Chapter Text
One Year After the Eternal Abyss
Shen Qingqiu had just gotten back from going down the mountain with Liu Qingge, the latter being especially short with him the whole journey back. Who would’ve thought Liu-shidi would be type to get flustered after having slaughtered his way through a bunch of beautiful women? Ah-- succubus, not actual women, but still!
You’re supposed to turn into a blushing maiden when the naked ladies are in front of you, not after you kill them! Hopeless.
Speaking of all things hopeless, Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua’s plan to keep this old man alive when Luo Binghe came back had fallen through. Those five Sun and Moon Dew Drop seeds he was going to use to create a new body and fake his own death? Gone! A rip in his inner robes pocket and those precious seeds just… somewhere in the world taunting him of his own inaptitude.
How does someone just lose that!? He could've sworn they were there when he checked his pocket at home…
Ah, his memory fails him everytime he thinks about it.
Shen Qingqiu had no reason for it but he blamed Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky for this. Either way, he still had four years to come up with a Plan B so Shen Qingqiu wasn’t too terribly stressed about it for the time being. Or so he'd thought until the system suddenly decided it was time to bring back those anxieties tenfold. He'd just about made it back to his bamboo hut from his mission with Liu Qingge when an onslaught of messages made him freeze and his humored small smile flew off his face.
[ System reactivating… ]
[ System hibernating… ]
[ Touch Verification Overwritten… ]
[ Contacting customer service… ]
'Um…? Hello? What’s going on?'
[ Access Denied... ]
'What is happening!?'
[ ERROR_SIGNAL_REFUSED 156 (0x9C) ]
[ Preparing System for…Rerouting... ]
A cold dread made Shen Qingqiu’s breathing heavy. He tried to exit out of all the spam coming through from the system but they kept coming. He’d thought maybe Binghe was back but he was nowhere to be seen. So why... Then he couldn't think anymore. He'd dropped to his knees and shielded his ears as a screeching sound filled his head, a painfully long message screamed at him.
[user warning: Duplicate entry '1' for key 1 query: UPDATE users SET powersource = '', signature_format = '1', theme = '', luobinghe = 'worldmaster', transmigrator = 'Shen Yuan', status = '1', timezone = '39.9042', uid = '1', created = '116.4074', language = '', 普通话 = 'a:27:{s:13:\"beijing_build_id\";s:37:\"form-f1e4334c513d85cc7c8b107a7b46d741\";s:7:\"contact\";i:1;s:14:\"picture_delete\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"picture_upload\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"block\";a:1:{s:5:\"block\";a:1:{i:3;i:1;}}s:4:\"type\";s:7:\"profile\";s:7:\"changed\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"title\";s:3:\"Bio\";s:9:\"teaser_lbh\";s:0:\"\";s:14:\"teaser_exclude\";i:1;s:4:\"body\";s:0:\"\";s:6:\"format\";s:1:\"2\";s:8:\"reverse\";i:0;s:3:\"log\";s:0:\"\";s:4:\"date\";s:0:\"\";s:7:\"promote\";i:0;s:6:\"earth\";i:0;s:8:\"moderate\";i:0;s:7:\"preview\";s:7:\"Preview\";s:7:\"revise\";s:1:\"0\";s:4:\"menu\";a:13:{s:4:\"mlid\";i:0;s:6:\"module\";s:4:\"menu\";s:6:\"hidden\";i:0;s:12:\"timeandplace\";i:0;s:10:\"customized\";i:0;s:7:\"options\";a:0:{}s:8:\"expandedtoall\";i:0;s:18:\"depth_limit\";i:8;s:10:\"link_preformed_bonds\";s:0:\"\";s:6:\"all\";s:15:\"primary-links:0\";s:6:\"weight\";s:1:\"0\";s:4:\"plid\";s:1:\"0\";s:9:\"shen_yuan\";s:13:\"primary-links\";}s:4:\"path\";s:0:\"\";s:22:\"PIDW_perform_alias\";i:1;s:6:\"upload\";s:0:\"\";s:6:\"VIP\";s:6:\"Attach\";s:16:\"student_Luo_Binghe\";a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:\"value\";s:4:\"FIRST\";s:14:\"_error_element\";s:26:\"teacher_Shen_Yuan][0][value\";}}s:15:\"other_Cang_Qiong\";a:1:{i:0;a:2:{s:5:\"value\";s:9:\"LAST\";s:14:\"_error_element\";s:25:\”[0][value\";}}}' WHERE uid = 6 in /home/luobinghe/public_html/PIDW.com/transmigrators/lbh/vipuser.override]
'WHAT THE FUCK!? STOP! STOP STOP STOP!!'
