The moment Lan Qiren finally realized all this wasn& #39;t just about A Boy and could thus be corrected over time, but that Lan Wangji& #39;s entire moral philosophy had shifted away from Lan orthodoxy at a fundamental level.
And it& #39;s not even that LWJ disagrees with the purpose of the Lan rules, because he doesn& #39;t.

It& #39;s because of this:
"Eradicate evil, establish laws, then goodness will be everlasting."

But what if no one can agree on what is evil? What if you base your laws on a definition of evil and then that definition proves wrong? Are all your moral laws then invalid or corrupted themselves?
LWJ found the logical flaw in the foundation of his sect& #39;s precepts.

Not because Wei Wuxian deliberately led him astray, but because Lan Wangji& #39;s own experiences brought him to that conclusion.
And what I love about LWJ is he doesn& #39;t become nihilistic because of it. He& #39;s bitter, understandably, but instead of completely throwing out his moral framework, he evolves from his original letter-of-the-law stance to a spirit-of-the-law philosophy. He finds the shades of grey.
LWJ didn& #39;t even WANT to question his sect& #39;s teachings - everything he& #39;d ever known - but he DID. He tore up the floorboards and looked at the *why* of the absolutes he was taught, measured his own sense of justice against it.
Lan Qiren can be disappointed all he wants. Lan Wangji& #39;s moral compass will stay pointed stubbornly north.

And now, there will be Emperor& #39;s Smile in the Jingshi.
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