#i love lwj i do but he's gotten away with a lot and i just think it would be funny to dump it all on his head at once | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jiangwanyinscatmom · 9 months

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tbf, lxc is valid for noticing how one-sided is the wangxian dynamic and it's true that wwx didn't give an f about lwj in his first life... and except for some moments when he went "oh no, he's hot", lwj is the reason people ship them because that ship has no real basis on wwx's part...

In the end, it feels as if he falls for lwj only because he's literally the only one there for him. What's ironic is that he even ponders on how it used to be the other way around and he used to have jc by his side and lwj against him...

MXTX created a mess of a fandom because of all these mixed signals she gives so no wonder there are a lot of wwx / jc shippers. I mean, it's OBVIOUS that she didn't intend for jc to be a love interest at all... but she still made him "ex"-coded. The fact that he's the one wwx made a big sacrifice too for, and not lwj when, on the other hand, lwj sacrificed a couple of important things for a wwx that didn't care about him in their first life, and that won't get the same devotion in return is just. weird.

Well hello there, little troll.

This is certainly a bad/sad understanding of the entire point of Lan Xichen's angry rantings, as the audience was supposed to be exasperated on behalf of all involved due to each one only having their own perception of this entire situation and the ongoing theme on relying on self-biased thought and perception.

Just as Lan Xichen has only his own understanding of one-sided reciprocity(on Lan Wangji's behalf), Wei Wuxian was terrified of being the only one to have thought he was taking his feelings to an inappropriate level that was not reciprocated, mind on the heels and only hours after Jiang Cheng accused them of being more and mocking Wei Wuxian.

In the time they’d been traveling together, he’d gotten the feeling Lan Wangji thought highly of him. That he thought of him differently than he once had. But at the end of the day, he didn’t dare guess how far that “highly” stretched, nor whether “differently” really was the kind of “different” he assumed.

Wei Wuxian had never considered confidence a bad thing and was often smug and frivolous as a result. The cultivation world had once gossiped that the Yiling Patriarch was the sort who frolicked among the peach blossoms, always surrounded by the sweet smell of their fragrant flowers. But in reality, he had never experienced this kind of flustered confusion before. In the past, he had thought Lan Wangji was an open book, but now he found him difficult to read. He was terrified that he was lost in this fantasy all alone; that all of this was only his own wishful thinking and that he was overly confident to presume

otherwise.

Wei Wuxian could not believe that had just happened.

It seemed like a nightmare had intruded on his tender, enchanting dream—one that upended a basin of cold water directly over his head and chilled him to the bone, from head to toe. It was also like he’d been slapped hard across his face, so hard that his ears rang, his heart pounded, and his world spun. He couldn’t react for the longest time. It was with difficulty that he managed to open his mouth, but his voice was hoarse.

One of his worst theories had just been confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt. Lan Wangji was indeed very nice to him, but…it was probably not the kind of nice he had been hoping for.

Do not take it to heart?” Lan Wangji echoed again.

He’d initially thought he’d rather have Lan Wangji think him fickle and abominable than endure the awkwardness of knowing his feelings, which would surely make their friendship delicate going forward. But now, he regretted all the foolish things he had just blurted out without thinking.

"...Sorry,” he muttered under his breath.

Wei Wuxian reached out and brushed a hand across two figures with puckered lips kissing on the wall, before trailing up to the words “Lan Wangji was here.” The sentence needed to be cleaned away, but before Wei Wuxian did so, he traced the strokes of Lan Wangji’s name with his fingertips.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The more he traced them, the more he was loath to part.

While leaving Lan Wangji behind and freely roaming the world alone did not seem an impossible thing to consider…

...a voice deep inside Wei Wuxian told him the clear truth: It was impossible.

The nonsense he’d spouted back at Golden Carp Tower had really come true. The Wei Wuxian of today could not do without Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian has only stopped trying to rationalize (comphet) and explain away their close relation as only being friendly, he knows very well his own advances can't be explained as being a joke any longer and, doesn't want them to be seen as such especially by his own self. He is terrified of Lan Wangji seeing this as either a cruel joke or Lan Wangji not feeling the same. He wants it to be reciprocated and always has.

And within the extras we see the blatant proof, while he may not understand he was in the midst of a crush, given he was fifteen and once more, he have Jiang Cheng being nasty, he much exhibited his fixation upon Lan Wangji by mentioning him within Lotus Pier and being happy to discuss him with Jiang Yanli without the excuse of wanting to just mess around with him.

Jiang Yanli sat down between them. “Who are you two talking about?” she asked. “A friend you made at Gusu?”

"Yeah!” Wei Wuxian answered happily.

"You have the cheek to call yourself his ‘friend’?” Jiang Cheng said. “Ask Lan Wangji about that, see if he’s willing to accept you as one.”

"Screw off. If he doesn’t, I’ll just pester him—we’ll see if he caves.” Turning to Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian asked, “Shijie, do you know Lan Wangji?”

Yes,” Jiang Yanli said. “He’s the second young master of the Lan Clan, the one everyone says is very handsome and capable, right? Is he really very handsome?”

"Very!” Wei Wuxian gushed.

"Compared to you?” Jiang Yanli probed.

Wei Wuxian thought for a moment. “Perhaps just a tiny bit more handsome than me.”

He held two of his fingers a tiny distance apart to demonstrate. As Jiang Yanli collected the plates, she smiled.

"Then he must be really very handsome. It’s a good thing to make new friends. You guys can drop in on each other to have some fun in the future, when you have nothing to do.”

For the very next extra to make good on this, almost 20 years later and Wei Wuxian to admit he had always wanted Lan Wangji's attentions romantically and poking at Lan Wangji seemingly not sharing that interest, that was dispelled as soon as both were able to out their shared romantic love.

He turned his head and said to Lan Wangji, “When I was at the Cloud Recesses way back then, I kept urging you to come visit Lotus Pier. I especially wanted you to come with me to steal lotus seed pods from him. Do you know why?”

When it came to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji always answered every one of his questions and acquiesced to all his requests. And so, he answered him seriously, “I do not know. Why?”

Wei Wuxian winked at him and snickered. “Because that old man sure was something whenever he hit people with his boat-pole. It hurt way more than your family’s disciplinary ferule. I thought I just had to trick Lan Zhan into coming here and let him take a few beatings too.”

Lan Wangji smiled slightly at this. The cold glow of the moonlight on the lake melted at the sight.

In that instant, Wei Wuxian felt dizzy. A smile also unconsciously rippled its way onto his face.

"All right, I admit—” he began.

Amid smiles and laughter, they grabbed hold of each other and embraced in the water before exchanging a kiss.

After their lips parted, Wei Wuxian raised his hand and continued their earlier topic of conversation. “I admit it, I was talking nonsense. I just wanted to hang out with you back then.”

Lan Wangji lifted him from behind, and Wei Wuxian clambered back onto the boat. He looked back and held out a hand to grab Lan Wangji.

“So tell me honestly, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji got on the boat and handed him a red cord. “Of what?”

Wei Wuxian held the red cord with his mouth as he pulled back his hair, which had come loose in the water. “Tell me if you felt the same way,” he said solemnly. “You know, your callous rejection of me every single time I asked really made me lose face

back then.”

"You can try and see if I would deny you anything now,” Lan Wangji said.

The unexpected statement hit him right in the heart. Wei Wuxian choked for a moment, but Lan Wangji was still as composed as ever, like he didn’t fully grasp the weight of what he had just said.

Pressing his palm to his forehead, Wei Wuxian said, “You… Hanguang-jun, let’s agree that you’ll give me a heads-up before you say sweet nothings in the future. Otherwise, I won’t be able to take it.”

Lan Wangji nodded. “All right.”

"Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said, “Oh, you…!”

Of all the millions of possible words, there was nothing left to say. There was only laughter and hugs.

As for Jiang Cheng, yes he is jealous, yes he is a homophobe, no there is no mixed signals from Wei Wuxian to anyone other than Lan Wangi. Me, unlike you, understand what logical comprehension is and can read what MXTX meant for her CP. Have fun with your salty Jiang Cheng/Chengxian fic ideas though, save that energy for that instead of bugging me.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #lol chengxian #lol salty people at mxtx #be mad at your own stupidity and not understanding basic literature concepts and rationality

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thatswhatsushesaid · 5 months

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I have also only seen so much of Love Between Fairy and Devil, but I’ve definitely gotten there being lots of body swapping from the gif posts on here. With that in mind, I give you: xiyao body swapping AU, complete with having to kiss to switch back and forth.

How long can they get away with it? How long before LXC is gunning for JGS on principle? How much of this can LWJ take before he becomes a wandering cultivator to avoid knowing what his big brother is up to all the time? So many questions.

anon i don't have any specific thoughts about this scenario--yet. but i just wanted to let you know that i love the idea of this AU and would actually die if someone took this premise and ran with it. 👀

questions: what would prompt something like this in the mdzs universe? a cursed artifact, a statue, a spell of some kind gone awry? and of course the timing of the AU could raise the stakes dramatically, especially if it takes place during the sunshot campaign. would lxc be able to maintain meng yao's cover? i'm actually less worried about meng yao being able to fool people into believing he's lxc, because i think he could do it. ...well. i think he could fool everyone but lwj, anyway.

#asks answered #xiyao #just kidding it looks like i had some thoughts after all

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annalacerda17 · 2 years

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So I’ve heard some people saying that Lan Wangji wanting to bring Wei Wuxian back to Gusu (similar to what his father did to his mother) and later dragging him back there post-resurrection is a sign of them having an unhealthy relationship?

I personally disagree but I also struggle to articulate why I do so I was just wondering if you have any thoughts or opinions on this.

I don't think it's sign of them having an unhealthy relationship because even if we ignore the context around those scenes, the rest of the novel (especially post resurrection) is basically LWJ and WWX getting to know each other better and learning how to interact with each other in a healthy way. They're both considerate, open-minded people, who care about each other and respect each other very much. That being said, I'll explain why I don't think those two scenes don't mean their relationship is unhealthy.

In WWX's first life, LWJ says he wants to bring WWX back to Gusu, but he also recognizes that WWX doesn't want that and so, LWJ doesn't bring him back to Gusu against his will. We can take it as just LWJ saying he wished WWX would agree with him and being sad he didn't because, ultimately, LWJ didn't act on it. As for how it relates to the relationship between his parents, it's hard to say much, because we don't know much. I know fandom likes to speculate about Madam Lan possibly being innocent, but there's just not enough evidence to say for sure what happened then. We know her sons loved her but that doesn't say anything about how fair or unfair her treatment might have been in the Lan sect. She seems to not have wanted to marry LWJ's father at some point, but we don't know for sure if she changed her mind later or if he married her against her will. We do know she never complained to her sons, but they were her children so she may have been shielding them from the truth, she could've loved them for being her children even if she had despised their father. We just don't know. LXC is the one who speaks of it and even he doesn't know much. So I don't think it makes sense to say LWJ is "like his father" as evidence that wangxian's relationship os unhealthy, like some antis do - we don't even know enough about what kind of person LWJ's father was, and the only comparison we have between them is the scene where LWJ chooses the opposite as his father.

As for the scene where LWJ does take WWX back to Gusu post resurrection, we have to look at that in the context it happened: JC was trying to frag WWX back to Lotus Pier to torture and kill and WWX himself was yelling about how he liked Hanguang-jun in order to throw off JC. It was WWX's plan to use LWJ to get away from JC, and while we know he didn't mean that at point in time, LWJ is no mind reader. WWX also complained a lot, but did little to actually leave, which he could've if had wanted to, and LWJ knew that. At that point in time, LWJ was still under the impression that WWX knew he had recognized him, after all, so he didn't think WWX was acting like that to make him leave, he probably thought WWX was just teasing teasing him like he had done when they were young. WWX even says, not long before, that the silencing spell is easy to break and will only leave you with a sore throat. He could've broken it in front of LXC and gotten himself kicked out, and he could've just used guidao to aid in his escape if he really wanted to.

After arriving in the Cloud Recesses, WWX's "escape plan" was basically to peep at LWJ bathing and sleep in the same bed. He never said he wanted to leave, partly because he assumed he wouldn't be allowed to, but also because he was having fun. Later on he goes with LWJ to look for NMJ's body parts and he has a million chances to leave but he just doesn't. In fact, when they get separated he consistently goes back to LWJ's side.

