#and how they tried to keep wangji from turning into his dad so bad

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 20, part three(!)

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Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

This episode has so much crucially important stuff in it I had to write 3 posts about it! Part one is here, part two is here. 

Don't Start None, Won't Be None

Lan Wangji has never had a real fight with Wei Wuxian before--remember, in their rooftop fight Wei Wuxian never even drew his sword. And since this is going to be a verbal fight, Lan Wangji is going to lose, badly. He's an elegant and articulate speaker, but he's not quick with words, and he speaks directly and sincerely. Weaponized speech is not his area at all, so he's pretty much bringing a knife to a gunfight. A guqin to a flute fight. Whatever. He tries to turn it into a physical confrontation, twice, but Jiang Cheng holds him back.

This throwdown is 100% about religion and orthodoxy; something that is fundamental to both of these young men's lives. Lan Wangji has made it his mission to be as orthodox as possible, doing shit like volunteering to be beaten for drinking when he didn't choose to drink. He's constantly overwhelmed by emotion, and the Lan rules are a source of regulation and safety for him. His emotions around Wei Wuxian are among the most overwhelming he's got, possibly only second to his feelings about his mom.

Right now his feelings are extra overwhelming. 

It's complicated because his relationship with Wei Wuxian literally started off with him punishing Wei Wuxian for heterodoxy. All that time they spent together in the library? Was because Wei Wuxian talked--JUST talked--about using resentful energy for cultivation. Which is precisely the ability he's just shown them, along with a style of killing enemies that's borderline evil and definitely, DEFINITELY unsportsmanlike.

So this is not, Lan Wangji is lovingly worried about Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is pushing him away to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. This is Lan Wangji freaking out because his entire system of belief is being challenged and he's in love with the person who's challenging it.  

Wei Wuxian has shown up to the party wearing an International Mr. Leather tee shirt with a enamel pin stuck to it that says "I get my kicks on route 666" and Lan Wangji just. cannot. deal.  

Never Start a Fight But Always Finish One

Wei Wuxian has a couple of options here. One is to accept, kindly, that he and his friend can't be friends any more because of religion. In this option, in order to preserve his friend's comfortable sense of being right, he would have to tacitly accept that he himself is bad in some way, and allow his friend to keep having his value system, while walking away from him.  

The other choice is to hit so hard that he makes his friend feel really, really bad, and potentially rocks him off of his comfortable foundation. In the short term, the friendship breaks, but if it forces him to actually question his value system, it might lay the groundwork for a new, more accepting friendship.  Anyone who is queer with an anti-queer-religious best friend is probably familiar with this dilemma.

Wei Wuxian chooses the second option, and goes all in from the first moment, calling Lan Wangji "Lan Er Gongzi" and then upgrading to "Hanguang Jun" and even bowing. If it's possible to bow sarcastically, that's what Wei Wuxian is doing. Then he meets his eyes and sticks his chin out, essentially saying "how do you like them apples?"

(more after the cut!)

Lan Wangji's feelings are probably hurt, but he's too busy being mad to show it, and he goes straight to grilling Wei Wuxian, asking him about the killing, the talismans, and giving up the sword, all while Jiang Cheng stands by and wonders what the fuck is happening. 

Lan Wangji is making a fundamental error here, which is he's speaking as if he's an authority instead of as a peer. Wei Wuxian has only ever accepted one authority in his entire life, and that was Jiang Fengmian. Jiang Cheng is the one who, for a change, is approaching as a worried friend, while Lan Wangji approaches as if he has the right to call Wei Wuxian to account.  

Wei Wuxian won't answer his questions and is getting in his face, provoking him in a very quiet and controlled way, and Lan Wangji responds by just being really aggressive. It's interesting to see Wei Wuxian completely mastering his emotions while Lan Wangji is completely....not.  Wei Wuxian pushes harder, saying he's being rude, saying he's being a bad friend.  Which doesn't make any difference to Lan Wanji, who keeps pressing for an answer while Jiang Cheng wonders what the fuck is happening.

Come to Gusu

Wei Wuxian says he already explained, that it's complicated, it will take time to explain, so then Lan Wangji makes the utterly dumbassed demand that Wei Wuxian return to Gusu with him to explain it. What, exactly, is his plan? Bring Wei Wuxian to Gusu and have Lan Xichen (at the very least) and probably also Lan Qiren help him to convince Wei Wuxian that resentful cultivation is bad? How is that likely to work out? Let's have our own flashback, to that classroom interaction that led to the punishment in the library.

Lan Qiren: How will you make sure the resentful energy will only listen to you and not harm others? [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian] Wei Wuxian: I haven't figured that out yet ["details," as OP's dad used to say] Lan Qiren: If you did, the cultivation world would not allow your existence [i.e. we, the Lan Clan of Gusu, will kill your ass]

Lan Wangji probably doesn't think he's threatening Wei Wuxian with death by inviting him to Gusu, but he kinda is, if Lan Qiren was serious back then.  Lan Wangji is so upset and fearful that he's not really thinking clearly at this point. He loves Wei Wuxian and he's certain that cultivating with resentful energy will destroy him. [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian]  But Wei Wuxian is beyond fear. He's already been destroyed once.

Wei Wuxian rips on Gusu and then says, in a super-provocative way, that he prefers Yunmeng, which prompts Lan Wangji to say "don't joke around" as angrily as possible. 

This part of the interaction always confuses me because...shouldn't he prefer Yunmeng? He's actually from there and lives there and belongs there and stuff? He's just saying "I think I'll go with my brother" yet WWX and LWJ both act like he said he'd rather go to Demon City.

Lan Wangji takes a big step forward and Jiang Cheng blocks him while Wei Wuxian continues to act unperturbed and puzzled while holding his demon flute out in between them. 

Finally, FINALLY, Wei Wuxian calls him Lan Zhan, and asks him a serious question: What do you really want. Lan Wangji calms down for a second--although he keeps leaning into Jiang Cheng's sword block--and gets to the point, which is that the unorthodox path is dangerous, and harmful to his temperament.  

Kill one turtle together and you think you're the boss of me

So, these dudes are talking about 2 different levels of unacceptable cultivation, in this episode and the next few. Netflix translates these as "wicked tricks" and "crafty tricks," which both sound absolutely ludicrous in English, so I'm going to use my own preferred terms, going forward.  

I think what they are calling "Wicked Tricks," which includes spirit snatching and feeding people to the murder turtle on purpose in order to harvest their resentment could be translated as Heresy--adhering to a forbidden belief or practice; standing in opposition to Orthodoxy.  

Edit: After rewatching Episode 35, in which Nie Huaisang explains why their whole blade thing doesn’t count as “wicked tricks,” I’ve changed my mind about what to call this. NHS says that “wicked tricks” specifically involve the use of humans & human spirits (killing, sacrificing, etc.). Which means Necromancy is probably the better term for this particular type of cultivation, although it is still (also) Heresy. 

"Crafty Tricks," which is using resentful energy to raise and control already-dead people (ghosts and zombies) as well as just generally using resentment for basic stuff like beating Jin Zixuan's ass, could be translated as Heterodoxy--deviating from the accepted belief or practice, but not to the point of complete opposition.

Wei Wuxian laughs while Lan Wangji tries to be convincing, but since Lan Wangji is just repeating what he's been taught, he's not making much headway. Instead of saying "there's no exception throughout history" he could have, instead, gone with his own actual observations, such as "you are acting like a sadistic prick" or "you seem amazingly miserable" or "you aren't hugging your brother, what the fuck is that about?" But no.

Wei Wuxian responds to the charge of heresy by saying nuh-uh, and explains his methods, sort of, while going back to calling him Lan Er Gongzi. Lan Er Gongzi responds by actually literally yelling at him, and saying he's not allowed to decide for himself about what he's doing, as if the words "allowed to" have ever meant a goddamn thing to Wei Wuxian.

Temperament

At this point Wei Wuxian is done. He goes and gets right up in Lan Wangji's face and sticks a metaphorical knife right in his heart, smiling as he does it. "How do others know my temperament?" he asks; "and why should it be their concern?" i.e. you are not in my heart. 

This makes Lan Wangji so mad he calls Wei Wuxian "Wei Wuxian" for possibly the only time in the show, and he also flashes a whole bunch of angry teeth. (Gifset here). In a callback to the JFM-YZY fight back in Lotus Pier before the war, Wei Wuxian just calmly says "Lan Wangji" back at him, and then tells him to go fuck himself.

Jiang Cheng still doesn't understand what the fuck is happening, but this is a sentiment he understands, so he also tells Lan Wangji to go fuck himself, reminding him that Wei Wuxian is Jiang clan property and it's not the Lans' place to discipline him. Adding "and I'm not going to discipline him any way, look how good he is at killing people!"

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continue to stare into each others' eyes from a distance so close that it really should lead to making out, but they are both much too angry for that. 

Wei Wuxian is as cold as we ever see him, smiling as he silently confirms: I do not belong to you. Lan Wangji glares back, his anger maybe finally giving way, a little bit, to being hurt.

Finish Him!

Wen Chao picks this moment to wake up and crawl over to the trio, begging Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng to save his life, since he presumably knows it's pointless to beg Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian turns around and gives him the EXACT SAME dead-eyed smile he just gave Lan Wangji, and kicks him.

Then he tells Lan Wangji to please leave so he and his brother can finish torturing this dude to death, and caps it with an official Jiang Clan eye roll.  

Lan Wangji, poor bb, just throws in the towel, and turns and leaves, the anger finally starting to leave his face and be replaced with something else...chagrin, maybe? Or maybe just softer anger, for the moment. 

After he's out of sight Wei Wuxian turns and looks after him sadly, all of the cruelty and hardness gone from his expression, while Wen Chao says "forgive me,"  possibly voicing what Wei Wuxian is thinking.

Lan Wangji walks out the front gate, troubled, and hears Wen Chao scream. He stops and replays the most pointed part of the fight in his head - the part where Wei Wuxian asked him, "who do you think you are?" Lan Wangji went into the fight believing he was completely right and was entitled to judge Wei Wuxian, but he's come out of it with his certainty shaken. 

Family Time

The Yunmeng brothers go to the ancestral shrine in Lotus Pier even though the whole "reclaiming Lotus Pier" scene doesn't happen until Episode 24. So apparently they just kind of sneak into the the shrine, and then sneak back out. Or, you know, continuity error.  Anyway Wei Wuxian is nothing if not adept at sneaking around death-related places.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng bow and offer incense. It's nice that the Wens didn't fuck up everybody's name plaques when they were in control of the place...or the tassels, candles, etc. 

Wei Wuxian quietly tells Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian that he did what they asked--taking care of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli--and they can rest now. Nosy parker Jiang Cheng wants to know what he's saying, but Wei Wuxian just changes the subject. 

They talk about going to Qinghe for the final combat of the Sunshot Campaign. Wei Wuxian says that's why he returned, which...dude, you can't even pretend you came back to be with your loved ones? Ouch. Jiang Cheng doesn't really react to that, but he's happy when Wei Wuxian says he wants to see Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian wants to know if she's ok and if she's mad at him, and Jiang Cheng says wait and see, because direct answers are not the Jiang Clan way.

Jiang Yanli is helping tend to the wounded, and we see her telling a particularly fussy wounded dude to suck it up and stop complaining. 

When Wei Wuxian shows up she totally stops paying attention to the wounded dude so that she can smile at Wei Wuxian. 

He looks back at her tearfully, briefly managing to smile but then just trying to hold it together. He has been to hell and back, and doing his very best to hide it, but when he sees the person who loves him most--the person who will NOT spend 20 minutes yelling at him as soon as they see him--he starts to crack open.

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #restless rewatch the untamed #my gifs #canary3d-original

[veliseraptor]

Hi! Can you give a brief spoilery summary of the Untamed? I just read [the pretties from your posts] died? Oh no. I tried getting information through google but it’s confusing for someone who doesn’t know the characters.

oh lord. there are all kinds of ‘brief summaries of the Untamed’ out there but I’ve always found them vaguely irritating so...I guess that means it’s time for my comeuppance in the form of having to do it myself? I’ll do my best.

I didn’t know how detailed you wanted me to get so I decided to get pretty detailed, since you did ask for spoilery. so this is like. entirely spoilers. spoilers for everything.

also, you can use, if it’s helpful, my brief character overview (‘brief’) which includes some plot information, and could be useful as cross reference also. I’m playing pretty fast and loose with a lot of terminology for the sake of intelligibility, because otherwise this would get even longer and have a lot more links.

also, because you asked me specifically for this, it’s going to have some bias. I tried to keep my interpretive commentary to a relative minimum? but. uh. yeah.

the briefest basic plot overview is (going off The Untamed canon, which you will also see abbreviated as CQL from the pinyin transliteration of the Chinese title (Chen Qing Ling)):

Wei Wuxian, a cultivation (think, loosely, magic) prodigy and creator of his own particular style of cultivation, dies reviled by most of the known world. Sixteen years later he’s raised from the dead by Mo Xuanyu, an outcast and the bastard son of one of the leaders of the main sects of the cultivation world, in order to take revenge on Mo Xuanyu’s enemies (specifically his abusive family and ~an unknown person~).

And here is where we get into the details.

Pretty much immediately upon Wei Wuxian’s resurrection, people start dying at Mo Manor, before Wei Wuxian has even done anything, because of (it turns out) a very angry spirit of a semi-sentient weapon. Wei Wuxian books it out of town after his old best friend/crush Lan Wangji shows up to help the Lan ducklings he’s shepherding (including most notably Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi, the only named characters of that bunch), only to wind up running into him again on the road - and not only him, but his orphaned nephew (shorthand, go with it) Jin Ling (Wei Wuxian was responsible for his parents’ deaths) and Jiang Cheng, his martial brother who (at least according to rumor) killed him sixteen years ago and still bears a hell of a grudge. In order to save Jin Ling, Wei Wuxian summons the “Ghost General” Wen Ning, who was supposed to be destroyed and whose presence confirms his identity to a very pissed off Jiang Cheng. Lan Wangji recognizes Wei Wuxian as well. Wei Wuxian passes out.

followed any of that? no? that’s fine, because now we’re heading into a thirty episode flashback that’ll clarify some things. (but not before you forget a whole bunch of things from the first two episodes.)

I’m going to split this into arcs. I’m also going to put this under a read more, because...yeah, this came out to just a little over 10,500 words. I’m...sorry.

have fun?

Cloud Recesses Summer School Arc

The time card says “sixteen years earlier” but it isn’t sixteen years earlier because that would make no sense, but it’s better to give up on timeline now or you’ll just drive yourself nuts.

This is the part of the show where you meet the main characters, some of whom you saw earlier (notably Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian’s younger sort-of brother), and some of whom you only know from reference (Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian’s older sort-of sister) and some of whom are significantly important (Lan Wangji). You also meet Jin Zixuan, the snotty heir to the Jin Sect, who will be important later. Jiang Yanli is clearly into him and he seems to very much not return the feelings.

At this point, there are five main sects that the characters belong to. They are (with the characters you’ve met from them so far: the Jiang Sect (Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli), the Nie Sect (Nie Huaisang, a flighty and sort of feckless fellow), the Jin Sect (Jin Zixuan, his social skills translator Mianmian), the Lan Sect (Lan Wangji, his brother Lan Xichen) as well as the Wen Sect (more on them in a moment). Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian meet and immediately...something. Wei Wuxian wants to make friends, and Lan Wangji seems to emphatically Not.

You also meet Meng Yao, who is Nie Huaisang’s brother Nie Mingjue’s right hand man, and also the bastard son of Jin Guangshan (the leader of Jin Sect). He is also the son of (using the words of literally everyone) a prostitute, which people remind him of at every possible moment, in case he was in danger of forgetting, or something. He and Lan Xichen have kind of a moment. 

Later on, members of the Wen Sect, led by Wen Chao storm in, posturing disrespectfully, and drop off Wen Qing to “learn” (but secretly she has a mission looking for the Yin Iron/Metal). The Wen are ascendant in power and seem to be flexing their muscle looking for trouble. 

Wen Qing comes as a set with her brother Wen Ning - the pair of them are from sort of...a secondary branch of the main Wen family, and she’s being coerced into supporting Wen Ruohan despite being not thrilled about it. Wei Wuxian bonds with Wen Qing’s younger brother Wen Ning, who has a weird situation that makes him vulnerable to possession (this is important later).

At one point Wei Wuxian proposes - in response to a question! He’s just being innovative! - to put it simply, necromancy, which is, to say the least, not a hit. Remember that for later!

Eventually, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian end up falling by accident into some ice caves, where they learn from one of Lan Wangji’s ancestors (Lan Yi, she’s cool) about the Yin Iron, of which she has a piece. It is an spiritually corrupted metal that can’t be destroyed so it was broken into pieces and hidden in different places. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji resolve jointly to find the other pieces.

Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli, and Jiang Cheng (henceforth “the Yunmeng siblings”) are picked up early by Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng’s dad (Jiang Fengmian) because Wei Wuxian causes problems both on purpose and not. Wei Wuxian, however, puts together that Lan Wangji is going off on his own chasing the Yin Iron, and ditches the rest of his family to go help.

Yin Iron Hunt Arc

Wei Wuxian meets up with Lan Wangji, who is not thrilled to see him (at least, apparently). They run into Nie Huaisang, who joins them. They come to a town where everyone seems to have vanished and there is nothing fishy going on in the cave with the statue that looks like a dancing lady at all. Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng leaves home to go track down Wei Wuxian and bring him back.

The statue comes to life, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji fight together to defeat it, and then a bunch of...undead villagers (sort of, they get better) attack them, only to be lured away by Wen Qing playing a flute (this ability will never be brought up again). Jiang Cheng reveals himself as having been hanging out watching this go down. Ultimately, by killing the Stygian Pigeon that belongs to Wen Chao, the villagers are freed and they move on.

After a brief stopover in a village, they hear some rumors about a haunted house and take off to go check it out. When they get there, everyone is dead and Xue Yang is on the roof just kind of vibing. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan manage to get him pinned down and taken captive. This is important and not just because I said so.

Nie Huaisang, who Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji ditched in town, arrives here with Meng Yao, who proposes bringing Xue Yang to Nie Mingjue for justice purposes (which when I write it like that sounds...um. moving right along), which is where everyone heads next, less Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan who have their own things to do. Wei Wuxian realizes that Xiao Xingchen had the same master as his mother, and gets really excited about it; it’s adorable.

They go to Nie Mingjue, who is talked out of executing Xue Yang because they’re trying to find out where he put the Yin Iron (which they figure he has, because reasons. there are reasons, I just don’t feel like going into it.) Lan Wangji leaves in the night without saying goodbye, and then Wen Chao arrives. He is accompanied by Wen Zhuliu, who is called the Core-Melting Hand for reasons that will be important later. There’s a fight, Xue Yang gets loose, and Nie Mingjue finds Meng Yao in a very compromising position (killing a captain of the guard and among a bunch of other dead bodies). He kicks Meng Yao out of the Nie Sect.

Meanwhile, the Wens attack Cloud Recesses. Lan Xichen’s uncle makes him leave to preserve himself and the most important texts. Everyone retreats to a cave that’s hidden and walled off; Su She (who was introduced briefly earlier) caves to threats to his life and tells the Wens how to get into the Lan’s cave sanctuary. Lan Wangji returns with Lan Yi’s Yin Iron and gives it and himself up to Wen Chao’s older brother Wen Xu to spare everyone else.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian leave for home (Lotus Pier). We witness family dynamics, which are terrible. The Wens want everyone to send their kids, specifically their heirs, to be reeducated in Wen territory, but they’re not hostages, we swear. No, really.

Reeducation Camp Arc

To reeducation camp with the Wens we go! Where Lan Wangji is not looking so hot, and Wei Wuxian rapidly causes problems on purpose to try to get to talk to him, but mostly just ends up getting himself tossed in a dungeon where he gets attacked by a very bad puppet of a dog. Wen Qing has told Wen Ning not to associate with Wei Wuxian because they’re on thin ice with their boss (Wen Ruohan), but Wen Ning sneaks him some medicine against Wen Qing’s orders anyway.

They go on a hunt, with the non-Wens featuring as bait. Here is where you meet Wen Chao’s main squeeze Wang Lingjiao, who was formerly a servant. Everyone ends up in a cave that contains a creature whose name is unfortunately translated as “Tortoise of Slaughter.” we’ll go with “Xuanwu of Slaughter” instead, it feels better. Wen Chao and his accompanying entourage make a run for it and ditch everyone else in the cave; they manage to sneak out but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji end up trapped with no way out. They team up and kill the Xuanwu, partially because Wei Wuxian acquires a very cursed sword. Afterward, he is feverish and asks Lan Wangji to sing - enter Wuji! their theme. You see Lan Wangji mouth that it is called “Wangxian” before Wei Wuxian passes out. (Yes, he did name his composition after their ship name. Aww.)

I’ve skated through that very fast but it is important because it’s like...the point where they seriously bond in a major way and it’s all very...like, there was only one bed only they’re trapped in a cave and injured and forced to rely on each other. So not actually really like that.

Wei Wuxian comes around outside of the cave with Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan, who brought help to rescue him and Lan Wangji; Lan Wangji, however, is gone.

Oh Shit Things Went Downhill Fast Arc

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian go back to Lotus Pier, where Wei Wuxian is in big trouble with Jiang Cheng’s mother (Yu Ziyuan, seen later emotionally terrorizing all her children), who already doesn’t like him and accuses him of bringing trouble down on them by defying the Wens. Jiang Cheng’s dad is terrible, Wei Wuxian reaffirms that he and Jiang Cheng will be Together Forever, you, the viewer, know that is absolutely not how that’s going to go.

Word comes that the Wen have attacked one of the smaller sects, and Jiang Cheng’s dad (Jiang Fengmian) goes with Jiang Yanli to talk to Jin Guangshan about how to deal with the Wens.

Then Wang Lingjiao arrives with word that they’re gonna be in big trouble if they don’t punish Wei Wuxian right now. Yu Ziyuan uses her lightning whip to beat the shit out of Wei Wuxian, but Wang Lingjiao wants her to cut off his hand. Then she makes the mistake of saying that they’ll be making Lotus Pier a supervisory office of the Wens, thank you.

Yu Ziyuan reacts...poorly, Wang Lingjiao calls on her backup Wen Zhuliu (and everyone else); seeing the writing on the wall Yu Ziyuan grabs Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, puts them on a boat, and sends them away, bequeathing her sick-ass lightning whip (Zidian) to Jiang Cheng. They run into Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli; Jiang Fengmian adds Jiang Yanli to the boat full of crying children and goes to sail back to Lotus Pier.

Lotus Pier falls, everybody dies, Jiang Cheng goes semi-catatonic and then disappears, having been captured by the Wens after going back for his parents’ bodies. (Which is more important than it probably sounds, from a Western perspective.) Wei Wuxian follows him and finds Wen Ning, who smuggles Jiang Cheng out and takes him, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli to Wen Qing for safekeeping.

Jiang Cheng wakes up; his golden core (the...thing that lets him do superpowered things, let’s go with that) was destroyed by Wen Zhuliu. Melted, if you will. And it’s not the kind of thing you can just, you know, fix. He descends into absolute despair as Wei Wuxian looks frantically for a way to fix it - and finds one! Though Wen Qing is not happy about it, she still agrees.

at this point we see the return of an old friend! Song Lan, who has a bloody bandage over his eyes, but has eyes that work, despite the fact that he was blinded by Xue Yang who also killed his entire temple. He explains that Xiao Xingchen said that he was taking Song Lan to his master Baoshan Sanren, the immortal who can cure anything, and doesn’t remember anything else.

Wei Wuxian takes Jiang Cheng to Baoshan Sanren to get his core back. Psych! It’s a lie that he totally made up to explain the fact that he’s actually getting his own core transplanted into Jiang Cheng in a highly experimental procedure. Importantly, Wei Wuxian does not tell Jiang Cheng this.

Post-surgery, rather battered Wei Wuxian gets caught by Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao, who torture him and then throw him into a place called the Burial Mounds, which is more or less what it sounds like, is Very Cursed, and from which no one has emerged alive. Then this happens:

(I want you to appreciate how hard I’ve tried to not put any screencaps in here. but I had to do this one. I just had to.)

and you go oh shit and also well that’s sexy.

Jiang Cheng, delighted to have his core back, descends the mountain only to find that Wei Wuxian is...not there.

Cool! That seems fine.

Sunshot Campaign Arc

Timeskip to three months later! The rest of the sects have allied together to take down the Wen Sect (this is what ‘Sunshot Campaign’ refers to, because the symbol of the Wens is a sun). Things aren’t looking good for the Wens, including Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao. Wang Lingjiao hallucinates to the sound of a flute and ends up killing herself. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng have teamed up to look for Wei Wuxian. On their way, they start finding piles of Wen bodies killed in a mysterious and grotesque manner involving an unfamiliar method of cultivation.

(Side note: around now is where Jiang Cheng frees Wen Qing from where she was imprisoned by the Wens for being a dirty traitor during the war and gives her the comb of pining he bought way back in the Cloud Recesses arc, telling her that he will help her if she asks. This isn’t...exactly important, except I wanted to note it.)

Eventually, they find a house where Wen Chao has holed up with Wen Zhuliu, and watch as it’s revealed that he has gone through some nasty shit, is terrified and traumatized and badly injured. Ominous signs: begin to happen! Flames going out: happen! Shots of someone climbing slowly and menacingly up stairs: happen! 

Yeah, it’s Wei Wuxian. New and improved, darker and meaner and very sexy about it, and with a new sick-ass flute. He starts attacking Wen Chao, and when Wen Zhuliu moves to attack Wei Wuxian Jiang Cheng jumps down and hangs Wen Zhuliu with Zidian. Lan Wangji confronts Wei Wuxian about this darker and meaner version and Wei Wuxian breaks up with him; Lan Wangji leaves Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian to kill Wen Chao because the family that murders together stays together!

(They won’t, but.)

The war goes on, but the tides have turned, and the Wens are losing. Both of Wen Ruohan’s sons are dead. Soup drama happens here, which I don’t need to explain fully but it is clear that Wei Wuxian is extremely emotionally unstable, and also will no longer carry his sword despite everyone telling him he needs to carry his sword. All is not well with the Wei Wuxian! But nobody knows why. Lan Wangji’s repeated “LET ME FIX YOU” overtures are not well received. Lan Wangji also has a nice conversation about how the Lan rules did not prepare him for moral complexity.

Eventually Nie Mingjue proposes going to attack Wen Ruohan on his own while the others move on the Wen stronghold at Nightless City (at this point, they have received a map of Wen defenses from a ~mysterious spy~). Nie Mingjue is captured, and it is revealed that Meng Yao decided that after getting kicked out of Qinghe he could find a better boss somewhere else. Outside, an undead army shows up to kick everyone else’s ass. Things don’t look good for our heroes!

Wei Wuxian brings out his secret weapon the Yin Tiger Seal and...takes over the undead army. This is very troubling to everyone involved, but it does bring Wen Ruohan out to see what the deal is. Wei Wuxian delivers one of the sickest lines in the entire show:

(i’m restraining myself! trust me! i am!)

so yeah, that’s a normal and reassuring thing to say.

And then Meng Yao stabs Wen Ruohan in the back. And that’s it for Wen Ruohan! Our major antagonist is dead! Surely everything will be fine now.

Well We Won the War, Now What Arc

[cracks knuckles] and here’s where the politics starts.

Ready and totally psyched to step into the power vacuum left by the fall of the Wens is Jin Guangshan! Leader of the Jin Sect, least impacted by the war by vitue of joining up late. He recognizes Meng Yao as his son now that he’s, like, someone that is valuable to him politically, and Meng Yao gets a commensurate name change > Jin Guangyao. Pretty much immediately Jin Guangshan starts manuevering to consolidate power - pushing to marry Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, pushing to get access to Wei Wuxian’s Yin Tiger Seal, subtly undermining everyone else...the works.

Jin Guangshan is the worst, is what I’m saying here.

Meanwhile, Nie Mingjue is very unhappy about the whole “Meng Yao helping the Wens and fucking with him when he’s captured” thing, but then Lan Xichen (remember, Lan Wangji’s older brother) steps in and reveals that Jin Guangyao was a spy delivering information, actually, and also saved his life when he was on the run from the Wens, so don’t hurt him please. Nie Mingjue is still very suspicious, but he backs off. Subsequently, after agreeing to place the Wen (civilian) captives in a holding camp, Jin Guangyao has them killed (impliedly at the order of his father).

We are given cues that Jin Guangyao is bad news. Like, heavy cues. If you are me this makes you love him.

This is also where Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, and Jin Guangyao become sworn brothers, which is a big deal.

Meanwhile, back in Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian is...not doing so hot! He’s drinking heavily, shirking his responsibilities in a way that is making Jiang Cheng particularly very upset with him, generally being weird and traumatized but nobody knows how to deal with that, or him. Then Jin Zixuan arrives to invite everyone to a special hunt being hosted by his father including Jiang Yanli because he, he means his mom, really wants her to be there.

The hunt goes great! By that I mean Jin Zixuan is a spectacular failure at expressing his feelings to Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian almost starts a fight with Jin Zixuan, Jin Zixuan’s enormous asshole cousin gets nasty until Jiang Yanli makes him apologize, in a seriously badass moment. The whole thing comes off with Wei Wuxian really not looking good, including his decision to ditch the celebratory banquet. But also Jiang Yanli getting a liiiiittle closer to something she wants (i.e. Jin Zixuan). Jiang Cheng is like “dude what the fuck” at Wei Wuxian and gets zero percent explanation. Meanwhile everyone in the vicinity pokes at his massive insecurities, because the cultivation world’s favorite activity is actually gossip.

Things only get worse at the very bad after party. This is where we meet Su She again, who has gone and founded his own sect! Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji are sort of bitchy about it. But the real issue comes when Zixun peer pressures Lan Xichen into drinking despite the fact that it’s pretty solidly against the rules of the Lan Sect. Lan Xichen does it with a very “fuck you” smile, despite Jin Guangyao’s attempts to forestall the situation.

(I feel like I have not expressed the relationship between Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen? It’s a whole thing. Let’s just say that it’s a fairly popular ship for a reason.)

Lan Wangji, however, is not as diplomatic as his brother.

And then Wei Wuxian arrives! To ruin another party. Because he found Wen Qing wandering around in the streets and turns out that Wen Ning was taken prisoner by Jin Zixun and friends and removed to whereabouts unknown. Wei Wuxian proceeds to give the sexiest countdown ever to annihilating Jin Zixun if he doesn’t tell him where Wen Ning is.

Wen Ning, unfortunately, is in a pile of bodies. Because the Jin have been...well, experimenting on Wen prisoners, basically. Wen Ning is...not dead in this universe because censorship, but everything makes more sense if you just say “he’s basically dead and Wei Wuxian resurrects him to fuck up everyone in the vicinity who was responsible for his death, which is...everyone other than the other Wens. Eventually Wei Wuxian stops him by yelling his second (courtesy) name that no one else has used for him in speech up to this point (Wen Qionglin), because love is stored in the name. Wei Wuxian gathers up the survivors and takes off only to run into Lan Wangji standing in his way.

They have a point of no return moment. Wei Wuxian basically says “let me go or you have to kill me” only it’s better than that because what he actually says is like “if I’m going to be killed I should be killed by you, then I would know it was right” and it’s a whole fucking thing and anyway Lan Wangji steps aside and lets them all go and it is quite literally “I’m not crying, it’s just raining on my face” except he is also crying.

So...fuck.

Burial Mounds Arc

Wei Wuxian takes the Wens to the one place nobody’s probably going to follow them: namely, the Burial Mounds. Home sweet home!

Outside in the main world, rumors are flying about the army Wei Wuxian is building and the sect he’s planning to found and how ambitious he is and how he’s disrespecting Jiang Cheng and actually Jiang Cheng he probably never loved you anyway and is better and stronger and what are you good for, but I’m saying this out of concern and to be helpful (paraphrased from Jin Guangshan).

Accordingly, Jiang Cheng agrees to go and check things out and see what’s going on in Chez Burial Mounds. What is going on is basically a bunch of civilians eking out a very depressing living. There is also a child, a-Yuan, who is adorable. This will also be important later.

(are you keeping track of all this?)

Jiang Cheng also goes to see Wen Ning, who is...recovering from being dead/undead and Wei Wuxian is working on fixing him. Jiang Cheng says he has to die, and Wei Wuxian has to come home, and things are really bad, man, so stop worrying about these losers and avoid the entire cultivation world being really pissed with you, maybe?

Wei Wuxian isn’t going for it, and tells Jiang Cheng to cut him out of Jiang Sect in order to protect Jiang Sect’s reputation. It’s upsetting. They stage a very dramatic duel and Jiang Cheng announces that friendship ended with Wei Wuxian, he has no new friend actually.

This is also where Wen Qing significantly returns the comb of pining that Jiang Cheng gave her way back (remember that?) and is like. so you wouldn’t’ve helped me and Wen Ning actually, would you. And that is the end of Chengqing as a sidebar ship that never really sailed. Well done, you two.

Meanwhile, Jin Zixuan gets his shit together and proposes to Jiang Yanli by way of making her a lotus pond at Jinlintai. So that’s nice!

A bit later Lan Wangji comes to visit! Only it’s totally coincidental, he was just passing through, that’s all. He and Wei Wuxian hang out for a little while, pretending things are sort of normal, but they have to rush back to the Burial Mounds because the Wen Ning is out. They manage to get him under control and awaken him to proper consciousness again, though! Great! Things are looking up. :)

Lan Wangji does not stay for dinner, though. :(

In my notes I have written “meanwhile...political shitshow” and that is basically a summation of what’s up in places that aren’t the Burial Mounds. Specifically, Jin Guangshan, who seems to have deputized Jin Guangyao to do his dirty work generally, is making noises about how something needs to be done about that Wei Wuxian, and what about that Yin Tiger Seal anyway, doesn’t it seem Yin Iron-like, shouldn’t something like that not be in the hands of a random person? Probably it should be in someone else’s hands instead. Someone responsible with no ulterior motives. You know.

Also in here...somewhere, Mianmian tries to stand up for Wei Wuxian being maybe right about some things, gets shouted down, and decides to leave the Jin Sect entirely. Like...just walks out. Several people look at her like ‘you can do that?’, Lan Wangji is jealous, it is a total boss move. Mianmian hasn’t been a major character but this is important enough and cool enough that I had to mention it.

Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng come to Yiling (by the Burial Mounds) for a very secret rendezvous where Wei Wuxian gets to see Jiang Yanli’s beautiful wedding dress and eat some of her famous soup and it is very sweet and nice and Jiang Cheng is like “so do you have a plan for if everyone attacks you” and Wei Wuxian is like “absolutely. I will kill everyone is my plan.”

also possibly Jiang Yanli is already pregnant at this point??? she and Jiang Cheng are certainly exchanging a lot of conspiratorial smiles when she tells Wei Wuxian to give her future son a courtesy name.

She is for sure pregnant later, because there is a baby named Jin Ling who shows up! (Remember that name? No? He was the bratty teenager from episode 2.)  Jin Guangshan does not allow Jin Guangyao to hold the baby, for which he deserves what he gets. For Jin Ling’s 100 day/three month (again! timelines, fuck em) celebration, Jiang Cheng, Jin Zixuan, and Lan Wangji tag team to get Wei Wuxian invited, where he will come and it will be nice and everyone will discuss this Yin Tiger Seal issue like civilized people.

An invitation is sent for Wei Wuxian to come to the celebration! Wonderful! This is in no way going to go horribly wrong.

Oh Shit, Things Went Downhill Fast (Take Two) Arc

It goes horribly wrong.

On the way to Jinlintai to greet his new baby nephew, accompanied by Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian is confronted by - surprise! - Jin Zixun, accusing Wei Wuxian of putting a curse on him. Wei Wuxian denies it, naturally, since he didn’t. Jin Zixun decides the best way to deal with this situation is to kill Wei Wuxian, which will definitely break the curse that Wei Wuxian definitely cast on him.

He attacks, and Wen Ning goes Ghost General on everyone’s ass, and Wei Wuxian brings out his flute. Things are looking pretty hairy when Jin Zixuan shows up to call off the fight, trying to get Wei Wuxian to back down; he does not back down, because that would just mean getting shot full of arrows.

Wen Ning, who seems to have completely lost his mind, fists Jin Zixuan. Through the chest. This does, in fact, kill him.

His dying words are to say that Jiang Yanli is still waiting for Wei Wuxian to show up, just to make everything worse. Wen Ning kills Jin Zixun as well. This is not actually what Wei Wuxian wanted to happen.

Back at the Burial Mounds! In the wake of Jin Zixuan’s death, an ultimatum has been issued to give up the Wen siblings or else. This is pretty clearly (in my opinion) a pretext that doesn’t mean anything, but Wen Qing and Wen Ning have already decided to sacrifice themselves. Maybe they’re hoping it’ll work? Or at least that it’ll give Wei Wuxian some time? Wen Qing knocks Wei Wuxian out so he can’t stop them. The whole thing is really fucking heartbreaking.

Wei Wuxian comes around and goes to Jinlintai, where he sees Jiang Yanli, who is mourning her dead husband who got killed by her baby brother! Cool! She sees Wei Wuxian but he runs before she can say anything, partly because guards have been sicced on him. He is pretty clearly having a mental breakdown, hallucinations and all!

Cut to a gathering of...pretty much everyone important and all their followers at Nightless City, for a combination commemorating the dead/affirming the deaths of Wen Ning and Wen Qing/gearing up to kill Wei Wuxian.

Who spares them the effort of coming to find him by showing up on the roof! He proceeds to sic dark magic on everyone there except, conspicuously, for the Jiang Sect. Lan Wangji arrives to defuse the situation and fails to defuse the situation until Wei Wuxian hears Jiang Yanli calling for him.

Because she’s arrived on an active battlefield! Not her best idea but it’s not like I can actually blame her considering the week she’s having.

Wei Wuxian goes to look for her, as does Jiang Cheng who also heard her, and...suddenly loses control of his dark magic. Cool! One of the...undead? people there wounds Jiang Yanli. Even better! Jiang Cheng pleads with Wei Wuxian to get things under control, which he can’t! They have a moment while a lot of people around them are dying but you know what, they deserve it.

because like literally a second later Jiang Yanli pushes Wei Wuxian out of the way of a sword meant to stab him in the back and instead takes it herself. And dies.

So. Yeah.

Wei Wuxian loses the last threads of his sanity and destroys the Yin Tiger Seal. While everybody is fighting over it, he goes over to the edge of a cliff, and now we’re back here where we started! With Lan Wangji clinging to Wei Wuxian’s hand as he dangles over the edge of a cliff and tells him to let go.

Jiang Cheng arrives to defuse the situation, by which I mean “he tells Wei Wuxian to go die and stabs down.” He only hits rock; Wei Wuxian breaks himself loose of Lan Wangji’s grip and falls. You are left on the image of Lan Wangji’s absolutely devastated face.

nice! great. well, that brings us up to speed for the flashforward to the future, where you have probably completely forgotten what happened in the first two episodes.

For instance: remember how we saw Wen Ning despite the fact that he’s supposed to be ashes? Yeah.

And We’re Back in the Present Now Arc (Good Times in Qinghe Arc)

For some reason this is the part of the show where I remember the least and it all kind of blurs together with the exception of one scene? so I had to go look at Wikipedia episode summaries to make sure I was putting things in the right order.

Back in the present at the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji discover that the very angry sword spirit last seen killing people at Mo Manor (remember that?) is pointing them in the direction of Qinghe (the Nie Sect territory). They leave to go there and run into Jin Ling, who semi-accidentally terrorizes Wei Wuxian by way of dog. 

By asking around, they also learn that there are rumors of a man-eating fortress in the woods, and that it hasn’t been dealt with because the leader of the Nie Sect is absolutely useless. The leader of the Nie Sect who is now - hey, been a while! - Nie Huaisang, since his older brother disappeared under mysterious circumstances after losing his mind years ago.

The dynamic duo go off to investigate the man-eating fortress, naturally, and what they find is a tomb full of swords and a wall full of skeletons, and also Jin Ling. 

They remove Jin Ling from the wall, Lan Wangji goes chasing a mysterious attacker, and Wei Wuxian takes Jin Ling to safety only to end up running into - oh boy! - Jiang Cheng. 

They have a calm talk about their feelings and address their dysfunction in a reasonable manner. 

Nope! Jiang Cheng corners Wei Wuxian with Jin Ling’s dog, throws a cup of tea at a wall, and yells at Wei Wuxian about how he both didn’t come home right away and also how he should die ten million times (no, like, actually). Fortunately, Jin Ling arrives, lies out his ass about how he saw Wen Ning to get Jiang Cheng to leave, and lets Wei Wuxian go. 

Back to that mysterious figure Lan Wangji went running after! Turns out it was none other than Nie Huaisang, who confesses - reluctantly - that the man-eating fortress belongs to his family and is a safe home for bloodthirsty swords after their owners die, which is a normal thing to get as a family heirloom. This is also where it becomes increasingly clear that (a) the sword spirit is Baxia, Nie Mingjue’s sword, and (b) Nie Mingjue is most likely hella dead, specifically murdered. 

With this new information, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian move on, tracking the directions of the angry sword spirit. They overhear some very depressing story about Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen, and Xue Yang, specifically how things turned out horribly for them (though without details), which drives Lan Wangji to drink.

Lan Wangji cannot hold his liquor, at all. Wei Wuxian takes his unconsciousness as an opportunity to flute Wen Ning to him again, and removes a massive metal needle from his skull, which fixes the whole “unconscious zombie” issue. Unfortunately, Wen Ning remembers nothing about what happened to him between going to Jinlintai with Wen Qing and when he heard Wei Wuxian calling by way of flute.

And now we have Drunkji, who is the most adorable, hilarious thing ever. He gives Wei Wuxian chickens, with utmost sincerity. They are wedding chickens. It is very important that Wei Wuxian have these chickens.

This interlude is not important to the plot but it is hilarious. There is also a not hilarious interlude of Lan Wangji being very sad about how he didn’t help Wei Wuxian before, and also admitting that he likes rabbits. Again: not plot important. It is adorable. 

Wei Wuxian herds Drunkji back to the inn, where a mysterious masked man attempts to steal the pouch holding the angry sword spirit, but is driven off and teleports away. Remember this guy! He’s important.

The next morning, they set off and hit the road for a place called Yi City, which if you’ve spent any time on this blog you know is deeply important in my heart if not, like, in terms of show space.

Yi City Arc Yi City Arc Yi City Arc

yes this is three episodes but this is my summary post so I get to give it its own section if I want to.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji arrive at Yi City, which is empty, and very spooky. They run into the pack of juniors (Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, sassmaster Lan Jingyi and consummate romantic Ouyang Zizhen are the named ones), and shortly thereafter into a whole bunch of undead. They also run into a ghost (???) girl who is blind and has no tongue. They also also run into Xiao Xingchen, severely wounded.

Psych! It’s Xue Yang in disguise and he has an undead Song Lan under his control. what a fun twist this is! and he wants one thing specifically: for Wei Wuxian to help him bring someone back to life. Problem is that their soul is in need of some serious super glue and super glue doesn’t work on souls.

Xue Yang informs Wei Wuxian that his consent is optional and he will be participating in Xue Yang’s necromancy experiment fantasies whether he likes it or not. Lan Wangji objects strenuously to this idea. While Lan Wangji is fighting Xue Yang and Wen Ning is fighting Song Lan (corpse fight! corpse fight!) Wei Wuxian herds the juniors into a safe courtyard where the corpses won’t go, led by the aforementioned ghost girl, who shows them a coffin.

the coffin has Xiao Xingchen in it. The actual real one. There’s a bandage over his eyes, because he doesn’t have any.

Wei Wuxian goes into the ghost girl’s memories in order to find out what happened using a technique called Empathy, and the next chunk of things I’m just going to tell in full chronologically even though there’s a break where you don’t see all of it until an episode later.

The ghost girl, a-Qing, is a con artist who pretends to be blind; she runs into Xiao Xingchen (who is actually blind) when she steals his money, and he just gives it to her after stopping someone else whose money she stole from beating him up. A-Qing decides they’re friends now. They’ve been traveling together for...some amount of time when they stumble on a badly injured man on the side of the road. Xiao Xingchen picks him up and takes him home with him (to an abandoned coffin house in Yi City). You get one guess who he’s rescued and who is totally psyched to discover that his life has been saved by Xiao Xingchen, who doesn’t know who he is, because he’s blind.

So you know, everything is coming up Xue Yang.

What follows is three years of domestic bliss, including hits like “entire villages dying by Xiao Xingchen under sort of suspicious circumstances” and “threatening grocers.” And then who should show up but Song Lan! Looking for Xiao Xingchen and he’s so happy to have finally found him.

Only he notices Xue Yang first.

A fight ensues, in which Xue Yang...sort of talks Song Lan to death by digging into the fact that Xiao Xingchen is blind because he gave his eyes to Song Lan, actually, and Song Lan hurt him so bad when they broke up, and because Xiao Xingchen is blind Xue Yang has been able to trick him into killing living people when he thinks he’s killing undead ones, and oooh do you feel bad now, well, guess what, you’re gonna feel worse when I poison you into becoming undead and cut out your tongue. :D

And even worse when this means that Xiao Xingchen stabs him because, you know, undead monster.

Cool! Things are going great.

Or they would be only a-Qing saw everything, reveals it to Xiao Xingchen, who puts it together and greets XueYang coming back from grocery shopping with a sword (rude). They break up, and by “break up” I mean “Xue Yang reveals his tragic backstory, Xiao Xingchen is not convinced that his tragic backstory means all the murder was justified, Xue Yang decides it’s time to make this all go nuclear.” So tells Xiao Xingchen about how he’s been killing people actually! And guess what, bonus, one of those people was your BFF/life partner/whatever, Song Lan. isn’t that amazing, Xiao Xingchen, isn’t that so cool--

Xiao Xingchen kills himself and this is, it turns out, Not What Xue Yang Wanted. So guess who’s in the pouch Xue Yang was hoping to resurrect? Yeah.

Back in the present, with help from a-Qing directing Lan Wangji, Xue Yang gets...hella stabbed, but not before he kills a-Qing. Song Lan, freed from Xue Yang’s control, kills Xue Yang.

Oh yeah, and then we see Xiao Xingchen tenderly laying pieces of candy on a bed, which is symbolically important, and also Xue Yang dies looking at the last piece of candy Xiao Xingchen gave him, and now I’m going to cry. anyway Yi City Arc, you’re welcome. Where the only person who survives did not, in fact, survive!

Oh, yeah, I guess it’s also important that there’s a headless body buried here and it gets...pretty conclusively identified as Nie Mingjue because the sword spirit (remember that?) takes the shape of his very distinctive large sword (Baxia). Also Xue Yang recreated the Yin Tiger Seal but it gets snatched away by the masked man from earlier. There’s also a bunch of stuff about the Yin Iron plot but you can ignore it, it doesn’t actually really matter that much.

Honestly at that point I was crying too much to pay a whole lot of attention to the whole point of them being in Yi City to begin with. So sue me.

The Plot Thickens, and Secrets Are Revealed Arc

Exeunt Yi City, rendezvous with Lan Xichen to discuss, obliquely, who could be responsible for Nie Mingjue’s death. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji delicately imply that maybe it was Jin Guangyao; Lan Xichen is unconvinced and informs us that there are no curse marks indicating that he’d teleported on Jin Guangyao’s body, he would know, and also they’ve been together every night so he wouldn’t have time to get up to shenanigans anyway.

Hm.

Still, they go ahead together to ruin another party/investigate at Jinlintai, with Wei Wuxian safely in disguise (barely), unfortunately as Mo Xuanyu, who is not exactly welcome in the Jin Sect because he got kicked out of it earlier. Mo Xuanyu is a whole...thing that I’m not really going into here because the show doesn’t really get into it either.

Wei Wuxian ducks out to investigate, and in the form of an animated paper man, to the tune of music we have never heard before in this show and will never hear again (look, it’s just weird to me), goes sneaking into Jin Guangyao’s rooms to do some poking around. His investigations are interrupted when Jin Guangyao’s wife Qin Su, in a state of severe distress, returns, followed shortly by Jin Guangyao. They argue about an unknown revelation in a letter Qin Su received that has resulted in her being disgusted by...something, we don’t know what, and angry with Jin Guangyao. She accuses him of killing their kid.

Eventually he paralyzes her and removes her to a secret room through a mirror, which is a thing everyone has, especially one with a bunch of torture instruments and a body sized table with dried blood on it. Normal!

Remember how the body in Yi City was headless? Yeah, we found the head now.

And it’s time for another Empathy flashback! 

Empathy Flashback feat. Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao’s Bad Relationship Mini Arc

This time with Nie Mingjue (and Jin Guangyao). We see Jin Guangyao very quickly elevated from a servant who is spat upon by the other Nie cultivators to Nie Mingjue’s right hand man, like, literally in two seconds. Flash forward to episode 10 - remember that? - where Jin Guangyao has just been caught in a compromising murder position. Nie Mingjue accuses Jin Guangyao plotting all along and is a conniving little snake who was in league with Xue Yang (which is a thing that does not make sense, actually), and kicks him out.

We next see Nie Mingjue in Nightless City, having been captured and currently being taunted by a very sexy Meng Yao, who kills some other Nie cultivators and threatens to fuck up Nie Mingjue by shattering his sword (which would be catastrophic and is, we are informed, how Nie Mingjue’s dad died). Nie Mingjue is understandably rather displeased by this to the point of probable murder, though Lan Xichen reminds him (as he did in the previous scene) that Meng Yao was acting as a spy and Meng Yao argues that he needed to play his part.

The relationship between the two of them continues to deteriorate as Nie Mingjue becomes more unstable (something that just happens to the Nies by virtue of their cultivation style). That deterioration is being delayed by healing music from Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen teaches Jin Guangyao the healing music. Jin Guangyao seems to be possibly doing something not healing with the healing music.

This all escalates into a confrontation at the top of the stairs of Jinlintai, where Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao argue about class politics and justifiable violence (no, really) until Nie Mingjue explodes and kicks Jin Guangyao down the stairs. 

And then proceeds to, as Jin Guangyao looks on, have a qi deviation, which is...well, let’s just call it both a physical and a mental breakdown. Nie Huaisang arrives to see this happening, and while we saw this before and it looked like Nie Mingjue was threatening Nie Huaisang because he didn’t recognize him, this time it is more apparent that he’s directing it at Jin Guangyao.

Next we see, Nie Mingjue is chained to that body sized table in the secret room. Xue Yang is there, and uses Nie Mingjue’s sword to behead Nie Mingjue. He’s psyched as hell about it. If you’re me this is adorable.

And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming Arc

Flashback ends! And we are back in Jinlintai. Wei Wuxian goes to get Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen to storm Jin Guangyao’s bedroom, to which Su She objects, but Jin Guangyao eventually allows. They all file together into the secret room and look around, but there is no longer any severed head where Wei Wuxian left it. Whoops. 

Then Qin Su kills herself, Jiang Cheng arrives to defuse the situation while Jin Guangyao pleads innocent, and Wei Wuxian, by way of drawing his sword that nobody else could draw before now, reveals that he is, in fact, Wei Wuxian. Everyone in this room actually already knew this information except for Jin Ling, who is not thrilled to discover that his cool uncle is the guy who murdered his parents. Nobody else does a very good job of faking surprise.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian make a run for it only to be cornered on the stairs. Extreme romance ensues where Lan Wangji announces his intent to stand by Wei Wuxian forever against the world. 

This is where the “I was like, SCREAMS” meme kicks in.

Anyway, after that love confession (look, they can’t say ‘I love you’ but basically) in front of everyone, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian fight their way out together and are well on the way to freedom when Jin Ling stabs Wei Wuxian. 

Nobody is happy about this, including Jin Ling.

Wei Wuxian is okay overall, though he does faint and have to get swept off to the Cloud Recesses and undressed and redressed in Lan Wangji’s underwear. Don’t worry about it. And now it’s time to talk to Lan Xichen, who is currently feeling very “what the hell is going on, you have no proof and are accusing a person I trust completely of something horrible without any proof.” 

They still don’t have any proof, but Wei Wuxian reveals that in the flashback he heard Jin Guangyao playing the soothing music but different, and it comes out that there is evil Japanese music that can kill people and be used to poison someone slowly over time. It’s literally this post:

Lan Xichen is not entirely convinced but agrees to investigate; Jin Guangyao comes to Cloud Recesses and has an absolutely heartbreaking conversation with Lan Xichen about how is our friendship over, Zewu--jun :( while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji eavesdrop.

That conversation isn’t plot important either, I just personally find it very upsetting.

The Burial Mounds, Take Two Arc

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji leave the Cloud Recesses, heading toward the Burial Mounds because Jin Guangyao mentioned something being up there. But they end up meeting - surprise! - Mianmian, who is living her best life. This is mostly important because she is literally the only female character who makes it out of this show alive. 

She mentions that there’s been some trouble around the Burial Mounds, so they head in that direction, running into Wen Ning along the way, who has been following them around because he loves Wei Wuxian. The Burial Mounds are indeed full of active undead and they fight their way up to the old farming commune location, which is less empty than expected because there are a bunch of kids tied up in Wei Wuxian’s old lair/cave/house. Like, all of them. Including Jin Ling, who really is having a terrible time lately, and I just feel the need to note that sometimes.

As they free the children and start to leave, everyone else arrives with the plan of killing Wei Wuxian again, because once wasn’t enough and obviously he’s Up To No Good, where else would these corpses be coming from, huh? 

Speaking of corpses. 

A small army of them shows up! All the cultivators who aren’t children lose their powers! Everyone has to retreat back into the lair/cave/house where they’ll be safe! So this is all...going well.

Fortunately, everyone being stuck in one place gives Wei Wuxian the opportunity to get his Hercule Poirot on and walk everyone through a series of deductions to get them to a place of realizing that (a) they were poisoned by evil music, (b) the evil music came from Su She, (c) Su She is working for Jin Guangyao who (d) planned all of this whole ‘everyone is going to the Burial Mounds to get killed’ thing.

Su She panics, inadvertently reveals that he alone still has his powers, and teleports out. Wei Wuxian decides that a reasonable solution to all these problems is to make himself bait for all the undead so everyone else can make a run for it, because Wei Wuxian is kind of like that. 

It’s okay, though, he and Lan Wangji make a spectacular battle couple.

(Oh, yeah. Throughout here it is becoming increasingly clear that Lan Sizhui’s identity is Significant and actually we Might Have Seen Him Before.)

Back to Lotus Pier Arc, or Jin Ling Has a Very Bad Day, Continued Arc

Safely out of the Burial Mounds thanks to Wei Wuxian, everybody goes ahead and invites themselves back to Jiang Cheng’s house. To be fair, it is closest. 

My notes here say “Wen Ning figures out that Lan Sizhui is a-Yuan, Jin Ling has an emotional breakdown” which is a more or less accurate summation of the situation. Honestly, though, I feel so bad for Jin Ling at this point, he’s had an absolute nightmare of a month and then today happened and like. I feel for him.

But Wen Ning reuniting with the last remaining member of his family! Though he doesn’t...actally tell Lan Sizhui this, and Lan Sizhui doesn’t have any memories of his early years. 

Jiang Cheng reluctantly allows Wei Wuxian inside. Wen Ning has to stay on the porch, but Lan Sizhui stays with him to keep him company, because he is a good boy.

This next part...hoo boy. It’s a lot of exposition featuring two ladies who appear to relate their stories about Jin Guangyao, featuring the part where he murdered his father by using a bunch of sex workers (who then were murdered in turn, except for one), also involving necrophilia, and the one where Qin Su was Jin Guangyao’s sister, actually, and he knew it and still married her. Sect Leader Bad Takes says that’s probably why Jin Guangyao killed their kid, because children of incest inevitably have developmental problems? Yeah, sure, buddy.

Anyway, everyone starts shouting for Jin Guangyao’s head, which is very familiar to Wei Wuxian, who leaves in some disgust. While wandering with Lan Wangji, they wind up going to the family shrine (which is, to be clear, a pretty sacred place). Which is where Jiang Cheng finds them! And once again they have a reasonable and emotionally steady conversation.

Nope. Jiang Cheng talks shit trying to provoke a fight that Wei Wuxian won’t have. As he and Lan Wangji attempt to leave, Jiang Cheng pursues because he’s not done yelling dammit, lashing out with Zidian. Wei Wuxian faints, and Wen Ning arrives to stand in between him and Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, holding Wei Wuxian’s sheathed sword (remember, the one nobody other than Wei Wuxian can draw). Wen Ning proceeds to initiate one of the single best devastating beatdowns of the show without laying a hand on Jiang Cheng, specifically by shoving the sword at Jiang Cheng and telling him to draw it, because hey you can do that now! Wonder why that is? Wouldn’t you like to know what’s going on there, Jiang Wanyin?

Remember way back when Jiang Cheng lost his core and got it back because Wei Wuxian gave him his core? Yeah, this is when he finds out about that. Psych! Your brother loves you and also the only reason you got to be as strong as you are is because he sacrificed himself for you! Which is also the reason why he took up demonic cultivation in the first place! 

Seriously, it’s so good, I love this scene. Probably one of my favorites in the whole show.

Jiang Cheng runs away; Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have a moment on a lake where Lan Wangji indulges Wei Wuxian by eating stolen lotuses with him. It’s sweeter than it sounds when I put it like that.

Guanyin Temple Arc

oh god, how do I. how do I describe Guanyin Temple. partially this is hard because by virtue of censorship about dead bodies, among probably other things, there are huge gaps that make portions of it make no sense so I’m gonna go ahead and...fill in some of those that are intelligible pretty much only with some knowledge of book plot, imo.

Wen Ning, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian go to a place called Yunping because Jin Guangyao bought some land there for some reason. There they find a slightly suspicious temple (Guanyin Temple). They come back at night, leaving Wen Ning to stand guard, and spy on the courtyard, where a bunch of conspicuously armed monks are there, along with Lan Xichen aaaaand...Jin Guangyao. 

Jin Ling arrives! And decides it’s a good idea to climb over the wall. Wei Wuxian blocks someone from shooting him by using the bamboo flute he’s been using this whole time, so he now functionally has no weapon, and also he and Lan Wangji have been exposed, so now the two of them and also Jin Ling are in the courtyard. Lan Xichen admits he was tricked and doesn’t have any of his powers. Jin Guangyao threatens Lan Wangji into sealing his by threatening Wei Wuxian with a wire. It’s sexy.

Everybody goes inside the temple, where several monks are digging up something ??? under the floor. This is never explained and that is because it is supposed to be Jin Guangyao’s mother’s body, and there are very strict rules I understand about what can be done with dead bodies in dramas like this one. Anyway, Jin Guangyao loved his mom very much and built a temple where she was buried where the statue has her face. He is exhuming her so he can take her body with him when he flees the country, which is what he was planning here. Of course, now he has a bunch of unwanted hostages (and one wanted hostage), which was not actually part of the plan.

The next person to join the party is an unconscious Nie Huaisang, brought in by Su She, who basically says “I have no idea what he was doing here but...here he is” and Jin Guangyao is like. Well, guess he’s here now. 

Next to show up is Jiang Cheng! Making an excellent and extremely dramatic entrance. Unfortunately, he still gets injured and taken down as Jin Guangyao starts poking at his very obvious emotional weak spots, including revealing that Jiang Cheng knows about the golden core thing. Wei Wuxian, who did not know that secret came out because he was unconscious at the time, goes “wait, what?” and thus ensues the epic emotional catharsis crying and yelling conversation I was waiting for for 47 episodes. Seriously, it’s really good. They end up in a place where all is not solved but things are...maybe a little better? 

Of course, they’re still hostages. 

Meanwhile, back at the dig site, something gets unearthed that is not Jin Guangyao’s mother’s body but is in fact a coffin with Nie Mingjue’s body, now complete with head, in it. The reveal also drops here that Su She has the marks that indicate he cast the curse on Jin Zixun that Jin Zixun accused Wei Wuxian of casting.

A very ugly argument ensues where everyone is poking at everyone else’s things that they’re sensitive about, until finally Lan Xichen recovers his powers and turns the tables on Jin Guangyao by putting a sword to his neck. 

The next part is basically...explaining how all the bad things that happened were Jin Guangyao’s fault? Or at least that’s the explanation given. I find it personally very frustrating as a narrative choice and sort of unnecessary, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, Jin Guangyao is pleading for mercy from Lan Xichen, saying he’ll leave and never return, the whole thing is very emotional. 

We also find out that Jin Guangshan kicked Jin Guangyao down the stairs. People really need to stop doing that.

And now Wen Ning arrives! Punting Lan Sizhui in ahead of him. He is possessed by a very angry sword spirit (namely, Baxia). Lan Wangji cuts off Jin Guangyao’s right arm, because Lan Wangji likes doing that, apparently. Baxia-possessed Wen Ning then targets Jin Ling because Jin Ling has Jin Guangyao’s blood on him - only for Wen Ning to stop the blade with his bare hand and save Jin Ling’s life, because Wen Ning is both a badass and very good. 

Jiang Cheng throws Wei Wuxian his old flute, which he apparently has just been keeping under his bed or something for sixteen years, which is a thing that I will always never be over, and Wei Wuxian flutes the very angry sword into the Nie Mingjue-holding coffin.

Which would be fine, only then Nie Huaisang starts yelling about how Su She totally stabbed him, no, really, look, he’s bleeding. Baxia kills Su She. Then Wei Wuxian manages to put the sword back in the coffin, as well as the Yin Tiger Seal, and locks both away.

Whew.

Everybody’s sitting down and recovering a little as Lan Xichen tends Jin Guangyao’s wounds. He turns around to get medicine from Nie Huaisang, who tells him to look out because Jin Guangyao is attacking you!!! 

Lan Xichen runs Jin Guangyao through. 

Oh boy.

Jin Guangyao is a little impressed about Nie Huaisang having been plotting this all along. Because he was. He absolutely was. He’s absolutely been planning this for years. Everybody needs a hobby.

But it’s Lan Xichen who he really addresses here, telling him that he’d never hurt him. The actual line really hurts but I’m trying to not reproduce lines here, except I am going to say that he drags Lan Xichen - still with a sword through him! - deeper into the temple and says “stay and die with me” as the temple starts to collapse. Lan Xichen, who was about to strike and presumably push himself away, lowers his hand, and Jin Guangyao abruptly pushes him away and out of the collapsing building.

Romance!

(No, but seriously, it’s a lot.)

Thus ends Jin Guangyao. 

Outside in the courtyard, everyone’s taking a breather. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian stare longingly at each other across the room and say nothing. Jiang Cheng walks away and we learn that - surprise! - the reason Jiang Cheng was caught by the Wens way back when is because he was keeping the Wens from catching Wei Wuxian instead.

Everybody in this family in just a big circle of self sacrifice. In the words of Wen Qing:

(Who misses Wen Qing? I do!)

Anyway, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian leave with each other, only to be caught on the road by Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning - Lan Sizhui, who has remembered that he was a-Yuan and finally someone tells Wei Wuxian this, and ahhhh, okay, I know what I said about limiting screencaps but I can’t not:

Now that’s what I call a hug!

They part ways again, Lan Sizhui leaving with Wen Ning for some family time and for Wen Ning to find his own way. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian...seem like they’re going in different directions, but then they’re at Cloud Recesses together, playing music, hanging out, vibing. They talk to Nie Huaisang, but don’t directly confront him about his scheming. Mostly just making sure he’s not, you know, gonna do anything else.

Then Wei Wuxian leaves to go on a roadtrip to find himself. People really do not like this, but I personally really do like this, especially because the last shots of the show are Wei Wuxian playing his and Lan Wangji’s theme song (the one that Lan Wangji wrote, remember, from the cave? It’s come up a lot, I just haven’t mentioned it here), and when he finishes Lan Wangji’s voice says “Wei Ying” and he turns around and just like. Smiles. It’s scrunchy and happy and perfect.

Like this:

aaaaaaand scene! fifty episodes later your life has been ruined and you will never be the same.

and the thing is that this is leaving out, like. a lot, and probably is biased because I focus on different things than another person would, &c &c, but at least it might be a starting point for...the entire plot.

and also congratulations if you made it this far, I am impressed. have a screenshot of wei wuxian as a reward, whose mental breakdown does make him look sexy

you’re welcome.

#anonymous #conversating #HOLY SHIT THAT WENT SOMEWHERE #anon if this isn't what you wanted....i'm very sorry send me another ask and i can link you to someone else's summary #but i started going and then i couldn't stop #and now here we are #the sad queer cultivators show #you know what i am going to tag this because it was kind of a lot of work #the untamed #cql #thanks for reading this and making sure it made any kind of sense james #lise does meta #i guess??????

[bloody-bee-tea]

To finish this amazing JC Love Month that has given so much joy, could I ask for a final chapter of Lan Quiren being the good dad that little Jiang Cheng is in desperate need of? Thank you so much for that series!! It is all that I ever wanted and more,but I just need a WWX and JY and reacting to YZ and JFM and Lan Quiren interacting. Thank you so much!!! 💛💛

JC Love Month 2020 Day 30

Breathing and Footsteps

Your wish is my command, Anon! Day 30 of JC Love Month brings one last confrontation between LQR and JC's parents, this time witnessed by JC's siblings, who fully support him and LQR taking care of him. This also marks the last day of JC Love Month, so thank you all for sticking with me through it all! Technically it was a free day but I'm very bad with those, so my friend gave me a few word prompts to work with. This follows after Day 23 of JC Love Month.

Jiang Cheng is reading over the material they will cover in class later, when someone suddenly sits down next to him.

Jiang Cheng frowns, a biting remark already on his tongue, but he swallows it down when he turns and sees that it’s Lan Xichen.

“Oh, hi,” Jiang Cheng breathes out and Lan Xichen’s mouth twitches in amusement but when he smiles it’s kind.

“How are you doing?” Lan Xichen asks him, sending a pointed look at his newly cast-free hand.

“I’m doing well,” Jiang Cheng gives back and he’s almost surprised to find that he means it, too. “Doctor Wen says it’s healing well and if I stick to the physical therapy I shouldn’t have any problems going forward.”

“That’s very good to hear,” Lan Xichen says. “Though I think Wen Qing insisted on you calling her by her name.”

“She might have,” Jiang Cheng says and looks down at his book.

He tried, too, but it felt wrong when she was removing his cast and so he decided to stick to Doctor Wen. She had glared at him when he did, but her glare held none of the bite Jiang Cheng was used to from his mother, so she probably wasn’t too bad.

“As long as you know you’re free to call her Wen Qing, it’s okay,” Lan Xichen reassures him and lightly pats his forearm. “Listen, there’s actually a reason I’m here,” Lan Xichen then says and Jiang Cheng can’t help it, he tenses when worry settles in his belly.

“Is anything wrong?” Jiang Cheng asks, his voice low and scared, because most times he still feels like he’s in a dream, as if one day he will wake up and Lan Qiren won’t care about him and Jiang Cheng will have to sleep back in his own huge, empty house.

“Nothing is wrong,” Lan Xichen immediately tells him. “I’m sorry it sounded like that,” he goes on and Jiang Cheng thinks he knows him well enough by now to know that Lan Xichen will consider his words much more carefully from now on.

“What’s going on then?” Jiang Cheng asks, reassured now that it won’t be something bad.

“Uncle is working late today,” Lan Xichen starts and Jiang Cheng nods.

Lan Qiren had told him about the meeting he has today, much to Jiang Cheng’s surprise, because his parents never bothered to tell him where they would be and if they would be coming home that day.

“Yeah, he said,” Jiang Cheng whispers, still almost feeling uncomfortably surprised that Lan Qiren took the time to inform him about his plans.

“Good,” Lan Xichen says, as if it’s entirely normal that Lan Qiren told him. “I thought since you’re doing well with your arm, that I could show you how to cook one of Uncle’s favourite dishes today? I think he would like coming home after that meeting to a home-cooked meal.”

Jiang Cheng has to regulate his breathing at that, because he feels this close to a breakdown in the middle of school and Lan Xichen puts his hand on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” Lan Xichen lowly says, taking care that no one else can hear them, but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“No, I would like that,” Jiang Cheng immediately says and looks at Lan Xichen. “Please, if you have the time.”

