Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu is perplexed.
Granted, this isn’t an unusual state of affairs. Fortunately, the original goods’ resting bitch face gives him some leeway. He’s also, he thinks, started to build up a tolerance for certain types of bullshit.
You see, reading the novel, he’d always assumed that “these things” happened to the protagonist because the world was conspiring to push him into certain events. And, possibly, it was. But it turns out, the world that he currently resides in has filled in the blanks to create an environment where these things were not only possible, but likely enough that a world full of intelligent people would not comment on them. So many of the things which happened to the protagonist do, in fact, happen to regular people, and occasionally poor unsuspecting peak lords.
Which, he thinks, is patently unfair, since these plot devices are obviously more of an ordeal without a protagonist halo, and also less productive. Because when Liu Qingge got succubus poisoning, instead of ending up in silk sheets with a lovely young succubus, he’d been dumped into a cold bath.
A few weeks prior, when he’d gone with Shen Qingqiu to investigate several disappearances in a small village. Shen Qingqiu had quickly identified the problem – a particular species of plant. Well, vine. Tentacle. It’s a tentacle vine. For. Classic tentacle things. Which, in the novel, had led to the acquisition of a young wife who had been caught and subsequently rescued (after a show, because of course). In this reality, however, Liu Qingge was briefly caught, and his clothes just a little bit melted, before Shen Qingqiu had freed him.
(The flight home had been awkward. Liu Qingge had taken the lead, as usual, because Shen Qingqiu has no sense of direction. There had been. Skin. On display. Which was usually- not. Shen Qingqiu had spent the entire trip trying to follow his fellow peak lord with only the use of his peripheral vision.)
A little before that, it’d been a village with a curse that sent the men to sleep and the women into heat. Mu Qingfang had come along for that one, and employed a nifty sleeping powder to keep the situation “controlled” while Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge found and destroyed the source – an oblong jade object which made a sound like bees flying, because, of course.
Before that, it’d been sex pollen. It was remarkable only because of the volume, because the flower that produced the pollen had, for some reason, sprouted up all over the country at once. Again, Mu Qingfang had come to the rescue, developing a cure which could be made from a different part of the flower, and using a clever inter-sect system used to disseminate information to spread the method so that cures could be made and distributed. Shen Qingqiu had only had to wear a special veil for a week, along with the rest of Cang Qiong, to keep from inhaling the pollen.
So, yes. This world was generally able to deal with these situations and get on with its business. If anything, the original novel dealt with them in an unnecessarily dramatic fashion, compared to the cool efficiency of the peak lords.
The reason Shen Qingqiu is perplexed, is because he knows what’s happening to him right this minute. He recognizes the curse. And it’s not meant to happen for nearly 11 years.
The situation is this.
Shen Qingqiu has woken up this morning with a pair of fluffy mink grey cat ears, and a tail.
His colour spectrum has changed a little, and things look a little warped. On closer examination in his mirror (a surprisingly normal, modern mirror, not period-typical copper or brass, because of course), his eyes have and developed slitted pupils, and changed colour to- maybe green? It’s hard to tell with colours looking this way.
He also thinks, he might have been purring when he woke up. In fact, he might’ve woken himself up by purring. He promptly discards the entire train of thought, because that’s catgirl stuff, and he’s not a catgirl! He’s in the body of the scum villain, who, if he were to be compared to a cat, would be the type that beats up dogs and knocks things off tables and yowls for food and bites unprovoked!
In the original novel, the curse had triggered when Luo Binghe found a gold bell in a great old temple and brought it back with him. It had caused everyone in a hundred li radius to take on traits of either cats or dogs. Specifically, ears and a tail.
Shen Qingqiu wonders if those cursed as dogs go colour blind. The novel had skimmed over that for the sake of. Well. “Petting”.
Luo Binghe is still in the abyss, so Shen Qingqiu has no idea what’s caused his current predicament. Someone has to have brought the bell back from the temple. Which means, probably, a significant chunk of Cang Qiong is in this state. Cang Qiong is much larger than the range of the curse, but Qing Jing is on the opposite side from the entrance and more than 100 li from the bottom of the mountain facing the other side. So for the curse to have reached him, the person with the bell must’ve gone through at least some of the other peaks.
