#nie huaisang is a planner

[amokslime]

Modern AU ⁠— Gusu trio walking home from a party, in the snow, during the wee hours of the morning.

Yunmeng bros are about to have (yet another) snowball fight. Huaisang is trying to get someone to carry him the rest of the way home, even though he's the least drunk person there by a wide margin. Please he's sooo tired omggg

#they are so annoying together. i adore them #mdzs #In case anyone was curious: They're in their mid 20s. JC is in law school. NHS is an event planner. #WWX is exactly one more negative life event from abandoning his Law or STEM career to go save granny wen's farm #the WWX mad scientist -> farm goth pipeline #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #yunmeng bros #mdzs modern au #gusu trio #wangxian #sangcheng #<- i promise #art tag

[temnurus]

More Wangxian Faves: Post-Canon & Canon Divergent

This list was made to honor the request in the notes on my WWX recs post from @100percentserenity for some more fics featuring Wei Ying set in canon or canon divergent fics. Now, not all of these are strictly from his POV, but they all feature him at his quick-witted, charming, & hopelessly oblivious best. Canon divergent can be a pretty wide category, so do keep that in mind if you see a rec & think, "This isn't very canonical.." Haha. There are two repeats from my first Wangxian rec list, but they fit the ask & are both excellent & worth mentioning twice! Now, in no particular order, may I recommend:

Far Away You Are by cqlorphan (E, 17,358)

Thoughts: I absolutely loved the idea of the esteemed Hanguan-jun being this not-so-secret purveyor of comfort hugs & heartache advice. Wei Ying’s shock upon finding this out was so funny I couldn’t help but laugh, & my amusement only intensified when he made the scary Yiling Laozu face while asking who broke Lan Zhan’s heart, only to be told it was him who’d done so. I wanted to hug all the Juniors myself. They’re all so very precious. This was a lovely story where very little hurt in the end, & sometimes that’s just nice after the gut punch that canon gives us.

my age has never made me wise by idrilka (E, 63,439)

Thoughts: I absolutely loved this. It was pretty CQL (The Untamed) compliant & told the post-canon story of Wei Ying wandering alone as a rogue cultivator after the events of the show. Of course he was pining after his zhiji the entire time, so when he heard gossip that the Chief Cultivator might be married by summer's end it nearly undid him. The angst was excruciating, but One Brain Cell WWX Strikes Again fics somehow always manage to be fun at the same time. I've read several post-canon, wandering Wei Ying stories, & this one was particularly good.

Not What We May Be by brooklinegirl (E, 29,222)

Thoughts: I love Wei Ying’s cleverness in this. He’s his usual irreverent, chaotic, charming self, & I never get tired of how wonderfully his mind works. The odd phenomenon occurring in the town he’s staying in was an interesting mystery to solve, & I had to laugh when Lan Zhan arrived with the usual Lan Juniors ensemble in tow. Watching them all work together to figure out how to fix the issue while also dealing with the healthy side helping of oblivious Wei Ying & searing sexual tension between him & Lan Zhan was a fun treat.

All Caught Up by brooklinegirl (E, 36,934)

Thoughts: Wei Ying proposing to Lan Zhan to get him out of an arranged marriage he didn’t want is so something he’d do. There is no character more quintessentially chaotic good than Wei Ying. You can’t change my mind. The practice kissing was a lovely regular feature from this author, & my particular favorite thing in this fic was Nie Huaisang’s cameo as their pseudo wedding planner with his classic meddling while insisting he’s useless shenanigans. This was super cute. I liked it a lot.

love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360,042)

Thoughts: This was an example of a cool MDZS-specific trope I hadn't seen before, & in it Wei Ying, the infamous Yiling Patriarch, was a cultivator who had achieved immortality (aka, he's OP as fuck but in a fun way). The great sects enlisted his help to win the Sunshot Campaign, & what did he demand in return? Lan Zhan's hand in marriage, of course! It was a fantastic slow burn in which poor Lan Zhan suffered the mortifying ordeal of falling in love with his own husband. An amazing & complex plot, chock-full of angsty goodness.

Birthday Party by waffles_4_breakfast (E, 100,123)

Thoughts: I loved the idea that Wei Ying would actually get to attend Jin Ling's one month celebration, but I was, of course, still concerned about the continued danger he'd be in. This fic nicely showcased Wei Ying's sharp wit, charm, & ever-present sass. I also loved his dramatics when it came to his interactions with Lan Zhan (and in general, of course, haha), but their sweetness together was ultimately my favorite thing about them. The continued threat to Wei Ying's life & all the plotting surrounding it was interesting, but the best things about this fic were the characters & their bonds with each other.

Fentao-laoshi's Guide to Cut-Sleeve Pleasures by occultings (E, 31,775)

Thoughts: This was set during the Cloud Recesses Study Arc, & it was so, so good. The sexual tension between them was just simmering the entire time, & the idea of them “practicing for marriage” on each other was fucking hilarious. Their banter was top notch, & I absolutely loved Lan Zhan’s nearly overwhelming desperation for Wei Ying, not to mention Wei Ying’s bullshit getting him in over his head (as usual, but this time in a fun way, haha). The feelings were actually very sweet, too. I enjoyed this a lot.

wide enough and wild by impossibletruths (E, 64,120)

Thoughts: I love the tag “Noping Out Of Society With Your Boyfriend And Your 50 Wen Refugees: The Novel”. It made me laugh before I’d even started the fic. While this was set during the time period in which Wei Ying frees the Wen refugees, they didn’t end up in Yiling this time. I won’t get too specific, but they still ended up rebuilding their own little settlement & farming to survive, basically. Lan Zhan found them & decided to stay. The slow burn was so good, & I loved the pining in particular. I cried a couple of times in this. It really was just that good.

your problem as a mountain. by cupofwater (E, 30,989)

Thoughts: It was so cute to see the difference between Wei Ying’s & Nie Huaisang’s fantasies, & Wei Ying’s turning out to be more vanilla & romantic in nature absolutely cracked me up. I nearly hurt myself laughing when Nie Mingjue sent Lan Zhan some of the letters by mistake, & I was delighted by Lan Zhan’s reaction. I won’t spoil it, but the smut was lovely & despite the misunderstanding our boys definitely both got their happy ending, haha.

