, like his parents used to do.

Wei Wuxian used to be the first disciple of Yunmeng Jiang back then, just as he was now. But while he had respected Jiang Fengmian enough to actually do the tasks asked of him, he mostly ignored Jiang Cheng’s orders and fucked off to get drunk all day long. Apparently his contribution in the Sunshot Campaign meant he never had to help anyone ever again. At least, so Fengyu and Jiang Cheng thought, when they talked about it late at night, bitter and lonely.

Inspecting a letter, Jiang Cheng nonchalantly dropped his free hand to pet Fengyu, as he often did when he was upset. He wasn’t particularly paying attention to her, just needing the reminder that he was fully alone to deal with this, even if Wei Wuxian had all but abandoned him. Of course he had his sister, and he had his disciples who were all fiercely loyal in spite of being recent recruits, but it wasn’t the same. Jiang Yanli couldn’t help with anything relating to martial art, even if she helped run other aspects of the sect, and the new disciples didn’t know about Yunmeng Jiang’s traditions, unlike Wei Wuxian who should have been teaching them, or giving Jiang Cheng the time to teach them.

Feeling his anger rise higher, Jiang Cheng started scratching Fengyu’s back, only for it to feel off. The sensation was all wrong, nothing at all like the usual coarseness of her dog fur. It felt more like…

Jiang Cheng froze, terrified to move his hand or to let himself finish that thought. He did not dare look down at the daemon laying down on a little seat next to his.

He didn’t have to look, because right then Wei Wuxian returned, Fengyu trailing behind him. It was something she did sometimes. Someone had to look after him, she’d say, and Pashou simply wasn’t the same since the Sunshot Campaign, always falling asleep somewhere. It was a disgrace really, just as annoying as Wei Wuxian’s new habit of going around without a sword.

Jiang Cheng didn’t remember Fengyu saying she would be following him that day, but he wouldn’t have stopped her anyway. Someone really did need to take care of Wei Wuxian.

Only, if it hadn’t been Fengyu next to him all afternoon, then…

“Did you even move from that desk today?” Wei Wuxian teased as he came closer, swaying on his feet, a sure sign that he’d drank far too much again. “Jiang Cheng, don’t you have disciples to train?”

“Whose fault is it if I can’t train them?” Jiang Cheng snapped, loud enough that it startled the daemon next to him.

Pashou’s head rose, blinking sleepily and looking around. She seemed almost surprised to find herself in Jiang Cheng’s office, and looked up at him as if he might explain to her what she was doing there.

“Look at your daemon!” Jiang Cheng snarled, while he absolutely refused to meet Pashou’s eyes. “How much have you had to drink for her to be in that state?”

“Not much,” Wei Wuxian protested.

“A lot,” Fengyu muttered at the same time, trotting toward Jiang Cheng.

Fengyu headbutted Pashou to make her leave her seat, but poor Pashou was in such a daze that she started falling to the side. Jiang Cheng moved to grab her, only barely stopping himself from actually touching her. Pashou fell to the floor with a dull thud, while Fengyu shot Jiang Cheng a puzzled look.

Jiang Cheng straightened his back and ignored both daemons, bringing his attention back to Wei Wuxian who was so drunk it didn’t seem to shock him that Jiang Cheng had nearly touched his daemon, something even a baby wouldn’t have done.

He was so drunk he probably hadn’t even felt that all afternoon, Jiang Cheng had been mindlessly petting Pashou as if she were his.

It made no sense.

Wei Wuxian had the excuse of wine, but Jiang Cheng didn’t. He should have noticed at the first brush of his fingers against black feathers. It wasn’t just that petting a dog and a bird should have felt different, it was the fact that he should have been shocked at the contact with someone else’s soul.

Jiang Cheng wondered, not for the first time, how much Baoshan Sanren had changed him when she had given him a new golden core, how inhuman she had made him that day.

And he had to be less human than he used to be. Only a monster could touch someone else’s daemon and feel nothing.

“You’re a disgrace,” Jiang Cheng exclaimed, unsure if he meant Pashou, Wei Wuxian, or himself. “How long are you going to continue shaming our sect this way?”

Somewhere on the floor, Pashou muttered a weak ‘sorry’, while Wei Wuxian came closer and picked her up with a laugh, as if none of this mattered to him.

“She’s just a little tired,” Wei Wuxian claimed, struggling to hold her, as if her weight were almost too much for him. She was a large swan after all. “Jiang Cheng, don’t be so grumpy. Drop your work and let’s go have wine by the lake.”

“Some of us have responsibilities,” Jiang Cheng retorted, glaring at his first disciple, annoyed that for some reason, it felt wrong to see Wei Wuxian holding Pashou like this. Refusing to dwell on this, Jiang Cheng looked for something else to focus on. He easily found it. “Where’s your sword?”

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the question, which only encouraged Jiang Cheng to insist until they fell into a full blown argument. He only stopped shouting at Wei Wuxian when Jiang Yanli, alerted by the noise, came to reconcile them as she always did, offering affection and soup for both of them.

It usually worked, because in spite of his temper Jiang Cheng desperately wanted to be happy with his sister and Wei Wuxian. That night though, the soup tasted of nothing. And every time his eyes fell again on Pashou, Jiang Cheng was reminded that for all that he criticised Wei Wuxian’s behaviour since the end of the war, he too had returned changed.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Back to school shopping

"A-Yuan's teacher sent us the list of back to school supplies he'll be needing this year." Wei Wuxian tells his husband as he checks his e-mail over coffee. He lounges over the garden sofa, soft cushion over a large, mahogany structure, feet stretched over Lan Wangji's lap.

The morning is chilly enough to remind that autumn has come, but the sun shines from between the trees' foliage enough to counter it, the air carrying just the tiniest bit of the nostalgic feel of summer. Birds sing their trill from the high branches, though migratory flocks are already dotting the light blue horizon.

There is a blanket laid over Wei Wuxian's shoulders, patterned with bunnies and carrots, and he's wrapped himself up into it as he fiddles with his phone, sharing bits of information with Lan Wangji. The air smells of coffee and the fading smell of autumn flowers.

"35 points... who would've thought first graders need so much stuff!"

Lan Wangji gently massages his husband's calves, delighting into the feel of his soft skin underneath his fingertips. "We could place an order and have other people deal with it, if you wish."

Wei Wuxian smiles, a melancholic little curl of his lips that seems both sad and hopeful at the same time. His gaze moves to the little patch of grass where A-Yuan's left some of his toys yesterday.

"When I was little, I never really went back to school shopping. Madam Yu said it was wasteful to spend money on me too, and I'd just use leftovers from Jiang Cheng or Yanli." He tries to laugh. "I got made fun for having a Barbie backpack when I was in third grade, but it was a really sturdy thing, lasted me years!"

