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loosingmoreletters · 1 year

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Title: foolproof plans and the idiots executing them

Summary: Yu Ziyuan arranges for Wei Ying to be married off to Gusu Lan, promising an obedient wife for the second Jade of Lan.

As far as Wei Wuxian and his siblings are concerned, there are several issues with that promise, starting with the fact that despite appearance, Wei Wuxian is very much not a girl.

The solution? Ditch the nice dress on the way to Gusu, invent a fake twin, and behave so outrageously nobody could want to marry a girl with any blood relation to him.

Or, the one where Wei Wuxian pretends to be his own twin brother to break his engagement and Lan Wangji has an ongoing sexuality crisis about falling in love with his betrothed’s brother.

“This is never going to work,” Jiang Cheng said with barely hidden panic.

“Not with that attitude, it won’t,” Wei Wuxian retorted and stepped out from behind the privacy screen half-dressed. “Jiang Cheng, grab the bandages—”

“What are you doing!?” he thundered and turned around, face flushed red.

Wei Wuxian grinned. His brother truly had the best reactions.

“But A-Cheng!” Wei Wuxian cried. “I can’t wrap the bindings around my chest on my own! And we’ll be rooming for the foreseeable future anyway, so you best get rid of any propriety now before all of Cloud Recesses hears you scream. Besides, you’ll never be closer to a maiden’s bosom—“

Snarling, Jiang Cheng took the bindings and marched over to his brother. “What fucking maiden are you talking about?”

It was true, Wei Wuxian was many things, but a maiden wasn’t one of them. This enraged Madam Yu especially as she had staged the last eight years on Wei Wuxian being a good little girl and doing as she was told.

When he’d first been brought to Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian had been awfully timid and fearful, which Madam Yu had hoped he would remain. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian was everything but, and the more comfortable he became, the more did his true personality shine through: that of a clever and mischievous boy. Truly, he hadn’t grasped the difference that people prescribed to girls and boys at a young age, only ever chafed at the expectations laid at his feet.

Which brought them to their current predicament. Madam Yu had striven to be rid of Wei Wuxian since he’d been brought to her doorstep, and a shy and timid girl had been an easy image to sell to Gusu Lan; thus, a marriage had been arranged. Perhaps Madam Yu had done it so quickly to prevent Jiang Fengmian from getting ideas, but regardless, Wei Wuxian was supposed to be meeting his betrothed for the first time.

And that just would not do.

Jiang Yanli was the nicest person at Lotus Pier and nobody wanted to displease her.

“Alright, does everyone know their lines?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes!” the assembled disciples replied while Wei Wuxian, her A-Xian, threw his hands behind his head, grinning, and A-Cheng looked pained but determined.

One arranged marriage was enough for their family. Jiang Yanli knew she could make Koi Tower her home if she put enough work into it, but the Cloud Recesses, with its many rules and the false expectations her mother had fed the Lan, could never bring her brother happiness.

A-Xian’s old robes were packed away in his bags now while his own, all newly purchased and hidden beneath her own on departure from Lotus Pier, were now where they belonged. He didn’t have as many as he ought to as commissioning them had been expensive, and the seamstress needed to be sworn to secrecy as she padded the robes in the right places to hide A-Xian’s silhouette.

Her brother looked good in them, wearing dark violet, the red he was never without, and some black to further craft their illusion. Well, perhaps it wasn’t entirely an illusion, A-Xian was who he was regardless of his body, but Yanli could tell it pleased him that the cut of his robes matched that of the male disciples.

Let’s get this show on the road, then.

Jiang Yanli plastered a pleasant smile on her face and went to greet the guards.

“Nobody told me he was pretty,” Wei Wuxian whispered to Jiang Cheng when Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji came to welcome them.

It took all of Jiang Cheng’s strength to not whack his brother.

“No, seriously, I think he’s prettier than I am when Madam Yu has Shijie doll me up.”

There were so many things that could be going wrong with their plan, the reputation of their sect might suffer from it too, but what was Jiang Cheng to do? Their mother wanted this and their father never listened properly when they or Wei Wuxian tried to explain the problem with the matter at hand. And perhaps scheming like this was unfilial, but didn’t Jiang Cheng also have a duty to his older siblings?

“We thank Gusu Lan for your hospitality, but we must also apologize for—”

That, Wei Wuxian took as his cue as he skipped away from Jiang Cheng’s side and walked right up to the two brothers, a mischievous smile on his face.

Oh, this was going to end in disaster.

Jiang Cheng would have to watch Gusu Lan be so insulted they’d decimate his brother, and then he’d have to go fight the Twin Jades on his brother’s behalf because nobody fucked with his people and mother would beat him with Zidian because she wouldn’t get it.

“My sister’s absence!” Wei Wuxian interrupted loudly. “Ah, it’s so nice to meet my future brother-in-law. Tell me, which one of you is it? No! Let me guess!”

He made a show of thinking about it before pointing at Lan Wangji, who seemed to be entirely displeased with the interaction. If this was all it took to get to the younger Jade of Lan, they’d have that engagement canceled by the end of the second week.

“It’s you! With that thick face!” Wei Wuxian finally exclaimed and pointed at Lan Wangji. “Don’t you know that you won’t please a girl with a face like that? My poor sister!”

Dramatically, he turned to the other Jiang disciples, who were all attempting to stifle their laughter. At least they hadn’t arrived with all the pomp of the Jin. As far as good first impressions went, they could still do worse.

“Sister?” Lan Xichen asked carefully, clearly making an inquiry all while attempting to sound polite about it. Jiang Cheng almost felt a little bad for lying to his face like that.

“Yes! My dear meimei, Wei Ying, your brother’s betrothed,” Wei Wuxian said. “She couldn’t make it to the lectures after all, so I decided to go instead to get a sense of her betrothed. I shall tell her that he cannot even smile at his future brother-in-law, treats me like a stranger! Ah, she will be so distraught.”

Wei Wuxian was getting entirely too invested in his performance, and Jiang Cheng couldn’t even be mad about it.

“I apologize,” Lan Xichen said. “I wasn’t aware Wei-guniang had a brother, or that you’d come to these lectures.”

Shaking his head like a disappointed elder, Wei Wuxian sighed. “It must be because of the name! See, when Sect Leader Jiang found us, my sister and I both listened to ‘A-Ying’, for it was what we recalled our parents calling us! So you certainly must have heard of me, but just assumed the Wei Ying in the stories is my sister! But fear not, this one is called Wuxian by courtesy. But as we are family soon—” At that, Wei Wuxian grinned absolutely shamelessly at Lan Wangji. “—Lan-er-gege may call me Wei Ying too.”

Lan Wangji’s face expressed that he would absolutely not be doing that.

“We have a missive explaining it,” Jiang Yanli said kindly, handing a letter she’d forged to Lan Xichen.

She only felt a little guilty for faking her father’s signature, but if he hadn’t wanted her to know how to do it, he wouldn’t have let her watch him work that often.

On the morning Lan Wangji was meant to meet his betrothed, he realized that he had no idea at all what he was supposed to feel about his engagement. He’d never met Wei Ying before, nor heard exceptionally much about her. Asking Uncle proved less than fruitful as his agreement to the marriage was mostly politically motivated. Even if not Sect Leader Jiang’s daughter by blood, Wei Ying was of sufficient standing through his benevolence that they gained a beneficial alliance. Marrying her in the future was Lan Wangji’s duty, so he’d see it through.

They could be friends, at least, he hoped. And if not, he’d do what he could to give her freedom to travel without losing her reputation.

He would not be his father.

By the time night had fallen and Lan Wangji was in his bed, he was assured the engagement would be a disaster if Wei Ying was anything like her alcohol-smuggling, curfew-ignoring brother!

But, as her twin, they might be alike in looks.

Lan Wangji did not want to linger on that thought.

After day two of their sort-of-but-not-really charade, Wei Wuxian was beyond convinced that their mutual agreement not to marry him off to Gusu Lan was the right choice. Constrained by more rules than ever before, Wei Wuxian thought he would lose his mind. Sure, Lotus Pier had its unwritten rules too, most of them boiling down to staying on Madam Yu’s not-bad side because she simply didn’t have a good one, but they didn’t hold a candle to all the ridiculousness the Lan came up with!

Unfortunately, as Lan Qiren’s steadily growing more irritated voice pointed out, Wei Wuxian hadn’t created a step-by-step plan for falling out of favor that did not summon Jiang Fengmian to the Cloud Recesses.

Well, all Wei Wuxian could do about Lan Qiren was quiet down a little in class. He wanted to break his engagement, not bring diplomatic turmoil over the sect, though a broken engagement was pretty much the same.

No, Wei Wuxian only had to annoy Lan Wangji enough and as his uncle’s prized nephew and student, surely once he wanted the engagement ended, Wei Wuxian would be free.

Jiang Cheng didn’t see how incessantly spending time with Lan Wangji would keep one of the brightest of their generation from figuring out their trick, but he did know how to keep others quiet. It wasn’t too much of a problem as his mother had always kept Wei Wuxian far away from other sects, fearing he’d cause an incident.

The only one who knew better was stupid, pretentious Jin Zixuan, who kept giving Wei Wuxian side glances, wondering just why he was seated here with them instead of with the girls as their sister.

And Jin Zixuan, much like the bright gold of his uniform, had no sense whatsoever for staying the fuck quiet.

While Wei Wuxian happily skipped ahead in the line, pestering Lan Wangji about the nighthunt, Jiang Cheng stayed close to Jin Zixuan.

“Zewu-jun,” Jin Zixuan addressed Lan Xichen after yet another disbelieving look at Wei Wuxian. “If I may ask, why is Wei Ying attending our class?”

No, he may not ask, especially someone from a different sect.

Lan Xichen, who definitely seemed to have sucked all the pleasant emotions out of his mother’s womb, leaving Lan Wangji with nothing, only smiled. “I assume to ensure my brother will treat his sister right.”

Jin Zixuan frowned. “But Wei Ying doesn’t have—”

Without any remorse, Jiang Cheng stepped on Jin Zixuan’s foot. To his credit, the Peacock didn’t even flinch.

“—doesn’t have a brother who seems well behaved enough to attest these matters.”

The safe was good enough that Jiang Cheng didn’t step on his foot again despite his terrible and insulting excuse.

Lan Wangji was an absolute riot to tease and make fun of. Wei Wuxian hadn’t had that much entertainment since he helped the newest disciples hide a whole batch of kittens in his room. They’d been discovered in the end, but the cooks had been glad for the cats running around the compound, getting rid of the mice by then.

But it was nice to spend time with his peers too without having to watch his words all the time, making crude jokes or just being around somebody without having anyone ring for a chaperone of some kind.

Okay, Jiang Cheng still hovered, but that was because his brother cared.

And it wasn’t like Jiang Cheng wasn’t making himself useful.

“Elbow up!” Wei Wuxian cheered as Jiang Cheng fixed Wen Ning’s posture. Wei Wuxian was going to do it himself, but Jiang Cheng had swiftly taken over that duty, leaving Wei Wuxian to sit with Nie Huaisang.

Truly, he’d miss this once he returned to Lotus Pier.

Or maybe he could leave for a while, go night hunting on his own, continue living up to his curtesy name before he’d eventually have to turn it in again, leave it only in his siblings’ mouth.

10.

Perhaps, as it occurred to Jiang Cheng in the morning, half-hangover, they should have taken Wei Wuxian aside to practice living as a man. Wei Wuxian was bold enough that his shameless behavior passed as that of an arrogant youth, but Wei Wuxian hadn’t ever really had the ability to live as Jiang Cheng. Although his brother was more advanced than him in cultivation, his lessons were cut short to learn the manners of a young lady alongside their sister. And while Lotus Pier didn’t go as far as the Cloud Recesses to separate the complexes, Wei Wuxian had never been surrounded just by men.

Maybe, Jiang Cheng thought as they stumbled to punishment, his brother wouldn’t have smuggled alcohol into the dorms and gotten roaring drunk if they’d sneaked away before the lectures and allowed him to indulge.

Or, Jiang Cheng thought as the first strike landed, Wei Wuxian would’ve acted just the same.

11.

Before this year’s lecture had started, Lan Wangji was doing fine. Now his entire life had been interrupted by Wei Wuxian. The other boy was so keen on bonding with him and distinguishing his character that he hardly left Lan Wangji alone, dragging him into his foolish endeavors.

To his horror, the more time Lan Wangji spent with Wei Wuxian, the more did his thoughts go to him even when Lan Wangji was alone. Everything Lan Wangji wanted to know about Wei Wuxian was entirely inappropriate, not the thoughts someone ought to have about their betrothed’s brother.

“Give me your ribbon!” Wei Wuxian hissed, arms wrapped tight around himself. “It’ll stop the attacks.”

A better fiancé would hesitate, at least for another moment, but Lan Wangji was a coward who couldn’t even admit the truth to himself.

He wrapped his ribbon around Wei Wuxian’s wrist, the weight of the action entirely unknown to Wei Wuxian. Engaged as he was, Lan Wangji couldn’t even honor it privately. He’d have to tell Wei Ying and tell her that even if her brother praised Lan Wangji’s ‘impeccable’ behavior, he was far from honorable.

Everything else would be improper.

12.

After they’d dealt with the Yin Iron.

He’d write his letter after they dealt with that.

His ancestor’s message and warning seemed a little direr than Lan Wangji’s own doomed heart.

13.

For the first time in years, Jiang Yanli did not spend most of her time with Wei Wuxian. They’d shared a room as little children, Wei Wuxian staying with her for a smidge longer than he should have. After, her parents probably thought that her influence could tame her brother and turn him into a proper young lady.

She’d probably failed on that account in their eyes, but seeing him now, with twice as much energy, laughing louder than anyone else, she couldn’t consider it a failure in her eyes.

“Shijie—” Wei Wuxian looked outraged.

Jiang Yanli knew her brother well, he wouldn’t let Jin Zixuan’s words be, and they couldn’t afford him causing a scene now for multiple reasons.

Her mother wasn’t a role model she wanted to emulate most of the time, but this once, she straightened her back and held her head just as high.

“Go with A-Cheng, A-Xian,” she told her brother. “I think Jin-gongzi and I have to talk.”

14.

She didn’t cry until she was back in her room, escorted by Mianmian, who deserved so much better than having to handle her. In the Jiang quarters, her disciples and friends surrounded her. There, Jiang Yanli allowed herself to cry.

Jin Zixuan didn’t love her, didn’t want her, and what right did she have to protest when staging to break her brother’s engagement?

How terrible that Wei Wuxian had found a friend in a stranger he’d been terrified to meet when she hadn’t gained even that.

15.

There was a stupid comment on Jiang Cheng’s tongue when Wei Wuxian dressed in his old clothes and tossed another set to him, but under cover of night, hurrying to their sister’s room in disguise wasn’t that bad of a plan.

And if seeing them both dressed up made her laugh, then that was really only a bonus.

16.

After a whole year at the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian was, admittedly, not really closer to breaking his engagement. But maybe if he now fessed up to Lan Wangji that he was, indeed, his fiancée in disguise, perhaps he’d be so disgusted at Wei Wuxian’s shameless behavior that he’d call for its end.

So really, Wei Wuxian couldn’t consider the year a waste when he’d made a few friends more and learned how to wrap his bandages himself because, as funny as Jiang Cheng’s face had been the first couple of times, his brother took forever.

He’d get around to ending his engagement some time in the future. Right now, everyone was too busy eyeing the movement of the Wen anyway to think of marriage.

Nodding to himself, Wei Wuxian grabbed a brush and left his brother a quick note.

If he wasted any more time, he wouldn’t be able to catch up to Lan Wangji before it got dark. Honestly, what was he thinking going away by himself as if Lan Yi hadn’t given the task to the both of them?

Wei Wuxian grabbed his hastily packed supplies and vanished from the Cloud Recesses.

Jiang Cheng would think of an excuse to present his parents.

Wei Wuxian had the utmost faith in him.

#wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #wangxian #mdzs #the untamed #mdzs fanfic #fanfic #chapter 1 here we go #manifesting this to be less than 4 chapters <3

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plan-d-to-i · 3 years

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(google translate again, yeah)

(I forgot to thank you for the last answer, I really didn't know that the drama used the music of my compatriot, it was a pleasant surprise for me)

I don't know if anyone has asked you this before, but do you think JC was good with WWX as a kid?

I mean not just their childhood, but the time of their training in Gusu.

I really love JC, and I understand perfectly well that he is the most dick in character, but I love him precisely during my studies at Gusu, I can not give any arguments that then JC was directly GOOD to WWX, but he is clearly cared a little about him and even ... worried? at least that moment after the punishment where JC helped WWX get to the room...

Yay - I'm so happy to hear about Stravinsky :)

Hahah loving jc as the dick that he is is the way to do it! go for it. :) also, sorry this was so delayed I wanted to reread the Cloud Recesses arc so it would be fresh in my mind before answering.

In terms of jc the Cloud Recesses arc is perhaps the most 'mellow' we see him aside from the Lotus Pod Extra but for me it's still impossible to find him a worthwhile person. I can already see the faults in his character that I know will only get worse as he grows older. Canonically I don't see how he would have any friends studying in the Cloud Recesses if he didn't come as a package deal w Wei Wuxian. I mean I doubt jiang cheng would have any friends without WWX period. In fact jiang cheng doesn't make any friends over the course of 13 years. He's also unable to find a wife bc of his temperament and behavior...

What we can glean about their relationship in the Cloud Recesses arc (and even the Lotus Pod Extra) is that any time WWX gets a kind word or understanding from someone, jiang cheng scoffs at it. Any time someone shits on WWX, jc is there to agree, to relish the idea of WWX being punished, and shit on him some more. He would be an immensely exhausting person to be around. He doesnt believe in WWX's ideas and ingenuity, (as NHS does for example), he doesn't believe WWX is hurt, he always assumes the worst of him, he doesn't believe LWJ might like WWX. The only thing he ever seems to believe is that WWX will dishonor YunmengJiang and that WWX should be punished. So for a kid who supposedly wants his father's approval so badly he instead constantly acts like his mother's mouthpiece/minion. He reprimands WWX like he's trying to become Madam Yu 2.0. I see jc stans all the time being like oh he had to keep WWX in check bc WWX was such a lOOooose canon, for the good of the Clan!! lol listen JFM didn't give a f...about WWX's behavior (in his letter to LQR) why are you so concerned? JFM would have preferred for jc to try & save his peers in the Xuanwu cave or at least to understand why that was the correct course of action rather than for him to just sit in front of the class in the Cloud Recesses and tell WWX off for giving LQR as good as he got, while actually still breaking the rules himself but eschewing punishment.

salt up here, quotes below :

Even when Nie Huaisang picks up on the fact that WWX is being treated unfairly by LQR, jc dismisses it and piles on WWX instead.

Nie Huaisang said, “Old Man Lan really seems like he’s coming down especially harshly on you. Every time he reprimands someone, it’s always you.” Jiang Cheng grunted. “He deserves it. What kind of answer was that? He can get away with saying that sort of nonsense at home, but he had the nerve to say it to Lan Qiren’s face. He was practically asking for the old man to kill him!”

But does WWX get away with ANYTHING in Lotus Pier? When we know he is punished constantly for EVERYTHING? This is jiang cheng fully being his mother's mouth piece. It's not something WWX would get away with, it's something jc knows JFM wouldn't mind. Which is why he's so pissed off. Which begs the question if JFM would not be upset with WWX's behavior why does jc need to criticize him? Again :

A dark expression shadowed Jiang Cheng’s face, and his voice was filled with anger. “Why are you so proud of yourself? What is there to be proud of?! Is being told to get out some amazing accomplishment? You’re making our entire clan lose face!”

and his glee at the idea that WWX will be punished leaves a bad taste in one's mouth considering how WWX was perpetually punished in Lotus Pier by jiang cheng's mother for... existing.

Jiang Cheng smiled grimly. “Now that you’ve thoroughly offended both Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren, you’re basically dead tomorrow. No one’s going to clean up your corpse either.”

and again

Without the old one, only the young one remained. This would be easy to deal with! Wei Wuxian rolled off the bed and laughed while putting on his boots. “Heaven’s charmed clouds are blessing me with shade.” Jiang Cheng was beside him polishing his sword with loving care when he decided to spill cold water over Wei Wuxian’s head. “Just wait until he gets back. You can’t escape punishment.”

Where others like NHS see value in WWX's thoughts

Nie Huaisang thought for a while. “Actually, I thought what you said was very interesting,” he said, not entirely able to hide his envy and yearning.

jc is always dismissive of WWX's ideas. These are inventions that WWX realizes. Demonic cultivation in the first conversation and The Spirit-Attraction Flag and The Compass of Evil in the second:

“Enough,” Jiang Cheng warned. “Whatever nonsense you spout, you better not head down that sort of dark road.”

Changing the topic, Wei Wuxian said, “If only there was something like fishing bait that could draw the water ghosts in. Or, something that could point in the direction they’re hiding, like a compass, that sort of thing.”

“Lower your head and watch the water,” Jiang Cheng said. “You’re letting your fantasies run wild again. Concentrate on looking for water ghosts like you’re supposed to.”

“Hey, mounting swords and flying was also only a fantasy once!” Wei Wuxian said.

He's also a hypocrite. Because even though he berates WWX for misbehaving, he himself breaks the rules. He drinks, he even goads WWX into buying liquor, the only difference is that he doesn't get punished for it, and he doesn't feel like coming forward and getting punished for it :

Naturally, Jiang Cheng was too embarrassed to talk about what Wei Wuxian had been up to. After all, all of them had egged him on to go and buy alcohol, and they all deserved to be punished as well. He could only speak vaguely. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing. It’s not that bad! He can walk. Wei Wuxian, why haven’t you gotten off yet?”

It's no wonder WWX is so impressed by LWJ's integrity in spite of his social status, when he's clearly used to the other dynamic :

“Lan Zhan, I really admire you,” Wei Wuxian said sincerely. “After I told you that you had to punish yourself too, you actually did it. You didn’t let yourself off at all. I can’t argue against that.”

A dynamic which is shown repeating in the Lotus Pod Extra where WWX is the only one to get punished for sunbathing, and which repeats here when Wei Wuxian here stops jiang cheng from confronting Zixuan over YanLi's honor (and jc's) and does it himself.

Zixuan :“Why don’t you ask what about her could make me satisfied?” he said in return.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng rose. Wei Wuxian pushed him away and stepped between them, smiling coldly. “You think you’re very satisfactory? As though you have the right to be so picky!”

Zixuan: “If she’s unhappy, then let her break off the engagement! I certainly don’t cherish your wonderful disciple-sister. If you cherish her so much, why don’t you take it up with your father? Doesn’t he love you more than his own son?”

After hearing the last sentence, Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed, and Wei Wuxian was no longer able to contain his own fury. He flew at Jin Zixuan, his fist raised.

WWX takes the punishment alone. Same way he offers to do when he hurts himself falling from a tree because jc threatened him with dogs. meanwhile jc is gleeful to see him being punished.

[Wei Wuxian] was kneeling on the stretch of pebble road to which Lan Qiren had assigned him when Jiang Cheng walked over from afar and mocked him. “You’re kneeling so obediently.”

“It’s not like you don’t know I have to do this all the time.” Wei Wuxian’s voice filled with schadenfreude. “But this Jin Zixuan guy, there’s no way he hasn’t been pampered and spoiled rotten since birth. No one’s ever forced him to kneel, I’m sure of it. If he doesn’t wind up crying for mommy and daddy today, I’m not named Wei.”....

Wei Wuxian "...It’s a good thing you didn’t do anything.”

“I was going to. If you hadn’t pushed me away, the other side of Jin Zixuan’s face would be hideous too.”

“Stop it. His face is uglier for being lopsided."

WWX is happy to have spared jc from getting into trouble but jc makes the whole thing about himself anyway (like everything else ever) and is upset JFM would rush over for WWX - in his mind. Even though JFM clearly had to rush over to meet with Jin Guangshan not to coddle WWX in any way.

"Jiang Fengmian had never rushed to another clan in less than a day because of him. Regardless of whether what happened was big or small, or good or bad." Never

WWX on the other hand tries to be observant of jc's feelings and reassure him & distract him from his moods :

When Wei Wuxian saw Jiang Cheng’s melancholy expression, he thought he was still upset with what Jin Zixuan said. “You should leave. You don’t need to keep me company any longer. If Lan Wangji comes again, he’ll catch you. If you have time, you should find Jin Zixuan and watch his pitiful kneeling.”

Later in the book after nearly dying in the Xuanwu cave WWX leaves his sick bed to run after jc and comfort him after his mother's rant, even though WWX had to listen to his parents (and himself) being slandered by YZY. jc doesn't spare any thoughts for how other people might be feeling or suffering. His entire perception of the world is centered around himself. To him even WWX's greatest fear doesn't generate empathy, only amusement or later on a form of torture.

From that point onward, they made trouble everywhere together, and if they encountered a dog, Jiang Cheng would always chase it away for him, then enjoy a peal of derisive, unbridled laughter at Wei Wuxian’s expense beneath whichever tree the boy had leapt atop.

he grew up on the streets, often having to fight for food with vicious dogs. After several bites and chases, he gradually became extremely scared of all dogs, no matter the size. Jiang Cheng laughed at him because of this quite a lot of times.

This brings me to the last point. jc's resentment of WWX's interest in Lan Zhan, or in a serious friendship outside of him. I see so many ppl say that bc WWX fought he was kicked out of the Cloud Recesses early... but was he?

Jiang Cheng was somewhat taken aback. “Lan Wangji? What was he doing here? He still has the nerve to come see you again?”

“Yeah, I think his bravery is laudable if he still has the nerve to come see me. His uncle probably told him to check on me and see if I was kneeling properly.”

Jiang Cheng’s instincts were sending him ominous signals. “So were you kneeling properly?”

“I was then,” Wei Wuxian replied. “But I waited for him to walk away a bit, then took a tree branch, lowered my head, and dug out a hole in the dirt near me. It’s the pile right by your foot—there are ant tunnels there. It took me so much effort to find them. Anyway, I waited for him to turn back and see my shoulders shaking. He had to have thought I was crying, so he came back and asked. You should have seen his face when he caught sight of the ant tunnels!

“…” Jiang Cheng said, “Why don’t you just get the hell out and go back to Yunmeng? I bet he never wants to see you again.”

Thus, that evening, Wei Wuxian packed up his things, got the hell out, and went back to Yunmeng with Jiang Fengmian.

