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i. the unfortunate problem
The Shen clan has a Curse™. It's trademarked and capitalized because it deserves it after single handedly destroying all of their chances of getting laid since they were literal teenagers, and those years were rough. You ever had to fight depression and extreme horniness before? Yeah, me too, bro.
Shen Yuan always says that he did not technically need to swear off sex, but the lingering fear of somehow being so impossibly bomb at head that he manages to gaslight someone into getting married to him is an ever-present thought in his mind, and has ruined many a romp in the sheets.
Yes, A-Yuan, he knows it's not a logical fear. Yes, A-Yuan, he also knows that there's like a really low chance of being good at it considering just how little experience he has. Yes, A-Yuan, you have told me numerous times that I look like a biter, though just how much time you spend thinking about that is suspicious enough already, you sure you don't still have the hots for me, bro, I really won't blame you--
"Get to the point already!"
Anyway. The Curse™.
Shang Qinghua finds out about it at sixteen. During the engagement party of his least favorite a-yi (his mother's sister, who always brought up how it was such a shame that Qinghua could not get any scholarships to fund his education) and the Shen she probably blackmailed into marriage, he somehow manages to befriend the lonely and sickly Shen Yuan-- the third son of the main family of the affluent Shen clan.
Yes, they were that kind of rich.
Shang Qinghua had no way of knowing who he was, but even from the beginning, Shen Yuan stank of old money. They were arranged into the same table due to how close they were in age, but Shen Yuan had arrived wearing clothes that Qinghua is sure probably costs thrice his high school tuition. That much had been obvious.
A-yi told them all about the Shen clan. The one she was marrying was a close relative of the main family, and therefore, closer to their wealth.
That was all inconsequential. All Shang Qinghua knows is that Shen Yuan had launched into a tirade about how Azula deserved better the second Qinghua brought up Aang: The Last Airbender and that was good enough for him.
Later on, Shen Yuan tells him that he wasn't even supposed to know. The Curse™ was a closely guarded family secret, and it sounded absolutely ridiculous, besides. No one would believe them; it was probably better if it stayed that way.
Somehow though, later in the mansion's basement (because apparently the Shen distant relative pulled some favors and got the main house to host the engagement party as some kind of filial piety), he'd managed to get Shen Yuan drunk enough that he spilled the beans (and kind of slobbered into Shang Qinghua's mouth, with mumblings of pretty, pretty when he'd leaned in to kiss him, but that's something that they both endeavored to pointedly ignore in the years after).
"I so did not call you pretty. Don't tell them that!"
"Ah, then why do I still have the memory cradled close to my chest, huh, Cucumber Bro? Why do I still feel the warmth that you lost the second your balls dropped--"
"--and when do you think that happened?! We were sixteen when we met, you absolute--"
"Shh, shh! I'm telling a story!"
A-Yuan did not have a good tolerance for alcohol. Honestly, it was pretty expected of a young master who probably didn't have anything to drink before this aside from a few gulps of wine, of which he probably had to wax poetic bullshit about. The body, very heady, very nice. His mother (drunk) used to say that rich people talked about wine like they were trying to get it to bed. Shang Qinghua doesn't necessarily disagree.
Anyway, there Shen Yuan was. Definitely no gap moe over there. A few sips were more than enough to push him well into tipsy and teetering into drunk.
Shang Qinghua would definitely feel worse if Shen Yuan hadn't all but pawed at him like a dog when he'd offered the alcohol, with the determined eyes of someone who probably went out even less than Shang Qinghua did. It was cute, A-Yuan was obviously very cute, and Qinghua was way over his head.
"Ha! Ha, take that. You thought I was cute."
"Be quiet, you little terror."
He watches him carefully for the rest of the night, because seeing someone who has never been drunk get drunk is one of the most amusing things ever, especially if you don't have to be there to pick up the pieces after.
(In his defense, he had no way of knowing that night would be the first of many nights spent in the same basement, laughing and snorting and elbowing each other in the ribs over bad anime takes.)
Shen Yuan ends up spilling about the well-guarded Shen clan secret, which was this: with every spouse that a person from the Shen clan takes, tragedy befalls them.
"It's definitely not as dramatic as that."
"A-Yuan, tell me. Who's telling the story here? Me or you?"