The changes in his vision are disorienting. It’s worrying, because in the novel the curse had lasted for a year. It would clear up for an individual with papapa, at which point the person would gain the ability to permanently transform back and forth. Because apparently the harem needed catgirls, and cat demons weren’t good enough?
Shen Qingqiu’s ears are twitching. It feels. Odd.
He’s currently in his sleeping robe, looking in the mirror. Watching his fluffy ears twitch. His tail is underneath his robe, and also occasionally twitching. He can feel it, and see it gently moving through the fabric.
He reaches up and grabs his ear.
It’s soft. It twitches a little, reflexively. A little like blinking from something in your eye? He thinks he can somewhat stop it. He can certainly move them on demand.
He demonstratively swivels them a little. Left, right, left, right. Up. Down. Folded back. Pokes them again.
They’re rather. Cute.
That’s no good at all! What about his image! He looks nothing like an elegant immortal!
Shen Qingqiu’s expression remains placid. His ears have gone flat against his skull.
Maybe being dressed will improve matters? He goes about his morning routine. His hair is particularly difficult to manage with ears in the way, and he finds out he, in fact, still has his human ears. So, he now has two sets of ears.
He thinks he can hear with both sets independently? It’s hard to tell, but things sound louder when he snaps his fingers next to his fluffy triangular ear. Also, the ear twitches, like a flinch, entirely without Shen Qingqiu’s permission. It’s so, so very cute.
On closer examination of his ears and tail, he appears to be borrowing these parts from a something like a Russian blue cat. They’re velvety soft and smooth dark grey.
He swishes his tail a few times experimentally, and debates the merits of hiding versus displaying it. He opts for the former, then changes his mind after discovering that the image of something twitching beneath his robes is somehow far worse than just showing his tail. He chooses an outfit with a separated top and bottom half, and split (a little like a trenchcoat) up the back of the long top robe, so that the tail can poke out.
By the time he’s dressed, he looks a little less like a xianxia catgirl cosplayer, and more like a peerless immortal who’s been pranked and not yet realized it. The incongruousness of his new appendages with the rest of his image makes him look ridiculous.
Hopefully the portion of Cang Qiong affected is significant.
His vision is starting to clear up. His colour spectrum now seems, almost normal? The warping is still there, a little, but it’s not as disorienting as it had been.[1] He thinks he could probably fight and fly like this if needed. He can probably recognize faces?
There’s a knock at his door. He opens it. It’s Ning Yingying, sporting a pair of perky, triangular puppy ears.
Shen Qingqiu has to quash down the urge to pat her. She’s a teenager now, and it wouldn’t be appropriate.
She’s visibly eyeing his fluffy ears with sparkles in her eyes when she tells him he’s been summoned to a meeting of the peak lords. He thanks her and dismisses her.
He’s pretty sure he knows what the meeting is going to be about.
~
When he shows up at the meeting, everyone is sporting a pair of fluffy ears. Whoever was carrying the bell must’ve covered some ground.
Yue Qingyan has perky black dog ears and black and white tail, reminiscent of a border collie, that visibly perk up as he smiles warmly when Shen Qingqiu comes in, even though his smile only brightens a little. Mu Qingfang’s appear to be something like a maine coon or a Norwegian forest cat. Shang Qinghua’s ears and tail are immediately recognizable as corgi. Shen Qingqiu hide a smirk behind his fan.
When Shen Qingqiu pulls out his chair to take a seat, it makes a sound, and every pair of ears in the room swivels towards him in unison even as every person maintains a completely polite, neutral face and doesn’t turn to him. He has to hold back the urge to coo.
