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wangxianficrecs · 16 days

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the world wags on by justdoityoufucker

🔒 the world wags on

by justdoityoufucker (orphan_account)

T, 5k, Wangxian & Wei Changze/Lan Qiren

Summary: Wei Ying learns quickly that he cannot be seen by the Jiang. Or, more specifically, he can’t be seen by Madam Yu, who seems to be around the streets of the city more than she ever had been before. Her seeing him will result in the usual spoken barbs, but also in lashings with the sparking purple of Zidian if there are few around. - Or, the one where Wei Changze returns. Kay's comments: Recently re-read this gem and loved it just as much as I did when the story first came out. Having Wei Changze and Lan Qiren getting together works surprisingly well and of course it's a delight to have Wei Ying grow up in Gusu, as a Lan. It starts out heart-breaking and then it turns out so soft and the petty part of me enjoyed watching the Jiangs flounder as well. Excerpt: Qiren looks as if he’s seen a ghost when the disciple leads Wei Changze into his office, dropping his brush. In a way, he has seen a ghost. “Changze,” he gasps, stumbling to his feet, nearly overturning his desk in his haste, “you—how? The boy??” “She’s gone, a-Ren,” and he can’t keep the grief out of his voice. He’s had five years, yes, but really he’s only had the past week. “I almost died during the hunt; I didn’t remember anything—not until a week ago. a-Ying—” He almost feels like he’s going to collapse if he has to think about what a-Ying went through for months, years, when he should’ve been loved and cared for. “Sit,” Qiren says, leading him to the table, hand remaining on his arm as if when he lets go, Wei Changze will disappear again. “a-Ren, they threw him out,” he says, because he has not been able to talk about this with anyone else and he cannot hold back any longer. “Fengmian didn’t even know if he still lived; my son, like he was naught but some trash!”

pov wei changze, canon divergence, pov wei wuxian, wei changze lives, lan qiren/wei changze, somebody lives/not everybody dies, dysfunctional jiang family, jiang family bashing, past child abuse, parent-child relationship, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, childhood friends

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

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lilapplesheadcannons · 10 months

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The proposal

"How do you get married?" Wei Ying asked as he scooped porridge to his mouth.

Jiang Fengmian choked on his scalding hot coffee and started to cough. Yanli, bless her, pushed a napkin towards him. Yu ZiYuan frowned at Wei Ying from where she was feeding baby Jiang Cheng.

"You don't. You don't get married for another twenty years. Not under my roof."

"But Lan Zhan said we should get married so I can go live with him."

Jiang Fengmian dabbed the tears off his eyes.

"Don't you think you should wait for your mama and papa to come back before you get married? Marriage is a big decision, and you are, if you don't mind me saying so, kinda small."

"I am this many big." Wei Ying showed three fingers.

"No, add one more finger." Yu ZiYuan showed him. "You can add another one from next week after your birthday."

After much confusion between his thumb and pinky, Wei Wuxian held up the correct number of fingers.

"This many, auntie?"

"Yes. But you need to be able to show all your fingers and all your toes too before you can get married."

"Why?"

"That's the law."

"What's the law?"

Before Yu ZiYuan put a foot into the trap, Jiang Fengmian intervened. They'd spend the entire day at the breakfast table if they got into a circle of questions and answers with Wei Ying. Even two adults combined were not enough to answer all the whats and whys of an almost five years old.

"Hurry up and finish your porridge, A-Ying. You don't want to be late for school, do you?"

Wei Ying considered his options. On one hand, as soon as A-Cheng was finished with his bottle, he could be enticed into an exciting game of catching Wei Ying's fingers. On the other hand, Lan Zhan had pretty-pleased him to come to school early so they could talk some more. He could play with A-Cheng later. Wei Ying made up his mind and started to shovel porridge into his mouth. The rest of the breakfast was uneventful. Yu ZiYuan burped A-Cheng as she kissed her husband goodbye. Jiang Fengmian herded the children out of the door before they could go back for another goodbye kiss for the baby.

In the evening, once Wei Ying was done telling his parents all about his new friend and they were done patiently explaining to him how come it was still morning where they were even though it was late evening where A-Ying was, Yu ZiYuan took the phone.

"Your son," she looked specifically at Cangse Sanren, "is planning to get married."

As expected, Cangse Sanren burst into a fit of laughter. Her husband was less amused.

"I hope he's not bothering any poor girl in his new school."

"It's a boy. And from what I could gather, the proposal came from him."

Cangse Sanren wiped her eyes.

"Ah, puppy love. Remember how Fengmian was so besotted with you? So cute."

Jiang Fengmian felt warmth rising in his cheeks. There were some obvious disadvantages with having childhood friends who were witnesses to his early childhood transgressions.

"We were in middle school!" He hissed. "And I didn't ask her to marry me until uni."

Yu ZiYuan patted her husband's cheek to comfort his delicate sensibilities. Missy Jiang still had the same thin face as always. She tried to divert the conversation.

"But good for the kid, though. I was worried A-Ying would have a hard time making friends."

Cangse Sanren turned her head to look at her husband.

"Remind me to buy something for the kid before we return. After all, it's our son-in-law."

She broke into a fresh bout of cackles. Wei ChangZe smiled helplessly before bidding goodbye.

Jiang Fengmian found Wei Ying and Jiang Yanli taking turns to blow raspberries on a giggling Jiang Cheng's soft tummy. Soon, A-Cheng managed to grasp a pudgy fistful of Yanli's hair, and Fengmian had to extricate Yanli from a protesting baby.

"Come on baobao, bedtime." Yu ZiYuan picked him up. Jiang Cheng had a half an hour window after his dinner when if he fell asleep, he would sleep through the night until morning. A minute past that he'd get overstimulated and cranky. Yu ZiYuan carried him to his bedroom. Wei Ying followed her with his eyes.

Jiang Fengmian cleared his throat.

"Do you miss your mama too, A-Ying? She'll be back soon."

"No, no. I am not a baby." Wei Ying made a face. "Lan Zhan says I am going to be the mama for his rabbits. I don't know how to, though. I don't think I can carry a rabbit like the way auntie carries A-Cheng. Or give them baths," He confided.

Jiang Fengmian struggled to find answers.

"That's why you need to wait until you are a grown-up," Yanli chirped in unexpectedly. "You can carry two rabbits when you are old."

Jiang Fengmian smiled gratefully at his daughter.

"Twooo?" Obviously, the amazing feat of carrying two rabbits simultaneously blew Wei Ying's mind away.

"Even three, if you start working out and become strong." Jiang Yanli said sagely.

Wei Ying remained awestruck at the idea of carrying so many rabbits in his arms throughout bathtime. Jiang Fengmian switched the overhead light off and sat down on a chair between Wei Ying and Jiang Yanli's beds with the storybook in his hand, ready to pick up from where he had left it off. Wei Ying squirmed under his blanket as five-year-olds often did before bedtime. Jiang Yanli kept yawning but forced herself to stay awake for the ending.

The next day, when Yu ZiYuan picked up Wei Ying from school, he fished out a folded piece of paper from his pocket excitedly.

"Sit still, A-Ying. I am trying to buckle you in."

But A-Ying wasn't paying attention.

"Look at this! Lan Zhan drew this for me!"

Yu ZiYuan clicked the buckle into place and squinted at the paper. It was a red and black rounded blob.

"Er, that's a lovely- , um, ladybug?"

"Nooo," Wei Ying giggled at her ignorance. "That's me."

"Mnnn, an artist, eh? A bohemian? A debonair rogue? Is that how he lured my poor, innocent darling?" Cangse Sanren pretended to faint over videocall that evening.

"I doubt a five years old is indulging in cigars and absinthe wearing a dressing gown in a studio, my love."

"What an old-fashioned idea you have about artists, ChangZe!" A postgraduate in art history, Yu ZiYuan couldn't let the comment slide. But Wei ChangZe only smiled.

Jiang Fengmian interrupted.

"We are taking the kids to the beach tomorrow."

"Enjoy. I wish we could take some time off on weekends as well." Cangse Sanren sighed.

"That's not fair. You deserve some time off. You're working too hard."

"Well, it's a critical moment in the research. We are almost there. Anyway, we are travelling to attend Xingchen and Song Lan's wedding in California next month. That is something to look forward to."

The next day, Yu ZiYuan was woken up by soft hands patting her arm before the crack of dawn. She grabbed the squirming, squealing mass and spoke in a stage whisper,

"Fengmian, I caught a mouse!"

The squirming mass in her embrace giggled.

"I am not a mouse. I am Wei Ying."

"No, you are a mouse. Wei Ying is still sleeping in his bed because he's a good boy."

Wei Ying continued giggling. Jiang Fengmian spoke in a sleepy voice,

"Just feed the mouse to the cat, my lady, then go back to sleep."

"No, no. Don't feed me to a cat!"

Yu ZiYuan hid her smile in Wei Ying's curls. They didn't have any cats. The only pet in the house was a shy betafish in a small aquarium.

Wei Ying calmed down.

"When are we going to the beach? Lan Zhan will be waiting for me."

"Let's sleep a bit more, darling, ok? It's still dark. And we can't wake up A-Cheng too early or he'll cry."

Wei Ying nodded and then closed his eyes. Soon enough, his eyes were closed and his breathing became regular.

They all overslept that morning. As a result, they were quite late when they finally reached their destination.

Jiang Fengmian started to carry everything to the beach. But he almost tripped when an excited Wei Ying got in his way.

"Come on, A-Ying. Let's go buy ice cream."

"Yay! I want a chocolate one."

"Strawberry, please." Jiang Yanli started to dig at the sand with her toy spade. Jiang Fengmian spread the beach towel and put a bottle of water on each corner to stop it from blowing away in the wind. A woman slightly older than him walked towards them, carrying a picnic basket in one hand and holding a child's hand in the other. The child was about Wei Ying's age, cute with chubby cheeks in a blue t-shirt. They both had light honey golden eyes.

"Perfect," Jiang Fengmian thought to himself. A potential friend for A-Ying. He smiled up to the woman.

"Nice day, isn't it? I was worried it might get cloudy."

Jiang Cheng, who had drifted off in his sling, shifted and let out a small cry of protest. The other child moved closer to his mother.

