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The motto of Qing Jing Peak is 'peace and tranquillity' so even the faint sounds of struggle are enough to catch Shen Qingqiu's attention.
He sighs at the interruption and puts down his brush before sweeping out of his bamboo house in a dramatic flare of green and white robes, as befitting of a Peak Lord. The aesthetic is key!
"Which scene is this?" he asks the System, but ever since releasing his OOC lock it's been far less verbose with him. In general, he considers that a win — it hadn't been particularly helpful when it was trying to railroad him into particular actions anyway.
This is probably just another case of the Qing Jing disciples not realising that it's no longer time to pick on their youngest shidi, though there are various other incidents in those early chapters for the protagonist to be involved in. Things like escaped animals from Chi Long Peak — that the protagonist had been blamed for — or disciples practising forbidden arts in secret — that the protagonist had been assumed to be part of and punished for — and a dozen other small and petty antics (that had generally ended with the protagonist being punished. PIDW was not subtle when it wanted to heap on the misery).
Shen Qingqiu taps his fan against his palm and thinks that this is most likely a problem that will be solved with copious amounts of 'actually I am the Peak Lord and I say get lost' attitude. It's good to be the boss! Even when he doesn't explain, his disciples have to do what he says anyway.
He does not expect to find Liu Qingge wildly swinging Cheng Luan around his bamboo forest and decimating it.
"Hey!" he says, indignant. "What did my plants ever do to you?"
Liu Qingge turns to him — like a predator attracted to the noise — and there's a familiar and terrible cast to his face. He looks exactly like he'd looked in the Ling Xi Caves, with bulging veins and reddened eyes.
Qi deviation.
Is this the plot balancing out the changes? Will Liu Qingge just keep having qi deviations until one of them succeeds in taking his life? Is there really no way to change fate in this pitiful novel? Are they just on a railroad that will take them to the exact place that Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky wrote?
Shen Qingqiu tsks and moves forward to engage. He's slightly more confident this time as he blasts a palm full of concentrated spiritual energy at the Bai Zhan Peak Lord. It worked last time! No need to change a successful tactic!
The blast throws a substantial chunk of dirt into the air, making the peaceful bamboo forest into more of a muddy-war-zone aesthetic. It does deprive Liu Qingge of Cheng Luan — which flips end-over-end through the air in captivating whirls and lands point down in the dirt — but does not totally drop the War God.
You really can't be underestimated, Liu-juju, he thinks with something that would be admiration if it didn't come with a rush of panic. He manages to dodge the headlong rush that Liu Qingge makes and slaps the other man on the back, sending a clear stream of qi into him.
Liu Qingge groans and drops to his knees, like he's been felled.
Success!
"There we go," Shen Qingqiu says in satisfaction. He approaches and presses his palm flat against Liu Qingge's shoulder, sending more qi into him to help settle his cultivation. "Liu-shidi needs to take more care."
When he judges that Liu Qingge is at least somewhat stable — as in, not likely to start swinging at him again — he pulls back. He looks around until he can find an intact leaf and infuses it with spiritual energy to act as a messenger talisman.
"To Ming Fan," he commands it. "Fetch Mu Qingfang for qi deviation."
The leaf speeds off, carrying his message with it. His disciple will probably know what to do with it. Or at least, it'll make him panic enough to go and fetch another Peak Lord anyway so the result will be the same.
Then he scrutinises the ground until he can find the least muddy spot and drags Liu Qingge over to it. He settles down, smoothing his robes around him so they're nicely settled and he won't accidentally stand on them when he tries to get up.
"Two qi deviations in such a short period of time," he says, clicking his tongue. But his hands are still gentle when he presses them against Liu Qingge's back again and resumes passing spiritual energy over. "Perhaps Liu-shidi is bothered by a heart demon?"
The last time he'd done this, Liu Qingge had still been full of fire, telling him to get lost long before he was recovered. This time, there's none of that. Shen Qingqiu could pride himself in saying that he's changed the original goods relationship with him so fast that he's trusted but…
This time Liu Qingge looks far more defeated. His head is hanging low, and there's an odd slump to his shoulders that doesn't seem right on the prideful War God.
Liu Qingge lets out a deep breath and seems to deflate even more. "Probably," he agrees. He leans forward, as if to pull away, and Shen Qingqiu catches him by the elbow out of reflex before he can go very far.
He… hadn't meant to do that.
He withdraws his hand but he must pull, or maybe Liu Qingge is just that unstable right now, because the movement somehow tugs Liu Qingge backwards until he's sprawled across Shen Qingqiu's lap.
Shen Qingqiu freezes and goes to open his fan to cover his face, only to realise he's dropped it somewhere during the fight. Liu Qingge blinks up at him, probably equally startled to find himself lying down.
"A heart demon is a serious problem," Shen Qingqiu says, deciding that he's just going to ignore it. A foolproof plan! He sets his hands back down on Liu Qingge's shoulders and sends more soothing qi into him.
He can't help but smooth Liu Qingge's robes flat while he does it. Liu Qingge always has an imposing aura of untouchability — the real picture of an immortal with a personal space bubble of about three miles — and strictly obeys the xianxia etiquette of distances and separation.
Having him this close is just a temptation that Shen Qingqiu can't resist. When else is he going to get the opportunity anyway? What's a little fussing between bros when you're having a qi deviation? He's just helping you maintain your appearance, there's nothing to it!
"I know it is," Liu Qingge says, probably in response to the comment about the heart demon and not the unnecessary touching. He closes his eyes, as if he's going to sleep or just deciding to ignore the whole situation.
"Then tell this shixiong about it," Shen Qingqiu offers, because actually he's wildly curious. Liu-shidi, your sect brother is out of the gossip loop, you know. No one tells him anything — it's very boring. "Unless you'd rather continue using Cheng Luan as a gardening implement. That seems rather undignified for such an exceptional sword."
Liu Qingge huffs. "That's the bit you care about," he says, mouth twisting disparagingly. It has much less bite than normal, but Shen Qingqiu is a little relieved to see some feathers being ruffled anyway. Defeated isn't a good look on Liu Qingge!
He rubs his thumb in a tiny circle along Liu Qingge's collarbone. "I'm also concerned for my forest and the peace of my afternoons," he answers, as obnoxiously snottily as possible. Then he switches and makes himself sound as coaxing as possible. "Come, come, shidi. Let me solve all your problems."
Liu Qingge shudders and wrinkles his nose. "Don't sound like that," he demands flatly. "You only want to laugh."
"Not entirely," Shen Qingqiu protests. "I'm sure Liu-shidi's problems are suitably dramatic and not funny at all." Even if they aren't he promises he won't laugh until Liu Qingge is gone. He doesn't want to die, after all. He's not that brave.
Liu Qingge turns his face away, which really just makes his cheek press against Shen Qingqiu's thigh. A fact that he's ignoring.
Nothing is happening here but a perfectly normal spiritual energy transfer! A bit of light conversation between comrades!
"It's my wife," Liu Qingge says, and glances up almost coyly through the veil of his eyelashes.
Shen Qingqiu understands all the words in that sentence — it's hardly a complicated one! — but it still takes an entire second to percolate into his brain properly.
What kind of plotline is this! No one mentioned this!
