Chapter Text
The door fluttered shut. No doubt, had it been a modern door, it would have been slammed shut.
With prejudice.
Shang Qinghua stood there awkwardly, uncertain of what to do. Shang Qinghua still wasn't used to being thrown out. When Shen Jiu was alive, he let Shang Qinghua into the bamboo house and his room without any complaint, even when he showed up in the middle of the night. He'd listen to what Shang Qinghua had to say.
Shang Qinghua had something to say to Shen Yuan, but Shen Yuan made it perfectly clear that he wasn't listening to anything Shang Qinghua had to say.
This left him in a very uncomfortable position of having to wait until Shen Yuan decided to let him in again while Luo Binghe glaring at him as if he killed his ancestors (and he was the one who created him!). There was also the very likely chance that Shen Yuan would just ghost him for a few days. Shang Qinghua wonders what he did to deserve this.
The only thing that could have made this situation even worse was if Liu Qingge was here. The thought made Shang Qinghua pause. He shouldn't have thought that. With his luck, Liu Qingge would probably show up. Shang Qinghua looked around him, trying to see if Liu Qingge was hiding anywhere just waiting to pop up. Maybe that was a sign for him to get out of here. Shang Qinghua eyed Luo Binghe warily. He looked as if he was about to bite. It probably was time to get out of here.
Still, Shang Qinghua waited outside Shen Yuan's - what used to be Shen Jiu's room, but he wasn't here any longer and it wasn't like Shang Qinghua could drag Shen Yuan out no matter how much he wanted to - room a little while longer, making sure to keep an eye on Luo Binghe. Luo Binghe tended to be feral to anybody that wasn't Shen Yuan. For obvious reasons. Anybody could see that Luo Binghe was smitten with Shen Yuan. It made Shang Qinghua uncomfortable in various degrees, and not just because Luo Binghe was supposed to be the protagonist.
Shang Qinghua had absolutely no idea why Shen Yuan let Luo Binghe live with him. It was just a recipe for disaster. Shang Qinghua told him so. He was laughed at and then promptly hit with a fan. He was chased out not soon after.
"Shen Yua- Qingqiu." Shang Qinghua called out softly, mere seconds away from bolting the bamboo house lest Luo Binghe actually bite him. Though he might not have a few seconds if Luo Binghe's increasingly harsh glare had anything to say about it. He wonders where the sweet little boy he used to see when Shen Jiu was still here was.
Maybe he was gone. Humans tended to change like that. From sweet, if insensitive, children to cruel, uncaring adults in a matter of a couple years. Childhood was a fleeting thing.
Shang Qinghua heard footsteps, indicating Shen Yuan movement to open his door. Shang Qinghua perked up. He still needed to tell- "Your still here?" Shen Yuan uttered with annoyance, sliding his door open. Which was fine. Everybody had bad days. Shen Yuan probably felt too tired - too frustrated - to socialize.
Shang Qinghua never wilted so hard in his damn life. "I-I ne-needed to talk to you-"
"You can tell me latter." Shen Yuan sighed out. He flipped open his fan - the one Yue Qingyuan gifted (Shen Jiu would've hated it) - and covered his face from Shang Qinghua. "This one is too busy to entertain you."
The change of speech caught Shang Qinghua off guard before he remembered the teenager in the room with them. Shen Yuan was a stickler for staying in character around other people and hated to deviate from it. He got angry when he deviated.
Shang Qinghua didn't like the thought of Shen Yuan looking angry at him. Not when it looked too much like Shen Jiu was the one angry.
As Shang Qinghua turned to look at the teenager, he took notice of how Luo Binghe was glaring at him even harder. How could a person even glare that hard? He was definitely in a mood. Teenagers. Shang Qinghua slowly inched backwards to his exit. He looked back at Shen Yuan for one last time, internally hoping the guy would change his mind.
Unfortunately for him, one look at Shen Yuan's cold visage made it overwhelmingly obvious that Shang Qinghua had long overstayed his welcome. It kind of hurt, seeing cucumber bro so unwelcoming, but Shang Qinghua gets it. Transmigrating was hard. It was probably even harder when you see the person that created the god awful novel you transmigrated into. It wasn't as if he hated him, right? They talked a lot when Shen Yuan wasn't dealing with stuff. Even if those talks were filled with harsh words and whacks on the head. It's just Shen Yuan's personality and right now, Shen Yuan just needs a little space.
Luo Binghe seemed to be getting increasingly bite happy as well. Seriously, where was that sweet little boy he knew? All that was left was a sickeningly hormonal teenager. Maybe that was Shang Qinghua's fault. He did write Luo Binghe into a stallion protagonist afterall.
