i am of the sincere belief that if ur on ur computer a lot you should visually customize it to high hell and back not just for funsies but also because it has literally made me less depressed before. its kind of like how rearranging your bedroom is good for your brain, yknow. i do stuff like this every few months
LIVE WALLPAPER: wallpaper engine. only thing on here that costs any money (its like 5 bucks on steam). im sure theres free alternatives but this one has a lot of presets and stuff so its less hassle and its what i use. might be a bad idea for lower end pcs tho
CUSTOM TASKBAR: retrobar on github (lots of different options)
CUSTOM CURSOR: theres a lot of places to find these, but rw-designer open cursor library is a good place to start
DISCORD: betterdiscord, im using the clearvision v7 theme with a custom background
EXTENSIONS (these are for firefox, might or might not exist on other browsers):
tabliss for the new tab theme
stylus for tumblr -> specifically the 'tumblr - custom dashboard pallette' theme for colors + bg, and this for the pre-twitterifcation layout
enhancer for youtube for custom youtube colors
the browser theme is just one i found on the firefox theme 'store'
Back when I did the Airplane Extras analysis I commented on how Shang Qinghua was away from CQMS for months when the Shens switched because he was on a business trip.
I talked about how An Ding must - despite us all saying it would collapse in minutes without him - be such a well oiled machine that Shang Qinghua can just leave it to go on a sales trip for months at a time, and do that regularly.
I also talked about how fucking weird it is that the PEAK LORD is the one going on these trips and posited that it must be visiting the emperor himself because who the heck else is important enough for the peak lord to go in person?
And then it hit me: what if these sales trips are Airplane taking advantage of his modern and creator knowledge to absolutely curb stomp the silk road?
Of course he would have to go in person! He's the one who knows where Rome should be! He's the only one who knows how the world is actually shaped! He has to go on the first contact missions! Ancient maps of the world had some pretty silly ideas about how the world was shaped!
He's also the one who has some general grasp of what other ancient cultures were like! He's used to short hair from the modern world and wouldn't think Rome was full of disgraced villains! Etc.
Anyway, I just really like the idea that Shang Qinghua's "melon seed sales trip" was really him sailing and driving across a huge amount of the world, doing stuff that would terrify and amaze everyone back home but which doesn't register to Airplane as brave because it's just another fucking storm and big fucking whale, dudes, secure the sails and the goods and let's get this annoyance over with.
Obviously, Airplane meets and trades with the local human emperor first. It would be rude not to.
Next are the already extant trading partners and known places - although they have historically accurate names - Japan, Mongolia, Malaysia, India (wait, did India's name change go through? Are they called something else now?). These places have traded with China before but having one of the immortals come down off their mountain to visit in person? Especially when places like Huan Hua think themselves too good to trade directly with foreigners? What a delightful deligation! Give them a royal welcome and a sweet deal!
The Iranian Achaemenid Empire is a bit trickier, because while Airplane knew enough history to get some things right, that included the fact that one of the ancient Iranian empires really, really did not want Rome and China trading directly. Still, he leaves there with a trade route secured and a reasonable - albeit shifty - reputation for An Ding and CQMS. Which may have come off as its own independent country, but translation is hard, okay?
At this point Shang Qinghua starts returning from these sales trips with new disciples, because he wants translators who understand his culture and are loyal to An Ding, and hey, turns out being able to use qi isn't cuturally or ethnically locked in this world he made. Cool!
(At least one of these kids flat out decks a Bai Zhan or Qing Jing disciple who decides to make fun of them for not being Chinese. Airplane is so proud. Mobei-Jun isn't sure if these kids are meant for them to adopt as a couple or not, but is also proud.)
At this point the early by several centuries creation of the Maritime and Land Silk Roads has to pause because Shang Qinghua has to spend some very frustrating meetings explaining that yes, he does need the swordsmith and artificer peaks to work with him on building faster boats, and yes despite being a mountain sect removed from the mundane base things in life like money they do, in fact, have a fleet of merchant vessels. Which need to go faster. And maybe be able to fly. It would be so much cheaper to dock them on An Ding than to have to rent space on a wharf and then sail smaller ships with the cargo up river and then haul it up the mountain on carts. He pinkie promises he'll expand everyone's budget if he gets this!
