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#like. he thinks he's really pretty and all. but wwx thinks almost everyone is pretty skdhsjdh EVEN JIN ZIXUN

whumpbby · 7 months

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Thinking that because it seems that the Demonic Cultivation was mostly something that Jiang Cheng took care of - either as a way to unload his grief or as taking responsibility of his shixiong's mess - it's possible that the Jiang disciples were the ones that were the best versed in dealing with DC.

Now I am headcanoning that - because JC seems like a man that has shit in hand and runs a tight ship - there's a group within the Yunmeng Jiang trained and experienced specifically to deal with Demonic Cultivation specifically. Like their Spec Ops. They are prepared to come in fast and hot, deal with the issue asap and start the clean-up - armed with talismans made to deflect DC, tame the corpses and help send them on.

So, like, one day WWX hears that there's some Demonic Cultivator causing problems in the area he's hunting with the Lan juniors and goes to deal with it. It still pisses him off that his only lasting legacy is not about his genius or his heroics (or even his good looks), but it's this thing he invented out of horrific desperate need and that's now used to cause chaos and hurt people. So, he feels it's his duty to go there and talk some sense into the person in question.

Except, as soon as he arrives at the scene and ascertains that yeah, the issue is serious and maybe it's better for him to send the disciples back home and call in reinforcements (Lan Zhan), because he can take the DC down, but the clean-up will be immense - when suddenly a group of cultivators land in front of them with a swish of purple robes and gets to work.

The battle is almost sad. In no time at all the fierce corpses are tamed, the cultivator thrown down and bound with talismans, and the cultivators are dispersing across the area to set up burials for the corpses and arrays meant to send the ghosts onwards.

It's all precise and quick, sure steps and short commands. A well-oiled machine with soldier-discipline cleaning the area of resentment. So unlike the usual exuberance and free-style of the Jiang.

Wei Wuxian is kinda stumped. How are these people, and why are they getting in his way? He didn't even manage to get any fun! You, baby Lan disciple, explain!

"They're the Red Brigade", the disciple explains in a hushed voice. "Jiang-zonghzu's personal guard. They hunt Deminic Cultivators."

Red? Ah, their uniforms are adorned with a red ribbon on the shoulder. How sentimental of Jiang Cheng. His shidi really missed him! (or wanted him dead, there's also that option). But no time to contemplate that, because these guys are super efficient and if WWX wants to do any investigation of his own (translate: being his nosy self) he has to haul ass before they clean up everything!

So, he goes to the leader of the pack with an intention of comparing notes! The guy is respectful, but so cold! Eh, is he even a Jiang? So much like A-Cheng! Well, he knows how to deal with people like that - everyone will fold when bothered for long enough!

So, he keeps following the leader and talking bullshit, as his brain takes notes on everything he can see around. The talismans they use, the arrays, the spells - that's all pretty high level and super interesting. Huh, even their clothes are embroidered with talismans (a page out of the Lan book, maybe? Sneaky, Jiang Cheng, sneaky!) and their they use ghost flags...

But something is strange. He can see traces of his own work here and there - and he's used to seeing is tools ironically used across the cultivation world, but these are... kind of not? There are traces of his work, but the sigils are not his, the flags are not his, the talismans are not his. Like someone engineered his work backwards and created something that was similar, but entirely different.

As if someone wanted or needed tools to deal with Wei Wuxian's creations specifically, without the risk of being used against them in the heat of battle. One of the cultivators has a qinqin strapped across her back - the strings are made from metal, so it's not for musical cultivation (huh, so that's how Jiang Cheng came up with the idea of disrupting Su She's music in the Guanyin Temple, it wasn't coincidence.). They came in prepared to counter anything a Demonic Cultivator would throw at them.

Hell, he can admit that going through them on his own wouldn't be easy (because he was always helplessly optimistic about his own skills)...

Oh, Jiang Cheng did his homework.

"Wei-gongzi, can I help you with anything? Shouldn't you be taking the Lan juniors home?"

Uh-oh, he was getting on someone's nerves. Better retreat for now.

But he wasn't about to drop the matter.

The Jiang Sect had a SPECIAL OPS! how was he supposed to leave that be?

He was invested, he wanted to discuss! He needed to compare notes!

#headcanon #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #mdzs #yunmeng jiang spe cops #XD

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allycot · 1 month

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f i n a l l y finished reading the novel (a stream of random crazy thoughts, sorry not sorry.) And I’d say that, as for me, it’s way, way better than the untamed that just feels like its vanilla version, to be honest (though I don’t mean that it’s completely bad.) I liked that I finally understood more details I missed out or did not know about earlier. I liked the author’s style and humour, the thing that even secondary characters seem unforgettable, and also the thing that there are no fully good or bad characters, i.e. everyone has the traits that you can love or hate.

of course, I like wangxian in my own way, and after reading, I got a weird thought like these two could actually be each other’s somewhat reflection. Though Lan Wangji looked like an example of “perfection”, still and cold, he seemed to wanting to do something reckless or something beyond his principles, while Wei Wuxian, being that one epitome of a mess, had thoughts about just having a peaceful life (that would include LWJ.) And I actually liked LWJ as a character himself, i.e. even out of wangxian, as I liked him in all its adaptations. He seems to be deeper than just a human version of an iceberg (a special “I feel you bro” moment when he gets drunk, as, for certain reasons, I’m pretty sure it would be exactly me if I drank, though I’m not into it at all.)

it was a surprise for me to actually love the yi city plot, it could really be good even as a separate story. A more surprise for me was to like Xue Yang, who managed to become one of my favourite characters. He’s a bitch, but an interesting bitch. I can’t help but love the antagonists in this story.

I felt sorry for my baby Wen Ning who was punched/slapped/thrown away almost every freaking time he appeared in a scene, god. And I was glad that, in the end, he did decide to choose something for himself and it’s not just following WWX.

But.

Jiang Cheng will remain my very favourite character in the story. He literally seems one of the most realistic characters to me, who’s not perfect (and no one can be perfect actually), who is fucked up enough, but who’s also able to care about the ones he appreciates, and I liked this imperfection (or maybe it’s also a response of my inner self, who knows.) There were the moments when I couldn’t agree with his actions, but I also think he did not deserve any of that hell happened to him, to his family, to their Sect, and I felt sorry for him. And his line with WWX will stay the most hurtful to me. And as much as I like WWX as well and could understand his actions and motives when he wanted to save the ones who helped him, I won’t fully understand his decision just, eventually, to leave the person who was his family; to leave in the moment when he needed him the most in a very difficult period. Despite their disagreements and difficulties they had between each other. I guess it’s a clear example of what happens when you don’t talk to a person to solve whatever you two need to solve. And it’s very sad.

Actually, there are more thoughts in my mind, and they could be sorted, but when I write, most of the thoughts fly away.

#crazy thoughts #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #wen ning #xue yang

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ninjakk · 2 years

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Our first glimpse at how deep WWXs feelings for LWJ truly were

I just adore the archery competition flashback, where WWX meets LWJ a year after his short-lived stay at the CR. When I first read this scene, my heart ached a little at WWX's subconscious pining for LWJ and the cold shoulder he seemingly received. Obviously, poor LWJ doesn't mean to be so cold with him, he just doesn't know how to express, or even comprehend his own feelings for WWX at that moment in time. I think this scene really shows the reader how deep WWX's latent feelings truly are. It also gives quite an interesting insight into WWXs psyche, as he lies to himself about his own feelings and tries to downplay his affection for LWJ.

Chapter 45

Yawning as he walked toward the hunting grounds, he suddenly caught sight of a handsome boy with a fair face and a cold demeanor to the side of him. He wore a red round-collar robe with sleeves that had tight openings and a belt of nine golden rings. This was the uniform attire of all of the juniors who came to the Qishan Discussion Conference. On him, it looked exceptionally good. He had a dash of elegance, a few traces of vigour, but a whole lot of good looks. One couldn’t help but brighten up at the sight of such a boy. The boy was in the middle of trying out his bow, carrying a bundle of arrows with white-feathered fletchings. Brushing past the bowstring, his slender fingers made it sound as though it were a guqin string, strong yet beautiful. To Wei WuXian, the boy felt a bit familiar. After he thought for a while, he finally remembered and greeted the boy with enthusiasm, “Hey! WangJi-xiong, it’s you!”

WWX is momentarily blinded by LWJs beauty. He then goes on to lie to himself about taking a 'while' to realise who he was. WWX has already hinted that he knew exactly who he was when he mentioned a guqin string - which is what LWJ plays. Not to mention, 'handsome', 'fair face' and 'cold demeanor' is literally a description of LWJ! He's trying to downplay his excitement at meeting him again, especially as he was so entranced at seeing him and very clearly extremely physically attracted to him.

At the time, it had already been a year since Wei WuXian studied at Gusu and was sent back to Yunmeng. After he arrived at Yunmeng, he told the people there all about what he had seen in Gusu, especially things such as how although Lan WangJi’s face looked nice he was so stiff as to do this, so boring as to do that. Not long afterward, he had forgotten all about his days at Gusu and continued to fool around in the lakes and mountains. In the past, he had only seen Lan WangJi in the plain “mourning clothes” of the GusuLan Sect’s uniform, never in such a bright, eye-catching outfit. Along with that overly-pretty face of Lan WangJi’s, now that they met again, Wei WuXian’s eyes had momentarily been blinded by his looks, failing to immediately recognize him. On the other hand, as soon as Lan WangJi finished testing his bow, he walked away at once. Awkwardly, Wei WuXian turned to Jiang Cheng, “He ignored me again. Huh.” Jiang Cheng glanced at him with indifference, also deciding to ignore him.

Here WWX is trying very hard to reason with himself for the emotions and attraction he just felt. It's rather like: "Well I haven't seen him in such a long time and I had almost forgotten all about him... So of course I was staring at him. I was so used to seeing him in the 'mourning clothes', he just attracted my attention for a moment because of the vivid colour (that everyone else is wearing!) I should go say hi.."

He's trying to justify his excitement at seeing him. At first, WWX acknowledged he did indeed talk about LWJ... Quite a lot when he first got back, from the sounds of it! He then goes on to contradict what he just claimed earlier about him taking a while to remember who LWJ was. It seems that under the surface, he's actually quite flustered at seeing him again after so long. His thoughts are all over the place! Again his mind wanders towards how good looking LWJ is once more - he's got it bad bless him. His reaction and his contradictory thoughts are enough of a hint to the reader not to take WWXs claims he 'forgot all about his days in Gusu' as the truth. There's so much internal conflict about his feelings for LWJ and the heteronormativity that was embedded in him from a young age, that his thoughts are a little erratic. Simultaneously admiring LWJ and trying to justify his wandering thoughts about him at the same time.

It isn't until the Lotus Seed Pod extra that we actually see the true extent of WWX's lie to himself back at the archery competition. This extra chapter is one of the sweetest. It shows WWX, and later LWJ, essentially pining for each other around the same time (possibly the exact same day). In the extra, it's been a year since they've seen each other, but WWX is still bringing him up in conversation and thinking about him back at Lotus Pier. So we can safely assume that the Lotus Seed Pod extra is set just before the archery competition, as both are a year later from when he left the CR.

There were more than twenty entrances to the shooting range; each sect was different. As Lan WangJi walked toward the entrance of the GusuLan Sect, Wei WuXian sneaked over before he could. Lan WangJi shifted to the one side, and he shifted to the side as well; Lan WangJi moved to the other side, and he moved to the other side as well. In short, he simply refused to let Lan WangJi pass. In the end, standing where he was, Lan WangJi raised his chin slightly. In a serious tone, he spoke, “Excuse me.”

LWJ tries his best to ignore him, possibly due to his reluctance to face his feelings and because it seems he finds it hard to communicate with his crush. But, WWX just wants his attention and will do anything to get it! Which is exactly what he does next, the little minx!

Wei WuXian, “You’re finally gonna talk to me? Were you pretending that you didn’t know me or that you didn’t hear me?” Not far away, the boys from other sects all stared at them. Some laughed, some exclaimed. Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue impatiently. With arrows on his back, he walked toward another entrance. Lan WangJi raised his eyes coldly and repeated, “Excuse me.” A faint smile by his lips, Wei WuXian raised his brows and turned to the side. The arch door of the entrance was rather narrow. Lan WangJi could only brush by him as he walked in. After he entered, Wei WuXian shouted from behind him, “Lan Zhan, your forehead ribbon is crooked.” All disciples from prominent sects took great care to maintain their appearances, especially those from the GusuLan Sect. Hearing this, Lan WangJi reached to adjust it without a second thought. Yet, the forehead ribbon was clearly as proper as always. Turning around, he cast an annoyed look at Wei WuXian. The latter only laughed as he turned to the YunmengJiang Sect’s entrance.

So as usual, WWX resorts to his 'teasing' in order to get LWJ to look at him. WWX even blocks the GusuLan Sect's entrance LWJ has to use, and only moves once LWJ has finally looked at him. Succeeding in getting LWJ to look at him, he turns to the side, allowing him access through the arch - but only if he brushes past him. It's such a small moment, but it's so cute how much WWX can't stand to be ignored by him. The sexual tension in this scene, just screams off the page to me. I think you can really feel all those hormones raging - especially once you read the LPS extra as well. It's his little smile and the way he raises his eyebrows as he makes LWJ brush up against him. He's just such a flirt with him! He knows LWJ doesn't like physical contact with others, but he does this anyway. He hasn't seen LWJ in quite a while and must get some form of interaction with him however he can.

I love how WWX only laughs when he's walking back to his Sect entrance where JC and the others are waiting. To me, this small and simple sentence is very telling. It helps the reader understand WWX's feelings, probably better than he did at the time. WWX didn't laugh in LWJ's face - in the past he has, but this time he doesn't. He didn't do it for entertainment, he didn't do it to amuse himself or others. From the text, it seems he didn't smirk or grin either. He stood in the archway without any of his usual cheeky expressions when teasing LWJ. In fact, he seemed pretty flat - not the usual vivacious WWX we all know and love. He just stood there taking it all in, watching LWJ walk away, before shouting to him and waiting for a reaction. It almost feels like he wound him up, not only to get a reaction, but because he felt dejected and was slightly hurt. This tiny moment has such a delicate hint of melancholy to it, and it makes my heart hurt a little every time I read it.

