Chapter Text
Liu Qingge loves to fight and he never loses. But, of course, he can say so only about fair fights.
Wich Shen Qingqiu doesn't do.
Yet, Liu Qingge still takes every chance to fight Shen Qingqiu, but every time he leaves unsatisfied because the result of their fights is never clear. If Shen Qingqiu wins, Liu Qingge doesn't accept it because that snake can't win without his coward tricks. But if Liu Qingge wins, he knows that it's because Shen Qingqiu doesn't put any effort in their fights, so it can't count as fair win either.
Liu Qingge just couldn't get normal duel he desired so much!
And, when Shen Qingqiu finally offered him fight, Liu Qingge immediately was hooked. Basically, they did a bet - the winner can ask the loser for one thing with no right to decline. Dirty prize, something you can expect from Shen Qingqiu, but Liu Qingge knew what he would ask for - fair fight, without cheating. He didn't doubt at all that he would win.
And then he lost.
Shen Qingqiu, being the scum he is, cheated and, even if Liu Qingge saw that coming, he wasn't prepared for multiple traps. He was furious, but he was the man of honour and he did a bet, so he was prepared to fulfill sick Shen Qingqiu's wish.
But Shen Qingqiu didn't ask him for anything.
That man mysteriously smiled, fanned his face and said:
"This one have some other things to do now, but when I'll come up with something i want my shidi to do, i will call for you."
And he hopped on his sword and flew away graciously.
Liu Qingge was waiting, patiently and nervously. He spent his nights, unable to fall alseep, thinking what sick and disgusting things Shen Qingqiu can ask him to do. But, as time passed, he realised that Shen Qingqiu wasn't asking him for anything. Month after month, Liu Qingge forgot about that fight and he assumed (and hoped) that Shen Qingqiu also forgot about that. Maybe he was too busy having fun in brothel, maybe lechery damaged his mind and core to the point when he doesn't remember anything, who knows.
But then Shen Qingqiu approached him while Liu Qingge was training his disciples. Liu Qingge already knew that this snake in human skin had something disgusting on his mind as he was watching at this man's venomous smile.
"Shen Qingqiu." Stated Liu Qingge disappointedly.
"Liu-shidi." Nodded Shen Qingqiu. Disciples around them hold their breath, all of them new how much these Lords hate each other. "I hope shidi remembers our bet."
"Yes, i do." Said Liu Qingge through clenched teeth. Actually, no, he didn't remember, but as soon as Shen Qingqiu said that word, all of Liu Qingge's worries came back.
"Good, good. Then, this one wants to invite you to my place and discuss some details. I am free tomorrow and sincerely hope that my shidi would take break from his awfully hard work," Shen Qingqiu smirked in mocking manner and waved at disciples, implying that Liu Qingge had no work at all. "And visit me."
"Shen Qingqiu!.."
"No, no, do not strain yourself so much, Liu-shidi. I see you have so many little brats to punch, oh, i mean, to teach, so many work to do. I have to go now, don't want to disturb you no more."
At the end of the speech, Liu Qingge lost his patience and tried to attack this arrogant man with bare fists, but Shen Qingqiu already yanked his sword out and flew away.
Needless to say, Liu Qingge couldn't sleep that night. He knew that he couldn't possibly guess what Shen Qingqiu's sick mind would desire and he didn't like it. He, of course, always can just say that he doesn't want to do whatever Shen Qingqiu will ask him to do, but that's what a coward would do! Liu Qingge, of course, doesn't count himself as one, so he decided that he will not run.
The next day, he flew to Shen Qingqiu's peak as soon as the sun appeared over the horizon. His insides were itching out of impatience and anxiety and, honestly, if he could, he would appear even before the sunrise, but Liu Qingge knew that, if he would do so, Shen Qingqiu would kick him out without hesitation. He approached bamboo house and noticed that Shen Qingqiu was standing near it.
Out of curiosity, Liu Qingge didn't go to Shen Qingqiu immediately, he stayed in bamboo forest, where he landed, and decided to watch at Shen Qingqiu. He was standing near the pond with koi carps and lotuses, gazing at it, his hands were locked behind his back, looking really peaceful and relaxed, very unusual of him.
"Shen Qingqiu!" Liu Qingge decided to not waste time and came to the light.
Shen Qingqiu flinched and immediately tensed as he turned to Liu Qingge's side:
"Brute. Only idiot like you would come to visit someone right after sunrise." He sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked... tired as if he had awful sleep this night. His hair was a little messy and there were some spots of ink on his fingers.
"And when was i supposed to come in your opinion?" Asked Liu Qingge as he walked to bamboo house.
