Thread by @ads_unofficial

#liucheng ft. trans LQG
When JC is young, he’s betrothed to the daughter of the noble Liu family. They’re an old friend of the Jiangs, good lineage & everyone says Liu-guniang will grow up to be a great beauty. Tbh JC is just happy bc he’s like a-jie now!

They meet in Lotus Pier when he’s 7 and she’s 6. Madam Liu is a lovely woman who grew up with JFM, and her husband is quite nice. Liu-guniang is…very pretty. JC doesn’t think very much about girls, but he likes the luan birds on her dress and her beauty mark is cute.

You’re not so bad yourself, a-jie says, you’ll make a beautiful couple. JC blushes furiously at the teasing, but otherwise, the meeting with Liu-guniang is fine. They spend most of their time sitting beside their parents, minding their manners anyway.

When they visit the Lius, JC sees the difference between his family & theirs. Mdm Liu’s is a true love marriage & her husband makes sure everyone knows it. He often ruffles Liu-guniang’s hair & pats the baby in Mdm Liu’s belly. JC feels awkward & envious & stays behind a-jie.

Liu-guniang is talented. They say: after she develops a cultivation base, she’ll come & study in Lotus Pier. Isn't it great? JC nods politely, but is really convinced when she meets his dogs & immediately starts roughhousing like she’s one of them.

In the end, her blue dress is dirty, her luan hairpin is askew, her smile is missing teeth, but JC has never seen anyone more perfect. He’ll be good to her, he decides; not like that Jin Zixuan, who comes to Lotus Pier only to look surly and hide behind Mdm Jin.

When JC is 10, the dogs are replaced by a brother. Liu-guniang huffs at the news & challenges WWX to a fight. She’s fast, she’s skilled w/ the wooden sword, & JC is real conflicted when she lays WWX flat on round 1. (Luckily, WWX wins the next 2, saving the sect some face.)

They keep playfighting, bc Liu-guniang demands WWX teach her his tricks. She also tells them not to call her Liu-guniang - she’s A-Liu instead, until she gets her courtesy name. JC, focusing on the spar, says absently: “Girls don’t get courtesy names.” Which - is a mistake.

A-Liu strikes out viciously & sends him sprawling. “Who’s a girl!” she yells. “Who’s not getting a courtesy name!” She throws the practice blade down and walks away without looking back. JC is…very confused.

It becomes clear much later when Mdm Liu visits again with ‘weighty news’. They were mistaken, she says, they have a son not daughter, so the betrothal w/ A-Liu is called off. JC’s stomach plunges; so…will they betroth him to little Liu Mingyan now?

He doesn’t have to worry. Given the situation w/ their eldest, Mdm Liu says it’s best they let Mingyan decide when she grows up so nobody is disappointed later on. JFM understands. JC is relieved, but awfully disappointed about A-Liu. Maybe he can apologize when they meet next.

Unfort, Mdm Liu has more news: A-Liu has run away to join the remote Cang Qiong mtn sect. Willful boy doesn’t think about his mother’s poor heart, sighs Mdm Liu dramatically. JFM only smiles. It’s alright, he says, sons must be bold & unrestrained. JC wonders if this is pointed.

Later, WWX says it’s for the best. That Liu-gongzi was kind of a meathead anyway - you were going to be the brains in that marriage & how would that work? JC tackles him into the lake for that, & they’re distracted for the rest of the evening, probably as WWX intended.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t see A-Liu again, not for a very long time. Not until nearly 2 decades of war, grief, loss, and hope have passed.
-tbc whenevs-

It’s whenevs!

JC settles down in the post md/zs canon, as sect leader and part time helicopter parent to his increasingly willful nephew. Case in point, when JL goes to follow rumors about a malevolent spirit somewhere beyond qishan.

It's reportedly hard to beat & can possess multiple people at once. By the time JC arrives, its possessed all the cultivators fighting it, leaving only JL & one other - they're the strongest of the lot & are still barely holding on.

When the spirit goes for JL, the other cultivator pushes him away & gets possessed himself. Entering the fray, JC uses zidian to exorcise the thing, but it doesn’t quite work. The exorcised spirit just re-possesses the host in almost no time.

It gets more vicious. Nobody can match its speed long enough to exorcise & land a killing blow. Not until a new sword glare manages to do damage. A cultivator in white...lwj? No, LWJ doesn’t stand beside JC like this.

“Exorcise it again,” says the cultivator. “I can kill it.”

JC uses zidian again & true to word, the stranger’s sword glare fucking annihilates the thing in one go. With the head gone, the spirit relinquishes everyone, including Jin Ling’s new friend.

Jin Ling rushes forward, “Xuan-ge! Are you ok?”

JC rounds on him: “how dare you go off like this? Just bc you're sect leader doesn't mean you can be more reckless!”

Right behind him, someone else is yelling “…the worst performance I've ever seen, how could you get yourself possessed?!”

“Don't come back to Bai Zhan peak if you're just going to embarrass me!” snaps the other man -
- just as JC growls: “Don't call me your uncle if you're not going to listen!”

Twin cries of affront: "Jiujiu!" "Shizun!"

Finally, JC turns to the stranger, who bows to him shortly. "My disciple has troubled you, bai zhan peak lord will not forget this favor."

JC bows back. "Likewise, Jiang wanyin of ymj thanks peak lord for his help."

The peak lord tips his head. "Jiang wanyin? From lotus pier?"

JC studies the man's face, which is ethereally beautiful even without the radiance of high cultivation, wondering how in the world he wouldn’t remember meeting someone like this. Then, he sees the beauty mark. "...a-Liu?"

Fast fwd a few hours later, they decide to stay at the local inn to give Jin Ling’s friend - bai zhan disciple Yang yixuan - time to recover from the fight.

And so JC can catch up with…Liu Qingge as a-Liu is going by now as a peak lord of cangqiong sect.

LQG muses, "It's been so long."
"You ran off w/o a goodbye," JC reminds him. "after you decked me in my own courtyard. I…get why now, but still. No goodbye."

LQG looks sheepish. "The trials for cang qiong were starting soon. I didn't want to wait another year to participate."

From what’s ostensibly their time out table, JL & Yang Yixuan draw straws - & it’s JL who gets to butt in & ask how they know each other.

JC frowns. "We were betrothed to be married, a-ling, now be quiet & eat your soup."

Jin ling and Yang Yixuan drop their soup spoons. What?!

Note2self they should meet mdm meiyin again & she should tell JC's fortune abt a dear one who left for a long time, now returned & is not as distant as he feels. JC thinks it's WWX, LQG is once again personally victimized by a fortuneteller

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