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antebunny · 3 years

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Wei Wuxian, worst supervillain

(Full series here).

Lan Wangji has never met a worse supervillain.

He finds this rather remarkable considering that he has, during his tenure as Hanguang-jun, fought quite a large number of villains. The “super” part of supervillain can of course be determined by the villain in questions’ power level, which is what separated Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan from their minions and successors. Certainly some of them, like Wen Ruohan’s two successors, Wen Xu and Wen Chao, lacked style, as did Su She and Jin Zixun. But what they lacked in style, each and every one of them made up for in sheer villany. Even Wang Lingjiao didn’t hesitate to kick a puppy she saw on the street.

The Yiling Patriarch, on the other hand. Well.

“My evil plans will not be foiled this time!” The Yiling Patriarch shouts, black robes billowing in the howling wind.

Lan Wangji isn’t entirely sure where the wind is coming from. He suspects a military-grade fan.

The Yiling Patriarch stands on edge of the city skyscraper, a violently red sun setting dramatically behind him. His wild black hair obscures the red light crackling in his eyes. His black mask obscures his face, but doesn’t manage to obscure his evil smile. He pauses his villainous speech briefly to play shrieking flute music, warbling, lightning-fast scales and melodies; very thematically appropriate.

It cannot be said that the Yiling Patriarch lacks style.

Lan Wangji hovers in the air in front of the skyscraper, his white robes floating elegantly around him. As he pulls out his guqin, corpses flood the streets below. They’ve all been summoned on the Yiling Patriarch’s command. On streets throughout the city are Zewu-jun, Chifeng-zun, Sandu Shengshou, and another dozen of Lan Wangji’s fellow superheroes. No other supervillain has forced so many heroes into action all at once.

“You have no hope! My corpses cannot be stopped!”

It cannot be said that the Yiling Patriarch lacks power. Not even Wen Ruohan was as powerful as the Yiling Patriarch is now.

What the Yiling Patriarch does lack, however, is something that Lan Wangji struggles to explain.

It’s on a stormy night that Lan Wangji finds the Yiling Patriarch leaning against the side of a building, deep in some alleyway, clutching his side with one hand. His breath comes out in erratic bursts, and his sopping wet hair runs down his face and his back like ink down a brush. His silver eyes are dull when he sees Lan Wangji land lightly on the paved ground, clear umbrella held above his head, moonlight filtering through the plastic. They barely register shock, or fear, or anything else.

The Yiling Patriarch slowly pulls his hand away from his ribs, lets both of them hang by his side. Black liquid drips off his hands like ink onto paper.

“Have you ever seen blood in the moonlight, Lan Wangji?” The Yiling Patriarch asks. “It appears…” He lifts his hands. Raindrops pelt his palms, rinsing away the dark liquid. “…Quite black.”

Lan Wangji looks at him. The Yiling Patriarch tilts his head back, closes his eyes. He lets rain pelt his face as well, as if it could wash him away.

“No one at the prison died,” he says.

“There’s that, at least,” the Yiling Patriarch murmurs after a pause.

Lan Wangji has never met a villain who cared if people lived or died. So there’s that, at least.

Are his robes blacker than they were just a minute ago? Between the rain, the night, and the already black robes, Lan Wangji cannot tell.

The Yiling Patriarch cracks open an eye and squints at Lan Wangji. “You really do glow, you know that, Hanguang-jun? It’s unfair.” He sighs, then pulls a face and clutches his side again. “The joys of gut wounds,” he mutters under his breath. His eyes close again, and his knees start to tremble. “Ah, but I kind of broke your super prison, didn’t I?” The Yiling Patriarch says, louder. “So where are you going to put me?”

The Yiling Patriarch doesn’t move from his position against the wall until the rain abruptly stops falling on him. He opens his eyes again, and this time sees Lan Wangji holding his umbrella over him.

“I will walk you home,” Lan Wangji says.

“Walk me home?” The Yiling Patriarch echoes. “Lan Zhan, you’re supposed to take me in. What are you talking about?”

But he doesn’t resist when Lan Wangji pulls his arm over his shoulders. Nor does he see the way Lan Wangji’s ears turn bright pink.

“I will walk you home,” Lan Wangji repeats.

The Yiling Patriarch is a terrible villain.

The tip of Wang Lingjiao’s five-inch high heel jabs into the side of the dog currently begging at the hems of her lilac robes.

“Excuse me,” she says peevishly. “Do continue,” she says to Lan Wangji.

“This conversation is over,” Lan Wangji snaps, fists clenched.

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on,” she says. “Just because a stupid mutt interrupted?” She bats her eyelashes at Lan Wangji. “We were at the part where you convince me to join your side? Hanguang-jun? Hanguang-jun! Lan Wangji!”

Lan Xichen finds him later buying a leash for his new pet dog. “Wangji,” he says, on the exasperated side of fond, “why do you insist on debating morality with villains?”

Lan Wangji doesn’t glare at him, but he does clutch his new dog closer in his arms.

“Do you really think you can just make one of them see reason if you name enough philosophers?”

“Yes,” Lan Wangji says stubbornly.

Lan Wangji is halfway through his sentence when the Yiling Patriarch starts moving.

One moment, he's leaning against the black lamp post, very intently listening to Lan Wangji’s lecture on ethics. There’s a smirk playing at the corner of his lips that Lan Wangji very definitely isn’t thinking about. Nor is he thinking about the way the light from the lamp post shines on the Yiling Patriarch from above until he glows, or how it feels to have all the notoriously frantic, unfocused energy of the Yiling Patriarch directly entirely at him.

The next moment, the Yiling Patriarch’s eyes widen behind his mask, and he practically teleports on top of the pole.

“Not that I’m not enjoying our discussion on morality,” the Yiling Patriarch calls down nervously, “but. There’s a dog.”

Lan Wangji blinks. He looks down. A stray dog wanders past. It stops at the bottom of the post and sniffs. The Yiling Patriarch whimpers.

Lan Wangji removes the dog.

The moans and roars of corpses rise up from street level. The Yiling Patriarch flicks all the hair out of his face, then throws his head back and lets loose a suitably evil cackle. “Comply with my demands, Hanguang-jun…or else!”

“Or else what?” Lan Wangji asks.

“Or else…uh.” The Yiling Patriarch thinks for a moment. The wind blows his hair back, and Lan Wangji sees a flash of metal tucked in the Yiling Patriarch’s right ear. “Fava beans! I will…eat your liver with fava beans? Wait–”

“Hannibal Lecter,” Lan Wangji interrupts. He nods knowledgeably. He’s done his research. Extensive research, as it’s not a topic he’s ever encountered before. “Additionally, “‘Have you ever seen blood in the moonlight? It appears quite black.’ Also Hannibal Lecter.”

The Yiling Patriarch’s cheeks flush dull pink. “Both of them? Really?” He mutters under his breath. He never seems to realize that Lan Wangji can still hear him. He clears his throat. “Ahem! I am a god, you dull creature–”

“Loki, The Avengers,” Lan Wangji interrupts again, pleased with himself.

The Yiling Patriarch points his flute at Lan Wangji, flustered. “Well then…do what I say or all your base are belong to me! Wait. Fuck. No. Wen Ning,” he hisses. “What rubbish lines are you feeding me?”

“I am afraid I do not recognize that one,” Lan Wangji says regretfully. He’ll have to research that one once this is over. “Though I have unlimited access to all of our databases and records. As you would, if you joined us.”

The Yiling Patriarch pauses. The tip of his flute wavers. “Are you trying to bribe me to the heroic side…with library access?”

Lan Wangji considers this for a second. “Yes.”

The Yiling Patriarch wavers some more, and then he laughs helplessly, bright and clear. “Alright, Lan Zhan,” he says. “You got me there.”

#mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #superhero au #my writing #writeblr #greetings tumblr void #antebunny's ficlets

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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what if Jiang Cheng is the one in the arranged marriage with Jin Zixuan (maybe an au where birth order matters more than gender?)

ao3

“Well, no one cares what you think!” Jin Zixun shouted, and Jin Zixuan flinched, already knowing that this was going to end in disaster. His older cousin – his father’s favorite of the lot – was mean at the best of times, and when he was angry, he was especially cruel. A kid like Jiang Cheng, barely nine, wouldn’t be able to deal with him. “You’ll never made anything of yourself, anyway; the best thing you’ll ever be is A-Xuan’s wife!”

That was worse, somehow, than Jin Zixuan had thought it would be. Maybe because his name was invoked – maybe because Jiang Cheng looked as though he’d been slapped in the face, his eyes filling with unshed tears, and when his fist found its way to Jin Zixun’s face a moment later, Jin Zixuan thought that it was completely deserved.

Afterwards, when they’d all split off their own ways, he went to find Jiang Cheng.

He didn’t need to, he knew, but – he’d liked Jiang Cheng, at least a little.

