Chapter Text
In the silver moonlight, the last red petals of the tree fell to the ground. This was a weeping cherry tree, if Shen Jiu wasn't mistaken. Old and beautiful, with many drooping branches and petals in such a bright pink they almost looked white.
Shen Jiu didn't usually look at the tree for very long. He didn't usually have the luxury to be idle, after all. But as it so happened, the guard had beaten him in the court yard today and Shen Jiu didn't have the strength to crawl all the way back to his room. He's barely had the strength to push himself against the old trunk so he didn't have to lie down on the cold floor for the entire night.
Shen Jiu might still be bleeding. He wasn't sure about that, but he felt like he might be. Shen Jiu also wasn't sure he would be alive tomorrow, but he was determined to fight death if it came for him, too.
Sighing, Shen Jiu kept watching the leaves. Pretty, he supposed. They would have been prettier if he could have appreciated them without the pain throbbing through pretty much his entire body. But, he supposed at least the branches were covering him from sight well enough.
Shen Jiu had heard rumours from passing cultivators when he'd still been begging on the streets. Some trees were said to have spiritual energy in their branches. Weeping willows, not weeping cherries, but Shen Jiu was desperate and he figured it was close enough. So, focusing on his breathing and trying to connect with the tree or whatever those fancy cultivators did, Shen Jiu whispered: "I wish there was someone who loved me enough to protect me. Just one person who would fight for me."
He waited for a while. The branches kept swaying in the night wind when he opened his eyes back up, and his blood kept watering the tree's branches. Shen Jiu couldn't help but snort at his own stupidity. What else had he expected, huh? That Shen Jiu, who wasn't even a cultivator and whom the fate and possibly also the world hated anyways, would receive some sort of miracle because he was bleeding a bit and begged? Yeah, right. As if begging had ever done him any good before.
"As if that could happen," he muttered to himself, leaning back and closing his eyes. He was so tried and everything hurt. He knew staying out here would mean another punishment in the morning, for 'besmirching the sight' or something equally stupid, but he also knew he needed to rest if he wanted to heal from this.
So Shen Jiu closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to slip away. There had been worse places he'd slept before anyways.
One moment Shen Yuan was choking on an old meat bun, and the next he found himself standing in a strange courtyard that could have belonged in a historical drama.
There was some big tree with hanging branches surrounded by white petals on the floor, planted in a perfect circle of green grass. There were fields of white pebbles and a path made from some sort of grey stone. The house around them looked to be traditionally made, with paper screens and dark, polished wood. A proper old manor, all in all.
What in the world…?
Suddenly, before Shen Yuan was capable of freaking out too much, a glowing blue screen popped up. A google-translate like voice spoke up as glowing characters appeared on the screen:
Welcome to the System, User02! ~( .^ᴗ^.)/
The System welcomes you to the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way! In accordance with User02's wishes, the System will help you transform this story from flaming garbage of a shit-stain on Chinese literature with zero plot and negative creativity, a glorified porno without sense nor pacing into a work to your literary standards! (ﾉ ´ヮ`)ﾉ*･ﾟ
User02 has been assigned the role of: Shen Jiu's Gege
Age: 13 years
Gender: male
Name: Shen _____User02, please select a name for your character! ٩( ᐛ )و ✧
Again, what?! In accordance with what wishes? Who would wish to end up in this dumpster fire of a novel?! And Shen Jiu's Gege? Who was that even supposed to be, hah?
Also, what was with the Kaomojis? And select a name? What was this, a video game?
Kaomojis is how this System expresses itself. (..＞◡＜..)
User02 needs to select a name for the character Shen Jiu's Gege so that other characters may remember him as Shen _____. User02, what name would you like to select?
Wha- Was the system inside Shen Yuan's head? Creepy…
Well, since he would already keep his last name, he should probably just set it as Shen Yuan, huh?
Error!
Name must be written as a number. ( >﹏<。)
User02, please choose a different name. Thank you! (人ゝω・）
Must be a number? How strange…
Then again, Jiu. If both of them had numbers as names, then… Were they slave children?
And, wait, if they were slave children with the family name Shen, didn't that mean Shen Jiu was Shen Qingqiu?! The scum villain? The man who always acted high and mighty, mistreated his disciples and later got what he deserved after a public trial where his past as a runaway slave that killed the entire household that took care of him except for his ex-fiancé little miss got exposed? That one?