Repeatedly throught his stay in the Cloud Recesses even while NHS was observing that LWJ's behavior around WWX was strange and unique, jc was telling WWX he is hated and bothersome. When WWX wanted to apologize to LWJ jc is completely dismissive of it :

“He hates me already? I was thinking of apologizing to him,” Wei Wuxian said.

“Oh, so you want to apologize now? It’s too late!” Jiang Cheng said derisively. “He’s exactly like his uncle. He thinks you’ve been wicked ever since you were an embryo, so it’s beneath his dignity to pay you any attention.”

Later on when WWX mentioned wanting to invite LWJ to Lotus Pier jc categorically says no.

“Jiang Cheng had on a stern expression, “Let’s make this clear. I don’t want him to come, anyhow. Don’t invite him.”

BONUS

jc also always doubts WWX. He suspects him immediately of wrongdoings. He doesn't believe that getting hit with the discipline ruler in Cloud Recesses actually hurt him until LXC confirms that WWX might take more than a few days to heal. He doesn't understand WWX is in actual trouble from the Waterborne abyss and assumes he's fooling around luckily Lan Zhan is there to rescue him:

The disciple’s lower body had already been swallowed by the black whirlpool. It spun faster and faster, and he continued to sink deeper and deeper, as though something hidden beneath the water was pulling down on his legs.

Mounted on Sandu, Jiang Cheng had risen calmly until he was about sixty meters above the whirlpool before he looked down. Filled with displeasure at what he saw, he shouted and dove down. “What are you up to now?!”

The suction force inside Lake Biling grew ever stronger. Wei Wuxian’s sword was optimized for agility, and consequently, its strength happened to fall just short, and they were nearly pulled to the surface of the lake. Wei Wuxian steadied himself and held on to Su She with both hands.

“Someone help! If I can’t pull him up soon, I’ll have to let go!” he shouted.

Suddenly, the back of Wei Wuxian’s collar tightened, and his body was lifted into the air. He twisted his neck and saw Lan Wangji holding him up with one hand.

He maintains this same mindset when he tries to whip LWJ and WWX as they're attempting to leave Lotus Pier after the ancestral hall confrontation when WWX passes out.

Is jc evil in the Cloud Recesses ? No. He's just an annoying, basic, disagreeable asshole who doesn't bring anything positive to someone like WWX. People like jc become obsessed with kind, outgoing, generous people, people who don't set boundaries on what they give and what others take in their friendships. Even though they're dependent on them for their social interactions, because who else would socialize with them willingly, they resent them in equal measure, but at the same time they wouldn't be drawn to another selfish, self centered piece of shit person like themselves.

On a personal note, even Cloud Recesses jiang cheng is someone I would exclude from any personal friend group. Friendship with him is adding a minefield of jealousies and snide comments to every interaction. Things that then others will need to compensate around because he won't compromise or empathize w issues outside of his own concerns.

Translation source : x

#This is long af because I wanted to have one post where I included everything #I’ve bitched about jc’s behavior in the cloud recesses for a long time so it was time to put down the quotes #mdzs #Cloud Recesses #Lan Wangji #Wei Wuxian #Nie Huaisang #jiang cheng

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25 part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Jin Jerks Continued

Jin Furen is all judgy about Wei Wuxian, so it's hard to like her, since WWX is our protagonist and whatnot. But! Jin Furen is actually totally awesome. She adores Jiang Yanli and takes sides with her against her own son. She knows he likes Yanli and works her ass off to do all the courting for him, since he sucks at it, rather than picking a random wife for him and sticking him with her choice. She's always gentle with Yanli in her tone and body language. And Jin Zixuan had to get his good side from somebody.

Wei Wuxian politely tells Jin Furen that it's all over (again/still) between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, and cousin Jin Zixun rushes up to argue with him, saying he's being too proud and that he shouldn't talk to Jin Furen that way, since she is his senior. Wei Wuxian, still politely, explains the clan politics that underlie every one of these Zixuan-Yanli interactions. As a matter of clan pride, the Jiang Clan can't allow Yanli to be insulted.

Cousin Jin Zixun immediately goes all in on the clan rivalry, beefing with Wei Wuxian about how much prey he caught. Everybody forgets all about Yanli's situation while they talk about the hunt results instead.

The Jin cultivators--parroting what they heard from Jin Guangyao--say that Wei Wuxian has flute-walked 30 percent of the prey into nets by himself. Lan Wangji actually decides to react to something, saying "30 percent? and giving Wei Wuxian such a series of LOOKS, oh my god.

This Wangxian moment is an important one, I think, because it shows where Lan Wangji's priorities are, and they're...wrong. He's continually telling Wei Wuxian "be good," in one way or another; trying to help him back to the correct way of being a cultivator. Meanwhile the Lans are totally fine with the Jins being murderous shits who feel entitled to insult high-ranking ladies.

CJZX continues to snipe at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continues to judge WWX for being unsportsmanlike.

(more after the cut!)

Wei Wuxian says that he's just showing his capability, and CJZX tries to tell him both that 1. he's practicing evil cultivation and 2. he's just playing the flute. WWX offers him Chenqing and says "show me your capability" which I think is cultivator speak for "fight me, bitch."

Cousin Jin Zixun moves the goalposts, saying that Wei Wuxian broke the rules, and starts in with class-based dogwhistling, saying "it's understandable that you don't know the rules," and citing examples of Wei Wuxian’s previous bad manners at cultivation events.

Things escalate and pretty soon Wei Wuxian is yelling at everybody, threatening to tell them why he doesn't carry his sword, (which would actually clear up SO much) and saying he's going to beat them all using necromancy whatever is just this side of necromancy.

Cousin Jin Zixun tosses his birth status at him, and then it's ON. Scary music, shaking fist, Chenqing booting up...

Lan Wangji, who has been singularly unhelpful since CJZX started talking, suddenly forgets his judginess as he's swept into motion by his constant fear of whatever is going to happen next time Wei Wuxian loses his temper.

He rushes to Wei Wuxian’s side, grabs his wrist, says his name, and wills him to chill the fuck out. Jiang Yanli joins him, grabbing Wei Wuxian's other arm, and Wei Wuxian manages to get control of himself.

Queen Yanli

Yanli has had it, and she has Wei Wuxian stand behind her while she goes to politely reduce Cousin Jin Zixun to a heap of smoldering cinders.

First she recaps CJZX's accusations against Wei Wuxian; says she doesn't know a lot about the hunt, and apologizes formally on her brother’s behalf. WWX says "Shijie!" but she shakes her head at him and he shuts up.

CJZX laughs and tells her, in a tone designed to infuriate Wei Wuxian even further, that Wei Wuxian doesn’t rate her apologizing on his behalf, and says that their clans are like family; reinforcing WWX's outsider status. I don't think CJZX is taking orders from Jin Guangyao, because he's way too big of a snob for that, but he's definitely helping JGY to move his agenda forward.

Even Lan Wangji is having trouble staying cool during this exchange; he is focused on keeping Wei Wuxian in check but he’s also angry himself, judging from what his neck is doing here, anyway. *Stares at his neck for way too long*

Wei Wuxian is super upset about Jiang Yanli apologizing, and he’s unable to hold back tears, even with Lan Wangji using the power of extreme staring to help him.

Jiang Yangli is nowhere near finished, though and she turns around and proceeds to tell everyone that they suck, that it's not Wei Wuxian's fault if he's more talented than everybody else, and that they are just making up rules because they are a bunch of losers.

Clan Leader Yao has the nerve to say that they know the rules "in their hearts" which is just another class-based dogwhistle.

Yanli defends Wei Wuxian's cultivation method to everybody, saying it's something he worked at and put effort into--that it's different, not wrong. She's literally the only person who defends his cultivation style, even though they all have benefited from it.

Then she gets right up in Cousin Jin Zixun's face and tells him that it's not ok for him to insult WWX by calling him the son of a servant, and she wants CJZX to apologize. (full gifset here) All of the Jins and Captain Blowhard Clan Leader Yao are SHOCKED at this idea. Jin Furen tries to talk Yanli down but Yanli politely nopes her away, so JFR tells CJZX to apologize.

He's saved from having to actually do it by the arrival of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, who jump down off a box fly over to find out what's wrong.

Jin Furen yells at smiley, blinkey Jin Guangyao, telling him he should be able to figure out what's wrong, saying "aren't you good at judging the situation," i.e. aren't you a conniving little creep? She's bitchy but she's not wrong.

When the "30 percent" thing is explained again, Lan Xichen gives Wei Wuxian the same Lan Glare of Sportsmanship Disappointment that his brother did.

Lan Xichen: It's fine for my boyfriend's obviously power-hungry family to insult my brother's war-hero best friend in a bid to reduce his social status, but him using magic powers in our magical creature hunt is super wrong.

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen explain that they're going to open up more area for the hunt, but it's too late to make Cousin Jin Zixun happy. He takes his ball and goes home.

The Breaking of the Fellowship

The remaining group stroll slowly through the woods, Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli together, while Wei Wuxian walks at a bit of a distance and Jin Zixuan follows right behind his mother. His mother offers to beat him to make Jiang Yanli feel better. See? Perfect Mother-in-Law material.

Jiang Yanli tries to leave again, and is stopped again. This time Jin Furen tries to convince her to come back to the stands to sit with her and Jin Zixuan, and not to go with Wei Wuxian. First she tries saying that it's not appropriate for her and Wei Wuxian to be alone together. Yanli shuts that right down, saying that Wei Wuxian is her didi. Then Jin Furen says that Wei Wuxian has "strong wicked energy" and that he may do something evil. Like fighting back when he is ambushed on his way to a party.

Jiang Yanli repeats that Wei Wuxian is her didi, and says that she'll never leave him. JFR keeps trying but Wei Wuxian steps up and takes Yanli by the wrist and goes to lead her away. Jin Zixuan finally, FINALLY admits that he likes Jiang Yanli.

He is embarrassed, Jiang Yanli is delighted, and Lan Xichen is amused.

Jin Zixuan runs away and Jiang Yanli agrees to go back to Jinlintai with Jin Furen. Wei Wuxian is super immature unhappy about it....

....but he accepts her decision, in a nearly wordless exchange that we’ll see echoes of much later, between him and Lan Wangji. (Exceptionally cruel gifset here)

Wei Wuxian formally bows to Jin Furen, asking her to take care of his sister. Because he recognizes this for the parting that it is.

Jiang Yanli isn't wrong to make this choice. She deserves to be happy, and married women in this environment can't live with their original family. But she told Wei Wuxian, over and over, that the three of them have to stick together, only to change course and leave him behind with no warning. It’s not even five minutes since she said "I will never leave him." Wei Wuxian isn’t the only person making impossible promises in these parts.

Jiang Cheng and some Jiang cultivators show up, and everyone, including Wei Wuxian, tells Jiang Cheng that he missed an important scene, but nobody will tell him what actually happened.

Wei Wuxian says he's going into town, and he leaves Jiang Cheng behind just as abruptly as Jiang Yanli left him.

Jiang Cheng asks Lan Xichen what happened, and Lan Xichen says "there was an argument but it's mostly smoothed over now; also, Jin Zixuan says he likes your sister." Ha ha ha ha! Of course he does not say that, he says "You should ask your sister at the banquet" and Jin Guangyao says it wouldn't be appropriate for them, as outsiders, to comment.

I would like to see Jiang Cheng respond to this by beating the crap out of them with Zidian for being a couple of coy bitches, but he just furrows his brow.

JGY hangs back from the group for a second to tell JC that WWX is sooooo great, before they all head back to Jinlintai.

Insecurest Boi

As everyone is walking Jiang Cheng hears Captain Blowhard saying that Lotus Pier made a strong impression today, and that they'll be able to recruit a whole lot of disciples. The cultivators are of two opinions about whether having Wei Wuxian is a good thing for a clan.

Then a Jin cultivator says he heard that the Yin tiger amulet is made of the missing piece of Yin iron. He says he overheard it from Jin Guangyao. He says even if it's not for certain, the timing fits. Jiang Cheng reacts to this as if he 100% believes it, because Jiang Cheng is a dumbass sometimes.

He should just frickin’ ask Wei Wuxian about the amulet. Lan Wangji asked where he got it and Wei Wuxian told him, and Jiang Cheng, while they have their issues, is officially on WWX's side, so there’s no reason for WWX not to tell him.

The Jin cultivator goes on to say that the Jiang Clan ain't shit, that all their deeds belong to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng takes all of this on board totally unfiltered. Literally everything that any Jin cultivator other than MianMian says is propaganda coming from Jin Guangyao, but Jiang Cheng thinks they're friends and doesn't know how to recognize manipulation.

Jiang Cheng is hearing the exact same criticism that Jiang Yanli heard, but he's not equipped to handle it, and instead of fighting back he gets angry at Wei Wuxian. Despite all his recent growth, he is still crushingly insecure, and this is hitting him right in his tenderest spot. Jiang Fengmian has a lot to answer for.

Instant Replacement Sister

Wei Wuxian is off working through his own feelings; he's wandering the street in Lanling with a bottle of wine in hand. Wen Qing, in her red Wen robe and her hooded cloak, is wandering the street in the opposite direction. They pass each other without seeing, in a moment that's excruciating to watch the first time.

But then some Jin cultivators obligingly push her to the ground, and Wei Wuxian, with his beautiful heart of fucking gold, hears someone who needs help and turns around.

For a moment he smiles in recognition, before the smile clouds over. Wen Qing, for her part, looks horrified; perhaps it’s everything she’s going through, but perhaps she can see that he, in his own way, is struggling nearly as much as she is. Meeting with her will galvanize him and give him the life direction he desperately needs.

A Day Late and a Tael Short

Lan Wangji wants to solve Wei Wuxian's problem, but he lacks imagination, so his best idea is to hide him in Cloud Recesses.

Lan Xichen points out that Wei Wuxian might not be on board with that. This conversation is short, but it has some layers, once you know about their parents' relationship. Lan Wangji frowns but doesn't have a second idea.

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #clan leader yao #canary3d-original #my gifs #restless rewatch the untamed

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rosethornewrites · 3 years

Text

Fics I read this week!

MDZS/The Untamed, entirely. Including Tumblr fics here now, even if I shared them as well.

A lot of these are super short since I decided to embark on a journey to clear my AO3 “Marked For Later” list of anything under 3k words by reading them.

This is also a lot of fanfiction and I might have a problem. Any fanfiction addict support groups out there?

Also, I learned that I can only post 100 links. So this is going up early and I’ll separate the Not Rated, E, and M ones into a different post for next week.

Finished:

Not Rated (or Tumblr fics):

Parents, by @bloody-bee-tea

Untitled, by @mondengel

Untitled, by @cerusee

Xue Yang - The Third Jade of Gusu, by inawritingfrenzy

As Long as You're Here, by Aitheriomeraki

You are the last person I need to tell me exactly what I already know. You’re going to tell me to go back to cultivating the righteous path. You’re going to tell me that this is against the principles of a cultivator. I’m going to hear you drone on and on about what’s wrong with what I’m doing. You’re going to tell me that I’m acting like a pure disgrace, completely out of line, extremely unhinged and unruly and every other word your Lan vocabulary can muster up.” His words felt heavy but unstoppable, tears making their way to his eyes.

“You’re-” He was about to continue before getting cut off.

“Wei Ying… zhiji.” Lan Wangji breathed out like a plea, like a prayer. -------------- OR Lan Wangji talks to Wei Wuxian the day after killing Wen Chao.

Things we lost in the fire, by KatAnni

Three instances in Lan Wangji's life that involved fire. One of them certainly ends better than the others.

OR Wangxian can be cute in any situation, even when someone sets fire to their inn.

Sleep Talk, by breezebrocolis

"...But being awakened through such ungodly hours is worth it after all, because Wei Wuxian discovered that, contrary to popular belief about his boyfriend's sleeping habits, there’s a moment when Lan Zhan sleep talks, and he's the only one who knows it."

and

"...for now, after all and a year more, he'd never choose to have those lonesome minutes back. It turns out that filling the gaps with emptiness was necessary once, but it doesn't really fit him anymore. Lan Wangji has Grace on his side for now, the print of Wei Ying's delicate fingers into his skin."

In other words, a study about WangXian's sleeping habits.

Hold On, by voxnoxsox

“And really,” Wei Ying continued, “it makes no sense. Why would they not want to hug you, Lan Zhan, or, like… Do you warn them off or something? Give them the ol’ icy Lan glare?”

“No,” Lan Zhan said, when it was clear a response was required. His mind was a little preoccupied with Wei Ying’s hands still running up and down, up and down.

Rated E:

The Dreams of Youth, by Sami (25 chapters)

"Mother, I have to go, with or without you. Please come with me."

"A-Zhan, you're five years old," she says.

"With or without you, Mother," he pleads. "Please come with me."

Lan Wangji starts again from the beginning.

Rough and Tumble, by SugarMilkTea (3 chapters)

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are paired together for sparring, because of course they are.

Wei Wuxian is better than the rest of the disciples, because of course he is - so Lan Wangji takes him to another field to train privately.

Things escalate, because of course they do.

and if we choose to fall (who's to say it isn't flight?), by KiaraSayre (2 chapters)

Wei Wuxian has an idea and makes a talisman. A sexy talisman.

to live this way is not for the meek, by la_muerta

Yiling Laozu and his band The Restless Dead are one of the biggest names in the rock scene, playing to thousands of screaming fans in sold-out concerts all over the world.

But underneath the black leather, makeup, and untouchable, arrogant facade is a side of Wei Ying that only Lan Zhan gets to see.

Awareness, by syriala (last in a series)

Awareness is slow to come to Jiang Cheng, mostly because he doesn’t want to be aware. He’s warm and comfortable and Jiang Xiuying is bound to be still around and that is really all Jiang Cheng needs in life.

But then there’s an open mouthed kiss to the hinge of his jaw, Jiang Xiuying slowly trailing his way down Jiang Cheng’s throat, and it’s enough to get Jiang Cheng’s eyes open, however reluctant he might be.

Jiang Xiuying seemingly knows him better than Jiang Cheng does himself because he is already looking up at Jiang Cheng, his eyes sparkling and a teasing grin on his lips.

“Good morning,” Jiang Cheng says, his voice still rough from sleep and Jiang Xiuying leans up to capture Jiang Cheng’s lips in a kiss.

The heat behind it tells Jiang Cheng exactly where Jiang Xiuying wants to take this today, and Jiang Cheng can’t say that he minds too much.

yours for the taking, by SugarMilkTea

“There’s still time to back out, you know,” Wei Ying says, quiet enough that even the attendants waiting at the corners of their table won’t hear.

Lan Wangji pauses in the middle of reaching for the sash on Wei Ying’s—on his husband’s—outer robes. A pit opens in his stomach. His hand falls to his lap, and he lifts his eyes to meet Wei Ying’s. “Is that what you want?”

---

The components of the marriage ceremony are easy in theory. The handfasting, the bows, the feast... and the Taking.

housed by your warmth, by wangxiians

wei wuxian may never grow to enjoy mornings but he enjoys this, he really enjoys this – stolen time together, bodies reuniting, waking up before the world.

Rated M:

Heaven Hath No Fury, by Lady Mythos (Lady_Mythos)

The two biggest mistakes Yu Ziyuan has made are as follows: assuming Wei Wuxian was the cause of all her problems and assuming Cangse Sanren was dead.

Or, Cangse Sanren has a lot of things to say to the bitch that abused her son.

weird and awkward, by sami (3rd in a series)

At the age of sixteen, Lan Zhan falls in love, somewhat against his will.

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too, by adrian_kres (4 chapters)

Like half of all sound-tied people, Wei Ying was born with words in his heart and needing the melody they belong to. It’s his soul marker, and he’s been searching for his soulmate his whole life. Things change when he hears a tune being hummed in a cafe that matches his lyrics perfectly. Except he didn’t see who was humming it! To help, his brother’s soulmate puts him in contact with the beautiful pianist Lan Wangji, who makes Wei Ying question if he wants to find his soulmate at all…

Until The End, by abCEE (40 chapters)

"When I - when I tied my ribbon around our wrists, I knew what I was doing and I privately honored it." Wei Wuxian's brows continued to meet as he tried to understand where the conversation was going until realization dawned on him. "Wa - wait! Lan Zhan, is it what I think it is?!!" "It is usually done at the end of a wedding ceremony -" "What-" "But it could have been acknowledged as an engagement." "Lan Zhan!" He cannot believe what he is hearing now. "But my ancestor revealed herself -" "And we bowed… three times. We bowed, Lan Zhan!"

In which wangxian are married since the Cold Pond Cave incident, knows how proper communication works, and had confessed in the middle of the Sunshot Campaign. Things went up and down from there.

Breaking The Ice, by aflaminghalo

“Why are are you asking for punishment?”

Bring Your Honor, Bring Your Shame, by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (21 chapters, third in a series)

Nie HuaiSang has a problem. His brother is losing his mind.

Rated T:

don't close your eyes, by howodd5ever

In which Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian actually talk about the porn book.

Another Road, by Rynne

Something in the Guanyin Temple goes wrong. When Lan Wangji opens his eyes, he's fifteen again.

Phobia, by yougetsomekisses

What if Lan Wangji had been thrown in that dungeon with Wei Wuxian?

Snow Hunt, by InsanitysxCreation

A short scene of a winter hunt.

Entirely self indulgent, in that the idea of Lan Wangji in white leather gloves arrived in my brain and wouldn't let me continue until I'd written this.

真金不怕火炼 | True Gold Fears No Fire, by adrian_kres

In the immediate aftermath of a successful Sunshot Campaign, Wei Ying is kissed by Lan Zhan at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt while blindfolded. But when the blindfold comes off, Lan Zhan is nowhere to be found. Now, Wei Ying must deal with this heartbreak on top of forced therapy he was mandated to complete due to using demonic cultivation to end the war. Through it all, Wei Ying learns he has value, and that his assumptions about what happened at the hunt may not be entirely correct.

Fantasy, by snowberryrose (3 chapters)

In which Wen Qing leaves Or: Wen Qing rescues herself

Canon divergence from episode 20

Chapter 2: Qin Su’s choice Chapter 3: Xue Yang’s end

Four Parts Honey and One Part Vinegar, by masked (6 chapters)

“You know,” Ouyang Zizhen says thoughtfully over dinner one day, “I’ve never seen Wei-qianbei get jealous before.”

Lan Jingyi pauses for the briefest second, remembers the sect rule of keeping silence during meals, and decidedly forgoes it. “What?”

“Well,” Ouyang Zizhen continues, “Hanguang-jun always has a lot of admirers everywhere we go, but Wei-qianbei never seems to mind it.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Jin Ling asks flatly.

Four times Wei Wuxian doesn't get jealous, and the one time he does.

sweet dreams, by ShippersList

Distance won’t hinder Wei Wuxian from giving his Lan Zhan a goodnight kiss.

Sugar Baby, by nirejseki

“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue said, and uh oh, that sounded like his ‘bad news’ voice. “We need to talk about your spending.”

That was worse than Nie Huaisang had thought.

“Is the talk going to be about how amazingly economical I am in making intelligent and aesthetically appropriate purchases?” he asked hopefully, clutching his latest and most aesthetic fan.

“Oddly enough,” his brother said, “no.”

Somehow, Nie Huaisang hadn’t thought so.

He was...No, He was Incompetent, by Corundum_Creations

He was Lan Wangji, a Twin Jade of the Lan Clan and he could face anything... so how did he become so incompetent with taking his Wei Ying and hiding him away?

The Resentful Cultivator Who Cried 'I'm Fine', by Mikkeneko

"Who's possessed?" another voice joined the scrum, and Wei Wuxian moaned in despair as Jiang Cheng came marching over to join the rest of the party, glaring daggers at Wei Wuxian for being the source of all this trouble. Purple lightning crackled on his wrist as his eyes narrowed. "This idiot got possessed? I can take care of that with Zidian! Stand back!"

"Ahaha, Jiang Cheng, there's no need for that!" he protested hurriedly. "Really, I'm not possessed!"

"Ah," Lan Jingyi nodded knowingly. "That's exactly what someone who was possessed and trying to throw us off the trail would say!"

---

While on a night-hunt with his friends and family, Wei Wuxian takes a near miss from a dangerous beast. Fortunately he wasn't hurt... but for some reason, they have trouble believing him when he says I'm fine.

Why I Can’t Help But Love Red, by spiralingbutmakeitanimerelated

Lan Wangji takes a bath after a night hunt. Wei Wuxian has questions about the night he branded himself.

Not Till Then Dare I Part From You, by forgottenenvy

WangXian share a tender moment as Lan Wangji braids flowers into Wei Wuxian's hair.

Snowmelt, by sugar_shoal

Lan Zhan has been badly injured on a night-hunt. Wei Wuxian panics only a little. Jiang Cheng drags them all to a nearby abandoned hut to wait out the encroaching blizzard.

Head Empty, Only Wei Ying, by nana_banana

Wei Ying is getting married? To someone not Lan Wangji? Fuck. Not if Lan Wangji has anything to say about it.

sparrow heart, by CeliaBlair24 (fourth in a series)

They pass notes through the spaces between their desks about nonsensical, inconsequential things. About the weather and birds, romance novels, and the forest behind the Cloud Recesses where they spend all their afternoons playing.

And Wei Wuxian is smart, both by the books and on his feet. If he wanted to, he could easily play Lan-xiansheng’s favorite class pet --studious and diligent about being studious; creative besides-- but he doesn’t. He listens to Lan-xiansheng and Jiang Wanyin’s complaints with half an ear and when all is said and done, he turns his back on them both and greets Nie Huaisang with his cheeky smile.

Otherwise known as "Nie Huaisang falls into like."

Retrospective on the State of the Field: Qinghe Patron X (QPX) Studies, by bladedweaponsandswishycoats (jeweledichneumon)

"Qinghe Patron X, eh?" Nie Huaisang chuckles, noticing the heading. Licking his lips, he circles the listing for the conference panel with a yellow highlighter. Despite the moniker having become common several years ago, he still gets a kick out of it. Of course he'd have to go to that one. He takes a moment to feel the faint touch of regret that he isn't on the panel himself; it is always more fun messing with people as a panelist than trying to rely on the Q&A period to say something provocative but relevant.

In which immortal cultivator Nie Huaisang likes to fuck around with scholars attempting to study what they think they know about him, and other shenanigans he gets up to (both with and without the help of his friends) in the modern age.