[ Returning all customers back to their original world. Please stand by-- ]
“NO! FUCK! PLEASE STOP! I’M DEAD AND CAN’T GO BACK!" Shen Qingqiu yelled it out loud, no longer caring if someone heard him or how he'd explain it.
If he had a bird’s eye view of the sect he would’ve seen that everyone on Cang Qiong Mountain had also fallen, a sudden onslaught of voices bombarding their ears. He would’ve known then that it was not such a small broadcast.
[ Thank you for using our services, valued user. Goodbye ]
'NO I’LL TRADE YOU ALL MY B POINTS JUST PLEA--'
***
[ REROUTING S0UL:VBID002 ]
[ ......Please Stand By..... ]
[ Link Successful ]
[ Automatic Shutdown In… ]
[ ...3… ]
[ ...2... ]
[ ...1... ]
[ Thank you for using our services, valued Senior VIP user. Goodbye ]
***
Gasping awake Shen Qingqiu sat up fast.
Then his eyes widened at the familiar posters, figurines, and bookshelves surrounding his computer desk. The three-monitored large screened gaming computer he had died sitting in front of four years ago.
He was in his bed-- not in Qing Jing Peak’s bamboo hut but in HIS original bedroom. In his nicely furnished, beautiful 3LDK apartment in Beijing, China.
Staring down at himself he started trembling. And his original body was… okay. It was...
Shen Qingqiu-- no, not Shen Qingqiu-- Shen Yuan gingerly touched his nose, lips, eyes, jaw, affirming it was all there. He hadn’t realized until now how much he’d missed this face, and it was okay. He was okay.
No. He was more than okay.
GOD DAMN IT HE WAS ALIVE!
Shen Yuan jumped up and nearly tripped over his duvet covers before he cursed at the obstacle. He untangled his ankle and rushed to the mirror to see if it was real.
"Oh my god, you beautiful bastard! I thought you died so long ago!” Shen Yuan stroked his cheek with one hand and the mirror with the other. “Why have you left this old man to mourn you all these years, eh!?”
Like he was waiting for an explanation from his reflection Shen Yuan glared at himself accusingly before chuckling and resting his forehead on the mirror.
He was alive! And he was--
Then in the corner of his eye he noticed the bane of his existence sitting on his desk. Those noodles. Those noodles that expired too fast that, he knew, would be the death of him.
With narrowed eyes and an unbridled rage Shen Yuan chucked them in the trash can so hard the bowl they’d been in shattered. “Try and poison me a second time I dare you!”
Shen Yuan maturely gave the trash can the finger before relaxing and letting it all sink in. His elation slowly drifted down into something heavier, his grin slipping off his face with a complex expression. He was alive, yeah, but what happened to everyone in the other world?
They were probably okay but down a Peak Lord and Binghe…
Well, it sucked how things ended but at least this way he wouldn’t get turned into a human stick!
Yeah, this was good.
He was probably going to have to fake his death anyway, in some way or another, and this way he wouldn’t have to! But… But he wished he could’ve said goodbye to all of them. If he’d known he could’ve come back to a not-dead body Shen Yuan wouldn’t have bothered pushing Binghe into the eternal abyss. Let him stay his sweet little white sheep after this master’s death!
Alas, things didn’t work out that way.
With a sigh, Shen Yuan looked around the room again and noticed something felt off, like something was missing. He searched up and down trying to pinpoint exactly what it was, but he came up short.
This… This was how his room always looked, right? Conflicting emotions stirred in his chest, a feeling of both yes and no.
Ignoring that, he checked the time and was relieved to see it was late at night. At least he could catch his breath before going back into modern day civilization. Then he checked the date and blinked.
