Lan Qiren - Tumblr Posts

These are unironically hilarious

Honestly, I can't stress enough how important the theme of family is in mdzs. IMO it is the main theme of the book. Of course romance and devotion is important, but there's something so special about the way families are portrayed in mdzs and how important they are. (I watched donghua and read some of manhua btw)

Let's start with sibling relationships:

The whole plot started because of love for a brother and rage for how unjust his death was. The whole Cloud Recesses arc is an amazing set up for Wangxian etc, but it also shows the complicated yet sweet relationship between WWX and JC. How they both care so much about each other, how they tease each other. IMO JC did see WWX as a brother and loved him as such. Every time he scolds Wei Ying, it's always about Wei Ying's safety. Usually it's not "How dare you use demonic cultivation, you're gonna get our clan in danger", it's " If you keep it up, I won't be able to protect you". Even during the Wen invasion, the they're still together, they sacrifice themselves to save another. And don't get me started about Jiang Yanli, she loves her brothers very much. Despite Madam Yu creating a competition between the boys or Jiang Fengmian's lack of action and even enablement of WWX' dangerous and irresponsible behavior, they still love each other. I can ramble about yunmeng trio so much, but in short despite everything they went through, they cared for each other deeply. After Jiang Yanli's death everything changes, because imo the boys fully internalized Madam Yu's last words. WWX bring pain and destruction to Yunmeng. I think I need to stop, or we'll be here all day.

Or, another example: Nie bros. Nie Mingjue had to basically raise A-sang. They do deeply care about each other, and despite everything they'll be here for each other. Yet the desire to protect NHS from sad reality of golden core and qi deviation, their relationship soured a little. But it's obvious even for an outsider like WWX, that NMJ loves his brother. He pressures NHS, because he feels that he's starting to lose it. He wants to prepare his little bro to be a decent leader and to live without him. And NHS literally makes it his life mission to avenge his Dage even if it means having a blood on his hands.

Lan brothers show a good brother relationship. Lan Xichen supports LWJ in everything he does. Even his love for WWX. He gets protective, when he thinks WWX is laughing at LWJ's feelings. Lan Zhan is deeply saddened when his brother is missing and helps him discover the truth about his best friend's death. They're almost perfect siblings. (Plus they're super funny when drunk).

MXTX deserves an award for writing so many different sibling dynamics. And that's not all, she also portrays this different parental relationship so interesting.

Like, the nephews you didn't want, but care so much about, that you don't want them to suffer like their father did (Lan Qiren and this family drama); the kid of your husband's unrequited love, whom he seemingly loves more than your own children (Yunmeng Jiang happy house), JGS and the myriad of the kids he has ect. I love this variety so much.

I just love so much how MDZS has so much themes. Every time I think about MDZS, I find more and more interesting points and moments that change my perception of the characters. Every character is so humain and has their own motivation, that I can't truly hate some of them (apart from Wen Chao, his mistress and JGS, they suck).

TLDR: MXTX is a queen of writing complex human characters.

One of the funniest things that happened to me while watching mdzs donghua is my sheer stupidity. Like, I knew that JGY killed Nie Mingjue, but I didn't know their names, only that the yellow one was a traitor. So everytime that a yellow character appeared I look at my sister and asked "this is the asshole?" And it was anyone else but JGY. And I was sure that 3zun were the main characters. Oh how wrong I was.

And my confusion didn't stop there. When LWJ said that his brother is missing and his father is dying, I legit thought that smt happened with LQR. Like, I knew he was his uncle, but in my defense, Lan's papa wasn't mentioned ever before.

But by far, the most confusing arc for me was the Yi City. We were binge watching the series, but I had to stop and ask my sister to explain to me everything, because I didn't understand who the hell was Xue Yang or Xiao Xichen, what was the plot and how was it connected to the corpse.

If you ever feel dumb, remember this post, and you'll understand that there is a way to be dumber.

Rewatched ep7 of donghua and this is how it went, right?

there are so much interesting thematical similarities between characters of one family/clan in mdzs.

