#wei wuxian & jin zixuan & mianmian

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

A new challenger approaches (slowly)

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[eastofakkala]

The Sunshot Generation as Babies/Toddlers

(And That One Story that was always told about them when they got older).

Wei Wuxian: Surprisingly, was a very good kid. There are shockingly few juicy stories. 

Lan Wangji: By contrast, he was an absolutely feral toddler who terrified EVERYONE. Lan Xichen was the only one who could settle him down. It got so bad that Wangji got to attend class with his brother, because discipline did not work. 

Jiang Cheng: Very cuddly baby/toddler. Was nearly kidnapped once or twice because he was offered cuddles. Developed his temper/paranoia/general prickliness later on. 

Jiang Yanli: Accidentally kidnapped Wen Chao once. She wanted to give him soup because he looked sad. He was one year old and could not properly explain he was supposed to stay in place. They were halfway to Lotus Pier when it was discovered that the Jiang delegation had accidentally taken Wen-gongzi hostage. 

Lan Xichen: Much better toddler than Wangji, but for a while refused to walk anywhere on his own. Surprisingly, the adult who gave in to his (very muted) temper tantrums most often was Lan Qiren. 

Nie Mingjue: At his 100-day ceremony, he cried every time Wen Ruohan got close. His father was very apologetic. His mother thought it was hysterical and had to duck into antechambers to laugh in private. 

Nie Huaisang: Normally too sick to do much, but bit Jin Guangshan one time at a delegation when he didn’t listen to the also-small Nie Mingjue’s warnings that Sang-er didn’t want to be held at the moment. Once again, his father was very apologetic. Mingjue was extremely proud of his didi. 

Wen Xu: Made the mistake of shoving Yanli at a discussion conference. She tried to tell him to stop, but he didn’t listen. After the third time, she gave in and shoved him back, knocking him off the pier and into the water. 

Wen Chao: Went through a period of time when his favorite adult was Wen Zhuliu, and he would throw a raging temper tantrum if anyone else handled him. This included servants, other sect leaders, his father and his mother. Neither he nor Wen Zhuliu were ever able to figure out why. 

Wen Qing: While she did not cry very often, she scowled so fiercely at everyone that her parents had an exorcism performed on her at one point for fear that she was being possessed by a very unfriendly spirit. Nope, she just had enough of everyone’s nonsense before her hundredth day. 

Wen Ning: Very nice baby. One time accidentally ripped the head off a doll and cried for hours until Wen Qing fixed it. She explained that he was giving it surgery. 

Jin Zixuan: Very quiet baby. Was routinely taken to healers to ensure he wasn’t sick. Nope, he was just boring. 

Meng Yao: Could climb before he could walk. Meng Shi learned this the hard way when she turned her back and found him on top of a table, clapping his hands and babbling excitedly at her. It was the only time she well and truly freaked out. 

Mianmian: Was left alone in her parents’ garden one afternoon. When they returned, it was to find that she’d somehow dug up five worms and declared herself the worm empress. Once her husband heard the story, he teased her with it for weeks. 

[mengyaos-defence-attorney]

MianMian leaving the cultivation world can be summarized as this

[uncorrectintamed]

MianMian: Hey, is anyone else d-

Wei Wuxian: Dead?

Nie Huaisang: Drained?

Jiang Cheng: Depressed?

Jin Zixuan: Deprived of sleep?

MianMian: ...done with your work? What is wrong with you people?

[mdzs-fics]

Mischief & Mayhem by Reverie (cl410)

Wei Wuxian as a Jin AU 16k words 6 chapters (WIP) [Must have an account with Archive of Our Own in order to read. An invitation is readily provided on the website.]

“Wei Wuxian, what do you have?” She asked, eyeing his sheepish expression, and then nearly choked when she saw the squirming, vaguely discontent raccoon he was clutching beneath the armpits like it was a stuffed toy.

He looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.”Can we keep it, Jīn-fūrén?”

Astonished, she could only blink at him, wondering how he didn’t have a single scratch on any visible skin. The raccoon appeared mostly bemused to find itself dangling from his arms; it peered around the garden with interest from its new vantage point and ignored the two newcomers.

Nothing and no one had ever rendered her speechless in all her years in Lanling. Until now, anyway. She stared at the hopeful boy and remarkably calm wild animal held in his arms, caught somewhere between incredulous horror and helpless laughter.

“No, you cannot keep the wild animal,” she managed. Wei Wuxian deflated.

“Ha! I told you so,” Jin Zixuan crowed, then backpedaled when the raccoon hissed at him.

“But Jīn-fūrén, he doesn’t have a home!” Wei Wuxian pleaded. “And it’s almost winter; he’ll be cold and hungry and all alone!”

Ah. She understood a little better, now. At her side, Jin Zixuan bit his lip and looked up at her with a worried expression.

She sighed. Caught a glimpse of the Laoling Qin delegation’s arrival and swiftly decided, “Find somewhere to keep it out of the way tonight. Tomorrow we can go to the forest outside the city and find a more permanent home for it.”

Wei Wuxian brightened, bouncing in place with excitement. “Thank you, Jīn-fūrén!” The raccoon swayed in Wei Wuxian’s arms as he scrambled back to Golden Carp Tower as though afraid she’d change her mind.

Mischief & Mayhem is a set of one-shots from Auther Reverie's 'Weaponized Chaos: The Jin Sect AU' series that began with Candy & Conspiracies, previously reviewed here. There are currently six chapters. Each is a self-contained vignette. The first, titled Animal City, makes me laugh outloud at each reading.

It is good to read tales in this fandom that are not steeped in typical canon angst once in a while. I like this world and the stories being told a lot. Since it's a set of one-shots, the current half-dozen is a satisfying read.

[raddestrose]

Oh my gosh they’re going to sacrifice this girl

[panther-os]

Okay, I'm still working on the spiky blackberry wife fic - it's almost 2k and about half-finished - but I also just started another wip with the placeholder title "wwx and yzy accidentally found the jzx protection squad feat. jgs/karma" and my brain is obsessed and distracted.

