#reminder that WWX is the strict parent

[lewiscarrolatemybrain]

I saw a thing — I dunno how accurate it is, but I saw a thing — that said the traditional mindset around martial arts is that parents should not teach their own children, even if the parent is an absolute master, because naturally you’ll be less willing to beat the crap out of your own actual kid and therefore actually stall their progress. Even if you try to be strict and have high expectations, you’ll still end up stalling their progress because you won’t force them to push through their own discomfort as far or as frequently as you probably would to just one more student.

And now I’m picturing Sizhui raised by Wangxian and all the other juniors commenting that the Lan sword master and teachers must have really pulled through because everyone knows Hanguang-Jun is so indulgent and doting on his son and there’s no way he would have drilled Sizhui hard enough for him to be as prepared and composed as he is in crisis situations.

Sizhui, who has spent his entire life dealing with Wei Wuxian’s “teach kids to swim by throwing them directly into the water without warning and only intervene if they look like they are actively drowning” approach, just sits there like 🙃

[pumpkin-master]

So like, I know MDZS has that whole Wei Wuxian's smile is a very nice and bright thing going on and he's a pretty cheerful, optimistic and carefree guy right? In addition to that he has adopted siblings who he loves more than the world, questionable parental figures, an antagonistic view towards strict rules, and a deep love for all his precious people.

You know who this reminds me of?

Monkey D. Luffy

The obvious

Luffy is almost always seen and described with his trademark 'D' smile which is bright and happy to everyone who sees it. Both of them are people who will absolutely go to the ends of the world to make their precious people happy as well as protect them.

Family

It's also fair to take into account their familial situations, with WWX obviously not having any contact with any sort of relative of his. The closest we get, in fact, is probably Xiao XingChen, who is technically not even blood related.

Jiang Fengmian technically counts as his uncle but just barely because he knew WWX's dad very well.

And now when you look at Luffy, obviously his Dad is alive and we know Jack about his mom, but both are noticeably absent from their child's life. The only "parental" figures in his life (if you can even call them that despite how much I love them.) are Dadan and Garp.

(I'm sorry to say that Shanks doesn't count despite how much it hearts my heart. But he's more of an idol to Luffy and was only around for maybe a year at most in Fuscha? Though I guess you can call him a parental figure if you squint, but even then he's an active pirate and that alone warrants the 'questionable' title.)

And look, Dadan...is a mountain bandit and clearly not the 'parental' type, despite how much she loves ASL, and Garp... Well, do I need to say anything there? Sicked his grandchildren onto a mountain bandit and regularly put them into dangerous situations in order to become stronger. I don't doubt he loves them, but he's just not fit for raising a child as we've seen.

You could fit Makino if you really tried but she's more like the kind older sister type than a mom.

Onto the siblings, both WWX and Luffy were brought into an already existing sibling dynamic, e.i. WWX with Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli & Luffy with Ace and Sabo. Both had a bit of a hard time entering the dynamic for differing reasons (JC because he was mad that his dogs were sent away and Ace just didn't want Luffy around until he stuck up for them with Bluejam). This is an interesting similarity because they are such differing ways to enter similar dynamics.

Views on Authority

Moving onto how they view the world, both of these characters dislike strict authority, obviously they both recognize that there needs to be some authority to regulate and decide certain matters, but strict stifling authority is where these characters start getting itchy.

Some obvious examples include WWX and the rules of Cloud Recesses, be constantly complained about them and he questioned how the disciples and sect Members even survived there. Another honorable mention should probably be the Wen clan indoctrination and how that whole bit went down.

For Luffy, I feel like I shouldn't need to mention the whole Pirates vs Marines since it's kind of a given, but for this I specifically mean the "hard" justice that many seem to have, like Akainu and the world government. Who just seem to wipe islands off the map willy and just assassinate any other opposition.

I should mention that both of these characters are fine with normal authority, each sect for WWX has their own governing style and enforcement but unless it's a problem for everyone else, they don't really do much. And Luffy is fine with fair authority given by how he treats Boa who is queen of Amazon lily, Momonosuke who is supposed to be Shogun and treats him as such, King Riku as well as Viola and Rebecca who are princesses. He simply treats everybody the same but he respects their position for the most part.

Friends and Precious people

Now, the most obvious thing here is that these characters will move the heavens, part the seas, and raise the dead for their precious people (sometimes literally). They both take Honor to their promises extremely seriously, WWX owed a life debt to Wen Qing and her brother for saving them and doing the core transfer (as well as WWX just not excusing what are essentially concentration camps), so he repaid the action by saving the remnants and he promised to bring Wen Ning back to life. Which as we all know, he did.

And that's not even saying like I mentioned that he gave his golden core to his brother since he lost it to the Melting hand, and before THAT he was willing to give up his hand so the Wens would forgive the sect. It’s also notable that he promised Madam Yu he would protect Jiang Cheng with his life, and, well, everything that happened afterward should tell you he did his best!

To say he takes his honor and promises seriously is an understatement. Yet the same is also true with Luffy.

We all know that Luffy is big on promises and his nakama, a huge part of One piece is demonstrating how far he and his crew go for their friends and comrades. Some examples of major things like this are:

Arlong Park and helping nami

Promising Laboon to come back and fight him

Helping Vivi defeat crocodile

Saving Robin at Ennies Lobby

Promising to help Brook reunite with Laboon

Literally all of Marineford (despite how it ends, the effort alone Luffy put into saving his brother should tell you enough)

Fishman island

Liberating Dressrosa

Wano (literally what do I need to say there? It speaks for itself)

I might have missed a few and others may not have made it but these are the biggest displays of Luffy loyalty and promises.

It is also notable that if you feed Luffy, he will repay it. That is a threat. Tama fed him once in Wano and after realizing that was her last bow of rice and the whole issue with the country, he literally fought to liberate the country with a whole army.

Symbolism

Theres a lot more I could say but the last things I will dig into is this. Both Luffy and WWX have constant symbolisms of ‘Freedom’, whether they’re quite literal or more nuanced.

WWX always has had a carefree character and this is displayed in numerous ways, like how he named his sword “whatever” or how how he’s unashamed to show his more childish side at times (“Xian Xian is three!”). His flippant attitude towards authority tells you enough but he’s also prone to use the punishment against the punisher by finding a way to make it entertaining for him. (I.e. annoying Lan Wangji and provoking Wen Chao.)

This is also just in general that his name is symbolism towards his character, with how Wei Wuxian means “no/without envies” which really gives you an idea about his personality. I’m not a mandarin speaker nor even attempting to learn it, so more information his name and it’s symbolism can be found on this post.

Now Luffy, we can’t exactly say the aumbolism isn’t hitting us in the fact with all the sun motifs and it literally being mentioned multiple times as “warrior of liberation”, “joyboy” and whatnot.

But Luffy’s smile and constant laughter is associated Nika the sun god who was a warrior who fought for freedom and s the god slaves pray to in secret. (And supposedly based on an actual diety whom i don’t actually remember the origins of right now.)

And with the Sun symbolism (this is honestly now head canon territory) but the thousand sunny being a ship that carries the fruit of the sun god doesn’t seem like a coincidence, and another is that Luffy’s straw hat being something akin to a halo is a pretty neat idea.

Conclusion

Both of these characters are some of my favorite in media and the similarities between symbolism and parallels they have with each other is insane, I honestly hope people see that this type of characterization is very fun and amazing.

But honestly i just wanted to write a character analysis with these two cause they are my fav bois haha.

[mxtxfanatic]

I'm a bit confused about the difference between emotional energy and romantic tension LOL

I was having a discussion with someone about this related to MDZS and they were saying how JC and WWX had a lot of emotional energy with them serving as thematic foils to each other. Wangxian was told but not shown, which makes zero sense to me. Just because the major conflict is between two characters doesn't imply the existence of romantic feelings. I don't like misreading emotional energy as subtext because that never works out well especially if the author doesn't have the time to develop romance.

It kinda reminds me of the ATLA shipping war, which I didn't care for. I feel like you and your moots gave a good grasp of themes and characters, so I'm hoping you can explain this to me.

If I’m getting this right, you want 1) to know the difference (if there is one) between emotional energy and romantic tension, and 2) what the difference between chengxian and wangxian is, possibly with a discussion of subtext. I’ll answer these questions cause my brain is a little muddled at the moment.

So first up: emotional energy vs. romantic tension. For one, I’ve never heard of “emotional energy” before lmao, but on that note, emotional energy can be literally anything. You have emotional energy towards a parent that you love, or the really strict teacher whose voice you still hear criticism in, or that one asshole from your job you wish would get fired. None of that inherently opens the door to romance, and most people would balk at thinking of any of these relationships as romantic just because they’re relationships in which intense feelings are felt. Saying that feeling any intense emotion towards someone in which you are in a platonic relationship with = harboring (known or unrecognized) romantic feelings for them is ridiculous bullshit.

