Warnings: SLASH, HP/DM, angst, EWE, Deaths: Any character who died in the books will die in this story. This story loosely follows the major developments in the books
Epilogue Complaint? No.
Summary: Draco asks Harry to help him beat the Imperius curse during 4th year. The lessons turn into more than either expected. A story of redemption and forgiveness.
I read your post about Jiang Cheng's seclusion and the way he behaves in the novel after the golden core reveal and at the end of the plot and I'm glad to have my opinion about the dunghua being totally inaccurate to the original work confirmed (unlike JC haters claim, they always talk about canon accuracy and then proceed to state that the dunghua was loyal to the novel when they changed TONS of important stuff). So given you seem to remember well what happened in the novel, I'm gonna ask you if the total indifference shown by Wei Wuxian toward JC at the end of the dunghua is also accurate to the novel. I recall for sure that there is no proper reconciliation even though the old animosity seems to be disappeared, but is it hinted or blatantly stated whether they still care about each other or not? Because in the dunghua WWX says the past is in the past and just proceeds to forget JC forever and live happily with Lan Wangji. So what happens in the novel? Was the donghua accurate or not about JC being miserable over WWX but the latter not giving a shit anymore?
I have yet to find a good fix-it fic to cure what the donghua has plagued me with, but the novel itself is definitely a good place to start!
Is the total indifference Wei Wuxian shows Jiang Cheng in the donghua accurate to the novel? Absolutely not.
Although we do need to keep in mind that both of these men are emotionally stunted so they aren't just going to hug it out and say, "I care about you!" We have to look at their actions, at what they choose to do, at what they choose not to do, and what they choose to say to each other and why.
The whole post-golden-core-reveal scene in the novel showed they cared. I can say that much without hesitation because if one or the other didn't care, they wouldn't have been talking at all. Because unlike in the donghua, they talked in the novel. Wei Wuxian said something and Jiang Cheng responded to it and then... Wei Wuxian responded back to what Jiang Cheng said. Lan Wangji was ready to kill a 14 year old to get at Jiang Cheng at one point. Jiang Cheng smacked Jin Ling out of the way before Lan Wangji could try it. Then Jiang Cheng started crying without warning. The whole thing is a huge mess of people caring about each other in several kinds of way! It really is a powerful scene!
Was Jiang Cheng unkind toward Wei Wuxian during some of this? Yes, of course, but he was hurting and the novel made it clear that he showed just as much unkindness toward himself, both in action and in words, as to others so he wasn't biased, just self-destructing:
Jiang Cheng clenched his fist, like he wanted to hit someone, like he wanted to hit himself. In the end, he still slammed it onto the ground. He should've been able to loathe Wei Wuxian without a care. But right now, the golden core revolving within him took away all that confidence. (ch. 102, ERS)
The donghua took what was an actual moment with its highs and lows shared between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng and turned it into nothing more than an angry villain monologue that provided no meaning or catharsis or conclusion to anyone's story.
Key points that prove Wei Wuxian cared: he stayed, he listened, he talked, and he tried to offer Jiang Cheng a peaceful resolution.
Can I just say for a moment that the donghua did a huge disservice by making Wei Wuxian injured in the post-reveal? Wei Wuxian wasn't injured in the novel. If at any point he truly didn't care about what Jiang Cheng had to say or about Jiang Cheng at all, he could have just stood up, picked up his floor cushion, took Lan Wangji's hand, and sat somewhere else. That was his decision to make, not Lan Wangji's. As long as he didn't try to leave the temple, I doubt Jin Guangyao would have cared. Jiang Cheng, however, was the one grievously injured and couldn't move about. It was perfectly within Wei Wuxian's ability and right to walk away from all of this.
Wei Wuxian thus had a figurative boat in the novel and he didn't use it. He stayed. And he listened. And he took responsibility for the hurt he personally caused.
"..." After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian replied. "I'm sorry. I broke my promise."
Jiang Cheng shook his head, burying his face deep into his palms. A second later, he suddenly burst out with a laugh. His muffled voice mocked, "It's such a time already, and I still need you to say sorry to me. What a fragile person I am."
Sect Leader Jiang's words were eternally tainted with mockery. But this time, whom he mocked was no one but himself.
Suddenly, he said, "I'm sorry."
Wei Wuxian hesitated, "...You don't need to say sorry." (ch. 102-3, ERS)
And Jiang Cheng takes responsibility for... his behavior? for his weakness? for everything?? When has Jiang Cheng ever said I'm sorry? But he says it here and now after everything that has happened between them.
