#some of the most art of all time... so true lwj
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hi! i was just wondering what it is specifically that you dislike about wangxian? i'm kind of intrigued, because while i get how someone could find them boring, i've never really considered anything about their dynamic (and as you mentioned in response to a previous anon, their confession scene) particularly off putting. no pressure to answer this, and this is in no way hate towards you i'm just genuinely curious <3
(i love your art by the way it's gorgeous)
Thank you for the compliment! ♥
This is gonna get ranty so I will hide it below read more as not everyone has to deal with reading this, so proceed with caution :'D
Wangxian is the weakest WWX dynamic. On god, even if I'm not fond of Yanli, they have very loving relationship where they are protective of each other and gentle with each other in a harsh world. I don't ship WWX/JC but their story and complicated love of someone you grow up with and care for deeply but clash constantly with is more interesting than anything wangxian ever had. Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian clicked together so naturally, they are chaotic and are similiarly not too interested in being up to rules. Jin Zixuan and WWX had a potential of going from enemies to partners in crime, to become family and have each other's backs but JZX was cut short and WWX never really cared afterwards either. WWX with the wens took time to build up but his YLLZ farmer era was one of the best WWX's in the story. Damn, even Lan Xichen who's always amused with WWX's temperament and secretly has a drink with wwx and is altogether looser with the rules while still being lawful matches with him way more than LWJ where there's... nothing. They were smashed together for convenience and we were suppossed to just go with it cause they are the two main characters. LWJ feels like he was just made so WWX has a "hot stoic top" to fuck him and the rest of the characters are actually build with the story and therefore feel more natural
Wangxian don't feel like they are in love, not in the way the fans make them out to be into some romantic picture perfect angsty deserved lovestory. LWJ's personal space is constantly disrespected, he's punished constantly for WWX's mistakes, he constantly needs to be the one to adjust to how WWX is instead of the other way around and after all that, LWJ doesn't really /know/ WWX so his attraction feels very idealized. WWX is the bad boy that goes against the rules and LWJ wishes he could be that (or with that) but it's almost a childish infatuation from their Gusu days that never evolved into something more mature. And WWX? I can't see how he'd like LWJ as anything more than in a physical sense. Even their obnoxious "Back then I wanted to sleep with you" confession scene is purely physical. He doesn't really know LWJ or respects him, LWJ is just a familiar face in a world that is against WWX and he's a hot body that likes him. LWJ is an easy score in a way, he's a safe option. And it'd be SO interesting if they went into that, but instead it's played like the only true love (dont forget, they are meant to be as the ONLY gay pairing in MDZS which I find insane when everyone else has more chemistry and in the end gets shat on so wangxian can fuck in a bush. I mean, LWJ leaves LXC to be depressed and alone after everything LXC stands for and did? Fucking ridiculous.)
It tries to "subvert" tropes but ends up being more stereotypical than anything. WWX was almost meant as this jock-y rebellious hotshot but instead we got a quirky twink, early 2000s shonen protagonist and every yaoi's Uke I've been seeing since like 2008. Are they suppossed to be different because the "stoic white-coded" one is not the bottom? Is the bar this low? If anything, this ornament top is the most usual top, let's be real, LWJ barely has personality or growth or focus, he's there to fuck WWX.
This is a petty reason but MXTX's "wangxian is the only gay couple" everyone else being implied straight as if to highlight just how real their love is that they are gay in time period where it's frowned upon, even though Yi City and 3zun combinations had more chemistry than anyone is. Annoying. And so is the "Don't ship them with anyone else and don't switch their dynamics" that fuels some of the most obnoxious people in the fandom to go after fanwork creators that do/like things differently.
All in all Wangxian is THE face of danmei, they are the most known even outside of danmei circles and they are extremely mediocry written for that. I mean, fuck, you put straight couple in their place and I guarantee no one would like it, it has the depth of a high school hormone-riddled couple who have different classes and "only" get to see each other during breaks and make out during lunch with others at the table, idk it's so fucking annoying to me when I know there were better options, when WWX had so many interesting dynamics that got shat on in favor of bland ass ship and I'm tired of having to like it/tolerate it just because it's gay.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk, this was extremely healing 🤣
#hcs#hc#this is of course my subjective perception of it#i just can't believe this is the most popular couple#if it was less so or not the main one i wouldnt even mind them#also i'm fine with them as standalone characters#just not together.#i will still make them together as a scenery to MY ships cause it makes it feel more canon#but i definitely dont go out of my way to interact with that ship#which is fine#there's more than enough of it y'all dont need me
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yuguyao content is truly the gift that keeps on giving. this fandom is keeping us busy with updates from both sides, but that doesn’t mean we will forget the sweets!
this is part four. enjoy ^^
An incident that got lots of attention with cpfs, because XZ mentioned CQL in the interview. and that was because it was asked how may times he had filmed in hengdian and so he mentioned all the projects. which included cql. I must admit that it was nice hearing it from him again. 💕 not exactly proof of whatever cause we know he loves cql and wwx. It would be out of character if he leaves it out.
but of course some entertainment accounts will twist this cause apparently, we’re not the only ones “not over” CQL and their association. It’s all BS. We all know WYB’s change in Weibo has nothing to do with “contempt” for CQL.
Let me just enjoy the parallels i see popping out and the continued Shiying x LWJ examples 😌
My absolute favorite tho and what people have been interpreting is this “mindset” that he has which is similar to WYB. You may think that this applies to both life in general or romance. The answer he gave to the question in the tencent video ruxi interview in particular. How it compares to his 2019 answer about a similar question. He is still the same stubborn XZ!
2019: "For what he thinks is right, and for the people he loves, he can work hard regardless of everything" "This is also the person I want to be."
2021: (Knowing the established destiny, will I still choose the same)" I'd love to say I will. " " But it's going to be hard work, but I'm still doing it."
So the connection people are getting at is, in the story of YGY, he knows that Zhu Yan will be the one that kills him but he still goes and falls for her. That’s just the kind of person that he is irl too isn’t it? Not saying that WYB is his Zhu Yan but the same theme as loving someone ( everyone says ) you shouldn’t. If you believe in SZD, you have to admit that ZZ can have anyone he wants. He can choose the easy route and just let go of WYB but he didn’t. They are both committed to each other and continue to stay in love despite all the noise. Same goes with WYB, how he said, “ love is like this. you can’t help it” . It’s like they don’t care what people say their “fate” will be, loving each other is a conscious choice.
They are both logical people when it comes to life and their career but when it comes to love — they really follow their heart.
The same persistence even when things get tough is a trait they both have. This is why they still continue to be relevant years after CQL.
I found this comment on one of the posts and I wanna scream cause it’s true. I’m sure that if asked, ZZ will say yes. Didn’t he say that if can re-shoot CQL, he will do all the scenes again? 😌
I’m also cackling at this part cause he now knows what it feels like to play that cold character like LWJ.
One of my feelings at the time was that you must not play him as a face, because the truth is that I really don’t want to play this kind of cold character. Most of them don’t have too many expressions. What is conveyed in front of the camera will make the audience feel like a person with facial paralysis. The audience won't believe it.
Which is the exact same fear WYB had to the point that he panics in some scenes cause what can he do when he can’t show much expressions. I’m here clowning about them talking about ZZ should play Shiying, probably WYB giving him tips. Do you think ZZ rewatched CQL and watched his Lan Zhan? LOL. I imagine WYB will get jealous 😂😂😂😂
Shi ying’s animal form also has a mole under it’s lip and yes it has always been ZZ’s “thing” even before WYB met him. However i think that WYB was the one who really put emphasis on it and add the heart with a mole onto that. Especially the “.” that XZ even started adding to his art signature.
for reference: part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 3.5
END.
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modern mdzs hcs that have no substance whatsoever
wwx is a major conspiracy theoriest, like my man will question everything given the oportunity, and like everyone is just tired of his bs already except lwj (obv) and then at some point they start theorizing together and just imagine like one lan family dinner where lwj explains the flat earth theory to lqr with his dead pan face and lqr is just regretting ever letting his nephew out of the house
jyl buys jc and wwx like rlly cute and ugly socks that they cherish with everything they have, and just wear them all the time, she also got them pride ones
lwj unironically wearing crocs
jc knits when he's stressed. it started out w him wanting to do some cute baby clothes for jl and then he just started doing ugly sweaters for wwx and rlly intricate scarfs for jyl, and when jl grows up he also teaches him and they make little clothes for fairy and just quality time™
jyl and lwj cooking together pls
I feel like wwx definitely had a major hair dye phase in college, just the cheapest dye and a new color every month, his hair is low-key ruined now but lwj always conditions it and gives him oils and stuff
wangxian watch true crime documentaries together and then try to solve the murders, they do it monthly and they have one living room wall that's always full w police reports, maps, suspects idk
when wangxian started dating lwj got a pocket sized coloring book for wwx to use when he's anxious, sometimes he'll sit in the buss stop and do a monochrome flower other times he's in a cafe and just takes a small pencil pouch and goes off
jc and wwx went to a drag show drunk one time and rlly enjoyed it so they start doing it for halloween then for game nights and idk if there are any open mic drag shows but i feel like they'd deff go, and they're audience faves, rlly funny together just chaotic dumbass level off the charts, that's where they met mxy and wwx made him his protegé
lwj taught lsz how to play guitar and got him an electric one which wwx painted
lwj w gauges, he started stretching them when he was a senior in hs
when nhs comes over he braids wwx's hair, a different style everytime and they just talk shit while drinking mimosas
wn and lwj have a gaming rivalry, like one time wn was over and was playing mario kart w wwx and lwj comes in and he starts idk trying to help wwx and wwx is like why don't u try, and he does and wins and somewhere along the line he plays random games w wn and they both enjoy it but are competitive asf so they start counting wins
wwx has a massive record collection and his friends always get home like super rare ones when they travel and he just,,, his babies, also they're like every genre possible, i think he'd be a music snob but won't just settle for one type of music to obsess over
jc a kpop multi, nhs showed him some songs when they were in hs and it's been like his 'guilty pleasure' even tho everyone knows ab it, deff just does random kpop refrences on the daily, like one day he just tells lwj 'mAyBe iF yOU sTaNnEd LoOnA'
wangxian watch rlly bad horror movies and bet in which order the characters will die
wwx enjoys russian lit, has read all of dostoyevsky's works and most writers from that specific period of time
jgy has a pocket knife that he carries everywhere
lxc has a film camera collection and he bonds w wwx ab film photography and obscure photographers from the 90s
lwj hates modern art museums
wq tattooes wwx and he always passes out 5 minutes after they start
nhs and wwx learned french so they can bitch together in peace, jyl also knows it
lwj had a major latin phase in middle school and a mythology one, sometimes him and wwx just sit in bed and he tells him random myths or poems
junior quartet have a yt channel on which they used to post embarassing videos in middle school
jc and wwx were vine legends, like just imagine wwx playing the flute w his nose or some shit and jc just screaming tHIS IS WHY MOM DOESNT LOVE YOU, or tbh them on any kind of platform just bullying eo and middle schoolers, maybe they'd randomly find junior quartet's yt channel and react to it idk
nhs made like kinda ugly clay bracelets for wwx and jc when they were kids and they both still have them, wwx put it on his bag and jc has it as a key chain
jl tried to read self help books in hs but just got mad when the affirmations and stuff didn't work out
lsz and wwx bake together complicated deserts on saturdays and listen to european 00's pop
wwx does like a smudged eyeliner and that's it but lwj will have a 15 step skin care routine and like 3 types of highlighter
jzx always wears pretty silk scarfs and those big obnoxious designer sunglasses
wwx was a theater kid, and he'll just Shakespeare quote randomly
lwj and lxc love musicals and brodway, they see some live w nhs
nmj and his never ending metalhead phase
lsz enjoys foreign indie films, like french, norwegian, italian all the jazz
speaking of jazz, lwj,,, big mf fan
i think at some point yunmeng bros deff had a garage band, and they were actually pretty good and got quite famous, but couldn't pick a genre so that's why they 'split'
jyl and wwx watch Tim Burton movies as comfort
wn and lwj closet harry potter nerds
wq hates wearing jewlery but she has a thread bracelet lsz made her in kindergarten
#omg#forgot ab this#ive had it in my drafts for over a year#i still stand by them#maybe ill add more if im feeling goofy😜#mxtx books#wei wuxian#lan wangji#wangxian#wen ning#wen qing#jiang cheng#mo xuanyu#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#the untamed#mo dao su zhi#mdzs headcanons#mdzs modern au
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My WangXian Fanfic - What to Expect
What I like to read in fanfic is what I am writing. I currently have 4 fics in the works that will start coming out (one at a time) in the next couple weeks or so. This is what they will contain.