Like the Nies (the only two characters we know of) are ruthless and they all are bound by the undying desire of revenge. Nie Mingjue waited for God knows how long to take down When Rouhan and later even overcame death to get to Jin Guangyao. Nie Huaisang waited for a whole decade to find his brother's corpse and made a very complicated plot to avenge him. They both weren't afraid to get their hands dirty to get what they want. NMJ killed countless of Wen soldiers, and NHS is responsible for MXY's death, all the deaths in Mo Village, probably for Qin Su's death (tho indirectly). And that's just what I can remember. Anyway, they're shared theme is rage (be it quiet or explosive) and revenge.

The Lans, I think, have this shared passion and undying loyalty. LWJ is pretty obvious. Despite how much everyone hated WWX, despite his clan and family being against him, LWJ never stopped believing in WWX. He even went against his teacher/parental figure/uncle to protect his love. That's the dedication right there. And even when WWX got resurrected (thx NHS) LWJ was prepared to die in the Burial ground (if I didn't mess up the location) with WWX. And he isn't the only one in his family/clan.

Like father like son, Lan papa went against all that he knew to protect the woman he loved so much. Even if it meant he had to spend all his life in seclusion, probably never seeing his sons and the outside world, he was prepared to sacrifice everything for Madame Lan.

LCX was also ready to put his everything on the line for JGY. He was constantly supporting JGY, protecting him from harm (mostly from NMJ), and still giving him a benefit of the doubt after all the crazy stuff was revealed. LXC actually makes me terribly sad, because he was PREPARED TO DIE WITH JGY. HE WAS PREPARED TO USE QI DEVIATING MUSIC ON HIMSELF TO PROVE JGY'S INNOCENCE/FIND OUT TRUTH. WHY MUST HE BE USED SO MUCH BY THE PEOPLE HE CARES THE MOST? (Sorry, I'm still heartbroken) Anyways, he isn't an exception to the rule. But he certainly is the most heartbreaking one for sure.

Even Su She, who was only a student in the clan and isn't connected to the family, he was very loyal to JGY, putting his own life on the line multiple times and getting his hands dirty with no questions asked. Su She wasn't the most brave one when he was young, but his devotion literally made him go against the most powerful fierce corpse. No matter how much he wanted to distance himself from Lan clan, he can't escape the loyalty curse of Gusu™.

The trickiest one is Lan Qiren, cuz he doesn't really show very much affection towards anyone/anything. But I feel like his devotion lies with his family or the rules. Despite being super strict, he tries to get LWJ return to Cloud Recesses to protect him from other clans. (The funniest part is that "lets go back to Gusu" never works). Also LQR's and LXC's little interaction in the conference about Wens in donghua made me smile sm, it was so sweet. The funniest part is that he's always whiny, but will cave in for his loved ones. I literally have no proof of him being loyal to his family, but MXTX's own words in an artbook I believe??

I am not really sure about Yunmeng Jiang or Lanling Jin clans, cuz they don't really have so obvious similarities. Lanling Jin's similarity is being connected to JGS, which is not so unique in mdzs. And Yunmeng Jiang is probably having family issues.

It's very funny how the most competent clan leader is someone who's technically not a clan leader. He's a decent parent, tho he has no children of his own. He also is very good at teaching, considering how a lot of clans send their heirs to Cloud Recesses. CR actually made Gusu Lan more important in the cultivation world. Really, before LXC grew up (and arguably even after) LQR basically carried Gusu Lan.

There are some of my headcanons about the relationship between the past generation Lan bros and this whole family drama, cuz I have nothing better to do.

Now these might not be fully compliant with canon.

We know almost nothing about Lan Qiren's and Qingheng-Jun's relationship. It is implied that LQR sympathizes with his brother, but that's all.

My headcanon is that when they were young, they were very similar to LXC and LWJ. LQR was very devoted to the rules, so he had a pretty difficult personality and didn't have much friends. QHJ was more easygoing and nice. Yet he was more restrained and calm than LXC. And although he tried to get LQR more of the friends his age, he didn't always succeed. We also have no age gap between them, so I hc that it's 3 years.

Sometimes, when QHJ was 18-19, he met Madam Lan and fell in love at the first time. LQR initially didn't have anything against her. They even met at some point. QHJ was head over heels for her, but she saw him as more of a friend. Her and second master Lan were on good terms and sometimes talked for hours about music cultivation ect. They even considered each other friends.

