#ruojue

“Nie Mingjue,” he said, inclining his head, and Nie Mingjue saluted in return. His eyes were red, and he was – really quite startlingly tall, come to look at him. Wen Ruohan had never had much interest in children, and his own interest in Lao Nie rather precluded him from being in any way inclined to associate with the children of the women he’d (however briefly) lost Lao Nie to, so they’d never spent a great deal of time together. He’d only seen him from a distance, or heard about how he’d defeated his own sons in some feat or another, which happened with annoying regularity. “I haven’t had the chance to offer you my condolences.”

He probably should have. Lao Nie had cared a great deal about his sons, and about his sect; he would have wanted Wen Ruohan to reach out.

Pity he was dead, and Wen Ruohan selfish as he’d ever been. Without someone to remind him of the good he ought to do, it was no surprise that he’d instinctively retreat back into his worst habits…

“I don’t need your condolences,” Nie Mingjue said. “I need your help.”

Wen Ruohan frowned. “With what?”

“With finding the person who did it.”

Wen Ruohan straightened up abruptly. “It wasn’t natural? I mean – that is – your family…”

“I know my family history for qi deviations. This wasn’t that,” Nie Mingjue said grimly. “This was deliberate.”

Wen Ruohan felt the familiar warmth of rage in his belly – and a feeling, almost, of relief, at having a sense of purpose once more.

“In that case, I would be more than happy to help,” he said silkily, standing up and crossing the room, offering Nie Mingjue a hand. “My Wen sect doesn’t ally itself with others, but I think, in this particular instances, I can make an exception. Don’t you agree?”

“I do,” Nie Mingjue said, and accepted his hand, only to jump as if he’d been suddenly shocked by lightning, with Wen Ruohan only managing to stay on the ground himself through years of hiding his reaction to things. “What was that?”

Wen Ruohan stared down at where he was touching Nie Mingjue for – now that he thought of it – the first time ever.

“Our cultivations are unusually compatible,” he murmured. “Even…exceptionally compatible.”

“Oh,” Nie Mingjue said, blinking. “Well, that’s – helpful, I guess? Good to know.”

It was very good to know. Cultivating together in any way, whether through a mutual spar or meditation, would have an accelerating effect for both of them, and given Wen Ruohan’s already-high levels of cultivation, that was an exceedingly rare effect for him to find. And if they did more than that – if, for instance, they engaged in dual cultivation…

Wen Ruohan smiled, his old dreams of divinity dancing right before his eyes.

(For reference: five coins could buy a beautifully horrific portrait of the Yiling Patriarch)

Wen Chao was the one who told Wen Ruohan it was 100 coins in the first place so he could spend the change on his girlfriend

Wen Xu thinks Wen Ruohan is wrong about a 100-coins banana, but he never looks at prices when shopping and always tells the seller to keep the receipt, so he doesn't know enough about market prices to dispute it

Meng Yao is like, "...Yes, it's 100 coins," and then adds the excess amount into his 5 Year Plan™ piggy bank

Jin Guangshan is also like, "...Yes, it's 100 coins," and outwardly pretends like he doesn't know any better when he really, really does and has to discreetly drink the vinegar

Jiang Fengmian just kind of shrugs his shoulders, "Sure."

Madam Jin and Madam Yu are hanging out just like 😑🍷🍷😑 and thinking maybe money can buy happiness if Wen Ruohan can be that oblivious and maybe they should have set their sights on becoming Madam Wen instead

Lan Xichen nods along in agreement because he is another person who has never set foot in a market (Meng Yao's 5 Year Plan™ is starting off great)

Nie Huaisang has no idea because he only eats fruits and vegetables when someone else puts them on the table

Lazy edit bonus because Wen Ruohan deserves a cupcake:

In this AU, Dad Nie died earlier than in canon (both Nie kids’ mothers died during childbirth). How he died, he either was killed during a night hunt by a powerful monster or yao, or was killed by Wen Ruohan or someone else. The Wens attacked while the Nie sect was in chaos as its heirs were still too young. Only a 10-year old NMJ and 4-year old NHS escaped and they ended up in a brothel.

NMJ begged to stay for a little bit in the brothel for a little rest. The owner of the brothel, a woman in her 30’s, told them they could stay as long as they like as long as NMJ worked there. All he had to do was clean, run some errands, cook, simple tasks like those. Until 3 years later.

A customer mistook NMJ as a prostitute and asked for his services. That gave the owner an idea. The young boy is pretty but doesn’t want to be touched. The owner knows some customers ogle at the boy. The boy has good footwork. Why not make him a dancer? The idea was proposed and she found amusement on the boy sputtering reasons until she added that his pay will increase and with that, he can buy more things his brother wants. The owner knows that this boy, A-Jue as he introduced himself, will do anything to make sure his brother is comfortable. A-Jue agreed the next day. Training him to dance starts now.

NMJ trains his golden core as much as he can. He writes down his sect’s ideals, laws, motto etc. as much as he can remember. He reminds himself his name and Huaisang’s name. They are Nie. They are from the Nie clan. He just can’t use it at the moment. NMJ is afraid he might forget. He does the Nie braids on NHS only and teaches him how to do it. His little brother braids his hair sometimes.

When the woman proposed him the idea to be a dancer, NMJ was reluctant. But increase pay means NHS can finally indulge in his luxuries, then he’ll take it (his brother enjoys painting and he loves fans. He also seems to get along with the prostitutes in the brothel. Did they teach him how to apply make-up? Huaisang has been asking to use him as his model).

NMJ started training in dancing. His (short) saber practice in the past coming in handy. Whether he likes it or not, he started focusing his powerful golden core to his physical appearance. Two years later he made his public appearance.

He was a success.

Since then, NMJ became a known dancer. It started in that small area until it spread wider and wider. When NMJ dances, he covers his face with a veil and it gets people curious on what he looks like but they’ll never see. NMJ doesn’t want them to see. The owner was reluctant at first but she then noticed the appeal of having his face covered. His eyes are appealing enough.

And that’s all I have. I imagine the reason why NMJ would be able to get close to WRH is because the Wen or Jin sect is hosting something and NMJ was hired to be the entertainer. He took it because of (1) good pay and (2) the opportunity to finally get his revenge for his sect and father.

I can imagine Huaisang as the one who is doing NMJ’s make-up, designing and choosing his clothes, plans his routine (they change it up), etc. (NHS also formed a golden core but as weak and late as canon. Looking for REAL cultivator books are expensive, and NHS doesn’t seem to be interested much to NMJ’s horror).

A screenshot of the pose: