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#which is third hand gossip and thus not necessarily reliable in an mxtx book but still
winepresswrath · 3 years
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Whats your opinion on JC knowing Sizhui is a Wen? I've seen interpretations where people say he would have recognised Yuan if he saw him young enough and put two and two together, others where he finds out later and flies into a rage. I personally think he would be fairly disinterested in LWJ's ward that he wouldn't recognise him, but I really can't see him wanting a child dead after finding out who he is.
I don't have a firm opinion! I tend more towards thinking he'll probably figure it out at some point post canon based on how Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning interact with Sizhui, but post canon Jiang Cheng is someone who has made his peace with Wen Ning running around. If Jiang Cheng is willing to downgrade Wen Ning from "brother-in-law killing, life ruining, unholy abomination I'd like to set on fire" to "person I don't want to invite into my house" after the second siege at the burial mounds but before the golden core reveal and Wen Ning choosing to protect Jin Ling from Mingjue, I can't see him not at a minimum extending the same courtesy to a friend of Jin Ling's who he doesn't have any specific grudge against. I think he's likely to feel some combination of fascinated by and uncomfortable with the Wei Wuxian connection, but there's a lot of different places you can go with that. I agree that pre-canon Jiang Cheng is probably not very interested in Lan Wangji's ward and is also unlikely to be in direct contact with baby lans until they're old enough to come out night hunting.
#this is another one where book vs show matters a lot!#Jiang Cheng leading the siege at nightless city is a very different vibe#than Jiang Cheng looking upset about Wen Qing's ashes#though of course he could have changed his mind after Yanli's death in nightless city#which is a breaking point for all Jiang Chengs#but the book also does give us a scene where#some lady says that Jiang Cheng refused aid to a dude who just happened to have Wen as a surname and wasn't even a cultivator#which is third hand gossip and thus not necessarily reliable in an mxtx book but still#not a thing in the show where he mostly seems to hate Wen Ning in particular#so I do think there's a reasonable case to be made that precanon Jiang Cheng would be angry about#the lans harbouring a Wen and teaching him to cultivate#but like you I doubt he'd want him dead. permabanned from lotus pier#I can see but I think it's also possible he'd just stuff it in the feelings hole and fume#and yet! even book Jiang Cheng is bumping into Wen Ning on night hunts where they're both stalking their kids#without any major disasters#meanwhile I honestly think Jiang Cheng in the show would just be like nephew? nephew :/#and then start chucking himself in front of swords without every conveying that sentiment to anyone#TBF he might be willing to do that for any age appropriate friends Jin Ling makes who don't make fun of him for having a dead mom#he knows how lonely being a teenaged sect leader is! he's openly devastated on Jin Ling's behalf by how the Yaoyao situation#resolves itself#I cannot see him destabilizing those friendships unless he believed that Sizhui was a legitimate threat
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