The year is 2021. Lan Wangji still goes where the chaos is, though these days that can mean a lot more than night hunts. Especially when Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang are dedicated to making sure being immortal never gets boring.

A Story for the Ages, by Supernova_Sage

Lan Wangji saunters over to the mystery section. He can hear people whispering, but he isn’t close enough to make sense of the conversation. The lilt in the voice makes it sound like one person is asking a question. Hmm. If he can hear whispering, they’re still being far too loud. He shakes his head and continues his browsing. He pulls his phone out to check the time. It’s nearly 6p. He really should get home. He still needs to feed the bunnies and feed himself and look over emails and—

He stops in his tracks. Stops when he sees the book that he’s been waiting to check out for months now. Every time he’s stopped by, though, it’s been checked out by someone else. And now it’s finally here. Sitting on the shelf in front of him. Once he manages to collect himself, he reaches for it. His fingers don’t touch the spine of the book, though. Instead, he finds his fingers brushing against the fingers of another.

DanTian - Into the Dark (LWJ), by ArchiveWriter (fourth in a series)

Wangji's memory holds images of Wei Ying. Wangji does penance by reliving his memories, and by making sure Wei Ying is loved. Wangji burns the millet porridge he's supposed to stir whilst Wei Ying fetches water for tea.

chasing echoes, by SWANPYRE

Lan Wangji must learn to co-exist with what he has learned his entire life to despise.

Snowfall, by nightflower

During a winter storm in Cloud Recesses, Wangji's old scars ache. Wei Ying takes care of him.

relics of love, by cl410

“Oh my god. Oh my god.”

Lan Zhan pinched the bridge of his nose. “The bunnies were almost eaten.”

“Our son was almost traumatized for life,” Wei Ying said, choking on a laugh. “Lan Zhan, he almost witnessed a double homicide on our own balcony.” He wheezed with laughter, clutching his ribs.

“We will install higher locks,” Lan Zhan said grimly.

Rated G:

A-Yuan's guide to eat the rich (a.k.a. How A-Yuan single handedly stopped a siege from happening and saved everyone), by fanficaddictXOXO

A-Yuan is only three years old. But he knows many things. He knows how to write his name. He knows potatoes are better than radishes (Xian gege said so). But the most important thing he knows is that the handsome gege with a white forehead ribbon is rich.

Obviously You Hate Me, by Sarehz

Wei Wuxian leans across the round table. "Okay, this isn't going to work."

From across the very same table, Lan Wangji raises one puzzled eyebrow. "Mn?"

"This!" Wei Wuxian gestures between them.

Begotten, by ecorie (6 chapters)

“He’s mine.” He echoed what had once been teasingly said in jest, and added, “This is my son.”

Against all odds and without a choice, Lan Zhan brings A-Yuan back to Cloud Recesses. Xichen keeps his brother’s secrets, and shields the child when Lan Zhan could not.

Alone Stands the Quiet, by ecorie

The story of the Yin Iron starts with a celestial war and ends with Lan Sizhui.

A Good Plan, by nirejseki

“The…Lan sect?” Meng Yao said doubtfully. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” his mother said, her mouth tight. She looked upset, the way she always did these days when he referenced, intentionally or otherwise, the original plan that she had had to send him to join his father, sect leader of Lanling Jin. She’d raised Meng Yao on a steady diet of stories of what his life would be like when his father finally took him back the way he’d promised her he would, stories that had filled his days and nights for years and years and years, and then just last year she’d suddenly stopped talking about it entirely. It was as if the person who’d told those stories had nothing to do with her.

Meng Yao didn’t know what had happened, but he assumed it must have been pretty bad.

“It'll be a good fit,” she added.

The Late Great Custody Debate, by stiltonbasket (5 chapters)

"You owe me child support," Lan Zhan blurts, before Wei Wuxian can open his mouth to say hello to him. "Take responsibility."

Or, the one where Lan Wangji's pet rabbit has a better love life than he does, and single father Wei Wuxian develops a healthy fear of attorneys, courtesy of his next-door neighbor.

Switcheroo, by nirejseki

Mo Xuanyu thought that this Wei Wuxian person whose body he’d stolen must have been a really interesting person, mostly because he’d been here for three days so far and nobody’d noticed the switch yet.

A Kiss for you, my love, by Speechless_since_1998

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Suddenly the attention of the whole hall turned to Nie Huaisang, near the orchestra with a microphone in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, "On this wonderful evening I would like to share with you all the happiness I feel. for a wonderful couple who got married today. " Wait a minute did he say marriage? He must have heard right, even Lan Zhan had stiffened. “Let's give him a wonderful round of applause. To Wei Ying and Lan Zhan newlyweds. " Hot shit. They weren't supposed to attract attention.

The attention of the room focused on them, whispers in the crowd, some scandalized, some excited. Nie Huaisang motioned for him to keep the game, but what was she supposed to do ?! "Lan Zhan, we mustn't ..." He didn't have time to finish the sentence as Lan Zhan kissed him. In front of everyone.

Soulmates, by Yacs_Weasley

Ever since he was a little boy, Wangji had longed to find his soulmate.

Stay with me, by KatAnni

Sizhui's memories come to him in pieces, and some of them in dreams. This time, he dreams of Wei Wuxian putting him in a tree. He runs to the Jingshi immediately, to find his Baba.

The truth, by syriala (first in a series)

“Do you even remember a single person of those you killed after the war?” he demands to know and Jiang Cheng turns his glare on him.

“Why should I?” Jiang Cheng asks and a fearful hush falls over the crowd. “Do any of you remember even a single person you killed in your lives?” he asks them and is met with a pretty telling silence.

“You’re a monster,” someone whispers, but in the quiet it rings out loud and clear.

Jiang Cheng has heard these words a lot in the past sixteen years, and so he simply smiles at them, even though they sting like always.

He reminds himself that the people that matter know the truth, that they know him for who he truly is, and that it has to be enough.

Boys, by nirejseki

“Hey,” Lao Nie protested mildly. “Who’s the father here, me or you?”

“If a-die wants a new wife, little uncle will find one that isn’t inclined to kill him.”

That sounded like a recitation.

“Then what’s even the point,” Lao Nie grumbled, and reached out to ruffle his son’s hair, enjoying how Nie Mingjue yelped when he did, glaring up at him with offended dignity.

Loss, by FlutterFyre

Lan Wangji knows something is wrong.

Hearsay, by syriala (second in a series)

“A girl went missing a few days back,” Wei Wuxian says, voice serious, and Jiang Cheng can just imagine the accusatory look on his face. “Coincidentally you were seen in that area during the same time.”

“So?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and Wei Wuxian makes a frustrated sound.

“What did you do with her?” Wei Wuxian asks him, even though he clearly already made up an answer for himself.

An ally, by syriala (third in a series)

“I just don’t want you to force yourself to face them,” Jiang Cheng finally says and Jiang Xiuying smiles at him.

“I’m not forcing myself. I am going on my own free will. It will be fine. And besides, Lan Xichen was never the reason I left.”

“But he didn’t stop you either,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and then rolls his eyes. “Fine. Accompany me, see if I care.”

“All I see is you caring,” Jiang Xiuying honestly gives back and Jiang Cheng flushes bright red.

Escalation, by syriala (fourth in a series)

“How can you lie to him like that?” Lan Wangji wants to know but it seems to be morbid curiosity more than anything else, because he goes right on. “You’re coming with me to the Cloud Recesses. There will be a trial.”

“A trial,” Jiang Cheng scoffs out, because it’s a farce and nothing more.

Lan Wangji has already decided on his sentence. And they all know it's going to be death.

Resolve, by syriala (fifth in a series)

“Regarding the accusations made against me today,” he starts and cuts his glare over to Sect Leader Yao, who has the good grace to shrink back at the venom in that glare, “I have something to say.”

“Speak,” Lan Wangji demands, but he doesn’t sound too sure all of a sudden, doesn’t seem too happy with the proceedings, and Jiang Cheng does rather enjoy the feeling of triumph it brings him.

“I am innocent. I did not kill any demonic cultivators, nor did I torture them.”

His voice rings out in the courtyard because everyone is silent for two seconds, but then chaos erupts. The voices calling him a liar are the kinder ones, and Jiang Cheng shakes his head at them.

“And I have proof,” he continues, raising his voice so that it carries over the others.

Devotion - Gather, by syriala (sixth in a series)

“What?” Jiang Cheng asks, because for once he is in no immediate danger of being murdered by the other Sects and Jiang Cheng really doesn’t think that look is fair.

“You absolute asshole,” Jiang Xiuying hisses at him and Jiang Cheng knows that if he wasn’t injured Jiang Xiuying would try to slap him over the head or shake him until he sees sense.

“What? What did I do now?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because he was asleep! There is no way he could have done something to upset Jiang Xiuying like this!

“I don’t even know where to start,” Jiang Xiuying says and starts to pace Jiang Cheng’s room, without giving any thought to the fact that this is Jiang Cheng’s bedroom and he really shouldn’t be here.

Well, Jiang Cheng is not going to say that to him, because with the mood Jiang Xiuying is in right now it wouldn’t go over well for Jiang Cheng, Sect Leader or not. Not that he actually cares anyway.

It’s Jiang Xiuying after all.

Home in Lotus Pier, by syriala (seventh in a series)

Jiang Cheng's angry frown turns into a confused frown when he sits down for breakfast and finds a box next to his bowl of congee.

“What is this?” he asks into the room, because someone is bound to be around, but he doesn’t get an answer and Jiang Cheng heaves out a sigh.

He tugs the box close and opens it and he’s surprised to find that his favourite tea is in it. It’s hard to come by lately, as it is entirely seasonal and only grown in a small spot in Sect Leader Yao’s territory, and after everything that happened at the Cloud Recesses a few months back, he already mentally said goodbye to it.

He wouldn’t be getting any more supplies from Sect Leader Yao after all, so this is more than surprising.

But the gifts don't stop there.

Parallelism, not equivalence, by DreamaholicsAnonymous

Wei Wuxian reminded him of Xingchen, Song Lan thinks, not for the first time.

Bring Your Secrets, Bring Your Scars, by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (fourth in a series)

Nie MingJue keeps his promises.

All Your Madness, I Will Tame, by Terri Botha (Isilwath) (fifth in a series)

Wen Qing in the Burial Mounds.

Puppy, by Speechless_since_1998

Returning home, Lan Zhan found his husband hiding behind the sofa and A-Yuan sitting on the ground playing with a puppy dog.

The puppy must have been a few months old, probably hadn't even been weaned. It was harmless, but Wei Ying didn't care. It was enough that it was a dog to be afraid.

“Ah, Lan Zhan! You finally arrived! Take that monster away!" Wei Ying pleaded, refusing to come out of hiding.

A-Yuan puffed out her cheeks, "Shiro is not a monster!"

Heaven, he had already given it a name.

Being Good, by ricochet

Lan Wangji tries to be good.

no shadow can touch, by sunflowersfield

When it is time to hand out the mics, Lan Zhan forces himself to lower his expectations. Their exchange will be fleeting, and Wei Ying will barely even look at him.

Or: Wei Ying is cast in a musical at his local community center. Lan Zhan is the theater technician.

make a mess (inside my heart), by avenqelic

Wei Wuxian looked comfortable against Lan Wangji’s white sheets, curled up in his blankets. Lan Wangji’s chest ached, mind swirling with possibilities – falling asleep looking into Wei Wuxian’s eyes, waking up in his arms, holding each other close as the moon shifted across the sky and the sun rose.

Finding a way home, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

Prompt idea for a less than one thousand words one shot! Lwj walks into a coffee shop and barista wwx cannot stop flirting with him while both of them are dying on the inside because the other is so handsome! Wwx writes his number on the cup! Up to you if lwj has an existencial crisis after finding the number or if he even finds the number. Bonus points if the oneshot ends with lwj going back to the cafe and wwx smiles at him when he sees him! — this is a.a. now with a prompt

DanTian - Planting Gentians (LWJ POV), by ArchiveWriter (1 chapter plus art)

Wei Ying's been up their old mountain early in the morning. Wangji does needlework and indulges in watching Wei Ying's hands. A slice of domestic contentment because I like them happy.

Tease, by annjellybean

Now, Wei Ying had long outgrown teasing his husband mercilessly the way he used to back in their childhood days, they had been through so much since then, he had honestly forgotten how to do so. That being said, it did not mean Wei Ying had completely forgotten his gremlin roots, and as a self-proclaimed gremlin husband, today he wanted to tease.

Pure Morning, by ShizunThirst

It’s on mornings like these that Lan Wangji can love Wei Wuxian the way he deserves to be loved.

deeper etchings, by fensandmarshes

“And remember, a-Yuan,” comes the voice, lowered but still loud as though it shuns the petty boundaries of the house, “you absolutely cannot tell diedie about this.”

Lan Wangji pauses, there in the middle of the portal array, halfway through setting down his bag, and tilts his head just slightly.

Caring Warmth, by MountainMist

Wei Ying is sick and lonely. Head empty only Lan Zhan.

And how Lan Zhan takes care of him.

just them, together., by adeptiwings

It was okay, now that it was just them.

the boy with rabbit ears, by dragontea

Lan Zhan got lost in an amusement park and found his way home in the company of the boy with rabbit ears.

heart-shaped knots, by twigofwillow

There’s been a ghost in Cloud Recesses for over thirty years, but no one has talked to her until now.

Setting Suns and Dawning Realisations, by wereworm

Wei Wuxian's plans for a romantic night out in Caiyi with Lan Zhan are ruined when he works late, the sun already setting by the time he makes his way home to the Jingshi. Instead, they enjoy a quiet night in and Wei Wuxian comes to terms with the peace that he'd fought so hard to earn and the life that's he's finally allowed to have.

[For the prompt: a sweet wangxian date night in]

Won This For You, by Preludian_Staves

He looks up as his husband comes into the room with something suspiciously large hidden behind his back.

A single soul (no more), by Lysdance1

The core transfer surgery goes as in canon BUT it leaves the spiritual link open between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and, well, what goes one way can go both ways.

"It's what keeps him (mostly) sane, a tether in this dark place where he cannot feed and cannot sleep and cannot escape; through the link he feels - trickles of love, Jiang Cheng's worry for him. It shouldn't be enough, but somehow, in this dark, dark place, it is. It reminds him, faintly, of home, and in the dark he hears the rhythm of one, luminous, far away soul."

To Need Someone, by Preludian_Staves

"A-die?"

"Hm?"

"What does mean to need someone? To want them with you?"

Approval, by Speechless_since_1998

"You look tired, "he said, sipping his tea. He shouldn't, it wasn't kind. But he couldn't resist teasing him a little.

Lan Zhan stared at him blankly, "I've been drinking."

"I saw."

"I kissed Wei Ying."

"I saw that too."

And thanks to the gods there was no uncle because he hated worldly occasions, otherwise he would have a heart attack.

"We had sex at his adoptive parents' home."

"And?"

Lan Zhan raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you surprised?"

"Oh, sorry, now I'll try again ... Really? !!"

"You're not funny."

Unfinished:

Not Rated:

An Obsidian Among Jades, by bluebeads

What happens when a sad lost mantou cheeked Lan Zhan teams up with a cheerful one to find his family in the unfamiliar streets of Yilling. A Yu Ziyuan Ultimatum AU which I submitted a while ago on angstymdzsthoughts Also a Gusu Lan Sect Wei Wuxian.

I've had enough, by pluma1007

He is ascending. They’re minds unhelpfully supplied.

Then, Wei Wuxian is gone.

The cultivators are in disarray.

“Wei Wuxian… Wei Wuxian ascended!”

“How can this be?! A monster ascended?!”

“No! My core! My powers had diminished!”

Hearing that, the cultivators checked their cores. Gasps rang out the mountains. Enraged cries are heard, cursing Wei Wuxian. There are also those who kowtowed, praying for forgiveness. There are others who praised him.

Song of Joy and Regrets, by HelloKitten

The Archery competition at Qishan this year has hit a snag. As the Sects face the wrongs perpetrated by their future selves, Wei Wuxian finds himself adopted by half of the cultivation world who are determined to save him from himself.

Baby Wangxian suffers. Adult Wangxian's job here is done.

"I'm starting to see a pattern to all his plans..."

"Do they all involve him being bait?"

"Yes" came deadpanned responses.

Hua Cheng is not amused.

Rated E:

the long way back home, by Misila

Wei Ying always knew he was the single discordant note in the Jiang household. That was why, after graduating from university, he didn’t return home. With him gone, Yu Ziyuan wouldn’t have anyone to compare her son to, and Jiang Fengmian wouldn’t have to keep avoiding his own family to prevent further conflict.

…Right?

(Seven years later, married to the man of his life and with a four year-old son, Wei Ying returns to his hometown and tries to reconnect with his siblings and befriend his nephew; but, most of all, he struggles to figure out what’s wrong with his brother and how to help him, despite Jiang Cheng not wanting to have anything to do with him anymore.)

Will You Stand Beside Me, by trashgavin

Wei Wuxian takes all his strength and spits blood in Wen Chao’s face. His eyes narrow and he speaks, though his voice is quiet and full of pain.

“Go to hell.”

It only makes Wen Chao laugh. He releases his hair and stands to his feet. “Bring me a whip.”

Rated M:

For the Dust and the Dirt, by Nyxelestia

His breath came out in shaky gasps, but still he could do nothing as the demonic copy of himself brought the blade down to the bare skin of Wei Wuxian’s uninjured shoulder. He whimpered when he felt a small cut, then when the blade lifted. He didn’t have time to even think of relief before it came back, right next to the first cut in a different direction, then again below in a line, multiple small lines in multiple directions like…like a character.

“Like I said,” the demon mused as Wei Wuxian realized what it was doing. “I’ll write it down for you.”

A brutal assault on a Cloud Recesses student leaves the Cultivation world reeling. Wei Wuxian struggles to recover, while everyone else tries to make sense of an ominous message. But since when do demons care about sect politics, anyway?

Between Wen Ruohan's rising aggression, simmering tensions across the guest disciples, and the mysterious fierce corpses still popping up all over the place, Wei Wuxian would rather ignore the confusing, horrifying visions the demon left him with.

If only the demon's taunting predictions didn't keep coming true at every turn.

I Know How Those in Exile Feed on Dreams of Hope, by rabbit_habits & saltedpin

“What does it mean, that Wen Ruohan has all the Yin Iron?” Jiang Cheng asked, dragging himself up into a sitting position – her medicines must have worked quickly, because his ribs gave only a twinge when he moved.

Wen Qing settled down beside him, head bowed as she packed away her supplies, her shoulder brushing his arm when she moved. “It means that no one in the cultivation world can oppose him,” she whispered.

—

Canon divergence AU in which Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan are captured by the Wens after escaping from the Xuanwu's cave, before they can return to rescue Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

Misunderstood, by Silver_Flame_2724

There is something called a memory ball that shows the memories of a chosen person.

In order to further incriminate the already dead Yiling Patriarch, the cultivation world decides to use this memory ball at the next Discussion Conference to show how evil the demonic cultivator can truly be.

What appears, though, truly shocks them all.

laughing shadow, by ich_bin_ein_stern

During the commotion involving Wei Wuxian, A-Ling refused little sleep. His screams carried across Koi Tower, putting wailing ghosts too shame. He was inconsolable by everyone. It was only when Jin Zixuan unintentionally passed the room holding Wei Wuxian while trying to calm down his son did A-Ling miraculously settle down. Since then, he has slept peacefully every night. Yanli expressed, in the quiet and security of their bedroom, that perhaps Wei Wuxian's spirit soothed A-Ling and continues to do so.

At the least expected times, Jin Zixuan swears he can hear the distant sound of a flute.

But when he stops to actually listen for it, he hears nothing.

Come From My Inkstone, by magicgenetek

“So your plan,” Nie Mingjue said dubiously, “is to move into the Burial Mounds to write and illustrate erotica about you and Lan Wangji seducing the Yiling Patriarch to earn his trust and sell the public on the idea that he's not a threat, then convince him to give up the Yin Tiger Seal?"

“The way I said it sounded better,” Nie Huaisang said. “And you forgot the part about me seducing the Ghost General, that is crucial.”

“I hate this, and as your brother, I am begging you not to actually stick it in a fierce corpse. How much money do you need?”

Rated T:

