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lilapplesheadcannons · 10 months

Text

The proposal

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

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

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

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

Jiang Fengmian dabbed the tears off his eyes.

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

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

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

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

"This many, auntie?"

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

"Why?"

"That's the law."

"What's the law?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cangse Sanren wiped her eyes.

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

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

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

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

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

Cangse Sanren turned her head to look at her husband.

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

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

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

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

Jiang Fengmian cleared his throat.

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

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

Jiang Fengmian struggled to find answers.

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

Jiang Fengmian smiled gratefully at his daughter.

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

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

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

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

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

But A-Ying wasn't paying attention.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jiang Fengmian interrupted.

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

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

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

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

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

"Fengmian, I caught a mouse!"

The squirming mass in her embrace giggled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wei Ying calmed down.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yay! I want a chocolate one."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"This is Lan Zhan."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"This is XianXian."

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

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

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

Yu ZiYuan turned to his mom.

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

Mrs Lan asked a pertinent question at this point.

"Why does he call him XianXian?"

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

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

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

Jiang Yanli was the first to remember.

"Mom, the icecreams?"

Yu ZiYuan sighed.

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

Mrs Lan shook her head,

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

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

"XianXian and I are getting married today."

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

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

Jiang Fengmian spoke in a soothing tone,

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

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

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

"We met A-Zhan's XianXian."

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

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

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

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

Jiang Fengmian laughed.

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

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

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

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

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

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robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

Note

Prompt: Wwx and LQR get deaged. They keep their memories, but have the mental age of theor bodies

Wwx is a genius 5 yo who keeps falling into cookie jars bcs he forgets they're taller than him and LQR is disgruntled to discover that, as a 13 yo w no impulse control or experience to hone his anger, he's still the oldest person in the room

Sonata no. 159 in C Major - ao3

(series: Variations on WWX & LQR in Assorted Keys)

Wei Wuxian knew what had happened the second he opened his eyes and felt the urge to start crying in embarrassment. Putting aside embarrassment, which wasn’t exactly an emotion he was all too familiar with, he hadn’t had the urge to simply burst into tears and mindlessly sob since he was very young.

Even in the worst moments of his life – the fall of the Lotus Pier, Jiang Yanli’s death, his own death – he’d retained his rationality as he wept, his too-quick mind repeating all the possible consequences over and over again; it had never been an urge to cry simply to vent his frustrations. He hadn’t done something like that since before his parents had died, when he had learned the hard way that crying didn’t necessarily mean you would get help from anyone.

But Wei Wuxian felt like crying now.

Not just crying, but that pointless ‘someone come help me’ crying that all children did until they learned that wasn’t the way to get what they wanted…and that meant that the array he’d been fiddling around with had worked.

Worked too well, even.

He’d only been trying to figure out what it was that Wen Ruohan had used to keep his appearance in his mid-twenties for such a long time – whatever else might be said about the man, mad and bloodthirsty tyrant that he was, he had been incredibly powerful, brilliant at both swordplay and arrays, an offensive powerhouse capable of flattening armies entirely on his own. So when Wei Wuixan had found some books stamped with the Wen sect’s seal in the Lan sect library, real books and not just propaganda copies of those awful Wen sect utterances, he’d been intrigued enough to smuggle them back to the jingshi and start picking his way through them.

They were all written in a beautiful flowing hand by what must have been an array master: the designs were drawn out in full but the accompanying explanations were sparse and abrupt, full of assumptions that the reader had sufficient underlying knowledge to fill in what was missing. Wei Wuxian wasn’t actually enough of an array master himself to do that, but he thought he knew enough and he didn’t especially want to have to ask one of the Lan sect’s array masters for help, lest they ask him what he was up to. He was clever and good at deduction; he figured that could figure out some of the inferences, extrapolate the rest, and he’d been more or less hoping for the best as he put the final touches on the array…

At first, nothing had happened.

He’d poked at it – again, nothing.

He’d been just about ready to give up on the whole thing when there had been the sound of someone right outside the door – he’d called out a welcome automatically, his mind mostly focused on the puzzling inertness of the clearly active array – and then, the very moment they’d walked in…

Boom.

And now Wei Wuxian was young again. Too young, even: Wen Ruohan had skillfully kept his age firmly at his early twenties, looking even younger than the dissipated louts he called sons, but Wei Wuxian…

He looked down at pudgy fingers.

He was five at best, he concluded glumly. At least he hadn’t lost his mind –

“What just happened,” someone said emotionlessly.

Wei Wuxian looked up. There was a thirteen-year-old Lan sect member in front of him, vaguely reminiscent of a young Lan Wangji – he had the same handsome features, though not quite the right ones, but unfortunately that meant this could be any of Lan Wangji’s relatives. The clothing, of course, was useless for identification, classic Lan sect robes, but there had been an unusual accent to the words that gave Wei Wuxian a moment of pause; he didn’t know if he knew anyone who talked like that. Like all those born and raised in the Lan sect, the boy spoke with an accent faintly reminiscent of the sweet tones of Gusu, inescapable no matter how harshly the sect sought to corral their speech into something more respectable, but his voice was also strangely atonal and flat, lacking something of the normal melody of speech and making the words a little more difficult to understand.

Wei Wuxian had no idea who this was.

“I made a mistake,” he said, trying to keep from sniffling while also wracking his brain to figure out who this was – the resemblance to Lan Wangji, now that he looked at it, was very strong; could this be Lan Xichen? Well, it didn’t really matter, as long as it wasn’t…

“Of course you did,” the boy said, voice completely flat. He closed his eyes and pinched the brow of his nose in an extremely familiar gesture of irritation.

Well, crap.

Wei Wuxian’s shoulders went up to his ears as he ducked his head. “…m’sorry, Teacher Lan.”

“An apology is worthless if it is not backed by action,” Lan Qiren said, and maybe he was trying for stern but for some reason it just came out as flat again. Had Lan Qiren had some sort of speaking impediment when he’d been younger? “If you do not stop what you are doing, your apology is meaningless. And if you will not stop, you would do well to at least take care to minimize the harm inevitably caused by your behavior.”

Wei Wuixan felt tears welling up in his eyes. Horrified, he tried to scrub at them, but it was no use: as far as his body was concerned, he was five years old, and it was time to cry.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he tried to explain, noticing that Lan Qiren was looking at him as if he were doing something extremely strange – understandable enough, sine Wei Wuxian wasn’t exactly a crier. “I just wanted to try something out…”

“Harm doesn’t have to be intentional for it to be harm,” Lan Qiren said, his voice still flat. He didn’t look quite so sour, though; now he looked more nervous than anything else. “Please stop crying.”

“I’m trying,” Wei Wuxian wailed. “I can’t help it! My mind’s the same as ever, but my brain’s a five-year-old brain!”

Lan Qiren grimaced. “Is there something that would help you?”

Wei Wuxian tried to think through what felt like unbearable desolation. When he really had been this age, had there been anything that had helped? He didn’t remember – curse his terrible memory!

Well, something more recent, then. What had helped A-Yuan, when he’d been at the Burial Mounds?

“…a hug?”

Lan Qiren flinched.

Wei Wuxian was nearly startled out of his tears.

A moment later, though, Lan Qiren resumed his regular expression as if nothing had happened. “Very well,” he said stiffly, and knelt down, holding out his arms.

Wei Wuxian intended to resist, at least until he figured out what that bizarre reaction of Lan Qiren’s meant, but found himself lunging forward at once, too eager for comfort to be able to hold back. He could feel Lan Qiren flinching again, but his arms were warm and comforting regardless, and children were always a little selfish.

After a few moments Lan Qiren began to awkwardly brush his hand over Wei Wuxian’s hair, smoothing it down, and that was even better.

“Didn’t you do this when Lan Zhan was a kid?” he asked, voice muffled by Lan Qiren’s sleeve.

“Just as you are affected by the transformation, so too am I,” Lan Qiren responded. “At this age, I had not yet learned to overcome my aversion, as I had by the time my nephews were born.”

Overcome could mean many things, from actually getting over to simply learning to endure, but Wei Wuxian didn’t ask. It seemed like it would be rude, and he really had been trying not to anger Lan Qiren more than he already had – the old man had a tendency to cough up blood just from looking at him, and while at first Wei Wuxian had felt it was merely exaggeration and unnecessary dramatics, he quickly noticed how worried the other Lan sect disciples were over Lan Qiren’s health.

“That must have been terrible,” he said instead, thinking of how much he enjoyed contact with others – the casual touching in the Lotus Pier, and even now his tendency to snuggle up with Lan Wangji whenever he could, hanging off of him like a monkey. Even in the Burial Mounds, all the others were careful to welcome him with hands on shoulders or friendly, and he had at least had A-Yuan to pick up and hold whenever he felt lonely…and he had so often felt lonely. “Did you always react like that every time people hugged you?”

“People did not hug me,” Lan Qiren said. “So it was not an issue.”

“I meant your family,” Wei Wuxian clarified.

“As did I,” Lan Qiren said. “We were not close.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him.

“…it is not a secret,” Lan Qiren said, blinking down at him as if surprised by his surprise. “Anyone would be able to tell you.”

Wei Wuxian’s mouth moved – he wanted to say something all of a sudden, wanted to blurt out how could they not hug you, they were your family. If he hadn’t known it would be making it worse, he would try to hug Lan Qiren again the way he used to hug Jiang Cheng when he was upset over his father again.

