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Chapter Text

Being one of the emperor’s spouses was really not that big of a hardship, in Shen Yuan’s experience. Just like the handful of other male spouses, they had been married into the vast harem for political reasons rather than amorous, as Luo Binghe had no actual interest in them, which was just fine with Shen Yuan! It meant that he got to spend most of his time just lounging around, eating decent food (unfortunately not cooked by his husband, as the man had way too many spouses to cook for all of them past their wedding night), access to a large library with books of varying subjects, a nice room with a comfortable bed, and the freedom to slip out and visit his family whenever he was in the mood. 

Luckily, most of the harem was smart enough to understand that the male spouses would never hold a special place in Luo Binghe’s heart, and therefore were not competition, so he was mostly left out of the plotting and drama that seemed to infect everyone else. The only involvement he really had was occasionally spending time with some of the emperor's children, but that didn’t tend to cause problems since most of the wives put on their best selves when it came to their children. Really, he knew that his father had been concerned about agreeing to this marriage, but Shen Yuan didn’t regret it at all. Not only had it distracted Luo Binghe’s attention long enough that his little sister was able to marry the person she actually loved, but it also gave Shen Yuan a cozier life than he’d already had anyways as a rich young master.

It was also how he’d met the closest thing to entertainment in this place- Shang Qinghua. The mousy man was the personal assistant and spy for Luo Binghe’s right hand man, Mobei-jun, and the only surviving peak lord of Cang Qiong Mountain. He was also, apparently, a writer in his spare time, and Shen Yuan took great pleasure in tearing the works apart- metaphorically speaking.

“-completely unrealistic!” Shen Yuan complained. “If there’s no magic and no swords to fly on, but also no horses or stables mentioned anywhere, then how are the characters always traveling so far in such a short amount of time?”

Shang Qinghua sighed. “I already told you, bro, there are other vehicles. The metal carriages, remember?”

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “Of course I remember- but you still haven’t explained how they work if there’s no magic in this story!”

It had been a few years since the two of them had bumped into each other in the palace, and honestly, Shen Yuan wasn’t sure why Shang Qinghua kept sharing his writing when he knew how Shen Yuan would treat it, but maybe it was just because no one else was willing to read such trash. Though Shen Yuan could admit, at least to himself, that the world building was fantastic. Metal carriages, buildings so tall that an entire city of people could live inside of them, no magic or cultivation or demons or ghosts- and so many other details. If only the plot taking place within that world was better written! And it would also be nice if Shang Qinghua was creative enough to not just use the names of real people, but that was a whole separate issue.

Shen Yuan took another bite of his bun, and spoke with his mouth full. “And another thing-” but he wasn’t able to go into his next complaint, something about how the female love interest had brains made of wet hay whenever she interacted with the main lead. He found himself choking, and couldn’t even get in a wheezing breath. When Shang Qinghua realized that the problem was serious, he hurried over and stood behind Shen Yuan, grabbing him under the armpits to pull him up to his feet, and then- hugging him?

Shang Qinghua was trying to do something, possibly even something helpful, though Shen Yuan was aware enough to realize that it would look strange if anyone else walked in. Even though Luo Binghe had no intention of sleeping with his male spouses, they were still expected to remain loyal to him in every way, which meant that they were not supposed to have unchaperoned meetings with anyone who wasn’t part of the harem. The servant who had been chaperoning had left just a few minutes ago after bringing in the fresh food, and Shen Yuan started to suspect that it had been poisoned. He couldn’t figure out why the hell anyone would want to poison him, out of all the possible spouses, but that was something to figure out later. As long as his husband was actually here and not off on yet another adventure, he could just come use his blood to cure Shen Yuan without an issue and-

,,,

Shen Yuan’s eyes snapped open and he woke up with a startled gasp. He assumed that he had been cured quickly enough to save him, as it would look very bad if Luo Binghe couldn’t even protect his spouses within the safety of his own palace, but something felt wrong.

As Shen Yuan blinked and looked around, he realized that the room he was in looked entirely unfamiliar, with everything being plain white. He shifted aside the blanket that was covering him, and saw that he was dressed in the most bizarre under robes with a strange triangle pattern covering them. There was a bad feeling in Shen Yuan’s gut, and when a sudden voice started talking, despite not having any apparent source, the bad feeling only got worse. [Welcome to the world of Proud CEO’s Way ! Host is bound to role- Shen Qingqiu, villain and tutor to protagonist Luo Binghe!]

Shen Yuan nearly spat blood at that announcement. Was this some kind of prank?? Proud CEO’s Way was the name of the latest piece of trash that Shen Yuan had been critiquing for Shang Qinghua! It was a bizarre story that seemed to take heavy inspiration from Luo Binghe’s life (and Shen Yuan had no idea how he’d avoided getting in trouble for using the emperor’s name so easily in his story), but with more of a focus on a narrative than on gaining many wives, even though getting married and having sex probably took up the vast majority of the real Luo Binghe’s time. In fact, Luo Binghe in the story only had a single wife by the point where Shang Qinghua was currently at. 

Having read stories before where the characters were transported into all kinds of strange and fantastical worlds, Shen Yuan couldn’t help thinking that perhaps this was somehow all real. If it was, then at least he was prepared, since he had read everything that Shang Qinghua had written, regardless of whether it was good or not. “Why am I here?” he asked the disembodied voice, hoping for answers.

[Host is here to fill plot holes, improve the story, and earn a happy ending! Work hard to achieve your goals!]

Shen Yuan wanted to demand that he be returned to his comfortable (if somewhat lonely) life, but before he could say anything, someone else entered the room. Shen Yuan looked up to see an unfamiliar man rush in. “You’re awake!” He hurried over to lean over the bed, grabbing one of Shen Yuan’s hands with both of his. “The doctors thought that you might not- but you’re really awake! How are you feeling? Should I call for a nurse?”

The System helpfully informed him, [Yue Qingyuan, CEO of Cang Qiong Manufacturing, and childhood friend of Shen Qingqiu.]

Now Shen Yuan really wanted to give Shang Qinghua a smack. If this world was the book that the other man had written, then why were so many of the characters named after real people?? Of course Shen Yuan had never met Yue Qingyuan before, as all of Cang Qiong mountain had been razed to the ground decades before Shen Yuan was even born, but he had heard the stories about what the cultivation world had been like before Luo Binghe stepped in, and he knew who this man was. 

Shen Yuan pulled his hand free, not comfortable with a stranger holding it, since he’d spent years without being touched by anyone beyond the impersonal touches that came with a servant helping him dress. “I’m fine,” he said softly, picking up on the less formal speech patterns used in Shang Qinghua’s story. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on, and how to avoid giving away the fact that he was not Shen Qingqiu and he did not belong in this world.

He barely paid attention to what he was saying, but he managed to get Yue Qingyuan to leave, which gave him enough time to interrogate the System. He’d read everything Shang Qinghua had already written for this story, and he knew the basics about his husband’s life, so he didn’t think it would be too difficult to follow along, but he wasn’t exactly sure how a lot of this world worked (in part because of the shitty writing that never properly explained anything!)

Shen Yuan wasn’t able to leave the healer’s office until two days later, after he’d been poked and prodded by all manners of strange instruments, though he paid close attention to figure out the purposes of them all. When a nurse handed over his clothes and asked if he needed any help, Shen Yuan had sent her away. He felt practically naked without even any under robes, let alone outer ones! Just pants that were weirdly stiff, and a shirt that buttoned in the front. He’d already seen for himself that it was essentially what everyone around here was wearing, but it was still so very bizarre.

Even though it was a bit awkward with Yue Qingyuan, he was at least grateful that the man offered to bring him home, since Shen Yuan had no clue how he’d find the place on his own. Proud CEO’s Way had described the city as being very big but it was actually massive and more crowded than anything Shen Yuan could have pictured, and he had no idea how everyone got around all the time without constantly getting lost. 

The carriages were just as cool as the book had made them out to be, though Shen Yuan did his best not to let his amazement show, since Shen Qingqiu would be used to all of this. They parked in a large stone cave full of other carriages, and then went inside a very shiny building. 

It was a fascinating journey until they reached the door that must presumably be Shen Yuan’s, and they both looked at the boy who was sitting in front of the door with his back up against it, eyes closed. Yue Qingyuan cleared his throat. “Oh, Binghe, what are you doing here?” 

The boy’s eyes snapped open and Shen Yuan just stared in shock. This was Luo Binghe? But he was so… tiny! Of course he was still a child in this world, so he was physically smaller, but there was something else too. He was missing the large, imposing presence of Shen Yuan’s husband. Without the demon mark on his forehead, and eyes that were dark brown instead of gleaming red, this boy was almost unrecognizable as the person he was based off of. 

Binghe leapt to his feet, face red with embarrassment. “Shizun! I heard you were coming back today, and I thought…” he trailed off, then held up a fabric box that Shen Yuan had not noticed at first. “I made some soup,” he muttered.

This boy! This little white lotus who barely resembled his real counterpart or his older self from this story! Shen Yuan wanted to just reach out and pinch his cheeks and coo. [OOC!] the System suddenly interrupted, and Shen Yuan paused as he tried to figure out what that meant. [Out of character! Host must act according to the character of Shen Qingqiu until he has completed the tutorial. Shen Qingqiu would not show affection for Luo Binghe!]

Shen Yuan scowled at the System, but the look was apparent to the other people around him, and Binghe flinched back slightly. Shen Yuan wanted to beat the System up. It wanted him to abuse a child just because a character in a book did it? Even if this wasn’t the young version of the Emperor, Shen Yuan still wouldn’t think that was right! What was the worst that could happen if he just acted out of character, anyways? [If Host goes against the rules, Host will be forcibly returned to his original world!] the System threatened. That didn’t sound so bad, except… if he had woken up here after being poisoned, there seemed like an unfortunately high possibility that he was already dead in his original world, which meant that returning there would essentially just be killing him.

To pick up the slack of Shen Yuan just standing there, Yue Qingyuan looked at Binghe kindly. “Your shizun is still tired from what he’s been through and needs to rest. It was very thoughtful of you to come by, but I’m sure that he will call you to schedule your next tutoring session once you’re feeling a little better.” 

There was a spark in Binghe’s eyes that made it look like he wanted to argue, but ultimately he bowed his head and left, though he did leave behind the soup. When Yue Qingyuan turned to look at Shen Yuan pointedly, he started to reach for his sleeve out of habit before remembering that these sleeves were much too tight to hold anything in them. And because of the strange kind of world this was, there was no magic, which meant no qiankun pouches or sleeves either. 

He ended up finding a key in his pants pocket, though it was a bit of a struggle to pull it out because of the inflexibility of the material. There were a few keys on the same chain, and he took a random guess before trying one of them. Yue Qingyuan made a strange noise. “A-Jiu, that’s your car key.” 

Oops. Shen Yuan picked a different one, and was able to successfully open the door to Shen Qingqiu’s home. Then he turned around to give Yue Qingyuan a shallow bow of the head. “Thanks for seeing me home. I’ll see you around.” Then he all but slammed the door in the man’s face. The two had a somewhat strained relationship in the book, so this wouldn’t seem too odd, and Shen Yuan really needed some time to figure out the fine details of this world on his own.

He wandered around and explored this house, which was apparently his now that he was playing the role of Shen Qingqiu, and he pushed the System for information about pretty much everything that he saw. He groaned when he came across the kitchen. He’d never had to cook for himself before, growing up in a fairly nice household and then marrying into the Emperor’s harem. Maybe he could hire a chef here? Though he was unsure of what Shen Qingqiu’s finances were like. But surely he must be rich, considering how big this house was, and how many belongings it contained? Oh well. At least for tonight he had Binghe’s soup, and maybe it would even be as delicious as the foods that Shen Yuan’s husband was supposedly capable of making. 

The biggest prize Shen Yuan ended up discovering was what the System called a computer, and more importantly, the thing it contained- the internet. He had access to so much information, literally anything he could think to ask. It was way more helpful than the System, and Shen Yuan figured that after a few days of using the internet, he’d be able to fit into this world without any issues. 

It wasn’t until he’d stuffed himself with more information than he ever could have imagined having access to that he thought to look up the people he knew. It would only be their story selves and not their real selves- or so he thought. When Shen Yuan searched for Luo Binghe, it was not the boy of this world that he found, but his husband. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, though, since none of the drawings looked quite right, as if they were only drawn by people who had heard descriptions but never seen the Emperor in person.

Even more bizarre was the discovery that as far as this world was concerned, it was Shen Yuan’s world and life that were part of a fictional story! How did that make any sense? Of course Shen Yuan’s world was the real one! Wasn’t it? 

After a little more searching, he found a place to read the story titled Proud Immortal Demon Way, and quickly recognized the writing style. In fact, if he was recalling correctly, then some sections seemed to be lifted almost word for word. There was no doubt about it- Proud Immortal Demon Way and Proud CEO’s Way had to have been written by the same person. So which one came first? Which one was the real one and which was the fiction? And did it even matter, when both worlds felt so real?

Shen Yuan was not particularly interested in reading all about his husband’s exploits- not because he was emotionally attached to the man, he barely even knew him really- but because it just seemed gauche and uninteresting. It’s not like Shen Yuan didn’t already know about his husband’s life. But even as he thought that, he found his eyes glued to the bright screen, getting drawn in despite himself. Perhaps there was more to Luo Binghe than Shen Yuan had ever known. It was hard to believe that the Emperor had ever truly been such a little white lotus, but considering the version of Binghe he’d seen in this world, perhaps it wasn’t so impossible to imagine. 

When Shen Yuan had bothered to give much thought to his husband at all, he’d thought that the man was cool and powerful and fit perfectly in his role. But reading about Binghe’s childhood and the dreams he’d once had and the inner kindness he’d had before it had been all stamped out, Shen Yuan couldn’t help feeling that it was all quite… sad. He was glad that the Shen Qingqiu of his own world had been killed long ago, or else Shen Yuan would want to return to his world just to find the scum and beat him up for daring to treat an innocent child that way!

Shen Yuan didn’t even realize how long he’d let himself get lost down the rabbit hole of the internet and Proud Immortal Demon Way, until he heard a knock at the front door, and he looked up from the computer. His eyes felt a little fuzzy, and he was suddenly aware of how hungry he was. He got up and made his way to the door, curious about who was there.

He didn’t expect to see baby Binghe, wearing different clothes than before. Binghe looked up, and worry immediately crossed his face. “Shizun? Are you… are you okay?”

Shen Yuan blinked a few times. “Yes.” He didn’t know what else to say. Did he look like there was something wrong with him? Shen Yuan still wasn’t even sure of why he had been at the healers, so maybe it had something to do with that?

Binghe frowned a little. “Shizun is… uh.” He hesitated, clearly unwilling to speak his mind, and it only made Shen Yuan angry at this world’s Shen Qingqiu as well. Why couldn’t he ever just be a decent person who showed basic decency and respect for the children in his care?? “Shizun never called. About tutoring.” 

Why was this child so eager to run back to a teacher who clearly hadn’t treated him very well? Shen Yuan cleared his throat. He had at least a beginner’s level of knowledge in a wide variety of subjects, so as long as Binghe wasn’t expecting an expert, Shen Yuan could probably bluff his way through. “Very well. Binghe may come in.” Binghe kept giving him strange looks as they entered, but he settled down at the kitchen table and pulled some books and papers out of his bag. He cleared his throat to say something, but that’s when Binghe noticed the faint bruise on the boy’s cheek. “What happened?” he blurted out without thinking. [OOC!] the System called out. [Shen Qingqiu would not care about Luo Binghe’s wellbeing!]

Even if there would be heavy consequences, Shen Yuan couldn’t just do nothing in this kind of situation. Especially when Binghe ducked his head to stare down awkwardly at the table. “It’s nothing, Shizun shouldn’t worry about it.” 

Considering what he knew of Binghe’s childhood from both of Shang Qinghua’s shitty books (and at some point, Shen Yuan would have to think about whether there was a version of him somewhere in this world as well), it wasn’t hard to guess what might have happened. Either some kids had bullied the boy, or Shen Qingqiu himself had caused the injury- though that seemed a little less likely since this world seemed to have different standards when it came to the way children were treated, at least to an extent. 

Shen Yuan said nothing and ducked into the bathroom, opening the mirror cabinet over the sink. Every time he saw his reflection, it took him aback, since he’d never seen his own face so clearly before, but he could still tell that this was someone else’s. Ignoring that though, Shen Yuan grabbed a couple of items. He had used the internet to look up all the words on the various bottles and tubes, and while he still didn’t entirely understand what all of them meant, he at least knew what each tincture was supposed to do.

He took the cream that was meant to speed up the healing of bruises, as well as pills that were meant to take away pain. He wasn’t actually sure how effective any of them could be without any magic in their creation or the body’s natural spiritual energy to help things along, but he figured that Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t bother with such things if they were complete nonsense.

Knowing that applying the cream himself would be going too far out of character, Shen Yuan just tossed it to Binghe, who caught it immediately with his excellent reflexes. “That should help,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice cold and somewhat distant, even though he really just wanted to give the boy a hug or maybe a pat on the back or something. When the System didn’t seem satisfied, Shen Yuan reluctantly added, “I wouldn’t want anyone thinking that I hurt my students.” Then he checked the bottle of pills to double check the proper dosage before carefully pulling out two and setting them on the table. He grabbed a glass of water as well, still amused by how he could just turn a little knob and get infinite water, already heated up and everything. If this was the fictional world, then Shang Qinghua certainly had quite the imagination.

Binghe quickly swallowed the pills and put a few dabs of the cream on his neck. He started to hand the tube back, but Shen Yuan just shook his head. He could probably figure out how to buy more if he needed it (thank you, internet!), and Binghe needed it more right now.

Binghe stared up at him with wide eyes before carefully sliding the tube into his bag like it was something precious. Perhaps it was more akin to the many miracle cures that could be found in Shen Yuan’s original world than some everyday medicine, but he still stood by his decision to give it away.

Shen Yuan sat down across from Binghe at the table. “Where did we leave off last?” He wasn’t even sure what subject he was supposed to be teaching, but if Binghe did start to get too suspicious, Shen Yuan could always just say that he was still sick or hurt or whatever, and it would be fine.

Binghe opened a thick book to a page with a sheet of paper tucked into it, and turned it slightly so that Shen Yuan could see it as well. Shen Yuan almost let out a sigh of relief. Numbers! He could work with numbers! Even though he’d ended up marrying the Emperor, and his elder brother had always been the one expected to inherit anything related to business, Shen Yuan had been made to sit through long hours of tutoring all throughout his time growing up, just in case. As a young master, it was expected that he be educated anyways. He probably would have even gone on to take the national exams if his wedding hadn’t come first. 

Luckily, or perhaps thanks to the bad writing, it did not seem as though maths had too many differences between worlds, and it only took Shen Yuan quickly reading through the text to be pretty sure that he knew what to do. And the teaching part wasn’t so difficult either, since Shen Yuan had actually offered lessons to a few of his husband’s children on occasion, if only for a way to break up the monotony that came with that lifestyle. 

Shen Yuan wasn’t sure how long these lessons were supposed to last, so he just figured he’d wrap things up when all of Binghe’s homework was done, or when Binghe indicated that he needed to leave. Binghe never said anything about going away, though, and instead patiently worked on his figures until they’d finished everything. It was actually a lot shorter than the kinds of assignments Shen Yuan had been given in school, which was nice.

But he had already been hungry before Binghe’s arrival, and now that several hours had passed, he was even more so. He also heard Binghe’s stomach growl, and Binghe ducked his head, face bright red with embarrassment. “Sorry, Shizun! I should go.” 

Shen Yuan looked carefully at Binghe’s clothes. Even going by this world’s standards, they seemed a bit threadbare, and Shen Yuan was pretty sure he had money to spare. “You can stay for dinner,” he announced, trying to make it sound like he was doing Binghe a big favor. It wouldn’t be difficult to get some food, either, since the internet was good at everything, including summoning meals. Shen Yuan wasn’t actually sure how those meals were being paid for, since the ones who delivered the food never expected any gold or silver from him, but Shen Yuan didn’t care as long as he was able to keep getting more. It was much easier than figuring out how to cook. 

Poor Binghe looked entirely overwhelmed by the offer, though, and Shen Yuan wondered where the boy actually lived, since there was obviously no sect peak for him to stay at, mistreated though he might be there. “If- if Shizun wants, I could… I could make something?” 

Sorry kid, but there was basically no ingredients to speak of in this place! He was about to reject the offer, but he could already see Binghe’s dejected face, and he sighed. “Do as you wish,” he said with a wave of his hand towards the kitchen.

Binghe nodded, looking far more determined than seemed necessary for something as simple as cooking for his tutor, and he went to the kitchen to rummage around. He must have somehow managed to find something, because after a few minutes, some amazing smells began drifting through the air. Shen Yuan was practically drooling at the thought of tasting some of Binghe’s cooking. The soup had proven that even at this age, Binghe was already as masterful in the kitchen as the stories always claimed (only the wives that the Emperor slept with had ever actually gotten to taste Binghe’s cooking on their wedding night so Shen Yuan had never gotten the chance to try it before all of this).

It didn’t take long at all before Binghe was setting down a perfect looking bowl of congee in front of Shen Yuan, a bashful look on his face. “I hope Shizun likes it,” he said very quietly. 

Shen Yuan did his best to hide his eagerness as he raised the spoon to take his first bite, but before the rice could end up in his mouth, he was startled by a loud pounding at the door. He sighed in disappointment and gave the bowl a last longing look before getting up to see who it was. 

Chapter Text

After getting back from that world with its too-kind Shizun and weak crybaby imposter of himself, Luo Binghe didn’t know what to do. He kept reaching up to feel for the braid in his hair without thinking about it, and then scolding himself and dropping his arm. Several of his wives made it clear that they wanted to show him just how much they had missed him in his brief absence, but something about the thought of spending the night with any of them made his stomach twist, and he hated that he didn’t even understand why.

Perhaps that kind Shizun had awakened something new in Luo Binghe, and it was simply that his wives were no longer the only taste he had? Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. Luo Binghe did have several husbands, afterall. The understanding had always been that they would not be required to share the Emperor’s bed, but in the end they were still Luo Binghe’s spouses, so surely if he made the offer, it would be accepted. 

Now that he’d come to that decision, Luo Binghe did feel a bit better. Maybe he really did just need something a little different from his usual flowers. So Luo Binghe told a servant to fetch his male spouses and bring them all to the throne room. He could decide from there which of them he wanted to extend an offer to.

It didn’t take long before they were brought before him, though Luo Binghe frowned slightly as he looked them all over. Perhaps gender wasn’t the issue afterall, because none of them quite felt right. Then he thought he noticed something strange as he stared at his male spouses. Although he obviously did not have nearly as many husbands as wives, it still felt like the number standing in front of him was too small. The nearest servant seemed to be able to guess what Luo Binghe was thinking, because they looked up at him with more fear than usual, not wanting to be the one to have to deliver whatever the bad news was. “My Lord, an unfortunate incident occurred just after you left, and one of your spouses was poisoned! It was that rat who works for Mobei-jun, he sent away the servants despite the inappropriateness of meeting the Emperor’s spouse with no supervision, and then suddenly-!”

Luo Binghe frowned and stood abruptly. While he did not have any real attachment to his male spouses, part of the marriage vows included that they would be kept safe. If Luo Binghe could not keep his promise of protection for his spouses, then it would make him look weak, and it would make his enemies think that they could do whatever they wished without fear. “Who was poisoned?”

“It- it was Consort Shen,” he answered with a slight quiver in his voice.

