Chapter Text
The carriage trembled faintly as it hit an uneven part of the paved city road. Xiao Mei grumbled in protest where she laid in Shen Qingqiu’s lap, a big puddle of puffed up feathers. Her long necks stretched out so she could rest her head on Yue Qingyuan’s leg where the two of them sat pressed together. Indecent. Too used to that by now, Shen Yuan – Peak Lord Shen Qingri around company, but not his family – glared at his traitor bird. The moment they settled into the carriage this morning, she had abandoned him completely. Shen Qingqiu glanced up from the book in his hand, smirking when he saw Shen Yuan’s expression. Evil brother.
Their travels had taken a long time. Shen Yuan had forgotten how annoying the trip was, too used to flying on his sword. Days upon days of sitting in the carriage, only to rest at inns at night. Of course, they were always luxurious ones – Shen Qingqiu would allow nothing less – but he missed his own bed. Specifically the one he just had gotten installed in the Peak Lord’s residence. It was amazing. Renovations had only just finished the week before they left. Shang Qinghua had complained horribly about it all, but the new Peak Lords had all fixed up their new homes to their own tastes, including the An Ding Peak Lord himself. No one wanted to live in the skeleton of their shizun’s home. Shen Yuan already missed Feng Haiying, but he was so happy to have most of those fuckers out of the way.
A light knock on the door made him stick his head out the window, and one of their accompanying disciples – this one from Qing Jing – murmured that they were nearly at our destination, shishu.
He still wasn’t used to that. Of course, their own contemporaries kept to shixiong, but the juniors had adopted shizun and shishu quickly. Shen Yuan flashed the disciple a smile and a nod. The disciple even gave him a brief one back. The Qing Jing disciples were still understandably scared of their new Peak Lord – he didn’t expect that would ever change – but the terror was gone. The youngest ones no longer looked like they were fighting the need to burst into tears if Shen Qingqiu as much as glanced at them. It was an improvement. A major one. Shen Yuan’s moralizing had maybe helped a little. He was pretty sure the main reason the Qing Jing Peak Lord had lightened up was Yue-ge looking at him with those giant fucking puppy dog eyes he only got in front of Shen Qingqiu and telling him, I don’t want you to be like Qiu Jianluo, Xiao Jiu. Shen Qingqiu had looked like he’d been slapped and had actually slapped Yue-ge in return, but he had lightened up his treatment of the disciples just a little bit. And then yet another little bit. Until one day, he was merely a harsh master, not a cruel one.
Shen Yuan was very proud of him. He had told him so, and gotten a fan to the forehead for it.
But now, Shen Yuan regarded the streets outside. His heart squeezed nervously as they became all the more familiar. Beautiful houses lined the streets on one side of the carriage, and on the other, a vast river full of brightly pink lotus flowers spread out, glittering in the sunlight. Bai He. The Northern River. His fingers went to the smooth lotus root ornament still hanging from his belt, the one with brocade knots Li-mei had tied. They turned a corner. And then – there.
The Shen Estate spread out at the end of the road. The tall manor building with its white walls and many courtyards and gardens came closer and closer. Shen Yuan’s childhood home since before he was old enough to form permanent memories. He glanced at Shen Qingqiu, who very deliberately wasn’t looking. The tension in his shoulders told on him for not being as indifferent as he wanted to appear.
The carriage pulled in to stop in front of the main entrance. As the disciples did their work, organizing their arrival, house servants opened the front doors. Shen Yuan’s breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t seen his family since before he found out about Shen Qingqiu. But here they were. A-niang and a-die looked older, more weary, but they were smiling. Qing-ge smiled too, and behind him, his children and wife gathered. And A-Li – dressed in intricate red robes meant to grant her luck before her wedding – beamed at them.
The children were the first ones to react, though. As a disciple opened the carriage door, they rushed towards them.
“Shushu!” yelled Ruolan, hiking her skirts up to her knees. Anming and Chunhua hurried after her as well as they could, their tiny legs struggling on the stairs. Xu-saozi and Qing-ge watched anxiously but did nothing to stop them.
A grin split Shen Yuan’s face and he too hiked up his robes so he could hop out of the carriage faster. As he knelt down, he spread his arms. Only his cultivation training saved him from tumbling backwards as the full force of eager six-year-old crashed into him. Laughing, he stood and spun her as she clung to his neck. She smiled so bright his heart might burst as he put her down and embraced her siblings.
“You’re so big,” Shen Yuan exclaimed, genuinely awed but exaggerating. “Especially A-Hua. Last time I saw you, you couldn’t run at all and now you’re so fast!”
Shen Chunhua, all of two years old now, beamed proudly at him. All three children clung to his robes, chattering over each other as Qing-ge and A-Li began descending the stairs at a much more reasonable pace. Shen Yuan turned to look at them, eyes widening as he saw the bundle of green silks in Qing-ge’s arms. His newest nephew was in those, just four months old.
