A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement

by somnologic

Summary:

The threat of the Wen rebellion against the throne is increasing, and the nation's war hero Hanguang-jun has gone missing. But Wei Wuxian is focused on problems closer to home: fighting to keep the family farm after his parents died and take care of his adorable little brother A-Yuan.

One night while walking back home, he literally stumbles on an injured man lying on the ground and brings him home. Lan Zhan has been ambushed by bandits, and is left without any proof of his identity or legal status. Marrying someone who you just rescued from near-death is unusual, but it allows Wei Wuxian to keep his property and gives Lan Zhan the right to stay in Yiling. The problem is, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan have secrets they're keeping, and neither of them expected to fall in love.

What began as a chance meeting in the snow becomes a love story that will change the fate of the nation.

OR pursuit of jade meets MDZS (no knowledge needed of the TV show)

Notes:

I never imagined writing a fiction of this length, and I literally could not have done it without my incredible beta Jenevieve (Jenevieve on AO3, Librarian-At-Last on Tumblr). Jenn is a miracle who turned feedback around on drafts incredibly fast, while still helping me figure out a super complex plot and talking me off the ledge more times than I can count. She was the best beta and the best cheerleader I could have asked for — thank you so so much Jenn! I feel really lucky to be able to work with you.

A huge shout-out also to Kit/saint_aeon for being incredibly supportive and flexible when I ran into personal life issues. I can't wait for everyone to look at the beautiful artwork. Thank you!

As mentioned in the pic summary, this is essentially a MDZS AU that's heavily based on the TV show Pursuit of Jade/Zhu Yu plus some elements from the novel version. Some lines of dialogue in a few key scenes were taken directly from Pursuit of Jade, but the story stands on its own. There are some fun plot twists and Easter Eggs for fellow PoJ fans as well.

I drew on a lot of MDZS meta and cultural resources while writing this, and I will linked the ones I could track down as footnotes. Finally, thank you to the lovely mods for putting this event together!

Chapter 1

Prologue:

Good news! Hanguang-jun is dead!

Why is this good news? He was a one-man army, the defender of the common folk and the nobility alike, the empire’s only anointed Marquis.

Are you joking? He was bad luck, bandits and monsters always showing up where he was...

Haven't you heard that he goes where the chaos is? He shows up *because* the bandits and monsters come to prey on us.

Oh. Well… what happened to him anyway?

No one knows. The entire Gusu army has been searching for him for weeks. Apparently he split off from the main force for some reason and hasn’t been heard from since. The Emperor has reportedly been beside himself. Everyone is waiting for him to declare a national day of mourning.

Ha, the Jins won't be happy about that.

The Lans won't be either. Lan Qiren probably wants the nation to take a whole month off in honor of one of his precious Twin Jades.

A month off! You'd like that, wouldn't you! Anything to put off reclaiming Lotus Pier’s rightful farmlands. Fengmian, you lazy good-for-nothing. First, you give some of our most fertile fields away for pennies because of some old life debt. Then when we can finally take back what is ours, you'll take any excuse to delay. Do I even have any face left as the Lotus Pier magistrate?

Niangzi...even Imperial law recognizes the need for a mourning period. Besides, we all thought that Wei Wuxian would end up marrying into the Su family. Wouldn't waiting for that have been the most painless transition?

You and your overly generous heart! I've been telling you for years that Wei Wuxian was a jinx on our family. Looks like Su She and his mother finally realized that for themselves. But now that the wedding is off and it's been a full year, there's no more reason to wait.

*sigh* Very well.