It's possible that the original goods knew but the way that Liu Qingge is looking at him suggests he's waiting for a reaction. As if this wasn't common knowledge after all. Certainly, no one has mentioned it in the months that Shen Qingqiu has been here, even when discussing Liu Qingge's absence from things like important Peak Lord meetings. You'd think they'd drop a casual 'oh, he's gone to visit his wife' to clue in some poor amnesiac transmigrator.
"I…" he says slowly. "Wasn't aware Liu-shidi was married."
Should he offer congratulations? A conversation about heart demons doesn't exactly sound like the place?
Is the wife a demon? It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that could happen in this world!
"It's not recent," Liu Qingge says which at least means that it's not something Shen Qingqiu has missed happening, just a piece of background characterisation he wasn't aware of. "It's been… a few years."
"I see," Shen Qingqiu says, even though he really doesn't.
"It's not forbidden for a Peak Lord to be married," Liu Qingge goes on. It's not defensive, exactly, but it is an odd statement for him to lead in with. Liu Qingge, who probably didn't know any of Cang Qiong Mountain's rules, and if he did, didn’t care about them anyway. "It's just that most are too dedicated to pursuing the Path of Immortality to split their focus."
"Very true," Shen Qingqiu agrees instantly. "And Liu-shidi… isn't?" That doesn't sound right at all. If Shen Qingqiu had to make a list of Peak Lords most likely to have relationships, Liu Qingge would probably be somewhere near the bottom!
Liu Qingge snorts. "My parents arranged it," he says. "They're cultivators, too. Our whole family is."
Those are facts that Shen Qingqiu does know. The Liu family is pretty strong! Liu Mingyan had always relied on the support of her maternal clan to counter the fact that Sha Hualing was the heir to a demon throne. Shen Qingqiu isn't entirely sure how the balance of power sits in the mortal world here — there's no prizes for saying that Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky hadn't prioritised politics and worldbuilding — but they had always managed to come through as a plot device when invoked.
He would wager they're pretty powerful!
"That's right," Shen Qingqiu says. "Your parents trained at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect too, didn't they?"
They'd retired, or left, or whatever. He wasn't sure that there was a difference. Cang Qiong was kind of odd in that it didn't really retain many of the previous generation disciples when a new set of Peak Lords took over.
When he'd read PIDW, he'd simply assumed that the protagonist had never interacted with those background adult characters or they'd been the cannon fodder that died in droves but now he was here he'd realised that Qing Jing Peak had none at all, despite many of the cultivators from the previous generation — or even the one before them! — presumably still being alive and well. Even duties like teaching and being a hallmaster were handled by the more senior of his disciples.
A system that would clearly never lead to any kind of disaster, clearly!
"Yes," Liu Qingge says. "They were arranged too," he adds, like that helps or justifies things. Maybe it does! A family tradition of picking spouses for your kids sounds like exactly the thing that would go on in this novel! There were a lot of spousal traditions!
"Okay," Shen Qingqiu says. "So. They arranged a marriage for you. What's the problem? She's not pretty? You don't like her?"
Liu Qingge shrugs like pretty or not pretty, like or not like, it doesn't really matter. Very ambivalent! Probably not a good approach to a relationship! "It's to continue the family name," he says.
Shen Qingqiu nods like, as a modern person, he has any understanding of that mindset. He'd died at twenty! His parents had outlived him by a long shot! If they'd been counting on him to continue the family line then they were shit out of luck!
He looks away and finds himself running a hand through Liu Qingge's ponytail, picking out all the twigs and leaf bits and splinters of bamboo that have found their way into it. That's what you get for rolling about in the dirt, shidi! Take better care of yourself!
"Uhuh," he says, non-committedly, encouraging Liu Qingge to go on. Unload your problems! They're much more interesting than his own! Those mainly involve dying and being dismembered! A little familial dispute sounds positively refreshing!
Liu Qingge hesitates then says, "she doesn't like me."
"Then she's blind and stupid," Shen Qingqiu says, instantly. Very, very blind! Okay, sure Liu-shidi was probably not the most romantic of husbands, unless your needs were in having a powerful bodyguard and retrieving lost fans but in those aspects he really shone! Unbeatable! Ten out of ten!
Liu Qingge makes a weird little noise. It takes Shen Qingqiu a minute to recognise it as repressed laughter and that just makes him feel very pleased with himself.
"It's not like I didn't try," Liu Qingge says, as if he's the one who has to explain himself and not whichever blind hag had apparently been foisted on him. "I just… can't do anything right for her."
Shen Qingqiu doesn't know her so she's probably not even one of the protagonists' six hundred wives! How good can she be, then? She's probably terrible!
"No one can say that Liu-shidi doesn't do his duty," Shen Qingqiu says, petting his hair like he might with his fluffy little disciples when they were sad. "Unless that duty is paperwork and then Zhangmen-shixiong might make some disappointed faces in your direction, but he wouldn't actually say anything."
Liu Qingge makes his weird little not-laugh again. "Don't disrespect the sect leader," he scolds, because the sect leader is the one person he respects above all else apparently.
No argument, shidi! Zhangmen-shixiong is pretty cool! Very relieving to have him on your side!
"Maybe it's Liu-shidi's paperwork that is actually disrespecting the sect leader," Shen Qingqiu suggests, poking him in the cheek.
That gets Liu Qingge to bring a hand up to smack him away. Ohoho, shidi, that's where you draw the line? You're alright with all the rest of this, but that's a bridge too far?
Shen Qingqiu defiantly pokes him in the cheek again. The smack his hand gets is worth it anyway. Barely even stings, which means Liu Qingge isn't trying to break him!
"So?" he probes, getting the conversation back to the juicy gossip. "What part of this drives you to have a qi deviation in the middle of my forest?"
He's a little sorry to have said it so bluntly. The laughter drains away from Liu Qingge almost visibly — Shen Qingqiu hadn't realised the lightness of it was so obvious, given that Liu Qingge always looks like a jade statue with no expression. Apparently no expression can really be quite expressive!
"Nothing really happened," Liu Qingge says and he sounds maybe a little annoyed about it. As though he might have justified the whole incident if something had happened. "It's just… miserable."
Shen Qingqiu takes in that statement the way one would take in the sight of a stampede of a herd of Fire Horned Skeleton Antelope. Warily and with a great deal of concern.
What, exactly, makes Liu Qingge describe something as miserable? Liu Qingge, who thinks that having unbroken bones means he isn't using them to their full potential. Liu Qingge, who thinks his blood can exist on his outside just as effectively as on his insides. Liu Qingge, who volunteered to help Shen Qingqiu through Without-A-Cure incidents even when he didn't really believe Shen Qingqiu had changed. Liu Qingge, who is greeted on Qing Jing Peak with a multitude of sarcastic comments and yet always comes back.
Miserable?
It's not like he has a lot of experience, but he's pretty sure normal people don't regard their marriages as miserable experiences. Or any family relationship! His parents might have been distant and left most of the raising of their children to nannies and other staff, but they'd very carefully made sure none of his life could ever be described as miserable. A little disappointing, in hindsight, but a very comfortable disappointing life!
"Not to ask the obvious," Shen Qingqiu says delicately instead of blurting out is she a demon, though? "But have you considered a divorce? That sounds much better than repeatedly qi deviating in the woods."
Divorce exists in this world! He knows it does! Some of the wives had occasionally threatened to go — though of course they had always been persuaded to stay because the protagonist couldn't lose women from his harem. That wasn't how things worked.
