Chapter Text
Shen Yuan had a love hate relationship with the novel Proud Emperor Way. A sentiment that was clearly shared by the former occupant of his hospital cot, as the book was clearly well cared for but ultimately left behind. A miserable fate for such a beautiful book... Shen Yuan couldn't help but think that they had some things in common. The gold foiled cover on the side desk was the first thing that Shen Yuan saw when he woke up after being rushed to the hospital for the nth time. And it would remain the first thing he saw when he woke up for the coming year while he was confined in the hospital room.
Shen Yuan had asked the nurses and doctors about the book every time their shift changed since the book looked expensive. But at one point there were no new nurses left to ask and still no one knew whose book it was. Shen Yuan had waited for days for someone to pick up the book, then weeks and then months. As patients and visitors came and went, the book was Shen Yuan's most loyal companion in his lonely hospital room.
As a self-proclaimed avid reader of all kinds of literature, Shen Yuan's curiosity grew bigger as his boredom grew in the absence of visitors. Of course, there were web novels, but there was only so much trash that Shen Yuan could read before craving for something that was not spoiled or overhyped in the comment section. So, in a moment of weakness, Shen Yuan opened the heavily decorated book and started reading the prologue. Then the first chapter. The second chapter. The first arc. And then he never stopped reading until he reached the last pages.
As soon as Shen Yuan finished the first chapter, he was hooked. The underdog protagonist, the promise of great world building and juicy dogblood drama in the imperial palace reeled him in like a starved little fish. Luo Binghe was a white lotus character who grew up in the slums until he found out that his biological father was none other than the emperor of Cang Qiong. Luo Binghe's struggles as the third prince to adapt to the treacherous environment of the palace moved Shen Yuan's fragile heart. It hurt to see the white lotus personality being hardened in his struggles, but it was worth it as Luo Binghe finally started to overcome the challenges thrown in his way. In the end, Luo Binghe was even able to overcome the one true obstacle between him and the throne: the villainous second prince Shen Qingqiu.
The elegant second prince at first glance looked like an immortal god, but it would soon be revealed that the cunning man was willing to do anything to stop Luo Binghe's rise to being the emperor. From the moment they met in the novel, this villain antagonized Luo Binghe. But to Shen Yuan's utter bafflement there was no rhyme or rhythm to his schemes. It would have made sense if the second prince was just trying to defend his position as the crown prince, but Shen Qingqiu was adopted into the royal family by a childless concubine. As someone without any blood relations to the throne, he was a prince who would never be able to inherit the throne even if Luo Binghe was not in the equation.
And yet, no matter what Luo Binghe tried to do, Shen Qingqiu was there with a scheme to counter Luo Binghe's efforts. Shen Yuan enjoyed the thrill of a competent villain and protagonist pair and the well-crafted conflicts between the two of them. After reading so many web novels where the tropes repeated over and over again in a mind numbing loop, it was a breath of fresh air to finally read something that wasn't a single-minded power fantasy. Luo Binghe lost often, but he slowly learned. On the other side of the coin, Shen Qingqiu became more cunning when he saw Luo Binghe's improvement. The two of them improved each other despite the hatred between them. They learned, they grew, they conquered.
And then finally, after falling into many schemes and slowly learning to counterattack Shen Qingqiu's plans, Luo Binghe finally defeated his enemy.
Luo Binghe paid one last visit to Shen Qingqiu in the prison that kept the former prince captive, and this is when one last plot twist would have changed the direction of the entire book. The pivotal scene. The former prince who previously had no real reason to oppose Luo Binghe finally revealed his reason for opposing him.
"Congratulations on your victory," Shen Qingqiu announced, a sound that was surprisingly loud for a man so disgraced. Of course, the prince was now reduced into being a mere criminal, his poor reputation now completely in shambles. There was no reason for the clarity in his gaze, no reason for his words to ring proud still.
Luo Binghe found himself matching the wretched villain in volume despite the lack of audience, "Why? Why torment me the way you did?"
