Chapter Text
The moment Shen Yuan opened his eyes, his first thought was relief that he had survived Maigu Ridge, and that at least the world didn’t seem to have ended. His second thought was confusion when he realized that he was on a soft bed—maybe not the best quality, but considering the fact that he lived as a rich second gen his first life and a rich peak lord the second, he was so accustomed to luxury that his opinions should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Worryingly, much stranger than him lying on a low quality bed rather than the hard ground, was the fact that he didn’t recognize his surroundings nor the outfit he was wearing. He also seemed to have… shrunk? Did he enter a qi deviation after falling unconscious which made him shrink into a child? Knowing shitty Airplane’s writing and his own extremely shitty luck, it was entirely possible.
Since Shen Yuan was already used to these kinds of bullshit situations, he calmly got up and prepared to leave the room. Shen Yuan had one thought on his mind—gotta kill airplane bro. According to Shen Yuan’s logical thought process, whenever something misfortunate happens, it's always Shang Qinghua’s fault. No questions asked.
Unfortunately, his plans of authorial homicide were put on hold, because the moment he walked out the door, he bumped into an unfamiliar kid. This kid was clearly not a Qing Jing Peak disciple. Not only did Shen Yuan not recognize him, the kid also boldly grabbed his arm; the only person who would ever dare do so was Binghe who had no concept of personal space. The moment Shen Yuan’s arm was grabbed, the stupid system sent out a loud alert, flashing big bold messages in front of his eyes.
[Welcome to Heaven’s Official Blessing. You have been bound to the role of Shi Wudu. Starting B Points: 100.]
Shen Yuan was shocked shitless. He couldn’t believe that he had actually transmigrated into yet another novel. Not only that, but he wasn’t even the villain but a cannon fodder this time. While he could accept being cannon fodder, simply following his dreams to live a normal and plain life while dying of old age, OF COURSE he couldn’t be just any normal cannon fodder. No that would be way too easy for him. He had to be cannon fodder that dies horrifically with his head and arms ripped off.
Shen Yuan really thought that he had finally died on Maigu Ridge after getting fucked by his favorite protagonist, Binghe. However, it seemed he couldn’t just peacefully go and meet death, instead getting dumped right into another role with a shitty fate.
He mournfully sighed, staring at the kid grabbing his arm, looking at him with concerned eyes. If Shen Yuan was Shi Wudu, this kid must be Shi Qingxuan, and he was one of the reasons why Shi Wudu ended up dying. Shi Wudu had decided to switch Shi Qingxuan’s fate with He Xuan’s to save his brother from the Venerable of Empty Words. If Shi Wudu didn’t switch their fates, He Xuan would become the wind god and would live a good life, giving him no reason to attack Shi Wudu. With this basic understanding, Shen Yuan decided, fuck this, it was none of his business, he wanted to live so he was gonna just leave.
Shen Yuan grabbed Shi Qingxuan’s hands, giving him a pitying look that clearly said, I am sorry that you are going to be fucked, and then proceeded to walk right out the door, leaving behind a dumbfounded Shi Qingxuan. Shen Yuan was not going to stay and watch someone suffer misfortune, especially the misfortune of such a young kid. However, he too was only human. While it was cruel to Shi Qingxuan, he didn’t want to suffer a horrific death either.
“Ge! Where are you going?” Shi Qingxuan yelled after Shen Yuan the moment he snapped out of his confusion. However, Shen Yuan was already too far away and couldn’t hear him.
At the moment, Shen Yuan was feeling low key, proud of himself because the system didn’t go off and because he had read and remembered this particular novel. He was also putting off thinking about his previous life, Binghe, and dying yet again. Repress, repress, repress was his motto, and it was necessary to figure out how to survive in this world first before thinking about less important things like feelings.
He knew that by leaving and not switching fates, he would not only avoid death, but also avoid completely breaking Shi Qingxuan once he found out about Shi Wudu’s heinous act. In order to not disappoint or further traumatize his new brother, Shen Yuan was fully prepared to fuck off forever and become a hobo. He had lived as a hobo in his plant body, so it might not even be that bad. Maybe he could even find Xie Lian and they could be street performers together. Unfortunately, Shen Yuan’s plan was barely put into action when the System blared to life.
[OOC, OOC! Shi Wudu would never abandon his brother. If your B points drop to zero or lower, you will die a very painful death. -50 B points. Initiating Punishment Protocol. ]
After the system blasted this warning, Shen Yuan’s vision suddenly darkened. When he could see again, he found himself in a dim room, surrounded by the creepy mumblings and screams of seemingly insane people. However, the cries and the screams of Shi Qingxuan were the most noticeable in this chaotic situation.
