Chapter Text
Sitting in front of the laid out meal, Shen Qingqiu did not hesitate to reach his chopsticks out to start eating. As he was about to carry the food into his mouth, he was suddenly interrupted by his Alpha martial sibling.
“Shen-shixiong, are you really going to eat those?” Qi Qingqi asked incredulously.
Shen Qingqiu answered nonchalantly. “Why not?”
“We only came to hunt the demon that was terrorizing this village. We don’t need to impose ourselves here for a meal!”
“The villagers have already prepared the meal for us, it would be rude of us to reject their offer of gratitude.”
“The villagers can have the food to themselves! This village is really too poor, they need the food more than us. We wouldn’t have had to come ourselves if we didn’t happen to pass by…”
It was indeed true that the village was poor. It especially showed in the feast that the villagers had put together for the two peak lords. Even though the prepared meal was luxurious for the villagers, the so-called feast was very meager and simple to the two peak lords of an esteemed cultivation sect.
Seeing that Shen Qingqiu had already started eating, Qi Qingqi smiled at the villagers politely and also started eating reluctantly. She didn’t continue eating for too long though. Her chopsticks eventually stopped carrying food into her mouth, and they were finally put down only after a few bites of each dish.
Qi Qingqi quickly made an excuse of not wanting to overstay their welcome, and made a hasty thanks as she stood up from her seat and eyed Shen Qingqiu to also stop eating so that they could leave.
Shen Qingqiu was already near finishing his food, so it didn’t take long for him to get ready to leave too.
How did he eat that fast? We only started eating a few minutes ago! Qi Qingqi was bewildered at how fast the food disappeared from her shixiong’s plates.
Furthermore, the food didn’t really taste that well either. That was why Qi Qingqi wanted to stop eating and leave the village quickly. She didn’t even want to eat the “feast” in the first place!
As they were heading back to the sect, Qi Qingqi decided to ask, “How did you manage to finish that food back there? They weren’t that good and they were hardly a decent meal, let alone a feast!”
“It would be wasteful to have any leftovers. It would also be rude to leave anything that was prepared by the villagers.” Shen Qingqiu just stared right ahead and didn’t bother looking Qi Qingi in the eyes as he answered.
Qi Qingqi scoffed. “I thought that a spoiled young master like you would not want to eat something like ‘peasant’s food’.”
Shen Qingqiu just let out a cold humph at that remark and decided to ignore her after that.
Qi Qingqi has already heard before from her other martial siblings that this cold and aloof Alpha martial sibling of hers will eat anything that was put in front of him, regardless of the quality. It seems that that was true, at least from what she just saw back in the village.
They were continuing on their way in a cold silence when they came across a young maiden who was being attacked by a type of demon that targets young virgin women.
The girl was shaken up, but after Shen Qingqiu and Qi Qingqi got rid of the demon, she seemed to relax a little. Especially when Shen Qingqiu went ahead and offered to escort her back to her village.
Qi Qingqi tsked at how Shen Qingqiu’s attitude changed when he went to talk to the girl. What a lecherous bastard! This disgusting Alpha is having any chance at preying on helpless young maidens!
“Hmph, you’re not doing anything to her under my watch. We’re gonna leave as soon as she is escorted safely to her home.” Qi Qingqi hissed at Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu snapped back, “Of course we’re going to just bring her back home. What else are we supposed to do.”
“You mean what else you intended to do. As if I could just believe that you offered to send her home out of pure intention.” Qi Qingqi spat.
As they were bickering at each other in low voices so that the girl couldn't hear them, they reached her village. The girl seemed sheepish that she couldn’t offer much, but gave them a bag of apples as a thanks for rescuing her. The two peak lords bid their goodbye and continued on their way after receiving the apples.
Qi Qingqi opened the bag of apples when they were a good distance away from the village, and was surprised to see that the apples were half rotten or at least starting to rot.