It's obvious from the above text, WWX has actually made a little bit of a scene! Other disciples were watching from afar, some amused and some surprised by the commotion in front of them. But he was so desperate for LWJs attention, he didn't even care at that exact moment. WWX only laughs once he heads over to his own Sects entrance. As if he has to cover up what he just did with bravado. Making it out he was just being a 'lad' and winding LWJ up... WWX didn't get upset LWJ wouldn't give him attention, forcing him to brush up against him and then teasing him to get one last reaction and a look from those cold sexy eyes of his before he left... Noooo, that's not what just happened at all. Just bros, being bros here... He definitely wasn't fawning over the second most handsome young master of the cultivation world. Nope.

The subtext in this scene actually escapes some people and they don't see the chemistry or absolute flirtatious tension between them - especially on WWX's behalf. They just see him winding LWJ up. But I pose this to those that don't see WWX's actions as flirting - would you think the above scene was WWX flirting, if LWJ was a girl instead? If he was paying the same attention to a girl, forcing 'her' to brush against him - would you not think he liked 'her'? Of course you bloody would! You'd think he had a mad crush on them!

A little while later during the archery competition, WWXs encounters LWJ once more.

Just as he was thinking about what would happen if he shot with his other hand, suddenly, something drifted to his face. Softer than even the touch of catkin blossoms carried by the wind; the object made Wei WuXian’s cheek itch. Turning around, he saw that Lan WangJi had somehow already walked near him. With his back facing Wei WuXian and front to a paper mannequin, he was in the process of drawing his bow. The ends of his forehead ribbon danced in the breeze, gently brushing against Wei WuXian’s face. He squinted, “WangJi-xiong!” With his bow already in the shape of a full moon, Lan WangJi still responded after a short moment of hesitation, “What?” Wei WuXian, “Your forehead ribbon is crooked.” This time, Lan WangJi refused to believe him again. As he released his arrow, he replied without even turning around, “Ridiculous.” Wei WuXian, “It’s true this time! It really is crooked. Just watch if you don’t believe me. Let me straighten it up for you.” He proceeded as he spoke, grabbing the ribbon tail that kept on fluttering in front of his eyes. Alas, however, his hands were simply too unruly. In the past, he made a habit of pulling on the Yunmeng girls’ braids. Whenever he touched a strip-like object, he’d have the urge to tug it. Thus, without a second thought, he tugged it this time as well. However, since the forehead ribbon was already slightly askew, a bit loose, now that he pulled on it, it fell from Lan WangJi’s forehead at once. The hand that Lan WangJi held the bow with immediately gave out a shiver. He only managed to turn around after quite a long while. Slowly, his eyes finally locked into Wei WuXian’s. Wei WuXian was still holding the soft ribbon in his hand, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t on purpose. Here, you can tie it up again.” Lan WangJi’s expression was darker than ever.

So WWX is claiming it was an accident.. but this is obviously not the case. Just before this all happened, he hinted to us he was getting rather bored of the competition. He started to think about using his other hand, because he wanted to find it more of a challenge. Then he notices the tall glass of ice cold water that is LWJ was just behind him... WWX goes on to tell LWJ his forehead ribbon is crooked once more and offers to straighten it for him. Apparently it was, but that's not the point here. He literally pulls at it! Then he pretends it was an accident! But his thought process at this point is rather telling as he states he got into the habit of pulling girls pigtails when he was younger. Why would he think such things and pull on LWJ's forehead ribbon if it wasn't intentional at least on a subconscious level. So to some extent he definitely knew what he was doing and it wasn't an accident. Again, I think this is partly because he just needs LWJ's attention. It's also show how he truly think of LWJ once more. The classic pulling on pigtails, a favourite pastime of young boys who like to tease girls. WWX is around 16 now I think, yet he's treating LWJ like a little girl who has hurt the ego of the little boy that still resides inside him. It's quite sweet really.

Also, let's not forget the fact he has admitted elsewhere in the novel, that he still remembers many of the CR sect rules after copying them so many times. But funnily enough, he's managed to forget this one... * Exaggerated eye roll * Suuure...

I just love how MXTX adds layers of meaning to past chapters, by leaving tiny breadcrumbs throughout the book for her readers. I think this might be my favourite one to be honest. We don't fully understand how truly head over heels they both actually are for each other at the above point in time, until the LP extra hits us in the face with such a touching revelation and we piece it all together ourselves.

I also wrote a post as to why LWJ might be acting so cold towards WWX in the above scene. For anyone who is interested it's here.

#mdzs wwx #mdzs lwj #mdzs wei wuxian #mdzs lan wangji #mdzs novel #wangxian #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs meta #mdzs spoilers #wei wuxian likes to tug on lan wangjis... forehead ribbon #lan wangji is a tall glass of ice cold water

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inappropriatewenning · 7 months

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Okay, really niche AU time:

It's a production of Guys and Dolls.* Pretty amateur, maybe university level, and it's not good. I cannot stress enough how not good it is. Bear with me. Ignore gender for now, more or less.

Nie Huaisang is the director. Nie Huaisang does almost nothing, but his choice of WWX as Adelaide sets off the whole thing.

WWX auditions on a lark, singing Bushel And A Peck, very over the top, NHS thinks it's HILARIOUS and casts him on the spot over any objections. WWX and his buddy Wen Ning seem to have pretty good rapport, and NHS detects hidden comedy potential in Wen Ning, so there's your Nathan Detroit.

Jiang Cheng doesn't have time for this and isn't really much of an actor and refuses any kind of lead role. But he is in fact a highly competent singer, and ends up as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, carrying the weight in some tricky group pieces. Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli are the other Guys. Jiang Cheng finds that he does have time for this.

Lan Xichen is also a highly competent singer, good romantic lead voice, and is cast as Sky Masterson on the strength of it.

But who is Sarah? LWJ, who has been ignoring the whole thing because musical theater is beneath him and Huaisang is incompetent, finally, angrily, tries out on provocation from Wei Wuxian. Sarah Brown. Prim, uptight. Everyone is a little concerned: can the Lan brothers play opposite each other like this? Lan Wangji flatly points out that it's not like he's actually in love with anyone here, so why would it be harder to act with Xichen than with anyone else?

Now. You are saying to yourself: but inappropriatewenning, most of this casting is terrible. And that's the beauty of it:

Jiang Cheng is surprisingly intense working with Wei Wuxian on bringing real emotion to the (Semi-) Scorned Woman part. No you don’t fucking get it Wei Wuxian, they DO love each other and of course she’s not going to just find someone else! And yes she’s also angry! People can be angry and loving! People can care about each other and still have problems!

Lan Xichen doesn't really bring a lot of...energy? dare I say chemistry?...to the role, but as he works with director's assistant Meng Yao one begins to see glimmers.

Things of course unravel. Wen Ning is too scared, and Wen Qing takes his place after stepping in with Jiang Cheng in rehearsal to show WWX what he means about the emotional shift that makes Sue Me work. Jin Zixuan takes over her initial role. He and Jiang Yanli are engaged by the end of the last show.

Adelaide and Sarah barely interact--until their surprisingly sexy Marry The Man Today. Were the characters supposed to sound like they’re fighting? ……..Were they supposed to, uh, “practice kissing” at the end?

Nie Huaisang is in fact a lousy director. Meng Yao does most of the work and Lan Xichen finds time to help him. There’s an awkward moment when Nie Mingjue (crew) walks in on them and doesn’t quite understand the vibe.

(* actually thematically appropriate because this is the jianghu, this is the otherworld of people living outside of regulated society)

Right okay my bus is almost at my workplace so I gotta leave you all with this.

#niche au

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rainbowsky · 2 years

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hello (I'd like to say firstly please don't take this as discourse I'm just genuinely curious). A lot of turtles consider the iconic heart and dot ❤️. as gg's mole but yibo has a mole in the same place too so it could also be just his touch no?

The clearest unenhanced photo I've ever seen of DD's 'mole'.

This is a very common (weak-ass) argument solos frequently make to try to wash this candy. Good thing you posted a disclaimer that you're totally not a solo, totally not trying to wash this... 😅

Fake, Fan fiction, CPN.

Almost no one knows that DD has a (very faint) mole under the lip in a somewhat vaguely similar area as GG's if you squint a bit.

Meanwhile the mole under the lip is one of GG's most distinguishing features, and something everyone has always associated with him. Fan art, brand art, etc. has never once that I have seen, drawn DD with a mole under his lip - even when they've drawn all his other moles - but meanwhile GG is never drawn without the mole, even by solo fan artists who hate BXG. Like I said, it's one of the most distinguishing visual cues referencing 'GG'.

Hell, it's practically CANON now that WWX has a mole under his lip in almost every Wangxian fanfic I read.

You would be pretty hard pressed to find a photo of DD - even a barefaced one - where his mole is even very visible.

Nor any art that shows him having a mole under his lip, even when the artist has paid special attention to DD's moles.

And DD has much more prominent moles at the top of his nose by his eye and on his ear, so why would he associate himself with a much fainter mole almost no one can see? I think the vast majority of fans - solo or otherwise - would find it really puzzling if DD were to draw himself with a mole there, or start using a lip mole to reference himself. Like I said, most people are completely unaware of the faint mole he has there because it's practically nonexistent.

Yet with GG, there's no bare-faced photo of GG where the mole isn't sharply seen, and even in most heavy makeup photos you can still see the mole.

But yeah, Anon - it could totally be referencing DD's mole. 🤷🏼‍♂️

When DD was drawing the mole during the brand event he behaved the same way he did when he was adding the mole to a drawing he did of GG for an Untamed promo interview. He hesitated and looked over to the other person to make doubly sure he was drawing it in the right place.

youtube

If it had been 'his mole' he was drawing, he would have immediately known where to put it.

The heart and mole is something that GG has repeatedly used in his own artwork, so it's something he has a connection to.

Oh wait - but maybe it's GG who is referencing DD with the mole in his drawings?... 🤔

DD famously added a dot under the heart of a pricey Chanel pin he wore for a photo shoot. Yet take a microscope and you will find no trace of a mole under DD's lip in that photo.

Knowing full well, no doubt, the association BXG make with that heart mole. The original pin doesn't have that dot on it.

And there is also the big bomb candy that came out earlier this year related to a heart mole drawing.

This is in fact, one of the most unwashable candies in the entire fandom. But solos never give up the fight. 😅

#bjyx #yizhan #the mysteries of yizhan #heart mole #solos belong to moling su sect #ask

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silvysartfulness · 1 year

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12, 17, 19, 22 for the choose violence ask game👀

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Oh man, like. All of them? I tend to only fall for unpopular characters, so that's a long list. But keeping it just to a few choice people in the Untamed;

Xue Yang. Obviously. He's brilliant, he's dedicated, he's fucked up in some really interesting ways and he got so close to having a redemption arc and happy ending before everything came crashing down! If he'd been the protagonist/viewpoint character, you know he'd be getting the fandom's WWX cinnamon roll treatment. But alas.

Jiang Cheng. That so many people dislike him honestly baffles me? I see so many takes that are frankly based in extremely shallow readings, disregarding his trauma, his world context, the impossible balance between his crushing responsibilities and the people important to him. He's not your homophobic dad or schoolyard bully, he's a deeply traumatized person doing the best with what he's got despite losing everything dear to him over and over, and he's trying so hard. He's loud and has a hot temper, but for fuck's sake, there's so much love there and you'd almost have to be willfully blind not to see it!

Jin Guangyao. Another of those "if he'd been the main character/viewpoint character, people would have loved him" ones. He's intelligent, determined, hardworking and loyal - though frequently pushed way beyond his breaking point in that loyalty. Pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness, but it's because the world's one big trolley problem to him - he sacrifices the few to help the many (even if yes, that does include himself in 'the many'), but he doesn't take pleasure in the hurt he causes (except in that one pretty understandable case of his dad). He deserves so much compassion, or at the very least understanding!

Should I put Song Lan on here? A lot of people seem to hate on him for very shallow, ship-related reasons, but within the plot, he tried his very hardest to set things right. It's not his fault they were all already doomed by the narrative and he walked into Yi City that day as the unwitting catalyst.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

For fics, Yi City fix-its that don't count killing Xue Yang as "fixing it". Stories digging into the hot mess of the complex, fascinating canon-verse, or at least reincarnation.

More fics with characterization I vibe with - a complicated, rough-edged but ultimately lovable Xue Yang, a compassionate but stubborn and somewhat brittle Xiao Xingchen and a Song Lan who feels so much and is so bad at showing it. More SXX fics overall!

For art, more art with the CQL character designs! The designs for the other adaptations are kind of cute, but they're just not my guys, and I feel pretty lukewarm toward them on the whole.

(And fellow artists - please, please, please don't forget Xue Yang's missing finger! 😭 I see so much fanart with either 10 intact fingers, or a glove with a fully articulated left pinky. His lost finger is the driving force of his entire character arc, don't just forget about it...😢)

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Hmm... 🤔 On the whole, I don't feel a lot of shame for my tastes in fiction. I'm surprised I actually ended up really liking the main couple as much as I did - in a love story, no less? That literally never happens, I always go for the sideline gremlins.Other than that, though...

Trying very hard to hold up the blorbos and my usual go-to tropes, groping around for any sense of horror or shame, but I can't think of anything really. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I guess I'm that one (1) person who actually likes the Yin Iron plot? I genuinely think CQL made a lot of good choices to tie the sprawling narrative together more cohesively, and I liked the introduction of the Yin Iron and how it led into the creation of the Yin Tiger Seal rather than tossing the latter in as an "Oh yeah, this was a thing that totally existed all along, forgot to mention". (I know MDZS was written and posted in installment, and that can make it hard to work with foreshadowing etc, but even so. I do think CQL did a good job tightening up the story in many ways.)

And don't get me wrong, I absolutely don't mind the idea of Xue Yang as an absolute nobody clawing his way up from nothing! It's a delicious version, too! But there's just something about the idea of a family he could have belonged to, a sense of community he could have had, ripped away centuries before he was even born.