Lan Wangji moves closer, enveloping Wei Wuxian in his arms. He welcomes the touch, and burrows into the newfound warmth.

"Uncle Jiang took me, once. He said I deserved some new things too, even if I could use the hand-me-downs just fine... He got me this pencil case that had dinosaurs on it, a matching backpack and a few trinkets..." Wei Wuxian sighs, bringing his blanket tighter to his body. "Madam Yu threw a fit about it, and had everything returned the next day... Uncle Jiang apologized to me, but told me there was nothing he could do..."

Lan Wangji caresses his husband's hair gently. "He was an adult, Wei Ying. There was plenty he could do."

Wei Wuxian hums noncommitally. "I don't know... but anyway, that day I promised myself that, if I ever had children, I'd buy them everything and anything for school, every year, until they graduated... so that they could have everything I couldn't."

Lan Wangji kisses the top of Wei Wuxian's forehead. "Then we can go shopping. All of us."

Wei Wuxian lets out a happy sound, and nuzzles further into his beloved's arms.

The door cracks open, a sleepy A-Yuan emerging from his room with his favorite stuffed animal still under his arm.

"Good morning..." he mumbles, still thick with sleep, eyes halfway open and a yawn escaping him.

Wei Wuxian laughs and scoops him up onto the sofa, wrapping him in his arms and the blanket. "You're up so early! What for?"

"Missed baba and a-die..." and he relaxes into his parents' hold, nodding off again.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian share a look, soft and loving, and as Wei Wuxian maneuvers the little one in his arms into a more comfortable position, Lan Wangji hums a song to lull him to sleep, the notes ever so shaky with his emotions.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: the gentle light that strays and vanishes and returns, ch. 1

Relationships: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji

Characters: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Lan Yuan | Lan Sizhui

Additional Tags: POV Third Person, POV Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Grief/Mourning, Anger, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin & Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian Reconciliation, Snark, Regret, Past Character Death, Podfic Welcome

Summary: Jiang Cheng stalks to the dock when a disciple informs him of an approaching boat. He's had them on the lookout ever since Lan Wangji's passive aggressive letter arrived… Or Wei Wuxian comes home.

Notes: See end

AO3 link

Part 4 of the try to praise the mutilated world series. (https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711984)

-----------

Jiang Cheng stalks to the dock when a disciple informs him of an approaching boat. He’s had them on the lookout ever since Lan Wangji’s passive aggressive letter arrived. 

As if it wasn’t bad enough learning he’d hated Wei Wuxian for no reason for sixteen years due to a petty bastard’s machinations, he’d had him ripped away again by Lan Wangji. 

Whose letter had informed him that he would be bringing Wei Wuxian to Lotus Pier to pay his respects to Jiang Yanli. And that they would stay at a local inn if necessary to avoid “infringing on the hospitality of the Jiang sect.”

The entire missive reeked of Lan Wangji’s grievance toward him over Wei Wuxian’s death, and somehow managed to imply that he was inhospitable and would refuse Wei Wuxian.

To hell with that. 

Jiang Cheng had ordered that no inns around Lotus Pier take them, and had prepared one of the more opulent rooms for Lan Wangji, befitting his station as Chief Cultivator. And he’d had Wei Wuxian’s old rooms aired out and furnished with fresh linens and sundries.

He ignored the fact that Wei Wuxian’s quarters had been largely untouched, waiting for him, in the sixteen years he’d been dead; Jiang Cheng hadn’t had the heart to touch it. He polished Suibian until it practically glowed and placed it on an ornate sword rack decorated with carved lotuses next to the bed with a second slot for Chenqing, filled the wardrobe with dark clothing with embroidered lotuses, every article with purple in it, to make it clear where he belonged—even if they’d fucking eloped the last time they were here, he was of Yunmeng Jiang, dammit. 

And hanging from Suibian’s hilt, Wei Wuxian’s clarity bell. 

So he stands at the dock, his feet itching with the urge to stomp, Sandu clenched in a fist at his side, willing Zidian to be still despite his fury. 

The boat pulls up and a disciple gets off first, one of the Lan brats Jin Ling was friends with—the one that got seasick, judging from the green tint to his face. But the youth turns back to the boat to help someone out. 

Wei Wuxian looks awful—pale, dark circles under his eyes, too thin. It brings Jiang Cheng back to meeting him in Yiling with A-Jie before her marriage, seeing how thin he was and wanting to do something about it, but what? And then the next time had been at Nightless City, and he’d hung from Hanguang-Jun’s grip like a limp doll, his face like a ghost, smiling at him with bloody teeth, as though trusting him to end it, and he couldn’t, but he’d wound up doing it anyway and Wei Wuxian doesn’t even blame him, just expects to be turned away and it was his fault.

It’s almost a relief that they’re paying attention to his brother as he stumbles on the pier, giving him time to breathe, to collect the tatters of his calm. 

Wei Wuxian doesn’t look any less like shit when he’s on the dock, and watching him try to smile is a special sort of hell now that he knows what his brother hides under his smiles. Jiang Cheng wants to throttle him until he’s honest about what he’s feeling, but he holds himself back, clenching his fist again to let the metal of Zidian cut into his fingers and ground him. 

But he doesn’t know what to say, and he has to say something now that they’re here, to welcome them. To welcome him home. 

So of course “You look like shit, Wei Wuxian,” is what comes out of his mouth instead. 

Wei Wuxian’s smile does a weird thing where it turns more genuine and almost fond, and Jiang Cheng is even less sure what to do with that. 

Lan Wangji keeps him steady when he sways, and when they approach he can see details he missed at a distance—his eyes lined red and bloodshot, his face not as thin as Jiang Cheng first thought. Maybe that’s just the ghost of his own memory, haunting him. 

He fucking hates it. 

Many thoughts run through his head; at the fore is that separating them would be cruel—Lan Wangji is the most disheveled he’s seen him since the war. While the man has been a petty asshole to him (and Jiang Cheng can no longer consider it unwarranted with everything revealed in Nie Huaisang’s machinations), he won’t respond in kind. 

Especially not with Wei Wuxian looking so damn fragile. 

“The kid can stay in your old room,” he manages.

He’s not prepared for the raw emotion on the kid’s face, or sure where it comes from. 

“Ah, little radish,” Wei Wuxian murmurs, only audible because they’ve moved off the dock. “You can see where your Xian-gege grew up.”

Well, isn’t this a night of revelations?

Jiang Cheng forces himself to keep walking, even as pieces of a puzzle slide together in his mind.