“What the-“
Hearing Qi Qingqi’s exclamation, Shen Qingqiu asked, “What is there to be so surprised about, Qi-shimei?”
“What’s wrong? The girl gave us apples that are rotting!”
Shen Qingqiu peered into the bag and took out an apple and studied it for a moment.
Qi Qingqi sighed, “How could we eat something like this? It’s fine, we could just toss them. It’s not like we need to eat anything frequently with our cultivation base.”
Her initial surprise towards the half rotten apples were overridden by something more bewildering the next moment. Shen Qingqiu started eating the apple that he was holding.
“S-Shen-shixiong, that apple is half rotten. You shouldn’t eat that…” Qi Qingqi was too shocked that her voice trailed off.
“It’s only half rotten. Not all parts of the apple are spoiled. It will be wasteful to not eat the edible parts.”
Another “It’s wasteful”! How could a young master like Shen Qingqiu know anything about being wasteful!? Qi Qingqi is reminded of the luxurious lifestyle Shen Qingqiu leads back in Qingjing Peak, and shook her head. How could he tolerate low quality food, much less a rotting one? Qi Qingqi felt that she needed to get to the bottom of things.
At the next peak lord meeting, Shen Qingqiu found himself in front of a set of nicely prepared snacks and a fragrant tea. Shen Qingqiu didn’t show it, but he was secretly excited to be able to taste the exquisite looking snacks in front of him.
He is finally in a position to be able to indulge himself in such luxuries. He needs to enjoy every single delicious food that he can get his hands on as a peak lord of an established sect.
Yue Qingyuan called out to start the meeting, and he added at the end of his announcement: “Qi-shimei was kind enough to personally prepare the snacks and tea for today’s meeting. Let’s all thank her and enjoy the delicacies.”
The peak lords thanked Qi Qingqi for being considerate and they all started eating.
“Qi-shimei, these are really good!”
“Your culinary skills are exceptional!”
Shen Qingqiu had already dived into the snacks as soon as Yue Qingyuan finished with his announcement, but he had frozen after the first bite. They were so bitter! As he heard the praises of the other peak lords, he started eating different snacks than what he had first bitten into. They, too, were too bitter or foul tasting for him to handle. He reached out for the tea to wash away the bitterness from his mouth, but the tea was even more bitter than the snacks. It even had a foul smell to it that made him scrunch up his nose.
The other peak lords had each stated their thanks or compliments, but they noticed that Shen Qingqiu hadn’t said anything.
A fellow peak lord asked, “Shen-shixiong, Qi-shimei’s snacks were great, right? How would a knowledgeable scholar like you rate her snacks?”
Shen Qingqiu hesitated to answer. Did the other peak lords also taste the bitterness but decided to not comment on that to be courteous to their martial sister?
“Of course he wouldn’t, he’s a perfect example of a stuck up Alpha young master.” The peak lord next to the one who spoke whispered back. Even if it was a whisper, all the peak lords present in the room heard him with their heightened senses from their levels of cultivation. “He thinks that they were not good enough for his noble taste buds to give any of his valuable comments!”
“Were the snacks not good? I apologize, Shen-shixiong. My skills may not be up to your standards.” Qi Qingqi made a sad look, and many of the peak lords in the room made sympathetic expressions. Then they proceeded to glare at Shen Qingqiu. Yue Qingyuan didn’t glare at him, but had a disappointed look in his eyes.
Shen Qingqiu gritted his teeth and quickly shoved in all the snacks and swallowed them down with the tea as gracefully as possible. Maybe the other peak lords were also tasting the bitterness but decided to compliment Qi Qingqi to not disappoint her. Shen Qingqiu should not make a fool of himself here by slandering his shimei in front of their fellow martial siblings.