"A shy one! Pity!" Jiang Fengmian thought to himself.

The woman put a reassuring arm around her son's shoulder.

"This is Lan Zhan."

Bingo! Jiang Fengmian observed his nephew's potential suitor with a new interest. It was hard to believe that the shy child hiding his face against his mother's midsection was actually forward enough to propose to Wei Ying in recess.

"Hello, A-Zhan. This is A-Li, and A-Cheng." Jiang Fengmian pointed at his children. "My wife has taken our nephew for ice-cream."

However, it seemed Lan Zhan had already spotted said nephew because with a sharp cry, he sprinted off like an arrow to where Wei Ying and Yu ZiYuan were walking back carrying icecreams.

Wei Ying must have noticed him too because he dropped his icecream and ran towards him. Yu ZiYuan made a split second decision to follow them.

She caught them by their arms and dragged both of them towards Jiang Fengmian and Lan Zhan's mother.

"A-Zhan, why did you run off like that?" Mrs Lan admonished.

"A-Ying, that's dangerous. Don't run..." Jiang Fengmian started as well.

"Look what you kids make me do! The icecreams..." Yu ZiYuan lamented.

But everyone came to a halt when Lan Zhan grabbed Wei Ying's hand and spoke with pride and admiration,

"This is XianXian."

Jiang Fengmian caught Yu ZiYuan's eye and nodded. She understood.

"Oh my, you must be A-Ying's A-Zhan. He has been talking about you for weeks now."

Lan Zhan nodded solemnly. It was absurdly adorable to see a child his age act with so much gravity.

Yu ZiYuan turned to his mom.

"We don't know how to thank your little boy. You see, poor A-Ying had to move in with us because his parents are on a research trip. We were so worried he'd have a bad time getting along with his new classmates. But, it seems like A-Zhan here was a perfect angel."

Mrs Lan asked a pertinent question at this point.

"Why does he call him XianXian?"

Jiang Fengmian extended his arm to ruffle through Wei Ying's curls.

"His courtesy name is Wei Wuxian. A-Ying is more of a nickname."

Wei Ying made a noise of dissatisfaction and jerked his head away. But he didn't let go of Lan Zhan's hand. Soon, the boys were in their own world.

Jiang Yanli was the first to remember.

"Mom, the icecreams?"

Yu ZiYuan sighed.

"Those brats! I'll go get some more. Would you like some as well?" She asked Mrs Lan.

Mrs Lan shook her head,

"Thanks, but my brother-in-law is bringing along my eldest child and his friends. Maybe I should wait."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll grab a few extra." Yu ZiYuan started walking towards the icecream van. But she stopped midway. Lan Zhan was staring at the adults defiantly,

"XianXian and I are getting married today."

"Oh no, you aren't! You two are collectively not even ten yet. No one is getting married until they are at least twenty-one." Yu ZiYuan put her hands on her hips.

Little Lan Zhan looked at his mom imploringly for support. But Mrs Lan looked like she was too shocked to speak.

Jiang Fengmian spoke in a soothing tone,

"Why don't we talk about it later? I mean, you still have to meet A-Ying's mama and papa and ask them for permission."

Lan Zhan slowly nodded while maintaining eye contact with Jiang Fengmian. What a curious little boy! Soon, a man leading three other children joined them. One of the kids looked like an older and smiley-er version of Lan Zhan. Jiang Fengmian knew the other two. They belonged to the Nie family. HuaiSang was at Wei Ying's age. The moment Lan Zhan spotted him, he put himself in front of Wei Ying.

"Saozi, what happened?" The frowning man asked.

"We met A-Zhan's XianXian."

"Oh, hello." The boy who was most definitely Lan Zhan's older brother waved. "I am Lan Xichen."

Wei Ying waved back. There was another round of introductions.

"So you are really real? Uncle kept saying you are just Lan Zhan's imagination." Lan Xichen sounded curious.

"Xichen!" Both his mom and his uncle exclaimed. Both the uncle and the youngest nephew were exhibiting matching pairs of reddened ears.

Jiang Fengmian laughed.

"No, he's real alright. Very much so. You can touch him to be sure if you want."

"NOOO!" Lan Zhan was standing in front of Wei Ying with his arms outstretched in a protective stance. " Xiongzhang, don't touch my Wei Ying."

"Okay, didi." Lan Xichen spoke in a soothing voice.

Jiang Fengmian sighed. This will certainly be an interesting summer.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs crack #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #lan xichen #jiang fengmian #yu ziyuan #cangse sanren #wei changze #madam yu #lan qiren #alternate POV to the imaginary boyfriend

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robininthelabyrinth · 10 months

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Hello it's last anon thank you for letting me give a prompt

So I really liked your pairing of LQR/WRH/Lao Nie and after seeing wwx's parents in the last episode of the donghua it got me thinking, How about WRH/WCZ/CSSR? WRH maybe saves them in yiling and they end up hitting it off (WRH might do it in the beginning just spite jfm by stealing his former best friend and crush) and the Wei family settles in nightless city, wwx grows up with the Wen heirs and wen Qing and wen Ning and that affects the events of Canon

(I wouldn't mind smut tbh if you want to include it, they're all hotties lol)

Thank you so much for letting me send a prompt 🙏😭❤️

ao3

“I don’t suppose you can help with this,” Wen Ruohan said to Lan Qiren, who had the unmitigated gall to look amused at him, as if he’d brought this disaster down on his own head or something like that. “Aren’t you supposed to be friends with that awful -”

“Cangse Sanren and I are indeed good friends,” Lan Qiren said peaceably and tonelessly, possibly just because he was trying to annoy Wen Ruohan to death. “I am therefore very familiar with the fact that there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop her from proceeding precisely as she wishes.”

That was not what Wen Ruohan wanted to hear.

“You’re her friend,” he said, deciding to focus on the important part. “Take her away.”

“You’re the sect leader of the Nightless City,” Lan Qiren rebutted. “Order her to leave.”

Wen Ruohan couldn’t do that.

Well, he could. By all rights, he ought to have done it a month ago, when Cangse Sanren had first marched into the Fire Palace and said, “Oh, this will work perfectly! I love it, you’re so thoughtful!” and started rearranging the entire place into some sort of workshop for herself, possibly involving grain storage. He’d meant to, but he’d been a bit distracted at the time – Wei Changze had wanted to know what all the machines did, and he’d had an endless number of clever ideas on how some of them could be repurposed for things other than torture, some of which had been really very intriguing.

Anyway, it wasn’t as if Wen Ruohan had time to attend torture sessions any more, not with three loudly yelling children running around all the time. Wei Wuxian might be the youngest of the lot, with both Wen Xu and Wen Chao as his elders, but he’d managed in a very short amount of time to make himself the undoubted leader of the pack and spoiled beloved youngest all at the same time. There had even been avid discussions about how they would need to bring other children over to visit in order to better socialize the children. He’d already summoned some cousins over, Wen Qing and Wen Ning, which meant that soon there would be even more children…

It was a headache, really.

Absolutely.

Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren were driving him up the wall.

They were also regular visitors in his bed, something that would very likely rapidly stop being the case if he actually kicked them out of the Nightless City.

“This one’s on you, Hanhan,” Lao Nie put in, grinning wildly at him. Now there was one that was completely unmoved by the news of Wen Ruohan’s new relationship – everyone else had reacted, whether by Jiang Fengmian’s profound embarrassment, raging jealousy, and quiet fury, Jin Guangshan very obviously trying to calculate some way of using this to his advantage, and Lan Qiren immediately going over to question his friends’ sanity – and that was pretty annoying in its own way. After all, Wen Ruohan had really only invited the two rogue cultivators into his bed in the first place as a matter of spite, a way of excising his rage when he’d heard the rumors about Lao Nie potentially taking on a third wife.

He hadn’t expected them to stay.

He hadn’t expected to want them to stay.

Which he didn’t! They were a mess, each one worse than the next – Cangse Sanren was barely human most days, like some sort of feral demonic beast that had accidentally achieved human form and continuously forgot (thanks to her prodigiously bad memory) that she was supposed to be pretending to be normal, and Wei Changze was remarkably similar to Lao Nie in the sense that he’d never taken anything seriously in his life, except for the fact that his humor was lighthearted and unleavened by the hints of trauma and tragedy that lurked behind Lao Nie’s unbridled hedonism. There wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t let slide off his shoulders, forgetting a beating as soon as it was over…Wei Changze might be a lot less vicious than Lao Nie was, but he was reckless to the extreme, in a way that made absolutely no sense. Wasn’t he supposed to be a servant? What was he doing rushing out into the field with a sword and smile and absolutely no advance planning whatsoever? Even Lao Nie wouldn’t do that!

Anyway, they were a handful.

They were maddening.

They were the most interesting thing that had happened to Wen Ruohan in years.

“Your input is not required,” Wen Ruohan informed Lao Nie, who shrugged expansively. “Unless you have something constructive to add.”

“No, no, nothing constructive, you know me, I’m not built for that…but I’m glad that you’re happy.”

Wen Ruohan stopped where he was.

“I’m not right for you,” Lao Nie said, and even though he was still smiling, same as always, there was something sharp in his eyes – the same sharpness that had caught Wen Ruohan’s interest in the first place, like a beautiful dagger that you longed to touch even though you knew its biting edge might cut. “You know, I know, even Qiren knows it…you’re happy now, and that’s good. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Wen Ruohan wanted to say something.

Preferably something cutting, something about how it was too late for Lao Nie to regret – except he didn’t think Lao Nie did regret, because Lao Nie did not live a life of regret. Lao Nie had enjoyed their time together, had been as sincere and true as he was made to be and no further. But, and maybe it was because he’d never expected to keep Wen Ruohan for very long in the first place, he’d felt little sorrow at it ending, instead feeling nothing but joy on Wen Ruohan’s behalf at seeing him happy, even if it was with another.

Wen Ruohan didn’t understand that. He’d always loved too fiercely, too well; he’d always yearned to keep that which he cared for close to him, nearby, somewhere he could protect them and keep them.

