#sometimes i think huaisang knows
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lgbtlunaverse · 1 year ago
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You know sometimes I think about that whole narrative tragedy around Huaisang where to get revenge for his brother on jgy he has to become more and more like jgy and turn into a person that his brother would hate. And yes the scheming and the lying and the making other people do your dirty work so you'll never get caught and have to face consequences for your actions is all very foils. Very tragedy. Love it.
But then I think back to nieyao in the fire palace and how it's not the spy thing Nie Mingjue is mad about, not really. He didn't know about it and changes his mind on trying to kill meng yao when xichen tells him but he's still mad and it's not the spy thing. However many cultivators he killed and tortured under Wen Ruohan's orders because he couldn't lose his cover are a factor but the crux of it? It's those last few. And specifically that Meng Yao had an out. A way for them to survive. And he used it. But only for Nie Mingjue. All the others got killed on the spot but Nie Mingjue got the out, got to live. And maybe (likely) if he'd tried to save the others Nie Mingjue would have needed to die but Nie Mingjue has been ready to die for his sect since he was 14 and if it meant defeating Wen Ruohan he'd be happy to. The fact is that those last deaths weren't to defeat Wen Ruohan but to keep Nie Mingjue alive and that is what he can't forgive. It's that after everything the thing he is so angry at Meng Yao for is choosing to value his life over that of his men.
And then I look back at Nie Huaisang who lied and schemed, yes, but who, most importantly, committed so hard to his headshaker persona that the Nie clan declined by the year, a shadow of its former self after only a decade of leadership.
And I realize that both Meng Yao and Nie Huaisang at one point looked at Nie Mingjue, and then looked at multitudes of Nie sect cultivators, and decided that Nie Mingjue was more important. And that's what he'd hate the most.
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andrew-byass · 1 year ago
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Cause I'm like yes, and no- wait, I don't know... I think I'm dying- Hold up- I'm invincible.
Some sketchy Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue that I may turn into a full piece sometime. I just love these two so much, and NHS is just such an fascinating character. These are also my designs, mostly inspired by The Untamed versions, as I think they are my favourite.
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wangxianficfinder · 18 days ago
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Fic Finder
Nov 4th
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1. A) Hello! I am looking for a couple of pics that I have been unable to find. They may have already been found, but if so, I am missing them. First one is Wei Wing dies at the siege and is transported back a thousand years or so, before the sects started up I believe. He becomes immortal or a god, can't remember which and travels to learn other magic and cultivations while he waits for the years to catch up to when he was born. I think its a wangxian pairing, but not sure.
B) Hello! Looking for a fic where Wei Ying is not oblivious to his feelings for Lan Zhan. He asks Lan Zhan on basically a date to the town, and the part I remember is he deliberately didn't take an umbrella/coat because according to Nie Huaisang, it would be a perfect romantic opportunity to have Lan Zhan offer the umbrella/coat or vice versa. Lan Zhan thinks Wei Wing is just playing with him and I remember a scene where Wei Ying proves his intention with a kiss and Lan Zhan believes him. @marietsy40-blog
1A)
FOUND? An Unusual Betrothal series by ahealthydoseof (G, 74k, wangxian, time travel, age difference, immortality, BAMF WWX, younger LWJ, older WWX, misunderstandings, fluff & crack, worried parents, rabbits, food, non-sexual intimacy, murder, fix-it of sorts, developing relationship, humor, arranged marriage, jealousy, friendship, family feels, dysfunctional family, fatherhood, angst, hurt/comfort, mentor WWX, natural disasters, sworn brotherhood, serious injuries, kissing)
1B)
FOUND? 🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 887k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement)
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2. hi! i’m looking for a fic where wangxian friends and family try to arrange them to get married (i think maybe post sunshot campaign). lxc brought in jgy to help him with negotiations, while jyl and jwy bring nhs to help them. they try to find wx to tell them only to find out they basically ran of and eloped (without knowing that this was happening). the fic should be completed and around 3-8 chapters. thanks! @monyeorel
FOUND? i believe that we can make it (i believe in all of you) by Stratisphyre (T, 17k, WangXian, 3Zun, Canon Divergence, Wedding Planning for Love and Justice, Golden Core Reveal, Getting Together, Everybody Lives)
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3. Hello I want ask something... I can't seem to find this fanfiction I have once read long time ago but this is mainly wangxian ofc and what I remember that this fanfic is modern, wei ying I think he was going to debut or not? Lan zhan is his teacher? Since he called him xiansheng (something like that) Jiang yanli is married to Jin Zixuan in this. Wei ying keeps on updating on social media something like that.
FOUND? 🧡 I Don’t Want to Debut! by countingcr0ws (G, 56k, WangXian, Modern AU, Reality show, Idols, Actor LWJ, Forced Contestant WWX, Tencent’s 2021 Idol Producer)
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4. For fic finder: the allied sects are losing the sunshot campaign so they ask for the aid of the immortal yilling patriarch. He agrees, in return for lwj's hand in marriage. Lwj is very concerned but he gets to burial mounds and finds things are fine actually but there are a lot of unruly children. He starts teaching them and living life, confused by his mostly cold and distant but sometimes friendly husband. Turns out wwx is falling in love with him but thinks lwj is a spy for the jin and after the tiger seal, and married him because he wanted to catch him in the act and make him be a double agent. Lwj is unaware that the jin sect even has designs against his husband because he hates politics. He discovers this after he nearly dies defending A-Qing from an attack by Xue Yang and wwx comes clean. I could say more because i remember a lot about this fic but not the important information like name or author. Thanks!
FOUND! 💖🔒 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, YLLZ WWX, Arranged Marriage, political scheming, Gratuitous Domesticity, Mutual Pining, EXTREME SLOWBURN, the inherent eroticism of the forehead ribbon, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, neither wwx nor lwj want to be Perceived, but sorry kids! it’s gonna happen!, rated E but the the NSFW stuff doesn’t begin until chapter 19!, bottom LWJ in chapter 20 and 27, Mojo’s post)
NOT FOUND!🔒and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They’re Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending) Pretty sure the bunch of kids in the burial mounds fic sounds like Varnes' delightful sound of music au "and having a wonderful time" but there are at least three fics I've read that come close to that.
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5. good dayy!! do you guys know this story. i forgot the title and been using modern with magic tag but i cant find it. i dont know anymore but the story is like this:
its a modern with magic, madam lan is one of the teacher and one of her student is wwx. there's a scene where wwx visited his brother in the alpha dormitory then lwj saved him(?) from some rude alpha. there's two version of it, alpha lwj x omega wwx and omega lwj and alpha wwx. there's a mission(?) and he met wwx outside the university, they also shared a room. omega wwx also has a solo room for being the only male omega.
the omega lwj version of it is lwj owns a 2 stuffed toy bunnies, he told wwx their names and wwx said it to madam lan.
im not sure if im mixing different stories or if i remember it right but i hope u'all can help me. thank uu in advance!
FOUND? 🔒 Other Half series by Hanguang_Jun, Wuxian_Biscuit (Charlie_Biscuit) (E, 819k, WangXian, JC/LWJ, WWX/Self, LWJ/Self, LWJ/WWX/JC, LWJ/JGY/WWX, Roleplay, Fantasy, Magic, Omegaverse, Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Smut, Switch WangXian, Bottom LWJ, Alpha LWJ, Slow Burn, Omega WWX, eventual mpreg, Alpha/Alpha, LWJ gets off on submitting to another alpha, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Knotting, If LWJ being submissive puts you off then do not read this, Top JC, Top WWX, Omega LWJ, Alpha WWX, From Sex to Love, Tentacle Porn, Safewords, Rude LWJ, A bit of magic recreational drug use, Sex Toys, Lingerie, Omega/Omega, Alpha JC, a/o and o/o and a/a, Selfcest, A bit of dark wangxian (but it's not permanent), Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Accidental Voyeurism, JC does not interact with wangxian, Intersex Omegas, Pregnancy, Consensual Non-Consent, Vaginal Sex, Bondage, Omega JGY, Bodyswap, Dubious Consent, Due to Basic Premise, Knifeplay, Choking, Birth)
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6. Hello, I am searching for a modern wangxian fic on ao3 where wei ying is invited in Jiang yanli's wedding. Nie huaisang is the wedding planner and Meng yao is his assistant. The wedding is at the time of Christmas and they played a game that each one will send another a gift till Christmas and the receiver's name is decided through lottery. Lan wangji was the one who was giving gifts for this and wei ying was giving gifts to yu ziyuan. All the names will be revealed at the day of Christmas.
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7. I don’t know if it got deleted or I just didn’t bookmark it but I’m looking for a fic with Fox!WWX. LWJ is maybe a dragon or just a regular cultivator who helps him get all of his 9 tails through dual cultivation so it’s rated M or E. i feel bad i don’t remember much more but any leads will be greatly appreciated 🥺 thank you for all your work
FOUND? 💖 Paths of Light and Darkness Converge by ataratah (E, 30k, wangxian, fox WWX, dragon LWJ, secret identity, non-human genitelia, crack treated seriously, fluff, angst w/ happy ending)
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8. im looking for a fic where Wie ying became a god after death saved Mo Xuanyu and adopted him when he trayed to bring him back . wie ying changed his hair to white and his eyes red @leo1fan
FOUND? Wuqian, the Local God of Yiling by Grace_ShadowWolf (TaubeLePigeon) (M, 80k, wangxian, WWX & LSZ & LWJ, major character death, canon divergence, angst w/ happy ending, god WWX, Chinese mythology & folklore, pining, temporary character death, WIP)
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9. hi im looking for this fic where xue yang and xiao xingchen are dating, and then one day song lan (xiao xingchen's ex) comes back so xue yang lets those two get together even though he feels very jealous, and then one day him and song lan hook up and later they become a throuple @ashxi-wx
FOUND? Fine Line by fouxes (arundels) (E, 13k, SL/XXC/XY, Modern, Polyamory Negotiations, Polyamory, Minor Violence, Hate Sex, Love/Hate, Love Rivals to Lovers, XXC is kinda useless in this sorry, Not Super Healthy Relationship Dynamics, but nothing crazy terrible, also XY is a cage fighter cos why not) it used to be posted under a different pseudonym of theirs
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10. I’m trying to find a reaction fic that takes place after the siege on Burial Mounds. I remember that the sect leaders are having a meeting at Lotus Pier and get trapped in a room by Chenqing to watch WWX’s life. Suibian also later gets involved and they also get LWJ and a-yuan to join.
FOUND? Seeking Solace by Devourer Of Worlds (Taer01), DragonHeart (Taer01), Taer01 (M, 124k, WangXian, Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Hurt, Heavy Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Mental Anguish, Mental Instability, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Canon Divergence)
FOUND? Misunderstood by Silver_Flame_2724 (M, 250k, WIP, WangXian, JYL/JZX, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Heavy Angst With Eventual Happy Ending, Family Feels, Family Angst, Misunderstandings, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Family Fluff, Canon Divergence, Not Everyone Dies, by that I mean the bad guys will die, Hurt, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Suicidal Thoughts, Gore, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Breakdown, Night Terrors, Canon-Typical Violence, Self-Worth Issues, Self-Destruction, Dubious Morality, (not WWX of course), Cannibalism, Reincarnation, PTSD, Internally Screaming LWJ, Demonic Possession, MXY Lives, Scum Villain References, WWX Has an Angry LWJ Kink)
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11. Hello ! I've been looking for a fic for a long time and I can't find it.
It's in the post-canon, wangxian are married and investigate a ghost woman who attacks white-dressed cultivators. In fact, this woman has feelings for Lan zhan and seeks to have him all for herself.
At one point, under a disguise she tries to trap them by wanting to make Wei Ying believe that Lan Zhan is cheating on him with her and Wei Ying pretends to be jealous and angry against Lan Zhan who immediately understands the plan.
In short, I really liked this fic because it really showed this precious trust between the two and I really want to read it again and this time save it in my bookmarks 🥺 @wesenyr
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12. Hi ! I am looking for a popular fic, where WWX participates at the Great British Baking Show (or something equivalent) and LWJ is a cameraman. NHS and LXC are the hosts and LQR is one of the judges.
Thank you ! @massivecollateralproblem
FOUND! on your marks, get set, bake! by BlackWiresOnHerHead (G, 41k, Modern, College/University, The Great British Bake Off AU, Humor, no GBBO knowledge required for entry)
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13. Hi, I’m trying to find two older fics, A) the first I remember it being on AO3, and I want to say it had more than one part to it. Basically when Wei Ying came back and then of course ended up in Gusu Lan, Lan Zhan had a son (not A-Yuan) but like another child that was his and Wei Yings, A-Yuan is also present though. He’s very much like how he is presented in the novel, but the child that was Lan Zhans and Wei Yings is more like Wei Ying. A bit of a trouble maker, kind of aggressive maybe. Energetic? Lan Zhan of course clocks that Wei Ying is Wei Ying, but they wait a while before actually telling the kid that this now seemingly random figure in his life is his father. And if I remember correctly the kid doesn’t take it well right away.
