#and Jiang Cheng trying to figure out *why*

[amynchan]

There was a line in a fanfic that read "Like my nephew would ever be afraid of lightning" and IT SHOOK MY SOUL!!!! >.<

#mdzs #Jiang Cheng #Jin Ling #MY ENTIRE SOUL WAS SHOOKETH #but now I want stories of baby Jin Ling being afraid of the thunder and settling when the lightning hits #and Jiang Cheng trying to figure out *why* #until Jin Ling says that the lightning will always protect him #and Jiang Cheng has a Moment about it #yes I know it's but a pipe dream but lemme have it

[mikkeneko]

In today’s installment of Untamed Fic Ideas I Won’t Write:

Suppose that, as the son of a student of Baoshan Sanren who grew up disconnected from his heritage, there was something unusual about WWX and his core that even he didn’t know about. The exact details are kind of handwavey, this is a Celestial Macguffin, which was destined to awaken/hatch/activate when he reached a certain age, and Something would happen.

Wei Wuxian died before that destined date was ever reached. But, this celestial whatever-it-was was tied to his golden core... so now it’s tied to Jiang Cheng. Sometime in the thirteen year gap, the Celestial Macguffin is starting to wake up. And now Jiang Cheng has to deal with whatever-it-is, while simultaneously having no idea why it is.

I think he would at least be able to figure out that it has something to do with Baoshan Sanren and that fated meeting on the mountain during the war. Without any better leads, I think he might then try to track down Xiao Xingchen (let’s suppose this is before all the Yi City stuff goes down) and see if Xiao Xingchen knows anything or, failing that, can take him back to BSSR.

A completely unexpected road trip ensues! Possibly with Xue Yang and A-Qing tagging along, who knows. (I admit the Road Trip part made me think of @veliseraptor , although the vibes aren’t quite right.) But at some point during the road trip they’d probably have the following conversation:

Xiao Xingchen: So how did this end up happening to you, if you're not one of Baoshan Sanren's disciples? Jiang Cheng: Right now my leading theory is that this happened the one time I met her and pretended to be Wei Wuxian Xiao Xingchen: Why were you pretending to be Wei Wuxian? Jiang Cheng: I lost my golden core, she was the only one who could restore it. Xiao Xingchen: Huh. Really? I don't think even Baoshan Sanren can do that. Jiang Cheng: She can't? Xiao Xingchen: Nope. Even when I asked her to restore my friend's eyes, the only thing she could do was... oh. ohhhh. hm. Jiang Cheng: What? Xiao Xingchen: are you in the right headspace to receive information that could possibly hurt you

[edit] if you’re looking at the Original Post now, @behemobarisoool did actually write out this scene!

#mikke fics #the untamed #fics I probably won't write

[sonik-kun]

What if Jiang Cheng just needs glasses, and that's why it looks like he's glaring all the time? 🥹

Bro can't see. He's trying to figure out which Lan brother he has to greet without the embarrassment of getting their names mixed up. 😔

#mxtx mdzs #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #lan xichen #lan wangji #it leads to so many misunderstandings #and embarrassing scenarios too #he may or may not have walked into a post a few times #and mistook baby JL for a melon #SLJ should have gone to Specsavers 😤

[lansplaining]

redeemability of MDZS characters

WEI WUXIAN: ca-CHING. i had a friend who redeemed wei wuxian for a whole walkman. i’m serious. 

LAN WANGJI: varies a LOT so you really want to check in advance. some places are like there is nothing to redeem here and sometimes it’s like oh hell yes cash that boy in. another thing to be aware of though is that most places that give you big value for LWJ redemption are gonna really beat the hell out of him in the process, which i know bothers some people. my view is like lol i got my prize why do i care, but it is a thing for some people 

LAN XICHEN: really tough one. everywhere will give you a different reason (he doesn’t need it, he doesn’t deserve it, etc) but the upshot is almost nowhere sees any redemption value. you can sometimes find really niche places but idk if it’s worth the effort in the end

JIANG CHENG: another one that’s probably just not worth your time. a ton of places say they really want to redeem jiang cheng and that it really needs to happen but then you try and figure out the process for doing that and it basically just doesn’t exist, there’s literally no way to meet their standards for even the crappiest keychain or glowstick prize 

XUE YANG: such low-hanging fruit. almost as easy as wei wuxian, people are gagging for it. you can honestly skip a lot of the steps people say you need to take, nobody really cares

JIN GUANGYAO: lots of places are just not interested at all, but you can get some pretty good value from other places-- but like with LWJ, you gotta be okay knowing you’re giving him up to basically be destroyed. i heard of someone who got a dartboard though, so 

[incarnadinedreams]

Hot Take Time #2309209 (edit: actually this isn't a hot take it's lukewarm at best. it's a room temperature take) but I really don't understand the argument "mo dao and gui dao are different and therefore everything WWX does is completely fine!"

Like, yes, it's a difference that plays into the public discourse vs. real truth themes of the novel to a degree, and I of course absolutely appreciate all the explanations and meta around the nuances and differences. But like. What he actually does with it is... still not good whether it's mo dao or gui dao? And there are many very significant reasons that gui dao is still not great? (Which I won't get into here because there are other people far more qualified with cultural/genre knowledge who have written about it way better than I ever could anyway)

Like y'know. The several hundred people he tortured to death, the thousands of desecrated graves, the mini-harem of pet zombie girls he kept after the war for purely entertainment purposes...? Like, those behaviors aren't inherent to the method (well, except the method sort of uniquely facilitating the keeping of pet ghosts), but they're not... good...? (Note: 'morally good' is completely different than 'fun & sexy, having a great time torture-bonding with shidi, etc'.)

I just cannot agree that keeping a little harem of pet ghost girls nor anything that happened with the Wens is being "gentle with the dead, empathetic and respectful". Even WWX thinks his past self was kinda cringe with it and went way too far!

I do think there's meant to be a significant amount of ambiguity about what elements of his downward spiral are caused by the corrosive nature of his method vs. the trauma of the Burial Mounds and his own, internal, homebrewed mental crisis. The alcoholism, rapidly shifting moods, anger and inability to control his temper, before and after the war. How much of it is Wei Wuxian and how much of it is the impact of the resentful energy he's using, and the use/proximity of the Yin Hu Fu?

I do think there's a reason why there's just as much brutality carried out by characters using orthodox cultivation methods. But in the end, his behavior was a problem, and the novel hints that the methods were impacting his mental state, and it was overlooked because of his usefulness to the war effort, but it did significantly damage his credibility leading up to the parts where he is in the right, which is also part of the point of the story. And you know. The subject of Jiang Cheng's whole 'the flower that blooms alone' monologue in the cave.

