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lordhelpme0-0 · 2 years

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Crossover - MDZS + Twisted Wonderland

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Backstory: the MDZS cast was transported to the twisted wonderland world by a talisman or from a gathering nighthunag or with an ancient artifact. Though, when they get back it’s where they started so it’s a pause on their world. This will be taken place after all the overblots actually. ENJOY!~~

Twisted Wonderland Part 5:

Scarabia Dorm:

Kalim:

This ball of sunshine is happy

New people? HOORAY! They’re cultivators and fight monsters? SO COOL! Basically have flying swords and are war veterans? AMAZING! One of them is the grandmaster of demonic cultivation? HOLY SEVENS!

He is happy

Basically become best friends with Jingyi in 0.1 seconds

Befriending the unlaniest of all lans has its perks~!

He is amazed by zidian and the former owner of it

Jiang Cheng is a bit taken back when Kalim asked so many questions about zidian and asked where he got it

Jiang Cheng is crestfallen

And Kalim apologizes which Wei Wuxian answers the Violet spiders

This soon turn to story time about a fierce woman name Yu Ziyuan the Violet Spider where the boys gather around

Leona surprisingly who drinks his respect women juice like a champ

Then it turns to the topic of Jiang Yanli

The fudging queen of all

Jin Ling took this to ask more questions about his mother so the two who have started to learn to be close ( Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng) then tells them about their sister

Kalim was happy but a bit guilty for talking about these two woman who has somewhat of an impact on them

He apologizes with a huge a$$ feast

Jin Ling, your not the only rich boy here~

The mdzs cast was basically fine since being in a feast is the daily etiquette of meeting another sect or hosting another sect of importance or for negotiations

Kalim is happy and willing to try Wei Wuxian spicy food

He passed

I swear, I believe Kalim ate so many spicy food at home, he can at least withstand Wei wuxian cooking a lot longer then the rest

Basically got adopted completely

Kalim enjoys the bunnies and being called little radish

He and Wei Wuxian are always having fun with Lan Wangji being the one to look over

Thank goodness Jamil can rest

Kalim is basically the same with everyone else and somewhat got Wen Ning to appear more on campus

Thankfully there is no alcohol cause lans cannot handle alcohol quite well

Literally, go to an audio drama or any info and it shows the weirdest ways lans can be when drunk

Kalim enjoys them all no matter what

Jamil:

He was cautious of these new beings, thinking they be harm

Wei Wuxian notice how Jamil acts and can immediately see himself in him

Wei Wuxian quickly dumps Jamil into bunnies and in the garden

Jamil actually low key look at Wei Wuxian as a father figure since they know what’s it’s like to be servants and putting their life first

Jiang Cheng is still guilty btw

Jiang Cheng will give Kalim a talk about treating Jamil and how much he owes Jamil like how Jiang Cheng owes Wei Wuxian

Not like he gonna say it~

This makes Kalim appreciates and helps out more to Jamil

Jamil is grateful but afraid that his father and Kalim father will reprimanded him

Yeah no. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng gotchu child

He will be sus of Nie Huasiang who will be shady while looking innocent

Though Nie Huasiang isn’t gonna be much of trouble since he fulfilled and just gonna relax

Jamil can see the first years in the Junior quartet and amused how Jin Ling is always teased by Jingyi

He isn’t comfortable about Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji huge couple display

He isn’t

Like they’re so shameless Jamil is almost red as his dorm outfits

Maybe rivals riddle hair and red face lmao~!

He also loves Wei Wuxian spicy cooking like Kalim!

All in all, he chill and grateful for the advices the adult cultivators give him

Pomefiore Dorm:

Vil:

You know how Lans are very beautiful and Lan Xichen is number 1 handsome bachelor? Yeah…

Vil is not happy to see beautiful more beautiful than HIM

Ha HA! Leona is basically enjoying this

Vil does not want to admit it, but these new men are very handsome and beautiful

Lan Xichen meeting with Vil the first time was a walk around the middle of the college

Vil was aghast and though he appreciates beauty

He always want to be number 1

After a few encounters with the arrivals

He learn to accept them

He even one time asked Lan Xichen his skincare routine

Man was confused but merely relied with a gentle tone

Wei Wuxian just straight up called Vil Peacock the 2nd in honor of Jin Zixuan. The original peacock

LMAOOO!!

Vil almost used his spell on Wei Wuxian who is cackling like the bloody gremlin he is

Lan Wangji stopped it with his own spells and spiritual power

He even used the silencing spell on Vil

Poor Vil

After another many encounters

He loosen up and started to get used to the couple who is shameless

Stop making people feel single—

Vil even confide to Lan Xichen and forced Jiang Cheng along with Lan Xichen to model

Jiang Cheng being in purple gives extra bonus

Might be persuaded by Vil to be in pomefiore

Yeah…but he has a huge sect to take care of

Lmao Wei Wuxian be laughing hard at the poses Jiang Cheng has to do

Jin Ling will be concerned and not happy being called potato

Epel: first time?

Jin Ling: *flips him off*

Epel: >:3

Vil gonna style the boys since they’re boomer and in pretty robes

Let me keep them robes!—

They do catch on real quick with the technologies

When Vil meets Nie Huasiang— sparks fly

Artistic meets artistic?

They love each other aesthetic

Ouyang Zizhen might write poems for Vil cause he a passionate person

Sounds familiar to a certain hunter—

Basically he bonds in certain levels and needs to get used to it

He fine! Also is now in the Lan Xichen train and in Jiang Cheng train of followers

He low key about it

Basically got tossed into bunnies and not in the garden but is surrounded by buried dorm leaders LMAO!

Yeah. Wei Wuxian accepted him when he saw how he treated Jiang Cheng

They bonded in a weird way

At least this peacock works unlike the other

RIP Jin Zixuan

Rook:

Haha…

Ha…

Yeah….good luck. Just good luck.

Very similar to Jade approach but more…dramatic

May have taken Zizhen under his tutelage

And very curious about the war veterans

He will most likely stalk Wen Ning while Wen Ning quietly watches the first years/Junior quartet

He will approach the lans

Giving Lan Qiren heart attack

3rd troublemaker to make Lan Qiren vomit blood

He leaves Nie Huasiang alone until he heard what Nie Huasiang did in a story Wei Wuxian was telling

Giddy Duddy Wangji gonna be protective of his spouse

Rook will have to back off

Willingly be tossed in bunnies and in the garden

Wei Wuxian just sees him as another Jade or Nie Huasiang so he don’t care

Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng is more cautious but due to Vil favor

Rook is gonna back off a bit. Just a bit.

His wall of holy grails (disturbing photos-) will have their picture

Thing is. Ramshackle has spells and talisman to protect from intruder and with the dormitory renovated to have three windows covered

Yeah good luck Rook.

These are very powerful arrays.

He is chill and very intrigue

Though he learns to back off from them if he wanna keep his fingers, voice, legs, and body intact

Epel:

He. Is. HAPPY!!!!

He finally meet strong lans that can do handstand while writing stuff down?!

Jingyi.

He is gonna bond with the Junior quartet.

In 0.000001 he be besties with Jin Ling and Jingyi

Definitely idolize Wei Wuxian for doing the impossible

Reveres Jiang Cheng as a god like Deuce

Definitely respects Lan Wangji for being firm and willing to beat anyone up

And will most like converse with Wen Ning

Cause there is a fierce corpse that can actually think and is know as THE. Ghost general!!

How cool is that?!

Well the others will think Epel is sweet but Wei Wuxian knows better.

Along with Jingyi.

Bro. The surprise Lan Qiren had and Jiang Cheng

Jiang Cheng recovered quicker.

Lan Qiren face PALED. He ranted to Trein about lmao!

Epel also willingly be dump into bunnies and in the ground as a little strong apple tree

Calls Wei Wuxian his god with no care in the WORLD!

Wei Wuxian gonna lead the first year gang and the Junior Quartet on adventure and lessons.

Epel will ask questions and always wanted to show off his skills

May or may not asked Jingyi how he keeps being beautiful while strong underneath

Jingyi and Epel gonna excercise real early while Sizhui watches over them

Epel and Jin Ling gonna bond over how their name or looks are feminine when they wanna be masculine

The chaos that Epel sees. He will do anything to piss of Vil.

Basically helps Wangji to fend off any dog or canine like people off from Wei Wuxian

Beside Jack

Cause Wei Wuxian grown used to Jack anyway so…..!

He is a happy boi. Not to mention laughs how red Ace face is from the spice while Kalim is just munching on with no care.

—————————————————

Phew! This is quite the long one huh. Anyway Scarabia and Pomefiore is done so Ignihyde and maybe Diasomnia is next. Until the next post! Also feel free to draw any of the scenarios of the headcanon. Make sure to tag me so I can see. BYEEE!!!!!

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featherfur · 2 years

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No okay I’m thinking about the 13/16 year gap between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng again and how far away they are and not because of the siege. No instead it’s because Jiang Cheng grew up and Wei Wuxian wasn’t there.

Wei Wuxian is 13/16 years behind the man who Jiang Cheng has become. There’s some things that haven’t changed, Jiang Cheng still names his pets the fluffiest names, he still chows down like a maniac whenever he sees anything citrus, he won’t touch water chestnuts, he likes using two swords for training both hands equally, all things that Wei Wuxian remembers.

But there’s so much he never had the chance to learn.

He doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng now takes sweet tea with lemon cakes under a pavilion at exactly noon every day. He doesn’t know Jiang Cheng thinks the word “cork” is the funniest thing because of one joke Chao Bolin said. He doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng now guards his right more heavily and forgets to guard his left because he’s so used to moving in a three man team of him and his senior disciples. He doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng let’s himself be bullied by the disciples into having parties. He doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng is willing to wield two swords and trust another disciple with Zidian. He doesn’t know that Jiang Cheng tried and failed to learn how to paint fans and Jin Ling definitely has them hidden away for laughs.

Wei Wuxian wasn’t there to learn those things. He has so much catching up to do but first he needs to learn that his shidi isn’t his shidi anymore. Wei Wuxian knows his little brother who grew up beside him but now that spot he stood in has been taken by Jiang disciples who guard it jealously.

Wei Wuxian gets struck by surprise when he sees Jiang Cheng actually smile at a joke that a junior makes. He chokes on tea when Jiang Cheng very carefully lifts up a bottle of wine that almost fell off the table and passes it to another disciple to pour on someone’s head and smirks at the fake outrage. He nearly has a heart attack when some merchant storms in and starts screaming and Jiang Cheng doesn’t panic, doesn’t yell back, doesn’t look to him for support like the Jiang Cheng Wei Wuxian remembers would. He simply blinks and calms the merchant down in seconds and starts working on the problem.

The anxious new leader, the socially awkward baby brother, the angry shidi, the lonesome man that Wei Wuxian once knew inside and out… Now stands before him completely different, in a second life that Wei Wuxian only now gets a chance to be a part of and he doesn’t know if there’s room.

#mdzs #the untamed #Jiang Cheng #Jiang sect #okay look #LOOK #there’s so much bull about how JC never changed and yet so much of the story is #only possible because he did change #JC in cloud recess was an awkward baby who just wanted to make his family proud and be a good sect leader and keep his #brother out of trouble even if he has to bow his head for him #post war hes finicky and snappy but he goes out of his way to try and help his brother even when he’s shoved aside and lied too #he still tries to convince Wei Wuxian to come back even with all the Wen shit going on #and then Wei Wuxian leads to the death of his sister and Jiang Cheng goes buck wild with rage and hate and #proceeds to have a perfectly well built sect that has the respect of every single sect leader #no not fear Lan Xichen Sect Leader Yao Nie Huaisang etc #not a single one of them fear him (except maybe if they thought they’d have to fight him but that’s different)#no they /Respect/ him and his sect #and Jiang Cheng sits back and lets Lan Wangji be fucking majorly disrespectful to both him and Jin Ling to avoid starting a fight with #Lan Xichen (WHICH IS LITERALLY HOW THE PART OF THE STORY SAYS IT)#because he’s a damn good fucking sect leader and he can be respectful #Wei Wuxian was just *always* a different story because JC never had to turn his cheek towards him and #WWX never held back on him either it was mutual until WWX couldn’t and JC didn’t know that #and then in the narrative the only time we see JC in novel is when shit is going down and YET by background and narrative of #shit NOT happening we know JC was just doing his job as sect leader because otherwise #there would have been a full on man hunt for WWX at Gusu Lan because JC knows it’s WWX and knows LWJ has him #and yet!#not even mentioning CQL that literally just has JC being a normal dude in the background even at times when his #necromancer homicidal brother is waltzing around in a mask or losing his gourd #my point is #JC did a lot of growing WWX wasn’t there for and it’s time for WWX to start learning his baby older brother and we gonna angst to get there

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giraffeter · 3 years

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Characters in The Untamed, Ranked by the Extent to Which They Are “This Fucking Guy”

Sect Leader Yao: The ultimate This Fucking Guy. Chock full of opinions and all of them are bad. Couldn’t mind his own business if his own business was on fire. Also robs my terrible son Ouyang Zizhen of his rightful title of Worst Wig, which is rude and unnecessary. 10/10.

Su She: This Fucking Guy to such an extent that nobody knows his real name. I was shocked, upon rewatch, to learn that the other guy LWJ saves from the Waterborne Abyss and the guy who gives them up to the Wens were the same guy, and that guy was Su She. Only possible response to him is “who?” followed closely by “oh, THIS fucking guy.” So upset by his TFG status he does a bunch of murders about it. 10/10.

Wen Chao/Wen Ruohan/Wen Xu (tie): Could be chill about being villains but instead they’re all “bluh, bluh” about it like they’re a bunch of fucking Draculas. Nobody likes a try-hard, guys. 10/10.

Jin Guangshan: Can’t keep it in his pants; only person to achieve the title of This Fucking Guy literally as well as figuratively. 10/10.

Xue Yang: Look, he’s my emotional support sociopath too, and it’s very sexy of him, but imagine trying to have a conversation with him. Such an edgelord he’ll stab a potato at you. People are constantly rolling their eyes as soon as his back is turned. 9/10.

Jin Zixun: Ugh. 9/10.

Lan Wangji: Listen, I love him, he is my favorite character, but you must admit that Lan Wangji is not exactly easy to get along with, and has no compunctions about being actively unpleasant to you if he doesn’t like you. I imagine meeting with him as Chief Cultivator being super stressful, even though he’s generally a pretty fair person, because the risk of being obliterated by a look of Icy Disdain is high. Su She is already launching a 20-minute rant about how he should be higher on this list. 7/10.

Wei Wuxian: I know. I KNOW. But my darling boy is a LOT. You can’t tell me the Lan disciples weren’t going “This Fucking Guy” during his class clownery. He and LWJ are constantly doing horny wrist grabs and staring at each other for a full minute of time, right in front of everyone’s salad. In the scene where the angry mob confronts him, they might as well be chanting “This! Fucking! Guy! This! Fucking! Guy!” Most of this is not his fault but he’d be exhausting to be around. Then again, so am I. 7/10.

Nie Huaisang: Nie Huaisang WANTS to be This Fucking Guy. Nie Huaisang is ACTIVELY TRYING to be This Fucking Guy. Nie Huaisang is angry he’s not higher up on this list but he’s just too Babie for me to give him more than a 7/10.

Jin Guangyao: “What?” you say. “How dare! Villainry!” But this is not a list of Who is a Bad Person, it’s a list of Who is This Fucking Guy, and JGY has spent too much of his life in positions where he can’t be This Fucking Guy indiscriminately. His dad and Nie Mingjue both think he’s TFG for their own reasons, but to people in general? Customer Service Smile all the way, baybee. Points off for all the murdering, though. 6/10.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan (tie): Happy to swoop in for some dramatic swashbuckling, completely uninterested in doing any of the ensuing administrative work. Like those people who only want to work on the fun part of the group project and then make the rest of the group do the rest. Would never say it, but deffo think they’re better than you. 6/10.

Jiang Cheng: Unless you are a demonic cultivator he’s torturing to death for complicated emotional reasons or his estranged brother-in-law, Jiang Cheng keeps his TFG tendencies more or less in check. 6/10 mostly for his behavior toward Lan Wangji specifically.

Lan Qiren: The actual literal Fun Police. Only reason he’s not higher on this list is because he never goes anywhere so most people aren’t exposed to his TFG-ness. 5/10.

Jin Zixuan: The flashback portion of The Untamed is, in a sense, the story of Jin Zixuan’s journey from This Fucking Guy to Wife Guy (and then Dead Guy 😬) Averaging out to a 5/10.

Nie Mingjue: We all know how I feel about da-ge, but man does Nie Mingjue think he’s right about everything. He’s willing to listen to arguments to the contrary and change his opinion based on new information, which is cool and better than a lot of people, but he really thinks he’s got it all figured out and has spent pretty much 0 time unpacking that. 5/10.

Lan Xichen: He’s like that guy in high school who’s like super hot and a big jock and smart and student body president and you can’t even hate him because he’s also really nice?? And somehow all that combines to make him, just a little bit, This Fucking Guy. 4/10.

Wen Ning: A baby. A precious baby. However, I am almost positive that his cousins referred to him as This Fucking Guy on occasion in between being Draculas. 2/10.

The Juniors: I don’t think it’s fair to rate the juniors on their This Fucking Guy-ness, because all teens inherently have a soupçon of TFG — it’s natural. N/A, with the exception of:

Lan Sizhui: Best boy. Number one best boy. -1000000/10.

Previously: Sect Leaders by How Likely Their Disciples Are to Accidentally Call them “Dad.”

#the untamed #all of my opinions are empirically correct and legally binding #this fucking guy #wei wuxian #lan wangji #su she #sect leader yao #xue yang #nie huaisang #jin guangyao

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cqlfeels · 3 years

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@lansplaining encouraged me to finish this random meta nobody asked for, so let's talk about Meng Yao, Meng Shi, and 孟母三遷 (mèng mǔ sān qiān), a proverb about good parenting.

A warning: this is super long (even for me!) and is less quality meta and more my ADHD brain jumping around a maze of loosely related ideas. Proceed with caution!

Let me start by briefly going through why I decided to write this, because it’s important. In haunting Meng Shi’s tag in my starvation for Meng Shi content, I’ve multiple times come across the idea that Meng Shi pushed Meng Yao too hard, that she should’ve been more careful with teaching him to seek his father’s approval at any cost, and that she was too naïve. I’ve never reblogged this kind of post because 1) I personally think it’s rude to go out of your way to ramble about how much you disagree with someone on their own post and 2) if this was an isolated incident I wouldn't care either way, so I didn’t want to direct this rant at anyone in particular. It’s more to do with a tendency, primarily (as far as I can tell) from fans who haven’t had much contact with Chinese culture, to oversimplify Meng Shi and make her relationship with Meng Yao slightly disturbing, and I think part of it is due to CQL basically cutting out her entire storyline (so fans simply don’t have info about her to assess her fairly) and part is due to misunderstanding what a good parent is supposed to act like in the context of Ancient China.

[Of course, Ancient China is not a very useful historical concept, not any more than “ye olde Europe” - things change a lot based on time and place - but you know. It’s fantasy. Extremely broad trends are okay in this case.]

Anyway, the idea behind the posts I mentioned is, basically, that Meng Shi (usually through no fault of her own) is to blame for Meng Yao’s obsession with power, since his desire for approval was inherited from lessons she taught him. Just to start with, I’d argue that Meng Yao isn’t power-hungry as much as he craves security and respect, but that’s a different meta. Let’s assume that she really did teach him to be Like That. Was she wrong to do so? I’m not looking for “does that make for a happy, well-adjusted childhood?” or “would you raise your own son as Meng Shi did?” - I’m trying to figure out, would she have been considered a bad mother in the context of the society she lived in? I don’t think she would’ve.

It is surprisingly hard to find texts about the obligations of parents in Ancient China. Their main obligation is to raise filial children, but I feel like that’s not very useful: whether or not parents are good parents, children are expected to be filial, so a child being filial really says more about the child than about the parent. Maybe the parent completely missed the mark and society at large was what taught the child to be filial!

We can assume, of course, that parents were to raise good people, and that by learning what a good person looked like, we could figure out whether the parent was successful, but once again, I feel like that’s pinning things on the outcome, not on the process - the best of parents can end up with an awful kid and vice versa.

While thinking about all this, it took me a frankly embarrassing amount of time to remember the story of Mother Meng and Meng Zi, but once I did, it wouldn’t leave my mind - in part because the Meng here is the exact same Meng of Meng Shi and Meng Yao (yay! fun if useless parallel!), and in part because this is a story about how a woman can successfully raise a son by herself.

Okay, so important note: one of the most influential ancient Chinese thinkers is Meng Zi (孟子 Mèng Zǐ), who is known in the West as Mencius. If you've never heard of him - he's perhaps second in importance only to Confucius. When Mencius was still a young child, his father died, so he was raised by his mother, who is usually known only as Mother Meng (in Chinese, 孟母 Mèng Mǔ.)

Mother Meng's story is told in Biographies of Exemplary Women (列女傳 Liènǚ Zhuàn), which for around 2000 years beginning around the 18th century BCE, was the most commonly used book used to educate women. The book is divided into sections, each one showing a different way women could be honorable and good. Mother Meng's story is told in the Maternal Models section (母儀傳 Mǔ Yí Zhuàn.) The story has a few parts, some of which I'll quote, always from Kinney's 2014 translation.

Before I go on to quote it, though, I'd like to establish that Mother Meng's story is so, so famous that even if Meng Shi had never read this particular book, I'm almost certain she would've been familiar with at least the outlines of Mother Meng's story. I'm not cherry picking a suitable chapter from the book, I'm literally going with the most famous story in it because Meng Shi would be most likely to know this one if she knew no other story.

Okay, the first part of the tale takes place when Mencius is a young boy and Mother Meng is a widow raising him.

The mother of Meng Ke of Zou [a different name for Mencius] was called Mother Meng. She lived near a graveyard. During Mencius’ youth, he enjoyed playing among the tombs, romping about pretending to prepare the ground for burials. Mother Meng said, “This is not the place to raise my son.” She therefore moved away and settled beside the marketplace. But there he liked to play at displaying and selling wares like a merchant. Again Mother Meng said, “This is not the place to raise my son,” and once more left and settled beside a school. There, however, he played at setting out sacrificial vessels, bowing, yielding, entering, and withdrawing. His mother said, “This, indeed, is where I can raise my son!” and settled there. When Mencius grew up, he studied the Six Arts, and finally became known as a great classicist. A man of discernment would say, “Mother Meng was good at gradual transformation.”

