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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Episode 7

Their first vow together. So nice! I actually do like the parallels here between Lan Yi and Wei Wuxian, and Baoshan Sanren and Lan Wangji: you have one set being reckless and untamed (I said it) and the other set trying to restore order. It’s kind of funny that the ancestors are switched, though. So here we have Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji vowing to bring all the Yin Iron pieces back to the cold spring pond to neutralize them, and of course Lan Wangji’s first reaction is, “None of your business.” It’s cute how Lan Yi takes Wei Wuxian’s side and has a sense of pride for her close friend’s disciple. I think he’s an honorary Lan in her eyes.

And then Lan Yi gives them a warning to not make the same mistakes she made. Wei Wuxian’s like, “Yep, got it, I promise.” But we all know from the beginning that this obviously doesn’t go well for him, since he dies in the first five minutes of the series. He will go on to make some questionable decisions, most of which are driven by his emotions, which are often not in check. Side note: I love this series, but I don’t like how they took a great grey character like Wei Wuxian and turned him into a character where many of the things that went wrong were caused by other people.

Another side note. That fucking Yin Iron fell on the guqin so many times, and it didn’t dent it at all. Is the guqin made out of iron too? I thought it was wood. If I did that to my violin, I guarantee you the violin would not fare very well.

Forever a favorite moment. It was great enough that they were tied together by Lan Wangji’s headband, but even better that Wei Wuxian fell on him. So great—such a tease to the audience. And this is as close as we get to the scene in the book when Lan Wangji uses the body binding spell to keep Wei Wuxian on top of him all night (ooh, my heart skipped a beat when I read that).

Also, taking the screenshot, I noticed you can see the impression of the little metal piece from Lan Wangji’s headband. Little things like that interest me for some reason. I wonder if it bothered Wang Yibo—did it press too hard on his forehead? I remember him saying he’d get tan lines from the headband.

I love this little smirk he does. A moment when Wei Wuxian’s gift to gab really pays off. Instead of letting Lan Wangji talk and explain the situation, Wei Wuxian keeps speaking, lying about what they were doing. I’d like to think he does it in part to protect Lan Wangji and to stop him from breaking any of his clan rules, but likely it’s another chance for him to prove himself as someone Lan Wangji can trust. And I take Lan Wangji’s little acknowledgement of him there as his silent “thank you.” It says a lot, I think, that Wei Wuxian is willing to lie to Jiang Cheng in order to protect the Lan Clan’s secrets.

I’m sorry, but every time I hear Nie Huaisang say, “You were gone a whole day and night,” my mind immediately goes to the gutter—like the implication is that they were doing something inappropriate during that time. I keep expecting a sex joke, only to remind myself that this was on Chinese television and that would, of course, not happen. Jiang Cheng says a similar thing (and my mind goes the same way that time too), but in that case, canon book Jiang Cheng does later accuse them of having a more-than-friendly relationship, and he does not say it in a nice way.

Also, throughout the scene that precedes this, where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are discussing what to do next with Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, it really feels like wangxian just want to go on a buddy road trip together, and they are so disappointed when they are turned down. Oh, I didn’t screencap it, but Lan Wangji has the saddest sad face at the end.

I think Lan Wangji is a little impressed here but he doesn’t want to admit it. Wei Wuxian has a great gift to come up with ridiculous stories and lies at the drop of a hat. I love that Wei Wuxian doesn’t have to come up with a scary snake story when he could have just told Nie Huaisang what he’d already told Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing, but he does anyway. Mad respect.

This also kind of amuses me because Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji can never really have a moment alone. They keep getting interrupted by other people when I think they just want to talk about what they experienced. Instead we just have all these shared glances. Nothing like a big fat secret to get close to each other, right?

Omfg Jiang Cheng is so jealous! I thought maybe I was imagining it or just projecting my own ideas onto him, but NO—he is jealous! He’s all like, “If you like Lan Wangji so much, why don’t you marry him?” I mean, that basically happened. I’ve gone on about this before, but I love the tension between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, and the fact that it continues even after Wei Wuxian dies makes it even better. Jiang Cheng is so stubborn and continues to hold a grudge against Lan Wangji, and it bothers the fuck out of him that there’s someone out there devoted to Wei Wuxian, by whom Jiang Cheng feels so betrayed.

And, I mean, by this point, it’s already started. As soon as they get to the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian starts paying more attention to Lan Wangji than he does to either Jiang Cheng or Jiang Yanli. And Jiang Cheng likes to say, “You’re worrying my sister, you’re hurting my sister” when he really means, “You’re worrying me.” His stupid pride gets in the way of having a good relationship with Wei Wuxian. And I don’t think Wei Wuxian would ever put Lan Wangji above Jiang Cheng, who he considers his family—at least not at this point. It’s not until the second half that things switch, and really, even then, in the CQL-verse, the two are probably equal in Wei Wuxian’s mind. He backs off from Jiang Cheng due to Jiang Cheng’s attitude toward him.

Okay, Jiang Cheng’s jealousy aside, I love how steadfast and supportive Wei Wuxian is of him. As soon as he catches on that Jiang Cheng is jealous, he immediately starts trash-talking the Cloud Recesses and talking up Lotus Pier. It’s very cute, very sweet. He’s a good brother to him, really.

Now who’s jealous? Just kidding. I love his wistful expression here, as he watches them go off. Anyone who’s read the book knows that Lan Wangji does get jealous at times and certainly frustrated with Wei Wuxian’s coquettish behavior. I would say he is more longing at this moment, maybe even wanting to get closer to Wei Wuxian, without really understanding why himself. There’s such an isolation to his world: even though he’s surrounded by other disciples, he doesn’t have any friends. He’s maybe regretting how quickly he refused to the invitation to Lotus Pier. I think, on the one hand, Lan Wangji has found one person in this world who not only shares a secret with him, but who has similar goals—on the other hand, his code of ethics are all over the place. His heart and mind are conflicted: he wants to get closer, but he doesn’t want to make the wrong decision. To his Gusu Lan Clan mind, Wei Wuxian is all wrong, but his heart says otherwise. And I’m not saying he loves him already—but he is already seeing a kindred spirit in Wei Wuxian, someone who he can rely on, someone he can trust, someone who has his back, even if it means bending a few rules. And in a relationship, you have nothing if you don’t have trust.

I never noticed that they were communicating telepathically here. Or something. I dunno. I guess it’s not that clear.

Also if it feels like I’m ignoring all these parts with the Wen Clan, it’s because I am. I mean, not really, but this is all the Yin Iron stuff that I don’t really care about. And I’m not in the Xue Yang fan club either, so I’m not going to spend time on him until he’s actually in it in Yueyang (possibly) and Yi City. Actually, confession: I’ve never watched the Yi City flashback episodes. I read it, so I know it, but I never watched it hahaha. I will this time around. I made that pact with myself.

AWWW, HE SMILED!!!

Ahem, excuse me. This is too fucking cute, though. The rabbit lantern that Wei Wuxian drew just for him, his cute baby smile, and the Wei Wuxian pointing it out with a grin. Cuteness overload—my heart can’t take it.

But I also had a sad thought that if Wei Wuxian hadn’t come over, Lan Wangji would be sitting here alone. He’d make his lantern all on his own, send it off into the sky, say his own prayer to himself, and never hear Wei Wuxian’s, which likely sends Lan Wangji over the edge with his feelings. Everything he thought about Wei Wuxian was true, and maybe it’s okay to like him, maybe it’s okay to consider him a friend, maybe it’s okay to trust him that way.

Just a shot that I liked. Enjoy.

I feel so bad for Jiang Yanli here. I also feel bad for Jin Zixuan, even though he’s a complete dick. I understand how they both feel here—to be tied to someone you don’t know, from the time you were small children is incredibly unfair in my eyes. That being said, I know this still happens in other parts of the world, and it’s implied that it’s common in our CQL/MDZS world (which would make sense, of course). I like the feeling of siding with Wei Wuxian, wanting to come to Jiang Yanli’s defense and protect her honor, while also still having an understanding of how Jin Zixuan must feel about the whole thing. His choice has been completely taken away. And he’s, what, 17 here? What 17-year-old boy wants to be reminded constantly about how he’s already engaged? It’s not typically a young man’s dream to settle down and get married—not that it can’t be! But the implication here, with all the girls tittering about it, is that they’re all excited about marriage, and he wants nothing to do with it. Of course, Jiang Yanli isn’t either. I think she really just wants to get to know him and spend time with him, before even thinking about marrying him.

Ah, a momentous occasion: the first time Lan Wangji tries to stop Wei Wuxian from getting himself into trouble (not counting the first time they met, when he was literally trying to police him while breaking Cloud Recesses rules). I like this shot, because you have Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji on either side of Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli in the front, literally putting her body between him and Jin Zixuan (actually this parallels her final scene). It kind of shows the depths of their relationships (or at least what the director wants to show us). You have Lan Wangji, who grabs onto Wei Wuxian to try to stop him from further brawling; Jiang Cheng, who stands beside him, but isn’t really involved otherwise—standoffish, in a way; and then Jiang Yanli, who physically gets in the way. She’s the quintessential big sister. And I’m not saying Jiang Cheng doesn’t care—he does, but I think his first thought always has to do with the honor of the Jiang Clan and, while he’s standing beside Wei Wuxian, it’s almost as if he doesn’t want to show any involvement with this brawl, because that would look bad.

Ah, the old dudes meeting, while Jiang Cheng stands off to the side awkwardly, wondering if he should be there or not. At the outset, this meeting to decide their children’s future seemed kind of bad, but it actually turned out nice, with them agreeing to call off the engagement. Very progressive, I thought.

Two things I learned in this scene: Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to marry a woman and he doesn’t want to leave the Cloud Recesses yet (TL: he doesn’t want to leave Lan Wangji). He seriously looks so disappointed when she says they’re going home soon.

This feels like a mixture of “I’m worried about you” and “I don’t want to be left out.” We already know at this point that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to leave the Cloud Recesses (more that he doesn’t want to leave Lan Wangji, because he doesn’t like all of the rules, obviously). He also is very interested in what’s happening with the Yin Iron, as he has also vowed to protect it with Lan Wangji. He is very perceptive—he knows something is happening, that Lan Wangji is going to go off on his own, and he wants to go with. It’s kind of hard to say if this is more out of duty or his adventurous spirit, but either way, he wants to help Lan Wangji.

“After his leave, things will be as quiet here as before.”

Look at how sad he is! The only person he considers a friend has just left, and at this point, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever see him again. It’s possible, sure, but then only at clan gatherings, and that’s if Wei Wuxian and Lang Wangji even happen to attend the same one. I believe we know from the book that Lan Wangji doesn’t typically attend gatherings (when he’s older), he often skips them. And Wei Wuxian isn’t necessarily important enough to even be invited, so he would have to be a guest of Jiang Cheng. Obviously we all know that they do go to gatherings and see each other again, but this is what I’d be thinking if I were Lan Wangji, okay? Like, when am I going to see him again? Will I ever see him again?

I leave you with a wholesome picture of Wei Wuxian and a rabbit. Also adorable that he contemplates bringing the bunnies back to Lotus Pier, but doesn’t because Lan Wangji might get lonely. MY HEART!

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

#wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #cql #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wwx #lwj #cql rewatch

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years

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After Each Midnight Begins A New Day

[Extra #7 - Pre-fic by roughly five years, so again the only people who know anything is different from before is Wangxian. I had an anonymous request for a look at A-Yuan living his best AU life, so here it is: a few snapshots of Wen Yuan/Sizhui’s summer school days making friends in Cloud Recesses. Enjoy <3]

[Masterpost]

“Dafan Wen Clan is presenting!”

Wen Sizhui takes a deep breath and steps around his desk, one of Wen Qing’s most highly favored apprentices - besides himself - at his side. They step to the center of the room and Wen Sizhui salutes the men seated on the dais at the front of the room.

“Wen Sizhui, Dafan Wen, here to learn from the Grandmaster,” he greets with his perpetual soft smile. He keeps his eyes trained on Qingheng-Jun and Grandmaster Lan, but it’s impossible not to notice the jarring note of black and red behind and a bit to the left of them. He ignores it for the moment - he’s positive that Wei Wuxian will find him later anyway to ask after Wen Qing and Wen Ning, and Wen Qing will kill him if he messes this up because he got distracted by her friend. He kneels to complete a kowtow and then straightens again. “I know that the Grandmaster values knowledge of all varieties. I present Grandmaster Lan with this book personally compiled by Wen-Zongzhu herself for the study of all as well as for practical use by the Gusu Lan healers. It details her latest research into medicinal practices using ingredients unique to Gusu Province, paired with innovative and varied methods of application. I hope the Grandmaster will find it suitable.”

A murmur sweeps briefly through the room around them, and Wen Sizhui stifles a wider smile, eyes still trained on the Lan Sect Leader and his brother who will be their teacher for the summer. Both of them are too well-mannered to show their surprise at such a highly-sought after gift, but Wen Sizhui breaks his own rule to allow himself a single glance at the men standing on the dais with them. He finds three different variations of similar reactions - Zewu-Jun is smiling gently at him and offers him a slight nod, Hanguang-Jun is practically radiating a pleased sort of smugness as he stares into the middle distance in his general direction, and Wei Wuxian is grinning openly from ear to ear. When he catches Wen Sizhui looking he shoots him a quick thumbs up and Wen Sizhui quickly returns his gaze to the two men seated in front, lest his attention wander too far or his amusement at Wei Wuxian’s antics show in his expression.

“A fitting gift,” Qingheng-Jun replies when the quick susurrus of whispered surprise from the other students has died down. “A treasure indeed, to benefit so from Wen-Zongzhu’s expertise.” He waves for the closest Lan attendant to step forward and take the tome from Wen Huali beside him.

The nervous tension leaves Wen Sizhui’s shoulders as he’s allowed to retreat behind his desk again, the attendant already calling for the next student.

“Lanling Jin is presenting!”

----

“I swear I thought I was going to puke that whole time - and I wasn’t even presenting anything! I’m glad I didn’t eat breakfast but I’m starving now,” Lan Jingyi exclaims that evening around a mouthful of rice and roasted vegetables.

“I thought Lans don’t talk during meals,” Jin Ling shoots back with a hint of a curl to his lip as he looks at the half-chewed food visible in Lan Jingyi’s open mouth with clear distaste.

“We don’t, but neither of you are Lan, and we’re not eating in the dining hall anyway so shut your mouth,” Lan Jingyi retorts, all lazy insolence that Wen Sizhui finds both funny and confusing, given the fact that this boy is a Lan.

“Why were you nervous watching the rest of us present our gifts to Grandmaster Lan, Lan Jingyi?” he asks before Jin Ling can turn a darker shade of red while he splutters for a retort - Wen Sizhui gets the feeling he’s used to being shown at least some level of deference as the oldest of his siblings and the Jin Sect Heir (deference which Lan Jingyi is pointedly not showing him), but he also gets the feeling that Jin Ling is just one of those people who’s generally easy to tease.

“All that pressure! Weren’t you scared you’d mess up in front of everybody?!”

“Who cares? It’s just Great-Uncle Lan you have to impress and he’s not scary at all!”

Wen Sizhui and Lan Jingyi both pause and look at him straight-on at that and Jin Ling blushes again, seeming suddenly surprised to have their full attention on him even though he’s been loud-mouthing since he stepped foot in Cloud Recesses the previous day, practically begging to be paid attention to.

“What?” he adds, defensive.

“I confess that I am not very educated in some of the intricacies of the Great Sect bloodlines, Aunt Qing doesn’t enforce learning it. You are related to Grandmaster Lan and Qingheng-Jun?”

Jin Ling huffs at that and scowls down at his bowl.

“We don’t have time for me to tell you who I’m related to, it’s easier to ask who I’m not related to I swear.”

“Oh is this gossip? Is this sweet, juicy gossip?” Lan Jingyi asks with far too much enthusiasm, leaning over the table to poke a finger into Jin Ling’s upper arm, which the Jin Heir instantly swats away with a glare.

“No it’s not gossip, idiot, and Lans aren’t supposed to gossip anyway! But everyone knows Uncle Chen is married to Uncle Yao and that Uncle Yao is my dad’s brother.”

“I thought Zewu-Jun is married to Chifeng-Zun of Qinghe Nie?”

“He��s married to both of them,” Lan Jingyi pipes up before Jin Ling can. “They all live here but I never really see them much. Well - Zewu-Jun I see slightly more often, of course, but Chifeng-Zun and Lianfang-Zun don’t interact with us disciples very much except for when we’re learning about the Nie Sect and they’re available to give lectures or demonstrations.”

“And Jin-gongzi - you visit your uncles enough to be familiar with Qingheng-Jun and the Grandmaster?”

“I don’t actually come here to Cloud Recesses very often anymore it happened more often when I was a kid, but Second Great-Uncle comes to see us in Lanling all the time, and Uncle Chen comes to see us at least a couple of times a year with Uncle Yao and Uncle Jue.”

Wen Sizhui’s head is beginning to hurt.

“Wei-Qianbei is married to Hanguang-Jun,” he points out next and Jin Ling rolls his eyes so hard it’s a wonder they don’t pop out of his skull.

“Believe me, I know.”

“So you are also related to them?”

“Twice over, yeah.”

“Wait what?” Lan Jingyi interjects, laughter already suffusing his voice. “How are you related to them twice?”

“My mom is Uncle Xian’s sister.”

“Wait whoa hold on that means you’re also related to Jiang-gongzi?!” Jingyi adds and now he’s definitely laughing - Jin Ling’s expression has gone positively pained which Wen Sizhui will admit is actually pretty funny. Jin Ling takes a deep breath in and lays his hands flat on the table, looking like he’s bracing for war.

“Alright, better to just get this all out of the way now. I’m only going to say this once, and you two had better keep up because I’m not repeating anything! I hate when I have to recite all of this, it’s ridiculous. But - okay. My dad’s second brother is Uncle Yao, who is married to Uncle Chen and Uncle Jue. So Uncle Ji is my Uncle once because he’s Uncle Chen’s brother, and then Uncle Xian is my Uncle once because he’s married to Uncle Ji. Lan-Zongzhu and Grandmaster Lan are my Great-Uncles, Madam Lan is my Great-Aunt.

“My mom’s youngest brother is Uncle Cheng, who is married to Uncle Sang who is Nie-Zongzhu, who is also my uncle because of Uncle Jue being married to Uncle Yao, so that’s twice related for both of them, too. My mom’s other brother is Uncle Xian, who is married to Uncle Ji so there’s the second time for both of them. Jiang-Zongzhu is my Great-Uncle and Madam Yu is my Great-Aunt. And then I have my Uncle Yu, but he’s just my dad’s youngest brother and he’s not married to anybody, and my Aunt Su is their sister but she isn’t married to anybody either.”

There’s a long silence while Wen Sizhui and Lan Jingyi stare at each other wide-eyed across the table.

“Remind me to send my Aunt Qing a thank you letter for not making me learn how all of this works,” Wen Sizhui finally says and Lan Jingyi bursts out laughing so loudly it startles a nearby flock of birds into flying off with a loud rustling of wings.

Wen Sizhui hides a smile behind a bite of his soup as Jin Ling shoves Lan Jingyi off his seat (only for him to keep laughing on the ground) with a snapped, “Shut up!”

As he watches his new friends he thinks to himself that he’ll have to remember to also thank her for allowing him to be the first Wen besides her and Uncle Ning to attend the Gusu Lan lectures in decades.

----

Wen Sizhui is doing his best to read Wen Qing’s return letter a few weeks later in the shade of a tree in the back hill. It would be easier without constant interruption, but he doesn’t mind the distraction in the end, and he’ll have plenty of time to finish reading the letter later. New friends are equally as important.

Ouyang Zizhen sighs again next to him and Wen Sizhui glances up from his letter to find him forlornly plucking the petals off a flower, a small pile of plucked blades of grass already neatly stacked in front of him.

“Zizhen,” he prompts, smiling indulgently when the other boy looks up at him with a truly impressive pout. It would work better on him had he not seen Wen Ning give Wen Qing some equally impressive doe-eyed pouts over the years (and perhaps learned how to do it himself from his uncle - it was the easiest way to be given extra sweets as a child). “You didn’t need to stay behind with me if you wanted to go to Caiyi with Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi.”

“Well I didn’t like the thought of you hanging out here by yourself on such a nice day! Are you sure you’re not a Lan with all this...meditating and quietly enjoying nature that you like to do?”

“Yes, I’m definitely a Wen,” he chuckles as he folds the letter up and tucks it into his sleeve. “My aunt says that we have to take good care of ourselves to be able to most effectively heal others, and meditation is good for you. The Lan Sect are masters at it, their lessons are extremely beneficial, and this weather is perfect for it.”

Ouyang Zizhen is grumbling something about how girls are extra flirty when the weather’s nice like this, and that Caiyi is apparently full of pretty girls just waiting to be flirted with, when a cheerful call suddenly rings out through the little field.

“Aiyah - Lan Zhan!! Look at these awful children stealing our favorite picnic spot!” Ouyang Zizhen scrambles to sit up and Wen Sizhui glances further up the ridge to see Wei Wuxian standing there with a wide grin and with his hands on his hips, Lan Wangji a silent pillar of icy white beside him.

“Wei-Qianbei!” Ouyang Zizhen squeaks, already nervous - it had become clear to the other three soon after the Ouyang heir had joined their friend group that authority figures make him nervous and they’ve been trying to help him with it, but it’s slow-going somewhere as tradition-bound as Cloud Recesses.

“Hello Wei-Qianbei, Hanguang-Jun,” Wen Sizhui greets politely for both of them, getting to his feet and helping Ouyang Zizhen to his so they can bow as the two men approach, though Wei Wuxian reaches them first by a long shot.

“What are two fine young gentlemen like yourselves doing hiding out in the back hills on such a nice day?” Wei Wuxian teases with narrowed eyes, a playful grin already tipping up the corners of his mouth.

“I was reading a letter from my aunt and Zizhen was keeping me company,” Wen Sizhui supplies before any assumptions can be made - he knows if anyone will jump to the most embarrassing assumptions it’ll be Wei Wuxian, even if he’s just doing it to tease.

“Ahh Wen Qing! How is she these days? Still terrifying?” Wei Wuxian laughs as Lan Wangji draws level with them - he had taken a much more sedate pace than his husband’s energetic bounding and sliding down the hillside to get to where the two teenagers are set up for their quiet afternoon.

“It depends on what frightens you, Wei-Qianbei,” Wen Sizhui replies sweetly with his most guileless smile. Between one blink and the next he’s got three long needles between his fingers, withdrawn from a pocket in his sleeve, and Wei Wuxian yelps, instantly ducking back a pace to half-hide behind Lan Wangji’s shoulder.

“Oohhhh I do not like how much you remind me of her!” he laughs, eyes bright. “Aiyah, put those away, Wen-gongzi! No one’s sick here, no need for your needles, put them away!”

Wen Sizhui tucks the needles back into his sleeve smoothly, still smiling. Ouyang Zizhen has, thankfully, relaxed marginally where he’s standing next to him. It’s difficult to be afraid of a man who goes around hiding behind his husband because of a silly little thing like a needle.

“Wen-Zongzhu sends her greetings to both of you along with a...not very gentle reminder that it is your turn to visit her in Dafan this year as she and Uncle Ning have visited you in your travels the past two years in a row,” he reports dutifully once Wei Wuxian has righted himself and straightened out his robes.

“Ah such a filial boy, passing along your Aunt’s messages! And I appreciate that you didn’t quote her word-for-word as I’m assuming there were threats involved,” Wei Wuxian praises with a grin and a nudge of his elbow against Lan Wangji, who’s watching their conversation with his usual stoicism. “I’ll write her back myself though, don’t worry about it. And Lan Zhan and I will find another spot to while away our afternoon, go back to enjoying yourselves!”

Wen Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen stay standing even after parting salutes have been exchanged, the pair of them turning in place to watch Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continue on their way further into the hill, hands subtly linked under the trailing material of their sleeves. Ouyang Zizhen eventually sighs again and drops back down into his spot to continue assaulting the poor flower he’s still picking apart, but Wen Sizhui can’t resist watching the pair of them a few moments longer.

They make for a striking couple, he’ll readily admit that much. The both of them are tall and broad-shouldered, Lan Wangji just slightly more so in both aspects. While Wei Wuxian’s dark wardrobe is a jarring contrast amongst the rest of the Lan Sect while in Cloud Recesses, out here in the mountain with no one around him but Lan Wangji they just look like two halves of a whole, light and dark, evenly matched. The tips of Lan Wangji’s silver guan glint in the sun, Wei Wuxian’s worn and time-dark leather band around the base of his ponytail its humble but equally elegant opposite.

Just before the pair has completely disappeared from sight between the trees, he sees them pause to embrace, Lan Wangji’s arms curling around Wei Wuxian’s waist and Wei Wuxian’s arms around his husband’s neck. He blushes slightly and averts his eyes to give them the privacy they seem to think they have and he returns to his seat next to Ouyang Zizhen, who sighs again but this time it sounds different. When Wen Sizhui glances down at him it’s to find a slightly dreamy expression on his face.

“Imagine having such gentlemen for uncles,” he supplies for an explanation when he notices Wen Sizhui looking at him curiously. “Jin Ling has nearly every major Sect Leader and Heir in his immediate family tree, do you think he’s immune to that...aura they all have around them by now?”

“You should ask him when he and Lan Jingyi get back,” Wen Sizhui teases with a smile, well aware by now of how such a question would be received by their prickly friend. “I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to answer yet more questions about his uncles.”

“A more important question to irritate the Young Mistress with is if Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s love story is true.”

“That depends on what version of it you’ve heard,” Wen Sizhui laughs as he gives up on any further meditation for the day and lays down in the grass beside his friend, eyes closed against the bright blue of the summer sky overhead. “All I’ve heard is the short version from my aunt, and she’s not what anyone would call a romantic - at least not that I’ve seen. Tell me the story?”

Ouyang Zizhen takes to telling it with relish, embellishing so many mundane things with such overly poetic language and dramatic sighs that Wen Sizhui can’t help but laugh occasionally, in the hazy way people laugh when they’re warm and content in the grass with a soft breeze stirring the scent of magnolias through the air.

By the time their friends find them in the evening Wen Sizhui has been treated to as many stories as Ouyang Zizhen can think to tell - romantic ones, funny ones, even folk tales he tells his sisters to help them sleep at night. Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling join them with little fanfare and only a little bit of roughhousing, and Wen Sizhui basks in both the golden hour and the presence of these boys who have somehow, over the course of mere weeks, become his closest friends.

