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rikorenby coku
※Couple: Bingqiu (The story as a whole will also include some Bingjiu)/Timeline: A made-up scene after the original work's extra chapters
【01】
"Hi, Shizun, so we meet again."
"..."
When Shen Qingqiu was coming out of the little bamboo vacation home Luo Binghe had built for them, he happened by chance to run into an unexpected guest he'd previously assumed he'd never see again. The man was dressed all in black, his figure tall and straight, his fair-skinned and elegant face practically sparkling under the bright morning sun; if Shen Qingqiu didn't already know a thing or two about this guy's personality, he really would have thought he was looking at a deity descended from the heavens.
He calmly looked left, then right, confirmed there'd been nothing wrong with the way he'd opened the door and that he wasn't wandering around in some random dreamscape or other, then looked up towards the sunny, cloudless, dark blue sky with a profound look on his face, feeling strangely as if his vision had gone blurry.
You're joking with me, right? he thought with grief and indignation. He cursed the system's dishonesty: why'd it bring him over here again, was it just that interested in watching the carnage!?
The man standing before him was familiar no matter which way you looked at him: That totally flawless male protagonist face, like the cover of a romance novel, matched up exactly with his memories of the one he usually saw, like a perfect carbon copy - but although it was like the man he knew it also wasn't. The reason——the one he knew, the one he raised, was currently standing right behind him.
"So you still have the nerve to show your face here, you son of a bitch?"
From behind him came the sound of his own good disciple——Luo Binghe's voice, filled with anger and yet totally unaware of how there might be something wrong with insulting himself. Shen Qingqiu didn't even need to turn around to be able to guess how terrible the other man's face looked right now; especially with the arm around his waist, the fingers of which were curling in tighter by the second, making it difficult for him not to worry about even his own safety.
Shen Qingqiu cleared his throat, feigning calm as he unfolded his fan to cover the lower half of his face. With a look of scrutiny, he locked eyes with the harem protag Luo Binghe who'd come here from a parallel world, the one readers of the original work had called "Bing-ge".
Shen Qingqiu: "What is your purpose in coming here."
He could still remember the scene from a few days ago when Bing-ge had intruded into this world. If he remembered correctly, this self-centered show-off standing before him had been considerably resentful of the relationship between him and his disciple Bing-mei, even looking down on the one he'd raised for not having a single woman, showing not the least bit of success as a man.
Why would someone like this come back here again? Shen Qingqiu couldn't for the life of him think of a reason or goal.
It couldn't be that...something had gone wrong with the Xinmo sword again?
Having thought up to here, he immediately turned around to check on the Xinmo hanging against Luo Binghe's waist.
With how tightly-wrapped in talismans it was, forget emitting violet light or anything odd, this longsword wasn't even leaking the slightest bit of demonic energy. Worry showed itself on Shen Qingqiu's face; he couldn't help feeling that the situation might be more trouble than he'd thought.
If Bing-ge hadn't come here through the sword in their possession, then the only other possibility was the one in the visitor's hands.
As if to prove that his guess was unmistakably correct, the original one raised the sword in his hand, his mouth tugging upwards into a beautiful smile as he cheerfully said: "Shizun really is smart, you didn't even need to ask and already you've figured out how I arrived; this disciple is filled with admiration."
Bullshit, if I couldn't guess something as small as this, you think I'd be able to muddle my way through as long as I have!?
Shen Qingqiu didn't feel like playing along with his nonsense, a guarded expression on his face as he got straight to the point: "This isn't a place you belong in; place leave." Although he spoke with a perfectly level tone of voice, you could still hear a measure of persistence in it.
Luo Binghe narrowed his eyes slightly, deepening the unreadable expression in his smile:
"I'm not leaving."
For a second, Shen Qingqiu felt the illusion that he'd been targeted by some wild beast, goosebumps seeming to silently break out all across his body.
God, this smile looks dangerous no matter how you look at it...
But however dangerous it was, he still had no choice but to summon up his courage, continuing to feign calm as he asked: "Why?"
Though they were both the same familiar face, when put on Bing-ge's face that smile felt 100% menacing.
He was truly worthy of the title of best actor.
Luo Binghe leisurely said: "No reason really, I just happened to suddenly long to see Shizun again, so I specially came back to visit for a few days."
