OK let Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing have a political marriage of convenience and  slowburn fall in love as they desperately try to save their people and are slowly forced via associating with their brothers to grimly take on saving everyone else as well.

also is anyone else charmed but a little alarmed by how all the Yunmeng Siblings go for people who are a combination of

tags by op

#this got me thinking about how unfazed wwx was by lwj being mean to him though. like i think it really didn’t register for him that much?#like sure he wanted to get a rise out of lwj bc he thought it was funny but also#being somebody’s punching bag isn’t new to him. being lashed out at for minor faults isn’t new to him#compared to madam yu and what he was dealing with on the streets this IS really just play fighting#and like. living in an environment where he can be punished at any time for any arbitrary reason (he breathed wrong in yzy’s presence)#he has two options: become incredibly meek and try to avoid punishment by never doing anything#or get used to punishment and learn how to endure it because it is going to happen and there’s nothing he can do about it.#and clearly he has gone with the second option. and that’s what he’s doing in cloud recesses too.#these 3k rules are so arbitrary and numerous and against his nature. there’s no way he’s not going to get punished#so there’s no reason for him to try particularly hard not to get in trouble.#and not only does lwj never actually hurt him he also protects him on occasion (e.g. the cold pool cave)#so in wwx’s mind that’s like. best friend material.#(the forehead ribbon is to wwx as a friendship bracelet is to a kid at summer camp)#the untamed#ANYWAY this post was about jiang cheng and wen qing and that part is ALSO galaxy brain#i would love to see them begrudgingly getting roped into supporting their brothers’ grand Causes for Justice#while they’re both like ‘i need to focus on my own goddamn family who the fuck are all these orphans’#well they’re YOUR orphans now. surprise!!! tags via @howdydowdy

Yes! And I think Jiang Cheng has kind of conditioned him to hear “your behaviour is APPALLING and you should be EMBARRASSED” as “I want to come play with you but I’m dutiful and repressed so you’re going to have to try a little harder to make me break. We’re going to have so much fun once you finally win me over!” There are people like Madam Yu and LQR who can’t be won over anyway and will always be looking for ways he’s a fuckup; people like JFM and Yanli who find him inherently delightful; and people who can be tormented into understanding his charms.

 they’re your orphans now. surprise!!! is just the essence of Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian’s bond  wen qing is also in the lan wangji jiang cheng category  but i think he respects that she’s between a rock and a hard place and is thus not quite so available for being annoyed into being bffs he’s a lot gentler with her     also he’s rightfully a little scared of her and lan zhan is special for many reasons but one of them  is that he promotes himself to co-captain of the Wei Wuxian is Amazing Actually Just the BEST club right when WWX is resigning himself to having to give up on being friends  with him after all that’s the very unexpected thing for him  i think  that even though he can’t be a charming/annoying ball of sunshine and fun for LWJ anymore and is doing a bunch of dark magic LWJ disapproves of for real   LWJ still wants him around     u continue to have such good tags and interesting thoughts and i both appreciate and am tormented by it      

sweet-hobgoblin bought me a kofi and asked me to do an enneagram overview on ChengQing, so here we go…

Both types 6 and 8 have a somewhat defensive view of the world - that life is unpredictable and people are untrustworthy, so they must protect themselves and those they love - and both struggle with trust issues, but the moment they are able to let their guard down with each other, a very strong bond can be formed. They both share a lot of the same vales, believing in hard work, keeping their word, unflinching loyalty, and building a more safe and secure community for the people they care about. 

Type 6s bring warmth and empathy, though Wen Qing is a 6wing5, so she is more measured and introspective than a cheerful 6wing7 (see: Wei Wuxian), with a kind of practicality and analytical focus that the type 8 admires. Type 8s bring decisiveness and leadership skills, as well as an ability to face and endure challenges that inspires loyalty in 6s.  

Enough! Let’s stop discussing such matters. It’s our best chance to stick together and conquer the Qishan. Win or lose is in this battle. We shall make a concerted effort. Red Blade Master is right. Clan Leader Jiang, if Young Master Wei can’t make it here today, please relay to him our discussion today.

                                 Lan Xichen & Nie Mingjue + supporting Jiang Cheng

siblings :’)

Ok hear me out. This is for the people who keep saying that Jiang Cheng can't help the remnants cause he's still rebuilding his sect and is in a politically weak position.