Now onto Wangxian vs. Chengxian. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng have “emotional energy” because they are stuck in a relationship forged by Jiang Fengmian’s wish for his son to have a friend and maintained by the multitude of debts that the Jiang Clan pile on him via jfm and Madam Yu. However, a lot of these feelings are one-sided. Jiang Cheng feels inferiority, envy, and later on, hatred towards Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian in his first life felt a bond with Jiang Cheng that he seemed to feel for all his martial siblings: a bond of those learning under the same clan/sect. Later, that bond is replaced with debt, and in his second life, wwx only has mild pity left for jc. They mutually choose not to rekindle any relationship at the end, either negative or positive. Notice how none of these feelings are romantic. To say that Wei Wuxian harbors romantic feelings for Jiang Cheng is like someone saying you harbor romantic feelings for your childhood bully who you were forced to spend time with because his parents guilted you into being his only friend. Likewise, to say that Jiang Cheng harbors romantic feelings for Wei Wuxian is like someone saying you harbor a crush on the one kid that your mom always compared you to and said you’d never be as good as. Also that they may be your secret half-sibling and the reason your parents hate each other and your dad hates you, specifically. Also, jc is a canonical homophobe, so… For Chengxian, people can ship it all they want, but it is purely fanon not supported by any adaptation. Not every emotion is innately tied to love or romance, and throwing “subtext” around doesn’t give you legitimacy. Subtext is when a creator can’t or won’t explicitly name the thing but they drop enough clues for people to piece it together, anyways. Bubbline from Adventure Time is subtext for most of the show; we literally see then go on dates and blush around each other, but we only see them kiss in the finale and be a couple in the post-canon specials. The definition of “subtext” is not “these characters have a relationship, therefore I ship them romantically regardless of what the source material says about them.”

In the case of Wangxian, though, this is not subtext and is explicitly romantic. Wei Wuxian constantly thinks of Lan Wangji as the most beautiful man he’s ever met. He constantly wants his attention and to be in his presence as a teen. He daydreams about living with Lan Wangji on a little farm. In his second life, he actively flirts with the man, even after his cover is blown, and he is the one to kiss Lan Wangji during drunk shenanigans #2 and tip the boundary into having sex in drunk shenanigans #3. We don’t get a lot of Lan Wangji’s thoughts from wwx’s first life as it happens, but we see later that he always tried to stick up for wwx, kept everything wwx ever gave him (most of which were just offhanded objects wwx only used to tease him), he adopted the other man’s son. He tells his brother that he wants to bring wwx home to hide him in the exact mimicry of his parents most definitely not platonic relationship. None of this is platonic, none of it is subtext, and none of this is “only told.”

In short, tell whoever it is you were talking to—if you’re even still talking to them at all—that they don’t need to justify shipping by pretending that there’s proof of it being canon. We’d get a lot farther in these discussions if people just accepted that they like certain relationship dynamics over others instead of twisting a source to legitimize their likes/dislikes. Chengxian is not canon, was never meant to be canon and therefore will never be canon. Wangxian is the couple the book is written about. Don’t like the wangxian couple, don’t read the wangxian book.

[guqin-and-flute]

Do you have any tips for writing Jin Ling?

SORRY THAT THIS IS A MILLION YEARS LATE AHH!!

So, it's interesting because, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think that I actually write canon!Jin Ling very often. Most of the things that I write where Jin Ling shows up, it's an AU where his circumstances have either changed drastically or he just doesn't exist (as in Peony to Lotus). Writing a Jin Ling whose parents lived will be a very different kid to the Jin Ling that we all know and love.

I suppose I would say start by looking at themes that continuously come up for him in canon--his parents and their absence in his life, not wanting to be looked down on, being independent, being seen as competent, argumentative, fearing vulnerability and people who invite him to be vulnerable, Fairy. Can act aggressive when he is caught off guard or embarrassed (WWX saving him from the cursemark) but doesn't actually seem to be too invested in his reputation being hurt (not being shamed when he's asked 'you named your dog FAIRY?' His response was basically 'Yeah, and what of it?') He is brave, even sometimes foolhardy and will often rush into situations, both social and otherwise, without thinking first. His respect is often grudging unless it's for his Uncles and he's not too interested in being polite, though he is not unnecessarily cruel. Also keep in mind that different people will see different things in Jin Ling!

When I'm trying to be consistent in my characterization of people, I often keep a list of traits, quirks, and reminders for myself about them. Usually I derive these from watching their source material again, but also other places--like other media or things I experience in my day to day. For example, if someone has a really different way of looking at something than I do--like a situation or conversation or even just a movie--sometimes I think about what sort of character might have that same outlook (not immediately, generally, I can finish conversations 😂).

Example: this is currently my list about Lan Qiren in the A-Fu Verse:

LQR

Can be physically affectionate when worried

Chills out a little after LWJ was punished in CQL/future

Canonically ‘instructed [twin jades] in an extremely strict way’ and ‘hates people who misbehave’

Shows care by pointing out the thing that can go wrong--caution, pessimism

It's not all encompassing because I'm mostly writing down the things I want to make sure I don't forget about the character.

[llycaons]

ep33 (3/3): lwj earring indulgence

people rarely make wwx as self-possessed or confident as he is in canon. I'll read fic where he's like 'lan zhan I am so sorry for breathing in your direction thank you so much for giving me a square mat to sleep on I promise to behave' and he'll be SO insecure and hesitant when that's really not him! for the most part he doesn't shy away from confronting lwj or getting into his business

it's just that lwj doesn't tell him shit bc he doesn't want wwx to feel obligated to lwj which is a great impulse but wwx also likes knowing how much people care about him so it's a bit of double-edged sword?

they're helpfully reminding us that this kid's name is yuan too

this made me laugh so hard. he's standing there with his ORIGINAL FACE in his classic black robes and red ponytale, playing a flute, and he thinks playing badly is a disguise? and THEN lwj gets mad at him for fumbling their song lmao

but wwx needn't have bothered bc lqr didn't realize anyway due to being comatose. until wwx woke him up with his bad flute playing

lqr having such a strong reaction to a flute is funny bc was he even on the front lines in sunshot? they said he didn't leave the mountain very often and it's not like he's a warrior. he's probably never seen wwx play

one of his top expressions

lwj is quite strict with lsz, in his own way. not in an aggressive way, but VERY expectant of obedience

there's one single female disciple here and she stayed in the back the entire conversation before coming forward for the water basin. what, are female disciples servants who are only used for healing?

this looks so cool. green suits wwx really well honestly

perhaps I have been unfair to lsz given how annoying his character is in fanfics and how obvious of a plot device he is. but he's a nice boy, and to my surprise he's also smart!! look at him thinking through problems!

encouraging to see wwx express sentiments that before his death, he really needed someone to tell him

coming back, I think he's become in a certain sense resigned to the things in his life that happened. no use getting angry or upset over them, some things you just can't change. and this is really sad, but it's also, hopefully, indicative of a more healthy mindset in his second life

"I naturally trust you' and that's what he needs to hear, baby

also seeing them standing together makes those 'huge top' fics so funny. they are literally almost exactly the same body type and build. no lwj is not a head taller. no he is not built like a brick shithouse, his hands are not large enough to encircle wwx's waist. if anything he is slightly taller and more slight in build, where wwx is slightly bulkier. but I think his height is because of his heeled boots

damn the jingshi is really so nice. I love hat porch area and the bridge over there.

right after wwx said 'it's pointing at the person who told it to commit crimes' ljy jumped and then glared at wwx haha

omg HORSES! I didn't know they used horses! wwx bouncing like a bobblehead hehe. and all the fics insisting he only uses little apple

HANGUANG-JUN PIERCED EARS SHOT. taking this to headcanon that lwj wears earrings. let lej be a little gnc. as a treat.

this was such a strange moment. lwj walked off and left wwx behind entirely. why???

oh and this was funny. this guy seling ugly portraits that wwx took offense to

THERE HE IS!!! THE MOST DISASTER BABY OF THEM ALL!!!!

this kid kicked a civilian in the chest for saying the name 'wei wuxian' in public. he might have already been sensitive and prone to fights, but clearly his parenting has been ABYSMAL

by 'his uncle' he is talking about jc. btw. I originally thought he was referring to himself, but it just makes more sense. ha.

I hate the fairy scene possible more than any other scene in this show. why is his face so comedically twisted? why is his running so stupid-looking? unbelievable that this happened in the same episode that made me cry my eyes out

personal highlights

oh the rite of spring was INSPIRED

all of wwx's crying this episode. all of it. beautiful

cgi sword stabbing a hand my beloved <3 <3 <3

lwj's broken little 'wei ying' at the very end

everything about the jingshi opening scene. the music. the lighting. the atmosphere. the calm

wwx seeing his younger and more innocent self frolic about. as stated, I was inconsolable. I've always liked it but after today, it's going to be a very special scene to me

lwj's sexy whip scars and mysterious chest brand. can't help it. I love them. and wwx's seriousness and care during that scene was really nice too

lqr being roused by bad flute music, yelling at them to stop, then slipping into a coma and wwx sitting there like 😬 'whoops' with that funny face

wwx sitting with the bamboo background looking all cool

[robininthelabyrinth]

How about a canon divergence where wen qing doesn't bump into wwx but instead bumps into nhs and nmj. Would it be a tragedy or a fixit? Would nhs temper nmj's hatred for wens? Would nmj act honorably at seeing the old men and women and children doing hard labor or would he only see the clan he hates?

