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The first time it happened, they didn't have an audience.
Yue Qi walked side by side with Shen Jiu through the forest, smiling happily as he soaked in the sun, strolling along the path. Next to him, hiding a scowl behind his fan and stalking through the woods was Shen Jiu.
"Your smile is so infuriating," the younger disciple scoffed when glanced over at his future sect leader.
Yue Qi just laughed. "How can I not smile when it's so nice out?"
"I don't know, maybe because we're on a mission?" Shen Jiu snapped, closing his fan sharply.
Yue Qi just smiled harder. "But I'm with you," he said seriously. "It's impossible to not smile."
Shen Jiu rolled his eyes and turned away, eyes scanning for the plant they'd been sent to find by Sheng Fengmian, the peak lord of Qian Cao Peak. Supposedly it was a strong counteracting medicine against most aphrodisiacs, helpful for people like Shen Jiu or Liu Haiyou, who disliked the normal cures. But why did he have to come with Yue Qi of all people?!
"Xi- Shen Jiu, would you marry me?"
Shen Jiu stumbled, the question had caught him so off guard. He turned to Yue Qi, gaping like a fish. "Are you out of your mind? I'm 19, and you're 23, I'm too young to even think about marriage!"
"In the future then?" Yue Qi asked, eyes sparkling and hopeful.
Shen Jiu stared for a moment longer, before sighing and turning away from his silly Shixiong with a shake of his head. "Oh Qi-Ge... What am I going to do with you?"
"...You called me Qi-Ge," Yue Qi said.
"You must be hearing things," Shen Jiu said tightly. He'd been so taken aback that he'd accidentally called Yue Qi that name, lost to the past. "And you want to know if I'll marry you in the future? Ask me in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll say yes."
Of course, he'd only do that if two things occurred: If Yue Qi didn't betray his trust again, and (depending on what it was of course) told him the reasoning for not coming back.
As it would turn out, telling Yue Qi that was a mistake. He'd assumed that he would forget Shen Jiu had said such a thing by their return. How wrong he'd been, for as soon as Shen Jiu received his new name (Qingqiu) Yue Qi, now names Yue Qingyuan, promptly asked him to marry him again.
"Shen-shidi, you remember that mission from 5 years ago?" Yue Qingyuan asked, eyes bright. He was currently 28, and Shen Qingqiu 24.
"Which one Shixiong?" Shen Qingqiu sighed while the other head disciples stared in confusion.
"The one where I asked you to marry me," Yue Qingyuan replied shamelessly. Qi Qingqi spat out her tea, Mu Qingfang choked, and all eyes turned to them.
Shen Qingqiu hid his red face behind his fan, glaring at Yue Qingyuan. "How could I forget? If I remember correctly, I asked if you were out of your mind. Clearly you always are to be bringing it up again, and in front of our martial siblings no less."
"How can it be mad to bring it up again?" Yue Qingyuan asked. "You said you were too young—"
"I was nineteen."
"—So I asked if you would in the future. You said to ask in the future. It's now the future."
"..." Shen Qingqiu was going to throttle him. "I didn't mean it literally you idiot!"
"So is it a yes or a no?" Yue Qingyuan asked, tilting his head.
Shen Qingqiu threw up his hands in exasperation and stood. "It's obviously a no!" He left, fuming, and could feel the eyes of the ten other head disciples following him. Yue Qingyuan stood and followed him.
"...What the fuck just happened?" Qi Qingqi asked.
"I don't know Shijie," Mu Qingfang replied.
"Who in their right mind would want to marry Shen Qingqiu?" Liu Qingge replied.
"Yue Qingyuan apparently," Mu Qingfang answered.
"Who in their right mind asks someone to marry them out of the blue with 10 other people in the room?" Wei Qingwei asked.
"You would, and did love," Mu Qingfang told his fiancé.
Afterwards this became a near daily occurrence with Yue Qingyuan becoming slowly more creative in his pursuit, and the other head disciples gradually grew used to it, though they were both impressed (and concerned) with Yue Qingyuan's persistence. And so the next incident didn't happen until Yue Qingyuan was 30 and Shen Qingqiu was just shy of 26.
"Shen Qingqiu... Would you marry me?" Yue Qingyuan asked.
The Peak Lords (who had snuck into a head disciple meeting to see what caused their head disciples to whisper and giggle amongst themselves so, no longer causing nasty fights but having more what would seem to be like sibling rivalry) gasped.
"Oh Yue Qingyuan..." Shen Qingqiu sighed, and Sheng Fengmao's eyes lit up. She was the complete opposite of her twin brother, and a complete romantic, if also harsh, much like those from Bai Zhan Peak.
"No," the answer came.
"Conratu- What the hell?" Sheng Fengmao said.
Shen Qingqiu hid behind his fan, slowly turning red. The other head disciples exchanged spirit stones, money and a few other items, but didn't bat an eye. Yue Qingyuan didn't even care, simply stood and bowed.
"Shizun. Shishus."
"What the fuck was that?" Sheng Fengmao demanded. "You said no?"