He gets it eventually, but only after holding back the goods from the alcohol peak when their lord complains about An Ding's uselessness. Trying to make spiced wine with Arabic spices bought on the common market turns out to cost 300x as much as An Ding gets it for.
(This is also the point where Airplane starts working on a fleet for the northern desert and starts sneaking out of trade missions to make trade connections with other demon and non-demon-but-also-non-human nations on behalf of his king.)
Then it's back on the road: hitting up the horn of Africa (No, sect leader, we are not sending the Queen of Kush a panda as a gift, they only eat bamboo and there is no bamboo on that continent. No pandas!) and trading directly in Arabia (ignoring the memory of Peerless Cucumber ranting in the comments about how it shouldn't be called that yet and how terrible at history he is).
And then there's Egypt. Egypt is where Airplane realises that the Suez Canal does not exist yet and he never wrote it into this world by accident because Binghe never got this far. And sure Ramses ii (oh how Cucumber would rage if he transmigrated and saw this!) has been trying to build some canals, but they're kind of dinky. Good thing the pound lock for canals was really invented in China!
And sure, it adds a few months to the trip, but "we'll build you a better canal using our magic and technology in exchange for ships bearing our sigil never having to pay import, export or travelling through fees" is a pretty sweet deal.
He finds out on the return trip that the canal is mostly - albeit unofficially - known as the Anding because it was built by people from the mysterious far off kingdom of Anding. Sometimes things get lost in translation.
Shang Qinghua and An Ding's reputation is more confused the farther he goes.
This is partially because stories about him have come from places he's visited briefly and ooh boy does the game of telephone get wild when it's thousands of kilometers and multiple linguistic groups apart from the source.
In Greece they're pretty sure the Lord of Silk is actually Hermes in disguise. He's a flying immortal merchant trickster who has something to do with gods who lives on top of a mountain with eleven others - including a drunk and a smith - and the two highest ranking of them squabble like a married couple all the time (Airplane chokes on his drink when he realises Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu are being conflated withe Zeus and Hera).
In Rome they get confused by his gender before his potential for divinity, since the -a suffix is usually feminine in their grammar. He's told of in rumours as Shanga Singhua, Queen of Anding - which is "clearly" a foreign word for silk.
When Airplane finally makes it there in person he becomes known as Quartus Shange Tantionus*, because the concept of martial siblings didn't translate that well. According to the histories some of the senators he dines with will write, his elder siblings are Primus Yue Tantionus, Secundus Shennus Tantionus, and Tertius Veius Tantionus, from the republic of the Andingia.
*Airplane's not sure how they got that out of Cang Qiong but at this point he's too afraid to ask.
The An Ding contingent does meet some Norsemen who had sailed down to Rome to trade while they're there. The younger disciples are very concerned that these short haired, robeless, colourless weirdos have heard legends of the Sky City of Andingheim and want to go vikingr (sail there and sack it). Airplane just wishes them luck finding it and moves on. They never managed to take Constantinople in reality, after all.
Mayhaps a letter writing AU would be nice? I think the idea of Bingge getting into a political marriage when he’s in his 800 wives arc wouldn’t be surprising, but what would be is that his new wife is from a culture that DEMANDS that husband and wives exchange 100 letters before they’re to be wed in
So they do and their letters slowly turn from formal to intimate as Shen Yuan charms Luo Bingge just being himself haha XO
this unfortunately has very little actual letters, but it does have quite a bit of sy suffering the consequences of a letter he sent!
---
Shen Yuan hadn’t been particularly thrilled to find himself transmigrated into Wife 274, but it also had been far from the worst character he could have found himself as.
For one thing, he was practically guaranteed to keep his life by nature of being a wife, and he even got to keep his name due to what the System had called ‘weak original character presence.’ He also got to conveniently inherit all the finely honed skills of an heir to a semi-powerful demonic clan, which was extremely fucking cool even if the power levels of his abilities did seem to be intrinsically linked to how delicate and graceful he could make himself appear as he used them.
