Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu had always been a bit particular ever since he was a disciple. He occasionally wrote and spoke in an unintelligible language, his fingertips were darkened, like literally black, he often sighed longingly as he wrote yearning poems that always seemed to feature plum blossoms, he also sighed longingly as he painted a young man with plum blossom eyes. Yeah, it wasn’t hard to guess who the recipient of his affections were.
But Liu Qingge digresses; outside of these particulars, Shen Qingqiu was a good strategist and reliable shixiong, even if he scoffed at you and mocked you a bit before helping. Notice how Liu Qingge didn’t say he was a good person; he wasn’t. If someone was dying and bleeding out in front of him, he wouldn’t help unless it benefitted him in some way. Needless to say, although he was reliable, Shen Qingqiu was not liked; he was cold and scathing on a good day. Hell, it was hard to find anyone outside of Yue Qingyuan who actually liked the guy, except maybe Mu Qingfang, but even he was more neutral than actually liking him.
So when he hears Shen Qingqiu has gotten into a fight with a representative with an elder from some sect from the far east, his first thought is, what did this guy do to provoke Shen Qingqiu, and how can I do it? His second thought is, why are they telling me this? I’ll just join the fight.
As it turns out, the fighting was so intense that no one could get close for fear of getting beheaded by either Shen Qingqiu or the elder, whose name was Cheong Myeong. As he was told by the increasingly frantic head disciple of Qing Jing.
As they neared the area where Shen Qingqiu and this Cheong Myeong were fighting, Liu Qingge’s eyebrows raised as he took in the sight of both fighters with grins reaching their ears. So clearly, this was a hate at first sight, as Liu Qingge had been told by the elder’s sectmates; Chepng Myeong apparently had a problem with finding faces hatable and fighting said person with a hatable face. That sounded more like a reason to pick fights to Liu Qingge; he’d have to try it next time to see if he could get an opponent through that method.
To be honest, even Liu Qingge was apprehensive about getting too close; despite Mu Qingfang chiding him for his lack of self-preservation, it was there and making itself aware through the power of the coldest glare he had ever seen from Shen Qingqiu, yeesh, and he thought it would never get worse than that time he had dragged Shen Qingqiu out of a brothel for the first time.
As the fight neared it’s end, Shen Qingqiu’s dagger about to fly right through Cheong Myeong’s throat, stopped only by a thin string of qi, and Cheong Myeong’s sword kissed Shen Qingqiu’s neck, drawing blood.
They shared a joyful look as they pulled their respective weapons back. “Dosa-hyung-nim…” Shen Qingqiu whispered as he stepped closer, his voice so terribly intimate that Liu Qingge felt like he was intruding on a private moment. “Balo dangsin-ieyo, jinjja dangsin-ieyo!"
” Shen Qingqiu said tearfully. Tearfully, Shen Qingqiu never thought he’d hear them in the same sentence. Shen Qingqiu and tearfully just did not go together, especially not with that disturbingly happy smile.
Shen Qingqiu launches himself into this… Cheong Myeong’s arms, and Liu Qingge is horrified, doesn’t his shixiong have any sense of propriety? Wasn’t the Qing Jing peak lord one of the most conservative of the Cang Qiong peak lords? Wasn’t he the one most disgusted by the touch of his fellow sect mates? Why was it he was willing to let whores and now this stranger touch him before any of his martial siblings?!
And then, they get frighteningly close to each other, his shixiong’s legs wrapped around this, this scoundrel’s waist, while said scoundrel’s hands are on Shen Qingqiu’s hips. Liu Qingge turns red, and he sees it too.
Liu Qingge’s teeth grind against each other before he turns and flees, despite Shen Qingqiu calling him a brute, even he knew outright attacking Cheong Myeong would not end well, not for him, not for the sect. besides, if he attacked, Shen Qingqiu could also get hurt in the crossfire. No. Liu Qingge could not charge at Cheong Myeong, but he could find someone who would be able to stop this madness, Zhangman-shixiong.
Liu Qingge bursts into Yue Qingyuan’s office with none of the usual respect he has for his eldest shixiong. “Shen Qingqiu is fraternizing with the outsider!” now Liu Qingge probably could’ve added a little more context because Zhangman-shixiong was currently seemingly in a meeting with one of Cheong Myeong’s martial siblings.
The one with the forehead ribbon, Baek Cheong, he thinks, sighs into his hands, muttering, “Ibeon-e Cheong Myeong-i mwohaessna?” He stands and gives his fellow sect leader a shallow bow. “I will make sure my sajil—I believe that is shidi for you—doesn’t bother your peak lord was the term?” with that suddenly the eastern man is gone within an instant, jumping from mountain to mountain to reach Cheong Myeong.
Zhangmen-Shixiong turns to him with a smile and a deadly look in his eyes. “You will lead me to them?” despite his phrasing it like a question, it did not feel like one; it felt like an order, and Liu Qingge wasn’t about to deny orders from his sect leader, so he hops on his sword, despite his depleted amount of qi and leads his sect leader to where he last saw Zheong Myeong and Shen QIngqiu.
Liu Qingge’s blood turns cold, there he is, Shen Qingqiu, clinging onto Cheong Myeong, coquettishly whining. Liu Qingge, for lack of a better word, bluescreens. His face dead as he lands on Qing Jing Peak’s newly created flat land, from Shen Qingqiu and Cheong Myeong’s abrupt duel the moment they saw each other.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Shen Qingqiu has seen it fit to switch to a language Liu Qingge could understand; the words coming from his mouth instantly shocked Liu Qingge.
“Dosa Hyung-nim, I missed you! How are the Tang? Have you been taking care of yourself? Have you been eating vegetables? Is that my ribbon?” Shen Qingqiu rubs the green ribbon—the same color as his eyes—in Cheong Myeong’s hair. A mischievous smile spreads on Shen Qingqiu’s lips, a pleased yet somewhat dark look in his eyes.
Liu Qingge did not know Shen Qingqiu as a talker; in fact, the man was usually pretty quiet. And that look in his eyes—no, not even that, the fact that Shen Qingqiu was even looking at him in the eye; everyone else, he just didn’t care enough to do it consistently, having Shen Qingqiu’s full and unadulterated attention, what was that like? Even as Shen Qingqiu’s shidi, he had only gotten it once.
But this man, this outsider had gotten what most of the sect begged and yearned for effortlessly, and he even got to have this side of Shen Qingqiu who clung to him. Liu Qingge felt like he was chugging vinegar as he had his face slapped by this dog food. This ungrateful cur is even trying to push Shen Qingqiu off, Liu Qingge’s hands balled up into fists, nails digging into his palms he turned away.
Unfair, it was so unfair! Wasn’t it Liu Qingge who sought his shixiong’s approval after he had been defeated? It was him who dragged Shen Qingqiu out of brothels so he could focus on his cultivation. Why did this Cheong Myeong get to have Shen Qingqiu’s affections? Why couldn’t it have been him? No, even Shang Qinghua would’ve been better; anyone in the sect would’ve been better than this outsider! At least if it was someone within the sect, there was guarantee Shen Qingqiu would stay, but with that kind of look in Shen Qingqiu’s eyes now, that look of pure adoration and love, the possibility Shen Qingqiu would leave the sect behind to follow that scoundrel? Well… let’s just say it was very high.
In short, if Shen Qingqiu left that would be the worst case scenario, leaving Liu Qingge heartbroken and the sect without their strategist. So, Liu Qingge resolved himself, he won’t let Shen Qingqiu leave!