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Shen Qingqiu took a sip of his tea, sighing with a quiet contentment. It was a rare moment of peace - the students were all training, the other Peak Lords going about their own business, and Luo Binghe had been pulled away for some business in the demon realm, giving him a rare treat of some peaceful, solitary relaxation.
"Shen Qingqiu!" Called a familiar voice from beyond his door, followed by the scrambling of clumsy feet and a quiet "shit!" uttered under breath.
And there went his peace.
"Shang Qinghua," he said just as the hapless Peak Lord opened the door, his icy gaze already leveled at him over the top of his open fan. A small part of Shen Yuan within himself was a little delighted by how cool it must look, since Qinghua baulked for a moment at the stare. "What brings you here unannounced?"
Seeing that they were alone, all pretense was dropped and Qinghua's tone grew playful and he stumbled in with his arms full of heavy books. "Cucumber bro, don't be so mean! And here I was bringing you a gift!"
"I'm not being mean, you are being presumptuous," Qingqiu replied, but his curiosity was piqued at the mention of bringing gifts. "What is it you've found now?"
"You're going to love this! I found a new book series about ghosts and cultivators that's right up your alley!"
He dumped the books onto Qingqiu's otherwise clean table and helped himself to a seat. "Oh, you have tea! Can I have some?"
"Oh my god," Qingqiu finally relented, allowing his Peak Lord persona to slip. "You are so damn rude. This isn't a college dorm you dolt, it's the residence of an immortal Peak Lord. At least pretend you know the ceremony of things."
"I know the ceremony of this world quite well, thank you very much. I wrote it after all." Qinghua leaned an elbow on the table and grinned. "And sometimes it's just too damn much. Come on, it's just you and me right now. Two bros who wanna talk about books. Sound good?"
Qingqiu made a dramatic sigh, but he reached for the first book that had tumbled towards him. "Fine, whatever - there's still hot water if you want some tea, but you're going to make it yourself." He read the title as Qinghua happily scrambled up to make himself some of Qingqiu's quality teas. Binghe brought him only the best after all.
"The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?" Qingqiu read, raising an eyebrow at Qinghua as he started to flip through the book. "You didn't write this one, did you?"
"God I wish I had!" Qinghua called back, searching for some sugar to add to his tea. "It's all the stuff I dreamed of writing before I got stuck doing stallion novels! It's got intrigue, drama, tragedy, true love… it's a masterpiece! I brought you the whole collection, make sure you read them quick so we can talk about them!"
"You didn't mention demons, but it says "Demon Cultivator" right on the front page," Qingqiu pointed out, tapping the top of the book with his folded fan. "Are there cool demons or not?"
"Sort of? It's mostly ghosts and fierce corpses and stuff like that. But trust me, you're gonna love it."
Qingqiu gave a snort as he started reading the first page. "Like you know anything about quality."
"I do too! You read everything I ever wrote after all, so who are you to lecture me on quality!" Qinghua shot back, stirring the tea a little too fast to let the leaves settle properly, but Qingqiu was too curious about the book now to scold him about it. He had to admit, it had been a long time since he'd had a good bit of fiction to sink his teeth into.
Qinghua started talking on about some of the plot lines, but Qingqiu had mostly tuned him out as he started reading through - his attention surfaced though when Qinghua started, "and then you won't believe, when they found out that it wasn't Xiao Xingchen with them at all, it was--ow!"
Qingqiu had risen and smacked him firmly with the wooden edge of his fan, and then hit him again for good measure. "No spoilers, you barbarian! If you're going to rant about the plot then get out and let me read in peace!"
Despite the assault, Qinghua brightened. "So you will read them! Let me know when you finish them then?"
"If you get out of here right now and let me be, I'll consider it!" Qinghua happily retreated, and Qingqiu settled back to his table, sighing. He was pretty sure Qinghua had stolen off with his tea cup, but he was sure he could get it back in exchange for his books if nothing else. Settling in again, he took a calm breath and picked up the book.
Qinghua was right after all - for being such a terrible author, he had pretty good taste. And it would be nice to read about someone else's story rather than have to live through it himself. He hopes things worked out for this Wei Wuxian character.