Firstly, my works have to have WangXian and they have to be in love. The Untamed is about WangXian's relationship, above all else. To me, their love is an ideal love. It's perfect, pure, and only for each other. Never anyone else. No one before, and no one after. That to me is cannon. They may undergo trials and challenges, but will always put each other first. They will never want, love, or touch another.
Secondly, my fics will be explicit. I was not the only one to feel cheated of kisses and more by the Untamed, through no fault of the producers but mainly of the extreme censorship the show was subjected to. How they managed to convey the deep feelings the two main characters held toward each other in the midst of all that censorship is incredible. So yeah, I want them to consummate their relationship, like really, really bad. And often. Really often. In many kinds of ways. With great enthusiasm. And hotly. I think I've made myself clear.
Thirdly, my cannon is The Untamed with a sprinkling of the novel Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi where it counts. So what was visible in the series The Untamed is what is true for me (how WWX died, how long he was dead, what WWX and LWJ look like, etc.). What is true from the novel for me is the love and sex dynamics, "every day is every day", etc. For me, that lovey-dovey stuff is part of what we don't see, either during The Untamed timeline and/or after it ends. So, I want to imagine all that and bring it to life.
Fourthly, I may vary things a little as long as it can contain the central concepts mentioned above. I don't mind AUs in which WangXian are modern college students, or reincarnated, or have a little crossover with other novels, or even if they are mermen, as long as they are in love and act like themselves in essence.
Lastly, I will want to possibly illustrate my works with original art, especially if there is something that I feel helps convey what I am writing about. Don't expect complex art! I am not new to drawing, but new to drawing humans! I will give it my best.
Let's face it - if you are reading this and love The Untamed as much as I do, you probably agree it is one of the most beautiful love stories ever shown, and features two of the greatest characters ever written, portrayed by the two amazing actors that brought them perfectly to life. WangXian's love story was nothing short of epic. I hope I will do it justice by furthering the story and providing some insight into their every day love, which surely continued for the rest of their lives.
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bunch of thoughts on the art styles in mdzs & tgcf visual adaptations:
i think out of all the four visual adaptations in mdzs and tgcf (i haven’t taken a look at anything from svsss yet) i love the art style of the tgcf donghua the most. it’s kinda ghibli-like but still sharp enough to give the characters some really great expressions. so obsessed with hua cheng’s donghua design (especially his true form like ??? just .... screaming over how perfect it looks). i haven’t watched it yet but i’ve seen mvs and edits and i just know that this san lang character design is going to be my all-time fav. a little childish, sly, secretive. you can see it in his eyes and his little smirky smile. very nice. i like it.
mdzs manhua was great overall, i just preferred the style from the first half compared to the second half (or what i like to call the black-haired version vs the brown-haired version). the art style peaked during the yi city arc imo. my fav manhua character versions: lan xichen, nie mingjue, xue yang, song lan (Obsessed with his manhua design), xiao xingchen, wen ning (his chibis are so precious).
mdzs donghua art style is very good for action (somehow it reminds of me those older animes e.g. ghost in the shell or perfect blue), it really grew on me a lot after watching the whole thing. idk how to explain it but the donghua eyes are a lot more fancier than the manhua style. some character designs i liked better in the manhua version - e.g. jin guangyao (he’s my absolute fav in the donghua i love his pre-chief cultivator design so much), jin ling (he became cuter somehow), jin zixuan (they really nailed his brooding temperament very well), in fact most of the major lanlingjin characters were just amazingly done in donghua. also wen qing, madam yu are a lot more imposing when you see them animated. some characters like sizhui, jingyi, huaisang, jiang cheng were equally great for both adaptations.
i still prefer the yiling laozu and lwj hairstyles from the manhua though (just a personal preference!). maybe cos it looks cleaner? especially for wwx’s yiling laozu hairstyle. in manhua version it’s really sleek and straight. for lwj i just liked the general flow/shape of his hair in the manhua better than the donghua.
also for yi city quartet i’m manhua version all the way. i mean all the other iterations of xue yang are very nice but so far no other version of xue yang has topped his manhua design for me :)
ok last one is the tgcf manhua this took me a hella long time to get used to it (i’m still getting used to it actually) - it’s very VERY pretty, like a painting. i won’t deny that. but it’s a little harder to see the expressions since everything’s so impressionistic-like. still, everyone here looks so goddamn beautiful so i’m sure as hell not complaining. xie lian looks like a doll i just keep stopping at every panel to examing the details of how they drew his hair and his lips and eyes like ... gaaahhh so!!! pretty!!!! and if hua cheng in donghua version is cute, the manhua version of hua cheng is intimidating as hell. his face is literally perfect i actually wanna cry admiring it. i’d combust if anyone who looked like that even gave me a glance.
like, if i were to give an analogy, the tgcf manhua is high art, luxury dining, high-class food, something along those lines. the art style just screams rich which is suitable for a story about gods and immortals, it’s just that i’m slowly adjusting to all that gorgeousness and still getting used to it.
also on a side note i am very unhealthily obsessed with this fanmade song for tgcf called ‘pleased god’ that i came across in a compilation playlist and i’ve been looping it pretty much the whole day at work ;-;
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I posted 7 875 times in 2022
I tagged 7 873 posts in 2022
#magiqueuement - 5 731 billets (that's my queue tag)
#bad buddy - 852 billets
#not me - 606 billets
#kinnporsche - 521 billets
#eurovision - 428 billets
#esc 2022 - 422 billets
#art - 356 billets
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Longest Tag: 140 characters
#given how much thought is put in things like cinematography in this show i wouldn't be surprised if the costuming had got the same treatment
My top posts in 2022 :
n°5
My sad and tired brain decided over lunch that I could do nothing else that write Bai Lang being sad and tired and unable to sleep from episode 7 while we wait for episode 8 so have a second fic for this fandom.
💫Title: Don't flirt if you don't mean it
💫Fandom: My Tooth Your Love
💫Bai Lang/Jin Xun'an, but really only Bai Lang, 1.4K, Insomnia and Overthinking my beloved
On Ao3
7 notes - publié le 24 novembre 2022
n°4
tia’s CQL fanvid recs - wangxian #7
Nothing better for wangxian than some bittersweet and heartbreaking vids so here have some!
(If you want more information on the project, you can find that here.)
Please go and give some love to the videos on youtube (and to the vidders on tumblr for those for which i could find a tumblr) and leave a comment.
The Untamed – Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian – Tether Me (FMV) by Earl Hatter
Music: Tether Me - Galleaux
Mood: “they’re spinning me out of control. tether me”
Strength(s): different colourings for past and present, a nice use of the lyrics (“for a moment I was gone” *shot of wwx falling* I am fine) and of selected of dialogues to show their relationship and underscore the images, an editing to the beat and showing the parallels throughout the show.
--
The Untamed MV || Would you still love me? by Anabelle
Music: Burn – Nathan Wagner
Mood: “why can’t I trust now…not a single soul”
Strength(s): So this vidder really knows how to create a story and choose the moments that both tell a devastating story and tell it in a way that feels true to the way it is devastating in the show
Notes: tw images in very quick succession at one point in the video. In the words of the vidder: “I have seen plenty of videos about how much Lan Zhan and Wei Ying loves each other, that they're alway there for each other, and they can win every battle with their love. So, what about a song, when Wei Ying has doubts about that if Lan Zhan truly loves him?”
--
Wei Wuxian & Lan Wangji (WangXian) | Without You by Bright Moon
Music: Without You - Ursine Vulpine & Annaca
Mood: “I will watch the world burn without you”
Strength(s): The edit is almost constantly on the beat and the use of the lyrics is very nicely done to tell a story about those two with parallels and memories (wwx remembering his time in cloud recesses at the same time as lwj remembering their dates).
Notes: It is a very long song to vid, but contrary to some other vids with it, I did not felt like it was too long because of the story it managed to tell.
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Wangxian || Sacrifice (The Untamed) by Mrseclipse555
(on tumblr @redxblueihateloveyou / @redxblueihateloveyou)
Music: Sacrifice – Zella Day
Mood: so many sacrifices, so. many.
Strength(s): A deep colouring with speeding and slowing down effects to fit the beat of the music, a good use of the lyrics to tell their story!
Notes: People keep putting one after the other the lotus pier golden core scene and the nightless city scene and it hurts, but also it works you know!
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Can’t help falling in love | Wangxian but Wangji suffers (The Untamed FMV) by Polish edition
Music: "Can't Help Falling in Love" Cover [DARK VERSION] (feat. brooke) - Tommee Profitt
Mood: oof
Strength(s): A dialogue-heavy fanvid focused on wangxian from lwj’s perspective and uh, it hurts. A selection of all of the most painful moments for lwj’s in this show and there are a lot of them. The edition of them together (lwj pointing his weapon at wwx/jgy at the temple mixed with lwj doing it at nightless city – oof) is here for maximum pain
Notes: I mean the title of this one is just oof and perfect you know.
18 notes - publié le 30 septembre 2022
n°3
He looks like me the first time I went to a gay club, overjoyed to be here and with way too much glitter.
- Swedish commentator about Romania
26 notes - publié le 12 mai 2022
n°2
please someone who knows how to do gifsets, i need a comparison gifset of darcy’s confession and sangwoo’s confession. the "against my wishes and better judgement, i'm afraid i like you" vibes are through the roof and i need it!
40 notes - publié le 10 mars 2022
Mon billet n°1 en 2022
Voir l'intégralité du billet
307 notes - publié le 20 novembre 2022
Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →
#tumblr2022#year in review#my 2022 tumblr year in review#your tumblr year in review#the drama brainrot is real#the fact that two mtyl made it to the top makes me happy
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contextualizing lwj’s coming to terms with his feelings subplot!
i wanna talk about the role of confucianism in this subplot because i think it’s something some western fans might not pick up on. basically, the sociopolitical climate of confucianism in his character arc, and a little bit about his interaction with the public image theme.
disclaimer: i’m not chinese but i do have a double minor in chinese and asian studies and have written a few papers on confucianism.
we’re gonna be talking about the novel bc i feel its a little more in-depth and nuanced than lwj’s “what is black, what is white” monologue in cql. namely the tension and misunderstanding in wwx’s first life and how lwj got his scars. i feel like it’s pretty well accepted that wwx made lwj reconsider his world view, so i’m just gonna expand on it. also i want to point out it's pretty unspoken in most of the text, but lwj is also affected by/used to explore the public image themes, as his image the is ideal confucian scholar.
confucianism is centered around the ideas of how to behave “good” in sociopolitical contexts. basically it boils down to a belief system on how society should be run. if everyone follows confucian beliefs, you will have an ideal society. the main text is the Analects, which you can read here. it’s been around for a few thousand years (like around 200 BCE ish), had a huge revival in the tang dynasty (618-907 CE). it was put on imperial exams, the emperor’s cabinet had confucian scholars, etc. this is just to say confucian values are important to historic society, especially upper-class scholars, which seems to be a role cultivators commonly fill in xianxia. here are some basic tenants:
being a gentleman/scholar/superior man (君子 jūn zǐ) : partly being learned in the arts, literature, music, poetry, etc., mostly behaving righteously and dutifully.
filial piety: usually described as obedience. it's not simply obeying everything elders tell you, it includes doing it with reverence and thankfulness for their sacrifices for you.
leading by example: if leaders/the government is righteous, the people will follow. lwj has his flock of juniors that are all strong cultivators and the lan sect is just generally known for being moral and good.
rites/rituals: a focus on politeness and holding proper ceremonies, sacrifices, and funerals
speech: there’s some great meta about the register he speaks in here, i just want to touch on think carefully before you speak, only speak sincerely, etc.
tldr; lwj is THE perfect gentleman (even his title contains the character suffix 君 -jūn, like lxc. which, while this character is not uncommon for cultivator titles, it wasn’t chosen carelessly either. also not to be confused with 尊 -zūn). seriously, look at almost all of book 10 and you'll see don't do/consume in excess, don't talk during meals, sit only when your mat is straight, etc.
okay, so Why is understanding his feelings for wwx so troublesome?
