The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System fan fiction

LEMON AND BLACK CURRANT STRIPE CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT-The B Side-Flashback
***
It is a fact that many people can be content with what they have if they have nothing to compare it with, but once they have a source of comparison with something they want for themselves, they tend to feel worse off.

This is one of the things that drives the commerce and development of material goods in several worlds.

The belief that 'Something out there is better' and 'one can only be happy once they have the best of this or that' tends to be found in many places of the multiverse, and it can lead to a neverending escalation in search of goods or in other cases in search of 'better' matches or lovers.

This is also one of the reasons why so many concubine born in 'good' families in cnovel worlds tend to become schemers, after seeing the children of the first wife get better opportunities.

This is why cnovel cannon fodders tend to chase after main leads, getting themselves into trouble.

This is also why Luo Binghe, who had been more or less content with his life to this point, now felt completely frustrated.

This, of course had consequences.
***
The same face, the same body, the same blood.

Whenever he thought about it, Luo Binghe felt incredibly hurt and bitter. They had looked exactly alike, the same blood flowed through their veins, they had the same background, the same parents, but the other Binghe was accepted and cared for by that Shen Qingqiu and he was not.

What could it possibly have been that was so different between them that it had won that Shen Qingqiu over?

He felt like he was stewing in vinegar, chewing over the same meat and bones over and over.

That was why, when he had found himself in the dream world as a child again, he burst into tears and could not stop himself.

It got worse and worse, all the vitriol, the bitterness, the injustice... He couldn't get over it.

He deserved better. He always had. He had tried so hard to win his former teacher over, but unlike his counterpart, he had never softened and nothing ever went right.

Why had things gone so different for the other Binghe?

There were no crystal tears, his nose was red, his eyes were red rimmed, he was outright bawling, scrubbing his face with his hands, ugly crying, feeling like his heart hurt so badly.

"Little bun?" Shizun's voice was soft, uncertain, "oh, no, no, don't cry."

It sent Binghe off into a fresh burst of tears, heaving, wailing and awkward sounds and he didn't, couldn't stop until after he had been scooped up and held close to his Shizun's heart. His sobbing stuttered and eventually came to a stop in hiccups after he had cried himself out on Shizun's broad, strong chest, while Shizun rubbed his back, coaxingly murmuring, "There there."

He knew his face was probably set in an ugly expression, his eyes were watery and red, his nose dripped snot that had made a mess of his master's outer robes.

Shizun didn't care, just kept rubbing his back and wiping his face with an outer sleeve now that he had stopped bawling.

Shizun dampened a square of fabric and used it to wipe Binghe's face clean. Then discarded it for a second one.

"Now what brought this on?" Shizun asked, brows furrowed in concern. "Did someone bully you?"

Binghe sniffed, his eyes watering again in spite of himself. If only Shizun was really his.

Shizun was clearly worried for him, his frown growing more stormy. "Did someone bully you?" He repeated, glancing about for any signs of what had upset Binghe.

They were in what looked like a city which was probably rife with crime, slums filled with unsavory characters. Shizun looked like he was just about ready to kick down a wall and throttle people by their lapels.

Binghe sniffed,"N-no..."

Shizun was quite confused by this. "You weren't bullied? Did you stub a toe or trip and fall?" He then carefully began checking Binghe over with a single hand after shifting position so he could support his weight and find any injuries.

There were no injuries. This was even more confusing.

"No." Luo Binghe felt better and clung to Shizun tightly, which only made Shizun notice the fact they were both messy again and caused his lips to turn down in an unhappy mue while he tried to clean them both up.

"I was just lonely without you." Luo Binghe said, looking up at that well loved face, now filled with concern for him.

Luo Binghe's chest felt warm and full of sweetness, like a little cat's paw was scratching gently at his heart. "I missed you." He said finally.

Shizun sighed in relief, worry fading. "You should know if it is possible for me to find you, I will come looking for you."

That was probably not the best thing that Shizun could have said, although to be fair, he didn't know what he was setting himself up for.

"I'll come looking for you too." Binghe said, pressing his cheek against his Shizun's chest.

That was going to have... consequences.

 

BUTTERFLY MARBLE MIRROR CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT-An Interesting Detour
***
Chaos theory states as an example that a butterfly flaps its wings and somewhere, somehow, a hurricane is formed.

Parallel universes are self contained realities, as a result of certain conditions. Conditions like, say,a butterfly flapping its wings.