The Lan is the kid from Burial Mounds. The one that hugged his leg the one time he visited. The one he’d assumed died with the rest, the Jin just tasteful enough not to hang the body of a dead child with the rest. 

The one he hadn’t dared give another thought to with dead siblings and an orphaned nephew to raise, terrified of the road those thoughts might take—that he’d lost another family member, another nephew. 

Instead, he poured everything he had into raising Jin Ling, into strengthening Yunmeng Jiang until he was certain no one could ever raze it again, and then strengthening it some more. 

It’s appropriate for the kid to stay in Wei Wuxian’s old room now. If Jiang Cheng had raised him, that’s where he would have lived, his right after his adoptive father’s death. Instead, he was raised by Lan Wangji, and it rankles him to have reason to approve of the man who’s hated him for sixteen years. 

Hate he won’t let himself consider, for fear he’ll realize he deserves it. 

“A small repast is waiting in the main hall,” he finds himself saying, leading the way into Lotus Pier. “And then you can settle into your quarters before dinner.”

That would give the servants time to move the sword rack with Suibian and the robes from the wardrobe into the quarters Wei Wuxian would now share with Lan Wangji. It wasn’t as poignant a message as his room, and it implied acceptance of the Chief Cultivator as his… 

For a moment he imagines calling Lan Wangji saozi, but he prefers living. He has no idea what he’d call him. Xiongfu?

No, he’s not going to think about this right now. 

The steps of his guests are fading behind him, so he stops, flagging one of the servants to issue his orders. 

Oh, gods, he’s going to have to walk them both to their quarters after tea, his brother and his brother’s whatever. Jiang Cheng will look like a coward, or the gesture ingenuine, if he sends servants to guide them. Knowing Wei Wuxian and his well-established and infuriating lack of self-worth—he gave him his core and it makes him want to scream—it would absolutely be interpreted as the latter. 

But the footsteps are closer now, so he forces himself to start walking, only this time at a slower pace. He doesn’t dare look behind him, not when his brother is taking in Lotus Pier, this time without the threat of Jin Guangyao’s machinations to distract him. 

Jiang Cheng has lived with the ghosts of memories of this place before the war for sixteen years. Wei Wuxian’s experiencing them for perhaps the first time, at least since A-Jie…

Oh.

Oh.

Lan Wangji’s demands in his letter suddenly make so much more sense. With A-Jie’s birthday in a few days, of course Wei Wuxian is a fucking mess. 

Jiang Cheng pointedly refuses to remember the agony of that first year. A Wei Wuxian unable to hide his hurts and accepting of help demonstrates it well enough. 

At least dinner won’t include lotus root and pork rib soup. He was being petty when he nixed that from the dinner plans, and he’d argued with himself over it, but now he’s glad he did, after all. 

Jiang Cheng has no illusions that he can avoid Wei Wuxian’s grief, but now that he gets what’s going on, he’d prefer not to have his brother break down on his first night back. 

A-Jie’s birthday means Jin Ling will be coming, as well, and maybe his presence will help somehow. 

Honestly, how did he not make the connection before now? He should have anticipated this.

Fuck, he should’ve been the one to invite Wei Wuxian home, but he’s been too busy definitely refusing to wallow that he just didn’t even think about A-Jie’s birthday. He’s sure it would’ve hit him like a ton of bricks when Jin Ling shows up tomorrow, and then he’d decidedly refuse to cry over forgetting, pretending his tears are from missing her only. But it doesn’t change the fact that he forgot, and on what was, to his idiot brother, the first birthday without her. 

Worse, some milestones have already passed, and more will be coming up, and if he knows Wei Wuxian, he’s suffered silently through them and would have continued to do so if not for Lan Wangji’s interference. 

He’s going to come out of this appreciating that stone-faced bastard, isn’t he?

Thankfully, they reach the main hall before he can go further down that tangle of thought, though he’s sure it’ll come back to torment him later. 

For the repast, Jiang Cheng made sure to include the spicy fish balls from a market stall he knows Wei Wuxian likes—extra spicy, of course, so much so that the stall popo, who’s been there since they were kids, gave him a knowing look and approving nod. He even got enough bland snacks, like lotus seed buns, to satisfy Lan Wangji’s palate. He didn’t expect the kid, and doesn’t know his preferences anyway, but there are plenty of snacks available to choose from. There is also, of course, lotus tea and Hefeng wine, just to show Wei Wuxian his creation is still made at Lotus Pier, still valued. 

Jiang Cheng was being petty when he included it, but he’s glad he did when Wei Wuxian’s expression shifts from that empty smile to something more real, a sort of touched nostalgia that brings him back to the day that idiot came up with the idea after using a lotus leaf as cup for his wine. 

He realizes he needs to go through the annual sales records since Wei Wuxian’s fake defection and calculate his share of the profits, along with the sales of all his talismans—he’ll be damned if his brother lives off his husband’s purse strings when he’s brought in so much money to Lotus Pier even in death. 

Even in death, he’d ensured Yunmeng Jiang would prosper, with both jindan and his inventions. 

He needs a drink, just thinking about Wei Wuxian’s death, the hole it left in him and how angry he was at missing him, anger he didn’t deserve then and absolutely doesn’t now.  

Wei Wuxian warns the Lan kid about the spicy fish balls, and the boy tries some anyway, sending himself into a coughing fit. 

“Aiya, A-Yuan, you didn’t have to taste them if you don’t like spice,” his brother says, laughing. 

“It reminds me of your cooking, A-Die,” the teen teases when he’s cleared his palate with something sweet. 

Ah, hell, he’s going to have to respect Lan Wangji saving the kid, isn’t he, his brother’s son. 

Thankfully the repast’s awkward silence is filled by Wei Wuxian talking to his son and… again, whatever Lan Wangji is. Jiang Cheng won’t accept they’re married—not when Wei Wuxian deserves an opulent wedding—even if they bowed to his parents. Wei Wuxian is getting married at Lotus Pier properly, with all the fanfare of Jie’s wedding, and far more tasteful because it’s not the Jin. He’ll fucking insist if he has to. 

If nothing else, Lan Wangji will agree with him that Wei Wuxian deserves a beautiful wedding, and he doesn’t feel some sort of vindication that the man would basically have to, if he knows what’s good for him. He might fight over holding it at Lotus Pier, but dammit, Jiang Cheng never took Wei Wuxian off the Jiang clan roster, and he’d only let someone else have the title of da-shixiong reluctantly. 

Just like they planned A-Jie’s wedding when they were kids, Jiang Cheng and A-Jie planned Wei Wuxian’s. And maybe those documents with the plans hadn’t survived the Wen, but they were still in Jiang Cheng’s head and he would see them implemented. He’d swear to A-Jie if he had to.