The Vermilion Ribbon by Unforth (E, 233,368)

Thoughts: This sat on my Marked For Later list on AO3 for the longest time, & I really did myself a disservice by not reading it sooner. It was absolutely fantastic. The world-building, pacing, & intricate plot were all brilliantly done, & Wei Ying being in the Wen clan was nothing like I imagined it was going to be in this. Instead of his core family being the Jiangs, we get Wen Qing in Jiang Yanli’s role & Wen Ning in Jiang Cheng’s. Now I’ll warn you that this got super heavy in some places, so mind those tags & take care of yourselves. Nothing was graphic enough that I had to stop reading, but it didn’t shy away from the serious subject matter it covered either. The whole fic was a real emotional roller coaster, & I can’t recommend it highly enough.

#mdzs #the untamed #wangxian #lan zhan #wei ying #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian fic rec #Temnurus rec list #i'm so flattered by this request #here's to all my wangxian obsessed fam #i like them a normal amount ok #ok maybe slightly more than normal #leave me & my mdzs brainrot alone kthx bai

[stiltonbasket]

lxc loves grilled cheese sandwiches but isn't very good at making them, right? this is a perfect time for lesbian firefighter nmj to come on the scene and be helpful. Go get your girl, firefighter nmj!!

Nie Mingjue: *making notes in her planner*

Nie Huaisang: What's da-jie writing?

Nie Mingjue's planner: "Fire Chief Nie's Three-Day Wife-Capturing Agenda: featuring garlic bread, strawberry shortcake, chocolate eclairs, and that one grilled cheese recipe that A-Sang really likes"

Nie Huaisang, upon discovering that NMJ really managed to catch a wife with food in under three days:

#asks #nielan #nie mingjue #lan xichen #nie huaisang #there was a LOT of romancing that went into the wife-capturing #aka a lot of nmj standing behind lxc while she made the sandwiches #and putting her arms around her to reach the pan because it was “easier that way” #ditto with the “whispering cooking instructions next to lxc's ear in a voice full of Intent” #lxc was so weak in the knees afterwards that she had to chop the scallions for nmj's signature seafood pancakes sitting down #but nmj did essentially just lay a trail of sandwiches and delicious soups and stews for lxc to follow #and it led to the altar #nmj is the smoothest lesbian around #lwj is TRYING but she's not there #yet!!!

[tanoraqui]

You said nhs is a pantser not a planner. As in 'flying by the seat of'? Or is there another meaning?

That's it exactly! The 'planner vs pantser' dichotomy is a common idea in writer circles. Quoth Publishers Weekly:

Novelists tend to fall into two categories: “planners,” who develop outlines before they begin writing, and those who don’t, often referred to in self-publishing circles as “pantsers.” The term, which comes from the phrase “by the seat of your pants,” refers to novelists who work without any kind of synopsis, outline, or character development work done before they begin writing.

To literally copy the text of a post I made 3+ years ago:

hot take: Nie Huaisang is not actually good at Xanatos Gambits - elaborate planning, setting up dominoes or chess games or whatever metaphor you want and letting it all fall into place, every option a win. Nie Huaisang is very, very good at:

appearing nonthreatening

manipulating a scene, mostly via use of feigned helplessness and redirection

gathering information

throwing rocks at a hornet’s nests and then reacting very quickly to stay just slightly in control of the consequences, mostly using the tools above

That’s his modus operandi over and over. Getting Wei Wuxian resurrected - the biggest rock-to-a-hornet’s-nest of all. Sending Jin Guangyao a letter revealing Qin Su’s parentage, basically saying his days were numbered - yup. Getting Nie Mingjue’s body all together to storm off to the temple - yep. But I refuse to believe that he predicted the results of any of this well enough to plan - oh, the general scope, sure. WWX would go haring off to solve the mystery, almost certainly picking up LWJ because, you know, true love and righteousness. JGY would do something to overreach; that was clearly the goal of the letter. And NMJ would have the chance to get his own vengeance. But Nie Huaisang clearly made sure he was on the scene to manage the consequences of all of these - that’s not the actions of a man with masterful, predictive plans. That’s a very clever man with, like, alright plans, a decent sense of timing on when to land a political killing blow, who’s really good at winging it.

#random anon asks #mdzs #the untamed #nie huaisang

[zero-heather]

things between mxtx characters i think just fit well but it gets progressively worse

shen qingqiu & nie huaisang & shi qingxuan: fans fans fans fans

shen qingqiu & wei wuxian & xie lian: protagonists with harems

quan yizhen & luo binghe: "SHIZUN!!!" / "SHIXIONG!!!!!" yin yu & shen qingqiu: emotionally constipated about these two

lan wangji & hua cheng: "anything for wei ying / gege" jiang wanyin & mu qing & feng xin: "get a fucking room"

mu qing & feng xin: strained friendship jiang wanyin & nie huaisang: also strained friendship

nie mingjue & liu qingge & lang qianqiu: obvious strong sense of justice but they all have their personal problems clouding judgement sometimes

lan xichen & yue qingyuan & shi qingxuan: good people with good hearts surrounded by questionable friends

lan jingyi: "HI!!!!" ning yingying: "HI!!!!"

jin ling & ming fan: good people and friends with each other both saddled with bad ideals that can be fixed but will be hard to correct because of their love for their jiujiu/shizun respectively Also them ming fan: "i still like shijie!!" lying right out of his ass jin ling: "no you dont!!!" can see through his lies

pei ming: "i do sleep with many women, but i also like pampering them after" jin guangyao: "HUH"

wei wuxian: "how long do you think i can blow my flute for until a-cheng comes and snaps it in half with zidian" shang qinghua: "one shichen" sha hualing: "half a shichen" pei ming: "quarter shichen"

nie huaisang: "wanna read my collection of wangxian porn" liu mingyan: ".....yes."

lan wangji: "mn." mobei-jun: "mn."

hua cheng: "do you know what the other two are saying" luo binghe: "they lost me at 'mn'"

nie huaisang & he xuan: expert planners that'll do anything to exact their revenge, but stop short of killing someone else close to them. the only difference is whether or not the revenge was for or because of an important character

nie mingjue: "yeah huaisang ruined the cultivational world for me" shi wudu: "he xuan threw the elemental master circle in disarray because of me"

pei xiu: "is your ancestor a slut too" jin guangyao: "yeah"

liu qingge & jiang wanyin & qi rong: single dads basically

pei ming: "get the fuck away from me" jin guangshan: ???

#this started from me saying yin yu & shen qingqiu suffers similarly and now look what ive done #mo dao zu shi #tian guan ci fu #ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the untamed #heaven officials blessing #heaven official's blessing #the scum villain's self saving system #scum villian self saving system #scum villain #mxtx #mo xiang tong xiu #mxtx crossover #svsss #mdzs #tgcf #wei wuxian #lan wangji #xie lian #hua cheng #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #jiang wanyin #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #liu qingge #mu qing #feng xin

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

Third writing masterpost

Because Tumblr hates me by having a link limit

First masterpost here

Second masterpost here

Newest to oldest!