"At least after noon. That's what normal, decent people do. Not you, of course. This one is wholeheartedly sorry that i expected monkey like you to have manners. My fault." Hissed Shen Qingqiu at Liu Qingge's face and entered the house.
"You should have clarified this in advance. I'm not mind-reader, you know."
Liu Qingge went after him inside and immediately started to gazing around. He was in this place before, but he never had time to actually look at insides of this dwelling. Honestly, nothing impressive, endless stacks of books, musical instruments and other stuff for art performing. In another words, nothing useful, in Liu Qingge opinion.
In the middle of the room was table with tea pot and cups. Shen Qingqiu sat near it and sipped some tea:
"Are you going to just stand? You can sit down, table isn't going to kill you." He said, pouring more tea to himself.
"I'd rather stand." Liu Qingge felt sweat beads going down his spine. Shen Qingqiu was too relaxed, it was even more stressing for some reason. "So, what do you want from me?"
Suddenly, Shen Qingqiu chuckled:
"Don't be so tensed. What do you expect me to ask?"
"I don't know." Liu Qingge snorted. "To go to brothel with you to ruin my reputation as well?"
Shen Qingqiu laughed again:
"You know, you can do it without me asking, if you think about brothels so much."
"Shen Qingqiu!.."
"I want to paint you."
"..." That was... unexpected. But still felt wrong for some reason.
Shen Qingqiu for sure took his sweet time, watching Liu Qingge turning pale:
"Don't get me wrong, this one is not interested in your persona. I am sorrowing the beauty that nature gave you, even though, it didn't give you much brain. I want to paint you to calm down my grieving over your stupidity soul. That's all." He said and sipped tea again. After a while, he squinted sarcastically and stated. "This one is so sorry that i failed your expectations. I will try better next time and ask you to go to brothel with me."
"Shen Qingqiu! Watch your mouth!"
Liu Qingge already pulled his sword out, ready to fight, but Shen Qingqiu immediately stood up and slapped Liu Qingge's hand holding a sword with a fan.
"Don't you dare to start a fight in my house, brute! If you want to crash things around you, come back to your Peak and crash your own useless belongings."
Liu Qingge turned red, this slap on the hand felt humiliating - parents slap their naughty children just like that.
Shen Qingqiu went to other room for a couple of seconds and came back with ink, brushes and paper in his hands.
Liu Qingge still was standing in the middle of the room, wondering what should he do now, so Shen Qingqiu stopped when he was passing near his shidi, looked in his eyes and said:
"Stop standing there uselessly. Sit in front of the table."
At the end, they sat facing each other. Shen Qingqiu was moving painfully slow - he placed all his stuff at the table, with no rush prepared ink, then he frowned and decided to redo his ponytail, then he sipped more tea.
Liu Qingge had nothing else toe."
"Oh, so you prefer to be annoyed by me at some other time of the day?"
"Yes. I want to be annoyed by you after noon, at least. I swear to heavens, if you would come at my home so early once again, you will never leave this Peak again because i will bury you here." Said Shen Qingqiu as he was drinking his tea. He never offered Liu Qingge to drink tea, by the way. For some reason it was irritating Liu Qingge.
So, he started visiting Qing Jing Peak after the noon. He had to admit, Shen Qingqiu was in slightly better mood at that time. Maybe, earlier, he wasn't so happy about the fact that Liu Qingge's face was the first thing he saw at least once a week, but Liu Qingge wasn't enjoying it either.
Also, after the noon Shen Qingqiu's Peak was really silent for some reason. At Liu Qingge's Peak at this time of the day everyone was practicing, fighting, the sounds of clinging swords and screams were everywhere. It looked like Shen Qingqiu was raising a whole generation of new lazy scums, just like himself.
Of course, Liu Qingge asked about it.
"Why is it so silent on your Peak?"
"Because i am familiar with such concept as a break." Answered Shen Qingqiu, not looking at Liu Qingge. At some point he stopped reminding Liu Qingge to be silent while their drawing sessions - he could clearly see that his "model" couldn't care less about drawing etiquette. "When you're working with mind, you need some breaks or else, at some point, you wouldn't be able to see the real quality of your work."
"At my Peak, we don't have breaks."
"I know. I suppose, when your brain doesn't work at all, you don't need any breaks at all."
"And i suppose that you and your disciples are just lazy."
"Well, if I'm so lazy, then, I'll draw even more slowly from now on."
Liu Qingge didn't want to talk so much at their meetings anymore.