Luo Binghe frowned, and it took a few seconds for him to remember who that was. (In his defense, it was hard enough keeping track of his spouses that he actually spent time with, let alone the ones that were only here for purely political reasons). Shen Yuan was the first man to join Luo Binghe’s harem. Originally, Luo Binghe had planned on marrying the younger sister, who was beautiful and kind and had helped save his life in a moment of vulnerability, as several of his previous wives had done. It was not until Luo Binghe had gone to the Shen household that he understood the mix up- it had been Shen Yuan that he had met, but Shen Yuan had been dressed up as a woman for reasons that Luo Binghe had never bothered to learn. Luo Binghe had spent the night at the Shen estate, and Shen Yuan approached him after everyone was asleep, begging for Luo Binghe not to pursue his sister. Seeing the value in being connected to one of the most powerful families of that region, Luo Binghe had agreed, on the condition that he marry Shen Yuan instead, ensuring an alliance that did not involve Luo Binghe having to actually concede much at all.

Other than a few occasions where Shen Yuan had been summoned to offer advice on how to deal with the people from his home, Luo Binghe had not given the man much thought. Still, he was pretty sure of at least one thing, which was, “Mobei’s rat, Shang Qinghua, is he not friends with Consort Shen?”

The servant quivered. “Well- he- he’s probably been hiding his true intentions, and-”

Luo Binghe raised his hand to cut off the annoying babbling. “Take me to my spouse. I will deal with the culprit later.” He couldn’t imagine that Shen Yuan was actually dead, or someone would have informed him right away, but if he hadn’t shown up when all of the male spouses were called for, then the poison must have still been harmful.

He was led to Shen Yuan’s rooms, and he couldn’t help looking around curiously once he was inside. Of course Luo Binghe owned this entire palace and therefore everything inside, and whatever his spouses owned was only by the grace of their generous husband, which meant that these rooms also belonged to Luo Binghe. But he had never had any reason to enter these rooms before.

There were sketches of various monsters pinned up all over the walls, stacks of books lying around messily, robes carelessly crumpled on the floor, fans scattered everywhere, some of which looked quite beautiful and some which looked like they’d been bought at some cheap street stall, and there was an expensive looking qin resting on a low table with strings that looked worn thin. He moved closer to the window to see what was lining the sill, and took in the sight of the little statues, some of unfamiliar people, and some of various beasts. He reached out to pick one up, and realized that the paint on it was still drying, which meant that Shen Yuan must have made these himself. Luo Binghe had not realized that his first husband was so artistic. 

Then he turned towards the occupied bed. Shen Yuan’s eyes were closed and he was tucked under a thick blanket, and he was not moving at all. If it were not for the gentle rising and falling of his chest, he would truly appear to be dead. The servant by the door stuttered out something about how Shen Yuan had not woken up since his poisoning. 

Well, as long as news of this attack had not spread, it was not an issue. Luo Binghe closed his eyes to focus on the drops of his blood that Shen Yuan had consumed on their wedding night, and tried to seek out the poison so that he could get rid of it. He frowned when he could not actually find the source of Shen Yuan’s ailment. Perhaps the blood was too stale? Luo Binghe pulled Xin Mo just a little ways out of the sheath so that he could slice his hand, and then held it over Shen Yuan’s open mouth so that some could drip in before the wound healed. Even still, Luo Binghe could not fix the problem.

Scowling, he turned back to the servant. “Where is Shang Qinghua now?”

“In the dungeon!” the servant squeaked out nervously.

Luo Binghe fully drew his sword and cut open a portal so that he could step through and come out the other side in the rat’s cell. He knew that Mobei-jun was strangely fond of this former peak lord, but he would risk the displeasure of his subordinate if this man was truly responsible for the poisoning- though Luo Binghe did have his doubts. 

Shang Qinghua was huddled pathetically in the corner of the cell, and he jumped up to stare at Luo Binghe with wide eyed alarm. “My Lord!” He hurried to bow a few times. “How is Shen- Consort Shen?” He was twisting his hands together nervously, but not in a way that indicated guilt so much as concern. That did not entirely clear him of the crime, but Luo Binghe knew that the only reason Shang Qinghua didn’t spend all his time holed up in the north was because he wanted to spend time with Shen Yuan, so it was hard to believe that he’d suddenly decided to attempt murder. Then again, this man had easily turned on his martial siblings and helped take down the entire sect, so his loyalty was not historically always absolute.

Luo Binghe glared down at the pathetic man. “Making sure that you finished the job?” he asked coldly.

Shang Qinghua shook his head so quickly that it would be amazing if he didn’t give himself a concussion. “No, my Lord, I would never-! I know what it looks like, but I swear it wasn’t me! And I didn’t send away the chaperone, they just left on their own, and I-!”

Luo Binghe glared, which effectively silenced the man, and he gave Shang Qinghua a long look. It had become obvious to him, over the years, that Shang Qinghua had a way of just knowing things that he probably shouldn’t, sometimes things that nobody else should even be capable of knowing. It was what made him a valuable asset, and why Luo Binghe didn’t mind allowing Mobei-jun to keep his little pet. So if Shang Qinghua really was innocent of this, as Luo Binghe suspected, then there could still be more to learn from him. “Why would someone seek to harm this Lord’s spouse? This Lord is aware that his wives are not above a little infighting, but such conflicts have not touched the husbands before.” 

Shang Qinghua continued to stare up at him with wide, watery eyes, until he realized that he was actually supposed to respond. “Oh! Uh. I think that it might not actually have anything to do with you? It’s just that I’ve heard that Consort Shen’s elder brother has made some enemies, and they might have just wanted revenge?”

Luo Binghe frowned in thought. It wasn’t as though the idea was impossible, but surely Shen Yuan’s sister lived in a less secure place, and would be an easier target? And unless such attacks were perfectly coordinated, surely Shen Yuan would have heard about it if his family had been harmed and he would have gotten permission to leave the palace and visit them.

“What were you doing when Consort Shen was poisoned?” he asked, just to check whether or not Shen Yuan had seemed worried about something.

Shang Qinghua shrugged one shoulder. “We were just discussing my latest book, my Lord.”

“Book?”

The fearful look on the man’s face faded a little, and his eyes lit up with excitement. “I write novels, and She- Consort Shen reads and critiques them. He actually had a lot to say about the latest one, which I guess is fair since it’s technically just a rip off of something else I wrote a long time ago and I didn’t really do much to change it other than the setting, but at least I don’t have to worry about such a demanding audience this time around forcing me to write what they want to see rather than what I want since I get paid enough by my king to survive here and…”

The man kept talking even as Luo Binghe rolled his eyes and turned away. He opened the cell and then made another portal to leave. Since he was mostly sure that Shang Qinghua was not responsible for the poisoning, he may as well let the man go. It would be easy enough to capture him again if new evidence came to light.

In the meanwhile, Luo Binghe needed to figure out how to wake up his sleeping spouse. He knew that there were many different types of poisons in this world, and they did not all focus on crippling the body. Some of them were meant to cause harm to the mind. If that was the case, then the easiest way to learn more would be to enter Shen Yuan’s dreams and see for himself what was going on.

So Luo Binghe went to his own room and laid down in bed, completely forgetting about the fact that he had been trying to find someone to bring to bed with him. He was able to easily put himself to sleep, as any dream expert would be able to, and focused on finding Shen Yuan’s dream specifically. There was a strange swooping feeling in Luo Binghe’s stomach, like his body thought he was flying even though he was just lying in bed, and then he found a strange blue tunnel with sparks coming off of it. Luo Binghe frowned and checked that he had his sword- even in a dream it was always best to be armed- and then stepped forward. He wasn’t sure what this tunnel meant or why it was in between him and Shen Yuan, but Luo Binghe was determined to figure it out.

,,,

Luo Binghe’s eyes snapped open and he immediately snapped to attention when he realized that his surroundings were entirely unfamiliar. Actually- perhaps not entirely so. Though Luo Binghe was no expert on this world, he recognized a few things from when he had looked through the kind Shizun’s memories, and he frowned in thought.

He reached for Xin Mo, and was relieved to find the sword still strapped to his hip, and decided to save himself the time of wandering around. He cut open a portal that should bring him right to Shen Yuan, only he found himself standing in front of another door instead of his spouse. He could just smash down the door, but he knew that damaging anything in a dream would only harm the dreamer, and he did not want to cause more harm to Shen Yuan. And even if this didn’t really feel anything like being in a dream, Luo Binghe still figured that it would be safest to assume that the usual rules applied.

So instead he started banging on the door aggressively, waiting for it to open. It took a few long moments before the door swung open, and then Luo Binghe could only stare. “Shizun.” He didn’t even know what else to say. Ignoring the strange clothes and too-short hair, there was no denying that this man was Shen Qingqiu. But why would Shen Yuan be dreaming about the dead Qing Jing peak lord?

Shen Qingqiu also looked surprised to see Luo Binghe, which was already strange. Other than contempt, Shen Qingqiu had always been a master at keeping his thoughts hidden. “My Lord!” he blurted out. “You’re here!” 

Before Luo Binghe could question that, he got another shock as someone else came up behind Shen Qingqiu. And of course Luo Binghe immediately recognized his younger self- something else that Shen Yuan should not be able to so perfectly envision in a dream. 

The young Binghe gave him a suspicious look before focusing on Shen Qingqiu. “Do you know this person, Shizun?” 

For a moment, Shen Qingqiu looked lost in thought, like he was listening to something that only he could hear, and then he sighed. “I’m not actually-” he frowned and looked a little frustrated as he cut himself off, then he reached out towards Luo Binghe. The emperor immediately went to draw his sword, unwilling to let even a dream version of Shen Qingqiu lay a single finger on him. Shen Qingqiu stared up at him with an unreadable expression on his face. “Sorry, I was just…” he trailed off uncharacteristically, then took a step back, gesturing for Luo Binghe to follow him through the door. 

The younger Binghe didn’t look pleased about that, but he didn’t argue, just stood there and glowered up at his older self. “Shizun, dinner is going to get cold,” the boy complained.

Shen Qingqiu gave the boy an apologetic look, which felt like the equivalent of getting slugged in the stomach to Luo Binghe. His shizun had never once in his life felt guilt or regret for anything he’d done. The only time he’d seen that look on that face was… in the kind Shizun’s memories. Considering how real this world felt, Luo Binghe had to wonder if he was really here and not just in a dream. And if that was the case, and this was somehow another world with a kind Shizun already claimed by a different Luo Binghe… then what did that even mean? Why was he the only version of himself who did not deserve that kindness? What was so inherently wrong with him that wasn’t wrong with any of his other selves? 

He was lost in those thoughts, and was taken by surprise when he heard Shen Qingqiu speak. “I’m sorry, Binghe, but would you mind excusing us for a few minutes? There’s some important stuff we need to discuss.” 

Luo Binghe was sure that he was being dismissed, and even if it was done kindly, it still felt like a slap in the face, but then after a few seconds he heard shuffling feet, and he looked up to see his younger self going off to a different room, though not before glaring back at Luo Binghe first.

“What do you want?” Luo Binghe growled threateningly, still unable to imagine anything good that Shen Qingqiu would want to discuss with him. Even the good Shen Qingqiu from that crybaby’s world had attacked as soon as he’d realized that Luo Binghe was from a different world. 

Shen Qingqiu sighed with exasperation, which seemed unwarranted in this situation. “It’s me, Shen Yuan! Your husband! Aren’t you here for me? I don’t really know what’s up with this whole situation, not really, but the System didn’t object to me telling you this, and…” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “Did my body die from the poison? If it did, there might still be some options for me to go home.” He glanced over at a shiny piece of metal resting on the table. “Though I will miss the internet…”

Luo Binghe frowned and reached out with his senses, but there was no signs of his blood in Shen Qingqiu’s body. Then again, if he was only possessing it, then it’s not as though blood would have transferred over along with his spirit. Maybe Luo Binghe should have been more suspicious, but in a lot of ways, this made sense. Maybe the kind Shizun from that other world had never been Shen Qingqiu in the first place, because this man claiming to be Shen Yuan reminded him so much of that other Shen Qingqiu that it couldn’t be a coincidence. 

“Why are we here?” he asked, instead of addressing what had just been said.

Shen Qingqiu- Shen Yuan? shrugged. “As far as I know, we’re inside Shang Qinghua’s book. And trust me, that’s all you want to know.” He shuddered as he thought about whatever further information he was not going to share. “Can’t you just use Xin Mo to bring us back?”

Luo Binghe frowned. “I am not sure.” He knew he could make a portal, of course, but he didn’t know if bringing back Shen Yuan in this form would help restore him to his own unconscious body. But Luo Binghe also couldn’t just abandon one of his spouses in an unfamiliar world. “If you are truly my husband, then you will not object to taking my heavenly demon blood into your body,” he declared, then gave the man in front of him a searching look.

He rolled his eyes- rolled his eyes! at Luo Binghe before nodding. “Sure, sure.”

Even though he’d already started to believe that this really was not the same Shen Qingqiu who had made Luo Binghe’s life miserable, part of him was still somehow surprised to get such an easy agreement. He wasn’t going to waste any time and give the man a chance to change his mind, so Luo Binghe sliced his hand open and held it out. 

With the way they were standing, Luo Binghe could easily see the doorway to the other room, while Shen Yuan’s back was to it as he raised Luo Binghe’s hand to his mouth to take a sip. So Luo Binghe saw as his younger self stood in the door, staring with wide eyes and a bright blush on his face as Shen Yuan finished by licking the extra blood off of Luo Binghe’s palm so that it would not make a mess. His younger self scowled before turning away.

Luo Binghe couldn’t ignore the heat in his belly, and he wondered if it was because Shen Yuan was wearing Shen Qingqiu’s face at the moment, or if it was just because Luo Binghe had been overlooking his spouse all this time. Afterall, hadn’t he been interested in Shen Yuan right from the start before realizing that he was a man? And with his blood parasites inside of Shen Yuan, Luo Binghe could assess his husband’s condition, and feel that he was not unaffected either. Perhaps there was some good to come from all of this, in the end.

Chapter Text

“-and this beast only goes after beautiful young women,” the man exclaimed with just a little too much excitement in his voice. “I tracked the beast all the way here, but it is a tricky one.” 

Shen Yuan’s father frowned. “Are you claiming to be a cultivator?” he asked delicately.

Their visitor frowned, and there was a sudden tension in the room that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Of course everyone knew that under the reign of Emperor Luo Binghe, there was no longer any such thing as proper cultivators. The main sects had all been destroyed, along with most of the important cultivation manuals. Afterall, why would a heavenly demon allow the continued careers of those who dedicated their lives to fighting demons? There were still people out there who cultivated a golden core for themselves to gain the benefits of such a thing, but they would not dare to call themselves cultivators.

Having been asked such a dangerous question, the visitor looked nervous, but he tried to laugh it off. “Ah, who could claim such a thing? Who could? I’m merely a humble traveler doing my best to track down a deadly beast.”

“Hm.” Shen Yuan’s father was no fool, but he would not want any of their people to be hurt by the mysterious creature. “And how does Zhou-gongzi plan to catch this beast?”

The look on their visitor’s face was a little shifty, and it was revealed why just a moment later when he glanced over at Shen Yuan’s meimei before looking back at the master of the estate. “I believe that it could be drawn out if baited.” 

Shen Yuan frowned as he flipped through the pages of his favorite bestiary (the one he always brought to meetings like this, just in case). He was looking to find what would best match the details provided by the not-cultivator, and none of the possibilities made him feel any better. “What does it do to the women it finds?” 

The man paused and when Shen Yuan’s father gave a single stern nod, he looked at Shen Yuan to answer the question. “Young master, the details are quite gruesome, and-”

“Answer the question,” Meimei told him in a harsh voice. She was two years younger than Shen Yuan, but often acted like she was the older sibling due to the somewhat sickly constitution Shen Yuan had had until nearly the end of his childhood.

The man laughed nervously. “Ah, of course, of course. Well, this beast will go after unmarried young women and will act innocent all while staging some situation in which it will need to ‘rescue’ the girls, and then… then it will forcibly marry them. Those who have been taken by this beast have never been seen by their families again. And when this beast encounters men, it is often driven into a rage that drives it to tear the men apart, limb from limb, if they are lucky.” 

Shen Yuan’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. This didn’t sound like any of the cool creatures in his books, it just sounded like a run-of-the-mill monster. It could very well be human or demon or otherwise, but just an ordinary monster all the same.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t hear what his father said, only his sister’s following plea of, “But a-die!”

“That is final,” their father told her. Meimei scowled and crossed her arms over her chest, but remained quiet. Shen Yuan knew that she would wish to continue the argument once this man was gone and there were only family members left to witness the spat.

But Zhou-gongzi didn’t seem to care about the disagreement between father and daughter. “Lord Shen, I can assure you that your daughter would be perfectly safe the entire time. I would swear my life on it!” he added dramatically. 

“No. My daughter will not be used as bait. We will find some other way to put an end to this creature.” Then their visitor was dismissed. A servant would lead him to one of the guest rooms, though it would not be the nicest one because Lord Shen could be quite petty.

Once the man was gone, Meimei stood up and glowered at their father. “I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, and if doing this would protect our people, then shouldn’t it be my duty?”

“We will not discuss this further. I have already made my decision on the matter.” 

Then Meimei looked at Shen Yuan with those deadly eyes, like a cute little puppy or something. “Ge! Tell a-die that I can do this!” 

Shen Yuan awkwardly shifted on his feet, then looked over at Lord Shen. “Meimei has done well in all of her self-defense classes,” he offered weakly. But it was clear that there would be no outcome here in which everyone walked away happily, because Lord Shen refused to change his mind, and Meimei refused to give up on the idea of being part of Zhou-gongzi’s scheme.

Meimei stormed away, throwing her hands up in frustration. When Shen Yuan gave his father a questioning look, the man sighed. “Your sister takes too much after your mother,” he murmured. “She is strong and brave and kind, but it would only take one moment’s distraction, or one tiny mistake, and then she would be gone. She is still just a child, in the end.” 

Shen Yuan nodded understandingly, but he also knew his sister too well to believe that she would truly let things be. And he was proven right that very evening, when he heard the creaking out in the hallway just past his room. He poked his head out, and saw a shadow slipping down the stairs. Shen Yuan felt a wave of affection for his sister wash through him. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to help against whatever this beast was. Sometimes it could get frustrating, living in a fancy estate and having the best of everything, unable to do anything to help those who were much worse off, and unable to leave to explore the world. 

If Meimei was determined to throw herself head first into this mystery, then Shen Yuan was equally determined to help her see it through. He did not care much for being a hero himself, since that sounded like a lot of work, but he could at least help Meimei out with this.

So he quietly took off after her, still fully dressed because he had expected just this scenario to occur. Shen Yuan followed at a bit of a distance, but ultimately, Meimei knew him just as well, because once they were clear of the house, she glanced over her shoulder, and motioned impatiently for Shen Yuan to get closer. He scurried over to her, and she rolled her eyes, nudging her elbow into his side. “Zhou-gongzi is waiting out by the old flower field,” she whispered. “You’ll need to find a hiding spot as well, because the beast won’t approach if a man is around.” 

Shen Yuan nodded. He reached out to give Meimei’s hand a light squeeze, then turned to start heading towards the flower field. Most of it was flat and empty, the wrong season for flowers to be in bloom, so there was really only one place Zhou-gongzi could be hiding, by the gardener’s shack just off to the side of the field. But when he reached the shack, there was no sign of anyone else around.

Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows, and began looking around more urgently, though of course he did not have the demonic ability to see in the dark, and neither Meimei nor Zhou-gongzi would be foolish enough to be carrying around a lamp when trying to stay subtle. 

Worried, Shen Yuan planned to turn back and find Meimei again. He knew she could defend herself, but that didn’t make him feel any better about leaving her to face this beast without the backup of a not-cultivator. Then he glanced down at himself. If he was spotted, the beast would probably try to kill him for interfering with its business.

Shen Yuan closed his eyes and wondered how he ended up in these kinds of situations, and then he quietly pulled open the gardener’s shack to step inside. As he’d thought, there were some spare robes of more feminine cuts hanging up. He made a mental note to apologize to the gardener later for taking her clean clothes, and he quickly swapped his outer robes for hers. They were a little tight in the shoulders, but otherwise fit pretty decently. Since he didn’t have the time or materials to smear makeup on his face, he settled for covering the lower half of his face with a veil and hoping that in the dark, the beast would not be able to notice.

Then Shen Yuan crept out of the little shack, heading back in the direction he’d left Meimei in. When he heard loud roars, Shen Yuan gave up any pretense of stealth and booked it in the direction of the noise. He found Zhou-gongzi laughing victoriously at a person lying on the ground, growling in pain. When Shen Yuan looked at the person, he couldn’t help but stare for a moment.

The man on the ground had to be the most beautiful person Shen Yuan had ever seen before. A perfect face, as if a sculpted statue; thick, fluffy hair that looked like it would feel nice; a chiseled jawline and noble cheekbones, and from what could be seen past the torn shirt, he had the kind of body that a man could truly take pride in. 

But then one last detail registered in Shen Yuan’s mind- the glowing red huadian in a shape that marked him as a heavenly demon- as the emperor of the three realms. Shen Yuan was in shock for a moment as he tried to process what was happening. “What did you do?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Zhou-gongzi looked over, but didn’t seem startled to see him. “I have incapacitated the beast, Lady Shen,” he said smugly. Ah, wait, Lady Shen?? Had he been mistaken for his own sister?? That was pretty rude, considering the growth spurt he’d had last year that brought him a couple of centimeters taller than her at last. “This filthy creature has been massacring innocent men, stealing away innocent women to be his brides, and allowing other demons to cause problems everywhere. He has been allowed to continue on like this for too long, and I will not let it continue. And once this wretch is gone, the rest of the demons won’t be so brave anymore!” 

Shen Yuan could only stare. Was this man a complete moron?? Everyone knew that Emperor Luo Binghe was the mightiest and most powerful being anywhere, and as a heavenly demon, he was essentially immune or at least extremely resistant to any kind of poison that could be thought to be used on him. There was no way Zhou-gongzi was going to make it out of this encounter alive, and unless Shen Yuan made it very clear that his family had not known about this, then Shens would be killed as well for their involvement.

With so much on the line, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but panic a little, and abruptly charged forward to bum rush Zhou-gongzi. The man was clearly surprised by the tactic, because he wasn’t able to react quickly enough to stop himself from being tackled to the ground.

Unfortunately, that was about as far ahead as Shen Yuan had thought. What was he supposed to do now?? He ended up grappling and rolling around in the dirt for a few minutes, to Zhou-gongzi’s increasing irritation. “What are you doing, you stupid brat? I’m trying to save the world!” 

“Demons have just as much right to live in this world as humans!” Shen Yuan argued. He really did believe that, too, he wasn’t just saying it because he knew that the emperor was right there. Although from the brief glances Shen Yuan was able to get, the emperor appeared to be in a pretty bad state, and probably wasn’t even listening to this at all.

Zhou-gongzi snorted. “You’re just as corrupt as the rest of the demon-loving nobility around here! You know that you’d lose all of your power in an instant if there was no longer a heavenly demon around to threaten people into staying on your lands instead!” 

“What are you even talking about??” Shen Yuan shoved Zhou-gongzi away from him with a sudden burst of strength that came from gods-know-where, and then he grabbed a loose fistful of dirt to fling at the not-cultivator’s face. Zhou-gongzi grimaced and began coughing up dirt, giving Shen Yuan a moment to scramble to his feet and hurry over to the emperor, who was looking quite pale. “Do you know what he gave you?”