[i-like-plan-m]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Madam Jīn & Jīn Zǐxuān, Madam Jīn & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jīn Zǐxuān & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jīn Zǐxuān & Luó "Mián Mián" Qīngyáng, Luó "Mián Mián" Qīngyáng & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn Characters: Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jīn Zǐxuān, Luó "Mián Mián" Qīngyáng, Madam Jīn (Módào Zǔshī), Jīn Guāngshàn Additional Tags: Crack, Fluff and Humor, Jīn Sect Wèi Wúxiàn, Chaos Gremlin Wei Wuxian, the chaotic jin trio we could have had, Genius Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, BAMF Luó "Mián Mián" Qīngyáng, Found Family Series: Part 2 of Weaponized Chaos: The Jin Sect AU Summary:

Series of random oneshots from the Jin Sect Wei Wuxian AU

[lryghe]

MDZS thoughts; silence in MDZS

MDZS is, in truth, a beautiful novel, and the themes explored are incredible, but the one that’s been haunting me all week is the concept of silence. MDZS depicts silence in so many varying situations, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for worse.

(this post will contain literally every kind of spoiler btw) 

It starts, as most things do, with Nie Huaisang (at least this idea did). Nie Huaisang is the very definition, the epitome, the ultimate keeper of silence. From the day that his brother was murdered via qi deviation, and he was named Sect Leader Nie, Nie Huaisang has been silent. Not literally obviously, but it's still cool to think about. Rather than complete silence, Huaisang simply has an absence of anything important to say. He’s labelled the “headshaker” (which btw, is the coolest title in the entire series) for his lack of anything that isn’t an ‘I don’t know!”, and clearly is underestimated for this. He doesn’t practice the sabre (unheard of from a Nie), he enjoys art and exotic birds, and very clearly has an overreliance on his brothers’ sworn brothers. These are essentially they shields that keep away people from questioning this silence, the lack of anything fundamental to his authority, which is exactly what he needs to keep plotting Jin Guangyao’s downfall in the background. And, in reference to this, I think the biggest symbol of this uncharacteristic silence, is the use of his fan. It’s shown from the very first time he was introduced that he liked fans, that he always carries one with him, that he covers the lower half of his face with it whenever something happens, to hide his reaction, acting as a shield for him. This itself speaks of silence, Nie Huaisang having been playing the silent game far longer than anyone else in the series had, not through any actual silence, but the constant charades, the lies, the façade that stops anyone from factoring him as a threat. 

Though, if one wants to talk about silence in MDZS, you can't forget our resident Hanguang-Jun, whose only words seem to be ‘Wei Ying [angry]’, ‘Wei Ying [emotional]’, ‘Wei Ying [affectionate]’, and ‘Mn.’ In contrast to Nie Huaisang who always has so much to say but no substance to it, Lan Wangji is quite literally silent half the time, and his silence is so important. It’s a vital characterisation point, past the very obvious fact that it’s a funny bit that the love interest has the personality of a particularly bland rock. Younger Wangji’s silence speaks (ha!) of someone who has nothing left to say to the world, no one will hear him if he speaks, so he doesn’t. He doesn’t speak of his love for Wei Wuxian until it’s too late, doesn’t make wild accusations surrounding the Wens, doesn’t outright do much, but the silence speaks volumes (HA!). Lan Wangji’s later silence is borne of confidence, of action, of a man who knows his words hold weight, but prefers to take action in place of it. He doesn’t need to speak, he silently picks up a-Yuan to raise him, silently takes 33 lashes for attacking 33 elders, silently mourns Wei Wuxian, and silently continues on with life, knowing his place and how he contributes and doing it all with a myriad of ‘Wei Ying’[s] buried on his tongue. 

And on the topic of Wei Ying, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are the most hurtful depictions of silence (in my opinion) because they both come up with such genius ways to hurt each other through it. Wei Wuxian says nothing about the giving away his golden core to Jiang Cheng after he lost it, and nothing before he leaves to protect the Wen remnants. Jiang Cheng says nothing to defend his brother against the assorted sect leaders, nothing about sacrificing himself to protect his siblings after the Wens burnt down their home. Both of them prefer to simply act in the name of protecting the other, but this does them absolutely no favours. Neither of them speaks on their actions, because then they’d have to acknowledge that they weren’t thinking of the other’s reaction, or worse, admit they actually care about each other (a foreign concept apparently, though who can blame them with the home they were raised in). It’s so much easier to just hate (love) your brother if you stay silent and never bring up how much it truly hurt you to have that life stolen from you. 

Another truly interesting silence to explore is the women of MDZS in general. Because despite MXTX being a woman, all her female characters are tied down by silence, forcibly quiet through her omniscient hand writing them out of the narrative. Jiang Yanli was always the best example of this. An eldest (and only) daughter of a prominent sect, yet her words are only used to placate her brothers when they argue. She never speaks out of turn, never defends herself even when being attacked by someone she cares about, never has anything to say unless it’s to push her brothers into something, forever a piece of everyone else's backstories, but never having a part of her own. Wen Qing wasn’t an eldest daughter of a prominent sect, and she definitely had more to say than Yanli, but again, as a slave to the demands of the narrative, she resolves herself to knock Wei Wuxian out and silently walk to her demise. Mianmian was shaped to remain in quiet obedience to the Jīns' various schemes, and when she had enough, finally speaking out against the actions her sect took against Wei Wuxian, she was silenced, and her penance was to exile herself and start a life somewhere where she could not speak out. Silently, silently, silently, the eternal fate of the women of MDZS. 

I could go on for a million years about the silence in this novel, and its complex relationship with every character, with every dynamic, and with every scene, but I’m afraid I’ve rambled on too long about this. 

thank you to the lovely person who told me i can edit posts 🩷

Words: 1005 

Reading time: 5 mins 

[soph-skies]

all i’m saying that as a bisexual with self-proclaimed good taste the only characters i have any interest in are wwx and every single not-entirely-evil woman in this show

[sillygoofyqueer]

The Untamed review: episode three!!!