LQR and QHJ had one teacher. I didn't think much about him, but let's just say he had his secrets. While he was nice to his students and they respected him, he had a beef or mb just somehow mistreated Madame Lan's family. He did something that forever left her family in the shadows. Madame Lan's family was shunned for a long time. Ofc ML hated this teacher's guts. It was never her intention to use QHJ's affection to avenge her family, cuz she wasn't that kind of a person to be so cruel. But when she found out, she started to carefully plan her revenge. The pg Lan Bros actually didn't know about teacher's secrets and had no idea about what was going to happen.

Since MXTX loves stuff going downhill during or after someone's 17th b'day, I imagine this whole drama happened right after LQR'S 17th birthday. A few days later their teacher was killed and ML was gone. QHJ went looking for her immediately, kind of leaving shocked and grieving brother behind. Once his brother was gone for a few days with his presumed friend, the Lan elders went on a search and found QHJ and ML in wedding gowns. As stated form canon, QHJ decided to save his love by marrying her and declaring, that if anyone wants to hurt her, they'll have to go through him. Elders were completely unimpressed, but they couldn't do anything because a) QHJ was already a clan leader at this point; b) the wedding already happened. Before this QHJ had never broken any rule, especially not as serious as this.

Due to the conflict of marrying his teacher's killer, QHJ decides to go into seclusion and lock ML with him. He orders the houses to be built on the neighboring mountain, but before he locked himself in his own room.

At this point LQR had his world turned upside down two times: firstly, his friend killed a teacher, who (in his opinion) did nothing wrong, secondly his brother disappeared and came back married to culprit. And he tried to talk to his brother, but before he could discuss anything, his bro is already secluded in his own room. When he found out that his brother is going to seclusion and doesn't plan on ruling the clan, it broke the camel's back. LQR was also very devoted to the rules and never broke them, but this day, merely a week after his birthday, he went of the rails. He asked to see his brother, loudly knocked on his door, desperately trying to talk with him. Even when the elders started to scold him and get him away from the door, LQR escaped their grip and continued to act "inappropriately" (Being rightfully upset and wanting to get some answers). Sadly, QHJ never let LQR in, despite all of the pleadings, for he believed he doesn't deserve to speak with anyone.

LQR receives his first ever serious punishment and is shamed for his "indecent" Behavior. He gets beaten with those wooden sticks pretty hard and is locked up in a room to rewrite the rules 200 times. At this point, LQR is literally broken. Two of his dearest friends abandoned him with a whole lot of new responsibilities and unanswered questions. His dreams were also shattered. He liked to teach and explore different clans, regions.

LQR never got the chance to speak with QHJ, cuz very soon his bro left to the seclusion with ML. I want to believe in good in this world, so QHJ never forced ML to have children with him, yet they had to produce the heirs. So a year or two after the whole ordeal, LXC is born. At this point LQR is still very young and totally exhausted due to the clan leader duties, and he wasn't really excited to get another brother's problem on him. LQR grew resentful of his brother and ML, he became pretty jaded and closed, disliked troublemakers. Tho, when he first held little LXC in his arms, he was smitten. He vowed to raise him properly and help him live a happy life of a clan leader. When LWJ came to the picture, LQR promised to teach them both to be good people and to never let them become what he and his brother became. To never let LWJ get all of his brothers problems and deal with them with no help. Ofc his methods were far from good and he was sometimes emotionally unavailable, he loved them very much.

This all I've got for now.

You have good Lan Qiren takes, so I thought I'd ask: We've seen him as an uncle, but how do you think he'd be as a father?

I think he's already like father for nephews. But he'd probably stay this grumpy, yet caring self. He'll still be strict but ultimately he'll love his child. The same with their nephews. Tho, I hc him as aroace and he'd be probably surprised that he has a kid/j

It(he) followed me home, can we keep it (him)?

"I wish you would write a fic where..."

Where the Juniors are having Halloween storytelling. Or the Halloween costumes for MDZS main characters if they're going to a party or something.

When I saw this here, I got something immediately, bc I'm good at nonsense and dorkness. Here's the thing:

Lan Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen tell Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi a Halloween Story:

Sizhui: "Once upon a time there was a Green Witch who lived in the forest."