Anyway. 'He's using gui dao not mo dao and there's a difference' is super not the same thing as 'Wei Wuxian is morally justified in every action'?

Anyway this book is a lot more fun to me when you approach it from 'look what absolutely insane things these boys will do when they go absolutely feral for each other, it's so cool' with a side of 'look how fucked up he is now, that's hot' and not, like, trying to somehow figure out how to make pet ghost girls into a moral ideal.

So much of the story, for me, is about what desperate, wild lengths a person will go to for survival and revenge when pushed, and then what do you do after? When the danger is past and the revenge is done, what then? How do you come back from that?

#mdzs thoughts #I am a wei wuxian enjoyer #but it feels like I enjoy a different wei wuxian than these people #which is fine... I guess... #people on the internet out here just. having different opinions than me. ugh. #mostly joking but I just find it weird because to me these takes also significantly ruin the cool factor

[veliseraptor]

So that latest Zelkam art of the core transfer has been sucking my brain out of my head all night. And now I can't stop thinking of how much JC's inherited that he never wanted or knew: Zidian (mother), the core (brother), Jin Ling (sister), Suibian (brother x2). I'd include the Jiang name and clan if I wanted to include his father. And it hurts me. He's left with so many remnants of his loved ones and yet how hollow does he feel? How unloved? Answers surely depend on post/canon timeline but idk. I'm just wrecked. *dies quietly*

I have a lot of Feelings about the ways in which Jiang Cheng really does just keep getting handed inheritances he doesn't want to have. People keep giving him things (in a material and metaphorical sense), but it doesn't seem like the give him things as an uncomplicated gift but as this enormous, weighty thing that comes with an immense price. "Here, take my life," people keep saying to Jiang Cheng, "take this and my death with it." And the hideous irony of the core transfer is that that's true even when Jiang Cheng himself tries to give his own life for the people he loves, only with the result that Wei Wuxian turns right around and gives up his own to "fix" it.

But yeah! His mother bequeaths him Zidian in the process of sending him away while she dies. Wei Wuxian dies and leaves him with a flute and a sword he doesn't want. Jin Ling...it's not that he doesn't want Jin Ling, he always would have wanted to be in his life, but not like this. oh I know I'm going to do the thing I do and quote my own fic

You, me, and a-Cheng, said a-jie’s voice in his ear. We must stay together, and never separate.

He’d never learned how to let go, but he’d been the one left behind anyway.

for someone who is in a lot of ways defined by the way that he holds on to the past, for better or worse (and I don't think it's all bad! his success rebuilding Jiang Sect is I think owed in part to his drive to never let what happened to it before to happen again), he does keep end up being the one left, and left holding mementos and reminders that are just a constant chafing reminder of what he lost.

it really adds something fun and spicy too to the bit during the second siege of the Burial Mounds, both in the novel and in CQL:

Jin Ling had never seen so many fierce corpses before, much less at such a close distance. He could feel his scalp tingle, and clenched Suihua's hilt. Yet, suddenly, his fist was peeled open, and a cold object was stuffed inside. He looked down in surprise. "Jiujiu?"

Jiang Cheng propped himself up with Sandu, which had lost its spiritual energy. His figure wavered slightly. "Try losing Zidian, just see what happens!"

[...] When Jin Ling saw that all of the people his age had rushed over, he couldn't hold himself back either. When Jiang Cheng was distracted, he stuffed Zidian back into his hand and sprinted toward the front... (Chapter 80, trans. Exiled Rebels)

The way it's acted here in particular it feels very much like Jin Ling at least has a sense of how loaded this gesture is, whatever Jiang Cheng says about giving it back. Here he is! Continuing the chain of just passing down things as a legacy that in no way substitute for the person they stand for.

just to set those screenshots alongside this:

there's something I think to Jiang Cheng that's not just incredibly painful in all the obvious ways about the core transfer, but specifically in the way that it's related to a sacrifice he very deliberately made - and now he finds out that not only was that sacrifice ultimately utterly pointless, or worse than pointless, the person he originally made it for made it so. It's this "oh, you can sacrifice yourself for me but I can't do the same for you?" that's so bitter to feel, both because I do think there's some amount of "why do you always, always get to come out of things the hero" but more than that, "why did you do this when I made my decisions specifically to protect you; does my desire to protect you not matter? doesn't it mean anything?"

Jiang Cheng standing with his hands full of memorials going "I don't want these," because what he actually wanted was his family, but the world kept taking them away, and apparently in at least one case his family actively didn't get the memo.

#conversating #apprenticedmagician #been a while since jiang cheng feelings but here we still are! #jiang cheng #the sad queer cultivators show

[symphonyofsilence]

WWX stans saying he would have been the best uncle and Jin Ling's favorite uncle like we didn't see the man see Jin Ling go through the most horrifying event in his life and witness his uncle (who was also one of his two guardians) painful, traumatizing death after the said uncle was dismembered and after some really earth-shattering truths being unraveled, and LEAVE THE BOY THERE CRYING WHILE STARING AT HIS UNCLE'S COFFIN to go fuck in the bushes with LWJ. Like not an hour after the incident, or even a quarter of an hour. no. right after that whole shitshow happened!

(And JL accusingly asked JC why he let them go! JL...my boy... the real question is why did THEY choose to go?! When WWX had a traumatized nephew & a literally and figuratively bleeding brother to take care of, and LWJ had a traumatized brother who seconds ago WAS WILLING TO DIE WITH JGY and LWJ hadn't yet made sure that LXC's willingness has ceased since!)

And then WWX didn't even go to check on JL after that! While JL was a 15 y/o sect leader dealing with the power vacuum left after the scandals of the previous sect leader who was also coincidentally the Xiandu, & going through a power struggle with one of the worst sects out there.

WWX asks after Jin Ling from the Lan Juniors instead of going to see him himself! When he next sees JL it's said that the news of his struggles had reached Wangxian in Gusu, meaning that WWX hadn't dropped by to check on JL to hear of these from JL himself and he hadn't dropped by to check in on him even after hearing these news! He was only there bc JL had invited the Lan Juniors for a field trip!