Nooo, the tavern has been fully booked, who did this to them 😔

PRETTY WOMEN

MIANMIAN!!!!!!!!

Checking them out, Wei Wuxian??

Of course it's the Jin clan, god, money-hungry bastards

Steal it. You know you want to.

Wei Wuxian, what are you up to???

Don't put the blame on other people!!!

Go on Mianmian, you're such a badass

Hehe, Yuando

Look at him giggle!!

You fucking flirt, it's funny that you're so gay as well

And now you introduce yourself, white /aff

She's such a good wing woman, I like this girl

GO ON MIANMIAN!!!!!

He's not a playboy, he's gay

I love them both so so kuch

JIANG YANLI!!!!!

My poor baby girl

Who the fuck is kicking them out

Kill him. Just- kill him.

Who's this bro criticising everything???

Mianmian, it's not your fault he's rich 😒

As if he needs all those people

Look at her, ain't she so pretty??

What the fuck is Wei Wuxian holding?? A stick

Who does this bozo think he is

Shut your mouth, bozo

Jiang Cheng is being too civil

Let Wei Wuxian at 'em

Nobody needs that many servants

Hehehehehe, he's such a tease.

Bro's like 'don't touch me peasant'

Drawing your sword against WEI WUXIAN?? Dumbass

Bbg, you deserve so much better. You're much prettier than him.

So neat 😔

FUCKING RUDE

The bozo needs to learn how to whisper

Wei Wuxian, you're ruining the tension

I want to flick my sleeves as well

THEIR TICKETS!!!!

They were kicked out by a pompous monster

He's always thinking of alcohol

Who knows why they were arranged to be married

THE SIMULTANEOUS SHRUG

CLOUD RECESSES!!!!!!!

Bros can't even get in

They look very good in white

LAN WANGJI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's very good at hearing, no point whispering

What's up with him???

Bro's chilling

Look, it's his boyfriend

The way his eyes stay on Wei Wuxian for a moment

He's very stern, leave him alone

Wei Wuxian looks like he's gonna cry

Ahhhh!! AHHHHHH!!

The silencing spell!!!!!!!!

I like how he hits Jiang Cheng, like it's his fault

LAN WANGJI PAUSED FOR HIM, AHHHHH

He's literally just going to find the invitations, don't worry

It looks chilly lmao

Awww, Wei Wuxian is not one to be easily embarrassed

Jiang Yanli 😭😭😭

Who's that??

LAN WANGJI!!!????!??!

He literally got everything and now he's been ditched

Alcoholic 😔

Wei Wuxian looks so chuffed with it

What is bro doing??? HE JUST BROKE IT

Look at him, so jolly with himself

He's fucking clambering around like a little squirrel

"Oh, hey boyfriend"

Look at him glare, I'm cackling

The fucking side eye

The way he clutches the alcohol so protectively

He's giggling so much

HE'S TRYING TO SHARE THE ALCOHOL WHAT A GUY

Trying to silence you because you're so hot, my guy

Even their fighting is gay for each other

Okay, seriously, what the fuck is Wei Wuxian holding in his hands??

Bro, guy has actual skills and you're shocked??? What a guy

Why can't someone gay fight with me like this?

Literally threw himself off a building just to save his alcohol

"turn around" EYOOOOOO FOR WHAT

DON'T INSULT YOUR BOYFRIEND'S CLAN, WHORE I LOVE YOU

"I can drink OUTSIDE the Lan boundaries, right?"

The way Lan Zhan grumbles like a toddler

The silencing spell, what a guy, I really love Lan Wangji

What's wrong with this fool? That looks nasty.

Hay pretty boy LAN XICHEN XOXOXO

Oh. Lan Qiren too. Hi.

Wangji shouldn't be bringing around any corpses.

CULTIVATORS GOING MISSING?!?????

Lan Qiren what are you doing bestie

He looks angry hahahaha

Grumble grumble grumble "who's making that noise?" THE STAIN UPON YOUR CAREER

Lan Xichen is being so polite and kind compared to Lan Wangji, I have to wonder how many people preferred him to Lan Zhan upon first watching this

"I can't blame the innocent, but I can't defame our rules 😔" so sincere

"how would you like to punish this guy?" Lan Xichen, I love you, but how the fuck would Lan Wangji ever want to punish his boyfriend?

TRANSCRIBE THE PRINCIPLES THREE HUNDRED TIMES???!?! LAN WANGJI, YOU SADIST

The fear in Wei Wuxian's eyes is my favourite part I think, really brings it all together

Anything but that, lmaooo

"bro, get rid of the silencing spell, pleeeaaaseee 🥺"

Bro is literally lying, I love him.

The hesitance as he backs away, cackling

BLAMING IT ON JIN ZIXUAN!!!! THAT'S MY BOY!

At least he's being honest about the Emperor's Smile.

"I didn't even get a sip before he broke oneee 😔😭" He's just fucking complaining and I love him for it

I love that Lan Wangji is just staring into the distance casually without any sort of expression. He's so me

He may have violated the principles, but he's just a little guy.

Of course he can't.

"also, he helped the Jiangs get in-" "brooooo, why would you drop me in like that???" Is what I think Lan Wangji would say if he talked often

The romantic music playing I'm cackling

THE CHEEKY SMILLLEEEEEE

He looks so teasing as he wanders over, who couldn't fall in love with that

Bro's grasping his sword because he has never felt this gay in his life

The puppy dog eyes "I'm sorry, okay? 🥺🥺🥺" Is killing me. I too would become gay for this guy.

Lan Xichen smells the gay tension and cuts through it with a sword

THE POUT HAHAHAHA

WOAH. Dead body. He's literally calling them out.

NIGHTLESS CITY?!??!

WEN QING YOU'RE SO PRETTY!!!!

Booo, not Wen Chao.

Stop. Trying. To. Do. Evil.

Take your brother with you, who knows what they'll do to MY LITTLE MAN.

Yes, yes I am.

Wen Qing nooooo

You've bowed three times now

Show off.

