Work Text:
Shen Jiu wakes up to heat. He struggles blindly against the hands around him, before he recognizes the voice..
"Shhh, Shh.." Shen Yuan soothes, caressing Shen Jiu's hair with a soft hand. The fire licks the estate behind them, but Shen Yuan seems to ignore it, focused entirely on the boy in his lap.
"A-Yuan-" Shen Jiu tries to warble, but Shen Yuan shushes him gently. "Jiu-ge was suffering, wasn't he?" Shen Yuan mumbles, tracing the scarring down Shen Jiu's back. "You don't need to worry anymore. Everyone will die."
Shen Jiu paused. "...Everyone?"
"Ah... Your version saves Qiu Haitang, doesn't it..." Shen Yuan looks contemplative. "Sorry Jiu-ge, your A-Yuan is a little too thorough for that. You'll have to forgive me."
The flames of the manor grow, flickering in bumbling lines toward them. Shen Jiu stares at it, and Shen Yuan follows his gaze. Understanding dawns on his face. "Don't worry. I'll bring you out of here." He murmurs softly. "I wouldn't kill my Jiu-ge." He picks up Shen Jiu, his hands trembling. He's gotten so strong, Shen Jiu thinks hysterically. It feels like only yesterday Shen Yuan was only a small, babbling baby in his arms. Shen Yuan laughs. "Jiu-ge is just light." He replies. Is he thinking aloud?
There's a weight on him. A light green cloak blankets him, hiding him from the heat. Shen Jiu's eyes widen. He recognizes this cloak. "A-Yuan-!"
"Jiu-ge shouldn't worry. As long as he has this coat, he will never be hurt." Shen Yuan's face is sincere. "I promise."
Shen Jiu passes out.
He wakes up, alone, the manor long behind him. The cloak is secure around his shoulders. Shen Yuan is nowhere to be seen, but a single trail of blood leading far, far away.
Shen Yuan transmigrated at 2 years old, but that's not entirely true.
He wakes up his memories in waves. First, it is his older brothers, his little sister. The sickness ravaged his body. In the living world he is a poor orphan child, clinging to Jiu-ge and Qi-ge with small, sad hands. In his dreams he is Shen Yuan, the third son of a well off family, tied down to a hospital bed by his own weak body.
Shen Yuan remembers what world he is in when he is knee deep in the Qiu estate, with Qiu Jinlao's hands on his thighs.
[Would Host like to review his quest log?]
Shen Yuan hums, rocking the still sleeping Shen Jiu in his arms as he walks away from the burning inferno. Shen Jiu would have burned it down himself in the canon story, but Shen Yuan figures the plot would only change a little if he was the one to burn it down in his Jiu-ge's place. It's all rather moot.
"Sure."
[Quest: Burn down the Qiu manor: Complete! Quest: Leave Cang Qiong territory: Pending]
Shen Yuan groans. "And I can't stay here?"
[The host cannot interfere with another transmigrator's quests!]
Jiu-ge shifts in his arms. Shen Yuan sighs, tying the cloak more securely. "Why didn't I get this book? I really have to go to a whole new story?"
[Host is second priority to User UV001! Host can only interfere once Host has completed his own transmigration story!]
The trees stretch into the sky. Shen Yuan deposits Jiu-ge into the soft grass, staring at him. He grew up with this boy. This boy is going to be the scum villain of a good for nothing stallion novel. This boy held him in his sleep.
"Jiu-ge, wait for me. I'll come back for you. I won't let Luo Binghe kill you, okay?" Shen Yuan promises.
[Host will lose his window to start the optimal transmigration story soon!]
"Yeah yeah, I'm going, I'm going."
Yue Qingyuan stares at him. He stares back.
“A-Yuan is… gone?”
Shen Qingqiu, once Shen Jiu, scoffs. “No thanks to you.” He crosses his arms. Yuan has always been the softest of all three of them, though Shen Qingqiu can recognize the buddings of intelligence in his eyes. Shen Qingqiu raised him, after all. He’s bound to have gained some brain.
