#the closest thing wwx has to an adoptive mother figure is Yanli

[tea-cat-arts]

Jiang Cheng and Yanli are Wei Wuxian's siblings but Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu aren't wwx's parents in this essay I will-

[eirenical]

Things I can't survive: I just saw a gif of WWX learning that LSZ is Yuan and he touches his forehead ribbon while caressing his face and no one says anything cause he's his dad and I just can't..... it's too much. Had to share cause I haven't noticed it before.

OMG, nonny, I know EXACTLY the moment you’re talking about.  This beautiful moment right here:

And I’m just… I’m absolutely dying over the facial expressions going on here, so LIKE ALWAYS, I need to babble about it, OK?  OK.  ^_^

So, let’s zoom in a little… (and go behind a cut so I don’t kill everyone’s dashes… ;D)

ETA (2-18-21): *pokes up from under the pile of notifications she got buried in overnight* I see this post is making the rounds again... ;D  Since it is making the rounds again, I just want to put a disclaimer here that I should have done from the beginning but didn’t know enough to do at that point in my CQL fandom life. 

I am American and in no way of Chinese descent.  Since writing this post, I have done more reading and research into Chinese cultural traditions, written by members of the Chinese diaspora with much more understanding of their culture than I.  Based on that, I now feel it is more likely that Sizhui was taken into the Lan clan and raised BY the clan, not that he was personally adopted by either LWJ or WWX in the more Western sense of the term.  So, please, take the following interpretation with a grain of salt, and understand that the scene analysis you are about to read came ONLY from my personal take on the scene as a Westerner with very little cultural understanding.  Thank you.  ^_^

First, we have Wei Wuxian.  He’s just had a really emotional moment with Sizhui, then does what he does… backs off and makes it a joke.  “Aaaaah~~~! You’re really strong!  Just like someone taught by Hanguang-jun!”  Because he has difficulty accepting that someone could feel that strongly for him, that someone could have missed him that much.  But then Lan Wangji turns it right back around and reminds him that he taught Sizhui, too.  (”He’s both our son, silly!”)  And he’s right back in that emotional moment that he already couldn’t entirely process.  So he falls back on joking again.  And I’m going to skip adding the subtitles here because it’s all him joking and that’s not what caught my attention here.  It’s his face and his body language.

I mean… just look:

How slowly he moves in.  How he telegraphs every move he’s making.  How carefully he’s watching Sizhui’s face so he’ll knew if he’s crossing a boundary.

And how even when he does reach out to touch, he’s so gentle, so careful, so light with that touch.  Just like his shijie used to be with him.  His shijie… the closest thing he ever had to a mother figure.  She’s his model for interacting with a child.

But now let’s zoom in a little shall we?  Because they’re both taking AMAZING facial journeys here and I JUST CAN’T OK?

Wei Wuxian first…

Again, yeah, he’s joking, but look how serious that face is.  Look how intently he’s focused.  Look at that slight scrunch to his brows and the way he’s ever so slightly frowning.  And again, look how carefully he’s moving, so he can pull away at the slightest hint that his touch is unwelcome.  And why the side of the head, anyway?  Where he could accidentally (or otherwise) end up touching Sizhui’s ribbon?  He might, again, be modeling on Jiang Yanli’s preferred method of reassurance, but I think… I think he’s testing the waters.  I think this is his way of dealing with the fact that he can’t put what he’s thinking into words either.  This is him reaching out to Sizhui and telling him, in no uncertain terms… “I think of you as my son,” and asking Sizhui if he feels the same.

And just LOOK AT THIS NONSENSE HERE.  This is the face he makes when Sizhui accepts that touch, accepts Wei Wuxian’s hand making contact with his ribbon.  This is not the smile of a man who just successfully made a joke and praised himself by doing so.  It’s TOO MUCH for that.  This is the face of a man who just asked their long-lost child if he’s still their father… AND WAS TOLD “YES.”

And now Sizhui, because I’M NOT DONE YET…

As carefully as Wei Wuxian has been watching Sizhui, Sizhui is watching him just as closely.  He’s practically holding his breath.  He sees that hand coming.  He knows where it’s going.  And he has ample time to prevent it, to move away, if that’s what he wants to do.  But he doesn’t.  He doesn’t want that.  He still has that tangle of feelings banging around inside him: sad and happy and ecstatic and grief-stricken and disbelieving and so many other feelings all tangled up around each other and he doesn’t know what to do with all of it.  But he knows that Wei Wuxian knows what the headband means.  He knows that if he allows him to touch it, it’s as good as declaring them family.  And when he couldn’t put his feelings into words earlier, Hanguang-jun had told him, “Then don’t.”  But this?  This is clear.  This feeling doesn’t need to be put into words.  Just like that ecstatic hug they just shared, this is an action that speaks for itself, because all three of them will know what it means.