CR era WangXian get hit with a horny curse

Cold feet - Modern AU, WangXian see a wedding planner

Where is our little girl? (in the plot of land where you buried her) - there's something wrong with Jiang Yanli

All grown up - the kids aren't really kids anymore

Working hard (and hard at work) - LWJ is busy and WWX is so not helping

Assisted suicide - the "it was all a dream" trope but terribly angsty

No simping in the Cloud Recesses!! - The Lan juniors simp over WWX

Marital surprises - LWJ comes home to find his husband wearing something surprising

My Xue Yang writing era - collection of angst ficlets in which various people die

Moods - Lan Wangji is horny for his husband

Joint efforts - Yiling Wei sect AU, sect leader Wei organizes a night hunt and Hanguang-Jun is being thirsty about it

Fluff requests list - always open

White lies - a Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang fake dating modern AU (+ a side of NieLan)

Practice - the juniors take a parenting class

Slug adventures - Lan Zhan is drunk and has feelings about slugs

Boredom - Wei Ying is bored waiting for his husband to wake up

In the 5 am light (you carry my fears as the heavens set fire) - what if WangXian slept together at the beginning of the book

A ficlet about veils

Missing you - Cloud Recesses era after Wei Wuxian left and Lan Zhan's feelings about it

Pit of vipers - Nie Huaisang gets new pets and Jin Guangyao narrowly avoids the consequences of that

Home - Lan Zhan stays

Afterglow - part 2 to the "what if LWJ could be even hotter actually" AU

Thank you - Jin Ling forgives his da-jiu

Debt - Nie Huaisang owes Wei Wuxian, and his brother

Dancing through the night - Wei Ying teaches his husband how to dance

Lightning strike - the "what if LWJ could be even hotter" AU in my mind (not JC friendly)

Sip the gossip (drink till you choke) - the juniors go to a bar and defend their seniors' reputations

Cursed - Lan Jingyi takes a hit for his best friend. Things don't go as planned... not at first, at least.

Aphrodisiac foods - Wei Wuxian eats strawberries and Nutella and Lan Zhan wants to eat him

Lan Sizhui records his memories and his dads have feelings about it

Dirty mind - Yiling Wei sect AU, sect leaders Wei and Lan settle a treaty. Lan Zhan has a massive competence kink.

Prophetic - Qin Su receives a message from the future

New recruits - Yiling Wei sect AU, Wei Wuxian receives two new disciples

A-Yuan asks where auntie Qing and uncle Ning have gone off to

A series of university events - Lan Jingyi and the juniors going through some of my funniest university memories

Chain smoking - Wei Wuxian shares his worries over a cigarette

Women's business - sect leader Wen Qing and sect leader Qin Su discuss things and flirt during

The language of flowers - Wei Wuxian loves flowers... and nothing bad happens

No recollection (part two linked there) - an AU in which Wei Wuxian reincarnates with no memories of his past life... well, almost.

You're enough - Canon-with-A/B/O AU, non-explicit

#mdzs #writing attempts

[missmayhirai]

Nie Huaisang aka the cultivation world's best wedding planner and matchmaker.

I understand your reasoning NHS, but I don't think that's the best way to tell your brother to marry WQ. =_= *throws art at you all and runs back into my cave to finish more WIPs! Update on Monday!*

#qingjue #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #mdzs #the untamed #nie mingjue x wen qing #wen qing x nie mingjue #but wen qing doesn't appear sorry! #fanart #my art #mo dao zu shi

[mobei-juns-tits]

Meng Yao: We can't, Huaisang. We're all booked up that day.

Nie Huaisang: Did you literally buy a planner just so you could put "Make out with da-ge and er-ge" at 4 pm everyday?

Meng Yao: Not at all! It helps me plan our date nights, sexytimes, anniversaries, and helps me keep track of my ongoing "Egg every Jin sect member" project.

#mdzs #the untamed #incorrect mdzs #3zun #meng yao #nie huaisang #from a better universe #where meng yao never seeks his fathers approval

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

WIP Wednesday Things-I'm-Working-On Thursday

(once again it's after midnight so I'm actually technically posting this on 'fuck-it's-already-Friday' but you know what? I don't care lol)

Back on Jin Guangyao's birthday I thought about writing something in the Modern Sunshot AU universe (I really just can't stop thinking about pre-fic Nieyao in that AU, they're so important to me T-T) so I started to write what I thought was going to be another shameless excuse to write emotional smut for them, but then I lost interest about 1000 words in and decided meh. So I abandoned this idea but here's what exists of it anyway, might as well put it out into the world (completely unedited tho so be warned haha)

--//--

Meng Yao’s general opinion of birthdays is…neutral, at best. He’s never really had the time for them, nor really the inclination to celebrate them after Meng Shi had died. She used to push him to do something for them, either bake him a little cake or some cookies or something for them to share after dinner. She’d make him something nice, something that took more time than she probably should have spent for something trivial, but it had at least made the day kind of special even if he didn’t have any friends to celebrate with like the rest of the kids he saw.

His first birthday after her death had been the day he’d gone to confront his father and ask for his support, and it had been the day he’d learned his father’s house has a long, luxurious, marble staircase that’s quite painful to be thrown down.

He doesn’t celebrate his birthdays anymore, and would honestly like to forget he even has one in the first place.

The good thing about being wildly unpopular at work is that no one seems to think twice about the fact that he’s been working for Nie Mingjue for years and never once has the non-occasion registered with any of his coworkers. Meng Yao is polite and efficient, but that doesn’t translate to popularity, or anyone deciding they’re curious about his life, and Meng Yao would really like to keep things that way.

Still — as much as he wishes the day could be just like any other, his head for details simply will not let him ever forget, which inevitably means he’s also incapable of forgetting why he has every reason to detest late February, even more so than the fact that everyone hates February.

Meng Yao just keeps his head down and works like usual through the day — a Monday this year, which somehow feels like it’s adding insult to injury. He’s swamped all day long with phone calls, emails, the usual, plus unexpected interruptions in the form of everyone within a three-floor radius, it seems, dropping in to lay a new task or tidbit of information at his feet. Meng Yao takes it all in stride, arranging appointments and meetings and setting reminder after reminder to ensure there’s not a single deadline missed.