Even Lao Nie…Wen Ruohan had been enticed by Lao Nie’s ruthlessness, his bloodthirstiness, his Nie sect temper tempered with a nasty sort of cunning that had made him remarkably successful at expanding his sect’s reach in the north, and he’d been flattered at how persistent the other man was in pursuing him. It was only later, when he’d gotten used to having him around, that he had started to feel jealous…

“They’ll be good for you,” Lao Nie said. His eye twinkled. “You could use a bit of chaos in your life.”

Wen Ruohan shook his head. “I’m trying to get rid of them,” he protested, but even he didn’t believe what he was saying. “They’re a menace. Especially Cangse Sanren – do you know that she’s literally doomed? I swear, I spend all my trying keeping her from getting herself killed…”

“Don’t you enjoy defying the heavens?” Lan Qiren asked, rolling his eyes as if Wen Ruohan were missing something obvious. “I would have thought that someone carting around a heaven-sent calamity would be a perk for someone like you.”

…it rather was, wasn’t it?

“Whatever. Fine. Leave it, I’ll figure it out myself,” Wen Ruohan grumbled, then turned his narrowed eyes on the two of them. “Now for something you can help with: My children need more socialization or else they’ll genuinely think Wei Wuxian is a good example of other children. Sect Leader Lan – you’re a teacher, aren’t you…?”

“Well, yes. But –”

“What a wonderful idea!” Lao Nie clapped his hands together. “I can send my two boys to Qiren to teach, too! And we can definitely bully Fengmian and Guangshan into sending theirs. It’ll be…oh, I don’t know. A regular summer excursion!”

“In my sect?” Lan Qiren asked, arching his eyebrows. “Why me?”

“Because you’re a teacher, of course. Anyway, are you saying you don’t want Cangse Sanren to crash at your place for a few months..?”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Wen Ruohan said at once. When both of them smirked at him, he scowled. “Even if I wanted her too, she’s not. It was a statement of fact, nothing more.”

“Then perhaps we should all come visit the Nightless City instead,” Lao Nie said. “It could be like a miniature discussion conference, except limited to the Great Sects – we could go night-hunting and such while Qiren teaches the children.”

Was Lao Nie proposing an orgy? He’d better not be proposing an orgy, not if he genuinely intended to invite Jiang Fengmian and his wife or Jin Guangshan and his to attend…

“Of course, if it’s focused on the children, maybe the adults aren’t entirely necessary to invite – well, except for you, as the host, Qiren as the teacher, and me as the person who came up with the idea…”

Lao Nie was definitely proposing an orgy.

“…I’ll see what Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze have to say about it,” Wen Ruohan allowed. But only because he thought that it was something they would very much like, and he’d been completely out of ideas on what he could get a couple as notoriously disinterested in material goods as a courting gift – he hated not being capable, that’s all it was. There was no other reason than that! “We’ll see.”

“Did I agree to this?” Lan Qiren asked, frowning. “When did I agree to this –”

“You can’t say no,” Wen Ruohan said. “I’ll set Cangse Sanren on you if you do.”

“…I see that I’ve agreed to this.”

Lao Nie laughed, Lan Qiren sighed, and Wen Ruohan…

Wen Ruohan resigned himself to keeping Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze around a little longer.

Just a little.

#mdzs #wen ruohan #lan qiren #sect leader nie #cangse sanren #wei changze #my fic #my fics #posting a few of these today to finish clearing out this one word doc

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acemdzsfan · 1 year

Text

Wei Changze: I’m… grounded? Cangse Sanren: Yes. You’re grounded. Jiang Fengmian: We’re going to bury you until you’ve learned your lesson! Lan Qiren: That’s not how grounding works.

20-ish years later:

Wei Wuxian: Into the ground with you!

Wen Yuan: *Happy radish being buried*

#But then they use it on Wei Ying #And then he uses it for A-Yuan #lan sizhui #wei wuxian #the untamed #fun times in the burial mounds #mdzs #cangse sanren #wei changze #lan qiren #jiang fengmian

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bnnywngs · 1 year

Text

when wei wuxian asked lan wangji to marry and received a positive answer, most of the lan sect knew there wouldn't be grand courting gifts, nor it would be expensive, as he and his parents were rogue cultivators.

what they didn't expect was wei changze himself arriving in cloud recesses with four big wooden chests, intricately carved with wedding symbolisms saying it was his son's gifts.

they sat inside the formal room, curiously waiting to see what was inside the chest. lan wangji looked impassive as usual, but his fingers were twitching with barely stifled desire to open the chests himself.

the first one was opened.

"lan-er-gongzi, here's the first gift from your betrothed." wei changze smiled softly and brought his hands out of the chest, a beautifully made sky blue robe with a silver dragon embroidered on the back "a robe for you made by your betrothed's hands. a-ying not only embroidered but also sewed the cloth he himself chose especially for you."

all the lans were surprised and impressed, it was clearly well made, it could easily pass by professionally made.

"the second gift" wei changze continues, opening the second chest "is a pair of bunnies carved in white jade by your betrothed." he put the, frankly big, pair of jade animals on the floor in front of lan wangji, who immediately snatched one to look up close.

again, the lans were impressed. who would know that wei-gongzi was so accomplished.

"the third and last gift for now" wei changze opened the last chest "is a pair of guans carved in wood, a pair of hairpins of blue and white jade, and a pair of tassels in the same colors." he put one by one beside the lonely bunny "all made and carved by a-ying himself."

the lans were truly astonished. the gifts were all beautiful and well made, almost as if wei-gongzi was a professional in these sections. and were all of immeasurable price. blue jade! the boy had blue jade to carve! and many white jades to choose what to do with it!

lan xichen could barely blink! lan qiren felt his own mouth open.

"thank you.... a-die." lan wangji bowed, showing, for once, his shy side.

wei changze just chuckled "there's nothing to thank me, a-zhan, just make our a-ying happy."

"mn." lan wangji nodded firmly "will make beautiful gifts for wei ying."

the rogue cultivator chuckled again, and bowed "for the next round of gifts, a-ying wishes to focus on cultivation, if it's ok with you?"

"definitely." lan xichen said, before coughing softly into his hand and smiling "we will be happy with anything wei-gongzi thinks is valuable."

"of course." wei changze nodded with a smile.

later that night, past curfew, most lans that were inside that room would find hard to sleep, thinking about the gifts received and the ones yet to come.

all but one.

lan wangji slept soundly, a tiny smile in his lips as he dreamed of his future.

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loosingmoreletters · 4 months

Note

25, with either wangxian or lqr/wcz? 💜

librarian/avid reader au

“You know, you can just borrow the book if it interests you.”

Lan Qiren closes the book he’s reading, barely suppressing the urge to hide it away when he realizes he recognizes the man in front of him from the library’s front desk.

“I am aware,” he answers. “I have a library card.”

He’s used this card to check out various books, presenting them to the man in front of him, who always accepts them with a smile. The man, Wei Changze his nametag reads, looks like he should be trotting through university like the rest of them, but whenever Lan Qiren actually sees him on campus, he is working. He also wishes that he weren’t so aware of Wei Changze, but the man is too bright to ignore. Kind, always. A terrible distraction really.

“Then do you want to take the book home?” Wei Changze asks and holds out his hand.

Lan Qiren is not one known for hesitance or slow decisions, but he lingers on this question. He’d like to take his book with him, read it somewhere away from all the buzzing noise, but taking it home risks discovery, being questioned on reading material that has nothing to do with his studies, a topic so foreign in his family.

“No.”

“Oh.” Wei Changze’s eyes linger on the book, on its so very telling title. “Do you want me to borrow it?”

“What?”

Wei Changze smiles softly. Lan Qiren wishes his hard would stop skipping a beat. “I can borrow it for you and keep it at the desk. You strike me as a responsible guy, so you can come pick it up whenever you’re in the library and just hand it back to me when you’ve finished reading. Just so that nobody else will pick it up.”

That would be—too much. Too much to bear and confront and reflect.

“It would be no problem at all,” Wei Changze reassures him.

“Are you certain?” Lan Qiren asks after a pause.

“I promise.”

#mdzs #mdzs fanfic #lan qiren #wei changze #fanfic #what even is their ship name #ask #danmeiireader

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jiaoji · 11 months

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CSSR and WCZ receiving a letter from GusuLan inviting his 15 years old to study on GusuLan and when they arrived she start to harass LQR and make fun of him while her 15 yrs old son is making mental poetry about the Lan's 20 yrs old nephew beauty

Imagine Wei WuXian's grey mischivous eyes staring at the cold golden eyes of LWJ

Meanwhile that, CSSR is threathning to shave off his beard again while LXC is just smiling and being pretty and WCZ is hugging her because she hates LQR but not enough to get off her handsome husband's arms

#mdzs #modaozushi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #lan qiren #lan xichen #wei changze #cangse sanren

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onnahu · 1 day

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So, my favourite mdzs/cql fic? Thanks for asking!

It's a time travel au where Lan Qiren ends up in his early adulthood and tries to fix everything by seducing Wen Ruohan. Also, it may or may not serve a greater good - WangXian shutting the fuck up, because LQR can't sleep at night bc of them!

It's excellent. The humor is peak, the plot is great, even a little bit of smut as a treat, tho it's not problem at all to skip it if that's what you like. 121,456 words long, the whole parents generation get an appearance.

Mostly cql setting, but even I - the novel and donghua is my thing, drama not really - was enjoying it.

It's also an epic journey of Lan Qiren's goatee.

The fic is 'Cursed Couple' by shorimochi on ao3. Check it out.

#the untamed #mdzs #mxtx mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wen ruohan #lan qiren #cangse sanren #wei changze #yu ziyuan #jiang fengmian #epic love story #fanfiction recommendation #fanfiction #fanfic #wen ruohan x lan qiren #shipping #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation

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kachawo · 1 year

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Crack AU where Cangse and Wei Changze live to tell the tale to teenage Wei Ying and admits he wasn't a planned baby (but nevertheless very loved) and they were "distracted"

Cue Lqr one day yelling at him: You are the human embodiment of Chaos and Distraction!

Wei Ying: ...

Jc: Wei Wuxian.

Wwx: Is it

Jc: Wei WuXian.

Wwx: Is it a good time to tell him I was born because of distraction.