Nah, the wind is fucking insane right now

THE CORPSE IS SITTING UP AAAAAHHH

Wei Wuxian is literally in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's literally a genius, oh my god.

Lan Wangji wanting to be in sync with him ahhahaha

"he's like a puppet" me too

Brilliant makeup, by the way. Props.

Gazing into the moon like any good gay person would.

Brotherly bonding timeeeee.

Chatting about the corpse in the other room lmao

I wouldn't mind living in Gusu.

HE'S JUST GOTTEN BACK BRO. I love them so so much.

He probably has been too strict on the gay guy. But they're actually such a good team.

HE WANTS HIM TO MAKE FRIENDS!!!

Name dropping Wei Ying, matchmaking for real

Lan Wangji looks pissed but he's just kind of in love, it's fine.

Which corpse are you? Tag yourself.

XUE YANG, YOU VILE LITTLE THING. HOW ARE YOU.

Fuck off Wen one name or another

L there's only a shard of it.

Xue Yang is such a guy, I love him so much. Listen to him giggle.

Just kill him yourself, Xue Yang.

I'm going to fucking eat him, PLATONICALLY.

Watch him strut!

Bro wants to beat the clan, he knows how to barter with someone #icon.

[amethystatherton2006]

I think you'd like this story: "Can I Really Change Things?" by Amethyst_Atherton on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/319152562?utm_source=android&utm_medium=com.tumblr&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create&wp_uname=Amethyst_Atherton&wp_originator=ezMXsrFbGfYx3wqF7%2FsAeDTVpLCXTaNDwvFa5d3chzrQqIwwvXSxvffnxxN%2Bl2oypTPdtJmaKBjR%2BgLQWCBU9lYqx21QzyzoonhAKznrE1tP7U0Kyw7FeuMeRK8YFV0k

[morethanwonderful]

Introducing: The Which MXTX Character Was/Would Be Most Insufferable Online Tournament Bracket

Beginning the evening of August 23rd, 2024 (USA time), I’ll be running a tournament via tumblr polls to determine once and for all which Mo Xiang Tong Xiu web novel character was or would be most insufferable if given access to the internet.

FAQ:

Why this poll theme?

I thought it would be fun to run another big MXTX tournament bracket, since the bugpoll last year was a blast, and this was the funniest theme I could manage to think of.

Why isn't Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu in the bracket?

Given what we know about our dear Peerless Cucumber, I fear an SQQ sweep would be a foregone conclusion if I included him. Therefore, after the bracket finds a winner, I'll hold a bonus round and pit the winner against Shen Yuan to determine the true most internet-insufferable character.

What is wrong with you?

Yeah.

My goal is to hold one round per day every day for a week, but I'm contending with a full-time work schedule, so things may get slightly more stretched out than that. I'll also be splitting the first round into Round 1 Part 1 (the left side of the bracket) and Round 1 Part 2 (the right side of the bracket) to avoid spamming people's dashes with 32 separate polls in one day.

If you’d like to either search for or blacklist posts related to this event, all of mine will be tagged with “MXTX insufferapoll.”

The full list of matches is under the readmore here. Happy voting!

Round 1 Part 1:

Wen Chao vs Jin Guangshan

Quan Yizhen vs Mobei-jun

Mu Qingfang vs Ban Yue

Pei Xiu vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Jiang Yanli

Gongyi Xiao vs Lang Qianqiu

He Xuan vs Xue Yang

Lan Xichen vs Xiao Xingchen

Feng Xin vs Tianlang-jun

Wei Wuxian vs Liu Mingyan

Shi Qingxuan vs Nie Huaisang

Pei Ming vs Shang Qinghua

Jian Lan vs Qi Rong

Lan Wangji vs Song Lan

Nie Mingjue vs Liu Qingge

Mei Nianqing vs Lan Qiren

Round 1 Part 2:

Ling Wen vs Jin Guangyao

Sha Hualing vs Mo Xuanyu

Lang Ying (Present) vs Lan Sizhui

Bai Wuxiang vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Ning Yingying

Jin Ling vs Ming Fan

Mu Qing vs Luo "Mianmian" Qingyang

Yu Ziyuan vs Yue Qingyuan

Xuan Ji vs Qiu Haitang

A-Qing vs Yin Yu

Wen Ning vs Zhuzhi-lang

Luo Binghe vs Wang Lingjiao

Wen Qing vs Yushi Huang

Hua Cheng vs Su She

Jin Zixuan vs Shi Wudu

Ouyang Zizhen vs Lan Jingyi

Round 2:

Wen Chao vs Quan Yizhen

Mu Qingfang vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Lang Qianqiu

Xue Yang vs Xiao Xingchen

Tianlang-jun vs Wei Wuxian

Nie Huaisang vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Wangji

Nie Mingjue vs Lan Qiren

Jin Guangyao vs Sha Hualing

Lang Ying (Present) vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Jin Ling

Mu Qing vs Yu Ziyuan

Xuan Ji vs a-Qing

Zhuzhi-lang vs Luo Binghe

Wen Qing vs Su She

Shi Wudu vs Lan Jingyi

Round 3:

Wen Chao vs Jin Zixun

Lang Qianqiu vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Qiren

Sha Hualing vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jin Ling vs Mu Qing

Xuan Ji vs Luo Binghe

Su She vs Lan Jingyi

Quarterfinal:

Wen Chao vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Jin Ling

Luo Binghe vs Su She

Semifinal:

Wen Chao vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Luo Binghe

Final:

Qi Rong vs Luo Binghe

Bonus:

Qi Rong vs Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride! More JC time travel or something with Kiki's Delivery Service?

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Jin Zixuan does not get along with people easily.

"There you are!" Wei Wuxian shouts, leaping to throw an arm over his shoulder and causing him to stumble. "You're not trying to avoid me, are you?"

"Why would I do that?" he asks, trying and failing to shrug Wei Wuxian off of him.

He's never really sure if he's grateful for the Nie persistence or not.

Nie Huaisang falls into step with Mianmian easily. He's just grateful Zixun isn't here. He and Wei Wuxian can't get along at all and Nie Huaisang usually does whatever he can to make the situation worse.