Shang Qinghua naturally did not believe it. A-Yuan, I can't believe that you're this fun as a drunk! But even as Shen Yuan woke up and remembered himself, even as he'd explained the origins of the Curse™ more seriously, Shang Qinghua did not think to actually tell his aunt about it.
"Because you're a dumbass."
"Hey!"
In retrospect, he probably should have. He could have avoided this whole thing if he had put a stop to the marriage.
Still, he didn't. He didn't think much of it, even as he'd sat next to Shen Yuan during the wedding, clapping along as the ceremony persisted. A-Yuan had looked at him like he was wondering if he was going to make a move. Shang Qinghua was not. He was not a man of action-- unless it involved the beautiful, triple-layered wedding cake that his a-yi had spent weeks arguing down the phone with the baker to make.
Of course, in the span of a year, he watches as both a-yi's marriage and then his own mother's fall apart, one after the other. Shen Yuan comes by as soon as he hears about it, getting his driver (trust fund kid!) to drop him off at the Shang residence (an apartment), and cradles a catatonic Qinghua in his arms for a few hours, eyes attentive and hands gentle.
It was the first time he's ever come to see Shang Qinghua first, and then he had to be confined to his bed for a week because of how dusty the Shang residence was. A-Yuan would not survive a life where he wasn't pampered endlessly, that's for sure.
So, he remembers thinking with rising horror a week later, packing his bags so he could stay a few nights at A-Yuan's house, this is a thing now.
ii. the background of the study
After a-yi's accident and his a-niang's divorce, Shen Yuan explains the Curse™ to him. They're back in the basement, legs folded under them, and sharing a pack of blueberry Dewberry biscuits that Shang Qinghua pilfered from their cupboard.
Using one of their numerous family albums, Shen Yuan points at each photograph and describes how all of his family members have all lost their spouses one way or another. A twisted game of get to know, really.
"My mother-- well, she's often sick. She passed down her weak constitution to me, but she's much worse. She spends more time in the hospital than at home these days, and when she does spend time here, my father is ... abroad. Their relationship is strained, but they got lucky."
Indeed they did. Shen Yuan points at each one and ticks off the descriptors: dead, cheated on, died, died, estranged, that one I don't remember, actually, oh wait-- yes, right, restraining order. Shang Qinghua did not expect to come here and find out that Shen Yuan has not been in close proximity with a healthy, loving romantic relationship since he was a child, but here he is.
Shen Yuan frowns. "I don't know, but I think the severity depends on how much the Shen in question likes you," he explains, nibbling on his biscuit. "My parents never really liked each other, because they were more a marriage of convenience. They got away with it. My a-yi… well, she loved her wife a lot. She even went abroad so she could marry her. Her wife died last May."
Shang Qinghua could only stare at Shen Yuan in disbelief. This Curse™ rewards (well, that's a generous term) loveless relationships and completely obliterates any kind of actual affection? Jesus Christ. Jesus fucking Christ. Just who did the Shen Clan end up pissing off, and how did Shang Qinghua end up in this mess?
"This is fucked, bro," he says after a moment of telling silence.
Shen Yuan nods, meeting his eyes with a grim frown. "Fucked, indeed."
iii. the assumptions, scope, and limitations of the study
The Curse™, as they've taken to calling it now, is something that dates back to even Shen Yuan's ancestors.
"If you know this already, then stop marrying people!" Shang Qinghua shrieks, smacking Shen Yuan with a throw pillow from the basement's very comfortable sofa.
They stayed in the basement often. Shen Yuan had the better-- well, better everything, really-- and while he was not allowed to bring anyone to his room due to his parents' paranoia, the basement was fair game.
Shen Yuan catches his wrist with his hand and frowns at him. Shang Qinghua shudders because that is-- huh. He hopes that this doesn't awaken anything in him.
"Stop that," Shen Yuan reprimand him.
"You deserve this! Take the beating for your forefathers!" Using his free hand, he lops Shen Yuan upside the head again with the pillow.
"I'm not planning to marry," Shen Yuan protests, sounding almost mad about it, his words muffled by the fabric against his mouth. "Why am I getting beat up? Hey! Hey, I said stop that."
