#the worst part is jiang cheng KNEW

[atqh16]

The thing is...

Wen Ning probably would not even have considered telling Jiang Cheng the truth if he wasn't acting like an asshole towards Wei Ying. It wasn't even the anger that pissed him off because he validates Jin Ling's own anger towards himself for Jin Zixuan's death and is willing and ready to accept consequences, even though he was being controlled at the time.

I think it was the character assassination that Jiang Cheng had created in his head about Wei Ying. I think it was Jiang Cheng telling Jin Ling half truths about how his parents died. I think it was Jiang Cheng insulting and blaming Wei Ying and Lan Zhan for things that were never their fault like the fall of Lotus Pier because:-

repeat after me, the blame for the genocide of any group lies solely on the people doing the genocide.

I've said this before, but blaming some kid for being insolent in order to incite conflict is Dictatorship 101. It was never about Wei Ying or Lan Zhan or any other thing Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao wanted to blame. They were just excuses. Blaming Wei Ying would be like blaming a muslim child for the ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur people just because the child did something 'disrespectful'.

And I don't think him saying that Jiang Cheng would never surpass Wei Ying was uncalled for either because I don't think he was talking in terms of power. I think he meant it in terms of integrity, morality, kindness. Because at the end of the day, Wei Ying sacrificed everything to save the Remnants even without a core, all while Jiang Cheng told him to abandon them. Everyone keeps saying that Jiang Cheng was thinking about the politics of the situation, but once you use politics to justify leaving an innocent group of people to die, then you need to have your own morals checked.

[layzeal]

picturing poor teenji in modern era growing up in the 2000s. he's in computer class. the lesson already ended but there's still time until the bell rings, so the kids are allowed to play flash games or visit any allowed website. wei ying slides his chair next to him and tries to annoy him into playing a flash version of smash bros (they'd share the same keyboard to play?? 😳😳) but he ignores him and brushes him off until he eventually gives up and goes bother jiang cheng instead. then, lan zhan overhears a group of girls giggling as they click on a Love Calculator at girlsgogames and then typing out different names and combinations, then loudly yelling and laughing at the results until the teacher tells them to tone it down

at home, he finishes his homework early and all his lessons, but neither brother nor uncle are home yet, so he decides to go use his uncle's computer to find and print some more music sheets. as he's browsing, his mind takes him back to class, and to the girls giggling. he brushes it off, focusing on seeing which music sheets he can practice, but his mind keeps wandering. after a long time, his cursor finally hovers to open a new tab. he types G, stops, then IRLSGO, stops again, sighing in frustration. why is he even doing this?

but the search function suggests the website a few rows down. somehow, he convinces himself that it's fine if he's just clicking a link, rather than typing it. the website opens, bright and colorful, and on the lower left in a small square, he sees that Love Calculator is already recommended as one of the most popular games, behind some doll dressing up, barbie games, and one with a girl with lasers in her eyes followed by a line of floating men. strange games that his female peers seem to play, he thinks

anxiously, his cursors hovers again, the arrow turning into a hand, pointing to the very middle of the heart, enticing him to click. he doesn't. he shakes his head and returns to the music sheet website, scrolls a bit, finds a few sheets, and finally sets it to print, but not without his eyes repeatedly glancing to the girlsgogames tab, still open next to it.

unfortunately, his uncle printer has always been a bit fickle, and it takes a while for it to understand the command. he sighs again, leaning his back on the chair to wait, and while he does, that cursed tab catches his eye again.

teenji purses his lips, biting the inside of his cheek. his hand moves, the tab reopens, and the colorful pink heart stares at him, daring. the printer is still making noises, but hasn't begun to print, and in his impatience, accidentally or not, he clicks on the game.

now this is the worst part

"your name" and "his or her name" sit blank on the screen as the heart in the center sparkles. lan zhan is thankful, at least, that it doesn't spell something ridiculous such as "your crush's name" or "your soulmate's name". this is distant, and doesn't necessarily signify romantic love (despite the sparkling hearts dancing on his monitor). it might just be a silly compatibility test, regarding two person's personalities and their affinity. lan zhan was young, but he knew there were many types of love. one could type the name of a friend, a family member, or an annoying classmate, and it wouldn't mean anything at all. it's just a ridiculous computer game, after all.

with this in mind, his chest feels lighter, and his hands don't tremble as he types "lan zhan" and "wei ying" respectively. the printer makes another sound, and the paper slides into it as the music sheet slowly takes form. finally, with just a bit of hesitation, he clicks on the bright pink button written in cursive font, "calculate".

the love meter fills as the hearts and names bubble and dance flamboyantly, and his printer sucks up another page. he doesn't stare at the screen, because as established, he does not care much for it, but the colors jitter on the corner of his eye, and he pretends not to pay attention to it, watching as the black notes and line come alive on the previously blank pages.

then, the screen changes, and something like confetti and sparkles move as the animation switches, signifying the result of the calculation was complete, and lan zhan does not move to look, the peripheral colors taunting him as he continues to watch the printer do its magical work.

but every respite has its end, and as he collects the papers and gathers them nicely on a thin pile, he realizes he must now turn around to close the tabs and shut off the computer. a voice in his mind reminds him of the big, bright button on the CPU — one click and he won't even need to look at the screen, and simply turn the computer off and leave the room, but he painfully turns the idea away. the teacher has said that this was not a good way to shut off a computer, and besides, what if the tabs stay open? what if next time his uncle turns on the monitor, he finds a bright heart flashing with his and wei ying's name, and the extremely high results of their relationship compatibility? no, the mere thought of it was nightmarish. he must face the girlsgogames tab alone if he wishes for his crimes to go unnoticed by any other soul.

so, slowly, with eyes slightly unfocused, he turns on the chair, and reaches for the mouse again, and a fleeting thought wishes he'd had removed his glasses before doing so. thus, impassive, lan zhan looks back at the screen, eyes focused on the red X at the top right corner, but for as much as he'd tried, the bright and colorful animations caught his attention, listless to his efforts, and right before the window closed and the vast green field and blue sky of his uncle's wallpaper welcomed him with open arms, a large, pink number had burned into his retina, and his cursor sat motionless over the "shut down" button for longer than he'd ever admit.

after that day, for reasons which lan huan is still not certain of, his didi became quite enthralled with the percentage of 33, even asking if it really was a low number or if there were any significances to it that they were not familiar with. lan qiren, however, could only wonder why the ads on the corner of some websites had begun to flash in pink, purple and white, suggesting girly games website which he'd never even heard of.

[nevertheless-moving]

Jiang Wanyin's Dog Part Two (MDZS AU #7)

Part One

Jiang Feinman the diplomat is horrified that his sons were apparently actively training for war behind his back. And by all accounts, his worst fears are confirmed — he who trains for war trains to start war. He only believes half of what he hears of his boys actions at the Wen Indoctrination Camp (the Xuanwu Cave Massacre, some are calling it) but half is enough. Incredibly disappointed in both of them — also why demonic cultivation? Why? Where did he go wrong? But for some reason the more he tries to talk, to teach, to explain, the more he warns about the unrighteousness of striking first, the worse their conversations go. He's used to that with Jiang Cheng, but now Wei Ying, too? The more he pushes, the less they tell him, so eventually he stops pushing.

(They actually did initially intend to explain the time travel, but he was so disappointed by all the murdering that neither of them want to get into all the much much more worse things they did in their previous life so they just…don't. They don't explain shit.)

He still supports the secret Jiang war preparations cover story, pretending to have approved it in advance to other sects, because what else can he do. Really not thrilled about being backed into a corner on that, even though he does eventually accept and even admire the invention of the ghost path, once Wei Wuxian explains it better. Wei Wuxian maybe cries a little at his Uncle's approval.

Too much faith that the whole perfect servant/ master schtick is a front for brotherhood even before the actual reconciliation, but eh, they get there eventually, so he’s not wrong. Manages the homefront during the campaign mostly, though he has his moments of battlefield glory. Major diplomatic success in getting the Jin Sect to side more definitively with the sunshot campaign.

…Definitely dies. Not right away, but he's not meant for war, ya know? Maybe gets the actual time travel explanation on his death bed. Maybe. Touching goodbye either way.

Then, you know that scene in Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams says it’s not your fault over and over again? That, except Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin are both saying it to each other. Clinches the reconnection. It’s the worst sort of do over, but Jiang Cheng blaming Wei Ying for his parents first deaths was one of their lowest moments, arguably the point things really started to break between them, so having the perspective to very actively not do that is Big. I’m sorry — this au is about excruciating Yunmeng bros reconciliation, I’ve got to kill at least one family member.

-

Yu Ziyuan approving of the cool distance between the two, proud of her son’s obvious command over Wei Ying, but disgusted by the fact that her son seems to have completely given up on surpassing him. Flabbergasted that A-Cheng is now intercepting Zidian’s strikes on the shameful cretin — his to punish?? What the fuck does that mean? Who’s in charge here? How dare you speak to your mother like that.

Ultimately, Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how to handle being around his mother. He recognizes many of the things he likes least about himself in her. He recognizes many of the things that made him a successful sect leader in her. I mean, on a certain level he already knew he had become his mother, but holy shit.

She's...mixed on handling her son's ascent, to say the least. The fact that his unquestionable power is so inextricably linked to his command over Wei Ying's even more unquestionable power fucks with her so bad. At least Jiang Cheng had some time to get used to the concept.

He's in his late 30s and bristles at any indication of being subordinate to anyone — Mom's included. He also wants to break down in tears and hide behind her, because that's his MOM, but he can’t do that. He’s sect heir. He's started a war. He's leading a war.

Ok, one (1) night crying into her robes that they never speak of again.

She tends to run battlefields and missions away from the duo. Serious pushback from Jiang Cheng about talking down Wei Ying in front of others, purely for pragmatic reasons, of course — that’s their sects best weapon. If she survives the war ("So what if he's not coming back? Can't I do anything without him?") then she spends much of her son’s rule night hunting away from the sect. Does NOT get told about time travel any time soon because they know she would press for details and then kill Wei Wuxian.

-

Jiang Yanli incredibly concerned about her boys after they come back from evil summer camp covered in blood and VERY CLEARLY WAY TOO FUCKED UP FOR A FEW MONTHS AWAY?? Excuse you both you are very clever but are you seriously trying to convince me that you invented a whole ass entire dangerous cultivation path while I was around without me noticing? A-xian, a-cheng are you calling me stupid? No? Good.

On a meta-level, she's built her life around parenting the two of them, there's absolutely no way she buys any story about keeping a long time secret under her nose. The first and possibly only one they actually explain the time travel to, even if they can’t bring themselves to tell her everything.

It's deeply distressing to not actually be the oldest sibling anymore, considering how much she defined herself by that, but her brothers don't actually seem to have noticed, so it works out fine.

Her role in the war is slightly larger than canon; the fact that she's bringing an entire support staff of cooks and medics and cleaners that report to her definitely elevates her status and influence. (Headcanon that she basically managed Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian's PR during the war — she's a lot better equipped to do so in this timeline).

She also would also get Instant Respect as one of a handful of people who holds Wuxian's leash, except Wei Wuxian tends to completely drops all necromantic activity when he's within 50 feet of her. It's actually kindof a problem. He's supposed to be passively maintaining some stuff but he's so freaked out about accidentally hurting her that a few perfectly good corpse armies collapse, meaning he has to raise them again from scratch.