----

“Why the pout so early in the morning, Young Mistress?” Lan Jingyi yawns behind his hand a few days later as Jin Ling joins the rest of them on the path to breakfast in the main dining hall for all the students.

“Uncle Ji stopped me to talk on my way out the door,” he replies around a yawn of his own, not even rising to the obvious bait of Lan Jingyi’s favorite nickname for him.

“What did he want to say?” Wen Sizhui prompts, genuinely curious to know what someone as aloof as Lan Wangji would want to say to his nephew at 6 in the morning that would also make said nephew so grumpy.

“ ‘Dinner’,” Jin Ling replies in such a good imitation of Lan Wangji’s cool, dispassionate tone that Ouyang Zizhen snorts.

“That’s it?” Lan Jingyi grumbles, likely irritated even by the prospect of being approached so early in the morning for something so simple.

“Yeah? He doesn’t usually say much if he doesn’t have to. It means he wants me to come have dinner with him and Uncle Xian tonight, probably so they can ask me how things are going with my classes.”

“And you just...know that. From one word.” The skepticism dripping from Lan Jingyi’s tone is too thick to be missed. Jin Ling makes a rude gesture in his direction.

“Yes, stupid. I’ve known him my whole life, of course I know how to talk to him, and my little brother talks like that too. Don’t judge me just because you’re too dumb to figure out what people are trying to say without it being spelled out for you.”

Lan Jingyi makes a half-hearted grab for him as if to pull him into a headlock and Ouyang Zizhen whines, shoving them both in different directions. “It’s too early for you two to start this, just drop it,” he pouts and Wen Sizhui is in full agreement with that. He doesn’t mind waking early, he actually enjoys it now that he’s used to it, but that doesn’t mean he wants to put up with his friends wrestling in the middle of Cloud Recesses when he could be eating breakfast.

“Is it strange for you to be attending lectures knowing that so much of your family is nearby when the rest of us are far from ours?” Wen Sizhui asks mainly to keep everyone awake and paying attention once the roughhousing has officially been put on hold and they’re all back to shuffling blearily along and yawning behind their hands as they go.

“Not really,” Jin Ling shrugs. “They’ve all been good about giving me space like any other disciple. I probably have Uncle Ji to thank for that, the rest of them are...clingy. Besides, pretty much everywhere I go I’m related to somebody. You get used to it.”

Wen Sizhui startles as Ouyang Zizhen nudges him in the side with a bony elbow and he glances at his friend first to see what he wants before following his gaze. The four of them stumble to a clumsy halt and dip into bows as they realize they’ve come face to face with Lan Xichen walking in the opposite direction back towards the residences, a basket from the kitchens in hand.

“Zewu-Jun,” they all greet and Lan Xichen smiles as he finishes closing the distance between them to return their bows with a nod - Wen Sizhui is determined to find out how the Lans (well..perhaps minus Lan Jingyi) can manage to turn every movement into something so regal.

“Wen-gongzi, Ouyang-gongzi, Lan Jingyi, A-Ling. I hope your morning is going well,” he greets in return, voice warm.

“Yes Zewu-Jun,” they chorus, only Lan Jingyi ruins it a bit with another wide yawn. Thankfully Lan Xichen just chuckles with what seems like understanding.

“I will not keep you from your breakfasts, then, nor would my husbands appreciate a delay in ours. A-Ling, shall I pass your greetings on to them?” There’s a distinct note of teasing under the polite question and Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen both stifle snorts behind their hands. Jin Ling, for once, has the grace to just sigh, seeming momentarily resigned to his lot in life.

“Yes Uncle Chen,” he mumbles, his attitude only making Lan Xichen smile wider. They exchange another round of salutes and step past each other, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen instantly pulling further ahead. Wen Sizhui glances over his shoulder in time to see Lan Xichen pause to give Jin Ling a pat on the shoulder and murmur something quietly just for him, both of which Jin Ling accepts with an affectionate smile that transforms his whole face. For all that Jin Ling bemoans his truly convoluted family situation to his friends, Wen Sizhui thinks that, if it were him, it would be nice to know that he’s loved no matter where he goes - and looking at the smile on his friend’s face, he realizes it might be possible that he feels the same.

Jin Ling turns forward again to catch him looking and Wen Sizhui expects him to bluster and fuss at him to hide the moment of vulnerability, but instead all he does is blush a bit and duck his head, that pleased little smile still on his face, and step forward to join him so they can finish walking to the dining hall in peaceful quiet.

----

“A-Ling! Hey!!”

“Oh gods it’s Uncle day,” the nephew in question sighs with a roll of his eyes, tipping his head back as if the sky will have any reprieve to offer him from the affections of his family.

“Three out of five before lunch, that’s a decent lead going into the afternoon,” Ouyang Zizhen remarks with a put-upon accent and mannerisms, both of which Lan Jingyi instantly copies, stroking an imaginary beard as he leans his shoulder against Ouyang Zizhen’s and tips his head back to look down the length of his nose at Jin Ling.

“Indeed, will the Young Mistress attempt a full score today? It’s a tricky feat, but it seems the uncles themselves are more than willing to help by seeking Young Mistress out whenever he dares to step foot outside.”

“Shut up you two,” Jin Ling hisses as Wen Sizhui laughs into his sleeve. “You’re so annoying!”

“Shall we count the Great Uncles as double points if they make an appearance as well?” Lan Jingyi addresses the question to Ouyang Zizhen, ignoring Jin Ling entirely save for a hand raised in his face to block his angry glaring.

“No, at least triple, I would say. Sizhui?”

“Four points each for Great Uncles, they are both a rare sighting out in the wild,” he supplies dutifully, as serene as ever as Jin Ling splutters and starts throwing punches - not at him, never at him, which Wen Sizhui would be lying if he said he hasn’t noticed.

“Ah ah, hey!” Wei Wuxian laughs as he draws up next to them to put a restraining hand on Jin Ling’s shoulder. “While I fully support fighting while you’re young you’re supposed to save it for your enemies!”

“They are my enemies,” Jin Ling grumbles as Wei Wuxian waves off the attempts of the other three to stand and bow.

“Don’t get up, don’t get up! Aiyah your manners are too good, all of you. Where are yours, A-Ling?” Lan Jingyi’s eyes and grin both go wide with pure, mischievous delight as Wei Wuxian ruffles his free hand in Jin Ling’s hair, making him squawk and duck away from his grip.

“Da-jiu!!” Jin Ling snaps as Wei Wuxian throws his head back to laugh.

“Hush A-Ling, you can’t expect me to believe you haven’t missed getting teased by an uncle this last month since you left home, I’m just filling in for Mo Xuanyu! I have to go set up to teach the babies their archery basics so I’ll be on my way, but Lan Zhan asked you to come have dinner with us this evening, yes?”

“Yes,” Jin Ling mutters, still looking mutinous.

“Good! The invitation is actually for all four of you, I realized he probably didn’t make that clear.” Wen Sizhui looks up at that, surprise written as clearly on his face as it is on Ouyang Zizhen’s and Lan Jingyi’s. “Why are you all looking at me like that?” Wei Wuxian laughs.

“In the Jingshi? With you and Hanguang-Jun?” Lan Jingyi pipes up, looking starstruck.

“Of course! It’ll be nice, Lan Zhan’s going to cook and I’m going to sneak behind him and spice things properly. We want to see A-Ling and we thought it would be nice to have all of you over together since you’ve become such good friends.”

“Of course, Wei-qianbei,” Wen Sizhui replies with a smile. “Thank you for the invitation, we will be happy to accept.”

“Great! So polite! Jin Ling is so lucky to have such examples of gentlemanly behavior to learn from,” Wei Wuxian teases, ducking away from Jin Ling’s weak punch in his direction with another laugh. He offers them a jaunty parting salute before stepping back onto the main path.

“I’m telling er-jiu that you messed with me so he can come kick your ass!” Jin Ling shouts after his retreating back. Wei Wuxian just laughs again and waves a hand without even bothering to look back at them.

“Hey - Jin-gongzi,” Lan Jingyi says once Wei Wuxian has turned the corner and is out of sight. He smirks when Jin Ling turns to give him a wary look. “No shouting in Cloud Recesses.”

Wen Sizhui has to stand up and back away from the table to avoid several flailing limbs as Jin Ling goes in for a tackle, and he’s glad that the four of them had chosen to study far away from the main teaching pavilions as his laughter and his friends’ playful shouts echo off the trees around them.

----

“Lan Zhaaaan!” Wei Wuxian’s whining is audible as soon as the four junior disciples step through the gate that leads to the yard surrounding the Jingshi that evening. “Come on, they’ve been eating nothing but boring Lan food for a month! I’m sure they’ll appreciate some spice and flavor!”

“Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji’s quiet admonishment is only audible because their doors are already thrown open to the warm summer breeze.

“Okay fine, we can set out the chili oil and let them decide for themselves. But we already know that A-Ling will want it! Just let me spice my bowl and his at least!”

Wen Sizhui glances at Jin Ling to try to gauge his reaction but the back of his head doesn’t offer any answers. It feels strange to even be anywhere near the private home of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, let alone to approach it with the intention to go inside, but Jin Ling clearly feels right at home doing so - and leading his three friends to do so as well.

“Da-jiu!” he shouts now while they’re still crossing the yard and there’s a clatter from inside the house shortly followed by Wei Wuxian bounding up to the threshold to grin at them.

“A-Ling! My favorite first nephew!” he cries, flinging one arm wide. He seems, if possible, even more energetic than when he can be seen flitting around the public spaces of Cloud Recesses.

“You say that all the time, da-jiu, and it never stops being ridiculous.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me A-Ling, you look just like your er-jiu when you do that, it’s creepy! Come in, come in, all four of you. Lan Zhan’s just finishing dinner.”

The four of them troop into the house and Wen Sizhui tries not to look around the space quite as obviously as Lan Jingyi is doing, but he can’t help but be curious. Their hosts at least don’t seem to notice, or if they do they don’t mind. Jin Ling gestures for them to settle at a table and begins to pour tea for them all as Wei Wuxian flits back to his husband’s side at the hearth on the other end of the main room.

“Where’s A-Xiao?” Jin Ling asks his uncles once the four of them are all settled in with tea and the silence threatens to creep in, thick and heavy. “My cousin,” he supplies quietly to the rest of them at the table.

“Dormitories,” Lan Wangji replies, his deep, steady voice instantly soothing some of the awkwardness curling through Wen Sizhui’s chest.

“Oh. When did he start taking classes with everyone else?”

“Two months ago, right after we gave him his courtesy name and his ribbon. He’s Lan Xiafeng now, so you know just in case you run into him, but it’s taking him a while to get used to it,” Wei Wuxian supplies as he starts bringing finished dishes over to the table with surprisingly good balance. “Honestly he’s been ready for his formal studies for longer than that from a teacher’s standpoint, but we wanted him to choose when to move to the dormitories and begin his lessons with everyone else. He’d love to see you sometime if you can spare him a minute, though,” he continues. Wen Sizhui wonders if he should feel uncomfortable that they’re discussing family business in front of them and a glance at Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen proves that they’re looking similarly at a loss.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji calls without looking up from whatever he’s stirring and Wei Wuxian immediately flaps his hands a bit (thankfully he’s not still holding any dishes when he does it). “Guests.”

“Aiyah, I know Lan Zhan, but A-Ling asked! But of course you’re right anyway, enough family talk,” he sighs as he plops down at one of the two remaining place settings to grin at all of them. “I may mostly teach the babies these days but I remember what it was like both to take and teach the lessons you four are in. Tell me about them, come on! Don’t be shy.”

Lan Wangji brings the rest of the dishes over in silence over the next few minutes as Jin Ling practically bullies Wen Sizhui, Ouyang Zizhen, and Lan Jingyi out of their nervousness to get them talking. It doesn’t take too long before Wei Wuxian’s natural charisma and questions have the conversation flowing more freely, even once they begin eating. Wen Sizhui notices about halfway through the meal that Lan Wangji seems to uphold the Lan rule of no speaking during meals - even when Wei Wuxian tries to get him to offer up an opinion or a potential solution to whatever scenario they’re discussing - but at the same time he makes no move to stop the others from chatting, not even Lan Jingyi.

He studies Lan Wangji as subtly as he can in glances and out of the corners of his eyes, looking for the things that Jin Ling had told them about that afternoon in preparation for dinner. Jin Ling had sworn that if you look close enough, Lan Wangji’s face is actually very expressive, much more so than he seems from a distance, and that his expressions can help with decoding what he says when he hardly uses words. ‘It’s just a matter of knowing what to look for and paying enough attention to spot it’, Jin Ling had said with all the confidence that comes from a lifetime of prior experience, as if it should be that easy for everyone else.

It takes most of the remainder of the meal for Wen Sizhui to begin to see it. Lan Jingyi has relaxed enough to start teasing everyone at the table (well, everyone who’s not Lan Wangji) and something he has just said makes Wei Wuxian throw his head back and laugh. While the eye would normally be drawn to Wei Wuxian’s boisterous character, Wen Sizhui glances at Lan Wangji beside the other man just in time to spot the ghost of a smile on his lips and the way his eyebrows relax marginally out of their perpetually stern set, somehow managing to soften not only his eyes but his entire countenance. It’s such a small, subtle change, but now that he’s noticed it he can’t help but feel like Lan Wangji is...glowing. Practically radiating silent contentment, like a cat sleeping curled in a beam of summer sunshine or on a hearth in front of a fire in the winter.

Wen Sizhui is still staring (on accident) when Lan Wangji turns his head and meets his eyes, his smile somehow managing to gentle even further until it becomes so unexpectedly tender that Wen Sizhui can’t even find it in himself to be embarrassed for getting caught looking. He offers his own smile back, an easy slip of a thing that feels right at home on his lips, and after a long moment Lan Wangji breaks the contact with a nod and a return of his gaze back to his husband at his side.

Wen Sizhui returns to the conversation at hand - something about talisman theory that is being hotly debated between Wei Wuxian, Jin Ling, and Ouyang Zizhen (who has also apparently relaxed in response to Wei Wuxian’s gregariousness). The conversation continues to fly quickly for the rest of the evening - witty and loud and fun - until they have to leave to make it back to their dorms for curfew.

They say their goodbyes and their thank you’s on the threshold of the porch and then step out of the warm light of the Jingshi into the dark hum of the evening, Wen Sizhui trailing behind his friends still chatting and laughing amongst themselves. At the last moment, he can’t quite resist turning to glance over his shoulder one more time, back towards the comfortable home tucked unobtrusively into its little copse of bamboo.

The sight of the warmly lit silhouettes of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian standing in the door to their home, Wei Wuxian leaning against his husband’s side with his head on his shoulder, imprints itself instantly into his mind like the bold strokes of a painting. He raises one hand in a tentative wave and instantly receives one in return from Wei Wuxian.

For propriety’s sake, he’s willing to pretend not to hear the gentle, “Be good, A-Yuan,” that follows after him onto the path, Lan Wangji’s mellow tones turning the goodbye into something so soft that it feels like a hug. Maybe, Wen Sizhui supposes as he gets ready for bed in the room he shares with Jin Ling a few minutes later, he’s loved here too.

#The untamed fanfic #the junior quartet #Jin Ling #Lan Jingyi #Ouyang Zizhen #Lan Sizhui #only he's Wen Sizhui this time around #Y'all I know the courtesy name was a product of LWJ missing WWX but I just do not have the energy to come up with something new for him #I already made courtesy names for Jin Ling's oc brothers and for Lan Xiafeng I'm done lol #If anyone wants to know any of my headcanons for these boys/how things are for them in this AU just let me know!#Anon I hope you like it ^_^#Also - Jin Ling has TOO MANY UNCLES I'M SORRY I CAN'T FIGURE OUT GOOD TITLES FOR ALL OF THEM #WHO IN THE WORLD HAS SO MANY UNCLES?! NOBODY #I'm sure it's probably not the greatest for JL to call them all by their names but I just. I can't #prompt fill

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veliseraptor · 4 years

Note

Xue Yang babysits Jin Ling! Alternatively Jiang Cheng babysits Rusong

Extracurricular

[READ ON AO3]

Thank you for officially asking for this one and giving me the excuse to write it because lord knows I wanted to but who knows how long it would’ve taken me to get around to it on my own! And of course thanks to @ameliarating for the swift beta.

content warnings: mild actual violence, some semi-graphic threats of violence, general implied child endangerment (but no actual harm to said child)

Jin Ling was having a very bad day.

He’d already gotten in one fight with Jin Chan and his friends that he’d lost, and he was lonely and bored. His xiao-shushu was too busy to spend any time with him, even though he’d said he would. His shenshen had tried to cheer him up but he’d ended up yelling at her and now he felt bad about it.

At least there was Little Fairy.

Or at least, there had been Little Fairy, until she’d run off barking, and he’d spent the last forever wandering around calling for her and feeling increasingly like he was going to cry, which knowing his luck would be when Jin Chan would show up again to laugh and sneer like he was so much better than Jin Ling when he was nothing but a stupid idiot.

“Little Fairy!” he called again, and then turned a corner and saw her sitting in front of Xiao-shushu’s chambers with an unfamiliar man who was sprawled on the stairs and scratching her ears. Little Fairy got up and trotted over to him, tongue lolling out of her mouth and tail wagging, and the man looked up and over toward Jin Ling.

“Hey,” he said. “Your dog?”

“Yes,” Jin Ling said loudly. “She is my dog. What were you doing with her?”

The man laughed, stretching out his legs. “Thought that was obvious. What’d it look like? You’ve got eyes, don’t you?”

Jin Ling’s face got hot. “Of course I do,” he said hotly. “Why are you sitting there, anyway? Don’t you know whose chambers those are?”

The man glanced slowly toward the door and then back at Jin Ling. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”

“So-” Jin Ling stumbled a little. “So you shouldn’t just sit there like that.”

“Would it be better if I was sitting differently?”

Jin Ling felt his face crumpling into a scowl. “Go sit somewhere else!”

“No.”

Jin Ling stared at him, hands clenching into fists. “Don’t you know who I am?” he said. “You have to listen to me.”

The man cocked his head to the side. “Yeah? Who says?”

Jin Ling opened his mouth and closed it. “I’m going to find my xiao-shushu,” he said. “You’re going to be sorry you talked to me like this-”

“Doubt it,” the man said. “But sure. I need to talk to him about something anyway.”

“About what?”

“None of your business, brat.”

Jin Ling puffed up, indignation swelling in his chest, and said loudly, “who do you think you are? I’m-”

“Lianfang-zun’s idiot nephew,” the man said, and stretched, sitting up slowly. “I know. I’ve seen you and your dog around. What’re you so mad about, anyway? It’s not like I’m killing anyone.” His smile looked a little strange, though Jin Ling wasn’t quite sure why. “Just sitting here.”

Jin Ling gaped. Absurdly, his eyes were starting to sting. He reached down to grab Little Fairy’s ruff. “Get out!” he said. “Or I’ll have Little Fairy bite you.”

He didn’t look bothered by the threat. His smile just got bigger. “If your dog bites me I’ll bite her back,” he said. “And I’ve got sharper teeth.”

“No you don’t,” Jin Ling said.

The man pulled a knife from somewhere - he didn’t see where - and waved it at him. “Yeah, I do.”

Jin Ling’s eyes widened and his hand clenched tighter in Little Fairy’s fur. A moment later the knife vanished again and the man bounced to his feet with a laugh. “Ha,” he said. “Freaked you out, huh? Don’t worry, a-Ling, I like dogs.”

His face got hot again. “Don’t call me that,” he snapped. “Don’t you have any respect for your superiors?”

“Not really.” The man stretched and walked slowly over to him. Jin Ling glared up at him.

“Who are you, anyway,” he said.

The man cocked his head to the side again and then gave the most perfunctory bow Jin Ling had ever received. “Xue Chengmei, Jin-xiao-gongzi. I do some work for your xiao-shushu.”

Jin Ling narrowed his eyes. “What kind of work?”

“It’s a secret,” Xue Chengmei said. “Maybe he’ll tell you if you ask him but I don’t think I should. Sorry.”

“I’ve never seen you before.”

“Makes sense,” Xue Chengmei said. “Lianfang-zun mostly just keeps me in the basement and I only come out a night, like a wutou gui.”

Jin Ling stared at him, baffled. All he could think to say was, “you still have a head.”

“Looks like it, doesn’t it,” Xue Chengmei said affably. Jin Ling just stared harder, and he laughed. “The look on your face,” he said. “What, does no one ever tell jokes around you? I know Lianfang-zun’s sense of humor is shit but…”

Jin Ling scowled again. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

“Why not?”

For a moment Jin Ling didn’t have an answer. Finally he said, “He’s the Chief Cultivator. What are you?”

Xue Chengmei grinned at him. “His pet, mostly,” he said, and Jin Ling tensed because he sounded angry, for just a second, or at least like he was going to be angry even though he was still smiling. Then it was gone, though, and he was cocking his head at Jin Ling again.

“What does that mean,” Jin Ling asked, stubbornly.

“What’re you doing, anyway?” Xue Chengmei asked, which wasn’t an answer. “Don’t you have other things to do than telling people off just for sitting?”

Jin Ling set his jaw and scowled off to the side. “None of your business.”

Xue Chengmei laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “Sucks being ignored, doesn’t it.” He pulled a candy out of his robes and unwrapped it, popping it in his mouth. When he noticed Jin Ling looking he said, “do you want one?”

“Yes,” Jin Ling said after a moment.

“Too bad.” Jin Ling gaped at him, and he laughed again. “My candy is mine, little brat. I’m not gonna share.”

“Then why did you offer?” Xue Chengmei shrugged, and Jin Ling scowled at him. “You’re mean.”

“Yeah,” Xue Chengmei said, grinning at him. “I’m very mean. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, Jin-xiao-gongzi.”

Jin Ling frowned. “Are you threatening me?”

“I would never,” Xue Chengmei said. “Your xiao-shushu would gut me if I even thought about it. Or, well, have someone else do it, probably.”

Jin Ling scowled, insulted on Xiao-shushu’s behalf. “He’d do it himself.”

Xue Chengmei let out another laugh. “Sure,” he said. “Sure.” He paused and shifted, fidgeting, then crunched the candy loudly between his teeth and said, “hey, so, are you doing anything?”

Jin Ling hesitated. He didn’t want to say that he wasn’t, but he was also - very bored and very lonely and Xue Chengmei might be weird but he was talking to Jin Ling, and not like he was a baby, either. “No,” he said finally. “Not right now. Why?”

Xue Chengmei grinned at him. “Want to go into Lanling?”

Jin Ling stared at him again. “Leave Jinlintai? Alone?”

“Not alone,” Xue Chengmei said. “With me. And your dog, I guess,” he added, with a glance at Little Fairy, who seemed to have settled down again.

Jin Ling shifted, a little uncertain. “Xiao-shushu says I’m too young.”

Xue Chengmei scoffed. “When I was your age I’d already killed my first man,” he said. Jin Ling frowned, uncertain whether or not he was joking, but he’d already moved on. “Come on. In the future you’ll probably have to go around with a whole delegation of lackeys trailing after you. That’s no fun.”

Jin Ling furrowed his brows. “It’s not?”

“Nope,” Xue Chengmei said. “You can’t get away with anything.”

“What are you trying to get away with?”

Xue Chengmei leaned a little toward him. “Murder,” he said, conspiratorially, and when Jin Ling reared back, eyes widening, he laughed. “Kidding, kidding,” he said. “I wouldn’t kill anyone here, I’d get in so much trouble.”

Jin Ling frowned at him. “You’re weird,” he said.

“Weird and mean,” Xue Chengmei said. “Been called worse. Well? Do you want to go or not? Because I’m sick of waiting around for a-Yao to stop kissing ass and get back to the real work.”

Jin Ling frowned again. “You should call him Lianfang-zun,” he said.

“Right,” Xue Chengmei said. “I’m sick of waiting around for Lianfang-zun to stop kissing ass.”

Jin Ling could feel his face getting hot. “That’s a bad word.”

“That’s nothing,” Xue Chengmei said. “I have language that’d drop your delicate noble ears off. Want to hear it?”

“No!” Jin Ling said, even if the answer was sort of ‘yes.’

“Suit yourself,” Xue Chengmei said. “Have fun, Jin-xiao-gongzi. I’m out.” He turned away, pulling another candy out of his robes and unwrapping it.

“Wait,” Jin Ling blurted out. Xue Chengmei paused.

“What, little brat,” he said.

“Don’t call me that,” Jin Ling snapped. “And - and take me with you. You have to, since I said so.”

Xue Chengmei glanced back at him. There was something strange in the way he looked at Jin Ling, not like the way other people did before they started pretending to be nice, but something else that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Then he smiled again, sweetly.

“All right, Jin-xiao-gongzi,” he said. “It’d be an honor to escort you to Lanling.” He bowed again, and something about it felt a little funny, and Jin Ling frowned, suspecting he was being made fun of again. “Don’t tell your xiao-shushu, though, all right? He might get mad about it.”

Jin Ling wavered. “I don’t want him to be mad,” he said, uncertain again.

“Ha,” Xue Chengmei said. “What’s he going to do to you, anyway? It’s me who’d really hear it.”

“But if you know Xiao-shushu won’t like it…”

Xue Chengmei grinned. “Come on,” he said. “Don’t tell me you’ve never done something even knowing people wouldn’t like it. Or if you haven’t, you should. Only way you’ll get anything out of life is if you take it, a-Ling. No one’s going to give it to you.”

“People give me things,” Jin Ling said.

“Sure,” Xue Chengmei said. “Cause they want something from you. Gifts have always got strings attached. Take it from me. The only things that’re really yours is the stuff you grab for yourself.”

Jin Ling frowned. That didn’t sound right, but he didn’t know how to argue with it, and Xue Chengmei sounded so sure of himself, so maybe it was true.

“Oh,” he said finally. “Okay.”

“So,” Xue Chengmei said. “Are you coming or not?”

Jin Ling had been to Lanling before, but it’d always been with Xiao-shushu or Shenshen or Jiujiu and at least one or two guards. It seemed bigger and louder when he was just walking with Xue Chengmei.

And people were ruder, too. They ignored Jin Ling completely, at least up until someone bumped into him.

“Hey!” Jin Ling said, indignant. Little Fairy next to him puffed up and growled. The man’s lip curled.

“Get out of my way and control your dog,” he said, and then seemed to notice what Jin Ling was wearing and his eyes widened. Jin Ling drew himself up and opened his mouth.