Well… Fuck.
User02 is right! Character Shen Jiu will become character Shen Qingqiu. User02 still needs a name for his character.
Okay, so the system really was in his mind. That was really creepy, actually.
User02 is so mean! ヽ(ꐦ○_○)ノ
This system is not creepy! (*>_<*)
But it was in his head, apparently.
Sighing, Shen Yuan shook his head. Alright, alright. So Shen Yuan wasn't an option. If Shen Jiu was his little brother, then… Shen Ba?
Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things must be said thrice!
User02 is now registered as character Shen Ba, Shen Jiu's Gege. b(^_^ )Unfortunately, System is not yet connected to the power source. Until the appearance of the protagonist, System will now have to power down. (_ _|||)
Please work hard to change this work into a quality story in the meantime. Good luck, User02! (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑
Oh. So the system was gone now, then?
Shen Yuan - or Shen Ba now, apparently - waited for a moment. When the system didn't pop back up, Shen Yuan decided that he was safe in his own mind. For now, at least.
The system had said it had to power down until the protagonist appeared, right? The protagonist was obviously Luo Binghe, and he only joined the sect at age 14 and Shen Qingqiu had already been a peak lord for some years by then. So it should be a few years until the system would bug him again if Shen Ba was only 14 himself right now.
Figuring he was lucky in that regard at least, Shen Ba sighed and looked around again. Where was he supposed to go now? Find his new brother? But he didn't even know where he was supposed to look for him!
Shen Ba turned around, about to just walk until he figured out where he was, when he suddenly came face to face with a sleeping child. Startled, Shen Ba jumped back with a yelp. Since when had that kid been here?! But when Shen Ba looked closer, he noticed that the child looked vaguely familiar. Like someone he'd seen illustrations of before…
Ah! Was this his new brother?
Shen Qingqiu had always been described as a devastating beauty with smooth skin and hair like black ink. Black eyes, too, but Shen Ba couldn't exactly see those because the child's eyes were closed in sleep. But his face was pretty, in the way you could tell a child's face would be pretty once it'd grown up more. Not handsome, not yet, but very cute.
Tilting his head, Shen Ba drew closer. Under the moonlight, the child almost looked like a fairy. But his clothes were torn and dirty, though they weren't rags. There was blood smeared beneath the child and against the tree and ugly bruises in different stages of healing discoloured his skin. For a moment, Shen Ba even watched the child's chest, just to make sure he was still breathing.
This must have been Shen Jiu. But why was he sleeping outside when it wasn't even summer yet? And why was he hurt this badly? In PIDW it'd clearly been stated that Shen Qingqiu had been treated well in his time as a slave. He'd been favoured, freed and engaged to the little miss, was it?
Maybe that would come later. Because this child very obviously had not been treated well so far. But he was already a teen, though. No older than fourteen, because Shen Ba was the older brother and he was fourteen. But also fourteen, maybe? A twin?
Before Shen Ba was able to figure that out, black eyes suddenly snapped open. With a gasp, Shen Jiu sat up. Wide eyes roamed over Shen Ba's body, then narrowed dangerously. "…Who are you?"
Shen Ba paled. Oh no. Did Shen Jiu notice he wasn't the real Shen Ba? Already?! But he hadn't even done anything yet.
Panicking, Shen Ba had no idea what to do. So he just tried for a smile. "…Didi?" And then, because Shen Yuan did have a meimei of his own in his last life and so knew a big brother's concern, he added: "You're hurt. What happened?"
Shen Jiu woke up when he noticed someone coming closer. Flinching awake, he forced his tired eyes open to figure out how much trouble he was in. And doing so he came face to face with…
…himself?
No. This person looked a lot like Shen Jiu. He had the same nose, jawline, sharp eyes, hair and stature. But there were also differences.
For example, the eyes watching Shen Jiu intently weren't black like his own but green instead. The same green as the leaves of the tree he was sitting under, actually. And his hair was also not quite as black as Shen Jiu's. It was difficult to tell in the low light of only the moon and the stars above, but it looked warmer. Almost brown, like the bark he was still leaning against.
"…Who are you?" he asked before he could stop himself. Shen Jiu blamed the possible blood loss.