He was the same age as Jin Zixuan, a little boy like him, even if he was the second child and not the heir the way Jin Zixuan was. He’d been laughing about something when Jin Zixuan first saw him, something whispered to him by his older sister, a plain girl recognizable only by her Jiang sect colors, but he’d straightened up the second he’d seen them walking into the room, putting on a serious expression, and Jin Zixuan had suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of oh you have to deal with this too that he’d never felt before in his life.

All of his so-called friends thought it was great to be the son of the sect leader, but they didn’t have to go to the terrible parties and stand there being shown off to people all night; they actually complained that they didn’t get to go.

He didn’t think Jiang Cheng would complain like that.

Maybe they could be friends, he thought, hopefully. Real friends, not pretend; friends that stayed together because they liked each other and not because their parents needed a political connection –

And then, less than a shichen after they’d been ushered off to go play together by adults who had better things to be doing, Jin Zixun’d managed to ruin everything. Again.

It didn’t take long to find Jiang Cheng.

They’re in Jinlin Tower, which meant that there weren’t many places Jiang Cheng could go that Jin Zixuan couldn’t find him – not like the Lotus Pier, which was an impassable maze even in the guest quarters that they’d taken special care to try to make nice and orderly for the one time they’d tried unsuccessfully to visit – and it turned out he hadn’t gone all that far, just ducked into a nearby guest room that was tidied up even though no one used it.

Jiang Cheng was curled up next to a window, his whole body looking especially small. He wasn’t even looking out of it, but he still gave off the impression of being on the verge of jumping out, or even just that he’d be blown away by the wind.

He wasn’t actually all that small – maybe a bit short for a nine-year-old, maybe a bit more slender, but his father and mother were both tall and that meant he probably would be, too, given time.

“You shouldn’t listen to Zixun,” Jin Zixuan said, and Jiang Cheng looked at him, red-eyed. “He’s dumb. All he ever does is say mean things, and they’re never true.”

“S’true, though, isn’t it?” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m the one that has to marry in, ‘cause I’m second, not first. I’ve got to leave Lotus Pier, go to Jinlin Tower…”

Marry you. Be the official wife. Smile and bear it and host your parties while you’re off fucking someone else – multiple someones – to get kids for the inheritance. Never have children of my own, but instead be stuck raising your bastards for you…

Jiang Cheng didn’t say any of that, of course, but Jin Zixuan knew.

After all, he’d overheard his mother and her friend – former friend – fighting over it. Madame Yu wanted to break the engagement when it turned out that the girl had come first and the boy second, since her husband was refusing to flip the order and marry Jiang Yanli out instead, and his mother had refused, the lure of the Yunmeng Jiang’s power more potent than their old friendship.

Caustic words had been said. Words he probably should have been too young to understand, words that maybe Jiang Cheng didn’t get yet, but…well.

His mother had always been very clear about all the things she hated about her life.

And now she was going to force the same life onto someone else.

“I don’t think my parents would agree to let me be the one to marry in,” he said, almost wishing he could. Sure, then he’d have to be the one living his mother’s horrible life, but at least there was something familiar about that type of suffering – he’d spent his whole life hearing about it, after all, hearing about it over and over and over again until it almost felt like he’d lived it himself.

He thought he could bear up with living that terrible life.

He wasn’t so sure he could bear up with being the one to cause it.

Jiang Cheng snorted. “Why would you want to?” He squinted up at him. “Aren’t you going to tell me that Jinlin Tower is great and I shouldn’t worry because being your wife will be great, too, or something like that?”

“I have no idea if being my wife is great,” Jin Zixuan said blankly, out of lack of anything better to say. He probably should have said something like that. “I’ve never had one before.”

They looked at each other for a moment, and then for some reason they both started sniggering uncontrollably.

“Of course you don’t have a wife, you’re nine,” Jiang Cheng said, giggling. “Even I know that nine year olds don’t have wives! And anyway, if you did, it’d be me, wouldn’t it? It’s not like they’re just, I dunno, handing out practice wives.”

“I wish they’d hand out practice wives,” Jin Zixuan confessed, covering his eyes. “That way I could be sure I wouldn’t…you know…”

“Screw up?”

“Yeah.”

Was Jiang Cheng going to judge him? Should Jin Zixuan have kept that to himself, pretended that everything was under control…?

But Jiang Cheng was nodding. “I wish they made practice everything,” he said emphatically, and Jin Zixuan drooped in relief, coming to sit on the floor next to Jiang Cheng. He wasn’t actually allowed to sit on floors, not even clean ones, but he was also supposed to be hosting Jiang Cheng, so if anyone asked that was going to be his excuse. “It’s so hard to get things right on the first try.”

“No one gets things right on the first try,” Jin Zixuan said.

“Wei Wuxian does,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Who’s he?”

“He’s my shixiong,” Jiang Cheng said. “It’s – kind of complicated. His parents were friends with my dad, before they died.”

- well at least I managed to keep my husband from bringing home a bastard!

Right. That kind of complicated.

His mother always told him he had to be the most careful around bastards – that they would be smart and pretend to be nice, try to get him to like them, while in reality they’d be scheming against him in the dark, maybe even try to kill him, so they could get what he had and they didn’t. Jin Zixuan figured the same had to be true for Jiang Cheng, and he felt sorry for him.

“Well, you seem good enough to me,” he said firmly. “When you’re my wife, I’ll treat you right.”

He would, too. He wouldn’t go around with other women, wouldn’t come home smelling of them, wouldn’t rub what he was doing in Jiang Cheng’s face and laugh until Jiang Cheng lost his cool and started throwing things – of course, there was always the question of the inheritance, but maybe when he had to find himself a woman, he could try to find Jiang Cheng a woman of his own, too, someone he liked, and those children could be surnamed Jiang.

Maybe they could find one they both liked and share.

“I don’t know what’s so bad about being ‘just’ someone’s wife, anyway,” Jin Zixuan added. “I mean, my mom’s the scariest person I know, except maybe for your mom, and they’re both wives.”

Jiang Cheng grinned. “Yeah, that’s right. Next time that big old bully says anything, I’ll tell him to repeat that where my mom can hear it, see what he does then…uh, no offense about the bully thing. I know he’s your cousin.”

“I don’t like him either,” Jin Zixuan admitted.

“Then you’ve got good taste,” Jiang Cheng said, and Jin Zixuan preened. His first ever compliment from his wife!

“I know we’re only hanging out together because our parents said we had to,” Jin Zixuan said, suddenly feeling brave. “But maybe we could…maybe…”

“Be friends?”

He nodded.

Jiang Cheng thought about it, crinkling his nose as he did. Jin Zixuan waited patiently.

“Okay,” Jiang Cheng finally decided. “But only if you help me prank Jin Zixun to get back at him.”

“Deal!” Jin Zixuan exclaimed, then hesitated. “I’ve never pranked anyone before, though…”

“I’ll teach you!” Jiang Cheng scrambled to his feet, then stopped as if struck by a sudden thought. “Do you like dogs?”

“Dogs?” Jin Zixuan repeated blankly. “They’re well enough, I guess…you have three, right?”

He’d seen glimpses of them when he’d visited the Lotus Pier last year, when they were supposed to have first met except Jiang Cheng got sick with a stomach illness right before their visit, throwing up and everything, and Jin Zixuan’s mom had refused to let him anywhere near him.

Jiang Cheng scowled, and suddenly his eyes were welling up with tears again, causing Jin Zixuan to panic again even though he was pretty sure it wasn’t his fault this time.

“I used to,” Jiang Cheng muttered. “But Wei Wuxian’s scared of dogs, so my father had them sent away. I was just thinking…never mind. It was stupid.”

Jin Zixuan bit his lip. It wasn’t a good sign that Jiang Cheng’s father was already favoring his bastard over his son, not at all, not when fathers had all the power in the cultivation world. Not when even his mother, proud and fierce and famous for cowing his father with thrown pottery and fits of temper, was in the end helpless to stop him – she couldn’t make him stop humiliating her, couldn’t make him stop going out and having all those bastards. She stopped him from bringing them home, but she couldn’t stop him where it mattered, because all he had to do was threaten to make one of them the heir instead of Jin Zixuan.

He wouldn’t, because he needed her maternal family’s support, but he could.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair to his mother, it wasn’t fair to Jin Zixuan, and it wasn’t fair to Jiang Cheng, either. And it especially wasn’t fair that he was already being replaced – and just when Jin Zixuan was starting to feel better about the marriage, too!

The whole arranged marriage deal didn’t seem so bad if it was going to be with Jiang Cheng, who seemed pretty nice. Jin Zixuan didn’t want to have to start all over again with another boy, especially not a bastard.

“If you know where they are, you could send your dogs here to live with me,” Jin Zixuan suggested, feeling suddenly spontaneous in a way he almost never did, and Jiang Cheng turned to him with wide eyes. “That way you’d have a reason to come visit a lot, and your father could see that we were getting along.”

It would remind Sect Leader Jiang that their marriage could be broken by either side at any time, if they were unhappy – show him that they were committed, that they wouldn’t accept inferior goods in Lanling. Maybe it could help convince him to keep Jiang Cheng and his mother instead of swapping them out.