Xue Chengmei tapped him on the head and said, “hey. Pick a number between one and ten.”

Jin Ling turned to look up at him. “What?”

“Just do it,” he said.

“I beg your pardon,” the man stammered. “Gongzi, I didn’t realize - I’ll be going-”

“No,” Xue Chengmei said, and he moved fast, grabbing the man’s arm and glancing back over his shoulder at Jin Ling. He was smiling, but Jin Ling’s neck was prickling again. “I’m not done with you yet. A-Ling, come on. Pick a number.”

“Um,” Jin Ling said. “Four?”

“Great,” Xue Chengmei said, and Jin Ling didn’t exactly see what he did except that the man who’d bumped into him started screaming and clutching his left hand and there was a lot of blood going everywhere. And there was something on the ground, and was that a finger-

“All right,” Xue Chengmei said, “now I’m done. Hey, a-Ling, come this way, I know a place you can get dragon’s beard candy.”

Jin Ling opened his mouth again, then closed it and followed Xue Chengmei, who was already moving on. He glanced back at the man once, feeling a little sick, and quickly looked back forward.

“What,” he said in a small voice, then stopped and tried again. “Did you just…”

“Just looking after you, a-Ling,” he said cheerfully.

“Don’t call me that,” Jin Ling said again. “And - and - you hurt him.”

“Yeah,” Xue Chengmei said. “And?”

Jin Ling didn’t actually know what to say to that. Finally he managed, “and that’s bad.”

“Why?”

Jin Ling didn’t have an answer to that, either. “It just is,” he said. Xue Chengmei snorted.

“Says who?” he said. “He’s just some random guy. Not important. I can do whatever to him and it doesn’t matter. You even more, since you’re a high and mighty lord, even if you’re a baby right now.”

Jin Ling’s face got hot. “I’m not a baby!”

Xue Chengmei grinned at him. “Little bit,” he said. “It’s okay, you’ll grow into it.”

Jin Ling glared at him. “You’re terrible,” he said. “I don’t like you.”

“Keep talking like that and I won’t get you any dragon’s beard candy,” Xue Chengmei said, smile getting wider and sharper. “I’ll just eat mine in front of you. You’re lucky I like you, you know. You know what I’d usually do to someone who talked to me like that?”

Jin Ling had the feeling, suddenly, that he didn’t want to know. “What?”

“I’d dig out their eyes with my thumbs and throw them to the crows,” Xue Chengmei said cheerfully. Jin Ling stopped, his stomach lurching and his eyes widening.

“That’s horrible.”

Xue Chengmei laughed. “I’m joking, a-Ling,” he said. “You’ll believe anything, won’t you?”

Jin Ling had the odd feeling that he was not joking, that he had really meant it, and maybe had done it before, but he tried to ignore it. If he worked for his xiao-shushu he had to be all right. Weird, maybe, like Mo Xuanyu, but all right. Which meant he couldn’t be serious about it, and he’d probably imagined what had happened back there, or it wasn’t as bad as he’d thought.

“So do you want the candy or not,” Xue Chengmei said.

Jin Ling nodded, slowly.

“Good answer,” Xue Chengmei said. “Now come on. Don’t get lost, I won’t come looking for you.”

Jin Ling hurried after him. It sounded almost like the kind of thing his jiujiu would say, but he suspected that Xue Chengmei might actually mean it.

The dragon’s beard candy was sticky and sweet and delicious. Jin Ling watched Xue Chengmei devour the substantial quantity he’d bought, fascinated and a little jealous, even if he felt a little sick himself just watching.

He never got that many sweets at once. Never.

After they got the candy Jin Ling sort of thought they’d go back to Jinlintai, but they didn’t - just kept wandering around the city. Keeping up with Xue Chengmei wasn’t easy. He didn’t walk slowly, and he moved through the crowds of people like they were barely even there, and sometimes he’d stop unexpectedly at one stall or another or duck into a store without saying anything.

“Do you have to walk so fast?” Jin Ling complained, and Xue Chengmei grinned at him.

“If you can’t keep pace you shouldn’t’ve come with me.”

“You said I could,” Jin Ling shot back.

“Yeah,” Xue Chengmei said. “Didn’t say I’d go easy on you, though, did I?

Jin Ling scowled at him. Xue Chengmei laughed, which made Jin Ling scowl harder. “Don’t laugh at me,” he said. Xue Chengmei cocked his head to the side.

“Does saying that to people usually make them stop laughing at you?”

Jin Ling glowered at Xue Chengmei and crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

“That’s what I thought,” Xue Chengmei said. “You just sound pathetic when you say that. And people know they’ve gotten under your skin, too, so they know where to hit you when they go for you the next time.”

Jin Ling’s eyes prickled. “I’m not pathetic.”

“Sound like it,” Xue Chengmei said. He took a bite out of an apple Jin Ling hadn’t seen him pay for. “Look. Want some free advice?”

Jin Ling was not sure he did, but he was too curious not to nod.

“I get the idea you don’t have any friends,” Xue Chengmei said. Jin Ling flinched and hunched his shoulders.

“Shut up,” he said. Xue Chengmei laughed.

“Am I wrong? I’m not, I know I’m not. Anyway, people laugh at you all the time, right? Tease you? Fuck around with you?”

Jin Ling said nothing, but he hunched his shoulders further and thought how did you know anyway.

“Yeah,” Xue Chengmei said. “Thought so. They look at you and see you’re weak and an easy target.”

“I’m not weak,” Jin Ling said indignantly.

“Uh huh,” Xue Chengmei said. “You want them to stop, you need to make sure they stop seeing you as prey.”

Jin Ling squinted sullenly in his direction, angry about prey and weak and easy target. “What does that mean?”

Xue Chengmei paused and looked in his direction. He was still smiling but there was a sort of glint in his eye that made Jin Ling suddenly wish he weren’t alone with him. “It means,” he said, “you have to show them you’re serious.”

Jin Ling drew himself up. “Serious how,” he said, because he wasn’t some kind of scared baby and it wasn’t like Xue Chengmei was doing anything.

Xue Chengmei paused again, seeming to be thinking, and then he laughed, a little oddly, and reached into his robes. “Here,” he said, pulling something out and pressing it into Jin Ling’s hand.

It was a sheathed knife. The one he’d seen earlier, with the merchant. He pulled it out carefully; it wasn’t big but it was definitely sharp and Jin Ling stared at it, wide-eyed.

“Next time someone makes fun of you, take that and carve up their face,” Xue Chengmei said casually. “They’ll think twice about doing it again, and so will other people.”

Jin Ling raised his eyes slowly to Xue Chengmei’s face, his mouth dropping open. Xue Chengmei grinned.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “Don’t tell Lianfang-zun I gave that to you, though. He’ll just take it away.”

Then he just - started walking again. Jin Ling looked at his back, down at the knife, then scampered after him, his head spinning. Involuntarily, Jin Ling imagined Jin Chan with his face all cut to ribbons. His stomach lurched and he felt dizzy, like he might fall over.

He hurried to catch up. “You don’t mean it,” he said.

Xue Chengmei glanced at him. “I don’t?”

Jin Ling shook his head. “No. No way.”

Xue Chengmei laughed again, a little oddly. It seemed like he laughed a lot. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” he said. “It’s your knife now. Up to you what you want to do with it.”

Jin Ling realized they were starting to head back toward Jinlintai. He felt a little like he should throw the knife away, or make Xue Chengmei take it back, but doing that felt like it’d make him look weak or pathetic and so he tucked it away instead.

“We’re going back now?” he said. Xue Chengmei hummed.

“Yeah,” he said. “Think so. I want to get back before your xiao-shushu sends out an army of disciples to track you down. That’d just get messy, probably.”

“Messy?” Jin Ling said. Xue Chengmei smiled at him, but it looked sort of like when Little Fairy bared her teeth.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “He won’t do it yet. He won’t want your jiujiu upset if he can avoid it.”

Jin Ling didn’t want his jiujiu upset either. He was beginning to feel a little guilty.

It served him right, he told himself. And it wasn’t like anything bad had happened, anyway. Not really.

Though he found he was a little glad they were going home.

Xiao-shushu was waiting at the side gate. His eyes locked on Xue Chengmei, then moved quickly sideways to Jin Ling.

“A-Ling,” he said. His eyes flicked over Jin Ling from head to toe and he seemed relieved, but he still asked anxiously, “are you all right?”

“Yes?” Jin Ling said, not quite a question. He glanced at Xue Chengmei, who smirked at Xiao-shushu, then unwrapped yet another candy and put it in his mouth, pushing it to one cheek with his tongue.

“Of course he is, Lianfang-zun,” he said. “I’d never let any harm come to Jin-xiao-gongzi. Don’t you trust me?”

Xiao-shushu’s face spasmed. “You,” he said. Then he glanced at Jin Ling, and Jin Ling knew what it looked like when people were thinking about saying something and then decided not to because he was there. “We’ll speak about this later,” he said tightly.

“Come on,” Xue Chengmei said. “He had fun. Didn’t you, a-Ling?”

Jin Ling hesitated. He looked at Xiao-shushu and then back at Xue Chengmei. He could still taste the dragon’s beard candy. He could still see the blood and hear that man yelling.

“He looked so bored,” Xue Chengmei said. “Doesn’t the kid have friends? And I was bored, too, since you were too busy to make our appointment. I just figured he could use some company.”

Xiao-shushu’s eyes narrowed. “And you nominated yourself, I take it?”

Xue Chengmei shrugged, and grinned. “Why not?”

It was weird, Jin Ling thought. How little respect Xue Chengmei was showing, and yet Xiao-shushu wasn’t saying anything about it. He felt like maybe he should. But he was also kind of mad at his Xiao-shushu right now. He lifted his chin and said, “I did have fun. I like Chengmei-qianbei.”

Xue Chengmei laughed, loudly, and shot a gleeful grin at Jin Ling. “Aw, thanks,” he said. “I like you too, Jin-xiao-gongzi.”

Xiao-shushu let out another weird hissing sound. “Go,” he said. “We are going to talk about this. Later.”

Xue Chengmei laughed. “Lianfang-zun,” he said. “Don’t get so worked up. You don’t want to give yourself a qi deviation like Chifeng-zun, do you?”

Xiao-shushu’s nostrils pinched. Then he smiled again. “No,” he said, and he didn’t sound mad anymore but Jin Ling still shifted a little anxiously. “I wouldn’t want that.” He turned toward Jin Ling. “A-Ling, come with me.”

Jin Ling hung back for a moment, but slowly walked over, Little Fairy padding behind him, shoulders hunched. Xiao-shushu smiled at him. “Let’s walk together, all right? I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you sooner.”

Jin Ling scowled sullenly at him, then glanced at Xue Chengmei again. “It was fine,” he said stubbornly. “I got to go do fun things anyway.”

For just a moment he thought Xiao-shushu’s expression tightened, but then he just looked over toward Xue Chengmei and Jin Ling couldn’t really see it anymore. “Go,” he said again. “Wait for me in my office. And don’t touch anything.”

Xue Chengmei grinned again, and bowed. “Yes, Lianfang-zun,” he said. “Whatever you say, Lianfang-zun.”

He turned and walked off. For a few moments Xiao-shushu just stared after him, and then he turned back to Jin Ling.

“A-Ling,” he said. Jin Ling stared stubbornly at the ground, and he added gently, “I’m not mad. I was worried. I didn’t know where you were.”

“I didn’t go far.”

“I didn’t know that,” Xiao-shushu said, and he was gentle, not like Jiujiu, but that just made him feel guilty. “And Xue Chengmei…” he trailed off. “Did he say anything strange to you?”

Jin Ling hesitated. “He said he does things for you but it’s a secret. What does he do?”

Xiao-shushu shook his head and laughed. “Nothing exciting. He likes to feel more important than he really is.”

Jin Ling thought of the man in the market and what he’d said about feeding eyes to crows and wondered if he should say something about that. “He’s weird,” he said.

“Yes,” Xiao-shushu said with a smile. “Chengmei is very strange. Did he say anything else you have questions about? He’s very...talkative, sometimes, and has a very vivid imagination. Sometimes he says things just to shock people.”

Jin Ling nodded slowly. “So...he doesn’t mean them?”

“Of course not,” Xiao-shushu said soothingly. “But he’s not good company for you, a-Ling. If you see him again you shouldn’t talk to him, and you certainly shouldn’t go into the city with him. It’s not safe for you there, besides.”

Jin Ling scuffed his feet, looking down again. “I’m not a baby,” he said.

“I know,” Xiao-shushu said. “But you are still young, and there are many people who would want to hurt you. You have to be careful.” He paused. “I am sorry. I know I said I’d spend today with you, but I got caught up in an emergency that I had to deal with immediately.”

Chengmei-qianbei said you were just kissing ass, Jin Ling thought, but he wasn’t going to say it. Xiao-shushu might not beat him for it but he wouldn’t be happy. So he just didn’t say anything.

“Can I make it up to you now?” Xiao-shushu asked. “I’ve cleared my evening. I know you missed your lessons this morning, but you can go over the material with me, and then we can do something fun together. What do you think?”

Jin Ling’s stomach still felt funny. He scowled down at the ground.

“A-Ling,” Xiao-shushu said gently.

“What if I want to talk to him again,” Jin Ling said, though he wasn’t certain he did. Xiao-shushu stopped and turned toward him, putting his hands on his shoulders.

“Don’t,” he said, and his voice was suddenly a great deal more serious. Jin Ling stared mulishly back at him for a few seconds, and finally looked down and sighed.

“Yes, Xiao-shushu,” he said, and Xiao-shushu smiled again, and squeezed his shoulders.

“I only want what’s best for you, a-Ling,” he said. “You know that.”

“Just sometimes…”

“I know,” Xiao-shushu said. “It’s hard. And people here aren’t always kind to you. They’re envious, but it doesn’t matter what they say, a-Ling. You are every bit as good as them. You always will be. It isn’t your fault that some people are too foolish to recognize it yet.” He paused. “You know what? I think it’s time you had a bow to start practicing with. I’m sure you’ll be a great archer when you are grown, just like your father.”

Jin Ling’s lip wobbled. He nodded, and then flung himself at Xiao-shushu to hug him.

“Thank you, Xiao-shushu,” he said.

“Of course, a-Ling,” he said. “Of course. Now come.”

He reached to take Jin Ling’s hand, and Jin Ling took it and followed, feeling a bit lighter. But what he thought of, suddenly, was Xue Chengmei saying gifts have always got strings attached. The only things that’re really yours is the stuff you take for yourself.

He shoved that out of his mind. What did he know, anyway?

Next time someone makes fun of you, take that and carve up their face. They’ll think twice about doing it again.

Jin Ling checked surreptitiously in his sleeve. The little knife was still there. He tried to imagine using it on Jin Chan or one of his cronies, and felt sick, quickly dropping his hand back to his side.

He probably hadn’t been serious, anyway.

Probably.

#winepresswrath #jin ling #xue yang #a wild fic appeared #the untamed #the sad queer cultivators show #this was fun i had fun

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bloody-bee-tea · 4 years

Text

Sunrise - Xichen Week 2020 Day 3

I chose the prompt “Sunrise” for Day 3. This is actually a re-write of my original fic for this day, because that was from Jiang Cheng’s pov and I didn’t like that for Xichen Week. A link to his pov can be found at the end of this.

Lan Xichen can tell the exact moment Jiang Cheng starts to wake up. He makes an adorable face, before he huffs and then he slightly turns his head into Lan Xichen’s direction.

Lan Xichen should be long up; it’s way past five in the morning, but he’s at Lotus Pier and so he doesn’t have to follow his Sect’s rules. Quite the opposite, really, because Jiang Cheng has made it known that he wants Lan Xichen to be still in bed when he wakes up.

And it’s not at all a hardship; Jiang Cheng wakes up shortly after sunrise anyway, and Lan Xichen can’t imagine spending his time better than simply staring at Jiang Cheng, soft and pliant in his sleep.

“Good morning,” Lan Xichen softly says and presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s bare shoulder, because it’s right there and tempting and Lan Xichen doesn’t have to hold back.

Especially not after what they did just last night.

“Morning,” Jiang Cheng breathes out and turns further into Lan Xichen so he can press a kiss to Lan Xichen’s forehead, still bare yet, without his forehead ribbon.

Even if Lan Xichen wasn’t already totally on board with staying in bed until Jiang Cheng wakes up, seeing how softly content he is to wake up to Lan Xichen still in his bed would totally do the trick.

Lan Xichen might be tempted to stay in bed longer in the Cloud Recesses too, if this is what he gets to see. Screw the rules.

“I love you,” Jiang Cheng softly says, snuggling closer and carding his fingers through Lan Xichen’s hair.

It’s a soothing enough motion that Lan Xichen almost wants to go back to sleep.

“I love you, too,” he instead says immediately, because he never wants Jiang Cheng to doubt that.

Lan Xichen is content to just stay like this for a few more minutes, the love of his life snuggled close, but eventually Jiang Cheng grows restless.

Lan Xichen sighs when he notices it, but he sits up, cards his fingers through Jiang Cheng’s unbound hair one last time and then finally gets out of bed.

He’s only wearing the almost sheer under robe Jiang Cheng has gifted him a few months back, and he can feel Jiang Cheng’s eyes on him. Lan Xichen smirks at that, because he thoroughly enjoys that.

Lan Xichen is quick to shed the robe he wore to bed, though, to pull on his normal under robe, but all the while he keeps an eye on Jiang Cheng.

His unbound hair is spilling over his chest, open and unruly, and while Lan Xichen enjoys that look on Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen can tell that he is unhappy. He can see Jiang Cheng tug on a few tangles, and he knows Jiang Cheng doesn’t have the patience to untangle them in a manner that won’t hurt him, so Lan Xichen is quick to locate the brush.

He finds his forehead ribbon right next to it, and a thought enters his head. It makes him stop for a moment, makes him almost jittery with anticipation, and Lan Xichen determinedly takes his ribbon and the brush.

He swiftly uses it on his own hair, but there’s barely a tangle to be found, so he’s done rather quickly. Lan Xichen takes one deep breath before he turns around, his forehead ribbon in his hand rather than on his head.

He has wanted to ask Jiang Cheng to marry him several times already, but maybe this morning he can actually bring himself to go through with it.

“Let me,” Lan Xichen says when he’s standing in front of Jiang Cheng and he must have startled him, because Jiang Cheng’s head snaps up.

And then he just stares at him for the longest moment.

“Where is your head this morning?” Lan Xichen asks with a smile when Jiang Cheng has looked him over several times and Jiang Cheng huffs at him.

“There is a very distracting sight in my bedroom,” Jiang Cheng says and Lan Xichen can’t help the way he goes all warm at that.

He’s sure it must show on his face as well.

“There is only one sight, and it’s still in bed,” Lan Xichen gives back and enjoys that Jiang Cheng blushes slightly as well, and he leans forward to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s forehead. “Let me do your hair,” he then says again and holds up the brush.

“How could I ever say no to that,” Jiang Cheng sighs and moves on the bed, so that Lan Xichen can sit behind him.

Lan Xichen quickly sits down behind him and starts to untangle his hair.

He starts low on Jiang Cheng’s hair, not wanting to hurt him, and with every brush Jiang Cheng goes more pliant until he’s almost slumping over, clearly half-asleep again.

Lan Xichen moves the brush through his hair smoothly and without catching on anything soon enough, and still he keeps the motion going for a few moments longer, enjoying the way Jiang Cheng trusts him at his back and in this vulnerable state.

Lan Xichen couldn’t wish for more and he decides that today is the day he’ll finally ask.

“Can I braid it for you?” he quietly asks, but he still startles Jiang Cheng out of his half-sleep with the question.

“Sure,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and Lan Xichen can’t deny that he’s nervous now.

Still, he leans forward to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek, who leans into the contact.

“Thank you,” Lan Xichen whispers and he can see the slight furrow in Jiang Cheng’s brow, so he’s quick to get started on the braid, so that Jiang Cheng doesn’t ask any questions Lan Xichen can’t answer right now.

Lan Xichen hasn’t made that braid outside of practice on his brother when he was very young, but it still comes back to him easily. It’s the traditional wedding braid of his Sect and Lan Xichen thought for the longest time that he would never use it on someone.

But it’s almost easy, despite how intricate and complicated the design is, and when he’s done Lan Xichen decides to go all out. This is already telling enough. It doesn’t matter if he adds his own forehead ribbon or not, but he finds that he doesn’t want to finish this with Jiang Cheng’s normal ribbon.

Lan Xichen wants to stake that claim on Jiang Cheng.

When he finishes it off with his own white ribbon, a stark contrast to Jiang Cheng’s dark hair, Lan Xichen realizes that he’s nervous.

A part of him hopes that Jiang Cheng doesn’t even know what it means, so Lan Xichen can pretend everything is normal, but a bigger part of him wants an answer. He hopes it will be a positive one but he isn’t completely sure of it.

“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng mutters when he realizes that Lan Xichen is done and he catches Lan Xichen’s hand in his to press a kiss to the back of it.

Lan Xichen realizes too late that his hand is trembling and that surely Jiang Cheng must have noticed it, but by then Jiang Cheng already frowns at him.

“Are you okay?” he wants to know and Lan Xichen can hear the worry in his voice.

“Sure,” he says, tries for a steady voice, but something must have been off because Jiang Cheng turns around to look at him searchingly.

Lan Xichen forces himself to meet his eyes, so that Jiang Cheng might believe him, and it seems to work, because Jiang Cheng leans forward and gives him a sweet kiss before he gets up and walks over to a mirror.

Lan Xichen follows him with eyes, and he wants to fidget, or just straight up leave, but he knows that would be more suspicious than anything else, so he forces himself to sit still and watch as Jiang Cheng freezes in front of the mirror.

“Xichen,” Jiang Cheng breathes out and whirls around, and Lan Xichen wants to jump at that, but he wills himself to stay still and act like nothing is wrong.

“What?” he asks, hopes that it comes across as normal, but he can’t quite bring himself to meet Jiang Cheng’s eyes.

“I’m not Wei Wuxian, you know,” Jiang Cheng says, and it’s so completely not what Lan Xichen expected that he turns to look at him.

“What?” Lan Xichen asks with a frown, and he puts his hands in his lap, to hide how they are still trembling with nerves. And then his mouth just runs away from him. “I should hope not, Wangji would kill me,” Lan Xichen rambles, and a cold shudder runs down his back at that. “Not to mention that I do not want Wei Wuxian in my bed,” he then goes on and ew, that is really not a thought Lan Xichen expected to have this morning.

“No, I meant—,” Jiang Cheng says and then pauses as he walks over to Lan Xichen to climb into his lap and Lan Xichen can’t help but put his still shaking hands on his hips. “I know what the ribbon means,” Jiang Cheng says once he has his arms around Lan Xichen’s neck. “And I know what this braiding style is.”

That causes Lan Xichen to stare surprised at Jiang Cheng.

“You do?”

“Not all of us slacked off during our studies at your Sect, you know,” Jiang Cheng tells him with a smile and then leans in to kiss Lan Xichen.

Lan Xichen clings to him almost painfully, hope bubbling up inside him, but he can’t allow himself to believe it, because Jiang Cheng hasn’t actually said anything yet.

“I accept your marriage proposal,” Jiang Cheng whispers against Lan Xichen’s lips when they finally part, answers the question before Lan Xichen can even ask, and all the worry falls off Lan Xichen.

He wraps his arms around Jiang Cheng’s middle, so he can pull him closer; close enough that he can hide his face in Jiang Cheng’s neck.

“Thank the gods,” Lan Xichen murmurs against his skin and Jiang Cheng starts to cards his fingers soothingly through Lan Xichen’s hair.

Lan Xichen closes his eyes, just enjoying the motion, but Jiang Cheng clearly isn’t ready to let this go yet.

“Did you really think I would say no?” he asks as he scraps his nails against Lan Xichen’s nape and Lan Xichen shudders against him, pressing even closer.

“I wasn’t sure,” Lan Xichen lowly admits and his heart stumbles nervously in his chest when Jiang Cheng pushes him away, just enough to be able to look him in the eyes.

“I have never been as happy as I am with you by my side. I love waking up to you, I love going to sleep next to you, I love having you around, hearing your voice, seeing your smile. You—you’re the light in my life, and honestly, there was never a chance of me saying no,” Jiang Cheng tells him, and Lan Xichen can feel his eyes burn, he’s so touched by his words.

That changes, though, when Jiang Cheng climbs off his lap and walks away.

“In fact,” Jiang Cheng says as he kneels down in the middle of the room, and opens a hidden compartment under the floorboards, much to Lan Xichen’s surprise, “I was thinking the same,” he finishes and pulls out a Yunmeng Jiang bell.

Lan Xichen’s heart stutters in his chest, because he too paid attention during class, and he knows what this means.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t say anything as he puts the bell into his hand and closes his fingers around it, but he doesn’t need to. After all, Lan Xichen didn’t ask him with his words either. Lan Xichen pulls the bell close, already unwilling to ever part with it again, and he smiles at Jiang Cheng, puts all his happiness into that, and when Jiang Cheng smiles in return, Lan Xichen knows Jiang Cheng understood.

Jiang Cheng pushes him back into the bed, because an engagement always calls for a celebration, and what better way to celebrate than this.

When they do finally get up, Lan Xichen has to do Jiang Cheng’s hair again, and he puts his own ribbon at the end of the braid once more.

People keep staring at the braids and ribbon in Jiang Cheng’s hair, and at the bell Lan Xichen wears proudly around his belt, right next to the jade pendant, once they do finally leave Jiang Cheng’s rooms, but they barely notice it.

They only have eyes for each other.

[Jiang Cheng's POV]

#bt writes #the untamed #mdzs #xichenweek2020 #xicheng #established relationship #fluff #hair braiding #marriage proposals

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isabilightwood · 3 years

Text

The Problem with Authority - Chapter 4

Or, Sacrifice Summon! Jiang Yanli is here to make things right, be the ultimate big sister (step 1: bring back her dead brother), and maybe steal the Peacock throne in the process

[AO3][1][2][3]

“A -Su ! I’m so sorry!” Lan Xichen grasped her hands to pull her to her feet. “I wanted to give you a gift, not a bump on the head.”

He was flushed, his eyes bright and manic, his forehead ribbon dangling around his neck. His soft gray geometric patterned outer robe was hanging off one shoulder, revealing the pale blue inner robe beneath. Jiang Yanli felt strangely like she should offer to give him his privacy.

Though they were outside. In the courtyard of her house.