________________
Rumors about them already were roaming in the Sect. Shen Qingqiu, of course, didn't care about that, there was no such rumor that would make his reputation worse. But Liu Qingge wasn't so chill about that. Shen Qingqiu had ruin his own reputation already and now he was trying to ruin Liu Qingge's reputation as well!
"You know, there are rumors in a sect." Started Liu Qingge.
"There are always rumors in a sect, Liu-shidi. Disciples always make some kind of rumor out of boredom. You should know this better than every other Peak Lord, don't you think so?"
"I'm talking about other kind of rumors!.." Liu Qingge felt how his face slowly turned red. He wasn't spreading rumors when they were disciples, he was just telling the truth! Shen Qingqiu can't blame him for that! "They're talking about us!"
"And what are they saying about us?" Shen Qingqiu finally looked away from his drawing and gazed at Liu Qingge with absolutely unimpressed expression.
Liu Qingge felt how his cheeks started to burn even more. It's so embarrassing for some reason!
"They're saying that we're together! It's your fault!"
"Oh, it doesn't feel so nice when everyone is talking shit about you, does it?" Shen Qingqiu smirked and gracefully shook his head in pretentious grieving. "Poor Liu-shidi. This one couldn't ever imagine how hard it is for you."
Liu Qingge swallowed all of the curses he was about to say when he realised what Shen Qingqiu was hinting at. At the end, he didn't come up with some response that would make Shen Qingqiu care about this situation even a little, so he just closed his mouth and stared at the book stacks for the rest of their meeting.
When, finally, it was time for Liu Qingge to leave and he was outside, ready to hop on the sword and fly away from this god forsaken Peak, Shen Qingqiu talked to him, standing in the doorframe of his house:
"You should stop thinking about rumors because there is no point in it - i wouldn't let you go until i finish my painting. You can deal with it or continue to suffer. I would be happy to watch you suffer though."
With this words he returned to bamboo house.
Liu Qingge glared for a while at the place where this snake was standing a second ago, cursing the day when he did a bet with Shen Qingqiu.
He didn't stop caring about rumors. He also understood that Shen Qingqiu didn't care about consequences about his actions and how it will affect others.
How cowardly of him! Liu Qingge would never act like that!
The longer their meetings continued, the worse Liu Qingge's mood was getting. It was two months already and Shen Qingqiu wasn't showing any signs of finishing his painting. Their meetings also became more silent. Liu Qingge lost all hope to irritate Shen Qingqiu to the point where he would let him go and never ask to draw him again. And Shen Qingqiu wasn't talking much from the start.
________________
"How much more time do you need to finish?" Asked Liu Qingge. He can't count how many times he asked this question.
"As much time as i need. Your stupid questions would not faster me." Hissed Shen Qingqiu.
t, suddenly, he heard shy girl's voice.
"Shizun?"
Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu turned their head to doorframe at the same time. The girl in Qing Jing Peak uniform was standing there. The moment she saw that two Lords were here, she folded her hands in a welcoming gesture.
"Ah, Ning Yingying. What do you want? This master is busy." Said Shen Qingqiu in such tone Liu Qingge had never heard before. Snake sounded so patiently, like a loving parent. Liu Qingge felt chills going down his spine.
"This disciple is so sorry to interrupt." Said girl without a shadow of regretting or fear. Liu Qingge never saw any of disciples acting so relaxed around Shen Qingqiu. "This one needs Shizuns' help."
"What happened?"
"Older boys injured a bird and now they don't want to help it! They want to let it die!" Girl immediately started crying as soon as she got the chance. Liu Qingge frowned, he never liked crybabies.
If he would try to guess how Shen Qingqiu will react to this pathetic crying, Liu Qingge would say that Shen Qingqiu will just straight up kick her out of his Peak immediately. Liu Qingge turned his head to Shen Qingqiu and saw something that made his jaw drope.
Shen Qingqiu's face softened in so gentle manner that Liu Qingge though he was seeing a nightmare, because in no world Shen Qingqiu would make such face!
"Do not worry, we'll help the bird. What did these disciples do to it?"
"They broke one of it's wings!"
"Then, this Master will break one arm of each of them. Sounds fair, don't you think so?"
"...I don't know. Maybe..." Girl finally stopped crying and looked at Shen Qingqiu's face without a hint of obedience that disciple should show her teacher.
Liu Qingge eventually remembered who this girl was! The youngest disciple of Qing Jing Peak! This fact could explain her habit to cry, even though Liu Qingge still didn't like when she did it.
There were some filthy rumors about Shen Qingqiu and this girl... But what Liu Qingge was seeing didn't align with these rumors. These two acted more like... Father and daughter?
Oh, no! Could she be his blood related daughter?
Liu Qingge watched in horror and disbelief at this girl.
