Chapter Text
Yue Qingyuan sat there at the wooden table, posture upright and elegant, gaze steady and unmoving. He couldn't say the same for the other peak lords though. Each one was sitting in a different position. Some were crisscrossed, others with one leg up on the chair, some were fully standing up as they argued with each other about Xie Lian knows what.
Although it was noisy and the different voices that echoed through the room were distracting, Yue Qingyuan didn't pay mind to them. He was too busy looking at “Shen jiu”, his glaze filled with admiration and love.
Confessing that night at Mai Gu Ridge left him with a gut wrenching feeling that Shen Qingqiu wasn't really Shen Jiu. Which doesn’t make sense because, of course that was Shen Jiu, the same one he had made that promise too. Who else could it possibly be? A random person from a different universe that woke up in Shen jiu's body randomly? No way!
As he pondered the events of that day, he realized that Shen Qingqiu’s behaviors had changed slightly since he had the qi deviation that nearly killed him. He’s not nearly as ill-tempered, gets along with his sect siblings better, outgoing (but is he really?) and he's a much more accepting person.
The meeting was still ongoing with voices echoing all around him. His mind was too preoccupied to notice the ruckus and to be completely honest he couldn't even remember why he had summoned everyone here in the first place. He was originally going to talk about small matters around the mountain such as replacing broken swords or making new training dummies to replace to old worn-down ones. Then he caught sight of Shen Qingqiu, and his thoughts diverged from there. His mind ran off, starting to think about ways to verify Shen Qingqiu as the original. Confirming that he didn’t randomly become a different person overnight. When suddenly, a certain Peak lord disrupted his thoughts.
“DID YOU REALLY JUST SAY THAT? YOU’RE THE ONE ALWAYS COMPLAINING ABOUT LUO BINGHE’S SIZE!” Shang Qinghua’s voice thundered throughout the room, easily silencing all other voices around him. He slams his hands on the table, still looking at Shen Qingqiu. Everyone turned to look at him, quickly silencing their ongoing conversations to give him a look. ‘What the fuck?’ Rang through each of their heads. Did they really hear that right? Yue Qingyuan finally broke his streak of silence when he turned towards Shang Qinghua.
“Please be quiet, peak lord Shang.” Yue Qingyuan said with a slight smile, though, you could see the discomfort in his face from his furrowed eyebrows.
“BUT THIS BUTTKNUCKLE SHEN YUAN! —uhm” Shang Qinghua paused, then cleared his throat, “Shen Qingqiu is being impossible!” His eyes skim across the room, wearing a ‘please tell me none of you heard that…’ expression. An awkward silence settles among the peak lords. Shen Qingqiu freezes in place, face twisting uncomfortably and awkwardly as he scans the room.
This dumbass just can’t keep a secret can he!? Is it really that hard to not call me by my actual name? It’s a fucking miracle no one has figure him out yet! Oh right, I did. BECAUSE IT'S SO OBVIOUS, OH MY BINGHE! Thanks to Liu Qingge his rant was cut short. Shen Qingqiu wore an expression full of irritation; he snapped his fan and turned his head away from the crowd open upon being brought back to reality.
“Shang Qinghua, who the hell is Shen Yuan?” Liu Qingge raises his eyebrow in curiosity, slowly crossing his arms. Shang Qinghua looked at Liu Qingge, then to the rest of the peak lords, who were not-so-patiently waiting for an answer, lastly, he looked towards Shen Qingqiu.
Daggers. Green, absolutely toe-curling, gut-wrenching daggers that stared at him full of murderous intent, were all he saw as he finally started to speak. Not to mention the system that was now blaring sirens in his head. Screaming at him about revealing Shen Yuan's identity.
“Well… I feel like it’s obvious that me and Cu- Peak lord shen…” Shang Qinghua corrects himself yet again, annunciating each word carefully. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight his green robed friend still glaring at him. His fan was snapped open, covering half his face, the only thing you could see were his eyes peering over the top of his bamboo fan. “…are best friends! it's just a name I came up with! Isn’t it amazing Liu-Shidi?” Shang Qinghua turns his gaze even further away from Shen Qingqiu; now properly looking at Liu Qingge. Trying to mask his nervousness with confidence, He settles his hands on his hips, and smirks slightly.
“No” Liu Qingge replies.
“Oh…” His smile falters, “Well, Shen-Shidi likes it…! Isn’t that right?”
“No”
Shang Qinghua's smiles drops and his shoulder's slump down. “Shen-shidi, I thought we were friends!” Qinghua griped, flailing his arms around dramatically. Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes as his internal dialogue started going off again, yeah? well not when you make the DUMBEST EXCUSES IN HISTORY! NOT EVEN A HORSE WOULD BUY THAT ONE.
Liu Qingge, still wasn’t satisfied with his answer, and continued to press, “Why not just use his real name? You know, Shen Jiu?”
At a loss for horrid excuses, he started to stumble over his words, “Oh… uhm, well.. you see.. because…” Qi Qingqi rolled her eyes, interrupting him.
“Well anyway…” She sighs, “I don’t fully believe you, Shang-shidi.” She leans back in her chair, crossing her legs and arms, not once taking her eyes of Shang Qinghua. Some of the other peaks lords butted in, “yeah i agree.” “Shang-shidi, are you sure?”
Yue Qingyuan, noticing some rising tension, cut everyone off, “Okay everyone! I’m going to end the meeting right here. Peak lord Shen and Shang, please stay behind.”
Everyone minus Shang Qinghua and Shen Qingqiu twisted their heads in the direction of the voice. Their eyes landed on Yue Qingyuan, his posture still as perfect as porcelain. Holy shit, they had forgotten about the entire reason they were here, the meeting! Once Yue Qingyuan had finished his sentence, they immediately whipped their heads around to look at their two troublemaking shidi’s. who weren’t paying attention to Yue Qingyuan at all, they were too busy whisper-yelling at each other to notice he had even spoken up.