Or a certain Peak Lord taking the wrong turn during a demon hunting trip and finding himself in front of a clandestine slaver ring trafficking in children and teenagers that they picked up off the streets to sell for a quick string of cash.
*
The Qing Jing Peak Lord had done his level best to hide his origins after entering Cang Qiong Mountain Sect for Yue Qingyuan's sake, and now had an urbane, polite, extremely refined appearance as well as a smooth facade as a 'perfect' gentleman. He had a fine hand with poetry, a barbed and poisonous tongue and the kind of wardrobe and bearing that made everyone assume he had been born a noble.

However, that did not change the fact that he spent many of his formative years in slavery of one sort or the other.

Shen Qingqiu did not like slavers. He did not like being reminded of what it was like, suffering in slavery. And right now he was having a rather traumatic flashback to a time when he was much smaller, very vulnerable and had to protect Yue despite being weak.

The slavers never knew what hit them, before their heads and limbs hit the floor, soon followed by the chains that held several street urchins prisoner.

For Luo Binghe, who had been a street urchin with nowhere to go, taken by the slavers who had discussed selling him to a brothel, this was the defining moment of his life.

Luo Binghe's eyes and heart were full of that sight, at that moment, and it never truly left him.

A shining sword, an exalted bearing, extremely lethal fast strikes... An elegant hero like a prince out of the tales the storytellers told in the market squares.

He was perfect.

On that day, at that time, Luo Binghe's heart was in his eyes, and all he wanted to do was to be just like that man who had rescued him.

*
Shen Qingqiu, who snapped out of his instinctive fit of rage, realized what he had done and wore a complicated expression.

True, the slavers were acting illegally, taking in native citizens of the Empire. True, these were just street rats. (...Like he used to be...)

But now that he had released the brats, he couldn't leave them to fend for themselves out here.

So with great disgruntlement and self recrimination, the frustrated Peak Lord ordered them all to get in line, struck off their shackles one by one and then bullied the shell shocked street urchins into following him all the way right back to his lodgings.

And then after paying for them to get some nondescript clothes, a meal and a bath, he went back out to take his frustration out on the demon whose fault this clearly was, for not being where he was supposed to be.

That demon, had it known what his assailant was thinking, would have thrown a fit.

(Hey, since when was it this demon's fault you took a wrong turn, huh? Did this guy send you there on purpose? No! So why are you cursing me?!)

After beating the very confused demon to death with his fan, cursing it angrily for all his misery and his upcoming frustration, the grumpy Peak Lord then proceeded to go back to his lodgings and sulkily look over his haul.

Forty.

There were forty bratlings in this bunch and all of them looked half starved. That didn't bode well, but he had to deal with this anyway.

He handled this predicament with his usual efficiency. He interrogated them, and then ran through the list of peaks he could foist them off on.

Most certainly he couldn't send them to the Ascetics peak, they already looked like sufferers of malnutrition,they would be little better than undead corpses if they went there.

They might fry themselves if he sent them to the Talisman's peak or get chewed on by beasts if he sent them to the beast taming peak. Liu Qingge would only use this as a way to pick at him further so Bai Zhan Peak was off limits.

That left his own peak, Yue Qingyuan's peak (because that idealist would gladly take them in) and An Ding Peak.

If they survived on the streets this long, even the least of them might actually be able to survive and even thrive in An Ding Peak.

Alright. That settled, he set up lodgings and got ready to hustle the brats back with him.

For Luo Binghe who hadn't been able to rely on any living people for food and clothing in recent memory, this action only cemented his rescuer's benevolence in his eyes.

This would have... consequences later on.

 

cake image courtesy of google images

such a grumpy cat~~~ but he still helps them (such a TSUNTSUN grumpy cat~~~~)
i do feel a little bad for the demon though

 

GALAXY MIRROR CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT
***
Some years after that life defining moment, which had led little Luo Binghe to his role in life as one of Qing Jing Peak's most valued senior disciples, young Luo Binghe was quite startled to find a man who looked a lot like him, on the premises of their Qing Jing Peak.

This man wore black and crimson robes and his hair was held in place by a phoenix blood jade hairpiece, matching the ornament on his wide belt. He bore a fascinating sheathed sword, and a crimson cinnabar drawn flower was on his forehead.

Lou Binghe had always wondered what his father and mother looked like. That longing led him to willingly speak quite candidly with the stranger who wanted to find out what his life was like here and how he entered the sect.
*
Not long after Luo Binghe had started talking to his counterpart for this dimension, misleading him to believe they were related in order to get information, he received a series of shocks to the system.

The first shock was that his counterpart had actually arrived here much earlier than he himself had entered Cang Qiong. That automatically made him a senior disciple to Ning Yingying and Ming Fan who had entered the sect through exams.

The second was that the Qing Jing Peak Lord had taken him in, himself. Of his own volition. Without anyone prompting him.