Finally rectified, Shang Qinghua pulls away, bringing the pillow to his lap. Impulsively, he snaps, "Well, that's hardly a choice, is it? You're in the hospital half the time. Who would you meet there, huh?"
Shen Yuan's expression becomes severe now. Qinghua has thought about it before, but like this, A-Yuan almost seems … brittle.
He's definitely good on the eyes, but it's in the most delicate of ways. He looks like if you held him too roughly he'd snap and break, fracture like glass. In the later years, Shang Qinghua would come to know why. Shen Yuan grew up extremely sheltered-- the child born late enough not to matter as much as the eldest, Shen Qingqiu, and one who had an extremely flimsy constitution, besides. Emotion looks tiring on such a tired body, and anger most taxing of all …
Shang Qinghua backtracks, the guilt eating at his insides. "Too far. Yes. Fine." He scrubs his face with his hands. "It's just frustrating."
Shen Yuan was often called a poor caricature of his oldest brother, whom people often said was the perfect example of a Shen businessman. Still, Shang Qinghua doesn't think he would trade him for anyone else.
"I'm sorry," Shen Yuan tells him, somehow managing to make even apologies sound perfunctory. He must feel an unbearable amount of guilt, Shang Qinghua muses. He's taking all this abuse without a single noise of complaint. Shang Qinghua expected to be pushed into the carpet right about now. "About the Curse™. And your a-yi, but mostly the Curse™."
Honestly, the whole a-yi situation is troubling, but Shang Qinghua has never been one to fuss too much about other people's business. Sure, a-yi may be heavily injured, but she's alive, isn't she?
"It's fine," Shang Qinghua confides in him. "I don't like that auntie very much anyway. It was dumb of her to just charge at the woman with her husband, and it's even dumber to do it when they're across a busy street."
Shen Yuan shoots him a judgmental look. "Bro."
Well, boo-hoo. It's hardly the time to be taking the moral high ground here. "Don't even pretend. It was getting tiring. Not every woman who breathes in close proximity to your husband wants to be his mistress, a-yi, please!"
"Shang Qinghua."
"Fine. I miss her dearly. The dining table mourns the absence of her unsolicited opinions on vaccines and abortion and women's rights--"
"Well, if it's any consolation," Shen Yuan interrupts before Shang Qinghua can continue staining his auntie's reputation any further, "her husband is appropriately distressed. Unlike certain other family members."
Shang Qinghua shoots Shen Yuan a wicked smirk. "And just what is appropriate for a Shen, I wonder?"
Shen Yuan shrugs. "Financial reparations. Apologies made towards the woman he was talking to-- she was a coworker, by the way, and very gay. There's a shocking amount of tears involved, actually, and family members reminding him of the Curse™. It's all very pedestrian, to be honest. Xiong-zhang even came by to give the man a thorough scolding, because a-die said he should, as the next man of the house or something."
Shang Qinghua imagines getting locked in a brutal one and one conversation with Shen Qingqiu and shudders. Poor guy. "Your xiong-zhang probably enjoyed it more than he let on."
"Oh, most definitely," Shen Yuan says absent-mindedly. "Yeah, that's it."
Silence.
"Should we talk about the Curse™?"
"Yeah," Qinghua says, "yeah, we probably should."
More silence. Then, "Well?"
"So. Hm. How did my parents get involved, exactly?"
Shen Yuan winces. "The second your aunt married into the family, your mother was fair game. Sorry 'bout that, dude."
"... does it happen immediately?"
Shen Yuan makes a face. "No," he shakes his head. "It does not. It always comes to a head at around five years."
"Five?" Shang Qinghua repeats. "Seriously?"
"Yes," he nods, because apparently his family has had enough experience with the Curse™ to know the when's and what's, but they still did not stop to consider how about we stop marrying people until we fix this. "Seriously. It always happens before five years comes to an end."
Shang Qinghua blows air through his nose. "It's only marriage, then," he recounts. "Nothing else?"
"Only marriage," Shen Yuan echoes.
"And you only tell your spouses about it on their wedding night."
"Well, sometimes not even then. It's done at their own discretion, and--"
"God, rich people are sick."
Shen Yuan looks almost ashamed, the tips of his ears darkening. "It won't be a problem," he says determinedly. "I won't be getting married."
Shang Qinghua shrugs. "I guess I won't be either, holy shit."
