#there are probably a few other things to say about mxy and mo manor but... i cba to write anymore on this lol

[grewlikefancyflowers]

The role of homophobia in MDZS

Horribly long post under the cut.

First let’s talk about MXY - this is the first thing we are told regarding his sexuality - ‘Mo XuanYu was homosexual, and had enough nerve to harass the other disciples. The scandal was revealed to the public and, as he had few achievements in terms of cultivation, there were no reasons for him to stay in the clan.’ (Ch.2)

This all seems to suggest that MXY’s sexuality alone was not enough to expel him from the clan - it was that he made advances towards others, and that this information was made public. It is heavily suggested that if MXY had been talented or otherwise favoured, he may have been allowed to stay. In summary, aside from him being gay, there were at least three other factors against him for it to be enough to warrant his expulsion from the Jin Sect, and most relevantly, there were conditions under which he would have ‘gotten away’ with it.

WWX also says to LWJ in Chapter 47, ‘If it was as simple as harassing someone from the same sect, he [MXY] would’ve gotten away with a few scoldings. It wouldn’t have been enough for him to be kicked out.’

And again we see on Dafan Mountain - ‘Mo XuanYu was the LanlingJin Sect’s… Ahem, he used to be a foreign disciple of the Jin Sect. But, because his spiritual powers were low and he didn’t work hard in his studies, and also had that… He harassed a peer and was thrown out of the LanlingJin Sect’ (Ch.10)

His low cultivation skills are brought up first as the reasoning for his expulsion, and it is not said that he was kicked out solely for being gay, but rather that he harassed other disciples. The unnamed person who is speaking here does seem to be uncomfortable directly talking about MXY’s sexuality. But overall, that (and everything else about MXY) is treated as interesting gossip, rather than anything worthy of true condemnation. Compare it to how they reacted to the appearance of WN, who they were ready to kill, and then turned their attention to WWX for summoning him. Being a demonic cultivator is a worse crime than being gay in MDZS, confirmed. Actually, aside from that one guy above, no one has anything to say about MXY’s sexuality at all - they’re more interested in criticising his flute skills, and they have far more of a reaction to LWJ and JC’s dual than the mention of MXY being a cut-sleeve. Overall here, while MXY’s sexuality is regarded as somewhat scandalous, people seem to find it the least interesting thing to happen on that mountain that night, and the only person we see having any particularly negative reaction is JC.

JC is a character we know to be homophobic, expressing this repeatedly throughout the novel - his immediate reaction to hearing about MXY is - ‘Jiang Cheng’s eyebrows twitched. His eyes which stared at Wei WuXian seemed more disgusted than before.’ (Ch.10) We also see him being homophobic about LWJ specifically in chapter 24 - ‘Jiang Cheng smiled menacingly, “It really is quite curious how far he went to protect you, back on Dafan Mountain.” A moment later, he corrected himself, “No. You weren’t necessarily the one whom Lan WangJi was protecting. [...] Maybe he’s familiar with this body that you stole instead.” His words were cruel and sinister. Every sentence seemed well-meaning on the surface, but was actually derogatory.’

We also know that JC during that confrontation on Dafan Mountain was not willing to let ‘MXY’ go - he was already past the point of holding back due to social decorum (having already fought LWJ), there is little he wouldn’t do to to get his hands on WWX - If MDZS society was that homophobic, then JC could easily use that against LWJ in that moment by publicly questioning why he is going so far to defend an openly gay man who has just declared his attraction to him, even going as far as to take him home. JC doesn’t do this, though he has no problem expressing that exact sentiment in private. Clearly, sexuality is not something that can be effectively weaponised like that.