The third was that this world's Shen Qingqiu was his counterpart's hero, because he had rescued his counterpart from a group of slavers.

While he was recovering from the glowing description his counterpart had of his Shen Qingqiu, that very same Peak Lord came quickly, practically exuding menace and bad temper.

No matter how Luo Binghe looked at Shen Qingqiu, from any angle at all, all he saw was a frustrated bully, puffed up with self importance under a smooth gentleman's facade.

At his current level, Luo Binghe could break this Shen Qingqiu like a twig.

That didn't stop him from being gobsmacked when the first thing that Shen Qingqiu said to his counterpart was a sharp, "What did I tell you about talking to strangers?"

And his counterpart replied with,"You said, don't do it, Shizun, but he looks a lot like me, so maybe we are related?"

Wait.

Shen Qingqiu looked like a hawk attempting a threat display. Like a hissing tomcat who had found another tomcat on his territory.

"He's not a relative of yours even if he looks like he is related, and you're not to trust him! What did I tell you about suspicious men?"

W-Was that actual worry in his eyes? Luo Binghe wanted to rub his eyes clear of dust that he felt must be clouding them. Or pinch himself to break out of this hallucination.

But no. He wasn't hallucinating.

"I'm not supposed to talk to them, they're all perverts." His younger counterpart echoed, obediently letting his master move between them and push him off in the direction of the bamboo house.

"Good bratling, go back to the kitchen." Shen Qingqiu says gruffly.

Wait.

What is this.

What the hell.

Then the Shen Qingqiu turned to him as he gaped at them, gobsmacked. And that man who he could break in half easily, told him that if he so much as came near one of his students, there would be a fight.

Was that a defensive posture?

Yes. Yes it was.

And Luo Binghe is not sure whether he wants to laugh at the misunderstanding or cry because he's so envious that even this Shen Qingqiu, who is so like the Shen Qingqiu who hated him...is still so protective of his counterpart.

Why is this happening?

How is this fair?!

 

cake image courtesy of google
more vinegar, more~~

 

RED ENVELOPE

Spoiler

ATDSVT-The B Side-1001 Nights
***
Luo Binghe had come up with the plan to carefully coax Shizun into conversation for information while he was incognito, either as a child or when wearing his mask.

That didn't mean that the information he managed to uncover was comforting to hear.

Shizun did not like Liu Qingge.

Actually, Shizun had a lot to say about Liu Qingge and it was all complaints.

Because Liu Qingge was his Love Rival.
(Yes, apparently those really existed.)

In fact, Shizun was complaining bitterly about Liu Qingge right now.

"CURSE THAT COCKBLOCK QINGGE. HE CRUSHES ALL MY DREAMS."

Shizun was all but angrily shaking his fist at the sky, while pacing in frustration.

"It's like the heavens created him just to spite me! "

"There's only so many goddamn excuses that fucker can give for BREAKING INTO OUR BATHROOMS AND BEDROOMS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT."

Shizun's description of Liu Qingge's behavior soon had Luo Binghe steaming mad.

It wasn't because Liu Qingge constantly blocked Shizun's courtship of the sect master by appearing at innoportune moments to disrupt their lovemaking.

No, that, Luo Binghe could support.

If the Bai Zhan Peak lord really was interrupting them before, after or during coitus, then Luo Binghe probably owed him a debt of gratitude.

If the Bai Zhan Peak Lord had only been acting on his desire for the sect master, and seduced Yue Qingyuan away from Shizun the way Shizun obviously feared he would, then Binghe would have been happy for him.

It wasn't because of Shizun's very colorful, heavily embittered description of Liu Qingge as 'the goddamn cockblock from hell', born just to ruin Shizun's chances of 'sweet Yue loving'.

('Sweet Yue loving?! Shizun! I could do better than that!' Binghe internally wailed.

Alright, he knew he had failed to do better thus far. He had hurt Shizun too badly in the beginning. He should never have done those things, he deeply regretted them. If it wasn't for his previous actions, Shizun would have been in his arms right now.

Luo Binghe knows his faults! He wants to compensate Shizun! With his body!

...Except Shizun doesn't want his body, which only makes Luo Binghe more upset.)

It certainly wasn't because Shizun constantly referred to him as 'The Crusher of Dreams' in tones laden with frustration.

No.

It was because Liu Qingge kept breaking into Shizun's bedroom and bathroom in the dead of night. And any other time he felt like it.

Shizun may not have figured it out, but Luo Binghe certainly had.

That Liu Qingge who kept acting as pure and moral as a stalk of bamboo in a flower garden was actually interested in both Shizun and the sect master!

That meant he was also Luo Binghe's rival, even if he was going about it in all the wrong ways!

