"What the hell are you doing with that?" Shen Jiu asked.
Shen Yuan rocked the bundle in his arms gently.
"Jiu-ge this is Binghe. Binghe," he continued, addressing the wide eyed little baby swaddled in his arms. "This is your uncle Shen Jiu."
He frowned at the baby. The baby's whole face scrunched as it regarded him back.
He had eventually convinced his didi to explain the plot of this 'book' they were living in to him. He could tell Shen Yuan was leaving things out, but the basic shape of the story was obvious. An orphan goes through hardships, at Shen Jiu's own hands apparently, and then discovers that all along he was more powerful than anyone else and royalty to boot.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who this baby was.
"So this is the boy that's going to kill me?" he asked, examining the pathetic little thing.
Shen Yuan elbowed him. "No. Because you're going to be nice to him and I'm to make sure he grows up well so he won't have any reason to kill anyone once he's grown."
Shen Jiu had a feeling things wouldn't be so simple. You must earn your ending, the machine had said...But for his brother's sake he nodded.
"I won't be mean to the little brat," he said. He certainly wouldn't be coddling him as much as didi was sure to though. "Where'd you even find him?"
"I pulled him out of the Luo River," Shen Yuan said. "At least our mother left us on dry land."
Shen Jiu scoffed. "The river would have been kinder."
He frowned at the baby again. Not that the little thing knew what a problem it was. It was just looking at him, and Shen Yuan, with big wide eyes still. Maybe it was slow.
"Shizun won't like this," Shen Jiu pointed out.
"It might cost you your shot at being Peak Lord."
Shen Yuan shrugged. "That's your job anyway. I'm just going to hang around and teach the little disciples because it's easy and you hate them anyway."
"I do." Shen Jiu said solemnly. Anyone under the age of sixteen made his head hurt. And they were on thin ice after that too.
Shen Yuan smiled at him like he was being funny, but before he could double down something else occured to him.
"Has the brute seen him yet?" he asked.
Didi rolled his eyes at the nickname but answered. "No, Liu Qingge hasn't seen Binghe yet. Why?"
"I want to be there when he does. I want to see him try to figure out how he got you pregnant."
Shen Yuan flushed bright red and smacked Shen Jiu's arm lightly. "Gege!! Don't be weird we're just friends!"
"I would feel bad for him but well, it's Qingge."
Shen Yuan snorted. The extensive betting pool on when he'd realize the brute had a crush on him was safe for now it seemed.
He was going to tease his brother more when they were interrupted by a familiar little rat in yellow robes.
"Sorry, sorry!" Shang Qinghua whinged, avoiding their eyes. "I have an important document for your Shizun do you know where she is?"
"Just give it here." Shen Jiu snapped. They all knew Shizun was at home, she always was at this time of day. Shang Qinghua just didn't want to actually deliver whatever this was.
"Thank yo-" Shang Qinghua's pathetic reply ended abruptly when he noticed the baby Shen Yuan was holding.
He said something under his breath as Shen Jiu took the scroll from him. Shen Jiu didn't understand it- but his brother went still next to him.
"What the fuck do you mean 'WTF'?" Didi snapped. "Why the fuck do you know English??"
Shang Qinghua gaped at him. "I fucking knew there was something weird about you!" he said. "Why do you speak English??"
The next moment Shen Jiu found his arms full of half-demon baby and Shen Yuan was standing up, wailing on Shang Qinghua with his fan while the An Ding Head Disciple cowered.
In his arms the baby started fussing. "Oh shut up," he told it without heat. He stuck a finger in its mouth. "Not everything is about you."
The baby calmed immediately. It sucked happily on his finger and it's eyes started to drift closed.
Shen Yuan hadn't seemed to notice this interaction. But Shang Qinghua was looking at him like he'd grown a second head, while also attempting to play dead to get Shen Yuan to stop hitting him.
"Not that I don't approve," Shen Jiu said. "But care to explain why we're beating up Shang Qinghua?"
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