Not that he can, anymore.
Shen Qingqiu followed the trail of blood for as long as he could, before it stopped at a stream. Shen Yuan was only 8 years old. Shen Jiu had never taught him to swim. There was no way he had survived, what with the extensive wounds he had when Shen Jiu had last seen him. The stream falls off a waterfall, perfectly scenic as it weaves between beds of flowers.
As if it does not carry the body of a child.
His A-Yuan. Dead.
“Xiao Jiu–” Yue Qingyuan tries.
“Don’t.” Shen Qingqiu hisses. He wants this man who looks like his Qi-ge but isn’t, out of his sight. He pulls the cloak tighter over his body. “Get out.”
“Shen-shid–”
“Get out!!”
Yue Qingyuan jolts, then his face shutters closed. “Okay.” He looks away. “I… A-Yuan was my brother as much as you were.”
“And you left! You don’t get this! Get out!” Shen Qingqiu feels like he is a small child again, a slave boy clinging to the only two people he had. He feels like he is alone in the woods, only the memories of Yuan’s small hands left to sustain him. He feels like the Qing Jing disciple, cold and callous.
He doesn’t feel like anything.
“As shidi wishes.” Yue Qingyuan bows. The words ring hollow. Shen Qingqiu wants to rage at him. He wants to hug him. He wants answers.
He wants A-Yuan back.
“What do you mean I need to go back to Cang Qiong! System, you're so bipolar!” Shen Yuan groans into his sleeve. He thinks he’s grown up well, with Qi-ge’s strength and Jiu-ge’s cunning. Plus, his transmigration story has led him on a much better path than sticking with Jiu-ge, probably.
[Host has a new mandatory mission: View the sentencing of Shen Qingqiu.] Shen Yuan has spent so long with the System he can tell it’s pouting.
“It’s so early! Even if I add a year to my counter– and that's being generous, System- Luo Binghe should still be in the Abyss! How does he have power over Huan Hua already?”
[Host and User UV001 have made significant changes to the story.]
Shen Yuan throws his hands up in despair. “You literally gave me all my missions! Why the fuck are you complaining, huh?”
The Rogue Cultivator he’s been walking with gives him an odd look. Whatever. Shen Yuan is a bit infamous at this point– sure, he’s good at what he does, what with all his transmigration buffs, but people think he’s a little insane.
His obsession with beasts and fauna doesn’t help, either.
Can you blame him? It’s fascinating! Reading about them doesn’t do them nearly enough justice, and the people of this world seem allergic to learning. Ridiculous. Shen Yuan will just have to study for them.
“Um…” The Rogue Cultivator fiddles with their ring. Shen Yuan eyes it suspiciously. In xianxia, sketchy rings are never a good sign. “Is Shen Yuan planning to enter Cang Qiong territory?”
“I suppose I will be.” Shen Yuan sighs. “If that’s alright with you. This one will be happy to finish teaching you the song when we arrive in town, and then I’m sure xianjun can find his way onwards.”
The Rogue Cultivator blushes. “No need for formalities, please, Shen Yuan. You’re much more talented than me.”
Shen Yuan does not wince. It’s not like he completely forgot the guy’s name or anything. “Ah, but Xianjun has clearly been cultivating long before this one. How can I even begin to speak so informally to someone so learned?” He’s grasping at straws here!
The Rogue Cultivator blushes even harder, but relents. He tucks his hair behind his ears and bites his lip.
Shen Yuan has figured out some interesting things, while wandering. He spent a lot of time in Huan Hua, trying to understand what made it so interesting, before accidentally befriending the Head Disciple and then deciding to help her out, much to the System’s glee. Who knew there were so many heavenly demons!
Then, using his knowledge of xianxia and his body’s natural affinity to qi, he tested. He made a few life necessities; laundry detergent, for one. Elastic bands, since he can’t really cut his hair without scandal. Day to day conveniences he misses from the modern world, supplemented with qi and monsters. Then, he tries some things he read in novels.