"Torment you?" Shen Qingqiu scoffed. "You, little beast, you out of all people I wouldn't expect to be so naïve. You are not that important. I wouldn't waste my time on someone like you."
The former prince leaned towards the bars that separated him from the former third prince, now second prince. "From the day this Shen Qingqiu was born, he was scorned. There was no love for me, no one to love me. I was a villain the moment this name was given to me. There would be no true family, no warmth, and no light in my life. Even when I did nothing, my wretched existence alone was enough for people to twist me into a villain."
"And so you decided to become the villain that they thought you were?" Luo Binghe sneered, the gentle voice of his adoptive mother reminding him to be kind echoed faintly in his heart. He tried to calm down in honor of his mother's memory, but this man. Luo Binghe needed to understand this man who stood against everything his mother taught him and yet still stood proud despite being chained.
"You have seen how easy the people of Cang Qiong denounced the second prince when the trials began," Shen Qingqiu scoffed. His silver eyes took a cold green shine as the moonlight from a small window hit his face just right, making the prisoner truly look like the villain that the public decided that he was. Luo Binghe was always aware how the second prince resembled the sword he was famous for: a delicate looking, but deceptively deadly weapon. Shen Qingqiu had never embodied the nickname of the XiuYa sword more than in that very moment.
"Humans are creatures who want nothing more than seeing someone who has it all lose everything they have. I would never simply be Shen Qingqiu the scholarly prince, but I was destined to be the villainous prince the moment I became a prince. Why would I be the better person to their actions against a prince who in their eyes has everything they ever wanted? They would never listen to me off all people. No one would ever listen to Shen Qingqiu. At one point, what the people believe in becomes the truth. What was this one to do? Beg for the rumors to stop? No, they asked for a villain, then a villain they will get! They thought they could trap the second prince as a fool who denies everything the people imagined? This Shen Qingqiu will not beg and die a fool!"
Shen Qingqiu took a few calming breaths while his voice bounced off the dirty walls of his prison cell. "Do you want to know a secret, Luo Binghe?"
Said prince startled at the use of his name. This was the first time that his name ever left Shen Qingqiu's mouth. Luo Binghe once tried to imagine what it would have sounded like had Shen Qingqiu ever used his name. Would it have sounded sneering? Dismissive? Now he knew, it would sound mocking.
"The truth is that this prince had always known that he would not live long. I have been plagued with an incurable illness that took everything from me. So why bother fighting for my reputation? Isn't it better to die as a villain than to die as a fool? So, do you understand now?"
"Understand what?"
"It was never because of you to begin with. I am here now because of my own choices and I have no regrets in life that involves you."
This was the moment Shen Qingqiu won his place as the favorite character in Shen Yuan's heart. The people of Cang Qiong twisted his words, destroyed his reputation and for what? In the despair of knowing that he wouldn't live long, Shen Qingqiu decided to give them what they wanted. And Shen Qingqiu was not a man who did things by halves. No, if he were to be a villain, he wouldn't settle for being a canon fodder villain. He would live up to his broken reputation and surpass the imagination of the masses! It all made sense now!
The people demanded a villain? Then they would get a villain!
Shen Yuan enthusiastically turned the page...
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...Nothing.
Flipping through the remaining empty pages, Shen Yuan felt a hint of dread growing until he reached the back cover. Where was the rest of the novel? This couldn't be it, right? There were enough empty pages to have at least a couple more chapters, but every page after Shen Qingqiu's confession was left blank. No matter how much Shen Yuan wanted to deny it, there was nothing more to read in this novel. The dread continued growing when he tried to look for the sequel on the internet, only to find out that the PEW didn't exist on the internet, let alone a sequel.
The only lead he got was after typing 'Luo Binghe' in the search bar, which led him to 'Proud Immortal Demon Way'. A web novel with all the characters of PEW but caricatured to the point that Shen Yuan could not recognize them at all. Yes, the world building was amazing but look at what they did to his Shen Qingqiu! Reduced from a villain whose actions encouraged Luo Binghe to grow, to a scum villain who mindlessly abused Luo Binghe just because he could! Oh, there were hints to a bigger story in the background but what use were the hints if they were never explored again?