Lan Qiren coughed blood, Jiang Cheng developed a new type of migraine, no one heard the end of that joke from Wei Ying.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs au #wwx #wei wuxian #jiang che g #lan qiren #cangse sanren #wei changze #crack au #writing #a break from all the serious stuff

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renspassingthoughts · 2 years

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The Chaos of the Previous Generation

I'm very much aware half of this probably doesn't make sense. This is also an AU because it doesn't fit canon.

Jiang Fengmian never loved Cangse Sanren. He thought she was nice but mostly hung out with her because of the benefits of having a connection with a disciple of an immortal.

Yu Ziyuan and Cangse Sanren actually used to get along, at least, until Yu Ziyuan fell in love and the time Jiang Fengmian took to try and get close to Cangse Sanren started to irritate her.

Jiang Fengmian used to be less cowardly, a good sect heir, but Yu Ziyuan absolutely destroyed that during their marriage.

Wei Changze was the IT-boy of their generation he just didn't know it.

Cangse Sanren and Madam Lan (who I will be naming Wu Xi, courtesy name Yufei, which came from this post.) fell in love in Cloud Recesses and bonded over being rogue cultivators/not belonging to any sect and, therefore, distanced from most of the other disciples.

Wei Changze and Lan Qiren got along well. Wei Changze was a calm, intelligent man and complimented the scholarly attitude of Lan Qiren perfectly, who always wanted to learn more.

Wei Changze and Lan Qiren would spend hours discussing and debating over different topics, which led to numerous leaps in their knowledge and practical cultivation.

Qingheng-jun, who I don't have a name for, was engaged to Wen Ruohan.

Wen Ruohan used to be a nice young man, as flirty as Wei Wuxian was, though a bit more arrogant.

The engagement was a surprise to hear, since cut-sleeve marriages were rare and both of them were heirs.

A month before the wedding, however, the monthly corresponds of Qingheng-jun and Wen Ruohan suddenly stopped. The next thing everyone knew the engagement was off, Qingheng-jun married Wu Yufei (Madam Lan), and Wen Ruohan became Wen-zhongzhu.

Cangse Sanren and Wu Yufei became sworn sisters, but their love died out, both losing hope. They never saw each other again, after that.

Lan Qiren and Wei Changze had a huge falling out.

Lan Qiren had fallen for Wei Changze, but Wei Changze never let himself feel such feelings for the Lan-er-gongzi of the Lan Sect, so Lan Qiren was left heartbroken.

Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian got married, happy.

Wei Changze attends the wedding and meets Cangse Sanren, who was invited as well.

They both spend time together and become quite close.

Cangse Sanren stays to spend more time with Wei Changze, who is the head disciple of the Jiang Sect and cannot accompany Cangse Sanren on her travels, who doesn't want to be alone.

Cangse Sanren's presence leads Yu Ziyuan to have fits of jealousy, not knowing the real reason Cangse Sanren was staying, and that's when the fights between Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan start.

Slowly, feelings develop between Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze the more time they spend around each other.

Wu Yufei and Qingheng-jun have their first child, Lan Huan.

Cangse Sanren doesn't visit despite the invite Wu Yufei sends her and instead sends a gift with a small note saying "For the little Lan."

Wei Changze accompanies Jiang Fengmian in visiting new Lan heir.

Cangse Sanren is left in Lotus Pier with Yu Ziyuan; there is an argument, but nothing physical, Yu Ziyuan would never dream of winning against Cangse Sanren, and Cangse Sanren packs to leave.

Wei Changze arrives with Jiang Fengmian and finds out about what happened; he follows Cangse Sanren, leaving a small clarity bell in his room, which Jiang Fengmian later finds.

Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze get married.

Years later, Cangse Sanren, Wei Changze, and Wu Yufei are dead.

Lan Qiren sees a young boy almost a carbon copy of the one he fell in love with and can't help but feel sorrow. The same boy attempts to argue with him during lectures, he's reminded of when he and Wei Changze used to debate, used to be friends, and chases the boy out.

Wen Ruohan, betrayed by Qingheng-jun, pushes everyone away and builds power in an attempt to stop himself from getting hurt in such a way again. It doesn't work.

Jiang Fengmian is a shadow of his old self and Yu Ziyuan witnesses the qualities of him that she fell in love with slowly disappear; she continues to love him, still.

#mdzs #wei changze #jiang fengmian #yu ziyuan #lan qiren #cangse sanren #wen ruohan

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lilapplesheadcannons · 1 year

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Guys, it's time for serious questions now. You know how it's kinda widely accepted that all juniors have crushes on Jin Ling's uncles? Whether it's Jiang Cheng or Hanguang Jun? I think they'd have crushed on Jin ZiXuan if they could have met him.

Please mention the reason behind your choice in comments or tags.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs headcanons #mdzs crack #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #cql #the untamed #lan qiren #wen rouhan #jin guangshan #qingheng jun #jiang fengmian #madam yu #cangse sanren #wei changze

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robininthelabyrinth · 6 months

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The Other Mountain - ao3 - Chapter 27

Pairing: Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan

Warning Tags on Ao3

———————————————————————-

Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze led Wen Ruohan and Lan Qiren into the passageways and made their way deep into the secret parts of Jinlin Tower, heading towards what they claimed was some sort of laboratory that would provide them with the answers they required. They were being unduly mysterious, which was both highly annoying and so in character that it was not worth arguing over.

Behind them, the Wen sect disciples had been left to guard the hole in the wall and keep the Jin sect disciples from either following or leaving – to the extent there were any unfortunate revelations to be had here, the four of them had all agreed that it was better to keep them first to themselves.

The Jin sect would learn in time what they deserved to learn, which probably wasn’t much.

For his part, Lan Qiren spent much of the journey in silent contemplation.

He thought first of Wang Liu, who had – well, if Lan Qiren was being completely honest with himself, probably deserved his fate. His ghost had been honest in the manner of the dead, beyond the use of lies. He’d explained succinctly how he had worked loyally for Jin Guangshan until he had realized that the man planned to betray him in exchange for holding off Wen Ruohan’s rage; he had accordingly shifted his loyalties over to Lan Qiren’s brother, reaching an agreement with him that he believed would allow him to preserve his life. He had then later realized that the man was insane, a realization that had likely though not explicitly occurred upon learning that he’d murdered Jin Guangshan, at which point he had rather unwisely tried to double-cross Lan Qiren’s brother and go back to the Jin sect. Floundering and clueless as the Jin sect appeared to be regarding his death, it was likely that last betrayal which had led to it. Though the ghost hadn’t known how he had been killed, the event having come upon him as a complete surprise, the details made it clear who must have been the perpetrator.

Wen Ruohan hadn’t asked, which meant that he already knew.

Lan Qiren…

Lan Qiren genuinely did not understand what his brother was doing.

He never had, that was true, but this seemed beyond even the furthest reaches of his imagination. Truly his brother must have gone mad, genuinely mad. Why would he ally with Jin Guangshan, only to later kill him? Why kill Wang Liu so recklessly, practically in front of their eyes? What was his goal? What did he even have left to live for, knowing that He Kexin was dead at his own hands and that Lan Qiren would never tolerate letting him escape justice for what he’d done? Did he really want to kill everyone in the world, as Wen Ruohan had suggested?

Lan Qiren wanted to say Surely not and he would never and some of those people are his friends, but he didn’t think his brother had any friends, not anymore. Lao Nie had been his friend once, perhaps, and several others besides, but his brother had ruthlessly accounted for them all in his original plan. He had used his friendship with them in the most awful of ways, using what he knew about them to manipulate them, plotting a course that could and would have led to their deaths or at least their shame and grief and guilt. Still worse, he had done so without any shred of remorse, and even now there seemed to be no sign of regret – or of changing course.

He had to be stopped.

He had – and Lan Qiren really and truly hated to admit it – to be killed.

The fact that only he and a few others knew the truth of what he’d done did not change this fact.

Justice had to be meted out. That was Lan Qiren’s bottom line, the point of no return past which he would not go, the point past which he could not go without losing everything worthwhile about himself. It was a fundamental part of who he was. Lan Qiren knew himself to be a rigid man, someone who would break but not bend, and this was something he could not give in on. Hadn’t he just nearly had a qi deviation just thinking about how those in his sect had perjured morality and closed their eyes to injustice? As Cangse Sanren had pointed out, if all their principles of justice and righteousness were abandoned, then what was the point?

Lan Qiren did not see his efforts at concealing the truth of his brother’s actions from the world as contrary to that steadfast belief. Justice was paramount, morality the priority, learning first – but harmony was also the truest value, and the Lan sect rules had always counseled against excess, whether in joy or grief or self-sacrifice. The rules imposed Do not tell lies instead of Tell the truth, and that, too, was the wisdom of Lan Qiren’s ancestors. Truth was an instrument, to be played when it would help achieve the loftier goals of justice, of harmony, of kindness, of righteousness, and kept silent where it would not.

If the cultivation world found out what Lan Qiren’s brother had done, it would disgrace not only his brother, who thoroughly deserved it, and his sect, which could probably stand to be at least a little disgraced, but also very specifically his nephews. Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji would grow up the sons of an acknowledged murderer, a madman, in a world that did not absolve children of their parents’ sins. They would be shunned by their peers, disdained by women (or men, if their preferences ran that way), blacklisted by all the respectable matchmakers and mocked in their efforts no matter how much they accomplished, no matter how perfect they were in their own conduct. No matter what they did, everyone would always be waiting for them to go mad as well.

Lan Qiren did not want that.

His brother needed to be punished and justice restored; that much was unquestionable. But he was a member of one of the Great Sects, and according to long-standing tradition and written treaties both, that meant the Lan sect had the first say in meting out his punishment. Lan Qiren might have married out, but he had the right surname and the closest blood connection, and he could therefore claim that right of punishment in his sect’s name if they would not – and claim it he would, because having first right only meant the right to be first. If the Lan sect failed to punish one of their own, if they tried to let his brother go free in contravention to all justice and morality, then they gave up that right, and the right and obligation to seek punishment would flow to the next-most victims.

And the Jin sect, having lost both their sect leader and all their face, would pursue that punishment to its utmost bitter end with not one bit of care about what life would be like for Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji in the aftermath.