By far the best part, though, was that Wife 274 had been one of Airplane’s failed experiments with a vastly different sort of erotica than most of PIDW had fallen under.
Wife 274’s family was reclusive and strict; to them, it was a great honor to even consider allowing the emperor of the combined realms to marry their daughter, let alone see her. In order to earn that right, Luo Binghe was required to exchange tasteful letters with his wife-to-be for a full three years.
Of course, these letters had quickly turned racy, but it turned out that even PIDW’s audience didn’t much care for a wife whose gimmick was essentially ye olde sexting. With such a lukewarm reaction, Airplane ended up shelving her story before it officially concluded in order to pursue an especially disrespectful arc with an octo-mer wife, and Wife 274 was never seen again.
For Shen Yuan, this was practically the best ending he could hope for. Guaranteed to keep his life due to the title of ‘wife’ but never having to actually fulfill any, er, wifely duties? It was a win-win! The only thing that would have made it better was if he could actually see Luo Binghe, but that would defeat the entire purpose of Shen Yuan’s character, so it was a loss he’d have to suffer.
…Or so he thought.
“Lord Luo,” Shen Yuan greets, pretending valiantly that he isn’t shaking from the combined nerves and excitement of finally laying eyes on the man this world revolves around. “Have I done something to… displease you?”
Luo Binghe, looming over Shen Yuan in all his panty-dropping glory, grins with sharp teeth.
“Why would you think something like that?”
Why indeed! Shen Yuan had played his role diligently - he’d penned out countless letters that he’d expected to go straight into a bin somewhere never to actually reach Luo Binghe’s eyes. He’d even started writing (tastefully!) about some theoretical adult activities that Luo Binghe might partake in with a wife, just so that he would be staying true to the original character’s sexting gimmick!
The original character had never met Luo Binghe, though, and Luo Binghe is very much currently meeting Shen Yuan.
“Well,” Shen Yuan says delicately, “you aren’t supposed to be here.”
“Is that so? I wasn’t aware,” Luo Binghe lies.
Behind him, several defeated guards lie dying in pools of their own blood, having failed to stop Luo Binghe from entering Shen Yuan’s chambers. One of them gasps out an apology to Shen Yuan, even, which makes Shen Yuan feel a bit awkward for not even remembering the guy’s name.
“We’ve hardly exchanged letters for a year,” Shen Yuan explains to Luo Binghe.
‘Exchanged’ is a very generous way of describing Shen Yuan sending five letters for every one that Luo Binghe sends, but really, Shen Yuan was impressed Luo Binghe had even sent that many to him.
“That’s right,” Luo Binghe says, his eyes glinting. “It was supposed to be longer than that, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Three years -”
“Just long enough for the war between the Sha and Fu clans to start, right?” Luo Binghe interrupts, and Shen Yuan’s blood runs cold.
That… is not information that Luo Binghe is supposed to have.
“In one year, I’ll find a precious artifact that I’ll use to cure a child that isn’t yet born,” Luo Binghe continues. “And some months after that, Mobei Jun will kill that rat of a spy he’s been keeping around. Does that all sound right, little wife?”
Shen Yuan takes a half step backwards, but Luo Binghe simply mirrors him and then some, drawing close enough to Shen Yuan that he can count the small beads embroidered into Luo Binghe’s collar.
“I - I wouldn’t know,” Shen Yuan stammers. His tongue feels too big for his mouth, and he hardly even knows what he’s doing anymore, like his body had been put on autopilot as his brain flatlines.
He’s - he’s a wife, right? He shouldn’t be able to die, right??
So why is Luo Binghe looking at him like he wants to eat him?!
“Really?” Luo Binghe asks, advancing yet another step closer to Shen Yuan. “Then, how about I ask a question - little wife, do you remember what you wrote in your last letter to me?”
“Uh, well, erhm,” Shen Yuan says intelligently, his ears turning a bit pink despite his own nerves. “It was hardly fit to say aloud…”
“Then perhaps you’d like to read it?”
