Chapter Text
Months pass, and the end of the year is near, and Shen Yuan can confidently say two things:
- He just met YingYing, and if anything happened to her, he would kill anyone in the room and then himself (She has chubby cheeks, OK?!)
- Working under his brother as a new non-official head disciple, librarian assistant, and underpaid (or better yet, not paid at all) secretary is not that bad.
Scratch that; it was awesome.
The system has been surprisingly helpful, limiting itself to informing me only when I gained or lost points.
I had accumulated a substantial amount of V points (+6000!) and some emergency boosts, and I still had the SSR guaranteed pull. However, I preferred to save it for a later time—either when I truly needed it or when I began proper combat training. Using a special move without any prior training would seem odd.
Regarding combat, Shen-bro was treating me like an uncoordinated toddler, making me undergo one-on-one lessons in etiquette, calligraphy, music, and Go (in which Shen-bro consistently defeated me in fewer than 50 moves).
I couldn't even glance at a sword without getting scolded, which made me realize that even those dreadful white lotus aura special moves (like puppy dog eyes—ugh) were ineffective against Shen Jiu. They were not even 10% as effective as they were on others.
“A-Yuan, are you staring off into space again?”
“W-wha, no! I was just very into sweeping! Hahaha…”
“I need to make you a better liar, Shen Yuan. This type of behavior will get you killed. Now get inside. You are gonna destroy my stone steps by your so-called ‘sweeping’. I need to tell you something”
When we settled on the low table, Jiu-gege even prepared the tea… ok so this will be a very serious topic.
“You’ll start going to classes with others your age next week, You reached a level decent enough to make a fool out of yourself in class. Plus, you’ll continue to attend the library after your lessons instead of lazing around like the others”
“Bu-” “I am not finished”
“---”
“When you reach the crimson level of core cultivation I’ll let you get your spiritual sword and you’ll start training only with that, so it will take you at least two years before I let you get close to a real sword, so you’ll have to make do with the wooden ones, on missions you’ll use your talismans and other techniques I’ll teach you personaly”
“I see, but gege, why are you so worried about me getting a sword? I’ve seen others my same age walking around with iron practice swords… I am almost 13 now”
Shen Qingqiu narrows his eyes, snapping his fan open and covering half of his face, but by the curve of his eyes, I can tell he’s sneering at me. “...You are as clumsy as a newborn horse, your libs are barely growing, and your
very stance is awkward and inelegant. I won't let you make a fool out of yourself. Now, if you follow the normal growth I expect out of you by 15 to have your sword. If not, I’ll be forced to pull you out of class and teach you properly myself. I am not above locking you in the library if necessary”
“I understand. I won’t let you down, gege”
Shen Jiu relaxes at my words, lowering the fan and closing it, playing a little with the smooth wood tecture.
“I am glad we share a common ground of understanding. You’ll also start accompanying me to Sect meetings, Teacher Po is getting too old to carry my reports”
Let’s just ignore that the old teacher had the stamina and strength of a 20-year-old farmhand, but I’ll let that lie slide.
But before I could verbally agree with the Peak lord, we both turned to look at a little pitterpatter of feet increasing in speed to the bamboo cottage.
“Ningying, what are you running for, you little monkey?” The older man spat with an underlining fondness. Shen Yuan was able to finally pry her open since he discovered how awkward his older brother was with the little girl, often opting to pile on her any toy or pretty thing she laid her pretty almond eyes upon.
“Hehehe, sorry, Shizun!" The little girl giggled, hair bound in a simple braid. Shen Yuan could already guess the reason she had come running.
“Will Shizun braid my hair?” She said, hands hidden behind her back, head pointing slightly down just enough to hide her eyebrows behind her bangs making her eyes appear bigger and cheeks fuller, the right foot digging slightly at the nail in the wood floor, completing the shy, cute and disarming look, no living creature could withstand such sight, a real example of the aura the first wife of the protagonist must have!
