Xue Yang Rare Pair Week is UPON US! I’m so excited (and vaguely stressed, I can’t pick what ship to write for!) Gotta have some xueyao. But what about xuexian? Gotta squeeze some xuesang in there too! Too many options!
Come join Xue Yang Rare Pair Week March 16-22! The prompts are posted and pinned to the blog, and I’ll be posting daily prompt reminders as well. All ships are welcome! I really do mean ALL. there’s no minimum for your works and low obligation! Can you only make one day’s worth? Well that’s one more happy Xue Yang rare pair thing in the world, and I love it!
so what’s your fav xue yang rare pair? Tell me in the tags! My mind is currently fixated on Xue Yang x Jiang Yanli x Wen Qing. There’s nothing I love like a polyship!
I've been dying to watch this show since the first trailer dropped way back when.. Now that it's finally on air, I've been rationing it (i want to finish it soon but also savour it)
There are 3 main love interests (4 in my humble opinion, but that's for another post) one of whom is Zhang Zhe and I cannot begin to express just how dull and annoying he is.
Throughout the narrative, he's presented as someone who's honourable and just, in stark contrast to pretty much every other character in the show. Except that's it, that's his defining feature. Add to that, the man has ZERO tact. Your honour and sense of justice is worth squat if you offend the emperor and get your head lobbed off.
His relationship with Xuening would have never worked because she put him on a pedestal and deified him. It makes sense when you look at the events of the previous life, she's still guilt-ridden about the fact that he got implicated, imprisoned which also resulted in the death of his mother. She 'feels' like she still owes him. I think she's more in love with the idea of him and not who he really is. I genuinely don't think she would be happy with him. She is cunning, she's not above manipulating people to get what she wants and with him, she'd have to constantly restrain that part of herself.
Zhang Zhe also sees things in black and white; you're either good and honourable or you're bad and and dishonourable, there's no space within him for nuance, for all the many shades of grey. If he knew just what Xuening herself had been up to, he would announce her as deceitful and unworthy of trust, irrespective of what her intentions were and what the end result was. Those things don't matter to him.
Which is also why I don't think he'd be a good official unless he either had the emperor's ear or seriously strong support within the court (which again would be hard since he doesn't try to cultivate relationships.)
Zhang Zhe is a nice foil to Xie Wei, who's just as twisted as Xuening (probably a whole lot more) but more importantly, sees her with all her scheming, all of her faults and still falls for her, he likes who she really is. Now, if only he could stop threatening to kill her every few minutes, maybe she'd be more amenable to his advances.
Like many things I do, this is @yiling 's fault. <3
_____________________________________________
About the same time very night, from what Wen Ning can tell, the young man comes down to wrench the nails from his skull.
He can't actually tell if it's day or night down in the Jin Dungeons. There's no light. It's one of their more exquisite tortures. It's impossible to tell how long one has been down here. Wen Ning doesn't care. His family is gone. A-Yuan is gone. His sister is gone. There are times too, when Wen Ning wishes he was gone too. Most of the time he is. The nails cloud his brain so there's a blissful nothing.
But still, the young man comes. Taking the nails out is an ordeal. It's painful. It's the only sensation Wen Ning can feel, ever since Wei-Gongzi resurrected him. The iron of the nails pokes at tender tissue, and when the young man slides them back in, flesh tries to seal them back in, as if he were still alive and healing.
And yet, Wen Ning doesn't care. The young man introduced himself after the first time as Xue Chengmei, and told him he'd take the nails out for him every night in exchange for stories and anecdotes about the Yiling Patriarch. It's a fair trade for a few hours of clarity, even skewed in his favor. Wen Ning could spend years talking about Wei-Gongzi.
"Farming? You must be joking," the young man says, a biting smile at his lips. Xue-Gongzi always behaves that way, as if everything that ever came out of Wen Ning's mouth was amusing, even simple tales of harvest time at the burial mounds. Xue-Gongzi looks up at him with his legs crossed on the dirty floor, elbows resting on his knees and his hands curled up into fists at his chin. His red eyes sparkle when he looks at him through a thick layer of dark eyelashes.
Xue-Gongzi always does this. He listens to every story Wen Ning tells him with rapturous attention, the blush on his cheeks pink and warm. Not even Wei-Gongzi ever treated him with such attention. Wen Ning almost wishes it could be nighttime forever, if only to keep Xue-Gongzi from leaving him in the mornings and gently shoving the nails back in to avoid them being caught. Xue-Gongzi is even sort of pretty; the natural inquisitiveness in his eyes shows his soul is roughly made of the same stuff Wei-Gongzi's was, too. Without even thinking, Wen Ning raises a hand and gently brushes his cold, dead fingers through Xue Chengmei's straw-rough hair.
"I knew you'd have good things to say," Xue Chengmei tells him, linking his fingers through Wen Ning's. "You understand. No one else understands."
For a moment, Wen Ning locks eyes with Xue Chengmei and imagines what it would look like if Wei-Gongzi had ever looked at him the same way. He never did. Wei-Gongzi looked at him the same way he looked at Jiang Wanyin; like he was a little brother to look after. Xue Chengmei looks at him like he's never met anyone he found more interesting in his life. Then, the watchtower drums begin to beat a steady rhythm once again.