Seemingly unaffected by the pair of defensive gazes focusing on him, Bing-ge's smooth-talking skills kept working as normal; while his oily words should originally have been disgusting to hear, exactly because they were spoken by the attractive Bing-ge, any disgust or feelings that something might not be right all fell right into the Mariana Trench. The hot ones are always well-regarded, in the end.
Of course, this cheat add-on was also being used on this world's protag behind him, nicknamed Bing-mei.
Although it was a little cruel to himself, Shen Qingqiu still couldn't resist emotionally sighing at how Luo Binghe truly was the System's flesh-and-blood son; no matter which world it was, he was still the number-one protag, using those add-ons to their fullest!
"Hey, who're you calling your shizun?" Maiden Luo, clearly unable to tolerate the other's taking liberties with his shizun, had switched from his usual cute appearance, and was emitting unrestrained dark energy in such a manner he seemed ready to beat the man to death any second.
Shen Qingqiu hurried to hold him back, not allowing him to take that next step. God knows if these two identical brats started a fight, neither side would win and there'd be two corpses to clean up. One just had to look at the last time's tragic situation to know, you had to be crazy to let them fight!
"Binghe, calm down." Shen Qingqiu patted his extremely unhappy-looking disciple, making sure to confirm that he wasn't about to do anything extreme before turning to face the original version.
"Let's not discuss the truth of your words for now. But this really isn't a place you should be."
Shen Qingqiu looked calm on the outside, but in reality the thin layer of sweat seeping out of his palms betrayed the apprehension he felt.
As a former fan and someone who'd worshipped him as an Adonis, Shen Qingqiu was more than clear in his knowledge of this man's personal character.
Have you heard of the phrase "knives hidden in smiles"? The blackened Luo Binghe, an expert at using his appearance to trick people, then enacting all sorts of shadowy and ruthless tricks behind their back for revenge, was the perfect representative of this phrase. Having seen from a god's-eye perspective his dark thought processes and the punishment he'd given original goods Shen Jiu, Shen Qingqiu believed this man absolutely must be defended against.
"Heh, Shizun's attitude truly grieves me; you won't even spare a greeting for me, and already you want me to get lost."
Seeing how guarded the other man was against him, the Luo Binghe from another world couldn't help letting out a low, taunting laugh, unreadable emotions flashing across that handsome face for a very short moment.
"I can see that both he and you loathe me to an extreme, and eagerly wish I'd never appeared—or even better, that you never knew me to begin with."
So he said. Clear resentment leaked through the tone of his voice, like he was mocking Shen Qingqiu, yet also like he was abandoning himself to despair.
Shen Qingqiu wrinkled his brows and pursed his lips. It went without saying who "he" referred to—it was clearly that other Qingjing peak lord who no longer existed on this earth.
Although due to the shadow that remained from his previously getting his arm and leg ripped off by the man, he really wanted to generously admit: "You're not welcome here, I'm begging you to leave right now!" but seeing that face twist in apparent grief at having suffered some terrible wrong, he couldn't help but overlap the image with that of an earlier Luo Binghe going mad in front of him; what should originally have been an unyielding heart suddenly couldn't manage to harden, even feeling a little pity for this great demon lord with his three thousand beauties.
Shen Qingqiu thought a moment, pondering what it was he wanted to say, before opening his mouth: "I don't dislike you."
The moment these words came out, the twitterpated one next to him immediately exploded. He was just about to shout "Shizun!" in his panic, but Shen Qingqiu - knowing full-well that this child had most certainly knocked over the entire jar of vinegar in his haste to argue with himself - promptly threw out a hand to lift a finger to the other's lips, signaling that he be quiet.
Maiden Luo felt aggrieved, frowning and ready to throw a fit, but seeing the grave look on his shizun's face, he was forced to grit his teeth and swallow his complaints for the moment, obediently playing the part of his competent bodyguard.
Shen Qingqiu let out a sigh, lightly patting his disciple's head before turning his gaze back to Bing-ge. The Luo Binghe over there appeared to have frozen in shock at what he'd said, incredulity written all over his face.
"...You..." Luo Binghe hesitated to speak.
Shen Qingqiu put his confused feelings back in order, and repeated: "I said, I never disliked you, don't go making reckless guesses."
