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biwenqing · 3 years

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I know jc got dunked numerous times, but does lwj ever get dunked? and if so, who's brave enough to do it?

THESE QUESTIONS just *chef kiss* so so good! Sorry for the delay with this, it ended up over twice as long as I expected (almost 3k). I had a ton of fun with it, I hope you enjoy it! Very much a “let Lan Wangji have friends agenda”. (link to series on ao3)

The alternate title: Four People Who Can, Would, and Have Dunked Lan Wangji

| 1. Wei Wuxian |

“Would you spar with me?” Lan Wangji found that the word burst forth. He had wanted to ask them for a while and just hadn’t found the right time.

Wei Ying tensed from where he sat, fiddling with some brilliant talisman design or other. An unhappy frown pinched his face, which was very much not the expression Lan Wangji wanted. Wei Wing sighed and said in a tired tone, “I won’t use my sword.”

Ah, that was the issue. Lan Wangji quickly clarified, “I was thinking I had not practiced hand to hand combat in too long.”

Wei Ying’s expression changed instantly, a knowing smile and reflection of the heat that curled in Lan Wangji’s gut. He set aside what he was working on and came to stand at Lan Wangji’s side, leaning forward into his space. “My husband has such good ideas, I know just the place!”

Wei Ying led him a ways away from Lotus Pier, around a bend in the river where there was a shore of soft sand. It was an ideal and private training ground and Lan Wangji was planning on telling Wei Ying this, but when he looked over, words failed him. Wei Ying was taking off his outer robes and layers until he was just in his underclothes.

He grinned when he caught Lan Wangji staring. “Lan Zhan, you can’t tell me we’re going to do this fully clothed.”

Lan Wangji swallowed and nodded, moving to do the same. He carefully folded his own and set them on the rock next to Wei Ying’s, pausing a moment to straighten out and fold his husband’s clothes as well, so they wouldn’t sit in a ball.

He turned to find Wei Ying watching him intently.

“Do not grow distracted,” Lan Wangji scolded in a tone probably only Wei Ying knew was teasing, fully aware of the hypocrisy in his words as he approached Wei Ying.

“And here I was thinking distraction is really what this is all about.” Wei Ying settled into a strong form, arms up, and grin wide. “My apologies, husband. I’ll focus.”

They both made what Lan Wangji later decided was a valiant effort to focus on sparring correctly. The familiar zing that had existed since their first swordfight tugged at them and Lan Wangji reveled in it. He wanted to be better than Wei Ying. He wanted to be closer to Wei Ying.

He wanted.

Any focus broke when Wei Ying used some of Lan Wangji’s distraction to pin him to the ground. They breathed together and Lan Wangji took a moment to study his husband’s face - his beautiful dark eyes, the little freckle near his bottom lip. The familiar weight of him, now heavier, healthier under the watchful eye of those who cared for him.

“Lan Zhan.” Wei Ying’s voice was almost a whisper. “Focus.”

He must have visibly frowned, because Wei Ying started to laugh, shaking them both. Lan Wangji wanted to taste the sound and moved to flip them.

The change only made Wei Ying laugh harder. “Is that how this is going to be?” Wei Ying worked to flip them back so he was laying on Lan Wangji again. They managed to do this a few more times, becoming more tangled with each one until Lan Wangji decided he preferred to feel Wei Ying’s weight on him.

Lan Wangji ran his hands up and down Wei Ying’s side before huffing in annoyance.

“What is it?” Wei Ying asked, their faces so close together now.

“Sandy,” Lan Wangji managed, trying to brush some of the roughness from Wei Ying’s clothes and his own hands.

“Hmm, a good point,” Wei Ying pulled back a bit and it was all Lan Wangji could do to stop himself from tugging his husband back close. “Shall we relocate our... sparring?”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji thought that was a very good idea. His husband was very wise.

Wei Ying stood up, pulling Lan Wangji with him. But instead of going to gather their clothes and head back home, Wei Ying tugged him towards the water.

“No,” Lan Wangji said, panting his feet. His husband was very stupid.

“No, no, I know, but we need to get at least some of the sand off,” Wei Ying assured. “Then we can go home and have a bath.”

He took it all back, of course, his husband was a genius. “Alright,” he agreed and Lan Wangji let himself be led into the cool water.

Wei Ying splashed him. The grin hadn’t left his face and Lan Wangji could distract himself from other emotions by feeling content with this fact. It also meant Lan Wangji spotted when it turned mischievous as Wei Ying said, “Lan Zhan, do you think you could catch me?”

