Work Text:
Eyes opened to see a vast span of white, a color of purity. A color that didn’t suit such a thing as Shen Qingqiu.
At first, all he heard was a distant buzzing in the ear, incessantly bothering him until it slowly droned out, being replaced with other sounds. People were talking, and there were many unfamiliar sounds of machinery operating beside him on the bed.
He could not understand what was happening.
“Shen Yuan! You’re awake!” A woman’s voice cried out, and he was soon pulled into a tight embrace, something he never got used to in the past. As if he had an extreme allergic reaction to being touched, he pulled away from this ‘stranger.’
“Who are you?” His voice was raspy, strained, and above all else—different. The voice that came out of his mouth did not belong to him. In fact, nothing felt right.
He was able to push away the woman who pulled him into a tight embrace. He felt the muscles of his arms tense in response, and he could see out of both his eyes. Unconsciously, he’d curled his fingers and his toes as if he wanted to ascertain he had the ability to move them… to FEEL them.
His mind felt hazy with confusion, and he felt weak. He HATED feeling weak. It took no time at all to realize that he had no cultivation.
The very thing that caused most of his fights, his cultivation, was gone. This body had nothing in it. In fact, it seemed as though none of these humans in this white room had cultivation. As his eyes scrutinized every detail in the room, assessing the danger, he noticed 5 people staring at him worriedly.
“Shen Yuan…” A man spoke, but he didn’t look to be the oldest. Was he… Shen Yuan? No, he was Shen Qingqiu, but at the same time… he was not.
The hand he could wave in front of his face was a testament to this body not being Shen Qingqiu’s. Digging his nails into the palm of his hands provided him with a dulled pain that was enough to let him know that this was real, and not some figment of his imagination.
He could smell something chemical in the air, reminding him of medicine. He wondered for the medicine would compare to Mu QingFang’s medicine.
All this confusion aside, it was time to finally address the people staring at him. “Who are all you people?”
5 pairs of eyes showed different stages of grief, disbelief, fear, and anger. The woman who had embraced him earlier burst into tears, and a younger woman carefully led her to a seat, lending her a shoulder to cry on. They shared many characteristics with each other, so he had deduced they were related. Possibly a mother and her daughter.
As for the 3 men… 2 of them were approximately the age of the younger woman. Her brothers? Could one be a husband? The older man approached the crying woman and soothing pat her back, whispering some words into her ears.
“Do you really not remember us, Shen Yuan? We’re your family.”
He’s been an orphan for as long as he could remember.
Shen Qingqiu felt annoyed to be asked such a dumb question. He just asked who you were. Is it not obvious that he does not recognize any of you? He has no family.
A man wearing all white stepped in between me and the two men who remained standing. He was intervening—not that I needed him to. I was confident in being able to protect myself. I may not have my cultivation any longer, but you didn’t need cultivation to use underhanded means like poking eyes out before running away.
“I believe the shock from being revived from death made him lose his memories. Surely, he’s confused, but he may be able to recall his memories if he’s given time.”
Revived from death?
Death.
That’s right, he’d died.
Thump
Shen Qingqiu stared down at his hands, flexing them slowly. Being able to see hands connected to his body was all but a foreign concept to him now.
Thump thump
His last moments of life… he froze, clutching at his chest with his hand.
Thump thump thump
His heart was beating wildly in his chest as the anxiety ran thick in his veins. Last he remembered, he finally welcomed sweet death in the cold underground. He was made into a human stick, unable to talk, and hardly able to see (not that he wanted to see Luo Binghe’s ugly mug in the first place).
He couldn’t breathe. This place couldn’t be real. Why was he here? Why were people looking at him with concern in their eyes? Concern for whom? Him? Impossible. He wasn’t a good person deserving of any positive emotions. He was the scummiest person on the face of the planet, and he deserved everything that came to him.
That was something he told himself every damned moment to convince himself that all the torment he was forced to accept was only a natural course of action.
Nails dugs into his skin as disgust sank in. This was unnatural. The limbs that should be gone were connected to a body, one that he could move at will.
Aside from the hazy feeling in his mind and the pain in his stomach, he felt no other instance of pain.
Rushed voices overlapped each other as the others in the room finally realized the situation. “Don’t touch me!” Shen Qingqiu growled at whoever placed their hands on his arms.
They shouldn’t be there; they should be gone!
Rip them off
Rip them off
Take them away
Stop it. STOP IT.