According to the translator's footnote, "gradual transformation" is "a childrearing technique, whereby a child is morally formed through daily exposure to correct models of behavior."

From this story comes the proverb 孟母三遷 (Mèng Mǔ sān qiān) - "Mother Meng moved three times." It's come to mean that a parent - especially the mother of a male child - should spare no efforts to provide an environment that will give their child a good education, paying particular attention to what models are surrounding them.

I'm sure I don't need to say if Meng Shi was at all familiar with this proverb (and she would probably be), she must have been very stressed out over literally raising her son in a brothel. (Here I must mention sex workers in ancient China were often essentially owned by the brothels, so literally "moving three times" wasn't really an option for Meng Shi even if she could miraculously pick up another trade.) Meng Shi did however at least try to surround Meng Yao with the accomplishments appropriate for the son of a cultivator:

Xiao-Meng, are you still learning those things lately? [...] The things your mom wants you to learn, things like calligraphy, etiquette, swordsmanship, meditation… How are those things going? [...] His mom’s raising him as a young master of a wealthy family. She taught him how to read and write, bought him all those swordsmanship pamphlets, and even wants to send him to school.

Meng Yao actually talks a little bit about “those swordsmanship pamphlets” in the only time in canon he directly shares memories about this mother:

Lan XiChen, “Your [guqin] skills are also considered quite fine outside of Gusu. Were they taught by your mother?”

Jin GuangYao, “No. I taught myself by watching others. She never taught me such things. She only taught me reading and writing, and bought a handful of expensive sword and cultivation guides for me to practice.”

Lan XiChen seemed surprised, “Sword and cultivation guides?”

Jin GuangYao, “Brother, you haven’t seen them before, have you? Those small booklets sold by the common folk. First jumbled sketches of human figures, then deliberately mystified captions.”

Lan XiChen shook his head, smiling. Jin GuangYao shook his head as well, “All of them are scams, especially to fool women like my mother and ignorant children. You won’t lose anything by practicing them, but you definitely won’t gain anything either.”

He sighed in a rueful way, “But how could my mother have known this? She bought them no matter how expensive they were, saying that if I returned to see my father in the future, I had to see him with as much competence as possible so that I don’t fall behind. All of the money was spent on this.”

See what’s happening? Meng Shi cannot physically take Meng Yao to cultivators, but she spares no efforts in giving him the closest thing she possibly can -- figuratively, we might say she moved three times.

Of course, these booklets don’t work, but as Meng Yao says, how could she have known this? The cultivation world is very closed off - think of how the entire Mo household gathers to see Lan juniors, and how Wei Wuxian mentions once that “Cultivation families, in the eyes of common folk, are like people favored by God, mysterious yet noble.” Not just noble, but mysterious. That tracks, too - I mean, they live in inaccessible households and mostly leave to night hunt or visit each other, neither of which is an activity that would allow commoners to get much more than an occasional glimpse of them.

Now, if Meng Shi doesn’t even know that a pearl for Jin Guangshan was just a trinket, if she doesn’t know even the wealth of a major sect, how can she read booklets and decide whether that’s genuine cultivation or not? All that she sees is a chance for Meng Yao to be surrounded by the ideas and skills of the people she wants him to emulate - cultivators - and therefore she does everything she can to get him that chance. Mother Meng moved three times.

Okay, but maybe the argument is not “Meng Shi shouldn’t have pushed Meng Yao to cultivation” but rather “she should’ve pushed him, just not too hard." To that, I present another tale from Mencius' childhood:

Once, when Mencius was young, he returned home after finishing his lessons and found his mother spinning. She asked him, “How far did you get in your studies today?” Mencius replied, “I’m in about the same place as I was before.” Mother Meng thereupon took up a knife and cut her weaving. Mencius was alarmed and asked her to explain. Mother Meng said, “Your abandoning your study is like my cutting this weaving. A man of discernment studies in order to establish a name and inquires to become broadly knowledgeable. By this means, when he is at rest, he can maintain tranquility and when he is active, he can keep trouble at a distance. If now you abandon your studies, you will not escape a life of menial servitude and will lack the means to keep yourself from misfortune. How is this different from weaving and spinning to eat? If one abandons these tasks midway, how can one clothe one’s husband and child and avoid being perpetually short of food? If a woman abandons that with which she nourishes others and a man is careless about cultivating his virtue, if they don’t become brigands or thieves, then they will end up as slaves or servants.” Mencius was afraid. Morning and evening he studied hard without ceasing. He served Zisi [a great scholar whose grandfather was Confucius] as his teacher and then became one of the most renowned classicists in the world.

Notice that Mother Meng moved three times to ensure Mencius would have the highest of aspirations - to become a scholar. But just aspiration isn’t enough. Not by any means. Now that Mencius is actually studying, Mother Meng is willing to take an extreme action to ensure he's taking it seriously. Mencius doesn't have a father to smooth his path to success. He has to learn that aspiring to greatness isn't enough. He'll have to put in the effort as if his life depended on it. And if he doesn't persist in his hard work, everything he's done thus far will be useless. Sounds like a lesson imparted on young Meng Yao, doesn’t it?

A lot of fandom rage towards Meng Shi would apply to China's Best Mom Contender, Mother Meng. She gives her son big dreams, and teaches him how to go about achieving them in a society where failing is easier than succeeding. Yes, it's fair to say that Meng Shi taught Meng Yao to refuse to settle for anything less than being “Jin Guangshan's son, a respected cultivator.” Yes, it's also fair to say that she probably didn't allow him much time to play like children his age did. But unfortunately, in the world of MDZS, poor children probably wouldn't get to play anyhow, the difference is that they'd usually be working, not studying. Studying is a privilege! It’s a privilege Meng Yao could not afford but was given to him anyway, through his mother’s many sacrifices. We can even say that while she was alive, Meng Shi was trying to ensure Meng Yao would one day have a better life, at the expense of a fun childhood - and that's very Mother Meng of her, whatever our modern Western sensibilities might have to say about that.

Finally, I’d skip other tales (which show Mother Meng and an adult Mencius) and go straight to the poem that ends the Mother Meng section:

The mother of Mencius

Was able to teach, transform, judge, and discriminate.

With skill she selected a place to raise her son,

Prompting him to accord with the great principles.

When her son’s studies did not advance,

She cut her weaving to illustrate her point.

Her son then perfected his virtue;

His achievements rank as the crowning glory of his generation.

I’d like to focus on the last verse - “His achievements rank as the crowning glory of his generation.” All that Mother Meng wanted was for Mencius to not completely ruin his life, but he became great. You can so very easily see a parallel with how Meng Shi hoped Meng Yao would be a cultivator but he became Jin Guangyao, Chief Cultivator, styled Lianfang-zun, one of the Three Venerable, hero of the Sunshot Campaign.

Of course you can say “Jin Guangyao did many Very Wrong Things to get there, though!” Which, sure, okay, fair point. How many and how wrong depends on which canon we're discussing, and your own interpretation, but there’s no version of the story in which Jin Guangyao is 100% an innocent child uwu. But blaming that on Meng Shi is just... straight up weird? I don’t see anyone going “If Jiang Fengmian hadn’t adopted Wei Wuxian, he’d never have dared become Yiling Laozu!” and that’s pretty much the same logic. Would street kid Wei Wuxian have invented a new type of cultivation if he had never been taken in by the Jiang? Probably not, but raising undead armies is very much not something Jiang Fengmian could’ve predicted. In the same way, how could Meng Shi have predicted that teaching her pre-adolescent son “You are the son of a cultivator, act like one and earn your place in society” would’ve ultimately resulted in innocent deaths? How could she predict “You’re not destined to having the same horrible life I did, you can get something better than this” was a bad thing to teach? I quite honestly don’t know.

Finally, I'd like to point towards a much flimsier evidence that Meng Shi did great as a parent. And that is Meng Yao’s love. Nie Huaisang at some point comments Meng Shi is someone who Meng Yao "cherishes more than his life," and I think his assessment is correct.

Even putting aside the fact he built a whole temple to get his mother to reincarnate into a better life, and even putting aside how he refuses to flee the country without her remains, there's still crystal clear evidence that Meng Shi must've done something right. Because a lifetime of people using his mother to bully him doesn't seem to have made Meng Yao resent her. Had their relationship not have been very strong, odds are he'd feel bitter and/or ashamed of her. That doesn't seem to be the case. He's attached to her even decades after her death.

I want to be very careful with equating mutual affection with good parenting, though. When I was a rather rebellious teenager, my mother (in typical Chinese fashion) used to say that parents and children don't have to love each other as long as they're dutiful to each other, by which she meant that a parent-child relationship isn't informed by warm and fuzzy feelings, but by whether you'd be willing to do anything for each other. Specific to my case, she meant "I don't care if it makes you hate me, you will do as you're told because that's what's best for you." (That may also be the reason why people more familiar with Chinese culture see the Jiang family less as outright abusive and more as #complicated, but that's another meta.)

Whether your kid wants to hug you every time they see you is of no consequence to traditional Chinese thought - raising them to be the best they can is all that matters, because at the end of the day, you won't be around forever, but you can definitely set up your kid's life so that it goes smoothly and virtuously. How that's accomplished varies depending on many factors, but to have the goal be "I want my child to love me" rather than "I want to raise my child right" would've been considered selfish as hell.

So even if all that Meng Shi had given Meng Yao had been stern lessons about the need to go get his birthright, she would've still have been considered a good mother!! In fact, she would've been doing everything she was supposed to do, under extremely difficult conditions! (Remember the importance of environment? That Meng Yao grew up to want to be a cultivator despite having probably never even met one speaks wonders about Meng Shi's childrearing powers!!)

But just based off how over the top Meng Yao's filal dutifulness is, I'd go a step further and say that even as she did the impossible, she was also loving enough to inspire genuine affection. This is complicated because children who have present fathers could expect their mothers to be tender with them. The first century BCE text 禮記 Lǐ Jì or The Classic of Rites says that:

Here now is the affection of a father for his sons - he loves the worthy among them, and places on a lower level those who do not show ability; but that of a mother for them is such, that while she loves the worthy, she pities those who do not show ability - the mother deals with them on the ground of affection and not of showing them honour; the father, on the ground of showing them honour and not of affection.

But when the father figure is lacking for any reason, the mother must abandon her tenderness because someone must guide the child, and without a father, the role falls to the mother. A single or widowed mother had to be very careful to not smother their children with affection and raise useless, spoiled kids, or so it was thought. (The presence of Qingheng-jun and Lan Qiren is why Madame Lan can be so affectionate with the Lan boys, by the way - if she was raising them by herself she would've been expected to be much more practical. AUs where she just gets her kids and runs away could do very cool things with this idea. But I digress!)

Where was I? Oh, okay. Because Meng Yao seems to not just respect, but actively miss her, it seems that Meng Shi somehow managed to deal with her son on the ground of both honor and affection, to paraphrase.

So basically, all things considered, it seems not only would Meng Shi have been considered a great mom (if people could look past her being a prostitute, anyway) but she also went above and beyond the bare minimum. She truly spared no efforts on any front to make sure her son had everything your average gongzi would have - someone to teach him and someone to love him, access to education and confidence in his birthright. That she couldn't actually make him a cultivator, that she couldn't actually raise him in a proper home with no one being cruel to herself or him - that's immaterial. Even Mother Meng couldn't control what her neighbors did, only what she taught her son! The key point is Meng Shi tried. She did everything she could to educate her son right. You couldn't ask more of her, and quite honestly, you should probably be asking less.

Of course we can't err on the other extreme and say she was Perfect. Given MXTX only ever writes flawed characters, we can safely assume that if we'd known more about Meng Shi, we would've seen many flaws. Indeed, just the fact she didn't teach Meng Yao the guqin when he apparently wanted to learn it might point to some conflict we don't know enough to speculate about (maybe she focused too much on cultivation when Meng Yao's interests lay elsewhere? Maybe she wasn't able to sufficiently shelter him and he felt it'd be a burden to ask her to teach him anything? Maybe maybe maybe, go wild with your fics.) Nevertheless, I would never hold a female character to a higher ideal than a male character - if the male cast of MDZS can be a hot mess and still be admirable for what they're trying to do, then so can Meng Shi.

At the end of the day, when I look at Meng Shi - and I've made myself a document with all the references to her in the novel canon so I could easily contemplate her life and character - all I see is a woman every bit as determined and resourceful as her son, willing to do everything it took to raise her little boy into the sophisticated and ambitious man he became.

Finally, here's a fun little parallel that I'm 100% sure was unintentional but I still love. I said Meng Shi couldn't have moved three times. She couldn't, but I think maybe she taught her son he was worth moving three times for. Qinghe Nie. Qishan Wen. Lanling Jin. Isn't that super fun to think about?

Alternatively, tl;dr: Oh My God I Can't Believe We're Blaming Women For The Actions Of Their Adult Children In The Year Of Our Lord 2k21, Meng Shi Was Doing Her Best, Chill!

#drinking game #take a shot every time i say 'finally'#this post refused to let me get to the end of it lol #i think because i'm extremely salty about fanon stage mom meng shi #(to not say tiger mom meng shi which crosses into outright racism. but i'm giving people the benefit of the doubt)

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 26, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Content note: This episode has a lot of lightning, but this post does not have lightning flashes--I’m using mostly stills for those parts, or I’ve snipped out the unfriendly frames before giffing.

Qing-Jie

Having successfully ruined Jin Guangshan’s party plan to get the Yin Tiger seal, Wei Wuxian dashes off to tell Wen Qing where her brother is. She hops up to hit the road with him, but then sorta-faints because she’s starving. In a rare moment of tenderness between these two, he catches her and gently sits her down again.

Normally they’re busy out-toughing each other, both before and after this moment, but right now Wen Qing is openly vulnerable. Wei Wuxian responds to that, predictably, with all of his kindness and with his usual slew of unwise, impossible-to-keep promises.

As she eats the bread he’s brought her--a parallel to an important piece of bread in his early life--he says they have to believe in Wen Ning’s survival. Cut to: Wen Ning, not surviving.

I mean, yes, yes, he’s only mostly dead, but he’s never going to be fully alive again, so.

24 Hour Party People

Back at the party, Jin Guangyao, deliberately, I think, goes to offer his pops a drink while his pops is still super furious and looking for someone to take it out on. The servant lady is like, better you than me, pal, and helps JGY get his drink ready. Pops, predictably, knocks the drink onto Jin Guangyao.

(more behind the cut)

Lan Xichen is standing by with a hanky and a face full of worry. Lan Xichen is so Lanny that he thinks JGY needs to go change clothes after getting clear alcohol spilled on him, rather than just letting it evaporate and smelling pleasantly of booze for the rest of the evening like a normal party guest.

JGY launches into a criticism of Wei Wuxian, which Lan Wangji listens to very carefully, frowning. Lan Xichen, Nie Huasang and Jiang Cheng listen as well, and don’t speak up.

A Clear Conscience

Then Lan Wangji *literally* steps out of his brother’s shadow, and speaks in defense of Wei Wuxian. This right here is Lan Wangji’s turning point, as far as I’m concerned. Xichen is gazing at JGY, totally on board with JGY’s spin of the situation, and his shadow falls away from Lan Wangji’s face as LWJ steps forward.

Lan Wangji says, isn’t what WWX said true? JGY puts on his customer service smile and says that the truth isn’t something you’re supposed to go around saying out loud.

I’d like to say this is what’s wrong with cultivator society but this is really a universal human thing; every society has rules about upsetting the social order, and they are very frequently at odds with basic compassion and morality.

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stay silent but Lan Xichen goes and throws Wei Wuxian under the bus carriage, saying his character has changed.

Lan Wangji nods decisively at this, and bows to Lan Xichen, silently asking permission to follow Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen grants permission, telling Lan Wangji to do his best. Lan Xichen probably thinks he and Lan Wangji are in agreement, in this moment, but that nod of Lan Wangji’s was nothing of the kind.

That nod was Lan Wangji agreeing with himself; he is going to try to bring Wei Wuxian back but he is also going to listen to him. Meanwhile Lan Xichen is tying himself in knots to appease Jin Guangyao. The divergence between the brothers will just grow, from this point onwards.

Lan Wangji leaves to go follow his boyfriend conscience, while Jiang Cheng continues to silently listen to the commentary of others, and gets so mad he crushes a wine cup.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night.

Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian arrive at the prison camp, and the first person they encounter is Granny, with a defaced Wen Banner in her hand and Wen Yuan on her back.

Whenever I read a meta or a fic that talks about how the juniors are so sweet partly because they are “untouched by the war” I want to point to this moment. A-Yuan endures an absolute truckload of war trauma by the time he’s four years old, and while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both deserve a lot of credit for saving him at great risk to themselves, Granny and Uncle Four are the first heroes of A-Yuan’s story. His kind, mellow personality has a lot in common with theirs.

This is followed by an eternity of Wen Qing running around asking if anyone’s seen her brother. Eventually Wei Wuxian gets tired of this and gathers the guards together, threatening them with Chenqing.

He doesn’t need to play it; just holding it up has every Jin dude instantly kneeling and scared.

The guards send him and Wen Qing go to a giant field of corpses, where Wen Qing runs around checking to see if any of them is her brother. Wei Wuxian starts off kind of detached and angry, but eventually snaps out of it, tucks away his flute and starts helping her to search.

Wen Qing finds Wen Ning, mostly-dead with a lure flag speared into his belly. Wei Wuxian grimly takes in the situation from across the field of corpses.

When he arrives at Wen Qing’s side he sees this talisman in Wen Ning’s hand.

This is the talisman that Wei Wuxian made for Wen Ning back in Gusu summer school, before the war. It’s the one that Wen Ning was wearing at his waist when they met up after the massacre of Lotus Pier. It’s supposed to literally protect Wen Ning from having his spiritual consciousness snatched, as well as being a symbol of Wei Wuxian’s sense of responsibility for, and affection for, Wen Ning.

Wei Wuxian, understandably, loses his shit at this point. Less understandably, he is about to decide that the best way to express his sorrow and rage is to re-animate the corpse of his friend, right in front of the corpse’s sister. Like, seriously, dude. Dude.

Ghost General

This super-questionable decision leads to one of the most badass sequences in the show, which is unfortunately chock full of lightning flashes, so not everyone can watch it. Wei Wuxian and his flute and swirls of resentful energy come marching out of the darkness of the corpse field, back to the guards.

The guards have decided to slaughter all of the prisoners and then run away, which would be a good plan except they should really have skipped right to the running away part of things. When Wei Wuxian accuses them of killing the prisoner in the corpse field, they claim that the Wens have a habit of falling off of a hill and dying. Wei Wuxian can relate.

At this point Wei Wuxian summons up Wen Ning 2.0, ultra badass edition, who comes flying through the air with his odd, straight-armed fighting stance and cool solid-black eyes and rock-and-roll hair.

Soundtrack: *Four Sticks*

Wen Ning proceeds to whale on the guards and scare the shit out of his relatives.

Then Wen Qing shows up and begs Wei Wuxian to stop. She explains that Wen Ning is only mostly dead. Like, if he was fully dead would she be okay with this?

Wei Wuxian tries to reel Wen Ning in and realizes that he is not actually in control of Wen Ning. Ok, see, right from the first day of Wen Ning 2.0, WWX is aware that his control is iffy. Why does he think he’s going to be able to control him later?

Anyway, this is where we learn Wen Ning’s grown-up name is Wen Qionglin. Wei Wuxian yells this name, and Wen Ning looks up like a cat hearing the “food noise,” and then proceeds to get control of himself.

This is such a nice symbolic moment, that will be replayed later in the temple, when Wen Ning saves Jin Ling from Baxia.

Wen Ning has a remote-code-execution OS vulnerability throughout the story; his soul is at risk of being stolen, and he is magically controlled by Wei Wuxian, Xue Yang, Su She, and Baxia. Meanwhile Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian, and random kids on the street mostly treat him as a child, despite his clear adult capabilities. Wen Ning’s journey in The Untamed is at least partly about asserting his full adulthood, and his ability to overcome magical control is directly connected to that journey.

After getting Wen Ning to chill, Wei Wuxian calls the floating resentful energy back into his own body, which looks about as comfortable as swallowing a burp.

On the plus side, apparently resentful energy keeps your hair dry even when it’s raining.

Wei Wuxian should take a page from the guards’ book and slaughter all the Jin witnesses to this situation, but he decides to be the better person and let them live. They go running off down the road, where they encounter Lan Wangji and give him the 411, saying that Wei Wuxian resurrected dead people.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian collects Wen Qing--half-fainted, again, in an echo of the start of their journey--and collects the Dafan Mountain Wen group, who are hiding, wisely. When they see Wen Ning, Uncle Four and some others start to freak out, but Wei Wuxian tells them that fierce corpses are cool, and they all grab horses and mount up.

Where Are You Going?

Lan Wangji is waiting for them, nonconfrontationally indulging in some visual poetry while he waits.

In a show where every prop is exquisitely, carefully designed to enhance our understanding character, his Gusu-toned umbrella reveals surprising red and yellow threads woven in, right above his eye line as he looks at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian speaks first, saying “you came to stop me?” Lan Wangji doesn’t answer, but asks him where he’s going. Then Lan Wangji warns him that he’s about to abandon orthodoxy forever, if he follows through.

Wei Wuxian challenges this idea of orthodoxy, asking if Lan Wangji remembers the promise they made together, back in Gusu. It’s worth noting that they both appear to think of it as a co-promise, even though Lan Wangji didn’t speak aloud at the time.

The conversation will continue in the next episode, because what’s better than a rainy romantic cliffhanger?

Soundtrack: Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #wen ning #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #episode 26

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theres-a-goldensky · 3 years

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30 More The Untamed Fic Recs

Here we go again. Another Wangxian rec list. Are you bored of me yet?

Were these recs helpful to you? If so, you can check out my other Wangxian rec posts:

Part 1 - 40 recs

Part 2 - 23 recs

Part 3 - 23 recs

As ever, feel free to reblog.

You can also head over to my bookmarks on AO3.

(All recs are complete) (I’ve noted pairings, length, and rating, but not any warnings or additional tags.)