In any case, the rest of their relationship is unambiguously positive and healthy, they communicate with each other and respect each other, so I view their relationship as perfectly healthy. Personally, wangxian is one of healthiest couples I've come across in a book.

#mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian

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llycaons · 6 months

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ep50 (2/4): family time - tying up loose ends and revealing secrets

aw man :( he clearly wants to, so badly. I'm really heartened by this, actually. jc telling him not to go will only work for so long, and jl has always been rebellious. he loves wwx. I think he's gotten over a lot of his embarrassment about showing him that, too. and wwx has been freed from a lot of the guilt associated with jzx's death, so I imagine he'll be even more ready to interact. they have a relationship waiting for them in the future. that warms my heart more than almost anything else in the finale

this scene is so gorgeous. I don't care that it's full summer out there, right now it's autumn and that's relevant metaphorically! season of change, season of death, season of endings. a beautiful season

jc is mocking wen qing's last words and wwx's advice, but the thing is...yes. yes. if he wants a relationship with wwx, there's going to be pain to work through. there's going to have to be forgiveness too, on both sides. there's going to have to be gratitude. that's what it means to be two imperfect human beings who care about each other in an flawed world. and that's true for anyone jc could want to have a relationship with, not just wwx. if he persists in this, he's dooming himself to isolation

have I mentioned I love jin ling

ah, l Iove this shot. the raised hand, the threat. but he doesn't hit jin ling. I mean, it's indicated he hadn't really before either, but the framing makes it significant. this is a change. these things will fall away and be gone. the tone for this scene is so melancholy

jin ling's persistence ♥♥♥♥ him never shutting up might be a significant factor in their reconciliation. also, the other translation said 'bullshit' instead of 'lies' for his next line. I like that better. let jin ling say bullshit!!!

oh god, I'd almost forgotten. it's such whiplash to be thrown 20 years, 35 episodes into the past. months in real time. but what happened back then still matters, it still impacts the characters in the present. and jc, for once in his life, acted completely selflessly for wwx. he offered himself in wwx's place. and for all the things he held over wwx's head, he never, never brought it up to him. fuck

this is such a gorgeous shot

believe it or not, I only cried once this episode and it was here. MAN. the complicated relationship, the love and grief and bitterness and anger. the single tear. the well-wishing to someone too far gone to hear it. I'm proud of him for this. it's real growth. now if they'd only communicate...

I've seen posts positing that wwx's ending isn't actually a happy ending and in fact he truly wanted to just stay with jc, but I find those narrow-minded and simplistic. he misses LP terribly and of course he cares about jc, but the story is about moving forward, about moving onward and recovering despite the terrible things that happen. wwx needs to heal, and he needs to do it somewhere where he'll be allowed to flourish, and that certainly can't be with jc or at LP. there's been too much between them, and jc isn't ready for it

I also think it's complicated. I think you can want something, or miss something, while knowing it's not the right choice for you. if jc offered his position back to him at that very instant, I don't think wwx would have taken it. I also don't think wwx needs any one thing to be 'truly' happy, whatever that means. I don't think any one thing could guarantee it. I don't think true, uncomplicated, perfect existential happiness even exists, not in the way it's described in those posts. I think the wwx of 20 years ago and the wwx of the present day are at different point in their lives, and they need different things. I don't even think wwx's only or most important goal is his own happiness. but we do know that he likes being with lwj, that lwj supports and protects him, that he's closer now with lwj than probably with anyone else, that they trust each other mutually, that he left with lwj, and it's with lwj he wanted to stay.

speaking of which...

I do think he's happy, here. playing with his flute was something he did as a careless young master, and it's nice to see that innocent playfulness back

he's so excited to hear what lwj had to say...he probably thought lwj would confess (finally) and then seeing lzx and wen ning like UGH 🙄 always getting in the way of my lwj time, those two

I was such a mess first watching this. cried like a baby

HAPPY TEARS FOR WWX!!! FINALLY!!!!

LMAO. immediately after lwj is like 'you taught him too 🥰' he says this

oho! I have previously dismissed lsz as rather boring, but he does indeed have a rascally streak!

more soulful staring, their favorite couple activity. along with fighting

YES. after all the injustices and cruelties the wens have suffered, they can finally rest in peace, honored by their remaining family and remembered by one wen ning

also...I wish we'd been able to hear lwj and lsz's conversation bc is lsz really not angry at ALL that lwj lied to him his entire life??? but I geuss it's not relevant to wwx's journey, so

wwx offering to come might have been for his own sake as much s for wen ning's sake, but I like that wn pushes back. it's not rejection, it's reassurance. wwx, this is no longer your burden. leave it and rest. we will never forget what you did, but you no longer have to bear these lives

and this too!! I worry about wen ning being alone, but he's also not been truly independent...ever? I'm glad for him, that he'll find his own way. maybe he'll collect distant family members of the wens, or take care of kids, or grow a garden. something in a community, something that he can build. wwx brought him back to live this life, and he's going to live it no matter what kind of body he's living it with

wwx waving with his dizi 🥺 like he did with jyl all those years ago. it's sweet, it's familial it's fun. for all I said before, I think it's clear that wwx is so happy in this part of the episode

our good-byes to the wens, a central family in the plot and character arcs of almost every single major character. the only two left, off to clean their ancestral tombs and mourn their long dead. a bittersweet ending for an entire family, but not quite so bleak as it could have been. and it's through the cracks that these kinds of stories survive. compared to what could have been, two people are everything

#cql re-rewatch

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fubuwu · 9 months

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Honestly, something that I've learned from being in the md/zs Fandom is that jc antis make absolutely no sense. By their logic, if liking jc makes you an abuse apologist, wouldn't liking, say, ww/x, make you a torture apologist? ww/x didn't just whip people to death, which is a rumor jc antis love to bring up, he went as far as to make someone self cannibalize. Wouldn't that be a reflection of their character as well? Well, no, I guess, cause it's only bad when jc does it🤣🤣 NO MATTER what jc antis say, it's NEVER actually a moral argument they are making, especially when they excuse/ignore the actions of other characters who have done far worse. They're just weirdly obsessed with purity, so they have to make jc the "evil entity" so characters like ww/x are as pure as possible, which is frankly idiotic in a novel like mdzs. I mean, I like ww/x, jc antis just make ww/x unbearably BORING. And don't be sad about their cyberbullying ways. I created a tumblr profile initially just to be able to block them, and my experience has gotten a lot better since then. They are a scourge, and the only thing they are successfully doing is turning people away from wang/xian, and md/zs as a whole, not actually making people like jc any less

Hi, thanks for taking the time to drop a message and give your support. It is really appreciated ❤️.

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I 100% agree with you there. From my experience and all the hate I received, none of it comes from a place of morality at all. It's almost as if they're convincing themselves they are morally superior just to justify their actions towards jc fans or anyone who even criticises w/x really.

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Wwx and lwj have a lot or harmful flaws that antis seem to willfully ignore.

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In response to jc's "canon homophobia" I've made the point that wwx himself made a homophobic comment in the beginning of the book before he realised that he himself was gay (societal context matters here for both characters.. which they seem to willfully ignore when discussing jc's perceived homophobia, whilst brushing off wwx's and the other characters in the book for that matter!).

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Then as you say there was the torture that lwj was initially horrified by, the use of dc that desecrates bodies and rips souls out of the reincarnation cycle etc.

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Lwj himself isn't purely innocent either. Like whether they like to admit it or not, but Phoenix Mountain kiss scene was sa and the incense burner dream was very sus... plus he's very overprotective and obsessive which makes me wonder if wwx was a woman, would they be calling it relationship goals then? (Not hating on the characters or the ship here, btw. If people like the ship and the characters, that's ofc fine. I just find it bizarre that antis seem to overlook the somewhat problematic aspects of their characters, whilst calling out others).

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I do believe that if these were other characters, these "fans" would be quick to criticise them for these flaws and attack any fans of them like they would with jc and his fans. But they are blinded by the protagonists halo and seem to vehemently believe that these characters can do no wrong when the canon text literally proves that this is not true.

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No one in mdzs is perfect. That's a given. Not everything is black and white either. That's a message taught to us by mxtx. She makes it obvious in her text that we are not meant to read the characters at surface level. That there are more to a character's actions than meets the eye. That you shouldn't believe in baseless rumours and mob mentality that wwx himself was a victim of.

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These are the main themes of the book.... and yet these antis act an awful lot like the cw. Reading things only at surface level, believing rumours and attacking anyone who deviates from the norm and dares to question the actions of the protagonists.

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In their pursuit of morality, it seems they have become the very thing they accuse the likes of jc and madame yu of. And I find that very laughable.

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They have certainly turned me away from w/x that's for sure.... which is a real shame because I really loved wwx's character to begin with. I find it hard to enjoy him now when his fans act like this.

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germy-yy · 1 year

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MXTX football/futsal/soccer AU

I’ve been a goalkeeper for 1 quarter and idk how to drop properly so my arms and knees are a lovely magenta. Mxtx football/futsal AU! Luo Binghe would be your typical “star” player. He’s a striker (protagonist and all) but is really good in the other roles. He absolutely RUNS OVER those who are physically weaker than him. His kicks are so fucking painful too. He’s like “ah, I better keep the ball far from the goal as much as possible so that shizun doesn’t have to worry”. Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan would be a defender or a goalkeeper. He’s nimble (ehe) to jump towards the ball (read: out the window). One second he’s on the other side of the goal, the next he’s right in front of you and has tackled the ball. As a goalkeeper, he’s screaming the mantra “YOU WILL NOT FUCKING SCORE IN MY GOAL FUCKER” in his head so he doesn’t hesitate to take a ball to the face. He’s also a slippery defender where he’s running towards you and passes the ball back to his teammates in the field. I think he’s lanky so he has long legs to steal the ball away from your feet. Lan Wangji’s kicks are so fucking painful. Like, no goalkeeper or any player really has never not gotten a bruise from him. Someone even blacked out because they did heading with one of the balls LWJ kicked. Someone fell over when the intercepted a ball he kicked. Idk what role he would be though I am leaning towards striker. Wei Wuxian would be a goalkeeper. Absolute menace because he flails his arms around trying to mock the opponent and can slide his enter body in front of the goal area. He has a lot of bruises since he’s teammates with LWJ and during training, they do kick-ins (the one where all the players kick the ball and the goalkeeper must intercept it). Though that’s not the only reason why he has “bruises”. (”WY why do you have purple spots on your neck?? Do you intercept the balls with your neck or something?? LWJ, did you play as goalkeeper too today?? You shouldn’t catch the ball with your neck, you know.”) Wei Wuxian slides towards the ball when the opponent is RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE GOAL and hugs the ball, sliding between the enemy’s legs, and making them fall over LMAO. Hua Cheng is a defender. His gege ran across the field and he isn’t wasting all the effort! Very reliable defender. He steals the ball away from the opponent and is able to make the ball fly all across the field to XL. He rams into opponents (without extending his arms, of course. They were just too...weak compared to his bulk). Like. He literally runs them over and sends them flying when he stops the ball while they’re dribbling with it. He wears an eyepatch and has a medical certificate deeming him suitable to play. Xie Lian is a striker!! Him and LBH do long shots and it’s a beautiful sight to watch them passing the ball towards each other. Like. they pass the ball to each other from opposite sides of the field. He’s a fast runner and during corner kicks, he runs away from the opponent and is awesome at making openings for his teammates to pass it to him. Since his luck sucks ass, in recent years, he became susceptible to rolling ball kick-ins, hand balls, and hitting the post of a goal instead of scoring. Extra:

Shang Qinghua joined the team but doesn’t have much experience. It would look good on college applications. He plays as defender. SQQ: GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE WAY I CAN’T SEE THE BALL AIRPLANE!!! SQH doesn’t take it personally and when he finds out he’s blocking SQQ’s view, whenever he’s defender and the ball is coming towards them, he’s like: SQH: bro can you see the ball?? love him fr Also, do you call the sport Football or Soccer?

#svsss #tgcf #mdzs #bingqiu #hualiann #wangxian #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #Shen Yuan #lan wangji #wei wuxian #hua cheng #xie lian #football #futsal #???#soccer #do you call the sport football or soccer?

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rekishi-aka · 4 months

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⭐️ for the Director's Cut ask game

Thank you anon!

