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eight times wei wuxian had fun with his femininity in canon (with receipts): a thread
Gonna preface with this: there is a very western tendency of fans online to separate mdzs from the genre it sits in, which is danmei/Boy’s Love. If you bear in mind that mdzs is BL—and naturally it adheres to BL tropes—then you will realise there is an intentional pattern in...
...which WWX leans into his femininity.
Disclaimer: This does not mean I want a 100% feminised WWX. I am only here to demonstrate that while he DEFINITELY identifies as a man, he has fun with his feminine side as well and is unashamed about it!
Here are his moments!
Disclaimer: This does not mean I want a 100% feminised WWX. I am only here to demonstrate that while he DEFINITELY identifies as a man, he has fun with his feminine side as well and is unashamed about it!
Here are his moments!
1. That one time WWX bought rouge powder. For himself. For fun.
Here’s a really fun scene to begin the thread with. Also, LOL at WWX openly asking for LWJ for money every time he wants to buy something, knowing fully damn well LWJ will not deny him. LWJ’s money = his money.
Here’s a really fun scene to begin the thread with. Also, LOL at WWX openly asking for LWJ for money every time he wants to buy something, knowing fully damn well LWJ will not deny him. LWJ’s money = his money.
2. Those two times where WWX is alluded to be LWJ’s wife老婆, by a stranger—and himself.
This is more WWX being oblivious, but I’m throwing it in anyway. When WWX sees LWJ for the first time after resurrection, he describes LWJ looking like he’s been mourning over his late wife.
This is more WWX being oblivious, but I’m throwing it in anyway. When WWX sees LWJ for the first time after resurrection, he describes LWJ looking like he’s been mourning over his late wife.
(WWX you idiot, you are *that* wife.)
Also: when the waiter in the liquor shop puts an arm around WWX and gets stared to death by LWJ. “You’d think I was getting friendly with his wife...” he says.
Also: when the waiter in the liquor shop puts an arm around WWX and gets stared to death by LWJ. “You’d think I was getting friendly with his wife...” he says.
3. That one time WWX said, “My last name is Lan.”
We all already know WWX *does* eventually marry into the Lan sect anyway, but this scene does excellent foreshadowing. Cue LWJ getting so flustered upon hearing this he actually trips.
BABY.
We all already know WWX *does* eventually marry into the Lan sect anyway, but this scene does excellent foreshadowing. Cue LWJ getting so flustered upon hearing this he actually trips.
BABY.
4. That one time WWX said he gave birth to A-Yuan. Aka “我生的！”
A-Yuan gets lost & clings onto the leg of the first hot potential father figure he sees in the vicinity: LWJ. A-Yuan is scared, so he begins to cry out for his father爹(in novel). The passerbys assume LWJ is 爹...
A-Yuan gets lost & clings onto the leg of the first hot potential father figure he sees in the vicinity: LWJ. A-Yuan is scared, so he begins to cry out for his father爹(in novel). The passerbys assume LWJ is 爹...
...start to diss his parenting skills, and begin to ask around: “Where is the mother娘? Where is the 娘?”
At this moment, WWX decides to reveal himself. Talk about timing. When LWJ asks where this child came from, WWX playfully says, “我生的 (I gave birth to him)”...
At this moment, WWX decides to reveal himself. Talk about timing. When LWJ asks where this child came from, WWX playfully says, “我生的 (I gave birth to him)”...
...(Netflix and WeTV translates this to “this child is mine”.) Cue LWJ losing his shit internally for a good 5 seconds 
Counterargument for this one bc I know it’ll come up: “We can’t take the Chinese language so *literally*, obviously we are meant to deduce that WWX sired...
Counterargument for this one bc I know it’ll come up: “We can’t take the Chinese language so *literally*, obviously we are meant to deduce that WWX sired...
...this child, not that he *bore* him”.
OK cool I accept that lol, even if I’ve never heard a man say “我生的” in my entire life. As someone who speaks to my parents regularly in mandarin, I would never tell my dad 我是你生的孩子 (I am the child you bore)
It’s weird.
OK cool I accept that lol, even if I’ve never heard a man say “我生的” in my entire life. As someone who speaks to my parents regularly in mandarin, I would never tell my dad 我是你生的孩子 (I am the child you bore)
It’s weird.