** denotes personal favorite

1. say it's here where our pieces fall in place by Lirelyn - ~69,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Lan Zhan meets Wei Wuxian after he adopts a small A-Yuan, because Wei Wuxian also has a past with him. Lots of adorable family feelings and emotional hurt/comfort.

As often happened, Wei Ying’s voice preceded his entrance, calling to his co-worker through the open door, “Frankie, they forgot to order spoons again, can you hold down the fort a little longer while I —”

Lan Wangji was already looking to his entrance, head turning as if magnetized toward the voice, so he saw the moment when Wei Ying’s eyes landed on A-Yuan and the smile fell from his face. He looked stricken, and Lan Wangji immediately looked to his son in alarm. A-Yuan seemed fine. His small eyebrows were pulled together in a small frown as he looked back at Wei Ying, but that wasn’t surprising, given the expression on Wei Ying’s face. Lan Wangji had seen that face beaming, laughing, whining, wheedling, and occasionally angry, but never like this. He looked blank and hollow and it stirred something fierce in Lan Wangji: he wanted to rise up and obliterate whatever was making him look like that. Then his eyes lifted to Lan Wangji and there was a flash of something almost like betrayal, before he pressed his lips together and turned his back.

“I’m going to run out to the store and get spoons,” he said in a flat voice to his co-worker, and left without looking their way again.

2. the breaking of your soul (upon my lips) by sunsandships - ~41,000 words, mature - This is an AU of the novel where Wei Wuxian puts two and two together when Lan Zhan sneaks that kiss from him. It changes a lot of things.

Against his own will, Wei Wuxian found himself glancing at Lan Wangji’s hands. They were… certainly large enough that one of them could wrap around both of his wrists. And Lan Wangji was certainly strong enough, tall enough, broad-shouldered enough to bodily pin him against the trunk of a tree with no chance of him breaking free. Lan Wangji was the first person he’d come across in his slow comb through the vicinity of where he’d been so headily kissed.

Wei Wuxian drew a sharp breath. There was a connection to be made here. He didn’t think he was crazy enough to make it. Perhaps he truly was going slightly insane with demonic cultivation if he could believe Lan Wangji, the paragon of virtue and respectability, who lived unflinchingly under Gusu Lan’s three thousand edicts, who had at best only tolerated his presence as children, would sneak up to him while he was blindfolded, pin him against a tree, and steal a kiss from him in broad daylight.

3. and his wanting grows teeth by yukla - ~25,000 words, teen - This is a very interesting AU where Lan Zhan is a traveling cultivator and runs into Wei Wuxian and the Jiangs looking for shelter during a snowstorm. No spoilers, but this fic goes to a pretty dark place that genuinely shocked me, but I enjoyed. (Still ends well though.)

Without further ado, they are hustled past the entrance and into a smaller greeting area. Huang-bobo approaches the brazier in the center with his hands outstretched, warming his fingers in the heat, but Lan Wangji hangs back. As he carefully brushes the snow free from his shoulders, he feels the burn of a curious gaze trailing up and down his body, lingering at the guqin still strapped to his back; when the sensation pauses at his face and stays there, he lifts his head.

The boy with the ribbon lights up at the eye contact, flashes another dazzling smile, and gives a little wave.

“You must be new here,” he whispers, something like laughter threaded into his voice, eyes scrunching into winking half-moons. “All dressed up in white like that! You might lose yourself in the snowstorm!”

Something stirs to life in Lan Wangji’s chest. It’s—uncomfortable, he decides, and so he steps away. Teasing should not be encouraged with a response.

4. Ghosts Shouldn't by ShanaStoryteller - ~15,000 words, not rated - After Wei Ying's death, his spirit seems to linger. The story is told from Lan Xichen's point of view. I love an outsider point of view. I also love the way the author fleshes out his character as well.

Lan Xichen means to force his way inside, angry ghost of the Yiling Patriarch or no, but then his brother lets out slow breath, settling, the pain easing from his face as he falls back into a more peaceful sleep.

His hair is moving on its own, so subtly Lan Xichen might not have noticed it if he hadn’t been looking at Wangji so intently. It’s like someone’s running their hand through his hair.

The window frosts over suddenly, thick enough that he can’t see through it. Anxiety spikes through him so quickly he’s nauseous with it, but then the frost melts away and the opening notes of Healing start up again.

He can’t tell if it’s a warning or not. Maybe it’s just an acknowledgement. Wei Wuxian knows he’s there.

5. **leading tone by silencemostofall - ~32,000 words, general - This is a modern AU set in a world where people who love you leave a mark of color on you the first time you touch. Wei Wuxian has no color on him. So much emotional hurt/comfort. So much of Wei Wuxian's terrible self-esteem.

He can cover up his palms with his gloves, so that the blankness does not draw stares. But he has no marks on his fingertips, which he cannot easily hide, and none visible on his face or neck, the blankness of which is even more difficult to hide. People look at him and, with a single glance, understand the single most devastating truth that he knows about himself.

They assume that he does not have very many marks. He may be an eccentric, dramatic person, but the likelihood that an individual has all of their marks on, say, their feet or their torso or other places that are not immediately obvious-- that probability goes down as your number of marks increases. He can laugh as much as he wants about how he loves touching people for the first time with odd places, like the knee or the elbow, but it doesn't quite mask the feeling of other that he knows he exudes.

They assume that he does not have a lot of marks. This, while a heavy weight, is not unbearably so. It is okay that they think he is not much loved. It chafes a bit, and feels occasionally like something he has to furiously push down within himself, but it is not unbearable. What would be unbearable is if they knew the truth: that he does not just have very few marks, but none. That he is simply an individual who is not loved at all.

6. **pastel by antebunny - ~7,000 words, gen - This is a remix work of the above fic. It's from Lan Zhan's point of view and just different enough to be interesting. Still lots of emotional hurt/comfort. I love this concept a whole lot, and both of these fics are great.

It’s a simmering day in May, and Wei Ying is wearing long sleeves, long pants, and gloves.

His choice of dress isn’t unusual for many reasons. For one, there’s plenty of people who don’t like strangers seeing their soulmarks. There’s plenty of people who wish to keep them private by covering them up. For another, Wei Ying spends most of his day in various chilly computer science department rooms, He could just be wearing long sleeves for that.

7. one good thing by Yuu_chi - ~27,000 words, teen - Wei Wuxian has died (or did he??) and is haunting his old home. Lan Zhan moves in. This story has a happy ending! And so much yearning!

To the flowers struggling to grow on the other side of the glass, he says, “We’re getting a new roommate. Well, I’m getting a new roommate - you’re getting somebody who might actually be able to water you for a change.” The flowers outside sway a little in the breeze, and Wei Wuxian nods contemplatively. “He can’t be any worse than the last guy who lived here. Remember when I spooked him while he was cooking and he nearly burnt the house down? Of course you don’t. You’re fucking foliage, your memory is worse than mine. I remember though, so it’s cool.”

There’s the sound of shuffling behind him and Wei Wuxian looks up to see the stranger has entered the kitchen, setting the last of the boxes down on the table. Disgustingly neat handwriting declares the box kitchen - homeware. The stranger carefully brushes his hair back from his face and, without so much as a second of hesitation, cracks open the box and begins unpacking.

“Wow, you really don’t waste any time, do you?” Wei Wuxian marvels. “You literally just got here - who cares about unpacking? Sit down for a moment, breathe, have something to eat. It’s not going anywhere.”

8. with you, I am home by tellthemstories - ~47,000 words, mature - Modern AU where Wei Wuxian is being forced to return home to entertain marriage proposals. So naturally instead he "convinces" Lan Zhan to pretend to date him. I love a good fake dating fic, and this one hits all the right beats.

Lan Zhan does that almost-smile thing that Wei Wuxian takes to mean he’s happy, or at the very least not-mad. “You don’t have any money.”

“Not true. I have the money from our last job, when we settled the vengeful spirit for the flower shop girl.” (He doesn’t. They have Lan Zhan’s money. Wei Wuxian spent his on a pack of loquats and three bottles of Emperor’s Smile wine.)

“Fine,” Wei Wuxian says. “Do it for me.”

Thinking back on it two weeks later, standing alone in the middle of Jin Ling’s graduation banquet and watching Lan Zhan walk away from him, Wei Wuxian realises that this, this was the moment when he should have known. He should have realised in the way Lan Zhan doesn’t hesitate or negotiate and just says with that half-fond, half-exasperated tone he gets sometimes, “Fine.”

9. and in the spring i shed my skin by wvlfqveen - ~11,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Wei Ying can't find Lan Zhan, but hey, there happens to be a rabbit here instead. Features a very slow Wei Ying, emotional hurt/comfort and accidental love confessions.

Immediately, his heart settles and he grins down at his new friend. “Oh, hello there,” he coos, reaching out to pet the fluffy ears. The bunny is very, very still under his hand.

“Did Lan Zhan bring you today?,” he continues cooing. “I’m sorry I missed that, but your Dad didn’t tell me he was bringing you.”

Lan Zhan rarely brings his rabbits to work since they are as tolerant of crowds and unnecessary noise as he is. They were probably relevant to today’s lesson but…

Wei Ying frowns. “Why would he leave you alone? And where is your cage?”

10. how, or when, or from where by sarahyyy - ~10,000 words, gen - Wei Ying wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and can't remember the last few years of his life, including his best friend and the guy he's in love with.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes so hard Wei Wuxian is surprised his eyeballs don’t just fall out of his eye sockets. “That’s the worst part. He did. Whatever mating ritual you both have going on is so fucking weird, Wei Wuxian.” He snorts. “If you’d stayed asleep for any longer, I’d have lost my shit and thrown my myself out a window just so I wouldn’t have to talk to Lan Wangji again.”

Wei Wuxian blinks at him. “Is this a good time to ask who Lan Wangji is?”

Jiang Cheng glares at him. “Your Lan Zhan,” he says, annoyed. Wei Wuxian must look as confused as he feels, because Jiang Cheng’s annoyance bleeds out into concern. “Your Lan er-gege? Your soulmate, Lan Wangji?”

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. “No bells are ringing.”

11. ** a shared plate by yukla - ~26,000 words, teen - This is an absolutely gorgeous fic about Wei Wuxian traveling the world post-canon to rediscover himself and restore his faith in humanity and eventually find his way back to Lan Zhan. The whole thing is great, but the last two chapters are just *chef's kiss*

Lan Zhan,

Just as the mountains stand unchanging and the green rivers flow ceaselessly, we will meet again — and between then and now, you cannot hope to avoid my letters, either! Haha! Lan Zhan, I’ve seen so many things and met so many people, and it’s only been a month!

I miss you already

It’s so hot that I find myself missing the wind in Gusu’s mountains. Your poor Wei Ying is I’m melting away, Lan Zhan...

I’m realizing now, sixteen years is a long time to be away — the world is vast, and quite a bit different than I remembered. And in sixteen years, a child can also grow up into a man! It’s your job to catch me up on A-Yuan’s fun childhood stories! I do remember hearing something about a pile of rabbits...

12. with your arms outstretched to me by annemari - ~14,000 words, teen - Lan Zhan finally gets up the nerve to ask Wei Ying on a date, but things don't go as expected. Features emotional hurt/comfort (are we sensing a theme with these recs??) and just regular hurt/comfort.

"Oh, man, I was hoping you had some water with you," Wei Ying says. "I totally forgot to bring any for myself. Stupid of me."

"There is enough for both of us," Lan Wangji says. He has another bigger bottle in the car, as well.

Wei Ying hums but he only takes a few sips. He presses it back into Lan Wangji's hand. "I don't need any more."

Lan Wangji is considering arguing, but then Wei Ying shifts a bit, moving his ankle, and gasps very, very quietly.

13. ** A Lot of Edges Called Perhaps by hansbekhart - ~22,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian has finished traveling and returned to the Cloud Recesses and Lan Zhan. But their lives never do run smoothly.

“Lan Jingyi,” Wei Wuxian says, recognizing him after a moment. His heart slams against his rib cage. “Where is Lan Zhan? What’s happened?”

Lan Jingyi flaps a hand at him, gulping air. Wei Wuxian hands him the water, and leans back against Little Apple’s side as he waits impatiently for the boy to get his breath back.

“I’m so glad I found you,” Jingyi gasps, just as Wei Wuxian is about to throttle a proper answer out of him. “Hanguang Jun was in such a state when he woke up, we didn’t know if you’d come and gone already.”

“Where is he, Jingyi,” Wei Wuxian says, as evenly as he can. “What happened?”

14. So Why Not Crack Your Skull When the Mind Swells by greenteafiend - ~14,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian is cursed to feel extraordinary pain unless he's touching Lan Zhan. Yet more of Wei Wuxian's self-esteem issues and Lan Zhan's steadfast devotion.

“Are you hurt, Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji asks, pressing his hand to Wei Ying’s forehead to feel his temperature. There is no fever, but that doesn’t do much to mitigate Lan Wangji’s worries.

“No—I’m not hurt,” says Wei Ying, sagging forward to lean his weight into Lan Wangji’s hand like he can’t help himself.

It’s so strange—Lan Wangji can feel what Wei Ying is feeling. Although the relief is still very profound, wisps of other things are making themselves known; happiness; wistfulness; guilt. It’s all so fleeting that Lan Wangji can’t even begin to deduce what has provoked those feelings, but he wishes he knew their source.

15. puzzle pieces by Anonymous - ~6,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are roommates, and Wei Ying has started borrowing Lan Zhan's clothes.

“Hm? Oh.” With sleepy eyes that does— things to Lan Zhan’s heart, he blinks and tugs at the lower hem of the shirt, which is riding just above the curve of his thighs. Does Lan Zhan’s mouth water? Maybe. Yes. Absolutely. “Ah, yeah, sorry. Laundry day caught up to me before I could catch up with it. I saw this shirt left in the washer a few days ago, and—“ He blinks up at Lan Zhan through dark eyelashes that Lan Zhan wants to kiss, maybe, and gives him an uncharacteristically hesitant smile. “Do you mind?”

I mind the fact that we are not married, Lan Zhan thinks. But he can’t say that, and his tongue doesn’t know how to say anything else. So he stays silent.

“Oh,” Wei Ying says after a moment. “If you—oh, damn, I should’ve known, this is like real silk, must’ve been super expensive. Fuck. Okay, here, uh, I’ll take it off—“

16. ** Nothing But Trouble by brooklinegirl - ~60,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Wei Ying is trying to be a good brother and get Jiang Cheng laid. Somehow this plan involves pretending to date Lan Zhan.

"I won't!" Wei Ying insists. "I'll ask out someone...high stakes. I'll find someone. I'll...okay, how's this? I swear that I'll ask someone out and keep at it for at least two dates."

"No."

"Three dates."

"Nope."

"Okay, okay, five. That's fair! That's more than fair! One person, five dates." He points at Jiang Cheng. "You have to do it, too. That's how a pact works."

Jiang Cheng stares at him. "Five dates," he says flatly. "Five. And yours can't be Nie Huaisang."

17. i'm the one for your fire by occultings (microcomets) - ~43,000 words, explicit - This is a Modern AU and a Cherry Magic AU! (Side note: GO WATCH CHERRY MAGIC IF YOU HAVEN'T.) But in short, Wei Ying turns 30 without losing his virginity and gets the power to hear people's thoughts when he touches them. He gets more than he bargained for with Lan Zhan. The author does a good job of translating the story to these characters. Wei Ying is not forced to be like Adachi, the main character of Cherry Magic. He's still himself, and the same goes for Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan’s voice is so clear, so sudden that it’s as though it’s spoken, the slice of a sharp object through velvet.

He’s touching me.

Wei Ying startles for a moment, wonders if he’d somehow heard his own thoughts instead, but — no, that had definitely been Lan Zhan’s steady, factual baritone, loud and clear.

God, this is still so weird. It still doesn’t seem totally real. But how else can he account for hearing Lan Zhan’s voice in his head, as clearly as if he’d spoken to Wei Ying directly?

18. like blue flame over my fingertips by tangerinechar - ~37,000 words, teen - Modern AU where Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are roommates, and Lan Zhan just finds himself wanting to take care of Wei Ying.

Lan Wangji’s roommate. Is a problem.

He doesn’t get an answer to the roommate problem until the next morning, when Lan Xichen texts him telling him that the apartment he’d suggested (and helped pay rent for) to Lan Wangji said in the small text that it’d be two people per apartment, the second bedroom wasn’t actually a guest bedroom, sorry, Wangji, you can move in with me if you want, I have space —

No. Thank you for your kind offer, Brother, but I will be quite fine, Lan Wangji texts back.

19. ** some impulse of delight by handclaps - ~20,000 words, explicit - College AU where Wei Ying decides he needs to help Lan Zhan get used to touching people. Lan Zhan agrees. Wei Ying is dumb and in love. Lan Zhan is less dumb, but still as in love.

Lan Zhan shakes his head and fumbles, tries to push the cotton wool into Wei Wuxian’s hand.

“Sorry,” Wei Wuxian says, realising. “Touching people, I know.”

He feels dumb. He thought he’d worn Lan Zhan down more than this, that they were friends now and that his whole no touching thing was mostly overcome. He took Wei Wuxian’s hand easily, right? He looks down at his belly full of scratches, dabbing at them moodily.

“Sorry,” he says, again.

Lan Zhan makes some kind of noise, but he is busy packing the first aid kit back, placing everything exactly where it was before.

“Lan Zhan, you’re going to have to do something about this,” Wei Wuxian complains. “I know you don’t like touching people and usually it plays as a kind of gentlemanly thing, but what about emergencies?”

20. And I Will Call You Home by Spodumene - ~43,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian returns after a year of traveling and rejoins Lan Zhan in the Cloud Recesses. He's doing a good job of pining and ignoring the obvious. Look, at this point, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm a sucker for stories where Wei Wuxian deals with his ~*~issues~*~ and Lan Zhan takes care of him, whether he asks for it or not. This story has lots of that. I also enjoyed the case fic aspect of it.

“I do, I think,” Wei Wuxian admits. “Would be nice to see his face again after so long. And at least this time, I’m going to show up draped in finery. What do you think, Lan Zhan? I can’t possibly disgrace him—or you—wearing a cloak like that.”

“You could never disgrace me,” Lan Wangji says gently, that soft, affectionate look back on his face.

Wei Wuxian grins, warmed to the tips of his toes.

“I’ll remind you of that later. The next time I’m three jars deep and feeling especially shameless, you’ll have to remember those words, Lan Er-gege.”

“Of course,” Lan Wangji says simply.

Wei Wuxian smiles some more, overwhelmed by fondness.

21. darling, am i a chore? by martyrsdaughter - ~7,000 words, explicit - Wei Wuxian really, really wants Lan Zhan to call him 'gege'. Lan Zhan knows a trump card when he sees one.

“You know what I want,” Wei Wuxian purrs, reaching up on his tiptoes to throw his arms over Lan Wangji’s shoulders. “Call me gege, won’t you? Call me and I’ll stop.”

Lan Wangji knows he will not stop, regardless of what he calls him. Still, he thinks about it. If there really is a way to make Wei Wuxian stop, should he not consider it? He doesn’t have any real interest in curbing his husband’s insatiable mischievousness, but he does like knowing things about him—everything there is to know.

If there’s something that persuasive in the world, that it can bring Wei Wuxian into submission when no one is under threat, could he stop himself from seeking it?

22. your name, safe in their mouth by astrolesbian - ~11,000 words, gen - Wei Wuxian & Lan Sizhui fic with the Wangxian in the background. Lan Sizhui wants another dad and Wei Wuxian wants a son, they just don't know how to explain that to each other.

“Hush,” Wei Wuxian says, in a low croon, like someone quieting a baby. Then he blinks, and looks away, awkward. “I mean—you shouldn’t speak. You’re tired. Rest if you need to.”

Lan Sizhui tucks his chin into his uncle’s shoulder, and lets his eyes fall closed.

“It doesn’t hurt too much, does it?” Wen Ning whispers to him kindly.

Lan Sizhui takes a deep breath, and takes stock of all his aches, his ringing ear, his hollow chest, the way he had selfishly wanted Wei Wuxian to keep speaking to him in that careful voice, like he was just a child to be soothed and there was no real danger. How dangerous, to pretend. “No,” he lies. “It doesn’t hurt that much at all.”

23. when you're doing all the leaving (then it's never your love lost) by tardigradeschool - ~26,000 words, teen - AU where Lan Zhan with Wei Wuxian to Jin Ling's one-month celebration. Things go down, and it leads to Lan Zhan discovering Wei Wuxian's missing golden core. This obviously will not do, and oh look, the best doctor in the world just happens to be right here.

“How—“ Lan Wangji chokes. “His core —?” He looks at Wen Ning, half accusatory in his shock. “Jin Zixun could not have—“

“No, no!” Wen Ning says, holding out his hands. “He hasn’t had one for years, don’t worry!”

This is not as reassuring as Wen Ning seems to think.

“Please explain,” Lan Wangji says, pained. He feels for Wei Wuxian’s pulse instead; in the absence of a golden core, it will have to do as reassurance that he’s still alive.

Wen Ning is so anxious that the story comes out in a ramble, out of order. Lan Wangji wants him to hurry up, but he’s also not confident in his own ability to speak, so he just keeps quiet and lets him talk. His heart feels as if it’s about to fall from his chest, beating nearly twice as fast as Wei Wuxian’s does under his fingers.

24. A Match in the Making by lareine - ~30,000 words, teen - A Modern AU where Wei Wuxian sees his single and bad ass friend Lan Zhan and his single and bad ass friend Mianmian and gets some very dumb ideas.

To return to the point: Lan Zhan was peak adulting. Mianmian was peak adulting. And if they were both at the peak, then they were on the same level. What level? That mysterious level thing that everyone mentioned when it came to dating.

Whatever level it was, Lan Zhan and Mianmian were on it together. Wei Ying nodded to himself. So, Lan Zhan and Mianmian were allowed to date each other. The next question was: were they compatible? Did they have chemistry or whatever the fuck people called it?

25. Crack me open, pour you out by Tenillypo - ~16,000 words, explicit - Lan Zhan gets cursed to say whatever he's thinking. So his worst nightmare. Mutual pining, first time, all good stuff.

Lan Wangji freezes with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, lifting his eyes to stare at Wei Ying.