She wasn't paying any attention to him though, she was focused on Shen Qingqiu who was patting her head.
"This Master needs to take a look at a bird to help it. Where is it?"
"Boys didn't let me take it with me..." She sobbed.
"Fine, then, tell this Master, where are these boys?"
"This one will show." Girl immediately stoped crying and took a step out of house, with face full of determination. Shen Qingqiu followed his disciple, but he stopped for a couple of seconds and then turned his head to Liu Qingge and said with the dismissive wave of his sleeve:
"Disappear."
As he glanced at his paper, shadow of disappointment crossed his face and then he walked outside.
"Wait, Shizun. Can this disciple ask Liu-shibo to come with us? Boys for sure will be scared."
"I dont think that Liu-shidi would like to come with us, Ning Yingying. He has so much work to do." Shen Qingqiu gazed at Liu Qingge in such way that even blind person would able to understand what he wanted to say with this - "do not follow us".
And, of course, Liu Qingge doesn't like when someone orders him and tells what to do, so he stood up, looked at Shen Qingqiu and said:
"Who said that i would not go with you? Yes, let's take revenge for that bird and it's broken leg."
"Broken wing."
"Whatever."
________________
"Is she your daughter?"
Shen Qingqiu choked on his tea.
They were finally alone. This situation lasted for longer than Liu Qingge could ever expect. At first, they helped this whiny girl get her bird back and scare these little bullies.
Shen Qingqiu promised to break their arms because, as he said, "This is the Peak for people of Art. If you want to fight anything you see, like some mindless beasts, your place is anywhere else, but here. Perhaps, the Bai Zhang Peak would be a better option for you. This Master could ask Liu-shidi to accompany you to his Peak. If you still want to stay Qing Jing disciples, behave. I am not interested in teaching some useless mindless rats." Liu Qingge didn't understand why this girl said that he needs to be there to scare disciples more - these boys were absolutely horrified by Shen Qingqiu's presence. No help was required. Did Shen Qingqiu break someone's hand in the past? These kids were looking like he did. But, when Liu Qingge finally thought that he can talk to Shen Qingqiu, girl offered to stay and pour them some tea because, as she said, she lacked practice in tea ceremonies. Then, she wanted to watch at Shen Qingqiu's painting. Then, she talked to Shen Qingqiu about drawing practice. Liu Qingge had so little to say about all these topics, he was so bored, but, finally, girl said that she has to go to the dinner and leaved. Needless to say that he stayed at Shen Qingqiu's place mush longer than he intended to. "What?" "I asked, is this girl your daughter?" "Very bald of you to ask something like this, as usual." Shen Qingqiu finally came back to his usual arrogant and sarcastic behaviour. He acted so different just a couple of minutes ago, that Liu Qingge felt uncanny every time this snake gently smiled around this girl. "No, she is not my daughter. What even made you think of that?" "You act differently around her." "So what? I can't take care of my own disciple? I cannot wrap my head around you, brute. You never satisfied with my actions. Maybe, it's time for you to consider that the problem isn't me, but you and your own deviations." "No, it's..." "You can think about my words while you will be flying back to your Peak. Disappear, i don't want to look at you." Liu Qingge's hands already started itching out of desire to beat this snake's face. But, he had new goal now - to know more about Shen Qingqiu and this girl. For some reason, he needed to know if Shen Qingqiu had daughter or not like his life was depending on it. ________________ So, his mission began. Shen Qingqiu wasn't acting any different, but Liu Qingge was. He now wanted to talk. And he wanted Shen Qingqiu to talk. So he started to act like he was interesting in all this fancy art things. "So, how's the drawing going?" Liu Qingge asked. Shen Qingqiu looked up at him with questionable face expression. "What? I'm just asking." "As I said your..." "Yes, yes, my questions would not faster you. I know. I'm not trying to make you draw faster. I'm just asking. That girl looked pretty impressed with your drawings when she saw it." "...Did you hit your head and finally lost any remainings of your brain?" Shen Qingqiu somehow sounded concerned and uninterested at the same time. "..." Month passed like that. It wasn't going so easy and smoothly as Liu Qingge expected. Shen Qingqiu stopped treating him with hostility and hatred, but now he just permanently looked concerned and disgusted, acting as if Liu Qingge was diseased. Nothing more. But Liu Qingge didn't lose hope. After all, talk is also a battle if you think hard enough about it. And Liu Qingge never runs away from the battles. One time he tried to take a look at one of the million books that were in Shen Qingqiu's house. He immediately knew what book was that, some light novel about adventures, romance and yada yada. This kind of books weren't forbidden in the Sect, but Liu Qingge personally didn't like when his disciples were reading instead of practicing, so he was taking these books away. "Finally decided to read and educate yourself, brute?" He heard cold voice behind his back. "Yes." Liu Qingge turned around to see Shen Qingqiu's annoyed face. "This is the funniest joke I've ever heard from you, Liu-shidi." With these words Shen Qingqiu snatched book out of Liu Qingge's hand and slammed it. "Brute like you reading history book. Don't make such funny jokes anymore. I fear, i would die out of laughter." "But it's not a history book." Shen Qingqiu raised his eyebrows, looked at the book at his hands, opened it, read for a while and shut it down again.
