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From what I call my betrothal au, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang finally kiss. It's only going to be chapter 8. Or maybe 9.

( They're saying goodbye (for now) in Bujingshi )

Some of this was initially a little thread on twitter. May as well bring it here as part of operation Let's Try And Get Used to Long-form Posting Again...

So, my sangcheng betrothal AU canon divergence. It's after the Sunshot Campaign. Yu Ziyuan is alive, Jiang Fengmian is dead, Jiang Cheng is Jiang-zongzhu. He has an angry outburst and tells his mother, his aunt and the matchmakers who have come with a list of potential brides that he doesn't want to marry ANY woman... and Yu Ziyuan assumes her son is into men and has them bring a list of young men to be his potential consort. Yada yada yada, he winds up betrothed to Nie Huaisang (whom he actually IS into, but Jiang Cheng doesn't know that because compulsory heterosexuality... and yes, I realize that this ALL means that the attitudes towards sexuality in this fic are anachronistic in several different ways, both to the novel and to history).

This fic has 4 published chapters. I have one more pretty much done (in which JC and NHS finally interact face to face!), but I've held off on posting it because I want to get through the chapter after that one, because depending on how I wind up writing what happens there, I may have to rework chapter 5 and I don't want to write myself into a corner (something I have done before).

I should mention, I am not a disciplined writer of fanfic. Outline? I don't know her!

I write until I decide I'm done, then I run it through spell check and then I yeet it out onto AO3.

Anyway. A big question I need to figure out for chapter 6 is if I'm going to do a Wei Wuxian pov. On the one hand might be fun to see how he sees Jiang Cheng's plight, plus show don't tell: there is something Jiang Cheng will ask him to do after he gets back from his face to face conversation with Nie Huaisang, and it would PROBABLY be more interesting to SEE some of it rather than just have him tell Jiang Cheng about it.

On the other hand: if I do the WWX pov, I'd have to WRITE all that instead of having him just tell Jiang Cheng later! 😂 Plus, there's certain things about Wei Wuxian that have remained undefined in this fic, mainly what I call Schrodinger's Gui Dao.

By which I mean I don't actually know if Wei Wuxian does gui dao in this au. I kinda like that it's vague because it doesn't really matter to the story I'm telling, a story that is very much not ABOUT Wei Wuxian (although it's been a lot of fun any time he's shown up, mostly to annoy Jiang Cheng). But if I do a Wei Wuxian pov... how to keep that vagueness? Is that even possible?

I should say, the golden core transfer never happened. JC never got himself caught and never lost his core. Wei Wuxian didn't lose his either, although I didn't realize this was the case until I had them fly somewhere on their swords in chapter 4.

I don't really think WWX having his golden core necessarily means no gui dao. Firstly, he was already curious, secondly, who knows what desperate circumstances might have come up during the war.

Anyway, point is, I'd rather not even have to wonder if Wei Wuxian does gui dao. It doesn't matter! But can I do a WWX point of view without having to figure it out?

In case anyone is interested, here is the fic.

Jiang Cheng is everything Nie Huaisang is not.

He’s strong and tall. A skilled swordsman and an accomplished cultivator already at fifteen. Honest (so painfully honest!) and straightforward. Hard-working and responsible. So very studious.

Nie Huaisang suspects he’s Lan Qiren’s favorite student this year. Particularly once Wei Wuxian leaves the Cloud Recesses. His suspicions are confirmed when his brother visits at the beginning of the summer.

“Xichen says you’ve become close to Jiang Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says when the two of them are alone.

Nie Huaisang freezes for a moment, wondering how much Lan Xichen has noticed. What his brother means by “close”.

“I suppose so,” he says finally, nonchalant. “We hang out.”

Nie Mingjue nods. “I’m glad. Xichen says he’s a good influence on you, that Lan Qiren speaks very highly of him. He’s sensible and capable. You should cultivate that friendship, learn from him.”

The thing is, if anyone had told Nie Huaisang half a year ago that he and his brother would be having this conversation about the young master of Yunmeng Jiang, Nie Huaisang would have rolled his eyes and he would have resolved to avoid him like the plague. “Sensible and capable” was never Nie Huaisang’s idea of a good time, and as for Lan Qiren’s endorsement… he’s given Lan Wangji a wide berth for three years for a reason.

And yet.

Nie Huaisang smiles brightly. “I’m glad you approve, Dage! I like him a lot.”

He means it. If Lan Xichen thinks Jiang Cheng is a good influence, if his brother approves of them spending time together… then that means they can go on as they have been, it means their closeness hasn’t aroused suspicions.

It means they can keep exchanging stolen kisses, holed away in one of their rooms, when they’re supposed to be studying.

This is from the next chapter of my sangcheng betrothal AU.


( They're talking! )