Make it stop. Let him die.
Why was he alive? Was this Luo Binghe’s doing again? You couldn’t get enough of killing him once, but you had to do it again?
Choked laughter started slow, but it soon gained traction and he laughed maniacally as the insanity sank in.
Bring it on, you filthy demon! He’ll accept his due punishment until you’re satisfied! Rip him apart! He’s lost his life to you once before, so what’s another one, two, hundred… no, a THOUSAND times?
…
…
…
Eyes opened to see a white ceiling, as always. Shen Qingqiu had calmed down tremendously since then, and that’s with the help of the doctors. What they did to him, Shen Qingqiu hadn’t the slightest of ideas.
All he knew was that his mind felt unusually sluggish, and he was low on energy. Did they use a sedative on him to prevent him from hurting himself again?
Previously, he’d have manic episodes and he’d start to hurt himself, trying to rid himself of the ‘extra limbs’ he wasn’t supposed to have.
He supposed that the doctors had it rough as well.
The door opened and his ‘eldest brother’ came into the room.
Brothers.
An image of Yue Qingyuan came to mind. Every time he recalled the way he died, it brought forth a new wave of emotions in him, when he otherwise felt nothing.
Shen Qingqiu was an empty husk with nothing to look forward to. A broken vase that was glued together in a haphazard matter and then reinforced with resin.
Could this vase hold water? It certainly could, but you could still see the cracks all throughout the ‘vase’.
That’s what he was. A broken human that was put together to make up some shoddy excuse of a living being.
“I brought your laptop. I’ve logged in for you.” Luckily, Shen Yuan had a log of all his passwords hidden away in his room. Should anything happen to him, his family would be able to access all his accounts and do with them as they pleased.
“Before… the incident, you seemed very smitten with this novel. Give it a read, maybe it will help you remember things.” He laid the laptop on the bed and left.
He couldn’t understand this mysterious contraption, but he could see the title of this work was ‘Proud Immortal Demon’s Way’.
Tch.
Demons.
At first, he only intended to skim through the first chapter and call it a lifetime, but certain keywords stuck out to him.
The main characters name… was Luo Binghe. Ironically, Shen Qingqiu found himself obsessed with the novel, realizing that there was more than the protagonist sharing the same name as that vile DEMON that was comparable to his own world.
He didn’t wish to believe it, but as he continued to read… he couldn’t help but accept it as the truth.
This novel was his life… no, THEIR LIVES. Everything was a story for the people of this world to enjoy. The only thing that was different was…
…
What are you doing?
WHAT ARE YOU LETTING HIM DO TO YOU?
ARE YOU JOKING!?
You call yourself Shen Qingqiu!?
Why aren’t you kicking that little demon off you? Even he can tell that he’s taking advantage of you! Shen Qingqiu raged over how ridiculously stupid his counterpart was.
Whoever wrote this story, they were a real piece of work. If he could meet the author, he’d like to give them a punch.
He followed their story, learning more about his old world than he originally knew.
For instance, he learned what Yue Qingyuan withheld from him. Did you think he wouldn’t listen to you?
Yeah, he wouldn’t have. He would’ve said to keep your excuses to yourself.
What did he ever do to deserve Yue Qingyuan’s loyalty and devotion? He lied, saying that his legs were broken to bind Yue Qingyuan to him through guilt.
He was a scummy human being.
Why did you care so much about him?
No matter how much he pondered over this question, he could never come up with an answer. He didn’t deserve Yue Qingyuan. He never did.
The man was noble and proud. Being associated with such a thing as Shen Qingqiu was a black stain on him. An omen of death that led him to his untimely death.
He scrolled to the bottom of the page to see a white box with the words ‘comment here as Peerless Cucumber’ on top of it.
It seemed this body’s account was still logged into this laptop. Peerless Cucumber… what an intriguing name…
…
…
Peerless Cucumber?
Was that not the alias Shen Qingqiu in his plant body---
…
…
!!!
When Shen Qingqiu died, Shen Yuan died… and they somehow… switched places!? YOU’RE THE REASON WHY THE SHEN QINGQIU OF THIS STORY DOESN’T MATCH THE REAL GOODS!?
He felt faint once he realized this.
SIIIIIIIGHHHH
It was eye-opening to see how this Shen Qingqiu operated. He could recall how Yue Qingyuan asked him if he thought the result would have been the same if he treated people like Liu Qingge or Luo Binghe differently.