Luo Binghe let out a low growl that seemed to say, ‘no.’ Well, considering the various stories in circulation about the emperor, Shen Yuan was sure that the man would know for himself if he was affected by one of the thousands of aphrodisiacs or poisons that could only be cured by papapa. That was a relief, since it dramatically narrowed down the possibilities. Accounting for the emperor’s heavenly demon blood, there were very few things at all that could have harmed him this much. 

Still, there were a few too many possibilities for Shen Yuan to risk doing anything that would make the problem worse, so he stomped back over to Zhou-gongzi, who had gotten to his feet by then, and wiped his eyes and mouth enough to get some of the dirt away. “It’s too late,” he spat. “There’s nothing that can cure the poison of a Heavenly Spotted Sea Crest. He will never be able to steal another man’s fiance again!” 

Um, hello??? What kind of idiot just gave away the one piece of information that was needed to fix the situation?? If this was the plot of a book, Shen Yuan would have to hunt the author down and shake them by the shoulders until they understood how ridiculous it all was!

But he couldn’t deny that it was some good luck, at the very least. Maybe most people wouldn’t even know what a Heavenly Spotted Sea Crest was, let alone how to deal with one, but most people were not Shen Yuan. Without the burden of carrying on the family business and lordship, Shen Yuan had been left with more free time than his elder brother, and had used much of it reading about the amazing world that they lived in. Some people took it all for granted, but not Shen Yuan!

So yes, he knew that there was, in fact, a cure to the poison of the Heavenly Spotted Sea Crest. The bigger obstacle at the moment was the fact that there was no way Zhou-gongzi would just let Shen Yuan go about administering the cure (which was thankfully NOT papapa!). 

Thinking fast, Shen Yuan did his best to embody what he thought Meimei would do in this situation, and he slowly sauntered towards Zhou-gongzi, doing his best to not look like a threat. Zhou-gongzi looked vaguely confused, which was good enough. As soon as Shen Yuan was close enough, he quickly extended himself and kicked the not-cultivator right between the legs. Zhou-gongzi dropped like a stone, groaning loudly.

Now. Shen Yuan turned back to the emperor, who was looking worse and worse by the moment. He knelt down next to the man, and reached out to gently brush aside a strand of sweaty hair. For all that one could say of the many stories about this man, no one could say that the descriptions of Luo Binghe’s peerless figure had been exaggerated.

He did wonder, though, if some of the other aspects of the legend were just that- stories. Because unless there was some other element involved, then shouldn’t the emperor’s heavenly demon blood protect him from this kind of nonsense? It didn't matter, though, because it could be fixed easily enough.

Shen Yuan carefully cupped the emperor’s face, and looked into those red-tinged eyes. They were glassy as he succumbed to the poison. “Apologies, Junshang,” he murmured, hoping that he wasn’t about to get himself executed before he could even finish helping. “This lowly one is truly only trying to heal you.” Then he reached out, and improvised to make up for his lack of a knife by grabbing a few strands of Luo Binghe’s hair and wrapped them around his finger to minimize the tugging on the emperor’s scalp as Shen Yuan pulled the hairs free, snapping them rather than yanking at the root.

Luo Binghe let out a dangerous noise, and his eyes looked even more red than they had a moment ago, and Shen Yuan knew that even in this weakened state, the emperor could surely snap him in half. But Shen Yuan was determined to see this through, so he just did his best to work before he could be killed for his insolence. 

He held the hairs up so that he could be sure that the moon shone down on them, and then he apologized once more before pushing them towards Luo Binghe’s mouth. Luo Binghe immediately reached up to grab Shen Yuan’s wrist tight enough that it would probably bruise. “What are you doing?” he snarled.

“The only known cure to the poison of a Heavenly Spotted Sea Crest is the body of a heavenly demon bathed in moonlight- but nothing I’ve read said that it needs to be the entire body, which would be extremely difficult to consume anyways, so I’m assuming that just a part of the body will do, and hair seems the easiest to part with and eat, so…” 

The look that Luo Binghe gave him was long and intense, and Shen Yuan knew without a doubt that if this didn’t work, he would not live to see the morning. But he was confident that it would work. Maintaining eye contact with Shen Yuan the entire time, Luo Binghe slowly raised Shen Yuan’s hand up to his mouth, and licked Shen Yuan’s fingertips to consume his own hairs, and Shen Yuan didn’t understand why his heart suddenly started racing and he thought he could feel all of his arm hairs stand.

The result was not instant, but within a few minutes, Luo Binghe’s face lost the waxy sheen, and his eyes grew sharper. He rose to his feet and looked over in the direction that Zhou-gongzi must have run as soon as he’d been able to stand, not stupid enough to stick around when it was clear that Luo Binghe would be cured after all.

“Prepare a room for me at your estate, Lady Shen,” Luo Binghe told him, voice smoother than before. “I will be back soon.” 

Shen Yuan’s eyes widened. “Ah, junshang-” he wanted to correct the misunderstanding before he could be killed for deceiving the emperor or something, but Luo Binghe had already hurried off to take care of the man who’d nearly succeeded at killing him.

Shen Yuan sighed in defeat and trudged back to the estate. When he got there, he was ambushed, though it was only Meimei pulling him into a hug. “Ge! What happened? We split up, and the next thing I know, I’m waking up just outside, all alone.”

Shen Yuan tugged off the veil, which was probably beyond saving at this point, and tossed it aside. He would make sure that a new one was bought for the gardener. “Zhou-gongzi was not hunting a beast,” he told Meimei grimly. “He was hunting Emperor Luo Binghe.” She gasped, immediately understanding how much danger that man had put them all in just by conducting this hair-brained scheme on Shen lands. 

They both hurried inside to wake up their father and tell him about everything that had happened. Lord Shen ordered the servants to prepare the best rooms for the emperor, and then he sat down, looking exhausted as he looked at his two youngest children. “You will be the death of me,” he groaned. “And what on earth are you wearing, A-Yuan?” 

Shen Yuan’s face flushed, and he went to change and clean himself up. Now that he knew that there had been no real threat (other than Zhou-gongzi himself), Shen Yuan felt very embarrassed about having borrowed women’s clothing and being seen dressed like that by the emperor. 

Luo Binghe arrived less than an hour later, fresh blood splattered across his robes. “Lord Shen, you keep peculiar company,” he started in a low, dangerous voice. 

Lord Shen did not rise up from his bow. “Junshang, this humble one is ashamed  that such terrible events took place so close to my home. But Junshang must believe that my people had no part in it. You need only look at how my son stepped in to prevent the situation from getting any worse.”

Luo Binghe paused for a moment, looking vaguely confused as his eyes flicked from Meimei over to Shen Yuan, who were both kneeling next to their father. “Your son?”

Lord Shen nodded, and gestured towards Shen Yuan. “My second son, Shen Yuan.”

Lord Luo arched one eyebrow. “Does Shen Yuan often dress as a woman?”

Shen Yuan felt his cheeks get warm, and he shook his head. “No, my Lord.” 

“Hm.” 

Knowing how little Luo Binghe cared for human men, Lord Shen was eager to get the attention away from his son. “Junshang, as it is late at night, we are of course honored to offer accommodations. If there is anything at all that you need-”

The emperor waved his hand, having most likely heard similar words many times over the course of his life. “Of course. We will speak more in the morning,” he said, looking one last time between Meimei and Shen Yuan. 

Once the emperor was gone, their father let out the smallest of relieved sighs, and then looked sharply at his children. “By gods, the death of me!” He reached up to rub at the bridge of his nose. “Both of you go to your rooms, and may you actually stay there, for once.”

“Yes, a-die,” they both said nearly in unison, feeling bad for having caused their father trouble. When their older brother returned from the capital, he was sure to have some choice words for them as well. 

It was only after he’d parted ways with Meimei that Shen Yuan suddenly understood what that last lingering look of Luo Binghe’s had meant. Despite what else Zhou-gongzi may have said or believed, he wasn’t entirely wrong about the emperor’s habit of picking up women to join his harem. There were hundreds, if not thousands, and though they surely led comfortable lives, that didn’t mean it was what they all wanted. 

Meimei was a grand prize all on her own, and Luo Binghe was no fool who would just overlook her. That was surely what he wanted to speak with Lord Shen about in the morning. Nevermind the fact that Meimei was set to be married in just a few short years to a man whom she loved and loved her return, who would treat her with all of the respect and attention due to a first wife from a good family. Life in the emperor’s harem might be comfortable, but Shen Yuan couldn’t imagine it would be very fulfilling, because surely the emperor did not have the time to indulge every single wife of his. 

So instead of heading straight to his room to go to bed, Shen Yuan made the bold decision to head to the emperor’s quarters instead. If he was about to get himself killed then so be it, as long as there was even the smallest chance that he would be able to ensure Meimei’s happiness. 

Shen Yuan’s heart was racing like crazy as he raised his hand and dared to knock on the door to the guest room. There was a long moment of silence, as though the emperor was also surprised by the audacity, but perhaps even more surprisingly, he called out, “Enter.” 

Shen Yuan slid the door open and stepped inside, immediately kneeling. It would not do to be disrespectful when he was going to ask a favor of the emperor. He could practically feel Luo Binghe’s gaze boring down into the back of his skull before he was finally given permission to stand. He just stared at Shen Yuan, one eyebrow raised. Shen Yuan cleared his throat once. “Junshang, I know that I have no right, but I beg of you, please do not pursue my sister.”

“You dare tell me what to do?” Luo Binghe asked, voice cold.

Shen Yuan balled his hands into fists for a moment, then forced himself to relax. “Though of course Junshang could have no equal, my sister is already betrothed to a good man who makes her happy. To renege now would engender bad feelings on all sides. And Junshang already has…” he trailed off, not wanting to actually say that the emperor already had plenty of women, even though it was true.

He was amazed that he was not immediately beheaded for his boldness, though he knew that it wasn’t impossible that Luo Binghe simply liked to play with his food. There was a long moment of silence, and then Shen Yuan startled when he suddenly felt warm fingers against his chin, tipping his head back to look directly up at Luo Binghe. “The Shen family is quite powerful,” he mused. “And yet, you have no connections to me. One might almost wonder if the Shens have intentionally kept themselves separate from this emperor, in order to build up their power independently.”

Panic spiked through Shen Yuan’s gut, and he quickly shook his head. “Of course there’s nothing like that-!”

“Then Lord Shen will have no problem tying our families together by giving one of his children up for marriage.” 

Shen Yuan squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, then opened them to look up at Luo Binghe determinedly. “Please, you-” he almost said ‘you cannot marry my sister’, but knew that it would sound too much like a command, which would be extremely disrespectful. He gulped once, all too aware of the intense weight of Luo Binghe’s eyes on him. “Please do not marry my sister.”

The emperor let out a bark of laughter that made Shen Yuan feel oddly warm inside. “Lord Shen will unite our families with a marriage to one of his children,” he said firmly, sending a swoop of disappointment through Shen Yuan’s belly before he followed that up with, “This Lord is not bothered by which.”

It took a moment for Shen Yuan to understand what the emperor was saying, and then he awkwardly took a step back, freeing his face from Luo Binghe’s surprisingly gentle grasp. “You- you would marry a man?”

Luo Binghe shrugged one shoulder. “This Lord has no use for a man in his marriage bed, but this Lord has many wives who can fulfill the duties of a spouse.” 

Shen Yuan barely even had to think about it before nodding in agreement. His sister would be able to keep her marriage plans, the Shen family would grow stronger from their ties to the emperor, and Shen Yuan would live out his days in a comfortable palace where no spousal duties would be expected of him. It was not the life he had always imagined for himself, one where he wandered the world and studied all of the fascinating flora and fauna, but it was a pretty good deal, and Shen Yuan would be a fool not to accept. 

,,,

Shen Yuan was interrupted from his thoughts of how he’d first met Emperor Luo Binghe by the little Binghe in front of him. “Shizun, who is that man?” the boy demanded to know, scowling over at the kitchen, where Luo Binghe had wandered over to inspect Binghe’s cooking process. 

Shen Yuan knew that his half-demon husband had far better hearing than the average human, and would be able to hear whatever he said in response to that, so after considering it for a moment, he decided that it would be best to just go with the truth. Or at least some of it. “That… that is my husband.” Binghe stared up at him with wide, shocked, eyes, and Shen Yuan really hoped that this little white lotus Binghe wasn’t going to do anything rash.

Chapter Text

Luo Binghe was the most powerful heavenly demon emperor in history, having merged realms, destroyed the cultivating sects, and married thousands. He had faced all manner of monsters, gods, demons, and humans. And yet he found himself at a loss when looking at his younger self.

It wasn’t truly him, of course. The boy was closer to that crybaby weakling than he was to the emperor. And as his husband had informed him, there were no demons or cultivators in this world, meaning that the boy had no power at all. And yet the boy acted as though he had any right to command Luo Binghe. “There isn’t enough for another person,” he said mulishly, even though Luo Binghe had clearly seen leftovers in the pot in the kitchen.

Shen Yuan let out an awkward laugh. “Ah, Binghe, it’s alright, Lu- uh, my husband can just have some of mine, I don’t mind!” 

The boy’s eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. “Shizun needs to eat,” he argued. “He can-” the boy wrinkled his nose in disgust. “There might be some extra,” he said very grudgingly.

“This Lord is not hungry,” Luo Binghe interrupted, not wanting to taste an inferior version of his own cooking. Shen Yuan shouldn’t have to eat that slop either, but he would not want his husband going hungry. 

The boy gave Luo Binghe an odd look, but all three of them sat down at the table. Shen Yuan looked back and forth between Luo Binghe and the boy, probably feeling the same strange disconnect that Luo Binghe was at the moment. To see Shen Qingqiu’s face so expressive was utterly foreign, let alone when those expressions indicated fondness or excitement.

Shen Yuan seemed unaware of the way that the other two were just staring at him as he took the first bite. His eyes closed, and he let out a nearly indecent sound. “Binghe is so talented!” he was quick to praise. It was only after making sure that the compliment was genuine that the boy finally ate his own portion. 

Luo Binghe scowled. He wanted to point out that that boy surely couldn’t be anywhere near as skilled as someone with several hundred years of experience, but then realized that such complaints would mean little when his husband had never gotten the chance to try Luo Binghe’s cooking. It was something generally reserved for his wives on their wedding night, and Luo Binghe had never had a wedding night with any of his male spouses. 

“This husband will be sure to cook for A-Yuan more often,” Luo Binghe practically purred out, watching in amusement as Shen Yuan sputtered at the familiar address. 

The boy narrowed his eyes. “How come you never mentioned that you’re married?” He shot a distrustful look at Luo Binghe. Had he been so paranoid when he was that age? No, probably not. By that point, Luo Binghe had not had anything left worth protecting.

Shen Yuan shoved another spoonful of congee into his mouth to avoid having to answer for an extra moment. “It was, uh… very recent. Um. Yeah, we just got married, so that’s why it never came up before, that’s all.” 

That answer didn’t seem to mollify the boy at all. “What’s your name?” 

If this world was truly just the contents of a fictional story written by Mobei’s little rat, then it probably didn’t matter what was said or done here. But Luo Binghe would be stuck with the consequences for at least as long as it would take to figure out a way to safely return Shen Yuan home, to his own body. So telling the boy that they shared a name would only cause more trouble than it was worth, even if it seemed unfair that the emperor would have to be the one to give up his name, the only thing left of his washerwoman mother.

Luo Binghe had not thought about his mother in a very long time, and it distracted him long enough for Shen Yuan to jump in with an answer. “This is- ehh- Shen Bingge!” he announced, sounding proud of himself. 

Luo Binghe turned to look at his husband, but the sight of that flushed look on his face, one that the real Shen Qingqiu had never worn, made him forget to scold his husband’s presumptuousness. 

The boy leaned partially over the table to give Luo Binghe a closer look. “Where were you when Shizun was in the hospital?”

“Ah, he was just away on business, no need to be so suspicious,” Shen Yuan was quick to answer for Luo Binghe. Then he sighed as he glanced down at the shiny bracelet he was wearing. “It’s getting late. Binghe’s guardians will worry if he isn’t home soon,” he said in a gentle voice. 

From the look on the boy’s face, Luo Binghe understood that this version had not had a much happier childhood than the original. The pained look on Shen Yuan’s face indicated that he was aware of that as well. So why would he send the boy away when it was clear that he didn’t want to?

The boy nodded and stood up, gathering a few books and papers to shove into his bag. “Thank you for dinner.”

Shen Yuan quickly shook his head. “Ah, there’s no need to thank me, you’re the one who did all the hard work!” He stood up as well after a moment of hesitation. “Binghe, if the other children are intolerable, there must be other homes-”

The boy shook his head. “Shizun doesn’t need to worry,” he said quietly. “It’s only for a few more years.” That attempt at assurance only seemed to worry Shen Yuan further, but the boy didn’t stick around long enough to hear it. “I’ll be back on Thursday,” he called over his shoulder before leaving. 

Once the boy was gone, Shen Yuan let out a heavy sigh, and sank back down into his chair. “What a mess,” he muttered. “This is all Shang Qinghua’s fault.” Then he shifted slightly so that he could glance over at Luo Binghe out of the corner of his eye. “It’s not really his fault,” he added, like he was worried that Luo Binghe would open a portal to Shang Qinghua and kill him on the spot. “Not entirely anyways.” There was a long moment of silence, and then Shen Yuan turned to face him more fully. “Thank you for coming for me,” he said softly.

“It is this Lord’s job to protect his spouses.” 

His response made something dim a little in Shen Yuan’s eyes, and Luo Binghe didn’t understand why. “Right. So, uh, did you at least catch whoever killed me?”

Luo Binghe felt a jolt through his gut at the question, but he did his best to ignore it, though he scowled at the thought that the assassin might have been successful if not for the strange interference that had brought Shen Yuan here instead.

“What do you remember about the poisoning?” Luo Binghe asked. Once this situation was resolved and they’d both returned home, it would be Luo Binghe’s responsibility to make sure that the culprit was properly punished for their crime.

Shen Yuan frowned. “Hm, not much. A-Sun was chaperoning my meeting with Shang Qinghua.” Luo Binghe didn’t recognize the name, so Shen Yuan elaborated, “He’s not specifically my servant, but he works for most of your male spouses. It’s actually fascinating, he’s a bamboo spirit, but everyone assumes he’s a demon because of the way his energy naturally…” he trailed off, looking a little embarrassed. “Ah, sorry, sorry, just tell me when I’m annoying you with my rambling.” Luo Binghe wanted to say that the rambling wasn’t too annoying, but Shen Yuan continued speaking before Luo Binghe could. “Anyways, he left to go grab some snacks for us, so A-Yao stepped in for a few minutes. When A-Sun got back, A-Yao left, the snacks were served, and then A-Sun left again, but I didn’t really give it much thought in the moment. Then I took one bite and I could feel the inside of my mouth swell up before I even swallowed, and then I woke up here, in this body. And I haven’t even gotten into any fights with anyone else in the harem, so I have no idea what the motivation could be, other than maybe some kind of tragic mixup.”

Luo Binghe frowned as he tried to figure out as much as he could from those meager details. “Shang Qinghua claims that your elder brother has made some enemies.”

Shen Yuan shrugged. “After he took over the lordship when our father passed, there were a lot of people who thought they could take advantage of him because he is younger and less experienced than the previous Lord Shen, but my brother has always had a solid head on his shoulders and is able to navigate through the difficult politics. And due to our marriage alliance, he is in a stronger position than our father ever was.”

“My husband must write many letters with his brother to know so much.”

Shen Yuan’s eyes widened, and he raised his hand to cover his mouth, though with his tight sleeves, it wasn’t very effective. Luo Binghe thought back to the fans in Shen Yuan’s room in the palace, and wondered if his husband wished he had one on hand. “Aha, I would never mean any disrespect to my lord and husband, it’s just, ah…” Luo Binghe felt himself tense up as he wondered what confession Shen Yuan had. “Well, since there are far fewer servants in that wing, and my lord does not care overly much about us, it is not uncommon for your male spouses to, well, slip away on occasion. Not to cause any mischief or dishonor our marriage vows! Just to see our families or wander around for a short time.” 

Luo Binghe narrowed his eyes. “My spouses are not held prisoner. This lord does not stop familial visits or outings.”

He was a little surprised by the heavy sigh Shen Yuan let out. “Yes, but it’s just so much work! To go out, we have to take several guards and servants and it just becomes a whole event, and it’s such a pain. It’s much faster and easier to just go on my own and come back.”

“Those guards and servants are for your own protection,” Luo Binghe told him, unsure of why he felt so annoyed to discover this.

Shen Yuan actually dared to roll his eyes, as if Luo Binghe wasn’t the emperor of all realms. “The only time my life has been seriously threatened is while I was safely ensconced in the palace,” he pointed out. “Making such a production when going out probably just draws more attention to your wives and puts them in worse danger.”

“And having no accompaniment means my spouses can go wherever they please without risking this lord finding out, is that it?”

Shen Yuan quickly shook his head. “I already said that that’s not why-! I just like to go to the market for a bit without everyone sucking up to me, or go see my brother or sister without some big fuss.”

Luo Binghe frowned and got to his feet. He felt the urge to draw Xin Mo and go fight something, but he wasn’t sure what would be worth fighting in this world. He looked down at Shen Yuan, who still seemed pretty relaxed. “Tell me about this story,” he demanded.

There was a gleam in Shen Yuan’s eyes at that. “Oh, yeah, that’s probably a good idea!” Luo Binghe wondered why he suddenly felt a sense of foreboding at the glee in his spouse’s voice. 

,,,

It was quite late by the time Shen Yuan had finished explaining the plot of Proud CEO’s Way, complete with his exacting commentary, unable to go easy on Shang Qinghua’s writing. He stood up and stretched, then paused when he glanced towards the bedroom. There was only one bed. It would be a bit of a tight fit for two grown men, but more importantly, Luo Binghe never actually slept with his wives after sleeping with them. It had never been stated officially, but there was very little to do for most women in the harem other than gossip about their husband.

Shen Yuan did not want to make his husband uncomfortable, especially when he’d gone through all the effort of traveling between worlds just to try and rescue him. “You can have the bed,” he offered. The couch wasn’t too uncomfortable. It was honestly still softer than Shen Yuan’s bed back home, which he’d always considered to be the height of luxury. 

Luo Binghe frowned. “Nonsense. This Lord would never force a spouse out of their bed.”

“Technically it’s Shen Qingqiu’s bed,” Shen Yuan pointed out.

Luo Binghe’s frown deepened. “This Lord is not tired,” he announced.

Well, at least that would save Shen Yuan the trouble of changing the sheets. So he just shrugged instead of arguing further, and went to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. When he returned to the living room with an extra pillow and blanket for the couch, just in case, he heard the sound of something cracking, and glass hitting the floor.

Shen Yuan blinked in shock at Luo Binghe, who’d been holding something, but crushed it completely when Shen Yuan had returned. “The clothing in this world is indecent,” he growled.

Bemused, Shen Yuan glanced down at the soft pants and long shirt he’d taken to wearing to bed. The shirt left his arms mostly bare, and showed glimpses of his collarbone. It wasn’t what he was used to, but it was comfortable, and it really wasn’t that revealing. “You would think my Lord would be used to indecency, what with how often he keeps Consort Sha’s company.” He was pretty sure that Sha Hualing would be considered underdressed even by this world’s standards, but she dressed fairly average for a young demon. 

