Ummm, WHAT?!?!

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This isn't really new or anything but the more I reread random passages the more convinced I am that there's something very unique about the way Jiang Cheng reacts to Wen Ning and it's just so interesting!

I'm convinced it's more than just being angry. It's more than just hating him, or blaming him for Jin Zixuan's death or his sister's life. It's more than being a Wen, and it comes long before so many of those tragedies unfold anyway.

There's a sort of urgent, visceral reaction to Wen Ning's presence that just has this different feeling to it than how he reacts to any of the other characters. Even characters he has strong emotional responses to, it's never with the same panic or recklessness. It's not the same as the whole "vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy" situation he's got going on with Wei Wuxian (sexy as that might be).

When it's Wei Wuxian, it's all "...well, well. So you're back?" and "Haven't you got anything to say to me?" Even when he's not being very nice, even when he's throwing teacups and furious at Wei Wuxian, there's still an edge of calmness in the way he lashes out. He's fucking mad but he's had more than a decade to think about this and he's got things to say and he's trying so hard to get a reaction from Wei Wuxian that he just won't give him.

But he can't tolerate having Wen Ning anywhere near him. Much of the time he instantly lashes out, physically, in ways to create space between them. He's mean to Wen Ning, but he doesn't really have much to say to him; he just wants to get away from him.

It really stuck out to me how instinctive and instantaneous and emotional that reaction is when I was reading this passage from chapter 81 (ExR translation since I've got it on hand in digital text form), when Jin Ling returns Zidian and rushes back into the fray during the Second Siege:

Obviously that is not very nice and poor Wen Ning didn't deserve a kick for being legitimately helpful there, but the point is that not only does he lash out - the reaction happens even when he's clearly got higher priorities going on in a chaotic situation. Throughout that entire event he reacts in a somewhat more even-keeled way to almost everything except Wen Ning being in his vicinity.

And it's not just after Wen Ning's death, not just after he became Wei Wuxian's greatest weapon, not just after he was forced to kill Jin Zixuan - it's specifically a pattern established from the moment he woke up in the Supervisory Office without a core:

At this point he doesn't even know how he was rescued, since he was unconscious for all of that, and thinks they're in a Wen trap and likely going to die (or worse). But there's so many echoes of that interaction again, and again, and again between them.

And combined with Wen Ning's remarks during the scene just before this, where he tells Wei Wuxian about the discipline whip injuries and how Jiang Cheng 'should have other injuries as well', the way the narrative is so deliberately ambiguous on what exactly occurred, it all makes me want to crawl up the walls and gnaw on the light fixtures wailing WHAT DID YOU SEE, WEN NING?! WHAT DID YOU SEE?

At a minimum, Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning was there at Lotus Pier prior to his capture by the Wen guards, because they'd both seen Wen Ning examining Jiang corpses on the training field before they fled for Meishan.

But everything after that is only implication and subtext and suppositions and speculation, not directly stated in the text. But based on his reaction, you can pry my headcanon from my cold dead hands that that Wen Ning probably witnessed all or much of what happened to Jiang Cheng after he was captured, and Jiang Cheng knows it.

I've also posted before how I think there's an at least nonzero chance that Jiang Cheng was never directly told that Wen Ning wasn't actually there with Wen Chao when they saw him early on, but came later to try to help (because when Wen Ning gives Wei Wuxian that information Jiang Cheng isn't conscious, and nobody tells Jiang Cheng anything. I don't think that headcanon changes much either way, but there is a slight difference, at least emotionally, between 'I helped you while I was there to slaughter your clan and destroy your life' and 'I came when I heard my crazy cousin was slaughtering your clan and tried to help you' and I think it's a juicy thing to add to the pile of misunderstandings they each have of the other's motivations and actions).

Which, if I go with these two ideas together, really drives home what a bespoke and specific nightmare the way the Golden Core reveal played out - not only the substance of the reveal, but the fact it was Wen Ning who revealed it.

He was already furious that they were even there at Lotus Pier, particularly Wen Ning. But the way it all happens it feels like it's not just echoes of the amplified emotions of the confrontation with Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian in the Ancestral Hall, it's not just Wen Ning being a Wen, or even Jin Zixuan's death, the way the narration calls out. It feels like there are deeper layers to it.

I also feel a bit stupid for not noticing before this probably extremely obvious to literally everyone else who isn't a dumbass like me parallel of Wen Ning getting a gruesome scorching whip mark across his chest at Lotus Pier in the course of saving Wei Wuxian (more or less, sort of - we know as readers Jiang Cheng was intentionally trying not to hurt them with Zidian, but I don't think Wen Ning knew that when he jumped in).

I don't know that it actually means anything but it's making me FEEL THINGS incoherently at this specific moment, so. Also I find it legitimately sad that Wen Ning has to live with guilt over things that happened when he was controlled by someone else, though the scene before the Ancestral Hall when Jin Ling starts crying on the boat is probably a better example of that. Anyway.

It's just there's so, so many layers to how uniquely horrible it is for Jiang Cheng that he not only finds out about the Golden Core transfer this way, but also that Wen Ning, specifically, directly witnessed this life-shatteringly huge deception and sacrifice too - while Jiang Cheng was unconscious, no less.

