Chapter Text
Shang Qinghua bit on his pen. The scent of coal and oil was overwhelming and maybe getting to his head. He searched his desk for a bottle of peppermint oil and rubbed it under his nose, hoping to overpower the thick staleness. He turned the nob of his lamp to add gas and squinted harder at the records.
Cang Qiong Mountain was a large city, bustling with only the best and most talented, ranging from mechanics to entertainers. At its center is the capital, Qiong Ding, and around it, sectors each specializing in a particular craft. Shang Qinghua would have thought himself a part of the Qing Jing citizen, with his scholar…hood but, no, no, he was simply part of those doing the drudgery.
Buried under the mountain was An Ding, the sector for assuring the smooth running of all of Cang Qiong. They lived in Cang Qiong, technically, since they lived in Cang Qiong Mountain.
People who were part of the An Ding sector aren’t particularly talented in anything other than working. The exception– he’d like to think, of course– was Shang Qinghua. Sure he was probably the busiest of even the worker bees. And sure he both lived and worked under what was probably the boiler room of Cang Qiong Mountain. And sure he wasn’t getting paid what others of his status are getting paid. And sure when he asked for the job they practically threw it at him like it was rotting meat. And sure…
…
Point being, Shang Qinghua did have a talent. He is the official Historian of Cang Qiong Mountain. While it was probably not good news that it banished him to the An Ding sector, he also worked with the most talented of Cang Qiong Mountain. People like Shen Qingqiu, the head of Qing Jing and therefore probably the most intelligent person in Cang Qiong Mountain. Sorry, on Cang Qiong Mountain. He was Shang Qinghua’s best friend by default since he was his only friend. The rest tolerated him.
Tomorrow was important (Shang Qinghua decided to be under the false illusion that “tomorrow” only happened when the sun rose). It was when the leaders of Huan Hua would visit.
If Cang Qiong was known for its most talented citizens, Huan Hua was known for its most brutal. Cang Qiong had one sector dedicated to the martial arts, and two, maybe three (Shang Qinghua doesn’t actually know what exactly goes on in Xian Shu) dedicated to warfare out of nine overall. Huan Hua had three sectors overall, including their capital. Much like Cang Qiong, all sectors worked together. Unlike Cang Qiong, this was because their capital was originally a sole city without other sectors. Then, then Shen Qingqiu set out a little Qing Jing citizen out into the world and all of a sudden Huan Hua was being controlled by the said disciple and it became a growing, powerful, bloody city.
Its two other sectors were lead by two feared warriors: Mobei Jun and Sha Hualing. Both were leaders of very feared cities, so when they were acquired by Shen Qingqiu’s “lost” disciple, the world lost their shit. And when Huan Hua said it was coming for a visit, instead of collectively sending Shen Qingqiu to the wolves, they sent Shang Qinghua down a rabbit hole trying to find what happened the last time there was a case like this. To find out what politics were involved. To find out the politics the other sectors based themselves on.
Was it his job? Sure! Was it not a job to leave until two days before? Also yes.
Shang Qinghua scratched his nose and fanned himself. It was so hot here! Also, as cool as it was, he didn’t think that the Northern Ice Territory’s tradition of a near-death battle to the throne was a very good sign. Did they still do that in the present day? For their sakes, he hoped not, but also find of did.
Suddenly, the door to his room slammed open. At the same time, the morning bells rang. It meant it was half an hour to sunrise, and that all asleep were to begin their day. (Thiry minutes until tomorrow).
The intruder was none other than Shen Qingqiu. He looked meticulous, his clothes straightened, hair without a strand of place. His eyes told a different story. They were crazed and casting harsh shadows underneath.
“I can’t do this, Airplane bro!” He shout-whispers.
Shen Qingqiu, around most people, was calm and collected. He rarely raised his voice and kept his opinions either behind a fan or laced with patience and sound logic.
Around Shang Qinghua, he was different. Very different. It was almost like he kept all panic, anger, frustration, and confusion for their meetings. The reason was that they’d known each other when they were younger. He kept Shen Qingqiu’s secret, which was that he wasn’t keeping Shen Qingqiu’s secret at all, but Shen Yuan’s.
Shen Yuan wasn't ever stupid when they were young. He wouldn’t make it as the leader of the most scholarly sector in Cang Qiong if he was. But Shen Yuan was always ill and could rarely dedicate himself to his learning since he was usually in favor of dedicating himself towards living. Therefore, he never became a scholar officially. He spent most of his life reading anything and everything, sure.