"I know! Just completely paralyzed." Wei Ying mimes being still as a board. "I don't know how long I lay there. It must have been two days at least. Good thing for Little Apple. He wandered back to the village when he got hungry, and eventually a few of them got brave enough to come look for me. When they rolled me over, the figure fell out of my hand and I could move again. Cunning little thing." He shakes his head. "I was weak as a kitten for a little while after they took me back to the village, and by the time I recovered, they'd burned the whole place to the ground. Such a waste."

Lan Wangji slowly lowers his chopsticks, heart racing unpleasantly. In his head, a picture of Wei Ying slowly wasting to death alone in the middle of the woods, with Lan Wangji a hundred miles away and none the wiser.

26. Crazy, Rich Cultivators by ShanaStoryteller - 13,000 words, no rating - Lan Zhan wants to bring his boyfriend home to meet his family. There are some things he definitely didn't realize about Wei Ying.

“He has a life here,” he says down the line. He doesn’t say that he has a life here too, one he likes a lot more than the one he had before. He misses home. He’d miss Wei Ying more. But he doesn’t say that, doesn’t say how vibrant he is and how beautiful and how little interest Lan Zhan has at seeing him among the high society he grew up with.

“Well, your life is here, Wangji,” his brother says. “You can’t stay away from home forever. You’re going to have to see how he does with the rest of us sooner or later. It might as well be sooner.”

It might as well be never, as far as he’s concerned. His family can meet Wei Ying at their wedding.

“I’ll ask,” he says.

Wei Ying has no interest in cultivation politics. They’re horrible, the five clans have an iron tight alliance that’s thirty seconds away from collapsing in on itself the moment someone from one sect steps on another sect’s toes. It’s the worst and he hates it. Surely even just the idea of it will be so horrifying to Wei Ying that Lan Zhan will be able to tell his brother no.

27. just our hands clasped so tight by electrum ~4,000 words, teen - Lan Zhan really, really, really just wants to give Wei Ying everything he wants.

“Despite your best efforts,” Wei Wuxian agrees. He shakes his head in mock-dismay. “How much longer do you think that will last if you keep buying everything I look at?” When this, too, fails to soften Lan Zhan’s resolve, he tries a different tactic. “We couldn’t even afford potatoes,” he says. “Back when I was with the Wens, at the Burial Mounds. Only radishes! If I survived that, I can certainly survive without another pretty comb.”

Lan Zhan’s expression is at once unmoved and yet somehow stricken. “I would have bought Wei Ying potatoes,” he says, like Wei Wuxian doesn’t know, by this point, that Lan Zhan would buy him anything. “If I had known…”

28. ** Rotten Work by ShanaStoryteller - ~64,000 words, no rating - Jin Ling & Wei Wuxian with Wangxian in the background. Jin Ling is the best boy! And as he tries to rehabilitate his sect and his family and keep himself alive at the same time, he realizes, horrifyingly, that he has to be the mature one.

29. ** an act too often neglected by Ariaste - Lan Xichen / Meng Yao, ~61,000 words, explicit - The Wangxian is in the background here, but the main story is about Lan Xichen meeting Meng Yao on a dating app and getting immediately dickmatized. Meanwhile. Meng Yao refuses to be won over by Lan Xichen's charm. It goes as well as you'd expect for him.

The caption below is equally sparse: “5’6. Demanding.”

Lan Xichen feels a low simmer of arousal kindle in the pit of his stomach, and he gazes at that word-- demanding --for nearly as long as he’d stared at the photograph. He swipes right.

A few minutes later, a notification pops up: < Hm, the size of your hands is promising.

This is familiar. This is the flirtation stage. Lan Xichen knows the steps to the dance.

30. My Land Beneath Me by longleggedgit - ~30,000 words, explicit - Modern AU where Wei Wuxian is cast out of his sect and out of China to America. And Lan Zhan just...follows.

Lan Zhan always waited for his tea to cool before drinking, which meant he had nothing to do but give Wei Wuxian a judgmental look. “No more McDonald’s.”

“You’re just bitter because you get indigestion from anything that actually tastes good,” Wei Wuxian grumbled.

Because Lan Zhan was insufferably mature and patient, he didn’t rise to the bait. “We have time to stop somewhere before class,” he said.

“Fine. But you’re paying this time.”

It was a bad joke, and predictably, fell flat; Lan Zhan was, after all, paying for everything, every time. Wei Wuxian frowned into his mug.

“You know,” he said, after another swallow, “you really don’t have to be here. I’m going to figure something out.”

Interested in 86 more The Untamed fic recs?

Part 1 - 40 recs Part 2 - 23 recs Part 3 - 23 recs

#the untamed fic #the untamed #master of demonic cultivation #wangxian fic recs #wangxian fic #mdzs #lan xichen/jin guangyao #lan zhan #wei wuxian/lan wangji #wei wuxian #jin ling #lan sizhui #mxtx novels

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drwcn · 3 years

Text

continuing on the fem!lwj thought experiment. previous posts are here → [x] [x].

俗话说的好，寡妇门前是非多。Translation: as the old saying goes, troubles are aplenty upon the doorstep of the widow. Which really, is more of a reflection of society's bullshit than of widow's character because a) in a society where women aren't allowed means to financially support themselves, when their husbands kick the bucket, they'd have to rely on other men in their lives to survive. If these men aren't their immediate family like son, father, or brother, then they incite gossip/scorn from others; and b) fuck the fuckbois who try and take advantage of widows who they deem easy prey and fuck the busybodies who go around sniffing out a widow's secrets.

Previously, I threw out the idea of Badass Rogue Cultivator Lan Wangji, going where the trouble is, helping people, a literal beacon of light, the renowned but mysterious Hanguang Sanren, accompanied by her sole disciple/son Sizhui — but now, consider this. For the first couple of years after she left Cloud Recesses, in order to avoid detection and to heal from her discipline lashes, Lan Wangji camouflaged herself and Sizhui and straight up became a peasant. A young, widowed peasant with "limited" means and a young son.

(here are some nice peasant aesthetics bc we don't really get those: [x] - the hair of this one; [x] [x] the outfit style of this one; [x] - a variation of a headscarf of this one.)

Lan Wangji found a mid-sized village and a small abandoned house with a modest yard that looked like it hadn't been inhabited for some time. The reason was rather obvious - the place was a haunted. But luckily it was an entry level ghost (and I mean really entry level, like this ghost isn't even getting paid, probably a ghost intern) and a short exorcism later, it was perfectly safe to settle down in. A-Yuan wasn't even fazed; boy grew up in the Burial Mount where ghosts probably read him bedtime stories.

LWJ: 阿苑，从今往后，如果有人问起你我的事，你该怎么回答? A-Yuan：嗯。。。阿爹死了，就剩下我和阿娘了。 LWJ：好，好孩子。

LWJ: A-Yuan, from now on, if someone asks about me and you, what should you tell them? A-Yuan: Hm...a-die died, only a-niang and I are left. LWJ: Good, good lad.

Literally the next day, the local Aunties™ arrived to sus her out. Early that morning, they had seen steam coming out of the chimney and thought it was local boys causing mischief again but was surprised to find a young woman and a small child. The fact that the young woman was the prettiest thing in a 500 mile radius was not lost on the village Aunties. Lan Wangji introduced herself as Qiu Er-Niang 邱二娘 (Qiu being her mother's last name, and #-niang being a fairly non-classy, peasant-esque way of referring to women) and A-Yuan as Jiang蒋 Yuan (not the same Jiang as Yunmeng Jiang but pronounced the same and still a very common last name, a nod to WWX without it being very explicit). She spun a very simple story of how her village was devastated by bad harvest and disease and that her family, including her husband, had all perished. She was not much of a liar, but the injuries she carried on her back was fresh, so she did appear genuinely fragile and gaunt.

The Aunties were suspicious but could not find a flaw in her story. One of them was nice enough to give her some rice and flour. Not that Lan Wangji really needed it; Lan Xichen had made sure she had plenty of funds for the road, which she was initially reluctant to accept. Leaving Cloud Recesses, she wanted no part of her clan in her new life, but her brother had convinced her after he reiterated and stressed on A-Yuan's needs as a growing boy.

Second day into her new life as a peasant, Lan Wangji realized her problem. For the first time in her life, she had noisy af neighbours who were all up in her busy. Pushing aside the obvious need to hide her cultivation, she could not be blatant with her finances either. The villagers saw a sickly widow with a child; they'd expect to see her struggle with food, with clothing, with keeping it all together. If she strolled up to the nearest town and bought all the things she needed...that would be way too suspicious. Besides, she'd have to do something to make a show of "earning" her living, at least for a little while. She did not plan to stay in this village forever. Once she was fully recovered, once Gusu Lan Sect's initial searching frenzy passed and they exhausted their means, she could leave and be free. For now...she'll just have to play her part.

One of the Aunties of the village told her that one of the richer households being to a landlord of some kind was looking for female staff to do the cleaning and washing and cloth-fending. The Auntie pulled some strings with the women working there and got her hired. Lan Second Jade of Gusu never washed a single sock in her life Wangji found herself faced with Laundry Duty, Jealous Landlady and Co-Workers, and Lecherous Overlord.

Fuckboi #25: How pretty you are, sweet thing. Poor you, working with those slender hands. If you marry me, you wouldn't have to slave away for money. I'll take care of you.

LWJ: *silently contemplating how to slit the man from nape to navel*

A couple times a week, Lan Wangji worked, and during her free time, she taught A-Yuan to read and write and began his training with the sword. Beyond that, Lan Wangji put every second of her free time not taking care of A-Yuan and not playing Farmer McPeasant into cultivation. For the first time in her life, her days were simple. There was nothing to distract her, no other bullshit or duty to family or clan to restrict her against her will. She left the headband in Jingshi, and Jingshi in the past.

And when the night is dark and A-Yuan is asleep, Lan Wangji seals the house with a barrier talisman and goes into the forest to play Inquiry.

Wei Ying never answers, but soon the village starts a rumour of a Lady Ghost haunting the woods with her song.

#cql #the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #corie fics #cql ficlet #lmao more of this bullshit #might write one or two more things before i call it quits #lwj fic #f!lwj

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lansyuan · 4 years

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do you love fics where wei wuxian and lan wangji parent the crap out of lan sizhui? do you want to read accidental baby acquisition fics until your eyes bleed? would you die as your heart slowly turns to mush from the softness of this family? bitch the fuck, me too. here are some of my personal favourite fics of wangxian ft their turnip son a-yuan. its a range of canon divergence, post canon, thirteen years of inquiry, raising a-yuan at the burial mounds au etc - there’ll be something for literally everyone. enjoy!

the kite string and the anchor rope by fleurdeliser (38k+)

When A-Yuan gets sick and Wen Qing doesn't have the supplies she needs to properly treat him, Wei Wuxian can only think of one place to go for help.

a crying shame by thunderwear (16k+)

Lan Wangji gets emotionally blackmailed by a toddler. It somehow fixes everything.

to recollect and long for by wonderlands (22k+) *2/3 works posted at time of posting this rec list.

a 3-part series about best boy lan sizhui and his wonderful dads who love him and each other very much.

forgetting envies, remembering your loving hold by cosmicfuss (3k+)

The first time Zewu-jun plays for him he is five and the man is trying to comfort him, playing soft songs good for soothing children. It works to a degree but he wants his gege, he wants his gege to play his lullaby. Zewu-jun apologizes and tells him that his gege is hurting right now, and needs to be alone to get better.

When he plays the xiao, A-Yuan says, "you're holding it wrong!" When he turns fourteen, he learns to play guqin, and is many years ahead of his classmates in that regard. A large factor in that is how much he has practiced Inquiry. He has grown up hearing snippets from the jingshi, of Wangji attempting to reach a spirit that never answers.

When he's sixteen, he hears a familiar tune played in the forest, he and his fellow juniors battling a stone god. It's been years since he's heard it, and he wonders why this man, Mo Xuanyu, knows it so well.

Or, Lan Sizhui grows up and learns, and remembers.

five times wei wuxian tried to embarrass lan sizhui by blackelement7 (6k+)

(and one time he realized just how badly he'd played himself)

or: In which Wei Wuxian starts a fight but Lan Sizhui (with some meddling from Lan Jingyi) ends it.

inquiry by incendir (10k+)

Sizhui cannot fall asleep for a long, long time that night. He hears the ever-familiar melody again. He thinks perhaps he has memorized it by now.

storge by respira (9k+)

Lan Sizhui is a lake.

as the warren grows in number by kore_fics (3k+)

Before Sizhui could take another step he was surrounded by black and red, loud laughter in his ears and warm fingers running through his hair, messing it up. Palms squished both his cheeks together and Lan Sizhui let out a laugh.

Lan Sizhui was home.

tell some storm* by qurbat (31k+) *the moments with Sizhui are in chapter 2, however I highly recommend reading the whole fic, it’s adorable.

"We were raised as a generation of war, A-Yuan," Xian-gege said to him. "If your generation choses to be one of love - well, I don't think any of us would be opposed to that."

In the aftermath of the events at the Guanyin temple, the cultivation world scrambles to understand their current reality. A man roams the countryside with a string of white in his hair. Another sits on the highest seat of power with a ribbon of red around his forehead. The younger generation turns out to be full of romantics. Nie Huaisang is to blame for everything, always. Jiang Cheng realizes that happiness has been more that 16 years overdue.

Wei Wuxian declares that it's time that bitch pays up.

After a generation of war - much to the consternation of the elders, much to the delight of the young, much to the pleased shock of the subjects of the tale - the world welcomes a love story with open arms.

guess we're not eating leaves today by missingnarwhal (2k+)

Baby A-Yuan has cooked up a feast, but only one lucky gege will actually get to taste it!

Set in an alternate timeline where everything is okay after Wei Ying + Wens started living in the Burial Mounds.

response by aki_no_hikari (12k+)

What if Wei Wuxian hadn't been silent to Lan Wangji's Inquiry?

love, in all its small pieces by ynvel (4k+)

Ah Yuan is brought to the Cloud Recesses and exchanges the sun and its ashes for the clouds. Lan Wangji brings a boy home, calls him his son, and renews the promises he made.

Or: Lan Sizhui is adopted by Lan Wangji and learns about his new life. Lan Wangji in turn learns about hope and living again.

child surprise by ariaste (4k+)

He huffs a sigh. “Fine. Just - let’s just make it the law of surprise, shall we? That’s nice and simple, eh? Leave it up to destiny what will bring us back in balance. Let it drop something of yours into my lap, something small, and we’ll call the debt paid.”

Three debts, three repayments.

there's a lunatic in mo village by bastetcg (11k+)

There's a lunatic in Mo Village! And to Lan Sizhui's surprise, Hanguang-Jun has decided to bring the madman back to the Cloud Recesses! How embarrassing!

A mostly canon-compliant look into Lan Sizhui's thoughts and childhood.

on being a big boy by emberloey (1k+)

“My little A-Yuan,” Dad had said the next morning, kneeling down to A-Yuan’s height with a smile, “all grown up now. Soon you’ll be hunting without your poor old dads.”

“Never!” A-Yuan shook his head and latched onto Father’s leg. He smiled up at Father, who smiled back and nodded his head. “A-Yuan always needs Dad and Father!”

in all these shades of blue (i think we found you) by fleetling (5k+)

5 times Sizhui thought about his father's white robes, and 1 time Lan Wangji wore blue.

(Or: Lan Sizhui had never seen his father in anything other than white robes.)

this is when the feeling sinks in, i don't want to miss you like this (come back, be here) by mischievousmurmurs (6k+)

Just now… the butterflies’ conversation. Where did you learn that from, Ah-Yuan?

Ah-Yuan pats his chest. In here, shushu. I feel it in here. And in here, too, he adds, pointing to his head.

Sizhui has never quite been able to remember nor forget the memory of seeing people who he knows loved each other, loved him, and whom he loved in return.

or - a wangxian story, as told by their adopted son.

yours, mine, and ours by casecous (2k+)

When they have both mostly recovered, and A-Yuan is back to his smiling, playful self, Lan Wangji presents him with a forehead ribbon. A-Yuan’s little fingers bump into Lan Wangji’s thumbs as he traces the cloud motif along it.

“You are Lan now. This is very important,” Lan Wangji tells him and A-Yuan looks away from the ribbon to meet his eyes. “You must not take it off as you please. Only family may touch it.”

A series of wangxian family moments.

innocence by snowberryrose (8k+)

In which Wei WuXian gets to raise A-Yuan.

Canon divergence from episode 31.

to recollect and long for by mme_anxious (4k+)

Lan Xichen is there when his brother becomes a father. Lan Sizhui is there when his father's heart breaks, again. Wei Wuxian is there when his son gets drunk for the first time.

Or, the GusuLan forehead ribbon, in three parts.

our little one by writedeku (6k+)

A-Yuan is here. A-Yuan, who Wei Ying loved so much. A-Yuan, who was taught to laugh just like him. Wangji hugs him to his chest and curls over him, ignoring the way the wounds on his back pull and tear. “I have to take care of you,” he says. “I will not leave you.”

(Or: Lan Wangji comes back from Yiling with a child he does not know how to care for and a black hole in his chest. Somehow, he makes it work.)

gathered herbs & sweet grasses by hansbekhart (19k+)

Later, when he’s older, it’s this that A-Yuan will remember most: the stretch of silence, the two of them both dirty and shaking with fever, as he looked at Brother Rich, and Brother Rich looked back at him.

the sacred homeland by particulate (8k+)

He has many names, and some are mouthfuls of blood.

[Or; a chronology of Sizhui, in which he does not forget.]

to the act of making noise by words-writ-in-starlight (19k+)

His father in white plays the song late into the night, and when A-Yuan wakes up confused and afraid, the guqin lulls him back to sleep.

Lan Sizhui hears his father play the same song every night for his whole life, and never, ever get an answer.

when he comes home to you by kika988 (2k+)

Home is Cloud Recesses now, and that's a thing Wei Wuxian is still getting used to. He still feels like a guest here, most days, though Lan Wangji has done everything to make him feel at home. He stands out like a sore thumb amongst the serene disciples and flowing white fabric.

Cloud Recesses has been home to Lan Wangji and Sizhui for years. It is their home, where they've built their family.

The thought warms Wei Wuxian even as it sits a little ill with him. He's an intruder here, in their homes, in their lives, the same way he had been in Lotus Pier.

five times people didn’t know sizhui is lan zhan’s son and one time they did by trilliastra (3k+)

“A-Yuan.” He repeats, reaching out for the boy, growing restless when he can’t touch him. “A-Yuan.”

Oh. Lan Xichen closes his eyes as the tears start to fall. Oh, Wangji.

Carefully, Lan Xichen takes the boy and lays him next to his brother on the bed, Wangji holds him protectively against his chest and A-Yuan stops his little cries immediately.

“Wangji,” Lan Xichen tries again, running a hand through his brother’s hair softly, “who is he?”

“He’s my son.”

5 times the lan head disciple broke the rules by liji (6k+)

“I am not aware of any rule forbidding falling in love,” Hanguang-Jun said at last. There was a quiet sadness in his eye, like he was watching a scene from far away. The novelty of it gave Sizhui the courage to ask his next question.

“Have you ever been in love, Father?” he asked.

(or, five times that Sizhui broke the Lan sect's rules growing up)

the seasons change (but i love you the same) by kdkdkd (7k+)

"Hanguang-jun!"

When did you stop calling me Bàba, A-Yuan?

Lan Wangji had always promised himself that he would never become a poor father like his own had been.

Unfortunately, it feels like he has failed to keep that promise.

✨ bonus round ✨ uncle jiang cheng and nephew lan sizhui

tintinnabulum by respira (8k+)

A small bell chimes, the sound soft and pleasant like the water crashing against a pier, like low whistles in an empty cave, like a guqin playing a lullaby.

#the untamed #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan sizhui #lan yuan #wen yuan #wangxian family #wangxian fic rec #myficrecs #creations #listen i just really love this family #1k

2K notes · View notes

meltingheartsandcores · 3 years

Text

This is just something that came from a different story I’m writing, so, it’s just a one shot. And it’s not really editted (sorry).

This is A/B/O, with Omega wwx and Alpha lwj, but honestly it doesn’t really show up much, like it’s not a focal point of the story for the most part, it’s just kind of, there. There’s minor NieLan, and past wangxian with hopeful future wangxian (hopeful future IMO), and it’s modern non cultivation!

Other than that, enjoy? And if you have questions feel free to hop into my inbox.

It had been years.

Five, to be exact.

Wei Wuxian wouldn't lie and say Lan Wangji never entered his mind, he did almost constantly. But he had long accepted he would never see the Alpha again. Lan Qiren had made it rather clear he was to never contact Lan Wangji again.

That hadn't been a pleasant conversation. Well. Argument.

For once Wei Wuxian was glad he was no longer in contact with the Jiangs, even if it wasn’t for long, he'd hate for them to have been involved. He's not entirely sure who's side Madam Yu would've been on, but he hoped she would've been on his. Although, if she was, he's not entirely confident Lan Qiren would still be walking around. Lan Qiren might be a hard ass, but he had nothing on Madam Yu.

He should write Nie Huaisang. See how the Jiang's are doing.

"Are you alright?"

Wei Wuxian blinks, brought back to the present, silently filing the idea to write Nie Huaisang for later, and looks up at Lan Xichen. Who he had just run into. Literally.

Wei Wuxian ignores the hand and stands on his own, "Perfectly. Just distracted. Sorry to bother you." Wei Wuxian says, nodding and turning, deciding he could get A-Yuan's candy later, after the milk. He had made it a few steps before Lan Xichen grabbed his arm. Wei Wuxian tenses, snapping around with a glare on his face before he registers that Lan Xichen isn't going to attack him. Not physically at least. So he lets the glare fall. "Sorry."

Lan Xichen drops his hand, "No, I should not have grabbed you. I apologize." An apology from a Lan. Maybe he died.

A-Yuan would be heartbroken. A-Yu probably doesn't know what Death is and probably wouldn't understand for a few years.

Lan Xichen was talking. Wei Wuxian should be listening, not thinking of his death. Lan Xichen smiles, as he normally does, "You were not listening."

"Sorry. My brain drifts, it pissed your uncle off to end, remember?" Wei Wuxian says, shrugging.

Lan Xichen nods, "Uncle seemed to anger easily around you, yes. I was wondering if you had the time, we could talk. Perhaps over tea?"