Luo Binghe scowled and looked away. Shen Yuan threw down the pillow and blanket when he saw blood drip down from Luo Binghe’s clenched hand. “You’re bleeding!” He reached out without even thinking, and very gently pried the injured hand open, revealing the remains of the very small computer. It was wrecked, presumably beyond repair, but Shen Yuan was far more concerned about the bleeding. 

Luo Binghe just stared down at him with an unreadable gaze. “This Lord will heal,” he reminded Shen Yuan.

“Ah, right, right.” Suddenly he felt embarrassed. The emperor was no small child who needed to be patched up when he got hurt. With his heavenly demon blood, there was really almost nothing that could truly harm him. Shen Yuan went to pull his hand away, but Luo Binghe twisted his own hand around so that he could grab Shen Yuan’s wrist, gently enough that the pressure of the grip was barely noticeable. “My Lord?” Shen Yuan questioned quietly after several long moments of them just staring at each other.

Luo Binghe suddenly let go like he’d been burned, and took a step away. “Good night,” he said gruffly. “This Lord will keep watch.” 

There didn’t seem to be much point in reminding him that this world did not contain the same dangers as their home, since he could see how restless Luo Binghe was, needing something to focus on. Then he got an idea, and quickly opened the computer and pulled up the tab with the first chapter of Proud Immortal Demon Way. “If you need something to pass the time,” he said, leaving the computer on the table so that Luo Binghe could choose whether or not he wanted to look at it. “Good night,” he murmured before heading to bed, surprised by how easily he was able to fall asleep.

,,,

Luo Binghe looked over suspiciously when he heard someone knock on the front door. It was still pretty early, and he had just used Xin Mo to grab some food so that he could make breakfast that would be ready when Shen Yuan woke up. (The shops in this world were so strange, and they had tried to refuse the generous amount of silver Luo Binghe had given in exchange for the food, so he had simply left, eager to get back and prove himself the superior chef compared to the boy.)

Wary of whoever had poisoned Shen Yuan and sent him to this world in the first place, Luo Binghe went to open the door, and frowned at the sight of Yue Qingyuan, of all people, alive again. The only person the original Shen Qingqiu had ever seemed to care about, and a truly worthy opponent to Luo Binghe. And an utterly despicable coward, who knew of the wrongdoings that happened on Qing Jing Peak, and yet never said or did anything to put a stop to it, unwilling to get further onto Shen Qingqiu’s bad side. 

Yue Qingyuan looked at Luo Binghe with confusion, which slowly morphed to concern as he looked at the elaborate robes Luo Binghe was wearing. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

Yue Qingyuan had once walked to his death because he believed his shidi had asked him to. And now he thought that Shen Yuan was Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe grinned widely, letting his sharp teeth show. Announcing their married status would surely hurt Yue Qingyuan the most. “This Lord is Shen Qingqiu’s husband.” He thought that those words would feel slimy and rotten, but when he thought of the kind shizun in that other world, he found that he was able to say them without any trouble at all.

The weakling version of the Cang Qiong sect leader stared at Luo Binghe in shock. “I beg your pardon?” His voice came out as a strangled squeak.

Luo Binghe had no problem repeating himself, letting the words dig in even deeper, as pointed as Xin Mo’s blade. “This one is-” 

He was cut off by Shen Yuan, who sounded sleepy and looked warm and rumpled as he emerged from his bedroom. Luo Binghe couldn’t help but stare, all but forgetting about Yue Qingyuan. “Ah, what’s going on?” He rubbed his eyes, then blinked a few times as he reached the door and saw who was standing out in the hallway. “Oh.” 

Just to drive the point home, Luo Binghe reached out to wrap one arm around Shen Yuan’s waist, tugging him closer so that they were pressed hip to hip. Yue Qingyuan seemed to be at a loss for words for several long seconds. “A-Jiu, you… you didn’t answer your phone,” he said, clearly unable to even begin to address the thought of his precious Shen Qingqiu being married without him knowing. Or maybe being married to someone other than Yue Qingyuan? Luo Binghe had never been able to figure out the exact relationship between the two, but he also hadn’t really cared that much. 

Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and then let out a soft gasp. “Oh, right, the phone, the little computer…” he trailed off and mumbled something to himself. “It broke.” 

It seemed like Yue Qingyuan didn’t even know what to say, he just stared for a few more seconds before focusing on Shen Yuan. “A-Jiu, can I speak with you? Alone?” 

“Anything you can say to my husband can be said to me,” Luo Binghe interjected, just for the petty satisfaction of seeing Yue Qingyuan grit his teeth in annoyance. If the man knew of his alternative fate, he would surely be grateful for merely being irritated. 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes, and reached over to lightly smack Luo Binghe’s arm. Even when the kind shizun had gone to smack Luo Binghe with his fan, Luo Binghe had flinched away from the hit, but this time he did not even blink, and the impact was so gentle that it could hardly be considered a smack at all. “I think I can survive a single conversation.” 

He stepped back to invite Yue Qingyuan inside, and Luo Binghe retreated to the kitchen, though of course he could still hear the conversation with no trouble. “A-Jiu, what’s going on? That man said-!”

Shen Yuan sighed. “Ah, it’s a bit complicated. Here, why don’t you sit down?”

Chapter Text

A-Hua knew that he was a very lucky child. He lived in a grand palace, had access to good food, and lots of siblings to play with. But there were a few things left he wished that he could have. He had never had a single conversation with his father, and had only seen glimpses of the man at big events where all of the children were present. And A-Hua knew that his mother did not care for him for any reason other than the promotion she’d gotten when he was born. 

Still, A-Hua was not left with much time to miss the things he didn’t have, because he had something better than a mother or a father- he had Consort Shen. Consort Shen had been in the palace since before A-Hua had been born, but they didn’t meet for the first time until a couple of years ago. 

A-Hua had been playing with some of his siblings, and he had been determined to find a good hiding place so that he would be able to win for once. He’d ended up wandering outside of the halls that housed his mother and the other wives of the same rank, and ended up somewhere new. A tiny little office, books crammed into every corner. The only source of light was from a chunk of wall where a stone seemed to have crumbled loose. 

He’d looked around curiously, always eager to see something different. As he looked through the books, unable to read more than a couple characters here and there, he was startled by a strange tearing noise, and when he looked over, he saw someone crawling in through the small hole in the wall, which seemed to temporarily stretch just far enough to fit the person, and then it shrank back down. When the person straightened up, they paused for a moment, just as surprised to see A-Hua as A-Hua was to see them.

A-Hua remembered feeling shocked that anyone would so boldly break into the emperor’s palace. “Intruder!” he’d called out, ready to run into the hallway and shout for help.

Instead of getting angry or attacking him, the intruder had just laughed, and sank down into the desk chair. “This humble one is Consort Shen Yuan,” he introduced himself. “I can hardly be intruding in my own home.” 

Looking closer, the man was wearing pretty nice robes, similar to what A-Hua’s mother wore. And when A-Hua closed his eyes and concentrated really hard, he could feel the very faint connection to his father’s blood in this man’s body. A-Hua and the other children could not control their father’s heavenly demon blood, but those with demon mothers had some level of awareness of it when they really focused. 

He’d opened his eyes, and suddenly felt embarrassed for intruding on Consort Shen’s space. “A-Hua is sorry for interrupting!” and he’d turned to leave.

Instead of hastening the boy’s exit, Consort Shen had made a thoughtful little noise. “You know… I was just thinking about how much trouble I’ve been having recently with a certain project of mine. I wonder if there’s anyone who could help me? It would have to be someone who doesn’t mind some paint splattering their robes, and who is big enough to not get scared by cool monsters.”

A-Hua hesitated. This project sounded like something he’d be able to help with. That sounded way more fun than playing the same game he’d played with his siblings a thousand times before. “A-Hua can help!” he had eagerly volunteered.

Consort Shen snapped open a pretty fan, using it to cover the lower half of his face, and something about Consort Shen’s presence had reminded A-Hua of the pretty flower spirit who’d recently married into the palace. Consort Shen got up and reached out with his free hand to gently pat A-Hua’s head. “A-Hua is a good boy to offer his help. Thank you very much.” Then he’d led A-Hua to his own rooms, revealing that the project in question was a series of small statues depicting various monsters. As A-Hua helped paint them, Consort Shen told him all about each monster, and about their weaknesses so that A-Hua wouldn’t have to be afraid if he saw one for real (not that he would be! A-Hua was very brave!)

After that, A-Hua went to see Consort Shen a lot more. Sometimes there were other kids there, but even the siblings with nastier dispositions didn’t cause trouble when A-Hua showed up, not wanting to earn Consort Shen’s disappointment. It was no coincidence that the majority of the children who crowded around Consort Shen were the ones whose mothers did not care for them, and none of them wanted to lose Consort Shen’s regard.

He would read them books and poetry, help them with their assignments, correct the fighting stances of the older kids, come up with fun games and projects, or just start telling them ridiculous made up stories that made the children laugh. It went by unspoken agreement among the children that they would not tell anyone about Consort Shen who didn’t already know him, not wanting to share him more than necessary, but if a kid was pawned off on Consort Shen by their mother, or happened across him by accident, that kid wouldn’t be bullied or forced away. 

Even though he had never said it out loud, A-Hua, deep down where no one would know, liked to think of Consort Shen as his parent. He would never dare say so out loud and risk ruining everything, but that was how he felt. 

After years of knowing Consort Shen, A-Hua was older now. He knew it wouldn’t be long until he was either married off, sent away to govern some far off place, or killed. The emperor could not abide by any competition, not even in the form of his children, and so those who wanted to thrive needed to be sure that they were gone from the palace by the time they were adults, or if they were talented enough to catch their father’s attention. 

But A-Hua worried. He knew that there would always be more children to keep Consort Shen company, and he knew that Consort Shen was friends with the strange little man who followed Mobei-jun, but that didn’t seem to be enough. Consort Shen deserved a bigger life than what he had, one where he had more than a few stolen moments to be outside and see his family. Consort Shen deserved to see the world. And yet, clearly there was someone out there who did not want Consort Shen to have any of that.

It had been a few days since the news had leaked throughout the palace- Consort Shen had been poisoned, and the emperor had left to seek out a cure. It was the first time it had even been necessary to go through such trouble for one of his male spouses, since they were usually safe from harem drama, and A-Hua honestly wasn’t sure how much effort his father would actually put into saving Consort Shen’s life.

So A-Hua and a few of the other older children had decided that they must put their full effort into saving Consort Shen, just in case. A-Hua was currently stalking through the corridors, and watched grimly as his target rounded a corner, completely alone.

A-Hua took the opportunity, darting forward, grabbing the mousey man’s wrist and dragging him into the nearby closet, slamming the door shut and positioning himself to block the exit. Shang Qinghua stared at him. “Aha… ah…” 

“This one is 32nd Prince Luo Minghua.” He kindly introduced himself because he knew that it was hard for most people to keep track of all of the emperor’s children. 

Shang Qinghua gulped and nodded. “Of course, of course. Is there, uh, is there something I can do for you, Prince Minghua?” 

A-Hua crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me everything you know about the attempted assassination of Consort Shen. I know that you were in the room at the time and the emperor already declared you innocent, but you must have seen or heard something useful.”

An almost pitying look came over Shang Qinghua’s face, and it made A-Hua bristle. “Ah, so you’re one of his little ducklings.” 

“I’m not little!” A-Hua immediately argued, then he shook his head. “Just tell me about what happened,” he demanded, using his best imitation of his father’s emperor voice.

The cowardly little man shook a bit, and A-Hua wondered ungenerously what Consort Shen and Mobei-jun saw in this man. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything more than I told the emperor!” he squeaked out. “Which is really weird,” he mumbled to himself, probably forgetting about how good a demon’s hearing would be when standing right in front of him. He cleared his throat. “The best I can guess is that it has something to do with his brother, but I really don’t know!”

“Who was chaperoning at the time?” None of the gossip had mentioned it, but maybe that person would know more than Shang Qinghua did.

Shang Qinghua groaned. “We were unchaperoned for just a minute, I think it was, erm, I’m sorry, I don’t know all the servants here that well. I think it was a spirit rather than a demon?” 

A-Hua scoffed. “Useless. It’s like you don’t even want to see Consort Shen recover.” 

At that, Shang Qinghua straightened his back and clenched his hands into fists. “Hey! Shen-bro is my best friend in this place, and I’m terrified as hell that he’s not going to get better! Do you think I haven’t already gone over everything that happened a thousand times just to see if there’s any detail I missed? Anything that could tell me how to help?” He was shaking, and his face was a little red as he spoke through his obvious fear of anyone related to the emperor.

A-Hua ducked his head down, feeling a little ashamed. Consort Shen would not want anyone bullying his friend (even though Consort Shen had no problem bullying a little himself, but their friendship was clearly just not meant for outsiders to understand). “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. According to his tutors, a prince should never apologize to an underling, but Consort Shen had always taught him otherwise. “I’m scared,” he blurted out before he could stop himself. “What if Consort Shen- what if he-?” 

A hand tentatively reached out to rest on his shoulder. It wasn’t as good as Consort Shen, but it was surprisingly comforting to know that he wasn’t alone in his fear. “Aw, kid… Consort Shen is strong for such a scrawny guy, and you know how stubborn he can get. He’ll definitely hang on long enough for a cure to be found, if only so that he can keep yelling at me about my book. He’ll probably say it was so bad that it killed him,” he let out a soft laugh. “It’ll be alright. It’s- well. None of the emperor’s other spouses have ever died of anything other than old age, right? So Shen-bro won’t either.” 

After making sure he was fully composed again (and resisting the urge to threaten Shang Qinghua into never mentioning that little breakdown to anyone), A-Hua reluctantly returned to his room. He wanted to go stand vigil over Consort Shen, but the emperor had posted guards outside the door and ordered that no one other than a very small list of servants and healers were allowed to enter. And since the emperor had left soon after, it wasn’t as though A-Hua could go plead his case about being allowed entrance.

With no other leads, A-Hua really didn’t know what to do. And of course his mother was waiting for him back in their rooms. “Where were you?”

“Out,” he answered tersely.

Mother rolled her eyes. “What a fucking brat.”

A-Hua would usually just retreat to his bedroom at that point, but this time, he stopped to consider the situation for a moment. Being a male incapable of giving birth or gaining the emperor’s attention, Consort Shen did not pose a threat to the positions of the other wives. And in fact, most of them should want Consort Shen to recover, because he was a free babysitter that taught their kids enough to make the mothers look good. Without Consort Shen, A-Hua knew that he would be much worse off in all of his studies, which would only give Mother more reason to be irritated with him.

Using that reasoning, it made sense to A-Hua that Mother might actually have a good reason to help him here. Not that he thought she would necessarily know anything, but everyone knew about the extensive gossip trails that went through the palace, and there was a small possibility that she might have overheard something useful without even realizing it.

When she realized that he was just standing there in the doorway, she let out a heavy sigh. “What now?”

A-Hua hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for it. Even if Mother got irritated, it would be no different than how she usually felt about him, and if there was even the slightest chance that she would know anything that could help Consort Shen, then A-Hua had to know.

So he took a deep breath, then asked, “About the matter of Consort Shen’s poisoning-”

He didn’t even have the chance to finish his question before Mother’s face turned red. “That wretch!” she spat out. “He deserves whatever happens to him.”

The usual state of existence between A-Hua and his mother was one of apathy between them, neither caring much about the other, but there were rarely any openly hostile feelings. And yet, hearing Consort Shen be disparaged by that really pissed A-Hua off, and he let out a low growl. “What could he have possibly done to offend you? He stays in the men’s hall and has no children or regard from the emperor, and he is so kind-”

Mother scoffed. “Kind? He’s a thief, is what he is!”

A-Hua furrowed his eyebrows, and carefully asked, “What do you mean? What did he steal?” Maybe there would be an answer here to the motivation behind the attack, even if A-Hua didn’t believe that Consort Shen would actually steal anything. The man was not overly concerned about material possessions beyond his art, which he mostly made himself anyways, and his fans. And books, of course, but there were more than enough books in the library to last the man several lifetimes. 

Mother scowled, and crossed her arms, sharp nails digging into her own skin. “From the moment he became the first husband, he was planning his greatest heist. He hoards our children like that will earn him any favor from our lord, and he teaches you all to be disrespectful little brats. He- well, whoever put a stop to his greed, I could thank them for their service.”

A-Hua clenched his jaw. “You-!” Then he took a deep breath, and forced himself to stop. There was nothing he could say that would ever make Mother change her mind, let alone shame her for her words. She was too certain that she was right, too bitter about being one of the many forgotten wives stuck here in the palace. And yet she didn’t even have the guts to leave- there were a few spouses over the years who had lost the emperor’s interest after a short time, and eventually just quietly slipped away, possibly through the secret entrance Consort Shen used. If the emperor had ever noticed the absence of those women, he never said anything about it. Either because he was allowing them to leave and start a new life elsewhere, or, more likely, because he had forgotten about their entire existence. 

But Mother would never leave this place, because then she would have to actually survive on her own, provide her own bed and food and luxuries. If she had actually left to escape her unhappiness, even if it meant leaving her son behind, A-Hua would have actually respected her a little more for it. 

There was nothing else he could do here, so A-Hua just turned around and left their rooms. He wanted to go see Consort Shen and be comforted, but he knew that there was no chance of that happening at the moment. So instead he headed to the little office that Consort Shen had long ago claimed as his own. Nobody had fought him for it, because it was so cramped and looked more like it was meant to be a broom closet than anything.

The room was as stuffed full of books and dirty tea cups as it always was, revealing the untidy nature that was hidden beneath Consort Shen’s outer grace and beauty. Normally, this place felt like it would lead to the start of a grand adventure, but right now, it just felt empty and cold. 

He frowned after a moment. Cold? It really shouldn’t be cold, the entire palace was built with arrays etched into the very architecture to make sure that it would always be comfortable. After moving aside a few stacks of books, A-Hua looked at that hole in the wall. It seemed to be bigger than the last time he’d seen it (when Consort Shen had snuck A-Hua and a few other kids out to attend a lantern festival in town). Normally, the hole returned to the size of a hand when not in use, but right now, it was closer to the size of a head. 

Consort Shen had assured the children that this exploit was not dangerous, because the only ones who could pass through the palace’s many wards were those with heavenly demon blood in them. Which meant only the emperor’s spouses and children could get through this weak spot. And yet A-Hua couldn’t help wondering if something else had figured out a way to squirm inside after all.

He slowly covered the hole back up, feeling uneasy. He didn’t want to report to anyone about this spot, because once the emperor returned, he would probably take it upon himself to patch the weakness, and then Consort Shen would be trapped here. But he also didn’t want to leave an opening into the palace if there was any possibility that someone else could get through. 

As he moved the books back into place, he heard a rustling noise on the floor, and looked around to see if a page had come loose from one of the massive tomes lying around. He spotted a book that had fallen to the floor, opened with the pages facing down. And… it seemed to be moving?

A-Hua cautiously reached out. He knew that his heavenly demon blood, even if it was diluted down to a quarter of his blood, would protect him from most possible sources of harm, but that didn’t stop him from feeling nervous. As he grabbed the book by the protruding spine and pulled it up, he saw a small green snake demon. “Who are you?”

Instead of replying or shifting into a more humanoid form, the snake was quick to slither away, right to the partially covered entrance. It slipped through before A-Hua could grab it, and he did not think it would be a good idea to go out on his own and chase after it. A-Hua quickly finished shoving the books in front of the hole, along with a few other stacks for good measure.

It was only after he’d gotten back to his feet that he thought to look at the book that the snake had been trapped under. He furrowed his eyebrows. It seemed to be a cultivation manual, but he knew that it surely could not be. There was no way that the emperor would allow one to survive in his own palace, and even Consort Shen was not so foolish as to blatantly go against the emperor’s wishes with such a thing. Had the snake actually been reading this? Was it trying to figure out how to cultivate a human form? But why would he come to the palace to do that? And how did he know about the secret exit in Consort Shen’s little office? It was frustrating to be left with so many questions.

,,,

A few more days passed, with still no new answers, and no sign of the emperor’s return. Between being able to use Xin Mo and having access to Mobei-jun, there was nowhere the emperor could go that would be too far away, so why wasn’t he home yet? Was the cure to Consort Shen’s poison really so difficult to track down?

“Hey, kid!” a voice called out. A-Hua slowly turned around, eyes narrowed at whoever dared to call him such. He found himself softened slightly when he realized that it was just Shang Qinghua. The man gestured for A-Hua to go over to him.

Since A-Hua didn’t have anything better to do, he decided to see what Shang Qinghua wanted. “What?”

The man’s eyes flicked up and down the empty corridor nervously. “I might have an idea about who you could talk to. But don’t get your hopes up, she’s very particular about who she reads the fortunes of!” 

“Fortunes?”

Shang Qinghua nodded. “Have you heard of Madam Meiyin? She’s, uh, a friend of your father’s. She can see the future, and is way better at it than any other demon who’s boasted of having that talent. So there’s a chance- just a chance! that she might know something.”

“Which hall does she live in?” A-Hua asked. Even he couldn’t keep track of all of the emperor’s wives.

Shang Qinghua sighed. “She’s, ah, she’s not actually part of the harem. She actually operates out of a cave in what used to be the human realm.” 

That made A-Hua pause for a moment. He’d gone on little secret outings with Consort Shen and some of his siblings, and he had been on a couple of official outings to the nearest towns, but he’d never actually left the palace on his own before. But if this was the only lead he had, if this Madam Meiyin could help him at all in his quest to help Consort Shen, then he had to try. “Where is she exactly?” he asked with determination. After everything that Consort Shen had done for him over the years, this was the least that A-Hua could do to try and help in return. 

Chapter Text

“Do you think he’s mad?” Shen Yuan wondered as he looked around quickly to make sure that nobody had spotted them stepping out of a portal in a dingy back alley. It had been about a week since Yue Qingyuan had shown up, and Shen Yuan had panicked and said that he and Luo Binghe had eloped, since it was something he’d seen in one of the viewing screen performances. After giving him a few more details that were a combination of truth and fiction, as well as some wine to ease the way for the news, Yue Qingyuan had left in a daze.

The only contact he’d made since then was to have a new phone delivered to Shen Yuan, and he had messaged to say that if he was feeling better, he should return to work. So now Shen Yuan was outside of a massive building, even bigger than the one he lived in, and he was supposed to navigate his way through the day. 

Luo Binghe smirked in a way that revealed a single pointed tooth. “This lord does not believe Yue Qingyuan is mad at A-Yuan, no.” 

Shen Yuan cleared his throat, taken aback everytime his husband used such a familiar nickname for him. “Ah, um. Good to know. So, er, what are you going to do today?”

“This lord will find a way to entertain himself,” he said with a strange pointedness. It took Shen Yuan a moment to realize that Luo Binghe probably meant he would end up finding himself some new wives. 

He opened his mouth to warn Luo Binghe that the women here might be opposed to traveling to an entirely different world just to marry him, but then changed his mind. Luo Binghe was smart enough to already be aware of that, but also, there probably wouldn’t be that many people who would turn down the opportunity to marry the emperor even with such a big condition set on it.

Shen Yuan nodded once. “I understand,” he said, not sure why his throat felt so tight all of a sudden. “So um, I should be done around six, I think?” He didn’t want Yue Qingyuan to think anything was even more strange than he already did, so Shen Yuan didn’t want to tell the man that he had absolutely no idea how to drive a metal carriage- a car. 

Luo Binghe nodded, eyes strangely intense. “This lord will be here,” he promised. And everybody knew that Luo Binghe kept his promises. 

