There’s only one pair of eyes that matters to Nie Mingjue. Those scarlet orbs follow his every move as he danced across the stage.
Good
The rest of the sect leaders and their heirs and/or disciples do not matter. All that matters is the pair of eyes of Sect Leader Wen.
This is inspired by ebonykain’s post, kitsune1818’s art, and this video.
In this AU, Dad Nie died earlier than in canon (both Nie kids’ mothers died during childbirth). How he died, he either was killed during a night hunt by a powerful monster or yao, or was killed by Wen Ruohan or someone else. The Wens attacked while the Nie sect was in chaos as its heirs were still too young. Only a 10-year old NMJ and 4-year old NHS escaped and they ended up in a brothel.
NMJ begged to stay for a little bit in the brothel for a little rest. The owner of the brothel, a woman in her 30’s, told them they could stay as long as they like as long as NMJ worked there. All he had to do was clean, run some errands, cook, simple tasks like those. Until 3 years later.
A customer mistook NMJ as a prostitute and asked for his services. That gave the owner an idea. The young boy is pretty but doesn’t want to be touched. The owner knows some customers ogle at the boy. The boy has good footwork. Why not make him a dancer? The idea was proposed and she found amusement on the boy sputtering reasons until she added that his pay will increase and with that, he can buy more things his brother wants. The owner knows that this boy, A-Jue as he introduced himself, will do anything to make sure his brother is comfortable. A-Jue agreed the next day. Training him to dance starts now.
NMJ trains his golden core as much as he can. He writes down his sect’s ideals, laws, motto etc. as much as he can remember. He reminds himself his name and Huaisang’s name. They are Nie. They are from the Nie clan. He just can’t use it at the moment. NMJ is afraid he might forget. He does the Nie braids on NHS only and teaches him how to do it. His little brother braids his hair sometimes.
When the woman proposed him the idea to be a dancer, NMJ was reluctant. But increase pay means NHS can finally indulge in his luxuries, then he’ll take it (his brother enjoys painting and he loves fans. He also seems to get along with the prostitutes in the brothel. Did they teach him how to apply make-up? Huaisang has been asking to use him as his model).
NMJ started training in dancing. His (short) saber practice in the past coming in handy. Whether he likes it or not, he started focusing his powerful golden core to his physical appearance. Two years later he made his public appearance.
He was a success.
Since then, NMJ became a known dancer. It started in that small area until it spread wider and wider. When NMJ dances, he covers his face with a veil and it gets people curious on what he looks like but they’ll never see. NMJ doesn’t want them to see. The owner was reluctant at first but she then noticed the appeal of having his face covered. His eyes are appealing enough.
And that’s all I have. I imagine the reason why NMJ would be able to get close to WRH is because the Wen or Jin sect is hosting something and NMJ was hired to be the entertainer. He took it because of (1) good pay and (2) the opportunity to finally get his revenge for his sect and father.
I can imagine Huaisang as the one who is doing NMJ’s make-up, designing and choosing his clothes, plans his routine (they change it up), etc. (NHS also formed a golden core but as weak and late as canon. Looking for REAL cultivator books are expensive, and NHS doesn’t seem to be interested much to NMJ’s horror).
