#twi posts

(disclaimer that all of this explanation is quoted from Anon with their permission. I agree with them based on my own research and reading.)

If we go by what Chinese people tend to consider valuable in the modern age (and arguably before the modern age as well), then what looks to a western audience like a parent "favoring" one child is not actually a parent "favoring" one child.

What tends to matter to Chinese people when it comes to raising your children is education, discipline, and opportunities. A parent's duty is not just to love their child, but also to ensure that their child grows up in the right way, with the right values, right education, and ability to access the right opportunities. Unfortunately, for a lot of parents, this does mean being harsher towards your own child and comparing them to other children (e.g. 别人家的孩子), but the purpose of comparing your child to 别人家的孩子 is to prod your child towards working harder and developing in the right direction.

If a parent treats one 'Child A' leniently, but treats another 'Child B' strictly, it may seem from a western pov like the parent is favoring A over B. However, if the parent responds to transgressions from A with nonchalance, but seeks to correct the transgressions of B, then in reality the parent is favoring B over A. And the reason for this is that this indicates that the parent cares more about the future of B than they do that of A, because uncorrected transgressions lead to future problems and failure. You correct the transgressions of your own child, but you do not correct the transgressions of 别人家的孩子 because they are not your responsibility.

In this context of "favoring", we can say that it tends towards the conclusion that Jiang Fengmian did not favor Wei Wuxian for the above reasons.

Does this mean that Jiang Fengmian favored Jiang Cheng, and/or was a good father to Jiang Cheng? No.

However, based on the above, which parent is actually treating Wei Wuxian like their own child?

So I adore how canonically, Wei Wuxian is pretty not-great with animals. He argues with a donkey, holds rabbits wrong and threatens to cook them, and is scared of dogs in a way that doesn't even make sense for the genre, etcetera.

So my headcanon on the other end of this is that Jiang Cheng is actually very good with animals of all sorts and tends to prefer them greatly over humans. Animals are honest and simple in their affections and needs, uncomplicated in a way that Jiang Cheng doesn't get from basically any human because there's so many expectations of him.

Obviously there's his three dogs as an example of how much he cherishes the affection of animals, but as a foil to Wei Wuxian, I like to take that further.

It's Jiang Cheng that trained the horse that Wei Wuxian rides at the Phoenix Mountain event (that Wei Wuxian leaves for Jiang Cheng to handle once he's done showing off).

Xianzi (Fairy) listens to him when gives commands, which also just means Xianzi is well trained, but also that Jiang Cheng was still invested enough in its training to know the commands to give.

It's Jiang Cheng that keeps an eye out for the alligators around Lotus Pier to make sure they have all the room and food sources they need.

It's Jiang Cheng that keeps his window open for the sect mouse-catching cats to sneak in and have kittens under his bed.

It's Jiang Cheng that the local dogs come to, begging for attention whenever he's around.

He's one of those guys that will look simply murderous but then a sparrow lands on his shoulder to grab a seed that fell there. He's definitely fed all the local birds by hand many times. When he needs a break and bird watching is nicely mind-numbing.

Jiang Cheng goes swimming in the lake and turtles like to take a ride on his back, or sun bathe on him while he floats.

If he's in one of the big rivers for whatever reason, the river dolphins there don't shy away from him.

Magical Beasts of all sorts prefer Jiang Cheng over other cultivators, his aura is very spicy and interesting! (Jiang Cheng likes animals to a degree that whatever was upsetting him gets shoved to the back of his mind to be dealt with later.)

Don't you get tired? Why the crusade? Can't you just write nice things about your faves?

I'll start.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling and Jiang Yanli are all very good beans that all have their quirky flaws. I enjoy that not a single one of them can handle their feelings in a healthy way, but each of them still loves so fiercely it set the course for an entire story.

I have one in mind that I struggled with since the donghua.

When is a sect obligated to respond to the Emperor about their problems.

MDZS shows it terribly, especially the donghua. They mention who's reigning the land, BUT, no info is sent to the imperial palace/administration.

So realistically, and within the xianxia/wuxia genre, when are sects required to inform the Emperor?

Hello, my dear! I am always up for talking about genre convention and how that relates to MDZS!

Unfortunately the answer isn't great for this question because in xianxia it is "when it is plot relevant" which MDZS categorically refuses to touch on mortal issues except for the one mention in the NMJ empathy session.

In wuxia we get more of an answer, and that is that sects generally do not attempt to inform the imperial offices of anything, because they try operate in ways that don't draw imperial attention. If the Emperor looks your direction you have largely overstepped onto his authority and caused enough unrest that something needs to be done about it in order to keep the peace and the mandate of heaven. Or you've upset the balance of whatever back room politics is happening and that puts a target on your sect.

Considering the breadth of the QSW takeover and the SSC after, you would think there should be some imperial oversight but that is when it switches to xianxia as cultivator wars can cause all kinds of havoc but unless the Emperor has his own cultivator faction, it is not like he can do anything about it. According to MXTX there is *an* emperor but considering the lack of mention in universe, plus WWX's one line mention that immortal sects tend to stay separate from mortals (and YMJ was thus different for leaving their gates open), we can extrapolate that sects don't feel the need to inform the Emperor of anything they do.

Given some recent posts about (gag) morality and antagonist vs. villain --I'd like to reference this good post with my new favorite meme quadrant.

The post seen here also comes with someone's added quadrant which I will now use to full effect to make my stance clear--if it wasn't already.

Images are donghua, but I am basing my assessment off the translated novels.

There is nothing they would get out of a sworn brotherhood that they wouldn't get from their already existing martial brotherhood.

Except that sworn brotherhood is also a euphemism in danmei for homosexual relationships.

Confirmation that Mo Xuanyu was only at Golden Scale Tower for a few years. But then what was he doing this entire time at Mo Manor? Just being abused over and over? This same quaking cousin smashing his stuff endlessly?

Still doesn't make sense to me because if Mo Xuanyu gets kicked out after only a few years (which in MXTX's revised timeline is shortened by years) this means that he was at Golden Tower only a little while 1) after Jin Guangshan is killed and may not have been immediately swept away with the other demonic cultivation stuff when Jin Guangyao obtained clan chief rank. 2) That there is no way Jin Ling should be able to recognize Mo Xuanyu in full makeup since Jin Ling would have still been a baby toddler at most when Mo Xuanyu is evicted.

Jiang Cheng is very good with names and faces of people he has talked to or have been introduced. The epitome of this is that he knows all 1500 disciples of his Yunmeng Jiang Sect. Every outer disciple servant, long term guest disciple and master, and the ones that took his clan name (he remembers who they were before they chose him over their histories).