1

It was Nie Huaisang’s fault, probably. Someone tripped over someone else’s feet, and then he apologized and she apologized and then they both apologized, and then there was the whole “you go first, no you go first” dance and anyway eventually Nie Mingjue stormed over to yell at his younger brother for wasting time. He took one look at the ash-faced girl, caught her by the shoulder and said, “Aren’t you that Wen Qing? I used to see you at discussion conferences – what are you doing here?”

The whites of her eyes showed in her terror, and he scowled fiercely. “I don’t slay unarmed women or children outside of combat,” he said. “The question was literal – what are you doing here? The Jin sect said they resettled the remnants of the sects somewhere they wouldn’t make trouble.”

Wen Qing pressed her lips together, then couldn’t help herself and snarled, “If you call hard labor camps where everyone dies ‘resettled’ – they took away my baby brother! They took me to another city, I didn’t want to leave him, but I didn’t have a choice and when I returned…my brother’s as soft as yours – they’re going to kill him!”

Nie Mingjue’s scowl deepened, and his eyes flickered over to Nie Huaisang, the words ‘hard labor’ clearly ringing through his mind and struggling with his deep and abiding hatred for the Wen sect, the memories of Nie Huaisang being snatched away from him and sent to an indoctrination camp to be used as live bait. The very reminder of it made his face black in anger. 

Nie Huaisang looked between the two of them and covered his face with a fan. “Dage,” he said, and his voice helped break through the haze of anger. “Maybe we should – check?”

It’s not like we trust the Jins, given the way they want to be the next Wens, he meant, and maybe there’s a little bit of Isn’t our sect’s guiding principle to stamp out evil wherever it’s encountered, human or not?

2

“Sect Leader Nie, I demand an explanation!” Jin Guangshan shouted. “You cannot barge into my territory, threaten my sect’s disciples, take away the prisoners won at war –”

“I’m not so blind as to tell the difference between captivity and torture unto death,” Nie Mingjue snarled in return, not even slightly moved. “Not only did I take the prisoners from Qiongqi Path, I demand you turn over every other one you have, no matter where –”

“Those were legitimately captured prisoners of war! We took them instead of spoils –”

“If the allocation of every penny matters so much to you, you may have the spoils seized by my Nie sect in exchange,” Nie Mingjue said, flicking his sleeve disdainfully. It couldn’t be more obvious what his implication was: that the Jin sect, despite all its riches, cared more for money than for honor.

Jin Guangshan’s eyes narrowed. “It’s most unlike you to get up in arms defending Wens, Sect Leader Nie; wasn’t it just yesterday that you called them all Wen-dogs and sought their utter destruction?”

Nie Mingjue sneered at him, but he continued, oily smile spreading on his face like a stain, “It couldn’t be that Sect Leader Nie has changed his implacable mind so quickly – perhaps it is the pressure of war on a man so young…you should take care for your health, make sure you’re not being unduly confused. People in your family die so very young, after all.”

“Enough nonsense,” Nie Mingjue said, eyes very nearly red in anger. “If my mind is so unclear, why did you choose to follow me during battle? When Wen Ruohan threatened, you dithered and delayed, and when there was no other choice but war, my blade was strong enough for you to hide behind, but when we have peace you rush to the front to claim a position that shouldn’t even exist – no one should be Chief Cultivator, Sect Leader Jin, no sect placing themselves and their own interests above another’s! But if the alternative is you, perhaps I should strive for it after all!”

3

“Is your brother actually going to try to be Chief Cultivator?” Wen Ning asked Nie Huaisang shyly; he was the only Wen currently inside the Unclean Realm, on account of needing heal his injuries. The remainder were all living in a small valley not far away where Nie sect cultivators kept a close watch.

Nie Mingjue hated injustice above all else, even Wens, but only by the smallest margin; in their new homes they were given food and water and medicine, but not freedom. Too many cultivators, male or female, had hidden themselves among the helpless to launch sneak attacks and assassinations; even children could carry a knife and swear to avenge their fallen parents.

Those like Wen Qing were watched most of all – she led one of the Supervision Offices that everyone had so hated, and she did nothing to stop them; she was indifferent to evil, and to Nie Mingjue that was very nearly the same as evil. It was only that the war had been officially ended that held back his hand; if they had still been at war, he would have executed her without so much as blinking an eye.

Still, Wen Qing had told Wen Ning that she was pleased with their current situation. A true prisoner of war camp, however strict, meant that they would be kept safe from all those who sought personal revenge, and Wen Ning couldn’t help but agree that the trade was worthwhile. The Jin had all but sold opportunities to those who wanted to get in a kick at their fallen bodies, just to say they’d been involved in the Sunshot Campaign; the Nie sect had those types of people, too, glaring and hateful, but the Sect Leader’s military discipline made them too afraid to do anything more than raise angry voices – and what were angry voices, compared to angry hands?

After all, if they’d come even a few shichen later – if Nie Mingjue hadn’t already known where the Wens were being kept, due to his position as sect leader, and been able to fly there on his sword at full speed – it would have been too late for him. Wen Ning didn’t even recall exactly what had happened, but two of them had been beating him and the chief inspector hadn’t stopped them, only told them to be sure to throw his body over the cliff when they were done with him…

“No, of course not,” Nie Huaisang said, pretending to be busy by his side. He had no skill at medicine, but it was a way to spend his time that his brother approved of and wouldn’t interrupt, so he came as often as he could. “He hates the idea, thinks it’s rotten to the core – like we’re all a bunch of sheep, needing a shepherd. No, he’s just saying it to annoy and distract Jin Guangshan. Besides, imagine if they made the position inheritable; that would make me the next one, and wouldn’t that be terrible for everyone?”

4

“The children young enough not to remember may join the Nie sect as guest disciples, if they wish,” Nie Mingjue said, his tone brooking no argument. “The adults will remain as they are.”

Wen Qing crossed her arms. “There aren’t many cultivators left among us, and it’s fine for all of those - they’d be happy to take up a life farming,” she said. “But those of us who are already on the path of cultivation should not be stymied –”

“You mean your brother, Wen Ning.” Nie Mingjue had some natural sympathy for her position, due to having his own weak-willed younger brother, but not very much. “No. In the end, he’s a Wen; we will not raise snakes to bite us later.”

“What wrong can you put on my brother’s shoulders beyond his surname?” she challenged. “What evil does he have?”

“Indifference to evil –”

“He was hardly indifferent!” she snapped, pushed beyond her limits. “I told him to do nothing, me, and yet he wouldn’t listen, time and time again. He kept Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng hidden after the destruction of the Lotus Pier, smuggled the latter out, even carried him out on his own back, and if that wasn’t enough, he collected what he could of the Jiang masters’ ashes for them – later, when Wei Wuxian asked me for help, he even –!”

She suddenly seemed to realize she’d said too much and shut her mouth.

Nie Mingjue looked at her thoughtfully. “You’ve already said this much,” he said. “There’s no point in stopping now. What did Wei Wuxian ask you to do?”

5

“Shh, don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Nie Huaisang said, gesturing for Wen Ning to join him in the closet where he was hiding.

Wen Ning, still a little uncomfortable in his new Nie robes, confusedly obeyed, even though he was still sweating from saber practice – he’d had to start over, alongside the children, but to his surprise he’d found that the straightforward brutality of the saber suited some secret resentful part hidden inside of him that wanted nothing more than to chop up everything he saw. “W-what’s going on? Why are we h-hiding? We’re in the Unclean Realm. What can harm us here?”

“Feelings,” Nie Huaisang said. “They’re the worst. My poor brother has to sit out there and listen to it directly, too – the burdens of being Sect Leader. I’m glad it’s not me.”

Wen Ning blinked. “Oh,” he said. “Are Wei-gongzi and Jiang-gongzi still fighting?”

“No, they’ve moved on to crying.”

“They were crying while they were fighting.”

“Yes, well, now they’ve moved to the just crying stage. There’s been lots of hugging, too; they stop for half a breath and then set each other off again, it’s awful. Can’t they be all manly and stoic like we Nie?”

Wen Ning gave Nie Huaisang a doubtful look.

“Well, me excluded, of course,” Nie Huaisang said with a laugh and a wave of his hand. “And anyway, even I only like crying when it’s going to get me something. Or out of something!”

Wen Ning suddenly felt as if he understood much more about his new Sect Leader’s endless frustrations with his younger brother. “But why are you hiding?” he asked.  