Suddenly.
Pain, pain, pain.
All at once, Shen Yuan felt an excruciating pain shooting up and down both of his arms. The sensation slammed into him so suddenly that he nearly puked from shock. He instinctively tried to move his hands to try to fruitlessly soothe the pain, but froze when he realized he couldn’t.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, ohgodithurts.
Without looking, he instantly knew what he would see. He knew that he would be severely traumatized if he saw his arms, but even so he couldn’t help but stare at his arms with morbid awe. Well. What was left of his arms. His forearms had been ripped clean off, and blood was still gushing out. It hurt so much, and he felt dizzy from the blood loss. Tears dripped uncontrollably from his eyes as he rode the waves of pain, thinking hysterically that it hurt only slightly less than when the original Binghe ripped his leg off. Shen Yuan clenched his eyes shut, desperately hoping to leave the vision and pain behind.
The moment he opened his eyes, he was back to where he had been when the punishment protocol had been initiated. He staggered from the sudden lack of pain, gasping for breath. As his breathing calmed, he thought carefully about his situation. He figured just like his last life, in order to not be considered OOC and avoid punishment, he had to complete a mission. After the first mission, he would be able to deviate from Shi Wudu’s original character. Shen Yuan had mistakenly thought that he didn’t have an OOC function because the system hadn’t said anything initially, but he had clearly celebrated too early and had been way too naive. The system was probably just slow or had been lagging.
WTF System. -10 out of 10. You are definitely worse than the last System I had! I want a refund! Shen Yuan mentally shook his fist at his new System.
[OOC is OOC. Punishment Protocol will be used to ensure story quality and integrity.]
With a sigh, Shen Yuan started to trudge back to Shi Qingxuan. Out of habit, he tried to reach down to grab his fan, hand freezing as he realized he didn’t have one. After being Shen Qingqiu for so long, he had been used to carrying a fan to hide his emotions and to maintain his immortal aura that he now felt awkward without one. He laughed humorlessly as he mused that at least he no longer had to worry about Liu Qingge judging him for leaving his fans behind.
Remembering the fact that both Shi brothers would later carry fans as well, he decided to go to the nearest stall and purchase two fans. Shi Wudu was still a teen, barely having any money after his aunt and uncles stole his parent‘s merchant business, but he managed to come up with the coins necessary to purchase two cheap matching fans.
When he returned home, he found Shi Qingxuan crying by the front door, waiting for his return. He sighed as he stared at the crying child. Shi Qingxuan really wasn’t a bad character, even after suffering misfortune and becoming a crippled and homeless beggar. He had been one of the only gods that supported Xie Lian despite the fact that Xie Lian had been the laughingstock of Heaven. There was absolutely no benefit to being Xie Lian’s friend besides Xie Lian’s protagonist halo, and of course Shi Qingxuan wouldn’t know that fact. Even though Shi Qingxuan led an easy life, being spoiled by his brother and had things handed to him through his brother’s hard work, he was undeniably a kind person who was willing to help others. When reading the novel, Shen Yuan found his character easily likable.
Shen Yuan really didn’t want him to suffer, but he had no idea what route to take to maintain Shi Qingxuan’s fate as a god without becoming a crippled beggar while simultaneously allowing himself to escape a horrendous death. While Shen Yuan was fine dying (he was a pro at it considering he’d died three times), he would ideally like to die with all his limbs attached and as painlessly as possible. Unfortunately, while Shen Yuan was furiously trying to figure out how to navigate the path ahead, he was so overwhelmed with the fear of the vision the system had shown him, he forgot that he could simply follow Shi Qingxuan’s decision when He Xuan forced them to choose between him dying or both of them descending and becoming mortals.
From Shen Yuan’s understanding, he was beset with dangers from all sides on the path ahead. While Shi Wudu himself didn’t have a large role as a character in the novel, he was a key character that caused He Xuan to become a ghost king, who would later owe a debt to Hua Cheng. This debt led to He Xuan offering his help to Hua Cheng throughout the story.
Additionally, Shen Yuan couldn’t just let Shi Qingxuan stay mortal, because unless he became a god, he would be unable to withstand the Venerable of Empty Words. Shi Qingxuan also had to help Xie Lian later on in the story, and would be unable to do so if he was not a god. However, Shi Qingxuan did not have the ability to ascend on his own unless Shi Wudu switched his fate.