1.2 "They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion... Filial piety and fraternal submission! - are they not the root of all benevolent actions?"
in other words, people who are filial will never create political tension. so like, morally, wwx should be considered horrible person! he’s not only snubbed the jiang sect. he was a head disciple who undoubtedly had younger students looking up to him. and then he goes and stirs up some huge political issues! he is now a bad role model for the people below him and disrespected the people above him. lwj has an entire image to uphold, he has poured his entire life into following these rules and beliefs, and then wwx comes along. would continuing to be in wwx's life taint lwj? there are some contradicting teachings in regards to interacting with wwx:
15.4: "Do not take counsel with those who follow a different Way"
15.28: "When the multitude hates a person, you must examine them and judge for yourself. The same holds true for someone whom the multitude love."
15.36 "When it comes to being Good, defer to no one, not even your teacher."
this is part of the reason lwj had so much trouble accepting his feelings. he didn’t know how to handle this situation, making him appear distant during/directly after sunshot. if he judges wwx's intentions to be pure, it's then not wrong to be friendly with him. but wwx still is morally wrong by society's standards. now, lwj has to not only figure out his feelings, but also reconcile this with how he still thinks wwx is Not a bad person, despite everything. what if he does get "tainted" by wwx? will it hurt the reputation of his sect? that would be un-filial, right? he spent his whole life memorizing rules that are probably extremely similar to sections in the Analects, and now these mixed messages (coupled with the relatable gay panic) are overwhelming.
onto the next! there’s something unspoken in the scene where wwx discovers why lwj has the whip scars. as other posts have mentioned, lwj taking wwx back to the burial mounds and nursing him is high treason. however, this action is also extremely un-filial. also his entire image is built around being a perfect gentleman, if this were to get out to the public he would lose absolutely everything. he would be just as irreparable as wwx.
“I was worried if those from another sect found you first, WangJi would be considered your accomplice. The best scenario was his name being forever tainted, and the worst was his life being taken away right then. Thus, along with Uncle, we chose thirty three seniors who had always thought highly of WangJi... ”
there’s no way lwj didn’t know what would happen if he did this. obviously as lxc says, if this got out, he would lose basically his entire face. and even though lxc didn’t mention this, it would definitely lose a lot of face for the lan sect as well since lwj is so prominent. the decision about what elders to bring is also notable.
“...As if he knew all along he would be discovered by us, he said that there was nothing to explain, that this was it. Growing up, he had never talked back to Uncle, not even once. But for you, not only did WangJi talk back to him, he even met with his sword the cultivators from the Gusu Lan sect...”
so yeah, he obviously knew they would come for him and what the consequences would be. and he still talked back! that’s already not a good look for the lan sect. but attacking them? totally unforgivable! lwj gives up how he was raised and the importance of filial piety, what he has held on to until this major plot event. since it's basically the biggest "fuck you" to his uncle and his clan, this was not a decision he made lightly. lwj shows them he cares more about wwx and His Own ideas of right and wrong than the sect’s or society’s.
Wei WuXian dug his hands into his hair, “...I-I didn’t know... I really...”
when was the last time wwx was at a loss for words? wwx spends a few paragraphs after this lamenting how he hurt lwj, but he's not unaware of the gravity of what lwj did. it's an underlying assumption from being raised in the culture. i would argue his first instinct is "oh god he gave up what for me?" since those lamenting paragraphs are after lxc finishes speaking.
"But he said... that he could not say with certainty whether what you did was right or wrong..."
this is something thrown around a lot in the Analects, that not even confucius can say for sure what is right or wrong. what better way to show lwj is still a perfect confucian than have him paraphrase confucius himself?
“...WangJi was a model for the disciples when he was young, and a prominent cultivator when he grew up. In his whole life he had been honest and righteous and immaculate--you were the only mistake he made!”
here’s the confirmation that the world and even his family thinks of him as a perfect gentleman, the top tier of society, and it was all thrown away for wwx. this is just so heavy. the mistake thing? thats not only because lwj is fraternizing with an enemy. lxc and the rest of the sect who knew are terrified this will forever corrupt lwj personally, not just publicly. lwj was so devoted to believing this was the right thing to do he offered up everything he had. the gravity of this decision is insane. it’s very obvious that he loves wwx, it’s just that he struggles a lot internally to accept everything that is happening.
as for helping wwx leave after the massacre, is this gentleman-ly of lwj? was it actually in-line with his image? is it more honorable to save someone who is dying, at the cost of your own health, than to look away? isn't looking away a form of resentment? i wasn't able to find a specific passage about bystander-ness, but personally i think it qualifies as "bad intentions." there is also this passage for what it's worth, originally it was about government suppression:
12.19: "...What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled?" Confucius replied, "...why should you use killing at all?..."
lwj is always more actions than words, and he was not fucking around. his core beliefs really haven't changed, and remain very strong throughout his life. he is still righteous enough to accept his punishment, graceful enough to search for wwx's body since there was no one else to do the funeral rites (10.22/10.15), caring enough to take in a-yuan, upright enough to still spend his years going where the chaos is.
just with this one action, the audience knows he has come to terms with realizing that authority isn't always just, and neither is the public opinion/opinion of other gentlemen. he has reconciled. this is him standing for what he believes is right. this is his devotion. this is his own choice. just. poetic cinema...
anyway that's it for my first meta post! i would love to hear your thoughts, feelings, opinions, discussions, other meta ideas, whatever! thank u for reading! <3
#its My post and i get to pick the subplot#i have...brainworms#wwx and lwj are foils in the public image theme change my mind#mdzs#mdzs meta#lan wangji#mo dao zu shi#stfu#meta
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5 times Yizhan isn’t one sided
Disclaimer: Again, all speculation, treat this as fanfiction. Don’t read if you don’t like it. (I’ve been in many rps before and this is the fandom in which I’ve been the most afraid of my life LOL)
I’ve seen some people saying BJYX is one-sided, “created” and “managed” by dd. Initially, it may seem like it cuz dd is more forward about his affections. But I think once you understand them, you would see how much gg cares for him.
1) Jealousy - The most obvious being during the famous “16 Minutes” on KB when dd was coming out of a hole with another actor. Gg’s face changes immediately and he didn’t even notice his hand was raised mid-air. Another instance is when dd mentions hanging out with LXC at the fan-meeting. Gg asked when they hung out and then was like “oh when I wasn’t there?” Also the time during filming when dd got too excited talking to the cameraman about motorcycle and gg was stuck in the middle. At first, I thought it’s strange to be jealous of 2 people that obviously have no romantic intentions towards dd. But then I remember my own romantic past and that ya, when you really like someone, you get really possessive even when it’s stupid. And you try your best to logic it but the emotion is still there.
Easter egg: During the fan-meeting and the bts with the cameraman, gg used the exact word “厲害！“ (Amazing!) in a warning tone. The consistency points out that he’s having the same emotion in both instance.
2) Caring - Gg cares about dd’s health a lot, in very detailed ways that surprises even me. In “9-Minutes”, he noticed a new scar and told him to wear kneepads. When dd came back from another filming and said he thought it’s “cool” he was working so hard, gg immediately rebutted, saying it’s not cool to overwork. Another thing is the “dead duck mouth hard” that I won’t repeat since I already wrote about it here.
3) Artwork - Gg is speculated to put dd into his art work. I wrote about it here. Maybe these are not on purposes but even if he unconsciously or accidentally included dd into this art, that’s also very sweet.
4) Music - Similar to drawing/painting, I think that an artist will be honest with his feelings through his music. Gg is no exception. We all know that gg loves to sing. The many instances where he may be expressing his feelings through music: (I feel like an AP lit student finding motifs LOL)
1) On 6/22/18 (special date), his WB mentions a song call “If I were a song” by Yoyo Sham that describing protecting the person he loves. My favorite lyrics is “I can be your home.”
2) During the TU bts, on 8/5/18 (dd’s birthday), gg sang “Rainbow”. The footage cut off right after “In this story” and before “Did you really love me?”
3) On a WB post in Sept 2018, gg alluded to the song “Summer’s Breeze” by Landy Wen. The song talks about a summer one will always remember, that two people were clearly in love. In the post he said “Summer breeze is over, vacation is also over.” The interpretation here is that he left behind WWX in the summer of 2018. Whether this means that he has decided to approach his feelings for dd outside of WWX’s feelings for LWJ, we will never know.
4) At a fan-meeting, gg changed the lyrics of the song “Kepler” by Stephanie Sun from “I am no longer a lonely star” to “I fell in love with a lonely star.”
5) When gg went to ttxs, he sang “Love Confession" by Jay Chou facing directly at dd.
6) Gg sang “You are the most beautiful scenery in my life” by JS at a performance in October 2018. This is an old song that he covers. Even though he sang this song first for a commercial, the commercial has not air at this point (this event is unrelated to the commercial) so it’s speculated that he really likes this song and possibly have special meaning for him to sing it. The song mentions summer.
7) He sang “Love you but lonely” by Na Ying at wmdg. Loneliness comes up again.
8) He sang “Summer Day that the Wind Blew Past” by JJ Lin and Kym, a song about remembering falling in love in a past summer. There’s also a recording of him talking about why he chose this song. He said “it’s because the song describes when love first starts in a summer afternoon with a breeze, and I want to share it with everyone.”
5) Gg being angry with dd - This may seem counterintuitive. Why is being angry love? We all know gg is a very courteous person. He actually said during an interview that people often thinks he’s “fake” because he’s so “nice” but that’s just how he treats most people, especially when he’s working. People that believes in horoscope says it’s a common trait for Libras to treat most people with a “public face” and keep them at a distance. I don’t put much weight into star signs but I do think this is gg’s personality. But what about towards dd? Gg is shown to be “mean” with him: 1) He rarely shows his “bunny teeth warning” to others but does so many times with dd. 2) He gets mad and shows his true emotions in the famous “9-minutes” where he’s mad that dd yelled at him in the morning. 3) He got mad at dd during a bts and even threw the umbrella to the floor because gg thought dd didn’t like WWX. 4) Gg got mad when he asked dd what he’s doing during his time off that day and dd said “stop nagging me”/”leave me alone”/”don’t control me” (hard to translate). They had a fight which ended with dd saying “I didn’t say for you to not care about me :(”. 5) Gg telling dd to stop looking at him during kb. This isn’t really getting angry but also show how he can be straightforward with him.
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Burn it down AU // on AO3 // extras on AO3
Nie Huaisang doesn't let Lan Wangji know who the man he loved in his youth was
and just like that, their fate is changed
(aka the one where nhs and lwj fall for each other instead of pining after men who turned away from them)
warning for self harm
Lan Wangji went to meet his husband, now sect leader Nie, to offer him comfort one last time before returning to the Cloud Recesses, and to gift him a small porcelain bird. He found the other man drunk and clearly depressed, but still appreciative of the present in spite of his state.
“A magpie,” Nie Huaisang sighed. “They’re clever, you know? Mate for life, or so it’s said. Don’t know why anyone would do that, but they do.”
“Hm.”
Lan Wangji sat near his husband, unsure what to do or say to comfort Nie Huaisang when he was so obviously distressed.
“I’ve heard that the Lans too only ever love once,” Nie Huaisang continued, carefully putting away the bird.
“Hm.” It was an old tale, one Lan Wangji had never given much consideration until recent years. He still wasn’t sure how he felt on that matter.
