Some Things Never Change

Almost eternal rest

[tea-cat-arts]

Sometimes I wonder what Jiang Cheng could've become if his parents didn't instill a mix of "crippling fear of failure" and "impossibly high standards" in him. Cuz like, his dad was holding him to the vague standard of being as good as wwx, his mom yelling at him whenever he goofed around like wwx, and then both of them expressed disappointment when he's less successful than wwx. The thing both of them seem to ignore though is that wwx got where he is entirely because he had the freedom to fuck around and find out- he trained tirelessly because he made training fun for himself, he was innovative as a cultivators because he experimented and persisted through failures, and he was able to act in line with the Jiang clan moto because his actions had less political pull than members of the main family. Jiang Cheng on the other hand- if he fucked around he got told to "stop stooping to the level of servants." If his achievements were lesser than wwx's, he got either dismissed by his dad or yelled at by his mom to try harder. And if he picked fights with the Wens, they'd have an excuse to destroy his clan. Like ya- no shit that'd create an adult who's terrified of failure.

The kite game serves as such a good metaphor/embodiment of this set back- with Jiang Cheng never being able to shoot as far as Wei Wuxian because he pulls back and shoots closer the second he misses.

And its sad too because he's shown to be pretty brilliant when he's in "fuck it, we ball" mode. Like, when he's not freezing up, he manages to pull off things like rebuilding his entire clan from the ground up, leading armies and taking back territories from the Wens, and I'm fairly sure he's the only character we see counter the Lan music cultivation techniques (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that last one. Also feel free to add any of the other cool shit he did that I'm blanking on at the moment, cuz I know I'm forgetting something).

That being said- even with his anxiety, he's still one of the top cultivators. Imagine what a force of nature he'd be if he could sustain "fuck it we ball" mode

[sandontshengshou]

Day 3829 of seething and coping over the fact that despite making Jiang Cheng feel like he was worthless to his OWN FATHER by relentlessly and publicly favouring his other son/ward?, he ALSO managed to deeply traumatise said boy by making him promise to place the priorities of the Jiang Sect (a.k.a his own biological kids) over Wei Wuxian’s own life like the kid never even mattered to him!!! Fucking sublime!

[geekdom2005]

JFM hater here!

I will scream to the high heavens about this

In his eyes Jiang Yanli is weak, Wei Wuxian is useful and Jiang Cheng is worthless

He doesn't love any of them for who they are, at least on a level that matters

It's frustrating that Yu Ziyuan is blamed as the bad parent, but no one pays attention to the passive coward who is responsible for her bitterness

[maybeiwasjustjade]

I sincerely wonder sometimes why any and all criticism of Jiang Fengmian’s treatment of Wei Wuxian vs Jiang Cheng is read in the vilest, cruelest way possible.

Guys. No one is saying that Jiang Fengmian should treat Wei Wuxian worse. We just think he should’ve treated Jiang Cheng (and Jiang Yanli to an extent) BETTER.

Why is the immediate interpretation to defend Jiang Fengmian’s shit parenting and extremely obvious preferencial treatment simply because you think Wei Wuxian deserves the best? Like yes, Wei Wuxian absolutely deserved a good home with loving, safe guardians! That doesn’t mean Jiang Cheng deserved to be treated as lesser than by his own damn father???

And Jiang Fengmian was so obvious with it too! No matter how you interpret that clusterfuck of a childhood, the entire jianghu saw it as one specific thing: Jiang Fengmian loved Wei Wuxian and treated him so much better than his actual son, so therefore he must be a Jiang bastard. You know how insane and embarrassing that must’ve been for the Yus, Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli?? That their leader/husband/father is so obvious in doting on one child over another that pretty much everyone thinks he’s the result of a sordid affair.

Good lord, we all know most parents have a favorite child. But at least they try not to make it so bloody obvious. Jiang Fengmian couldn’t even be bothered being seen making an effort; he just left it all to Jiang Yanli to fix, while he and his wife duked it out every 0.5 seconds.

Jiang Fengmian should’ve made an effort and try to show his kids equal love, not make it so obvious he preferred one over the others that even randos would’ve figured it out! His kids deserved better than that. His wife—no matter how you feel about her—deserved not to feel like the other woman in her own damn home. And no, it doesn’t matter if he thinks that his attitude and actions are not malicious, or his treatment towards Wei Wuxian vs Jiang Cheng makes sense as doting uncle vs strict Lord Father: all that matters is that those kids believe otherwise.

They know there was a difference in their upbringing. They felt the difference. They were the ones used as weapons against each other just to prove a point. They also know that Jiang Fengmian could’ve fixed it just by treating Jiang Cheng better, not treating Wei Wuxian worse. The fact that was Yu Ziyuan’s whole ass point and he kept missing it for over a decade was bloody well insane.

[allpiesforourown]

I'm soooo tired of the argument that Jiang Fengmian "saved" Wei wuxian. Wei Wuxian could easily have been taken in as a disciple and lived with the rest of the clan. There was no reason for Wei wuxian to be personally adopted, having to put up with an abusive household just so jiang fengmian could live out his fantasy of raising the son of a woman he liked.