They don't get too involved with it, but a few well timed words avoid the worst of the Soup Accusation Debacle and slightly accelerate the Zixuan/Yanli timeline.

Jin Zixuan is bewildered but mostly relieved by the fact that the lead Jiang disciples abrupt personality shift at the start of the war also came with an apparent rise in personal respect of him specifically? Is this because he obviously stepped to defend Mianmian, even though Wanyin and Wuxian did the real work? Jiang Wanyin is noticeably more courteous speaking to him than pretty much anyone else from his clan. Wei Wuxian is a bit harder to read, as he's stopped talked as much, which is bizarre and also fucking terrifying.

(There's a lot to think and feel in the Cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter. But the fact that Wei Wuxian does not like him and absolutely could have killed him anytime he wanted is definitely up there.)

It's just — even further into the war, when Wuxian starts sometimes relaxing again during downtime, he still avoids Zixuan. Weird but also thank fuck.

-

Lan Zhan is living through a war, sure. But uniquely among his peers, he's also living through a Dark Romance novel! <3

The fun, mischievous boy who he fell in love with at first sight is:

1) the most terrifying powerful dark being who ever lived

2) mildly implied to have ALWAYS secretly been like this and the disobedient but good natured thing was just a cover for the dark truth. Or he might have been corrupted at some point. It's unclear.

3) already in an intense situation-ship with his shidi. (Jiang Wanyin snapping at Wei Ying to stop bothering Lan Zhan and he apologizes politely and then leaves. (Wei Ying definitely yells at Jiang Cheng in private for that but they did agree that he wouldn’t give any public evidence of division with the Jiang sect and publicly flirting with Second Master Lan could admittedly be read as split loyalties)) .

But IN PRIVATE —

(Once the yunmeng bros reconciliation starts getting underway Jiang Cheng feels a little bad about how obviously heartbroken Wei Ying is over losing his husband, and formally arranges with Lan sect for spiritual cleansing sessions after major battles as part of managing his first disciple’s cultivation. Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng are completely surprised when Lan Wanjii himself volunteers.)

— Well, when the two of them are alone together, Wei Ying is — not exactly the same person he fell in love with. But he’s still very much Wei Ying. Teasing, provocative, brilliant, righteous — and, and this can’t be stressed enough — OBSCENELY sexy.

(Yes, Lan Zhan has learned that his bad taste extends beyond what was, in hindsight, rather petty rule breaking. The whole 'One Man Army' thing is attractive alright? The flute is attractive. Gods help him, even the red eyes are attractive.)

But in private — I mean, the first few times Lan Zhan walks in to play Cleansing only to find Wei Ying tied up provocatively from a ‘binding talisman accident’ he takes it at face value. The man's been churning out one revolutionary invention after another, obviously that requires some testing. But it keeps happening, and Lan Zhan is increasingly panicked that Wei Ying can tell what its doing to his penis. He can’t tell, right? Lan Zhan is wearing extra layers to these sessions for that reason exactly and it’s not like his face is easy to read. He can’t know about what he's dreamed of doing with his ribbon. He can't know. He can’t know.

But shit like that keeps happening. Wei Ying casually mentions that he’s been working on a ritual that might make it possible for men to get pregnant, just as an idle experiment, but of course the only ethical person to test it on is himself. Lan Zhan’s dick gets so hard so fast that he almost passes out. Wei Ying, clearly mistaking the sudden lack of visible blood in his body for disgust (please let him think that, please, please) pouts and teases, “What, you don’t think I’d look good pregnant?” Gods be good, he’s holding his stomach and looking up at Lan Zhan through his eyelashes. Lan Zhan didn't even know he was into that! Does this make him more of a cutsleeve or less?? Very nearly goes insane and tries to breed him on the spot. Instead makes a looney toons style Lan Zhan shaped hole in the side of the tent to get away before he bends the man over

Even setting aside the...specifically affecting moments, Wei Ying is so exhausted and soft around Lan Zhan. It makes sense, he's been conquering battlefields, he's been reinventing cultivation, of course he's drained afterwards, that's why Lan Zhan is here — to help rebalance his spiritual energy. But he begs Lan Zhan to take care of him, to feed him, to help him into bed, and it hurts. He knows that it's at least in part a joke but he can't tell how much is him exaggerating his weakness to get Lan Zhan to react and how much is him actually needing help because Jiang fucking Wanyin is ordering him to destroy himself day in and day out, and the whole thing is doing terrible things to the inside of his stomach.

Worry and confusion and fear and anger choking his words even worse than usual, until all he can do is repeat rules about staying away from the crooked path. Lan Zhan scolds him for using resentful energy, sneers at him; he can hear himself and he sounds every inch the jade statue. But somehow, miraculously, Wei Ying understands what he means. He thanks him for being there, for caring what happens to him. Wei Ying tries to reassure him that he'll be alright, really, and how he got 'I am worried about your health' from "your way of living is an abomination" is a mystery, but Lan Zhan is so, so grateful.

Wait.

Fuck.

Wei Ying can either read his face, his words, or his thoughts. FUCK, HE TOTALLY KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING TO MY PENIS.

In public, Wei Wuxian is obediently violent. He's heretical and hyper competent and the only thing that distresses Lan Zhan more than Jiang Wanyin's callous treatment of his undeserved loyalty and talent is the fact that he's starting to wake up in a cold sweat from dreams where Lan Zhan is his leader and Wei Ying follows his orders without hesitation. What does that even mean. He doesn't want to be a sect leader! That would mean that his brother was dead and he would have to talk to people all the time and he doesn't even want Wei Ying to kneel before him! Not like that — not at all — fucking hell, he should not be masturbating this much during a war.

(Not explaining the time travel/ marriage to Lan Zhan is definitely their worst argument after coming back. Difficult compromise says Wei Ying can explain whatever, marry whoever, leave the sect — but only after the war is won and Jiang Sect is secure. Jiang Wanyin does not need Lan Zhan trying to convince Wei Ying to give up demonic cultivation any harder than he already is. He doesn't need him weighing in on shit he doesn't understand with his more-righteous-than-you-attitude. Most importantly, he definitely doesn't need Wei Ying to be running of after his husband when he's supposed to be obeying Jiang Cheng's fucking orders. Wei Ying reluctantly agrees, but he can't give up on having something with Lan Zhan. The end result is maybe a little not great to Lan Zhan, but you know... what's Wei Ying gonna do? Betray his brother's trust? Not chase Lan Zhan's dick? It's an impossible situation and you should feel bad for him. Plus, Lan Zhan's having a hard enough time anyway, he's not good with chang. He would probably not handle having the 'died and then married' bombshells dropped on him particularly well. Yeah...

Anyway Lan Zhan is very much going through 'he's such a tortured soul...only I see the vulnerable, loving truth... unless the soft self is the lie and the darkness is the real him... which would be kindof hot... bad, but also kindof hot... because if he actually is irredeemably evil than everything he does in private is him seducing me on purpose, which would be good except it would be a lie which would be bad but maybe he would do things to my body before he did whatever dark demonic things hes planning ... maybe I could convince him to join the light in truth... no i should have more faith in him he clearly still believes in justice and protecting the weak... unless that actually is at Jiang Wanyin's orders but I'm 80% sure that's a lie and Wei Ying is actually the one insisting we don't take food from farmers without repaying them and I'm even more certain he's the one making sure we accept Wen surrenders... I'm a terrible person for doubting the moments we've shared...

Lan Zhan eventually has a minor emotional breakdown and goes to his brother for advice.

The straw that breaks the camels back is working himself into a panic that Wei Ying might be trying to get him to kill his own brother. It's just... he keeps having sect leader/loyal guard sex dreams. They've been getting more elaborate. There's leather for some reason. And then one time his spiritual energy is too depleted after a battle and Xiongzhang covered his cleansing session, and Lan Zhan had to lay in bed healing. Laying there for hours imagining Wei Ying call Xichen 'gege' and get all soft limbed the way he does in his tent after battle... asking to put his head in Xichen's lap. Wearing just his inner robes around Xichen. The intensity of the rage leads him to suspect a dark spell. (It's just vinegar and lust and the cain instinct, but again, Lan Zhan is going through it.)

Lan Xichen hearing the stripped down version of all this like... honey. Sweet child. What the actual fuck.

Yes, I'm sure he's different when he's with you but... Wanjii. Wanjii, please. Think with your brain, not — I am not the one bringing vulgarity into this, don't look at me like that. A-Zhan. No, brother, you can't 'fix' him. Wanjii why even ask me for advice if you're just going to keep doing the same thing.

Xichen really already had enough on his plate before learning that Wei Wuxian is playing psychsexual mind games with his little brother for nefarious reason.

To be fair to Xichen, he absolutely is doing that, even though it's only half on purpose. But those nefarious end goals are in fact sex and marriage, something he's CONFIDENT Lan Zhan would enjoy! Look, Wei Ying knows he could have sat on Lan Zhan's dick day one, even before establishing a real emotional connection, even before providing some evidence that he's not a literal demon seducing him into darkness. He feels he's showing an awful lot of unappreciated restraint in allowing Lan Zhan to come to him when he's ready to move past the whole 'raising undead armies' and 'upending the natural order' and 'my family will never approve' things.

(alright, it hurts more than he cares to admit to himself to see Lan Zhan look at him with fear, with disgust. He's sticken with worry and grief that without their experience in the Xuanwu Cave something fundamental will be missing between them. But it doesn't take too long before Lan Zhan says something so Lan Zhan that it assures him the care and love is still there. Its not the same but Lan Zhan still insists on following him around during the campaign, which means the chance to create New memories side by side and it's...good.)

Plus, younger Lan Zhan is so much easier to fluster and its INCREDIBLY fun to have the upper hand. The man has not finished developing his thick face — he misses his husband like a limb, like an organ, but the younger model squirms so good.

WAY too much of this is relayed to Jiang Cheng during their daily war strategy/ bro gossip sessions.

I actually think Jiang Cheng, in exchange for being the sole person who has to listen to Wei Ying’s (often graphic) pining over Lan Zhan, should get to out his brother.

He should get to out him a few times! For fun and for profit. It’s like wingman-ing, but bitchy, which is I think very in character. Wei Ying is either amused by the various reactions, or in the case of Lan Zhan, genuinely thankful. Sure ‘letting lan zhan come to me when he’s ready and more cool with the ghostly path’ is maybe the right thing to do, but it kinda sucks ass. Also Lan Zhan might actually have a lust induced Qi deviation if he doesn't fuck Wei Ying soon, though you would think that leaving a conspicuously large jade phallus laying around would be enough of a hint. Whatever, let's throw some black powder on that slow burn!

Jiang Cheng implies he might be open to marry Wei Wuxian out of the sect after the war. Sect leaders ‘causally’ asking what sort of girl his ridiculously OP and perfectly servile first disciple might be interested in. Jiang Cheng nonchalantly describing Lan Wanjii to a T (tall, strong in cultivation, musically talented, more inclined to listen than to talk...) while Lan Wanjii pretends not to have accidentally bitten through a spoon.

Someone trying to offer their daughter to the Jiang Clan ("I noticed your young master Wuxian couldn’t help but compliment her beauty—“ “He compliments everyone's beauty. Don’t take it seriously.”). Lan Zhan happens to be there, waiting for an unrelated meeting, and Jiang Cheng can't help but take the opportunity to fuck with him.