When he got better, it might have been the euphoria that told Shen Yuan to immediately take the test in Qing Jing. His haste cost him an embarrassingly low score. After a year of studying, under the name “Shen Qingqiu”, he took the test again in hopes of regaining face. He never meant to be a part of any of the sectors, to begin with. What he didn’t anticipate was getting the highest score out of hundreds and hundreds of participants and gaining fame as this “Shen Qingqiu”.
Shang Qinghua knew this because he was the one who faked Shen Yuan’s identity. When they were teens and Shen Yuan would come to school about every few weeks, they were frenemies in their literature club. Shang Qinghua was nicknamed “Airplane-bro” because he always seemed to fly at great speed away from a good plot.
Later, when he worked there as a miserable An Ding citizen, he didn’t see the harm in letting an old friend take a test that had an incredibly low passing rate. Neither of them anticipated the outcome. Both Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan were fucked if the truth was ever revealed, so Shang Qinghua helped cover up the holes in Shen Qingqiu’s identity.
…and now Shen Qingqiu had a better status than he ever would.
“What, Cucumber-bro? Is it about that disciple of yours?” Shang Qinghua asked tiredly.
Cucumber-bro was a nickname Shang Qinghua chose for him at random. He found it funny that he could always call Shen Yuan a dick.
Shen Qingqiu shuts the metal door behind him and collapses onto the bench in front of Shang Qinghua. Usually, these kinds of dramatics were reversed in their dynamic, but today was its own story.
“He’s going to tell everyone who I am!” he shouted and covered his face with his hands.
Shang Qinghua’s brows knit and his lips quivered with nervousness.
“H-How would you know that?”
Shen Qingqiu didn’t uncover his face.
“I told him.”
“Huh? Y-yo–”
“I told him.”
Just who was this disciple? That stick-up-his-deceivably-frantic-ass Shen Qingqiu would tell him about his true identity, it was mind-boggling.
“Why?” Shang Qinghua squeaked.
“He used to be so little and cute!” Shen Qingqiu defended, “And then that cute little face looked up at me and asked if he’d be taken from me if he didn’t pass the test! And then… it just came out. But then, he did fail the test. He was so smart, and he failed! And I-I…”
His voice trailed off.
The next part, Shang Qinghua knew, unfortunately. Pretty much every leader of each sector knew. Shen Qingqiu told him that he had put a lot of personal effort into his education, and the fact that his own disciple failed was “disappointing” before wishing him the best in Bai Zhan’s sector. The disciple, as everyone also, unfortunately, knew didn’t go to Bai Zhan, but left to become the immensely powerful leader of Huan Hua.
But this, this shined a new light on the events.
“Airplane-bro! You’re screwed! We’re screwed!” Shang Qinghua cried.
He looked at his stacks and stacks of notes and documents. All for not.
He began to ramble. “Do you think that’s why he’s here? Is he going to tell everyone? Is he going to blackmail us? Or are we the villains here? Oh, god, are we the bad guys? But why? Why wait so long? Why not say it when you shamed him in front of ev–”
“Shut up!” Shen Qingqiu hissed, “And he wanted to gain credibility. If he told everyone then, I could have easily said it was because he was bitter. Now? His word holds water.”
Shang Qinghua slumped. He didn’t sleep all night and now this?
“That’s it then. It’s over.”
Doomed.
Shen Qingqiu straightened his back.
“No, it’s not. No one knows yet. We can keep it this way. All I have to do is – is t-talk to Lu– him. He was my disciple, there has to be… some sentiment.”
Shang Qinghua nodded enthusiastically.
“That’s right. You can take this,” he thumbed through the stacks, “He’s been looking into Tian Yi, it looks like. Here’s everything I have on them.”
It would be a poor move in actuality, but he-whose-name-has-been-avoided might just to expand their sect and, historically, Tian Yi was a powerful city.
Shen Qingqiu looked at his hard work like it was useless, but took the stack anyway.
“I’m counting on you, Cucumber-bro!” Shang Qinghua says.
Then, without seeing if Shen Qingqiu left, he set a clock for thirty minutes and took a power nap.