No matter how he thought about it, this situation seemed utterly hopeless. In his last life, he had insanely lucked out when Binghe had not decided to kill him, even after he’d thrown Binghe into the abyss. For some magical and mysterious reason, Binghe had fallen in love with him. The last time he’d seen Binghe had been at Maigu Ridge where he’d… Binghe’s teary face swam in front of his eyes. Shen Yuan firmly shook his head. He had to focus on what to do right now.
Taking a deep breath, he turned his thoughts again to the problem at hand. What could Shen Yuan even do in this situation? Hug He Xuan’s thighs and hope that he also falls in love with him after causing his entire family to die horrifically and his life and fate to go down the drain? He snorted. That was literally impossible.
Airplane Br--Shang Qinghua would often joke that Shen Yuan was a harem master who supposedly managed to bend Binghe, Liu Qingge, and other seemingly straight characters, but that clearly was a dirty lie. If that joke were true, then Shen Yuan would have an easier life by being able to make the stupidly sadistic system fall for him so he wouldn’t get stuck in these shitty roles. It almost seemed as if the system wanted him to get his limbs ripped off and die. He sighed again with frustration, hoping that maybe Airplane Bro had also joined him in another cannon fodder role. At least he could have someone he could vent to about the situation.
The moment Shi Qingxuan noticed that Shen Yuan had come back, he dashed to him, nearly tackling him to the ground while crying, “Does Gege not want Qingxuan anymore? Qingxuan doesn’t want Gege to leave. Qingxuan doesn’t want to be alone. Qingxuan will be good.”
Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel his heart soften as he felt Shi Qingxuan’s desperation and tears. To Shi Qingxuan, after their parents died, Shi Wudu was the only one he had, and the only direct family member he had left. After Shi Wudu took Shi Qingxuan away from their family house, Shi Qingxuan had no one but Shi Wudu, and for Shi Wudu to give him a look that clearly said farewell before taking off, had clearly terrified him. No matter what happened, Shi Qingxuan didn’t want to be alone, he wanted to stick by his brother.
After a couple of minutes passed, Shen Yuan grabbed Shi Qingxuan’s chin and gently wiped away his tears, consoling him, “I am here, don’t cry.” Shi Qingxuan was still a child at this moment, and it had been completely irresponsible of Shen Yuan to just ditch him. Shen Yuan reevaluated his plan, deciding to wait and see if he could leave after he was able to give Shi Qingxuan a survivable life without him in the picture.
He led Shi Qingxuan back inside their rented house and prepared a meal for both of them. While Shen Yuan himself wasn’t a good cook, luckily, Shi Wudu was a decent cook. Shen Yuan was able to cheat and use the body’s old skill to prepare a meal without inadvertently poisoning either one of them.
After the meal, Shen Yuan realized he had to prepare the bath for the both of them. Shen Yuan had been so used to Binghe or his other disciples preparing everything for him that he was clueless about what to do and had to ask the system for help. After being told that he’d have to manually draw water and heat it, he missed his previous lives desperately. Shen Yuan was used to living a life of luxury, and had never had to do this kind of hard labor—either from living as a spoiled second-gen in the 21st century, or because he had Binghe and his disciples.
Preparing the bath was a pain. He had to take a bucket and go to the nearest water source to draw water for the bath. His physical body was still that of a child so his physical strength was weak as well. It took him a total of ten trips to the well, and then he had to grab bundles of thankfully pre-cut wood to burn under the bath bucket. After helping Shi Qingxuan bathe, Shen Yuan had no desire to re-experience that hard labor in such a short amount of time and decided to fuck it. One day of not bathing shouldn’t be a problem.
“Gege are you not going to take a bath?” Shi Qingxuan asked Shen Yuan after he got in his robes. His wet hair was slowly causing his robe to become wet as he stood there, clearly cold after getting out of the bath. Shi Qingxuan didn’t understand the struggle since he had never had to prepare the bath. He only experienced the warmth of the bath and wanted his brother to also enjoy the experience.
Shen Yuan looked at the bath and then back to Shi Qingxuan’s innocent eyes. Shen Yuan had no desire to use his energy to pour out the water and reprepare the bath. Though he was tired, he didn’t get angry at the question because he knew that Shi Qingxuan had asked with good intentions. Shen Yuan simply sighed and answered, “I will take one later. Come here, let’s get your hair dried and prepare you for bed.”
Shi Qingxuan scampered to their vanity table and sat down. Once Shen Yuan came close to him, Shi Qingxuan handed him the comb. As Shen Yuan slowly combed and oiled Shi Qingxuan’s hair, Shi Qingxuan started to excitedly recount what happened during the day. Shi Qingxuan had clearly been through a lot that day after crying all morning, so talking to Shen Yuan took all the remaining energy out of him. He quickly fell asleep at the vanity while Shen Yuan was combing his hair. Putting down the comb, Shen Yuan then princess carried him to the bed, tucking him in.