He realizes with a carefully-repressed jolt that his guests have not eaten in some time, meaning it is time to let them rest before dinner and specifically to save Wei Wuxian from having to find more to talk about in the silence, and clears his throat.

“I’ll see you to your rooms, then.”

————

I finally have a diagnosis. Multisystem long covid. It’s what I expected, but finally diagnosed. So it’s more a relief than anything. My doctor is affiliated with one of fifteen long covid centers in the US that is studying it, so I’ll have access to clinical trials and such. It’s not a great diagnosis, but it’s an answer. 

This is going to be several chapters. We’ll see what it demands. This has been sitting in my files, largely written, and I realized I could give myself permission for it to be multiple chapters. 

Thanks again to adrian_kres for the beta!

a-die = dad

da-shixiong = eldest martial brother, or head disciple

Hefeng liquor = lotus breeze liquor 

popo = grandmother

saozi = sister in law

xiongfu = not an actual word but breaks down to brother’s husband

[wangxianficfinder]

Hi, I need help finding an MDZS fanfic, please. I have a snapshot of the summary of fanfic, but I can’t seem to find it.

Summary: The Third Jade [MDZS Fanfic]

[Jiang Cheng x OC] Lan Zhu, courtesy name Lihua, is the younger twin sister of Lan Wangji, younger sister of Lan Xichen and the pride of the Lan Clan, after her two elder siblings. Known as Ànyĩng Shàonữ, or Shadow Maiden, she is a prodigy in cultivation and is also one of the Three Jades of Lan. Lan Zhu is the second known cultivator to have actually reached immortality. She is also engaged to Jiang Cheng, though this arrangement was made by his mother and her uncle a year ago. They both eventually fell deeply in love during his stay in Gusu. Personality-wise, Lan Zhu is the exact opposite of both her elder brothers. Others describe her as manipulative, cruel and an excellent actress. Her eldest brother describes her as a girl who covers up her true personality to stop herself from becoming too attached to someone not of her clan. Her twin describes her as someone who is loyal to the ones she sees as friends and as someone who he can fully trust, even if she gives him reasons not to trust her. Her fiance, Jiang Cheng, and his sister, Jiang Yanli, describes her the same way her twin describes her. Wei Wuxian would describe her as his best friend, who is unlike any Lan he has ever met. After Wei Wuxian dies a few years later, Lan Wangji grieved for him and waited for him, while Lan Zhu turned her grief into cruelty, broke off her engagement to Jiang Cheng after learning of his role in Wei Wuxian's death, and became a totally different person entirely, and her family could do nothing but watch. Or, in which Lan LiHua chooses to leave her anchor [Jiang Cheng], slowly losing her humanity as a result, and tries to ignore Jiang Cheng's relentless attempts at trying to fix their relationship, in favor of helping her twin and best friend solve a mystery. However, fate (and love) will not be denied.

Do you mean this one? The summary is different but I checked the first chapter and the character's name is Lan Zhu and I think the first chapter has the same summary as you wrote?

FOUND! The Third Jade by Jeweled_Lotus (T, 84k, WIP, JC\OC, WangXian, Slow Romance)

I just searched the name in the JC\OC tag search bar so let me know if this isn't it 😅

- Mod C

[erivroom]

MDZS Shapeshifting Cultivation AU plans

this is mostly just a note for my future fanfic writing, because I have a lot of fic ideas surrounding these ideas and plan to link this post in their notes. posting this publicity for any feedback (pls i beg any ideas) and if anyone wishes to use this as well for fics go ahead!!

Non-cultivators do not have animal traits. These traits come through by learning shape-shifting cultivation.

Not only is it extremely difficult to learn to hide their traits, it is extremely rude to do so for many reasons. The main and biggest reason is hiding your traits as a cultivator is like a big “fuck you” to your ancestors.

While there is A LOT of genetic factors, that is not always the case. The genetic factor is usually just upon the main clan families. A cultivator can never gain traits from the main clans, so they are seen as mythical beings even within this universe.

For rogue cultivators it’s USUALLY random, and can even be from the outer clan types. This is because somewhere in their family tree far back there would have been someone from this clan.

Cultivator children born within a main clan branch have their animal traits from a very young age, and they do not typically change beyond a FEW exceptions. If these changes ever happen, even to outer branching families it’s seen as negative, as they have “abandoned” their clan.

Qishan — Wen family are wolves, outer branches are based on house dogs

lmao wwx is scared of dogs it’s perfect

Wen Rohan — Black wolf (like a Tiangou)

Wen Chao — Brown wolf

Wen(Zhao) Zhuliu — Asian Black Bear, often confused as a dog bc he was taken in by the Wens and all that

Wen Ning — Siberian Husky

Wen Qing — German Shepherd

Wen Yuan — Rabbit (??? i’ll explain it in the fic. maybe. maybe it’s better to just leave it a mystery LMAO)

Yunmeng — Main Jiang family wild/big cats, otherwise house cats

Jiang Fengmian — Leopard

Yu Ziyuan — Spider

Jiang Cheng — Lynx

Jiang Yanli — Tiger

Wei Wuxian — Black Fox

Wei Changze — Maine Coon

Lanling — Main Jin family are Peacocks, otherwise birds

Jin Guangshan — Peacock, normal coloring

Jin Zixuan — Peacock, normal coloring

Jin Guangyao — Peacock, white coloring

Qin Su — Peacock, Red coloring, was thought to be a phoenix so… yeah that. happened.

Mo Xuanyu — Peacock, Charcoal/Black colored, often called a crow to belittle his heritage

Jin Ling — Qiongqi

Xue Yang — an actual crow

Qinghe — Main Nie family are Qilin, others are other horned beings (deer, moose, sheep, ect.)

Gusu — Only main family are Dragons, others are bunnies (how does this make sense? it doesn’t but it just is how it is.)

Also, eastern dragon, not western. Wormji.

Lan Wangji’s mother was a White Long-tailed weasel.

Other

Song Lan — Black bat (it’s funny bec–)

A-Qing — a mole

Baoshan Sanren and her disciples become Nine-Tailed Foxes through cultivating. One of if not the only exceptions to changing attributes the cultivation world has ever seen. Nobody knows how it’s done, and only her disciples have ever become nine-tailed foxes.

This pisses off the Wens no doubt, because they think as canines the Nine-Tailed Fox should belong to them.

Cangse Sanren was a grey nine-tailed fox

Xiao Xingchen was a white nine-tailed fox

Fics based on this post

none yet, I’ll add my links when I post them though if anyone else uses this post and wants me to add their fic link feel free to let me know!