He can't ask for alcohol instead. For one, Lans don't drink. For two, he has to pick A-Yu and A-Yuan up in half an hour.

"I have a half hour, I guess we could finish up shopping and go to the Starbucks down the block." Lan Xichen's eyes tighten at the mention of Starbucks, which makes Wei Wuxian remember the heavily disturbed and deer-in-headlight look Lan Wangji had when Wei Wuxian dragged him there. Repeatedly.

Lan Wangji never seemed to get used to Starbucks.

None of the Lans seem to like it either.

Lan Xichen nods though, so Wei Wuxian does a U-turn to grab the candy he promised A-Yuan and then made a bee-line for the two other things he was missing. He loses Lan Xichen at some point, but when he gets to the check out, Lan Xichen is waiting by the door with a bag.

Wei Wuxian smiles at the Cashier, Mingyu, who seemed slightly concerned for him. But Wei Wuxian waves off the concern, even when Mingyu decides to ask, "Is he a friend or should I call security?"

Wei Wuxian considers this, Lan Xichen isn't a friend, but security isn't necessary. Wei Wuxian grins when he comes to a response, that's both honest and fun, "He's Daiyu's uncle." Wei Wuxian informs, finishing with his payment and taking his items. "See you in a week Mingyu!" Wei Wuxian calls as the other man is clearly trying to figure out how he hasn't met this uncle until now.

"A friend?" Lan Xichen asks as they walk down the road.

"Eh, more I'm a regular." Wei Wuxian shrugs. He only talks to Mingyu when he buys groceries. Not much other reason to talk to the teenager.

Especially since he tends to remind Wei Wuxian that, uh, he is only twenty-two.

That's not something he particularly likes to remember. Especially when he's on his way to pick up his kids. He looks older enough that none of the other parents comment on him being A-Yu and A-Yuan's brother, and none of them comment on the utter shame of having a child at seventeen. And presumably fourteen if A-Yuan was actually birthed from him. As he so often jokes, especially after A-Yuan learnt where babies came from.

A-Yuan thinks it's funny.

Wen Qing thinks it's stupid.

But it's meant to entertain the eight year old so it's not a problem.

"So you live around here." Lan Xichen comments, more to himself than to Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian has to mentally curse himself. For five years, no Lan has known where he lived. No one from that life knew where he was except Nie Huaisang. And for all he can be a coward, Wei Wuxian knows he wouldn't have given away his location to anyone.

But he just confirmed to Lan Xichen that he lived in this town.

Fuck.

"What're you doing here?" Wei Wuxian asks, opening the door for Lan Xichen and gesturing for the man to enter the Starbucks. Lan Xichen gives him a tight smile and enters, clearly not liking being inside the store.

Tough. Wei Wuxian doesn't want to be having this conversation, neither of them get to be comfortable. Wei Wuxian follows Lan Xichen in, walking up to the register and ordering a drink with a smile before turning to Lan Xichen for his order. Which he gives with a tense smile. The barista nods, repeats the order back and then Lan Xichen pays, because this was his idea and Wei Wuxian would much rather be at home right now.

They amble over to a table to wait for their drinks to be made. Well. Lan Xichen got his at the till since it was just a Green Tea, but they have to wait for Wei Wuxian's. Might as well get this chat over with.

"The Nie have a lakehouse a mile out of town." Oh right. Oh fuck. "Mingjue and I are having a little vacation." Lan Xichen says in response to his earlier question.

"And you came to get some groceries."

"Just a little. Mingjue will be back for the rest." Lan Xichen winces when he sips at his tea, clearly not liking it. He sets his cup aside, "You know, Huaisang seemed very against us going to this partical vacation house."

Oh for fucks sake. "Huaisang's specialty isn't subtly." Wei Wuxian says with a shrug, then stands and gets his drink when the barista calls out his name.

Lan Xichen waits for him to sit back down. "No, it isn't. Might I ask, why Huaisang knows where you are when no one else does?"

"I don't like the Jin. I don't want to burden the Jiang. The Lan want nothing to do with me." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "Nie Huaisang is the only friend I have left." Outside of the friends he now lives with. Wei Wuxian sips at his flat white.

Lan Xichen's brows twitch in a furrow before smoothing out, "What do you mean we want nothing to do with you.

Wei Wuxian raises an eyebrow, "Was there a part of Lan Qiren's order that was unclear?"

Wei Wuxian's response only seems to confuse him further. "I believe, there has been some miscommunication." Lan Xichen suggests politely.

"Not really." Wei Wuxian refutes. "Lan Qiren told me to get the fuck out and never contact any of you again. Not much room for miscommunication."

"He said what?" Lan Xichen asks, sounding light and a little confused. But Wei Wuxian had spent enough time around Lan Wangji, and hence Lan Xichen since Lan Xichen was Lan Wangji's favoured company, to know he was getting very pissed off.

Huh.

Wei Wuxian shrugs, too little too late, in his opinion. It's been five years. "It was shortly after I left the Jiang, I went to stay with Lan- Wangji." Wei Wuxian catches himself before using the familiar address. Lan Xichen seemed to catch the slip up too. "Just for the night. The departure went a little more explosively than I meant for it to, I came to spend the night. Lan Qiren told me to leave and never return, that Lan Wangji wanted nothing more to do with me. Not to contact anyone in the family. Obviously I argued, but I had already argued with Madam Yu and Uncle Jiang that night, so, he won. I left. And then a week later he sent me two hundred thousand Yuan." That wasn't a pleasant night to remember. It wasn't a pleasant week. He found out he was pregnant, then the Wen shit happened, and he was moving across the country with Wen Ning and his family. Wei Wuxian shrugs again, drinking his flat white.

Lan Xichen's brow furrows slowly, and he shakes his head, "I'm sorry, Uncle told us nothing about this. All Wangji and I have known is that you left the Jiang and disappeared. Wangji certainly didn't say anything about not wanting your company anymore." Lan Xichen seemed offended at the very idea.

Oh.

Huh.

Lan Wangji doesn't hate him.

Oh fuck.

Lan Wangji doesn't hate him.

But he probably will. When he tells him about A-Yu.

Fuck.

"Is everything okay?" Lan Xichen asks, making clear that Wei Wuxian's panic is clear on his face.

"Um." Wei Wuxian swallows, twisting the paper cup in his hands, "In theory. If, uh, when I left, I had been uh," No. Nope. He can't think of a good way to say this. He checks the time. "Uh, do you have twenty minutes?"

"I'm supposed to meet with Mingjue in ten."

"Great. Uh. Meet me at the park with the giant octopus sculpture in fifteen, bring Da ge, I need to drop my groceries off at my house." Wei Wuxian doesn't wait for Lan Xichen to agree, picking up his groceries and hurrying out.

When he gets home, he dumps the groceries on the counter, giving Wen Qing a quick, "Lan Xichen's in town and he's metting A-Yu and A-Yuan, see you in fiften minutes. Thanks bye!" before running back out, not responding to her shout of 'what' that followed.

When he gets to the octopus sculpture, he doesn't have to wait long fo Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue to show up, thankfully. He bounces over to them, the nervous energy coursing through him a little too much to keep still. "Hi Dage."

"Wuxian." Nie Mingjue greets, as if Wei Wuxian hasn't been off the grid for five years and was still popping into his house every other weekend to do weird shit with Nie Huaisang.

Nice to know somethings don't change.

"What is it you wanted to show us?" Lan Xichen asks politely.

"Um, this way." Wei Wuxian takes them to the school, which was only a few minutes away.

"A school." Nie Mingjue deadpans.

Wei Wuxian looks at the other parents waiting, a few of them looking back at the group with furrowed brows. One of the mothers makes a very harsh 'come here' gesture, so Wei Wuxian turns to Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, "Uh, I'll be right back. Don't move." He was clearly confusing the pair, but they nod so he rushes off to Mrs. Yang.

"Is that Daiyu's father? Other father?" Mrs. Yang demands, almost glaring at Lan Xichen.

"It's his older brother." Wei Wuxian corrects with a tight smile. "Please don't go yell at him."

"Oh, his family decides it's okay for you to raise a child for five years on your own, and I shouldn't yell?" Mrs. Yang demands, already gearing up to go.

"Uh, I'm, about to tell him Daiyu exists."

Mrs. Yang blinks, clearly taken aback. "Wei Wuxian." Wei Wuxian flinches at her tone, oh no. He's in trouble. "Did you not tell the Alpha family you were pregnant?"

"In my defence," because he needed one if he wanted to survive, "their uncle had already told me their family wanted nothing to do with me before he found out I had gotten pregnant. I don't think that opinion would've been changed in my favour. Given we were seventeen, and unmated."

Mrs. Yang hmphs, but nods. "Fine. But if he seems anything less than overjoyed, I'll be having words."

"Yes Mrs. Yang. Thank you." Wei Wuxian says, nodding. He meant it. Mrs. Yang was one of the more supportive parents. Like Granny Wen she had more or less started treating him like family.

It probably helped that her eldest was only two years younger than Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian smiles and then hurries back to Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue as the elder grades started to be let out.

"I'm sorry, do you babysit?" Lan Xichen asks, clearly very confused. Nie Mingjue doesn't seem to be much better.

"Uh. Sometimes." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "Not today." His answer only served further confusion, but he wasn't paying much attention to the pair. Instead to his incoming missile.

"Xian-gege!" Wen Yuan yells, and Wei Wuxian picks up the eight-year old as the boy had launched himself at Wei Wuxian.

"A-Yuan! My, I think you've grown!"

Wen Yuan pouts, "You saw me this morning gege! I haven't grown at all!"

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, "Hmm, nope! You've grown a full inch! I know it."

"No! A-Yuan hasn't grown at all!" Wen Yuan counters, pouting more deeply. Ah, not in the mood to be teased today. Okay.

"Ah, ah yes. A-Yuan is correct." Wei Wuxian agrees, and puts A-Yuan down. "A-Yuan, this is Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue. They're old friends." Wei Wuxian introduces.

Wen Yuan was half through a bored wave when he actually looked at Nie Mingjue and his eyes utterly lit up. "You're so tall!"

Nie Mingjue barely blinked, very used to this reaction, but he seemed delighted at A-Yuan's very prescence. "Yes." Seeing as A-Yuan was practically vibrating, Wei Wuxian gently encourages him, and really that was all that was necessary before A-Yuan was attached to Nie Mingjue's leg and asking a million questions a minute.

Nie Mingjue seemed amused, and politely answered every question he caught.

With A-Yuan distracted, Wei Wuxian looks around the schoolyard for his other charge. Normally Daiyu would be attached to his leg by now. He finally spots her hiding by a tree, or, behind a tree. Her eyes widen when they meet his, and he waves her over. She hesitates, but eventually decides to come over. She walks, and then runs the last little bit, entirely hiding behind Wei Wuxian's legs, peeking a little to look at Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue.

Lan Xichen had frozen.

As expected, given Daiyu's golden eyes.

"Daiyu, this is Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen is your Bobo." Daiyu seemed very doubtful of that, making almost the exact same expression Lan Wangji did when Wei Wuxian had tried to convince him necromancy was a perfectly viable career path. Wei Wuxian would like to be offended. "I'm telling the truth."

"I thought Baba's family didn't want anything to do with us." Daiyu counters, doubt clear.

Ai. Who told her that? They didn't but still. "Who told you that?"

"Qing-jie."

...Ok. Wei Wuxian wasn't going to yell at Wen Qing for telling Daiyu that. Even if he wanted to. He was going to call her a liar.

"Well, she's wrong." Wei Wuxian crouches, turning to pick Daiyu up before standing straight. "It's complicated, and something I'll talk to you about in private. But Lan Xichen hasn't been able to be around until now."

Daiyu narrows her eyes but shrugs, "Fine." She didn't sound fine. But Wei Wuxian was not about to argue with a five year old. Not in public.

"Ok. Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, this is Wei Daiyu."

"Hi."

"Hello."

Daiyu looks at Wei Wuxian before responding, "Hello."

Well. This was awkward. And Lan Xichen looked like he was about to faint. "Why don't we go to the park?" A-Yuan seemed all for that idea. A-Yu looked like she'd rather not but when Wei Wuxian put her down she ran with A-Yuan toward the park. Wei Wuxian lead the adults in following after them.

While the kids played at the Octopus park, Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen sat down at a bench, as Wen Yuan had dragged Nie Mingjue into their game.

"You were pregnant."

Wei Wuxian nods. "Lan Qiren didn't know. I, didn't know, until a week after that argument." Wei Wuxian shrugs, "I took Lan Qiren's words to heart, and didn't contact Lan Zhan about her."

"But you told Huaisang." Lan Xichen states.

Wei Wuxian blinks, "Huaisang doesn't know. I only talk to Huaisang for updates on the Jiang." And other things, but, mostly the Jiang. Once or twice Lan Wangji, but not all that often. He probably wouldn't take it well if Nie Huaisang sent back that Lan Wangji had gotten married.

"You, didn't tell anyone?"

"Nope. You're the first person outside of this town that knows." Wei Wuxian shrugs, and Lan Xichen just, stops. Wei Wuxian worries he's broken him, but soon enough Lan Xichen shakes his head.

"I can't- Apologies, this is a lot to process."

"How do you think Lan Zhan will react?" He's expecting anger. That's what some of the other omegan parents tell him to expect, whenever he considers sending Lan Wangji a message about Daiyu. No Alpha ever takes a pup being kept from them well. That's what they always say.

Lan Xichen's eyes widen, then he winces slightly, "I imagine, you are the not the one to worry about Wangji's reaction." Eh? "I'm sure he'll be happy. Saddened to have missed her first few years, but happy none the less."

Wei Wuxian opens and closes his mouth, trying to figure how to phrase his question before giving up and just asking, "Is he with anyone?"

Lan Xichen blinks and turns to look at Wei Wuxian, confused for a moment before understand dawns and he shakes his head slightly, "No. Uncle has tried for arrangements, but Wangji refuses them all. but I'm certain if you contact him, he'll be happy to see you." (Lan Xichen does not mention that he's rather confident Lan Wangji will immediately run to Wei Wuxian's side and help in raising Daiyu if Wei Wuxian even hints that that is what he wants. That seems a little much for right now.)

Wei Wuxian nods, not entirely believing that, but not willing to argue. "Now I just have to get Daiyu to come around." He did not expect his daughter to be the stickler here. Then again, Wen Qing had made her opinion on Lan Qiren years ago and wasn't quiet about it.

"She's aware of what Uncle said?" Lan Xichen asks.

Wei Wuxian shakes his head, "Uh, my friend, Wen Qing, yeah, that Wen Qing, I'm living with her family, long story, anyways, Wen Qing knows, and she holds very unfavourable opinions about it and she's not quiet about them. So, even if Daiyu doesn't know the full story, Wen Qing has given her enough to go on that she's formed her own, unfavourable opinion." Wei Wuxian shrugs, he couldn't really argue against it. Up until half an hour ago, he was rather confident the Lan's hated him and wanted nothing to do with him.

Now he has to explain a five year misunderstanding to his daughter.

Fun.

“I have to tell Wangji what you just told me.” Lan Xichen states, clearly not looking forward to that conversation.

Wei Wuxian shrugs, “It’s Lan Zhan, he’ll make a displeased face and not talk for a week.” It wasn’t that big of deal. Lan Wangji doesn’t do grudges, not really. At least, he didn’t five years ago.

Lan Xichen’s face was pure pity, which Wei Wuxian didn’t understand but it was gone before Wei Wuxian could formulate a question. “Do you want us around or shall we leave you alone?”

Oh. Wei Wuxian hadn’t considered that. “Um, maybe leave us alone for tomorrow? I guess I can give you my number and, if A-Yu is agreeable you guys can hang around. If it won’t mess up your vacation.” Because, who wants to spend their vacation with their little brother’s ex and daughter?

“That would be wonderful.” Lan Xichen says, pulling out his own phone and letting Wei Wuxian type in his number. Wei Wuxian then texts himself so he’d have the number on his phone too. “We should be getting back, I believe Mingjue wanted to stop by the butcher and they close at five.”

“Yes, they do. Because he needs to eat supper and spend time with his kids.” He kne Changpu, he was nice. Stodgy, but nice.

Lan Xichen nods and stands up, walking over to the playing trio and speaking quietly to Mingjue, he bids goodbye to the children, before the pair start walking away, they wave goodbye to Wei Wuxian, which he returns, and then they disappear.

Then, Daiyu runs up to him, “A-Niang, does that mean A-Die doesn’t hate us? Will he come live with us? Will we see Xi-bo a lot? Are they going to live with us? Like Granny and Uncle Four?”

Fuck.

Upon returning to the cabin, Lan Xichen’s day wasn’t going any better. Nie Mingjue was cooking supper, so Lan Xichen was alone with the decision to call Lan Wangji about Wei Wuxian. Obviously, he would. How much to say though?

Wangji, as it turns out, would make that decision for him.

After exchanging greetings, Lan Xichen barely got out, “So I ran into Wei Wuxian today in the city near where Mingjue and I are vacationing.” Before the call was dropped. Lan Xichen blinked, staring at his phone where it said ‘Call Ended’, meaning Wangji hung up on him. Lan Wangji hung up without a word. Without letting Lan Xichen finish. He was never so rude. He normally at least made a sound to indicate a goodbye. Nie Mingjue laughed at him when Lan Xichen explained why he was so flabbergasted.

Lan Wangji showed up the next morning.

#Wei Wuxian #Lan Xichen #Nie Mingjue #A/B/O #wwx #lxc #nmj #cql #mdzs #Modern Au #my writing #my fics #Wei Daiyu #I forget the characters for her name but I have them written somewhere #She’s like #my Wangxian go to child for any fics Im writing where they have a child aside from lzs #I haven’t posted in forever #I don’t remember how I used to tag these #Five Year Misunderstanding

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lansplaining · 2 years

Note

Not to be too salty but how come LCX allows his beloved little brother to get brutally whipped (by a miracle not to death) but the prevailing fandom opinion is that it’s LWJ who isn’t really a good brother because… he has a life outside of LCX? Hmmmm!

man I have SO many questions about LXC's involvement in like.... all of that. He and Lan Qiren were there when Wangji attacked the elders, yet evidently he didn't hurt them! Which, like, good! But also-- probably really awkward in the moment!

I can't really speak for anyone but myself, and I resist the idea that it's as simple as good brother/bad brother, but I think it comes from the fact that Lan Xichen clearly sacrificed a lot to protect Lan Wangji in the immediate aftermath of Wei Wuxian's death. I tend to think that whipping is probably a step down from what his punishment could have been-- not to mention what might have happened if, say, the Nie or Jin clan had learned that Lan Wangji literally fought his own elders to try and protect the Yiling Patriarch. Somebody has to have been looking after A-Yuan when Lan Wangji was bedridden and incapacitated for three years, and somebody has to have supported the idea of bringing him into the clan as an inner family member, not just a sect disciple. Somebody has to have spoken on Wangji's behalf when he got drunk and broke into the clan treasury and branded himself. I think Lan Xichen was happy to do all of this for his brother, and I think he did as much as he possibly could given his position and the gravity of what Lan Wangji did. Maybe he has regrets about not being able to protect him more fully, but I for one can see why he couldn't.

But then, when we get to the end of canon and Lan Xichen is in a pretty explicitly parallel position to things Wangji has experienced at various points-- a person he cared for deeply his dead, he is directly complicit in his death, he doesn't know whether he's a bad person for even caring about this guy-- Wangji doesn't stay to offer parallel emotional support. He goes and elopes. (This is why I'm now inclined to read the CQL parting as partly about going back for the sake of Xichen, though there's no direct support for that.) I get why that makes fans of Xichen in particular really frustrated. He's alone and clearly extremely emotionally shattered, take a break from your boyfriend for five minutes and check in on him! In the novel, as I recall (I don't have the reference to hand, sorry), Wangji says something about how he doesn't think there's anything he can do for Xichen at this point, and that may very well be right-- but I still get why Xichen fans get annoyed that he doesn't even try.

There's a deeper thematic annoyance at work here, too, and one that I think is really deliberate. Wangxian get, essentially, a miracle. In the normal, single lifetime that most people get, their love story is a tragedy. But they get an impossible second chance, something absolutely no one else in the story gets. It feels so unfair that Lan Wangji gets to go off and just simply enjoy this incredible chance while everyone else is left picking through the rubble of the emotional devastation of the end of the story. I get why people feel frustrated by that and want to say that it makes him a bad friend or a bad brother or a selfish person. It isn't fair. It's an impossible miracle. There isn't any good reason they should get it and no one else should. But they do, and I agree that it's more complicated than saying he's a bad brother for getting swept up in it.

#ask answer #lan zhan #lan xichen

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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SO. Back to the beginning, Episode 1 of Word of Honor. This is likely to be a little bit different experience than the prior posts, when I was watching the eps as they aired, compared to now approaching the show as whole and complete. May be rummaging around for things I missed the first time through, stuff that takes on new meaning set in additional context – we’ll see how it goes.

With that in mind, spoilers for not just this ep but possibly for the entire series. Get out of the car now and come back later, if you haven’t seen all 36.5 eps and want to watch it unspoiled.

First thing to strike me, right up front: You know, I think we tend to lose sight in later parts of the show – when we’re getting Laopo!Zhou Zishu pouting so he doesn’t have to cook dinner - how terrifying ZZS is in his own right (and by “we,” I actually mean the show, too). One of the things the first few episodes gets right, I think, is the sense of eerie inevitability and dread created by both the falling lanterns of Tian Chuang and the blowing paper figures of the Ghost Valley, and how similar they are. I think it’s easy to lose that - when the lanterns and the paper figures are gone and our charming and adorable couple are busy being charming and adorable at each other, in between varying rounds of being wracked by guilt and PTSD – easy to lose that this is there too, part of them – both of them - under the skin. I think it’s particularly easy to lose that for ZZS, when he’s already done a lot of work, off-screen, pre-Episode 1, during the 18 months he was putting in those first six Nails, to come to some kind of equilibrium, and meanwhile we watch Wen Kexing’s entire torturous process play out on-screen. Wen Kexing’s story is one of reaching an equilibrium, but Zhou Zishu’s story is one of maintaining it, which I think may be less showy, but is equally valuable, just as I value the Four Seasons Manor arc, especially, for giving us a vibe of two adults comfortable in an already intimate relationship, as opposed to the veritable sea of will-they-won’t-they tug-of-war coming-together-for-the-first-time-as-emotional-AND-plot climax relationships that we’re usually awash in.