Saying so, Luo Binghe pulls a folded set of papers from his sleeve. Shen Yuan doesn’t remember writing quite that much in his last letter to Luo Binghe, but he had gotten a bit carried away with a metaphor about Luo Binghe’s pretty red eyes, so maybe that was really it…?
Tentatively, Shen Yuan reaches out to take the papers.
It is not the last letter he’d sent to Luo Binghe. It isn’t any sort of letter at all, in fact.
Instead, it’s the catalogue of important PIDW events that Shen Yuan had written down after first transmigrating, determined to keep it all stored away somewhere safe in case he ever had to reference something. He hadn’t been completely stupid - he’d written the most important parts in English - but it wasn’t something that was ever meant to leave his own hands.
“I sent you this?” Shen Yuan asks, sounding a bit like he’d been punched in the gut. “And you… read it?”
“It took some time,” Luo Binghe says, his eyes lingering on the English lettering. “Luckily, Mobei Jun recognized some of the characters from the silly yellow books his rat pretends he doesn’t write.”
Shang Qinghua writes secret porn in English?! Shen Yuan thinks, near hysterical. Aloud, he says, “Ah. How… lucky…”
“Very,” Luo Binghe says, taking the papers back.
For a single moment, Shen Yuan considers trying to keep them, but in the end he values his life too much. Luo Binghe had already read it, anyway.
“The first event that was written here just happened last week,” Luo Binghe says casually, as if only describing the weather and not an assassination attempt. “The second happened yesterday.”
“The third might not happen,” Shen Yuan tries weakly. “Or - or any of the ones after that.”
“But if it does,” Luo Binghe says, looking at Shen Yuan as if he were something to be chewed up and swallowed in one bite, “then I think my wife ought to be somewhere where I can see, don’t you?”
…Ah, shit. Shen Yuan… has really doomed himself this time!!
Sometimes we’re unsatisfied with a thing we made because when it only existed in our head, we saw all the things it could have been and when it’s done we know all the things that it isn’t, but we can’t see the way it expands into a million new things when someone else unpacks it in their head.
Sometimes I wonder how many of the 90 thousand people who have interacted with this post have been like “I think I’ll go to OP’s blog and see what other lovely nuggets of wisdom they have” and then get hit with a wall of nothing but homoerotic drawings of the men from the Yakuza franchise.
Something neuroscience-y that helps with prose: attention is selective. A character will not notice everything in a room. They will notice what matters to their goal, fear, desire, training, wound, or obsession. A jealous character notices hands. a hungry character notices food. A soldier notices exits. A lonely character notices pairs. Description becomes character when attention has a bias.
A Book of Creatures by @a-book-of-creatures doesn't update these days but is another thing along these lines, really huge, fully illustrated all by the author and cites all sources
People kept looking at Lan Qiren whenever his nephew performed some shameless act with his new husband.
As soon as Wangji had said some outrageous thing, or let casual touches become something more despite an audience or simply let Wei WuXian crawl all over him at all hours of the day irregardless of decency, looks would dart in Lan Qiren’s direction. Anticipation turning to bafflement when he only scowled and carried on with his day with nothing more than a shake of his head.
The truth was, he wasn’t surprised in the least.
Wangji had, since birth, been an aggressive cuddler.
In his cradle he’d cry himself hoarse if he woke to realize someone had dared to put him down. Once he started crawling, Lan Qiren had worried about a keeping an eye on him - remembering with no fondness the time A-Huan had scooted himself off the porch - but A-Zhan’s destination was always someone’s lap. As a small child taking his first, toddling steps, he preferred to grab hold of someone - usually an enthusiastic Xichen - rather than any steady bit of wall or furnature like other children.
During visits to his parents, A-Zhan always seated himself on his mother and father’s laps. His mother had coddled him; curling her arms around him and pressing kisses over his hair every few seconds. Qingheng-Jun had tentatively pressed his palm to his tiny son’s belly and pressed him to lean securely back against his front - every uncertain of this little life he’d helped make, but done little to raise.
Lan Qiren himself had been a frequent throne for his second nephew during mediation.