“I was just thinking I could introduce you, but that’s even better!” Jiang Cheng exclaimed, looking excited. “You’re serious?”

“Sure,” Jin Zixuan said. He had an entire palace of his own back in Jinlin Tower, full of rooms he never used meant to host as guests all the friends he didn’t have. They could put the dogs in some of those, hire someone to take care of them – feed them, walk them, brush them, whatever needed to be done for dogs. If there was one thing Jinlin Tower didn’t lack, it was servants to do things. “But you have to come visit them. Without bringing Wei Wuxian.”

That way, even if this Wei Wuxian person used his bastard tricks to pull the wool over Jiang Cheng’s eyes to make him think that they were friends even as he stole away Jiang Cheng’s birthright in secret - Jin Zixuan’s mother had warned him - there’d still be a way to show how important it was to keep Jiang Cheng as the legitimate son. They might have just met, but it was pretty clear to Jin Zixuan already that Jiang Cheng was way too friendly and nice to know how to properly guard himself – someone would have to do the work for him.

And who else, if not his husband?

“Don’t worry about Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said. “He won’t go anywhere if he thinks there’ll be dogs. You’ll really do it?”

“I’ll talk to my parents,” Jin Zixuan promised – he was only nine, there were limits to what he could actually do – but Jiang Cheng seemed to think that was enough. He smiled at him, and Jin Zixuan smiled back.

Maybe this could work out.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #jin zixuan #my fic #my fics #okay it's not JZX and his two brides #but it was in the queue so I moved it up #Anonymous

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nillegible · 3 years

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Jin Zixun accidentally saves canon, Part2

(Read part one of the fic, here!)

“Did you hear? The Yiling Patriarch killed Jin-er-gongzi, and dragged away his corpse.”

Jiang Cheng might not have been the intended listener, but he has no qualms in stalking toward the cultivator who was speaking. Pale green robes with white accents, he must be from Laoling Qin. Jiang Cheng doesn’t take him by the collar, but his fingers twitch. He definitely wishes to.

“What did you say?” he asks.

From the expression of abject terror that crosses the other man’s face, Jiang Cheng didn’t do a particularly good job at appearing non-threatening.

“Jian-Jiang-zongzhu. I. Jiang-zongzhu, it was. They’re all saying.”

“That Wei Wuxian killed Jin Zixun and took away his corpse? When did he even get here? Where did he drag him away from?”

“Ah, no. It wasn’t. Jiang-gongzi must know I don’t speak for Jin sect, but it wasn’t here.”

Jiang Cheng considers shaking a more coherent answer out of this coward, but decides against it. Gods knew what nonsense he would actually spout. No, he needs a better source, he needs Shijie.

Protocol forgotten, he storms into Koi Tower.

Oooh, Jiang-xiong looks furious. Jiang Wanyin had stormed into Carp tower like a small purple thundercloud. He’s taller than Yu-furen was and less delicate looking, but one could absolutely see that Jiang-xiong was his mother’s son. The air even smelled electric when he strode by, purple sleeves billowing elegantly.

Where is Jiang-xiong going, making quite so much of a display? Huaisang directs his casual wandering in his wake, stretching his cultivation senses to keep track of him when he storms out of view. He wonders if this is about the rumours that have been slowly spreading from the anxious and guilty looking Jin cultivators. And there are so many, oddly many, low-level cultivators who can’t have all been invited at this time for the naming-day ceremony, it was gauche. So much yellow, they interfere with the decorations.

“Whatever did Jin-gongzi do this time to anger Jiang-zhongzu so much? Ah, I’d hoped a nephew would mellow him,” Nie Huaisang complains, or something along those lines to the most disgruntled people he crosses, with a laugh and conspiratorial smile. The reminder of Jiang-xiong’s rather Extra tendencies seems to put people at ease, and Nie Huaisang sails through, keeping an eye out for anyone who might actually matter.

He sees Lan Wangji, who, in spite of the way he stands separate from the crowd like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, definitely matters. Nie Huaisang makes his way towards him.

“What nonsense is everyone spouting about Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixun?” Jiang Cheng demands, bursting into Jin Zixuan’s office, where the wary Jin disciples had directed him.

“Jiang-gongzi!” says Jin Guangyao, the first to stand, just as Jin Zixuan says, “Jiang Wanyin, you’re here!”

Jin Zixuan says, after a beat, “Wei Wuxian and the Ghost General were seen taking my cousin away.”

“Surely even he couldn’t attack and cart someone off from Koi Tower. What would he even want from Jin Zixun?”

“It wasn’t from Koi Tower, he didn’t reach here,” says Jin Zixuan. “It was on the way.”

“Explain,” says Jiang Cheng.

“A-Yao will explain,” says Jin Zixuan. His voice is colder than Jiang Cheng has become accustomed to hearing it.

“Jin Zixun was cursed. It was the hundred holes curse. He got it into his head that Wei-gongzi had to be the one who did it. I only found out this morning, but he – he went to waylay Wei-gongzi and demand that he remove the curse.”

“Leaving aside the absolute idiocy of Wei Wuxian being the one to curse him, why would Wei Wuxian then kidnap him? Maybe he actually knows a way to remove that curse, and Jin Zixun’s gone back with him.”

“Ah, it wasn’t quite so amicable as that–” Jin Guangyao looks towards Jin Zixuan, but when he doesn’t take over the explanation he continues, “Jin Zixun took three hundred archers with him –”

“THREE HUNDRED archers? Why would the Jin sect send a full battalion to ask Wei Wuxian to remove a curse?”

Jin Guangyao’s voice, which was already quiet, lowers further, “I believe that the show of strength was only meant to make Wei-gongzi give Jin-er-gongzi his due consideration. Wei-gongzi doesn’t always listen.”

“That is not what you told me,” Jin Zixuan says.

“He may… he may have planned to end the curse in a different way if Wei Wuxian didn’t comply,” says Jin Guangyao, finally.

Jiang Cheng tries to choke back his rage. How dare they! “If it turns out that Wei Wuxian has been harmed, Jin sect will not be forgiven,” Jiang Cheng threatens. “He may not be of my sect anymore, but to ambush him and try to kill him on such a stupid pretence, after you invited him to my own nephew’s ceremony! As if Wei Wuxian would not kill Jin Zixun himself if he had wanted him dead, and reanimate his corpse!” Jiang Cheng knows what happens to those his brother punishes. Jiang Cheng had joined him, in exacting their vengeance against Wen Chao, Wang Lingjiao, and Wen Zhuliu.

“Jiang-zonghzhu, seems to be planning to do that, now. They say he carried Jin-er-gongzi’s body away,” says Jin Guangyao. Implicit in that is what foul things Wei Wuxian is known to do with corpses.

Jiang Cheng just can’t believe it. In a rage at the people who had murdered Wen Ning? Perhaps. But to kill Jin Ling’s uncle on his special day? Wei Wuxian would know better! And there’s more that doesn’t make sense. “How did Wei Wuxian kill Jin Zixun? You said he took a whole battalion!” Even if Wei Wuxian had killed half of them, it’s unlikely he could get away, especially if they were archers.

“Ah. Uh. Wei-gongzi did not kill him. The Jin archers shot him.”

It takes Jiang Cheng a moment. “The Jin archers shot Jin Zixun?” he turns to Jin Zixuan for confirmation. His brother-in-law looks miserable and angry, but nods. “How the hell did.” Jiang Cheng is out of words. “Do you not train your disciples to aim?”

“Faced with the Yiling Patriarch, one of the younger disciples may have been afraid? As far as I gathered they were actually aiming for Wei-gongzi,” – Jin Guangyao winces as Zidian sparks – “but he ducked, and so Jin Zixun was shot.”

“He ducked,” repeats Jiang Cheng, looking between Jin Guangyao and Jin Zixuan, who don’t disagree with that frankly ridiculous assessment. They have to be joking. Or worse, they have to be lying. And if they’re lying to his face, then who knows what really happened? Jiang Cheng bows lightly to his brother-in-law. “Jin-gongzi, I take my leave of you. My apologies for missing Jin Ling’s celebration, but if I’m lucky, I can fetch Wei Wuxian and be back in time to meet my nephew and my sister before they retire from the feast. I know how much A-jie was looking forward to seeing our brother.” Jin Zixuan winces at that, no doubt imagining explaining to Jiang Yanli that his stupid cousin had tried to murder her brother.

That’s Jin Zixuan’s problem though. Jiang Cheng is going to fly to the Burial Mounds and his brother’s awful little encampment, and shake him until he gets some answers.

He ducked.

Which meant, at the least, that Wei Wuxian was being shot at. Stupid, I told you I couldn’t protect you, and this is what you get up to? Jiang Cheng had thought his brother would keep his head down until people forgot about him! Some sort of self-imposed imprisonment that kept him out of everyone’s way. That was why he wasn’t even invited to the wedding. Stupid, stupid Wei Wuxian.

As Jiang Cheng sweeps out the doors of the main hall, he sees Lan Wangji, looking stiff, and if Jiang Cheng isn’t just projecting, angry. He meets Jiang Cheng’s eyes and weaves his way closer.

