Chapter Text
Shang Qinghua didn’t even know why he was surprised. This month's Peak Lord meeting had started as always, with Yue Qingyuan asking him to read the sect's reports while most of his martial siblings demanded frivolous things for their peaks that were way out of their budgets and simultaneously called him useless. He’d had to threaten Qi Qingqi with leaving her without a budget for two months and exploit Yue Qingyuan’s obvious favoritism towards Shen Qingqiu before they let him be.
Which meant, of course, that he’d thrown his favorite scum villain to the wolves. Sorry, Shixiong!
The surprising part, however, was that Liu Qingge had apparently found Shen Qingqiu in the brothel just last night, which meant that they were criticizing the man's supposedly lecherous activities once again. And, for some unfathomable reason, Yue Qingyuan decided to intervene for one.
“Please, Shidi, stop,” he told Liu Qingge. “This one is sure that Xiao- that Qingqiu Shidi has a very good reason to go to such a place.”
“Apart from the obvious reason, Zhangmen-shixiong means?” Qi Qingqi asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “This one wonders what it may be.”
“He's a lecher, there is no doubt about it,” Liu Qingge said.
“Shidi…”
“That is a thought, huh,” Qi Qingqi said, almost as if to herself. “Shen Shixiong going to such a place for any reason other than sex. Perhaps this one should go down there, ask those poor women about her martial brother. This one wonders what she would be told.”
Shang Qinghua had looked to the scum villain in question as soon as she started talking. That, and probably also his knowledge of the truth, were the only reasons why he found a barely-there worried expression on his face, right before he covered it better with his fan.
That was probably also why he spoke.
“Qi Shimei, is it possible that you don't know why Shen Shixiong is always down there?”
He only realized what he'd just said when everyone in the room stared at him.
“Is Shixiong implying that he does?”
Fuck.
Okay, stay calm! He couldn’t say that it was for spying purposes (everyone was loose-tongued after sex) because Shen Qingqiu had already said that and no one believed him. And he also couldn’t say the truth because that would mean that Shen Qingqiu would lose the only safe place in which he could sleep.
Not because everyone would believe him, of course, but because he would know that Shang Qinghua knew.
Which would also spell disaster for Shang Qinghua, of course.
What was the first rule of improvisation? Oh, right! ‘Yes, and…’
“This one does,” he said. “Shen Qingqiu has been studying… music!”
If looks could kill, Shen Qingqiu would’ve made him a human stick right now.
“Music,” Qi Qingqi deadpanned. “The Peak Lord of Qing Jing, responsible for the Four Arts, is learning music in a brothel.”
Ha! Too late, Qi Shimei! While you bitched, this author-god had an idea.
“This one knows it’s unusual, but…” He established eye contact with Shen Qingqiu for half a second. “Sorry, Shixiong. Looks like the surprise is over.”
“Shang Shidi, what are you…?”
“Shen Shixiong is creating a musical.” He stood up before the ensuing shouts got too loud. “It will be one like nothing the three realms have ever seen, because he is mixing the most elegant music from the cultivation world with the most popular melodies known by common people! Hence his visits to the brothel. Some of the prostitutes there are quite good at playing the pipa.”
Liu Qingge looked like he'd swallowed something disgusting. “What?!”
Yue Qingyuan looked positively delighted. “A musical! Shidi, why have you never said anything?”
“It is… it was supposed to be a surprise,” he said, giving Shang Qinghua a very scary glare.
He sat down and tried to disappear inside his seat. “Sorry.”
“When will it be finished?” Yue Qingyuan asked.
Qi Qingqi's eyes widened. “You believe this?”
“It has taken years and it is not finished yet,” Shen Qingqiu said, before standing and walking away from the table. “Since this meeting has devolved too much to be useful… Shang Shidi, a word.”
He swallowed hard before standing up on trembling legs.
To his dismay, Shen Qingqiu made him follow him all the way to Qing Jing Peak on foot. He willed his legs to work well enough, but once both of them were inside the bamboo house, he dropped to his knees.
“Shidi…”
“Sorry!” He said. “I-I know I’ve just made everything worse, but I couldn’t stand them… We’re in a similar situation.”
The scum villain snapped open his fan. “Explain.”
“I mean… We’re both being accosted by Liu Shidi all the time. And like. Made fun of in Peak Lord meetings. And they have no right to tell you how to spend your time. Not like I’m trying to defend… But Shen Shinxiong said many years ago that he only went there for spying purposes. And it made sense! You’re the strategist! But no one believed it. And what kind of sect are we if we undervalue our strategist? And underestimate our logistics peak, but that’s expected, apparently.” He was scowling at the end of that statement.
Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were shining with something that smelled trouble for him. “So Shidi did this because he believes that both of us are in the same situation? That we are the same?”
“No!” He shook his head. The other man’s voice had turned so bitter in the end that he had to diffuse this situation somehow. “No two people are the same, that’s impossible. But like… this Shidi didn’t want to see them making fun of Shixiong anymore. And Qi Shimei would probably go all internalized misogyny on the poor women at the Warm Red Pavilion.”
“Internalized…?” Shen Qingqiu shook his head. “And Shang Shidi thought that introducing this… idea of a musical would get rid of all the rumors?”
“To be honest, I was. Uh, panicking.” He sat on his heels. Fortunately, the floor here was warm, not like in the North. “I’m not even a fan of musicals. I have seen some classical musical theater. And I watched High School Musical when I was a teenager? But not like. Well, I watched the second half of Mamma Mia. Not Hamilton, though, because it’s not that popular outside America. Like, a bunch of people know about it, but I have no idea who Hamilton is. Was. Probably a president, now that I think about it. Or a founding father? I have no idea.”
To his surprise, Shen Qingqiu didn’t interrupt his rambling. Maybe he was used to it? But he hadn’t spent so much time with his scariest Shixiong. Who knew, honestly.
“...I can recall an entire musical from memory,” he said in the end. “It is very popular… in a very far-away region. I would have to translate it, but…”
“From a far away… Is it popular in the demon realm?”
“What?! No!”
The scum villain’s eyes contracted to slits. “What is it about?”
“A mortal man fights through war and then has to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to go back home to his son and wife. He is both aided and hindered by different gods.”
“Sounds interesting enough,” Shen Qingqiu said after a moment. “This one wants to hear the first song tomorrow morning.”
“But Shixiong! There’s a lot of paperwork on my desk and I’d like to sleep!”
“Shidi should have thought about that before offering such a spectacle to our martial siblings.” He huffed. “A musical. Really. This one hopes it is good.”
Shang Qinghua glowered. Really, he saves the man from hours-long verbal abuse and this is the thanks he gets? Such a scum villain! “Don’t worry, Shixiong, it’s going to be fucking epic.”
Shen Qingqiu unsheathed Xiu Ya. “Watch your language, Shidi.”
“Shit! Sorry!” He stood up with a jump and ran away from the house. “Right. Right. ‘The Horse and the Infant,’ hmn? How did that one start again?”