Shen Yuan smiled. “Alright, then I guess I’ll… see you later?” He started to step away, heading to the main street, but Luo Binghe reached out to grab Shen Yuan’s wrist in a light grip. He didn’t say anything, though, so Shen Yuan just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Was there something else?” 

It should not be so endearing for the all-powerful demon lord to suddenly look so bashful. “In the play you showed me…” he trailed off, like he couldn’t bring himself to actually say the words on his mind. When he only got a blank stare in response, he reluctantly added, “The wife…” 

Shen Yuan took a moment to think. The most recent viewing screen play they’d watched had been about a family, and something about voting that Shen Yuan hadn’t been able to quite follow along with. Sorry emperor, but this Shen Yuan could not read minds! He couldn’t think of anything from that story that was relevant to this moment!

The air grew more tense between them as several seconds ticked by, and Shen Yuan just stared up at Luo Binghe, wondering what he wanted. Luo Binghe scowled and abruptly let go of Shen Yuan. “Nothing, it was nothing.” Then he stepped back through the portal that led to Shen Qingqiu’s home, and it closed up a moment later. Shen Yuan just stared in bemusement, before finally shaking his head.

It was just as fascinating to ride the elevator in this building as it was in his home building, but Shen Yuan did his best to contain himself, since the small moving room was packed full. When they reached the number that matched what had been mentioned in Shang Qinghua’s book, Shen Yuan pushed his way through to step off, and found himself standing in a cavernous room full of desks and very short walls. It was eerily quiet despite the large number of people already there, only the clacking noises of computer keyboards breaking through the silence. 

Whispers seemed to follow him as he moved across the floor, but even when he strained to hear, he couldn’t make out much of use. He knew that it was probably all people who hated him, since the Shen Qingqiu of this world certainly hadn’t made friends with any of the people who worked in his department. 

As he walked towards his office, his steps not at all betraying his lack of confidence, it suddenly occurred to Shen Yuan that he had no idea what kind of work actually happened at Cang Qiong Manufacturing. He vaguely recalled an attempt to look it up on the internet last night, but then had ended up reading about a species of endangered tree which led to several articles about honey, which led to an article about babies (which had made Luo Binghe made a weird face when he lurked behind Shen Yuan to get a glimpse of the computer screen), and from there it had led to several other topics, none of which had anything to do with this business. And the book had never gotten very in-depth, more focused on office drama in the rare instance when it wasn’t focused on Shen Qingqiu’s mistreatment of Binghe.

[Not to worry!] the System suddenly chimed in, startling Shen Yuan. Other than warning him not to ‘metagame’ with anyone other than the emperor Luo Binghe, the System had pretty much left him alone, and Shen Yuan had much preferred it that way. [Host is currently using ‘EASY MODE’ and will not be at risk due to job performance!]

“Thanks,” Shen Yuan muttered darkly. He was able to find Shen Qingqiu’s office without too much trouble, thanks to the plaque on the door with his name, and he quickly went inside and closed the door behind him, not wanting to make it seem like he was inviting company. While Shen Qingqiu’s anti-social ways had not earned him any points with the other workers, Shen Yuan really didn’t know what he’d do if anyone tried to talk to him about things that he was supposed to know.

Some of his annoyance eased up when he noticed the computer on the desk. At least he wouldn’t have to be bored today! Man, if there was one invention of this world that Shen Yuan truly appreciated the most, it was the internet. Once Luo Binghe figured out how to get him home, he would have to ask Shang Qinghua to invent the internet in their world as well. He could already picture how much the children of the palace would enjoy having access to such a thing, though Shen Yuan would have to figure out how to put at least some restrictions in place for the younger ones. Content to spend the rest of his day on the computer, Shen Yuan decided that maybe having a job wasn’t so bad afterall.

,,,

Luo Binghe did have plans for the day while Shen Yuan was at work. It galled Luo Binghe that any spouse of his needed to work in the first place, but he did understand that there was a creature known as ‘System’ haunting Shen Yuan and forcing him to obey the plot of the story to some extent. Luo Binghe had already tried searching Shen Yuan’s dreamscape, but could not find any sign of the creature.

There were other concerns with this world, however. Luo Binghe had an excellent memory, and could easily recall the details Shen Yuan had shared with him about the story they were currently stuck in. So he knew that it was doomed to follow the same arc as Luo Binghe’s real life, where the boy would be betrayed and then someday rise up when he was strong enough to get his vengeance.

But since Luo Binghe did not know how long it would take to figure out how to safely return Shen Yuan to his own body back in their own world, he needed to take some precautions. If Shen Yuan was forced to commit a betrayal, then Luo Binghe could not allow the boy to cause problems over it. The easiest way to prevent that from ever happening would be to get rid of the boy now.

Luo Binghe had killed children before, including a few of his own spawn who had gotten it into their heads that they could overthrow him, but he did not enjoy it. And he knew that Shen Yuan, weak and soft-hearted as he was, would not appreciate Luo Binghe taking such measures. But that didn’t mean that Luo Binghe was willing to leave it all to chance. He knew that the boy had no demon blood and would be easy to beat even as an adult, but Luo Binghe was able to do more than just mindlessly slaughter his enemies. There were other ways to defeat them, when one was clever enough. 

Not to mention that the boy of this story did not necessarily deserve to be killed since he did not torture and kill Shen Qingqiu, he merely tore the man’s reputation to shreds and left him a powerless disgrace with no money or face left. And that was because the Shen Qingqiu of this world did not push his disciple into the Endless Abyss where he was forced to fight for his survival for years, but instead got the boy expelled from school with the intent of damaging the boy’s future. Considering that the boy was not a demon, Luo Binghe didn’t really understand why this world’s Shen Qingqiu still despised him so much, but it hardly mattered.

For as long as they were in this world, it was Shen Yuan, and not Shen Qingqiu, in that body, and Shen Yuan would not cause that kind of harm if he was given a choice in the matter.

As Luo Binghe slashed Xin Mo through the air and stepped through the portal to reach his destination, he paused for a moment to close his eyes and focus on his blood that was in Shen Yuan’s body. He wanted to make sure that he was not so far away that he would be unable to quickly get to his husband’s aid if needed. Because he had a reputation and needed to protect his spouses to maintain it, of course.

He concentrated on shrinking Xin Mo down into a small dagger that could easily be stored in the pocket of his new clothing, and knocked on the door in front of him. He waited impatiently until it finally swung open, revealing a cranky looking woman with a messy bun and purple smudges under her eyes. “What do you want?” she snapped.

Reminding himself that he was not an emperor in this world and could not expect the same level of respect, he took a deep breath, then offered the woman a charming smile. The suspicion in her eyes faded a little, but not entirely. “I am searching for a boy in your care, Luo Binghe.”

The woman narrowed her eyes. “What do you want with that brat?” Then she gave him a considering look. “You a relative of his? I was told that he’s an orphan, but I can see the resemblance.” 

Personally, Luo Binghe thought he looked quite different from the boy, and not only due to their ages, but this seemed like a fortuitous misunderstanding anyways. Assuming that the boy had the same family tree as Luo Binghe, there would be no other relatives who could counter Luo Binghe’s word on the matter. So he just continued to smile as he nodded. “I’ve been searching for my poor cousin for many years,” he told her, unbothered when she did not immediately get weepy on his behalf. “I look forward to a happy reunion.”

The woman sighed. “Well, you just missed him, he left to catch the bus about twenty minutes ago. You’ll have to come back after school if you want to see him. With the proper paperwork,” she added as an afterthought, like she didn’t actually care all that much whether he was who he claimed. It made Luo Binghe’s life easier, but it also filled him with fury towards the lack of care. “What’s your name?” the woman asked, sounding annoyed.

He realized that she had already asked him twice, but he hadn’t been able to hear over the sudden buzzing in his ears. He forced himself to take a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Shen Bingge,” he told her. It should have annoyed him to have to use a foolish fake name, but saying it out loud made him think of Shen Yuan without even trying, and Luo Binghe found it difficult to get too angry. 

“Great. Bring whatever documentation you have that you’re related to Binghe. If you’re looking to take custody of him, we’ll have to run a background check and go through the other steps once you’re cleared. But I doubt you’ll have much trouble; it’s not like the state wants another mouth to feed.” She told him to wait a moment and rudely closed the door right in his face instead of trying to invite him inside. She returned a minute later, handing him a thick packet of papers. “Look over those before you come back,” she told him boredly. Then she closed the door again.

Luo Binghe had no interest in adopting the boy, he only wanted to speak with him, but he was sure that that woman would not even care if Luo Binghe never returned again after today. 

He returned to Shen Qingqiu’s home, and looked around with a wrinkled nose at the mess. It wasn’t like he hadn’t noticed before, but when Shen Yuan was around, trying to show him all of the interesting unique features of this world, it was easy to get distracted from everything else. He remembered how Shen Yuan’s room back at the palace had also been a similar kind of mess. Then he remembered how clean the kind Shizun’s home had been. How he’d seen in that Shizun’s dreams that the crybaby version of himself had acted like a servant even after taking his place as a demon lord, and happily so. 

Luo Binghe was worth so much more than that crybaby, and would not demean himself in such a way. He was an emperor, and it was not his job to take care of these kinds of messes. But he hated feeling restless. After pacing back and forth through the small home for a few minutes, he ended up sinking down onto the couch and turning on the viewing screen, just as Shen Yuan had shown him.

He found himself watching a long play about cultivators who had risen to the heavens and traveled among the stars. Luo Binghe found himself quite drawn into the drama of it all, and it kept him distracted for a few hours. But in the end, when the protagonist and his teacher fought each other and the protagonist was left to die in lava, Luo Binghe turned off the viewing screen even though there was obviously some more left to the play. There was an uncomfortable pain in his chest, and suddenly Luo Binghe felt far more restless than he had before.

A glance at the clock showed that it was late enough in the day that school should be over, at least according to the computer. Glad for the opportunity to have something to do, Luo Binghe made sure he was presentable in his world-appropriate clothing, and then used Xin Mo to bring him right outside of the boy’s house. It was only then that he remembered that he was supposed to bring some kind of documentation. And while he was sure that he could get his hands on whatever was needed, it would take time that Luo Binghe did not want to spend.

So he used Xin Mo to bring him closer to the boy and found himself in front of another door. He was starting to wonder why doors in this world always seemed to interfere with his portals, but decided that it hardly mattered when they would hopefully be back in their own world soon enough.

Luo Binghe did not bother to knock after stowing Xin Mo away, he just pushed the door open. The boy was there, sitting at a small desk covered in scratch marks and crude words. The boy looked up sharply and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Luo Binghe standing there. He jumped to his feet, balling his hands into fists as he glowered up at the superior version. “You-!” He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “You’re my relative, aren’t you? Ms Yin said that someone would be coming by. Why is it you? You… you’re not really married to Shizun, are you? You’re just trying to..” he trailed off and narrowed his eyes as his pathetic mind tried to think of an explanation for what he did not understand.

Luo Binghe gave the boy a lazy, smug grin. “You think your Shizun would lie to you about this?”

The boy scowled. “What do you want?” he demanded to know.

All traces of amusement dropped from Luo Binghe’s face, and he channeled the full force of his demonic aura. Even without the ability to properly sense it, the boy shivered. “I’m here to make you a simple promise. If you ever do anything to hurt my husband, I will make sure that you will regret it for the rest of your life.”

Surprisingly, the threat seemed to fully disarm the boy rather than putting him on the offensive. He stared up at Luo Binghe with wide eyes. “What? I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Shizun!” He sounded so offended at the very thought of such a thing.

It made no sense. Shen Yuan had only been here in Shen Qingqiu’s body for a couple of weeks, and already the boy acted as though none of that scum’s actions mattered anymore. And from what he’d seen in the kind Shizun’s memories, he knew that it had been very similar in that world as well.

Had Luo Binghe ever been so pathetic, willing to forgive just about anything in exchange for a few small acts of kindness? Surely not. He had always believed in paying people back tenfold for whatever they did for him, good or bad. He would have given the world for his mother, had she lived long enough for Luo Binghe to come into his power. And he had given money, power, safety, sex, and other rewards to the people who had been kind to him, which is how he ended up with so many wives (not counting the large handful who had met him by opposing him). 

Ning Yingying was the first person after Luo Binghe’s mother who had treated him well, and he had made sure that she was properly paid back for that. It did not matter that she had gotten him beaten down by the other disciples back then, because she had never done so on purpose, and she had never abandoned him even when it would have been easier. But Shen Qingqiu had certainly acted with malicious intent. There was no one who could claim that he had been looking out for Luo Binghe’s best interest, or else he would have treated all of his disciples just as awfully. So how could that crybaby and this boy just forget about the harm caused in the past? A few kindnesses now did not erase the cruelty of the past.

And he didn’t understand why it bothered him, that these other versions of himself shared the same flaw. He sneered down at the boy. “Such a loyal little dog, not biting even after being kicked so many times.” 

The boy clenched his jaw, and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve given your warning, now you can go.” 

Xin Mo whispered to him about how easy it would be to destroy this insolent little brat right now. It had been too long since Luo Binghe had last spilt blood or other bodily fluids, and he could feel the bloodlust itching just beneath his skin. But Luo Binghe was the most powerful demon lord to exist, and he was in control of Xin Mo, not the other way around. So he ignored the urging from the sword, and turned to leave.

Before he was all the way out of the room, the boy spoke up. “The same goes to you.” When Luo Binghe glanced over his shoulder with one eyebrow raised, the boy stared up at him with a determined gaze. “If you do anything to hurt Shizun, you will regret it.” 

Luo Binghe barked out laughter at the weak threat coming from this powerless little boy, and he walked away. It was a pointless threat anyways, since Luo Binghe would never hurt his spouses. The whole point was that he provided them with a home and protection. 

Once he was away from that house, Luo Binghe pulled out Xin Mo, and only hesitated for a moment before slashing open a portal to take him to the building he had dropped Shen Yuan off at in the morning. When he arrived in the alley, he found Shen Yuan sitting on the ground, leaning up against the smooth metal wall, eyes closed and chest slowly rising and falling. He looked so peaceful sleeping like this, even if his hair had gotten quite messed up from where it was pushed up against the wall. It was very different from when Luo Binghe had seen Shen Yuan’s unconscious body back in their world, where he had looked practically dead already. Luo Binghe had never seen his Shizun’s face look so peaceful.

He stomped forward and kicked at Shen Yuan’s foot with just enough force to startle the man awake, but not enough to hurt him. Shen Yuan’s eyes snapped open, and he looked around in confusion for a moment before he spotted Luo Binghe and unconsciously smiled up at him, eyes crinkling at the corners.

Luo Binghe reached down to grab Shen Yuan’s hand and pull him up to his feet. “You’re lucky you didn’t get robbed or murdered, falling asleep out in the open like this.”

Shen Yuan laughed sheepishly. “Ah, yeah, it was just a long wait. I realize that we should get you a phone so I can tell you when plans change, but basically Yue Qingyuan sent me home early and said that maybe I shouldn’t come back until next week instead. I think he disapproved of how I was spending my time on the office computer. In my defense, I really did get some work done! Turns out there’s a lot of numbers work, and once the internet told me how to use the right programs, I actually got some stuff finished. Did you know that there are devices that can calculate crazy number operations, some that I’ve never even heard of? It made me think of that time when I was tutoring the twins and…” he rambled on.

Luo Binghe felt a small bit of alarm at Shen Yuan’s initial words, though, and waited until there was a big enough gap between thoughts for him to say something. “When were you sent home?”

Shen Yuan glanced at his time bracelet. “Hm, a couple hours ago.”

“You’ve been waiting out here that long?” It was bad enough to think Shen Yuan had been sleeping out here for a few minutes, vulnerable and alone, but a couple of hours? 

Shen Yuan didn’t seem as concerned as Luo Binghe was. “Ah, if anything happened, then my husband would have come to my rescue, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Shen Yuan told him, reaching out to lightly pat Luo Binghe’s arm. There was a strange feeling in Luo Binghe’s chest as Shen Yuan moved closer to fully intertwine his arm with Luo Binghe’s. “Let’s go home now, hm? I’m pretty hungry.” 

They were back at Shen Qingqiu’s home in less than a minute, and then Luo Binghe reluctantly slipped his arm free so that he could go into the kitchen. “And what does my husband want to eat?”

For some reason, Shen Yuan looked a little surprised. “Eh, you don’t need to cook for me! You’ve already done so much!”

Luo Binghe turned back with a small frown. “Has my husband tired of my cooking so quickly?” 

Shen Yuan immediately shook his head hard enough that it made the last of his hair fall loose from the band that had been holding it together. “Of course not! How could I? It’s just that… my lord is going to spoil me.”

Luo Binghe nodded. “Good. This lord is content to do so.” Then he paused for a moment, wondering why something felt wrong about what Shen Yuan had just said. “And call me by my name,” he commanded.

Shen Yuan’s eyes widened. “What? I couldn’t possibly-”

“The rules of this world are different,” Luo Binghe reminded him, looking pointedly down at his own strange attire.

Shen Yuan’s cheeks went pink, but he nodded. “Very well, my… Binghe.” 

Luo Binghe hadn’t expected Shen Yuan to call him so familiar, but it made some of the unrest inside of him settle down a bit, so he nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now A-Yuan should just relax while I make dinner.” He would never get tired of how much it seemed to fluster Shen Yuan to be called that.

Keeping one ear out for the quiet noises of Shen Yuan making himself comfortable and settling down, Luo Binghe got to work cooking. He had a much better understanding of the various kitchen tools by this point, but he still mostly preferred to stick with what was more familiar. As he stirred some vegetables around in the pan on the stove, he was suddenly hit with a strange realization. Once they returned to their own world, this comfortable domesticity would be gone. It would no longer be just the two of them (not counting the annoying instances of the boy coming over to monopolize Shen Yuan’s time). 

Luo Binghe would have to deal with all of the many responsibilities that came with being emperor. There was surely a lot of work that had built up during this time away. Then there would be all of his other spouses to deal with, and rebellions to put down, and monsters to kill, and- and- and there was always something more. And Luo Binghe preferred it that way. Sitting around and doing nothing useful had never been Luo Binghe’s way. 

And Shen Yuan had things to do back there as well. He would probably want to go visit his family, though Luo Binghe would insist that at least one guard accompany him. And he had his little sculptures and Shang Qinghua and whatever else Shen Yuan did to fill his time. Now that he thought about it, Luo Binghe wasn’t actually sure what Shen Yuan liked to do back in the palace, where there were no viewing screen dramas to watch and make fun of. But whatever it was, Shen Yuan would go back to that. He would return to the hall where Luo Binghe’s male spouses resided, far from the main palace because Luo Binghe had never cared about spending time with any of them. Not that he really cared about spending time with his wives either, outside of sleeping with them. 

This whole situation was like a little vacation, that was all. And once they returned home and everything went back to normal, Luo Binghe would forget about it all soon enough, shoved to the back of his mind like all of the other adventures he’d gone on for the sake of rescuing one spouse or another from whatever trouble they’d gotten into. 

When an acrid smell rose up to Luo Binghe’s nose, he flinched and looked down at the pan. Several pieces of onion were charred beyond edibility, and as Luo Binghe removed the pan from the stove to scrape the contents into the trash, he felt a strange sense of dread in his stomach. He had never burned his food before. 

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan woke up with a sharp gasp, and in the few seconds it took for the dream to slip away, Luo Binghe had kicked the bedroom door open and was standing there with Xin Mo heroically raised in front of him, ready to fight whatever might have threatened his spouse. The only thing that offset the intimidating look was the fact that Luo Binghe was dressed down to just his soft under robes, and his hair was all over the place in a less intentional style than usual.

Shen Yuan blinked a few times, then snorted out loud. He quickly raised his hand to cover his mouth. As Luo Binghe realized that there was no threat, at least not one that he could fight with a sword, he slowly lowered Xin Mo, looking disgruntled. Shen Yuan couldn’t help laughing, and his hand was not nearly enough to muffle it.

Luo Binghe looked over at him with narrowed eyes. “This lord fails to see anything entertaining about this situation,” he said, sounding annoyed, but also… not? 

It took a few moments for Shen Yuan to calm down and stop laughing. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just,” he waved to gesture to Luo Binghe’s entire person, and when Luo Binghe raised one eyebrow in bemusement, it only set Shen Yuan off again.

“If you’re done?” Luo Binghe asked dryly.

Shen Yuan took a few deep breaths, and pressed his lips together in a flat line as he nodded. “Mm hm.” Luo Binghe gave the entire room one last look, then finally put Xin Mo away. “You got here so quick- did you really hear such a quiet gasp?”

Luo Binghe looked a little uncomfortable. “You felt scared.”

Forgetting about the full extent of Luo Binghe’s abilities, especially those related to his blood, was easy to do when you weren’t one of the people that the emperor spent the most time with. There was also a lot that Shen Yuan hadn’t even known at all until coming to this world and reading Proud Immortal Demon Way. Shen Yuan threw back his blanket and got up, wanting to clearly show that he was alright. “Just a bad dream. Even the all-powerful emperor of the combined realms cannot protect me from that.”

Luo Binghe looked almost offended. “Is A-Yuan so sure about that?” He only needed to take a few steps to get closer to the bed, where he sat down and patted the space next to him. “This lord will provide a peaceful night for his husband.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten that you mastered your control over dreams,” he admitted as he climbed back into bed. “Though I should have remembered, because A-Xuan was technically conceived in a dream even though that really shouldn’t be possible, and he is- was-” he cut himself off with a frown. 

Luo Binghe hesitantly reached out, as if there were a thousand miles between them rather than a few inches, and he lightly placed his hand on top of Shen Yuan’s. “He is what?” he prompted in a gentle voice.

Shen Yuan let out a heavy sigh, and slumped back against the headboard. “He was pretty good at dream manipulation,” he answered quietly, voice barely above a whisper. 

It seemed to take a moment for Luo Binghe to understand who they were even talking about. “Luo Baixuan.” One of Luo Binghe’s first children, and many people had assumed that he would be named the emperor’s official heir, even if Luo Binghe had never said as much. He was a talented and bright boy, until he’d been poisoned by one of Luo Binghe’s jealous wives. What did it say about the emperor that he did not even immediately recall all of his children? Luo Binghe furrowed his eyebrows. “Luo Baixuan was before your time.”

Shen Yuan pulled his hand away from Luo Binghe’s and turned to look up at him. “What? How old do you think I am? How long do you think we’ve been married?” 

It should not matter that Luo Binghe didn’t know the answers. Why would he remember much of anything about one of his male spouses? Still, when Luo Binghe hesitantly said, “A few years?” Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel a little offended.

He narrowed his eyes and leaned further away from Luo Binghe. “I’ve been married to you for over thirty years!” A-Xuan had actually been a couple of years older than Shen Yuan, but the two had become decent friends fairly quickly after Shen Yuan entered the palace.

At least Luo Binghe had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. “This lord has many spouses.”

“I know,” Shen Yuan said tiredly. But you have less children than spouses and you can’t even keep track of them, he wanted to say. But that was hardly fair. Luo Binghe was literally the most important person in their world, and he had a lot of responsibilities to take care of as emperor. 

A few seconds passed by in extremely awkward silence, and then Luo Binghe tilted his head slightly to the side in a move that looked far too puppy-ish for a blackened demon lord. “You seem to be close with many of this lord’s children,” he said quietly.

