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#did not add jin zixuan in this

mxtxfanatic · 1 year

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Lies Jin Guangyao Tells (and Where They Are Debunked)

1) (on Qin Su questioning whether Jin Guangyao knew they were siblings) Jin GuangYao replied with certainty, “None of this is true. All of these are lies. This is complete nonsense, words of false charges.” (exr)

Debunked:

Tears streamed down Bi Cabo’s face as she continued, “LianFang-Zun Jin GuangYao and our Maiden Su aren’t husband and wife at all. They are brother and sister......”...

...”Jin GuangShan couldn’t remember whose daughter Young Madam Su was, but my Madam could never forget. She didn’t dare to confront Jin GuangShan directly and knew that the Young Madam truly loved Jin GuangYao. After struggling for a long time, she still decided to go find Jin GuangYao in secret before the wedding so she could tell him the truth and plead for him to think of some ways to lift the engagement and avoid this atrocity. Little had she expected, Jin GuangYao would still marry her even after knowing that she was his sister!”

–Chapt. 86: “Core” Part 8, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

Lan XiChen shook his head and continued. “Secondly, your...... wife......” He paused, as if finding the word wrong before correcting himself, “Your sister, Qin Su. Did you really marry her despite already knowing your true relationship?”

Jin GuangYao stared at him blankly. Suddenly, tears streamed down his face.

He answered in a voice full of anguish. “......Yes.”

–Chapt. 106: “A Hatred For Life” Part 9, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

2) (on Jin Rusong’s death) Jin GuangYao was startled, “A-Song? Why are you asking me this? Haven’t you known of this since a long time ago? A- Song was killed. I’ve already destroyed the one who killed him in revenge. Why are you mentioning him, all of a sudden?” (exr)

Debunked:

Jin GuangYao, “I’m speaking the truth. I’ve always remembered that you have never said anything about my background or my mother. I’m grateful for you until the end of my life, and I want to respect you, cherish you, love you. But, you have to know that even if A-Song hadn’t been killed, he had to die. He could only die. If we let him grow up, you and I...”

–Chapter 47: Guile, exr

Jin GuangYao said, “Er-ge, listen to me. I won’t deny doing any of those things......”

Lan XiChen interrupted him, “How could you deny them? The witnesses and evidence are all here!”

Jin GuangYao continued, “Which is why I said I won’t deny them! But would I ever kill my father, my wife, my son and my brother if I had any other alternative left? Am I really such a madman in your eyes?!”

–Chapt. 106: “A Hatred For Life” Part 9, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

Jin GuangYao saw through the worries in his eyes instantly, and became so enraged that he actually started to laugh, “Lan XiChen! All my life, I’ve lied to countless people and have destroyed countless more. Just as you’ve said, murdering my father, my brother, my wife, my son, my master, my friends—There’s not a single sin left in this world that I haven’t committed!”

—Chapt. 108: "Concealment" Part 2, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

3) (on Qin Su’s apparent suicide) Amid the chatters of the crowd, Jin GuangYao lay down Qin Su’s corpse and slowly stood up. One hand on the hilt of Hensheng, he walked a step closer to Wei WuXian, “I won’t bring up anything from the past, but please explain in all honesty. A-Su’s bizarre death—are you involved in this at all?” (exr)

Debunked:

Jin GuangYao said, “Er-ge, listen to me. I won’t deny doing any of those things......”

Lan XiChen interrupted him, “How could you deny them? The witnesses and evidence are all here!”

–Chapt. 106: “A Hatred For Life” Part 9, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

—Chapt. 108: "Concealment" Part 2, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

4) (Su She speaking on behalf of Jin Guangyao about why Mo Xuanyu was kicked out of the Jin Clan) He continued, “The people who aren’t from the LanlingJin Sect might not have heard of who he is. His name is Mo XuanYu. He used to be a disciple of the LanlingJin Sect. Back then, because of his indecent conduct, he was thrown out for the reason of harassing LianFang-Zun. Yet, speaking from the hearsay nowadays, he has proven himself to the likings of HanGuang-Jun, even following him wherever he goes. Why would HanGuang-Jun, who has always been known for his grace and righteousness, keep such a person by his side? It truly is difficult to understand.” (exr)

Debunked:

Wei WuXian continued, “Neither you nor ZeWu-Jun knew about this. You didn’t even know who Mo XuanYu was. It seems like the LanlingJin Sect had been keeping the whole thing hushed. Now this explains why. After all, Mo XuanYu had the sect leader’s blood in him. If Jin GuangShan really didn’t want such a son, he would’ve never taken him back. If it was as simple as harassing someone from the same sect, he would’ve gotten away with a few scoldings. It wouldn’t have been enough for him to be kicked out. But if the one he harassed was Jin GuangYao, things would’ve been a bit different. This wasn’t only LianFang-Zun, but also Mo XuanYu’s stepbrother. It truly was...”

–Chapt. 47: Guile (exr)

5) (On Nie Mingjue witnessing the then Meng Yao murdering his Jin superiors and attempting to frame it as a Wen attack) Meng Yao threw himself over, half rolling and half crawling, “I had no other choice, I had no other choice!” (exr)

Debunked:

Under the shock and the terror, he spoke as though his words flew, fearing that Nie MingJue might start chopping before he could even finish his explanation. Despite this, his explanation still had clear logic. Every sentence was highlighting how horrible the others were, how poor he himself was. Nie MingJue snatched his collar and lifted him up, “You’re lying!”

Meng Yao shuddered. Nie MingJue stared into his eyes, speaking one word at a time, “You reached your limit and were momentarily outraged? Would any outraged person kill someone with the expression that you had on? Would they purposely pick the discreet forest that had just been through a battle? Would they kill them with the Wen Sect’s sword, the Wen Sect’s technique in disguise as a Wen-dog’s stealth attack to put the blame on someone else? You’ve clearly been deliberately planning this out!”

–Chapter 48: Guile, exr

#human reads mdzs: take 2 #inspired by whatever asshole anon keeps harassing my mutuals #nobody is required to like your shithead fav #OR give grace to people disregarding the WHOLE POINT OF HIS CHARACTER #to play his lies as absolute truth #y'all can miss me with that #did not add jin zixuan in this #because technically he never denies killing him #he refuses to speak on it to confirm or deny until the tables turn on him

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spriteofmushrooms · 8 months

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hiya! how about things you said that i wasn’t meant to hear + ningcheng for the ask game?

"A-jie, Zixuan-ge, I'm here again." Jiang Cheng's voice is soft, and Wen Ning wants to leave, but... but Wei Wuxian had asked him to watch out for Jiang Cheng. Even when Wei Wuxian doesn't put any power behind his words, it's still difficult to disobey. Wen Ning should tell him, but wouldn't Wei Wuxian feel bad? So he stays.

The Jin ancestral hall is nothing like the Jiang clan's. Engulfed in gold, Jiang Cheng is a point of darkness kneeling before grandeur.

"I'm not sure what that brat a-Ling has told you, so..." Jiang Cheng describes the past few months of Jin Ling's life--a notable night hunt, a well-negotiated treaty, the fight for the watchtowers. He tells them that Jin Ling has grown again, and that he's almost taller than Jiang Cheng already. That his friends are sweet, annoying, and promising. That he very obviously maneuvered so that Jiang Cheng would have to take care of Fairy while he studies in Cloud Recesses, because it would be 'so helpful, jiujiu.' He pauses. "He's such a good boy, a-jie."

He laughs, self-mocking. "Your a-Xian, though." Wen Ning should leave! "Your a-Xian has bewitched Lan Qiren's perfect, dutiful nephew, which is somehow something he thought I should be advised of. Not one personal letter in almost eighteen years, and this is what he thinks I want to know? Your didi was responsible, though, and he did not describe every imperfect act by Hanguang-jun. So, you see, I am still diplomatic."

Jiang Cheng curls down, perfect posture forgotten. His hands grip the skirts of his robes. Wen Ning can't see his face. After a few silent moments, he adds, "Jin Ling says that your a-Xian is gaining weight. So he must be eating something, even if it is bland."

The silence of the ancestral hall presses in.

"I wish..." Jiang Cheng whispers. "I wish..."

But then he shakes his head and wipes his face. "I'll visit again soon."

#pallas.rtf #mdzs #least-carpet #wen ''but wei-gongzi asked me to 🥺'' ning #chengning #my writing #this isn't sexy but it's what popped into my mind #wen ning is always witnessing jiang cheng's worst moments. it's good for them

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travalerray · 4 months

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Chengxian for the ask game?

thanks for the ask!

Well you know. This goes without saying.

What made you ship it?

Since I started with the donghua, I would say the hyperspecific scene in the Xuanwu Cave right after Wei Wuxian has gotten branded and everyone's going "fuuuuck", and Chengxian exchange a very meaningful look and Wei Wuxian says, "I have gotten hurt in Lotus Pier before too. When have I not swim the fastest?". The way they looked at each other altered my brain chemicals <3. (Also yes, lmao, the donghua is very funny because it decides to make Jiang Cheng this mega softie in the first flashback and even adds this extra dialogue during the Waterborne Abyss where they are fighting the water ghouls where he tells Wei Wuxian "we have got it" when in the novel Wei Wuxian's narration is like "as usual, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were competing". Heartbreaking how they completely dropped the ball after the XiYao conversation in S2 E1). The one that did solidify my stance is the famous choking-crying scene because......yeah, I won't say it. It is always heart breaking to see children lashing out in the moments of grief, especially this one that highlights how they deal with it—Jiang Cheng angry and lashing out, Wei Wuxian putting a hand over his eyes, both not wanting to show that they are crying, the rain starting—the cinematography is beautiful.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

*gestures* Everything.

It's about the grouchy "why do you have to always play a hero (for the others, just be mine)" as an act of love, it's about walking away as an act of protection (duty is the death of love, honour is the death of love), it's about the mourning for thirteen years, it's about missing your home no matter where you go, no matter who you are with (because it can never be enough—it's always a convenient excuse), it's about acts of self sacrifice as a love language, it's about the "raging ecstasy" and "vengeful wrath" when faced with your childhood "sweetheart", it's about broken promises, it's about childhood dreams and always wanting to stay together and failing always. But most importantly, it's about a lot of yearning disguised as angry barking (Jiang Cheng) and joking around (Wei Wuxian).

It's also about how no matter what Wei Wuxian is narrating, Jiang Cheng filters into his thoughts. Oh, the kids are flying a kite? Jiang Cheng is there. Wei Wuxian is eating? Jiang Cheng is there. The reverse is true too—they are too intimately connected and impossible to be separated.

Above all, it's about Jiang Cheng bringing Chenqing to the Guanyin Temple in perfect condition and throwing it to Wei Wuxian. Above all, it's about Jin Ling being threatened and in that brief moment of confusion, they start yelling at each other, using "the same voice they used as children".

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't think I know enough about the popular opinions to say? Considering the popular opinion people have going on half the time involves arguing on how much Jiang Cheng's actions were justified (what did he do. He didn't do a single thing until Jin Zixuan died and we see him at the Pledge Rally and he doesn't even get REALLY upset until Jiang Yanli dies. Is the problem with the fake duel??? Which is admittedly something you would only see these two come up with, because yes, the only way to avoid a problem is to publicly fall out with your martial brother. But I have never seen anyone express a problem with this detective novel levels of drama, so maybe it's the first siege???) but I don't think most of the shippers have a problem with that? But if this question means unpopular opinion in general, well—Chengxian is an unpopular opinion in general, I think. But otherwise, I will leave this line here:

[there's so much he could be talking about here. Come back Wei Wuxian. Why is it so purposeful. Hello. "I don't want to"? Wei Wuxian????]

#kk's ask tag #mdzs #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #chengxian #edit: I rewatched the Xuanwu episode and it turns out that my memory is in fact cosmically bad

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ddthebreadboy · 1 year

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The Case of Jiang Cheng's Canon Selective Amnesia

Jiang Cheng at MDZS chapter 59:

"Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan and those people can just die! Just let them die! What's their deaths got to do with us?! To do with our sect?! Why did this have to happen?! Why?!

"Go die, go die, go die! Everyone!!!"

And yet Jiang Cheng at MDZS chapter 87:

Jiang Cheng mocked, "Look how forgetful you are. What does unwelcome people mean? Then let me remind you. It was because you played the hero and saved Second Young Master Lan, who's standing beside you right now, that the entire Lotus Pier and my parents went down with you---, "

From blaming Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji, into blaming Lan Wangji alone🙃🙃

Why?