"I did ask," Liu Qingge admits, very quietly, as if this is a defeat too. Cheer up, shidi! There's nothing good about marriage anyway! "But there was a ritual."
"A ritual," Shen Qingqiu echoes in disgust. "Oh, I hate rituals."
Liu Qingge nods. "It can't be broken," he says as if this is a fact and not just an outrageous claim that no one has tested. "But…"
Shen Qingqiu pokes him in the cheek again, expectantly. "You can't just say 'but…'. There's a loophole, then? Tell me."
"It can't be broken," Liu Qingge repeats. "But it can be transferred. But…" he shrugs. "It's not like I have anyone else to marry either. And there's no proof that that would be any better."
"Hmm," Shen Qingqiu says. "Well, it's not like I know that many female cultivators, either. Qi Qingqi might know a few though. It probably wouldn't be that hard to find one that isn't terrible, you know. Don't reject the option so quickly."
Qi Qingqi might even be convinced to do a shidi a solid and do some contrived marriage-based ritual herself, but he isn't going to say that. They can ask her for a lesser favour first, surely. See if she has any friends that aren't totally blind.
Liu Qingge is staring up at him, looking very focused. Much too intense! Dial it back a little, shidi! He's only brainstorming to help you!
"It doesn't have to be a woman," Liu Qingge says.
"Eh? Really? I thought you said it was to continue the family line," Shen Qingqiu responds, but really, that does make it easier. He's a little surprised that Liu Qingge is even willing to entertain marrying another man but maybe he's just that desperate to get out of the marriage he has. He's clearly not that invested in his partner! Replacing it with someone else he's not interested in doesn't make much difference, does it?
"There are ways," Liu Qingge says without elaboration. Yes, there probably are! There are probably ancient cabbage patches where you can dig up a child, knowing the author as he does!
"Well, that definitely opens the options—" Shen Qingqiu starts to say and then really thinks about who and what those options might be.
Huh. No wonder Liu Qingge is staring at him for suggesting it. He had not meant to imply he was a willing option, shidi! That wasn't the kind of help he was offering! What kind of trap was this!
"Shen-shixiong?" Mu Qingfang calls through the bamboo forest, with some excellent timing. "You had a qi deviation?"
"Over here," Shen Qingqiu calls back, and doesn't expect for Mu Qingfang to be accompanied by a horde of worried Qing Jing disciples. Amongst them he can see a crying Ning Yingying, a wide eyed Luo Binghe and a slightly frazzled Ming Fan.
He is abruptly aware that Liu Qingge is still reclining on his lap.
"Not me, this time," Shen Qingqiu says and tries to retain his dignity. It's very difficult! The gawking horde of disciples really isn't helping! He needs to get rid of them somehow! "There's no need for all of you to have accompanied Mu-shidi," he scolds them. "Have you forgotten your decorum? You should all be in lessons right now. Go run twenty laps. Ming Fan — ensure they all complete this punishment."
Ming Fan raises his hands in a salute and says, "yes, shizun! Right away!" before he turns to order the rest of the disciples around. They all look disgustingly happy to be told to go run circles — maybe he should come up with some other punishments for them! This one is clearly not providing a strong enough deterrence!
Liu Qingge sits up and, apart from a few mud stains, doesn't look anything like someone who has just suffered a qi deviation. Mu Qingfang takes his wrist to diagnose him and says, "Shen-shixiong has treated the immediate symptoms very well."
Shen Qingqiu stands and dusts off his robes as best he can. "Yes, well, it's hardly the first time," he says, even though, actually, it's only the second time he's ever dealt with something like this. Technically a true statement!
"I will give Liu-shixiong some stabilising herbs," Mu Qingfang goes on as they make the trek back to Shen Qingqiu's house, now that there's actually no reason for them to keep sitting on the ground in the mud. "But mostly… Try not to over-exert yourself, Liu-shixiong," he says, politely as if his words have a chance in hell of being followed.
Shen Qingqiu goes to call his disciples to make some tea then realises he's sent them all out to run laps and is forced to do it himself. He recognises the herbs that Mu Qingfang had supplied as the Don't-Qi-Deviate-Tea that tastes horrible even when Ming Fan gives it his best efforts, so just dumps them in a tea pot and adds hot water. His horrible brewing skills can't make them any worse.
What he wouldn't give for some Red Bull or a can of coca-cola. The ease! The convenience! The caffeine!
Liu Qingge is still sitting patiently at the table when he comes back with it and serves them both. Which is a good thing! If he'd fled back to Bai Zhan Peak, then neither of them would ever start this conversation up again.
For shame, shidi. He gave you long enough to escape.
"Tell me more about this ritual," Shen Qingqiu says. His fan is sitting on the table which definitely means that despite being the patient, Liu Qingge had somehow managed to retrieve it before they'd returned. How does he always do that? "What happens if one party dies? Is there backlash?"
"You can't kill her," Liu Qingge says, exasperated. "She's not a monster."
"That— wasn't why I was asking!" Shen Qingqiu protests. He hadn't even thought of it! "I presume if this were a problem solved by killing things, then you would have solved it years ago!"
Though that's a little unfair. Liu Qingge might be a brute who goes around fighting monsters at the drop of a hat, but he doesn't really bother people who are playing by the rules and minding their own business. That's the kind of dishonourable underhand trick that he hated the original goods for.
"Then why were you asking?" Liu Qingge asks suspiciously.
Shen Qingqiu picks up his fan and fiddles with it. Good question, shidi! Why is he asking?
"It's not like we don't have dangerous jobs," he says. Which is also not a good excuse. What's this we? Why is he asking like he's considering it?
Well, he's rather counting on Liu Qingge being around to buy him a bit of time. That plan would go out the window if Liu Qingge dies too early. And who knows what kind of damage a qi deviating Liu Qingge would do next time? It's a little bit like carrying around a terrifying bomb that could go off whenever!
And having Liu Qingge owe him another favour wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.
Liu Qingge relaxes a bit. "There's no backlash," he says. "It's not supposed to be a bad thing." He describes it in terse terms and it honestly sounds about 90% less complicated than most of the rituals that had made the page in PIDW. Maybe the Liu aren't really a crazy cult. Jury is still out on the wife, though!
"Hm," Shen Qingqiu says.
On one hand, this is a terrible, very bad idea! On the other hand, it's not like he intends to get married properly anyway. Too much of a chance of running afoul of the protagonist by making a move on one of his wives. In that sense, tying himself to Liu Qingge protects them both!
Take that, plot!
"Okay!" He nods firmly. "Then I'll help you. Liu Qingge, let's get married."
Liu Qingge stares at him with wide, startled eyes as if this whole conversation hasn't been building to this. As if he didn't implicitly suggest it first. Why is he surprised?
"No?" Shen Qingqiu says, frowning. This is clearly the most logical solution. Why the refusal?
"Yes!" Liu Qingge says, before he even finishes speaking. "Shen Qingqiu… I will not be remiss this time."
He's very earnest. Far, far too earnest for this poor scheming man.
Shen Qingqiu waves him off. "There's no need to be so serious, Liu-shidi," he says. "Don't we know each other now? We won't have any unfounded expectations."
Liu Qingge is forbidden from doing any strenuous training for a while which might sort of explain why he lingers around Qing Jing Peak in the following days. Does he even have any other friends?