If I want to be a petty, I guess I could put "Xue Yang is canonically brilliant" under this question, too, because I wish that was explored in more fics and meta. The boy is a prodigy. He's a genius. He's also a street-brawler, petty thief and murderous little piece of shit, but that doesn't take away the first point. Let Xue Yang be the highly, dangerously intelligent Problem that he actually is!

#violence ask game #asksilvy #untamed artfulness

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biennatodd · 1 year

Text

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody...

Pairing: JZX/JC Endgame; but it features some elements of WWX/JC too. Rated: M CWs: Alcohol Use, Underage (JC is 16, JZX and WWX are 19), Violence, Making Out, Dubcon (Everyone is under the influence, but consent is given), College AU

|| Part 1 || Part 2 ||

———————–

Jiang Cheng somehow winds up in the kitchen doing jello shots that are WAY too strong with Wei Wuxian.

It’s admittedly fun, but he ends up tapping out after just two, unable to tolerate the taste and texture any more than that. It’s too slimy and too wet and the way it slides down his throat makes him shudder in a bad way. Plus the tequila is cheap as fuck and he can taste it even through the jello flavor.

The two of them move to the living room? Or at least Jiang Cheng thinks it’s the living room, to dance to a few songs. But Jiang Cheng ends up losing Wei Wuxian in the crowd while Wei Wuxian screams for Lan Wangji.

It’s fine. It was getting to be a bit much anyway. Jiang Cheng doesn’t want to dance anymore.

Instead he hobbles over to one of the couches, all but collapsing into it. He can definitely feel the buzz starting to hit, and it’s going a looooong way toward making this party a lot more bearable. He tilts his head back against the weirdly plush sofa, and just lets the walls spin for a moment while he catches his breath.

After a while, he makes his way back to the kitchen, sweaty and overheating and desperately thirsty. Of course, Jin Zixuan is there, making his own drink out of what looks like some kind of jungle juice. Or at least, that’s what Jiang Cheng thinks it’s called when they put too many alcohols and juices and actual pieces of fruit into a single huge... water dispenser thing?? The thing that releases the juice into your cup. Jiang Cheng doesn’t know! English is difficult enough when sober. Jiang Cheng frowns at the massive not-barrel, cursing it in his mind for making him feel like an idiot, but after a few seconds decides to put his head down on the cold counter and just enjoy the chill instead. Jin Zixuan offers him a little half smile, and Jiang Cheng smiles back before Jin Zixuan is sliding his cup over to him.

“Here. Want it?”

Jiang Cheng eyebrows furrow in doubt.

“And what’s THIS supposed to be?”

“A peace offering. Or.. A second attempt at least.” Jin Zixuan rolls his eyes. “C’mon. You literally WATCHED me make it.”

( Do you ALWAYS have to do what Wei Wuxian tells you? )

Jiang Cheng frowns, snatching the cup. At this point, doubting the other boy would just make him seem like an ass.

...plus he was REALLY thirsty.

He chugs the (surprisingly tasty) concoction and ignores the fact that alcohol will not cure his thirst, while Jin Zixuan sets about making his own drink to match. It’s pretty peaceful, each of them nursing their own cup in silence. Or at least, as much silence as you can get in the kitchen of an absolutely raging house party. Which is.. more than you would expect honestly. But still loud as all fuck.

He doesn’t know how get from point A to point B, but one moment Jiang Cheng is just vibing, enjoying the way the bass of the music pulses through his entire body, and the next he and Jin Zixuan are practically falling all over themselves laughing. Jiang Cheng can’t even remember why or what the hell was so fucking funny. And then one of them gets a little TOO giddy and ends up knocking over an entire bottle of... something, onto the floor.

Of course, drunken logic tells them to panic, and instead of cleaning it up like sensible people, they immediately run away from the scene and pretend as though they had nothing to do with the spill like assholes.

Very Smart.

They end up in a cramped hallway, pressed almost chest to chest, laughing far too hard at absolutely nothing. Usually Jiang Cheng resents the fact that he hasn’t finished his final growth spurt and has to look up at Jin Zixuan, but right now, he doesn’t mind all that much..

Jin Zixuan is telling him something, but Jiang Cheng can’t hear him over the music, drums thudding so loud that it drowns out the sound of his own heart beating. Jiang Cheng tries to ask what he said, and Jin Zixuan tries to repeat himself, twice, before realizing that they’re getting nowhere.

Then Jin Zixuan has Jiang Cheng’s hand in his, and is pulling him away further down the hall. Jiang Cheng is a bit surprised at how cool his fingers feel to the touch. He doesn’t even think too much about where Jin Zixuan is taking him, just happy to follow along... until Zixuan pulls him into one of the guest bedrooms.

He doesn’t even act like its a big deal, walking forward to sit on the bed with a sigh as the door closes behind them.

“Ugh— Finally! I bet my hearing will be completely gone by tomorrow. Fuck.”

Jiang Cheng is a bit nervous admittedly, but he also feels like being nervous is stupid. Who gets intimidated by a fricken bed?! So he sucks it up and slowly walks over to sit next to Jin Zixuan, stomach full of weird fluttery feelings that were probably definitely due to the alcohol consumption. Jiang Cheng shifts his legs awkwardly and gives Jin Zixuan a curious look.

“Soooo.. what were you trying to say earlier?”

Jin Zixuan scratches the back of his neck, struggling to meet Jiang Cheng’s eye.

“...I was actually.. gonna apologize. I guess..”

“..What?”

The word is softer than intended, Jiang Cheng caught of guard by Jin Zixuan’s candor, too surprised to be his usual, gruff and unapproachable self.

The party seems so distant now.

It’s weird. Jiang Cheng can hear the yelling and the music, but it’s quiet. Removed. Did people know that bedrooms are like liminal spaces at parties? Is that why people enjoy them so much?

He’s not naïve enough to actually believe that that’s what people usually do in these rooms, but honestly? He could see the appeal of just sitting in here and hiding out. Close enough to be in the party, but still separate.

Yeah, he’s a bit of a loner. Sue him.

Jin Zixuan is fiddling with his bracelet, stubbornly refusing to look at Jiang Cheng.

“Yeah. Earlier? I shouldn’t’ve been trying to hit on you. It was probably weird and-”

“You were hitting on me?” Jiang Cheng cuts Jin Zixuan off, shocked, but Jin Zixuan just nods.

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize that you were with Wei Wuxian and it probably made you uncomfortable-”

“Wait-”

“but you just looked really cute and I’m sorry, I don’t actually know what I was thinking-”

“Wait! Wait—you think I’m cute?”

“Yes, but I shouldn’t have pushed and-”

“Zixuan. Shut up.”

Jin Zixuan frowns as he finally looks at him. He seems genuinely upset. Jiang Cheng will probably regret this tomorrow. No. He’ll definitely regret this tomorrow, when he’s had time to think on what it all means, but right now? It just feels so good to be wanted, to be told that he’s desirable. He doesn’t WANT to think about what it all means. In fact, all he wants to do is—

Jin Zixuan makes a shocked little noise when Jiang Cheng kisses him. It’s rough, uncoordinated, and he’s pretty sure that they bumped teeth... but it feels pretty nice too.

And then Jiang Cheng is climbing onto his lap and it feels like things completely fly off the handle. Jin Zixuan’s hands are tight on Jiang Cheng’s hips and it sends a thrill through his stomach as he rolls them down against his lap. It doesn’t take much but there’s something so satisfying about knowing that Jin Zixuan is just as hard as he is. Jin Zixuan’s hands rub up and down his thighs before sliding up to cup around his ass and Jiang Cheng moans. Every movement gets a little faster as Jiang Cheng pushes him back to the bed.

They stay like that for a while, adjusting to the new position and all the pleasures it brings. Jiang Cheng feels powerful and sexy like this, sitting on top of Jin Zixuan as they make out, but he thinks he likes it more when Jin Zixuan flips them, slowly crawling over him and pressing him into the mattress. He feels dizzy as he wraps his arms around Jin Zixuan’s neck, kissing him senseless.

The weight on top of him feels good, their tongues pressing together, wet, sloppy and oddly squishy making his spine tingle. They both taste like alcohol and sticky, overly sweet syrupy juice, but Jiang Cheng really can’t bring himself to care. Not when he’s licking and sucking the flavor straight out of his mouth, and Jin Zixuan’s hands are slipping under the bottom of his crop top.

Jin Zixuan’s fingers drag along the edges of his chest until one brushes across his nipple and it feels like electricity across his skin. Not sharp, like the hand buzzers of his childhood, but a gentle simmer—thrilling because it feels like it should hurt, could hurt, but it doesn’t. It won’t.

Jiang Cheng’s mind is hazy with the lack of air, neither of them willing to pull away and properly catch their breath, and he wonders if this is how he’ll lose his virginity.

If so, he can’t say he minds.. In fact, he thinks he’d really like it if Jin Zixuan fucks him right now—

*BANG!*

#My writing #my fics #Jiang Cheng #jin zixuan #wei wuxian #xuancheng #mdzs #cross posted on twitter #cross posted on ao3 #GOD i really do enjoy this one ngl-- I also extended the make out a bit more. felt like it wasnt enough.#sorry for the cliff hanger teehee

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hamliet · 3 years

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So, this person mentioning your 2ha metas made me get curious about it so I wanted to look for them but then the first thing I found was this: "I think 2ha had the potential to be as rich in complexity as MXTX's works, but instead settled for a more traditional black/white version of the morality" and now I'm actually more curious about this line 🤣

You see... I've alway failed to get the whole hype regarding mdzs and its morally gray this, morally gray that. And it doesn't help that the Chinese fans I know also complain about it, they're like "wwx is the hero, why western fans are so obsessed to change this? Why they don't do the same with their heroes?"... And they also comment on how mxtx is pretty clear about the morals of their characters and I feel like I get both sides but again, not really the obsession with the matter. Because then there's the fact that, while I agree with meatbun not treating SQT well, I don't feel like MXTX did it better when it was only literally wwx the one having his happy ending... Everyone else is dead or condemned to be forever alone for some reason... and even someone as jc is someone who, imo is pretty clear, MXTX thinks doesn't deserve anything but loneliness (the fact there's no woman who wants him according to her, he has no friends, he has no real bond anymore with anyone...). So, honestly, I don't feel like if MXTX wasn't clear about who are the morally correct and the morally wrong in her stories just as I don't feel she was any more fair with her secondary characters for the sake of wangxian happy ending. The same goes with her other works where all the characters that are antagonists in different levels, just like in mdzs, get what "they deserve" 🤔

Ahhh okay, I've seen this argument floated a lot, and it's become a bit of a pet peeve for me, so I'm going to take a bit of time to respond to this... There is a lot here to respond to.

For starters, I would caution you about categorizing of "Chinese fans" as if they are one monolith; they are not. They are also not different than western fans in terms of being human; they are closer to the cultural context of the story, but that doesn't inherently mean every interpretation is correct or textually supported. For example, I haven't seen at all your claims about WWX being the hero (I saw it from a western person, and if the Tweet is what you're referring to, they took the quotes shockingly and almost laughably out of context): while I'm sure Chinese fans do say this... so do western fans. A lot. In fact, Jiang Cheng is very not popular among Chinese fans in polls, while Jin Guangyao is. The point is, you can't say Chinese fans vs Other fans in a simplistic way to make any claim of substance.

As for MXTX's statements, I literally do not take authorial interviews into account in analyzing stories, nor do I really understand why people do. I'll quote Dostoyevsky here: “Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.” Authors explain things in overly simplified ways, and explaining a novel that runs on complexity simplistically is never going to be satisfying. You also have to look at the full picture: she's said pretty cold things about Xue Yang (much worse than about JC), but has also defended him from antis, calling him "my son" and saying that she loves him more than any readers because she created him. I don't doubt this is the same for Jiang Cheng.

"jc is someone who, imo is pretty clear, MXTX thinks doesn't deserve anything but loneliness" I do not think this is true. The notes about Jiang Cheng's dating life are humor. You may not find them funny, but they're clearly intended to be humor. Framing matters (I'll discuss framing in a bit.) It is also factually incorrect to say he has no real bonds. He clearly does. Jin Ling is a bond.

Everyone else is dead or condemned to be forever alone for some reason... I also don't see what you mean by looking at the story, or whom you might be referring to. Song Lan went to restore Xiao Xingchen's soul, to heal it. The juniors went from being antagonistic to being friends with each other. Wen Ning helps Sizhui with his heritage. Lan Qiren accepts Wei Wuxian as Lan Wangji's husband.

The ones where I can kiiiinda see people assuming this are with Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen, but I also don't think the framing is taken into account. Jiang Cheng has Jin Ling, and much like with Lan Xichen, I think people expect spoonfeeding where nuance works better. The trajectory of the novel--towards healing, towards the younger generations doing better than the older ones--indicates that there will be healing that continues beyond the main story. Not everything needs to be spelled out. I doubt Lan Xichen will be in seclusion forever like his father; his father had Lan Qiren (a flawed if well-intentioned man), but Lan Xichen has Lan Wangji, and I highly doubt Wei Wuxian is going to leave brother-in-law miserable. I do think Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian will form a new bond, because they are both clearly involved in Jin Ling's life. Neither of them are really good at cutting off bonds (like even after WWX's death, Jiang Cheng was looking for him). I wrote more on this here.

What is missing from most of these discussions is framing. framing, framing, framing. It tells you what to think about a story's events. Yes, Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang die, but how is that framed as "what they deserve?" Xue Yang dies with a candy in his hand, which if you want to rely on MXTX’s statements, she literally said she did that to show that he was not a heartless monster. Which is indeed what the text implies. For JGY, you have Jin Ling bawling and realizing his uncle was good to him too, Lan Xichen tricked into killing him when he wasn't doing anything, Wei Wuxian realizing how wrong it was and that they are the same. That's tragic framing, not "haha got what he deserved." The literal point of tragedy is that it shouldn't end this way. Tragedy is not "justice." Tragedy has injustice as its main point. You are supposed to be sad.

