my original fiction: i'm proud to say it's gotten stupider
Despite the fact that Jiang Qingchen was the topic of the argument, both of the involved participants seem to have forgotten he existed. This was, in a weird twisted way, comfortably familiar. After all, his parents did the same thing. In the heat of the moment, they always forgot that Jiang Qingchen had eyes and ears and therefore could perceive everything they were yelling about him.
“ -- and what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I’m happy for you. That you’ve… had a thriving relationship. While we were in a relationship. Apparently.”
“For the last time, I was not cheating on you--”
“You don’t have to justify yourself to me, it’s fine that apparently, you had some other bitch on the side-- when did you even have time to do that? Your time management is amazing --”
Silently, Jiang Qingchen contemplated the alternate version of his father and his ex-boyfriend. Did his father back home also like men? Was that why he resented Mother so much?
“Are you fucking serious? There was no bitch on the side--”
“Liwei, there is a fourteen year-old child with your genetic material. You’re the father – and if you’re the father you must have fucked somebody --”
Maybe Yang Haoran should have explored his sexuality before he married Jiang Mingxi? Was that the moral of the dimension travel journey that Jiang Qingchen was supposed to learn?
“-- do you even care? Even if that was my kid, so what? Should I care what you think? You didn’t care when you--”
“We are not talking about this right now--”
“Yeah? When are we going to talk about it? Every time I try to have a conversation with you, you run away--”
“Has anyone told you that you’re difficult to talk to?”
“What, are you saying it’s my fault?”
“Should we maybe get out of this alley?” Jiang Qingchen inquired.
Both men immediately turned in his direction. This was sort of scary, but Jiang Qingchen was supposed to be the brave and uncompromising heir of a large company. As always, he endeavored to show no fear, even if he would rather be somewhere else right now.
more of jiang qingchen's dimension traveling adventure. this takes place pretty closely after he runs into chen liwei for the first tim.
“Hey, A-Wei,” Chen Lihua said. “Do you keep track of the family?”
Chen Liwei wrinkled his nose. “Why would I do that.”
Their relationship with their family was bad. Not their parents – their parents were great, and also dead, which meant that Chen Liwei and Chen Lihua had spent a good few years under their uncle’s care. Nobody had enjoyed this experience. Chen Liwei and Chen Lihua had moved out as soon as they could. They hadn’t spoken a word to their uncle in over a decade. As far as Chen Liwei was concerned, his only living family member was his little sister.
Chen Lihua was frowning down at her phone. “I just got a Weibo message.”
“Don’t answer it,” Chen Liwei said immediately. “They’re probably after money.”
“Not from any of them. It’s… from a stalker, probably.”
“Don’t answer it.”
“Yeah, I know. They’re trying to get me to meet up with them--”
“Lihua.”
“Listen to me, I’m not dumb,” Chen Lihua said. “If it’s a stalker, I’ll fucking kill them, it’s whatever, it’s fine. It’s just… they said they’re hanging out with my nephew.”
Chen Liwei paused. He strode over to Chen Lihua and peered over her shoulder.
(Anon): huahua? are you reading this? your nephew would love spending some time with his aunt :(
“What nephew,” Chen Liwei said, incredulous.
“Maybe it’s a cousin-nephew,” Chen Lihua said. “Maybe, you know, they reproduced. That could be a nephew.”
“Why would you care, though,” Chen Liwei said.
“Wait, they’re typing,” Chen Lihua said. “You think it’s going to be more bullshit? Oh, wait, it’s a picture. That’s… some random kid?”
Chen Lihua squinted. He grabbed the phone.
“Hey, asshole. That’s mine.”
“Shut up,” Chen Liwei said, and looked closer at the screen.
It was a random kid. It was the random kid, the one that Chen Liwei had run into on the subway the other day, sitting straight-backed at an outdoor table with a milk tea in his hands. The expression on his face was strained.
The kid had been polite. After accidentally recognizing Chen Liwei as his father, he’d bowed his apology before taking the seat next to him. It had been a quiet ride. The kid had muttered a goodbye with another bow of his head when he’d gotten to his stop. That had been all. Chen Liwei hadn’t thought very much about it.
Somebody else clearly had.