“I have a reputation of avoiding work to maintain,” Nie Huaisang said, totally puzzlingly, but a few moments later there was a knock at the closet door.

“Huaisang, I know you’re in there. Get out of there and have an emergency,” Sect Leader Nie said. “Anything, as long as it requires my personal attention, and have it happen as soon as their sister, the young madam Jin, arrives – that’ll just set them all off again, especially as she’s pregnant.” A pause. “Do you think I can order Wen Qing to handle this as part of the terms of her parole?”

[drwcn]

Ok so like

NOT disagreeing with you on the servant thing - for I'm sure you're right on that

But i feel like YZY was more than simply aggressive. Like, the novel even says that she punished WWX for things everyone else did and got a slap on the wrist, if that. I won't rlly get into the customs and politics of it, but from a psychological point, she was an abusive authority figure

oh 100% she had it out for wwx, i’m not disagreeing on that part at all. I think ppl think I’m like out here defending her aggressive behaviour, and I’m not doing that. 

I’m just saying sometimes i think people forget she’s not wwx’s mom and they treat her like she is, or analyze her relationship with wwx with the same criteria they use on her relationship with jc and jyl and i’m just like...guys pls it’s not even remotely the same. 

And then ppl are like oh it doesn’t matter, wwx is a kid, you can’t treat a kid like etc etc etc, and yeah they’re right. You shouldn’t mistreat a child, ever, period, full stop. And this will sound like the weirdest fucking shit ever, but I gotta be honest: if YZY was a character on Game of Thrones, I’d 100% be like yo this shit is fucked. But YZY is an asian mom, so I look at that and I’m like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can’t explain it, but what I feel makes sense to me, and based on the comments I’m getting in my inbox, it makes sense to A LOT of asians and asian diasporas out there. We just...don’t see it as abuse. You can tell us we’re wrong, fine okay we’re wrong, you win, but that’s not gonna change how we feel about yzy or about our own parents. 

Look, my parents never beat me. Imma lay that out there. As strict as they were, they did not condone corporal punishment and I don’t condone it, I would never in a million years. Still, I look at YZY and I’m like lol yeah I’ve been yelled at like that plenty. Literally lol. 

And I will quote my roommate who is also cn-diaspora, very in touch with her roots, very deep in BL novel culture, she read the original mdzs in chinese before cql came out on netflix (actually she was the one who introduced me to it), she said to me: omg are they claiming that’s abuse. If that’s abuse, then my mom is abusive, and all our parents are abusive. 

So to the non-cn, non-cn diaspora people who are pissed off about my yzy stance: okay, be pissed off, don’t let me tell you how you should feel. If yzy triggers you, then she triggers you. Plain and simple and valid.  Sometimes what you feel and how you see that character is not always what that character was meant to be (for example I fucking hate canon wen ning lol). Ultimately, yzy wasn’t written for you, she was written by and for a demographic that you don’t belong to and whose experiences and perceptions of the world you don’t share. Of course she’s going to elicit difference responses from different groups of people. 

All I’m trying to point out at the end of the day is that yzy wasn’t meant to be this abusive terrible stepmother that tumblr fandom has somehow indicted her to be; she really wasn’t. I don’t think mxtx meant for it to be seen that way. In fact, I think she was meant to be kind of tragic. But if her portrayal reminds ppl of the unpleasantness in their lives then that’s also perfectly valid. I don’t think there has to be an argument over this. 

[vrishchikawrites]

WWX being the strict parent while HGJ is the spoiling parent… Reminds me of the Yiling date scene where A-Yuan wants grass butterfly but WWX goes (Oh see that? It’s cute right A-Yuan? Nah you’re not getting it. Now, feel free to stare but I’m not buying it for you.) Meanwhile LWJ sees A-YUAN wanting the toy, immediately fish out his pouch and bought him as many toys For A-Yuan.

Strict parent WWX and Spoiling parent LWJ can be testified by LSZ who embarrassingly remembers WWX taking him stalls to stalls for toys but never buying them (Understandable because they are broke, but not even one, WWX? And bury A-yuan in the turnip is… a unique parenting that is for certain) (I am surprised WWX didn’t flirt out of his ways to buy toys for A-Yuan since he could do that yknow)

I mean, he was broke and when you're broke, every penny counts. But! I also think it was a sly tactic to manipulate LWJ and a-Yuan both. a-Yuan gets a toy and becomes more comfortable with LWJ and poor LWJ doesn't have to deal with a child who's scared of him because you know it gotta hurt his soul. Bonus points, WWX doesn't have to pay for the toys.

Everyone wins. That's just like WWX, lmaoo

[satan-chillin]

Spirited Away

Wei Ying, abandoned and homeless in the middle of a snowstorm, is spirited away by an entity that must have been the White Ghost.

He's brought home.

(Or WenZhou adopts WWX. The Fic.)

Also available in Ao3

❆❆❆

Wei Ying exhaled hotly against the cusp of his palms and shivered.

The snow had raged for days without letting up, and the cold did nothing on the itchy scabs of dog bites on his arms and the hunger squeezing his stomach. Wei Ying hunched into himself further. This would pass, though whether it was the snowstorm or the pain of his wounds or the hunger, he couldn’t say.

Carefully, he broke half of the molded baozi and then broke the half again into two; this way, the baozi would last him another three days. Hopefully, the remaining pieces wouldn’t be spoiled by then.

He was thirsty after a single bite that it took him to eat. Nothing filling, as usual, but it would be enough for now and something that sleep could improve through the night. The upside of having a snowstorm was the lack of nocturnal predators also hunting for food, therefore less to worry about whether he’d wake up mauled on the sidewalk. Curling himself into a ball in order to preserve what little body heat that he could, he prepared for sleep. He tended to sleep easier these days, tired and worn out as he was even without moving about much.

Wei Ying must have fallen asleep immediately that night and was quickly lulled into a dream because the next thing he knew, he could make out a vague shape of someone approaching him.

White. White as the storm of snow. Long white hair and robes billowed in the harsh wind. A ghost, Wei Ying thought immediately. He had heard of tales of a white ghost around the town, one that would eat unruly children who strayed out of their beds late at night. He used to believe that the white ghost had yet to find him, though now that he was found, oddly enough, he was not afraid.

Not when a pale hand reached for him, tender atop his head. Blearily, Wei Ying stared at the face and couldn’t seem to focus on anything else aside from the sudden warmth coursing from his head to toe. If the White Ghost would eat him, he wouldn’t mind as long as he got to be this warm forever.

“Sleep, little one,” came from a voice that was seemingly carried by the wind. “I’ll bring you home.”

Home. Wei Ying would love to go home.

❆❆❆

Wei Ying woke on an actual bed and with a man hovering over him by the bedside.

“You’re awake,” said the stranger with a tentative smile. He made no move to come closer, looking unsure the longer Wei Ying stared at him, the silence spanning between them. “I brought food.”

Wei Ying did not shy away from the tray laid before him. He took a bite out of the bread and drank deeply from the cup of tea. He almost choked if not for the man’s sudden alarm, gently patting his back and encouraging him to eat slowly. He reached for the soup before Wei Ying could, taking a spoonful and blowing before feeding it to him. Wei Ying obediently opened his mouth, delighted at the right temperature of the soup.

By the third spoonful, the man sheepishly brought down the spoon, murmured an apology, and asked him if he’d rather eat by himself. Wei Ying did not mind one bit, did not understand what the apology was for, and boldly requested to be helped with the soup. Something shifted on the man’s expression, his previous smile turning soft and sure when he assisted Wei Ying with the food, occasionally pausing to let him drink the tea or take a bite of the bread first.

“I’d get you more, but maybe later, once your stomach settles,” the man said. “It’ll hurt if you suddenly eat too much.”

Wei Ying remembered the baozi he kept under his robes, though upon touching his clothes he discovered that they were no longer the dirty ones he had slept in for as long as he could recall. The one he was wearing felt nice and soft and clean, something new and in the color of light blue with long sleeves that hid the bite marks on his forearms. He checked on his scabbing wounds and stared at them in wonder seeing as they were almost gone.

“A good friend of mine is a healer. He came by last week to take a look at you,” the man told him. “And Lao Wen made sure to apply medicine on them every day.”

Wei Ying did not know this Lao Wen—and what did he say? “Last week?” he asked, voice hoarse from sore throat. Wordlessly, the man handed him a cup of lukewarm water.

“What do you remember?”

“Snow,” Wei Ying answered. “Lots of it.” He frowned to himself, mind clicking on a significant memory. “The White Ghost came for me last night.”

The man blinked, a hint of amusement in his raised brows. “White Ghost?”

Wei Ying nodded eagerly. “It must be him because of his white hair. He also wears white. They say he eats unruly children who don’t return home in time.”