By the end of the day he feels wrung out, emotionally and physically drained, but he does his best to hide it as the office empties out in a steady trickle outside his half-open door.

“Yao-ge!” Nie Huaisang calls from his office down the hall. Meng Yao isn’t really sure why Nie Huaisang has decided to adopt him as some sort of elder brother figure when Meng Yao is fairly certain they’re of a similar age, but his stupid traitorously soft heart lifts a little every time Nie Huaisang calls for him so familiarly, and he can’t quite bring himself to tell the other man to stop.

“What is it, Huaisang?” he calls back, still a bit too uncertain of his standing with the Nie brothers to attempt using a nickname in response.

“Da-ge said if I leave I have to bring him some dinner since he’s working late, do you want some, too?”

Meng Yao begins meticulously closing every tab he has open before he can think twice about it (or the headache beginning to bloom behind his eyebrows).

“Yes please, thank you,” he calls back on autopilot. His hands are steady as he snaps his planner shut to tuck neatly down into his bag at his feet.

Nie Huaisang says something about Thai food that Meng Yao doesn’t listen to all that closely. He continues tidying and straightening his already-immaculate desk until he hears Nie Huaisang’s lazy shuffling footsteps heading for the elevator, and only then does Meng Yao slide his chair back and get to his feet with a crisp tug on the hem of his sweater to straighten it.

The only verb that really captures the energy with which he approaches Nie Mingjue’s office is ‘march’. Meng Yao marches to Nie Mingjue’s office with a distinct purpose, and it only takes one glance from Nie Mingjue for Meng Yao to see he understands what’s about to happen.

Meng Yao is exhausted and slightly miserable, and when Nie Mingjue shoves his chair back just enough Meng Yao once again marches across the distance between them to settle himself in Nie Mingjue’s lap as if he belongs there. The edge of the desk digs into his ass and Nie Mingjue has to hold him up by the waist as he readjusts his legs so his knees aren’t digging into the arms of Nie Mingjue’s very nice (if creaky) leather chair, and Meng Yao feels the stupid pointless ridiculous ache in his chest that this awful day always gives him finally start to recede.

“A-Yao —?”

Meng Yao shakes his head quickly and leans in to capture Nie Mingjue’s lips with his own, startled by the way his eyes start to sting at the thought of Nie Mingjue asking him if he’s alright. He doesn’t want to think, he doesn’t want to do or be anything except a little selfish. People do that on their birthdays, don’t they? Claim special privileges, ask for things that they want but don’t really need, demand to be taken care of? Meng Yao can’t really do any of that, but he already knows Nie Mingjue likes this much at least, so it’s not so bad to want it, is it?

He’s pretty sure birthday sex is a thing, and if it’s not then he’ll be that little bit selfish and want it anyway. Nie Mingjue’s hands wrap nearly all the way around his waist when he finally gets with the program, so Meng Yao rewards him with a sharp nip that instantly coaxes him into docility in a way that would likely surprise anyone else who knows him. Only Meng Yao gets to see that tough, unyielding, bullheaded Nie Mingjue is so easy to push down into somewhere soft and pliable.

#the untamed fanfic #WIP Wednesday #Nieyao #modern au #Meng Yao #Nie Mingjue #Nie Huaisang #and then they had rough office sex and NHS definitely knew not to come back with dinner #like he just straight up went home he knew as soon as he told MY that NMJ was staying late they'd do the do #blatantly using that as an excuse to just go on home and not bother with dinner 😂 #he's an opportunist #I should also say that I set this veeeery loosely in my modern sunshot au (pre-fic of course) #but I didn't think at all about like. timelines or anything #and obviously the details are so sparse it barely even matters #think of it like the la croix of settings lol #it's vaguely flavored like the All Dreams universe

[fortune-maiden]

shipping meme: lwj, nhs and jzx friendship group

!!!!! THANK YOU!! :D

if we're going with a friendship group, I'm imagining this as some kind of roommate situation

falls asleep on the couch - NHS! It's a very nice couch with very nice fluffy pillows! However, when the clock strikes 9, if LWJ is somehow prevented from reaching his bed he is also known to sleep on the couch

makes friends with the neighbors - NHS solely by process of elimination... and also because the three of them would probably not have become friends if he wasn't the type to do that. LWJ & JZX are not good at talking to people ^^"

is the adventurous eater - JZX! He is a gourmet and will eat all manner of upper class delicacies. NHS prefers more familiar foods, but is the one who joins JZX on his adventures in fine dining, because LWJ sticks to his Lan diet very closely! Unless Wei Ying happens to mention something extremely spicy he's tried recently...

hogs the covers at night - NHS likes to be warm and comfortable! When they were kids, there were some... memorable sleepovers.

forgets to do the dishes - all of them, but NHS has the best track record of actually doing them. These are 3 super spoiled rich kids. They have a maid. (nhs just also has the strict older brother)

tries to surprise their partner friends more often - I'll give this one to JZX! Though that doesn't mean he's good at it. He will just get an idea, and usually has the means, motive, and opportunity to pull it off. nhs & lwj are left surprised at any rate. they still occasionally quote his poetry at him.

leaves dirty laundry on the floor - ....tbh I can't picture any of them doing this. Partly because they 100% have a maid so any dirty laundry on the floor won't be there long, but I feel like all three of them also like things neat and tidy. At the very least, the dirty laundry will pile up on a chair, not the floor!

stays up til 2 AM reading - Not LWJ. He goes to bed on time! Probably JZX, because while NHS would stay up till 2am, it's probably not because he's reading.

sings in the shower - Lan Zhan! He denies it, but there is audio evidence! (he composes songs in the shower)

takes the selfies - NHS for the selfies, but LWJ probably takes the nicer photos overall.

plans date friendship night - I am starting to realize that NHS might be the sole extrovert of this group and such tasks might fall to him. But LWJ & JZX both suggest activities and they try to set up some kind of rotation so NHS isn't always the one planning. Although he generally enjoys it!