Jin Ling: That's cliché.

Zizhen: The Green Witch was Chinese.

Jingyi: And since when does the witch's ethnicity make it stop being a cliché?

Sizhui: It's a Chinese witch who lives in a Nordic forest.

Jin Ling: Oh. Yeah, it's starting to get a little different… Go on.

Zizhen: The Green Witch was called Nie Huaisang.

Jingyi: Now that makes a lot of sense.

Sizhui: In the Green Witch's wood and stone house, a Purple Ghost lived. Lonely, sad, angry and who used to scare everyone away… well, that, at least, until he moved into the witch's house, since the Green Witch, bold as she was, had…

Zizhen: Had decided to marry the lonely Ghost.

Sizhui: Had what?!

Zizhen: When you said that the Ghost was purple, sad and angry and scared out everyone, I thought you were talking about Jin Ling's jiujiu, so he married the witch.

Jingyi: Why do you have to put romance in everything?!

Zizhen: Being romantic is one of my best qualities…

Jin Ling: I can't even complain about the conclusion that the Ghost is jiujiu. Go on.

Sizhui: Okay, so the Green Witch was married to the angry Purple Ghost. That he was no longer lonely and not so angry, given the circumstances of a good marriage. On the witch's rooftop lived her best friend the Necromancer.

Zizhen: That he was always drunk.

Sizhui: And how he doesn't fall off the rooftop even though he's always drunk was a mystery. Well, the Green Witch knew why, the witch always knew everything. Of course the witch pretended not to know anything because…

Zizhen: Because that way no one would be going to her house to disturb asking for potions and spells for this and that, she already lived in the forest because she wanted peace.

Jin Ling: Wait, is the Green Witch a boy or a girl?

Sizhui: It's a boy, obviously.

Zizhen: A boy in a dress, but he's still a boy. She is. Well, you got it.

Jingyi: I can totally see it happening…

Sizhui: So, the Green Witch lived in peace with her Ghost husband and her best friend on the rooftop and the Swamp Undead Community, which grew turnips and sold it on the roadside to raise funds…

Jin Ling: Why does an undead community need money?

Zizhen: For tomb upgrades.

Jingyi: I won't even dispute that.

Jin Ling: Who is part of the community anyway? It was very vague...

Sizhui: Ahm... The turnip seller, who is Ning-shushu... the brother of the Green Witch, who died with the poisoned apple that the other witch, an evil witch, gave him and... the Evil Witch, who died because of the Deceased came back to pull her foot.

Zizhen: Kind of was the neck and not the foot…

Sizhui: I'm trying to smooth things over here…

Zizhen: Oh, okay. So now that the Evil Witch is no longer a witch but an undead, she has made peace with the Deceased. And she married him.

Sizhui: Zizhen… is everyone going to get married in this story?

Zizhen: No, the ancient supreme Wizard who lives in the far mountain, Lan Qiren, is not getting married, no. Never.

Sizhui: Okay. So the Deceased Nie Mingjue and the Evil Witch Jin Guangyao made their peace in the not-so-dead-afterdeath and got married, and that money from the turnips went well to help with the wedding expenses. And so, peace reigned in the Dark Forest until one day… someone knocked on the door of the Green Witch's house, two brothers sought help because they had been cursed to change into werewolves when the full moon came.

Zizhen: It was the first time the Necromancer fell from the rooftop.

Jingyi: Why?

Zizhen: Because when he saw the brothers seeking the witch's help, it was love at first sight for the younger brother, so he fainted and fell off the rooftop right into the Second Werewolf's arms.

Jin Ling: I've given up on hoping for any “horror” in this story, but keep it going.

Sizhui: This time, the Green Witch didn't really know how to help - not the Necromancer's possible marriage to the Second Werewolf - but to help undo the curse. The witch searched all her books, the oldest grimoires, but there was no cure for the curse. The two brothers were very sad, but the Second Werewolf soon resigned himself, now he was going to get married, so it was okay not to be human anymore, he could live on the rooftop with the Necromancer and everything would be fine - the Green Witch even agreed with that idea, despite the Ghost husband's grumbles.