Duh of course because Jin Zixuan has married his sister🥱

The so called sin of causing a sect to be exterminated can be erased as long as you marry the sister~

Oh. I Forgot to add the REAL thought of Jiang Cheng at MDZS chapter 59:

In his heart, Jiang Cheng knew clearly that back in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter at Muxi Mountain, even if Wei WuXian hadn't saved Lan WangJi, the Wen Sect would have found some reason to come over sooner or later.

Dude knew perfectly why the massacre happened at all. Yet refuse to face reality. C'mon, call some psychologist here, a delusional patient who refuse to see reality may have been spotted.

In addition, the REAL people whom Wen Chao wanted to kill and thus were saved by Wei Wuxian in Xuanwu Cave were (MDZS ch 52):

Wen Chao was enraged, shouting, "How dare you! Kill them!"

A few of the Wen Sect's disciples unsheathed their swords, rushing toward Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan.

Yes. It is Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan.

Not only Lan Wangji but also JIN FUCKINN ZIXUAN!

Alright, next:

Wen Chao looked as if his mood was much better. He spat, "Talking back to me, what did you think you are? People like you really do deserve to be killed."

Who talked back to Wen Chao?

Oh, let's look back a while ago:

Jin ZiXuan lifted his brows, "Is that enough? It wasn't enough for people to be flesh shields for you, and now you want live humans to bleed for you to use as bait?!"

Wei WuXian found this somewhat surprising, So Jin ZiXuan really does have some nerve.

Wen Chao pointed at them, "Are you rebelling against me? Let me warn you, I've been tolerating you for a very long time. Right now, hang the brat up with your own hands! Or else none of the people from your sects can expect to return!"

Jin ZiXuan sneered and refused to budge. Lan WangJi also looked as though he had heard nothing, so motionless that he seemed to be meditating.

Oh MY GOD! The one who angered Wen Chao first and talked back to him, it turned out it was Jin Zixuan all along!

That mighty Heir of the venerated LanlingJin, Jin Zixuan!

My my my...

To think that Jiang Cheng acted as if it was Lan Wangji solely who offended Wen Chao and needed to be saved... But the reality were...🧐🧐

The young and mighty Sandu Sengshou must have problem with hearing and seeing for him to think that the one Wei Wuxian saved is only Lan Wangji, right?

Or maybe Selective amnesia?

Oh!

It is because Jin Zixuan has married the Sister so the "so called sin" Got defaulted🙃

(All Excerpts are from ExRebel FanTrans)

***

JC (toxic ones) Stan: Listen to our babyCheng, Lan Wangji is the reason YunmengJiang got destroyed!

JC throughout the MDZS: It's me~! Hi~! I'm the problem, it's me~! (The one who has problem with hearing, seeing, delusional tendency, plus selective amnesia)

#canon jiang cheng #jiang cheng canon selective amnesia #jiang cheng canon inability to face reality and prefer his own delusion #mdzs #xuanwu cave incident #lan wangji #jin zixuan #wei wuxian #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #its me hi~ im the problem its me~

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guqin-and-flute · 11 months

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And A-Fu Makes 4–Chpt. 6 [3zun Raise Jingyi Au]

[EDIT: DANGIT, I forgot to add credit to this one too!! THANK you madtomedgar for the 'call me xiaoshushu' convo idea!!]

[Ao3 Link] [Series] [More 3zun Raise Jingyi AU]

A-Yuan opened his mouth--probably to say this was a bad idea again --but it was Jin Ling who shushed him this time. Outside the door, beyond the sitting room, they could hear muffled voices coming down the hallway. So, A-Yuan went quiet automatically (totally already in sneaking mode, even if he pretended he wasn’t.)

“--even awake yet?”

“Oh, undoubtedly. They vowed to stay up later but were out within minutes.”

Both A-Ling and A-Fu pointed to each other at the same time, mouths open in a triumphant, silent yell. 2 fathers at once! How lucky! Uncle Zixuan was coming back with Yellow-Father and they were going to get them both so good. A-Yuan, though, just looked even more uncomfortable with this extra grownup in the mix, but A-Fu wasn’t too worried; A-Yuan didn’t snitch, he just sorta squirmed, then did it anyway.

All 3 of them had been plastered around the door to A-Fu’s Jin room in their pajamas for a thousand hours with the hot sunlight coming through the window onto their feet, waiting. Back when they had woken up and found Yellow-Father’s bed already made and him gone, A-Fu knew that this was a perfect opportunity for Sneaking-and-Spooking they couldn’t miss. (He had decided to change the name of the game to Sneaking-and-Spooking, so he could win it easier--if he didn’t manage to sneak on someone, he could at least jump out and spook them! Jin Ling said that was cheating, but he just didn’t like how often he lost.)

A-Ling had kept whining about having to go to the bathroom and A-Yuan had kept saying that he was nervous about this and A-Fu had to be A-Voice-Or-Reason and calm them down to be ready--and now it was time!

The lock on the front door clicked and the voices got less muffled as it rolled back and the fathers came in. “Boys?” Yellow-Father called, and A-Fu made the fiercest shushing face at his cousins. When no one answered, the fathers started talking quieter, something about rooms being bigger--A-Fu was paying too close attention to the sound of their footsteps. One went to the set of drawers and one started walking around slowly.

Then, something terrible happened. Or, at least, terrible for the Sneaking-and-Spooking plan.

The smell of Aunt Yanli’s rib and lotus root soup wafted into their noses like a nice breeze. Yellow-Father and Uncle Zixuan had brought back special soup! A-Fu’s tummy grumbled all of a sudden, and A-Ling started sniffing all interested. A-Yuan looked at A-Fu with an ‘I told you so!’ in his eyebrows.

‘Told me so what?’ A-Fu scowled back with his own.

‘They have soup!’ A-Yuan’s chin point said. ‘ It could spill! Bad idea!’

‘You don’t know that! ’ said A-Fu’s nose scrunch.

“A-Ling?” said Uncle Zixuan from close by the door--he was the one walking around.

‘I want soup,’ said the pleading look Jin Ling shot at A-Fu.

‘You follow too many rules,’ said A-Fu’s headshake at A-Yuan.

‘What?’ said A-Yuan’s confused eye squint. (Okay, so maybe A-Fu was making up words for him and his face, so what? He knew what his best cousin-friend would say out loud, if he could.)

“Boys?” Uncle Zixuan’s voice was softer now, like he thought they were maybe all still asleep--even closer to the door.

‘I want soup !’ said Jin Ling’s frown, but, like, louder this time.

A-Fu waved his hands at them frantically to stay where they were. Then, he held up one hand and started counting down with it.

Jin Ling crouched down to be ready. A-Yuan nervously balled up his fists but did the same thing.

A-Fu bent his knees and took in a huge breath to shout--

“I know we’re not going to thank your bofu for bringing us soup by trying to startle him,” came Yellow-Father’s pleasant voice from right outside the door.

A-Fu blew out a huge breath with an, “Uuuuuuugh- uh! ”

He hadn’t even heard him walk up! Yellow-Father had won Sneaking-and-Spooking again. When he threw open the door, Yellow-Father smiled down at him from next to a surprised looking Uncle Zixuan. “Diedie, how do you know all of the times! ?”

Jin Ling and A-Yuan charged out together. A-Ling jumped up into Uncle Zixuan’s arms, kicking his feet and shrieking when they spun around together and A-Yuan hugged tight onto Yellow-Father’s leg. Yellow-Father looked all twinkly down at him and patted his head, then said to A-Fu, so totally unhelpful, “ Diedie’s are magic that way. Good morning, little ones. Did you sleep well?”

A-Fu’s annoyed didn’t stay for long, though, because then, it was Super Special Soup Time! It wasn’t a normal breakfast food they ate, but apparently, Clan Leader Jiang was coming to visit and meet the new twin babies for the first time in the next few days, and so Aunt Yanli had been cooking a lot. Since A-Fu loved the taste of it and he was leaving soon, she had sent some over with Uncle Zixuan. He was halfway through his second bowl, happily chewing on a big chunk of ginger when he remembered something.

Uh oh. He had super promised Gray-Father really serious he wouldn’t eat meat anymore. And Gray-Father had specificity mentioned this soup.

Yellow-Father spied his Thinking Look from next to him and asked, “What’s wrong, Fufu? Did you find a bone?”

“We’w…” Pointing his spoon at his steaming soup, he asked, “I’th got meat i’ i’, righ’?”

“Oh, Fufu, please don’t talk with your mouth full. Meat? Yes, it has meat.”

He swallowed. “What animal?”

“A pig!” Jin Ling announced triumphantly, banging the table in his excitement to be right, and Uncle Zixuan quieted him down with shushes, scrubbing his soupy mouth with a napkin.

Oh. Well, he hadn’t ever met a pig or even seen too many, and when he did, they were pretty big and loud and bristly, not like cute, soft bunnies. Plus, it didn't look anything like a pig.

Yellow-Father’s gave him a confusion look when he stayed quiet. “What's the matter? You like the soup, don’t you?”

“Well…yeah….”

Yellow-Father reached over and rubbed his back all soothing, smiling. “Then what’s wrong? Your Blue- die doesn’t mind if you choose to eat meat outside the Cloud Recesses when we make it for you.”

A-Fu glanced over at his cousins, who were looking at him curiously, chewing. Jin Ling had a little soup drip wobbling on his chin again and A-Yuan was munching on his mung bean pancake. He didn’t have trouble eating no meat--he liked the food at the Cloud Recesses and didn’t take breaks from it when he left like A-Fu did. But meat tasted so good and he was already eating it. “Well, Gray- die said it’s not convictioning….”

At this, Yellow-Father scooted over and scooped A-Fu into his lap. “Your gray die is not in charge of what you eat. Here--” He plucked A-Fu’s spoon from his hand and scooped up a good chunk of stringy strips of fall-apart meat. “Open?”

Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all. Now that he was really-for-real thinking about it, he didn’t want to have to just eat the lame Cloud Recesses food for his whole life. Plus, Yellow-Father didn’t seem to think that it was a big deal! So he happily let his yellow father feed him, wiggling around and dancing just like all the spices and yumminess were dancing around in his mouth.

Jin Ling shoved his spoon over at Uncle Zixuan, exclaiming, “Feed me too, diedie! ”

“Weren’t you just telling me yesterday that you were a big kid, now, and didn’t need help doing anything?”

“Puh- leaaaase ?”

With a shake of his head and a chuckle, Uncle Zixuan scooped up some of A-Ling’s soup into his mouth. So that he wasn’t lonely, A-Fu leaned over and grabbed at A-Yuan’s pancake so it tore into a little strip that he wiggled in his face. “Here, A-Yuan! Like a worm! Cheep cheep!”

“Ew!” A-Yuan laughed, scrunching up his nose, but he opened up his mouth to eat it.

Excited, now, A-Fu grabbed Yellow-Father’s chopsticks and scooped up rice--a bunch spilled all over both of them when he held it up over his head for Yellow-Father to eat.

“Fufu, you’re getting it in your hair!”

“You gotta eat it!!”

While Yellow-Father was picking the rice grains off A-Fu’s head, Jin Ling grabbed a chunk of pork from his soup and fed it to Uncle Zixuan, who looked like he wasn’t so sure about maybe dripping stuff on his robes. A-Fu knew that A-Ling just did it to be a copycat, so he got huffy and tried to crawl across the table to feed Uncle Zixuan, too. But then Yellow-Father pulled him back into his lap and said maybe only the grownups would do the feeding, thank you, though. For the rest of the meal, Uncle Zixuan fed A-Ling and Yellow-Father fed A-Fu and A-Yuan. Yellow-Father had a pleased smile as he wiped the corner of A-Yuan’s mouth with a dark blue napkin, saying, “No one should ever keep you from your food, boys. You should eat as much as you like when you like.”

At least it wasn’t all so serious as A-Fu had been afraid of! He had been a little worried he would get in trouble if he brought it up, since Gray-Father had made it sound like he couldn’t change his mind about it.

“I’m just real sorry, pigs,” he made sure to tell the next spoonful before it reached his mouth. “Maybe try not being so yummy.”

After breakfast, the fathers rounded up all the kids and gave them baths and got them dressed. (A-Fu tried to start a splash war with A-Ling that Uncle Zixuan stopped, but not before he got wet.) When they all trooped out to the garden, the Jin nannies were already there with the twins and A-Qiang. Apparently, all the for Sect Leader Jiang cooking made Aunt Yanli really tired, so Uncle Zixuan wanted to make the house all quiet so she could take a nap for the day. And so the big kids got stuck with the babies again . All A-Fu had to say was A-Qiang better not belly flop on his face again, or A-Fu was gonna lose it . His nose was still sore from yesterday!