Shen Qingqiu primly sips his tea, and nearly spits it out when it turns out to be hotter than he expected.[2] Everyone politely Does Not Mention It as they wait for the remaining peak lords to trickle in. Wei Qingwei is a German shepherd, though Shen Qingqiu doesn’t place it until he sees the peak lord’s tail. Qi Qingqi is feline, something brown Shen Qingqiu doesn’t recognize.[3] Liu Qingge is the last to arrive, with a pair of the prettiest, primmest looking white cat ears Shen Qingqiu has ever seen, and his tail has long, white fur.
Shen Qingqiu is reassured to see that everyone else also opted for outfits which permit their tails, rather than trying to hide them. Qi Qingqi’s is curled around her hip, as though to be shown off. She occasionally strokes it, and also appears to be moving her ears to draw attention to them.
Yue Qingyuan addresses the room.
“I apologise for calling you all to a meeting on such short notice. I’m sure you’re all aware of the issue we’re here to discuss. Given the scope of the situation, we need to address it as a sect. Mu-shidi?”
Mu Qingfang stands.
“We began seeing disciples come for treatment around the time of the tiger[4] this morning. Based on reports, it began at the western side of the mountain, and spread through the peaks rapidly. We’ve had people requesting medical assistance, but there don’t appear to be any harmful side effects yet. I’m not familiar with any condition that might have caused it.”
He sits. Yue Qingyuan addresses the room again.
“Does anyone have any thoughts on what may have caused this?”
Shen Qingqiu does his best to look wise. He feels his ears tilt primly backwards. He hears someone’s breath do something strange somewhere across the room and pointedly ignores it.
“This master has knowledge on the subject.” That isn’t suspicious, given his position as the sect’s lead scholar. He explains what he knows in brief terms.
Yue Qingyuan speaks, “I see. Thank you, Shen-shidi. We have a few missions in progress, so it’s possible someone came across the artifact in question and brought it back for examination. Have any such reports come in?”
Placid noises of denial sound from throughout the room.
“We’ve had teams come back, but none had extra parts until after they were here,” says the lord of the beast-taming peak Ling You.[5]
“We’ve been busy putting down the season reserve, I don’t think anyone’s been out,” Zui Xian peak lord says.
Liu Qingge gruffly says, “I only got back this morning.”
There’s a pause. Yue Qingyuan politely enquires, smiling, “When this morning, Liu-shidi?” His ears are tilted forward, oddly aggressive set against the rest of his expression.
If one didn’t know Liu Qingge, one might think it was impolite to assume that he might be the culprit. Shen Qingqiu has seen him fail to realise that a young possessed lady was attempting to strip him rather than murder him. He does not think it’s impolite.
He shrugs. His ears twitch in a way that makes Shen Qinqiu’s fingers go tight around his fan. “It was dark.”
Another pause.
“Did Liu-shidi visit a temple?” Yue Qingyuan’s voice is strained.
“Yes, but I didn’t pick anything up.” His tone is matter of fact. No one stakes faith on it.
Yue Qingyuan nods as the Ku Xing peak lord, whose clean energy, refined by asceticism, affords him additional talent in locating cursed objects. He nods solemnly, then stands to examine Liu Qingge. After a few moments of quiet examination, he reaches up, and plucks a golden bell from where it’s apparently been caught in Liu Qingge’s ponytail.
He places it on the table. Everyone in the room stares it for a moment.
Yue Qingyuan sighs. “Shen-shidi, is there a cure to the curse?”
“The curse will wear off in a year. Aside from that, it can be partially cured with-” he clears his throat, “-dual cultivation.” It’s common enough that no one even raises an eyebrow. “If this method is used, the individual will retain the ability to transform at will.” That gets some interest, particularly from the Ling You peak lord, who Shen Qingqiu suspects probably has some use for an elevated sense of smell, which would probably follow from the canine curse.
“I see. Is Shen-shidi aware of any side effects of the curse?” Yue Qingyuan asks.
“Only the obvious issues with balance, vision, and elevated senses, which I suspect we’re all already aware of.” Shen Qingqiu sips his much-cooled tea primly.
Yue Qingyuan nods. “In that case, we’ll leave it to the individual to decide whether to cure it. Mu-shidi, please see if you can’t find a solution which is-” he clears his throat, “-appropriate for younger apprentices. Shen-shidi, you and I will develop a strategy to manage public opinions on this matter.”
