Work Text:
Prompt: by Tumblr user binghespeerlesscucumber
De-aging this, de-aging that; no one ever acknowledges that, in a scenario where Shen Qingqiu was de-aged surrounded by all his fellow peak lords, he would find himself surrounded by not only men but the type of rich masters who saw a slave like him as nothing but a plaything to humiliate and spit on at best and a punching bag to torture at worst, just like that wretched Qiu Jianluo; consequently he would—to her horror—run to the only woman in the room, Qi Qingqi.
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((when I started this, I debated whether I should write from Qi Qingqi's POV or Baby Jiu's. I ended up going to Qi Qingqi's, because it felt more natural to me.))
His little hands gripped her skirts and for a second, Qi Qingqi felt as if she were back in her mother's apartments, her baby brothers fingers digging into her sleeves and pulling at her to get her to give him her snacks. She pushed aside the nostalgia, mentally acknowledging that she'd been a grown woman. He had the same crocodile tears shimmering in his eyes as her little brother, so she knew that distress was fake... Except that his little hands were shaking, where they held her skirts. That wasn't so easily faked.
"Auntie?" The plaintive little voice was nothing like suspicious hiss of her martial brother. The red on his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose spoke to a fever, and those limned red eyes were bright with it.
"Qi deviation, Zhangmen-Shixiong." Mu Qingfang's voice cut through the scattered conversation. Qi Qingqi had the insane urge to ask the man if the sky was blue as well? Or perhaps he'd like to let them know that water was wet. But she had a little urchin staring up at her, his panic growing with every second she was silent.
She reminded herself of the years she'd spent taking care of children and helping them grow into adults. So, she fell back on that training, settling back into her chair so that he was looking her in the eye, and she gave him her gentlest (awkward, her head disciple told her) smile, pulling his hands from her skirt and holding them. She caught the way his eyes flew to where they were contained, widening with a quickly tamped down panic.
"it's alright, Xiao Qingqiu. You can sit by this Auntie's side while all these big, strong men figure out what happened, hm? You and I can have some snacks together. How does that sound?"
"Good, come and sit here." She gestured to a stool that appeared out of the grace of her Mingyan, who had moved it there silently for her. The boy settled there, limbs curled in and telling her a story of how he had clearly been hurt for taking up too much space. Some mag have looked at it and saw the level of training a young servant would have. She looked at it and saw the young slave girl her father's fifth concubine used to beat to relieve stress. She bit back any outward showing of how annoyed she was at the instant rise of pity in her belly.
"Xiao Jiu, is it?" She asked, as Mingyan gently pushed a basket of fried dough towards the peak Lord and her tiny shixiong. "Can Xiao Jiu tell me how old he is?"
"...Xiao Jiu is 11 summers old." Bullshit. He looked small enough to be eight. The little shit was lying to her. The usual flare of indignation rose, as it wasn't rare for Shen Qingqiu to lie to her face, but she pushed it down and smiled.
"Is that so? Well, a young man such as yourself must be very frightened to suddenly be in a room so full of strangers. We can't tell you everything, for your own safety... But this Auntie will answer some questions for you, if Xiao Jiu would like?"
"Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, on the Qiong Ding peak. You're currently in the Grand Meeting Hall." Qi Qingqi explained, "Everyone here is either a peak Lord, their Head Disciple, or a servant of the sect."
"...then why is Xiao Jiu here?" Xiao Jiu asked, and she was right, his sharp, clever little mind was already seeing the problem. "Xiao Jiu is not a servant of Cang Qiong, nor a disciple."
"mn. But that's alright. Xiao Jiu is fine to be here for now, while we figure out what's going to happen, hm? What is the last thing Xiao Jiu remembers?"
"...Xiao Jiu remembers grinding ink for Young Master Qiu and-" the boy seems to flinch away from something, and then his eyes dart back and forth around the room. He must settle on something, because he speaks quickly, "and that's it. That's the last thing."
She very much doubts that's the case. But she also knows pressing on it will have the boy clamming up. So she focuses instead on other details. "Young Lord Qiu? Xiao Jiu was a servant of this Qiu household?" Surely a beloved one, if they allowed him to learn cultivation enough to become a peak Lord. ...although considering how wellbred her shixiong had appeared to be, this was quite a revelation.
"This lowly one is not a servant." The shame filling the boy's face had her holding her breath as she realized what he was about to say and how impossible it was. "This lowly one is a slave of the noble Qiu household, and of Lord Qiu Jianluo and Lady Qiu Haitang."
Qi Qingqi carefully tuned out her sect leader's wounded noise, as she processed the fact that her Shen -Shixiong, whom everyone had assumed nobility, had been a lowly slave of a noble household. ...no one would permit a slave to learn cultivation. No, he must have escaped at some point before he joined Cang Qiong. She pushed a fried dough stick into his hand to buy herself time to think.
As he took it, she saw further evidence of the puzzle that was slowly being solved in front of her. Bruises, unhealed and sickly green-purple, littered his wrists beneath the too-big sleeves. Bruises in the shape of hands. Distinct finger shapes. She dropped her eyes to his ankles, and saw more bruises, less distinct, along his calves.
"would Xiao Jiu mind if this auntie had Mu Qingfang check his injuries? Mu Qingfang is a famous physician in the sect, and this auntie wants to be sure Xiao Jiu is not severely hurt." She needed Mu Qingfang to confirm what she was seeing. The malnutrition, the bruises, when combined with how quickly he had flinched away from the men and staggered as close as he could to her... She looked at her Shixiong, who, even as a child, had a beautiful and sweet face. She didn't like what all of that added up to.
"If Auntie wants..." He murmured.