Here We Go Again, by Alliandra

He looked over to where the swordswoman was still fighting, but her focus seemed entirely locked onto that fight so it was unlikely that she could have had anything to do with the energy drain. He was still wracking his brain for something else to do to assist, so this thing didn’t kill them both, but now he was feeling weak, dizzy and currently not far from helpless.

~~~~~~~~~~

It has been several months since the events at the Guanyin temple and Wei Wuxian is wandering around on his own. After he helps a stranger kill a very dangerous beast he uncovers what seems to be a conspiracy aimed at ending his life. He heads back to Cloud Recesses with his new companion in tow, looking to get Lan Wanji's help in working out what is involved.

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling made a surprising discovery under Koi Tower that may well be linked to the threat against Wei Wuxian's life.

Can they all work together to find out what is going on and put a stop to it, before something disastrous occurs?

A place of Gold, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

A few days after Wei Wuxian has parted from Lan Wangji on a forest path, he gets surrounded by Jin officials in an Inn, who formally ask him to return to Jinlintai to fill in the position of Sect Leader, as is his right and duty.

Wei Wuxian thinks it is an artful prank. Until it is not.

Blossoming flowers in a full moon - 花好月圆, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

What if Wei Wuxian wasn’t able to get out of Lan Wangji’s grip at the cliff in Nevernight? What if Lan Wangji refused to let go?

All will be well when the day is done, by abCEE

The one where Yu Ziyuan time traveled but she thought that it was her visions of her alternate life.

She learned that there is a brat named Wei Ying who brought destruction to her and her family's life.

And so in her present, she vowed that she will never allow that to happen.

In which Yu Ziyuan found the four-year-old Wei Ying, newly pushed out of the inn where his parents left him, and decided that no, this child must never be associated with her, her family, and their sect at all.

And so Yu Ziyuan thought that she could bring him somewhere where someone may or may not find him but definitely far from where her husband could find him. If he's lucky, he'll survive that winter, if he's not, then death awaits the fevered child.

This is the extent of mercy that Yu Ziyuan could give a child.

With this, she'll raise her children without having to deal with a brat that brings trouble where he goes according to her visions of her alternate life.

Like the tag stated, this is definitely not Yu Ziyuan centric.

Rated G:

How Jin Zixuan Helps Everyone, by BryxcrSt

The Yunmeng Heroes, Twin Jades, Nie Huaisang, The Peacock, Cinnamon Roll Ghost General and Lan Qiren suddenly transport back to the past before the Conference in Qishan, with their very memory of how all their clans battled Wen Rouhan's and now they're all ready to prevent it from happening now that they're back to the past. Especially Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian.

Surprisingly, Jin Zixuan wants to help them instead of standing out of the front line like how he used to but what can he do?

To Repeat, Repay, and Repair, by adrian_kres

Wei Wuxian has died again and his family grieves. Lan Sizhui, now married and with children of his own, grieves the loss of both fathers, as Lan Wangji has entered seclusion. But somehow, he unknowingly sends himself back to the time he spent in the Burial Mounds at three years old. Will his family take his confused, nonsensical warnings seriously? Are they doomed to repeat the same fate?

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #chen qing ling #cql #mdzs #wangxian #untamed fanfiction

16 notes · View notes

besanii · 4 years

Note

Hi! Am rereading your shattered mirrors verse and I love it so much. Are we going to get the scene in which WWX explains everything that’s happened to him (with the poison) etc to LWJ after they meet wen yuan?? I’m dying for the angst but also fluff and comfort 🥺🥺🥺

@lurkingscientist asked:

I can’t wait to hear about all the sad things wwx experienced!!! :D my “stabby stabby stab stab stab” is feeling slightly neglected

Shattered Mirrors #61

“I haven’t told you everything.”

In the thirteen years Wei Wuxian had been gone, Lan Wangji searched desperately for every scrap of information he could get his hands on, from every channel he could access, in hopes of finding him. Or finding out what had happened to him. What he could find was piecemeal at best and unreliable at worst, often conflicting depending on the source. The result was him, driven mad by desperation and grief, chasing ghosts in the shadows until he could no longer tell what was real.

Even now, with Wei Wuxian back at his side these last two years, happy and content and safe, he still does not have a clear picture of what had happened during the war. If he’s being honest, he’s afraid to ask, and even more afraid to know. He tells himself it’s enough just to have Wei Wuxian by his side again. He doesn’t need to know, if Wei Wuxian does not want to share.

So Wei Wuxian’s confession punches the air from his lungs and he feels in its wake, his hands trembling where they’re entwined. Wei Wuxian watches him with the same care one would give to a startled animal ready to flee.

“That is,” he amends hesitantly, “if you wish to know.”

Lan Wangji inhales, and exhales again, with a shudder. Squares his shoulders. Looks him in the eye.

“Yes,” he says. “I do.”

It is Wei Wuxian’s turn to take a deep breath, the tentative little smile on his lips giving way to steely resolve. On his other side, Wen Yuan kneels by the bed, wordlessly offering his unwavering support. Despite all this, it takes Wei Wuxian some time to find the right words to convey the enormity of what he is about to disclose.

“I don’t know where to begin,” he admits with a shaky laugh, looking down at their joined hands. “I suppose you already know how Yunmeng fell.”

Lan Wangji nods. He has heard scattered details, enough to know that there had been a traitor in their midst, someone who had fed false information through their intelligence network while Wei Wuxian had been in Gusu. They had managed to secure Yunping, but sustained heavy losses that severely weakened their defences. The traitor had been found, but by then the Qishan Wen army was already at their doorstep, ten thousand strong, and they had no way out.

“We evacuated as many civilians as we could. Jiang Cheng, Jiang-wang and Yu-wanghou stayed behind to defend the city,” he says. His eyes and voice are distant, lost in his memories. “I took Shijie and we escaped via the lakes, with the rest of the civilians. Our priority was to get to Yunping, and then to Lanling. Shijie was engaged to Jin Zixuan, so they would definitely come to our aid—or at the very least, they would keep her safe while I gathered reinforcements.

“They were there,” he continues, still in that far-off voice. “Wen Chao and his men. They had split their forces to ambush us while we were defenceless. Our boats were burned, our people drowned—we in Yunmeng are strong swimmers, but even the strongest swimmers cannot survive when arrows rain down from the sky.”

He shivers with his next breath, but his voice is steady.

“I entrusted Shijie to my lieutenant, instructed them to use one of the overturned boats to cover their escape, while I distracted Wen Chao.” He smiles, but it’s stark and without humour. “We’ve had…altercations in the past, so I knew I would be an adequate distraction. I held him off for as long as I could, kept his attention on me. But I was only one person, and he had an army.”

The reports that had come out of Yunmeng around that time—the ones Lan Xichen had allowed him to read while recovering from his punishment, at least—had painted a picture so bleak, so devastating that he had wept. The lakes of Yunmeng, once teeming with colour and life, stained red with blood over the course of one night; and Lotus Pier, its seat of power, that had once risen from the depths of the lakes like a mirage, burned to ash. He had been back to the ruins of Lotus Pier in the intervening years as it was slowly rebuilt after the war—Gusu had offered aid wherever possible, in both money and manpower, as well as political support for the Yu family of Meishan, the maiden family of Queen Yu Ziyuan, who had been installed as stewards in the absence of the ruling family—but the shadows of war still haunts its streets and darkens its waters even now.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes fall closed and his fingers tighten around Lan Wangji’s.

“There’s a stronghold in Yiling,” he says. “Some call it the Burial Mounds, or the Mass Grave. Beneath the fortress, there’s an extensive network of cells that run beneath the mountains. That’s where they keep their highest security prisoners, the ones who get…special treatment.”

There is no need to ask what ‘special’ means, so Lan Wangji stays silent. His blood, however, runs cold—as cold as Wei Wuxian’s voice as he continues his narrative, detached.

“Wen Chao had a special—” that word again, spoken with such venom that it curdles in Lan Wangji’s stomach and burns his throat, “cell prepared. More a cage, really. Every second shichen, it would be submerged in water up to the neck, and stay there for another shichen until it was raised again. In the interim, the prisoner would be left soaking wet in the cold, damp cell.”

The memory of Wei Wuxian at the water’s edge, the frantic terror on his face as he struggles to breathe despite not having come into contact with it, the frailty, the susceptibility to cold and illness—it is all starting to fall into place, one horrifying piece at a time. But Wei Wuxian is not finished.

“There were beatings, of course.” A sudden, fierce anger wraps around Lan Wangji’s heart at the matter-of-fact way in which he says it. “Wen Chao always did have a sadistic streak. He liked to hang people up by the arms and have them whipped, or burned, or flogged. Sometimes he’d leave them there for more than a day, weighed down at the ankles, blindfolded, while they tortured others around them.”

A hand extricates itself from Lan Wangji’s death grip and peels back the edge of a sleeve to reveal the scars along his arms. Dozens of them, some longer and thicker, others as thin and fine as thread, criss-cross along the pale flesh. As he traces quivering fingers along the skin, Lan Wangji feels each cut, each slice, on his heart. Then Wei Wuxian turns his hand over, revealing a large, pale scar on the inside of his wrist, and a matching on on the other, too precise to be self-inflicted. He inhales sharply in realisation.

“Your hands—” he chokes, eyes wide as he stares at the scars. “He didn’t—”

Wei Wuxian lets the sleeves fall back down to cover the scars.

“If you fight back,” he explains woodenly, “they cut the tendons in your wrists and ankles. They’ll send a doctor to look over your injuries, of course. There is no benefit, no value, in a dead prisoner of war. That’s how I met Wen Qing and her brother, Wen Ning.”

“My aunt and uncle,” Wen Yuan, who has been silent until now, explains. Lan Wangji had almost forgotten his presence. He smiles sadly. “They were taken by my great-uncle as hostages to ensure our branch of the family supported the war effort, and served as doctors on the front lines.”

Wei Wuxian’s lips curl into a smile—not the harsh, bitter ones from before, but softer, tinged with grief.

“They took care of me,” he says. “Wen Qing was the best doctor in all of Qishan. There was no illness she could not cure, no injury she could not fix. And Wen Ning…Wen Ning was the kindest person I have ever met. Too kind, too gentle for war. They did their best to help me—slipped me medicines and food whenever they could, diverted Wen Chao’s attentions away from me when it got too much.”

His voice wavers and breaks.

“They died trying to get me out,” he says hoarsely. “First Wen Ning, then Wen Qing. And I couldn’t—I couldn’t do anything to save them—”

Lan Wangji gathers him into his arms, crushes him against his chest as he cries out in anguish, his body wracked with sobs. His own eyes are hot, and he sees Wen Yuan’s are also bright with unshed tears when their gazes meet over Wei Wuxian’s head. They stay like this until he quietens, curled in Lan Wangji’s embrace, eyes hollow and wrung out. Lan Wangji is about to suggest that they continue this another day when Wei Wuxian rouses himself with a shaky breath, and continues.

“They killed Wen Ning in front of me,” he says. “And then they forced Wen Qing to take the same deadly poison they had been using to experiment with on us—”

“Qianji poison,” Lan Wangji says before he can stop himself. Both Wen Yuan and Wei Wuxian turn to him in shock. He lowers his eyes. “You fell ill after your performance at Caiyun Pavilion,” he tells Wei Wuxian. “I had a physician brought in to see you.”

He is careful to leave out Mo Xuanyu and Madam Zhang’s involvement, but Wei Wuxian is not fooled. But rather than get angry, as they had feared, he only shakes his head and laughs.

“I should have guessed,” he says. “They always liked to make a fuss.”

“They care about you,” Lan Wangji chides him gently. “And I am glad they told me, so I was better prepared to take care of you like I promised.”

This time when Wei Wuxian turns into the cradle of his arms, it is out of exhaustion, as if a great weight has been lifted from his chest, and his eyes drift closed as Lan Wangji strokes his hair with gentle motions. There is still more to the story, Lan Wangji knows—and there are questions burning in his mind. But he feels the sag of Wei Wuxian’s body against his, the heaviness of his breath, and cannot bring himself to press him further. They have time. After a moment of silence, when Lan Wangji thinks him asleep, he stirs.

“I’m tired,” he murmurs. “So tired.”

“You’ve done well, Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji reminds him. “Get some rest.”

Wen Yuan excuses himself as Wei Wuxian hums and nestles deeper into his arms. Lan Wangji nods at him gratefully and watches him leave, keeping his movements quiet so as to not disturb Wei Wuxian’s rest.

“I think I’ll close my eyes for a while,” Wei Wuxian agrees, his words already starting to slur. “I just need…a little break.”

Lan Wangji presses a light kiss on his forehead.

“Take all the time you need,” he says. “I’ll be here when you wake.”

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#dreamaholicsanonymous #lurkingscientist #asks #shattered mirrors fic #shattered mirrors au #lan wangji #wei wuxian #mdzs #wangxian #王爷机 X 花魁羡 #prince!lwj #courtesan!wwx #🥢#🔪🔪🔪🔪#torture mention cw #my writing

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pastthevaulteddoors · 3 years

Text

Jiang Cheng wasn’t running. No, he wasn’t breaking any Gusu rules. He was, however, sprinting like a mad dog around the bamboo houses of the Lan’s private dwellings. After turning around many bends to lose his quarry, he realized he himself was lost. Great.

And, on top of that, Jiang Cheng could still hear the looming, playful trot of his annoying broth- of THAT annoying person not far off, singing out his name and not caring a wit for the quiet of the mountain’s serenity. So, JC decided to hide rather than run. He had to do something to get that brat off his tail.

So he hopped a reed fence and couched beside someone’s back deck in hopes of missing his bro- that person’s attention.

It didn’t work. Jiang Cheng could hear Wei Wuxian’s happy humming as he headed his way. The hunt was a game to him, even giving JC warning before he pounced!

JC was not a coward, he was not hiding in fear of another man. He just... couldn’t really smack this one around and he was REALLY really annoying.

“Shit,” he cussed under his breath, just before a door slid open. Great, now the resident was going to have a reason to gossip about seeing a sect leader cower in the bushes (because, of course those told not to gossip were the biggest gossips of all!)

Before he could bolt, however, a figure stood in the doorway. They appeared almost ghostly in white Lan robes, shadowed heavily by the darkness of the room inside. But they weren’t a ghost, as a hand waved them inside. JC only hesitated a moment before hearing Wei Wuxian come near the reed fence before he dashed inside like purple lightning.

The reprieve of relief was momentary when the figure’s hand shot out and touched the side of his neck. JC was surprised a civilian could get past his honed training, when the hand retracted holding up a slip of paper. It looked like a miniature talisman and he could clearly make out the ‘tracker’ symbols in various, tiny writings. Wei Wuxian was TRACKING HIM! No wonder Jiang Cheng couldn’t get the slip.

A moment later, however, the small talisman burned away with a quick flicker of fire. Jiang Cheng looked past the hand holding the tracker and it took his eyes a moment to realize he was looking at Sect Leader Lan himself.

Before anything was said, however, the Lan Leader put a finger to his lips in a silent ‘shhh’ and hovered in front of the crack of the open door to block the view of the inside.

“Oh, Sect Leader Lan!” Wei Wuxian said, a halted tone as if he were just caught.. which he was just caught in the sect leader’s back garden. “Sorry, I was looking for, uh, well, have you seen Jiang Cheng? He was just around here and...”

“I did hear something stumble through the back,” Lan Xichen said smoothly, his smile barely seen in the dark room, contracting with the mild, overcast sunlight outside. “But it kept going. I thought perhaps it were a few rabbits come to say hello.”

“More like a feral cat,” Wei Wuxian teased. There was a long pause with a few hemmings and hawwings from Wei Wuxian. “Ah, okay. I swear he was around here but.. thank you!” And off he went.

Lan Xichen’s eyes followed him as he went before the door slid shut, sealing them into semi darkness once more. The man looked... bad, Jiang Cheng thought. His face was gaunt, making his otherwise pretty cheek bones look like blades. His eyes were dull, the smile not reaching them, and dark circles lay underneath. His smile was still a lovely as ever, but it was softer now, less humored, more forced.

His hair was down and limp, a little greasy, and he only wore a loose, open robe over his underrobes, clearly not expecting company, or perhaps he just woke up.

“Thanks,” Jiang Cheng grumbled.

“Don’t mention it,” Lan Xichen returned, his smile a little more pleasant. “I know how he loves you, but can be a handful.”

“I thought you were out of seclusion,” Jiang Cheng returned, raising a brow as he stepped away from the door. Lan Xichen followed and swept his arm to the table where a tea set was. Jiang Cheng highly doubted that the water was fresh and shook his head.

“I am,” Lan Xichen said, surprised. He took a seat and also appeared to wonder about the water as he peaked inside.

The room itself was not the bright, airy place he’d visited before. A handful of times he broke with shame and went to elders for advice they spoke in here. And since all of his leaders at Lotus Pier were dead, he sought out the next in line of his teachers. Rather than the sweet smell of fresh air, it was humid with dust and old incense, the blue light was yellowed, and the shadows lingered as if old memories that would never leave.

“You know it’s past noon time, right?”

“Is it really?” Lan Xichen gave up on the tea and swept his wrinkled robe sleeve across the table to wipe away an embarrassing layer of dust. “I was painting and lost track of time. I’m sorry I did not greet you at the gates as I should have this morning.”

“No bother,” Jiang Cheng said. “I’ve been here for three days.”

Another look of surprise crossed the sunken sect leader’s face. He appeared to Jiang Cheng like a deer; soft and fragile despite the strength under it all.

“I... I am sorry,” He stammered. “It.. I...”

“It’s fine. Wei Wuxian’s been my guide,” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Pest won’t leave me alone.” He picked up one of the monotone painting still laid out to dry. It was obvious to him who it was, regardless of the unclean strokes and abstract feel. “I’m only here to check up on Jin Ling and his classes.”

“Oh- no, please Sect Leader Jiang, don’t--”

Jiang Cheng pulled the sheet of paper out of Lan Xichen’s panicked reach. “If you think I can’t tell who this is, you may forget that we co-parented that boy together.”

“I’m sorry, no one was...” Lan Xichen deflated. “It wasn’t for anyone else to see. I just... don’t want to forget his face.” He peaked up at Jiang Cheng from his messy, limp hair. He smelled a little ripe. “I’m sorry. I’m horrible for trying to... keep him.”

“Yeah, and he was the uncle Jin Ling liked more,” Jiang Cheng set the painting back down, which was quickly swept up by the other sect leader. “Kind of sucks that a man like that can be so human.”

“He was human,” Xichen protested, his eyes finally lighting up with passion. “He was just...”

“Human, yeah.”

“Strange...”

“Learning a few things about the complexities of the human heart. And sharing it.” He put a hand on his chest.

...

Somewhere in the woods of Gusu, Wei Wuxian crept up behind his lover and pounced him from behind. “They’re talking,” he said gleefully and kissed his cheek.

“Mm,” Lan Wangji said as he turned to get a better grip of his husband and place him properly into his lap. It ended up with a half lounge of the sprawling demon cultivator.

“They’ll be friends in no time, trust me!” he said, grinning with ease. “All I need to do is pester him every time he comes.”

#xicheng #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #Playing around with a fic idea #and since I'm bad at finishing things #here #don't know if I like it but whatever #wangxian #bit out of character too

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ibijau · 3 years

Text

You’re a marked man, brother

A new ghost king emerges, and promptly marries a god A martial god's temples are being targeted by the Magpie King and it is up to Lan Xichen to deal with all this trouble

I am 100% blaming the xisang discord for this, since a large part of the plot was brought up by other people

This is a tgcf AU, not a crossover, so while I'm using some of the same settings and general rules, the characters front tgcf won't appear. I also don't think it's all that necessary to have read tgcf to enjoy and understand the story (I'm personally still just going through book 3) but since this is inspired by a certain arc in the novel, I guess this could count as spoilers.

Also on AO3

The news that a new ghost king had emerged from Tonglu mountain, thirteen years after its gates had last opened, spread like wildfire among ghosts and gods. Everyone stood anxiously to the side, waiting to see what this new Devastation would be like, especially when the Magpie King was already out there, causing all sorts of trouble whenever the mood struck him. Everyone watched as this new ghost king went to settle into the eerie Burial Mounds of Yiling and established himself there. Although nothing terrible seemed to happen at first, everyone who had breath still held it, waiting and waiting. A number of bold ghosts and demons went to Yiling to offer their service to this new king, or to beg for his protection. Some he accepted into his new domain, others he rejected, all according to criteria that no one could understand.

It was almost a relief when, nearly a year after rising from Tonglu mountain, the Yiling Patriarch created trouble and destroyed some temples belonging to a martial god. Finally, the new ghost king was living up to everyone’s expectations, acting with the sort of evil intent everyone had expected, and the world made sense again.

As far as Lan Xichen was concerned, it would have been better if the Yiling Patriarch had remained quiet. It had already been upsetting to see that Devastation take root so close to his own territory, but then the Yiling Patriarch was obviously trying to cause trouble for Lan Xichen personally with these attacks. Although the damaged temples were not his own, in some ways it would have been less troublesome if they had been. There were only a few temples dedicated to his friend Nie Mingjue on the lands Lan Xichen was responsible for, but these had been the targets of the Yiling Patriarch, which seemed a clear attempt to create strife between them.

Nie Mingjue, whose domain was up in the North, was a god with a short temper who did not take well to insult. He would have barged into the Burial Mounds without hesitation if Lan Xichen had not asked him for a chance to investigate the matter before making judgements against the Yiling Patriarch. After all, just by existing a ghost king would attract enemies, Lan Xichen argued, and it wouldn’t be impossible for some lesser ghosts to try to get rid of him by sicking a heavenly official on him before he could become too powerful. After the initial burst of burning anger, Nie Mingjue agreed that it would only be just to investigate this matter, and allowed Lan Xichen to take matters in his own hands.

As usual for matters concerning the mortal world, Lan Xichen sent his brother to check on this matter. Although Lan Wangji was only part of the Middle Court, he excelled at dealing with this sort of thing, always finding the heart of chaos and untangling whatever mess he encountered while being careful of the well-being of any mortals involved. Lan Xichen could not have asked for a better deputy than his brother, and still hoped that in due time, being involved in chaos this way would give his brother a chance to ascend on his own.

Nearly a month passed after Lan Wangji was sent down to earth to investigate, and no news came from him. Lan Xichen, at first, did not worry. It was not unusual for his brother to get caught up with things and not update anyone on what he was doing. After two weeks, this was only mildly concerning. After three, it was odd. After four, Lan Xichen started to fear for his brother’s safety. It ought to have been just a quick investigation after all, and Lan Wangji had been ordered to report to his brother without attempting to handle the situation on his own, since Nie Mingjue would probably wish to punish the culprit himself. Besides, although Lan Wangji liked the mortal world too well and could be wilful at times, he simply never disappeared so long, not once in the several hundred years he had been around.

Terrified that some evil had befallen his brother, Lan Xichen decided to start his own investigation, helped (or hindered perhaps) by his husband who he thought needed a break from his official duties. Jin Guangyao complained at length about this, pointing to the piles of work he had to do, information to collect and organise, prayers to answer, outstanding mortals to check. He also pointed out that anything which might have caused trouble for someone like Lan Wangji would pose great danger, and being a civil god rather than a martial one, he would be of little help. To this, Lan Xichen countered that Jin Guangyao was an expert in collecting information, and thus would surely help finding what had happened to Lan Wangji. As for the danger, Lan Xichen was a martial god, so he could take care of it all and keep his husband sage. Jin Guangyao, knowing how stubborn Lan Xichen could be when he’d decided they were overdue a vacation in the human world, gave in and agreed to come along.

Their first stop, of course, was the dreaded Burial Mounds of Yiling.

It was also their last one.

At the foot of the Mounds, a ghost village of sorts had sprung, where those who had been refused access to the Yiling Patriarch’s domain mingled with those who had just arrived to demand such a favour. It was a grim place, filled with the unresting spirits of criminals, demons on the lookout for their next devious plan, and a number of lost souls too hurt to move on and rejoin the circle of reincarnation. And it was there, among those miserable creatures, that Lan Xichen found his brother hanging out with the ghost of a young man toiling over a nefarious looking pot of soup.

Much as Lan Xichen wished to run to his brother, something about the scene stopped him. There was something not quite right about it, though he couldn’t find what until Jin Guangyao, equally stunned, pointed it out for him.

“I believe it’s the first time I see your brother smile,” Jin Guangyao said. “Do you think he might have been cursed?”

And that was the oddity, of course. Lan Xichen, who knew his brother better than anyone, could recognise the signs of an implied smile on Lan Wangji’s stern face, but to anyone else Lan Wangji appeared impassible and colder than ice. To see him smile outwardly was something entirely unheard of. Then, to make it worse, the young man in black and red said something that Lan Xichen couldn’t hear, and Lan Wangji laughed.

It wasn’t a boisterous laughter, nor indeed a very loud one, but even at a distance there was no mistake possible when seeing the slight shake in Lan Wangji’s shoulders: he was laughing.

Seeing this, Lan Xichen could no longer stay away. He walked toward his brother, Jin Guangyao just one step behind him. Lan Wangji stood a little straighter upon seeing him, while his companion grinned at them and waved his hand.

“You’re not the sort of people we usually get here,” the young man said, distractedly mixing his pot of soup. “I’m guessing you’re here for Lan Zhan? Ah, gongzi, could you perhaps be his brother? You do look the same.”

Hearing his brother and him be referred to so casually, Lan Xichen had to fight a smile, especially when Lan Wangji, usually so formal, didn’t protest in the least.

“I am his older brother indeed,” Lan Xichen confirmed. “I had asked him to take care of a certain business for me, but instead I find him here with you. Might I be so rude as to enquire about your name, gongzi?”

“Where are my manners?” the ghost gasped, just a touch too dramatic. He let go of his ladle, and bowed. “My name is Wei Wuxian, and I am most honoured to meet you. Am I right in guessing you two must be Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao?”

Both gods instantly tensed upon hearing that name.

There were a number of ghosts who didn’t use their name, and preferred a scary sounding title that would strike terror in the heart of enemies and future victims. Even after several hundreds of years, nobody knew who the Magpie King was, and so it had been initially expected that the Yiling Patriarch would do the same. But the Yiling Patriarch liked to do things his own way, and was well known to dislike this title he hadn’t chosen, and to prefer introducing himself under his true name: Wei Wuxian.

It was a shock for this power ghost king to be this sort of a casual looking young man dressed in plain dark robes. Certainly Wei Wuxian was very handsome, but neither his face nor his easy going aura fit what Lan Xichen would have expected from a ghost capable of rising to the rank of Devastation. And yet, it wasn’t a complete surprise either. All the other ghosts and demons around were keeping their distance from Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao, instantly guessing they were heavenly officials, and thus a danger to them, but Wei Wuxian didn’t appear particularly impressed with them.

“I imagine you’re here for that business with Nie Mingjue’s temples?” Wei Wuxian asked, his attention going back to his devilish stew. “I’ve already told Lan Zhan when he came here, this had nothing to do with me. I’m not interested in making trouble, and I’d prefer to keep away from Heaven’s business.”

Lan Wangji nodded firmly to this, so earnest looking that Lan Xichen couldn’t help smiling again.

“Then Wangji should have come home right away and given me his report on the situation.”

As expected, although Lan Wangji’s face remained impassible, there was just the slightest hint of pink on his ears. He looked away, while next to him Wei Wuxian burst out laughing.

“Well, that one is my fault!” he exclaimed. “See, Lan Zhan and I met when I was still alive, and then again a few times here and there after I died, and we became good friends.”