Zizhen: But the older brother was very, very sad. He was a nice and calm person, being a werewolf didn't seem to work for him, so he went out for a walk in the woods, to unwind a little, as everyone in the Green Witch's house had already started arguing about having another tenant on the rooftop.

Sizhui: As the First Werewolf walked, tearful and so sad about his fate, he ended up tripping over a…

Zizhen: Over a basket. A basket full of mushrooms. Amanita Muscaria. The undead Evil Witch's favorite poisonous mushrooms.

Sizhui: Amanita Muscaria isn't exactly poisonous, it's just hallucinogenic, actually.

Zizhen: How do you know?

Sizhui: Jingyi woke me up one of these days at 3 am to tell me this. Ning-shushu said it's true, so it is.

Zizhen: Okay, so these are the favorite hallucinogenic mushrooms. The First Werewolf tripped over the basket and knocked over all the mushrooms the Evil Witch had picked, but before the Evil Witch yelled at him, she saw that he was crying.

Sizhui: Even though the witch's heart didn't beat anymore - and when it did, it wasn't a big deal either, right... The witch felt sorry for the First Werewolf, because he just looked like a fluffy ball of sadness, lost and hopeless there... So , the Evil Witch called the Deceased, her husband, to help...

Zizhen: They took the First Werewolf to the Swamp Undead Community, consoled him saying he didn't need to devour people, he could feed on turnips instead.

Sizhui: He was grateful and decided to live there with them.

Zizhen: And he became the Evil Witch's second husband too.

Jingyi: Why didn't he marry someone who was single?!

Sizhui: Because the Evil Witch was greedy and… you know how it is. On Halloween night, they all gathered in the forest glade to...

Zizhen: To finally celebrate the Necromancer's wedding to the Second Werewolf!

Sizhui: And from then on, they all lived happily ever after.

Jingyi: They can't all live happily ever after, because half of them are already dead.

Sizhui: Oh, you get it.

Jin Ling: I don't know which is more disappointing: the story itself or the fact that I actually enjoyed this crap…

The end.

Crack fic XD

Based on @myahle​ ‘s perfect, perfect tweet, that got me so full of feels and then made me laugh so fucking hard, I had to stop all I was working on and make this!

If you like my art and my ideas, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi! Here Thank you very much! 

I'm imagining the seige of cloud recesseses going incredibly different if wen xu is greeted at the gates by lan I-never-stopped-fucking-your-dad qiren

Also I love the idea that in at least one of these generations of students he had to check the students birthdays, do a bit of math and maybe write a letter or two

sequel to LQR/everyone

Lan Qiren had spent his wild youth drinking tea designed to forestall fertility every day with the sort of rigid obedience usually associated with the Lan sect rules, but that didn’t mean he didn’t sometimes…worry.

“But really,” Nie Mingjue said, chin on his hand and shit-eating grin on his face. “How many of the current generation’s parents were you fucking around the time they were conceived?”

“Please stop asking about that,” Lan Qiren said dispiritedly. He didn’t expect the request to be successful: Nie Mingjue, being the child of the one person that Lan Qiren – and everyone else in the cultivation world other than his father, for that matter – had never met, was the only one who could ask these sorts of questions without any concern whatsoever, and therefore, naturally, he did.

“But really. I mean, I know Huaisang’s not yours, he’s too much like Father, but I know you were sleeping with my father and Second Mother around the right time –”

Nie Mingjue had walked in on them one time. It’d been awful.

(Mostly because Lao Nie had reacted by saying, “Qiren, you’re a teacher, you explain what threesomes are!” and then running away without even bothering to put on his clothing, while the second Madame Nie had somehow managed to vanish by the time Lan Qiren had turned around; he hadn’t even seen her leave, though he’d almost gotten a sense of the grin she must have had before she’d disappeared somehow still lingering behind.)

“– and of course everyone knows about Cangse Sanren and you. She was your longest running lover, wasn’t she?”

“She used to be, but then she died,” Lan Qiren said. “It’s probably Sect Leader Wen these days.”

“Of course it is.”

“…I really don’t mind stopping. I mean, if it’s awkward for you.”

“No, no, it’s fine.”

