A slightly unhinged case for jin guangyao knowing about the core transfer while WWX was still alive
Ok. SO. In chapter 101, during guangyin temple, Jin Guangyao clearly knows about the golden core transfer. He uses it to bring Jiang Cheng off-kilter and stab him and simultaneously reveals to wwx that jc himself now knows about the golden core transfer.
I've always wondered exactly when he figured it out. The most obvious explanation is that he pieced it together after hearing about Jiang Cheng asking everyone to unsheathe suibian (also? jgy? how the fuck do you know that? You were already going to/at Guanyin temple at this point! Did you just have people listen in on rumours from Yunmeng and report back to you for that?? Did you tell your spy network where you were going? My whole kingdom for a retelling of this arc from the pov of these random jin disciples seeing their sect leader start spiralling. He's diggin up random tombs? Fleeing the country? And threatening the heir's life?? What was random Jin cultivator #6 thinking of this before Nie Mingjue turned him into minced meat?)
BUT.
The first time I read that line I was like "oh so he's known for a WHILE." I mean, the line "I've always found it peculiar [that wwx never took his sword anywhere]" does indicate he's been thinking about this for a while, but it doesn't have to mean he knew back then. So I absolutely can't say with certainty that my instinct was right. But I DO have some decent canon backing for how he might have potentially figured things out as early as before Wei Wuxian's death. Specifically, after the discussion scene that takens place when wei wuxian does his thing with the wens and dissapears.
Cause, see, Wen Chao would definitely have bragged about Wen Zhuliu crushing Jiang Cheng's core to his father. He killed the current sect leader, and then permanently disabled the only heir. He did it! the Jiang are gone! I bet he was very loud about it until, a few weeks later, Jiang Cheng suddenly strolls up to the battlefield, with Zidian on his finger, cultivation very much intact, looking for Wei Wuxian.
That must've been fucking baffling if you were Wen Chao and/or Wen Zhuliu and/or any other cultivator who was there and definitely saw Jiang Cheng's core get crushed. They must have assumed something went wrong, or he faked having his core destroyed, but we've never heard of something like that happening before, and they tortured him for hours! It wasn't a quick batle where Wen Zhuliu must have missed in haste, he would've noticed!
Now, by the time Meng yao arrives, wen zhuliu and wen chao are both long dead, but that kind of thing would at least still be a source of gossip among the other Wen. The only time the core melting hand ever failed!
It might be something that, say... a very careful spy with a perfect memory looking for information... might pick up on in his stay with the Wen, no?
So, Meng Yao has heard the rumour that sect leader Jiang got his core crushed but somehow managed to... still have a core.
Independantly of his, Wei Wuxian is being really weird and refusing to carry his sword. His primary concern there is wwx stirring shit up, he has no reason to believe these things are connected yet.
But then Wei Wuxian runs off with a bunch of Wen, and before he is cut off, Jiang Cheng tells everyone that after the siege on lotus pier, he and wei wuxian were helped by Wen Qing and Wen Ning! Jiang Cheng doesn't get to say how, which is good for jgy in this moment because he's trying to steer the conversation as such that no one gets mad at the Jin sect for all the war crimes, but even if his goal is for everyone else to forget Jiang Cheng said that, he'd remember it.
So... after the moment where jiang cheng, according to rumours that were contained to the wen, lost his core, he was helped by wen ning and wen qing, who is a really good doctor. And, in canon, had written theoretical proposals on core transfers before, just never experimented on them. Were these available for others among the Wen to read? Did jgy read them? We have no way of knowing. But if he did, he remembers them. Either way, he knows her reputation.
And Wei Wuxian disappeared right round that same moment, only to resurface with his demonic cultivation, at which point he never touched his sword again. Not even in the middle of a dangerous war. Not even when he was public enemy number one and it would do wonders for his reputation if he was seen cultivating the traditional path. When doing so would have made not just him but the 50 people he was shielding safer! if Jin guangyao was somehow in his position, he'd immediately do everything he could to counteract the narrative of beign a dangerous madman who'd left the straight path. Wei Wuxian has been in absolutely desperate situations and still refuses to pick up his sword...
The saying doesn't exist yet, but i'm sure someone like jgy, more competent than everyone around him, is intimately familair with at least the sentiment of "never ascribe to malice what is adequately explained by incompetence" He is helping spread the narrative of Wei Wuxian as a violent madman, sure, but does he believe it? If it makes no sense for wei wuxian, no longer a privileged young master but an outcast, to not pick up his sword again out of arrogancy, the most reliable explanation is that he... can't.
So Jiang Cheng, who got his core melted, got help from Wen Qing, an incredible doctor, after which he coud cultivate just fine but Wei Wuxian, no matter how desperate, never used traditional cultivation ever again...
Hm. interesting!
It's likely no one else in the jianghu outside of the wen even knew Jiang Cheng lost his core to begin with. And Jin Guangyao was never given wwx's excuse of Baoshan Sanren owing him a favor like Jiang Cheng was. He has all the puzzle pieces in front of him and... if anyone as gonna put them together, it'd be him.
And that's my unhinged case for why I believe Jin Guangyao knew Wei Wuxian didn't have a golden core anymore years before anyone else did. He just never told anyone, because why would he?
I think this adds a whole other level to his speech to Jiang Cheng about how everything could've worked out if he'd just trusted Wei Wuxian more and stood by his side. He saw it all play out in real time knowing there was more going on beneath the surface!
Now the really interesting question becomes: When did he figure out Jiang Cheng himself wasn't in on it? Did he piece it together immediately from remembering seeing jiang cheng berate wwx for not carrying a sword, a thing he should've known he couldn't do? Or was it not until later, maybe the fake yunmeng bros fallout, or the REAL fallout when Jiang Yanli died? Or was it still the news of Jiang Cheng going around and asking everyone to unsheathe subian that made him realize that oh my god this stupid bitch had no idea the whole time.
