LINKDING

Summary: In which Mei Changsu takes the poison. And wakes in a universe where the Lin family fell ten years earlier. ➜ Nirvana in Fire fic where MCS bodyswaps with himself from an alternate universe where he's an imperial eunuch ➜ a fascinating little glimpse into this alternate world! I am so curious how this is going to go....for both versions of MCS ➜ 1k words in length

Summary: When Xiao Xuan tells her of the Chiyan rebellion and that her beloved grandson Prince Qi is to die, the Grand Empress Dowager takes drastic action. ➤ omg it's NiF genfic focusing on Tai-nainai and Gao-gonggong ➤ canon divergence AU where Tai-nainai hears about the Chiyan rebellion and decides to take her own action ➤ I love how well Tai-nainai and Gao-gonggong understand each other! ➤ thanks to @aegtx@wandering.shop for the rec! ➤ 1.3k words in length

Summary: Lin Chen did not look up from his book. “What on earth,” he said, clipped and precise, “makes you think that I would want to meet the man you're busy dying for?” / In which Lin Chen joins the Consort Jing fanclub, Mei Changsu re-evaluates several tenets of his existence, and Xiao Jingyan decides that if everyone else is having an emotional crisis, he might as well join them. ➤ HELLO it's a 12k Lin Chen/Mei Changsu/Xiao Jingyan ship fic I am there with bells on!!! ➤ mcs has a thing with jingyan and separately a thing with lin chen. he wants to make them be in the same room with each other. ➤ mcs gets what he wants and immediately gets to regret it in like five different ways, which is exactly what I love to see ➤ it's got so many delightfully fraught conversations between various iterations of the characters! ➤ it involves lin chen and jingyan talking about mcs behind his back! ➤ it involves lin chen and consort jing teaming up! ➤ LOVED IT.

<Summary: blockquote>Twelve years after the Chiyan massacre Jingyan, bitter and grieving, is urgently called back to the capital and presented by unexpected marching orders by his mother: he's to leave his military career and marry Mei Changsu, an eighteen-years-old maiden who claims to be a daughter of his mother's old friend, mysterious Mei Shinan. Jingyan is furious, but he's too filial a son to disobey his mother...</blockquote> ➤ NiF canon divergence fic where Jingyan is called back to the capital to an arranged marriage with a young maiden named Mei Changsu ➤ I love seeing what is and what is not different in the plans and in how the two of them relate to each other, in this changed context! ➤ some great cameos from other characters too ➤ what a fun and satisfying read! ➤ 10k words in length

<blockquote>The first indication there was something peculiar happening in the Inner Palace came heralded by the news that Prince Jing had returned injured from exile in the northernmost battlefields of Da Liang and it was revealed that the Emperor had not only granted an audience with Concubine Jing, but consented to allowing her to tend to Prince Jing herself, heretofore unprecedented liberty.</blockquote>

<blockquote>“Sir Su,” Jingyan said, “Forgive me, but I can’t help but feel strange referring to you in such a manner after such intimacies.” “Ah,” said Lin Chen, abruptly thrown out of his warm, post-coital state, “No, Your Highness is going to have to trust me on this, calling me Changsu is really going to spoil the mood.”</blockquote> ➤ the one where lin chen goes to the capital under the name mei changsu to enact mcs's plans on his behalf! genius premise, enacted with perfection

<blockquote>“The seventh prince of Da Liang has arrived at Mount Langya.” Mei Changsu sat very still, his eyes wide in the face he had worn for only a few months now, since Meiling. Then he set down the ink brush and straightened his back. “Get rid of him.”</blockquote>

<blockquote> It wasn’t that Xiao Jingyan had been looking for an excuse to leave the capital. Nevertheless, he was relieved to receive news of a bandit troupe terrorising the villages along the northeastern borders. His late father had been sick for four years. Jingyan had remained in the capital for a further three to help Jingyu become the new emperor. Now that he’d succeeded, he was raring to leave the stifling confines of court, even for just a little bit. While investigating bandit activity, Jingyan is rescued by the Jiangzuo Alliance. Their famous chief, Mei Changsu, insists on a meeting but refuses to show his face.</blockquote>

<blockquote> There was something of Xiao Jingyan there, in the firmness of his jaw, the unforgiving slash of his brows, and most clearly in the eyes that neither saw nor conveyed deception. But Long Zhan was not Jingyan, could never be, no matter how much Changsu might wish otherwise, because Jingyan was dead. --- In service to a very-much-alive Prince Qi, Jingyan dons a Jianghu-typical disguise and infiltrates the Jiangzuo Alliance to suss out this Mei Changsu fellow and see if he might be useful in helping them re-open the Chiyan conspiracy case. Basically, a slightly ridiculous premise where everyone is running around the Jianghu with masks, multiple identities, and secret agendas.</blockquote> ➤ canon divergence, prince Jing is ALSO presumed dead and hiding in the jianghu under a fake identity!

<blockquote>Jingyan did not expect to ever see his one-night stand from three years ago again. Mei Changsu did not anticipate that his one-night stand would stubbornly refuse to give up having feelings for him. Things go very much not according to plan, to Mei Changsu's dismay and everyone else's glee.</blockquote>