 

LMAO liu!!! Even this boi Binghe thinks/knows that yer in love with yue and shizun~

 

This made me laugh so hard. ( I care I care ) actions with (you stupid dunderhead) words.

 

This Shen Qingqiu is very tsuntsun. This is a fact.

Little Luo Binghe is actually his favorite student, he just.... doesn't say it out in the open.

Also I have some spoilers for that Au's future on our discord chat channel.

 

BLACKBERRY CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT
***
Junqing was a prince, yes, but he was not a prince related to the Imperial family.

He and his entire family had been descended from the former ruling family of a smaller country which the Empire had assimilated. Since their political system wasn't as developed as the Empire, they were actually considered tribal leaders rather than a proper ruling family.

One would think that people who came from such a family would hold their history close enough to know their place and stay out of politics, right?

Alas, there was a bad apple in every barrel, and Junqing's family was no exception.

As a formerly foreign line, his family hadn't had much respect from their fellow royals, as the lowest class of princes. To a certain kind of thin skinned individual, that was incredibly infuriating.

That was probably why that fool had decided to get involved in politics.

It wasn't something that was known by anyone out of the family, but their tribe actually once had a totem 'god' that could be summoned by a member of their family. It had to do with bloodlines. They were its hereditary summoners and priests.

While most of the family members had the sanity to let sleeping dogs lay so they could keep their cushy position and nice privileges, that fool hadn't been satisfied with the status quo. He had tried to raise it from its hibernation.

The attempt had involved making political alliances with several other dissatisfied and greedy nobles and even dark clans and sects in certain parts of the Jianghu for 'materials'.

As in, sacrifices. Human sacrifices, among other things.

In truth, Junqing had gotten dragged in when the news had been brought to the family elders by a secret forces soldier by the name of Liangsheng, whose male consort and both their families had nearly been collateral damage in the search for sacrifices to raise the totem.

The arrangement as far as the dark sect and clan knew was as follows. The fool would raise the totem to slay certain political enemies of his using their resources, then he would slay their enemies, after which he would have a high position in their ranks, and wives or concubines from their people so that the resulting children could all use the tribal totem as their own.

The arrangement as far as the lower ranked rebellious and greedy nobles knew, was that the dark sect and clan would aid them in a revolt, led against the current ruling family by the fool. The fool would be the new Emperor and all those people who backed him would rise in rank, influence and wealth.

The arrangement as far as certain much higher ranked families and their Imperial backer knew, was that the fool would back their candidate for emperor, killing everyone ahead in line, and then in return the fool would rise in rank, influence, power and affluence.

In short, there were a lot of people who had a lot of plans and thought they were the 'in' crowd.

The commoners could only suffer from this mess.

Liangsheng had only a widowed mother to look after. His husband had a widowed mother, a brother who had a wife and two children. None of them had any political significance whatsoever.

However, the fool had been looking for people with certain physiques in the slave markets and among commoners as sacrifices. The quiet little family of Liangsheng's spouse was a subject of interest because of this.

Liangsheng did the only sane thing he could do. He bailed. He went to the higher ups for shelter, throwing his former master under the wagon wheels so he could hide his family somewhere safe.

The resulting internal family dispute tore the family apart, caused far too many casualties and caused a minor sect/clan battle in the Jianghu.

Junqing had been canny enough to maneuver events to get the problem 'handled' without his actions being visible. He used righteous cultivators, loyalists and political rivals of the fool's backer as his catspaws, and borrowed knives to deal with the mess.

However, his ploy still did not save him from being among those who suffered as collateral damage.

As a result, he was pitied and called a cripple, an invalid and a waste. This did, however, keep him off the Imperial chopping board. Someone who had sustained such injuries and had instinctively reclused himself, avoiding all political activites in addition to having no previous recorded interest in politics, clearly could not be one of the people who were scheming so deeply to fell certain 'tall trees' earlier.

He survived as the highest ranked remaining male family member, with those crippling injuries as a result of this.

Now that Fei Qilin had healed him, he was of course grateful.

However that gratitude wasn't why he was following Fei Qilin around. Neither was his attraction to the younger man.

He had essentially thought it over, then he had liquidated his assets in certain places, converted such properties to goods and gold, ostensibly given up his territory to further quell any possible ideas of his being a threat once he had recovered from his crippling injuries.

In truth he was using Fei Qilin's helping him as an excuse to divest himself of possible traitors, spies, burdens and security risks, leave the area and relocate, with only his most trusted people... including Liangsheng and his family as a price to keep this under the rug.

Liangsheng made an excellent majordomo and battle butler.

As a former secret soldier, because the former higher ups had a tendency to look at their subordinates as ants or walking furniture, his face was not well known and so hiding in plain sight was feasible for him.