#event planner nhs for the win! #thank you :D #i love this spoiled brat trio <3 #i think they'd bring out the best (and also the brattiest) in each other #mdzs #nie huaisang #lan wangji #jin zixuan

[shloodles]

some scattered doodles based off The Gold Lotus, a chengyao fake married au (but they don't know it), in which jgy and jwy are wedding planners. A comedy of errors with much sangcheng and xiyao abound :D

(fun fact jc's hair is only shaved in the back BUT I have reflexive muscle memory from drawing my own hair lol)

#my friend @necromcom helpfully arranged the doodles together for me :))) #sketchbooks are just not ideal....for presentation #my art #cywp #gleu #the untamed fanart #the untamed fanfic #modern au #fake married au #wedding planners au #mdzs fic #mdzs art #sangcheng #xiyao #chengyao #jiang wanyin #jiang cheng #jin guangyao #meng yao #nie huaisang

[mxtxdoodles]

#some planner doodles #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #wei ying #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #mdzs comic #nie!wwx AU #fanfic recommendation #fanfic art

[thebiscuiteternal]

Okay so for, like, the last three days-ish, my brain has been like “You like all three potential pairings of these losers, why haven’t you made them a polyship yet?” and a whole bunch of little twitter threads emerged.

So here’s me falling into the delightful chaos that would be SangChengYao developing in the period right after the end of Sunshot.

(this is both A Little Bit Long and A Mess and combines multiple adaptations, I apologize)

Opening Timeline:

Jiang Cheng has a moment of clarity where he realizes that trying to rebuild the sect, bring home Wei Wuxian, and give Jiang Yanli the wedding she deserves all at once is going to completely tear him apart, so he sucks up his pride and contacts Nie Huaisang, who’s the only person he knows who’s good at this party shit. 

For bonus points, Huaisang has history with Jin Guangyao and maybe he knows the man well enough to keep him and Jiang Cheng from being at each other’s throats.

And it works! Huaisang is willing to act as assistant wedding planner/mediator.

During one of his go-between trips to Koi Tower, he happens to run across one of the many incidents of either Jin Guangshan or Jin-furen treating his San-ge like shit. Well now. That won’t do at all. 

Sneaky little bitch that he is, he happens to mention to Jiang Cheng that hmm, well, Jin Guangyao sure is Going Through A Lot for a hateful stepmother and a father who would rather eat glass than give him a kind word and- oh, whoops, there goes Jiang-zongzhu to have A Chat with San-ge. Oh no. Oh woe. This can only end badly, surely.

So how about that wedding planning?

Now the three of them are working much more in concert with much less arguing (and much less input from the older generation). Jin Guangyao isn’t exactly happy that Nie Huaisang is meddling in his personal business, but at the same time, he’s rather touched by the care since it proves Huaisang is still sweet on him. And the conversations with Jiang-zongzhu have been very enlightening, especially since he knows many of the same rumors about Jin Guangshan that Nie Huaisang does, which proves it’s not just the mutual enmity of the Nie and Jin sects going on.

A pretty schemer who’s very good at playing the harmless idiot and an equally pretty strong but diminished sect leader who has something to prove and people to protect.

Jin Guangyao goes into this in full turtle-shell mode. Pure manipulation, no emotions allowed. He is setting up more protections for himself since he doesn’t know how far the sworn brotherhood will actually help. This is transactional. Period.

And then at some point they’re holed up in the gardens and Nie Huaisang is laying out lunch because they’ve been debating decorations for the main hall for hours and Jiang Cheng is half dozing because he arrived at an absolutely fuck this hour of the morning and Jin Guangyao realizes oh... fuck. He... really likes this... whatever it is that they’ve formed, not fully a romance but definitely more than simple friendship. He likes it when Nie Huaisang bullies him into taking a break and pets his hair until he falls alseep. He likes it when Jiang Cheng “inadvertently” uses his height to block his father from making unspoken demands during dinner. He likes being able to do things for them in turn, and not because... 

It’s comfortable. It’s safe in a way he’s maybe avoided ever letting himself have before because he was always watching the ice under his feet for cracks. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep it, even if it might mean refusing his father.

And... that’s kind of a terrifying realization on its own.

(And on a less serious note, imagine Jiang Yanli witnessing Jiang Cheng kissing one or the other of his boyfriends, only to later see said boyfriend cuddling their third. Oh no! Her A-Cheng would never knowingly be a homewrecker, so this must mean-!

She gently confronts him, asking if he’s okay and does she need to ruin someone? 

And he, red as a tomato, with his face in his hands, has to explain that no, jiejie, nobody’s cheating-)

#mdzs #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #sangchengyao #ideas #there will be more of this #because it has nested in my brain

[robininthelabyrinth]

Associates - Part 5 - ao3, pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4

“So,” Jiang Cheng said, rolling the jar of wine between his hands. “Who wants to put money on all our reconciliations being part of one of Nie Huaisang’s schemes?”

“Me,” Wei Wuxian said at once.

“Hey,” Nie Huaisang protested. “Jiang-xiong! Wei-xiong! How mean! Not everything I do is a scheme!”

“I will bet as well,” Lan Wangji said.

Nie Huaisang turned to him at once. “Lan Zhan. You traitor!”

“Be careful,” Lan Xichen said mildly. “He might bite you.”

Now it was Lan Wangji’s turn to turn to glare.

“No, no, unfair!” Wei Wuxian laughed. “He’s not allowed to bite anyone but me anymore!”

“Ugh, must you always –”

“I really didn’t scheme!” Nie Huaisang interrupted Jiang Cheng, waving his hands around. “I didn’t! Lan Zhan was the one who approached me, remember? I didn’t even know that he was acting as both Sect Leader and Chief Cultivator until he told me, and I certainly wouldn’t have counted on him coming to me for help – no one ever comes to me for help!”

“Clearly an oversight on all our parts, Nie-xiong,” Wei Wuxian said. “Anyway, who would’ve thought you’d take one little offhand remark from me so personally? Me, of all people! I never mean anything I say!”

Nie Huaisang huffed and reached for his fan, only for Lan Wangji to catch his hand mid-gesture and return it to his wine jar.

“I’m not a child in need of pacification, you know,” he informed Lan Wangji, but picked up the jar instead.

Lan Wangji looked satisfied.

“What was your plan, then?” Jiang Cheng asked, drinking from his own jar. “I mean, for after you were done – Jin Guangyao gone, your brother avenged…”

“Well, assuming I survived –”

“Weren’t you?”

“I was going up against san-ge; I wasn’t taking anything for granted! He might have been a terrible person, but he was ridiculously efficient.”

Nods all around. Even Lan Xichen mostly looked nostalgic rather than heartbroken.  

“Anyway, I didn’t have one,” Nie Huaisang said, then looked at all of their disbelieving looks. “I didn’t! I already told you that I didn’t do it for power or anything…maybe I’d get married and have some kids to pass on the family line, I don’t know.”

“I don’t know,” Wei Wuxian said solemnly to Jiang Cheng, who nodded back just as solemnly. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know –”

“Wei-xiong, I am going to throw this jar in your face.”

