#3zuns

my next drawings for the @mdzsrbb ft. animal shifters 3zuns :D

I think everything would have ended way, way better. :’’) 

Initially, I don’t think it would have gone any worse than things how it did go. Lan Xichen did find out in canon, went to the Jinlintai to confront Jin Guangyao, and Jin Guangyao responded by… well, we don’t know for certain. But canon heavily implies he responded by injuring himself and then freezing Lan Xichen’s meridians.  Wei Wuxian implies speculates that Lan Xichen lost his spiritual power in the same scheme as Jin Guangyao had used to Nie Mingjue: harming himself and then freezing their qi. This also fits with what the other sect leaders said when they stormed the Burial Mounds–that Jin Guangyao had been injured in an assassination attempt and Lan Xichen was healing him. That’s enough details to tell us that Jin Guangyao probably harmed himself (without intent to die) to delay. 

Jin Guangyao himself told us I never thought of harming you. Of course, this is to be taken with a grain of salt–his actions did hurt Lan Xichen, even if he never took an action intending to harm him. But if we consider what Jin Guangyao prized above all else–life itself (again, Wei Wuxian comments that Jin Guangyao would never commit suicide)–I think we can conclude that no, he would not have attacked Lan Xichen. Keep in mind, also, that he saved Nie Mingjue from Wen Ruohan, and only killed Nie Mingjue after Nie Mingjue not only repeated his worst trauma by kicking him down the stairs, called him a terrible name that had been slung at him from childhood, and tried to kill him and would have if Lan Xichen hadn’t intervened. None of this makes Jin Guangyao a morally acceptable person (or excuses his actions), but I mention this because Jin Guangyao is, like Wei Wuxian, not a scheming murder-happy person (that’s Xue Yang); rather, he is a scared animal that will lash out when cornered. 

As for Lan Xichen, I think his decision would depend on where exactly everything came out. Was Nie Mingjue still alive? Was Wei Wuxian? Was Qin Su pregnant? Were they already married? Was Jin Guangshan still alive? I do think Lan Xichen would encourage him, no matter what, to do what he could to make things right, but I also think Lan Xichen would be unable to stand him suffering. Even at the very end of the novel, Lan Xichen can “not bear” to see Jin Guangyao in pain and to have “end[ed] up like this.” It’s this very emotion Nie Huaisang exploits to get Lan Xichen to stab Jin Guangyao.

Lan Xichen canonically hasn’t forgiven himself for this, and it can be easily compared to Lan Wangji’s seclusion after Wei Wuxian’s demise. Given this comparison, I actually think the novel does imply Lan Xichen will heal eventually with his brother’s help, and while the novel does not include his decision to die with Jin Guangyao like in CQL, I still think the overall characterization of Lan Xichen is that he would not have given up on Jin Guangyao redeeming himself. (So no, I don’t think he would have allowed him to be executed; even when Lan Wangji was on the run with Wei Wuxian, he took efforts to protect him from the rest of society accusing and executing him, as they would have.) 

Something I think a lot of fans misinterpret is that Jin Guangyao wanted power. Social standing (not even power per se), for Jin Guangyao, was prized as a symbol of justifying his very existence (the same desire Wei Wuxian had though he used other symbols and tools), an existence Jin Guangyao was told from birth shouldn’t have happened–by the prostitutes in the brothel, by his father, by society. He worked himself to the bone to earn the approval of his father, and only snapped when he realized he could never earn it. 

The problem was that Jin Guangyao associated his father, his place as the son of both a prostitute and a sect leader, with whom he had to be, with his purpose. Why wouldn’t he? His father’s prestige was the very thing that enabled him to leave the whorehouse–and, indeed, JGS being a sect leader is probably the reason he was even born, and he knows that (not to say Meng Shi didn’t love him, everything indicates she loved him dearly). Of course the position of “sect leader” is associated with acceptance, with purpose, with his own existence, with love, in his mind. Jin Guangyao defined himself by both of his parents to his detriment: society would never forget his mother’s role, so he had to constantly live in apology for that. He saw himself as the son of a whore and the son of a sect leader. His birth name (Meng Yao) is a likely reference to the pearl Jin Guangshan gave to Meng Shi; his courtesy name is a laughably careless and cruel name that ostensibly accepted him as Jin Guangshan’s son while insulting him and making it clear he is not the same status as Jin Guangshan’s other sons. He was always defined as the son of a whore and the son of a sect leader. 

The tragedy is that Jin Guangyao should have focused on the love and care of Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue, rather than on the cheap leftovers Jin Guangshan dangled before him to manipulate him. Because Nie Mingjue really did not see him as either of those at first, and Lan Xichen never did. 

Chapters: 13/? Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Meng Yao/Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Jiāng Yànlí/Jīn Zǐxuān, Madam Jin/Madam Yu, Possible others as series progresses Characters: Madam Jīn, Mèng Shī, Madam Yu, Meng Yao, Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian, Niè Míngjué, Niè Huáisāng, Wen Ning, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Ruòhán, Jīn Guāngshàn, Lán Qǐrén, (List will expand as needed) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Oops - I did it again, Drabble turned to full story, Not exactly the same as the drabble, Meng Shi just wants her baby to be loved., Meng Yao just wants to make his mama happy., Madam Jin just wants to geld her husband. Summary:

When Madam Jin learns that her husband's fathered a bastard on a whore in Yunping, she decides Something Must Be Done. She didn't expect that Something to be including Meng Shi into her little circle of friends and starting a spy network.

I was reading this post on reddit about homosexuality in ancient China and how that could tie into mdzs. It was mostly talking about wangxian, but then I caught this. Yeah, 3zuns anybody??