“Your stalker’s been working hard,” Chen Liwei said tightly. Chen Lihua had publicly mentioned that she had a brother, sure, the information wasn’t hard to find. But to find the kid – that meant stalking Chen Liwei instead of Chen Lihua. And directly presenting the kid as a nephew --
“Random kid does look like you,” Chen Lihua said. “A lot like you. You think somebody went looking around for, what, someone who could pass as – hey, what’re you doing?”
Chen Liwei was pulling on his jacket and shoes. “I was sitting next to that kid on the train,” he said distractedly. “He called me dad at one point.”
“… What, and you’re saying you bonded as father and son? Weird way to get me a nephew.”
The kid hadn’t done anything wrong. The only thing he’d done was recognize the wrong person. And if whatever stalker Chen Lihua had going after her had heard that – if they had taken one look at the physical resemblance between him and the kid and extrapolated – then the reason the kid had gotten taken in the first place was because of Chen Liwei.
That made the kid his responsibility.
“… So you’re going to go get him.” Chen Lihua said skeptically. “Like a real father going after his son.”
Chen Liwei rounded on her. “Should I be doing something else?”
“We could call the police,” Chen Lihua said.
“You don’t believe in the police,” Chen Liwei said.
The police knew who they were. Chen Liwei and Chen Lihua used to call the police all the time. They had gotten sympathy, at first, for having so many things happen to them; and then suspicion, for having so many things happen to them. At some point, weren’t they just bringing things upon themselves? Being troublemakers for trouble’s sake?”
The police were sick of both Chen Liwei and Chen Lihua.
“Just throwing out an option,” Chen Lihua said, smiling mirthlessly. “You sure you don’t want to let the kid figure it out himself? He looks – what? Fourteen? Fifteen? That’s pretty old, right? Anyway, what makes you think it’s your fault? Maybe the kid wants to be there.”
“Did that look like the face of a kid who wants to be there,” Chen Liwei said flatly.
“I’m just saying,” Chen Lihua sighed. “So responsible, Gege.” With that, she hopped off her chair and headed in the direction of her room.
“… What are you doing?”
“I’m helping!” Chen Lihua called, and then, a bit muffled, “I don’t know why you’d think this is your fault. It’s my stalker, isn’t it?”
Something thumped on the floor. Chen Liwei narrowed his eyes. “What are you--”
“Got it,” Chen Lihua said, and emerged from her room. There was an old baseball bat swinging loosely by her side. “It’s going to be just like old times, huh, A-Wei?”
“Lihua,” Chen Liwei said flatly. “Are you serious.”
“What?” Chen Lihua said. “You can go after my stalker, but I can’t? So unfair, Gege. That’s sexist.”
Chen Liwei pinched the bridge of his nose. “Lihua.”
“Stop saying my name like that, I’m not a little kid,” Chen Lihua said. She tilted her head, her smile hard. “C’mon. Am I supposed to let you do this alone? Don’t be fucking stupid.”
… It was true enough, that they’d never really let the other go alone. It had always been Chen Liwei and Chen Lihua. Liwei-and-Lihua. They came as a set. Even when their career paths had split off, they’d still stayed together. Chen Liwei followed after Chen Lihua, and Chen Lihua followed after Chen Liwei. That was how it worked.
the chen twins again. scene came up in my mind. probably not going to be used. here it is anyway
“I didn’t mean to,” Chen Lihua said defensively, hitting harmonics she only normally reached when villain-monologuing on stage. “I thought he could take it! Creeps always take it!”
“Shut up,” Chen Liwei said, pressing a hand to his temples.
Because his little sister only half-listened to him, she didn’t shut up, but she lowered her volume. “They’re normally stronger than this!” she whispered furiously. “Who dies from a little knock on the head?”
Funny way to describe it. It wasn’t ‘a little knock on the head’. It was a blow to the head with a baseball bat at full strength.
Chen Liwei ran his tongue over his teeth. “Lots of people.”
But Chen Lihua did this kind of thing all the time, and not one person had been seriously injured until literally right now. In hindsight, that was a little weird. Chen Liwei had always assumed they’d always had the (mis?)fortune of running into people with extremely thick skulls. Chen Lihua had always been a little put out she’d never managed to do real damage.
Well, now she had done plenty of real damage.
Good for her, he’d say, if damage didn’t mean dead.
Emotionally speaking, dead was great. That was another asshole was never going to bother either of them again. Legally speaking…
Chen Liwei glanced down at the body at their feet. It had the stupidest fucking expression on its face.
Consequences.