“Do you ever regret that it was Wei Wuxian?” Nie Huaisang asked.
“No,” Lan Wangji replied, the very thought of loving anyone else impossible, repulsing almost. It had always been Wei Wuxian. It would always be Wei Wuxian. To consider anyone else would have felt like a betrayal, like giving in to the voices around him.
“Lucky you,” Nie Huaisang chuckled bitterly, taking another sip of wine. “If I could, I’d choose someone else. Maybe you. At least I’d know where I’d stand if it were you, and I think you wouldn’t be a bad person to love instead of him.”
Lan Wangji frowned. “Huaisang is in love with someone?”
His husband starts laughing, only for it to quickly turn into heavy sobs. Lan Wangji immediately leaned closer to pat his shoulder, as he had done more than once in the past weeks. Nie Huaisang’s tears only doubled in strength. He moved as if he might try to hug Lan Wangji, only to stop himself at the last moment, curling up on himself instead.
“I just want it to stop,” he whined. “I just want things to be good. Nothing has ever been good since the war. I miss the time before, when I didn’t even know I loved him and it was easy! But now I’ve lost all my friends, and I’ve lost Da-ge, and I’m losing you and A-Yuan and… I was happy, I was so happy with you two! Wasn’t it good, all three of us?”
“It was,” Lan Wangji agreed, partly to comfort him, but also because it was true. They had gotten so comfortable together. It had taken a while to get used to this situation none of them had wanted, but… happiness was a good word for what they had built.
Lan Wangji too was sad to lose this, but he knew by then that nothing good ever lasted.
-
Nie Huaisang arrived in the middle of the night, furious and panicked, ranting about his brother’s body having disappeared. Lan Wangji took him to the rabbits’ pen so they could discuss what they had both discovered about the tomb, about a song played wrong, about betrayal from a man Nie Huaisang had called his friend and trusted as a brother.
“I needed to tell someone,” Nie Huaisang sniffed when he was done explaining. “And there’s no one… I can’t trust anyone except you. You’re Hanguang-Jun, you’re the best person I know and I… I can’t do this alone. I need your help.”
For a moment, Lan Wangji stared at his husband, his ears ringing with those words he had desperately wished to hear from another mouth. Once, he would have given anything to be asked for his help by the man he would have wanted as his husband, only to be rejected time and time again.
It wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the right man who had run to him, and Lan Wangji wondered if Nie Huaisang would have turned to him at all, had he had any other option. But it still made something shift inside his chest to have his assistance finally wanted like this.
“Of course I will help.”
Nie Huaisang smiled at him, a weak little smile without much joy to it, but one that spoke of trust and gratefulness beyond anything Lan Wangji had ever received.
-
Lan Xichen was devastated when Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang told him about what Jin Guangyao had done, but he believed them and offered his support.
“You have a good husband,” Lan Xichen said when he was alone with his brother. “I’m… glad things worked out.”
“I’m glad too,” Lan Wangji admitted. “I am glad you chose him.”
Lan Xichen smiled. It looked so forced that his brother could only notice it, but he kindly chose not to comment on it. After a day filled with such difficult conversations, it did not surprise Lan Wangji that his brother found it hard to rejoice at that time.
-
The trip to Nightless City did not go quite as planned, and what they found there horrified both of them. Lan Wangji was glad neither of them had tried to go there alone, because neither of them would have managed without the other.
It was odd that he had come to make such a good team with Nie Huaisang. Lan Wangji would never have expected that. He’d always believed that whoever shared his life would have to be an exceptional cultivator, his match in all the art, a swordsman beyond compare with who he would go on Night Hunt to right the wrongs of the world. Nie Huaisang was none of those things, but he had proven that he was not a bad person to have at one’s side.
Still, as they rested at an inn that night after attempting to contact Nie Mingjue’s soul, Lan Wangji worried for his husband. First, because Nie Huaisang had been wounded in the fight with his brother’s arm, and was only then finally letting Lan Wangji treat his wound. Secondly because Nie Huaisang was never this quiet normally. His mood worsened with every passing moment, until he looked almost as severe as his brother did sometimes.
“What is on your mind?” Lan Wangji asked as he finished bandaging Nie Huaisang’s throat.
Nie Huaisang shrugged.
“We’d had an argument before he died, about Jin Guangyao. I think he still hates me. He was the only person left in my life who liked me and I’ve made even my brother hate me.”
Lan Wangji’s hand stilled against his husband’s neck.
“Not the only one.”
“A-Yuan doesn’t count. He’s just… he’s still a baby and I’m like family. He just hasn’t grown out of it yet.”
“I like Huaisang,” Lan Wangji corrected.
Nie Huaisang made an impatient gesture.
"You're used to me, it's not the same. If you'd had a choice in this, you would have happily gone the rest of your life never talking to me."
Lan Wangji fell silent, taking a moment to consider that statement. It was true that he only became close to Nie Huaisang because they were forced to spend time together. But the same might have been argued of any pair of friends. Without the right circumstances, people failed to get close even if they were perfect for one another.
He liked Nie Huaisang. It was a different emotion than the one provoked by Wei Wuxian. Less reluctant. Less desperate also. It was oddly easy to like Nie Huaisang, because their life together had been easy, as if they had been old friends from the start, or old spouses rather. There was no one else Lan Wangji would have trusted so much with A-Yuan, no one else he would have managed to talk to about his worries and hopes. He had never managed to reach that sort of trust with Wei Wuxian, no matter how he had desperately wanted to. But with Nie Huaisang…
It really had been so easy to like his husband, and it had been painful to lose his constant company.
"I like Huaisang," he insisted once he reached that conclusion. "I'm glad you were chosen for me."
"I'm not the person you really want at your side though."
"Wei Ying never wanted to be at my side."
It hurt. After so long it still hurt. It might never stop hurting to have been rejected again and again by the person he had most wanted, but… but Nie Huaisang gave him a crooked half smile, and took his hand, which soothed some of that old ache.
"His loss," he said with a warmth and affection that had become rare since his brother’s death "Wangji's side is a good place to be."
-
It took a while to prepare that final corpse finding spell, and all the while Nie Huaisang’s mental state became worse and worse. It brought back terrible memories for Lan Wangji, of seeing Wei Wuxian slowly crumbling into pieces before his eyes, unable to do anything to help.
Nie Huaisang too tried to push him away, but he wasn’t as good at it, or perhaps he was simply less reluctant to be helped. After what was probably the first true fight of their marriage, Nie Huaisang gave in and agreed to have Cleansing once again played to him. It did not take all his pain away, but he no longer seemed so desperate, and stopped talking about slaughtering every single Jin.
Then finally, after months of patience, the spell was ready for use.
Lan Wangji left A-Yuan with Hou Tianjian as soon as he received the news from Nie Huaisang, warned Lan Xichen that he had to go, and flew straight to the Unclean Realm. Nie Huaisang immediately took him to his house, and started explaining how this would go. It was an unpleasant spell to say the least, using methods that Wei Wuxian would have probably not frowned upon. It made sense that the Nie sect did not want these methods of theirs to become too well known.
"This one will work for sure," Nie Huaisang said, emptying a small vial of blood on a compass. “It has never once not worked since its creation. We’re going to get my brother back, Wangji!”
Lan Wangji dared not asked where the blood came from. At best it was an animal's, at worst a criminal's. Either way, he would rather not know.
But just as Nie Huaisang promised, this time they got a reaction. The compass’s needle started moving, pointing them toward four different directions. It was not a surprise to find that Nie Mingjue’s body had been cut in parts, they’d been expecting it, and yet it was still a shock. Nie Huaisang paled and trembled at this confirmation that Jin Guangyao had truly desecrated his brother’s body in such a manner. Lan Wangji grabbed his shoulder so he wouldn’t collapse, half wishing to pull him into a hug. It seemed like something that Nie Huaisang might need.
Before Lan Wangji could act on that impulse, Nie Huaisang had himself back under control and was taking notes as to the direction they should head to first.
-
They did not go very far for the first part of Nie Mingjue.
They did not even leave the lands owned by Qinghe Nie.
To both their horror, they found the legs of Nie Mingjue inside a mausoleum belonging to the Nie sect. Nie Huaisang explained its purpose while they searched it, his voice growing increasingly desperate with each new use of his blood compass which seemed to point at nonsensical directions once they were inside.
“The walls,” Lan Wangji said when his husband finished explaining how that place worked, what it did, and the horrifying understanding of what Jin Guangyao had done dawned on him.
Nie Huaisang furiously shook his head, tears forming in his eyes that he would not allow to spill.
“It can’t be! I was there when we repaired it! I supervised it, I wanted to be a good sect leader, to take responsibility, I… I would have seen it! All the bodies were whole, I saw it, I saw them!”
“Yet Chifeng-Zun must be there.”
Nie Huaisang wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, and together they opened the wall in the place the compass pointed to. There was a body there, a whole one. They exchanged a look, and without a word Nie Huaisang started undressing that man, checking first his right arm since they had found the left one already, then his torso. Nie Huaisang cried out in horror at the sight of a line of careful stitches attaching foreign legs to that man’s torso, their skin a different shade than the rest of his body.
Nie Huaisang roared like a wounded beast.
“I trusted him!” he shouted, breaking into tears. “I trusted him, I liked him so much! But Da-ge was right, he was always right! I trusted him and he did this, I trusted him…”
Lan Wangji looked at his husband, kneeling next to the half body of his own brother, curled up and shaking from tears and rage. He moved without thinking, kneeling next to him and pulling him in his arms. It did not bother him when Nie Huaisang’s arms encircled his waist to cling at his back, when the other man buried his face against his chest to sob.
Nie Huaisang had long ago become one of those precious few people whose touch Lan Wangji welcomed.
More than welcomed, perhaps.
Lan Wangji rubbed circles on his husband’s back, silently trying to comfort him, to show him that he was not alone, that there was someone else for him to trust. Someone who would not turn on him the way Jin Guangyao had.
Nie Huaisang cried and cried, until he had no tears left, until he was just sobbing and hiccuping in Lan Wangji’s arms, until he calmed down, still clinging to his husband’s back. They remained like this a long while, longer than was safe in such a place. But Lan Wangji refused to be the one to break the contact, not when it felt right to be holding Nie Huaisang who so clearly needed it, and it seemed Nie Huaisang as well refused to be the one to give up on it.
They only let go of each other when they heard the voice of a Nie disciple calling out to them, surprised to find them there on his patrol.
Nie Huaisang quickly tore himself from Lan Wangji’s embrace and went to meet his disciple to feed him a lie about an anomaly he’d detected with one of the entrapped corpses, and how it would need to be discreetly replaced.
Lan Wangji tried not to think too much about how right it had felt to be holding his husband this close.
Fierce corpses and conspiracies he could deal with, but this he was not ready to face yet.
-
It took Lan Wangji over a week to finally understand where the blood used in the tracking spell came from.
When he entered their room at an inn and found Nie Huaisang cutting into his own arm to get fuel for the compass, Lan Wangji felt stupid for not understanding sooner.
“It’s the only way!” Nie Huaisang hissed before his husband could say a word. “It has to be a blood relative or it doesn’t work. If you don’t like it, go away, I’ll find him on my own!”
Lan Wangji said nothing. He closed the door behind him, and put down the tray of food he had bought for their dinner. Still silent, he came to kneel next to the bed on which Nie Huaisang sat, and grasped his husband’s arm. Nie Huaisang barely resisted before letting him inspect the cut. It was deeper than it probably needed to be, and longer too. Lan Wangji sent some spiritual energy into it so it would heal faster.
“I have to do it like that,” Nie Huaisang insisted, nearly pleading now. “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you wouldn’t like it. It’s bad magic, I know, but…”
“I don’t like it,” Lan Wangji agreed. “Not because it is bad. Because Huaisang is hurt.”
Nie Huaisang huffed, and tried to pull his arm away. Lan Wangji did not allow it.
“Ah, Wangji, careful with what you say. I’ll start thinking you care about me if you say things like that!”
“I do,” Lan Wangji protested.