I finally have time for this and I thought about it, because I have lots of things I want to talk about - also from fics I haven't even posted (yet?). But I want to talk about something from The Long Thoughtfulness of Night

"Let me protect you sometimes," he added and let his hand fall away from Wei Ying's face, even though he wanted to wrap him up and never let go. "But Lan Zhan," Wei Ying said with a strained laugh as he turned back towards him, "you protect me all the time!" Just not when it really counted. It was uncharitable, and Lan Wangji pushed the bitter thought away. He had accepted Wei Ying's decision not to come back, after all. Keeping his voice even, he said instead, "I would do it more often." Those must have been the wrong words, because Wei Ying's expression turned serious. At least he had yet to let go of his hand. "Lan Zhan, I don't want to ruin your reputation. Last night you burned almost all your bridges. I don't want you to do that, not for me." What had that reputation ever done for him, Lan Wangji wondered. When was the last time he had cared for it? That Lan Wangji was harbouring Wei Wing was tarnishing his reputation. That Lan Wangji was touching Wei Ying like this, when his feelings ran so deeply, was inappropriate. He was beyond caring though, and xiongzhang had not even assigned Wei Ying separate quarters — even though, from a political point of view, agreeing to this was at best unwise. "It is my decision." He shook his head and when their eyes met and locked, something swooped and pricked in his chest. He took a breath. "I will walk with Wei Ying on the single plank road into the night." He had said the same words last night, echoing Wei Ying from the last time they had spoken before the siege of Nightless City. Unlike last night though, it failed to make Wei Ying laugh in relief. Instead, he stared at him, lips slightly parted and muscles tense. Lan Wangji could only return his gaze and try to smile, even as his heart clenched painfully in his chest just like this morning when he had watched him lie unconscious. He wanted... many things. "Lan Zhan." Wei Ying licked his lips and something had shifted in his expression. Relief? Joy? "How long?" The words were so innocuous. How long had Lan Wangji been loyal to Wei Ying? How long had he wanted to protect him? But the question in his eyes was a different one, and Wei Ying was right that they knew each other. How long had Lan Wangji felt for him this way? The answer was easy. "Long enough."

This was my first foray into The Untamed fic, which I needed to get a handle of (do I still have 72k unedited? yes. I even have title for that one! anyway, moving on).

I didn't want to (for reasons of more or less hitting the tone of the show) voice the feelings outright. But LWJ is so tired of it all and he has WWX back after sixteen years or them being separated by death and he has grieved and raised their son and kept grieving despite everything. He wants WWX in his life, and he doesn't care about his own reputation, although he has to. Because part of their safety hinges in LWJ's reputation and on the protection of his brother.

WWX is more than aware of this. Both, because he tarnished his own reputation pretty well, but also because of the precarious position he was in in his first life and is now. If the sect leaders had gotten their way the night before, he would be dead. LWJ protected him, and he knows - at least in this fic - at this point that he loves LWJ.

And they never would have voiced their feelings outright (and couldn't in the show for censorship reasons anyway). So both of them need some plausible deniability in this scene and I'm so proud that I managed that here.

At the same time, I remember writing this a few years ago, in the throes of the pandemic, I posted this January 2021. Writing was one of the things that still worked for me at the time and it was such a weird feeling back then, sort of dreamy, sort of feverish (I didn't have covid), trying to find the right path and the right words early mornings and late evenings while pushing work forward, and...yeah.

It was a weird period, but I loved writing this fic so much. Is still do. It's hopeful, it's quiet, it gives the characters what they want but doesn't absolve them from putting in the time and the energy, but it gives them a reprieve.

And it also introduced me to Chinese poetry, which is a perfect source for titles for C-Drama fic. (God I really need to finish that last one, it will otherwise be haunting me one day.)

Thank you for the ask!

#asks #director's cut meme #fanfic #the untamed

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tchaikovskym · 2 years

Text

Wangxian fic recs

(pt2 here)

Hi so I live for fic recs that's why I've decided to finally make recs myself. So here are the fics I enjoyed the most in no particular order

Linger in the Sun by etymologyplayground

"Tell Lan Zhan that I'm weeping uncontrollably," Wei Wuxian says to the juniors. "Tell him I'm truly pitiful and he needs to do everything I say until I'm well again."

Lan Congyi is in the middle of carefully holding his eyelids open to check his pupils, but he still obeys, bless him. "Hanguang-Jun, Senior Wei would like us to tell you that he can't stop crying and he'd like for you to do everything he says until he's better." There's a moment of silence, and then Lan Congyi says to Wei Wuxian, "Hanguang-Jun says he already does everything you tell him."

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find themselves cursed, unable to see or hear each other. They figure things out anyway.

I loved this one so much!! A nice case fic with lots of love!!!

From the Ashes by mostlynonsense (travelingpsycho)

The war is over and Lan Zhan wants nothing more than a quiet life and a simple job as ship's security. His partner Wei Ying has other ideas about the quiet part, and life is never so simple... (a.k.a. Wangxian In Space)

I'm always wary of space stories because ever since others had gotten me into star wars or voltron I started to think stories about space are plot lacking technical fantasy. But not this fic! Of course it has the vibes of space stories, but it redeemed the whole thing for me. Anyway there is tension and... love!! And don't fear the angst tag, it's not because of bad miscommunication!

most times a wish by impossibletruths

Turns out the HR department may have had a point when they said don't bring your work home with you, and not just in the metaphorical sense. In his defense, it's not like he was trying to get anyone cursed.

I love this fic aaaa! It's modern cultivation, I really liked the setting!! And oh my god they were roommates hehe

side effects may include by slightlytookish

Worry still sat in Wei Wuxian's stomach like a stone, but what Lan Wangji was describing sounded less like the curse was acting up and more like he'd gone and caught a cold.

As if on cue, Lan Wangji sneezed loudly.

On their first night hunt together after Wei Wuxian returns from his travels, Lan Wangji gets hit with a curse that seals his spiritual power. With his defenses down, he soon catches a cold.

Wei Wuxian is ready to look after him. What he's not ready to deal with are Feelings.

Lovely the untamed post-canon fic! Love!!!

if you go chasing rabbits by occultings (microcomets)

Wei Wuxian drops his hand, leans one shoulder into the stunted door frame. “Oh. Okay. So. Why are you here, exactly?”

“The Institute sent me to assist you,” the ridiculously beautiful cardigan owner says, “as your familiar.”

Wei Wuxian laughs as if it’s a joke, although the man’s stony expression makes it clear that any humor gleaned from him is likely unintentional.

“Well, uh, I appreciate your,” Wei Wuxian says, “you know, time, but everything is under control here, actually.”

With impeccable timing, a tea-kettle sound keens from the kitchen, followed by a contained bang.

—

Or: Wei Wuxian is a witch, Lan Wangji is sent to be his familiar. They figure it out.

I loved this one so much! Once again the way magic works in this was so fascinating! And usually I stay away from animal transformation because that can get weird in an uncomfortable way, but not this one!

Bring Out The Sea In Me by Tabi_essentially

Post canon, Wei Wuxian takes Lan Wangji to the ocean because he's a total water baby and he wants to share his joy. Some rando gets pulled out by the rip, WWX is a competent badass, LWJ is massively turned on by this.

A nice careless beach day that turns into not so nice beach day, but it's all good at the end.

and here comes the summertime by ribena

(available only when logged in ao3)

On the first day of Lan Zhan’s first class of senior year, Wei Ying walks into his classroom.

“Oh, good morning, Wei Ying!” says Professor Song cheerfully, because she has betrayed him. She smiles at Wei Ying, because she has betrayed him, and then she gestures at Lan Zhan and says, “This is Lan Zhan, have you two met before?” because she has betrayed him.

“No,” Wei Ying answers, and sticks his hand out at Lan Zhan. “Nice to meet you!”

“The two of you are going to be TA’ing this class together,” Professor Song goes on, like she has not just thrown off Lan Zhan’s entire day and possibly his entire month. “And, of course, helping out with my research together as well, so I hope you two can get along well!”

or; Lan Zhan tries very hard not to be Wei Ying's friend. He does not succeed.

I almost didn't read this because Lan Zhan was too much of an ass to Wei Ying at the beginning, but man I'm glad I stayed and read it.

A Bad of Nibs (Nibs are Bad) by Enk

To his own surprise, Wei Ying doesn't hate quarantine. It's full of Lan Zhan, bunnies, great food, evenings curled up on the couch watching nature documentaries. Wei Ying can't imagine it getting any better. Until it does.

Except Nibs. Nibs are the worst.

And *gasps* they were quarantined together! Really cute and lovely <3 (the nibs part will be explained lol)

Unstrictly Ballroom by Ariaste

Thirteen years ago, Wei Wuxian brought scandal and shame down upon his head and was thrown out of the competitive ballroom dance circuit. He vanished, never to be heard from again.

Lan Wangji aches when he remembers the way Wei Ying danced--like a laugh given movement and form. He has never stopped searching for him.

Delightful fic! I really don't know anything about competitive dancing but I felt it.

all the silver moons by milkcrates

"Hey," says Wei Ying. It's the softest his voice has gone tonight, but he's close enough for Lan Wangji to– touch him, kiss him– hear him. "Eyes on me."

Wei Ying, thinks Lan Wangji, always.

And he passes out.

Lan Wangji gets injured on a night hunt, Wei Wuxian takes care of him, and lots of feelings are had.

What it says on the label, LOTS OF FEELINGS ARE HAD.

For my heart's ground. by orange_crushed

After a while he can feel a palm against his face, gentle fingers soft and soothing. It’s not real, not exactly: he can tell the difference between a ghost’s touch and a living person’s, between a spirit-vision and an overactive imagination. His education has been thorough. But the beating has also been thorough, so for now he forgets what he knows and leans into it, into the hand cupping his cheek. It’s soft and dry as those forgotten petals, as the touch of a pillow. He can smell wildflowers, can taste blood and dirt. My baby, his mother says, and he closes his eyes. My treasure. He barely remembers the sound of her voice, but the feeling of it is just the same. Just the same as ever.

[In which Lan Wangji loses almost everything, plants a garden, and grows a second chance.]

Love how this fic took the silly concept of planting A Yuan among the radishes and developed something so intricate and beautiful, another type of magic.

Bzzz Bzzz Feel Good by ScarlettStorm

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan says, and when Wei Ying turns around, Lan Zhan has followed him into the kitchen and is doing something with the empty wine glass that could almost be termed fidgeting. His fingertips tense and relax, and Lan Zhan takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders almost imperceptibly. “Would you like me to cut your hair for you?”

Wei Ying’s brain skids to a halt. Oh. Huh. That would. That would be a hell of a lot easier, wouldn’t it? Lan Zhan would at least be able to see and touch the back of his head at the same time, and that’s half the battle. Even if it’s not a good haircut, it would be something, and it probably wouldn’t end with Wei Ying in tears, and it would end with Wei Ying having shorter hair, which is the only thing he really wants right now.

“Yeah,” he says, a little awed. “If you don’t mind then that would be great, Lan Zhan.” He can almost feel the breeze on his undercut again, spine tingling in anticipation.

Or: Lan Zhan offers to help out with Wei Ying's quarantine growout... with sexy results!

Modern AU and getting together via quarantine forced haircut at home <;3

the best of you by sysrae

When Jin Zixuan calls in a favour, Lan Wangji ends up renting his spare room to Wei Wuxian.

It doesn't go how any of them expected.

Loved this fic so much aaa

Disapproving Rabbit by jadztone

Elementary school teacher Wei Ying talks his idiot coworker Su She out of making a class pet out of a rabbit he found in a park. He's quite taken with the bunny's glares and foot stomps, and so is his son A-Yuan. But any hope that they might make this disapproving rabbit their pet is dashed when they learn the truth about "Bunji" from vet friend Nie Mingjue.

Cute fic with shapeshifter Lan Zhan

Tell Sincerely, Half So Clearly by Sweet_William

Lan Wangji was in love with his roommate, Wei Wuxian. Which was fine. It was fine. He was handling it. Or he was handling it, until they started to get closer, and Wei Wuxian picked up a little habit that seemed tailor-made to push him to his limit until he either confessed or was set on fire by his own blush. Lan Xichen was probably taking bets on which it would end up being.