Shen Qingqiu nods. It’s reasonable, given his position as a strategic advisor within the sect. Though, he’s not sure how much he can contribute, given his best ideas thus far included wardrobe choices and relying on his fellow peak lords to politely ignore him burning his tongue on tea. But, Yue Qingyuan is generally very capable, and will likely have some already mostly complete ideas which Shen Qingqiu can build off of.
Mu Qingfang advises, “I’ll run some tests to ensure that the dual cultivation cure won’t tangle the curse further. For the moment, everyone should please advise their students to not dual cultivate.” Everyone politely agrees, and no one comments on the usefulness of handing down such an instruction when their sect’s current median age is 17.[6]
They discuss the matter a little more, in terms of the various challenges each peak might experience. Ling You is excited to explore the possibilities, and their peak lord is keen to find a way to keep the curse for all of them even if some of his disciples don’t want to dual cultivate. Ku Xing being an ascetic peak won’t be able to keep the curse even if they want to, unless Mu Qingfang finds an alternative. Qi Qingqi has already heard some particularly unintelligent comments about catgirls directed at her disciples, and is seeking bloody retribution. Everyone remains tactfully quiet.
~
Yue Qingyuan invites Shen Qingqiu to tea on Qiong Ding after the meeting. The tea is already lukewarm when it’s served, because Yue Qingyuan is considerate like that and apparently had noticed Shen Qingqiu’s difficulties at the meeting.
They speak for hours on situation and how to manage it. It’s not a good look for the entire sect to be cursed before the cause was discovered.
They decide to present it as a planned thing, since apparently there’s some use for their new features. There would be conflicting reports, of course, as the entire sect is affected, most of whom have some friends and family outside of it, and none of whom had been warned. But, with conflicting reports out there, no one will (hopefully) be confident enough to act with confidence that Cang Qiong is vulnerable.
After deciding on that, Yue Qingyuan asks him if he plans to keep the curse, and eagerly offers to assist him. Shen Qingqiu isn’t sure how he plans to accomplish that. Maybe as sect leader he might play matchmaker? It would make sense, since he’s so well trusted. Others might also rely on him to help them find a partner.
Shen Qingqiu says so, and suggests that this might be a good solution to offer to the sect. Yue Qingyuan seems a little hesitant – maybe he thinks it’s too many people to manage? He’d probably only offer to do this for the peak lords, and the peak lords might do this for their respective disciples. Shen Qingqiu suggests this as well, and they spend another half an hour ironing out the details.
When that’s done, Yue Qingyuan asks again whether he intends to keep the curse. Shen Qingqiu replies that he doesn’t particularly want to, which oddly makes Yue Qingyuan’s fluffy ears perk up and his tail wag twice. Shen Qingqiu grips his teacup a little harder to keep from reaching out to pet his sect leader.
~
Life goes on. The plan to present the situation favourably is put into action, and goes as well as can be expected. Yue Qingyuan arranges another team meeting just a few days later, to present their matchmaking proposal. There are apparently already strategies in place for this kind of thing, set up to manage cases where bulk dual cultivation is required, because those exist in this world. It’s managed by jointly by Qian Cao and Ku Xing, who are both scrupulously neutral and trusted to make this type of decision without bias.
Qi Qingqi has already cured the curse by the time the meeting happens. Mu Qingfang gives her a censorious look, before he sighs and explains that, yes, dual cultivation should solve the problem very neatly. At that point, Zui Xian peak lord puts away her cat ears and sheepishly offers, “It was an accident.”
No one asks. Liu Qingge is scowling, with his lovely ears primly folded sideways, somehow turning his usual expression of thunderous anger into dainty affront. His eyes dart to Shen Qingqiu, then his scowl deepens and he glances away. His ears twitch, and Shen Qingqiu is not getting any better at suppressing his urge to pet his coworkers.
