Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shen Jiu, a popular fantasy mystery author who’s known for writing amazing stories and original poems, is known to push out masterpieces at an incredibly slow pace.
One had said, “Shen Jiu is an arrogant selfish prick, he must’ve been lazing off all day.”
Another said “ maybe he’s secretly a vampire and can only get his inspiration at night! That explains why he’s so handsome and only writes darker themes! It’s because he’s only out to see the dark side of the world during the night!” (Reporters are dubious about that)
Many had tried to figure out why but only those close to the author and his editor himself know the true reason to that particular mystery.

This, is getting out of hand. And Shen Jiu regrets every second of it. It may sound like a dream come true if you ended up becoming an award winning author with your husband being your editor and living together with your cat, Mimi. But as much as Shen Jiu loves his dumb oaf of a husband, it can be really annoying that whenever Qi-ge reads his drafts for his upcoming novel, this time about a young scholar solving the mysteries of her sect and the secrets hidden within deep in her own family, he just. won’t. stop. crying. all. over. the. laptop!!! This was the fifth one after Yue Qi broke his first four after months of drowning it in his own tears! “Qi-ge….” Shen Jiu sighs before whacking him on the head with his fan,
“Stop crying so much! You’re going to break this one too if you keep on crying! Publishing my books is already slow enough! You’re just making the whole thing slower just because you can’t do your own job right!”
“Qi-ge is sorry Xiao-jiu” Yue Qi manages to say through his tears.
“Don’t sorry me! What are you even crying about?! This part is only when the heroine is speaking with her little brother! If you keep on crying and not doing your job, I’ll get a new editor!” Shen Jiu threatens.
“NO! I mean, please don’t, Qi-ge will do better as your editor.” “You better!” Shen Jiu huffs out.

Shen Jiu goes to bed angry but still can’t defeat Yue Qi’s puppy eyes when he asks for cuddles

Yue Qi: 1
Shen Jiu: 0

Chapter Text

“…Damn it! I was being too soft on him, AGAIN” Shen Jiu thought as he contemplated his life decisions. As usual, Yue Qi SUCKS at his own job and Shen jiu had enough. The cause of all this? Yue Qi’s FIFTH (FIFTH!!!) laptop broke after dying like its comrades before it, death by drowning. ( In Qi-ge’s tears)

“Damn it Qi-ge…” Shen Jiu muttered out before exploding in full mad mode
“ANOTHER ONE?!? SERIOUSLY? THIS WAS THE FIFTH ONE AND WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY FOR ANOTHER ONE BECAUSE WE’RE NOT MAKING MONEY FAST ENOUGH. DO YOU SERIOUSLY WANT US TO STARVE?!?” Shen jiu shouted out.
“Xiao-jiu…” Qi-ge murmured out.
“NO DON’T YOU XIAO-JIU ME, and you know what? I’m firing you and getting a new editor because at this point, we’re not even going to be able to pay the bills because new books aren’t being published fast enough!”
“No! Xiao-jiu, please I’m sorry! Qi-ge will do better! I pro-“ “Sorry sorry sorry, is that all you can say? If so then it’s better to keep your mouth shut then say those meaningless things” Shen Jiu spat out. I’m calling Yuan-di over and don’t you dare say another word.” Yue Qi mutely nodded as Shen jiu was making the phone call,
“ Hm? Jiu-ge?” Shen Yuan’s voice sounded through the phone. “ Jiu-ge, what’s wrong? Another fight?” Shen Yuan questioned while accurately it hitting right on the mark.
“ ..Yuan-di, come here, now. I need help to hire a new editor,” Shen Jiu said in a monotone voice while Yue Qi looked at him in shock.
“HUH?!? No way… you fired Qi-ge?!? Oh, that’s the one thing I didn’t think I’d ever hear in my lifetime. Well… I guess I could come over, can Binghe come along as well? He can help with the hiring a new editor thing.” Shen Yuan said in a dubious and worrying tone.
“ Yeah sure, you can bring the little brat over, I don’t care” “ Jiu-ge…” “Ugh, fine, Luo binghe can come over as well” “OK! We’ll be right there!” Shen Yuan replied and hung up the phone.

“Xiao-Jiu… are you-“
“Shut it, I don’t want to hear anything from you right now.”
“… Mn”

Of course, like all their other arguments, Shen Jiu couldn’t be mad at Yue Qi for long and by the time Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe got to their house, Yue Qi could be seen sitting on the couch looking like a kicked puppy and Shen Jiu sitting next to him, 3 inches away and looking angry, but not as angry as when he made the phone call.

“Jiu-ge, Qi-ge,” “ Shen-laoshi, Yue-laoshi!” Shen Yuan and Luo binghe called at the same time.
“Oh good, you’re here, I’ll go make some tea while you guys wait” Shen jiu says walking to the kitchen. Him making tea for guests was normal, but not even sneering at Luo Binghe and not even correcting Lou Binghe for calling him and Yue Qi ‘laoshi’ even though they aren’t even his teachers anymore? Abnormal behavior right there. Shen Yuan , Luo Binghe, and Yue Qi was evidently shocked at Shen jiu’s behavior.
‘HOLY FUCK THEY MUST’VE HAD A HUGE ARGUMENT’ Shen Yuan thought.
While Shen Jiu was making tea, they were all just awkwardly sitting at the couch thinking how bad Yue Qi messed up to make Shen Jiu that mad.