Huh... That’s weird... Shen Yuan was sure he’d transmigrated in September but going off this it was the beginning of August. Ah, it’s been years, he’s just misremembering. His hand instinctively moved to flutter a fan in front of himself while he contemplated when he caught himself and his eyebrows lifted high.
… Looks like this body got some of the other body’s habits.
Shen Yuan imagined himself with a fan and chuckled at the mental image of it before his grin turned into a grimace as a weird sense of longing filled his gut and killed the laughter.
Pushing down that feeling Shen Yuan fell back into old old habits, plopping down in front of his gaming computer. He moved the cursor and immediately went to the tab for the ‘Proud Immortal Demon Way’ bookmark hoping Airplane Bro had updated the story or sent him a message after he woke out of the system too.
There was a message. But it was not directed to him.
'Due to recent technical difficulties with rewrites PIDW will be on hiatus temporarily and all chapters withdrawn. We appreciate your business and hope for your understanding.'
WHAT!?
PIDW never went on hiatus!
Last he checked he was still promising extras after the fact, a continuation of the story after the main story finished so what the hell!? Sure, maybe pausing it while Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky was in the system but the way this was worded made it sound like it had just happened so…? And what rewrites? Rewrites as in chapter revision or rewrites as in the whole book was getting rewritten?
… Shen Yuan was being a dumb ass.
Of course it was being rewritten! He had been the one rewriting the damn thing using his blood, sweat, and tears as a revamped scum villain! Filling plot holes and changing character’s depths and the like. Was his sudden, er, ‘exit’ from the story the reason they had to put a pause on updates? Should he call him?
... As if he’d have Airplane Bro’s cell phone number.
Shen Yuan blew out a breath of air sending raven black bangs flying forward. This was pointless.
If Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky wanted to get in contact with him he could find a way to send his most devoted ANTI(definitely-not-a-)fan a message. No need to seek the crappy author out. But a small part of Shen Yuan worried for his shidi… What if he didn't have the same stroke of luck to wake up in an intact body? That would be awful.
Shen Yuan’s fingers twitched and he moved to fan himself again and scowled. "You’ve got to stop doing that! People will think I’m crazy if we go around flapping our hands left and right for no reason!”
"..." The hand he scolded did not respond and instead fell into his lap in a clenched up fist.
Sleep. He just needed to sleep this off. He’d get used to everything later.
Shen Yuan laid down with a small frown. It’d be nearly invisible on Shen Qingqiu’s face, his lips narrow and thin and usually hidden behind a fan. But with Shen Yuan’s full lips it looked very much like he was sulking. Pfft. What good would sulking do, ah? He rolled over with an even deeper pout and hid himself within his comically large anime waifu body pillows letting dreamland take him away, not realizing which ‘waifu’ was nestled in his arms.
Shen Yuan's dreams were filled with nothing but gruesome nightmares, his ‘death’ in the other world leaving his martial siblings and disciples open to an attack from the demon realm. He tossed and turned with a pitiful whimper reaching out to help them but unable to stop their deaths as a powerless, painfully mortal Shen Yuan.
The last image before he was awoken by a loud alarm clock-- he hadn’t missed those!-- was the memory of Binghe’s heartbroken expression when he’d pushed him into the eternal abyss, him just out of his reach to stop it.
“Mm sorry... Binghe...” Shen Yuan mumbled in his sleep, his cheeks wet from half shed tears.
Nuzzling into animated breasts with a groan Shen Yuan groggily sat up, his black hair sticking out every which way, his olive green eyes heavy and blinking open to see the face of who he’d just fondled. He gasped and kicked the Liu Mingyan bikini body pillow into the floor. Liu-shidi would kill him if he knew he had something like this of his sister!
Not to mention it was Binghe’s WIFE!
Forget being a human stick he’d probably cut off a MUCH more precious appendage of his! He’d have to change his internet handle. He could no longer be ‘Peerless Cucumber.’ God without ANY of his limbs he’d probably have to take up something like ‘Penisless Cucumber.’