"Heard that you insulted your fiance again," he says and he goes rigid. "You've got to stop doing that."

"I didn't mean," he starts, then cuts himself off.

"I know that," he says, which causes Jin Zixuan to relax slightly. "Huaisang knows that. Mianmian knows that. Jiang Yanli doesn't know that. Her brother definitely doesn't know that. Are you trying to get beat up?"

"He wouldn't." Jiang Wanyin is very protective of his sister, but he's also rather stringent on rule following. A side effect of Madame Yu's parenting, he thinks, despite Sect Leader Jiang's best efforts.

"Okay, well, if you make her cry I might have to do it for him on principal," Wei Wuxian says. "How are you going to marry this girl if you can't even have a conversation with her?"

He's been doing his best not to think about that.

[mdzs-fics]

Candy & Conspiracies by Reverie (cl410)

Wei Wuxian as a Jin AU 16k words 12 chapters (complete)

[Must have an account with Archive of Our Own in order to read. An invitation is readily provided on the website.]

"what if someone hears?”

“No one can hear a thing we’re saying over A-Xian’s disgusting noises. Are they starving you in Gusu or something?” she demanded.

Wei Wuxian sighed deeply. “Everything tastes terrible in the Cloud Recesses, Madam Jin. There’s no flavor in any of the dishes, except disappointment and suffering.”

Imagine, for a minute, that Wei Wuxian is brought to Koi Tower after the death of his parents on a night hunt (as a favor to a "friend"). What follows in Candy & Conspiracies is a fun romp overwriting much of what happens in Canon.

Koi Tower is still a pit of vipers, but the vipers are terrified when they draw the attention of Wei Wuxian, encouraged by Madam Jin.

Wei Wuxian and Mianmian assist Jin Zixuan in not being as much of an ass with Jiang Yanli. Cloud Recesses becomes much more interesting when those two find the loves of their lives. Madam Jin is pleased to learn of several alliances through marriage.

As problems arise, they are resolved by two of Jin Zixuan's closest allies ... now all they need is an alibi during Sect Leader Jin's birthday party.

Just remember … Wei Wuxian grew up in Koi Tower.

I appreciated the humor in this story (as can be seen in the quote at the beginning of this review). It is, as the author notes in the tags, "Fluff and Crack", both fun and to the point.

[qiu-yan]

wei wuxian vs. pragmatism: what MDZS intends to say about righteousness

copy/pasting most of my rather bitchy reply into its own individual post because i think it deserves to stand on its own.

so i think we can all agree that MXTX intends for us to read MDZS and conclude that wei wuxian is ultimately a deeply heroic and righteous person. whether you as the reader agree with this assessment of wei wuxian's moral character is another question entirely, but at the very least it is fairly obvious to all of us that MXTX intends for us to read him as a good person.

so why does MXTX call wei wuxian a good person? what aspects of his character and which of his choices make him a good person? what moral framework and what definition of morality does MXTX employ in order to call wei wuxian a good person?

i posit that MXTX argues that wei wuxian is heroic precisely because he is not pragmatic - because he adheres to his moral ideals despite the consequences, and because he did not make moral sacrifices at critical junctures of his life. the first half of this post will argue that wei wuxian is not pragmatic. the second half of this post will argue that this is exactly why wei wuxian is heroic, and that the moral framework employed by MXTX is deeply idealistic instead.

so let's begin.

let's start by establishing two things.

first: what MXTX argues about morality through the narrative of MDZS and the reader's own beliefs about morality are two different things. me saying "MDZS argues that xyz is righteousness" and me saying "i think xyz is righteousness" are two different statements. the following analysis is concerned not with what i myself consider to be righteous, but rather what MXTX argues through MDZS is righteous.

second: wei wuxian is not pragmatic.

what does it mean to be pragmatic? unless we are speaking about the school of philosophy specifically (which i am not here), being pragmatic means being grounded in reality and focused on practical outcomes. it means being result-oriented and considering the consequences of your actions before you act; it means acting only after you have considered the potential consequences of all possible courses of action and have then decided which outcomes are acceptable. being pragmatic also means recognizing when achieving everything you want is impossible. and, in such situations, being pragmatic thus entails compromising to achieve a desired outcome, even if that means you don’t get everything they want. to put it in edgier terms, being pragmatic means being able to make moral sacrifices.

an idealistic person attempts the impossible. a pragmatic person recognizes when something truly is impossible.

wei wuxian is not pragmatic.

first, wei wuxian is not someone who carefully considers the consequences of his actions before he acts. in fact, he displays a startling lack of consideration for consequences. it repeatedly falls upon other characters to either try (and fail) to hold him back.

when wei wuxian punched jin zixuan for insulting first jiang yanli and then jiang cheng, did he consider that jiang fengmian and jin guangshan might then dissolve the betrothal, and that jiang yanli might have wanted to make a decision regarding that on her own? no. he just punched jin zixuan because he was mad that jin zixuan had insulted two people he loved.

when wen chao threatened mianmian, and lan wangji and jin zixuan stood up for mianmian, and then wei wuxian stood up for them by holding wen chao hostage in turn - did he consider that there might be consequences for humiliating and threatening the life of the son of a warmongering great sect leader who has already proven capable of attacking other sects? no. did he stop and think "alright, wen ruohan has already attacked the cloud recesses, which proves that he's willing to wage war against the other sects. threatening the son of a sect leader is an easy way to earn any sect leader's ire, and since i'm the first disciple of the jiang sect, this puts not just me but the entire jiang sect on wen ruohan's shitlist"? no. it would be one thing if wei wuxian weighed this possibility and then decided that rescuing an innocent girl and the people who defended her was more important was worth the risk - that would show that he considered the consequences and then made his choice. but the thought simply never entered his mind. he acted simply because he wanted to save mianmian, jin zixuan, and lan wangji from the wens; he did not think beyond that.