If he was seated and Wangji were nearby, inevitably determined little steps would bring him to Lan Qiren’s side. Eyes closed, he would listen to the soft taps, the light swishing of cloth as his nephew decided his method of approach for the day, then a warm little weight would settle on him. Sometimes on his left thigh, sometimes to the right, occasionally between his legs and then he’d feel a distracting bump of the top-knot he’d help tie that morning against his sternum.
The only tantrums Wangji had ever thrown as a child were when Lan Qiren decided he’d been indulged too often and grown too old for it anyway and began forbidding such clinging. Especially with Xichen. It would have done the face of Gusu Lan no good for word to get out that it’s second master was in the habit of winding around his elder brother like an octopus whenever opportunity appeared.
Watching Wangji as a grown man, eyes narrowing in pleasure like a cat’s as his husband plopped into his lap and threw his arms around his neck, winding his own arm around Wei WuXian’s narrow waist, no, Lan Qiren was not the slightest bit surprised.
While studying at Gusu, WWX and a few others get hit by a curse that makes them essentially experience the pain of however they will die in the future. Most of the others will either die of old age, so they don’t feel too much, or from a single, quick injury, so they feel a short amount of pain before it’s over. WWX on the other hand - the guy who will eventually be ripped apart by corpses - collapses to the ground, screaming in agony, as JC, LWJ and others watch on in horror
Everyone has trouble sleeping that night. They cant forget seeing one of the brightest of their generation screaming himself hoarse in unimaginable pain until it became too much and he fell unconscious. They can’t forget the specifics of the curse that caused so much agony and what exactly it meant.
Lan Wangji sat along with the rest of his white-faced classmates and watched his Uncle pouring spiritual energy into Wei WuXian’s meridians. His face still twisted in pain as his limbs jerked sporadically in a pain to terrible for even unconsciousness to be a merciful reprieve.
It just kept going on.
In the yawning silence since Wei WuXian had stopped screaming, the ragged breathing of the other boys was loud. Lan Wangji almost imagined he could hear their hearts pounding. His own felt like it would burst from his chest.
Today was supposed to be an entertaining lesson. Their brightest curse breaker had returned from a hunt and offered to give a lecture. Even Lan Wangji had straightened in interest when it was announced. When Lan Xue had smiled and told them he would be giving a practical lesson - letting them handle an actual cursed object, set with a cruel, but ultimately harmless curse, he’d been distracted enough by his own excitement he hadn’t even thought to silence the other boys.
Lan Xue’s lecture had been as fascinating and possible. A round of playful chuckles and shivers had gone through the class when he detailed the curse on the vase he had brought - to live through the pain of the death you were fated to suffer - and how to reach your qi out to analyze it. In the moments after Su She had shoved far too much qi into the vase and cracked it, the room had filled with a chorus of sharp noises of pain and gasps of surprise. Some had clutched at bellies or chests or heads, others had blinked rapidly with puzzled looks down at themselves.
Uncle had just started scolding Su She for his carelessness when a ragged moan cut him off.
Wei WuXian was shaking, arms held out in front of himself as he stared at them in horror, sweat breaking over his brow as he panted. His whole body jerked and a sharp cry escaped him before his teeth grit and he began to hyperventilate, curling in on himself.
“Wei WuXian?” Jiang Wanyin had shuffled closer, grabbing his shoulder to shake him just as he began screaming.
Lan Wangji had never heard such agony tear itself out of a persons throat before.
Wei WuXian twisted and writhed, fighting against something, rolling across the floor as he scrambled and threw himself about in a vain attempt to escape the pain, hands scrambling at his belly, his chest, sometimes as if he were trying to hold himself together.
The worst part was the look on his face. The scrunch of his eyes closing as he tried to block it out, how wide they would open as he looked down as if compelled. The confusion and horror shining bright in eyes that had been full of joy and interest just minutes ago.
In the moments before Lan Xue and Uncle lunged forward to hold him still, Wei WuXian flailed one arm out and struck the edge of the desk with a sickening crack.
He didn’t seem to register the break. Lan Wangji felt sick as he watched him slam it against the floor, knocking it into a sharp, unnatural angle.