Wei Wuxian had long ago guiltily admitted to himself that Jiang Fengmian might have been the best uncle in the world but was far from the best father; it hadn’t been a realization he’d been capable of making when he was younger, too blind and arrogant and reassured by Jiang Fengmian’s love for him, and it had only been when he’d been caring for little A-Yuan and listening to Wen Qing’s scolding on how important touch was to a child of that age that he’d realized the depths of how unfair it had been to them both. Even back when he was young, he’d known instinctively that it was his job to make up for how little Jiang Fengmian touched Jiang Cheng – to make up for being there, for being the one who was loved so much and so clearly when Jiang Cheng was left behind.

But…

“Didn’t you have anyone?” Wei Wuxian asked, voice small.

Lan Qiren shrugged and did not answer. “You seem to be feeling better,” he observed, and Wei Wuxian found that he did. Lan Qiren released him. “What was it that you used to cause this, and can we reverse it?”

Wei Wuxian scratched his nose. “I found a book on arrays,” he said. “It was marked with the Wen sect’s seal.”

“Ah,” Lan Qiren said. “Wen Ruohan.”

“Exactly! I wanted to figure out what he did – how he stayed young. I thought these books might have some insight…why do you have Wen sect books, anyway? Were they left behind by the Wen sect when they invaded?”

“No. They were part of my personal collection, which was not burned.” Lan Qiren paused. “In fact, I suspect it was not burned because it included these books. Wen Ruohan has always prized the works of his hands above all other considerations, however illogical.”

“Wait,” Wei Wuxian said. “Those books were Wen Ruohan’s? As in, by him? He was the array master that wrote them?”

At Lan Qiren’s nod, Wei Wuxian marveled a little: he’d known the murderous madman was a genius in his own way, but really, wow. Those books were seriously impressive – he would’ve thought they’d have been written by some great ancestor. Not to mention the fact that they were all painstakingly handwritten, which he couldn’t imagine Wen Ruohan doing so lightly.

“How did you manage to get ahold of something like that?” he asked.

“They were a gift,” Lan Qiren said, and his face twisted a little with pain he did not seem able to suppress. “‘From one sect leader to another’, he liked to say. Later, when things went badly for him, he preferred celebrating the date of my investiture as interim sect leader over my date of birth.”

The date of Lan Qiren’s investiture? But Lan Qiren hadn’t been raised to be sect leader following a hand-off from the prior generation, the way it had been for Lan Xichen, or even following the suitable mourning period reserved for the death of his predecessor – he had been named interim sect leader because of what had happened with Lan Wangji’s parents.

Which meant that Wen Ruohan had had a habit of sending gifts on the anniversary of Lan Wangji’s parents’ disaster.

“…ouch,” Wei Wuxian said. He’d never gotten the impression that Lan Qiren had particularly enjoyed the role of sect leader, and that wince just now suggested that his elevation to that position had been even less welcome than he might have thought. “That’s bullshit.”

“No profanities.”

“That is definitely not a rule!”

“You are currently too young,” Lan Qiren clarified. “Although your mind remains that of an adult, your appearance does not. It would serve as a bad example for others if you were seen or heard.”

That made a certain amount of sense.

“Our first priority is to figure out how to reverse the effects of the array,” Lan Qiren declared, his voice still flat and unmoved, something that became even more apparent as he continued to speak at length. “I do not know if the array was deliberately designed incorrectly as a means of punishing the reader, which is possible, or if you erred in the creation thereof. Do not touch anything. I will ask one of the disciples to fetch the sect’s array masters, as well as clothing –”

“Why do you talk like that?” Wei Wuxian blurted out, fascinated.

Lan Qiren stopped, and his cheeks slowly flushed red. “You are young and controlled by your impulses,” he said shortly, and it took Wei Wuxian a few moments to realize that he was angry because his voice still did not change in tone. “But your mind is intact. You are capable of not being rude, and should manage yourself better.”

With that, he shook his sleeves – an effect ruined by them being far too big for him – and went outside to flag someone down to go get help.

Wei Wuxian initially wondered if they would listen to him, given that Lan Qiren didn’t look like himself, but apparently ‘Wei Wuixan has done something’ was all they needed to hear before they were willing to listen to instructions from just about anyone.

Rude.

…as his question had been, yes. He slunk over to Lan Qiren, finding as he did that being next to the older boy made him feel reassured and less nervous – even if it was clear that Lan Qiren was still fuming.

Several array masters arrived swiftly, as did new clothing in their current sizes.

Not far behind them were a set of doctors.

Wei Wuxian reluctantly submitted to being poked and prodded, his only consolation being that Lan Qiren was suffering from similar treatment, and handling it notably less well.

Maybe it was because of that touch aversion.

“I’m fine,” Lan Qiren finally barked after a few minutes, clearly pushed past the point of endurance. “There was nothing wrong with me at the age of thirteen!”

“But Teacher Lan –”

“Enough!”

“Teacher Lan, we need to see –”

Lan Qiren looked like he was about to have a fit.

“Cease,” a stern but welcome voice rang out from the door, and the doctors abruptly scattered like a flock of quail.

Lan Wangji looked like a terrifying god as he swept into the room, glaring. Wei Wuxian was happy to see him, overjoyed to the point of wanting to giggle, but also felt the abrupt urge to duck behind Lan Qiren and hide his face – it was a strange mixture of glee and shyness, none of which made the slightest amount of sense as a reaction to seeing his husband be awesome.

Being five years old was the worst.

Lan Wangji handled the whole thing quite well, keeping his face impassive. The only sign of surprise he let on was the fact that he looked for a long moment at Wei Wuxian, who waved jauntily at him, and then at Lan Qiren for an equally long moment.

“Shufu,” he finally said.

“Wangji,” Lan Qiren responded, and put his hands behind his back in proper Lan sect fashion. Or, well, it would have been proper Lan sect fashion, only Wei Wuxian was standing behind his back and could see how his hands were shaking. “Now that our health has been confirmed, we should examine the array. The sooner this is reversed, the better.”

Lan Wangji nodded and turned his gaze on the doctors, who crept out with their tails between their legs, ashamed – as they should be, for upsetting Lan Qiren like that. Wei Wuxian made a rude gesture after their backs, or tried, anyway; Lan Qiren grabbed his hand without even looking and covered it up.

Lan Wangji didn’t smile, but he looked amused, to those who could tell such things. The expression soon passed, however, and he went back to looking serious.

“Shufu, I can supervise the array masters in reviewing the array and starting to determine how to reverse the effects,” he said. “You are welcome to stay if you wish, but do not feel as though you must.”

Wei Wuxian expected Lan Qiren to stay, but instead he nodded and said, “I will leave the initial work to you. Feel free to consult me if you have any questions.”

And then, using the hand he already had on Wei Wuixan, he started walking out, dragging Wei Wuxian behind him.

“Hey, wait,” Wei Wuxian protested, noticing that no one, not even Lan Wangji, was making any move to help him. “Don’t they need my help? I’m the one who set it up! How will they recreate my process without me?”

“You take notes,” Lan Qiren pointed out, and Wei Wuxian pouted: he did, and good ones, too. “Anyway, do you really think you will be able to maintain focus and not distract them?”

“I could. That’s how I do things, I’m frazzled and distracted right up until I focus, and then I focus really well,” Wei Wuxian argued, although he stopped fighting to stay and started walking with Lan Qiren instead, giving in implicitly. And maybe Lan Qiren had a point, actually, because he felt much better now that they were in motion – he’d forgotten how much he thoroughly detested sitting still as a child…

He had the sudden memory, coming out of nowhere, that his mother had once called him her little wild monkey, climbing on everything. The thought made him smile. He’d thought he’d forgotten everything about her, given his poor memory, but it seemed not everything was lost.

They walked in silence for a little, with Wei Wuxian fiddling as they went with the many layers of a Lan sect robe, which was a little less complicated for a child but still more than what they’d used in the Jiang sect. After a while, though, that restless urge came upon him again.

“Soooooo –”

“Are you truly incapable of silence?” Lan Qiren asked. He did not sound angry, merely curious. “Does it cause you discomfort to refrain from speaking? Or is it merely that you dislike introspection and wish to avoid it whenever possible?”

Wei Wuxian disliked this conversational topic, that’s what he disliked.

Besides, there was something he needed to ask. He tugged on Lan Qiren’s hand, which he had not released and from which Lan Qiren had not shaken him off.

“Why were your hands shaking when you saw Lan Zhan?” he asked. It was a rude question, he knew, and overly blunt, but if there was one thing that he wasn’t willing to compromise on, it was Lan Wangji. If Lan Qiren was still angry at Lan Wangji, whether over what had happened all those years ago or for his role in Wei Wuxian’s presence in the Cloud Recesses, that was something Wei Wuxian wanted to know right away so he could deal with it. “Are you angry at him?”

Lan Qiren was silent for a moment, and when Wei Wuxian snuck a glance at him, he seemed to be thinking the question over thoughtfully.

After a moment, instead of responding, he turned off the path they were following and led them both off into a less-frequented part of the Cloud Recesses.

“If you’re bringing me here to silence me, I want you to know that I can be really loud,” Wei Wuxian said, smiling a little – he wasn’t actually afraid Lan Qiren would try to drown him or anything like that, even if it was mostly because he knew the old man wouldn’t break the Lan sect rules like that. No taking lives within the premises. “There’s nowhere you can take me that people won’t hear me if I try hard enough…”

“I would appreciate it if you would not try,” Lan Qiren said, coming to a halt near a small garden. “Similarly, I would appreciate it if you refrained from mentioning what you saw to Wangji.”

“What I saw…you mean your hands shaking?” Wei Wuxian frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Lan Qiren was silent for a few moments.

After a while, he sighed. “It was not anger that caused my hands to shake, but fear.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him.