Similarly, at the discussion conference WX attend, JC makes a few underhanded remarks about LWJ and WWX - ‘After a few words of small talk, Jiang Cheng asked, “HanGuang-Jun, I’ve never seen you at Carp Tower’s Discussion Conferences before. Why have you gained the sudden interest?” Neither Lan XiChen nor Lan WangJi replied. Luckily, Jiang Cheng didn’t intend for this to be a serious question in the first place. He had already turned to Wei WuXian, speaking as though he’d spit out a sword and impale the latter anytime he wished to, “If I remember correctly, wasn’t it that you two never took needless personnel with you when travelling out? What’s the situation this time? Once in a blue moon? Now who is this renowned cultivator? Could someone please introduce him to me?” (Ch.47). We can clearly see that he is trying to provoke a reaction from them, with the implicit threat that he knows WWX's real identity. Once again, if JC thought he could use any implication about LWJ’s sexuality or his relationship to ‘MXY’ against them here, he would, he does so later in the ancestral hall, in private.

Additionally, JC's unwillingness to say such things publicly, that he does not hesitate to say in private, seems to indicate that doing so would not actually be that well received.

Another point on Koi Tower, both LWJ and WWX know of MXY’s reputation, and the assumptions people might conclude about LWJ attending with a known gay man, neither of them at any point express any concern over how that would come across. WX are also given one room with one bed to stay in (as described in Ch.47), neither of them express any concern that it seems to have been assumed they are a couple, they not concerned over any backlash from this, nor do they receive any.

Also in chapter 47, Wei Wuxian does have this to say about how he might be perceived at Koi Tower - ‘More than half of the Lanlingjin Sect’s disciples had strange expressions on their faces when they looked at him. He had temporarily forgotten that this was Carp Tower, where Mo XuanYu harassed somebody from his own sect and was kicked out. Who would’ve expected that he’d return with such conspicuity, as if he knew no shame. He even slipped into a highranked seat along with the Two Jades of Lan…’ [...] “Wei WuXian, “Please don’t leave me. There’s probably a lot of people here who know about Mo XuanYu. If somebody decides that they want to talk about the good ol’ days with me, I’ll have to keep on playing the fool and spouting nonsense. Please don’t mind if I end up losing your face.”’

While WWX does express concern specifically over the fact that MXY had harassed someone, rather than just that he was a cut-sleeve, it is sort of hard to separate the two in this instance. However, WWX does say he’d have to ‘play the fool and spout nonsense’ - seeming to indicate that this is more about MXY’s general behaviour, rather than his sexuality specifically. Regardless, the most important point here is that WWX says to LWJ ‘please don’t leave me’ - suggesting that, while in the presence of Hanguang Jun, WWX would be safe from any backlash resulting from MXY’s reputation.

Shortly after, WWX says this ‘“The way that everyone at Carp Tower looks at me is so strange. Just what did Mo XuanYu do?”’ WWX clearly thinks that the reaction to MXY here is far greater than what he did should provoke. This once again suggests that queerness isn’t really regarded as that offensive within MDZS. WWX is actually so curious about what MXY could have done, that he leaves LWJ with the excuse of going to find out, seeking out JL.

Then we have this interaction with JL’s bullies -

‘‘Jin Chan, “Mess around? What’s wrong with teaching a lesson to an indecent disciple of our sect?”

Jin Ling snorted, [...] Have you forgotten who he came with today? You want to teach him a lesson? Why don’t you ask HanGuang-Jun first?”

Hearing the name “HanGuang-Jun”, the boys all seemed nervous. Even if Lan WangJi wasn’t present, nobody dared to claim that they weren’t scared of HanGuang-Jun at all’

Jin Chan, “He shamelessly harassed LianFang-Zun, and you’re still talking in favor of him?”’

Once again, it seems that LWJ’s status protects ‘MXY’ from any real backlash, and we also see that the reason Jin Chan gives for wanting to ‘teach him a lesson’ and calling him ‘indecent’ is that he harassed JGY, not that he is a cut-sleeve. Although, once again, it is sort of hard to separate the two in this instance.