"O...oh, you've found the book that i took away from my disciples. Maybe you're interested in cleaning my whole house then?" Liu Qingge could swear that he saw a hint of blush at Shen Qingqiu's cheeks as he was talking. Maybe.
Also, Liu Qingge started noticing some cracks in Shen Qingqiu's behaviour. The main one being that he wasn't acting with such hostility when Liu Qingge stopped insulting him. Who could have thought. Well, he was still arrogant, mean and naggy, but in much more tolerable way. Also, his face softened every time Liu Qingge mentioned this girl and, sometimes, Shen Qingqiu would even say a couple of words about her if Liu Qingge was asking hard enough.
This also was a proof that this girl is his daughter. Or some other blood relative. In no world Shen Qingqiu would care so much about someone who is not related to him in some way.
Shen Qingqiu acted differently when he was at his home. It was hard to spot at first, but after almost three months of observation Liu Qingge could see the difference. Shen Qingqiu was more relaxed at home, he wasn't looking around non-stop, like he was always waiting for someone to attack him. Although, this wasn't bringing Liu Qingge any closer to understanding Shen Qingqiu's connection to this young disciple.
"How are this whiny girl and her bird doing?" Asked Liu Qingge as he was watching Shen Qingqiu preparing ink for drawing. He was trying to talk to this man, but Shen Qingqiu obviously wasn't interested in chatting, so Liu Qingge was forced to bring this girl to the topic to make Shen Qingqiu open his mouth.
"Ning Yingying. Her name is Ning Yingying." Shen Qingqiu didn't even bother to look up.
"Whatever."
"They both are doing fine." Asnwered Shen Qingqiu after a while.
"Has the bird recovered yet?"
"Yes. ...Yingying wants me to keep it."
"Are you going to do it?"
"I don't know."
Liu Qingge thought that the answer was clear - of course not. Shen Qingqiu doesn't need the bird in his house and his own disciple should know that. He would never keep an animal at his place.
But, the week later, when Liu Qingge came to bamboo house, he saw huge golden cage with the bird in it.
"Ba, this bird have better conditions than some of the emperor's pets."
Shen Qingqiu looked at the bird and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly with quiet sigh.
He couldn't say no to this girl? And after that he's trying to convince Liu Qingge that they're not related.
Liu Qingge couldn't stop himself from wondering who was the mother of this disciple. What kind of women would like to be with Shen Qingqiu? What kind of person would like to he with him?
Maybe she was a prostitute?
Maybe Shen Qingqiu was visiting her when he was going to the brothel?!
Liu Qingge felt even more angrier about Shen Qingqiu's visit to brothels for some reason. At the same time, he felt more determinated to know the truth.
________________
"Liu-shidi? Can i talk to you?" Mu Qinfgang called out to him after Lords meeting.
"Mh."
"Do you feel good?"
"...Yes. Why are you asking?"
"Shen-shixiong said that you were acting strange and he was concerned that you might be going through qi deviation."
"And you believed him?!"
"Better be safe than sorry. And, besides, you really did start to act differently."
"No, i did not!"
Liu Qingge walked away feeling how the points of his ears were burning. He didn't know the reason though. Was it because Shen Qingqiu acted like he cared about him in some way? Or maybe because Shen Qingqiu was just trying to make fun of him?
It was hard to tell.
But the idea, the concept, of Shen Qingqiu caring about him... Felt strange, but for some reason desirable. Just a little.
________________
It was four months already.
Liu Qingge could say that he was somewhat enjoying their meetings now. It became part of his routine. He came to Shen Qingqiu's house, he meditated, maybe he chatted with Shen Qingqiu, if the latter one was in the mood, and went home.
Qing Jing Peak was a surprisingly good place for mediation. The atmosphere there was much more soothing and relaxing than at his own Peak. Also, the smell of Shen Qingqiu's house - tea, ink, paper, bamboo - had a calming effect. And this place finally felt a little more alive with this bird that Shen Qingqiu unexpectedly decided to keep.