I've talked about tragedy in media before, and will quote Arthur Miller's "Tragedy and the Common Man" here:

The possibility of victory must be there in tragedy. Where pathos rules, where pathos is finally derived, a character has fought a battle he could not possibly have won. The pathetic is achieved when the protagonist is, by virtue of his witlessness, his insensitivity, or the very air he gives off, incapable of grappling with a much superior force.

Pathos truly is the mode for the pessimist. But tragedy requires a nicer balance between what is possible and what is impossible. And it is curious, although edifying, that the plays we revere, century after century, are the tragedies. In them, and in them alone, lies the belief-optimistic, if you will, in the perfectibility of man.

What is the "much superior force" in MDZS? It's society. And yet, because things are gray, society is not fully evil. Like with Dostoyevsky's novels, people need each other. They need each other to heal and to fully live; seclusion is not a Good Thing. But also, playing the political game kills, so society also corrupts. See here.

What is society if not a reflection of the human being? Born with tendencies towards good and towards evil. Someone who can corrupt, and hurt, and also heal others. Someone who can comfort an orphan with a dog and also torment his father to death. Someone who can kill thousands of people and also risk his life to save others. People who are complex.

By saying "gray morality," I'm not saying that there is no good or evil, but instead that context determines much of this; empathy matters as well, and so what is evil to one person may save another person. That said, there is an overall moral implication that people living is good, and empathy is good. Gray morality has never ever meant moral nihilism. It just means that instead of thinking "there is no right choice sucks to suck"; it should be "there are no choices that will heal without hurting; hence, let's empathize with those who make those choices instead of condemning them." Black/white morality is exemplified with Nie Mingjue's character, who ends up stuck in a coffin for 100 years after being used like a puppet to kill innocents. I think black/white morality is pretty clearly condemned.

Imo, claims that only Wangxian got a happy ending and everyone else was sacrificed for this are based off of personal projections and impressions, not off careful analysis of the text that takes culture, literary allusions, tone, framing, and the like into account.

Wangxian are a gay couple, aka already challenging societal understandings on love. They leave society to heal and then return to help others, which is as far from a "f*ck you got mine" attitude as you can get. It's an old trope used as far back as the Bible: after some time away, you return to go into the world and save. The salvation isn't religious here but it's empathetic. They want to be a part of their loved ones lives.

Wei Wuxian never thinks that he didn't deserve death for what he did, even if the context leading up to it might well justify him feeling that way. He does not think Jin Guangyao deserved what happened to him, at the same time. He does not think everyone else's sacrifices were justified. If WWX is supposed to embody morality, as black/white people claim, then why do they disregard chapter 113?

It's fine for people to prefer things to be more spelled out (they are in TGCF, for example!) but I think MDZS is a novel that is heavily based in nuance (like, that's a central theme), and so when people approach it with an attitude of expecting spoonfeeding, they end up confused.

#ask hamliet #rants #mdzs #mdzs meta #wei wuxian #wangxian #lan wangji #lan xichen #jiang cheng #jin guangyao #jin ling #jiang wanyin #wei ying #lan zhan

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llycaons · 1 year

Text

ep11 (part 1): the tension in this family dinner is insane

I had to cut this in half because I posted too many images but this episode is just chock full of juicy shit. I really feel like this episode is where the series hits its stride and becomes super compelling. ep1 was a bit of a mess, but really interesting. eps 2-10 are okay, pretty good if you like the characters but the plot is hard to stay invested in. but here's where it gets good

it's nice that jc cares about MY dying. also I like his outfit

nmj's robes too. really cool design that matches his personality and surroundings perfectly

sometimes the translations inadvertently (I assume) result in lines that sound very childlike in english. not in a bad way. more like in an endearing and slightly corny way. 'safe and sound' is very sweet

wwx clearly having a good relationship with the merchants, and knowing them all personally, and being greeted by them, it all hurts so much. LP wasn't just a place and it wasn't just his siblings, it was a whole community and a home he was deeply intertwined with. he lost so much...

also jc not speaking with the merchant at all and then physically grabbing wwx's arm and dragging him to the estate is rly telling of how uncomfortable he is...the boy does not endear himself to the people

FEMALE DISCIPLES OOH

YOU ARE HURTING ME

LP is so gorgeous it's unreal

THIS LINE. FUCKERS

LP is a fantastically beautiful place, full of life and love and safety and comfort. maybe unrealistically so. but in stalks madame yu to balance this out, with her cruelty and abuse casting a long shadow over wwx and his siblings' lives. almost an inversion of the wen situation...the wens are almost cartoonishly evil in every way, but after they're vanquished another sect rolls in to take over power in the vaccum they left, and this sect commits the same atrocities with a better public face. behind the fantasy of the villain, there are others, more grounded in reality. this provides a refreshing balance to the character dynamics imo, allowing for both the fun of melodrama and the complexity and nuances of more realistic challanges the characters face

as much flack as jfm gets, his first order of business is to make sure the kids are okay and then that they get something to eat. idk how people genuinely think he's a worse parent than the woman who shows up, makes everyone around his miserable with her cutting remarks, elitism, self-esteem issues she makes her kids' problem, bullying, and genuine verbal abuse towards the children under her care, and then storms off. anyway

god he really doesn't want to see her. and everyone's like 'please yes let's fucking eat without her'

THE BITCH IS HERE. I love her entrance so much. seeing her through slatted wood, then seeing zidian, then watching her come into focus with her BODYGUARDS in attendance

she really is so hot I can't believe she didn't make it into the evilmilf tournament she would have slayed

insane how she turns every single thing anyone says into an attack on her, or something to find fault with. nobody can win in this exchange except her. it's over the top, and miserable to watch, but it tells us so much about her in ways I find very compelling. and the concerns she brings up are significant, but she's not interested in actually planning a solution, just in belittling her kids and complaining and attacking her family. idk why people think she's smart or well-versed in politics or would be a good leader when she's so terrible at communicating, self-absorbed to the point of violence, and uninterested in problem-solving. like yeah this is misogyny at work, but I find her much more compelling if she's a fucking mess of a person and I think her self-esteem issues are really significant and add a lot to her character

the work she gets done in this one scene is wild - she lays out another dimension of the tension between wwx and jc, she demonstrates exactly her issue with wwx, she serves as a template for the audience to connect with later jc, and she also informs the audience of the view many cultivators take of wwx, and how that strains his relationship with other cultivators

the way I can HEAR adult jc saying this. the cutting sarcasm, the contempt, the inability to argue against it because what is he going to say? jc later echoes her in sneeringly calling wwx a good person for trying to be a hero

after she leaves jc looks like he's just woken up from a nightmare...

this is like my favorite expression of lwj's I love it. the contempt. the stoicism. the refusal to be baited or angered. very lwj core

I was so emotional watching this scene I LOVE LAN QIREN!!! I LOVE HIM!!! his care for his nephews is obviously due to the fact that he wants the lan clan to survive, but of course it's also a personal concern. he loves wangji! he's their little boy! and he doesn't just care about the heirs, he stands out there refusing to find shelter until more of the disciples can come in and be saved

this line 🥺

it is so fucked up to see the lans all being murdered. it's a school! it's like a temple! it's a place of learning and contemplation! they're not even taught to fight people, their swords are for cultivation. and wen xu just barges in and attacks lrq! he's an old man you fuck! he's like an old professor! stop trying to hurt him!

also so so sad to see this violence in the halls where wwx laughed and joked with jc, and the little dorms where the kids were staying, where wwx made jyl smile with his paperman. ough

I'm always startled by the raw emotion on lwj's face here. I thought it was because I was getting better at reading him, but no I think he's just very expressive here in ways he isn't almost anywhere else. anyway this expression makes me go 🥺

I can't upload any more pics even tho I love this scene, and it's late and I have to go to bed, so I'm ending at the halfway point here and will come to it tomorrow

#thank fuck we are at the good part #events are TRANSPIRING #cql re-rewatch

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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Prompt: WWX is one of JGS's bastard sons, raised by his mother and her husband - until they die when he's young. Then he gets taken into the Jin sect instead of the Jiang.

Right Hand Man - ao3

It was a bad day.

All the days were a little bad, but this one was especially bad.

“He’s Cangse Sanren’s child,” Jin Zixuan’s father said, tapping his fan against his palm so that he would look more like a scholar. Secretly, shamefully, Jin Zixuan thought that it didn’t really work – he just looked like one of those scoundrels that tried to pay for their meals with calligraphy instead of pennies. “Taking him in will show our strength.”

“You dare bring one of your bastard children here,” Jin Zixuan’s mother said, “and I will drown A-Xuan myself rather than let him suffer through the shame of it.”

Jin Zixuan shivered. No matter how many times he heard his mother say that in her cold and vicious voice, he never got used to it. She’d explained to him that it was the only thing that might work on his father – the fear of losing face like that, of shaming his ancestors, of cutting off his legitimate line – and she was his mother so of course Jin Zixuan believed her, but sometimes when she said it like that he thought she might really go ahead and do it.

“It’s the immortal mountain,” his father argued, ignoring the threat. “The perceived connection is only to our benefit…and anyway, he wouldn’t be legitimized or anything. Legally, his father is that Wei Changze – I could even bring the boy in as a servant if that pleased you more!”

“Nothing you say or do will ever please me,” she said, and that’s when she started throwing things and he started shouting and Jin Zixuan waited until they weren’t paying any attention to him before slipping out.

They’d make a decision one way or another.

It didn’t have anything to do with him.

Wei Wuxian was nominally brought in as a guest disciple, but everyone knew he was really a servant.

Jin Zixuan’s mother made sure everyone knew.

Despite this, Wei Wuxian smiled at everyone, seeming as carefree as a butterfly. It didn’t seem to bother him when he wasn’t allowed to wear sparks amidst snow, or even the usual gold of the guest disciples – Jin Zixuan’s mother said that it was better that he wear plain colors, like white or black, to represent his father and mother and show the world that he hadn’t forgotten his filial piety. It didn’t seem to bother him that he had to room with the other servants, or that he wasn’t invited to dinner at the same time as the rest of them, or that he got less training time –

Whatever it was, it didn’t bother him.

It bothered Jin Zixuan, though.

He started having the old nightmares again – the ones where his mother belatedly found out that he’d been swapped in the cradle for another bastard child of Jin Guangshan, and started treating him just the way she treated all the rest of them while praising some other boy up to the heavens – and his temperament, never considered especially good, got worse due to lack of sleep.

“Go talk to him,” Mianmian suggested. “Maybe if you see he’s reallynot bothered by it…”

“It doesn’t matter if he’s not bothered,” Jin Zixuan muttered. “It’s that I would be bothered if I were him.”

She didn’t understand, of course. Most people didn’t.

They couldn’t understand why Jin Zixuan was so bothered by the knowledge that his parents’ love was conditional on his bloodline and legitimacy – after all, he was the beneficiary of that bias, wasn’t he? What did it matter to him if they were cold to others?

Jin Zixuan didn’t know how to explain that the problem was in knowing that their love was conditional.

It didn’t help that Wei Wuxian was excelling despite all his disadvantages – all their teachers praised him in private, or else when they thought that no one surnamed Jin was listening. All of his mother’s dark speculations about what his father would do if ever there was a bastard child brought back that turned out to be even more talented than he was rang in Jin Zixuan’s ears, and he couldn’t help but look at Wei Wuxian, and wonder if this was it, this was the moment, if he was finally going to be replaced…but no, that would never happen. He was the one with the right blood.

It didn’t matter if he wasn’t actually the best.

Nothing he did in life mattered, really. Nothing had ever mattered since the day he’d been born from the right womb.

“He’s actually really nice,” Mianmian said, and Jin Zixuan looked up, wondering what she was talking about, only to blanch when he realized that she was talking to Wei Wuxian. “Just shy, that’s all –”

“Mianmian!” Jin Zixuan hissed, rushing over, horrified. “He can’t be here! If my mother finds out –”

“Is that what you’re afraid of?” Wei Wuxian asked, his face brightening. “I thought you just didn’t like me!”

“I don’t know you,” Jin Zixuan said. “How could I dislike you? But really, my mother –”

“We can be friends!” Wei Wuxian declared, and Jin Zixuan was rendered immediately mute. What exactly could he say to that?

He wanted to be friends, too.

His mother found out, because she always found out, and when she did, she threatened to feed Wei Wuxian to the dogs.

It turned out that Wei Wuxian was scared of dogs, something Jin Zixuan’s mother had figured out pretty quickly. That wasn’t a surprise – she knew best how to find people’s weaknesses, and also how to use them. Looking at Wei Wuxian’s sickly pale face, it was clear to Jin Zixuan that this wasn’t the first time dogs had appeared in one of his mother’s punishment, although this was clearly more severe than in the past.

“It was my idea,” he lied, acting on impulse. “Mother, I want him to be my personal servant.”

“Ridiculous,” she scoffed.

“Why is it ridiculous?” he asked. “Wouldn’t the contrast between us only be magnified that way?”

She pursed her lips, but that wasn’t a ‘no’.

Seeing a possible waver, Jin Zixuan decided to trade away one of the very few point on which he and his mother had long disagree.

“He’s charming,” he said. “He can help me woo the Jiang sect girl.”

His mother knew him well enough to know that he was trying to manipulate her, but he also knew that she liked it when he did that. Men were supposed to be upright, straightforward, and virtuous, and yet she liked to see him being subtle and sly – it reminded her of herself. It made her feel like he was more her blood than his father’s, even though in actuality those traits could very well be his father’s, too.

Unfortunately, sneakiness wasn’t really in Jin Zixuan’s nature. Comparing his straightforward and even a little stupid self to his clever and cunning parents, he didn’t know who he took after – it was part of the reason he had so many nightmares about being some cuckoo’s child left in the Jin sect’s nest.

“Fine,” his mother said at last. “He gets one shot.”

Later, when she’d swept off, an empress with her retinue, Mianmian looked at Jin Zixuan with wide eyes. “But Jin-gongzi,” she said. “You don’t wantto marry the Jiang sect girl.”

“I’ve never met her,” Jin Zixuan hedged, which was also true but a little vaguer. He didn’t want to marry a girl he’d never met, one who was several years his elder and who had been described to him only as ‘nice’ and ‘average at best’, just because her mother was his mother’s old friend. He didn’t want his marriage to be yet another thing he had to do because he was someone’s child, rather than his own man.