Shen Yuan shrugged. “I just happen to have more spare time than some of their mothers, so I babysit on occasion, give some extra help with their studies, that kind of thing.” Actually, now that he thought about it, he hoped that none of the kids were falling too far behind. Being in this world had already given him some inspiration for future lessons- such as the internet! And stickers! But it didn’t matter if he planned out a thousand lessons so long as he was stuck in this world in Shen Qingqiu’s body. 

He realized that some more awkward silence had passed by when Luo Binghe broke it. “You have spent more time with this lord’s children than I have.” 

“You’re a busy man, you have a lot of stuff to deal with, and your kids all know that.” The younger ones didn’t always quite understand it, but they did at least know it. “Have you made any progress on getting us home?” he asked, even knowing that the topic would probably feel sudden at this point. Luo Binghe slowly shook his head, but didn’t say anything. Shen Yuan frowned. “Speaking of your responsibilities as emperor… How long can you afford to be away?”

Luo Binghe scowled. “This lord can do with his time as he pleases.” He sounded like a petulant teenager, and Shen Yuan couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on him. 

“Of course you can, of course you can. But are your advisors enough to keep everything running smoothly for such a long time? And what if my poisoning was just an accident and someone else in the harem is the real target and requires your protection? Not to mention that our world seems more likely to have answers about how to get me home than this one would.” 

With each line he spoke, Luo Binghe’s eyebrows furrowed deeper, until it looked like it must be causing him a painful headache. “You want me to leave,” he surmised, after Shen Yuan was done talking.

Shen Yuan slowly shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that you have obligations to many more people than just me. There’s nothing here posing an actual threat to me, since this Shen Qingqiu gets off far lighter than the human stick treatment. As much as I want to get home as soon as possible, I’ll be alright if I have to wait a little longer.” Thinking of home, and all of the people he missed there, he felt a pang of longing in his chest. But he was also finding this world surprisingly enjoyable. 

The grumpy look on Luo Binghe’s face didn’t fade away. “Fine,” he bit out. Then he just laid down fully, and waited impatiently for Shen Yuan to do the same thing. It felt like there was still more to discuss, but Shen Yuan was used to dealing with this man’s children, and knew that their stubbornness was an inherited trait, so he just quietly laid down and pulled the blanket back up. He wasn’t sure if it was due to Luo Binghe’s intervention or not, but Shen Yuan was able to get through the rest of the night without any troubling dreams.

Shen Yuan was not surprised when he woke up to an empty bed, since he knew that Luo Binghe did not choose to sleep alongside his spouses. So he wasn’t concerned, until he realized that there were no delicious smells in the air like there had been the past several days. After searching the entire little home, it didn’t take long for Shen Yuan to understand that Luo Binghe was gone.

,,,

Binghe looked around suspiciously. “Where’s Shizun’s husband?” 

Thinking about it, it probably did seem a little weird to anyone who knew him that he’d supposedly eloped so suddenly, and now his husband wasn’t even here anymore. “Ah, something unexpected came up with his business, so he had to go on a trip to take care of it.” 

Hearing that, Binghe beelined to the kitchen, and opened the fridge and freezer, peering in for just a few seconds before making an irritated little noise. “He didn’t leave you any meals?”

Shen Yuan laughed awkwardly. “I’m perfectly capable of making my own meals.” Binghe gave him a dubious look, but he was a good child so he didn’t argue. He just settled down at the table and pulled out his homework, making his way through in record time. “Binghe is so smart,” Shen Yuan praised. So far, his experimental test subject was proving that stickers were, in fact, an effective motivator. “Soon, you won’t even need me.”

Binghe’s eyes widened, and he quickly shook his head. “I wouldn’t understand any of this stuff without your help, Shizun, so- so-” 

Shen Yuan smiled softly, and reached out to pat Binghe’s head. “I’m not going anywhere, silly child,” he promised. He did hope that he’d be gone from this world before the inevitable betrayal, but then what would happen? Would the Shen Qingqiu of this story return and continue to harm this sweet little white lotus, or would the villainous teacher character simply be gone from the narrative? 

Binghe sighed and pressed his head into Shen Yuan’s hand like a cat. He seemed reluctant to pull away. “Then… since I have extra time, would it be alright if I used your kitchen?”

Thinking of food cooked by Luo Binghe, any version of him, made Shen Yuan’s stomach growl loudly, and he turned his head away while nodding. “Yes, yes, Binghe is free to make himself feel at home here, as I’ve told you before.” Binghe’s eyes were bright as he nodded and scampered off to the kitchen.

Shen Yuan sighed, and leaned back in his seat. “System, if I am able to return to my world, what will happen to Binghe here?”

[This System does not understand. Does Host wish to engage a punishment protocol?]

It took a moment for Shen Yuan to remember that the System had threatened to send him home if he broke the rules, which was essentially the same as threatening to kill him, since he was sure his body must be dead by now. “No, obviously!” he snapped. “I just want to know what my options are for keeping Binghe safe.” 

[Host must ensure that the protagonist is expelled and black listed during the Academic Decathlon.]

“Useless,” Shen Yuan muttered. Whatever, he’d just figure things out on his own. Maybe he could leave a note or something before leaving, in case Shen Qingqiu did wake up back in his body. Even the scum villain wouldn’t be so petty as to ruin a boy’s future at the risk of his own career. But that was a problem for another day anyways, since the Decathlon was still a couple of years away.

,,,

Xin Mo’s hunger only grew worse after being used to return Luo Binghe to his own world, which seemed more difficult than the usual portals he was able to make. So his first order of business was to summon every wife he passed in the hallway on the way to his room, and he spent the night thoroughly sating himself with all of them.

Xin Mo seemed satisfied enough, but Luo Binghe found that he felt even worse by the time morning came. He stormed out of his own room, leaving behind the pile of exhausted women. He wasn’t even sure where he was going, but his feet moved on their own, and soon he found himself in the hall of his male spouses.

He narrowed his eyes, but ultimately kept going until he reached Shen Yuan’s room. The guard standing outside the door immediately straightened up when she spotted Luo Binghe. “My lord!” she stammered out. “You’re back!”

“Obviously,” he snapped. Then he walked past her to push the door open and step inside. The room looked the same as the last time he’d been inside, and the body resting on the bed looked no different either. It was truly bizarre to see Shen Yuan’s real face again after spending time with him looking like Shen Qingqiu. There was no real resemblance between them, and yet Luo Binghe felt as though they looked similar anyways. Perhaps it was just because of how unapologetically himself Shen Yuan was even while possessing someone else. The kind Shizun could also be mistaken for resembling Shen Yuan, while the original Shen Qingqiu never could be.

Luo Binghe started to reach out towards Shen Yuan’s body, but then stopped and clenched his hand into a fist by his side. He just stood there, watching over the unconscious man, and wondered why it felt as though he was missing something important.

,,,

A-Hua glanced down at the map that Shang Qinghua had drawn for him. He was already further away from the palace than he’d ever been before, and yet he found himself not feeling too much fear. He’d yet to pass by a single thing that he hadn’t already learned about, mostly from Consort Shen. The most complicated part of this would be figuring out where exactly Madam Meiyin’s cave was located, since a lot of local geography had apparently been changed by the merging of the realms, and Shang Qinghua could only tell him where the cave had been prior to that.

A-Hua did not stop walking all day, his heavenly demon blood bolstering him where some of his half-human siblings might grow tired. He did have to stop and make camp for the night, though, because he knew that the things that came out at night tended to be too strong for a boy out on his own, even if he did have training and heavenly demon blood. 

As he pitched his tent and laid out his bedroll inside, he heard a rustling in the nearby bushes. A-Hua quickly drew his sword and slowly crept back outside, looking around sharply. He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t react immediately, to make it seem as though he hadn’t seen anything. 

Then after a few seconds, he lunged forward, ready to pierce through whatever might be there. There was an annoyed hiss, and he realized just a moment too late that it was just a little snake demon. A-Hua swerved his sword as best he could, though he could still smell blood in the air from where he’d sliced a little bit into the snake. “Sorry, I was just startled,” he explained, already reaching to pull out a bandage and some medicine. 

As he crouched down, the snake demon stayed put, though whether that was because it was too injured to move or because it believed A-Hua about the attack being accidental, he did not know. As he gently patched up the wound, glad to see that it was just a little cut after all, he squinted at the snake. “You were in Consort Shen’s study,” he said as soon as he recognized the snake. “Why? How did you get in there?” The snake flicked out its tongue, but didn’t say anything else, most likely because it could not speak with that mouth. “Are you following me?” A-Hua asked, since a yes or no question seemed like it would have the highest chance of being answered. 

The snake hesitated for a moment, then deliberately bobbed its head up and down in answer. Probably expecting that A-Hua’s next question would be to wonder why, the snake slithered towards the tent, and went right inside without invitation. A-Hua followed, feeling somewhat annoyed. He watched as the snake went over to the rolled up map, and wriggled across it to slowly unroll it. Then it flicked its tongue towards the circled destination.

A-Hua knelt down to peer down at the map and the snake demon. “You know where to find Madam Meiyin?” The snake bobbed its head again. A-Hua sat back on his heels. His tutors would say that no one should be trusted without having extensively proven themselves first. Consort Shen would say that one should not attack unprovoked when there are alternative solutions. Sending the snake away seemed like it would be a reasonable compromise, but he wasn’t quite sure if it was the right answer. “Why would you help me?” he asked, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to get some more information. The snake looked around, then flicked its tongue towards the qiankun pouch hanging from A-Hua’s belt. “You want food?” he guessed. The snake shook its head. A-Hua unhooked the pouch so that he could look inside and see if anything seemed like an answer. 

Since he couldn’t think of anything, and there wasn’t much inside at the moment other than food and clothes, he just dumped it all out to make it easier. The snake immediately went towards a little trinket that A-Hua hadn’t even realized he had with him. It was a little sculpture of A-Hua wielding his sword, the whole thing no bigger than one of his fingers, but made with intense detail. Consort Shen had given it to him years ago, but A-Hua must have left it inside the pouch at some point and forgotten about it. 

He picked up the little sculpture and looked it over, but of course there were no secret messages carved out on it, no matter how cool that would be. Then he looked back down at the snake demon. “You want to help Consort Shen?” When the snake nodded, A-Hua blinked a few times, then let out a little laugh. “Of course he’s made friends with some random little demon. Were you in his office with his permission?” The snake nodded again, and A-Hua just shook his head as he carefully put everything back into the qiankun pouch. “Alright, so I guess we’re in this together, then. Thanking Demon-gongzi in advance for his help.” 

Of course he knew that there was always the possibility that the demon was lying, and A-Hua was not foolish enough to deny that, but he wanted to believe that he would have some decent help with this self-assigned mission. And if this little demon could help him get closer to finding answers about who had poisoned Consort Shen and how to cure him, then that was a risk that A-Hua was willing to take. 

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you’d like to know about your future? Hearing it will not make you happy.”

“Tell me!”

“Very well, dear. Just know that it will surely be a lonely one…”

,,,

Shen Yuan nodded in satisfaction as he looked around the apartment. He may have gone a little bit overboard with decorating, but it was Binghe’s birthday! Or at least, he was pretty sure that it was. The methods of tracking time worked quite a bit differently in this world, but it seemed close enough, and this was the date that the internet had given him when he’d looked it up.

Some of his enthusiasm deflated when it started to get later and later, past the time that Binghe would usually show up for his tutoring. Binghe was obviously an amazing student and didn’t really need Shen Yuan’s help in his studies, but Binghe had never missed a tutoring session, or even been late. 

As he paced back and forth across the sitting room, he heard a faint buzzing noise, and thought that perhaps Binghe was calling him to explain the delay. He had to search around for a minute to find his phone, which had apparently fallen down between the couch cushions. It was Yue Qingyuan’s name on the screen though, and Shen Yuan sighed with disappointment.

He still answered, though. “Yes?”

“A-Jiu, you didn’t come into work today, is everything alright? Are you feeling well? No one could find your report about the West project, so the meeting with Huan Hua had to be postponed.”

Shit, he had really gone overboard with the birthday preparations, hadn’t he? Even with the System letting him use easy mode, he still found most of the work to be boring and he had just forgotten entirely that it was a thing he was supposed to be doing, especially after just having gotten two days where he didn’t have to work. Although in his defense, he didn’t recognize that project name, so it must be one that Shen Qingqiu had been working on before Shen Yuan arrived in this world. “Ah, sorry about that. I- er, I have a cough.” He coughed a couple times in demonstration. “I’ll send you the presentation tomorrow.”

“Is it serious? I can bring by some medicine if you want-”

“No need!” Shen Yuan cut him off. “Ah, Binghe- I mean Bingge! will get me some. Um, on the way home from work.”

There was a long silence before Yue Qingyuan spoke again, voice low. “Right. Your husband.” He said ‘husband’ the same way someone might say ‘Waste-Eating Jackalope’. He could only imagine how much worse it would be if he told Yue Qingyuan that his husband had left almost a month ago and had yet to return.

The call ended soon after that, to Shen Yuan’s relief. He always felt so awkward around Yue Qingyuan. And neither Proud Immortal Demon Way or Proud CEO’s Way ever gave any explanation about the backstory between Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu, so Shen Yuan had nothing to work with. 

With his phone in hand, Shen Yuan was reminded that it could be used to contact Binghe as well, and that he did not have to wait for someone to call him first. He went to check the paper where he’d written down Binghe’s number, and made sure to carefully input it so that there were no typos. It was only a mechanical voice, similar to the System, that responded, which meant that Binghe was either busy or had forgotten his phone somewhere. Though based on the odd look Binghe gave him when Shen Yuan mentioned losing his phone for the hundredth because he left it lying around somewhere, he assumed that Binghe was not so prone to losing his.

Maybe Binghe wouldn’t mind if Shen Yuan went to find him instead? It wasn’t what they usually did, since their sessions always involved Binghe coming here, and based on what was written about his childhood, Shen Yuan could hardly blame him for that. But if Binghe was just caught up in something- or maybe had even had a girlfriend that he was spending time with?? then it would be easy to just swing by, drop off the treats, and then leave.

Set on this plan, Shen Yuan gathered up what he’d made. Well, the cake had been bought on the internet and delivered to him, but the ice cream he’d made himself. He was definitely bringing the ice cream maker back with him once the emperor found a way to bring him home. 

Once the cake and ice cream were packed, along with a cold pack to hopefully stop the ice cream from melting (he certainly missed talismans and qiankun pouches in this instance), he went to grab his present as well. Technically, it wasn’t his to give away, but Luo Binghe had left it behind, and could afford a million more, so Shen Yuan wasn’t too bothered by taking it.

A little golden hair crown with a red gem in the center. The emperor had vaults full of such accessories and probably wouldn’t even notice it missing, while it would be a valuable gift for the younger Binghe who was still in the early stages of life. It would be a pretty thing to wear if Binghe ever decided to grow his hair out, but it also had the secondary purpose of being worth decent money, so Binghe could sell it if things got desperate, rather than resorting to some of the less savory methods he used to make money in the novel.

Shen Yuan had never seen Binghe’s current residence, and found that it was a bit tricky to navigate his way to it without a specific address, but he was determined to get there before the ice cream became a soup. He just had to wave around his credit card (it had taken a bit of investigation to figure out what the card was called or its purpose, and he had no idea what any of Shen Qingqiu’s passwords or pin codes were, but the internet had proven correct again about most merchants not requiring those things). Eventually, he found a car with a driver that seemed to know what Shen Yuan was talking about when he described the boys’ home Binghe lived in, and the surrounding area.

When they reached an area that matched what Shen Yuan remembered from the book, he felt relieved. It had probably still been too long for the ice cream to survive, but Binghe could always try sticking it in the freezer (though Shen Yuan knew that the other boys in the home could easily take it for themselves without permission if Binghe didn’t eat it right away).

He walked up to the door and was about to knock, when he heard a familiar voice calling out, “Shizun? What are you doing here?” 

Shen Yuan turned to see Binghe hurrying down the sidewalk, leaving behind a group of four other boys who looked to be around the same age. “Binghe! You were running late, so I thought I would check in on you.”

Binghe blinked a few times, then smiled softly. “Shizun was worried about me?” he asked. Then he frowned and pulled out his phone. “Ah, I didn’t see you called, I had my phone on do not disturb at school.” 

“Why were you still there?”

Binghe blinked again, then tilted his head to the side. “Did you forget to change your clocks for daylight savings?” 

Shen Yuan had no idea what that meant, and made a mental note to look it up later. For now, he just shook his head. “Well, since I’m already here, the ice cream will melt if we head all the way back to my place, so you might want to eat it quickly.”

“Ice cream?”

Shen Yuan hesitated, suddenly worried that he’d gotten everything wrong. “Is it not Binghe’s birthday today?” Or maybe he’d read it wrong when the internet said that cake and ice cream was traditional for a birthday treat. 

Binghe’s eyes widened. “You remembered?” Then his whole face lit up with a bright grin. “There’s a park just a few blocks away, if you don’t mind eating outside in this weather.” It was a little chilly, but Shen Yuan didn’t mind. 

Before he could say as much, the other boys caught up. “Yo, you a social worker?” one of them asked.

Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he shook his head. “No.”

“A cop?” one of the others guessed. 

Shen Yuan shook his head again. “No, I-”

“Damn, so little Bingbing got himself a sugar daddy!” one of the other boys called out.

Binghe’s face flushed bright red. “Shut up!” he snapped at them. “Don’t you dare talk about Shizun!”

“Ooh, didn’t realize this was your precious Shizun, wouldn’t want to ruin his reputation, huh? Well what exactly are you going to do about it?”

Binghe clenched his hands into fists, and Shen Yuan reached out to put his hand on Binghe’s shoulder, lightly pushing the boy until he was standing mostly behind him. “Enough,” he said calmly. “We have no quarrel with you, and you’d best be getting home.” Then he turned to start walking away, motioning for Binghe to follow even though Shen Yuan had no idea which way the park was.

“Go ahead and walk away like a little bitch!” one of the boys shouted. 

Then the group stormed forward, shoving into Binghe as they passed by him. Binghe had been standing right on the edge of the sidewalk, and he flailed his arms out as he stumbled backwards. Shen Yuan turned to look, and could see a car rushing forward. Binghe was the protagonist and should be able to steady himself easily enough, but if he couldn’t…

In that moment, Shen Yuan could only remember that this version of Binghe was young, and only human, and would not have the protections of his heavenly demon blood to keep him safe. It did not occur to Shen Yuan that he was in an equally vulnerable body.

Before he could keep thinking about it, Binghe was already falling back, so Shen Yuan rushed forward and grabbed Binghe’s extended arm, yanking him back to safety with all his might. In that same moment, while he was still unbalanced from the momentum of pulling Binghe back, one of the unpleasant boys stuck his leg out, tripping Shen Yuan and sending him flying out into the road.

He felt something warm spilling out all over him, even though he hadn’t felt any impact from the car, and Shen Yuan looked down in confusion, only to see that the ice cream had spilled out of the bag and gotten all over him. He looked over and saw that he was technically on the road, but still within the parking spaces, so a car would have to be driving like a complete maniac to hit him from here. For that matter, Binghe wouldn’t have landed far enough out for a car to hit him either.

Feeling embarrassed about his overreaction, Shen Yuan let Binghe pull him back to his feet. “Your shirt is ruined,” Binghe said glumly. He didn’t even seem to care that the ice cream had been wasted. 

“I have plenty of others,” he assured Binghe. Then he peered into his bag. The paper wrapped around the hair crown was pretty damp, but the cake was still in the unopened container it came in, and didn’t seem to be harmed. “Would Binghe still like to try some cake?”

Binghe led the way to the park, ignoring the way the boys snickered and made inappropriate jokes about the sight of the vanilla ice cream splattered across Shen Yuan’s front. He zipped up his jacket to avoid anyone else seeing. 

There were plenty of open tables at the park, and they sat down at one together. The crisscrossed metal was a bit uncomfortable, but Binghe didn’t complain, so Shen Yuan couldn’t either. He just pulled out the cake. “I would have made it myself, but…” he grimaced as he thought about the failed attempt currently sitting in the bottom of his trash can. 

“It doesn’t matter, it’s about the thought behind it,” Binghe told him shyly.

Shen Yuan smiled, and ignored the pang in his heart at the thought that his husband had once been this innocent and sweet before the world had beaten him down. He pulled a knife out of the bag, and raised his arm to get some good momentum to swing down and stab into the container. The knife bounced awkwardly off of the see-through dome, and Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows. “Should I have brought a sharper knife?” he muttered to himself.

Binghe’s cheeks puffed out, and a moment later it became clear that it was because Binghe was trying to contain his laughter. “Shizun, you…” he trailed off, voice light. He pulled the container over to himself, pulled back on the black bit at the bottom, and then was able to pull the dome away with some loud cracking noises. 

“There were no instructions included,” Shen Yuan grumbled, before quickly cutting out a slice to distract Binghe. Apparently today was meant to be just full of embarrassing moments. Before Binghe could take a bite (with his hands, since Shen Yuan had completely forgotten to bring any utensils other than the knife), Shen Yuan leaned over to stick in a candle. Of course, he didn’t have any matches, either. This body did not feel particularly weak compared to his previous one, so it was easy to forget that there was no spiritual energy inside to use even for little things, like lighting candles. “Ah, Binghe will just have to pretend. You’re supposed to blow out the candle and make a wish.” 

Binghe looked surprisingly happy, considering how underwhelming this whole day had to be. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and breathed out like he was really trying to blow out a flame. When he opened his eyes again, Shen Yuan reached over to pluck out the candle. Despite being made to put in a cake, it just tasted like regular wax. “Do you want to know what I wished for?”

Shen Yuan shook his head. “It’s supposed to be a secret, isn’t it?”

“Mn. But I wouldn’t mind sharing, as long as it’s with Shizun.” 

“Best not to risk it if you want the wish to come true.” The rituals had seemed pretty clear about that, and he wanted to make sure that Binghe would get his birthday wish. If anyone deserved for their wish to come true, it was this little white lotus.

After they’d both eaten their fill of cake, Shen Yuan pulled out the present to hand it over, apologizing for the way the paper had absorbed some spilled ice cream. Binghe seemed hesitant to accept, but when Shen Yuan insisted, Binghe took the gift. He unwrapped it carefully, and then looked at the hair crown with shiny eyes.

“Shizun, this is- this is too much,” he said softly.

He wasn’t expecting for the System to suddenly speak up right in his ear. [Host has been acting very OOC! If this behavior continues, EASY MODE will be disabled, and Host will be returned to previous world!]

Shen Yuan had to resist the urge to scream in frustration. Could the System not have told him that before he’d gone through all the effort of packing everything up in the first place?? He quickly tried to figure out an alternate way to word it to make sure that Binghe would still be able to keep the gift. “That old thing was just lying around anyways,” he said. “If Binghe doesn’t want it, I will just throw it away as originally planned.” 

Binghe laughed, and nodded. “Of course, Shizun.” 

Even if it would not be for another couple of years, the thought of having to potentially betray this Binghe suddenly filled Shen Yuan with dread. There was no way he could do it. Even if this Binghe wouldn’t have to go through anything close to the Endless Abyss, that didn’t mean that it was by any means easy for him in the years after his teacher got him expelled. There had to be something he could do to prevent any of that from happening. This boy sitting before him reminded Shen Yuan so much of some of the children back at the palace, and he felt the same urge to spare him any pain that he could. 

Binghe must have noticed the sudden heavy feeling in the air, because he looked over at Shen Yuan with worried eyes. “Shizun? Is everything okay?”