Jiang Cheng is pitiful at the end of the scene in the novel but he still has Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian with him. He's not alone. And he cares so much about Wei Wuxian that his thoughts and feelings are a mess and it shows. You might even say he's just gone through the five stages of grief. He's had a lot to process.
And the last stage is acceptance, which is where Wei Wuxian's final words fit in:
Wei Wuxian, "Uh, I think it's best if you... also stop keeping it on your mind. I know you'll definitely always keep it on your mind, but, how should I say it..." He clenched Lan Wangji's hand, saying to Jiang Cheng, "Right now, I do really think... it's all in the past. It's been too long. There's no need to struggle with it any longer."
Jiang Cheng wiped his face roughly, drying his tears. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. (ch. 103)
I have never interpreted this conversation and scene as Wei Wuxian just wanting to forget it all so he can live happily ever after with Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian found a new way to live and he's trying to share this with Jiang Cheng. "This is what is working for me. Maybe it will work for you." Wei Wuxian was revived under the dark cloud of the evil Yiling Laozu who killed thousands, betrayed the Jiang Sect, murdered his martial sister, and was killed by his martial brother. We saw at the Second Burial Mounds Siege how the cultivation world still wanted him punished even after he had died once already.
The past is a ball and chain and there is no way Wei Wuxian can live with that, like that. And Jiang Cheng's breakdown shows he can't live like this, either, having lived under a dark cloud for half of his life by things he can't change or by things he never actually did wrong. He trusted Wei Wuxian. He never betrayed him. Even when Wei Wuxian returned, Jiang Cheng never betrayed his identity or tried to hurt him.
Now Jiang Cheng is wrestling with this incredibly high debt he can never repay to the one person he should hate the most.
Putting Jiang Cheng through this ordeal is exactly why Wei Wuxian never wanted to tell him about the golden core in the first place.
In the beginning, it was precisely because [Wei Wuxian] didn't want to see such a Jiang Cheng that he decided not to tell him. (ch. 102)
Afterwards, it was because Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli died for [Wei Wuxian] that he had no face to let others know. To tell Jiang Cheng after what happened then would be like shirking responsibility, hurrying to demonstrate that he'd contributed as well. It's be like telling Jiang Cheng, don't hate me, look, I've contributed to the Yunmeng Jiang Sect too. (ch. 102)
That Wei Wuxian tried to spare Jiang Cheng all this and tries to help him move on is the sign of someone who cares. There was kindness in Wei Wuxian's willingness to let Jiang Cheng hate him freely without complications.
Also, sometimes when people are really suffering, just hearing, "It's OK to let this go," is really all they need. Sometimes people just need to be given permission to move forward. For someone like Jiang Cheng who is so prideful, he really isn't capable of making that decision on his own because he would feel like he is letting someone down. He's so incredibly beholden to his obligations to his family and his sect that his breakdown is over his inability to reconcile this debt he has to Wei Wuxian and this sudden loss of confidence he has in himself.
Wei Wuxian has the last word in the novel and with it he gives Jiang Cheng a chance to exist in the present and just breathe.
What Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng achieve is a resolution rather than reconciliation. I honestly don't understand fandom's persistence with using the word "reconciliation" for that scene and whether or not it happened. It didn't happen and it couldn't happen right then and there. It's too soon. That would be like trying to add furniture and hang up your clothes inside a house that has been ravaged by a fire. Before you can live there again, you need to clean up the ashes, replace the damaged floor and walls, make sure the wiring is safe again, etc. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian just needed to talk, even a little. The secret was out and feelings and burdens were felt on both sides.
The scene is basically a debridement of an old wound so that it can heal properly.
If Wei Wuxian didn't care about Jiang Cheng, he would have left the wound alone to fester.
In the novel, he cared.
The donghua failed the moment it said actually, he didn't.
…but if WWX and JC literally just sat and TALKED to each other I believe a lot of this damn nonsense could have been avoided. A lot of what happened to them was due to miscommunication or lack there of.
People are too busy pointing the finger over “whose fault” the destruction of their relationship fell on. Well you know what? Both of them. They were both selfish and egotistical and full of pain.
I’m not saying that everything would have magically been fixed, but I DO believe that a lot of this tension between them wouldn’t exist, and some major events in the book that led to the further destruction of their relationship wouldn’t have had to happen. But JC likes to sit on his feelings and WWX likes to run from his problems so sucks to suck.
No I will not be taking any constructive criticism someone just shove my boys in a locked closet with a couple jugs of Emperor’s Smile for the cultivation world’s sake jfc
*I say this as someone who loves WWX, LWJ, and JC so y’all can stay mad*
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