I also could be combining to fics in my memory, but I also want to say Lan Zhan may have had chronic pain, or he had been whipped while pregnant and he was just gonna roll with it until he collapsed early and they found out about the pregnancy.
B) The second definitely was on AO3 as well, with multiple parts. But I remember Lan Zhan definitely had chronic pain and weakness from being whipped. I specifically remember he has scars that snake down to his hand, and that arm/hand is visibly smaller or weaker looking compared to his other. At first he won’t eat or drink in front of Wei Ying because of it. His hand shakes I think. He also keeps his hair braided to the side so it doesn’t touch his scars, that way he doesn’t have to use his core as much to dampen the pain. He travels in the winter because the cold makes his pain worse. A-Yuan is also present in this fic. I think there’s a coming of age type ceremony at the end…. Although that could be a part of the first fic I’m looking for. @captainimpossiblyangrycolle-blog
13A)
FOUND? in a river you wade by bleuett (M, 20k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Mpreg, Postpartum Depression, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Good Uncle LQR, Family Feels, Happy Ending, Kid Fic)
13B)
FOUND? 🔒 the map of days by everythingispoetry (M, 20k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Permanent Injury, Recovery, Disability, Parenthood, Character Study, Thirteen Years of WWX’s Death) the little details sound like "the map of days by everythingispoetry" i do not know for certain though
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14. Hey!! Thank you so much for all your hard work.
I read a fic ages ago, that the themes have really stuck with me, but for the life of me I cannot find!!
It was in the veins of heavy angst? hurt no comfort maybe? but i dont remember how it ended!
It was from (mostly?) wwx’s perspective, the plot was basically how broken & damaged wwx was as demonic cultivation/starvation were slowly killing him? None of his injures had ever healed since he lost his core (he had a broken back !?). A key point (I think) was that none of the people around him really realised how badly injured/how much pain he was in. They knew he wasn’t well but not that he was being pretty much held together by resentful energy. Even Wen Qing didn’t fully understand his condition I believe?
Maybe knowning he was dyinging wwx set out to destroy the st seal (or did???) as a final release??
I think it did kill him but I’m not quite sure, i think i remember Jyl & Lwj having a scene where they are mourning him together or commiserating over how ravaged wwx’s body is. I think they also realised wwx never intended to survive destroying the seal??
I’m desperate to read it again but for all my searching I cannot find it at all, hopefully someone knows it!
Have a great day! @3f2pmb
FOUND? 梅花开放 | the plum blossoms bloom by doubletan (E, 6k, WangXian, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Established Relationship, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation, Post-Canon, Anal Sex, Kissing, Crying, a lot of crying)
FOUND? The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts)
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15. Hi! This is for ficfinder. I dont remember much. The scene that i remember is someone send an assassin for baby jin ling but he survives because if wwx gift and the assassin is killed by ewx who visit him. Another scene is JGS wants to assault JYL but failed because if wwx gift too. And everyone found out about it and embrassed JGS. That all i can remember. Thanks! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername
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16. Hi I’m not sure if this is where I ask but I’m looking for a fic. The plot was that after wei Ying died Lan Zhan went to the burial mounds and found A Yuàn. For some reason this made Lan Zhan go into heat ( cause of grief or finding a malnourished child. idk ) and then he didn’t have a heat since. I think it then skipped to the future and Lan Zhan was like a ‘broken omega’ cause he didn’t get heats then I think wei Ying came back and things got fixed ?? Thx for any help u can give
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17. Hello, I am looking for a fic. It's set during a canonish era war and follows WWX. I think he's on his own leading troops and not with other main characters. After things are done the Madame Yu and JC are found to have committed war crimes. She is executed and JC is made to go help the people they harmed w/ his core sealed for a number of years. Any help is appreciated.
FOUND? 🔒 Crossing Paths by Ilona22 (M, 21k, wangxian, shapeshifter au, graphic depictions of violence, war between sects, war crimes, not JC friendly, happy ending)
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18. I need help finding a fic. I remember it was during CR era (I think) and LWJ gets cursed into having a lady part and the only way for him to return to his previous form is to orgasm. He doesnt know how to do that with female parts and WWX offers to help him with it. Starts off slow but they end up having sex multiple times over multiple nights. LWJ eventually gets close to an orgasm but stops WWX cause he thinks breaking the curse would mean he and WWX have to stop having sex. @727432rehhjkdjhe
FOUND? Coming Back to Yourself by acernor (E, 21k, wangxian, Vaginal Fingering, Cunnilingus, Oral Sex, Pining, Gender or Sex Swap, Vaginal Sex)
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19. looking for a fic in which wwx and jc are at a cultivation conference and lwj is terrifying actually. kinda yunmeng bros reconciliation but idk??? @skyerie
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20. Hi!! I'm trying to find a fic I'veread a while ago, but I can't find it anywhere. Wy, once reborn, didn't see Lz's scars while Lz was bathing in the cold springs and he tried to steal the jade pass. Once they get together is where the plot kinda flees from my mind. I don't remember if Lz only ever had sex with Wy if he (Lz) was almost fully clothed or if he just straight up refused to be intimate. I guess Wy fearing that Lz didn't find his new body attractive and voicing that fear to Lz is what makes Lz tell him the truth??? I'm not sure tho. Anyways, in the end, Lz reveals the scars that the discipline whip left on him, and tells Wy that he's never been ashamed of his scars, but that once Wy came back and they got together, he became terrified that Wy would find repulsive how deformed the scars made his back look.
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21. hello! do you know of the dad!lwj fic where wwx falls in love with a-yuan and lwj via video calls
FOUND?🔒Wishing on Runway Lights by inflight_gremlin (E, 45k, WangXian, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & OYZZ, Modern, Pilot LWJ, Flight Attendant WWX, Single Parent LWJ, Meet-Cute, Relationship Speed-Run, Matchmaker LSZ, Adopted LSZ, Domestic Fluff, Brief Mention of Child Neglect (not from wangxian), Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, POV Alternating, LSZ Knows What He Wants, Slight Misunderstanding, Sexual Tension, no one is skipping meals, romcom vibes, Attempt at hallmark movie feels, Temporary Accidental Child Aquisition)
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oneeyedoctogod · 1 year ago
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Gods this fandom sometimes, I swear. I'm sorry I read two deeply bad takes back to back, and I have to rant. I'm sure others have said it better than I, but really. Come on. I actually have to wonder if people who talk about the extras actually read them because...
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji didn't leave the cultivation world in canon. They elope, and then they come back. The fact they're not involved in the bigger politics is... pretty much to be expected, but they very much do participate in the day to day lives of the Lan sect. They go where the chaos is to night hunt, they teach, Lan Wangji comforts his brother in his seclusion, and Wei Wuxian meets some new Lan disciples.
As for the cottage fantasy... Again, I honestly have to wonder if the people talking about it actually read the extra it's in? Because it's just that. A fantasy. A dream. It's basically a representation of Wei Wuxian's wants for a domestic life, something he definitely has now! He's always been characterised as someone who wants to help others and who loves cultivation. Why would you think the dream is to be taken literally?
And the idea that Wei Wuxian has 'several important relationships just floating there', that he's not dealing with... Where? Which ones? He teaches the juniors and grows closer to Jin Ling. He doesn't exactly interact with Lan Xichen, but he asks after him. He meets Mianmian again and wishes her well. He asks after Wen Ning after Lan Sizhui comes back then has some father-son bonding moments with him!
Nie Huaisang and Wei Wucian aren't close. They were friendly once, but they didn't ever meet after the lectures. I don't see how that qualifies as an "important" relationship, especially with Nie Huaisang never openly admitting to his part in Wei Wuxian's resurrection. But even then, Wei wuxian says he'll be keeping a close eye on him, so one can imagine they meet again at some point.
As for Jiang Cheng... what more do you want Wei Wuxian to do exactly? Even if you want a reconciliation, why can't Jiang Cjeng be he one to actually grow up and do the work for once? He's the one who never apologized. He's the one who is still openly hostile in the extras. If Wei Wuxian wants to move on and not interact with him, he's well within his right to do that, given how Jiang Cheng treated him. Hell, he's more generous than most since he encourages Jin Ling to talk to Jiang Cheng. If I'd been treated by someone like Jiang Cheng treated Wei Wuxian and saw him hit our nephew several times, I certainly wouldn't encourage them to meet. (But that's Wei Wuxian for you, the moral ideal and better than all of us.)
Anyway, I really don't understand why people insist on making Wangxian have a sadder ending than the one they actually did. It's a HEA for them, sorry guys. And yeah, maybe Wei wuxian has some trauma to work on... but the whole point of the character is that he doesn't let his trauma define him. That he wants to forgives, forgets and moves on.
(Also, just because he doesn't have a breakdown or the cultivation equivalent of therapy in the extra doesn't mean he's not working on them? He finally is at peace, with a solid support network. Maybe he does talk about his past hurts with Lan Wangji - Lan Wangji certai ly knows when to comfort him when he needs it. But the narrative point of the extras is to show they're moving on from the past! And you know what, sometimes the beat thing to do to heal is to do just that. They're living their best lives, deal with it.)
And finally... shit did you really read the whole book and come to the conclusion Wei Wuxian should have 'learned to accept help'? Who the fuck offered help? Who did he refuse?
(Don't say Lan Wangji. 1) I love him, but "Come back to Gusu" is very much not an obvious offer to help, and when Wei Wuxian understandably misunderstands him, he never manages to correct it.
And 2) once Wei Wuxian tells him explicitly he's not leaving the Wen remnants behind, Lan Wangji understands and backs off. He approves! I'm sure he'd do more if he could, but just like Jiang Yanli, he can't!)
Jiang Cheng literally said, 'No one will help you, no one is on your side' (and then made sure that was true by saying Wei Wuxian was the enemy of the cultivation world). Jin Zixuan chose to ask the one who was ambushed to disarm rather than the 300 cultivators attacking him and lunged at him when Wei Wuxian refused to comply (because he'd be killed if he did!!). How is that help?
Who else tried to help? Whose help did Wei Wuxian reject?
Wei Wuxian was presented with a series of bad choices and took the best he could, the ones aligned with his principles, accepting he'd have to face consequences at some point but also knowing it was still worth it. He's not the one who failed or made a fatal mistake or betrayed his word.
Rant over. Sorry about that.
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robininthelabyrinth · 4 months ago
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Team Up - ao3
Pairing: Lan Qiren/Nie Mingjue/Wen Ruohan Summary:
“Tell me, Mingjue,” Lan Qiren said. “What are the outer limits of a cultivator’s moral duty to act?”
Note: adult content
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“What are the outer limits of a cultivator’s moral duty to act?” Nie Mingjue read aloud, then grimaced in disbelief. “Teacher, is this a joke?”
“I assure you that it is not.” Lan Qiren did not quite shrug, but his expression conveyed the feeling regardless. “You were the one who wanted to look at the students’ essays answering a philosophical question of their choosing. I trust your curiosity has been adequately assuaged.”
“What does that even mean?” Nie Mingjue complained. He’d mostly wanted to see Nie Huaisang’s essay, while also very much not wanting to; he hadn’t realized it was possible that other students could be just as ridiculous. “The ‘outer limits’…what outer limits?! Naturally you should put in your utmost effort to act morally.”
“I think the essay in question was more focused on a cultivator’s ethical duty to take affirmative steps to prevent harm,” Lan Qiren said. “For instance, if you see a man who is drowning, rescue him.”
“That seems obvious.”
“Is it? Do not be facetious. What if the man is your worst enemy, the man who killed your father?” Lan Qiren paused. “Forgive me. That is the typical next question in the example. I did not mean…”
“No, it’s a good point,” Nie Mingjue said, forcing himself to move past that old pain. “If I saw Wen Ruohan drowning, do I have a moral duty to act to save him? I think that I probably would.”
“Even if you know he will only commit more atrocities in the future?”
“Well, I’d like to think that saving him from drowning would win me a few points towards convincing him to stop that,” Nie Mingjue said, meaning it as a joke, and Lan Qiren smiled, taking it as such. “That would certainly complicate the morality of the situation, I agree. But it can be my duty to save him as a fellow man and my duty to kill him for his crimes at the same time.”
“Hm. What about the scenario in which you saved him from drowning and successfully used those ‘points’ that you’d won to actually convince him to refrain from enacting any of his more gruesome future plans – would you still be obligated to kill him for his past crimes then?”
“I find that scenario highly unlikely,” Nie Mingjue said dryly.
“Nevertheless,” Lan Qiren said. He was stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Indulge me.”
Nie Mingjue thought about it, then shrugged. “If he genuinely repented, in such a way that I believed he would not commit further crimes, and furthermore had adequately and sincerely apologized and sought to make up for those he had committed in the past, morality would be best served by forgiving him, not killing him.”
“Interesting.”
“Why?” Nie Mingjue glanced at his old teacher, now his peer and maybe even friend. “Did you have something in mind?”
“Nothing, really. Just a passing thought – a foolish one, and irrelevant as well.”