“I mean, he murdered your father. He’s planning to take over the world. I probably should stop.”

“No need, no need! I’ve already sworn a blood feud over the murder, you’re opposing the conquest, to my mind that covers all the relevant bits. Anyway, you know my father. He’s probably in favor of you continuing sexing up Wen Ruohan, murder or no murder.”

That did seem rather like something Lao Nie would do.

“Hmm. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t suppose there’s any possibility that Wen Ruohan’s children…?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you sure?”

Lan Qiren wasn’t sure of anything. He pinched his brow and regretted, regretted, regretted. The wedding night wine served in the Nightless City had been delicious, but it wasn’t worth this conversation. “We have nothing in common.”

Nie Mingjue cackled.

“All right, then,” he said enthusiastically. “If we’re using that standard: which of your students do you see something of yourself in…?”

Darlings - ao3

Summary:

“Clarity would not work to fix Chifeng-zun,” Lan Wangji opined.

Nie Huaisang resisted the urge to kick him – Lan Wangji wouldn’t stick his foot in somewhere it wasn’t wanted if he didn’t actually have relevant information – but even Lan Qiren frowned at him.

“You seem remarkably certain about that, Wangji,” he said. “But why not? While it’s not appropriate for every circumstance, it’s an extremely powerful song. I would think that it would be at least worth an attempt.

”Lan Wangji looked distinctly shame-faced, though perhaps only someone who knew him very well would recognize that particular flavor of it.

“I see,” Lan Qiren said. “And what exactly has your brother done that he doesn’t want me to know about?”

—————————————————————————————–

Afficher davantage

HC of mine: LQR wooed LJY's mom but couldn't pursue ist bc of his sect duties/nephews but stayed on good terms with her. After LJY's parents died LQR took him in and is very lenient and soft with him in private. WWX is very confused when he hears LQR call him A-Yi by accident. Also LJY's mom was from the Jin clan and his dad from the Nie clan and his relation zu the Lan sect is through his paternal grandmother. Also LJY actually has a talent for healing.

OHMYGOOOOOD SIGN ME TF UP!!!!!!! asdfghjkdl this was a dynamic i just saw as a joke before but now im actually having feels???

- when LQR took him in, he initially thought it was just his sense of responsibility kicking in and then this tiny kid just looks up at him and beams with gaps on his teeth (up to this day, LQR believes he’d die for that kid right there and then)

- while LQR does have an experience in raising children (lwj and lxc) - ljy was a whole another experience altogether BECAUSE HE WAS JUST THE MOST UN-LAN THAT HAS EVER LAN’D IN THE HISTORY OF LANS like ljy has this favorite stuffed toy (maybe a teddy bear???) that his parents got him and he refuses to part with it even if said attachment is technically forbidden in the cloud recesses

- LQR tries to curb that attitude of his at first but little jingyi is just all over the place and has so much feelings and is bursting with so much color and LQR doesn’t have the heart to tell him to stop

- one day, young ljy hears some senior disciples talking about this newly arrived lan kid (obv him) who doesn’t act like one and must be stressing out LQR and baby!jingyi just sort of deflates bc he really reallyyyyy likes the old man and so he tries to be less unruly and talks less and is basically restraining his very nature

- LQR notices and talks to him about it but young!ljy doesn’t want to trouble his favorite person in the world and just smiles and says “i’m going to make you proud!” and he does try to be less of what he was before and then one time, when they met with other kids from different sects, someone ended up destroying (unintentionally/intentionally) his stuffed toy and LQR only hears about it when he hears the other young Lans talking about it when they got back to the cloud recesses

- LQR rushes to where young!LJY was (oh, he’d write the lan sect rules 50 times for that rule breaking later) and finds him in his room trying to put back his toy together and keeping his tears from falling and LQR has had enough and gathers the young one in his arms and says, “let it out” to which the kid replies, “can’t…being overly sad isn’t allowed…and i promised to make you proud” and LQR feels his own heart breaking (he adds another 50 times in writing for his own overly sad feelings) and then he looks at young!ljy straight in the eye and says, “i’m proud of that little boy who was all over the place, the one with so much feelings, the one who ran everywhere, the one who broke his tea cup, the one who laughed loudly - the one who was true to himself” and ljy starts shaking and lqr says again, “let it out” and ljy breaks into tears

