Symmetry in Bloom
Gen & LiuShen | E
Shen Yuan transmigrates as Zhan Yuan, a child raised in the Warm Red Pavilion. A chance meeting with two future peak lords (brought about by a crabby young Shen Yuan yelling at them) leads to the possibility of a bright future. Except fate even without an active system is not generally that kind, especially in the world of Proud Immortal Demon Way.
(or, courtesan shen yuan au that turned into a treatise on dual cultivation)
Shen Yuan was already in a sour mood when the front door to the Warm Red Pavilion blasted off the hinges like some overzealous donghua hero entrance.
He had barely gotten any sleep last night, because some cultivator got into a fight with another patron (A-Jiu or Jiu-er depending on if the gossip came from the Jiejies or the Madam). It was the middle of the week and there were no big events near Yeohung that would lead to much traffic. It was supposed to be a break in the hellish nightmare of existence Shen Yuan had transmigrated into where he could sit down and read a book.
And maybe being a formerly spoiled second-gen rich twenty something now in a slightly better than street kid thirteen year old body hadn’t helped his attitude.
So Shen Yuan stomped right past Dan-jie and her pipa making a break for it and into the line of fire without really thinking through anything.
“Don’t cultivators know how to knock?” Shen Yuan snapped.
Both cultivators (Dan-jie’s client dressed in inner robes and the other one in slim fitting white and blue ones) turned towards him.
The one who wasn’t a client was… weirdly pretty for a man, but that didn’t stop his face from morphing into disgust which Shen Yuan didn’t realize wasn’t directed at him until he looked over at Dan-jie’s client like he was actually scum on his shoe. “A child?”
The client (who Shen Yuan was not going to call ‘A-Jiu’ out loud even if he looked younger than Shen Yuan before he’d died) looked like he might actually kill the other cultivator for that remark.
Shen Yuan just laughed, it was a rough, tired, caustic laugh, but it was enough to draw both their attention. He stared up at the pretty boy cultivator and held up the smelly bucket he’d been hauling around. “Wow, the stunning logic of Master Cultivators! Surely, I must be here to seduce Xiuzhe with my bucket full of inedible kitchen scraps I was planning on taking to the neighbor to feed their chickens until you broke the door.”
Shen Yuan scowled and gestured with the bucket. “Unless there’s some immediate danger of a ghost or demon eating half the jiejies, I don’t know why you think it’s okay to just charge in here and start yelling all sorts of rude things or beating up people who paid to be here!”
Not that he had any particular fondness for people who paid to be there, but Shen Yuan was unfortunately familiar with how buying out a contract worked even if he wasn’t doing the job of a courtesan. Madam Cao certainly wasn’t going to take the price of the door out of her own paycheck.
Pretty man cultivator’s eyebrows had been slowly descending downwards and seemed to be at their limit. “I was defending my shidi.”
Shen Yuan’s scowl did not improve. “Your ‘shidi’s’ virtue can be saved without breaking the door just dock his allowance.”
A-Jiu made a noise like he was choking and covered his face, turning slightly to the side. Pretty man cultivator seemed to go red, whether it was from that reaction or Shen Yuan it was unclear.
Chapter 7 Updated!
Liu Qingge courts Shen Yuan and it's absolutely normal and definitely does not involve dead demonic creatures. (This is a lie, but the papapa scene is way less weird than the last one.)
“Thinking about Master Liu?” Lai Wen guessed. She laughed the moment Shen Yuan’s face started to feel hot. “I thought you weren’t taking any clients.”
“He’s not a client!” Shen Yuan swatted her arm and refocused on the paper in front of him so he didn’t have to look at her. “I don’t know what he is.”
“Is he courting you?” her voice was too keen. He did not want to talk about this with her, but he also didn’t want to talk about this with Fu Wei. There was really no winning in this situation.
“I…think so?” Shen Yuan looked up at her and realized he did want to talk to someone about this.
Liu Qingge had gone off for a Night Hunt for a few days but said he'd be back after—not to his peak, but back in the city (when Shen Yuan asked if he had to go back to his peak anytime soon, Liu Qingge had scoffed and then didn’t elaborate). Over the last couple of weeks he’d also escorted Shen Yuan to the least romantic outings ever—even if they were really fun. There was more sword practice than anything else, but Liu Qingge did let Shen Yuan show him around the city a bit and stop at some of the restaurants he’d discovered over the last year.
Liu Qingge wasn’t the best conversationalist (unless the topic was killing monsters) or foodie, but he was good company. They’d discussed his upcoming Night Hunt and what beasts he might encounter, going so far as Shen Yuan dragging him to look at bestiaries in the bookshop.
“He hasn’t tried to hold my hand or — he kissed my cheek once?” Shen Yuan wasn’t sure if Liu Qingge was trying to respect his boundaries or wasn’t interested in that aspect of things. He might have broached the topic but Shen Yuan wasn't sure if he was interested in those things either — except the more time he spent with Liu Qingge, the more he was starting to think he might be.
“Both of your faces are a waste,” Lai Wen said, scowling. “A waste! Why look that pretty and do nothing with it?”
“I have done plenty with it,” Shen Yuan retorted. “This the first time I might… want to do something with it.”
He at least wanted to try kissing him. On the lips. Both of their lips this time. Shen Yuan didn’t know how to initiate that. None of his previous experience involved making the first move! Or… any move really.
“Have you ever seduced someone, Shifu?” Lai Wen asked him, carefully.
She could not read his mind. He knew that, but had to reassure himself at the moment. “You and I worked in the same brothel.”
“Mn,” Lai Wen agreed. “And I never saw you approach a client. You played the guqin and the pipa, painted pretty pictures, and they came to you.”
“That’s…” Shen Yuan blinked and folded his hands in his sleeves. “Is that not how we all do it?”
“A waste,” Lai Wen said again, this time more irate. “How are you teaching here?”
“I’m not teaching you how to make a sales pitch — the clients come to us!” Shen Yuan might have helped explain the benefits and particulars of what they were doing when the Huan Hua Palace representatives came by, but he didn’t lure anyone in. They didn’t need to. It was a service deeply needed in this ‘fuck or die’ hellscape of a setting.
“I can’t even look at you!” Lai Wen exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. She stormed out of the room. She hadn't even given him any advice. What was the point of sharing if he was only going to get insulted and more confused?