He scowled at A-Qiang when he ran up to them, so Jin Ling scowled back at him. But A-Fu just wanted to play , not argue, so like, whatever. It wasn’t so bad, once they started running around together. A-Qiang was getting a lot better at walking and running, so they could at least play chase--plus he didn’t know how to be quiet, so when they played hide and seek, he would giggle and A-Fu would always find him first. A-Fu would usually be mad that he wasn’t playing the game right…but he really liked winning, so it didn’t bother him too much. It was even fun to hold him upside down to train him to do headstands until Uncle Zixuan told him to stop! (He didn’t get why he should stop, A-Qiang was laughing the whole time anyway.)

The roofs around them were so bright when the sun bounced off them that they hurt A-Fu’s eyes. Green spots blinked on his eyelids after he looked at the giant puffy white flowers Yellow-Father called peonies. They were the only flowers in the whole garden that he actually knew, and only because they were the Jin Clan flower--Sparks Amid Snow, his Lan teachers made them remember. The other flowers nodded in the breeze all around them, pink and orange and red and purple, buzzing with bees. A-Fu had gotten stung, like 10 times before, when he went trampling through the Jin gardens. He sometimes just forgot that they were there! They were such grumpy bugs and should just mind their own business.

Uncle Zixuan and Yellow-Father sat next to each other in the shade with their robes all spread out around them while kids played. Each of them held one of the twins, talking about boring adult things--probably about babies, because he could sometimes hear Uncle Zixuan coo at A-Zan in that embarrassing way that grownups got around babies where they acted all stupid, making weird faces and talked in high, silly voices. A-Fu really liked Uncle Zixuan, but that guy was way too okay with babies--he kept looking over at Yellow-Father holding A-Mei with a very pleased expression.

At least Yellow-Father was just smiling down at A-Mei sleeping, rocking a little and not making embarrassing noises. He would kiss her forehead and pet her hair, sometimes, but that was about it. Whatever. As long as he didn’t get any baby ideas like Blue-Father or make too much of a fuss, A-Fu was happy to leave him to deal with the boring babies.

It wasn’t until A-Fu ran past him, determined to show A-Ling he could cartwheel the best that he heard his father humming--and he screeched to a stop, almost falling over his feet. What. The. Heck!

That was his lullaby, the one about a little lotus flower in a pond who made friends with the moon! He stomped back to them, fists all balled up. “You can’t sing that!”

Yellow-Father squinted up at him against the sunlight twinkling through the leaves in surprise. "Shhh, Fufu. What’s the matter?”

He didn’t want to quiet down! Yellow-Father always sang to him to go to sleep, and that song was A-Fu’s favorite! Yellow-Father was his father, not anyone else's! No one else got to have him! The Jin kids got to see him a hundred thousand times more than A-Fu did because they all lived in Koi Tower together and it wasn’t fair!

He scowled ferociously down at the Jin baby--she just smacked her weird chubby lips in her sleep. “You can’t sing that to them! It’s mine!”

Yellow-Father’s eyebrows stopped squinching and he glanced over at Uncle Zixuan, saying, “Ooh,” all gentle, like A-Fu was so small and so special--specialler even than the baby. “I see. You’re right, it is your song, Fufu. My mistake, I'm sorry.”

Finally he got it. A-Fu sighed a huffy breath and crossed his arms. "Good.…You can sing something else to her, though. If you want. I guess," he allowed grudgingly after thinking about it for a second

Uncle Zixuan made a funny noise like a snort--but when A-Fu eyed him suspiciously, he was just letting A-Zan chew on his finger, not looking at them.

Yellow-Father's eyes crinkled up farther into a smile. "That's very thoughtful of you, Fufu,” he said. “What song should be A-Mei’s, then?”

“I’unno. But not the flower and the moon one,” he warned.

“Of course, of course.”

He sort of snugged her in closer in his arms when he said it, though, and shot a laughing sort of look over at Uncle Zixuan, who shook his head with a grin. That Uncle Zixuan was such a bad influence on Yellow-Father, giving him babies to hold and pay attention to, so A-Fu added, just in case he got any ideas, “And you’re not allowed to have babies.”

This made Uncle Zixuan and Yellow-Father laugh --loud enough that A-Mei squirmed, and they quickly quieted down. A-Fu didn’t know why they were laughing at him, and it made him scowl, but then Yellow-Father opened his free arm to invite A-Fu closer and even though he didn’t want to hang out with the babies and he didn’t get what was so funny, he snuggled in next to him. “Alright, Fufu; on one condition.”

“What?”

Leaning down, he kissed the side of A-Fu’s forehead and said, quietly, “That you’ll always be my baby.”

“I can’t stay a baby, die! I’m growing pains already! I’m so much bigger than a baby!”

“Ah, you’re right. What if you promise to be my xiao -Fufu forever, then?”

Well, he wouldn’t really be able to be anything else , so that seemed like a pretty easy promise to make, so he nodded. “Deal.”

He stayed next to Yellow-Father for a while, pressed right up against his side and chewed on his thumbnail as the grownups watched A-Yuan and A-Ling to cartwheel competitions and talked. (He wasn’t supposed to chew on his nails, Great-Uncle Qiren scolded him about manners, but he just kept finding his fingers in his mouth sometimes and he had no idea how they even got there.)

After a bit of them talking, Yellow-Father pet his head and murmured all soft down to him, “Do you think you’re a little grumpy because you miss Blue- die ?”

And A-Fu didn’t like that question because it made a bunch of tears rear up and clog his throat like they had been waiting to pounce, so he just shrugged and sniffled a bit. His yellow father squeezed him closer and kept stroking his hair back from his face, which helped them sorta fade away without coming out. “He’ll be alright, Fufu. Everything is under control.”

Uncle Zixuan reached over and squeezed his knee. “Zewu-jun is a very strong cultivator, A-Fu, and he’s in good hands.”

A-Fu didn’t like this conversation, so he just said, “Do you wanna see me cartwheel? I can totally do two in a row!”

While they were saying yes, they did, all the other kids came over panting and dizzy to collapse by the grownups for a bit of a break, so A-Fu got to be the star and show off all the the new tumblings he had learned in class, so that was pretty cool! He fell over a couple times and kept hitting his head. “Don’t help me, don’t help me, I can do it!” he yelled every time Yellow-Father looked like he was worrying-- Uncle Zixuan kept having to pat him on the shoulder to keep him from getting up and coming over.

Finally, he managed to do 3 cartwheels in a row and then one of the ones he forgot the name of where you landed with both feet together--and he only stumbled, like, the tiniest bit--and he felt like he was the king of the world when everyone clapped for him.

That feeling didn’t last super long, though. Because right after that, A-Fu saw his and Jin Ling’s nemesises .

Both Uncle Zixuan and Yellow-Father got ‘Jin-gongzi’-ed and ‘Jin-er-gongzi’-ed away to do some Important Business by some guy who poked his head into the courtyard. A-Qiang cried and cried to see his father leaving; so the big kids acted very grown up about it and didn’t make any fusses at all, to show him how it was done (even though A-Fu did feel a little grumpy about it.) The babies got given back to the 2 nannies that appeared to take them back home for feeding time. But then, the nanny that was left had to hurry A-Qiang off to go to the bathroom or something, telling the 3 big kids to ‘stay put.’ They were just about to practice handstands again when they heard a voice saying, “Oh look who it is. ”

It was Jin Chan and his gang.

Jin Chan was the worst. Whenever he showed up, it was a bad day, because he had a stupid face and a stupid way of talking and he never, ever had anything nice to say and he picked on everyone. He was just a little older than A-Fu, but he pretended like he was 10 times smarter and he was always followed around by a group of boys that were just as nasty as him. They weren’t always the same kids whenever A-Fu saw them, but they always followed whatever Jin Chan said, like he was a Sect Leader or something. A-Fu had run into him a few times in Koi Tower and at a few Cultivation Conferences, but he had heard even more about him from A-Ling, who had to live with him. He would trip people and say he didn’t, he would steal things or break them on purpose, he would make fun of things you were eating, or your clothes, or whatever. One time, they saw him push a kid into the Lotus Pier Lake. Last time they ran into him, Jin Chan said that even though his name was Lan Fu, which meant luck, he was an unlucky jinx that made his birth parents die.

He was totally Evil, and Lan rules said not to association with Evil--and A-Fu had no problem not associationing with Jin Chan and his gang, if he could help it.

Today, he was smirking and strutting around all slow. “It’s LingLing and the Lan babies in our courtyard.” His friends all laughed, even though he hadn’t said anything funny at all. There weren’t a ton of them this time, but they were all kinda tall, even taller than A-Yuan who was just, like, a couple inches bigger than A-Fu.

But A-Yuan was looking nervously around for a grownup, not like he wanted to use his tallness to help beat up stupid bullies. And A-Fu didn’t need an adult’s help telling someone to shut their stupid face. “Shut your stupid face, Jin Chan. We’re not babies,” he announced back, just as loud.

Next to him, Jin Ling puffed up, hands on his hips and said, “Yeah! And this isn’t your courtyard, it’s ours ; we were here first.”

The breeze that had been nice and perfume-y now seemed like an ominous wind on a battlefield in a legend. Jin Chan rolled his eyes, elbowing his friends, like they had said something funny, which made A-Fu’s mad go all boily in his stomach and he clenched his fists. “Aww, what are you gonna do, LingLing? Tell your parents? What’s your die gonna do? He’s just a son-of-a, and you’re just a son-of-a-son-of-a. You’re not special. You’re stupid. And plus your niang is totally useless.”

Jin Ling’s face and ears turned all bright red and he stomped over to Jin Chan, getting up in his face on his tiptoes. “You shut up about my a-niang!” he shouted. “Or I’ll--!”

A-Yuan hurried over and pulled Jin Ling back away from him by his arm--but he did exclaim, “You can’t say things like that!” back at the group of laughing older boys. “You’re being mean on purpose! I’m going to tell!”

“Oh, shut up!” One of the other bullies piped up. “Lan’s can’t tell us what to do in Lanling!”

Another one with mean eyebrows said, all smug, “Yeah. Plus, my yiyi said they’re both bastards.”

“Well, your yiyi is a stupid piece of crap!” A-Fu snapped back. ‘Bastard’ was a forbidden word in his family--he didn’t know exactly what it meant, but whatever it was, he knew it was supposed to be bad.

“And so are you!” A-Ling added, kicking a rock toward that guy with a scuff.

“Guys! Let’s just go!” A-Yuan begged, expression all worried, then turned and told Jin Chan and his gang, “It’s against the rules to fight! You’re all gonna get everyone in trouble, stop it!”

“Ooooh, I’m so scared!” Jin Chan pretended to shiver, and then straightened up and laughed like an evil villain. “You’re such a coward, A-Yuan. Hanguang-jun should be so embarrassed to have a coward-son.”

A-Yuan’s chin got crinkly like he was going to cry and it made every bit of A-Fu start shaking like a mountain with a thousand boulders crashing down the sides. His boily stomach was red hot with fury. A-Fu was more used to scuffling than A-Ling was, but A-Yuan hadn't been in any fights at all ever because he stayed in the Cloud Recesses so much. He didn't know that bullies like this didn't care about rules or grownups or being mean.

It was up to A-Fu to protect all of them.

“You better leave them alone! I’m gonna pop you so hard that your face’ll turn inside out!” he yelled, raising up his fists in front of him to show he meant business. “Plus, my die’ s could totally beat you up, for your information, so you better watch out!"

The other boys stuck out their tongues and jeered while Jin Chan shook his head, saying, “You’re so stupid. We’re not scared. And you’re not even a son-of-a. Your die is fake. You’re an orphan. You’re bad luck.”

He heard A-Ling say something, but it was like there was a loud river in his ears and he couldn’t pay attention at all. “I told you, I am not bad luck! They’re not fake!”

“Uh, yeah he is and yeah, you are. You’re an orphan. Your real parents died and Zewu-jun can’t find a wife because of you. ”

A-Fu’s tummy swirled around like slimy angry snakes even more, and he shoved Jin Chan back, shouting, “I don’t! I’m not! He doesn’t need a wife! He’s got Gray- die and Yellow- die !!”

Jin Chan stumbled back, then scowled. He stomped up and shoved A-Fu back, harder, and he crashed back into A-Yuan. Right away, A-Yuan wrapped his arms around A-Fu to hold him back, pinning his arms down, keeping him there. The Jin Chan gang all made scoffy noises and laughed, repeating A-Fu in high pitched voices while Jin Chan said, “What are you even talking about? Yellow-who?”

A-Fu wriggled hard, trying to break free, but A-Yuan was really strong and hanging on tight. “Chifeng-zun and Lianfang-zun!”

“PFF!” Jin Chan blew out a raspberry. “Those are his sworn brothers, you moron, not a wife. And anyway, my die says that Lianfang-zun’s not even a son-of-a anything but a whore .”