Anyway, straight up we’re introduced to an assassin who, we discover, doesn’t like to get blood on himself. It looks like metaphorical blood is fine, just not actual blood, but then we discover, well, maybe he’s not as OK with metaphorical blood as he schools himself to look. Also that conversation with Li Jingan about her dad having to die because he’s a traitor to the country – I now wonder how much of that particular conversation Zhou Zishu mentally brings to the table in later conversations about his own father being executed for the same reason. Also, wait wait wait. Zhou Zishu tells Jingan that he took Jiuxiao’s body back to Four Seasons Manor and buried him next to their shifu, but I don’t remember seeing another grave there, other than Qin Huaizhang’s and his wife’s. Script inconsistency, or are you supposed to be lying, ZZS? I mean, would you be so downcast at the state of Four Seasons Manor when you arrive with your husband and son for your honeymoon, if you’d actually been there only a couple of years before? It didn’t fall to pieces overnight. Also, HAIRPIN FORESHADOWING ALERT. Our first sign of how important the hairpin is, the way ZZS’s impassive face cracks wide open when he sees the hairpin that Jiuxiao made and realizes he must have given it to Jingan. Clearly important!

Mmm. Here’s a point for the “Prince Jin is a f’kn asshole” list – Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with Bi Changfeng personally when Bi Changfeng requests to leave Tian Chuang. And OK, ZZS is the leader of Tian Chuang. But you’re never going to convince me Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with it personally because Prince Jin is actually so very furious that Bi Changfeng made a mistake. You will never convince me this isn’t a … it’s not even a test of loyalty, at this point, because Prince Jin has no reason to think yet that ZZS is anything other than the faithful hunting dog on a leash that he’s been, lo, these many years. Putting ZZS in a position where not only is he losing the last of the direct disciples of Four Seasons Manor, but he’s being asked to (as good as) kill him with his own hands - it’s just cruelty for the proof of your power and influence over someone. Also, given Prince Jin’s later diatribe about how everyone leaves him OMG (have you considered it’s your personality?) (But also Beiyuan! I know who you are now, and yeah, I would have let Wu Xi bride-kidnap me away from this jerk, too), I have to wonder if Prince Jin isn’t trying to make ZZS feel exactly as isolated as he, himself, feels, as part of his overall desire to make sure that ZZS has no one other than Prince Jin so that their positions are parallel – only having each other in the whole world. I also have to wonder if he’s not hoping for precisely the reaction ZZS has to Bi Changfeng – you’d rather be dead than be with me? Because that hurts, you can see it on ZZS’s face (thanks already, Zhang Zhehan), and I rather suspect Prince Jin wants it to hurt. I notice we get an echo of this later in the ep, with Prince Jin saying pretty much the same thing when ZZS asks for the final Nail. GOOD. I hope it hurts you just as much. I wonder if ZZS realizes this while he’s kneeling there in the throne room. It’s probably too late for him to get any satisfaction out of it.

OH, HEY. That’s HAN YING already, one of the two people accompanying ZZS to put down Bi Changfeng, looking super-pained like he knows what this is all costing his beloved. Han Ying, I really hope you got to tap that at least a few times before ZZS made his break for it. Is that one of the reasons Prince Jin seems to have such antipathy for you, or is it really just that he can’t stand the idea of someone whose loyalty to ZZS is greater than their loyalty to Prince Jin, himself? (Seriously, y’all, why is there not much much more Han Ying/ZZS fic?) Meanwhile Duan Pengju, omg, this asshole, is already looking smug and punchable. Really, he’s kind of enjoying the Seven Nails placement a little too much. Showing your hand pretty fast on the petty evil thing, show.

So, one thing I didn’t catch the first time around, is that ZZS isn’t just self-injuring to punish himself when he takes the knife to his chest – he re-opens wounds on all the places where the first six Nails have already been placed, so it will look like the placement is fresh. If you can’t tell he hasn’t just put them in, there’s no reason for anyone else (read: Prince Jin) to suspect he’s bought himself some time before he loses his senses. As far as anyone knows, he’s going to fall over with locked-in syndrome any day now. Which just makes the implications of Prince Jin vowing that he’s only letting him go for now EVEN ICKIER. For all Prince Jin knows, what he’s going to get back is a flesh doll that will just lie there, although I guess on the plus side, ZZS would never leave him again. Thanks, show, I need a shower, now.

ZZS says all the right things to argue his case to Prince Jin – he’s only good as a weapon, he has no skills nor utility for building and governing the country – and I think partly this is because he just knows the right things to say. I mean, you don’t become the Number Two guy in the country, with thousands under you and only one above you, if you can’t play imperial politics. But I also wonder if deep down he doesn’t actually believe it – he was successful at building Tian Chuang, but he couldn’t maintain Four Seasons Manor and even drove it to ruin. So, I’ll just be over here, clutching my chest, over my heart. Fortunately, Zhang Zhehan provides quick distraction from this pain, and I … Y’all. I can’t. I just. I CANNOT. When ZZS drops to his knees and starts stripping in the throne room. Just. Mmmmmrgh. THIS VISUAL. Although, you want to know what one of the hottest parts actually is? That pair of leather bracers hitting the floor on top of his belt, and ZZS isn’t even in the shot at that point. OK, fine, I am willing to read some dirtybadwrong fic with this whole scene premise at its heart, even if it does include Prince Jin. Zhang Zhehan, you are KILLING ME. I might have rewound this part. More than once. You can’t prove anything.

Aaaand then we get that gorgeous, painful shot of ZZS riding out into the snow that I know I’ve talked about before (including the way I get an odd echo of Lan Xichen off of it). There are several places in this ep where the cinematography is to die for, and this is one of them, the bleakness of the landscape and Zhang Zhehan (and his FACE) deep in that shadowing cloak against the stark snow as he rides out into freedom and the unknown. Then cut to somewhere green and forested. Interesting that the show starts with snow and ends with snow. That parallel with the imperial cage says some things about immortality that could stand to be unpacked – but later. Because ZZS is putting his face on – literally – and I am once again in pain, only it’s not the good kind of pain. It’s caused by that dreadful fake facial hair. There are some things that could be unpacked here, as well, about the fact that making ZZS supposedly unattractive involves a clearly fake goatee, a single aesthetically placed scar, and darkening his skin. I’m going to try to step carefully here, because this is kind of out of my lane, but it is … a noticeable thing. That probably ought to be noted.

So, ZZS takes just a moment to turn his (fake) face up to the sun and feel the warmth on it … and then with 10 minutes left, we’re on our way to Ghost Valley, where there’s some chaos and then Hanging Ghost gets got by a Mysterious Stranger To Be Revealed Later, who chokes him out (remember this). The Mysterious Master of Ghost Valley appears dramatically on his High Ledge to Make Some Pronouncements while playing with some walnuts omg (rolling two of them in one hand – remember this), and we see his eyes, which are partially obscured by chunky sidebangs, which are farther forward on his forehead than we’re going to see later, not only hiding some of his face but making it look more angular. The troops get berated, shit rolls downhill, and another dude gets choked (remember this) as Ghost Valley Master’s hair continues to artfully hide most of his face and he worries about his manicure post-kill (remember this). War is declared on Hanging Ghost for stealing the Glazed Armor, and more chaos is set into motion.

All of that takes literally two minutes, and then we cut to three months later, and no one realizes it yet, but the fam is getting together. ZZS is tits out in the gutter - only beginning his career of being a minx who flashes his collarbones an awful lot for someone who has Very Secret Scars He’s Hiding On His Chest - happily drinking himself to death in the sun (we really need to talk about this correlation of snow and immortality vs. sun and happiness …). Meanwhile, slo-mo shot of Wen Kexing looking precious and perfect, with delicate pink lips and dove-grey robes, as he checks out the rough trade in the gutter. Oh, the expectations this show is getting ready to smash. We cut from a shot of pristine precious WKX to ZZS holding up his hand, and we get a shot of the sun through ZZS’s fingers looking an awful lot like some shots of characters halo’d in light that we’ll get back to much much later in the show. Chengling appears out of nowhere to be Best Boy. A-Xiang is purple and smol and ready to brawl, and I already love her. I already love them all! So much! Here are my delicate and precious feelings, show, go ahead and stomp all over them!

#zhou zishu #prince jin #han ying #wen kexing #gu xiang #zhang chengling #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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alice-in-wonderart · 4 years

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Your writing is wonderful! I’m so happy I found your blog 😊 Could I request some nsfw hc’s for lan xichen, jin guangyao and nie huaisang? Like would they rather take care of s/o or be taken care of, who initiates first, etc. Thank you!

I'm sorry for the long wait, sweetie! It really took a while to get to the spice, but worry not, it's here to make our lives a little more interesting. Let the degenerates in us run wild~ P.S. I GET TO WRITE ABOUT JGY AND NHS CJSJXJS YAY I LOVE 'EM BOTH SM. ❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️💕

Lan Xichen

Lan Xichen seems to be the sweeter, more mellow of the Twin Jades, but don't let that fool you. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing through and through. Behind that sweet smile there is an absolute beast. Part of the Lan genes, ig.

While sex isn't exactly the first thing on his mind, he's had his moments of weakness. But when you came into his life, it was a whole other story. Suddenly, he'd feel MUCH too drawn to you, his mind would occasionally wander to you, or rather - what you'd look like, underneath him, spread out on the silks of his bed, moaning his name, as he -

Gosh, he shouldn't be thinking about this in public.

"Everyday is everyday" doesn't exactly describe the humble Zewu-jun's tendencies, but he isn't any less feral. Intimacy with Lan Xichen is like fine wine - the longer the wait, the better the taste. And with his duty as sect leader, said intimacy would less often than any of you would want.

The moment you two are alone and neither is dead tired, he'd make sure to at least hint at what he desires. He'd leave heated kisses along your skin, run his fingers along your thighs, gently sliding under the fabric of your clothes. It would be pretty obvious what message he'd try to get across.

He'd usually prefer to be on top, since pleasuring you would be his number one priority. Besides, having you completely unravel underneath him would give him a sense of completion, of victory. He wouldn't be opposed to tying you up too.

He'd let you take the reigns occsionally, because of one single reason - watching you ride him is a sight he absolutely adores. The idea of you chasing your own orgasm, trying your very best to keep your balance, nails digging into his chest. Just thinking about it makes him harder than a rock.

And gosh, wrap his headband around your neck, or bite down on it and he'd lose his mind. After all - this is the highest form of intimacy, a sight for his eyes alone. You belonged to him, the way he belonged to you. (fking sap)

He may not be the most experimental per se, but he compensates with a dick worth millions and the stamina of an ancient beast. And it wouldn't take much to rile him up for more. He could easily go a few rounds and then some. He'd tire you out to a point of nearly passing out, before breaking a sweat. So much training really pays off.

Don't fuck with a Lan. Actually....fuck a Lan. Totally worth it.

His aftercare would be so sweet. He'd run both of you a nice bath to enjoy, or if it's too late and you're both tired out, he'd snuggle with you, playing with your hair, whispering how much he utterly adores you, before gradually falling asleep.

Jin Guangyao

Jin Guangyao has a specific air of gentle nobility to him, which often leads people to think he's more on the vanilla side of love-making. But boy, oh boy are they all so terribly wrong.

The boy has lived in a brothel. He's seen the difference between love-making and fucking, and he's mastered both. Sex with him is always a game of guessing, an endless array of surprises. One moment he will be kissing along your neck, gently whispering in your ear, the next he will be pounding into you mercilessly, deep and hard, until your legs go numb and you won't be able to walk for days.

He loves to be dominant and absolutely loves the thought of having you at his mercy. No, you're neither a toy, nor a possession, but he'd absolutely want to mark you up as his territory. He'd just do it in places which aren't visible to the public eye. You have dignity after all.

He'd also lowkey enjoy causing you mild pain. He wouldn't go too far, but the occasional slap on the ass, a bitemark turning blue, roughing up your insides, choking, the occasional rope, or even knife. He never goes full blown dom, but say you need him more than anything, that you miss him stretching you out and you're getting addicted to the pleasure and the pain, and he'd be on you in 5 seconds flat.

Speaking of biting, that's a kink he's more than open to admit. He adores leaving marks on that soft skin of yours. He doesn't care if you hide them, as long as you're aware they're there.

The more he trusts you, the more he'd initiate. He has a reputation to keep up, so becoming part of his private life would be difficult. Keep in mind, you have a lot of walls to climb over to get to him, but once you do - my gosh. You two are in bed ready to sleep? One look and you aready know it's gonna be a rough night. You're taking a shower? He's totally going to join and would make sure you help him clean up very thoroughly. Walking down one of the many vacant corridors in Koi Tower? He'd push you against the wall, spread your legs and make you see stars.

His movements are always carefully calculated, too. With that big brain of his he'd memorize each and every sensitive part of your body and use it to his advantage. He'd tease you to a point of begging and then deny your release until you're seconds away from breaking.

The aftercare is utterly phenomenal. He cares about you deeply, so he'd make sure you're feeling your best after one of your many sleepless nights. He'd clean you up, gently caressing any bitemark he's left, whispering sweet nothings in your ears, then dress you up in the finest silk, and depending on the time - either snuggle up with you to fall asleep, or make you some tea and fetch the two of you some breakfast. Who cares he's psychotic when he's literal perfection.

Nie Huaisang

Nie Huaisang is totally demonic and we all know it. Sex is definitely not a new subject for him. After all he owns enough porn to cover half of the Unclean Realm's grounds. And believe me, he's learned quite a bit from it. Though all the porn in the world can't satisfy his needs, thankfully you're there to lend a helping hand.

He's a 100% switch and he owns it. Sometimes he wants to roll around in bed, bratty and needly like a total pillow prince, letting you take him however you like. Other times, he'd spend hours slowly peeling off your clothes, long fingers working wonders between your legs, teasing you and exploring your body, him permanently burning his name onto your heart.

He is pretty experimental, there isn't much he wouldn't be willing to try, but if he doesn't like something, he'll never do it again, periodt. Love-making to him is a form of art and he loves exploring it to its fullest.

Teasing you in public is one of his specialties. Hidden, risqué touches, heated stares behind intricate fans, dirty promises mumbled into the skin of your neck, robes riding up or slipping off, your or his alike. Likewise, doing it in public, or more so - in a close enough vicinity, wouldn't be uncommon either. Quickies are his specialty. He can get you off nearly everywhere and he takes great pride in that. He loves the effect he has on you and how both of you seem a little more disheveled afterwards.

His biggest turn on is oral. He could spend hours buried between your legs, drowning in your desire, making you come so many times you lose sense of reality. That mouth definitely ain't just for talking. And god, does he like it messy. He loves it when you pull on his hair, thrust into his mouth, or squirm from the over-sensitivity. He loves having to pin you down and pull you towards him. He loves feeling your legs on his shoulders, he loves it all so much, he could come from that alone.

And similarly, get on your knees to suck him off and he will turn into absolute putty in your arms. He'll start off all cocky, of course. We're talking about Nie Huaisang after all. "Oh? You want a taste of me that badly? Well who am I to refuse..." But that attitude of his would fade the moment your lips wrap around him. With fingers tangled in your hair and shaky moans escaping his lips, he'd be at your mercy. Deny his release a few times and he might even beg. Might.

Of course, it never just ends with oral, unless there is absolutely no time left for more. Though even then, he'd make some time. Why work, when you have a lover to please.

Nie Huaisang ALWAYS gets hungry afterwards. So, he'd often go and bring the two of you a third of a feast to munch on. You know the cliché, where you light a cigarette after a good lovemaking? He gets food. Any kind of food. And everybody knows, that if Sect Leader Nie barges in with half a ton of food in his arms, chances are, you won't appear until much, MUCH later, a rosy pink on your cheeks and that tell tale gloss in your eyes.

Thank you for reading~

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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Ep 23

Seriously, how useless are these two right now? The puppets all dropped dead around them, yet none of them run up to help Wei Wuxian. I think we saw Lan Wangji running, but he just had dramatic close-up shots for the first few minutes as well. Like, stop looking dumbfounded and stop just providing facial reactions to things, and get up there! Act like you're in a war, gdi! They're reacting to seeing Wen Ruohan stabbed, which I chose not to cap for obvious reasons.

So even though I knew the story from the book, I still think this moment is pretty cool when they reveal that it's Jin Guangyao who has stabbed Wen Ruohan literally and figuratively in the back. The last time we saw him, poor Nie Mingjue was getting the crap beat out of him by Jin Guangyao, so seeing this here--like, ooh! Double-double-cross! Triple-cross!! It's fun to see a twist that doesn't make you groan! Because, of course, you want to root for Jin Guangyao because he's a bastard and has always been looked down on everyone. Now you see that he was not a villain at all, and he was actually helping the good guys by double-crossing Wen Ruohan! Of course, we know he really is a villain and all, but most of that really doesn't come until later in the story haha.

I do enjoy the light parallels here between Lan Xichen and his brother. We see both of them willing to give their best friends the benefit of the doubt and protect them from those who are less willing, let's say. And both of them are even willing to stand up to other people they know and trust. Nie Mingjue is one of Lan Xichen's closest friends, and we see Lan Wangji stand up to his own uncle. If you're looking at CQL without the romance angle (which, why would you?), this parallel is a bit more striking. You basically have two sets of bosom friends. Obviously one set crumbles at the end, but there are definitely a lot of parallels and comparisons to make. And sorry, for a show that couldn't have any gay characters, they sure made it seem like Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao had a thing for each other (even though neither of them is gay in the book, mind you). A weird sort of change--I don't even ship them, but their early scenes seemed very shippy. Maybe it's my American lens, I don't know.

But speaking of weird changes, allow me to go on a tangent. Wen Qing's role expansion doesn't bother me, not really. I kind of say it does, but it's not really the expansion that gets to me. It's the fact that she was going to be a love interest for Wei Wuxian that bothers me. Wei Wuxian is gay. He's gay. Lan Wangji is also gay--if not gayer. Her being a love interest for either one of them means they are no longer gay. Bi, maybe, but what that would have done was erase their canon sexuality. It would have also turned their relationship into that horribly tropey brothers-in-arms or whatever name you want to give it--basically JUST FRIENDS who want to defend each other's honor. You can certainly read CQL that way, but if you are, I don't think you're paying attention to Wang Yibo's performance at all. And if you're not paying attention to the second lead, then why are you watching this show at all? So, changing their sexuality changes the whole show (which already is so tropey, from what I understand) into something so derivative, I wouldn't even want to bother watching it. One of the things I think you take away from CQL is Lan Wangji's, frankly, undying love for Wei Wuxian. If he goes and has a fling with Wen Qing at any point, that cheapens his character dramatically in my opinion. Lots of people can say this better than me, and probably have, but I'm very grateful to those passionate fans (and to Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo) for helping to change the script from the original drafts, which were frankly no better than a junky harlequin romance, having Wen Qing passed around like a piece of meat, which is so far from her character in the novel, and definitely a disservice to her.

Not gonna lie, it's adorable to think that Jiang Yanli and Lan Wangji have been talking over the past few days, maybe having tea together, while Wei Wuxian is in a coma. I feel Lan Wangji was a very calming presence for Jiang Yanli, because she was probably very worried and fretful over Wei Wuxian. I like the idea of him playing the guqin for Wei Wuxian, and then having tea and a quiet chat with Jiang Yanli before leaving. Also very cute that Wei Wuxian is half-heartedly trying to badmouth Lan Wangji, by calling him boring and uninteresting, but he can't even get through the sentence without smiling to himself. Obviously he's loving the idea that Lan Wangji has been at his side every day, worrying over him and slowly doing his part to nurse him back to health.

I love his expression here: shock and relief and joy, all mixed together upon seeing that Wei Wuxian has woken up. Obviously he knew he'd wake up eventually, but he didn't expect it so soon and I don't think he expected his heart to be in his throat and to be so indescribably happy to see Wei Wuxian awake.

Wei Wuxian, of course, can't really meet his eyes, and Jiang Yanli makes a swift exit (she knows what's up--these boys need to talk). And Lan Wangji just has love in his eyes: Heart-guang Jun. I mean, imagine how he must be feeling right now. He had just gotten Wei Wuxian back from what seemed like certain death, finally reconciled, and then Wei Wuxian is in a coma! He must have been terrified of losing him again. It's probably all he can do right now to not hug Wei Wuxian.

I seriously love everything about this scene. I love the colors, the cinematography, the longing glances Wei Wuxian gives Lan Wangji, the way Lan Wangji quietly scolds him while still playing the guqin because he's a professional. But really, I just find this scene very pretty and moving and emotional. I enjoy seeing Lan Wangji getting to take care of him and even more that Wei Wuxian lets him and puts up with it. I think most of us are quick to retort a good old, "I'm fine" when asked how we are, but in this case, Wei Wuxian is not fine, and he has no ground to stand on if he's trying to prove that. It's hard for Wei Wuxian at this point, though, to really lean on anyone, even Lan Wangji who is his best friend. He certainly can't lean on Jiang Cheng for reasons I don't think I need to go into again. He kind of leans on Yanli, but at the same time, he can't (and doesn't wish to) burdon her either. Lan Wangji is really the one person he should be able to lean on and seek comfort from, but he feels awkward and uncomfortable, because of the dark spiritual energy and giving up the sword, and Lan Wangji's crusade to help him.

"Who is good and who is evil?" Wei Wuxian is struggling with a moral dilemma: is it right to round up the Wens and kill them/hold them captive? The Wens did horrible things, after all, and this is the reality of war. Of course, we've just seen Lan Xichen struggling with it as well. Why capture the women and children and elderly, who have nothing to do with the war? He's only met with the fact that it's not just the male cultivators who are dangerous. Still, his mind is only placated by the lie that the people will just be interrogated and sent to a labor camp--then cut to the blood on the floor. So Wei Wuxian is not only struggling with what the Jin Clan and other clans are doing, but he's also thinking about his own deeds--how many people did he kill? How many did he brutally murder in the name of revenge? Because of the things he's done, is he good or evil? Is good and evil so black and white? Does it just depend on whose lens you're viewing it through?