Wtf Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky?? Fill your plot holes! And stop plagiarizing other people's hard work!!
After the scum villain had pushed his disciple into the endless abyss, Shen Yuan had to stop reading. It was not worth the migraine that he got while reading the trash, even if the worldbuilding and beasts were amazing. Shen Yuan could just read the wikipedia page if he ever wanted to experience the world building. There was no need to read the next papapa conquest of a borderline underaged Luo Binghe to know how the story would progress! It was clear that PIDW was going to follow a generic stallion novel formula where Luo Binghe will get his epic revenge while gathering women in his harem. All without filling in the copious amount of plot holes.
After leaving one last scathing review on how the characters were inferior to their counterparts in PEW, Shen Yuan closed the window to the web novel and never looked back.
Good riddance.
Mentally cursing the novel, Shen Yuan dropped his phone halfheartedly on his hospital bed and reached out for Proud Emperor Way on his night desk. Maybe reading the novel again would made him feel like he regained the braincells that he lost while reading PIDW. Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky was a hack of a writer whose prose was so overhyped by the comments that the readers have probably brainwashed themselves into thinking that they like it.
It felt like a breath of fresh air to read PEW again. There was no more stupid sex pollen to distract from the plot and no more characters who only existed for fanservice. Shen Qingqiu was once again a complex character instead of the parody of a scum villain and everything was right again in Shen Yuan's little world.
In fact, after reading the reveal of Shen Qingqiu's illness Shen Yuan suddenly found more clues towards the plot twist scattered throughout the novel. Rereading the novel was a revelation of more and more subtle hints to Shen Qingqiu's suffering in the background. How he truly was alone despite looking like he had allies in his servants. How no one ever believed his words when he wasn't scheming, even when they turned out to be true in hindsight. By the time Shen Yuan reached the point where the second prince was imprisoned, his vision had blurred from the tears that steadily gathered in his eyes.
Ah Shen Qingqiu, how pitiful must his life have been to silently endure so much suffering. If Shen Yuan had any say in it, he would do anything to lessen his suffering. No, if Shen Yuan had any say in it, he would make sure that Shen Qingqiu would live a happy life with no hint of suffering at all! Shen Yuan would give anything to ensure that the second prince would live his life the way Shen Yuan would want himself to live his life.
As a free man.
With a heavy pain in his heart, Shen Yuan rested the closed book on his aching chest and closed his eyes for the last time in this world.
...
The thing about hospital beds is that they weren't the most comfortable, or at least not as comfortable as his own bed was. This had more to do with the fact that Shen Yuan's own bed was custom made to accommodate his frail body than the bad quality of the hospital beds. But this unfortunately did not stop his body from aching when he was hospitalized. So, when Shen Yuan regained his consciousness with no aches at all, he was reasonably surprised.
How long had it been since his body felt this good?
Shen Yuan tried to enjoy the comfortable bed for a little longer, refusing to open his eyes to face the cold reality of life. Shen Yuan tugged the blanket tighter around himself and tried to wriggle away from the sunlight that was starting to shine in his face. He sighed softly in satisfaction when his face was no longer directly in the sunlight while his body remained toasty in the gentle heat of the sun. Perfect.
"Xiao-Jiu?"
That... That wasn't a voice that Shen Yuan recognized. Shen Yuan ran through all the voices he remembered in his mind, only to come up blank. With dread slowly invading his body he opened his eyes by a sliver and immediately made eye contact with a stranger who was hovering over him. His nose centimeters away from his own nose. Shen Yuan felt a shiver run down his spine and scrambled backwards until the back of his head hit the wall.
Too close! What the- have you no manners, stranger? Have you never heard of personal space?!