“Jiang-zongzhu.”

“Hanguang Jun,” returns Jiang Cheng. On any other day he’d wait and glare until the second jade spoke his mind, not making it any easier for him. Today, he hasn’t the patience. “If you’ll olease make my excuses to Lan-zongzhu, but I will be unable to greet him. I need to go to Yiling and find my–” he realizes with a jolt that he’d called Wei Wuxian brother too many times today in conversation already. “-Wei Wuxian. There’s all sorts of rumours flying about, I don’t like it.”

“I will come with you,” says Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng eyes him. “If Hanguang Jun believes me incapable of judging Wei Wuxian if he is at fault today–” he snarls, but is cut off by a sharp gesture from Lan Wangji. And what might even be a real emotion on his face.

“Wei Ying would not have,” he says, with a certainty that even Jiang Cheng could not feel. Jiang Cheng hates how much he appreciates the words. “Let me come.”

Jiang Cheng should say no, should say that Wei Wuxian was his responsibility.

‘Just Let me go. Tell the world that I defected. From now on, whatever Wei Wuxian does, it would have nothing to do with Yunmeng Jiang sect.’

“Fine,” says Jiang Cheng. “Just keep up.”

He knows from experience, as he takes off into the sky, that Lan Wangji can keep up.

#Shitty!JZX #Jiang Cheng #jzx #jgy #canon divergence #fix it au

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ibijau · 3 years

Note

“I’ve got a sick sense of justice, but you knew that.” 3zun fic? Where things work out between them, somehow, and yet JGY still kills JGS the same way and defends that choice to LXC and NMJ (Or JZX, if he's alive)? Can go full on JGS was stealing his women's energy, hence their sickness/deaths!

warning for mentions of death, rape and murder. Yay, it’s a happy one :D

Nie Mingjue storms into the cell, only for Jin Guangyao to look up and smile at him, as if he were welcoming him into his quarters, rather than locked up and in chains. He smiles just as peacefully to Lan Xichen when he follows their lover inside, pretending not to notice the other man's obvious distress.

"I hope Da-ge and Er-ge will forgive me if I do not stand and bow to them," Jin Guangyao calmly says, rattling his chains.

Nie Mingjue stares at him, taken aback.

Even though they have reached a tentative peace between them, and Jin Guangyao often makes efforts to be more open with them than he is with anyone else, he still is the same person he always was. When he gets in trouble, he makes himself pathetic before them, almost on instinct. Sometimes it annoys Nie Mingjue, but other times it feels almost like a joke between them, as long as Jin Guangyao has that twinkle in his eye to show he knows he won't be taken seriously.

To see him this calm and detached is unsettling. Nie Mingjue can only wonder if it has something to do with that large bruise on the side of his head. Going by the colour it is at least a day old. No cultivator of Jin Guangyao's level should have let this last this long.

"Ah, this," Jin Guangyao notes, feeling their gaze. "Zixun was not very happy and let it be known. I am sorry to present myself before you in such a state, but my powers have been sealed, and I could not do anything about it. Please, just avoid looking at it."

That makes Nie Mingjue frown. If Jin Zixun is behind one bruise, he's ready to bet there are more, hidden under Jin Guangyao’s clothes. He forces his mind to drift away from the worry he feels, because the real problem today is…

"Did you do it?" Lan Xichen asks, something wavering in his usually calm voice.

Jin Guangyao placidly looks up at him.

"What do you think, Er-ge?"

Lan Xichen trades a glance with Nie Mingjue.

What they think is that Jin Zixun, who uncovered the plot against his late uncle, is not the most reliable man in the world, and holds a grudge against Jin Guangyao since that near fiasco with Wei Wuxian at Jin Ling's hundredth day party.

They think also that he did bring convincing evidence. The most critical one is the testimony of a woman who took part in the murder of Jin Guangshan. She says she did not see the man who paid for her services, but she would recognise his voice. She also did see Xue Yang, and they all know the little creep respects no one except Jin Guangyao.

They think that Jin Zixuan is desperately trying to prove his half brother's innocence, but finding it difficult.

They think that Jin Guangyao has killed his superiors before.

They think he promised he wouldn't again, and they both made the choice to trust him.

And Nie Mingjue thinks, also, that although they've disagreed on means and motives, Jin Guangyao never strikes unprovoked, which he says out loud.

The tenderness in Jin Guangyao’s eyes as he hears this is nearly unbearable.

“Da-ge, are you really asking for my side of the story?” he asks in disbelief.

It might be sincere. It might be feigned. Nie Mingjue never knows with him, just as he suspects Jin Guangyao never knows what to expect from him.

“We know your father was not… the kindest of men,” Lan Xichen says gently, kneeling down next to Jin Guangyao to send some spiritual energy into him and help him heal. Jin Guangyao sighs in relief, but keeps his eyes on Nie Mingjue even as Lan Xichen continues speaking. “You have let us know about some of the things he’s done, A-Yao, and I’ve long suspected there’s more you never told us. If he did anything to deserve such an end…”

“Of course he deserved it,” Jin Guangyao cuts him, still looking at Nie Mingjue. “You both know it as well as I do. He deserved it whether I had a hand in it or not. He was a selfish man. He only joined the Sunshot Campaign because he hoped to become what Wen Ruohan had been. He only took me in because his true son, forcefully kept from the heat of the action, failed to garner glory for Lanling Jin. And I won't get into the details of everything that happened with Wei Wuxian."

"But none of these things are why you killed him," Nie Mingjue retorts, suddenly convinced that Jik Guangyao really did it.

Once, it would have filled him with rage to realise this. Back when he first understood what sort of a person his efficient and soft spoken friend was, when he saw Jin Guangyao murder his own captain… But since then, Nie Mingjue has learned to forgive, at least somewhat. Because when Jin Guangyao killed Nie Mingjue’s men in Nightless City, he took care to only murder those who once derided him for his background, to lightly wound the ones who never mocked him.

It was still wrong, those were still good men, but Nie Mingjue, who had been burning for years with his hatred of the Wens, understood that better than he ought to have done.

So there is no anger as Nie Mingjue too kneels down next to their lover. Only disappointment. In himself, for wanting to excuse this most awful crime. In Jin Guangyao, for not coming to them this time, when he thought something was wrong. They had listened about Wei Wuxian, they would have listened about this too.

"Some brothels offer specialised services," Jin Guangyao says, the smile on his face shifting from loving to cold and polite, the way it used to be around his father. "I suppose this doesn't surprise you. Someone with money can always get what they want in this world."

Both Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen nod uncomfortably.

"Some of those services offered are of a rather different nature," Jin Guangyao goes on, his eyes growing distant. "They are difficult to perform, cannot be repeated, and cost an obscene amount of money… not to speak of the moral cost. It takes a certain kind of man to purchase such services. Believe it or not, even Xue Yang found it distasteful. For all the wrong reasons, but still, I think Da-ge and Er-ge will agree that it takes a lot to shock someone like Xue Yang."

Lan Xichen takes their lover's hand, trying to comfort him, but Nie Mingjue freezes. He is suddenly reminded of certain rumours, gossip so foul that it had to be exaggerated. He's always refused to pay it any mind, knowing well there were horror stories about him as well, as there always are against powerful men.

He can't escape it now.

“It’s not hard to find human cauldrons, if you know how to look for them,” Jin Guangyao states in a voice devoid of any emotion, staring somewhere in the distance. “And some men will always look for an easy way to improve their cultivation, even if it means raping and killing a girl for it. There are addresses, and certain euphemisms. These days, you would ask to see a Wen girl. I’ve learned that a few years ago, people called them educated women.”

Nie Mingjue only frowns at that comment, but next to him Lan Xichen gasps in horror, squeezing Jin Guangayo’s hand.

“Your mother…”

Jin Guangyao blinks a few times, and forces himself to look at Lan Xichen. It appears to take him great effort. Nie Mingjue wonders if it is the topic that causes this, or if the blow to his head caused more damage than is visible.

“No, don’t worry. She was just actually educated. It didn’t mean the same thing in Yunping as it did in Lanling, but my father found her attractive enough for his other purposes, I suppose.” Jin Guangyao looks away again, his face growing harder. “Others were not as lucky. It is all too easy to get what you want, with enough money.”

“You should have told us,” Nie Mingjue says. “If you had come to us with proof…”

“My father is not so stupid that he would have left proof,” Jin Guangyao hisses between clenched teeth, still staring at the wall. “Even he would have had trouble justifying doing such a thing to augment his power. I only found out because I went to fetch him with Xue Yang at a brothel one day, and heard him discussing in detail his next… purchase. Xue Yang happened to be knowledgeable about certain euphemisms we were hearing, and thought it entertaining to explain to me. After this I started looking. It’s funny what you find, when you look for it. It wasn’t proof enough to openly attack him, not with my background. But it was enough to be sure. And then…”

Jin Guangyao chuckles darkly, his eyes finally meeting Nie Mingjue’s.