The children fell silent as Yue Qingyuan left the carriage. Their eyes grew round as soup bowls as the extravagant guan in his hair shone in the sunlight. A symbol of his rank as sect leader, though of course they didn’t know that. They just knew it was beautiful. Yue Qingyuan smiled warmly at them, but turned back and held out a hand.
Shen Qingqiu took it, allowing him to assist him out of the carriage with all the grace of an emperor. He murmured. “Thank you, Qi-ge.”
The moment he stood straight again, he flicked open his fan and hid most of his face behind it, black eyes the only thing visible. Cautious, he regarded the children. Their niblings.
Ruolan stared at him with gaping mouth, and then turned to look at Shen Yuan. Gaze flickering between them. “Shushu?” she asked, uncertain. He wondered if she thought a monster had stolen his face.
Shen Yuan held back a laugh. “A-Lan, A-Ming, A-Hua, this is your da-shu, Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu. And this-” He gestured toward Yue Qingyuan. “-is your shenfu, your da-shu’s husband, Sect Leader Yue Qingyuan.” Shen Yuan still wasn’t entirely sure if they had married – pretty much the moment their shizuns were out of the way too – out of romantic love or because Shen Qingqiu wanted full legal claim on Yue Qingyuan, but he supposed it didn’t really matter. They were the happiest they had ever been. And it had the bonus that people stopped approaching them both with marriage offers once Shen Qingqiu had eviscerated some mortal lord for implying Yue Qingyuan might take secondary spouses or concubines. Now, if only Shen Yuan could figure out how to get them to leave him alone too… Sometimes, being Peak Lord wasn’t so great.
The children stared in awe at their new family members. A-Hua stumbled forward, grasping onto Shen Qingqiu’s robes, and he narrowed his eyes at her but did nothing as she looked up, mouth agape. The other two got busy as Xiao Mei finally made her presence known, hopping out of the carriage and demanding pets. Ruolan and Anming were more than happy to oblige.
“Yuan-ge!” Li-mei cried in delight as she got closer.
Certain that Yue-ge would keep his husband from making their niblings cry, Shen Yuan turned toward his siblings. His breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t seen her in so long, and she was so beautiful. Her inky black hair was in an intricate updo decorated with golden hairpins – engagement gifts, no doubt – and her red hanfu glittered with golden embroideries depicting auspicious signs. And her smile was mile-wide. He held out his arms, taking a few steps to meet her, and she fell into them. He buried his nose in her neck, smelling her exquisite perfumes. She’d always been the most stylish of them – though she might have a rival, now. When she pulled away, Shen Yuan’s gaze flickered between her and Shen Qingqiu, whose dark green travelling robes were of Xian Shu-make and shimmering like a pond in sunlight. Her gaze was drawn to him too.
Shen Yuan bowed to Qing-ge, who was keeping his distance but smiled back. Holding up the baby so Shen Yuan could get a look. His baby nephew had a straight nose, like all four of the Shen siblings, but when he opened his eyes, they were his mother’s shade of warm brown.
“Er-ge,” Shen Yuan said, finally. Shen Qingqiu turned toward them, and Yue-ge gently helped keep A-Hua on her feet when he did. A-Hua stared at him with what already bordered on hero-worship. Cute.
Shen Qingqiu’s gaze raked over his siblings, though he did not lower his fan. Shen Yuan could see him cataloguing every bit of their faces – their similarities and differences. They did not look nearly as similar as he did to Shen Yuan, but standing near each other like this, it was still undeniable that they were siblings.
“Er-ge,” Shen Yuan said again. “Let me introduce you to Shen Qing and Shen Li. Qing-ge, Li-mei, this is our brother, Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu.”
Qing-ge’s eyes glittered with tears, but he smiled oh so warmly. Bowing as well as he could without disturbing his child, he said, “This brother is… so happy to see you again, Master Shen. I have missed you.”
The fan in his hand twitched slightly, but finally, Shen Qingqiu inclined his head ever so slightly.
Li-mei clearly took that as her cue: “This is so exciting! I can’t believe I got a brother for a wedding gift!” she exclaimed, almost bursting with energy. She bounced on her toes, staring at Shen Qingqiu with bright eyes. “I’m so glad you decided to come, er-ge.”
After a moment, she also got a nod. Shen Qingqiu clearly didn’t know what to do with all of this – but that was okay. Shen Yuan had warned them not to expect much. It was already far more than expected that he had agreed to come at all.
“Also,” Qing-ge said, holding out his baby so everyone could see. “Yuan’er, Master Shen, please meet my son. Shen Haojiu. Meaning great and enduring.” His gentle eyes watched Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Yuan, heart skipping a beat from adoration for his brother, turned to look at him too, then. First, nothing. Then, Shen Qingqiu finally lowered his fan, expression carefully neutral. Yue Qingyuan, who had come up to them, wrapped his steady arms around him and Shen Yuan could hear him whisper, “A-Jiu.”
Watching the baby, who stared back at him with innocent, wide-eyed curiosity, Shen Qingqiu quietly said, “Hello, A-Hao.”