Hi hello do you ever think about how JGY and NHS must have been close acquaintances if not good friends when JGY was still with the Nie clan and how NHS must have felt when he figured out the betrayal bc I do and I'm not okay
MY FRIEND when am I ever NOT thinking about this (well, whenever I don’t want to get sad, for starters, but anyway)
they were not only acquaintances, they were DECIDEDLY good friends. NMJ would not have sent just anyone to accompany NHS to Gusu, and honestly that little scene when the Wen stride in and Meng Yao, with his cultivation in the negative digits, steps in front of NHS so ready to defend him? yeah, I’ve got Feelings about that
like imagine for a second you’re Meng Yao (because he still is Meng Yao at that point, and if you want me to launch into a massive essay just ask me about the slow excruciating progression from MY to JGY), a weak little twink who nevertheless does some pretty impressive but rarely acknowledged work that Sect Leader Nie himself picks up on and literally promotes you on the spot (this is still the most hilarious post about that TO DATE)
you’re like seventeen and you arrive at Qinghe having been made NMJ’s vice general, and. again. you’re like seventeen and this is all happening just a bit too fast tbh and you have to reeeally scramble to put that budding political savvy to good use because this is legit your one shot at whatever vague idea of Greatness you’re aspiring to at this point
you make friends with your boss’ little brother, who is extremely irreverent but ultimately harmless, and frankly hilarious, and what’s more, he actually seems to care about you? like you can’t tell me NHS would in any way look down on Meng Yao, if his early interactions with him are anything to go by
and you’re NHS, always arguing with your big brother about brushes versus sabers, and suddenly there’s this new guy on the block who’s telling you your paintings are amazing and not to give up because you have real talent, and he seems to actually mean it. instantly, you like him.
and war separates you, horrible things happen, and Meng Yao becomes Jin Guangyao, and Nie Mingjue dies so tragically, and JGY, together with LXC, are such great help, supporting the young Sect Leader Nie with everything they’ve got! it’s so sweet! so sad, to lose their sworn brother and take care of his baby brother instead!
but you’re NHS, and the grief is only just catching up with the rest of your heart and soul and lungs, and you have a nasty realization in the middle of your chamber about five minutes after putting your brother to rest, music notes coalescing into evidence of betrayal in your eyes, evidence enough that you suddenly can’t trust anyone, and you realize, swiftly and all at once, that you’re going to have to play friends with the man who instigated your brother’s murder, and you’re going to have to play well, if you’re to beat him at his own game
and you’re JGY, and you only see the kid who’s more invested in paintings and poetry than politics and cultivation, and you smile when you’re supposed to smile, and you hold his hand when it needs holding, and you guide him where he requires guidance, because he’s so easy to mold and mollify, so easy to influence, so. very. easy. to underestimate.