“I’ve got a sick sense of justice, but you knew that,” he says with unnerving calm. “Xue Yang was on board because he thinks that sort of thing is cheating. Torturing the dead and cutting them from their reincarnation doesn’t phase him, but he knows it could have been him, if he’d been born a girl. And so we did what had to be done. My father died the way he lived.”

He pauses a moment, taking in the expression on his lovers’ faces, from Lan Xichen’s horror at that confession to Nie Mingjue’s anger that once again, this took clever man made all the wrong choices.

“Nobody else would have dared to stand against him,” Jin Guangyao adds, smiling feverishly, his gaze on Nie Mingjue. “But I’ve always been one to do what others wouldn’t. Someone has to get their hands dirty, Da-ge. I’ve never minded doing it when my turn came. I wonder if you will, now that you know the truth? You’ve always been such a champion of justice, always telling others to be righteous. Let’s see what choice you make, now that justice isn’t such an easy thing to decide.”

#jin guangyao #nie mingjue #lan xichen #3zun #mdzs #not super happy with this one #I think jgy is probably pretty ooc here oops?#jau writes #today sucks I just needed to get something done #Anonymous

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wangxiansoulmates · 5 years

Text

wwx dies on Qiongqi Road

some of you are about to unfollow or block me but i was feeling angsty and here we fucking are with feels

—

jin zixuan has arrived but he had arrived a bit too late. as soon as he neared the road he saw jin zixun pointing and accusing wei wuxian of a curse

he lowered himself and asked what was happening, asking wei wuxian to put his flute down but wei wuxian huffed at him, accusing him of being part of this

jin zixuan turned around for a second, just a second, to confront jin zixun and find out just what the hell was going on when he heard it

an arrow penetrating human’s body

he had heard it countless times during sunshot campaign and jin zixuan was frozen in his place for a moment as he heard a pained groan and he quickly turned around

there was an arrow protruding from wei wuxian’s chest, right where his heart was, and his eyes read the most brutal story of betrayal and pain

“jin zi-xuan” wei wuxian croaked out, breath catching in his throat

one, two, and wei wuxian was on the ground, gasping and jin zixuan didn’t know what to do with himself

and then they heard someone else. the voice rang so high in the air that it could shatter a glass

“wei ying!”

when had lan wangji gotten here?

lan zhan lowered himself, almost stumbling off his sword and approached wei wuxian quickly, collecting him into his arms

lan zhan looked, petrified, into wei wuxian’s eyes and then at the arrow that was struck into his chest and tears rolled down his eyes, his hand grasping wei wuxian’s, passing the spiritual energy he knew woulsnt help now. nevertheless, he rested his forehead across wei wuxian’s and tried to breathe

“lan- zhan” wei wuxian trembled “i’m so cold” lan zhan’s heart shattered into pieces and scattered onto the dirt ground like measly dust

“you’re warm, lan zh-” wei wuxian’s speech stopped and lan zhan felt it all at once. how wei ying’s eyes fluttered close. how the hand that was tightly holding onto lan zhan’s went limp. and how his chest stopped rising and falling, rugged breathes no longer escaping his tortured soul

and then it stopped. wei wuxian died

and then all hell broke lose. lan wangji’s shout of his name resonated into the air as a wail of the one who had lost his soulmate

“wei ying!” lan wangji shouted, his voice breaking

and then he bled. he bled from his eyes and mouth, his heart bled for the one in his arms. he felt his blood rising and slamming against his ribcage as he held onto wei wuxian tighter. as he held him just a bit closer

and then he cried. tears seemed to flow out of him as he kept repeating wei wuxian’s name. it was so out of character for someone like him but they heard it. how broken and pained and absolutely destroyed he sounded as he held onto wei wuxian’s body

lan zhan doesn’t know how long he has been sitting there. he doesn’t know how long he has been holding wei ying’s immobile body but after what he presumes was an hour he hears people approaching. their nervous voices mingling with each other

he sees his brother out of his line of sight and sees jiang wanyin running up to them and then he sees jin guangshan accompanied by jin zixuan

bichen unsheathes itself and flies through the sky to point right at the group that has approached him

“wangji!” lan xichen sounds so worried, the shake in his voice prominent as he calls for his brother “wangji, are you hurt?” he calls out and lan zhan just shakes his head

is he hurt? he’s numb. he doesn’t know

“wangji, is childe wei-” he stops himself as he looks at lan wangji’s lifeless eyes

“wei- ying” lan zhan manages to croak out “wei ying is gone” he whispers, tightening his hold onto the limp hand of wei ying’s that’s still resting on his palm

“wangji, you have to get up, wangji” lan xichen urges and this time bichen points at him, lan xichen is speechless

“don’t come near” lan wangji warns, his eyes brimming with fire and as he glares down at jiang wanyin he sees that the other feels his hatred and resentment

good

“wangji-” lan xichen tried again but lan wangji doesn’t want to listen. he doesn’t let anyone near. the sun sets and he’s still kneeling, still holding, still broken

wei ying’s body is getting colder by the second, his hands getting colder by the second. warmth leaving him and only lan wangji there to hold him

“wei ying” he tries again, rocking him a bit “are you warm?” lan zhan’s words tumble out of his mouth. he’s hysterical in the most calmest way and it’s absolutely terrifying

“wei ying, i’m sorry. i was late” he holds on a bit tighter, cradled wei wuxian a little but closer and looks up at the orange sky

it’s so pretty and vibrant. it reminds him of wei ying, memories of their better days rushing into his vision and hurting him more and more, pouring vinegar into his still bleeding wounds

lan zhan aches. all over. his legs and his arms and his heart and his soul. he aches and he feels so empty

he can see that he’s surrounded, jin clan soldiers all around him. jin guangshan’s voice telling him to let go of wei wuxian

and he ignored them all, stroking wei ying’s hair. bichen still pointed at people who dare cross the line he had drew

he won’t have mercy on anyone. he won’t have mercy on any one of them that had tried to hurt wei ying

he’ll kill jin zixun a bit later but for now he wants to stay with wei ying

he hears a cry of a maiden. a maiden far too familiar as she just approaches the group. jiang yanli

her eyes are swollen, her lips all red and her handkerchief damp. lan zhan maintains eye contact with her and nods

she crosses the line but bichen doesn’t waver. it won’t let anyone else through

jiang yanli dashes over to them and falls on her knees in front of lan zhan and wei ying

“a-xian!” she cries. gritting her teeth and reaching out to stroke his cold cheek “a-xian, oh, i’m so sorry”

she sounds like she’s in so much pain and lan zhan can see jin zixuan fidgeting and sees him planning to step over but that’s when bichen pints at him, warning him to not test lan wangji

lan zhan moves a bit back and let’s jiang yanli get a close look at wei ying. she shakes as she brushes the hair off his shoulder and she whimpers when she sees the arrow. a jin clan arrow. sticking out from her brother’s chest

“a-xian, rest in peace, my little warrior” she whispers as she cries. her tears falling onto her dress and she grabs lan zhan’s shoulder for support and he lets her

some time passes and she looks at him “second master lan, you should get up” and surprisingly he obeys but not before hooking his arms under wei ying’s legs and lifting him up, holding him close

“which way?” his voice is hoarse as he looks at only her. jin clan still surrounding them, swords still drawn but so is bichen

“we need to bury him” jiang yanli forces the words out like a curse and sees lan zhan’s eyes fill with more sadness

“second master lan, it would be disrespectful to leave a-xian’s body like this” and he agrees but it’s so difficult to part with wei ying

lan zhan doesn’t trust jin clan, he doesn’t trust anyone at this moment, except this woman

“i’ll take his body to lotus pier. you can come if you’d like” she offers, her voice gentle as she squeezes wei ying’s hand

and lan zhan agrees but before that he has some business to take care of. so, he gently lies wei ying into jiang yanli’s carriage, bichen still drawn, and nods at her

she goes away, jin zixuan going to follow her but she stops him with a cold look “don’t follow me” it’s not a request, it’s a command and a threat. she’s grieving and god forbid anyone who crosses a path of a strong woman when she grieves her brother’s death

jin zixuan stays back, defeated and follows his father and jin clan soldiers back into their residence

now it’s just him and lan xichen and that’s when lan zhan realizes that he has been kneeling for so long that his feet just give up under him, and he staggers

thankfully lan xichen grabs him before he falls but lan wangji harshly slaps his hand away “don’t touch me” and lan xichen understands. right now lan zhan must think he has been on this since he had a part in suggesting to invite wei wuxian over for a-ling’s celebration

bichen sheathes itself by lan wangji’s side and he straightens up by himself. feeling weak and empty without wei ying to hold onto

“i don’t feel anything” lan wangji utters, numb and so pained at the same time. it reaches deep within his soul and pulls at his heart, as if trying to rip it out

and lan zhan wouldn’t mind. he’d let it happen

because he has nothing else to lose

#wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #wangxian #lan xichen #jin zixuan #jiang yanli #the untamed #mo dao zu shi

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omgkatsudonplease · 5 years

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hhhh this is so nice of you 😭 恭喜发财 + wangxian or jin zixuan x jiang yanli would be incredible

DID SOMEONE SAY SWAN PRINCESS AU? NO? HAVE IT ANYWAY

Jiang Yanli first meets Jin Zixuan at eight.