Nie Huaisang was his friend, his husband, the other father of his son. Of course he cared. He thought he had made it clear.
He would need to make it clearer, because Nie Huaisang gave him a very odd look, as if he were almost scared to hear those words, and that wouldn’t do. He needed Nie Huaisang to know he was appreciated.
“How much blood is needed?” Lan Wangji asked, hoping that subject would be less distressing to his husband.
“That full vial every time.”
It was not a lot of blood as such, but they had been using the compass every day. Even for a stronger cultivator, this would not have been ideal. Lan Wangji quickly gave the situation some thought.
“We stop using it every day,” he decided. Nie Huaisang opened his mouth to protest, but Lan Wangji silenced him with a gesture. “We do not need it every day. We will take note of the direction and follow it. If the direction changes, we act accordingly. Your diet must also be changed to help you replace that blood. I will be monitoring your health.”
“It’s not necessary, I’m just fine,” Nie Huaisang pouted. “It’s just a little blood, who cares?”
“I care,” Lan Wangji reminded him, distractedly stroking the skin of the arm he was still holding. “I do not want Huaisang to be hurt.”
Nie Huaisang stared at him with an intensity neither of them could quite handle, forcing both of them to look away.
“You don’t have to do this,” Nie Huaisang muttered, weakly trying to pull his arm away again. And again, Lan Wangji refused to allow it.
“I have to do this. You are important.”
“To A-Yuan,” Nie Huaisang huffed, a spot of colour on his cheeks.
“To A-Yuan,” Lan Wangji granted him. “To me as well.”
More colour spread to Nie Huaisang’s face, and Lan Wangji felt the other man’s heartbeat quicken. He looked intently at Nie Huaisang, wishing to say something that he could not yet quite put into words, not even in the secret of his own mind. He wanted to explain just how important Nie Huaisang was to him, how much he cared, how deeply it saddened him that Nie Huaisang couldn’t see it, how he wished he were better with words to say it the way it needed to be said.
Lan Wangji hadn’t found it so hard to speak on any subject since he had made a similar realisation about Wei Wuxian, years before.
That, perhaps, ought to have been a clue as to what was happening.
But before Lan Wangji could fully process his own thoughts, Nie Huaisang started complaining about being hungry. That took precedence over Lan Wangji’s internal ramblings. He finally let go of his husband’s arm and went to pick up again the food he had brought. He made sure that Nie Huaisang ate his whole share, even when he accused Lan Wangji of being a nagging mother.
Someone had to take care of Nie Huaisang, and Lan Wangji did not mind being that person.
-
It had been good luck to meet Song Lan, more so than they realised at first.
Of course, Lan Wangji was a little star struck at first upon meeting such a renowned rogue cultivator and being offered to travel together since they were headed the same way. It was hard to say if Song Lan noticed, but Nie Huaisang did and teased him mercilessly over it every time they were alone. Lan Wangji did not mind. If anything, he was glad that Nie Huaisang’s mood was decent enough to think of joking this way. It had become rare since his brother’s death, and Lan Wangji had missed it.
It was good to have met Song Lan.
They only understood how good that had been when a blind girl led them to the place where she lived to meet a man that she claimed was Xiao Xingchen, and they found themselves facing Xue Yang instead.
Lan Wangji and Song Lan fought against him, while Nie Huaisang forced the blind girl to come with him so they could warn Xiao Xingchen of what was happening. Furious to see whatever nefarious plan he had come up with fall apart like this, Xue Yang pulled out every dirty trick he could. In a moment of distraction Song Lan was hit with corpse poisoning, distracting him just long enough that Xue Yang would have had a chance to slice open his mouth, if not for Lan Wangji’s intervention.
It was then that the fog already present around them since the start of that fight grew thicker, blinding Lan Wangji. Xue Yang was light enough on his feet that it made his attack nearly undetectable, the only warning his killing intent.
Thankfully Xiao Xingchen joined them at that point, and it seemed that not being able to see was not a problem for him. Lan Wangji, at that moment, guessed it had to be that the rogue cultivator’s level was simply great enough for it. He only understood later the true reason behind his ease, and cursed Xue Yang all over again.
It was a thrilling fight. To be side by side with two such renowned cultivators, trying to capture a black hearted villain whose crimes could not be denied because he had confessed to them with dark glee… it was the sort of life Lan Wangji would have dreamed of in his youth.
It only occurred to him too late that if Xiao Xingchen was there, then Nie Huaisang might have returned as well. Lan Wangji would have expected his husband to wisely remain hidden, since he was no fighter. And perhaps Nie Huaisang did remain hidden, but not well enough, because Xue Yang found him.
Lan Wangji’s blood froze in his veins when he heard Nie Huaisang’s pained cry coming from inside the fog.
He dashed ahead, following the sounds of a commotion. In the thick fog he spotted two figures struggling, the taller one having the clear advantage, the smaller one trying to protect a third shape curled up on the ground. Later, the blind girl who wasn’t blind in the least explained that Xue Yang had stumbled into the place where she and Nie Huaisang were hiding, and that he had wanted to make her pay for her betrayal. Nie Huaisang had tried to protect her, only to be stabbed. When Lan Wangji found them, Nie Huaisang was trying to stop Xue Yang from pulling his sword away so he could not strike again.
Distracted by this struggle, Xue Yang could not defend himself when Lan Wangji attacked, slashing at him with enough strength to sever his arm. The shock of that wound was such that Xue Yang could not resist the talismans Lan Wangji and Song Lan, alerted by the noise, threw at him to immobilize him.
With this taken care of, Lan Wangji turned to his husband. They were close enough that even in that fog he could see Nie Huaisang smile at him.
“I knew you’d rescue me,” Nie Huaisang said, before collapsing on the ground.
Lan Wangji heard a shout, which he did not realise then was his own. He rushed to Nie Huaisang’s side, inspecting his wound with trembling hands. He swiftly removed Xue Yang’s blade from his husband's body and poured as much spiritual energy into healing the wound as he could, desperate to heal him.
He could not lose Nie Huaisang.
Not him as well.
Lan Wangji was not sure he would have the strength to survive another loss.
He wasn’t sure he’d have the will to survive this.
The universe must have taken pity on him that day, because Nie Huaisang’s wound reacted well to Lan Wangji’s spiritual energy and soon stopped bleeding. Xiao Xingchen, although clearly shaken by everything that had happened, promptly offered to take them to his house so they could better care for Nie Huaisang and make sure that Xue Yang was properly chained up.
Lan Wangji picked up his unconscious husband in his arms, holding him close to his heart as they made their way to the house in question.
Later, when Nie Huaisang’s life was certain to be in no danger, when it was sure that Xue Yang would not escape, Lan Wangji came to sit on the side of his husband’s bed. He took the other man’s hand, needing to feel its warmth, and set out to patiently wait for Nie Huaisang to wake up. Before too long, he had the surprise of being joined by Song Lan.
Song Lan, with that cold politeness of his, enquired about Nie Huaisang. He appeared relieved to find that the other man was stable. His own corpse poisoning had been handled already. Aside from Xue Yang, nobody would have lasting sequels from that fight. Not physically, at least. It would probably take Xiao Xingchen a little time to recover from the ways Xue Yang had manipulated him, but he was a hopeful person and already making plans to leave Yi City so he and that not-so-blind girl could start travelling with Song Lan, exactly as he had once done before Xue Yang ruined his life a first time.
“Sometimes, life gives you a second chance,” Song Lan said, looking outside where Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing were putting their things in order.
Lan Wangji nodded, his hand still holding Nie Huaisang’s. His husband would be fine with a little rest. His ridiculous, impossible husband who should have known better than to put himself in danger but had done it anyway, because Nie Huaisang was nothing if not dedicated to doing what was right.
It had never occurred before to Lan Wangji how much Nie Huaisang trusted him. Even though the other man had turned to him time and time again since his brother’s death, Lan Wangji had told himself that it was simply by lack of choice. But the way he had said he knew Lan Wangji would rescue him, as if it had been an evidence to him… and he was not wrong. Lan Wangji had come running at the first sign of trouble. Lan Wangji would have done anything to protect that husband of his, this man he cared so much about that he did not know how to handle it.
Satisfied with that conversation, Song Lan left the two of them alone. Through the window, Lan Wangji saw him walk up to Xiao Xingchen to help him with something. Once, it would have filled Lan Wangji with envy to see the two of them work together like that, their every movement speaking of trust and habit even after years apart. But there was no envy that day. There would not be envy again, Lan Wangji realised.
It took him a moment to notice when Nie Huaisang woke up, but Lan Wangji eventually noticed the more rapid pulse in the hand he was still holding. When he looked down at the bed, he found his husband looking back at him with an expression he could not quite read.
“You saved me,” Nie Huaisang whispered.
“You knew I would,” Lan Wangji replied, letting go of his husband’s hand to push away the hair that had fallen before his eyes.
Nie Huaisang smiled weakly, leaning into that touch. Without thinking about it, Lan Wangji cupped his cheek, which made the other man’s smile widen.
“Ah, Wangji, Wangji,” he sighed. “I’ll be getting ideas if you keep being so nice to me, so you should stop.”
“They would be the right ideas,” Lan Wangji calmly replied.
He felt Nie Huaisang flinch, saw his eyes widen as if in fear.
“Wangji, don’t make me hope for something I can’t have,” he whispered. “I can’t go through that again. I know who you want, who you love.”
“I want a man who stands at my side and is happy there,” Lan Wangji said as he gently stroked Nie Huaisang’s cheek with his thumb. “I love a man who sees me and finds me worthy of trust.”
“Lans only love once.”
Lan Wangji huffed at that old tale. He had never thought of it in his youth, before clinging to it with desperation when everyone tried to order him to turn away from Wei Wuxian. Now, though, it felt as nothing more than a story, a cautionary tale to encourage Lan children to be careful with their affections.
“Not all Lans,” he stated, leaning forward to carefully kiss his husband.
Nie Huaisang gasped against his lips, but did not push him away.
It was a sweet first kiss, Lan Wangji thought. Different from the one he had stolen on a tree, so many years before. Nie Huaisang’s lips were a little parched but retained a certain softness, and he was leaning eagerly into the kiss rather than fighting to escape it.
When they parted, Nie Huaisang was smiling more brightly than he had in months. More brightly than he ever had before, Lan Wangji thought, and the realisation that he was the cause for such happiness made him smile as well.
He then kissed Nie Huaisang again, simply because he could, because it was allowed, because it was welcome, because he loved this man he had married, with whom he was raising a child.
Lan Wangji loved him and after that second kiss Nie Huaisang returned those words to him before kissing him again, and again, both of them too happy to stop.
#lan wangji#nie huaisang#wangsang#I guess that's the ship name?#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#burn it down au#this is the end folks! I probably won't write again on this one unless I do manage to do that prompt for xisang eloping#if you're wondering yes they still take down jgy but I'm not sure they'll save wn because they have less incentive to do so#also lwj will probably start living more in the unclean realm#and lxc will find a nice woman to marry and have a family with and he'll learn to be happy witht hat because he's a reasonable man#jau writes
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As a mdzs/novel canon reader, how do you feel about the roles of Wen Ning and Wen Qing in mdzs vs cql?
I think one of the most important thing (for me) when thinking about how wn and wq are explored in cql is to remember the following two factors:
1. While the actress denied it, it seems that wq was indeed supposed to be a love interest for wwx in cql before fans made a fuss about it on social media: this is supported by the fact she was introduced as a main character in early talks of the series, the actress got the biggest $$ contract after xz and wyb, we got some leaked photos from set showing scenes that were filmed or were intended to be filmed but didn’t end up in the final cut of the series, and the simple reality that wq’s presence in the story was increased significantly (while her impact on the plot remained the same). Tbh that they chose to cast meng ziyi and introduced (and kept) a frankly bizarre (on a thematic and plot level) romance subplot between jc and her is proof enough for me that she was supposed to be a love interest for wwx (albeit a tragic one).
2. CQL fundamentally modified the role of the Wens within the narrative by changing the whole subplot about modao, which then altered the role of wq and wn to a degree, and with which characters they interacted and when.