when wei wuxian busted the wen remnants out of the qiongqi pass labor camp, did he have a clear plan as to how he was going to weather the political fallout? did he have a plan more detailed than "live quietly in the burial mounds until everyone forgets about us"? no. when jiang cheng challenged him as to how he was going to survive the situation, he did not in fact offer anything more concrete than "we'll just wait for everyone else to forget about us." he blustered about being a once-in-a-generation genius who could accomplish the impossible, but he provided no actual plan as to how he was going to do it. this leads me to conclude that wei wuxian did not in fact have a long-term plan for handling the consequences when he went ham at the qiongqi pass camp - that, instead of weighing the consequences and then making his decision, he instead decided immediately that this was something he had to do, consequences be damned.

and then - on top of this - all of his following actions then point in the exact opposite direction of his stated plan of waiting for everyone to forget about them. because instead of doing anything to fade into the background, everything wei wuxian did instead just convinced the jianghu he was an intolerable threat.

and this was not a sustainable strategy.

one thing i really appreciate about MXTX is that she does not make the rest of the jianghu into one-dimensional villainous morons. it's quite easy for lazy writers who want a persecution plotline to have the rest of the story's society magically start hating on the protagonist for no good reason, to make every background character in the story's world a three-braincell moron. but MXTX is not that author. it speaks to MXTX's skill as an author that, from the perspective of the rest of the jianghu, fearing wei wuxian as a mortal threat was an entirely reasonable conclusion for them to come to.

first, the gentry's most recent direct interaction with wei wuxian during this time period is him threatening to kill all of them. when jin zixun doesn't give him the information he wants, wei wuxian straight up says: "if i want to kill everyone here, who can stop me? who dares stop me?" this is a threat! and - surprise - threatening to kill people naturally makes people think that you want to kill them! 

next, wei wuxian refined wen ning's dead body into the first sentient fierce corpse in history, and also the strongest fierce corpse in living memory - and then took wen ning with him on night-hunts. that's where the reputation of "the yiling patriarch and his ghost general" comes from. this very naturally made the rest of society fear him even more, because now the guy who has just recently threatened to kill you has demonstrated even more of the power to easily do so! the unparalleled power to do so, which no one else possesses and it would be very hard for anyone else to counter! add in the fact that wei wuxian's activities were also attracting prospective disciples - people gathering outside the burial mounds because they wanted to learn demonic cultivation - and naturally the public is even more frightened, because now it looks like the guy who threatened to kill all of you is also gathering the political force to do so!

the public is incorrect about wei wuxian's intentions, of course. but what does wei wuxian do to correct these misconceptions? to rehabilitate his public image, because now his public image has the life of not just himself but also all the wen remnants under his protection riding on it? to prove to the public that he isn't an active threat to their lives - that he does not seek to murder them all in their beds - that it is safe for them to allow him to live, and that they can in fact survive if they don't kill him?

nothing.

it would be one thing if the story mentioned how wei wuxian tried to correct the malicious rumors about himself and failed. but that is not what happened. what happened is that wei wuxian sat on his corpse mountain and let everyone else say what they wanted to say. and when he left his corpse mountain, it was to bring his one-of-a-kind unparalleled sentient fierce corpse with him on night-hunts, which of course just fanned the flames of the rumors instead. he doesn't even tell the prospective pupils camped on his front door to fuck off - he just sneaks in through the back door.

this is not pragmatic behavior. though you can argue that wei wuxian's strategy here was to become so powerful and so scary that no one would dare try to fight him, anyone with a brain can tell you that this is not a sustainable solution in the long-term. first, if you want to use threats to keep someone from attacking you, you also need to promise stability - you need to give people the reassurance that if they don't start shit with you, then you'll leave them alone too. if you drive the "threat" factor too high, as wei wuxian did, you instead end up convincing people that if they do nothing you'll kill them anyways - that they have no choice but to kill you if they want to survive.

second, if you want to use threats to keep someone from attacking you, you also need to prepare for the inevitability that, if someone does end up getting hurt, everyone will blame you first and no one will want to hear your side of the story. after all, if someone gets hurt, then the first suspect everyone looks towards will be the guy who's been consistently saying "i'm strong enough to hurt you! i'm strong enough to hurt you! don't start shit with me because i'm strong enough to end you!" for the past few months. this is basic common sense. and yes, the society of MDZS is unfair - wei wuxian deserved a proper trial and investigation after the death of jin zixuan. but the fact that society is unfair is something a pragmatic person would have recognized and planned for.

wei wuxian did not recognize and plan for this reality. even after he accidentally kills jin zixuan, wei wuxian still insists that if only the jianghu investigates jin zixun's hundred holes curse, they'll see that wei wuxian didn't cast the hundred holes curse, they'll see that there was more scheming going on, etc etc. wen qing has to directly spell out for him that, at this point, society no longer cares about the truth of the matter. it seems that wei wuxian was actually oddly idealistic about the true nature of his society all the way until the very end.

all of this leads me to conclude that, when wei wuxian busted the wen remnants out of the qiongqi pass labor camp, he did so without considering the consequences of his actions. he assumed that he could improvise and weasel his way out of this situation, as he's always done in the past with his typical genius - only this time, he was wrong.

wei wuxian acts without considering the consequences of his actions. he does not make a decision only after carefully deliberating over all of the potential outcomes - not at all. instead, he acts in the moment - not out of any rational consideration of potential outcomes, but rather because it is simply something he must do. this by definition makes him a deeply unpragmatic person.

to put it into more familiar terms, for wei wuxian, the righteousness of an action comes not from its consequences, but are rather inherent to the action itself. even if he were doomed to fail, he could not give up on the wen remnants.

second, at critical junctures, wei wuxian is unable to make moral sacrifices. to be pragmatic is to know when you have to sacrifice: to know when, in order to achieve the most inalienable of your goals, you have to give up on some of your other goals. this is something wei wuxian is consistently unable to do.

of course, when it comes to his own wellbeing, wei wuxian is all too willing to sacrifice. he'll carve out any number of his internal organs to save those he loves. but this honestly speaks less to wei wuxian's moral framework and more to his lack of self-worth from a troubled upbringing.