“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise,” Lan Xichen says with a smile and squeezes Jiang Cheng’s shoulder once. “I’ll come by later then, alright?” Lan Xichen asks and Jiang Cheng nods.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng breathes out but Lan Xichen shakes his head.

“It’s my pleasure,” Lan Xichen replies and gets up. “See you later, then, Wanyin,” he says and leaves Jiang Cheng to his reading again.

Jiang Cheng wants to go back to that, but his mind his whirring now, too touched by Lan Xichen’s kindness and thoughtfulness and Jiang Cheng is looking forward to giving Lan Qiren something in return, even if it’s only something small.

Jiang Cheng barely managed to concentrate on his book again, when he hears footsteps coming up behind him and Jiang Cheng turns his head with a sigh.

He immediately straightens up when he realizes that it’s Lan Qiren who is coming up to him.

“Is everything alright?” Lan Qiren wants to know, not looking directly at Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng can still tell that he’s honestly worried that anything could be wrong.

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng very honestly says and Lan Qiren seems to believe him, because he nods once and then finally looks at Jiang Cheng.

“How’s your hand?” he wants to know, as if he isn’t asking after Jiang Cheng’s wellbeing every day but Jiang Cheng smiles at his obvious concern.

“It feels fine,” Jiang Cheng gives back and carefully rotates his wrist to show Lan Qiren that he’s not lying about it.

“That’s good,” Lan Qiren says and then his eyes wander to Jiang Cheng’s book in front of him. “I’ll let you get back to studying then,” Lan Qiren decides and simply marches off without giving Jiang Cheng another chance to say something.

Jiang Cheng smiles slightly when he watches Lan Qiren walk away, and he feels entirely too fond of Lan Qiren at that moment, realizing that this really was just him paying enough attention to Jiang Cheng to have seen Lan Xichen with him and to immediately worry.

He is not used to care like this, but he slowly realizes that it seems to be the norm with Lan Qiren. Jiang Cheng smiles into his book at that thought.

Jiang Cheng schools his face into a frown when someone sits down opposite of him and by now Jiang Cheng is absolutely convinced that he will not get any reading done.

Especially so when he sees that it’s Wei Wuxian who sat down at his table.

“What?” Jiang Cheng snaps out, because he hasn’t seen Wei Wuxian all that much since he moved out of his old house two weeks ago, and he only ever hears from Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian is alright.

“How are you?” Wei Wuxian asks with a look at his wrist and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“The cast came off,” he says and Wei Wuxian rolls his eyes at him.

“I can see that. But how are you?”

“I’m okay,” Jiang Cheng says, much more softer at that, because he can tell that Wei Wuxian is really worried.

“Are you in trouble?” Wei Wuxian asks with a frown, and when Jiang Cheng looks at him in confusion, he nods to where Lan Qiren just vanished.

“Why would you think that?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and he nods at Lan Wangji when he joins Wei Wuxian.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time at the headmaster’s office. Are you in trouble?”

Jiang Cheng looks at Lan Wangji at that, who simply shrugs.

“You said not to tell. I didn’t,” he easily replies and Jiang Cheng knows that Lan Wangji doesn’t particularly like him, so he didn’t expect that.

Since Jiang Cheng moved into Lan Qiren’s house permanently Lan Wangji has been a lot nicer during family meals, but they will never be best friends and that’s okay with Jiang Cheng, but to hear that he respected his wishes really touches him.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Lan Wangji only nods.

“What’s going on here?” Wei Wuxian whines when he sees them exchanging looks and Jiang Cheng sighs.

“You know what?” Jiang Cheng asks him and shuts his book. “Come to the house tomorrow afternoon and you’ll see,” Jiang Cheng tells him, because tomorrow they will pick up the last of Jiang Cheng’s things from his old room and Jiang Cheng suspects that Wei Wuxian needs to see that Jiang Cheng left to really believe it.

“You know what, you should bring A-jie as well,” Jiang Cheng says as he stands up. “She should know, too.”

Jiang Cheng felt bitter for about the first week when he realized that neither Wei Wuxian nor Jiang Yanli noticed that he’s not at home, or when neither one of them checked in on him, but he realized that it’s unfair.

Jiang Yanli is just starting her new life with Jin Zixuan and Wei Wuxian is clearly still living on cloud seven with Lan Wangji so of course they wouldn’t notice.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t like it, but he understands. It’s unfair of him to expect to have all of their attention all the time and Jiang Yanli did ask about his wrist.

“What is going on?” Wei Wuxian whines again but this time it’s Lan Wangji who shushes him.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t pay too much attention to him anymore, simply walking away and getting to his class.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng is nervous when Lan Xichen leaves him to it. He talked him through the whole process of making Lan Qiren’s favourite dish, not actually helping that much and he seemed proud enough with Jiang Cheng’s result that Jiang Cheng shouldn’t fret so much.

But he can’t help it.

He feels like if he botched this attempt of Lan Qiren’s food then he might as well just move back in with his parents and Jiang Cheng is stressing way too much over this.

He wishes Lan Xichen hadn’t left as soon as they were done, if just so that someone was around to keep his mind off things, and Jiang Cheng briefly debates calling Jiang Yanli, but in the end he doesn’t.

If he calls her now, he would have to explain why he is cooking for Lan Qiren and Jiang Cheng doesn’t feel like doing that this evening. He will have to explain enough tomorrow after all.

Jiang Cheng is startled out of his panic when he hears a key in the door and his hands start to sweat when Lan Qiren calls out a “I’m home”.

“Welcome home,” Jiang Cheng gives back and meets Lan Qiren in the doorway to the kitchen.

“What’s smelling so good?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng gives him a sheepish smile.

“I cooked,” he says and Lan Qiren’s face immediately falls, and Jiang Cheng feels sick with nerves.

“Why? How is your wrist? Did you overdo it?” Lan Qiren asks immediately and he reaches out for Jiang Cheng’s arm as if he could tell if Jiang Cheng overworked it.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, Xichen-ge did all the heavy cutting, don’t worry. I was careful,” Jiang Cheng reassures him, flooded with warmth when he realizes that Lan Qiren is simply worried for him.

“Is that what you were talking with my nephew about today?” Lan Qiren asks as he looks into the kitchen.

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng admits. “He offered to teach me one of your favourite dishes. I wanted to do something nice for you, for once,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Lan Qiren’s face smoothes out.

“Wanyin,” he breathes out and tugs Jiang Cheng into a half-hug. “Thank you,” he sincerely says and then moves them into the kitchen.

“It smells delicious,” Lan Qiren praises him and Jiang Cheng ducks his head at that.

He’s not used to being thanked or to getting praised and he still doesn’t know how to handle it. So instead of looking at Lan Qiren he busies himself with setting the table while Lan Qiren brings over the heavier pots.

Jiang Cheng keeps quiet as they start to eat, as per the rules in Lan Qiren’s house, and so he’s extremely surprised when Lan Qiren lowers his chopsticks after a few bites.

“It’s absolutely delicious, Wanyin,” he says and Jiang Cheng is surprised enough that he broke his own rule so that he only stares at Lan Qiren until Lan Qiren awkwardly clears his throat.

“I’m glad you like it,” Jiang Cheng finally says and then shoves another bite into his mouth.

Thankfully they spend the rest of the dinner in silence after that, but the praise sits warm and heavy in Jiang Cheng’s gut, warming him through and through.

He’s not used to feeling like this, but he likes it very much.

~*~*~

Jiang Cheng swallows heavily as he looks up at the house in front of him but Lan Qiren is a steady presence at his side.

“We’ll just get your last things and then you won’t have to come back,” Lan Qiren promises him but Jiang Cheng is too nervous to nod, because he spotted his parent’s cars in the garage and he knows it won’t be nice.

It will be even messier, Jiang Cheng realizes with a start when Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli come up to them.

“A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli greets him warmly and pulls him into a hug. “How is your wrist?”

“It’s all good,” he reassures her but she still checks his wrist for herself. “You won’t see anything,” he says with a slight chuckle but she continues to fuss over him.

“What is Headmaster Lan doing here?” Wei Wuxian asks though he does pull Jiang Cheng into a hug as well.

“We’re getting my things,” Jiang Cheng tells them when Lan Qiren stays quiet.

“Your things?” Jiang Yanli asks with a small frown and Jiang Cheng nods.

“I am no longer living here,” Jiang Cheng finally admits and watches as their eyes go big.

“What?” Wei Wuxian almost yells out and Jiang Cheng can tell that Lan Qiren wants to reprimand him for his volume but then thinks better of it.

“Wanyin is living with me,” Lan Qiren tells them and then pushes Jiang Cheng towards the house. “Let’s get this over with, okay?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng knows that he’s looking forward to the family dinner they will have this evening.

Jiang Cheng is too, if he’s being honest.

“You’re what?” Wei Wuxian calls after them, but Jiang Yanli shushes him and follows them as well.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t have a key anymore—his mother took it when they came by the first time two weeks ago—and both his siblings give him a startled look when he rings the doorbell.

His mother flings the door open and she scans the small crowd in front of her with a judging look.

“It took you long enough,” she then says, not looking at Lan Qiren at all, who puts a steadying hand to Jiang Cheng’s back.

“It won’t take long,” Jiang Cheng says and his mother scoffs at him.

“As if anything you did ever went fast,” she mutters under her breath and Jiang Cheng can feel how Lan Qiren stiffens next to him.

“Mother!” Jiang Yanli snaps out and Jiang Cheng flinches he’s so surprised at that.

But their mother doesn’t even spare her a look and simply walks away from them, clearly trusting that Jiang Cheng will show them the way.

They barely made it three steps into the house when Jiang Fengmian comes out.

“What is going on here?” he demands to know when he sees his children and Lan Qiren in his hallway and Jiang Cheng takes a steadying breath before he answers him.

“We’re here to get the rest of my things,” Jiang Cheng tells him and Jiang Fengmian frowns at him.

“The rest of your things?” he asks, but then he gets distracted when Wei Wuxian moves or breath or whatever it is he does to capture Jiang Cheng’s father’s attention so easily.

“How have you been, A-Xian?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng can’t help the bitter laugh he lets out at that.

“Father,” Jiang Yanli scolds him as well but Jiang Fengmian seems honestly confused about what she is so upset about.

“We know the way, don’t trouble yourself,” Lan Qiren suddenly speaks up and moves confidently down the hallway towards Jiang Cheng’s room.

“What is Headmaster Lan doing here?” Jiang Fengmian asks and Jiang Cheng is surprised to find that he’s not surprised to realize that his father didn’t even notice his continued absence. “Are you in trouble again?” he asks then and his voice is heavy with disappointment.

“He is helping me getting my things,” Jiang Cheng says, with more patience than he actually feels.

“Your things? Where are you staying?” he asks and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“As if you really care,” he mutters, and then drags his siblings along when he follows after Lan Qiren.

“A-Cheng, for how long has this been going on?” Jiang Yanli asks him on the way and when Jiang Cheng only presses his lips together.

“Since the fight, right?” Wei Wuxian suddenly asks. “When I told you not to come home.”

“Since the fight, yes,” Jiang Cheng answers. “Lan Qiren brought me to the hospital when mother wanted me to go to work. And then I had nowhere to stay, so he allowed me to come over. I’ve been over a lot and then two weeks ago mother wanted me to get the cast off and Lan Qiren had a few words for her.”

“She wanted to have the cast taken off after four weeks?” Jiang Yanli suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng nods.

“And Lan Qiren didn’t let her?”

“Him and the doctor they took me to.”

“Good of them,” Wei Wuxian says with vehemence and Jiang Yanli nods at that.

Lan Qiren already gathered most of the things Jiang Cheng mentioned he needs and so there is not actually that much left to do for him.

“Anything else?” Lan Qiren asks him and Jiang Cheng quickly gathers two more knickknacks he knows he would miss, but then that’s it.

That’s his whole life packed away in two short trips and Jiang Cheng isn’t actually that sad about it.

“Where are you going?” Jiang Fengmian suddenly asks from the door, a thunderous expression on his face. “Is this why you haven’t been at work?”

“Now you notice,” Jiang Cheng says with a scoff, but when Lan Qiren puts a hand to his arm, he falls silent.

“You will let us leave now. Wanyin will not be back, and if you need further details you best speak to your wife.”

“You can’t just take my son. That’s abduction!”

“And what you’re doing is child neglect at best and active abuse at worst,” Lan Qiren hisses at him, and Jiang Cheng ducks his head.

He objectively knows that Lan Qiren is speaking the truth but it doesn’t make this any easier to take.

“A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli whispers, clearly horrified but Jiang Cheng shushes her, too concentrated on the look on Jiang Fengmian’s face.

“What are you saying?” he demands to know, but he already lost his posture so Jiang Cheng knows that he will let them leave without further fight.

His father did always shy away from confrontation.

“I am saying that if you don’t want child protection to come knocking on your door you better shut up now,” Lan Qiren says and Jiang Cheng has never heard him speak like this to anyone.

It seems like he has no respect at all for Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Cheng can understand that.

“Wanyin,” Jiang Fengmian tries, but even as Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli clearly gear up to tell him a few choice words, Lan Qiren steps right in front of Jiang Cheng and blocks his view at Jiang Fengmian.

“You will not speak to Wanyin, except to apologize to him and to wish him a good life at my place,” Lan Qiren decides and then nods, clearly expecting Jiang Fengmian’s silence.

“Then get out of the way,” Lan Qiren says and when Jiang Fengmian isn’t quick enough to comply with his wishes, he bodily pushes him aside.

Lan Qiren never struck Jiang Cheng as a physical person, but it seems like he’s entirely fed up with Jiang Cheng’s parents and Jiang Cheng can’t say that he minds it much.

“Come on, Wanyin,” Lan Qiren says over his shoulder and Jiang Cheng sticks close to his side when he starts to walk away.

Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian don’t follow them immediately, but Jiang Cheng doesn’t look back.

He suspects they have a few words for Jiang Fengmian as well, and he’s not too keen on listening in on that.

Madam Yu doesn’t show up when they leave and Jiang Cheng is really grateful for that, because he doesn’t feel ready for another confrontation with her, even though Lan Qiren is a steady and supportive presence for him.

“Can we wait for my siblings here?” Jiang Cheng asks when they are at Lan Qiren’s car and of course Lan Qiren nods.

“Are you okay?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng blinks when he realizes that he is.

“Yes,” he honestly says. “Thanks to you,” Jiang Cheng tacks on and then he darts in to quickly hug Lan Qiren, who pats his back when Jiang Cheng can’t bring himself to let go again immediately.

“A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli suddenly says from behind them and it’s only then that Jiang Cheng lets go of Lan Qiren.

“Oh, A-Cheng, I didn’t know what mother wanted to do,” Jiang Yanli says as she pulls him into a hug herself and Jiang Cheng bites back the bitter reply on his tongue and falls into her embrace instead.

“It’s alright,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and then groans when Wei Wuxian gathers them both up in a hug as well.

“You should have said something,” Wei Wuxian mumbles but before Jiang Cheng can say that maybe they should have realized on their own, Wei Wuxian goes on. “I’m glad you had Headmaster Lan at your side.”

“Me, too,” Jiang Cheng gives back, because he doesn’t even want to imagine what would have happened to him if Lan Qiren hadn’t been there for him.

“We have to go, guys,” Jiang Cheng says when the hug goes on and on, and while he enjoys this, he knows that Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji are waiting for them at Lan Qiren’s place, and he’s actually looking forward to that dinner.

“Alright,” Jiang Yanli reluctantly says and let’s go of Jiang Cheng.

“You’re welcome to visit Wanyin whenever you like,” Lan Qiren speaks up, much to Jiang Cheng’s surprise.

“Thank you,” Jiang Yanli says and then also hugs Lan Qiren.

He doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with that, but before he can figure it out Jiang Yanli steps back again.

“Thank you so much for taking care of my didi,” she quietly tacks on and Lan Qiren clears his throat.

“You’re welcome,” he says without meeting anyone’s eyes and then he gets into the car, clearly looking to get out of this situation.

Jiang Cheng smiles at his behaviour and Wei Wuxian brushes their shoulder’s together.

“Are you really doing alright?” he quietly asks and Jiang Cheng leans into his side.

“Yes,” he honestly says and Wei Wuxian nods.

“I promise to keep better in touch now,” Wei Wuxian says. “I know I was occupied with Lan Zhan, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s alright,” Jiang Cheng gives back, even though he’s not entirely sure it is, but when Wei Wuxian smiles at him he figures they will be okay.

“We’ll be around much more,” Jiang Yanli also promises him and takes his hand in hers. “I promise. I’m so sorry I left you alone with this.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jiang Cheng says.

Jiang Yanli is only two years older than him after all and it really shouldn’t be her job to worry about Jiang Cheng’s life.

“But I will still do better now,” she says and Jiang Cheng believes her.

“Alright,” he says and then smiles apologetically at her and Wei Wuxian. “Listen, we have to go now. It’s family dinner tonight,” he explains and is startled when he sees tears in Jiang Yanli’s eyes.

“Go and enjoy your family dinner then,” Jiang Yanli says as she pats Jiang Cheng’s cheek and he blushes.

“I will,” he promises and then he moves away from them, because he actually itches to leave with Lan Qiren now.

“Are you ready?” Lan Qiren asks when he slides into the car with him, and Jiang Cheng nods.

“It’s too much today,” he admits. “But I’m looking forward to them visiting.”

“They truly are always welcome,” Lan Qiren reiterates again and reaches over to squeeze Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng whispers. “For everything.”

“That’s what you do for family,” Lan Qiren replies even as he starts the car, mostly to avoid looking at Jiang Cheng, he knows that by now.

Jiang Cheng smiles at his predictable behaviour and then settles deeper into the seat.

Lan Xichen promised to make Jiang Cheng’s favourite dishes today and Jiang Cheng is even looking forward to see Lan Wangji and he realizes that this must be what family feels like.

It’s a very warm and comfortable feeling and Jiang Cheng hopes he gets a lot more of this now.

But when he looks over at Lan Qiren, Jiang Cheng knows that he will do his best to make sure that Jiang Cheng always feels like this.

Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!

Next part

#bt writes #jclovemonth2020 #the untamed #mdzs #jiang cheng #lan qiren #found family #hurt/comfort #bad parenting #siblings bonding #modern au #Anonymous

[ibijau]

How to Woo a Lan pt 4 / Also on AO3

Jin Ling explains why he fell in love, gets some advice, and tries to give advice of his own in return

Clearly expecting that the conversation would take a while, Nie Huaisang put away his work and called for servants to bring everything needed to serve tea. Once they were alone waiting for that tea to arrive, Jin Ling started explaining how he had fallen in love with the most perfect person in the entire world, how beautiful Lan Sizhui was (this earned him an unimpressed stare from Nie Huaisang), how elegant (more staring), how nice (a roll of the eyes).

“So he is polite, and you find that impressive,” Nie Huaisang noted, hiding a yawn behind his fan. “I suppose someone living in Jinlin Tai and the Lotus Pier wouldn’t be used to it. And of course he’s handsome, he’s a Lan. I think it’s something in the water of the Cloud Recesses.” Jin Ling frowned at the dismissal of Lan Sizhui’s quality, while Nie Huaisang yawned again, this time without bothering to hide it. “Is that why you love him? He’s capable of more basic decency than most people you’ve met in your life -a very low bar, might I add-, he’s somewhat good-looking, and that’s it?”

“Of course that’s not all!” Jin Ling exploded, but he couldn’t explain the rest right away as the servants returned then.

Nie Huaisang, who could act like a good host when he felt like it, prepared tea with slow, measured movements and poured it for both of them when the servants left again. With unexpected elegance, he gave one glass of tea to Jin Ling before making a gesture to order him to resume speaking.

“He really is kind, and I won’t let you treat it like something that doesn’t matter,” Jin Ling said, before taking a sip of tea. 

It was nice, if a little plain. Having accompanied both his uncles to conferences in Qinghe before, he knew this blend was considered the better sort of tea available in the Unclean Realm, which comforted him. He had no doubt Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have hesitated to serve him bad tea if he’d really been annoyed about being half blackmailed into helping.

 “I know people from Gusu Lan are polite, but it’s not the same as kind,” Jin Ling pointed out, and he could have sworn Nie Huaisang’s mouth twitched in an almost-smile. “When we were in Yi City, he really was nice to everyone, checked those that had gotten poisoned, and encouraged them to eat some congee even if it tasted awful. If it had been me, I’d just have scolded them into eating it! And some of the others with us were scolding their poisoned friends, because we were all worried, but he took time to reassure others, even if he had to be worried too. I mean, his dad was out there fighting stuff, of course he was worried!”

Nie Huaisang made a face at the mention of Yi City, and quickly opened his fan to hide behind. Jin Ling only remembered then that if he and his friends had almost died in that place, it might have been because of this man sitting across from him. It was a really odd thing to think, and if Wei Wuxian in person hadn’t made the accusation, if Jiang Cheng hadn’t later told Jin Ling that the whole thing made sense… how could Nie Huaisang have had the guts to do that, when he was too much of a coward to meet Jin Ling’s eyes when he mentioned this?

“I suppose he’s been raised a little better than most boys his age,” Nie Huaisang conceded,fanning himself just a little too quickly. “An effect of growing up around Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen, both excellent role models, except for their taste in friends. So you love a beautiful young man who is kind to everyone, hm?”

“Well…”

It was Jin Ling’s turn to avert his eyes, his cheeks flushing a little in embarrassment.

“Well, it’s also that he’s not always sweet,” he muttered, before quickly emptying his tea to give himself a countenance.

“How so?” Nie Huaisang asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. He even closed his fan, as if to better focus on what Jin Ling had to say.

“Well. Well, you see, after that whole thing in Jinlin Tai, when Wei Wuxian accused my uncle of murder, and my aunt died, and then me and a bunch of juniors were kidnapped, right?” Jin Ling asked. Nie Huaisang grimaced again. Right, this too was kind of his fault, wasn’t it? “And even then Sizhui was so nice when we were held in that cave, and trying to comfort everyone! But also… Well. I have this very annoying cousin, you see? And he was acting awful, and Sizhui had been patient and patient and patient, but in the end… well, in the end he snapped, and I think if he hadn’t been tied up, he would have slapped Jin Chan in the face.”

Even after this long, the memory of Lan Sizhui’s righteous fury still made Jin Ling’s heart beat a little faster. That it had happened because his cousin had been pestering him was just a nice bonus.

“And also, he tries to hide it, but he’s a little proud,” Jin Ling added. “He really, really likes being praised. His face completely lights up when Hanguang-Jun says he’s done good, and he’s almost glowing whenever Wei Wuxian compliments him and says he’s a good boy and all that. And then when someone says something mean to him, his face does that thing…”

Jin Ling tried to scrunch his own face into an approximation of Lan Sizhui’s expression. He didn’t have a great talent for impressions, but it was still good enough for Nie Huaisang to let out a snort. He then tried to cover it by coughing a few times, but Jin Ling knew what he’d heard.

“It’s never for very long,” Jin Ling resumed, “but I noticed it and it’s just. I guess he wouldn’t like me to call it that, but it’s really cute. I just wish I didn’t keep saying the wrong thing to make him make that face, you know? I want to watch it, not cause it.”

“At least you have self awareness,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his eyes. “That’s more than several members of your family could ever have said. You’ll just have to learn how to turn a weakness into a strength. Now, tell me, what have you tried to make Lan Sizhui aware of your interest in him?”

Jin Ling, suddenly, desperately wished he had some tea left in his glass, just so he could pretend to drink it instead of facing that question. He ended up turning the empty glass between his hands and staring down at the table, feeling Nie Huaisang’s silence get more and more judgemental the longer it took Jin Ling to answer.

“I see,” Nie Huaisang said after a while.

“You don’t see anything! I just want us to be good friends first, and then…”

Jin Ling trailed off, and toyed some more with his empty glass.

“Fine, then what have you done to become his friend then?” Nie Huaisang insisted, amusement piercing through his voice.

“Well, he hasn’t been around much those last few months,” Jin Ling muttered. “But, well, I went with him on Night Hunts twice before someone killed my uncle, so there’s that. And then he came home not too long ago, and we went on another Night Hunt with everyone! And then…” He sighed, deeply. “And then I said something wrong, and I think I accidentally insulted him, and I haven’t seen him since then and I can’t see him until I figure out how to do things right!”

Nie Huaisang hummed, but didn’t say anything right away. When Jin Ling risked a glance, he found the older man looking at him the way one might inspect a horse before buying it. Jin Ling didn’t particularly care for that. It felt so wrong for Nie Huaisang to have such an intense, calculating expression on his face, making him look miles away from the blundering fool who had bothered Jin Ling’s uncle for years and years.

When Nie Huaisang looked like that, it became too easy that he had done all those terrible things Wei Wuxian had accused him of.

“It’s true that you have a certain gift for saying exactly what people don’t want to hear,” Nie Huaisang stated, fanning himself slowly. “You’re impulsive, that’s your problem, and your uncles both failed you in that regard. It’d be hard to go against your own nature in the best of case, but they've done nothing to help you understand your own temper. I suppose we’ll have to work with it. Have you ever considered taking up a correspondence with Lan Sizhui?”

Jin Ling shook his head. “It’s… isn’t it risky? My uncles have always told me if I start liking someone, I shouldn’t leave traces. There’s always a risk of blackmail, if the other person doesn’t feel the same. Not that Sizhui would ever do that! But, well… Letters can fall into the wrong hands, and because of my grandfather I know people watch me more than other boys my age in case... well...”

“I’m not telling you to write him erotic letters,” Nie Huaisang said with a mocking sneer. “Not yet anyway, and I could teach you a trick or two about keeping those secrets. But simple, polite letters... it’s a good way to stay in touch with a friend, and it would let you think more carefully about what you’re saying, and how you’re saying it.”

“Oh.”

That did sound wise. Even Jiang Cheng was a little less abrasive when writing than in person, and Jin Ling was fairly sure he wasn’t as bad as his uncle. That might be worth trying.

“Another piece of advice,” Nie Huaisang continued, fanning himself with slow, nearly hypnotic movements. “Own up to your faults. Admit to your little friend that you’re aware your mouth goes faster than your brain, and that you often realise too late you said something bad. You could even tell him that you’d appreciate his guidance in correcting this. Gusu Lan disciples love that sort of things, they’re all raised to become teachers. Offer yourself as a student and the fight is half won already.”

“You’re sure?”

“How do you think I even got Lan Xichen to notice me? ‘Please Xichen-gege, please tutor me’,” Nie Huaisang whined in a high pitched voice, his bottom lip trembling for a moment, before his pathetic pout turned into a disgusted grimace as he closed his fan with a sharp gesture. “I think the Lan like a desperate case, so you should have your chance.”

That was a very rude thing to say, but Jin Ling could hardly disagree. Nie Huaisang was a complete mess, that much was clear. And as for Wei Wuxian, the less said, the better. Yet those two absolute disasters had, apparently, managed to seduce the two top cultivators of Gusu Lan, nay, of the entire cultivation world, who surely could have had their pick of competent and emotionally capable partners of any gender.

Jin Ling hated that it did make him feel a little more hopeful.

“Well, that’s all my advice for today,” Nie Huaisang announced, before glancing with disgust at the pile of paperwork he’d set aside earlier. “I have to do my own work these days and it takes a while, so I’d appreciate it if you left. I know etiquette dictates I should invite you to spend the night here,” he added, “but I really don’t feel like it, and I don’t suppose you’d enjoy it either. Who could say if I wouldn’t change my mind and murder you in your sleep, right?”

Nie Huaisang laughed at his own joke, earning an unimpressed stare from Jin Ling for his poor taste in humour.

It probably was a joke. 

Right?

Just to be a pest, Jin Ling considered forcing the issue and demanding to be given a room. But Nie Huaisang had guessed right in suspecting that Jin Ling didn’t quite trust him enough to make himself vulnerable in his domain. Not only that, but if he stayed, poor Ouyang Zizhen might start worrying about him, and either try to storm the Unclean Realm on his own, or worse fly toward the Lotus Piers and get Jiang Cheng to storm the Unclean Realm, by far the worst possible option because then Jin Ling would have two other sect leaders furious at him.

“I’ll leave,” he conceded, which made Nie Huaisang smirk. “But can I come back tomorrow, and show you my letter? Just to make sure I’m not writing anything too awful.”

“I would say no,” Nie Huaisang sighed, “but I have a feeling you’ll just do as you please anyway, so I might as well pretend I have any control over this. Yes, come back tomorrow, why not. It’s not like I have anything better to do. Try to be here at the same hour as today, and I should be able to make time for you.”

Jin Ling promised. Nie Huaisang then called for a servant to bring Jin Ling back to the gate so he wouldn’t get lost. The distrust, apparently, was mutual.

Once out of the Unclean Realm, Jin Ling lost no time in returning to Qinghe proper, and there he headed straight for the inn where Ouyang Zizhen awaited his return with much anxiety. The poor boy nearly cried of relief when he saw Jin Ling enter the inn. In fairness though, he was just that sort of a person so Jin Ling told himself he hadn’t caused his friend any actual worry. Still, he made sure to buy the best food the inn had to offer, and some wine as well, just to thank Ouyang Zizhen for having come along.

While they had lunch in the privacy of their room, Jin Ling reported his success, and shared the advice given to him. Jin Ling had told Ouyang Zizhen that he’d gone to Nie Huaisang in particular because he used to be friends with Lan Xichen and thus knew Lan Sizhui, an explanation that seemed to be accepted without further questions. 

Jin Ling couldn’t help thinking that Lan Sizhui would have asked for more details about that. He was curious and observant, surely he might have picked up on something wrong with Jin Ling’s lie. Then again, with gossip forbidden, he might not have said anything.

Someday, Jin Ling wouldn’t have to speculate. Lan Sizhui and him would be married, and happy, and they would share everything, unlike some people, so Lan Sizhui wouldn’t even have to pick up clues to know things.

With this goal in mind, Jin Ling started drafting a letter as soon as he was done eating. His first attempt was predictably awful, but to Jin Ling’s surprise, he actually realised that on his own, even before Ouyang Zizhen could check it. Maybe Nie Huaisang had been on to something about it being easier to deal with his temper and lack of social skills on paper. So Jin Ling drafted a second letter, and then a third, while Ouyang Zizhen sat by, reading over his shoulder and occasionally offering his opinion.

By the fifth draft, Jin Ling felt he was starting to get the hang of this.

“I just can’t believe you got him to agree,” Ouyang Zizhen said while glancing at his letter again. “I mean, Nie zongzhu! You’ve said that Wei Wuxian said that he’s the one who got your uncle killed, right? So… are you really sure it’s not a trap?”

Jin Ling chewed on the end of his brush, trying to remember how to write a certain character, and shrugged.

“I’m not sure it isn’t. A trap, I mean.”

“And you’re still going back tomorrow?” Ouyang Zizhen gasped. “He’s given you advice, and good one at that, isn’t it enough?”

Jin Ling shrugged again, and wrote down another sentence.

His friend wasn’t wrong to find him unwise. Nie Huaisang was dangerous, there was no denying it, and he certainly wasn’t nice, that was certain as well. But if Nie Huaisang had been as awful as he pretended to be, he wouldn’t have listened to Jin Ling at all, wouldn’t have talked so fondly about Jin Zixuan, wouldn’t have gotten so upset at the thought of Lan Xichen’s reputation being ruined any further.

Nie Huaisang wasn’t nice, but he probably wasn’t that bad either. No more than other people in Jin Ling’s life, anyway, and at least he didn't shout as much as Jiang Cheng did.

“If I don’t go back, he’ll think I’m scared,” Jin Ling claimed.

“Well, aren’t you?”

“Even if I were, I wouldn’t want him to know that. Anyway, I think I’m done, can you read it?”

Ouyang Zizhen obeyed, and agreed it was about as good as it could get without getting too awkward. It didn’t need to be perfect, anyway. Jin Ling had a feeling that Nie Huaisang would enjoy having something to criticize. So he put away his letter, and went out to explore Qinghe with Ouyang Zizhen, forgetting his love troubles for a little while. They had great fun, and Jin Ling only wished a few times that he could have been doing this with Lan Sizhui instead.

Soon, he would.

-

Come morning, Jin Ling dutiful returned to the gate of the Unclean Realm. Just like before the disciples guarding the entrance stared him down in disapproval, but this time they let him in almost immediately, and Jin Ling was again led by Qinghe Nie’s first disciple toward Nie Huaisang’s office. This time there was already tea waiting for him when he got there, and the pile of paperwork on Nie Huaisang’s desk looked a good deal smaller and neater. Either he had worked hard to free some time, or he had hidden away anything sensitive to make sure Jin Ling wouldn’t get too curious. Jin Ling figured he would have done the same, and decided to take no offence.

Instead, he put a small pouch of candies on the desk, by the teapot. Nie Huaisang threw him a sharp look for that but pinched his lips so he wouldn't ask any questions. Jin Ling sat down and shrugged.

“You used to bring those to Jinlin Tai when I was little, even if nobody but you would eat them. I figured you had to like them, and since you’re helping me and all…”

“I see good memory runs in the family,” Nie Huaisang noted, glaring at the candies yet making no movement to take one. As if Jin Ling would have poisoned him. It was a coward’s method of murder, Jiang Cheng always said, and Jin Ling was no coward. “Did you write a letter, Jin zongzhu?”

“I did,” Jin Ling confirmed, digging into his sleeve for the latest draft which he handed to Nie Huaisang. “I think it’s pretty good.”

In answer Nie Huaisang just rolled his eyes, and started reading. Jin Ling realised he was getting nervous, as if that odd man’s approval actually mattered in any way. To distract himself he drank some tea, and helped himself to a few candies. They were pretty much nothing but sugar, which made his teeth ache. How could anyone enjoy something like that? Maybe Nie Huaisang had just wanted to be a pest back then, bothering everyone with shitty candies.

“It’s acceptable,” Nie Huaisang said at last, returning the letter to Jin Ling. “Not great, but a clear improvement over the things you tend to say in person.”

“I can rewrite it again,” Jin Ling muttered, disappointed that all his efforts got him so little praise. “If you show me what to change…”

“No, the imperfections are necessary,” Nie Huaisang explained, opening his fan. “If it is too polished, it will be obvious that you’re not writing alone. It really isn’t so bad, anyway. Better than when your father… well, nevermind that. You’re not doing so bad. And inviting him to a Night Hunt is smart, I’m surprised you thought of it.”