Jiang Yanli felt entirely uninjured, but perhaps she had hit her head after all, and was merely hallucinating the impossibility of a discomposed and rumpled Lan Xichen. “Lan-zongzhu…?”

“Erge, wait!” Jin Guangyao sprinted towards them from the direction of the guest rooms. He stumbled to a halt, doubled over and panting. “You shouldn’t talk to anyone while you’re drunk, remember? Let’s not repeat the Moling incident. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He grabbed Lan Xichen’s wrist and tugged, but the taller man didn’t budge.

“But I haven’t given A-Su her thank you gift yet.” Lan Xichen looked around, wide eyed and innocent. “Where did the rabbits go?”

Jin Guangyao sighed loudly. “We don’t have rabbits here, Erge. This is Lanling, not the Cloud Recesses.”

“But rabbits are the best gift. Wangji and A-Yuan both think so.” Lan Xichen pouted for a moment, then perked up. “Someone must have rabbits in town.”

Jin Guangyao’s face convulsed.

Lan Xichen nodded decisively. Dropping his sword so it hovered in the air, he tried to climb onto it. Combined with the alcohol, Jin Guangyao pulling on his sleeve was enough to unbalance him, so he fell backwards into his lover’s chest. Jin Guangyao stumbled backwards, but managed to hold him up.

Lan Xichen hummed, tugging on his arms to pull him closer. He seemed to have entirely forgotten his goal, content to remain where he was.

Stymied in his efforts to steal his lover away with minimum embarrassment, Jin Guangyao turned his head towards her. “Erge overindulged by mistake, my apologies. I will get him to his rooms — my rooms, I suppose, shortly.”

“None needed. I was merely startled.” Startled, yes, but also having the time of her life. Doubly so, considering the incoherent gibberish of Qin Su’s thoughts.

“Erge, it’s nearly midnight. You wouldn’t want your uncle to know you stayed up past nine, would you?”

“But Shufu is in the Cloud Recesses. He doesn’t like crowds.” Lan Xichen said as though revealing a great secret. “Wangji is somewhere in Qishan. He doesn’t like crowds either.”

“I could always write him a letter. ‘Lan-Xiansheng, I am sorry to inform you that Lan-zongzhu has taken liberties with the disciplines. Please have him copy the rules with the novices for the next month.’”

“A-Yao, you wouldn’t.” Lan Xichen let his head loll back against Jin Guangyao’s shoulder - somehow without tipping the shorter man over — and stuck out his bottom lip.

“I wouldn’t.” Jin Guangyao confirmed, his expression turning ridiculously sappy. “Please come back with me anyway?”

“But I haven’t thanked A-Su properly yet!” Lan Xichen grasped her hands and squeezed tightly, earnestly shaking them up and down. “Thank you, A-Su! I will take good care of our A-Yao.”

She doubted Lan Xichen would ever have mentioned it, if he wasn’t drunk.

“My deepest apologies for this.” Jin Guangyao grimaced, his cheeks flushed pink. He turned to face Lan Xichen, cupping the back of his neck and stroking the front of his throat with his thumb. “I’ve arranged to have dessert delivered to my room. I’ll feed it to you, if you’re good.”

Lan Xichen perked up, dropping her hands and —thankfully — dragged him away before she and Qin Su could be subjected to anymore unwanted details of their relationship.

As they vanished from sight, headed for a discrete side entrance to Jin Guangyao’s room, Jiang Yanli felt a twinge of guilt. Lan Xichen did not deserve to be shackled to a man who had killed his own son.

But she did not feel as much guilt as she would have liked to.

Because she had told Lan Xichen the truth, and he had chosen to do nothing.

Jiang Yanli had gone to him after she learned what she’d slept through in the aftermath of A-Xian’s defection, after Luo Qingyang left the sect and Lan Wangji slipped away unnoticed. After A-Cheng left for the Burial Mounds without her. “A-Xian did not do this unprovoked. The Wen siblings saved our lives, at great risk to their own.”

He smiled in appeasement. “Be that as it may, he killed the guards, and took away all the prisoners. You must understand what this looks like.”

Jiang Yanli’s patience had been hanging by a thread, and the patronizing you must understand snapped it. “I remember starving, terrified, dirty prisoners dressed in rags being used as target practice.” She laughed, a short, crazed thing too like A-Xian’s. “Oh, but you prefer to forget things that might upset your precious peace. Even if it dooms innocents, or breaks your brother’s heart.”

Lan Xichen stared at her, and Jiang Yanli remembered she was supposed to be the level-headed, soft-spoken one. No matter how little she felt it. “My apologies, that was uncalled for. It is simply that my brother cannot do anything, without your support.

But Lan Xichen only shook his head regretfully. “Both my sworn brothers have sworn to me that only dangerous prisoners were confined to the camp. I’m sorry, Jiang-guniang, but I cannot.”

Lan Xichen had not believed her. And perhaps he had doomed A-Xian. Perhaps it would have changed nothing. But for what she had done — was doing — to Lan Xichen, she clung to her rationalizations.

What just happened? Qin Su asked.

We just experienced the reason why Lans are forbidden to drink. Strange that Lan Xichen would get drunk like that, though. Thanks to A-Xian, she knew the Lan’s rule about alcohol was really because of the main clan’s low tolerance, but —

But I’ve seen him drink before. Qin Su’s confusion was like bubbles popping on surface of her mind.

Jiang Yanli had too. A-Xian once mentioned a trick Zewu-jun used to burn it off, while he was deep in his cups and reminiscing longingly about how cute Lan Wangji looked when drunkenly attempting to straighten his crooked forehead ribbon. Had Nie Huaisang switched their cups by mistake? A prank, perhaps?

Where was Nie Huaisang?

Jiang Yanli pushed open the door to the Fragrance Hall and froze.

That answers that question.

Nie Huaisang swore as a device he was holding up to the mirrored portal to the treasure room rebounded towards his face, using both his hands to force it back to the surface. There was a focused intensity to his expression that Jiang Yanli had never seen before, a far sight from the whining puddle who’d dragged the Chief Cultivator from his own banquet.

But then, she’d never paid him much attention. No one had, save perhaps A-Xian. “Nie-zongzhu. Is there something you need from the treasury?”

Nie Huaisang startled, glaring with a focused intensity that vanished so quickly she might have imagined it, as he threw himself back from the portal. He sprawled inelegantly on the ground, covering half his face with his fan. “Is that what it is? A treasury? I really didn’t know.”

Is it just me or is that bullshit? Qin Su did the mental equivalent of narrowing her eyes.

Jiang Yanli shut the door behind her. “So you didn’t just hide a talisman-engraved device you were using to inspect the wards up your sleeve?”

If Nie Huaisang is competent, I think we can safely say everything I thought was wrong. What will we discover next? Does my father remember my birthday? Has Yao-zongzhu been possessed by a gossip-loving spirit for years?

“I was just curious, I don’t know!”

She supposed he’d never bothered to come up with another line because this one had worked for his entire life. “Let me satisfy your curiosity then.”

He gave an exaggerated wail as she grabbed his wrist. But whatever else Nie Huaisang might be, he was not strong. Jiang Yanli was able to easily pull him through the portal. He stumbled against her, and, as she reached to steady him, bit her hand.

“Ow! What was that for? Are you a dog?” She demanded, wiping off her knuckles on her outer robe.

“You made unfounded accusations and dragged me in here!” He slumped inward, making himself look smaller. “I don’t know why! I felt unsafe.”

Sure he did. “You wanted to see inside. Now you’re inside. Take the chance or leave it.”

He took it. “Well, if you insist. There is some interesting art in here. Is this where the paintings of the Crimson Swan ended up? Tragic. I could help display them properly, if San-ge gave me half a chance. But no, it’s too soon. Half the sects would throw a fit, and Lan-xiansheng would kidnap me for remedial schooling. I can’t go back to the Cloud Recesses! I simply can’t!”

Qin Su snorted. At least some things stay the same. He’s still annoying.

Jiang Yanli watched Nie Huaisang dart around the room, peering at items on shelves and lifting curtains in what seemed to be no particular order, keeping up his narration all the while. “You know, the Wen really had some gems in their collection. This poetry collection is priceless, and yet here it is, tragically gathering dust — Oh, dear.”

His arm knocked into an ornate vase that had been placed too close to the edge of a display.

Jiang Yanli plucked a talisman from her sleeve and threw it, so it hit the vase, freezing it in place tipped halfway off the shelf.

Nie Huaisang turned, squinting at her with an air of smug satisfaction. “You’re not Qin Su.”

Nie Huaisang of all people notices? That’s it, good night. Wake me when things make sense again. Despite her words, Qin Su remained alert and attentive.

Jiang Yanli tamped down on the urge to throw another talisman, this time at him. “That’s quite the accusation.”

“Qin Su would have reached for her sword when I knocked over that vase. You stopped it from falling with a talisman. Also, she never calls me Nie-zongzhu.” He perched on a vase-free table, his hands folded perfectly, but one leg bounced to the rhythm of his thoughts. “The question is, are you possessing her, or are you using one of Xue Yang’s human skin masks?”

“Neither.” She held up Qin Su’s sword, and drew it. “Do you deny that this is Chunsheng?”

“So that is Qin Su’s body, but you say it’s not a possession. Hmm. Did Wei-xiong find a way to permanently inhabit a living body?” Nie Huaisang jumped disturbingly close to the truth with his second guess. “Are you Wei-xiong? But no, Wei-xiong wouldn’t have chosen a nice woman like Qin Su.”

Aww. He thinks I’m nice. So long as he’s just a sneak, I forgive him for the deception.

“I’m definitely not A-Xian.” Jiang Yanli realized her mistake even as it slipped out. She clapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening.

“Jiang Yanli!” He cried, delighted. “Oh, I have to know how this happened.”

“I don’t know what —”

“No, don’t protest. You’ve been caught. But don’t worry. I’m certainly not going to tell anyone in Koi Tower about you. What would be the use of that?” Nie Huaisang was positively gleeful, and she didn’t trust him for a second.

Qin Su didn’t disagree, but sighed. Unfortunately, I think you’d better tell him.

“Take a seat.” She hung up a talisman to alert her if anyone approached the portal, and checked under every curtain, just in case. Once she was certain the room was secure, she knelt across from him. “You were correct that it was A-Xian’s work that made this possible, but it was not his doing.”

“Obviously, it was Wei-xiong’s invention. His most powerful imitator is Xue Yang, and he has the creativity of a sea slug.” Nie Huaisang sank gracefully to his knees, balancing his fan across them. Seeing him now, a stranger would never guess his reputation. “Now, who is this mysterious benefactor? Do tell.”

She briefly detailed the mechanics of the array. From his performance in the Cloud Recesses, she would not have expected him to understand it, but he nodded along without interrupting. “Qin Su found the wrong journal at exactly the wrong moment. Now I’m in her body, and she lives in my head.”

Was it the wrong moment? Qin Su wondered, and digressed before Jiang Yanli could contradict her. Insult his fan for me, that’s sloppy work. His mountains still look like Jin Guangyao’s hat.

Dutifully, Jiang Yanli repeated her words.

He gave a startled laugh. “Ah, Qin Su has long been my worst critic. Sadly, this revenge business leaves little time for developing my painting skills.”

“Revenge? Does this have anything to do with why you were trying to break in here?” If so, his grudge could only be against —

“Naturally. Jin Guangyao killed my brother.” Nie Huaisang asserted this claim as though it were common knowledge. “He also set up yours, which seems relevant.”

Jiang Yanli stiffened, lightning racing though her veins. “A-Xian? Didn’t he lose control?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I can’t be sure, I wasn’t there.” He said lightly. Jiang Yanli was beginning to believe he was allergic to acting serious. Dropping this on her as though it didn’t shake her entire worldview. “He is, however, the reason Jin Zixuan went to Qiongqi path that day.”

Jiang Yanli could have sworn she heard a dizi playing as she died, when Chenqing was hanging loose in A-Xian’s grasp. But she had been dying — that memory was not to be trusted. And just how clever would Jin Guangyao have to be to plan all of that? Surely not everything that had gone wrong could be laid at his feet.

Maybe we should consider the possibility anyway. Qin Su, for whom all the greatest cruelties of her life could be laid at the feet of that same man, suggested.

Jiang Yanli was uncertain that knowing would do anything more than make their losses hurt more. She sat in stunned silence for a long moment, and wished for a plum to let her retreat and reset. A reply to Tan-daifu’s latest letter was overdue, she thought hazily.

Tan-daifu would say that the truth helps. Qin Su seized the chance to turn her own nagging about Tan-daifu’s advice back on her, which didn’t seem fair.

But the truth would only help if she was ready to face it. Jiang Yanli still woke every day expecting to see A-Xuan beside her, was thrust back into sepia-tinged memories of afternoons on the Lotus Lakes at the distant sound of adolescent laughter.

She would not be ready until the day she saw A-Xian again.

What day? Yanli-jie? Qin Su asked, but Jiang Yanli was uncertain why she’d thought that. A-Xian was dead. She could not simply trade someone else for him.

“How did you learn this?” She asked, finally.

Nie Huaisang looked up from a book he’d snagged from a nearby shelf while she was lost in her thoughts. “I have my ways.”

“You have spies.”

He picked up his fan to flick it dismissively. “Just a few informants. Mostly, we Nies are simply very good at out-drinking people.”

She had a feeling he was downplaying the extent of his network. “What else have you learned from your spies?”

“I just ask people to keep an eye out, it’s hardly espionage.” He insisted.

“Sure.” She said, seeing this was a hill he would die on.

Mollified, he continued. “Jin Guangyao also killed his father.”

“I’m aware. Shockingly, I’m not actually upset about that one.” Perhaps Nie Huaisang had finally run out of shocking revelations.

But no, he had another left in store. “Who is? No, the interesting part is he left a witness. A little bird told me that somewhere in Koi Tower, there’s a woman trapped in a hidden room.”

Jiang Yanli would never get used to having to sit side by side on the Peacock throne with Jin Guangyao. She had been meant to share it with Zixuan, as not only his wife but his equal.

She hadn’t expected her husband to want her as anything other than the mother of his children. Not until their second engagement, when his earnest, awkward attempts at wooing her had turned to learning each other over the course of honest conversations that slowly grew less stilted. Finally, their words had begun to flow like a mountain stream thawing in spring, and Jiang Yanli knew her heart was right to choose him.

A-Xuan had listened, and confided he needed her help, not only with things like courtesy and public speaking, but in knowing what needed to change.

Jin Guangyao, she thought, was so certain that he was the smartest person in the room, that he didn’t notice his wife-slash-sister was an entirely different person.

Qin Su had nearly always sat in silence during conferences, listening perhaps half the time as she thought about lesson plans and inspected the attendees’ robes and ornaments in case anyone had discovered a talented new artisan. So for the moment, Jiang Yanli did the same, albeit paying the debate her full attention.

No matter the length at which Sect Leader Yao complained about issues that did not remotely involve him (Gusu’s high land tax rates), internal sect matters not on the conference agenda (how a small temple sect and town sect on his lands kept driving yao and gui into each other’s territory), or were entirely out of left field. “See! There’s proof! The Jiang have been hoarding the Yiling Patriarch’s inventions for themselves!”

A-Cheng, who had just reached the point in his status report regarding Yunmeng’s taxes, blinked. Clearly used to Sect Leader Yao, he didn’t even get angry, merely rubbed his knuckles against his forehead. “The Jin have all of Wei Wuxian’s heretical writings. I explained this last conference. And the conference before that.”

Sect Leader Yao continued to prove himself the least astute cultivator in the room. “But you’ve never let anyone into Lotus Pier to check for themselves!”

At that, the flush of anger filled his cheeks. But in an impressive-for-him show of control, A-Cheng only snapped, “What, exactly, are you insinuating, Yao-zongzhu? Would you like to share Xixia’s cultivation techniques with the class?”

“I see that Yunmeng’s recovery is continuing ahead of schedule. Let’s move on to…” Jin Guangyao blanched, as he realized who was next. “Qinghe. A-Sang, if you please.”

Nie Huaisang got to his feet, looking around with what she had to assume were faked nerves, clutching his fan close to his chest. He stuttered through the beginnings of his presentation, before swaying and kicking a bird cage hidden beneath his table into the center of the room. It spoke, in a disturbingly accurate imitation of A-Cheng.

And all right, that was entertaining. But mostly, the conference continued to star Sect Leader Yao.

At least today, A-Ling was perched on the wide throne beside her, making it a little more bearable.

Leaning into her side, his tongue caught between his teeth, A-Ling scribbled on each new sheet of paper. Ostensibly, he was practicing his calligraphy. And he did do a bit of that, with messy strokes, but only when he noticed her looking down. Mostly, he scribbled blobs that he proudly declared were all the dogs he would someday own, when she asked.

Black flecks of ink spattered the front of her robes, but Jiang Yanli could not bring herself to care. She’d missed so much. She’d take every second with her son she could get.

Jiang Yanli’s continued efforts to pay attention were stymied by Qin Su’s running commentary on everything from the tackiness of the gilded everything to the dust bunny that had attached itself unnoticed to Sect Leader Ouyang’s beard, taking the chance to say everything she’d never been able to.

It’s a shame I never tempted Ouyang-zongzhu’s tailor away. He doesn’t deserve her. And oh, look, Su She’s imitating the Lan more obviously than ever. It’s almost like he sold them out to the Wen or something and misses the status. The off-white and teal blue of Su She’s robes were at most a single shade away from Lan colors, and the wave embroidery on his hems was suspiciously cloud-like.

The most notable detail of Su She’s presentation was the way the Lan disciples — save, of course, for a slightly off-color Lan Xichen — pretended not to snicker as he claimed the peasants in his lands were superstitious about musical cultivation.

She’d ensured Sect Leader Ran was next to him, and noted the two of them speaking quietly during one of Sect Leader Yao’s disruptions. This time, he was one insult away from starting a cat fight with Sect Leader Tang, over some minor territorial dispute. Jin Guangyao actually got up and went over to them to smooth ruffled feathers, though his efforts were stymied by A-Cheng’s utter apathy over whether his young, hotheaded vassal stabbed Sect Leader Yao in the eyes with her chopsticks.

It’s not a cultivation conference if no one tries to murder Yao-Zongzhu. Someday, someone will take one for the team and actually do it. Qin Su sighed wistfully.

From the way Jin Guangyao’s dimples twitched when he returned, he’d contemplated it.

During their break for lunch, Sect Leader Ran approached the Peacock throne. As she’d expected, he asked directly for a meeting with Jin Guangyao to negotiate terms for the implementation of watchtowers.

Sect Leader Zhai’s approach was more surprising.

“Xiandu, Jin-furen.” Sect Leader Zhai bowed to each of them. “I would like to request a private meeting with both of you before I leave Lanling. Jin-furen brought up some interesting points yesterday that I would like to discuss further.”

“Both of us?” Jin Guangyao was a man who planned everything himself, who seemed to believe that seeking a second opinion meant smiling and nodding and then explaining why the other person was wrong.

The implication that his here-to-fore apolitical wife had made a better offer appeared to have broken him.

“I think that could be arranged.” Jiang Yanli said. “A-Yao?”

He recovered quickly, gesturing for his assistant to put a note in his schedule. “Yes, of course. I believe tomorrow, immediately after dinner would be an ideal time.”

“Excellent. I look forward to it.” Sect Leader Zhai bowed again and turned away, without waiting for their dismissal.

Tempers frayed in the afternoon, and Jiang Yanli had to pass A-Ling off to his minders for a nap. As Sect Leader Yao rose for his actual turn to report, Nie Huaisang made his move.

He screeched, jumping to his feet as though bitten, and bumped into Sect Leader Yao hard enough to knock them both to the floor. The wine jar in his hand shattered, sharp edges lacerating his palm. He stared at the cuts for a long moment as they began to bleed. And, clutching his wrist, he drew in a deep breath, and howled.

The majority of the room promptly began to find their teacups or the nearest tacky golden peacock drapes utterly fascinating. But his elder brother’s sworn brothers were at his side in an instant.

“A-Sang, please. Let us see.” Jin Guangyao pleaded.

I think Jin Guangyao really does care about Huaisang. He’s never going to see him coming. Qin Su said, and they both winced at a particularly high-pitched cry. Nie Huaisang should have been born to a theatrical troupe.

“Oh, that looks —” Lan Xichen caught only a glimpse of the injured hand before he had to let go to avoid Nie Huaisang’s wildly swinging other arm.

“Ergeeeeeee,” Nie Huaisang wailed. “I’m bleeding out, aren’t I? You can say it.”

“No, no,” As Jin Guangyao finally captured the flailing hand, Lan Xichen pressed down on the wound with his own handkerchief. “You should see a healer, just to clean and bind it properly.”

“Will you take me?” He sniffed, his eyes wide and filling once again with tears as he looked between the two men.

Jin Guangyao exchanged a pained glance with his theoretically secret lover. “I can’t leave right now, can you?”

Lan Xichen shook his head. “I’m scheduled to speak on our findings about suppressing ghosts summoned with spirit flags next.”

“Right. Right.” Jin Guangyao stared into the distance for a moment. Qin Su hoped he was watching his plans for the conference crumble before his eyes. “Huaisang, you’ll have to go with one of your disciples —”

Nie Huaisang sobbed harder.

That was her cue.

“I’ll take him to get patched up.” Jiang Yanli offered, already striding towards them.

Jin Guangyao looked around at the determinedly apathetic audience, then back to Nie Huaisang. He sighed. “Thank you. A-Su will take good care of you, please let her take you to a healer.”

Nie Huaisang kept up his whining until they were out of sight and earshot of the hall, though still under an awning away from the downpour outside. Then, with a glance around to make sure no one was watching, he plucked a vial of salve and a bandage out of his robes. He only asked her to pop open the salve, but she took it and the bandage from him, gesturing for him to hold out his hand.

“I can do it myself.” He insisted, the vapid act vanishing in an instant.

Jiang Yanli rolled her eyes. “Bandages are more secure when someone else wraps them. It’ll help stop the bleeding.” Cultivators were always such babies about receiving help.

“All right.” He gazed at her with wide and uncertain eyes. As though no one had offered to help him without something in return, or a fit of hysterics, in a long time. Yet even as she finished tying of the bandage, that incongruous seriousness took over once again. “We have at least until the end of the evening banquet, though it would be better if you returned for that. The house should be near the kitchens, in what looks like an empty space.”

They walked back and forth past the kitchens several times, but found nothing. The hems of their robs were soaked from the rain, the line between wet and dry creeping higher with every step.

“Right. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” He pulled one of A-Xian’s Compasses of Evil out of his pocket. “Only Demonic Cultivation could hide a building like this, but it must be shielded somehow, or people would notice a cluster of resentment in the middle of Koi Tower. I wonder… hold this.”

He thrust his umbrella into her chest, expecting her to hold it over his head. Bemused, she did so.

“A lightning talisman, perhaps, to imitate the effects of Zidian.” He mused, sketching in the air with his injured hand as though it didn't pain him. “Yes! It’s this way.”

As they walked, she watched him closely. “I had no idea you were so…”

“That I’m in possession of a working brain? Yes, I prefer it that way.” He said brightly.

Being underestimated had its advantages, but that didn’t stop it from hurting.

“I was going to say that I thought you didn’t cultivate beyond the basics.” Jiang Yanli corrected. “Cultivation has no bearing on intelligence. I would know.”

“Yes, I suppose you would. I’ve always preferred talismans to sword cultivation, much less those horrible life-draining sabers, despite Dage’s wishes. Did you think Wei-xiong was only friends with me for my sense of humor?”

She hadn’t spent much time thinking about their friendship at all, not when she was occupied watching A-Xian fall in love.

What sense of humor? Qin Su said. Teasingly, so Jiang Yanli repeated it, earning an insulted gasp.

But Nie Huaisang’s methods bore fruit, his compass leading them to their destination.

From the outside, the building looked like a shed. One of the many near-identical buildings that housed tools or out of use decorations, albeit with an unusual amount of space on either side. But when she looked closely, Jiang Yanli glimpsed a shimmer of golden energy, mixed with writhing shadows. Wards, and made from a combination of resentful and spiritual energy at that. No wonder neither of them had so much as glimpsed it before.

Jiang Yanli stepped forward to inspect the wards in detail. They looked to be designed to hide the building, and keep someone in. Though the details looked overly complicated for concealing a single person, she and Nie Huaisang agreed. Keeping anyone who knew it was there out would require a level of intricacy that risked collapsing the entire ward every time someone passed through.

Their presence would not be detected.

Still, Nie Huaisang stepped through first, claiming, “I can talk my way out of this, if we’re wrong. You, on the other hand…”

When Jiang Yanli stepped through, there was a wave of disorientation, like stepping onto solid ground after hours on a boat. It passed, and a two-story pavilion of modest size stood before her. Far less elaborate than her own, she thought it might once have been used to house servants, before it was repurposed into a prison.

Keeping out of sight of anyone who might look out, they approached the open windows on either side of the door. Jiang Yanli plastered herself to the wall, and peered inside.

She and Nie Huaisang had agreed that if they found the woman’s prison, they would only scout from the outside.

But what Jiang Yanli saw through that window changed everything.

A young woman in linen servant’s robes knelt at a table, her shoulders hunched over as she methodically ground herbs into powder. A text depicting the anatomy of a human body was open to her left.

The woman looked up, and Jiang Yanli was certain she was seeing a ghost.

#the untamed #cql #wangxian #yanqing #qin su #my fic #the sacrifice summon! JYL fic #where the summoner (qin su) sticks around #this time featuring drunk! LXC #NHS's acting skills #and everyone's desire to kills sect leader yao

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gacy-lajla · 4 years

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Wen Qing x Reader || Comb

Genre: idk ths is like the introduction to something with slight angst and def fluff fluff fluff, also based on the SERIES because i have yet to finish the web novel (and animation,, and manhua,,,,)

Warnings: none

Word count: 1,171

Summary: You help Wen Qing do the dishes when you find out about the comb she was gifted (this is probably a two part series - if not more); reader is gender neutral so anyone should be able to read this?? also not proof read because we die like almost everyone in this series

“Wen Qing!”

At the sound of your voice the woman turned around, abandoning her task of cleaning the dishes by giving you all of her attention. She slowly rose on her two legs, nearly matching you in height, her red clothing dirtied by working many hours a day, having to kneel down in the most unclean places – especially when it came to playing with little Yuan. You couldn't help but smile every single time she gave him time of the day just to help him have a fulfilling childhood – considering the situation you found yourself currently in. You've always known, ever since meeting Wen Qing, that she was much of a family person. Her brother seemed to be the world to her, so seeing her watch A-Yuan with so much love in her eyes was no surprise – and now with the state Wen Ning is in he probably is a good distraction for her. The look in her eyes when she looked at both though nearly matched the same expression you had whenever you spotted her. Not that she knew, you didn't have the courage to tell her how you felt. Instead you poked fun at her that she was a real heartbreaker for every man walking by which made her scold you for spending too much time with Wei Wuxian.