And then when Wei Wuxian’s hand makes contact, Sizhui leans right into it.  He drops his gaze because it’s too much.  He can’t look anymore.  He swallows hard, he closes his eyes, and he ducks his head, because he’s sitting right on the edge of crying here and he’s done enough of that already in the last five minutes, THANK YOU.  But this is it.  This is the moment.  This is acknowledgement.  “We haven’t seen each other in 16 years, but we’re still family… and we always were.”  And then he can look up again, because he can’t bear to look away for too long.

AND NOW I’M GONNA GO CRY IN A CORNER SOMEWHERE OVER THESE TWO AND HOW CAREFUL THEY ARE WITH EACH OTHER AND EACH OTHERS’ FEELINGS, OK?  OK.  TT^TT

[guqin-and-flute]

OH NO TRAGEDY VIBES MOMENT. WHAT IF THERE IS A JIN LING??? I DIDN'T WANT TO BRING ANGST INTO THIS BUT BECAUSE TIMELINES ARE ALL WOBBLY in the show Yanli is pregnant before they get married. What if it is during this key period, Peacock gets his shit together and they have their Moment that the match is broken up. Like there is some hardcore mutual pining but Guangshan uses WWX as a reason to break off the arrangement and Yanli won't protest because the family is in a bad position and JGY 1/?

has already began flirting with Qin Su and is upset as well. And Peacock boy tries to protest but JGS refuses to listen and it's a whole big thing. And he and Yanli think about running away together. But she Can't do that to JC when he is already feeling so raw from having to fake break up with WWX and feeling rejected. So like tragic lovers in stories they share a last kiss goodbye because he is respecting her decisions even if they are because of his horrible father. 2/?

So sad marriage when both people love (or at least like someone else) and JGY learning the day of, much like his previous wedding, horrible news that he is being married off into the Jiangs as punishment for failing to hide the Wen problem and solve the WWX problem. Yanli meanwhile is getting sick and thinks it is stress and anxiety. They've barely kept WWX and JC from declaring war and is marrying her love's brother. That night they talk awkwardly and a couple weeks into the marriage 3/?

[WE’RE MISSING 4 OH NO D: ]

He and Yanli become the picture of domestic harmony and her being supported by him. Jin Ling is born "early" and JGY inacts Plan Save My Brother-In-Law to Ruin My Father. And during this time he has been getting to know his wife and her family who like him, which is weird. And being accepted and respected for his talents, which is weird. And having Yanli help him smooth over his relationships with his sworn brothers, which is weird. He's just overall feeling weird and can't name the feeling 5/?

Then the dya before his vengence is to happen Yanli sits him down and aks about what he has been plotting. She raised two murder happy brothers and recognizes the signs. She has put together most of it to his shock and he is prepared for rejection at his more bloodthirsty tendencies but no his wife is down for getting rid of his father. Though she does tone down the collateral damage and insist on keeping Jin Ling's father alive. And he is rwlizing he is being accepted. All of him. 6/?

He is stunned and shocked because even his closest relationships had required hiding his worst bits, but Yanli figured it out and is still smiling at him like that. And he is shaken. They plot together and bring in JC and WWX who ar ewilling to listen to Yanli even if they still sometimes eye JGY but do like him. Bring in the 3zun and even Peacock. And everything ends mor positively. Though with Yanli helping her husband make sure JGS does not survive depsite everyone wanting to 7/?

Bring him to justice. He hurt her family and she is her mother's child and can bejust is vicious in protecting them. She straight up looks everyone down to cover for JGY and then holds him that night when he realizes it's over. Peacock offers to help break up their marriage with no fault as it was forced upon them and welcome JGY as Jin Ziyao. JGY starts panicking because of course Yanli loves him. And he realizes after panicking at his aworn brother she loves Yanli. 8/?

He is contemplating murdering his brother but the thought 'Yanli would be sad...' and the misfortune he actually likes him now stops him. Yanli and Peacock have a quiet talk and JGY is fullt ready for rejection and not doing his best. Yanli smiles all sad at him and says the he'd be able to marry Qin Su. He tells her their siblings shocking her and Yanli looks upset saying she's so sorry. They talk and both realize they are still convinced after 2 year of marriage the other loves someone 8(9)/?

And through Communication they realize they've fallen in love. They decide to stay married, raise Jin Ling, and have more babies. Peacock adopts his half-siblings surrounding himself in family, has Su and Mianmian as his advisers, and eventually meets someone else. The Wens are living good on the land the Jins forfeit to them with WWX and LWJ leading the Yiling Wei Sect that JGY had arranged to be formed and JC gets puppies and family visits every other day. THE END

[slaps the hood of Yaoli] This bad boy can fit so many AU’s in it.

WE GET TO KEEP JIN LING IN THIS ONE AND I LOVE IT! 

I LOVE the idea of Yanli being like ‘Hey, I know a murder face when I see one, what is up?’ And fuckin JGY eyeing JZX being like ‘hmm...maybe...murder......? no, I suppose not [sigh]’ And Jin Zixuan just hoarding his half siblings like ‘these are mine now, I get ALL the familial love.’ WWX! PATRIARCH OF THE YILING WEI SECT! HIS HUSBAND BY HIS SIDE! 

HEY ANON, YOU SHOULD WRITE THIS 👀👀