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admirableadmiranda · 2 years

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Well it seems like it’s time to throw another match into the Modaozushi fandom, let’s talk about the lionization of the farm dream and the denial of the Cloud Recesses when it comes to Wangxian’s ending! So recently I’ve been seeing more and more meta that posits that Wangxian do not actually want to be involved in the cultivation world and would just leave it entirely to go live on a farm with limited to no contact with anyone. The ones I see most often particularly target the Lans, but it has been a growing opinion that apparently MXTX actually intended for them to leave the Jianghu and go off on their own. To put it politely, I think this is a reading that blatantly ignores anything that Wei Wuxian says; disregards everything they don’t like about the ending and is basically used as a cudgel to ignore the themes of the books, being about second chances, not holding onto grudges and not condemning everyone because of their name. I have legitimately seen posts and opinions that say somehow Lan Wangji, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi are the only possible good people in their clan ignoring that there are hundreds of people in it who are not Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren. If we can point out that the Wen clan is not a monolith and even those who were involved in the sense that they did not have the strength to stand up to their leader should not be condemned, then why are we doing it to every other clan? There is no actual indication in canon that they really want to leave. It is an option, but it is one they do not take at any point as we are shown. Explicitly at the end of the book, they choose to go back. Why would MXTX write for the end of a solo book something that she never intended to happen? It baffles me that people completely ignore Wei Wuxian’s choice in the matter and decide that he doesn’t actually want that after a whole book of him growing to go after and get what he wants. The canon end of the book is Wei Wuxian deciding of his own accord that they should give the Lan clan a shot and going back there. He sets his conditions to which Lan Wangji agrees and they set off together. There is no farming or secluded house ever mentioned. That is because the intent of the farming dream is not the location, but who it is with. Now I will cover the ignoring of the extras in the lionization of the farming dream, but first let’s go ahead and look at the first scene where Wei Wuxian mentions the farming dream itself.

It is in Chapter 67: Tenderness, although I will be pulling a lot from Chapter 66: Tenderness as well as the two are inextricably linked. I will be pulling from the ExR translation because as of writing, there is no other translation that I can find of this scene. For those who may not recall, they have just left the Cloud Recesses to discover why so many fierce corpses are going to the Burial Mounds, just Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and Little Apple. The entirety of Tenderness is probably one of the cutest sections ever. Wei Wuxian is both pretty clearly in love with Lan Wangji and really beginning to let himself indulge in it now. This is a very relevant detail. It starts with Wei Wuxian whining at Lan Wangji until he lifts him up and puts him on the donkey, feeling very pleased with himself for that. In fact, he has an ulterior motive for this, he wants Lan Wangji to re-enact something special with him:

Although he didn’t remember much of the things that had happened when he was young, there was one scene that had always been blurrily imprinted within his mind.

A narrow path, a little donkey, and three people. A man in black gently lifted a woman in white. He picked her up and placed her onto the donkey’s back. Then, he raised a small, small child way up high and put him on his shoulders.

He was the child, not yet the height of a person’s legs. Sitting on the shoulders of the man, he was suddenly very tall, very majestic. Sometimes he pulled the man’s hair, sometimes he rubbed his cheeks. He shouted things, swinging his legs about. The woman in white sat on the donkey’s back, her back swaying. Watching them, she seemed to smile. The man had always been quiet. He didn’t talk much. He only pushed him a bit higher, for him to be taller, steadier. One of his hands picked up the donkey’s rein. The three of them were squeezed onto the same narrow path, walking slowly forward.

It was one of the rare pieces of memory that he had.

Those were his dad and his mom.

Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan, pick up the rein, won’t you?”

Lan WangJi, “Why?”

Lil’ Apple was quite clever. It wasn’t that it didn’t know to follow a person. Wei WuXian said again, “Give me some face and pick it up, won’t you?”

Although he still didn’t understand why Wei WuXian’s grin was so bright, Lan WangJi listened and picked up Lil’ Apple’s rein anyway, holding it in his hand.

Wei WuXian spoke to himself, “Hm. Now all that’s left is a little one.”

Lan WangJi, “What?”

Wei WuXian chuckled, “Nothing. Lan Zhan, you really are a good person.”

