- The word 'xiàng gong' can have several translations, depending on context. Young gentleman. Husband. Male prostitute.Nie Mingjue tries to ask Meng Yao to be his husband, and Meng Yao thinks he's being asked to be Nie Mingjue's whore.
相公 xiàng gong is a Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi fanfic by Anbessette. It centers a conversation had between Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao in which the former proposes marriage and the latter thinks he's being asked for something very different. Each chapter centers around a different outcome. Some have better endings than others...
It can be read here
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This fanfiction features the following tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Meng Yao in chapter 6, after he has decided to return to Nie Mingjue, figuring working as his personal prostitute would be better than suffering the abuse of the Jin Sect.
- Double-Meaning Title: The fic's title and main conflict, as one word (xiàng gong) can either mean husband or prostitute.
- For Want Of A Nail: Chapters 1-3 and 6 center around how canon changes as a result of Nie Mingjue's clumsy marriage proposal to Meng Yao. In each case, it means they either never come into conflict or reconcile.
- Get Out!: Nie Mingjue yells at Meng Yao to do this in Chapter 6 when Meng Yao is attempting to seduce him. It leads to the two coming to an understanding.
- In Spite of a Nail: In chapters 4 and 5, canon proceeds as it would have normally, with the only thing changing being people's various reactions to events.
- Maybe Ever After: Chapter 3. the clarification around what Nie Mingjue actually meant comes only when Jin Guangyao has already been acknowledged and they have drifted apart. All that the chapter definitely indicates is that Mingjue and Guangyao can reconcile, though whether they'll end up together is more unclear.
- Oh, Crap!: A quiet one in Chapter 4, when Jin Guangyao realizes while talking to Lan Xichen that Nie Mingjue had wanted to marry him. Seeing as Jin Guangyao has already killed him at this point with the song of turmoil, it's too late.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: A conversation like this is at the center of the fic and its divergences, with Nie Mingjue proposing marriage and Meng Yao thinking he's being propositioned. How long it takes the two to realize varies from chapter to chapter, ranging from one night to decades by which time Mingjue is long dead.
- Poor Communication Kills: Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao's failure to understand each other during the abovementioned conversation has increasingly dire consequences in each chapter. In the later ones, it's another reason that Jin Guangyao has to be angry with Nie Mingjue.
- Completely averted in chapter 6. Meng Yao realizes that they've been misunderstanding each other and they talk things over.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The Jin Captain in chapter 6. Meng Yao merely stabs him in the leg instead of murdering him.
- Nie Mingjue in chapter 3. Jin Guangyao chooses not to play the Song of Turmoil for him.
