Why is Jin Ling the way that he is (85% Jiang Cheng by mass), despite having presumably been raised mostly in Lanling - you know, the sect heâs going to inherit? A series of headcanons by me:
For at least a year following his brotherâs the Yiling Patriarchâs apparent death, Jiang Cheng had a vibe like he was one word, half a sideways glance, a single split hair from snapping and killing everyone in this room and then himself. This only intensified when he was holding his sisterâs son. And he held his sisterâs son whenever physically possible. So they, uh. They let him keep the baby. Jin Guangshan was furious when Sect Leader Jiang just kind of stormed into Carp Tower and took his grandson, and everyone let him, but he finally saw Jiang Cheng face to face and it was likeâŠyou know what you can keep him. Itâs okay. It wasnât even a politically manipulable rage, it was so ABUNDANTLY clear that anyone who tried would also die. So Jin Ling lived in Lotus Pier and was carried around by his uncle like 24/7.
When this was starting to abate, Jin Guangyaoâs son, Jin Rusong, was born. Coincidentally and tragically, Jin Guangshan dies shortly thereafter.Â
Not in words, no, goodness no. Not even in actions. Maybe in non-actions - in Jin Ling only being invited to spend about one week out of every four in Carp Tower, in Jiang Cheng making no real move to find a wife - Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao have an agreement for several years. If one day Jin Ling were to give up to his cousin his claim on LanlingJin, and inherit YunmengJiang insteadâŠthatâd be okay.Â
Then Jin Rusong dies and Jin Guangyao is a practical man, and begrudgingly so is Jiang Cheng: Jin Ling really needs to be spending more like 3 weeks in Carp Tower to every 1 in Lotus Pier. He needs to be raised by his fatherâs family, of whom he will one day be the head.
But itâs TOO LATE! The boy has spent his impactful first like five years learning to be shouty and straightforward! And moreover, Jiang Cheng has, uh, opinions about things, so little Jin Lingâs gonna hear Jin Guangyao and Qin Suâs advice to, like, smile and make friends even when he doesnât want to, and heâll be like, âwell thatâs DUMB. I WONâT.â Theyâre probably genuinely trying to parent him and still! This is how it goes!Â
Maybe it wouldâve sunk in eventually, but he kept going back to Lotus Pier for a week out of every month for positive reinforcement - because you cannot actually tell me that even when Jin Ling was at his brattiest, the entirety of Jiang Sect didnât pick up on their sect leaderâs energy of âthis child will be CHERISHED or YOU WILL ALL DIE.â Not, you know, explicitly cherished, butâŠit beats the annoying court politics and terrible cousins of Carp Tower hands down
(in fact, you KNOW Jin Guangyao couldâve somehow arranged for Jin Ling to have more friends at Carp Tower, and instead he actively chose to be sure he would be Jin Lingâs only real ally there, and tbh thatâs why he needed to die.)
TLDR Jin Ling imprinted early on the angry grape and part of that imprinting meant he was resistant to all other options for how to be, and also it got continuously reinforced by the directions from which he did and did not receive love
Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
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