WWX shows his love with drastic, big, dramatic, sacrificial acts like giving his golden core to JC or transferring Jin Ling's curse to himself, but since he himself loves to run away from his traumas and his responsibilities, he's not someone who can be counted on to help his loved-ones with their traumas and responsibilities. He didn't do it with Jiang Cheng and he didn't do it with Jin Ling. He never even talked to Wen Ning about Wen Qing and the Wen Remnants. (Or how WN feels about being a zombie forcefully brought back to life in a world that hates and fears him)

Maybe diplomacy is not his strength and he'll only make things worse by trying to help JL with his sect leader duties, but it wouldn't have taken anything from him if he had only stayed by JL at least for the night after the Guanyin Temple, not even doing anything, but just being there. (And I understand that narratively it might have been a point in the story where some readers might want to see the main couple sail off into the sunset together, but all it would have taken for the main couple to be shown as less of a dick was adding a phrase like "the next morning..." or even "later that day" or something like that before writing about them disappearing into the sunset...or the bushes.)

I love Wei Wuxian, but post-resurrection Wei Wuxian was really...not particularly an ideal family member.

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #chen qing ling #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #yunmeng bros #yunmeng siblings #yunmeng shuangjie #twin prides of yunmeng #twin heroes of yunmeng #my two cents #Donghua did JC especially dirty bc JC WOULD NEVER GO INTO SECLUSION WHEN JL NEEDED HIM! NEVER! #his family always comes first for him especially JL! #and actually everytime he encounters a trauma he drowns himself in work after his due breakdown #that's how he copes #and also I'm gonna be honest with you good people #when I say I love Wei Wuxian I mostly mean CQL!Wei Wuxian. and then the WWX BEFORE the timeskip. #after the timeskip especially in the book WWX was kind of a dick and my love for him greatly decreased. #and personally I really don't like the main couple sailing into the sunset trope #the most interesting parts of the story for me are the side characters and the platonic relationships among the characters #and the place established as 'home' #(In this context I'm taking about LP just to be clear. not the CR.) #honestly the prospect of forever roaming some stranger lands with only LWJ of all people (love the guy but he's super boring) by your side #or even worse. living in Gusu! sounds super boring. #especially for someone like WWX.

[justaghostingon]

How to Woo the Girl You Dumped Without her Demon-possessed Brother Getting in your Way: A Guide by Jin Zinxuan

A crack au

It all begins when Jin Zinxuan notices that Jiang Yanli is actually really pretty.

This is unfortunately right in the middle of him yelling at her for trying to claim credit for the soup someone’s been making for him

Wei Wuxian shows up, demonic tendicals (we’re going anime version here) dripping from all around him as he defends his sister, it comes out that she has been making the soup, and now he’s smitten with a huge problem: the girl he likes both now prob hates him because he humiliated her, and also her brother is definitely a demon

Now a sensible person would first try to patch over the relationship with jiang yanli by apologizing, but jin Zixuan is a Jin! He’s never done a sensible thing in his life!

And also talking about feelings is really scary and as his friend Miammiam likes to point out, he is really bad at it

So naturally, he decides that the most important step to wooing Jiang yanli is to save her brother from demonic possession. That way she’ll be super impressed with him and he’ll be less terrifying and so greatful he’ll well come him into the family!

What could go wrong?!!

Jin Guangyao insists that it is not demonic possession, it is demonic cultivation. But jin zixuan has heard jin zixun rant about “that wei demon” enough times to know better

Figure of speech? What’s that?

So jin zixuan decides to exorcise wei wuxian, and to do that, he’ll need help from the smartest person he knows: jin Guangyao

Jin guangyao is less than thrilled at being sent on a rediculous job like this, to exorcise the clearly not possessed wei wuxian, until he realizes jin zixuan will do anything he suggests without question

ANYTHING

So Jin guangyao decides to have fun with this, setting jin zixuan on increasingly ridiculous tasks to “cure” wei wuxian of demonic possesstion

Like covering him in salt. Or throwing itchy flowers at him. Or running after him chanting this truely awful tune while hoping on one foot.

The result of course, is a very angry wei wuxian who chases zixuan away, and an increasingly desperate jin zixuan who thinks wei wuxian’s frustrations are proof that “the demons are trying to stop me!”

Now the sect heir acting strange is going to raise some eyebrows, and when outsiders look at jin zixuan throwing flowers and singing, they come to a very different conclusion.

Within a day, everyone in every sect is convinced jin zixuan is trying to court wei wuxian

“My son is a cutsleeve!” Moans jin guangshan. “How did this happen! I showed him all the fine ways to love a woman!”

“You’re lessons are the reason my son is a cutsleeve!” Madam jin retorts. “U scarred him for life!”

They proceed to spend the rest of the time arguing and somehow forget to actually talk to their son

Meanwhile in yumeng everyone is losing their collective shit. Jiang cheng is furious that jin zixuan thinks he can poach wei ying with a few pretty words and flowers. Jiang yanli is depressed because her crush is really hopeless now, and how could she measure up to wei wuxian?

Wei wuxian himself is disgusted, not that jun zixuan is a cutsleeve, but that he’d dare to court him! After what he did to shijie! He resolves to firmly rebuff every attempt jin zixuan makes

Which only serves to make jin zixuan more determined because “those demons are really stubborn!!”

But then… the rumor reaches gusu

And lan zhan hops on the first sword to the jin sect to challenge jin zixuan to a duel for wei wuxian’s honor

Lan Zhan tells himself he wouldn’t do this is wei wuxian actually loved the guy. But its not just some guy. This is jin zixuan, wei wuxian hates him! Even he knows that!

They fight, but jin zixuan for all his denseness, even he knows he doesn’t have a quirrel with lan Zhan, and eventually he gets lan zhan to calm down enough to ask why they are fighting

Lan zhan explains and jin zixuan is horrified he’d ever thing that, and quickly fills him in on what he’s really doing: saving wei wuxian from the demon that is possessing him

Lan zhan is sceptical at first, but jin zixuan has jin Guangyao to back him up, and his brother always trusts jin Guangyao so maybe there’s something here? (Give him a break, wei wuxian has been worrying him for months and at this point he’ll take anything)

So lan zhan joins jin zixuan’s demon begone schemes

Wei wuxian is horrified: he trusted lan zhan! And now he’s tryimg to get him married to the peacock? Does he even care?