That earned him a snort, a grin lighting up the man’s face. He had a pleasant face, Wei Ying realized. “Ah, Lao Wen doesn’t eat unruly children, I assure you, not when he can be unruly as a child himself,” he said with a shake of his head. “He brought you here roughly three weeks ago. From what I understand, it was a long journey back from where he picked you up to here, and you had a fever during the trip.” He glanced at Wei Ying’s thin wrists peeking from his sleeves. “Ten days later, he arrived home with you.”

Oh. So this was the home the White Ghost was pertaining to. Wei Ying’s eyes darted around the room. It wasn’t cold here despite the snow he could see still falling outside the window that painted a night sky, and there was food.

“You’re in the Four Seasons Manor,” the man said as if reading Wei Ying’s mind. “Forgive my manners, my name is Zhou Zishu. Later, you’ll meet Lao Wen. What do I call you?”

“Wei Ying. My name is Wei Ying.” Wei Ying liked Zhou Zishu already for the sole reason that he did not ask where his parents were; he honestly had no idea. “Can I live here?”

“Of course,” Zhou Zishu said without hesitation, though his palm hovered uncertainly over Wei Ying’s head as if silently asking for permission. Wei Ying beamed up at him, inching closer to his side that had Zhou Zishu smiling. “This can be your home, Wei Ying, if you want.”

“I do!” It wasn’t as if Wei Ying had anywhere else to go, and it must have shown in his face judging from the flicker of Zhou Zishu’s expression. “I will help around, I promise!”

Zhou Zishu tsked amusedly. “Don’t make that promise when you haven’t seen the entire place yet.” He stood. “It’s better if you go back to rest, but I won’t stop you if you want to stretch your legs.”

Wei Ying felt the length of time he spent lying down on the bed through shaky knees, and Zhou Zishu was instantly there to carry him instead in his arms. Wei Ying automatically circled his neck, hooking his chin on Zhou Zishu’s shoulder.

“Right. You can stretch your legs later. I’ll carry you for now. Is that alright?” Zhou Zishu asked him. “If you fell asleep, then I’ll bring you back here.”

Wei Ying gave him an affirmative, liking the sound of that. Zhou Zishu swaddled him with a thick blue robe that was twice Wei Ying’s size before bringing him outdoors where the breeze swept the last dredges of snow. A firm hand stroked Wei Ying’s back comfortingly as they took a sedate trip around the manor. Zhou Zishu explained to him which was which, whose room was whose, pointing at specific locations. Later, he would let Wei Ying pick out his own room.

Wei Ying could not pinpoint what hour it was in the evening. It was quiet enough that he’d think only Zhou Zishu originally lived there; he did mention that he had some disciples and that if Wei Ying wanted he could join them once he recovered.

“But I already recovered,” he protested. “I can join them tomorrow.” He looking forward to meeting other children that he couldn’t wait to play and train with them.

“Not yet, brat. Give it another three days at least.”

Wei Ying pouted. “A-niang said my golden core is strong so I heal quick.”

“Golden core?” Zhou Zishu paused, thoughtful. “Your parents are cultivators?”

Wei Ying nodded. “They left for a night-hunt. They never came back.”

A frown creased Zhou Zishu’s forehead before a sigh escaped him. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure they were good people.”

His parents were never called ‘good’ by anyone who took one glance at Wei Ying, who was a homeless boy anyone would take pity in and promptly forgot once they crossed over to the next street.

“Do you want to be a cultivator like them someday?” Zhou Zishu asked.

“Maybe,” Wei Ying muttered. “I don’t know. Are you also a cultivator?”

“No. The Four Seasons Sect is not a cultivation sect. Not that kind of cultivation, at least. Though I can teach you its foundations: martial arts and the way of the sword, and help you develop your own body and spirit in order to prepare both for cultivation.” Zhou Zishu peered at him. “How about that?”

If Wei Ying couldn’t learn cultivation here, then that meant he would have to eventually leave and learn somewhere. Wei Ying did not want to, not so soon. His hold tightened, though Zhou Zishu hardly minded.

“Don’t overthink. You’re young, it won’t happen for years,” Zhou Zishu reminded him. “I’m a strict teacher, Wei Ying. I won’t deem you ready unless I say so.”

“Okay,” Wei Ying whispered elatedly. He would be a good student… or not if it meant staying here longer.

“And there’s also Lao Wen. He also teaches here.”

Wei Ying blinked at Zhou Zishu. “The White Ghost?”

“White Ghost doesn’t sound bad as far as titles go.”

There was a new voice from behind. The same white robes and the same flowing white hair from Wei Ying’s dreamlike memory. Like a floating ghost, he was quiet when he approached them, and Wei Ying stared at how the faint moonlight was caught at the White Ghost’s head.

The White Ghost pursed his lips at Zhou Zishu. “Isn’t it past bedtime for sightseeing?” At Wei Ying, he smiled fondly. “How are you, little one?”

“I’m good!” Wei Ying said, perhaps with a cheer that the White Ghost did not expect. “A-Shu toured me around the manor.”

“ A-Shu?” Delightfully, he addressed Zhou Zishu, “I see you already endeared yourself to the child you thought I kidnapped.”

“You—Do you even know his name before you picked him up?” Zhou Zishu demanded. He sighed exasperatedly at the shrug he received in return and the conspiratorial smirk the White Ghost shared with Wei Ying. “This is Wei Ying, Lao Wen. Wei Ying, that man you called the White Ghost is Wen Kexing, but he’s known as Lao Wen.”

“Wei Ying,” the White Ghost—Wen Kexing—Lao Wen—tested his name. “You have a good name, little one.” Delicately, he tucked a stray lock of Wei Ying’s hair behind his ear. “You can call me Lao Wen.”

“But you don’t look old,” Wei Ying pointed out. “Can I call you A-Xing?”

Wen Kexing’s laugh rang like a chime in the silence of the evening. “This little one is not shy at all.” He grinned. “I think we’ll get along really well.”

“He has a name,” Zhou Zishu interrupted. “And don’t encourage him to be troublesome!” he reprimanded. “He’s going to be a promising student of mine.”

“Aiyah, A-Xu, can’t he be both? Besides, he’ll be my student too, and I’ll teach him the ways of a proper gentry.” Wen Kexing winked at Wei Ying. “Would you like that, little one?”

Wei Ying believed he would. His father had mentioned studying before, though his mother would rather he play instead, so he never had the chance to actually sit down and learn, either alone with his father as his tutor or with other children.

He wondered for a moment whether this was also a dream. The last time he closed his eyes to sleep, he was alone outside the cold, freezing and starving and with no one to call; then he woke up somewhere warm and big and comfortable with two nice people, and more he’d meet tomorrow.

A part of him thought he might have been truly eaten by the White Ghost that night, though if he was, it would not be A-Shu carrying him but his quiet father who preferred smiling that private smile of his than speaking, and the one with the nice-looking face and draped in all white would not be A-Xing but his mother from his vague memories of her.

Maybe someday he’d see clearer faces of his parents, but not anytime soon when he had just committed A-Shu and A-Xing’s faces to memory and when Wei Ying started to picture himself growing familiar with them instead.

Wei Ying grinned excitedly at what tomorrow would bring. “I’d like that.”

[crossdressingdeath]

There was a post on twitter I lost the link for but the person explained the rules in the Cloud Recessess are meant to be like, not exactly a joke, but something to kinda laugh about because so many of them are just every day common courtesy things. With the ones we do know, it’s canon that many do contradict themselves and need a certain context to work. There’s so many because most are just reminders to be a decent person and have proper manners that people do every day already for the most part.

And we know the wall isn’t an absolute thing. LWJ gets to keep his rabbits at 15/16 despite the no pets rule, and eventually has a whole bunch of them. Many years later, Lil Apple stays there. The Juniors bend the rules often or just outright break them like when sneaking out with WN, and even though they do get punishment with the handstand lines, everyone knows they’ll still do it and don’t actually do anything else to prevent them from doing it. They get punished because they’re still breaking rules, but it’s a punishment that everyone in GusuLan gets so they’re not unreasonable about it.

And context very much matters with WWX getting a “don’t talk to Wei Ying” rule. It’s very clear LQR is having a temper tantrum and most that follow it are just humouring him for now but don’t take it seriously. WWX finds it hilarious because it’s LQR being like that pig and cabbage saying about someone’s child running off “with that horrible boy I don’t approve of”.

WWX doesn’t take it to heart, he thinks it silly but stays out of LQR’s way out of respect. But even with all that throwing a fit, LQR still (reluctantly) acknowledges WWX as someone married into the family. He lets WWX come to a family only banquet as LWJ’s husband. He lets WWX teach the juniors and trusts him to be alone with them. He doesn’t actually go out of his way to make WWX feel isolated and unwanted. He doesn’t draw these vague invisible lines WWX needs to be careful of like that he had to deal with in Lotus Pier.