He wasn’t going to get a choice, though, no matter what he did, just as always. Might as well use it for something good.

Wei Wuxian crashed into him a moment later, clutching him so tightly that it hurt.

“I’ll pay you back,” he promised, his voice tight. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll be your best friend ever!”

“That’s good enough,” Jin Zixuan said, his face suddenly hot. “There doesn’t need to be anything more.”

Wei Wuxian really was very charming when they went to visit the Lotus Pier, far more charming than Jin Zixuan ever was or would be, and his future bride seemed positively enchanted by him, which was probably a bad thing.

Jin Zixuan felt he should probably do something about it, but he didn’t know what, so he just snuck off and went to go dip his feet into the river, something he almost never got the chance to go while at home.

“I’m sorry,” the Jiang sect heir, Jiang Cheng, said, sitting gingerly next to him.

Jin Zixuan looked at him sidelong, a little surprised. He’d thought that Jiang Cheng hated him. “What for?”

“My sister. Your half-brother.” Jiang Cheng looked uncomfortable. “I can’t even imagine growing up with someone who’d flirt with the person I was engaged to.”

Jin Zixuan thought it over, then shook his head. “I don’t think he likes her like that. Or her him, either,” he said, since it seemed like Jiang Cheng had misunderstood both Wei Wuxian and his own sister. “Wei Wuxian’s just – like that,” he added. “Always. Everyone loves him unless they’re specifically told not to.”

“That’s worse.” Jiang Cheng wrinkled his nose. “He’s the ‘other person’s child’ here, you know. My father really liked his parents – he’s always talking about him. My mother says he wishes he were his son, instead of your father’s.”

“Now that sounds awful.” Probably better for Wei Wuxian, though. Jiang Fengmian would probably treat him like a real son, not the way Jin Guangshan did, like a pawn or a liability or a bastard brought in just for his possible connections – but it would probably be much worse for Jiang Cheng, who’d have to live with that happening right in front of him. It seemed mean to wish for such a thing. “He’s actually pretty nice? We’re friends. I asked him to help me make friends with your sister…I’m not really good at making friends, when it’s just me.”

He hadn’t expected them to hit it off that well, though. At least to Jin Zixuan’s eyes, they’d clearly all but adopted each other as brother and sister the moment they laid eyes on each other…which in his opinion was actually a little bit worse, since he felt like he himself was still painfully trying to figure out what being a sibling was like, and maybe failing at it.

And in all honesty, he felt a little resentful at Wei Wuxian for being picked, too – or was it a little bereft? No one ever picked him just because they wanted to; it was all because of who he was.

Who his parents were.

“I can be your friend, too, if you like,” Jiang Cheng said. He was scowling into the distance. “A better one.”

“Uh,” Jin Zixuan said, startled. “Don’t you – not like me?”

“We’re friends now,” Jiang Cheng scowled at him. “Deal with it!”

Jin Zixuan liked Wei Wuxian a lot, and he liked Jiang Cheng, too, and Nie Huaisang, who he’d just met, fit in with the two of them as if they were three peas in a pod, so he guessed he must like him, too – but if those three endlessly chattering idiots didn’t shut up and let him study he was going to throw himself off some cliff in Gusu and be done with it.

“You really don’t mind me sitting here?” he asked Lan Wangji, who nodded.

Nodded and did not respond verbally – blissful silence!

Still, Jin Zixuan lingered a bit by the door to the peaceful little pavilion he’d found and thought to claim for himself as a secret study place – necessary on account of the fact that Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Nie Huaisang spent all their free time together making trouble instead of studying, because Wei Wuxian just did that to people, winning them over despite themselves and then leading them into mischief – only to learn that it belonged to Lan Wangji. It was filled with gentians, which were more Jiang Cheng’s color than Jin Zixuan’s, but Jin Zixuan had seen enough peonies for a lifetime and needed the concealment besides.

It was very kind of Lan Wangji to let him stay, but he still felt he ought to apologize.

And not just for the intrusion.

Wei Wuxian’s ignominious departure from Lan Qiren’s classroom had made it much more peaceful, but that had come at a cost to Lan Wangji’s own education and opportunity to make friends with others – and while Jin Zixuan liked Wei Wuxian a great deal, he wasn’t sure how Lan Wangji felt about being stuck having to monitor him all day.

And now Lan Wangji was being nice to Jin Zixuan, letting him disturb his privacy like this without complaint, and even agreeing to let him stay so that he’d have somewhere quiet to study…he really ought to say something. Maybe apologize for Wei Wuxian, if that was appropriate. It probably was: he was responsible for him, in his own way. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure how to start the conversation –

“Do you like Wei Wuxian?” he blurted out, then felt his face go bright red. He hadn’t meant to ask it that way! After all, who didn’t know how much Lan Wangji disliked Wei Wuxian? He was always glaring at him and saying he was speaking nonsense and telling him to get lost and –

Lan Wangji nodded.

Jin Zixuan blinked. He did? But then why –

“Oh,” he said, suddenly realizing. “You’re socially awkward, too!”

Lan Wangji frowned at him, and Jin Zixuan waved his hands.

“No, no, I don’t mean that as an insult,” he said hastily, trying to cover for his blunder. “It’s like me! I always say the wrong thing, so most of the time I try not to say anything – of course people always get the wrong idea anyway, thinking I’m being quiet because I’m looking down at them…Wei Wuxian’s getting better at understanding people, but he’s still not very good at it, either. I bet he has no idea! If you like him, you should say as much.”

Lan Wangji shook his head.

“…I could say it for you, if you want?”

Even more urgent head-shaking.

Honestly, if Lan Wangji were a woman, Jin Zixuan would’ve thought that he had a crush.

As it was, he was probably just like Jin Zixuan: naturally awkward, and shy about it, too.

“It’s all right,” he said encouragingly. “Next time they throw a party, you can come and sit with me; we can have tea and pretend not to know them. It’s what I always do.”

Lan Wangji stared at him for a long moment, and then finally nodded very slowly.

“I appreciate the offer,” he said, voice neutral. “Thank you.”

When the time came and the Wen sect pushed things too far, naturally Jin Zixuan stood up for Mianmian.

Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji all did, too.

Naturally, this made Jin Zixuan feel like complete crap on their account – Mianmian was his friend, his sect, and naturally he had a responsibility towards her; the rest of them were just helping because they were good people, and good friends. But at this point they’d done it, and Wen Chao was angry at them all over it, and there was nothing to be done about it.

And then there was the Xuanwu of Slaughter, and they were all trapped inside with it.

Sometimes, he really hated the Wen sect. Often, even.

“Jiang Cheng, you and Jin Zixuan lead the way out,” Wei Wuxian instructed. “No, don’t protest! You’re heirs of Great Sects; everyone will follow you and listen to you, and that’s critical – you’ll need to evade the Wen sect’s efforts to recapture you. That means cohesion, and cohesion means hierarchy. I’ll stay behind to distract the Xuanwu…”

“That’s a terrible idea,” Jiang Cheng exclaimed.

Jin Zixuan nudged him. “Wei Wuxian’s usually right about this sort of thing,” he reminded him. It was a good thing they’d gotten over that period in their lives when Jiang Cheng thought Wei Wuxian was an evil thief who wanted to take away his older sister and Jin Zixuan’s rightful spouse, when they’d fought all the time while Jin Zixuan desperately tried to get between them. He still had no idea what magic alchemy had happened that had suddenly made them best friends – he suspected Mianmian, or maybe Jiang Yanli – but he was deeply grateful for it. “And we can’t risk the majority. Preserve human life above all else, remember? Teacher Lan’s lessons were very clear.”

“I will remain with Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, to no one’s surprise. They’d been more or less inseparable after Jin Zixuan had recruited Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang to help them get along better after Wei Wuxian’s temporary exile to the Library Pavilion had ended. It helped that Lan Qiren had pulled Wei Wuxian aside for personal lessons to help him catch up with the rest of them, and that those had somehow metamorphosed into afternoon sessions about inventing new types of musical cultivation techniques in which Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were the most enthusiastic, and only, students.

Best of all, it had given the rest of them a chance to finally actually do their work.

Well, not Nie Huaisang, but that was only to be expected.

“But your leg –” Wei Wuxian started, and Jin Zixuan nudged him.

“He’ll only be more worried if you don’t let him stay back and join you,” he said reasonably. “Anyway, it’s good for you to have an incentive not to detour into some big flashy heroic bullshit.”

“Awww, but Jin Zixuan, I like big flashy heroic bullshit!”

Jin Zixuan was, by this point, almost entirely convinced that Wei Wuxian actually was the biological child of Wei Changze, and that his father had lied, both about the man’s supposed infertility and possibly about having slept with Cangse Sanren at all. From Jiang Cheng’s stories, inherited from his father, it seemed that Wei Changze was also the sort of person who went in for big flashy heroic bullshit and reckless humor, the sort that would win him a disciple of an immortal mountain as a bride; it certainly seemed more likely than him sharing blood with Jin Zixuan or his father or even Jin Zixun, all of whom tended towards arrogance, but whose flash was all in their clothing.

Not that it mattered at this late date, of course. They were brothers now – as Nie Huaisang would put it, there were no takebacks allowed.

“No bullshit, you hear me?” Jin Zixuan repeated, looking pointedly at Wei Wuxian. “Not allowed. Take care of yourself, okay? Don’t make me have to tell Mistress Jiang that I lost her favorite idiot friend.”

“You tell her?” Jiang Cheng grumbled. “I’ll have to tell her. All right, let’s go.”

Jiang Yanli was not impressed with the fact that they’d left Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji alone in a cave with a giant murderous turtle.

She still made them soup and gave them bandages to wrap up their bloody feet, though.

(Jin Zixuan was never going to make a good impression on her, no matter what Jiang Cheng said.)

“Wen Chao has demanded recompense for the mess at the Nightless City,” Jin Zixuan’s mother said, reading a letter. Her lips curled up in a strange little smile. “He said Wei Wuxian’s right hand would do.”

“Mother,” Jin Zixuan exclaimed, leaping to his feet with his eyes wide. He’d only been home a week from the indoctrination camp, and Wei Wuxian was still lying in bed most of the time, pretending he wasn’t exhausted; Wen Chao must have sent the letter almost immediately after he’d realized they’d escaped. “You can’t be serious!”

“Why not?” she asked. “It’s just what the little bastard deserves, always trying to outshine you.”

Jin Zixuan shook his head, frantically trying to think of a way out of this, because he knew his mother wouldn’t so much as hesitate to order such an atrocity. She’d never forgiven Wei Wuxian for the possibility of being a threat to Jin Zixuan’s position, however remote the chance, and she’d tried very hard to convince Jin Zixuan of it, too – it was the only thing they didn’t agree on, the only thing Jin Zixuan didn’t yield to her on, and he hated every moment of it.

But not as much as his mother hated it.

It was the only thing she couldn’t control in his life, and she hatedit, and hated Wei Wuxian for it, too.

(She couldn’t hate Jin Zixuan. She couldn’t, because he had the right blood, because he was her son, because he was the heir of Lanling Jin and the source of all her power. But sometimes, when the light was dim and she glanced over too quickly and thought she saw his father when she looked at him, he thought that she wanted to.)

“You can’t be serious,” Jin Zixuan said a second time, keeping calm by sheer willpower. No one but him would dare to object if his mother made a move, especially in his father’s absence…and even if his father was there, Jin Zixuan wasn’t sure his father cared enough about Wei Wuxian to endure another fight with his fearsome wife. “Mother, he’s my servant – my responsibility. Whatever he does is my responsibility, whether to my credit or to my deficit. That’s how that works. They may be asking for Wei Wuxian’s hand, but who’s to say, when they come to claim it, that they won’t seek mine instead?”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“It’s the Wen sect,” Jin Zixuan reminded her. “What don’t they dare?”

She pursed her lips, thinking it over, and for a moment he thought he’d won. “Perhaps,” she allowed, and before he could even breath a sight of relief continued, “But no matter. They’ve set the price, and we can pay it, so why not? We can cut off his hand and send it to them as a peace offering in advance. After all, they’re important allies of ours, and he’s just a bastard.”

“But –”

“No, A-Xuan. No more arguing; I’ve decided.” Her smile broadened. “We’ll do it now.”

Jin Zixuan couldn’t fight with his mother. He’d never had the courage – he was as spineless as his father.

Almost as spineless.

“Yes, Mother,” he said, and drew his sword.

“A-Xuan..?”

“My servant, my responsibility,” he reminded her, and he knew that she’d misunderstood, that she thought that he was going to go take care of the grim task himself. He knew, because for a brief moment in time she looked happy – not true joy, but the only way she ever looked happy for as long as he could remember, like she’d won one over on someone and gotten her way despite everyone’s efforts. He hated to disappoint her. “I have my honor to think of, too.”

Jin Zixuan sent Wei Wuxian to the Lotus Pier, bearing words of warning. His father’s spies had reported that the Wen sect would probably target them first, using Jiang Cheng’s interference in the Xuanwu cave as an excuse – there wasn’t any point going after the Lan sect a second time, and the Jin sect were longstanding allies of Wen Ruohan, with Jin Guangshan being a coward at heart; if Wen Ruohan could keep him out of the inevitable war for a little longer by playing nice, he would.

Word came back not long after that they’d been right: the Lotus Pier had been destroyed.

It also said that Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli were missing – missing, but not dead. It didn’t say anything about their parents, and that was suspicious, too.

Maybe sending Wei Wuxian had helped after all.

“We should reach out to the Nie sect,” Jin Zixuan told his father. “With our money and their strength, we can resist the Wen sect long enough for the smaller sects to catch up.”

“The Wen sect is all-powerful,” his father objected. “What’s even the point of resisting? We’d be better off reaching out to them to see if we can reach a peaceful agreement.”

“We’ve already seen what agreement they want to reach,” Jin Zixuan said, and his father’s gaze dropped guiltily to his waist. Jin Zixuan didn’t bother looking down himself. He didn’t do that much, these days. “Am I your heir or am I not? You promised me that I’d inherit a sect, not slavery. Reach out to the Nie sect.”