That was it. He may not know what that word meant either, but he knew that Jin Chan was being a son-of-a alright! It was a special word that he learned from the Nie, and he roared it like a tiger as he finally ripped out of A-Yuan’s arms and pounced on the bullies.

It took the Jin nanny and A-Yuan and A-Ling to pull them all apart. The Jin Chan gang were all cowards, because they all scrambled up and ran right away so they didn’t get in trouble with the grownup . A-Fu shouted so after them and the nanny shushed him really hard and scolded them all nonstop. Apparently, A-Yuan had sent Jin Ling to go get a grownup when he figured out that A-Fu was gonna fight no matter what and A-Fu just hadn’t noticed.

Now, him and A-Yuan were shut inside Yellow-Father’s office, waiting for him to come back. They were alone and it was quiet ‘cause the Jin nanny had taken A-Qiang and A-Ling away. “We’re gonna get in so much trouble,” A-Yuan moaned from where he was balled up tight on his own floor cushion next to A-Fu’s, face buried in his hands. “A-Fu, why’d you do that?! We aren’t s’posed to fight or do ‘vulgar language’!”

A-Fu poked at his bleeding and puffy lip with his tongue. “Th’o? We aren’t in the Cloud Rethetheth. And they were mean to you! You heard what he said, they deserved it! I’m not sorry.”

And he wasn’t. Even though his head and hands and knees and face and right eye hurt and felt like someone was pounding a drum inside his skin, he would totally do it all over again. He would defend his family all over again, no problem--except he would probably punch Jin Chan sooner, this time. So what if his eye was all swelly and his lip was bleeding? That’s what warriors did--they got hurt protecting things on purpose, just like Gray-Father said. Pride puffed up in his chest and he sat up straight. His fathers would be proud of him for doing the right thing, he was totally sure. This time, he wasn’t even just fighting because someone was annoying him; he was being noble and honorable! There were lots of rules about defending and not talking bad and not insulting people.

…There were also rules about not fighting, but, like, how did wars happen, then? Great-Uncle Qiren couldn’t scold war heroes, right? He was like the hero of the Koi Tower Courtyard Battle!

A-Yuan uncurled to look over to see him wiggling at his tooth with his fingers. “Why can’t you just calm down?! Look how beat up you got!”

A-Fu shrugged. “I’m okay. Are you okay?” He had seen A-Yuan fall over a few times when he was trying to stop them fighting before the Jin nanny came back.

Instead of answering, his cousin reached out a hand and patted all worried at his face. It hurt a lot, but A-Fu was being super brave about it so he just sat there and let him. “I think you’re gonna get a black eye. It’s all poofy.”

“Really? Cool!”

A-Yuan looked like he really didn’t think that was cool at all, but A-Yuan sometimes didn’t understand stuff like that. He was too stuck on rules and not getting in trouble. Together, they waited and waited for Yellow-Father to appear. A-Yuan stayed all curled up and rocking nervously on his cushion, but A-Fu eventually got bored. Sitting and sucking on his lip was making his tummy feel yucky. When he started wandering around, A-Yuan hissed that he should come sit down, but he was way more interested in exploring. He didn’t get to go in Yellow-Father’s office much!

It turned out to be pretty boring though, because everything was locked up tight and the only things on his desk were papers, an ink grinding station and brush, those weird blocky paperweights, and a swirly looking incense burner that looked like ones Blue-Father had at the Cloud Recesses. He peered at the sheets of paper, but only recognized a couple of the characters and even then, he couldn’t really remember what they meant.

When he started grinding ink, he caught A-Yuan watching him with his face screwed up in upsettedness, so he smiled all reassuring. It didn’t seem to help. Oh well. Blue-Father and Yellow-Father always let him paint when he felt like it, so A-Yuan had nothing to worry about, here. He maybe added a little too much water to the ink and it splashed on the desk, but after he hastily scrubbed at it with his sleeves, you could hardly tell there had been an accident at all. A-Yuan eventually came over to see what he was doing and seemed relieved when A-Fu pointed out that he was being careful to draw around all the words on the papers, so it wasn’t a problem. “Okay.” he said, but didn’t say anything else.

Pleased that he wasn’t whining about how they were gonna get in trouble anymore, A-Fu invited him to sit next to him on Yellow-Father’s chair-cushion and draw with him. “Yellow-Father always gets super happy when I give him paintings,” A-Fu added, which seemed to help him make up his mind.

Together, they took turns adding little faces and animals on the tops and sides of the pages. Some of A-Fu’s bunnies looked like turds and some of the ink got runny and made the paper wet, but it helped to cheer them both up after a tough day. Plus, it would cheer up Yellow-Father too, when he saw it when he got back to work! A-Fu was in the middle of carefully painting himself backflipping a million times and slicing off Jin Chan’s head with his super cool sword when Yellow-Father came in.

“Boys!”

The first thing he did was come over and kneel down and worry over both of them being hurt, making upset faces over A-Fu’s puffy lip and eye. He wasn’t at all excited when A-Fu showed him his first loose tooth, for some reason. “Are you both alright? Your poor face. Does it hurt very badly? A-Yuan, are you hurt? Thank goodness. Fufu, what have we told you about fighting? What happened?”

Immediately, A-Fu and A-Yuan started babbling over each other about what happened, pointing and waving and hopping;

“I tried to stop them--!”

“--was doing handstands--!”

“--wouldn’t listen!”

“--Jin Chan and his stupid gang came in--!”

“--was so mean, saying son-of-a’s--!”

“--said I was a jinx and I was like ‘shut up’--!”

“--and I told A-Ling to run and get someone--!”

“Boys--”

“--he was like ‘he needs a wife’ and I was like ‘no he doesn’t’--!”

“--so I grabbed him--!”

“--being evil and we don’t asso-associoning with--!”

“--didn’t wanna do it--!”

“Shh, one at a time--”

“--and so I called him a son-of-a-bitch and kicked his nards off--!”

Yellow-Father closed his eyes for a second. “A-Fu--”

“--and that’s a vulgar language--!”

“--and bit him and what’s ‘whore’?”

Yellow-Father had been grimacing back and forth between the two of them, his hands held up to calm them down, but now his eyes snapped over to stare at A-Fu. His eyes were wide.

After a second of silence, he said, voice very quiet and tight, “What did you say?”

A-Fu blinked. “Uh…what’s a ‘whore’? Jin Chan said it. ‘Son-of-a whore’? Is it like son-of-a-bitch?”

Drawing in a sharp breath through his nose, his father stood up, turning away. “Go sit down, boys,” he told them, still just as quiet--he didn’t sound angry, but A-Fu didn’t get it.

“What? Are you mad? I was just--”

“A-Fu, stop. Please. Go sit down.”

Grumpily, he let A-Yuan drag him back over to the cushions in front of the desk as Yellow-Father went over to a set of drawers in the corner. But then, without doing anything to them, he turned and went to look out the window, his hands behind his back. A-Fu opened his mouth to keep asking questions, but A-Yuan shushed him with his hands waving in his face.

After a few more moments of silence, Yellow-Father took in a deep breath, and turned back slowly to the desk. “I’m--what’s this?” he interrupted himself though as he looked down, right at the art that he and A-Yuan had left him.

“Paintings!”

Without saying anything, he picked it up. A-Fu was waiting for him to smile and compliment his art like he usually did, but his face didn’t get happier, he just closed his eyes. Then, he took a deep breath as he set it back down. Then, eyes still closed he said. “Fufu, you cannot fight like this in Koi Tower.”

“But I--!”

“This is not how we solve problems. When you are the son of a zongzhu , you must be careful of your actions and your words.”

All of the proud in A-Fu was mushing into shock and angry. Why was he getting in trouble for doing the right thing? “Are you mad? Are you mad at me? Why are you yelling at me? That’s not fair!” Next to him, A-Yuan tugged at his sleeve, trying to shush him again quietly.

“I’m not yelling, Fufu and I’m not angry. There are just particular rules we must abide by as cultivators--”

“He was saying bad things about our family! I was defending you!”

Yellow-Father opened his eyes and smiled; it was a lying smile, because his eyebrows still looked frustrated or worried. A Fake Jin Smile. “It is not your job as a child to--”

“I was right! We protect people!”

“Stop yelling!” A-Yuan hissed in his ear, but he didn’t even care about that right now.

“Fufu, we cannot hit people when you have a conflict. You should leave the area and tell me and I will take care of it.”

“I’m not afraid of Jin Chan!”

“That’s not what I’m worried about--”

“I’m a warrior, like you and Blue- die and Gray- die! ”

His father’s lips pressed together before he forced another not-true-smile and said in a calm, convincing sort of voice, “Fufu, you’re old enough now that you can’t talk about your Gray- die or me like that anymore. It is not something that other people are going to understand. From now on, you need to call me your xiao-shushu , like A-Ling and A-Qiang.”

A-Fu couldn’t believe his ears. His tummy squinched up all sick and angry and shocked and scared, like shock dumped cold water all over him. Because he thought A-Fu messed up, he wasn’t his father anymore? How could he do that?

“You have to understand--”

“You’re going away ?!”

“No, no, of course--”

All the emotions in A-Fu’s tummy were zinging around through all of him, shaking him, and he had to stand up, peeling off A-Yuan’s hand. “You’re--Why’re you being so mean ?! I didn’t do anything bad! You can’t leave me!”

Yellow-Father all of a sudden looked as shocked as A-Fu felt and he came around his desk, kneeling down in front of him again, taking his shoulders. “No, no, no, Fufu, you're misunderstanding. I’m not leaving, I’m not going anywhere, I’m simply saying you cannot call me Yellow- die in public anymore.”

“Just ‘cause I punched Jin Chan!? I did the right thing! I was protecting!” Furious, scared tears were hot in his eyes, stinging the one that got kicked. “That’s our job!” All his fathers had said so!

“No, this is not a punishment--”

“You are!”

Yellow-Father shook his head and dabbed the back of his knuckle at the corner of A-Fu’s eyes. “You can’t say all the things you want to just anyone anymore, Fufu, it’s part of growing up. You have to have discretion , you have to be careful-- ”

He twisted his head away from his gentle hand. “It’s lying! It’s--It’s against the rules, the rules in Cloud Recesses!” he blurted out when he all of a sudden thought of it--grownups always cared more about rules.

Yellow-Father let his hand fall back to his shoulder, shaking his head. “Shh, this is different. It’s simply not safe to talk about this with other people, and you’re at an age, now, that you must start being more careful about how you speak and who you tell what. Not everyone is allowed to know everything about you.”

The tears finally spilled over as A-Fu stared at his worried face, smile nowhere to be seen--not even a lying one. This was just like when Great-Uncle Qiren said he couldn’t have 3 fathers, but ten thousand times worse because it was coming from Yellow-Father himself. He most of the time remembered not to say things around Madam Jin, and he tried to remember all the rules about who acted weird about his fathers, but now, he had to not tell anyone at all ? Ever ? “That’s not fair! I don’t tell everyone! Gray- die and Blue- die don’t make me lie about them!”

“At Koi Tower--”

With a huge wrench, he pulled himself out of Yellow-Father’s grip, just like he had with A-Yuan earlier, and backed away. “Why do Jin’s always gotta try to take away my family?! Why are you letting them, die ?! I don’t gotta lie to the Nie!”

A-Yuan stayed curled up on his cushion with his hands covering his ears, watching both of them all scared. Yellow-Father stood up and came forward, reaching out to him. “Fufu, please; take a deep breath and lower your voice. They are different circumstances, Chifeng- zun …has a very different--”

A-Fu didn’t want to take a deep breath or calm down! He wanted to throw all the stuff on Yellow-Father’s desk on the floor. He wanted Yellow-Father to know just how mad this made him because he wasn’t listening! He yelled louder, “That’s not convicting! You gotta do it, even when it’s hard or not fun!”

“Lan Fu--” his voice had a little bit of warning and that just made A-Fu madder, more tears clogging up inside his face, making his injuries throb and ache.

How come A-Fu always got in trouble?! How come it was just rules rules rules and doing everything wrong? And now, his father didn’t even want to be his father anymore! “You’re the worst die ! You’re so mean! I hate you! I don’t wanna be here anymore! I wanna go home!” he shouted as loud as his lungs could take, his throat burning.

His father went pale, hand still outstretched, frozen. When the door all of a sudden opened, he flinched. It was Uncle Zixuan and Uncle Wangji, both with frowns, one big and one small. A-Yuan ran to Uncle Wangji as soon as he saw him, clinging to his thigh and hiding his face in his robes as the door shut quick behind them.

“Lan Fu, you cannot speak to your die that way,” Uncle Zixuan said all stern and hushed as he turned away from it, “Lower your voice right now.”