Also relevant, is that WWX says this to JL - ‘That’s right. I’ve fallen for someone else.” [...] “In the past, I couldn’t understand my own heart, but after I met HanGuang-Jun I’m certain.” He took in a deep breath, “I’m already incapable of leaving him. I don’t want anyone else aside from HanGuang-Jun…’ Later on, once WWX’s identity is revealed, he was terribly concerned about LWJ’s reputation being destroyed by fleeing with him, however he is not at all bothered that LWJ being seen as having a romantic relationship with him could affect his reputation. Being an associated of Yiling Laozu worse crime than being gay in MDZS, confirmed.

After having heard the full truth, WWX now concludes that the sole reason for MXY being kicked out, and the reaction to him, was harassing his half-brother - ‘“HanGuang-Jun, you’re here! Did you know? Mo XuanYu was kicked out of Carp Tower because he harassed Jin GuangYao. So that was why everyone looked at me so weirdly!”’ - furthermore suggesting that MXY’s sexuality itself really wasn’t all that scandalous, the other reasons given for his expulsion now coming across more as excuses to cover up the truth.

General reactions to WX/queerness

Sharing a bed

We are told in chapter 92 that WX typically share a bed, it’s only after hearing JC’s derogatory remarks about their relationship that WWX feels awkward about it, suggesting that while WX have been frequenting inns and sleeping in the same bed, no one has at any point expressed a negative or shocked reaction to them doing so. We also see the innkeeper from chapter 91 being completely unfazed - ‘“Young Masters, how many rooms would you like?” [...] The owner promptly answered herself, stating, “One room, right? One room is enough! My rooms here are comfy even for two people. The bed won’t feel cramped.”

When LWJ princess carries WWX in chapter 25

‘Aside from the front-desk worker who spat out a mouthful of water, the other bystanders didn’t act out of the ordinary.’’

Most people don’t react, and I’m not sure the worker’s reaction could definitively be called homophobic, we can’t be certain that they wouldn’t have the same reaction to LWJ carrying a woman like this. Considering societal standards of proper public behaviour, it seems the sight of LWJ carrying anyone like this would be shocking. (See WWX and JC’s reactions to Wen Chao’s PDA at the Wen indoctrination camp)

And we have NHS’s reaction…

‘After taking a closer look at the posture of the two men who entered the room, he gave a blank stare and barely completed his final sentence, “���. I really don’t know.” [...] Lan Wangji looked oblivious as he carried Wei Wuxian into the room and sat him down on a mat. Nie Huaisang looked as though he could not witness this any further, as he immediately opened up his fan and covered his face.

When looking at how NHS and the worker react to this, we should take into account why WWX was against it in the first place - ‘For a grown man to still need to be carried; that looks so bad.”’ Fyy’s, tmwx’s, exr’s, and the official translation, all used the word ‘grown man.’ that, along with the way this is phrased (across all translations) indicates that the reason WWX thinks this would look bad (or, ‘unsightly,’ in the official tl) is because of some notions of masculinity, and not at all to do with how people may perceive their sexuality.

So, we have plenty of indications that the reason for these reactions isn’t to do with any views or assumptions they make about WX’s relationship, and even if we assume that is the case, neither of them express anything resembling the disgust that JC expresses. It may also be the case that, since NHS should already know who WWX is at this point, that he has other reasons for hiding behind his fan.

Phoenix Mountain hunt

WWX throws a flower for LWJ along with the women, he does this in public no one is scandalised or offended by it, except for JC (known homophobe), who feels the need to apologise for WWX’s behaviour. Even when WWX says he did it because he ‘thinks LWJ looks nice,’ no one reacts, and he receives no backlash for this.

Jiang Sect

In the Lotus Seed Pod extra, WWX talks about how handsome LWJ is, saying he is even more attractive than himself, no one seems to regard this as weird.

Wen Ning

WN’s reaction after they have slept together - ‘Wen Ning noticed that his mood wasn’t as usual. He paused what he was doing, “Young Master, did something happen?”

He walked a few steps towards Wei WuXian before suddenly halting, and quickly backing away.

Wei WuXian hesitated in confusion, “What are you doing this time?” Wen Ning seemed as if he was scared, waving his hands, “No, no. Nothing!”