Either that or he thinks another qi deviation is imminent and figures that Shen Qingqiu has dealt with them twice already, so his best bet for surviving a third is just to stay in close proximity.
Shen Qingqiu makes a point of checking his pulse when that thought occurs to him. It seems fine to him, really, but he's no doctor! Or even really a proper cultivator! "Is Liu-shidi feeling better?"
"Yes," Liu Qingge says, but lets him check even though it's probably a little bit invasive. Ah, what's a bit of qi circulation between the two of them — their whole new relationship has basically been built on sharing qi back and forth! "Well enough to travel. Zhangmen-shixiong gave us leave to visit my family."
"Oh, did he?" Shen Qingqiu says absently, wondering how that conversation went down. Had Liu Qingge explained why he wanted Shen Qingqiu to go with him? No, Yue Qingyuan hadn't come knocking on his door with a Very Concerned Look so he definitely hadn't. Had the Sect Leader just been too baffled at the idea of the two of them willingly going on holiday — together — to muster any sort of questions?
That seems a lot more likely.
"I'll leave it to you, then," he says and figures that the trip will amount to a short sword flight to wherever the Liu live, because Liu Qingge seems to disdain travelling by any other means. As well he should, living in a xianxia setting.
So he's a little surprised to find that Liu Qingge has actually organised a carriage — driven by an An Ding disciple so nondescript he fades into the background when not in direct line of sight — to take them both. Apparently whatever orders Mu Qingfang gave him to 'avoid exertion' are to be taken seriously!
Shen Qingqiu resists the urge to check his pulse again. He's sure its fine!
"It'll be a few days," Liu Qingge says. "But there are inns on the way."
He sits straight-backed and doesn't even sway with the motion of the carriage. His hands are closed into fists on his thighs and there's a tightness to his jaw that indicates he's not exactly thrilled with his current circumstances or destination.
Miserable, Shen Qingqiu thinks again and wonders.
"Well, there's no hurry," he says, tapping his fan against his hand. Hurrying means arriving which means… well. A ritual, definitely. Probably a great deal of talking and convincing people that the ritual should happen. Even thinking about it is terrible. "We're hardly expected and we're not due back at the sect for quite some time."
Liu Qingge slowly unwinds as they travel and Shen Qingqiu offers occasional comments about the scenery (not really noteworthy), the book he's reading (not so terrible as to be immediately consigned to being firewood, not so good he has anything positive to say about it), his students' progress (terrible), the Bai Zhan students' progress (worse), and so on. Liu Qingge offers the barest acknowledgement of these but Shen Qingqiu has rarely needed dedicated attention in order to carry a scathing monologue.
By late afternoon they reach the first village and Liu Qingge bounds out of the carriage like a prisoner springing for freedom. Shen Qingqiu descends slightly more calmly, but in his heart he's just as eager to be out. Travelling is just boring! This village might be small but it's still more interesting than the same enclosed space.
There's a market with all kinds of trinkets, street food, a little garden with local flower varieties and Shen Qingqiu happily pokes around like the nosy tourist he is. Beyond Cang Qiong Mountain and a handful of missions, Shen Qingqiu has hardly had time to explore the world that he's transmigrated into and missions are usually too chaotic and full-of-demons-wearing-human-skin to really look around.
"What's interesting about a place like this?" Liu Qingge asks, puzzled. He still follows along about half a step behind Shen Qingqiu, though, instead of stalking off on his own.
"Very little," Shen Qingqiu answers idly. The trinkets are mostly ordinary things of lesser quality than those Cang Qiong Mountain has, though there is a local craftsman that makes reasonably good carved lacquer boxes. He snaps up a couple, figuring they'll probably become useful as gifts or decorations at some point. Or maybe they'll just clutter up his house until he throws them out. It doesn't matter, he's a second generation rich, he's used to buying stuff he doesn't need on a whim.
On the wall of an abandoned building there's a sign in paint that seems to have trapped some spiritual energy. An unfortunately shaped graffiti or a curse? Either way, he unpicks it with a burst of spiritual energy before it can become a problem and starts summoning ghosts or whatever it's going to do. Next to the west road, there's a half dead tree surrounded by a patch of browning grass.
Shen Qingqiu would be more concerned about it falling on the road and blocking it, or of it having some… plant disease but Liu Qingge takes one look at it and declares it to be "halfway to a monster" with a contemptuous snort.
He gives it a single lazy kick that reduces it to a cloud of splintered wood.
Living in a xianxia novel is so dangerous! Just about everything can cultivate energy and become a monster and try to eat you! Not fun!
"Nothing interesting at all," Shen Qingqiu says, waving his fan. He's only mildly disappointed that there's no sidequests here. Probably for the best if he doesn't want to wind up in another Immortal Binding Cables situation. Even thinking about it is too embarrassing.
"Maybe I should have let it grow," Liu Qingge says hopefully without actually meaning it. Don't be terrible, Liu-shidi! You're an honourable cultivator that's supposed to defend the people!
Shen Qingqiu clicks his tongue. "It still wouldn't have been much of an opponent for you," he admonishes. "And then you'd have to deal with all the wailing and crying of the people it was trying to eat."
They eat dinner at the teahouse and then settle in to listen to the musician playing the erhu for the guests. She isn't bad, actually, and Shen Qingqiu finds himself having more opinions on the music than he might have thought he would. Traditional music had never really been to his taste, but he'd suffered through enough music lessons over the years to have apparently retained something.
Liu Qingge also stays to listen, just quietly drinking his tea, even though he has to have even less opinions on music than Shen Qingqiu.
Belatedly, it occurs to him that for Liu Qingge this behaviour is actually quite… sticky.
It's far more subtle than the horde of children on Qing Jing Peak forever crying shizun, shizun, do you want something to eat, should we make you tea, shizun look at my essay, shizun I finished my painting, what do you think, shizun shizun at him in ways that are very adorable and very, very exhausting!
It's so subtle in fact that it's been basically a week and Shen Qingqiu is only really noticing it now.
"… I'm not going to run away if you let me out of your sight for five minutes," he says, though quietly. Having a big confrontation in a public space sounds terrible! He's not into that kind of drama.
Liu Qingge stiffens. "I know," he says, and his voice is equally quiet. "What you say you'll do, you do."
Shen Qingqiu nods and flicks open his fan as a momentary distraction. Well, good then. Why so sticky then, shidi?
Liu Qingge gives an impressive impression of a statue. "Are you complaining?" he asks, stonily. As if this were something that Shen Qingqiu had been stewing over for this whole trip and not an absent observation he'd made just a minute ago!
"I believe you're familiar with what it sounds like when I complain," Shen Qingqiu points out dryly. "It's fairly noticeable. I was simply trying to… reassure Liu-shidi if that was what he was worried about."
He reaches over and awkwardly pat-pats Liu Qingge on the hand to convey his reassurance and sincerity. See? He shan't mention stickiness at all anymore! You do whatever you want to do, Liu-shidi, as long as you're this low key and unobtrusive about it! He'll hardly notice!
Liu Qingge doesn't really relax again, but he doesn't pick a fight either so that's probably the best outcome!
The next day and the ones after are much more of the same; the stops while travelling become even more frequent, and they're barely drifting from one village to the next and sightseeing. Shen Qingqiu has never really done a proper road trip before but he's perfectly content to suddenly find himself on one. Apart from thinking that Liu Qingge really isn't eager to arrive, he doesn't think much of it.