With Shi Qingxuan asleep, Shen Yuan was able to talk to the system again, and received his first mission. Find a job and also find a teacher for cultivation. Since the Shi brothers ran away and were living on their own, they had to make their own form of income, but Shen Yuan had to simultaneously cultivate in order to ascend.
Shen Yuan gazed at the sleeping Shi Qingxuan, running his finger through Shi Qingxuan’s hair and down his back, smoothing out all discomfort. He finally laid a mat on the floor, pulling a spare robe over himself. Although Shen Yuan was not used to sleeping on the floor, because of his exhaustion, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the floor.
In the middle of the night, Shen Yuan was roused when he felt something warm settle over his body and another body wriggling underneath the robe, hugging onto him tightly. He sighed as he realized that Shi Qingxuan had joined him on the floor, slowly hugging the small body back. Together, Shen Yuan and Shi Qingxuan slept on the floor the rest of the night. To Shi Qingxuan, it was warmer and more comfortable to sleep on the cold and hard floor in his brother’s arms than to sleep alone in the soft and warm bed.
I Am Lost Without Directions.
Once morning hit, Shen Yuan regretfully dragged himself away from Shi Qingxuan’s clinging hands as he rose to prepare their breakfast. Shi Qingxuan drowsily dragged himself to the table to eat once breakfast was ready. After they’d finished eating, Shen Yuan prepared to leave in search of a teacher and job. Unfortunately, after being traumatized from the previous day, when Shen Yuan first tried to leave, Shi Qingxuan refused to let his brother out of his sight. Shen Yuan absolutely could not take Shi Qingxuan along. Who would even offer a job to a preteen being followed by an even younger kid?
No matter what Shen Yuan said, Shi Qingxuan remained stubborn and refused to budge from the door. Desperately trying to think of how to convince Shi Qingxuan, Shen Yuan suddenly remembered the fans he had purchased the previous day.
“Qingxuan, look at this. I have this pair of matching fans. I have to go look for work but if anything happens, you can take this fan and look for me okay? I will be in the shopping area. As long as you have this fan, you should be able to find me. I will also be able to identify you through this fan alright?” Shen Yuan bent down to show the fans to Shi Qingxuan.
Shi Qingxuan's frown quickly became a smile as he reached out and grabbed one of the fans from Shen Yuan. He was going to be able to match with his brother! His brother had bought them a matching set of fans! Even if his brother left, the fan meant that he’d still have a part of his brother by his side.
Sighing in relief that he’d appeased Shi Qingxuan, Shen Yuan imitated his best Shen Qingqiu voice, sternly telling Shi Qingxuan not to leave the house, before heading out to complete his first mission.
After nearly a whole day of searching, Shen Yuan was finally able to find a job as a book copier. His job was to essentially act like a printer/copy machine in a xianxia environment. He had to thank his experience as Shen Qingqiu to be able to get the job. As a peak lord, he had become extremely proficient in calligraphy, and it was his beautiful and quick writing that managed to convince his boss to take him as a worker despite being too young for the job. Shen Yuan was then handed a stack of books and materials to copy which were to be handed in two days.
Shen Yuan figured that he could start working that night and look for a cultivation teacher the next day, finishing any leftover work by the next night. With that thought, he cheerfully started to trot home to Shi Qingxuan.
Shen Yuan’s happy mood immediately dissipated as he walked into an empty house. Shen Yuan had clearly told Shi Qingxuan to remain in the house while he was gone, and yet Shi Qingxuan was now missing.
Panicking, Shen Yuan dumped all of his work materials, running outside like a headless chicken, in order to search for Shi Qingxuan. After desperately searching for hours, he was scared, tired, and completely exhausted. When he finally stumbled upon a smiling and dirty Shi Qingxuan in the forest behind the house, his legs nearly gave out as he staggered with immense relief. However, that emotion was soon overwhelmed by his quickly rising fury.
Why did he have to deal with this on top of everything else? Shen Yuan was exhausted from looking for a job all day, and simply wanted to come home and relax. However, he wasn’t even able to do that because Shi Qingxuan couldn’t just listen to him and stay home. Because Shi Qingxuan couldn’t listen to a simple order, he had to drag his already exhausted body out to look for his younger brother for hours, just to suddenly find him standing in front of him and smiling like an idiot.