Because I argue if he had actually played his cards right he should have actually been the one with the most to bargain and gain if he helped Wei Ying

Cause yeah, everyone hates the remnants and is terrified of Wei Ying. Imagine if Jiang Cheng had actually used that. If the people saw Wei Ying as some kind of monster on the loose, then make it the JIANG'S monster on a leash instead. When the brothers met at the burial mound, Wei Ying had asked Jiang Cheng for a solution that still safeguards the Remnants. Telling Wei Ying to play along so people think Jiang Cheng has influence on him would be easy. So Jiang Cheng just makes a statement, "Wei Ying said sorry and he's chill but he's keeping the Remnants cause technically yeah, the Jin were mistreating them and the people guarding were simply punished for that mistreatment. Basically, the remnants are under us now"

There WILL be an uproar from almost everyone, but all Jiang Cheng needs to do is play cool, double down and call their bluff. "Yeah, you don't agree? Fine. We're leaving." And no one can do anything cause they're all still licking their wounds from the last war and aren't just gonna start a new one. Even if they wanted to, they know they can't take on Wei Ying, so they won't.

Jiang Cheng is building his clan from the ground up. Doing so whilst making the clan self sustainable would be more than manageable. Plus, we have another secret weapon, and that's Jin Zixuan, who at this point is so in love with YanLi that he would probably go against Jin Guangshan any day now. And we know Yanli isn't gonna go anywhere without her brothers. It's either he defects and brings some of his loyal servants with him to either establish their own sect or join the Jiangs OR Jin Guangshan just relents cause that's his heir.

Coaxing their way back into the Lans good graces is also more than manageable with Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue can be a brute, but he's not gonna pick a fight where there doesn't need to be one. He just fought a war. He's done. The smaller clans just do whatever the big clans do.

This is what frustrates me the most. If Jiang Cheng had been just a little bit smarter and played the long game he could have had everything. Instead he bent and snapped under the pressure of the other clans and told Wei Ying to just abandon the Wens.

I think mxtx did it on purpose too. I think it was meant to be a character defining moment. Jiang Cheng had the ultimate opportunity to live up to the Jiang Motto and do the impossible.

He didn't. That will always be the biggest tragedy of his character

THE UNTAMED episode 20

[insp.]

THE UNTAMED episode 17

lan wangji putting his hand on jiang cheng’s wrist, literally touching zidian with…. no consequences… whatsoever…….. many thoughts, head full

ah, @qi-ling​ you are absolutely right i am sorry but holy shit i just think that THIS:

means something. in terms of… of !!! (screams) of fucking trust and even familiarity. like it’s such a tense moment and it speaks of something huge that he just lets lan wangji hang there, not close to zidian but literally covering almost half of it with his hand. and he doesn’t even brush him off! i believe a lot of people forget that at the end of the day, post-thirteen years but before post-canon, lan wangji and jiang cheng have basically known each other for longer than either of them have known wei wuxian. they have lived with each other’s presence for longer than they have wei wuxian’s. and yeah, they spent all of that time raging and hating but it’s still something they have to live with and quite possibly are incredibly aware of. it’s something, again, familiar. they share this unique, desperate pain. this anger. idk!!

i’m definitely overthinking this, i could talk about these two for ages and never be done and i realize that they probably didn’t even notice this at all while filming (because yeah this moment is more about wei wuxian and jiang cheng) and i’m making this tiny (probably) accidental touch into a whole character analysis but that’s just what i do! lmao

he’s got his hand directly on zidian and jiang cheng doesn’t even bat a fucking eye at it, makes me crazy. truly, a head in hands moment

I love this scene a normal amount, and I feel normal bc now I’m not alone overthinking it. Yay!

Lan Wangji’s hand fits perfectly against Zidian. He slaps the little snake snout shut, so it cannot hiss like its owner, but it slips out from below his palm and rests against the side of his hand. Zidian was very happy.

Jiang Cheng looking at Lan Wangji with calm fury, yes, familiarity, once beloathed companion flashbacks. I can look at them for hours. He could have twitched like a normal person, but Jiang Cheng didn’t. Sobbing. Violently.

I just want to look at them a little longer. Just five more minutes, please.

#the amount of power in this scene

OKAY so like, THIS is one of the most counter-intuitive aspects of Jiang Cheng’s entire character. This is a man who was raised with his mother verbally abusing him with relentless haranguing about how he’s less impressive than Wei Wuxian whenever she’s not shaming him for loving- or even being friendly with- his adopted sect brother. This is a man who was emotionally abused by his father’s cold and distant attitude and clear favoritism towards Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng is AMBITIOUS and SELF-CONSCIOUS and desperate for his parent’s approval. When Wei Wuxian outshoots him in that first pair of gifs (in front of all the other disciples, no less!) anyone watching the show for the first time would TOTALLY expect Jiang Cheng to pitch a fit or at least stalk away in high dudgeon. 

But he doesn’t.

He smiles. Not only smiles, but smirks, like, “…Saw THAT coming.”

He is proud of his brother. 

He is so, so proud. And proud to be Wei Wuxian’s brother.

