Chapter Text
Jin Zixuan knew he had to marry as the bloodline of Jin is in danger. He's the only legit male as far as he's concerned.
While he did send many of the seniors as old and older than him, his uncles and cousins included who qualifies as 'thinks like his father' to their deaths thanks to his many maid spies in the sect, 60% of his sect forces --- gone, but NOT missed. Their widowed wives and daughters have mixed feelings about the matter though. But they won't be causing him trouble anyway.
His mother spearheaded a new change and took charge of Jinlintai's education personally, changing teachers as some of the former teachers were among those sent to die out on deadly missions.
'Marriage is good, but make sure they're not your half-sister or something when you're looking for girls among the gentry!' his mother would say.
Since the end of his betrothal to Jiang Yanli in his boyhood, there was no chance of reinstating it as Jiang-zongzhu divorced his wife Yu Ziyuan and his reasons were justified.
A bride is supposed to contribute to her marital home.
Yu Ziyuan brought nothing but trouble, grief and stress into her marital sect, no benefit whatsoever, doesn't even do her work as Sect Madam! Jiang-zongzhu just couldn't complain no thanks to his father's idiocy in the past.
Now that Hong-Monu married his old classmate and she had a lot to bring, the man basically used her as an excuse to 'recall some rules', gained the support of his fellow sect leaders to back him into getting Yu-zongzhu to agree with him to let him divorce with Yu Ziyuan and aired out dirty laundry and what happened that got them married much to the woman's rage and the Yu couple looking mortified. Nie-zongzhu prevented her from rampaging in his brother's wedding party by threatening retaliation in his own turf as she 'is alone surrounded by many Nies' and allies and sympathized with his senior even if he was annoyed with bringing his family drama IN HIS HOUSE.
With that, despite blood relations, Jiang Yanli is no longer her daughter and Jiang Wanyin no longer her son that technically, 'she has no eldest daughter' to pair up 'with Jin-furen's son' any more so no chance in hell of reinstating it.
And the Yu Clan devastatingly lost face due to how they swindled their way into marrying into a Great Sect with nothing to offer and instead caused a lot of grief and stress. Thus when opportunity arose, Jiang-zongzhu had his revenge.
Thus he must secure his own marriage soon to prevent a repeat history of the past on him. But precaution is needed.
This was because his father has many liaisons and illegitimates 'as many as the fish in fishing nets'! Avoid accidental incest!
Yeah, that WOULD be bad!
So upon acquiring that one talisman, he activated the talisman with his blood.
When he saw soooo maaaannnyyyyy chaaaaiiiinnnsss...in Lanling City alone! What more if he went elsewhere?! He knew the chains are from children of the maids working in Jinlintai!
He let out choice expletives.
Because Nie-xiong is Gossip King, he paid the man for information for cultivator ladies worth marrying and what his hopes for were in a wife as he is rebuilding Jinlintai he would NOT want a useless wife whose only desire is to spend money on jewels and silks and live like a hedonist. Then he would check their lineage just incase they're a half-sister or something or a cousin he didn't know he had.
Awkward there Jin-zongzhu, but I cannot blame you.
I'll help you out, but uhhh not even I know how much
my information will help you incase they DID turn out
to be your unknown half-siblings and half-cousins!
My wife would say Incestual Unions are a bad idea
because its the offspring paying the price for that!
(insert many medical reasons why here, that got Jin Zixuan going green)
If you ask me, why not try looking into the Lan Ladies
while I search ideal candidates based on your specs?
Lan Ladies like their gentlemen counterparts, are
Love at First Sight and Single-Target Only are their
bloodline affliction, you see? They won't care about
gender, age, and status as long as 'they get that one'!
And with how secular they are, at least we can be
VERY SURE none of them are your half-siblings any
time soon! They either marry Rogue Ladies or they're
commoners, they don't care, only the fact they can
make a Lan Heart Beat.But that idea has a risk as many Lans are unmarried
to this day, some as old as our parents actually! Do
you wanna take that gamble?Ask Xichen-ge if you can visit regarding this matter
so I'd have time searching candidates outside the Lan
Sect. Don't bother asking for their Disciples outside
the family as my wifey said that on Graduation Day,
her classmates tried anything to look cute to catch
the attention of young masters, but we all snubbed
them, pretending to not see them she cracked up
laughing in a corner, making fools of themselves
for nothing, trying too hard to be White Lotus to
score a rich husband....never heard of that slang before till she taught
it to me. It apparently means 'pretending to be
good and pure outside but actually the opposite'
as lotus flowers appear pretty on the surface, but
thriving in mud.- Nie Huaisang
Jin Zixuan twitched.
He's only 20 years old!
"Nope! I'll have to be selective!" he shuddered, crumpling the letter and tossing it at the brazier. He wrote a letter to Xichen about the matter. Then he locked up his office, and went out bride hunting clad in neutral colors and removed the vermilion mark on his forehead.
'And where are you going out in that?' his mother asked as her son wore black, and a weimao hat when he showed up in her office. She was looking at reports of performances of the other half of the only surviving disciples of Lanling Jin---those yet to graduate. The other half were those who followed her son.