With this journey to Yiling, it was clear that their future was still unclear, even somewhat dangerous. Wei WuXian couldn’t get himself to feel nervous at all. Sitting on a donkey with Lan WangJi holding the rein, leading them down the path, his entire heart was fluttering, feeling as though he was walking on air.

So already we have it set up as to where Wei Wuxian’s mind is. He knows what he wants, he is deliberately imitating one of the few memories he has of his parents with Lan Wangji, with himself in his mother’s spot and Lan Wangji in his father’s. Wei Wuxian does not have a lot of good examples of how loving couples behave, but he is able to chase the traces of his parents in his memory and replicate that with the man he loves. Even though Lan Wangji does not yet know what Wei Wuxian is going for, the fact that he does this for Wei Wuxian makes him feel so happy that “his entire heart was fluttering, it was as if he was walking on air.” I cannot overestimate the fact that this is the theme of Tenderness and all that is within. Wei Wuxian’s whole thought process right now is on what he wants with Lan Wangji, which is very relevant to the farm scene and how it’s actually presented in story. After that we have one of the scenes that’s most well known throughout the fandom. Wei Wuxian takes out his flute, starts playing Wangxian for Lan Wangji. He has now put together where he heard it and how Lan Wangji recognized him, and attempts to get Lan Wangji to tell him it’s name.

The flute had a limpid timbre. Lan WangJi’s footsteps hesitated slightly as Wei WuXian felt something inside of him suddenly light up.

He spoke, “Lan Zhan! Let me ask you, back then, under the Xuanwu cave in Dusk-Creek Mountain, the song that you sang me, what was its name?”

Lan WangJi looked at him, “Why do you suddenly remember to ask about this?”

Wei WuXian, “Just say it. What was its name? I think I might’ve guessed how you recognized me.”

On the night at Dafan Mountain, the tune that he somehow played was precisely the one, when he had been fevered under the Xuanwu cave in Dusk-Creek Mountain, Lan WangJi had hummed beside him!

Lan WangJi refused to say anything. Wei WuXian hurried him, “Say it, what song is it? Who composed it?”

Lan WangJi, “I did.”

Wei WuXian, “You composed it?!”

Lan WangJi, “Mn.”

Wei WuXian had thought that it was a secret song of the GusuLan Sect. Now that he knew, he was both surprised and overjoyed. What he was surprised about was quite obvious. What he was overjoyed about, though, he couldn’t really tell. He guessed, “If you really did recognize from just this, it must’ve meant that—this song, you’ve never let anyone else hear it?”

Lan WangJi, “Never.”

Wei WuXian was so happy that he kicked Lil’ Apple.

Amusingly as I’m rereading this chapter, I’m seeing where Wei Wuxian begins to think that Lan Wangji might be in love with him. Look at that reaction. The man is ecstatic at the revelation that no one but him has heard this song. He is so happy he kicks his poor donkey and nearly gets bucked off. A continuation of the theme of this particular chapter which I am going to rename “Wei Wuxian is really, really in love you guys.”

So they end up stopping in a farmhouse because Wei Wuxian is hungry, stealing some melons that Lan Wangji still leaves money on the table for, then almost get caught and end up lying in the hay with Wei Wuxian doing some hardcore flirting. Wen Ning scares the couple away and they reach Yiling where the plot begins to kick back in. But before that, we finally have the farm dream.

Now let’s talk about how the scene starts because that is very relevant to why they don’t at the end of the book and why they wouldn’t.

He sat on the donkey with his legs criss-crossed. He swayed as he pretended to be unconcerned, “Speaking of it, HanGuang-Jun, do you plan on ever retiring?”

Lan WangJi paused shortly, as though he was thinking for a moment. Wei WuXian struck the iron while it was still hot, “Have you thought of what to do after you retire?”

Lan WangJi gazed at him, “Not yet.”

Wei WuXian thought to himself, It’s perfect if you haven’t thought of anything yet! I’ll think for you.

So already the first relevant bit here is that Wei Wuxian is plotting their life of retirement. After they have quit cultivation for good. When they have no further plans for their life. Because what Wei Wuxian wants to do is tie Lan Wangji together with him in some way for life. Even if it’s not explicitly romantic yet (cause he’s still coming around to the idea), the real goal here isn’t what they are doing, it’s that he and Lan Wangji will be doing it together. Yes, later he ends up saying if they get bored, they can pretend they’re not retired and go nighthunting, but that is not so much of the point.