Similar occurrences happened in the next few peak lord meetings where Qi Qingqi will prepare the snacks and Shen Qingqiu seemed to be the only one finding the flavor unpalatable. Seeing how the other peak lords were not complaining but instead seemed to be looking forward to Qi Qingqi’s snacks, the possibility of them just flattering her despite the bitter tastes of the snacks was out the window. Qi Qingqi must be purposely sabotaging his plate. She had decided to hate him ever since she found out about his frequent visit to the brothels.
Shen Qingqiu sighed. He needed those visits to the brothels. He must not let the other peak lords know of the reasons for doing so though. He pushed that thought away and decided to brace himself for whatever that Qi Qingqi had decided to torment his taste buds with today.
Food is still food, regardless of the taste. Shen Qingqiu couldn’t bring himself to leave any leftovers and be wasteful. Even after all these years, he still couldn’t get out of the habit of finishing everything that he could get his hands on.
“Today, Qi-shimei has yet again prepared something for us to enjoy.” Yue Qingyuan started as all the peak lords took their seats. “We have something a little different than what we had before. Qi-shimei, would you please explain?”
“Yes, Zhangmen-shixiong." Qi Qingqi stood up and greeted everyone present. "I managed to obtain a certain exquisite ingredient recently and was able to specially prepare this plate for my fellow martial siblings today.” Qi Qingqi gestured toward the plate in front of her and continued explaining. “As you all can see, it is a simple plate. However, the special ingredient that I used can boost and improve our cultivation.”
Several of the peak lords present in the room let out impressed sighs.
“How thoughtful of her!”
“She can cook and bake, as well as be considerate!”
Everyone dug in as the praises for Qi Qingqi were being thrown. Shen Qingqiu also bit in and prepared himself for bitterness or foulness, but surprisingly he tasted wonderful bouts of pleasurable flavor in his mouth. Maybe she did have terrible culinary skills and didn’t improve until now. Shen Qingqiu pondered.
As they were eating, Mu Qingfang seemed to notice something. “Qi-shijie, the ingredient that you used, does it happen to be Bountiful Booster Berry?”
Qi Qingqi nodded. “Yes, it indeed is Bountiful Booster Berry. As expected of Mu-shidi.”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous though?” Shang Qinghua squeaked.
Qi Qingqi snorted. “How is it dangerous? It only affects Omegas severely, and only sometimes can it act detrimentally to Alphas and Betas. But that is only for weak Alphas and Betas.” She looked around the room and regarded everyone present. “Only Alphas and Betas are present in this room, and we all have decent levels of cultivation. There is no need to be concerned about anyone getting harmed by the berry.” She took a look toward Shen Qingqiu’s direction and sneered. “Unless there is someone who is not strong enough to tolerate the berry’s effects.”
Hearing the conversation between the peak lords, Shen Qingqiu froze. He had already finished his share of the snack even before Mu Qingfang spoke up. If the ingredient that Qi Qingqi used was what it was, then Shen Qingqiu is in big trouble.
“I apologize, I remembered that I have things that need to be taken care of back in my peak. Please excuse me.” He quickly excused himself from the room without giving any chances for the other peak lords to say anything. With that, he hurried back to Qing Jing Peak.
The other peak lords were left with their mouths agape with the sudden departure of the Qing Jing peak lord. Several of the peak lords started talking.
“That was sudden.”
“Hmph, so rude as usual.”
“Wait… did he leave because he wasn’t confident that he was strong enough to withstand the effects of the berry?”
Qi Qingqi scoffed after she saw Shen Qingqiu leave abruptly. As expected, he still ate the snacks that she prepared. She didn’t expect the berry to affect Shen Qingqiu as he is still a peak lord of the number one cultivation sect, and just mentioned the effect of the berry to make fun of Shen Qingqiu by falsely implying that he is weak. But seeing how he just ran out, maybe he is a weak Alpha. She didn’t expect this to happen, but she felt that he deserved it for always being so arrogant. Besides, even if an Alpha is weak, the berry will just make them slightly sick for only about half a day. There is no need for him to panic so much unless he doesn’t want to admit that he’s that weak. Qi Qingqi sneered one more time before focusing on the meeting.