The peak lords discuss the curse and how much interest there is in keeping it. There hadn’t been much in the beginning, but that seems to be changing as people get used to the look and feel of their new appendages. The peak lords agree that sentiment will probably continue to develop throughout the year. They’ve all informed their disciples that they’ll have a year to choose. Mu Qingfang is exploring options in pseudo dual cultivation, which is apparently a thing, even though it was never mentioned in the novel.[7]
Shen Qingqiu wonders how this is going to go. Is Cang Qiong going to become a place where you’re surrounded by people with fluffy animal appendages? What a weird look! Totally unsuited to a xianxia setting! How can a prestigious sect be like this?
But, he can’t exactly tell people they can’t. After some gentle enquiries, Ku Xing peak lord explains that from his examination of Mu Qingfang’s experiments (Shen Qingqiu wonders what that looks like, and hopes it isn’t the obvious), the remaining ability to transform is no longer a curse. Apparently it’s “the result of a cultivator’s meridians adapting to the curse”, which sounds to Shen Qingqiu like it’s probably a grotesque oversimplification of something the reserved peak lord doesn’t want to try to explain.
Shen Qingqiu supposes once the year is up they’ll have to set up a rule that sect members have to put away their ears in public places, or when there are visitors to the mountain. That would be alright, probably?
And the curse is actually useful, apparently. Several students have already begun learning to make use of the new appendages. Apparently the cat eyes are good for seeing in the dark, the ears hear better, the tails are good for balance, and they’ve all had some degree of improved sense of smell.
Liu Qingge has fallen asleep in his seat. His ears twitch occasionally, his tail is curled around his hip, and his arms are crossed over his chest. Shen Qingqiu wishes he had a camera so he could snap a picture. Liu Qingge somehow looks so comfortable. Also, warm. His lap might be softer than Shen Qingqiu’s current seat, which is unpleasantly solid and has no place for his tail to go comfortably.
Shen Qingqiu blinks and tries to banish the odd thought. Is the curse affecting his behaviour as well? He doesn’t think it should be. Sure, the catgirls in the novel had been very cuddly, but that should be because of the protagonist’s unbeatable charm. Nobody else seems to be affected?
~
Other people are affected.
The first week after the curse, people are acting more or less normal, but then they begin to change.
It’s slow at first. When Shen Qingqiu’s sees his disciples walking around, they’re usually shoulder to shoulder, just a little less distance than before. One day, when he comes to teach one of his lessons that take place in a classroom setting, the low desks have been mysteriously rearranged closer together.
They become more tactile with one another. After class one afternoon Shen Qingqiu sees two of his female disciples taking turns helping to rearrange one another’s hair about their fluffy cat ears (ragdoll and tabby, he thinks). He sees a few boys casually help to neaten one another’s clothing, which he’s never seen before, certainly not in a public space.
Each day he takes his classes, it seems his students inch closer to one another. They glance at him nervously, but Shen Qingqiu isn’t sure how to phrase any kind of censure, and besides they’re cute. By the end of the second week, there are students sharing desks, nearly sitting in one another’s laps.
The first time he sees two young ladies laid on one another napping on a bench in one of Qing Jing’s courtyard, he turns around and leaves immediately. This feels so inappropriate! Doing this in a public place! He makes sure to snap on a branch on his way away, to try to wake them up.
~
Purring is great. The first time Shen Qingqiu has a bath, he’s worried, but the warm water doesn’t turn out to bother him at all. And as he drops into the water, he starts vibrating like the world’s happiest motor engine. He nearly falls asleep there, and ultimately spends almost an hour soaking, relying on heating talismans to keep the water warm.
Proud Immortal Demon Way’s beds are not typical for xianxia. They have luxurious mattresses and proper pillows, and Shen Qingqiu’s has a four-poster canopy hung with silk. He’s glad of it. He’s been collecting more and more pillows, slowly transforming his already comfortable bed into something more like a nest, with stacks of pillows towards the edges inclining towards a concave circle in the middle. He sleeps curled up like a croissant most night, yet somehow he never wakes up with any soreness or kinks. He wonders if the curse could possibly affect some aspect of his muscles or tendons this way. He’ll have to ask Mu Qingfang.