Lan Wangji looks at Wei Wuxian with all of this knowledge and doesn't know what to think. He's afraid of what Wei Wuxian has become, afraid he'll end up like Wen Ruohan--he's afraid of losing him entirely. But the situation is not black and white, and good and evil is not so easily defined. You can only know once you know that person's heart, and Wei Wuxian isn't really letting Lan Wangji in anymore. He's trying to convince him with his words, but that is simply not good enough.

I think if Lan Wangji hadn't stopped him here, Wei Wuxian would have played that flute and tried to end all of the Jin "hunting party" (sorry, that was a little dark). His emotions were already high after the conversation with Lan Wangji on the cliff, and we've already seen him feeling disturbed by how the Wens are being chased and rounded up. I, for one, wouldn't have complained if Jin Zixuan's cousin bit the dust earlier. I think his name is Jin Zixun. Is that it? See, even I don't remember him.

I love how even though they are far apart, this scene still feels very intimate. It's very moving, and the music and the cinematography help to cultivate that feeling. I like how Wei Wuxian perks up when he hears Lan Wangji pluck the first few notes, and Lan Wangji does the same when he hears the sound of Wei Wuxian's flute. I feel like they are spiritually connected here as they play this haunting duet. And I think it's a connection they haven't felt for a long time. There has been so much tension between them for so long, and this scene feels like a big sigh from both of them. While I still feel like there is tension present, there is a bit of a release here--at least, that's how I feel as a viewer.

Ah, yes, the awkward period where Jiang Cheng has become leader of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, wants to control Wei Wuxian, but doesn't know how. He's new at this, so I can't blame him for being a bit awkward as he figures out what he's supposed to be doing. As a young man, he basically nagged Wei Wuxian for doing inappropriate things, but now when Wei Wuxian misbehaves, Jiang Cheng is in part responsible for that behavior. At some point or another, the two of them grew up. Wei Wuxian's misbehavior isn't precocious anymore--it's serious and it has consequences, and just as in Gusu, Jiang Cheng sees that those actions are a reflection of the Jiang Clan. Only now, they aren't just a reflection of the clan, they're also a reflection of Jiang Cheng, himself, and his leadership (or lack thereof).

And speaking of awkward...Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have some...unresolved...stuff to deal with. But God forbid they actually talk right now. How can they? They're at this stuffy banquet that neither one of them want to be at. I feel for them both. Wei Wuxian is hurt because he thinks Lan Wangji doesn't trust him. Lan Wangji feels terrible because he wants to help Wei Wuxian, but the latter won't really let him in and allow him to do so. I feel myself just on pins and needles during these scenes with all these glances, but at the same time, I love it because DRAMA and ANGST! And they're just so in love lolol.

Nie Mingjue has to be that guy that always wants a certain table. The waiter leads him over and says, "Is this table okay?" expecting the answer to be yes, but nope--not Nie Mingjue. He'll request a different table. XD

I love this little conversation--it's like they're both measuring each other up. I think they each have a healthy distrust of the other. Although Wei Wuxian has always been kind to Jin Guangyao, I don't think that discounts the whole demonic cultivation thing in his mind. He knows Wei Wuxian is smart and clever and, most importantly, capable. And as for Wei Wuxian, I don't think the ease in which Jin Guangyao manipulated Wen Ruohan is lost on him.Essentially the downfall of this great cultivator and enemy of all the other clans was due to one man: Jin Guangyao. I think Wei Wuxian is thinking the same thing I am: he's extremely clever, devious, and potentially dangerous if you get on his bad side. His rise to power within the Jin Clan is kind of amazing. His estranged father admits to Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen that Jin Guangyao is his son, his station has improved drastically in a short amount of time. He sure as hell is dangerous.

Jiang Yanli can hardly contain her excitement when Jin Guangshan brings up her former engagement to his son. Just kidding, of course. I'm kind of horrified for her that he's bringing this up now in front of all these people. It feels very much like he's pressuring not only her, but also his son to get engaged again. First of all, Jiang Fengmian and Jin Guangshan agreed at the time to let the children decide whether they wanted to get married or not. Second, if you're going to talk about this, at least do it in private! Third, this is not letting the kids decide. God, this would be humiliating! And I also totally expected Jiang Cheng to speak for his sister here, so I'm glad he didn't do that. It's really none of his business either.

Lol! The weird cutoff here! Who's speaking??? I don't know!!! I mean, obviously, it's Wei Wuxian, but it's like they don't expect us to recognize his voice hahahahaha.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | Or just check out the #CQL Rewatch hashtag

#wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #theuntameddaily #cql #the untamed #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #wen qing #jin guangyao #lan xichen #ep 23 #cql rewatch

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neuxue · 3 years

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The Untamed Liveblog: Episode 43 – Scars, Songs, Stories, and Snow

This entire episode is just gentle and devastating as these conversations and memories change everything (and yet at the same time change nothing, and only reveal what was there, and cast it in a new light, and I’m Absolutely Fine)

1. Do Not Try These Songs At Home

Lan Xichen’s face! As he listens to Wei Wuxian lay out his evidence and reasoning.

You can see his composure beginning to falter as he shakes his head and tries almost desperately for a reason why it still can’t be true, but even that is easily countered, and he just… breaks, a little bit, in his quiet way.

Because there’s no good ending to this now. There’s too much here for his trust not to falter, so even if Jin Guangyao were innocent, he would always know that he suspected him of this.

And that suspicion means having to consider that one of his sworn brothers, his closest friends, killed the other. And that he didn’t know, didn’t stop it.

It’s not just his trust in Jin Guangyao at stake here; it’s his trust in himself.

Lan Xichen: “I’ll test it on myself.”

Oh, Lan Xichen.

But it’s not… surprising. It’s Lan Xichen’s form of quiet self-sacrifice; as always, he will do what is required, gently and with a smile, looking out always for those he sees as his responsibility, and never for himself.

(Which makes it hurt even more that he’s having to doubt this one thing that he did for himself. And if he’s wrong about Jin Guangyao the lesson will feel to him like this is the price of your selfishness, of daring to want to have anything at all for yourself)

Also, you can easily read into this something a little… darker, sharper, of perhaps seeing this as a kind of… self-punishment. Either for suspecting Jin Guangyao, or for not suspecting him, because whatever conclusion he comes to, it will feel like his fault, and so on some level he believes he deserves this pain, for… daring to want something for himself.

He and Wei Wuxian have more in common than they might realise.

And Lan Wangji is just there, silent until now, looking at the two people he loves most in the world, who allow themselves to be hurt without protest, to protect others.

Lan Xichen: “You want me to believe that everything he showed me is false, that he planned to murder his sworn brother, that I’m part of his plan, and that I even… helped him.”

Like! How does he face that? How does he face any part of that? If it’s false, then even considering it feels like a betrayal. And if it’s true…

But he turns away as he says this, so that they cannot see how close he is to crying, here.

(And perhaps so that he does not have to look at the two of them together—Lan Wangji who now stands beside the one the world distrusted—when he is so alone)

2. A Story of Scars

I wanted more Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian interaction but now seems like a rather… fraught time for it. But then I suppose that’s kind of the point.

Oh.

We’re. Getting the story of the scars.

Lan Xichen: “If Wangji doesn’t think it’s necessary, I’m afraid he won’t ever talk about it.”

And who does that sound like?

Wei Wuxian’s own refusal to explain, he came back after three months carrying darkness with him instead of a sword. Lan Wangji asked and Wei Wuxian turned away, deflected, carried it literally to his grave.

(‘Chenqing’ is a fascinating name in so many ways, and one of those is the irony)

And now he stands on the other side of that. Seeing Lan Wangji’s scars as Lan Wangji saw his weakness, and asking but receiving no answer.

But this is part of Wei Wuxian’s path to understanding what those who care for him felt. Seeing these kind of things from the other side, and perhaps, eventually realising that he is looking into a mirror.

Lan Wangji. Went to the Burial Mounds. After Wei Wuxian fell.

He can’t have hoped Wei Wuxian would… be there. But he went anyway—to stand against the world if he had to. For the sake of memory, and his own convictions? Or… I mean, at some point, A-Yuan became Lan Sizhui…

Lan Wangji: “You are not qualified to talk to me.”

Lan Wangji is not fucking around!

Lan Wangji is standing, alone, facing a half-circle of swords.

Lan Wangji, alone with his regret, that he made this choice too late.

Lan Wangji, who has just lost everything on that cliffside, and came here, and there is nothing in his expression now of the devastation he showed in those moments after Wei Wuxian fell. Just ice.

And Wei Wuxian never knew. Wei Wuxian tried to push him aside at Jinlintai, as if it only made sense for Wei Wuxian to face this alone, as if Lan Wangji would accept that—

That image of Lan Wangji falling to his knees, holding himself up with a bloody hand on his sword, wounded and exhausted and having just lost everything—

Three hundred lashes?

Three YEARS???

He told Wei Wuxian. That he searched for him. Three years later.

Oh, Lan Wangji.

THEIR SONG. PLAYING. AS LAN WANGJI KNEELS TO FACE HIS PUNISHMENT.

Just as it played in over him kneeling in the snow.

(It’s mournful this time, played on low strings, but that is only appropriate; he is one of the only ones who will ever mourn Wei Wuxian, after all).

It plays as he is asked the 52nd rule, as he responds, again, with the correct answer, but refuses to acknowledge that it has any relevance.

It plays as his uncle tells him he has forgotten the rules of Gusu Lan, but he hasn’t. He has only questioned them. Held them up next to a lantern and a promise.

The song of his certainty, his conviction, his love, playing over the recitation of the rules, because there are no set rules and nothing is black and white, and he didn’t forget the rules, not as he understands them in his heart, and he will not falter in the face of mere words when he has the conviction of a song and a promise on a lantern and a question in the rain, and a certainty that came too late.

AND THEN HE

REPEATS

WEI WUXIAN’S QUESTIONS

WEI WUXIAN’S DICHOTOMIES

Lan Wangji: “I dare to ask you, uncle. Who is just and who is evil? What is black and what is white?”

THIS IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED—

As their song plays, as his uncle tells him he has forgotten the rules, he instead asks his own questions.

Wei Wuxian’s questions, to him.

Bringing those questions full circle, bringing closure to that arc but it’s closure in the form of questions, and his asking of them now is his answer—

The questions he grappled with himself, the questions that underscored his own quiet struggle with his understanding of the world and its rules and his doubts and his certainties. The questions that thread through this entire story.

He was asked these questions once, and his asking of them now is his answer, because the answer is that there are no set rules, no set answers; we see his certainty here, and that certainty takes the form not of recitations of the correct answers but of the questions, I am losing my mind at how perfect this is—

He dares to question the rules as they are written, dares to look past the surface of the image that is presented.

He accepts this punishment, not because he agrees with it but because he is not rebelling; he is simply acting as he believes is right, and he will face the consequences with that same certainty.

He accepts even his uncle’s disappointment, because he has his own disappointments with his world and the people who lead it, the people who did not look past an image of black and white.

And he was never going to tell Wei Wuxian. Because this… Wei Wuxian is present in every aspect of that scene except the literal, but at the same time it’s about Lan Wangji and his own understanding of who he is, and his place in this world, and his path, his choices.

What. A beautiful character arc.

And we see so much of it in glimpses like this, these single beats in short scenes and often silence, but together they form a melody—the one that plays now, over this whole scene.

Who is just and who is evil. What is black and what is white. (And sixteen years later, he looks at Wei Wuxian and say, with quiet absolute certainty, “I trust you.”)

And then he kneels alone in, surrounded by the ice that is so much a part of his image. The cave where he and Wei Wuxian bound their hands and made a promise; the place where all of this started, but now he’s there alone, where Wei Wuxian once knelt beside him.

As their song still plays.

And now… Wei Wuxian’s face, as we come back to the present. As he realises what Lan Wangji did, what Lan Wangji endured. Wei Wuxian, who cannot tolerate the thought of anyone being hurt because of him, not those he loves; he is supposed to bleed for them.

Wei Wuxian, who read so many of Lan Wangji’s attempts to persuade him to come back, to take up the sword again, to stop using resentful energy, as admonishments or condemnation because it was against the rules.

Lan Xichen: “When Wangji was imprisoned, I went to him and tried to persuade him. But he told me he considered you his zhiji, and believed in your integrity.”

As he and Lan Wangji are trying to persuade Lan Xichen now. I do not think that escapes Wei Wuxian’s notice.

(And I don’t think Wei Wuxian takes offense, even. “Let me go,” he whispered to Lan Wangji on that cliffside. “At least I could die by your hand,” he offered in the rain)

And… that echo of “I still am” even after everything.

Wei Wuxian: “Why would he...”

Oh, Wei Wuxian, don’t you see?

But this is what Wei Wuxian has never been able to see, because he has never understood that someone would care for him like this, or why. Never believed he was worth that, certainly not worth pain. It’s why he sacrificed himself over and over, why he pulled away, because he thought it would be easier for everyone, better for everyone. Thought if he could be the one hurt, then it would all be okay.

It’s the question he keeps asking, because he can’t find a reason, and there has to be a reason, has to be some sense of obligation, because why else would he, why else would anyone? But it’s not debt, or obligation, or even gratitude. It never was.

What of your choices, Wei Wuxian? Your sacrifices? Why would you; why did you? But he never considered that someone would do the same for him, or because of him. Never considered when he said “Let me go” that they wouldn’t want to.

And Lan Xichen doesn’t answer, because that is one Wei Wuxian needs to figure out, perhaps.

Ah. The story isn’t finished.

3. A Story of Sorrow

This was their mother’s home.

And this is not a happy story.

(Lan Xichen’s quiet “I don’t know” when Wei Wuxian asks why his mother killed one of his father’s teachers is such a deceptively simple but achingly sad statement, even more so because he says it with this same gentle tone of acceptance, this same soft smile. He doesn’t know this, about his mother; doesn’t know this part of the story, and accepts that he will never know, and shows almost nothing of how that must hurt)

Lan Xichen: “But I guess it’s all about right and wrong, love and hate.”

The dichotomies again!

Also just want to poke at the wording here for a second. Lan Xichen’s line, in a more strictly literal translation, could be rendered as ‘But presumably it is simply this: right, wrong, kindness, resentment; these four words, that’s all’.

The ‘four words’ he refers to are 是非恩怨 (right, wrong, kindness, resentment). This isn’t the phrasing Wei Wuxian used (and Lan Wangji repeated), though it’s common enough in and of itself (Xue Yang for instance uses a variant of this in ep 39 - 谁是谁非, 恩多怨多 – ‘who is right, who is wrong; how much kindness, how much resentment’).

And you can thread this idea through Wei Wuxian’s story as well, through all of these stories both at the centre and at the edges

And this is where I get annoyed yet again at the subtitles translating 怨 to ‘hate’ rather than ‘resentment’

On the one hand okay fine I get it, ‘love and hate’ is a much more familiar dichotomy in English, especially in this context, and it matches the kind of ‘recognisable phrase’ feeling.

But on the other hand, it misses out the fact that 怨 is literally the ‘resentment’ of ‘resentful energy’ (and 恩 is closer to ‘kindness’ than to ‘love’)

And at the core heart of Wei Wuxian’s story (like Lan Xichen’s, like Xue Yang’s) is the duality of kindness and resentment. A sacrifice made out of great kindness, that leads him to the use of resentful energy. Wielding resentful energy for revenge and for war, but also wielding it to protect those he loves, wielding it for acts of kindness

And the way those two get tangled up even in the world’s perception of him; the resentful energy masking the kindness, the reasons behind its use.

Anyway, I just like the way Lan Xichen says this with this sense almost of universality, because 是非恩怨 , these four things, lie at the heart not just of this story but of so many. These four words that form opposites and yet the answers are uncertain, and sometimes unknown. And then how these words show up either literally spoken or very clearly invoked across the stories we see.

That… might not have made any sense. Have I just spent several hundred words on four? Maybe. Moving on.

Wow this story just gets… sadder.

Their father, bringing their mother back to Cloud Recesses, though she did not love him. To keep her safe, to stand in the way of any who would drive her away. Their father, marrying her and building a house that became her prison.

(And then they had two children. Which. Yeah we’re just Not Going To Unpack That Right Now)

But this puts… so much into a clearer context, a slightly different light.

(“I want to bring a man back to Cloud Recesses. Bring him back, and hide him there”…)

Except it’s not even just that. It… wow okay yeah just seeing the last 20-some episodes flash before my eyes here because:

Start with “Come back to Gusu with me, and explain it slowly” in the shock and dawning fear of seeing Wei Wuxian like this. And Wei Wuxian turned it on him like a weapon, and proceeded to push him away with a cruel smile and words sharp as knives.

And Lan Wangji must have heard his own command over and over in his mind after that, hearing only the echo of his father’s story, fearing that he had, in this moment of pain and fear for someone he loved, tried to do the same. Hearing Wei Wuxian’s cold refusal, and Wei Wuxian’s formal use of his name, and remembering that his mother had not loved his father.

(In that same conversation, we also get another command: “Answer me,” and the response is a question: “And if I don’t?” And so Lan Wangji’s options: to take his father’s path, and force, or to step back, and watch)

Then the fight in the courtyard—and I wonder if Lan Wangji, lowering his sword at the end, fears how this, too, could be a kind of force, when Wei Wuxian stops fighting back and simply closes his eyes.

And then they talk quietly on that rooftop. Lan Wangji pulls back a bit: he asks questions, and Wei Wuxian half-answers them, and finally we get “Let me help you”—an offer, rather than a demand, and Wei Wuxian says yes.

So okay! Great! Things are going well! Turns out maybe there is something to this ‘open and honest communication’ and consent!

Until it goes almost literally to hell at Nightless City, and Lan Wangji realises that he’s still watching Wei Wuxian dance towards a cliff’s edge.

But on that cliffside—“Do you want to learn Cleansing?” and “You promised to let me help you” and the recitation of the harms of demonic cultivation—Lan Wangji doesn’t know what to do. He can’t demand, and can’t force, and so all he can do is ask, and warn... but Wei Wuxian reads that as criticism, as condemnation, as distrust.

Then Baifeng Mountain. Lan Wangji approaches almost cautiously, and Wei Wuxian asks “who am I to you,” and Lan Wangji turns the question around. As if he doesn’t want to force onto Wei Wuxian a sentiment that isn’t returned. And then we get “zhiji” and “I still am” and again it’s almost another point in the communication column—

Except then it goes to shit again, and so if asking isn’t enough and offering isn’t enough and warning isn’t enough, what is there left

So we get “I want to bring a man back to Cloud Recesses. Bring him back, and hide him there.” And… yeah, Lan Wangji knew what he was saying. As did Lan Xichen, with his careful reply. And while Lan Wangji didn’t use a form of ‘want’ that would imply immediate intent, I think he… saw this in himself: this same impulse that led him to say “Come back to Gusu with me, and explain.” This part of him that wants to reach out and take, to grab on to Wei Wuxian and not let go, to keep him safe— sees that in himself, and fears it.

And so Qiongqi Path. Wei Wuxian asks “are you here to stop me” and Lan Wangji must make a choice: to become his father, or to let Wei Wuxian leave. He doesn’t see another option, between those ends of the spectrum. And so how fitting it is, that those two seem to be his only options, at one of the very junctures where Wei Wuxian asks him “What is black and what is white?”

It’s less dramatic in Yiling but it’s a similar thing: Lan Wangji at the foot of the mountain, walking away because Wei Wuxian expects him to leave, so he will not force his company, and will not ask Wei Wuxian to come back with him. Because again, he can’t see a way to do that that wouldn’t feel like giving in to the part of him that is like his father. He can’t yet see it as a thing of degrees.

I think in all of these, there’s a part of Lan Wangji that fears himself, fears what he feels, and what he will do if he lets himself act on that, because all he has to go off of is the tragedy of his parents.

And so it’s not until the cliffside that, desperate and no longer caring, he calls out “Wei Ying… come back?”

(Even then, he phrases it, semantically speaking, as a suggestion)

But by then it’s too late.

And then he spends sixteen years regretting that he could not find a way to do that sooner. Could not find a third path between imprisoning Wei Ying and watching him fall.

It is, I think, a part of what we see in him that’s changed since then. This sense that he does not fear himself as he once did, maybe.

He can find some space between the black and white—he will say “I believe you” and will walk to his side on the steps of Jinlintai when Wei Wuxian tries to push him away: because standing beside him is not the same as imprisoning him. And because he understands now that sometimes Wei Wuxian pushes people away not because he wants them to go, but because he does not want them hurt; that, too, is a question of choices and who gets to make them, but it’s a space he can navigate now with less fear.

Anyway. Moving on, once more.

Lan Xichen’s question to Wei Wuxian—“can you understand why my father did it” and “do you think he did the right thing”—are so much more than just that. It’s do you understand why I am telling you this story and do you understand what my brother did, and did not do, and why.

Lan Xichen talking about their childhood just breaks me.

These two, with a mother imprisoned and an absent father and an uncle trying so hard to keep that tragedy from repeating, but overcorrecting—they all overcorrect, in their ways.

Their mother, never speaking of her imprisonment or their studies. Speaking not of the roles they all play or the expectations placed on them all.

Lan Xichen says Lan Wangji looked forward to these visits more than anything, but it’s the quiet “so did I” that hits me. Because Lan Xichen is so astonishingly self-effacing in an almost literal way: he embodies his role absolutely, executes it as perfectly as he is able, and puts himself aside so thoroughly that you can hardly see the conflict. And it’s only in these brief moments, as he slips something of himself into this story about his brother (and this story he’s telling for his brother; even this is something done for another, not for himself), or when he’s with Lan Wangji, who knows him so well, that you see Lan Xichen. That he lets himself be Lan Xichen.

Their mother never spoke with them of her imprisonment, or her unhappiness… and now there is so much he does not know about her, and we do not get her name. And there’s… a lot of that in Lan Xichen.

LAN WANGJI. KNEELING IN THE SNOW.

Because he didn’t know. Didn’t understand what it meant, why he couldn’t see her.

He came back every month, waiting for someone to open the door I’M—

This is fucking heartbreaking.

And then years later he kneels in the snow again, silently, for one he sees slipping away from him.

Years later he watches Wei Wuxian fall.

Three years after that, he searches.

I just—

And then Lan Xichen lays it out for him.

Lan Xichen: “So, Wei-gongzi, back then, Wangji watched you learn your crafty tricks*. He didn’t say anything, but I knew that the pain and confusion in his heart was the same as what he felt for our mother.”

