Yep, very timely note to self.

Oh no what did he do :((. He knows what he did and this is not a surprise and if he suddenly gained a 'put actually 0 insolence into stuff he says' ability out of being in another world that would be a surprise. Also then other him might think he was an imposter. Other Jiang Cheng having about the same level of tolerance his has for when he is really trying to be properly obedient is very good, not all doms would be (or have been) that tolerant with him. This is a contrite and biddable-as-he-gets and properly appreciative Wei Ying.

Wei Wuxian will absolutely notice. But, nope, none of that, subspace brain, he is having no stupid reactions to other Jiang Cheng talking how Jiang Cheng usually talks just because it is currently a contrast to something.

...Wait he is getting to know the reason cultivation is usually started in childhood? He is! (This is going to get part of his brain suggesting that other Jiang Cheng must be at least a little sort of something like pleased with him, because he's telling him things; another part of his brain pointing out that other Jiang Cheng might just think he should know things about this world because he's in it, and knowing what causes problems at least makes him less likely to cause them by accident; and approximately all the parts of his brain distracted because alternative universe power information!!)

(aw that sucks about twenty. Though maybe there's a way around it that they haven't found here yet. Like other Jiang Cheng said it's not exactly the same thing as with a Foundation. Other Jiang Cheng said 'as the body is also growing'; it'd be pretty weird if golden cores were getting their 'is the body growing' signals from the Objective Font of Bodies Facts and not from the body they're in right. So potential step one, track down what they're getting as signals - did people already know about growth hormones at this point in history, he doesn't think so? (Wei Wuxian also doesn't actually know much about growth hormones. But he knows they exist!) Potential step two...)

(It takes him a moment to catch onto the live action metaphor, but he gets it.)

He has another moment like those times when he thought someone was speaking one of the languages he knows, and then his brain actually tried to resolve the syllables and they did not turn into words he understood at all. Then – ohhh! That kind of war. ...Or possibly not related to the war, but point is, something here is not at 'submissives are to be taught the appointed order of the world and show proper respect', and is at 'we don't respect those guys over there at all, look how much we don't do that'. - He's going to think this through some more later, right now he needs to answer the question.

Wei Wuxian partially suppresses a smile into his plate again. "Well, they're not all idiots - Sandu Shengshou." (It's a 'to be fair' kind of tone. These days a large part of the recipients of his opinions-at-length are Lan Zhan and Wen Ning, and it's gotten him into the habit.) 

Of course it's important to be aware and careful of dangers! (He does not say this like someone who came to this thought entirely independently). But that just means you have to figure out the way that really works, right, you can't go avoiding anything in the vague vicinity of 'something bad might happen'. If you did that you'd never have - surgery, or internal combustion engines, or fertilizer let alone dynamite! People get all nervous when it's power use because 'you can't understand it in exactly the same way as everything else' and 'it's hard to see what you're doing', but that doesn't mean it's different, if you - 

(This time he kind of forgets to keep a hold on the technical detail, but it should be possible to get a general idea.

The general idea might remind someone of a cultivator earnestly and passionately explaining that really, he has absolutely found a completely safe and reliable way to fly a sword into a hurricane. When said cultivator is both someone who could come up with that - not just if anyone could but if no one could. And also someone you would find in the infirmary, with the attendant healers explaining that he tried to fly a sword into a hurricane.)

Or in other words, Wei Wuxian sounds like Wei Wuxian.  It's an unusual mix of comforting and ominous.  His frustration at being kept out of the loop is replaced with frustration at seeing a Wei Wuxian yet again say things that could get him hurt.

Jiang Cheng is aware enough about how people work to know that he shouldn’t immediately yell at Wei Wuxian for being reckless - that is how you get people to not open up to you again.  On the other hand, not pushing back enough on his Wei Wuxian’s risky behavior also didn’t work very well.

He finishes the last bite of his last meat skewer as he tries to come up with something that will neither result in an argument nor Wei Wuxian shutting down and refusing to talk further.  