Shen Yuan raises an eyebrow at him. "Well. It's not like you have much choice in the matter, do you?" He gives Shang Qinghua a judgmental once over. "At least now you have an excuse."
"Wow," Shang Qinghua says. His lips curve into an impressed grin. A-Yuan dishes as much as he gets. Nice. "Fine. Fair. That's fair."
iv. the unexpected variable
The unexpected variable, as Shen Yuan calls it, is, of course, Mobei-Jun.
He's the son of one of Shen Qingqiu's many contacts, so Shen Yuan knows of him. On the other hand, he and Shang Qinghua attended the same primary school, and were both assigned to be stagehands at the theater club. Why was obvious. The former couldn't change facial expression even at the threat of death, and the latter was just not suited for the stage, fidgety and restless as he was.
The first time they talked was when Shang Qinghua first called him my king. He was supposed to have that role, you see, until they discovered his complete inability to emote. Thinking the poor guy was upset, Shang Qinghua had called him that as some kind of cheap appeasement. Mobei-Jun only looked up at him and glared so hard Shang Qinghua squeaked, backed off, and then caused a series of accidents involving paint and props that he had to painstakingly repair before opening night.
Mobei-Jun liked dragging him around everywhere by the wrist and pulling on his hair when he wanted his attention. He's been doing it since the day they met. Around the same time, Shang Qinghua's crush on him was full force. To cope, Qinghua gave Mobei a lot of random school supplies and the fascinating rocks that he saw on the way home from school. One of the things he gave him was his prized hamster eraser, which Mobei Jun never returned. He never gave any of them back, so Shang Qinghua thinks he's probably already thrown them out.
Thank God he grew out of that phase. Jesus. Mobei-Jun was really the epitome of the spoiled ice prince trope! Emphasis on spoiled. Like, really, really spoiled!
Despite it all, Mobei remains the person who is closest to him, A-Yuan notwithstanding. They grew up together and if Shang Qinghua was a little bit more sentimental, he'd even go as far as calling him his oldest friend.
Unfortunately, after his parents' divorce, Shang Qinghua had to go to a different high school, much to Mobei-Jun's eternal antipathy. Without anyone to follow like a lost dog, Shang Qinghua has joined his school's literature club. It's fun. It's good. He feels much more fulfilled than he was previously. No one turns their nose up at him in here in comparison to his previous school. He's definitely happier here, except--
Well. You can probably already guess.
Mobei-Jun ends up becoming the co-captain of their school's basketball team. The Northern Demons, they're called. Shang Qinghua does not dunk of the name out of respect for Mobei-Jun and only that.
Besides, he doesn't think he has room to shit on the name. His high school often went against Mobei-Jun's for sports competitions, and Shang Qinghua's school always got absolutely demolished. Mobei-Jun's co-captain, Luo Binghe, dominates the court like it's his world and they were all just living in it.
It probably is. Luo Binghe has massive MC vibes.
He's often heard rumors about Luo Binghe, Mobei-Jun, and the captain of the cheerleading squad, Sha Hualing. They were apparently high school royalty. The equivalent of the Plastics. Good for his king, really. As he should.
Well, whatever. School spirit is not why he attended those things. Mobei-Jun is.
Sure, he did feel like a groupie sometimes, waiting by the bleachers for him with a bottle of Blue Gatorade and a piece of fruit, but Mobei always gives him head pats and buys him a round of noodles for his trouble, so it's alright even when Sha Hualing wolf whistles and Luo Binghe wiggles his eyebrows salaciously.
Sometimes Mobei even comes by on the weekends when Qinghua is swamped with work and can't reply to Mobei's texts, which admittedly only contain things like r u up and the intermittent go eat during mealtimes. Truly the romantic.
Shang Qinghua likes it when he comes by, bringing with him his silent spite and some takeout for the Shang family as appeasement for coming over so often, though his mother is rarely home. During those days, when they talk, it's always about how Shang Qinghua should work hard so he would be eligible to enroll in the same prestigious university Mobei's planning to study in.
"... Isn't that school expensive?" Shen Yuan asks, the furrow in his brow speaking of how troubled he is.
"Yeah," he shrugs, "he said he'd cover it if I can't make the cut for the scholarship, and that I could pay him back after school if I wanted."
