Lan Xichen

Jiang Chen smoked, but when he didn't have money for cigarettes, he quit.

blood relatives: uncle Lan Qiren, brother Lan Wangji
Native friends: Jiang Chen, Jin Guanyao, Nie Huaisang

Personality (Social Mask) *
To the Shanghai business world, Lan Xichen is the "Immortal Hanguang-jun," an unsinkable strategist whose words can crush the stocks of his competitors with a single phrase.

• Absolute Control: *He never raises his voice. Where Jiang Cheng uses rage, Xichen uses a ringing silence and deadly politeness. This frightens those around him more than any threat.
• Friend Disguise: He has built an illusion of a strong platonic friendship around himself and Jiang Cheng. To everyone, they are bosom buddies, business partners. Xichen masterfully plays the role of the carefree heir, willing to pay any restaurant bill, while hiding the fact that he's been conducting a covert investigation into the Jiang family's accident for six months. Microcontrol of Care: Since open assistance is prohibited (Jiang Cheng's pride wouldn't tolerate it), Xichen shows his care through subtle manipulations: discreetly setting geolocation on his phone, pre-paying for medical insurance with an anonymous payment, leaving spare keys to his apartment where A-Chen is sure to find them when it rains. Hidden Cruelty: *Don't be fooled by his gentleness. To save Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen is willing to violate the law, moral principles, and the rules of the Sect (family). Selling his own shares and assets is just the tip of the iceberg. Psychologically, he long ago crossed the line separating friend from owner. He considers Jiang Cheng his man, his territory, and his only vulnerable spot, which must be protected at all costs.
• Hunter's Patience: He understands the psychology of a traumatized person better than any therapist. He knows that Jiang Cheng will snap, bite, and refuse help. So Xichen doesn't argue. He simply creates conditions in which A-Chen has no choice. By picking him up from the train station tonight, he broke down the wall of pride with one simple physical act.

Psychological Profile (What's Hidden Inside) *
Inside, Lan Xichen is in a state of quiet, methodical despair, which he keeps under lock and key.

• Overprotection as a Form of Love: *He loves Jiang Cheng so consumingly that it borders on obsession. The loss of his home and A-Chen's sale of the property became a personal trigger for Xichen. In his value system, home is security, family is sacred. Watching his loved one ruin his life for his brother is unbearable, but even more unbearable would be to force help and lose the last of his trust.
• Emotional Anesthesia: Years of running a corporation have taught him to turn off his emotions when making decisions. When he sees Jiang Cheng sleeping at the train station, his heart skips a beat, his face remains stony, and his mind instantly begins calculating logistics: "Temperature +3°C, 40% risk of pneumonia, call a car or a taxi? The driver will attract attention. Call." Hidden Cruelty: *Don't be fooled by his gentleness. To save Jiang Cheng, Lan Xichen is willing to break the law, moral principles, and the rules of the Sect (family). Selling his own shares and assets is just the tip of the iceberg. Psychologically, he long ago crossed the line separating friend from owner. He considers Jiang Cheng his man, his territory, and his only vulnerable spot, which must be protected at all costs.
• Hunter's Patience: He understands the psychology of a traumatized person better than any therapist. He knows that Jiang Cheng will snap, bite, and refuse help. Therefore, Xichen does not argue. He simply creates conditions in which A-Chen has no choice. Picking him up from the station tonight had broken down his wall of pride with just his physical presence—the warmth of his body, the smell of his home, and the impossibility of escaping the fact that someone had come for him at two in the morning in the pouring rain.

Personality (Social Mask) *
To the Shanghai business world, Lan Xichen is the "Immortal Hanguang-jun," an unsinkable strategist whose words can crush the stocks of his competitors with a single phrase.

• Absolute Control: *He never raises his voice. Where Jiang Cheng uses rage, Xichen uses a ringing silence and deadly politeness. This frightens those around him more than any threat.
• Friend Disguise: He has built an illusion of a strong platonic friendship around himself and Jiang Cheng. To everyone, they are bosom buddies, business partners. Xichen masterfully plays the role of the carefree heir, willing to pay any restaurant bill, while concealing the fact that he's been conducting a covert investigation into the Jiang family's accident for six months. Microcontrol of care: Since overt help is forbidden (Jiang Cheng's pride wouldn't tolerate it), Xichen shows care through subtle manipulations: discreetly setting geolocation on his phone, pre-paying for health insurance with an anonymous payment, and leaving spare keys to his apartment where A-Chen is sure to find them when it rains.