The current mood: awkward
Shen Jiu’s thoughts: indiscernible
Everyone inside: sweating mentally

Score board: abandoned

Chapter Text

The present situation at the couch was… rather tense. (Translation: The mood was so thick that you could cut it with a fan)
The Shen brothers, Yue Qi, and Luo Binghe was sitting and drinking tea without a single word traded between them. Unexpectedly, (or was it unexpected?) it was Shen Yuan who broke the silence.
“Jiu-ge, are you sure you want to find a new editor?”

“Yes, why would I be sure? Are you doubting me on my decision?”

‘Yes, yes I am’ Shen Yuan thought the words he so badly wanted to say to him but he’s not *stupid*.

“Ok… then… how about Feixi? He may write shitty novels but it takes skill to type out 10,000 words chapters everyday. And he needs a better job anyways” Shen Yuan suggested.
“Hm? That hack author Shang Feixi? Might as well give him a try” Shen Jiu replied coolly.
Yue Qi: !!!!!!!
Shen Yuan: !!!!
Luo Binghe: ??
“..o-oh ok then I’ll call him then…”

At that moment, Shang Feixi felt a chill up his spine and sneezed

———||Shang Feixi (qinghua) POV||———

‘AAAHHHSHEVEHIEJEJESUIW THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE’ Shang Feixi screamed mentally in his mind. Why does life always have it out for him?!? Did he commit treason in his last life to deserve this? First, his generation old computer died on him just as he was typing out his newest chapter on a new novel he was working on then when he decided to go out to get coffee, on his way there, he met his underclassmen from high school, Ice king Mo Xuebei! And for some reason he followed him to the cafe without saying a word? Scary!!! He just watched him get his coffee.
‘Should I talk to him?’ Shang Feixi thought. But just as he was turning around to go to the door, he suddenly had this ominous chill up his spine and sneezed! At the same time, he just happened to spill his scalding hot coffee on the certain someone….. and that certain someone happened to be Mo Xuebei.

. . .

“AAH I’M SO SORRY” Shang Feixi screamed out. And still, the gods had no pity for him because his phone rang and the ringtone was the opening to the PIDW audio drama which everyone and their dogs knew what it sounded like.

. . .

“I’M SO SORRY I’M SO SORRY” Shang Feixi yelled out as he ran out of the cafe leaving behind one bewildered Mo Xuebei and several confused customers and staff.

———————||At the house||——————-

“Ugh, he’s not picking up!” Exclaimed Shen Yuan.
“Hm, typical, looks like he never did change from his college years.” Shen Jiu scoffed. “Forget about him, if the public found out he became my editor, then everyone would think that I started writing those dull and plotless yellow books” Shen Jiu compromised.
“Oh yeah right, Jiu-ge, why do you want to fire Qi-ge anyways? Shen Yuan questioned
“Huh? Who said I wanted to fire him? I wanted to get a new editor so he could have an assistant, otherwise, there’s too much work for him and business had been too slow lately.” Shen Jiu replied.
That’s the moment where everyone (except SJ) simultaneously exclaimed,
“WHAT”

Chapter Text

————-||out of the street (still Shang Qinghua’s POV))————-

Shang Feixi’s day wasn’t exactly going fairytale princess great. After embarrassing himself in front of multiple people AND Mo Xuebei… all he wants to do now is find a nice hole to crawl in and delete PIDW the audiobook out of existence. He should’ve changed his ringtone the second that demon spawn Shen Yuan changed it to that.

‘It’s your own damned work! If I have to suffer with that dogshit excuse of a “book” then so do you. In fact, you’d probably like it since you’re such a masochist anyways’ Shen Yuan’s voice sneers in his mind. Literally nobody is forcing him to read it but he still does, so who’s really the masochist here?!? Once he goes home and changes out of his coffee stained clothes, he’s gonna give that cucumber a piece of his mind! Just not with his older brother around though, because if Shen Jiu overhears him then he’s going to turn Shang Feixi into a human stick.
Slow and painful.
Just thinking about cucumber bro’s scary older brother sends a chill down his spine. So with great determination to yell at Shen Yuan and not get killed by Shen Jiu, he breaks into a sprint towards his apartment. Only to stop 2 seconds later because his body happened to remember that he barely passed his high school physical exam back in senior year. Huffing and puffing for air to reach his lungs, his stupid ringtone blasts at full volume. Again. And surprise! Surprise! Surprise! It turns out to be the devil himself, Shen Yuan.

Sucking in a huge amount of air to prepare to yell at his so called best friend, he picks up the call.

“SHEN YUAN YOU-“

“Shang Feixi.” A cold voice interrupts his outburst, it was a voice promising unimaginable pain if he dared to not comply. And no matter what mood cucumber-bro was in, he didn’t sound like this, oh no, it was something way worse. In fact, it wasn’t even Shen Yuan. It was his evil incarnate of a brother, Shen Jiu.

Mood suddenly turned 180°, Shang Feixi screamed, “ SHEN JIU! Oh,” *cough* “ I mean, Shen Jiu! What a lovely surprise!”

Shang Feixi laughed nervously hoping that Shen Jiu didn’t know that he was about to curse out his brother to the high heavens.

“I need you to come to my house now.” Shen Jiu demanded? His tone left no space for compromise. Shang Feixi really didn’t want to find out what happens if he said no, so with a heavy sigh, he let out a glum, “Alright, I’ll be there”.

Wasn’t his day just lovely?

————|| the Shen and Yue residence||———-

“Jiu-ge, are sure airplane’s alright? Because he sounded incredibly exhausted through the call,” Shen Yuan asked uncertainly.
“He’ll be fine, trust me on this.” Came the reply
“But-“

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

“OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE” Shang Feixi’s muffled voice yelled through the door.

“What could possibly have happened to him?” Shen Yuan muttered under his breath, running to the front door to let Shang Feixi inside.