“Is there something you need? Should I help you with your work?” Her voice was soft and you would do anything to listen to her day in and day out.

“Oh no, there's no need, I actually finished a while ago and came to find you to ask if you need-” you stopped, remembering how much she disliked it when people offered their help by asking if she needed it – as if she wasn't capable to do it on her own. “I'm here to help you out a bit, Yuan's missing you and Granny Wen would probably like a little break!”

You gave her a cheeky smile to which she answered with a defeated sigh. She knew that you wouldn't accept an rejection so instead she just handed you a plate and a cloth, getting back to her work. You worked in silence, only the steady scrubbing on the dishes breaking it, but no word was uttered, you both too concentrated on the task. But it didn't take long for you to lift your head a little and look at the woman once again, silently admiring her for the strong person she was, which she would obviously would deny. But you, for once in your life, knew better. You just haven't found a way to show her, yet.

Your body jumped a little when her eyes flicked up and met yours, unimpressed and yet questioning. “You shouldn't offer your help if you won't actually do anything.” She said, leaving the question on top of her tongue out. You let out a little 'oh', noticing that, yes, you have stopped scrubbing which you immediately resumed on doing. After that you forced yourself not to look up any more, your face burning in embarrassment at being caught staring. At least she didn't ask you about why you were doing it because honestly? You probably wouldn't have a good comeback for her and would just stumble all over your words.

When Wen Qing stood up once more to place the washed dishes on a table you noticed a piece of cloth tightly wound around something drop to the floor with a soft thud which she didn't seem to notice. You looked at her and then back to the little piece on the ground before reaching out and grabbing it to hand it back to her.

“Wen Qing, you dropped something!” You held the veiled object up above your head, holding it between your fingers so she could see it. She turned her head towards you and when she noticed what you were holding she rushed back after placing the items down.

“Ah, thank you so much, I can't believe I actually let it slip I-” She stopped there, leaving the rushed sentence unfinished. You didn't want to force her to explain herself – it was her matter in the end and not yours, curiosity rarely got the better of you anyway.

“I didn't look at what it is, don't worry. You know I don't like it when people snoop around so I also don't do it to others.” You reassured her with a sincere smile which made her visibly relax, the grip on the item still firm, though.

“It's... fine. I was meaning to return it anyway. I don't need it, even though- well, I feel bad for holding on to it for so long.” You cocked your head to the side in question. What could make her feel so bad for having something for a longer period of time? Was it some kind of charm that didn't belong to her? Maybe something Wen Ning possessed which she wants to give him back once he awakens again? But you didn't have to muse over the answer for long because with her gaze on the cloth she opened it and revealed a comb.

“A comb? Did you take it from Granny? I can give it back to her if-”

“It was given to me by Jiang Cheng.”

“Oh.”

You pressed your lips into a firm line, immediately understanding the meaning of the gifted comb by the leader of the Jiang Sect, your entire body stiffening by the uncomfortable atmosphere created. Wen Qing looked sad, her eyes downcast on the little piece which was most likely a sign of interest – of love.

“I don't- I don't want to give him hope where it isn't due. Especially after everything that happened. I doubt he even feels the same way the day he gifted it to me. And I...” There was a pause in which she took a deep breath. You were holding your own unconsciously, waiting with anticipation what she was going to say.

“I don't think I can say I return his feelings. There's someone else I hold dear which I have not felt when being around him.”

You let out the breath you were holding, at a loss of words. You weren't ready for her to open up about such things to you now. And it kind of made you scared to do the same because she apparently had someone in mind, and by the love of every living being, you couldn't put your finger on who it might actually be.

“Ah, I probably said too much, I'm sorry. You don't need to say anything, I wouldn't know what to say if I were you as well.”

“You don't need to be sorry, Wen Qing, you know I'm always happy to just listen to you...” Your voice was uncharacteristically quiet compared to hers, the double meaning of your words only known to you. You would never dare to grow tired of hearing her voice filling the room.

“Thank you.”

#mo dao zu shi #mo dao zu shi x reader #wen qing #wen qing x reader #the untamed #the untamed x reader #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation x reader #reader insert #reader #imagine #scenario #fanfic #fanfiction #i'm sorry jiang cheng #but wen qing needs some LOVE

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satonthelotuspier · 4 years

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For day 5 of Xichengclipse I offer you:

From The Same Mould

Fate had always been a cruel mistress to Jiang Cheng, but despite the obstacles he's faced, he is content with life, surrounded by a loving family.

Jin Ling visits from Lanling often, and Lan Xichen hates to get in the middle of their usual arguments, when they inevitably rub each other up the wrong way. This time he feels obliged to offer his advice, however.

A short take on another 'what if' Jiang Cheng had to learn to live without a golden core universe.

Jiang Cheng had loved picking up his beautifully-wrought bow as a child. His mother had had the bow specially designed, so he could draw it younger than most with his smaller, childish muscles. He had been an excellent shot, praised by the other disciples, and patted on the head by his sister, and told he was such a good archer.

When Wei Wuxian had arrived everything seemed to change.

His father, always so reticent in Jiang Cheng’s hearing, suddenly became effuse with praise, the young Wei Wuxian, his new shixiong, was the most wonderful shot, was such an accomplished swordsman, could do everything bigger, better, faster than Jiang Cheng, who seemed to run along in his shadow, struggling to be seen, to be heard, to just keep up.

He had run to his mother once, when he was ten, to show her the kite he had hit with his arrows, desperate for even a little congratulation to himself. On reflection as an adult, he realised he might have caught her at the wrong moment, as she had been marching away from his father’s rooms, perhaps they had argued bitterly again; Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Fengmian’s clear preference for him was always such a bone of contention between them, but she had stared at him, demanded to know how many arrows he’d loosed, then scolded him for missing with one.

He had been a child, armed with a vicious temper, inherited from her, and he had gone back to his own rooms and smashed the frame of his bow into pieces, throwing it out of the window.

Of course he had been punished for it, and every time afterwards, that he had refused to lift a bow again.

The pain of the whippings had been so much less than the knowledge he would never be good enough to come under the notice of his own father, or to please his mother.

***

Fate was always a cruel mistress, however. And he had found himself forced by tragic circumstances to pick up a bow again many years later.

The tragedy had begun the day the Wens marched on Lotus Pier. Though Yu-furen had sent he and Wei Wuxian away, it had so happened he was captured days later in Yiling, and taken back into the custody of the Wens, where his cultivational ability was destroyed through the melting of his golden core.

Though he had prayed for death, fate was never a kind mistress to Jiang Cheng, and he had lived; to spite him, to make Wei Wuxian feel better, whatever the reason; Wei Wuxian had spirited him out of there, and escaped.

The Sunshot Campaign, as the uprising against the Wens had been come to be known, had been started in earnest shortly afterwards, and Jiang Cheng, golden core-less and weak, had been told to sit on the sidelines, like a child being told to let the adults work.

Like it hadn’t been his parents slaughtered at Lotus Pier, like it hadn’t been his core melted by Wen Chao’s pet, like it hadn’t been his chest scarred for life by the vindictive beating with a Jiang sect discipline whip, that those foul Wen hands hadn’t been fit to touch.

Jiang Cheng was a stubborn, vengeful man, and those instructions had been anathema to him. So, despite his distaste, he had picked up a bow again.

He may not have a golden core to support the use of qi energy, or to allow him to use spiritual weapons, but swordsmanship and archery were muscle memory, and he became an instantly recognisable sight on the Jianglian front, always fighting far away from his head disciple, Wei Wuxian, for fear of causing him to split his attention trying to protect Jiang Cheng, and putting him in danger.

He had been an excellent shot, if not quite as good as Wei Wuxian, and he had been deadly on the battlefield, and somehow kept the truth of his golden core secret to only a select few. They had questioned why he preferred the bow to the sword, but there had always been some easy excuse, no one looked closely if you presented them with a reasonable explanation.

It had been a long and bloody war, Jiang Cheng’s parents and his sect had only been the beginning of the bloodshed, and it had cost untold lives to finally bring the Wens down.

But in the end it had been accomplished, and they had slowly begun to rebuild the damage the Wens had caused, including to Lotus Pier.

***

Wei Wuxian had stayed by his side longer than he should have, considering the relationship that had developed between Lan Wangji and his former head disciple. He had been fearful at first that the new Yunmeng Jiang sect, rising from the ashes, would be an easy target for the clans jostling for power, if it had been discovered Jiang Cheng was no longer able to use his qi, and therefore he had stayed to be the muscle behind the power.

It had only been once Jiang Cheng had announced his own betrothal to a Lan that Wei Wuxian had finally listened to him.

Who would attack the Sandu Shengshou, sect leader of Yunmeng Jiang and the husband of Zewu-jun, after all?

Zewu-jun had sent him the most beautiful courting gifts, not least the bow with silver snakes curling their tails around the grip, and twisting up and down the limbs, that he had personally designed for Jiang Cheng.

There had been a time he would have rather cut off his own hands that lift a bow, but now, holding that specially wrought wood and silver in his hands had seemed perfectly right.

***

“Your grip is still too tight, A-Ling.” Lan Xichen looked up from the correspondence he was reading, ensconced in the shade of a tree.

He knew where this was heading, but there wasn’t much he could do about it at this stage. Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng were too similar in temperament for it to be possible to avoid the explosion that was about to follow.

“A-Cheng…” he tried anyway, but Jin Ling’s voice drowned his out.

“I’m still hitting the target on every shot,” his sharp jawline notched up, a sure sign he was prepared to argue and rile Jiang Cheng up over the issue.

“You’re standing in front of a stupid bit of hay in a field in the sunlight.” Jiang Cheng snapped, his own chin lifting and his nostrils flaring in annoyance.

It was like looking at a mirror arguing with itself, they looked so similar; in features, in the way they held themselves, and in temper. It made for some interesting battles when Jin Ling visited from Lanling. It wasn’t helped by the fact today was so warm, and they had both been in the sun for a good part of the afternoon, increasing irritability.

“I’ve shot on night hunts too, I’m a good shot.”

“You can be better, if you use your ears, and not just your mouth to give me grief all the time,”

“What, second best wasn’t good enough for you? So you’re going to yell at me because I’m not perfect like you wished you were?”

Jiang Cheng’s mouth opened, then snapped shut, rather like a fish. And then they really began to argue; they even attacked verbally in the same way, not caring what they said to hurt the other, until Jiang Cheng threw his arms up, and with a cry of: “This child,” he stomped off back towards Lotus Pier.

Jin Ling muttered under his breath, marching over to the target to pull the arrows from the bales, snatching them out so hard he snapped one in his temper.

So like his jiujiu it was rather amusing. And annoying.

Lan Xichen sighed, and rose, and Jin Ling seemed to startle at the realisation he was still there. He couldn’t meet Lan Xichen’s eyes, sure he was going to be told off again by the husband of his uncle.

But Lan Xichen had spent years ensuring he didn’t take sides in their verbal battles; he ensured the same when Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian argued too, as did Wangji.

He smiled, “Jin Ling, it would benefit you to listen to Wanyin when he gives you advice, I know he doesn’t always have the best way of teaching…”

Jin Ling didn’t hide his snort at that. He wouldn’t dare to speak ill of his uncle to Lan Xichen, however, even if he would dare to Jiang Cheng’s face.

“...but he is a very fine archer. He has fought on many battlefields and in many night hunts. And you are one of the few people who know how difficult achieving and maintaining that reputation has been for him. His first choice would never have been to pick up a bow ever again.”

Jin Ling had the good grace to look a little ashamed, but then he snapped his chin up again, “I won’t apologise, he’s always so hard on me.”

“He’s showing you he cares, Jin Ling, his manner isn’t the most well-suited or nurturing, but he’s hard on you because he loves you.”

Jin Ling rolled his eyes, but said nothing more, and Lan Xichen nodded a goodbye to him before moving off to find his husband.

***

Jiang Cheng was, as expected, letting off steam in his private pavilion, when Lan Xichen arrived. He had stripped out of the heavier outer robes in acknowledgement of the oppressive heat, and swung viciously through Jiang sect sword forms.

Lan Xichen was generally loathe to approach the other in this mood, but Jin Ling raking over difficult memories worried him a little. Jiang Cheng had put most of the past behind him, and was content with his life, if not completely happy, due to how much he had lost, but that didn’t mean it didn’t still have the power to hurt him.

He paused briefly besides the other’s sword, Sandu, which had been placed with his bow carefully out of the way.

Sandu was the sword Jiang Cheng carried for show only, to maintain the image that the Sandu Shengshou was a sect leader like any other. As far as Lan Xichen knew, it had only been drawn to clean it in the twenty or so years since the razing of Lotus Pier.

Jiang Cheng used a generic sword for moving through his forms, and, upon noticing Lan Xichen, instead of trying to rile him in to sparring as he might normally, finished his movement, sheathed the sword, and stalked over.

Just pleased he hadn’t been goaded into fighting with him, Lan Xichen wasn’t quite expecting to suddenly have his arms full of de-raged husband.

He wrapped them tightly around Jiang Cheng, and held him.

“Little animal,” Jiang Cheng muttered into his shoulder, and Lan Xichen made a soothing sound.

Eventually though, he had to extend the same talking to as he had to Jin Ling.

“You could be a little less abrasive with him, all you end up achieving is stroking each other’s fur the wrong way.”

Jiang Cheng was silent for a while, then; “I know. Every time I do I always think of A-Niang, I know it’s not ideal…”

“But you’re both cut from the same mould as Yu-furen was.”

Jiang Cheng nodded against his chest.

“You should tell him you’re proud of him. He’ll be going home to Lanling soon, and he’d probably like to hear it. Even though he’d never admit it.” Lan Xichen said, and Jiang Cheng nodded again, pulling back a little to look into Lan Xichen’s eyes.

“I’ll try. A-Jie won’t have to send me such a strongly worded letter if I don’t send him back in a foul mood, like last time.” There was a touch of self-mockery around Jiang Cheng’s mouth, and Lan Xichen couldn’t resist the urge to taste the edge of it from the corner of his lips.

It was sweet with just a touch of bitterness, with the underlying taste of Wanyin.

He hmm’ed his appreciation, and went chasing another taste, which Jiang Cheng welcomed, but took control of with a hand in his hair, tangling with the loose strands and tails of his headband both. It sent a jolt through him, Jiang Cheng touching his headband never failed to thrill him, even now, so many years later, the material was such a part of who he was it was always as if the other had touched him, skin against skin.

Eventually, regretfully, Jiang Cheng pulled back, pausing only to meet gazes, his surprisingly unguarded and full of his complex feelings that he rarely ever gave voice to.

“You’re right, I should go and speak to Jin Ling now. This, we continue later, husband.” Jiang Cheng promised, and Lan Xichen nodded his agreement.

#xichengclipse2020 #lan xichen #jiang cheng #xicheng #the untamed fanfic #mo dao zu shi fanfic #mdzs fanfic #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jin ling #Shay's stuff #canon divergence #established relationship #uncle JC

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neuxue · 4 years

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(2/2) yeah WWX in also in excrucitaing physical pain on top of emotional and mental and nobody notices or remembers that his back is shredded. 2- WWX has always been overjoyed whenever he found a connection with his mom and his link to Baoshen Sanren is one he guards closely. Except he gives it away to JC. So now WWX can never go and make that connection for himself,with the Master or his mom. And when you remember how JC's mom treated him? The golden core is not the only thing JC got. </3 I die

(part 1 answered here)

So! I actually think — and it’s possible I’m wrong because I’m still only halfway through this show, so please don’t tell me if I’m wrong — that almost every single word out of Wei Wuxian’s mouth regarding Baoshan Sanren, the one-time offer, and Jiang Cheng’s core, is bullshit. But I also think the point you make is part of what makes it work (and makes it hurt).

Because the recipe for a perfect lie looks something like this:

5 parts exactly what they expect to hear. Keep it as close not even to truth but to their idea of truth as possible. Play to the confirmation bias. That’ll keep suspicion low, and give your lie a solid grounding, a strong foundation.

1 part exactly what they want to hear. This is what sells the lie, so long as it’s nicely diluted with the above ingredient. If this is all you give someone, they’ll be suspicious: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, right? But if it’s only a little drop in with the rest? They want it, and so they won’t look as closely for the trick, the flaw, the catch. Or if they do, all that playing to expectations you did above will reassure them.

1 part random noise (optional, for advanced mixologists). The gaussian blur to soften an image, the foam on a latte, the one imperfect song in a playlist so it doesn’t seem too perfectly manufactured. Truth is stranger than fiction, but the best lies strike a balance somewhere in the middle, right in the realm of believability.

Stir gently, serve room-temperature.

Anyway. For all that I tend to see Wei Wuxian as a performer and an actor rather than truly a liar, he absolutely nails it here. And that’s where it starts to hurt, if you want it to (and when do I want anything else).

First, the core (pun intended) ingredient of the lie, thing Jiang Cheng wants: a way to regain his golden core. Jiang Cheng wants this so badly that when it’s held out as a possibility, he doesn’t want to look for a catch. We’re good at lying to ourselves, we fall prey to the optimism bias, we hope. Sure, we all believe we’re too alert or too clever to fall for a con or a scam or an obvious lie, but in truth it has almost nothing to do with our intelligence or awareness or capability, but with chance and circumstance and state of mind. Jiang Cheng needs this to be true, and now it’s being offered to him, and it’s so easy to skip over some of the due-diligence checks there.

(And also... I think Jiang Cheng has been trained from a very young age, by the mess that was his family, to not look too closely. Some things, he doesn’t let himself see, or know, because that’s how he survived. It’s how he survives, and it’s too much of a tangent to get into here but I think that plays a role in how he behaves re the Wen remnants).

So, we’ve got that key ingredient; now we dilute it, not with truth but with expectation. This is everything Wei Wuxian says about Baoshan Sanren. About information given to him like a gift or a secret in his childhood, about one single chance in direst need, about a blindfold and a name and a promise. Because this is what Jiang Cheng expects. He wants a way to get his golden core back, but if it were perfectly simple and straightforward, that want wouldn’t be enough to keep him from looking a little closer, from thinking too good to be true. So instead Wei Wuxian turns it into a task, a quest. With a few flourishes to sell it. Complicated and secretive and only possible through...

...and this is the part that hurts...

Self-sacrifice. Because here’s the thing: I don’t think Wei Wuxian is actually giving up a connection to his mother and her sect here. But I do think — this is getting into headcanon rather than pure interpretation territory here but it hurts so I go with it — that part of what sells the lie to Jiang Cheng so well is the appearance of self-sacrifice, on Wei Wuxian’s part. Because that’s what Wei Wuxian does; it’s what Jiang Cheng has always admired and resented and envied him for. So of course any solution Wei Wuxian comes up with will involve giving up a part of himself.

That Jiang Cheng believes Wei Wuxian is sacrificing his name and heritage and in some sense identity, rather than his core... well, is he so wrong in that belief, in the end?

#it's the perfect lie because it's hardly a lie at all #only the set decoration is false #that's what makes it ring so true #and that's what makes it hurt so much #well. amongst the 2382934 other things about it that hurt so much #the untamed #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #asks #anon

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ceescedasticity · 4 years

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@tanoraqui regarding your AU idea:

Have some disconnected fragments!:

Jiang Yanli was very seriously injured, and very genuinely distraught, and people treating her like something breakable was not in any way new.

It took far too long to realize what was happening.

She asked them to reduce the pain medication they were giving her ahead of Jiang Cheng's next visit, so she could have a more coherent conversation with him. If anything they increased it, and she only dimly remembered an explanation that he was taking Jin Ling to see Lotus Pier.

She asked for perhaps some different robes than stark unornamented white — she had been widowed for over a year, now, and A-Ling was getting old enough she wanted to look less like a ghost when he saw her again. No different robes appeared.

She asked what options there were to get around, if as it seemed she would, at best, be unable to walk for a very long time. She was planning to perhaps steer things in the direction of 'Lotus Pier doesn't have nearly as many stairs'. But they brushed off the questions completely.

She asked for writing supplies so she could send her brother a letter. None were forthcoming.

Finally Jin Guangyao came in, and bowed most respectfully, and knelt by her couch to speak to her.

"Sect Leader Jiang will be visiting Koi Tower again soon," he said.

"There are some things you should understand before he does."

She was "mad with grief". Everyone knew this.

If anyone came to not know this, Jin Guangyao very carefully did not exactly say, things might not go well for her. Or for Jin Ling.

And yes, of course Sect Leader Jiang would react badly if his nephew or his sister died under Jin Sect's watch. One might say he would react… imprudently.

"You look terribly pale, Madam Jin. I've overtaxed you. I'm so sorry, I'll call your maid and your doctor immediately."

Fragment 2:

At first she wasn't expecting working on her cultivation to do more than fill up a few of the endless, endless hours. What does she care anyway, now, if she feels dizzy or has a few heart palpitations? No one is around to worry for her except her watcher-maids. Maybe it would give Jin Guangyao a scare.

But that didn't happen.

No dizziness, no shakiness, none of the worse symptoms that made even Madam Yu stop pushing her. Meditation isn't frightening anymore. She can work with her spiritual energy until exhaustion with a clear head and a steady pulse. If this keeps up for years… It's late for her to form a functional golden core, very late, but it's not out of the question.

Maybe the injury… knocked something loose, somehow.

Or maybe she should have tried cultivation while reclining with her feet up years ago.

She doesn't know whether she wants to laugh or cry.

She does neither, but keeps cultivating, month after month, year after year, closing her eyes and pretending she's dozing.

She doesn't know where her sword is now, and she never did much with it anyway, but it turns out with enough practice you can send spiritual energy into an embroidery needle.

Fragment 3:

Her company, little as it is, falls in three categories.

The first and largest is Jin Guangyao and his creatures. Her doctors. (Not the first doctor, she thinks — not the one who saved her life despite all expectations — but that woman died not even a year after Jiang Yanli was recovered enough to take any notice of doctors. The four since then have been, although surely not the most valued of tools or he wouldn't dispose of them so freely.) Her 'maids'. (And how she wishes she could trust the people she's forced to rely on to help her to the toilet.) Su Minshan.

Then there are the risks, those Jin Guangyao is concerned about and demands her cooperation in deceiving, whose visits he always monitors — her brother, mainly, and her son as a source of information to her brother. Madam Jin, until she died.

(She doesn't know which category Jin Guangshan would have fallen into, because he never appeared. She's not sorry to not have encountered him while helpless, and it makes no difference in the end, but she would have liked to know whether Jin Guangyao started this at his father's behest.)

And there are the ones he dismisses. Not on his side, but not threats.

This does not include the servants, for which she must give Jin Guangyao credit. Many men — and more than a few women, among them her mother and Madam Jin — would have made that mistake. No, any servant who spends more than a minute in Jiang Yanli's presence is working for Jin Guangyao first. (There is more overturn in staff than there was in Lotus Pier, before. She isn't sure whether things are just different in Lanling or if Jin Guangyao is disposing of them.)

It does include Nie Huaisang.

He sent her a painted fan 'to brighten her rooms' late in the first year when word got around that she was confined by 'illness'. It was not the only pity-gift she'd received in that period, and at the time it hadn't annoyed her any less than the others, but after she calmed down she did appreciate that it was painted only with aesthetically pleasing birds, without heavyhanded symbolism.

(If she's going to be cast as the hysterical madwoman anyway, she may as well throw a fit at anything… overly embellished with peonies. Keepsakes of Zixuan's may have peonies. Gifts from A-Ling may have peonies. Nothing else needs peonies.) (Lotuses are allowable, but she doesn't like getting those from absolutely everyone, either.)

He sent another fan a year or two later, a few months after his unexpected ascension to Sect Leader. —The gossip of the maids when the fan was delivered was in fact how she learned of Nie Mingue's death, as well as the general poor opinion of the new Sect Leader.

Not handling Chifeng-zun's death well, they tutted.

Not handling anything very well, they tittered.

Sect Leader Nie himself stumbles into her secluded courtyard a while after that, while Koi Tower is abuzz with Jin Guangyao's elevation to Chief Cultivator. Nie Huaisang flutters his fan and compliments the embroidery she is (supposedly) working on, and her maid isn't quite confident enough to try to chase out a Sect Leader, even one like this. Instead the maid stands by in increasingly thinly veiled annoyance as Nie Huaisang rambles on about his birds, and when Jiang Yanli suggests they could use some more tea she actually goes.

With the maid gone, she dares probe for more information about the outside world. "You're here for the ceremonies, then?"

"Well, yes, and," he ducks behind his fan, "also to ask San-ge's advice on a few things, I'm so over my head it's shameful, I really don't know what I'd do, he's such a help and support to me, it's almost hard to believe he killed my brother, I really rely on him."

His fan flutters, but his eyes eyes, watching her over the top of it, are rock-steady.

They shouldn't count on even a minute before the maid returns. Jiang Yanli wishes she could rise, could lean across the table and grab his hand. Her fingers twist in the embroidery instead. "Believe it," she says. "I'm sure he had something to do with his father's death, maybe Madam Jin's too, and he's threatened A-Ling, and I'm just here to keep my brother on a leash, and— You should believe it."

(That and was Qiongqi Path, and oh, she wants to include that — wants to say the architect of her imprisonment was also the author of her worst suffering. Wants to say he set up my husband to be killed by my brother. But he might not have meant to. He might have sent Jin Zixuan there simply to undercut Jin Zixun — to stop Jin Zixun, even. She will not condemn a man for things he didn't do. Just for how ruthlessly he exploited the opportunities they gave him.)

Nie Huaisang closes his eyes for a moment. "Thank you, Madam Jiang."

And then the maid is back and they can't say anything else of substance.

But she's been seen. Someone knows that if she's mad it's not from grief.

And while she can't have any kind of honest, meaningful correspondence, no one seems to care if she and Nie Huaisang exchange art. Just harmless amusements for two weak, grieving, helpless people.

(They are, slowly, working towards some degree of coded communication, but not having been able to discuss a key ever is making it very slow to start.)

...aaaaaaaaaaand I should really get back to my preexisting writing commitments but I am pretty sure by the time Wei Wuxian crashes in the door she’s ready to escort them out with a swarm of spiritual-power-infused embroidery needles. and probably she’s suborned Qin Su at some point.