The other child tilted his head, hair spilling over his shoulder. The strands, some of them braided with little flowers in them, swayed in the wind like the branches above the two of them. "Didi?" Shen Jiu heard his own voice spill from the stranger's lips. A concerned frown stretched across features Shen Jiu wasn't used to seeing on anyone else. "You're hurt. What happened?"
Didi?
That wasn't possible. Shen Jiu had never had a brother. He'd always been an only child, at least as far as he knew.
A sudden thought struck him. A memory from just before he'd lost consciousness earlier this night. It was a strange, ridiculous thought, but… Shen Jiu had made that wish earlier, right?
And the child had eyes like leaves and hair like bark, and even Shen Jiu's exact facial features. Besides, how could a strange person or even creature break into the Qiu manor in the middle of the night? There were guards everywhere! If it was that easy to come and go at night, Shen Jiu would have disappeared from here a long time ago.
Trembling eyes moved up to look at the tree as he'd done earlier. No way. No way!
Had the tree actually created a brother for him? But why? How?! That didn't even make any sense! It was impossible.
And yet here stood another child, looking almost exactly like Shen Jiu and asking after his health.
The creature might be dangerous, Shen Jiu thought warily. A strange creature made from a wish by a spiritual plant? Yes, that sounded like a lovely recipe for a horror story. But there was also no way Shen Jiu would be able to take on a supernatural creature, especially as hurt as he was right now. And the creature had called him didi, so maybe if Shen Jiu played along…
"Where were you?" he asked as though he was supposed to know who this was, "I thought you wouldn't come for me anymore."
Shen Jiu noticed the way the creature relaxed a bit, how the smile grew wider. "Ah, I'm sorry, didi! I couldn't find you. Does it hurt a lot?"
"Mm." Nodding, Shen Jiu pushed away from the tree. "Help me get to m- our room?"
"Of course!" The creature came closer under Shen Jiu's careful watch, reaching out.
Shen Jiu braced himself for pain, for some sort of trap snapping shut, maybe even for his soul to be snatched out of his body to make space for this creature or something. Instead, gentle arm carefully wrapped around his aching body, pulling him up. A child wouldn't be able to do that. Did this creature not know that?
"Here," it said as it stood back up, "That's better than walking, right?"
Carefully, Shen Jiu watched that familiar face with the green eyes. "…Mm."
The creature smiled. It was a bright smile, and Shen Jiu was pretty sure if Qi-ge ever saw a smile like that on Shen Jiu's face, it would give him a heart attack. He'd never smiled that brightly in his life.
Then again, this creature was pretty much just a newborn right now, wasn't it? If it'd really somehow been created through his wish. That meant it was, what, a few hours old? Was this spell something that would just end at some point? Maybe. Probably. Perhaps even today, once the sun would rise. Did the creature know it wasn't real?
This was so strange. But Shen Jiu was being held like something precious for the first time since being sold and seperated from Qi-ge. Nobody had cared for his comfort since then, and only Qi-ge had cared before. If this creature was really planning to play Shen Jiu's big brother, even if it was just for now, then Shen Jiu should take what he could get from it. Right?
The creature started walking. Shen Jiu wasn't sure whether it actually knew where the rooms were in this house or it'd just picked the right direction by accident but it was in the direction of the shed he was locked in at night. He'd called it his room earlier because that was what he called it in his mind, but he hand't thought the creature would know what he'd meant by that.
"Did you know that Fenghuang sleeps on cherry blossoms?" the creature asked Shen Jiu. It was probably just to distract him from the pain, but Shen Jiu listened all the same. Cautiously, he made a sound of interest. "Mm," the creature continued, "Fenghuang is a phoenix, the immortal bird of grace and rebirth. But I don't know much more about that."
The bird of rebirth? Was that who'd listened to Shen Jiu's wish earlier? That was… less likely than this creature being some sort of spiritual beast that decided to humour Shen Jiu, actually. Then again, the colour of its hair and eyes really looked a lot like the tree. So maybe it was a spiritual creature born from the tree after all?
Maybe it was some rare thing that got born only once every hundred years and that's where that myth came from. Though that wasn't likely. After all, Shen Jiu usually didn't have that kind of luck.