Wei WuXian could tell at first glance that he was feeling embarrassed. Unconsciously, he glanced at himself, and realized he had a few red fingerprints on his wrists, [...] He touched his lips. They were also still slightly swollen. [...] His neck was probably quite a scene as well.

If Wen Ning had any blood on his face, he would’ve been blushing so hard the bleed seeped out.’

WN is embarrassed (and, I think, embarrassed that he incidentally asked WWX about something private), but he’s not scandalised, shocked or disgusted. He’s already seen plenty of interactions between WX with romantic implications before (the kissing figures LWJ drew on the wall, LWJ tying WWX with the forehead ribbon, the boat in yunmeng, etc) - he is overall very unfazed by it.

Likewise, WWX isn’t at all concerned about WN noticing this, he doesn’t try to hide it, he moves on as if nothing is out of the ordinary.

Wen Qing, in chapter 75

‘She wanted to check on Wei WuXian’s injuries, but he got there before she could. She paused with surprise. Lan WangJi was almost embracing Wei WuXian as he held his hand and passed spiritual energy to him.’

Is hard to say what she is surprised by - that the normally uptight and stoic man is holding WWX like this, would her reaction be that different if WX were not the same gender? Either way, it's a pretty mild reaction, it’s certainly not a negative reaction. When WWX pretends to faint later on, and LWJ catches him and is similarly concerned, she has no reaction at all. Later on, when she asks WWX about LWJ, it seems that she suspects there is more to their relationship than WWX is letting on, like WN, she is unfazed by it.

Lan Jingyi

While he does exhibit some homophobic behaviour, unlike JC and JL, LJY has no immediate negative reaction to MXY's sexuality - he neither says or does anything throughout WWX’s whole initial performance to humiliate the Mo family. His first direct interaction with him in chapter 3 is - ‘“Go back, this is not somewhere you should be.” He was trying to chase Wei Wuxian out, but it was said with good intentions. The disciple’s tone was different from the disparaging tone used by the Mo Family servants.’ It’s pretty clear he harbours no real ill feelings towards him. When LJY gets annoyed at him for taking their flag, he calls him a lunatic, but he makes no remark about his sexuality. He doesn’t at any point during the rest of the Mo Manor arc, on Dafan Mountain, nor even outside CR, even when WWX says things like ‘with so many beautiful young men in your sect, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to control myself.”’

There is only one time in MDZS that LJY uses the phrase ‘damn cut-sleeve’ - ‘Lan JingYi seized him furiously, “You damn cut-sleeve! I-i-is he someone you could peek at?!”’ This is specifically in reaction to WWX spying on LWJ in the cold spring, it seems it was this offense against LWJ that angered him enough to actually make this remark towards WWX. It is clearly an impulsive reaction to WWX’s behaviour, LJY hadn’t expressed any negative attitude about his sexuality before this point. TBH, it comes across as if LJY is just repeating some insult that he’s heard before, rather than actually holding any deeply rooted prejudice about it. I’m not saying it's okay but I think it’s pretty dramatic to compare this at all to the homophobia that JC, and even JL, exhibit.

That being said, LJY is frequently rude to WWX throughout the beginning of the novel, though this always seems to be in reaction to WWX’s purposefully outrageous & offensive behaviour, its hard to say if he would have had the same reaction if WWX had just been like, a regular gay dude. LJY also insists that LWJ is not a cut-sleeve when WWX claims he slept with him - ‘“You’re so shameless and brazen! Hanguang Jun isn’t gay. He slept with you?!’ LJY seems to at least partially find this so hard to believe because he thinks that someone like LWJ wouldn’t want to sleep with someone like ‘MXY’ who behaves so improperly. When it becomes very clear that LWJ is in fact gay, LJY doesn’t have trouble accepting it.

Lan Sect

The reaction to WWX pulling off LWJ’s forehead ribbon at the Qishan archery competition - ‘Arm around his younger brother, Lan XiChen talked to the unspeaking Lan WangJi in a low voice. All of the others seemed similarly serious, as though they were facing a powerful enemy. They shook their heads as they spoke, glancing at Wei WuXian with odd, indescribable looks on their faces.