- and so LJY is back to himself but is also trying to not cause too much trouble and does all these tiny things for LQR which he thinks may be nonsensical but something that LQR absolutely loves (his badly burnt tea, his writing materials being haphazardly prepared, and the like) 

- (ljy finds his teddy bear sewn together like it was from a surgery and he grins when he picks it up and whispers to it, “you had a good doctor” - and now he doesn’t only love that bear bc of his parents but bc of LQR as well)

- whenever LQR gets really mad, there is a collective agreement between the lan disciples to send LJY over to him bc it’s a public secret that LQR is very soft for that boy

- LWJ may be LQR’s favorite student but LJY was his favorite child

- grabbing that statement of LJY being good at healing - yes, but at a certain cost >>> when he does some “miraculous” healing, it’s at the expense of his own health as he ends up absorbing the negative energy from the other people’s sickness and LQR secretly detests it when LJY does it bc holding a quiet and frail LJY in his arms is one of his running fears

-  OKAY BUT CAN LJY PLEASE CALL HIM “grandpa”

- im also here for a very confused WWX but as usual, WWX easily gets over it and starts teasing LQR about his softness over the boy to which LQR makes him scram away

- whenever the junior disciples return from wherever they’ve been assigned to, LQR is the first person LJY visits and he just regales everything to him (LJY being so animated while telling his adventures and LQR beside him with a small smile on his face as he watches the kid)|

- after yi city arc, the whole cave saving incident, and basically after the main novel - LJY declares the Yiling Patriarch to be “very cool” and LQR chokes and curses the name of Wei Ying to his ancestors (he stole his favorite student - there is no way he’s going to steal his favorite child >> and thus the “Stay away from Wei Ying” rule was established)

WOW THIS WAS A DYNAMIC I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED UNTIL YOU OPENED MY EMOTIONAL FLOOD GATES FOR MY FAVORITE KID AHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS!!!

I've been thinking of the senior clan leaders being chaotic mfs just like their kids so here's a chaotic conversation I made up for them to have

Younger clan leader nie (the Nie Brothers father):I bet you would go to a sex worker and you would pay upfront too

Younger jin guangshan:why would I pay upfront?

Younger lan qiren(being completely serious):the condolence payment

Younger jin guangshan:condolence payment?

Younger lan qiren (still completely serious):for the death of her dignity when she decided to fuck you

(I know it's bad but I thought it was funny)

Those are the three dumbass trio Old Man you're lucky Wei Wuxian isn't with them. Else-

Lan Qiren: [looking at the juniors] Have you no control over these idiots?

Lan Wangji: None, whatsoever.

Lan Qiren: Wangji, I will be busy this evening with a discussion conference. You'll have to go to bed without your bedtime guqin music.

4-year-old Lan Wangji: Shufu is...evil? Shufu is unyielding? Shufu is incapable of love? I am running away. I am packing my little qiankun pouch and going out to explore the world as a lone vagabond. I can no longer thrive in Cloud Recess.

At one point Lan Qiren has held his nephews' hands, carried them in his arms, wiped their tears, picked them up when they fell, fed them, straightened their clothes, taught them to hold a brush, etc. etc.

I think about that a lot

And then I think about how Lan Qiren has just so desperately wanted his nephews to turn out well, how he wanted them to be different from their father.

And I wonder if Lan Qiren watches Lan Wangji get whipped 33 times and thinks about how once his little hand could only hold two of Lan Qiren's fingers at a time.

And I wonder if Lan Qiren sees Lan Xichen in seclusion and remembers when he struggled to hold chopsticks but tried again and again and again until he got it right.

If through everything, when he's scolding and punishing his nephews, he thinks back to their first days in his classes when they sat so seriously at the very front. Their chubby faces determined to do well.

Lan Qiren is definitely misguided and harsh, but I think he's also extremely motivated by his love for his nephews. They were thrust upon him, and he raised them the best that he could.

Because that's the other thing--Lan Qiren didn't decide to have these kids. They aren't his sons. But he did what he thought was best for them. He scolds them, he punishes them, but he's at least always there.