Before the time-skip, Jiang Cheng actually doesn’t really dwell on how Wei Wuxian is better than him. How much he’s going to get them in trouble, sure! How his arrogance is writing checks his abilities can’t cash, of course! How he just won’t get it through his thick skull that there are political consequences to his fucking actions, all the time! But not a constant green-eyed envy.

(Now, yes, there’s a bit of dwelling on the subject after the whole Dad-says-I’ve-missed-the-whole-point-of-our-clan-motto-and-then-mom-dragged-me-between-the-two-of-them-and-yelled-about-how-pathetic-I-am-and-how-other-people-think-Wei Wuxian-is-much-cooler-than-me-and-then-confirmed-the-fact-that-dad-doesn’t-like-me-very-much debacle, but in light of the whole situation, Jiang Cheng’s very understandable sulk-fest was focused much more on his own shortcomings or the general injustice of the situation as opposed to envy or resentment against Wei Wuxian himself.)

This is going to dovetail with a post I’m planning on writing about the Jiang sibling trio and love languages, but I personally think that it’s because more than anyone else- more than even Yanli- Jiang Cheng has grown up knowing with absolute certainty that Wei Wuxian loves him. I headcanon (and will die on the hill) that Jiang Cheng’s love language is physical touch. Yanli is affectionate but more physically reserved, whereas Wei Wuxian is constantly draping himself over Jiang Cheng, shoving him with his shoulder, slinging an arm around him, even punching him and getting into physical scuffles. Jiang Cheng is constantly hearing his brother say “hey I love you hey I love you hey I love you!”, and with all of that unspoken evidence poured over him almost every waking moment of his life, the poison from his mother and the ice from his father just… doesn’t stick. Even when he’s frantic and beside himself with grief over his parents’ deaths, accusing Wei Wuxian of being the source of their misfortune, Jiang Cheng is still is grabbing him, shoving and shaking him, even choking him- still actively seeking physical touch to process his grief. We only see the poison really start to sink in after Wei Wuxian returns from the Burial Mounds and becomes so distant. The more he pulls away, the more he avoids physically engaging with Jiang Cheng (”What? You want to fight?!”), the more the latter begins to doubt Wei Wuxian’s love for him, the more the latter thinks that Wei Wuxian doesn’t give a fuck about him or their sect family anymore. 

And what is the turning point after the time skip and sixteen years of seething grief, bitterness, and resentment? Not just after he’s vented his feelings in the temple, but after Wei Wuxian reaches out to him and strokes his face. After his brother gently wipes the tear from his cheek. After Wei Wuxian finally says- in the unspoken language that Jiang Cheng understands best- “I still love you.” 

It’s only after that that we see Jiang Cheng once more look at Wei Wuxian, able to be proud of his brother’s accomplishments because he once more is assured of his love.

WujiWatch: CQL Rewatch Episode 15

CQL is an especially rewarding show to rewatch (and to write fic about) in part because of the ambiguities that the show intentionally leaves unresolved. What happened to Wei Wuxian's parents? Why did Lan Wangji's mother kill Qingheng-jun's teacher? Does resurrected Wei Wuxian have a golden core or not? Why did Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao have a falling-out? What is Baoshan Sanren's deal?

The ambiguity that hangs over this episode is: would Yu Ziyuan really have cut off Wei Wuxian's hand? You can argue it either way, and fans do: yes, she had every intention of cutting off his hand until Wang Lingjiao started talking about creating a Yunmeng Supervisory Office, which was the actual dealbreaker; no, she was only playing along to buy time and would never have really done it.

Trying to resolve this ambiguity by reading into Yu Ziyuan's words and actions is a dead end. The show gives us occasional internal-monologue voiceovers for some characters (including one for Wei Wuxian in this very scene) but never for her, and certainly not here. We can't read her mind. We'll never know for sure.

But to me, the truly decisive fact is: both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian absolutely believe she is going to do it. Jiang Cheng pleads with her to spare Wei Wuxian - you could say he, too, is just playing along, but that doesn't check out; that boy cannot act worth a damn. (His numerous unhelpful emotional outbursts, in this scene alone, demonstrate a total inability to act in a way contrary to his true feelings.) And we know Wei Wuxian believes she's going to do it because the writers helpfully give us a voiceover in which he immediately resigns himself to the loss of his hand. The thought that Yu Ziyuan might be faking it doesn't even cross his mind.

So to me, this is one ambiguity that isn't that ambiguous in the end: the two people in this scene who've spent their whole lives observing Yu Ziyuan, who know her better than we as viewers ever will, have no doubt that she would and will maim Wei Wuxian for life.

I am of the belief that the only reason jiang cheng wasn't ranked higher on the eligible bachelors list is because he's a prickly jackass and most women didn't like that, which is what makes wen qing's "actually, I think he deserves to be more of a bitch" opinion even better. if only they weren't so star-crossed, they could've been a bitch4bitch power couple

THE UNTAMED episode 08