“Not at Wangji himself, of course,” Lan Qiren said, and the world, which had momentarily gone off its axis, resumed spinning in the normal course of things. “And as mentioned, of course, part of the issue relates purely to the physical side effects of being this age, as well as the mental regression involved. Despite that, I would prefer, if possible, to avoid Wangji being aware of – of the fact that there is – a certain resemblance –”

Wei Wuxian might have the brain of a five-year-old, but he had been a genius even then.

“He looks like his father?” he asked, and Lan Qiren looked upset enough that he knew he’d guessed right. “Was he older than you? By how much?”

“Ten years, give or take,” Lan Qiren said, and seemed relieved not to have to explain further.

Wei Wuxian nodded, and wondered how bad, exactly, the relationship between Lan Qiren and his older brother had been. No matter his sudden burning curiosity, there was really no point in asking; there was nothing he could do about it – Lan Wangji’s father had died long ago, and Lan Qiren wouldn’t appreciate the reminder. But at the same time…

Well, despite everything that happened between him and Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have reacted like that to seeing him.

“Wangji is not unaware that he has the family features,” Lan Qiren said, filling the silence. “And Xichen as well. It has not bothered me in the past, and I do not wish for them to think, incorrectly, that I have harbored any sense of revulsion towards them previously for something like this, which is wholly out of their control. Not only is it incorrect, it could cause them undue distress.”

“I won’t tell,” Wei Wuxian said, thinking to himself that Lan Qiren was probably deluding himself if he thought Lan Wangji hadn’t already noticed, “but even if they know, I don’t think they’d take it to heart. You raised very perceptive, thoughtful nephews.”

Lan Qiren looked pleased by that, even if it did look like it was a little despite himself.

“Maintain your own self-discipline,” he said regardless, then started walking again. “I will repair my conduct. In the meantime, what can be done for you?”

“For me?” Wei Wuxian asked, surprised. He wasn’t the one stuck in some sort of childhood nightmare – he’d been quite happy at the age of five, since his parents hadn’t died until he was seven. “What about me? I don’t need anything.”

“Mm,” Lan Qiren said, and somehow they ended up in the Lan sect kitchens visiting what is, apparently, their secret cookie stash, something Wei Wuxian had not known about and was, quite frankly, shocked and appalled at the horrible oversight of him not having been informed about this earlier.

“The children are sworn to secrecy, particularly as to those from other sects,” Lan Qiren explained. “It makes them feel good to know that they can be trusted with ‘sect secrets’, and encourages cohesiveness within the sect. Now that you are married in, you are of course permitted to know, only as an adult they likely had no reason to think to tell you, while the children assume you already know.”

Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi certainly seemed to assume Wei Wuxian knew everything. He was going to have to do something especially wicked to them on their next night-hunt together to get revenge.

“I do feel better,” Wei Wuixan said, munching on another cookie. “I don’t know why, it wasn’t that I was feeling bad before, but still…better.”

“At that age you are spending most of your energy growing. It is tiring work.”

That made sense. Wei Wuxian nodded.

“We’re going to keep that thing about me nearly falling out the window between ourselves, right?” he asked, and Lan Qiren nodded, looking amused. “It’s just this body, you know, I’m clumsy now…”

“Is it your body? Or Mo Xuanyu’s?”

“…you know, I have no idea,” Wei Wuxian confessed, blinking. “I don’t actually remember what I looked like at this age.”

He thought about it for a moment, then asked, “Does it matter?”

“I suppose not,” Lan Qiren said. “Come, let us return. Now that you are calmer, if you wish to go assist Wangji, I do not object.”

“No, no, I want to spend time with you,” Wei Wuxian said, and it was even true. Lan Qiren made for an excellent big brother. “I’m surprised you didn’t want to be there, supervising.”

“Mm, it is the nature of the work, and its author.”

“Oh?”

Lan Qiren shrugged and took a bite of his cookie as well, somehow managing to make it seem graceful in a way Wei Wuxian was pretty sure thirteen-year-old boys innately weren’t. “Wen Ruohan was once quite charming. Even in his desire for dominion, he had a way about him that was highly engaging, and once I took the position of interim sect leader, we were obligated through circumstances to spend a great deal of time together, comparatively speaking. I dislike reminders of that time.”

Wei Wuxian could understand that. To go from something that was almost friendship, or at least a little bit of admiration, to something as traumatic as the burning of the Cloud Recesses…

“His work is genius,” he said. “If nothing else.”

“It is that. Those books were from before he lost his mind entirely, when he could still think of things beyond conquering the world…he was never kind, you understand; he was often cruel and selfish, even then. But not – in the same way, as it was after.”

Wei Wuxian’s interest was piqued. “You make it sound as if there were some incident you could point to that marked the shift.”

“Oh, there was, and very specific,” Lan Qiren said. “His murder of the former Nie sect leader, who had once been his good friend. He was never the same after that.”

“Wait, they were friends? Then why…?”

Lan Qiren shrugged.

Wei Wuxian considered it for a moment, then shrugged. He wasn’t really in any position to comment.

“I hope they fix this soon,” he said.

“As do I,” Lan Qiren said. “Better health is not worth going through adolescence a second time.”

“That’s arguable,” Wei Wuxian said, little fireworks going off in his brain: what if they could somehow keep the improved health of the current bodies when they resumed their future selves? Wouldn’t that be a great way to deal with chronic health problems like Lan Qiren’s? Maybe there would be a way – actually, now that he thought about it, maybe Lan Qiren being affected by the array wasn’t just an accident. Maybe the array specifically required two people to be involved… “I think I do want to go join Lan Zhan, actually. I have an idea!”

“I’m sure you do,” Lan Qiren sighed. “Please try not to break it worse this time. You are tolerable as a five-year-old, but I assure you, no one wants to see you when you were an infant.”

“Maybe I was a nice, quiet infant!”

“No infant is nice and quiet.”

Wei Wuxian cackled, suddenly realizing something wonderful. “You can tell me stories about Lan Zhan when he was younger!” he exclaimed, clapping. “Oh, this is wonderful! I don’t know how I didn’t realize it before – I want to know everything!”

He and Lan Qiren were going to be very good friends going forward, he decided beneficently. Very good.

#mdzs #wei wuxian #lan qiren #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #variations #ended up starting with the WWX POV ones for whatever reason

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ladysunamireads · 7 months

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#AO3 Link #FanFiction #AO3 Wangxian #♥#Wangxian #Lan Qiren #Pov #MDZS #⚣#⚔️#R:T #Abuse #A:Erdbeerfrosch

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b0dwr1ter · 7 months

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#sect leader yao #jin guangyao #su she #Lan wangji #lan xichen #lan qiren #nie mingjue #Nie huaisang #Jiang cheng #Wen qing #jiang yanli #mdzs polls

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wangxianficfinder · 5 days

Text

In the mood for...

Apr 14th

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1. I'm in the mood for some new lighthearted time travel fics ^^

🔒 how Yao Yongzheng traveled back in time to save everyone by ShippersList (T, 6k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Crack Treated Seriously, WWX is a Yao, Eventual WangXian, saving the world by accident, Genius WWX, Everyone Loves WWX) Sect Leader Yao saves the world. No really, he worked really super duper hard, too.

With Surgical Precision by metisket (T, 20k, WQ & WN, WQ & WWX, WangXian, Time Travel, Families of Choice, sibling bonding through murder, [PODFIC] With Surgical Precision by Gwogobo, With Surgical Precision [PODFIC] by Opalsong) And if you don't mind some lighthearted murder spree there's With Surgical Precision- All hail! Murder Queen, Wen Qing. (≧▽≦)

Practical Mythology by metisket (T, 17k, WangXian, Time Travel, YLLZ WWX, myths and legends, apparently the burial mounds has to fix everything itself, zombie farm collective, accidental deities, Families of Choice)

Sunset, Sunrise by Ariana Deralte (ArianaDeralte) (T, 23k, WRH & WWX, wangxian, WIP, Time Travel Fix-It, Crack, Temporary Character Death, sorry I killed a-Yuan for a few paragraphs before the time travel, WWX is a Wen, Genius WWX, WRH gets to rewatch the series as a treat, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, in this house we acknowledge that all the sects have flaws, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, WWX Has ADHD) enjoying this one (wrh "watches the series" after his death as a ghost and then he and wwx go back in time)

~*~

2. some fics of lan qiren being a good uncle? thanks for ur hard work! <3

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 786k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) LQR is a great uncle & teacher in this

Righteous at a Cost by thunderwear (G, 21k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, no one dies, LQR finds out about WWX’s core, WWX and LQR are friends??, In My Fic?, its more likely than you think, LWJ in the bg like whats happening?, Fluff, WWX goes to Gusu, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal) LQR persuades WWX to come to Gusu just to make LWJ stop pining

Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) LQR time travels & becomes a good uncle in the process (to WWX as well as his actual nephews)

Discordant Rhapsody by nirejseki (T, 49k, LQR & WWX, wangxian, JC & WWX, WQ & WWX & WN, LWJ & LQR & LXC, canon divergence, fix-it, hurt/comfort, trauma, politics, protective LQR, protective LWJ, protective WWX, LQR centric, whump, angst)

💙 Holding shreds by barisan (T, 5k, WangXian, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, No Sunshot Campaign, Body Swap, Not for sexy shenanigans, Chronic Pain, Hurt WWX, Hurt LWJ, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abusive YZY, Bad Parent YZY, Bad Parent JFM, Good Uncle LQR, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Inaccuracies, POV WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending, Jiāng Family Bashing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Getting Together, Smart WWX)

藍色的花，紅色的蘭 {Lan se de hua, hongse de lan} by Admiranda, AshayaTReldai (M, 45k, WIP, WangXian, Orphan WWX, Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, wwx raised in the lan clan, softer lqr, Good Uncle LQR, Good lan clan, Good Older Sibling LXC)

safe here with me by xcourtney_chaoticx (G, 3k, WangXian, Family Feels, Good Uncle LQR, WWX Goes to Gusu, Fluff, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Food Issues, Endgame WangXian)

The stuffed bunny, the beautiful nephew, and other gifts from Lan Qiren by deliciousblizzardshark (G, 8k, LQR & WWX, wangxian, Modern, Single Parent WWX, Good Uncle LQR, Accidental Uncle Acquisition, Found Family, Fluff)

🔒 An Old Fool by StarClearWaters (Readoutloud) (T, 32k, Madam Lan & LXC & LWJ & QHJ & LQR, LQR & WWX, Madam Lan/QHJ, wangxian, LXC/WQ, WIP, Time Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Memory Alteration, Temporary Character Death, Minor Character Death, Non-Consensual Drug Use, OOC, Twin Jades as kids, Mind Control, Manipulation, dafan wen, Slow To Update, a lot of original characters, Angst) time travel fix-it (LQR is the one who does the traveling). Sadly still a WIP but hope spring eternal

~*~

3. Hello!

I think my old itmf requests got lost but I have more!!