“Good friends indeed,” Lan Xichen noted with amusement, while his brother’s ears turned a bright red. Lan Xichen exchanged a glance with Jin Guangyao who was also struggling not to grin now that he understood the situation.

“Maybe more than good friends,” Wei Wuxian admitted without shame. “Poor Lan Zhan was very worried that I’d disappeared for a few years in Tonglu Mountain, and so now that I’m back, he decided he doesn’t want to lose sight of me again in case I do more stupid things; And that’s how we got married. I really thought he’d warned you,” Wei Wuxian added, lightly slapping Lan Wangji’s arm. “How rude. I didn’t think I’d married someone so rude.”

“Being around the Burial Mounds makes it difficult to contact Heavens,” Lan Wangji said.

“Then you could have gone away for a little bit, send your message, and returned!”

Lan Wangji shook his head. “Where Wei Ying is, I am as well.”

That simple declaration had Wei Wuxian groaning and whining as if he’d been mortally pierced through by a blade, and he complained heavily that Lan Wangji was unreasonable and unkind and quite clearly trying to murder him with words too sweet.

Lan Xichen, at first, was shocked and disappointed to learn that his brother had married in secret, but ultimately decided that the decision made sense. Although he was only from the Middle Court, Lan Wangji was still a heavenly official, and so for him to marry not just a ghost, but one of such a dangerous level, was really scandalous. Lan Xichen dearly wished he could have been present for such an important moment of his brother’s life, but it would have been complicated to organise, and his own reputation would have suffered. Not that he cared too much about his reputation compared to his brother’s happiness, but Lan Wangji had probably wanted to be kind in leaving him in the dark.

As for the rest, if Lan Wangji believed that Wei Wuxian really was innocent of that incident with Nie Mingjue, it had to be true. Knowing Lan Wangji, if he liked a person he would stay at their side no matter what they did, but he wouldn’t close his eyes to their fault. If anything, had Wei Wuxian really been in disagreement with Nie Mingjue, Lan Wangji would have immediately said so to Lan Xichen so he could try to act as a peacemaker and resolve the situation.

“Will you be staying here then?” Jin Guangyao asked Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji nodded. “Hm.”

“Then we would do well to find a way to explain your prolonged absence,” Jin Guangyao mused. “Let’s avoid creating trouble for everyone. If Xichen agrees, I will go back and prepare an assignment asking you to keep a close eye on the Yiling Patriarch for an undetermined period of time. That way, no matter what others say, it won’t be a lie to say that you are here on official business.”

Lan Wangji nodded again, but it was clear he did not care much what others said about his decisions. Even after so many centuries in Heavens, he still had the firm belief that a person’s actions should be the only thing they should be judged on, regardless of gossip or social expectations. Lan Xichen found that trait charming and infuriating in turns, and so was deeply grateful to his husband for giving Lan Wangji some protection against those who would speak ill of him.

Having decided this, Jin Guangyao promptly left so he could take care of this, while Lan Xichen chose to linger a little while longer and learn more about his new brother-in-law. Since he had such an esteemed guest to entertain, Wei Wuxian abandoned his stew and the ghost village, offering that they continue this conversation inside the Burial Mounds. He’d only come to the ghost village because some of those who resided inside the Mounds had complained at length against his cooking and he didn’t want to bother anyone who didn’t deserve it.

"Then you are kinder than I might have been led to expect," Lan Xichen remarked as they traversed the village. "I suppose your mounting reputation might have more to do with memories of the Magpie King's early days than your own actions."

"Is he really so bad then?" Wei Wuxian asked. "I think I've met him once or twice over the years, he didn't seem so bad. That is, if it was even him. He never introduced himself, eh?"

Lan Xichen refrained a grimace. "If he likes a person, he'll make their life easier. If he dislikes them, they'd better start praying to every gods in the Heavens because the Magpie King will stop at nothing to destroy his enemies."

In fact, even heavenly officials weren't quite safe. Right after reaching the rank of Devastation, the Magpie King had taken a sudden dislike to a few minor civil gods and ruined their reputation so thoroughly that their own followers, ashamed of ever praying to them, had torn down their temples and burned their broken fondations. Since those gods had all been revealed to be corrupt nobody had really missed them in the end, but civic gods had lived in fear for years after that. Even the most upright of gods had secrets they didn't want to see revealed. Lan Xichen still remembered that Jin Guangyao had been terrified his origins would be revealed, and that his followers would turn away from him if they discovered he'd been born the son of a prostitute.

"Maybe it wasn't him I met then," Wei Wuxian mused. "The person in question helped me quite a bit back then, and I've always made enemies of the wrong people. If I'd met the Magpie King, he'd have hated me for sure, ahah!"

"Maybe yes, maybe not," Lan Xichen replied. "Nobody knows why he chooses to like this person and hate that one, so it's possible…"

Someone caught Lan Xichen's attention as they were about to exit the ghost village, a silhouette not far that sent his heart racing. Without thinking he abandoned the other two and ran toward the person, a young man leaning against a tree and deep in conversation with a headless monster. With trembling hands, Lan Xichen grabbed the man's shoulder, roughly forcing him to turn around so he could see his face.

"A-Sang?"

Assaulted this way, and by a high ranking god no less, the poor ghost shrieked and nearly fainted on the spot. He'd been given that fright for nothing, too. Although from the back the silhouette and posture had seemed to match, from the front it was clear that there had been a mistake.

"My deepest apologies," Lan Xichen said, bowing to the terrified ghost. "I mistook you for someone else."

"Are you looking for someone?" Wei Wuxian asked, coming closer. "An evil ghost maybe? We're family now, so I don't mind helping out."

"No, the matter is a personal one," Lan Xichen confessed, his cheeks burning at having behaved this way in public.

"Then all the more reason to tell me!" Wei Wuxian insisted. "Who are you looking for? An enemy? An old rival?"

"A friend."

Wei Wuxian looked surprised, though less so than Lan Wangji who had never heard of his brother having any missing friends. Of course he wouldn't have, when Lan Xichen had kept this matter to himself. Even Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao had never been told about this, so it would have been foolish to tell this stranger Wei Wuxian. And yet, if there was just a slim chance…

"Back when before I ascended, I had a very dear friend," Lan Xichen explained. "A few years younger than me, but we got along wonderfully and made plans to travel together someday. I remember he particularly wanted to go see the stone pillars in Wulingyuan. Before this could be done, I had to return home and deal with some things there, but as it happened, I ascended shortly after. I offered my friend a chance to join the Middle Court, but he declined for the present because there was no one else in his family to take care of his parents. He said he would gladly join me once they had passed away, but for now he was happier in the mortal world."

Lan Xichen sighed. To this day, he still regretted not having insisted some more.

"A little while after that, someone slaughtered the entire household," he lamented. "Even the children and the elderly were all killed to the last, there was no survivor."

Lan Wangji took a sharp breath, to which Lan Xichen answered by a sad smile.

"I know what you're thinking, Wangji, and you're right. It is the same as what happened to Nie Mingjue’s family after he ascended. It even happened around the same time, and the city was the same as well, so I think the two crimes were linked. And as for my friend, his soul was not among those put to rest after, so I believe he might have become a ghost."

"What was his name?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Lan Xichen laughed awkwardly.

"For how dear to me he was, I actually don't know," he admitted. "I only knew him as A-Sang. For some reason, I didn't even learn his last name either. As you can imagine, it has made it nearly impossible to look for him. Perhaps it's for the best anyway." Lan Xichen sighed. "What would I even say to him anyway? After so long, 'sorry' is a pitiful word, and anyway I am married to another now, someone who was fated for me. Still, I wish we could have had a proper goodbye."

Lan Xichen sighed again, in spite of himself. He knew it was selfish to still miss this person, and surely Jin Guangyao would have been hurt to know his husband couldn't fully get over that old flame, even after centuries. It was why Lan Xichen had never told him, nor Nie Mingjue who would have been upset on his brother's behalf. But maybe he should have said something, because sharing this secret made him feel a little lighter.

Still, this was a very grim topic to discuss with newlyweds, so Lan Xichen forced himself to smile more warmly and quickly changed the subject. Although the others were clearly curious, they understood this was painful for him and dropped the matter.

Aside from that brief incident, the rest of the day was pleasant enough. Wei Wuxian was an eccentric character, and maybe a little self centered, but ultimately Lan Xichen figured this new ghost king should cause as many problems as the first one. Wei Wuxian seemed more interested in experimenting with his new power than in causing chaos, and apparently his goal with those powers was mostly to see if the notoriously nefarious Burial Mounds could be purified. That, and shamelessly flirting with Lan Wangji, seemed to be Wei Wuxian's only preoccupation.

Still, a Devastation remained a Devastation. Although Wei Wuxian was friendly, it would be best to keep an eye on him.

As night started falling, Lan Xichen took his leave. He promised to come visit again, and at Wei Wuxian's insistence he swore he would try to bring his husband, though it would be an arduous task. Jin Guangyao wasn't found of leaving his work behind, and had little taste for ghosts.

All in all, Lan Xichen was in an excellent mood when he walked away from the Burial Mounds. But as soon as he was out of that place's area of influence, a panicked voice into his mind as Jin Guangyao shouted into their private communication array.

"I'm here," Lan Xichen said, surprised that his husband had lost his calm so thoroughly. "Were you worried because you couldn't get in touch?"

"Indeed I was," Jin Guangyao replied, already calming down now that he'd gotten an answer. "Xichen, you must return at once, the situation is urgent. More of da-ge's temple have been attacked, in his own territory, and this time the culprit signed his crime so da-ge went to confront him!"

That didn't sound like something to panic over, Lan Xichen thought at first. Out of all the martial gods in the Heavenly Court, Nie Mingjue was the most powerful by far. Ghosts, demons, mortals, or other gods, there was nobody he couldn't defeat.

Not unless the battle wasn't just a physical one.

"A-Yao, the person who attacked his temples, could it be…"

Jin Guangyao let out a deep sigh.

"Yes, Xichen, it is. Da-ge went off to fight the Magpie King."

#xisang #wangxian #there's xiyao so be warned but they're not endgame #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #marked man au

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wangxianfics · 3 years

Note

Hi, sorry to bother but do you have any fics where wwx gets adopted by someone else, It would be great if its hualian from tgcf or maybe Bingqiu from svsss thank you!

Hi @euphoria3me!

Here’s all the MXTX Verse Crossover Adoptions of WWX fics we know of :

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Bingqiu & Hualian-Adopted!WWX :

Way Back by Little_Dimples (20K, Teen)

(Crossover, De-Aging, Kid!WWX, Hualian-Adopted!WWX, Bingqiu-Adopted!WWX, Time Travel, Family Dynamics, WWX has a lot of dads, Action/Adventure, Curses, Gods, Everyone Loved Wei Ying)

In which Wei Wuxian gets turned into a child- gets thrown through three different universes and ages up in each of them but still manages to find his way back to Lan Zhan.

Detailed comment here

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Bingqiu-Adopted!WWX :

A Guide on Parenting a BL Novel Protag by BingQiu by anatheme (75K, Not Rated, WIP - 17/20)

(Bingqiu-Adopted!WWX, Fix-It, No System, Fluff, Crack, OC bingqiu and moshang kids who play vital roles in fucking up the plot and raising wwx, Pining!WWX, Oblivious!WWX, Misunderstandings, Crush to Best Friends to ???, Soft Sweet Tender Wangxian, Kinda Royalty AU but not focused on it)

First, find the protagonist. Second, adopt him. Third, provide the protagonist with the loving and supportive family he deserved. Fourth, face slap the villains away before canon timeline happened because canon was already an angsty shitshow. Fifth, let the protagonist meet the main lead and watch their romance bloom in real life.

Thousands of years passed after the conclusion of the main storyline and Cang Qiong Mountain Sect's disbandment, their tales had long been forgotten and only tidbits remained as new sects rose to replace them.

While enjoying their happy ending without the SYSTEM blaring out orders and deducting points left and right, it should be easy for experienced transmigrator and already a parent to three Immortal Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu and his husband, Demon Emperor Luo Binghe, to raise a baby A-Ying whom they saved from the streets.

'Til the Sun Grows Cold by xnemone (73K, Mature)

(Bingqiu-Adopted!WWX, Pre-Canon for MDZS, Post-Canon for SVSSS, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Mutual Pining)

Long after Cang Qiong Sect was burned to ashes and the world had all but forgotten demons, there lived an immortal who had not ascended to the Heavens and a Demon King who stood beside him. They taught a small sect, powerful in their few numbers in a world where a new reign of great sects conquered the region. Though they did not hunt for title and gain as the four great sects did, their name held weight to the kingdom’s people. Those protected by Master Shen and Lord Luo live lives free of fear.

When the child raised as the lords’ own son is sent abroad to appease a tyrant, there is little anyone can do but pray for mercy on those who would dare hurt a hair on little Wei Wuxian’s head.

His fathers are not the forgiving type.

@aniimone

[New Mission – Parenting] by Forgotten64 (90K, Mature, WIP - 18/?)

(Bingqiu-Adopted!WWX, Post-Canon for SVSSS, Kid!WWX,Found Family, OP!WWX)

Centuries have passed by and Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are living peacefully up in the mountains. The once proud and strong peak sects no longer exist but have been replaced by cultivation sects. One day when the two immortals wander down their mountain into a small village is when Shen Qingqiu hears a voice he hasn’t heard in years. The annoying Google translate voice of the System!

[New Mission: The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation… Do you accept?]

In which Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe obtain a child known as Wei Ying. Chaos ensures

Destined by KNBSnkLover (35K, Explicit, WIP - 7/9)

(Canon Divergence, Drabble Collection, Modern AU, Fantasy, AU, Soulmates AU, Reincarnation, Sibling Incest, Angst)

A series of drabbles featuring Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe as the adoptive fathers of Wei Wuxian. In each and every lifetime, Wei Wuxian is welcomed into a loving home and fated to be their son. However, it seems like that Wei Wuxian is also destined to be with Lan Wangji in every reincarnation as well. Regardless of the universe, can Wei Wuxian's fathers accept Lan Wangji's love and possessiveness of Wei Wuxian, no matter where that possessiveness may lead them?

{Some stories will feature Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as brothers} Ratings will vary per story from G to E.

Inspired by [New Mission – Parenting] by Forgotten64.

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Hualian-Adopted!WWX :

A Morning of Fallen Stars by constellationqueen (100K, Mature)

It's common knowledge in the Heavens that gods are not supposed to interact with humans outside of answering prayers, and they're definitely not supposed to show up in person and talk to a child. But Xie Lian isn't afraid of breaking rules that he's already broken, so he does it anyway. In fact, he takes it one step further and brings the child home.

Basically, Wei Wuxian's parents died in a night hunt when he was five, but he ends up being adopted a year later by a god and his ghost king husband, so it's not all bad.... In fact, it's probably better than it should be.

(Welcome to one of the rare times I try to avoid angst as much as possible. Wei Wuxian deserves happiness and I will give it to him.)

*~discontinued after chapter 15/outline summary of the remainder in chapter 16~*

@xiielian

Love Like You by HisRedEmpress (72K, Teen, WIP - 10/15)

(Hualian-Adopted!WWX, Post-Canon for TGCCF, Kid!WWX, Found Family, Love At First Sight, Heavenly Officials and Ghost Kings alike wrapped in Wei Ying's fingers,

Wei Wuxian is spoiled, much more than jiejie's betrothed, Jin Zixuan. The difference between the two is Jin Zixuan is arrogant about it, while Wei Wuxian is oblivious to the boundless extent he can get away with everything he does.

Jiang Cheng is so thankful Wei Wuxian sees him and jiejie as his family.

With that, Jiang Cheng can be assured that if Wei Wuxian decides he wants to have the world, he and jiejie will sparingly be safe when his Supreme Ghost King father and Heavenly Martial Emperor father, not to mention his other Ghost King uncle and grandfather, heavenly official uncles and aunts plus wrath level ghost uncles and aunts, would turn heaven and earth upside down just to give him what he wants.

(or the one where baby Wei Ying is adopted by Hualian)

let this soul be your whisper by merthurlin (19K, Teen, WIP - 5/?)

(Hualian-Adopted!WWX, Post-Siege of the Burial Mounds, Post-Canon for TGCF, Kid!WWX, Found Family)

“I think…” Xie Lian says slowly, not taking his eyes off the bag. “I think I knew this person. Who this soul used to be.”

He can hear Hua Cheng suck in a breath. “Gege, maybe it’s better if you don’t—“

But Xie Lian ignores him, and reaches out with one trembling hand to touch the bag. A second passes, and then another, and Xie Lian almost lets out a breath in relief, before he feels something in the bag reaching back.

“A-Ying?”

Once upon a time, Xie Lian took in an orphan, and gave him a home and a family. Twenty years and a godhood later, he finds he still has more in him to give.

#euphoria3me #mdzs #tgcf #svsss #bingqiu #hualian #kid!wwx #adoptionsofwwx #hualianraised!wwx #bingqiuraised!wwx #masterpost #intotthemxtxverse #crossover

142 notes · View notes

bloody-bee-tea · 4 years

Text

Not just a vacation

peachy2peachy commissioned me for some merman Jiang Cheng and a totally overworked Lan Xichen, who is being forced on vacation and then falls in love. Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy it <3

Lan Xichen is restless. He has never been away from his company for this long and just as he’s thinking it he realizes exactly what his uncle and Lan Wangji meant.

It’s been 19 hours.

If he’s being honest Lan Xichen can’t even be called a workaholic at this point anymore, because there isn’t anything for him outside of the company and his work.

Lan Xichen isn’t even sure when he last slept in his own bed or when he enjoyed a quiet morning at home. His life is all about work. His office is more like a living-room at this point.

Lan Xichen reaches for his phone almost on instinct—surely a quick look into his mails can’t hurt anyone—but he stops himself right before his fingers can make contact.

He’s on vacation, Lan Qiren was very adamant about that. If Lan Xichen checks his mails then Lan Qiren will know—he always knows—and he will be disappointed. Lan Wangji will make his sad face and even though Lan Xichen can’t see it from where he is in the middle of the ocean, he simply knows it.

Better not to risk it.

Lan Xichen suppresses a sigh and sits back down on the bed. A glance out of the window shows him a blue ocean and an even bluer sky and he knows he should get out there and enjoy it. He did some research on Aitutaki of course, and while he has to admit that it’s objectively beautiful it’s also really remote and Lan Xichen already itches with the separation from his company.

Maybe his workload really is unhealthy, Lan Xichen muses, and then lets out a sigh before he gets back up again.

Time to see what this island has to offer.

It’s just as beautiful as it looked in the pictures he found online, and Lan Xichen has to admit that the quiet and serenity is already getting to him.

He finds a nice spot at the beach to lay down his towel and his head barely hit the sand before he’s drifting off to the gentle sounds of the water.

When Lan Xichen wakes up, it’s already dark. He sits up, slightly disoriented and definitely hungry, to look around and while the beach and the sea were already beautiful during the day, Lan Xichen finds it almost more beautiful now that there are only the stars to illuminate it.

He gets startled out of his thoughts when there’s a small splash and then a person seems to emerge out of the water.

Lan Xichen stays still and watches the shape for a few moments, expecting the person to leave the water at one point but when nothing happens, Lan Xichen gets worried.

“Hello?” he carefully calls out. “Do you need help?”

He seems to have startled the person because he can hear a “Fuck” before the head disappears again.

“Oh,” Lan Xichen whispers and walks closer to the water.

Maybe the person went under when he startled them? Lan Xichen is about ready to throw himself into the water as well—how difficult can it be to find that person again—when the head re-emerges.

“Are you alright?” Lan Xichen asks, voice just barely loud enough to carry over the water, and when he’s met with silence, he worries.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asks again, already marching up to the water to save whoever is out there, but before he can, the person speaks up again.

“Do not get closer!”

The words stop Lan Xichen dead in his tracks and he frowns.

“Are you alright?” he repeats and is relieved when the man seems to come closer.

“I am,” he reassures Lan Xichen and then there’s the strange splashing noise again, as if something bigger and more adapt to the water was with the man out there.

“Are you really? That noise—,” Lan Xichen trails off and the man lets out a sharp laugh.

“I really am. Don’t concern yourself with me.”

Unlikely, Lan Xichen thinks and walks closer again. He’s gratified to find that the man doesn’t move further away.

“That’s hardly possible when you take a night swim and startle the hell out of me,” Lan Xichen calls back and wonders if the prolonged distance from his company is making him rude already.

The strange man doesn’t seem to think so because he snorts out a laugh.

“Get back, stranger,” he calls out and Lan Xichen is about to tell him his name when the man suddenly disappears.

Lan Xichen waits a little bit longer just to see if he might show up again, but when it becomes clear that that won’t happen, he goes back to the hotel, where he is met by a frantically gesturing owner of the hotel.

“Sir, where have you been?” he’s asked immediately and Lan Xichen frowns before he points back.

“I fell asleep at the beach,” he gives back, much to the horror of the owner apparently.

“We don’t go to the beach at night! Strange things have happened, it’s not safe for you to be there,” Lan Xichen is told and Lan Xichen would agree with the strange things at once.

He doesn’t see how the man in the water poses a danger, but Lan Xichen is probably missing something.

“What happened?” he wants to know but the owner shakes his head.

“Not good for you to know, just stay away,” he advises him and then rather forcefully shoos him back into the hotel.

Lan Xichen doesn’t sleep much that night.

The next night Lan Xichen goes back to the beach. He keeps out of sight at first, hoping to catch the man unawares first, his mind still reeling from the research he did during the day.

It’s probably not what Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji wanted for him when they sent him on this vacation, but Lan Xichen needs to know what’s going on here. The only thing his research turned up were tales of mermaid and Lan Xichen is not ready to believe that.

Until he catches sight of a rather huge tail, flapping out of the water.

The sight of it startles a gasp out of Lan Xichen, apparently loud enough to be heard over the water, because he hears the same muttered “Fuck” carried back to him.

“It’s you again,” Lan Xichen calls out and he’s met with a silence that drags on for so long that he starts to fear the other man might have left.

“What the fuck do you want? Do you not know you’re not supposed to be here?” the man suddenly says, and Lan Xichen sees him swimming closer.

“I have heard,” Lan Xichen gives back and the man laughs.

“You just don’t care, huh?”

Usually Lan Xichen would care very much about that; he is not one to break the rules and staying away from the beach at night seems to be a rather unspoken rule. But this is just too curious to let it rest.

“Would you believe me if I said I was worried about you?” he tries, taking some careful steps closer to the shoreline.

“Nope,” the man says and Lan Xichen smiles.

“Would you believe me if I said my family forced me on this vacation and I am already bored out of my mind?”

“Maybe,” the man answers and comes closer as well.

“My name is Lan Xichen,” Lan Xichen introduces himself and he’s pretty sure he catches a mischievous twinkle in the man’s eyes, barely visible in the dark.

“Good for you,” the man says and promptly ducks back under the water.

“Hey,” Lan Xichen calls out, stumbling forwards until his feet are fully submerged in the water and he only stops when the hem of his shorts starts to get wet.

Nothing happens, but Lan Xichen doesn’t move back, too intrigued to simply leave again, and his persistence is rewarded when the head pops back up.

Lan Xichen distantly notes that the head was too long under water for a normal human, but he tries not to dwell on it. How ridiculous that would be.

“You’re really annoying, you know that?” the guy grumbles and Lan Xichen gives him his best smile.

“I wouldn’t be, if you told me your name,” he sweetly says and watches how the head almost disappears into the waves again.

“Jiang Cheng,” Lan Xichen suddenly catches and his smile turns brighter.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jiang Cheng,” he says and going by the cold shower that runs down his back, Jiang Cheng is glaring at him.

“What do you want?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and Lan Xichen shrugs.

“I want to know why you’re in the water at this time of night,” Lan Xichen tells him and is met with a wicked smile, white teeth reflecting the moonlight and Lan Xichen is pretty sure he can see a fang.

“Why don’t you come closer and you can find out,” Jiang Cheng tempts him and Lan Xichen can hear his uncle’s voice, telling him just how monumentally stupid he is being, but his legs carry him forward nonetheless and it isn’t until he’s right in front of Jiang Cheng that he stops.

“What if I eat you now?” Jiang Cheng asks, but Lan Xichen is too mesmerized by the fins Jiang Cheng seems to have instead of ears.

“Holy shit,” Lan Xichen breathes out and immediately cringes at the curse word.

His uncle would be so disappointed.

“What, never seen a merman before?” Jiang Cheng boldly asks and flicks his tail—his tail—to splash some water at Lan Xichen.

“Can’t say that I have,” Lan Xichen weakly says, roaming his eyes over Jiang Cheng’s body.

It’s too dark to make out the colour of his tail, but it’s long and strong, shimmering even in the dark. Lan Xichen can’t see at which point tail meets torso, but Jiang Cheng’s chest seems entirely human, apart from the gills on his neck and the webs between his fingers. The fins on his head and his strangely shaped eyes mark him as definitely other than human but Lan Xichen only finds him beautiful.

“You really are a strange one,” Jiang Cheng remarks, and he leans close as if he’s inspecting Lan Xichen in turn, before he throws himself back and disappears into the water.

~*~*~

Lan Xichen spends his entire day at the beach, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jiang Cheng. It would make sense for him to only show up at night, but still Lan Xichen is holding out hope.

And he’s being rewarded when he catches a purple glint on a strong tail, moving quickly away from the open beach. Lan Xichen follows Jiang Cheng into a small lagoon far away from other people.

“If you’re this trusting someone is gonna eat you eventually,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, but he seems pleased that Lan Xichen was looking for him.

Now that Lan Xichen sees him in daylight he realizes that Jiang Cheng’s tail is of the most wonderful purple, rich and deep, and Lan Xichen itches to brush his hands over it, but he keeps that urge in check.

“Many have tried,” Lan Xichen says with his best CEO smile, “and no one succeeded yet.”

“Ah, I see,” Jiang Cheng whispers and swims closer. “A shark on land. Maybe I should be careful that you don’t eat me.”

Lan Xichen’s mind takes dangerous turns at that, and he can feel his ears flush at how low Jiang Cheng’s voice dropped.

Jiang Cheng laughs at his reaction and Lan Xichen is mesmerized by that sound.

“You’re staring,” Jiang Cheng accuses him when he notices and Lan Xichen doesn’t even care.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers and now it’s Jiang Cheng’s turn to blush.

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng grumbles out and Lan Xichen smiles wickedly at him.

“Make me,” he dares him and Jiang Cheng stares for a long time at him.

Lan Xichen wasn’t expecting to get hit by a wave of water, but it’s a very effective way to shut him up.

~*~*~

After that Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng meet daily in their small lagoon.

Lan Xichen isn’t sure what his uncle would say to that, but he’s not even thinking about his company or the work, so even though Lan Xichen is sure this wasn’t what Lan Qiren had in mind for him when he sent him on holiday, he should be pleased by this development.

Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng have shared a lot of details about their lives in the past seven days they have been meeting and by now Lan Xichen knows that he is in love.

With a merman.

Lan Xichen would laugh at the mere notion of this ever happening, but Jiang Cheng is very real, splashing around in their little lagoon and telling Lan Xichen about the hunts he has been on, and he is very lovable.

Lan Xichen isn’t sure if he ever even stood a chance.

He knows that their time together is running out; he is on vacation for two weeks and not a day longer after all.

But those are thought Lan Xichen likes to push far, far away.

He’d much rather think about Jiang Cheng.

“You really are beautiful,” Lan Xichen can’t help but say again as he watches Jiang Cheng float on the water, basking in the sun.

“And I already told you to shut up,” Jiang Cheng shoots back without opening his eyes but this time Lan Xichen won’t have it.

He slowly swims closer, sure that Jiang Cheng is tracking his every movement even with his eyes closed, and it’s not long before Lan Xichen reaches him.