Jiang Cheng: Ridiculous petition, don’t you think. Lan Zhan: Mn. Jiang Cheng: As if I’d approve a marriage with everyone my shixiong flirts with. Lan Zhan: Mn. Jiang Cheng: (Pausing while he waits for Lan Zhan to take a sip of tea): He’s obviously a cut sleeve anyway. Lan Zhan: [choking]

After the immediate joy of watching the younger Jade lose his composure, there is later regret because Wei Wuxian is thanking him for giving Lan Zhan a push and. Ugh.

Jin Zixuan on the other hand accidentally gets convinced that Wei Wuxian is in gay love with Jiang Wanyin, while Jiang Wanyin sees Wei Wuxian as a brother, a dynamic Zixuan works very hard to avoid thinking about.

The two sect heirs are having a post battle drink (things weren’t bad between him and the peacock, at the end at least, and it might help things in the future (visiting future nieces and nephews) if they could at least be amicable acquaintances).

The evening's going well enough that Jin Zixuan works up the courage to awkwardly ask about rumors of a betrothal between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli. Wanyin surprises Zixuan by laughing, instead of getting incandescently angry. Sure, they’ve been drinking, but he didn’t even yell! At all! Jiang Wanyin, still laughing, leans it and confideds that Wei Wuxian has been in love with the same man for years.

Zixuan, shocked: "Wait a man? He’s —" Wanyin, taking another drink: "No sleeves." Zixuan, slightly confused why he’s even being told what's obviously a politically valuable secret: “Who—" Wanyin, forgetting that Wei Ying’s mooning over Lan Zhan is not actually that public, and Lan Zhan’s staring at Wei Ying just looks like glaring unless you’ve been unfortunately coached on reading his microexpressions. Also forgetting that people do not generally understand exactly what’s going on between the Jiang Sect’s heir and first disciple, except that it’s weird and intense: “Take a FUCKING guess” Zixuan: “Holy shit — you mean — oh man, that’s — Wanyin: “Yeah. You’re not the one who has to live with him.” Zixuan: “Couldn’t you — I mean does he have to be here — couldn’t he operate on different battlefields— Wanyin, suddenly enraged: the FUCK does that mean?? Zixuan: What? What did I — Wanyin: you got a PROBLEM with my cutsleeve brother?!? Zixuan: I thought — I thought you — did you say brother — Wanyin: FUCK YOU! Zixuan: I don’t — Wanyin: You think being a demonic rabbit stops him from being my brother?? Zixuan: I didn’t say — Wanyin: This is why your siblings are going to hate you! Zixuan: I — my — what do you mean siblings?? Wanyin: You don’t just — I’m not gonna — you don’t just abandon family! You don’t — you don’t send them away! You don't let them leave and face danger on their own! You don’t abandon them! It doesn’t matter if they’re a cutsleeve pervert or too into murdering people to solve problems! Got it? Zixuan: Alright, fine, sorry — Wanyin: GOT IT?!? Zixuan: Alright! Alright, I got it! Wanyin, sitting back down, muttering: Maybe if you were a better brother your half siblings won’t fuck everything up. Zixuan: what? Wanyin: Let’s get this straight — I get to make fun of Wei Wuxian. But until you marry our sister you don’t get to say shit. Zixuan: I — marry — no one said I — there’s no — Wanyin: GOT IT??T? Zixuan: Okay! Okay, I got it!

Jin Zixuan is extremely relieved to spend the rest of the night drinking in silence.

Close to the end of the war someone messes with their privacy talismans while snooping. So their daily checkin gets overheard and a bunch of people hear them bicker like children (threatening to pee in each other’s socks comes up) and laugh about someone's stupid hat, and trade jokes over a meal, which ruins their Untouchably Intense And Threatening Aura somewhat but honestly the aura was a bit much. Like, we’re allies, aren’t we?

Honestly a relief for a lot of people to find out they’re just teen brothers who are good at killing and putting on a very convincing facade (Wei Wuxian literally calls it his ‘scary face’). ALSO Jiang Cheng makes fun of Wei Ying for his super embarrassing crush, “So he actually greeted you in public! When should I expect a marriage offer?!’” which Wei Ying responds to by describing how lonely his butthole is and the various objects he’s been using to makes himself feel less forlorn, which Jiang Cheng responds to with wretching and throwing things.

So that’s some fun gossip.

(Xichen in particular is relieved that his brother hasn't wildly misjudged Wei Ying's true character, and that the Lan Sect probably isn't going to get subsumed by the Jiang)

The wider cultivation world eventually (post war) gets the explanation that Wei Wuxian can remember his past lives and that’s why he’s Like That.

Life One heavily implied to be evil warlord inventor with some connection to the burial mounds, possibly creating them, who was so reviled as to be wiped from the history texts, fracturing his soul to where Meng Po’s soup leaks out. So that explains a lot. Makes way more sense than someone inventing a whole new cultivation path at seventeen, haha.

Life Two heavily implied to be happy wife of a respected cultivator, which...huh.

(past life husband eventually revealed to be Lan Wanjii’s past reincarnation, who did not remember this but is unfortunately still in love. The public finds the story unbelievably romantic. His family is not thrilled. The cultivation world has mixed).

Timeline on all this unconfirmed. Amount of time in-between reincarnations indeterminate, he doesn’t remember. Will tell anyone who asks too many details about being an excellent wife — apparently he gave his husband a beautiful son but seriously don’t ask because he WILL cry and it’s very disturbing. Vaguely implies that he could be any number of people's grandmother.

Smaller number of people know that Jiang Wanyin also remembers his past lives to some extent, but he won’t talk about it. Wei Wuxian very solemnly whispering to fascinated cultivators that when he went insane in his first life Jiang Wanyin lead an army to stop him and that’s why he trusts him so much to keep under control as his leader now. I repeat: Jiang Wanyin will NOT be taking questions.

My MDZS AU Masterlist

[khattikeri]

i don't think enough people talk about how the backbone of nie huaisang's plan hinged heavily upon jin guangyao's low birth, and the jianghu's willingness to dogpile on such people.

nie huaisang is upper class. he's specifically stated in the novel as behaving more like the idle rich than like a distinguished second young master of one of the five great cultivation sects, but he's still an heir by birth. even if nie huaisang had been more openly caught, who would do anything to him?

wei wuxian notices that bicao's testimony was bought with a few shiny baubles— that nie huaisang was the one who bribed her with a nice bracelet for her testimony. he intentionally kept his own sect half dead, barely afloat for years, just to keep up the guise of an incompetent loser!

but the only actual consequence he's faced for such poor leadership that probably hurt a lot of common folks in his territory over 13 years is that people think nie huaisang is an annoying, useless crybaby. nie huaisang has a level of protection from consequences that jin guangyao had to fight much harder for (and that jin guangyao ultimately never truly got).

nie huaisang knew his own class and social position extremely well, and he knew how most people of that position behave and think. he was more than willing to use this in his revenge.

we know lan wangji is the type to use his wealth and position to do good for others. nie huaisang is the opposite— he's the type to use his wealth and position for himself and his own personal goals.

and this wasn't just something that started after his brother died! avoiding responsibilities, never carrying his sword, ignoring the fact that he wasn't honoring his sect or ancestors the way others wanted… his underground ring of selling porn as a teenager even got him out of the worst part of the wen indoctrination camps, because he bribed the wen cultivators overseeing everyone else.

my point is, nie huaisang is self-aware enough to know he doesn't really ever do the "right" thing! at no point in the story does he delude himself or others with grand ideals of how one ought to behave. he doesn't care.

unlike almost every single other upper class cultivator in the story— jiang cheng, jin zixuan, nie mingjue, lan xichen— who all think of themselves as righteous in a way, who are always able to justify their thoughts and actions, rarely if ever able to conceive of those thoughts and actions as flawed or wrong... nie huaisang KNOWS his own selfishness.

like lan wangji, nie huaisang recognizes that his class can easily be used as a shield to do whatever he wants. while lan wangji at worst uses this nifty privilege to silence people he doesn't like, refuse to explain himself in inconvenient situations, and bring wei wuxian along with him everywhere, nie huaisang uses it to shirk his duties for decades and tear jin guangyao apart in revenge.

jin guangyao being the son of a prostitute automatically amplifies bad rumors around him. bringing to light his incestuous marriage and the gruesome way he murdered his upper class father, however deserved, is obviously going to impact him in a way that someone higher class wouldn't be as hurt by. combining that with a final lie to get his sworn brother to stab him in a flash of doubt, and well...

is that good or righteous or just? no, of course not. nie huaisang doesn't spend any time pretending that his actions were conducted based on morality, or that he "had no choice".

nie huaisang just wanted to destroy jin guangyao, and damn did it feel good to finally do it.

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

Lost, never found

Wei Wuxian ends up in Ghost City after he dies. Somebody is looking for him.

Loosely inspired by this official art

Wei Wuxian had not expected that death would lead him to the gates of a city. In all honesty, he had not expected to even retain his consciousness after the manner in which he had died and the way his soul had been pulled apart from his body – but here he was, standing at the entrance of a vibrant settlement, teeming with all sorts of unusual inhabitants.

Be they headless ghosts, half-animal ghouls, demons or monsters, the crowd past the gates was decidedly not human – but Wei Wuxian wasn’t either, not anymore, but his status as a ghost was still new to him, though not much different from when he was alive. If anything, other than the fact that his body was no longer in constant pain and ghosts weren’t screaming in his head, he felt quite normal.

As normal as one could feel as a spirit.

He stepped past the ornate gate into the city, and felt himself overcome with sights, smells and sounds, the place lively as it could be. Laughter, wailing, fighting, music, conversation – everything blended together into a low hum, all sorts of stalls and buildings lining the streets and people animatedly walking around. It was a peculiar place, all sorts of creatures selling all sorts of things, from food to trinkets and even body parts, ghosts walking about the markets, in and out of buildings, everyone blending into the large crowd.

It felt almost overwhelming – but more than that, it was nostalgic. It reminded Wei Wuxian of Lotus Pier, before everything happened – the hustle and bustle, the merchants, the games, the street food and the energy of a restless crowd.

It reminded him of Yiling, of the camaraderie between poor merchants and the way they traded customers, of the jokes and the laughter between stalls, of trying to get discounts and make a living in a place for the dead.

“You seem lost.” A smooth, confident voice came, covering the buzz of the crowd in a way that told Wei Wuxian it was meant for him.

“I…I am.” He replied, turning towards the source of the voice. A man in ornate, red robes and countless silver ornaments greeted him with a placid smile, one of his eyes covered with a black eyepatch. Wei Wuxian’s eyes caught onto the pearl shining at the end of the single braid in his dark hair, a detail he felt was not at all unintentional.

Wei Wuxian may not have known who this man was, but he could tell that he was powerful, dangerous. For a moment, he felt intimidated, missing the weight of his flute at his waist.

But, Wei Wuxian reasoned with himself, he was already dead, what was the worst that could happen to him now?

“Somebody has been looking for you.” The man continued, “Would you like to see them?”

“Nobody wants to see me.” Wei Wuxian replied, almost on instinct. After all, anybody wanting to summon his soul would for sure only be looking to disperse him, so it would be best to avoid them. He had known that he would not be allowed to rest in peace even if he died – the disdain the cultivation world held for him was boundless, especially as he destroyed half the Stygian Tiger Amulet. He had taken all that power in death with him, and likely ruined many plans with that.

The man insisted. “It is not easy for the living to reach this place. Are you certain you do not want to see the person seeking you?”