Jin Zixuan should not talk that way to his father. He had always been a filial son, and a spineless one; his father’s son, and nothing else. The only thing he had going for him was the right blood – and even that wasn't that sure a bet, these days. He knew his father was already thinking about Jin Zixun in a way that suggested that all those rumors about his ‘cousin’ having a different father than the one everyone said he had might have some merit.

It seemed, though, that when pushed to it, he was also his mother’s son.

He hoped she choked on the knowledge.

“Reach out to the Nie sect,” he said again. “With all the cultivation world uniting, the Wen sect’s fall is inevitable. If we don’t act now, we’ll be seen as cowards, hanging back and waiting to see how things fall out to eke out the best advantage – if we act, we’ll be seen as heroes.”

“But what if you’re wrong, and the Wen sect does win?”

“Then we’ll tell Sect Leader Wen that we’re perfectly positioned to negotiate the other sects’ terms of surrender, and use that to win anyway,” Jin Zixuan said, less because he thought that was an acceptable course of action and more because he knew it would be what his father would do anyway. “Call the Nie sect.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Jiang Cheng hissed, wild-eyed, and Jin Zixuan blinked at him, taken aback.

“Is it because I wasn’t able to do more to help with the Lotus Pier?” he asked, feeling helpless. “I really did try to convince my father to send more people, but I barely even got him not to block my sending Wei Wuxian –”

“Not because of that!”

Jin Zixuan took a step back. “Uh, then –”

“You cut off your own hand you maniac!”

“The situation –” Jin Zixuan started backing up. “It was necessary – Wei Wuxian, help!”

“No, he’s right,” Wei Wuxian said, arms crossed. His eyes were teary, but they’d been that way since he’d left Jinlin Tower – ever since the Wen sect’s letter. “You’re a maniac, and Jiang Cheng’s going to kill you, and you’re going to deserve it.”

Lan Wangji, standing beside him, nodded.

“It’s not that bad, really.” Jin Zixuan tried to explain. “My mother and father would never have accepted anything else – threats to me are the only thing that work on them, and even that’s stopped working after all these years. Only a real injury would have an impact. If they hadn’t been so shocked, they would’ve just continued to ignore what the Wen sect was doing, or offered them an olive branch, and then then the Wen sect would’ve used that as an opportunity to come and divide up everyone else. We’d lose precious time to regroup, and the Wen sect would only get stronger and stronger –”

“You. Cut. Off. Your. Hand!”

“The Wen sect demanded the hand of the person who started the rebellion in the Xuanwu cave,” Jin Zixuan said quietly. “That was me, not Wei Wuxian. Why should he pay my debts?”

Everyone still seemed very upset, but maybe a little less murderous. Definitely a lot more teary-eyed.

“Couldn’t you have at least picked your other hand?” Wei Wuxian mumbled. “Your right hand – that’s your sword arm.”

Jin Zixuan shrugged. “They demanded the right hand,” he said. “Anyway, it’s fine, I’ve been using my left, and it’s been going smoothly enough…you know, I think I might actually be left-handed? I never knew; everyone always made me use my right.”

“Does it hurt?” Lan Wangji asked suddenly, and Jin Zixuan hesitated, not sure how to respond to that.

Unfortunately, everyone else took that in the worst way possible, and insisted on taking care of him, no matter how much he tried to explain that it didn’t hurt, not really, not anymore; it was just the strangest feeling of absence. Like something that had always been there wasn’t there anymore.

A bit like his mother. She wasn’t talking to him anymore.

He was a terrible son, and would probably end up spending eternity in some afterlife hell being tortured for failing to properly honor his parents.

He’d already resigned himself.

“How are your parts of the war going?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Chifeng-zun says it’s going well, but you know how he is; it’s all business with him, you never hear any stories. Did Wei Wuxian really knock out old Sect Leader Jiang when he refused to leave the Lotus Pier? Tell me he didn’t.”

“He did,” Jiang Cheng said, and he looked amused about it – maybe he’d be in the next boiling pot over in the afterlife of unfilial descendants. “He was a little frantic, you see, on account of not wanting to fail you by letting them die. After all, you had just cut off your own hand for him…”

“Are you ever going to let that drop?”

“Sure. As soon as you have two hands again.”

“…so, never.”

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng said patiently. “Never. Never ever, if that makes it clearer for you.”

Jin Zixuan’s new hand was made of steel and wire, under the gilding, and functioned using some of the innovative new talismans that Wei Wuxian had invented. He couldn’t help but hope that they weren’t part of the subset that constituted demonic cultivation because people were being really weird about that.

“It’s like people wanted for me to just die in the Burial Mounds,” Wei Wuxian complained. He was dressed in black and grey and red, which he’d apparently adopted as his new sect colors – Jin Zixuan had only managed to send him out of Lanling the first time by officially ejecting him from the Jin sect, a decision his father had initially endorsed but now, he suspected, was regretting.

It was a lot easier to throw out a servant than it was to invite back the founder of demonic cultivation, especially now that he was a war hero and a sect leader.

“You didn’t have to be in the Burial Mounds to begin with,” Jin Zixuan reminded him, to no avail. “I know I said I needed an army because my father wasn’t supplying us properly, but I didn’t mean ‘invent an entirely new cultivation technique and raise an army of the dead’. You know that, right?”

Wei Wuxian shrugged it off, because of course he did.

“You know, they’re calling me the Yiling Patriarch?” he said, and grinned. “It’s because the Burial Mounds are in Yiling, and because I’m founding my own sect. Or whatever. Like I wouldn’t be supporting you, anyway.”

“It has to be your own sect because otherwise you might be forced to share your secret techniques,” Jin Zixuan explained, not for the first time. “Rogue cultivators don’t have the same protections that sects do, even small sects. It doesn’t matter if you’re the only person in it. Or, well, you and Lan Wangji, I guess.”

“I still can’t believe he’s willing to leave the Lan sect to join me,” Wei Wuxian sighed happily. “He’s such a good friend.”

Jin Zixuan wasn’t sure about the strength of his new hand, which was the only reason he didn’t try to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. “You’re a bad influence, you know,” he said instead of trying to explain to Wei Wuxian that people didn’t generally leave their natal sects for the sake of a ‘good friend’. “I nearly hit a girl the other day.”

“You did? You? What’d she do?”

“She gave me soup and implied that she’d made it,” Jin Zixuan said. “Except it tasted exactly the same as the soup Mistress Jiang is always making for you – I’ve had it recently enough to know. Sure enough, I push the issue a bit and it turns out it was Mistress Jiang’s. The girl was just trying to claim credit as an excuse to get close to me.”

He sighed. He’d been so angry about it. They were at war! People were dying, losing their homes, losing everything, and this stupid girl could only think about how to plot and scheme to try to get to a prized position as the future Madame Jin. Had his mother done the same, when it’d been his father…?

“You’ve had shijie’s soup recently?” Wei Wuxian asked. His expression looked slightly odd. “Shijie made you soup?”

“Yeah, I think she’s been dropping off whatever’s left over at my tent when she’s done,” Jin Zixuan said, shaking his head. Jiang Yanli was so nice, really truly genuinely nice. He’d never met anyone like her. “Could you thank her for me? I appreciate the thoughtfulness – it’s filling enough that I don’t need to go to the mess, which means there’s more left over for everyone else.”

“…sure,” Wei Wuxian said. “I’ll tell her. Or, and here’s a thought – why don’t you tell her yourself?”

“Why would I? You’re the one she likes,” Jin Zixuan said, puzzled. “I mean, you’re her adopted little brother, aren’t you? She’s practically your second soulmate, after Lan Wangji.”

“I’m really busy,” Wei Wuxian announced, despite having been lazing around complaining that they didn’t have any encounters with the Wen sect lined up for a whole week only a few moments before. “I couldn’t possibly take the time out of my schedule to go talk to her – you see, I’ve had an idea, which is going to keep me very busy…in fact, I’m not even going to be here at all! I need to go to the Lan sect encampment to consult with Teacher Lan.”

Discovering that Lan Qiren had a mad scientist streak when it came to musical cultivation had been extremely disquieting, Jin Zixuan reflected. The world might’ve been better off if Lan Qiren had never had a chance to actually get friendly with Wei Wuxian – Wei Wuxian provided the terrible ideas, Lan Qiren scolded him about them and then helped him smooth the kinks out of them anyway.

Teacher for a day, father for a lifetime…

“All right,” Jin Zixuan said, though he still didn’t exactly understand what had just happened. “I’ll go talk to her, I guess.”

“I just wanted to make sure you know you’re not obligated to make me soup or anything,” Jin Zixuan said, not sure where this conversation had gone off the rails.

Probably around the time that Jiang Yanli had started smiling at him, because he always turned into an idiot whenever that happened. She was so very nice, not just average at all no matter what anyone said, and blissfully down-to-earth – she wouldn’t be wasting her time and everyone else’s thinking about how to politically advance herself despite there being a war on. She spent all her time learning field medicine and helping cook meals for the mess and –

And he’d better stop thinking because he was turning red again.

“I enjoy making soup for you,” Jiang Yanli said peaceably. “Especially since I know you enjoy it, too.”

“I do! It’s just, I don’t know, you already do so much, with the medics and organizing and everything…It’s – uh – I – listen, I know our parents – you don’t have to pay attention to that. I only have one hand, I’m not – don’t feel obligated, not because of that. And don’t let Wei Wuxian make you think making soup is the only thing you’re good for, no matter how much he likes it, okay? You do so much more than just that!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, covering her smile with her hand. “You’re very sweet, you know.”

Jin Zixuan made an incoherent sound.

He would need to do something in return, he thought, a little frantic; he really didn’t know how to deal with a sincere compliment from someone he actually liked. Maybe poetry? Girls were said to like poetry. He couldn’t write poetry worth a damn, but he could pay someone –

She kissed him on the cheek.

All thought abruptly departed.

“Don’t worry, it’s not inappropriate – after all, we’re already engaged,” Jiang Yanli said cheerfully. “Which I’m very good with, so don’t worry about that. Good luck in your next battle, Jin-gongzi.”

At some point she must have left, because she wasn’t there anymore, and Jin Zixuan was still opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

Mianmian peeked in, then snickered. “Oh no,” she said. “She broke him. Everyone! Come look! She totally broke him!”

“Did you actually cut off your hand to save a servant?” Jin Guangyao asked.

“It was a bit more complicated than that,” Jin Zixuan said, uncomfortable, then added, “Welcome to the family.”

Jin Guangyao smiled.

For some reason, Jin Zixuan felt a shiver run up his spine. He didn’t think he liked this new brother of his, and he felt bad about it – he’d welcomed Wei Wuxian whole-heartedly, hadn’t he? Was it really that different when it actually was someone of his own blood?

He didn’t like that thought.

“I hope we can be friends,” he said, willing it to be true, and Jin Guangyao murmured something agreeable in return.

Jin Zixuan wished he liked him.

“My mother is going to hate you,” he said, because he knew that she would. “If she does, let me know, and I’ll try to stop her…not just her. If anyone treats you wrong, just tell me. I’ll stand up for you.”

Jin Guangyao smiled again.

“You’re so kind,” he said, and for some reason Jin Zixuan had the feeling that he didn’t mean it at all.

Jin Zixuan had been engaged since before he was born, and it still somehow came as a surprise to find himself married. Not just the event, either – these days he woke up with his wife in his arms and was forced to just stare at her lying there in the soft morning light and wonder how he got so lucky.

He was married.

To a very nice girl, who actually seemed to like him a great deal – she’d made that clear enough when she’d had a chance. Very clear, in fact, which was why there was also a very slight curve in her belly that meant that soon enough he wouldn’t just be married, but a father.

“You’d tell me if I was dreaming, right?” he asked Wei Wuxian, who was visiting again. He did that a lot, but in fairness he didn’t really have a settled place to live – everyone knew the supposed ‘sect’ he’d founded was little more than a sham. He’d been technically kicked out of the Jin sect and refused all offers to rejoin, and it seemed he wasn’t quite ready to scandalize the entire cultivation world by marrying into the Lan sect no matter what Lan Xichen had been hinting. Sometimes he and Lan Wangji spent time at the Lotus Pier with Jiang Cheng, or the Unclean Realm with Nie Huaisang under Nie Mingjue’s long-suffering gaze…everyone called Wei Wuxian the Yiling Patriarch, on account of him ‘founding’ his sect there – or rather, summoning up extra resentful energy from the Burial Mounds for the purposes of obtaining an army while minimizing the number of disturbed graves – but he wasn’t, not really. He didn’t live there or anything.

Who would want to live there?

“I would,” Wei Wuxian agreed, but he didn’t follow it up with teasing or anything the way he usually did.

He just looked very uncharacteristically perturbed.

“What is it?” Jin Zixuan asked. “Can I help?”

“No heroic bullshit,” Wei Wuxian said at once, which meant that there was a possibility of heroic bullshit. Given Wei Wuxian’s personality, that also meant that it was heroic bullshit that would be bad for the Jin sect, which he still felt bad about on account of them raising him and all…in all honesty, it might be a good thing in the long run that Jin Zixuan’s father and mother had been so awful to Wei Wuxian as a kid, and that he’d known it. If they’d been good to him, he never would have been willing to leave. “But, uh, remember Wen Ning?”

Jin Zixuan blinked. Wei Wuxian had told him some stories: a junior disciple of the Wen sect, from a branch family – Dafan Wen – who’d helped Wei Wuxian out a few times when he’d been smuggling the Jiang clan to freedom.

More than a few times: he’d been Wei Wuxian’s first disciple in matters of resentful energy, which Wei Wuxian had apparently been thinking of since forever and started playing around with more or less the moment he was no longer officially tied to a sect, and had been a valuable contact during the early period of the war before events had changed and he’d been lost.

“Yes,” he said. “What about him?”

He hadn’t thought of Wen Ning in ages, beyond abstractly hoping he was doing well. It might be hard, with a surname as he had, but surely there was somewhere in the cultivation world for those surnamed Wen – Wei Wuxian had argued fiercely in favor of leniency for the remaining Wen cultivators, and the Lan sect had backed him, thanks to Lan Wangji. The rest of them had been exhausted, Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng and his parents, even Jin Zixuan…his father had ended up volunteering their sect to help with resettlement of the refugees, which had been a pleasant surprise.