because, when it comes to any moral cause, wei wuxian is entirely unable to sacrifice anything, even if being unable to sacrifice entails more negative consequences. wei wuxian could not sacrifice mianmian, jin zixuan, and lan wangji to wen chao and his goons, so he took action and took wen chao hostage himself. to sit back and do nothing as wen chao threatened the lives of those three was simply unthinkable for him - even if it meant taking a course of action that put yunmeng jiang in danger.

wei wuxian's relationship with jiang cheng deteriorated because jiang cheng did not know about the golden core transfer: because jiang cheng did not know that wei wuxian could no longer cultivate, from jiang cheng's point of view, it looked like wei wuxian was just refusing to help out and fulfill his promises for kicks. wei wuxian could have made things a lot easier for himself and also any wen remnants he chose to rescue had he simply told jiang cheng the truth - but he knew that finding out the truth of the golden core transfer would make jiang cheng miserable, and [jiang cheng's happiness] was not something he was willing to sacrifice.

wei wuxian's single most prominent moral decision is his refusal to allow the wen remnants to be sacrificed. anyone with a shred of political sense had to know that rescuing the wen remnants and then protecting them would be near impossible - that it entails making an enemy of the jin, and due to the jins' power, the entire jianghu. wei wuxian himself knew this; he is no moron. wei wuxian also had no long-term plan, no allies, and significantly less power than the rest of the world believed. yet, despite this all, he acted anyways, because he could not let the wen remnants be sacrificed.

the wen remnants wei wuxian rescued from the qiongqi pass labor camp included both regular civilians and cultivators. perhaps wei wuxian could have negotiated a proper release for the non-cultivating civilians, such as granny wen and a-yuan, had he chosen to give up on the cultivators. but - the question of whether this would have worked or not aside - this was not a sacrifice wei wuxian would be willing to make.

nor could wei wuxian sacrifice the safety of yunmeng jiang. i am firmly of the belief that, had yunmeng jiang formally stood by wei wuxian's side after wei wuxian attacked the jin-run labor camp, lanling jin would have eventually declared war on yunmeng jiang, and yunmeng jiang's would inevitably be destroyed. both wei wuxian and jiang cheng understood this as well - which is why wei wuxian told jiang cheng to let him go.

(you can argue - successfully - that wei wuxian did in fact sacrifice [his obligations to yunmeng jiang and his promise to jiang cheng] by leaving yunmeng jiang to protect the wen remnants. this is true. but i think that - from wei wuxian's point of view - this was not much of a sacrifice, because due to wei wuxian lacking a golden core, he already viewed himself as mostly useless to yunmeng jiang. so him leaving - in his view - is not really that much of a loss for yunmeng jiang.)

wei wuxian promised wen qing that he would return wen ning's consciousness to his corpse. when wei wuxian made this promise, he had no idea if he could actually pull it off or not. but then he did - and, in the process, created the most dangerous weapon the jianghu had seen in living memory. wen ning specifically, or moreso wei wuxian's inability to control him, leads to so much of wei wuxian's eventual downfall: wei wuxian loses control of wen ning and accidentally kills jin zixuan; when wen ning goes to turn himself in at jinlintai, he ends up going berserk again and killing another 10-20 jin and lan cultivators, which leads to the nightless city pledge conference. frankly, wei wuxian could have avoided a lot of trouble - or at the very least, a lot of the public's fear - had he not raised wen ning from the dead. it's not like he'd be completely defenseless without wen ning, either. but wei wuxian promised wen qing he would resurrect wen ning - and he could not sacrifice his promise to wen qing because of what wen qing had already done for him.

a pragmatic person is able to make sacrifices, including moral ones. at the very least, a pragmatic person recognizes when sacrifice is inevitable, when all paths lead to something being lost. a pragmatic person, put in the trolley problem, would recognize that there were only two options and that both options involve sacrifice: either he must kill one person, or he must allow five people to die. there is no path forwards in which all six people live.

wei wuxian is unable to make moral sacrifices. he clings on to all of these moral causes, all of these promises and obligations, and it is precisely because he attempts to hold onto all of them that he ends up losing everything. to reuse the previous example, wei wuxian in the trolley problem tried to save all six people because he could not accept any of the sacrifices made inevitable by the trolley problem.

to put this all together - wei wuxian is not a pragmatic person. he makes decisions with his gut, not his head - he does not consider the consequences of his actions before he acts. nor is wei wuxian able to make sacrifices - even necessary ones in order to avoid greater tragedies.

but. none of this means that wei wuxian is not a deeply heroic person. rather, to do what you believe to be righteous and attempt to live up to your ideals despite the consequences is exactly what MXTX lauds as moral. and to be unable to make a moral sacrifice when everyone else in your society easily does so is in fact deeply heroic.

it is precisely because wei wuxian is not pragmatic that MXTX declares him a hero.

some people, including myself, favor a moral framework that centers pragmatism and reason as virtues. to us, the ideal moral character is someone who makes decisions based on reason and not emotion, who considers the potential consequences of every course of action before making a decision, and who then, based on these inferred future consequences, uses reason to deduce which of all of the possible outcomes is the most preferable.

but this does not in fact describe wei wuxian, nor is this how wei wuxian views ethics. and to be honest, i don't think this is how MXTX views ethics either.

in all three of her stories, MXTX repeatedly comes down harder on the characters who make pragmatic decisions, the characters who are willing to sacrifice. in fact, killing sunshot soldiers while acting as wen ruohan's spy, and then killing nie mingjue's men in order to ensure a chance at killing wen ruohan and saving nie mingjue, was the pragmatic thing for meng yao to do, because that was the least bloody path forwards towards a sunshot victory over qishan wen. in fact, cutting ties with wei wuxian after he attacked the jin-run qiongqi pass labor camp was the pragmatic thing for jiang cheng to do, because it was the only path forward that did not put yunmeng jiang, his first and foremost responsibility, in the line of fire. and yet (though the situation is less clear with jin guangyao), MDZS as a narrative criticizes both jin guangyao and jiang cheng for these decisions - because, to MDZS, righteousness does not lie in pragmatism.