Meanwhile jin Guangshen has realized if his son marries wei wuxian, he gets the tiger seal, and so begins to push for marriage

Jin guangyao realizes this practical joke has gone a bit too far, but he can’t back out now, lan xichen thanked him for helping lan zhan “make friends” and he’d rather the world end than lan xichen think he hurt his brother

In desperation, jin guangyao suggests the final cure: a true loves kiss

Jin zixuan of course, balks at this. He can’t kiss wei wuxian! He’s in love with his sister! He’s doing this for jiang yanli, he doesn’t want her to think he likes her brother! (Still unaware thats exactly what everyone thinks, especially jiang yanli)

To make matters worse, his father seems to be suddenly invested in curing wei wuxian, sending him off to court wei wuxian with a wink, a charriage and a large amount of gold

Terrified, jin zixuan wants to run, but lan Zhan refuses to let wei wuxian suffer because jin zixuan has cold feet. So he gets in the carriage too

When they arrive they meet a very angry, very resentment tentically wei wuxian

Jin zixuan panics, but lan xhan doesn’t back down, if his love can do anything he’s going to try. So he confesses to wei wuxian

This shocks wei wuxian so much his resentment actually starts to fizzle out.

It’s working! Jin zixuan shouts! Lan wanji keep going!

So lan zhan keeps confessing, saying everything he’s been keeping in his heart, then ending with “come to gusu with me”

Wei wuxian’s eyes widen “you mean…this whole time…that was a proposal?!!”

Lan zhan: en

Wei wuxian: lan zhan! Proceeds to jump into his arms and share a passionate kiss with lan zhan

Jin zixuan: i can’t believe that worked

Jiang yanli, who has come up beside him, “you planned this?” (Meaning getting wei ying and lan zhan together)

Jin zixuan: oh yeah! This was all my idea! (Meaning exorising wei ying)

Jiang yanli says “thank you A-xuan” as she places a hand on his arm, and jin zixuan suddenly forgets everything else

And that’s how jin zixuan got wangxian together while trying to impress jiang yanli, and never realizes people thought he was in love with wei wuxian until well after jin ling is born

#mdzs au #mdzs #the untamed au #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #jin zixuan #jiang yanli #jin guangyao #jin guangshan #madam jin #wei wuxuan #lan wangji #xuanli #wangxian

[oneeyedoctogod]

Disclaimer: long, extremely personal rant. Yes, it's also about mdzs and Jiang Cheng but mainly, it's about me trying to deal with my own trauma when I'm being hit in the face (metaphorically) with it by putting my feelings into words. The posting is so I don't erase it and force myself to forget about it.

You know it's funny, but as I was trying to sleep (and failing. Badly. It's 2:38 am.) I kept on finding myself thinking about why I didn't like Jiang Cheng. Because you see, it's rare for me to dislike a character that much, to the point I actually have blacklisted all his tags and avoid any fics that talk about him positively.

(Again, this is an extremely personal post about my own feelings. This is not meant as a rebuke if you love him. On the contrary. Keep doing what sparks joy. Just, you know, far away from me.)

I have a funny history with the mdzs fandom. I first started watching the donghua when it started airing back in... 2018? 2019? Can't remember for sure. Then I was left hungry for more because only the first season had aired, and it ended on a big cliffhanger. I saw it was an adaptation, so I went looking for the source material... and found the manhua (I was used to japanese animation at that point and thought that was it). The manhua was also being fan translated, and despite being extremely different (and confusing for poor past me), ALSO left me on a cliffhanger. I was desperate and saw someone pointing out there was a novel! I finally found it, read it in a few nights, and loved it. I read a bunch of fics, enjoyed myself, met and befriended people. Then I moved on after a while. I remember, distinctly, that I wasn't a big fan of Jiang Cheng but that I could at least stomach him in fics.

Last December, I felt the urge to reread some mdzs fics. I read some popular ones and, after falling into the animatics and amvs rabbit hole, decided to rewatch the donghua. Except for some reason, Jiang Cheng's character rubbed me wrong. I remembered not liking him much but he wasn't that bad in the fics so I couldn't see why he was so distasteful in the donghua. I'd been warned that the donghua wasn't that faithful (my own memory was extremely hazy), so I just shrugged it off. Maybe the people behind the donghua weren't fans of jc?

I saw there was an official translation of the novel and, by that point, DEEP into the hyper fixation, I bought all four available volumes and read them. At the same time, I was still reading fics. It was fine after all, I already knew the story.

By then, I had realized something was a little wrong with the characteristization. Some of the tropes given to Wei Wuxian rubbed me the wrong way. I looked it up a little (remade a tumblr, found amazing meta, the rest is history) and figured "Ah that must be cql fics. That's the problem."

And yes, that's true. In part.

The other problem lies with the particular way some people write Jiang Cheng. I'll be clear again: I have nothing against those people. Most of them I don't know and I'm aware this is very much a, shall we say, "me" problem. It's why I avoid the positive Jiang Cheng content. I don't care if you keep writing it so long as you keep it away from the canon jc tag.

But whenever people write Jiang Cheng and completely erase his crimes and abuse of both Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling, I feel it like a slap on the face.

Last Monday, I saw a therapist and talked about her about many things (I did warn this would be a very personal post). Part of it was my mother and her treatment of me and my brothers. And after barely a few words, she said, very simply "Oh so your mother abused you."

I already knew that. I use those words myself to describe my history with her. But the validation is always nice to hear, you know? Especially because so many people try or have tried to brush it off as "nothing." My own mother did, both about her own behaviour and when I was being abused by other people and tried to seek her help. Hell, even I still do it sometimes.

And I think that's why I hate Jiang Cheng so damn much now. His canon self is... Well, I'm not a fan, but he's a well-written antagonist. But dear gods, I've seen so many people brush off his canon characteristics to make him into a more palatable character, the loving uncle, the funny tsundere brother, the ace guy who hates mushy romance (let me tell you, as an ace person I am also real fucking tired of homophobic characters being hc as ace)... Even the ones who mention his bad parts feel the need to immediately add his achievements, as if they don't dare speak badly of their fave. "Yes, he tortured Wei Wuxian, but he also sacrificed his core to save him!" "Yes, he hit and verbally abused Jin Ling, but he also lovingly raised him!" "Yes, he tortured and killed innocent people but he also has trauma and had to lead a sect when he was so young!"

And this feels familiar, every time. This feels like the people telling me "Yes but it's not that bad" or saying "Yes your mother gave you panic attacks but she made sure you didn't fail at school" or "Yes but she made you love reading" or "Yes but she gave you so much, don't be selfish" or "Yes but she was here for you when you were depressed" or "Yes but she has it hard too" until I fell in the habit of saying "Sure, my mother insulted me and threatened me financially and there was a long, long time I was convinced she didn't love me... but."

Always that damn BUT.

So you might be able to understand why I have a hard time with Jiang Cheng when people pull the same shit all thenfucking time. I'm working on it because I'd rather not be stuck feeling anxious about a silly purple grape just because he happens to be fandom fave in my current hyperfixation but in the meantime, I have to deal with it and it's... annoying. To say the least.