Junqing counted himself as having caught a nice piece of luck, given who he was traveling with.

Acting like a lovesick fool meant he could hide his plans under seemingly irrational, infatuation induced actions.

He could get away with far more than if he had simply stayed in his position and former lands.

 

Peony Buttercream and Sugarflower Cake

Spoiler

ATDSVT
***
It was a fact that women from certain parts of the Empire had what was known as a secret language amongst themselves. This language was often written on various small objects such as, say, fans, to convey messages or music.

Young ladies from those same provinces entered into 'sworn sister' pairings called laotong, and these pairings were often closer to each other than many marriages. Some matchmakers were even consulted in order to set ladies up in such relationships.

The behavior of such pairs was also taken into account by prospective mothers in law from those areas.

Given that it was considered to be the closest, strongest, most unbreakable and precious bond between women, made by choice for 'emotional companionship and eternal fidelity', it had a certain societal weight to it. It continued even in marriage, even when those maidens moved away from home and further away from each other.

For example, a laotong pair from a certain dynasty entered an emperor's harem together, and lived happily together in that court without rancor until death parted them.

Li Panpan and Wen HuiHua were from those provinces where these things were still practiced. It was, in fact, how they had gotten to know each other. It was through the passing of these messages that they had fallen in love with each other, sight unseen.

Li Panpan was a gifted musician and composer. Wen HuiHua was a fine poet. These things and a shared love of poetry and music started the spark that lit the powderkeg. (It couldn't be called anything else, as the results were explosive.)

They had started out as laotong, but their relationship had changed, as both of them had preferences for the same gender and neither of them looked forward to a marriage.

When the time came that the matchmaker had come for one of them, they made certain promises, and rather than marry, had gone out looking for a way to be together.

Joiming the all female Xian Shu Peak of Cang Qiong had looked like their best bet.

It had worked, but even their entering a sect apparently didn't deter matchmaking attempts from concerned relatives.

When certain people had come up with the idea of pretending to be dating Chen Wanyong, this pair had come up with the idea to claim to be in love with him so they had a reason to refuse further matchmaking efforts of friends and family.

Chen Wanyong was not amused. Specifically, he was not amused to find out about this from third parties, namely the very angry men who Li Panpan and Wen HuiHua were supposed to be engaged to. He was not amused to be used as their excuse. He was even less amused to find out why they had picked him as their meat shield.

***
In Zhang Wu Ren and Wei Ru Zhi's defense, they were reasonable men. Gentlemen of good backgrounds, good scholars, with skill in the four arts. Had their fiancees been anyone else, then there would have been no problems.

Unfortunately their fiancees were lesbians.

Unfortunately their fiancees would rather use a fellow sect member as an excuse rather than tell them the truth about not being attracted to men. At all.

As a direct result, these two unfortunate gentlemen came to speak to Chen Wanyong about returning their prospective fiancees and Chen Wanyong had simply told them he couldn't and wouldn't 'return' the two ladies, as they weren't packages to be sent back.

He then suggested they go and talk the ladies into leaving on their own.

The ladies did not want to leave and made excuses. Actually no, merely calling them excuses did not do it justice. They practically put on a play of being completely in love with the unfortunate Chen Wanyong in front of their hurt fiances.

There were unfortunate consequences to this.

Wanyong, feeling sorry for the two men, naturally let them off with a relatively mild set of injuries after they were incensed by their ladies' actions and challenged him to duels.

Then he went to complain to the Xian Shu Peak lord who was by now unamused.

The Xian Shu peak lord took it out on Panpan and HuiHua.

Suffice it to say, soon all of the people involved were upset, for very different reasons.

In the end, the two gentlemen were forced to move on. Fortunately, their next pair of fiancees were more congenial.

Wu Ren was extremely lucky, and married young miss Du Sho Yu, who had fallen in love with him after catching sight of him at a poetry reading and play, while Ru Zhi quickly found his match in miss Qian Rou of the Yao family which was rumored to have been descended from an imperial court physician several generations ago.

 

PLUM AND DATE POUND CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT- Wasn't This Only Supposed To Happen To The MC?!
***
How the hell did her life become like this?!

Mu Qiqi had grown up in a military family. As she grew up, she was surrounded by weapons of all sorts. Her doting father, Mu Zhen, was a career soldier, her mother an elegant lady, and her brother, Chenxuan, had also quickly joined the army as soon as he was able.

Naturally with the focus of the family being on the military, when she had been very young, Qiqi had also wanted to be a soldier and a hero like her papa.