Even in the family, there are already factions. Her A-Xuan has ten male cousins to worry about waiting to usurp him. And they can, being aware that Jin Guangshan won't do a thing anyway if his lifestyle isn't threatened. These bastards dream to succeed her ex-husband? In their dreams as Guangshan will never let go of his power if allowed to live long. They'd be middle-aged bastards by then! And besides, she didn't suffer him and this sect for nothing, she will not let go of her son's rights without a fight! Hmph!
'Bride hunting without broadcasting my identity. I don't want gold-diggers!' Zixuan grunted. 'I also have to make sure if a lady I liked is no secret sister or cousin of mine!' his mother twitched at that and pinched her nose hard.
...that can happen, if he wasn't careful.
'Well, why not look among our peers?' she suggested. 'While I'm sad I can never have A-Li as a daughter-in-law by Ziyuan's doing, there's Qin-guniang and Wen-guniang assuming the latter's new village is found.'
During the post-war conference, the surviving Wens are discussed about.
Wen Qing's Branch is weak and...threatened.
Her family works as personal doctors to the Main Family. But to maintain their loyalty, young mothers and young children of her clan live in the Fire Palace to 'keep her good behavior'. And none of them are cultivators and are forbidden to be one. They were in fact, the first to celebrate Qishan Wen's downfall if it meant no longer living in prison with a blade at their throats and can finally go home to their families. Wen Qing did not hesitate to 'truly destroy' her uncle's sect as she knows where the important things are to be War Spoils, in exchange for her branch to be left alone and for them to shed their identity as Wens. They changed the hanzi of their name to live out their true roots as doctors and alcohol brewers. From 温 to 文.
But knowing the sins of their relatives to the people from high to low, they truly have to relocate far away from anyone who knows them to truly know peace.
Not that her sect benefited from that anyway. Because Nie-zongzhu said 'Those who do not work, do not get to eat.' thus only her son who was known to be active got rewards just for him only to shame her husband. If A-Xuan ever seceded, he can actually live off that money with her and his future family in lifelong comfort if spent wisely.
'Don't you think I've tried? Qin-zongzhu agreed out of old friendships even if father shocked him with his shameful stunt during war, but Qin-furen is vehemently against Qin-guniang marrying me, making me wonder if father or anyone in his generation grossly wronged her she doesn't trust our sect with her daughter. Not that Qin-zongzhu and I will get answers any time soon...she turns into a snarling tiger that I had to drop the matter.'
Jin-furen frowned.
Qin-furen, Lu Mingxia was a gentle, amiable woman who supported her husband in everything.
But her temper does rise in anything Jin-related that after marriage, she never comes to any Jin-hosted events and will never let her daughter go either!
There has to be a story behind that.
They'll never know now, as Jin Guangshan will never see the light of day. That, and Qin-furen is instead, trying to push her daughter to...Lotus Pier. Far away from Qilu, Jin Clan domain!
'Hmmm...'
Jiang Fengmian was reading a letter from Qin-zongzhu that he got, and a gossip page from Nie Huaisang that Jiang Cheng got.
A marriage offer from one side, and an interesting tidbit about the other.
And Jin-zongzhu is now roaming around for bride candidates, armed with a talisman stock that helps him avoid 'accidental incestuous courting' as goodness knows the scumbag has so many children out there...brrr. Poor kids and their mothers, as Fengmian knows the fates of disgraced, abandoned women and children in their households.
And given Qin-furen's reaction to Jin-zongzhu's offer....
...Fengmian has a sinking feeling he'd rather toss in a well and seal it shut.
But he accepted anyway. Qin-guniang seems a sweet girl unaware of her past that her mother is intent on taking to her grave if she had to. Good thing she had sons after Qin or rather, Jin-guniang so Qin-zongzhu isn't hurting for heirs.
Thus he was on letters basis with his traveling son regarding the matter. But his son had a no-good image about marriage he was skittish about the matter. That Nie Huaisang was the answer to soften him to the idea before someone else snags the last sweet girl outside home.
Once they got answers after paying Nie Huaisang well for his help, Jiang Cheng is now more amenable to marrying Qin Su, despite what his father suspects about her given how the girl's mother reacted to her stepping foot in Jinlintai. Well he's marrying a Jin on the sly but nurture VS nature indeed...
Letters are exchanged. And so did Courting Letters.
That soon, it's Jiang Cheng's turn to marry. A year and half after Nie Huaisang did...while letters are still exchanged between Jiangs and Lans about Wei Wuxian.
Due to his mind, he's...the toughest to score next to Fang Ying'er.
Fang Ying'er's high character standards which was ironically, the simplest and easiest to get had anyone tried.
And Jiang Fengmian will not let his martial nephew go unless Xichen assures him that his life in Gusu will be alright as the entire Jiang Family SUFFERED under the Spider and her clan, or it's Lan Wangji marrying into Lotus Pier by Ruzhui!
Qiren found himself troubled by the letters Xichen got while he was negotiating his brother's marriage.