You can use the ideas in this post without credit, I’m fine with it ^^

[marshmallowwitharubberband]

One thing I find interesting about Wei Wuxian is that as a young man he was cocky and attention-seeking and annoying, but if you look closely he was only that in ways that would not directly eclipse his siblings in any way.

For example, it's stated that he actually can cook, he just adds an ungodly amount of spice to everything, but if he wanted he could actually cook well. But cooking is Yanli's signature, so he won't.

He is highly skilled with both sword and bow, but Jiang Cheng favors the sword, so Wei Wuxian shows off the most with a bow, even before losing his core, he only ever goes all-out with a sword in front of Lan Wangji.

He doesn't really obey Jiang Cheng, but he also doesn't go out of his way to purposely annoy him like he does with other people.

In his brash, loud way, he is trying to protect and uplift his little brother discreetly, probably because he knows Jiang Cheng would not take it well if he did that directly.

Wei Wuxian won't stop being himself, but he won't let that take attention away from the stuff his siblings are good at.

And that's just so sweet.

[navarice]

my dearest fellow mdzs stans, i really don't want to spoil anyone's fun but sometimes some things must be said. please do NOT mistake fanon characteristics for canon characteristics because by GOD is it frustrating to dissect a character when all anyone wants to do is blindly turn away from the very vivid and metastasizing flaws.

jiang cheng is an extremely complicated character, and that's why we love him. but by god, he is a jealous, self-victimizing asshole with a massive inferiority complex who likes to torture (probably) innocent look-a-likes of his (as far as he knew) dead adjacent family member. jesus christ this isn't some simple case of miscommunication (well it is but, you know no amount of communication will ever mend the giant chasm that developed between them. especially not with asians raised within the most classical case of asian parenting, i mean come on now) but a matter of deep and intense self-loathing developed since early childhood projecting violently outwards. let me be clear. he hates wei wuxian. he loathes him. he wants to kill him with his own hands again and again so some part of his convoluted sense of justice and superiority will be fulfilled. he's a classist, a bully, and abusive to everyone around him. ong at the end of mdzs, i was nearly crying tears of joy when jin guangyao flayed him flat on his ass bc that man needed to hear it. he needed to feel it. he needed to stop blaming others and blame himself.

and!! he's homophobic!! the entire cultivation world is, yes, but he's the only one we see give wei ying and lan zhan active shit for it!!

point is...his complexity makes him interesting. as a child, he was pretty alright tbh. he was understandably upset when three of his dogs got taken away and he saw his dad give a completely random kid such a gentle hug when jiang cheng never received one so far. he was a kid, and it was sad and helped the readers get a glimpse at the already dysfunctional family dynamics before wei ying came into the picture. as an adolescent/teen, yes he had a lot of unresolved rage and inferiority issues building up when he was constantly being compared to wei wuxian by his mother and not given enough reassurance from his father (once again, all present before wei ying...everyone just likes to dump the shit on him bc it's easier to point fingers at others than at yourself). perhaps he could have turned out differently if literally either of his parents stepped up and took accountability. however, after the burning of lotus pier? after the golden core transfer? after wei ying stuck around as his subordinate just as he promised, and protected jiang cheng like he promised, and defected just to save the yunmeng clan's reputation so jiang cheng doesn't have to put up with the other clan's shit, still continuing to keep his promise? after wei ying's death? idk abt y'all, but all bets are off bro.

mxtx makes it a point to make him so irredeemable. he's an exploration of what can go wrong if you let your traumas, self-hatred, and revenge fantasies blind you. he has the worst traits of his parents for a reason, directly contrasting with the other sibling, who is a perfect picture of eldest daughters born into a dysfunctional family. jiang yanli has the best traits of her parents (in terms of compassion and standing up for her family), but the family dynamics also made her the way she was. the responsible, the mediator, the occasional mother, stepping in where madam yu cannot.

there's just so much potential to hold him accountable buried under the pretense of misunderstandings and kinnie moments. he just had so many chances, more than any other character, to make a different choice. to actually look past his misgivings and unlearn the bad habits he used to protect himself as a child. i'm not saying he has to magically heal from all his traumas, but at the very least know not to be like his parents. but he wasn't written that way. because that is what happens when you give into your insecurities and generational trauma.

bottom line: jiang cheng is a fantastic archetype that needs to be explored in all his authenticity, including his moments of loyalty and cruelty.

[relenafanel]

wangxian HALLOWEEN [part 5]

choose your own adventure!

Modern AU - meet cute (all autumn/halloweeny vibes)

{I accidentally switched tenses. I’ll fix it later. Sorry!}

I have energy this month, let’s do a fun activity together. Keep the story going with your choices! I'll write the next part once the day-long poll has finished.

Poll results from part 4:

Part 5:

Pick the answer you like best. I encourage you to pick just based on vibes and/or what you want me to have to write rather than what makes the most reasonable plot. It's more fun that way!

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

It’s a week before his birthday! Wei Ying wakes up and can tell it’s going to be a good day. It might even be a good week! He has plans today to go out later with his siblings. It's rare that they all have a day off, and he's excited that they get to do what he wants to do.

And you never know! He might meet the love of his life during a ghostly historical tour!

Well. It's unlikely, but it just feels like that kind of day. One where anything can happen. He even woke up early, excited to start the day and go to a ghostly historical tour .

He's also excited it's finally cool enough out that he can put on his boots without sweating to death. Autumn is great!

The other day Jiang Yanli had hinted that she had a cake planned for him next week, and she always gave him the most thoughtful presents of something he'd mentioned needing in passing in like July. He was also looking forward to the PlayStation gift card Jiang Cheng inevitably bought him every year because he overthought things and then panicked.

But, he suspected Jiang Cheng used a vacation day so he could come hang out at the ghostly historical tour with them, so that was all that mattered. Truly. #YunmengBros.

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

The tour didn't start until 7:30 pm, after sunset, so he dragged his siblings to the autumn market first. His sister bought fresh local vegetables, and his brother found a cool sword replica he eyed obviously and then pretended he didn't care about. Wei Ying made eye contact with his sister, and they silently communicated over which one of them would buy it for him once his birthday rolled around.

But! Jiang Cheng's birthday wasn't first. Wei Ying's birthday was first. Which meant it was more important by 5 days! It was logic that worked as a child and logic that worked as an adult.

They all stopped at food vendors to grab something to eat. Wei Ying got a corn on the cob on a stick (it was fine) and some habanero tacos (very good). He ate everything quickly so they could get to the ghostly historical tour faster, and then had to wait for Jiang Yanli to decide what to eat and then eat it - the foodie - and for Jiang Cheng to decide what to eat and then eat it - the picky eater.

Eugh. Every time.