“Lan Zhan will catch it,” Wei Wuxian cackled.

“He probably will, too,” Nie Huaisang said, flopping down dramatically on the table. “Er-ge, Jiang-xiong, they’re teaming up on me!”

“Oh no,” Lan Xichen said dryly. “Whatever shall we do.”

Jiang Cheng muffled a snort.

“I never really had life goals,” Nie Huaisang said, drawing sad circles on the table with a finger. “I just want to have a good time. I want to paint, and read books, and spend time with friends…trust me, this whole –” He waved a hand at them. “– reconstituted friendship thing took me as much by surprise as everyone else. I fully expected to die alone if anyone ever found out that I was involved, which of course Wei-xiong did almost at once –”

“Well, I am a genius,” Wei Wuxian bragged.

“He also wasn’t very subtle towards the end there.”

“In short,” Nie Huaisang concluded, ignoring them all and sitting back up. “Blame Lan Zhan if you want to blame anyone.”

“I took the first step,” Lan Wangji said placidly. “You took the next five.”

“I did not – hmm. Okay, maybe I did.”

“I knew you were scheming!” Jiang Cheng exclaimed. “Just how much of it did you plan?”

“Sometimes things just happen, Jiang-xiong!”

“Not when it’s you, they don’t!”

“They do!” Nie Huaisang pouted. “I know you all think of me as a planner, but really, most of the time, I just try to see what’s the best way to use whatever circumstances I end up in. Or do you think it would’ve taken me as long as it did?”

“Didn’t Chifeng-zun used to say the same thing?” Wei Wuxian said nostalgically. “I feel like I remember him saying something like that.”

“He did,” Lan Xichen said. “‘All you can be is prepared: a plan will only last until execution, and after that it’s just a question of who can better react to the circumstances at hand.’”

“Nie-xiong would be a good general,” Lan Wangji opined.

“Lan Zhan, you take that back.”

“Mm. No.”

“You brat. You think you’re the only one who bites? I’ll bite you.”

“No biting my future husband,” Wei Wuxian said. “No one else gets to bite him, just me. It’s going to be in our vows.”

“It had better not be,” Jiang Cheng said. “I will break out Zidian if I have to.”

“Oh, like that’s a real threat. You break out Zidian every time the wind changes.”

“Wei Wuxian! You -!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a Lan Zhan original, actually,” Nie Huaisang said thoughtfully.

Jiang Cheng looked at Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji looked back, not denying it.

“…I hate you. Personally.”

“Mm. Mutual.”

“Can we get back to the subject of Nie-xiong and his marvelous military prowess?” Wei Wuxian interjected, possibly having learned the benefit of stemming explosions rather than causing them during the period of time he spent dead.

“Can we not?” Nie Huaisang whined.

“I don’t know,” Lan Xichen said thoughtfully. “Getting me out of seclusion was an organized charge worth of any military campaign.”

“Well, someone had to do it!”

“I’m pretty sure you set me up deliberately so that I’d talk to Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said.

“…you were going to do that anyway! I just gave you an excuse!”

“You convinced me to go after Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. “And presented me with the most effective way to do that.”

“I…!” Nie Huaisang opened and closed his mouth, then groaned and put his forehead down on the table a second time. “I didn’t mean to scheme! Really!”

Everyone laughed at him.

“Well, you don’t need to worry. I’m all schemed out now,” he said pitifully. “No more schemes for me.”

“That may be a problem,” Lan Wangji said. “Scheming will be helpful when you become Chief Cultivator.”

Nie Huaisang shot up from the table. “When I what now?!”

“I have decided that the role should be rotated between the Great Sects,” Lan Wangji said. “To encourage inter-sect unity and to avoid power accruing into any single sect’s hands in the future.”

“You just want to have more free time to roll in the sheets with your husband!”

Lan Wangji nodded.

“Is shamelessness infectious?” Jiang Cheng asked Lan Xichen. “Wei Wuxian hasn’t been back all that long, and Hanguang-jun’s face is now as thick as a wall.”

“I’m sure it isn’t,” Lan Xichen replied. “Otherwise, wouldn’t you have been the first victim?”

“I don’t want to be Chief Cultivator!” Nie Huaisang shouted. “I don’t! I’m all full up! I’m running my own sect now, too – you can’t do this to me!”

“Get help,” Lan Wangji said. “As I did.”

“Merciless! Lan Zhan, you’re just absolutely merciless!”

Jiang Cheng snickered. “It’s no more than you deserve,” he told Nie Huaisang, picking up his wine and taking another sip.

Nie Huaisang turned and glared back at him. “Brave talk from the person who’s going to be helping me.”

Jiang Cheng choked.

“Did you miss the part where Lan Zhan said he was going to rotate the assignment?” Nie Huaisang asked maliciously. “Clearly it’s better to start getting you up to speed right away…”

“You did rather walk into that,” Lan Xiche remarked to Jiang Cheng, who glared at him.

“I didn’t agree to that!” he snapped.

“Who else am I going to ask?” Nie Huaisang asked, leaning back. “Lan Zhan and Wei-xiong are going to be in bed, er-ge’s already helping me run my sect –”

“Wait,” Lan Xichen said. “I’m what? When did I agree to that?”

“About the same time Jiang-xiong agreed to become the next Chief Cultivator,” Nie Huaisang said cheerfully. “Besides, I’m your favorite younger brother besides Lan Zhan, don’t deny it!”

“I don’t have -”

“Anyway, it’s good practice! It’ll take both of you to help Jin Ling manage when it’s his turn, won’t it?”

“All three of you,” Wei Wuxian put in. “That brat’s a trouble magnet. Do you know what happened at his last night hunt?”

“Oh we all know what happened at his last night-hunt,” Jiang Cheng grumbled. “How did something that simple get that out of hand?”

“Well, Jiang-xiong,” Nie Huaisang said, smirking at Wei Wuxian. “According to the Lan sect rules, it’s undoubtedly something to do with the people he associates with.”

“It is,” Lan Wangji said before Jiang Cheng could respond. “His uncles.”

Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to retort, then frowned and looked at Wei Wuxian, who also frowned.

“Wait,” he said, clearly thinking about it. “Jiang Cheng and I are his uncles from jiejie’s side, and Mo Xuanyu was also from his father’s side, and Lan-da-ge was sworn brothers with Jin Guangyao, which by some token makes him also an uncle…”

“And since Lan Zhan is er-ge’s brother, that makes him an uncle, too,” Nie Huaisang said. “Plus theoretically the same is true for me, through my da-ge.”

“…that’s a lot of uncles.”