"It's sì gēng," Xue Chengmei says, standing up fully and brushing his Jin guest disciple robes clean. He picks up the iron nails at his side and aims the tip of the first one back into the holes he'd hammered into his skull the first time.
Whispers: you know what I dream of? You know what a perfect world looks like to me? An ao3 tag full of Xue Yang Rare Pair content won’t fix me but I’m sure it’ll help.
Need a pick me up too? The medicine for your weary soul? Join Xue Yang Rare Pair Week! March 16-22, 2025. Any ship! Any medium! Any deranged takes!
2.2k - unfinished idea, kind of a sequel to Shadows the Size of Make-Believe (WN/XY)
Wei-gongzi, Lan-er-gongzi, Luo Qingyang, and Wen Ning are drinking and talking shit about the old Lanling Jin leadership. Well, it’d started with Lan Wangji broaching the topic of the previous Chief Cultivator’s administrative mistakes in frigid and elegant - though outrageously inaccurate - style. They’ve wandered a bit from the subject, getting increasingly raucous along the way. Lan-er-gongzi, from drink or irritation at being upstaged or both, has fallen asleep sitting up.
“And Xue Yang!” Wei-gongzi says. He points at Luo Qingyang with the jug in his hand. “Ever heard of him, Mianmian? The little terror of Kuizhou?”
“Wasn’t he a demonic cultivator like you?” she returns, leaning her jug against her cheek, elbow on the table. “I dunno, isn’t that a point in his favour?”
As expected, Wei-gongzi swells in indignation. “Bullshit! Let me tell you –”
Wen Ning stares at the small dark pool of his own wine saucer, trembling in his hand. For a moment his own eye swims into view.
He nearly drops and smashes it when Wei-gongzi leans backwards into him, high ponytail brushing his face like a cat, unrestrained and sloppy where he’d been so solicitous around the sleeping jade statue of his husband. “– that little freak, right, Wen Ning?”
“I,” he says. “I think I’ve had a bit too much. Um, excuse me.”
He (lifts Wei-gongzi by the waist off the end of his robe) (no, he rips it out from under his warm weight, hurried and impersonal), stands, politely bows to the room, and leaves. Wei-gongzi takes his outrageous excuse and his leaving with the same brightly drunk, placidly accepting expression as Mr. Luo Qingyang (who is here too; Lan Jingyi and A-Yuan are providing childcare tonight).
The nerve of him. He should know better. Doesn’t he know Wen Ning better than this?
… Wen Ning has never told him. His hands half-curl into fists by his side. “The ignorant are not at fault,” he mutters, trying to remind himself; but it just pulls his thoughts in a new direction. He looks but does not see it, the house where Lan-zongzhu secludes himself. He doesn’t actually know where it is, of course.
His lip curls in self-disgust, and he starts walking aimlessly in the dark of the Cloud Depths, with the thoughtless balance of one completely sober.
///
“Xue Yang,” he gasps.
Xue Yang nips him behind the ear. “A-Ning,” he grins. “Tell me more~”
“Please,” he says, “I need you so much.”
When Xue Yang is satisfied by his begging he wraps his hand around Wen Ning’s throat again and squeezes. He closes his eyes, concentrating on the feeling. Xue Yang’s four-fingered hand is ungloved, hot and calloused against his neck.
“Keep looking at yourself,” Xue Yang says into his ear. Bites him again.
He doesn’t quite know if he likes it -- the mirror...
///
"Wen Qionglin.”
He turns. Lan-er-gongzi is standing behind him.
“You’re still drunk, aren’t you.”
Lan-er-gongzi gravely considers this. “Mmm.”
“Great,” Wen Ning says.
“I do not know if I caused you any offense, in my drunkenness.”
Wen Ning lets himself sigh aloud. “No, not at all. Nor did Wei-gongzi. Truly. Now, if you’ll excuse me –”
“Stay with A-Yuan a spell. Too much solitude is unwise.”
He tamps down a laugh. “I’m not fit to be around children at the moment, Hanguang-jun, but I appreciate the thought.”
“False. Absurd,” says Lan Wangji, with the placid confidence of the truly drunk.
“‘Those ranked as fierce corpses are capable of slaughtering a city in one night.’” Lan Wangji still won’t leave. Wen Ning could theoretically outwait anyone, patient as a mountain; tonight it won’t wait. It simmers under his skin.
“Irrelevant,” says Lan Wangji, and actually takes a step forward.
“Are you too drunk to feel the resentment? Go away.”
“Your self-restraint is exemplary.”
He feels a peculiar smile form on his mouth, and hates himself for it. “If it wasn’t, your Underworld Hall bell would be ringing off its pedestal, I assure you.” Before he realizes what's happening, chains have slithered around his wrists. An eerie wind tugs at the ends of his hair. Oh, it's a relief. He doesn't have to hide the ugliest parts inside any more.
He doesn't have to stand around and reason with Lan Wangji. He turns and strides away, grass flattening under his tread.