Wei Wuxian paused at that. The living… who could possibly be going through the trouble to reach this place for him?  He could not think of anybody that would – at least not without malevolent intentions. The only one that came to mind was Jiang Cheng, and Wei Wuxian knew if it was him, he had come to settle the score once and for all. To seek revenge, perhaps, and kill him like he had planned to. After all, Wei Wuxian died on his own terms, gruesome as they had been – he was certain Jiang Cheng would have liked to kill him personally.

“No.” Wei Wuxian replied, at last. “Tell them I am not here.”

--

Hua Cheng walked outside the gate of Ghost City, his expression unchanged as he looked towards the white-clad man in front of him. His expression, sunken, regretful, had lit up slightly upon seeing Hua Cheng, a glimmer of hope in his dulled honeyed eyes.

“He is not here.” Hua Cheng said, his voice almost sterile as the lie flowed out of him with ease.

Lan Wangji’s eyes widened for a moment, in disbelief, lips parted to say something though no words came out.

“The dead are elusive. You will not find him if he does not want to be found.”

The hope in Lan Wangji’s eyes dimmed as soon as it had appeared. He bowed deeply in thanks and left without a word, unable to speak. Hua Cheng did not hold it against him.

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. Hi, me again!! Returning to your amazing site!! I hope you can help me find this fic!! I'm looking for a fic where WWX doesn't die in his first life, but he ends up in a paperman and in Yummeng they have to find a way to returning him to his body!! Please help!! Be well :) @monicaop21

NOT FOUND! 🧡 a paper friend by soft_wanning (G, 4k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Paperman!WWX, Identity Porn, Meet-Cute, Different First Meeting) I'm not sure this is right but I'd thought I'd mention it just in case - Mod C

I remember this one but can't find it! Iirc, WWX was in a coma in Lotus Pier, but the rest of the cultivation world was told he was dead. Can't remember how his spirit ended up in a paperman, but all the Lotus Pier people knew, and eventually LWJ figured it out when he was visiting for a cultivation conference or something. I think they were trying to figure out how to get WWX back into his body when MXY did his ritual and WWXs spirit was pulled out of the paperman and everyone freaked out that he'd died for real this time

FOUND!🔒 something like by silversshadow (T, 69k, WangXian, XuanLi, SongXiao, Canon Divergence, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Temporary Character Death)

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2. Hi!! Thank you for all your hardwork here.

I was looking for this fic where Wei Wuxian doesn't get adopted by the Jiangs.( I'm not sure if it was because he retained his memories of his earlier life.) Anyway... he gets the Dafan Wens at Yiling and closes Yiling with a barrier that no one can break through.

At some point Lan Wangji comes by and meets Wei Wuxian and there's a little bit of an identity crisis happening because Wuxian doesn't want to tell Wangji who he is but the smart Lan figures it out (I think lol) Also the war happens (again not so sure) but anyway all the sects comes to ask for refuge at Yiling.

The part I remember really well is where The Jiangs come by boat and Yu furen is her usual self with her condescending attitude.

I also remember a section where, towards the beginning, Wuxian actually cures the Burial mounds and like the entire village just loves him and takes care of him because he's such an angel.

Please find this for me cuz I went through 115 pages in my history and still couldn't find it. @poetic-writes

FOUND? The Devil That You Forgot by pottedplnt (Not Rated, 20k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, BAMF WWX, YLLZ WWX, Rogue Cultivator WWX, WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiāngs, Angst, Sentient Burial Mounds, Demonic Cultivation, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sunshot Campaign, Chronic Pain, JFM and YZY Bashing, Bad Parent YZY, Jiāng Family Bashing)

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3. hiii for the next FF I’m looking for a modern wangxian fic where wy is a toymaker and LZ is a writer and single father to lsz. It’s largely comfort where wy reintroduces LZ to the magic of imagination I think and idk if it’s only where i stopped but the most recent scene was lz’s mother being stuck in the hospital. I also rmb that wy couldn’t leave the toy shop for long. @crazy-gay-killxr

FOUND! Pure Imagination by Witch_Nova221 (T, 119k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, JYL/JZX, LSZ LWJ & WWX, modern w magic, Romance, Toys, Toy maker, Magic, Found Family, Family Feels, Family Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hospitals, Mentions of Cancer, Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Loss of Parent(s))

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4. Hi!! Thanks for your work, I have been looking for a fic I read I while ago. It is a MDZSxTGCF crossover, it starts with Wei Ying arriving to ghost city after his death and Hualian finding him (I'm pretty sure he calls Xie Lian an angel at some point). Some time later, Lan Zhan travels to the ghost city to find Wei Ying, he doesn't find him but Hua Cheng lent him some luck so they can reunite soon.

Thank again for everything!!! @jesuqueso

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5. hi! im looking for a fic where the juniors of lotus pier think wwx gives the worst punishment. in reality, wwx just deliveres them to the most appropriate adult to deal with it. like if the best punishment would be "im not mad just disappointed" lecture, then he'll drop the kids off to jaing yanli or if they need handstands then to lan wangji and so on.. but wwx himself rarely punished them and somehow the juniors came to the conclusion that he must give out the worst punishment

this was just a small scene from a long fic. not even related to plot, i think this scene was towards the end. @mumblerovertmblr

FOUND! I'm pretty sure 5 is And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together) or one of its sequels / yes like previouly said, it is in And Time Is But A Paper Moon by sami, in chapter 20!

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6. For the next Fic Finder – I was looking for a fic to suggest for an ITMF request, but I can’t find it! It’s a modern AU, where LQR suggests a marriage between JYL and LWJ (after a scandal with JGS comes to light, making JZX a bad option even though JYL still wants to marry him). But LWJ and WWX are already secretly dating, so WWX chaperones JYL and LWJ on a “date” where they finally tell her they are together, and then go about telling the rest of their family through the rest of the fic. @eorlgreylady

FOUND! I think 6 is A Sequence of coming out by kippalittlefox, but it seems to be deleted.

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7. What I remember from it is that WWX was in the bath before some people broke into the jingshi and held him hostage when LWJ got back. He had a string to his throat, or a knife not fully sure. After the guys that broke in were killed and it was like the next day, JC came by and the three of them started talking in the middle of CR so that the others would know that LWJ killed the men because they tried to kill his husband and if they wanted to see the scar left across WWX's throat.

This part was at the end of it, but I don't remember it being long. Don't really remember honestly

FOUND! sounds like No journey is too long by dea_liberty (M, 12k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Found Families, Epilogue, Happy Ending, Some angst, a lot of feelings, WWX has some PTSD to deal with, Minor Violence) the last in a five-part post canon series. The incident takes place in an inn, not the Jingshi, but other details match

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8. Hi! I’m kinda desperate now.

I’m looking for a fic where a-yuan or I think OC child is wwx and lwj biological child. I remember there is a chapter wherein before dying (due to canon stuff), wwx confessed to lwj that they had a child together. Then wwx died and I think they search for for the child (I forgot who saw the child but I sure it is either lxc or lwj)

I really appreciate it if you help me😭

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9. Hey! I'm looking for a fic I've read once but can't seem to find it anymore.

It was a modern Wangxian au where LWJ is a motorbike racer and WWX is a single parent to A-Yuan. LWJ sees WWX on the street as he drives by and circles back just to ask him out on a date. Incredibly sweet fic and I would like to read it again.

Thank you! 😘 @lucica-stuff

FOUND! My Heart is the Finish Line by UseMyMuse (E, 29k, WangXian, Bikerji, dadxian, Mpreg)

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10. There's a long modern au where lwj and lxc are art agents or something and wwx is an artist. But the main thing of the fic is that wwx hears from mxy that lwj FUCKS and might have a spreadsheet for it. This turns wwxs world upside down cause lwj is his best friend and he'd never known this. Then there's pining. Wwx painting a triptych, pining while fucking and finally the two idiots talk. There was also a b side version from lwjs pov. I cannot find this fic now. Help.

FOUND! show me a quiver, give me tonight by spookykingdomstarlight (E, 115k, wangxian, lwj/others, communication failure, mutual pining, artists, demisexual wwx, angst w/ happy ending)

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11. hello! i need help looking for a fic please 🙏🏻

i remember a lot but these are the important bits: modern au, wwx & lwj used to be classmates, nhs finally convinced wwx to confess his feelings for lwj, and when he did (in public, blurting out loud cause he was VERY nervous), lwj thought it was a prank, got angry and rejected wwx. wwx was devastated, nhs felt guilty, planned to drink & then met wen xu. wwx and wen xu get together, but wwx ran away (?) with wx. he was actually in an abusive & manipulative relationship with wx. then wwx adopts wen yuan and he fled with wy. years later, wwx owns a cafe, wy is a teen and they accidentally meet lwj again at the cafe. the junior ensemble is there, things happen and wx finds wwx but there is a happy ending.

i have TRIED looking for it myself but to no avail. (This part added to an itmf)

we are blessed in this community for all the work that you do, thank you so much! 🙇🏻‍♀️ @emkaii

FOUND! how to make your dad fall in love with your high school teacher in five steps; the complete and bulletproof guide by ravenditefairylights (T, 90k, WangXian, Modern AU, Coffee shop AU, NB LSZ, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, Genderfluid WWX)

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12. Hi i'm looking for a wangxian fic were everyone watches (fallows lan wangji) wei wuxian and thinks that he gave birth to lan sizhui. its on ao3 @sansfan286

FOUND? Assumptions by draechaeli (T, 50k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Mainly Novel with a few CQL and Donghua bits, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Adoption, Adoption but WWX birthed them all, not mpreg, Not Established Relationship, Fluff, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It, gender non-conforming titles) the mirror follows WWX but they assume A-Yuan is the bio kid bc of convos they overhear but

FOUND? We made every mistake by JosieLinton2002 (T, 10k, WIP, WangXian, Mpreg) also features a mirror where they spy on WWX and they discover A-Yuan is Wangxian's bio kid

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13. Hi can you guys help me find a fic? It was a modern au; it was about Lwj slowly realizing the Jiangs neglect Wwx or something along those lines. I remember two scenes, one where they were talking about gifts, and Wwx said Madam Yu got him shampoo and conditioner for his birthday, and Wwx thought that was normal. The second scene was Lwj learning Wwx is left alone in the house when the Jiang family goes on vacation.

FOUND? Lessons in Belonging by Nyatci (M, 12k, wangxian, Modern, Childhood Friends to Lovers, POV LWJ, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canonical Child Abuse, Bad Parents JFM & YZY, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Homophobia, Good Uncle LQR, background 3zun, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assumed Asexuality, some mild non-overly-explicit smut, LWJ really wants to put a ring on it so he does, Domestic Fluff, wangxian adopt a-yuan, 5+1 Things)

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14. this is for ficfinder.

I read a fic a couple of months ago and I can't find it.

in it, lwj dies because of the lan elders in the cave, and wwx gets really really mad (obvi) and then gives half of his heart to lwj surgically (literally)

FOUND! To Love a Lonely God by sunandseas (E, 6k, WangXian, Body Horror, Blood and Gore, Wwx gives Lwj his heart, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF WWX, Hurt LWJ, Dark WWX, Dark LWJ, Temporary Character Death, sacrifice as a form of love, Murder Husbands)

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15. For fic finder: It was a modern au about sport dueling. You could duel in pairs or one on one, and WWX and JC were raised to be a pair but Madame Yu kept them apart, I think? Anyhoo, JC goes on to pair with Jiang Yanli and WWX eventually teams up with LWJ and win the championship. I feel like someone got kidnapped halfway through?