"Make sure you think about all the ways something can go wrong and find ways to prevent them, instead of assuming that you'll never make a mistake or get unlucky.  Let others be the ones to take risks.  Talk things through with people who can point out problems.  Even if they're not as smart as you, they might be able to see problems from perspectives you can't."

“There are people who care about you.  If you get hurt, they'll be hurt by that.”

No matter how strange the other world and other Jiang Cheng and other relationship are, that couldn't possibly change.  No one with any sense at all could know a Wei Wuxian and not love them. 

The problem with talking is that starting to talk because a relevant dom wants him to has a real tendency to turn into talking way past the point where any relevant doms wanted that at all. (You'd think after all this time he'd be able to stop at something resembling the right point. Or maybe you wouldn't think that; not about him anyway.)

Other Jiang Cheng has not started looking happier again. (Is maybe looking differently not-pleased, but Wei Wuxian doesn't think he's going to figure out the details.) And now there's some silence. 

Yeah. He looks at his plate. And other Jiang Cheng's table. He reviews his note to self.

...Other Jiang Cheng is giving him advice on how to do power experiments he's not supposed to do?? (Mostly) good advice? (And also thinks he's smarter than other people??)

…Yes he’s immediately tempted. He might be stuck here for a while! Other Jiang Cheng is a completely reasonable authority figure for power use in this other universe where it’s different! Telling him how to do versus not do something is basically like permission, right? He doesn’t have to go all the way with anything, he could try some stuff out and when he got back to his universe, he’d still have the results - 

NO, Wei Ying. (First of all, power use experiments take a long time, assuming it even works the same here which he doesn’t know yet, and if he has time then priority is obviously the local power use. Second of all, he does not think his Jiang Cheng is going to sell him to this one or anything, so he’s still going home at the end of this. Third of all, he has given other Jiang Cheng one summary, and if other Jiang Cheng knew more than that (for instance, the story that he is still not telling right now) he’d probably come to the same proscription. And zeroth of all, he doesn’t want to tell that story, but he learned that lesson and it’s not one of the ones he wants to do again. And not when he’s more than 14 now and his brother carries Zidian.

And Shijie would be very upset.)

He should probably respond to the ?advice(/instructions). But, before he can do that,

Ow. And, other Jiang Cheng continues to be very good at telling him off. He looks at his plate again. (Is his Jiang Cheng going to pick it up from other Jiang Cheng? He shouldn't think so, right, his Jiang Cheng could have done what Shijie does, like Shijie does, if he was going to. But maybe it'll only make sense to him from another Jiang Cheng in some way.)

"I understand," sir "Sect Leader Jiang." ...Wow he's lucky he has kind of tolerant doms. That is not what anyone has ever meant by 'be honest and tell the truth to your dominants'. (He just -. He wanted -) Plate. Table. "Sorry. I mean, yes, Sect Leader Jiang."

Why did Wei Wuxian act like he was just yelled at?  Jiang Cheng had thought he’d offered basic advice.  Is that considered rude in the other world?  That, or other Wei Wuxian hates that his own family cares about him, which- no.  If it were just other Jiang Cheng, sure.  But there’s a Jiang Yanli in that world too.  

Damn it.  He’d been actively trying to not yell at Wei Wuxian.  

Jiang Cheng sulks, looking at his bowl.  The bowl is empty and therefore not providing much distraction.  Only the stick of tanghulu is left, and Jiang Cheng isn’t in the mood for eating that right away.  It’ll last another hour or two.

It has become clear throughout the meal that other Wei Wuxian is taking cues from what Jiang Cheng does.  How does he explain that Wei Wuxian can eat his own tanghulu if he wants to, without demonstrating…

Oh right, verbal communication.  

“You can have your dessert right away, if you want.  I’m going to save mine until after I’ve finished my work for the afternoon.”  

And speaking of which, there’s another thing he ought to ask out loud.  “I was planning to do my reading in here, but I won’t impose if you’d rather be alone.  Which do you prefer?”