Lan Xue slapped a talisman on Wei WuXian’s chest and pushed qi into it, then stumbled back in shock when it had no effect. “What? That should have-”
“Get Lan Chen, now!” Uncle bellowed at Lan Xue.
As Lan Xue ran for their chief mind healer, Uncle pressed his palm to Wei WuXian’s forehead and knocked him out with an unusually inelegant slap of qi.
Lan Wangji should offer to help. Should offer his qi. He felt paralyzed by a cold numbness in his limbs, a thick lump of ice in his throat stopping the words from coming out. Instead all he could do was count the beats of his heart, the too-fast breaths in his chest, in the long minutes it took for Lan Xue to return.
Wei WuXian was still shaking and twitching.
“Why have you not broken the curse?” Lan Chen demanded as she formed a seal with her hand and pressed two fingers between Wei WuXian’s brows.
“There’s nothing to break.” Lan Xue shifted fretfully behind her. “The curse is momentary, only meant to make them relive the pain of their death, I don’t know why he’s still-”
All at once, Wei WuXian fell entirely limp.
“Obviously, his death is going to be a drawn out one.” Lan Chen’s tone was ruthlessly pragmatic as she lifted her other hand and pressed her fingers to either of Wei WuXian’s temples. Lan Wangji joined Jiang Wanyin in flinching. The very idea of Wei WuXian suffering so would be unimaginable if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. To die screaming in agony over a few minutes that seemed like an eternity was unjust. In what world would a boy who smiled so brightly and tried so hard to be his friend deserve an end like that?
How could he have possibly deserved to experience it twice? How could he live through that and still be that same smiling boy tomorrow?
The ice in Lan Wangji’s throat melted a fraction. “Will he recover?” His voice was tight, breathless with urgency. His muscles clenched to aching in the need for reassurance.
“He’s young,” Lan Chen’s voice gentled the way it always did when she spoke to him. “He’ll recover little second master. He may be a bit disturbed for awhile, but he’ll recover.”
Jiang Wanyin jolted like waking from a nightmare. “Disturbed? How so? And how can you be sure he’ll be fine? Why isn’t he waking up?” he suddenly sounded close to tears or violence. “His arm! You need to fix his arm and-”
“Calm yourself.” Lan Xue moved to Jiang Wanyin’s side and set a bracing hand on his shoulder, clearly more comfortable in the familiar actions of calming rising hysterics than hovering over Wei WuXian’s limp body. “Young master Wei is in good hands. This curse is not designed to cause lasting harm. He will be well soon enough.”
Jiang Wanyin looked doubtful, but his worry subsided enough by the time a group of seniors arrived with a stretcher that he was quiet as he followed them out.
The silence that fell over the room then was deafening.
“We must send for Jiang Fengmian.” Uncle said. Darting a look at the subdued class, he made an unusually soft gesture of dismissal. “Return to your dorms. Classes are cancelled until further notice.”
Quiet as guest disciples had never been before, they filed out of the room.
Disquieted, Lan Wangji headed for the Hanshi. He needed to be beside his brother now.
#holy FUCK that’s a concept#but also#once they learn this knowledge it can’t be unlearned#which means everyone is going to be tiptoeing around Wei Wuxian for the rest of his life#wondering if this will be the fateful step that takes him down a path that leads him towards an unimaginably painful death#Wen Qing cuts Wei Wuxian’s torso open and to her shock#Wei Wuxian laughs in relief#the golden core surgery is traumatic and awful and painful#and yet the pain is nothing compared to how he knows he will die#Wen Qing asks him if he wants to back out of the transfer#and he just smiles wan and pale but still cocky and confident#and whispers ‘I will not die here’#Wen Qing never gets the explanation out of him#Wei Wuxian is thrown into the Burial Mounds#every day is a waking nightmare but nothing is as painful as memory#he gets through on those three months on that grim knowledge#‘I will not die here’#holy FUCK this concept folks#mdzs#cql#Wei Wuxian (tags via hunxi-guilai)
full sympathy for wei wuxian during the burial mounds era but can you imagine being lan wangji? you carefully sneak over to yiling, listening to all the rumours that are floating around about what a monster wei wuxian is, how he’s preparing to attack all the sects with his wen army, how he digs up graves for fun, and how people have stopped playing the flute for fear of being mistaken for the yiling patriarch. and then you get to the burial mounds and a little kid is using chenqing as a teething toy while the rest of the wens are farming, and wei wuxian is using the seal as a paperweight and spends most of his days learning how to do the laundry.