“You don’t think it’s too bold?” Jin Ling asked.

“He’s a Lan, they don’t see Night Hunts as a prelude to flirtation,” Nie Huaisang said, before grimacing. “I wish I’d known that when I was young, actually. So don’t hope for anything more than a pleasant moment with a friend. Well, pleasant if you enjoy Night Hunting, which apparently some people do.”

Jin Ling huffed. Of course he liked Night Hunting. Any decent cultivator did. But of course, Nie Huaisang was hardly a decent cultivator, no matter how you looked at it, and his dislike of Night Hunts was no big secret. He only showed up if he had absolutely no choice, Jin Guangyao used to complain, and then he was such a hindrance that everyone would have been better off without him, especially poor Lan Xichen who’d had to rescue him more than once.

But still Nie Huaisang would go and try, Jin Ling remembered. He didn’t enjoy it, but he tried, at least if Lan Xichen was also present. And Lan Xichen did look happy about that, whenever it happened. Really happy, instead of just polite.

It really was too bad that these two had fallen out like that, because they’d seemed to have a good influence on each other, aside from the one murder. Not that any of this was Jin Ling’s business, of course, and he presently held little affection for either man.

And yet...

“Since we’re on the topic of letters. Have you ever thought of writing to Zewu-Jun?” Jin Ling asked, because if it were him having such a huge argument with someone he loved, maybe he would want someone to butt in and help. He wouldn’t like it, but he’d want it. “Because maybe…”

“I have written to Gusu Lan a few times on official business,” Nie Huaisang coldly cut him, closing his fan with a snap. “Aside from this, I have no reason to correspond with anyone there.”

“But maybe you could…”

“I have nothing to say to Lan Xichen,” Nie Huaisang explained, reopening his fan with an impatient flourish. “You see, I am not sorry for what I’ve done,” he said with a cruel smile. “Your uncle deserved to die. He was an awful man, who did awful things, and if I’d truly had my way, he would have died an awful death.”

Jin Ling, who’d thought that losing an arm, being stabbed by his closest friend, and then having his neck snapped by the enraged fierce corpse of one of his victims only to be trapped with said fierce corpse for a century to suffer untold torment had been a pretty awful way to die already, couldn’t help a frown.

He made a decision to never ask Nie Huaisang what he would have preferred to see happen to Jin Guangyao.

“I know what Lan Xichen wants to hear from me,” Nie Huaisang continued, fanning himself. “He most likely wants me to say that I’m sorry. And I could say it. I’m a very good liar, if I do say so myself. So I could lie to him, say exactly what he wants to hear, be exactly the man he wants me to be…” He paused and grimaced in disgust. “But in that case, I would just have turned into another Jin Guangyao.”

“And you don’t want to become like him.”

“I am like him,” Nie Huaisang snapped with such rage that Jin Ling jumped on his seat. “I can’t change that now. I am a good liar, but I’ve decided long ago I wouldn’t lie to myself, and I know what I am. As for Lan Xichen, in spite of his blindness, in spite of his errors, he deserves better than to fall prey to another liar. And that’s why I cannot…”

“You really should write to him,” Jin Ling insisted. “And tell him all that stuff. I mean, since you don’t have regrets and you know you're an asshole, then it’s no big deal telling him things as they are, right? And then at least he gets to know the full truth. You old people really should be more honest instead of making everything complicated all the time.”

Nie Huaisang glared at him, as cold and angry as he’d been the day before, but Jin Ling realised it was already starting to lose its effect on him. It wasn’t so different from when Jiang Cheng threatened to break his legs over every single little annoyance.

Well, it was a little different in that Jin Ling still wasn’t sure Nie Huaisang wouldn’t murder him if he was certain to get away with it, but it was still the same general sentiment.

Jin Ling didn’t even mind that Nie Huaisang impatiently ordered him to leave, grumbling about disrespectful children, time wasted on educating idiotic youths, and how he refused to be involved in this any further. This, too, Jin Ling had heard before from his uncle, and he’d learned to ignore it all.

If the letter and the Night Hunt didn’t work, Jin Ling knew for sure he could come and ask for Nie Huaisang’s help again.

#xisang #zhuiling #lingzhui #jin ling #nie huaisang #mdzs #operation woo a lan #jau writes

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

#mdzs #the untamed #supernatural #ficlet #my fic #spn #ugh it'll probably fuck up hte bullet points again

[featherfur]

Museum Bonding

Characters: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng

Warnings: Blood and arguing, Modern Au, Sometimes You Just Gotta Punch It Out

Words: 4.5k

Summary: Wei Wuxian wants his brother and fiancé to get along and decides to leave them alone at a museum. It works, but it takes a few punches and a near heart attack for Wei Wuxian. Apparently, punching fiancé's is a family tradition.

Read me on Ao3, Ko-Fi is on Sidebar

“Wei Wuxian you need to come get your fiancé this fucking instant.” Jiang Cheng’s voice hissed through the phone as Wuxian put it to his ear.

With a soft sigh, Wuxian grabbed a spoon and continued his stirring before he bothered to answer Jiang Cheng’s begging. Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan were supposed to be bonding while Wuxian helped Yanli finish cooking. He’d only been gone for two hours and apparently they were already at each other’s throats.

“Chengcheng, please, what did he do? You know you can’t treat him like me, he and his brother aren’t like us.” Wuxian hummed, thinking about the well-mannered Xichen fondly. They really were so much more lowkey in their arguments.

“I hate you, I hate you so much and I hate him… We’re… bonding and I don’t like it.” The way Jiang Cheng howled it into the phone, Wuxian would have thought he was being actively killed rather than just wandering around a museum.

Wuxian laughed so hard he dropped the spoon onto the floor and had to fall back against the counter. He tried to stifle it with a hand to his mouth but it did nothing to stop the flowing giggles.

In the other room Yanli gave him an alarmed look but that just made the giggles turn into wheezing. Even Jiang Cheng’s angry growling in his ear did absolutely nothing to help cut off the endless stream. He tried his best, he really did, but this was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard out of his brother and he would remember this for years.

“Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan’s voice came through the phone, sounding almost as distressed as Jiang Cheng and the laughter only increased.

“Wa-wait…” He wheezed, fumbling around for the spoon and taking the second to grab a clean one to suck in a few breaths. They sounded so upset at getting along, what was Wuxian supposed to do?

“Okay, okay, I’m… I’m back.” Wuxian still snickered to himself as he started stirring again at Yanli’s pointed look. Pregnant and missing her husband was not leading to a happy Yanli and Wuxian did not want to be the one at the bad end of her disappointed face.

“Can I please come stay with you?” Lan Zhan said, and if it was anyone else Wuxian would have said it was a whine but of course his amazing Lan Zhan would never.

Suppressing another round of laughter, Wuxian shook his head and smiled at the pan instead. Was it cheesy of him to still be so excited and fuzzy-feeling whenever Lan Zhan said anything about being with him? Yes. Would Wuxian ever stop? Nope.

“Lan Zhan.” Wuxian finally said, trying his best to use a stern tone that definitely wasn’t working. “Jiang Cheng, you two are supposed to be bonding. Why is that so bad?”

The phone scratched and made a shuffling noise before Jiang Cheng’s voice came back.

“Did you know your fiancé loves art history?”

Wei Wuxian nodded to himself, wondering why that was a big deal. Was Jiang Cheng just grumpy that Lan Zhan knew more about the paintings? Or maybe Lan Zhan had corrected the guide, that had happened the last time they’d gone together.

“Xichen is a well known artist, I’d be more confused if Lan Zhan wasn’t interested in it-”

“Did you know that your brother loves art history?” Lan Zhan’s voice cut in and that was news to Wuxian.

“Uh, no? Jiang Cheng hates it, he failed three art classes in college. Had to get a job and everything to pay for them because his mother wouldn’t pay for them.”

“I didn’t-” Jiang Cheng’s voice cut off and Wuxian just knew his fiancé was giving Jiang Cheng a glare of absolute loathing for daring to lie even if it was to get along with Lan Zhan. “Wuxian, I did not fail three classes.”

Jiang Cheng’s voice dropped into the lowest hiss as if someone was going to crawl out of the walls with his mother to yell at him again. It had not been a good two years and even Jin Zixuan had been trying to offer Jiang Cheng money to just take a different elective so he could pass. Jiang Cheng, like usual, had been too damn stubborn to admit defeat and had just re-taken the same classes even when his parents had cut the college fund.

Wei Wuxian understood not wanting to admit to that, especially when the Jiang name held prestige in the fashion industry, and if it was anyone else then Wuxian would be happy to lie. Not to Lan Zhan though, never to Lan Zhan.

Wuxian opened his mouth to inform him of just that, when Jiang Cheng cut him off with an embarrassed confession.

“Tell your perfect fiancé to stop looking at me like that… I didn’t fail the classes, I didn’t want to graduate yet and have to go into the business so I lied and said I failed them. No one looked at my transcripts, I took a different class each time, I didn’t realize you actually believed that bullshit.” Jiang Cheng confessed sullenly and Wuxian wished he was standing beside him so he could kick his ass.

“You what?” Wuxian howled at the phone, dropping it onto the counter and pressing the speaker when Yanli ran into the room in a panic. “You tell Yanli-jie what you just said right now.”

“No wait- She’s going to be ups-”

“A-Cheng.”

“Fuck.” The phone went silent and Wei Wuxian wondered what silent conversation Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng were glaring out. If it wasn’t for the fact that Yanli was now in this, he would be driving over there just to watch it go down.

“Okay… fucking… You remember when Mom kicked you out? You left and you said ‘don’t be a pushover when I can’t protect you’.” Jiang Cheng started and Wei Wuxian wailed dramatically, smacking himself in the face.

“I meant don’t let Jin Zixun talk shit, I didn’t mean… Lan Zhan, smack him for me! Twice!” There was a moment of almost audible mutual glaring. “Jiang Cheng, oh my god, oh my god. This is why she hated me, I turned you into a disgrace.”

“Shut up, I have two Master’s degrees from it even Jin Zixuan only has one.” Jiang Cheng shouted back before shuffling came over the phone and Wuxian realized Lan Zhan was probably shoving him out of the quiet museum.

“Enough yelling,” Yanli sighed softly, “A-Cheng, what are you talking about?”

It took a moment but finally Jiang Cheng’s voice came through at a much softer tone.

“I… wanted to get back at Mom for kicking Wuxian out, and I wanted to major in Art history anyways. Dad said that I had to go into business to take over Lotus, the only difference for the degrees were three classes so I just… Did both of them. Told Mom I’d failed to make a point, I’m perfectly fine at fucking up my life without Wuxian in it. Wait, why am I even having this conversation?”

“That backfired real fucking quick didn’t it.” Wuxian growled, he could see Jiang Cheng’s wince and the stubborn set to his shoulders.

How could his little brother be so stupid? He could have just done classes on the side, there was no need to get back at his parents. Wei Wuxian never held that against them, never! If he’d known it was all a stupid childish grudge that caused Jiang Cheng to get kicked out of the house for two years, he would have dragged him back and apologized himself.

“Shut up, I loved those classes! The only part of college that was fucking worth it. Don’t give me that look Lan Wangji, not all of us get to do what we want with our lives.”

“I did not give you a look-”

“You did, it’s the same fucking look you give me every time you see me. Like you have no fucking clue how your perfect precious Wei Ying came to be so amazing with me as a brother, like you’re disgusted with having to see me exist or fuck up-”

“I have not once-“

“Hey hey! You two stop it, both of you now. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, can you please walk away for me?” Wuxian barked into the phone, trying to be louder than their arguing but he had no idea if either of them even remembered that he was still there.

“-give a fuck if you hate me, you’re-”

“I have never said that I-”

“He’s my fucking family and I-”

“Wei Ying is-”

“Lan Zhan! Jiang Cheng! Come on you two please stop fighting, guys I swear I will cry.” He tried again but the growling didn’t stop for even a second.

“-I don’t care! Who do think gives a damn about you-”

The call ended with a rather concerning cracking and Wuxian’s head fell directly into the cupboard. Even the pain wasn’t enough to get him to actually concentrate, what just happened?

One moment they’re getting along, and apparently bonding to the point that both of them were actually worried and now they’re screaming at each other because of a lie that wasn’t even involving Lan Zhan! A lie that was completely and utterly Wuxian’s fault for pissing off Yu Ziyuan and somehow convincing his brother to go insane by trying to tell him to not let Jin Zixun kick him around.

“Jie…” He turned to her, eyes wide and hopeful. She would be able to tell him what to do or atleast what was going on. Right?

Even Yanli looked completely taken aback, her mouth moving soundlessly. They stared at each other, both trying to figure out how to fix this.

Atleast when Wuxian had punched Jin Zixuan he’d been fourteen, not twenty eight and in public. Was this going to be a tradition? Was Yanli going to sock Jiang Cheng’s future spouse?

The front door creaked open with a soft call from Jin Zixuan and they both snapped back to themselves.

“A-Xuan, I need you to drive A-Ying to the museum. I have to keep the food from burning.” Yanli said immediately, grabbing the spoon to stir before things started to burn. Jin Zixuan’s face came around the corner looking rather like a kicked puppy at the lack of greeting.

If it wasn’t a matter of life and death, Wuxian might have actually thought it was cute. But it was so he didn’t care and simply grabbed his arm to drag him out. Yanli was too far along in her pregnancy to be running after the two so Wuxian didn’t mind going alone anyways.

“Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan got into a fight,” Wuxian finally explained as he shoved his feet into his shoes. That got Zixuan’s attention and he picked his keys up again and let himself be pulled out after a quick declaration of love towards Yanli’s stirring form.

“A fight? I mean Jiang Cheng I understand, but Wangji?” Jin Zixuan looked even more bewildered than Wuxian felt, but that didn’t stop him from freezing until he’d scowled Jin Zixuan into a mumbled apology.

“Just… Just get us there and we’ll explain everything over dinner.”

Wuxian tried to call Lan Zhan the moment he was in the car, tapping his feet anxiously against the bottom of the floor. For once, Zixuan didn’t bother to complain about it and just drove a little faster when the phone reached voicemail.

“Are you sure it was a fight? Don’t give me that look! Wanyin has a temper but he doesn’t just attack people… That aren’t you.” Zixuan amended and Wuxian hid his face behind his hands with a loud groan.

That was true, Jiang Cheng had a temper but he’d also been running Lotus LLC. for years and knew how to keep himself calm. Which meant that either Lan Zhan had said something truly unforgivable (for Jiang Cheng atleast) or Lan Zhan threw the first punch.

Wuxian couldn’t even say that it was impossible, Lan Zhan was more than a little overprotective of him. If Jiang Cheng said the wrong thing or it sounded like the wrong thing…

“Oh my god I’ve ruined my family a second time.” He said desperately, wanting nothing more than to just be home, preferably in the arms of his fiancé.

“Hey, hey, if something happens it’ll blow over eventually.” Zixuan said awkwardly before a very hesitant and flat hand patted Wuxian’s head. “Right? Family no matter what, even if you break someone’s nose, I said that before right? Remember you hated me and now you don’t.”

“Oh god Jiang Cheng’s going to break Lan Zhan’s nose and he’s going to hate the rest of my family.” Wuxian cried, pressing his hands firmer against his face so he didn’t actually start sobbing. If he was the reason why the love of his life hated his family then Wuxian would never be able to forgive himself or feel like he deserved to look at any of them.

“No- I… No you don’t hate me, and I don’t hate you and I’m making this worse.” Zixuan cursed tried to squeeze Wuxian’s shoulder comfortingly before he focused on the road, trying to figure out when he started actually caring about Wuxian and his partner.

__

Dark hair took up most of Jiang Wanyin’s vision as he blinked rapidly, the tears still pricking at his eyes. He tried to sniff but agony just shot up his nose instead and he groaned angrily.

“How bad is it?”

Lan Wangji’s hum did nothing to assuage his fears but a second later pale eyes met Jiang Wanyin’s and the man nodded.

“It’s not broken.” Lan Wangji finally said, carefully pressing a few more napkins onto the bloody mess. Jiang Wanyin swatted his hand away and moved to hold it himself, tilting his head to follow Lan Wangji’s movements to the bench beside him.

“You,” Jiang Wanyin started with a bump to Lan Wangji’s shoulder, “have a hard fucking head. Welcome to the family.”

Lan Wangji bristled like an angry bird before he blinked and realized that Jiang Wanyin was grinning at him. He was trying to be friendly.

Lan Wangji quietly reminded himself to tell Xichen just how much he appreciated having a mentally sane brother.

“I’m sorry I broke your phone.” Wangji finally said, looking down at the shattered screen in Jiang Wanyin’s hand.

“Don’t worry about it, I broke yours too when you fell on it… Wuxian’s going to have a heart attack though.”

Lan Wangji winced at the reminder, Wei Ying was incredibly attached to both of them and the last thing he’d heard was Lan Wangji headbutting his brother. Then he winced again at pain rocketing across his face, and reached up to tenderly press against the freshly bruised skin on his eye.

“Oh, right, lemme see.” Jiang Wanyin didn’t bother to wait for permission, just reached over to turn Lan Wangji’s face over.

It took every ounce of Lan Wangji’s patience not to headbutt him again, but after taking a punch to the face it really wasn’t worth it. Besides, if Wei Ying came over while Wangji was fighting his brother it would make things that much worse. He could barely fathom that not even fifteen minutes ago he and Jiang Wanyin had actually started to like each other and now they were both bruised and bloody.

��I didn’t hit hard enough to worry about cracking your skull, so you probably don’t need an X-ray, but if it stays a sharp pain I’d go in anyways, or if you can't move your eye.” Jiang Wanyin said knowledgeably, Lan Wangji wondered how he knew so much but at the same time he didn’t really care about that right now.

“Are you saying that you pulled your punch?” Lan Wangji said blankly. That punch had hurt, and Jiang Wanyin had pulled it?

“Of course I did, If I didn’t you’d be on your way to the hospital with a broken nose and a cracked eye. I grew up with Wuxian, do you really think we never got into scuffles? Got to the point, Dad signed us up for classes so we’d punch other people instead… Never stopped us though.” Jiang Wanyin said fondly, dabbing at the still bleeding nose and leaning back into the bench now that his examination was over.

“Why would you fight your brother?” Lan Wangji was aghast, of course Wei Ying had told him about some of the fights he’d gotten into when he was younger, but he’d never realized how physical he meant. He couldn’t even imagine punching Xichen, or, heaven forbid, Xichen punching him.

“Why wouldn’t I? Oh right, you were raised properly.” It didn’t sound sarcastic so Lan Wangji didn’t react. “Sometimes you just get pissed off and you have nothing else to do but to tackle your idiot brother until Jiejie comes over to help. Don’t look at me like that, Wuxian broke my arm, twice. And the second time wasn’t even my fault.”

Jiang Wanyin’s head turned toward him with an almost evil mirth.

“You got grown-up Wei Ying, I got feral Wei Wuxian. Do you know how many times that little shit would pick fights then bolt back to hide behind me when he realized he was out-sized or out-numbered? Another reason we had to take defence classes, even if we were outnumbered, if we had each other’s back we weren’t going down easy. This way we stopped coming home bloody.”

Again Lan Wangji didn’t say anything, just sat quietly and watched the park in front of them as he thought. Wei Ying had told him multiple times that Jiang Wanyin wasn’t like Xichen, they communicated differently. Lan Wangji had assumed that meant that he was probably more like Nie Mingjue but atleast Nie Mingjue could compliment Nie Huaisang to his face instead of half hearted insults.

Wei Ying said they were bonding, and they had nothing to do until Wei Ying arrived so perhaps…

“You said… You lied for him?” Wangji finally asked, wondering if it counted as an attempt at friendliness.

The laughter drained from Jiang Wanyin’s face immediately and his lip curled slightly like he wanted nothing more than to bare his teeth. If he was looking for another fight Wangji wouldn’t give in a second time, that would only hurt Wei Ying more. Yet Jiang Wanyin’s voice was soft and strained like he was forcing himself to speak and it was painful.

“Mom kicked him out after a fight with Dad. She wasn’t really mad at Wuxian but she couldn’t do anything against Dad but she knew kicking him out would hurt him. Jiejie was already living with her husband and I was off to college so she couldn’t actually do anything but yell over the phone. So when the opportunity to rub it in her face that Wuxian was the reason I was so good in classes showed up, I took it. Wanted to hurt her for hurting him.” Jiang Wanyin’s face slipped into a mask of guilt and shame, even two years out of college and the full owner of Lotus he still couldn’t believe he’d been so shitty to his mother. She’d only wanted the best for him but he wanted his family together and when one went missing he cracked the connections to the rest of them. In the end Yanli was the only one he talked to all those long years of college until the beginning of his last semester when Wuxian returned.

“Your parents cut you off?”

“Of course they did, wasn’t Mom though. She thought I was sick or just rebelling, which I was, but Dad was pissed. Still surprised he even remembered I existed once I left the house.”

“You paid for college yourself?”

“Eh? No, I got a scholarship in the first place, parents paid for my business administration degree and the school paid for my art history degree. Do you think I’d be so good at design if I couldn’t pass an art class? The extra scholarship meant I needed another year and a half of school unless I wanted to stuff it all in at the same time. Kept me out of the house long enough for that idiot to come back… Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have gone.”

Lan Wangji couldn’t stop himself from frowning as he looked at the man avoiding his gaze. He really couldn’t get a read on him, which in itself wasn’t that strange he didn’t get most people, but Jiang Wanyin had literally just told him something even Wei Ying didn’t know and Wangji still didn’t know what was going on with him.

He wanted to put Jiang Wanyin firmly in the ‘I only accept they exist when Wei Ying asks me too’ but he couldn’t help but remember the hour and a half prior when they’d been debating painting styles from the 18th century, it had been almost as much fun as speaking with Xichen over painting archetypes. Now he also knew that Jiang Wanyin hadn’t wanted Wei Ying to leave and waited for him to return to the family. As much as Wangji wanted to hate him for all the arguments between the brothers and for not fighting his mother to keep a roof over Wei Ying’s head, he couldn’t quite bring himself to feel it.

“... I..” Wangji started, mentally chanting ‘this is for Wei Ying’, “I do not hate you.”

“Oh that’s a relief.” Jiang Wanyin said sarcastically but he didn’t glare so Wangji took that as a good sign.

“Earlier… When you said no one cares about Wei Ying and I-”

“I meant the gay thing, Wuxian’s always so touchy about it like I didn’t have to share a room with him for thirteen years and hear him when he saw Nie Mingjue for the first time. I thought you were arguing about that.” Jiang Wanyin said so flippantly that Lan Wangji actually felt bad for head butting him.

“Wei Ying is not a disgrace to you or anyone else.”

“I don’t care about that. Who gives a damn about you and him?”

As Wei Ying would say: Oops.

“I see how fighting works now.” Wangji said with a nod to himself. After throwing a few punches, they were both now too tired to argue in the same way and could only listen and communicate. That made a lot of sense even if Wangji would prefer that Wei Ying never need to throw a punch ever again.

Jiang Wanyin gave him a wide eyed look before he barked out a laugh and shook his head as he stood.

“Uh Huh. Sure you do, atleast you and Zixuan will have something to bond over. Wuxian really did break his nose when we were fourteen.” Jiang Wanyin was still smiling at that and Lan Wangji realized he would never understand anyone in his husband’s family. Not really.

“... Xichen has a painting that was recently added to this museum’s collection.” Wangji said, wondering if the olive branch would be taken. They’d started arguing and debating on every painting and hadn’t even managed to get halfway through the actual museum before they’d both had the panicked realization they had started to like each other.

Jiang Cheng gave him a narrowed eye glare before he tossed the bloody napkins away and shrugged.

“Let’s go see it, who knows when Wuxian’ll show up.”

Half an hour was how long it took and Wuxian nearly screamed when he saw them.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, your face! Jiang Cheng, how could you- Chengcheng your face?!” Wuxian had gasped, holding onto Lan Wangji’s jacket and looking more horrified then the time he’d watched a documentary where the fox ate a rabbit. “You two! How could you- I cannot believe you two- Why are you both looking at me like that?”

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji shared an amused glance, keeping quiet over Wuxian’s admonishing. Jiang Cheng passed over the drink he’d been holding to Wuxian’s hands and successfully distracted him from his staring.

“Your fiancé has good taste in coffee.” Was all Jiang Cheng said, walking toward Jin Zixuan instead and leaving the dramatics for the one who signed up for it.

“Your brother has rather interesting ideas on color theory.” Lan Wangji said to Wuxian, his lips only twitching into a more fond smile at the hand waving and bewildered look on his fiancé’s face. “We have bonded.”

“You… broke each other’s faces.” Wuxian cried, holding the drink in one hand so the other could cradle Wangji’s cheek and gently stroke over the unbruised skin. “I’m so so so sorry, Lan Zhan, I didn’t realize he’d punch you or I never would have left-”

“There’s no need for apologies,” Lan Wangji said pointedly, gently reaching up to take Wuxian’s hands and press a kiss to the fingertips, “besides, I hit first. It was a misunderstanding. It has been cleared up. I believed him to be looking down on you, he believed me to be ashamed of my relationship with another man.”

“You two.. You two are never allowed to bond again. If I wanted you to punch each other I would have sent you to Huaisang’s brother’s gym to box it out.” Despite his words, Wuxian had relaxed considerably and spared a glance over his shoulder towards his brother. “So… You don’t hate him?”

“No. I do not understand him, but I know he cares about you. That’s all I need to know.” Wangji said with another kiss to his fingertips.

“That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard… Well other than when you confessed, and when you proposed, and when you say my name and-”

Wangji shook his head, shutting him up with a kiss that Wuxian was more than happy to reciprocate.

Jiang Cheng glanced at their disgusting affection and then the very awkward looking Jin Zixuan.

“... Go ahead.” He finally said with a suffering sigh. In seconds, Jin Zixuan was in his face, carefully checking his nose. The moment they’d found out that Yanli was pregnant Zixuan had devoted himself to all forms of emergency medical training just in case anything happened to their baby. In doing that, though, had somehow unlocked his need to use that towards anyone he considered family.

“Okay it’s not broken, and Lan Wangji… I’m sure Wuxian has that handled.” Jin Zixuan said after glancing at the couple and Jiang Cheng really couldn’t blame him.

“Why are you here anyways?”

“A-Li yelled at me to drive Wei Wuxian here.” He said pathetically, like there couldn’t be anything worse in the world than Yanli yelling at him. And he was right.

“Hmm, we should probably call her and tell her that we’re not dead. I broke my phone and Lan Wangji’s.” Jiang Cheng said, holding out his hand for Jin Zixuan’s phone. Jin Zixuan looked like he didn’t trust him but a moment later he gave in and passed it over.

“Uh… I hope you two are getting along now.” Jin Zixuan said, trying for an awkward smile. “I’m glad my family is getting along.”

“You’re not good at this.” Jiang Cheng said bluntly and Jin Zixuan shook his head rapidly.

“No I’m not. Please call A-Li, the stress isn’t good for the baby, and I mean all three of us.”

“God, I hope I die alone.” Jiang Cheng sighed as he clicked on the contact and started to herd Jin Zixuan out of the gallery before the two behind them started getting handsy.

#Jiang cheng #Wangxian #The untamed #mdzs #Lan Wangji #Lan Zhan #Wei Wuxian #Wei Ying #Jiang Wanyin #MDZS Fanfic

[leatherbookmarking]

fuck that ! im gonna talk about them deadboyz!! shame is for the WEAK

overall:

belong to a much less known subsidiary company of jinhit no jgs isn’t worth the joke entertainment. if they were in any other company they would be super rookies but jgs is keeping them in the basement and it’s not even his own basement

initially i think there were some high stakes in it for jgy...? something like ‘you produce the songs and make their chores and if you flop you’ll never be on stage again’ but?? i don’t know now tbh

would have been really popular (they are Good) but less known company, etc, and also some rumors around the time of their debut made it so they’re only knows because ‘they’re kinda good at dancing aren’t they’

general concept is uh... cool dudes, kinda fucky but not too much...? gotta think about the baby (a-yu)

THE MEMBERS: meng yao (leader, main dancer, vocalist), wen chao (oldest, main rapper), su she (main vocal, dancer), xue yang (rapper, dancer, unofficially: moodmaker, if by ‘mood’ you understand ‘horror at whatever has just come out of his hellish mouth), wen ning (dancer, vocalist, sometimes rapper), mo xuanyu (vocalist, the Baby™)

MENG YAO:

leader, single-handedly responsible for making these rowdy boys (wc&xy) stop wanting to kill each other

has probably auditioned for every single company there is. was in the nie company for a bit, but it was still a mess freshly after the previous owner, nmj’s father, has died, nmj has struggled (being a producer, not a businessman) so when it turned out they’d have to let some trainees go, the other trainees made it so meng yao was the one to leave. then he temporarily was at wrh’s company where he got kind-of-semi-famous as one of wen qing’s main back dancers (the one she’s interacted with the most) during her last performance. then the company went kaputt and jgs has snatched him off for himself, and then... put him... in the basement.... for two years... after which he gave him a chance, and voila

insanely hard-working. an all-rounder. mainly he excels at dancing, but his vocal and rap skills also Fuck. persona? impeccable. he’s learning to write and compose his own songs and he’s doing well, but he can’t even upload his stuff on soundcloud, because... you know why. has doubled as a manager in their early days. also, dimples.

the fans had tried to make a dad/mom dynamic with him and uh... wen chao...? since they were the oldest and pretty much the opposites, but quickly gave up and he’s now simply known as yao-ge due to his stern but loving persona. (yao-jie, sometimes)

DOES do the split. it was his rookie trick for a year after they debuted, but he simply is just like that. one show host asked him “is there definite proof that you have bones?“ and meng yao only shrugged humbly

WEN CHAO

oldest, has been a trainee for the longest time, hasn’t debuted because... well... he wasn’t good... and that was because he’s felt too safe in his dad’s company. WELL ABOUT THAT,

his older brother wen xu has debuted Long before him, but after a few years his group disbanded, he moved on to modeling and then stopped after a couple of years, too. (he got married.)

you know how i said their image is ‘cool, a bit fucky’? well, he’s 40% of that fuckiness. he’s been told again and again that idols aren’t supposed to date/have dating experience, but he still can’t get the hang of it

yes, he and jiaojiao were an item back in the wen days. she’s a trainee at some other company now but they still hook up sometimes

initially was intent on maintaining a cool, calm and collected image... then he met xue yang and threw that idea outta the window. paradoxically, they’re interesting together, not only as rappers but also as... high-energy, chaotic energy makers of the group...

this is a happy au, so: initially he’s thought everything is bullshit, these talentless fucks are dumb and he should already be a top idol. by the time of their debut, he agrees that meng yao is one crafty motherfucker. a year after their debut, if anything happened to any of his boys, yes even xue yang, he would kill everyone in the room, etc, etc BUT YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT.

SU SHE

unfortunately, was added before their first comeback (second release) and therefore controversial. fortunately, his vocal completes the group’s image and musical flavour

was a trainee in yinshen ent where he really admired their top idol, lan wangji, until... he got to know him (?) when they were sent to compete in a survival show and decided lan wangji ain’t shit and is, in fact, a stuck-up self-centered bitch. the survival show crashed (unrelatedly), but still some serious words were exchanged. during Some Company Problems, quite a lot of trainees have left, but he was the one who left with a Bang.

joined that one subsidiary of jin ent because of meng yao, who, just like in canon, recognized him, said he loved him in (song he’s performed in the survival show) and with this he cemented his position as su she’s new Boy Who Makes Him Go !!!!.

slowly replaced meng yao as The Man Who Does This Face at the other lads’ rowdy behaviour.

fans remember he was :/ at lan wangji, so his persona wouldn’t work anyway, but he does make quite a convincing kind dude-next-door.

stubborn side of the fandom’s next candidate for the mom member, because... he’s ridiculously prepared and reliable. who carries hydrogen peroxide in their daily use backpack? this boy !

it used to be rubbing alcohol but i had too many reasons to apply it internally, he once says mournfully, and this is how xue yang discovers he has a sense of humor, sort of

unfortunately, has the juiciest ass in the group. unfortunately, because

XUE YANG

responsible for: being inappropriate. the other 60% of fuckiness, really enjoys getting into wen chao’s personal space (since wen chao is That straight dude) and just... doing whatever to make su she Scandalized.

but he’s so cute we’ll forgive him. at least until the next time he does a surprise butt grab

very agile! dance line along with meng yao and wen ning. apparently he was a stunt guy...? apparently the lived in the streets...? apparently he went to the same dance school as meng yao...? no one knows his past. no one has seen his kid photos. did he go by another name...? insert the what are birds gif but make it who is xue yang.

adds sound effects to real life. also in his raps, sometimes

started hugging and initiating physical contact with people to assert dominance to be annoying, but ended up actually liking it, even though the one he does it comfortably with is meng yao. just like... back hugs? resting his chin over a-yao’s shoulder? it’s neat. sometimes a-yao pats his hand or taps his nose absent-mindedly and it’s super neat. if he notices you noticing it, though, he will BITE

most popular member, but everyone likes him for different reasons and has a different uhhh headcanon about potentially dating him. bad boy xue yang/cute bratty didi xue yang/sweet boyfriend xue yang, etc, etc

no one knows how, but apparently he knows the iconic duo from a small company, xiao xingchen and song lan...? or rather, song lan pretends not to know or notice him, meanwhile xiao xingchen is very cute when they’re interacting, and basically it prompts a lot of dating rumors, especially since they’ve been spotted having hotpot.