"Will you?"
"Nah. I'll get through. I studied my ass off, bro. He says he wants me there, and whatever the king says, goes. So. Here we are."
Shen Yuan stares at him. "Hm," he says after a moment.
"I know what you're thinking," Shang Qinghua mourns.
Shen Yuan purses his lips. "So you know. He's definitely in lo--"
"It's definitely extortion of service. I'm, like, the LeFou to his Gaston. He intends to chain me to his side until I grow gray and he-- well, he'd still be good looking as an old man, so really--"
Shen Yuan gives him an unimpressed look from over his fan, a habit that he picked up from his brother. "Bro. Are you actually serious right now."
"Serious about what? Mobei looking good as an older man? Of course, bro, look at him-- a DILF in training, definitely--"
"No. Is extortion really what we're calling what sounds like his miserable attempts at flirting?"
"Flirting--"
"He does want to lock you down, yes, but hardly into eternal servitude."
"I-- what-- he beats me up!"
Shen Yuan huffs. "He flicks your forehead. I do that all the time when you talk too much. Shang Qinghua, come on."
This is rich! He's being ragged on for being supposedly oblivious by Shen Yuan of all people--
"Yeah, and he used to tug on my ponytail all the time. I've had to cut it so he wouldn't do it anymore!" And then Mobei had made a displeased little frown when he showed up to one of his games with his new haircut, but--
"It's probably his too heavy-handed, emotionally repressed version of pulling at your pigtails."
"He hates me, bro. I can tell!"
"Aren't you going to be roommates in uni?"
"Only because my mother likes him--"
Shang Qinghua does not think he is a particularly enduring person, but an affection that begins at fourteen creeps up on in his twenties. Years in and he is still deep in the throes of his first love. How pathetic.
He can't lose Mobei-Jun. Not for anything.
"He's the only person I can think of who would allow himself to get roped into marrying you," Shen Yuan interrupts. He knows Mobei-Jun far more than he probably should. Shang Qinghua's propensity to talk a lot about things (people) that he likes is to blame for that particular situation.
"Oh, I wish," Shang Qinghua exhales through his nose, "he wouldn't, but thanks for believing in my ability for exploitation, bro."
He almost means it. Except he knows that bad things happen when he actually likes his partner, as per the Curse™, and he likes Mobei-Jun a lot and does not want to see him in the same state as his a-yi. Or his mama, for that matter.
Mobei-Jun is someone who is more than anything Shang Qinghua would ever allow himself. He languishes about it every single day. He does. Maybe it's good that the Curse™ is a thing. At least then he'd have an excuse for how he'd refuse to be bound to someone unless it was him.
"Can you imagine, though?" Shen Yuan asks with an amused light in his eyes.
"Imagine what?"
"You-- the husband of the Mobei clan heir."
Shang Qinghua bursts out laughing. Yeah, he likes aiming for the sky and all that, but he's not that delusional just yet. "Ah yes, that's the dream. Mobei-Jun's little wife."
Shen Yuan snorts and calls him out for being shameless. Shang Qinghua can't even refute him.
Shen Yuan first meets Mobei-Jun much later, when they're all dressed to the nines (well, everyone else is; Shang Qinghua found a suit at the department store and called it a day) and at a dinner party that the Liu clan has invited them to. Shen Yuan comes in wearing Boglioli, the newly minted brother-in-law, and Qinghua could almost believe that he was the untouchable persona he was exuding. Almost. He's not that gullible.
Anyway. Shen Yuan meets Mobei-Jun, who is, for his part, in Dolce & Gabbana, and attempts a valiant attempt at the shovel talk, though it's very … weak, considering that A) he's not even dating the dude, and B) Mobei Jun had only stared at him in mild confusion before raising an eyebrow at Shang Qinghua, as though asking him who the fuck is this.
"Ah," he says, because he's only now realized that Mobei knew most of his friends-- of which they were few, but him not knowing about Shen Yuan is surprising, and that's-- hm. Interesting. He'll have to think about just how intertwined their lives are. "This is Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan, this is Mobei-Jun."
They shake hands, but Shen Yuan looks bored and Mobei-Jun is tense. Shang Qinghua, of course, gets swept into Mobei's side, as he is prone to be, and Shen Yuan gives him a knowing look before he disappears to where Shen Qingqiu might be.