Shi Qingxuan, seeing his brother’s furious face, quickly sobered up, his smile slipping away. He bit his lip and sadly hung his head as his brother grabbed his arm tightly, to drag him back home. Shi Qingxuan began to tear up, finally crying as he was pulled back home. He didn’t want his brother to be upset at him but he didn’t know how to explain that he only left the house because he had felt hungry so he could only cry to show his distress.
Even though Shen Yuan was extremely fed up with Shi Qingxuan’s antics, hearing Shi Qingxuan cry, Shen Yuan forced himself to calm down. He was supposed to be an adult, but instead he was scaring his younger brother and causing the cute kid to cry. Shen Yuan’s own morals couldn’t let himself ignore Shi Qingxuan’s crying, much less the fact that it was OOC to ignore his brother and the system would punish him.
Shen Yuan let go of Shi Qingxuan’s arm as he turned to face the crying child. Unfortunately, he simply couldn’t force himself to smile because he was still angry. However, he also felt that it was wrong to let the kid cry two days straight after taking control of his brother’s body. Mind made up, Shen Yuan hugged Shi Qingxuan close and comforted him the way he used to comfort Binghe when he cried. As Shi Qingxuan’s sobs eventually quieted down, Shen Yuan held Shi Qingxuan out at arm’s length, calmly asking, “Do you know why I am upset with you?”
“Qingxuan didn’t listen to Gege.” Shi Qingxuan replied tearfully.
Shi Qingxuan looked as if he was going to once again start crying, so Shen Yuan hastily interjected, “I thought I lost you.”
“Gege, Qingxuan is sorry. Qingxuan didn’t mean for Gege to be upset. Qingxuan doesn’t want Gege to leave.” Shi Qingxuan quickly hugged Shen Yuan again and within the warmth of his brother’s arms, his smile slowly appeared once again. Shen Yuan’s heart softened at Shi Qingxuan’s actions as his frustration lessened, and the two brothers finally headed inside the house.
While Shen Yuan was preparing for dinner, he realized that he had forgotten to cook lunch for both of them since he had been in a hurry to complete the mission. He glanced at Shi Qingxuan sitting by the table and looked down at the knife he was holding, he really was a bad older brother, wasn’t he? In his previous life, he had been the younger sibling and his older brothers were the ones who had to care for him. Even as Shen Qingqiu, he could still depend on Yue Qingyuan for help. He wasn’t used to being forced to not only be the sole older sibling, but also be a single parent as well.
Unlike before, Shen Yuan had no help in this life. Shi Qingxuan was too young to actually do anything by himself and wasn’t skilled enough to complete any task.
After Shen Yuan finished cooking dinner, he told Shi Qingxuan to eat first since he had to prepare for Shi Qingxuan’s bath. Drawing a bath would take a long time, so it would be better for Shi Qingxuan to eat first in order to not waste time as they were both at an age critical for growth, and it would be better for Shi Qingxuan to sleep early.
Shi Qingxuan pouted as Shen Yuan went to prepare the bath. He wanted to eat together with his brother like they had always done. Eating together was always more fun and felt a lot warmer than eating alone, but since he had caused his brother so much trouble already, Shi Qingxuan could only keep silent and slowly ate his meal as his brother went to draw his bath.
Once Shen Yuan finished preparing the bath, he helped Shi Qingxuan bathe and prepare for bed. After that, Shen Yuan was finally able to sit down and eat his already cold meal. He then prepared his own bath after eating, and at long last, started his work. Shen Yuan sat by the table with a small candle by his side as he diligently copied out the books he had been given.
Shi Qingxuan, after noticing that his brother wasn’t heading to bed with him, decided to sit by Shen Yuan’s side to watch him work. After a while, he got bored and tried to persuade Shen Yuan to head to bed. Shen Yuan looked at the clearly tired Shi Qingxuan who was being disobedient and refusing to sleep. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at his little brother. He really was such a cute kid.
Shen Yuan eyed the pile of work he had, sighing deeply. He was always a lazy person and was used to procrastination so putting it off until tomorrow should be fine. As Shen Yuan packed up his work, Shi Qingxuan’s eyes sparkled as he quickly prepared the bed for both of them.
When Shi Qingxuan saw that Shen Yuan was laying down a mat once again, he pouted, “Gege, sleep with me on the bed. Come on! It’ll be more convenient and comfortable.”
Seeing how Shi Qingxuan looked so eager, Shen Yuan defeatedly rolled the mat back up and laid beside Shi Qingxuan. Shi Qingxuan reached over and hugged Shen Yuan as he fell asleep. Hugging Shi Qingxuan back, the warmth of his brother and the sound of his heartbeat pulled Shen Yuan straight to sleep.