“Yes, always.” That should be obvious.

“Aw, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying protested, covering his face briefly. “You say such kind things. Now I almost feel bad for doing this.”

“Doing what?” Lan Wangji’s tipped his head to one side.

Wei Ying didn’t answer, just backed up a bit before taking a running jump towards him.

Lan Wangji did indeed catch him, but they both tumbled backward into the water with a splash and Wei Ying’s bright laughter. When they surfaced, Wei Ying apologized by peppering Lan Wangji’s face with kisses, so Lan Wangji decided not to take revenge.

This time.

| 2. Wen Qing |

Wen Qing cornered on him at the edge of a pier, eyes stormy. Lan Wangji glanced to see if she had her needles out only to find, just as alarmingly, she was gripping her sword. She was dressed mostly in purples to help her blend in with the Jiang sect, looking just as intimidating as in her Wen red.

Lan Wangji normally got along very well with her and had thought they were friends. This behavior was odd. He wanted to back up some more to get some space from her but worried he might slip right into the water. “How may I help you?” He tried asking instead.

“We need to have a talk,” Wen Qing said, back straight and looking him dead in the eye.

Lan Wangji didn’t like this eye contact. It added a feeling as if she was looking down at him despite his greater height. “Alright. We are talking.”

She pointed her sword hilt at him. “Don’t get smart with me. This is serious.”

“I am becoming aware of this.” Lan Wangji tried to keep his own grip on Bichen relaxed as he could.

“You better not hurt Wei Wuxian,” Wen Qing said, still staring him down when he focused back on her face.

Lan Wangji had a flashback to his first week on Lotus Pier. Jiang Wanyin had done something very similar to this - an obvious threat of harm if anything happened to Wei Ying. Jiang Wanyin had not liked when Lan Wangji had pointed out that it was, in fact, he who had arranged Lan Wangji’s marriage to Wei Ying.

Lan Wangji focused on the matter at hand. “I will not, would never, do something to hurt Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said and it was a promise. He had made it before and he would make it again. “Wei Ying is my equal and my partner.”

Wen Qing nodded and began to look a little less intimidating. “I trust that you will. But I wanted you to know what will happen if you don’t.”

“I am well aware,” Lan Wangji said, and even gave a little smile. “Wei Ying is very loved.” As he should be.

“Good, but don’t get cocky,” she said and then moved quickly.

Lan Wangji had lowered his guard enough that he couldn’t dodge her in time. He had enough forethought to toss Bichen on the pier before he splashed back first into the water. When he surfaced he found Wen Qing was already walking away, apparently deciding Lan Wangji had fully gotten the message.

This was certainly a different outcome to his conversation with Jiang Wanyin.

| 3. Jiang Yanli |

Besides his husband and a-Yuan, Jiang Yanli was the person Lan Wangji spent the most time with. He had found a close friend in his sister-in-law, and appreciated the times when she translated some of the behavior of her brothers.

She, along with Granny Wen, had both begun to teach Lan Wangji how to cook. It was an activity Lan Wangji found relaxing and enjoyable. Lan Wangji found that what he could do and who he could be was something he had more control over as a (married in) member of the Jiang sect than the second young master of the Gusu Lan. This was a thrilling and terrifying fact.

Jiang Yanli was one of the few people who had asked Lan Wangji, “What do you want?”

He wished to repay her kindness and tried to at every turn. During one of the afternoons they spent in quiet, shared company, Lan Wangji noticed she seemed unhappy and unable to sit still. He put away his guqin and moved across the room to her side.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked, offering his hand to help her up. Jiang Yanli gave a small smile, that Lan Wangji knew her well enough to tell was false. It was a falsehood she didn’t want pushed on though - sometimes she reminded Lan Wangji of Xichen. He was pulled from any feeling of homesickness by Jiang Yanli’s small hand briefly on his own.

“A walk sounds lovely,” Jiang Yanli murmured. “I need to clear out my thoughts.”

Together they moved from her rooms. Wei Ying was somewhere checking on vegetable growth and checking up on the Wen refugees. Sometimes Lan Wangji would go with him, other days, like today, he would go off with one or both of the Wen siblings. That was when he visited Wen refugees (no doubt cultivators) that he didn’t want Lan Wangji to have to lie to his brother about.

“Summer is going to come to a close before we know it,” Jiang Yanli commented. “I think you will like the lotus harvest.”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji said, glancing over at her. She seemed to relax as they walked. “Do you want to talk?”

Jiang Yanli sighed, though she didn’t seem upset by his question. “It’s complicated.”