This was a sincere and solid truth. To be honest, putting aside the psychological level of fear, the whole getting flirted with a few days back, and his intentionally harassing Maiden Luo's inner pimp, Shen Qingqiu really didn't have any reason to dislike him.
In any case, as a faithful reader of Proud Immortal Demon Way in his past life, he really liked Bing-ge the character.
He didn't just admire the male protagonist's many erotic escapades; more than that, he adored the cool and violently tyrannical way in which this man crushed all his opponents. It could only be described with one word: Pleasure!
Having thought up to here, Shen Qingqiu's train of thought couldn't help wandering off to old past events (...). Back before he knew how his own crazy love-addled youth actually felt, he himself had once been full of anticipation, wishing to be a spectator to this disciple's attempts at obtaining his harem...but how he managed to raise him crooked into today's lovesick green JJ is another story.
Luo Binghe's look seemed to have softened somewhat because of that speech, but his red eyes were still a brilliant, bloody crimson.
In an instant, he put on a smile.
"Shen Qingqiu, do you really think I'd believe those words from you? Don't assume I'm as easy to deceive as that damn pet of yours with the bad technique."
There was no politeness in his words.
Although the intonation was gentle, he was leaking unignorable coldness from his every pore.
Shen Qingqiu inwardly complained of what a headache all this was; why was it every iteration of Luo Binghe always had to like twisting people's honest truthful words however they wanted? Was it that hard to seriously listen to him just once!? Or did his being Shen Qingqiu automatically make people loath to believe him!
...Er, alright, so if the original goods stood in front of him and said "I don't dislike you" it might, actually make a man suspect the credibility of his words...yeah, forget he said anything.
The Luo Binghe who'd been enduring in silence by Shen Qingqiu's side suddenly turned his gaze fierce, saying in a low voice: "Bastard, who gave you permission to call Shizun directly by his name?" He took a step forward, moving directly to hide Shizun behind him.
"Binghe." Sheng Qingqiu pressed a hand to his shoulder, wanting him to retreat.
Although he was moved by Luo Binghe's acting to protect him, if they were to prevent a brawl, Shen Qingqiu believed it would be safe to pull the man behind him.
Luo Binghe showed serious discontent towards this: "Shizun, how could you just allow this guy to be rude to you!"
"Good boy, everything's fine, do as you're told." Shen Qingqiu gently patted his cheek, then quietly pulled him back again.
He once again called out towards the no-longer-acting Bing-ge.
"I'm not misleading you." Shen Qingqiu calmly shook his head, "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not."
"Don't forget I caused you pain before." Luo Binghe still held a smile on his face, purposely adding some ambiguity to his words.
Fuck...Bing-ge can't you hold a normal conversation for once, stop trying to cause misunderstandings!
Shen Qingqiu drily replied: "I won't demand you take responsibility." He kind of wanted to slap the man's face once with his folding fan.
Luo Binghe's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly, as if he'd been struck by those words, but didn't show any really noticeable reaction.
He quickly pushed back any unnecessary emotions, serenely softening his spikes.
"You really are different from him."
He spoke in an indifferent tone of voice, so gently that he was practically the only one able to hear the admiration and envy within his own words.
Shen Qingqiu didn't quite catch what he'd said, slightly tilting his head as he pondered how best to coax this man back to his own world, when suddenly he saw Luo Binghe shoot him a saccharine smile.
"Shizun."
The voice came without warning, causing Shen Qingqiu to look somewhat noticeably distracted. Perhaps because that look and that voice were extremely similar to Bing-mei, for a very short moment, he felt the illusion that the one before him was the Luo Binghe he'd raised, rather than the original work's endgame protagonist.
He answered with a "Hm?" without realizing it; by the time he came back to his senses, that insecure disciple of his had already pulled him into his embrace, like an animal afraid its treasure was about to get stolen away from it, baring its teeth and ready to strike at any moment.
"Get out of here, Shizun's already stated he wants you to leave and yet you're still standing here talking rubbish, do you want to die?" Luo Binghe said in a stern voice; Shen Qingqiu, trapped in his tight embrace, could clearly feel the killing intent radiating off of Luo Binghe's body.
The one from the original work didn't seem to mind, even going so far as to deliberately provoke, saying: "I already said, I'm not going back. What're you gonna do about it?"
As sparks flew through the air, Shen Qingqiu seemed almost to see intense lightning shooting from their eyes, crackling loudly over his head.