Summer has enveloped Koi Tower in a blanket of golden sunshine. The birds are singing, the cicadas are humming, the dragon flies are skimming along the lake where their little boat has docked. Jiang Yanli clambers out of the boat, careful not to splash water onto her dress, and stares down at the petulant golden-clad six-year-old boy glowering up at her.

“Well?” Mother asks. Jiang Yanli wants to make a face, but one look from her mother makes her school her lips into a smile. Mother nudges her forward on the dock again, so encouraging it’s basically insistent. At the other end, Madam Jin looks pointedly at her son.

Jin Zixuan takes her hand, and, with an obviously pained expression on his face, kisses it. “So happy you could come,” he intones.

Jiang Yanli’s own smile grows pained, as she realises that this is but the first day of the rest of her summer. “So happy to be here,” she replies shortly.

“Already getting along so well,” sighs Madam Jin. Jiang Yanli makes a throat-slitting gesture at Jin Zixuan behind her back. To his credit, he looks taken aback.

This is not her idea of fun, but she’ll have to make do.

“I’m not going,” says Jiang Yanli at ten, folding her arms at dinner the night before. “The boats to Lanling are too bumpy and the horses even worse!”

“Out of the question,” says Mother, Zidian crackling ominously alongside her temper. She would never use it on her daughter, but heavens know they’ve had some close calls. “We cannot keep the Jins waiting.”

“He doesn’t want to see me,” says Jiang Yanli, “and I don’t want to see him.”

“This has been arranged a long time ago,” Mother insists. She sends a glance to Father, as if asking him to back her up. He merely makes a noncommittal ‘nn’ from over his cup of wine.

“But I’ll miss A-Cheng and A-Ying,” insists Jiang Yanli, looking over at where her brothers are gleefully trading lotus seed pods. “And I have to take care of them too, you know.”

“That’s why we have servants,” Mother snaps. “They can take care of A-Cheng and A-Ying without you.”

Maybe that’s why you don’t want to listen to me, Jiang Yanli doesn’t say, though her face gets red with the words she’s trying to bottle in. You left me to the servants too, when I was little!

In the end, she’s practically carried to Lanling by the guards, boxed into a palanquin by her exasperated mother. “Maybe it won’t be so bumpy for you now,” she says as she draws the curtains. The guards hoist the palanquin onto their shoulders with a grunt. It’s the height of luxury to anyone else in the world, but as far as Jiang Yanli is concerned, it’s a prison forcing her onwards to destiny.

In Lanling, Jin Zixuan barely kisses her hand this year. His cousin Jin Zixun is here this year as well, and between the two of them life in Koi Towers turns into a living hell. Jiang Yanli lives each night in fear of finding a carp in her bed, each morning in fear of finding a worm in her teacup.

After a while, she snaps, and tackles them both down the steps of Koi Tower, resulting in numerous scrapes, cuts, and broken bones.

The ensuing lecture from Mother is not her idea of fun, but at least she gets to go home early.

“Why does A-Li have to go to Lanling every summer?” A-Ying asks, his little thief-hands swiping a piece of mantou from her plate before she can protest.

Jiang Yanli is now thirteen, and her little adoptive brother is one of the brightest lights of her life. She looks up from where she’s been experimenting with the soup, a sad smile on her face as she says, “Your shijie has to visit Lanling every summer because of an arrangement with a boy in the Jin family.”

A-Ying frowns. “What’s an arrangement?”

“Well, in shijie’s case, it’s because she has to marry that boy someday.” The words taste bitter, like the soup. She must have put too much of that melon.

“Why?” asks A-Ying.

“Because Mother is friends with the boy’s mama, and they made the arrangement.”

“But why?” asks A-Ying.

Jiang Yanli laughs. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

That summer, armed with a newfound knowledge of how to deal with younger boys, Jiang Yanli swans into Koi Tower and takes none of Jin Zixuan’s nonsense. He may call her names and look down at her, but whenever they play weiqi he keeps losing spectacularly.

“Maiden Jiang has a higher score,” announces the tutor refereeing what must be their sixteenth game. Jin Zixuan slams a fist onto the board, disrupting the stones. Jiang Yanli smiles serenely across the table from him.

“You’re a very reckless player,” she remarks. “Maybe you should be more careful.”

“I don’t need your opinion,” sniffs Jin Zixuan. Jiang Yanli shrugs.

“Suit yourself,” she says, already starting to find some amusement in seeing him so humbled.

“This is not my idea of fun,” he retorts. She only smiles wider.

“I can’t believe we’re all going to Lanling this summer,” A-Ying says, with an arm around A-Cheng’s shoulders as they hop out of the ferryboat. Jiang Yanli rolls her eyes as she follows behind, mindful of her mother’s hawk-like glare.

She’s sixteen now, and every summer has passed much the same – spend the summer at Koi Towers, putting up with the immature buffonery and disdain from Jin Zixuan. Recently he’s been turning his mind more and more towards cultivation, his glares frosty with what he probably presumes is a ‘sense of detached otherworldliness’. As if he could ever compare to the Jades of Gusu Lan or something!

“So glad to receive you once more,” he drawls this year, barely even looking her in the eye.

“I’ll buy you a tanghulu if you punch him in the face,” says A-Ying to A-Cheng.

Jiang Yanli has to stifle her own laugh as Jin Zixuan’s expression darkens at that. This summer definitely looks like it’s shaping up to be lots of fun.

“It seems my son is getting along with your brothers,” Madam Jin tells her later that afternoon, as they watch the teenage boys fight with one another on the training grounds. Jin Zixuan may have some of the best cultivators in Lanling teaching him sword tricks, but he’s clearly no match for A-Ying’s scrappiness or A-Cheng’s determination. Jiang Yanli smiles, pride filling her chest as she watches them.

“Perhaps,” she says. Still doesn’t mean I’d marry your son, she adds quietly.

It’s their last summer as children, she knows. Soon, the boys will all be going to the Cloud Recesses to study cultivation with Lan Qiren. They will all become men, great men destined for great things.

Her own destiny should be great, too, but all it does is fill her with dread.

Naturally, the ensuing summers see her in Koi Towers only for a week, when Jin Zixuan is on break from his studies. They are perfunctory, polite, distant.

A-Ying’s fight with Jin Zixuan in Gusu breaks off the arrangement completely.

Many summers pass before Jiang Yanli meets Jin Zixuan again, at the base of Baifeng Mountain. He’s filled out in her absence, muscles and courage alike, resplendent in his golden robes as he calls for her to stay.

“It was my idea,” he says, red-cheeked yet solemn. “Please forgive me.”

Somehow, just the sight of him makes her knees start to buckle. She staggers backwards, towards the trees, lost for words. He had been the one to invite her to this hunt, after all. Even after all these years, after the sour words against her that had ended their arrangement –

“I have thought of nothing but you in the years before this,” Jin Zixuan pleads. “I did not think – I did not realise, for so long, that you were the one I’ve been dreaming of.”

Jiang Yanli slowly sinks to the ground. Jin Zixuan sinks down with her, amid the summer grass and the blooming wildflowers. The hunt continues elsewhere, in the forest all around, but as far as she’s concerned the world contains nothing else but them.

“Please forgive my own haughtiness,” she says. “I did not realise your intentions.”

His hand is warm against her own. Jiang Yanli looks up, just as Jin Zixuan starts to help her back to her feet. “I should have been clearer,” he admits. “I… I have treated you so badly in all of our years together. Every summer –”

“We were children,” says Jiang Yanli. “We did not understand.”

“Please forgive me,” repeats Jin Zixuan.

“I have,” she replies. He takes the hand holding hers, presses a soft, lingering kiss to her knuckles.

“Our arrangement?” he asks. She nods, and the brightest smile slips onto his face, like the rays of the sun after a cloudy morning.

And as Jiang Yanli leans forward to kiss her new fiance, she can’t help but think perhaps this truly is her idea of love.

#魔道祖师 #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #lily's dabbles #red envelope ficlets #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #xuanli #i guess?#swan princess au #ish #manhattanvamp #ask

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ibijau · 4 years

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how about... chengxuan with 5, 10, and/or 15? if you would be willing to water my crops with a shower of angst i would be greatly indebted

You asked for it :)

warning for some mentions of homophobia/internalised homobophia

“Wake up, please wake up.” / “it hurts.”/ “don’t move, they hit your head really hard.”

‘It’ll be a great bonding chance’ Jiang Yanli had said, and ‘A-Cheng loves Night Hunts as much as you do, don’t you want to go with someone other than your cousin sometimes?’ but also, and more treacherously, she’d smiled in that resigned way that made Jin Zixuan ache and said ‘I want my family to get along’. What could he have said against that? She had lost her parents, the man she’d treated as a brother had betrayed their sect to help their former enemies. All Jiang Yanli had was her grandmother (who Jin Zixuan had charmed as best as she could, but who mostly cared that he was rich and his father powerful) and her blood brother (who had apparently never forgiven Jin Zixuan for his youthful mistakes).

Jin Zixuan had agreed.

For Jiang Yanli, he would have agreed to anything.

Which isn’t to say that he doesn’t regret this Night Hunt about a quarter of a shichen in. Jiang Cheng, who arrived at their meeting point early, accuses him of being late. He then criticises everything about Jin Zixuan, from the bow he brought to his posture as they fly together, the strength of his talismans, the expression on his face. Jin Zixuan bites his tongue and keeps silent, but he does not care for the nagging sensation that he’s being compared to Wei Wuxian and found lacking.

This is for Jiang Yanli, he tells himself several times as they stalk the group of monsters that has been causing trouble near a much frequented road. It’s fine that Jiang Cheng is an authoritative little shit who refuses to listen to his suggestions, who throws it in his face that regardless of age, he has the higher status now. This is all for Jiang Yanli who will be so proud of Jin Zixuan for his efforts, who will praise him and smile at him like she truly believes he’s a good man and not just a rich brat.

If Jin Zixuan is very lucky, Jiang Yanli will even scold her brother for his behaviour. Gently, of course, she’s always gentle, but… a scolding is a scolding and Jin Zixuan would feel very avenged.

It will be nice.

It would have been nice.

Seeing Jiang Cheng scolded is now the furthest thing on Jin Zixuan’s mind, because his future brother-in-law is…

He can’t even say how it happened. Or perhaps he can tell too well. The creatures described to them were no match for them, great heroes of the Sunshot Campaign, and so they were careless. They attacked faster than they should have, with less care. They didn’t check that all of the monsters were truly gathered, didn’t expect it when reinforcements arrived in greater numbers than imagined.

Jin Zixuan tried to warn Jiang Cheng when he noticed some creatures sneak up behind him, but it was too late, just a second too late, and Jiang Cheng…

Red trailed behind him as he collapsed.

Jin Zixuan, moved by despair and rage (what would Jiang Yanli say? She’d be cancelling the engagement this time, and there would be no going back, not if he let her brother die) quickly eliminated the monsters still standing, and now he’s…

He’s sent a distress signal of course. They’re close enough to Lanling that it should be seen. They’ll be rescued soon enough.

Hopefully it will be soon enough.

Because Jiang Cheng is… his head is bleeding a lot, the bone of his skull dented in a way that Jin Zixuan can feel under his fingers. It is not a wound he can try to heal. He’s not skilled enough to begin with, healing isn’t something he knows a lot about, and an injury of that sort is too serious, too much could go wrong.

At least, Jiang Cheng is still conscious, and that’s good. Jin Zixuan doesn’t know much, but he knows he has to keep Jiang Cheng awake. It’s important because… he doesn’t know. He can’t remember. He never bothered to learn, maybe. He just knows that Jiang Cheng can’t sleep.

“Well, at least now you have a reason to hate me,” Jin Zixuan says, pinching Jiang Cheng’s arm hard to keep him awake.

“Don’t hate you,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, his words slurred. His eyes are unfocused as he glares up toward Jin Zixuan, clearly unhappy to have his head on the lap of his brother-in-law. It’s an awkward position, but Jin Zixuan wants to keep a close eye on his wound and this seems the easiest way.

“Jiang zongzhu, there’s little point in lying when it’s just the two of us,” Jin Zixuan retorts. “You’ve always hated me. You can say it. Your sister isn’t here to mind.”

Jiang Cheng frowns somewhat, which is a good sign. Anger is his natural state. If he can be annoyed, then he’s got to be fine.

“Don’t hate you,” Jiang Cheng insists, trying to sit up, only to wince. “It hurts.”

“Don’t move!” Jin Zixuan scolds him. “They hit your head really hard, of course it hurts.”

“Sleepy.”

Jin Zixuan pinches Jiang Cheng again, harder. There might be bruises later. Jin Zixuan prays to any god willing to listen to let there be a later.

“Don’t sleep,” he orders, his tone a perfect imitation of his mother’s. “Talk to me. Tell me… tell me why you hate me so much. I imagine that should be an easy subject.”

Jin Zixuan, of course, knows already why Jiang Cheng hates him. While Jiang Cheng himself has managed to keep a veneer of politeness around his hatred, Wei Wuxian has been vocal enough for both of them. Jin Zixuan can’t even blame them. He really was that bad as a youth. He hopes he’s improved. Jiang Yanli seems to believe he has, at least.

Jiang Cheng scoffs weakly.

“Don’t hate you,” he repeats, stubborn even in such a state. “Wanted to hate you. It’d have been easy. I still remember the first time you came to Lotus Piers. All in gold, looking like a young god. Never seen anyone so pretty, thought I was dreaming.”

That’s not the answer Jin Zixuan expected. He tries to recall that first visit, but he can’t remember how Jiang Cheng behaved that time. All his attention had been on Jiang Yanli, his fiancée from birth who he’d been so determined to despise.

“Wanted you to look at me,” Jiang Cheng whispers, closing his eyes. Jin Zixuan pinches him, and his eyes open again, trying to catch Jin Zixuan’s. “Always wanted you to look at me, but everyone told me you were here for Yanli. I hated it. Nothing good was ever for me. First Wei Wuxian was getting father, and now jiejie was getting you… it was unfair.”

Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath, and looks away.

“Was so happy when the engagement fell apart, and Wei Wuxian left,” he confesses, so low Jin Zixuan barely hears it. “I’m a bad son, a bad brother. I was so happy, I thought maybe I could have you. Wanted to be your friend. Wanted to talk to you. Study with you. We’d have made good friends, no?”

“Why didn’t you try to become friends then?” Jin Zixuan asks.

He’s not curious, not really, it’s just to keep Jiang Cheng talking. And if his heart beats faster it’s only because he’s worried, nothing else.

Jiang Cheng grimaces.

“Was going to. But heard you… Huaisang was joking about his print collection, how he had something for every taste, even cut-sleeves. Heard you say it was disgusting and wrong. Couldn’t speak to you after that.”

If their first meeting has been forgotten, Jin Zixuan does, in fact, remember that conversation with Nie Huaisang. Hearing the other boy speak so easily of his interest in men had sparked jealousy in him who had long struggled with the fact that he looked at other boys more than he should have. Back then, he’d been terrified that his father would notice and disown him. It didn’t matter than he liked girls too, his father would only have seen this blemish and gotten rid of him. Even his mother might have…

Jin Zixuan hasn’t thought of his attraction to men in a while. Not since he started falling for Jiang Yanli, truly falling for her. He recalls, though, how relieved he was when he realised that he was in love with a woman. It used to terrify him that if he someday truly felt love, it might be for a man. But Jiang Yanli saved him from that. And he does love her, not just because she’s a woman, but because she is kind and gentle and determined and hides steel under her warmth. She is the most unique person he’s ever met, and he loves her so much.

He adores his future wife.

And yet some traitorous part of his heart wonders what might have happened if Jiang Cheng had talked to him and offered friendship back in Gusu. Jin Zixuan has never… he’s never really considered Jiang Cheng, never seen him as more than a thorn in his side, but he’s… he’s handsome, and strong, with the same inhuman resilience as his sister and…

He looks down at Jiang Cheng, and finds that the other man has closed his eyes. Jin Zixuan urgently pinches him. In a twisted way, it’s almost a relief when Jiang Cheng doesn’t react right away, because it gives him something to focus on.

“Wake up! Please, wake up,” Jin Zixuan urges. “Think of your sister, she’ll be disappointed if you die like this. Don’t you want to be there at her wedding?”

Jiang Cheng grumbles weakly.

“If you die here, then I’ll have to ask Jin Zixun to help organise things instead of you,” Jin Zixuan points out.

Jiang Cheng’s eyes snap open. “‘ver my dead body,” he mutters. “Little shit has no taste.” He sighs. “‘m sleepy.”

“Then tell me something else. Tell me… remember when we escaped that cave after Wen Chao trapped us with that monster? You had to run home to get help for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Tell me about that, about the way you got home and rescued them.”

Jiang Cheng blinks weakly. He does look so sleepy, but Jin Zixuan insists and keeps pinching him until he starts telling that story. It’s not much of a tale, Jiang Cheng isn’t a born story-teller, but it keeps him awake and focused and that’s all Jin Zixuan wants.

Jiang Cheng has to stay awake until they’re rescued, and then…

And then, for everyone’s good, it’s best if they both forget this conversation.

#chengxuan #xuancheng #jiang cheng #jin zixuan #mdzs #jau writes #like I need much encouragement to write angst anyway L O L #Anonymous

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ibijau · 4 years

Text

Worst engagement AU // on AO3

Lan Xichen ponders on the changes he sees in his fiancé, and shares some news with Nie Huaisang

It takes Lan Xichen by surprise when he enters the classroom after his uncle and Nie Huaisang smiles at him. They haven't talked since the day Nie Huaisang was told he failed his exams, not even for an apology. Lan Xichen generously told his uncle that he did not require one given in person, that writing it down would be more than enough.