Alas, female generals and soldiers were very rare in comparison to men. More to the point, female soldiers who entered at the bottom ranks without hiding their gender were consistently bullied or received the unwelcome attentions of their male fellow soldiers. While her father was doing quite well in the military, entering from the bottom and working her way up was still rather improbable and asking her father for a position would only worsen his own.

Qiqi had always been uncaring of what was considered to be ladylike behavior. She had, in essence, grown up to be somewhat of a tomboy, taking in her brother's lessons and avoiding her female tutors.

When she had reached the age when people generally started trying to get matchmakers, she had gone out to enter the sect exams instead, because everyone knew female cultivators existed and could fight.

Having passed the test for Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, she had entered the Swordsmiths' peak and never looked back.

In hindsight, that may have been a bad decision.

Not from a career or life's vocational standpoint- She was doing quite well in her studies and was quite suited to being a swordsmith. In fact, rumor had it that she was a candidate being considered for a high seat in the peak. As a senior disciple now, she was a valuable prodigy.

The problem was that as such a skilled smith, her creations had fervent admirers. Far too fervent admirers.

Seven of them, to be precise.

The first was, to her great regret, an assassin. He was probably from one of those secretive organizations in the Jianghu, that might be some dark sect or the other. He wore lushly dark crimson robes of very nice material, and he was one of those fellows who too-romantic maidens would probably call bewitching.

She hadn't even known what he was, other than a customer at one of the sect's occasional events to show off the products of their craftsmen. She sold him a pair of long knives.

How was she to know that he'd be so attached to them that he wanted her to make him an entire set of throwing knives?! Nowadays he kept trying to meet up with her when she wasn't behind the sect's formidable defenses.

The second was one of those stuck up, jade skinned princes who thought their brooding, dark good looks made them all that women could possibly want.

That guy had fixated on her after catching sight of one of her previous swords and had been after her ever since. He made a lot of hints about what he could offer her and kept referring to himself as ben wang. (this king)

Bitch, please. If she wanted to look at a gorgeous ice cube she could always ask senior brother Aoguang. He wouldn't mind her looking. It wasn't as if she was going to act like one of those scheming white lotuses who were so hot for him, after all.

Then there was the third, a rising star in another righteous sect.

Again, a lot of giggly, easily lead, easily infatuated women would have swooned over him.

This fellow spent a lot of time pulling off the pure white moonlight look, from his white robes, to his silver ornaments and his love for shiny sharp objects, including hairpins.

She'd heard he had a fine hand with the zither, the flute, poetry, calligraphy, painting and music, and he wanted to play beautiful music together. He also, coincidentally wanted her to make him some weapons he could hide in his zither.

He had the whole refined and cool, pure gentleman thing pegged. A pity for him that she had no interest in being the dartboard and cursing target of a lot of ladies with too much time on their hands and too much of an interest in what he had under his robes.

The fourth was one of those free and easy, flirtatious rich young masters who showed off their sharp wits and round wallets, with an eye for fine things and making money, impeccable manners and skill at seduction, whose attention had been caught by one of her blades during one of their trips out to sell the non-qi conducting weapons that mortal warriors used.

She wasn't interested in being some light o' love he could boast about conquering, alright?

If she was going to have sex, rest assured it would be on her own terms and there would be no strings to pull on when she was done.

The fifth was another bewitchingly handsome man whom she was more or less certain was a spy for some guy with an interest in politics. She had no interest in politics whatsoever and had even less of an interest in being dragged into this or that clusterfuck. He was probably either a gu user or poison master based on the compartments, and sharp implements he had an interest in.

The sixth was a gentle looking doctor, with beautifully expressive, long lashed peach blossom eyes. A lot of people probably fell for his charm and his smooth, soothing voice, his soft and warm demeanor.

She wasn't fooled, okay, those scalpels he kept ordering kept increasing in number. And how many needles and small blades did one doctor need, anyway?!

Then there was the seventh who was a general, and a fairly good one at that. He was another one of those incredibly good looking iceblocks, with more tanned skin, chiseled features and a stronger, more muscled build, thanks to all his time leading his troops into battle.

He had an interest in fine swords of all types and shapes, a contract for purchasing blades for his assigned troops. That interest drew him to her and now she was fairly certain he was chasing her so she could add to his collection. Either that or a discount to arm his men.

If it was just the blades they were interested in, then the first two or three commissions she undertook for each of them would have quenched their thirst already. Instead they kept coming back.

Now that alone wouldn't have been suspicious, but most certainly the way they kept leaning into her personal space, or touching her hair was quite a clear indication of what they were really after.

As a result of this, she decided to deliberately set them all up to meet in one place. Together. If nothing else, they might resolve whatever dick measuring they might have in mind.