He tries to tell himself that he won’t be upset if he’s kicked out, since he wants to run away anyway and only isn’t doing so because he isn’t a coward.

He has the impulse to hug other Jiang Cheng again. Fortunately there is a table between them, so even if he got a moment of being that much worse at not doing things he shouldn't do than usual, it would take him longer to actually manage it. "Thank you, Sect Leader Jiang." He is either not really suppressing smiling into his plate, or else he is very bad at it. (It's just - he's still subspacing, and that's so nice of other Jiang Cheng - 

- Not the letting him have dessert - though that's also really nice; feeding the submissive might be just what a dom has to do when they're housing someone else's submissive, but that probably doesn't apply to letting them have dessert, especially when they can't even behave. But other Jiang Cheng told him he was allowed, instead of just going about his own other Jiang Cheng business and leaving him wondering, and other Jiang Cheng was paying attention to him and thinking about him, and it's exactly a dom kind of being nice - )

"You're really great, Sect Leader Jiang." And then he shoves about as much of the stick of tanghulu as will fit (possibly slightly more) into his mouth at once. 

Stick of tanghulu: also delicious! He thinks he read somewhere that sweet things used to be less sweet in the past, but whether or not that's true in this universe, it is not being a problem for him with these tanghulu.

...And then this turns out to have been a good idea for a different reason, because now he has an (at least hard to argue with) excuse for taking slightly more time to get his answer together here.

He thinks that was the kind of question that's about what he personally would like. Which is always etiquette on supremely much hard mode, because he needs to say what he would like, since that's answering the question, while also conveying that of course all decisions about where in their house to be and also about Wei Wuxian are doms'/other Jiang Cheng's, and he continues to know that. Especially (very especially) is he's wrong about that being a what-he-would like question, which he might be. Because other-cultural etiquette that is also in another universe.

...Yeah he gives up. Not like he doesn't get smacked all the time for being terrible at etiquette! He may as well get something out of that when it's useful. (His brain, which apparently needs some sort of reminder lecture about counting blessings, meanwhile produces the idea that if other Jiang Cheng's going to read in the room, other Jiang Cheng could maybe also let him put his head in his lap?)

"You're really, really great, Sect Leader Jiang." ...Here's a question, why do any doms let him talk in their presence at all. "Sorry, Sandu Shengshou, I mean - if you're asking what I'd like more myself, then thank you, yes please, Sandu Shengshou. -You know I'm terrible at attending, but I'll really try my best if you'd like, I know you can't get anyone else in here." He is good at putting his head in people's lap though! So maybe they can do that instead?

"- If you weren't asking then this one apologizes, Sect Leader Jiang, this one meant no presumption and will be obedient."

It's finally not annoying that Wei Wuxian keeps looking down instead of at Jiang Cheng's face, because he is feeling incredibly flustered about all of these complements and is not successfully hiding this at all. 

He’d thought he’d made himself clear.  Then again, Jiang Cheng knows well how formality and honesty don’t mix.  So, since speaking plainly is both: a) What he wants to have happen; and b) Something he has just been rewarded with compliments for having just done, he will continue trying at it.

“I had been asking for your real answer.  I don’t know what you mean by ‘attending’.  You can,” he begins, then pauses.  ‘Do whatever you feel like doing,’ is far too open ended.  His Wei Wuxian would find something horrible to do, either because he’s unreasonable or to punish Jiang Cheng for not being specific. “You can draw, meditate, work on notes for my Wei Wuxian, or practice with your flute.  Or, you can ask if there’s anything you were planning on doing that you think won’t be inappropriate.”

“Ah.  And the formality practice for the day is concluded.”  Which sounds terribly awkward.  The local Wei Wuxian would have raked him over the coals about saying it, even if he’d gone along with the formality to begin with.  He can’t ignore years of training to expect a devious grin and to be immediately jabbed in the side and an argument to break out.