"You can get a dessert," Jiang Yanli pointed out to him in a gentle, amused tone. "You're going to be waiting a while."

“Yeah because Jiang Cheng eats like a grandma.”

“At least I don’t eat like starving orphan!” Jiang Cheng snapped. Then he paled. “Uh. I mean.”

Wei Ying shrugged. “Well it’s true.”

It was cool though. He had food security now! He bounced in his seat impatiently.

“Why are you looking forward to this so much?”

“Do you know the kind of haaaauuuuntings there are in the old part of town?”

“Sure?”

“It’s gonna be cool!”

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

It was cool! They arrive at the meeting point after dark, the whole area felt spooky. There was a fog coming in off the bay! He couldn’t even plan how cool that was!!

They were 3 of 30 people, which was maybe more than Wei Ying would have guessed, but they were doing this close to Halloween so it made sense. There were entire families in attendance, which was very cute! Kids had so much joy in them. It was why he wanted one someday!

He looked around, still bouncing with energy, and spotted

the prettiest person he’d ever seen

Wow.

Wow! Maybe he would meet the love of his life!

“What are you looking at?” Jiang Cheng hissed when Wei Ying’s attention spent too long away from their tour guide.

“Nothing.”

“Oh,” his sister said, laughing behind her hand. “He looks very tall and kind.”

“He looks bitchy,” Jiang Cheng observed.

The three of them looked over at the same time. There was no subtly in the Jiang/Wei household.

“That’s the one!” Wei Ying said, giving his brother’s shoulder a punch. “I’m going to go talk with him.”

“Ok, have fun,” his sister said.

“We’re literally here because of you, jackass,” Jiang Cheng said. “Come back soon.”

That was really cute! So supportive.

Ok, ok, he was going! He sidled up next to the hottie and said “I love ghost stories. Did you know that there used to be an asylum in this location in the 1830s and when they broke ground for the library they found a pit of bones under the old basement? They say that sometimes in the spring finger and toe bones still surface around the foundation and that there are spots in building that are always cold.”

“While the location of the asylum is a demonstrable fact, local lore is not,” the hottie responded.

"Oh, so you don't believe in ghosts?" Wei Ying asked. "That's ok. I'm Wei Ying."

He put out his hand for the hottie to shake and instead got extreme side-eye.

"Are you part of the tour?" The man next to hottie asked. They had a very similar look, but this one had a kind softness to him that fortunately, or unfortunately, did nothing for him. He just looked like some guy. Funny how that worked, right?

"Me? Ah, no, I'm just a fan of local stories. Storytelling traditions are pretty cool, aren't they?"

"Wei Wuxian," the hottie suddenly said. "You wrote a research article on the ethnomusicology of regional work song traditions in the area."

"I did!" Wei Ying said. "But I am off work today."

"WEI YING!" Jiang Cheng yelled across the parking lot. "WEI YING IT'S ABOUT TO START."

Literally like 10 feet away, but ok Jiang Cheng.

"My brother," Wei Ying nodded. "Time to go, nice talking to you."

He slipped away. Was it nice, though? It had been weird.

"Too bad this isn't a pub crawl," he said to Jiang Cheng. "There are 3 universities in walking distance, you'd think someone would have thought to make a ghostly pub crawl. What are the legalities of that?"

"I don't know. Shut up."

"You shut up."

"Listen to the tour guide," Jiang Cheng hissed.

"...And so, we are very fortunate local ghost expert Dr. Wei Wuxian is in the audience today to take over."

WHAT?

OMG.

"What did you do?" Wei Ying gasped.

"Bribed the tour guide. Happy Birthday, loser."

(๑>ᴗ<๑)

Best brother ever.

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

"Wei Wuxian," the hottie said, coming up to him after the tour. "You were engaging."

"Thanks," Wei Ying said, swiping his hair back off his face. "I wish I had forewarning to prepare. Good job I'm a giant nerd. Hey, I didn't catch your name."

"Lan Wangji."

Wei Ying gasped. "The historical non-fiction author?"

"Mn."

"I've read your books!"

That was amazing. He was beautiful and smart and with similar interests? What were the odds? They felt very low.

Lan Wangji looked pleased that Wei Wuxian had read him.

"Listen," Wei Wuxian said, "I need to go, but we should keep talking! Want to meet for lunch later this week?"

Lan Wangji hesitated for a moment. "I would enjoy that."

Wei Wuxian beamed. Wow. "Great, it's a date! My email is available on the university website."

"Mine is available online as well," Lan Wangji said.

"Even better! I'll contact you."

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

to: inquiries@lanwangjiauthor.com from: weiwuxian@university.com subject: Lunch Date Hello Lan Wangji, I am inquiring about a lunch date with you, Lan Wangji, author of [A/N insert title i'm too lazy to think up]. Possible times include tomorrow between 12pm to 1pm, or Wednesday between 12pm to 2pm. Location: my office. Meal: sandwich of your choice from the cafe in the lobby (egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad) or mystery stir fry (ingredients: 🤷‍♀️). Would supper be more reasonable, instead? Yours, Wei Wuxian PS: here's my cell phone number! ⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

to: weiwuxian@university.com from: inquiries@lanwangjiauthor.com subject: RE: Lunch Date Hello Wei Wuxian, Supper would be reasonable. I will text you my suggestions. Lan Wangji

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

Wei Wuxian was nervous! Did Lan Wangji know that when he said 'it's a date!' he had meant 'it's a date!'?

Once the poll is finished I'll make a whole new post with the results and copy/paste the story with the continuation. tagged: wangxian halloween pollfic for future reference

[veliseraptor]

Listen Jiang Fengmian doesn't know his ass from his elbow he is fully capable of bringing home the first kid savvy enough to lie to him.

someone else mentioned this in the comments of that post (about how xue yang could end up with the jiangs instead of wei wuxian) and then you sent this and you're not actually necessarily wrong. i don't actually think jfm is actually stupid but dude probably at the very least has no idea what the kid he's looking for looks like, one misheard syllable and a quick-witted xue yang knowing an opportunity when he sees one and we do have an opportunity

(obviously we are completely ignoring timeline fuckiness here, or rather embracing cql timeline fuckiness)

the thing is though I think growing up in this environment, as toxic as the jiang family issues are, would make a huge difference in how xue yang turns out/what his future looks like. I think he would feel a certain level of gratitude to the jiang for saving him from a much harder life, and I think growing up as part of a community (as opposed to largely on his own and fending for himself) would change at least some things about his perspective on the world and how to behave with other people. at the very least it gives him some experience with the concept of "people doing things for you because they care about you" before he's gone too far down the murder road.