Everyone was being awful! If grownups got to be terrible, he got to be terrible right back! He was already in trouble for something that wasn’t his fault , so he didn’t care anymore! All the angry and hurt and scared burst out of A-Fu in one loud, wordless scream as he stomped his feet and balled up his fists.

“Stop.” Uncle Wangji’s voice wasn't loud, but it cut over A-Fu’s yell and made everyone look over at him.

A-Fu did, but he still glared around at them all. His breaths were sobbing in and out like he had just run a thousand miles.

"What would your Blue- die say about your behavior?" Uncle Zixuan demanded, going over to Yellow-Father who was still standing silently, smiling a weird little smile at the floor without seeming to see it.

Probably to be empathy or something, but A-Fu didn't care. "I don't care! I don't wanna be here ever again! I hate it! No one here loves me! And I hate them!”

“Stop,” Uncle Wangji said again--still not loud, but sharper this time. “Do not use words that you do not mean and cannot take back. Apologize to Lianfang-zun.”

“It’s alright. He doesn’t need to. He’s just upset.” Yellow-Father said quietly.

“ Didi, ” Uncle Zixuan argued in a quiet voice, putting a hand on Yellow-Father’s shoulder, frowning deeper. “He shouldn’t be allowed to be so disrespectful towards you. This sort of behavior--”

A-Fu just couldn’t take it anymore. No one ever listened to him! No one was ever on his side! All they wanted to see was him just messing up, they didn’t care that he had defended all of them against Jin Chan and his gang!

Before anyone could say anything else, he ducked around Uncle Wangji and A-Yuan by the door and ran out as fast as he could. Behind him, down the hall, he heard a grownup calling his name, but he didn’t even slow down. A couple servants gave him weird looks and one or two court ladies talked behind their delicate circle fans as he pelted past, but he didn’t stop for them either. He was totally out of breath from running and crying by the time ran past all the stupid Jin’s stupid statues and stupid tapestries and stupid Jin everything and flung himself onto his stupid Jin bed, face down. He wasn’t sorry! He would never be sorry! Yellow-Father was being unfair and horrible and trying to pretend A-Fu wasn’t his son anymore!

He would show them--he would run away and hide where they couldn’t find him and wouldn’t come out for days and days until they were all sorry. He wouldn’t come out until they called for him 500 million times. They would be so worried and never be mean to him again. Maybe he would even run away for real. Maybe…maybe….

A-Fu woke up with a snort. The birds were twittling outside his window that was shining super hot sun right down into his eyeballs. His whole mouth tasted like yucky metal. Scrunching up his aching face, he rolled up onto his knees, wiping away drool and sweat with his sleeve--then yelped when it swiped his puffy eye. He barely could even see out of it, now. He poked at it a little, swinging his legs off the bed. Then gulped.

Through his open door, he could see Uncle Wangji sitting at the table of the sitting room with a cup of tea. Even though he was looking at the wall, A-Fu knew that he knew that A-Fu was awake. And now A-Fu remembered everything that had happened. Uh oh.

Maybe he could just stay in here and fall back asleep. He thought about it a second, looking at his pillow and jostled up blue blankets. Uncle Wangji probably wouldn’t let him, though. Some of his mad puddled back as muddy grumpiness and he scowled. “I’m--”

Without looking over, Uncle Wangji held up a hand. A-Fu fell sullenly silent. When his uncle nodded his head at the seat across from him, he slowly got up and dragged his feet in and flumped down onto the pretty gold-green seat, crossing his arms and glaring at the table. But he tried to get a peek at his face--to see how mad he was.

His eyes were on A-Fu, now, and he just looked like he always did, but no sneaky small secret smiles hid in his mouth. How did A-Yuan deal with getting in trouble when his father always had a ‘you just got in trouble’ face? Well…A-Yuan didn’t really hardly ever get in trouble. So he guessed that was his answer.

“You are going to apologize to your die . And then we are leaving.” He sounded serious, but that wasn’t new.

A-Fu hunched farther into his seat. “I don’t want to. I’m mad. I’m mad at him. I’m not sorry.”

“You were unfair and unfilial. You will apologize because it is respectful, whether or not you are still angry.”

“But he wanted me to lie! He wanted me to say he wasn’t my die ! It’s not fair!”

Uncle Wangji was quiet for so long that A-Fu snuck another look up at him. There wasn’t a big change in his expression, but he was looking down at his teacup. “I spoke with him. The matter is complex. There are things that are rejected, even when they are not wrong.”

“That’s dumb.”

“Nevertheless. When you choose to stand by things others eschew, you must be ready to accept the consequences. You are too young to fully understand those consequences.”

“I’m not afraid!”

“It is not about fear. It is about responsibility.”

“...Huh?”

Uncle Wangji looked straight into his eyes, a tightness appearing in little lines next to his nose. “Without understanding, there is fear. Fear…can have terrible repercussions. It is a weapon.”

“...Okay…?”

“Your actions do not just affect yourself. Do you remember what this represents?” He reached up, touched the silver cloud pendant in the middle of his forehead.

Automatically, A-Fu’s hand went up to feel his own, a small white triangle on the white cloth instead. “It’s the headband. It’s sacred. Only families touch it.” What did that have to do with anything?

“It is a symbol of restraint and discipline. When you wear this, you represent your Sect, your Clan, and your family. It is important to know your own responsibility. Your consequences don’t just befall you. Do you understand?”

“Uh-huh,” A-Fu said, automatically, even though he only sorta got it.

Kinda. …Maybe. Maybe he would ask Blue-Father about it when he got back, just to make sure. Either way, it sure sounded like ‘consequences’ was Uncle Wangji’s pocket word.

“Come,” Uncle Wangji stood, tucking one hand behind his back like always, Bichen glittering in his other one. “A-Yuan and Lianfang-zun are waiting. When we return, I will speak with xiongzhang to decide your discipline.”

Aw, farts. At least he wasn’t really getting yelled at, though all his mad felt kind of slimy and guilty, now. He did feel bad for yelling mean things at Yellow-Father. But he also felt just so frustrated at the whole thing, y’know?! The grownups really needed to work on listening.

When he and Uncle Wangji got back to the office and he mumbled a ‘sorry’ to Yellow-Father, it was like nothing had even happened. Yellow-Father was his normal sunny, smiley self and didn’t even mention the fighting again, he just asked about what hurt where, and then dabbed on some cream that smelled like something sharp and like flowers onto all his bruises. It was nice enough that A-Fu was tired of holding onto all his mad and climbed up into his lap when he held out his arms. Keeping arguments in his head made his tummy hurt. And he was just happy to be cuddled and not be yelled at anymore. He was so ready to go pet some bunnies with A-Yuan when they got back to the Cloud Recesses.

What a stressful visit!

Just to make sure, before they left, he craned his neck back to look up at his father, and asked, seriously, “You’re still always my die , though, right? Even…even if I gotta lie?”

Yellow-Father blinked, then smiled back down at him. “Of course.”

“Forever?”

“Well, will you always be my xiao-Fufu?”

“Yeah.”

His smile got a little softer at the edges as he smoothed A-Fu’s hair back from his forehead, then tucked a tail of his headband back over his shoulder. “Then it’s a deal.”

#HI. IT'S BEEN...ABOUT A YEAR. 🙃#This is a long one #But it has been done! There is An Update™ and there are more to come!#These AUs are still on my mind daily and I'm still trundling away! The whims of the electrified jello in my head are just sometimes uhhhhh #hard to wrangle #ANYWAY HOPE YOU ENJOY I'M EXCITED TO GET TO MO XUANYU IN THE NEXT 2 CHAPTERS #3zun raise jingyi au #3zun raise jingyi au content #3zun #ljy #jgy #lxc #my fic #my stuff #There's more Post-Reconciliation coming--more intense JGY angst--more Jin kids hangout--more Jin bros bonding--and more BABY ACQUISITION #IT'S ALL IN THE WORKS #Apologies for any issues it's 3am and I've been working on this for hours so I just need to post it and come back later to catch them

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frogizz · 7 months

Text

The Untamed Mind Dump (Spoilers duh)

(I have yet to read the novel for MDZS, and I am on Episode 47 of The Untamed so I want to do another mind dump like last time)

Jin Guangyao, I've been suspicious of him ever since I saw that face of his (I am not calling the actor ugly or anything like that, I can acknowledge its the acting that made him look suscpious not his actual face.) But I didn't excpect for him to be that sick of a human being.

Wei Wuxian being the scapegoat all over again

Damn these people love to gossip

I forgot about Wei Wuxian offering his Golden Core to Jiang Cheng

I miss Jiang Yanli bro

I also miss Wen Qing

At least I have Wen Ning, he is so awesome

I have the firm belief that while Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian are responsible for the death of Jin Zixuan, I know damn well Jiang Yanli's blood is not on Wei Wuxian's hands. Heck, I kind of think even though Wei Wuxian was the cause of Jin Zixuan's death, that that situation was obviously curated from the start, there was no intention to kill anyone that day because Wei Wuxian was doing this all in self defense. (Still sad that Jin Zixuan had to be a casualty).

I legit don't remember Su She before episode 45

The way I had to pause, sit up, stand up, walk around when that lady revealed Jin Guangyao tortured his father like that and what he did to Qin Su??? OH MY GOOOODDDDDDDD

Lan Wanji, you're the best supporter and best friend ever (I know in the novel he's Wei Wuxian's lover but in The Untamed their relationship is still amazing as best friends).

Wei Wuxian is such a great leader and protected those teens well (most of them are teens right? they all seemed kinda young)

I feel so bad for Jin Ling, all of his family's dirty laundry being aired out from both sides because his (defected) martial uncle is infamous for doing dirty tricks and is the supposed one who killed his parents, his maternal uncle being really hard on him, his paternal uncle being absolute scum and him doing things worse than what Wei Wuxian was ever accused for, and then to top it all off, he is constantly bullied.

To add to that, Jin Ling's outbursts are to be expected, he's just like his maternal uncle, really emotional. Jiang Cheng has had his outbursts of anger and aggressiveness (verbal and/or physical) and this could be the only way Jin Ling knows how to express himself.

At first I thought Jin Ling was an arrogant and stupid spoiled brat but I just want to hug this poor kid, the trauma of not having his parents and knowing that they died brutal deaths, the bullying, just everything. Just let him have a nice and warm blanket while snuggling with Fairy for once, please?

Speaking of Fairy, can people stop threatening the dog please? Like, they're such a good boy/girl (Netflix subtitles swapped them at somepoint from he to she and then it so I have no idea).

I WAS CRYING WHEN LAN SIZHUI STARTED TO REMEMBER HIS PAST AND THEN WEN NING WAS TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH HIM BRUH I WAS UGLY CRYING, SOBBING, THEY'RE FAMILY, THEY DESERVE TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER, THE LAST OF THE WEN FAMILY AAAA

I am such a sucker for reunited families, families with close bonds, found families, I don't know why, but it strikes me in the heart in such a painful and joyful way.

Zewu Jun, I always have mad respect for this man and I understand how he needs to make his own judgement and not only trust the words of others, I just can't blame him for that. But man was I afraid that he betrayed everyone by actually being 100% on Jin Guangyao's side knowing everything he did in episode 46, but he looked as confused and weirded out as ever so thankfully he isn't on his side anymore, I love this dude, I'm his biggest supporter.

I'll make each of these things their own post because I have so much more I want to say.

#the untamed #mxtx novels #wei wuxian #jin ling #jiang cheng #wen qing #wen ning #lan wangji #wen yuan #lan sizhui #mdzs #the untamed mdzs #jin guangyao #qin su #su she #meng yao #zewu jun #lan xichen

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xiyao-feels · 1 year

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Why do so many people believe JGY framed MXY and that the watchtowers were the same as the Wen Sect’s Yiling supervisory offices?

Ha, okay. So, there's kind of two reasons.

The first is that people really like to hate JGY and will totally make shit up and are way predisposed to accept any explanations that make him look bad. "Wait, just like the mob in MDZS?" Exactly like the mob in MDZS. I've said it before, but if this were a novel where WWX's story was framed like JGY's, fandom would be 100% convinced that he cursed Jin Zixun, and probably most people would think he killed Jin Zixuan on purpose too.

For the framing MXY specifically I should also add that last time I wrote about this people pointed out that people want MXY to be innocent, since not only did he have a shitty home life but also he's the only canonically queer character aside from Wang//xian and if he's harassing someone that's just.... really unfortunate.... And I do think that's true and it's an important motivation for people. But I also think that if the guy he was supposed to have harassed was a character people actually liked, people wouldn't conclude that JGY framed him. Some people would probably think he was actually guilty; a lot of people would try to hold them both as blameless. Instead it's mostly just JGY who gets blamed.