Jiang Cheng never explicitly allowed him to touch the tail or any other part of Jiang Cheng, but they have brushed against each other occasionally, and Jiang Cheng never pulled away. Lan Xichen thinks it’s enough for him to take a chance.

“But you are,” Lan Xichen whispers and slowly reaches out to smooth his hand over the powerful tail.

The scales are mesmerizing and hard, and Lan Xichen could spend his days mapping out every part of them.

When Lan Xichen looks back at Jiang Cheng, he finds that the other is already looking at him.

“I’m not human,” Jiang Cheng says, flicking his tail as if to remind Lan Xichen of it, and Lan Xichen smiles at him.

“No, you’re not,” he agrees. “You are beautiful,” Lan Xichen says again and boldly moves his hand higher, over the line where scales meet skin and then further up Jiang Cheng’s chest, and then higher up still, skipping over the gills until he can cup Jiang Cheng’s cheek in his hand.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Cheng whispers and Lan Xichen guides him closer.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he mutters, briefly waiting for Jiang Cheng to move away from him, but when that doesn’t happen Lan Xichen closes the last bit of distance between them.

Jiang Cheng tastes like the sea and Lan Xichen knows he could get lost in it.

And maybe he will for the next seven days.

~*~*~

“I love you,” Lan Xichen tells Jiang Cheng four days later, sure of that by now, and even though it hurts he was prepared for the bitter laugh Jiang Cheng lets out.

“Don’t be stupid, Xichen,” Jiang Cheng says and pushes himself back into the water, leaving Lan Xichen’s side cold and bereft.

“I do. I love you.”

“Gods, Xichen, you’re on holiday here. This is my home. Where do you see this going?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and Lan Xichen has thought about that, turned around in bed all night, just thinking about that, and by now he’s sure he has the answer.

“I see this going everywhere,” he resolutely says and then reaches for the bag he brought. “I see you in my future, and I will not accept anything else.”

“You’re flying back in three days. There is no future for us,” Jiang Cheng argues and Lan Xichen is gratified to see that the thought seems to pain Jiang Cheng as much as it does him.

“There will be,” Lan Xichen decidedly says and then takes his phone out of his bag. “And I will prove it to you.”

He dials his uncles number, not even caring about the time difference, but it still takes barely three rings before his uncle picks up.

“Xichen, you’re on vacation, so this better not be about work,” Lan Qiren greets him and Lan Xichen smiles, his eyes never leaving Jiang Cheng.

“It is, kind of. I’d like to set up a remote work place. Here, on this island. Because I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.”

There’s a very concerning silence on the other end of the line and then Lan Qiren explodes.

“Lan Xichen! What do you even think you’re doing! This is a vacation and not a way for you to get out of work indefinitely!”

“I know that, that’s why I want to work from here. Uncle, I met someone and I am not going to leave him.”

Lan Xichen can hear Lan Qiren take a few deep breaths before he presses out: “We’ll talk about this at a more reasonable hour for me.”

Before Lan Xichen can object to that Lan Qiren has already hung up on him, and Lan Xichen is left to stare at his phone, before he shrugs and puts it back into his bag.

When he turns back to Jiang Cheng, he finds that he is already staring at him.

“You would really do that?” Jiang Cheng asks. “Work from here? Just for me?”

“I love you. Of course I would. You can’t leave here, so I will come to you.”

“You’re an idiot,” Jiang Cheng decides as he swims closer and pulls Lan Xichen into a kiss. “But I do love you. And I’m coming with you.”

Lan Xichen needs a few moments to understand those words, and then he simply blinks at Jiang Cheng.

“You’re coming what now?” he dumbly mutters and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes in that beautiful way he has, before he emerges from the lagoon.

On a pair of human legs.

“You really think if we didn’t adapt we’d still be around?” Jiang Cheng asks as he walks Lan Xichen back to the beach and Lan Xichen is more than willing to be led anywhere by Jiang Cheng.

“You can change your forms,” Lan Xichen mutters and his heart does a little flip when Jiang Cheng grins at him.

He does have the most beautiful smile.

“I can change forms. I demand ten weeks a year back here and you’ll have to meet my family.”

“Deal,” Lan Xichen says without hesitation, because he would give Jiang Cheng everything he has if he would ask for it.

��And you cannot change your mind about me,” Jiang Cheng adds, much more quiet this time and Lan Xichen pulls him into his arms.

“Never,” he promises. “I’m a true romantic at heart. There will only ever be you,” he whispers into Jiang Cheng’s now very human ears, and he knows it’s the truth. He can feel it deep in his bones that Jiang Cheng is it for him.

“Good,” Jiang Cheng mutters as he clutches at Lan Xichen’s shirt. “I’m sorry, I kept this a secret, I had to be sure first.”

Sure of Lan Xichen’s feelings and his devotion, Lan Xichen guesses, and he isn’t even mad about it.

“I understand,” he says and then tilts Jiang Cheng’s head back to kiss him.

Jiang Cheng meets him readily and that is the last they speak for a while. There are other things for them to do right now.

Now with a sequel!

{Buy me a kofi}

#bt writes #commission #the untamed #mdzs #xicheng #merman!jc #falling in love #fluff #love confessions #first kiss #vacation

187 notes · View notes

franniebanana · 3 years

Text

CQL Rewatch - Ep 17

For once, I agree with Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian probably spends way too much time thinking about alcohol. Yanli is, as usual, completely delighted by him.

I can’t really even imagine what this would be like for Wei Wuxian. Coming back to the place that used to be your home to search for who you consider your brother, having no idea if he’s dead or alive, and if he’s alive, what state he’s in. Every place houses one memory, if not hundreds. Wei Wuxian spent the better part of his live at Lotus Pier, over a decade, and in the span of a few hours, it’s just gone. I want to say that it gets burned in the book (but I can’t say that for certain)—however, that does make more sense when later on in CQL, they talk about Jiang Cheng rebuilding. Honestly, rebuilding doesn’t really make sense if all they had to do was replace a few doors and hang some more Jiang Clan lotuses.

You know what? I actually kind of love how this parallels a later scene. I never really thought of it before: we have Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning, and Jiang Cheng (when later on we swap out Jiang Cheng for Lan Wangji), sitting in a boat near Lotus Pier. Here we get Wei Wuxian, having been forcibly expelled from his home, while very much in charge of Jiang Cheng, who is unconscious. Later on, Wei Wuxian is unconscious, again having been forced to leave what once was his home. In that case, he makes the decision to leave, for one because he is unwelcome, but also because he doesn’t need that home anymore. He has a new idea of home with Lan Wangji, who loves and supports him.

This comparison is interesting because you see that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji (and even Wen Ning, for goodness’s sake) are willing to cradle their loved ones, risk life and limb for them, and Jiang Cheng just isn’t. Even when he goes looking for Wei Wuxian later on, it’s predicated more on his need for revenge than for saving Wei Wuxian. And again there, we see that his motive and Lan Wangji’s motive are very, very different.

Worst hangover ever. Omg can you imagine being asleep for days and then waking up with your head on a wooden table? Can you imagine the back ache you’d have from being hunched over all that time? Oh my god, truly, it sounds horrific. And this is what innocent little Wen Ning did, hahahaha. Not that I feel bad for any of these assholes—they definitely deserved it. If Wen Ning had gotten caught, though, he would have been executed for treason, I’m sure. It shows you what a huge risk that kid took to help Wei Wuxian and his family—a huge risk. And not only did he risk his own life, he also risks his sister’s life, because he begs her to help as well. It’s unsurprising that Wen Qing is so upset by this, since her one goal is to keep her brother safe, and then he goes and puts both of their lives on the line.

I like how this whole little scene, from the moment Wen Qing steps out and sees Wen Ning and the others standing there, to the point when she tells the guards to stand down, has no dialogue. Neither Wei Wuxian nor Wen Qing speak, but it’s clear that Wei Wuxian is threatening hers and Wen Ning’s lives if she gives them up here. They could have added some whispered dialogue or whatever, but I’m glad they did not, because it’s so powerful—seeing Wei Wuxian shaking with rage and fear is definitely the highlight of the scene. Wen Ning looking at a complete loss is also great. Wen Qing’s actress should have done that scene over—she is just not expressive enough, especially opposite someone like Xiao Zhan, who does such a good job in these emotional scenes. Either way, I do like how cool Wen Qing is at the end, order the guards to back off, while still holding Wei Wuxian’s gaze. This woman has no fear.

I hate this outfit. It is the worst thing that Wei Wuxian wears in the entire series, and that includes the bloody rags he’s wearing when he wakes up in Mo Xuanyu’s body. I don’t know where this outfit came from. Did Wen Ning give it to him? Why? Were his other clothes not fit to wear anymore? Everyone else is in the same clothes—why did he have to go through an outfit change? And what is with that cape? What a pain! Jesus, I’m sorry, but I hate this costume. Normally Wei Wuxian looks amazing, but this is a stinker.

This part is pretty hard to watch: Jiang Cheng being so unresponsive, Wei Wuxian putting on a brave face and trying to accentuate the positive. He knows that Jiang Cheng’s Golden Core is gone at this point, but he doesn’t want to dwell on that. He wants to find a way to help Jiang Cheng, even at the expense of his own future. His request for Jiang Cheng to try again is so sweet—try again and Wei Wuxian will act more affected by it—anything to make Jiang Cheng feel even a little bit better. Not to belittle what Jiang Cheng is going through (because that would be awful—he’s feeling his life is over—how can he be a sect leader, how can he do anything without his Golden Core?), I can’t help but truly identify with Wei Wuxian. I don’t think he’d be human if part of him didn’t feel a little responsible for what happened, even though it really wasn’t his fault (the Wens wanted control and the outcome would have been the same, anyway). He’s probably going over and over in his mind what he could have done differently from the moment the Wens showed up, until when Jiang Cheng ran off on his own. Like most people who really care for one another, Wei Wuxian really wishes that it had been him instead. I think sometimes it’s almost harder to watch someone else suffer than to suffer yourself, especially in this case, because Wei Wuxian can’t do anything for him.

I really love how she reacts to being yelled at and told to go away. She’s taken Jiang Cheng and his family in, given him medicine and food, sheltered them all from their enemies—she’s done all of this, knowing that, if caught, it would mean death for her and her brother. And after Jiang Cheng screams at her, she simply leaves, her head completely cool. It’s unclear to me whether she ever felt anything for Jiang Cheng (some people argue that she 100% did—I really don’t know), but at this moment, she stays level-headed while he is blinded by hatred. It doesn’t matter that she has done all those things for Jiang Cheng, because she’s part of the Wen Clan. But Wen Qing isn’t ruled by her emotions like he is. And I love how she approaches the situation, taking the time to tell her brother how they don’t ever kill—they are healers and have been for generations. It’s such a good message that even in the face of such hostility, she can maintain her duty to continue healing him until they have to leave.

What a fucking mess. At this point, how does he even know what he’s read and what he hasn’t read?

I can’t really tell you how much I love this little scene between Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian. It’s hard to even put it in the words, but I feel like I run the gamut of emotions from joy to sadness. Wei Wuxian is doing everything in his power to figure out a way to help Jiang Cheng: he’s hungry, he’s exhausted, he’s depressed, he’s anxious, he’s afraid—and of course Jiang Yanli is all of those things, on top of still recovering from her illness. The joy on his face when he thinks of asking Lan Wangji for help—it makes me smile and breaks my heart at the same time. It’s this fleeting moment where he remembers his old life—their old lives—and then reality sinks in. It seems like Yanli thinks he’s hysterical or something, because as he’s insisting he can reach out to Lan Wangji, she’s insisting that he’s tired and needs rest. She’s trying to ground him to reality, because there’s no way he can get in touch with Lan Wangji with the way things are. Where would he even find him? And Yanli, ugh, my heart breaks for her—she’s just trying so hard to keep her little family together.

And then Wei Wuxian says he thinks it’s his fault, and Yanli loses it. I love her for this insistence that it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. It doesn’t matter—what matters is that it happened and now they have to live on. I mean, she must know that her brother blames Wei Wuxian for this and I think to hear it from Wei Wuxian makes her even more upset. But it’s so true. Placing blame on someone else might make you feel better for a time, or allow you to justify your actions or enact your revenge, but it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change that their parents are still dead. It doesn’t change that Lotus Pier was taken over by the Wen Clan. All of that is still there, even if Jiang Cheng and Yanli placed all the blame on Wei Wuxian.

Sorry this one was super short, all. This arc kind of drags in CQL. I think they should have left more mystery, because it’s pretty clear what they’re about to do here. Anyway, two more episodes until Lan Wangji comes back, I think? Ugh…too many.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |

#wei wuxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #cql #the untamed #wen ning #wen qing #wen chao #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql rewatch #ep 17

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amoret-the-leaf · 3 years

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Summary: Wei Wuxian is determined. After seeing his Lan Zhan yawning, yawning of all things, he makes it his mission to let his husband take a rest. Though, as with many things in life, it doesn't go according to plan. Many years had passed since the esteemed Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch had found themselves stuck in a cave on death's doorstep, confessing deeply rooted traumas to each other. Wei Ying would give everything he had and more to never let it happen again. Never. He was going to cherish Lan Wangji like he deserved, until the day he died.

Ship: Wangxian

Word Count: 5130

Author’s Note: This story is a result of MDZS/CQL frankencanon, and may contain differences in titles and ways of addressing due to subtitle variations. This work may not be completely accurate to Ancient Chinese and Xianxia culture. If something has been written inappropriately/offensively, please let me know!

The crisp air carried soft flakes of white across the frostbitten sky. The Cloud Recesses was coated in a blanket of thick, plush snow as far as anyone could see. The rabbits had been tucked away from their place on Back Mountain into a warmer abode. Tonight, that abode happened to be the Jingshi, where a cheeky Wei Wuxian had smuggled the bunch inside to surprise his almost always overworked lover.

These days, both he and Wangji had been teaching the juniors alongside various night hunts. Though things had been mostly peaceful in the cultivation world, and currently none of the clans were at each other's throats, spirits and other nuisances were still running around causing trouble. But of course, where there was trouble, there was the esteemed Hanguang-Jun and the ever chaotic Yiling Patriarch. The current problem of their teachings was in the execution. Where he was laid back and experience based in his lessons, Lan Zhan meticulously laid out everything, leaving no room for creative exploration, and holding many lectures Wei Ying himself was guilty of falling asleep during. Monotony was somehow effective for disciples like Sizhui, but for those whose brains hadn't become entirely indoctrinated by years of rules- well, it reminded him of the boring hours during his time as a student in Gusu. Lan Qiren's tedious way of drilling said rules of the Lan Clan didn't do much either, all things considered. Like uncle, like nephew.

Though he didn't agree with endless hours of just sitting and listening, his Lan-Er-Ge was insistent. He was also insistent in just the planning alone of those dull, dull lessons. Not to mention overseeing the individual growth of each disciple, and the several times he'd be called out during the evening to help get the group of teenagers out of trouble. Wei Ying tagged along those nights, of course, but he didn't exactly wake up at sunrise most days, nor did he hold anywhere near the same amount of responsibilities the Second Jade did. He could sleep in, and it was expected of him.

So now that he could see his beloved Lan Zhan not-so discreetly yawning after their last night hunt, Wei Ying made it his secret mission to (politely) force him to take a break tonight. What better way to do that than shielding their dear rabbits from the cold? If he was lucky, maybe he could even get Lan Zhan to cuddle with him. He could be a rabbit too!

So when the door slid open, Wei Ying was already darting forwards with two fluffy bunnies in hand. "Lan Zhaaan~!" He beamed, nearly falling face forward as he stopped abruptly. "I brought in the- Eh?"

That wasn't Lan Zhan. No, he was too short to be Lan Zhan. Short and flustered. "A-Yuan?"

Sizhui looked down, apologetically. "S-Senior Wei! Sorry for coming in unannounced!" He bowed, already getting overly worried about the littlest things when it came to courtesy. Like he wasn't allowed here whenever he pleased, he and Lan Zhan didn't mind. He'd have to break this kid from being so polite! It was poisoning him!

"Ah, A-Yuan A-Yuan! Who decided you call me Senior Wei? You used to call me Xian-gege!" Wei Ying huffed, setting the rabbits down to hop around the place once more as he leaned on the doorframe. "Or maybe you prefer to call me Baba now since I clearly raised you!"

"But Hanguang-Jun ra-"

"Hanguang Jun raised you like a bunny. I raised you to be a gentleman!" He exclaimed, proudly sporting his widened smile. "Eat carrots, sit around and be cute. That's for a rabbit. I taught you all the important things! Like how to plant a little radish! And look, you got more radish friends in the end! Isn't that great?" Hands contently sat on his hips as the once feared Yiling Patriarch bragged his true colors. The two couldn't help a light chuckle from that. "But I assume you didn't come to listen to me badger about being the better parent, right?"

Sizhui shook his head. "Actually, Hanguang-Jun asked me to keep you company while he finishes some of his work." The boy explained, gladly coming in from the cold as Wei Ying stepped aside from the doorframe. He had the expression of a giddy puppy... on second thought, A-Yuan was too well mannered and tame to be compared to any dog. "Hanguang Jun must work very hard to still be reviewing this late in the evening. It's only an hour from curfew now."

Wei Ying sighed. Of course Lan Zhan had sent Sizhui to distract him. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the disciple's company, but he wanted his husband by his side again. Life was so boring and lonely when he didn't have his beloved to pester. That, and his husband was going to run himself into the ground if he didn't take a break soon.

One of the rabbits bounced around, before contently nibbling on Sizhui's robe as the teen set out some tea. Of course, Wei Ying wouldn't tell the kid that the tea was only for him, and that Wei Wuxian had poured a heaping's worth of Emperor's Smile into his own cup. That would be 'setting a bad example'.

"Believe it or not, Hanguang-Jun is just as stubborn as I am. Won't admit when he's struggling, and won't easily be swayed from his duties." He spoke, a bit scornfully. As the two sat down for their drinks, most of the bunnies piled around the junior disciple, one even hopping upon his lap. "Traitors! I brought you here!"

The teen gently ran his fingers across the rabbit's forehead. He was accustomed to this, Wei Wuxian was sure of it. Either that, or they were trusting of their own kind. Lan Zhan fed him and raised him to be a rabbit, maybe they knew he was secretly their kin. "Senior Wei, do you think Hanguang-Jun is struggling?" Sizhui asked, now showing worry on his face.

"He yawned today."

Well that was definitely a surprised look. "So it's true then. He never yawns." A hand was brought to his chin. "I don't think I've ever seen him tired before."

Still pouty, Wei Ying closed his eyes. "Considering he kept a straight face after being wounded by the Xuanwu, I can say for certain he's been working too hard for too long. And I'm gonna do something about it!" Downing the rest of his drink, he abruptly stood. If Lan Zhan wasn't planning on taking a break anytime soon, he would be now. "I have an idea, and I'm gonna need your help with it. You and... where's Jingyi right now? We need a messenger who knows how to keep a secret."

Wangji took his work in the Lan Clan very seriously. Uncle begrudgingly learned to tolerate Wei Ying's presence over time, and his brother was always supportive of his decisions- his desires more specifically, a rare thing to him to imdulge in. Therefore, his responsibilities were tied to his sense of gratitude. Lan Wangji was grateful that he and his soulmate could reside here in peace, at least for the time being. Perhaps the Cloud Recesses wouldn't be their home forever, but for now, everything- it was as it should be. So he had to work hard. He would work hard to keep things this way.

He had sent Sizhui to hopefully entertain Wei Ying. They enjoyed each other's presence and talked frequently of the past. How he silently wished to be with them, but he had to grade papers tonight. He would sit and write as long as he had to, complying with the curfew time of course. Wangji had hoped to spend some time with his lover before the late hour came, but it would have to wait for another day. As long as they were together in the night, as long as the single lotus of the Cloud Recesses was beside him when the moon was high, he could be satisfied.

What he had presumed to be a peaceful last hour of writing changed when another of the current disciples, Jingyi, had come rushing to his side. "Hanguang Jun!" He called out, in a manner that was unnerving for Wangji. Worry. Fear. A distinguishable type of fear, shared only with those who were familiar with... "It's Senior Wei! He- something's wrong!"

His brush fell from his hand, sliding across his desk to a graded paper, leaving blotches of ink scattered on it. "What happened?" He asked, coldly. Wangji knew he was idolized by the disciple, but right now, he knew the stern, serious gaze that took hold of his face would be enough to intimidate even those whom he loved the most. His brother had so politely gotten accustomed to calling it, 'The Wei Wuxian Effect,' but that was beside the point.

Jingyi, and his inability to have the specifics, was still catching his breath. "I-I only heard yelling!" The teen looked as though he was cowering. It was only then that Wangji had realized that not only was his brush dropped, but broken in half, the second part still wrapped in his hand by knuckles that were turning white. He hadn't remembered doing that. "Hanguang-Jun! Sizhui is still with him! I don't know what's happening!"

Without needing to hear the rest, he was up and moving. As fast as any rules would forbid, he was moving. Across the paths of dusty white, he was going. The Second Jade was preparing himself for anything, clutching Bichen as the brisk pace he was taking barely left any time for marks to be formed in the snow. Wangji couldn't lose him again, his husband or their son, he wouldn't let it happen. He'd be faster this time.

Possibilities flooded his mind. Across the many towns, certain people swore vengeance to the Yiling Patriarch, for one reason or another. In the same sense, many sought out the demonic cultivator in hopes of being taught the art form, and would even carry out heinous acts to do so. Wangji sincerely hoped neither was the case. Spirits were enough of an issue, but he would always silently prefer the threat of the unliving rather than the unagreeable nature of man. Whatever the threat, he would never let Wei Ying go again. Never.

'Wei Ying!'

The doors burst open with a thud, Wangji using a great deal of strength to pry them open. Wisps of smoke lingered all around the room, coming from a tapestry set ablaze; the remains just barely intact to still hang on the wall. Sizhui was frantically trying to suppress the flames with a basin of water, but to no avail. "It's no use! I got it!" Wei Ying yelled, grabbing a section of the cloth that had yet to be touched by fire, and carefully holding it away from the wall. He bent over, gathering a pile of ashes that had collected on the ground with his other hand, smudging them across his fingers. "It has the remnants of a fire talisman. It won't be put out easily-" A glance came to his direction. "Huh? Lan Zhan when did you get here?"

Before he could answer, Jingyi had caught up, looking confused. "Huh?! When did you switch the plan to fire?! What happened to the first plan?!" He exclaimed. At that, both Sizhui and Wei Ying shot him a glare. In Wangji's experience, that meant they were hiding something. Not the first time it had happened. "I mean, what plan? There was no plan!"

"Plan?" The Second Jade asked. Hesitant looks and a light laugh were exchanged between the three. No one wanted to come forward. However, silence from Hanguang-Jun rang loudly, or so he'd been told. Though he had not intended to be intimidating, it was effective.

"Hanguang-Jun," Sizhui bowed, "Senior Wei noticed you've been working hard recently, so..." His sentence trailed off. "We came up with a plan to have you take a break. Jingyi was our messenger. Apologies for the initial deception. The fire was not part of this." The junior disciple confessed. Jingyi joined the other in his apologetic stance.

Wei Ying sighed, seeming to forget what he was holding as the last of the fire grazed his hand. Yelping, he let the last of the material go, as it succumbed to ash midair. Wangji was already by his side, holding the injury to his eyes and looking over the redness that had been left on two of his fingertips. "Should be treated." He spoke, softly. Fortunately, he had both the right balm and proper dressings nearby, as Wei Ying had a bad habit of being injured, and the healers were busy enough.

"Lan Zhaaan..." He whined, already having the gauze wrapped around by the other. "Lan-Er-Ge, this stuff won't work. I need you to kiss it better for me!" A pout smuggled on his face as he threw his arms over his lover's shoulders. "It hurts! It hurts so much! This is the end, Lan Zhan! The end of the Yiling Patriarch! I'm headed back to the afterlife for sure!"

The Second Jade sighed, looking content as he planted a gentle kiss atop his husband's now treated hand. "Be more careful." Wangji breathed out, letting Wei Ying put his head on his shoulder, still quietly embracing the hug from behind. When met with eyes that held a mischievous gaze, he repeated. "Need to be more careful, Wei Ying."

The pair of junior disciples weren't sure if they should be seeing this. Red hues brought on by embarrassment heated their cheeks. Still half-nuzzled into Wangji, Wei Ying couldn't help but laugh, looking up to the ceiling. "You kids! So easily flustered, just like your Hanguang-Jun used to be! You need to get out of this stuffy old place more often! Do some real labor, talk to the townspeople! They'll teach you how to have fun! And maybe you'll get to meet a pretty-"

"Wei Ying, the fire?"

One of the many conversational cues of the Second Master Lan- this one insinuating he wished for them to speak alone. Finally. Letting go of Wangji, much to his concealed displeasure, he shuffled away, closer to the duo of teenagers. "Alright alright. We've had enough excitement for one night, haven't we? Mission... Unconventional Success? The adults need to talk now." He teased, "and I'm sure the rest of your little duckling friends want to hear all about what happened, hmm? Run along now my little henchmen~!"

Jingyi stepped forward, seemingly wanting to protest, but A-Yuan grabbed his arm. "Right." The more daring of the two mumbled.

"Have a good evening Hanguang-Jun, Senior Wei." Sizhui added. Both of the disciples turned to leave, clearly hesitant. Wei Ying couldn't blame them for wanting to stay longer, after all, he was just so cool to be around, and spontaneous fires were certainly going to be an interesting thing to deal with if this was going to be a recurring thing! But the curfew was fast approaching, and he'd dealt with the consequences of rule-breaking enough to know that it wouldn't exactly be taken lightly should they be out longer than needed. His hand cramped just thinking about it! So much writing...

When the doors were sealed shut, the solemnity of Lan Wangji wore off. Loose shoulders, small flakes in his golden-toned eyes lighting up ever so delicately, the corners of his mouth turning upwards- to anyone unenlightened, they would notice no difference. But Wei Ying was enlightened, so very enlightened; educated and experienced in the ways of the Second Jade. Every magnetic movement made was put to a makeshift memory. His Lan Zhan was just so magnificent, he could study him for hours.

"You didn't start the fire." Wangji spoke, looking to the other for confirmation. Just as Wei Ying was experienced in his lover's expressions, Wangji was equally versed. "Good."

"We had sent Jingyi out to get you when it happened." The other started, sliding his fingers along the charred outline on the wall. "No trace of how it happened; didn't even catch our attention at first. By the time I had noticed, it was halfway singed through. What I find interesting..."

Wei Ying started digging through piles of scrolls. They had many maps, but on different scales. The one he took showed all of Gusu, and only Gusu. "It burnt one item. Of all that could have been set to fire, it burnt one item, and one that was mounted far enough from the wall as to not endanger anyone with a large scale blaze." A hand was brought to his chin. "Where did that tapestry come from?"

"Yuanwei Village." The Second Jade replied.

"Yuanwei... Lan Zhan! Did you name a town after me and A-Yuan?" A smirk crept onto the Yiling Patriarch's face. A devilish one, one of skillful teasing. He didn't remember anyplace called Yuanwei. He didn't remember a lot of things though. But there was no way-

"Farmers and merchants established a community eight years ago. Became a village. Asked to be recognized and named." He stopped, only for a minute. Wei Ying loved it when their eyes met like this. "I was given the task." Wangji informed, nonchalantly. His gaze strayed back to the map as his husband slowly turned red.

Beet red. "Lan Zhan!!! You-! You can't just say these things casually!"

"Does it bother Wei Ying?"

"No! But you can't just... But I guess you already have... Aiyahhh, I guess I'll have no choice but to love you for being so extravagant." Chenqing tapped against his hip as he held his arms around Wangji's waist. It seemed almost like a one-sided hug, but a hint of intimacy shared between them. This was nice.