Worst case scenario, one, two or more of them kill each other over political bullshit or personal strife, she would lose customers, but at least there would be less intrusion into her personal space.
***
Sadly for her intentions, meeting up did not cause them to back off from her personal space or kill each other, though in the latter case, there were a few close shaves.

Instead they showed even more of an interest in her, to her great confusion.

What the hell was going on here?!

 

She is so done with this b.s. First plan foiled. Second might be to make them someone else's problem. Matchmaker? on the side of blacksmith? as a career option.

 

Shit. I thought this gonna be a sweet reverse harem story because Fei Qilin is the sweetest bun out there. But here we got a scheming man.
Welp. I wish Fei set up a drone on each of his entourage. And I wish Junqing fell in love latet on but got ignored totally. Now that's gonna be sweet revenge.

 

If each and every one of them didn't come with a massive amount of baggage, she would be really tempted to go for one night stands of some sort, but Qiqi is a career oriented girl.

The prince, general and spy have political baggage. The young master has a big mouth. The assassin is from a dark sect. Even if that's all she can guess, there is still something wrong with those pictures so she is avoiding entanglements with them.

Spoiler

The assassin is actually the leader of his organization, the prince is one of those fellows who is here as a political hostage from a smaller country, the gu using spy is here to find gu he can bring back to his small clan, keep an eye on imperial politics, bring news back home as well as scout for recruitable talent. The moonlight gentleman is on the level if you discount the fact that he's here to try to get artifact makers and weaponsmiths for his sect. And the doctor comes from one of those medicine halls where every new pill is deeply valued, so he is researching new medicinal plants, medical procedures and medicine refining techniques.

Other than the young master, the rest are either from allied small countries or from the same small country.

Getting a Cang Qiong prodigy interested in them would help them immensely, so they're going all out.

That is a bit unfair to Junqing. To be fair to him, you need to remember that he has good reasons to want to pack up and go. And you also have to remember that even if Fei Qilin is a good excuse, it doesn't mean Junqing intends to let him be harmed or that he doesn't like-like him.

It just means he is out for his own safety and agenda too.

 

Honey....yer value increased in their eyes when they see that yer a hot 'commodity'
i mean wtf to them dirty fuckers but its the truth unfortunately in wuxia >->
Yer a source for valuable resources? Good looking? From a respectable background? Well then wow wow yer a top bachelor/bachelorette!!

Thank you @Gav for the cakes o3o

 

MILLE CREPE CAKE

Spoiler

ATDSVT-FLASHBACK
***
The fine dining restaurant had been the finest in this town. Ziming hadn't been happy to take his new fiancee to it.

It had nothing to do with the cost, of course. Cost was negligible. He had taken his siblings and MoQin to plenty of nice places before.

It was the fact that firstly, he didn't like the girl.

He didn't like the way she acted around his siblings, or around MoQin. He wasn't blind to the way she and her younger sisters had in the past, flattered and cast their gazes at his siblings, and indeed any Imperial family member or reasonably attractive man with the rank of wang.

He had been rather disgusted when one of his secret forces members had informed him of the ways she and her sisters kept trying to swindle MoQin and put her down to make their own reputations look better.

First claiming shamelessly that they had been given gifts, then sweetly informing their father and anyone else that their sister could not possibly come to this or that party or banquet that eligible men and girls met at for the purposes of finding a spouse.

He ventured to guess that if he had not been there, MoQin would likely have been left as a charity spinster.

Then there was his new fiancee's entitled nature hidden behind a white lotus act.

When she wasn't given something, she threw tantrums and others, particularly her maids, suffered for it, but she acted spoiled sweet around her parents.

She had taken advantage of infatuated swains, sweetly ensnaring them into buying her whatever she wanted. And she was greedy. Whatever she saw that other, higher ranked or fashionable ladies had, she always wanted.

Ziming was well aware of what she expected from him as a fiance. She expected to be given everything he had given her sister, and naturally he begrudged it.

So, here was her first test of her position as his fiancee. She wanted to be in this restaurant that he took MoQin to, and she wanted to come in on his arm, showing off to everyone she recognized.

Ziming had frowned all the way.

Ziming had been settled in by an obsequious manager who displayed extremely subservient behavior.

Miss Qingyan thought it was because she was clearly a more impressive lady. She had dressed especially well for this, showing off the betrothal jewelry and hair ornaments Ziming had sent, over her luxurious brocade gowns in complimentary colors.

In truth, the manager was so subservient because he had seen the discontented frown on the Marquis's face, a clear indication that he liked this girl much less than his previous fiancee.

Indeed, that frown and the change of female companions was enough to start a bit of gossiping. Not that Ziming cared.