There was only so far ‘self-defense’ could get you, especially when you were no-name orphan kids barely holding onto tuition money.
“What do we do?” Chen Lihua said. “Do we loot him? He was going to fuck us up, so it’s only fair, right?”
“Don’t loot his body,” Chen Liwei said.
“Why not? A-Wei, don’t you know how video games work? When you defeat an enemy, there are drops--”
“Lihua,” Chen Liwei snapped, and at that, Chen Lihua broke out into a fit of giggles.
Shitty fucking time for a joke.
Chen Liwei was about half an hour older than Chen Lihua, which was barely any time at all. But barely older was still older. Chen Liwei was the older sibling, which mean that he was the responsible one. He was the one budgeting their paychecks, he was the one who made sure his little sister ate properly, and he was the one Chen Lihua listened to when shit hit the fan.
Sometimes, Chen Lihua thought her brother would make a wonderful wife. There was the flaw of his entire personality, sure, but he was beautiful, good at chores, and kept excellent track of household affairs.
For example, the state of Chen Lihua’s shoes.
The state of Chen Lihua’s shoes was bad.
She never told him this, because…? Well, it wasn’t really relevant. It didn’t occur to her. Sometimes, she thought to herself, “maybe I should get new shoes”, but it wasn’t like she needed her brother to buy them for her. After all, she was making her own pocket money.
This didn’t stop Chen Liwei from noticing.
One morning, there was a package at the kitchen table that hadn’t been there the night before, placed precisely at Chen Lihua’s seat.
Chen Lihua squinted at it. “Hey, A-Wei, did you buy something weird?”
“Are you hoping I bought something weird?” Chen Liwei said acidly.
“Wellll, it would be a good thing ifsomeweary old man rediscovered his childlike whimsy--”
The clack of a breakfast plate set down in front of her was like the swing of an executioner’s axe. “If you can talk, you can eat,” he said.
Ah, Gege was always so strict. Just look at that glare!
Still, he didn’t say anything as she poked at the package. Naturally, Chen Lihua assumed this package was for her. “Gege got me a gift?” she said. “Is today special? Is it my birthday?”
Chen Lihua would have remembered that! Because if it was her birthday, it was also Chen Liwei’s. She wasn’t so bad of a younger sister that she wouldn’t get big bro a gift, too!
“Just eat your food,” Chen Liwei said.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Chen Lihua said, and delicately picked open the package.
What could it be? Well, from the preceding narration, it was obvious, right?
Shoes.
“Don’t be disappointed,” Chen Liwei said, already sounding defensive.
Chen Lihua understood why. Chen Liwei had picked out a pair of heavy black boots, which Chen Lihua normally wouldn’t have looked twice at. After all, Chen Lihua liked cute and delicate things. She’d be thrilled to get a pretty pair of sandals or flats or heels.
“Wow,” Chen Lihua said.
“It’s just because you needed some shoes,” Chen Liwei continued. “These are practical. They’re sturdy. They’re good for walking. They’re supposed to support your ankles and your feet. You don’t have to worry about getting them dirty or ripped up. If you kick somebody in the face --”
“I love them,” Chen Lihua said.
Chen Liwei paused. He squinted. You fucking liar, his face said.
“Really! I mean it! I’ll wear them everyday!”
The skepticism she was being met with was pretty unfair. Did he really think she was going to complain about whatever he bought her?
Well, it was true Chen Lihua wouldn’t have picked them out for herself. But her beloved big brother had put a lot of thought in this, hadn’t he?
Chen Lihua smiled brightly. “Hey, are these steel toe?”
“… Yeah,” Chen Liwei said. “They’re better for protecting your feet.” He paused, and then added, almost cheerful, “It’ll make you better at breaking bones.”
thinking about salaryman x triad member again here's a thing byyee
“...Get over here,” Wu Youxuan said.
...Huh. That was new.
Chen Liwei peered contemplatively at Wu Youxuan. Wu Youxuan had never told Chen Liwei what to do before. Not like that, with his voice all tight and strained, jaw tensed like he was about to bite a hole in someone.
Nice.
“Why would I do that,” Chen Liwei said, interested.
Wu Youxuan made a frustrated sound, and stalked forward. Suddenly, Wu Youxuan’s face was way closer.