For me, these had an impact on the overall quality of the storytelling, particularly in regards to wq and her character (under the cut because I don’t know how to be brief).
WEN QING:
1. Even if she had been instructed by the director to play wq as close to possible to the way she was portrayed in the novel, I don’t think Meng Ziyi could have done it; for me, she doesn’t have the right presence, physicality, etc. to achieve a good performance of wq. Novel wq has such strong boss energy; she is high-ranking officer even if she is removed from the fighting, the best doctor, and someone who was in charge of the yiling supervision office, and she’s constantly snapping at people (I love novel!wq.........). Meng Ziyi just does not manage to embody that powerful energy--she has that female lead type of presence, and it just doesn’t mesh with who wq is.
Wen Ning nodded, somewhat embarrassed, “My sister. She’s really powerful.”
She was indeed powerful.
Wen Qing could be considered a famous cultivator of the QishanWen Sect. She wasn’t a daughter of the QishanWen Sect’s leader, Wen Ruohan, but instead the daughter of one of Wen Ruohan’s cousins. Although they were far cousins, Wen Ruohan had always had a close relationship to this cousin of his. On top of that, Wen Qing was exceptional in the liberal arts and studied medicine as well. She was a talent, and thus she was rather favored by Wen Ruohan. She often followed Wen Ruohan to the banquets of the QishanWen Sect, which was why Wei Wuxian found her face familiar. She was a beauty, after all. He had also heard from somewhere that she had an elder or younger brother. But, perhaps because he wasn’t as talented as Wen Qing, not many people talked about him.
2. In my opinion, making the wq a more active agent in the wen plot also takes away part of what defines her arc and character in the novel, and what she represents as a figure within the conflict. Let’s remember, we are only introduced to wq in the novel after Lotus Pier was burned down and jc lost his core--she is absent until then, and that is the point: she is not involved in the conflict. While morally upright, she is someone who passively benefits from the ills committed by her sect and who only takes calculated risks to help reduce the suffering committed to others. She becomes guilty by association despite never actively hurting others or helping wrh’s cause. It feels more organic and complex than the throne-room!threats we see in cql, and having her carry on missions for wrh.
Wen Qing cut him off, “What the Wen Sect does doesn’t represent what we do. We don’t need to be responsible for the Wen Sect’s wrongdoing. Wei Ying, there’s no need to look at me like that. There’s a beginning to all debts. I’m the office leader of Yiling, but I was ordered to take the position. I’m a medic, an apothecary, I’ve never killed anyone, much less touched the blood of the Jiang Sect.”
It was true. Nobody had heard of any lives lost by Wen Qing’s hands. There were always many cases that people wanted her to take over. It was because Wen Qing was one of the Wen Sect’s people whose way of doing things was actually normal. At times she could even put in a few good words for people in front of Wen Ruohan. Her reputation had always been good.
/////
Lan Xichen responded a moment later. “I have heard of Wen Qing’s name a few of times. I do not remember her having participated in any of the Sunshot Campaign’s crimes.”
“But she’s never stopped them either, “ Nie Mingjue countered.
“Wen Qing was one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people, “ said Lan Xichen. “How could she have stopped them?”
Nie Mingjue spoke coldly. “If she responded with only silence and not opposition when the Wen Sect was causing mayhem, it’s the same as indifference. She shouldn’t have been so disillusioned as to hope that she could be treated with respect when the Wen Sect was doing evil and be unwilling to suffer the consequences and pay the price when the Wen Sect was wiped out.”
[...] One of the sect leaders spoke up, “What Nie-zongzhu said is quite right. Besides, Wen Qing is one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people. You’re telling me she never participated? Well I don’t buy it. Is there any Wen-gao without a single drop of blood on their hands? Maybe it’s just that we haven’t found out about it yet!”
3. Making wq interact with other characters before the qiongqi path incident also makes their motivations harder to understand. For instance, jc having feelings for wq makes his motivations and actions during the aftermath of the sunshot campaign more muddled, imo? In the novel, instead, jc’s unwillingness to help the wen remnants is used to showcase a foil between jc’s and wwx’s understandings of duty/responsibility:
“You burn this corpse right now and return to them all these leftovers of the Wen Sect. That’s the only way to make the subject die!” As Jiang Cheng spoke, he raised his sword again, preparing to attack.
Wei Wuxian clenched his wrist.
“Are you joking?! If we return Wen Qing and the others to them, they’d meet nothing but a dead end!”
“I doubt you’ll even return all of them. Why do you care what kind of end they meet? A dead end it is, then—what does it have to do with you?!”
Wei Wuxian finally lost his temper. “Jiang Cheng! What- What do you think you’re talking about?! Take it back—don’t make me give you a thrashing! Don’t forget. Who was the one that helped us burn Jiang-shushu’s and Yu-furen’s corpses? Who returned to us the ashes that are in Lotus Pier right now? And who took us in when we were chased after by Wen Chao?!”
Jiang Cheng, “I’m the one who fucking wants to give you a thrashing! Yes, they helped us before, but why in the world don’t you understand that right now any remnant of the Wen Sect is a target of criticism! No matter who they are, with a surname of Wen they have committed a most heinous crime! And those who protect the Wen are at risk of being condemned by everyone! All the people loathe the Wen-dogs so badly that the worse they die the better. Whoever protects them is against the entire world. Nobody would speak for them, and nobody would speak for you either!”
4. Adding more screen time for wq and more interactions with other characters prior to/during the sunshot campaign ends up adding nothing in terms of her arc or her impact on the plot. While wq is a secondary character in the novel, she is crucial to the plot: her skills and her agency shape so many crucial moments and events in mdzs. Take away pretty much any scene with wq in the novel, and the events of the novel have to change. However, when it comes to what has been added in cql to make her more prominent in the series, it does not feel like it brings anything of significance to the plot. In the end, what is the point of the hair comb moment? it never sways jc to help or feel really conflicted over not helping the wen remnants? it never changes anything about the way wq acts? jc doesn’t come to wq’s defense at jinlintai the way lwj does. At best, it just adds to jc’s manpain. In the end, what’s the point of having a cute moment between wq and jyl, except to reassure viewers that wq is a good person and cares for her brother (all things we known in the novel in spite of the absence of this scene). In the end, what is the point of spending screentime with wq looking for the yin iron in the cloud recesses, and wwx being suspicious of her, if anyway lwj and him stumble upon it by chance? If wq were the love interest, it would make more sense to just pad up her screen time in the series, and these moments would probably pay off more. But as it is, it just feels very aimless and even at times confusing.
5. i 100% headcanon novel wq as a lesbian and the fact that they even suggest she might have feelings for jc is an attack on my gay rights ):
WEN NING:
1. Gosh I love wn. I think his role in the novel is so important and i have too much to say to end up saying anything remotely coherent. I also have to say that I love the actor they chose. Of all the casting choices, I’d even say it is the best of the entire series in my opinion. He really captures the essence of wn and he looks so adorable. So cute.
2. Overall, i think cql did not change too much in terms of his arc and characterisation (the shy but fiercely protective person, coming to terms with what he lost, finding wen yuan and reconnecting with his history, finding a path of his own instead of following his sister/wwx). However I do find that some of the interactions are more meaningful in the novel. For example, making wwx and wn’s first interaction happen in the cloud recesses takes away the importance of wwx standing up against wn’s own sect members on their own turf. The fact that wwx and wn see each other more in the CQL verse also undermines the weight of wn’s choice and how significant wwx’s actions and words were to him, since he was ready to go against his sect for someone he’d met once. Once!!!! It says so much about wn and what his life was like--and how much impact wwx’s acts of kindness and care could have. If I let myself I would just end up quoting back most of Poison - part 4.Okay, I will just quote this part:
Red seeped through Wen Qionglin’s face to even the bottom of his ears. There was no need for others to beckon him away; he fled self-consciously. Wei Wuxian chased after him, “Hey, don’t run! Uh… Qionglin-xiong right? Why are you running?”
Hearing his name called from behind him, Wen Qionglin finally stopped. Head hanging low, he turned around. It seemed as though shame rippled from his head to his toes as he stammered, “… I’m sorry.”
“Why are you telling me you’re sorry?”
“You… You recommended me… but I made you lose face…”
“How did it make me lose face? You haven’t really shot in front other people, have you? You were nervous?”
Wen Qionglin nodded. Wei Wuxian continued, “Have some confidence. Let me tell you the truth—you shoot better than everyone in your sect. Out of all of the disciples whom I’ve seen, no more than three people are better in archery than you.”
3. I do wish wn as the ghost general was scarier and more violent in cql, but they tamed all of the horror/violent/gory aspects of the novel so it was to be expected. I just love contrasts.............
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🐰 🐇 TGIF from Classy Cultiva! It’s Fri so everything is dandy! How’s your weekend looking? In reply: I pin down scenes with songs bc it helps me deal with the feels. And/or if I specifically want to feel some angst or fluff haha | oh I was thinking of a long post with photos that tried to pin down which episode is wangxian’s First Time, it wasn’t music based but it was hilarious. Will save for post reveal bc it’s super long to explain ahaha | syriala @ AO3 writes xicheng! 1/2
I love lists! Will check out these artists, thank you! Never apologize for long posts! I would (and will) totally write pages and pages if I didn’t have a char limit! Q8: do you watch fanvids? Any recs? I LOVE THIS ONE: Bury My Love – <youtu DOT be SLASH zQASLXMZZsk> | and while I’m squeeing I really really want sbdy to vid Whatta Man for all lwj’s slo mo shots. Or even all the boys. Is there any song you think is begging to be vidded? Or any music a fanvid introduced you to? 2/2
sorry I haven’t had the time to answer yet ;; I just came to my parents for christmas and things have been hectic ^^’ but happy sunday! I hope you have managed to rest and enjoy your weekend :’)
ah am excited to see that post :o you got me curious now haha. and oh I know syriala (here and on ao3) and their fics are amazing! I am always in my jc feels bc of them ;; and they really made me think about mingxicheng too, it was such a soft concept! bc it always makes me ache how nmj praises the twin heroes of yunmeng when they first go to unclean realm and jc just look so pleased with it all (bc he rarely gets praised at home right? which is a shame)
I hope you enjoy all that art! it always makes me so happy while scrolling through my twt :’) and am glad you don’t mind me rambling then! excited for your essays in the future haha
yes, I watch fanvids! I tried to gather together some xicheng ones when I got into them (which is way too few, it’s so sad ;;) but I’ve also loved a couple of wangxian ones! I have some in my liked vids on youtube, so here:
these two by EarlHatter: saturn & mercury (bc I absolutely adore sleeping at last, I’ve always been very thankful for these two fmvs)
this one also by EarlHatter (I love this song, have loved it ever since I was in middle school and discovered red, and when I need to sob over wangxian, I just watch this vid)
this one by the amazing @fytheuntamed (I love the song choice (I actually discovered this song through this fmv) and the feeling of this whole vid and wow, I cry)
this one for wwx bc am a hoe for fmvs that put some badass/poppy songs for him and show all of his best sides hehe (also I love the coloring on this vid, it’s so nice to look at)
this one for the yunmeng siblings bc a) I adore the song no matter what type of version (this is slowed down I think?) and b) this makes me ache in all the best ways
and when it comes to songs I would like to see with some fmvs, I could say that there are quite a few :’D most of them are very painful bc I rarely think about all these fun or badass songs with the untamed (tho I adore that stuff! I can really see your suggestion coming alive wow and this is why I love crack vids too!) but I also enjoy these delicate type of fmvs the best so here’s a short list of some songs:
welcome to the darkness - the brilliance x (I can see this song mixing so well with wwx, especially during all the yiling patriarch angst. I recently gave in to it and made an edit)
anyone else - pvris x (just some very emotional and lovely wangxian for this bc they are soulmates and have true love)
walk through the fire - zayde wolf ft. ruelle x (for yunmeng bros, for all their angst and hate and sorrow)
repeat until death - novo amor x (this begs to be a wangxian song, especially during burial mounds and what follows... novo amor in general seems to be my the untamed theme music ^^’ I made an edit for this too a long time ago heh)
so here’s all of this ^^’ I hope you find something to enjoy? and sorry but I couldn’t find the fmv you linked here ;; try linking it after reveals ok? am curious to see what it is (is the song in it by any chance moondust by jaymes young?)
see you again ^^ ♥
#mdzsnetcc#this is so much fun#sorry i have so much to show you haha#am excited to let you give me stuff back!#have a nice day friend :')
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The Untamed (陈情令) Review: Ep 30
!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!