He shuddered at the tasteless name and his eyes flashed. Burn the pillow! You’ll never take little Yuan alive! Deny deny den--
Wait... He was back in the real world. None of them would ever know.
Still, Shen Yuan wasn’t going to risk it with his very manhood on the line. He was getting rid of it as soon as possible. Gently picking up the pillow so as to not offend it by moving too rashly or grabbing… areas… he put ‘Liu Mingyan’ under the blankets to hide the evidence. After the crime scene was handled, he lazily reached over to grab his glasses off the bedside table so he could see better before he stopped. Then he made an ungodly face.
His eyesight was perfect. Since when had he ever had or needed glasses? Never!
Instead of dealing with whatever that was he checked his phone to see why he was being bothered at 6 in the morning. His eyes bugged out at the reminder.
Work!
And it was the first day of the semester too-- ah!
Shen Yuan jumped out of bed, rushing to get his clothes set out then ran to the bathroom. Seriously, how in the hell had he forgotten about work!? Probably because he was spoiled as a Peak Lord and used his illness to get out of stuff but... but come on! Surely, he wouldn’t forget about his job!
Even after being in another world that shouldn’t have just… disappeared from his brain.
Shen Yuan paused for a moment outside his shower, his shirt halfway off in self-deprecating pondering.
What was a fairly respectable professor doing spending his free time reading shitty stallion novels (porn) and leaving lengthy complaints on each chapter (that he paid for) under a (penis-joke) pseudonym? What in the world was he thinking before he transmigrated!? Sure he didn't go around telling everyone about his interests but was his face really that thick before? Or maybe it had just grown thin during his time as Shen Qingqiu…
He shook off the strange feeling that something was off and got ready for his day.
***
Taking a taxi instead of one of the family cars, Shen Yuan first stopped by his used-to-be favorite coffee shop and went inside. He hadn’t had coffee in years and wondered how it’d do on his stomach that was used to simple and clean foods cultivators that cared about their bodies ate. He decided it was better to play it safe and ordered something light to eat and tea instead.
Only to end up scowling after he’d taken his first sip.
They call this swill tea!?
An Ding Peak’s disciples made better tea than this! And they were shite at making tea! Utter disgraces like their Peak Lord!
… Hopefully said Peak Lord is okay though.
Grumbling to himself Shen Yuan drank his tea (if you want to call it that) and idly scoped his surroundings-- only to choke and get into a coughing fit.
Th-That… That…
There was no way that that was…
There’s no way that Liu Qingge just walked out of this coffee shop… right?
Oh god, did he manifest this?
Was he here just to punish him for that body pillow!
Shen Yuan moved before his brain could stop him, chasing down the other guy out of the shop and shouting, “Liu-shidi! Liu-shidi, is that really you?”
The man turned to face who was seemingly calling after him. Shen Yuan knew then without a doubt that this was his shidi. That or his slightly younger doppelganger. He was just as much a pretty boy who had the airs of an unmovable immortal who could cut down anyone that dared stand in his way. His hair was shorter and in a lower ponytail than he usually wore it and he had on a white button-up shirt and black slacks. But if he put his usual white robe on...
Yeah, this was him. He had to be.
‘Liu Qingge’ raised an eyebrow, looking Shen Yuan up and down like he was unimpressed before he asked, “Do I know you?”
Shen Yuan froze at the not-so-simple question. Shit. Did he know him? Liu Qingge had known him as ‘Shen Qingqiu’ so it wasn’t fair to say ‘yes.’
Eh… Why had he yelled after him again?
“You look… very familiar and kind of like an old friend I used to have," Shen Yuan said. "I think… I think I mistook you for him. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
Trying not to let his complex emotions show on his face, Shen Yuan missed that fan of his again, and started heading in the opposite direction feeling both humiliation and confusion.
He really looked like Liu Qingge. It was uncanny! It would’ve been cool if it really was--
Then he heard an almost angry exasperated: “Hey!”
Shen Yuan's train of thoughts crashed and he'd stopped. Not because he’d decided to but because a hand had taken hold of his shoulder and spun him.
Shen Yuan blinked at him. “...?”