Not good, I can't let them fight—
Alarm bells were sounding loudly in Shen Qingqiu's head; not bothering to keep up his aloof appearance, he reached out two claw-like hands to slap them against Bing-mei's cheeks the way one might a mosquito—
Pow!
The smack resounded loudly and clearly through the area.
"Binghe, this teacher already told you not to be impulsive!"
"......"
In an instant, the area delved into absolute silence.
Two pairs of startled looks turned towards the face-assaulting Shen Qingqiu. The one who hadn't been hit unconsciously unconsciously moved his facial muscles slightly, as if he could feel the pain of being slapped himself.
"Are you two done yet? Have you calmed down? Can we discuss things properly now?"
Shen Qingqiu asked with a straight face.
His gaze turned from the one he'd raised to the one from the original work; they both nodded soundlessly.
Very good.
Having obtained a satisfactory reply, his tense shoulders relaxed as he removed his vicious claws from Bing-mei's face.
In order to avoid any more unnecessary incidents, Shen Qingqiu decided to change the way in which he handled the problem before him.
Shen Qingqiu asked: "Luo Binghe, what is it you wish to do before you are willing to return to the place from which you came?"
In order to distinguish the two from each other somewhat, he deliberately called the original one by his full name.
Since Bing-ge had already stated he didn't want to leave, then there was no way in hell that they'd be able to make him move. Even if they threw him back by force, he'd undoubtedly be back to stir up trouble within a few days. That being the case, it would be better to put his all into fulfilling the big guy's demands; Shen Qingqiu felt that this was the best available solution.
Otherwise there weren't any other options, where there. Who let him have another Xinmo! With such a nature-defying cheat item in his hands, there wasn't anyone who could stand in his way.
Having probably not anticipated that Shen Qingqiu would ask such a question, Luo Binghe went silent for a moment before recovering from the shock.
His fair-skinned, handsome face then blossomed a smile beautiful enough to knock down a whole mob of maidens, his blazing red eyes sparkling radiantly.
"Shizun, my request is very simple."
Luo Binghe's voice was brimming with delight.
"Let me live with you for a few days."
=> Next
※Couple: Bingqiu (The story as a whole will also include some Bingjiu)/Timeline: A made-up scene after the original work's extra chapters
【01】
"Hi, Shizun, so we meet again."
"..."
When Shen Qingqiu was coming out of the little bamboo vacation home Luo Binghe had built for them, he happened by chance to run into an unexpected guest he'd previously assumed he'd never see again. The man was dressed all in black, his figure tall and straight, his fair-skinned and elegant face practically sparkling under the bright morning sun; if Shen Qingqiu didn't already know a thing or two about this guy's personality, he really would have thought he was looking at a deity descended from the heavens.
He calmly looked left, then right, confirmed there'd been nothing wrong with the way he'd opened the door and that he wasn't wandering around in some random dreamscape or other, then looked up towards the sunny, cloudless, dark blue sky with a profound look on his face, feeling strangely as if his vision had gone blurry.
You're joking with me, right? he thought with grief and indignation. He cursed the system's dishonesty: why'd it bring him over here again, was it just that interested in watching the carnage!?
The man standing before him was familiar no matter which way you looked at him: That totally flawless male protagonist face, like the cover of a romance novel, matched up exactly with his memories of the one he usually saw, like a perfect carbon copy - but although it was like the man he knew it also wasn't. The reason——the one he knew, the one he raised, was currently standing right behind him.
"So you still have the nerve to show your face here, you son of a bitch?"
From behind him came the sound of his own good disciple——Luo Binghe's voice, filled with anger and yet totally unaware of how there might be something wrong with insulting himself. Shen Qingqiu didn't even need to turn around to be able to guess how terrible the other man's face looked right now; especially with the arm around his waist, the fingers of which were curling in tighter by the second, making it difficult for him not to worry about even his own safety.
Shen Qingqiu cleared his throat, feigning calm as he unfolded his fan to cover the lower half of his face. With a look of scrutiny, he locked eyes with the harem protag Luo Binghe who'd come here from a parallel world, the one readers of the original work had called "Bing-ge".
Shen Qingqiu: "What is your purpose in coming here."
