DC is life

Hi I hope you are well! in Worse engagement AU, does NHS ever find out about LXC getting longer-lasting incense, or LQR intentionally failing him his first year in Cloud Recesses? Poor NHS just can't catch a break, and I love the angst

Worst engagement AU! What lxc uncle think nhs behavior?

NHS and JZX's friendship gives me life!!! Thank you!

Jin Zixuan needs friends! He needs someone with who he doesn’t have to be perfect and proper and elegant all the time!

Everyone in this story has friends and/or siblings, but Jin Zixuan is just. On his own. Which is sad. And probably explains why he’s so fucking awkward all of the time.

I feel he would really profit from a friendship with NHS because 1. living proof that you can talk back to your older relatives and not die of dishonour 2. living proof that you can get along with your half siblings 3. if JZX argues against his dad about JGY or about the Wens or about anything, and JGS gets too angry, JZX now has the option to run off to QInghe for a while 4. He’d have someone to talk to about his complicated feelings toward JYL and maybe their situation could get solved a little earlier!

It just. It makes me sad that potentially, the closest thing to a friend JZX gets is his asshole cousin Jin Zixun. Sure CQL also gave him MianMian but... let that boy have friends! Let him have people who help him figure out that he can have emotions even if it’s inconvenient to his parents!

nhs: self defense! *punches someone in the dick*

worst engagement au, how would lxc react when he finds out that his lovely fiance didn't even make it onto the list of the most attractive young masters?

Worst engagement AU // on AO3

He was not happy

for a bonus

writing the list was something of a team effort:

"Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed of who you are" with Nie Mingjue and Jiang Yanli! Some good ol' oldest sibling bonding?

Jiang Yanli is left alone as her brothers deal with the fallout of that soup gifting debacle. Wei Wuxian is probably off somewhere threatening people, with Jiang Cheng trailing behind him, trying to both stop Wei Wuxian's threats and add his own to the lot. She is... glad that they care, glad that they won't stand for injustice against her. She is glad also for a chance to be alone and compose herself, humiliation still burning hot.

She would be glad as well to have them at her side, comforting her the way she'd comfort them if it had been their hearts breaking. Just once to be the one being taken care of. A selfish need, and after what happened she should know better than to be selfish, shouldn't she ? And yet...

Jiang Yanli startles when there is a knock on the door, and she hurriedly dries with the hem of her sleeves the tears she had not realised escaped her. When she goes to meet her guest, she is surprised to find Nie Mingjue, holding a tray with some tea on it.

“I've been told what happened,” he explains. “I hope I'm not overstepping.”

Too stunned to answer, Jiang Yanli quietly shakes her head and invites him inside the room she shares with her brothers. Part of her cringes at the mess but... this is a war, and she knows Nie Mingjue will understand she's had more important things to do than tidy up.

Such as causing a diplomatic incident.

“I am very sorry for what happened,” she says as Nie Mingjue puts down his tray. “I never intended for things to take such a turn.”

“Jin Zixuan was played with by a dishonest person, you can't be blamed for that,” he retorts dryly, sitting down and inviting her to do the same.

This room is her home, the only one she has left until they can reclaim Lotus Piers, but ultimately this entire camp is under Nie Mingjue's control and he's free to act as the host if he likes. Jiang Yanli sits down. Before she can make a move to serve the tea, Nie Mingjue is doing it.

“The servant who took credit for your work will be dismissed,” he announces as he hands her a cup. “This sort of behaviour is intolerable. And once things have calmed down, I will make sure that proper apologies are delivered to you.”

“There's no need... Master Jin had been lied to, he cannot be blamed for...”

“Jin Zixuan has reasons to act the way he did, but he has no excuses,” Nie Mingjue cuts her. “A boy of his standing and education should have known to handle things better than this. Even my brother would have shown better sense than this. You should not have been spoken to in such a manner.”

Jiang Yanli feels her hands tremble and has to put down her cup for fear she will spill its content.

“Chifeng-Zun is too kind,” she softly protests. “My own behaviour too was questionable, and so I can only blame myself for what happened. I will have my own apologies to offer.”

Nie Mingjue doesn't answer right away. He studies her impassively for a moment before shaking his head.

“Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed of who you are,” he says. “Your kindness is not a fault, and I have never heard a bad word against you since you arrived. The healers have all told me that you take great care to heed their advice and never hesitate to get your hands dirty if it can help. The cooks have told me you also give them a hand when they need it, and that you have done great at organising supplies and communicating to them the needs of the wounded. This alone is to your honour and if Jin Zixuan cannot see what he's letting pass, then he's as much of a fool as his father.”

“I did not do this to curry his favour,” Jiang Yanli protests, her cheeks heating up. “I made soup for my brothers, and it is difficult to make in small quantities, I always had some left. Young Master Jin works very hard, I thought he would appreciate this.”

And he had, she thinks with startling bitterness, until he realised who it came from. But she had guessed it would be so. Isn't this why she asked someone else to deliver the soup for her? Jin Zixuan has always made it clear that he wants nothing to do with her, she should have known better than to insist.

