Modern AU - Tax Time, Or Gentleman In The Streets, Freak In The (Excel) Sheets

The boys are back! Back to save the day!

Okay, so I thought Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng’s friendship was one of the best parts about season 1 (because you gotta build them up in order to watch them fall, right?….). I especially enjoyed how in the last episode, while everyone else was pretty much horrified/despairing about seeing the Yiling Laozu!Wuxian for the first time, Jiang was just like, “You look great for a demon lord, man–now let’s go kick some Wen ass together!”

Good times.

Please feed him (◞‸◟ )

Why do so many fanfics have wangxian act so shameless around each other in public and around the kids? Fanfics tend to portray them acting so shamelessly until everyone around them either knows what they're doing in the bedroom or are really tired of them acting like this in public. Is this how they really act in the novel?

I think this may be due to fandom running with this particular scene:

After entering the tavern, they took a seat in an inconspicuous corner, and the waiter came over to greet them. He saw the sword at Lan Wangji’s waist, then the flute at Wei Wuxian’s. Because of their appearance and bearing, he couldn’t help but connect them to the pair who had been the subject of all the most heated talk recently. But after staring at them intently for a while, he noticed that the customer dressed in white was not wearing the Lan Clan’s forehead ribbon. Ultimately, he was left unsure of their identities.

Wei Wuxian asked for liquor while Lan Wangji ordered a few dishes. With one hand propping up his cheek and the other toying with a snow-white forehead ribbon under the table, Wei Wuxian listened to his deep voice as he read off the dishes. A wide grin was plastered on his face.

Once the waiter was gone, he commented, “So many spicy dishes. Can you eat them?”

Lan Wangji picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. “Sit properly,” he said evenly.

“There’s no tea in there,” Wei Wuxian pointed out.

Lan Wangji filled the cup, then raised it to his lips again. After a while, he repeated,

“…Sit properly.”

"Am I not? It’s not like I’m propping my feet up on the table like I used to,” Wei Wuxian said.

Lan Wangji could no longer bear it. “Even so, do not put them elsewhere.”

Wei Wuxian was confused. “Where did I put them?”

“…”

"Lan-er-gongzi has so many demands. Why don’t you teach me how to sit properly?”

Lan Wangji put down the teacup and cast him a look. He was about to rise in a whirl of sleeves in order to teach him a very proper lesson indeed—but just then, a table at the center of the main hall burst into a chorus of roaring laughter.

Wei Wuxian likes being innocuously dirty towards Lan Wangji. But it's not anywhere near "everyone knows". We also have to remember when it came to xiao-Mianmian she even tells her parents Wei Wuxian was the "bad man" because he was being more openly dirty than Lan Wangji was, despite their little role play being on both ends . Wei Wuxian really likes being seen as the debauched next to Lan Wangji's prim and pretty self in public.

It's why Wei Wuxian jokes about no one being any the wiser that Lan Wangji can be just as much of a pervert and it not seeming to be fair. They fuck with Lan Qiren by purposefully being loud with their bed activity to annoy him and he can't do anything what with them being in their own home and married. And there is Wei Wuxian sitting in Lan Wangji's lap in front of Lan Sizhui (who they are close to so really no need for much proprietary). But the thing here when it comes to them acting as such, is because they are around designated family with those instances.

If they mess around outside of the discerning eye it's not any more radical than any other couple that plays around. There's just a skewed imagining of how couples can and cannot act with it veering into heavy purity politics despite these two acting like any other couple that's not exactly hiding they're a couple. We have the Inn lady in Yunmeng encouraging a one room after they both hesitated about one room or two room question and them HIDING they broke the tub because they had sex.

Fandom likes to think the characters in novel are a lot more discerning of Wangxian's relationship than they actually are. No one in the novel can just tell they have a thing for each other strangers or not. Only ones that encourage them or third wheel are the juniors and Wen Ning. They go on a date night in Yunmeng and it's not something necessarily out of the ordinary or remarked on in the extras (or hell even after the siege and it's Jiang Cheng getting his homophobia bit on and acting like they're being purposely disrespectful despite doing nothing out of the ordinary).

So no, it's an overwrought trope this fandom loves.

this is honestly one of my favorite wei wuxian moments bc he’s such a morbid little weirdo and completely unaware of it like

what an adorable little coffin! i wanna scratch its neck and give it forehead kisses! and this is a perfectly normal reaction to seeing a coffin inside a dark tomb while desperately searching for my nephew. who’s a good coffin? whoooo’s a good coffin? you are! yes you are!

I really do think the fandom underestimate Xie Lian's own values and kindness while kinda overestimating the kindness the guy who gave him the Bamboo hat in the scene in the rain.

Don't get me wrong, the Bamboo hat is important and the fact that someone went to help him is also important. But it's just the excuse. Xie Lian decided by himself to lie in the rain and gave humanity another chance first. He was trying to convince himself that he didn't believe in the kindness of people anymore while still giving them another chance. He was probably going to lie in the rain until someone, anyone gave him that kindness anyway.

The Bamboo hat is the excuse as to why Xie Lian didn't turn into Jun Wu, but the actual reason is that Xie Lian had the strength to stand in the rain and wait for someone to show him he was right. A thing Jun Wu never did.

Wip?

Mother duck and the ducklings🩷

oh, hello brainrot <3

Tbh I think Lan Sizhui’s earliest remembered crimes were taught to him by Lan Wangji and Xichen and they are as follows: Illegal Lan Afternoon Naps and Illegal Pet Bunnies

He’s a criminal

complicated feelings on jiang fengmian aside, i think the reason i don’t buy into the whole “jfm favoured wei wuxian much more than his son” and tend to agree with wwx’s words to jc that of course jfm would be more stern with jc because jc’s his son is because—my asian parenting experience has been somewhat the same (and i actually think this might be a bit of a universal experience regardless), not in the exact way mxtx portrays this relationship but in that my parents and parents of every single person i have ever known (mostly; there are always a few exceptions) show this pattern of being sweet and cordial and generally non-disciplinary towards kids who aren’t their own and being way stricter and more stern with their own children because they are the ones they are parenting. there’s almost this mutually known boundary that you don’t go and yell at another’s kid to correct bad behaviour, rather the impetus of imparting important values and lessons is reserved as your right for your own kids. that’s how i’ve always read jiang fengmian’s dynamic with wei wuxian vs jiang cheng. he was stern with jc because that’s his son and heir, someone he cares for very deeply. on the other hand, he does care for wei wuxian as well but he has never crossed that mental boundary from uncle to father figure in his head and his interactions with wei wuxian have never read as paternal or favourably partial over jc to me.

kiss of death