Sure, WWX is always going to laugh and roll his eyes at that wall of rules, but he understands in the end why they’re there. His own husband is in charge of discipline, yet we’ve seen WWX do the most disciplining with the juniors (that money burning scene is WWX’s horror realizing he’s the strict parent). So if even LWJ is lenient with the rules, WWX definitely knows he can be also to a certain extent.

Oh, absolutely. Clearly there are ways around the rules; LQR seems to be the exception in terms of strictness rather than the rule. At least, both LXC and LWJ (as an adult) are far more lenient than he is, and even LQR is pretty obviously turning a blind eye to things like the rabbits. And yeah, a lot of the rules are like... basic decency things? Those ones are things that most of the Lans would probably be doing anyway. Basically, the rules maybe aren’t as strict as they seem to WWX when he’s there as a disciple. And certainly they aren’t as strict to the husband of the head of discipline!

[minsarasarahair]

Thoughts about WOH episode 15

People might find it dull but it’s actually interesting since this conference will have a big impact to Wen Kexing’s character. I don’t think you will survive the upcoming Winner is King drama(Sha Po Lang Live action) if you can’t handle this politics bc that one is a whole new level. I’m not joking. xD

In this episode, the heroes/martial arts circle had a meeting to give updates to each other. They call it “conference”. In this meeting, they discussed about the glazed armor and their complaints about their leader(Chief Gao Chong). 

At this point, I think Gao Chong is a misunderstood character and I feel bad for him. These people are saying Gao Chong is greedy for power that’s why he hides the glazed armor for himself. But from what I see, Gao Chong really listens to the complaints seriously and let others share their opinions. I mean, if we compare that to MDZS where it’s mostly one sided and want to kill WWX. Only LWJ is against it. But here in WOH, we have two sides. People who believes in Gao Chong and people who doubt Gao Chong’s leadership. Based on ZZS’s comment about Gao Chong, he didn’t gain any benefits from his plans which ZZS find it strange. Maybe he’s just that strict for the sake of peace but people misundestand him? I just don’t like the fact that he suddenly gave all of the responsibility to Chengling and his daughter without asking them! But maybe he thought that’s the best decision he got for peaceful ending. He even added he's willing to become a monk after they defeated the ghost valley and the glazed armor thingy.

The child in wheel chair aka the inventor's child who made the glazed armory look really menacing. Whoever the actor for the role, he did well. I’m scared and suspicious by his presence. If you ask, what's his role in this episode. He's originally going to explain WHY you can't open the glazed armory with only the glazed armor pieces owned by 5 lakes alliance. But for some reason, he betrayed Gao Chong and told everyone that Gao Chong is a bad guy. Everyone is of course, surprised. The people who doubt Gao Chong's leadership became restless.

Funnily enough, ZZS and I share the same wavelength. I also thought Rong Xuan is WKX’s father LMAO! I’m so sorry! But it looks like WKX also hate Rong Xuan very deeply. Anyway, this episode confirmed that WKX hates both sides. The righteous heroes who act as if they are good people and the bad guys in ghost valley who are pretty much open in their bad deeds. So is WKX parents a innocent side character from the Rong Xuan’s incident that became stuck in that chaos?

Seeing WKX watched from the sideline really reminds me of NHS from MDZS lol He looks like a director waiting for his actors to act. But at least WKX felt guilty when innocent people got involved in his mess like the 4 sages. I really like how his character is morally grey. This is what I hate in The Untamed. They blamed everything to JGY lol

I really like the women in this show. Like WKX gave them an order to continue with their job and leave the rest to his plan but they didn’t listen to him and rescue their kin without hesitation LOL Yeah, I’m talking about the beauty ghost and Gu Xiang. They have a will on their own and I love supporting characters like that. 

WKX keep confirming that he never lied to ZZS. Yes, he hides some things about himself but he actually tell the truth about himself very indirectly. For him, he still viewed himself as good person.

So the Changing ghost is the traitor in ghost valley? Well, I guess his white subordinate really deserved to be killed by WKX. Bc WKX mentioned he find it interesting a dog that bark and bites its master. We also see that this ghost is conspiring with the Scorpion’s assassins? Now that I mentioned it, he’s also the one who show a very expressive shocked expression in episode 1 when WKX said someone stole his glazed armor. 

The disciple taking care of by Gao Chong's daughter finally woke up but he's no longer himself. He's now a puppet controlled by a ghost to make chaos in that conference. Since he is a disciple under Gao Chong's sect, Gao Chong probably treasure him bc Gao Chong really look surprised when this disciple stabbed himself after saying Gao Chong is indeed a bad guy.

I really love dominant shou/uke/bottom like ZZS who take control in relationship. Like if WKX don’t listens to him, he will raise his voice to be heard. He's like "Fine, you don't listen to my opinion. Let's just end this relationship." Definitely my aesthetic. Wait until you meet Gu Yun in Sha Po Lang!

What else? Hmm. Ah there was a moment when WKX’s hand is shaking after Gao Chong said that he will still return the things owned by healer valley and such once it calmed down even though those sects are technically gone. I think his hatred for Gao Chong started to waver in that moment? bc Gao Chong show consideration to someone he’s possibly related?

[kazeki15]

MDZS FanFic Common Misleading

So, sometimes I found these misleading to some MDZS fanfic that I have read before. And just want to clarify and write it down here for future reference.

This is ONLY if you want to make the characters, rules, status, etc as close as the original. If you want to make your own kind of jiang cheng or wei wuxian or the other characters with your own rules then it's up to you. Because it is free to write what you like.

Some of these are not applicable if the fics is in different universe

Hope it is easy to understand because my english is bad, and Im still practicing ;_; Sorry if it sounds rude or anything, I'm trying to be polite as much as possible here.

JC address JYL as A-jie/jie/Jie Jie NOT Shijie NEITHER A-li

Yes, I often find fanfic where JC call JYL as shijie (and the author thought it means the same) sometimes A-li (Jiang Cheng is younger guys, you can't carelessly call your older siblings without honorifics in China and some other Asian countries, especially in ancient times, they pay attention to this a lot). Shijie is how you call the female senior disciple, that's why only WWX and maybe other junior disciple call JYL as shijie. A-Jie or jie jie (wen ning use Jie jie) is how they address the older sister. However, in some situation, some people might call a female stranger that looks just slightly older than them as jie jie (like how WWX call the woman who sells loquat in the donghua as jiejie).

JC can't handle spicy food as much as WWX (NOPE, HE CAN)

Sometime I also find some fanfic where they make as if JC can't eat spicy food or can only handle a lil bit of spicy. In one of the audio drama extra eps. JC eat WWX's very spicy congee like it's a normal food without coughing or anything and he said it taste normal. Unless it is clarified that the food is something like "the spiciest food in the world that gives you diarrhea" or something like that in the fic then it is acceptable that JC won't eat it.

If I'm not mistaken I see some parts of the manhua in instagram saying that Yunmeng people love to eat spicy food (so I guess it's their traditional food?). So not only JC and WWX but also the other yunmeng jiang can handle spicy food.

Jiang Cheng to Wei Wuxian

Sure they are brothers in everything but blood. However, Jiang Cheng never say anything about Wei Wuxian is his brother loudly and proudly because he's a tsundere. OUR SALTY YET LOVEABLE UNCLE IS A TSUNDERE.

Titles and Honorifics are IMPORTANT

They always pay attention to title and status. Remember, TITLES and HONORIFICS ARE IMPORTANT. Only the elder or very close family might call LWJ as 'wangji' or 'lan wangji'. The other disciple won't dare to call him 'lan wangji' even if they are on the same generation as him (unless they are WWX because he's shameless, and JC when he's salty and angry). They always address him as 'Second young master lan' or 'Han Guang Jun'. He's a YOUNG MASTER not a COMMONER. Don't make some random disciple calling our Hanguang-Jun as 'Lan Wangji' that is so RUDE.

Even modern China still pay attention for their honorifics (there're a lot). Even those Chinese descendants in any other countries (like mine) still use it. Yes, there are a bunch of it, even the way you call uncle from mother or father's side are different. Eldest, second, third uncles/aunties from both side are different. It is very confusing sometimes I need to ask my mom "What did I supposed to call him again?"

Same goes to the other young master (JZX, NHS, JC, etc)

Gusu lan elders can't accept WWX so they tried to get rid of him by attacking him

(Take time after WWX married to LWJ)

Don't forget. Killing is prohibited in the cloud recesses. Fighting is prohibited in the cloud recesses. They never mention this but I'm sure attacking other people one sidedly is prohibited, especially if they are doing it quietly with no one looking. What can the elders do if they want to complain? Talk. So mostly they can only attack WWX by using words. 'Proper' and 'polite' and no 'yelling'.

Han Guang Jun title

LWJ got this title when he's around 18-20. So when WWX was 15 studying at the Cloud Recesses, LWJ don't have this title yet.

Courtesy Name

They get their courtesy name when they reach around 13-15 y.o. So no courtesy name before that, only their birth name. However, courtesy name can be prepared as early as they want like in Jin Ling's case (but he doesn''t like his courtesy name because it sounds girly).

