Thread by @sweetlolixo

the last prompt I filled gave me empressxian-being-sent-to-the-cold-palace brainrot 🤒 kind of want to see emperorji groveling and making daily visits to the cold palace to try and win wwx’s heart but it’s too late, wwx already decided he can live his life well w/o the emperor.

emperorji visits the cold palace for the first time since sentencing empressxian to it, and sees that it’s not even really much of a “cold” palace anymore. it’s prospering. handmaidens run around, laughing. wwx has set up a mini farm in his own backyard. there is liveliness here.

emperorji, who didn’t even want to give wwx a chance when they were first married, who never even lifted his veil or took a look at his face—now sees all that he is missing. his consort is not only beautiful, he is exceedingly capable. wwx has made his own life here. without him.

there is a painful ache in his chest. emperorji has missed out on so much. he could have been kinder; he could have given wwx a better life. wwx, who was forced to marry him for political advantages, just as much as lwj felt “forced” to wed him. wwx didn’t want this, either.

lwj shut him out after their wedding ceremony, leaving him in the cold. wwx never even got to speak to his matrimonial husband once. instead, he was immediately sent to live in the cold palace, where he knew nobody and had nothing. and there, wwx wept. for the first night only—

—but nothing more. after that, he refused to wallow in self-pity. he married lan wangji so the jiangs could have a better life, and that’s enough. wwx will make a life of his own, by himself, with his own bare hands. he goes on to befriend the servants and guards of the palace.

he gets into their good books, he asks for materials and resources to be smuggled in. he builds his own farm. he does the accounts of the cold palace, balks at the insulting budget, but makes do with it. he begins selling fresh vegetables to the main palace to make more money.

the servants’ children who cannot be with their mothers during the day are sent to wwx’s cold palace to be taken care of—of which he charges no fee. he simply loves children. in return, he gets laughter, he gets to pass his time teaching them. & he wins the favor of the servants.

lan wangji walks in just when wwx is swinging a child high up in the air, while his own robes and pants have been pulled up to his knees and sullied with mud.

it is unsightly. it is scandalous. the emperor’s consort should not be showing off his milky white legs like this.

but wwx doesn’t care. he never gets any visitors here, besides the servants. and they don’t care. they love wei ying.

wwx doesn’t even remember he has a code of dressing to abide to anymore until he realises lwj is staring at his exposed legs—wordlessly—for 5 minutes straight.

wwx places the child back down onto the ground and greets his husband solemnly, “your majesty.”

lwj does not stop staring.

wwx scoffs. six months in, and he no longer is mesmerized by his beloved emperor. he asks, all sickeningly sweet, “the emperor is so kind, to bestow…

…upon this lowly consort a visit, finally, for the first time since our wedding night.”

lwj glumly states, “there was no wedding night.”

there wasn’t. lwj refused to even share a bed with wwx for one night.

“yes, of course,” wwx answers. “I Remember.”

(he spent it crying.)

but wwx’s heart has long hardened, and he no longer has romantic delusions about his life in the palace—with a husband who he’d thought had long forgot about him, anyway.

“what an honor to even be remembered,” wwx barely hides his snark. “this lowly consort cannot ask for more.”

wwx is being deliberately cruel, but lwj cannot fault him for it. he cannot fault his empress for anything.

“wei ying, I did not realize…” lwj trails off. what can he say? that he did not realize wwx was so beautiful, it’d stir even the iciest of hearts? that lwj would take—

—one look at his face, and realize he could never want anything more?

all it took was a chance visit at his palace. for lwj to finally catch a glimpse of his face. wwx, climbing a tree in lwj’s courtyard. apparently, there had been a rare fruit he’d wanted to pick for his farm.

wwx is already invisible in this palace, he didn’t think anyone would have cared. most importantly, the emperor wouldn’t care. so wwx had snuck into his husband’s quarters, and got right down to business.

stealing rare fruits. these would fetch him good money in the market.

“you are trespassing,” the emperor’s voice had boomed from behind. “these are the emperor’s quarters.”

wwx, startled, fell from the tree—and into the emperor’s strong arms.

“you caught me,” wwx mumbled, flustered, still hugging his fruits.

“I caught you,” lwj’s gaze softened.

wwx is set back down, but lwj’s firm hand on his back doesn’t fall away. in fact, it seems as though lwj… is reluctant to part from wwx.

lwj’s eyes flicker down at the fruits in wwx’s arms. “you are stealing fruits from my garden.”

“I—am not stealing,” wwx points out.

“I cannot steal from my husband. it’s—matrimonial property, that’s what it is!”

lwj blinks. “your husband?” then, realization dawns on his face.

“you… you are…?” lwj is stunned into silence.

wwx would feel insulted, but he doesn’t care. “ah, you didn’t even know.”

“well, I better get going,” wwx hurries to leave, taking advantage of the emperor’s shock. “off to the cold palace where I belong, hahaha.”

lwj tries to grab wwx’s wrist, but he misses him by just a stray hair.

wwx leaves him as quickly as lwj did to him—on their wedding night.

and after many sleepless nights (on lwj’s part, not so much wwx’s, for the empress has only been raking in dough from the sale of his rare fruits); well, now the emperor has finally seen the light, and has made his first visit to the cold palace since sentencing wwx there.

but now the emperor is bothersome. the emperor is annoyingly handsome. the emperor is a pest, trying to interfere with wwx’s thriving palace life.

“this side of the palace is far too cold,” lwj tries to persuade him. “I have space in my quarters. you will be warmer there.”

“warmer? how so? in a bed where I will sleep alone, as I already do here? your majesty, don’t patronize me. I live well by myself.”

“wei ying, I promise I will never leave you alone. I fear I would not even be able to stop myself from doing so. I… will be with you every night.”

“I do not need a bed warmer. and I do not warm just anyone’s bed!”

“wei ying,” lwj sighs. “I will not have those expectations…”

“no, thank you. I like the space I have here! where else could I have a farm just like this? your quarters definitely do not have the space!”

“why would you still need a farm there? you will have access to unlimited budget… there will be no need for you to work.”

“your majesty!” wwx is fuming. “I take pride in my farming! it’s not about the money!”

—it was all I had to keep me from going insane, when you left me.

“alright,” lwj accedes. “we will find space for your farm, in my quarters. I promise you.”

“well—fine!” wwx says. “however, there is still the matter of…”

“of?” lwj asks, wistfully.

“I just don’t want to.”

“what?”

“I just don’t like you. So, I don’t want to.”

“…”

no one had ever told lan wangji to his face that they didn’t like him—in his entire life!

to do so would be akin to treason! to disrespecting his majesty!

and to think his own consort would be telling him such a thing, so heartlessly…

“you… do not like me?”

“no.”

“…”

alright, lwj knows he deserves it.

“then would this one enlighten me,” lwj asks. “as to how I may gain wei ying’s favor?”

“I don’t know,” wwx says. “that’s on you to figure out.”

…!!! lwj cannot believe he is having this conversation. everything else in life—has been so easy.