"Please don't strain yourself Xiao-Jiu," the unfamiliar voice said with a soothing tone that failed soothing anything. Instead of calming him, Shen Yuan was starting a mental mantra of 'stranger danger', each reprise of the phrase louder than before. Shen Yuan redoubled his efforts to hide away from the man by pulling his blankets closer to his body. What kind of creep decided that walking into a random stranger's hospital room and staring at said stranger's sleeping face was a good idea?
Shen Yuan had been in this particular hospital for long enough to know each staff member by name and this man definitely was not hospital staff. And even if he was, his loose flowing long hair was definitely in violation of the hospital dress code. Everything that this man was wearing was probably against the hospital health code. A hanfu? In modern time hospital rooms? Those billowing sleeves would never survive a single day in the children's ward, let alone in the ward Shen Yuan resided.
At the thought of his hospital room, Shen Yuan jumped at the realization that the artificial lighting was not supposed to look this cozy. His room would never have this warm ambiance even with natural light filtering in from the windowpanes.
Shen Yuan was no longer in his hospital room.
"Xiao-Jiu?" The man asked, even more concerned if that was possible.
"That is not my name," Shen Yuan snapped, agitated but unwilling to show his fear to his potential kidnapper. Of course, it was only after he opened his mouth that he realized in what kind of scenario he could be in. It was a common trope in web novels for an average guy to transmigrate upon dying. But outside of daydreams, who actually expected this to happen to themselves? It was more likely that Shen Yuan was kidnapped by an overambitious xianxia nerd!
But the genuine concern in mister stranger danger's eyes and the elaborate set design made him think twice. Where in China would anyone find air this clean and how could anyone transport Shen Yuan there all the way from Beijing without him noticing it? And then there was the issue of his body that had none of the chronic pain that he was used to.
Did he actually transmigrate, or did he get kidnapped by the world's most dedicated cosplayer?
Unsure of the current situation, Shen Yuan tried to get some more information from mister stranger danger. "Where is this?"
It came out snappier than he intended, but the man was unsurprised to see Shen Yuan act disoriented and hostile. The way his entire body seemed to deflate did make him look like a kicked puppy though. If it weren't for the fact that he was clearly staring at him while he was asleep like a creep, Shen Yuan would have felt some sympathy for him.
"This is your room in Qiong Ding palace."
That... sounded concerningly familiar.
"Qiong Ding palace..." could it be? "Cang Qiong empire?"
"Xiao-Jiu-"
"Shut up!" Shen Yuan snapped at the man. Some people are trying to think here. Cang Qiong empire? What were the chances that Shen Yuan finally found someone who read Proud Emperor Way in his kidnapper? After scouring the entire internet for a single mention of the book and not finding anything apart from that godawful parody of a web novel?
Shen Yuan couldn't believe that he was considering it, but could it be that it was more likely that he transmigrated than that he found the one other person who read PEW?
...So did this mean that Shen Yuan's wish was somewhat fulfilled? Did he transmigrate in Proud Emperor way? Could he ensure a happy ending for Shen Qingqiu?
"Shen Qingqiu, I know it is hard to live with an illness like this. But you can't continue like this, I beg of you, please go visit Doctor Mu."
...No way.
Ignoring the surprised gasp from the stranger, Shen Yuan threw his blanket away from his robe clad (?!) body and jumped off his bed. The foreign looking room was all but ignored as he ran towards the mirror perched on a desk. Looking back at him were not his brown eyes, but steely gray eyes that in the direct sunlight shining in his face looked almost green. There was only one character who he knew with these unique eyes.
Shen Qingqiu, the tragic villain of Proud Emperor Way. Shen Yuan's favorite character who suffered until his implied off-screen death.
Fuck.
With the dramatic sound effect supplied by the stranger (seriously, who is this man and how did he get in what looked like the private room of who he presumed to be the second prince of the empire?), Shen Yuan felt his body sway and his vision blur. With his legs trembling and unstable at the realization who he had become, Shen Yuan almost didn't notice his descend to the floor. His vision blacked out long before he could feel the impact.