A short one but a good one! F E E L I N G S

A Curse of a Different Color by nickel710

At home, Lan Wangji steels himself before taking off his shirt to investigate the problem on his arm. He isn’t sure which will be worse— to peel away his sleeve and find something horrific, or find nothing at all out of the ordinary.

Still, the only way to know is to take action, so he shoves his anxious uncertainty down into his golden core to burn away into nothing and unbuttons his shirt. Out come the cuff links, set gently back into their case. Finally, he tugs his arms out of their sleeves and, not yet looking at his arm, puts the shirt into its appropriate color-sorted laundry bin.

At last, he lets his gaze move to the back of his left forearm. His breath catches in his throat. The fingers of his right hand move, shaking just slightly, to skim at the half inch spot about halfway between his elbow and wrist.

Hard to the touch, there is a patch of cool white stone on his skin. More accurately, perhaps, there is a patch of his skin that has transmutated into, if he had to hazard a guess, white jade.

In which Lan Wangji is slowly turning into jade and turns to local curse-breaking expert Wei Wuxian for help.

This was such a good one! Jade of Gusu, you say, huh. I loved the concept of someone being so expressionless that it made them turn to actual jade.

Where You Fell by Sweet_William

Years ago, Lan Wangji was a Senior in high school, readying himself for graduation and the coming years studying at the Gusu Lan Institute of Music. Everything in his life made sense, from his role in his family, to a future as a classical musician. The only thing that didn’t fit was the sudden epiphanies he had about himself brought on by his bothersome and flirtatious classmate, Wei Wuxian. When the growing attraction and friendship was cut short by the other boy’s disappearance, he mourned what could have been, but ultimately had to move on. What he didn’t know was that fate would bring them back together again one day, or the reality of how far apart two lives can diverge, how some can find peace and prosperity, while others can fall farther than he ever imagined.

This is a looooooooooong one and I read it while it was still being written and I had such a great time with it! Hit me in all the right spots. However be wary of 300k words tho!

Vagabond by xantissa

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

Loved this one so much! There was such a good twist!

decay by antebunny

The Lans agree to take in the DafanWen after Wei Wuxian rescues them from Qiongli Path. Their only condition: that Wei Wuxian lets himself be purified of resentful energy. Lan Wangji thinks this is how he will finally get his Wei Ying back, free from demonic influences. Wei Wuxian thinks this is a fancy way of saying "execution."

Angsty in all the right ways.

in the blossom season (in the pouring rain) by varnes

“A-Yuan,” he says, carefully, “did—did you make the flowers grow like this?”

A-Yuan shakes his head in exasperation. “Baba, I said. Doctor Flowers did it.”

“Doctor Flowers,” Lan Zhan repeats, pointing at the tiny plum tree, just to confirm that his son is suggesting a magical tree named Doctor Flowers sprouted overnight and made their tame family project turn into a verdant jungle. A-Yuan nods. “Doctor Flowers,” he confirms. “He’s funny! I like him.”

A mysterious garden blooms on Lan Zhan's rooftop. His internet forum pen pal gives great gardening advice but never seems to sleep. The man who works at the florist, who keeps reviving the plants that Lan Zhan can't seem to keep alive, has a beautiful smile.

These things are related.

Mhmm cute little misunderstandings

a garden in your ribcage by puddingcatbeans

Strange magic-induced rings of decay have started appearing all over the old, weary city of Yiling. As the resident witch, Wei Ying is prepared to deal with it on his own with his unorthodox way of witchcraft, but recently a new witch has moved into town.

Between solving the mystery and re-learning this grown-up, softer version of the Lan Zhan he remembers from what feels like a lifetime ago, Wei Ying's days have become a lot more interesting.

(or, soft witches au featuring the wens, plants, food, and the inherent romanticism of having deep mutual respect for the fellow witch you're working together with to save a city.)

I'm a sucker for modern magic and this fic delivered the best! Loved it so much!

the world passes by but for me there is only you by beeswaxing

Lan Zhan finds out about Wei Ying’s core removal from an unlikely source, and it isn’t the only secret the two teenagers have been keeping from each other.

Sentient weapons taken to another level, dare I say.

Lead Me On Through by vesna (mrsronweasley)

"Who do you think your betrothed is?" Wei Wuxian asks, sprawling out in front of Lan Zhan and enjoying the prim thinning of his lips at the question. He shouldn't be sprawling—they're in the library, for one, and Lan Zhan is studying, for another—but he can't help himself. Wei Wuxian is a sprawler.

"I do not believe this to be of importance," Lan Zhan responds, without turning his gaze away from his book.

"What!" Wei Wuxian sits up. "How can you say that? Of course it's important! This is the person you'll be with for the rest of your life, Lan Zhan."

A great take on Idiots In Love like oh my god they were SO DUMB but I loved them anyway

Counterpoint by Magnolias-by-the-Window (JustAnotherAbby), maichan, Tsuminoaru

“It is hard to write a beautiful song. It is harder to write several individually beautiful songs that, when sung simultaneously, sound as a more beautiful polyphonic whole.” (John Rahn)

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines that are independent melodies, yet harmonically interdependent.

Lan Wangji, the principal cellist in his orchestra, finds himself performing JS Bach’s Art of Fugue with a student string quartet one semester and falls in love with the ways his life intersects with that of the lead violinist.

Wei Wuxian, a composition major, finds himself echoing that sentiment, and their story takes on all the complexity and fascination of the very fugues they are learning.

This was so good! It was like entering music school, muted sounds of someone practicing all over the building. I re-started listening to Tchaikovsky just because Lan Wangji told he liked him.

A Sure Thing by vesna (mrsronweasley)

The message says, I require exclusive commitment as well as flexibility. You may spend the night, but not always. I will be the one to keep the schedule of our meetings.

Wei Ying crunches on a chip thoughtfully, then takes a deep breath and writes back, What do I get in return?

Do not read if you're not okay with sex work etc. I didn't know if that was okay with me, but despite that I started it and it was the right decision though!

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) by yiqie

That’s just the thing, isn’t it? Wei Ying feels nothing. He doesn’t feel anything, and this emptiness should scare him. He knows he should be scared. He wants to be scared. He isn’t. Fear itself is never scary; fear is just a response. It means that your body wants you alive. It’s the absence of terror that scares him.

Another music one and oh it hit in all the right spots. Big warning for suicide, but the author did a great job by describing it. I was worried they would glorify suicide or make Lan Zhan the savior of it all, but they did not. I'm very glad the focus was not on how Wei Ying got there, but the suicide was rather the starting point, and the fic talked about recovery more than downfall.

#me thinking i can rec smth when all i can say 'it was a great fic' lol #wangxian fic rec #wangxian #the untamed fic rec #mdzs fic rec #the untamed #mdzs #if you have similar taste to mine and you have fic recs hmu babeees #happy valentines my loves

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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

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First time submitting prompts, fairly new follower. Love your writing!

NHS and LWJ friendship. Subtle and maybe people other than their big brothers don't see it and it shocks people when they find out. Mostly Canon compliant?

Associates - Part 3 - ao3, pt 1, pt 2

In the end, it was Lan Wangji who went to get Wei Wuxian, rather than wait patiently for him to return of his own free will as he had originally intended.

It had been Nie Huaisang’s idea, after nearly a year of Wei Wuxian travelling – they’d never actually pursued the jealousy idea he’d initially suggested on account of it being a terrible idea, Lan Wangji’s temporary moment of insanity in even considering it aside. It had come up seemingly apropos of nothing, one day when the two of them were working together in Lan Wangji’s study, Lan Wangji filling out the paperwork in his graceful handwriting as Nie Huaisang flittered around solving problems – he preferred pacing as he thought, which perhaps explained his reluctance to work on documents despite his beautiful calligraphy, and all the marching around made him, in some moments, look remarkably like his elder brother, something Lan Wangji deliberately refrained from ever mentioning.

“You need to go pick him up,” Nie Huaisang had suddenly said, in between planning out the next discussion conference and explaining why a seemingly minor dispute regarding shifting the boundary line near the Yuncheng Bao sect by a single li could have catastrophic consequences for the Jin sect’s long-term stability. “I know you’re afraid of giving the impression that you’re trapping him and restraining his freedom, but that’s your problem, not his. He wants to be asked.”

“Does he?” Lan Wangji had asked, finishing the sentence he was on and putting down the brush. Some things took priority above night-fishing rights near a contained Waterborne Abyss, no matter the new head of the Laoling Qin sect might think.

“Mm, yes. He’s been taking a lot of night hunts in the immediate vicinity of Gusu, close but never too close…Lan Zhan, he’s hinting that he wants you to chase him.”

“Pride?”

“A bit, maybe? Mostly I think it was his position in Yunmeng Jiang, where the former Sect Leader Jiang wanted him and Madame Yu didn’t, so his status was always that slightest bit uncertain. Here and now, he wants to know that he’s really welcome…don’t give me that look! He knows he’s welcome, you’ve made that clear, but making you be the one to ask is just another way to ensure that it’s actually true.”

And so Lan Wangji had gone to where he’d heard that Wei Wuxian was night-hunting, flying down on Bichen when he saw him walking with Lil’ Apple along a mountain path – he called his name, and Wei Wuxian had turned and smiled…

Wei Wuxian had come back with him.

More than that – he’d kissed him, he’d said he was staying with him, he’d agreed to marry him, to live their life together from then on.

They were officially engaged now, the auspicious date having been selected, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling having demanded roles on the side of the bride – Wei Wuxian briefly protested being the bride, then realized that he was marrying into the Lan sect and promptly reversed course, announcing that he wanted all the trappings of being a bride, excluding the dress – and life was very, very good.

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks was about as long as the cultivation world could hold off on needing its Chief Cultivator to be more than part time – he’d done a lot of the work in the mornings while Wei Wuxian was still asleep or when he was busy, and of course he had the system of delegation that Nie Huaisang had constructed for him and naturally Nie Huaisang himself helping out through his letters – and regretfully, Lan Wangji had had to return his full focus to his duties.

At first, it didn’t mark that much of a change: Wei Wuxian would bring projects of his own and they would work side by side, Lan Wangji already accustomed to the presence of another through all the work he’d done with Nie Huaisang, and Lan Wangji insisted that Wei Wuxian go out regularly with the juniors for night-hunts even if he himself could not. It all seemed fine, except only that Lan Wangji had the distinct feeling that he was missing something important.

It was only when the first big issue came up – a serious dispute between two small sects – that Lan Wangji realized what that was.

He sent a message to the Unclean Realm and waited.

Nie Huaisang arrived at the Cloud Recesses at the exact time one might expect if Nie Huaisang had received the message and left at once at top speed, accounting for the relatively slow pace he had when flying as a result of his mediocre cultivation.

Letter still crushed in his hand, he swept into the jingshi in his usual manner, all high drama and flash, wailing, “Lan Zhan! You betrayed me! You, of all people! My oldest friend!”

Lan Wangji, who had been expecting this, rolled his eyes.

Wei Wuxian, sitting in the desk he’d claimed as his own, looked up, startled. “Nie Huaisang?”

“Oh, hi, Wei Wuxian, congratulations on your engagement, has Lan Zhan shown you the present I sent? Probably not, he never does – Lan Zhan! Don’t think I’m letting you distract me with Wei Wuxian! You answer for this right away!”

He waved the crumbled letter at Lan Wangji.

“There is nothing to explain,” Lan Wangji said. “I requested your assistance in my capacity as Chief Cultivator.”

“You called me a spineless, gutless coward!”

Wei Wuxian made a choking sound.

“I sought to accurately characterize your recent behavior,” Lan Wangji said, and noted that Wei Wuxian’s choking noises got worse, although he did not actually appear to be in need of air. “Do you object?”

(There was something about Nie Huaisang’s company that reminded Lan Wangji irresistibly of being a child again, he had found, and it was only recently that he had begun to remember that as a child he had once had a tendency to bite. A pleasant rediscovery, even if the sharpness of his teeth were now expressed via paper and ink rather than through physical attacks.)

“You were the one who took a month off,” Nie Huaisang complained, a blatant lie given that Lan Wangji had been on partial duty for no more than two weeks, but dropped into his usual place at Lan Wangji’s side obediently enough. “Lan Zhaaaaaaan, don’t make me do work –”

Lan Wangji was going to say something about how it wasn’t like Nie Huaisang was doing any less work by doing his part in the Unclean Realm rather than being physically present in Gusu for consultations, he was just doing it less efficiently, but that was when Wei Wuxian coughed into his hand.