Luo Binghe started to lowly growl behind Shen Yuan's back. Shen Yuan didn't blink an eye. Was he not seeing - well hearing - what Shang Qinghua was hearing? Or was this just so commonplace that Shen Yuan wasn't even bothered by it? Did Luo Binghe do this to all the guests that come by? More importantly, has he bitten anybody before? Either way, Shang Qinghua wasn't sticking around to find out.
Later, Shang Qinghua would say he walked out of there calmly, but if he kept an eye on Luo Binghe, well who could say?
Shang Qinghua made it safetly back to An Ding Peak, but not before encountering some Bai Zhan brutes. There were three of them - three was never a good number - and they already had their Golden Cores. Early Core Formation if Shang Qinghua was right. Strong, but technically not as strong as him, who was in Mid Core Formation. They were old, not in a usual sense, but in a sense they were too old to be disciples. Adult members of the peak.
Shang Qinghua had still hid before they saw him. Logically, he knew that the brutes wouldn't be able to touch him due to his status as Peak Lord, but humans were sometimes idiotic enough to be unpredictable instead of predictable. Bai Zhan brutes - as the jocks of Cang Qiong Sect - were even more idiotic than most. Better safe than sorry.
He hid for a good half an hour or so before the coast was clear. Other than that, it was clear sailing for him. Shang Qinghua had ran the rest of the way on the Rainbow Bridge in hopes that he wouldn't encounter any other adult.
By the time he got to An Ding, he was quickly traversing towards his office, greeting the people that lived there - most of the people weren't even disciples, just normal people who came to An Ding to find a place for themselves that wasn't on the streets or at brothels and didn't mind working for it - warmly, if not a bit reserved. He didn't have time to talk. Not when he knew the amount of work that was on his desk.
Shang Qinghua slid the door open and dropped down onto the floor besides his western-style desk, which goes to show how awful his worldbuilding truly was. Not that he was going to complain. Shang Qinghua was ridiculously glad he wrote western plants in as plants from the demon realm. How else would he have been able to get his coffee? Though it was hard to get when hardly anybody was willing to trade with demons to get it.
Coffee beans. Shang Qinghua would be willing to traverse the demon realms to get it. Just not now. Or anytime soon in the future. He glared pitifully at the paperwork on his desk. It would take days, including all-nighters, to finish it all. All-nighters weren't even optional at this point, it was mandatory considering some of the due dates on them. He dreads for his health at this point. The medicine he had just wasn't going to make up for the sleepless nights.
Shang Qinghua wonders how much paperwork was going to be added. A lot probably. He didn't see any paperwork from Liu Qingge and it was already close to the end of the month. He'd probably see it added to the rest in a day or two. He wonders how much more sleepless nights that would add. A lot considering the damage and repair forms that came from damage Liu Qingge and his peak accumulates within a week much less a month.
Some of the other peak lords haven't added their paperwork yet either. Shang Qinghua wishes that, if they were going to give him their paperwork, they'd at least give it to him early so he wasn't rushing to complete them before the deadlines were closing in.
Before, Shang Qinghua would never have to worry about Shen Jiu giving him his paperwork. Even before they had become friends, Shen Jiu was professional enough to do his own work even if he was a bitter, spiteful man towards everybody. After they did become friends, Shen Jiu would help him with his paperwork and he even scolded Yue Qingyuan for making Shang Qinghua do his paperwork!
Now Shang Qinghua also had to do Shen Yuan's paperwork considering the man's lack of knowledge of how to do them added with other peak lord's paperwork and his own. At least Yue Qingyuan still doesn't dare to give his paperwork to Shang Qinghua again. He wonders how long that will last now that the real Shen Jiu is gone.
Shang Qinghua wasn't going to be able to talk to Shen Yuan in a while, was he? The Sun and Moon Dew Flower seeds were probably going to have to wait. Besides, it was mostly an excuse to talk to Shen Yuan. Shang Qinghua had to admit he was kind of lonely and wanted to talk to somebody and who else would be better to talk to than a fellow transmigrator, but Shen Yuan obviously hadn't though so.
Shang Qinghua doubted that he needed to talk to Shen Yuan about the seeds. Shen Yuan would think of it if he ever thinks he needs it. Shen Yuan was an avid reader of Proud Immortal Demon Way, despite what he says about PIDW, and knew almost everything about it.
Not some things though. Shen Jiu and his story remains Shang Qinghua's, like a dirty little secret, only known by Shen Jiu and Shang Qinghua.
Shang Qinghua's story remains a dirty little secret between Shen Jiu and Shang Qinghua.