The second reason for these positions on MXY and on the watchtowers is, unfortunately, CQL.

When it comes to MXY, first and most obviously, CQL added JGY to his vengeance spell. This isn't the case in MDZS at all, but I think the logic is fairly obvious: if MXY is looking for revenge against JGY, maybe it's because JGY harmed him, in which case.... I do actually think there's a bit of a problem with an argument that uses the CQL-only fact of JGY being a vengeance target, and combines it with the MDZS-only fact of JGY not QS being the one he'd harassed, but such is life. In any case it's not a watertight argument, you can totally see how MXY would want revenge even if he was 100% absolutely guilty, but I think it does help explain why people think in that direction.

But there's also a specific line from WWX, after he wakes up after the cultivation conference:

Now I know who is Mo's last enemy. As soon as he's dead, the curse will lift naturally. It's Jin Guangyao. Now, in any case, would not believe that Mo Xuanyu was expelled from Jinlintai because he harassed madam Jin. I'm afraid he knew what Jin Guangyao's secret was and wanted to tell Qin Su, but Jin Guangyao took the initiative to kick him off.

(Episode 42)

This is never followed up on, of course. You will also observe that in light of what we know about JGY's actual secrets this doesn't make any sense. MXY wanted to tell Qin Su that....JGY killed NMJ? The only secret it would possibly make sense to go to QS specifically with is the whoops incest secret, and the only way MXY could possibly know that is if NHS arranged for him to find out, and NHS has no reason to do that and a great deal of reason not to; it would be an enormous risk (JGY might trace it back to him!) and it's well before NHS has all his ducks lined up in a row. Frankly I'm not even sure if NHS actually knew yet at that point in the timeline.

As a side note, I love how this theory posits that MXY knew an important and dangerous secret about JGY, which he attempted to reveal, and JGY's response was to frame him and let him back out into the world. Like, yes, back into the bosom of his abusive family, but man, what a risk to take! I am pretty much of the opinion that if MXY were actively opposed to JGY while also knowing a dangerous secret he'd be dead, because JGY would have arranged to have him killed, because duh. He might hold him captive instead if he really liked him, or felt like MXY had helped him or his mother or something, but in no case is just sending him back to his family on the table.

And when it comes to the watchtowers, the comparison to the supervisory offices is made in the conversation WWX overhears on his way to JL's celebration.

"Jin clan has come across a series of happy events. Little Childe Jin is about one month old. All Jin clan are over the moon. I hear His excellency wants to set up lookouts around the land."

"Lookouts? Recently several clans are arguing over this. Is there an agreement?"

"What is to argue over? I think the lookout is a great idea. On one hand, it can monitor situations from place to place. On the other hand, it passes messages immediately. I don’t know what they are arguing about."

"I don’t think so."

"What if…it would become another Wen’s Supervisory Office?"

"Are the two the same? Jin clan is only in charge of building lookouts. They are managed by all clans."

"Be that as it may, managing it jointly will finally turn into managing it alone by Jin clan of Lanling."

"I hear the idea was proposed by Jin Guangyao. Even if Red Blade Master disagree with building lookouts, he is supposed to attend first-month celebration of Jin Zixuan’s son."

(Episode 31)

This, on the other hand, is the conversation WWX overhears in MDZS:

One of them asked, “Chief Cultivator? Seems like the big sects have been arguing over this for the past while. Have they come to a conclusion yet?”

“What is there to argue about? We can’t be a heap of loose sand, a group without a leader forever, can we? To set a cultivator who watches over all of the sects—I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

“It’s not that good, is it? What if another QishanWen Sect…”

“How could that be the same? The Chief Cultivator is elected by all the sects. They’re different, they’re different.”

“Hah, they say it’s an election, but everyone knows in their hearts. No matter what, it’s the same few people who’s competing, isn’t it? Is there any space for others?”

“ChiFeng-Zun is quite against it, isn’t he? He’s tried to stop Jin GuangShan so many times, implied or otherwise. In my opinion, there’s still a long time before they finish mulling over it.”

“And there can be only one person who sits in the position of Chief Cultivator. If it really passed, whom exactly the person should be would take another few years of arguing over, I suppose.”

“It’s the worry of those who sit at the top, anyways. None of our business. It’s not like little shrimps like us could have any control over it even if we wanted to.”

Someone suddenly changed the subject, “Did any of you attend the completion ceremony of the Cloud Recesses’ Library Pavilion? Well, I went. I stood there and looked, and it was the exact same as how it was before. A difficult undertaking indeed.”

“Yeah, very difficult. It was such a huge cultivational residence, an ethereal realm of hundreds of years old—how could it be rebuilt in a short amount of time?”

“Speaking of it, there’s been a lot of joyous occasions these days, hasn’t there?”

And then in both cases they start talking about JL's party.

So you'll observe a few differences here. First and most obvious, the worries about the position of Chief Cultivator—which WRH held in CQL, but which didn't exist before now in MDZS—are transferred to be about the watchtowers instead.

Now these concerns make a lot more sense if they're about the position of Chief Cultivator, and they don't really make sense if they're about the watchtowers—like, one whole thing about the watchtowers is that they're in remote areas, that's the entire point. What are they supposed to be supervising, exactly? The one wandering cultivator who comes by the area every three years of they're lucky? And observing that there will be only one Chief Cultivator, and it's going to be from a limited pool of candidates, makes much more sense to me than worrying that the Jin alone will end up running the towers—I mean, it's not impossible, but it's a longer-term concern and much easier to prevent than "limited pool of candidates", lol.

But yeah: the watchtowers/Wen supervisory offices comparison is one CQL draws directly. It's not one that makes any sense, but unfortunately that's kind of CQL on a lot of the CQL-specific things JGY's supposed to have done. (I tried to work out the timeline at one point for the XY collaboration in CQL and just gave up.)

(I also left in the discussion about the rebuilding of the Lan's library pavilion in the MDZS discussion, because it's not there in the CQL discussion, and this really gets my goat. It's like two lines! That ask a question we don't even know, at this point in the story, there's an actual answer to: how did they rebuild it so fast? But apparently in this particular change they're not even going to leave us that.)

tl;dr: a) people really hate JGY; b) unfortunately, CQL.

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tiredlaoshi · 9 months

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Is Jin Zixuan and Nie Huaisang’s birth name known?

This is originally a response to a r/MDZS question that I forgot I answered at all because I've been not on Reddit for ages. Anyway, here it goes:

They weren't but I'll propose my head canon to you!

Jins use generational names, remember? So, the "Zi" in Jin Zixuan's name points to him being part of the "Zi" generation, like his cousin Jin Zixun. Their the current generation in line to inherit the Jin sect. Same with Jin Ling being given the name Jin Rulan. "Ru" is his generational identification. But him being named "Ling" at birth could be his milk name, influenced by his mother coming from Yunmeng Jiang clan. To add, this is also one of the key details that tells us Jin Guangshan did not have any plans of acknowledging Meng Yao apart from legitimizing him. Meng Yao being given the courtesy name Jin GuangYao making him part of the Guang generation, literally his father's. So, going by this logic, he isn't in line to be a Jin heir. But well, we know what happened...

Now for the Nie clan! I don't think they use courtesy names. Can you recall that their ancestors were butchers? Seeing that they elevated their status from workers to gentry level, I believe they chose to uphold the traditions of their ancestors. Correct me if I'm wrong, but courtesy names are mostly in fashion for those in the nobility and royal class. So Huaisang is named Huaisang at birth. Nie Mingjue wasn't also introduced with a courtesy name, so, I conclude that the Nie clan just doesn't bother with it. They are after all known for being blunt and straightforward.

There are loopholes to this but I think it's pretty plausible (?).

You can find the actual post here. There are also other interesting answers on that threat.

Note: I'm not claiming any point of accuracy in this answer. My source is literally TrustMeBro and ThisIsMyHeadCanon.

#mxtx mdzs #nie huaisang #jin zixuan #headcanon #mdzs

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admirableadmiranda · 1 year

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After seeing a horribly misguided take on the ambush of Wei Wuxian at Qiongqi, can you explain for the class what a canon compliant reading of that moment is like? Because I think it's so easy for someone (like me) who has read the book after seeing the webseries adaptation to get things confused. (It's hard to forget your first and The Untamed was my introduction to the story.)

Thank you!

Of course! It’s not a scene I go over too often, but let’s see if I can break it down in a satisfying way.

The setting is perhaps a year after Wei Wuxian leaves to protect the Wens. They have all been living on Corpse Mountain, doing their best to avoid the jianghu’s rage and just keep living a day at a time. There is a fragile sort of hope blossoming in that it’s been almost a year and because Corpse Mountain and Yiling are kind of cut off from the jianghu that things might be getting better because they are still alive.

Wei Wuxian receives an invitation to a party for Jin Ling. I’m genuinely not certain which party as due to the Jin being the Jin, they are throwing a lot of parties for him. It’s usually referred to as his 100 day celebration, but I think in the book it’s a month after his birth. Unlike in cql, we have no idea who delivered this letter, but it is most certainly not from Lan Wangji as we would have known if he did.

For people who are living in fragile hope, it is a good sign! Wei Wuxian buys new robes in white(!) and makes an incredibly powerful gift that will essentially protect Jin Ling from all minor spiritual evils in his life. It is a gift people would kill to have. He sets out to go to Jinlintai with only Wen Ning at his side as a show of good faith and non-aggression, but not defenseless.

On their way to Jinlintai, they are stopped in Qiongqi Path when someone fires an arrow at Wei Wuxian that Wen Ning catches. Jin Zixun, Jin Zixuan’s less likeable toad of a cousin, comes out and tells Wei Wuxian that he’s surrounded by three hundred archers and demands for Wei Wuxian to remove a curse that he’s put on him.

Now we know later that it was actually Su She that cursed Jin Zixun for being an arrogant toe rag and that Jin Guangyao likely knew this as they were buddies at the time already, but he has told Jin Zixun that it was Wei Wuxian and due to the rumors flying around about him, he wholeheartedly believes it. He refuses to listen to Wei Wuxian and refuses to accept even the burden of proof in that Wei Wuxian has no markings of the backfire from such a powerful curse because obviously, being Wei Wuxian, he could just make them hit someone else, right?!

Jin Zixun is very much not a smart man. Anyway, Wei Wuxian is preparing to fight here because he’s been ambushed! And to add injury to insult, this is a planned ambush where they removed all of the bodies and anything that Wei Wuxian can influence with his guidao for at least ten miles. He literally only has Wen Ning here, his only line of defense against three hundred archers and an ambush based on lies. He removes a talisman that’s designed to help suppress Wen Ning’s rage as he’s going to need all the help he can get in this stacked fight looming in front of him.

Jin Zixuan, who has heard of his cousin taking three hundred archers and going out to ambush Wei Wuxian, who he has invited to Jin Ling’s party from Jin Guangyao (none of these facts are in fact a coincidence), shows up now. To our great and unyielding disappointment, despite this clearly being an ambush on a man he invited as his guest and Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning being two people against an army of three hundred, takes his cousin’s side. He demands for Wei Wuxian to stand down, he tells him that he’ll be tried at Jinlintai and basically ignores everything about the situation that points out that his family may not be in the right on this. Jin Zixun crushes the bell that was meant to be a present for Jin Ling beneath his foot.

At some point while he and Wei Wuxian are arguing, he draws his sword and starts to lunge at Wei Wuxian, a war veteran. Faced with sudden, escalating hostility, Wei Wuxian reacts on instinct and commands Wen Ning to stop Jin Zixuan from attacking him. Wen Ning does. Fatally.

Now this is not what Wei Wuxian wanted at all and it is a loss of control, but also how many stories have we heard in real life about people with strong triggers associated with being attacked having someone approach them in an obviously aggressive way and react on instinct? Wei Wuxian had no reason to believe that Jin Zixuan wasn’t a part of this whole mess from the beginning, and while later clarity of mind and Jin Zixuan’s last words give him some indication that it wasn’t planned, at that very moment he was reacting to an escalating threat.

The real loss of control comes when he sees what has happened, Jin Zixuan dying on Wen Ning’s arm in front of everyone. After a year of living and waiting for the hammer to fall, that cautious hope that an invitation to his shijie’s son’s month birthday party might mean that they’re not inevitably doomed and then the utter betrayal of the ambush and Jin Zixuan’s actions, he loses control and Wen Ning kills everyone in Qiongqi Path before carrying a nigh-catatonic Wei Wuxian back to the safety of Corpse Mountain.