#other fic

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pangzi · 4 years

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Otome Gay [Nielan] - Chapter 6

word count: 4590 other chapters: INTRO - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 [AO3]

Mingjue spent all morning at work thinking about a way to make their evening more romantic. If only he had been to the Jiang residence before so he knew if there was anywhere they could sneak off to and be alone. He was almost glad every time someone called or came into his office so his brain couldn’t go there for a second.

After lunch he called Huaisang, knowing any earlier his brother would probably not have been awake. It took him a while to answer, and when he did he heard a lot of noise and yelling in the background.

“Dage, give me a second to go to a quieter room!” Huaisang yelled as soon as he answered, switching his camera to show the chaos that was the room he was in. Wuxian was yelling at some kid that Mingjue thinks Rich Kid in the game was based on, another boy was just trying to move furniture around while rolling his eyes furiously. After he allowed his brother to take in the scene, he switched the camera back and walked to another room.

“Happy birthday, Huaisang”, Mingjue said as soon as the door closed behind him, and Huaisang’s entire face lit up. “I can’t believe you’re twenty-one already” He could feel himself tear up already. “I still remember the day you were born…”

Huaisang laughed softly. “Thank you, dage! How do you still remember, you were six!”

Mingjue sniffled, trying his best to not to cry as hard as he did other years, but both he and Huaisang knew he was going to fail terribly at that. “You don’t just forget the best day of your life, Huaisang”

“If only you had known back than what a brat I would turn out to be, right?”

“Yes”, Mingjue laughed.

Huaisang replied with a highly offended gasp. “I can’t believe you agreed!” He said but started laughing immediately after. Mingjue wiped his tears away as they laughed. “You should probably cry it all out now, dage, so you don’t embarrass yourself tonight in front of Xichen.”

“We both know I will cry again when I see you tonight.” Mingjue huffed, “and if Xichen can’t handle my tears, it’s better to know now.”

Huaisang nodded, he knew better than anyone how emotional his brother was. Mingjue had dated someone once, who made fun of his emotions and had told him that if he wanted to date him he would have to stop crying so much. They never saw each other again. “Speaking of Xichen, how are you feeling about tonight?”

“Nervous”, Mingjue admitted, “it’s not really the most romantic first date, is it. I’ve been trying to come up with something to make it more romantic but…”

Huaisang started smiling, it was almost a mischievous smile. “I got you, dage! Jiang Cheng and Wuxian won’t let me do anything because it’s my birthday… I will ask Yanli to help me, we’ll make the most romantic date spot ever, I promise!”

The excitement in his voice made Mingjue’s heart ache. Of course his little brother would still want to help him on his birthday. He couldn’t wait to hug him tonight. “Thank you”, he smiled. “I should get back to work, see you tonight!”

“Any time, dage”, Huaisang said, “See you tonight, wear that black button-up we bought last time!” With that, he ended the conversation. Mingjue felt a bit more at ease now, knowing Huaisang would make sure he’d have somewhere to at least have a bit of privacy with Xichen. He just hopes his brother won’t try anything funny that might give Xichen the wrong idea. Luckily, his brother knew how much Mingjue could stress and sent him a picture of his ‘secret project’ a few hours later. It was a room at the second floor of the house it seemed, with big floor to ceiling windows, looking over the estate’s beautiful gardens. From what he could see of the room, there was a small loveseat placed in front of the window, decorated with some fluffy pillows and a blanket. In front of it was a table with two champagne glasses that would not see a sip of champagne, there were also what seemed to be rose petals on the table and candles. Mingjue smiled, Xichen would hopefully be pleasantly surprised at this. After the picture, Huaisang also sent some directions on how to get to the room, promising it was far enough from where the main party activities would be not to be disturbed. The only thing Mingjue could think of was that he hoped this time, Huaisang’s directions would actually be helpful.

Still, working was a hassle for the rest of his day. He couldn’t stop thinking about tonight. So much that he decided to just stop working early. Fridays were usually for paperwork, but most of it was done anyway and the rest could wait, perks of being your own boss. He asked Zonghui if he was okay with locking up for today, before heading out.

He cooked himself his favourite dinner and then took the time to get ready. He wanted to look his absolute best for tonight. He followed Huaisang’s advice, and chose the black button-up he was forced to buy last time they went shopping together. He couldn’t help but agree that it looked good, especially not completely buttoned up, exposing some of his chest, like Huaisang taught him. He had forgotten how tight it was, though, but his brother had promised him that it was supposed to be, and he knew more about fashion than Mingjue himself, so he believed him. He slicked his hair back, shaved and trimmed his moustache to perfection. When he was done getting ready, he felt confident. He looked good, he was ready to swoop Xichen off his feet and make him his.

That was until it was time to leave and pick up Xichen. He suddenly turned into a nervous wreck and took at least two wrong turns on his way to Xichen’s place. When he arrived he took a moment to collect himself, force his hands to stop shaking before getting out of the car and making his way up to the front door of the house. The door opened almost immediately after he pressed the doorbell. Nothing could have prepared him for how good Xichen looked. He was sure Xichen got more beautiful every day, he had to. His breath caught as he took in the beauty in front of him.

Xichen’s hair was a bit messy, more casual than he’d ever seen him, he was dressed in a simple collarless shirt with a beige cardigan and some incredibly tight jeans that nearly made Mingjue’s mouth water. Both of them just stared at each other for a moment, Xichen seemingly enjoying his view as much as Mingjue was enjoying his, before they greeted each other.

“Xichen, you look absolutely breathtaking”, Mingjue gasped, he really couldn’t believe this was real. That he could really take this man with him as his date. Xichen blushed as he pulled the door shut behind him.

“You look very handsome yourself, too” Xichen replied, “I’m lucky I get to accompany someone this handsome tonight.”

This time it was Mingjue’s time to blush. “I’m the lucky one”, he whispered, as he lead Xichen to his car, opening the door for him.

The first few minutes of the drive were in silence. Not an awkward silence, necessarily, but a heavy silence nonetheless. Mingjue’s hands were sweaty from nerves again, and from the way he was clutching the steering wheel.

“Have you ever been to the Jiang residence before?” He asked Xichen after a while.

“Once, to pick up Wangji. I’ve never been inside, though”, Xichen answered. “Have you?” Mingjue shook his head. “It’s very easy to find, and even if it wasn’t you have me to show you the way” They both laughed at the lame joke. Mingjue wouldn’t mind getting lost all the time if it meant Xichen showing him the way. Maybe he had been lost for a long time, when it came to the subject of love and dating, and maybe Xichen could help him find his way through that as well.

They arrived quite early, still the place was already full of people. Mingjue wondered if this were all friends of Huaisang, or if it were just people who heard of a party and showed up. With how social he knew his little brother to be, both options were possible. It might even just be a bit of both.

“Is this okay?” Mingjue asked as he wrapped a possessive arm around Xichen’s waist as they made their way inside. Xichen nodded with a content hum, after which he wrapped his own arm around his date’s waist, too. Mingjue couldn’t be happier at the moment.

They found Huaisang in the hallway, loudly talking to some people while wrapped around the scowling boy Mingjue saw on video in the afternoon. He noticed them as soon as they walked in, excitedly pulling the scowling boy with him towards them, only letting go of him to hug Mingjue.

Mingjue immediately felt his heart clench and tears well up in his eyes as Huaisang hugged him. His little brother was twenty-one now and probably had a boyfriend who he seemed very fond of. He grabbed him a little tighter as they hugged and a few tears escaped.

“Happy birthday, didi”, he said as Huaisang let go, who just smiled fondly at his big brother and wiped away his tears before greeting Xichen as well, who was softly rubbing Mingjue’s back at the sight of his tears. “Is it good enough a gift if I take you to that fancy art store you love, and let you buy anything you want?” Huaisang gasped and nodded excitedly. Mingjue had thought about just getting a giftcard as he had no idea what kind of supplies Huaisang liked and needed, but he’d much rather go there together.

“I’d love that, dage!”

The boy next to Huaisang laughed as he wrapped an arm around him. “Give him a budget, though, otherwise he’ll buy the entire store”, he joked, which made Huaisang smack him in offense, although they all knew it was true. Huaisang slid out of the boy’s grasp with a smile though, grabbing his hand as he completely turned to his brother.

“Dage, I would like to formally introduce you to my boyfriend”, Huaisang said, “Jiang Cheng, although you might know him better as Barista” Mingjue flinched a bit at the reference to the game, hoping Xichen wouldn’t ask him about it later. “Jiang Cheng, this is my dage, Mingjue” The two greeted each other with a nod before they awkwardly shook hands.

“Bring him over for dinner sometime, so I can get to know him”, Mingjue said sternly, to which Huaisang nodded dutifully.

Xichen softly nudged his shoulder. “Should I come too then, so you could get to know me better too?” He joked.

Mingjue felt his entire facade soften again as he looked at Xichen. “Definitely.”

“We could double date!” Huaisang exclaimed, seemingly very excited about the idea. Mingjue didn’t think it was too bad an idea, as it meant he could spend time with both Xichen and Huaisang. He nodded, wrapping his arm around Xichen’s waist again tightly. “I should go greet some more of my guests, Wangji is in there if you want to see him, drinks are everywhere!” Huaisang chirped before pulling Jiang Cheng along with him to greet some other people.

They made their way towards the room where Wangji was supposed to be. The only furniture in the room were some tables placed against the wall, a few chairs and a big stereo which was booming some kind of music. They found Wangji near a wall, with Wuxian obscenely dancing against him, which made Xichen chuckle softly. Wangji and Wuxian were so different, from what Mingjue had heard, yet they worked so well together, it gave Mingjue confidence that he could make it work with Xichen too, no matter how different they seemed to be.

They had a short chat with Wangji, until the music changed to a slow song and Wuxian forced Wangji to dance with him in the middle of the room. They watched them dance for a moment, before Xichen extended his hand towards Mingjue too.

“I’m a very bad dancer”, Mingjue warned him as he took his hand and moved to the middle of the room as well.

Xichen smiled. “So am I, don’t worry”, he said as he wrapped his arms around Mingjue’s neck.

Mingjue wrapped an arm around Xichen’s waist, as he pushed a strand of hair out of Xichen’s eyes, before also putting that hand on his waist and pulled him a bit closer. They just shuffled around a bit, not even caring about the beat of the song, and stared at each other, both with a big smile on their faces. Taking in Xichen, Mingjue just couldn’t believe his luck, he couldn’t believe how right this felt. Xichen seemed to feel the same, as he leaned forward to softly press their foreheads together. He was so close, so incredibly close and Mingjue wanted to kiss him so bad. He leaned in a bit more, pressing their noses together, Xichen’s eyes fluttered closed and… the song changed. A loud, obnoxious song boomed from the stereo and a group came into the room yelling in excitement as they started dancing to the song.

Xichen pressed his face against Mingjue’s shoulder as he laughed about the ruined moment. This might be a good time to sneak off to their actual date.

“Come,” Mingjue said, as he unwrapped himself from Xichen and pulled him towards the hallway again, “I prepared something”

Xichen cocked up an eyebrow. “I thought you’d never been here before?”

Mingjue rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Okay, okay, I made Huaisang prepare something for us”, he confessed with a huff. He tried his best to remember Huaisang’s directions, luckily his brother had been smart enough to mark the correct door for them with a little heart post-it that said ‘Have a good time, dage ;)’. Mingjue rolled his eyes as he snatched off the post-it and opened the door.

Xichen gasped softly. The room was even more beautiful now it was dark, only illuminated by the candles and the garden lights outside. Mingjue was thankful that his brother was such a romantic soul, as he could never have done this himself. He led Xichen to the loveseat, where they both plopped down. There was a bottle of champagne in the ice bucket on the table, but he knew it was only there for decoration, as neither of them drank alcohol. Around it there were several soft drinks, iced teas and fruit juices to choose from.

“Do you want something to drink?” Mingjue asked as he sat down next to Xichen, who immediately inched a bit closer.

“Some of that iced jasmine tea, please”

Mingjue poured them both a glass, handing one to Xichen before sitting back, putting one arm on the back of the loveseat behind Xichen, who took it as an invite to scoot even closer, sides pressed together now. They clinked their glasses together, and sipped their drinks in silence for a moment, just enjoying the view of the garden.

“Do you like it?”, Mingjue asked after a moment, “I really wanted to make tonight special somehow”

Xichen laid his hand on Mingjue’s thigh, squeezing it softly. “I do, it’s wonderful” Mingjue sighed a bit in relief. His heart didn’t stop beating out of his chest, though, the hand on his thigh only making it beat faster. They talked about their days a bit, both of them confessing to the other that most of their workday had gone to waste thinking about tonight.

“Mingjue?”, Xichen whispered, “Can I ask you something personal?”

“Mn”, he answered nervously.

“Have you had a relationship with a man before?” He retreated his hand from where it had been laying on Mingjue’s thigh, suddenly way more interested in playing with his cardigan.

Mingjue looked at him for a moment. “I have”, he said, “Only once, though. We were together for a bit over a year, but he didn’t get along with Huaisang at all and eventually broke up with me because he didn’t like how close I was with my brother.” He hated to think about that relationship, he was still mad about it. He couldn’t believe anyone who knew him well would think he’d ever drop Huaisang for anything. “It’s actually been a problem for quite some men I’ve gone on dates with…” The amount of men that had been weirded out by Mingjue’s relationship with his brother was quite ridiculous. He didn’t get what was wrong with being so close to your family. Especially as Mingjue had spent a significant amount of his life raising Huaisang. Xichen just nodded along, still not looking at him, so Mingjue kept talking. “I’ve been single for a few years now… Not that I haven’t been looking, I just never found the right person. What about you?”

“I’ve had some”, Xichen mumbled, “None of them really ended well”

“Why’s that?” Mingjue asked, taking Xichen’s hand in his to stop his nervous fumbling.

Xichen grimaced, squeezing Mingjue’s fingers. “I’m quite idealistic, you see”, he explained, “I tend to only see the good in people, always hoping for the best, especially when I like someone.”

“That’s not so bad, is it?” Mingjue asked, hand on Xichen’s shoulder moving up to play with his hair a bit. The other man immediately leaning into the touch a bit.

“It is, though”, he shrugged, “It tends to get me hurt every single time as I ignore major red flags” It was clear Xichen had been hurt several times and it made Mingjue want to cry. He wanted to protect this man from all the bad things in the world, as he only deserved all the best.

Pulling him closer, Mingjue pressed a soft kiss against his temple. “I’m so sorry, Xichen”, he whispered, voice breaking a bit. “You deserve so much better” Xichen finally looked up at him, his eyes still filled with pain. Mingjue let go of his hand to cup his cheek, thumb softly stroking his cheekbone. Xichen’s eyes fluttered shut again, leaning into the touch. “You deserve the very best”, Mingjue mumbled, pressing a kiss to Xichen’s other cheek. “I want to give you the world, Lan Xichen” He tilted the other’s head up a bit, hearing how his breath hitched as he did. “I want to give you everything I have to offer” He softly pressed their lips together. Xichen gasped into the kiss, eagerly reciprocating, grabbing Mingjue’s arm as he sat up a bit more. Mingjue couldn’t help but smile into the kiss as he pressed their lips a bit harder together.

Xichen whined softly, as they broke the kiss. It was ridiculous how out of breath they both were from such a short kiss, it felt like he was taking a breath for the first time in ages. He couldn’t help but kiss Xichen all over his face when he saw the blush on his cheeks. His trail of kisses going down to his neck, where he hid his face where he smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. He nuzzled his face in the crease Xichen’s neck as he pulled him a bit closer.

A giggle erupted from Xichen, who then pushed Mingjue away from him softly. He caressed Mingjue’s cheek as he looked at him, smiling brightly, the pain in his eyes gone completely. His fingers stroked over Mingjue’s moustache again as he let out a soft giggle again. “Tickles”, he whispered, “I always wondered how it’d feel” He pressed their lips together again shortly. “Less prickly than I expected, I like it”

Mingjue laughed softly, grabbing Xichen’s hand that was still caressing his cheek, kissing it softly. “I like kissing you”, he said, kissing his knuckles again “I could do it forever” Another short kiss, this time on his lips. “I like you, Xichen, so much”

Xichen pulled his hand out of Mingjue’s grasp, grabbing his face again and kissing him, hard. “I like you too”, he said through the kiss. Fingers threading into his hair as he pulled Mingjue closer. Reveling in the groan the other man released as he grabbed the hair tighter and softly bit his lip.

Mingjue grabbed onto Xichen’s waist tightly, trying to anchor himself as the other man kissed the life out of him. He nearly lost it when Xichen decided their position wasn’t comfortable enough and threw his leg Mingjue’s and crawled in his lap.

“Is this okay?” He panted shyly, as if he wasn’t just kissing Mingjue like that. His hands dropping to the other’s shoulders, leaning down again to softly nip at his jaw. Mingjue could’ve never expected Xichen to be such a menace. All rational thought was slowly leaving him and all he could think of was Xichen.

“You’re going to be the end of me”, he groaned, letting his hands roam over Xichen’s back, who just laughed at his reaction. Mingjue captured his lips in another kiss, just as needy as the previous one. Xichen let his hands roam too, first down Mingjue’s arms, then up again and down his chest, taking his time to feel up the muscles there, one hand staying there as the other grabbed Mingjue by the neck again.

Feeling daring, Mingjue let his hands drop down too. Sliding over Xichen’s ass to his thighs. God those thighs, he nearly drooled just thinking of them. He squeezed them, earning a soft whine from Xichen, feeling them up before sliding them up again to his ass and grabbing hard. Xichen gasped loudly at that, hands grabbing on a bit tighter as Mingjue slid his tongue in his mouth.

Mingjue felt himself get lightheaded at the lack of oxygen but he couldn’t stop, he’d rather pass out than stop kissing Xichen at this moment. It didn’t help that Xichen just kept pressing closer, kissing him with renewed vigour the second their tongues touched. Mingjue felt his pants get tighter and tighter, if they didn’t slow down any time soon Xichen would have him coming in his pants like he’s some teen boy during his first make out session.

Reluctantly he broke the kiss, both of them sucking in a deep breath as soon as their lips disconnected. He didn’t let Xichen go far though, pressing their foreheads together as they panted, trying to regain themselves.

Only then Xichen seemed to realise what they were doing, with a shy laugh he let himself fall forward against Mingjue, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, hiding his face away against his date’s neck. Mingjue rubbed his back softly, kissing his shoulder.

“You drive me absolutely crazy, Xichen”, he whispered against the shoulder, “I can’t get enough of you” The other man nearly purred as he pressed closer to Mingjue.

Suddenly the door of the room flew open with a bang, both of them had nearly forgotten there were other people in the house. Alarmed, Xichen sat up.

“Xichen! You need to come now, it’s Wangji”, Meng Yao said immediately after bursting in. Mingjue felt a mix of annoyance and worry come over him. Of course it had to be Meng Yao to disturb them. “Someone spiked his drink and then tried to flirt with Wei Wuxian, it isn’t pretty”

Mingjue had barely processed the words when Xichen already sprinted out of the room. He got up to go after him and help but Meng Yao stopped him.

“Give up, Mingjue”, he said, “You’ve had your fun now stop, you can’t give him what he needs”

Mingjue just pushed him inside and made his way back to the party, when he finally made it downstairs he saw Xichen and Wuxian carry a drunk Wangji towards the door, his nose was bleeding. Already reaching for his keys, he went towards them, reaching to help.

“Don’t”, Xichen snapped with a glare. Mingjue felt a pang in his chest, did he do something wrong? Wuxian gave him an apologetic smile as they walked by. He watched them put Wangji in the car after which Xichen drove off. Mingjue couldn’t help but worry about Wangji, he turned around to look for Huaisang as soon as the car had disappeared, only to be stopped by Meng Yao, who was grinning.

“See”, he sneered, “see how easily he lost interest?” Mingjue’s stomach churned at those words. Xichen was just worried about his brother, it didn’t mean he lost interest already. “A brainless jock like you could never hold his interest for long, just a piece of meat for some quick fun” Meng Yao sighed, grinning as he saw his words were getting to Mingjue. “I’ve been trying to tell him, usually he listens to me better, but you seemed to have him actually believe this could turn into something”, he laughed, “I’m glad he realised now”

Mingjue balled his fist, trying to stay calm. He felt himself get overwhelmed by his emotions. This little rat would not make or see him cry. He should let this get to him. “What do you know?” He demanded, “what do you know about what Xichen feels?”

Meng Yao rolled his eyes. “I know him better than he knows himself. If he had only listened to me every time he met a stupid boy, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt so often.”

“Even if it was just lust, isn’t it better to let us figure it out ourselves?” Mingjue asked.

“I’d rather get him hurt early on, than have him be with someone like you” Meng Yao spat, those last words coming out so hateful Mingjue felt his stomach drop.

Suddenly Mingjue just wanted to leave too. The evening had been so perfect, he shouldn’t let Meng Yao ruin it. He didn’t feel like doing this now, or ever. Meng Yao had no right to decide about his relationship with Xichen.

“Just give up, Mingjue” Meng Yao seemed to be losing his patience, “You won’t win this. I’ll make sure you’re the one coming out of this hurt, you don’t deserve Xichen. You’re nothing, a piece of trash, a disgusting, brainless jock. It’s cute that you thought you could even hold his interest for much longer, but you won’t, it’s over already. Just forget about him”

Mingjue felt sick, tears springing into his eyes, although he wasn’t sure if they were tears of anger or of pain. He just turned around and left.

When he got home he was still fuming, tears flowing freely as he dropped down on the couch, letting go of all emotions he had been keeping in all evening. When he calmed down he was absolutely exhausted, his head hurt and he felt nauseous. Still, he got out his cell phone, texting an apology to Huaisang for leaving without saying goodbye. He hesitated before texting Xichen. He didn’t even know what to write, he only knew he should message Xichen. In the end he apologized for what happened to Wangji, asking if he was okay.

He put his phone far away as he got in bed, so it wouldn’t tempt him into checking his messages every now and then. Still, he couldn’t sleep. His mind too occupied with everything that had happened that evening.

#otome gay #nielan #nie mingjue #lan xichen #mirf writes #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #cql

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rosethornewrites · 4 years

Text

Fic: the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break, ch. 2

Relationship: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín

Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Secrets, Crying, Masks, Soulmates, Truth, Self-Esteem Issues, Regret, This Was Supposed To Be A One Shot

Summary: Lan WangJi and Wen Qing discuss the situation, and Wei WuXian.

Notes: I had intended this to be a one-shot, but isn't that how this always works? Yay, canon-divergence! Also, I did research on golden cores and qi for some details.

AO3 link

Chapter 1

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As Lan WangJi carefully carries him to the barely-padded flat boulder that serves as his bed, he catalogs what must be done—a letter to XiChen with an invitation to visit (if the Wens are amenable), the purchase of proper supplies, perhaps helping Wei Ying cleanse himself of resentful energy so it does not damage him… if he is now willing to allow his help, now that the misunderstanding has been cleared.

Wen Qing is waiting in the cave. She sighs when she sees him, helping him situated Wei Ying on what passes for his bed before removing his belt and opening the top of his robes in a clinical manner, revealing a rather ugly bruise on his sternum near the Wen brand scar. Worse, it makes very clear how emaciated he is, his ribs prominent, his skin the color of paper.

Lan WangJi can see other scars, including a mottled one that starts above his solar plexus and disappears under his robes. It has surgical precision, and he knows what it’s from. His urge to place his hand over it is inappropriate at best, and he instead busies himself removing Wei Ying’s shoes.

He remembers the cave, Wei Ying’s assertion regarding scars, and knows there are others hidden, and not just on his body.

“This idiot,” Wen Qing mutters, pressing lightly around the injury. “At least he’s not broken any ribs.”

She completely ignores Lan WangJi for the moment, crossing the room to grab a small container, which turns out to contain a salve. After spreading it over the bruise, she rearranges his robes, not bothering with the belt, covering him with a meagre, threadbare blanket.

The cave is chilly, and with an injury and no golden core… Lan WangJi supplements, pulling a heavier outer robe from his qiankun pouch to drape over him.

“At least I don’t have to drug him to get him to sleep this time,” she says, her tone tart but laced with worry. She reaches forward to wipe at Wei Ying’s face with a sleeve, gently removing what remains of his tears.

He glances at her, concerned at the implication she has before. That he needs it to sleep.

She inclines her head. “You have questions.”

“Yes.” He realizes he has told Wei Ying, but has not asked the Wens; this is, after all, their home. “I intend to stay.”

Her lips thin, and her gaze sharpens. “For how long?”

Wen Qing’s tone isn’t without judgment, and Lan WangJi deems it fair. He has failed Wei Ying, and failed to honor the promise they made in childhood, has failed to pursue justice in favor of appeasing sect politics.

“Indefinitely.”

Tension seems to ease from her small frame, leaving her just looking tired.

“Good. He needs an ally, at least.”

Something in her voice, in the way she says ‘ally,’ implies she believes he is more; she’s not wrong, but it is not something he intends to discuss with her.

“The surgery,” Lan WangJi states simply.

Wen Qing indicates a seat, and he quickly is glad to be seated. The details of Wei Ying’s sacrifice, the pain he endured without relief nonstop for days with only a fifty percent chance, how he had treated the gifting of his core as a necessity out of filial piety. How he had expressed that this was his duty, to protect Jiang WanYin with his life, his insistence that if the Jiangs had not taken him in off the streets as a child, he would never have had a golden core, so he owed the sacrifice.

Lan WangJi tries to imagine whether he could bring himself to do such a thing for XiChen, and finds he can;t. He would give his life for his brother, but the idea of giving his core is impossible. And yet Wei Ying had, without hesitation, gone far beyond duty. Wei Ying, who gives of himself until he has nothing left to give, and yet still tries to give more.

He only realizes tears stream down his face when Wen Qing hands him a cloth, her face composed but her eyes expressing regret.

“Wen Chao apparently caught him in Yiling before Jiang Cheng returned,” Wen Qing says eventually. “He was still recovering from the surgery, and without a golden core…”

The idea of Wei Ying helpless and alone, faced with certain death, with no one to come to his aid… And yet Lan WangJi is certain he faced Wen Chao with defiance. Wei Ying, who could fight so brilliantly with his mind and mouth, would have refused to show fear—would have unleashed both mind and mouth to their full capacity with the knowledge he was doomed anyway.

But he must have been terrified.

Lan WangJi is starting to agree that, as gruesome as his death had been, Wen Chao had died too easily.

