Work Text:
It was obvious to everyone on Cang Qiong Mountain that Shen Qingqiu could not ever be married.
He was a lecherous man always visiting brothels and spending nights with what seemed to be dozens of women. He was rude. Nasty words spilled from his lips like toxic vitriol to anyone who dare breathe near his space in the wrong way. Shen Qingqiu was too posh and pompous for a young master yet always seemed to overdress himself in glorious silks.
From what they have heard, his disciples are barely taught by him yet severely punished by him for their mistakes. Xian Shu Disciple always whispered amongst themselves about how many female disciples the peak lord was eyeing on his peak. It was obvious he had an eye on Ning Yingying for his obvious care towards her. But if he is lusting after more of his disciples?
And there was his overall attitude that showed clearly in his fighting especially in the spars against Liu Qingge. He always played dirty when he was losing the fight instead of forfeiting gracefully. Some could admit his skills with the fan during battle was gracious much like the previous peak lord. But his dirty tricks and schemes during fights took away from his performance.
However, all of these complaints never made it past the sect leader due to his obvious favoritism towards the Qing Jing peak lord. Whatever kind of relationship they have affected the mountain and its peak lords like a poisonous vine wrapped around each peak.
It was obvious to anyone on the peak whether it be a lord, hallmaster or Disciple that Shen Qingqiu would remain as he was: a loner.
That was how he wrote it to be.
That is why when Shang Qinghua spots a ring on his finger during their peak lord meeting, he is utterly thrown off by it.
And he is not the only one to spot it.
“Shen Qingqiu!” Qi Qingqi pointed furiously at the Qing Jing peak lord. “What is that upon your hand?”
The Qing Jing peak had never dared to wear such a ring before, especially not one that did not match his exquisite robes. In fact, it looked quite simple on his finger like a delicate kiss of silver against his smooth, jade-like skin.
Who could have given his son such a simple yet elegant ring? It could not be a gift from Yue Qingyuan! Shen Qingqiu always gave them to the girls to help pay off their debts or sold them to use as money for tangulu treats.
“Hm?” Shen Qingqiu, the bastard, swept a lock of his hair black with his ring hand to show off the silver jewelry even more. He was acting like a girl who just got engaged! “Hasn’t Qi-Shimei ever seen a ring like this before?”
“Is— is that an engagement ring?!” Shang Qinghua stuttered out.
“Engagement?” The beast peak lord straightened up. “As in a betrothal?”
“Of course not. This is the engagement gift.” Shen Qingqiu was entertaining the confused masses by pulling out a silver chain from around his neck with a pearl pendant. Then he showed off his hand again with a smirk. “This is the symbol of our marriage.”
“There is no possible way...” Qi Qingqi mumbled under her breath, glaring at the silver decorating Shen Qingqiu’s hand.
“Shen Qingqiu!” Liu Qingge’s voice was a clear as day through the shouts of disbelief.
The Sect Leader’s voice was most drowned out by all the ruckus. “Xiao-Jiu got married?”
He must be lying! There is no way that Shen Qingqiu had gotten married. He never wrote such a thing happening even in his drafts! Also, why a ring? A wedding ring is not common in this world!
“You cannot possibly be married!” Qi Qingqi slammed her hand on the table and pointed at Shen Qingqiu like they were in the middle of a court battle in Ace Attorney. “If so, then why did he not host it on the mountain as a peak lord should do?”
Shen Qingqiu took the accusation with ease, batting away her words with his fan. “There are no rules to say this one should have done that.” He scoffed then looked away. “Each peak lord has the right to their privacy especially since this one has had his privacy breached whenever he explicitly asks for it.”
“Then who were the witnesses?” The beast peak lord questioned.
Shen Qingqiu let a wicked smile grow on his face which looked more like a mix between a smirk and a sneer. “The madam and flowers of the Warm Red Pavilion were happy to step in as this master’s family.”
“The prostitutes you lay with were your witnesses.” Qi Qingqi threw her hands up in the air. She wordlessly turned to the sect leader and gestured with her arms silently like she was quietly asking ‘Are you seeing this shit?’ “How shameless of a liar can you be?”