WEN NING

su she was the one to join last, but actually it’s wen ning who’s the least popular member. i’m just so quiet that people don’t notice me, haha, he says while being 180cm tall and having killer charisma when he dances

seriously, what’s up with that? it’s almost like he’s a different person, a possessed one to add to that. huh!

in contrast, his voice is very gentle and even cute, and he often sings quietly to himself. sometimes to other members (there’s a video of him singing what seems to be a lullaby to mxy), sometimes to little animals (there’s a video of him singing to a tiny frog he’s found during a walk). gentle boyfriend wen ning but it’s CANON

in contrast to the contrast, he doesn’t rap often, but when he does, it’s like... who’s that?? another member??? dualism king

when wc/xy cause problems on purpose, he doesn’t react/allows them to tease him/slap his ass/bump into him when they’re fighting. he seems like a calm, gentle guy so when they’re in a variety show and it’s Time For A Punishment, of course he gets to decide/wield the squeaky hammer, WHEREUPON ‘yang-ge, three weeks ago you ate my yoghurt even though i specifically asked you not to, so...’ (whacks xy’s ass into next tuesday)

nice, sculpted shoulders make for very good pillows

MO XUANYU

a Baby, but watch out: a horny one. fully on board with xue yang’s Inappropriate Ideas Of Entertainment. there’s a video of them doing some Rather Dirty dance moves while meng yao and su she make pained faces in the bg

fashion king. make-up king. none of his selfies are bare-faced, he always has some red eye shadow/blue eyelashes/yellow blush/black lipstick going on. sometimes even at the same time. paints his nails and toenails as well. somehow yao-gege doing his make-up makes him fall asleep one minute in. (cute)

his sincere smile is a 100% foolproof way to just... melt everyone’s hearts. in wen ning’s case: with a smile as well. meng yao and su she: an eyeroll (fond). xue yang and wen chao: ‘oh, fuck you’. but it DOES

most of the time though when he does sajiao it’s totally weird. (on purpose, on purpose)

tiny boy. skinny boy. once he turned to the side and vanished. even though most of the time in videos the other members sooner or later end up giving him food! (at some point wen chao says ‘it’s so that you’d shut up’, causing a-yu to start talking animatedly, spitting crumbs into his tea. serves him right)

has a potential to end up as a vocal god. currently however his favourite method of doing things with his voice is SCREAM

famously examines what things are by putting them in his mouth/licking them. he is a little creacher. he cannot change this

bites

#shut up shrimp #ye..lls......... #some other time i'll have to write about what the other dudes are doing in this au #idol au

[scottspack]

SO YOU JUST FINISHED THE UNTAMED AND YOU WANT TO READ SOME FIC

Congratulations Jen @jlf23tumble on finishing The Untamed (tomorrow)! Now that you’re done with the show (tomorrow), you can finally dive into the wide and wonderful world of untamed fic!!! I’m ecstatic to be personally curating your reading experience! LET’S BEGIN!

I’ve started off with a list of 5 fics I think you should read in this specific order to 1. get some resolution from the end of the show and 2. get you acclimated to untamed fics! Then, I’ve listed a bunch of fics in different categories for your perusal to read at your leisure! This is an unbelievably long post holy shit brace yourself.

I’m like fairly certain that all of these follow the tv show canon BUT also its very typical for authors to combine many aspects of all of the different forms of canons to their liking. Therefore, I feel like I need to give a quick explanation of a couple things from the novel that show up frequently in fics that idk if you know already or not:

In the book, when Wei Wuxian is resurrected, he is brought back in Mo Xuanyu’s actual body and has his face and everything. Mo Xuanyu was pretty young when he died, I wanna say maybe 17 or 18??? and he was also short and pretty and flamboyantly gay. This is where the references to their crazy height difference come from, but again, I think I tried to include mostly fics that skew more heavily to the tv version where WWX keeps his same body and he and LWJ are more evenly matched physically.

Its novel canon that LWJ smells like sandalwood incense and has golden colored eyes. This is mentioned in like almost every single wangxian fic ive ever read, even if the author said they were strictly adhering to show canon lol

At the end of the novel wangxian run away together and elope! Obviously in the show that’s not how it goes down, but I think a couple of the fics I’ve recced might mention it in passing. (Oh also when they elope they make a pact to fuck “everyday,” a concept that might be mentioned as well.

Obviously, we have to kick it off with some fics that both reunite wangxian and give more resolution to the actual show. If you’re like me, it both took you a while to get all the way through the show AND took 100% of your brain power to remember all of the characters and plot lines. If that’s that case: these fics should be helpful in serving as a kind of emotional refresher for the show to wrap up some loose ends and to dive deeper into some of the things the show glosses over for one reason or another!

1. A Lot of Edges Called Perhaps by hansbekhart (Wangxian, E, 21k) 

The funny part is - and it is a little funny, even if Wei Wuxian has no one left to share the joke with - they never have. Not anything. He has never kissed any part of Lan Zhan besides his slim hands; never been even partially undressed with him anywhere besides a miserable, xuanwu-infested cave. It’s always been like this between them, this simmering need, this desperate understanding: a knowledge so deep that it lives somewhere in his bones, that if he wanted to have Lan Zhan he could have him, and if Lan Zhan wanted Wei Wuxian he could have that too. But they never have.

I found this fic on someone’s blog when they said that it was the definitive fic to read directly after finishing the series so i saved it, read it directly after finishing the series, and felt COMPLETE. Beautifully written, seamlessly fits with canon, and has a super fulfilling resolution. The perfect way to kick off reading untamed fic!

2. One Rogue Spark In My Direction by hansbekhart (Lan Wangji/Xiao Xingchen/Song Lan, E, 5k)

He’d thought, in Yueyang, that they’d seen something in each other, something familiar. That maybe they’d recognized something in him. But it’s been many years, and many things have happened since, and he’s guessed wrongly at other people’s hearts before. Lan Wangji looks back down at the table, at his steaming, bitter tea. He’ll beg if he has to.

In “A Lot Of Edges Called Perhaps” Wangji mentions that he has had sex before and this is the in-universe story of that time and WHEW BABY!!!! AHHHHHH!!! While this fic is like, almost pure smut, I think there is a ton of value to it in terms of emotional perspective on how fucked up LWJ was after WWX’s death. Also, it’s very hot.

3. Gathered Herbs & Sweet Grasses by hansbekhart (Laz Sizhui & Lan Wangji, G, 19k)

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

This is a fic about Lan Wangji raising Sizhui from when he rescues Sizhui from the Burial Mounds until they bring WWX back to the Cloud Recesses after he’s resurrected. It made me cry about 18 times and I consider it fully canon in relation to the show. I think this gives a lot of emotional depth to the Wangji/Sizhui family relationship that is very important in most fics, so this acts as a good base since the show doesn’t really talk about it too much.

4. Your Name, Safe In Their Mouth by astrolesbian (Lan Sizhui & Wei Wuxian, G, 10k)

“You’ve got a fever,” Wei Wuxian says soothingly. “You just keep still as well as you can. We’ll have you fixed up soon.”

Lan Sizhui recognizes his tone—this is the voice that Wei Wuxian uses on hurt people and young children, a very calm and no-nonsense voice that has none of the mischief and cheer of the way he sounds the rest of the time. Lan Sizhui looks up and meets his eyes, and they are dark, stormy gray, muddled and concerned.

“I’m all right,” he croaks.

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

or: lan sizhui gets sick on a night hunt. wei wuxian comforts him. they both have a lot of feelings about it.

The Wei Wuxian and Sizhui bonding fic that I so desperately desperately needed to read. Since we got the emotional depth to Wangji/Sizhui in the last fic, here’s some emotional resolution for Sizhui and his other dad!!!!!!!!!! Scratched the very particular itch of “but have they REALLY talked about what it means that they’re reunited after 16 years???”

5. climbing up that coastal shelf by Sour_Idealist (Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng, & Wei Wuxian, T, 15k)

Jin Ling had begun to suspect years ago that there were parts of his family history that had been crossed out; long streaks of black where Wei Wuxian had been. The truth is more like whole books being brought up from their hiding places again.

Or: Jin Ling tries to figure out what family means, now.

OKAY!!!! Last emotional resolution before I send you on your way to explore! This is the emotional resolution for the other half of WWX’s family. Featuring just a FUCK TON of family feels and a lot of TALKING that this fucked up family needs so damn bad. *chefs kiss* muy delicioso! ALSO i think this is a good introduction to a lot of the naming conventions that are used frequently in untamed fic that took me a while to pick up on!

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that you’ve gotten some post-show catharsis in the form of a few extremely well-written fics, it’s time for a full rec! I’ve divided it up into seven categories: long fics, smutty one-shots, 3zun (lan xichen/nie mingjue/meng yao) fics, fics about the juniors, family fun fics, some miscellaneous fics, and then some yizhan RPF! I wouldn’t have put any of these fics on here if I didn’t think they were worth reading, BUT! I did mark my particular favorites with asterisks to demark the crème de la crème of the bunch. SO! LET’S DIVE IN!

EPIC TALES (LONG AND/OR IMMERSIVE)

My Age Has Never Made Me Wise by idrilka (Wangxian, E, 63k) ***

“We hear that His Excellency might be married by summer’s end,” the merchant’s wife says and Wei Wuxian freezes, his heart in his throat. “The Gusu Lan sect has been buying enough red silk and brocade that the merchants in Caiyi can’t satisfy the demand.”

He feels himself grow brittle inside, like a flick of a finger to his temple might make him shatter. His ears are ringing.

“Who’s the lucky bride?” he asks despite himself. His tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.

Or: The story of a marriage.

I LOVE THIS FIC. YOU MUST PROMISE ME YOU’LL READ THIS FIC. The absolute best kind of slow burn and I think such an extremely accurate representation of the canon material. I’m always surprised by the authors in this fandom’s ability to write shit that is so concretely grounded in the universe. This could and should be a real companion novel. Amazing. I love it. (Also I know you said you’re not into fics that are long just to be long and I think this fic is the exact opposite of that, it’s long but for good reason and has such an insanely satisfying payoff that it’s completely worth dedicating a few hours to!)

The Year of Drought by idrilka (Wangxian, E, 24k)

Wei Ying could not be contained by the walls of the Cloud Recesses, alive again and overflowing with it, bursting like a dam in spring with the force of two lives unspent. And so he had to go. Lan Wangji understands that—he understood it when Wei Ying told him of his plans, looking at Lan Wangji above the rim of his cup with an apologetic smile, like craving freedom was something to apologize for.

Wei Ying would go, and Lan Wangji would see him off; this has always been the only way it could be.

Or: In the absence of Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji waits.

The previous fic but from Wangji’s perspective. Absolutely required reading if you read the other one. Wangji baby.......i love you.....

further than the grave by idrilka (Wangxian, E, 32k)

There is something about grief that turns Lan Wangji numb. He cannot be certain if it is not some kind of defect inside him that makes him so. But just as he grieved his mother’s passing with dry eyes and a stone in his chest, so he grieves Wei Ying: quietly, frozen inside, without tears. Beyond the Jingshi window it might be spring, but Lan Wangji’s body and mind are still held within the winter’s grasp.

As the anniversary of his leaving seclusion approaches, Lan Wangji ponders the nature of grief and healing.

One last fic from the same verse as the previous two, this talks about Wangji post-WWX’s death and then them dealing with the past post-marriage. Its just as good and immersive and amazing as the previous two parts, but this is the only untamed fic that actually made me gasp out loud and if you read this and can guess what it was we will be best friends forever. (There are two other fics in this verse that are also good but these three in particular are god-tier in my eyes.)

Vagabond by xantissa (Wangxian, E, 66k)

Wei Wuxian comes back to Cloud Recesses after a year of wandering the world, hoping to start a relationship with Lan Zhan. He doesn’t expect to come into the middle of a case of sleeping sickness mysteriously killing people, nor does he expect what follows, putting everything he holds dear on the line once again.

OOOWEE CASE FIC! CASE FIC! This is truly the twisty turny intense and INTERESTING type of fic from this fandom that blows my mind. This could fully be a stand alone novel its that good and there’s that much to it. Another one that isn’t long just to be long, it has so much PLOT!!!!! REAL GOOD SHIT!

Seldom All They Seem by Fahye (Wangxian, E, 25k)

or, one hundred and thirty-three principles of the Gusu Lan, pertaining to the state of marriage

***

He bows to Wei Wuxian, sword in hand, sleeves falling properly. Wei Wuxian bows in return, and the sect leaders begin the opening courtesies, and for all of ten minutes Lan Wangji is under the impression that he is betrothed to a boy who is perfectly normal and acceptable apart from an unfortunate tendency to fidget with his clothes.

That impression does not last.

A canon-divergent fic exploring “what if Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were betrothed from when they were young like Yanli and Jin Zixuan?” It’s extremely good and very compelling and also made me cry multiple times. (The confrontation in the rain doesn’t get any easier even if they’re betrothed!)

Half Cloak & Half Dagger by Fahye (Lan Xichen/Meng Yao, E, 13k)

Jin Guangyao lifts his head and smiles. "I'm considering a problem."

"Can I be of any assistance with it?"

He drops a kiss on Lan Xichen's chest. With the nail of one finger he lightly traces the characters for irony on Lan Xichen's side. "Not this one, er-ge."

A follow-up fic set in the “Seldom All They Seem” universe but focused on xiyao. Has hands down the best written characterization of meng yao in any fic ive read so far. I continuously come back to this fic just to read the absolutely genius way this author writes the Head Bitch In Control of the cultivation world.

The Absolutely True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli (Wangxian, T, 20k)

Wei Wuxian’s hand jolts, spilling a drop of wine onto the tabletop. “Love?” he croaks, then clears his throat and tries again. “Lan Zh— uh, Hanguang-jun, in love?”

“Have you not heard the story?” the other young woman asks, looking pitying. “You must, it is a truly heartrending tale of star-crossed romance and mutual pining — go to any storyhouse in town, everyone has been requesting a reading of this book.”

“There’s a book?” Wei Wuxian says blankly.

In which the junior disciples (namely, Lan Jingyi, Ouyang Zizhen, and a reluctant Lan Sizhui) turn to RPF in an attempt to rehabilitate Wei Wuxian's reputation so that he and Hanguang-jun can get together and get married and live happily ever after. It's... surprisingly effective.

I kept avoiding this fic, even though it was really high up on the list of most popular fics in the fandom, bc the premise sounded pretty goofy BUT I finally bit the bullet one day and AHHHHHHHH!!!!! Very very very cute and fun, made me smile like an idiot throughout the entire thing. Heartwarming and very well written!!!

never let me go by yiqie (Wangxian, E, 69k)

Wei Wuxian has certainly hoped so ardently in his two lifetimes, for so many different things, in so many different ways, that he could have summoned the demon to his front door with his bare hands. His eyes wander to Lan Zhan, settle on the back of his head, the blue-black curtain of his hair. Oh, how he has hoped.

Another extremely good and super immersive case fic. If you ever just want to sink really deep into an untamed fic, this is a great one for it.

hunters seeking solid ground by Attila (Wangxian, E, 24k)

“Hanguang-jun,” Wei Wuxian repeats. His heart clenches. He wants—but he’d really meant to have this nightmare stuff down before they met again, so he wouldn’t find himself relying on Lan Wangji’s nearness. He’s not supposed to go back yet. But he’s so tired, and his will crumbles. “Yeah,” he says. “All right. Take me back to Gusu with you.”

You want hurt/comfort? I gotcha hurt/comfort RIGHT HERE!

shadows in the sun rise by Yuu_chi (Wangxian, E, 25k) ***

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji says, voice slow and a pitch too quiet. A second later Wei Wuxian understands why. “I cannot hear.”

Or; Lan Wangji is cursed into internal isolation. Their ability to understand one another remains as unwavering as ever.

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD. I have been thinking about this fic nonstop since I read it. It is…..fucking incredible. One of the best qualities of wangxian is that they’re so in tune with each other and able to work so cohesively with little communication and this fic is like “what if we take that and DIAL IT UP TO ELEVEN” and i was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I hope that you will come and meet me by feyburner (Wangxian, M, 28k) ***

The second time Lan Zhan said Wei Ying, come back, Wei Wuxian did.

okay so this is literally getting added to the fic rec one day before i send it to you because i just finished it and WHEW BABY!!!!! YES it is just another wangxian post-canon reunion get-together fic, BUT 1. i cant get enough of that specific brand of fic and 2. ITS SO GOOD. ITS. SO. GOOD. achingly tender and incredibly soft but also funny and sweet and very in-character! i love it!

THE BONE ZONE (WANGXIAN SMUT)

Sweet Night by corteae (Wangxian, E, 10k)

It was like coming back to life again, like being restitched into existence, cell by cell, nerve by nerve. From the surface of his skin to the marrow of his bones, everything new and purposeful. Like being pulled back from oblivion into an embrace of pure light. A feeling of absolute asylum.

That’s what it felt like, to realize Lan Wangji was in love with him.

An in-show au of “what if they just admitted they’re in love and fucked during episode 43?” Soft and romantic and hot!

the crucial point by dissembler (Wangxian, E, 7k) ***

Months after parting on the mountain, Lan Wangji makes up his mind, plots his course on a map, and has faith.

I LOVE THIS FIC! Very realistic and sweet wangxian reunion fic from wangji’s perspective. Has so many good little details and is very true to their characters. Good shit. Great.

Stainless by Fahye (Wangxian, E, 6k)

"I'm starting to feel," says Lan Xichen, "that this was a counterproductive suggestion."

Wei Wuxian looks down onto the pristine, tranquil cold springs of the Cloud Recesses. Sitting in the water, their bare shoulders rising like dumplings carefully spaced in a steaming-basket, are a large number of Lan disciples.

"They seem to be doing better," he says, encouragingly. "If they--oh, no, I see what you mean."

At the near bank, someone has pressed someone else against the rocks and is kissing them frantically.

What is getting into a new pairing if not an excuse to read sex pollen in new and exciting ways!

To Recklessly Confess by la_dissonance (Wangxian, E, 8k)

Lan Wangji has a fantasy. Wei Wuxian gets several clues.

The “what if they just fucked in episode 43” au but from a different angle.

all the depths of me, real by northofallmusic (Wangxian, E, 15k)

Wei Wuxian is dealing with a curse a little worse than he'd like to let on, and Lan Zhan is a little less than willing to let it slide.

Another “what if they just fucked in the show” fic, this time set when WWX has the curse on his leg and Wangji has to carry him back to the inn. 

Every Day, Learning More by phnelt (Wangxian, E, 6k)

The pink was high on Wei Wuxian’s cheeks. “I mean I haven’t been able to… that I can’t. Not without you.”

Lan Wangji stared. “In this body, the whole time you’ve had it -- you’ve never…”

Wei Wuxian kicked his heels into Lan Wangji’s back. “I just said that!”

I knew at least one of these was more book verse than show! WWX hasn’t been able to jerk off in his new body, LWJ helps him out :-)

the meaning of the ritual by newamsterdam (Wangxian, E, 8k)

“Lan Zhan… wants to bed me?”

The hand on his chest is shaking, slightly. “Mn.”

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian breaths out.

There’s something— something powerful, about that. Lan Wangji wants to bed him. Lan Wangji wants to sleep with him. Lan Wangji wants to touch him, and kiss him. The immovable, implacable Second Master of Lan, with a face and principles both carved from jade, wants him.

“Is this a fantasy of yours?” Wei Wuxian asks. “Forcing all the demonic energy out of me with your—”

Lan Wangji claps a hand over his mouth. “Silence, now.”

When the entire cultivation world turns against the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian makes a risky gamble— he'll agree to participate in an ancient ritual for cleansing the spirit, so that his character can no longer be called into question. The catch? He has no idea who his partner for the ritual will be.

This is also book-verse! As the tag says “Let Lan Wangji Fuck the Yiling Patriarch”!!!!!!!!!!!

Hurricane by gdgdbaby (Wangxian, E, 6k) ***

"Haven't you heard?" Nie Huaisang replied, clicking his tongue, though he was clearly pleased that he could be the one to break the news. He leaned in to announce with a dramatic flourish: "Lan Wangji just took emergency family leave this past weekend."

WANGXIAN AS SPIRK STAR TREK PON FAR AU!!!!!!!!!!!!! WEEWOO WEEWOO WEEWOO!!!!!!!! This was actually recced to ME by CHI and I have not stopped thinking about this fic for a full month. It’s like author gdgdbaby sat down one day and was like “Tumblr user Liv Scottspack deserves everything she wants in this life.” and then wrote this fic. Thank you author gdgdbaby, I love you.

WORLD’S WORST THROUPLE (3ZUN)

The body is a blade by rheawrites (3zun, E, 2k) ***

In which Lan Xichen is taken by surprise, Nie Mingjue takes what he can get, and Meng Yao gets what he wants.

This was the first 3zun fic I ever read and whew baby, got it in one! It’s actually a slight AU but it gets their characterization so right and is a very fun read. One of those fics I go back to frequently because it does so much with so few words.

shang tiantang by fuckwarlock (3zun, E, 4k)

They wanted so much, and with the way A-Yao gasps at the saber-calloused hand unfastening his belts, he does, too. The night air twirls with the scents of osmanthus and cinnamon and melon. Lan Xichen smiles, leans in, and ghosts his lips over the crook of A-Yao’s neck. What kind of brother would he be if he didn’t give A-Yao what he wanted? “I think it’s your turn to ascend, A-Yao.”

The Venerated Triad celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival the best way they know how.

Truly the only way the venerated triad works is if meng yao gets Destroyed :-)

Favour and Fate by soulgusttheguardian (3zun, E, 8k)

There have been times in Meng Yao’s life when he couldn’t help but wonder how he came to be in his current situation. Found himself reflecting on the choices leading up to whatever misfortune had befallen him that day, and pondering why fate hated him so.

Granted, there had also been times when he couldn't help but wonder just what he had done to earn the favour necessary to be rewarded with certain things...

The current situation he found himself to be in, however, was definitely the latter.

More of the same! Truly I personally can never get enough of the 3zun dynamic in smut fics its just too goddamn motherfucking GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

the stars do not take sides by everyearning (3zun, E, 4k)

Mingjue isn’t sure he’s ever seen Xichen do anything other than treat the boy like a porcelain doll and it’s laughable to him, to think of Meng Yao as something breakable, instead of the sharp, deadly object he is.

Okay one last “Destroy Meng Yao” 3zun fic! Enjoy!

never as alive as we are right now by ThirtySixSaveFiles (3zun, E, 12k)

Three perspectives on three sworn brothers, at three different times in their relationship.

(Or, three times 3zun got it on and some of the feelings they had along the way.)

Wait actually I want to end the 3zun fics on this one because it has true Emotional Resolution at the end and I think they deserve a little healing.

BABY BOYS. BABIES. (THE JUNIORS)

A Civil Combpaign by Ariaste (Jin Ling/Lan Sizhui, T, 20k) ***

“And,” said one of the pompous ministers, “there’s the matter of a marriage to consider as well!”

Jin Ling, who at the beginning of that sentence had expected to slam into the very last wall of his patience and lose his temper entirely, paused. “A what?”

Thing was… it wasn’t such a bad idea.

A MUST-FUCKING-READ!!! Jin Ling gets it in his head that as sect leader he should get married and sets his sights on Lan Sizhui. I cannot stress enough how FUCKING CUTE this fic is!!! Sizhui being the best boy! Jin Ling having more uncles than he knows what to do with! Jiang Cheng being the worst at relationship advice! It’s so fucking good it love it so much.

Anyway, Here’s Wuji by kakikaeru (Lan Jingyi/Lan Sizhui, T, 18k)

The melody gets a little clearer when he breaks out of the trees, and Jingyi changes course with certainty, barreling down the back hill and through the Cloud Recesses, dodging scandalized disciples left and right. He throws open the doors to the Receiving Hall without announcement and bows nearly double, eyes on the floor instead of on the shocked faces of the Mei delegation and the impenetrable gaze of the Chief Cultivator.

"Forgive this disciple," Jingyi shouts, because he's going to get punished for rule breaking regardless. "From the back hill, Hanguang-jun, there is a song in the wind!"

Lan Jingyi comes of age.

A Jingyi-central fic about Jingyi growing up and falling in love and being a hero and being the second best boy of my heart right after Sizhui. Not only is this fic sweet and romantic but it’s another one that explores a lot of interesting things within canon and all of the supporting characters are written very well and are just as interesting as second best boy Jingyi.

Ok, JiuJiu by kakikaeru (Jin Ling/Ouyang Zizhen, T, 16k)

Uncle's jaw works in the way that suggests he's about to say something irredeemable. Jin Ling, in a move of diplomacy he hopes the Chief Cultivator appreciates, distracts him with spicy food and his favourite subject: the incompetence of his own officials.

"I hear the lakes in the south east are having drainage problems?" he asks nonchalantly, sticking three big slices of braised pork belly into his Uncle's bowl.

Jin Ling just wants to get through the Discussion Conference with his Sect, his dignity, and his heart intact.

A follow up fic to “Anyways, Here’s Wuji.” I LOVE the Jin Ling/Ouyang Zizhen dynamic of Jin Ling having been raised by Jiang “I keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die” Cheng AND being hopelessly charmed and smitten with Ouyang “President of the I Love Love Romance Novel Book Club” Zizhen! I LOVE IT! EXTREMELY CUTE!

Lan Sizhui's Guide to Courtship by Kimblydot (Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi, T, 23k)

In which Jingyi is a little oblivious, Sizhui is patient (and should have said something in the beginning), and everyone else is resigned to watching them dance around each other for far longer than necessary.

(Or: five things Sizhui tries to do in his courtship, and the one time Jingyi realizes there was one happening in the first place.)

I’ll stop describing fics about the juniors as being “cute” when they stop being SO FUCKING CUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

His Merit All My Fear by violettressed (Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi, G, 16k)

It’s too late for any of Hanguang-Jun’s rabbits to be awake -- one of the sundown chores for young disciples is to herd them back into their hutch -- but the rabbit field is as good a spot as any for quality sulking, so Lan Jingyi makes his way there.

Someone has beat him to it.

Lan Jingyi stares at Hanguang-Jun. Hanguang-Jun stares passively back.

When Lan Sizhui is swept away with the Ghost General, off on a new adventure, Lan Jingyi is the one who returns to Cloud Recesses alone.

Not only another extremely cute Sizhui/Jingyi fic BUT one that includes a Wangji/Jingyi friendship??? Incroyable! *chefs kiss*

spirit running wild by idrilka (Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi, E, 17k)

He doesn’t know, exactly, when the friendship he shared with Sizhui over the years has changed into something that’s made Jingyi finally understand why Hanguang-Jun always wears that expression whenever he looks at Senior Wei. There hasn’t been one single moment that he can point to and say, yes, this is where it started, because the thing about falling in love with your best friend is that it happens gradually, until it’s impossible to tell which step has been the deciding one.

Jingyi goes to Baling with a crush.

Written by the same genius that wrote the first three fics I made you read so you know it’s good. Its truly the childhood best friends to lovers of it all! Sizhui is adorable and Jingyi is a mess! *muah!*

FAMILY FUN TIME (NO ROMANCE, JUST FEELS)

Grow by cafecliche (Lan Sizhui & Wei Wuxian, T, 14k)

“Okay,” Jingyi says, as Sizhui puzzles this out aloud. “Okay! So the demon has been turning its victims into children.”

“I think so,” Sizhui says.

“To make them easier prey,” Jingyi says.

“Yes,” Sizhui says.

“So—” Jingyi’s voice cracks here, “this kid is Senior Wei.”

Wei Wuxian, still tangled in his own massive robes, blinks politely at them.

(Or: Wei Wuxian is cursed on a night-hunt, and the junior quartet rapidly finds themselves in over their heads.)

What I expected to be a goofy, silly fic turned out to be extremely emotional and made me FULLY CRY! It’s a very moving fic about Sizhui coming to understand himself and Wei Wuxian a lot better AND features all of the juniors arguing over who’s turn it is to hold 6 year old Wei Wuxian. A true win/win of a fic.

To The Act of Making Noise by words-writ-in-starlight (Lan Sizhui & Lan Wangji, G, 19k)

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

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

Another very moving and heartwarming fic about Lan Wangji raising Sizhui and Sizhui figuring out Wangji’s past and then eventually reconnecting with Wei Wuxian. It’s cute and soft and Sizhui is my best boy!

History (Proud To Call Your Own) by words-writ-in-starlight (Wen Ning, G, 5k)

“A-Yuan? Um—Lan-gongzi,” Wen Ning corrects, trying to set a good example. The children are young, seven and eight, exactly a dozen of them lined up in two crisp lines of tiny blue and white robes. Wen Ning can feel them staring at him, even though most of them have already mastered that Lan trick of neutrality. The smallest, a little girl with liquid dark eyes, is clinging to her nearest shijie’s sleeve and half-hiding. “Can I—what can I do for you?”

Wen Ning gets himself recruited for services, while he and Sizhui are visiting Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian gets a fan club.

Set in the same universe as “To The Act of Making Noise,” a very cute fic about Wen Ning finding his place in the post-canon world and being proud of Sizhui and being the world’s best substitute teacher. As the official Wen Ning Fan Club President, I had to include this.

the stone-filled sea by yukla (Lan Sizhui & Wei Wuxian, T, 9k) ***

He forgets how quickly Wei-qianbei changes faces, sometimes. Like pulling a theater mask over a bruise—color over color, a diversion with the swipe of his hand.

Lan Sizhui navigates a world that hates his father, one endless wave at a time.

Oh man oh man. I will never get enough of the fics where Sizhui (and the rest of the juniors) get ANGRY on Wei Wuxian’s behalf!! That’s their dad and their teacher and their friend and they will DEFEND HIM!!! YEAH BAYBEEEEEEEEEE!!!

PICK & MIX (MISCELLANEOUS)

This Side of Paradise by greenfionn (Wei Wuxian/Wen Qing, E, 3k)

Wei Wuxian does some very quick math in his head that goes something like this: He is pretty sure he’s in love with Lan Zhan - Lan Zhan is not here and likely never will be here - Wen Qing is here, not to mention very hot and let us not forget, actually interested in sex with him - there’s a solid chance he goes genuinely crazy or dies, or both, in the next few months and really, who wants to die a virgin?

Listen.......the fic premise is “Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing, noted bisexuals, figure life sucks enough at the Burial Mounds, they might as well have any fun they can before they die” and........I Am Looking Directly At It. It features Wen Qing bossing Wei Wuxian around and Wei Wuxian’s canon he-wants-to-be-pregnant kink. It’s........I liked it.

palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss by iodhadh (Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen, M, 15k) ***

The realization strikes Song Lan like a bolt of lightning: Xiao Xingchen laughs, and he wants with a sudden, stunning desperation to kiss the mirth from his beautiful mouth. How, precisely, he is meant to manage that—that, he has no idea at all.

Or: introspective meditations on touch, trust, and the problem of desire.

I Am Baby and for some reason cannot handle how sad the entire Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen storyline ended up so I rarely read songchen fics, and when I do they’re always soft pre-canon fics like this one. Luckily there are some very beautiful and moving pre-canon songchen fics!!! I love you fandom!!

purpose and ritual by iodhadh (Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen, E, 8k)

Song Zichen has beautiful hands. He's a powerful swordsman, strong and skilled, unfairly impressive and unreasonably handsome. He is devoted and self-disciplined and he takes direction like a dream. And he doesn't touch people—no one at all, if he can help it, except for Xiao Xingchen.

The poets might call him a saint, but Xiao Xingchen is so very, very human.

More of the same :-)

born to sweet delight by la_dissonance (Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen, E, 10k)

Xiao Xingchen lightly jumps into the center of the pool, the water a shock that cools his sticky, heated skin, and does nothing for the heat building inside him. When he surfaces, pushing the hair out of his face, he finds Song Lan's gaze and meets it. Between them, everything goes both ways. What Song Lan will offer, Xiao Xingchen will freely give too.

Or, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan meet, pledge their lives to each other, and then fall in love.

This is about the angstiest I will go for songchen and its still absolutely Baby Soft lmfao!!!!!!

Pin it down by rheawrites (Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan, Jin Zixuan/Nie Mingjue, E, 2k)

“Yanli, I did not lie on our wedding night. You are the only woman I have gone to bed with. But… there was a man.”

“Oh?” Yanli blinks up at him. She does not appear horrified, or betrayed, which is surely a good sign.

Jin Zixuan swallows. “It was Sect Leader Nie,” he says quickly, as though that will make it easier.

“…Oh,” says Yanli, and her eyes are dark.

-

Jin Zixuan tells his wife a war story. Or, two thousand words of Jin Zixuan getting railed.

Have you ever looked at Jin Zixuan and been like “I bet that mf likes getting PEGGED!!!!!!!!” Well here’s the fic for you. 

*YIBO VOICE* DIDI LOVES YOU! (YIZHAN RPF)

never really over by gdgdbaby (Yizhan, E, 10k)

The thing is: it would be good to see Xiao Zhan again — if Yibo could just trust himself to be normal.

Author gdgdbaby is the yizhan master, so here are five of my personal favorites of their fics, starting with this post-filming reunion fic that was the first yizhan fic I ever read and HIT real good after having just finished the show myself.

pedagogy by gdgdbaby (Yizhan, E, 17k) ***

Yibo opens his mouth and says, "I want to learn," barreling past the rapid rise of Xiao Zhan's eyebrows. "To last longer. Will you teach me?"

Quick-fire Yibo comes too easily and Xiao Zhan helps train him to last longer :-)

you’re the reason that i just can’t concentrate by gdgdbaby (Yizhan, E, 10k)

Xiao Zhan hears about it from Yu Bin, which probably should've been the first warning sign.

Yibo was only 20 when they filmed the untamed, which lends itself perfectly to fics like this.

a truth so loud you can’t ignore by gdgdbaby (Yizhan, E, 5k)

It's their last day of filming in Hengdian when the secret comes out.

If yibo has to be a fictional virgin than SO DOES XIAO ZHAN!

if you would only let you by gdgdbaby (Yizhan, E, 32k) ***

"Well?" Yibo demands. Past the severe frown tugging at the corners of his mouth, a flicker of the old him slips through, the persistent boy who shoved his way into Xiao Zhan's space without a second thought and made a home for himself there. "Are you coming or not?"

Xiao Zhan's heart twists. He forcibly settles it back in his chest. He's only told Yibo no once in his entire life, and it was already the hardest thing he's ever had to do. "Okay," Xiao Zhan murmurs, quiet but decisive, and thumbs his phone off. "Let's go."

Like I said, all gdgdbaby fics are incredibly good, super well written, and very hot, but this one does stand out from the bunch for being a Full Epic Romance! This is one of Chi’s favorite fics so that should speak to it’s quality!

baby, who’s counting by nobirdstofly (Yizhan, E, 12k)

Xiao Zhan gasps, trying to rein in another peal of giggles. “What do I owe you anyway?”

Yibo shrugs one shoulder, and his smirk deepens. “Haven’t decided.”

Xiao Zhan’s still staring at him, laughter gone in his dry throat, when he hears someone yell for a reset. Yibo’s eyes are so, so dark, and he hasn’t stopped watching Xiao Zhan this whole time. Xiao Zhan swallows, nods, and pushes every dirty thought out of his head.