(I'm going to insist here: I know that Jiang Cheng isn't my mother. That's not the point here. I am fully aware he's a fictional character and that me feeling that way is something I should be working on. I am. And I'm not telling people to stop writing positive content for him. This is just me trying to put into words my complicated feelings for a complicated character. And ranting, a little bit, about badly tagged fics I admit.)

It's easier on social media. You just block the characters tag and, if people bother you about it, you block them. Friends being friends, I just need to tell them "I don't feel comfortable talking about this character" or "let's agree to disagree on this interpretation" and because my friends are the best, they agree and we move on.

Fanfiction is where the problem lies.

I know why people erase the 'hard' parts, or at least I have a good guess. It's easier that way. Fanfiction is about having fun! It's about writing about your blorbos the way you want to! I don't want to police anyone's content. I'd just like it if people tagged their OOC and stopped trying to make me feel as if I'm the one who misread the book because I don't feel like erasing the canonical abuse this character did or because I don't like that they keep putting down my favorite character to uplift theirs.

I'm not sure how to conclude this. I should be sleeping honestly.

Let's try this: if you read this to the end, congrats I guess. I want to reiterate I don't care if you make Jiang Cheng into the most loving, best brother and uncle ever. Just be aware of what you're erasing first. And tag your goddamn fics.

#screaming into the abyss #not sure whether to tag this as the fandom or not #let's go with no #we'll see tomorrow if i feel differently #feel free to reblog so long as you stay respectful #this isn't about hating on people #this is about me working through my problems so that trauma doesn't color my view of a character #if i dislike a character i want it to be because i find them obnoxious #not because their fanbase remind me of my mother #gods I'm tired and I'm sad

[amynchan]

people ask who hurt me

there are names, sure

but at the top of the list

is my own

#not me just picking at my own hurts like some kinda dog trying to figure them out #and thereby hurting me in the long run #even when I try not to #y'all ever wonder why I ID with Jiang Cheng #this is it

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

MDZS characters getting a wax

Don't ask why because I don't know either.

Wei Wuxian: it's important for him to be able to trust and vibe with his aesthetician! If he finds someone he can be comfortable with, someone that's chill and doesn't take themselves too seriously, he's a client for life! Has absolutely no shame letting his aesthetician all up in his business, literally and figuratively. Is besties with them, actually. He doesn't seem to feel much pain either - the dive from up the cliff in the Burial Mounds must have given him a pain tolerance I guess.

Lan Wangji: he's so quiet. And so rigid. Don't try having him shift in any position that might be in any way embarrassing either, he will get up and leave in the middle of the session. His ears burn so red all throughout even though nothing embarrassing is going on. Leaves a massive tip for his aesthetician for the trouble so it's a win-win.

Lan Xichen: he makes small talk with his aesthetician, is friendly and polite but he's screaming inside actually. Covers it up with conversation but the hitches in his voice and the trailed off sentences are a dead giveaway he's going through it. Immediately gets himself a sweet treat afterwards as aftercare.

Jiang Cheng: would rather go through Guanyin Temple fifty times over than step foot anywhere near a salon.

Jin Guangyao: customer service smiles all through it but he's gripping the side of the waxing table like it owes him money. He tries at polite conversation sometimes but prefers silence over it. Hugely appreciates music being played during the session.

Jin Guangshan: banned from all salons ever.

Jin Zixuan: has his own private aesthetician and everything. He's very particular about it. But he is very restless and annoying because he has a low pain tolerance. Curses all through it but his aesthetician is too busy hearing the sound of their fat cheque to care. Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about this now anymore I guess.

Nie Huaisang: he plotted the whole of his revenge with his aesthetician actually.

Nie Mingjue: tried it once because Huaisang insisted he wasn't strong enough to go through it. Never spoke of it once he came out of there and he's never gone again.

Wen Chao: salons refuse him service on principle

Xue Yang: shaves because he likes blades.

Wen Qing: it relaxes her and so she falls asleep during the session often. Her aesthetician lets her nap for a bit once she's done because she doesn't sleep nearly enough.

Jiang Yanli: also naps through it, it's her quiet private time away from people. Shares all her recipes with her aesthetician and gives them a lot of advice if they seem troubled with something.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #original thots

[lansplaining]

re: golden core reveal - wasn't JC actively attacking LWJ and (bleeding and semi-unconscious) WWX when WN arrived? I get that this fight was a misunderstanding and an overreaction from everyone involved, and JC didn't really want to kill or injure anyone, but if WN only arrived at the scene when he heard the sounds of fighting, I can totally see why he was so mad at JC lol, it probably looked like he was trying to kill WWX for some reason

YEAH okay so

(sorry this got long)

Jiang Cheng follows Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji into the temple and starts accusing them of fooling around, which I'd totally forgotten is actually the part that really upsets Wei Wuxian. And then he attacks first!

Wei Wuxian saw the change in Lan Wangji's expression and thought that Jiang Cheng's words had stung him. He was so angry that his entire body shook. He didn't even dare imagine what Lan Wangji thought of being insulted like that. His fury blazed brighter, blood rushed to his head, and he flung out a talisman.

The talisman was fast and merciless. It struck Jiang Cheng on his right shoulder and exploded with a thunderous bang, causing him to stagger. He hadn't expected Wei Wuxian to strike so suddenly, and his own spiritual powers had yet to fully recover. As a result, the blast caught him head-on and his shoulder began to bleed.

Disbelief flashed across his face, and Zidian shot from his finger, sizzling and flashing haphazardly as it lashed out (249, 7S trans.).

So then a fight breaks out between the three of them, Wei Wuxian's like wait this is terrible and nearly passes out. When that happens--

Jiang Cheng's expression changed too. He retracted his whip, then blinked, looking alert (249, 7S trans.).

[...]

Jiang Cheng was both shocked and suspicious-- shocked by the disturbing sight of Wei Wuxian bleeding so suddenly from his seven orifices, and suspicious that this was an act he was putting on to escape. After all, Wei Wuxian often used such tricks to prank others.

Seeing they were both about to leave, he barked, "Hold it right there!

Lan Wangji fumed, "Get lost!"

With his words came an abruptly raging Bichen. Immediately after, a flash of purple lightning hurtled forth as well. Both divine weapons struck each other, letting loose a long, ear-piercing yowl. The impact of this noise gave Wei Wuxian a splitting headache, and like a flickering candle flame that was finally extinguished, his eyes closed and his head drooped low.

Sensing the sudden weight on his shoulder, Lan Wangji promptly extracted himself from the melee to feel his breathing.