Shen Yuan thought about it, and realized that he had probably already reached this decision from the moment he first met this Binghe, even if he hadn’t been aware that it was even a decision to make. He gave a single determined nod, and leaned forward to speak in a soft whisper, as if that would somehow prevent the System from knowing what he was doing. “Binghe, have you ever… have you ever heard of a book called Proud Immortal Demon Way?”  

A sharp jolt could be felt in the back of Shen Yuan’s head. [OOC! OOC! Host cannot share meta information with the protagonist!]

“Oh enough of that! He could easily find it on his own just by trying to search for his own name on the internet!” Shen Yuan argued. “I barely had to look very deep at all to find it! It’s bullshit to somehow claim it’s my fault when it’s something that’s so easy to find!”

“Shizun?” a confused voice broke through the internal conversation with the System. “Why do you ask? Is it a good book?”

“It’s complete trash,” Shen Yuan told him honestly, mentally flipping off Shang Qinghua. “But you might find it illuminating, at least in certain parts. If you decide to read it, you may want to pay extra attention to the events of chapters 86 and 1879.” One of those chapters portrayed the Immortal Alliance Conference and Luo Binghe’s banishment to the Endless Abyss. The other described the events that led to him marrying his first husband. 

[OOC! OOC!] the System screeched in his ear. [Host will cease at once or immediately be returned to his home world!]

Binghe nodded. “If you’re the one recommending it, then I will read it for sure,” he promised. “But why those chapters?” he furrowed his eyebrows. “And how long is this book, anyways?” 

Shen Yuan reached out to pat the top of Binghe’s head. “You’re a good kid,” he said softly. “I’m glad I got the chance to know you like this. Promise that you will always work hard and do your best, no matter what obstacles come your way.”

Binghe nodded. “Of course!” 

“Also maybe avoid signing up for the Academic Decathlon in your senior year,” he advised.

[OOC! Meta gaming! Host will be returned to previous world in 10… 9… 8…]

Binghe looked understandably confused, but he nodded anyway. “Alright, Shizun.”

Shen Yuan smiled softly. “Good. I hope-”

Chapter Text

Luo Binghe felt more restless than usual as he sat on his throne, listening to his advisors talk on and on about problems that they should have been able to easily solve for themselves while Luo Binghe had been busy, putting down two separate rebellions and mediating between several clans that had been about to go to war with each other. 

“Just build a new dam,” he interrupted, getting a headache from the bickering of his advisors.

One of them gulped as he stood up. “Of course, my lord, but where will the funding come from? The villagers don’t have enough to-”

“Take it from this lord’s treasury,” he ordered. Then he stood up, and all of his advisors looked at him with expressions that ranged from awe to fear to envy. “This meeting is over,” he announced, before drawing Xin Mo and slashing it through the air to create a portal that would bring him into Shen Yuan’s room. 

As he watched over the sleeping body, he silently acknowledged that perhaps Shen Yuan had been right that his duties as emperor could not be so easily abandoned. Nor should his spouse be abandoned, though. There was one solution that Luo Binghe well knew could cure just about any ailment or poison, though the thought of doing that with Shen Yuan’s empty body didn’t seem right.

Maybe he could just ask for Shen Yuan’s permission. It would still be strange, but no worse than any of the times he’d spent curing other sick spouses. And perhaps afterwards, Shen Yuan would be interested in trying again while he was actually aware and-

Well, one step at a time. Luo Binghe concentrated hard to use Xin Mo to return him to the story world. It took much more effort to pass between worlds than it did to travel around within this one. He grinned to himself when he found that this time, he was actually standing inside the home rather than in the dimly lit hallway that led to the front door.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and found it very easy to find the drops of blood that Shen Yuan had consumed. Luo Binghe headed into the bedroom, and Xin Mo sent a sharp jolt of warning into Luo Binghe’s hand. He tensed as he prepared to fight off danger, and didn’t expect a solid tome to slam into the side of his head. 

Luo Binghe turned to look at the attacker, then relaxed when he saw who it was. “Were you so displeased that this husband did as you requested?” he asked with some amusement.

But Shen Yuan did not look remotely amused. There was a sharp scowl on his face, and his eyes were too icy as he crossed his arms over his chest and stood tall, staring down Luo Binghe. “I’ve already called the police,” he informed Luo Binghe. “Now get the hell out of my house.” 

Luo Binghe furrowed his eyebrows and his smile faded away. He looked closer, and realized that this was definitely not Shen Yuan. It had to be the original Shen Qingqiu of this world (because if it was somehow his actual Shizun come back to life, he would have done much worse than just throwing a book). It had been so many years since Luo Binghe had stood before his Shizun, and after seeing both the kind Shizun and Shen Yuan wearing that face, he’d almost forgotten how drastically different that face could look just depending on who was using it.

Then he was struck by the bigger implication of the moment, and he felt panic flare through him before he could force himself to calm down. “Where is he?” he demanded to know. 

“You’re clearly deranged, and in the wrong apartment. I don’t care who you are or who you’re looking for, just get the hell out,” Shen Qingqiu told him, sounding just like Luo Binghe remembered from when he’d been a young disciple on Qing Jing Peak. 

“He wears it better,” Luo Binghe sneered, even though he knew that Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t understand what that meant. He stormed out of the room just so that he could at least claim that he hadn’t intentionally used any demonic abilities in front of a native of this world, and he angrily slashed Xin Mo through the air again. 

This time, he brought himself to see the boy. Luo Binghe emerged on the other side of the portal and found himself in a small park. The boy was sitting at a metal table staring forlornly down at something shiny. When Luo Binghe got closer, he saw one of his crowns resting on the boy’s palms like it was a priceless treasure, and he narrowed his eyes. But something more important than a trinket had been stolen, so he did not bother to ask about it. He just slammed his hand down on the table, startling the boy. “Where is he?”

The boy slowly looked up, eyes red from tears rather than demonic energy. “What do you care? You left him behind.” 

Luo Binghe scowled. “I don’t have time for this. Tell me what happened. Now.” 

The boy sniffed, and hunched forward, looking again at the crown rather than at Luo Binghe. “I don’t know. Everything seemed normal and then…” he trailed off. “And then it was just like before. I should have known it wouldn’t last,” he mumbled to himself, though of course Luo Binghe had excellent hearing. 

Maybe this was actually a good thing. If the old Shen Qingqiu was back, then that meant Shen Yuan might have been returned to his own body, right? Then he frowned to himself. But he had just been in Shen Yuan’s room a few minutes ago at most, and there hadn’t been even the slightest flicker to indicate that Shen Yuan had been there too. If Shen Qingqiu had gotten all the way home from here, then it would have taken more than those few minutes.

Inside Luo Binghe’s chest, it felt as though someone had reached in with an icy hand and squeezed his heart. If Shen Yuan was not here in this world, and he had not returned to their world in his own body, then where was he?

Luo Binghe was the emperor of the combined realms, the most powerful man in the world, and he did not feel desperation. Had not in a very long time. And yet, without even fully thinking it through, he found himself using Xin Mo to make a portal right in front of the boy, stepping through to bring himself somewhere he knew he would not be welcome.

But he didn’t know where else to go. He remembered when he’d skimmed through the kind Shizun’s memories that that Shizun had died once, but still returned. Which meant that there had to be a way to make sure that Shen Yuan came back as well. Luo Binghe wished that he had paid more attention to those memories so that he would not need to go in person, but it was too late to worry about that now.

As soon as he stepped out of the portal, there was a sword swinging at him. Luo Binghe snarled at this needless complication, and quickly began to fight back. “What are you doing here?” the crybaby asked angrily.

“None of your business!” Luo Binghe snapped as he parried a blow that shouldn’t have been so strong coming from this weakling.

“Of course it’s my business when you’re here to cause trouble for my Shizun!” the crybaby argued.

“Not everything is about you and your Shizun.”

“Why else would you be here?”

Luo Binghe scowled. “If you could just tell me how you revived your Shizun, then I’ll be on my way.”

The crybaby shook his head. “So that you can torture yours to death all over again? No way!” 

“I don’t give a shit about Shen Qingqiu, this is about-!”

“Enough!” There was a sharp sword glare as Xiu Ya flew between the two demon lords, forcing them both to move away from each other to avoid being hit. The kind Shizun stood there, looking unimpressed with both versions of Luo Binghe. “Why is there so much noise this early in the day?”

That’s when Luo Binghe realized that the kind Shizun was wearing only his under robes and his hair was a bit tangled still despite the fact that the sun shining in through the window indicated that it was at least midday. Looking at the kind Shizun, and how he held himself and how he wore that familiar face, and the memories that had been blurry but resembled the world that Shen Yuan had gotten dragged into, Luo Binghe reached the conclusion that had been tickling at the back of his mind for a little while now. 

He lowered Xin Mo and looked only at the kind Shizun, completely ignoring his counterpart. “This lord is looking for someone,” he said slowly.

The kind Shizun raised one eyebrow as he lowered his sword as well. “Somehow this master doubts that you will find them here. Who-?” 

“A-Yuan,” he said, enunciating very clearly.

The crybaby scrunched his face up. “What are you talking about?”

But the look on the kind Shizun’s face made it clear that he knew. If one Shen Yuan could be transplanted from Luo Binghe’s world to the inside of a story, then why couldn’t something similar happen to another Shen Yuan? In many ways, it was a relief to realize this. It meant that the crybaby hadn’t done anything to make himself more deserving of kindness than Luo Binghe had done, one of them had just gotten lucky. Except that Luo Binghe did have a Shen Yuan of his own, and he had very nearly never found out how lucky he was for that. 

The kind Shizun moved closer despite the loud noise of protest the crybaby made. “You met… A-Yuan?” he asked. Luo Binghe nodded. “But you lost him?” he guessed, obviously having overheard Luo Binghe and his counterpart’s shouting. Luo Binghe nodded again, and the kind Shizun’s warmth shone through as he very cautiously reached out to put his hand on Luo Binghe’s arm. “Do you… love him?”

The question felt like a shock to Luo Binghe’s entire system. He’d never thought about it before, not for any of his wives. Of course he’d said the words more times than he could count, but the words held no real meaning. It was just a thing that people said when they slept together or got married. How was Luo Binghe supposed to know what it felt like for real? The only person he remembered truly loving was his mother, and she had been gone for so long that at this point Luo Binghe only knew he loved her because he remembered that he had, but he could not be sure what it had felt like anymore, not after all this time. “I don’t know,” he answered in a quiet voice, hating himself for being so weak when he was only supposed to be here to get a solution. 

“It’s alright not to know,” the kind Shizun assured him. “But I’m afraid that I don’t know how to help you. Something like the Sun and Moon Dew Seed only works if you prepare it before the person dies, and the other way is not recreatable.” 

“Why are you helping him?” the crybaby whined.

The kind Shizun turned to reach out and grab his husband’s arm, gently pulling him closer to himself. “This master does not believe that we have anything to fear from this Luo Binghe anymore.”

Luo Binghe felt annoyed at being talked about like he was a misbehaving pet that had been properly trained. “What is the method that can’t be recreated?” 

The kind Shizun sighed. “It’s, well, it has to do with something that I can’t really talk about.”

Considering what he knew about his own Shen Yuan’s experience with being stuck in a different world, he was able to guess, “System.” 

He felt a small amount of satisfaction from the way that the kind Shizun’s eyes widened in shock. “Ah… how-?” His eyes flicked off to the side for a moment before looking back at Luo Binghe. “I really can’t talk about it,” he said regretfully. “But I don’t think it would be relevant to your circumstances. I’m sorry.”

Luo Binghe scowled as he looked away. He should have known that he’d find no help here. He should have known- “Did you check the Holy Mausoleum?” the crybaby suggested. “There are some artifacts there that might-”

“I don’t need your pity!” Luo Binghe snapped, unsure of why he was even so angry at the thought of the crybaby offering his help. 

The crybaby crossed his arms over his chest. “Well then why don’t you just leave already?” 

Luo Binghe was already cutting open a portal before the crybaby could even finish his question, and he stepped through to return to his own palace. There was just no way that he would accept that he had failed. There had to be something he could do. There just had to be something.

,,,

When Shen Yuan woke up, he was more than a little surprised, considering how he’d been fairly sure that he would never be waking up again. Now that he thought about it, Luo Binghe had never confirmed that his body was dead, so he guessed that it all worked out in the end, though he did feel bad for traumatizing young Binghe, who really didn’t deserve to see his teacher drop dead in front of him, even if it had been overall for Binghe’s own good.

But as he slowly sat up and looked around, Shen Yuan was slowly struck by the feeling that something was wrong. He had thought that it would feel natural to finally be back in his own body again, but for some reason, he still had the strange feeling that he wasn’t quite himself.

He wasn’t sure where he was. It looked like a random dank cave, but that didn’t mean much. Although it did at least mean that he was presumably back in his own world, since he couldn’t recall many caves mentioned in Proud CEO’s Way. He carefully got to his feet, and found that he felt perfectly healthy, and not at all like someone who had been poisoned.

Since he was in the back of the cave, the only way to go was forward. He took a moment to close his eyes and assess his body, and was surprised by the amount of spiritual energy he found. That seemed like way more than he’d had before, considering how much he slacked off when it came to his cultivation.

More and more curious about this strange situation, Shen Yuan began cautiously walking forward, wishing that he had some shoes to protect the delicate soles of his feet from the rough rocky floor. He noted the pool of water that he passed by, a perfect reflection of the moonlight on the still surface thanks to a hole in the ceiling. 

As he got further through the cave, he started to pick up on the sounds of someone crying. Shen Yuan frowned and hurried forward, squeezing himself through the awkwardly narrow passageway. When he saw a familiar figure huddled on the ground, knees pulled to his chest and shoulders shaking from the force of his sobs, Shen Yuan didn’t hesitate to drop to his knees and pull the boy into a tight hug. “A-Hua! What’s wrong?”

A-Hua froze for a moment, but as soon as he heard Shen Yuan’s voice, he squirmed around so that he could see Shen Yuan’s face, revealing his own tear-stained cheeks. “C- Consort Shen? You’re okay? It really worked?” 

“Well, I don’t know what ‘it’ is, but I certainly feel alright. But what about you? Why are you crying? Has someone been bullying you?”

A-Hua sniffled a few times as he shook his head. “I thought that it wasn’t going to work, and you’d be gone forever, and it would be all my fault,” he sobbed. 

Shen Yuan gently rubbed A-Hua’s back and made soft soothing noises until the boy eventually calmed down. While he waited for A-Hua to be able to explain the situation further, he heard a soft hissing, and looked down to see a snake poking its head out of A-Hua’s bag. Shen Yuan couldn’t help letting out a little noise of delight as he reached down to carefully scoop the creature up. “Ah, you brought my little pet snake!” 

For some reason, that had A-Hua blinking in confusion. “...pet? Consort Shen, that’s-”

“This is She-er! Or that’s what I call him, anyways.”

A-Hua just stared at him for several long seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter. Shen Yuan didn’t really understand what was so funny, but it was a relief to hear A-Hua sounding joyful. He reached out to pat A-Hua’s head. “Yes, yes, laugh it up,” he said dryly, though it was obvious that he was not bothered by the thought of being the butt of the joke. Once the laughter stopped echoing around the cave entrance, Shen Yuan cleared his throat. “A-Hua, what’s going on? Where are we?”

He hated to see the mirth fade from the boy’s face, but it was really quite important that he learned what had happened. “Consort Shen was poisoned,” A-Hua said through gritted teeth. “The emperor supposedly left to find a cure, but nothing was happening, and then I learned about a demon called Madam Meiyin so I went to find her-”

Shen Yuan shook his head. “A-Hua is far too young to be meeting with Madam Meiyin or her girls.”

A-Hua’s face went bright red. “I just wanted to ask about her ability to see the future!” he squawked out in protest. Then he realized that Shen Yuan was just teasing him, and he let out a heavy sigh before slumping over so that he was leaning up against Shen Yuan. “She was able to guess the responsible party, but refused to tell me. She said that knowing wouldn’t help you, and that it would only make me unhappy to know. Then, eh,” he glanced down at the snake that was happily coiled around Shen Yuan’s arm. “She-er led me to this cave. I don’t know what it’s called, but I picked the mushrooms that were in the middle of that water back there. We’re not too far from the palace here, so we went back for some hair and, er, some blood from you, then planted the mushroom a few weeks ago. I didn’t know what to expect, but you’re really back, so it must have worked!”

Shen Yuan pulled his little sheep into another hug. “A-Hua is so brave to go out on an adventure just for this old man’s sake.” Though the thought of this boy being out in the world on his own made Shen Yuan wonder if perhaps Luo Binghe had had a point about people should take guards with them instead of just sneaking out of the palace. Then he looked down at the snake. “She-er led you here? What a clever little snake.” 

A-Hua gave him an exasperated look, but didn’t argue. He just slowly got to his feet, and once Shen Yuan was standing up as well, he let out a heavy sigh. He reached down to unclip a qiankun pouch, and held it out. “There’s some food, spare robes, and a few healing pills in here.”

Shen Yuan accepted the pouch with bemusement. “A-Hua is well prepared, but didn’t you say that the palace is not too far from here?”

The boy hesitated for a moment, and scuffed his foot through the dirt. “Consort Shen doesn’t have to go back,” he finally said. “Everyone will assume you're dead even if your body is technically still alive. Consort Shen is free. You can go anywhere you want, see all the plants and beasts and towns that you’re always talking about.”

Shen Yuan had to swallow past a lump in his throat at the thoughtfulness of this boy. He leaned forward so that he could look A-Hua in the eyes, and took a moment to wonder how long it would be before the boy was much taller than Shen Yuan. “Living in the palace is not what I had imagined for myself when I was your age, but it does not make me unhappy. I could explore this world for the next hundred years and find something new and exciting every day, but it would not be as satisfying as having the privilege of watching you and your siblings grow up.”

A-Hua’s eyes started to water up again. “I just want you to be happy,” he insisted. “You deserve everything.”

“Ah, you are truly such a good boy,” Shen Yuan praised, because he didn’t know what else to say. “Why don’t we go home now, hm? I’m sure your mother has been missing you.”

A-Hua’s eyes narrowed. “Right.” As they began walking towards the palace, A-Hua reached out to take Shen Yuan’s hand, holding it tightly like he was afraid that Shen Yuan would get lost otherwise. “How did you meet your She-er?” he asked.

Shen Yuan tilted his head as he tried to bring up the exact memory, though it had the haziness of all memories that were many years old. “It was a time when I was visiting my brother,” he recalled. “I heard a servant start screaming and shouting about an ugly creature that had gotten onto the estate.” He absent-mindedly petted the snake with his free hand in apology for repeating the rude words. “When I got outside, I stopped a guard from stabbing the poor thing, and took him with me when I left. I showed him my secret entrance to the palace so that he could come and go whenever he pleases, since I know he wasn’t meant to be a house pet.”

“But aren’t the barriers around the palace meant to keep out anything with no heavenly demon blood?”

Shen Yuan shrugged. “I don’t think that applies to pets.”

“Hm.” When the palace was in sight, A-Hua pulled Shen Yuan to a stop. “Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere else instead? I could… I could even go with you,” he shyly offered.

Shen Yuan shook his head. “I’m sure. But it sounds to me like A-Hua is developing such an adventurous spirit. I will have to be sure to take you and the others out on more field trips.” Then he lit up as he thought about the lesson plans he’d considered back in the other world. “Maybe as a reward for earning enough stickers?” He would have to figure out how to make the stickers for himself, since he obviously hadn’t been able to bring any with him, but that was fine. For a moment he considered just asking Luo Binghe to swing back to the other world and pick some up, but then reached up to lightly smack himself in the forehead. Of course the emperor would have better things to do than catering to the whims of a spouse who was back to being alive and well. 

When they got closer, Shen Yuan quickly realized that this new body was truly a fresh start. It apparently had not transferred any foreign elements that had been in his original body, because he could not pass through the barriers that protected the palace. Without even being asked, A-Hua pulled out a little dagger and dug the tip into his finger to draw out a single bead of blood, which he offered up to Shen Yuan. "I'll take it out of you after, I promise." Shen Yuan wasn't too worried about that though, more concerned about the injury itself, even though it was small and fully healed by the time Shen Yuan had taken the blood.

They went back to A-Hua’s rooms first, to drop off the qiankun pouch that wouldn’t be needed, and to make sure that A-Hua didn’t have any lingering injuries from his brave adventure. Even after pointing out that his heavenly demon blood would have fixed any minor problems, A-Hua patiently allowed Shen Yuan to look him over just in case. 

Then they headed towards Shen Yuan’s room. “There’s guards posted out front, I’m not sure how they’ll react to seeing you,” A-Hua worried.

“Do I look very different?” Shen Yuan wondered. He did feel differently, though he mostly attributed that to the amount of power that came with this mushroom body. 

A-Hua glanced up at him, then shook his head. “You look exactly the same.” Then he furrowed his eyebrows as they turned the corner and there were no guards in sight anywhere in the hall. “Something’s not right.” 

Shen Yuan nodded in agreement. “Go find somewhere to hide. I’ll go-”

“You can’t go alone!” the boy protested.

“I’ll be fine,” Shen Yuan assured him. “You should… go find your father. If there is something strange going on, he’ll want to know.” 

A-Hua seemed very hesitant to part ways, but ultimately he was a good boy who would do as he was told, and he scurried off while Shen Yuan cautiously approached his room. The door was open just a crack, but when he tried to peer through, he couldn’t see anything other than a thin sliver of wall. So he quietly pushed the door further open and stepped inside.

He frowned at what he saw. “What are you doing?”

There was a woman on his bed, leaning over the unmoving body lying there (and boy was it bizarre to see his own body while not inhabiting it). She had a dagger clutched tightly in her hands, though her grip seemed to loosen somewhat when she jerked her head up in surprise. “You-?” 

Shen Yuan raised one eyebrow. “What are you doing?” he asked again, even as he quickly looked around the room for any other disturbances, and saw a guard lying crumpled up against the wall right next to the door. It was hard to say whether they were still breathing or not without checking, but he didn’t want to make any sudden movements and startle the lady with the knife. 

Then again, he already had a new body that apparently looked identical to the old one, so did he really need to ensure that the old one stayed intact? Having two bodies would just be greedy, especially when he couldn’t even use one of them. So Shen Yuan forgot all caution and sent out a wave of spiritual energy, knocking the woman back so that she slammed into the wall near the bed. She let out a loud snarl, and instead of trying to strike back at Shen Yuan, she leapt back onto the bed and plunged the knife down with one swift motion, right into the chest of the body that was lying there.

Chapter Text

Shen Yuan let out an irritated noise. Even though he’d just decided that it would be greedy to hold onto an extra body for himself, that didn’t make it any more pleasant to witness his exact copy getting stabbed. He threw some more spiritual energy, but this time the woman expected it, and braced herself to avoid being knocked back. She looked up at Shen Yuan with crazed eyes. “I’m not going to let you keep stealing everything from us!” she snarled. 

Shen Yuan frowned. “What are you talking about?” He’d barely finished asking the question when he felt something moving on his arm, and then She-er was dropping to the floor, growing larger as he fell so that it ended up being barely a drop at all. Shen Yuan stared in surprise at his not-quite-so-little-anymore pet as he surged forward to chomp down on the lady’s leg, making her howl in pain. 

The lady swiped at the big snake, leaving a painful looking gash along his side, and then she positioned herself to stab into the empty body again. “Once you’re gone, none of it will be able to happen!” she shouted, talking to the bleeding body. 