Wei WuXian only heard a few vague terms, such as “accident”, “calm down”, “no need to worry”, “a man”, “the sect rules”, and so on.’

Once again, it is hard to separate how much of this reaction is due to WWX being male, or how much of it is because it's regarded as indecent for anyone to touch the forehead ribbon. It’s also hard to say if we should assume the whole group was scandalised because WWX is a man, or if that ‘a man’ reflects the views of one person. Funny if all these people just know LWJ is gay and that’s why they’d find it more scandalous that he is a man.

Their reaction to ‘MXY’ - ‘Wei Wuxian had already sneakily crept up behind him, and gleefully exclaimed to himself in a loud voice, “Good good good, we can finally descend this mountain and elope!”

The crowd cringed from his words. The older disciples were especially horrified, but some of the younger disciples were somewhat used to this.’

Its not clear how much of their reaction is due to how outlandish WWX’s behaviour is, or if it is because he is a man, the reaction of ‘cringing’ seems to indicate the former rather than the latter. We should also consider how very easy it is to horrify Lan elders, with things like walking too fast or sitting improperly. LWJ appears unaffected by their reaction.

Other than that, we know that WX live happily married in the CR, and when LXC recounts the story of them finding LWJ post-nightless city, he doesn’t say anything to imply that they found it do be particularly shocking or bad that LWJ is in love with a man.

Jin Ling

I don’t think it is at all a coincidence that the two overtly homophobic characters we see in MDZS are related, he not only repeatedly calls WWX a ‘damn cut-sleeve,’ he also refers to it as an ‘incurable disease’, but he does get over it soon enough. Interestingly, he seems to lose all homophobic sentiments towards WWX once he founds out his true identity. This is relevant due to what WWX speculates - ‘The reason he [JL] was disgusted at Mo XuanYu was not only that he was a cut-sleeve, but likely also that the one Mo XuanYu harassed was his own uncle.’ This also makes sense considering JL’s insistence that ‘MXY’ stay away from members of his sect specifically. So, even one of the characters that we see being homophobic the most in MDZS, has other reasons contributing to his attitude.

Some more points, while we see WWX being cautious to publicly use modao, he is not at all afraid of receiving backlash for his 'lunatic cut-sleeve MXY' performance, indicating that it's not something WWX considers likely to happen, or a real threat. Wangxian do also not go to any particular lengths to hide their relationship, flirting with each other in public in chapter 112 & in the Dream Come True extra. They even kiss in the restaurant, although they do hide what they are doing, this can easily be attributed to taboos against pda (again, see the reaction to WC & WLJ in the Wen indoctrination camp).

That being said, while it is pretty clear looking at the evidence above that someone with LWJ's status and reputation could never receive public backlash for such a thing, others without the social protections that high status affords easily could. The obvious example being MXY, who was abused by his family. Additionally, it is his association with LWJ that makes the Jin disciples fearful to attack him during the discussion conference. If LWJ was not someone of high status who did things like carry WWX in Qinghe and make no real effort to hide his sexuality, would people let it slide so easily? Possibly not - we see repeatedly throughout the novel that LWJ can get away with things that would otherwise be regarded as scandalous. Even so, looking at MXY's story in more detail, it is clear that even he wasn't actually treated with condemnation purely for his sexuality.

So, overall, while queerness is not the norm in MDZS, it is clearly not regarded as a strong social taboo either - the reactions we see are varied but more often than not, characters don't seem to find it all that unusual. Reactions such as JC's are presented as outliers.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: Wei Wuxian has achieved time travel! He's gonna fix so many broken things. Unfortunately, WWX has miscalculated a teensy tiny variable and instead of arriving in his original 15yo body in Lotus Pier, he's crash landed in MXY's tiny 7~8yo body at Mo Manor. But no problem, he can fix this if he can just find his real body. (Meanwhile, Yunmeng Jiang's head disciple is acting the wrong kind of childish, aka, Mo Xuanyu is having the weirdest day of his young life.)