“He boasted of beating him and throwing him here.” She smiles, but it’s without mirth. “A-Ning begged me to let him come here, to search. But no one comes out of the Burial Mounds.”

“Before him.”

Wei Ying strives for the impossible, always, and achieved it in surviving. But Lan WangJi knows perhaps not all of him did return, that he’d lost pieces of himself to whatever he experienced. In so many ways, Wei Ying had lost more than anyone else had in the war, and only continues to lose. He remembers the cold way Wei Ying looked at him when he and Jiang WanYin had found him finally, the way he’d pushed him away.

He had wondered then if it had been the demonic cultivation, but he feels now it was more likely fear and trauma and perhaps Wei Ying feeling as though he was unsuitable for Lan WangJi’s company, pushing him away before he could be pushed, fearing judgment.

And unknowingly, Lan WangJi had done exactly that. .

Wen Qing nods. “He doesn’t talk about his time here. But his nightmares...”

Lan WangJi glances at Wei Ying, who appears for now to be sleeping peacefully. He has seen him after the defeat of XuanWu, burning with fever, half-conscious, babbling in terror of dogs and whips, calling for his parents. He had done his best to soothe him then.

“I will never do that surgery again. I wish I’d never come up with the idea,” she says softly, her own gaze on his still form. “I regretted it the moment his golden core was in my hands. It was so radiant, and I was taking it from him.”

He cannot imagine it and does not wish to; Wei Ying’s very essence torn from him by his consent. It takes him a moment to collect himself.

“If not for the resentful energy… if he was cleansed of it… Could he cultivate another golden core?”

This late in Wei Ying’s life, it would be a weak one, but...

“I doubt it,” Wen Qing answers honestly. “I suspect the scarring of the lower dantian would prevent that. I have no idea for sure, of course. Everything was just theory, and now he’s living it. It’s the same with the resentful energy; I have no idea how it could impact his mind and body long-term. Or if it’s even just resentful energy, and not a combination of that and the loss of his golden core and trauma...”

Lan WangJi watches her as she trails off, noticing her discontent. Wei Ying had joked about her sternness, but it clearly comes from a place of caring.

“I told him he should leave, you know,” she says finally. “That he’d done enough to help us, that he owes us nothing more. And he pretended he didn’t even hear me.”

He’d love to be able to tell her Wei Ying doesn’t think in terms of owing and being owed. But more realistically, it’s that Wei Ying feels he owes of himself more than he can ever give, while others owe him nothing.

“He will not leave you unprotected,” Lan WangJi finally says.

“I know. It doesn’t seem to matter what it costs him.”

He realizes abruptly that she understands Wei Ying perfectly in this, as he does. That she has seen that he will sacrifice everything for others. That it pains her just as much to see it.

“He gives his rations to a-Yuan most of the time. You probably noticed how unhealthy he is.” Wen Qing fixes him with a look he can only describe as beseeching. “I don’t care what else you do, if you help with the farming or whatever. Just help him.”

“I intend to.” Lan WangJi fishes his money purse out and hands it to her. “I will assist in any way possible. This should help to begin with.”

The way her eyes widen, he realizes to her what he carries is a small fortune, and knows it likely would be to Wei Ying as well. He remembers hearing gossip, once among Cloud Recesses students, that after the death of his parents Wei Ying had been a street urchin for several years before being found by Jiang FengMian, before being brought back to Lotus Pier. The lowly son of a servant. Though the gossip had been meant to put Wei Ying down, it had given Lan WangJi more respect for him, that he could smile, could make friends so easily, could be so powerful a cultivator and swordsman after having been through such hardship.

“We were going to have a special dinner tonight, to thank him. But I think we’ll need to hold off, at least until tomorrow night.” She smiles. “And perhaps a trip to town tomorrow will give a-Ning more to cook with. He’d be happier if the food was anything but radishes, I’m sure.”

“I will need to send a message to inform my brother of my decision,” he tells her. “He may wish to come here, to speak with me.”

Wen Qing studies him for a moment, and nods. “I can warn the others. Honestly, GusuLan worries me the least of the four main sects. Your brother’s reputation is honorable.”

He inclines his head in silent thanks before a murmur catches their attention, a shifting of fabric as Wei Ying moves restlessly in his sleep.

With Wen Qing’s mention of nightmares and the damage resentful energy could be doing to Wei Ying in mind, Lan WangJi manifests his guqin and starts “Cleansing.” He has played this for him before, at the end of the war during his days-long unconsciousness and for a bit afterward.

How much pain could have been prevented, had he realized Wei Ying’s sacrifice earlier? What more could he have done to ease his pain? Regret cloaks him, weights him, and he plays for himself as well.

...and to live without regrets…

He remembers a brighter Wei Ying, so many years ago it seems now, releasing a lantern he had deftly painted with rabbits for him. That part of his pledge, the pledge he had echoed, the pledge it seems he needs to work harder to fulfill.

Lan WangJi cannot change the past; he can only move forward, acknowledge his mistakes and work to lessen the damage done and prevent further ill effects.

Wei Ying settles quickly, and he runs through the notes only once for now, stilling the strings when he’s finished.

“He’s played that here,” Wen Qing says in the silence that follows. “On his dizi.”

He wouldn’t be able to infuse spiritual energy into it to make it effective, but Lan WangJi wonders if the music is comforting to him regardless.

He wonders, selfishly, if Wei Ying has played it thinking of him.

“He plays another one more often, though. A-Yuan loves that one.”

She hums a few notes, and Lan WangJi feels struck dumb, frozen.

Wei Ying plays WangXian, remembers it.

His fingers pluck the tune, running through the song he wrote for Wei Ying so many years ago, the song he played for him only once. The song he plays now, hoping it eases his dreams further.

Wen Qing is watching him when he stills the strings.

“I wrote it. For him.”

He doesn’t owe her the information, but he shares it anyway.

“You’re exactly who he needs.” Wen Qing’s smile transforms her, edging away the exhaustion that seems etched in her features. “You should tell him.”

Lan WangJi knows she means more than the song. “I thought he knew.”

He had told Wei Ying the name of the song in the cave, had thought the sentiment behind it was known, but Wei Ying had been burning with fever at the time, had fallen into fevered dreams, and Lan WangJi can’t be sure he even heard the name at all. And the next time he’d seen him, it was after he’d gone missing, and Wei Ying been twisted by his experiences.

“Wei WuXian is a genius, but he’s also an idiot.” Wen Qing’s smile turns bitter. “He’s the kind of person who cares for everyone but believes himself unworthy of anyone’s care. He won’t know. Not unless he’s told.”

Possibly the worst thing about her observation is how true it rings, how much it tracks with everything Lan WangJi has seen of Wei Ying. She doesn’t need to say what’s implied: that even told, Wei Ying may still feel unworthy. He does not recognize his own value.

“He is worthy,” he finally says, and knows it only touches the surface of how he feels about Wei Ying. “He is deserving.”

And Lan WangJi will spend the rest of their lives ensuring he understands that.

#the untamed #untamed fanfiction #mo dao zu shi #lan zhan #lan wangji #wen qing #wei wuxian #wei ying #my fanfiction #chen qing ling #cql #mdzs

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ibijau · 4 years

Note

XiSang 50

I will always love you, oranyway I will always have loved you now. (And you will always besomeone who was beautiful, once.)

didn’t exactly follow the prompt but… I think the general feeling is still there? It is, without surprise, part of the Bad Timeline

It had been easy, up tothat point, to pretend that things were fine. If Huaisang pretendedhard enough, he could convince himself that he felt nothing more thanthe mild annoyance of his first lifetime at seeing his brother withLan Xichen. For how clever these two were on the battlefield, theyreally behaved like naughty children when it came to each other,forcing Huaisang to step in and be the responsible adult. It hadpissed him off when he’d been young and… well, he was young againhe supposed, but he was also older than Mingjue had ever gotten to bein that other life.

That was the only reasonhis blood sometimes boiled when he caught a glimpse of Lan Xichenkissing Mingjue : Huaisang had become an old man, just as grumpyas Madam Nie.

That excuse worked untilthe wedding. Before that, he did not get to see Lan Xichen all thatoften, anyway. Too busy with helping rebuild Cloud Recesses, withgiving a hand to Jin Guangyao and Jin Zixuan… but of course, thatchanged once he was married to Mingjue.

Suddenly, Lan Xichen wasconstantly there. Always smiling, always cheerful, chattingwith Madam Nie as if he enjoyed it, kindly giving orders to theservants, teaching the younger disciples. He seemed happy. He had tobe happy. But if this was how he looked and acted when he was happy,then it meant…

Of course, Huaisang knewthis wasn’t his Xichen. That it would never be. And justbecause This Lan Xichen looked this way when he was happy didn’t meanhis had been too. Or if Xichen had been happy, it didn’t mean he’dbeen happy with Huaisang. It was just a tribute to his sunnydisposition, his capacity to see the best in any situation. Xichenhad been happy in spite of being married to him, not because of it.

It was something Huaisangclung to. If they were not happy in that other life, then it didn’tmatter than things ended in disaster, that Xichen left. If Xichen wasnot happy there, it justified all the horrors that Huaisang hadcommitted to ensure he was happy here.

And yet so often he wouldcatch Lan Xichen looking at Mingjue with a soft smile on his lips, sosimilar to the way his Xichen had looked at him sometimes when theywere working together or after they made love, and…

Huaisang always felt theimpulse to run away when that happened. It was that or being forcedto realise just how much he had had in his first life, how much hehad ruined.

Most importantly though,he just didn’t want to feel envious of what his brother had. Mingjuedeserved happiness. Mingjue wasn’t a murderer. Mingjue wasn’t a liar.Mingjue was good and honest and he deserved the love of Lan Xichen,just as Lan Xichen deserved to stand at the side of a great man, notsome little weasely runt.

So Huaisang, discreetly,started avoiding Lan Xichen. He found excuses to never be too long inthe same room as his brother-in-law. When that wasn’t enough, whenjust the proximity of Lan Xichen became too much to bear, Huaisangtook to travelling. In this life, no one asked him when he would beback, no one asked him to make promises. Mingjue told him to becareful whenever he left, and that was it.

There was plenty to do forHuaisang. Night Hunts, sure, but also painting whenever he found someplace pretty enough… although mostly, what he did was keep track ofthe people he had changed.

He always went to CarpTower as his first stop. Jin Zixuan, in spite of his youth, had beendoing a great job as Sect Leader since his father’s death soon afterthe end of the Sunshot Campaign (a tragic accident. Nobody could haveproven Huaisang’s involvement. Nobody could have imagined there wassomething to prove). Of course it helped that he had the support ofhis half brother… and it was always weird to Huaisang to find howdifferent Jin Guangyao was in this life. Still a sneaky littlebastard, but since Jin Zixuan had welcomed him with open arm andtreated him with sincere affection, his bitterness wasn’t poisoninghim. Huaisang always kept an eye on him in case, though. He was not aman to trust anyone.

Who he went to see afterthat would vary. Sometimes he went to the Laoling Qin sect, where QinSu was still getting over the disappointment of her one-sided passionfor Jin Guangyao. She did not know the truth of her birth, althoughJin Guangyao and Jin Zixuan did. Hopefully, the secret would neverneed to be revealed to her.

Other times, he would goto Yiling. There was no one to see there. There had never been anyoneto see, in this new life. But Huaisang did not know where the boy whoshould have become Lan Sizhui was buried, and this was close enough.He had liked his nephew by alliance, and he knew Xichen had loved theboy dearly. But he had been too slow to kill Jin Guangshan. For thosefew Wen survivors, it had already been too late… and perhaps thatwas why he’d never trust Jin Guangyao in this life either. He hadallowed this to happen.

Then, no matter what elsehe did, his last visit was always for Lotus Piers. Huaisang did notthink either of the Sect Leaders were ever particularly happy to seehim. Sometimes he thought they could feel what he had done, even ifthey could not comprehend it. Jiang Cheng’s death was the closestthing to a regret that he could feel. If given the choice again, hewould let the core transfer happen and kill Wei Wuxian instead.Perhaps Wei Wuxian could feel that also.

After that, going back tothe Unclean Realm was almost a relief.

Almost.

But not quite.

After all, when he arrivedthere was no white silhouette to wait for him. Nobody to whom hecould gift pretty pastries. Nobody to kiss him and hold him and takehim to bed and make him feel like he mattered, like he was enoughfor once in his life.

Instead he had to startwitnessing again that unbearable happiness that did not, could not,would not involve him. He had to see Mingjue laugh and smile, had tosee Lan Xichen’s tenderness directed at someone else, all of thatunder the benevolent gaze of Madam Nie who was so satisfied by thesituation that she hardly ever remembered to nag at Huaisang, as ifhe weren’t even worth that effort anymore.

He always returned to theUnclean Realm, but he never stayed long. Just enough time to gatherinformation for new Night Hunts, to prepare new talisman and storeaway whatever he’d painted on his last trip (he was running out ofspace. In this life, Mingjue had never ravaged his room) and then hewas gone again.

He was making a stash oftalismans in his room, getting ready to leave again in a few days,when one morning Lan Xichen came knocking at his door.

“I thought we mighttalk?” he said in a gentle, careful tone that made Huaisang want tobreak into tears. “I know you do not like to have others in yourroom, but…”

“It’s fine,” Huaisangreplied, putting enormous efforts into keeping his voice neutral andhis face indifferent. “Sorry for the mess.”

Lan Xichen smiled but madeno comment as he came to sit on the opposite side of the table ratherthan next to Huaisang, as he would have done in their other life.

“Did I do somethingwrong, brother Xichen?”

“I came to ask you thesame question,” Lan Xichen replied, his face showing open concern.“Have I offended you since marrying your brother, Huaisang?”

Huaisang blinked a fewtimes, too genuinely surprised to hide it. “Of course not, brotherXichen. Why would you ask this?”

“Because you haveavoided me since that day,” Lan Xichen explained.

Huaisang’s heart jumped inhis chest. It shouldn’t have made him this happy that Lan Xichen,even in this life, had paid attention to him. It meant nothing, itwas just that his brother-in-law was a good and kind man, that familymattered to him, that Huaisang hadn’t bothered being subtle in hisavoidance. Still, Lan Xichen had noticed. He had drawn the wrongconclusion about it, as he so often did, but he had noticed and thatwas something.

“Brother Xichen, Iassure you that was not my intention,” Huaisang said. The lie cameeasily, an odd cheerfulness bubbling in his chest. Would Lan Xichennotice this too, the way he’d always seen through the lies in theirother life? “If you are saying this because I am so little around,I assure you it’s not your fault! But… well. Brother Xichen, youknow I don’t get along too well with Mother. I couldn’t escape easilybefore, but I’m of age now, so she can’t stop me from Night Huntingall I want. As to why it started after your marriage… well, beforethat, I had to be around in case you needed a chaperone, didn’t I?”

Huaisang allowed himself asmirk. Without surprise Lan Xichen’s cheeks coloured slightly at theimplication, although he did not look particularly ashamed of thisreminder. If anything, he seemed to be fighting a smile.

“If you bore withMother’s bad temper for our sake, I owe you thanks,” Lan Xichensaid. “But really, is she the only reason you are gone so often? Ihave truly not offended you somehow?”

“Truly. You could neveroffend me, brother Xichen,” Huaisang claimed, a little moreearnestly than he intended. But Lan Xichen cared, not the wayHuaisang wanted him to, needed him to, but he cared, he had paidattention, he had noticed and that was something, wasn’t it?

Still he feared for amoment that he’d allowed too much emotion to come to the surface. LanXichen gazed at him oddly for a second or two, before his smileturned impersonally soft again.

“I am glad to hear that.And I hope… we both know Mother’s health has not been the bestlately. After the worst has come, I hope we will see more of you. Itwould make your brother very happy. He misses you so when you aregone.”

“He misses havingsomeone do the accounting for him, you mean,” Huaisang grumbled.

Lan Xichen laughed at thejoke, a light, crystal clear sound that Huaisang had heard hundredsof times in their other life. It always used to make him want to kisshis Xichen, so beautiful when he forgot his Lan restraint. He hadrarely resisted that impulse, especially as time had gone on. He hadlearned that Xichen welcomed those spontaneous moments of affection,craving tenderness as deeply as Huaisang did.

It was a real struggle tonot lean above the table and kiss him in this life too. Huaisang didnot think he had ever wanted anything so badly in his life… and ifthis had been his Xichen, it wouldn’t have mattered, his husbandwould have kissed him before perhaps suggesting that they were notneeded for anything and could retire to their bedroom for a littlewhile until dinner, and…

But this was not hisXichen. This man sitting across from him would never want him. Thisman loved another, was happy with another, would always belong toanother because Huaisang would not let anyone harm his brother inthis life. He would personally murder every man, woman, child andelder in the cultivation world if that was what it took, but nobodywould take Mingjue from Lan Xichen this time.

The world could burn. Ifthese two were happy, there was nothing Huaisang wouldn’t do to keepthem that way.

#nie huaisang #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #xisang #it's one sided but hey it's still there #bad timeline #nhs is not a good person and having emotions somehow makes him worse #jau writes #veraverorum #jau answers

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razberryyum · 5 years

Video

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 6, Part 1 of 2

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed and a little for Princess Weiyoung)

[covers MDZS chapter 18 and a bit of chaps 56 and 66]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other…there’s so much Wangxian-ness in this episode, one post couldn’t contain all of it)

Team CQL went rogue for the two major events featured in this episode—the Cloud Recesses drinking incident and the WangXian bathing scene—and really, bless them and their ancestors for that decision. Not only did the changes provide Wei Ying and Lan Zhan with additional bonding time, but they actually had significant bearing on future events.

Originally in the novel, Lan Zhan didn’t actually partake in the drinking incident that got Wei Ying punished: some nameless disciples, Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng were the ones who actually took part in those activities. Lan Zhan only found their drunk asses the next morning and dragged Wei Ying off for disciplinary action (although, from the way the scene was described in the book, it actually seemed like he was more angry at Wei Ying for looking at porn, lol). However, for the live action, that entire scenario was transformed into Lan Zhan actually getting drunk for the first time, albeit against his will. Of course it would have been better if he willingly joined in, but at that point in time, that would have been illogical, not to mention completely out of character for him, so even though Wei Ying sort of did Lan Zhan wrong, there was probably no other way he could have gotten him to share a drink with him otherwise.

I am especially grateful for this change because that is the moment when my eyes were finally open to Wang Yibo’s talents as an actor and I started to really appreciate his performance. Prior to this episode, I was actually wondering if he was playing stoicism so well because that’s really all he was capable of doing, but then, when he dropped that rigid façade and gave us a charmingly adorable drunk Lan Zhan, I realized that everything that came before were indeed acting choices, that he was definitely able to do more than that. Not to mention, he also had pretty good comedic timing. I started to look at him in an entirely new light after watching this episode, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Upon revisiting this episode last night, I finally realized something that I never thought of before, and I feel actually pretty stupid for not even making the connection until now. During the Koi tower scenes in the present, when Wei Ying as the paperman was eavesdropping on Jin Guangyao and his wife’s conversation, I couldn’t figure out how JGY was able to put Qin Su under his control the way he did, but in watching this episode again, it finally came to me: he probably used a modified version of the charm that Wei Ying used on Lan Zhan in here. After all, JGY was one of the many people who raided the Burial Mounds and took over the Yiling Patriarch’s possessions after his death, so it would make sense for him to discover this particular memento as well. When I first watched this episode, I was mainly just impressed by how powerful the charm is that it would be able to put someone like Lan Zhan under its spell, considering he’s not just some lay person, but rather someone who already had a pretty high level of cultivation by then. I simply saw it as yet another indicator of just how talented and powerful Wei Ying was even at that young age. But now, thinking that Team CQL may have laid the groundwork for something that was going to happen so much later just makes me so much more impressed with their planning.

Of course I could simply be overthinking this whole thing and JGY’s magical powers could just be his own magical powers, or something common to the cultivation world that my dumb brain just overlooked, but for those few seconds when I thought I came upon a fascinating connection, I was quite proud of myself, so allow me to coast on that sense of euphoria just a little while more.

Bonding and other cuteness

Of course I loved every single moment of the Drunk!Lan Zhan sequence, starting with that tiny little flirtatious gesture by Wei Ying. Seriously, how CUTE is that?? Makes me smile every time I see it, and I’ve rewound that little moment numerous times. How anyone can be resistant to Wei Wuxian’s charms I can never understand, but clearly Lan Zhan was still holding out on him. I’m glad that Team CQL chose this incident to reveal the nature of the Gusu Lan head ribbon since it directly led to Wei Ying’s bonding moment with Lan Zhan. Even though the other man was still generally cold to him, it was really sweet that Wei Ying still felt comfortable enough to share the precious memory of his parents with him.

It’s a real shame that Lan Zhan didn’t remember any of it the next day, but I did take comfort in the fact that he still knelt by Wei Ying like a united front to receive Uncle Lan’s wrath and punishment. I’m sure most of that was motivated by his own pride and sense of righteousness, but I still found it touching, especially with how much Wei Ying was defending Lan Zhan so that he would be spared the disciplinary action. Wei Ying was much less protective in the novel during that scene–he was mostly indignant–even though he was still the one to blame for Lan Zhan’s involvement in the whole incident by basically tricking him into breaking curfew. I love that even though Team CQL changed the drinking incident, they still managed to maintain the spirit of its novel counterpart, much like they did with the Phoenix Mountain Hunt.

And then of course there was this:

Which was obviously a treat for our imaginations to get our creative juices flowing so that we can imagine on our own what might have taken place during the night that led to Wei Wuxian waking up in his half-dressed state. For this gift, I am eternally grateful to the production team.

Jiang Cheng Has Fun For Once

I was actually surprised that Jiang Cheng would join in on the drinking party because up until then he had spent most of his time basically disapproving everything Wei Ying did while also seemingly in a constant state of worry that he would embarrass their sect. Imbibing alcohol was clearly a violation of Gusu Lan rules so it’s kind of amazing that Jiang Cheng willingly join in on such an act of rebellion. Nie Huaisang, on other hand, I totally expected to be a part of the shenanigans…I would’ve expected nothing less from him…but Jiang Cheng was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed seeing him let loose like that, especially since we got to find out what he looked for in a mate.

The sad thing is Wen Qing actually fit all of his requirements for a wife, except for that family one, which i in the end, proved to be the most important one after all since it became the deal-breaker, dooming their relationship before it even got a chance to get started.

Another rather sad aspect of seeing Jiang Cheng so at ease and acting like a total goofball is that this really would be the only time we would ever see him this way. His time at Cloud Recesses was probably the most enjoyable and carefree for him. I doubt he was ever able to enjoy himself the same way again. It actually makes me wonder if he EVER was able to have fun, period, during the last 16 years. Just thinking about what he’s gone through makes me wish I could give him a great big hug.

Reason #10 for Why I love Big Bro Lan Xichen

His amused reaction to hearing about Wei Ying’s transgression:

…which was immediately followed by his “oh shit” response to hearing his little bro was also involved.

Big Bro Xichen is just too adorable, AND HE DESERVES ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD DAMMIT.

Uncle Lan is One Mean Mofo

Seriously, what’s with Lan Qiren’s obsession with the number 300? I really need to know if there’s some significance to that number since it’s featured in BOTH of the major disciplinary incidents in the show that were carried out by Uncle Lan. For this first outing, those rulers looked downright brutal; it’s a utter miracle that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were even able to survive being beat 300 times with that medieval torture device. At the very least their spines should’ve been broken, paralyzing them for the rest of their lives. In the novel they were only caned 100 times, which is still a lot but it’s still a somewhat grounded enough number that I could believe they would be able to heal from their injuries. But 300? They should be maimed. I’ve noticed that with chinese dramas though: they tend to be excessive when it comes to inflicting punishment. I actually stopped watching a show once because the main character was being beaten repeatedly in the stomach (Princess Weiyoung) while being held prisoner. That particular character should not have survived that beating…at the very least he would’ve needed his nutrients to be delivered by IV for the rest of his life (even though IVs didn’t exist yet) because there was no way his stomach was ever going to work again after that. I was almost offended by how ignorant the screenwriters were about basic anatomical and biological functions so I decided to just stop watching (well, the fact that I wasn’t that into the show anyway probably contributed to my decision as well) Of course the 300 floggings weren’t enough to discourage me from continuing forward with The Untamed, but it did throw me out of the show for a good moment because I couldn’t get over how ridiculous that number was. Uncle Lan really has a sadistic streak in him

Not to mention, he was also surprisingly tactless. He had just learned about Wei Wuxian’s mom from big bro Xichen and I couldn’t believe that he would just throw that info at the Wei Ying in such a careless way, only to shut him down when the poor guy desperately asked for more details about his mom. Uncle Lan had to know enough about Wei Ying’s background to understand how sensitive he would be in regards to his deceased parents, so I was actually taken aback by how heartless Uncle Lan was being during that scene, so much so that for a while after, I really wasn’t feeling much love towards him. Although, now that I think about it, love is probably a misnomer any way since I doubt I would ever love Uncle Lan nor can I even say I ever actually liked him–he’s too much of a fuddy-duddy for my tastes. It’s more like I just accept his existence, appreciate his importance to the Lan brothers, and I find his disapproval of Wei Ying kind of amusing. But in that moment, I definitely did straight out dislike him for being such a cold SOB, especially towards Wei Wuxian.

To be continued in Part 2…(posted)

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phantomhydeoftheopera · 4 years

Text

Hello @chengsang! I am your person for the MDZS network gift exchange! I did my best to include as many of your favorite pairings as possible, so I hope you like it!

Jiang Cheng stared down at his phone with a deadpan expression. He sighed and gently banged his head back against his bedroom wall. He peeked back at the screen. Nope, the text from his brother was still there.

Jiang Cheng! Don’t forget about our party tonight! And remember the gift exchange!

His phone slipped from his hands and fell onto his purple duvet cover. Sure, work was busy, apparently so busy that it had pushed all memory of his brother’s holiday party out of his mind.

His brother was annoying as hell, he wasn’t going to lie. His husband was scarily straight faced, and they were all. Over. Each. Other every time he saw them.

Still, free food was free food, and his sister’s restaurant was catering. The only problem was that now he had to get a gift for whoever Wei Ying picked out of his ridiculous Santa hat. It was totally rigged anyway, he always ended up with some random person Wei Ying had invited just to set him up with them.

It never worked but nevertheless his brother was determined.

Jiang Cheng got himself ready and left his apartment. He figured he could treat himself to breakfast while he was out.