“It is,” Nie Huaisang said, starting to grin wildly. “Clearly we should start an...association!”

#mdzs #nie huaisang #lan wangji #lan xichen #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #associates

[pbaintthetb]

Fic time

Right, don't’ really know what this is but it gripped me and I wrote so yay? I guess it’s like a modern au of the Guanyin temple but it’s more of a specific scenario I had in mind anyway- some swearing, major character death.

There had been a joke, back at school, or a later thinking puzzle or something, Jiang Cheng can't really remember it. It would have been during registration whatever it was and what Jiang Cheng did in registration was homework and bemoan the fact he was awake. So like, he can't really remember it but he thinks it was something like-

there's a politician and an assassin at a conference or a dinner thing, and who do you sit next to?

And his brother had said the assassin obviously, because politicians sucked and at least the assassin would probably have something cool to say. Lan Xichen had told them to sit in the middle and get them to work it out and Jiang Cheng thinks he’d been joking.

Xue Yang had smiled in a way that made everyone supremely uncomfortable and pretty much said that he was the assassin.

There had been other jokes, answers. Like them working together- another politician was there maybe, about how one would stab you in the back and the other in the front. About how being near an assassin was probably a bad idea. Networking, whatever.

Jiang Cheng can't remember what he'd said, just that Nie Huaisang had disagreed, and looked almost shocked. Jiang Cheng was shocked too, because it was very rare that Nie Huaisang was decided enough on something to voice an opinion, and even rarer to disagree with someone else.

But Huaisang had said- and it feels important what Nie Huaisang had said, but Jiang Cheng had been shoving his only half finished homework into his bag trying to work out where he could scrape time from his day to do it and hadn't listened properly but-

He's still sitting still. Still still, hah. The room isn't still though, everyone's bustling around, voices hushed, feet frantic and-

Lan Xichen's shaking and Jin Guangyao is dead and Jiang Cheng feels utterly, utterly numb.

Yeah it was a wedding, but he has the feeling Lan Wangji and Wuxian wound up with far more red than they were intending.

They've left, or been hurried off. To check on the kid, A-Yuan, Sizhui, whatever. If they wanted Jiang Cheng to remember their kid's name properly they could have talked to him in the past thirteen years before they sent him an invite to their wedding. They're looking after Jin Ling too, because Jiang Cheng isn't allowed to leave this room.

Jiang Cheng half feels that he only got invited because Huaisang was the wedding planner and he could never stop himself from causing chaos. Still, Jiang Cheng was raised better than to decline an invitation.

Nie Huaisang is bawling and Jiang Cheng sort of wishes he'd stop but also nobody is going to comfort him. Because Jin Guangyao is dead and Lan Xichen is shaking and Jiang Cheng isn't certain he actually exists right now.

Jin Guangyao had said to sit next to the politician to make sure you could be there if he got shot. With a smile that was fine but maybe too slow in clarifying it was to help. And not just, like, waiting.

Jiang Cheng can't remember what Lan Wangji said, he probably didn't say anything at all knowing him, and he doesn't really care either. Guy thought he was above it all and didn't want to be involved and now his brother's best friend and fucking bigshot has been fucking shot at his wedding.

Jiang Cheng is grimly amused enough to think that if their parents were still alive Wuxian would be in deep shit right now. So, maybe that's a positive. Maybe.

Nie Mingjue wasn't there then because he was way, way, too old, and busy. And he's not here now because he's dead, unfortunately for Nie Huaisang. Who's asking what happened, like Jiang Cheng fucking knows. He doesn't think Xichen or the police know, and heavens know the happy couple doesn't.

Though, he supposes not knowing isn't novel for Huaisang, it's not being the only one that is.

Jiang Cheng can't remember what he said either. About the politician, not really. He just remembers Huaisang and-

It's not even important, but it's rolling round in his head because Jin Guangyao, mayor for almost ten years is dead and apparently he'd had a threat- but that was stupid and -

It was clearly targeted. Even though if Jiang Cheng was going to kill someone at this wedding it wouldn't have been him it would- not really though, and not appropriate.

He'd like to know what he had said, but what Nie Huaisang had said feels important now and it's-

It would be ironic, if it had been Xue Yang behind the trigger except that creep is long behind bars. Which Jiang Cheng only knows because Huaisang had told him, he'd tried to leave school behind him.

Probably would have been easier if they hadn't all been so weirdly interdependent.

They think the bullet came from- well they don't know. Or, they do. It came from underneath the table- which was a serious oversight and there's no way Nie Huaisang is ever getting a job again, although maybe he likes it that way because considering how much Nie Huaisang has bugged him over the years Jiang Cheng isn't convinced he's worked that many weddings.

But they don't know how it got triggered.

The money was on Xichen cos he was closest, the four of them sitting in a line.

Jin Guangyao, Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng. No one had sat next to Jin Guangyao's other side. Jiang Cheng was going to, because if he was going to be at the wedding of the brother who had ignored him moslty, and the man who gets on his last fucking nerve he was at least going to network and sit next to their mutual nephew. But no, Nie Huaisang had pouted, and Jiang Cheng had conceded- not that he'd had a choice- that he'd use his brother's wedding to have fun, not work. Nie Huaisang had drawn up the seating plan, told Jiang Cheng he had it all wrong, that next to Nie Huaisang was the place to sit, and that, had been that.

So in the end Lan Xichen had been the only one sitting next to the politician, even though Jiang Cheng vaguely remembers more people wanting to, to play hero or for whatever, or because they were scared and wanted to be far away from the danger.

Jiang Cheng thinks that had been his answer to the puzzle. Sit me wherever, just far away from the heat. Or was it a joke? It feels like a joke in his memories, but then everyone had taken it so seriously and told him his answer wasn't right. Then again, isn't the point of puzzles to not have a right answer?

His mind is spiraling, but it's fine, because they're not asking him any questions yet. Just a lot of talking, and fussing over Lan Xichen and maybe talking to the happy couple and the kids somewhere else.

He thinks the police think it might have been Xichen. Which is kind of stupid, but maybe not as stupid as inviting a married man to be your plus one and then getting a room with one bed. Huaisang had told him the gossip and probably made it sound as salacious as possible.

Then again what does Jiang Cheng know? Two guys can share a bed without it being all about in, out, shake it all about. Or maybe Qin Su is fine with it. And wouldn't the tabloids love that. Maybe that's why Nie Huaisang likes the wedding industry, the gossip. He'd make a good paparazzi in another life, if he could ever  be bothered to get out of bed.