(this is a statement i personally disagree with. but we are here to discuss what MDZS wants to say about pragmatism and righteousness, not what i want to say about pragmatism and righteousness.)

by contrast, the one single act for which deeply controversial jiang cheng is ultimately lauded for in the narrative is also his single least pragmatic, most emotional act. the one single act of jiang cheng's that MDZS does not criticize is when, after the fall of lotus pier, jiang cheng ran out from his hiding spot to distract the wen soldiers from seeing wei wuxian. from a filial, duty-based point of view, this was a deeply stupid and unpragmatic course of action: jiang cheng's first and foremost duty, as the sole surviving jiang and new sect leader jiang, was to survive, rebuild his sect, and avenge his parents. from a consequentialist point of view, this impulsive choice is also what led to the domino-fall of tragedy that followed, since jiang cheng then got captured and had his golden core melted, which then led to everything else. yet this stupid, unpragmatic, and impulsive decision is ultimately the one act MDZS considers to be jiang cheng's single most heroic.

the key as to what MDZS considers to be heroic, what it considers to be righteous, lies in the jiang family motto: 明知不可而为之, attempt the impossible. this line, taken from the analects of confucius, can be considered to be a deeply deontological ideal. i find this twitter thread (warning to my followers: does kind of dunk on JC) to be rather helpful in elucidating this line's meaning. 

to attempt the impossible, to try what shouldn't be tried. "ask yourself not whether you can do it, but whether you should...consider not the result but rather the journey - have a clear conscience regardless of outcome." in other words, what matters is less whether you succeeded or failed, or what sort of outcome your actions brought about - what matters is that you tried. what matters is that, in the face of overwhelming odds, you tried to do what you think is right. and even if you end up failing - even if everyone you sought to protect ended up dying - the fact that you tried still has moral weight.

this is why it was righteous of wei wuxian to save the wen remnants - even though the ultimate consequences of that decision were overall negative, even though everyone wei wuxian tried to protect died. in fact, if wei wuxian had died immediately - if he had been shot down by jin archers at the qiongqi pass labor camp the moment he came within their range - if he had died before any wen in the labor camp realized someone wanted to save him - he would still be a righteous person. because, for MDZS, what makes an action righteous is not its consequences. for MDZS, what makes a person righteous is not what impact their actions have on the world, but rather that they have the sort of moral character that leads them to never give up on their ideals.

wei wuxian does not consider the consequences of his actions before he acts. or, should i say - wei wuxian makes decisions despite their consequences, because despite the consequences there are simply some moral causes he simply cannot give up on. wei wuxian did not save the wen remnants because it was pragmatic to do so. it was in fact deeply unpragmatic to do so. no - wei wuxian saved the wen remnants without a concrete long-term plan, without having thought through anything beforehand, with the knowledge of how weak he was in reality - because he could not give up on the wen remnants, consequences be damned.

to have some moral causes you simply cannot give up on, no matter the consequences - to MXTX, is deeply heroic. in this sense, MXTX's moral philosophy is not pragmatic at all, because to be pragmatic is to be concerned with practical consequences. instead, both wei wuxian and MXTX herself are deeply idealistic, because what matters to them are ideals and principles that extend beyond consequence.

as the linked twitter thread notes, this is why MXTX waits until the very end of the book to reveal that wen yuan, now lan sizhui, lived. this is why wangxian only meet mianmian and her family at the end of the book. this is why all of the cumulative positive impacts of wei wuxian's resurrection -  jin ling forgiving wei wuxian, jin guangyao, and wen ning, for one - are kept to the end of the story: because MDZS needs to move away from the consequentialist argument. MDZS needs to establish that wei wuxian's righteousness is separate from the impact of his actions: that wei wuxian isn't righteous merely because his actions had a positive impact for which others can thank him, but rather because the actions he undertook were inherently righteous on their own. that even if none of these positive impacts existed - if wen yuan had also died, if mianmian hadn't made it - then wei wuxian's choices would still be moral.

this is also why MDZS ultimately comes down harder on characters like jiang cheng and jin guangyao, even though a more results-oriented moral framework would instead laud such characters. both jiang cheng and jin guangyao are deeply pragmatic characters: they put concrete results before abstract moral ideals, and they're willing to compromise on their ideals in order to achieve better results. i am a JC stan and a jiggy apologist because of these exact traits. but MDZS is a narrative that criticizes such pragmatism and instead holds up wei wuxian's idealism as a moral ideal - so, in order to advance its themes, the MDZS narrative ends up criticizing both jiang cheng and jin guangyao.

ultimately, this idealism - this criticism of pragmatism - lies at the heart of MDZS's themes. wei wuxian's righteousness is directly connected to the fact that he is not pragmatic. the fact that wei wuxian makes moral decisions despite the consequences, and that he is unable to sacrifice any moral cause - is all part of what makes him at once deeply unpragmatic and deeply heroic.

---

you see, the funny thing here is that i personally disagree with this theme. as i've said before, i'm a utilitarian. to me, the morality of an action does in fact arise from its consequences; to me, someone who compromises on their ideals to achieve better results is preferable to someone who adheres to all of their ideals and then loses everything. the character i consider to have had the greatest positive impact on this story's world is jin guangyao. the character i consider to have most dutifully fulfilled his obligations is jiang cheng.

therefore, i disagree with basically everything i wrote up there about "trying": i think that if you try to do the right thing, fail epically, and in the process of your failure get a bunch of other people killed as well, the fact that you failed this badly does in fact matter quite a bit. the bulk of my more haterish posts are born from this fundamental disagreement with what MDZS posits is righteousness.

however. as a reader i must recognize that [what i consider to be moral] and [what the author of this story considers to be moral] are two different things. my own moral philosophy may be heavily results-oriented, but MXTX's is much less so. therefore, regardless of what i think of wei wuxian, i conclude that MXTX ultimately intends for us to read wei wuxian as a heroic figure for the exact reasons i gave above - and that fact must then inform every analysis of MDZS i write.