It is a tragedy in all senses of the word. It gives the Jin exactly what they need to rile up dissent against Wei Wuxian into actual action. It gives them a concrete action to point too. Jin Zixuan’s invitation to Wei Wuxian was well known, so it wrecks what remains of his reputation and at this point no matter what Wei Wuxian or anyone else does, the people living in Corpse Mountain are doomed.

Qiongqi Path 2.0 is basically the ultimate machination of the Jin and the collapse of what little stability Wei Wuxian had left in his first life. Less than a week after this, Wen Qing will be dead and Wen Ning heavily implied to be manipulated into killing the Nie and Lan cultivators who came to see their executions; when they were promised by Jin Guangshan that if they turned themselves in, he and the others would leave the people on corpse mountain alone. What with the two clans that didn’t have an active vendetta against Wei Wuxian now dragged in by Wen Ning’s murder, it will be easy for the Jin to rally them into an army against Wei Wuxian at Nightless City and spark the final chain of events that leads to the end of Wei Wuxian’s first life.

Wei Wuxian is culpable in the extent that he lost control and killed everyone there. But given the factors in play, he is certainly not an unreasonable aggressor or reacting without cause to anything that’s going on.

Jin Zixuan has never been kind or reasonable to him once whenever they’ve met in person. As a teenager he disparages Jiang Yanli in front of him multiple times and Wei Wuxian is honorbound to defend her from the societal impact of Jin Zixuan’s careless words. As adults, Jin Zixuan tells Jiang Cheng to control his servant in Wei Wuxian’s face when he continues to defend Jiang Yanli from a man who has at that point still shown her no respect or care in the slightest. They have a terrible relationship and one that while equally hostile from both ends, is more built off of Jin Zixuan’s actions than Wei Wuxian’s. We can even see that in the Xuanwu Cave that Wei Wuxian admires his willingness to stand up for Mianmian when the Wen are going for her.

The fact of the matter is, is that Jin Zixuan had a history of deliberately antagonizing Wei Wuxian and also taking his first interpretation of a series of events as truth and refusing to listen to contradictory evidence. He gets away with it for a number of years due to his prestige and position, but eventually he takes that childish attitude onto a battlefront, and it gets him killed.

There may be no second flute user at Qiongqi Path in the book and the blood is on Wei Wuxian’s hands. But to claim that it is his fault and that he was responsible for things going wrong is a very bad take indeed.

A canon compliant take on Qiongqi Path is that it is the ultimate chess move of the Jin against him, where in the end Jin Guangyao sacrifices a rook and takes Wei Wuxian’s last defending pieces before using him as the utter scapegoat of the jianghu in his and the Jin Clan’s rise to power. And also a reminder that if you continue to push people to their limits and treat them badly constantly, eventually they will have nothing left in which to treat you well.

I hope this helps!

#mdzs #wei wuxian #jin zixuan #jin zixun #jin guangyao #the machinations of the Jin clan #qiongqi path 2.0 #asks #friends #mdzs vs cql #a bit anyway #Wei Wuxian may not have someone stealing control of Wen Ning from him #but that certainly doesn’t make him villainous #or even all that more culpable than drama WWX #just that now he has Extra Guilt tm because he feels like it is his responsibility that things played out that way #when really it was JGY setting up a trap and removing his competition for the position of Jin heir from the equation

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idlebeks · 1 year

Text

Random MDZS Recs Part 2

I found some more gems hiding in my bookmarks. The sheer number of MDZS/Untamed fics that I have found worth bookmarking is kind of remarkable. Part 1 and 2 of these lists make up less than half of the whole selection. This is such a prolific and talented fandom. This is another collection of favorites that I have enjoyed reading more than once, or that were compelling and/or unforgettable in some way. Same warnings as my other lists, all ratings and categories apply with no discernible organization at all.

we're starting at the end by Miss_Enthusiasimal

When Wei Wuxian fell at Nightless City he was, unknowingly to him, brought back in time to when Wen Chao pushed him into the Burial Mounds. Believing himself to be dead, and this afterlife to be some sort of punishment, he resigns himself to a painful existence. Until Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng rescue him, and he realises he has a chance to change things for the better - if he hasn't messed everything up already.

You are what you eat by deliciousblizzardshark

“What happened to you?” Jiang Cheng demands.

Wei Wuxian sighs. “I already said I don’t know. This conversation is so boring,” he says. “I’m hungry. Can’t we get some food? They’re all too dead,” he adds, flicking a hand at the dead Wen guards, “to be tasty.”

and

Then there’s a sound like someone hacking something up and Wei Ying comes back into the room and, with a very proud expression drops a handful of teeth on the map table. Human teeth. They’re bloody and… wet…

“What?” Jiang Cheng asks. “What’s this?”

“Wen Chao’s teeth!” Wei Ying says proudly.

and

Lan Wangji wants to hold him tight in his arms and cry. He wants to eat him out. He wants to perform an exorcism.

in this place where we don't have a prayer by Cerusee, Mikkeneko

And now it’s time for the canon divergence AU where Jin Zixun has the tactical sense to station archers on both sides of Qiongqi Path for his murder ambush, and Jin Zixuan shows up fifteen minutes late with Starbucks.

Heart and Hand - Daemon AU by updatebug

One month after Wei Ying first disappeared, twelve days since Lan Zhan learned of this and joined the search, Wei Ying's daemon landed in his lap. She was terrified, injured and, most importantly, alone.

She does not know what has happened to Wei Ying. No one does

from the other side of sorrow by Sour_Idealist

Yu Ziyuan cuts off Wei Wuxian's hand. The cultivation world changes.

The One-Body Problem by metisket

The good news is that Lan Jingyi has found a mentor, friend, and constant companion through the difficulties in life.

The bad news is that that’s because he’s been accidentally possessed by the Yiling Patriarch.

Fated Meeting by LtLJ

Lan Wangji had come to Carp Tower to seal an alliance with the Yiling Patriarch, in order to prevent a war the Lan Sect couldn't win. But the deal was brokered by the Jin sect for reasons of their own, and instead Lan Wangji found himself all but coerced into an unexpected marriage.

Ticket to Ride by mistresscurvy

After one final look at the profile photo, Lan Zhan closed Grindr.

"Not even a flame?"

Startled, Lan Zhan turned to his left.

"I know not everyone wants to start chatting right off the bat, but you spent long enough looking at my face," said the man from the app, who was sitting at the bar.

Or: Lan Zhan gets stranded at the airport, decides to scroll through Grindr, and meets someone new.

Where the Lonely Ones Go by CSHfic, VSfic

“When did you arrive?” Lan Zhan asks, but he’s looking at the child in Wei Wuxian's arms, and the question is clearly, whose baby is this, and maybe, should I be concerned?

Accidental (haunted) baby acquisition

Wearing Down Every Bone by CSHfic, VSfic

“Sizhui, tell me,” Wei Wuxian says. “Does this feel... familiar to you?”

After running into Lan Zhan on a night hunt, Wei Wuxian is cursed to live the same day over and over and over.

climbing up that coastal shelf by Sour_Idealist

Jin Ling had begun to suspect years ago that there were parts of his family history that had been crossed out; long streaks of black where Wei Wuxian had been. The truth is more like whole books being brought up from their hiding places again.

Or: Jin Ling tries to figure out what family means, now.

he's still left with the river by Keiya

Jiang Cheng knows that he is dreaming because his silver bell won't make a sound no matter how much Jiang Cheng shakes it. He also knows he's dreaming because Wei Wuxian keeps acting as Jiang Cheng wishes he would, and that has never been a thing in real life.

Jiang Cheng knows he's dreaming. It doesn't help.

when the sun goes out by travelingneuritis

Wei Ying was so strong, that was the thing. He needn't have sought out alternate methods at all. He didn't need to use talismans, he only did it for his own amusement. He invented new ones all the time. Useless ones, and silly ones; inventing just for the sake of it. He talked about tech cultivation like it was fun, not an embarrassment.

The stuffed bunny, the beautiful nephew, and other gifts from Lan Qiren by deliciousblizzardshark

Wei Ying was pretty sure his next door neighbor Lan Qiren hated him until he adopted A-Yuan. Now he’s bringing by disgustingly healthy food, taking Wei Ying and A-Yuan to family dinners, and let’s not even mention the nephews he keeps hinting Wei Ying should meet. Is it possible Wei Ying, consummate orphan, has found a family in his grumpy old neighbor?

The Children's Crusade by natcat5

Innocence isn't the only thing to die in war. Propriety is the last thing on the minds of the teenaged generals, the orphan clan leaders of the Sunshot campaign.

Jin Guangshan is the only leader who ascended as an adult, who didn't have his parents murdered by the Wen, who didn't come of age during a war. The last adult standing, the only one with experience and age. He assumes this will put him in the most advantageous position, once the war ends. That the infant leaders of the other clans will gladly fall into step within his shadow.

He is wrong.

Star Cluster by hypermoyashi

Born within the Empire are those who were able to break the confines of the possible and soar through the air with the strength of their minds alone. Wei Wuxian was one of these people, but in honor of his late mother's wishes and fear of the Empire itself, Wei Wuxian kept his feet firmly on the ground.

It wasn't all that bad. At least he had his two siblings to keep him rooted.

We Are the Afterlife by NevillesGran

Jiang Yanli wasn't breathing anymore.

Wei Wuxian lifted the Stygian Tiger Seal above his head and raised every dead thing in Wen Ruohan’s thrice-damned Nightless City.

Every dead thing but one. His sister, he dropped to his knees beside and began drawing every talisman he had ever used on Wen Ning.

A Corpse Called By Name by jaemyun

She loses her brother in a hoard of the undead.

She finds a corpse wearing his face in a convenience store.

The corpse calls her name.

Joy In the Midst of These Things by Glitterbombshell

“Wei Wuxian,” the man grits out, and he pauses with one hand reaching for the door handle. The disciple who had come in to speak to Lan Qiren brushes past him and exits the pavilion without a backwards glance. Wei Wuxian turns back to Master Lan, one eyebrow tilting up in question. “An urgent matter has come up,” Lan Qiren says, every word sounding like it’s being forcibly dragged from him. “His Excellency requests my presence. Their current instructor is ill, I was meant to take over classes for today,” he continues, gesturing towards the tiny juniors. He swallows heavily, and the next sentence sounds bitter. Choked. “I cannot leave them unattended.”

Wei Wuxian just blinks at him.

Wei Wuxian is asked (under duress) to babysit a class of tiny Lan cultivators for just a few minutes. A few minutes turns into an hour, turns into two hours, turns into an impromptu literal field trip and now there's an entire class that is weeks ahead of their curriculum, their most junior disciples have apparently imprinted on Wei Wuxian like baby birds, and Lan Qiren has no one to blame but himself.

Like Arrows Pointing to the Sky by runningondreams

Oneshots from the Sunshot Campaign.

quail by celialoveslwj

“a-Xian,” Jiang Yanli calls, and he races to her, same as he ever has. “Help me with my hair.”

He is gentle, still. He slowly pries every knotted hair strand with the sharp edge of Wen-guniang’s hair stick, whiling away the hours on bent knees, picking through the muck and dried blood as if he had all the time in the world. He asks her now and again how she feels: if she is tired, unwell, or bored in a general way.

Jiang Yanli is dead, and quite literally beyond such trivial things.

She tells him, soft as she is able, that she is well.

or, rather than retaliate against the masses, Wei Wuxian takes Jiang Yanli's body and flees to Luanzang Gang.

one hundred, twenty thousand, thirty million by Mikkeneko

The Untamed... IN SPACE!

A retelling of the xianxia story The Untamed in a futuristic setting where spells and golden cores are replaced with cyberware and computer programming, sects become space stations, swordsmen become fighter pilots, resentful energy becomes killer nanobots, and love and sacrifice and heartbreak... well, they stay just the same.

floodplain (silt) by astronicht

Wei Ying’s neck is twinged because he fell asleep on the sofa watching celebrity dance-offs. His left wrist is twinged because two days ago he tracked down a daolao gui in the underground metro. They throw off venomous darts, and Wei Ying caught one between the two bones of his forearm. Radius and ulna.