With Bichen's master no longer supplying it with power, Zidian immediately advanced towards them. Jiang Cheng, who didn't actually want to injure Lan Wangji, instantly pulled back his strike-- but it seemed it was still too late.

Just then, a figure leapt from nowhere and stood between them (250-1, 7S trans.).

So Wen Ning jumps in, Jiang Cheng asks how he dares to enter Lotus Pier, he's so angry he's laughing... and he still isn't actually attacking Wen Ning or anyone else. Wen Ning immediately offers him Suibian and jumps into the golden core reveal. Obviously, it's set up so we don't know how much of the preceding exchange he saw, but in actual fact we've gone from a fight that Wei Wuxian started to a second round that Lan Wangji started, and where Jiang Cheng never actually intended to hurt Lan Wangji and tried to pull back as soon as Lan Wangji abruptly stopped fighting.

You're totally right that by entering the fight once Wei Wuxian is passing out, it looks like Lan Wangji is trying to desperately defend Wei Wuxian from attack. But even then, the move that Wen Ning intercepts is Jiang Cheng trying to withdraw Zidian and back off! He decides that the only possible way to de-escalate this fight is by revealing Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's darkest secret before he even tries to, say, help hold off Jiang Cheng physically so that the other two can escape (or, you know, distract him with some other subject).

It just really felt like a sudden escalation to me reading it this time, even accepting that Wen Ning is leaping into a situation where a) everyone has already been misreading Jiang Cheng's intentions the whole time and b) he missed the beginning of the conflict so he doesn't really have context.

(And also the context is......... Wei Wuxian is mad because he incorrectly thinks Lan Wangji is offended by Jiang Cheng insinuating that they're hooking up lol)

#book reference #ask answered #thank you for taking my discussion bait anon <3 #idk if it's something about this translation or what but the fact that jiang cheng 100% does not hate wei wuxian #and desperately wants to connect with him feels so so much clearer reading it this time

[loosingmoreletters]

I saw prompts so I just gotta put in this funny concept that’s been vibing in my head where my dear meow meow Jiang Cheng gaslights himself into believing Wei Wuxian is completely innocent and that everyone else was the problem and now he and Lan Zhan are the members of “Wei Ying did nothing wrong ever” club and making it everyone else’s problem

Oooh, okay let’s see trying to make this work without making JC horribly OOC was a challenge, hope this works!

It is difficult to remain impartial when faced with Jin Guangshan’s wealth. Oh, the man grieved the loss of his son and daughter-in-law.

He grieved it.

Extensively, with women and alcohol and lavish parties celebrating the defeat of the Yiling Patriarch by the Chief Cultivator.

All while Jiang Cheng lost a sister, a friend and—well, he’d lost Wei Wuxian long before his death, but he’d lost him finally now, hadn’t he?

Stupidly, Jiang Cheng had expected that in a couple years perhaps, Wei Wuxian would be free to leave Yiling and the Wen to their own devices, that there’d be a solution, that he’d get his brother back, but now he knew better—

“And?” he heard Jin Guangyao speak.

For a moment, Jiang Cheng considered making himself known. He hadn’t exactly meant to cross half of Koi Tower in his effort to get away from everything, but he’d done it anyway.

“Same as last week,” another voice replies. “The guy won’t fucking move no matter what I do. You have to hand it to the Founder, the Ghost General marched to his tune.”

What.

No! Wen Ning was gone, his ashes scattered, all the reason Wei Wuxian had even gone on a rampage.

“Father is expecting results,” Jin Guangyao said.

Someone clicked with their tongue. “Well, then maybe he shouldn’t have let Wei Wuxian blow himself up. Would have worked out much better if he’d actually allowed the guy to come to the little brat’s celebration, huh?”

But Wei Wuxian had been invited, he’d been supposed to come, only he had to bring Wen Ning and—and—

Lanling Jin was doing exceptional well for a sect who’d just lost its heir. They still had more than enough heir to spare. And hadn’t mother always needled a-Jie to be meaner to survive this snake pit? Arranging her new betrothal had been a nightmare, Jin Guangshan so keen to take all he could and why wouldn’t he keep taking when everyone let him?

Everyone but Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng needed to get Jin Ling out of here. With Jin Guangyao soon marrying, there was no insurance they’d keep the heir they currently had, that a-Ling would be safe here.

And then—then Jiang Cheng needed to figure out what actually happened, why Wen Ning wasn’t ash, why Wei Wuxian had been pushed into a corner. His sister had died trying to save him and what had Jiang Cheng done? Let them both die.

But first he needed to get away from here and figure out the truth. If it was as hinted at, then Jiang Cheng would put his brother’s tablet in the family shrine, would bring him home and burn everyone involved in harming Wei Wuxian—

Jiang Cheng paused, halfway out of the courtyard.

He hadn’t thought back to that night since it occurred, unwilling to remember but…

What exactly had Lan Wangji been doing again? Because it wasn’t fighting Wei Wuxian, not really and, well, the man was still in seclusion.

Maybe, just maybe, Jiang Cheng should ask him just what his goals had been that night.

[TLDR: Jiang Cheng overhears one conversation out of context and jumps to conclusions because life is easier if his sister didn't die for someone actually doing all he's accused off. MDZS but the CQL plot is Jiang Cheng's new headcanon.]

#jiang cheng #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jing guangyao #xue yang #it's him speaking btw #mdzs #fanfic #mdzs fanfic #ask #anon #prompts

[veliseraptor]

☕️ Golden core reveal and what it means for the two prides of Yunmeng

took a while to get to this because I needed to sit down and take a minute about it. been a bit since I got in my yunmeng shuangjie feelings but that just means it's a good time to get back in them eh

this is one of those things where I'm like...there are so many ways this could go from where it ends in canon, which is one of the things I find so fascinating about it, and why it's so interesting to pick at. because if we're talking about the side of it in canon, namely the fact that Wei Wuxian gave up his golden core for Jiang Cheng, then...that really does detonate a bomb in, particularly, Jiang Cheng's conception of a lot of things. it rearranges the way he has to perceive a whole lot of stuff from before Wei Wuxian died in a very painful way, changes the context of what he thought he understood, and specifically does that years after the fact at the point when he's had a long time to figure out how to come to terms with everything that went wrong.

in the face of tragedy, people like to make sense of it somehow, and Jiang Cheng I think spent a solid amount of time trying to make sense of what went wrong, and when, and where, and why, and came to his own conclusions about all of those things based on the information he had. and part of the way he decided to cope with it is, I think, deciding that his relationship with Wei Wuxian decayed because Wei Wuxian didn't care about him enough to stay; that ultimately Wei Wuxian cared more about the Wen, or himself, or demonic cultivation, than he did about Jiang Cheng (or Jiang Yanli). and he operates with that assumption when Wei Wuxian is dead, and he continues to operate with it when Wei Wuxian comes back.