“Sect Leader Nie,” he said, with too much formality, but Nie Huaisang waved his hands at him querulously, clearly disapproving, and his shoulders relaxed a little. “Ah – Nie Huaisang. Since when do you call Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan? I thought you called him Lan-er-gongzi?”

“Oh, no, it’s been Lan Zhan since I was – what, seven or so?” Nie Huaisang said. “I wasn’t joking about him being my oldest friend, you know. We were just fighting back then, when you came for the lectures.”

Wei Wuxian blinked rapidly and turned to look at Lan Wangji, who nodded in confirmation.

They’d failed each other rather thoroughly back then, neither one being there for the other when they could have been. Nie Huaisang had not been wrong to observed that simply because he had always been free and open with his affections, Lan Wangji had assumed they would always be there to be resumed at a later time, without any need for maintenance – playing hot and cold, offering and receiving comfort and support at certain times, totally distant at others…it wasn’t until much later, when Lan Wangji emerged from seclusion, that he had needed Nie Huaisang again, and realized what he’d lost in the blank and disinterested glance of the boy he’d once thought of as his friend, who now seemed to visit the Cloud Recesses only in search of his elder brother.

They’d spoken in those intervening years, but it had always been light, superficial. Lan Wangji could have reached out a hand at that time, sought to resume their relationship, but he was consumed with his own grief, his own troubles, and out of respect for the face of his sect he had refused to share them; perhaps if he had, Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have done what he had done, would have relied upon him instead.

Perhaps things would have been very different.

It wasn’t until he’d finally swallowed his pride to ask Nie Huaisang for help with the overwhelming work of being Lan sect leader and Chief Cultivator both that they had broken through that distance once more. It had been difficult at first, readjusting their long-lost patterns to their adult behaviors, but they had slowly but surely fallen into a comfortable dynamic that suited them both.

“I had no idea,” Wei Wuxian said blankly. “You spend much time together?”

“Nie-xiong assists me in my duties,” Lan Wangji interjected before Nie Huaisang could spout something stupid about eloping, as he was sometimes wont to do. “He has been critical in ensuring that I am not overwhelmed.”

Wei Wuxian mouthed ‘Nie-xiong’, but what he said was, “You, Lan Zhan? Overwhelmed?”

Lan Wangji nodded. “My brother went into seclusion,” he explained. “As sect heir, I became responsible for the duties of sect leader of the Lan sect, and I had also accepted the post of Chief Cultivator.”

“And he didn’t have anyone else to help, so he came to me,” Nie Huaisang said cheerfully, ignoring how Wei Wuxian’s eye twitched. “I hope you don’t mind. It was very convenient a trade: I know plenty of things about being a sect leader – more than you’d think, I swear! – and Lan Wangji, as Chief Cultivator, can help me whenever someone tries to make something out of that awful business last year.”

There had been a few unfortunate sequelae to those events. Nie Huaisang’s role had never been officially confirmed, but somehow word had gotten out regardless and sects throughout the cultivation world were looking at Nie Huaisang in suspicion – less out of concern for Jin Guangyao, although there were a few that had especially benefited from his rule that were disappointed, than with an eye towards the future. The wise ones were afraid of his patience and planning, but far more were simply greedy, looking for a chance to finally uproot the notorious Headshaker now that his best protection, his brother’s two sworn brothers, were not there to defend him.

As he had promised, Lan Wangji had defied any attempts by others to do anything of that sort.

As he had promised, he would not change his mind or withdraw his support, no matter what Wei Wuxian said.

His shoulders tensed as Wei Wuxian looked over at him, his expression thoughtful. “I’m going to need to talk to Jiang Cheng,” he remarked, seemingly unrelatedly, and then said, “Well, I trust Lan Zhan’s judgment.”

Nie Huaisang had covered his face with his fan and was looking over it at Wei Wuxian. “You do? And here I thought you didn’t associate with evil…”

“Those are from Lan Zhan’s sect rules, not mine,” Wei Wuxian declared. “If he doesn’t judge you to be evil, who am I to say otherwise?”

Nie Huaisang smiled.

“We should talk more, sometime,” Wei Wuxian continued. “And hey, Nie-xiong, I don’t know if you still collect those books –”

“Oh, of course, Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang said enthusiastically. “Though you don’t need to ask for them from me. Lan Zhan’s built up quite a collection over the years.”

Lan Wangji sighed, even as Wei Wuxian spun to look at him with a predatory look in his eyes, not unlike a sighthound that had just fixed on its prey. “You do?”

“Nie-xiong has gifted me with many art pieces over the years,” Lan Wangji admitted. His ears felt as though they were on fire; they were undoubtedly red. “You may peruse them at your leisure.”

“At our leisure,” Wei Wuxian murmured, his eyes deeply intent. “I can’t wait to see what spring books you like best, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji averted his eyes, feeling hot.

Nie Huaisang giggled and snapped his fan shut. “You don’t want to see the art I sent, Wei-xiong, trust me,” he cackled. “You want to see the pieces. Just ask!”

Wei Wuxian grinned and shook his head. “I think that’s a private discussion! Anyway, I’m going to go talk to Jiang Cheng – you two work on your Chief Cultivator stuff.”

“Your insight would be welcome,” Lan Wangji said, but Wei Wuxian waved a casual hand.

“Later, later,” he said breezily. “I don’t know either of those sects, I couldn’t possibly say anything intelligent – maybe next time you have a question. I look forward to working with you, Nie-xiong.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

Lan Wangji watched them smile at each other – still a little wary, but both clearly willing to attempt a renewal of their own friendship, even after everything – and his heart felt light.

The only thing, he reflected, that would make this perfect would be if Lan Xichen came out of seclusion.

But with Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, and Nie Huaisang on the job, they’d be sure to figure out a way to do that soon enough.

He was sure of it.

#mdzs #lan wangji #nie huaisang #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #associates #associates was actually supposed to be a one shot fic but then I saw this prompt after writing the first one and felt the need to continue #and here we are #ivydragon

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vrishchikawrites · 3 years

Text

Novel quotes that were sitting in my drafts and my thoughts

It is canon that JC’s own people are afraid of approaching him with their concerns. The people of his territory don’t approach the Jiangs for help unless the matter is deadly. This is supported by novel text. This is the state of YungmengJiang after it is one of the remaining three great sects, an economic, political, and martial powerhouse.

Ch 92 - Longing Part 3 (Exiled Rebels translation)

The owner, “That I’m not so sure about. Anyways, the temple’s quite popular. In Yunping City, no matter what someone runs into, we’d all go there and pray for the Guanyin’s protection. I sometimes go there and light a few sticks of incense too.”

Wei WuXian asked, “Then why don’t you go find the cultivational sect that’s in charge of this region?”

He only remembered after he asked. Wasn’t the cultivational sect in charge of this region precisely the YunmengJiang Sect?

Yet, the owner curled her lips, “Go find them? How dare we?”

Wei WuXian, “Oh? Why not?”

The owner, “Young Masters, you’re not from Yunping City so you don’t know. The Jiang Sect is responsible for all of us along the Yunmeng area. The Sect Leader’s got quite a bad temper. It’s almost frightening. His subordinate’s said so a long time ago. Only one sect is in charge of such a large area. Each day, there are almost a hundred cases of small ghosts or other creatures pulling pranks on the living and all that. If every single small thing had to be dealt with immediately, would there be enough time and energy? Those that don’t kill anyone aren’t malign spirits, and we’re not supposed to disturb them with trivial matters that aren’t malign spirits.” She complained, “What is this supposed to mean? Wouldn’t it be too late if we waited until somebody’s died to find them?!

No way would WWX let a his sect be actively feared by people they are supposed to protect.

There are a few other examples that I can’t really spend time to find. There was no lack of economic resources at this point. I don’t think there was any sort of disadvantage even after the SSC, because they would’ve gotten back their money after it and divided Wen assets among themselves. Yungmeng would have gotten a fair share of the plunder because it was one of the main sects active in the war.

JC had every opportunity at this point to say, ‘look we owe these particular Wens a life debt.’ That’s all he has to say to have honor on his side. They don’t need to risk anything because even JGS wouldn’t be able to say anything against a debt of honor. NMJ and LXC would both support him.

JGS was only able to get so far because JC played right into his hands. There are several scenes with JC letting his anger and envy get the best of him. One in particular, where some cultivators gossip that people only joined YunmengJiang because of WWX and his power. JC refused to speak up as a direct response to that.

(WWX has already proven he doesn’t forget about debts)

That very same conversation indicates that by the time Pheonix Mountain situation happened, YunmengJiang was already in a good position. JGS didn’t take advantage of YMJ’s economic and martial weakness (the text indicates that they were sufficiently recovered by this point if i’m not mistaken). In fact, YMJ received a big influx of seasoned cultivators just after this incident and before WWX’s defection. He took advantage of JC’s insecurities and his willingness to cast WWX aside if it benefited his sect.

Jin GuangShan, “Sect Leader Jiang, Wei Ying is your right-hand man. You value him a lot. All of us know this. However, on the other hand, it’s hard to tell whether or not he actually respects you. In any case, I’ve been a sect leader for so many years and I’ve never seen the servant of any sect dare be so arrogant, so proud. Have you heard what they say outside? Things like how during the Sunshot Campaign the victories of the YunmengJiang Sect were all because of Wei WuXian alone—what nonsense!”

Going further back, my original point was - there was a foreshadowing of their ideological differences way back in the Dusk-Creek mountain incident.

Ch 52 - Courage Part 2 (Exiled Rebels translation)

Wei WuXian, “It’s alright if he hates me—I don’t hate him. I’ll get him onto my back the second I get hold of him. Could he possibly choke me to death while on my back?”

Jiang Cheng warned, “We aren’t even able to care for ourselves; how do we have the time to care about the trivialities of others?”

Wei WuXian, “First, this isn’t a triviality. Second, things like this, somebody will have to care about them, sooner or later!”

WWX’s first instinct is to help people. JC’s first instinct is to protect themselves. This keeps on happening again and again.

When they returned to the Lotus Pier, JC scolded WWX for trying to play the hero and was scolded by his own father to reconsider the words. (This wasn’t favoritism, this was a dad telling his son that scolding someone for saving people’s lives isn’t the right thing to do and he should consider his words)

Both of these incidences are just few of the many examples scattered throughout the novel. These are possibly the earliest indications of their ideologies being materially different. WWX would be an excellent second hand but he’s no Wen Zhuliu. If his leader doesn’t live up to his expectations of morality and righteousness, he isn’t going to stay. He may linger for a long while but eventually he’ll start to feel complicit and would want to take a different path. He fell in love with LWJ because LWJ was righteous and morally superior to others in the novel, after all.

So to conclude - JC actually didn’t want to help the Wens, text clearly states he hated them. This man planned and lead a siege even after seeing a small child at the BM.

YMJ wasn’t actually in that bad a state. It was recovering but so were the Jins. They didn’t get away from the war unscathed. YMJ had money and several new, trained cultivators.

Bear in mind, during their staged fight, JC gutted WWX while WWX broke his arm. As in, his intestines legit fell out. The fact that he recovered quickly doesn’t matter. It was a near fatal wound and WWX has very few resources at his disposal. He was living in near poverty. That trip to the BM is a grace that JC could give without spending too much effort.

idk if I have expressed my point properly. But it covers as many points as I can recall off the top of my head. Unless JC’s character changed in some significant ways, I still think they would eventually have a falling out. The are examples littered throughout the novel about their core ideals, their very character clashing in significant ways.

#anti jiang cheng #repost on the side blog

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twolonesomestars · 4 years

Text

BJYX III

Japan Trip

This is a compilation post explaining the Japan trip and related theories (along with my own thoughts). Most of the theories in here are well-known. If you know the general gist of the Japan trip, you probably won’t see anything new.

Warning: This is all fake. Don’t take what I say to heart. These are just my random thoughts.

Extremely long post. Please beware.

All my explanations and thoughts will be bracketed and italicized: [like this]. If you would like to just read about the theories, ignore the bracketed and italicized bits.

I suggest reading all of the theories first and creating your own opinion on the trip before reading my commentary, especially if you’re a new fan. (AKA ignore the bracketed & italicized parts for now).