As he was hurrying back to his peak, Shen Qingqiu innerly panicked as he reflected on what just happened. Shen Qingqiu has only ever heard of the berry but have never seen it in person before, much less know how it smells or tastes. The berry was crushed and it was near impossible to distinguish the exact identity of it. He just assumed that the kind of special ingredient that Qi Qingqi used was some other kind of cultivation boosting fruit. There are just too many of those. He had already finished eating when the identity of the berry was revealed.
He was using his sword to go back, but felt that his qi were getting imbalanced as time progressed. He was also starting to feel dizzy and disoriented. He gave up going by his sword to not risk falling off from it, and continued on foot.
As he was finishing crossing the rainbow bridge that was directly connected to his peak, he found that his path was blocked by something, or a certain someone to be more precise. It was the Bai Zhan Peak peak lord Liu Qingge.
Shen Qingqiu decided to just ignore him to hurry back to the safety of his bamboo hut, but the attempt failed as Liu Qingge stopped him. “Shen Qingqiu, where are you running off to?”
“I’m just going back to my peak to take care of an important matter.” Shen Qingqiu answered impatiently. He was now feeling more sick, and was starting to get nauseated. “So please excuse me.” Shen Qingqiu tried to push past Liu Qingge, but he was yet again stopped.
“How can you just leave the meeting so that you could run back to your peak?” Liu Qingge bluntly asked.
“It seems as if you also left the meeting to come see me here.” Shen Qingqiu retorted.
“You’ve been very rude to Qi Qingqi for the past few meetings. You always ate what she made, but never ever complimented her or even thanked her! You should at least be courteous to your own martial sister even if the snacks didn’t suit your tastes.” Liu Qingge crossed his arms. “And now today, you just ran out of the room right after you finished eating!”
Shen Qingqiu scowled. He felt his head spin. He couldn’t deal with Liu Qingge now, he really needed to go back to his bamboo hut now. “I’ve already mentioned that there is an important matter at my peak that needs to be taken care of.”
“What important matter? You seemed at ease when you came into the meeting hall and also when you were eating the snacks that Qi Qingqi prepared.” Liu Qingge also scowled. “I’ve also seen how you didn’t seem to like whatever that Qi Qingqi had prepared in the past meetings.” Liu Qingge continued. “Qi Qingqi’s cooking is really good. How could anyone not like it? You probably just don’t like her so you aren’t appreciating her hard work by just eating them and rudely running out.”
Was Liu Qingge staring at me for every single meeting? Shen Qingqiu wondered with his increasingly delirious mind. His body swayed as the nausea peaked.
Liu Qingge caught him in time, and stared as Shen Qingqiu held back from throwing up on Liu Qingge’s robes. Seeing that sight, Liu Qingge said angrily. “Do you not like her to the point of pretending to be sick from her food?”
Feeling even more sick, Shen Qingqiu mumbled. “It’s not me who doesn’t like her, it’s her who doesn’t like me.”
“You even risked being seen as a weak Alpha to pull this stunt.” Liu Qingge looked at Shen Qingqiu condescendingly. “Or you really are weak and didn’t want us to see how weak of an Alpha you are. This is what you get from being so lazy and slacking off for so long.”
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t take it anymore. “She did it on purpose! What she’s been giving me has been different from what was given to everyone else!”
“W-what do you mean?” Liu Qingge stammered. He was getting confused from the sudden revelation. Was Shen Qingqiu lying? Or was he saying the truth that Qi Qingqi was mistreating him? Liu Qingge couldn’t believe that Qi Qingqi would do something like that. He trusted her as a fellow martial sibling as well as the shizun of his younger sister.
