Work Text:
▪︎520 is not for Romance▪︎
“Hey, Cucumber-Bro.”
“What’s up? Airplane-Bro.”
Shang Qinghau and Shen Qingqiu were sitting at the Peak Load Chamber on Anding Peak, sharing a bowl of the famous sunflower seeds and a pot of tea.
“It's a shame I didn't put Valentine's Day in this world.”
“What?” Shen Qingqiu almost choked on his tea. “Are you having a fever? or took something poisonous?”
He reached out his hand to Shang Qinghau's forehead but was blocked by the latter.
“No?”
“Okay, then… I never knew you were a romantic.” Considering this man was the writer of a stallion novel with zero romantic plot but just papapas. Sheng Qinghau kept half of his comment unspoken.
“Every novelist is a supporter of romanticism.” Shang Qinghau refuted. “But I am not talking about that. I am thinking about a business opportunity.”
Shang Qinghau lifted his cup of tea, showed a smug smile.
- - - -
“I am a genius!! But I underestimated the workload that might lead…”
Shang Qinghau threw himself onto his bed. He's exhausted and couldn't lift a finger anymore.
After telling his bro the plan, he's been working hard for the next two months. He even applied leaves from his King, Mobei-Jun.
Mobei-Jun refused his request at first. However, Shang Qinghau had a high level skill of hugging-leg. Mobei-Jun soon approved his leave only if he would stay in his Northern Palace for the next two months after.
It’s a fair trade. Shang Qinghau thought to himself. There sure will be piles of work requiring him to attend to after his leave. But it’s a bit weird for his King to be this easy-going. After the ambush from Linguang-jun a few months ago, Mobei-Jun seemed to start spoiling him a lot.
“Maybe, he feels a tiny little bit bad…that he was the cause that I got the wound on my leg from his uncle…”
Shan Qinghau mumbled while falling asleep.
- - - -
The next day was the last day of his leave. Everything he had been planning should be all settled now…it should be.
“NOOOOO!!!!” Shang Qinghau cried out loud at the entrance of Anding Peak. His disciples with dark-circles under their eyes lined up beside him with their heads low.
“How could we miss out a large pack of stock here?! All orders should be settled by yesterday!! Tomorrow is the ‘DAY’!!” Shang Qinghau paced forth and back in front of piles of loaded bags.
“Shizun…this disciple was sorry…We misplaced them in another store house but only found it this morning.” Shan Qinghau’s head disciple stepped forward to give his Shizun an explanation.
Shang Qinghau placed his loose fist on the tip of his nose to think. It was not his disciples’ fault. They all worked very hard for his plan. They hadn’t taken any proper rest in the last two weeks for the packing and delivery.
“No apology necessary.” Shang Qinghau placed a hand on his head disciple’s shoulder to comfort him, “I will settle this.”
- - - -
Shang Qinghau rushed back to his Peak Lord chamber to get his sword. The package was large but he was probably still able to fly his sword with it. Then, he might be lucky to deliver the order in time.
However, there’s a large figure blocking his way at the entrance of his chamber. He crashed into a cold chest wall with his full speed but the owner of the chest didn’t move a bit.
“My…my King?!” Shang Qinghau popped his head up with surprise. “Why are you here?”
“This King came to pick you up.” Mobei-Jun’s sound was expressionless as usual.
“But…it’s one day early…” Shan Qinghau muttered in a low voice. He would not run away and was ready to throw himself to work day to night again even though he's already exhausted as hell.
Mobei-Jun lifted his hand while Shan Qinghau threw both his arms up for defense simultaneously. They both ceased their actions in the air.
That’s kind of awkward. Shan Qinghau thought and put down his arms. He was ready to receive any punches but there’s only a little cold touch on his forehead.
“What are you hurrying for?” Mobei-Jun lifted the strands of hair stuck on the shorter man’s forehead from the sweat but the latter didn't notice as he shut his eyes tight.
“Oh!! RIGHT!!” Shang Qinghau jumped and opened his eyes. “I need to hurry!”
He ran past Mobei-Jun and got into his chamber to grab his sword.
“Are you going for a fight?” Mobei-Jun asked and the temperature dropped.
“No, I am no fighting material. I have a big package to deliver. It’s already late. I hope I can move fast enough with my sword…” Shang Qinghau suddenly stopped. He turned to face his King. “Wait a minute…would my King do a little favor to his humble servant?”
- - - -
Shang Qinghau instructed his disciples to place the packages into his chamber. Of course, he will not risk asking Mobei-Jun to walk out his chamber to the open ground of Anding-Peak and be seen by the others. He still had a long way to go to build up his reputation again as a Peak Lord after his ‘betrayal’ arc.
“These are all the packages. We have to deliver them to this city.” Shang Qinghau pointed to a location on the map.
Mobei-Jun did not respond. Instead, he turned around to open a portal and picked up the loaded bags.
“Wait!! I can carry the bags myself. My King!!” Shang Qinghau trotted to follow his King into the portal.