[One last thing before I start (and a test for those who want to read the theories first… ignore this for now): I believe this Japan trip changed their relationship… In that, I believe they began their romantic relationship after this trip. A quick timeline mention: truthfully, their relationship before and during CQL filming isn’t too important for this theory. However, I do believe that there was some sort of confession from WYB at the end of filming, which may have played a role in XZ’s decision to take the trip to Japan. I’ll provide my reasoning later in the post. All my explanations and thoughts are going to be based on these particular assumptions; although, I will try to include rebuttals & explanations based on countering arguments.]

OUTLINE

DATES

PRE-JAPAN TRIP

Character Bleed Changed Phone Number

MID-JAPAN TRIP

XZ’s 180911 Post + Story

POST-JAPAN TRIP

XZ’s 180913 Post & Story XZ’s 181119 Post WYB’s 181119 Post Time Gap WYB’s 190322 Post

FINAL THOUGHTS

Let’s get into it!

DATES:

180416 - 180823 Filming for CQL

180908 - 180912 XZ’s Japan trip

180913 - XZ posted his 521st Weibo post & 18th Weibo story

181005 - XZ’s Birthday

181119 @ 17:42 - XZ’s Japan trip post

181119 @ 18:47 - WYB’s response post

190322 - WYB’s Rome trip post

PRE-JAPAN TRIP:

Character Bleed

XZ’s reasoning behind his Japan trip in this interview @ 9:31

XZ explicitly says, “I told myself I had to walk out of it.” His reasoning being, “[I had to] leave him there. [I had to] return him to the one he loves.”

You can unpack a lot from that. I got two main things from it:

(“I had to walk out of it”): you can assume that XZ took everything from WWX and made it his own, including, and specifically, WWX’s love for LWJ. Essentially, by the end of filming, XZ himself was in love with LWJ.

(“return him to the one he loves”): XZ separates himself very clearly from WWX. He points out his reasoning to walk it off is him wanting to return WWX to the one he loves… the implication is that he figured out he doesn’t love the one WWX loves.

[The reason I think there was some sort of confession at the end of filming that pushed XZ to take this trip and figure himself out is because he already knew he loved LWJ. I think he may have attributed any romantic feelings he felt towards WYB to the fact that he plays the character he loves. So, if WYB confessed to wanting to pursue a romantic relationship with him, it makes sense that XZ would hesitate. I doubt he’d want to lead WYB on just to later realize all of his feelings were for LWJ and not him. I’m sure XZ would’ve walked off WWX eventually, but I think he did it as quickly as he could to give a certain person (and himself) answers.

Obviously, I don’t know how XZ goes about with his acting, so these are all just random assumptions.]

Changed Phone Number

I’ve gotten a few asks wanting me to clarify and give my opinion on the rumor about XZ changing his number and WYB asking around for it. I’ve heard two versions of this:

The first version has two variations:

XZ changed his number sometime after his DDU appearance in 2017 and before CQL began shooting, and WYB was asking the CQL crew for it.

XZ changed his number during CQL filming sometime, and WYB was asking the CQL crew for it.

The second version is that XZ changed his number before he left to Japan and WYB was asking around for it for months (who he was asking was undefined).

A related rumor I want to note: a fan who was at the airport when XZ was waiting for his flight to Japan supposedly saw him not answering his phone.

Let me clarify the relationship between WeChat & phone numbers:

In WeChat, every registered user gets a WeChat ID. There are three main ways people can add someone: (1) have the person’s WeChat ID (2) have the person’s phone number (3) have access to the person’s QR code. For (1) and (2), the other person must enable the option to be found via WeChat ID or phone number in order for you to find them. You can also choose to not show your phone number at all, so even if someone adds you via (1) or (3), they may still not have access to your number depending on your settings. To sum it up, you do NOT need to know another person’s phone number to message them on WeChat. Practically everyone in China uses WeChat as their main social messaging application… you can send messages (text & voice) and you can call (voice-only & video). People don’t use their actual given numbers to message or call too much (ex. iPhone messaging/ Facetime); phone numbers are typically used when making accounts on various social media apps, online payment, etc.

There’s a pretty well-backed up theory that WYB asked one of his DDU co-hosts (specifically DZW) if he could get XZ’s WeChat ID for him during/ after filming the episode with XNINE. If this theory is true, we can only be sure that he got XZ’s WeChat ID, not that he got his phone number.

If you do want to change your number or WeChat ID (prior to 2020, you could only change your WeChat ID once per account), you can simply go into the WeChat settings and update; this process won’t change your WeChat account and it won’t affect any of your contacts or chat history. If you want to stop receiving messages & calls from someone, you can either block or delete them from your contacts on the app.

I’m pointing all of this out because I’m pretty sure most of XZ’s & WYB’s communication takes place in WeChat. WYB has said in several interviews that he now prefers his phone and wifi access; he’s also said that he can’t go without WeChat now.

[I honestly don’t think this rumor is real. But, out of the two versions, I’d say the first version (either variation) makes more sense than the second version.

I have three reasons for thinking the second version is the most unlikely:

It’d be easier to block the other person for however long you need (and then unblock them or delete them depending on your choice later) rather than going through the hassle of changing your number. Remember when WYB’s phone number got leaked and he had to change it (August 2019)? He asked people to not use his number to log into accounts; he even mentioned that he would need to change all of them, which would be a large hassle. Sure, there could be circumstances where you’d want to change your phone number… but I don’t think this situation is that extreme, especially since it was supposedly at the airport before his trip and before he decided.

I don’t think XZ’s the type of person to leave someone hanging, no matter how much internal turmoil he may be dealing with, and especially not when that someone is close to him. I believe he’d at least inform others that he’ll be out of range and to not message or call him. Not to mention, if he told WYB to not contact him for the next couple of days, I’d like to believe WYB would respect that wish, whether he knew the reason or not. Since I do think that WYB confessed prior to the Japan trip, I believe he knew. But, even if he didn’t, he has integrity and self-respect. He’s going to respect others’ wishes, and even more so if he respects the other person… and he does respect XZ.

The theory specifically points out “months” … WYB literally celebrated XZ’s birthday with him about three weeks after this trip.

As for the first version:

Variation #1 implies that this happened at the start of filming/ bootcamp; it also implies that WYB got XZ’s number after he contacted him on WeChat. One assumption I have is: I don’t think celebrities/ people in the industry exchange phone numbers much, just their WeChat IDs. This is why I don’t think XZ & WYB exchanged numbers when they first met, only their WeChat IDs. As for WYB asking the crew for XZ’s number… if he already had XZ’s previous number, I kinda doubt he’d go around asking others when he could just ask XZ himself.

Variation #2 probably makes the most sense out of all three, and even then it’s a bit of a stretch. This variation implies that it’s a few months into filming, at which point XZ & WYB were extremely close. I doubt he’d be too nervous to ask XZ directly for his new number. The only rebuttal I could think of for this is that perhaps WYB asking around instead of asking XZ himself was him being coquettish.

In the end, this rumor doesn’t make too much sense to me. But take it as you will.]

MID-JAPAN TRIP:

XZ’s 180911 Post + Story

We know that he kept deleting his Weibo posts before the number could reach *520. (*520 & 521 are both kadian for “I love you” even though 520 is more widely used.)

XZ posted his 520th post on 180911 (right in the middle of his trip). It was an ad for AHC. AHC is the first brand both WYB & XZ shared and spoke for; I believe WYB stopped his spokesperson duties on 180829 & XZ began his on 180907.

XZ posted his 17th story, also on 180911, of him on a ferry during the trip.

[I burst out laughing when I realized he posted an ad for his 520th post. He kept deleting posts to make sure he stayed away from #520; he could’ve easily deleted another post to make the ad his 519th. A lot of solo fans were looking forward to his 520th post being dedicated to them (exhibit 1), and then he did that. Sly as per usual. And the 17th story... leading up to the 18th. I think XZ pretty much knew/ made his choice/ accepted his feelings by this point, which is why he posted like this.]

POST-JAPAN TRIP:

XZ’s 180913 Post & Story

XZ posted this video on Weibo on 180913. It was his *521th post & *18th story. (*52118 = “wo ai ni yi bo” A BXG posted about counting XZ’s posts to find these numbers.)

His caption was:

以为在拍照的找🤣... (夏天的风结束了，假期也结束了🌿🌿🎋)

which roughly translates to:

“I thought I was posing for a photo🤣... (The summer wind is over, the holiday is also over 🌿🌿🎋)”

There are several theories about the caption.

the emojis:

The bamboo emoji refers to WYB. In this behind the scenes footage, XZ compares WYB’s face to a bamboo stick.

the words:

XZ is referring to the season ending and the weather in the video where the wind is blowing across his face.

When XZ states that both the summer wind and his holiday are over, he is implying that he has left the character he became that summer (WWX) behind and moving forward.

XZ is referring to the song Summer Wind (夏天的风) by Liu Rui Qi (刘瑞琦). I’m not going to go too deep into this; the lyrics in question are:

夏天的风我永远记得清清楚楚地说你爱我我看见你酷酷的笑容也有腼腆的时候

roughly translates to

The summer wind, I will always remember [you] saying clearly that you love me. I saw your cool smile [yet] there are times when you are shy.

Interpretations are: (line 1) “summer wind” & “always remember” - XZ is reminiscing on the things that have happened that summer when CQL was filmed. (line 2) “saying clearly… you love me” - a confession from a certain someone… we know of one on camera: “zhan-ge didi ai ni.” (lines 3-4) “cool smile” & “shy” - these adjectives fit a person we know.

[I didn't find out about half of these caption theories until way later, and once I had already formed my opinion on this trip. A lot of it seems like a stretch, but all the theories make some sort of sense. Meh, there’s a lot you can do with a caption, so just take it all in.

Personally, I didn’t pay attention to the caption too much. I knew about the lyrics, but I purposely avoided them precisely because they were lyrics; you can do a lot with them. I finally explored it for this post, and I actually like it a lot; it’s very sweet. I’m still leaning towards the reference being unlikely; however, XZ is very sneaky, so I wouldn’t put it past him. I also knew about the bamboo reference, but I never gave it much thought. I didn’t think that one scene of them joking around was enough to say that he used the emoji to refer to WYB. Though, if it was actually a reference, there’s definitely more to it that we don’t know about. Ultimately, for this one, my decision was based on the basics: the kadian (and later reinforced by the whole AHC ad post).]

XZ’s 181119 Post @ 17:42

A major theory for this post comes from his caption:

“一些存货... 现代人即将拥有姓名 [’silent giggling’ emoji]... ”

roughly translates to

“some stock [photos]... modern man will soon be named...”

The main focus here is the “modern man.”

Once the behind the scenes footage and interviews began releasing, BXG started noticing how WYB got whenever XZ mentioned LWJ. His facial expressions always changed… immediate frowns. BXG speculated that WYB was trying to show himself as separate from his character, but XZ didn’t take notice. The character LWJ is figuratively and literally from the past; the actor on the other hand is from modern society. Thus, XZ mentioning modern man was taken to be a reference to XZ’s love for the actor alone, not the character.

[To those who have sent asks about the “modern man” quote, I hope this clears it up. My interpretation of it is the same. At the end of the day, XZ most definitely separated the two.]

Another theory for this one is that the horizontal middle row pictures spell out “王一博” going from left to right.

王 (“wáng”)

The lines on the building look like the character

He could’ve meant “look towards,” which is what he’s doing in the picture. It is a different character (“望”), and has a slightly different pronunciation (“wàng”)

He could’ve meant “going in one direction,” referring to the arrow on the sign, which is a different character (“往”), and has a slightly different pronunciation (“wǎng”)

一 (yī)

The image looks like the character

博 (bó)

Another meaning for “博” is “extensive” or “rich” which you can take the design on the outside of the to be

The building is a museum, whose word (“博物馆”) begins with “博”

[For the spelling, my interpretations were all of the #1s. (I’ll explain a little bit more when we get to WYB’s 190322 post.)]

One last theory about this post: BXG then witnessed XZ editing his post in real time to change the position of the first two pictures. There’s a theory that he saw this post (below) from the previous day and changed the positions to match.

OP talking about the switch here and below.

[I was so enamored by this theory until I actually went looking for it. The post of WYB’s pictures is from a fan, and while I don’t doubt that they saw more of fans’ posts back then, this one wasn’t tagged or anything. It could easily have been XZ’s artist side popping up. But, maybe XZ was lurking on his private account. Even though it’s one of the more iffy ones, it’s such a cute theory that I actually don’t mind believing it.]