He knows all about procrastination! He's willing to enable you, shidi! Just say the word and this road trip can go on for weeks!
Unfortunately, they do eventually arrive at the gates of the Liu estate. As per his assumption that the Liu family is a Big Important Deal, the place is very… palatial. It's surrounded by Big, Serious Walls. There's a lot of stairs. Every building is multiple stories tall and practically drip with carved details. There are many courtyards and all the greenery looks tended to within an inch of its life. There's a fishpond that probably has fish bred specifically for their patterns for twelve generations and are worth more than life itself.
Shen Qingqiu feels like he's walking into a museum. He straightens his shoulders and ensures his robes are correct and giving off Maximum Peak Lord Flare. He will not be intimidated by a glorified house, thank you very much.
"We're here," Liu Qingge says and whether that's a simple confirmation to Shen Qingqiu or his way of announcing his arrival to the house staff can't really be determined. Shen Qingqiu has seen him go into battle looking calmer than he does now.
The staff seem to take it as an announcement anyway, one stepping forward and bowing. "We have informed the Madam. Would the young master like to enjoy some tea in the courtyard?"
Liu Qingge agrees and allows the servants to herd them outside to a small pavilion that is very quickly loaded with tea and some light snacks.
"It's good tea," Shen Qingqiu proclaims after a while. He himself isn't much of a tea aficionado, despite the image, but it had been amusing to discover that Liu Qingge was. If not an aficionado, then at least very picky about his tea.
How very rich young master of the War God of Bai Zhan Peak! Uncultured except in very narrow, specific ways!
Liu Qingge unbends enough to finally pick up his cup, apparently lured by the prospect of good tea.
Hah! Shen Qingqiu is onto you now, Liu Qingge.
"Well," a sharp female voice says, cutting through the air like a very finely wielded blade. "Look who has crawled back early. It usually takes you months longer to return. What happened this time?"
Surprising everyone, Liu Qingge apparently can get more tense! It's astonishing the man doesn't snap in half like an overwound spring!
Shen Qingqiu snaps open his fan. "With this kind of charming attitude waiting for him, is it really any wonder that Liu-shidi prefers to stay at Cang Qiong Mountain Sect where he's respected?" he says with viper pleasantness, ignoring the fact that Liu Qingge barely stays at the mountain anyway and that 'respect' is a odd way to refer to the 'will this family please get along' atmosphere of the martial sibling Peak Lords.
Facts do not have any place in snappy comebacks.
When he first lays eyes on The Wife, his first reaction is — unfortunately — that she is very pretty! Tall and elegant, dressed in a fine pale blue hanfu that practically floats in the non-existent breeze, with delicate hair pins with dangling charms in her artfully arranged hair. He's seen movie stars that don't look as good!
He can absolutely see why someone might have decided that these two people deserved to be married. Standing next to each other they're a one-two punch knockout! Unfairly attractive! What kind of unearthly beautiful children would these two have?
Briefly — and with a slight amount of guilt — Shen Qingqiu wonders just how far the whole 'continue the lineage' thing has gone. There's absolutely no way he has the face to ask Liu Qingge if he's slept with his wife and even less way that Liu Qingge would answer with the kind of lurid detail he really wants right now but—
They would be so gorgeous together.
"Zhou Liying," Liu Qingge says, stiffly, putting down his cup of tea without ever drinking any and rising to his feet. His expression is cold as ice and only warms fractionally when he sees the other people that are hurrying into the courtyard. "Mother. Father."
With interest, Shen Qingqiu looks to the parents of the most attractive siblings in this world. Mother and Father Liu look like the kind of people who, if you took all their best features and blended them, would give you Liu Qingge and Liu Mingyan.
Not bad — not bad at all! Certainly, if he hadn't had so much exposure to her son, Madam Liu would probably stun him silent! Both her children have taken after her in build, tall and willowy, and her face is the ageless kind of beauty an immortal cultivator can achieve — no crows feet around her eyes!
"Qingge," Madam Liu says, looking him over carefully as if checking for open, bleeding wounds. Her smile becomes a bit brighter when she finds none. "We weren't expecting you. Or your guest. Will you be staying long?"
Liu Qingge makes an uncertain noise and then says, with no lead up or explanation, "I want a divorce."
Predictably, no one takes this well. You have to give them some warning before you lob a grenade like that into the conversation, shidi! Build up to it a little! Possibly acquaint them with the idea that you have feelings about your marriage at all!
"What?" Zhou Liying says after a second of disbelief. "What are you saying? What have I done to deserve this kind of disrespect? Mother-in-law!"
Madam Liu puts a hand on her arm, gentle and calming. "I'm sure there's an explanation," she says, and her eyes dart unfairly over to where Shen Qingqiu is still sitting, slightly removed from the conversation but still unfortunately present. "I'm sure we can talk this out. Qingge, this is a big decision. It isn't like you to give up on something without fighting for it."
Liu Qingge clenches his jaw, but his voice is perfectly level when he says, "I have been fighting for it, Mother. And I've been fighting hard because it matters to you, not to me. But I can't do it anymore. It's enough. It's over."
"Perhaps this is a conversation better held in private?" Father Liu says, dismissing the servants with a wave of his hand. "We could relocate inside."
Shen Qingqiu wonders if he knows. Liu Qingge had to get his information about how the ritual divorce would work somewhere — he had to have asked someone. Someone has to know he's been unhappy.
Been miserable.
"Talk about what?" Zhou Liying says, disbelieving. "I gave up my position as head disciple of the Ba Qi Sect to marry into this family. And now you want to just throw me aside? For what? Because some absent young master who's never even here has changed his mind?"
Liu Qingge doesn't apologise or say that it had been her own decision, or that he had never really had the marriage in his mind in the first place. He looks her square in the face and says, "it hasn't been good for you, either."
Her lip curls in a distinctly unfriendly way. "And whose fault is that?"
"Liying. Qingge," Madam Liu says, sounding at a loss. As if she hadn't noticed this coming to a head and Shen Qingqiu wonders how given that the tension right now is thick enough to cut with a knife. "No one is throwing you aside. You're our daughter-in-law. Qingge. Think about what you're saying."
"Keep her or don't keep her," Liu Qingge says, "but she won't be married to me. I have thought about it. I'm done with it."
"Oh, but— children," Madam Liu insists. "Qingge, really—"
"I'll carry them myself if I have to," Liu Qingge says, steamrolling over her, instead of giving the much more vague there are ways explanation that he'd given when Shen Qingqiu had asked that question. Shen Qingqiu is pretty glad he hadn't been drinking the tea because he's pretty sure he would have choked on it!
Shidi, that's really too… just too much. Why would you say that? Now some people are going to think about it, and amongst those people are Shen Qingqiu.
"Liu Duowu, won't you talk some sense into your son?" Madam Liu says, despairingly, turning to her husband.
Shen Qingqiu considers the likelihood of Liu Qingge actually explaining and how long they might be here having this conversation before it's resolved. He decides that it's most likely far too long and the chances of more conversational grenades is too high. He might get caught in the blast radius again! That's not good for his health!
He stands up and moves around the table until he's standing by Liu Qingge. "He's had two near fatal qi deviations over it," he says lightly, as if he's bringing up something of no consequence at all. "Unless he's exceptionally lucky, the third will most likely kill him. At this point, it isn't a matter of 'who you want as your daughter-in-law' as it is of 'if you want a living son at all'."
