#nhs getting to be the sweet ill brother with the happy family he deserves

[songofclarity]

Still thinking about that happy ending Nielan in post-canon post I made, and now with how Nie HuaiSang and Jin GuangYao are involved

(Although all of this could just be a general AU too, minus the end)

So Nie MingJue is reborn as the Crown Prince, which suits his no-nonsense behavior, his sense of justice, his morality, his refusal to be flattered, and his willingness to listen to opposite arguments. While he can't empathize with morally corrupt decisions that are at odds with his own, he is able to acknowledge their existence. He’s able to cool down his righteous anger. He is able to forgive. He is willing to pardon. All in all, the role suits him.

Nie HuaiSang was never dedicated to his cultivation, so he does pass away one night, warm and safe in his bed. The first Nie to go without a rain of bloodshed.

And he's reborn as Nie MingJue's beloved little brother once more.

As the youngest prince, Nie HuaiSang doesn't have to worry about fighting. He can enjoy the arts, collect his fans or whatever interest tickles his fancy this time around. He helps his oldest brother, who is still a little out of touch with hobbies outside his royal calling but he’s improving, as Nie HuaiSang would delight in court and all its finery. There is also no push for Nie HuaiSang to be a spare heir. There is another prince for that.

Let’s talk about Jin GuangYao. Poor, pitiful, conniving Jin GuangYao. In canon he grew up in a brothel and just about everyone made sure he never forgot it. As a child who should have been protected, he was the one trying to protect, and he was abused, and he was knocked down stairs for his mother and kicked down stairs for his father. He always felt like he had to climb and climb and climb, climb over people and climb over corpses, and even when he reached the top, all he could do was build more ladders. It was never high enough.

Which meant the fall was cataclysmic. He was caught in Nie HuaiSang’s net, cut open by Lan XiChen, and dragged back down to ground by Nie MingJue.

Jin GuangYao and Nie MingJue. You don't spend 100 years fighting and being torn apart in a coffin without that creating some sort of bond, wicked or no. Although his body was torn apart, Jin GuangYao's spirit is also one day suppressed and set free by the same music that frees Nie MingJue.

And Jin GuangYao is reborn -- as Nie MingJue's little brother. The second prince.

I know this might go against the karma cycle after all the wickedness Jin GuangYao pulled but LISTEN. Nie MingJue agreed to become sworn brothers with Jin GuangYao for two probable reasons: 1. Lan XiChen wanted it because they had a good, calming relationship once upon a time and 2. Nie MingJue got big brother powers over Jin GuangYao. Nie MingJue had wanted to guide Jin GuangYao back on the right path, but he failed.

So Jin GuangYao is reborn as Nie MingJue's little brother. And it's exactly the brotherhood Lan XiChen had wanted for them like those days at the Hejian front. The camaraderie, the peace, the support.

Nie MingJue, as his actual brother, now is the primary position to protect him, correct him, encourage him, guide him. No one is going to push Nie MingJue's little brother down the stairs or talk about him behind his back. Jin GuangYao isn’t throwing pity parties because Nie MingJue taught him to be strong and confident. Most of all, there's no Jin GuangShan for Jin GuangYao to seek respect from. Not even other conniving people at court can convince him into betrayal. Now there is only Nie MingJue, the most respectable person at court, even more respectable than their father. (Nie MingJue just radiates that confident Sect Leader authority that no one can identify and their father just can’t compare.) And Jin GuangYao earns Nie MingJue's respect without even trying because Jin GuangYao is, at heart, without years of abuse and greed and betrayal and revenge twisting him like a dirty rag, is actually be a good, intelligent, and hardworking person.

Jin GuangYao, the second prince, who is able to support his big brother Nie MingJue with official court matters. Nie MingJue listens to Jin GuangYao like no other. Their father has to recognize Jin GuangYao's capabilities whether he wants to or not (and why wouldn't he?) Even if Jin GuangYao is born to the second, third, or fourth wife, he’s still Nie MingJue’s little brother.

And if Jin GuangYao can be said to have a punishment in this reincarnation, it’s that he has no choice but to help take care of and look after Nie HuaiSang, the third prince, who does NOT hesitate to run to him with ALL his worries and problems. At the same time Nie HuaiSang is the little spider at court who knows everything even if there are witnesses who saw him doing nothing but painting birds all day. Nie HuaiSang knows things and tells second brother. Jin GuangYao hears things and takes action for eldest brother. All of this happens before Nie MingJue learns there was a problem.

Even if Jin GuangYao wanted to be like his old self, there is no way with the Nie brothers on either side. A little voice from the distant past tell him that betrayal will get him nothing in the end. A louder voice tells him that this is his family, and they love him, and he’s empowered by them.

A funny little aspect about this reincarnation is that while Nie MingJue recognized Lan XiChen in some dreamlike, red-string-of-fate kind of way, he has not been able to recognize his brothers for who they are. They are his brothers, his family, and he loves them. He doesn't know that Nie HuaiSang had once killed for him, or that Jin GuangYao had once killed him.

(Now they’ll both kill for him, together, as a team, not that either of them would ever admit it.)

And just imagine Lan XiChen's surprise to see these three particular men standing in a group, being brothers, with Nie MingJue commanding order and Nie HuaiSang hiding behind Jin GuangYao and Jin GuangYao also cowering but grinning, in no way strained, in no way afraid.

Nie MingJue, noticing Lan XiChen's expression: What is it? What's wrong?

Lan XiChen: Hm?

Nie MingJue: You look like you want to cry.

Lan XiChen: I wasn't expecting... this. I'm happy for you. For all of you.

Nie MingJue: Do you know them?

(What he means is: do you know them like you know me, from the past?)

Lan XiChen, smiling: Yes. They are your brothers.

#nie mingjue #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #lan xichen #mdzs thoughts #not as much nielan in this one #but still very important #jgy being the worst but i still somehow want nice things for him UGH #subplot where jgy starts to veer off the right path #and nhs just smiles at him and is all what are you doing er-ge #jgy feels like someone just walked over his grave #nhs getting to be the sweet ill brother with the happy family he deserves #nmj getting all the support and softness he deserves #jgy getting all the healthy found family now actual family he deserves #lan xichen getting happiness and the happiness of his loved ones like he deserves