‘Liu Qingge’ quickly let him go and sputtered, “I… I shouldn’t have grabbed you. I don’t know what I was thinking. But you…” He seemed at a loss for words and frustrated about it but he kept speaking despite how uncomfortable he clearly was. “You look familiar too. Your eyes--” Then his own eyes widened at what that sounded like. “No! I mean, I feel like I’ve seen you before too. What’s… What’s your name?”
Shen Yuan knew it wouldn’t be any help to awaken any memory but offered, "Shen Yuan. What’s yours?”
“I’m Liu Qingge.” He held out his hand for a handshake and paused when he saw the other’s face. “So… by that expression I’m guessing you do know me then?”
Shen Yuan broke himself out of his stupor and quickly moved to shake his hand. “Sorry, it sounded familiar too but I don’t know for sure…" He didn't want to look crazy by bringing up a past life he might not remember so he said, "I’m a professor at Peking University, maybe we’ve crossed paths that way?”
“Then this makes a lot more sense.” Liu Qingge sounded disappointed like he’d hoped for more. “My sister goes there and I pick her up sometimes so we’ve probably crossed paths that way.”
"Ah, that does make sense...” Shen Yuan also stewed in disappointment.
A brief silence fell over them as they both contemplated over different things.
Shen Yuan smiled and pulled out one of his cards. “Maybe your sister is in one of my classes! Well, I’ve got to get going or I’ll be late but if you ever want to get coffee sometime just let me know. I usually come here but lately I’ve been more interested in tea and the tea here is… yeah, it’s not great.”
He chuckled inwardly at the idea of the original Liu Qingge drinking this tea. The place would probably be ransacked of every tea leaf it had and never allowed to serve it again.
Liu Qingge’s brows rose at the card before he schooled his face into one of neutrality and said, “Okay then… Bye.” And just like that, the possibly reincarnated Liu Qingge turned around and left.
“See you later, Liu-sh-- Qingge!” Shen Yuan waved him off and went the other way.
Pfft. Such an awkward interaction. That's Liu-shidi for you!
Wait.
That was Liu-shidi for you!
In this world!
If he was here, and that wasn’t some crazy once and a lifetime fluke of a doppelganger that shared his name, then… who all else came over from that world?
And, more importantly, who still had their memories?
***
Shen Yuan’s first class of the semester was uneventful but he was grateful for it having been antsy about coming back. Standing in front of the students, his memories as a master carried over into his usual carefree style. His steps were lighter and his voice smoothed out with a gentle authority as he spoke, even as he cracked his usual dumb jokes to ease tensions.
It was a good mixture of both lifetime's experiences for the scholar.
He'd caught himself moving to fan himself as he watched them fill out their work and quickly hid his hand behind his back. Maybe he really should just go out and buy a fan so he'd stop looking fidgety.
Pfft. No, right? He’d look silly.
… Okay, he’d think about it, stop lecturing him!
There was a lively, diverse group of students for his first class. None of which he recognized from the other world. He didn’t know if he was more relieved about that or disappointed. The small frown on his face seemed to say the latter.
"Since this is the first day, I’ll be handing out a packet with all the resources you could need including my office hours. Does anyone have any questions?” No one spoke so Shen Yuan set the pamphlets down on each row to be passed back as he continued, "Okay. It’s been great meeting you all and I know we’ll have a great semester. I’ll see you guys again on Wednesday. I hope you all have a great rest of your day!”
Once everyone left Shen Yuan ordered lunch in, getting something light again and spent the two hours he had between classes browsing the web. A weird part of him felt guilty like he should use this time to meditate-- but that was ridiculous!
He wasn’t a cultivator anymore so he had no reason to meditate.
He wasn’t Qing Jing Peak Lord anymore.
He was just a plain old mortal with nothing special about him and…
After a full day of denying it Shen Yuan's shoulders slumped a little lower.
He missed it.
Shen Yuan missed the sensation of qi running through his meridians, the excitement he felt when he used his spiritual powers. When he was poisoned with Without A Cure he still had powers even if they weren’t always available to him and now…
Now he was just a 24 year old man with a secret hobby as a 'semi' otaku.
... But this was what he wanted though, right? He wanted to come back home, right?