Advice from Shang Qinghua: you shouldn’t take a thirty-minute nap. It was a poor move. Now, Shang Qinghua was groggy and grumpy, lugging stacks of paper and books from hall to hall, consulting some and getting ignored mostly.
Shang Qinghua was on his way down to his room to prepare himself (see: sleep more) before the real meeting with Huan Hua city and its sectors. As he stepped over a body laying on the ground, he rewound his exhausted brain far enough back into that sentence to realize there was something wrong with it. He made a double-take and found that there was, in fact, someone (a really, really, uuhhhhhhh well-made person) passed out on the ground.
Quickly, Shang Qinghua ran down the stairs to his room to shove away the paper and ran back up, getting the most exercise he’d gotten that week, to figure out what to do with this person. He’d deduced that the worst wound was the large gash in the other’s leg. But he couldn’t imagine the head trauma was great.
Shang Qinghua took a deep breath and did his best to drag this (once again, really nicely built) person three times his size down the stairs to his room without making the wounds worse. He’d ring for Qian Cao for assistance once he got there, but Shang Qinghua was fairly confident in his first aid experience to believe that he’d be a little more efficient in initial care than the busy sector would.
Also, it would be really cool to have this ideal guy in his room. Shitty room, but he wasn’t here to win any awards. Just to look at them.
Eventually, by the sheer power of attraction, Shang Qinghua managed to get the stranger onto his bed. He then kissed goodbye to any sleep and treated the leg and called for someone in the medically talented sector.
And then Shang Qinghua got a look at his clothes and thought he should maybe call Qian Cao and put a rush on this because he’s mistakenly dragged Mobei-fucking-jun into his room.
How? How could someone so detrimental to his city be so hot? Why was life so unfair?
Just as he thought this, Mobei Jun began to stir. Shang Qinghua began cursing his life. How could he be so unlucky all the time? How???
As Mobei Jun opened his eyes, Shang Qinghua spoke.
“G-greetings, Sect Leader. This one is the head of the An Ding sector. I-I saw you w-were… inconvenienced. Someone from our medical sector will be soon.”… Once he told them who this was.
Mobei Jun took a once over of him and grunted before sitting up and making to get off.
“S-sect Leader! Your leg has been injured. Please wait for…”
As usual, Shang Qinghua was ignored. Mobei Jun stood and limped off.
“Wait! Sect Leader, let me… let me help you. There’s–”
Mobei Jun opened the door and stared blankly at the stairs ahead of him.
“You are a Sect Leader and you live the basement?”
Shang Qinghua flinched.
“An Ding runs the interworkings of Cang Qiong Mountain. We ensure everything runs smoothly inside out.”
That was what they told him, anyway.
Mobei Jun grunted and eyed him.
“You offered assistance?” he asked impatiently after a beat.
Oh, yeah. He did. He scrambled over and awkwardly had Mobei Jun use him as a crutch on his bad leg. It was… very close contact. And yet this guy was freezing!
When the finally made it up the stairs and were on their way to the lift, Shang Qinghua realized the oddness of finding him here.
“If I may ask, Sect Leader, what happened?” He questioned meekly.
There was silents for a moment. Several moments. It was just the whirling of the engine and the creak of rusty metal filling in the extremely uncomfortable silence.
Finally, Mobei Jun spared him a glance and replied.
“Sha Hualing asked to combat somewhere we wouldn’t be disturbed. Did not anticipate someone living down here.”
So getting mild-to-badly injured and knocked out was a regular occurrence? Huan Hua city really was full of violence. Shang Qinghua suppressed a shiver. Please Cucumber-bro, he thought, don’t fail me now! If you do, we won’t have a sect to protect us.
They reached the center of the city, the main hall of Qiong Ding, and therefore the center of Cang Qiong. It was the one perk of living there: it meant he lived in the heart of the most powerful city in the world. Shang Qinghua eyed Mobei Jun. For now.
They ended up being right on time for the meeting and Shang Qinghua sent a mental apology to whoever wound up going down into his empty room. Shang Qinghua stood back and allowed Mobei Jun to enter first and then entered himself a few minutes after. No one really thought he had any association with Mobei Jun, but Shen Qingqiu gave him a look, probably because he knew Shang Qinghua’s penchant for trouble.
An Ding’s status isn’t nearly as good as Qing Jing’s and therefore Shang Qinghua sat farther away from Shen Qingqiu, so he couldn’t ask Shen Qingqiu how it went. He could only sit on pins and needles the entire meeting.