He completely disregarded how his own children and wife felt about a stranger coming to live with them out of selfishness. It was miserable for Jiang Cheng who was constantly overlooked in favour in Wei Wuxian, it was miserable for Wei Wuxian who was beaten by Madame Yu, and it was miserable for Madame Yu because people made fun of her husband raising other people children instead of his own. Literally no one except Jiang fengmian was happy with this situation he forced onto everyone

[beefsleaf]

"I asked chatgpt" "i asked grok" yeah well I asked nie huaisang and he doesn't know, he really doesn't know

[rimonoroni2]

what people don’t understand about how adhd is disabling is that it’s not just getting temporarily distracted from, like, school work or hobbies. it’s getting distracted/being unable to motivate yourself to go to the doctor, eat regularly, do hygiene tasks, etc. it’s not knowing when or how long it will take you to do something, ANYTHING, and in many cases that thing is taking a shower or keeping your house from turning into a biohazard. it’s about being fundamentally incapable of controlling your attention and focus on anything, even and especially things you need to do to survive.

[zeldacw]

【UNWAVERING】

Liu Qingge | SVSSS

[mdzsexperiences]

I got into #chengxian because I wanted more Twin Heroes content. I really love banter and the fuzzy lines between duty and love, so they really check a lot of boxes for me.

I like when a couple argue alot but express truths through their actions, hurt each other and help each other. Double points for competitiveness！

I have reread mdzs in parts and in whole an embarrassingly large number of times just to reexperience Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and the Yunmeng Jiang family. With all the MXTX changes lately, I am happy nothing about my favorite parts of mdzs have changed.

It is not very unusual in the genre for someone to give up their cultivation base for someone they think deserving, or deeply care for, or need to help further a legacy.

Wei Wuxian did all that and insisted on keeping that deed to himself, and by the time he wanted to confess it was already too late.

I think about the almost confessions that happened in all the moments we don't see in mdzs. The ways Twin Heroes of Yunmeng fought together, but couldn't talk about what pained them. The losses they experienced together. The secrets they kept from each other because they feared their actions would be misunderstood. The hail they didn't need with snow.

Mdzs really is one long contrivence to break them apart this way. Plays on their weaknesses, takes everything from them, including Jiang Yanli. The tragedy of it is the most well-written part of the story. ChengXian is a wondrous sandbox of what could have been and "how can it be fixed?"

I started this fandom in 2021 off the donghua and ExR's translation and I still love these boys alot. To all the fans out there that love this KonMari - kintsugi type of ship: You've been a great community that is joyful and kind.

Let 2026 bring more ChengXian thoughts to us all 🙏

From 🧡Nonnie💜

.

[hannigramislife]

The difference between me and other fans is that I would never defend the atrocities my fave does.

Your Honor, he did do all that. Yes, he killed that entire clan. And then that other one just to fuck with a guy. And he did blind said guy's best friend. And he did manipulate said guy for three years, live with him, get him to care, and then kill his best friend. Actually, he got said guy to kill the best friend. And then he drove said guy to killing himself. He also killed their sort of adoptive daughter/little sister.

But like, I love him, so.

[maru557]

WIP

[crankybeetle]

Been sitting in my drafts for too long

I love golden core stuff so much uuuuggghhh

[iwashthedishes]

Favorite (no) little brothers♡

(Not a ship)

[iwashthedishes]

Good thing the WWX will relieve him of that burden

[evalyden]

Sweet Potato 💜

[kettledemon]

re that post about rusong learning medical malpractice. i dont think jgy would be any better.

[kettledemon]

Is he still staring?

[gayhockeyshow]

Hey…. Hey… Characters covered in blood, okay? You remember characters covered in blood?? You used to love characters covered in blood

[madtomedgar]

The things I tend to go with for Meng Shi's human, non angelic traits are:

"No. Go study. You want to do this for the rest of your life? No? Then go study. Oh you finished? Is it memorized? Can you say it backwards? Can you explain every bit of it to me? No? Go. Study." When she finds Meng Yao goofing off. However I think this inculcation of an insane work ethic is tempered by her asking him to tell her all about what he has learned in detail and asking interested questions and being very proud and happy to listen, and a "that's ok, you'll get it next time (which is why you must always be studying) attitude." Because her son is driven but he's not Jiang Cheng.

Superiority as a reaction to her situation. She IS different than the rest of them. She IS better. She does NOT belong here. Her son IS special and he WILL have a good life. This is a response to both the awful dehumanizing grind of being a brothel worker in an indentured servitude situation and in response to the other workers excluding her. It also makes the second problem worse.

She almost never actually allows herself to be mad but when she does she gets so mean. She could win the mean Olympics. Just the most cutting, spiteful, and deeply personal insults you have ever heard. Again this almost never happens, because she tries very hard to not be mad. But when it does. But it was never turned on Meng Yao.

Where Do We Think Meng Yao Learned That Loving People Means You Hide The Severity Of Your Situation From Them. Hmmmmmm. (Though again. He is 13 when she dies. So hiding the severity of things from him makes sense to a degree)

There's also a lot that's not even personal it's situational, and was her best choice in the situation probably. Like I'm sure she did lots of things that were very bad for herself in order to be able to keep her kid, and keep him in books. She doesn't seem to have provided any alternative to the compulsive people pleasing he was learning in the brothel. They definitely had a level of emotional codependency but if no one else would befriend or care about either one of them, idk that that's avoidable. He winds up caring for her when she's sick in ways a middle schooler shouldn't have to but again, I don't see how she could have avoided that with no money and no support system.

So those are my hcs. Yeah.