“Do you think this is funny?” Wu Youxuan hissed, his grip tight on Chen Liwei’s collar. He’d really gotten much stronger, to be able to literally pull Chen Liwei off balance and down to his level. Nothing at all like the stammering runaway Chen Liwei had first run into way back when.
Chen Liwei tilted his head at Wu Youxuan. There was a flush high in his cheeks, a tremble in his clenched fists. His lips were still red, blood smeared over them like the worst kind of cosmetic. If Wu Youxuan was literally anybody else, Chen Liwei would assume that he was about to get punched in the face.
But Wu Youxuan was a really weird fucking guy, so.
you know. WHILE my brain is going off on random sidequests, i could probably do something really terrible in my not-cnovel by throwing chen liwei into the original universe, because that would be just. the fucking worst thing for him.
unlike his 'canon' counterpart, his main priorities revolve around the safety of the people he cares about -- so, like. only maybe three people. none of which would be around him if he woke up as yang haoran, young master of some rich family he doesn't care about. and boy, he would freak out about that.
like i can imagine he'd immediately race to find chen lihua, and then be met with utter confusion as he finds she has zero memories of them being related. he'd lose his head about it. he'd end up fucking over the original plotline about it. story ruined within three days of him showing up. well done.
playing around with wu youxuan's boss. for funsies.
“So, you’re the boyfriend,” Tian Yiming said brightly, setting his chin up on his hands.
The boyfriend glared.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tian Yiming said. “Would you prefer ex? It’s just that Youxuan seems to have a lot of feelings about you, so I made an assumption about your relationship status. Is it more ‘on’ or more ‘off’ right now, Chen Liwei?”
Chen Liwei smiled sharply. “Is my personal life that relevant?”
“Your personal life is also my PA’s personal life, Chen Liwei,” Tian Yiming said. “I’m invested in Youxuan, you know? So I’m so glad we can have the chance to talk. I just want to have a nice chat.”
“Interesting way to have a chat,” Chen Liwei said.
“What’s a little kidnapping between friends?” Tian Yiming said. The kidnapping had been a little less smooth than expected, since Chen Liwei apparently kept a knife hidden up his sleeve, but it was easy enough to make do. In any case, it had left a good first impression. Tian Yiming really approved of the knife!
He gently pushed a teacup forward. “Youxuan said you didn’t like drinking, but is tea fine?”
“...Where’s Youxuan?”
“Somewhere,” Tian Yiming said vaguely. “Don’t worry about it.”
thinking about my characters again. specifically, the chen twins. in a world where they are the chen twins, then it's a world where they are each other's fundamental support. both of them have the mindset of 'us against the world' -- neither of them can really imagine life without the other.
i'm not sure how why it's taken me so long to think "but what if i killed one of them".
in the salaryman x triad member plotline, chen liwei does have issues from his boyfriend mysteriously disappearing, but he is, overall, perfectly functional.
now if i killed chen lihua. that would be significantly less true.
i think if i killed one of them, the one left alive would probably immediately self-destruct.
chen liwei is focused on building a happy life for him and his sister, so if that becomes impossible, there's just... no point. he probably maintains what he has left out of pride, but he stops caring about... a lot, probably. maybe an extremely odd sense of nothing and numbness. lot of emptiness in there. his impulse control probably starts getting a little wonky. probably picks up a drinking problem. may or may not start making questionable life decisions, like moving to a different country. all these things he probably would have had to stop and think about, he doesn't anymore. it's not like he's got a lot left to care about.
chen lihua is focused on living well in spite of life, so she's fundamentally more angry to begin with. she's less capable of regulating her temper and emotions than her 'canon' self, since she frankly hasn't had to, with chen liwei there. so i think her immediate reaction would be... to start picking a fight. any conversation with her starts off with immediate and obvious hostility. her temper goes on a short fuse -- she gets more aggressive and belligerent. more suicidally impulsive, you could say. depending on how long her impulse control stays switched off, it's definitely possible for her to accidentally kill herself by provoking too many consequences.
of course, this is if one of them got killed by like, natural disaster, or a car crash, or some other incident that wasn't really anyone's fault. i think if somebody purposefully acted towards their dead sibling with malicious intent that resulted in death, then uh. well.
congratulations! you've made your own antagonist! perfectly focused! perfectly functional! their efficiency rate is at 150%! they've never been so productive! their new life goal is doing whatever it takes to destroy you. law? justice? who cares about that? what's most important is that you die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die die