Still holding onto his beloved, he turned the two of them around so he could see. Wangji had to look over his shoulder to see the map, but he didn't mind. "Yuanwei. The tapestry is from Yuanwei. There was no one close enough to cast an ordinary fire talisman, and it seems like this is too calculated to have been an attempt on our lives. Good! It's such a chore when people want to kill us."

"Mn."

Wei Ying sighed, dreamily falling into Wangji's always alert arms. "So eloquent my husband is!" Just as quickly as he dove towards the floor for the Second Jade to catch him, he bounced back to his feet. "In any case! I'm sure Zewu-Jun would want to hear about this. Especially if this was a threat to the Lan clan. Shall we go visit him, Hanguang-Jun?"

Wangji lightly shook his head. "Brother is not in the Cloud Recesses tonight. Visit to Qinghe."

The former Jiang disciple snapped. "Ah! I forgot! Huisang called a conference right? Doesn't he come back tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Great!" He tugged on Wangji's sleeve. "Then he can know tomorrow. And youuu~" Wei Ying placed a single kiss on his cheek. His voice was no louder than a whisper. "You can take a break, Lan Zhan. You've been working so hard-"

He stopped.

Why did he stop? A smile stayed on Wei Ying's face, though pained. Ah, not this again. A glint of raw emotion, a single tear rolling down from eyes just barely dusted by pink under eyes, barely noticeable. But the Second Jade did, he always would, and it was too late to turn away. Tears? Why was he crying? He hadn't been feeling sad all day. He wasn't even sad! Lan Wangji was by his side again, and they were talking. It's what he wanted. So why... "You look so tired, Lan Zhan."

He didn't want to see him like this.

"...Wei Ying?"

"Hah." He breathed out, clutching his chest. "I don't know where these tears came from... I promise you I haven't been sad this whole time. I'm not even sad now! I promise. It's just- ahh I'm sorry this keeps happening!" That much was true. Unfortunately, sometimes what he went through crept up at the most inconvenient times. Memories of the past swept in with the happenings of the present. Something his husband had assured him was fine, but he still couldn't help but feel guilty. Bandaged fingers laced between his soulmate's hand. "I just... I don't want to see you so run down, Lan Zhan. Apparently my fragile heart can't bear it." He smiled.

Wangji knelt down, kissing the top of the other's hand in desperation. "Can't bear it." He repeated. "Can't bear to make Wei Ying cry."

"I'm not crying! You didn't make me cry! See? No more tears! You didn't make me sad! I wasn't sad I promise I-" Words will do nothing. Lan Wangji never cares for words. And so, he took the other's lips himself. Passionate yet delicately making sure the Second Jade couldn't speak another word of blame towards himself. Brief, but very effective.

A finger flicked against the tip of Wangji's nose. "My Lan Zhan is so funny, thinking he could ever make me sad." A giggle escaped the Yiling Patriarch. "No, I wasn't sad. I was so happy. Happy to see you again. It feels like it's been forever to be awake beside you, but only when you don't yawn. Do you know how traumatizing that was to see? My Lan-Er-Ge yawning? Unthinkable." Wei Ying mumbled, contently sitting on the floor where his beloved still knelt. He put a head on his shoulder. "Your knees must hurt, sit properly. No need for this apology stuff. I want to lay my head in your lap-"

He rambled. Wangji liked it when he rambled. It was so vibrant, and he was so curious. Despite always being clad in black, Wei Ying was ever colorful in his soul. Wangji never cared for words unless they were his. But he could only be consoled by actions. Had he really done no wrong? Wei Ying didn't cry because of him?

"-and the ground is hogging your lap! How dare it! I should've let that tapestry burn it all! We'd build a much nicer floor in its place you know!"

Wangji let out one, singular laugh. A grin formed on his single lotus's face as he shuffled over to place his head in the now sitting comfortably Hanguang-Jun. "The floor cannot have me."

"Good. I won't let it." Wei Ying smirked throwing his hands behind his head. "Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, you should really take that break tomorrow. We could have a relaxing day here all to ourselves. Or we could go into Caiyi Town and have some loquats- take A-Yuan and A-Yi to have dinner with us. Would you like that Lan Zhan?"

"...Would that make Wei Ying happy?" Wangji finally gave in, closing his eyes briefly in hesitant acceptance. But seeing Wei Ying light up the way he did, nodding vigorously, he would do this a thousand times over and more if he could. "I will take a break, then." He murmured, running his hand through the other's hair. Knowing they would be retiring for the night soon, he reached for a brush, undoing the tie of his husband's red ribbon. Wei Ying's hair was both silky smooth and yet small tangles always hid beneath the layers. They straightened easily with a gentle tug, never too hard.

Meanwhile his soulmate took to rambling once more. "Lan Zhan I had to go to such great lengths to bribe A-Yi to be the messenger for our plan! And I didn't even need to! One of the other disciples would've come to get you when the fire started! But now I have to get the whole lot of them sweets anyways!" He pouted, leaning his head back further to look at the other. "If I were them, I would've broken out for sweets myself! Why do they need me to do it? Kids!"

Wangji had finished brushing through the hair, letting go of it gently. "What were you planning?" He asked, both curious and a bit concerned. Nothing dangerous, and nothing that would upset him- those were out of the question. But upset uncle or the others... they were not graced with the same protections from his husband's mischief.

"Nothing special. I had brought up the rabbits earlier and was going to tell you they hopped up here all by themselves looking for you." Scooching across the floor, he picked up a basket that had been turned over on the floor. Hiding underneath, bunnies were practically stacked on top of each other. Strange, there was enough room for them all to be on the floor. "Good thing I put them in there before the fire started. Sizhui wanted to let them hop all over- but I told him you might trip over them if you were scared. That Jingyi... I told him to not scare you when I sent him!"

The rabbits hurriedly sprung over to their precious Hanguang-Jun. They had clear favoritism, even after Wei Ying had given them a talking to. Wangji let the few who were bold enough to hop onto him get settled where they liked. "A-Yi heard screaming." He started, sweetly stroking a hand on its head. "Glad he reacted."

"I guess you're right. I'd much rather you save me from a blaze than watching those juniors try and fan it."

Wangji nodded. The rabbit he'd taken to the most, the only one of dark fur they had, made its way up to his arm not long ago. It sat peacefully on his shoulder, but seemed to nuzzle into the man for more attention. Understanding the request, he lifted it up, holding it out just far enough from his body to be comfortable. "A-Ying."

Wei Ying nearly choked hearing that. His face went through thousands of shades of red, from a subtle pink to a burning strawberry, moving closer to his husband. "Eh!? First a town and now this! You never quit do you?" He asked, desperately, though sure he already knew the answer. "You never even call me A-Ying! What gives? Spoiling me and then calling the rabbit the cute name?"

He didn't need to say another word. Lan Zhan was already putting the rabbit in his lap. "A-Ying-" The Second Jade murmured, placing his head on the other's shoulder. "A-Ying is so handsome. Cute. Kind. Courageous. Strong. All the good things. Good like a bunny."

Grinning. He was grinning like a lovesick fool. Giddy, he took the brush that had been set aside, and took out ornaments in his lover's hair. Though wedded, nowadays he looked for permission before touching the sacred Lan headband Wangji wore proudly across his forehead. When he go the nod, he was quick to fumble with the tie that kept it fastened, before letting it slide gracefully into his hands.

Ha, how naive he'd been all those years ago. He'd picked a lover without even knowing it. A good choice, the best in fact, but a choice unconsciously made so young. He'd be gentle now, respectful. He owed so much debt to this elegant piece of cloth, but an eternity more to the one who wore it. Years. Life had kept on a steady pace in the blink of an eye for him, though in a new body. But... no he'd rather not pry that tonight. He was already tired, no need to bring up those memories. No more surprise crying!

Wangji's hair was damp from now melted snow. Wei Ying carefully glided a towel over it. "Lan Zhan, you shouldn't keep your hair damp. It's bad for your health."

"Mn."

When it was softened again, he ran the brush through. "We should go to bed soon. You need the extra sleep."

"Still have time. Curfew bell did not ring."

He sighed, pressing his face into the other's white robes. Sandalwood. He still had that rich, wooded trace clinging to him. "You need to sleeeeep~" Wei Ying mumbled, affectionately.

That's when the other turned around, causing him to nearly face-plant into the ground. But he was caught at the wrists. "Want to look at you." Wangji admitted, the tips of his ears tinged with a sweet pink. "Don't see you enough. Need to see you."

"You'll see me all tomorrow when Zewu-Jun comes back. You should rest now or else I'll make you take a nap then!" He teased. But of course, Wangji took it seriously, pulling away and heading for the bed. Wei Ying couldn't help but giggle as the other stared at him, waiting to be joined. "Alright alright, I'll come too. But I might be up earlier then! Maybe I'll make you breakfast!"

When they were laying beside each other, Wangji shut his eyes. "Wei Ying will sleep in."

"Is that a request or a fact?"

"Fact."

Wei Ying shuffled, propping himself halfway up with his shoulder, head sitting in his hands. "Is that so? What if you're wrong?" He poked the Second Jade's cheek. "Has Hanguang-Jun ever been wrong though? Maybe the entire cultivation world should listen to you more often. Things could be a lot more quiet."

"To us. Wei Ying is insightful." Lan Zhan added, opening his eyes once more. Turning slightly, he blew out three candles that illuminated the room. One... two... three, and the room was dark. Wangji not-so gracefully fell back onto the bed, before, turning towards the other. "Sleep." He breathed out.

"Sing to me." Wei Ying offered, only to be met with a confused, sleepy gaze. "Wangxian, sing it to me."

He tilted his head. Adorable. "Meant to be played on the guqin."

"Ahbut Lan Zhan," Wei Ying started, taking a thoughtful stance. "Your guqin is only an echo of your beautiful voice. It can't compare." An explanation that could be seen as biased, but bias was his specialty. They were married, Wei Ying could be biased compared to everyone else. He was the only one allowed to be biased when it came to Lan Wangji.

A moment of quietness passed, the only sound being the wind that whistled outside. Then, notes. Words... Words?

"You made words to this?"

"Mn."

The Yiling Patriarch brushed stray strands of velvet black out of his eyes, then Wangji's. "Lan Zhan." He coaxed. "Lan Zhan. Lan-Er-Ge. Ji-xiong. Hanguang-Jun. Lan Wangji." The names were all beautiful, each in their own way. Yet, there was one yet to be spoken. A-Ying... He liked that. Maybe his angel in white would like... Was it too bold? A-Ying was meant to be a rabbit, but he had no rabbit by the bed to blame it on. But Lan Zhan used it, so maybe- maybe he'd wanted to hear a response all these years? Only one way to tell.

"A-Zhan, it's beautiful. You're beautiful."

He smiled.

Author’s Note: Updates come every Sunday! There will be four chapters total :)

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #the untamed #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan zhan #wei ying #lan sizhui #a-yuan #wen yuan #lan jingyi #hurt/comfort #frankencanon #just go to sleep lan zhan #im sorry i hurt you later #uh hi my name is tae come consume me mdzs/cql fandom

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alice-in-wonderart · 4 years

Note

Could you do marriage proposal headcanons for the junior quartet (Sizhui, Jingyi, Jin Ling and Zizhen), pretty please?

Oof, I apologise for the wait, dear. This got much longer than anticipated- regardless, I hope you enjoy me clowning the juniors. After all, proposing isn't easy.

Jin Ling

Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic.

"Why do I have to propose?! Can't she?!"que angry whailing from the Juniors.

No, in all honesty, Jin Ling would be utterly out of it. The moment he realizes he wants to spend his life with you hits him in the face like a brick. And suddenly he doesn't know what to do with himself... So he turns to his friends, who of course, tease him like hell for it.

Ultimately, they help him set up some sort of plan - the plan of taking you out and proposing. The whole idea was for him take a day off from being a sect leader to spend it with you, which turned into an impromptu mini trip to Yunmeng. And so the plan is set in motion.

But nothing ever goes as planned, does it? For the most part - it went okay. He took you around Yunmeng, showing you anything and everything interesting, reminiscing even. But you knew something was off - Jin Ling was jittery, much more unruly and quick to anger than usual.He was blushing like crazy at the simplest of touches. In fact, he was a walking time bomb ready to explode any second. And- it did.

It did, when work found him anyways. Urgent business he had to discuss with his uncle, apparently something which couldn't wait. He wasn't even listening to the logistics of it, his mind was on you - who was going to have to wait for him patiently. Not only that, but because of said work - you'd have to stay longer than expected. (Maybe he should have warned his Jiujiu about his plan, but such smart decision-making doesn't run in the family)

And, you see, usually this wouldn't bother him much, but when he had meticulously *tried* to plan a PROPOSAL, things were very different. So, coming out after a few hours of endless work, he's pissed - at himself, at work, at life...and he yells at you. He yells at you for asking why he's been acting strange all day, frustration falling from his lips like a sinner's confession.

"Strange?! You have no idea what is going on, do you!? No, of course you don't! Ugh. My entire plan got ruined!! This is a disaster!!"

And you'd have to calm him down, that no - nothing was a disaster, you had fun, Yunmeng was lovely, you'd love to stay a bit more. And once again it was proven to him, that there is nobody in the entire world he'd rather spend his days with.

"Okay, look. I know I'm not perfect. I can be rash, hot-tempered, bad-mannered. I'm a sect leader, I'm always busy. And even now, when I tried to make everything perfect for you, it still failed. And here I am, standing in front of you, feeling like an absolute lovestruck moron, like you're my first crush and I just lose my train of thought around you. And-

Goddamn it, I love you, I love you with all of my heart. And I want to show you that everyday. I want to give you everything, I want to give you the world and - I just want to know if- you'dwanttomarryme?"

Lan Sizhui

Sizhui knew very well, that one day he was going to marry you - after all, you were his light, his soulmate. His first love, his world. You stayed with him through thick and thin already, you were his support, his treasure. And he simply couldn't imagine a world without you.

But proposing didn't come as naturally as he'd expected. After having witnessed WangXian in its full potential, having been a part of their wedding, and knowing fully well how it should go down, he still felt a tad too lost and decided to ask for advice.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were very supportive, albeit teasing. Ultimately they were of little help outside of support, suggesting (WWX) all kinds of crazy proposals, from poems, to serenades, to fireworks, wild animals, crazy adventures. Lan Wangji suggested simply asking, which also didn't quite sit right with Sizhui. He was never one for the extravagant show-off performances, but a little more care would never hurt anybody.

Ultimately, he decided to ask you during one of your occasional evening walks around Gusu. He'd told you to wait for him outside a tad later than expected. That of course caught your attention, since Lan Sizhui was never one to break rules, but the little night date was set in motion regardless.

Walking around the back mountain and near the pond with the bunnies, he felt his hands sweat a bit, while waiting for the right moment. He seemed much more distracted than usual, a light pink dusting his cheeks. Soon he found himself kneeling next to you, as you were holding one of the white fluffballs in your hands, lovingly petting it.

"I could stay like this forever" he'd hear fall from your lips. Or perhaps it was something else? He wasn't listening.

"You can..I mean- we can. Just you and me." he'd mumble, gently taking one of your hands in his. He took a deep shaky breath. The bunny jumped off you and he gently caressed the palm of your other hand, before pulling it slightly to his heart. The questioning look you gave him made his heart skip a beat..or two. He smiled warmly at you.

"I..called you out here for a reason actually. I've never actively looked for love, never thought I might find it, yet here you are. And I love you very much, much more than I have the words to express. And you see, everytime I look at you, I can't help but imagine a bright future with you, together, as partners. Even now, my heart beats so fast around you, I fear it might jump right out of my chest. No amount of eloquent poetry or masterfully crafted music can contain everything that I feel for you."

He stopped and moved to kiss your knuckles. "And through it all, we stayed together. You know me better than I know myself. And I know now, that I can't imagine a life without you in it. With all the love and respect I have for you, I'm asking you if you'd like to marry me?"

Lan Jingyi

Let's say your cultivation level isn't the best for the sake of the scenario lol

Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic - Part 2

Oh wow, something scarier than ghosts - commitment love.

Jingyi is lost. He knows he loves you more than anything and he's pretty sure you love him too but- marriage?! He's never had to deal with...that!? Out of desperation, he'd turn to Lan Xichen, who would give him the unhelpful advice of "Follow your heart and see where it leads you." thx m8, rly helpful.

At the end, he'd simply decide to ask you outright. And he was going to propose to you after the upcoming night hunt. He'd imagined it so romantic - him, returning to you, adrenaline-high and sweeping you off your feet with a proposal even the gods would envy.

But then you just HAD to request joining the night hunt. And Lan Xichen had the audacity to agree!

Each time he'd look at you, his heart would skip a beat, his face would flush and he'd forget his own name. It wasn't fair - that you decided to accompany him on his night hunt, since now he had a constant distraction. And of course, he'd complain about it. Not only did he have to look after himself, but now you too? Why was life so cruel?!

And of course, you'd just giggle with your perfect melodic voice and assure him you'd be perfectly fine, and that if something were to happen, you'd be safe and sound next to him. And of course his heart would do a 360 and run an entire marathon. Who needed sanity anyways? Not him, nope.

But night hunts aren't always safe. And that night, resentful energy had seeped much deeper within their hunting grounds than usual, bringing about an army of spirits to roam the dark forests. And when a few decided to sneak-attack, things took a turn for the worst, quicker than expected.

The ambush, of sorts, left you vulnerable, when everybody else ran in all directions, dealing with the spirits at hand. And as much as Jingyi was keeping an eye on you, in the dark of the night, amongst the resentful ghosts, he lost track of you. And panic struck over unlike anytime before. At once his fear of ghosts was utterly deminished and a single thought flooded his mind - where are you?

He stopped in the middle of the battle ground, looking at every direction imaginable. And surely enough - there you were, about to be attacked by a spirit.

And Lan Jingyi saw red. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of you, dead set on protecting you until the very end of time. And that he did.

Once the threat was taken care of, he turned to you, no disregard whatsoever about the others around him, and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, asking over and over if you're okay, if you're hurt and if you needed anything.

After having to assure him, that you are in good health, he pulled away from the hug, only to grab you by the shoulders and leave a quick kiss on your lips. Lan be damned, he nearly lost you.

"Forget anything, what if I wasn't there on time?! I just realised how unpredictable this life can be and now how do you expect me to rest peacefully, without you safe by my side? I almost lost you just now! How could I live with myself if that happened? God, this job is so dangerous! We live a life where any second could be our very last and I can't stand that thought! Let me protect you for all eternity and marry me!"

*cue dead silence from half of the Lan clan and a severely amused Wangxian.

Ouyang Zizhen

I call him - a modern day teenager in ancient China, which applies to his idea of marriage as well.

Out of all of the Juniors, he'd be the most set on actually proposing the "right way" - whatever that meant.

To him, a day meant for a proposal was a day meant for spoiling. It was a "show my love I'm ready to do anything for them" day. Was he an absolute nervous wreck? Yes. Was he showing it? ....well. That's arguable. Did you absolutely know something was off with him? Of course. You'd spend enough of your life with Zizhen to know him like your own name.

So, when he came up to you, gingerly asking if you'd like to go downtown for a little walk, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, you knew you were in for a wild ride - after all, that's one of Ouyang Zizhen's many charms - the adventurous spirit. ( ugh, he's such a Sagittarius. Don't @ me, we don't know his bday)

Upon setting foot in the middle of the town, he turned to you and smiled brightly. "Anything you pick today is all yours. Anywhere you want to go, we go. Anything you want to eat - will be given to you." And he meant it.

He didn't expect you to, however, disregard all of that, instead choosing to spend the day with him, simply walking around and talking. Perhaps drinking a cup of tea. And he followed your humble request, of course.

Yet he still wanted to spoil you - from the freshly baked goods further down the street, to some pretty hair ornament he absolutely insisted would look lovely on you. He just wanted to show you how much you meant to him. Alas, he just wasn't sure how.

He proudly strode by your side, hand in hand, despite his bashfulness, loving every minute spent with you. You ran around, enjoying each other's company, listening to the funny gossips, petting all kinds of animals in the streets, all until you got to a street musician. (I swear those have existed back then - I've seen a documentary, but if I'm wrong, do correct me ✌️ )

He ran up to him and whispered something you couldn't hear, then payed him. The musician in question smiled in return to him and changed the song to one you both recognised and loved. Turning to you with the most bashful of smiles, Zizhen spoke in a fairly hushed tone. "And this - this is for you."

Through a painfully big smile, you couldn't help but ask whether you were forgetting an anniversary, or if it was your birthday and you hadn't realised. The slight worry that you had forgotten some important day threw him off immediately and he frantically waved his hands. "Oh no, no, no. You haven't forgotten anything!" Then he grabbed your hand and turned to you fully.

"Today isn't an anniversary, but I was hoping it could be in the future... We've been together through so much and I wanted to repay you for all of the kindness, understanding, and love that you're giving me. And before you argue that repaying isn't an option, let me finish first. Sometimes I lie in bed at night, wondering what I've done to deserve you, what wonderful hero I must have been in a past life to have you here next to me. And then I always hear your beautiful voice in my head, reminding me, that you're here to stay and I just can't believe it. I wanted to make this day special for you, because I love you and I appreciate everything you've done for me. And well..there is one more thing. I've thought long and hard about this and... Well... I can't help but wonder, if you'd want to stay with me until the very end and marry me?"

Thank you for reading~

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restingdomface · 4 years

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Okay I can’t believe I’m going there, but, Lan Wangji’s magical healing cock and also mpreg AU:

Okay. So. Instead of Jin Zixuan being a dick to his crush, he genuinly never had a crush on her at all, and in fact, it never came to light until the Sunshit Campaign started, but JZX had a crush on Jiang Cheng all along. Jiang Cheng, who, reluctantly, returns his affections. Wei Wuxian is disgusted. His brother has terrible taste in men wtf.

So. Things went differently this time. What’s the change here? Meng Yao never left Nie Mingjue’s side. Of course, he did the spying thing, but he never betrayed him (this could be a part of my idea where NMJ and MY plan to actually have him be a spy and send him off after a planned execution of a soldier that NMJ decided needed a death sentence more than banishment, or, an AU where MY presented the idea to Wen Rouhan that his coming to WRH’s side was the betrayel itself). Now how does this change things? Because I honestly and truly think that if MY didn’t go to Jin Guangshan’s side afterwards, JGS wouldn’t have had the sway to execute anyone else in the Wen Family, or do anything horrible like that.

TBH he tries to wipe out the rest of the Wens, but it goes so badly and this time MY isn’t on his side (lol you know JGS would have tried tho, imagine how humiliating it would have been to be publicly denied by your own bastard son at the banquet after wow) and so JGS ends up removed from power entirely and JZX gets made sect leader instead.

This means, that since JZX is about to marry JC, they’re going to have to move to LanlingJin instead of both of them arguing over if they’d move to Lotus Pier or not. Cause they would argue over that. This means that Jiang Cheng is going to be the next Young Master Jin and Jiang Yanli is now officially the Jiang Sect Leader. Nice.

So. We’re rid of JGS and everyone’s happy and MY probably isn’t gonna kill anyone cause now he can marry NMJ in peace and not have to deal with anyone else, where does LWJ’s magic healing dick come in? Hold on I’m getting to it. Impatient.

So. The Wens. Of course, before JGS was removed from power, Wei Wuxian was actually running around saving Wen survivors and gathering them in the Burial Mounds, so he actually has to be coaxed into leaving by his siblings and LWJ and even JZX and NMJ (who thinks this is rather like that one time he had to coax Nie Huaisang out from under his bed when he became convinced NMJ’s cat was a demon because it wouldn’t stop attacking his songbird and he couldn’t come out cause she was in the room and she would steal his soul but she’s just sitting on the windowsill and meowing at them and NMJ is just silently planning to feed her more and keep her away from the atrium and tbh plz NHS you’re 16 years old you’re too old for this plz stop crying) and it’s great. It’s just great.

Anyways. WWX is paranoid af. Like so fucking paranoid. Cause they have been attacked. He’s got 12 year old girls talking about what the adult men in the Jin sect did to them. He’s got a traumatized toddler on his hip that screams when he sees Jin robes. He’s got children with branded scarring on their faces and wounds you can’t even imagine to come from anything but torture. He’s paranoid. He’s trying to keep the kiddos safe. They’re healers, and he’s given them the tools to heal, but they’re scared, and he’s paranoid without his Golden Core, and he’s scared, and he’s not putting down the toddler plz stop asking, he’s keeping this one, shut up.

So. What can he do but make a few demands? The Lan sect may have strict rules, but they would never attack innocent civilians, and they have rules about killing even animals in Gusu. He asks them to send all the Lan guards they can to escort them to GusuLan. He doesn’t think they’d hurt them in YunmengJiang either, but he can’t risk it. He was there when Lotus Pier burned. Cloud Recesses didn’t lose nearly as many people, and he’s still too traumatized to spend much time in LP rn.

So they go to Cloud Recesses. This actually, also gives the other sects a lot of time to get some glimpses at everyone that came from the Burial Mounds.

Not a single one of them was a cultivator.

This is a little different than canon. WWX can’t handle the loss of his golden core in this one. Not to say that he shouldn’t have done it, but that the resentful energy is dragging him down to the point where all he can feel is paranoia and fear. He’s almost completely unresponsive at this point. He follows after LWJ when told to, and he holds little A-Yuan in his arms, but he doesn’t pay much attention to anyone.

Wen Qing tells them of the loss of his core, but not how it happened. Lan Qiren doesn’t much like WWX still, but he accepts that a cornered animal will bite, and WWX lost his main weapon right before a major war. Of course he would do all he could to keep himself safe.

Jiang Yanli offers for the Wen Survivors to be integrated into YunmengJiang, since they lost so many people. It could help a lot. They accept, since she’s offering them protection and help.

Of course, Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli used to Spend A Lot Of Time Together in Cloud Recesses, so love is blooming there between the two sect leaders, and by the end of a year, they’re getting married themselves.

WWX doesn’t go back to LP with them. He couldn’t do it. A-Yuan and Granny and Wen Ning stay with him in Cloud Recesses. Granny talks with Wen Qing regularly, and A-Yuan is attached to Lan Wangji enough that Lan Xichen starts mentioning that he could attend classes there when he’s old enough. LXC is a WangXian shipper and is trying to get his brother to adopt the child. Y’all know he would. WWX spends his time arguing (loudly, but in a room with magical wards for sound so they don’t get in trouble) with a Lan mind healer that talks through his bullshit with him, sleeping the day away in one of the rooms of the Jingshi (because LWJ made him move in right away and WWX couldn’t even argue cause A-Yuan loves him too and he can ask LWJ to play Their Song whenever he wants to hear it) and following after A-Yuan as he enchants (and terrifies) all the rabbits in the field. Also getting yelled at (softly) by LQR for breaking rules. LQR and LWJ have been making it their personal mission to find a way to either purify the resentful energy so WWX can go back to his normal cheerful self that doesn’t jump or hide when startled, or to regain a Golden core so the yin and yang energies can balance each other and keep him stable.

Of course, JYL sends him a message that she’s getting married, and WWX pulls himself out of the fog enough that he can ask them to go to the wedding (he’s being polite, he’s going no matter what they say lol,) and LWJ accompanies him to the wedding. His siblings are so happy to see him there.

Anyways. Things get rocky when WWX hears them talking about kids.