He’s managed to refrain in public, but he frequently finds himself petting his own tail as he works at his desk in his bamboo house. He also occasionally pets his own ears, gently fondling them and feeling them twitch. It’s deeply satisfying.
~
Yue Qingyuan comes over to his bamboo house occasionally, often bearing some gift of tea or pastries. He sits with Shen Qingqiu for hours, and enquires on various scholarly topics. This curse appears to have caused him to develop an interest in other phenomenon which might affect the sect.
Shen Qingqiu happily expounds upon the various plot devices of Proud Immortal Demon Way, glad for the opportunity to warn someone. Since he doesn’t want to be seen as a pervert, he attempts to find things to talk about which aren’t solved by papapa. He quickly finds that, thinking on it, there aren’t many at all, compared to the sheer bulk of papapa-inducing flowers, poisons, curses, and genetic predispositions.
Fortunately, Yue Qingyuan doesn’t appear to notice as Shen Qingqiu describes ever more poisons cured by variations of dual cultivation.
(And oh, are there variations. Apparently in this world there are profound spiritual differences between positions, involved body parts, and degree of “satisfaction”.)
Shen Qingqiu supposes this world does have a lot of papaplot devices, so it might not be unusual that his knowledge is a little skewed? And anyway, the sect leader appears to be fairly satisfied with Shen Qingqiu’s knowledge. Shen Qingqiu often sees his fluffy tail wagging happily, or his big ears perk up.
A few times, the sect leader has reached out towards Shen Qingqiu, as though to fix his hair. He always ends up stalling and putting his hand back down. Shen Qingqiu wonders if the sect leader is also experiencing the same maddening drive to physical contact that he has been.
~
Some weeks after the transformation, Shen Qingqiu is in his bamboo reading, when he hears his door being kicked open. He already knows who’s there before he turns around.
As expected, it’s Liu Qingge. He has, slung over his shoulder, a black-footed crocodile-boar.
He looks for a moment at Shen Qingqiu. His habitual scowl deepens. His lovely ears twitch up and down, somehow looking nervous contrary to his facial expression. His tail swishes, apparently agitated.
Liu Qingge drops the boar. It crashes to the ground.
He looks up to meet Shen Qingqiu’s eyes.
Opens his mouth. Closes it. His tail swishes wide behind him. His ears fold flat against his skull.
His scowl deepens, and he flushes red. He has a stunningly attractive blush that spreads like rouge across his high cheekbones.
Then turns around and leaves. Hops on his sword, still visible through the open door, and flies away. His fluffy white tail is swaying gently behind him, assisting his balance. Shen Qingqiu can see where it disappears into his Bai Zhan robes.
Shen Qingqiu does not understand.
~
Shen Qingqiu thinks hard that night, in his nest bed, on the events that must’ve led to Liu Qingge dumping a boar on his doorstep.
Shen Qingqiu doesn’t think this was premeditated. The demon boar definitely wasn’t a threat, because Liu Qingge isn’t that subtle. It has no special traits that would make it an appropriate gift. There’s no reason to do this if you’d planned it.
So, it had to be impulsive. Shen Qingqiu knows, Liu Qingge had been sent out to clear an infestation, as he often is. Of course, he would have completed his task with absolute efficiency. And, sometime between being issued the mission and departing the site of the massacre, he must’ve decided to give Shen Qingqiu a dead animal.
Black-footed crocodile-board are powerful enemies, in spite of being relatively small. It’s impressive that Liu Qingge was able to clear out an infestation. Shen Qingqiu hadn’t seen any injuries on him. Or any blood, in spite of having returned with the dead animal over his shoulder. He must’ve killed it without his sword. Increasing the difficulty of the battle for the sake of his training?
How impressive, great master Liu! Too capable! Shen Qingqiu is a little disappointed he wasn’t there to see it.
Maybe that’s it?
Ordinarily, Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t suspect Liu Qingge of showing off. But everyone is acting so oddly lately. Maybe it’s another aspect of their new cat instincts?