Much like after Liu Qingge's first conversational bomb, there's a moment of dead silence.
Madam Liu stares at him in horror, then jerks her gaze to her son as if questioning the truth of his statement. As if he would lie about it!
"Did you have to tell them like that?" Liu Qingge sighs, avoiding meeting her eyes.
"You weren't getting very far convincing them without it," Shen Qingqiu rebukes. "Listening to this conversation is about as charming as finding you drowning in blood in a cave."
"Mingzhang," Madam Liu chokes out, her eyes brimming with sudden tears. She closes the distance with surprising speed, wrapping her arms around her son, who stands there like a brick pillar. "You nearly died?"
Liu Qingge sighs and, very slowly, places his hands on her back. "Only the first time. The second time wasn't that bad."
Shen Qingqiu snorts, to convey his opinion on this statement. But he figures the Liu family has got the point. Even Zhou Liying has gone silent and pale faced. Fine. She might be a horrible harpy with a terrible attitude, but she's not a monster.
Shen Qingqiu is perhaps a little worried Liu Qingge might bend under the onslaught of tears — but not good old Liu-shidi! Once he's made a decision, he sticks to it no matter the maternal weeping. More the power to him!
Briefly, Shen Qingqiu wonders what it would have been like if he'd rolled up to his parents like 'hey, I'm going to marry this guy'. How would they have reacted? Probably 'well where does he work and how much does he earn' just like meimei's boyfriends had always been interrogated with and maybe a side of 'thank god you're not being a recluse anymore!'.
Maybe. It's not a conversation he'd ever had with them, he doesn't know. Or a conversation he's going to ever get to have with them.
"Very well, then," Madam Liu says, running her hands down Liu Qingge's arms like she can smooth his qi system back into order like she can with his clothing. Very motherly. "We'll arrange something. We don't want you in danger, Mingzhang. You should have… said something, anything."
"What was there to say?" Liu Qingge returns, voice quiet. He doesn't give any signs of the struggle that Shen Qingqiu had witnessed, or mention any of the things he must have tried over the years before reaching this point. He doesn't say anything about how much he must have hated it the whole time. It's just… miserable, he'd said and even that was understated, wasn't it?
"You are aware of the requirements of the Lian Yin ritual," Liu Duowu says, calmly. "It isn't simply a matter of us allowing it or not."
Liu Qingge nods. "Shen Qingqiu has agreed to participate," he says.
And that really is that. Madam Liu wants to arrange some kind of divorce-then-wedding ceremony slash party but Liu Qingge would clearly rather have it all over and done quickly and without fuss. Shen Qingqiu absents himself from that conversation and goes back to the table, feeling that his part in convincing the Liu is done. He's just here to be a stand in! No opinions on wedding arrangements required!
"Are you pleased with yourself?" Zhou Liying asks him, voice low and pointed, coming to stand over him. She's not carrying a sword but he gets the feeling like she might stab him anyway! "Coming into this family and breaking it apart?"
Shen Qingqiu flicks open his fan and channels his best scum villain contempt. "Yes," he says. "Either you were even half as miserable as he was, so there's nothing for me to feel ashamed of breaking. Or you weren't, and I have even less cause to care."
"Don't act like this is all my fault," she snaps at him, balling her hands into fists. "You think this will go any better for you? You think the money you'll get from this is worth dealing with him?"
Don't be so rude to Liu-shidi, woman! He's a brute and horrible with people but he's, you know, good. Loyal. Reliable.
Also, this master isn't a gold digger!
"Money? How crass. An immortal should separate themselves from worldly affairs and burdens," Shen Qingqiu says. Which is a very fancy way of saying that he's broke as fuck really! He doesn't own shit in this world! "And what can the Liu offer that I could not already have as a Peak Lord of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect? If I said I wanted a xiezhi horn, I could have one."
"Do you want a xiezhi horn?" Liu Qingge asks, in interest, having broken away from his own conversation at the sound of someone suggesting a hunt for a legendary beast that no one has so much as seen for a thousand years. It's a potential fight, of course he's interested. How typical.
Shen Qingqiu huffs and rolls his eyes at him. "It was a figure of speech, shidi. I have no need for such an item. And if I do find that you've gone looking for one without me—" he narrows his eyes and omits actually ending the threat, because saying 'I'll kill you' here and now probably won't go over well! He knows his audience, okay!
"Fine," Liu Qingge says. "We'll both go."
Shen Qingqiu rolls his eyes again and waves him away. "Fine, fine, assuming one turns up within our lifetime."
Zhou Liying's lips twist bitterly at their exchange. "Fine," she says, turning and stalking away. "Good luck to you, then." It sounds more like a curse than a well-wishing, but Shen Qingqiu will take that kind of curse! It's much better than any of the ones he's currently living under!
"We can hold the ritual this evening," Liu Qingge says. Very direct! Very fast! Well, Shen Qingqiu supposes that's what they came here for!
"That's too soon, Qingge," Madam Liu protests. "No one can prepare a wedding in a day! That's no time at all! Surely your... partner has a family to invite, too."
Liu Qingge looks faintly guilty as if this hasn't occurred to him and is a valid point. "Oh. Do you…"
Shen Qingqiu blinks at him and idly waves his fan. "I have no family," he says and feels pretty confident that it's true! The protagonist had sought revenge on Shen Qingqiu but hadn't gone to the lengths of exterminating nine generations or ruining his entire family name, like he sometimes did! And Qiu Haitang had shown up with her accusations and provided that much backstory. No, if Shen Qingqiu had had a family, they weren't anyone who had ever tried to claim him.
"And there doesn't need to be much of a ceremony, surely," he goes on, because actually Liu-shidi might be onto something here! That sounds like an awful lot of fuss. And the Liu are possibly just stalling for some purpose. No, better to just get this over with quickly. "Just the, what was it, Lian Yin ritual. From what Liu-shidi described it sounded reasonably straightforward?"
"Yes," Liu Qingge says. "It only needs the three of us and a binder." It isn't exactly a threat but there is perhaps a hint that Liu Qingge might go and do it anyway, whether Madam Liu agreed or not.
"Are you sure this is how you want to resolve this, Qingge?" Father Liu asks.
"Yes," Liu Qingge says, without an ounce of doubt.
"Then we will hold the ritual tonight," Liu Duowu says. And that is that! The men of the Liu family are decisive!
Despite her protests, Madam Liu does her best! Red banners are found and strung up about the place, and both Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu are presented with red embroidered robes to wear. Liu Qingge's are well fitted and might even be his original wedding robes! He looks very dangerously beautiful in them, and Shen Qingqiu is glad they haven't gone for any pre-wedding-isolation. If he'd had to face that look for the first time under the observation of other people he might just have expired on the spot.
The robes he's given are an older style and probably someone else's second hand wedding clothes, but whatever! It's good enough.
A whole bunch of guests even turn up. They probably live in the same complex, so it's not like they had to come far, but Shen Qingqiu is slightly overwhelmed by the parade of beautiful faces that are introduced as cousins, aunts, uncles and — even — grandmother.
Old Madam Liu doesn't look much older than her son, still agelessly beautiful like a proper cultivator, but there's a real sense of weight to her presence like her spiritual energy has just concentrated itself so purely that she has her own gravitational pull.