The room went silent as the man himself walked in.
Luo Binghe.
Most people whispered his name when he disappeared because Shen Qingqiu was so visibly devastated by it, like trying to avoid talking about the dead to their loved one. But it was everywhere. The most brilliant man in the sector of scholars educated him and still, he failed. After so long murmuring the name, it rose to infamy and people thought the buzz behind the name must have caused this bad luck.
Now, Shang Qinghua thought the name was doubly unlucky. And now, inevitable to mention.
The meeting was menial for the most part. There were some interesting trade deals that were almost disproportionately in Cang Qiong's favor. Most suspiciously, their pure monetary deals were good for the Qing Jing sector. He watched Shen Qingqiu squirm as much of the money was for the leader to consult and tutor for Luo Binghe. As good as the deal looked, most leaders– including Yue Qingyuan, the Sect Master– were unwilling to make this deal. It was also the deal Luo Binghe was most interested in making.
“Sect Master of Huan Hua, while we wish to make good ties with you and respect your wishes, we cannot simply lend a valued Sect Leader to you. If you wish to meet with Shen Qingqiu, we would be willing to set up a window every week for you two to discuss things.” Yue Qingyuan said after much dodging.
Luo Binghe didn’t look pleased he could kidnap his former Shizun, but he agreed to this. Shen Qingqiu for rent it was!
“Is there anything else you would like to discuss?” Yue Qingyian asked hoping to to close the meeting.
“Yes,” Luo Binghe said, “We are looking to acquire Tian Yi City. We understand that they have some ties to Cang Qiong and we wish to help soften any blow on you. We ask that you withdraw from any and all agreements with Tian Yi. I will gladly recompensate for anything lost.”
Each Sect Leader bristled at this. While Shang Qinghua resigned himself to Luo Binghe’s terrifying and fast rise in power, most hadn’t. This power grab was just another thing to build up Luo Binghe’s reputation. It was also, probably, going to be a bloody overtake like the rest.
Yue Qingyuan narrowed his eyes.
“This puts Cang Qiong in an unfortunate position. We wish to spread our alliances and wealth among even smaller cities. This numerosity allows us to integrate ourselves with the common people. Making a habit of cutting these ties and favoring larger cities would not only rid us of this humility but cause other cities to worry about our loyalty.”
It was all bullshit, but Shang Qinghua could admire his way with words.
Luo Binghe was not having it.
“Then do not make a habit of it. We do not ask for help with acquiring Tian Yi, we only hope you understand that we will acquire Tian Yi. We also hope we can help you gain from this rather than lose.”
Yue Qingyuan gave a think smile.
“We respectfully decline such assistance.”
Luo Binghe’s face darkens. Panicking, Shang Qinghua shot up from his seat.
“Sect Leader of An Ding speaking!” he shouts.
Shen Qingqiu gives him the look and Yue Qingyuan smiled somewhat pityingly at him.
“Proceed.”
Shang Qinghua cleared his throat.
“This one knows it is not their concern, but I would suggest against acquiring against Tian Yu by force. They have lost almost a quarter of their population to conquests and you might not have anyone in the city left if you invade. Perhaps you could offer military assistance in exchange for annexing them? They are aware they are in a… disadvantageous situation.”
He swallowed and sat down. He’d earned glares from everyone from his fellow Sect Leaders to Luo Binghe himself. Before Luo Binghe responded, Mobei Jun waved his hand to ask for a private discussion with Luo Binghe. The two conferred until Luo Binghe, with a cocked brow, nodded.
“If Cang Qiong Peak finds this the optimal strategy, we would ask to have the An Ding Sect Leader visit the Norther Ice Territory and assist in the execution of this.” Luo Binghe announced.
There’s a murmur of agreement amongst the other Sect Leaders, even Shen Qingqiu traitor. Oh, so when they asked for Shen Qingqiu it was too much to lend a Sect Leader but when it was Shang Qinghua it was just diplomacy?
Yue Qingyuan smiled at him as a mild apology.
“Cang Qiong accepts this. We ask that this visit lasts a month. If the deal takes longer, then any assistance will be done from here.”
He’s been sold! He’s been sold!
They wanted to buy Shen Qingqiu for lots of money (ahem, funding) and then they bought Shang Qinghua for…
Wait a minute, nothing! This was servitude!