FOUND! I feel like I win when I lose by so_shhy (T, 25k, wangxian, modern cultivation, Sports AU, Getting Together, some semblance of a plot, gently implied 3zun, obsessively observing someone from a distance is super romantic, LWJ pls use your words, really WWX cannot be blamed for obliviousness in this one, WC causing trouble, WN is precious, Fluff, Podfic Available)

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16. Hi! I can't seem to find a fix I really loved -- I remember it was sort of cyberpunk cultivation world and wwx downloaded himself into a sexbot which fought with lwj who realized he was fully sentient and took him home. There's eventual wen remnants and wwx has a secret agenda.

FOUND? In Imitation of Life by travelingneuritis (E, 70k, wangxian, modern cultivation, scifi au, android WWX, tone: neon seedy, rich people are bored and terrible, post-apocalyptoc landscape, happy ending, smut, severe major characger injury, time loss)

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17. Hi! I read a fic ao3 and i forgot to bookmark it. It’s a modern and i remember wwx being a ceo of a huge tech company and lan zhan ran away and kinda asked wwx to be his sugar daddy??

FOUND? finally safe (for me to fall) by sassybluee (E, 77k, WangXian, Modern: No Powers, Sugar Daddy, Age Difference, Sex Work, Rich WWX, Older WWX, Service Top WWX, Poor LWJ, Single Parent LWJ, Sugar Baby LWJ, Family Issues, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Cockblocking, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, No Lube, Lube, Addiction, Compulsory Heterosexuality, Implied/Referenced Abuse, wangxian + others) sigh so good

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18. Hii I'm looking for these fics I read not long ago, couldn't find it anymore,

A) it's a short one I believe? Where nie huaisang kinda drags wwx with him to the past and wwx was livid (wwx chocked nhs or something), the scene happened in front alot of ppl .

B) I've read multiple like this one can't remember the exact one but it's where wwx was actually female, and hid her true ID from the jinags, and was discovered by the Lans or something

C) it's similar to b but I remember this scene it was an established Relationship post canon? Where wwx got her og body back after being resurrected by male mxy

Thanks in advance ☆ @karinasnowwwx

18A)

FOUND? Selfish by Valeska (T, 2k, NHS & WWX, Time Travel, NHS Needs a Hug, WWX Needs a Hug, YLLZ WWX, Sunshot Campaign, NHS kinda messes up, WWX needs a break, Hurt No Comfort, no NHS bashing even if it kinda sounds like that in the summary, he's tired and desperate, which doesn't mix well with presenting opportunities as we know)

18B)

FOUND? 🔒 Fallen Flowers and Closed Blooms by mondengel (M, 1k, wangxian, Female WWX, Creepy JFM)

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19. hello, I am looking for a fic " where lan wangji save wei wuxian after he jump from the cliff. baoshan rescued wei wuxian, lan wangji ang wen yuan from a cave and save wei wuxian by giving him his mother's core, later wei wuxian and lanwangji become demonic cultivator and immortal. "

FOUND? It's not a perfect match, but Ghosts Shouldn’t by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 15k, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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20. Hello! I’m trying to find a modern AU fic where the Lans still run a school, and in the backstory, WWX did something, got expelled over it (can’t remember why, it’s either punching JZX or messing with LWJ) and after being sent home, Madam Yu disowned him and threw him out of the house. There was also a mention that LQR was horrified, because the other times he expelled someone, they simply petitioned to be readmitted to the school and he was expecting that to happen with WWX.

Unfortunately that’s all I remember. Any ideas help!

FOUND!🔒With Intent by KizuKatana (E, 14k, WangXian, modern cultivator au, Modern with Magic, First Time, YLLZ WWX, WWX/others (minor), Jealous LWJ)

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[navarice]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[trans-xianxian]

jin guangshan asking about jiang yanli and jin zixuans marriage in front of Everyone while he knows that the jiang sect is both a. in mourning and b. rebuilding after the massacre of lotus pier and thus desperate to be in the good graces of the other sects, is so rude and audacious and manipulative of him its crazy. he's sort of giving them no choice but to say yes, which is so insidious. but the worst part of this scene to me is that he shouldn't even be asking. the social rules he is relying on to pressure the jiang sect to agree, Also make it incredibly inappropriate to even ask. the whole sect is still in mourning clothes, and jiang cheng Just said outloud that a succession ceremony would be inappropriate. something like a wedding? a celebration of that scale while the siblings are not only mourning their parents, but also essentially everyone they ever knew? everyone should be outraged and pointing out how the jin sect is seemingly trying to take advantage of the jiangs in their weakened position. but instead everyone is literally cheering jin guangshan on

this part of the show does such an excellent job exemplifying the role of power, influence, and class in the cultivation world. the jins are collectively some of the most rude, audacious, arrogant characters in the show. they are Constantly breaking the social conventions they benefit from, and are celebrated for it. they hold absolute power, and thus every taboo they could commit is a testament to their strength and quality. but wei wuxian, who has no power but the physical kind he alone wields, who is the son of a servant, who holds a seat at the table despite the impossible odds, is criticized at every turn for his shamelessness, his disregard for manners. but in every scene, he is so well spoken, so good at playing within the rules and being polite. he always says all the right things. but because he doesn't know his place, everything he does is automatically a show of disrespect

[icyolive]

Let's look at all the ways the text tells us WWX is not fucking responsible for the fall of Lotus Pier.

Madam Yu: "So you came here this time for the sake of a kite?" ... Wang Lingjiao: "I came this time to punish someone on behalf of Wen Clan and Wen-gongzi."

If we didn't already know from their unprovoked attack on the Lan, this kite thing makes it extremely clear that WWX's actions at the shittier summer camp reeducation camp are absolutely not to blame for the fall of Lotus Pier.

They were always going to make a move on Lotus Pier, and they'll pick whatever excuse they want—from a kid playing with kites, to an unnamed offense from a clan leader who has been in seclusion for decades, to a prisoner (!!!) fighting back.

In fact, WLJ says it herself: taking over Lotus Pier was "the second important matter [she] came to Yunmeng for," something that was going to happen whether or not they punished WWX.

That's the point at which Madam Yu snaps: when he pride, her status, and (if we're being charitable) her family and home, are finally threatened. Instead of simply pacifying a more powerful clan, punishing WWX became an act of submission to the Wen. It would mean following orders as a subject of the Wen, not just a less powerful clan with an upstart disciple. And orders from the Wen's servant envoy, no less.

So she finally fought back—and that's what sparked the actual battle. If anyone is going to argue that WWX should have kept his head down and not caused trouble, well then, here's where Madam Yu should've kept her head down.

Like... this is barely even meta. It's literally in the text:

"If you dare lay your hands on me, he'll—" Madam Yu raised her hand and slapped her again. "He'll what?" she mocked. "Chop off our hands or our legs? Burn down our residence? Send people to raze Lotus Pier to the ground? Establish an overwatch office here?"

Maybe didn't give them ideas, Madam Yu?

Meanwhile, the worst threat given for refusing to punish WWX:

"... things won't go so well the next time Wen-gongzi asks questions!"

WWX was never an important part of this equation—not for anyone but WLJ. The Wen were there to establish a supervisory office, and they attacked in response to Madam Yu literally striking first.

And of course, later, after their escape:

"Deep down, Jiang Cheng knew very well that even if Wei Wuxian had not saved Lan Wangji in the Xuanwu of Slaughter's cave at Mount Muxi, the Wens would have found a reason to come knocking sooner or later. But he couldn't help but think that had it not been for Wei Wuxian, perhaps it wouldn't have happened so soon. Perhaps there would've still been time to salvage the situation."

Even JC knows he's grasping at straws.

(Also, the time for salvaging the situation was when the Wen took all the land and forbade night hunting. Or when they demanded inner clan members as prisoners. Or when they burned down the Cloud Recesses. Or even after WWX and JC made it back, instead of leaving to diplomatically negotiate Jesus Christ Jiang Fengmian. The time was NOT when WWX stepped into a fight with their captors, in support of their allies, that was already happening.)

[whetstonefires]

Hi, I'm currently writing a fic and would like to ask for advice about the characterization of a slightly darker Lan Xichen. When he is in seclusion, in the midst of despair and grappling with feelings of anger, bitterness and resentment what do you think would be his lesson learned from everything? How would his actions/personality change particularly concerning his decision making as a leader? Would he become more manipulative/ruthless like jgy even while fully disavowing his choices? Thanks!

Okay so I do have a lot of thoughts about this!

Because there's a whole list of issues Lan Xichen has to unpack, and the deepest is in fact not the betrayed anger, or even grief or guilt, but having to reevaluate who he even is.

He's spent 13 years thinking Lan Wangji was the fuckup and he had tried hard and done everything right. Like, not flawlessly, there were all those people and even his sword brother he couldn't save and Lan Wangji he couldn't protect from himself, but still. He'd done it. Complex political and personal reality successfully navigated. Worst errors evaded. Not Like His Father.

He spent about 15 years (that's so much time!!!) having his most intimate personal relationship be with someone who was lying to and using him, and who (because he killed him!) he will never even be able to ask which parts were lies.

His entire decisionmaking system is wrecked. For him to come out of this cruel, with the confidence to do vicious things to others for some goal, he would have to somehow construct a new belief system, a basis for his convictions, that is even more narrow and sharp and coldly implacable than Jin Guangyao's was. Or at any rate more inflexible.

I don't think he's capable of this. He's like 40 years old! He's spent that whole time trying so, so fucking hard to be good, to be fair and kind and just even where these conflict with one another.

And what he has for it is a shattered decisionmaking base.

There's only so far a person can change themselves, even if they try to start over from first principles. And he doesn't have any real motivation to want to be really harsh, even if he doesn't want to be so soft anymore either.

If he had to knit himself back together under these circumstances and go forward and perform desperate feats, the way Jiang Cheng had to after the first time he broke (not as profound a break, not once he got his core 'back' and could resume most of his prior identity elements, but still the permanent damage is visible) I think Lan Xichen could get pretty dark.

If he was being forced to make constant life-or-death calls in a violent atmosphere and he didn't fucking trust himself but he knew his gentleness and his mercy and his desire to believe the best of people had been so utterly weaponized against him and those under his keeping before, I think he'd start making a lot of kill calls. He's capable of that, after all. He was a major war hero, flying from front to front, pulling asses out of fires.

He has killed lots of people! And commanded people he cares about into battle! He has the stomach for that kind of thing, when there's cause.

When Lan Xichen accepted massacres under the period of ascendancy of the Jin, let the Chang and the He and even the Wen remnants be wiped out and then erased without justice or remorse, he was using that same wartime stomach for necessity, and then trying to patch things over and let the world be peaceful, be healed.

Hide it until it stops hurting anymore. That's his basic methodology for things that it's too late to mediate.

And I think because that smoothing and that kindness and that looking-away-from-conflict are the parts of his failures most distinctive to him, as a person, they're the parts he would react against with the most violent distrust. And he'd need to lock down on his uncertainties and suppress them to function, which does not do good things for your judgment. So a Lan Xichen fresh from those traumas who had to fight a war could get pretty brutal. He could ramp his ruthlessness up by pretty rapid degrees.

If he did, he'd be doing it while leaning away from manipulation, going as direct and uncompromising and fierce as possible. (In imitation a bit of Nie Mingjue.)