And, well, we know how everything got capped off in that scene...

Obviously the shock of the information was going to get a huge reaction no matter what, no matter who or how he found out. Even without the Wen Ning element, it already hits every one of his deepest weaknesses and insecurities and fears.

But to come from the guy who'd witnessed his family being slaughtered, who'd witnessed who-knows-what humiliations heaped on him (who also happens to be the same fucking guy that Wei Wuxian thought it was worth leaving Yunmeng Jiang for, breaking his promise for...), the guy he blames for his sister's tragic fate (whether that blame is misplaced or not), the guy he exhibits a panic response towards even decades later, and goddamn.

There are just so many layers to this perfect little nightmare reveal on so many different levels aren't there?

There's just SO much meaty stuff for these two to dig into post-canon and all we get is an extra with a 'oh yeah sometimes Jiang Cheng yells on night hunts and Wen Ning is there' about it?!

I should probably just shut up and go read some Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning focused fics or something (whether romantic or platonic that's probably an area I really haven't explored enough vs. the amount of sheer interesting hints and material the novel gives to work with! If by some miracle anyone made it to the end of this beast feel free to drop any recs that explore them, especially that 'what did Wen Ning see?!' aspect of the whole situation because that is the current little brain worm haunting me right now).

I love sitting down in the evening and trying to decide what activity I should do to unwind and then realizing an hour later that I have neither done an activity nor unwound

rewatching red dwarf so far is a lot of Rimmer absolutely just saying Things

red dwarf posting...

imagine my surprise when i discover that theres an active red dwarf community on tumblr 😭 oh man i grew up on this show and i started thinking about it again recently, how the time flies..

New Red Dwarf out of context video fresh off the grill :D

Sorry it's taken a while, but here's season 4!!

Not sure if anyone's made a post like this before but Red dwarf really is the show of all time

It's got a genderswap episode, its got a bodyswap episode, it's got multiple clone episodes, plenty of alternate universes and a simply iconic musical number despite the fact that its not a musical show by any means

theres a trans computer, two counts of mpreg, insane levels of homosexual behavior and a robot who goes through a midlife crisis

it's got the most repressed man in existence who also happens to be dead, literally the most optimistic last human alive (seriously, how is he so positive all the time) and a dude with frankly the best wardrobe ever who also happens to be literally a cat

Theres dodgy BBC budget practical effects (which I love), copious moments which are insane in and out of context, sets that are held together with blu tac and a cult following that could probably once destroy anything

It's got that season which not many people like to talk about (cough 8, cough), one of the creators left halfway through and they've all been doing It for over 35 years and are still going somehow

God I love it so much, it really is the show of all time

Just thinking about the intimacy behind a very soft and gentle "Let's get you home."

Yes, lovely.

Also a fan of "Let's get you cleaned up" and "Let's get you to bed"

whump is such a strange thing for me. ‘oh im having trouble shouldering the burdens of daily life, let me play scenes in my head of someone getting the shit kicked out of them (fictionally), that’ll make me feel better’ and it DOES

It would have been one thing to make Nie Mingjue the big tough stone-faced jock, but the fact that the CQL directors had him cry every time he gets in an argument or feels a strong emotion is very sexy

@theuntamednarrator TB, YOUR TAGS ARE GOLD, AS ALWAYS

I was rewatching the scenes where jc finds out that wwx gave him his golden core, and like the aftermath where he says the whole monologue of “you said you would be my subordinate, you said you would be by my side forever” and I genuinely dont get how some people watch this scene and don’t break down crying.

I was in tears like genuinely sobbing, especially after knowing jc lost his golden core by leading the wen away from wwx? Sobbing.

I think the song TV by billie eilish sums up my feelings for that scene because what do you mean “I’ll be in denial for at least a little while…what about the plans we made?” I’M NOT ALIVE.

I get not liking jc but how does one who possesses human empathy not cry at that, he lost everything, the future they had planned together can’t ever happen now.

Every time jc says sthg like “should I not hate you?!” in my head that translates to “why can’t I hate you?” and that just makes me cry more.

Case in point made the twin prides of yunmeng are TV coded and I am in tears at every edit I see.

i'm hyperfixating

You can’t reblog this again until October 2024, so do it now.

You can’t reblog this again until October 2030, so do it NOW.

ANNE WITH AN E (2017 - 2019) | s02 ep01 'YOUTH IS THE SEASON OF HOPE'

I think its important to point out that wei wuxian doesn't become paranoid because of losing his core or spending months in the burial mounds or channeling resentment. he becomes deeply paranoid pretty much immediately after the massacre of lotus pier and it doesn't go away until he dies

even tho I firmly believe cql absolutely made the right choice to keep the same actors throughout the show and the quality would have undeniably suffered if they'd gotten different actors for various different points in the timeline, it Does often get very confusing and weird wirt to the ages of the characters. I do however think that wang zhuocheng plays "the pure vulnerable rage, anguish, and fear of a traumatized teenage boy too young to fully grasp what has happened to him" Incredibly well

i said it was my favorite piece of media that i’ve hyperfixated on since the tender age of 12 and have not let go of since. i didnt say it was a Good piece of media

“what do you like about it so much?” the fact that it cocooned me like a tender wool blanket during my vulnerable teenage years. next question