He really wasn't happy.

In fact, he was so discontented with the current company that even the restaurant's excellent food and the fact they had sent over his favorite dishes didn't console him for the unwelcome company.

Halfway through the meal, around when his new fiancee was happily chatting with her acquaintances and showing off his reluctantly given gifts, the bell rang.

Apparently a new group had come to be served.

Idly, in order to ignore his current companions' chatting, Ziming glanced over at the door.

That was when his breath caught and his heart skipped a beat.

Illuminated by the rays of sunlight, the most beautiful person, of either gender, that he had ever seen in his entire life was entering the restaurant, surrounded by a group of attractive, strongly built men.

Blue, green and white robes. Skin like warm, smooth jade touched by hints of rose, features exquisitely fine, eyes like stars, sparkling with mirth, red lips turned up at the corners, long silken hair that Ziming yearned to touch was held up by a single masculine ornament.

Oh, to be the jade ornament around that slim waist, the bracelets on those wrists or the ornate ornament around that elegant neck.

Ziming had seen many people in the Imperial Court and at other occasions, and his heart had never moved for them.

It moved now.

Ziming lost his heart in a glance. The tea was forgotten and spilling on his robes and he was gaping at that beauty like he had seen the River Goddess Luo.

Refined in bearing, a peerless beauty, radiating gentle warmth, elegant as a swan and supple as a dragon.

Ziming could only follow that beauty with his feverish gaze as the beauty was seated.

When the vision of grace spoke to order and smilingly indicated their group was perfectly alright with not being given a private room, Ziming discovered from the beauty's melodious voice that he was a man.

Ziming could not help but think this must be a fairy's son, to be so fair.

He hadn't been the only person who had been following the beauty's progress either. Both males and females in the room had begun to entertain certain thoughts but most of the men had given up on them upon finding out the beauty's gender.

Unseen and unnoticed, Miss Qingyan had seen where her fiance's gaze was firmly glued (along with the gazes of several other people including some of her acquaintances) and had she been a hawk she would have mantled with indignation.

As it was, she tried to get her fiance's attention...and failed miserably.

Indeed, she may as well have been dining there alone, her eyes filled with indignant and furious tears as her fiance kept... ignoring everything, the food, the drinks, her and her friends, all to watch that... that man in the public area of the restaurant.

Things did not get better for Miss Qingyan. If anything, they got worse.

Her fiance utterly ignored her, staring dreamily away at that man in the outer room.

Her friends all saw him staring dreamily and she just knew they were going to giggle and gossip about how she hadn't been able to hold his attention at all!

Even MoQin had more attention from him than her, he'd never embarrassed MoQin like this!

Then, when that man's group was done eating, her fiance absently called the manager over to pay for both that party's bill and their own, but she wasn't even done eating yet!

And worst of all, her fiance had been so ensnared by the other man that he forgot she was even there after paying both bills and quickly walked out of the room and right out of the restaurant, right after that man left!

Miss Qingyan burst into bitter tears. She was going to complain to daddy all about it! How could her fiance treat her this way, he was always so much nicer to her sister!

In his agitation at losing track of that beauty, Ziming accidentally walked into a vegetable stand, pushing it out of his way, causing a three cart pileup and stepped on a ceramic seller's proferred plates, bowls and other items laid out on his mat, causing the poor seller to lose his stock for the day.

Having lost sight of that person, he frantically sent his secret forces to find out who they were, where they were from and where their group was staying.

Of course, after that he had finally snapped out of his daze, only to find out about how much havoc he had accidentally wreaked.

Feeling guilty, Ziming naturally paid for all three carts of goods and the ceramic seller's stocks, purchasing the ruined items at their original prices, but it was too late and his reputation was quite tarnished by the time the word arrived at Wang An's door.

 

who is that beauty? thanks for the chapter~

 

Oh no. Ohhh nooo. Please, Wang An, do some further surveillance before you target Ziming! Then again, he probably won’t mind the misunderstanding if it results in, um, y’know.

Just binge read the entire story in the docs for these past few days. Now I’m rereading through the threads to catch commentary and spoilers. Everyone is so adorable in this fic! I love all the little buns and meatbuns but Wang An is definitely a problematic fave. ^///^

Crossing fingers Liu QingGe gets a break and form a sandwich with G and Yue. I feel very sorry for him too.

Thank you for the cakes!

Edit: I just realized, accident aside, Ziming switching fiancées and then abandoning Qingyan in the restaurant makes him seem like the arrogant ex-fiancé cannonfodder character in cn novels :0 Zimiiiing!!! I’m so worried for him now.

 

That beauty is Wang An.

Poor Ziming has fallen in love at first sight, for the very first time.