That was why Wen Ruohan was helping Lan Qiren now, helping him buy the time he needed. Time for them to find his brother and to stop him by whatever means necessary, time for them to keep the punishment inside the confines of the Lan sect where the collateral damage could be minimized. Time enough to convince the Lan sect of the necessity of that punishment – a trial and sentence, if they could take him into custody, and death, if they could not. Time for Lan Qiren to take that first right and try his hardest to make a terrible situation with no good results end better than it might have otherwise.

It was perhaps a little insane to feel warm about the fact that his wife was helping him manipulate a murder investigation.

Lan Qiren thought once more about that painting, obsession, and decided it was fine.

(Or, well, at least that it was mutual.)

Of course, he immediately then began contemplating – worrying, really, if he were being honest with himself, a virtue he often strove for and just as often failed in – whether he was being hypocritical, as his brother had several times accused him of being. To claim that the madness of love he felt was righteous, and that that of another was not, would seem to be the first and easiest fallacy to fall into; “acceptable for me but not for you” was the first step of any hypocrisy. It was necessary to seek to evaluate everything he did from an objective standpoint, without clouding the eyes with undue passion or excuses borne out of love instead of reason.

Still, after some considerable consideration, Lan Qiren genuinely did not think that was the case.

His brother’s madness was not love, as Lan Qiren felt it. He had turned against He Kexin not for any just cause, not for any rational reason that made him feel as if he had no choice in acting against her, but only because she did not love him as he loved her, a fact he had already known when he’d married her. He’d murdered her for disagreeing with him, murdered her out of jealousy, and he hadn’t sought to punish himself for what he’d done, only others. He had blamed others for what he had done – first Lan Qiren, and then the world…never himself.

Their madness, insofar as it had been based on love, was not the same.

Similarly, Lan Qiren’s efforts to cover up his brother’s actions in order to have the chance to bring him to justice with as few negative side-effects as possible were in no way comparable to his sect elders’ complicity in covering up the crimes of the mine, choosing to use He Kexin as a scapegoat and never seeking justice at all. Lan Qiren had been willing to hide He Kexin’s murder from public knowledge for his nephew’s sakes, when he had believed that to be her crime, because he had known that she was being punished for it; he would only be willing to hide his brother’s crimes, if he could, for the same reason.

It was not the same.

Despite what his brother might think, Lan Qiren was not a hypocrite.

She thought you were a hypocrite. Stupid woman.

Lan Qiren paused: that was Wen Ruohan speaking, but it was an unfamiliar memory. From last night, perhaps? Wen Ruohan had asked him to alert him if –

Ah.

There were the rest of yesterday’s memories.

Including the ones where he –

Ah.

Grateful for the relative dimness of the tunnels, which hid how red his face was turning, Lan Qiren retracted the hand he had reached out to Wen Ruohan, intending on alerting him to his recovered memories as he’d requested, and delivered a sharp kick to his shin instead.

Predictably, Wen Ruohan did not stumble, but instead turned and smirked at him, clearly realizing exactly what it was that had motivated his action.

The heat in Lan Qiren’s face got worse. He couldn’t believe that he’d actually – in a public room – and in such a bestial fashion, no less! Even if Wen Ruohan had been egging him on, and he had been, thoroughly, his own behavior really had gone beyond the pale. Particularly the bits that weren’t strictly sex-related, though Wen Ruohan had certainly reacted as if they were, vocally appreciative to great extent. It wasn’t that Lan Qiren didn’t agree with his drunken self that Wen Ruohan desperately needed to be turned over his knee and given a good thrashing, but still, to actually do it…

Though he supposed if Wen Ruohan really had enjoyed it as much as he’d appeared to, perhaps the restrictions he had placed on his behavior were a little more arbitrary than he had hitherto considered. Something to think about.

…not the bit about being in public, though. They were another sect’s guests, bound by etiquette and the rules of hospitality! To behave in such a manner was utterly disgraceful!

“Here we are!” Cangse Sanren announced.

Lan Qiren shook his head to clear it, as now was most eminently not the time and place for such thoughts, and stepped out of the passageway into a broader room. It was a frightful place, by any token: dark and gloomy, with chains and cages and sinister contraptions on the wall, some of which Lan Qiren recognized from Wen Ruohan’s Fire Palace…though the quality was not quite as good.

He couldn’t believe that he knew enough about torture implements to make that judgment.

He kicked Wen Ruohan again for good measure.

(When Wen Ruohan gave him a puzzled look in response, Lan Qiren pointedly looked at a few of the pieces, then mouthed the word inferior at him, which caused Wen Ruohan to let out a bark of laughter that made Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze look at the two of them oddly.

Lan Qiren refused to explain.)

That room, however, turned out to only be the entrance, with the main attraction being centered in the next room they entered: a much larger but more vacant room, with only a few forges and other such things pushed out to the sides, and in the center, a vast and ominous-looking array, glowing with a dull light, already activated and ready to go to work.

It was massive, even as arrays went, and extraordinarily complicated: more circles than Lan Qiren had ever seen, with dizzying geometric designs, all sorts of runes and other complex equations built in. It was filled with spiritual energy, emitting a low-pitched hum that shook the bones. It was exceptionally menacing.

Wen Ruohan went over to examine it at once.

“We figured Sect Leader Wen would be able to handle it,” Wei Changze said with satisfaction and not a little bit of relief. “It took us some doing to even get this far and find it – apparently, the door lock to this particular room only opens for someone with Jin blood. Luckily not limited to the main line, at least!”

“We got it voluntarily,” Cangse Sanren said. “Don’t look so worried, Qiren-gege.”

Lan Qiren, pained, decided not to ask about the details.

“What else have you managed to learn?” he asked. “How did you even find this place?”

“Let’s answer that first question, since you don’t want to hear the answer to the second – ”

Lan Qiren narrowed his eyes.

“– purely because it was very boring and involved a lot of following people around using papermen in a reckless and inadvisable fashion, plus at least one attempted sexcapade – ”

“We started kissing so that someone wouldn’t pay attention to us,” Wei Changze said proudly. He was just as bad as his wife, actually. Lan Qiren was starting in retrospect to worry about what bad lessons his nephews might have picked up while in their care. “It was great.”

“It was,” Cangse Sanren said, nodding. “Very sexy of us.”

Lan Qiren did not throw anything at either of them, but only because there was nothing to hand.

“You said that you could help us in identifying the nature of the curse that killed Wang Liu and Jin Guangshan,” he said patiently. “I assume that’s the array? How did you determine it was related to their deaths rather than being for some other purpose, such as a protective array or something like that?”

“No one would keep their protective array in a creepy laboratory of death,” Wei Changze said.

Lan Qiren thought about the Fire Palace’s record-keeping function and grimaced in disagreement.

“We captured and interrogated one of the Jin sect disciples that were here when we got here,” Cangse Sanren said, more helpfully. “He confirmed all sorts of interesting things, including that this array had only been set up after the events of the mountain at Xixiang, that it was something very secret that only the sect leader and a very select few knew about…and most importantly, after a little encouragement, he told us what it does.”

“Tell me you did not torture him for information,” Lan Qiren said, pinching his brow.

“What, your lover gets to torture people and we don’t? That’s just blatant favoritism, Qiren-gege…”

“We scared him and then knocked him out,” Wei Changze assured him earnestly. “Don’t worry.”

Lan Qiren inclined his head in thanks. Very begrudging thanks. “I am not worried. I am impatient. Will you proceed to the part where you tell me what the array does?”

“That’s the interesting part!”

Lan Qiren assumed that meant he wasn’t going to like it.

“As far as we can figure,” Cangse Sanren said, “the whole thing is actually meant to drain spiritual energy.”

Lan Qiren frowned and reached up to stroke his beard. He’d been right: he didn’t like it.

“Drain spiritual energy?” he asked. “What does that even mean? I have heard of arrays meant to improve the ability of a given area to contain spiritual energy, and inversions to make a place more unlucky or less auspicious, and naturally there are spells to use up what spiritual energy is available, however unwise those may be. But what does it mean to ‘drain’ spiritual energy?”

“I think Qingheng-jun told Sect Leader Jin that he could pull off something like what Sect Leader Wen did at Xixang if only he had enough power,” Wei Changze said. His mirth had faded away, and he looked unusually solemn. “The only difficulty was in gathering that power, which had taken Sect Leader Wen a century or more to accumulate – time they didn’t have. So they decided to go with a shortcut by obtaining it from cultivators directly.”

“What?”

Orthodox cultivation taught that each cultivator had to train themselves in order to generate and use their own spiritual energy: to absorb qi from the world around them, to form a golden core, to further refine and strengthen their golden core through hard work and effort. Draining the spiritual energy of another person, using their efforts as substitute for your own, building cultivation on each other’s corpses rather than their own strength – that was demonic cultivation, surely!

“Technically yes, though demonic cultivation is a larger category of which this sort of ‘drainage’ technique would just be one subgroup,” Wei Changze said when Lan Qiren said as much. “Orthodox cultivation has always categorized almost all usage of resentful energy, particularly when involving resentful energy generated by human beings, as demonic cultivation, regardless of the type, methodology, or purpose involved. This is likely because the side effects of utilizing – or rather, mishandling – resentful energy is similar throughout, with corrosive effects to the temperament and often judgment and morality. While traveling, we’ve actually encountered any number of different legends about – ”

Cangse Sanren tapped him on the shoulder. “Not the time for academia, husband mine. Qiren will be happy to hear about it later.”

“I would be delighted,” Lan Qiren assured him. As someone with his own set of special interests which consumed his mind whenever mentioned, he was always willing to listen to others who were willing to listen to him…even if it was on as unsavory a subject as demonic cultivation. Wei Changze had strange interests. “But I agree with Cangse Sanren, perhaps later.”

“Right, right, of course. Later is fine.” Wei Changze coughed. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to get distracted. Where were we?”

On second thought, perhaps discussing demonic cultivation was the lesser of the two evils here.

Sadly, they didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“Jin Guangshan’s plans to use cultivators to provide my brother – and himself, presumably – with additional power.” Lan Qiren grimaced in disgust. “What a vile plan. I cannot believe Jin Guangshan would do such a thing to his own people…!”