Shen Qingqiu also felt like he was doing what he likes to do. He wasn't observing everything around him with hostility, finally, he was painting, fully absorbed by the process of it. It was nice to look at him being so comfortable in his field even though Liu Qingge still was convinced that this is a waste of time.
At the very least, it's a somewhat beautiful waste of time. Maybe. Shen Qingqiu still wasn't showing him his drawing.
One time Liu Qingge fell too deep into meditation and, when he woke up, the sun was almost down already. Shen Qingqiu was nearby, peacefully sitting at the table, doing paperwork.
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" Liu Qingge jumped up from the place where he was sitting.
Shen Qingqiu raised his head and glanced at him absolutely unimpressed by his furious tone.
"This one must have missed the moment when i became your babysitter. Or perhaps is there any other reason you expect me to wake you up from your naps?"
He came back to his work without waiting for Liu Qingge's response.
"..."
Well...
Liu Qingge sat back down in grieving. There was no point in worrying, he already overslept, or, well, overmeditated. Liu Qingge laid down and stared at the wall of this house that trapped him inside of it with it's calming atmosphere. He missed all of his meetings, he didn't practised with his disciples, he didn't do his duty as a Peak Lord at all today.
He turned his head to Shen Qingqiu's side. This man wasn't looking even half as much relaxed as he was while drawing, his posture was a little more tensed, he was frowning, sometimes he murmured something, looking annoyed by the words on the paper that was in front of him.
Looking at him at this state made Liu Qingge realise that Shen Qingqiu must really like drawing, because, comparing his looks while drawing and while working, it was obvious what he enjoyed more.
But, seriously, why didn't he wake me up?
Liu Qingge thought that Shen Qingqiu would hit him with the fan and kick out of his house and wouldn't let him stay even one second longer than necessary.
This man is a mystery. And Liu Qingge couldn't tell was he good or bad in solving it.
Suddenly, Shen Qingqiu sighed, stood up, took the cage with the bird and opened the door, planning to go outside.
"Where are you going?" Liu Qingge went afer him.
"Ah, you still here. I thought you are rushing to your Peak already." Shen Qingqiu didn't bother to look at him.
And he didn't answer his question. Again. Is this man allergic to answering questions or what? But, as soon as he sat down at the porch, Liu Qingge realized that he wasn't going anywhere.
Then Shen Qingqiu opened the cage and allowed the bird to fly away.
"What are you doing?" Asked Liu Qingge as he was watching bird moving away from them.
"I let it fly for a while every evening."
"Oh..."
It was the first time when he stayed for so long at Shen Qingqiu's Peak so he never got a chance to see this process before.
"And it always comes back?"
"Yes."
This bird must love him very much, huh.
They stayed in silence for a while.
Liu Qingge felt really strange at this Peak. It was really... peaceful. He wasn't used to this type of atmosphere at all and, looking at bright red sunset above the bamboo forest, he understood that he quite enjoys being here.
Theh, his thoughts returned to Shen Qingqiu and his drawing. This man was clearly doing it just for the sake of his own satisfaction, then, why did
Liu Qingge losed all of his patience and opened his mouth, ready to tell this snake to go to hell with his drawings and bets, buhe decide to draw Liu Qingge? His enemy. The person he hated the most, as Liu Qingge believed. Why was he wasting his time on such thing?
"Why are you doing this?" Liu Qingge asked still looking at the sky. For some reason he never noticed how beautiful the sunsets are until today. Or this one specific sunset was just special.
"Well, you see, Liu-shidi, birds need to practice flying. Without it their wings just becomes weaker and weaker until the bird would never be able to fly again. And i absolutely would not let this chaotic thing fly inside of my..."
"No, no, i was asking about drawing."
"Ah." Shen Qingqiu turned his head to take a look at Liu Qingge's face. "You should work on your questions formulation, brute, or no one ever would be able to understand what your useless mouth is asking for."
"So why? Why are you drawing me?"
Liu Qingge finally looked away from the sunset and his eyes met with Shen Qingqiu's. They stared at each for a while, then Shen Qingqiu sighed:
"Why do you want to fight me?"
"Huh? Because i want to challenge myself and you're a good challenge for me."
"Well, i paint you for the exact same reason. It's a way to dare myself, to paint someone i despise so much."
Liu Qingge could understand that reasoning. So, Shen Qingqiu feels the same about art as Liu Qingge does about fighting. Huh.
Shen Qingqiu, suddenly, stood up and yelled:
"I believe this Master gave you assignments to do. Then why am i seeing you here?"