Nie Mingjue raised his eyebrows. It was rare for Lan Qiren to admit to being foolish. “Tell me anyway.”
“Well,” Lan Qiren said hesitantly. “You may not know too much of this, it being largely before your time as sect leader, but Wen Ruohan was not always – as he is now.”
“I remember,” Nie Mingjue said. “He would visit the Unclean Realm sometimes, back before everything. He was quite charming, once, and not nearly so mad.”
In fact, as a child, Nie Mingjue had been rather swept away by their witty and clever visitor.
“That accords with my memory,” Lan Qiren said. “I sometimes wonder if it is possible that, given the immensity of the changes, that the cause of his behavior could be…well…”
“A qi deviation?” Nie Mingjue asked, his interest involuntarily piqued. For obvious reasons, it was an area of profound interest for his sect. “I’d never thought about it – it is rather irrelevant – but now that you mention it, it’s certainly possible. It would be pretty far advanced by now, though. Drastic measures would need to be taken if you wanted to try to reverse it.”
Lan Qiren looked surprised. “There are ways to reverse a qi deviation of such severity? If anyone would know, it would be your sect, of course. But I would have thought…surely, by now…?”
“The severity and ability to reverse it depends on whether the cause is hereditary or an issue with cultivation, or both,” Nie Mingjue explained. “In our family, it’s both – everyone always thinks that it’s our sabers that kill us, but in actual fact, as long as we can keep pace with them, we’re all right. Not cultivating at all is much worse, we just die even faster. From aneurysms and strokes rather than qi deviations, to be sure, but the effect is still the same in the end, and it’s a bad death either way. No one has figured out a way to stop it from happening. But that’s just the Nie; there’s no such hereditary instability in the Wen family, so it’s probably just a cultivation issue.”
“I see. Is there something that could be done for him at this stage? Assuming it was only incorrect cultivation to blame?”
“At this stage? I think you’d be limited to –” Nie Mingjue paused, then coughed.
“Limited to what?” Lan Qiren asked.
“Ah,” Nie Mingjue said, valiantly attempting not to turn red and painfully aware he was likely failing. “Well. That is…”
“What is it?”
“…the most effective way to shock someone out of a qi deviation is dual cultivation,” Nie Mingjue said, staring at the ceiling above his old teacher’s head. “Ideally with two powerful cultivators –”
“Two? Why two?”
“Having two cultivators involved reduces the risk that the qi deviation spreads from the deviating individual to the rescuing one, rather than the correct method winning out over the deviated one. It also reduces the burden on the spiritual energy of the assisting parties, splitting the strain among two people instead of keeping it with just one…unfortunately, for someone like Wen Ruohan, given his strength, you’d have to find some very powerful cultivators to do the job. They’d have to be either exceptionally talented, with limitless potential, or else exceptionally steady, with an incredibly firm foundation. Nothing else would stand a chance against him.”
“Hm,” Lan Qiren said. “Limitless potential like yours, you mean? An exceptionally firm foundation, like mine?”
“Yes, like that,” Nie Mingjue said, nodding. “Exactly so.”
Then he paused.
“Uh,” he said. “Teacher. You’re not suggesting that…that we…are you?”
Lan Qiren smiled at him.
“Tell me, Mingjue,” he said. “What are the outer limits of a cultivator’s moral duty to act?”
-
Wen Ruohan woke up groggy, which was the first sign that something had gone wrong.
He was also not in his own bedroom, which was the second, and, for the third and most definitive indication, he was currently tied up.
This was not as unusual as it might have been – Wen Ruohan had had a bad habit of getting kidnapped when he’d been a young man, in large part due to his stubborn tendency to go wherever he damn well pleased regardless of any well-meant warnings and cautionary signs. Even after he’d become sect leader, it had happened a fair number of times, though that was more to do with the fact that he’d locked away all the sect treasures behind arrays that only he could open, requiring anyone who wanted to assassinate him and take his position to first try to take him captive…which usually turned out to be a mistake. For them.
It certainly hadn’t happened in a very long time, though.
Also, his cultivation wasn’t bound, which seemed…unwise, as far as kidnappings went.
In fact, the only part of him that was magically bound, as opposed to physically bound, was his mouth –
Huh.
The Lan sect silencing spell?
That puzzle was enough to get him to pause and take stock of the situation, rather than simply rip free at once. Wen Ruohan wasn’t sure what was less likely, that he’d been kidnapped by a Lan or that somehow someone had managed to learn the spell despite all the rules the Lan sect had against teaching their secrets to inappropriate people. Either way, there were interesting implications of all sorts involved.
Worth at least investigating, at least.
Wen Ruohan opened his eyes.
“Oh, good. You are finally awake.”
…was that Lan Qiren?
“Mingjue, he’s woken up.”
“Oh.” That was Nie Mingjue. Why was Nie Mingjue here?! Wherever here even was. “That’s – good? Ah, that is, I mean, that’s good.”
Why was Nie Mingjue stuttering?
Wen Ruohan made an inquiring sound, which made both men, now standing above the bed where he was bound, frown down at him. This was probably because his ‘inquiring sound’ had the same sound as his ‘I’m going to murder you both’ sound, even when it was unintentional.
It was often unintentional these days. He couldn’t seem to stop overreacting to everything…not that he’d admit that, of course. Better to simply pretend he’d meant his actions all along than admit to the fact that he was losing control.
Even to himself.
“I think he’s wondering why he’s here,” Nie Mingjue finally said, and Lan Qiren nodded in agreement.
“We wish to get your consent,” he said to Wen Ruohan, who gave him his best ‘what the fuck are you talking about’ look. “You have been otherwise unreachable – you no longer sit with us during the discussion conference, but far up above where we cannot speak with you causally.”
“And then you left as soon as the archery contest was done,” Nie Mingjue added, with a scowl. “Treating yourself like an emperor, too high and mighty to talk with anyone…”
“Quite rude,” Lan Qiren agreed. “And when we tried to make an appointment with you, your son informed us that you were far too busy to meet with the likes of us –”
…Chao-er had done what?
Stupid, useless, irritating boy, with no grasp of politics whatsoever! These were the leaders of Great Sects, not some useless hanger-on that could be trampled at will…and worse, to be so rude to Nie Mingjue, with his notoriously short Nie temper and equally infamous inclinations to meet disrespect with violence – did Wen Chao have a death wish? Was he dead even now?
“Fortunately for him, I was able to restrain Sect Leader Nie.”
So just scared shitless.
Fine. It was probably good for him.
“However, without an alternative method, we were forced to find other methods by which to approach you.”
No kidding.
He’d have to figure out how they managed to kidnap him. A hole like that in his defenses…
“You’re talking around the point, Teacher,” Nie Mingjue said abruptly, apparently losing patience. “You haven’t even explained why we wanted to talk to him – and you said you’d be the one to explain it.”
“And I will,” Lan Qiren said, even as Wen Ruohan’s interest in the reason abruptly spiked: was Nie Mingjue blushing? “Sect Leader Wen, we have reason to believe you may have suffered a qi deviation.”
Bullshit.
That was impossible. Wen Ruohan was way too talented to make some sort of mistake in his cultivation. Everything he’d done had been him, all him, nothing else; there were no outside influences, no errors, and certainly no deviation. How dare they suggest such a thing?! Were they looking down on him?
“We wish to assist you with purging the deviation –”
Hah, as if he’d ever permit such a thing! Firstly, there was no deviation to purge – he was fine, he had always been fine, and he would continue to be fine, whatever slander the two of them chose to believe –and secondly, even if there was, he’d never accept their help! He’d never let anyone look down on him like that. Not now, not ever. Absolutely no way, no how –
“– which we proposed to do through dual cultivation.”
Wen Ruohan paused his mental ranting.
He must not have heard that correctly.
“Dual cultivation with both of us,” Nie Mingjue added. He was definitely blushing now. “It’s the most efficient method.”
…perhaps he had heard correctly.
“Naturally we will not force you,” Lan Qiren said primly, as if that was the only issue one could find in their frankly ridiculous suggestion. “We require your consent before starting. What say you?”
Wen Ruohan was a bonafide genius, not an idiot.
He wasn’t going to say no.
Even if he wasn’t being offered sex with two extremely attractive and extremely powerful men, he’d say yes just for the potential amount of spiritual energy that they would be able to generate through the act, spiritual energy that would turn into power that he would be able to use to get even stronger.
Besides, since there wasn’t any qi deviation, it wouldn’t matter if they were doing it to try to fix him.
In fact, if he thought about it a certain way, he was practically tricking them into doing it.
Justification obtained and ego appeased, Wen Ruohan nodded.
“Excellent,” Lan Qiren said, sounding satisfied. “Mingjue, why don’t you demonstrate your skills to Sect Leader Wen?”
Skills? Wait, had they done this before? Had Nie Mingjue demonstrated the skills under discussion to Lan Qiren in advance of –
That was about when Nie Mingjue finished getting rid of Wen Ruohan’s clothing and put his mouth on his cock, and also when Wen Ruohan decided that thinking – or overthinking, as the case might be – was overrated.
Also, Nie Mingjue really was…surprisingly skilled.
Wen Ruohan snapped the silencing spell with a thought and said, “Should I offer my compliments to the teacher?”
His voice was a little hoarser than he’d expected it to be.
…because of the spell, of course.
“Mingjue has always been an exceptional student,” Lan Qiren said, denying nothing, which…huh. Now that was a very fascinating set of images that were going to live in Wen Ruohan’s brain forever, ready to be plucked out at night when he had some time to himself. “He has always exceeded expectations.”
Nie Mingjue lifted his mouth away – Wen Ruohan had to quickly bite his lower lip to avoid letting out a thoroughly undignified whimper of denial – and said, more than a little hoarse himself, “It’s all credit to Teacher’s thorough education.”
Fuck. They really had no business saying things as enticing as that. Wen Ruohan wondered when the two of them had been getting up to this ‘thorough education’, and for how long. And in what positions –
“Would you like a demonstration?” Lan Qiren asked. “Sect Leader Wen.”
“You can call me by name,” Wen Ruohan said, casually. Well, mostly casually. “Under the circumstances.”
Lan Qiren smiled and put his hand on his hair, weaving his fingers in gently…and then tightening them until very nearly the point of pain.
“That’s nice,” he said. “You can call me Teacher.”
…huh.
-
“Are you feeling any better?” Lan Qiren asked.
“Obviously he is,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes. “Look at how he’s scowling.”
“I will admit that there may have been an – improvement,” Wen Ruohan said. It looked like it pained him to admit it, though his expression still had some of that softness that had come upon him about halfway through the previous evening’s activities and which hadn’t left him since.
Nie Mingjue wasn’t sure exactly what that signified, something he’d communicated to Lan Qiren through meaningful looks and raised eyebrows, but Lan Qiren didn’t seem to know what it meant either, other than the obvious lassitude brought on by a very enjoyable series of orgasms.
“I’m glad you are feeling better,” Lan Qiren said.
“I’m glad you admit it,” Nie Mingjue muttered, then yelped when Lan Qiren pinched him. “What?”
“Remember your manners.”
“I don’t know, I rather like it when he’s being a bit rude,” Wen Ruohan remarked, and reached over to pat the affected area, his fingers lightly tracing over the reddened flesh. “Though I also enjoy him when he’s being accommodating. Hard to pick.”
Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes.
“I will say that it makes for a rather interesting change.”
“Change?” Lan Qiren asked, and Nie Mingjue propped up his head on his hand, looking over at Wen Ruohan in silent question.
“The change in perspective,” Wen Ruohan clarified. “There was no apparent change in my thinking over time, each step appearing completely natural and related to the one before, each new thought seemingly based on the ones that preceded it. Even when I was acting in a way that now, in retrospect, appears irrational –”
“You mean completely insane,” Nie Mingjue proposed, then scooted away before Lan Qiren could pinch him again.
Now it was Wen Ruohan’s turn to roll his eyes. “Yes, well, describe it however you wish. Either way, in contrast to that, I now have an unprecedented sense of clarity.”
“That’s good.”
“Mm. Certainly, looking back at some of my previous actions, it appears that they are – exceptionally unfortunate. Particularly as to you, Mingjue: highly unfortunate.”
“Not unfortunate. Insane,” Nie Mingjue insisted, then glanced at Lan Qiren warily.
“No argument from me,” Lan Qiren said mildly. “Killing his father was indeed an act of insanity, and of tremendous cruelty. Wen Ruohan, the term I believe you are looking for so unsuccessfully is ‘regret’.”
Wen Ruohan scowled again, though he also reached out and pulled Nie Mingjue towards him, settling his head on his chest and starting to stroke his hair. “Yes, well,” he said. “You’re not wrong. I regret it. Tell me, Mingjue: shall I make it up to you somehow?”
“Just don’t commit any more crimes in the future,” Nie Mingjue said gruffly, averting his eyes. “I don’t need more than that.”
“I’ll make it up to you anyway.” Wen Ruohan smiled. His expression was still soft. “I think I will enjoy doing so. Tell me, did either of you know me before the qi deviation?”
