#squishybunny129

You’re honestly good to go for quite a long time, though you should know that the dynamic is different. CQL has a lot more build-up and, frankly, pining going on that MDZS does. Some of this can be attributed to translation (there are references EN readers won’t catch), and some to the fact that Wei Wuxian is the POV character and he is undeniably an unreliable narrator who barely knows what he himself wants, let alone anyone else. He spends a long time thinking Lan Wangji dislikes him, and not realizing he himself is bi. He also… flirts in a way that is intended to offend, when he’s pretending to be Mo Xuanyu, and some of those situations involve innuendo. It’s just really different for a long time.

Okay, moving on. This story is not really about smut and sex at all. There is some kissing without explicit consent in chapter 69 (Wei Wuxian doesn’tknow who’s kissing him but the audience does). If you want to skip that section stop reading at “After the song finished, Wei Wuxian crossed his arms and leaned against the tree in a more comfortable position. The flute was between his arms, while the flower was still at his chest, emitting a crisp, quiet fragrance.” and skip to “He began to walk randomly around the forest.”(this is in the middle of a paragraph, but the start is just about giving up looking for the person who kissed him).

You might want to skip chapter 95 entirely, and definitely most of it. You maywant to stop reading at “After a hard struggle, Wei Wuxian finally dragged Lan Wangji back to the inn. When the owner saw that they caught two hens in the middle of the night and even gave them to her, her expression almostcouldn’t be put into words” in Chapter 94 (It’s the start of a bath scene that leads into the next chapter). There is one section at the end of chapter 95 where Wei Wuxian begins to confess his feelings after sex if you want to read that. It starts with “Wei Wuxian had buried the things he wanted to ask Lan Wangji inside of him for a long time, too afraid to ask” and does contain some situational references to the sex (they’re on the bed and Wei Wuxian is calming down), and goes through the end of the chapter. If you want to avoid it entirely you can skip straight from the start of the bath scene in 94 to chapter 96 and just know that they’re having major, major miscommunications about feelings.

You should be good from then on until chapter 111 in terms of actual sex taking place. Wei Wuxian references the sex and wanting to sleep with Lan Wangji in chapter 100 as part of the actual confession scene (“I want/wanted to sleep with you”). It never gets more explicit than that phrase, but it’s almost impossible to edit out by skipping text and there’s a lot of plot happening around it.

In Chapter 111, you have some choices. If you don’t want to read references to the kiss in chapter 69, stop at “As he wished, Wei Wuxian was pinned onto the ground and smooched for a long while.” If you don’t mind that reference, stop at “Only a lil’ fuddy-duddy like you would believe me hahahahahaha…” Then you can either skip rest of the chapter, or to “Carefully, Lan Wangji went to kiss him, his movements somewhat clumsy”and read through “Until now, it’d been thirteen years since scab grew over this wound” if you want the story of how Lan Wangji got a brand on his chest to match Wei Wuxian’s scar (this tangent is embedded within the sex scene).

Chapter 112 is really up to your taste, and there’s nothing super plot-relevant you’ll miss by skipping it. There’s no sex, but there are references to the fact that they’re having sex often, and there’s a bunch of teasing that leads tolight bondage and making out before they’re interrupted by the novel’s version of meeting Mianmian and her family. I think that if you want just the Mianmian scene without the references and teasing you can start at “The two parted at once” and end at “Lan Wangji plunged over and finally caught him, holding him tight in his arms as he protested, ‘We have [bowed as in a marriage ceremony], so we already are… [married].’”

Chapter 113 is the conclusion of the main text and is entirely ace-friendly. They’re married! And happy! Joy and looking to the future!

I have not read most of the extras. The last two (125: Lotus Seed Pod and 126: Dream Come True) are the only two I have read, and they are ace-friendly (there’s some pining and kissing and flirting and cuteness, but nothing beyond that).  I know that you definitely DO NOT want read the Incense Burner extras (117 and 119). They’re reportedly entirely dream/fantasy smut stuff.