“Oh, he didn’t,” Cangse Sanren said, and pointed to one of the forges that had been pushed to the side – or at least, which Lan Qiren had previously assumed had merely been pushed to the side. “He planned to use everyone else’s.”

Lan Qiren walked over to the forge, which was not a forge, exactly. He didn’t quite know the word for what it was: a place where one could pour molten metal into molds, casting some figure or item…

He blanched.

“Surely not,” he said, recognizing the symbol on the mold. “Those terrible coins he was handing out?!”

“Cursed coins are a classic,” Cangse Sanren said with a shrug.

“From what you and Sect Leader Wen told us, Sect Leader Jin was handing them out to everyone who participated in the events at Xixiang, claiming that they were a means of commemorating the grand night-hunt that had unified the cultivation world,” Wei Changze said. “Which meant that even if people knew that it was just his attempt to buy good will, they would still accept the coins, whether from pride, not wanting to be left out, or even, like Cangse and me, just because they were made of gold and therefore able to be resold.”

It made a sick sort of sense.

The Jin sect excelled at applying spells to gold and silver – they produced the finest spiritual ornaments in the cultivation world, ranging from jeweled hair pins to elaborate necklaces to belt adornments to ornate golden fans. There was a reason that Jin Guangshan was able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other leaders of the Great Sects, beyond merely his wealth and heritage and despite his own mediocre level of cultivation; he was usually dripping with enchanted wealth, spelled for protection and sometimes offense. It was unwise to discount the Jin sect’s ability in this field, just like no one would doubt Qinghe Nie’s skill in producing sabers.

It wouldn’t be hard for Jin Guangshan to find someone to pour the metal and cast the coins, nor for him to arrange one casting of the coins to be with the curse and one without. And then he’d only need to hand the cursed ones to the rest of the cultivation world, reserving the rest for his own sect, and that would mean that they would remain safe when Lan Qiren’s brother eventually activated the array and drained the spiritual energy from everyone for his own selfish use…

“That is truly terrible,” Lan Qiren said vehemently. “Is there really an array that can do such a thing?”

“No,” Wen Ruohan said.

They all turned to look at him.

“Well, I cannot discount the possibility of such a thing existing, people have always been both clever and lazy,” he said. “But that’s certainly not what this array does.”

“Are you sure? The researcher seemed quite sure, and it tallied up with everything else we discovered,” Cangse Sanren said, pouting a little at having her deductions overturned, but then shrugged it off a moment later. “All right then, I guess we were wrong. What does it do?”

“Nothing.”

They all paused, waiting for an explanation.

None appeared forthcoming.

“What do you mean?” Lan Qiren finally asked. “What does ‘nothing’ entail?”

“No, I mean it does nothing.” Wen Ruohan shrugged when they looked at him. “The spiritual energy pathways all tie into each other until they’re knotted. There’s no exit point: you can feed the array qi and it will light up and look impressive, but functionally, that’s it. It’s a dud.”

“…are you joking right now?” Cangse Sanren asked blankly.

“Not in the slightest,” Wen Ruohan said.

“It’s a dud?!”

“A very fancy dud, yes. If it makes you feel better, I’m sure the rest of your deductions were correct, or at least that they matched up to the false bill of goods being sold to Jin Guangshan as a miracle pathway to power,” he said dryly. “Only Qingheng-jun decided not to bother with all the effort involved in finding or inventing an array that could drain spiritual energy from living cultivators, which may or may not be impossible. He just cursed the coins directly.”

“He fooled Jin Guangshan,” Lan Qiren realized. “That was the purpose behind the array: it was to trick Jin Guangshan into helping him create and then spread the cursed coins!”

And if the array for draining energy was fake, then the true purpose of the cursed coins was likely to be the traditional one – namely, the death of anyone who possessed one.

Wen Ruohan had been right. His brother really did want to kill everyone.

Lan Qiren felt sick to his stomach.

“Well, I mean, cursed coins,” Cangse Sanren said. “Like I said, they’re a classic. There’s a reason for that.”

“Indeed there is,” Wen Ruohan said. “When it comes to finding a way to kill a great number of people to whom you do not have immediate access, there is scarcely any better – although removing the array from the equation does mean that this attempt at murder is far less creative than Qingheng-jun’s previous efforts. I suppose he must have put all his energy into devising his first plan, leaving nothing behind for this shoddily crafted fallback.”

“Isn’t that a good thing for us?” Wei Changze asked. “That it’s not creative, I mean?”

“Not necessarily. Creativity often means innovation, and innovation leaves loopholes that can be exploited, whereas using a tried-and-true method has the advantage of reliability. For instance, a curse on coins has a less obvious focal point – moreover, I’m not familiar with an array that generates a curse quite like the one we have observed, or for that matter a curse like that at all, excluding arrays from consideration. Even if the method is crude, the curse itself is quite clever. I like to think that I would have thought of something similar myself, in time…cultivators do so love their swords.” He snorted. “Or their sabers, I suppose. Such a thing would be tremendously effective on someone like Lao Nie, who treats his saber better than his sons.”

Better than his lovers, you mean, Lan Qiren thought, a little spitefully, then felt bad: When others lose to you, do not look down on them.

“I can’t even imagine the look on his face if something like that was used on him,” Wen Ruohan continued, shaking his head. “His expression – to see his precious Jiwei cracking in two right before his eyes – ”

Something about the way Wen Ruohan had phrased it suddenly caused something to flit across Lan Qiren’s mind. It was a memory, very faint, of something he’d read once but not especially cared to remember. Something obscure, given that the subject was curses. But definitely some text, the memory accompanied by the familiar feeling of pages unde his fingertips, the smell of ink, the pleasant exercise of learning something…

Perhaps it was a reading he had come across while searching for ideas for one of his classes? No, that didn’t seem right.

It didn’t seem like something he’d read for sect business, either, and neither did it fall into the memories of the times he had helped others in his sect do the research necessary to solve a tricky issue that had arisen in one of their night-hunts – it felt like something he had read alone.

But why would he have read a treatise on curses? That was hardly something he would read for pleasure…

Lan Qiren abruptly recalled where he’d encountered it.

It wasn’t reading for pleasure, necessarily, or at least not how he’d term it, even though it had not been motivated by any actual requirement.

It had been his brother.

Lan Qiren had once used to read every book his brother had ever requested, cherishing the rare notes that his brother had left behind for the servants that only came to his seclusion in order to clean and leave food and items. At the start, he’d hoped that it would give them something to discuss through his brother’s closed door, though that had never come to pass; his brother had ignored Lan Qiren so completely that his visits had swiftly turned more into recitations than anything else, reading out a report without any expectation of commentary. Even after he realized that he would never find common ground with his brother, he’d never really stopped skimming the books that were sent in for his brother’s reading pleasure. He’d gotten into the habit by then, and since it had served as a good way to find new books to recommend (or not) to He Kexin, he’d carried on in the same fashion he’d started.

This memory had come from one of those books.

“Ah,” he said.

“It appears that I’ve been underestimating the Gusu Lan library,” Wen Ruohan said archly.

“No, it makes sense,” Cangse Sanren said, though she was suppressing a smile. “We all agree that it was Qingheng-jun who was the one planning this, wasn’t he? He knows what his sect knows, so it only stands to reason that Qiren would have a better chance of figuring out what curse he used.”

“How did they both manage to read up on the same obscure curse, though?” Wei Changze said. “Assuming the library in the Cloud Recesses is even bigger than the one in the Lotus Pier, that seems like rather a coincidence. Fengmian and I almost never read the same books, except when we had overlapping interests – oof! What did I say?”

“Nothing of value, husband mine. Consider the value of silence instead.”

“But –”

“Qiren,” Wen Ruohan interrupted. “What can you tell us about this curse?”

“Not much that is relevant,” Lan Qiren said, too busy mentally sorting through his memories to figure out what exactly what they were trying to distract him from – he didn’t have enough mental energy to spare to also figure out social situations. The majority of what he recalled about that particular reading pertained to the way the underlying part of the curse functioned, utilizing certain musical elements to achieve its aims, specifically, the crack of shattering steel rebounding through the body with an echo effect. Hardly the most effective means of accomplishing the goal, though an unusual one…however, he suspected no one would very much care about the technical details at present. “Other than the means of attack, I believe it was fairly standard.”

“Is there a standard for curses?” Wei Changze asked. He looked interested and appreciative of Lan Qiren’s knowledge, which Lan Qiren could appreciate. “Do you know a great deal about curses, Lan Qiren?”

“Leash your dog, Cangse Sanren, or I will do it for you,” Wen Ruohan informed her.

She rolled her eyes back at him, but did in fact reach out and tug her husband’s collar.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Wei Changze protested to her. “I really do want to know more about it.”

“Later. You can wrap it into the discussion about demonic cultivation.”

Lan Qiren decided to ignore them.

“I do not know more about curses than I know about most things,” he explained, although for whatever reason that made Wen Ruohan smirk as if proud of something, Wei Changze smile, and Cangse Sanren snort in amusement. “I only mean that it is not dissimilar to other curses: it is meant to cause death. There is nothing special about how it operates, other than that it takes a longer route to accomplish the same goal as a regular curse – in fact, I would say that the only thing that makes it different from other curses is its obscurity, and perhaps the dissipation of spiritual energy afterwards.”

“I suspect that that latter one is sufficient reason for its use here,” Wen Ruohan said. “Jin Guangshan would have demanded a demonstration of the curse’s ability to ‘drain’ cultivators of power, and seeing the energy dissipate would have been sufficient for him.”

“That is reasonable. In terms of how the curse is done, that is also typical: it can be cast directly on another individual or, as in this case, indirectly on an object, with the goal of it triggering later. I think what is most interesting here is the use of coins, as curses used on cursed coins are typically monomorphic in nature – ”

“I really need to visit Gusu Lan’s library,” Wei Changze mused.

“I’m going to stop you there, Qiren-gege,” Cangse Sanren interrupted, although she was grinning. “For the same reason that I stopped Changze: now is not the time for academia. Let’s be practical – the array’s a dud, and you know what curse he’s using. How do we stop it? Is there another triggering array hidden somewhere?”

Lan Qiren must have been going too deeply into theory despite himself.