The point here is that he is drawing out a far future with Lan Wangji right by his side. What he is dreaming of is the thought of a long life with the two of them together.

He was going to find a place beautiful though sparsely populated and build a large house there. He could build one for Lan WangJi next to him as well. Everyday there’d be two dishes and a soup. Of course, it’d be best if Lan WangJi was the one who cooked, or else they had to eat the things he cooked. It’d be best if Lan WangJi was responsible for the account of their money as well. Before his eyes even appeared the scene of Lan WangJi wearing coarse cloth, patches at his chest and his knees, sitting expressionlessly at a handmade wooden table, counting coins one by one. After he finished counting, he grabbed a hoe and went out to work. And, on the other hand, he’d… he’d… he’d do what?

Wei WuXian thought seriously about what he’d be doing. People often said that to exchange for food one either plowed the fields or spun cloth. Now that somebody was plowing the fields, somebody had to spin the cloth as well. Just thinking of him crossing his knees and shaking his legs in front of a loom was enough for him to cringe. He’d rather grab the hoe. It’d be more suitable for Lan WangJi to spin cloth. In the day they’d fish and plow the fields, while at night they’d get their swords and go night-hunting for beasts and demons. If they got tired of it, they could pretend that they’d never retired and it’d be fine for them just to enter the world again. But, as he had thought, they were missing a small one…

Lan WangJi suddenly spoke up, “A small what?”

Wei WuXian, “Huh?” He suddenly realized that he had spoken the last sentence out. He immediately regained himself, “I meant, Lil’ Apple is missing a small friend.”

So the biggest thing here is that this is not exactly a solid fantasy. The farming only comes in when he starts considering what they would need to do to afford their big houses right next to each other. Even then when his thoughts do come around to it, they are less on the work and more on the Lan Wangji of it. Right to the point where he slams into the A-Yuan barrier in his head and hurts himself and all of us.

From there on the farming fantasy does not reappear again in the entire rest of the actual novel, and while I keep seeing people say that he’s tying it to his happiest times in the Burial Mounds, I think again the connection is less on farming and more on something else.

Wei Wuxian first connects riding on the donkey with Lan Wangji holding the reins to his dim memories of his parents, good memories that he treasures. The idea of being connected together by the reins on a donkey, a couple. This is a pretty clear connection.

I think when farming comes up again in relation to Lan Wangji it is less on the farming and more that the other time he really felt like he belonged in a group was living with the Wens on the Burial Mounds. He connects the feeling of family with the farming and then ties it in with Lan Wangji. He wants to have a family with Lan Wangji. In the end, the farming matters less than the Lan Wangji part. They could be doing just about anything. As long as Lan Wangji is there too.

Again, I am not joking. He does not bring up farming one other time in his thoughts or his words. You would think if MXTX were intending to say that they’re gonna leave and go live on a tiny farm rather than the ending she’s aiming for, it might be mentioned more often than never.

Now we’re onto the ending of the book and the extras, where the real sticking point is. Wangxian come through the trials of the Guanyin Temple Hostage Party, they confess their love, they elope and have wild sex under a bush because they’ve waited more than long enough, and we come to chapter 113, the last actual chapter of the book. There will be 13 chapters of extras, but this is what MXTX intends for the story to initially end on, the future that lies before Wangxian.

It’s not a farmhouse. It’s the Cloud Recesses. They’re going back to the Cloud Recesses. On Wei Wuxian’s suggestion, they are going to the Cloud Recesses.

I’ve seen people say that Wei Wuxian doesn’t actually want to go back, he only goes because he’s worried about Lan Wangji and decides to humor him by going to see his family, and isn’t that a sad way to look at the ending, that you humor your husband by allowing him to see his family rather than deciding to make a second start and try again because both of you are optimists and never gave up on the Lan sect.

Imagine thinking that Wei “I could let these people who have declared a siege on me for the second time die but instead I’m going to put my own life at risk to protect them” Wuxian and Lan “I have spent the last fifteen years of my life going everywhere, doing everything and teaching students how to do the same thing fully under the image of the Lan sect rather than leaving and wandering on my own” Wangji deciding that no, they’re going to be cynical assholes instead and refuse to interact with anyone who doesn’t match their exact moral standards and actions. Really. By that logic, they couldn’t be together either because they’ve both messed up in their own history with each other and others.