Wwx centric fics!!

A) him raising a-yuan! Like- I've found lots of fic where Iwj is a great dad and I want great good bestest dad wwx fics.

B) also fics with a-yuan having lots of feelings about wwx saving him/being the reason he's alive and all that he did for wens. Tbh I want literally anyone to acknowledge all that he did for others for no reward!! Just because!!! He's a good man!!!

C) wwx having found family, preferably OCs

D) wwx and ghosts/burial mounds. I want his relationship with the dead to be the main focus!!!

Thank youuu !!!

3A)

the kite string and the anchor rope by fleurdeliser (M, 38k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, set after the yiling date, Sick Child, the illness never gets worse than it is in the first 1000 words) Sickfic where WWX brings a sick WY to Gusu & cares for him

as i stumble homewards by the_pretzel (T, 27k, wangxian, canonical character death, canon divergence, demonic cultivator LSZ, found family, food issues, canon-typical violence, LSZ pov, angst w/ happy ending, fluff) Ghost dad!WWX

3B)

Symmetry by Vir_Abelasan (M, 13k, WangXian, LSZ & WWX, One-Sided ChengXian, One-Sided ChengZhui, Canon Divergence, LSZ is raised by wwx, Wwx still dies sorry, Revenge, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Dark LSZ, Manipulation, Power Imbalance, Torture, Not JC Friendly, JC’s Canonical 13 Years Murder Spree, BAMF LSZ, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, LSZ Gets to Go Apeshit) Does it count if LSZ's feelings towards WWX come with desire for revenge against those who wronged his dad?

3C)

And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Screw the Cultivation world tbh, The Lan precepts deserves better, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, domestic life, Social justice boyfriends wangxian, Happy Ending)

🧡 the river brought you here by chilianxianzi (Not Rated, 11k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, POV Outsider, Amnesia, Past abuse, Strangulation, Found Family)

💙🔒Away from Trouble by Ilona22 (M, 15k, WangXian, Not JC Friendly, LWJ/WWX Get a Happy Ending)

3D)

A perfect empty space by LixyStrange (M, 16k, wangxian, WIP, Major Character Death, Demonic Possession, Dark Magic, there will be smut, There will be violence, There will be death, prepare yourself, Mind fuckery, eldritch horror, Suicide, Hand Jobs) might fit

to creep in those empty spaces by anonymous (E, 51k, wangxian, WIP, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Major Character Death, Mpreg, Miscarriage, Burial Mounds, Body Horror, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, False Pregnancy, Discussion of Abortion, Medical Trauma, Ghosts, Recovery, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Eventual Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, main pairing is consensual, Blood and Violence, Gore, Past Child Abuse, Demonic Cultivation, WWX Has PTSD, Sunshot Campaign, not for jc fans, not friendly to the cultivation world in general, Rewrite in progress!, this will stay up for posterity, discontinued) fits but is horror

~*~

4. Hello! Thanks for your work.

I was reading this fic (Tragedy is Not the End) and I realized I was craving for more LWJ and LSZ stuff.

So are there any fics where LWJ is hurt and we get to see LSZ's reaction and/or fics where LSZ/A-Yuan is hurt and we see LWJ's reaction.

Just some Father-Son stuff.

Thank you again!

~*~

5. A) Hi dont know if im asking in the right place or not but any Shameless!WWX fics preferably no modern au)

B) In the mood for a modern fic where WWX dresses in croptops/femboy type clothing and LZ just diesnt know how to handle it

C) In the mood for a modern fic where wangxian are just cute awkward teen highschoolsweethearts?? angst or fluff anythings ok im just a sucker for awkward teen wangxian @yesibest

5B)

please forgive my most passionate disruptions by pumpkinpaix (E, 65k, WangXian, Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Modern with Magic, Modern: Still Have Powers, stripper!WWX, Graduate School)

reports of my heterosexuality may have been exaggerated by sysrae (E, 8k, wangxian, modern, college/university au, getting together, straight boy LWJ, disaster gay WWX, heteronormativity, hockey player WWX, little angst)

~*~

6. hey there... jealous lwj fics? thanksss

Unavoidable by diamondbruise (T, 18k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Amnesia, Jealousy, lwj just is like that idk what to tell you, Misunderstandings, Falling In Love, Again, Happy Ending, it's that thing where they're married but lwj can't remember wwx and they meet again)

Marital Prospects by Vamillepudding (G, 18k, WangXian)

~*~

7. hiii admins, looking for more fics like Joy In the Midst of These Things. basically wwx with babies :') thank uuu

~*~

8. Any Ghost!WWX fics where he answers LWJ’s inquiry during the 13 years or something similar to that?

🔒 Response by Aki_no_hikari (G, 12k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Love Confessions)

long is the way by queen_gee (Not Rated, 1k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending,🔒long is the way by MissyPJ, [PODFIC] long is the way by flamingwell)

~*~

9. hello! itmf more post canon fluff like a quest (for kisses) thankss <3

Deeper grows my longing by feyburner (T, 4k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Getting Together, First Kiss, Deeper grows my longing [podfic] by someplacelikebolivia)

How to Keep Your Diplomatic Asset Close (and Your Wei Ying Closer) by His Excellency by misscam (M, 4k, WangXian, Getting Together, Fluff, Smut, Humor, CQL!verse, some inspiration from the novel)

I hope that you will come and meet me by feyburner (M, 28k, WangXian , Post-Canon Getting Together Love Letters Emotional Hurt/Comfort Cuddling & Snuggling Literal Sleeping Together Intimacy CQL Compliant No Plot Just Feelings First Time, [Podfic of] I hope that you will come and meet me by exmanhater )

Of Pining, Obliviousness and Failed Seclusions (Or How Gusu Lan Sect Almost Got Eight New Sect Rules) by misscam (G, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, CQL and novel mix, Spoilers)

Rarely Pure and Never Simple by thunderwear (Not Rated, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Truth Spells, Curses, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Post CQL, Getting Together)

with such a suffering, such a deadly life by cqlorphan (T, 7k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Getting Together, Curses, Curse Breaking, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Affection, Touch-Starved, Touch-Starved LWJ, Love Confessions, LWJ Whump, a bit, Cuddling & Snuggling)

You, Asleep and Dreaming by etymologyplayground (M, 9k, WangXian, LWJ POV, 5+1 Things, Literal Sleeping Together, Sharing a Bed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Intimacy, Getting Together, Fluff, Post-Canon, Undressing, wwx's 'angry lwj' kink)

~*~

10. Hiiiiiii :D for the next itmf do you have any wangxian secret relationship recs? Bonus points if it’s from the Cloud Recesses Study Arc!!!! (And only happy ending please!)

Thank you! Hope you have a good day 💜

A Guide on How to (not) Have a Secret Relationship by Grapesey (YumGrapeJuice) (T, 6k, wangxian, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Boys Kissing, they are horribly in love, WWX is a Little Shit, LWJ is So Whipped, WWX is obsessed with LWJ’s hair, JC is So Done)

~*~

11. Hi!! This is for itmf. Is there any wangxian fic that involve noodleji? I don't care if it's dragonji transform to noodleji. Dragonji hides himself as noodleji as long as there noodleji involve. Thank you and have a great day😘 @chibiizzy

Coil Tightly by Thunderstruck (Blueyed_Impala) (T, 50k, WangXian, Dragon LWJ, Shifters, Modern with Magic, WWX is oblivious to magic, Slow Burn, Fluff, Attempt at Humor, References to Animal Abuse but the animal is LWJ, Hurt/Comfort, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, WWX has abandonment issues, Possessive LWJ, Clueless Flirting, OC Lan disciples for plot reasons)

~*~

12. Hello There! I want some suggestions like these 2 fics Sunset, Sunrise by Ariana Deralte (ArianaDeralte) and To the Solitary Me, Who Loved You by gremlinweiying

like other sects head or someone with authority finds the potential in WWX and tries to support him with the help of their authority and not letting others defame him

I hope you can suggest me some like these

thank you in advance @vbhardwaj-reads

A Thousand Things by tickertape (M, 108k, wangxian, canon divergence, WWX not adopted by Jiangs, developing friendships, miscommunication, misunderstangings, nightmares, hurt/comfort, panic attacks, WWX’s fear of dogs, slow burn, cultivation world bureaucracy)

in the shadow of moonlit flowers by Reverie (cl410) (T, 56k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, cloud recesses, NHS & LWJ friendship, developing relationship, LWJ pov, minor injuries, autistic LWJ, implied/referenced child abuse, aka YZY warning, genius WWX, light angst, hurt/comfort, WWX protection squad)