(Or: Yibo bets Xiao Zhan he'll break first during a take, Xiao Zhan loses, and it's all downhill from there.)

Ah sex bets, who doesn’t love sex bets!

Mystery Dance by mrsronweasley (Yizhan, E, 16k)

"That? That's your confession?" Yibo's toppled onto Xiao Zhan's side and is clutching his shoulder, trying not to fall over. "That's pathetic!"

"Oh, what, you can do better?" Zhuocheng is pretty flushed and there's a challenge in his voice that Yibo just can't walk away from.

"Hell yeah, I can. Hit me, Yu Bin." Yu Bin cheers and refills Yibo's shot glass. "All right!" Yibo downs the shot, gags only slightly, and says, "Everyone! I'm a fucking virgin!"

WHAT’S better than a Yibo virgin fic? A SECOND YIBO VIRGIN FIC!

This author also writes extremely good yizhan threesomes so here’s three of them!

Some Nights by mrsronweasley (Yizhan/Xuan Lu (Jiang Yanli), E, 2k)

Xuan Lu opened her legs to him and Xiao Zhan wasted no time diving in. He pressed his mouth against her pussy, licking her out steadily as her thighs trembled around him. She was nestled between Yibo's legs and if Xiao Zhan looked up, not only could he see the planes of her body, her small breasts going up and down with her breathing, ribs expanding, her tipped back head and open mouth, but Yibo, gaze boring into Xiao Zhan's as he ate Xuan Lu out.

The entire cast is hot and there is no reason they shouldn’t ALL fuck! Not one reason!!!!!!

gege loves you by mrsronweasley (Yizhan/Wang Zhuocheng (Jiang Cheng)), E, 7k)

"We are very sorry," Xiao Zhan murmured as he unbuttoned Zhuocheng's jeans while Yibo kissed his ear, "for how we've been acting."

"Is this how you apologize to everyone," Zhuocheng panted, hands already going for his zipper to help Xiao Zhan along, "or am I special?"

WHEW LORD!!!!!!!!! WHEW!!!!!!!

Talking in the Dark by mrsronweasley (Yizhan (Side Xiao Zhan/M/F), E, 14k)

Xiao Zhan has a light-hearted romp of a threeway with some friends, then makes the mistake of telling Yibo. It goes down.

A non-yizhan threesome BUT features jealous!yibo which is a ton of fun.

Finally, a couple AUs!

With Joy and Purpose by feenwitch (Yizhan, E, 30k) ***

Yibo has been alone for approximately five Earth years when Xiao Zhan crash lands on his planet.

YIZHAN ANDROID AU!!!!!!!! This is a very star trek-esque universe which is fun, but the fic itself is also CRAZY interesting and moving and beautiful!!!!!!!!! It’s A LOT! This was a rec from Nina, so thank you Nina!

Bound With a Same-Heart Knot by mrsronweasley (Yizhan, E, 59k)

London, 1892. Xiao Zhan, a promising young attache at the Chinese embassy is tasked with showing the new ambassador's son Wang Yibo around London. The inevitable happens.

Victorian AU! I actually think you already read this, but included for posterity.

AND SCENE! This is the result of two months of daily fic reading, having 50 tabs of fic open at any given time, reading truly anything and everything, and Loving The Untamed. I’m SO EXCITED you’re diving into fic for this show and I can’t wait to talk to you about all of them and to have someone to scream with! WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

#the untamed #fic #the untamed fic rec #holy gosh diddly darn moly #this is long as hell and has approximately 950k words of fic in it #my magnum opus!!!! #what's even more wild is that this literally doesnt even scratch the surface #i am constantly reading more #from the time i started putting this rec together until now #i added two new fics that i read and thought were amazing #there is no dearth of good shit to read in this fandom #ANYWAYS congrats on finishing (tomorrow)! #i cant wait to talk fic! #i hope you enjoy this list! #sorry it is genuinely absurdly long!

[zeldahime]

cql college/job au xiyao edition

because these two have the potential to be the slowest of slow fucking burns and extremely excruciatingly painfully perfectly polite at all times

featuring: ta/student very-much-not-a-relationship, enough ust to set the entire humanities building on fire, corporate espionage, nie huaisang being the sneakiest and sweetest slytherin, background wangxian, nie mingjue being a boss, intense eye contact, let lan xichen say fuck, meng yao stress hours, WERE YOU ONLY PRETENDING TO BE DELICATE AND POOR, summer internship, background wangxian

it got uh. very long. so. 

meng yao starts working for nie enterprises when he’s 16 as a part-time janitor. he has two other part time jobs and is studying for his ged.

one day he solves some kind of problem that nie enterprises is having and nie mingjue likes this guy and promotes him to his personal assistant on the spot

nie huaisong is always flitting about his brother’s office etc, and they become friends and meng yao helps him with his homework.

when huaisong is getting ready to go to small posh private university, he will definitely need tutors. mingjue is happily persuaded into converting meng yao’s job into full-time huaisang babysitting tutoring, including paying for yao’s tuition and room and board to get a degree himself; his job is to make sure huaisang gets good grades and not in trouble. meng yao sees this for the golden ticket it is and very happily agrees. this is going to be the easiest job he’s ever had, and he’s got job security as long as huaisang doesn’t mess up too badly.

first day of classes, meng yao is 22 and looking around at the 30-odd 18-year-old trust fund babies with a sinking stomach telling him that he does not belong here.

this is a philosophy and ethics class like. in a literal ivory tower. this is possibly the last place he should be. 

and the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen in his life walks into the room with the professor. and he’s introduced as “and this is our TA, lan xichen.”

lan xichen smiles at the room with the kind of look that makes it feel like he’s making eye contact with everyone. and then he makes real eye contact with meng yao. “he’s attractive as hell,” they both think, and then think nothing of it.

but, it’s a small class. and it meets 3 times a week. and lan xichen shuts down someone who pokes at meng yao’s age, and meng yao asks questions perfectly tailored to making sure that huaisang and the other students actually understand the material. and by the end of week 2 they’re both saddled with an extremely unfortunate crush that they both need to get a handle on. for professionalism’s sake. they’re at work goddamn it.

and one day meng yao comes to office hours to ask a question that’s much more advanced than what they’re talking about in class, and in lan xichen’s tiny ta office talking about ethics, they are exceptionally and perfectly polite and appropriate and within the exact bounds of a ta-student relationship.

they are also both about to catch on fire.

this continues all school year, because it’s a two-part class. meng yao comes to office hours, and he and lan xichen are stringently appropriate the whole time, and at no point do they so much as brush fingers. they see each other every single day. 

huaisang thinks this is 1) absolutely hilarious and 2) the perfect distraction. he wingmans the hell out of meng yao in class, he third-wheels on office hours specifically to make it worse, and he arranges “chance” meetings between them outside of class. (he got some details about lan xichen’s daily schedule from wei wuxian, who he is eternally surprised is actually somehow getting information from lan wangji the silent wonder)

(he’s not getting it from lan wangji; lan xichen is wingmanning his little brother. the info wei wuxian is passing on is straight from the horse’s mouth.)

nie huaisang thinks he’s being very clever and sneaky in arranging his classes and portfolio to make it look like he’s just taking electives when he’s really planning on switching to a fine arts major at the last possible minute

he is being clever and sneaky, but meng yao knows what he’s doing anyway

meng yao is keeping that ball up in the air as long as he can though, because that’s a later-problem. 

in addition to falling in extremely professional love with his ta, his asshole dad has also come out of the woodwork and is trying to involve him in corporate espionage. which is less than super great. 

on the one side, asshole dad who hasn’t supported you in 22 years and didn’t care when your mother died when you were 16 and pushed you down the stairs because you had the audacity to ask for help, who will gladly frame you even if you don’t help. on the other hand, your boss, who has treated you well for a boss, but has explicitly told you your job depends on keeping his little brother as out-of-trouble as possible and who you don’t think will believe you

in this au, he’s solidly with the nie clan because: Golden Fucking Ticket, where the strings are “don’t let huaisang fuck up too bad,” and where “fuck up” means like. drunk driving or failing a class. he’ll probably even keep his job after huaisang’s art degree reveal. all dear old dad is offering is a jail sentence.

but he still needs to somehow convince jgs that he’s double-crossing nie enterprises without actually doing that, so that he doesn’t get framed for doing it.

it’s stressful.

lan xichen’s life isn’t roses and pearls either, though it’s not nearly as stressful as playing double-agent corporate espionage while also babysitting huaisang and getting a degree

lan xichen’s life is all about being the Dutiful Eldest Son so that lan wangji can have an inch of freedom

this includes becoming a corporate accountant (a job he’s bored just thinking about) and marrying a Good Girl From A Respectable Family (he is extremely gay), and eventually having 2.5 children and a white picket fence and a dog (he’s a cat person and doesn’t know what to do with children). he tells himself it’s all for lan wangji and it’s almost enough to make him want to do it.

being the ta for his thesis advisor’s philosophy and ethics class was supposed to be his Fun Indulgent Treat because he has no idea what “fun” or “indulgent” or “treat” mean

but now he’s in love with one of his students and that’s. not. good.

he’s all of 21 and he’s pretty sure he’s going to be blacklisted from all jobs for his entire life unless he manages, somehow, to keep anyone from knowing how entirely unprofessional he’s being. 

he is trying very hard to distract himself from his gayngst by helping wangji with his own. 18-year-olds can be so oblivious in love, he thinks, failing to see any irony at all.

he’s also been telling his bff mingjue about this extremely painful experience this entire time, under a pseudonym. if mingjue has to hear one more word about “Y”’s dimples, he’s going to scream and then he’s going to force Y into a closet with xichen and not let them out until they’ve solved this. he’s very tired.

at one point when he’s about to pass out from extreme eye contact, he gives meng yao his number so that he can “pass it to nie huaisang, in case he has any questions” and just. prays really hard that meng yao will text him after classes are over and he’s back to just being a grad student and they can be friends.

BUT. BEFORE HE HAS THE CHANCE. IN THAT TIME BETWEEN FINALS ENDING AND GRADES BEING TURNED IN.

lan xichen begins his summer internship at nie enterprises in accounting. and meng yao returns to fill in for an admin on her maternity leave. and they see each other in the break room. 

both of them: *internal gay screaming* Hi, what a coincidence, how are you doing? 

(boys, you are in different departments, nobody cares if you date as long as you don’t start fucking on the desks. they don’t know this because they’re young and very concerned with being Professional and with Career Advancement.)

they have Very Professional lunch together every day. and will buy each other coffee, Professionally. and it would be much more professional if they would just actually make out and then come to work like normal people instead of clearly wanting to make out every time they see each other and instead being Very Incredibly Professional with their words and actions.

mingjue clues in that this is Y. meng yao is Y. Oh my god, first i didn’t want to know that, second this is going to be so easy, and then i’ll never have to listen to xichen wax rhapsodic about his eyes again, he thinks.

he is incorrect. 

the harder he tries, the more vehemently perfect their professionalism becomes. which means he’s watching them have extremely intense eye contact at work and can’t actually say anything about it because, it’s just eye contact? what is he going to say? stop looking at people when delivering tps reports?

he also can’t say anything outright like “just. kiss. him.” because. he’s both of their Entire Boss. at the moment he’s xichen’s boss’s boss’s boss. he can’t do anything without probably violating sexual harassment laws.

mingjue is tired.

meanwhile the corporate espionage double-agent act is still ongoing and meng yao continues to be stressed

mingjue is alerted to meng yao “stealing” secrets and has a freak-out; he hasn’t slept in three days and he trusted meng yao and how could he? was this his plan all along WAS HE ONLY PRETENDING TO BE DELICATE AND POOR

xichen steps between them and insists there’s a reasonable explanation and jesus christ mingjue have you slept when was the last time you’ve eaten you look terrible let’s get you to bed and talk about this in the morning

(meng yao doesn’t realize that he’s clutched on to lan xichen’s suit until after he releases it and lan xichen is trying, very hard, to pretend that it didn’t happen because he won’t be able to think of anything else if it did)

xichen, immediately after mingjue is in huaisang’s care: i believe you, but what the fuck is happening, yao.

(if he wasn’t so rattled by the entire mingjue-reaming thing yao would be able to savor lan xichen saying fuck sooooo much better.)

(once yao explains it is a strain not to kiss him right then and there in that empty conference room but he deserves better than lan xichen, who can’t bring anything to the table and can’t even bring him home to eat at his table, because he is the Dutiful Eldest Son and his closet needs to be made of motherfuckin steel)

(huaisang knows exactly what the fuck is up and talks mingjue down, because meng yao is sneaky but he wasn’t counting on huaisang like. actually caring.) 

this is also the exact same day where lan wangji brings wei wuxian home for dinner and this goes. as well as might be expected. given Uncle hates everything about wei wuxian from his motorcycle to his leather to his attitude. but wangji is happy and he’s smiling and that’s why lan xichen is doing this. that’s why lan xichen is doing everything. 

the next day the 3-zun make a Plan to trap jgs and then get them audited by the irs, since if he’s doing shady espionage stuff he’s also almost certainly doing shady tax stuff (they’re right, he is)

after the internship is over, that very evening, lan xichen asks meng yao if he wants to “hang out, as friends”

oh, you thought this pining dysfunctional trainwreck was going to end here? buddy. lan xichen is in fucking narnia, he’s so deep in the closet, because he must be Dutiful.

they go on several not-a-dates doing Friend Things. and several study sessions where no studying is done. and eventually.

lan qiren: so when are you introducing me to your boyfriend? he seems like a good kid, nothing like that wei wuxian character

lan xichen.exe has stopped working

lan qiren: what, do you think i’m blind? he either is your boyfriend or he should be. good head on his shoulders. *returns to his newspaper*

turns out lan xichen’s self-sacrificial bargain with the universe was borne from a place of living in a heteropatriarchy and not actually from the reality of his uncle’s beliefs, who knew

(lan qiren loves his nephews and wants them to be happy. he also has eyes, in his head, that connect to his brain. he knew xichen was probably gay by the time the kid was 14, and started reading books with titles like “how to accept your gay son” in the living room. xichen assumed this was about wangji, because he also has eyes and wants his baby brother to be happy. wangji bringing a boy home was actually a big surprise to his uncle. this family does not actually talk to each other about things.)

anyway the next friend-not-a-date that he and yao go on, he asks yao on a real date.

he is bracing for rejection when yao kisses??? him???? for some reason?????

they make out &c. this is the boring part

they have a conversation about their feelings and discover that they’ve both been in love for a year a YEAR a fucking year. then they make out some more because lost time.

fin.

#xiyao #lan xichen #meng yao #jin guangyao #cql #cql fic #the untamed #the untamed fic #the untamed au #edited for typo #temper and circumstance

[zhuilingyizhen]

agents of shield x mdzs au

This is the qUaLitY content y’all get from this blog. Also see me spamming friend about this AU. It’s junior-centered, with a dash of wangxian. This is basically a more in-depth version of what I gave my friend lol

After getting kicked out of SHIELD for questionable experiments involving Kree blood, Wei Wuxian was spying on Hydra (lead by Wen Ruohan) by infiltrating them as a scientist. However, being Wei Wuxian, he neglected to tell anyone since he got kicked out, so everyone thought he betrayed them.

So he’s at Hydra, befriending Wen Qing & Ning, and realizes that they’re good people.

But he got caught giving info to Director LXC, so Wei Wuxian makes his grand escape. He may have accidentally knocked over a terrigenesis crystal while trying to escape the Nightless City.

The terrigenesis crystal may have turned a little boy into an Inhuman (the first time anyone went through terrigenesis) and that little boy (Wen Yuan) may have accidentally burnt down the entire Nightless City.

At least, that’s how WWX explains it to Lan Wangji when he gives LWJ a child to take care of.

So, with Wen Yuan in SHIELD custody, Lan Wangji adopts him & renames him Lan Sizhui. He’s still a child (I don’t know why I keep referring to him as a little boy?? He’s like 12-ish??).

So Wei Wuxian goes off to re-join the remnants of HYDRA because they let him experiment in peace & he gets to keep an eye on them for SHIELD (even though he’s an ex-agent).

But before that, he vouches for WQ & WN to join SHIELD. And though many people there are suspicious, they do have a vacant spot for a doctor now that Dr. Wei is gone & WQ is quite good. They bring WN along too.

Meanwhile: Lan Jingyi is getting abused my his mother & his dad is working across the country so life is quite sucky for him.

Thankfully, his family has connections to one Lan Xichen (who learns about the abuse eventually) and Jingyi gets into SHIELD Academy. What he doesn’t know is that he comes from a line of people with Inhumans genes.

Which may or may not how been why Xichen was visiting.

Anyways, Sizhui & Jingyi meet at SHIELD Academy (both around 13-14?) and Lan Qiren is about to get more headaches.

Eventually, he (now 16) gets told why he was accepted on the first place & asked if he’d like to go through terrigenesis. He’s like “ok” and boom vocal mind control.

That’s actually inaccurate; he has the power to manipulate people with his voice. He has to learn how to control it though.

Wei Wuxian rejoins SHIELD! Lan Sizhui meets the person who saved him all those years ago. yay.

Little did they know, Wei Wuxian was expieriemnting with terrigenesis while he was gone but shhhhhhh-

Now onto Jin Ling’s backstory, cause his is a doozy.

Jiang Yanli got Inhuman genes from her mother. So did jc, but his powers & stuff come into play later. Wwx is their adopted bro, but due to circumstances that will be explained later, Wwx & jc are estranged.

Jyl and jzx raise jl for most of his younger childhood (until he’s about 7-8) when evil HYDRA people come in & kill jzx and kidnap jyl for Inhuman experimentation. Note, she has the genes but isn’t an Inhuman (yet).

Ling is very sad and Jiang Cheng swoops in to take him in. Jc actually worked at as a SHEILD agent back from before lxc was Director (coughxichengcough) but left when his sister was kidnapped so he could try to track her down & save her. Instead he gets his nephew.

Jc also takes over his parents’ buisness to get a source of income.

And jc goes through the woes of being a parent up until he also gets kidnapped by HYDRA. Jl also gets nabbed, but HYDRA separates them

Wwx may have been expierimenting but he tries to do it without hurting any of them, and he validates it because he prevented many people from getting cut open by explaining to the HYDRA heads that they’re most useful alive. It somehow works.

In fact, wwx is assigned to jl. The HYDRA people know wwx’s relation to jc & jyl, so they don’t tell wwx that they kidnapped jc & jyl or that they’re literally in the same facility.

Since wwx was assigned to jl, he basically helps him undergo terrigenesis and tries to determine his power.

Wwx also doesn’t know that jl is kinda his nephew. But he pities him, so he maybe helps jl escape, but in a way so that no one realizes it because he still has his cover to maintain.

(also, I forgot to mention: jyl’s kidnapping caused jc & wwx to become estranged).

So wwx may have had a very loud conversation near jl’s cell about some of the exits and also teaches jl the basics on his Inhuman ability. maybe the device he uses to control jl’s powers happened to malfunction in the middle of the night.

Ling, not knowing that wwx is helping him, uses his power (energy manipulation) to break out and makes a run for it.

He manages to escape (wwx had a very detailed convo about the building’s layout) and gets the hell out of there.

Jl’s smart enough to realize that since HYDRA knows where he lives, that he probably shouldn’t go back home.

He really wants to get his uncle back (and maybe his mom, but he’s not sure she’s still alive) but has like no idea how to use his power to do anything except bomb stuff. & that only works like half the time.

Jin Ling is about to kill a bitch but then he remembers that his uncle gave him an address to go to if anything ever happened (remember, jc is an ex-SHIELD agent so bad things happen quite a lot).

Meanwhile, despite his carefulness, wwx got caught and HYDRA is deciding whether or not he will die. Wwx, being the genius he is, takes all his stuff and gets the fuck outta there.

He decides to go visit his kinda-boyfriend (that he may or may not have been ignoring for like 13 years), lwj back at SHIELD. He also wants to see how the Wen siblings are doing.

So WWX goes back to SHIELD, only about an hour before Ling arrives. In jl’s defense, he had no idea that the entrance to a secret government organization was a quaint little music shop.

He just kinda... walks in, and everyone is freaking bc they have been breached but sees him and thinks “huh he kinda looks like jc” and then lxc thinks “oh no what happened this time”

Lxc introduces himself and jl (being the second best matchmaker here, second to only lxc) accidentally reveals that jc talked about him before.

Lxc is pleasantly surprised (gay) and asks jl to come with him into his office so that they can... chat.

On their way, they pass by the science lab. Wei Wuxian, who just came back to base, is happily walking along with Lan Sizhui, when all hell breaks loose.

Remember when I said that wwx was quite secretive about helping? And that jl is still upset bc he never got his uncle back and he can’t lose another family member, not to them?

So obviously jl does what anyone would if you saw the guy who forced you to undergo a life-changing event and was involved in the organization that kidnapped two of his family members and killed his dad: he attaccs.

If you also remember, I mentioned that jl has no fucking clue what he’s doing. All he knows is energy and boom boom.

And the mini-explosions only work in close range, from what he’s seen. So in his anger, he unlocks a new skill: energy shots.

Wei Wuxian took cover like the second he realized who was attempting to kill him and screaming at the others not to kill his assailant no matter how annoying he was.

Lan Wangji sadly wasn’t at base, but Sizhui was, and he can certainly hold his own against Ling, especially since Sizhui has had more time to train with his power.

Luckily, Jingyi swoops in & uses his voice to force jl to stop. They handcuff him and lxc drags him away into his office.

It’s safe to say that the science lab corridor is fried.

That’s basically how jl got introduced to SHIELD (he eventually joins and learns the truth about wwx, which makes all their past interactions quite awkward).

Now we have Zizhen, who comes into the story after the two Lans have become agents but before the whole Jin Ling fiasco occurs.

Sizhui & Jingyi were sent to see if Agent Ouyang Xingyun (@yoitsamy’s oc older sis of oyzz)‘a family knew where she was because she was on a undercover mission & didn’t check in with her contact last week. + she didn’t contact SHIELD so Director LXC was worried.

They look through the window and everything is a mess, so they kick down the door and try to find anyone. The whole place is torn apart, like people were fighting there.

In the upstairs bedroom, they find Ouyang Zizhen & four of his younger siblings huddled together in a corner, protected by a forcefield-like shield. Once they realize the Lans aren’t a threat, the go back to SHIELD HQ and put in a room there until they can figure out wtf was going on.

Apparently, Zizhen unlocked his powers w/o terrigenesis when they got attacked by someone who was looking for his sister and used it to protect his siblings. They hadn’t seen their big sister in weeks.

So the Lans have a new case to solve, SHIELD has two new Inhumans with off circumstances, and Lan Wangji is one Xichen away from killing Jin Ling.

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #agents of shield #inhumans #lan sizhui #jin ling #ouyang zizhen #lan jingyi #aos au #mdzs hcs #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan xichen #jiang yanli #jiang cheng #jin zixuan #wen siblings #wen qing #wen ning #marvel

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

((2.5k of grieving Dad!Wangji))

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

———

Something's wrong.

He's Wei Ying but he's not. His eyes are red, tear tracks glittering pale on cheeks that are ashen and drawn. He's gaunt, even more than when Wangji had seen him at the Burial Mounds before, when the hunger pangs were just beginning. This wasn't right. They should've been able to grow more food now, they shouldn't be so hungry. Why is Wei Ying so hungry?

He's laughing like he's drowning, and the choking tendrils of resentful energy around him swirl a little closer. They make his robes flutter in a nonexistent wind and his hair lift and curl deceptively delicately around the too-sharp lines of his face. His teeth flash white against blood-red lips and his eyes are dark, full of hatred and bitterness. His sobbing laughter is the cold slice of a knife against Wangji's soul.

"Wei Ying," he says anyway, because no matter how he looks this is /his/ Wei Ying. Whatever's wrong, whatever has happened, they can fix it and he can be whole. He can be his. Those bloodshot eyes search through the nothingness of the spirits that are slowly taking hold of him until they find Wangji there beyond the darkness he's cultivated and something in his expression eases.

"Lan Zhan," he says and his voice sounds a thousand miles away, his lips hesitant to form the words and fresh tears follow the trails the previous tears had blazed. "Lan Zhan," he says again and it still breaks his heart but Wangji knows better this time, knows what will happen if he responds incorrectly. He has the benefit of experience to help him now, and so he carefully stores Bichen and Wangji and he holds his empty hands up in surrender as he takes a step closer, and then another, taking his time as he walks along the narrow center beam of the roof - now is no time to rush. The other cultivators shout and heckle from the courtyard below, but none of them would dare to approach the Yiling Laozu. They're safe for now.

"Wei Ying," he says gently. The sound is no doubt lost in the wind and the screaming of wronged souls in Wei Ying's ears but he sees his eyes track the movement of his lips so he takes another step forward, and another. Tendrils of black energy start to lick at him curiously and he pays them no mind. They can have what they want of him, he's here for Wei Ying only.

He passes through the edge of the angry mass of spirits and he feels cold, his expression slipping out of his careful mask just enough to make Wei Ying reach for him, his eyes suddenly terrified.

"Lan Zhan stop!" he begs and this is the one thing that Wangji can't give him. He can't stop, he won't. Not this time. He takes another step and feels the agony of a thousand souls crushed under the heels of those more powerful than them. He hears them screaming for blood and vengeance in his ears and he takes another step, the cries of the damned and the forgotten growing louder and louder the closer he gets. Wei Ying is crying again and his hands are scrabbling at the flute in his belt but he's weak and shaking and won't take his eyes off of Wangji long enough to look at what he's doing. Wangji will reach him before he can play a note, so he doesn't worry. He just keeps walking though he feels himself burning alive, the resentful energy uncontrollably turned on anyone who gets too close. He'll always want to be too close.

When he reaches Wei Ying, he's alarmed to find that he looks even worse than he had previously thought. He reaches up with trembling hands to cup his jaw and his skin is like ice.

"Wei Ying," he repeats and this time he's close enough to be heard no matter what. He watches something like peace smooth out the pained expression on Wei Ying's ghostly face and despite it all he feels one corner of his mouth lift into the barest hint of a smile. "Wei Ying," he says again and the voices screaming in his ears grow quieter. "Wei Ying."

"Wei Ying."

"Wei Ying!"

Wangji sits straight up in bed and presses one trembling hand to his chest, his breath coming hard and fast as the echoes of the screams in his dream linger persistently in the back of his mind. This is, unfortunately, unfamiliar territory and he begins to walk himself through his usual post-nightmare routine even before his heart and breathing begin to calm.

He drops his head and his unbound hair falls forward to shield him.

He closes his eyes tightly and resolutely refuses to let his imagination continue to run rampant.

He allows his heart to fracture but not to break again completely. He will not survive if it breaks again completely.

"Father."

Wangji takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly, A-Yuan as patient as ever as the boy kneels next to his bed and waits for him to recover.

"I am fine," Wangji finally replies though his voice sounds anything but. A-Yuan is gentle so he says nothing about it, but he's also resolute so he stays kneeling next to the bed to wait in silence for him to tell the truth.

He's so much a product of all of his parenting figures that it makes Wangji ache not only for Wei Ying but for the remnants of the Wen Sect who had raised him as a village. He can see Wen Ning's kindness in his eyes and the fierce loyalty of Wen Qing in the set of his jaw, and he tries not to think too hard about the Wens’ son growing up with only him, a stranger back then at the beginning, for his caretaker.

"Hanguang Jun," A-Yuan tries and that, at least, is enough to make him look. He turns his head and brushes his hair back over his shoulder so he can look his son in the eye and try not to see his past failures reflected back at him.

"Thirteen years," Wangji finally says quietly by way of explanation. He meets A-Yuan's steady gaze and his lips press tightly together lest he give more of a voice to the aching in his chest.

"I can wait for another few weeks to go on my first nighthunt, father," A-Yuan offers immediately, because of course he does.

"No."

"Father."

"No, A-Yuan. You have to go."

"You're unwell." Wangji almost cracks a smile at that. When isn't he unwell? The problem now is that A-Yuan is old enough to see it, and Wangji is still too weak to hide it from him any better than he has been this entire time. "You..You slept late today." Wangji turns his head away again to look through the window to his right and sure enough the quality of the light outside is closer to true sunrise than to dawn.

"As I do this day every year."

A-Yuan makes an aborted noise in the back of his throat before nodding, his eyes downcast. Wangji sighs and finally lifts the covers to turn sideways and put his feet on the floor though he doesn't stand up just yet. "Are you ready to leave? Caiyi town road in an hour," he remarks.

"Yes father," he replies as he finally stands and Wangji stands as well, looking A-Yuan up and down. He's already dressed for travel in the same uniform as his fellow students and Wangji can't help but feel quietly proud of him.

He frowns a bit when he looks up and before he can even ask his question A-Yuan is holding his hand out to him and his expression softens.

"Can you put it on for me?" he asks with a charming smile that is all Wei Ying and how could Wangji ever deny him?

"You are old enough to do this unassisted, A-Yuan," Wangji says softly even as he reaches out to take the ribbon and gesture for A-Yuan to take a seat on the edge of the bed. His son knows that he would never deny him this, after all.

"I know. But this is my first time out of Cloud Recesses or Caiyi Town. I'll have to put it on myself the entire time we're gone, I can want you to do it one more time before I have to leave, right?"

"Mn."

Wangji stays quiet as he carefully positions the ribbon where it's supposed to be, checking to make sure it's perfectly centered in every way before he carefully winds the ends into A-Yuan's hairstyle and secures it into place with a knot. When he's finished he takes a moment to make sure A-Yuan's hairstyle is secure, his hairpiece in place and everything where it should be. It's perfect, of course, but he can't help but to check. A-Yuan is patient and lets him check him over without comment, and when he finally stands again it's with a knowing look in his eye.

"I'll be back in a month, father," he reminds him quietly and Wangji nods. "You did this when you were my age, too. You don't have to worry about me." At that, at the reminder of how much he faced at a young age, he can't even muster up the energy to nod. He absolutely has to worry about A-Yuan, who has courted misfortune everywhere he's gone except for in Cloud Recesses. It's no surprise that A-Yuan can read his silence as the worried disagreement that it is. "Father. You taught me personally for my whole life before I took Uncle's classes with everyone else. I'll be safe, and I won't take unnecessary risks. And Lan Jingyi's father is going to stay close in case something goes wrong and we need help."

"Flares?"

"I have five, and we know how to get more on the road." Wangji sighs and closes his eyes for a moment before nodding and A-Yuan is smiling widely at him when he opens his eyes again.

"Go," Wangji says quietly, and A-Yuan's visible excitement dims ever so slightly.

"I...Father. Do you remember when I promised you I'd never leave?" he asks when Wangji levels him with a questioning stare and Wangji aches a little in his chest to hear it.

"You were young."

"I'm going to come back. This doesn't count as leaving because I'm coming back when we're done."

"Mn."

A-Yuan finally steps away after that to finish preparing the simple breakfast he'd started over on the other side of the house and Wangji gets changed out of his sleeping clothes in silence, mind and heart heavy. He's trying his hardest not to see this as a bad sign, A-Yuan leaving on his first nighthunt on the 13th anniversary of Wei Ying's death at Nightless City. But his heart is determined to be unreasonable today, it seems.

He dresses without much thought for his clothes, only pausing when he's got his own ribbon in his hands. He looks down at it for a few long moments, remembers the time in the mountains when Wei Ying had teasingly asked him for it to use as a blindfold. He smiles slightly at the memory, able to look back now and understand that Wei Ying had been trying to make a statement more than he'd been wanting to actually cover his eyes. He belonged to Wangji, see, everybody?

Wangji sighs softly and closes his eyes as he ties the ribbon into place and - certainly not for the first or last time - he wishes it could be Wei Ying's hands placing it for him.

When he's dressed he steps around the privacy screen to follow the smell of food to the table where A-Yuan is already sitting and waiting for him before beginning to eat. They eat in silence these days now that A-Yuan is more than old enough to understand and follow the sect rules, but it's a companionable and peaceful silence rather than a forced one - the silence of two men choosing to follow rules and find peace in them rather than submitting themselves to blind, unthinking obedience.

"Do not," Wangji says quietly when they're done and A-Yuan begins to clear the table. "I will do it, go get your things."

A-Yuan looks like he wants to protest but he seems to think better of it and simply nods instead, unfolding himself gracefully from the floor to head into his room and fetch his pack. Wangji had been so tempted the night before to search through it and make sure that A-Yuan was taking everything he might need, but he had restrained himself. He trusts A-Yuan to be smart and cautious, and he knows for a fact that he'd been well taught. He would be fine, one way or another.

Wangji clears the table quickly and sets the dishes in a basket to take outside and wash later, A-Yuan returning just as he's placed the last plate on top and shut the basket to place next to the door that leads down to the stream running under the right half of the porch.

"Are you coming to see us off?"

"Mn. You have everything?"

"Yes. I'm ready." Wangji looks up at him then and he takes a moment to just study him and commit the sight to memory.

"Let's go," he says when he's finished and he lets A-Yuan lead the way out of the house to begin heading for the rest of the complex.

As they near the gate down the mountain Wangji can hear the quiet but excited chatter of the group of disciples going out on the hunt, and at the last corner they come into view gathered haphazardly around the entrance to Cloud Recesses just outside the wards at the gate. At the sight of him, they all immediately settle into their proper places in their lines, A-Yuan taking the last few stairs quickly and darting over to his place at the head of one of the lines. As he takes the last step and faces them directly, all of the disciples salute him, A-Yuan included.

"Remember your lessons," he says simply, glancing at all of them and fighting down the dread rising in the pit of his stomach. They're so young. "Do not take unnecessary risks. Be respectful." He looks at each of them again in turn and then says, perhaps a hint more softly, "Take care of each other."

"Yes, Hanguang Jun," they reply in unison and he nods once in acknowledgement. He gives A-Yuan one last look before they all turn and begin heading down the mountain. Wangji watches until every trace of them has disappeared into the forest and only then does he turn to head back up the hill, worry settling into a spot in his chest where he suspects it will stay for the next four weeks.