wangxian fakedating is dumb bc in one single second someone would be like "tch, i have my doubts" and then wwx would be like "oh yeah???????" and turn to lwj and be like okay gotta kiss now and lwj would mn yes gotta we have no choice but to peck for show and then they would stand there making out for 20 minutes and when they turn around whoever they were talking to is gone and then the plot is over
actually i forgot that they're wangxian so wwx would wander home after and be like "wow making out was soooo fun too bad it was for show :(" and jc would try to kill him and lwj would wander home and sit down in his brother's office like a catholic confessional and be like "woe be unto me, for i have forced wwx to make out with me for half an hour despite the fact that his feelings for me are platonic" and lxc would have a stroke
SNBSBSHDBDBDJ HELP??? theyre fakedating to keep marriage proposals away from lwj but after two years of "fake" dating and going on "fake" couples trips lqr is like so are you gonna get fucking married already and lwj freaks out silently and goes to wwx like "my uncle still wants me to get married" and wwx's immediate response is just like "oh okay. where should we stage the proposal? probably somewhere public and with our families, for maximum effect. i will probably have to kiss you in front of all those people, tho, is that okay with you? haha look at this funny tiktok. anyway is that okay?" and lwj had to stand up and leave and go to his brother and he's like "wwx is actually willing to legally marry me for this pretense. i dont understand" and lxc (who has bald spots now) is just like YEAH HUH WONDER WHY. I WONDER IF HE'S IN LOVE WITH YOU HAVE YOU PERHAPS CONSIDERED ASKING HIM. they dont tell each other they love each other until during their wedding vows and they both realize its for real for the other person and break down crying and kissing and everyone is just like awww :) what a lovely wedding, theyre so emotional, theyre really in love :)
wei wuxian is genuinely such a nurturing and kind person and it's such a tragically unexplored facet of his character. wei wuxian who pulls the "I'll help you, but only after you eat something" thing on both jiang cheng And wen qing, who strokes jiang yanlis cheek when she's worried, who holds little a yuans hand when they walk together, who patiently listens to a girl everybody calls crazy as she rambles nonsense to him, who helps lan wangji drink water when he's drunk and wipes his mouth and tucks him into bed, who scrubs the dirt off of wen nings face, who carefully wipes the tears from jiang chengs cheek. like we all know that wei wuxian is Good and Just, that he is full of love and devotion and virtue but he's so playful and silly that I think it's often forgotten just how caring and gentle and sweet he can be. yeah wei wuxian who cheers people up by trying to make them laugh but also wei wuxian who is capable and Skilled and giving people soft and tender comfort. like he is filled w so much goodness and it manifests in all of these grand, righteous, plot driving ways but it also manifests in kindness, in wei wuxian just being a kind and nurturing and gentle man who is good at taking care of people
Terms You Might Want To Know For Your Wuxia/Xianxia Fic
MXTX's danmei are getting increasingly popular, and the fandoms are getting more fic-happy. I've noticed that some writers seem interested in writing their own fics but are concerned of making mistakes with niche honorifics and titles. I've noticed some that have jumped right in, but have made innocent errors that I'd like to correct but fear coming off as rude or presumptuous. And so I've made this list of terms that covers the basics and also some that are a little more niche since they're usually directly translated in cnovels.
DISCLAIMER: This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything one needs to know or would want to know concerning ancient Chinese honorifics and titles, merely what I myself consider useful to keep in mind.