'...and we thought the hardest to give away was our ward.' said Xichen with a strained smile. The ward being the witch herself. 'It seems we have to adjust. Poison spread everywhere through many means that we have to cleanse poison. Yunmeng Jiang is healing at long last that its you who is next.' he said. 'You believed lies and slander about Wei-gongzi for years that she spread that it affected your treatment of him in his year here that Jiang-zongzhu will never let Wangji have his heart if he feels the poison will hurt his ward further instead of healing at home in Lotus Pier from her abuse of him and slandering his family's name to any who hears.' he said softly. 'And he put an end to it all in Ying'er's wedding banquet to vindicate the Wei Family after a decade.'
That Cangse Sanren is a husband-seducing whore of a charlatan and Wei Changze the son of a servant, and their son a shameless troublemaker trying to steal what belongs to Jiang Cheng.
'And you yourself broke countless rules when he is concerned while hard on the whole sect about the rules. Thus you must now reflect appropriately...and you know in your heart what you broke.' Xichen stated seriously. 'Practice what is preached. I know No Gossip, but the new recruits are openly talking about the hypocrisy of our elders that even I am suspect of hypocrisy. I had to work hard redeeming my good name while punishing after investigating.' his tone got even darker. 'And we need recovery. We cannot lose new members so soon out of contempt towards us because of our elders. That it was good that I am the teacher of the Gusu Lan Rules while the elders are focusing on afterwar rebuilding and restoring our library while I dealt with all else and politics.'
Qiren shook, looking as if constipated. As if it was hard for him to admit to all that, that everything is conflicting in his mind.
What he believed for years, and what came out in his pupil's wedding about Wei Wuxian that things got awkward really fast. That Jiang Fengmian publicly apologized to his children for being unable to help them all their lives because his hands were tied...until a golden opportunity shone on him, and he apologized that it took so long. Wei Wuxian accepted the apology in tears.
Out of humiliation, the Yus left the wedding that they weren't present for next day as a result that now, it's their turn being the talk of jianghu and not in a good way.
Somehow since the war ended, gossip spreads insanely fast that anything going wrong in any sect, everyone would know in a week!
'Oh yes, Jin-zongzhu requested he meets a Lan daughter his age among our relatives as he is seeking a wife candidate.' Xichen added. 'If nothing worked out, he'll look elsewhere.'
'...very well.' Qiren sighed. 'Inform Jiang-zongzhu I'll visit after a week of Reflective Seclusion starting tomorrow.' he said in resignation.
'Mm. Cleanse yourself of Yu-sanniang's malicious brainwashing through public slander.' was his nephew's stern order. 'Because should Wei-gongzi marry in, our sect will benefit immensely through his Magic Tools and Talisman creations. In just half a year, he spewed out so many creations when most magic tool makers and talisman writers takes years just to create one. That the Elder he was meant to succeed is moaning his impending loss because of Wangji that politics is hard. Very hard as the elder is putting up quite a fight with me I'm barely weathering the man's rage in his letters as he had waited so long for a successor in his almost three centuries of life and he just got him.' he sighed. 'The things I do for Wangji...' he sighed with a strained smile.
'We'll talk with Wangji when he gets back from his Night Hunts.' Qiren decided. 'Let me see those letters with Jiang's Magic Elder while I am in seclusion. Then we will talk about our opinions and what can be done to satisfy both parties.'
'Mm.'
'Does Wei-gongzi even know about this...custody war we're having over him?'
'No indication based on Wangji's behavior when he's home...if Wei-gongzi knew, he would definitely pacify his elder first who desperately wanted a worthy successor before retirement in his final years of life. That, and Jiang-zongzhu's got him distracted by recruiting new shidis and shimeis.'
'Ah...'
Indeed, Wei Wuxian is veeeery busy!
He spent post war creating a barrier around the entire lake where Lotus Pier was as its initial defense, and a second barrier around the small isle where Lotus Pier is. Then making new techniques before he got chucked out to recruitment. He spammed out new things in a short time which was why his Elder was more than eager for his succession and not letting him go any time soon.
He brings home 50 children at a time. War Orphans on the streets...but he was selective as while he wants to rescue all orphans as he's one himself and knew how cruel the streets are, he also cannot bring back home troublemakers or he'll get in trouble.
He had to create a talisman on the spot to determine if pros outweigh the cons, inspired out of Fawkes' ability. Character Flaws are judged.
Due to the 'old regime', Jiang-shushu wants nope in his family's history from present to future now. No more troublesome people as he hopes for and wished to bring back the Lotus Pier of his childhood, before his...marriage. More like forced at knife-point...
Sooo yep, refusing to remarry as the idea got him sour at it now, but to continue the bloodline, Jiang Cheng must marry. Thankfully its to a sweet girl that's no Madam Yu. Brrr...
But one day, while walking into a village...
He felt something bump into his leg. "??" he looked behind him to see a really cute little kid. Boy by his clothes, but who can say no to that dang adorableness? Looks like fresh out of nappies.
'Awp! Sorry gege!' the kid apologized. 'A-Yuan lost! Can't find popo!' he exclaimed in distress.
'Aiyaaa! Then gege help you find popo.' Wuxian comforted the child and picked him up. 'We will walk around until you see popo OK? No idea what she looks like, so I'm counting on you.'
'Mm!'