Switcheroo - ao3

Mo Xuanyu thought that this Wei Wuxian person whose body he’d stolen must have been a really interesting person, mostly because he’d been here for three days so far and nobody’d noticed the switch yet.

Possibly it had to do with the fact that Mo Xuanyu still wasn’t exactly sure how he’d stolen the body – he’d just gone to sleep in the shed, same as always, and then he’d woken up in the softest bed he’d ever encountered in his life…no, softer than even his dreams! He’d thought it over and concluded that he must have died from cold out in the shed, turned into a fierce ghost out of resentment, grown powerful (somehow), then stolen some rich young master’s body when they weren’t paying close enough attention and, once he’d possessed the body, promptly lost all his memory of being a ghost.

It seemed like the only logical course of events.

He was very sorry about it, though. Wei Wuxian seemed like a nice, if very unusual person.

The first day, Mo Xuanyu had barely even noticed the body-switch, being quite so enamored of the soft bed he was in – he’d refused to get out of bed at all, declaring that he was going to lie in and sleep for a century or more, and the people who’d come to the door to get him didn’t beat him or anything over it, but rather just laughed or rolled their eyes and then left him to it. Luckily, at the time, he’d just assumed he was dead or something and proceeded to ignore everything in favor of napping.

He only acknowledged that he was alive later in the afternoon, when his stomach started growling – it seemed like a very unlikely thing for a dead man’s stomach to do.

Mo Xuanyu had by that point figured out that he wasn’t himself anymore, which was fine since he didn’t much like himself; he’d also figured out, through looking himself over, that he was old now. At least fifteen or sixteen, which was twice the age he last remembered himself being. That was fine, too, though: being older meant that he was stronger and faster and would be better able to handle it when people wanted to beat him or something. Most importantly, though, it meant he was old enough to enter the kitchen on his own!

Mo Xuanyu already knew that he wasn’t allowed to eat at the main table, being only the bastard son of the younger daughter, and the cook back at home was a fierce woman who didn’t allow anyone under the age of ten into her kitchen; as a result, he had to wait for his mother to bring him back some food, and it was always cold and not quite enough. Now, though, since he was older, he figured he might as well try to go to the kitchen and fill his belly that way.

Luckily, while his current body’s house was much bigger than the Mo house, all houses were generally built along the same lines, so it wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. Everyone there laughed when he showed up, even though he’d tried to be very quiet and sneak in and then screwed it up by tripping over his own feet – it seemed like everyone thought he was doing it on purpose to be funny – and then the cooks gave him a meal of his own that was hot and fresh and wonderful.

He'd wolfed it down.

“Honestly, Wei Wuxian, you eat like a hungry ghost, you’d think the Jiang clan starves you,” one of them scolded him, but with a smile, and from that Mo Xuanyu learned that the rich young master was called Wei Wuxian and that he lived with the Jiang clan. The different surnames confused him a little, but he didn’t dare ask any questions about it, so he just stuffed his mouth and pretended that was the reason he couldn’t answer.

No one questioned it.

No one questioned it when he went wandering all around instead of doing whatever chores or duties he’d been assigned, either. Someone had actually seen him hovering by a door and asked him to bring back a pheasant when he returned, so out of lack of better options he’d headed outside to try to go find one.

He had a pretty good time walking around the forest, then remembered what he’d been asked and chased the pheasants for a while, without success . Fortunately, he then got lucky and stumbled over an old snare that had three pheasants caught inside, so he’d picked up the whole box and carted it back home.

“Three,” one of the boys in purple-blue marveled as he saw Mo Xuanyu walking towards the kitchen. “You know, people say that the birds around the Lotus Pier have gotten too smart to be caught easily, but look at our da-shixiong; he makes it look easy!”