(“Oh, he finally admits there was a deviation,” Nie Mingjue muttered, just for the principle of it.)
“I’m not sure,” Lan Qiren said. “Mingjue likely did not. As for me…I’m not sure. I knew you as being better than you have been recently, but I cannot say for sure if that was prior to the initial deviation. It likely started as some small flaw in your cultivation, likely having a relatively minimal impact at first and then escalating over time – that was why you did not notice it, and why each thought appeared logically connected to its predecessor. The deviation increased slowly but steadily over time, only eventually becoming noticeable.”
“I think that’s probably right,” Wen Ruohan said. “I think it must have started – rather a long time ago. Longer ago than you might think.”
“Is that relevant?” Lan Qiren asked, reaching up to stroke his beard. “Do you think the treatment was insufficient? Do you need it repeated?”
“Not now,” Nie Mingjue said, vaguely horrified. His stamina had limits!
“Definitely not now,” Wen Ruohan said quickly in agreement, eyeing Lan Qiren warily, as if he were a serpent ready to bite. “Though I wouldn’t object to a repeat performance eventually. After all, now that I know I can fall into qi deviation like that, it’s only reasonable to start taking prophylactic measures early on.”
“What did you mean, then?” Lan Qiren asked, ignoring the hint. “What’s the relevance of knowing you before the qi deviation?”
Wen Ruohan grinned.
“Oh, nothing much,” he said, curling one hand around Nie Mingjue and reaching out to wrap the other around Lan Qiren’s wrist. “Just wondering how much you knew about my reputation for possessiveness. It used to be quite notorious.”
Lan Qiren frowned. “When you say notorious –”
“Don’t worry about it,” Wen Ruohan said soothingly. “I already promised no more atrocities, didn’t I? It’s easy enough to grant such a thing. After all, they’re no longer necessary to get what I want.”
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mafuyussweater · 15 days ago
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What I think some of the characters from mdzs would order from a coffee shop:
Wei Wuxian would get a quad espresso over ice with a lil milk (maybe oat or soy) or nitro cold brew. If he is feeling fancy he'll get one of the seasonal drinks.
Lan Wangji would get a hot chamomile tea or jasmine but only if it's loose leaf. Sometimes he'll get a soy matcha unsweetened but only before 8am (hot or iced depending on the weather).
Lan Xichen would drink an oolong tea (hot or iced depending on the weather) or a decaf hot latte bc he likes coffee but can't handle the caffeine.
Jiang Cheng gets a hot chai latte or a hot chocolate (maybe a hot caramel latte if he needs caffeine).
Wen Ning drinks energy drinks so when he is at a coffee shop he just gets a hot chocolate.
Wen Qing gets an espresso if she is in a rush or cold brew if she is gonna study. She needs the caffeine to get through being in the medical field tbh.
Nie Huaisang is an iced fruity tea bitch for sure. He may get an affogato to be fancy~
Nie Mingjue gets straight black coffee. He only drinks hot drinks. Occasionally he'll splurge for a breve cappuccino.
Jiang Yanli drinks London fogs with almond milk. She needs the calming beverage when dealing with all the silly men in her life.
Jin Zixuan used to get an espresso and add 3 sugar packets because he thought it was too girly to get a "fancy drink" 😅 his wife gets him to try a vanilla latte which he loved and gets that now.
(Let me know what your headcanons are!)
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wutheringskies · 1 year ago
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The Twin Jades
dude sometimes I just come across such bad meta. it's even worse if it starts off good and turns bad.
Good Meta Points:
• The Lans really love younger child Wangji (no pets allowed, but wangji can have them. Wangji wants lotus pod seeds and gets them etc.)
• Instead of giving agency to his actions and thoughts, they think he's being influenced or corrupted by others to act in such ways (especially Lan Qiren.)
Bad Meta Points
• Lan Wangji is spoilt, similar to Nie Huaisang or Jin Zixuan.
• Gets the lowest punishment at all times (pfft.)
• "I get it you waited 13 years but you fucked off into the sunset with your husband leaving your emotionally unstable brother and duties"
• "Good to see people talking about Lan Wangji's flaws" - mentions him being spoilt and demanding instead of his actual flaws.
Like... you cannot seriously point out how he gets to have rabbits as a point of him being spoilt. Lan Wangji has made like one error in his life in his studies. He's assigned himself punishment for stuff that wasn't even done by will (coughs, wwx). He's made his decisions and lived with the consequences.
Despite what you say, Lan Xichen isn't a terrible brother to Wangji. Neither is Lan Wangji a selfish brother.
Sibling relationships are complex, and between two individuals with their own set of values. Lan Wangji is totally righteous, even more than Nie Mingjue. He can't stand exaggerated, political loopholes and unrighteous acts. He does what he can do, working on the ground level.
Lan Xichen isn't Lan Wangji. He knows the world is filled with corrupted people, and challenging each and every one of them would lead to your own devastation (read: Wei Wuxian's biography). Thus, he tries extending his sympathy to all, and draws conclusions that allow the least possible damage. He does think Lan Wangji made a dire mistake with Wei Wuxian, because if not, he will have to face the fact that the world punished his brother for his righteousness and it would shatter his whole foundation (like it does).
But despite that, both of them share similarities. They both want the better of the world. Lan Wangji is brave enough to challenge the whole foundation of the cultivation world. Lan Xichen is brave enough to lay down peace even when it's so painfully obvious there's no option of it.
Lan Wangji trusts his brother enough to bring Wei Wuxian back to Cloud Recesses after getting stabbed at Jin Tower. Lan Xichen lives up to this trust and helps them investigate the matter. Lan Wangji even assures Wei Wuxian that his brother would not stand for Jin Guangyao if his crimes were true.
See, you don't have to completely have the same sort of sets of beliefs to be siblings. Sibling relationships are complex. Both these brothers know each other, their strengths and their weaknesses well. They may be exasperated at each other's insistence, yet they are well aware that they both have to walk their own paths.
Lan Xichen could never take away Lan Wangji's pain or fix him. Neither can Lan Wangji fix Lan Xichen.
But both of them will always have each other's backs. They are each other's families. Each other's brothers for life.
But at the same time, they have each their own paths to walk. People need to understand that it's not about a lack of sense of responsibility on Lan Wangji's side, but the realization that if he went back home, he may lose Wei Wuxian again. His uncle wants to take him back, lecture him and lock him into seclusion. His uncle wouldn't accept his proposal to be married to Wei Wuxian.
He doesn't give his uncle the chance to "accept" or not.
And he literally returns three months later.
I can't help but feel that those who say he was selfish do not have siblings. Or have bad sibling relationships. I'd say Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen have a perfectly good relationship if despite their differences, their terrible parentage, their opposing personalities, the roles they both played in each other's life (with Lan Xichen being sworn brothers to Jin Guangyao who played a major role in Wei Wuxian's fall, and Lan Wangji being Wei Wuxian's husband, who in turn, set the case back onto Jin Guangyao, thus hurting Lan Xichen), the things they couldn't help each other out of, but yet, they do trust each other and love each other.
And I trust that Lan Xichen will one day figure stuff out. There's a lyric in this MDZS song called unfettered. It is like:
The past is akin to dew in the morning. Even if it can be comprehended, it lays under layers and layers of fog.
In the end, hatred, love, resentment, debts and regrets all come to pass.
Just like how Lan Wangji is not his father, Lan Xichen will also not be his father. I don't think both of them had hurtful intentions towards the other at any point.
It's not like "Yunmeng bros" where JC intentionally wishes to cause pain to Wei Wuxian. It's not like the Nie bros, where NMJ has to be super over-protective of Huaisang.
It's just two siblings with their own lives choosing to be with each other, in happiness and in grief (mostly in grief uhm) in a terrible world where the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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admirableadmiranda · 2 years ago
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I keep seeing the idea that Jiang Cheng is disliked or hated for his actions because "Jiang Cheng Antis” refuse to acknowledge ugly reactions to trauma, or victims who aren’t perfect, basically citing that he should be forgiven more than we do because not everyone is going to react the same to pain and trauma and just because his reactions aren’t perfect doesn’t mean that he should be held accountable for his actions, any of them, and us calling his actions wrong or abuse is us in fact being terrible.
I want to refute this idea for a few reasons:
First off, while I can’t speak for everyone, I know that I and my friends don’t think that his initial reactions being kinda bad are necessarily damning. Nobody is going to be perfect, sometimes when we are stuck in the worst parts of our lives, we do things that we will later regret in the process of surviving those times. It doesn’t really make it okay and we should understand if the people who are around us in those times don’t want to be around us anymore after that, but it isn’t a death knell that he reacts really poorly after the initial fall of Lotus Pier and the death of his parents and everyone he’s grown up with. I have forgiven characters for doing worse, but proving that it was their worst and turning around after that.
The problem with that part is that he doesn’t turn anything around. He never apologizes for strangling Wei Wuxian, he continues to turn the blame for what happened on people who weren’t involved even after getting to kill Wen Zhuliu and torture Wen Chao to death, holding Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and, for a time, Jin Zixuan as also being responsible even though none of them were, even though he knows this and adjusts his opinion later to drop Jin Zixuan out of the blame, even though he later adds Wen Ning to his list of those to blame despite Wen Ning rescuing him from Lotus Pier and sheltering him. It isn’t a worst moment of his life, brought on by trauma and pain, it’s just the start of his sliding slope downward.
Second off is the idea that this should exonerate him of all of his actions. Look at him! He lost his parents and his clan to war by the Wens! He has suffered so much, becoming a clan leader so young in the fires of war!!!
Except... he’s not the only one, not by a long shot. Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang all have their fathers killed and their homes attacked by the Wens as well. Both Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen also ascend at very young ages, no one was over twenty when they took up their positions, and at the end of the novel, Jin Ling is even younger when he takes on his own clan leader position. Also he isn’t the only one to go into war so young, Wei Wuxian is a whole five days older than he is, and the whole jianghu falls into war against the Wens, no doubt with other fighters who also lost their homes and families in the process.
It isn’t that it isn’t impressive that he manages to pull it together in the face of all that’s happening, it’s that he’s not the only person by any means to suffer this trauma. Wei Wuxian goes through the exact same journey that he does, but when this argument comes up, it’s always just for why Jiang Cheng shouldn’t be blamed, not about how their whole generation lost so much to a war that their parents left to them by refusing to do anything before even when they all saw the signs of what Wen Ruohan was doing.
The third part is that there’s apparently no limit or expiration date on how long people have to forgive him for doing whatever he wants to do. His trauma is a reason for him to treat people however he wants for as long as he wants, and they should just put up with it because he’s suffering and not all pain is beautiful.
But by the time Wei Wuxian comes back to life, it’s been almost twenty years. A whole generation, long enough for Jiang Cheng to watch his nephew grow to almost adulthood. The world as a whole is changed, he himself has transformed Lotus Pier into a whole new place; and it wasn’t because the Wens had destroyed everything, Wei Wuxian no longer recognizes it, meaning that this happened after he died. The general attitude that JC stans have towards Wei Wuxian is that he shouldn’t hold Jiang Cheng leading a siege against him because it’s been long enough, he should get over it by now. But Jiang Cheng apparently should still get to act without hesitation or consideration of others and their own pain because he is suffering, he is an imperfect victim. It doesn’t matter what else anyone else has gone through and it is unreasonable to hold him to task because he lost his family.
The whole point of poor trauma reactions is that they are moments, responses in time to events. It is one thing for Jiang Cheng to react poorly right after his family is killed and his home invaded. But he gets worse over the course of the story. The day of the attack, he strangles Wei Wuxian. That’s one thing. But three years later he turns on Wei Wuxian, declares him an enemy of the world, tells him to let the Wens be slaughtered even though they are no longer at war, later declares war on Wei Wuxian and personally leads a siege to kill him. In the interim, a time of peace in which supposedly all of his enemies are dead, he hunts down people who he claims to be demonic cultivators and people that Wei Wuxian is possessing and tortures them to death, all the while doing very little to help his people as he will only intervene once someone has already died to the problem. When Wei Wuxian returns to life thirteen years after he died, seventeen years after the war, when Jiang Cheng is literally double the age that this began, despite him deliberately trying to avoid Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng seeks him out multiple times specifically to hurt him, first trying to kill him with a whip that can destroy spirits possessing bodies, then tying him up and torturing him with a dog. Later he leads a second siege upon Wei Wuxian, who still has done nothing to him aside from try to avoid him before later attacking him and Lan Wangji by first demanding that they leave, then refusing to let them do so, driving Wei Wuxian to a qi deviation (which can be fatal, that’s how Nie Mingjue died) and attacking Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian with Zidian while Wei Wuxian is unconcious before Wen Ning stops him. Even in the temple, he’s still demanding that Wei Wuxian play by his rules of debts, he’s upset because he knows that he has gone so much farther than anyone has any right to and he has nothing to hold over Wei Wuxian’s head anymore.
Fifteen years of hurting everyone around him isn’t a poor trauma response. That’s deliberate and chosen. That is what he wants to do. It is a clear line of events where in the end, the trauma is an excuse over anything else.