If he wound up leaning away from ruthlessness hard enough he might accidentally become pretty manipulative, by way of trying to never actually force his will on others since he doesn't trust his own judgment, but I think that's a pretty outside chance. He's not actually a very subtle person and I think he's too old to really learn, and under the circumstances he'd probably be more insecure about hinting than demanding things. If he comes out too early and is overly centered on shame, maybe.

I don't think he could get as bad as Jin Guangyao no matter which direction he went, because he wouldn't be all that sneaky about it, his goals would still be for the sake of groups of people rather than himself alone, and he wouldn't have the confidence to totally refuse to take outside input on his choices. He also just gives a shit about other people, by instinct. All that puts some caps on his scope of villainy that jgy did not have.

Although under the right circumstances, with the ruthless route, he could get pretty volatile about taking advice, reacting unpredictably against attempts to gentle or redirect him as Dangerous Manipulation Again.

You could do a fantastic AU with that actually, with betrayed, hardened, trying-so-fucking-hard unstable Lan Xichen flipping out at a Lan Wangji who's trying to rein in his excessive brutality against like, suspected traitors. Like that's a role reversal you could make work by pulling the right trauma strings and it would hurt so good. Put Nie Huaisang in as a witness to an episode and really layer things up.

But I find it hard to imagine him going that way in seclusion. Taking all the pressures off a person in a mental health crisis is something you do for a reason. He is in there so he won't be forced to make decisions when he doesn't feel qualified anymore, as much as to hide from his shame and wrestle with the grief.

Putting the crisis-haver in solitary confinement is not actually a good idea! That will generally make many parts of the problem worse! Even with the ability to come out if he decides to, and even though privacy sounds like a good idea, isolation is a bit much.

But he's going to break a different way if he's alone with no responsibilities, and only himself to do anything for or to.

The most likely way for his seclusion to go bad, if it does, is self-destruction. That could look a lot of ways, and might or might not kill him, and if it does could do so at basically any speed.

If it doesn't just become an inward spiral of destruction but also is bad, though...let's see. He could still come out paranoid. Yeah. Having lost his faith in the ability and will of people to be good.

The most obvious way for this to turn ugly out the gate is that he reverses his previous arc (that's one of the reasons this doesn't strike me as probable) and instead of leaning toward 'wangji was right and i was wrong; i have to interrogate all my biases harder and reconsider my definition of acceptable sacrifices and listen to him' he looks at wangxian, and his brother's conviction that this notorious villain was always good at heart, that his crimes were mostly under duress, or exaggerations and lies, that he means well and mostly meant well, and wants to be better and to put all that behind him...

And remembers that's the story Jin Guangyao told him.

[ultfreakme]

Danmei ask, what are your top 5 (or top 7) favorite moments from MDZS? Also, can I ask why you love those 3 (JC, WWX , XXC)?

(Riki, I'm so glad when found out you also love Jiang Cheng. You must know how many haters on his character in tumblr and twitter. Like, I was blocked 4 times by MDZS lover blog, when they knew I love Jiang Cheng.)

I love reading your MDZS/ SVSSS crossover, they're so in character.....And yes, SQQ must love Sukuna and Jogo if he ever read JJK...

Thanks for the ask Anon!!

Top 7 moments:

When we find out the Jiang Cheng sacrificed himself to the Wens to save Wei Wuxian. It was dropped so casually and I had to backtrack and go "wait, wait, WAIT! DISCUSS IT PLEASE!!"

The juniors in the Yi City arc, they were so adorable, I loved reading them putting on a brave face and investigating.

Wei Wuxian murdering the crap out of Wen Chao with his sexy undead ladies. Him and Jiang Cheng together torturing him while Lan Wangji was sent out and it's like, LWJ is confused, shocked, and horrified.

The scene where Wei Wuxian's roasting Jin Guangshan at the conference post-war and everyone's scandalized. I love it when Wei Wuxian gets bitchy.

Jiang Cheng's intro scene in the donghua where he emerges from the shadows of that tree, pushing aside the leaves. That's so hot of him.

Wei Wuxian covered in blood in the second siege of Burial Mounds and Lan Wangji is defending him. That scene's so cool and romantic in all its iterations. The donghua went above and beyond and made it seem like a wedding.

Jiang Cheng giving Zidian to Jin Ling ;_; It hurts me. It's so much worse knowing that MXTX was planning on killing Jin Ling soon after to really hurt Jiang Cheng.

Reasons I like:

Jiang Cheng-

He's so complicated! You can't immediately look at him and say he's the good guy or the bad guy. I personally think he leans more towards the good guy category.

He's the perfect opposite of Wei Wuxian, he's not a genius cultivator like wwx, he had to work for every bit of progress he made. He started off simply wanting to keep his family together and at peace, but the war happened and his priorities shifted. He's duty-bound, he's always fighting and scraping to be recognized but no one ever does. He wanted so bad to help wwx, but duty made it so that he was forced to pick between his sect and wwx. Forever chained, closed off.

He's jealous and vicious and so, so angry. I get it, I understand the worst parts of him and relate to it.

Wei Wuxian-

Again, super complicated as a person. Wronged at every turn. He wanted to do good and protect people, and for that he kept sacrificing himself over and over again with little value given to himself as a person. He's got his sharp edges and cruelty too, and I feel like people often forget that Wei Wuxian's traumas and his lack of self-appreciation and value on himself show in ugly and vicious ways.

His story obviously shows a key message of MDZS, which is that when people sacrifice themselves thinking that they're protecting their loved one, they only hurt them in another way. I understood his desire to do good, protect people, but there's no one to stand at his side. The loneliness and fear that comes with fucking up so bad that no one even tries to hear you out, no one's listening no matter how loud you shout.

Xiao Xingchen:

He's like Wei Wuxian but 100% times worse and more self-sacrificial. Too trusting, too good, and everyone kept taking advantage of that without bothering to guide him or be honest with him. Like legit, no one told him what they were truly thinking.

I love that xxc wants to be a good person, i hate that he was ruined for it. God I really wanted him to have a happy ending because he's just, he's so NICE. In a world filled with betrayal and deceit, xxc wanted to spread goodness. And yet.

AAHHHHHH

I think these characters made me see the point of MDZS in a very clear way, or in a way that impacted me most. So they're my faves.

Being a Jiang Cheng liker is a struggle! I was getting into MDZS even before the donghua started airing, like around 2018 and back then Jiang Cheng hate was so bad. I kept waiting year after year for the hate to go down but it just got worse the more popular MDZS got. The misunderstandings built up too. I got black and got into a million arguments too ;_; We have to stick together!!!

i have so many thoughts about Jiang Cheng specifically because, okay I read and watched everything about 3 years ago, so I don't remember much other than my fav, so I'm always thinking about everything he did.

nbsdhfb SQQ's monster-loving ass would go gaga for Sukuna. Four armed man wrecking people??? Yes sir! (side note; big tall powerful man who is called king who is only nice to his close servant and confidante???? SQH come get your boy!)

[rosethornewrites]

T & G reading since 9/16

Finished

Teen:

Lan Zhan's University Days (Second Year Slump), by sami (2 chapters, part of 2 series)

Second year starts inauspiciously.

Coming On Like A Hurricane, by sami (2 chapters, part of 2 series)

Jiang Cheng looks past Jordan and scowls. "Wei Wuxian. Is the storm your fault? Did you disrupt air travel across two countries just to get out of having dinner with the French president?"

it starts just where the light exists, by nancyboykilljoy

People should teach something about love between two men.

That thought occurred to Wei Ying after a myriad of others, as he stared at Jingshi’s gentle blue ceiling, darkened as all candles were out and only the moon gave the room some light.

He was quiet, his breath steady, but his heart felt a bit too scandalous for the scene. His expression was one of focus, and he was, actually, concentrated on a particular impression: what the hell took him so long.

--

Or: Wei Wuxian realizes he's been in love with Lan Wangji for a long time.

Happens during episode 43!

the trauma has already spread, by ActivelyWeird

Everything pauses the moment Jin Ling pulls the sword out of Wei Wuxian.

Chaotic Demonic Cultivator Shirks Gender Roles, by retired (misbehavingvigilante) (🔒)

It's not as if he regrets telling Lan Zhan he gave birth to A-Yuan, he just hadn't realized that A-Yuan had been paying so much attention to it.

In hindsight, it's no real surprise why A-Yuan then calls him 'A-Niang'.

Or alternatively, a gender nonconforming take on the Yiling date.

Green-gege Saves a lot of Lives, by Eternal_writes

It isn't until Nie Mingjue wakes up in the Burial Mounds after a night-hunt gone awry, that he realizes just how wrong the Cultivation World is about the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian.

There is no "Ghost Army," just biding their time until the right moment to strike. Just a group of Wen Remnants trying to survive on land that was never suited for life. There is no "Demon of the Burial Mounds," just Wei Wuxian, trying his best to keep his new family alive while nearly starving himself in the process.

Nie Mingjue thought he knew everything. Merely days ago he thought that sieging the Burial Mounds was the safest option if given a reason to do so. But meeting the Wen Remnants, and A-Yuan who affectionately calls him "Green-gege!" he realizes something vital.

He was wrong, and he better do something to fix it before it's too late.

AITA for not contacting my family for 10 years after running away from home?, by weiyus

Wei Wuxian goes to reddit to seek guidance about whether he's an asshole for not contacting the Jiangs for 10 years after running away.

He Answers, by GoddessNyxXX

Weeks after Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnant's deaths, Lan Wangji is convinced to play Evocation in an attempt to contact Wei Wuxian's spirit by his brother for the cultivation sects. And, Wei Wuxian answers.

Homecoming, by BigBadRedPanda

Inquiry, as the strings quiver, the beloved one comes into sight.

-

Has Lan Wangji ever played Inquiry during these thirteen years?

(Translation of 归去来 by sannianbufei)

who are you, by HeavenChild

Wei Ying died.

Lan Wangji stayed alive.

|OR| the one where Lan Wangji spent thirteen years searching for the soul of a dead man.

General:

breath before the plunge, by stiltonbasket

In which Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng remain behind in the Xuanwu's cave, and the Sunshot Campaign does not begin in quite the same way afterwards.

Who is right?, by DamieMontclair

Day 1: Umbrella - Lan Wangji

In the mud, left behind and forgotten, laid a rain-soaked umbrella.

Coping Techniques for the Clueless and Socially Disadvantaged, by meyari

The worst part of the Sunshot Campaign was Wei Wuxian. Without a doubt. Which was why Jin Zixuan reluctantly found himself trying out various people’s coping methods in an effort to, you know, figure out something to fix it. Him. Yeah. Zixuan didn’t know, either, but someone obviously had to do something.

crowned in blooms, by littledust

Lan Wangji hears Wei Wuxian before he sees him. His bright laughter dots the hillside like wildflowers. A higher-pitched giggle follows, and then the soft snort of a donkey.

They are Practically Married Your Honour, by Asmayi

A 5+1 fic where everyone mistakes WangXian as a couple but....they don't really accept or deny the status until Wei Ying confronts Lan Zhan about it.

Contingency, by Full_Metal_Ox

Wei WuXian, who admits his memory has never been of the best, has nonetheless privately memorized a fair bit of the Inquiry code.

Inquiry, Reprise, by EHyde

Wei Ying regrets being unable to answer Lan Zhan's Inquiry. He wants to change that.