He cleared his throat, a little embarrassed, and tugged at his beard.

“I do not believe there is any array that controls the form of the curse,” he said. “On the contrary, I think that the coins were created and then cursed, just the one time, which would mean that there is only a single predetermined action that is set to function as the trigger, the mechanism that causes the curse to take effect.”

“So what you’re saying is that the curse on the coins is going to lie dormant until someone does the specific thing that sets it off,” Wei Changze observed. “That makes sense and is certainly more traditional, especially for cursed coins, but it makes things trickier for us. Both Jin Guangshan and what’s-his-name Wang must have done the same thing, but since we don’t have eyewitnesses to either death, we have no basis to figure out what the trigger action is.”

“I don’t suppose anyone would be amenable to testing it out with some of the coins we have in stock…?” Wen Ruohan held up his hands when they all glared at him. “So noted. A better question, then: do we care?”

“What do you mean?” Lan Qiren asked, puzzled. Wen Ruohan had been joking the first time, possibly, but his second question appeared to be wholly sincere – yet he could not understand why they would not care. Curses were pernicious, and they did not know how many of the gold coins had been taken by Wen sect disciples. Even putting aside morality, or what morality he was willing to assume for Lan Qiren’s sake, Wen Ruohan would not risk his Wen disciples so callously. So what did he mean?

“He’s right,” Cangse Sanren said, surprising Lan Qiren. “We don’t care. The curse is in the coins. That makes it easy! We don’t actually need to undo the curse. We just need everyone to get rid of the coins before they trigger them.”

That…made sense.

“The coins have all been scattered by now, all the way throughout the cultivation world,” Lan Qiren said. “Yet we have not been hearing about mysterious deaths occurring anywhere but here. The trigger must not be that straightforward an action, nothing that would activate too soon – which makes sense, assuming my brother did not want people to immediately suspect the coins, and therefore the Jin sect, of what he was doing.”

“That gives us some time, at least,” Cangse Sanren said. “Which is good: I desperately need a bath. Do you know that crawling through dusty corners is awful, actually?”

“How are we going to convince people to give the coins up?” Wei Changze asked, even though he was just as dusty as she was. Lan Qiren even thought he saw a spiderweb in the other man’s crown. “I mean…the coins are made of gold. If someone came up to me and asked me to give them up to them, I’d be suspicious that they were out to cheat me.”

“Or rob you of your valor, given that it was meant to act as a prize for participants,” Wen Ruohan said. “Which means that even if we offer them a gold coin of equal value in exchange, they may not wish to accept. Naturally this is not a problem for my sect – no one is going to countermand my order, and if they do, they’d be getting what they deserve.”

“Perhaps that is the answer,” Lan Qiren said, ignoring Cangse Sanren’s snort of help someone else for once. “The leaders of the Great Sects have more authority than most. If each one gives the order to collect the coins, especially paired with remuneration in equal value, they would be able to obtain the majority of the coins from not only their own sects, but their subsidiary sects as well.”

“And the minor sects would catch wind of there being something wrong with the coins and be in a hurry to get rid of them, especially if there’s an equal or better exchange being offered,” Cangse Sanren agreed. “I know your sect doesn’t like gossip, Qiren, but you must admit there’s some value in it.”

“When it has value, it is news, not gossip,” Lan Qiren informed her, making her laugh. “Do we need to worry about the Jin sect itself? If my brother was planning on tricking Jin Guangshan, he might not have refrained from cursing the coins that were meant to go to the Jin sect’s own disciples, or to its own subsidiary sects. They are currently lacking a sect leader, and Madam Jin might not want to issue such an order without adequate explanation…”

She almost certainly wouldn’t, in fact. And even if she did, it was uncertain if the Jin sect would believe that any orders she gave were free of coercion…

“I wasn’t planning on letting her give the order,” Wen Ruohan said mildly. “I do have that army sitting outside. They’re probably getting rather bored with nothing to do – a search for a needle in a haystack, or a bunch of cursed gold coins in the hotbed of gold items that is Jinlin Tower, sounds just right.”

It sounded like the Jin sect was going to be in for a fairly miserable time.

“That sounds reasonable,” Lan Qiren said, conceding the point. It wasn’t the Jin sect’s disciples’ fault that they had as terrible a sect leader as Jin Guangshan, but boats rose and fell with the tide; they were ants on the same branch as him whether they liked it or not. “Provided you ensure that your army does not do anything outrageous in the process.”

“I’ll give orders that strict military discipline will apply,” Wen Ruohan promised, which was good.

(Somewhat less good was the suggestion that military discipline wouldn’t normally apply, but it was the Wen sect, after all. There were limits to the sorts of ethics Lan Qiren could reasonably expect to see before he’d had a chance to make some serious changes and enough time to make sure they would stick.)

“I can go to the Jiang sect,” Wei Changze volunteered. “Cangse shouldn’t, since she’s nominally guarding the kids right now – and I’m better at avoiding answering questions about uncomfortable things like that. Fengmian will listen to me on something like this.”

“He’ll listen, but will he do anything?”

Wei Changze sighed. “I think so. I’ll do my best to get Yu Ziyuan on board as well – she doesn’t like me, but she doesn’t hate me, either.”

“Another good reason not to send me,” Cangse Sanren said, then shrugged. “I guess that leaves me to go tell the Nie sect? That’ll be fun, I don’t think I’ve been to the Unclean Realm in years.”

She paused, then belatedly winced.

“Oh, sorry, Qiren-gege,” she said.

Lan Qiren frowned. “For what?”

“I just assumed you’d be the one going to the Cloud Recesses to tell the Lan sect,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be awkward?”

“Why would it be awkward?” he asked, puzzled. “Even if I married out, I’m still a Lan, and a member of the main family. Naturally I should be the one to go to them. I am the one most likely to be believed.”

He was painfully aware of how slow his sect was to trust in news from the outside. Some of them claimed that it was just obeying the rules against gossip, but Lan Qiren suspected it had more to do with a violation of Do not form a clique to exclude others.

Still: even if his marriage had now rendered him an outsider, he was still a Lan of the main sect line, and more than that, he had been their acting sect leader for ten years. That was not nothing. He knew how to make them listen.

And…the coins were not the only business Lan Qiren had with them.

Lan Zhengquan – the other sect elders –

Lan Qiren’s brother had claimed that they’d all known, to greater or lesser degree, and that they’d all refused to share their knowledge with him, purposefully deceiving him. Lan Qiren needed to know how true that was. He needed to know how far the rot extended. He needed to make them see that they had to excise that rot, destroy the corruption of their values root and branch, if the Lan sect were to hold its head up high in the cultivaiton world once more.

“What about my brother?” he asked, thinking of another problem. “We speculate that he fought with Jin Guangshan, and he certainly must have been here to create the coins, but we do not know where he has gone.”

“I expect he’s still here, hiding somewhere,” Wen Ruohan said. “Jin Guangshan’s death was too recent – my forward scouts were already here, setting up detection arrays. Between the scouts and my spies, they would have noticed if someone tried to escape the city, and now that my army is here and searching the city, there will be no chance left to leave; it is impossible for him to run away even if he wanted to. Do not be concerned – I will find him for you, Qiren. You go to the Cloud Recesses.”

Lan Qiren smiled, thinking once more of the painting: obsession, he’d titled it in his head, but it could also be called merely love, if a very particular form of it.

But perhaps, for Wen Ruohan, the painting would best be termed something even rarer than love: trust.

He was letting Lan Qiren go, and back to the Cloud Recesses of all places. Back to his home, back to where he had supporters and a Great Sect of his own to back him – if Lan Qiren wanted to leave Wen Ruohan, or to turn against him, this would be the best moment for it. Now, when Wen Ruohan was weakened; now, when his forces were committed far away from the Nightless City; now, when he trusted him.

Lan Qiren would not betray that trust.

And neither would he overlook what Wen Ruohan was doing for him – because it was for him that he was doing it. Finding Lan Qiren’s brother was a necessity, of course, as necessary as finding and putting down any mad dog. But sending Lan Qiren away…

I will find him for you, Wen Ruohan had said, but he meant I will kill him for you.

Knowing that they were discussing his brother’s death should have made Lan Qiren feel bad.

It didn’t.

Later, when he had time, he would mourn his brother properly. He would mourn the possibility of his brother, really, rather than the man he’d become in the end, but that would be enough to fulfill his duties, whether to his brother, to his family, or merely to himself as a younger brother. And when he did, he would take the time to properly mourn He Kexin as well, as he should.

For the moment, he would be grateful for what he had, however unexpectedly he’d obtained it.

“We have a plan, then,” Lan Qiren said firmly. “I will set out tomorrow morning, at the earliest opportunity.”

“We can leave tomorrow, too,” Cangse Sanren agreed, then made a face. “Though maybe…not quite as early as whatever you mean…you Lan are all insane…”

Lan Qiren sighed and ignored her.

“How much do you need to do to get started with the search on your end?” he asked Wen Ruohan as they walked out of the hidden laboratory. “Although current events naturally take priority, if there is an opportunity I should very much like to play you the song I wrote for you.”

“In that case, very little time,” Wen Ruohan said with a faint smirk.

Lan Qiren left him to it and returned to their rooms. He didn’t have anything he needed to pack, as he’d arrived at Jinlin Tower with little more than the bare essentials and had never had the opportunity to unpack, but he hadn’t come here for that.

Guqin in hand, he began setting up an extensive set of privacy wards, layering them on several times over, and then over again. It was almost certainly overkill, but they’d been subject to an assassination attempt once before, and Lan Qiren wanted them to be able to sleep without concern.

As well as – other distracting things.

He had promised to be diligent, after all. Diligence is the root.

“Tell me, Qiren,” Wen Ruohan said upon arriving and observing Lan Qiren’s preparations. “Is there something about Lanling that particularly inspires you? Or is this just good luck on my part?”

“Purely the latter,” Lan Qiren said dryly. “I assure you.”

Wen Ruohan chuckled. “Why so many, though? Do you have a particular concern that we will be attacked while sleeping tonight?”