*I cannot tell you how badly I want to translate this to watched you walk your ghostly path because 诡道 (Netflix’s ‘crafty tricks’ or perhaps ‘cunning path’) is homophonous with 鬼道 (’ghost path’) and so that’s how I hear it every. single. time—

He wasn’t judging you for breaking the rules! He wasn’t condemning you for the path you chose! He was watching you walk a cliff’s edge, and terrified of losing you, and didn’t know how to call you back! And then you fell, and he waited, and even knowing you were gone he kept waiting for someone to open that door!

I’m not okay none of this is okay this is just. Knives.

And it’s doubly painful because like. Oh, Lan Wangji. On the one side, his fear of losing someone the way he lost his mother, to something he didn’t understand, not knowing what was wrong, not knowing why. And on the other side, his fear of becoming his father: afraid of doing anything to stop Wei Wuxian from leaving, from falling, for fear of forcing or imprisoning him. So afraid to lose him, but afraid to call him back.

And Wei Wuxian just. Speechless, because it hits right at the things he could never understand. That the path he walked to keep those he loved safe also hurt them, because it hurt him.

It’s… the beginnings of an understanding, perhaps, of what he truly meant to Lan Wangji. That the way he felt about those he loved, someone might have felt for him. That he mattered. That someone would fear to watch him fall, because they didn’t want to lose him.

That every time Lan Wangji asked about his sword or his cultivation or what would happen if he lost control, he wasn’t asking because of the rules. He was asking because Wei Wuxian was the brightness in his life, and because all Lan Wangji could see ahead, along this path, was snow.

4. A Song of Knowing

And now Lan Wangji comes up the path, carrying two jars of Emperor’s Smile, as their song starts to play

An echo of their first meeting, now that so much of the past has been revealed… but different now, because the door is open and Lan Wangji is inviting Wei Wuxian in rather than telling him to leave, pouring a cup for him rather than fighting him over the rules.

(Lan Wangji is not kneeling in the snow outside a closed door.)

And Wei Wuxian doesn’t even know what to say.

Or… he does.

He starts to say “thank you” and I would bet all of Lanling Jin’s money the words he wants to say are “thank you, and I’m sorry”

The words are there, even if they are unspoken… but perhaps it doesn’t matter if they are spoken or not; because in a way it’s not about gratitude or apology, just as it’s not about debt or obligation, or even regret.

It’s about… zhiji, and knowing one another, and the fact that they are here.

There was another flute at Qiongqi Path? What? I suppose that does explain the weird double iris in Wen Ning’s eyes.

And Lan Wangji… are you even remotely surprised Wei Wuxian didn’t mention it to Lan Xichen? Are you surprised in any way whatsoever that Wei Wuxian made no effort to say something that would help clear his own name, or absolve him of a responsibility he feels, of blame he feels is his due regardless of whether there was another flute or not? Are you surprised, Lan Wangji.

Oh, Wei Wuxian.

The way he walks out, alone, into the falling snow, smiling a sad kind of acceptance, and says it doesn’t matter to him now whether he learns the truth of the other flute or not. Says, almost literally, “Whatever. Fuck it.” Looks the world in the eyes, standing in the snow, and raises his drink in a half-mocking half-daring toast.

It’s not quite the same flavour of so be it as when he stood on the rooftop of Nightless City and laughed that wild broken laughter and threw at them all the accusations they had thrown at him, accepting the bitterness of their hypocrisy as he became their monster.

But it feels like a variation on that theme, a little. A little less broken, a little more… not quite defiant, but just… raising a toast to his fate, his role, and laughing in its face a little. A kind of do what you will to me; I don’t care; I know who I am

Wei Wuxian: “After all, in people’s minds, the Yiling Laozu did all those bad things. Even if I expressed my grievances now, I’m afraid no one would trust me.”

And that soft, not-quite-sad smile.

The rooftop of Nightless City was fury at this fact, bitterness at the hypocrisy of it all, accepted but in the way he accepted the arrow shot at him. This… this is the acceptance of an old wound, and old scar. There’s very little bitterness there; it’s more like a sigh. A kind of this is how it is, and I understand that, and I’ve made my peace with it. I can take it.

Wei Wuxian: “Sometimes the world only needs an excuse, or a target; a target everyone can hate.”

THIS! THIS IS EXACTLY IT! And I didn’t expect him to just put it into words like that. He made himself that target, or let himself be that target, because if the world needed one… well. Better him than someone he loved.

(But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt).

And again there isn’t that sharpness to it that there was before; he’s not standing on a rooftop looking out at the world that has made him its enemy, fully expecting to die before the next sunrise. It’s not… quite as actively self-destructive a statement as it might once have been, maybe. But this is still Wei Wuxian; this is still a part of him. There’s just a sense of… coming to terms with it in with the space of a little more removal, a little more understanding.

But he says it all facing away from Lan Wangji, facing out into the night, and the snow, and whatever the world will throw at him.

Wei Wuxian: “Even without Jin Guangyao, without that flute, there would be someone else. Or something else.”

And this!!! Yes!!!

The sense of… not quite inevitability, but that if it wasn’t this it would have been something else. Because he knew where his path was leading! Knows it even better now, perhaps, looking back on it. He had been making himself into a target long before he took up Chenqing, and so when the world needed someone to shoot at, there he was.

And maybe it could have played out differently; maybe they wouldn’t have aimed at the target he presented, maybe Qiongqi Path didn’t have to end in tragedy, maybe—but the point he makes here is that they can’t ever know. And that if small things like a second flute changed everything, it could have just as easily been changed—for better or worse—by so many other things, because he was walking a razor’s edge and he knew it, knows it.

There’s something in this, too, of… hm. Not quite saying it wasn’t your fault I fell; I was dancing on that cliffside and it would have been something, but it’s not quite not that either.

LAN WANGJI! IS PLAYING! THEIR SONG!

Calling Wei Wuxian in out of the snow. Calling him back.

(An open door in a house that was once a prison, the one who was lost standing in the doorway, warmth against the snow, their song against the silence)

And then it becomes this conversation between them with no words needing to be spoken aloud, because they are each other’s zhiji, they know each other.

“I really was lonely back then” in Wei Wuxian’s thoughts just breaks me. It’s such a simple, almost understated statement of just. The emptiness, the secrets, the way even surrounded by those he loved he was alone because they could never know, and he could never truly be one of them anymore. The three months alone in darkness and pain. The loneliness of being hated by all, seen by all as a target but known, trusted, seen as a person, by so very very few…

And then the way his “fortunately…” trailing off because looking at Lan Wangji that is all that neds to be said, fades into Lan Wangji’s own thoughts of there is someone who trusts you, and I’m just! These two!

Wei Wuxian: “To have in my life one person who truly knows me, that is enough”

I’M! SCREAMING!

To have one person who knows you. To have one true friend.

It was lonely then. But to have one person who knows him. That is enough!

This SCENE!!!!!!!!

The way none of it is said aloud! Here in the room whose name means silence! The only sound is their song because that’s all they need, to tell each other everything!!

Because! They! Know! Each other!

I’m on the floor but this time in a good way.

And then the way it closes with both of them repeating to themselves a version of their promise from the cave where they first joined hands, their promise from a lantern. Everything, for that. That, despite everything.

AND NOW HE DOES SAY IT I’M—

Wei Wuxian: Lan Zhan. I’m sorry… and thank you.”

But softly, so softly Lan Wangji may hear or may not… but what matters is that he looks up and sees Wei Wuxian’s smile.

(“One day, you will say these words while crying.” But now he says them smiling)

It’s just.

This scene is a such a beautiful confession and affirmation of everything they are to one another. It’s love and trust and knowing; apology and thanks and forgiveness; it’s understanding.

5. When You Help Set Your Brother Up With The Person He’s Been Pining After For Years And All You Get Is This Shitty T-Shirt Doubt

And then that scene fades out, their song fades into silence, and we open instead on Lan Xichen, alone.

The contrast there is. Striking, and really fucking sad.

Okay. I thought it was sad when it was just Lan Xichen, alone.

But now it hurts even more because Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are there, but set apart from him. They’re together, where Lan Xichen is alone, and then Jin Guangyao walks in and sits across from him, and it’s such a sharp contrast to Wei Wuxian half falling asleep on Lan Wangji’s shoulder.

On one side of the screen, absolute trust and understanding and love. On the other… Lan Xichen facing someone he loves, eyes closed, not even looking at him until Jin Guangyao sets his token on the table, pushes it across to him.

(Giving it back to him, and Lan Xichen asks why… and I wonder if there is something in this, from Jin Guangyao, of a gesture of farewell, of something like apology. Because I don’t think he ever wanted to betray Lan Xichen, or hurt him. I think he does genuinely care for him. But like so many others he has chosen his path and there are crossroads where it becomes impossible to keep all those promises and as he hands this token back I’m reminded of Wei Wuxian’s defection, a little. As if… if Jin Guangyao ends this now, or puts some distance between them, it won’t hurt Lan Xichen as much in the end. Which. I mean we saw how well that worked when Wei Wuxian did it, but).

And Lan Xichen does not call him A-Yao, does not greet him as a friend, does not smile at him. Their conversation is not one of friendship but of politics, of sect matters and the Yiling Laozu.

Lan Xichen may not be convinced yet, but he has to doubt. Has to hold himself back from the one he loves and trusts. Has to put himself aside from this one thing he got to have for himself, and play his role, carry out his duty.

Apropos of nothing, I can’t get over how much Lan Xichen looks like a friend of mine when they show him in three-quarter profile. It’s uncanny.

There’s what heading to the where now?

Jin Guangyao’s like ‘we assume Wei Wuxian did it’ and Lan Xichen’s expression is just ‘Wei Wuxian is falling asleep on my brother’s lap on the other side of the room right now and I know he’s talented but even he has limits’

Lan Xichen: “If he really is disloyal, I absolutely will not tolerate it.”

(I couldn’t think of a form of ‘betray’ that fit syntactically but know that I tried)

But it’s in this moment that you remember that Lan Xichen, for all his gentleness, can be dangerous.

And I can’t help but think of Wei Wuxian offering his life, over and over, to Lan Wangji. And Lan Wangji refusing to take it. And how the relationship between Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao is held almost as this darker parallel to those two, in certain ways.

(And when Lan Wangji says “I know”… there is sympathy, there. Because I think his thoughts follow, here, a similar line to when he looked at Wei Wuxian after Yi City and said ‘fortunately…’)

6. An Old Friend

Cat cafes don’t exist in this world yet so they just go pet rabbits instead to deal with the everything. Also it provides a perfect opportunity for them to talk… around some things without having to say them directly.

Honestly the rabbits don’t do much for me, but I fucking love this extremely grumpy donkey.

Wei Wuxian! Playing their song! As they walk side by side! Their paths the same!

The song Lan Wangji played to him the night before. Back and forth, a conversation between them.

And the way he smiles as he plays it, as he looks at Lan Wangji… he is answering Lan Wangji’s “figure it out yourself” here.

Lan Wangji still does not tell him the name, but when Wei Wuxian asks, he says he is the one who composed it. And when Wei Wuxian asks the name, Lan Wangji asks “what do you think” and… I think he knows.

Lan Wangji wants to hear it from him, because… thinking about the story Lan Xichen told, I think there’s an element here of still wanting Wei Wuxian to take this step. As if Lan Wangji is opening the door but it is for Wei Wuxian to decide whether to step inside.

But I think Wei Wuxian knows the name of the song. Or suspects, at least. He remembers it from the cave, knows it is how Lan Wangji knew him when he returned—it’s the song that let Lan Wangji know him. It is the song of their knowing of each other.

MIANMIAN!?!?!?!?!

MIANMIAN’S ALIVE!!!

Mianmian has a family, and a girl she has taught not to listen to nonsense rumours of the Yiling Laozu. I love her!!! So much!!!

(For once, the things whispered about Wei Wuxian when he’s hiding just out of sight are good—)

She had better fucking stay alive because she is, I’m pretty sure, the last (named) female character standing at this point.

But mostly because she’s awesome and I love her.

And then she just whips out her sword to defend her family. I LOVE HER!

Wei Wuxian. Do you not remember Mianmian?

Oh nevermind he got there eventually. Good.

Next (ep44) Previous (ep42)

#i sound like a broken record at this point but #this episode broke me. but like. gently.#the untamed #neuxue liveblogs the untamed #cql

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 24 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Arguing

After enjoying a tense afternoon with Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian comes home to enjoy a tense evening with Jiang Cheng. He pauses in the doorway as he takes in Jiang Cheng’s mood and decides which metaphorical mask he will put on to interact with his shidi. As someone who grew up with explosive people, I find this routine very familiar.

Wei Wuxian is always carefully playing a role as he interacts with the people in his life. Clearly he has read the classic sociology text The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and is using it as a how-to guide. We see him do this same calculation over and over, in which he reacts internally to a situation, comes to a decision about what persona to inhabit, and then dons that persona. It’s a typical abuse survival tactic and...it is exhausting.

This is why I think his leaving to be alone for a while in Episode 50 is a good thing. Being alone isn’t better than being with someone else, usually, but for Wei Wuxian, who is (by Episode 50) assured of love but not sure where he belongs in his own life, being by himself for a while is going to be the best thing for him. He can learn how to just be a person, instead of constantly trying to mold himself to fit everyone around him.

For the current tense situation, Jiang Cheng is polishing his sword, which, incidentally, is slang (in English, not necessarily in Chinese) for masturbating. Which makes their conversation about how frequently it needs doing kind of a hoot. “One time a month should do,” per Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng yells at Wei Wuxian--fairly, really--for being drunk all the time and not working on clan tasks. Then he responds to a hug attempt by shoving Wei Wuxian and knocking him down. JC asks WW if he’s too drunk to manage his spiritual power. Now, we know that he doesn’t have any spiritual power to manage, and that’s the main point of this interaction. But it also shows us something else about their dynamic.

This was just a quick hit, and when it takes WWX out, JC asks why he isn’t responding with spiritual power. Which means that apparently *every* time Jiang Cheng gives Wei Wuxian a shove or a shoulder check, or strikes him--like he’s been doing constantly since Episode 3--he’s putting spiritual power behind it. That’s...really harsh.

Jiang Cheng wants Wei Wuxian to fight back, and Wei Wuxian can’t; this is a big part of why their relationship breaks down. Casual blows loaded with spiritual power are part of their vocabulary, and Wei Wuxian can’t speak that language any more, even for basic defense. He’s literally not safe having simple interactions with Jiang Cheng now, because he’s secretly disabled, and Jiang Cheng is casually injuring him whenever he gets too close.

(more after the cut!)

This time Wei Wuxian has had enough, and raises Chenqing to Jiang Cheng, who immediately backs off. Jiang Cheng has seen that thing in action, not just on the battlefield, but in a small room full of whatever remained of Wen Chao when they were done with him. He takes this as a serious threat, and backs off, disturbed and puzzled and hurt.

Jiang Cheng thinks the change in Wei Wuxian is coming from apathy, not from disability, and so he misunderstands it over and over. Think of a friend saying “whatever, I’m sick of arguing with you, do what you want.” Jiang Cheng is very ready to feel rejected, and not at all ready to look at Wei Wuxian’s behavior and try to actually understand it.

Crying Over You

Wei Wuxian bails and goes to see Jiang Yanli in the ancestral hall, where she is polishing a name plaque. I turned the gamma way up to see whose it is and...I dunno. This character might be 江 (Jiang), I guess?

Jiang Yanli is the only one of the trio who knows how to mourn properly, in that she is taking some time to sit and be sad. Mourning the dead--both ritually and just in the emotional sense--is as important a part of reclaiming Lotus Pier as the training of disciples and having good times on the lake.

She asks him about his fight with Jiang Cheng and he says he’s used to fighting with him. Jiang Yanli asks him if he’s tired of living there, and Wei Wuxian deflects and deflects, saying “it’s my home, where else would I go?” and that if Jiang Fengmian hadn’t adopted him he would still be begging in the streets. He says “no matter what happens, I won’t leave Lotus Pier,” which is not an answer to her question.

It’s also not true. Like so many of his promises, it’s an expression of his wishes, with no space for the surprises real life is made of. He promises her that he won’t be reckless again, and asks her not to be mad at him. She says she can’t be mad at him, and then they share a flashback about Jiang Fengmian finding him on the street. This is a story, not a memory; Wei Wuxian can’t remember but he remembers her telling him about it. Jiang Yanli wasn’t there, in the moment. So this is her telling the story as it was told to her, probably by Jiang Fengmian.

Flashback Time

In the flashback, picky salad-hating Wei Ying is out on the street, looking for food in a cartload of pretty okay scraps. I mean, yeah, skip the tomatoes, but most of the greens look fine.

He’s found and fed by Jiang Fengmian, who recognizes him and decides to take him in.

Within a couple of episodes, we will see Wei Wuxian paying this favor forward, saving someone he finds starving on the street. Just like Jiang Fengmian, he's going to upset and disrupt his family in order to help someone for whom he feels a deep connection.

During this flashback we get a look at Jiang Fengmian’s sword, and it is a beauty.

What is Love

As the flashback ends, Wei Wuxian is smiling, hearing Jiang Yanli tell this touching story of starvation and orphanhood. She tells him he was born with a smiling face, and that he never minds much about sorrowful things; no matter how bad the situation is, he is always happy. Way to reinforce that metaphorical mask he’s wearing over his deep, deep despair, sis!

They talk a bit about Jiang Cheng’s bad temper. Then Jiang Yanli says now that her parents are gone, they three are the closest in the world, and he responds by putting his head down on her knee and theatrically saying he’s hungry. But he’s crying for real, and so is she.

Then he decides to ask her why people fall in love, basically, and claims that he does not have anyone in his heart. He says there’s no need to like a person that much, that it’s like “haltering your own neck,” according to Netflix. Let’s have a look at that figurative language for a second, and what’s missing from the Neflix translation.

What he says is (as near as my qhanzi.com skills can make out) “這不就是自己給自己脖子上套犁拴韁吗” which Google tells me means "Isn't this just putting a plow on my neck with a rein?" The part of the image that’s missing from Netflix subs is the plow, and the hard labor and animal servitude involved in pulling a plow. This isn’t a pro-romance image.

He’s clearly thinking about Lan Wangji when he lies about having no-one in his heart, but right now the yoke that he wants to escape has nothing to do with Lan Wangji. The person he’s harnessed to in a team, the person who he labors with, the person he wants to escape, is Jiang Cheng. What’s chafing his neck is the promise he made, to stay and serve as one half of a pair, when he can no longer pull his weight.

Busted

Speaking of Jiang Cheng, he is hanging around outside the shrine, listening to the conversation. Wei Wuxian busts him, pointing out not that eavesdropping is bad, but that it’s bad for grownups. Jiang Cheng points out that he’s the master of Lotus Pier so he’s allowed to go anywhere he wants.

(I love how he looks framed by this giant lotus behind him)

We Wuxian has another of those moments where he assesses the best approach to Jiang Cheng before responding.

Then he picks a fake fight with him about soup. Yanli comes out and tells them both to grow up, saying that JC is losing his demeanor as clan leader. He jokingly fixes his already-perfect robe ad they all have a chuckle.

Then Jiang Cheng reminds Wei Wuxian of his promise for the millionth time, and Jiang Yanli goes to make soup for the millionth time. As soon as the boys see that she’s gone, the smiles drop right off of their faces. They’re both performing their typical relationship dynamic for Jiang Yanli.

Being Reasonable

The brothers repair to the main hall, and stand behind the lotus throne looking out of this complicated wall/doorway thingy, while they talk about Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan.

Jiang Cheng is being mature and sensible here, trying to give Jiang Yanli what she wants and also explaining very, very basic political stuff to Wei Wuxian, who is too caught up in his hate boner for JZX to want to think about the bigger picture. He also thinks that Jin Guangyao is a nicer person, but Jiang Cheng says that nice doesn’t matter.

Wei Wuxian is getting a full head of steam going about what a jerk JZX is, when Jiang Cheng makes him actually stop and think, by pointing out that it’s not for them to forgive or not forgive Jin Zixuan’s past behavior; it’s up to Yanli.

Wei Wuxian sees the reasoning in this, and starts to say he can’t understand why Yanli chose to like this person, but then he stops himself and goes through a rapid series of thoughtful, uncomfortable expressions.

Perhaps he’s realizing that he himself has chosen to like an infamously stuck-up, fancy cultivator, albeit one with no soup-related character deficits.

Library Time

The stuck-up cultivator in question is currently in the Cloud Recesses library, where he has snuck into the forbidden books room, against his uncle’s express command, for the purpose of helping Wei Wuxian. The forbidden books room is an entire basement floor of the library; it probably has more books than the not-forbidden part of the library, since the main floor needs space for the restrooms, circulation desk, and copy machines.

(Did OP photoshop the Wangxian-in-the-Library porn picture onto Lan Wangjis’ book? She did.)

A couple of other Lans come along and see the main door unlocked. The lock is a big fish that probably uses magic for locking; it definitely doesn’t use a key. One of them steps in the doorway, glances back and forth without walking through, and does not check the secret door to the forbidden vault. Gosh, how did Su She and/or Jin Guangyao ever manage to steal secrets from this highly secure location, wow.

Lan Wangji hears the Lan disciple on guard duty say “don’t tell Hanguang Jun about this!’ and has a series of microexpressions that might indicate some kind of feeling about simultaneously being a rule breaker and a rule enforcer.

Boat Time

We end with an idyllic scene on the lake in Lotus pier, where a new batch of disciples is harvesting lotuses and learning the opposite of boat safety.

Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian are having a good time, and seem utterly carefree; both of them are good at living in the moment, or faking it.

Wei Wuxian thinks, in voiceover, that it seems that it’s not so hard to go back to the old days. Uh...ok.

Except he’s hiding a massive secret and these replacement kids are not the same juniors he used to hang out with, and he can’t actually teach them cultivation, since he has no socially-acceptable magic power, and everything is about to go to shit in the next episode. But you gotta take your joy where you can, I guess.

Note: There are a lot of questionable effects in The Untamed, but there are also beautiful scenes like this one, which looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting. Compare with the BTS below and you can see what a good job the VFX team did in bringing this lake to life.

#the untamed #cql #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #the untamed gifs #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs

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