Response, by Aki_no_hikari (🔒, 2 chapters)

What if Wei Wuxian hadn't been silent to Lan Wangji's Inquiry?

Part 2: Featuring A-Yuan

Unfinished

Teen:

I've Heard of Second Chances, but This Is Ridiculous, by velvet_green

One of Wei Wuxian’s experimental talisman arrays sends himself, his husband and his brother to that mythical land of long ago – the Gusu Lan lectures of their youth.

Wei Wuxian is amused. Lan Wangji is silent. Jiang Cheng is angry.

And their younger versions are mostly just very, very confused.

Cluster of Clouds, by Nika_Raven_Celeste

Wei Ying expects many things during his stay in the Cloud Recesses, but he sure as hell didn't expect THIS! What's up with the Lans?! Those soft looks! The way they treated him!

Also, Lan Zhan! Are you planning to kill Wei Ying or something?! This one's heart cannot take what you're doing AAAAAAAHHHH!

like flowers in spring (we bloom until we ache), by moonbots

"Wei-sanren," Lan Wangji said. He bowed solemnly, which Wei Wuxian scrambled to return before he gracefully stepped on his sword and took to the air.

Wei Wuxian had heard a lot about Lan Wangji while he was on the road. He had heard of the famed Second Jade of Lan, of his peerless talent in the six arts. He had heard of his unparalleled beauty and his strong sense of justice and kindness.

What an odd guy, Wei Wuxian thought, as he watched Lan Wangji fly away until he was nothing but a speck of white against the blue sky.

in which wei wuxian bounds into the cultivation world headfirst after being the disciple of an immortal for sixteen years, starry-eyed and determined to vanquish evil, but did not expect to be mired in wen ruohan's thirst for power, the complications of sect politics, and the fact that he can't look away from lan wangji's brilliant eyes.

Chenqing: "setting forth one's thoughts and explaining one's actions", by LyzDrake

After an assassin is nearly successful, Wei Wuxian grows concerned that should it be needed, there will be no one who knows the truth. She decides to entrust it to someone honorable, and the last person she ever thought possible.

General:

When the Hills Are All Flat, and the Rivers Run Dry, by stiltonbasket

Wei Wuxian feels her blood run cold.

Yu-ayi’s right. He really is going to choose me, she thinks. Oh, no. Oh, good Heavens, no!

She nearly bursts into tears on the spot; but just as her eyelids begin to sting, she remembers what her aunt said only two minutes earlier and breathes a sigh of relief.

The moment Huangshang lays eyes on you, he will know what choice to make.

In that moment, Wei Wuxian realizes that she can only be certain of evading the Empress’s throne if she ensures that the emperor never lays eyes on her at all.

Or: in the second year of his reign, Emperor Lan Wangji yields to the wishes of his ministers and holds a bride selection to find his future empress.

had a marvelous time ruining everything, by livinginaworldofnoise

“Great news, though—well, actually, it may depend how you define ‘great.’” Wei Wuxian folds himself into a cross-legged position and makes a sweeping gesture with one arm toward the closet, from which Lan Wangji can now hear a strange rattling noise. “While you were gone I managed to catch another one!”

“Another . . . cat?” Lan Wangji pulls the closet door open wider and stares at the cage he finds there, inside of which a small black cat is clinging to the ceiling bars with all the desperation of a cornered wild animal.

“That’s Volcano!” Wei Wuxian says by way of explanation. “She’s a little spicy.”

OR: 5 times wangxian's feral kittens get in the way of lan wangji proposing + 1 time they help

[llycaons]

“Yeah,” Wei Ying says. He closes his eyes. “She’s grown so much like Madam Yu,” he says around another shaky laugh. “All the best parts of Madam Yu."

I take it back this is an insane thing for wwx to say about jiang yanli, literally the only mother figure he ever known (truly known/remembered) who loved him unconditionally. WHAT BEST PARTS. in canon he says she was the worst-tempered woman he ever knew and this is even within a setting of intense emphasis on being filial. he may have some rueful appreciation for her as an adult but he hardly venerates her like THIS

“All the best parts of Madam Yu. She scolded me and Jiang Cheng for fighting just like when we were kids, and then she scolded me for vanishing into thin air for thirteen years,"

bullSHIT. if wwx showed up after over a decade then jyl would hug him and sob uncontrollably because first and foremost SHE LOVES HIM she's not going to ~scold him as an act of love~ man how do you mess up jyl, one of the most straightforward characters of the show.

also myu would never scold wwx for fighting with jc bc she hates when they get along... because she doesn't want them to see each other as equals or family 😭😭😭 and she would probably be glad he's gone forever so he's not staining their family anymore with his reputation! does the author think she's some kind of advanced strong woman secretly good mother hyperfeminist figure...you know the girlboss myu type? so depressing to see jyl and myu reduced to that, and it's not like they were fantastic characters to start. but how tf is this making sense on any level and how did I miss it on my first read

[ibijau]

The Fake Dating to Real Marriage Pipeline pt1 / on AO3

aka lxc just got dumped by jgy, and nhs thinks he should get a little revenge, as a treat

Nie Mingjue was unfortunately working the night shift, but he’d strongly insisted that Lan Xichen had to spend the night at his flat. Nie Huaisang had received instructions to use his brother’s laptop to order food from any place Lan Xichen liked best, and to keep Lan Xichen company until either he fell asleep or Nie Mingjue returned from work, at which point Nie Mingjue would take Lan Xichen out for breakfast at a nearby café that always had the best of pastries.

A small part of Lan Xichen thought that perhaps Nie Mingjue was being a little over-dramatic, and that it was unfair to burden Nie Huaisang like that when they weren’t even particularly close.

A much bigger part of Lan Xichen was too busy quietly sobbing his heart out on his best friend’s sofa to care about being dramatic, because he had just been dumped by the love of his life.

No, not just dumped.

That, bad as it would have been, could have been handled rationally. But the reason Meng Yao had broken up with him was because he’d actually had a girlfriend the entire time he’d been with Lan Xichen, and one who, unlike Lan Xichen, he’d introduced to his family and brought to a few work related events, because she was the person he’d always intended to have a serious commitment to. In fact, he’d recently asked Qin Su to marry him, and that new step in their relationship had meant he now felt like he’d be really cheating if he’d remained involved with Lan Xichen.

“And you never guessed?” Nie Huaisang asked when Lan Xichen, amidst heavy tears, had managed to explain all that.

Lan Xichen shook his head. He’d never suspected. Meng Yao had told him that he couldn’t be out because his family and his workplace were not particularly progressive regarding queer acceptance. The risk of discovery was particularly high since Meng Yao’s father owned the company where he worked, so Lan Xichen had been very careful these past two years, never posting anything on social media that might betray his boyfriend, never talking about their relationship except to people who Meng Yao had approved of. Lan Xichen had obeyed all the rules, accepting that things would have to be complicated until Meng Yao was in a position to be more open about his sexuality. He’d worked to help enough people with unsupportive families, he knew enough about Jin Guangshan’s political views, that it all made sense. It had never occurred to Lan Xichen that Meng Yao might have been hiding things from him just as efficiently as he was hiding things from his father.

“You want to know the worst part?” Lan Xichen asked while picking something for himself from the menu of a vegetarian restaurant (he picked something healthy out of habit, but Nie Huaisang frowned at that and added a coke and fries, for which Lan Xichen was ridiculously grateful).

“I would think that using you to cheat on his long term girlfriend is hard to beat,” Nie Huaisang replied while paying for the order. “But okay, tell me the worst part.”

“He said I shouldn’t be so emotional about it, because I wasn’t really in love with him anyway,” Lan Xichen whispered. “He said I just thought I was in love because I’d never been in a relationship before, but that it was clear to anyone with eyes that I didn’t actually love him. He said that he didn’t hold it against me because he just doesn’t believe I’m even capable of being in love, that I’m just… not made for it.”

Struck again by the cruelty of that statement, Lan Xichen barely noticed Nie Huaisang going very still for a second.

“That’s a pretty messed up assumption to make of someone” Nie Huaisang said, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. “No shame in being aromantic, of course. But you were there when Jiang Cheng came out last year and did that whole powerpoint presentation about it so we’d get it right…”

Lan Xichen nodded. It had been a very thorough explanation, because Jiang Cheng had wanted to ensure everyone in their friend circle was properly informed, in case it awakened something in them.

“Yeah, if you were aro, I’m pretty sure you’re smart enough you’d have figured it out after that,” Nie Huaisang concluded. “Unless… I mean, if you’re questioning or something…”

“I’m not aromantic,” Lan Xichen said. “I really am in love with him. I really thought he’d move on from this job when he had enough experience to go somewhere better, and we’d start living together. I was just being patient and respectful, but he said the fact I didn’t push him to come out was proof I didn’t love him.”

“Bullshit!” Nie Huaisang retorted. “You used to work at that association for queer kids who got kicked out by their families! Of course you’re not going to force someone to come out before they’re ready! You know how that can end! And anyway, you’re too nice to pressure someone like that!”

“I am too nice, actually,” Lan Xichen whispered. “He said I’m so nice to everyone that it made him feel like he wasn’t anything special to me. That he’d assumed I just liked his company and having sex with him, nothing more. I… I don’t know, maybe he’s right. Maybe I didn’t show it enough… It’s all well and good to be in love with him, but clearly… clearly he didn’t understand how much… what he meant to me… how much I need him in my life…”

Much to his embarrassment, Lan Xichen found himself crying again. He’d always tried to be measured in the expression of his feelings, terrified by certain family secrets he’d discovered when he was a teenager. He hadn’t wanted to become like his father, obsessed at thirty with a fifteen years old girl whom he’d managed to marry before she’d turned sixteen, back when such things were still legal, never seeming to care that she was miserable as long as she was his. And then there had been Lan Xichen’s grandfather, whose wife had tried to leave him several times without success because he always found ways to get her back. And a great-uncle who’d killed himself when his boyfriend had gotten married to a woman… and more probably, but even just those three had been enough to scare Lan Xichen and convince him he should never be too excessive with his sentiments, that he should be careful to respect people’s boundaries.

“You know, considering he’s a cheating asshole and a liar,” Nie Huaisang said, patting Lan Xichen’s shoulder, “maybe you shouldn’t put too much stock into his analysis of you.”

“Ah… that’s what I told you back then, isn’t it?”

Nie Huaisang grinned. “Yeah, it’s pretty awful to hear your own words thrown back at you, eh? But you helped me back when my shitty ex dumped me, so it’s only fair I try to help you too. So I’m going to give you the full treatment you gave me back then, alright? Now, the food’s almost there. Open netflix and pick something either really stupid or really cheesy to watch while we eat, and then you can go back to bitching.”

With anyone else, Lan Xichen might have objected to the term ‘bitching’, because it implied conscious effort to be negative while talking about a person, whereas he merely needed to honestly discuss the frankly terrible things Meng Yao had told him. But Nie Huaisang had never liked Meng Yao from the first moment Lan Xichen had introduced them, though he’d always been perfectly polite to his face, and Lan Xichen only knew about that dislike because Nie Mingjue had mentioned it. Perhaps Nie Huaisang could be excused for finding some joy in being proven right about someone he’d previously despised for no clear reason. So Lan Xichen let it slide, and went in search of something to watch.