Just Say Yes by edenwolfie (T, 10k, WangXian, Matchmaking, Pining, Oblivious, Biting, Getting Together, Canon Divergence, POV Alternating, Fluff, First Kiss, Declarations Of Love, Humor, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Good Uncle LQR)

~*~

13. Hi. Can I get a fic where wwx was abandoned by his parents or other important figures in his life? I want to read him with abandonment issues. But I'd prefer the version where he acts more careless/indifferent about people instead of clinging to them. "they're going to leave anyway, why should I care about anyone" type of vibes. I just want to read a cold indifferent unsmily wwx. (I know it goes against his characterization but indulge a man please)

See Me, Feel Me (Listening to You) by Ghost_Honey (T, 29k, WangXian, POV WWX, WWX Needs a Hug, WWX’s Abyssmal Self-Esteem, Emotional Healing, Angst, The Juniors love their Senior Wei, Curses, WWX is an Unreliable Narrator, JC & WWX Reconciliation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling) this may not be exactly what they're looking for but it sort of fits

~*~

14. hi! do you happen to know any fics where wei wuxian cultivates his (mo xuanyu's, either slightly developed or yet undeveloped) golden core post-canon? even if that's not the main focus of the fic

The Twin Blades of Yunmeng by GhostySword & ofmindelans (T, 89k, JC & WWX, wangxian, JC/NHS, canon divergence, JC & WWX, reconciliation, BAMF JC, protective LWJ, golden core reveal, angst w/ happy ending, slow burn, sect leader QS)

call me home and I'll build you a throne by anaphoricae (E, 51k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Cloud Recesses, Getting Together, Developing Relationship, Self-Indulgent, Gusu Lan Juniors Dynamics, Touch-Starved, Non-Sexual Intimacy... and then Sexual Intimacy, Lán Juniors Gossiping about Wangxian, as a treat, Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort, little hurt lots of comfort, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Farmer WWX, Chief Cultivator LWJ, Mutual Pining, Communication, Quietly Falling Into a Married Life, Light Angst, Wholesome, POV LWJ, POV WWX, LWJ in braids agenda, Sharing a Bed, WWX's Birthday, Semi-Public Sex, Cold Springs, Inventor WWX, Jealous WWX)

Continuation by thefaceofno (T, 13k, WangXian, Canon Continuation, wwx builds a lotus pond in cloud recesses, Hair Brushing, Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, Pining, gay disaster lwj, Post-Canon Fix-It)

~*~

15. Hi, im in the mood for angst and hnc, so any fics where wangxian fall out of love with each other? only one, or either is ok (they can get together in the end again, i dont mind, but if they dont i wont have any complaints either) @jawla-mukhi

Infidelity AU by Asmayi (E, 38k, wangxian, LWJ/MXY, WWX/WN, Hurt No Comfort, Sad WWX, Cheating, Infidelity, Emotional Infidelity, OOC, Modern, Professor LWJ, Engineer WWX, Student MXY, Teacher-Student Relationship, College/University, Don't Like Don't Read, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Heavy Angst, Married WangXian, Translation Available, Spanish Translation, Not LWJ Friendly, POV LWJ, Divorce, Mental Instability, Guilt, Break Up, Post-Divorce, Suicidal Thoughts, Mental Breakdown, Crying, Non-Linear Narrative, Retrospective, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Second Chances, Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Healing, Implied Sexual Content, WWX Gets a Hug, Cinnamon Roll WN, good kid A-yuan, Old Friends, Friends to Lovers, Remarriage, Fluff and Angst, LWJ is So Whipped for WWX, POV Alternating, What-If, Dorks in Love, Anal Sex, Tender Sex, Jealousy, Insecurity, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Esteem Issues, Dirty Talk, Protective LWJ, Not MXY friendly, Blow Jobs, Possessive Behavior, Body Worship, Angst with a Happy Ending, Feminization, Rough Sex, WWX Needs a Hug, LWJ Needs a Hug, Exhibitionism, Just for the Extra chapter, Angst and Feels, Family Fluff, Emotional Hurt, Married Couple, LSZ is a Wei, POV Multiple, Romance, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Non-Canon LWJ, Child LSZ) *Fabulous* and wrenching.

~*~

16. Hellooo ;)

I was wondering if you had a fanfic in which wangxian and Wen Ning go to the past? Or any fanfic that explored Wen Ning's and Wei Wuxian's friendship

If not that's okay! This account is really helpful and makes it easy to find interesting fanfics ♡!

So Call Me a Pessimist, but I Don't Believe in It by Anonymous (Not Rated, 133k, WIP, WangXian, Food Issues, Family Feels, WWX is a music teacher, WN and WWX are Best Friends from the future, They use memes to talk covertly, Transmigrator WWX, transmigration au, Slow Burn)

~*~

17. Good morning! I'd love to read more fics where the MDZS cast are some sort of mer!creature. Could you rec a few good ones?

🔒 the past drifts away with the waves by thelastdboy (E, 52k, wangxian, WWX & Wen remnants, LWJ & LSZ & WWX, graphic depictions of violence, major character death, canon divergence, fall of lotus pier, major characger undeath, YZY being an asshole, implied/referenced child abuse, minor character death, major character injury, amputation, loss of limbs, transformation, merpeople, fierce corpse WWX, kind of, merperson WWX, resentful creature WWX, undead WWX, riverspirit WWX, it gets worse before it gets better, heavy angst w happy ending, no sunshot, hurt/comfort, politics, not cultivation world friendly, slow burn, getting together, revenge, demonic cultivation, WWX pov, dark WWX, monsterfucker LWJ, wen remnants live, sect leader WQ, WIP) WWX dies in the fall of LP & becomes a resentful mer-creature

🔒 Bottom of the Deep Blue by mondengel (T, 20k, wangxian, mermaid au)

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder #long post

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jengarie · 1 year

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pov: u are lan qiren and u just caught ur nephew sneaking candies after curfew, what do u do

(originally tweeted on aug 2021)

#sweet tooth lz <3 #mine #doodles #animations #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #lan wangji #lan zhan

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pakhnokh · 7 months

Note

I kept thinking on how HoG au could happen.

1. LZ must arrived to burial mounds and convinced WY to surrender in the time between when the siege start and the time when all preparation are made to storm it.

Because 1. All the cultivators are still afraid of the Yiling Laozu. They saw first hand on how he fought at the sun shot campaign. So having him surrender by the Hanguang Jun is a better option.

2. They have no way of knowing if or when WWX die, he would come back as a bigger problem. A calamity for example.

3. Gusu is a place where the resentment energy is the lowest, thus, also the place WWX would be the weakest.

4. People like JGS would still be very interested in WWX invention and power. So keeping him alive yet trap and under watch is a tempting offer. For if they find a way to safely command him. Or if their research into his works blew up in their face. Plus a scapegoat.

5. Everyone (except some who will not speak) think LZ hate WWX and his method. So they would think no one would be a better warden then LZ for WWX as a prisoner.

In HoG universe, Lan Wangji confessed his feelings to Wei Wuxian in the cave where he tried to heal him, confronted the 33 elders, brought Wei Wuxian back to the Burial Mounds and returned to receive his punishment which made him stay in his Jingshi due to all of the wounds. I believe he didn't know that the siege is planned (because in the novel he gets the news that Wei Wuxian died and it's shocking to him. I believe if he knew he would head there right away with all injuries) But in HoG Lan Wangji gets to know about the planned siege and storms there immediately. When he arrives he sees Wei Wuxian already kneeling in surrender, because he realized that if he goes on to fight he will probably lose and the Wens he protects will suffer a horrible fate. He is ready to surrender and be taken by whichever sect wants to have him, but at that moment Lan Wangji arrives, gets near him and begs him again to come to Gusu with him, gaining the courage to confess to him once again. Wei Wuxian thinks that this is some kind of a cruel joke, because Lan Wangji never liked him, and he thinks that this is Lan Wangji's way to lure him to Gusu to be cleansed, indoctrinated and punished, just like he always thought would happen when Lan Wangji asked him to come to Gusu with him. (It was always Lan Wangji coming to Wei Wuxian with the "your methods harm the body and the mind/soul" crap (from WWX's POV) and then asking of him to come to Gusu, so Wei Wuxian was always sure that Lan Wangji wants to punish him or fix him at most, knowing it futile since he can't the normal "right" cultivation without having a core. He declined the offer again and again.) But this time when he already realizes that the sects are willing to spare the Wens if he surrenders and comes with them, Wei Wuxian listens to Lan Wangji and decides that to go with him would be his best bet. He'd rather stay with Lan Wangji, whom he believes to be just and fair, rather than be with the other sects who are driven by hate and revenge (like Jiang Cheng), opportunism (like Jin Guangshan) or a strict sense of justice (like Nie Mingjue). Lan Wangji, like his father, takes Wei Wuxian and declares that he will bring him to Gusu and marry him so that he will always be under his watch. What he means by that is that Wei Wuxian will always be under his protection, but what Wei Wuxian and the sects think of that is that Lan Wangji is willing to sacrifice himself (meaning not to be married to any woman in his life, which is a big deal especially for a man of a high status like himself) and seal his fate to Wei Wuxian's just so that he can watch him, control him, and keep him from causing harm to the people and being a threat to the cultivation sects by encouraging simple people to cultivate in his method instead of relying on the sects for protection. They agree to Lan Wangji's declaration, as much as Lan Qiren tried to oppose it, but Lan Xichen, knowing his brother's true intentions, stopped his uncle from objecting. They demand that Lan Wangji will make sure that Wei Wuxian is locked in one place. They confiscated all of his weapons, and made Lan Wangji swear to them that he will have no access to anything that he can use to create dark magic. At the same time of course they took all of his writings, saying that they are dangerous and that they will get rid of them but in truth keeping them to learn from Wei Wuxian's methods themselves. Wei Wuxian asked Lan Wangji to ensure with the sects that the Wens stay safe, but the most he could do was to have their promise to keep them safe in a camp, but under the watch of cultivators from all sects. They are being kept alive but nothing more than that. Anyways Wei Wuxian goes back to Gusu with Lan Wangji and the Lans, they make a simple wedding rite just for the practical side of it, and Wei Wuxian is put in the house where Lan Wangji's mother was held for almost the same reasons. I'm sure that I will understand my own story better as it goes, so I might not have all answers now hahaha

#house of gentians

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melodramamatic · 6 days

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This started as a multiple rambling drafts exploring my likes and dislikes about MDZS/Untamed characters as they are most often characterized in fandom, and I think I cracked the code here. I like the grumpy responsible ones and pretty much nobody else. In this essay, I will explain why. (For clarity, the vast majority of what I'm discussing here relates to how the characters are portrayed in the fandom. There's a lot of context and complexity and variation in canon that I really don't want to try and get into. I'll stick to the tip of the iceberg thanks.)