Unless the creature was secretly dangerous. That would be pretty on par for Shen Jiu's luck, actually.
Well, either way Shen Jiu wouldn't find out just like that. So he leaned his head against the creature's shoulder. Because he was hurt and tired, not because he craved physical contact that didn't hurt or take from him. Glancing at where they were, Shen Jiu informed the creature: "You have to turn left here."
Surprisingly, the creature actually blushed at that. "I know that!"
"Sure," Shen Jiu agreed amicably though completely unconvinced, "But you have a really bad sense of direction, and it's dark."
Surprising Shen Jiu once again, the creature didn't just turn left like it'd been told but also played along with the narrative Shen Jiu had just made up. Pouting, it shook his head. "Not that bad! Just a little bit."
Shen Jiu was just about to open his mouth when he caught sight of one of the guards turning the corner towards them. Panic immediately settled into Shen Jiu's bones. How would he explain the creature to them? Actually, how would Shen Jiu explain that he hadn't returned to his shed like he was supposed to last night?
When he flinched against the creature, it only tightened its grip. It stoped walking and stared up at the man in front of him like he was just begging to be beaten. Once the guard came a little closer, Shen Jiu could tell that it was Tan Meilan. That wasn't good news as Tan Meilan was one of the crueler guards. It could have been worse - like Ren Minghua, who'd left him in the courtyard earlier to begin with, for example - but it still wasn't good. Then again, Tan Meilan would probably allow them to slip past and lock them in the shed without telling anyone if they allowed him to take care of the punishment.
Closing his eyes, he waited to be pushed out of the creature's arms and onto the floor. A strange feeling tightened his chest at the thought of having to watch the creature get slaughtered right in front of him. Strangely, that never happened. Instead, Tan Meilian's unpleasant voice grumbled: "What are you still doing out here, hah? You're supposed to be locked in by now, aren't you?"
The creature, apparently completely unafraid at having been seen, bowed as deeply as he could with Shen Jiu still in his arms. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just that Didi didn't come back so I went to look for him. He's hurt like this, so I had to carry him back."
Tan Meilan didn't call the creature out on its lie. Instead, he just shook his head. "Typical, always getting into trouble for each other. Fine, then. I won't tell on you. But I'll still have to punish you for not coming back when you were told to."
"Didi tried to," the creature insisted. Was it… defending Shen Jiu? Really?
Unfortunately, Tan Meilan only had that ugly smirk on his lips. "I know. But that doesn't matter, does it?"
"Doesn't it?" the creature asked, carefully placing Shen Jiu on the floor against the outer wall of the manor. Shen Jiu watched the creature in distrust. What was it planning now? Its words were like that of a slave begging to be punched, but he was carrying himself like someone about to enter a fight he intended to win. "But why wouldn't it matter?"
"Of course it doesn't," Tan Meilan scoffed, obviously unaware or uncaring of the shift in the creature's posture, "A slave disobeying orders has to be punished. We have to preserve the natural order of things. Hm, Xiao-Ba? Or, if you don't believe me, we could always bring this to the attention of the young master."
Xiao-Ba? Was that the creature's name? Eight. Shen Jiu was nine and Qi-ge was seven. It would have made sense, if the creature was actually real. Except that Shen Jiu remembered the girl they'd called Ba, a scared little thing who'd succumbed to an infection before she'd been eleven years old.
How strange. Stranger yet, why did Tan Meilan keep acting like he knew the creature, even calling it by a name? Had it somehow changed his memories? But if it was capable of that, then why hadn't it done the same to Shen Jiu?
Had it tried?
The creature looked at Tan Meilan, tilting its head and smiling. "Alright. I see now. We're slaves, so we have to be punished. It's only right. But…" It tilted its head to the other side, one hand coming up to rest against its chin as if in thought. "That's strange, isn't it? A guard who didn't even notice the property he was supposed to lock in wasn't there… Shouldn't he be punished for his negligence as well? Abandoning your post… Ah! Do you suppose your job will be all that you'll lose?"
Tan Meilan actually took a step back at that. "You! You dare threaten me? You're just a filthy little slave!"
"Hush," the creature all but chided, shaking its head now, "You wouldn't want anyone to hear, would you?"