Regrettably, the movie turned out to be neither cheesy enough to provide distraction, nor terrible enough to make them laugh. Before they were done eating, Lan Xichen found himself despondently playing with the straw of the vegan milkshake Nie Huaisang had discreetly added to the order for him (vanilla and almond milk, his favourite), pondering if he could have done more to save his relationship, if perhaps there really was something wrong with him, if he was meant to stay single with nothing more than hookups or toys to help with his more carnal urges.

“Is that what he told you?” Nie Huaisang shouted, not caring that it was getting late and the walls of his brother’s flat were not particularly thick. “He told you that you should stop dating? Seriously?”

“No! He didn’t… he hasn’t… not in these exact words, I’m making it sound worse, I assure you,” Lan Xichen meekly protested. “But he did imply that I might want to reflect on whether or not I am suited for romantic relationships. I had explained a few things about my family, you see. He mentioned that, and said that unless I was willing to start therapy, which he assumed would take many years to be effective, it would probably be kinder if I did not date people. He said I was lucky he was not in a position to get attached, but that someone else might have been truly hurt by my behaviour.”

“Bullshit.”

“Maybe he’s right. I do carry a lot of baggage.”

“Gege, you need to absolutely get a new boyfriend, like, right now!” Nie Huaisang protested. “Otherwise that asshole will think he’s won! I can’t believe he dared to… seriously, give me your phone, I’m installing every dating app for you. You are not staying single!”

Lan Xichen hid his phone behind his back. It needed a code to unlock of course, but somehow Nie Huaisang knew that code. He always knew how to unlock everyone’s phone, no matter how hard they tried to hide from him… and Lan Xichen had never even bothered to hide, because he’d never thought his phone contained anything of interest to Nie Huaisang.

“I was dumped not half a day ago,” Lan Xichen pointed out, quite reasonably. “I don’t want to start something new right now. I’m not in the right headspace for it… I’m still in love with him. It would be unfair to…”

“Okay, then you need to fake date someone,” Nie Huaisang countered, climbing over Lan Xichen’s lap to try and reach his phone. “You’ve got to… you can’t let him win! That little bitch said awful things to you, do you really want to let him think that you think he’s right? Really?”

“Huaisang, I can’t just…”

“I’ll do it! I’ll fake date you! That’ll piss him off more than anything, and if we keep it up for a little while it proves to him that you can do relationships! And when you’re ready to actually date someone for real, we’ll just break up and you can go on with your life!”

To Lan Xichen’s mild shame, the idea was not without appeal. If Nie Huaisang harboured an unexplained dislike of Meng Yao, then Meng Yao had long made it clear to Lan Xichen that he thought people like Nie Huaisang were the reason why gay people were so disrespected by society. Nie Huaisang, with his long hair, his colourful outfits, and his strings of one night stands, could not have contrasted more with Meng Yao’s desperate hunger for respectability. There had been times when Meng Yao had almost won Lan Xichen over to his side… but ultimately Nie Huaisang’s way of life didn’t hurt anyone, while Meng Yao had just broken Lan Xichen’s heart because he’d rather fit in than be true to himself.

It would definitely be a terrible blow to Meng Yao’s ego to think that he had been easily replaced, especially if replaced by someone he’d always been critical of.

Of course it would be very petty to want to hurt Meng Yao’s pride, and Lan Xichen had been raised to be the bigger person in conflicts, to learn his lessons and move on… but right then, with a lukewarm milkshake in his hand and a bleeding heart in his chest, pettiness did sound like a particularly tempting option.

“Come on gege, it’ll be fun!” Nie Huaisang insisted, still sprawled over Lan Xichen’s lap, but having thankfully given up on stealing his phone for the moment. “We’ll go on fun dates! There’s a bunch of cool exhibits coming up this season, and we’ll go to nice restaurants and show off our food on instagram! And it’ll be so much fun tricking everyone! I already know where I’ll take you for the first date. There’s that cool little vegan restaurant near Jiang Cheng’s work, if we go there at the right time he’ll definitely probably spot us and that means before the day’s over everyone will know we’re dating. Foolproof plan!”

“You really want to do that, uh?” Lan Xichen asked.

“I won’t force you, but I do think it’d be fun,” Nie Huaisang replied, and Lan Xichen knew him enough to guess he wouldn’t drop the idea now that he’d had it, not unless Lan Xichen avoided him for a few weeks and blocked his phone number and all his social media accounts… and even that might not be enough, not when Nie Huaisang finally had a chance to openly turn against Meng Yao.

It might be easier to give in. It usually was, when Nie Huaisang had decided he wanted something.

“I’ll think about it,” Lan Xichen sighed. “But we’d only do it if Da-ge agreed that it’s a good idea. Now let’s talk about something else. Can you pick another movie for us?”

Nie Huaisang grinned triumphantly, and promptly started browsing for something to watch. He didn’t mention his fake dating idea again for the rest of the night, but he must have texted his brother about it. Before Nie Mingjue even finished his shift, Lan Xichen got a text from him saying that he was fine with anything that might annoy Meng Yao, as long as nobody involved got hurt.

Lan Xichen’s fate was sealed.

[admirableadmiranda]

Tell you the truth, I'm a noob on Twitter. Literally just use it to login on other websites. So, what's going on with Twitter JC stans coming on here following the Twitter migration? Or actually, I really don't know about this side of fandom, and thus want to ask u this, "does JC thing really that hot on Twitter?" Enough to influence mdzs fandom as a whole? I know that part on old fanfics on ao3 accompanied by oblivious and reckless WWX thing and put JC as the straight guy dude who clean up the mess (strayed 1001 miles away from canon) , but since like 2020 or so, people start to wake up from fanon. So, does Twitter really hasn't been cleared up yet? And are still deep in daydreaming?

Well I am also a total twitter noob as in I deleted my old twitter account when I got into MDZS fandom because I knew that was going to eat my brain alive if I had access to that.

As for what's going on, back in earlier 2021, JC stans also had a pretty big run of Tumblr and were very shitty to people who posted anything that didn't fit with their version of the character without some tag like anti jiang cheng or whatever else people were using at the time. Sometimes you didn't even have to do that, people would still come at you even for using those tags and bash you, or if you wrote him in a fanfic as anything less than the saddest best brother, you'd get angry comments about him being ooc. This lasted until a group of people which included me started pushing back really hard against that narrative and when the dust settled, canon jiang cheng existed as a tag that we used for talking about him in his more canonical book and show actions, they could still use jiang cheng for whatever and the worst of the JC stans fled to Twitter because there were too many of us and we were too stubborn to let them push us out.

Fast forwards to Elon Musk's whole Twitter debacle and a lot of the content creators, especially the ones who make money off of JC art want to get off the ship before it sinks. But the problem is that we're all still here and we're all still talking about the same things we were a year ago and using the same tags and they don't like that because it's harder to have the narrative about good brother JC who suffers having such a terrible brother as WWX and is shipped with all the men in the story because he's somehow no longer a homophobe. So they're pushing extra hard because they literally made money off of the purple fanon and it's a lot harder to do that when there are people who you can't shut up who will respond to fanon asks or posts with what actually happens in the book. So they're trying (and failing) to push us to a tag that doesn't fit so that it doesn't ruin their storytelling with actual book events and a character that literally does not exist in MDZS.

It's less that JC is the hot commodity on Twitter and more that his most obnoxious fans went there since it was easier to ignore us there and now they want to come back and don't like that we're all still here enjoying canon jiang cheng. It's a bunch of loud, whiny babies. All of them easily blocked and ignored.

[truly-morgan]

[Camboy!JC, blackmail (nsfw-ish)]

XiCheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 24-07-2021

[#xicheng modern + su she blackmailer]

What if jc and lxc met when jc quit the jiang corporate and ended up at the lan co. On a temporary contract? And they fell in love as they worked alongside one another. Now isn't working for either, lxc is more than happy to provide for him (which is something that took a while for jc to do, but he enjoys being a "housewife").

Ss never liked jc and was always scared he would steal his job. He couldn't get along and jc was also not easy to Manipulate into doing what he wants him to do. Plus he doesn't believe him to be a good match for lxc.

He still comes to the company to help sometime and it does annoy ss. Then one day a pop-up directed him to a cam website. He was about to click off, only to realise who was on his screen.

Jiang cheng!!!

He watch a bit more as jc was doing lewd thing. Did lxc know!?

Worst, he even saw an unknown man enter the frame, face outside of view, coming to let jc hungrily suck him (and the chat was goi g wild at this, letting him know it was not the first time it happened).

He then realised he had the best munition to finally get rid of jc. He was a /camboy/ and a /cheater/. How could the righteous lan xichen accept this? The next day ss got up to lxc to talk about it. "I found something that might interest you on a cam website," ss said.

"I didn't know you were to those" lxc said with a small smile, "But I am fine, I can enjoy a-cheng all I want".

ss wanted to roll his eyes at this, shaking his head instead. "No! Not like that! A-a friend of mine used my PC and I accidentally clicked the history link".

lxc hummed slightly, his smile clearly saying "sure..."

"Anyway that's not the important part," ss said frustrated, "I... I found jiang wanyin on said site!"

lxc looked a bit surprised, before frowning a bit. "Are you sure? this is a big claim to make" he said.

"I am sure" he nodded.

lxc looked pensive for a moment, before simply nodding. "I supposed I can ask a-cheng about it tonight".

ss kept his sigh in, he had hoped the man would be a bit angrier, but he supposed it was not that surprising either. The next day, when they were in lxc office, he was internally waiting for something. his boss didn't look that different from usual, wondering what had happened the previous night.

"You might have seen wrong" lxc finally said when he gave him back some paper he just signed. ss was a bit taken aback, unsure how to respond. "Are you sure, I was pretty certain it was him" he said.

lxc frowned at this, "He assured me it was not true and I even checked our computer for hints of it, nothing" he replied.

"But am sure it was him! and with a man!!" he retorted.

"Su she!" lxc said, voice a warning in a slightly louder than usual. "Unless you have proof of it I would rather you not keep adding on this matter".

ss knew better than to argue back again, keeping in his complaint. he instead sighed silently, his eyes landing on the new watch his boss was wearing.

a good distraction.

"Nice watch" he smiled, "I don't think I've ever seen you wearing it".

This did seem to make lxc look less annoyed, smiling a bit instead. "It is" he said while looking down at the watch, "My friends gave it to me for my birthday, they made it custom to match the lan family symbol".

"Very interesting gift" ss smiled before excusing himself to go back to work.

He would find a way to convince his boss that his boyfriend was lying to him! That night ss went home with the will to show him he was saying the truth!! He looked up when jc would be live, waiting two days for him to finally do so.

He was taking proof of it, even better when a second someone finally came in. Then something caught his attention.

something on the person's wrist... the more he looked as the man was putting a light blue collar on jc, the more he realised with disbelief that he knew why it looked similar: It was his boss's watch?!?!?

He couldn't believe it, yet another thing entered the frame as the man seemingly came back with something else. a white tie with purple clouds pattern on it.

("This is my favourite tie, a-cheng gave it to me" lxc explained once when a colleague asked about it).

"Oooh I see sir wants to play a bit more tonight~~" jc said as the chat was going wild over this "sir", making requests on things he could do to jc. A low chuckle that sounded familiar was all that it took to make ss finally back out, closing his computer.

He wished he had not found out about all this.

little did he know jc discovered he has an exhibitionist kink although lxc was not too kin on doing so himself (being CEO and all). Jc found another way that lxc is more than happy to support, anything to make his husband happy

Original