An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tian Guan Ci Fu | Heaven Official's Blessing - Moxiang Tongxiu
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: He Xuan/Shi Qingxuan
Characters: He Xuan (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Shi Qingxuan, Shi Wudu, Xie Lian (Tian Guan Ci Fu), Hua Cheng (Tian Guan Ci Fu)
Additional Tags: Modern Era, Alternate Universe - College/University, traumatic childhood, Class Differences, Jealousy, Living Together, Shi Wudu is always a tyrant, According to He Xuan, Scholar He is all business and no fun, Someone needs to tell Shi Qingxuan that, He's also failing school but he's pretty while doing it, He Xuan wears glasses, Shi Qingxuan knows no peace after that, if nerds had a king, it would be He Xuan, He Xuan's appetite deserves a tag, The all knowing gaze of Hua Cheng is a plot driver, Shi Qingxuan is the prettiest, Ask He Xuan, actually don't, He won't like that
Summary:
“You know tutors are supposed to be encouraging.”
“Students aren’t supposed to have the will of folding paper.”
Hua Cheng’s metal tray clicks as he places it on the table. It is laden with three different kinds of meat, an assortment of vegetables and fresh cut fruits.
“He’s an idiot,” He Xuan states, stuffing a piece of pork into his mouth.
Hua Cheng takes a piece of chicken from his plate, perfectly crispy and fried, sticky with sauce. “Of course he is, which is why he needs a tutor.” He examines it. “What is it that really bothers you about him, hm?” He Xuan eats more so he doesn’t have to answer.
Or
He Xuan would prefer to rather spend all his free time studying, not helping a spoiled, little rich master on the verge of failing pass his classes. Poverty may change that.
Poverty actually does change that.
@beefleafweek2025
Behold a thing! (。・∀・)ノ
In an attempt to get back into writing, I joined a mini-bang where writers and artists came together to create something. I was partnered with OniLily who created a gorgeous piece of art for it!
He Xuan promised his fiancée that he would carve her a new hairpin one day. He never got a chance to give it to her, but now there’s someone else in his life that he can carve one for.
For BeefLeaf Week Day 3: family, siblings, fiancee, parents | mt. tonglu, coffins
Tags: Past He Xuan/He Xuan’s Fiancée, He Xuan/Shi Qingxuan, fluff and angst, soft! He Xuan, disabled! Shi Qingxuan, Post-Canon beefleaf happy ending
Words: 1,840
“Gege!” a cheery voice squawked from the hallway. “Gege, guess what!”
Clumsy, socked footsteps came barreling into his study room, nearly ripping the screen door open in their haste.
He Xuan sighed, massaging his eyebrows in frustration. He set down his brush and looked up at the doorway with a deep frown.
“Why are you disturbing me, meimei?” he asked coldly.
“Miao-er’s here to see you!” his younger sister called excitedly.
He Xuan’s eyebrows raised and a faint blush coated his cheeks. This did not go unnoticed by his sister, who started giggling at him.
“I… I have to resume my studies. The national examination is only a month away. I don’t have time—”
A new voice sounded out from behind his sister, “Not even time enough for a snack?”
Sure enough, there she was, leaning up against the doorway with a basket in hand, smirking.
“See, I told you he was busy,” sneered his little sister, shaking her head in a faux-disappointed gesture. “You heard it yourself, he doesn’t want to see you, jiejie.”
He rose immediately from his seat, sweat collecting at the back of his neck.
“I-I suppose I have time enough for a quick snack…” he admitted, looking away as he pushed a strand of hair behind his ear that had fallen out.
“Great!” Miao-er chimed happily, stepping through the threshold.
His little sister waited outside the door, watching them with a big mischievous grin on her face. He Xuan shot a biting glance her way, but she made no moves to leave.
“You know, jiejie, I’m pretty hungry too,” she called out pathetically. “And you know how much I love your mantou…”
Miao-er glanced briefly at her fiancée’s face, beginning to twist in anger, and stepped in before he had a chance.
Reaching into her basket and pulling out a fresh bun, Miao-er started piling up several mantou into his sister's hands. She looked a little startled, only expecting to get one or two, and now suddenly she was holding about six or seven, trying not to drop them.
“Here, take these. Why don’t you share with your parents? I’ve brought enough for everyone to have some!” she said.
“Oh… Um, sure, jiejie,” his sister said, trying to balance the pile of mantou in her arms as she walked down the hallway. “Thank you!” she remembered to call back, bowing her head slightly.
Miao-er giggled softly, covering up her mouth, and looked back to He Xuan, who looked about a hundred times more relieved than before.
“Thank you,” he breathed, crossing the distance between them. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You are very good at dealing with people,” he said, frowning. “A talent I do not possess.”
“Oh, but you have so many other talents, Xuan-er,” she flattered. “Let me have this one, alright?”
He chuckled softly and nodded his head. “Alright, then.”
Miao-er’s hair today was half-pinned up, a loose bun on her head set with a wooden hair stick he recognized immediately. A wash of embarrassment filled his face with heat.
“Why are you wearing that?”
“Hmm?” she asked, looking down at her robes.
“No, that,” he said, pointing to her hair stick. “Don’t you have something better?”
Her smile grew ten times bigger and she replied, “Well, I like this one the best because someone important gave it to me!”
He shook his head and promised, “When I pass the exam, I will buy you a better one.”
“There could never be ‘a better one,’” she insisted, taking it out of her hair. Her hair splashed down around her shoulders like a wave hitting the rocky cliffs. She held the wooden stick close to her heart, cherishing it like a precious treasure. “My handsome and talented fiancé carved this one himself for me when we were young, don’t you see? I could never ask for a better one.”