Shen Qingqiu couldn’t speak anymore. Black spots were dancing in his vision and he didn’t even know if he was still kneeling down or if he finally fell onto the ground in an unsightly manner. Feeling that something was not quite right with how terribly silent and still Shen Qingqiu was, Liu Qingge looked into Shen Qingqiu’s face. Once he saw how beads of sweat were forming on Shen Qingqiu’s ashen face, Liu Qingqiu finally realized that something was truly wrong.
“Hey, are you alright?” Was Shen Qingqiu really not strong enough to withstand the effects of the berry? Liu Qingge was getting incredibly confused as he was getting worried.
Shen Qingqiu whimpered as he finally couldn't keep holding himself up and went slack in Liu Qingge’s arms. How could this be? If Shen Qingqiu is an Alpha, he should not get this sick from the berry if what Mu Qingfang said was right. Just some minor dizziness or nausea, that should be the extent of side effects for weaker Alphas and Betas.
“Hey, Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu!” Liu Qingge shook Shen Qingqiu’s body, but he was completely unconscious at this point and showed no sign of stirring. At a loss, Liu Qingge decided to bring Shen Qingqiu back to Qing Jing Peak first.
Setting Shen Qingqiu down on his bed in his bamboo hut, Liu Qingge let out a breath and pondered what he should do next. Shen Qingqiu didn’t seem to get any better, but worse. His breathing is becoming even more rugged and body temperature is rising. Maybe Liu Qingge was too harsh on Shen Qingqiu back at the rainbow bridge. The Qing Jing peak lord was genuinely sick but Liu Qingge decided to accuse him of faking it just to spite Qi Qingqi.
Now he was starting to feel bad about it. He never liked Shen Qingqiu, as he was the perfect example of a pompous and arrogant Alpha. He just wanted Shen Qingqiu to know that behaving like a prick won’t get him anywhere both in cultivation and in relationship with his martial siblings. But Liu Qingge never wanted to falsely accuse someone for anything.
Then Liu Qingge noticed something strange. Shen Qingqiu’s scent didn’t seem to change at all at his distress. It was the same old aggressive scent of petrichor and bamboo, though it was getting more faint. If someone was sick or in distress, the scent should change to something more sharp or foul, not fade away. He could think of that later, there was a more pressing matter at hand.
Liu Qingge stood up to leave to go get Mu Qingfang, but felt a tug on his robe. He saw that Shen Qingqiu’s hand was holding the hem of his robe. Liu Qingge tried to get Shen Qingqiu to let go of him, but he stopped after hearing a pained whimper from the still unconscious shixiong.
He really should go get Mu Qingfang. It was strange for an Alpha to suffer this much from the berry. Shen Qingqiu is well known as an Alpha, and his cultivation is pretty high, even though it may be lacking compared to most of the other peak lords.
A barely audible “Don’t go.” was heard. The way Shen Qingqiu was clinging onto Liu Qingge like that reminded him of his younger sister when she was still very small. He sighed and kneeled down by the bed and held his shixiong’s hand. He also tried releasing his scent to see if that could soothe Shen Qingqiu. It always worked for his sister, so it was worth trying.
Somehow, it worked. He was afraid that it won’t work since it is done on the same Alpha. There was also the concern of Shen Qingqiu rejecting Liu Qingge’s scent. They’re martial siblings but their bond isn’t that tight, and it sometimes even feels like the bond is nonexistent with how Shen Qingqiu distances himself from the others. Thankfully, it is working and Shen Qingqiu’s breathing calmed down and his body seemed to relax a bit.
Liu Qingge whispered out of an old habit. “It’s okay, it’s alright. You’re doing good.” Shen Qingqiu let out something akin to an Omega’s purr to Liu Qingge’s surprise. It was very faint and was barely there. Liu Qingge tried to hear for more, but there was no more sound other than breathing that came out from Shen Qingqiu after that.
Patting Shen Qingqiu’s hand, Liu Qingge decided to just continue what he was doing. “Good boy.” Hearing the peaceful breathing let out from Shen Qingqiu, Liu Qingge finally relaxed and sat back.