Only males get courtesy name according to wikipedia.

Actually, in modern AU courtesy name is not really needed (except modern AU with cultivation). However, it's not fun without it so this is also up to you whether to use courtesy name in the modern era or not.

How A-Yuan address himself when he was a child

Whenever baby A-yuan talk to older people he will not use "I" or "me" to address himself but "A-yuan". Not only A-yuan, but most of little children address themselves using their names when they are talking to older people, especially their parents and older siblings.

For example "A-yuan is hungry" instead of "I'm hungry".

A-Yuan's parents AKA WN's & WQ's cousin

The cousin is most likely the FATHER. A-Yuan's surname is Wen (Wen Yuan). By tradition they must follow their father's surname instead of mother UNLESS he was raised with a single-mother who don't know who the father is OR they don't approve the man to be A-Yuan's dad.

Edit: A-Yuan calls Wen Ning as Ning-shushu, shushu is father's younger brother/male cousin

Does Gusu Lan people all vegetarian?

There's no official statement all Gusu Lan must be vegetarian. They eat bitter herbal stuff probably for health and cultivation. However, eating meat is not forbidden for Lan people. Our Jingyi eats chicken wings. Sure he likes to broke so many rules, but there's Sizhui who always remind him, told him to keep his voice low when he's yelling, told him to slow down when he's running, but never stop him eating the chicken wing.

Gusu Lan founder, Lan An, was a monk. According to my research whether a monk allowed to eat meat or not, yes they can. However, do not to have any animal killed for your own satisfaction.

For example, do not order the meat when the animal is still alive. Order whatever that is already cooked.

(Src: mothership 'S’pore monk answers questions on whether Buddhists can eat beef & their dietary restrictions' by Nyi Nyi Thet)

THERE'S NO SUCH A THING AS 'To keep the bloodline pure they get married within the blood relation (inbreeding)

I'm aware there's ancient royal family did this to keep the bloodline pure but this does not apply in China (most likely to the whole Asia). In fact, it is a TABOO to get married to your relative no matter how extended their family is. As long as there's blood relation they can't get married by tradition.

They are still very strict about this even until modern time.

I'm a Chinese descendant, my formal surname is no Chinese name BUT, most of Chinese Descendant have another name which is their chinese name and chinese surname (I'm not sure if it's a surname or something else, we call it 'se' but I'm not sure what it is. But just to makes it easier). My Chinese surname is Tan, and if I want to find a partner I must make sure this person is not Tan, because if he's a Tan he must be a descendant from the same ancestor as mine even though I didn't know this man nor his family at all. Except he's adopted.

In conclusion there's no such thing as 'half-Lan', 'half-Jin', 'half-Jiang', etc.

Yes, I do find a fanfic where our baby Jingyi getting sad ad saying he's not fully a Lan/half Lan, that's why he can't behave properly like how pure blooded Lan. And tbh I can't rly accept this but I'm aware the author have their own freedom to write things.

Ofc I won't stop you if you want to make an AU about the royal family inbreeding.

Wen Qing is a doctor/healer

SHE'S A DOCTOR DO NOT MAKE HER KILL PEOPLE PLEASE. She even said it herself "We are healers, we treat people not to kill them"

So yea, I think that's it for now. Please correct me if there's some mistake with these facts. Thank you

[crossdressingdeath]

(1/3) It always amuses me how stans try to justify JC actions by his abusive upbringing while there were 3 children in that family and both others turned very kind and/or very moral and not at all like JC (and frankly, he didn't even have the hardest position in the dysfunctional dynamic). Or LXC and LWJ whose upbringing was even more screwed up with a LQ who was certainly playing favorites and wanting perfection, and yet this never draw a wedge between them or created any jealousy.

(2/3)LXC loves for LWJ to excel! Same with "but JC had it so hard rebuilding Lotus Pier, WWX was goofing off with the Wens"...JC was paying people to do that for him, yes, while WWX was trying to start from scratch a settlement over a mountain of corpses with a bunch of weak or old people and not to die of hunger comes winter. While separated from all his friends and hated as a monster by the cultivation world. "But JC was so lonely during the 13/16y, so that justifies him lashing out" And WWX

(3/3) was dead, killed by his brother and thinking that there was not a person left on his side in the end, and yet, that didn't make him act like a dick? Or athg else really, because everything that JC went through in the past, WWX did also, but in a worse way because he lost his parents young, lived in the streets, didn't have JC societal privilege or money and has to harness an unstable necromancy practice on top of that. And yet no one uses it as arguments to explain his actions, only for JC 

Honestly? While none of the Jiang kids were in a good position, out of the three of them... JC did have it the easiest. It was still awful for him, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting his childhood didn’t suck, but given it was made very clear to JYL that her only purpose was to be married off to JZX so her mother could tie her bloodline to her best friend’s and WWX was treated like a servant at best... Yeah. If I had to pick, I’d choose having a distant father and dealing with a mother who’s constantly emotionally abusive over having a distant father and dealing with a mother who’s constantly emotionally abusive and being treated like a bargaining chip/treated like a servant and/or bastard and being whipped for actions that would get the rest of the clan a lecture at worst. Again, I’m not saying JC didn’t have it bad, but his siblings having it worse is... interesting, given neither of them decided to be dicks to Literally Everyone over it.

I do have to say, even though this is about JC, there’s nothing suggesting LQR was playing favourites with LXC and LWJ. He was strict, yes, probably stricter than he should’ve been, and LXC probably did get more one-on-one interaction with him, but given LXC was going to be sect leader/became sect leader at a young age that makes sense. This is not super important to the point of this post, but I do find it odd how often people make LQR out to be this horrible person who’s always awful to his nephews because he’s Strict when we... don’t actually know anything about how he raised them. I don’t like him all that much, and he probably didn’t do a fantastic job of raising them, but the man did try, and he clearly wants his nephews to be safe and happy (even though he has inaccurate views of what that entails...), and given how the parents/parental figures of the cast generally act he deserves some credit for that. Also the Twin Jades ended up considerably better-adjusted than most of their age group, which... isn’t saying much all things considered but it does say something. If nothing else neither of them seem to feel actively unsafe around him, so he’s definitely not the worst parental figure in this novel.

...I had a surprising number of thoughts on LQR there. Whoops, sorry about the tangent. Maybe I’ll make a post about him at some point. Anyway, yeah, LXC and LWJ clearly adore each other! LXC would be delighted if LWJ surpassed him at something! Same with Nie bros; they argue a lot, but there’s no denying that they love each other. That’s what insults and threats out of love look like; NMJ threatens NHS all the time, but NHS clearly isn’t all that bothered by it until JGY starts fucking with NMJ’s mind and the threats become more serious, which really isn’t NMJ’s fault. It’s because in the other sibling relationships both parties are invested in staying close. They love each other and want to be close for the rest of their lives! Meanwhile JC is obsessed with WWX outperforming him at Literally Everything, and WWX genuinely believes that JC is allowed to treat him the way he does and it’s fine and healthy.

And yeah, JC wasn’t exactly rebuilding Lotus Pier all by his lonesome with his own two hands. In fact, going by what we see all the rebuilding was done well before WWX left! And I don’t doubt for a second that WWX was involved in that process; I have very mixed feelings about the scene in CQL where he blows off his duties to go and get drunk, because on the one hand it does do a good job of showing just how bad his mental state is getting (and how JC refuses to acknowledge it despite WWX obviously being Not Okay), but on the other hand... I just can’t see WWX not throwing himself into helping JC with everything he’s got even while his mental state is coming crashing down around him. I mean, this is the guy who created an incredibly powerful weapon that even he couldn’t fully control, not knowing what using it would do to him, to help his brother win a war. I’m pretty much certain that WWX ran himself into the ground helping JC rebuild and run the sect... then when he found himself in charge of a small group of desperate people, scrambling to keep them fed and clothed and healthy, JC just abandoned him to deal with it on his own.

And the whole “Oh, but JC was so lonely, don’t you feel bad for him?” shtick. I hate it so much. If he didn’t want to be lonely, he should’ve considered that before alienating everyone in his age group and leading an army to murder his brother, the only person left who was willing to put up with him! It’s... really hard to feel bad for someone who’s brought most of their suffering on themselves through a series of generally shitty and frequently downright cruel actions with easily foreseeable consequences. If he got sick of being alone, he should’ve apologized to his peers for being a dick to... literally all of them and tried to make amends and strike up some sort of relationship. Or, if that didn’t work, go out! Meet new people! Try not to be as awful to them! Also, he’s a sect leader. If he couldn’t even maintain a positive relationship with other sect leaders, people who, let me remind you, he has to work with on a regular basis and several of whom are actually nice and friendly people, that is on him. If you are awful to people you will end up alone. And then JC decided to respond to learning that the people he was a dick to every time he saw them (and, in LWJ and NHS’s cases, caused the death of someone they cared about) wanted nothing to do with him... by whining about how lonely he was as if that wasn’t largely his fault. Like, he lost his family and that’s awful, but he could have had friends to help him through his grief, and it’s his own damn fault that he doesn’t.