Shang Qinghua doesn't think they'd have more reasons to interact after that, but Shen Yuan enrolls into the same university he did, and then subsequently becomes the tutor of one of Mobei-Jun's friends.
But that's a story for a later date.
v. the unexpected variable pt. 2
Shen Qingqiu announces that he's engaged on Shen Yuan's eighteenth birthday.
Shen Yuan, to his credit, doesn't even blink. Apparently this a thing that happens often. Shen Qingqiu got it into his head that since Shen Yuan stole most of his features (they're technically a-die's looks, xiong-zhang), so Shen Qingqiu, in the kind of petty that only Shen Yuan's xiongzhang can hold onto, endeavors to steal every occasion from Shen Yuan henceforth.
It's a tradition at this point. So much so that before A-Yuan could start blowing out his candles, the whole table looks over at Shen Qingqiu, urging him to just cut the dramatics and get to it already.
So he does. He tells them all that he's getting married to Liu Qingge, who's sitting by his side and slowly turning redder and redder. Shen Qingqiu announces the engagement looking very much like a cat that got the cream. To be fair, he is on the arm of the prettiest person in the room; he's probably earned the right to be a little smug about it.
Still, that is a little surprising. Shang Qinghua always thought that Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge could not stand each other and only sat next to each other in these events because Madam Shen forced them both into playing nice.
Shen Yuan looks more awake at that particular tidbit, at least. "How bad is your taste, gege," he asks, directing this question to Liu Qingge, "that you've proposed to my xiong-zhang?"
Shen Qingqiu opens his mouth, but Liu Qingge is faster: "Your brother is a good man."
"He's never been that. Not once, not ever, not a single moment in his life," Shen Yuan denies vehemently. "Attractive, I'll accept. Intelligent, yes. Rich, even, would be more understandable. But good? No. Get out of here. You're lying."
The outburst is excused, because even Madam Shen tilts her head at him delicately, as though to ask a silent a good man? is he? You know it's bad when the man's own mother is questioning how you've come to that conclusion.
"He is, and I'm not lying," Liu Qingge looks sure of this. He speaks with the certainty of a man whose been to hell and back. Considering who his fiancé is, he probably has. "You know I'm not."
He's looking at Shang Qinghua now, which is-- well. He fully expected to be ignored if not mildly tolerate throughout the duration of this birthday dinner, so the attention is jarring. He's probably the only person here aside from Liu Qingge (who is from a similarly wealthy name that's probably as old as the Shen clan, anyway) who isn't a direct relative.
"Is he your boyfriend?" he asks. He doesn't even sound malicious about it, just genuinely curious, and that just makes this whole thing even worse.
"My--" Shen Yuan chokes. "With all due respect, Liu Qingge, you have no idea what you're talking about! Excuse me!" He blows out the candles on his cake, the flickering light on top of the already melting 18, and leaves the room.
After that, he does not speak to Liu Qingge again for the rest of the night.
vi. the theoretical framework
Shang Qinghua stays the night, as usual. His own home is empty most days, and when his mother is occupying the space, she's usually in a horrible mood, sleep-deprived and impatient. Shang Qinghua has taken to evacuate the house any chance he gets. Mobei isn't even texting him much today. Sha Hualing got him into Farmville and he's been playing it nonstop for days in true middle aged man fashion.
That's the only reason how he overhears the conversation that the Shen siblings have, freezing where he stands outside the bathroom door. He was planning on taking a shower; he had draped the towel over his shoulder and everything. Liu Qingge, who is currently standing in front of him, holding in his hands pretty glass bottles of what looks like high-end shampoo and conditioner, looks equally apprehensive, knowing that what they're currently doing is rude but also too moored by his curiosity to leave.
Shang Qinghua isn't moving either, so he really can't blame the man.
Shen Yuan is speaking, more animated than he's ever heard him: "But xiong-zhang, you've always hated him! You can't be seriously taking his last name."
A hum from Shen Qingqiu. He must be in a good mood because his response is dry instead of cutting. "Oh, but I will be."
"You know about the Curse™! Are you trying to kill him? Is that it? Xiong-zhang, if you wanted to murder him, is this really how you want to do it?!"