Lan Wangji assumed as much. He also was pretty sure this was a matter Jiang Yanli would not wish to talk about with either of her brothers. “Is it about the letter you received from Lanling?”

Jiang Yanli almost winced. “You noticed it?”

“I did not mean to pry,” Lan Wangji assured. “But the paper and seal are similar to what my brother used to receive.”

“Ah,” was all she said for a long time.

They continued to walk, moving from the pier and past the training grounds. There were paths throughout the nearby forest, intended for training and hunting but worked well to get some space.

“I don’t think Jin Zixuan had anything to do with the cruelty against the Wen civilians.” The words were frustrated, not in Jiang Yanli’s usually calm and thoughtful manner.

Lan Wangji could sympathize with the frustration of knowing the one you loved wasn’t being understood. “I do not believe he did either.”

Jiang Yanli grabbed his arm, looking up at him with wide eyes. She quickly let go but stayed close, halting their progress. “You don’t?”

Lan Wangji nodded, not sure what else to do to assure her. “When I was younger, often at cultivation conferences we would... both stay out of the way. I got to know him a little bit. I did not engage in many conversations, but from what I have observed, I have seen no cruelty from Jin Zixuan.” Pride and disdain, yes, but Lan Wangji had experienced the same faults.

“That’s a relief to hear,” Jiang Yanli smiled again, small but real this time. She turned back to continue walking and Lan Wangji matched her pace. “I trust your judgment.”

“I am flattered.”

“You saw a-Xian for who he is,” Jiang Yanli said. “That certainly says something to me.”

They walked for some steps more in silence. “What do you want to do?” Lan Wangji asked.

Jiang Yanli focused on the ground ahead of her. “I don’t know...”

“Do you care for Jin Zixuan?”

“Yes, but I care more for my family and the work we are doing here,” Jiang Yanli sighed again. “It doesn't seem like these two things line up.”

“You could let Jin Zixuan know that there is a space for him here,” Lan Wangji suggested. “Give him the choice.” Not making his offer for Wei Ying to come back to Gusu sound like a choice seemed to be what backfired on him. Lan Wangji could pass along what he had learned.

Jiang Yanli nodded. “That’s a good idea...”

“I am sure there would be a place for him,” Lan Wangji encouraged. “...I could talk to Wei Ying if Jin Zixuan accepts.”

Jiang Yanli laughed at that, as they turned to walk back towards home. “Yes, maybe if you broke the news to him, he’d behave.”

“He just wants you to be happy,” Lan Wangji said, though he didn’t really need to defend Wei Ying to her. “It is a sentiment shared.”

“Thank you,” Jiang Yanli said. “I’m glad to have you as a brother-in-law.”

Lan Wangji wasn’t sure what to say to that. But it warmed him to have Jiang Yanli as a friend. As a part of his family.

They spent the rest of the walk back in companionable silence until they reached where ground turned back to pier. Jiang Yanli paused then and turned to him with a smile. “You’ve become something of another brother to me,” she said.

Lan Wangji inclined his head. “I am honored.”

“Now there is something of a right of passage to being my brother, I hope you don’t mind terribly. Just a matter of formality.” Her smile had some mischief to it. “See as the eldest, I get to push you into the river.”

Lan Wangji couldn’t come up with a response fast enough to that before he was indeed pushed into the water.

| 4. Luo Qingyang |

Lotus Pier had been rebuilt larger, to accommodate the number of people who had come to call it home. Lan Wangji and Wei Ying shared rooms to one side, and nearby Granny Wen had been settled with her son, who just insisted everyone call him Uncle. A-Yuan now had a bedroom in each and seemed happy to call the entirety of the Pier home.

On the opposite side, Jiang Yanli had her rooms, with an open and airy living space that had become a communal gathering area. Near her but more towards the back were the Wen siblings.

Lan Wangji might never fully understand the man, but he had to acknowledge that Jiang Wanyin took good care of his siblings and those his siblings deemed important. Lan Wangji was sure the sect leader was trying to figure out where to put the newest addition.

Luo Qingyang had shown up ten days ago and seemed to be in no hurry to leave. She had been traveling on her own, assisting in small night hunts, since she had left the Jins. But she wanted to take a break and had “heard that Yunmeng was the place to be.”

Lan Wangji couldn’t say how true that was, but it had certainly endeared her to Jiang Wanyin. In fact, Luo Qingyang, or “Mianmian” as Wei Ying insisted on calling her, made fast friends with everyone on Lotus Pier from Granny Wen, to the new Jiang disciples, to a-Yuan.