At least, he told himself that it was generosity. Mostly, once the shock of Nie Huaisang's outburst had passed and Lan Wangji confirmed that the other boy hadn't done anything stupid out of emotion, Lan Xichen had been too upset to want to deal with Nie Huaisang in any manner. Anger was one thing, but daring to compare Lan Xichen to someone like Jin Zixun and calling him the worse of the two had been uncalled for. After all, Lan Xichen has done his best to be kind.

So the smile surprises him.

Seeing Nie Huaisang trade amused glances with Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian as Lan Qiren reminds everyone of Gusu Lan's rules, that also surprises him. He doesn't think Nie Huaisang has ever met either of them, and he's always been solitary before. Lan Xichen can only hope that Jiang Wanying has sincerely taken pity on Nie Huaisang. He would rather not have to deal with another Jin Zixun situation.

Very soon though, it is neither Nie Huaisang nor Jiang Wanyin who grab his attention, but the top disciple of Yunmeng Jiang, Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen has never spoken to him before, but he’s heard his reputation, and earlier this morning Lan Wangji complained to him and their uncle about this unruly student who broke curfew, drank alcohol, and fought with him. It’s not that nobody ever breaks the rules, but usually they wait until a little later in the year, when they feel the Lan disciples will have relaxed their surveillance. For someone to act so boldly on their very first night… of course Lan Wangji would be in a bad mood.

A mood that Lan Qiren soon shares when it becomes obvious that, even though he has started reading aloud the rules of Gusu Lan so nobody can say they’re not aware of them, Wei Wuxian isn’t paying attention. He also doesn’t seem impressed when Lan Qiren starts quizzing him about this and that, answering quickly and perfectly while the other students tense with each new question. Lan Xichen would never admit it, but it is rather entertaining to see his uncle fail to catch Wei Wuxian at fault with his answers, a sentiment his brother apparently does not share, judging by the way he glares at the other boy.

It does appear that Lan Qiren will win this showdown when Wei Wuxian fails to answer a question that’s of a rather higher level than what would normally be expected for boys that age. But with renewed boldness, Wei Wuxian starts making improper suggestions that shock nearly everyone in the room and pushes Lan Qiren to a degree of anger his nephew has rarely seen since his mother’s death. Lan Qiren finds himself throwing books at Wei Wuxian, trying in vain to shut him up about his heretical theories, and one of those books hits Nie Huaisang’s head, bringing Lan Xichen’s attention back to him.

He’d have expected Nie Huaisang to be terrified, as he always is whenever anything happens, or perhaps to start crying because of the underserved blow. Instead, Lan Xichen finds his fiancé distractedly rubbing his head and trying to contain a grin as he stares at Wei Wuxian with ever growing delight.

It’s odd, seeing Nie Huaisang with such an expression.

When Lan Qiren’s anger rises so much he orders Wei Wuxian to get out, only to actually be obeyed by Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang is the first to recover from the shock of it. He starts laughing, soon joined by a few others, and doesn’t stop until Lan Qiren gives all of them a portion of the rules to copy for their insolence.

Thankfully, the rest of the lesson passes without more trouble. Lan Wangji dutifully listens to every word that their uncle says, even though none of it is new to him. Lan Xichen does his best to look as if he’s listening as well, while actually thinking of the things he needs to get done once the lecture is done, from an unpleasant conversation to be had, to a new song he’s learning on the xiao that he can’t seem to get quite right, meaning he needs to check with the music master if he’s free. He also promised to help check some details of the sect’s budget, since his uncle is starting to ease him into taking a more active role in these things. It's unlikely that his father will ever leave his seclusion, after all.

Quite honestly, being at this lecture is a waste of Lan Xichen’s time, but Lan Qiren insisted that it would be good for the guest disciple to know him and Lan Wangji. There are, after all, a lot of important young masters among their ranks this year.

It’s a relief when the lecture finishes at last, though that relief is short-lived when his uncle reminds him that he must speak to Nie Huaisang. To Lan Xichen’s dismay, his fiancé was among the very first to leave the classroom, dashing outside in company of Jiang Cheng, followed dutifully by the disciples of their respective sects. Having no choice, Lan Xichen too leaves, joined quickly by his brother.

“Do you need something, Wangji?” he asks, walking at a fast pace in an effort to catch up with the other boys.

“I will greet Nie gongzi as well,” Lan Wangji simply replies.

Lan Xichen rolls his eyes, but can’t help a small smile. The rabbit painting still hangs in his brother’s room. Lan Wangji has poor taste in friends, but as long as he gets out of his shell a little, Lan Xichen counts it as a win.

By the time they finally catch up with Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng at the gate of one of the gardens, the two have found Wei Wuxian and are chatting with him. Once again, Lan Xichen cannot help but be struck by how animated Nie Huaisang appears to be in the company of these two. In fact, isn’t it odd that he’s talking at all? The very few times Lan Xichen has seen him around other people (and that has always been rare indeed) Nie Huaisang was never more than a listener. Now, though, he is an active participant, making comments and being replied to by the other boys, as if all of his old awkwardness were nothing but a dream.

Lan Xichen turns to his brother to comment on this, then nearly laughs at the intense look on Lan Wangji’s face. It’s rare for him to get properly angry, but apparently Wei Wuxian has accomplished that feat, judging by the way Lan Wangji glares at him.

When Lan Xichen turns his attention back to the other group, it is to discover that they have been spotted. Jiang Cheng seems a little awkward, while Wei Wuxian appears delighted to see Lan Wangji. As for Nie Huaisang he now hides behind a fan, nothing but his eyes peeking out to stare at Lan Xichen with a more familiar anxiety.

“May I have a word with Nie gongzi?” Lan Xichen asks, coming closer.

Nie Huaisang startles at the demand. Wei Wuxian just grins, and looks at Lan Wangji.

“Sure, you can have him a moment. Can we have Lan Zhan in exchange? Lan Zhan, come chat with us, it’ll be fun!”

Aside from their mother and Lan Xichen himself, it is certainly the first time that anyone uses Lan Wangji’s personal name. It is no surprise that his glare intensifies, and that he decides to leave right away without taking the time to talk to Nie Huaisang after all. Again, Lan Xichen half wants to laugh, especially since it doesn’t seem that Wei Wuxian is being so familiar out of mean spiritedness. If Lan Wangji’s account of their fight the previous night is anything to go by, these two are of a similar level in swordsmanship. Considering how hard it is for Lan Wangji to find a worthwhile opponent, Wei Wuxian too must struggle to find someone worth sparring with and it wouldn’t be surprising if he enjoyed their little squabble.

It is something to consider later. Lan Wangji is really too solitary, it would be good for him to make friends.

First, though, Lan Xichen has his own problems to take care of.

“Will Nie gongzi come with me, then?” he insists.

With a reluctance he doesn’t try to hide, Nie Huaisang leaves his group to come at Lan Xichen’s side. Since the conversation they need to have is a somewhat private matter, Lan Xichen motions for his fiancé to follow him and they walk further into the gardens. Only when it is unlikely anyone will hear does Lan Xichen finally speak.

“My uncle has asked me to share with you some orders he gave concerning the both of us,” he announces. “He is concerned that we do not get along as well as might be preferred in a situation such as ours, and wants us to spend more time together to remedy it. From now on, we must…”

“No,” Nie Huaisang cuts him, hiding behind his fan as if it were a shield. “I don’t want to.”

“My uncle orders it,” Lan Xichen insists, shocked by this rejection of his authority. “He suggested it to your brother who agreed. We are to meet every week and…”

“No,” Nie Huaisang repeats, with more assurance, though his fan trembles a little. “I won’t do it. Da-ge did not tell me to. Your uncle did not tell me to. And I’m not listening to you.”

“You think I’d lie?”

The very idea is outrageous. Refusal to lie is held as one of the most important rules of Gusu Lan, so to be accused of it by someone who has, in fact, lied right to Lan Xichen’s face several times, is appalling. Nie Huaisang must realise it as well. He hesitates, his fan definitely shaking now from how hard he grasps it.

“I think I don’t care what you have to say,” he announces with surprising firmness. “I think if your uncle has sometimes to tell me, he can say it himself, and I’ll believe him. Until then, I’m not spending more time with you than I have to.”

Taken aback and feeling anger rise in him, Lan Xichen doesn’t stop Nie Huaisang when the other boy simply leaves. It’s for the best, because such audacity very nearly makes him lose his calm. He doesn’t know what angers him most: that Nie Huaisang would think that Lan Xichen would for some reason lie in an effort to spend time with him, or that his fiancé appears to treat his company as deeply undesirable.

As soon as he regains his calm, Lan Xichen decides to seek out his uncle and tell him about this unexpected and most shocking development.

He doesn’t know what game Nie Huaisang has decided to start playing, but he doesn’t like it in the least.

#xisang #Nie Huaisang #Lan Xichen #mo dao zu shi #jau writes #worst engagement au #not the best installement in the series but well some stuff needs to happen sometimes uh

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