"He's said no the past..." Shang Qinghua paused, checking a scroll. "982, now 983 times Yue-shixiong has asked."
"983?!" Sheng Fengmao shrieked.
"Yue-shizhi, please stop pestering my disciple," Lao Fengmin chided.
"Shang Qinghua, why are you keeping count?!" Zheng Fengxi cried aghast.
"I started keeping count after the 10th time," Shang Qinghua replied. "I got curious."
"Wait a second..." Liu Qingge said. "Wei Qingwei, you shorted me! I said 500, not 450!"
"I gave you all I had," Wei Qingwei whined. "You're way too good at this, I've given you all the money I had!"
"Here," Mu Qingfang sighed, passing over a few coins. "The 50 he's short on."
"Thank you!" Liu Qingge sing songed happily.
"And the others started making bets," Shang Qinghua added. "Liu Qingge's gotten rich."
"He's not the only one!" Yan Qingshi declared triumphantly, slamming down three top quality hair crowns and a string of coins.
"That was my best hair crown too," Fu Qingqu whined.
"What the fuck...?" Lao Fengmin groaned. "Nevermind, let's just go."
The fourth incident was when Yue Qingyuan was selected to help the Peak Lords seal Tianlang-Jun. He had no choice. "Xiao Jiu," he said, clutching Shen Qingqiu's hands as the head disciples prepared to see them off. "I might not make it back, but if I do... Will you marry me?"
Shen Qingqiu swallowed thickly, not wanting to admit he was worried. "Ask me after," he replied. "I don't want to say yes only for you to not come back again."
Yue Qingyuan's eyes softened. "I'll come back. I promise."
Shen Qingqiu looked away. "Keep it this time Qi-Ge."
The eleven others watched as Yue Qingyuan joined his Shizun on his sword before they flew off.
"What was that about?" Liu Qingge asked.
"...None of your business brute," Shen Qingqiu said, but he just sounded tired. "I'm going back to the Bamboo House."
"I thought that was just for Lao-shushu?"
Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. "There's a side room for the head disciple idiot."
"Yeah, every peak has some sort of special room," Shang Qinghua added. "I have a room in the Leisure House."
"Oh. My Shizun says to sleep when we need to and train at all other times."
Shen Qingqiu stared at him in horror. "No wonder you're so brainless."
"No wonder Shizun always complains of late paperwork from your peak," Shang Qinghua added.
"Shut up," Liu Qingge complained.
Yue Qingyuan ended up returning safely, but was so shaken up he barely spoke for weeks and was distant for a long time afterwards. The next time he asked Shen Qingqiu to marry him was three years after they'd all ascended to the position of Peak Lord.
"Xiao Jiu, we've been peak lords for a little while," he began. "Would you consider marrying me?"
"No," Shen Qingqiu answered, slightly creeped out that Yue Qingyuan was back to normal. Shang Qinghua casually added another tally to the score scroll, counted quickly, and handed Liu Qingge a string of coins. "That was the fifth thousand time you've asked," he said. "Which means Liu Qingge was correct when he said it would take at least 5,000 times for Shen-shixiong to say yes."
"You kept that?!" Shen Qingqiu cried out.
Shang Qinghua just nodded, and things went back to normal, with Yue Qingyuan posing that question every other peak lord meeting and bets going back to being made.
One day, Shen Qingqiu was in a particularly irritable mood, he had just discovered Ming Fan gave his newest disciple, Luo Binghe, a false cultivation manual which could have led to the casualty of Luo Binghe or others. Needless to say, Shen Qingqiu had to replace Ming Fan, he couldn't very well have someone who attempted murder as his head disciple. And so Ning Yingying took on the roll, but now his peak was descending into chaos.
So when Yue Qingyuan asked him something and Shen Qingqiu hadn't been listening, he replied without thinking. "Sure, whatever." He glanced up and found everyone silently staring in shock.
"Why are you all staring at me?"
"Shen-shixiong..." Liu Qingge said slowly but didn't continue.
...
"Well?" Shen Qingqiu demanded. His eyes narrowed when no one responded. "... Wait, what did I just agree to?"
Qi Qingqi coughed slightly, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve and avoiding eye contact. "...You just agreed to marry Zhangmeng-shixiong."
"WHAT?!" Shen Qingqiu was horrified. He'd never actually intended to say yes! Sure, due to the routine of asking to be married, Shen Qingqiu gradually found himself regaining affecting for Yue Qingyuan, then that affection turning to love, but he was terrified of marriage! Just look what happened with the Qiu family!
"Are you going to take it back?" Mu Qingfang asked.
Shen Qingqiu hesitated, sputtering then sighed, slumping his shoulders. He was silent for a long while before he drew his head up, squares his shoulders and firmly said; "No, I'll marry him."
The room erupted into cheers.
The wedding was grand, and the talk of the cultivation world for months. For inside Cang Qiong Mountain, the peak lords were siblings, or behaved as such anyways. But to everyone else, it seemed full of conflict. And everyone knew, the peak lords of Qiong Ding and Qing Jing Peaks hated each other.
So then why were they getting married?!
But that was a secret only the members of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect and you, dear readers, would know.