Tan Meilan grit his teeth, but he didn't actually refute what the creature had said. Interesting. But how had it known? Not that it mattered much, considering that Tan Meilan stepped forward again. "Nobody will believe your word over mine."
"Mm." The creature smiled brightly. "But there is also that pretty lady from earlier, right?"
Shen Jiu watched in fascination as Tan Meilan's face turned from angry red to fearful white and right back to flushed agitation. "You dare involve her in your petty threats?" the guard hissed, fist already clenching. Shen Jiu couldn't even think about shouting a warning before the creature already stumbled back, hand up against his jaw. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have bit his tongue. At least there wasn't any blood. And yet, the creature didn't appear cowed as it looked back up at the guard.
"Threats?" the creature had the audacity to smirk, "How could a slave possibly threaten you? No, it's just as you said: We have to make sure the natural order of things doesn't get disturbed. A slave staying out to late has to be punished, right? Then a guard leaving their post has to answer for that, too. And a young woman meeting up with that guard alone in the middle of the night… Well."
Angrily, the Tan Meilan gripped the creature by the hair. Shen Jiu had no idea why, but he cried out in shock at the sight. Yet after throwing the creature onto the ground and kicking it only once, Tan Meilan stopped already. He didn't do anything else, just scoffed. "Get back where you're supposed to be already. Before I change my mind."
The creature got back up, glaring at the back of the guard in honest anger. Shen Jiu thought it might unleash some magic on the man, some evil curse that would either kill him or ruin his life. But instead, it stood back up and picked Shen Jiu up just as carefully and gently as before. Mutely, it followed Tan Meilan to the old garden shed Shen Jiu was always locked in.
To his surprise, it wasn't one old blanket making a single pathetic sleeping arrangement but two of them. As if the creature had always lived here to begin with.
Strange. All of this was just so strange. Why was this happening? How was it possible?
Had Shen Jiu's wish really changed reality after all?
After the door was locked and Tan Meilan was far enough away that they could talk in private, Shen Jiu turned back to… the creature? His twin? Shen Ba? Whatever it was, he asked it: "How did you know? That Tan Meilan snuck away?"
Did the creature have the same strange memories Tan Meilan seemed to suddenly have developed? Did it not know it wasn't actually a real person?
The creature laughed as it set Shen Jiu down on the bed carefully, rummaging around in the supply corner for bandages and a rag to clean Shen Jiu with. Its hands were gentle as it cleaned dried blood with cold water and wrapped up barely scraped over injuries. "He was surprised that we weren't here, wasn't he? If he'd stayed put where he was supposed to, he would have known already."
Oh. That actually made sense. "And about the woman?"
The creature snorted. "There's always a woman in this type of situation. Either that or a game of cards - but he didn't smell of alcohol, and he probably wouldn't have been back already if that'd been it."
Shen Jiu was silent for a long moment. So many unexpected things had just happened, and he had no idea how to deal with any of them. But there was one question burning under his nails, because it just didn't make sense: "Why did you provoke him? Now you ended up getting hurt."
Green eyes glanced up at Shen Jiu for a moment. Then, the eyes were averted. "He was going to hurt both of us anyways, right? He probably would've done worse to both of us if I hadn't said anything." He would have. Shen Jiu knew that all too well. "Besides, it's the big brother's job to protect the little siblings, right?"
And, oh. For a moment, Shen Jiu felt like he couldn't breathe - and it had nothing to do with his injuries or fear for once.
I wish there was someone who loved me enough to protect me.
Shen Jiu used to think Qi-ge did. But the only reason he'd gotten into this mess in the first place had been because Qi-ge had decided to help another slave and the ungrateful brat had pointed them out. That's how he'd ended up here in the first place. And, yes, Qi-ge would come back. He would, even if so much time had already passed. He'd promised, after all. But…
Well. Nobody had actually riled someone up until they forgot to hurt Shen Jiu or used their body to shield him.
The little sibling, huh? Even if Shen Jiu knew there was no older twin and that this so-called 'brother' couldn't be real, not to mention that is probably wasn't even human, he felt that it wasn't so bad. Not if it meant he finally had someone in his corner.
Though even as the creature gently tucked Shen Jiu in, helping him lay down in a way that didn't irritate his wounds too much, he couldn't bring himself to trust this too much. Who knew how long this feigned or magically induced loyalty would last, after all?