Sure, Jin Zixuan knew his father well enough to know that he was only doing it for the clout and possible advantage it would give him, but he was pretty sure the Wen civilians didn’t especially care why they were going to get a reprieve from death and a new place to live, only that they did.

“I’ll get there,” Wei Wuxian said. “It’s a bit complicated…you know how Jin Zixun’s in charge of resettlement?”

Jin Zixuan nodded, puzzled. “What about it?”

“You can’t do that!” one of the guards shouted at Wei Wuxian. “We’re disciples of the Jin sect –”

“Is that so,” Jin Zixuan said, and they all turned to look at him, each one of them blanching in utter horror. “And why didn’t I know that my Jin sect had such people as you?”

“Where’s Wen Ning?” Wen Qing asked Wei Wuxian, looking desperate. “I don’t see him…Where is he?!”

“That monster?” one of the guards blurted out.

“My brother is not a monster!”

“He’s been hiding in the woods,” one of the Wen civilians volunteered. “He’s been raiding the camp, rescuing people who are being abused –”

“Our response was reasonable in light of his aggression,” the guard argued. “He used demonic cultivation – he’s a monster! We had no choice –”

“We’re going to need to question them,” Jin Zixuan said to Lan Wangji, who was looking faintly murderous in his usual righteous sort of way. “To find out who’s their backing – Jin Zixun wouldn’t have dared something like this, not on his own. Can you bind them for me?”

It was his father.

Of course.

“A-Yao, what do you want?” Jin Zixuan asked, and Jin Guangyao stopped in his tracks, staring at him in confusion – as well he should, since he’d only come into Jin Zixuan’s study in order to say good morning on his way to breakfast. “No, sorry, that’s not what I meant. I meant, you know, in life.”

Jin Guangayo blinked at him.

Probably not the best question to spring on someone before breakfast, Jin Zixuan reflected.

“It’s about the trouble that my – that our father got into,” Jin Zixuan explained. “The other cultivation sects are furious to no end that he took advantage of their trust in order to do such a disgraceful thing…I’ve ordered Zixun to be confined for now, and I suspect he’ll have to be banished to some country house for a few years. And as you know, my father will be retiring soon and handing over the position of sect leader to me…”

Neither of them especially wanted that to happen, his father as loathe to give up power as Jin Zixuan was to take it. But what other solution was there after such a scandal?

The Lan sect, ever concerned with morality, had been horrified when they’d found out what had happened; the Jiang sect, despite their close relationship to the Jin sect, had immediately denounced it, and Jiang Yanli, who was Wei Wuxian’s friend, was the very first to speak. The Nie sect, never a firm ally for the Jin sect, was growling about righteousness, and if Nie Mingjue was sincere about that being his only concern – and having worked with the man, Jin Zixuan believed he was – then there were plenty of others in the Nie sect that had their eyes on the greater influence and power that would accrue to their sect if Jin Zixuan’s father were allowed to bring his sect down with him.

Handing over power was the only way to make sure their Jin sect remained strong.

“He won’t be alone, at least,” Jin Zixuan sighed. “I won him that much.”

Jiang Fengmian had agreed to step down from his position as sect leader as well, making it seem as though Jin Guangshan’s retirement were voluntary, part of a joint agreement of the older generation handing over power to the newer. Everyone would know in their hearts that that wasn’t the case, but it would be far less shameful than the alternative – saving a little bit of his father’s face.

“You did well,” Jin Guangyao said, listening with a neutral expression. “In uncovering everything, and revealing it.”

“I would’ve brought you in to help, but I couldn’t,” Jin Zixuan explained. “I know he asked you to help in finding demonic cultivators to join the Jin sect, and…”

He hesitated.

“He implicated me?” Jin Guangyao asked.

He had. Their father was shameless: he’d even sought to move all blame to Jin Guangyao’s back, whether as the actual mastermind or, when that was rejected, as the inciter of the scheme. Nonsense, of course.

Anyway, it didn’t matter. Even if Jin Guangyao had suggested it, it would have been his father’s responsibility to refuse.

“No one believes it,” Jin Zixuan said, which was only partially a lie. “Even Chifeng-zun laughed in his face and said you wouldn’t be nearly that stupid.”

Jin Guangyao looked – oddly pleased by that, if Jin Zixuan had to guess.

“Still, it’s awkward,” he said, rubbing his head. “People talk, and our subsidiary sects have never been as quiet as some others…you don’t have to tell me right now what you’re planning, or what you want in the long term. But maybe – uh – you have two sworn brothers. Is there any chance…”

“I could go visit them for a while?”

Jin Zixuan smiled helplessly. “I wish it weren’t necessary. And if you did know what you wanted, I could take it into account when planning the future…”

“No, no,” Jin Guangyao said. “Visiting my sworn brothers will be – fine.” He looked thoughtful. “You said Chifeng-zun didn’t think I was involved?”

“Zewu-jun was also vociferous in your defense,” Jin Zixuan said, trying to elide the fact that it wasn’t so much that Nie Mingjue didn’t think Jin Guangyao was capable of such atrocities, but rather that he declared, and loudly, that if Jin Guangyao had intended to do something horrific like that, he’d have handled it better. Judging by Jin Guangyao’s amused expression, he might have guessed anyway. “I appreciate your understanding.”

Jin Guangyao smiled.

Jin Zixuan thought he might even mean it, this time.

“I’m an uncle!” Wei Wuxian crowed, holding Jin Ling in his arms. “I’m an uncle, I’m an uncle!”

“Big deal,” Jiang Cheng grumbled, which would be more convincing if he wasn’t beaming foolishly. “So am I. Hand him over...hey, A-Ling! It's me, your jiujiu!”

“Can I be an honorary uncle?” Nie Huaisang asked – Jin Zixuan had no idea when he’d even arrived, or why he was here, or anything, really, but that was probably because he hadn’t really slept on account of over-excitement. “I mean, my brother’s sworn brothers with Jin-xiong’s brother, so it works, right?”

“That’s ridiculous –” Jiang Cheng started.

“No, I love it!” Wei Wuxian immediately declared. “That means Lan Zhan’s his uncle, too!”

“Wei Wuxian…!”

“Don’t worry,” Jin Zixuan said, hugging Jiang Cheng out of sheer excitement. “You’re his only jiujiu, right? Everyone else is related through me, so they have to share.”

Jiang Cheng seemed pleased by that, and Wei Wuxian laughed.

Nie Huaisang was calculating on his fingers. “You know,” he said thoughtfully. “This might be the most well-connected baby in the entire cultivation world? The only thing we’re missing is the Wen sect…Jiang-xiong, how about you marry Wen Qing? Then we’d have them all!”

“That is not how I’m determining my marriage!” Jiang Cheng yelped, but notably didn’t reject the idea.

Jin Zixuan looked at Jiang Yanli, who looked back at him, and they both started laughing.

There was more noise after that, and eventually Jin Ling woke up and started crying, making everyone start fussing like a bunch of old hens surrounding a long-suffering Jiang Yanli who’d already grown accustomed to it in a way the rest of them hadn’t.

It suddenly occurred to Jin Zixuan that everyone who was here was here because they wanted to be. Not because of his name or his wealth, not because he was Sect Leader Jin, not because of the circumstances of his birth, but just because they liked him – because they wanted to celebrate with him, and to cherish his child, to share his joy.

It was a good day.

All the days were a little good, but this one was especially good.

#mdzs #jin zixuan #wei wuxian #mianmian #jiang cheng #lan wangji #jin guangyao #jiang yanli #my fic #my fics #right hand man

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grewlikefancyflowers · 2 years

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Question. Is WWX anti-rich? I see ppl describe him like this but I don't really think so. I think he's anti-tyrrants whether they're born upperclass (Wens, Jins, Jiangs) or lowerclass (Xue Yang)? He himself doesn't mind if he's poor or rich; he expressed sadness when he thought abt how he used to have money (Yi City empathy); but he also doesn't mind if he ends up living simple. I don't think he generally hates wealth or he's "tolerating" lwj being rich like some ppl in the fandom are saying.

hmm i guess this depends on exactly how you're defining 'anti-rich'...

is wwx someone who is resents rich individuals purely by virtue of them being rich? no. his husband is rich, almost everyone he knows is rich.

is wwx someone who spurns wealth? no. he has no problem enjoying the material benefits of wealth* both in his youth at lotus pier and when he is with lwj (ch.87, x)

however, wwx is critical of some things associated with wealth, eg ostentatious displays of wealth (see his reactions to jzx, jl, and jc's use of fuxian nets on dafan mt.) wwx & lwj also refuse payment for night-hunting (intrusion) whereas jc requires gifts just so people can have an audience with him (ch.85), and the jin sect turns away anyone whose status is deemed to low (iron hook). so i think it can be said that wwx is critical of the amassing of wealth at others expense, using wealth to oppress others, and using wealth to show off or increase status.

while 'anti-tyranny' is maybe a more fitting descriptor than anti-rich, it should be kept in mind that in mdzs (and irl), the two things are integral to each other. (eg xue yang was only able to go as far as he did because of the resources and protection afforded to him by the jin sect).

*while wwx has no problem spending jfm's and lwj's money, we see that wwx generally uses his wealth to buy gifts for others (ch.18,33). we also see that he insists on paying when offered free food.

''The vendor grinned as well, “Young Master Wei, you want one? I’ll give it to you for free. Not charging anything.”

Wei WuXian, “I’ll have one. Charge it still.”'' (ch.71)

and when he asks lwj for more money in dawn til dusk, it's because he spent all his taking the juniors out to eat.

even when he's 'sad' about being poor in yi city, it's in this context lol

'He reminisced, If you stole my money, you wouldn’t have cursed in such a way. Back then, I used to be wealthy as well… Just as he was sighing about how he became so poor, A-Qing had already found her next target.' (ch.38)

tbh this doesn't read as very sad to me? esp as we see only a few chapters earlier wwx gleefully spending lwj's money (again), it comes off as pretty light-hearted. like 'ugh i'm so poor now' rather than truly lamenting about it.

so even when he has wealth, it doesn't ever seem like wwx was ever particularly interested in spending it on himself, other than for food.

#mdzs #also like hmm i come across a few 'wwx would be rich in a modern au' takes and like. ok there's several problems with that.#the first is—you guys realise amassing vast amounts of wealth under capitalism is a /bad/ thing right ??#second is this headcanon seems to work off the notion that in a modern au there are absolutely no barriers to obtaining wealth #as long as you're smart enough ? innovative enough ? work hard enough? which is demonstrably untrue and a take steeped in classism #and capitalist propaganda.#mdzs meta

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ninjakk · 2 years

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At the beginning of mdzs, there is this scene which is not said much in my opinion. The way Wei WuXian got so worried about Lan WangJi when he asked one of the Lans where is Han GuangJun. I would like to know your thoughts on this as you have read mdzs without knowing the love interests in this.

Wei WuXian is really protective of Lan WangJi if we look closer to all of his dialogue. At the second siege in burial mounds, Wei WuXian take close care even to the cut on Lan WangJi's finger. Wei WuXian love Lan WangJi so much. Just as one of your meta said, they love each other equally.

Hi Anon ☺️

Do you know what - I actually love that scene and the entirety of chapter 19. I think it sets up the rest of the novel quite nicely. It shows the reader just how well the pair work together so naturally and it helps establish the interesting mystery that they are about to embark on.

I have to say, although I originally read the novel unaware it included any romance - by the point you are referencing above, I was pretty much convinced there was going to be! Personally, I think I deserve a medal for resisting the urge to find out if the novel had undertones of romance in it! But I held myself back, because I was enjoying the idea of being somewhat in the dark about it all. So it was still just my assumptions, but I was certainly looking for any signs of romance by this point 😍

So let's take a look at the scene in question.

It was extremely scary for an accident to happen during the spirit summoning ritual, since nobody would know what being it would summon or what would happen if someone broke in. And, ever since the mingshi was built, there were almost no cases where the summoning failed. This made everyone more worried. Seeing that Lan WangJi didn’t appear, Wei WuXian had a foreboding feeling. If Lan WangJi was still in the Cloud Recesses, he would have hurried over immediately, as he heard the alarming chimes of the bell, unless…

Chapter 19 ExR translations

So first things first, WWX is more than aware LWJ is capable of looking after himself, but that doesn't stop him worrying or making a fuss about him at times! Even on a first read, we can tell from the Cloud Recesses flashbacks and the way everyone seems to be somewhat in awe of LWJ's skills, he must be quite formidable.

This is the first time we see WWX (in his second life) essentially running towards LWJ, rather than running away and 'trying to escape'. In fact the whole scenario was a perfect opportunity for WWX to grab a jade token and leave the Cloud Recesses, while everyone was distracted. But instead of taking advantage of the commotion, he is more concerned about LWJ. WWX instantly comes to the conclusion that LWJ must be inside the mingshi, where something has gone wrong, making him rather anxious. Which again, on my first read, added to my ever growing assumption that WWX had the hots for LWJ since they were teenagers.

Wei WuXian grabbed his hand at once, speaking in a low voice, “Which being’s spirit are you summoning? Who else is inside? Where’s HanGuang-Jun?!” It seemed as if the disciple had trouble breathing, “HanGuang-Jun told me to run away…” Before he finished his sentence, dark-red blood gushed out of his nose and mouth. Wei WuXian pushed him into Lan SiZhui’s arms. With the hastily created bamboo flute still by his waist, he went up the stairs in just a few strides. He kicked the mingshi’s door and commanded, “Open!”

WWX quickly approaches the person who escaped the mingshi, trying to gather as much information as he can and determine if LWJ is inside. It's quite telling that the only thing WWX manages to find out from the injured disciple is that LWJ is inside, yet he rushes towards the mingshi's door the minute he hears he might be in trouble. WWX dashes towards the door, unperturbed by the fact he might be attracting a lot of attention in doing so. Considering he managed to gain access to the mingshi so effortlessly and he is meant to be playing the part of a crazy subpar cultivator, he's not doing the best job of keeping in character! But I suppose we can let him off, because he's obviously worried about LWJ.