Jiang Yanli will carry Jin Zixuan’s children, and they’ll keep the Jin name. They’ll know that all four of them are their parents, but it’s a way to pass on the name.

Wen Qing will carry Jiang Cheng’s children, and they’ll carry the Jiang name. This also helps to keep track of what kids are heir to what sect.

Of course, Wei Wuxian, the master of ‘I know The Most Obscure Bullshit Ever’, asks why they don’t just have their spouses children. There are spells and potions for that.

Well. No one else in the room knew that but him apparently. Well, they’re still going to go with their idea for the first few kids, and then they’ll decide if other means of pregnancy options are viable.

Anyways. Guess who else didn’t know it was possible for men to get pregnant? You guessed it. Lan Wangji. Who was also in the room at the time.

So. Wedding is lovely. They all have an amazing time. WWX is able to pull himself out of bed every day. He was even able to work on some cultivation items that LQR begrudgingly admits are amazing items and very useful to cultivation.

They go back to Cloud Recesses, and Lan Wangji combs through his and his uncle’s notes till he finds a viable solution to a return of a Golden core that they had originally scrapped because WWX wasn’t a girl.

To return a Golden core to a body by means of very careful pregnancy. Of course, such a thing would be considered stealing under normal circumstances, and most mothers would rather die than harm their child in the womb in a way that could kill them. But this was a method made to keep both parent and child from harm. A way to build the slightest lump of core in the parent, enough to stick and allow a base to build off of later.

Of course, without consulting Uncle (because the man would be horrified at the idea, and LWJ would rather be rejected by the man himself thanks very much) he takes the proposal to the man in question.

WWXA has to think about this one for a long time. He thinks about it while helping Wen Ning with zombie stuff so he can maintain a stable body. He thinks about it while writing letters to his siblings. He thinks a LOT about it while tucking their two year old into bed and reading him a story with the funny voices. He thinks about it when he spends a night in the cold springs with LWJ one night, close enough to touch the man, because without a Golden core, the water is too cold for him to survive in on his own.

He asks why LWJ would besmirch his honor like that. Having a child out of wedlock, his uncle would throw a fit. His name would be in tatters.

LWJ blinks, once, and twice. He quietly tells him the offer could involve marriage if WWX thinks it’s of import.

So. They get married. So they can have a child. Another child. Just. Yeah. Let’s get married so we can mate like rabbits.

They’re in love. Of course they are. But they’re also shy idiots. LWJ is a sex fiend like usual, and WWX quickly gets addicted to it, but they’re both too shy to say anything sappy yet. Well. No. Scratch that. LWJ is fully willing to admit his love to the world. But he’s a very quiet person. So he mostly just tells WWX how much he would do anything for him, and even eats his horrible poison cooking. Not even A-Yuan will touch that shit.

A-Yuan is so excited to be a big brother. His favorite place to lay is curled around WWX’s big belly and giving it kisses while A-Die scratches his hair and reads him stories.

A-Yuan finally gets his baby and Wei Wuxian gets the stability that a Golden core provides so he can continue using resentful energy to dodge the many many scrolls Shifu Qiren will throw at him over the years to come. LQR swears that if that man hadn’t given his nephew happiness and also many great nephews-

Anyways. The Lotus Flowers are all gay and all happy send tweet.

#jiang cheng #jiang yanli #a yuan #mdzs #the untamed #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #jin zixuan #meng yao #nieyao #wen qing #jc totally carries at least one of jzxs babies #idk why the whole fandom thinks jzx could never top #let jc be a pushy bottom plz #all the lotus flowers are pillow princesses in this one lol #jc and wwx get pregnant at the same time at one point and theyre both horrible about it #wangxian #chengxuan #mpreg

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grapefruitsketches · 4 years

Text

And when I break it’s in a million pieces (3/5)

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Rated T

Twin Jades post-canon case fic, POV Lan Xichen, angst, hurt/comfort

Chapter 3 - For fytheuntamed’s Untamed Fall Fest Day 10 - Rain

Also available on AO3

After walking aimlessly between the trees for a few minutes, calling his brother’s name, Xichen resigned himself to the fact that such a search would be fruitless.

He summoned his guqin. It was time to try Inquiry. Find the spirit, so he could track down his brother.

Xichen sat down, pulling his guqin onto his lap. Placing his fingers against the strings, he sighed. He had always preferred the xiao, but Inquiry was one of those techniques that required a particular type of instrument. If he could figure out how to let a spirit to breath air into the flute just as it was able to move the strings of the guqin, though, he wouldn’t be using the large instrument. The guqin was… heavy. In more ways than one.

He breathed deep, closed his eyes, and sank into the familiar melody – the first question, ever ingrained in his mind:

What is your name?

He waited. Patient. Listening. Waiting for the guqin to respond.

We are many. Who do you call?

Lan Xichen ignored the question, knowing better than to be drawn into the spirits’ game without knowing more. Only now suspecting they wouldn’t be doing much in the way of a rescue.

Why do people come to your forest?

Because they are like us, Zewu-jun.

Zewu-jun. Lan Xichen flinched. It was not a good sign that the spirits knew his name. This was the one of the first thing they cautioned new learners on: if the spirit ever seems to know something about you, you muststop. The centre of control may have shifted their way.

But he ignored this basic rule for one even more deeply ingrained: his brother’s safety was on the line. So he went on.

In what way?

They are alone. They were let down.

Xichen paused. Spirits liked to play tricks, when they could, with Inquiry. Manipulating the asker’s questions to reveal nothing while technically always answering truthfully. It was risky, but if it could help pinpoint the victim commonalities.

Let down how?

Broken vows. Secrets. Betrayal. Things can truly leave a person isolated from the world.

Xichen’s breath hitched. He had known, but it still hurt to hear it confirmed that his brother, who had suffered so much already, was still feeling the kind of isolation this spirit seemed to target. He kept going, needing to find out where his brother was. Unable to face himself, never mind his uncle or brother-in-law or really anyone else if he had lead his brother out to a fatal mission.

And what do you do to them?

A pause. Far too long to be comfortable, followed.

We take them in. Take them away from what harmed them.

Where are they?

Here, the spirit whooshed by Xichen’s ear, chuckling audibly, gratingly. Xichen covered his ears as the spirits began speaking, chanting, no longer needing the guqin, not here in the place where they were strongest.

Here. Here. Here. HERE. HERE. HERE.

The guqin’s chords were playing wildly, incoherent, as the audible voice laughed and repeated the word. Louder, then louder still. Panting, Xichen pulled his hands away from his ears, flinching as the sounds assaulted his ears, now entirely unimpeded. He cut off the spiritual energy flow to the guqin. Closed the channel, and only as he did so did he notice the blood on his palms. Shaking, Xichen raised a hand back to his ear, only to see more thin pools of blood painting his finger once he pulled back away.

The spirits seemed to find Xichen’s confusion funny, quieting for now.

Lan Xichen stood up quickly, leaving his guqin to slide to the ground. He looked around to see tendrils of retreating shadows, snaking back into the now once again visible line of trees surrounding him.

He was sweating. Panting. He bent down to pick up the guqin.

Steeling himself, he bent over, reaching to swipe the guqin away, and walked towards the direction where the shadows had just retreated.

Er-ge…

Sticks crunched beneath his feet.

Xichen…

Wind brushed his face.

A-Huan…

Branches cut at his face, arms as he moved through the thick trees.

The lines marking the roots faded even as he pursued them. Black. Grey. A shadow. Gone.

His heart raced still and he struggled to catch his breath. Thoughts just as hard to follow as the shadows.

A mother. Two brothers. Was he now meant to lose a third?

He had failed them. Each one. One by one.

Xiongzhang…

He shook his. Not wanting to hear that call, not among all the other voices.

He had failed him too, even as he’d tried to stop it. Wangji… didi… A-Zhan… He had been through so much.

A-Huan… please take care of your brother for me.

Xichen… please believe me.

Er-ge… please forgive me.

Xiongzhang… Xiongzhang…

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, clouding his vision. And as he wiped his sleeve across his face, he thought he saw…

“A-Zhan?” Lan Xichen whispered, mouth dry… no…

A kneeling boy, so small that the piling snow quickly enveloped his toes, his legs. Xichen wanted to reach out for him. Didn’t have the words. Finally, tried:

“A-Zhan?”

No response.

“Lan Zhan?”

Silence.

“Didi?”

Xichen’s voice was becoming desperate, whiny, high-pitched, childish to his own ears.

“P-please?” he pleaded.

And finally, the little figure, kneeling in the snow, waiting for a door (that Xichen now recognized) to open, seemed to resign himself to the fact that it never would. He gently, firmly brushed the snow off his robes as he rose.

He turned, and the young voice, which Xichen knew still carefully avoided the trickier words so as not to stumble, answered with a coldness to rival the weather.

“It’s Wangji.”

It had been the first time Lan Xichen had not been able to intuit what his brother wanted. What he needed, or why. It had been his first chance to fall short of his mother’s wishes, and it had not been the last.

“Xiongzhang?”

The snow turned to rain, as the sky – the real sky – opened up overhead, masking the tears that were now flowing freely down his face.

Xichen suddenly came back to the realization that he was no longer a child. No longer on the snowy paths of the Cloud Recesses.

He sank to his knees, relieved to no longer be in that moment, but somewhat disappointed that he didn’t have a chance to do it all over again with the benefit of knowing what he now knew. He shivered, still feeling the cold of a long past winter. He coughed. Coughed again, and stood back up. Continuing his walk forwards, to find his brother. To not fail him again.

Lan Xichen had gotten so many more years with their mother. Years he could not split, could not share with his brother no matter how much he wanted to. He had been meant to care for him, to pass on the things that their parents could not. And yet, here he was. His brother had earned a respectful place in the cultivation world, through no help on Xichen’s part. Almost despite what Xichen had done. Had failed to do. Xichen, instead of believing his brother, protecting his brother at all costs, had chosen instead to protect someone who had hurt so many he loved, even while Wangji suffered. He had turned himself into a burden Wangji had to bear, instead of someone his little brother could rely on.

He had, time and again, refused to acknowledge what was really going on. And so, was it really surprising that so many had stopped trying to tell him until they had enough evidence that it was near undeniable? Had he not still given the murderer – a man he still struggled to think about with any kind of clarity – the benefit of the doubt?

“Xiongzhang.”

How had he let his other brothers, his sworn brothers, distract him from the duty he had to his brother? Xichen had been given so much. Had had things easy. Like anyone, he had his moments of sadness, of grief but that did not appease the debt he had taken from his brother.

He had been happy to do whatever was asked of him. He had sealed his mouth. His cultivation. Himself. And had it been worth it?

One brother had mourned for 16 years for what Xichen had allowed.

Another had died for what Xichen had ignored.

And the last had been killed by his own hand, destroyed by his fear, his desperation, at having facts he should have noticed long ago brought before his eyes.

And even then, he had not even bothered to look.

“Xiongzhang!”

Lan Xichen frowned before blinking his eyes open, slowly.

He lay, not in the snowy paths of Cloud Recesses, not on the stony steps of Jinlintai, not even in a bloody mess in a temple, but instead on the muddy floor of a forest, branches and stones cutting into his back, rain pouring down over him.

He turned his head, to see his brother, crouching, eyes closed, and directing spiritual energy into his older brother.

“Wangji,” Xichen said finally, shocked at the croak in his own voice, “Wangji, are… you’re ok?” He moved to sit up, shaking, flinching at the unsightly faded pink in his white robes, his blood had thinned in the rain, soaking down his arms, not to mention the mud covering his front, where he’d apparently fallen face first.

Wangji’s brow furrowed, ever so slightly, but Xichen saw concern painted in his clenched chin, narrowed eyes, hard expression, but he nodded.

“What’s wrong?” Xichen asked, cracking a smile and coughing to clear his throat. Once. Twice, “How did… how did you get away?”

“Xiongzhang,” Wangji finally replied, “It was you who was taken.”

Now Xichen frowned, “Me? But you disappeared.”

“It was you.” Wangji affirmed.

“Oh.” Xichen’s mind was beginning to fog again as he reached back, trying to connect loose memories of moments, “So you’re… you’re ok.”

He coughed into his arm, embarrassed by the throaty nature of it, but one cough grew into another, and soon he was clutching his chest, he faintly heard his brother worriedly calling after him again, channeling more spiritual energy to him as one cough followed the next.

Eventually, after what seemed like ages but was probably only a momentary coughing fit, the clotted blood came up. Xichen swallowed, looking at the mess on the ground in front of him. He felt better, but despite having apparently just woken up, was suddenly very tired.

“I’m glad,” he whispered, as the rain fell on both their faces. He wanted to pet his brother on the head, to comfort him like he used to when they were kids. But he did not want to get his own blood and mess on his brother. Besides, his arms felt… awfully heavy, “I’m glad,” he said again, before his eyes fell closed and he felt himself fall into his brother, leaving himself hardly a moment to feel guilty for relying on his brother’s support again before falling back out of consciousness.

#untamed fall fest #lan xichen #lan wangji #twin jades of gusu #twin jades of lan #twin jades #the untamed #cql #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #my writing

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rosethornewrites · 4 years

Text

Fic: this body yet survives, ch. 1

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

Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Lán Qǐrén, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Jiāng Yànlí

Additional Tags: No War AU, Recovery, Trauma, Dissociation

Summary: Wei WuXian continues to recover from his traumatic near-death experience, and the cultivation world slowly reacts to the event as well.

Notes: I hesitated to write this because I’m already writing two multichapter fics. But I already started this and I have Plans, so it’s too late. So here we go. Please note that in the coming weeks the new semester will start and so my writing time will be much curtailed. The title of this is taken from another Mei Yaochen poem. His poems are really lovely. My favorites deal with grief and longing. I really need to look into finding translations—a translation I found of 不知夢 was haunting. Alas, this pandemic doesn’t make getting books easy.

Parts 1 & 2

AO3 Link

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“Xiongzhang, shufu, I wish to court Wei Ying.”

WangJi had decided to be forward about his desire. Most would approach such a conversation in a roundabout way, starting with idle conversation, but WangJi preferred to be direct, especially in this.

Truthfully, he would have sought permission before now, but Wei Ying was fragile, even after he had finally broken through to him.

When he had brought him to his siblings after his admission of hunger, Jiang YanLi had cried when he actually ate, kept filling his bowl, and had since made it her personal mission to get him back to a healthy weight. Jiang Cheng’s reaction had been stronger; he had given Wei Ying an almost violent hug and demanded he never worry them like that again.

“I’ll try not to,” Wei Ying had said.

“If you… I was going to kill a-niang if you didn’t get better. She’d deserve it. She does deserve it.”

Jiang Cheng’s voice had been filled with vitriol.

Neither sibling had wanted to part from him, particularly after he admitted to having nightmares, and the four of them had stayed in the jingshi that night, with XiChen as an amused chaperone due to Jiang YanLi’s status as a young maiden. WangJi had not expected to be included in the sleepover, but he had been pleased by it nonetheless.

“I was there, but I wasn’t,” Wei Ying tried to explain, struggling both to find the words and stay awake. “I knew what was going on around me, but I didn’t really feel anything. Interacting was hard, like trying to run underwater.”

He had fallen asleep long before hai shi, after Jiang YanLi had stuffed him full of lotus and pork rib soup, spicy baozi, and osmanthus cakes she had personally prepared in the kitchen. He had sprawled on a blanket in what was normally an anteroom of sorts in the jingshi. Jiang Cheng had covered him with a second blanket with a surprising amount of tenderness.

“How did you get through to him, second master Lan?” Jiang YanLi had asked in the quiet that followed. “We were so worried.”

Answering that question was not easy; he had not then been ready to admit his feelings to anyone but Wei Ying.

“I composed a guqin piece for him,” he finally said.

The smile Jiang YanLi had given him was knowing, and made it clear she was pleased and accepting of his intentions toward Wei Ying, though he knew he would still need to formally request permission of her and Jiang Cheng in the future if he wished to court him.

Jiang Cheng, thankfully, had not seemed to get the implication and just shook his head.

“He always was more musical than anyone else in the family. A-Niang hated that, wouldn’t let him play the dizi. Just another thing she decided to be awful about,” he had muttered angrily.

“‘An angry man is full of poison,’” XiChen had advised softly, quoting Confucius. “Your anger will not change her, only yourself.”

Jiang Cheng nodded, but his lips twisted.

“She wanted me to hate him. Kept pitting us against each other, comparing us. Still, I never thought she would…”

He shook his head, and Jiang YanLi squeezed his shoulder gently.

“Blood or not, a-Xian is our beloved brother,” she had said. “And she hates that. It may be unfilial, but we choose him.”

WangJi had insisted Jiang YanLi take the bed, as was appropriate. He settled in for the night beside Wei Ying, xiongzhang on his other side. Jiang Cheng slept on the other side of Wei Ying, sandwiching him between friendly bodies; if he woke from nightmares, he would not be alone.

But it had been WangJi who woke to hear Wei Ying’s soft whimpers and panting in his sleep, to see his furrowed brow and the fear and pain in his features, even asleep.

“Wei Ying,” he had whispered. “You’re safe.”

Wei Ying hadn’t stirred, but had curled toward his voice, wound up burrowed against his side, and let out a soft sigh, his brow relaxing as he fell deeper into sleep, away from the nightmare that had been plaguing him.

WangJi’s last thought before falling back to sleep had been that Wei Ying fit against his body like it was meant to be.

Shufu’s cup froze halfway to his mouth, but his expression was one of resignation. Xiongzhang simply looked pleased.

“He has been doing better these past weeks,” XiChen commented.

WangJi only nodded.

‘Better’ was the best descriptor. At times Wei Ying still seemed more absent than present, but the mind healers were able to speak with him more than they had before and seemed optimistic. He ate more, though he sometimes needed prompting or reminders of the food if he seemed to fade from reality. He was starting to look healthier.

“Sometimes,” Wei Ying had confessed after one of his fading episodes, “it’s like the world is too bright and loud.”

Even in the serenity of Cloud Recesses. The mind healers, he had said, told him his mind was protecting him when the world was too much for him, as it apparently had been for a full year after his near-death.

Wei Ying had, haltingly, started to play the dizi WangJi had bought him, sometimes losing himself in the music entirely. The battered dizi among his possessions, he explained, had belonged to his father, something he had left behind at Lotus Pier after eloping with his mother. Jiang FengMian had stored it away for his return, but instead Wei ChangZe and CangSe SanRen had died on a night hunt.

The dizi had been given to Wei Ying when he was found and brought to Lotus Pier, the only item he had of his parents’, but he had been banned from playing it by Yu ZiYuan. Instead he had hidden it away in his room.

Playing the dizi also often overwhelmed Wei Ying, leaving him beyond exhausted, the memories associated so fraught. WangJi had seen tears spill down his cheeks as he played more than once. But when WangJi mentioned the idea of attending music classes to learn GusuLan cultivation songs, he had smiled.

WangJi had set up a meeting with the instructor, Lan MingKai. Despite the rule against gossip, all of GusuLan knew what had happened at the Lotus Pier discussion conference. Normally this would be displeasing, but the result was not: Wei Ying was treated with kindness. Not only had the instructor been welcoming, he had even offered individual morning music lessons. Wei Ying was, in fact, attending a lesson while WangJi had tea with his brother and uncle.

Overall, Wei Ying was more present, more expressive—nothing like he had been before, but after so long without seeing him smile at all even the small ones were precious.

“Yes,” WangJi said. “It is gratifying.”

Shufu cleared his throat and took a sip of tea, setting down the cup before speaking.

“Why seek our approval, WangJi? Why not his siblings’?”

“Wei Ying is of GusuLan now,” he reminded softly; it was polite to seek sect approval. “I will seek their approval following yours.”

This explanation seemed to please shufu, who nodded, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

“It has been troubling to see Wei WuXian so… quiet,” he finally said. “I never thought I would say I prefer him more lively, but…”

In conversations over the last year, shufu had expressed concerns. He had seen people severely traumatized in the past, their personalities changed by pain. He had kept up with the mind healers and offered suggestions on activities WangJi could use to try to engage Wei Ying.

“There have been times the mind healers have not been able to help,” he finished after a moment. “I was becoming concerned this might be one of those cases.”

WangJi set down his teacup, afraid he might break it in reaction, his entire body clenching at the idea that Wei Ying could die.

Shufu watched him, something in his face softening.

“He will still need help in his continued recovery, WangJi. And he may never recover fully.”

“I wish to be by his side regardless,” he stated, and his voice came out hoarse.

Xiongzhang placed his hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently as though to soothe.

“You have my blessing, WangJi. You always have.”

WangJi almost smiled at that, remembering how XiChen had pushed him to form a friendship with Wei Ying, how he had resisted. He hadn’t known how to handle his burgeoning emotions, had been afraid of them. Xiongzhang had known long before he himself had.

“You have mine as well,” shufu added. “A marriage would make GusuLan’s acceptance of Wei WuXian more concrete and indisputable.”

XiChen nodded, looking thoughtful.

“After what he has been through, and what I have heard of his childhood from Jiang WanYin, that stability would likely help him heal.”

WangJi resisted his immediate urge to ask after that information, but if Jiang Cheng wanted it known to him, it would be. He refused to violate Wei Ying’s privacy by asking others or even him. If Wei Ying wished him to know, he would tell him.

Shufu interrupted his thoughts.

“WangJi, you need never fear he will face ill treatment here. No physical punishment. No seclusion. He will not be turned out. He has suffered enough.”

Tension WangJi hadn’t known he’d been carrying eased all at once, the fear that Wei Ying would, once healed, face these punishments and, if they were married, be subject to the same treatment his mother had suffered... The last thing he wanted to do was add to the trauma Wei Ying had already been subjected to by making him a prisoner. He had already watched him nearly die and then wither away into almost a ghost once; he refused to do it again.

“Thank you, shufu.”

“He may have a penchant for… antics,” shufu continued. “But none of them have been harmful. They’re simple pranks, nothing worth what he has suffered.”

Silence fell between them, and WangJi did his best not to remember mud-caked pale skin and blue lips, the gurgling gasp of Wei Ying’s desperate breaths under Jiang YanLi’s screams. He feared if he closed his eyes, that would be all he would see, not the gentle whorls of the dark table, the condensation on the teapot, not the steam rising from its spout.

They had been among the first to respond to Jiang YanLi’s screams for help, having happened to be nearby at the time. Shufu, having the best knowledge among them of healing, had not hesitated to dirty his robe in the mud, passing qi to Wei Ying as he lay bleeding from his nose, eyes, ears, coughing up blood and river water, dangerously close to qi deviation after his desperate and dangerous use of his spiritual energy to free himself.

Shufu had ordered xiongzhang to get help, ordered WangJi to help him, clearly knowing WangJi would refuse to leave if asked. Wei Ying had moaned in pain when shufu turned him onto his side, and that was when they saw the tears in the back his clothing that left him almost naked, the blood seeping from lash marks, had noticed the bruising on his face and neck, the bloody fingers that curled in the mud as though seeking something to hold onto.

WangJi had removed the outermost layer of his robe to drape over him, to preserve his dignity in front of the array of faces that were coming to investigate Jiang YanLi’s screams. He had taken his hand then, had watched Wei Ying, eyes wide and terrified, try to focus on him, saw him mouth his name. All he could do was assure him he was there and keep holding his hand when Wen Qing arrived and started snapping orders to everyone.

“It probably helps that he has never gone near your beard,” xiongzhang commented, his tone almost forcibly light, an attempt to dispel the tension.

Shufu seemed to shake himself, as though dispelling the same memories haunting WangJi, or memories of his own.

“CangSe SanRen probably considered her crowning prank the time she shaved my beard while I slept,” shufu said, his voice almost fond. “I rather hope he doesn’t attempt that.”

WangJi hesitated before speaking.

“Wei Ying knows very little about his parents,” he said softly. “He would probably appreciate any stories of his mother you would tell him.”

After a moment of hesitation, shufu nodded.

“She was a very bright person,” he murmured. “Much like Wei WuXian was, before.”

His countenance had a sort of sorrow to it, and WangJi wondered if Lan QiRen, like Jiang FengMian and others of his generation, had also loved CangSe SanRen. Whether she had upended him like Wei Ying had upended WangJi. Or perhaps shufu felt the loss of Wei Ying’s light, and it reminded him of her death.

“Tell him I will speak to him, when he is ready,” shufu said.

WangJi wondered if shufu was ready, but he held his tongue. That his uncle was thinking of Wei Ying’s condition, letting Wei Ying decide if and when he was ready to learn more about his mother, was a kindness. He was still recovering from the damage his adoptive mother, however much she didn’t deserve and had refused the title, had done to him.

“I will let him know.”

They pause to sip at the cooling tea, to enjoy the breeze coming in through the window and the sound of the windchimes gently clinking beyond, the peace of a morning in Cloud Recesses.

“Please also let young master Wei know that he is not required to invent talismans so regularly,” xiongzhang said as he poured more tea. “His recovery comes first. And he need not feel he owes GusuLan for offering sanctuary.”

“Not simply sanctuary,” shufu clarified. “Wei WuXian is a GusuLan disciple, should he wish to be. He need not offer compensation for his care.”

WangJi frowned, considering all that had occurred. Certainly, shufu’s words to Madam Yu had made Wei Ying’s welcome clear, but he didn’t know that Wei Ying had been capable of listening then, so soon after his near death and in the midst of insults and verbal abuse. The announcement of such so publicly at the discussion conference meant that Wei Ying’s status as a GusuLan disciple was known to the cultivation world.

But it didn’t necessarily follow that it was known to Wei Ying.

“Has Wei Ying been informed? Formally invited?”

He watched as his uncle and brother had a silent conversation that left them both looking abashed, and knew this was something that had been lost in the chaos of what had happened, had somehow not been noticed in the last year, an oversight.

“I will speak with him,” xiongzhang insisted. “He already wears GusuLan robes, so we thought…”

“He wears them because they are white,” WangJi reminded him. “He grieves still. I gave him blue robes, and he has not worn them.”

Shufu frowned, his expression almost pinched, close to a wince. XiChen closed his eyes, as he always did when overwhelmed by emotion. WangJi felt the same guilt they did; it had been a year, and none of them had clarified his welcome, too focused on his dissociation with the world, his healing, when this information could have aided in his recovery. None of them had clarified that this was his home.

“I will have a forehead ribbon prepared as well,” shufu said. “We will present it to him, and apologize for the delay.”

“Perhaps you should also make sure his siblings are aware,” WangJi said gently.

Shufu actually winced, which told him the issue had also not been discussed with them, either. WangJi wondered if the Jiang siblings had realized Wei Ying would stay at Cloud Recesses, or if they had planned to follow Wei Ying wherever he went after Gusu.

“I would recommend speaking to them first,” WangJi advised. “Perhaps before I ask about courtship, so they do not assume the two are related.”

“Or dependent,” xiongzhang murmured, as though he had read WangJi’s mind. “We owe them a tremendous apology. After what nearly happened… they’ve feared for his future all this time. It must be one of the reasons they’ve stayed.”

They had many, WangJi knew, and he was certain both XiChen and shufu knew as well. The biggest one was the lady of Lotus Pier, who may have given birth to both of them but could clearly not be trusted.

“We will rectify this,” shufu assured him. “Wei WuXian is of GusuLan.”

“And when he is ready to stop wearing white, that can certainly be accommodated,” xiongzhang added. “He seemed rather fond of black and red, as I recall.”

Shufu twitched but did not protest.

The bell indicating si shi rang, and WangJi rose, bowing properly to his brother and uncle. It was time to collect Wei Ying from his lesson.

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