Previous episode review: 1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, 18,19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.
Expectations: The Yiling Patriarch is delving into the dark arts and the Ghost General is killing people mindlessly. Reality: The Yiling Patriarch is barter-trading a radish for a compass with a Yiling Patriarch cosplayer / snake oil salesman and the Ghost General is (nervously) trying to sell radishes. XD
Poor WN... JC didn’t HAVE to slam the door in his face like that. -_-’’
JC is here! And JYL too! The Jiang siblings are (briefly) united again!!! :):):)
WHY IS JC SO TSUN WHEN HE SAW WWX’S REACTION AT SEEING JYL IN HER WEDDING GET-UP OMG. “What? You think she is going to marry you?”
On a side note, I was kinda amused at how both JYL and JC up-ped their fashion game when they came to Yiling to see WWX even though they were trying to keep a low profile. Like OK, JYL was in a black cloak which hid her wedding get-up but JC didn’t have a cloak on and was dressed in a fairly showy manner (for him I mean)...?
More JC Tsun-ness! JC was the one who suggested that WWX give JL his courtesy name AND he immediately shoots down WWX’s suggestion of “Jin Rulan” by complaining that the name sounds like it is associated with the Lan sect. -_-’’
JYL offering a bowl of the lotus soup, which she brought for WWX and JC, to WN just makes what would eventually happen angst-ier than it already is. :(
All the bickering and (awkward) displays of concern between the Yunmeng Twin Heroes will never get old. Heh. “Here’s to the Yiling Patriarch!” “[chokes] You shut your mouth!” “... How’s your injury from the last time?” “I’ve already recovered from it.” “How many days did it take you to recover?” “Just 7 days. You know me, a small injury like that isn’t going to bring me down. But... you really did a fine job of stabbing me...” “You were the one who cut my arm first! You took 7 days to recover; I had my arm in a sling for a month!”
WWX trying to grow lotuses in the Burial Mounds was probably the most bittersweet part of the episode. Like you could SEE how WWX’s desperation when the lotuses weren’t growing (and when A-Yuan plucked the only seedling which appeared) reflected his despair at losing the only link to Lotus Pier which he had left. Plus it was kinda cool how this reflected the happier parallel of JZX planting lotuses at Koi Tower for JYL in episode 28...
How is that the live-action JGS is even MORE slimy than the one in the novel?! The more polished / presentable JGY is, the more JGS doesn’t trust him?! If JGY weren’t polished / presentable, then there would be slurs being thrown about him being the lowly son of a prostitute or something like that, right??? What does JGS even want from JGY??? Oh and don’t even get me started on how JGS refused to let JGY carry JL! :(:(:(
God, I loved how LWJ owned the scene at Koi Tower even in the short time which he appeared in this episode. He suggested that WWX be invited to JL’s Full Month Celebration AND gave Jin Zixuan literally no face in rebutting him??? Novel!LWJ gotta take some notes from Live-action!LWJ. Haha.
Also loved how quickly JGY changed his position on WWX being invited to JL’s Full Month Celebration RIGHT AFTER he heard LXC speaking up in support of inviting WWX if WWX was sincere in turning over a new leaf. JGY literally went from saying, “Hanguang-jun means well. However, this may not be appropriate.” to going, “It is true that I do not appear to have heard of the Yiling Patriarch committing any evil. Even the Stygian Tiger Seal has disappeared without a trace.” Ohh, JGY, your crush on LXC is showing. Heh. PLUS THIS PARALLELED HOW IN ONE OF THE EARLIER EPISODES, NMJ DID A 360 ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE WEN SECT REMNANTS AFTER HE SAW LXC LOOKING UPSET AT HIS ORIGINAL STANCE. HOLY SHIT.
LXC’s tiny smile when JGY asked LWJ to help deliver the invitation to WWX was just-! LXC, did you sorta-kinda plan on having this happen??? ;)
On a side-side note, it was nice to see the parallels between WWX and JGY in the second half or so of this episode where the show kept jumping back and forth between what they were doing. Like WWX was trying to re-create Lotus Pier at the Burial Mounds by planting the lotuses and JGY was trying to gain his father’s approval at Koi Tower by being a good right-hand man. But basically, both of them were displaced individuals trying to create a sense of belonging in their new homes.
Overall: 10/10. 110% would watch again for all the great lines and fluff. Despite it being a fairly filler-y episode. AND despite JGS being an ass for the entire time that he appeared on screen. Probably because we all know how things eventually ended for JGS. Hahaha.
#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#the untamed#陈情令#魔道祖师#mxtx#review#the untamed review#陈情令 review#chen qing ling#cql
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MY TUMBLR YEAR IN REVIEW!
here's to my first year on tumblr. y'all r wild
I posted 862 times in 2021
22 posts created (3%)
840 posts reblogged (97%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 38.2 posts.
(most of the time i'm online i reblog. sometimes i'm on for two minutes and reblog three posts)
I added 583 tags in 2021
#mdzs - 142 posts
#cql - 132 posts
#the untamed - 81 posts
#wei wuxian - 54 posts
#jiang cheng - 46 posts
#lan wangji - 43 posts
#wangxian - 25 posts
#cql fic rec - 20 posts
#mdzs art - 20 posts
#mdzs fic rec - 20 posts
(don't tell me you're surprised. i'm was very predictable this year)
Longest Tag: 135 characters
#me looking for the screwdrivers i swear i remember placing in the drawer a few weeks ago and finding them in my parents bedroom instead (ah yes, the temporary crisis i had to tell people about but not too loudly so it's a tag instead. nice)
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
CAN ADHD POSTS PLEASE STOP BEING SO RELATABLE!!!
5 notes • Posted 2021-01-30 08:19:31 GMT
(IT'S BEEN A YEAR AND STILL!!! STOP BEING SO FUCKING RELATABLE!!!) (WHY IS THIS ONE OF MY TOP POSTS THO!!! R Y'ALL OK)
#4
personal interpretation on why i think wei wuxian suits gryffindor best
someone on the mdzs fic rec and discussion server brought up wwx and what house he'd be in:
my first assumption was gryffindor, obviously. a quick backtrack and double check would lead me to say he's fit for all houses, but when i really thought about it i returned to gryffindor
some would definitely say "i think he's x, therefore he's in y house" and that's your personal interpretation! which i'm perfectly okay with. but me, i think wwx would be part of gryffindor, through and through. a little bit of consideration towards hufflepuff, but the final choice and name the sorting hat would announce i'm sure is gryffindor.
the main reason for me would be that although wwx fits the basic trait for three out of four houses (reason as to why he isn't ambitious will be explained), all the houses have their own common flaws as well, which is also part of the judgement the sorting hat makes. wwx fits the positives of nearly every house, but we can't say that for the negative.
longer detailed interpretation below the cut:
wwx and his relation to every house, ranked from what (i personally think is) not his true house to what i think is his true house. (aka why i think wwx is a gryffindor)
slytherin - he isn't ambitious; yes he has ambitions, but in the true slytherin sense he doesn't, because he doesn't think he needs to actively pursue them. "but he did chase after some of his ambitions, didn't he?" yes. one of his biggest ambitions was to take down the wens as revenge, which is a very hufflepuff/gryffindor reason. does he have "ends justify the means" moments? yes, but he doesn't fit the most defining trait in the first place imo, and this is also common with gryffindor anyways.
ravenclaw - he is intelligent and resourceful and his take on the world as he grows is a sign of wisdom, but ravenclaws tend to value knowledge above all else and it leads to disregard of things like justice, but wwx is very rooted to his morals and justice (see leaving everything behind to save others. this also defines him as a hufflepuff and gryffindor). they're stubborn by staying rooted to the facts and nothing else but facts moves them (which is why i see lwj in ravenclaw)
hufflepuff - self explanatory, this bitch is so loyal to the point of self-sacrifice. god. i want to smack him. hufflepuffs however tend to be the kind, underestimated ones. nobody underestimates wwx even if he is kind, and he's often made himself the center of attention. hufflepuffs are stubborn for the sake of themselves and everyone around them (again, leaving everything behind to save others)
gryffindor - brave. wwx is very very very much brave i don't even need to explain this. yet he is reckless, he assumes things and often doesn't think them through, his decisions can be subconsciously selfish because he forgets to take others into consideration (LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND TO SAVE OTHERS). gryffindors also tend to be the morally strong, not to mention their brand of stubborn - will not back down for majorly personal reasons (although it can be argued that this can be attributed to slytherins through their determination towards ambitions). i'd argue that he fits gryffindor perfectly
conclusion:
Wei Wuxian is a Gryffindor.
6 notes • Posted 2021-11-23 18:36:01 GMT
(so true i'm proud of this one)
#3
finished tgcf donghua, now off to continue the novel and manhua!!!
7 notes • Posted 2021-02-04 16:05:00 GMT
(it's been ten months not much progress i might have to restart from the beginning again lololol)
#2
welcome to nova's blog!
helloooo! welcome to my blog. a few quick facts about me: I'm nova, i use she/her pronouns, and i’m a minor under 16 who is a grammar freak that tends to not give a fuck, and i also curse a lot. that's all you need to know, really.
find me more active on TWITTER or writing on AO3 or look through my CARRD for a complete set of links.
more tumblr-specific details you might want to know under the cut.
basic fandom list:
mdzs, specific tags are
mdzs for novel
mdzs ad for audio drama
the founder of diabolism for donghua
cql or the untamed for the live action but i usually tag cql
other danmei or cdramas
genshin impact
she-ra and the princesses of power (or tagged spop)
fantastic beasts and where to find them
riordanverse (PJO, HoO, ToA, KC, MCGA)
MCU (I'll tag with the specific movie/series/characters involved)
kpop (that's a whole other long list, but I'll tag groups individually)
there's a lot more, but this is a main list. I tag all fandom content I reblog if I'm interested. I also tag specific characters and ships to my interpretation.
my personal tags:
#super-novatuna
#nova's assorted life tags (personal snippets snuck into the tags)
#your friendly neighborhood tuna (personal posts)
#novatuna's brain at work (musings, ideas, fandom thoughts, general tag for my creative stuff)
#novatuna's brain writes (prompts and headcanons and fics and everything in between)
#novatuna's brain draws (drawings and sketches and all in between)
if I forget anything or something doesn’t work, don't hesitate to send an ask or message me! I really don't mind at all. I'll be updating this post every once in a while with tags and links if I find necessary.