He could still remember the scene from a few days ago when Bing-ge had intruded into this world. If he remembered correctly, this self-centered show-off standing before him had been considerably resentful of the relationship between him and his disciple Bing-mei, even looking down on the one he'd raised for not having a single woman, showing not the least bit of success as a man.
Why would someone like this come back here again? Shen Qingqiu couldn't for the life of him think of a reason or goal.
It couldn't be that...something had gone wrong with the Xinmo sword again?
Having thought up to here, he immediately turned around to check on the Xinmo hanging against Luo Binghe's waist.
With how tightly-wrapped in talismans it was, forget emitting violet light or anything odd, this longsword wasn't even leaking the slightest bit of demonic energy. Worry showed itself on Shen Qingqiu's face; he couldn't help feeling that the situation might be more trouble than he'd thought.
If Bing-ge hadn't come here through the sword in their possession, then the only other possibility was the one in the visitor's hands.
As if to prove that his guess was unmistakably correct, the original one raised the sword in his hand, his mouth tugging upwards into a beautiful smile as he cheerfully said: "Shizun really is smart, you didn't even need to ask and already you've figured out how I arrived; this disciple is filled with admiration."
Bullshit, if I couldn't guess something as small as this, you think I'd be able to muddle my way through as long as I have!?
Shen Qingqiu didn't feel like playing along with his nonsense, a guarded expression on his face as he got straight to the point: "This isn't a place you belong in; place leave." Although he spoke with a perfectly level tone of voice, you could still hear a measure of persistence in it.
Luo Binghe narrowed his eyes slightly, deepening the unreadable expression in his smile:
"I'm not leaving."
For a second, Shen Qingqiu felt the illusion that he'd been targeted by some wild beast, goosebumps seeming to silently break out all across his body.
God, this smile looks dangerous no matter how you look at it...
But however dangerous it was, he still had no choice but to summon up his courage, continuing to feign calm as he asked: "Why?"
Though they were both the same familiar face, when put on Bing-ge's face that smile felt 100% menacing.
He was truly worthy of the title of best actor.
Luo Binghe leisurely said: "No reason really, I just happened to suddenly long to see Shizun again, so I specially came back to visit for a few days."
Seemingly unaffected by the pair of defensive gazes focusing on him, Bing-ge's smooth-talking skills kept working as normal; while his oily words should originally have been disgusting to hear, exactly because they were spoken by the attractive Bing-ge, any disgust or feelings that something might not be right all fell right into the Mariana Trench. The hot ones are always well-regarded, in the end.
Of course, this cheat add-on was also being used on this world's protag behind him, nicknamed Bing-mei.
Although it was a little cruel to himself, Shen Qingqiu still couldn't resist emotionally sighing at how Luo Binghe truly was the System's flesh-and-blood son; no matter which world it was, he was still the number-one protag, using those add-ons to their fullest!
"Hey, who're you calling your shizun?" Maiden Luo, clearly unable to tolerate the other's taking liberties with his shizun, had switched from his usual cute appearance, and was emitting unrestrained dark energy in such a manner he seemed ready to beat the man to death any second.
Shen Qingqiu hurried to hold him back, not allowing him to take that next step. God knows if these two identical brats started a fight, neither side would win and there'd be two corpses to clean up. One just had to look at the last time's tragic situation to know, you had to be crazy to let them fight!
"Binghe, calm down." Shen Qingqiu patted his extremely unhappy-looking disciple, making sure to confirm that he wasn't about to do anything extreme before turning to face the original version.
"Let's not discuss the truth of your words for now. But this really isn't a place you should be."
Shen Qingqiu looked calm on the outside, but in reality the thin layer of sweat seeping out of his palms betrayed the apprehension he felt.
As a former fan and someone who'd worshipped him as an Adonis, Shen Qingqiu was more than clear in his knowledge of this man's personal character.
Have you heard of the phrase "knives hidden in smiles"? The blackened Luo Binghe, an expert at using his appearance to trick people, then enacting all sorts of shadowy and ruthless tricks behind their back for revenge, was the perfect representative of this phrase. Having seen from a god's-eye perspective his dark thought processes and the punishment he'd given original goods Shen Jiu, Shen Qingqiu believed this man absolutely must be defended against.
"Heh, Shizun's attitude truly grieves me; you won't even spare a greeting for me, and already you want me to get lost."