If it had ended at the beginning of this list, Jiang Cheng would be a very different character and Modaozushi would be a very different novel. If it were just a trauma reaction and he didn’t want to hurt anyone in the long run, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
But you cannot exonerate everything with the fact that his parents died when he was seventeen. Especially not when we have so many other people who react in so many other ways to the same pain. It is frankly ridiculous that people think he is the only one to suffer in the story, even though it is clear that no one escapes the novel unscathed and a hell of a lot of people die. Sometimes even at his hands or by his orders.
Jiang Cheng is not unsympathetic. I can understand what hurts he feels, at least to an extent. But an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind and he just keeps doing it. And then his stans show up and claim that it’s fine for him to want to kill everyone who he hates (not necessarily everyone who’s even done him wrong, and they certainly like to ignore everything he does to them) because he’s an ugly trauma victim.
He may be that, at the start. But twenty years down the line, when he gets excited at the thought of getting to torture people, that isn’t a trauma reaction anymore.
That’s a choice.
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strawberrylemonwedge · 5 months ago
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Fuck it, modern au mdzs driving style headcanons (us american version srry)
wei wuxian - he rests his left wrist limply over the top of the steering wheel, his right arm is gesticulating at his passenger as he chatters away the whole drive or he’s leaning it on the center arm rest, body always slightly angled towards the passenger seat even when it’s empty. He always drives at least 5 over the speed limit, but sometimes accidentally more if he’s not paying attention
jiang cheng - left hand firmly at 10 o’clock, right hand loosely at 3ish, sitting straight against his seat at 90 degrees if there’s anyone else in the car. When he’s by hiself and ONLY by hiself he’s got his left hand in a loose grip on the top of the steering wheel and his right arm leaning comfortably on the center arm rest similar to wwx but he’d die before he lets anyone think he’s copying his brother, Least of all wwx!!
lan wangji - a proper 10 and 2 position sitting stick straight, eyes on the road. Wei wuxian is of course a menace of a passenger spending the ride trying to distract him with his hands on his thighs, practically crawling in his lap to whisper in his ear. Lan wangji doesn’t cave of course but the steering wheel certainly does
lan xichen - a proper 10 and 2 position a bit more relaxed than his brothers, fingers looser and curled a bit more on the back of the wheel. Xichen actually Loves driving and the little break if affords him from his responsibilities. He finds it relaxing to drive solidly at the speed limit with his favorite music playing
nie mingjue - he drives with his window rolled down in almost all weather, left arm resting along the door or dangling outside. His right hand tightly gripping 2 o’clock. If he tends to drive with his sleeves rolled up so he can flex that arm when xichen is in the passenger seat, that’s honestly no one’s business
nie huaisang - if his da-ge is in the car, huaisang has both hands properly on the wheel, seat pulled forward so he can see over the dash, never driving more than 5 over the speed limit. If his da-ge is Not in the car his ass is driving with his damn knees, both hands on his phone, only occasionally grabbing the steering wheel (which is adjusted to the lowest setting) to turn, or if a cop is nearby. He’s watching reels, texting, and playing dj bc no one else is allowed to pick the music in his car
xue yang - ok his left foot is propped up on his seat, left arm resting on that knee, with a very loose two-finger-one-thumb hold on the steering wheel. His seat is leaned back so far you could say he’s lounging. His right arm sits on the center armrest when he isn’t reaching over to poke at xingchen or tug his hair or flip off other cars. A-Qing isn’t allowed to sit anywhere other than the backseat even if Xingchen isn’t riding with them, but he does secretly slip songs he knows she enjoys into their playlist if he’s feeling nice (only if he likes the songs too tho)
what do we think?? also bonus points if you can guess who i drive most similarly to lol
edit - there’s a junior quartet version now, tag yourself~
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wangxianficrecs · 8 months ago
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Shine Brightly, That I May Glow by TheLegendOfChel
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Shine Brightly, That I May Glow
by TheLegendOfChel (@the-legend-of-chel)
M, WIP, 62k, Wangxian
Summary:Every thousand years, two soulmates are born; one blessed by the power of the sun and the other by the moon. The Lan Sect rejoices when their second young master bears the mark of the moon. However, his other half is nowhere to be found. With every year that passes, the cultivation world becomes more desperate to find the missing sun spirit, and the Wen Clan in particular seems increasingly intent on claiming the sun spirit as their own. ----- When Lan Wangji is fifteen he meets Wei Wuxian, a guest disciple who is loud, annoying...and bright in every possible way. Kay's comments: This story is on hiatus, but it's definitely still definitely a story you should check out! It has the sun & moon combination of Wangxian that I am very fond of, Lan Wangji blessed by the moon and Wei Wuxian blessed by the sun, soulmates who are meant to be. Only no one knows that Wei Wuxian is blessed by the sun, because the Wens are yearning to claim the sun spirit for themselves and yet, Wangxian are still drawn to each other. I love their relationship in this, being drawn together despite Wei Wuxian's hidden identity as the sun spirit. It's just *chef's kiss* Excerpt: That being said, they were few and far between. Lan Wangji usually acted like Wei Wuxian didn’t exist, sometimes going so far as to put a silencing spell on him. Rude. Wei Wuxian would then retaliate by making silly faces at Lan Wangji, but the moon spirit didn’t even seem to notice. There were a few times Wei Wuxian considered just telling Lan Wangji that he was the sun spirit. He promised the Jiangs that he wouldn’t reveal his true identity to anyone, but surely Lan Wangji didn’t count? However, in the end Wei Wuxian decided against it. Maybe he would have felt differently if Lan Wangji had been more open to his friendship from the start, but Wei Wuxian knew that if he told Lan Wangji they were soulmates now and Lan Wangji changed his tune, a part of Wei Wuxian would always wonder if it was only out of a sense of responsibility.
pov alternating, canon divergence, everyone lives/nobody dies, soulmates, soulmate-identifying marks, secret identity, identity reveal, mutual pining, secret relationship, dreamsharing, light angst, jiang cheng/nie huaisang, sangcheng, kidnapping
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~*~
(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)
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lgbtlunaverse · 10 months ago
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It seems the dash has been talking about the Lan Xichen - Nie Huaisang post-canon dynamics and it's gotten me thinking about how discussion around post-canon Lan Xichen's absolutely horrendous mental state often center around the question of "who is Lan Xichen angry at and who does he feel guilty about" which, at its worst, seperates into 2 camps where according to one side he feels guilty about not protecting jgy and hates the Nies and, on the other side he has completely flipped on jgy and despises him now while being filled with regret towards both nmj and nhs.
And I dislike both of these takes not just because it often feels like people projecting their own Blorbo opinions onto Lan Xichen which is never a fun time but also because that central question is flawed to begin with. It treats anger and guilt like opposing emotions that can't coexist or, if they do, have to compete until one wins and cancels the other out.
And that's not how that... works.
To be clear, the reason why Lan Xichen is so supremely fucked up at the end of the story is that he believes on some level he fucked over everyone in this situation. And, even more importantly, that even with hindsight he can't actually think of what he should have done instead. Every attempt to do better by one seems to involve fucking over the others even more because these people were in conflict with each other and choosing one would mean standing against another
And none of this would actually stop him from feeling angry at any of them. It's not "who is he angry at and who does he feel guilty about" it's: "he is angry at everyone and feels an immediate and bone deep guilt for daring to think badly of them."
Speaking from personal experience here, but feeling like you're not allowed to be angry at someone because you wronged them really doesn't stop the feeling, it just maks you feel like shit for feeling it. And this is all worsened by the fact that what he's in seclusion for is, at the end of the day, a moral question of what he, Lan Xichen, did wrong and every single emotion serves as further proof of the ways he's failed them.
Is he angry at Jin Guangyao, for killing his oldest friend, using Lan xichen's trust in him to do it, and then lying to him about it and countless other things for a decade when Lan Xichen thought of him as the person he trusted the most in the entire world? Yeah. That's a thing people get angry about! Except Jin Guangyao also saved his life and protected and helped him more times than he can count and never ever hurt him and can Lan Xichen say the same? No. He had to clean A-Yao's blood off Shouyue, he has to be haunted by the fact that if he just hadn't listened to Huaisang- hadn't been just like everyone else, in the end, and believed a lie about Jin Guangyao just to think the worst of him- then Jin Guangyao might still be alive.
Is he angry at Huaisang? For orchestrating the death of his best friend? For making him do it? For knowing what the real cause behind Nie Mingjue's death was and never telling him until he found out in the absolute worst way? Absolutely. But didn't Huaisang hide it from him for a reason? Wasn't it his clan's techniques and his personal faith in Jin Guangyao that cost Huaisang his brother? How dare he demand that Huaisang let him in on the secret of his brother's murderer when Lan Xichen is here wondering about how he should have protected that murderer better!
And I do even think he's angry at Nie Mingjue, sometimes I think it's pretty normal to be angry at your friend for kicking your other friend down the stairs and threatening to kill him, even when you know his mind is being poisoned. And years later the last thing he ever saw of Nie Mingjue was Nie Mingjue's thoughtless corpse coming to kill him before Jin Guangyao pushed him away and then proceeded to graphocally snap Jin Guangyao's neck in front of him. And if what he wants to do is protect Jin Guangyao, shouldn't he be mad at Mingjue? Didn't this whole mess start because Jin Guangyao was afraid Nie Mingjue was going to kill him?
Except holy shit, can you imagine? Lan Xichen feels like he personally has Nie Mingjue's blood on his hands. Your oldest friend is killed in front of you and you happily believe it's an accident for 11 years and now you think you have the right to be mad at him? You watched him get worse as he was being poisoned and attributed it to his illness and not to the techniques stolen from your library with the token you give his murderer. Does he think Nie Mingjue knew who he was in that moment and wanted to kill him? That he blamed Lan Xichen for his death? (For the record, I don't. I don't agree with most of what Lan Xichen thinks about himself, but I've been in a self-blame spiral and I know how it feels)
But what was he supposed to do then? Choose Mingjue's side and let A-Yao die? That's also unacceptable. But so is letting Jin Guangyao get away with it. Every single outcome is unacceptable. And really, if Jin Guangyao felt like he had to kill Nie Mingjue to save himself, when it was Lan Xichen who was supposed to keep the peace between them, isn't that another mark of his failure? That he couldn't protect Jin Guangyao well enough that he felt he had to do something so horrible?
But that's not an answer! He's supposed to know what he should have done different, and all he can come up with is "what you were already doing, but without failing this time" He can't pick a side because that means betrayal, but he's already tried not picking a side and it ended like this! There is no right answer, which can only leave him with the idea that he was simply doomed to hurt the people he loved from the start. No wonder the guy looks like shit when we see him post-canon. They put him in a real life trolley problem and gave him the lever as a souvenir.
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adhdo5 · 1 month ago
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I do think Jin Guangyao genuinely liked Nie Huaisang. Like he did in fact help NHS for all those years, in Guanyin temple he specifically comments with concern for his wellbeing/comfort in a way he doesn't do explicitly for anyone else other than LXC! He liked that guy!
And like . JGY considers NHS deeply annoying yes but in many ways he's so much less of a liability than his brother had been and certainly less of a danger. He does still resent NHS for all he's been given, that all including himself, but he's always been a little endeared to NHS's antics as much as how spoiled NHS is grates at him sometimes, and the fact that NHS treats LXC the same makes it– it's nice, even, to be held in high regards like that? When he had been Meng Yao he hadn't been able to shake the implication that it was the affection NHS would show to a bird or a toy but seeing it now, and seeing it when NHS genuinely needs their help, and seeing it directed at LXC in equal measure, it's clear it's just the love NHS is used to receiving, and it even dulls the bitterness of the entitlement of that past relationship in retrospect
And NHS is scatterbrained and unmotivated and airheaded and lazy - sometimes JGY thinks he's intentionally slacking off or feeding nonsense rumors because he doesn't understand the gravity of his position, and sometimes the unbecoming jealousy of all NHS has always had for granted including him rears its head – but over the years he makes some progress. Like how he eventually did form his core (barely), like he eventually did pass summer camp (barely), he's slowly coming into his meager own as a sect leader. JGY knows NHS has enough charisma and smarts to pull it off if he applies himself, and he'll eventually be a good trade for how much influence in Qinghe this gives JGY and LXC, and they've enough goodwill between them to tide it over for now
They've known each other for years, after all, and they have a rapport, and LXC loves him, and the companionship is nice. JGY is glad he gets to stay friendly with him, is glad he gets to keep this from Qinghe, is a little viciously smug about having taken Nie Mingjue's idiot baby brother for his own too. He's glad NHS is too careless to have ever even started to notice or suspect – NHS has never been wrathful, but he did love his da-ge, and it would certainly lose JGY that regard, and that would be a shame even though he doubts NHS would really manage any retribution that who Jin Guangyao is now can't mitigate
And especially the fact that their relationship is mostly the same despite their social positions changing so and the fact that NHS has always been one of the people who had also touched him willingly with some regularity and the fact that NHS has little love for such things as propriety – in some ways it feels like this too is and always has been one of his rare relationships that didn't let itself be defined by JGY's status. And as much as stuff like Su Minshan's glowing regard for Lianfang-zun is nice, having relationships like this – with LXC, with QS, with NHS – it's nice in a different way. Even if he has to keep secrets to keep this, he has this love, he's deserved it, he's always deserved it. The class disparity was overcome... he won... his mother was right...