He has an answer for you, things would be different, but he’d rather die a million times over than to suffer the humiliation of being pushed over!
This master has a dominating personality, and he’ll be DAMNED if he let anyone top him, thank you!
Shen Qingqiu slowly typed his message, wondering if on the off chance the characters could read the comments.
Peerless Cucumber: [Yue Qi, Xiao Jiu is sorry. From #9 to Cucumber, forgive #7. Addendum, your family is fine.]
It wasn’t a lie. If this Shen Yuan took the task to taking on his life, he will take on Shen Yuan’s life in return.
Will they see his message? Will his meaning translate over? He could only hope that it does.
The door opened and ‘his mother’ walked through the door, eyes puffy red as always, but she did her best to give him a bright smile. He’d never received motherly love before, but perhaps… this can be a first.
“Good afternoon, mother.” He greeted her for the first time of his own initiative. It was stiff and awkward, but it was a start.
-
--
-
“Hey Cucumber bro.”
“What is it, Airplane bro?”
Shang Qinghua went silent as he double checked what he saw on his system screen. As the author of the novel, he could choose to read comments people leave behind. Sometimes, when he was bored, he enjoyed reading the comments to see what people post.
When he still lived on Earth, ‘Peerless Cucumber’ was a name he paid special attention to, so he always read the comments his dear brother wrote. (At the time, he was a DETESTED brother, however.)
“Someone made a comment just now on the novel…”
Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes, waving his fan lazily. “You interrupted my train of thought to brag?” The fans of this story went mad any time he and Luo Binghe showed any form of intimacy. Did you think he’d be surprised to know people left comments behind?
“Peerless Cucumber left a comment.”
“… Who?”
“Peerless Cucumber,” Shang Qinghua clarified once more. He read the comment over 5 more times, confirming it to be true. The user handle was the same and it was the same user pic he remembered cussing out in the past.
Shen Qingqiu knew that his family should have access to his laptop once he passed, but he didn’t think any would take on his online personality and comment on his behalf.
Honestly, Shang Qinghua always pitied Shen Qingqiu. There was so much in store for him, but he always received so much hatred from the fans, that he never got to expand on his character. He died such a horrible death, and his backstory was never revealed in the original take.
Rereading the comment once more, he had reason to believe that when Shen Yuan died, he replaced Shen Qingqiu, and Shen Qingqiu replaced Shen Yuan.
What a weird twist of fate!
“The comment reads: [Yue Qi, Xiao Jiu is sorry. From number 9 to Cucumber, forgive number 7. Addendum, your family is fine.] I think, the original scummy goods is in your body.”
Both men heaved a heavy sigh.
They’ve witnessed one too many things to be surprised over this now.
Number 9 had to refer to Shen Jiu, while Number 7 referred to Yue Qi. Given the chapter number he made this comment on, he’d gotten quite far into the novel. He must have learned various secrets that he originally wasn’t privy to. He also would have seen how Shen Yuan was butchering his character—but he didn’t seem all that mad about it (surprisingly).
Maybe he’s mellowed out since he died.
“I think, he’s learned Yue Qingyuan’s secrets and feels sorry for how he lashed out at him, intentionally hurting him with his words. He hasn’t allowed Yue Qingyuan to refer to him as Xiao Jiu out of anger and pride. If he’s using it in a comment, I believe that signifies that he’s willing to allow Yue Qingyuan solely to refer to ‘Shen Qingqiu’ as such. I’m sure it would make him very happy.” Shang Qinghua smiled, feeling a bit happy for one of his novel children.
Shen Qingqiu, or rather Shen Yuan felt a warmth in his chest upon knowing that his family was okay. He may not be with them anymore, but if Shen Qingqiu was in his body, that meant as far as his family knew, he was still alive.
It’s good to know that his family is doing fine. He purposefully didn’t bring this matter up because Shang Qinghua had no way of knowing how his family or friends were doing. Out of consideration, he kept his thoughts about his family to himself.
“I suppose it’s time for me to go.”
“Where are you going, Cucumber bro?”
Shen Qingqiu covered the lower half of his face with his fan, “I do believe it’s time for me to visit a certain Sect leader and have tea together. I should give him his present as soon as possible, wouldn’t you think?”
“… Yeah, he’ll like that. Thanks, Cucumber bro.”
Two lives were lost, and then found their light in an unfamiliar place.
In this place, they’ve paved a new path for themselves for the sake of another.
Two people, two lives, but one connection.