Terrifying!
"Oh, Zhang-er," she says, patting Liu Qingge on the cheek like a quintessential grandmother. "Don't take it to heart. Sometimes things just don't work out. That's life. You'll just have to try something else."
Liu Qingge nods, stoically. "I will," he says.
And that's apparently the blessing of the clan matriarch, so there's no more need to wait. They're all guided into the Hall of Ancestors, which is large and extravagant. Along every wall are giant carved wooden pendants the size of dinner plates, hung with beautifully knotted tassels of various colours. They're octagonal, and carved with a bagua – a yin-yang taijitu surrounded by the lines of the eight trigrams. Each and every one of them fairly sings with well-balanced spiritual energy.
Very… feng shui.
And not just decorative, he assumes, when Liu Duowu goes and retrieves one from the wall. It doesn't look much different from the rest — maybe newer, but they're all well cared for, so it's not like there's any dust or faded colours to tell him so — and brings it to the front of the hall. He sets it gently on a small pedestal that looks sized specifically for this task, and kneels behind it.
Liu Qingge kneels down on one side and Shen Qingqiu mirrors him on the other. Zhou Liying walks through the crowd of Liu with her chin held high, dressed exactly as she was earlier – as though this isn't something she cares to dress up for – and her face is as cold as someone desperately trying to pretend they don't care at all about what's happening and it certainly hasn't hurt their feelings.
Very relatable.
She kneels down next to him and doesn't spare him so much as a single glance.
Without any instruction Liu Qingge puts his hands on the nearest edges of the octagonal wooden pendant and channels his energy into it. Light shines through the surface — through the darkness of the Yang half, half of the trigrams — as he does. Zhou Liying rests her fingertips gently against two of the octagonal edges and channels her own spiritual energy into it, illuminating the rest in perfect harmony.
Then she removes one hand.
Shen Qingqiu replaces it with his own, channelling his energy into it. It feels… strange. Like he is intruding rather than welcomed, but as he threads energy into the amulet Zhou Liying begins to withdraw her own, leaving an empty space for him to fill. He barely notices as Zhou Liying removes her other hand, and he replaces it with his, pouring his energy into the pendant, until his qi curls around Liu Qingge's own and the bagua glows in a steady, stable light.
In perfect harmony.
"Eternal light, eternal life," Liu Duowu says, a little somber, as he runs his hands around the edges of the octagon, as though sealing it in. The light dims, and all that remains is clean, polished wood, but when Shen Qingqiu removes his hands from it, he can still feel the steady pulse of his spiritual energy within it. And the steady pulse of Liu Qingge's, next to his own. It should feel distracting, but it doesn't.
There's some part of the two of them that will remain here, forever joined.
Zhou Liying rises and walks out, back straight and proud.
"Yes, yes," Madam Liu says, rising quickly as though that had been a cue and not rudeness. "To the feast. We must celebrate."
For only having an afternoon to prepare, the feast is just too elaborate. There is plenty of wine, and plenty of people who insist on saluting them with a cup, and even with the purifying ability of his spiritual energy, Shen Qingqiu is a tad dizzy with it by the time they manage to retreat to Liu Qingge's room. That too seems to have been festooned in red banners, and red blankets over the bed.
There's a tray of snacks too — red dates and peanuts and lychees and lotus seeds — as though he hasn't eaten enough already.
"So much red," he says to Liu Qingge, who must also have drunk too much wine because there's a red flush splashed across his cheekbones. "Very… vibrant. Eye catching. Slightly blinding, even."
"There's less of it than there was last time," Liu Qingge says. "If we'd given mother time to plan it would have been worse."
"Good thing we didn't, then," Shen Qingqiu says and moves behind the changing screen to start to remove the outer robes he's wearing. Give him his nice green Qing Jing robes, thanks. He'd rather not walk around looking like an apple. Red just doesn't suit him.
He throws them over a clothes stand and then is suddenly aware that Liu Qingge is just… still there. He hasn't gone to get changed on his own.
"Shidi?" he asks.
Liu Qingge crosses the distance between them in a single stride and fairly slams into him. It takes Shen Qingqiu a half second of panicked flailing to recognise the motion as a hug and not an attempt at some kind of grapple hold.
"There, there," he says, gingerly patting Liu Qingge on the back. "Did you have too much to drink, Liu-shidi? Sit down, I'll pour you some water."
"I didn't," Liu Qingge rasps against his neck, arms still wrapped around him like iron bands. "Shen Qingqiu… thank you."
And then he turns his face and kisses Shen Qingqiu on the cheek.
"Ah," Shen Qingqiu says and then, very belatedly — far too late — realises at no point in this whole situation, had he used the word pretend. He had thought it was obvious! They hadn't had any such thing between them until he had offered to help Liu Qingge with his issues — he had only offered to help Liu Qingge because of his issues.
He had just… forgotten that Liu Qingge is not someone who naturally thinks of subverting assignments and turning in the barest minimum of required work to pass. If he does something, he does it wholeheartedly and one hundred percent or he doesn't do it at all.
There is, actually, nothing pretend about this.
"Ah, it's been a long day," he excuses and then absolutely doesn't think about the sorts of things that one might expect to happen on the night of their wedding day. What has he done? What has he got himself into? "Exhausting. We should sleep."
"Yes," Liu Qingge says, and squeezes him. It doesn't even have the decency to be too strong or rib cracking, so Shen Qingqiu has to acknowledge it as being nice. 'Liu Qingge gives good hugs' isn't a fact he was prepared to deal with today! "We should."
Thankfully, he steps back and goes to get changed behind a screen like everything is normal and they're normal people. Shen Qingqiu removes his hair crown, combs his fingers through his hair and then decides if he hides under the blankets well enough he can pretend he's asleep. Perfect plan.
He slithers under the covers, absolutely not looking at the auspicious gold lucky characters embroidered onto them — get lucky sniggers the part of his brain that hates him — and closes his eyes. Asleep. Goodbye.
There's shuffling sounds as Liu Qingge moves around and the lights dim. The bedcovers rustle and move and the mattress sinks as the weight of another person rests on it.
"Hey," Liu Qingge says, very, very softly.
Shen Qingqiu finds he can't ignore it, plans be damned. "Hey," he says back, voice equally hushed. Somehow, the dark of the room makes everything seem… protected. Safe. Intimate.
A hand reaches out and skims his side, resting gently against his front and pulling him backwards until his back is pressed firmly against Liu Qingge's chest. Shen Qingqiu goes still for a moment, then sets his own hand atop it and laces their fingers together. He pins it against his stomach so it can't move and says, "Goodnight, Liu-shidi."
"Goodnight," Liu Qingge says, apparently satisfied.
Unfairly, Shen Qingqiu sleeps very well.
In the morning, they have breakfast with the household — which also seems to be a celebration and he's pretty sure that half these people haven't stopped celebrating since the night before — and then… leave.
"Back to the sect?" Shen Qingqiu asks, climbing into the carriage. He wouldn't complain if Liu Qingge wanted to stay and see his family a little more but he's honestly a little relieved that he doesn't. Family drama is only interesting if you aren't involved in it and now he rather unfortunately is.
Best to just steer clear of it all.
"We could take the long way back," Liu Qingge suggests, surprisingly. He looks far more relaxed than he had on the journey here, proving just how stressed about it he really had been. "Sect Leader isn't expecting us for a while."
