Jiang Cheng Oneshots

I Plucked My Way Into The Past

Jiang Cheng time travels and we get a good bit of crack, a garnish of angst, with a side of ridiculousness.

Jiang Cheng = Jiang Wanyin

Jing Ling = Jin Rulan

Word Count: 4473

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His day had been tedious between work and the neverending questions from others. All he had done was attempt to rekindle his relationship with his brother. Apparently, that was equal to the horror of him slapping the GusuLan sect leader; it was atrocious for him to do. Was doing it in private more probable? Yes, but in private, he would have felt the glare from Lan Wangji much more. That glare was not what he needed to fix something so broken. But, at this point, that glare was way better than the shame he received. Did they not learn anything from the events in the Guanyin temple all that time ago? Was he genuinely insane for wanting to move forward for the first time in his life? Now, not only did he fail, but he brought shame to the YuemengJiang clan. Truly a disaster of a day.

Now he was sitting on the same pier he and his brother used to play on as kids, with a few jars of wine. He originally bought the jars to share with his brother. Seeing as that failed, now all he could do was drink and relish in loneliness. He finished the contents of his current jar setting it on his left. Moving his hand to the right to grab another one, he felt tears form in his eyes. He had drunk too much, was lonely, and was sad, and the only thing left for him was to cry; and cry he did. He released feelings he hadn't expressed in decades. He sobbed until he felt the will to grab another, to down another jar. Because what else was there for him to do; his nephew is grown and looking after his own sect, and he can't seem to be able to talk to his brother. He had tried to find something to do, a hobby, but it was useless. There was nothing he was expectantly good at besides work. And to his knowledge, hobbies were supposed to be fun, and work did not qualify as fun. Now he had all this wasted time and nothing but his thoughts. And they lingered, never wavering; that was why he tried to talk to his brother, but he was back with his time, back to using his time to drink and reminisce.

He set the jar down, a crisp memory of the stupid things he and his brother used to do- a memory of how his sister would scold them for being so idiotic. Then it flashed to him wearing new ropes he received for a date arranged by his mother. His brother had chased him around, teasing him about his date. He had tried to escape his brother's grasp. But he fell off the pier into the lake; his sister had run over to see the commotion as he climbed out. Once he got his footing, he ran after his brother. Before he could reach his brother, Yu Ziyuan came marching over. His mother scolded all three of them for the new, ruined ropes. Suddenly the scene started to fade, his brother, his sister, and his mother fading off into white light. The light pulled him in, he lifted his hand to it, and before he could acknowledge the calls behind him, he passed out.

He opened his eyes, a pounding feeling in his head; he groaned, turning his head. His eyes widened at what was next to him; it was water, a lake! He quickly turned to the other side, seeing the same; he looked forward, a bloodcurdling scream escaping his lips. He fell back, watching his brother's face leave his view. He felt himself hitting the water, breaking the surface. He was only reminiscing; why was he in the memory! He could only imagine that he had passed out from drinking too much; this was just some dream. But why did everything seem so real, and why did they react differently to the memory? And why was his head disciple here? He heard a splash sound close to him, a bundle of purple coming towards him. He saw himself getting pulled towards the surface before being laid down on the pier. He sat up, seeing a worried look on his head disciple's face as he searched for any wounds. He sat up, coughing out whatever water was still in his lungs before reassuring his head disciple.