Lan Wangji certainly found her pleasant company and someone it was easy for him to talk with.

They were walking back from the training field when she asked, “I watched Jiang Cheng toss your husband in the water this morning,”

“Mn.” Lan Wangji had been showing a-Yuan how he played the guqin, so he hadn’t witnessed this particular event. “It is usually a form of affection.”

“That’s how they show affection? By pushing people in the water?” Luo Qingyang sounded confused but intrigued. Lan Wangji could understand this feeling.

“Yes. Though it can also be a form of punishment,” Lan Wangji explained. “It can be hard to tell which it is being used as.”

She laughed. “Of course, of course. This is making me wish the rules were written down like in your sect.”

Lan Wangji understood that feeling at an almost painful level. “All rules are unwritten and flexible. Except for the one against insulting someone’s soup.” This was mostly a joke.

Luo Qingyang shook her head, chuckling some more. “Noted. So shoving someone into the water could be seen as a declaration of friendship?”

“Yes, I suppose-” That was all the warning he got before he found himself falling with a splash.

He surfaced to find Luo Qingyang laughing, nearly doubled over. It wasn’t a mean laugh... it was actually nice. She thought him a friend, not someone intimidating or cold. She peeked over at him and said, “Sorry, sorry. Here, let me help you up.”

Lan Wangji gripped her offered hand and raised his brows. Luo Qingyang realized her mistake a moment too late and let out a yelping laugh as Lan Wangji tugged her into the water as well.

#lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #wen qing #jiang yanli #luo qingyang #find other parts of this au under this tag:#lwj on lotus pier #my fic #mianmian #thank you so so much for sending this in just GENIOUS galaxy brain!!!! of course lwj gets dunked...#i really had the best time writing this akjshoaiwhroaw wangxian tried to get the whole fic distracted #mianmian gets to join the lotus pier chaos family!#don't mind me sprinkling little world building of this au in...#does this au make sense? probably not #granny wen accidently adopts everyone on lotus pier... she like scold jc to go to bed #scolds*#headcanonning uncle four is her son so he helps her around the house and stuff #some of the wen cultivators that survived probably become jiang disciples or their kids do #what's going on with the jin in this au? nothing good. probably internal power struggle #don't tempt me or i will add little mxy to the lotus pier family oh don't tempt me...#i will make it a fluffy family story because the characters deserve it #even if the au basis is shaky if i start actually building it out #a talks

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llycaons · 3 years

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35. nie huaisang time

I find it very ridiculous how wwx keeps knocking jin ling out, dragging him around, siphoning curses off his body, and generally taking care of him without actually talking to him about what’s happened to him. as with yanli and jc, so it is with jl. who keeps falling for wwx’s “oh no a great cultivator right behind you!” schtick. I think jin ling, as well as being a rule-breaker and prone to outbursts, is kind of dumb. I say this with love

and then wwx calls him a brat right after he’s so funny

wwx, freshly ressurected, is still on “can’t show my weaknesses or they’ll Get me” and “I’ve gotta lie to make sure nobody else worries” brain even with lwj, but lwj can tell, he knows him. and wwx directly asking for help means he’s moving away from the “I have to take care of everything on my own” mindset!

oh god...he knows him...the one who knows him...

wwx saying that he always expected to be with jc, opposite lwj, always struck me as odd. like maybe up to sunshot, but this late? maybe he’s reminiscing about his teenage years

the bridge scene in the moonlight is so pretty, especially with the context of the scene back in yunmeng with the kissing figures on wwx’s bedpost :) I think piggyback riding does look very silly and I’m so sad wwx forgot about his offer back in ep13 or so. maybe he’ll remember, like he remembers about the teashop later in this episode.

I read somewhere that wyb was supposed to carry zx bridal style but he didn’t have the upper body strength, although in-universe, a cultivator of his level would be able to carry another person easily

man I think reading all those postres fics spoiled me. it is genuinely really hard to portray a romance through censorship. there are so many scenes this episode where I expect lwj to say something and he doesn’t

nhs!!! we aren’t told how lwj knows where nhs is staying. we are not told why, after they barged into his rooms, nhs is the one to gratefully flee the room. but I really like the arm around the shoulder/smirk moment (their HANDS touched!) so idc about the plot making sense. sometimes lwj will just go for it huh

haven’t talked a lot abt nhs so far but it really is fascinating how a martially-focused sect with a forthright, honest, emotion-driven, and justice-minded leader is now led by an artist with little skill at cultivation and no interest in carrying a saber. how nhs has his own strengths that his brother and the world didn’t appreciate, how he’s clever and underhanded and patient and calculating and willing to put a lot of people in danger for his goals. he’s such an unusual person to come from the nie sect and people who are obsessed with him are 100% correct. he’s a really good character, but not quite my type personally