[hard cut to NHS smacking a mosquito with his fan]
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celestialbruise · 2 months ago
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Hello! For fanfic club, may I request canonverse no war AU where Wei wuxian doesn't get kicked out of the lectures? Please give me humour, everyone else face palming at oblivious wangxian, fluff, them being adorable and I love and figuring what they wanna be months before the lectures end. Most likely with implied future ending (like it could be lwj planning to propose 2 years later and making mental notes, etc). Thank you!
this is so late!! I am the worst!! hopefully, I did your wonderful prompt justice, enough to make up for my tardiness :') I had such fun writing this, so thank you sm for that<3 I love to be back on the let wangxian be happy agenda
(side note: I read that according to old customs, couples sometimes exchanged their jade pendants at their engagement ceremony, which is why nhs tells wwx to buy it at caiyi town) 
-
So, it’s not weird. It’s very casual, y’know, nothing to write home about. It’s just that Wei Wuxian has found himself going back to the Library Pavilion. Every day. And that’s! Normal!
“But,” Nie Huaisang’s brows scrunched in confusion. “Your punishment ended a week ago…right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“....No reason….” Nie Huaisang flipped open his fan, his tone all-too-casual all he followed his cryptic musings up with an offer, “Wei-xiong, on a completely unrelated note, I’d be happy to lend you some more of my books, if you want any.”
-
“I’ve noticed that Wei-gongzi seems to be visiting the Library Pavillion often these days,” Lan Xichen hedged, sounding far-too curious for his own good. Lan Wangji’s spine felt somehow stiffer as he walked alongside his brother and although he was confident nothing about his expression gave him away, he could feel his traitorous ears burning. 
“He is an avid reader,” Lan Wangji said, straight-faced, like a liar. He was sure Wei Wuxian was well-read so it wasn’t technically a lie, since they were in the Cloud Recesses, where that was strictly forbidden.
It’s only that when Wei Wuxian visited, he didn’t exactly sit quietly and pick up scrolls. He’d pester Lan Wangji, sprawling over his desk, tugging on his sleeve, drawing him frivolous (pretty) things that Lan Wangji would pretend not to look at, and recently, he’d even begun to bring in little violets he picked from the back mountain which - who knows how he’d found his way there.
It was a simple omission of the truth. Nothing more. 
“Well, whatever the case,” Lan Xichen smiled, lashes dipping. “It’s good to see you have a friend.”
“He is not a friend,” Lan Wangji informed his brother curtly, but Lan Xichen’s smile did not waver even a fraction.
“Then it’s good you have a companion.”
Lan Wangji didn’t dignify that with a response, mostly because he didn’t have one. He feared his second denial would fall flatter than the first. 
Because he kept coming back, is the thing. Wei Wuxian always came back. His punishment had ended long ago - he had no reasn to visit the Library Pavilion as frequently, as faithfully as he did. He only came, after all, to find Lan Wangji. And despite Lan Wangji’s attempts to ice him out, Wei Wuxian was a warmth that burned through all of his many layers of frost, settling pleasantly in his chest. It was a warmth Lan Wangji had come to crave. 
If not a companion, then what was Wei Wuxian, to Lan Wangji?
-
“Do you think Lan Zhan would like the purple one or the green one better? Or, should I just stick with blue?”
“Lan Zhan?” Nie Huaisang raised an inquisitive brow. Wei Wuxian blinked, wide grey eyes innocent and sparkling like the river that ran behind them.
“Yes…?”
“You call him by his birth name?”
“I think I just did?”
“To his face?”
“What other body part of his would I be talking to?”
Oh, this was too much fun. Nie Huaisang bit his tongue against all the innuendos poised atop the tip. “And he hasn’t murdered you yet?”
Wei Wuxian huffed, throwing his hands out, all dramatics. “I don’t know, Nie-xiong, are you talking to a ghost right now?”
“....To be determined,” Nie Huaisang decided, nodding towards the money purses clutched in Wei Wuxian’s hands. “If you want my advice, don’t give him that. You should get him a jade pendant.”
This recent entertainment Nie Huaisang had found in watching Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji dance around each other was a double-edged blade, one he could actually wield. For one, it was endlessly amusing that Wei Wuxian thought all that he wanted from Lan Wangji was his friendship. Nie Huaisang wasn’t fluent in spring books and romance novels for nothing - he was practically an expert on these kinds of affairs, and he’d eat his own fan if it really turned out Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were only ‘friends.’ And then, as if that wasn’t enough, on a day free of classes Wei Wuxian had all but dragged Nie Huaisang along with him to Caiyi Town to go shopping, for a ‘friendship gift’ for ‘his Lan Zhan.’ Yes, Wei Wuxian had used those exact words. 
“Why a jade pendant?” Wei Wuxian frowned, but obediently put down the money purse to hold the jade pendant above his head, studying the way it sparkled when the light hit it just right. 
“You want him to know you’re interested in him, don’t you?”
“In his friendship? Duh. I like Lan Zhan. He’s a funny guy.”
“Uh-huh,” Nie Huaisang smiled a fox’s smile behind his fan. “Well, this will make your intentions crystal clear, Wei-xiong, trust me.”
In his defense, Nie Huaisang hadn’t specified the exact intention the jade pendant would bring light to. 
-
“Lan Zhan!”
Lan Wangji freezes in his tracks, tongue caught in between his teeth. It’s enough time for Wei Wuxian to catch up to him, all radiant light and buoyant smiles and laughter that rings out like bells.
“You were walking so fast, er-gege, I had to run to catch up! Where are you off to in such a rush, hm?”
Lan Wangji feels terribly tongue-tied, feels as if he cannot possibly say he is going to feed the bunnies Wei Wuxian gifted him. It feels far too vulnerable to state in the warm light of day. Too much like a confession for something Lan Wangji had only recently put into words. 
Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian eyes aren’t just arresting, crystalline clear and sparkling grey, but keen as well. They dart to the carrots Lan Wangji holds in his hands - and, well, even if Wei Wuxian wasn’t a genius, anyone would be able to put two and two together. 
A steady, burning flush spreads from the tips of his ears down to his throat. Lan Wangji thinks, with no small amount of mortification, that it may have bled to his cheeks as well. 
“Oh! You’re off to feed our children, huh?” Wei Wuxian grins, and before Lan Wangji’s can grow any more flustered, Wei Wuxian asks, “Mind if I tag along?”
Wei Wuxian doesn’t wait for Lan Wangji’s answer - maybe because he fears Lan Wangji will reject his advances yet again - whatever the case, he simply winds his arm around the crook of Lan Wangji’s elbow and begins leading them down the gravel path as if he knows the way. Which, to be fair, he probably does. Lan Wangji doesn’t rebuff Wei Wuxian nor does he try to shake him off, so he supposes that is enough of an answer on its own. 
“I knew you were fond of those bunnies Lan Zhan,” Lan Wangji can hear the grin in Wei Wuxian’s tone, can imagine it curved across his face, his eyes twin crescent-moons of mirth. He keeps his eyes on the path before him. This simple point of contact between them, after all, already feels fit to send him into qi deviation. Lan Wangji doesn’t know how much more his painfully thin face can take. He can barely manage to hum in acknowledgement. 
“Mn.” 
“I’m glad I didn’t roast them then, hahaha! Aiyah, don’t look at me like that - you can call me a lot of things, but I’m not a bunny killer, really Lan Zhan. They’re too fluffy to eat!” Wei Wuxian chattered along, his voice like the babbling of an excitable brook. Lan Wangji found it incomparably soothing, as he always did. “I always kind of wanted a pet, y’know? But not, like, a dog.” Wei Wuxian shuddered and Lan Wangji felt the aftershocks shiver into his arm, melting into his bones. It may have been a bit dramatic, but Lan Wangji thought Wei Wuxian’s eyes grew a bit too wide for him to be exaggerating. “Rabbits are tiny and fluffy and sweet. Dogs are just the worst, don’t you agree Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji had never had much of an opinion on dogs before, but in that instant, he unequivocally decided they were intolerable. “Dogs are forbidden in the Cloud Recesses,” Lan Wangji said - and he realized only after he had said it that yes, he had said it to comfort Wei Wuxian. He wanted to soothe the tightness with which that arm suddenly squeezed around his own. 
“Really?” Wei Wuxian asked, easing up. “How did I miss that rule? That would have been my favorite one!”
“My uncle does not like them,” Lan Wangji responded, which was, technically, not a lie. Of course, his uncle would not like the rabbits Lan Wangji was keeping either - but the bunnies were small, and far out of the way, as much as they possibly could be.
Lan Wangji figured that he could allow himself this small act of rebellion.
For Wei Wuxian, he could. 
He made a mental note to suggest to his uncle that they should specify no dogs were allowed in the Cloud Recesses. 
“Oh!” Lan Wangji’s eyes darted over at Wei Wuxian’s exclamation. “Before I forget, I have a gift for you.”
A gift?
“There is no need,” Lan Wangji said, stilted, mostly because he was confused over why he would be receiving a gift, and because this was breaking yet another rule. Do not overindulge. 
“Of course, there’s a need,” Wei Wuxian laughed, pulling something out of his sleeve. “Everyone likes gifts. Here - you have to take it, I bought it, just for you. Don’t reject me so harshly, okay? It’ll hurt my feelings.”
Lan Wangji bit his tongue, but relented with a small nod. It was also against the rules to be unnecessarily cruel, after all. 
Blood pounded in his ears, almost deafening Wei Wuxian’s explanation of his gift - but even if the wave of sound resounding in his head had somehow swept away Wei Wuxian’s words, Lan Wangji would have known what the gift meant, anyway. Lan Wangji felt useless, he could only stare at the exquisitely carved jade pendant as it soaked up golden sunlight, carefully cradled in Wei Wuxian’s palm. 
The implications sent his mind reeling, and his heart into disarray. Wei Wuxian couldn’t possibly mean-
Lan Wangji couldn’t remember a time his face had felt so hot, besides any other moment he had shared with Wei Wuxian - Wei Ying. Yes, Wei Wuxian had given Lan Wangji permission to call him by his birth name, hadn’t he? He had, and Lan Wangji had long ago forgotten when he’d stopped minding the sound of his own on Wei Wuxian’s tongue. It felt like it belonged there. As if it were meant for Wei Wuxian’s lips and Wei Wuxian’s alone.
“Don’t tease,” Lan Wangji said, his voice coming out somewhat sharper than he meant it. Quieter, too. Because if this was a joke, like he had suspected so many of Wei Wuxian’s flirtations to be-
“I’m not!” Wei Wuxian protested, his free hand thumping atop his heart as he bounced beside Lan Wangji. “Lan Zhan, you wound me. I present you this gift with only the sincerest intentions. Won’t you believe me? I’ll hold onto the tail-end of your forehead ribbon and swear on my parents’ graves if that’ll give it more weight.”
“No need,” Lan Wangji managed through the sudden lump that had appeared in his throat, unswallowable. So, they shared a kinship in this? Unconsciously, he found himself softening. “I believe you.”
“Good,” Wei Wuxian’s tongue teased the sharp tip of his canine. Lan Wangji’s eyes couldn’t help but track the movement. “You have to believe me. Lying is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses, don’t you know?”
Something strange happened, then. A foreign feeling welled up inside of his chest, not unlike a flurry of excited butterflies. Lan Wangji didn’t think he had felt it since he had last seen his mother, ten long years ago.
It was the urge - to smile. To laugh. 
“I do know,” Lan Wangji shot Wei Wuxian a side-long look. “Do you?”
“When it comes to the important stuff, of course,” Wei Wuxian sounded so solemn, and heart-wrenchingly sincere. And under the warm summer sunlight, caught in a fragrant, gentle breeze-
How couldn’t Lan Wangji believe him?
They continued down the path together, arms entwined. 
-
From a bridge not too far away, two figures watched the two dressed in white disappear into the forest, their white, swirling robes lost in the thick swathes of swaying green.
“Romance is in the air, wouldn’t you say, Jin-xiong?” Nie Huaisang sighed, a dreamy smile curving his lips as he idly fanned himself. Jin Zixuan had joined him in watching Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian blush and make eyes at each other - mostly to make disgusted, retching noises, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Nie Huaisang, how round his eyes had gotten when Wei Wuxian had presented Lan Wangji with his gift. Clearly, he was taking notes. 
“How is it romantic? It’s hopeless, is what it is,” Jin Zixuan groaned, though Nie Huaisang noticed he hadn’t torn his eyes away, his gaze still settled on where Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian’s afterimages lingered. “And my cousins tease me for being oblivious.”