But I should set aside my salt on the misunderstanding of Wangxian and continue to talk about the ending specifically or otherwise this post will get even longer.

Listening to his nonsense, Lan WangJi only grasped the reins of Lil’ Donkey with Wei WuXian on it and clenched the thin rope in his palm, continuing on their way. Wei WuXian was still talking, “Where are we going next? I haven’t had Emperor’s Smile in a long time. How about we go back to Gusu and first play around for a bit in Caiyi Town?”

Lan WangJi, “Sure.”

Wei WuXian, “It’s been so many years. The waterborn abyss there should be completely cleaned up, right? If your uncle can bear looking at me, then hide me along with those jars of wine in your room; if he can’t, then let’s go tour some other place. I heard SiZhui and the others are having loads of fun night-hunting with Wen Ning.

Lan WangJi, “Mn.”

Wei WuXian, “But I heard there’s a renewed version of the GusuLan Sect’s rules? Hey, is there even more room on that Wall of Rules in front of the mountain to your sect…”

A gentle breeze came, and both their robes rippled like spring water.

Wei Wuxian brings it up unprompted and runs off things that he wants to do first. They’re headed back to Cloud Recesses, but not in any sort of hurry. He sets a boundary for his continues in staying, a condition that is met because 4 of the 6 extras contain them being in the Cloud Recesses at one point and the other two set post canon both make mention of them either doing things specifically within the Cloud Recesses or using Lan clan resources while out traveling. Dreams Come True has them deciding to put the world’s ugliest turtle in the Lanshi where Lan Wangji teaches (a thing they would not do if they were there so rarely it would have no impact on them and there’s no mention of putting it in a cottage because Wei Wuxian suggests the Jingshi at first) and Intrusion features them staying in a house that is specifically for members of the Lan Clan to stay in while traveling.

(Lotus Pod Picking and Villainous Friends are excluded from the count because neither of them are post canon and one of them doesn’t even feature Wangxian in the slightest)

I will not cover every detail in the extras that shows that they are at worst using it as a regular home base and traveling everywhere going where the chaos is and more likely spending more time there than out on the road, but I will point out the one other time the farmhouse dream shows up.

Any guesses where it’s mentioned? Here’s a hint - it’s very relevant with the other half of the chapter that it’s in.

It’s in... Incense Burner One!!

Now there’s been a million and a half arguments on the second half of the Incense Burner and Lan Wangji’s dream that it unearths, but I rarely see the first one mentioned despite it being the core of the farmhouse headcanon. Wei Wuxian is digging around in the Lan Treasure Pavilion and finds an incense burner that seems to do nothing, but when they fall asleep, they wake up in a shared dream.

The first relevant part of this is that Wei Wuxian is in his old body, so it’s digging through their subconscious and looking for things to show the other. The second relevant part is that Wei Wuxian does not recognize the dream at first.

It’s a sweet dream, there definitely are some more details finalized in the sense that Wei Wuxian has been filling out this daydream. Lan Wangji is weaving, Wei Wuxian shows up and complains that the farming work is too hard and asks Lan Wangji to make him a dish with the fish he caught. The focus here is clearly on the They are Living Together and Lan Wangji is Taking Care of Him. It is also very innocent and Wei Wuxian mentions that he would always wake up before the dream could go anywhere racy in hilarious contrast to Lan Wangji’s dream.

“…” Lan WangJi stared at the two making casual conversation, “Your dream?”

Wei WuXian was laughing so hard he might suffer from an internal injury, “Pwahahahahahahahaha, uh, yes. For a certain period of time, for some reason, I keep on having these dreams. I’d dream that we retired to seclusion to the countryside. I go out to hunt and farm, while you stay at home to guard the house, weaving and cooking food for me. Oh right, you’re also in charge of my money and doing accounts for me. At night you even mend my clothes. Every time I dream about telling you to boil the bathwater so that we could bathe together at night, but every time we were about to take off our clothes I’d wake up. What a shame, hahahahahahahahahahaha…”

He didn’t at all feel embarrassed that such a dream was seen by Lan WangJi. Instead, he was quite pleased with himself. Seeing how giddy he was, Lan WangJi’s eyes grew soft, “One might as well.”