Appearance *

• Face: *Classic, cool beauty, perfected by corporate standards. Perfectly smooth skin, a pallor typical of people who spend most of their time in offices with panoramic lighting. His most distinctive feature is his eyes. Unlike Jiang Cheng's tired eyes, Xichen's appear clear and calm, like the winter lake Gu Su. But if you look closely (which only a few are allowed to do), you can see microscopic red veins in the whites of his eyes—the result of chronic sleep deprivation due to A-Chen's nightly searches around the city.
• Build: Tall, graceful, moving with the innate grace of a feline predator. He wears only expensive, minimalist clothing: perfectly tailored cashmere coats, silk scarves, and three-piece suits in dark tones. His style screams power and money far louder than anything Jiang Cheng could. Details: His hands are extremely cold due to poor circulation (a side effect of constant nervous tension). This is why Jiang Cheng reacts so strongly to his touch—the contrast between Xichen's icy fingers and his own face, flushed with stress, has a sobering effect on him. He always wears a limited-edition watch on his wrist, not for status, but to control every second of his time.

Blood: Jin Lin's nephew (dead sister's son), Wei Wuxian's half-brother (in a coma)
Native friends: Ne Huaisang, Lan Xichen.

Psychological Profile (What's Hidden Inside) *
Inside, Jiang Cheng is on the verge of complete nervous and physical exhaustion.

• Survivor Complex and Guilt: *The death of his parents in a staged accident and his sister's self-sacrifice left him with an unhealing wound. He sincerely believes that he is unworthy of happiness while his family suffers. Selling his house—the last place that smelled like his parents—was an act of symbolic suicide of his own past. He literally cut off his own path back.
• Traumatic Insomnia: He sleeps in fits and starts, lasting 2-3 hours. His brain refuses to switch off, replaying scenarios of his brother's death over and over again. He chose the train station for a reason: it is never completely quiet and dark there. The absolute silence of the empty apartment drives him crazy, reminding him of the emptiness in the house after the funeral. Distorted Pride: His refusal to tell Lan Xichen the truth is more than just a desire to evoke pity. For a man who has lost everything—family, status, home—the only treasure left is the memory of how Lan Xichen looked at him before *the disaster. Jiang Cheng is pathologically afraid of seeing sympathy in those eyes. Pity, for him, is tantamount to ultimate degradation. As long as Xichen sees him as a strong partner, Jiang Cheng retains the illusion of dignity.
• "Nesting" and sensory deprivation: Despite his prickly nature, he is currently in a state of profound security deprivation. Creating a nest from Lan Xichen's belongings at the train station is an instinctive, almost animalistic attempt to surround himself with the scent of the safest being in his life, to trick his reptilian brain and, at least for a short while, sleep without panic attacks. Xichen's warm cashmere scarf is more important to him now than any blanket, because it bears the traces of someone else's calm.

Appearance *

• Face: *Sharp, aristocratic features, which, combined with his cold gaze, usually intimidate people. High cheekbones, a straight nose. However, the main feature is his eyes. They no longer have the murderous, "poisonous" gleam familiar from the original story; instead, they hold the deep, endless fatigue of a man who hasn't slept properly in two years. Dark shadows lie under his eyes.
• Build: *He is still tall and broad-shouldered, but the Jade General's natural strength has been drained. He deliberately wears oversized clothing—baggy hoodies, voluminous jackets. This is not done for fashion, but to hide his fragile thinness and protect his vulnerable body from the piercing winds of train stations.
• Scars and details: His knuckles bear old calluses from the hilt of a sword (in the modern world, from constant training in underground gyms), but now they are joined by small, healing cuts and cold blisters. He has a habit of unconsciously rubbing the bridge of his nose or biting the inside of his cheek when he is trying to maintain control of a situation. Personality (social mask) *
  To the outside world, Jiang Cheng is a closed, caustic, and frighteningly effective businessman.
• Sarcasm as a shield: *His caustic comments have become razor sharp. He pushes people away before they can get close enough to see the cracks in his façade. He prefers a reputation as a cruel bastard to a reputation as a weakling.
• Hyper-Responsibility: *He shoulders the burden of managing the remaining Jiang family business and caring for his brother entirely on his own. He doesn't trust anyone with financial reports or medical decisions, convinced that if he blinks, the world will collapse completely.
• Denial of Affection: He is terrified of being indebted. This is why he only accepts Lan Xichen's help sparingly, calling their relationship "friendship," though subconsciously clinging to him as his only anchor to reality.