and then he finds out that whoops! your brother loves you! so much so that he destroyed himself because he thought he had to in order to fix you! and that's, you know, a lot on its own, but it also forces a perspective shift on a tectonic level that rattles Jiang Cheng all the way to his core.

but I think he sort of comes to the conclusion, or at least somewhat the resignation, that it's too late now. things have gone too far and changed too much to mend what's broken, and I don't think he necessarily knows where to start; on the other side of things Wei Wuxian is tired and the reveal rips open some old wounds for him, too (though I think not quite as many; he's not dealing with the same perspective shift). I think he just wants to move on, not in the sense of "doesn't want a relationship anymore" but in the sense of "doesn't want to keep dwelling on the past," and he's in a position where that's easier to do, in some ways, than it is for Jiang Cheng.

I wrote in everyone else is spring bound:

“I told you,” Wei Wuxian said slowly. “It’s in the past, now. You don’t need to-”

“For you it is,” Jiang Cheng said. “For you it’s history, another life, whatever. For me it’s-” Inescapably present. There, inside me, under my heart, sustaining me. “-not.”

and that I think is part of the problem: the disjunction between a Wei Wuxian who wants to leave it behind and Jiang Cheng, who needs to process it.

none of this is to say - I hope obviously! - that there's no way for them to figure it out, or that they shouldn't, or don't want to, etc. etc. just that for all there's an idea sometimes that truth clears the air or whatever and makes it easier for them to approach each other...while that's not not true in this case I think it also in some ways presents its own new challenges.

as far as the other half of the golden core hot potato game...I go back and forth on whether it would help. I don't think Jiang Cheng would ever voluntarily or intentionally tell Wei Wuxian about his choice to sacrifice himself to the Wen; there are a lot of reasons for that but I think one of them is that to him it would feel pathetic and petty, like he was saying "see, I made my sacrifice too, so you should still love me" or something like that. if Wei Wuxian found out somehow...I don't know. I think it would be complicated and messy and painful and very fun for me to read about but I think in the long term it would depend on how Wei Wuxian reacted to that knowledge, and I can see a lot of different ways he might go with it.

wow this got long. well like I said been a while since I got in my yunmeng shuangjie feelings but I've still got em. guess I should go back to trying to finish that fic I was working on. once I can write again.

#conversating #shockingheaven #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #the sad queer cultivators show #aggressively headcanons #opinions meme #lise memes

[mojoflower]

MDZS Prosopagnosia (face blindness) AU

I want an AU of MDZS except Wei Wuxian is face blind. I just feel like that would change so much, adding both comedy and terror to the story overall.

Innocent Youth

Jiang Cheng unwittingly cultivated his shouty persona from a very young age, because he subconsciously realized that his shixiong was more comfortable with him when he stood out from the crowd in this way. Similarly, in the post-resurrection days, jc always lets Zidian spark purple in a very obvious and prolonged way, so wwx doesn't have to linger uncomfortably in an awkward is-he-or-isn't-he-my-brother zone.

Jiang Yanli slowed herself down as a child, becoming very calm and quiet and slow-moving, because that's when her shidi is the most relaxed. She quickly learned the look on his face, when he's trying to figure out who someone is without giving away his weakness... when he's desperately waiting for someone else to use a name, to give him a toe-hold. She always greets everyone by name: just for wwx. She also often announces herself in the third person: others might find it weird, but her didi is always so grateful.

Wwx actually needs to use Jiang Fengmian's unfortunate teeth as a marker to differentiate him from his son, once Jiang Cheng reached his adult height. (The frog on Sandu's hilt really helps, too.)

A lot of the shidis in the Jiang Sect know about wwx's special issues, and totally riff on him by switching their swords and hair ornaments just to fuck with him.  They can't switch their fighting styles, though, so the Jiang quickly become a sect where instant spar-offs happen often and are no big deal.

All the people who love wwx have adjusted for this in many ways, realizing that they either need to verbally identify themselves or adapt distinctive clothing/mannerisms/scents/body language.

Wwx wears clothes that don't match any sect because sect uniforms make everyone so homogeneous that he can't even discern gender, much less individual people. (Uniforms actually give him mental heebie jeebies, because they make his life so hard and uncertain.)

Cloud Recesses Student Arc

Wwx has to ask before he fights whether it's going to be friendly or to the death, since he doesn't always know if the person he's fighting is a friend or foe. Wwx defaults to treating all fights as friendly fights (which is why he never even unsheathed his sword when lwj attacked him that first night in Cloud Recesses) because he can't stand the thought of hurting a friend, or just someone innocent.

Lan Wangji is very still. Very still, very quiet, very tall and always wears white and smells of sandalwood. He is easy to recognize.  ... Except when he could be Lan Xichen. If there's a smile, or any color, then he's Lan Xichen.  (This means that wwx immediately knows who kissed him on Phoenix Mountain, because he doesn't use his sight to identify, well, anyone.)

Nie Huaisang becomes a friend because of his choppy, erratic, fast-paced motions, both when he is speaking and moving. Also, he's unusually short so that helps.

He is secretly fond of Lan Qiren because that dreadful and unflattering beard is such a great identifier. He loves Nie Mingjue because he's literally and distinctly larger than everyone else. Later, he will become immediate friends with Sisi, because dramatic facial scarring is the best cue there is for someone like him. (Is anyone fat? He likes fat people. He likes tattooed people. He'd have loved Mo Xuanyu with his Hanging-Ghost-painted face, because, wow, that's so obvious. Xue Yang's missing pinky finger is  so helpful.)

Wei Wuxian knows everyone's swords VERY WELL because he can recognize them and use them to identify which asshole in gold with a peony on his chest (for example) this dude might be. This is what he calls "my poor memory". But it actually means that Jin Zixuan looks exactly like Jin Zixun to him, if not for Suihua.

Burial Mound Days

He's got a string of orphans, and calls them all A-Yuan. No, seriously. Word has got out, and all the homeless babies know they can move into the Burial Mounds and get doted on by EVERYONE because no one there is about to correct the Yiling Patriarch.

Dead Wen Ning is easy to pick out because of his stiff gait, awkward stance and distinctive pallor with the black veins. This makes him an automatic wwx favorite. (The stuttering helped, even back when he was alive.) Wen Qing is tiny, and also, no one else is wearing Wen robes, so she becomes a good friend, too.