I've always said that I think that, while it wouldn't come easily or naturally to him, Xue Yang can learn prosocial behaviors, given positive reinforcement/incentive. I doubt he and Jiang Cheng would ever get along well - the clash of personalities is pretty intense and Xue Yang does not let things roll off him the way Wei Wuxian does (or at least performs to), but at the same time I think Xue Yang could see Jiang Cheng as sort of His to piss off and bother and provoke in a way that would immediately make him turn on a common enemy in a pinch. he'd adore Jiang Yanli, though.

as far as Yu Ziyuan goes...he'd be too aware of the power dynamics involved, I think, to ever openly show his feelings (or, god forbid, act on them), but he would hate her. especially if we're post-finger smashing (which I kind of like the idea of), that's going to be even more intense, because that's also the point where I think Xue Yang really learns resentment in a real way. he respects her as a formidable force but he does not like her, and would not spit on her if she was on fire.

zero respect for Jiang Fengmian, though. right from the get-go. in this situation he would, after all, be the sucker who picked Xue Yang up instead of this "Wei Ying" kid he was actually looking for (and is there something about knowing that all of this isn't meant for him, not really? yeah, every once in a while when stories about "his" parents come up in particular).

anyway I'm going to be turning this over in my head for a while, this is an interesting concept that I'm now able take away from a really annoying post so thanks for that, anon

[drama--universe]

Nature specialist

Requested by anonymous: Howdy-doody! How about The Untamed characters of your own choice x the reader who can interact with nature and animals? They are something like "reader's scouts", so the reader is always the first to know what is happening around them.

Pairing: Untamed girls x gn!reader

Jiang Yanli:

Wuxian had ran off again, courtesy of Jiang Cheng

more specifically the dogs that he had sent Wuxian's way

everyone had been searching for hours, the sky had already turned dark when a last resort was made

you walked in, you were probably the same age as Yanli (14 years old)

which surprised some people, including the girl

you kneeled on the ground, starting where they knew that Wuxian had run off

you walked carefully, hand remaining on the ground as you traced your fingers through the sand

you stopped only after ten minutes or so

freezing in your spot before shushing the family behind you

a deer stood on your path, unmoving as it stared

then, most expectingly, you approached the deer

now Yanli had tried this before as a child

always curious about the wildlife that surrounded her home

always unsuccessful, the animals scattered immediatley after noticing her

yet, the deer approached you and laid its head in your hands

you calmly whispered to the deer, petting it before letting it run off

"Will you come down now?"

you called out to seemingly no one, but looking up to the top of the trees

Wuxian's voice called back softly, asking if the dogs were around

Yanli called out this time, telling him that Jiang Cheng and his dogs had remained at the house

soon enough, Wuxian was climbing down the tree like he wasn't just an eight year old

you gave the kid a smile, picking him up as he waddles your way

he fell asleep the second you hand him to Yanli

she thanks you with a smile before inviting you to stay

she could hardly let you leave at this hour

you end up staying in her room next to her

(much to her mother's disappointment)

you don't sleep much, Yanli insists on questioning you

because she needs to know how you do it

you explain that you can talk to the animals and read the ground

it's like second nature, which she doesn't really get

she asks questions throughout the night

you don't sleep

she insists that you write her through your travels

and you do, which forms a bond with her

which may turn into love later in life

Luo Qingyang:

she was pissed when she first met you

not at you, of course

she didn't even know you, so how could she possibly be pissed at you?

rather at Jin Zixuan

because he's an ass, like usual

she finds herself by the river to calm down, soon surrounded by some birds and rabbits

one bird approaches her first

a cute drongo bird sits on her leg, staring straight at her with curiosity

she's careful to pet it, but it melts underneath her fingers

"He likes you."

your voice is gentle, soft enough to not spook the animals around her

you sit down, a bit closer than Mianmian liked

you notice and scoot a bit further away

in a second, you're surrounded by all the animals

excluding the drongo bird, who stayed close by the girl

she just stares at it confusion before asking how you know

and you're kind enough to explain it

she lights up, smiling brightly and basically vibrating from excitement

get ready for the weirdest pop-quiz ever

because she had questions

a lot of questions

and she ain't leaving until she gets answer

you got there at ten in the morning, you leave when the sun starts to dissapear beneath the tree line

logically, you miss all classes of the day

not that either of you care much

Mianmian speaks bluntly, anything the girl thinks will spout from her mouth

which makes it certain that you will never be stuck in silence around her

but you listen to every single thought, smiling softly the whole way back

you get caught by Jin Zixuan

her mood drops immediately as she glared at the male

you split up, but you send a wink her way before whisteling softly

which leads to a flock of birds to swoop down at Zixuan, messing his hair up and ripping his clothes

you can see the corners of Mianmian's lips lift as she tries to hold her laughter

she'll come to you everytime after he annoys her in any way

but she also just hangs out with when she has free time

Wen Qing:

she meets you later in her life

curtesy of the whole Wen massacre

more specifically in burial mounds

even though the grounds were long decayed from the years of dark energy that hung around, animals had started returning when Wuxian had neutralized part of the forest and mountain

she had warned Wuxian of the trouble it could bring

so when you arrived at the base, she could only give Wuxian the typical "I told you so"-look

luckily, you mean no harm to anyone

you don't care for the opinions of the higher groups against the Wens, you care more for the human lives that were lost because of the feud

seeing how they live just made your stomach twist, because no one deserves to live like a hunted animal

especially not because of someone else's mistakes

you keep yourself busy with Yuan, he is fascinated with the animals and you don't mind indulging him

Wen Qing keeps her eyes on the two of you the whole time

two reasons

one, she viewed Yuan as a little brother and wanted to know if he was safe

two, she was fascinated by the fact that you were able to communicate with the forest and its inhabitants

you seemed to constantly be aware of the animals surrounding you and how the forest felt in a way

sometimes she even caught you staring in the distance with a sad look

she approached you later in the evening, when she caught you once more

you don't even look away from the forest as you answer

"the forest is crying"

it was a simple statement, yet it held so much meaning when you said it

and when Wen Qing looked to the forest, she could almost sense what you meant

maybe it was the creaking of the wood or the cries of animals, but she could believe what you said with ease

she had heard weirder stuff before (unfortunately)

from then on, she caught you more often as you stared into the forest

and every evening, the two of you talked

somedays it was about the forest, but other days you just talked

about past events, life or just yourself

and after a few conversations, you are sure that you didn't want to leave

[wangxianficrecs]

Comfortable Silence by WritersBlock823 (rdlaserna)

Comfortable Silence

by WritersBlock823 (rdlaserna)

E, 65k, Wangxian

Summary: Wei Ying covers his mouth, eyes wide and tearful, then turns and runs back towards the subway station where the expensive-coat man has disappeared to. He hopes he hasn’t caught his train yet as he runs, giggles bursting out from his chest. As he enters the station, he glances around and immediately spots the back of the expensive-coat man. He’s waiting patiently among a group of passengers getting on a train. Wei Ying rushes forward and just barely manages to slip the man's wallet into the opposite coat pocket than it was retrieved from. The doors close behind the man, Wei Ying’s hand barely grazing the doors as he pulls it back. The man looks down and pulls his wallet from his pocket, looking confused. He turns, then, golden eyes meeting silver. Wei Ying’s breath catches. He’s the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. Long, curling lashes framing piercing golden eyes. Pale skin as white and smooth as jade. A sharp jawline leading towards a long neck featuring a prominent Adam's apple. His lips are plump and pink, and Wei Ying wonders what they’d feel like pressed against his own. Wei Ying grins at the man and mouths, “Just returning your stolen property! Be more careful of pickpockets!”