“This master does not care for the accusations of lying towards his marriage. But this master’s martial...siblings can say whatever they want about this one. However,” The fan snapped shut so loudly and sharply that it made the whispers around the table silent at once. “This master does not have the time or patience for any hatred or vitriol aimed at this master’s partner.”
Qi Qingqi huffed then crossed her arms. “This one won’t say anything about Shen-Shixiong’s wife as long as all of us get to meet her. After all, there is no need for any rumors to spread if the existence is proven.”
“This master has no need for this negotiation to start.” Shen Qingqiu rolled his eyes. “This master wishes to keep his matters private. There is no need for Cang Qiong Mountain to be invited into this master’s marital home.”
“Xiao-Jiu—“
“Do not call this master by that name.” Shen Qingqiu snapped at the sect leader. “How many times must this one repeat himself to the sect leader?”
Most of the peak lords scoffed at his rude behavior as Shang Qinghua shrank back from the table. It sucked that he was the only one who knew the true history between the two of them. It was torture to hear and see with his own eyes when all he wants to do is push them together and make them talk out their feelings.
“This master believes that everything can be cleared up with one simple meeting. This way everyone gets to meet with your spouse and give their blessings.” Yue Qingyuan suggested with that blank smile he always had. His guilty gaze that lingered with a hint of sadness flicked back to Shen Qingqiu. “After that, Shen-Shidi can bring them back into their privacy with no issue.”
There was a moment of silence as Shen Qingqiu considered the offer under the stare of every other peak lord in the room. Then, the Qing Jing peak lord sighed. “This master will agree on the condition that if my partner disagrees, then there will be no meeting.”
“...Of course.” Yue Qingyuan shrank back like the guilty, weak-hearted man that he was. “We all want for them to feel comfortable on the mountain.”
“Then, it is settled then. We will see who... has Shen Qingqiu as their life partner,” Qi Qingqi said with a brief pause of hesitance in her choice of words.
Most of the peak lords were satisfied with that answer. Yet all Shang Qinghua could focus on was what this could mean for the plot of the story. There was no husband in his draft. And there were no engagement rings in this world either.
So does that mean that this stranger is a transmigrator?
...but who would pursue Shen Qingqiu?
*
There is no way.
“This master’s partner is Shen Yuán.” Shen Qingqiu introduced his husband with a wave of his fan to the stunned audience of peak lords. “This master hopes his marital siblings can be respectful towards his husband.”
Shen Yuán wore the casual layers of a classic rogue cultivator. There was a leather belt with little jars of powders and liquids hanging from it. He had a few quankin pouches hanging from his side with his sword in its sheath at his other side. Long black hair was held back in a simple bun with two long wisps of hair framing their gentle face.
Yet those piercing green eyes stared at him coldly for a second as their gaze passed by him.
“Hello.” Shen Qingqiu’s husband greeted the peak lord with a smile. “This one is honored to meet the peak lords of Cang Qiong Mountain.”
“Both are... Shen?” Liu Qingge asked after a long moment of stunned silence from the gathered audience.
Shen Yuán clarified. “There is no relation between us. The only bond we share is through our marriage.”
Then, both of their eyes seem to glean under the attention of the gathered peak lords.
“Shen Yuán, was it?” Yue Qingyuan started off with a smile. It was fitting that the sect leader wanted to engage in a late version of an interrogation since he couldn’t successfully do a shovel talk with how shaky the relationship between him and his ‘Xiao-Jiu’ is. “Well, what made you choose Shen Qingqiu to court and pursue marriage? How did you meet?”
“Ah, we met at a brothel.” Shen Yuán replied. Some of the peak lords exchanged glances until the rogue cultivator started talking about their first meeting. “This one was selling special items to increase productivity and pleasure. This one started talking with Shen Qingqiu after we both dealt with a particular unruly customer.” Shen Yuán paused to aim a smile at his peak lord husband. “We started exchanging letters after meeting a few times coincidentally at the same pavilion. Then we started conversing about our personal tastes in literature and music. It eventually led to this one pursuing a courtship and eventually marriage.”