Luckily, the delivery was on time. Thanks to the cheating skill Shan Qinghau gave to his King before he transmigrated into this world.
“Thank you very much for My King’s generous assistance.” Shan Qinghau was relieved when the final package was sent to a local store. There was already a long queue of people waiting to pick up their orders.
“What are those?” Mobei-Jun was confused, although it’s hard to tell in his expressionless tone. “Are those what you were busy with the past two months?”
“Well, yes. They are a limited edition of our famous sunflower seeds.” Shan Qinghau was proud.
“The 20th of May is a special day at the place where I came from. It’s a day to show your love to your lover because the word ‘520’ sounds like ‘我愛你 (I love you)’. So, I prepared this limited edition of sunflower seeds with exactly 520 pieces of seeds in each bag. People, or even demons, can gift them to their lovers as a present to represent their love. We also allowed a luxury version to come with some flowers.”
Yes, this was what he had been busy with for the past two months. He can't lose this great business opportunity. The price of the package was five times higher than normal but no one would complain. They all rushed in to place their orders. Of course, he had made some advertisements for this new custom to be trending. That’s the part he didn’t tell his Cucumber’s Bro. Hehe…
“So, my business is done here. Thank you again for helping me out, my King.” Shang Qinghau picked out a little silk bag with a yellow ribbon on it. “May I present this to my King as my gratitude?”
“Is this the same one that is being sold in the store?” Mobei-Jun pointed to the store still with a long queue.
“Yes. It’s the limited edition for the 520-day.” Shang Qinghau answered. “Oh, uhmm…I understand that it is not luxurious enough to suit my King. My apolo…”
“Your King will take it.” Mobei-Jun took the bag before Shang Qinghau removed it.
- - - -
Without any doubt, Mobei-Jun did not allow Shang Qinghau to return to Anding-Peak. He lifted the Peak Lord up like carrying the packages earlier and portalled them back to the Northern Palace.
Shang Qinghau was ready to be thrown into the office he used to work at. However, he was thrown into his chamber. For his long-serving to his King, he earned a private room for his own in the palace several years ago. It’s adjacent to the King’s Chamber so that his King can summon him whenever he is needed.
“Stay in. Don’t go anywhere.” Mobei-Jun ordered before leaving.
Shang Qinghau took a quick look in his chamber. Nowhere he could find any work waiting for him. He relieved with a deep sigh and threw himself onto the bed.
He took a small snap before he was pulled up by a cool hand.
“Wake up.” It’s the sound of his King.
“My apology…I will get up to work…” Shang Qinghau rubbed his eyes, still half asleep.
“No work for today…or tomorrow.” Mobei-Jun said.
“.....For real?” Shang Qinghau couldn’t tell he was tearing up because of Mobei-Jun’s kind offer or it was due to the sleep.
“There’s noodles on the table.” Mobei-Jun walked to the table at the center of the chamber and sat at the side without the noodle.
“My King is the BEST!!” Shang Qinghau only realized he was starving when he smelled the noodle. He never knows how his King is good at making noodles but his King is capable of anything.
“Take a bath before you go back to sleep. The hot tub is ready.”
Shang Qinghau finished the last sip of the soup and sniffed his sleeve.
“Ar…my apology…I was too busy and haven't taken a bath for…um…I can't remember for how long…”
How embarrassing to be told that you are stinky by another, especially from your superior. Shang Qinghau's face turned pink.
Mobei-Jun stared at him for a while. He lifted his hand up which looked like he planned to reach for something but finally placed it on the table.
“......Just rest.”
That’s the word he gave before left in a portal.
“...Okay?” Shang Qinghau answered to the air.
- - - -
The next afternoon, because Shang Qinghau slept through the whole night and morning, he found a silk bag was placed at his bedside when he woke up.
“Why is it here?” Shang Qinghau picked up the bag of sunflower seeds.
“Oh, my King must have thought a bag of snacks did not suit his majesty and returned it to me…” He opened the bag and cracked one to eat. “Anyway, I would love to take it.”
“Uhmm?” While he was enjoying the sunflower seeds, he noticed a crystal-like ice flower was placed next to where the bag was. He picked up the ice flower and looked around. There were no windows in his chamber.
– How did a piece of flower land on his bed?
Shang Qinghau didn’t realize the blue ribbon on the silk bag was different to the one he gave to Mobei-Jun the day before. Actually, that was not even the same bag he gave to Mobei-Jun.
He would never know because Shang Qinghau is the dumbest supporter of romanticism after all.
/end.
Bonus 1:
Never query how did Mobei-Jun get the pre-order-only limited edition of sunflower seed.
Bonus 2:
Two months later, when Shan Qinghau was finally back to Anding-Peak, Shen Qingqiu was already there waiting for him.
“AIRPLANE-BROOOO!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
“Why are there free leaflets of fiction about me and Binghe gifting each other sunflower seeds on the 20th of May everywhere?! Don't you think I would not know what scheme you played?”
“Hahaha… my dear Cucumber-bro, I prepared some performance fee for you as being in my little advertisement.”
.