(Or, "I need you to come and get me")

#fic recs #mdzs fic recs #the untamed fic recs #mdzs fanfiction #the untamed fanfiction #putting these together is surprisingly fun #i think I may do a list of favorite podfics next #if anyone is interested

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trans-xianxian · 2 years

Note

I know you’re not a fan of the novel (and neither am I lol) but how do you feel about some of cql’s decisions meant to kind of soften Wei Wuxian’s character like the creation of the second flutist/changing the Wen Remnants from people who participated in the war to Wen Remnants who are all completely innocent. (Personally I don’t mind the cql changes that much but I’m curious how you feel about them, and if they change Wei Wuxian’s character in your mind)

I say this with the understanding that a lot of the changes you mentioned and the softening of his actions were in large part due to censorship, but I think that the only change I have a negative opinion about is the fact that in cql wei wuxian is not the inventor of demonic cultivation, and in my interpretations and analysis of his character it's really the only thing I follow novel canon on. it just strips him of so much of what is so impossible and impressive and unbelievable about his power and his return post core transfer. wei wuxian inventing a new kind of cultivation on his own and half dead in three months and being able to wield it so devastatingly, to put it simply, fucks. don't get me wrong he is plenty powerful and terrifying and impressive in cql but there's just something about his power being utterly unprecedented and beyond comprehension that goes so so hard in a way I'm obsessed with. we know that I am a sucker for ridiculously competent wei wuxian

as for what you specifically mentioned:

I have mixed feelings about there being a second flutist. on one hand, the concept of wei wuxian simply losing control, of the anger and the resentment and the constant abuse and, in the case of nevernight, the overwhelming grief, finally being too much for him and the weight of it all being so enormous that he can no longer manage his unfathomable power, is devastating. I like the way that is amplifies his suffering. I also appreciate that it gives him something to truly be sorry for after his return, something terrible that is irrefutably his fault

on the other hand, a second flutist adds a lot to the mastermind and the evil of jin guangyao, and says a lot about just how much the world wanted to be rid of wei wuxian. I like that it's a deliberate attempt to turn him into a scapegoat, the eternal boogeyman to the cultivation world for a crime he did not even commit. I appreciate what it says about his character, that he was good up until the very end, even through the anger and the grief. I like that it lets him keep some of his personal agency. conversely I dislike the implication that anyone could wield the same power as wei wuxian, that anybody could match his skill enough to use it against him

I think I like a combination of the two interpretations best - that someone else had made wen ning kill jin zixuan on the mountain pass, but wei wuxian truly and completely lost it at nevernight. mostly this is for selfish reasons devoid of consideration for what would make the story better, because wei wuxian losing control and making wen ning kill jin zixuan is painful and troubling in a way that I personally dislike. but also wei wuxian finally losing it in a way that is less pointed and more broad is something I enjoy

I know it may seem counter intuitive to be like hm I dislike wei wuxian being responsible for the death of one guy I like it better when he's only responsible for the death of thousands 🤔 BUT. theres just something I like about wei wuxian losing control in such a grand, indiscriminate way. I like what it would say about his character, I like what it would say about what it is that he is to blame for, I like what it would say about his grief, that the too much of it all, the crushing weight of all of the cruelty he has had to shoulder in his life, is less pointed and exacting and more overwhelming and uncontrollable. something about wei wuxian finally just being sick of it, finally breaking at the end of it all, and just letting all of the pain come out of him in a terrifying and deadly wave of unleashed power is so very devastating and so very wei wuxian. it is the perfect combination of him being genuinely responsible for something terrible and the notion that if you bend something far enough it is going to break

I didn't know about the wen remnants being different in the novel and thus do not have all of the pertinent information to build a solid opinion, especially within regards to how it changes wei wuxians character, but with the information at hand I do think that cqls decision accentuates the evil of the cultivation world and the older sect leaders in an interesting and, for lack of a better word, fun way. the way that all of the most powerful people were willing to ruthlessly and violently kill the wen remnants in cql, who were completely innocent, just the old and the sick and the very young (or at the very least willing to sit and watch all of it be done to them), I feel spoke to the cruelty of everything, and made it clear just how much influence and power the jin sect had, because killing and torturing and demanding the bodies of people who were irrefutably innocent was so obviously wrong and so many of the characters Knew it was wrong and still did Nothing. these are less my thoughts on the change and more my appreciation for the choice cql made

something you didn't mention but I feel the need to bring up when discussing novel to drama changes is wei wuxians death. cqls version of it is a Genius choice when it comes to creating parallels - wei wuxian being thrown into the burial mounds, the scene where he stands on the edge of the very same cliff with lan wangji who tells him, "you promised you would let me help you", the final scene of the show. cqls death also gets points for adding extra tragedy to wei wuxians relationships with both lan wangji and jiang cheng - lan wangji having to watch him die and being unable to stop him despite his best efforts, how the only time we ever hear lan wangji raise his voice is to scream wei wuxians name, jiang cheng going to the edge of the cliff to put the final nail in wei wuxians coffin but ultimately being unable to commit to the act in the face of his brother, "lan zhan, let me go", that gut wrenching smile he gives jiang cheng the moment he sees him even though he knows his little brother is not there to do anything kind

but mostly I love wei wuxians death in cql - the reason I prefer it to the novel - because it makes wei wuxians death his own choice. I love the ironic and tragic concept of him being torn apart by his own terrible creation in the novel but his death being a choice? being something he made for himself? a deliberate act on his part? something no one could take from him? good lord. I've said it before but I think that wei wuxian went to nevernight that day Knowing he would not make it out alive, and yet he was able to take that inevitability into his own hands, make it His. he decides the moment, he chooses when it's too much, when he's had enough, when it's finally time for him to go. it makes for such a devastating moment visually, truly opened up the gates for such a phenomenal performance on xiao zhans part. it's the culmination of it all, it's the fact that even at the end of his life nobody and nothing could take his agency from him, it's the refusal to be controlled until the very end

even with my limited knowledge of the novel, I definitely think that cql wei wuxian is a very different being from novel wei wuxian. in my opinion it's not only the deliberate softening of his character and some of his actions, but also because the directing, writing, and acting gave him so much life and charm and heart apart from that, and I think that the latter is what makes me especially fond of cql wei wuxian, not the fact that they had to shift some of the blame

#this is so long oh my god this is so long I just love him so much #you opened the flood gates how was I supposed to not come pouring out #my interpretation and combo of wei wuxians traits across adaptations is the right one. btw.#ask #counting this as #ghost posts #wei wuxian #wwx #wangxian #yunmeng bros #looking at this posted I really should put it under a read more KAHSMHXKSHDKND #I'm on mobile tho and not that dedicated to completing that task tho sorry

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thebiscuiteternal · 2 years

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there's something that confused me in your dark baxia fic: the part where you said jgy was forced to acknowledge jzx as the firstborn despite being older. ISNT jzx the older brother?

Egh.

Okay, so a handful of us got into this discussion on twitter, because there were a whole lot of things that just didn't add up if you started trying to make sense of the character ages and timeline and social strata. I'll try to lay out our points of reasoning as best as I can.

- Unlike in CQL where sect kids of disparate ages were thrown together with literally no explanation (they didn't even give us an "Oh, it took Jiang Yanli the extra four years to get her cultivation up to a teachable level" or anything) because they needed as many central characters there as possible for Exposition Reasons, it's implied in the novel that all the summer lecture students are of a similar age.

- Nie Huaisang is on his third round because he's under orders to keep at it until he graduates, but at least one of the two previous years was "early", which means he's either the same year or one year older as Jin Zixuan.

- Jin Zixuan and Jin Guangyao are both Feb 20 kids, but Jin Guangyao is older than Nie Huaisang. So at minimum, he's 1-2 years older than his half brother.

- At the same time, Jin Ling refers to him as Xiao Shushu and Jin Zixuan refers to him at least once as A-Yao. The former is a variant of Uncle reserved for your father's youngest brother (which should have been Mo Xuanyu, but it's pretty clear that no one actually treats him like a family member, including Jin Ling), and the latter is considered an almost rudely intimate way to address someone older than you (unless they're a servant/considerably lower on the social ladder) and Jin Zixuan would have known that.

SO.

- Considering that Jin Guangshan is such an asshole that he would "legitimize" his bastard son using the wrong generational name (HUGE insult, tantamount to not even including him in the family register at all, or even expressly saying he hoped said son would die before him), the lot of us came to the conclusion that he's also enough of a prick to further humiliate Jin Guangyao/cut him out of the line of inheritance by forcing him to give up any claim whatsoever of having been the firstborn son.

- Did Jin Zixuan ever know about this, or did he really think Jin Guangyao was younger than him? Hard to tell! If he did know, then based on the fact that he was willing to stand up for a servant he thought was being maliciously deprived of credit for her work, one would think he would be similarly protective of someone he's related to. But at the same time, he's spent his entire life raised around extremely toxic attitudes concerning the existence of his half-siblings, and might have thought he was already making enough waves wrt Jiang Yanli. Ultimately, since he died while still in his Character Development stage, there's no "definitive" answer, just how different fanfic writers want to handle it.

But there you go.

#mdzs #cql #jin guangyao #jin guangshan #jin zixuan #jin sect #writing asks

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jzixuans · 1 year

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hello i'm here to wish you a very Jin Zixuan day 🤸🏻‍♂️ whats a favorite moment or thought or headcanon about the birthday boy that you have tucked in the back of your mind at all times?

GOOD MORNING ABBY HAPPY JIN ZIXUAN DAY WE ARE POPPING SO MANY BOTTLES FOR THE ONLY MAN IN THE WORLD

ohhhhhhh i have so many thoughts about him you are getting many more than you asked for and i wish i was more articulate today but i am mostly filled with coffee right now and i have to finish a midterm later

1) he's a family man!!! obviously there's jiang yanli and jin ling and he loved them SO much but also i think it's kind of canon that he's a bit of a mama's boy and i think a lot about how between the betrothal and other social/political obligations he was largely adhering to what his parents wanted for him. also i will eternally thank cql for the extra bits we got of him (im like 90% sure they were added but i haven't finished the novel) of him trying to get jin guangshan to back off of jin guangyao. i think in his perfect world he really would have liked to have jin guangyao treated well in the family and would have wanted his parents to be able to reconcile jin guangyao's presence but i also think he wasn't willing to transgress those boundaries in order for that to happen because of filial piety and also class and also because symbolically that would have fractured his image of family more than repaired it :(

2) follow up to this a scene cql gave us that i think about sooooo sosososoososo often is "a-yao, you always avoid eye contact when you're hiding something." like yes cql had jgy play him like a fiddle and so this quirk was obviously artificial but it's the fact that not only did they spend enough time together for jgy to fib and plant this habit, but that jin zixuan NOTICED and he REMEMBERED. he's not as socially inept as people make him out to be! he's just awkward!!

3) this one is my most close to heart headcanon that's probably not canon but i like to think that jgy is actually older than jzx. either by a year or two but born on the same day, or (sexier) by just a number of hours. it kind of rubs a little more salt in the wound for jzx to be the recognized heir and jgy nothing more than a glorified attendant. more simply though it's endearing to think about little big brother a-yao and his big little brother :'))

4) the jin zixuan honour code thesis is REAL and THRIVING and i kiss xuanwu cave every morning on the mouth with TONGUE. him defending mianmian in the cave when no one else but lan wangji (hi xuanjimian friendship agenda) does is so good all the time in every adaptation and then you add to the mix cql's "is there any shortage of corpses lately?" (god he's so respectful even to wen corpses) and him honouring the girl he Thought was giving him soup by raising her rank and then him feeling so Bad about yelling at jiang yanli for the soup incident that he kind of just lay down and took the consequence is like!! in my mind there's (to oversimplify): lan wangji being the novel's most upright unwavering moral compass, there's wei wuxian being the novel's drive for justice, and then there's jin zixuan with his heart full of integrity and honour. my thoughts on this are summed up in "and so my heart beats wildly" by lily_winterwood during the scene where jin zixuan forces su she (?) to forfeit because he attacked mianmian and then forfeits himself because he also technically broke the rules. it's similar to nie mingjue's "after i kill him, i'll kill myself" but less out of some moral give and take but more because it's the right thing to do

5) xuanjimian friendship agenda :) and it is soooooo important to me that mianmian has her own #girlloser moments. she is not there to be their cool distinguished completely rational girl best friend. she is there because she looked at these two and said I Can Make Them Worse. they're all three a little bit mean and bitchy and incredibly self-righteous. too busy joining three sports teams and nine clubs to do any normal person hang out activities. my only crumbs are xuanwu cave, cql putting mianmian in the jin sect, and mianmian's (2) interactions with lan wangji but. they are best friends and they are all three jock prep nerds hope this helps <3

6) secret other friendship agenda: jzx lwj and nhz being xiao 3zun. they're like 3zun if 3zun was a little bit more cringe and had to sit at the kiddie table with their juice boxes while their brothers were being a cool political power throuple

#did i mention that my brain is full of coffee* because i feel like i have just been saying Words for the past half hour #a-song-without-words #ask #24hr jin zixuan lockdown #*i am not a coffee drinker .#i should put a disclaimer that this is the self-indulgent sandbox that i have been sitting in for over a year and a half and so has likely #deformed from canon support. but it's jin zixuan's birthday so we can break the rules it's fine

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