This dream of Wei WuXian’s was full of trivial odds and ends, like cooking, eating, feeding chicken, cutting firewood. As expected, when the bathwater had finished boiling, the dream halted abruptly.

I checked with @jiangwanyinscatmom and she informed me that in the original text, it is kept, not keep. There is a tense error in the sentence above and it should read “For a certain period of time, for some reason, I kept on having these dreams.”

The key thing that stands out to me here is “I kept.” That’s past tense. He’s not having them anymore. Why, I hear you ask, because when this whole extra is set in the Cloud Recesses and not on a farmhouse, does he no longer dream of it?

Because he has what he wants. He no longer dreams about the farmhouse was never the goal. He has what the dream was always about, a life with Lan Wangji. A life where he is happy.

He didn’t want to be isolated and cut off from the world. He’s been in that situation before. It sucked. He’s been an outsider for years, he’s been in a place where everything fell on his shoulders, why do people think he’d want to go back to it? The things that an isolated farmhouse life can offer are not the things what an orphaned outcast would want.

Lan Wangji offers him a life where he can be part of a clan again, where he can be part of a family. He offers him a life where there is always a safe place to go to, the Cloud Recesses are going nowhere. There are people there waiting for him to come back. He takes the juniors out on nighthunts from around the mountains of Gusu to all the way out in Lanling without Lan Wangji having to tag along. He goes into the treasure pavilion of the Lan on his own and has his own jade token that allows him to leave and enter as he pleases and spend money without hesitation.

He’s not bothered by what the Cloud Recesses has to offer him. Sure Lan Qiren is an ass and he does not like the food, but he can solve both of those problems easily by having loud sex and having Lan Wangji cook for him. He never is even wistful for the farmhouse dream, because what he has in his life now is plenty enough for him.

I’ve noticed a definite shift in the Modaozushi fandom when it comes to talking about Wangxian where they just ignore the extras now, pretending that the very things we see of their life don’t exist. Wei Wuxian can’t be happy there, clearly he’d be moping like a princess in a tower, nevermind that we have six post-canon extras where he is getting to teach the juniors, do whatever he pleases and the worst he deals with is one man fruitlessly throwing tantrums. Lan Wangji can’t still find value in his family and his teachings, nevermind that not only does he go to spend time with his brother in seclusion, but he is teaching the juniors how to follow his understanding of the Lan rules and righteousness and teaching in the Lanshi.

Dreams Come True is marked by seasonal cues as being nearly a year after Modaozushi by the lotuses having not blossomed yet when they are eating seeds on their way to Yunping. Almost a year later and they are still living there, with Wei Wuxian coming up with the plan to put the ugly turtle they’ve won in the Lanshi where future students will see it while Lan Wangji is teaching them. That is a plan to stay there.

But people act like they just left after the banquet extra and never went back. And it’s really soured me on the whole thing. It is a total ignoring of anything they don’t like in the book when it is so clear if you are reading the extras with one eye open that they are just fine with their life as it is now.

I used to like the idea of the farmhouse dream as a distant retirement. When they were done with cultivation and wanted to take their long, possibly even immortal lives out into the world to learn new things. I have three separate fics set in that ideal.

But the very fact that there are people confidentally stating that it was the actual intended end and that Wangxian could never be happy in the Cloud Recesses has killed that enjoyment. Because it’s not true. Every single extra continues to assert that they are living their best lives, doing the things they want to do, hand in hand with the other.

If you want to write cottagecore stuff with Wangxian, if you want to explore a peaceful quiet life for them, that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. Fanfic is fanfic.

But don’t lie and pretend that it’s what MXTX meant all along when the themes of the dream itself and how their active life still gives them what they actually wanted in it were never about the farmhouse in the first place.

It was only ever a setting for what Wei Wuxian really wanted. A life with Lan Wangji.

#mdzs #modaozushi #mdzs meta #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #wangxian #lan wangji #lan zhan #wei wuxian #wei ying #the farmhouse dream #the cloud recesses #lan sect #lan clan #long post

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