“You are,” Nie Huaisang says, because he was present for the mess Jin Zixuan made of himself in front of Jiang Yanli at the last Jiang Clan banquet. 
Jin Zixuan shot Nie Huaisang a horrible glare, but there was really nothing he could say in his defense. 
-
Later, away from the prying eyes of others - how could Lan Wangji, with his sharp senses, be somehow unaware they were being watched? - as Lan Wangji watched Wei Wuxian tumble around in the grass around the rabbits, laughing and calling out the names he had given them, these children of theirs he had claimed them to be, a thought solidified in his mind, sunlight shining through amber, revealing the treasure inside.
I want to spend forever with him.
Lan Wangji had thought he’d think himself in circles trying to come up with the perfect gift to give Wei Wuxian in return. He wasn’t good at expressing himself, the breadth of his emotions - but Lan Wangji had come to realize, as the sun started to slink past the horizon, and the world was enveloped in rosy tones and shades of blue, that maybe it was only he wasn’t the best with words.
Maybe something like this didn’t need words, in the end. 
As they turned to leave, and Wei Wuxian looked at him with those silver, sparkling eyes, pure happiness in his voice as he asked Lan Wangji if they could visit their rabbits every day, Lan Wangji could no longer resist. He took Wei Wuxian around the waist, into his arms, and only shook a little as he pressed their lips together. 
Wei Wuxian tasted like spring. Lush against Lan Wangji’s lips, incomparably soft and impossibly sweet. Lan Wangji pulled away, only because air was a necessity and it was quickly running from his lungs, in the face of what he had just done. 
“Ah?” Wei Wuxian’s fingers trembled as they traced his lips, his cheeks dusting an intoxicating pink. “What was that for?”
Lan Wangji swallowed, and though the kiss had been chaste, his voice came out hoarse. “Your gift.”
“My gift,” Wei Wuxian murmured, lashes fluttering, and before Lan Wangji could worry he’d somehow misread the situation, Wei Wuxian was clinging to his arms, crying out. “Lan Zhan! Now mine looks inadequate! I’m going to have to buy you a thousand more jade pendants! A million! Even that won’t be enough!”
A shadow of a smile tucked itself into the corner of his lips. 
“Or,” Lan Wangji cleared his throat, preserving valiantly through the waves of his own shamelessness. “You could kiss me again.”
Wei Wuxian quieted, a dangerous, beautiful gleam alighting in his star-bright eyes. 
“I could do that,” Wei Wuxian agreed, pulling Lan Wangji down once more.
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jgys-hat · 3 months ago
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Now I've rewatched The Untamed having now read MDZS, here are some thoughts (in no particular order):
I found myself liking Jin Zixuan a lot more this time around - the first time I watched I found him kind of boring, but this time I really appreciated him for seemingly trying to be kind and fair despite being posh and privileged. I also found his awkwardness endearing... Oh, and Wei Wuxian is a total dick to him on several occasions, to be honest.
I also liked Su She a lot more this time.
I liked Wangxian a more in CQL than in the novel. I think this is because in the novel, WWX can't read LWJ very well, so sometimes I felt that novel!LWJ came off as somewhat of a flat character, whereas in the show the acting gives a better sense of what he might be thinking and feeling at any given moment.
The flashback episode scenes at Cloud Recesses where they're all young, alive and more or less happy are Painful to watch knowing what's coming next...
I really intensely dislike CQL's inclusion of the second flautist plot point. I think the story is more interesting and tragic if WWX really did just overextend himself and lose control.
On a similar note, I preferred that in the novel the curse put on Jin Zixuan was nothing to do with WWX at all - I think something that's got nothing to do with him being pinned on him anyway adds an extra level of tragedy to the story and adds to the themes the story is trying to put across.
I much preferred the greater level of moral ambiguity that the novel had - it made me really sad that WWX does some really awful things but eventually gets to live happily ever after having had a chance to redeem himself, whereas JGY never gets that chance and just dies horribly :(((
I really enjoyed the extra development that CQL gave to the female supporting characters! I feel like CQL gives a much better sense of how Wen Qing is as a person than the novel does.
JIN GUANGYAO THE CHARACTER EVER... Everything I could possibly say about him has already been said by people who are much smarter and better at writing than me, but I love his character so much... He does do some pretty awful things, BUT he gets put in a lot of impossible situations where he would have been absolutely pilloried no matter what he did, poor guy. "JGY did some awful things" and "JGY was genuinely badly treated by a lot of people" are statements that can and should coexist.
The other thing that I find really sad is that JGY meets his end because of the person he (at least in the novel) killed in self-defence and was genuinely afraid of, and not because of anything actually evil he did, like having his dad's pet serial killer murder twenty women... It's really not justice at all, but I think that's likely the point the story is trying to make.
Listen, I'm just so sad about A-Yao... Maybe people should have been nice to him and he wouldn't have committed crimes :)))
He lived so much of his life in fear of one kind or another and then dies humiliated :))) I'm fine this is fine :)))
I am continually astonished that the censors decided "no zombies for you" but something as gross and horrible as the way Jin Guangshan was bumped off is A-OK.
I think that given how different the structure of the drama is from that of the novel, introducing the Yi City trio earlier on was an understandable and sensible change to make.
I think I may need to scream forever about Nie Huaisang's character arc... The fact that by using LXC to kill JGY he's become as manipulative as the person he hated, and has also forced Jin Ling into becoming sect leader at a very young age, just like NHS himself was by the death of his brother, makes me Feel Things...
...As does the fact that his face as he leaves the Guanyin Temple in CQL is not the face of a happy man - it comes across to me as though he's realised that getting revenge hasn't really given him any sense of satisfaction at all. He must know that his peers are unlikely to really trust him again. I love how in his final scene he's dropped the buffoonish act totally, because now his plan has come to fruition he can outwardly be the person he has been inside for a very long time.
NHS is clearly just as capable of Rage as his brother once was, he just expresses it very differently.
Also, the fact that by the end of the story NHS is likely older than his brother ever got to be :)))
I wish CQL had had some way of working in the scene from the novel where NMJ had NHS' things burned - I think it was nice on getting some background on the brothers and on NHS' relationship with JGY.
JGY and NHS were clearly close once, so watching this happen to their relationship is so interesting to me... The betrayal on both sides is just *chef's kiss*... I actually think they're both quite similar in a lot of ways, but that's probably a topic for a separate post!!!
They are both such cool and interesting characters and I love them both!!
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larothoughts · 3 months ago
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fem!jiggy thoughts (part 2: the war)
part 1: qinghe nie
hmmm so this part of the au I've been thinking of is a lot less coherent. some of these are just events i imagine happen with lots of holes in-between. i'll have to think of the logic between them all later when i'm smarter lol.
lan xichen arrives
meng yao, after being publicly accepted as a daughter to save face with the nie sect, is shuffled away to the edge of the jin estate and 'forgotten.' no maids, servants, etc. she has to do everything herself. no one is willing to acknowledge her and incite the wrath of madam jin. she isn't allowed to train with the jin disciples. she isn't even allowed in koi tower. she had to give jin guangshan a thinly-veiled threat that her starving to death would likely give nmj incentive to kick down the jin's door just to receive a stipend that allowed her to eat.
it's soul-crushing, but meng yao has already built herself up from nothing once. rather than despair at everything she's lost, meng yao takes this transitional time to analyze the lanling situation.
it's a mess.
madam jin is a tyrant whose hold over the servants is near-absolute. her ignoring meng yao is actually the best case scenario, since madam jin definitely has the power to making meng yao's life a living hell if she wants. jin zixuan is... spoiled and naive in a bad way, the kind of way that infuriates meng yao because he is allowed to be naive. he doesn't care that he's excluded from most sect matters other than in swords/bow training and night hunts. as lanling jin's power is almost entirely political/monetary, this means he has no real power at all.
jin guangshan is more of a mixed bag. on one hand, meng yao is an illegitimate child guaranteed to piss off madam jin. on the other hand, at least she's a girl illegitimate child, perfect for use as a political pawn and no real threat to jin zixuan's claim to sect leadership. on a third hand, the fact that nmj essentially forced jgs to acknowledge her hurts his pride, because who does this upstart brat think he is? thinking he could get one over on him???
on the final hand, meng yao is a pretty girl just like her mother, and jgs always loves being surrounded... by pretty girls.
(meng yao is so so grateful sisi convinced her to eschew going to the jin sect after her mother's death. the way jgs looks at her makes her skin crawl, even if she sometimes uses his disgusting interest to her advantage when trying to keep madam jin from arranging an 'accident'.)
a few possible subplots during this arc: interacting with mianmian (she pities meng yao and understands her struggles as a woman in lanling jin, but she isn't in a good position to help even herself, much less meng yao;) sending letters to nie huaisang (who is VERY upset at nmj's actions but is powerless to change his mind;) and maybe even sending letters to lan xichen who one day stops replying.
so when meng yao, still living on the outskirts and having to venture out into lanling herself to run errands, finds an injured lxc in town-- she immediately sneaks him into her living quarters.
three-zun
now meng yao is familiar with lan xichen, and their relationship is complicated by their relationship(s) with nmj. the first layer is nmj and lxc's relationship, being close friends from childhood whose status as clan heirs/sect leaders prevented things from developing into anything more. even when meng yao was nmj's lover, she knew a part of his heart would always belong with xichen; hell, after getting to know him, part of her heart may belong to him too.
because the second layer is lxc and meng yao's relationship. during the cloud recesses lectures, lxc treated her as a fellow cultivator and not as someone barely above a servant. he knew how much nmj cherished her and so he showed her care because she meant so much to nmj. how could meng yao not love his earnest affection for the man she also loved?
it's different than her feelings for nmj, because nmj and lxc are incredibly different men.
nmj is a pragmatic man who loves honesty and honestly. while his love his unconditional, his acceptance relies on what he considers right and wrong. lxc's acceptance relies on whom he loves, whom he also loves unconditionally. this often results in a situation where nmj is viewed as judgmental/callous by refusing to fully accept the ones he loves (see nie huaisang as a good example of this); and lxc is viewed as passive and an enabler by refusing to condemn the actions of those he loves (see him not interfering with lan qiren unreasonably punishing lwj for him loving wwx)
all of this to say: in this awful situation where meng yao's actions resulted in her expulsion from the nie sect (despite knowing nmj still loves her, the fact that he rejected her stings like her parents abandoning her all over again,) lxc's appearance in lanling is like a beacon of hope.
a cynical reading would say meng yao cozies up to lxc just to secure her position in the gentry now that she's lost nmj. a kinder reading would say meng yao, appreciating lxc's unconditional love in the wake of her expulsion, finds herself incredibly motivated to live up to xichen's expectations of being a good person. knowing he forgives her transgressions makes her ironically more honest than she was with nmj, whom she actively hid things from because she knew he wouldn't approve.
so meng yao takes lxc in and nurses him back to health. her quarters are perfect because the servants won't ever stop by (scared of madam jin,) the jin cultivators won't care (mixture of being scared of madam jin, scared of 'ruining' jgs's political pawn, and looking down on her for being a woman,) and the townspeople won't tattle. the one group meng yao has managed to endear herself to are the lanling townsfolk. they've been suffering under pompous lanling jin cultivators who only help the wealthy for decades, this nice young lady who goes out of her way to help them is baby and they won't turn her in no matter what.
(i imagine at this point meng yao, being ignored, acts the way she did in qinghe aka like a young man, not caring a bit that she's alone with a man in her personal quarters. this part needs more fleshing out, tbd later when my brain comes back online.)
the wens
eventually, the wens give up scouring the town and storm koi tower. they demand lanling jin reveal any intel on lxc's location, knowing from reports he likely passed by. madam jin, knowing meng yao and lxc were familiar, can't resist the chance to get rid of her husband's embarrassing mistake by dragging her before them.
but of course meng yao has already smuggled lxc back into town at that point, and the wens find nothing in her chambers.
even more embarrassing, the wen see the poor conditions jgs's 'beloved daughter' is living in. little comments about how lanling jin couldn't even afford to provide for their family, how quaint, loses so much face for jgs he finally intervenes and moves meng yao into living quarters closer to the main family. while this definitely raises meng yao's position within lanling jin, it also means she can no longer hide lxc (she can't rely on the townsfolk's good will to keep him hidden forever.)
so she uses her move from one courtyard to another to slip lxc away, taking advantage of the hustle and bustle to disguise any carriages being rented out and horses used. she keys him into the butterfly talisman she managed to reverse engineer from watching jin disciples send each other messages across the estate-- so she can send him messages no matter where he is.
(now the exact state of xiyao at this point is something a smarter me needs to work on... mostly lxc's point of view.
when meng yao was a disciple of qinghe nie, lxc found himself charmed by her intelligence and sharp wit. if he had to give nmj to anyone, a-yao would certainly be his pick. in their male-dominated society where men can have multiple wives but women can't have multiple husbands, it was always going to end in only one of them marrying a-yao.
being a nie disciple, it made sense for that to be nmj. but what nmj cannot forgive, lxc can; and if nmj will not find a wife in a-yao... then perhaps lxc can do so instead.)
the indoctrination camp happens. jin zixuan and the other clan heirs are sent away, lxc is hopefully able to use the busy roads to hide his path back to the cloud recesses, and meng yao becomes very aware of how much jgs wants to suck up to wen ruohan. even before they find out wen chao had left jin zixuan for dead, meng yao could already see jin guanshan planning ahead.