Shen Qingqiu pictures it. Liu Qingge standing, triumphant, over his fallen foe. Proud of a battle well-fought. And no one around to appreciate it. He looks at his fallen foes, and thinks, he wants to be acknowledged for this accomplishment. He wants to be admired! So, he thinks, who will appreciate my great victory? And after some thought he realises, who will appreciate a monster better than Shen Qingqiu, the great scholar of monsters!
How embarrassing! No wonder he was so embarrassed when he dropped it off!
Shen Qingqiu feels proud of himself for figuring it out. And also, really, quite touched that Liu Qingge would think of him to show off to. Liu Qingge had, on some level, chosen, out of everyone, to aim for Shen Qingqiu’s admiration!
Shen Qingqiu thinks it’s probably just because he knows Shen Qingqiu likes monsters. But still, Shen Qingqiu can’t help but feel flattered. Because Liu Qingge didn’t just make the decision in a second, he stuck to it through the entire flight right up until he dumped the thing on Shen Qingqiu’s floor. It really, actually, makes him feel quite special!
He wonders what he can do to show his appreciation. He wants to tell his shidi, “Don’t be embarrassed, I understand”. But how can he possibly thicken his face that much?
Maybe he can give a gift back. What might his shidi like? He’d like to make him some food, but Shen Qingqiu can’t cook very well, and it feels wrong to present something made by someone else when Liu Qingge gave him something he hunted himself. He could invite him over for tea, but he doesn’t think his shidi likes tea that much.
Maybe since this was a cat thing, he should reply with a cat thing. So, what does he like, as a cat?
His favourite thing these days is his bed. Somehow, even though most of his body hasn’t changed, he’s developed that intrinsic ability that cats somehow have to be impossibly comfortable, and nowhere more so than his nest.
He thinks of those two young ladies, curled up on the bench. He, briefly, pictures Liu Qingge with him here, in his nest. He immediately discards the notion.
Maybe some pillows? He can’t share his own nest, but he can help Liu Qingge start his own! He doubts the man would ever bother himself.
~
To Shen Qingqiu’s credit, it takes him three weeks to finally given in to the maddening urge to pet his students. He doesn’t make the decision consciously, but one day in class as he’s handing back a beautifully written essay to Ning Yingying, he, entirely without thinking, says “Good job,” and pets around her triangular white puppy ears. He realizes what he’s done immediately, and tries to play it cool as he walks away. But her tail is wagging so hard it’s thumping against the floor where she sits at her low desk. But, everyone is being quite tactile these days, so it shouldn’t stand out against the new standard?
Even so, Shen Qingqiu hopes to every god that the protagonist never finds out.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[1] His colour spectrum isn’t actually changing, he’s just getting used to it. Like George M. Stratton’s famous “Vision Without Inversion of the Retinal Image” experiment. Not sure if it would actually work this way, but the great thing about writing fanfiction of a novel based on a trash novel is, I can say that Airplane is the one who made it that way because he’s a hack, and not me.
[2] Apparently cats’ tongues are more heat sensitive? I’ve heard it but I don’t know if it’s true. Let’s just say Airplane heard it and believes it and put it in because he thought it was cute.
[3] It’s a Havana brown, but Shen Qingqiu doesn’t have Google and doesn’t know as much about pedigree cat breeds as he does about monsters.
[4] 3-5AM.
[5] I’m borrowing the Ling You beast taming peak name from the amazing fic “The Grand Unified Theory of Shen Qingqiu” by 00janeblonde. Also, this is just my own thing, but I’m totally picturing Nie Mingjue when I talk about the Ling You peak lord. No commonalities in character, and I won’t name him, but I like the look of him. Apparently I have a type.
[6] Canon doesn’t specify, but I’m saying the peak lords all started over with new apprentices when they took their roles, and they’ve only been at it for a few years, since it is explicit that they were all apprentices still when Tianlang-Jun died at the same time Luo Binghe was born.
[7] Pseudo dual cultivation was never referenced in the novel because it’s a recent invention of Qian Cao, and hasn’t spread widely yet, so it mostly disappeared when the sect was destroyed.