Since she was somewhat distracted between her weird wish to continue stabbing Shen Yuan’s previous body, and the snake that did not give up on attacking her, Shen Yuan took the opportunity to crouch down and check on the fallen guard. He let out a soft sigh of relief when he felt a pulse, and then he silently apologized before rummaging around in the guard’s pockets. 

He was doubly relieved to quickly find an alarm talisman before the pat down could get too awkward. He ripped it in half to activate it, then let the used up scraps of paper flutter to the floor. He didn’t want to leave She-er to deal with that crazy demon by himself, but he wanted to get the guard to the palace doctors before their condition could worsen.

The would-be assassin must have realized that Shen Yuan was no longer paying attention to her, though, because she let out a screech of rage, and shoved She-er back into the wall with a loud thud before leaping over the other side of the bed and rushing to Shen Yuan.

Not wanting to put the unconscious guard in the line of fire, Shen Yuan was forced to quickly back away. He held his hands out. “Look, I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding here. I haven’t stolen anything from you, but if you just put the knife down, I can help you find-”

“You’ve stolen everything!” She interrupted. 

The obvious assumption was that she was a fellow spouse of the emperor, but Shen Yuan could not for the life of him recognize her, though perhaps that was more due to the blood splatters and deranged look on her face. He glanced over at She-er, who had shrunk back down to his little snake form. This wasn’t looking good. Why weren’t any guards showing up yet? He knew that this hall didn’t get the same level of security as where the wives lived, but the alarm talisman still should have done something! How far away were the nearest guards??

This woman was not interested in being stalled or distracted, and she dove towards Shen Yuan. He could feel how much energy this body was filled with, but that didn’t ultimately help much when Shen Yuan had no real training in fighting other than what he had taught himself for the sake of helping the kids with  their sword forms. He was also unarmed and had two people on opposite sides of the room who he wanted to keep the demon’s attention away from. He wasn’t even sure if Luo Binghe would have any clue about the danger that Shen Yuan was in, considering that he no longer had the emperor’s blood parasites in him. 

And even though the woman trying to kill him seemed rather unhinged, it didn’t stop her from being able to move around like a much younger demon. He continued to slowly back away from her, making sure to move towards a corner not currently occupied by an injured person. When he got closer to his desk, he abruptly reached out to snatch up his favorite fan. It was not meant to be used as a weapon, but it was sturdily built, so there was nothing stopping Shen Yuan from waving it towards his attacker, using it to send a stronger blast of spiritual energy, wincing when the wooden guard started to warp. 

She quickly steadied herself after stumbling back a step, and then swung her knife at Shen Yuan. He raised his arm to protect his face, earning himself a thin slice to his forearm instead. Then there was a blur as something charged towards the attacker, tackling her down to the ground. “Mother, no!” A-Hua’s familiar voice screamed out. “What are you doing?” 

Shen Yuan hurried to grab A-Hua and yank him back to his feet, not wanting the boy to be within range of the knife. This was A-Hua’s mother? Thinking about it now, Shen Yuan wasn’t actually sure if he had ever even met her before or not. But now isn't the time to wonder about motives. He pushed A-Hua behind him, and stood over the fallen woman, kicking her in the face when she tried to stand back up. Then he glanced over his shoulder to give A-Hua an apologetic look for being violent to his mother, even if it was self-defense. A-Hua met his gaze with steely eyes, then moved past Shen Yuan so that he could kick the knife across the room. 

Even with blood dripping down from her nose, the woman on the floor let out a cackling laugh. “I did it. I finally stopped the thief!” 

Shen Yuan furrowed his eyebrows. “What are you talking about? Again, I haven’t even stolen anything from you, and also, you’re the one on the floor right now.” 

She spat a glob of blood onto the floor, which was pretty gross, and Shen Yuan made a mental note to have his room thoroughly scrubbed after this. “How dare you claim to be innocent? How dare you-?” Then she suddenly shut up, and Shen Yuan wasn’t under any illusions that it was because she suddenly found him intimidating.

Rather, it was the murderous demonic aura pressing thickly through the air that had her swallowing her words. It didn’t take long at all for Luo Binghe to arrive once they’d felt his presence. He stormed into the room like a vengeful god, eyes red and Xin Mo in hand. “What is going on?” he demanded to know, quickly taking in every detail of the scene. 

Shen Yuan wrapped his arm around A-Hua’s shoulder and pulled the boy closer to him. He knew that Luo Binghe rarely entertained his own children, and he did not want A-Hua to feel like he was suddenly facing down his father all alone. “I think we figured out who poisoned me,” he said mildly, nodding towards A-Hua’s mother.

Luo Binghe turned to look at her with murderous eyes. Honestly, Shen Yuan wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He knew that attempted murders weren’t exactly uncommon in the harem, and usually the worst punishment involved being confined to one’s rooms. And since Luo Binghe was always able to successfully save the injured party, he had clearly never seen a reason for anything harsher than that.

And yet, right now it looked like Luo Binghe was ready to take this woman’s head off without a second thought, and Shen Yuan guiltily felt somewhat flattered by that. That Luo Binghe would be this angry on behalf of one of his male spouses; on behalf of Shen Yuan, specifically. Still, he didn’t think that killing her outright would be a good idea, since her words had implied that there were others angry at Shen Yuan as well, and he wanted to better understand just what he was being accused of. Not to mention that killing her right in front of her own son would no doubt be traumatizing and the thought of it made Shen Yuan pull A-Hua even closer to him. “Binghe, shouldn’t we find out her reasoning before doing anything rash?”

Luo Binghe narrowed his eyes, but for some reason, being addressed so familiarly actually made him relax a little, and the air around them felt just a little bit less oppressive. “Why did you try to kill Consort Shen?” he asked, voice smooth and soft and yet no one could mistake his barely disguised anger.

A-Hua’s mother reached up to wipe some blood off of her lip, then tipped her head back to look at Luo Binghe. “My lord, I was only trying to protect myself and my sisters. That worm is a vile thief and I-” Luo Binghe moved forward and used the flat side of his blade to push her fully back to the ground, and then he raised one leg so that he could step down on her throat. She let out a startled squeak as she struggled to breath. 

Shen Yuan hurried forward to grab Luo Binghe’s elbow. “I really don’t think this is necessary. Can’t you just take her down to the dungeon or something before interrogating? Her son is right here,” he reminded Luo Binghe, in case the emperor had completely missed the sight of the child in the room. 

Luo Binghe clenched his jaw. “She does not deserve A-Yuan’s mercy.”

As if she had no idea that Luo Binghe was already in a very bad mood, A-Hua’s mother let out a loud gasp, and started squirming around, though she was thoroughly pinned down by Luo Binghe’s foot. “See?” she wheezed out. “See what he’s taken? That witch was right about everything!” 

Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. “I really don’t think you should continue this here,” he said again. “And She-er and that guard clearly could use some medical help.”

“She-er?” Luo Binghe asked. He looked around, and it took him a moment to spot the little snake curled up where he’d hit the wall. “That’s…” he trailed off, then shook his head with the look of a man who had more important things to focus on at the moment. “Very well. Since my husband has requested it, this lord will continue the interrogation elsewhere.” 

Neither of them expected for A-Hua to dart forward and kneel right next to the dangerous woman, though Shen Yuan couldn’t blame the boy for wanting to make sure that his mother was alright, even if she had proven herself to be quite lacking in manners. “This is about Madam Meiyin, isn’t it? What did she say to you?” he demanded to know, voice nearly as ferocious as his father’s. 

She looked past A-Hua like he wasn’t even there, and glowered at Shen Yuan. “That it would be all his fault.”

“What would?”

She still didn’t look at her own son as she spoke, only staring hatefully up at Shen Yuan. “Everything that the rest of us would lose. What do you have that makes you so special? There’s nothing you can do that a hundred other wives couldn’t do with ten times the skill!” 

A-Hua reached into his pocket and pulled out something small. Shen Yuan curiously leaned forward to get a better look, and realized that it was a little figurine that he’d made for the boy ages ago. “That’s not true,” he told his mother, clenching his fingers tightly enough around the figure that it had to be digging into the skin painfully. “No one else could have made this.”

Shen Yuan let out an embarrassed little laugh, and moved forward so that he could crouch down and lightly rest a hand on A-Hua’s shoulder. “Aha, that really isn’t my best work to be bragging about.” Now that he was closer, he could make out the many little imperfections in both the model itself and the paint job. 

A-Hua glanced at Shen Yuan with a soft smile, which was vastly different from the expression he’d been wearing while looking at his mother. “It’s perfect,” he insisted. Then he looked back at his mother. “You’re just jealous. You could practice for a hundred years and never come close to making something as good.” Shen Yuan really didn’t think that the little figurine deserved all of this praise, but he didn’t want to upset A-Hua by saying so again, so he just sat there silently. “So what did Madam Meiyin tell you?”

His mother scrunched her face up. “She told me about the lonely future awaiting me. Because that wretch,” she pointed to Shen Yuan as if anyone might think she was talking about someone else, “would go on to steal everything that I ever held dear. He would take my husband’s heart and covet it so thoroughly that there wouldn’t be any pieces left for the rest of us. And his children would be the most beloved heirs to this empire, leaving nothing for everyone else. He will steal our home and our treasures, and his greed will not end until it consumes this entire palace!” 

Shen Yuan blinked a few times in surprise, then cleared his throat. “Sorry, but what?” The idea that he could ‘steal’ Luo Binghe’s heart was so ridiculous that it wasn’t even worth addressing, so he just jumped right to the next point. “Have you forgotten that I’m a man? I can’t have any heirs.” And Luo Binghe wasn’t interested in his male spouses like that anyways, so what the heck was she going on about??

She just shrugged. “In this world, I have no doubt that there are ways to get around the laws of nature. I don’t care how you will have children, only that they will take everything that rightfully belongs to mine!”

A-Hua scoffed. “Don’t drag my name into this. We both know that you couldn’t care less about what I get.” 

Shen Yuan didn’t think that he was alone in being startled by Luo Binghe’s sudden laughter that rang out across the room. “You are a fool,” he told the woman on the floor. “This lord was nearly as big a fool, but you forced my eyes to open.” For some reason, that made her look hopeful, even though Shen Yuan highly doubted that Luo Binghe was about to confess his undying love to her, or anything so dramatic. “I may very well have gone the rest of my wretched life without ever realizing what a treasure I had waiting for me this whole time. If you had never poisoned Consort Shen, I might never have gotten the chance to truly know him.”

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “What? My lord, I don’t-”

“You are a pitiable creature,” Luo Binghe interrupted. “If you had not come so close to taking everything from me, then I would almost wish you could find out for yourself someday what I have already discovered.” He turned to the doorway, and Shen Yuan looked over as well to see that several guards had arrived. “Take her to the dungeons,” he ordered. “I will have much to discuss with her… should I be able to find the time.” 

She was whisked away, and Shen Yuan’s heart finally started to slow down from how it had been racing. He pulled A-Hua into a long hug, and was overjoyed when he felt his robes shift from a little snake slithering onto his lap. He carefully picked up She-er and gave him a thorough inspection, amazed to see that the injury that had looked so fatal was already completely healed. “A true miracle pet!” he declared.

“Consort Shen-” A-Hua started, then shook his head and just clung even tighter to Shen Yuan. 

When he heard soft footsteps heading to the door, Shen Yuan looked up and saw Luo Binghe walking away. “Going somewhere?” he asked before he could stop himself. Of course the emperor had other important stuff to take care of now that the potential murder had been stopped, so why was he even asking? Then, as if this wasn’t already embarrassing enough, Shen Yuan’s stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl. “Ah, sorry, but this body has technically never eaten anything before…” 

Luo Binghe frowned, and glanced over at the bed. Someone had already taken away the corpse, but the bloody sheets were still visible. He seemed to be thinking hard about something, but then he nodded abruptly, like he’d come to a decision. “Consort Shen should not stay here until this room has been properly cleansed.” Then he started walking off, glancing back once to make sure he was being followed.

Shen Yuan was a little confused, but he got to his feet and carefully pulled A-Hua up as well. After what had just happened, Shen Yuan wasn’t going to just leave the boy alone, and A-Hua did not seem to mind being guided along. They followed Luo Binghe through the palace, and towards a hall that Shen Yuan had never entered before, since it contained the emperor’s personal rooms. 

They were led into a large sitting room, and Luo Binghe gestured for them to both sit down at the table, though he did give A-Hua a long, inscrutable look first. Luo Binghe pulled out a new alarm talisman to hand to Shen Yuan, gruffly told them to, “Stay,” and then he hurried off. 

It seemed like as good a chance as any to make sure that A-Hua was going to be okay. “I know that must have been scary and confusing,” he started. He’d certainly been scared and confused throughout that whole encounter. “If you would like to visit your mother, I will make sure you get the chance-”

A-Hua quickly shook his head. “I hate her,” he said with a quiet intensity. “I don’t need her because I- I have Consort Shen.” 

Shen Yuan reached out to pat A-Hua’s fluffy hair. “This lowly consort is lucky to have A-Hua as well.” He hesitated, unsure of how such an offer might come across so shortly after the disastrous events had gone down, but he found himself unable to hold the words back. “If A-Hua wishes, then he can stay with me. I know that I cannot replace your mother, but I will do my best by you and-” 

A-Hua’s arms wrapped around Shen Yuan’s waist, and the boy buried his face against Shen Yuan’s chest. Shen Yuan gently rubbed his back until the boy had finally calmed down enough for whatever he was muttering to be understandable: “I love you.” 

Shen Yuan felt warmth sweep through his entire body. “This- I love you too.” 

Just a little while later, the door opened and mouth-watering smells floated through the air. Shen Yuan eagerly turned to see Luo Binghe walking over, easily balancing a large platter covered in various dishes. He quickly realized that all of them were his favorites. Luo Binghe must have really been paying attention all those times he’d cooked for Shen Yuan while they were in the other world.

Speaking of that other world… “Binghe!” 

Luo Binghe looked up from where he’d been carefully arranging the dishes on the table. “Mn?”

Shen Yuan shook his head. “No, I mean the, er,” he glanced at A-Hua, unsure of how much he would confuse the boy by speaking honestly in front of him, and then looked back at Luo Binghe. “We can’t just leave him there.”

“Why not?” Luo Binghe asked, sounding only half like he was joking. Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes, and Luo Binghe let out a long sigh. “Very well. As my husband commands.”

Shen Yuan hesitated. “Ah, that is, I wasn’t trying to say that you have to- You’re the emperor and I’m just- I would never-”

Luo Binghe reached across the table to gently take hold of Shen Yuan’s hand. “This lord would not do something I do not wish to do. This lord… I… would like A-Yuan to be happy here.”

Thinking about what Madam Meiyin had told A-Hua’s mother, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but start to blush. “Ah… this husband also wishes for Binghe’s happiness.”

“Would my husband accept my heavenly demon blood?”

“For the third time?” Shen Yuan asked wryly. Then he nodded, making sure that Luo Binghe understood how serious he was about this. “This husband would be honored to have a piece of you inside of me.” 

Luo Binghe’s gaze was intense as he reached up to bite into his own thumb hard enough to draw blood, and then he held his hand out towards Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan carefully licked up the blood while continuing to meet Luo Binghe’s eyes. When he was done, he could almost feel it as the blood moved through his body, quickly taking account of the condition he was in. He felt a tingling sensation in his arm, and rolled up his sleeve, watching as the small cut closed up on its own. 

He dropped his sleeve and looked back at Luo Binghe. “Will you… will you come see me once everything has gone back to normal?” He felt like his face was on fire, but he knew that he would always regret it if he didn’t at least ask. As much as he had missed home while he was away, Shen Yuan could never deny that his short time living with Luo Binghe had simply felt right to him. 

Luo Binghe smiled gently. “I don’t believe that everything can go back to normal anymore.” Then he moved a little closer to Shen Yuan’s side of the table. “When I thought you were gone, I could not even breathe. It made me realize that wherever A-Yuan is… that is where I would like to be. If A-Yuan would have me.” He started to reach out like he wanted to touch Shen Yuan’s face, but moved slowly enough that Shen Yuan had plenty of time to back away if he wanted to. 

A-Hua cleared his throat loudly, and Shen Yuan jolted backwards, suddenly aware of how close he’d been leaning towards Luo Binghe. The boy looked back and forth between the two adults with a furrowed brow. “Aren’t we going to eat now?”

Luo Binghe huffed out a little amused laugh. “You two may get started. This lord has one errand left to run.” He stood up, then hesitated for a very long moment before he finally reached down to very lightly pat A-Hua’s hair. A-Hua didn’t pull away, but did seem a little confused by the gesture. Luo Binghe stepped away and pulled out Xin Mo to slash open a portal.

Shen Yuan cleared his throat. “Ah, Binghe?” Luo Binghe glanced back at him. “Don’t take too long, or the food will get cold.”

Luo Binghe’s whole face softened, and his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “As my husband wishes.” Then he stepped through the portal, looking every inch the dashing hero. 

Once the portal closed behind him, A-Hua reached out to tug on Shen Yuan’s sleeve. “Does Consort Shen truly love the emperor?”

Shen Yuan had the feeling that his face was going to be red for the rest of the week at this point. “What? Why would you-? Love-? I mean, isn’t that a bit-? Who said anything about-?” 

A-Hua looked far too serious for such a young face, and Shen Yuan had to resist the urge to reach out and pinch those cheeks that were still a little chubby with baby fat. “Does the emperor make you happy?” he asked instead.

Shen Yuan leaned forward, resting his head on his hand. “Hm. In some ways, we hardly know each other at all, despite how long we’ve been married. But I think… I think that he does make me happy.”

A-Hua gave him a long, searching look, then nodded once. “Alright. Let me know if that changes?”

“Why?” 

A-Hua shoved a dumpling in his mouth so that he couldn’t answer without being rude, and Shen Yuan couldn’t help laughing at the display. He reached out to ruffle A-Hua's hair, and then made sure to put some more food on A-Hua’s plate, to make sure that the boy would grow up strong and healthy.

A new portal opened up just a couple of minutes later, and Luo Binghe stepped through, dragging the young Binghe with him. Binghe looked quite disgruntled, and it occurred to Shen Yuan that asking his husband to rush meant that there was a strong chance that the emperor hadn’t even bothered to explain anything before grabbing the boy.

Wanting to get rid of any of the tension or anxiety that Binghe was surely feeling, Shen Yuan quickly got to his feet. “Binghe!” 

Binghe, who had been slowly looking around the room to take in every detail, snapped his head in the direction of Shen Yuan. He furrowed his eyebrows, and Shen Yuan realized that he must seem like a complete stranger now that he no longer looked like Shen Qingqiu. He opened his mouth to explain, but before he said anything, Binghe tentatively asked, “Shizun?” 

Shen Yuan blinked a few times in surprise. “Ah? How did you recognize me?” 

More confident now, Binghe shook aside his counterpart’s grip and hurried over to Shen Yuan. “Shizun!” He pulled Shen Yuan into a hug that was quickly returned, though for some reason it made A-Hua narrow his eyes at Binghe. “After he left,” he nodded towards the emperor, “I read the chapters of the book you recommended, and I didn’t quite understand, but it’s all real, isn’t it?”

Shen Yuan nodded. “It’s confusing for me too,” he admitted. Then he pulled away a little so that he could make introductions. “Binghe, this is A-Hua. Oh, I can’t wait to introduce you to Shang Qinghua, he’s going to freak out.” He chuckled at the thought of messing with that horrible author (and also maybe finding out if he’d written anything new lately). Then he got more serious. “Binghe, if you don’t wish to stay here, then nobody will make you. You have a bright future ahead of you in your world, but your future here is much less certain, so I’d completely understand if you didn’t want to take the risk. I only wanted to make sure you had the choice.”

Binghe didn’t even make a show of thinking about it first, he just immediately nodded his head. “I want to stay here!” Shen Yuan grinned, already thinking about how well Binghe would get along with the other children. 

“Then you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you like,” Shen Yuan promised him. 

,,,

“Looks like A-Yuan has an heir after all,” Luo Binghe murmured that night, possibly referring to A-Hua or little Binghe, or both. It had been a long day, after Shen Yuan’s miraculous survival had been revealed to the rest of the court, and while Luo Binghe was stuck doing his emperor’s work for the rest of the day, Shen Yuan had been swarmed by the children, all relieved to see that he was alright. 

Now that the kids had gone to bed, it was the first moment of quiet in hours, though Shen Yuan was not truly bothered by the noise that the children made. Little Binghe had been the noisiest when it came time for bed, not wanting to part from Shen Yuan, which had then set off A-Hua who didn’t want to go either. In the end, a large handful of kids ended up spreading sleeping rolls out in the emperor’s sitting room, physically closer to their father than most of them had ever been before. And it was only now that the last of them had truly fallen asleep that the adults had dared retreating to Luo Binghe’s bedroom on their own, if only because they still had some things to settle between them. 

“Is it very strange for you?” Shen Yuan wondered. “To be around your younger self like this?”

Luo Binghe shrugged. “The boy is very different from me, from my childhood. He is not a true copy of me. If he was, I would not want to bring him back to this world.”

Shen Yuan tilted his head to the side. “Oh? Why not?”

Luo Binghe laughed. “Figure it out for yourself.” Then he prowled closer to Shen Yuan. “If you don’t want to claim the boy as an heir, then we can always get to work trying to make one the natural way.” 

Shen Yuan felt his cheeks heat up at the suggestion, and he had to look away from Luo Binghe’s scorching gaze. “Is this… I mean, when you marry your next wife, will you still…?”

Luo Binghe sighed, and reached out to gently hold the sides of Shen Yuan’s face. “There will be no new wives,” he said quietly. 

“Oh,” Shen Yuan squeaked out. Then he reached up to lightly press his hands over Luo Binghe’s. “Okay.” Then he leaned more fully into Luo Binghe. “Okay,” he whispered again, before rising up on tiptoes so that he could share a first kiss with his husband. 

,,,

Being the emperor’s only spouse was not much of a hardship, in Shen Yuan’s experience. There were only a handful of people from the harem left, mostly those who had nowhere else to go, or those with children who wanted to continue raising them with the full resources of the palace. But it was made clear to all of them that they were no longer married to the emperor, as Luo Binghe had no interest in them, not anymore.

Shen Yuan got to spend most of his time lounging around, eating delicious foods cooked for him by his husband or his children. He had shelves and shelves full of fans and toys and figures and sketches he had made over the years. He had access to a large library with books on every imaginable topic, and if there was something he could not find, his husband was happy to bring him on a little adventure to retrieve it together, even if that meant popping over to a different world on the occasional errand, or going on a long journey to some land far away that Shen Yuan had read about. He had a nice room that felt far too lavish, and a comfortable bed with a beautiful husband to keep him warm at night. He had the freedom to invite his family over to the palace or slip out to see them whenever he wanted, and he had plenty of people within the palace itself to see everyday. 

Luckily, most of the world at this point was smart enough to understand that Shen Yuan held a special place in the emperor’s heart that made it pointless for them to throw themselves at him anymore, leaving Shen Yuan free from the plotting and drama that seemed to infect everyone else. 

He did have some actual responsibilities to take care of, though. He helped to raise all of the emperor’s children who remained in the palace, raising them to be strong and happy and kind. Some of the older ones who had fled as they neared adulthood slowly returned and Shen Yuan got to befriend those ones as well. He also accompanied his husband on certain political outings, happy to provide his council when his husband was faced with difficult decisions.

It was not the life that Shen Yuan had imagined for himself growing up, but it was, in fact, better than anything Shen Yuan could have thought up back then. He was happy, as was his husband and the rest of their family, and he couldn’t think of anything else he could possibly want.