My favorite tired grumpy ones: Jiang Cheng, Lan Qiren, Nie Mingjue; you could get a coffee with any of them, bitch about work, and they'd get it. They have responsibilities they didn't ask for, but do their absolute best anyway. Because its not just them who goes down if they don't. They are tired, but they can't stop, they have people depending on them. They aren't nice about it, they don't have time for nice, nice doesn't run your sect. They don't like the petty politics and socializing involved with being in charge, they don't seem to like the power or the perks. They consistently give up or don't get things that would make them happy, because they're more committed to their responsibilities. (I could maybe add Wen Qing to this list, but she's more complicated given her complicity in Bad Things - while her family was being threatened, to be fair - and the fact that we see very little of what she wants as an individual. Though it's implied she would have married JC if he could have protected more than just her, but the Jiang weren't strong enough for that and both of them knew it. See later rant about the treatment of women in canon.)

Jiang Yanli and Lan Xichen are supposed to be the nice, likeable ones and I don't think I could handle more than small talk with them. They spend too much time keeping the peace and wanting everyone to get along and trying to pacify everyone as if that's the same as getting people to cooperate with each other. (Wen Ning could maybe be thrown in here, but it's implied the dude was bottling it up so intensely it was literally the reason Wei Wuxian was able to turn him into the most powerful (and conscious) resentful-energy zombie. Full Respect.) I don't like fighting either, but I'm allowed to not like things. I am allowed to have any opinion I want so long as I'm not hurting anyone else with it (I hate that I have to specify here, the difference between having an opinion and being a prejudiced asshole. You know the difference, and I know you know the difference. If someone is claiming homophobia, transphobia, racisim, etc is 'having a different opinion' they're in denial about being a dick and trying to hide it behind polite language). Which means I don't have to get along with every person I meet. It's easier to try and get along with the people I deal with regularly, that's just being professional, but I'm not turning step-ford smiler. I refuse. I can work with someone I personally disagree with and dislike, but anyone who tries to make me like them or spend time with them recreationally is being controlling. Also, I don't remember Jiang Yanli expressing goals or opinions that didn't relate to her being a sister or future-wife, and that's definitely a failure of the narrative and it's tendency to not really value women except in relation to the men around them.

(I get it, none of the women are the main characters and everything mostly revolves around the POV of the main characters. But. If they're there at all, they're there for the benefit of one of the men in the room. Even Mianmian is there to prove Jin Zixuan is not as much of an asshole as he comes off as, because she's willing to spend time with him and we see her later show she wouldn't put up with the rest of the Jin. Wen Qing is there to prove some of the Wen aren't bad and to be guilted by a charismatic young genius into performing experimental surgery to 'fix' his nonconsenting, traumatized, unconscious foster brother. My opinions on that surgery are only partially relevant to this conversation, but I will happily scream about that later.)

Feel free to yell at me for the next bit, but remember everyone can have any opinion they like. Disagreeing makes more interesting conversation than agreeing on everything.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanji drive me up the wall. I could not deal with them as a couple or as individuals. Neither of them are bad people and I want to say that now, on the record, before I make very general statements about them to avoid being here all night nitpicking. So. On the record. I like the narrative of the villainized man who did what he had to, finally getting his happily ever after with someone who never stopped believing in him, and that belief fully paying off with a reveal of the actual villain. That said, onto why I don't vibe with them.

As a couple, it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter so long as they're happy with each other. Life doesn't work that way. We live in communities, and we have responsibilities to those communities, even if those responsibilities are as simple as putting the cart back at the grocery store. (I am 110% judging you if you don't. Just walk it back to the cart return, and don't be an asshole.) But once these two get together, it's like everyone else can fuck off. It's fine to be a happy couple. It's great. But if someone you claim as family has just had something traumatic happen to them, you should check on them. Not just on your partner, for whom the experience was arguably less traumatic. (Not trying to measure trauma here, but Lan Wanji and Wei Wuxian were not emotionally invested in Jin Guangyao as a person and his entire betrayal reveal wasn't going to be nearly as upsetting for them as it was to his nephew, the person he co-parented said nephew with, and the person arguably responsible for supporting him through his rise to power.) Also, it isn't healthy to have your only close personal relationship be your partner. Friends are good and important. Canon and immediate post canon has them isolated for plot reasons, and then in a honeymoon phase, but I see them as having an uphill battle for any sort of social ties. The Juniors don't count. Cross-generational friendships are great, but the context of this (and I'm missing a lot of the historical/cultural stuff) puts Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanji as too much above them in a social hierarchy to be proper equals. Even if Wei Wuxian tends to disregard social norms, the Juniors are expected to defer to and honor him as their elder and as someone who can teach them.

As an individual, Wei Wuxian is inconsiderate and self-absorbed. To me, as a modern western audience member missing a fuck ton of the historical context and linguistic subtext of the story, he still comes off as someone who casually disregards rules, boundaries, and other people's opinions, and gets away with it all the time. If someone I wasn't very close friends with was that touchy-feely with me without permission, I would avoid them like the plague, and that's in a modern American context. He's got MCU Tony Stark characterization problems. He's a charismatic genius with wealth(y connections) who continually gets away with behavior other people wouldn't even consider (except for Madame Yu, who gives him his Complicated Childhood badge) and creates horrifying weapons of warfare that everyone wants on their side until they want him dead because he won't do what they want. Also he's a poor little meow meow who sacrifices himself for people and is misunderstood by the public.

He gets treated like he never had any agency, and none of it was his fault or choice, which would remove the significance of his sacrifices and all the genius work he put in to create the most terrifying and cultural-taboo-breaking method of fighting anyone ever used. I know I didn't get the cultural taboo of using the dead to fight at first, but I've seen explanations that compared it to the horror of finding out a modern person was mutilating babies. We're talking beyond the horror of cannibalism, which is understandable in a survival situation. This is a guy who was pushed to the edge and chose to do awful things instead of die. Understandable, but horrifying. The rest of the cultivation community had good reasons to be afraid of him after the fact, especially since he was rather publicly downward spiraling with PTSD and alcoholism.

But I could tolerate all that, if he ever once made progress toward considering how he affects anyone except Lan Wanji. Yeah, he and the Wen Remnants die very horribly and unjustifiably because of outside manipulation. But Wei Wuxian gets to swan off into the sunset with his man, an anonymous face, and a restored reputation. He tells Jiang Cheng, who just found out Wei Wuxian orchestrated an extremely violating nonconsensual surgery that affects him more than physically and spiritually and had his co-parent nearly murder his nephew, that it's all water under the bridge and they should start over. Jin Ling just lived through finding out one of his uncles was a murderous powerhungry villain responsible for the death of his parents, murdered his baby cousin (the man's own son!!) as an toddler, and nearly slit his throat like ten minutes ago. Lan Xichen (his lover's brother!) just found out his closest confidant killed his other closest confidant/childhood friend and was a murderous powerhungry villain, and that said murdered confidant's helpless baby brother had actually turned himself into a master manipulator for revenge, and was manipulated into killing said confidant/murderous powerhungry villian. Doesn't even seem to check on Wen Ning, the poor guy who's been used a puppet on both sides and just had his zombified corpse mutilated protecting Wei Wuxian's interests. But no, total focus on his happily ever after with his husband.

Onto Lan Wanji, he's a petty asshole and I could almost respect him for it, if he wasn't also completely incapable of communicating and a hypocrite. If the man had just had an actual conversation with his crush, or even expressed concern for Wei Wuxian in words, the whole downward spiral after the war culminating in a faked defection from Yunmeng and the Wen Remnants situation would have gone very differently. (I know you need conflict for a story, but I hate when the conflict is miscommunication based. Any story that could be completely derailed by two people having a five minute conversation that could have easily happened in canon makes me want to scream.) This man also spends years projecting his anger at himself for not sticking up for Wei Wuxian onto Jiang Cheng (who had a lot of intense political reasons that he couldn't do more), without a hint that he has the self-awareness to recognize why. He also spends years believing all the worst rumors about Jiang Cheng and Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's relationship despite his whole thing being he loves Wei Wuxian and knows in his heart the man was never as terrible as he was portrayed. Is there not a hint of irony here?? How much faith and value he places on a person directly correlates to his personal relationship with them. And the narrative puts this man in charge of the cultivation community at the end??? As if he's not going to immediately show favoritism to anyone who hasn't been hostile to Wei Wuxian and be intensely petty to everyone he doesn't personally like?