This is a side note and not part of the actual theory: On my search for all things related to this trip, I noticed one of WYB’s posts where he did a similar thing.

This was in June 2018, so before XZ’s post. Mayhaps inspiration.

WYB’s 181119 Post @ 18:47

WYB posted exactly *1:05 hours after XZ posted. (*105 = 10/5, XZ’s birthday)

His caption was “冒个泡”

He was using internet slang; it can be vaguely translated to “I am here.” In context, he’s using the slang to refer to him not posting for a long time; he’s ‘showing his presence.’

Notable Things:

He posted the day prior on 181118; it wasn’t an ad, but it wasn’t exactly personal either.

He posted a picture of himself with his DDU brothers during a trip on 181104.

He had not posted a selfie since 181004. (Back then, he updated personal posts once or twice a week, whether it was a selfie or something about his life, such as what show he was watching. The month & a half time gap between personal posts would’ve been unusual.)

The caption & selfie work as a response to XZ’s “modern man will soon be named.”

Another thing fans were intrigued about was the time stamp on the photo, 180525.

WYB never really posts throwbacks, especially with selfies, yet he did one here to a date in the middle of CQL filming. He also usually never adds the date to his photos.

Isn’t it interesting that he captions the post with slang that tells people he’s back from a break, but uses an old photo instead of a new one? If someone’s announcing that they’re coming back from a break (especially a celebrity), wouldn’t it make more sense to post a recent photo rather than an old one (in this case, one from 6 months ago)? And, why even bother including the date in the first place?

[I can’t believe I barely noticed that WYB posted 1:05 hours after XZ. What in the world WYB? I’m losing my mind. It’s down to the damn minute, and their minutes weren’t a “0” or “5” multiple either. I usually try to pass off a lot of things regarding YiZhan (especially kadian) as coincidences, but what even is this? If it wasn’t intentional… What kind of connection do these two share?

Yes, I do think this was WYB’s response. The throwback picture was probably the most telling for me; him including the date he took the photo was like a flashing sign saying: ‘hey look at this date. it’s important.’ And when you add the caption into the mix, it’s taken to another level. I feel the combination of hints in and related to the post is too much and too telling to be coincidental.]

Time Gap

There’s an interesting time gap between the two XZ’s posts (180913 & 181119). There are a few theories about what could’ve happened in those two months. Some of the ones I’ve seen and heard are:

XZ & WYB could’ve been taking that time to tell their parents and settle things with their agencies

XZ & WYB could’ve begun dating exclusively after XZ’s return

Both of these theories imply that everything got settled or made official around 181119.

[I never really thought about the time gap between the posts… mostly because I kept forgetting there even was one. They’re both ridiculously romantic so I don’t doubt that 181119 is something of importance to them. I think it’s especially proving that both of them did a throwback to the same seemingly important time period.]

WYB’s 190322 Post

This post is pretty similar to XZ’s 181119 throwback post to the Japan trip. The theory for this one is that WYB spelled out “肖战” using the vertical middle row, going from top to bottom.

肖 - The tree looks like the top part of the “肖” character; the branches look like the bottom part of it.

战 - Since WYB placed an image of the entire Roman colosseum (where gladiator battles took place) in the last spot, he may have been alluding to how “战” means “battle” or “fight” (similar to how XZ may have been alluding to the meaning of “博” instead of getting a picture of the character).

WYB filmed the DDU episode on 3/22; I don’t believe there’s another significance to the date.

[WYB spelling out the “肖” using the first two pictures backs up my thinking that XZ spelled out the “王” and “一” characters in his first two pictures. This also leads me to think that both of them alluded to each other’s last character rather than spelling it out in their third pictures.]

FINAL THOUGHTS:

[The reason I like this overall theory a lot is because I think the happenings really fit with the things they’ve told us in interviews and suit their personalities. It makes sense to me that XZ would want to take some time to think about it; it makes sense to me that WYB was probably the one who took the first step.

As for the theories about the details… some of them are really out there, but all of them are fun to consider. As usual, take everything with a grain of salt.]

Some of these posts & events have several theories (i.e. XZ’s summer wind caption); they aren’t mutually exclusive… more than one can be true at the same time.

I tried to be as neutral as I could when explaining these theories. I tried to include counters and other possibilities, but I’m sure some bias came out. Just take it all in and take it for what it is.

My intention with this post was to put everything into perspective and give a good timeline. (As well as get everything in one place.) If you’re interested in my thoughts, feel free to go back and read the italicized & bracketed parts (if you hadn’t already).

The following is something I want to say about these theories and the BXG community in general:

Every theory has inconsistencies and exaggerations… that’s what makes it a theory. As long as we discuss things knowing this fact, that’s all that matters. We’re here to have fun, not to prove what’s right or wrong.

I love seeing the various theories everyone in this community puts out, no matter how different or similar they are to the ones I like/ believe in. It’s fun to look into these things with different perspectives. Don’t feel burdened if you believe in a less popular theory. Besides, we will never know anything for sure.

Be kind. And, have a good time.

Once again, this is all fake. I do not personally know XZ & WYB, and I will never know anything about them; this includes the intricacies of whatever relationship they share. So, CPN.

#don't ask me why it took so long lol #japan trip #yizhan #bjyx

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jiangwanyinscatmom · 3 years

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[1/?] Sorry for venting. I just saw some bad takes that gave me a lot of feelings. Personally, JC stresses me out every time he comes on screen, but I don't mind it when JC fans say fan-typical things like how they like JC because he wears purple, or is grumpy, or they think he's hot, or that they ship x*ch*ng because the cql actors have nice jawlines. They're harmless, fun takes, and while I don't agree with some of them, I see where they're coming from

Hello there anon, vent away as that is what my blog is open for as I love/hate on Jiang Cheng as he is in the plot, as well as all of my beef with what has been done to him for the EN side of the fanbase! I am more than fine listening and engaging with the unsavory "unpopular" discussions of his canon behavior and this goes for anyone of course that needs an open play area. I'll try to engage with what you have sent point by point as succinctly as I can.

[2/?] (some of these are obviously crack, and I am a fan of a few problematic faves). But then there are stans that just have to put other characters down to make JC look good. Like, I think some fans take their freedom of interpretation for granted because most of these takes aren't even labeled 'headcanon,' 'ooc,' or 'crack' anymore. Stans feel that their interpretations are valid, and while they are, valid =/= canon, and they're treating these takes as canon, which becomes popular fanon.

I enjoy Jiang Cheng for what he is, however as I had said it took me another reread to get to my stance of him being the negative mirror to Lan Wangji's positive and my comfort with that for the story once I realized what purpose he served. He is only insofar tragic in regards to his circumstances, but it does not absolve him for what he is at his core (no pun, but I can make a very nice metaphor that even with a piece of Wei Wuxian in him he is still forever unable and unwilling to stand by him equally all while stagnating where as Lan Wangji is able to flourish, grow and mature with nothing of import left from Wei Wuxian in a technical sense). As for ships, I am a little dirty Xicheng whore for fun and can say there is a sense of entertainment for me making it work with two people where one is wildly ignorant and the other wildly rabid. But that is outside of what is established as canon in the work and I always try to keep the two strictly separate due to the skew fanon perpetuates.

3/?] And now, it's not clear what part of the fanon references canon JC or the canon events of mdzs. JC is an asshole; I don't like him as a person, but I do think that he's a complex character motivated by many issues (sup, YeeZY), which makes him fascinating to explore. Unfortunately, erasing his culpability also removes his agency. JC should be allowed to be an asshole character who makes his own decisions even if they're the wrong ones. He has made his own tragedy by constantly casting Wei Wuxian as the villain of his life.

Now thanks to you I will be using YeeZY to forever and now to acknowledge Madam Yu (this is your fault for the new tag). From a standing from storytelling I agree that he is complex in the Jianghu for MDZS. Where in the usual political intrigue of Wuxia, he would be the mustache twirling villain that is outright unforgivable in narration, it is by favor of Wei Wuxian's narration that has an early steeping of empathy for him. And he is not meant to be seen as ultimately sympathetic, the work builds up his hate against Wei Wuxian who tries to rationalize it all several times until he is finally unable to. Jiang Cheng is the antithesis to Lan Wangji and the false bait to get attached to in Wei Wuxian's first life. I will make the note their meeting in Yiling is lukewarm between both as they exchange nothing really in terms of conversation and all pleasantries are left in terms of Jiang Yanli for Wei Wuxian. By this point Wei Wuxian has already switched his yearnings of platonically wanting a part of Jiang Cheng's life, to subconscious romantic inclinations about Lan Wangji and the perceived loss of being in the other's life.

The very point of Jiang Cheng as the deconstruction, is that he has no passion in life despite his apparent exploits because he put a shadow to hang over himself as an excuse to say others think he is not good enough. He has no deeper motivations than pure selfishness by the end of the work and is pure frivolity that he has built up losing the meaning of his sect as a tradition. He had his agency (more than anyone I might add in the work due to his social position) that he used to build his reputation as a passive rich sect leader that has little to do with civilian problems.

4/?] And I think a JC, somehow, that realizes that he did something wrong and is working hard to change for the better and gain self-actualization to become that UWU best jiujiu the stans want him to be, who is ready to talk (not yell at) with WWX, apologize to him, and create a better, healthier relationship with him is a much more powerful reconciliation and happy ending than 'everyone is wrong and mean and they all apologize to JC, which magically gets rid of all his issues'.

He is forced out of culpability in reconciliation because simply put, his audience do not like the reality that relationships fray and dissolve with no further resolution other than we as adults both need to move on for safety and good health. It is not acceptable in real life and fiction is allowed to place that also in it's thematic relationships. He has a small, small spark of recognition at the end of the main story, however he himself seems to choose to ignore it, as change is hard and he has never taken to that well as was foreshadowed with his dogs and the idea of sharing a space with Wei Wuxian. To write this is an awful lot of work into his psyche which is not a nice place, he is a terrible being and downplaying that to make a sugar sweet person does not work instantaneously. He is the one responsible for the entire fallout with Wei Wuxian and he hysterically realizes that even as he tries to continue to blame Wei Wuxian.

The issue that I have with his current stan culture, is that they already view him as something he is not. They play at bicycle with all of the other protagonists that have positive traits that they strip as they see fit; Good affirming loving to children adult Lan Wangji, Self-sacrificing ultimately did it all for love and care Wei Wuxian, Hard exterior but softened to who they consider an annoyance Wen Qing, Loyal as partners in their exploits on the field and always have each others back Wen Ning. They even take Jin Guangyao's persona of playing damsel and using that as a positive to soften up Jiang Cheng into something he has never been for anyone for ships.

[5/5] Also, making WWX/WN/LWJ apologize just makes them look better than JC. Like, stans supposedly love JC, so they ahouldn't be lazy and work hard to give him actual character development. Again, I'm sorry for spamming your ask. It just really baffles me about where they get these 'hot' takes (All I'm going to say is that JC was ungrateful, and WN had a reason verbally dismantle him).

They see this, but, they will spin it in any way to excuse Jiang Cheng due to the story itself showing that he was in the wrong to everyone he flung accusations at and his hate. No one but him is at fault for his spite as he had gotten his revenge on the ones that had ruined Lotus Pier and killed his parents. His own resentment pitted him against good and well meaning people that he refused to help as he mimicked his mother's words about raising their heads higher out of goodness instead of keeping low and staying self-centered. There is the underlying criticism of taking individual arrogance as self-care at the cost of others. Each point that Wen Ning makes is exactly what Jiang Cheng himself knows as he hated Wei Wuxian for being something he could not be or even wanted to be. Jiang Cheng wants kindness but does not understand that kindness to others needs to be selfless and accept the hurt that can come with that in life. He encompasses the fall from the path of buddhist lifestyle, "The Three Poisons" to Wangxian's "Without Envy" at the stories end.

[6/5] P.S. I'm not saying I want reconciliation fics, but I just feel that if stans want JC to have a happy ending, then I think that he should actively work for it. I think it would be interesting to see what force of nature would push him through a character development because throwing a therapist at him would result in a murder.

"I'm not saying I want reconciliation fics, but I just feel that if stans want JC to have a happy ending, then I think that he should actively work for it."