I could also talk about how short he looks but I think ji li is average height and the other actors (esp zx) are just really tall. he also looks very young to me but this is a deliberate act on his part to appear weak - almost all of his dialogue during his interrogation had an edge of whining. we don’t see that at all after he shows his true colors. ji li knocked it out of the park with his performance here. he’s up there with zx, wyb, and wzc in terms of acting

wwx wearing the exact same clothes and hairband as he used to and talking and DRINKING in the same manner as he always did, hanging out with lwj who was only ever close to ONE person outside his family, now interacting with one of his high school friends and he didn’t think nhs knew it was him? how dumb did he think nhs was? I guess gusu-era wwx really was wrapped up in himself

speaking of, I LOVE the scene where he compliments nhs’s fan. thinking back to how he was before, spending the time to really look at this fan and appreciate the beauty of it, and then giving him praise that mirrored what nhs said about it back then - it’s progress! good for him! I can’t believe he thought using the EXACT same phrasing would be a good idea since he’s apparently supposed to be keeping his identity secret, but maybe he wanted nhs to feel good about it

lwj is very polite to nhs, I notice

like I said, I don’t care for this plot - in the novel, they were actually finding chunks of nmj’s body, which was macabre but also more compelling

but I do notice that wwx and lwj are almost entirely on the same page, making connections and discoveries step by step with each other. I know wwx is a one-in-a-million genius when it comes to new creations, but it’s not like lwj is dumb, he was always at the top of his class and he’s been solving cultivation mysteries and tracking down resentful spirits his entire life. and I like that it goes back to lwj and wwx being each other’s match. nobody in either of their clans were on their level so they were both isolated before meeting each other, at least in some way

oh! when wwx and lwj realize that nmj was murdered, the camera focuses on nhs’s hand as it suddenly grips the edge of the tomb in anger

omg not only did wwx sit on nhs’s ancestral coffin to relax and had to be given a very pointed stare to get up, he also talked about “my yin iron” while nhs was like two feet away. just how little respect does he have for nhs omg. he was bad enough with the juniors, talking about how dying isn’t fun and how he wants to avoid old friends, but at least they never personally knew him as young adults and were peers with him

this episode’s homoerotic duet was great, but I don’t understand the dialogue. in netflix wwx was like “it was hard for you to hear the flute back then” or something. was he saying that he carved this flute really quickly and it wasn’t a finely made instrument, so he’s sorry it sounds bad and that’s why lwj was cleaning it out?

also, his flute has characters on the side. I wonder what they say. I don’t think he named this one

they really just covered zx’s leg with gray metallic paint and called it a day huh...

lwj not reacting with anger when wwx flirts with him but instead with umm a kind of cool intensity? growth? he’s certainly come a long way in his level of comfort with himself and with being with wwx. he does look a little annoyed but he’s hardly the same sensitive and impulsive kid back in the gusu arc

when wwx mentions the curse has gotten to his thigh, in the novel it was like a very intense scene where lwj was clearly repressing all his. uh. thoughts and urges. but I watched this scene very carefully and to me he really just does look worried here

I mean it's not like lwj doesn’t have sexual thoughts ever obviously it just didn’t seem like this scene was quite the same as it was in the book

heyyy back in this place! lwj remembered, and wwx appreciates that he remembered :)

hearing how people are still blaming the yllz for things and wwx is like “come on :( it’s been like ages since I’ve terrorized the cultivation world I didn’t have anything to do with xue yang!”

ohhhh and the SL/xxc news, especially the news implicating xxc in the torture of chang ping....wwx explicitly envying two men who were able to live their lives together, who were able to sidestep the cultivation world’s pettiness and corruption and politics and concern with blood ties. and lwj, who’d very likely never met any other men like him, watching these two fulfil their oaths and bring justice to the world as partners. their dreams for themselves and for what they wanted their relationship to look like, two men they admired, and in wwx’s case, one of his only living connections to his mother. that’s harsh

as devastating as it was for wwx to hear about their fate, I imagine it would have even been worse for lwj, because he was truly all alone. and this was not long after he’d left his ice cave penance, I think

the camerawork for when he grabs that drink and downs it is very deliberate. it takes him a long time to get it all down, and his eyes, staring straight upward, look both desperate and determined the entire time

quite a tragic cause, but the effect in 36 is fantastic

#cql rewatch

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