WWX’s life was miserable. He had plenty of friends, yeah, but he spent years on the streets after his parents died brutal deaths; was raised in a family where he was treated like a servant and a scapegoat; lost everything in an event he was blamed for despite having nothing to do with the attack; had to sacrifice his incredibly powerful golden core (thereby losing his primary means of defending himself while on the run and drastically shortening his lifespan) to keep his brother from letting himself die; was thrown into a corpse pit for three months where he had to create an entirely new and experimental (and as such incredibly dangerous) form of cultivation and probably resort to cannibalism just to survive; had to fight a war almost immediately after escaping; spent a... good portion of time (not sure how long exactly because the MDZS timeline is more a suggestion than an actual coherent timeline) being treated alternately as a tame pet or a rabid animal and having to pretend everything was just fine while everyone tried to either control him or remove him and his brother very obviously got increasingly resentful of his skill and power; had to abandon his home, his family, and everything he had left of his old life to save a bunch of innocent people while everyone, including his brother, acted like he’d gone mad for not wanting to let them die horribly; had to go back to the corpse pit he spent three months in because it was the only place where they might be safe; accidentally killed his brother-in-law due to losing control after being ambushed on the way to a celebration for his nephew that he was invited to by people he trusted, almost certainly making him wonder on at least some level if that was why he was invited; lost two members of his new family who he clearly loved because of said accidental murdering; learned their deaths were for nothing and, when he retaliated against the planned attack that shouldn’t have happened because that’s what WQ and WN gave their lives to prevent, saw his beloved sister die to save him; and, after all that, lost the rest of his new family to a siege on a civilian population led by his brother. And after all that, his response was... to destroy the incredibly dangerous weapon he’d made because he didn’t trust the sects to not destroy each other and themselves with it and kill himself rather than risk losing control again and hurting anyone else. In the novel too; I don’t doubt for a second that WWX planned on dying in that siege, even if he didn’t expect destroying the seal to do it.

Take a look at that paragraph. All those things that happened to WWX. And in the end, he was kind. He was so, so kind, and remains kind even after thirteen years of being dead. He would have been well within his rights to go all “Then let me be evil” on the sects, but every time he attacked them they struck first, and most of the serious damage he did happened as a direct result of losing control of his experimental and mostly unknown new cultivation, which is a real risk even with spiritual cultivation; NMJ probably would have happily killed everyone in Qinghe if the qi deviation hadn’t gotten to him first, given how easy it was for him to attack even his beloved little brother. Everything bad that happened to JC is on that list, pretty much. Everything that JC suffered WWX did too, with some variations in the details (and of course dead versus alone for the same period of time). JC had the advantage of a sect at his back and a high rank by virtue of his birth, while WWX’s position was entirely reliant on JFM and, later, JC. And yet some people insist that WWX’s trauma doesn’t excuse his actions but JC’s somehow does. Now, some people argue it’s different because WWX was a mass murderer. Yeah, well, JC’s a fucking serial killer, and he doesn’t have the excuse of losing control due to using resentful energy to cultivate and being attacked by everyone he’d ever known and trusted.

...I’ve kind of lost track of where I’m going with this. Short version: I very strongly disagree with anyone who insists WWX’s trauma doesn’t excuse his actions while bending over backwards to argue that JC’s trauma excuses his.

[crossdressingdeath]

1/6 something I find funny - how some people have somehow twisted JFM’s character as this weirdo with a huge obsession with WAC. I’ve seen a number of stories where this happens, to the point where other characters have to remind him that he has other kids. But like that isn’t even canon? Yeah JFM cares about WWX and he might have a huge guilt going on, possibly for not being able to prevent his friend’s deaths

2/6 and maybe that does affect the way he treats WWX, but I wouldn’t call it obsession lol. Contrary to (somehow) popular belief, he doesn’t treat his kids that badly - I mean I haven’t seen him treat JYL badly at all, if anything he’s more considerate of her feelings than YZY is, and I guess it all comes down to JC and even there...he’s not even that bad? A lot of the “JFM ignores JC and treats him badly” discourse seems to come directly from Madam Yu, who seems to twist the situation anytime

3/6 she’s able to, or times where he does seem strict because...well, JC kind of needs it in those moments? And JFM probably shouldn’t let the future leader of his sect run rampant and do anything he wants? I don’t want to go on too much of a tangent here, because I’ve seen this discussed on your tumblr already. But another thing I’ve kind of seen pop up a lot is how JFM searched for WWX so much after his parents death. But again, this isn’t an indication of him ignoring his kids. If a person

4/6 knows that their best friends have died and have a young child who is probably living on the streets right now, in a dangerous, potentially deadly situation...of course you’re going to freak out. Of course you’re going to want to find them as soon as possible, because any decent human would. It’s not a sign of him ignoring his own kids - his own kids who, by the way, are completely healthy, have a warm place to live, plenty of food, ect. - that’s just what YZY wants everyone to think.

5/6 I just find it so weird that he’s been twisted to be this awful parent on the same level as YZY when he’s really not. He’s distant and reserved for sure, and maybe a bit more indulgent of WWX than JC (I don’t really remember how JFM interacted with JYL, and I don’t think there was much of it, so I’m just basing this on his relationships with WWX and JC mainly) but that could be down to his own guilt/attachment to the past, WWX’s personality, and the fact that having a

6/6 child pretty much brainwashed by his wife to see him as the bad guy might have had a negative impact on his relationship with JC. I’ve see. The same thing happen with my mum’s dad and uncles. If that’s what did happen, I definitely don’t think it’s okay they he left his wife affect his relationship with his kids but...he’s not a terrible parent. He’s not abusive or outright neglectful like some fics portray him.

I mean... knowing your wife is mistreating your kids and your ward and not stopping her is... bad. JFM should have stepped in and stopped YZY, that’s true. But here’s the thing. Not stopping a thing isn’t as bad as actively doing the thing. Is JFM a great dad? No, definitely not. But it doesn’t automatically follow that he’s cruel and abusive. Is he outwardly kinder to WWX than he is to his blood-related children? Yeah, a bit. That doesn’t mean he ignores his own children. I think there’s a bit of black-and-white thinking going on: JFM isn’t always attentive towards his children, so he’s neglectful!

And yeah, the whole thing where YZY acts like it’s somehow a bad thing JFM focused on finding WWX after his parents died is like... WWX was about five when his parents died. I can’t even imagine the sort of person I’d have to be to see a man desperately searching for his best friends’ child who’s now alone and living on the streets, scrambling to find him before he could starve or die of exposure or any number of horrible fates could befall him, clinging to the last shreds of hope that this child isn’t already dead, and insist he was doing something wrong by not giving up on that child and just staying with his own children, who were perfectly safe and happy and had nothing to fear (or they wouldn’t if YZY wasn’t around). I feel like a lot of people miss the fact that when YZY says “You should have stayed with your family instead of obsessing over WWX” what she’s really saying is “You should’ve let WWX die on the streets”. And yeah, part of how JFM treats WWX is probably influenced by guilt; guilt at not being able to save his parents, guilt at the way JFM’s own family treats him... WWX is treated like a glorified servant by so many people, even in his own home. JFM being kind to him is likely caused on some level by wanting to show him that people in Lotus Pier do love him and do see him as family.

And JFM does have a duty to be stricter with JC than he is with WWX! JC is the future sect leader. JFM will be leaving Yunmeng in his hands, not WWX’s. Of course he’s harder on JC when the fate of Yunmeng depends on how well he teaches JC to behave! But YZY twists it into him loving WWX more, when even WWX himself sees and tells JC that JFM can just get away with being kinder to WWX. I imagine JFM was also getting a little worried about the future, after JC took the reins; JFM’s not blind, he’d be able to see JC’s character, how he snaps and snarls and is cruel to everyone around him, how he never comes first and complains about other people doing better instead of looking at how he can improve, how none of his peers outside of his own sect seem to like or respect him... He could’ve gone easier on JC, maybe, but I can see why he wouldn’t. On the flip side, of course he didn’t have to be as harsh with kind-hearted, charming, genius WWX, whose arrogance is always clearly playful and who gains faithful allies as easy as breathing. Or sweet and gentle JYL, who is beloved by everyone and has a gift for mediation. JFM’s actions didn’t occur in a bubble, he made decisions based on the people around him and what he thought they needed. 

Not to mention... JFM has an example of a young master of a great sect whose arrogance and cruelty are allowed to go unchecked, whose opinion of his own abilities is inflated until he believes anyone surpassing him is something they should be punished for. I don’t think he wants his son to turn into another WC.

He should have done more to stop YZY from turning his son against him and tormenting his children and ward. But failing to do that doesn’t make him evil, or as bad as she is.