Liu Qingge moved a little bit to see who Shen Qingqiu was talking to. Behind the house there were a crowd of Qing Jing disciples. As soon as they saw Liu Qingge, looking at them, the wave of giggles hit him.
"This one is so sorry, i just wanted to see the birdie flying, but then i saw that Shizun has a guest." The girl came out of the crowd.
"And you brought the whole Peak with you." Shen Qingqiu clicked his tongue and, as he approached his disciples, they finally went silent. "Maybe this Master've missed the moment when this Peak became Peak of animal observing. Or else i don't see any reason why any of you came here instead of calligraphy studying. Maybe, my disciples are so talented that they've finished it already. If so, they can copy third volume as well."
The crowd started crying and whining, someone screamed that they just were happy that their Shizun finally have guests.
"Oh, my talented disciples want to copy third and fourth volumes? Is that what you're crying for so much?"
Crowd fell silent and slowly started to go away from the house.
Girl that spoke up first quickly run up to Liu Qingge, bowed, folded her hands in welcoming gesture and said with the biggest smile Liu Qingge have ever seen on disciple's face:
"This disciple is greeting Liu-shibo."
"Ayy, Yingying!" Shen Qingqiu disappointingly waved his fan at her.
"This disciple is already leaving!" The girl giggled and run away, not looking threatened by her Shizun at all.
"Why are they acting so strange?" Asked Liu Qingge, watching this girl running back to the rest of the disciples.
"I don't know." Shen Qingqiu sighed and touched his forehead with the fan. "They've been acting like this for a month or two."
"Mn." Liu Qingge nodded and looked at the sunset again. Maybe it was a bamboo forest that made it feel so special to him. Maybe the silence of this Peak and rare distant sounds of music. Maybe the air around Shen Qingqiu's home that was filled with smell of ink, tea and paper. He didn't know.
Suddenly, he heard how Shen Qingqiu chuckled.
"What's so funny?" He turned around to find this man holding fan in front of his face, smiling so hard that his eyes took the shape of a halfmoon.
"Look at you, you were so rushed when you woke up, and now you're just standing there uselessly. Did you forget that you have job to do today?" He laughed again and lightly hit Liu Qingge's shoulder with a fan. "You're so stupid."
For some reason, Liu Qingge didn't feel offended. Shen Qingqiu didn't sound like he wants to insult him at all.
"I can't do most of my work after the sunset. I have to wait for tomorrow to do it."
"Ah." Shen Qingqiu blinked, looking really surprised with that response. "Then, you can drink tea if you want. It's leftovers, so don't flatter yourself. I just don't want to drink tea anymore today."
It didn't sound so bad.
________________
It was... a somewhat pleasant evening.
Liu Qingge can say with full confidence that he doesn't know who Shen Qingqiu is at this point. This man turned out to be not as Liu Qingge expected him to be at all. Firs of all, he was a caring person. He took care of a small girl, probably his daughter, he took care of a bird and he even tried to do it properly.
Secondly, he was working. And he was working a lot. Whenever Liu Qingge arrived to Qing Jing Peak, Shen Qingqiu was doing paperwork, before and after their drawing sessions. Maybe he wasn't lazy scum, he was just a scum.
And, liked it Liu Qingge or not, he was hosting him at his own place. And offered him some tea once. It was kind of nice of Shen Qingqiu.
Liu Qingge never did either of those things for Shen Qingqiu...
Maybe, he should do something like this in return. He was the man of honour after all, he knew when to return a favour to someone.
Next day after their last meeting, Liu Qingge decided to ask Shen Qingqiu to spare at his place. And maybe offer to have some tea with sweets.
So, he flew straight to the Qing Jing Peak as soon as the sun raised up. He always woke up early and Shen Qingqiu also was always awake (Liu Qingge even had a thought that this scholar doesn't sleep at nights at all, but it's not possible, even for a cultivator) so it wouldn't be a problem for them to talk. Liu Qingge's plan was simple - visit Shen Qingqiu, invite him to spare at Bai Zhan Peak, go on about his day after that.
As soon as he arrived to the Qing Jing Peak, disciples surrounded him, like he was some intruder on their territory, and, after some giggling and kicking each other, one of them came out of the crowd and said:
"Sorry, Shizun has a... guest now and he doesn't like when someone interrupts them." That boy bowed and added up quickly. "Shizun says to us to not let anyone in, this disciple is so sorry."
Liu Qingge didn't have any time to ask who was that mysterious guest, kids already ran away from him, laughing. He couldn't understand why Shen Qingqiu's disciples always were laughing when they see him.
Does Shen Qingqiu train them to laugh at him? Or he trains them to laugh at everyone?