Musical cultivation is something he figured out fairly early. It’s a rather common trope, and it seems the set up is there, even though no one in this world seems interested in trying to use it. Oh well. All the better for Shen Yuan, who grew up with musical instruments as his only friends.
Poem based cultivation, on the other hand, falls kind of flat. Elemental cultivation seems to work, but it hurts Shen Yuan’s head, so he kind of gives up mid-way. He tries praying to a few gods, but other than a boost in his qi and general good luck, he doesn’t think being a devotee is a valid way of cultivating.
Apparently news of his interesting cultivation and studies spread, and now random cultivators come up to him attempting to learn. Shen Yuan accepts them all, but never lets them stay for more than a month.
Mostly because the System.
They arrive at the town, and Shen Yuan takes them to a clearing nearby, settling down with his erhu. The Rogue Cultivator watches him with rapt eyes.
Shen Yuan resolutely does not think about how he is about to play pop music to use magic. His little sister would have been so jealous.
—--
Huan Hua is buzzing with excitement.
Shen Qingqiu grits his teeth. He feels like he is being vivisected, each of his flaws shown off to the crowd of gaping visitors. His slave contract is in front of him, bearing the signature of an unwitting, stupid, foolish child.
Yue Qingyuan is silent. Good. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll keep the fact that he was also a slave silent. There’s no point if they both get sentenced.
“He killed another slave boy.” The man says, derisively. “Everyone died in that fire, but I remember that little boy.” He shakes his head as if in disappointment.
He is, of course, referring to Yuan.
Yuan, even as a slave, as a homeless child, was well loved by the people. Who couldn’t be? Even when his face was smudged with dirt, his arms and legs bruised beyond belief, he’d beam up at you with a toothy grin, like you were his most beloved friends. They’d relied on this fact more than once to feed themselves.
Did Shen Jiu kill Shen Yuan?
The Old Palace master leers. “A slave, killing his former masters and faking his way to being a Peak Lord, only to abuse his disciples and commit terrible, lecherous acts on his very own disciples.” He snorts.
Shen Qingqiu holds his tongue.
Luo Binghe smiles at him with a honeyed tongue, clearly knowing victory is ahead. “This… I suffered greatly under his hands.” He says, after a second. He looks like a cat who caught his prey.
The door slams open.
There’s a cultivator there. He’s dressed in light greens, hair tied up in a loose ribbon. Clearly a rogue, underdressed for this sort of public hearing. A guqin is strapped to his back, which means he either learned under that new, mysterious musical cultivator, or is said cultivator in the flesh. He looks like he ran here.
His face is, unmistakably, Yuan’s.
He looks around the room, curiosity naked in his eyes. Yue Qingyuan chokes. Shen Qingqiu feels the breath catch in his throat. The cloak around his shoulders feels lighter, suddenly.
“Woah, that’s a lot of people.” Yuan mumbles. To cultivators, of course, it’s easily heard. He claps his hands. “Anyways! Hello! Shen Qingq- Ahem. Shen Jiu didn’t burn down the Qiu estate." He gives his signature smile. Shen Qingqiu watches the crowd melt. “Because I did!”
There’s another pause.
Then the room explodes.
People are talking over each other in hurried tones. Luo Binghe stares at Yuan with calculating eyes. Yue Qingyuan looks like he might seriously break through his cultivation bottle neck and ascend straight to heaven. Shang Qinghua, weirdly, looks like he might pass out.
Yuan hops across the room to where Shen Qingqiu is and smiles. “Jiu-ge.” He beams. “Sorry it took me so long. Begging Jiu-ge’s forgiveness.” Cheeky brat. Shen Qingqiu missed him like a lost limb.
Yuan’s eyes sweep the room, then he catches Luo Binghe. He glances at Liu Qingge, for some reason, seems to come to a choice, and then, with a confused look, stares again at Luo Binghe.