Seeing how guarded the other man was against him, the Luo Binghe from another world couldn't help letting out a low, taunting laugh, unreadable emotions flashing across that handsome face for a very short moment.
"I can see that both he and you loathe me to an extreme, and eagerly wish I'd never appeared—or even better, that you never knew me to begin with."
So he said. Clear resentment leaked through the tone of his voice, like he was mocking Shen Qingqiu, yet also like he was abandoning himself to despair.
Shen Qingqiu wrinkled his brows and pursed his lips. It went without saying who "he" referred to—it was clearly that other Qingjing peak lord who no longer existed on this earth.
Although due to the shadow that remained from his previously getting his arm and leg ripped off by the man, he really wanted to generously admit: "You're not welcome here, I'm begging you to leave right now!" but seeing that face twist in apparent grief at having suffered some terrible wrong, he couldn't help but overlap the image with that of an earlier Luo Binghe going mad in front of him; what should originally have been an unyielding heart suddenly couldn't manage to harden, even feeling a little pity for this great demon lord with his three thousand beauties.
Shen Qingqiu thought a moment, pondering what it was he wanted to say, before opening his mouth: "I don't dislike you."
The moment these words came out, the twitterpated one next to him immediately exploded. He was just about to shout "Shizun!" in his panic, but Shen Qingqiu - knowing full-well that this child had most certainly knocked over the entire jar of vinegar in his haste to argue with himself - promptly threw out a hand to lift a finger to the other's lips, signaling that he be quiet.
Maiden Luo felt aggrieved, frowning and ready to throw a fit, but seeing the grave look on his shizun's face, he was forced to grit his teeth and swallow his complaints for the moment, obediently playing the part of his competent bodyguard.
Shen Qingqiu let out a sigh, lightly patting his disciple's head before turning his gaze back to Bing-ge. The Luo Binghe over there appeared to have frozen in shock at what he'd said, incredulity written all over his face.
"...You..." Luo Binghe hesitated to speak.
Shen Qingqiu put his confused feelings back in order, and repeated: "I said, I never disliked you, don't go making reckless guesses."
This was a sincere and solid truth. To be honest, putting aside the psychological level of fear, the whole getting flirted with a few days back, and his intentionally harassing Maiden Luo's inner pimp, Shen Qingqiu really didn't have any reason to dislike him.
In any case, as a faithful reader of Proud Immortal Demon Way in his past life, he really liked Bing-ge the character.
He didn't just admire the male protagonist's many erotic escapades; more than that, he adored the cool and violently tyrannical way in which this man crushed all his opponents. It could only be described with one word: Pleasure!
Having thought up to here, Shen Qingqiu's train of thought couldn't help wandering off to old past events (...). Back before he knew how his own crazy love-addled youth actually felt, he himself had once been full of anticipation, wishing to be a spectator to this disciple's attempts at obtaining his harem...but how he managed to raise him crooked into today's lovesick green JJ is another story.
Luo Binghe's look seemed to have softened somewhat because of that speech, but his red eyes were still a brilliant, bloody crimson.
In an instant, he put on a smile.
"Shen Qingqiu, do you really think I'd believe those words from you? Don't assume I'm as easy to deceive as that damn pet of yours with the bad technique."
There was no politeness in his words.
Although the intonation was gentle, he was leaking unignorable coldness from his every pore.
Shen Qingqiu inwardly complained of what a headache all this was; why was it every iteration of Luo Binghe always had to like twisting people's honest truthful words however they wanted? Was it that hard to seriously listen to him just once!? Or did his being Shen Qingqiu automatically make people loath to believe him!
...Er, alright, so if the original goods stood in front of him and said "I don't dislike you" it might, actually make a man suspect the credibility of his words...yeah, forget he said anything.
The Luo Binghe who'd been enduring in silence by Shen Qingqiu's side suddenly turned his gaze fierce, saying in a low voice: "Bastard, who gave you permission to call Shizun directly by his name?" He took a step forward, moving directly to hide Shizun behind him.
"Binghe." Sheng Qingqiu pressed a hand to his shoulder, wanting him to retreat.
Although he was moved by Luo Binghe's acting to protect him, if they were to prevent a brawl, Shen Qingqiu believed it would be safe to pull the man behind him.
Luo Binghe showed serious discontent towards this: "Shizun, how could you just allow this guy to be rude to you!"