Well, he has to find the hard way who is this special guest then. Shen Qingqiu can't blame him for natural curiosity.
As Liu Qingge was walking through the bamboo forest, he heard someone screaming in Shen Qingqiu's house. And, as he came closer, he realized that it was Shen Qingqiu who was yelling, in the way Liu Qingge had never heard before. He was furious, truly furious, Liu Qingge never thought that this man can get so angry. Shen Qingqiu's always mean, but he never shouts, he prefers to talk in a somewhat calm voice. (And that, honestly, irritates Liu Qingge, because, why can't this man just scream like normal people do, why does he has to act so pretentiously relaxed while arguing.)
A few more steps, and he finally was able to understand the words.
"I do not want to hear any word from a fool like you! Stop abominating my eyes with your presence here!"
"But i want you to be happ..."
And then Liu Qingge heard a slap. Actually, he thought that a whole Peak heard that slap, so loud it was.
"Save your useless pity for someone else and stop lying. You don't want me to be happy. You want you to be happy. And we both know that. Go. Away." Shen Qingqiu said coldly.
That guest decided to listen to Shen Qingqiu and opened the door, ready to leave.
Liu Qingge was too busy, thinking about what kind of person could make Shen Qingqiu act like that, so he wasn't paying attention at all to his surroundings and, when he saw the person who walked out of the house, it was too late to hide.
It was Sect Leader.
They both looked at each other with shock.
Liu Qingge freezed with his mouth open.
Well, it made sense. A little.
Shen Qingqiu is always mad at Yue Qingyuan for some reason.
Then, Liu Qingge's glance slid across Sect Leader face and he saw a fanprint on his cheek. A really clear print, it was easy to see so painfully familiar patterns of Shen Qingqiu's fan, every little detail was somehow marked Yue Qingyuan's cheek in a perfectly readable way.
How hard must one slap someone to leave such a mark?
After a while of gazing at each other in a completely awkward silence, Yue Qingyuan walked away without any words or explanation.
Liu Qingge stared for a while at Sect Leader's back, but, then, he thought that it's not his problems and he should not ask about it, so he went straight to Shen Qingqiu.
"Shen Qingqiu?" Liu Qingge called.
But Shen Qingqiu didn't answer.
Well, don't blame me then, Liu Qingge thought and stepped into the house.
Shen Qingqiu was standing his back to Liu Qingge in the middle of the room, he was breathing hardly. His hair was messier, he didn't have even a shred of his regular arrogance in his posture, his arms hung limply. Head, that was usually prodly lifted up to look down on everyone, now was lowered, facing the floor.
This scene didn't feel right. Liu Qingge never saw Shen Qingqiu that upset with something.
"Shen Qingqiu?" Liu Qingge asked again, already considering that he chose not the best time to invite this man to spare.
Shen Qingqiu flinched and turned around furiously.
"I thought i said to you clearly to!.." Their eyes met. "Ah... it's you."
Liu Qingge felt like a bucket of water was thrown over his head. He forgot with how much hatred Shen Qingqiu can look at someone. They stopped fighting at some point, it was safe to say that there was a shaky truce between them. Shen Qingqiu haven't looked at Liu Qingge with such rage and disguste for a while. That glance was for Yue Qingyuan and Liu Qingge felt really relieved about that.
Also he was somewhat flattered that glance that was for him was softer, still with arrogance, but with no will to kill him immediately. Surprisingly, it felt nice when Shen Qingqiu doesn't him dead.
Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes:
"Ah another guest. It looks like everyone suddenly is interested in me. This one could not be more happy about it. What do you have to say, brute?"
"I wanted to invite you to my Peak..."
Shen Qingqiu's face twisted in such way that Liu Qingge couldn't describe - he for sure was surprised, other emotions were unreadable. And Shen Qingqiu couldn't say a word.
They stared at each other for some time.
"Wrong time?.." Suggested Liu Qingge timidly.
"Yes. Very." Shen Qingqiu squeezed his eyes.
"Oh."
Shen Qingqiu waved his fan first at Liu Qingge, then, at the door:
"Disappear."
Liu Qingge was ready to go away and ask again the same question another day, but then he saw that Shen Qingqiu's fan was broken in half and he felt glad again that he was himself and not Yue Qingyuan. He would never want to be slapped with the fan so hard.
"Why do I still see you here? Have you gone deaf? Go away!"
Liu Qingge nodded and went outside. He decided to not tell Shen Qingqiu about his snapped fan. He knew Shen Qingqiu wouldn't be happy about it at all and he didn't want to be the one to tell these bad news.
As he was flying away from the Peak, he heard upset yell:
"That moron broke my fan!.."