Shen Yuan thought of his family for the first time in years, something he hadn’t allowed himself to mull over as Shen Qingqiu. None of them had any idea he’d died and been gone for four years. Would he even be able to contain his emotions when he saw them again?
Well, yeah, of course he could. He’d be a shame to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect if he couldn’t hold back his maidenly tears, even if the sect would never know of his ‘bravery.’
Shen Yuan groaned and rested his head against his desk. Transmigration was hard but no one told him how hard reverse transmigration would be!
… Eh?
What was he doing?
Depression was only cute in the movies! Pull up your bootstraps and keep trucking!
Shen Yuan sat back up just as the new round of students started coming in, the first few people staring at him a little strangely before a blank sheet of white hid them from Shen Yuan’s view. He grabbed (fought against) the piece of paper that had stuck to his forehead and placed it back on his desk with a slap, his cheeks flushing red.
What a great first impression!
He probably looked like a lazybones teacher who had fallen asleep on the first day… Ugh.
The college professor didn’t look back up as the rest of the students came in, decidedly being very busy (stalling) as he set everything up for orientation. Distracting himself he checked over the roster for this class and didn’t see any names he recognized from Qing Jing Peak. He sighed in his heart, having been a little hopeful that maybe a ‘Ning Yingying’ or a ‘Ming Fan’ would show up for his class.
What a ridiculous premise.
The more he thought about it the more likely it was that his meeting with ‘Liu Qingge’ had actually just been a freakish fluke.
It’s not like PIDW owned the name ‘Liu Qingge.' He was probably a normal guy that just so happened to have the same pretty boy face his shidi did.
Waiting until everyone was seated, some of which were too far back to see, Shen Yuan stood up and introduced himself just like he had for the last class. He opened things up with a few bad jokes, getting a laugh out of the students before heading into telling them what this class would be about and explaining why he’d come into this line of work. Of course this wasn’t something he’d do every day but for a first day he indulged himself and students seemed to like it, answering questions as they came regarding his favorite works with an at-ease smile.
Unbeknownst to him, he fell into the confident graceful act during this lesson as well, carrying himself in a way he’d never done before transmigrating. It grabbed the attention of the girls in the class, a few whispering amongst themselves and ogling him before casting their eyes down when he glanced over to see if they were paying attention. He didn’t notice their blushes nor the meaning behind the snicker one let out at her friends who were caught. Shen Yuan had just glanced over before shrugging with a ‘knowing’ smirk.
That girl probably laughed because she'd JUST got one of his earlier ice breaking jokes!
Hey, better late than never, sister.
Whether he was Shen Qingqiu or Shen Yuan he’d always considered himself to basically be an old man inside of a young body. If an old soul could be a semi otaku then that was how he’d describe himself. He wasn't approached much (hardly ever) and figured the reason was because he wasn’t that much to look at. But he had no idea that he was a different, but not any less potent, kind of unattainable than the untouchable immortal Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Yuan and Shen Qingqiu were both scholars but Shen Yuan’s teaching methods had just a hint of ‘spice,’ a comforting warmth radiating from his every move whereas when he was Shen Qingqiu he was a gentle cold, like the whisper of the first frost in winter nipping at your nose. He himself had a softly curved button nose while his counterpart’s features were sharper. Shen Yuan’s lips were pouty and his deep green eyes crinkled when he smiled like he knew a secret, while Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were calculative and his lips would twitch just the barest hint upwards, always behind a fan because he did have a secret.
They were different but neither any less beautiful.
Shen Yuan was unapproachable in the way all good looking well-raised nerds were unapproachable, his greatest handicap being his crippling inability to pick up on things revolving around the heart. In other words, this old man wouldn’t know a sister was interested in him unless she outright yelled it at him and even then he’d suspect she either had ulterior motives or he’d misheard her. Or she was lost. Most likely that one.
His two older brothers had had some issues with ‘ambitious’ women trying (and failing) to claw their way into the family. As if Da-ge or Er-ge could be seduced like that-- those sisters would be more likely to seduce a bear. Or the painfully oblivious Shen Yuan. But even if a gold digger somehow seduced the beloved third son despite his virginal ways, the Shens would eat them alive and leave not even the bones behind.