All he remembers, from his perspective, if they ever get around to asking him, is Nie Huaisang being far too drunk for how early it was in the wedding, and that Jiang Cheng was not secretly jealous and kind of wishing he was the same way, while also trying to savour every moment of it for the memory of Yanli.

And then Nie Huaisang had fallen over before Jiang Cheng could grab him. And it had been like dominoes, Xichen, then Jin Guangyao, then a huge bang. Or maybe not in that order.

At first Jiang Cheng had thought it good, that maybe they'd all managed to duck or something- but then he'd gotten the order right and-

Maybe it was a bad idea to sit next to the politician. Lan Xichen's white shirt is speckled with red, and last Jiang Cheng looked at him, before he'd screwed his eyes shut and tried to be somewhere else, was the wide, wide, fear in his eyes.

"I didn't mean to!" he'd gasped, and that had caused drama, because the groom's (well, one of them) own brother committing a murder at his wedding? But it had just been Lan Xichen, overly guilty and self-sacrificing.

And how much had he protected the politician when he'd had the chance?

What had Nie Huaisang said?

Jiang Cheng kind of remembers what he'd said, which was surely the politician and the assassin were the same person, except no one else had found that funny. Probably because he'd said it under his breath, because it wasn't really fitting with his image at school. He thinks Wen Qing might have heard, but she kind of kept to herself and then she was dead so-

He thinks she'd laughed. It didn't matter, he'd followed it up with politician because he was a coward and didn't want to be in the thick of things and wasn't that funny.

It was especially funny, because Nie Huaisang was a coward and yet he'd-

and it's come back to Jiang Cheng now, what the other man, boy, had told him, as they'd shoved bits and bobs and food or whatever into their bags.

"It's obvious," Nie Huaisang had said with an easy grin, like it was all a joke, like it was a joke. Like it wasn't a thing he'd thought about- and which made it worse. "You sit next to the assassin because the politician isn't going to be shooting at them."

He remembers it now, remembering how confused he'd been because- it had- because then they'd gone to maths and Nie Huaisang had spent the hour crying so that he'd have tear tracks on his face in history and he wouldn't have to hand in the essay he had written but had definitely disintegrated just now in his bag. (He didn't know how, of course not.)

"-cheng, Jiang Cheng?" he's being shaken slightly, and the tone is insistent as if someone's trying to get his attention.

"I think we can go now A-Cheng," Nie Huaisang says, like he's been saying it for a while. There's a slight tinge of nerves to his tone, but he seems steadier than the rest of them.

Jiang Cheng stares at him.

"I'm sorry," he's told, "I didn't mean..."

"you were right," Jiang Cheng interjects, only to make it Nie Huaisang's turn to stare blankly at him. He doesn't have the energy or the words to explain, the puzzle, the stupid little joke. He doesn't know if Nie Huaisang would get it. If he'd want him to, or if Jiang Cheng would just be embarrassed.

And then Jiang Cheng's picking himself up.

"I need to get Jin Ling," he explains, and walks off, leaving Nie Huaisang alone.

Jiang Cheng had been joking years ago, but maybe he'd been right and shivers. Or maybe none of them had worked it out and it was best to just not go to the event at all. But that hadn't seemed like an option then- at school then, not getting the invitation then. But wasn't that the point? To think of the answers that didn't seem obvious?

Or maybe Nie Huaisang was right because the shot had gone one way.

"I think you'll be staying at mine," he tells Jin Ling a bit pointlessly, because he's hardly going to go back to the house of a dead man, but he still feels like he should say it.

He kind of wants to ask Jin Ling the same question, he wants to know what he'd say.

An assassin and a politician walk into a wedding... Where do you sit?

It's cruel, he doesn't. He looks at his brother but doesn't say goodbye.

Nie Huaisang is gone when Jiang Cheng walks through the front doors and he's not sure if he's glad about that either.

#mdzs #fic #nie huaisang #jiang cheng #modern au #i guess #look i don't know either #maybe i'll post this probably not #uh everyone who died is still dead #aka jgs wq jyl jzx #wwx just went awol and idk about wn #tumblr fic

[wangxianficrecs]

❤️Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller

❤️ Lynchpin

by ShanaStoryteller

not rated (I’d say T), 103k, wangxian

Summary:  He can’t get Jin Guangyao’s words out of his head.

If he’d only believed in Wei Wuxian, if he’d only been willing to stand up for him, could it all have been avoided?

My comments:  This was so lovely, and utterly engaging, I finally had to put it down well after midnight last night and had gotten all the way to the epilogue.

In which Jiang Cheng (with Nie Huaisang's help, because he knows what a mastermind he is) designs a time travel array. He's using wwx's golden core to power it, so he can only pick a time *after* wwx gave him the core (which means the Jiang parents are still dead, but it's not much of a loss... one of the arcs in the story is the Jiang sibs recognizing how toxic and abusive their mother was, and how much she damaged them).

Author just... jumps on in there and fixes it all. But don't think this work is just light self-indulgence. Jiang Cheng comes from a place of great regrets, and he's *alone in the past, trying to fix what he can, but he still has to make painful choices about what he can and cannot change. Besides winning the war, his primary concern is protecting his brother and preventing his epic descent into self-destruction and madness. It's wonderful, his foreknowledge, because he can do so many small things, like, for example, support wwx's choice whenever someone comments on his lack of sword.

Main focus of the work is Jiang Cheng and his family relationships, including both wwx and jyl, both of whom he's able to steer in a much healthier and more rewarding/fulfilling direction. The outsider perspective on the wangxian relationship is pretty funny (and jc just immediately corrects any misunderstandings between them), and his growing relationship with lxc and nmj, which surprises him, since it'd never happened in the first timeline.

Too many details to go over, but I'm impressed with the author's weaving of a complex plot (they put thought into world-building behind the sects as well as politics).

time travel fix it, POV jiang cheng, feels, family feels, brotherly feels, jiang brothers reconciliation, family, second chances, angst, world building, complex plot, nie huaisang is a planner, jiang yanli is politically savvy and a great asset, strong female characters, mianmian could rule the world if she wanted, I’d rate it a T, favorite, @shanastoryteller​

(You may wish to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

#Wangxian Fic Rec #The Untamed #wangxian #MDZS #time travel #fix it #POV jiang cheng #jiang cheng #feels #family feels #brotherly feels #reconciliation #nie huaisang is a planner #strong female characters #jiang yanli #family #second chances #angst #world building #mianmian #Lynchpin #ShanaStoryteller #medium fic 15k-49k #teen