He hides behind being an upstanding person as if he's entirely altruistic. His whole 'being where the chaos is' rep is because he's spent the timeskip trying to atone for not saving Wei Wuxian and desperately hoping to find Wei Wuxian. (As if Jiang Cheng hunting demonic cultivators wasn't the same thing with opposite PR.) He'll follow the Lan rules and enforce them for everyone but Wei Wuxian. As someone who has to work to understand social situations, the Lan rules provide a nice structure when you're with the Lan. A 'when in Rome' with an actual list. That said, their insistence that stripping away any passion, individuality, or general enjoyment from life will bring some sort of moral superiority is incredibly conceited. Especially when they basically admit its only enforceable in Gusu, unless you piss off one of the powerful Lan. Also guaranteed to create a culture where people learn to hide anything not the norm and/or experience internalized guilt for not conforming. What are they, catholic?

I can appreciate Lan Wanji's internal struggle to actually go after what he loves, especially in that social context. But he seems to have decided he's the only one wise enough to understand when the rules should and should not be followed. He still judges everyone (not named Wei Ying) for not living up to his standards without seeming to realize those standards are fundementally impossible (for everyone not name Wei Ying, who can be forgiven all things). He puts Wei Wuxian on a sort of impossible pedestal that does not bode well for a relationship with an actual person, instead of the idea of that person.

Anyway, the fanfic in this fandom that I like, either doesn't involve this couple more than superficially, or has them working and overcoming these issues and rebuilding relationships with other characters.

I'm so tired.

#opinion #characterization #fanfic discussion #mdzs #the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #yes jiang cheng is my favorite #my aroace heart loves the angry purple boy #shouting into the void to make my brain shut up #I actually wrote the essay forgive me #dont forgive me actually i am here to incite rage #this is the short version

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wangxianficrecs · 7 days

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The Laoshi and The Yiling Laozu by chiyukimei

The Laoshi and The Yiling Laozu

by chiyukimei (@chiyukimei)

M, 7k, Wangxian

Summary: Burial Mounds era Lan Qiren and Wei Wuxian had time travelled. - Lan Qiren narrowed his eyes. “You’ve heard of the Patriarch of Yiling before, boy?” Wei Wuxian watched his former teacher with suspicion, “Laoshi, you’ve been there when the sun was shot?” Lan Qiren nodded. Kay's comments: It's rare to find a Lan Qiren time-travels story that still feels close to his character like here. Though he's still a much nicer uncle than he is in canon, he actually needs some time warming up to Wei Wuxian after accidently time-travelling together with him. It's also extremely cute to see how much Wei Wuxian enjoys running around younger Lan Wangji and playing with him. Excerpt: A few days later, Lan Qiren caught sight of Wei Wuxian running alongside Lan Wangji, trying to make him smile and shouting non-stop: Lan Zhan this, Lan Zhan that. He tried hard to not roll his eyes at that childish behavior. God forbid, this man was twenty years old, and still, had no trouble blending in with the fifteen-year-olds. After Wangji left, he stopped Wei Wuxian. “What are you doing?” Wei Wuxian asked with a surprised face, “What am I doing?” Lan Qiren, “Why are you pestering Wangji?” Wei Wuxian bit his lower lip, “I’m not pestering him. I just want to be friends with him.” Lan Qiren, “Why?” Wei Wuxian happily exclaimed, “Isn’t it obvious? He is an upstanding, righteous, and beautiful person. Who wouldn’t want to make friends with him? If he smiled a bit all the sisters would be running after him.” “…Hmm, maybe that’s a good thing he doesn’t smile. You don’t have to deal with all those ladies Laoshi!” Lan Qiren grumbled, “Shameless!” Wei Wuxian, “Hah! That’s what Lan Zhan says, all the time! I really forgot how strict he was even when he was a teenager.”

pov lan qiren, canon divergence, humor, crack treated seriously, time travel, time travel fix-it, burial mounds settlement days, burial mounds ensemble as family, cloud recesses study arc, wei wuxian is so whipped, sect leader wen qing, developing relationship

~*~

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

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nemainofthewater · 1 month

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Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Thanks for tagging me @thebansacredbanned!

Ok, so a two of my last ten posted fics are multimedia (posted for Ficinabox!) so I don't know if they'll work as a first line thing but let's try it anyway!

There was liquid on his face, dripping down his cheeks. [belied with false compare] Nirvana in Fire, Prince Yu centric timetravel fic

2. Xiao Se had been forced to endure innumerable torments in the past. [The Book of Swindles] Blood of Youth, Xiao Se/Wu Xin/Sikong Qianluo Mediocre thieves AU.

3. “We don’t need a cultivator,” Lao Han said, scowling. [always a rainy day] The Untamed, Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan, amnesia AU

Dear Professor Zhou,

It was wonderful to see you again at the New Frontiers for Genetics conference last week at B City, and I’m sorry that we weren’t able to talk longer. [Feedback for NFG Conference 2023] Guardian, outsider POV. I cheated here a little bit since it's in an email format and otherwise it wouldn't be a very indicative first sentence!

5. The Nimona Foundation has a wonderful opportunity for a Public Engagement and Outreach Manager to join us on a permanent basis. [Cover] Nimona, Ballister/Ambrosius post canon fic. I also cheated here a little bit with choosing the first line (otherwise it would have just been 'job description'!)

6. “This is getting embarrassing,” Di Huamin said. [Catch and Release] Original Work, Xianxia universe, Unorthodox cultivator & child who has chosen to adopt him (& his stressed guardian from an orthodox sect)

7. “You haven’t asked me yet,” Hua Jin said. [Best Laid Plans] Blood of Youth, Mu Chunfeng & Hua Jin, slice of life

8. The first time that Shen Wei met the new chief of the Special Investigations Division, it was very much by accident. [food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties] Guardian AU, Shen Wei's dubious courting habits

9. “I agree,” father says, and it is all that Qiren can do to keep his back straight and his hands relaxed. [laying the foundations] Lan Qiren/Cangse Sanren(/Wei Changze), alternate universe arranged marriage AU

10. "Third Master," Lao Hu says. [big shoes to fill] Blood of Youth, in which Mu Chunfeng attempts to get himself disqualified as heir and fails.

Ok, looking at the first lines I really do have a habit of starting with a snippet of dialogue! I never would have noticed that. I wonder whether it's something I've started doing recently, or whether it's like that all the way down (since a load of these fics were written very close together)...

Tagging: @tavina-writes (i bet you've already been tagged but oh well), @merinnan, @miss-ingno, @thawrecka, @cortue, @shadaras, @kimboo-york, @kasasagi-eye, @abluescarfonwaston, @therealvinelle and anyone else who wants to play!

#tag game

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robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

Note

Would you be willing to write something about LQR and WWX bonding (maybe against at least one of their wills 😂) over them both being horrible musical cultivation geniuses / gremlins?

Prelude no. 81 in A Major - ao3

(series: Variations on WWX & LQR in Assorted Keys)

"What an interesting choice in melodies," Lan Qiren said, and Wei Wuxian startled so badly that he nearly dropped his flute.

Lan Qiren frowned slightly, but reached up to stroke his beard to cover it up. They'd had their disagreements, to be sure – he’d even thrown him out of one of the lessons on account of his shameless unorthodoxy, or perhaps more accurately Wei Wuxian had excused himself at Lan Qiren’s inadvertant encouragement – but he hadn't thought he had been so harsh on the boy in their first few classes to justify such an outsized reaction. Especially not from Wei Wuxian, who Jiang Fengmian was constantly praising as carefree and fearless, even reckless.

Of course, Wei Wuxian had been acting quite unusually these past few days...

There was a pretty self-explanatory reason for that, though.

"Teacher Lan!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting - I thought you'd gone to Qinghe at this time - uh, that is…"

"Important matters superseded," Lan Qiren said, omitting to mention that the 'important matter' in question was nothing more than a desire to observe Lan Wangji in the grips of what was very clearly his first real infatuation.

For a long time, Lan Qiren had believed that he wouldn’t be able to recognize it when it happened. Lan Qiren ruefully reflected that he’d completely missed it when it was his brother suffering from love, and again when his nephews had both developed an unusual fondness for Nie Mingjue’s training lessons – he’d initially thought they were just curious about the ways other sects went about their cultivation, and only realized his error after Nie Mingjue had left…there had been so much sighing…at any rate, although Lan Xichen had managed to get most of the way through his adolescence without being struck by it, Lan Wangji clearly had. The signs were rather self-evident. Longing looks, excess thoughtfulness, smiles, and from his most reticent and self-contained nephew...

No, the evidence was clear: Lan Wangji was positively sick with love for Wei Wuxian.

In all honesty, Lan Qiren was relieved.

He hadn’t thought he’d be – he’d been terrified of the day, in truth – but now that it was here, he was really, truly, genuinely relieved.

Perhaps Wei Wuxian was impertinent and insolent, arrogant and foolhardy, a terrible student who thought his genius excused him from having to learn discipline, but at least he was a proper orthodox cultivator from a Great Sect - a known quantity. He wasn't likely to tear off and start murdering people left and right. If he led Lan Wangji into trouble, it at least wouldn't be of the sort and severity that Lan Wangji’s doomed predecessor had entangled himself with. It might result in shame and embarrassment, but it wouldn’t bring him genuine harm or suffering.

No - in comparison to what it might have been?

This was fine.

Accordingly, Lan Qiren had determined with himself that he needed to improve his relationship with his prospective son-in-law immediately. After all, with cutsleeves, either one of them could choose to marry out, and Lan Qiren very much wanted Lan Wangji to remain with the Lan sect - and that meant getting Wei Wuxian to want to stay, too.