Only the bravest of souls should even attempt to get close to him.
“Since this is the first day, I’ll be handing out a packet with all the resources you could need including my office hours. Does anyone have any questions?” Shen Yuan asked as he prepared the packets to pass them out to this group as well.
“I have a question.” A hand in the back of the room rose up, a pearly white smile showing underneath a black hoodie. “Laoshi said his office hours will be included in this packet but this student is more curious if it has your cell phone number?”
Shen Yuan’s brows rose before bunching up, side-glancing a guy who’d snickered at the other boy's question like he’d picked up on something he hadn’t. He couldn’t see or hear the person in the back clearly but felt like he was mocking him. Shen Yuan pursed his lips and squinted at the guy briefly before he schooled his face.
Eh. Let people make fun of him. Who cares?
“... If you need to speak with me I’m here every day except on Tuesdays and the weekends. If you call the office number and leave a message I can get back to you if I’m not available at the time. If you have something you need to speak to me about now you can come up after class.”
As Shen Yuan handed pamphlets out he added with a colder tone, “And I have to mention hoodies and hats are not allowed in here as a safety precaution.”
“Apologies, Laoshi. I’ll take it off for you,” the boy said in that strangely intimate tone again, getting more stares from other students who found him funny.
“Thank you, I appreciate--”
The pamphlets flew out of Shen Yuan’s hands.
... And onto a poor student who’d just reached out to take them. The boy looked up at him with a horribly bullied expression but Shen Yuan couldn’t focus on that right now, his face pale and his pupils contracting as he made eye contact with a nightmare come to life.
With his cheek resting in his hand, the boy beamed at his professor, that smile sending a chill down Shen Yuan's spine and making his scalp tingle. He knew honeyed words and grins meant nothing good coming from this blackened protagonist. Even without the ‘golden halo’ that literally blinded Shen Yuan when he’d first transmigrated in place in this world, this boy-- no, he wasn't a boy, he looked like a grown man in his early twenties maybe late teens-- was dangerously handsome.
Shen Yuan thought 'golden halo' was a perfect descriptor, being like the sun to both lovers and enemies-- providing warmth to those he liked and destroying those he didn't that got too close.
Pro tip: If you weren’t a little sister he wanted to add to his harem then it was best to just steer clear of the golden halo. And the heavenly sky pillar too-- that thing was a concealed weapon!
He was wearing a blood red long-sleeved shirt that contrasted his fair skin nicely, his long wavy black hair half up, the rest trailing over his shoulders. A pendant hung from his neck, tucked within the fold of his collar so others could only see the chain. Maybe the halo was still in effect in this world because his face seemed to be glowing especially brightly at that moment.
Anyone who hadn’t turned their heads did and hearts began to visibly sway. The girls who’d ogled their pretty teacher decided then and there that this was their new favorite class and all of them were excited to get to know their new classmate who they had no idea had once been a heavenly demon and Shen Yuan's beloved disciple.
And was now his greatest fear.
Shen Yuan was as weak in the knees as the girls but for vastly different reasons, instead of blushing he turned green and his heart couldn't stop racing. He finally tore his eyes away from him and...
Back to the kid who’d gotten a face full of papers.
"Ah! I am so sorry about that. I didn’t mean to throw those at you, my hands just slipped. Forgive this mas-- ME! I, uh, here...” Fumbling with the pamphlets Shen Yuan almost reached out to pat the student’s head when he realized how ridiculous that would be and instead smiled (grimaced) at him, awkwardly handing him his stack before moving on to the next row of students.
This was fine!
Luo Binghe was in his class and probably here for revenge but it’s fine!
Everything's A-OKAY!
Because, because, because…He’s not even Shen Qingqiu!
Shen Yuan doesn’t look anything like his master so he shouldn’t recognize him.
Maybe he couldn’t remember the other life like Liu Qingge didn’t seem to. Or remember him pushing him down into the eternal abyss--
FUCK! Why is he even here!? He wasn’t on the roster!
Return to sender! Return to sender, damn it!!!
Why did he say he could come up after class, ah!? Stupid teacher, stupid advice!