He seemed to be suggesting that Lan Qiren was being unnecessarily paranoid. Ironically enough, Lan Qiren was well aware that if he confirmed that he had such a suspicion, Wen Ruohan’s own paranoia would then ensure he did not sleep at all.

Lan Qiren wouldn’t do that to him, but for a moment he was tempted.

“I do not,” he said. “However, I wanted to ensure that we had some privacy, as I had hoped that we could try dual cultivation this evening.”

Lan Qiren was a little disappointed when Wen Ruohan’s expression of mild approval and teasing did not change in any way at his words. He’d hoped that being unexpectedly blunt with the request would have a greater and more amusing impact.

However, Wen Ruohan also didn’t say anything, so eventually Lan Qiren prompted: “If that would be acceptable to you?”

Wen Ruohan blinked extremely slowly, as if moving through water, and then said, with unusual politeness: “Forgive me, you may need to repeat yourself.”

Lan Qiren felt a sudden urge to laugh, though he suppressed it immediately. It seemed he’d gotten his desired-for impact, only it was even more impactful and more humorous than he’d originally suspected. Truly, Wen Ruohan could be very funny…often when he least expected to be.

“I would like to dual cultivate with you this evening,” he said, and watched as Wen Ruohan seemed to absorb that statement with remarkable slowness. “I also would like to play for you. I do not expect that either will have much effect, but it would please me to know that you have as much power at your command as possible when you go up against my brother.”

“Oh,” Wen Ruohan said, and sat down heavily on the bed, all at once, as if he were a puppet whose strings had just been cut. “Yes, that makes sense.”

Lan Qiren arched his eyebrows. “Do I want to know what you were thinking?”

“Many things, none helpful,” Wen Ruohan said, which meant his thoughts had probably been especially pornographic in nature. “Are you certain about the dual cultivation? It’s not necessary. I am quite confident in defeating him either way.”

“If it is not something you want to do, we do not have to,” Lan Qiren said, tilting his head to the side and wondering at Wen Ruohan’s atypical hesitancy. Most of the time, the other man was goading him on to further acts of debauchery, not acting skittish – he hoped that he had not inadvertently misstepped, somehow. Was there some sort of etiquette he should have followed…? “You had previously expressed an interest in doing it, that was all. I thought now seemed like a good time.”

Would making a joke about carriages be inappropriate? Was this a sensitive subject or something? Something that had happened to Wen Ruohan in the past –

“You’re not – worried?”

Oh. Of course.

Understanding dawned.

It wasn’t that Lan Qiren did not know what risks dual cultivation entailed. They would be merging their qi together, achieving harmony, accessing something deep within each other, and in so doing they would leave themselves vulnerable to the worst sort of theft. It was a little like the fictional array his brother had invented, and no doubt the reason Jin Guangshan was so willing to believe in it: this was the only way Lan Qiren knew of that cultivators could steal each other’s spiritual energy. Once they were dual cultivating, they each of them had the chance to destroy the other, if they wanted, or drain away the other’s cultivation and leave them empty and broken – or, well, Wen Ruohan could drain him dry, while Lan Qiren could at least make a significant dent in Wen Ruohan’s remaining power, leaving him weak and powerless just before his brother attacked him.

And that made all of Wen Ruohan’s hesitations make far more sense. It was exactly what his painting had already told Lan Qiren: the thing that had been most missing in Wen Ruohan’s life until now, that which he lacked most, was not love, nor lust, nor friendship, but trust. Someone he could feel safe in trusting, but also someone who would trust in him: someone who would give him the benefit of the doubt, who would side with him first simply for his own sake, someone to believe in him, with an unshakeable faith.

Luckily for him, Lan Qiren had that in spades.

“No,” he said. “I trust you.”

Wen Ruohan looked as though he’d just been struck by lightning.

Lan Qiren politely averted his eyes for a little while to let him have some privacy as he collected himself.

“I do want to play for you first, however,” he remarked after a few moments had passed, changing the subject. “I know a number of songs that can be used to enhance meditation and improve energy, and of course there is the song I wrote with you in mind – I am not yet certain as to what the purpose it may eventually be put, so playing it for you may be pointless, but as an emotional matter, I would still like to do so.”

“That would be good,” Wen Ruohan said, his voice a little hoarse. “I would very much like to hear it.”

“I will warn you that the same terms apply as to your painting,” Lan Qiren said, moving over to settle by his guqin. “I do not explain my songs. I find that it is impossible to express precisely what I intend using words. They simply do not capture the full extent of my meaning.”

“Mm. ‘If it were possible to simply say what I meant, I wouldn’t have needed to paint it’ – something like that, but with music?”

“Exactly,” Lan Qiren said, and snuck a peek at him: Wen Ruohan looked much better, though his expression was still uncharacteristically soft. It was nice. “Going back to the subject of dual cultivation, as you can imagine, I am thoroughly inexperienced in how it would go. Would you like to take the lead? Or the assertive position, for that matter?”

That seemed to give Wen Ruohan yet another shock: he stared blankly at Lan Qiren for another long moment.

“You go both ways?” he asked, a little incredulous. “Since when?”

“…you do remember that I came to your bed a virgin, correct?” Lan Qiren asked, a little bewildered by the question. “You made fun at my expense over it? Several times? How would I have known if I preferred one to the other? I just went with what felt right at the time.”

Wen Ruohan opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again – then repeated the whole process a few more times, looking increasingly aggravated each time.

In fact, overall, he seemed to be deeply vexed by something, though Lan Qiren couldn’t begin to guess what. Some internal debate or shockingly overturned assumption he’d made, presumably.

“Receiving does not seem that difficult?” Lan Qiren hazarded a guess. “Unless there is something I’ve missed?”

Wen Ruohan snorted, and all of a sudden, he no longer looked annoyed, all the tension leaving his shoulders as he relaxed. “No, nothing like that,” he said. “I think you have a good grasp on the mechanics by now. This is on me: I should stop being surprised at being surprised by you…tell me, do you really not mind? The thought of being the one being taken, I mean?”

Lan Qiren had heard some strange things about sex before, but this one seemed especially bizarre. “I already told you that sex is not an imposition to me, but a duty I am happy to fulfill. Why would the position matter?”

“I’ve often asked myself the same question,” Wen Ruohan remarked. “I have yet to receive an adequate answer. And yet, some people think it does.”

“I enjoy the position I generally take,” Lan Qiren said with a shrug. He was not ‘some people’ and never had been. “I have never especially yearned to try the other way around, but perhaps it would be valuable as a learning experience…?”

Wen Ruohan stifled a laugh in his sleeve. “Let us save that for another time. I would prefer not to distract you right before you go confront your sect elders – I assume you are planning to raise the issue of the mine with them?”

“Of course. How could I not? Justice has already been delayed long enough.”

“I thought you’d say that. I almost regret not being there to see their expressions, but I suspect that if I were there, they wouldn’t make them.”

Lan Qiren inclined his head in agreement.

“As for dual cultivation…” Wen Ruohan paused.

“We do not have to,” Lan Qiren said firmly. “It was only a thought – ”

“I like it.”

Lan Qiren paused, a little frustrated: Wen Ruohan could be so mercurial at times.

Wen Ruohan laughed at him, clearly identifying the expression on his face.

“I would very much enjoy dual cultivating with you,” he said. “In spite of the risks of it – because of the risks of it. I like the idea that you would bare yourself to me and give me everything you can, wanting me to be strong, wanting me to have power, not because you fear me, but because you fear losing me.”

He smirked.

“After all, the one advantage of being in love with a bastard like me is my longevity, is it not?”

Lan Qiren groaned. Wen Ruohan was never going to let him live that one down, ever.

“Well, for my part, I look forward to what it will do to you.”

“To me?” Lan Qiren asked, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Proper dual cultivation benefits both parties, but the weaker one benefits more,” Wen Ruohan said, confident as ever. “I want to see your face when the power comes to you. I want to send you back to your sect glowing – I want them to see that beautifully pure golden core of yours shining through your eyes, and know what a treasure they gave up when they gave you to me.”

“And you are not worried in return?” Lan Qiren asked, charmed in spite of himself. Despite the offer, he had no intention of letting himself take too much of the power they would be able to generate – the purpose for this evening was to enhance Wen Ruohan’s strength, not his own. “Your paranoia is infamous, and yet your primary thought is of me and my fears, not your own?”

Wen Ruohan laughed and settled down into a meditation pose.

“That much I already promised you,” he said mischievously. “Do you dare doubt my word? Watch yourself, Qiren. I might grow insulted.”

Lan Qiren smiled despite himself, and settled himself at his guqin.

“Now, play me your song,” Wen Ruohan ordered, back to being imperious and demanding. “The one you wrote for me. We’ll start with that one, and then we’ll see about the rest.”

Lan Qiren would have preferred to start with the more definitively useful ones, the ones that encouraged focus and clarity of purpose and strength, but it was no matter – he could play those just as easily later, or even in the morning if need be. And he did want to play Wen Ruohan the song he’d written for him.

He didn’t know if Wen Ruohan knew what it meant for one of Gusu Lan to write their beloved a song. But whether he did or did not, it didn’t really matter. The music was the music, expressing whatever it expressed, the listener just as able to extract meaning as the player, each interpretation equally valid.

All Lan Qiren could do was play it with every last feeling he had in his heart.

He put his fingers to the strings and sank into the music.

When he finally looked up, it was to see Wen Ruohan kneeling in front of him, his eyes glowing – literally glowing, the way he’d said he wanted to do for Lan Qiren (and which Lan Qiren had perhaps mistakenly assumed was merely poetic exaggeration), the red of them bright like rubies.

“Qiren,” he rasped, voice choked with unspeakable emotions, and he reached out to put his hands on Lan Qiren’s face. “The answer is yes.”

Lan Qiren didn’t even know the question, but as Wen Ruohan reeled him in, he found he didn’t care.

#mdzs #wen ruohan #lan qiren #cangse sanren #wei changze #my fic #Megafic

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acemdzsfan · 8 months

Text

Lan Qiren: Yesterday, I overheard Wei Changze saying “Are you sure this is a good idea?” and Cangse Sanren replying “Trust me,” and I have never moved from one room to another so quickly in my life.

#mdzs #the untamed #mo dao su zhi #wei changze #cangse sanren #lan qiren

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