#wangxian #the untamed fic #a bit of grieving dad!wangji for your soft angsty needs #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #Lan Sizhui

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed - Episode 02

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

(Masterpost ) (Previous Episode) (Next Episode)

Donkey Riding

way ho and away we go, donkey riding donkey riding way ho and away we go, riding on a donkey

Wei Wuxian and Apple are doing their best for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

Xiao Zhan had trouble riding the donkey sitting side-saddle, so the Department of Questionable Practical Effects made him a fake leg to wear while riding regular style. 

Can you spot it? It’s very hard to spot. It is very convincing.

Simple Pleasures

Wei Wuxian takes his time wandering up the nearest mountain, and half of the cultivators in the land also wander up this mountain because...Night Hunting! The cultivators are hot and thirsty from walking because they forgot that they all know how to fly. 

Wei Wuxian relaxes by a well and listens to people stanning him. 

Also

I’m going to say it: Wei Wuxian never met a drinking vessel he couldn’t blow.

Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet

The actress who plays A-Yan is named Zhang Linran. She probably has studied dance since she was 4 and now she gets her big break which turns out to be feeding an apple to a donkey. So let’s pause for a second to look at how beautifully she moves.  

Reunions are Awkward, Part 1

Wei Wuxian meets up with one of his family members and it goes super well. 

I...like Jin Ling? He’s much less of a douchebag than his dad, his uncles Jin, Jiang, and Mo (the three stooges), and every damn one of his Jin cousins. He’s genuinely brave (his Dad’s primary good quality) and his hair is on fleek. He’s still a whiny diaper baby, but I like him. 

(much more after the cut!)

Then Jiang Cheng shows up, looking fine as hell and radiating peak arrogant-prick energy.

When he discovers that ‘Mo Xuanyu” stuck a piece of paper to Jin Ling, he tells the child to literally murder him. Excellent uncleing! A+++++ would recommend.  

“In fact, literally murder anyone who uses Yiling Laozu’s tools, like talismans, lure flags, or spirit compasses - basically murder everyone in the Lan Clan plus those other fanboys we saw coming up the hill. Then get out there and make some friends, goddamn it!”

These nets full of cultivators on this daytime night hunt are the only time we ever see anything in a net during a night hunt.  In fact dudes constantly go night hunting and the only prey we ever see is rock lady, murder turtle, and a couple of rag mops in the lake. 

You Are Not Qualified to Speak to Me

Also radiating arrogant-prick energy on this occasion is Lan Wangji. He has been using pettiness as a weapon since long before he met this Jiang Cheng turkey, and he *brings it* when Jiang Cheng tries to have a conversation with him.

Letting your eyes wander everywhere except to his punchable face while you ignore his passive-aggressive questions? Quality work. 

Dropping a silence spell on his child and then letting your own child explain it to him? Golden. 

Lan Wangji is never ever going to forgive Jiang Cheng for what he did on cliff day, and his silence here is as pointed as an ice pick. I suspect the last words Lan Wangji actually spoke to him were “Jiang Wanyin, stop it,” sixteen years ago. 

Jiang Cheng is actually the bigger person in this particular interaction, visibly mastering his temper and telling Jin Ling to take his medicine. 

Reflecting

Wei Wuxian hangs out by a beautiful river and hallucinates for a while. River Jiang Yanli is nurturing and River Jiang Cheng is pissed off, so there are no surprises there.  River Jiang Cheng thinks that Wei Wuxian is a promise-breaking douchebag. He’s not exactly wrong. 

Courtesy of convenient gossiping cultivators, Wei Wuxian discovers that the 16 year old arrogant kid from the Jin clan who his brother from the Jiang clan has custody of is actually and quite obviously Jin Rulan.

Well fuck I guess now I care about something, that’s inconvenient. 

Needing to help parent the child of the sister who parented him is what draws Wei Wuxian fully into his new life. 

As soon as he has this realization, Apple comes back from roaming around, and never gives him any trouble after this for the rest of the story. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything. 

Wen Gravesite

Does Wen Ning hang out here because it’s where he and his (dead) people came from? Oh great, now I am sad. 

Judging by all the leaves on this grave thingy I’m going to say that this grave tender dude is, ah, not very good at his job. 

Get him, Jingyi!

I feel like maybe we all focus too much on how Lan Jingyi is so hilarious and sardonic and not enough on how he is a such a biscuit. 

Soul Grass

As mentioned in the previous post, Chinese spiritual concepts don’t always translate well into English. Soul grass? Sure, why not. 

This is where Wei Wuxian’s Sherlock Holmes brain starts to work, although he still doesn’t remember really basic stuff about Dafan Mountain. Dying and changing bodies is rough on the old neurochemistry. This creates more opportunities for flashbacks, however, and if there’s one thing The Untamed deffo needs more of, it’s kissing flashbacks.

Temple Statue

Presumably grave-tender dude is also in charge of clearing away spiderwebs at the temple, because it’s not getting done. 

Jin Ling walks into the temple blaspheming at full volume. 

Since this isn’t a Greek story, he isn’t immediately struck blind for this. Then when he wishes for the statue to come alive, it obligingly does.  Everything’s coming up Rulan!

Wei Wuxian shows up to rescue all the kids by throwing talismans at the monster which does not tip anyone off to who he is. 

Baby Cultivator Babysitting

Lan Wangji chills out in the cultivators’ pavilion with Jiang Cheng and their mutual hate boners.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian forgets all about his nephew and turns into cool professor guy, explaining the basics of soul-eating to the baby cultivators and gleefully encouraging their fear of Hanguang-Jun’s punishments. 

Because the Lan babies are good filial children they are super respectful and engaged with this random adult who is lecturing them. They also - like their own Hanguang-Jun at their age - see and admire Wei Wuxian’s intellect. It’s easy to forget how extremely smart Wei Wuxian is, because of how extremely dumb Wei Wuxian is.

Lan Jingyi suddenly figures out Wei Wuxian is not crazy. 

Bis. Kit. 

Then Rock Lady shows up and Jin Ling sticks 6 arrows into her while Lans Jingyi and Sizhui stand around not bothering to draw their swords.

I see a lot of comments about the bad effects in the statue sequences but I think Rock Lady is all right. The figure animation is decent and the lighting is no worse on her than on everything else in the scene. Her hair is nice, for a rock person.

Admittedly I just finished watching Guardian which has CGI monsters so bad they may have injured my retinas and possibly also my DNA, so the bar, for me, is pretty low. Rock lady clears it with room to spare.   

Note: Wei Wuxian’s flute playing does zippity towards controlling the statue. Not sure what his plan was here.

Wen Ning Kicks Ass

Now we get to meet Wen Ning, who appears to be a stone-cold badass. Later we will discover how hilariously inaccurate that assessment is. 

While all versions of Wen Ning are delightful, this version of Wen Ning is also...strangely attractive? He’s got a Patti-Smith-Horses-Era vibe here, instead of his more usual lost-baby-dork vibe. And his dreamy “I have nails in my head” expression is intriguing. 

I mean, he’s not a total snack like zombie Song Lan or pre-zombie Song Lan or blind Song Lan or post-zombie Song Lan, but this look is a good one for Wen Ning, is what I’m saying.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 2

Lan Wangji, who has 99% already recognized Wei Wuxian because of the haunted sword and the fierce jawline and beautiful neck and tiny tiny waist, is summoned by his flute playing as inexorably as the Ghost General was. 

Jiang Cheng also recognizes Wei Wuxian and goes into full beatdown mode, thwarted (silently) by Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian attempts to preserve his incognito by sassing Jiang Cheng in as sibling-like a manner as possible. 

Hanguang-Jun’s Pro-Ghost Agenda Has Been Clear for Some Time

This Jiang/Lan fight is hilarious when you consider the implications.

Macroexpression vs. Microexpression

Mo Xuanyu brought Wei Wuxian back using sacrifice summons, a dark ritual invented by Wei Wuxian that he, most likely, did NOT show to Lan Wangji back in the day. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t know that Wei Wuxian was gifted a body, rather than stealing one.

when your brother turns around, you must whip him you will never live it down unless you whip him

When Jiang Cheng lets loose with Zidian, it’s not just because he’s angry. He’s using purple power to force Wei Wuxian’s ghost out of the body he’s apparently possessed. And Lan Wangji instantly STOPS him from doing that.

Clan Leader Jiang: this person has been possessed, against their will, by an evil ghost

Future Chief Cultivator Lan: Counterpoint: I am banging the ghost

Flashback Time

Welcome to your 30-episode flashback!

Once I used to join in Every boy and girl was my friend Now there's revolution, but they don't know What they're fighting

Let us close our eyes Outside their lives go on much faster Oh, we won't give in We'll keep living in the past

Road Tripping to Summer School

Gosh I’m looking forward to younger, kinder, more relatable Jiang Cheng.

...prick. 

Incidentally, until now this episode didn’t know that Jiang Cheng has smile muscles, and neither did the person who glued his wig on for him.

I Like Rabbits

Here we have our first rabbit in a large collection of rabbit iconography that appears in The Untamed. 

Instead of sending everyone to the Wikipedia page for Tu'er Shen I’m going to take this opportunity to rec the short film Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang (tw: blood, tw:body-mod cutting) which you can read about and watch over at  Nowness.com 

Particularly if you are a queer person of Chinese heritage, check it out. 

So. What the fuck are these? Are they food? 

Are they made from wax? Or corn starch? or pig intestines? 

Wei Wuxian runs off to get laid drunk and Jiang Cheng grumps about it. Jiang Yanli reminds him that being free is a Jiang Clan Rule, so really Wei Wuxian is following the rules by not following the rules. Does that mean he’s not free? My head hurts. 

Jiang Cheng: yes but grump grump grump

Jiang Yanli: Nothing bad will ever happen because of A-Xian’s choices, trust me

Outro

Wei Wuxian faint tally: one  Caught by: the cold hard ground

Soundtrack: 1. Donkey Riding by Great Big Sea 2. Living in the Past by Jethro Tull 3. Whip It by Devo

Fic prompt:  Lan Wangji’s internal monologue while he sits in the pavilion with Jiang Cheng 

If you write a fic from this prompt and want to share, please post a link in comments!

Bonus: Wang Zuocheng, macro-expression king

Episode 03 Restless Rewatch coming soon!

#the untamed #fytheuntamed #the untamed spoilers #the untamed gifs #the untamed stills #my gifs #my stills #restless rewatch #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #lan wangji #lan jingyi #c-drama #bl drama #the untamed memes

[adhd-wifi]

i'm at the airport and there's nothing here to watch except CNN which is showing either the conservatives being hypocrites/lying or *golf tips* which makes me want to just chuck my boots at the screen so so that I don't commit much money in property damage may I please have some angsty wangxian or like literally anything plz im begging you

I’m sorry this took so long aksjakjskjdsakd but here’s an angsty fic outline about WangXian and their son!!!

Content Warning: Near-drowning, mental breakdown due to heavy guilt+phobia resulted from trauma

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were accompanying the Lan juniors on a night hunt, which was supposedly a mid-level threat but they aren’t sure what the actual threat is

They go into the forest surrounding the village being threatened, and split into two groups, one led by Wei WuXian and the other led by Lan WangJi

SiZhui and JingYi are both with Wei WuXian

They go to an area near a slow but deep river, and for a while they couldn’t find anything, but then they heard something in the water

Wei WuXian freaks out, hiding behind JingYi who was the closest, shaking like a leaf, as SiZhui, on his sword, approach the tiny puppy hanging onto a rock in the water

No one questions how a tiny puppy got into the middle of the river on its own like that (Wei WuXian has the excuse of fear)

SiZhui manages to grab the puppy, but is unable to pull it out of the water

The puppy suddenly growls, turning into a massive growling dog (VERY much like the vicious stray dogs of Wei WuXian’s childhood), yanking SiZhui off his sword and into the waters

JingYi panics, rushing forward to try and help SiZhui, leaving Wei WuXian there alone, unable to move due to the knowledge of the demon dog in the water, despite screaming at himself to move

There is a lot of screaming as SiZhui struggles to fight off the unknown creature in the water while keeping both himself afloat

JingYi is unable to grab SiZhui, who’s close to drowning at this point as the demon dog continues to pull him into the waters

Wei WuXian manages to take out ChenQing, but he’s shaking too much to play properly and unable to focus on channeling the resentful energy 

At this point, BiChen appears overhead and plunges into the water, stabbing the demon dog which bursts out of the water with a bloodcurdling howl, releasing SiZhui

Lan WangJi and the other juniors come to help, and they manage to pull SiZhui from the waters, his arm bleeding badly, having been seized by the dog

Unfortunately, the demon dog escapes as they do this, rushing to shore and turning into a brown snake and slithering into the forest

Lan WangJi instructs them all to head back to the village to treat SiZhui, who has his arm wrapped up in one of the junior’s spare robe, saying they will continue the hunt the following day 

Wei WuXian collapses, feeling utterly ashamed and pathetic, and furious upon knowing that thing wasn’t even a dog

They return to the inn, the innkeeper calling the local doctor for them at once as Lan WangJi tells the others to rest while he and Wei WuXian stayed with SiZhui. JingYi stays as well

Once they were alone, Wei WuXian apologises to SiZhui, who tries to play it off as “it’s fine I know you have your fear and I’m not judging, Senior Wei”

Wei WuXian however snaps at him, acting almost exactly like Jiang Cheng

“It’s not fine! You almost died and I just stood there like a coward!”

Everyone is shocked at him, and Wei WuXian recoils upon seeing their shock. He feels even more guilty and excuses himself

JingYi quickly tells Lan WangJi to go after him, but even though Lan WangJi desperately wants to, he has to be responsible and wait with SiZhui until the doctor comes

JingYi offers to stay instead with promises to care for SiZhui, and SiZhui promising he was fine, and both juniors soon convince Lan WangJi to go after Wei WuXian

Lan WangJi finds Wei WuXian pacing about a short walk away from the inn and cussing at himself under his breath, acting uncharacteristically upset

He asks Lan WangJi to leave him alone for a bit, telling him to go back  but Lan WangJi refuses, knowing Wei WuXian was prone to spiralling into intense depreciation otherwise 

Wei WuXian, being in a bad mental state at the moment, snaps again, yelling at him to leave him alone, but Lan WangJi doesn’t

Instead he goes up to Wei WuXian, who has turned away from him, and gently takes his hand

Wei WuXian doesn’t turn around, but Lan WangJi can feel him trembling and wouldn’t be surprised if Wei WuXian was crying

He was right

Wei WuXian begins to speak, his voice coming out in broken sobs, saying he was pathetic, he was a coward, clearly broken up about almost “letting A-Yuan die right in front of him” and how “he almost lost their son a second time”

He was definitely crying, and out came more sobs about how he hated how his fear crippled him so badly sometimes, and how he was more concerned for his own safety away from the dog, THAT WASN’T EVEN A DOG, over the safety of his son

Lan WangJi lets him cry, saying nothing as he listens to Wei WuXian vent his frustrations, before finally descending into full on sobbing

At this point, Lan WangJi pulls him closer, hugging him from behind, softly telling him it wasn’t his fault

Lan WangJi: “SiZhui understands, Wei Ying. He knows you would never leave him behind again if you can help it.”

Wei WuXian: “But A-Yuan was right there…right in front of me…I’m a strong swimmer…if it was anything else I…”

Lan WangJi: “But it was something that’s a serious fear of yours. You cannot help your fears, Wei Ying.”

Wei WuXian just cries more, and Lan WangJi just holds him close as he lets out all his frustrations

After a long time, Wei WuXian calms down, and Lan WangJi asks him if he was ready to go back and see SiZhui

Wei WuXian agrees and they head back

The doctor looks at them disapprovingly when they return, but Lan WangJi, SiZhui and JingYi all give the doctor sharp glares, so he says nothing

Wei WuXian noticed though

Luckily, the wound was not infected and it was SiZhui’s non-dominant arm, but he was not to fight just in case

Wei WuXian feels more bad

Once the doctor leaves, he once again apologises to SiZhui, but this time SiZhui reaches out with his good arm and in a rare show of blatant affection, he wraps his good arm around Wei WuXian

“I understand, I promise. Please, don’t blame yourself Dad.”

Wei WuXian comes close to crying again, as he hugs SiZhui back, whispering more apologises

Later that night, Wei WuXian is lying beside Lan WangJi, still shaken by the night’s events

“I don’t deserve you and A-Yuan” he says

Lan WangJi sits up, gives him a soft glare, before reaching up and tenderly brushing a hair away from Wei WuXian’s face

“You don’t have to deserve us, but even so, you will have us by your side” he replies

Wei WuXian smiles weakly, snuggling closer

“You’re too good to me…both of you”

Welp it’s like 6am right now I need to sleep Camie so have this for now LMAO

#ask replies #angst #mdzs fic idea #my fic ideas #my posts #wangxian

[bloody-bee-tea]

Pay me in love

For @ruensroad because she always listens to my babbling and complaining and yet still always expands my ideas so beautifully <3

Jiang Cheng is excited. It‘s the first time he’s bringing Lan Xichen to meet his parents, and it gets to him more than he expected it to.

Lan Xichen stops him right before they enter the restaurant.

“Breathe, my heart,” he whispers as he takes Jiang Cheng’s hand and leans in for a sweet kiss. “It’ll be alright.”

“I hope so,” Jiang Cheng mutters back, because he knows his parents, and especially his mother, can be a lot to handle sometimes, but Lan Xichen simply smiles reassuringly at him and Jiang Cheng squeezes his hand.

“Let’s go,” Lan Xichen says and tugs Jiang Cheng along, who follows a lot more willingly now, because trust Lan Xichen to know when he’s nervous and how to settle him down.

He enters the restaurant behind Lan Xichen, a small smile still on his lips, that immediately turns into a frown when he only sees his mother at a table.

“Mother? Where’s father?” he asks once they are standing next to the table and Madame Yu looks Lan Xichen up and down before she turns towards Jiang Cheng.

“He had more important things to do,” Madame Yu courtly tells him and Jiang Cheng automatically straightens up.

How stupid of him to think both his parents would take time out of their busy schedule for this.

“It is nice to meet you, Madame Yu,” Lan Xichen says, polite as ever, and Jiang Cheng breathes a bit deeper when he briefly squeezes Jiang Cheng’s hand before he lets go of it to sit down.

“Lan Xichen, I presume,” Madame Yu gives back and eyes him over again. “A pleasure,” she then tacks on with a smile on her face, and Jiang Cheng knows that smile.

It’s the one for business partners.

“Mom,” he tries, but she silences him with one look, and Jiang Cheng is helpless to that, still.

He falls silent.

“I heard you were recently appointed position as the CEO at your company,” Madame Yu starts, and Jiang Cheng bites his lips so he doesn’t groan.

He didn’t bring Lan Xichen here so she could turn it into a business talk.

“I did,” Lan Xichen answers, and then it goes downhill from there.

Madame Yu keeps the conversation firmly on the topic of their respective corporations and while Lan Xichen answers any and all of her questions readily, Jiang Cheng can see the small frown forming between his brows.

He was expecting something else, just like Jiang Cheng himself.

They somehow make it through dinner like this, and when Madame Yu offers some dessert Jiang Cheng is quick to inform her that they will have to leave soon. One course is enough with her.

Lan Xichen’s smile has gone suspiciously frayed around the edges, and he almost seems relieved when his phone rings.

He takes it out of his pocket and after one look at the caller id he looks up at Jiang Cheng.

“I’m sorry, but I have to take this. We’ll probably have to leave afterwards,” he lowly says, as if that isn’t exactly what Jiang Cheng wants, and kisses Jiang Cheng’s temple as he gets up, phone already unlocked.

Jiang Cheng would be bothered by this if he wasn’t so used to it already.

Madame Yu watches Lan Xichen walk away, until he is out of earshot, before she turns towards Jiang Cheng.

“What are you paying him?” she wants to know and Jiang Cheng can do nothing but stare dumbly at her.

“What?” he asks when she doesn’t say anything else.

“Did you really think I would believe you’re dating Lan Xichen, CEO of Lan Enterprises? Nice try, Jiang Cheng. Now tell me what you’re paying him.”

“I’m not paying him at all,” Jiang Cheng says, because why the hell would he pay his boyfriend to date him, but Madame Yu shakes her head.

“People like him don’t date out of love,” she says and she makes it sound like she’s imparting some great wisdom. “They date for convenience, and even that criteria fits you just barely. I doubt Yungmeng Jiang Corporation is big enough to be on his radar.”

“He’s not dating me because of that,” Jiang Cheng argues and his mother smiles at him like she would at a small, stupid child.

“Of course you are not,” she says. “But he is. He would never date someone like you. People like him don’t have time for that.”

“People like him,” Jiang Cheng mutters. “What do you want to say? That dad paid for you, too?”

“Of course he did,” Madame Yu says as if it was nothing. “He had to pay a hefty sum for our first date. My father lowered the price when it became clear he would bring his shares of the family company into our own, but of course he paid for the privilege of dating me.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t even know what to say to that.

“Did you make an offer to Lan Qiren?” Madame Yu asks and Jiang Cheng slowly shakes his head.

“I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow,” he mumbles and Madame Yu narrows her eyes at him.

“You didn’t make an offer yet? Dear gods, what did I even teach you? You have to double the price, to make up for your oversight.”

“He’s not—we’re not together because of that,” Jiang Cheng tries, again, but Madame Yu only scoffs.

“The Lans would never look twice at someone like you,” he tells him and Jiang Cheng goes cold.

“Wei Wuxian—,” he starts but his mother interrupts him.

“Knows that he and Lan Wangji are nothing more than fuckbuddies. He’s aware of where he stands.”

Funny, Jiang Cheng thinks. He thought they were madly in love.

“When you meet Lan Qiren tomorrow, he’s expecting you to make an offer. You better have it ready, too. I would hate to lose the connections this could get us.”

“We’re not—he’s my boyfriend,” Jiang Cheng presses out, because he cannot believe this, but Madame Yu only gives him a pitying smile.

“And why would he date you for anything else than your name and the company?” she wants to know and Jiang Cheng doesn’t have an answer to that.

Why would Lan Xichen?

“It’s nice you think this is out of love, but with his reputation? He must be expecting quite the price to allow you to endanger it like this.”

Oh, Jiang Cheng thinks and then everything kind of goes fuzzy in his head.

“Don’t fuck this up for us,” Madame Yu hisses over the table, right before a familiar hand settles on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.

“We have to leave, my heart,” Lan Xichen says and he frowns down at Jiang Cheng. “Are you okay?” he asks and Jiang Cheng somehow drags a smile on his face.

“Of course,” he gives back, voice horribly hollow, and he gets up. “Good night, mother,” he says, and can’t even bare to look at her.

“Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen,” she gives back and Lan Xichen smiles at her in parting.

“Are you okay?” he asks Jiang Cheng on their way to the car, and Jiang Cheng manages a nod, despite the uproar in his head.

How could he have been so stupid to believe that the heir to the Lan Enterprise would be willing to date him? Would fall in love with someone like him?

His memory helpfully replays all the sweet and tender moments between them, how Lan Xichen laughs at Jiang Cheng’s remarks, how he always so willingly leans in for kisses, how he enjoys hand-holding.

And he’s doing it all because he’s expecting Jiang Cheng to pay for it. Jiang Cheng feels dirty just thinking about it, feels like a whore Lan Xichen picked up from the street and it might as well be like that, with how bad Jiang Cheng must be for his reputation.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how they got home, but he numbly follows along when Lan Xichen leads him up to his apartment.

“Jiang Cheng, what is wrong?” Lan Xichen asks again, as he closes the door behind them and Jiang Cheng walks away from him, needs to put some distance between them.

“Did you expect me to pay you, too?” he hollowly asks and he can’t even look at Lan Xichen.

“Pay me for what?” Lan Xichen asks, confusion clear in his voice and Jiang Cheng spins around to him.

“For dating me? Did you expect some kind of payment for that as well?”

“Jiang Cheng, I’m not a hooker. And neither are you,” Lan Xichen gives back, clearly so confused but Jiang Cheng only laughs bitterly at that.

“But I’m not your boyfriend, either, right? Gods, how can I be so stupid?” he mutters and slaps a hand over his face. “You let me stay here, for days. How much does that cost, huh?”

“Jiang Cheng, I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Lan Xichen says, and he’s using his CEO voice.

Normally, that gets Jiang Cheng back from whatever frenzy he’s been talking himself into, but it barely works now.

“Is Lan Wangji expecting to be paid, too? He must know that Wei Wuxian doesn’t have that kind of money.”

“No one is expecting to be paid for anything,” Lan Xichen tells him and he sounds frantic now. “Jiang Cheng please, what are you talking about.”

“You’re the heir to the Lan Enterprise.”

“Yes.”

“And I am just a lowly nobody, with convenient connections and a company you have your eyes on. Of course you wouldn’t fall in love with me.”

“That’s bullshit,” Lan Xichen vehemently says, and the swearword jolts Jiang Cheng out of his still bitter laugh. “I am dating you because I love you. You’re my boyfriend, my partner, my heart. I don’t want any kind of payment from you.”

“Sure,” Jiang Cheng mutters, refusing to admit just how much it hurts to hear that endearment from Lan Xichen’s lips now. “And you’re bringing me to brunch tomorrow to meet your family. And not because Lan Qiren asked you to because I still haven’t made an offer.”

“We’re going to brunch because Wangji and Wei Wuxian are going to announce their engagement,” Lan Xichen tells him, and Jiang Cheng hates to see the desperation on his face. “Jiang Cheng, please, just tell me what happened.”

“My mother,” Jiang Cheng starts and then he can’t finish, because Lan Xichen has put his hand over his mouth.

“Do not finish that sentence, because I’m going to forget myself,” Lan Xichen presses out between clenched teeth and then he takes a few deliberately deep breaths. “Did your mother really insinuate that you should be paying me because otherwise I could never be with you?” he demands to know and when he doesn’t move his hand from Jiang Cheng’s mouth, Jiang Cheng simply nods.

Lan Xichen’s face falls right in front of Jiang Cheng’s eyes, and it seems so real that Jiang Cheng has to bite back some tears.

“Please tell me you don’t believe her,” Lan Xichen mutters, but he doesn’t wait for an answer that Jiang Cheng can’t give him. “I love you, Jiang Cheng. I want you to meet my family, the people I hold dear to my heart, because I love you and I want them to know you, too.”

“Lan Qiren,” Jiang Cheng muffles out behind Lan Xichen’s hand who moves it in reflex. “He won’t like it. I mean really, what can you even gain from being with me?” Jiang Cheng asks and he keeps his eyes away from Lan Xichen’s face.

“My happiness,” Lan Xichen firmly gives back and then stalks back to his jacket, pulling out his phone and before Jiang Cheng can even protest he has already dialled.

“Uncle,” he says when the line connects, “I’m going to put you on speaker.”

“What is wrong, Xichen?” Lan Qiren wants to know and Lan Xichen fixes Jiang Cheng with his eyes.

“Jiang Cheng is under the impression that he has to offer to pay you for the privilege of dating me,” Lan Xichen tells him and Jiang Cheng cannot meet his eyes, not when Lan Qiren will confirm everything his mother has told him.

“Did you have dinner with Madame Yu?” Lan Qiren asks instead of answering and Lan Xichen agrees. “That dreadful woman,” Lan Qiren mutters under his breath, but Jiang Cheng still hears it.

“Uncle,” Lan Xichen urges him on when he stays silent for too long.

“Is it a love match?” Lan Qiren asks in return and Lan Xichen doesn’t hesitate.

“It is.”

“It’s not a match out of convenience?”

“It is not.”

“Then there is no need for payment,” Lan Qiren finally says and Jiang Cheng blinks.

“What?” he weakly says and Lan Xichen comes closer so Lan Qiren can hear him better.

“If the match happens out of convenience, the family must be repaid,” Lan Qiren explains, “that much is true. But if the match happens out of love, no one could care less.”

“Mother didn’t mention that,” Jiang Cheng whispers.

“Because that woman doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body,” Lan Qiren bitterly says and then sighs. “Jiang Cheng, I presume?”

“Yes, sir,” Jiang Cheng is quick to answer.

“Listen here, boy. Your mother is a business woman, through and through. She wouldn’t recognize love if it bit her in the nose. The Lans—we are the exact opposite. Our family doesn’t marry for convenience. We are romantics. If Lan Xichen is with you, then he is so because he loves you. The only repayment anyone wants is for you to love him, too.” He pauses here before he asks: “Do you?”

“Yes,” Jiang Cheng whispers, because he does, with all his heart and then some.

And he already saw all of that broken and crumbled with just a few words from his mother.

“Then love him. I expect to see you tomorrow,” Lan Qiren says, and it’s clearly a dismissal.

“Thank you, uncle,” Lan Xichen says before he hangs up, and he turns his full attention on Jiang Cheng again.

“Do you believe him?” he asks and Jiang Cheng nods once. “Do you believe me when I tell you I love you?” he goes on, and here, Jiang Cheng hesitates.

“Do you really?” he asks, voice small and unsure and Lan Xichen doesn’t hesitate to pull him into a hug.

“More than anything,” Lan Xichen whispers into his hair. “I love you, and I’m going to tell you as often as you need to hear it.”

Jiang Cheng clings to Lan Xichen and he curses his mother, hates her for making him feel this insecure with someone he loves, and who loves him, and he buries his face in Lan Xichen’s neck.

“I might need to hear it for a while,” Jiang Cheng admits, hating how weak it makes him, but Lan Xichen only nods.

“For as long as you want. Until you get sick of it.”

Jiang Cheng doubts that could ever happen, but he agrees anyway.

“Do you want me to take the couch today?” Lan Xichen asks, because he knows Jiang Cheng far too well, knows how easily he gets overwhelmed, but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

If Lan Xichen sleeps on the couch tonight, the doubt will take root again.

“Please don’t,” he mutters and he can feel Lan Xichen smile into his hair.

“I won’t,” he promises as he pulls back.

Lan Xichen frames Jiang Cheng’s face with his hands, and he smiles at him, not allowing Jiang Cheng to turn his head away.

“I love you,” Lan Xichen tells him, serious as anything and he drops a little kiss on Jiang Cheng’s lips. “I love you so much and then some.”

Jiang Cheng can’t help the small smile that brings to his face and when Lan Xichen’s face lights up at seeing it, he allows it to go bigger.

“I love you, too,” Jiang Cheng gives back and sighs when Lan Xichen rewards him with a soft kiss.

“And that’s all that I need,” Lan Xichen mutters against his lips.

Jiang Cheng can still hear his mother’s words, but Lan Xichen holding his face and kissing him almost reverently, pressing whispered ‘I love you’s into his skin, is slowly drowning her out.

Jiang Cheng knows that he will hear her for a while yet, doubt always takes root so easily in his mind, but if Lan Xichen keeps this up, it won’t take long before he forgets about it.

Before the only thing he remembers will be Lan Xichen and his love for him.

#bt writes #the untamed #mdzs #xicheng #madame yu #i hate her #can you tell #established relationship #hurt/comfort #insecurities

[hamliet]

On Privilege and Parallels: MianMian and SiSi, Wei WuXian and Jin GuangYao

Aka two minor characters who happen to be some of the only female characters who survive MDZS. Granted a lot of characters don’t survive MDZS, but it’s definitely lopsided gender-wise. However, no story is perfect. 

(brb crying forever)

Anyways, what struck me while rereading certain parts of MDZS after watching The Untamed was how these seemingly very minor characters actually have quite important thematic roles. On the surface, both MianMian and SiSi appear to be plot devices as neither really has a character arc and yet both play important roles in two of the novel’s turning points: Wei WuXian, Jin ZiXuan, and Lan WangJi saving MianMian essentially kicks off the Sunshot Campaign, and SiSi and BiCao’s stories turn the tides against Jin GuangYao. But these characters have a lot of similarities, and these similarities reflect on their respective foilings with the main protagonist and final antagonist (Wei WuXian for MianMian and Jin GuangYao for SiSi). 

In the cave, MianMian is targeted by JiaoJiao purely because JiaoJiao is jealous. After she survives the attempt to tie her up and use her as bait, she is then captured and JiaoJiao tries to burn her face off. Wei WuXian intervenes, getting his flesh branded in the process. 

And what’s worth noting is that we see this precise situation later on through SiSi. A merchant’s wife was jealous and had her face cut seven or eight times, leaving her scarred and unable to work. 

What’s thematic about this is that it relates to what Wei WuXian observes: society is always going to find a villain.

Instead of JiaoJiao taking her anger out on Wen Chao, or the merchant’s wife on the merchant, they target the objects of their respective partners’ affections. (It’s also worth noting that JiaoJiao is actually a mistress anyways, not Wen Chao’s wife.) In these situations, MianMian and SiSi have considerably less power than JiaoJiao or the merchant’s wife; regarding MianMian, she’s noted to be “the daughter of a servant,” regarding SiSi, obviously, she was a prostitute and we’ve seen how society treats a well-known and educated prostitute like Meng Shi. We can only imagine how they’d treat SiSi. 

Along these lines, Wei WuXian empathizes with Jin GuangYao towards the end of the novel, and observes much the same:

These stories and rumors were indeed familiar. Wei WuXian recalled how back then countless people told stories of him kidnapping a thousand virgins to his demonic cave at Burial Mound, ravishing them day and night to cultivate the dark path. He found it somewhat funny, Fine. No matter what, the things they said about me were definitely better than what they’re saying about Jin GuangYao.

Jin GuangYao was not the villain society claims he is; he did not build a temple to himself as they observe, but for his mother: a scorned prostitute who lived a life of sacrifice to give him a chance:

As one sect leader saw the features of the Guanyin statue, he first paused in surprise, then pointed at it for others to see as though he found something new and interesting, “Look at its face! Doesn’t it look like Jin GuangYao?”

Everyone mused after they looked, “It’s his face indeed! Why would Jin GuangYao make such a thing?”

Sect Leader Yao, “To declare himself a god with wild arrogance, of course.”

“Arrogant indeed, then, hahaha.”

Wei WuXian thought to himself, No, not necessarily.

Jin GuangYao’s mother was seen as the lowest prostitutes, so he decided to carve a Guanyin statue with his mother’s appearance, receiving the worship of tens of thousands.

But there was no use in saying all that. Nobody knew with more clarity than Wei WuXian that nobody would care and nobody would believe him. Anything related to Jin GuangYao would be given the most malicious conjectures and passed through the mouths of the crowd.