292 notes
·
View notes
Knowing damn well I'm going to be disputed, I just want to say:
One thing that's discussed a lot is Wei Wuxian always being singled out for punishment in the Jiang Household no matter what happened or how many were involved. It's how he developed his "I'll just do and say what I want since I'll get punished anyway" mentality in the first place. Yet we don't talk enough about how Jiang Cheng still tries to defend him despite being scared of his mum.
Everyone knows that Jiang Cheng often puts pleasing elders first before anything else, that's why he scolds Wei Wuxian so much while they're at Gusu, cause he's causing ruckus and "disgracing the family name. Stop that". Jiang Cheng is not the bravest of people and everyone can talk from now till the next decade about how he should have stood up more for what's right, but he's not the kind of person. Jiang Cheng will not stick out his neck to defend someone he does not give two shits about. 💀 It's family first. People can hate him for that, judge him for that, but let's face it there are very few people that would compromise their family's safety or comfort in the name of doing the right thing.
So when the Wens come and start demanding that the Jiangs submit and that Wei Wuxian should get handed over to them, Jiang Cheng starts begging his mum to spare him (I don't know if that's in the books but it's in the drama and it's in Donghua). In the drama, her maidservants had to literally drag Jiang Cheng off Wei Wuxian when Madam Yu started her brutal whipping. If anything, Jiang Cheng's unwavering care for the child Madam Yu considered his replacement only riled her more. That's why she called him a fool. That's why Jiang Cheng suffered so much emotional abuse, because Jiang Cheng wouldn't stop caring for Wei Wuxian.
"Jiang Cheng only loved Wei Wuxian as a servant" my ass. 🙄 How many nobles get tortured for their servants?
310 notes
·
View notes
@sandumilfshou
Okay, I didn't really explain myself when answering my previous anon, so I'm gonna do that now as well as the new editions (warning: i am a hater)
Chengxian:
Chenxian compels me so much, childhood romance, what could've been, body mutilation on two linked occasions. What more do you want? I understand why people despise it, however I am a JC stan and honestly just want at least one person from his teen years to still be with him and love him. I think that he deserves it.
Xicheng:
I am not a xicheng enjoyer. I feel like every fanfic I read of them is just Lan Xichen taming and flattening Jiang Cheng's "bad" emotions. They dull down his character until he's nothing more than a plain digestive biscuit, and all for a man. There's also something of a running theme in Jiang Cheng ships where a lot of them are centred around WWX, and I fully believe that Xicheng is one of them. "Oh, my brother has a Lan? Well then so am I!" Guys pls let him have his own things 🙏
Zhanchengxian:
I don't really have any opinions on this other than good luck trying to write the Jiang Cheng x Lan Wangji dynamic in character whilst also making it romantic and not ooc, I feel for you. I think that this is 100% just WWX trying to tie all the people he loves to himself and never let them go again, which isnt exactly healthy but where's the fun in the ship if it is. Imo, it's 50/50 on whether or not we get diluting juice Jiang Cheng or not, which can be a bit tricky. I do however understand it for the porn. Which is nice ig.
Wangningxian:
You are a WWX enjoyer and like it when he is happy. Fair enough. I think the relationship regarding Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian (platonic and otherwise) is really under explored in this fandom along with Wen Ning's lack of agency and autonomy, which would be really interesting if worked into this trio. I'm always a bit worried about Lan Wangji and throuples, just in case Lan Xichen's curse is biological.
19 notes
·
View notes
Moonshot: A Cheng'e Story
< Prev [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Next >
Part 4 of 5
Jiang Cheng delivers exposition.
In a past life, he stole immortality from Hou Yi!Wei Wuxian who had saved the world. This immortality was a trap though as it destroyed his mortal body. In order to continue existing he is completely dependent on the medicines made by the Jade Hares and so can never leave the moon. With Jiang Cheng as a patient, the Hares were able to develop the Elixir of Life which would fortify the body enough to take in the core without negative consequences, but it took too long. Hou Yi!Wei Wuxian had already died. Jiang Cheng has been holding onto hope that Wei Wuxian would come back and so kept himself (and the core) alive all this time.
The Lans run through the unraveling palace. Lan Wangji worries for Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen is clutching a huge jar of wine, what is implied to be the wine Wei Wuxian was drinking as well as the Elixir of Life. He is crying…it seems Jiang Cheng would truly die without the core.
Wei Wuxian is not on board with Jiang Cheng’s plan…leaving him with an eternity alive without Jiang Cheng. In the chaos of the illusions ripping apart, reverting everyone to their normal state, he tells Jiang Cheng he loves him and just wants another chance together.
< Prev | Next >
2021 Cheng'e: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x]
2022 Cheng’e: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
I was debating whether Jiang Cheng should go as far as admit he walked into Jin Guangshan's trap on purpose, but given how he behaves in canon I didn't think he should.
If you were wondering exactly what was premeditated, Jiang Cheng has long told the Hares that he needed to stick around to give the core with the safe way of receiving it to Wei Wuxian, but also couldn't actively seek him out nor did he tell the Hares to do so. They did that of their own initiative parent trap style, seeing how Jiang Cheng couldn't leave and all the waiting was deteriorating his mental health.
Now for a wholesome brother illustration as a palate cleanser.
The Lans here are not gentry like in MDZS but immortal pharmacists, so I wanted their clothes to be simpler as well, closer to monk-like than their canon counterparts. The bunny ears are a nod to stories like Journey to the West, where transformations often have a flaw that reveals the true nature of the supernatural.
22 notes
·
View notes