"Wen Qionglin!" Incredibly, Lan Wangji is following him. He grabs the trailing end of one chain, resentment coiling around his hand, staining his pristine sleeve like soot.
Wen Ning is stronger than him, especially like this. He barely feels the tug as he keeps walking. "Desperate, aren't you?" he snarls, pushing his way through the trees. Branches snap against his body like cultivators' limbs. "What exactly do you want?"
"One should not leave without saying goodbye."
"I already did. Wen Ning bids you farewell – there, Hanguang-jun. Are you happy now?"
"Enough!" For the first time tonight, Lan Wangji looks wild. He has his sleeve wrapped around his hand now, resentful energy sparking and burning holes into the warded fabric. "All I need is to tell Wei Ying his friend is alright!"
He turns fully to face Lan Wangji, too fast for conscious thought. An expanding blast of resentful energy shakes the trees in a circle all around the two of them.
“Why?” he snarls. Lan Wangji finally lets go, unsheathing his sword, and he wraps the chain back around his arm before lashing out with his bare hands. The sword Bichen turns aside each blow, as sturdy as a fortress. “And what of you, Lan-er-gongzi? Aren't you a little concerned? Aren't you jealous? Well, he doesn't need me! I have my own road to walk, don't I? Why would I need him??"
He stops, horrified. Sinks slowly to the ground in the centre of a small crater, soft earth compressed by the weight of his sins.
"... All I do is need people to tell me what to do," he says. Covers his face with his hands and laughs into them. "My sister. Wei-gongzi. Xue Yang. Wei-gongzi again."
The clear trill of Chenqing sounds up the mountain slope, no cultivation of any type attached to it. Just the first phrase of that song, followed by a pause. A call-and-response for ordinary folk. In unison, they turn their faces towards it.
Lan Wangji doesn't play the answering phrase, though. "Xue Yang?" he says, voice quiet.
He just nods.
"One of your jailers. Or at the very least, he was their agent and inventor."
He still can't say anything. Luckily, Wei-gongzi arrives and skids to a stop in front of them. "Wen Ning? What's wrong?"
"I fear I made things worse, in attempting to help." Lan Wangji retreats a few steps away, brings out his guqin, and starts playing softly to disperse the excess resentment.
Wei-gongzi crouches down in front of him and puts a hand on his upper arm. "We were leaving you out of our fun, weren't we? That was thoughtless. Wen Ning, I'm sorry."
He nods.
"There is a more specific cause as well: you brought up Xue Yang."
Wei-gongzi scrunches up his face and puts a hand up to his head. "I did, didn't I? Ahhh… I'm sorry again." Looks at Wen Ning again, soft and dark and listening.
"N-no, it… me and him… He freed me. Took the nail out." To his shame, the warm presence of Wei-gongzi does feel like courage flowing into him through their one point of contact. And so he continues: "This was before Lanling Jin caught up with us again. He didn't even kill anyone, or ask me to kill for him. We just… robbed a few stores. Scandalized some people. I suppose that's something he also liked to do for fun."
"You cussed some people out?" Wei-gongzi says, delighted and proud. "Hey, want to give Lan Zhan a few lessons sometime?"
He looks down at his chained wrists in his lap, trying not to swallow his own tongue. "Wei-gongzi, it, I… I was enjoying myself back then, strange as it sounds. It was… walking boldly in the sunlight. Stealing expensive food to eat and wine to drink and… Before they caught us and put the nail back in, I… I was…"
"Living well," says Wei-gongzi, and pats him softly.
"Happiness is no sin," Lan-er-gongzi adds.
"Yeah! You have nothing to blame yourself for, alright?"
Lan-er-gongzi brings Rest to an end. It doesn't feel like an abrupt return to silence, as the natural sounds of the mountain have been continually weaving in and out of the piece; rather, Lan Wangji’s Dao disperses back into nature's patterns and multitudinous voices. The beat of small wings; a deer stepping through the trees; fast-running water. The three of them, present and unspeaking.
"But I still can't stop thinking about him," he says quietly. One hand goes to wrap around his own throat, not to choke off words but merely as an act of memory. "Even after…"
"After," Wei-gongzi agrees, in weary sympathy. "After can still be a bitch."
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
i wrote a new fic! Xue Yang/Wen Ning pwp, 3k words
Summary: While on the run from Lanling Jin, Xue Yang decides to treat Wen Ning a little. It's important to take good care of your swords, after all.
“You, you w-w-w-want me?” Xue Yang leaves off biting at the hasp of his collarbone and tilts his head to one side, smirking.
Humiliation and spite hit him like a tide. Of course this is who Xue Yang is; he’s never pretended otherwise. He’s no different than any of the bullies from Nightless Sky. But, ah, no: none of his bullies had ever wanted to fuck him. He’d never gotten to fuck any of them. None of them is currently right here and turned on by Wen Qionglin’s clumsy, ugly body, his stupid, shameful self; and doesn’t that mean he can shame them right back? If he’s soft and clueless and unwanted, what does it mean that Xue Yang obviously wants him, even in spite of himself?