The Old Palace Master clears his throat. “Attention!” The room quiets. The Old Palace Master looks at Yuan with askance. “Shen Yuan. It has been too long. Huan Hua welcomes you back, despite our… less than stellar parting, and your timing.”
Shen Yuan, who apparently took Shen Qingqiu’s last name, smiles enigmatically. “Yes, I suppose it has.” He stares at Luo Binghe again.
“... Binghe?”
Luo Binghe jolts at the familiar address, then growls. “Who are you to call me that?”
Shen Yuan blinks. “... Huh. It really is you.” He tilts his head. “You look so much like your mother. If your hair was maybe straighter, you could pass as her carbon copy.” Shang Qinghua makes a terrible strangled noise. What on earth is carbon?
Luo Binghe also freezes. “You… Knew my mother?”
“Well, not the washer woman. Your birth mother. And your birth father, but that guy…” Shen Yuan’s nose wrinkles. “I respect Su-shijie a lot, but her taste in men is… Not amazing. Who needs a guy devoted to you when he’s that weird?” He shakes his head. Then he spins and gives a vicious glare at the Old Palace Master.
“Hasn’t this farce gone on for long enough? Get another disciple to testify against him.”
The Old Palace Master shifts. “Ah…” Shen Yuan, seemingly had enough, picks out a disciple from the crowd.
“You. Do you think your shizun was lecherous and abusive?”
Ning Yingying freezes, then shakes her head. “A-Luo… Shizun was cruel to him, but he never touched me.” She murmurs. There’s a ripple in the crowd. Ming Fan nods.
Shen Qingqiu is oddly touched.
Shen Yuan hums. “One to one. This humble one would like to say that the training choices of the Qing Jing Peak would be a discussion better suited for internal debate within Cang Qiong itself. Would the Old Palace Master disagree?”
The Old Palace Master is fuming, and visibly so. Shen Qingqiu barely holds back an unbecoming snort. “... We will adjourn." He waves his hands, and the people slowly disperse.
Shen Qingqiu stares. All this fuss…. Ended by… What, exactly? He risks a look at his twice saviour.
Shen Yuan is staring at the slave contract with a terrifying face.
Okay. Hold on. Shen Yuan burned that estate to a crisp. He would know! He poured so much oil it clung to his fingers! He almost lost his mind trying to get it out!
So, the contract is forged. There’s no way a single flimsy piece of paper survived.
But how? Why? Luo Binghe couldn’t have known what it looked like. Shen Yuan barely knew what it looked like, and he was there watching Shen Qingqiu sign it!
[Congratulations! Host has completed mandatory quest! Host may now have a rest before continuing his transmigration journey!]
“What do you mean, continue? There’s more?!” Shen Yuan grumbles under his breath. Shen Qingqiu casts him a look, and Shen Yuan pales.
Oh yeah, he’s in a sect. Whoops.
“Oh my god.” Shang Qinghua, the little conniving rat, stumbles forward. “You- You’re like me, aren’t you?” He looks at Shen Yuan with pleading eyes. “Bro, please tell me what the fuck you’re doing, I’m so lost.”
A few recoil at the crude language.
“Bro?” Shen Yuan echoes, before understanding dawns on him. “Oh, you’re kidding. You’re UV001? Really?”
[Host has met another User! Congratulations!]
“Oh my god.” Shen Yuan wants to die. Or for Shang Qinghua to die. He got pushed to the side for this guy?? “Do you know what kind of garbage I’ve lived through because of you?”
Shang Qinghua winces. “Look, I know my writing wasn’t ideal, but–”
“YOUR WRITING???? YOU'RE AIRPLANE??? Oh my god, that’s how this contract exists, I knew there was something off–”
Shen Qingqiu can’t help the smile on his lips. He wants to reunite with his A-Yuan, of course, but it’s nice to see him smile, to know he is alive and whole and all grown up. The cloak on his shoulders feels warm for the first time in years. He can reunite with him later.
They have all the time in the world.