Nie Mingjue nods, and sips on his tea.

“It is a good reason for doing what you did,” he agrees, sounding so earnest that Jiang Yanli feels something settle inside her, grateful that he doesn't judge her for her foolishness. “I assume you will continue making soup for your brothers in the future?”

“If the supplies allow it, I would like to. I realise that there are better use for the resources we have, but...”

“I trust you to make the right decisions on that matter,” Nie Mingjue assures her. “And if you still have some left, I know I would appreciate both the food and its maker's company.”

Jiang Yanli can't help but gape for a moment at the bold suggestion. It is poor manners on her part, but she can be excused when Nie Mingjue broke decorum first. To ask for such a thing is...

“You don't have to,” he quickly adds, as if realising that he went to far, and there's something sweet to seeing a man this confident look unsure of himself. “But I would welcome it. I value people for their actions, and yours say you are someone I wouldn't dislike having as a friend.”

Another bold declaration, but of course that is to be expected of someone like Nie Mingjue whose reputation she knows. He is not one for flatteries and empty politeness. Her father used to both enjoy and dread dealing with Qinghe Nie's leader for that reason, saying Nie Mingjue gave people the respect they deserved, and nothing more than what they had earned.

Jiang Yanli can't help but smile, a little more of her earlier shame melting away.

“How much spice can you handle, sect leader Nie?” she asks.

He smiles back, looking relieved.

In those difficult times, perhaps they could both do with another friend.

For the ask meme: "I'm mad at god" where sqq is really talking about airplane

Luo Binghe’s husband is, to put it simply, an odd and fascinating man he half gave up on understanding. It is easier, he’s found, to simply accept whatever Shen Qingqiu does and say and not question it too much.

Besides, even when he gives in to curiosity, it is rarely indulged, not for the oddest things at least. Shen Qingqiu will make excuses, or pretend he never said anything, or in more extreme cases, lightly hit Luo Binghe with his fan to get him to stop asking pointless questions.

It doesn’t matter much, in the end. Luo Binghe knows the important things, such as his husband’s acceptance of his love, and the fact that he is loved back with an intensity that Shen Qingqiu doesn’t always bother hiding anymore.

Still, sometimes it really gets too odd.

Today, for example.

They are both relaxing in Shen Qingqiu’s… in their house on Qing Jing Peak. Shen Qingqiu is polishing his sword, while Luo Binghe gives some news from the demon world. His husband is always curious about that, especially if fearsome creatures or rare plants are concerned. It is not the case today, sadly. Instead it is all politics, especially since a great lord recently died and left no blood relative but a child he had with a human woman. Successions are never easy among demons, but this one is already looking to be particularly ugly. The child is young still, and the mother has come running to Luo Binghe to beg for his protection, which he has granted.

“The mother is a good woman,” Luo Binghe notes. “Many would have abandoned their half breed child and only sought to protect themselves.”

He thinks, of course, of Su Xiyan. Somedays, he tells himself she tried to save him, as Shen Qingqiu once argued. Other times, he is convinced that she really meant to destroy him before his birth and failed. Certainty will always escape him on this matter, as on many others.

“This Lord is generous to give asylum to those with enemies,” Shen Qingqiu praises him with a tender smile.

“Shizun thinks too highly of this one. It is only that this one was reminded of his own youth when he saw a miserable mother and child. This one’s life would have been different if his mother had been given help in her time of need.”

Shen Qingqiu, briefly, interrupts his work and stares ad Luo Binghe in that air he has sometimes, as if seeing him for the first time. He then tightens the grip on his sword and starts polishing it with renewed determination.

“What’s shizun doing?” Luo Binghe asks.

“This one is making preparations,” Shen Qingqiu retorts in a dry voice. “I’m mad at god and this time, he’ll feel my wrath.”

“Shizun cannot be serious. Sizhun cannot think of fighting gods.”

Shen Qingqiu shrugs, the way he does when he’s too high on emotion to play the part of cold master he hides behind, and lifts his sword to the level of his eye, checking the edge.

“God is a wimp and it’s time someone took him down for what he did to my husband,” Shen Qingqiu retorts, standing up. “If you need me, I’ll be in An Ding Peak.”

Luo Binghe blinks a few times, unsure what to make of that. He knows of his husband's friendship with Shang Qinghua, but he doesn’t understand it and quite frankly, that little whimpering fool is the last person he would have wanted at his side to go fight gods.

“Will shizun be back in time for dinner?” Luo Binghe inquires, since somehow that’s the sanest question he can think of asking.

Shen Qingqiu only takes a brief moment to consider this.

“Yes. It won’t take very long.”

He then leaves, while Luo Binghe can only stare at the door and try to make sense of what happened.

His husband is a very odd man, but Luo Binghe is hardly normal himself, so they fit well together.

The real problem, though, is that he must now think of a meal befitting a man who may or may not have gone off to kill a god. It’s only early afternoon, but Luo Binghe needs to get to work.