It was snowing lightly as he walked into town and he buried his chin further into his coat as the flakes settled onto his hair. He appeared to be one of the many people doing some last minute shopping. He thought that all of his shopping was done; he had gifts for his siblings and their families, his parents, and his nephew. This was the only thing in the way of having a relaxing holiday.

He ducked into the least crowded store he could find and stomped his boots on the mat to get the excess snow off.

Jiang Cheng didn’t think he’d ever been inside this particular store because he would have remembered taking an immediate liking to the cozy atmosphere, the aroma of coffee permeating the air, and…

… oh boy.

Here’s the thing. Jiang Cheng has had high standards since his first year of college. The only time they had ever changed was when he expanded his tastes to include men.

But the boy behind the counter made Jiang Cheng want to throw those standards out the window.

The first word that popped into Jiang Cheng’s head was “cute.” He was sitting on a high stool feeding a… was that a bird in his hand? A little yellow canary was seated on his knuckles and the boy was feeding it seeds like some kind of Disney princess. The bird tweeted and he laughed, a sound Jiang Cheng thought sounded just as sweet as the birdsong.

Jiang Cheng walked closer, trying not to disturb the boy. He didn’t notice after a while, but the canary turned around and flew to the boy’s shoulder.

“What is it, little guy? Do you see- shit!” The boy cried, nearly falling off the stool in a hurry to tidy his already neat shoulder length hair, and greeted Jiang Cheng with a too-wide grin. “Hi! Welcome to Little Bird Gifts! May I help you with anything?”

Now was the time to say something smooth. Something that would instantly charm the boy and temporarily convince him that Jiang Cheng wasn’t a complete moron.

“... Are you selling that?”

Or maybe not.

The boy turned to the urns of coffee behind him with the tall stacks of paper cups that Jiang Cheng was pointing to.

“Oh, the coffee? Yes, it’s thirty yuan. Care for a cup?”

“Yes please, thank you.”

He poured a cup and handed it to Jiang Cheng. Their fingers touched and he noticed that the boy’s hands were soft. The boy leaned on the counter and rested his chin in his hands.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Oh he sure was and he might’ve found it.

“Just something generic. My brother is having a party that involves a gift exchange. I just need something that anyone would like.”

“I have some ideas, follow me.”

He hopped off the stool and came around the other side of the counter and led Jiang Cheng further into the shop. The boy was wearing a green turtleneck sweater and tight black jeans with low heeled black ankle boots.

Jiang Cheng tried really hard to focus on how the jeans hugged his ass perfectly and his height was great for cuddling.

“There’s some incense sets, scarves and gloves, nice glasses, cheese knives, and my personal favorite, fans hand painted by me.”

Jiang Cheng curiously unfolded one of the fans. It was beautifully painted with an image of gentians and curling vines.

“You really made this? It’s stunning.”

The boy grinned, a real one this time and not a customer service smile.

“Just a hobby of mine. I’ll leave you to your browsing.”

Jiang Cheng wandered through the rows and displays of items. He decided that he might have to come back to this shop for other occasions, or just to get something fun for himself. Not to mention the cute employee…

Suddenly something landed on his head and started to tangle in his hair. He swatted at it only to be met with a sharp bite on his finger.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry I don’t know what got into him,” the boy cried as he ran over to untangle his bird from Jiang Cheng’s hair. He had to bend down so the boy could reach the top of his head. God, he even smelled good. The bird flew out of Jiang Cheng’s hair and nested on the boy’s head instead.

“Do you always let him go free?”

“Well, yes, he’s sort of my mascot. I promise he doesn’t fly into everyone’s hair all the time. Maybe you’re special!”

Well if the bird likes him then Jiang Cheng was one step closer.

The boy reached out to smooth down his messed up hair, but ended up running his fingers through it. “I’ll just… leave you to it then.”

God was he whipped.

After some careful deciding Jiang Cheng chose a pretty mug with some coffee and tea. A safe choice, everyone was bound to like one or the other.

“Good choice,” the boy commented as he rang up the purchases.

“Thanks. I’ve never been in here before, it’s nice.”

“I’m glad you like it,” the boy leaned forward and scribbled something on the receipt, “let’s hope I can convince you to come back some time.”

His number. The boy had written his number on the receipt.

“Oh, I’m sure you can.”

———————-

Jiang Cheng arrived at his brother in law’s ridiculously large house that evening with his gift and a small host gift for his brother. Every edge of their mansion was lined with lights and Jiang Cheng has to shield his eyes as he walked up the driveway.

“Jiang Cheng!” His brother exclaimed as he opened the door, “so glad you could make it tonight!” Wei Ying gave his brother a tight hug and led him into the house. “You can put that under the tree, there’s wine and food over there, most of the people are here and- oh is that for me? You shouldn’t have!”

“You would have complained otherwise,” Jiang Cheng grumbled.

“Oh don’t be like that! Have some cheer!” Wei Ying plunked a headband down on Jiang Cheng’s head, which turned out to have a pair of antlers on them.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to make a scene at your party.”

“I know. Now, go mingle.”

Wei Ying vanished from his side and left Jiang Cheng to fend for himself. He wove through the crowd of people and tried to locate the alcohol. If getting wasted was going to get him through this party then so be it.

“Nice antlers,”

… It couldn’t be.

What are the odds?

Jiang Cheng turned around and, as he suspected, it was the cute boy from the gift shop.

“Believe me, I’m wearing them against my will.”

“Well if that’s the case, let me help with that.” The boy took off the headband and placed it on his own head. “How do I look?” He asked with a twirl.

Cute.

“Good,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’m Jiang Cheng, by the way, I didn’t say earlier.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Nie Huaisang.”

“I haven’t… seen you at one of my brothers parties before.”

“Ah, I was a last minute invite,” Nie Huaisang explained, “Lan Xichen is, was, a good friend of my brother, but after his death I would have been alone on Christmas so he asked if I could come.”

Jiang Cheng had met the eldest Lan brother a few times and that sounded something like he would do.

“I’m glad you’re here though, someone’s gotta cut me off at some point, and you get to try my sister’s cooking.”

“Well, if it’s as good as I’ve heard, I’m in for a real treat.”

They spent the rest of the evening together, just talking and enjoying the company of another lonely soul. Jiang Cheng found himself opening up after a while, and not because of the alcohol. He learned that Nie Huaisang owned the store and had two more birds in his apartment. He had been close with his brother who had been a martial arts instructor and world champion before his sudden death. Nie Huaisang had taken it pretty hard but was doing okay.

“It’s hard, but you have to remind yourself that they wouldn’t want to see you moping around, you know? Can’t be sad for too long,” he said before taking a sip of spiked eggnog. “But enough of that, let’s get some of that good food I’ve heard so much about.”

Jiang Cheng introduced Nie Huaisang to his sister and her girlfriend, and said hello to his nephew, his sister’s son from her previous marriage. He was talking with one of his friends and was about to enter the kitchen when Wei Ying stopped him.

“Look up, you too, I’m not letting you in my kitchen unless you kiss.”

Wei Ying had hung a sprig of mistletoe on the doorway in hopes of catching unsuspecting victims. Instead of complaining, Jin Ling blushed as his friend Lan Jingyi gave him an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek.

Jiang Cheng made a mental note to go through that doorway with Nie Huaisang.

After dinner came the anticipated, or dreaded, gift exchange. Everyone gathered in the living room and one at a time Wei Ying would take slips of paper with names on them out of his Santa hat, and the person that was given the name had to give their gift to whoever’s name was on the paper.

He knew for a fact that Wei Ying color coded the slips of paper so he could try and play matchmaker.

“Your turn A-Cheng!” Wei Ying said, ignoring Jiang Cheng’s protests against the nickname, “You have… Nie Huaisang!”

“What a coincidence!” The adorable boy on his right laughed.

“Yeah, a coincidence,” Jiang Cheng grumbled. Wei Ying grinned cheekily.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to open this.” Nie Huaisang accepted the gift anyways, “but it’s the thought that counts.”

“But that’s not all! Nie Huaisang has… Jiang Cheng!”

“Oh good! I picked this with you in mind.” Nie Huaisang placed a box in Jiang Cheng’s lap.

“How did you know you would get my name?”

“Oh, I have my ways…” Nie Huaisang said mysteriously. “Open it.”

He carefully unwrapped the gift and pushed apart the tissue paper. A black and purple plaid scarf was nestled in the layers. “I saw that you weren’t wearing one when you came in, so I thought I’d give it to you.”

“This is…” Jiang Cheng picked it up and held it against his face. It was soft, felt like cashmere, and even smelled like the shop. Smelled like him. “I love it, thank you so much.” Feeling brave, he pulled Nie Huaisang into a hug, which he returned.

“I’m happy you like it.”

Someone next to them cleared their throat, and Jiang Cheng looked to see Wei Yong holding the mistletoe that was previously in the doorway.

“Come on, you have to do it!”

Nie Huaisang laughed.

“Well, if you don’t mind…”

He turned Jiang Cheng’s face towards his and kissed him right on the lips. It took him a minute to register what was happening, but he pulled Nie Huaisang closer and kissed him back.

“I don’t mind at all,” Jiang Cheng whispered when the broke apart.

“Good, because I plan to do that again.”

#mdzsexchange2019

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bloody-bee-tea · 4 years

Text

Out and proud

Today I pitched a Xicheng headcanon at @ruensroad who beautifully expanded on it, and almost all of Jiang Cheng’s reactions towards JGY are from her <3

Warnings for an unhealty Xiyao relationship at the beginning and the allusion to some dubious consent in ther sex-life, though it’s just one sentence. The Xicheng is completely happy and healthy.

Lan Xichen feels dirty, used. He’s ashamed to admit it, even to himself, but the feeling has crept up on him for a few weeks now, and he cannot stand it anymore.

No matter just how often he bathes, it doesn’t lesson. If anything, it gets worse with every conference he has to attend, every time Jin Guangyao shows him off like a prize.

Lan Xichen feels sick just thinking about it.

He thought Jin Guangyao, Meng Yao back then still, loved him, but Lan Xichen is forced to face the truth now.

Jin Guangyao is using him. First, to make his father notice him, and now, to secure his place as Sect Leader and Chief Cultivator.

Jin Guangyao only cares about power and his reputation, and Lan Xichen only matters to him because it looks good, having the Sect Leader of the Gusu Lan Clan at his side.

That is all, Lan Xichen is sure of that by now.

Lan Xichen is never asked to share his experience as a Sect Leader; Jin Guangyao doesn’t listen to him, even when Lan Xichen does say something.

He is asked to be silent, and still and pretty, while Jin Guangyao shows him off like a prized cow.

Lan Xichen has never felt more like a courtesan, and he feels a deep sympathy for all the girls and women who get pushed into a similar position like his.

This, at least, is his own fault.

Lan Xichen is aware that he let Jin Guangyao walk all over him, but it’s also his own decision to end it now.

Lan Xichen doesn’t think he would have found the strength to do this, if Jin Guangyao hasn’t acted like the hanshi, and everything in it including Lan Xichen, was his. His to take, his to command, his to demand.

It’s Lan Xichen’s home. At least here, he should get the respect he deserves. But Jin Guangyao is still only ever concerned for himself; even during the conference at the Cloud Recesses, he kept Lan Xichen still and by his side, demanded his attention without giving his own.

Lan Xichen has never felt as dirty and small as when Jin Guangyao had shushed him.

But it was the kick he needed apparently.

“A-Yao,” he says, not at all surprised when Jin Guangyao only holds up his hand to demand he waits.

Shame curls low and heavy in Lan Xichen’s gut, because he cannot believe he let Jin Guangyao behave towards him like that for so long.

It even drowns out the anger he feels towards Jin Guangyao.

“A-Yao, I’m breaking up with you,” Lan Xichen says, despite Jin Guangyao’s still raised hand, and that, at least, gets him his attention.

“Don’t be stupid, Lan Xichen,” Jin Guangyao says, but he still finishes reading the page. “You’re not.”

“Yes, I am,” Lan Xichen says, voice much more firm than it was before and Jin Guangyao narrows his eyes at him.

“You can’t. What will the others say?” Jin Guangyao asks and of course that’s what he’s worried about.

Lan Xichen doesn’t even know why a small part of him has hoped for something else.

“I don’t care,” Lan Xichen gives back, because he doesn’t.

He never cared what people said about their relationship. That was always Jin Guangyao.

“You can’t do that. It will look bad for me.”

“That’s not my problem, now, is it?” Lan Xichen asks and he straightens up with his words, uses the height he has over Jin Guangyao to give him at least a little bit of advantage over him.

“Xichen,” Jin Guangyao says warningly, and usually that tone of voice works on Lan Xichen.

He doesn’t like conflict, that’s not a secret, but even he has his limits, it seems.

“Do you even really love me?” Lan Xichen wants to know, but he knows the answer.

Can read it in every defensive line of Jin Guangyao’s body.

He’s going to say whatever he thinks will make Lan Xichen stay. Lan Xichen has had enough time to learn that about him.

“Of course I do, Xichen,” Jin Guangyao immediately says, and even the fact that he didn’t even pause to think about it, reads as suspicious to Lan Xichen now. “Don’t you love me, too?” Jin Guangyao asks, and his voice turns all sweet and coaxing.

“I don’t think I do,” Lan Xichen gives back and then smiles at Jin Guangyao. “I wish you the best,” he says and even though he knows he should bow, he can’t bring himself to do it.

He already lowered himself enough for Jin Guangyao.

~*~*~

When Jiang Cheng approaches him, with an offer of courtship, Lan Xichen is surprised and wary. He can’t deny that Jiang Cheng has always been in his mind, maybe even his heart, but his relationship with Jin Guangyao has made him cautious.

But Jiang Cheng takes his hesitance in stride; the only thing he asks of him is to think this over properly and, no matter Lan Xichen’s answer, to stay friends.

Lan Xichen can at least promise that.

Can promise even more, a few weeks later, when he finally tells Jiang Cheng that he accepts the courtship. He’s gratified to see honest joy on Jiang Cheng’s face and he hopes that maybe this will turn out better than whatever he had with Jin Guangyao.

It still doesn’t prepare him for their next meeting.

“Lan Xichen, can we talk for a second?” Jiang Cheng asks him when they see each other, and he doesn’t offer the first customary courtship gift to Lan Xichen. Immediately dread settles heavy in Lan Xichen’s gut.

He reminds himself that this is better than Jin Guangyao still; he never wanted to talk.

“Of course,” Lan Xichen replies and brings Jiang Cheng to the hanshi, knowing that they won’t be disturbed there. “What’s on your mind?” Lan Xichen asks, though he can’t deny that he’s shaking with nerves.

“Listen, I know that this is highly unusual,” Jiang Cheng starts and Lan Xichen is already resigned to the fact that he will have to walk away from this before it even started. “But the next conference is coming up,” Jiang Cheng goes on, and Lan Xichen goes very, very still.

Of course.

“And you want me to be by your side,” he mumbles, almost too numb to get the words out.

“Actually, quite the opposite,” Jiang Cheng admits and he rubs his neck in an embarrassed gesture.

Lan Xichen stares blankly at him.

“What?” he asks, too confused to remember his manners and Jiang Cheng sighs.

“We barely got the chance to court before this conference, and to be honest, I am not ready to share what we have, or what we hopefully will have, with the world yet. We didn’t get to spend that much time outside of Clan business and quite honestly, I’m a little bit afraid of your brother. And of everyone else judging our relationship. And of my brother sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Jin Ling will threaten you, your whole family will threaten me, and then they will watch our every move. I’m not ready for that.”

Lan Xichen wants to answer, really, he does, but this is so unlike what he expected, that he continues to stare at Jiang Cheng.

“I understand if you don’t want that,” Jiang Cheng says when he gave Lan Xichen ample time to answer. “If it’s what you wish we can make it public right away.”

“No!” Lan Xichen almost yells and then slaps his hand over his mouth, because yelling is forbidden.

He’ll have to copy the rules later.

“It’s just me here,” Jiang Cheng reassures him and reaches over the table to lower his hand. “No need to cling to the rules like that.”

Lan Xichen watches how Jiang Cheng doesn’t let go of his hand, tangles their fingers together instead and a very warm feeling spreads inside his chest.

“I don’t—my last relationship didn’t go that well,” Lan Xichen finally says and immediately Jiang Cheng tenses.

“I always did dislike how Jin Guangyao showed you off to the world and treated you in public,” he mutters and lightly squeezes Lan Xichen’s hand. “So, tell me what you want. So that I can make sure this time it goes better for you.”

‘You already are’, Lan Xichen thinks, but he doesn’t quite dare to say it yet.

“I would like it very much if we could keep it a secret for now,” he agrees and smiles slightly at Jiang Cheng. “To get to know each other better.”

“Good,” Jiang Cheng says and then slides a small package over to him. “My courtship gift. Not that you think I have forgotten about it.”

“I wouldn’t,” Lan Xichen says, though he has wondered why Jiang Cheng didn’t greet him with one, but now it makes more sense.

“No need to be so polite,” Jiang Cheng says with a huff. “I just thought handing you a gift in your own hall might not be the best way to go about keeping this secret.”

“You’re right,” Lan Xichen says, not clarifying what part he means but Jiang Cheng smiles at him anyway.

Lan Xichen pulls the gift towards himself, and carefully opens the box. He’s met with different vials of oil and a soft cloth.

“For your flute,” Jiang Cheng helpfully explains when Lan Xichen stays silent for too long and Lan Xichen relaxes.

His mind has flashed to another aspect of his relationship with Jin Guangyao, one he desperately doesn’t want to think about ever again, but he pushes it away.

“Thank you,” Lan Xichen honestly says and cautiously pops one vial open. The oil inside is of the most exquisite quality, and Lan Xichen’s fingers already itch to tend to Liebing with them.

“You can get Liebing if you want,” Jiang Cheng says with a small laugh. “If you’ll allow me to stay.”

“To do what?” Lan Xichen asks, confused, because he’ll be immersed in his flute and won’t have time to entertain Jiang Cheng.

“To watch you,” Jiang Cheng says, like it should have been obvious to Lan Xichen. “To spend time with you. It pleases me if you use my gift, you know,” he says with a teasing lilt to his voice and Lan Xichen blushes faintly.

“Oh,” he breathes out, because he didn’t anticipate this; didn’t anticipate how easily Jiang Cheng would get under his skin. “Of course. If you want to.”

“I’ll prepare some tea, if you’ll allow,” Jiang Cheng says, already moving to stand up, and while it should grate on Lan Xichen, this is his home, and Jiang Cheng is the guest, he relaxes.

At least Jiang Cheng asks for permission.

“Sure,” he says and points over to the tea pot. “Help yourself.”

Jiang Cheng does, under the watchful eyes of Lan Xichen, but he still serves Lan Xichen first.

“My tea won’t be as good as yours,” he tells him with a lopsided smile, but when Lan Xichen takes a sip, he finds that to be untrue.

“It is good,” he honestly tells Jiang Cheng who rolls his eyes at him.

“Don’t compliment me. Go, get your flute,” he says with a little shooing motion and Lan Xichen is helpless to obey.

The warmth in his stomach it too strong to simply be from the tea, and he hopes it won’t go away any time soon.

~*~*~

They have been together for almost a year now, and still, the cultivation world isn’t the wiser.

Lan Xichen enjoys it, the secrecy, and it’s not like they hide the most important part of their relationship. Everyone knows they are good friends, and that is enough for Lan Xichen.

There have been rumours here and there, but neither Jiang Cheng nor Lan Xichen have confirmed or denied anything, and so they died down pretty quickly.

Lan Xichen loves it.

He loves Jiang Cheng, with all his heart, and he never has to wonder if Jiang Cheng feels the same about him. It’s apparent in every small smile he gets, in every thoughtful gift Jiang Cheng brings him, in the way he opens up about some of his worst wounds and memories.

And Lan Xichen does the same in return, for him.

They don’t have to be side by side in public; they don’t have to kiss or hold hands, or have other’s know about their relationship.

They know where they stand, and both of them stand there proudly.

Sometimes, Lan Xichen wants to do nothing more than to lean against Jiang Cheng during a conference, or to kiss him when he sees him, and while he knows Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be mad at him for revealing their secret, Lan Xichen never does it.

Because he gets to do all these things later, in the evening, after the conference, and every time they visit each other. He gets to do all of these things without eyes on them, without people judging and speculation and demanding answers.

And that is everything to Lan Xichen.

He can even talk to Jin Guangyao again, one Sect Leader to another at least, but when Jin Guangyao asks him for a little chat, Lan Xichen still throws a small private reassuring smile over his shoulder to Jiang Cheng, who observes them with hawk eyes.

“You seem to be doing very well,” Jin Guangyao opens with and Lan Xichen can only think about Jiang Cheng when he replies.

“I am, thank you.”

He is doing so well, with Jiang Cheng.

“Listen, I don’t quite like where we left our relationship,” Jin Guangyao then says, and effectively wipes the smile away from Lan Xichen’s face.

“We didn’t left our relationship,” he corrects him. “We ended it.”

“But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way,” Jin Guangyao says with a little tilt of his head and Lan Xichen can only stare at him.

“I don’t feel that way about you anymore,” Lan Xichen tells him firmly and he can see Jin Guangyao’s honest confusion, as if this is incomprehensible to him.

“It can come back,” he tries but Lan Xichen shakes his head.

“No, it can’t,” he says, because all of him, and all of his feelings, belong to Jiang Cheng now. “Thank you for this talk, Chief Cultivator,” Lan Xichen formally says, and gives him the bow his status demands, and not an inch more.

Lan Xichen turns away from him and walks over to Jiang Cheng, who frowns quite heavily at Jin Guangyao.

“Sect Leader Jiang,” Lan Xichen greets him and Jiang Cheng’s eyes snap to him.

“Sect Leader Lan,” he gives back and then points to the table next to him. “Join me for a drink, won’t you?” he asks, and Lan Xichen can see how the tension flows out of his shoulders and he smiles brightly at him.

“Of course,” he agrees and quickly settles down next to Jiang Cheng, slightly leaning towards him.

He wants to reach out and smooth the furrow between his brows out, but it seems like his presence is already enough, because Jiang Cheng gives him a small, private smile.

Lan Xichen knows he’ll have questions afterwards, but for now he gives him a reassuring smile, that Jiang Cheng is apparently helpless to return.

It’s only when the conference is coming to a close, that Jin Guangyao corners Lan Xichen again.

“You and Jiang Cheng?” he demands to know, and Lan Xichen bristles at the informality towards his partner.

“It’s none of your business,” he gives back, because it isn’t, but Jin Guangyao doesn’t seem to want to let it go.

“Is he making you keep this a secret?” he asks and Lan Xichen frowns at him. “You know he does that only because he’s ashamed of you, don’t you? He doesn’t want the world to know about you.”

Lan Xichen might have believed that, once. But now, he is secure in the knowledge that Jiang Cheng loves him and would tell the world in a heartbeat if Lan Xichen should even hint at wanting that.

So instead of taking the bait, he simply smiles at Jin Guangyao.

“I’m sure you’re simply tired,” he reasonably says and something vicious flares up in Jin Guangyao’s eyes.

“He’s ashamed he only gets my leftovers, isn’t he?” he snarls and Lan Xichen’s stomach drops at those words.

He and Jiang Cheng have worked so hard on his issues, and it’s unfair that Jin Guangyao can bring them all back with a few words.

“He’s not,” Lan Xichen says, but his voice is thin and wavering.

He startles badly when a hand slides over his waist, but he immediately leans into the contact when he realizes that it’s Jiang Cheng.

“Oh yeah, little man, is that how you want to play it?” Jiang Cheng asks, and Lan Xichen should scold him for his rudeness, but he’s too busy leaning into him. “Just fucking try me.”

“Then why don’t you announce it to the world?” Jin Guangyao says with a smarmy smile and Jiang Cheng huffs.

“Gladly,” he says and presses a quick kiss to Lan Xichen’s cheek before he turns around.

“Attention, everyone,” he calls out and immediately has the attention of everyone on him. “It is my absolute pleasure to announce that Sect Leader Lan and I are dating.”

His statement causes an uproar, voices demanding an explanation, and dropping into hushed whispers, and Lan Xichen can only smile at Jiang Cheng’s back.

It isn’t how they wanted to reveal their relationship, but he cannot say that he minds. Jiang Cheng sounds beyond honoured and really, what more can Lan Xichen wish for.

“You’re just saying that to prove a point,” Jin Guangyao says from behind Lan Xichen, and his voice carries, just like Jiang Cheng’s had. “Why don’t you just admit that you intended to keep our esteemed Zewu-Jun your dirty little secret.”

Gasps echo in the hall and Lan Xichen fights the urge to strangle Jin Guangyao.

He is not prepared for the sly smile Jiang Cheng has on his face when he turns around to him, his eyes never leaving Lan Xichen’s.

“Is that so?” he asks and reaches inside his robe.

When his hand emerges again, a Yunmeng Jiang wedding bell is in his hands.

“Then how do you explain this?” Jiang Cheng asks, but he keeps his eyes on Lan Xichen. “I know it’s more public than we ever wanted to make this, and you have every right to say no, but I’m going to ask now anyway,” he says and Lan Xichen presses his lips together, because all he really wants to do is laugh out in joy and happiness. “Lan Xichen, will you marry me and be my cultivation partner?”

“You couldn’t find a better time?” Lan Xichen asks, hiding his smile behind his sleeve and Jiang Cheng sighs.

“Well, I’ve been carrying this with me for weeks now, so clearly I couldn’t,” Jiang Cheng laments, and this time, Lan Xichen does chuckle.

It silences the entire hall, because no one has heard him laugh like that in quite some time.

“You absolute unromantic fool,” Lan Xichen fondly says and then holds out his hand. “I accept your proposal. I do want to marry you,” he says, loud and clear, so his voice carries and everyone here knows that he is Jiang Cheng’s.

“Lucky me,” Jiang Cheng mutters and pulls him close by his hand, to put the bell in, but also to give him a scorching kiss.

“Oh no, lucky me,” Lan Xichen disagrees breathlessly when they finally part, and the hall erupts in cheers and applause.

Lan Xichen can see Jin Guangyao stalk off, but it’s barely more than a fleeting observation, because his fiancé in his arms is much more important.

“Lucky us,” Jiang Cheng softly says as he rests their foreheads together and Lan Xichen has to agree with that one.

Lucky them, indeed.

#bt writes #xicheng #the untamed #mdzs #xiyao #break-up #unhealthy relationship #some dubious consent #for the xiyao #and then for the xicheng #getting together #fluff #marriage proposal #soft and good

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