They all got up from their seats and headed towards the door, going unnoticed by the two peaks lords who were still sitting down. Wei Qingwei snickered just loud enough for the two of them to finally notice what was going on “ooooo look who's in troubleee…”
Both peak lords whip their heads towards him, “WHAT?!” they say in unison. Both their gazes were on the retreating crowd, still confused until they heard an ahem! from behind them. Turning their heads back around met them with a concerned Yue Qingyuan.
Yue Qingyuan’s gaze was calm but steady. He rose from his seat, smoothing his sleeves, as he stepped towards the two peak lords. “Shidi,” he said, voice warm though there was weight beneath it, “It seems there might be more to your story.”
He let the words settle for a moment before continuing, “If something troubles you, there is no need to conceal it. We are your sect siblings— you may speak and feel free to be honest.”
“Zhangmen-Shixiong, I can guarantee you that we aren’t lying. Shang-shidi is just an idiot and doesn’t know the right time to use silly nicknames.” Shen Qingqiu explains, trying to hide his nervousness behind his fan.
The sect leader was still not convinced, but instead of pushing further, he just sighed in defeat and quickly dismissed them. Yue Qingyuan knew he wasn’t going to get an answer very easily and trying to convince both peak lords to admit what was really going on wouldn’t help at all. He still wondered the real reason Shang Qinghua called Shen Qingqiu ‘Shen Yuan.’ He didn't even think there was a Shen Yuan in the cultivation world!
While Yue Qingyuan was once again deep in thought, Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua retreated back to the bamboo house, thankful Yue Qingyuan didn't push the situation. Once they knew they were alone, all curses came out.
“What the hell were you thinking—saying my real name out-loud?! YOU HACK AUTHOR!!” Shen Qingqiu shouts as he hits Shang Qinghua with his fan at full force, not caring if it broke. He was just furious with how carelessly the author let it slip in front of the others! He knew the consequences the system would bring upon them if the secret got out.
The other man was just as furious as Shen Qingqiu. Though it was for a different, even more foolish reason, “YOU WERE THE ONE THAT CALLED MOBEI-JUN’S DICK SMALL?!” His brows still furrowed in irritation. The minute it came out of his mouth, he realized how stupid that was. His irritation melted as his rubbed his eyes, now embarrassed.
“…”
Shen Qingqiu stared at him, then burst into laughter when his words finally registered in his head, “Are you seriously upset about that?!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Out of everything they’ve argued over— he was mad about that?
“Bro! Don’t pretend you haven’t whined to me about your husband’s… monstrous heavenly pillar.” Shang Qinghua gawks. Shen Qingqiu was speechless, only because he knew it was true. They both knew that he flew into a rage whenever anyone hints at a flaw in the protagonist, even the smallest criticism was enough to send him off. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. (His bro was the very definition of a tsundere!)
***
The Sect Leader made his way toward the bamboo house, where he knew his shidi was at. Matters of the sect could not wait—and another peak lord had complained that An Ding peak had yet to remedy the long-neglected repairs that awaited them, some requests even being filed months ago.
As Yue Qingyuan approached the small house, he noticed some small noises. Bickering noises. Noises that he could tell were coming from his shidi’s. He sighed, knowing that could only mean 2 things:
1. They were fighting again.
2. They were drunk as hell.
Lo and behold, it was the 2nd option.
He prepared himself for the worst because who knows what they could possibly be bickering about now. He was about 10 feet away from the entrance when he heard something that made shivers go down his spine. “Airplane-bro, I feel really bad for Zhangmen-Shixiong.” Shen Yuan hiccups, almost choking. He halted. This caught the sect leader's attention. What did he mean by ‘he felt bad?’ Did they do something? Did he do something?
Shang Qinghua replied, staggering over his words, “Dude, you can’t… control… the fact that you’re not… Shen Jiu!”
Yue Qingyuan froze, his eyes widening in horror. Millions of thoughts consumed his mind as they all flooded in at once. Not Shen Jiu?! What did he mean by ‘Not Shen jiu?’ Why the hell didn’t he know about this. If he wasn’t Shen Jiu then who was he? Why does Shang Qinghua know but not him?! His breathing quickened as all those thoughts he had about Shen Qingqiu not actually being Shen jiu came flooding back to the front of his mind. he was right all along.
He felt bile creep up his throat, stomach starting to feel like it's giving out on him, his head was pounding as he tried to process this information. Even though he felt like shit, he continued to listen intently. Maybe he could figure out exactly what’s going on? “Well yeah, I know that. But he seemed so burdened by the truth, I can’t help but feel bad.” Shen Qingqiu, being as drunk as he is, starts to cry. (woah, didn’t know that was possible/j)
“What makes it worse is the fact that Shen jiu will never know the truth either!” Now Shen yuan is just fully sobbing, as he continues to whine about more crap. Continuing to down cup after cup of wine.
At this point, Yue Qingyuan had fully forgotten about the task he had originally come out here for. He slowly walked away; his thoughts still filled with unanswered questions. So many emotions surged forward all at once, anger, sadness, worry, curiosity.
How long have I been living in this lie?!
Ding!
Sirens blared and his vision went black; his entire body started to feel as light as a feather and his body hit the dirt. The mountain he had just been on disappeared before his eyes. He couldn’t hear anything, feel anything, he looked around. The only thing surrounding him was an empty abyss, it almost looked like static, though he didn’t know what static was. He heard another ding, then suddenly, words appeared before him.
{System Activated!!}