“Why were none of his martial siblings invited?” Liu Qingge spoke up with a glare still aimed at the Qing Jing peak lord.
Shen Yuán held a hand up to his heart. “My husband and I wanted privacy.”
“Then why were the ladies from the Warm Red Pavilion invited?” Qi Qingqi asked, jumping on top of what Liu Qingge questioned.
“They were a big part of us getting together. They were like sisters guiding me towards him and they offered a great amount of support to us. Neither of us had any family to witness our event so we requested for all of them to step in as our family and friends.” Shen Yuán explained. “This one apologizes for any perceived notion of any discredit towards any of you.”
Shen Yuán and Shen Qingqiu worked as a team against the peak lords, picking apart their questions and answering how they saw fit. Both Qi Qingqi and Liu Qingge was stunned into silence due to an impressive answer by Shen Yuán when they started talking about Shen Qingqiu’s alleged lechery. Yue Qingyuan was forced to look away after a few pointed comments from Shen Yuán. Yet no one had the guts to push too far because of the sect leader watching over the proceedings.
Shen Qingqiu cleared his throat then called out to his love. “Husband.”
“Hm?” Shen Yuán replied with a hum.
“Has this husband ever told you that Shang-Shidi writes in his spare time?” Shen Qingqiu looked towards his husband then tilted his head towards him. Shang Qinghua watched his villain son glare at him knowingly before his husband set his sights on him.
“This husband believes so.” Shen Yuán turned towards him with a mildly interested expression. “What is the name that Master Shang Qinghua writes under?”
Shang Qinghua awkwardly scratched the back of his neck underneath the wave of his slightly unkempt hair. “Oh, uh, Sword Pointed Towards the Sky?”
“You’re the bastard? Oh, you little shit.” Several peak lords sputtered at Shen Yuán's blatant use of foul language. “Do you have any idea how much of my time you have been wasting? Every single time I pick up a book hoping for a good adventure or fantasy or even a fun romance, I get the most shittiest, mind numbing story I have ever read.” Shang Qinghua blinked at the harshness of Shen Yuán’s ongoing rant. Wait, the beginning of this felt familiar... “And then I look and see your fucking name plastered on it! First of all, that dumbass romance with the noble and the hired cultivator had promise with the first half before you shoved your head in acid and—“
Shen Yuán continued to rant his personal hatred towards every plot point in his books one by one. He went through stupid character decisions, unused flora and fauna that was mentioned briefly, awful sex scenes that he referred to as ‘papapa’-
Wait.
Only one person could have such pure, underlying hatred towards his sex scenes. A commenter that always haunted his dreams from both night and day with his long rants. Some lines still passed through his mind which almost cost him being caught laughing to himself both on his peak and in front of his king.
There was a name that came to mind as soon as Shen Qingqiu’s husband started to slow in his intensive, analytic ramble.
“Peerless Cucumber?” Shang Qinghua asked in an awed whisper. There is no way his anti-fan got transmigrated. And there is no way that he married the same character that he begged for their castration.
Shen Yuán cut off mid rant and slowly turned to him with his eyes locked on his figure. Shen Qingqiu took a step back from his husband with a smile as Shen Yuán took in a deep breath through his nose.
“You.” Shen Yuán pointed at them harshly. He started stalking towards him with a glare making those warm green eyes turn into icicles almost as cold as his king. “You are Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, aren’t you? Only someone like you can write trash to this degree.”
“Yeah! I am.” Shang Qinghua grinned. It was so nice to actually meet an actual transmigrator! He finally has someone to talk to and reminisce about the stuff they miss from modern times! This is going to be great! “It’s so nice to—“
“I’ve been waiting for this day.” Shen Yuán interrupted him by cracking his knuckles.
“Cucumber-bro? Bro? Bro?!” Shang Qinghua looked behind Shen Yuán to see his supportive husband just watching him from over the edge of his fan. Was Shen Qingqiu secretly cheering him on? Wait, of course he was! That’s exactly what his villain son would do! “Bro—WAIT!”
*
It was obvious to everyone that Shen Qingqiu was married now.
Since it was announced at every peak that Shen Qingqiu’s husband was suspended from the mountain for attacking a peak lord.