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self diagnosis by proxy

Summary:

While on a mission outside of the sect, Mu Qingfang swaps bodies with Shen Qingqiu.

Notes:

While I was editing this, I realized there wasn't an author's note and thought for a second that I had accidentally deleted it! But no, this was written for a boss so there weren't any tags I had to claim to play the game...

Work Text:

Perhaps Mu Qingfang should have been more startled by suddenly finding himself in Shen Qingqiu's body, but instead he was gleeful. When would he ever get another opportunity like this one?

Shen Qingqiu was not the only one of Mu Qingfang's martial siblings that did their best to avoid regular exams, but his was perhaps the worst case. His refusal to allow Mu Qingfang to provide preventative care rather than to patch him up in the aftermath of another qi deviation was one of the most frustrating challenges of Mu Qingfang's career. At least Liu Qingge sometimes came to Qian Cao if his injuries weren't healing fast enough for him to go back out and fight more demonic beasts. Shen Qingqiu barely suffered Mu Qingfang's interference when his meridians were actively trying to burn themselves and him to ash! It frustrated Mu Qingfang to no end. He was proud of his medical expertise, and his failure to properly treat Shen Qingqiu grated on him.

So yes, Mu Qingfang was delighted to have been given this opportunity to examine Shen Qingqiu's health in its natural state. He knew very well that Shen Qingqiu would tear his head off for it, but Mu Qingfang had a responsibility to the sect as much as any other Peak Lord, and he was done allowing the Lord of the Second Peak to risk his life unnecessarily. Besides, the two of them were the only cultivators around, having been sent away from the sect on a mission together. If they wanted to find out why this had happened, Mu Qingfang would have had to examine both of them anyway.

Pressing his fingers to his wrist, he sent qi through Shen Qingqiu's body, tracing the way it flowed through his meridians. It was a very practiced skill, for Mu Qingfang. He spent most of his time treating other patients, of course, but if no other healers were available, he was perfectly capable of diagnosing himself. His shizun had made sure of that long before Mu Qingfang had received the name he now answered to. All Qian Cao physicians, actually, were encouraged to become familiar with their own bodies as part of their training.

Mu Qingfang had known to expect taking Shen Qingqiu's pulse to be different than taking his own even though he was currently inhabiting his shixiong's body. He had even expected a certain amount of damage to be present, either the cause or the effect of repeated deviations. What he hadn't expected was the sheer extent of the damage and the amount of inflammation present when not coming off of a qi deviation.

As Mu Qingfang was rapidly reconsidering what he knew about Shen Qingqiu, the shixiong in question burst through the door of their rented room, his look of fury both immediately recognizable and strangely discordant with Mu Qingfang's own features. But the physician was beyond focusing on their swapped bodies at the moment. He made no attempt to hide what he had been doing, and Shen Qingqiu was observant enough to immediately narrow in on the wrist Mu Qingfang was holding.

"Shen-shixiong," he said. "How long have you lived like this?"

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