Titles
Shifu: 'Martial father'; gender-neutral
Shizun: 'Martial father'; more formal than 'shifu'; gender-neutral
Shimu: ‘Martial mother’; wife of your martial teacher
Shiniang: ‘Martial mother’; wife of your martial teacher who is also a martial teacher
Shibo: elder apprentice-brother of your shifu; gender-neutral
Shishu: younger apprentice-brother of your shifu; gender-neutral
Shigu: apprentice-sister of your shifu
Shizhi: your martial nephew/niece
Shimei: younger female apprentice of the same generation as you
Shijie: elder female apprentice of the same generation as you
Shidi: younger male apprentice of the same generation as you
Shixiong: elder male apprentice of the same generation as you
Shige: elder male apprentice of the same generation as you, specifically one who has the same shifu as you or is the son of your shifu
Zhanglao: an elder of your sect
Zhangbei: a senior of your sect
Qianbei: a senior not of your sect
Wanbei: a junior not of your sect
Zongzhu: Address for a clan leader
Zhangmen: address for a sect leader
Daozhang: Daoist priests or simply a cultivator in general; gender-neutral
Daogu: Daoist priestess or a female cultivator; not as commonly used as 'daozhang'
Xiangu: Daoist priestess or a female cultivator; not as commonly used as 'daogu'
Sanren: a wandering cultivator
Xianren: 'Immortal Official'; a title of respect and power like 'General'
Xiuzhe: 'Cultivator', can be shortened to 'Xiu'
Xianjun: 'Immortal Master/Lord'
Xianshi: 'Immortal Master/Teacher'
Dashi: 'Great Teacher', address for monks
Xiansheng: Teacher/Sir; in ancient China, the connotation is very scholastic
Houye: address for a duke
Jueye: address for a noble lord, ei. a duke, marquess, earl, etc.
Wangye: address for king/imperial prince
Daren: address for imperial officials
Furen: Madam; the wife of an imperial official/nobleman OR a married woman granted a rank by the royal family
Nushi: Madam; the counterpart of 'xiansheng', connotation is scholastic
Taitai: Madam; address for an old married woman of the gentry, either wife or mother to head of household
Laoye: Old Lord; Address for an adult man with adult children of the gentry; possibly head of household
Nainai: Madam; Address for a married woman of the gentry, possibly wife of head of household
Ye: Lord; address for an adult man of the gentry, possibly head of household
Shaonainai: Young Madam; address for a woman married to a young man of the gentry
Shaoye: Young Lord; address for a young man or boy of the gentry, generation lower than head of household
Xiaoye: Little Lord; can be a synonym for ‘shaoye’ OR the son of a shaoye if ‘shaoye’ is already being used within the family
Xiaojie: Young Mistress; address for an unmarried woman or young girl of . . . the gentry and only the gentry, I believe. Correct me if you know for certain this is incorrect. (WARNING - It's an archaic term that should really only be used in an archaic setting if being used as a title instead of a suffix, because the modern vernacular has it as a term for a prostitute in mainland China. [Surname]-xiaojie is fine; Xiaojie by itself should be avoided.)
Gongzi: ‘Young Master/Lord/Sir'; ‘Childe’; young man from a household of the noble or gentry class
Guniang: 'Young Master/Lady/Miss'; ‘Maiden’; an unmarried woman or young girl from a household of the noble or gentry class
Laozhang: 'Old battle'; polite address for an unrelated old man of lower status than you
Laobo: polite address for an unrelated old man of a higher status that you
Laotou: 'Old man'; informal but not derogatory, implies fondness/closeness
Laopopo: 'Old woman'; informal but not derogatory, implies fondness/closeness
Please note that all of these listed above can be used as stand-alone titles or as suffixed honorifics.
Strictly Prefix/Suffix
-shi: 'Clan'; the suffix for a married woman, essentially means 'née'. (ex. Say Wei Wuxian was a woman and married into the Lan clan through a standard marriage. She would be called 'Wei-shi' by her husband's contemporaries and elders when not in a formal setting. It implies lack of closeness; used by acquaintances.)
a-: A prefix that shows affection or intimacy.
-er: A suffix that shows affection or intimacy; typically for children or those younger than you
-jun: 'Nobleman'; a suffix for a greatly respected man
-zun: 'Revered One'; a suffix for a greatly respected man
-ji: A suffix for a female friend
-bo: A suffix for an older man of your grandparents' generation
-po: A suffix for an older woman of your grandparents' generation
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