You know what hurts?
Imagine being Jiang Cheng; you're 18 years old, and there was a moment, after the destruction of your sect, the Fall of Lotus Pier, the deaths of your parents, when you see your brother about to be taken away by Wen soldiers.
Imagine the things you'd think in the span of a few seconds: that if they take him, your brother dies, and you're alone in a war, left to take care of your people and your sister. If you distract them, they take you instead.
But if they take you, you'll die. You'll get tortured and killed in your own home that's bathed in the blood of your family. If you die, your brother will inherit your sect and your responsibilities. He will be the leader your father knew you could never be. You hear your mother's voice, that always said he will bring nothing but trouble, that he'll take away what's rightfully yours.
Imagine that despite everything, not caring about anything, you step outside. You get caught, tortured, your golden core crushed– a fate worse than death, because now you have become what you always thought you already were: useless.
You don't let him know. You don't let either of them know.
Now imagine that despite the deteriorating relationship with your brother, who doesn't seem to take anything seriously, who doesn't help with the sect, who makes trouble in every public appearance you have, you don't let him know. You don't throw it in his face. He must never know.
And years– so, so many dreadful years full of mourning later– you find out your brother made the same sacrifice you did. Except, he tells you that he did it out of obligation. You were a debt. You were a way to repay your father's kindness and your mother's tolerance and your sister's love to an orphan boy. You were the price the man you called brother had to pay for being allowed to live in Lotus Pier. You were his duty, nothing more.
That's what you hear in his words. That's what he means when he says to leave it all in the past. You are the past. Which maybe was fitting, as you never moved on from him. You were a weight that your brother is finally free of, so he can go live a happy life with other people he considers family.
Imagine how it feels, to think that what you did out of love, nothing more or less, but pure, unadulterated love– it destroyed your beloved's life. Everything you have built, everything you were proud of, it was at his expense. Then, your brother trampled all over your love with the cold detachment, although unknowingly.
He didn't know after all.
So, steeling whatever is left of your heart, you let him go. You finally let go, knowing your grip has never been love, to your brother, but a chain, a prison–
So you don't tell him.
You could never admit to it. You could never put him through the anguish you yourself are feeling.
He must never know.
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The real reason we don't get to see Wei Wuxian find out about Jiang Cheng’s sacrifice is because it would literally make him implode. It was all his fault! He couldn't look after his brother and sister, which was the whole point! He was loved just as much as he loved them, and it was more important than repaying a life debt!! He made Jiang Cheng's sacrifice pointless with his own because Wei Wuxian apparently mattered more than his life!! How dare Jiang Cheng decide he matters more than his own life!! So many of the assumptions he makes about himself and those he loves, and all the decisions he's made based on these assumptions, utterly shattered. We saw Jiang Cheng’s meltdown at the golden core reveal but Wei Wuxian's would be a 1000 times worse, character development takes a setback that would need a whole other fifty episodes to recover from.
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