Kay's comments: This story was a joy to read and super funny too! In which Wangxian meet after Wei Ying returns Lan Zhan's stolen wallet and Lan Zhan makes it so that they will be roommates in their university dorm and they immediately hit it off Wangxian fashion! This story also features deaf Lan Zhan, who keeps his disabbility a secret in the beginning, but let's just say, Wei Ying is more observant than he expected! The angst was very minimal in this story and all misunderstandings are resolved without much drama, which I enjoyed a lot. I also love how Wangxian can't keep themselves from being accidental exhibitionists because they just can't wait to get their hands on each other.

Excerpt: “Mn,” the man replies, his voice much deeper than Wei Ying expected, and it sends a shiver down his spine. “When I was asked if I wanted a roommate, Uncle showed me a list of students seeking one. I saw your face, and recognized you. I wanted to thank you for returning my wallet. I saw the video posted online of the man who’d stolen it, and how you were able to get it back.” Wei Ying throws his head back and laughs. “That was a lot of fun.” The man’s lips twitch slightly, his eyes watching his mouth as he speaks before returning his gaze, which seems to be full of what Wei Ying thinks is amusement, and hums, “Mn,” once more. They stare at each other in silence for a moment, but it doesn’t feel awkward. “I’m glad I was able to help last week. I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again. I don’t even know your name. I didn’t take the time to look in your wallet - I just ran to try and find you before you disappeared on a train.” “Lan Zhan,” his roommate replies, a gleam in his eyes. “And you’re Wei Ying.” Wei Ying swallows hard, liking way too much how his name sounds on Lan Zhan’s tongue, and smiles. “That’s me. I’m glad to meet you officially, Lan Zhan.” Ooh, he likes how that feels on his tongue. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan….why do you keep looking at my mouth?

pov wei wuxian, pov lan wangji, modern setting, modern no powers, college/university, roommates/housemates, deaf lan wangji, music student lan wangji, sign language, lip reading, music student wei wuxian, switching, non-consensual voyeurism, semi-public sex, getting together, friends to lovers, misunderstandings, mutual pining, love confessions, happy ending, child lan sizhui, jiang family dynamics, good uncle lan qiren, good sibling lan xichen, good sibling jiang yanli, @writersblock823

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[frogizz]

The Untamed Mind Dump (Spoilers duh)

(I have yet to read the novel for MDZS, and I am on Episode 47 of The Untamed so I want to do another mind dump like last time)

Jin Guangyao, I've been suspicious of him ever since I saw that face of his (I am not calling the actor ugly or anything like that, I can acknowledge its the acting that made him look suscpious not his actual face.) But I didn't excpect for him to be that sick of a human being.

Wei Wuxian being the scapegoat all over again

Damn these people love to gossip

I forgot about Wei Wuxian offering his Golden Core to Jiang Cheng

I miss Jiang Yanli bro

I also miss Wen Qing

At least I have Wen Ning, he is so awesome

I have the firm belief that while Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian are responsible for the death of Jin Zixuan, I know damn well Jiang Yanli's blood is not on Wei Wuxian's hands. Heck, I kind of think even though Wei Wuxian was the cause of Jin Zixuan's death, that that situation was obviously curated from the start, there was no intention to kill anyone that day because Wei Wuxian was doing this all in self defense. (Still sad that Jin Zixuan had to be a casualty).

I legit don't remember Su She before episode 45

The way I had to pause, sit up, stand up, walk around when that lady revealed Jin Guangyao tortured his father like that and what he did to Qin Su??? OH MY GOOOODDDDDDDD

Lan Wanji, you're the best supporter and best friend ever (I know in the novel he's Wei Wuxian's lover but in The Untamed their relationship is still amazing as best friends).

Wei Wuxian is such a great leader and protected those teens well (most of them are teens right? they all seemed kinda young)

I feel so bad for Jin Ling, all of his family's dirty laundry being aired out from both sides because his (defected) martial uncle is infamous for doing dirty tricks and is the supposed one who killed his parents, his maternal uncle being really hard on him, his paternal uncle being absolute scum and him doing things worse than what Wei Wuxian was ever accused for, and then to top it all off, he is constantly bullied.

To add to that, Jin Ling's outbursts are to be expected, he's just like his maternal uncle, really emotional. Jiang Cheng has had his outbursts of anger and aggressiveness (verbal and/or physical) and this could be the only way Jin Ling knows how to express himself.

At first I thought Jin Ling was an arrogant and stupid spoiled brat but I just want to hug this poor kid, the trauma of not having his parents and knowing that they died brutal deaths, the bullying, just everything. Just let him have a nice and warm blanket while snuggling with Fairy for once, please?

Speaking of Fairy, can people stop threatening the dog please? Like, they're such a good boy/girl (Netflix subtitles swapped them at somepoint from he to she and then it so I have no idea).

I WAS CRYING WHEN LAN SIZHUI STARTED TO REMEMBER HIS PAST AND THEN WEN NING WAS TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH HIM BRUH I WAS UGLY CRYING, SOBBING, THEY'RE FAMILY, THEY DESERVE TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER, THE LAST OF THE WEN FAMILY AAAA

I am such a sucker for reunited families, families with close bonds, found families, I don't know why, but it strikes me in the heart in such a painful and joyful way.

Zewu Jun, I always have mad respect for this man and I understand how he needs to make his own judgement and not only trust the words of others, I just can't blame him for that. But man was I afraid that he betrayed everyone by actually being 100% on Jin Guangyao's side knowing everything he did in episode 46, but he looked as confused and weirded out as ever so thankfully he isn't on his side anymore, I love this dude, I'm his biggest supporter.

I'll make each of these things their own post because I have so much more I want to say.