"Good boy, everything's fine, do as you're told." Shen Qingqiu gently patted his cheek, then quietly pulled him back again.
He once again called out towards the no-longer-acting Bing-ge.
"I'm not misleading you." Shen Qingqiu calmly shook his head, "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not."
"Don't forget I caused you pain before." Luo Binghe still held a smile on his face, purposely adding some ambiguity to his words.
Fuck...Bing-ge can't you hold a normal conversation for once, stop trying to cause misunderstandings!
Shen Qingqiu drily replied: "I won't demand you take responsibility." He kind of wanted to slap the man's face once with his folding fan.
Luo Binghe's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly, as if he'd been struck by those words, but didn't show any really noticeable reaction.
He quickly pushed back any unnecessary emotions, serenely softening his spikes.
"You really are different from him."
He spoke in an indifferent tone of voice, so gently that he was practically the only one able to hear the admiration and envy within his own words.
Shen Qingqiu didn't quite catch what he'd said, slightly tilting his head as he pondered how best to coax this man back to his own world, when suddenly he saw Luo Binghe shoot him a saccharine smile.
"Shizun."
The voice came without warning, causing Shen Qingqiu to look somewhat noticeably distracted. Perhaps because that look and that voice were extremely similar to Bing-mei, for a very short moment, he felt the illusion that the one before him was the Luo Binghe he'd raised, rather than the original work's endgame protagonist.
He answered with a "Hm?" without realizing it; by the time he came back to his senses, that insecure disciple of his had already pulled him into his embrace, like an animal afraid its treasure was about to get stolen away from it, baring its teeth and ready to strike at any moment.
"Get out of here, Shizun's already stated he wants you to leave and yet you're still standing here talking rubbish, do you want to die?" Luo Binghe said in a stern voice; Shen Qingqiu, trapped in his tight embrace, could clearly feel the killing intent radiating off of Luo Binghe's body.
The one from the original work didn't seem to mind, even going so far as to deliberately provoke, saying: "I already said, I'm not going back. What're you gonna do about it?"
As sparks flew through the air, Shen Qingqiu seemed almost to see intense lightning shooting from their eyes, crackling loudly over his head.
Not good, I can't let them fight—
Alarm bells were sounding loudly in Shen Qingqiu's head; not bothering to keep up his aloof appearance, he reached out two claw-like hands to slap them against Bing-mei's cheeks the way one might a mosquito—
Pow!
The smack resounded loudly and clearly through the area.
"Binghe, this teacher already told you not to be impulsive!"
"......"
In an instant, the area delved into absolute silence.
Two pairs of startled looks turned towards the face-assaulting Shen Qingqiu. The one who hadn't been hit unconsciously unconsciously moved his facial muscles slightly, as if he could feel the pain of being slapped himself.
"Are you two done yet? Have you calmed down? Can we discuss things properly now?"
Shen Qingqiu asked with a straight face.
His gaze turned from the one he'd raised to the one from the original work; they both nodded soundlessly.
Very good.
Having obtained a satisfactory reply, his tense shoulders relaxed as he removed his vicious claws from Bing-mei's face.
In order to avoid any more unnecessary incidents, Shen Qingqiu decided to change the way in which he handled the problem before him.
Shen Qingqiu asked: "Luo Binghe, what is it you wish to do before you are willing to return to the place from which you came?"
In order to distinguish the two from each other somewhat, he deliberately called the original one by his full name.
Since Bing-ge had already stated he didn't want to leave, then there was no way in hell that they'd be able to make him move. Even if they threw him back by force, he'd undoubtedly be back to stir up trouble within a few days. That being the case, it would be better to put his all into fulfilling the big guy's demands; Shen Qingqiu felt that this was the best available solution.
Otherwise there weren't any other options, where there. Who let him have another Xinmo! With such a nature-defying cheat item in his hands, there wasn't anyone who could stand in his way.
Having probably not anticipated that Shen Qingqiu would ask such a question, Luo Binghe went silent for a moment before recovering from the shock.
His fair-skinned, handsome face then blossomed a smile beautiful enough to knock down a whole mob of maidens, his blazing red eyes sparkling radiantly.
"Shizun, my request is very simple."
Luo Binghe's voice was brimming with delight.
"Let me live with you for a few days."
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