Either way, it was far more important than yet another fruitless planning session with Nie Mingjue over the growing threat of the Wen sect.

(Do not tell lies, after all...)

"Did you come up with the melody yourself?" Lan Qiren prompted, seeing that Wei Wuxian was hunting for a safe subject of conversation.

Unfortunately, however innocuous musical cultivation was, that didn't seem to be it: Wei Wuxian abruptly flushed red. Lan Qiren hadn't even known the boy knew how to blush.

"Uh, no. It's...Lan Zhan made the tune. I was just...uh..."

"You were trying to apply spiritual energy to the tune to cause certain effects," Lan Qiren said, not bothering to make it a question - it was pretty obvious what Wei Wuxian had been trying to do - while inwardly marveling at how devoted his nephew was. To compose a song for a boy you'd known hardly more than a month...! Honestly, what was wrong with his family, that they fell in love so thoroughly, so quickly? "I'm not sure what you were aiming for, but if you’re hoping to achieve an orthodox song-spell, you're going about it backwards."

"...backwards?"

"Mm. You have already chosen the purpose you are aiming towards, and you are now trying to make the spiritual energy in the song reach that purpose, are you not? It will work if the song and the purpose happen to be naturally compatible, but that is a matter of luck, not skill. So while the brute force method can work, it’s inelegant and inefficient, and I wouldn’t recommend it."

Wei Wuxian was looking at Lan Qiren, bemused. "What would you recommend instead, Teacher Lan?"

Lan Qiren thought about the snippets of the song he’d heard for a moment, stroking his beard once more in thought, then, after having contemplated it, whistled one of the livelier sections of the tune, letting it find a more natural path.

Flowers bloomed all around them.

“Songs associated with more joyous emotions are better for generation of spiritual energy,” he said, “while more melancholy ones can be grounding and settling. I wouldn’t use that particular tune as a means of calming ghosts unless you’re already familiar with them – you would need an already preexisting connection of friendship at the bare minimum before a love song would work as a lullaby.”

Wei Wuxian was staring at the flowers.

“It’s just an example,” Lan Qiren said, nodding at them. “As the person guiding the song, there are many options for what you could seek to achieve with it – for instance, you were seeking to use it as the basis of a summoning, weren’t you?”

“Well, yes…”

Lan Qiren whistled again, this time a different part of the song. Rabbits emerged from the bush around them, drawn in by the siren sound of the song and smell of fresh growth.

“The song is full of life, so it’s better for living creatures,” he said, and noted belatedly that he’d slipped into lecturing, which he hadn’t intended on. “Ah…at any rate, if you truly wish to use this particular song in night-hunting, I would recommend you use it for mo or yao, or for something originating in a place that is familiar with you, friendly to you – something in the Lotus Pier, in your case.”

Wei Wuxian was staring at him now.

Lan Qiren frowned at him. “What is it? I already know you’re familiar with the different between types of evil creatures, you demonstrated that quite well in class…”

“No, no, it’s not that!” Wei Wuxian said quickly, recovering. “I wasn’t aware that Teacher Lan was – actually, no, now that I think about it, it’s pretty obvious. Uh. It’s only, see, I was trying to do something a little…different with it – I don’t think Teacher Lan would approve –”

Ah, of course.

Lan Qiren sighed. “Is this your idea of manipulating resentful energy again? The song is completely inappropriate for that.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, bug-eyed.

“Putting aside the issues with the idea, both ethical and practical, as I explained, a song composed with love will best resonate with creatures that have love as well, ideally love for you,” Lan Qiren explained, deciding to focus on the music because otherwise he’d just get angry and start shouting again, and that would be contrary to his goal of making nice. “Do you want to accidentally summon your ancestors from their graves?”

“But what if I use the res- the spiritual energy to emphasize the upbeat parts of the song, which are more generalized and generic in nature?” Wei Wuxian asked, and it was actually a good question, well within the bounds of orthodox experimentation. What a relief!

“Then you’ll end up summoning a mob of amorous ghosts,” Lan Qiren said, then grimaced. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“…wait. Are you saying that actually happened to someone?” Wei Wuxian peered up at Lan Qiren. “Not – not to you, Teacher Lan?”

Lao Nie had once asked Lan Qiren to play a particular song while they were night-hunting, omitting to mention that it was a romantic song popular in brothels; Lan Qiren, not being the sort of person to frequent such places, had not realized that he merely wanted background music and had thought that he’d meant for him to utilize the song as a weapon. He had added spiritual energy accordingly, thinking that it was some song-spell he was unfamiliar with, but game to try.

The effects had been…not quite what he would have wanted.

In fact, if Lan Qiren recalled correctly, the only person who had laughed harder at the end result than Lao Nie had been –

“Your mother nearly got her head bitten off by a jiangshi because she was laughing too hard to lift her sword,” Lan Qiren said, then added, dryly, “You should endeavor not to follow her example if you are planning on using a dizi as your primary weapon. A sword can be used while laughing; a flute cannot.”

“I…would…bring both – wait, Teacher Lan, you night-hunted with my mother?”

“On rare occasions.” Now would be a good time to strike, Lan Qiren thought. “Come to me after classes tomorrow. If you are interested in improving your understanding of how spiritual energy interacts with musical composition, I have some texts that may be of interest to you.”

Wei Wuxian blinked, and then smiled lopsidedly, almost as if he were laughing at himself, then turned and grinned at Lan Qiren. “Absolutely, Teacher Lan! You bet!”

Satisfied, Lan Qiren inclined his head and turned to go.

“Oh, Teacher Lan, one more thing!”

Lan Qiren paused and turned back, looking at Wei Wuxian in silent question.

Wei Wuxian had on a rather deliberate appearance of being casual. “This is probably a weird question,” he said, “but it’s just something I’m curious to get your thoughts on. If you were to find a – let’s say, an item with considerable amounts of resentful energy, something that had been refined into a spiritual tool of great power. What would you do with it, assuming if you wanted to use it?”

“Full of resentful energy? That would be demonic cultivation,” Lan Qiren said, a little puzzled – not to mention annoyed at the subject coming up again. But then again, he supposed that such things had their place in most sect’s treasuries, even if they didn’t especially like to admit to it; the demonic cultivators of the past were uniformly insane, bloodthirsty monsters that had defaced tombs and used the blood of other cultivators to strengthen themselves and their tools, but the orthodox world often played games with whether their tools were as forbidden as the practice itself. Anyway, he supposed it was a good sign of trust that Wei Wuxian was asking, and he was trying to build a relationship with Wei Wuxian. “I assume that you would have already sought to liberate the guai?”

“The – guai – huh, yeah, I guess it would be a guai in some ways. Just without intelligence.”

“Are you entirely sure about that?” Lan Qiren asked dryly. “Guai made from objects tend to have intelligence in ways we don’t anticipate or recognize as intelligence. In the same way, a beast yao has discernable desires because beasts are similar to men, whereas a plant yao often act in ways that seem completely inexplicable to us. If the item in question were originally a rock, who is to say that we would understand how a rock thinks well enough to identify if it has intelligence or not?”

Wei Wuxian wrinkled his nose, thinking it over.

“First, seek to liberate the guai, or at least suppress it,” Lan Qiren said, easily falling back into pedagogy. “Depending on the type of guai, there are different songs that can be used. After that, if you really wish to use the item, there are arrays and talisman that get used for containing and guiding resentful energy – for instance, the Nie sect is well known for their expertise in this regard.”

“Because of their sabers?” Wei Wuxian blurted out, then looked horrified at himself.

Had Jiang Fengmian really told his ward such a secret? Lan Qiren thought to himself with irritation. He should know better; such a thing was meant to be limited to the sect leaders of the Great Sects alone – but then, Lan Qiren had never had a very high opinion of his fellow sect leader to begin with, so he supposed there was no reason to be disappointed.

“In part,” he said neutrally. “The Nie are also descended from butchers, a unclean profession. They have any number of ancestral inheritances that have become soaked in resentful energy over the decades, which they cannot eradicate and have instead opted to use. The current Nie sect leader, Chifeng-zun, is not inclined to use those things, so you wouldn’t have seen them, but the former sect leader, his father, was a little more liberal, so I have.”

Lan Qiren didn’t want to encourage Wei Wuxian’s obscene interest in demonic cultivation. But he did want his nephew to stay at the Cloud Recesses, rather desperately…

“I can write some examples up for you to review, if you like,” he offered begrudgingly. “Provided you promise to only experiment with them in my presence.”

Wei Wuxian was gaping at him, seemingly completely disbelieving. “…Teacher Lan would allow me to?”

Lan Wangji staying in the Cloud Recesses. Remember your goal.

“We shall see,” Lan Qiren said. “We would need to discuss the ethics involved first, and make a determination that it is acceptable, but I’m sure we can find a way to agree on that…I’ll be going now. If you happen to see my second nephew before I do, tell him I wish to speak with him.”

It was probably too late to cure or dissuade Lan Wangji from his love, if he’d reached the level of composing love songs, but at minimum Lan Qiren could encourage him to keep Wei Wuxian focused on…better things. Things like musical cultivation, for example, and not near-demonic cultivation. Well, as things went, even such a strange interest was still better than his brother’s disaster of a love, Lan Qiren reflected. He ought to count himself as fortunate – imagine if Wei Wuxian were not still so young and in a safe environment, and the war they were all expecting came to pass. That curiosity of his could get him into real trouble!

#mdzs #lan qiren #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #variations #time travel where the POV character doesn't know #my not-so-secret favorite trope #posting this early on account of a very busy rest of the morning

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