He Xuan scowled, but didn’t try to argue with her. He had carved that ugly, wooden thing almost five years ago, shaping it the image of an owl. But really, it just looked like a scuffed bird with wide eyes and a crooked beak. How was she not terribly embarrassed wearing such a poorly made thing?
“If you like it, then perhaps I can learn to like it as well…” he conceded with a grimace.
“Good!” she chirped back with a bright smile. “Help me with my hair?”
He nodded and she handed over the hair pin. The more he looked at it, the worse it looked. He really needed to buy her a new one… Or perhaps, he could carve her a new one once the exam was over, since she liked the handmade aspect to it.
Miao-er quickly sectioned off her hair and twisted back into a bun. She held out her hand for the pin. Instead of handing it to her, He Xuan tucked the pin into the bun, making sure it was secure.
“I will make you a new one,” he promised, caressing the side of her round cheek. “After the exam.”
She nuzzled up into his touch and cupped his hand with hers, smiling wider than a rainbow. The way she looked at him melted his heart. He Xuan wondered how on earth he could be so lucky.
“If it pleases the Handsome Artisan, this fiancée of yours would like to request a koi fish.”
“A koi fish?” he repeated, frowning.
“They’re lucky!”
“We will see if this so-called ‘Handsome Artisan’ is skilled enough at carving a koi fish.”
Miao-er kissed him on the cheek and then re-introduced the woven basket full of mantou.
“Scholar He said only a quick snack since he has much studying to do,” she said, putting on a very serious expression. “So we must eat quickly or else he will blame this innocent one for distracting him from his studies.”
He Xuan quickly bid her to sit down across from him at his desk. He shuffled around some papers, rolled up several scrolls lying across his desk, and cleared the way for her basket.
“Thank you,” she said, sitting down gracefully. “On a serious note, I do apologize for showing up uninvited, and if I interrupted your studies.”
He shook his head, dismissing her worries. “You are always welcome to come by. You know how much my family loves to see you.”
“Your family, huh?” she teased. “And what about you? Are you happy to see me?”
“O-of course I am!”
“Hehe, I know. I am only teasing.”
He Xuan frowned and opened up the woven basket. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, seeing there were only two buns left.
“You really gave her all of them?” he asked.
“She wouldn’t have left us alone if I only gave her one or two.”
He Xuan nodded. He retrieved the bigger bun and handed it to his fiancee and gave himself the smaller one.
“When was the last time you ate?” she asked, curiously.
“Oh… Probably last night?” he guessed.
“Last night! But it is well into the afternoon, Xuan-er!” she exclaimed. “You need to eat more regularly to keep your mind and body in proper condition for the exam.”
She quickly exchanged their mantou and swatted his hands out of the way when he tried to protest.
“Eat,” she demanded, staring at him resolutely. “Promise me you will take better care of yourself?”
“I will,” he promised, taking a huge bite out of the mantou, and then shoved the rest into his mouth for show.
Miao-er didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “Not like that, you silly man! Oh my. What am I going to do when I have you for a husband?”
He struggled swallowing such a big load in his mouth and answered, “Make him more mantou.”
He Xuan sat in the middle of the Kiln, weeping bitter tears for his family and his beloved. He would never taste her mantou again. Never hear her laugh again. He never gift her a koi fish hair pin to make up for that ugly one she wore until the day she was taken.
It seemed the last ghost in the Kiln had taken up to carving as well, guessing from the multitude of statues around. There were tools scattered around the Kiln. In between hibernating to keep himself stable from the vast multitudes of ghosts he had devoured just to get this opportunity, when he was feeling especially angry and bitter at his misfortune, he took up carving again to settle his heart. He probably carved hundreds, if not thousands of koi fish in the Kiln. But the wood he found usually couldn’t last the waxing and waning periods of intense heat. All of them burned to ash. He was starting to realize why the previous occupant had used stone…
He Xuan found himself carving again one day on the shore of Black Water Island, the beginnings of a new hair pin. He brushed several shavings out of his lap and onto the sand below.
A hand gently touched his back, signaling He Xuan of his presence. It was largely unnecessary, though. He had heard Shi Qingxuan walking with his unmistakable limp from far away.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were good at carving! What are you making, He-xiong?” the former Wind Master, now crippled mortal, asked cheerfully. He slowly lowered himself down next to He Xuan on the sand, taking great care with his crippled leg.
“Something for my beloved,” He Xuan replied evenly. “Pick any animal.”
“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know… Any animal?” he said, thinking over the question seriously. “Oh! I know! Koi fish are lucky, aren’t they?”
He Xuan stopped carving and glanced back up at Shi Qingxuan’s face, expression inscrutable.
“A koi fish?” he repeated.
“Yeah! Is that alright?”
He Xuan let out the ghost of a laugh and nodded his head. “Then I will make you a koi fish.”
His deft fingers worked almost purely on muscle memory as he carved the wood away to shape a koi fish. Shi Qingxuan watched him in awe as he worked expeditiously on the hair pin.
“Where did you learn how to carve like that? Did Crimson Rain teach you?”
He Xuan shuddered at the thought and shook his head. “Just a hobby I picked up long ago.”
He dusted off the shaved and smoothed it out with his hand, testing for any splitery sections. Once he deemed it worthy and safe, He Xuan knelt down behind the former Wind Master. He put the hair pin in between his teeth as he sectioned off sections of Shi Qingxuan’s wavy locks, and pulled it all neatly into a bun at the back of his head. Finally, he secured it with the pin.
“It suits you.”
Shi Qingxuan’s mouth had fallen open in shock, smiling so wide, his mouth hurt. He threw himself into He Xuan’s arms, embracing him tightly with his good arm.
“I’ll cherish it forever,” Shi Qingxuan promised, almost tearing up from how touched he felt.
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