From this, Mo Xuanyu could figure out that Wei Wuxian was (apparently!) part of a cultivator clan, apparently located at a place called the Lotus Pier, and that he was the oldest or at least head disciple, to boot. He knew all about cultivator clans from his mother, since apparently his father had been a sect leader, and that meant he knew enough to call the other boy ‘shidi’ as he passed, making the other boy beam happily.

It also meant that when he chanced a guess and called the young woman in a pretty pink dress who waved at him ‘shijie’, she smiled and nodded, which meant to him that he’d done the right thing.

“I heard you slept even more of the morning away than usual,” she told him, but didn’t seem too upset about it. “I bet that means you’ll be skipping dinner and staying up all night, hmm?”

Mo Xuanyu had no intention of skipping dinner if it was anything like what the kitchens had given him earlier, actually, but while he was still trying to figure out a way to say that, she said, leaning in close to whisper, “It’s probably a good idea, anyway – Mother and Father are fighting again. Just go to the kitchens to grab something…I promise I’ll make it up to you with some soup tomorrow, pork ribs and lotus roots, your favorite. All right?”

“Shijie, you’re the best,” Mo Xuanyu said effusively, willing to die for her at once, and she laughed and tousled his hair.

“I am,” she said, looking happy. “And if my little A-Xian stays good and obedient, I may even feed him.”

She did, too, the next day when he finally tore himself out of the beautiful wonderful soft bed and went to go find her. She’d made him soup, just as he’d promised, and laughed and laughed for some reason: apparently, she interpreted him being quiet and not talking too much as his efforts to be ‘good and obedient’, which was apparently so out of the ordinary as to be a deliberate joke.

From this, Mo Xuanyu concluded that the young master he’d possessed, Wei Wuxian, was a jackass.

Well, perhaps that was a bit harsh. Arrogant and self-centered, talented and brave and probably brilliant, definitely charming and maybe even kind, but also spoiled and inclined to step on other people to get where he wanted to go, if Mo Xuanyu had to guess – why else would everyone constantly react as if him not being obnoxious was the world’s biggest stunt?

No one seemed to expect anything of him at all: he didn’t do any chores, and no one batted an eyelid; he didn’t go where he was told, and everyone just sighed…at one point the sect leader himself came and patted him on the head, scolding him in a joking tone that he hadn’t seen him leading any of the training the way he was supposed to – but when Mo Xuanyu quailed, he’d burst out laughing, telling ‘Wei Wuxian’ to stop pretending to be a scared little rabbit, that it was fine if he’d gotten distracted by some clever new invention or whatever, that someone else would handle it, that he should take as long as he needed.

Mo Xuanyu had pasted a great big smile on his face through force of effort and agreed cheerfully.

The sect leader had accepted it.

Probably a jackass, but clearly a beloved one, Mo Xuanyu thought to himself as he packed up clothing and a few small treasures that no one would miss, a little wistful. The scare of the whole encounter had put things in perspective – he wasn’t going to be able to keep up this sort of façade for long. In fact, he was shocked he’d managed it so long already; surely, no matter how many pranks this Wei Wuxian played, no matter how childishly he behaved, surely someone should’ve noticed that he was actually an eight-year-old masquerading as a sixteen-year-old?

Mo Xuanyu couldn’t decide whether it was sad that no one paid too much attention or something that this Wei Wuxian fellow had brought down on his own head by being so consistently annoying.

Either way, there was nothing for it – he was going to have to leave.

Now that part was really sad: he’d never in his life had such good food, or such a soft bed, or even so many people that just seemed plain old happy to see him as since he’d arrived in this place. But he wasn’t the one all those things were for; he was just a sad ghost possessing a person, and if he stayed, the cultivators would eventually figure out something was wrong and exorcise him.

Probably violently.

Mo Xuanyu probably deserved it, too, but despite that he wasn’t willing.

So he packed up what he could and headed out.

He got all the way to the gate before a new purple-clad disciple – about his age, if he had to guess, and holding a pack like he’d just come back from a trip, with a scowl on his face – called out for Wei Wuxian.

Mo Xuanyu waved a little, hoping that that would be enough.

For the first time, it wasn’t.