(that's what she would do. the most disconcerting thing about spending time with her father in such close quarters is realizing how many traits she had in common with him.)
when jin zixuan returns, jgs makes a big show of welcoming him home. he 'shudders to think' how the future of lanling jin would be like if they had to rely on meng yao to continue their lineage. the implication infuriates madam jin (did he really suggest his illegitimate daughter may inherit the sect if jzx dies?) but raises alarm bells for meng yao. there is no way jgs would ever allow her to inherit, so making a bit show of it here can only mean one thing: he's talking her up like a product he's going to sell.
so meng yao isn't surprised at all when he announces that he is negotiating a marriage between his illegitimate but still blood-related "only" daughter to wen rouhan's heir, wen xu.
off to nightless city
madam jin is quickly on board. no one else in the sect protests or even cares. she's being thrown into the lion's den like a sacrificial lamb and meng yao refuses to let the wen take her life.
war is coming. everyone knows it, including jgs. marrying her to the wens is genius: if the wens win, then lanling jin has a connection to the wens' inner circle. if they lose, jgs can denounce meng yao is illegitimate (he was forced to accept her because of those darn nies) and let her be executed for 'being a wen.'
it's lose-lose for her the moment they take their bows, and so the path forward is simple: until the war is over, meng yao must not marry wen xu. she can't stop jgs from betrothing her to him, so what meng yao needs to do is keep them in the betrothal period for as long as humanly possible.
eventually everyone agrees to meng yao moving to the wen sect and living there for a trial period, because despite being jgs' daughter, she was only recently recognized. this is to make sure meng yao is an 'appropriate' bride for wen xu, at least according to wrh and jgs.
while jgs probably doesn't care at all if she's taken to nightless city and assaulted/killed etc. right away, meng yao obviously does not want that to happen. using xue yang's words after his escape, she rightfully deduces that wrh accepted the betrothal not because she is a jin, but because she was nmj's former right-hand woman. she has intel he wants, and all she has to do is convince him she's amenable to betraying the nies of her own volition. let him think he can convince her to switch sides with sugar instead of the stick, because getting her on his side would help him destroy the biggest threat to the wens in this upcoming war.
the night before she leaves for qishan, meng yao sends a messenger butterfly to lxc. she will use the opportunity within nightless city to give him information to help the war effort. it is the most a political pawn like her can do. she does not send a butterfly to nmj, who she was also able to key in out of sheer familiarity with his spiritual signature. because nmj is so honest, he needs to think she betrayed him. if he even catches a whiff of her possible double-agenting, he won't react properly, and wrh is a terrifying ruler for a reason.
lxc, on the other hand, is very unlikely to come face-to-face with wrh. he is also more passive and harder to read. more importantly, lxc still has a good opinion of meng yao for saving him. he'll believe her without question, and in a tumultuous time when even meng yao isn't sure where her loyalties lie other than towards "i have to survive," she finds his faith in her addicting. he is a steady rock in a sea of uncertainty, and she knows she won't ever have to worry about him doubting her if she sends him reports instead of to nmj.
the sunshot campaign
this portion roughly follows canon, with meng yao endearing herself to wrh once the war begins as the perfect, ruthless daughter-in-law. there's probably some subplot with wen qing as well: both women are considered important to wrh's cause, both are at his side for dubious reasons and with questionable survival odds. ultimately, they loathe each other; they both get in each other's way in their game to withstand wrh's moods.
canon progresses. when wen ruohan loses patience with the long betrothal (it's war time, marriages have been conducted in even shorter time,) meng yao arranges for wen xu's death at nmj's hand.
she would have preferred lxc to do the honors as revenge for the cloud recesses' burning, but for the sake of her plan it has to be nmj. it gives wrh incentive to capture nmj, to set up the scene meng yao's been waiting for. because betraying nmj is the final act that will solidify wrh's trust in her. meng yao is a great actor, but wrh is far too shrewd. the only way to make her lashing out believable... is to lash out for real.
losing her standing with the nies had hurt meng yao to the core; it was the first time she was cast aside after she'd gotten used to being accepted (which hurts worse than being cast out by a stranger.) while she puts on a brave face in lanling and knows intellectually that nmj set her up for success by limiting the rumors and forcing jgs to acknowledge her as a daughter... that doesn't change the fact that he cast her away. the same way her father did by not once coming back for her.
nmj thought handing her over to lanling was righteous, that jgs would take good care of his daughter. he probably even thought meng yao would be grateful, being able to take up the role she'd wanted as a child. he couldn't fathom a world where lanling was a cesspit more dangerous to her than even the worst misogynistic pigs of qinghe nie. he couldn't fathom a world where meng yao no longer yearned for her father's acknowledgement, not as long as she had nmj's.
now she doesn't even have that. so yes, she killed her former sect members without a shred of guilt. she beat nmj with all the viciousness she'd kept bottled up. she enjoyed it,
that's what made the act real enough to trick wrh, because it was real. loving and hating nmj are not exclusive. in fact, she's certain he feels the same way about her. if any other nie cultivator had been caught murdering their brethren, nmj may have very well demanded their execution. but he sent meng yao off to lanling with honors. he still loved her even as he condemned her, and that makes the bitter part of herself hate him even more.
especially when she finally kills wrh and reveals herself to be working alongside lxc the entire time. lxc is ecstatic and so, so relieved meng yao managed to make it out the other side of the war alive. nmj instead sees the dead nie cultivators on the floor and condemns her further. that he doesn't seem to realize the true danger she'd put herself in to get to this point, because naivety is the privilege of the powerful.
regardless of his feelings, it doesn't change the fact that the war is over-- and meng yao was the one to deal the killing blow.
after the war
the landscape after the war is a mess. wwx used demonic cultivation to turn the tide in their favor. meng yao slaughtered her old sect mates in a cold bid to get wrh to lower his guard. jgs barely contributed to the war effort and used the after-party as the opportunity to seize political power, and actually succeeded.
with wen xu dead, meng yao's betrothal is obviously annulled. her return to lanling jin is unbearably awkward; no one had expected her to live after being shipped off to nightless city, much less come back as a war hero.
meng yao doesn't care. the only reason she came back to lanling jin was to receive actual, legitimate recognition of her place in the jin sect: legitimacy worthy of a sect leader's future wife.
when jin guangshan attempts to rename her jin guangyao, lan xichen innocently asks why his future wife, the great lianfang-zun, would be denied her generational character. one would think the jin were insulting the lans instead of forming an alliance with them, if he so clearly viewed meng yao as lesser even than her twit of a cousin jin zixun. so begrudgingly, meng yao becomes jin ziyao, shortly to become the future lan furen.
it's a fairy tale ending, one that meng yao has literally sacrificed blood, sweat and tears for. except it's not. and it's all wei wuxian's fault.
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robininthelabyrinth · 1 year ago
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@thedarkline ask which disappeared:
Can you do one where Huisang is upset about the loss of his best friends? After the cloud recesses and the training camp he looked forward to seeing Wei Wuxian and JC again and now they don’t even like each other and WW is so cold now. Maybe they deserve a forced vacation?
ao3
Nie Mingjue blinked.
“Oh,” he said. “I see. This is a hallucination, and I should go get checked out by the doctors.”
“Rude, da-ge,” Nie Huaisang sniffed. “Also, you should in fact go get checked out by the doctors some more. I’m still worried about you, you got out of bed too quickly after everything. But also: rude!”
“All right, I’ll concede that maybe I didn’t hallucinate and you in fact said what you said,” Nie Mingjue said. “But…why? I thought you liked Wei Wuxian!”
“I do like him! Of course I like him!”
Nie Mingjue threw his hands into the air. “Then why in the world would you want me to bring him to trial?”
“Because he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Nie Huaisang said. “It’s all a bunch of rumor and innuendo, and now Jiang Cheng had to throw him out of the sect and pretend he doesn’t like him – which is ridiculous – and we can’t all hang out the way we used to and it’s awful, da-ge! Just awful!”
“Pretty awful for Wei Wuxian stuck living on the Burial Mounds and Jiang Cheng having to rebuild his sect all by himself, but yes, by all means, let’s focus on how it affects you personally,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “No fun hangouts with your friends. How will you survive?”
Nie Huaisang ignored him.
“My point is,” he said loftily, “if he’s found innocent after a trial, then he can come back. It’s perfect!”
“Huaisang…”
“I’m serious.”
Nie Mingjue rubbed his forehead and, reluctantly, started trying to actually think it through. Nie Huaisang could sometimes be distracted by shiny things, like a shopping trip or a new fan, but sometimes he would demonstrate his heritage by getting his teeth into something and stubbornly refusing to let up on it, ever.
It was nice to see him living up to at least some family traditions.
“Wei Wuxian did murder some Jin sect guards,” he pointed out. “He’s unquestionably guilty of that.”
“First off, no one cares about that,” Nie Huaisang rebutted. “And you know it.”
“They should. The fact that the Jin are soulless bastards isn’t exculpatory.”
“No, but also you’re wrong. The fact is, Wei Wuxian didn’t kill them.”
“What?”
“He didn’t! Wen Ning did.”
“…I’m not sure how it’s better that the Ghost General was involved.”
Nie Huaisang waved his fan at him. “Da-ge, don’t be obtuse! Wen Ning wasn’t the Ghost General at that point – he was just a fierce corpse. No consciousness.”
Nie Mingjue waited for his brother to explain his logic. He assumed there was some, anyway.
Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes as if he thought Nie Mingjue was being purposefully slow just to mess with him, which he wasn’t, for once. “Da-ge. Wen Ning was a fierce corpse who had been killed by the Jin sect guards. If he’d resurrected without Wei-xiong’s help, would anyone have said anything?”
“Of course not. A murderer’s victim seeking vengeance for the crime committed against them is a classic case that calls for liberation, provided they haven’t killed anyone else in the process or gotten a taste for killing people such that they would continue doing so afterwards.”
“Exactly.”
“But Wei Wuxian did resurrect him.”
“Naturally he did! He was looking for his friend, he wanted to speak with him; he’s a demonic cultivator. What could be more natural? It’s no different from a Lan playing Inquiry to see if they can find a lost soul. How was Wei Wuxian to know that the Jin sect guards had murdered him, and that Wen Ning would therefore arise as a fierce corpse bent on immediate vengeance?”
Nie Mingjue wanted to laugh, and also possibly to suggest that Nie Huaisang consider picking up a sideline in advocacy, except that he really didn’t actually want a lawyer in the family.
“All right,” he said, suppressing his amusement. “Let’s say I’m following where you’re leading. Then why didn’t Wei Wuxian, demonic cultivator, stop the murder?”
“Da-ge, please,” Nie Huaisang cast him a horrified look. “You’re not suggesting a cultivator can be held responsible for not acting swiftly enough to stop something, are you? Imagine how much of the cultivation world might be at risk if that were the rule!”
“Mm. A good point. Didn’t I hear somewhere that Wei Wuxian had already known that the Jin sect guards had killed Wen Ning…?”
“Surely Wei-xiong would never make such an assumption about the good, upstanding people that a good, upstanding sect like Lanling Jin took on as their own. It must have been a misunderstanding. You know how young heroes are, all bluster and hot air. Are we kicking people out of sects just for that?”
Nie Mingjue’s shoulders were shaking with the effort to keep his laughter inside.
“There, you see! Perfectly logical,” Nie Huaisang concluded, throwing his sleeves up with a flourish. “Obviously the entire sequence of events that led to Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian out is simply a misunderstanding. Easily resolved!”
“Right. And the Wen sect? They were supposed to be in Jin sect custody.”
“Uh, da-ge, the Jin sect appointed guards that killed some of them, a fact we know for sure because we’ve gotten it based on the testimony of the dead – again, like Inquiry. Are you saying we can’t rely on things like Inquiry? What will the Lan sect say if they hear you suggest such a thing?”
“I’m suggesting that we still need to do something with the Wen sect.”
“Let Jiang Cheng take them and put them to work.” Nie Huaisang shrugged. “He’s got a whole sect to rebuild, hasn’t he? Anyway, they were the ones who were massacred, they should get first call on what to do with them.”
“Firstly, taking them in means that Jiang Cheng has to feed them –”
“The Jin sect can pay for that, if they’re so enthusiastic about helping deal with them.”
“Secondly, why would Jiang Cheng want the kinsman of the people who killed his parents? I thought you liked him?”
“I’m getting him back Wei Wuxian,” Nie Huaisang said. “He’s going to have to deal with the baggage Wei Wuxian picked up along the way on his own. What do I look like, someone who fixes things for people? Please, da-ge. I’m only human. There’s only so much that I’m capable of.”
Nie Mingjue gave in and started laughing.
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