Shang Qinghua turns to Liu Qingge frantically, wondering if he already knows about that. To his surprise, Liu Qingge was in the middle of doing the same thing.
Ah.
Shen Qingqiu has indeed told him about it. Liu Qingge had agreed to getting married, regardless.
A-Yuan's asshole brother … really, truly likes this man. That's … wow. Across him, Liu Qingge must be going through the exact same realization about him and Shen Yuan, except he's probably coming to all the wrong conclusions. Probably something like so this is A-Yuan's boyfriend, after all. Well, whatever. At least that's easier to explain.
A pause from inside the bathroom. "Oh." The faucet stops running. "I probably should have. It could have been fun. But-- no. I'm not planning to kill him, though that's always subject to change. The same way my filial affection for you is if you continue pestering me about my upcoming nuptials."
"Do you not like him?" Shen Yuan presses. "Are you trying to beat the Curse™ with a loveless marriage? You still won't get away with it, you know! Look at a-die and a-niang!"
There's a silence. "You're an insufferable brat. Get out of my way before I kick you."
Sharing an alarmed look and the silent agreement not to speak about this again, both he and Liu Qingge dart down their respective hallways before their respective Shen comes out and catches them snooping.
vii. the methodology
"Xiong-zhang's never believed in the Curse™," Shen Yuan says later that night, looking very much like he was sulking. "Liu Qingge deserves much better than him. Xiong-zhang doesn't even care if he'll get hurt! If he does get--"
Shang Qinghua chuckles from where he was surreptitiously typing out the first draft of the novel he's been trying to keep off the ground on his notes app. "Wow, you like the pretty gege a lot, huh?"
Shen Yuan gets flustered, spluttering and generally looking like a mess. "Of course not!" he denies. "I don't get why he likes xiong-zhang, but it's his funeral. He's pretty much doomed anyway."
Shang Qinghua shakes his head, deleting a sentence from his draft. "They have five years," he reminds him. "Besides, this is Shen Qingqiu. If he wanted to, he could probably beat anything."
Shen Yuan rolls his eyes. "Dummy. That's not it, though you're not wrong." He sighs. "See, like-- gege, with his beauty mark."
"Why are you so obsessed with it."
"It's directly under his eye." Shen Yuan says impatiently. "There's legends about that, you know! People with beauty marks that a tear track can touch when they cry will end up losing their spouses! A-niang told me about it."
"Wow," Shang Qinghua whistles, "killing off your honored xiong-zhang already, huh? You must really be obsessed with Liu Qingge-- hey, wait, fuck!"
Shen Yuan turns him back, satisfied now that he's kicked him off the bed. Whatever. It's totally worth it.
Now, A-Yuan didn't know it then, but Shang Qinghua did.
Shen Yuan has always been weird around Liu Qingge. The gege is probably A-Yuan's gay awakening, though he's still too stubborn to acknowledge that as of right now and is talking himself out of it. The insistence that he was straight was getting old, at this point. Come on, bro, you tried to kiss me when we first met! You're not exactly the shining example of a heterosexual man! Who do you think you're fooling, ah?!
But if A-Yuan insists upon it, then-- well, it's none of his business. It's funny watching him trip all over himself when Liu Qingge brings his nearly identical little sister over the next time he comes by to talk about engagement plans with Shen Qingqiu.
Her name is Liu Mingyan and she is delightful. It's sad that she'll end up getting fucked over by this Curse™ too once her brother officially marries Shen Qingqiu, but well, Shang Qinghua is not one to worry himself over things like that, nor is it his responsibility to apologize. He'll do that later, for willfully keeping the information from her, but he could probably claim ignorance. Let Shen Yuan handle the backlash of this. It isn't even his problem in the first place!
He really does enjoy Liu Mingyan's company. She writes too, though admittedly it's for a completely different genre. She even trades anecdotes with Shang Qinghua, which Shen Yuan is just incredibly jealous of, because, look-- Shen Yuan has probably nursing an unattended to crush on his childhood acquaintance that was more his brother's friend than his since he was younger, and lo and behold: here's the version of Liu Qingge that he feels allowed to be attracted to. Of course it's a wreck.
Shang Qinghua's probably doing what's supposed to be Shen Yuan's therapist's job. Sigh.