The boy’s face settled into an even deeper scowl.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “Wei Wuxian! You’re acting all weird – hey! Where are you going?”

Mo Xuanyu was running away, obviously. He wasn’t about to get tied up and exorcised, no thank you.

He didn’t think he’d make it, but it was still worth trying.

Sure enough, the purple-clad boy who was probably called Jiang Cheng, based on what everyone was calling out as they ran by, got tired of running and jumped on his sword, and there was no way Mo Xuanyu would be able to outrun a sword, not even if he tried as fast as he –

Someone picked him up.

It wasn’t Jiang Cheng.

Mo Xuanyu turned his head and stared.

It must be some sort of yao, he thought. Humans were definitely not that pretty.

“Lan Wangji!” Jiang Cheng howled. “What are you even doing in the Lotus Pier?! Put my shixiong down!”

The rescuer, Lan Wangji, frowned a little at Mo Xuanyu.

Mo Xuanyu didn’t know exactly what expression he ought to be making in return, and was a bit too dazed to even dare to guess. He’d just noticed that they were flying – flying! on a sword! – and he was clutching onto this Lan Wangji’s shoulders for dear life.

“You are not Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. His voice sounded very definitive.

“Uh,” Mo Xuanyu said. “Sorry? Please don’t drop me.”

“I will not. What is your name?”

“Mo Xuanyu,” Mo Xuanyu admitted, and Lan Wangji’s eyes widened as if that meant something to him – except it couldn’t, of course, because Mo Xuanyu was sure he’d never met anyone even remotely like this Lan Wangji fellow in his life. “I don’t remember taking his body. I’m sorry. Can you not exorcise me? I don’t want to die.”

Lan Wangji was silent for a long moment.

He was still flying very fast, and Jiang Cheng was still following, shouting out curses and demands that he stop, not that Lan Wangji was listening.

“There will be no exorcism,” he finally said, and Mo Xuanyu exhaled in relief. “We will, however, fix this.”

“…we?”

“Wei Ying and myself.”

Mo Xuanyu nodded. That sounded more likely than anyone relying on his participation.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Jiang Cheng was falling further and further behind.

“Mo Village.”

Mo Xuanyu tensed up at once.

“You will not be left there,” Lan Wangji clarified, and – how did he know that Mo Xuanyu didn’t want to be left there? “But we must collect Wei Ying, who I suspect is currently in your body.”

“In my…I’m still alive?”

Lan Wangji was quiet again, and then said, “Yes. And you will remain so.”

That was reassuring, mostly.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and found that he mostly felt relieved. He’d be very happy to have his normal body back again, if possible, especially if he didn’t have to stay in Mo Village…“Wait, if I don’t have to stay there, where will I go? I don’t have anywhere else to go, unless my father comes back for me. He's a sect leader –”

“He will not, and even if he did, you should not go with him. Once Wei Ying returns to his body, you will be able to stay at the Lotus Pier. If you do not wish to stay there, I will bring you back to the Cloud Recesses – that is my home – instead.”

“Oh,” Mo Xuanyu said, feeling bewildered. That was an awfully nice offer, even if Lan Wangji was feeling guilty about Wei Wuxian stealing his body by accident – which seemed like what had happened here rather than Mo Xuanyu being the one who did the stealing. Maybe he should go with Lan Wangji instead, he seemed much more responsible than Wei Wuxian was, rushing over to rescue him and explain things instead of throwing him into a body and leaving him all alone in a strange place. But on the other hand… “Is the Cloud Recesses…I mean…no offense, but…does it have…”

“Yes?”

“Does it have soft beds, too? And – and hot food?”

Mo Xuanyu didn’t need much, not really. He looked eagerly at Lan Wangji, who had an odd expression on his face briefly before wiping it back to neutral and nodding in confirmation.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and curled up in Lan Wangji’s arms. “Then I’ll stay with you. You can take care of me.”

“I will,” Lan Wangji said, sounding strangely serious. “In return for the gift you last gave me – I will.”