Btw—for those who care about Chinese nuances—there’s a difference between saying 我亲生的 (“this is my biological child”—this sentence is changed just by adding 1 more Chinese word to the original 我生的) versus WWX’s original 我生的 (I bore you).
WWX... did not say the former.
WWX... did not say the former.
Let me bring in the opinions of Chinese netizens here—they do love their danmei trope after all—to demonstrate how it plays into the A-Die爹 & A-Niang娘 trope 
Point is, the “mother” connotation is a fun thing that they (& WWX) don’t take so seriously. You shouldn’t either!
Point is, the “mother” connotation is a fun thing that they (& WWX) don’t take so seriously. You shouldn’t either!
4. That one time WWX said the proverb, “有奶便是娘，有钱便是爹啊” (the one with the milk becomes the mother, the one with the money becomes the father).
Follows right after the previous scene. WWX says this to A-Yuan—rather disdainfully—once A-Yuan begins sticking to LWJ...
Follows right after the previous scene. WWX says this to A-Yuan—rather disdainfully—once A-Yuan begins sticking to LWJ...
... after LWJ splurges on toys for him.
Netflix translates this line to “you’re ready to turn to anyone who offers you material benefit” which is accurate but not as cute as the original mother/father parallel...
Netflix translates this line to “you’re ready to turn to anyone who offers you material benefit” which is accurate but not as cute as the original mother/father parallel...
...Again, it’s cute how WWX‘s eyes are peeled to LWJ as he says “father爹” (& LWJ’s smile afterwards!) Wouldn’t it be fair to assume WWX is playing up the mother娘 role, since (1)LWJ got misunderstood to be the father爹 earlier, and (2)he declared previously he “birthed” A-Yuan?
5. That one time wangxian hid in a barn and WWX heard the wife calling her husband “Er-Gege二哥哥”. So naturally, he copies her. Because he can.
Er-Gege (or “Gege”) in general is (1) already a super flirty term to call a man by, (2) usually said by a younger woman to an older...
Er-Gege (or “Gege”) in general is (1) already a super flirty term to call a man by, (2) usually said by a younger woman to an older...
...man, and (3) we don’t even see the other main female characters in the novel call anyone this. Except WWX. And that barn lady.
Anyway, WWX calling LWJ “Er-Gege” repeatedly & flirtatiously, after hearing her do so, is the most direct parallel of them and that married couple.
Anyway, WWX calling LWJ “Er-Gege” repeatedly & flirtatiously, after hearing her do so, is the most direct parallel of them and that married couple.
5. That one time... actually, no, all those times they officially refer to themselves as husband and wife夫妻 after their marriage.
Much controversy on this one, bc people argue the term “husband and wife”夫妻—a gender-loaded term, btw—was translated wrongly and should be...
Much controversy on this one, bc people argue the term “husband and wife”夫妻—a gender-loaded term, btw—was translated wrongly and should be...
...looked upon as a gender-neutral term. I don’t agree, particularly when you bear in mind the genre MDZS belongs to. Here’s a thread I’ve written previously about this: https://twitter.com/sweetlolixo/status/1300171769450438656
Side-note: after making that thread, I was alerted that MXTX used the term “husband and husband”夫夫 in some chapter *titles* to refer to wangxian. This differs from the chi version I was reading where the titles are short & sweet and only 2 words each (probably the same older...
...version exiledrebels translated from?). So I poked around to check out this other (maybe newer?) version of MDZS, and saw MXTX does indeed use 夫夫 in some titles (do note she still uses 夫妻 in some others). Within this version though, wangxian *still* refer to themselves...
...within the story using the same “husband and wife夫妻” term. What this conveys to *me* is that: (1) there are definitely other ways she could have circumvented using 夫妻 if she wanted to, (2) but she didn’t, and her choice for them to call each other 夫妻 remains deliberate.
Feel free to interpret it in another way.
Btw, I’m actually glad I discovered this other version with the longer chapter titles because MXTX’s chapter titles are friggin hilarious!
Btw, I’m actually glad I discovered this other version with the longer chapter titles because MXTX’s chapter titles are friggin hilarious!
For example, she titles chap 11: “霸道含光君的疯癫小逃妻”.