He actually really likes all fierce corpses, because the way they move is so distinctive that he always knows what he's dealing with.

Can you imagine how fucking terrifying the world must be when you know that all Wen Zhuliu needs to do is put on a different robe and then he can walk right up to you and wreck your core? Same goes for wrh, jgs, jgy, wc, you name it. Talk about hypervigilance.

Think of all the talismans he's invented to keep himself and the Wen Remnants safe because he knows he can't tell friend from foe and has to count on magic to do it.

Post-Resurrection

Lwj picked up on Jiang Yanli’s habit announcing herself by name instead of using “I”, and consequently uses third person for himself, too. The Junior Ducklings do it, too, although they don't understand why, at first. 

Wwx cannot, for the life of him, tell lsz and ljy apart if they just stand quietly next to each other.  Ljy will never think this is not hilarious.  Especially because wwx will offer them chicken to see which one accepts it.  (It’s foolproof.)

He is utterly and completely unable to tell the Twin Jades apart unless they're speaking. Lan Wangji has learned to announce himself simply to protect his brother from being leaped upon and kissed at random intervals. The whole sandalwood thing? Lwj marinates himself in it to give wwx a clue about who he is before he's within liplocking distance.

#MDZS #the untamed #wangxian #MDZS au #wei wuxian #prosopagnosia #face blind wei wuxian #face blindness #yiling patriarch #mojo muses #if anyone is inspired to write this #be sure to tag me! #face blindness is a shitty thing to live with #but it sure can be funny sometimes #and there's that element of horror too

[twenty-orange-balloons]

Okay, I've been seeing some ice skating AU's around lately and it inspired me to write something. Fair warning: it's not madam Yu friendly and mostly exposition and little dialogue. LWJ POV.

--

"Why don't you skate anymore?" Lan Wangji finally asked, three months after Wei Ying had finally returned to his life. Honestly, the words have been begging to be released as soon as Lan Wangji set eyes on Wei Ying again.

The other had disappeared four years ago, just before the final of the Junior Olympics for ice skating. It was a shock to everyone involved, the brilliant and charming skater that was a shoe in for getting gold, his performances always bringing emotional reactions out of his audience.

Lan Wangji can still remember when he performed a song called "In the mountains" a song about longing and remembrance of a love in the POV of a grieving man. It was supposedly composed by an ancestor of Lan Wangji's actually, which is how Wei Ying heard it the first time.

The movements and expressions Wei Ying was able to bring out on the ice would forever be stuck in Lan Wangji's mind. It's one of Wei Ying's best performances, according to both Lan Wangji and the internet.

But two days before the final of the juniors, Wei Ying pulled out. Nobody knew until the next day, when everyone got a message informing them of the change.

Lan Wangji remembers rushing to Wei Ying's hotel room, confusion and worry warring in his heart. It didn't matter how long he knocked on that door, Wei Ying never answered. He only learned later, after running down to the lobby to the reception, that Wei Ying had already left early the night before.

For four years, Lan Wangji had been searching for him, trying to figure out just why Wei Ying left. But all he had to go on was an angry Jiang Cheng and an unfamiliar stone faced Jiang Yanli. Neither would spill the answer.

Even his number had changed, and no matter how often Lan Wangji emailed him, he never replied.

Wei Ying completely disappeared from the world, taking Lan Wangji's heart right with him. So seeing him again, on that sunny Wednesday afternoon, looking healthy and happy, was both a relief and a hit to his heart.

Mostly though, Lan Wangji was just happy to have him back in his life. Yet the thought always remained, just what happened?

Wei Ying hummed, looking over the horizon, watching birds sail in and out of view.

They were currently at the top viewpoint of a mountain after hiking for nearly three hours. It was pretty empty, only a few people around, quiet and peaceful.

It was something they used to do together, in the off season. Neither of their families loved the idea of them risking a twisted ankle just to watch the sunrise. But they both enjoyed it too much to actually stop, even when Wei Ying left, Lan Wangji would find himself going on hikes.

Watching Wei Ying right now, Lan Wangji realized he didn't need to know, if Wei Ying wanted him to, he would tell him.

But just as he was about to apologize and retract his question, Wei Ying answered.

He spoke of his time with the Jiāngs, he told of how fierce and strict Madam Yu was during training, he let Lan Wangji in on the fact that Madam Yu rarely let him rest, made him train for hours and hours, pushing his body to the limit every time.

Until one night, Wei Ying's body finally had enough. Apparently, Wei Ying had been attempting a quad when his ankles gave out on the landing and he tripped, slamming his head into the ice.

He ended up going to the hospital, getting ten stitches and told in no uncertain terms, that he couldn't skate for at least a month. And even that was pushing it, according to his doctor.

Madam Yu was pissed. But Wei Ying later found out, she had been training Jiang Cheng to take over Wei Ying's choreography without telling either of them. As soon as she was able, she threw out his contract and told him he had to leave since he couldn't perform as his contract states he had to do in order to keep his place there, so he left.

It was a loophole Wei Ying had been unaware of, and one she utilized to its fullest. Jiang Yanli had not been pleased, according to Wei Ying, she had made a big fuss, arguing day and night with her mother, even Jiang Cheng tried to talk her out of it.

Lan Wangji couldn't believe the woman.

Taking advantage of a serious injury to throw out a teenager she didn't like. And the fact that the rest of the Jiāngs couldn't do anything about it because she was the major shareholder in the company –

It was despicable.

"She took my phone and canceled my room at the hotel. I didn't even need to pack since she hired people to do it, then took it out of my paycheck. She told me I wasn't allowed back at Lotus Pier or to see her children. She threatened to draw up a restraining order if I didn't listen. So I took what I could and left. I stayed with the Wen's for a few months, before getting a job as a tutor for music, then science too. Actually, I started volunteering as a substitute at a local elementary school."

Lan Wangji could just imagine how those lessons went. Wei Ying always had a way with kids that made Lan Wangji's heart race. He remembers catching Wei Ying helping out the younger skaters who would do homework in the waiting rooms, and the laughter and cries of gratitude that sounded afterwards.

Wei Ying shrugged "Honestly, I think I'm grateful it happened, not the way it did, and I definitely regret how I left everyone, you, with no explanation, but it gave me a chance to get myself together. To find out what I really want in life."

"And what's that?" Lan Wangji asked.

Wei Ying turned to look at him, the setting sun causing his face to glow, eyes bright and smile wide, he said, "This."

And then he kissed him.

#in honor of all those ice skating au ideas that I've been seeing around lol #mdzs #cql #wangxian #cell writes #long post