ARCHIVE OF DIXING | English 镇魂 Guardian Fanworks Directory

The last thing Wei feels before drifting off is Kunlun's even breath against his collarbone. The first thing he feels when his eyes blink open to the earliest rays of the golden sunrise— He frowns in sleepy confusion and takes a closer look to make sure that it's really Kunlun's knee in the crook of his neck. It is.

The meadow is so much more spacious than a bed, but they didn't lose each other in it — they're still embracing, but somehow they got themselves turned around. Kunlun's robes have bunched up as well; Wei can't resist kissing the exposed skin, soft and lazy, barely more than a breath.

Hei Pao Shi, though. He is firm, blunt, and commanding, where Shen Wei is polite and flexible. He says very little, but he openly displays abilities capable of levelling buildings and tearing apart streets. He smells of frost and ozone, and he blends into the heart of thunderstorms like he’s some elder god, like he was birthed from the chaos and now holds it in his hands.

Zhao Yunlan wants him.

Or: Zhao Yunlan discovers that Hei Pao Shi is a traditionalist.

Just few more days, Zhao Yunlan thought as he swept the back of his wrist harshly against his face. Maybe just in few days, he could meet him again.

AKA Zhao Yunlan grieving.

Shen Wei sighed.

Just ten more minutes, then he would drag Zhao Yunlan to sleep properly in bed.

But till then, he wanted to just stay like this.

 ..

AKA Shen Wei finds Zhao Yunlan nodding off on couch again and instead of just watching him from a distance, he lets himself be close.

“Is that really wise? The omnipotent Hei Pao Shi, stuff of nightmares and legend, taking a mortal lover? Especially a defenseless, naïve, principled professor? Have you considered the risk to him? You have no natural weaknesses – but your attention makes him one. It makes him a target.”

Or: Zhao Yunlan comes to a unique conclusion while trying to puzzle out the relationship between Shen Wei and the Envoy.

If Shen Wei had any regrets about that little human life he had built for himself in Longcheng as a university professor, he certainly hid it from himself most of the time. On nights like that, where the incessant rain and dense mist made the air even colder and the streets even quieter, it was somehow difficult not to think about what had once been.
This night was just like many nights before, where Wu Xie wandered the streets, uncaring of the rain that slowly seeped through his clothes. Hoping just maybe it could sink all the way into his soul.
...
When two men that should be strangers reunite on the rainy streets of Longcheng, an uncertain present and an intense past intertwine.
…
At the exhibition, Zhao Yunlan gazed intently at the arts before him, the snow-capped mountains, the ethereal landscapes, the birds on branches, the peonies and koi.
The huge green tree with strong roots. The blossoming plum tree.
It was as if those images were photographs of things he had seen a long time ago, and that still remained vivid in his memory.
He needed to see the artist.

Now, with Shen Wei fired like an arrow straight into his heart and stuck there, he’s slowly trying to be better. Because Shen Wei is tidy as a rabbit that carefully grooms its face and whiskers, and proud as a bower bird that constructs and keeps a perfect home for its mate. Zhao Yunlan is only capable of buying a house – which he does – but making it a home... Well. It’s a work in progress. He’s had a lifetime to dig in happily to his slovenly ways. Excavating himself isn’t so easy.

Or: Five times Zhao Yunlan learned to enjoy the little pleasures of a home.

“Shen-laoshi is an expert with a knife,” she murmurs, appreciatively. Shen Wei slowly puts it down, balancing it on its side beside the cut of beef. “Believe me, I know good knifework when I see it.” The smirk is audible in her voice.

“You’re a little close, Zhao-chuzhang,” says Shen Wei, in a low voice.

“Really? I thought this was a hands-on experience.” Still, she slips her arms from Shen Wei’s shoulders and steps back, leaving just a hint of fragrance behind. “Please, laoshi. Tell us more about meat.”

"You know," Zhao Yunlan spoke with enough emphasis to break through Lin Jing's focus as he approached the man's desk, "there's just so much about you that makes you such a fake monk. Like, a lot." As their boss goes on, the self-satisfied grin on his face only grew.
Lin Jing looked away from his monitor slowly, turning his head to the side just enough to side eye the other. "Excuse me?" he asked, despite clearly having heard the words based on the offended tone.
"You, Fake Monk," Zhao Yunlan continued, not dissuaded by the nonverbal warning he was being given. "Like there's the usual stuff, right?" He leaned his hip against the edge of Lin Jing's desk as he invaded the man's personal space with the look of a predator. Despite the years of being a ghost, Wang Zheng knew that in this moment, Lin Jing was the man's prey even if he didn't realize it yet. "Like eating meat and drinking. But there's more to it, too. Like really, really obvious stuff.
---
Zhao Yunlan came up with what he thought was a very clever line on a slow, boring day at SID and was eager to subject Lin Jing to it... Unfortunately, things don't go exactly how he expected.

Shen Wei isn’t really very clear on what Zhao Yunlan and his colleagues do with the majority of their time. Obviously some of it is spent on investigations, and presumably the paperwork that comes of them. Some must be spent on training, and miscellaneous administrative details. But beyond that, he really has no sense of their professional lifestyle. Partially, this is because when they’re together, Zhao Yunlan doesn’t want to talk about work. Often he’s tired, sometimes hurt, and Shen Wei focuses on the health of both his soul and his body with hearty warming meals and the reassurance his own body can offer pressed to Zhao Yunlan’s.

Or: Shen Wei takes care of Zhao Yunlan after his return from a soul-tarnishing case.

"If I close my eyes instead of staring into nothingness, there is light. Many points of light, countless, perhaps infinite." This took Wei by surprise. Unlike him, the other one didn't usually go to the borders, so Wei thought that the white being had never seen those things.
"The stars, you mean?"
"Oh, so it has a name?"

Zhao Yunlan kissing Shen Wei's heart.

Gui Mian after his happy ending.

A peek into the dating life of Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi, the former having his infinite patience tried on a daily.

I LIIIIIIVEEEEE!!! Ch2 is finally out and done. I had time and I'm working on these dang WIP finally

It all happens before Wei can even blink. The beautiful young god looks up at him, sun glinting in his hair and eyes. Wei's heart does a flip in his chest that somehow shakes up his world more than the tumble down from the rock. The youchu's teeth sink into his neck.

Somewhere in the background of his mind there are more things, impressions twisting and hard to grasp — strong arms lifting him out of the water, and the faint scent of every wildflower Wei has ever known and could ever imagine. After that there's only darkness.

“I’m not ready to accept a system not subject to our laws,” says Zhao Yunlan, serious now.

Of course, it’s a difficult statement to make. The reality of SID is that they do deal with people who are, one way or another, above the law. The horribly trite truth is that there’s one law for ordinary people, and another for those who rule them – be it by dint of political power, or wealth, or simply fear. Zhao Yunlan’s job is, like a precarious set of scales, to try to find the balance in righting wrongs. To play the system, as best he can, to get the results that benefit those who have been harmed.

Shen Wei’s smile is subtle. Knowing. Like a fan to a flame, it kindles the low, snapping warmth simmering beneath Zhao Yunlan’s skin. “You would know more about that than me,” he says.

OR: Zhao Yunlan is alerted to the possibility of academic malfeasance by an anonymous source. During the course of his investigation he uncovers more than he bargained for.

In the dream, Shen Wei's hair falls long over his shoulders. That's the first thing Zhao Yunlan notices. It suits him so well that Zhao Yunlan thinks it must come from a memory—one of the ones that lies just within his grasp on the verge of waking.

The second thing he notices is the claws.