Shen Qingqiu smiles and flicks open his fan. "Sightseeing. What an excellent idea."
Apart from a surprising amount of cuddling — really, Liu-shidi, this is not in keeping with your reputation as a loner that only cares about battle! — the trip back to the sect isn't fundamentally different from the trip from the sect. There are minor cultivation matters that they solve off-hand, food and trinkets to buy, music and plays to listen to, and neither of them qi deviate and die.
A perfect success all around.
Still, Shen Qingqiu is relieved to arrive back at the familiar comfort of Qing Jing Peak. Liu Qingge nods in farewell and leaves, either to report their return to the Sect Leader, go to his own peak or fly off to fight a Poison Clawed Tree Bear or something. Who knows with the War God of Bai Zhan Peak!
Shen Qingqiu sweeps around his Peak, seeing what needs his attention and what standards have been allowed to slip in his absence. He's greeted by a chorus of shizun, you're back, shizun, we missed you, shizun look at what i've mastered, shizun shizun that is both adorable and terrifying.
Who let there be so many disciples! Who let them be so fluffy haired and cute!
By nightfall, he's managed to dote on them enough to satisfy both them and himself. He retreats to his bamboo house to eat the dinner that Luo Binghe had brought to his house with bright hopeful eyes. He's only just registering that it's very quiet now that he's alone, before the door to his house is swinging open.
Not slammed, or kicked in, but opened like a normal person, if a normal person didn't knock and just walked in like they belonged.
"Liu-shidi," Shen Qingqiu says, both surprised and… not at all surprised. Something funny twists in his chest. When they had been travelling, things had been abnormal anyway — what kind of precedent could that set for their real lives, here on Cang Qiong Mountain? Had he expected they would just go back to their separate lives? Had he expected they wouldn't? "Have you eaten?"
"Yeah," Liu Qingge says, but accepts a cup of tea. "Mu Qingfang says I can go hunting again."
Frankly, Shen Qingqiu is a little surprised that Liu Qingge even bothered to go to Qian Cao Peak to ask. "Oh? Where does Liu-shidi intend to go? Have there been any reports while we were gone?"
Liu Qingge eyes him warily and then says, "a few. A pack of demonic dogs in the Bing Shao mountains. It's Thunder Bird nesting season so there's always some of those to get rid of. Some mysterious reports from Ye Xing Hong that sound like a water dragon."
"No xieshi," Shen Qingqiu remarks. The Bing Shao mountain range is definitely within Huan Hua Palace territory, but it isn't Shen Qingqiu's job to stop Liu Qingge from punching things and causing diplomatic incidents. Good luck, Sect Leader bro! He's rooting for you!
Liu Qingge smirks and ducks his head. Too cute! Stop it, shidi, you aren't supposed to be cute. "No, no xieshi. But I'll be gone for a while."
Shen Qingqiu nods because that's pretty much the normal situation! Liu Qingge is away from Cang Qiong Mountain far more than he's present. "Are you leaving now?" He wonders. Maybe this is just a polite 'letting you know' visit. He can't tell if that makes him relieved or disappointed.
"In the morning," Liu Qingge says.
Shen Qingqiu makes a hum of agreement. That definitely means Liu Qingge is here to stay, right? Very sticky of you! They haven't even been back a day.
But it's… a little bit nice.
"Well, then," he says. "I was about to retire." It's not an invitation but it's not… not an invitation.
Liu Qingge drains his cup of tea and sets it aside before rising to follow him, like he'd taken it as one anyway. That's his decision!
They have a routine now, which hasn't ceased to be mind boggling. Shen Qingqiu lies in bed for a long moment before Liu Qingge pulls him close, apparently incapable of not cuddling.
"Hey," Liu Qingge says.
"Goodnight," Shen Qingqiu says with a yawn.
Liu Qingge goes mm and hesitates, as if there's something more he wants to say. Then, he very slowly asks, "is there something you want?"
Shen Qingqiu blinks into the hazy darkness. "Mmm? While you're gone? I don't think I need any monster parts…"
"Okay," Liu Qingge says, then, "no."
Which is it, shidi? Couldn't you have started this conversation before he started to fall asleep? Maybe while they had been sitting at the table, drinking and conversing with each other? No? This is a trap, isn't it? An ambush. Waiting for him to let his guard down. Betrayal.
"Is there something you want from this," Liu Qingge elaborates. "From me." As though fetching monster parts isn't part of his skillset and charm and a facet that Shen Qingqiu had abused in the past. "Do you have complaints?"
"Shidi is familiar with what it sounds like when I complain," Shen Qingqiu mutters trying to avoid the fact that it sounds like Liu Qingge wants to talk about… feelings. Their relationship. Not good.
"So say it," Liu Qingge insists.
Shen Qingqiu contemplates whether insisting that everything is actually good, thanks will work or just invite another round of questioning. People never buy 'everything is fine' when they have this kind of conversation. "Fine," he says grumpily. "I want Liu-shidi to be the little spoon for once. Why is it always me?"
Liu Qingge lets out an exhale that feels very warm against the back of his neck — as if preparing to say something or argue — and then just tugs his hand and suddenly they're rolling over and Shen Qingqiu is the one plastered against his back. Huh. Liu Qingge settles their hands against his chest and Shen Qingqiu can't help but smooth his hand over the curve of his ribs.
Huh.
"You never reach out first," Liu Qingge says, by way of explanation, as if he is in-fact perfectly content to be the cuddlee. Have some manly dignity, shidi! Aren't you supposed to be the most macho man in the whole sect?
"Hm," Shen Qingqiu says because he can't deny this and also it never occurred to him that he should. Or that Liu Qingge would be waiting for him to reach out. "That seems awfully forward." His face is definitely not thick enough for that. Not at all.
Liu Qingge laughs a little, and mercifully doesn't bring up the fact that they are actually, legally and magically, married. "You can be forward," he says, and actually no! Worse. Much worse!
Shen Qingqiu presses his no-doubt very red face against the back of Liu Qingge's neck. "Ah, I see," he says. "This isn't actually you asking me if I have complaints. This is a sneaky excuse for you to voice your complaints."
Liu Qingge goes still. "No," he says. Hah. How do you like being in the hot-seat? Time to talk about your feelings, shidi!
"No, go on," Shen Qingqiu says, voice coaxing. "This shixiong is listening. Insufficient snuggling. What else?"
Liu Qingge, masterfully, pulls the blankets over his head. Very understandable! Shen Qingqiu laughs at him and pets a hand up and down his side gently. But fine! What else has Liu Qingge been doing that he might expect to be reciprocated that just… hasn't been?
Shen Qingqiu isn't going to be forward but he can… he can keep pace. He isn't going to make this a miserable experience.
He rises up on an elbow, tugs the blankets down, and presses a kiss against the pale snow of Liu Qingge's cheek. It feels awkward and a little bit embarrassing and he's glad it's dark but… it's not hard to do. Nothing stops him.
"Goodnight," he says, glad his voice remains dignified and steady. "Go hunt your monsters in the morning."
"Goodnight," Liu Qingge echoes. And then, "I'm glad it's you."
Ah, Liu-shidi. Too sweet. You're really going to be the death of him. Have some pity for his poor thin face! How is he supposed to cope with that?
Shen Qingqiu sighs. "I'm also glad it's you," he says and means it.