(Now that I think about it, it’s so… weird. To imagine this little bundle of braids and stars become the named damsel in distress that PIDW painted her as… but that can be changed, no? Binghe can live with one less wife and one more friend.)
As Shen Yuan pondered on the past and the future, Yingying had already made herself home on Shen Jiu’s lap, more precisely on the end of his legs, respecting the Peak Lord’s personal space. (The bamboo house had been her home in her childhood after all, and even if she was half the age of Shen Yuan, she had lived in the place for far longer than the young man.)
“The same loopy braids as always, this one can guess…” The immortal master added, already calling with his Qi the needed ingredients for the hairstyle desired by his youngest disciple.
“Mh!”
After a nice breakfast, with Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu competing to give the best parts of the veggies and sweet cold soup to the little girl, the little trio parted ways and hand in hand, Shen Yuan and Yingying headed to the library.
“I can feel your stench coming from here, Liu-shidi”
“I just bathed.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself tha- What the fuck is that”
…
“A dead beast”
“... and why is it here?”
“It’s good for cultivation”
The older man looked positively flabbergasted. “Am I finally having a pre-death sensory and visual hallucination? I was having a too good of a day to think the Gods will let me live another,” He scoffed, already feeling a headache forming.
“You can make soup with its liver… a-and use its blood and bones for elixirs…” The war god offers again.
“Did you just stutter?!” Shen Qingqiu involuntarily sputtered out a laugh.
“S-shut up! Stop laughing!”
Only to make his rival/colleague/frenemy/ crush laugh harder at his blush and confused expression.
“Fight me, Shen Qingqiu! You bastard! I was trying to apologise!”
“Apologise? I didn’t know the brute of Bai Zhan Peak would even know what that means!”
“Says the man that never once apologised in his life!”
“Yes! Because, unlike you, I know what that means: admitting fault!”
“Well, so? I’m sorry for putting your brother in danger”
“If you were sorry, you would have done that months ago! And not leave a
headless
beast on my porch!”
“I had to catch it…” he mumbles, kicking a decorative rock to the side
“STOP DESTROYING MY GARDEN!”
“URGH, ok I’m sorry” he tries to put the rock back…
“No!! You beast!! Put my decorative rock down! You’re dirtying it!”
“I just told you I bathed! My hands are clean!”
“Shut up, and what kind of gift is if I have to do all the work to harvest it?!”
“I could bring it to Ruan-shidi-”
“I don’t care. Remove yourself and that thing from MY peak!” Shen Qingqiu spatted and, in a flurry of robes, strutted inside his house, slamming the door behind him.
… Leaving the Bai Zhan Peak Lord speechless and still red-faced from both the yelling and the embarrassed spat he just had with his martial sibling.
“Don’t look at me like that”,
Liu Qingge addressed the very much dead creature as he picked it up like a sack of rice and, using his sword, flew to the adjacent peak of the very unfortunate brewing, elixirs and spiritual food peak Lord residence.
At the end of the school day…
“Gege, why’s there a huge dried blood splatter on the ground? I had to remanover the first year’s laps routes otherwise those poor childern and Nyin-jie would have seen it…”
“Just come inside to eat your dinner, Shen Yuan.” ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)
“Ok…” (ᵕ—ᴗ—)
Safe to say, the next morning, Shen Yuan found a very tired looking Zhu Xian Peak Lord holding a neatly packed and bagged meat slabs, labeled with a few wines and elixirs by the front steps of the bamboo house.
Shen Qingqiu also looked mildly surprised at his visit and, as per the good etiquette of a host, invited the chef to have breakfast with them..
The man was great company when not completely wasted, and Shen Yuan was delighted to learn more about the peak lord! (Stupid Airplaine never even gave him a name in PIDW!)
Maybe Liu-shidi’s gift wasn’t that of an bad idea…
Not that Shen Qingqiu would ever admit it, though!
To be continued!
...I swear.