WWX has always cared about LWJ, more than he ever realised in his first life. Even during the Xuanwu of Slaughter chapters we can see WWX moves almost instinctively whenever he is worried about LWJ. Although WWX was most likely about to step in and help MianMian anyway, it's his concern for LWJs safety that causes him to do so in the end. Prior to that, he was being held back by JC. Seeing that LWJ was about to be attacked, without any means to defend himself, was the catalyst that finally encouraged him to go against JCs wishes and become embroiled in the situation. Later in this arc, LWJ is bitten by the Xuanwu of Slaughter, after pushing WWX out of the way to save him and WWX reacts reflexively once again.

If it dragged Lan WangJi inside, then he’d most likely never come out again! Wei WuXian broke into a sprint. Just as the head was about to shrink inside, he threw himself over, clinging to one of the teeth on its upper jaw. His strength could never have been able to compete with such a monster’s. Yet, under the life-or-death situation, superhuman strength had exploded within him.

Chapter 53

WWX himself even admits that his strength was no match for the beast, but he still rushed to help LWJ. He reacted so fast, even LWJ was shocked WWX managed to catch up before the beast disappeared into its shell. WWX manages to overcome the beasts ferocious jaws with sheer determination and his utter refusal to let LWJ die.

At times, WWXs rationale is even momentarily overridden by concern when LWJ is involved. We see this more in his second life.

Having heard a few clashes of the blades, Wei WuXian’s heart suddenly tightened. He blurted out, “Lan Zhan? Are you hurt?!” From afar, there came a muffled grunt, as if someone had received a critical injury. It clearly wasn’t Lan WangJi’s voice, though. Lan WangJi, “Of course not.” Wei WuXian grinned, “So it seems!”

Chapter 34

During the Yi City arc, we can see WWX react in a similar way to the scene at the mingshi. WWX can't see LWJ and he starts to worry about his safety once again. Granted it was quite a dire situation and LWJ was certainly at a disadvantage in the fog with a glowing sword, while up against someone who was not only familiar with his moves, but also had their sword glare masked. But as we later see, once WWX has calmed his emotions and his logic returns, he has total faith in LWJs abilities.

Lan JingYi approved, “Well, obviously. Of course HanGuang-Jun is good. He just never likes to show it off. He is very low-key, right?” The “right?” was directed at Wei WuXian, who replied in confusion, “Are you asking me? Why are you asking me?” Lan JingYi was on the verge of being angered, “So you think that HanGuang-Jun is not good?!” Wei WuXian touched his chin, “Hmm. He’s good. Of course. He’s really good. He’s the best.” As he talked, he couldn’t help but break into a smile.

Chapter 38

WWX is well aware of LWJ's impressive skills, but he can't help his feelings bubble up to the surface at times, whenever LWJ is in a situation that might get him hurt. Thus his rationale momentarily disappears on occasion!

As much as LWJ loves to take care of WWX, he in turn loves to take care of LWJ and make a fuss over him as well. We see this time and time again throughout the novel. As you said, the small but sweet scene where WWX cleans and covers LWJs wound using his own robes, during the second siege at the Burial Mounds, is one example of this.

There are numerous other examples of WWX making a fuss of LWJ, both in WWXs first and second life. We have WWX seeing to LWJs wounds in the cave, intending to use all of the medicinal herbs on him and ignoring his own injuries. Depending on if you believe the theory WWX obtained the perfume pouch for LWJ in the first place - there is also that. WWX even gives LWJ his cleaner inner robes, keeping his dirty outer robe for himself. It's all very sweet!

In his second life, we see WWX tenderly wash a drunk LWJ's face, worry about him not eating enough and fuss over his clothes when he accidentally gets blood on them. I think my favourite example of WWX looking after LWJ in his second life is from a scene at Guanyin Temple. WWX lovingly covering LWJs ears, to protect him from JCs painfully noisy attempt at distributing JGYs dark melody on his guqin - is just the cutest thing!

I find it quite funny as WWX is very much "HanGuang-Jun is just amazing! He can beat anyone!" and at the same time "Lan Zhan! Are you okay?! You have a tiny cut, let me see to that for you." Of course LWJ is exactly the same. He is also aware WWX is more than capable of looking after himself, but his reflexes are to protect him nevertheless. It's just so natural for them both! It's so sweet how instinctive it has always been for WWX to think this way about LWJ, even in his first life 💕

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #mdzs novel #anon ask #answered ask

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plan-d-to-i · 2 years

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Hello, I just saw this weird take on the MDZS Short Fics on ch 4. 'He actually wasn't really mediocre, he was ranked 5th in the best-looking young gentlemen in the cultivation world and in terms of skill and knowledge in the 6 arts (this was before the sunshot campaign too). Wei Wuxian was always ahead, thats true but Jiang Cheng was always a step behind. He kept up his pace and considering Wwx is a literal genius I'd say its pretty damn impressive. (1/?)

. He kept up his pace and considering Wwx is a literal genius I'd say its pretty damn impressive. Plus though he’s not very good at manipulating people, but he generally has a pretty good sense of which ways the political winds are blowing and he almost always knows what’s going to annoy, infuriate or enrage. (2/?)

It’s why he gets so twitchy when Wei Wuxian starts doing stuff that’s going to land him with a Reputation. he has custom virulence perfectly tailored to his target’s insecurities and weaknesses. Very good at making people mad. He's good at organization and logistics. He walks down that mountain and manages to pull together enough of a clan to start fighting the Wen, making allies, and looking for his brother, and I don’t think he could do that if he wasn’t pretty good at both of those things. (3)

TLDR: good at reading a room, organization,leadership and logistics. Drive as we. And lastly you remember that cute disciple in nightless city that was like 'Oh look! The ghouls aren't attacking us! Senior brother didnt forget us after all!'' The next scene we see him dead and a zombie slashing Yanli's back. That chip was earned. Sorry about the other guy, and for the long read :) I had a lot of feelings today and needed them out. (4/4). Tbh I think this one just didn't understand MDZS at all.

Well this person may have not even read MDZS since they're referencing cql here... so I'm going to go ahead and take their "meta" on the story and characterization, and gently, tenderly, carefully place it in a 🌋...

jc may have been number 5, still hilarious that he's less eligible even as a Clan heir than WWX, but in the present he's banned by the matchmakers courtesy of his personality... so ...

Also, do people think: "he has custom virulence perfectly tailored to his target’s insecurities and weaknesses." is a positive thing the way it manifests in jc? Like: He can be the biggest asshole in the room and make everyone miserable and he does 🥺🙌. you dropped this 👑 💩 king.

He doesn't utilize it to manipulate a situation for the better. He just uses it to shit on other people. Usually the good people. Now JGY for example uses that ability in a savvy way to throw his opponents off balance and gain the upper hand. jc? jc just knows how to hurt ppl for the sake of hurting them.

You know who else knows how to play on someone's temper but isn't consistently an asshole for it? Wei Wuxian. He uses that strategically in the Xuanwu cave to get Wen Chao away from Wen Zhuliu so he shift the odds in their favor and help MianMian, Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji - and really everyone else in the cave who was going to be forced to face the Xuanwu without their swords.

jc gets twitchy when WWX is doing the right thing bc let's say 20% he also wants to be seen as a hero but he's too self absorbed and selfish to put in the work...which brings us to the remaining 80% of his motivation- which is that he doesn't want to inconvenience himself to help someone else.

#mdzs #answers #jiang cheng #canon jiang cheng

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thedoubteriswise · 4 years

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okay so. I am a smart adult with many important responsibilities. I have good taste and care about things that matter. for this reason, I’ve been trying to identify where in cql canon wangxian manage to fuck.

because they definitely do; I like a good post-canon getting together fic as much as the next guy, but it’s just not realistic.

allow them. it’s already been so long.

(just like this goddamn post turned out to be, let’s do a cut)

right. so initially it looks like you could place this right after the time skip in episode 33, because it shows us that wwx is with lwj in cloud recesses. we know that he spent the night in the jingshi because he wakes up there the next morning before he goes for a nostalgic tour of his old school.

and also visits the cold spring, where lwj is mostly naked. nice.

but wait! wwx is surprised by the scars on his back and chest. that seems like something he would have known about if they’d already been naked together the night before, so I’m going to say they did not fuck immediately upon wwx’s return to cloud recesses. okay, fine, they’re taking things slow, that’s cool.

maybe they could work it into the next night, then. oh wait, lqr is injured and... staying in the jingshi? for reasons?

I don’t know why. he must have his own house in cloud recesses, and it’s probably at least as comfortable as lwj’s, but here he is. he lives to stop his nephew from getting laid, I guess.

the next day they do some Q&A with the kids and determine that they need to head to qinghe to figure out what’s going on with this sword thing. great! we love a romantic road trip, plenty of alone time. but they also have to do their jobs, and then jin ling needs to get rescued from a wall of dirt, and jc is unfortunately there being himself, and then they have to grill nhs about his tomb full of angry sabers, etc. etc.

with all that going on, their next obvious chance is at the inn immediately after interviewing nhs. this evening has already included:

wwx gazing lovingly at lwj from afar

lwj carrying wwx on his back

lwj pawing at wwx’s robes trying to deal with his cursed leg

lwj helping wwx up the stairs, serving him wine, fixing his flute, and generally being at his beck and call

a very sexy and homoerotic duet

and now they’re alone and drooling over each other as usual. this seems like a plausible spot, right?

it does! but no. after they go back to the nie basement o’ swords and hear the backstory on nmj’s death, we see them walking in yueyang and lwj asks wwx how the curse mark on his leg is doing. wwx says it’s almost healed, which may or may not be a lie, but his inner monologue says:

he’s more concerned about the wound on his arm from the sacrificing curse, which lwj doesn’t know about, because wwx won’t tell him and they still haven’t been naked together.

also, this silly teenage shit doesn’t make much sense unless they’re still dancing around each other.

you guys love the sound of opportunities as they go flying past, don’t you?

right after this, lwj gets drunk. I’m aware that Stuff Happens in the novel scene that inspired this bit, and they do incorporate some of that into the show by having lwj commit petty larceny and admit that he “likes rabbits” as part of the softest and most loving conversation in human history oh my god

but lwj goes to sleep right on time, and the next morning, wwx is laughing and reassuring him that nothing happened.

after this, it’s time to go on a fucked up field trip with the kids in yi city, so they don’t really have any time alone for a few episodes until they’ve finished that and everyone is back at yet another inn. I wonder if they learned something about wasted chances and poor communication from this miserable songxiao story?

maybe! look, they’re being cute and domestic. there are currently no material barriers preventing them from having sex, nor will there be any specific evidence later on proving that they didn’t.

but they’re still firmly in mystery-solving mode and the juniors and lxc are floating around. the vibe isn’t quite there. if I were to pick the most solid reason why I think they’re saving room for jesus at this point, it would be the tension that happens when wwx again asks how lwj recognized him. lwj asks why his memory is so bad, and wwx replies that he wishes he had a bad memory. even though they’re comfortable and happy being together, there’s still some fundamental distance remaining. there’s no sense of romantic resolution. that was actually a point against all their previous opportunities as well; they’re all very sweet, but none of these feel like the place in a story where the romantic leads Officially Get Together.

okay, off to koi tower! shit is getting extremely real. everyone’s busy insinuating that they recognize wwx, but no one is saying it explicitly. wwx isn’t supposed to be here. the guy he’s pretending to be also isn’t supposed to be here. he and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s brother are trying to figure out if his boyfriend’s brother’s boyfriend is a murderer. no one is comfortable and the political intrigue leaves no time for fucking in front of anyone’s salad.

I guess there’s plenty of time to make dozens of armed guards and like half the people they know wait while they have a romantic moment, though.

could they be more in love? And that sure feels like a romantic resolution that might be followed by narratively-earned sex.

ah. no, unfortunately wwx gets stabbed again. this certainly sucks, but it does have the helpful consequence of making lwj take him back to cloud recesses, where they are mostly alone and as safe as they can be in the circumstances. now there’s even more tenderness and also some plot-justified touching and skin exposure. plus, lwj just made a very public declaration of love.

too bad wwx has probably been unconscious since he started coughing up blood in the forest near lanling. he’s also still visibly in pain. fresh abdominal wounds tend to kill the mood.

but hey, the injuries on this show are only as serious as they need to be to move the plot forward and facilitate gentle h/c scenes, so by evening he’s looking perfectly healthy and walking around under his own steam like nothing’s wrong. I guess that problem can be ignored moving forward.

lxc then offers the the most devastating highlights of lwj’s backstory, like, all at once. it’s nice that he includes a flute solo to give wwx a second to process this mountain of terrible information. what the fuck.

there he is! the most devoted man in the whole world! turns out they can actually be more in love after all.

and then the following scene... look, I’m lazy and I don’t know how to make gifs, but screenshots cannot properly convey how good it is. you all know. the hesitant way wwx approaches, the slow and gentle piano version of wangxian, the two of them watching the snow together, it’s. ugh.

remember how I was talking about how the last scene with no material barriers was an unlikely candidate because of the lack of romantic resolution?

well, here’s wwx still being cagey at the beginning of this conversation.

and here they are in the middle of this conversation, having some epiphanies about the course of wwx’s life - I love this shot for a lot of reasons, but I extra love it because it shows wwx out in the snow, with lwj as the safety and warmth waiting behind him, god this show goes hard, holy shit

they both recall their vow to live with a clean conscience and internally say some very corny things about each other because they are both So Much, and then,

ah, what the hell. he can say it out loud after all. romantic resolution accomplished.

and then the camera slowly pulls away as wuji plays.

a slow zoom out? swelling music? listen, I am a connoisseur, I know a tasteful fade-to-black indicating a sex scene that won’t happen on camera when I see one. at last, we have a winner!

now you may think this post is finally over, but I actually have one more piece of evidence for you - the next scene shows the two of them the morning after, meditating behind a screen in the hanshi while lxc is waiting for jgy to show up.

before wwx got de-cored, he was a pretty powerful cultivator, right? the chances that he’s just bad at meditating or that he can’t stay focused on this task seem slim to me. so why does he keep falling asleep?