He's getting good at the whole lofty look, though. Definitely something he's still learning off his brother, but a good imitation of the whole haughty, better-than-you persona, nonetheless.
Shen Yuan confides in him later that he thinks Liu Mingyan is pretty. Shang Qinghua knows that he can't say that Liu Qingge is that, too, so Shen Yuan is probably coping the only way he can. Well, it's funny, so Qinghua does not say a word. A-Yuan will figure it out himself one day, give or take a few months.
viii. the conclusion
Turns out, it takes much longer.
The world does not wait for anyone, even if it is Shen Yuan. He ends up getting hospitalized more and more, nearly jeopardizing his first semester in college.
Shang Qinghua visits, even brings his laptop there so he can do all his work there while he looks after A-Yuan. He can still taste the aftertaste of the Curse™ even now. His mother does not look at him anymore.
Shen Yuan looks at Shang Qinghua from his hospital bed. He's angry and miserable-looking when he says, "I'm sorry."
Shang Qinghua posts the first chapter of something he'd been working on the outline of for a while impulsively on Zhongdian. He needs the money, and--
"You're being weird, bro," Shang Qinghua tells him, "it's chill. I don't mind looking after you. Gives me a place to stay, anyway."
"You can't get married. Your parents' marriage got ruined," Shen Yuan points out. He'd sound more angry if he didn't sound so weak. "It's my fault." He dissolves into a series of coughs.
"Keep that main character complex in check, Naruto. I'm sure you're not that special," Shang Qinghua rolls his eyes at him. "'Sides, it doesn't really matter much. I don't really have many options on that front, anyway. I don't really care."
He has long come to terms with the fact that he just doesn't do it for most people. He may like Mobei-Jun, but what are the odds of him liking Qinghua back? Right. Zero.
He very carefully avoids talking about his parents. That's just not a conversation he can handle completely sober.
"Still," Shen Yuan says stubbornly. "Still."
"Motherfucker. I barely have time! The time I do have I spend with you, clingy bitch." He's smiling as he says it, though.
"I'm not clingy," Shen Yuan disputes. "You're the one who comes over all the time and hangs out in my hospital room when I'm in here."
"Well, you're the one who needs someone to--"
The door swings open and in comes Liu Mingyan, wearing a clinical mask and looking as no-nonsense as always, "Yes, yes, we get it, both of you are extremely emotionally repressed and need a lot of coddling to be able to express basic feelings like regret and joy. Is gege well?"
"A-Yan," Shang Qinghua greets her with a smile. "Hi. How was class?"
"Fine." Liu Mingyan says. She turns to Shen Yuan and surveys his form critically. "I see Yuan-gege is well. Especially since Hua-gege is here for him."
"At this point, I might as well date A-Yuan," Shang Qinghua jokes.
"Put me out of my suffering." Shen Yuan says. "Mobei-Jun would kill me."
"He would not."
"He would!"
"Ahem," Liu Mingyan interrupts, looking very put out. "I don't enjoy this game."
"Right, right, why are you here?"
"Oh, it's my gege's and your brother's wedding anniversary today. You're sick, so of course they wouldn't want to tell you--" Oh. For once, Shen Qingqiu isn't taking every opportunity to take the spotlight away from Shen Yuan. That's new. "I wanted to ask if you wanted your name written on the gift I got for them because you're not in the state to buy your own. Can you believe it's been five years already?"
"... Five years," Shen Yuan says, eyes dazed.
"Yes?" Liu Mingyan raises an eyebrow. "Five."
"Five years," Shang Qinghua repeats, equally mystified. Horrified, he turns to A-Yuan. "Were you wrong?"
"No. I can't be, there's too much proof. It's not possible-- oh."
"Oh? Oh?! This isn't a slow burn fanfic, Shen Yuan, what the hell are you 'oh'-ing about?"
"Xiong-zhang took Liu Qingge's name. He married out of the Shen clan."
Shang Qinghua stares at Shen Yuan. Wordlessly, he takes a pillow from the armchair he was settling himself in and nails Shen Yuan in the face with it. Fucking rich people!
Liu Mingyan crosses her arms, seemingly unaffected by the strange exchange. Impatiently, she asks, "Do you want your name on the gift or not?"