Literal translation: “The Domineering Hanguang-Jun’s Crazy Little Runaway Wife”.
I died laughing. This is the same chapter LWJ tells the juniors, “Let him(WWX) cry. When he’s tired of crying, drag him in.” HGJ PLS
Literal translation: “The Domineering Hanguang-Jun’s Crazy Little Runaway Wife”.
I died laughing. This is the same chapter LWJ tells the juniors, “Let him(WWX) cry. When he’s tired of crying, drag him in.”
HGJ PLS
Another hilariously cheeky one:
Chapter 114: 家宴 1 蜜月，回老公家里看看（○｀ 3′○）
Literal translation: Banquet 1 Honeymoon, returning to my husband’s home to have a look-see （○｀ 3′○）
God... what an awful emoticon WWX you cheeky gremlin 看起来真的很欠扁
Chapter 114: 家宴 1 蜜月，回老公家里看看（○｀ 3′○）
Literal translation: Banquet 1 Honeymoon, returning to my husband’s home to have a look-see （○｀ 3′○）
God... what an awful emoticon WWX you cheeky gremlin
看起来真的很欠扁
6. That one time LWJ asked WWX “Who’s the *husband*?”, and WWX said, “You are!”
Already mentioned in the other thread, but it’s so good it deserves being mentioned here again. Wangxian canonically horny and love to play up the husband/wife trope in bed!
Already mentioned in the other thread, but it’s so good it deserves being mentioned here again. Wangxian canonically horny and love to play up the husband/wife trope in bed!
PS: Incense Burner chapters ARE canon wangxian kinks, ARE part of who they are, and should be considered part of the MDZS universe. I don’t know what world you live in where you can selectively *exclude* the extras—just bc they’re smut—and consider them NOT part of the novel!
7. That one time WWX asked LWJ if he wants WWX to bear him little Lan children.
WWX playfully asks LWJ if he wants WWX to bear him Little Lans. LWJ answers, how is this possible? WWX sighs, and says “if he really could give birth, at the rate LWJ fucks him, he’d have a whole...
WWX playfully asks LWJ if he wants WWX to bear him Little Lans. LWJ answers, how is this possible? WWX sighs, and says “if he really could give birth, at the rate LWJ fucks him, he’d have a whole...
...litter of them running around by now”. LWJ gets so flustered, he tells WWX to stop talking.
Maybe this is just a passing thought? Maybe it really means nothing? But the very idea *does* get LWJ flustered, so suffice to say he does like the idea. Just a little bit? Or a lot?
Maybe this is just a passing thought? Maybe it really means nothing? But the very idea *does* get LWJ flustered, so suffice to say he does like the idea. Just a little bit? Or a lot?
9. Finally, that one time WWX doesn’t. Or, that one time he actually smashes the bottom = wife = domestic housewife trope!
In Incense Burner I, we learn that WWX fantasised about a domestic life with LWJ where they have a nice hut
and he’s the one that has to put the food...
In Incense Burner I, we learn that WWX fantasised about a domestic life with LWJ where they have a nice hut
and he’s the one that has to put the food...
...onto the table, while LWJ stays home and weaves clothes. These are roles very befitting of their characters, and smashes the stereotypically “gendered” BL trope despite all their hoo-ha about being husband and wife夫妻.
Very cute. Let WWX be the one who brings the bread home and yet still prefers taking LWJ’s dick every night! We love that duality in a man! 
(We all know that LWJ is the better cook, anyway.)
(We all know that LWJ is the better cook, anyway.)
Lastly—If you’ve made it to the end of this thread, this point probably isn’t for you, but please stop equating WWX as being the “wife” or “mother” to be weak/inferior, thank you! The most common reason I get from people for not embracing WWX’s femininity is bc past BL works...
...have led them to form a wife = demeaning perception, but... this doesn’t have to apply to wangxian?
WWX is incredibly multi-faceted a person, and can be both a mother AND a father, and a husband AND a wife if he wants.
WWX is incredibly multi-faceted a person, and can be both a mother AND a father, and a husband AND a wife if he wants.
It is not a mutually exclusive thing! Stop vilifying the wife WWX trope—especially when it’s canon he doesn’t give a shit! He has plenty of fun with it. Peace