And that’s another parallel between MianMian, Wei WuXian, SiSi, and to a lesser extent Jin GuangYao as well (I’ll get into where he differs later). MianMian, Wei WuXian, and SiSi will stand up for what they believe is right, for the people they care for, no matter who stands against them. MianMian narrowly avoided the social implications of getting her face ruined, as Wei WuXian observes:

Wei WuXian, “It’s not like I had any other choice, right?... MianMian is a girl, and quite a pretty girl, at that. If she was blind in an eye or such a thing gets onto her face, it wouldn’t be able to come off for the rest of her life. How bad would that be?”

Lan WangJi spoke in a thin voice, “The thing on your body right now will not be able to come off for the rest of your life either.”

Wei WuXian, “That’s different. It’s not on the face. And I’m a man—what am I scared of?”

These are implicitly gendered as well. Yet she chooses to throw her reputation away anyways to shame her sect for their treatment of Wei WuXian. Nie MingJue even observes "The woman has much more backbone than the mob of her sect” after they again judge her on the basis of her gender:

“There’s no need for me to say anything. You know, deep down, and we know too. You fell for him back in the cave of the Xuanwu just because he flirted with you? You’re still arguing for him, calling white black no matter how irrational it is. Ha, women will always be women.”

SiSi too stood up for Meng Shi when all the other prostitutes were badmouthing her, when she was humiliated, and challenged the men who were gawking at the humiliation:

[they were] chuckling as they told the story of the poor old woman to their clients just like AnXin did. Only one of the ladies squeezed through the doors. She took off the gauze robe that was so flimsy to begin with, revealing half of her full, snowy breasts enwrapped by a crimson slip, her waist was exceptionally thin as well. She was more than eye-catching and everyone hurried to take a look at her.

The lady spat, cursing, “Keep on looking, you bastards! Do you have the right to look at someone like me? With each look you gotta pay—where’s the money?! Come, where’s the money?!”

As she cursed, she reached out and asked the bystanders for money. The crowd dispersed somewhat, and she threw the robe she took off onto the woman, the two of them staggering into the main hall...

She challenges society thereby, pointing out that if they’re going to gawk at a woman’s fate, they might as well pay up, because they’re the ones who employ the women in the brothel, they’re the reason they resort to this fate. Society is to be blamed more than anything or anyone else. 

But their fates differ. MianMian is able to marry a man who supports her in night hunts despite her lack of sect belonging; she finds belonging and happiness outside society (which is a theme). 

Luo QingYang gazed at her husband, smiling, “My husband isn’t of the cultivating world. He used to be a merchant. But, he’s willing to go night-hunting with me…”

It was both rare and admirable that an ordinary person, and a man at that, would be willing to give up his originally stable life and dare travel the world with his wife, unafraid of danger and wander. Wei WuXian couldn’t help feeling respect for him.

We’re not given a clear answer to SiSi’s fate, and I’m not going to assume it’s negative, but it’s worth noting that SiSi is literally saved by and yet locked up by Jin GuangYao, which is symbolic of both Jin GuangYao’s choices and how society treats women like her: they are forever categorized by a life they quite possibly didn’t choose. Their scars repulse people. 

The woman spoke with no shame in her voice, not at all trying to beat around the bush. Many of the female cultivators covered their lips with their sleeves, while the men frowned. Sisi, “After my face became like this, my days were different from before. Nobody wanted to spare me a single glance, let alone do my business. My original brothel kicked me out. I didn’t know how to do anything else, but I couldn’t take in any business at all, so I joined up with the older sisters. Their customers didn’t have high demands. If a job is up, I’d tag along with them. I could manage with my face covered up.”

At this point, some of the people couldn’t take it any longer. They let the contempt in their eyes pour out without any intent to cover it.

But Jin GuangYao, to whatever extent it matters--and Wei WuXian remarks that he thinks it does matter--saved Sisi even though he had to know not killing her would likely come back to bite him. He doesn’t stand up for people against society, but he does surreptitiously find ways to protect those who were kind to him.  

“Speaking of it, that SiSi used to be quite the well-known prostitute back in the days. With how old she is, I couldn’t even recognize her. What a fucking hag. It was quite the torturous death for Jin GuangShan too, hahahahaha…”

“Props to Jin GuangYao for thinking of such a way to kill his dad. A perfect match. Absolutely perfect!”

“It’s quite a mystery—why didn’t Jin GuangYao kill that old prostitute? Witnesses should be silenced. Is he an idiot?”

“Why should he be an idiot? He’s the seed of Jin GuangShan, after all. Maybe he’s a lover of affairs too. Maybe he’s got special tastes and has… haha, an unspeakable relationship with SiSi?”

“Hah, I think so too, but don’t the stories say? Because he engaged in incest with his sister-by-blood, Jin GuangYao was so shocked he somehow fell ill in an unspeakable way, so even if he wanted to, he couldn’t, hahaha…

This is exactly what doomed Jin GuangYao insofar as his choices are concerned: he both hated society that treated his mother terribly, knew it left him with little choice, and yet still chose to be a part of it. He chose to keep himself locked up instead of seeking a more meaningful life outside of society’s approval. 

The symbolism of SiSi being locked up for so long is what happens to Jin GuangYao as well. We see both him and Wei WuXian categorized by their parents: Wei WuXian is disparaged as a “son of a servant” and Jin GuangYao as the “son of a whore.” 

Wei WuXian, however, was given a chance, a chance that enables him to save MianMian from being forever categorized by her scars: he was found on the streets by Jiang FengMian. However horrible Madame Yu was to him (and she was), however he was rumored to be the illegitimate son of Jiang FengMian (which while it’s unlikely, the novel never directly gives an answer to), he had support and love growing up. He had cultivation taught to him, and he thinks this:

if Jiang FengMiang hadn’t take him back to Lotus Pier, perhaps he wouldn’t cross paths with cultivation his whole life. Then he would have never known that such a magnificent path existed in this world. He’d only be a head beggar who roamed the streets, fleeing at first sight of a dog, or maybe looking after cows and stealing other people’s crops in the countryside, playing his flute to pass his time. He wouldn’t have known to cultivate, and he definitely wouldn’t have had the chance to form a core. With such thoughts, he’d felt much better.

Take it as repayment, or take it as redemption. Take it as he’d never received the golden core to begin with.

Jin GuangYao did not have this. He grew up as a poor child in YunMeng just like Wei WuXian, but no one stood up for him save his mother and SiSi. When he found his way to his father’s house, as the actual illegitimate son, Jin GuangShan had him kicked down the stairs of Koi Tower instead of welcoming him. Madame Jin abused him physically as well as emotionally (Madame Yu’s, to our knowledge, was primarily verbal/emotional):

Blood streamed down from [Jin GuangYao’s] forehead, but aside from the wound from the fall, there was also an old wound from before, wrapped in bandages. It had been hidden only because he was wearing the black gauze cap. Now, both wounds gaped open...

Lan XiChen walked as he spoke, “Brother, I am afraid that you do not know. Our third brother really is in a terrible situation as of the moment... His mother never liked him to begin with. After ZiXuan-xiong passed away, she often hit him and scolded him.

Wei WuXian never fully fit in with society, and no one tried to integrate Jin GuangYao with it without removing the labels and boxes they put him in . He only achieved a place in society via lies and deception that just turned out to be another box, leaving him to be trapped in a literal locked coffin for at least a hundred years. He’s fully responsible for his choices that led to his tragedy, but it’s foolish to say that his circumstances did not contribute to them as well; take Wei WuXian’s word for it, not mine. Society is a monstrous, toxic creation in MDZS, and Jin GuangYao’s focus on its approval instead of on the people who loved him’s approval (Lan XiChen, even Nie MingJue) led to him doing monstrous things to vulnerable people who had no choice in their circumstances either (namely, A-Song and SiSi’s shunned prostitute friends). 

It’s still remarkable to me how often I see takes arguing that Jin GuangYao=bad and Wei WuXian=good, when, while everyone’s entitled to their opinion, the story’s themes directly contradict this. Both of them messed up, and Wei WuXian made better choices than Jin GuangYao did ultimately. However, Wei WuXian also was had support from a young age in ways Jin GuangYao never did, and the novel goes out of its way to point this out. It’s hard for servants, prostitutes, the disabled (Xiao XingChen), the disfigured, women, to find a place in a society that scorns them. It’s directly criticizing privilege beyond sociopolitical boundaries and points to the privilege in people’s experiences as well, emphasizing the importance of empathy in solving problems. 

Wei WuXian is warned numerous times that empathy is dangerous, yet he uses it more than once in the novel. Jin GuangYao asked Nie MingJue for empathy several times, and was rebuffed (though Lan XiChen did give him empathy to an extent... but there’s more to that which is a topic for another meta). Ironically, the one who empathizes with Jin GuangYao in the end, who understands him most, is Wei WuXian, because they were not that different in the end. 

#wei wuxian #mdzs #mdzs meta #jin guangyao #mao dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #founder of diabolism #gdc meta #the untamed #chen qing ling #sisi #mianmian #luo qingyang

[alternatearchiver]

After Wei Ying died, Lan Wangji was devastated. He had a reason to live on, which was to raise and love and protect a-Yuan, the last connection he had left to Wei Ying, but it wasn’t the same as having his true love by his side. If Lan Wangji could go back in time he would make so many different choices, and would stand by Wei Ying’s side even as the rest of the world stood against him. Maybe then Wei Ying would still be alive today, and Lan Wangji’s heart would not be completely shattered. But there was no point in thinking about the what-ifs, because there was nothing that Lan Wangji could do to change the past. All he could do was make sure that it wouldn’t be possible for such a horrific tragedy to ever happen again.

,,,

Lan Sizhui was a very good kid, a model Lan. Most of the time, Lan Wangji just felt proud of his son, but there were some times where he felt regret that there was not more of Wei Ying’s influence, since it had apparently been just as destroyed by that fever as the memories were. 

Still, for the most part, Lan Wangji was just grateful to be a part of Lan Sizhui’s life. Now that he’d finished healing from his punishment scars (though he was sure that there would always be some pain from those marks), Lan Wangji decided to take Lan Sizhui on a little field trip down to Caiyi Town. It was a few days from Lan Sizhui’s birthday (which Lan Wangji had decided on making the day he had discovered Lan Sizhui and brought him back to the Cloud Recesses, since he didn’t know the actual date), and Lan Sizhui was turning eight. 

Lan Sizhui seemed excited to go down to the town, since he had refused to go on outings away from the Cloud Recesses while Lan Wangji was healing, something about being afraid that Lan Wangji would disappear while Lan Sizhui was gone. So now they were heading out together, and Lan Wangji had brought his purse, ready to buy several presents for Lan Sizhui, even if his uncle would probably consider it excessive. But his uncle’s opinion did not mean as much to him these days, not when compared to the look on Wei Ying’s face whenever he’d looked at little a-Yuan, wanting to provide the best life possible for the boy. 

Lan Wangji never bothered bartering with the merchants. He was sure that he could manage to drive the prices down if it tried, but it’s not as though he didn’t have the money, and besides that, it was times like these where he could almost imagine the sound of Wei Ying’s laughter in his ears, teasing him for paying full price. 

Apparently the merchant in front of him felt bad that Lan Wangji was not trying to lower the price. “Ah, but for such a impressive young master as yourself, this price is really too much. Perhaps I can offer a special discount, as a thanks for the work you do to keep Gusu safe.”

“No need,” Lan Wangji said stiffly. If it was for Lan Sizhui, he would pay any amount of money, no matter how outrageous. And besides, supporting the local merchants could only be seen as a good thing. The merchant still looked awkward, and opened his mouth to say something else. Lan Wangji silently berated himself for being rude as he looked away, to glance down at Lan Sizhui. His heart seemed to stop beating as he realized that his son was no longer standing next to him. He immediately looked back at the merchant. “Did you see where the boy with me went?”

The merchant’s eyes widened at the frantic tone in Lan Wangji’s usually flat voice. He nodded to somewhere behind Lan Wangji. “I wasn’t paying close attention, but I think he might’ve wandered off towards that alley.”

Lan Wangji slammed down some money without checking how much it was, shoved the toy into his sleeve, and then rushed off to the alley. “Lan Sizhui?” He was on edge, prepared to fight off whoever might have lured away his normally well-behaved child.

It was a relief to hear Lan Sizhui’s voice, sounding unharmed as his bright white robes slowly came into sight out of the shadows of the alley. “Father, I made a friend.” There was a small smile playing across his face. 

The tension didn’t leave Lan Wangji’s muscles until he heard a child’s laughter, and Lan Sizhui’s friend emerged from the shadows as well. It was just a young boy, who looked perhaps a few years younger than Lan Sizhui. The boy had dirt smeared on his cheeks and wavy black hair that stuck out all over the place. Lan Wangji even let himself offer a tiny smile to the boy, grateful to see Lan Sizhui connecting with another child. Lan Sizhui was usually far too solemn for someone of his age. “Hello, young master.”

The boy giggled at the formal address. “a-Yuan, your dad is funny!” 

Something about the boy felt strangely familiar. Which didn’t make much sense, since Lan Wangji had been bedridden the past few years, and this boy didn’t look old enough for Lan Wangji to have encountered him before that. “What is your name?”

The boy snorted like the question was a joke, then nearly toppled over from bowing forward with such exaggeration. When he looked back up at Lan Wangji, he was still grinning. “a-Ying is a-Ying!” he proclaimed as though it should have been obvious. 

That name sent a stab of pain through his heart, and then Lan Wangji took a few steps closer, to really examine the child. Those playful silver eyes, that smile so bright it nearly hurt to look at… the fact that Wei Ying had died a little over three years ago, and this a-Ying looked to be about that old… “Wei Ying?” he murmured, terrified to be wrong.

a-Ying blinked a few times, then shook his head. “Just a-Ying.”

Lan Wangji knew Lan Sizhui was looking at him in confusion, but Lan Wangji could barely focus over the sound of his beating heart. “How old is a-Ying? Where are your parents?”

a-Ying furrowed his brows adorably as he thought about it, then finally held up three fingers. “a-Ying is this many! And…” that beautiful smile faltered for less than a second before fixing itself. “a-Ying is alone.”

It was too good to be true, and yet it had to be true. For all the suffering that Lan Wangji had been through, he was being gifted with a very precious second chance. And it was a second chance for Wei Ying as well, to grow up in a home where he would be loved and cared for, and never made to feel like his life wasn’t as important as someone else’s. Even Lan Wangji didn’t know the full extent of the damage that had been done to Wei Ying in the Jiang household, but he was determined to not let history repeat itself.

So Lan Wangji knelt down on one knee, and slowly reached out his hand toward the little boy. “Would a-Ying like to come home with us?”

Lan Sizhui’s eyes lit up at the idea, and he looked at Lan Wangji excitedly. “I can have a brother?”

“For now,” Lan Wangji allowed. “Someday a-Ying will be my wife.” He could already picture the wedding ceremony, with Wei Ying veiled in red, and Lan Wangji would get the chance to wrap his forehead ribbon around Wei Ying’s wrist and mean it, and they would finally get the happy ending that had been torn away from them by the war and by everything Wei Ying had suffered through. Lan Wangji looked at a-Ying, who was watching him with large, pensive eyes. “Would a-Ying like that?”

a-Ying tilted his head to the side and reached up to rub at his nose, and even though Lan Wangji had never met his Wei Ying at such a young age, the movement was so familiar that it left no doubt in his mind that this really was his Wei Ying. “Wife? Isn’t that like, hm, kissing stuff?”

Lan Wangji let out a soft laugh. “Eventually. Not until a-Ying is older, though.” Lan Wangji thought of the very first time they’d fought on the rooftops in the moonlight, when they were sixteen years old. Even then, Lan Wangji had wanted to kiss that smug look off of the beautiful stranger’s face, though at the time he hadn’t really understood those feelings. Now Lan Wangji was going to get a second chance, because someday Wei Ying would be sixteen again, and he would surely be just as wild and beautiful as he had been the first time around. 

Lan Sizhui didn’t seem to fully understand the wife part either, but he did seem very excited about the idea of bringing his new friend home, even though they couldn’t have known each other for longer than ten or fifteen minutes. Maybe there was some part of Lan Sizhui, deep down, that recognized the person who had loved him so dearly. “There’s toys at home,” he explained to a-Ying like he was trying to close a business deal. “And books, and paint, and, and, lots of food.”

a-Ying only thought about it for a few more seconds before he seemed to decide that that was enough on offer. “Okay!” He leaped towards Lan Wangji, and let himself get picked up and balanced on one of Lan Wangji’s hips. The mention of food was good, because Lan Wangji wanted a-Ying to be happy more than anything, so he went over to a stall selling spices and bought several bottles of the most outrageously red looking ones. a-Ying clung tightly to Lan Wangji as he looked down to have a half-shouted conversation back and forth with Lan Sizhui, and Lan Wangji couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so at peace.

,,,

a-Ying, who’s name was now officially Lan Ying (since Lan Wangji could not have renamed him Wei Ying without risking his brother’s suspicions), was a naturally talented child when it came to pretty much everything. When he was willing to learn, he would often surpass his peers without much effort. The real challenge was getting him to settle down and pay attention long enough for him to learn anything.

To keep a-Ying away from his uncle’s wrath, Lan Wangji had quickly decided to take personal responsibility for all of a-Ying’s lessons. It had been a bit of a challenge at first, but with the right incentives, usually praise and signs of affection, a-Ying would get serious with his studies. It didn’t take him very long at all to begin the process of building his golden core.

“Lan Zhan?”

“Mn?” The rules were that in public, a-Ying was to refer to him as Hanguang-Jun, but when it was just the two of them, a-Ying could refer to him by his personal name. Once a-Ying realized what a privilege that was, he’d stopped calling Lan Wangji anything but Lan Zhan when they were in private.

a-Ying let out a long sigh, then slumped over his desk. “Too many rules,” he grumbled. “Can’t learn them all. I wanna go play in the river.”

Lan Wangji raised one eyebrow and waited patiently until a-Ying looked up to meet his eyes before he spoke. “a-Ying must know all the rules if he wants to be a good wife.”

a-Ying looked a bit uncertain about that, but like usual, he accepted that as an adult, Lan Wangji knew what he was talking about. a-Ying let out a long, exaggerated sigh, then went back to copying out the rules. The scene made Lan Wangji so nostalgic for the days he had been overseeing a teenage Wei Ying’s punishment. Lan Wangji was determined to appreciate this time together now, in a way he hadn’t when he was younger, back before he’d understood how easily he could lose everything. 

A little while later, Lan Wangji was distracted from the book he was reading by the sudden weight plopping down on his lap. Lan Wangji’s arm automatically reached out to steady the boy. “Lan Zhan! I drew you!” He dropped down the paper he’d been holding, revealing a childish portrait of Lan Wangji, one hand holding a-Ying’s and one hand holding Lan Sizhui’s. Though it was clearly the work of a child, it showed a lot of potential skill. “What do you think?”

“Thank you, a-Ying. It’s very beautiful.” He leaned forward slightly to kiss the top of a-Ying’s head, and a-Ying let out a loud noise of joy before squirming out of Lan Wangji’s grasp and returning to his desk so that he could finish his assigned work. Lan Wangji found it impossible not to smile fondly down at the painting. Nothing could replace the one that had been destroyed when the Cloud Recesses were burned, but he would treasure this one all the same.

,,,

Lan Sizhui was with his peers, practicing sword forms, the first time Lan Wangji brought a-Ying to the Cold Pond. By now he knew better than to expect that a-Ying retained any memories of his previous life, but Lan Wangji still took pleasure in showing off the places that had been important to them both.

They both stripped and slipped into the water. Even the shallow end was high enough to come up to just below a-Ying’s nipples. a-Ying immediately yelped as the cold water stung his skin, and began hopping around. This time it was easy for Lan Wangji to pull a-Ying close to his side and warm the boy up. He sat down on a natural bench formed at the side of the pond, and gently pulled a-Ying down onto his lap.

The peaceful meditation lasted surprisingly longer than Lan Wangji would have expected from someone as restless as a-Ying. a-Ying began squirming around, and Lan Wangji was grateful for the frigid temperature of the water. He did not think of himself as a pervert, but when it came to Wei Ying, Lan Wangji didn’t trust how his body would react. 

Lan Wangji closed his eyes to try and focus on letting the water promote healing and circulation of spiritual energy, so he did not realize exactly how much a-Ying was moving around until a small hand landed on Lan Wangji’s cock. Lan Wangji’s eyes snapped open, and he jolted up, accidentally tumbling a-Ying down into the water.

a-Ying emerged without any help, wet hair plastered down his back, and he looked up at Lan Wangji in confusion. “What was that? Did I do something wrong?” Lan Wangji took a few deep breaths, then shook his head. “No, a-Ying did nothing wrong. But that place you touched is only for grown ups.” Then to prevent any future misunderstandings, he added, “Because you will be my wife, you are the only one who can touch me there, and I am the only one who can touch you there.” a-Ying glanced down, though the foggy water covered him too much to see his own little cock. Lan Wangji moved his hand closer so that he could point out the spot he was talking about, and hesitated for a moment when he didn’t feel what he was expecting. Then he back off, pretty sure that his point had been made. 

a-Ying looked back up at Lan Wangji while biting one lip, like he was considering whether or not to ask something. But he knew he was safe with Lan Wangji, and was always allowed to ask what was on his mind. “I overheard some of the other boys saying it could… feel good?”

“Has a-Ying experienced that?” The boy shook his head, and Lan Wangji felt a sudden wave of possessiveness sweep through him. He offered a-Ying a small smile. “Even a-Ying is not allowed to touch himself there, only I am. When a-Ying is old enough, I will help.” 

,,,

“Father, can I talk to you?” Lan Wangji looked up from the papers he’d been graded, and made a soft sound of assent as he tilted his head. Lan Sizhui didn’t fidget, but there was clearly something about his body language that indicated he was feeling awkward. “It’s about Lan Ying.” 

Now that really got Lan Wangji’s attention. He had assumed that Lan Sizhui had just come here to go over last minute details for the upcoming trip. Lan Sizhui and the other juniors in his age group would be going off on their first night hunt without adult supervision- though of course Lan Wangji (and a-Ying) would be waiting in the nearby town to jump in if anything went wrong. It was hard to believe that it had already been thirteen years since Wei Ying’s death. Ten years since Wei Ying had been returned to him. 

There was a slight hint of a frown on Lan Sizhui’s face. “Lan Ying said some things that have me concerned.” Lan Wangji gestured for Lan Sizhui to continue. If there was anything wrong with a-Ying, then of course Lan Wangji would want to know about it immediately. “A sister from Caiyi flirted with him the other day, and when he turned her down, he said it’s because… because he’s saving himself for you.” 

In some ways, it was surprising that this conversation had not come up sooner. Since the day Lan Wangji had first taken a-Ying in, a-Ying and Lan Sizhui had essentially been treated as brothers, and Lan Wangji hadn’t had the heart to take away a relationship that was so meaningful to the both of them. But Lan Wangji could not allow for discontent to come about because of their future roles. “Lan Ying and I are betrothed. When he comes of age, we will marry. He is aware of this.”

Lan Sizhui frowned with uncertainty. “But he’s so much younger than you. And haven’t you been raising him as your son?”

Lan Wangji patiently shook his head. “This future has never been kept secret. I understand if you will never think of him as your parent.” Lan Sizhui still looked somewhat troubled by the revelation, but in the end he left to finish up the preparations for his night hunt.

When a-Ying got home that night, Lan Wangji pulled him into a tight hug and pressed a light kiss to the boy’s forehead. a-Ying giggled. “What’s this for?”

“a-Ying has been a very good boy,” Lan Wangji told him. “a-Ying remembers who he belongs with even when others try to seduce him.”

a-Ying grinned. “Does this mean we can finally practice kissing?” It’s something he’d started asking about recently, presumably as offers from those closer to his age were being thrown his way.

Lan Wangji shook his head, but still held a-Ying just as tightly. “Not until we are married.” Even now, Lan Wangji found himself wanting to give in, to hear the kinds of noises a-Ying would make when kissed for the first time, among other things, but Lan Wangji could be patient. He did not want to interfere with a-Ying’s natural development by getting sexually involved while a-Ying was still maturing. But it was alright. Lan Wangji had already waited many years to be with his Wei Ying, and he could afford to meet a few more.

,,,

Lan Wangji hurried towards Mo Manor as soon as he saw the emergency flare set off. He ordered a-Ying to stay in their room in the inn, but it did not surprise him when a-Ying followed him to the manor. Lan Wangji couldn’t help but notice how beautiful a-Ying looked as his skin glistened with sweat and he grinned triumphantly at the corpses he defeated. All of Wei Ying’s talents and hard work had clearly carried over into this life as well.

Some of the juniors seemed a bit annoyed that someone even younger than them had helped come to the rescue, but most of them were just grateful for the help. It didn’t hurt that a-Ying didn’t tend to talk down to those less talented; instead he was more likely to offer them some pointers so that they could improve in the future.

As the group of Lans wandered through the forest later, there was a commotion caused by Sect Leader Jiang and his nephew. Up until that moment, Lan Wangji had never brought a-Ying to Lotus Pier to see Jiang Wanyin. He had not seen the point in doing so, when Jiang Wanyin held responsibility for the end of Wei Ying’s life. 

Which meant that this was the first time Jiang Wanyin’s eyes saw a-Ying, and even though it had obviously been many years since he had seen Wei Ying at this age, it was clear that he immediately recognized the boy. “What-?” The whip in his hand began to crackle with purple electricity. “What is the meaning of this, Hanguang-Jun?”

a-Ying furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, clearly not recognizing the man who had once been called his brother. Not that Jiang Wanyin had any right to call himself such anymore, after everything he’d done. a-Ying tried to move closer, but Lan Wangji reached out to put his arm in front of a-Ying’s chest, gently blocking the way. a-Ying gave Lan Wangji a weird look, then looked over at Jiang Wanyin. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ve met before.” He bowed deeply enough to show an appropriate amount of respect. “This one is Lan Ying.”

Jiang Wanyin’s scowl deepened. “What the hell did you do?”

Without looking away from the angry Jiang sect leader, Lan Wangji instructed the juniors to all continue on with their business. It’s not as though Lan Wangji thought there was any chance that Jiang Wanyin would be able to take a-Ying away, it’s just that the kids didn’t need to see if a fight broke out between two highly respected members of the cultivation world.

As the juniors turned to leave, though, Jiang Wanyin abruptly struck with Zidian, and Lan Wangji cursed himself for not being quick enough to stop the whip from cracking across a-Ying’s back and sending him sprawling forward. Lan Sizhui and the others were quick to rush to a-Ying’s side and help him back up to his feet. a-Ying’s eyes were teary, but he kept his face strong.

Lan Wangji glared at Jiang Wanyin. He had wanted for a-Ying to live a life where he would never be whipped, and now Jiang Wanyin had dared to ruin that, to hurt Lan Wangji’s most precious person. There was absolutely no chance of avoiding a fight now.

,,,

When they returned to the inn, Lan Wangji led a-Ying up to their room while the rest of the juniors were left to figure out things for themselves. Lan Wangji closed and locked the door behind him, then pulled a-Ying into a tight hug. a-Ying eagerly accepted the affection. Then Lan Wangji stepped back slightly so that he could begin tugging off a-Ying’s robes.

a-Ying frowned at him. “Lan Zhan, what-?”

“Need to take care of a-Ying,” Lan Wangji informed him. It wasn’t too difficult to strip a-Ying down to his smallclothes, and then he pushed a-Ying to lie down on the bed on his stomach. Lan Wangji knelt over him and began very carefully massaging some healing ointment across the bright red mark that had been left behind by that whip. “a-Ying was so brave today,” Lan Wangji murmured. “Such a good boy for me.”

a-Ying turned his head to the side so he could scowl up at Lan Wangji. “‘m not a boy, I’m basically grown up.”

Still shaken by the earlier events, all Lan Wangji could think about was reassuring himself that his Wei Ying was really okay, and that he had not lost this precious second chance. “Mn. a-Ying is very grown up. Nearly ready to be my wife.” That made a bright red blush rise to a-Ying’s cheeks, which was very satisfying to watch. 

Lan Wangji was going to just leave it at that, but as he got up and gently slid the blanket up to cover a-Ying, a-Ying let out a small whimper. “Hurts,” he said quietly.

He really shouldn’t, but… Lan Wangji was pretty sure that both of them needed some closeness to reassure themselves. “Can make a-Ying feel better, forget about the pain.” a-Ying nodded, and Lan Wangji added, “Something only for adults, though.”

a-Ying pouted up at Lan Wangji, though the effect was somewhat lost by the way his eyes seemed partially glazed over in pain. “I’m practically an adult already,” a-Ying insisted again. “Whatever it is, I can handle it!”

Lan Wangji gave his beloved a-Ying a long look, and then nodded. He very gently removed the blanket, then started tugging a-Ying’s small clothes off of him. a-Ying let out a small noise of confusion, but didn’t wiggle around too much, so Lan Wangji offered a soft, “Good boy.” Once a-Ying was completely bare to him, Lan Wangji bent over and ran his tongue over a-Ying’s pink pussy. a-Ying shivered and let out a startled noise, but Lan Wangji reached up to hold a-Ying’s hips to keep the boy still. 

Lan Wangji could feel his own cock harden as he slowly shifted from gentle licks to more aggressive ones, soaking up each mewl of pleasure that a-Ying let out. It made Lan Wangji happy to know that he could make his beloved feel so good, even though he’d never actually done this before.

a-Ying’s pussy began to slowly slick up as a-Ying began to move more, as if he somehow thought he still needed to seduce Lan Wangji at this point. When he thought that a-Ying seemed relaxed enough, Lan Wangji pushed his tongue inside, and began to eat a-Ying out with much enthusiasm. a-Ying squirmed around more and more, until he finally let out a loud startled, “Lan Zhan!” and there was a gush of slick and a-Ying’s pussy clenched around Lan Wangji’s tongue like it was trying to suck him further in.

Lan Wangji finally sat up, and pulled out a small cloth to wipe his messy face with. His jaw was slightly sore, but it was entirely worth it for how relaxed a-Ying’s body looked, and when Lan Wangji got up, he could see the blissed out look on a-Ying’s adorable face. It would seem that this was indeed an effective strategy for relieving pain.

a-Ying let out a little sleepy noise, then reached out to snag his hand on Lan Wangji’s sleeve. “What… what about you?”

Lan Wangji reached down to gently stroke the top of a-Ying’s head. “When we are married,” he reminded the boy, even though he could feel his cock straining almost painfully against his robes.

a-Ying sighed. “I hope we can get married soon.” Then he let go of Lan Wangji’s sleeve and drifted off to sleep. Lan Wangji thought he might burst from all the love he felt towards this boy. 

,,,

After that, it seemed pointless to hold back on kissing, so that became a regular part of their routine when they were alone. Even though a-Ying was the one who had requested ‘kissing stuff’ a few years ago, the boy was very shy, and would often resort to giving Lan Wangji seductive looks rather than initiating things himself.

As a-Ying went out on more night hunts, and experimented more with talismans and cultivation, there were more injuries, but he always seemed quite happy with Lan Wangji’s method of helping him work through the pain. Lan Wangji still didn’t let a-Ying touch him in return, because he did have some morals, but it was getting more and more difficult to refuse when a-Ying looked up at him with those eyes. 

The years seemed to pass by so quickly, and before Lan Wangji knew it, a-Ying was eighteen. Finally old enough for them to be married for real, and then they would no longer need to sneak around. And Lan Wangji could finally feel what it would be like to fully connect with the person he loved most. 

Lan Xichen seemed somewhat troubled when Lan Wangji went to him to request the planning begin for his and a-Ying’s wedding. “Isn’t Lan Ying like a son to you? Like a brother to Lan Sizhui?”

Lan Wangji shook his head. “Our relationship is not familial.”

Even though he still looked concerned, after having a long conversation in private with a-Ying, Lan Xichen finally relented and agreed to the marriage. He did pull his brother aside, though, before Lan Wangji could return to the jingshi. “Wangji… I know it’s been many years, and my memory could be failing me, but does your Lan Ying not bear a striking resemblance to Wei Wuxian?”

Lan Wangji hesitated for a moment before answering honestly. “Yes.” Then he turned and left without another word.

,,,

The ceremony was very beautiful, befitting a sect leader’s brother, but Lan Wangji hardly paid attention to any of the decorations or food. All he could look at was a-Ying, who seemed to be practically glowing with happiness even beneath his red veil. 

When it was time for a-Ying to excuse himself and get escorted to the jingshi, Lan Wangji could hardly sit still. He was almost tempted to take a sip of the emperor’s smile that was left in a-Ying’s glass- it was one of the rare occasions where alcohol was allowed in the Cloud Recesses, and a-Ying had shamelessly begged Lan Wangji for his favorite kind. 

But Lan Wangji knew that if he drank he would most likely forget most of his wedding night, which is something he couldn’t bear the thought of. Lan Wangji planned on savoring this night in his memories for the rest of his entire life.

It felt like forever before Lan Wangji was finally allowed to return to his home. He should have known that a-Ying wouldn’t just wait around patiently. Instead he had already rid himself of his veil and outer robes, and was lounging back on the bed, a bright grin made even more lovely by the dark red painted on his lips. “Husband,” he all but purred out. Lan Wangji could hardly be expected to restrain himself at a sight like that. He went to grab some oil from the jar that had been left on the bedside table, but a-Ying shook his head. “I had plenty of time while waiting, and I got so bored… but now er-gege is here to entertain me, right?”

Lan Wangji let out an almost inhuman growl before ripping a-Ying’s robes into shreds. As they shared a long, messy kiss, Lan Wangji reached down to test a-Ying, and found that he could easily slip several fingers into the warm, wet cunt. Lan Wangji didn’t even bother to strip out of his own robes; he just pulled them aside enough to pull out his hard cock, stroked himself a few times, then carefully pushed into his new wife’s body. 

He slid in so easily, and was surrounded by warmth and pressure, and it was so good. “a-Ying is so perfect,” he growled out as he started moving, increasing his speed with each little gasp that was pulled from a-Ying’s lips. “a-Ying’s body was made for this, made for me.”

“Yes, for you!” a-Ying agreed breathlessly. “Everything is for you, Lan Zhan, I love you so much!” Neither of them lasted very long their first time, but that was alright, because they had the rest of their lives to practice. Lan Wangji was so grateful to have been able to find a-Ying that day, because he was never going to let go of his beloved again. 

#-dont #the untamed