10 notes • Posted 2021-03-15 10:19:40 GMT
(this just tells me people visit my blog)
#1
reading tgcf ch 8
xie lian: oh weird teenager leading me through forest, he seems nice, kinda helpful too, umbrella is convenient, cool"
also xie lian: ATTACC THE TEENAGER FOR QUESTIONING
30 notes • Posted 2021-02-02 07:12:38 GMT
(i love that this is my top post when i just said i might have to restart my tgcf process, i remember this scene tho it's so fucking funny)
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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check in tag time ! thanks @transyebaiyi for the tag im sending u So many keeses<333
under the cut bc im very wordy hehe
why did you choose your url?
as my pinned states, my two passions in life are dragons and pretty boys of which lwj is the prettiest of them all so ofc i just had to combine them<3 i also Really Love dragon lwj content in general (as for my usual url crow-n-prince it's my semi professional one! i use it for art related things and it's meant to be a play on crown prince-> crow (one of my other fave things) and prince)
any side blogs? if you have them: name them and why you have them
none that i really use anymore! i used to be pretty active on wonhostransbf for kpop stuff and i have around 30 saved urls for various themes but i gave up and just keep everything on main.. full medley soup here on dragonji dot tumblr dot com baybee ( bonus some highlights of my saved urls are wangjimp3, yanfus, poetswordsman, disconcernings, and t4tlwj)
how long you've been on tumblr?
i?? think since early high school so.. around 6 years?
do you have a queue tag?
i actually just started one like last week! it's "i would wait for q" which i felt was suitably gay longing of me (not that i really need a queue tag rn since im online constantly anyways-)
why did you start your blog in the first place?
uhh i think mainly to post art? and keep up with my interests at the time so not much different from what i use it for currently
why did you choose your icon?
all my recent icons have been lwj for ahem kinnie reasons also i figured i should use my own art sometime and since i managed to finish some lwj art for pride it just worked out :3
why did you choose your header?
it started as a joke bc i was like oh funny haha the kfc tgcf promo pic but i actually really love the colors and got too attached... it just feels warm and also means i get to look at hualian whenever i want so it stayed<3
what's your post with the most notes?
probably this nhs art for his bday a couple years ago and honestly deserved I spent So long on that thing
how many mutuals do you have?
around.. 20?? maybe 30? but only a handful that i consider true Mutuals u know
how many followers do you have?
494 but most are inactive or from like years ago
how many people do you follow?
1300... i need to go thru bc i've never actually cleaned out my following list but thats a lot of work so i'll keep putting it off
have you ever made a shitpost?
i dont think so? i just kind of post for me if ppl reblog it thats on them
how often do you use tumblr a day?
i am quite literally always on these days unfortunately<3 during school i check whenever i get breaks and during the evenings + a good few hours before i go to sleep i'm usually hanging out while watching shows/reading other stuff
did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?
besides the anon from the other day no not really. I much prefer to avoid confrontation in general and usually just block pretty liberally to cut off that kind of thing before it gets bad. it helps that im not a very popular blog so complete strangers dont feel entitled to start shit randomly lol
how do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts?
kind of.. greasy in general :/ if it's an important issue i would rather find informative or relevant posts without that kind of phrasing but i'll rb if im short on time or energy
do you like tag games?
i think theyre fun and sweet!! however i normally do not have much energy for them so i don't participate often sigh... i tend to overthink all my responses so by the time I finish one its like paragraphs long (case in point this one) and weeks after I first got tagged so I just dont post haha
do you like ask games?
yeah!!! theyre quick and interesting and let me do one of my fave things which is sharing little tidbits of my life online<3
which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?
oh i know a couple of my mutuals are legitimately famous on here but im not super close to them, and i know a few have had some really popular text posts but i'm not gonna name anyone haha
do you have a crush on a mutual?
not at the moment! i have before but i'm not the type to act first on any feelings i have so usually i just crush for a few weeks and move on
i think most of my mutuals have been tagged already but if u see this and wanna say i tagged u go for it✨
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Worst engagement AU // on AO3 (though I’ll likely only post this chapter there tomorrow)
Set not very long after lwj and nhs silently bonding over bunnies. gonna blame @denira whose tags on the aforementioned chapter inspired me :D
Lan Qiren is busy today, so it is Lan Xichen who supervises Lan Wangji's guqin practice. It is what Lan Wangji prefers, although he knows better than to say it. Lan Qiren is more experienced, more skilled, and this is the superior teacher. But Lan Xichen is kinder when his brother makes a mistake, preferring to encourage rather than scold, so Lan Wangji is weak and prefers him.
When the lesson is over, Lan Xichen praises his brother for how well he did while Lan Wangji goes to carefully put away his guqin. When he comes back, he finds Lan Xichen looking at something on his desk. He was supposed to tidy it earlier, but got distracted. It is irresponsible of him, and if Lan Qiren were here, he would scold his nephew.
Lan Wangji is really glad it was his brother with him today.
“Wanji, this painting is very good,” Lan Xichen remarks, picking up something from the desk. “When did you make it?”
Considering he has not painted in a while, the question takes Lan Wangji by surprise. He cannot think of any recent work he might not have yet shown his brother. The mystery is quickly lifted when he comes closer and finds his brother holding the painting that Nie Huaisang gave him. Lan Xichen is right to call it good, of course, and Lan Wangji knows he should immediately disperse the misunderstanding that it is his own work.
Lan Wangji knows, also, that his brother is not very impressed by Nie Huaisang's skills. He cannot be blamed. Nie Huaisang is a very poor cultivator who doesn't even have a golden core yet, and Lan Wangji understands that in the world they live in, that is unforgivable for someone from such a prestigious sect as Qinghe Nie. Until recently, Lan Wangji simply agreed with his brother's disappointment, mostly due to never interacting with the other boy himself.
But since then there's been that afternoon with the rabbits, and Lan Wangji feels a little more positively toward his future brother-in-law. After all, Nie Huaisang didn't try to force him into tedious conversation as most people do, didn't tease him for his enjoyment of rabbits as other children did when he was younger. And, of course, Nie Huaisang gave him that beautiful painting where the rabbits look as if they might just hop from the page and started frolicking around.
Nie Huaisang doesn't look like much, but there might be more to him than can be seen on the surface.
“Brother thinks it's good?” Lan Wangji asks.
Lying by omission or implication is wrong. He'll have to be punished for it later. Handstands perhaps. But since Nie Huaisang gave him a gift, Lan Wangji feels like giving one in return.
“It's excellent,” Lan Xichen assures him, unable to take his eyes off the painting and smiling with open admiration. “I didn't know you had progressed so much! The lines flow beautifully, you're making them look relaxed and yet still ready to stir at the first noise... and the shading is simple but very good, it really brings them to life. Their shape is good too, very true to life, I particularly like their eyes and noses. Wangji, I think this is better than most of what I've done recently.”
Since Lan Wangji has little taste for pictorial arts, he doesn't care too much that this praise is not directed at his actual work. He only paints because it's what a man of good education must do. But he has seen how Nie Huaisang looked when he was painting, and knows his future brother-in-law must feel differently.
Usually Nie Huaisang always looks like he's about to cry if someone so much as looks his way, but that afternoon he was so focused that nothing seemed to touch him. Lan Wangji is half sure that if he hadn't been there to be the reasonable one, Nie Huaisang would have stayed painting until the very last ray of sunlight, perhaps even after night fell if the moon was bright enough. Everyone says he's lazy, but clearly that's not what's the problem with him.
“Nie Huaisang gifted me this painting,” Lan Wangji announces. “He made it himself.”
The silence that follows is to be expected. Since Lan Xichen has a low opinion of Nie Huaisang, it is normal for him to be surprised by the skill his fiancé hides under all that shyness. But after seeing what Nie Huaisang is capable of, it is obvious that Lan Xichen will have to rethink his position. There is no shame in being wrong, only in refusing to learn from it, the rules say.
“He lied to you,” Lan Xichen says without hesitation.
“He did not,” Lan Wangji calmly protests. “I saw him paint it.”
“I did not know you ever spent time with him,” Lan Xichen remarks, now inspecting the painting more critically, as if trying to find faults in it. “I suppose he might have painted it. The composition isn't very good, and the proportions of those poor rabbits is laughable. If they really looked this fat, they'd have ended up as a fox's dinner already.”
Lan Wangji stares at his brother, shocked by the sudden change.
“Brother said the painting was excellent. Was that a lie?”
“It is better than what you usually do,” Lan Xichen concedes, though it seems to pain him to say even this. “I was trying to encourage you. I know this is not an art you favour.”
“Brother said this was better than his own work.”
For some reason, Lan Xichen's entire face turns red at having his own words thrown back at him. He looks.
He looks angry.
Lan Wangji feels baffled.
If it were him in his brother's place, he'd be relieved to find that his fiancé isn't completely useless. In fact, his biggest hope for the future is that whoever his uncle and father pick for him to marry will be someone musically inclined, like him, so that they can at least have one thing in common. Since Lan Xichen enjoys painting a great deal, he should be glad to discover that it is a passion that Nie Huaisang shares, and that he shares it well.
“He must have copied it from somewhere,” Lan Xichen announces. “From memory perhaps, but there is no way Nie Huaisang made something like that on his own. Mingjue has told me that his brother and him have had little training in non martial arts, and it is simply impossible for someone self-taught to make something like this without help. I'm afraid he fooled you, Wangji.”
This conversation is starting to be upsetting, Lan Wangji decides.
Not because he thinks he was fooled. He was there, he saw the rabbits in that exact position, with the exact markings that Nie Huaisang depicted. There is no doubt that the work is entirely due to Nie Huaisang's skill.
What is upsetting, then, is to see his brother so unbending in his dislike of his fiancé. Coming from someone else, it would be understandable. Most people are petty, Lan Wangji has found out. But his brother has always been a model of virtue to him, always patient and kind and willing to give everyone a chance. In all of Lan Wangji's life, he has never seen his brother dislike someone so strongly. Even with Jin Zixun, who Lan Wangji wants to silence every time he opens his mouth, Lan Xichen manages to stay patient and polite.
Everyone has to dislike someone, it is only human, but out of every person they have met, Lan Wangji can't fathom why his brother has decided to dislike Nie Huaisang. It's like disliking a shrub or a rabbit. One can do it, and it is easy to take one's anger on it, but what good does it do anyone to hate something that can't defend itself?
It is odd for Lan Xichen to be so unreasonable.
“Did Nie Huaisang offend brother?” Lan Wangji careful asks.
That too sounds odd, if only because Nie Huaisang is so meek and shy that it seems unlikely he'd talk enough to ever insult anyone. And still, Lan Xichen frowns at the question, his expression turning darker.
“Why are you so interested in Nie Huaisang all of a sudden? You've never seemed to notice him before when he visited.”
“I like the painting,” Lan Wangji replies which wasn't exactly untrue, even if it isn't the entire truth. It was nice, that afternoon. Most guest disciples are too rowdy for his tastes, or them move in large groups that he doesn't want to deal with. As for Lan disciples, of course they are quiet, but most of them are a little scared of him for his connection to Lan Qiren and the sect leader. Besides, whenever he's tried to mention his interest in anything but cultivation, and especially in rabbits, they always look at him as if he's grown a second head.
But Nie Huaisang was quiet, and he liked the rabbits enough to paint them.
“Nie Huaisang seems nice,” Lan Wangji says, feeling very daring for going against his brother's opinion. Maybe this is the start of that rebellious phase that Lan Qiren always seems to worry about.
Lan Xichen shoots him a surprised look.
“Is one mediocre painting really all it takes to buy your friendship, Wangji?”
“It's a good painting,” Lan Wangji points out. Then, after some consideration and for the sake of honesty, he adds: “We are not friends. But he is nice. I do not mind that he will join the family.”
This time, there's definitely a hint of wilful rebellion to his words. Lan Wangji knows it's wrong, that he must respect his elders, and Lan Xichen does count as an elder even if there's just a few years between them.
But really, it's not his fault that Lan Xichen is so unreasonable.
“I see you've decided to be difficult today,” Lan Xichen has the galls to say. “If you want to pity Nie Huaisang, go ahead I suppose. Good luck with getting him to say more than two words at once.”
Lan Wangji nods. Nie Huaisang is quiet. That is the nice thing about him. He also doesn't seem to have any expectations about Lan Wangji, never once bothering him since that afternoon with the rabbits, never seeking him out.
Lan Wangji likes it when people are quiet and don't bother him.
“I'll see you at dinner,” Lan Xichen announces, dropping the painting as if it is a particularly disgusting thing. “I hope you're less contradictory by then.”
Lan Wangji watches him go, still a little baffled that his brother somehow found something to hate in a person as bland and innocuous as Nie Huaisang. Then, when he is alone, he picks up the painting and carefully puts it away.
After all, as Lan Xichen himself said, it's an excellent painting, and must be treated accordingly.
#xisang#lan wangji#lan xichen#mo dao zu shi#yes lxc is very bitchy but listen have you ever found out that someone you don't like is better than you at somehting you love?#that's what he's going through#we've all been through that right?#or am I really just a bitter envious bitch??XD#jau writes#worst engagement AU
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