They do not think he has to work for it, they say his tragedy is enough, while heaping accusations against Wei Wuxian and saying his own are not enough to absolve him. Something Wei Wuxian has never denied and told all present they are allowed to forever hate him for what he had done in the past, but that they need to find a way to live in a life that is always moving on. He learned that grudges do nothing once they are absolved and it leaves you with hate with nothing else to do with it once that object is gone. In terms of reconciliation, I do not ever think that either want anything other than a distant peaceful out of each other's life set up. Jiang Cheng does not need Wei Wuxian in his life to be satisfied and never has since he used him as the handicap to hide behind to stay angry and miserable. Being without that fallback opens the world far more for him to change than him ever interacting like an old friend with Wei Wuxian ever again, if he ever had the guts to do that.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #yeah I am using that tag block me if it upsets you #pokes this sorry for the length I tried #listen... only i am his trash queen

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attilarrific · 4 years

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We joke about wwx being dumb for not realising lwj loves him because the alternative interpretation - that he thinks he's undeserving of love and/or that everyone who loves him gets hurt/killed - is too sad to think about.

Okay, this is Fair, but we can actually have non-dumb Wei Wuxian absent (or with only moderate amounts of) this particular breed of angst. (Versions of Wei Wuxian minus any angst at all are automatically AU Wei Wuxians and therefore fall under the purview of their specific narratives.)

Hear me out: Wei Wuxian has spent his entire (first) life being repeatedly informed by friends, family, and members of the public that Lan Wangji doesn’t like him. He doesn’t entirely believe that, he says really early on the book (though I’m not going to find a quote just now, I usually cite my sources, but MEH) that he thinks that was probably an exaggeration and their relationship wasn’t that bad, but it still makes a difference in how he perceives that relationship. What’s the first thing we do when we get a crush or get the feeling someone else does? We go ask our friends if we’re getting the signals right---is this person flirting, am I reading too much into it, do they like me, check yes or no. Wei Wuxian, instead of getting external validation that Lan Wangji has feelings for him, gets external validation that Lan Wangji hates him. Given that, it’s impressive that he maintains his opinion that everyone else in the entire world was wrong!

Beyond that, and I truly cannot emphasize this enough, Lan Wangji is better at hiding his feelings than we give him credit for. We know, as an audience, that he’s in love, because it follows the narrative tropes of the genre we know we’re in. Wei Wuxian does not get this leg up. Lan Wangji canonically shows almost none of his feelings on his face, and Wei Wuxian comes from a family known for being extremely emotionally demonstrative (both in good and bad ways). Even Jiang Cheng, who sends plenty of mixed signals, demonstrates his love by getting loud and emotional, something Lan Wangji rarely does. When he does, it’s usually in ways legitimately difficult to identify as affection---telling Wei Wuxian to get out of the library, biting him in the Xuanwu cave.

There’s a reason post-Guanyin temple Lan Wangji is sickeningly upfront about how he feels at all times! He was legitimately confusing before. A lot of Wei Wuxian’s second life rationalizations about why Lan Wangji is doing things (oh, he means the sword is his, oh, he doesn’t like Wen Ning because of the demonic cultivation aspect) actually don’t suck? (I grant you “why does he want me to lick him” is a tough one to explain away, but: drunk.) Add to that the canon level of homophobia and heteronormativity and the fact that Lan Wangji has never had a public relationship with a man, and Wei Wuxian not immediately jumping to that conclusion is.............not actually that dumb. And we have to assume that by the time Wei Wuxian has sex with Lan Wangji he has some idea that Lan Wangji’s into him, regardless of whether or not he’s acknowledging that to himself, or the dubious consent has gotten a hell of a lot more dubious. So he gets there in the end.

And, I mean, I’d throw in some “undeserving of love” angst, but that’s just because I really enjoy a little angst, provided I eventually get my happy ending. My point is that you don’t really actually have to.

#modao zushi #meta #APPARENTLY #anyway it gets on my nerves when people call wwx a himbo and mean it #Anonymous #attila replies to things

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yiqiie · 4 years

Text

wangxian fic rec list pt.2

you can find part one here!

as usual, this will be kept under a keep reading so it doesn’t clog up the dashboard. i actually reblogged my original post and added to it then accidentally deleted it but i have a crap ton more recommendations anyway! there’s a lot of angst in this list because apparently i love putting my heart through a meat grinder

there are some heavy fics included this time, but i really wanted to include some that explored the issue of mental health and recovery, especially in these difficult times, so make sure you look out for the TW if those fics aren’t your cup of tea

since tumblr’s new update prevents posts with links from appearing in the tags, i would really appreciate if people could reblog so anyone who needs a fic rec can see this!

notion summary page: here (i only put my favourites in this tumblr list, so if you would like even more recommendations, please read the notion summary for basically all of my bookmarks on ao3)

something to make your heart ache

tempo rubato by @spodumene

angst, fluff, smut, multi-chaptered, modern au

guys when i say this fic changed my life i really mean it i think i binged it all within a single night and luckily the last chapter came out the next day and i literally was beside myself with excitement; it is heartbreaking and so beautifully written, i keep going back to read it again and again it’s just THAT good

complementarity by @besanii

angst, fluff, multi-chaptered, cql au

i’ve always been a fan of beth’s works (if anyone wants to screech with me about her shattered mirror’s fic I AM HERE) but this was so much angst i literally felt my heart cave in on itself like it was actually painful holy shit she is such a compelling writer and this is one of my favourites even though it HURTS ME

and here comes the summertime by ribena

angst, fluff, multi-chaptered, modern au

LWJ PLS USE YOUR WORDS FOR ONCE this is peak lwj being a dumbass guys i really can’t with this boy but this is such a cute fic of wangxian falling in love and you can really see how they genuinely go from being two people who have no chance of being anything to SOULMATES

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) by yiqie

angst, trauma, modern au, trigger warning: suicide

this fic rec is gonna kick off some of our heavier recs for the list; yiqie is definitely one of my favourite ao3 writers and i am really excited for the next update of this fic, it deals with some really important mental health topics and it doesn’t shy away from the reality of how scary things can be. i’ve personally been thinking a lot more about mental health in general during my time in isolation and it’s gotten me to reflect more on my own wellbeing as well. this is beautifully written, and obviously it’s not going to encapsulate everyone’s personal experience but i think it’s a great step in recognising that mental health is real and something we should be looking out for

there’s no promised goodbye here by @yuisakii

angst, fluff, trauma, modern au, trigger warning: mental health

i saw this fic on twt and i thought it was gonna be a short cute wholesome fic about wangxian being broken up but not really bc wwx is dumb BUT this turned out to be so much more and i’m so appreciative; it portrays not a perfect relationship but one that is under the works and one that will undoubtedly require much more work in the future but it’s reality and it’s true and i think that makes it beautiful, there are discussions of mental health and how that affects relationships and how people learn to put themselves back together again with love and support and i think that’s the best part of this fic

take yourself home by ribena

angst, fluff, trauma, multi-chaptered, modern au, trigger warning: suicidal ideation

this was a surprising fic i didn’t expect it to be as heavy as it was but it was beautifully handled and it’s so important to me to see mental health depicted in different ways; everyone deals with their problems in a different way and someone is struggling could seem objectively like they’re doing okay and i think it’s great that there’s a fic that recognises that, this also gives a little spotlight on the things that people use to try and cope with their wellbeing, it could be the smallest thing but a lot of the time that’s all it takes

some things go forward by everythingispoetry

angst, fluff, trauma, multi-chaptered, modern au, trigger warning: medical recovery

this is a little lighter but i think this is one of the most important; the journey to recovery from any medical condition isn’t something to be taken lightly and i think this fic deals with almost everything that it will encapsulate, it’s a beautiful story that deals with the ups and downs of medical recovery and how you really need to learn to forgive yourself for maybe not being able to do everything you previously wanted to, it’s a hopeful story which is also so important because there is always hope for you no matter what

something to soothe your heart

you’ve ruined my life (by not being mine) by @nothing-but-color

fluff, light angst, smut, multi-chaptered, modern au

guys this fic is so beautiful omfg it’s so CUTE and i think it really nails some of the characterisation it really sets up their relationship so well and it delves into some other issues of wangxian’s parents being uh not great parents lmfao but it’s just cute and wholesome and wangxian discovering the joy of being in a relationship

this river runs to you by sundiscus

fluff, light angst, yearning, modern au

DRAGONS AND MAGIC GUYS HOLY SHIT this was a fic i just sat down and binged in like probably an hour and it’s SO GOOD, the plot, the characterisation, the amount of thought and care that went into developing this was so good and it’s beautiful guys truly a wonderful fic

heliotrope (eternal love) by avenqelic

fluff, light angst, modern au

flowers and their meanings need i say more???? this was so wholesome and wwx is such a dumbass but we love him for it and there’s so much yearning and pining in this it’s almost angst but it’s not bc there’s so much SOFT content in this we love it

lay us down (we’re in love) by mme_anxious

fluff, modern au

guys this is just a short wholesome cute fic to soothe your heart from all the angst i’ve put in this list IT’S PERFECT domestic wangxian will always trump everything as much as i love putting my heart through the works and this is just pEAK wangxian content

it’s you, it was always you by myung

fluff, light angst, cql au

guys wwx is such a dumbass but he’s a bby and we love him and this was such cute wholesome barely there angst content AND THE PINING wangxian are so dumb but we love them for it this was just something to truly soothe my heart as the heading suggests so yes pls read this after all the angst

with absolute splendour by @veliseraptor

fluff, light angst, yunmeng bros, cql au

THIS IS THE FIC I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WAITING FOR guys jc being an angry grape wanting to plan shijie’s and wwx’s wedding is genuinely the content i have always wanted and i’m always so sad that there’s like barely any of it but this fic captures it PERFECTLY and it’s the yunmeng reconciliation i have been praying for

the dragon’s bride by jaws_3

fluff, light angst, light smut, beauty and the beast au

lwj bby you need to learn to use your words bc then THIS HAPPENS but guys this was such a cool take on beauty and the beast au and it’s pretty spectacular wangxian are DOMESTIC HUSBANDS before they are even husbands but the writing was breathtakingly good so yes pls read this

anyway, here’s wuji by @kakikaeru

fluff, light angst, post-cql, focus on lan jingyi

okay this is more background wangxian BUT THIS FIC IS SO GOOD, the next one in the series (focussing on jin ling) is also spectacular so pls read them both, but guys LAN JINGYI BEST BOY and he’s in love omfg wangxian being overprotective adorable husbands looking after all their children is just what we LIVE for

something to make you laugh

i get religion real quick 'cause you're looking so divine by so_shyy

fluff, humour, modern au

guys wangxian being a chaotic mess but wwx being even more of a pining dumbass bc of hospital drugs is PERFECT i have probably read every single version of the cliche ‘husband waking up stoned after surgery’ but guys it’s so much wholesome content and amazing in every single way

life, drama and action by akai__hana

fluff, social media, modern au

whenever i have an angsty fic that makes my heart go eek i reach for this fic bc it’s a reminder that WANGXIAN IS HAPPILY MARRIED WITH A SUN THANK YOU and they are living their best lives as husbands in every life so this is just so cute short and wholesome we LIVE for this content

besieged by @ariaste

fluff, light smut, humour, post-cql

another fic for reaffirmation that wangxian are being overprotective husbands and our bby a-yuan is not really a baby anymore and it’s just so DOMESTIC and such good content and we really love every single reminder that wangxian are just happy and together and they’re SOULMATES okay

worth the entire universe and more by @xiellian

fluff, humour, modern au

this was fcking hilarious guys i read it right after one of my angsts and it’s just SO WHOLESOME wwx you’re so dumb we love you so much but you’re truly dumb also lwj bby pls use your words this was such a cute concept and just a pinch of domestic wangxian i needed in my day

a quest (for kisses) by @xiellian

fluff, humour, post-cql

ANOTHER DOMESTIC WANGXIAN FIC guys i can literally picture this happening bc wangxian are insufferable and are hellbent on letting the whole entire world know they are IN LOVE and that they ARE SOULMATES and we forgive them bc they ARE

#mai's fic rec list!#the untamed #fytheuntamed #mdzsnet #chen qing ling #wangxian fics #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #pls reblog if you can!#the notion page honestly looks so much prettier lmfao

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