Paper Planes story notes:
Okay, so who else wants to see Shen Yuan trying his best to not get trapped in og!Shang Qinghua's web? While said character is casually sipping vinegar like it's fine wine because he's aware of the System, the fact that he has lived through many different versions of this story, that he is the vessel of the creator god, and that out of all the souls in this game "Peerless Cucumber" is the only one who has Airplane's favor so much.
Not even Mobei Jun has the same benefits for being the "favorite character" as Peerless Cucumber gets for being the favorite follower. Seeing that he gets happy endings, purposely left blind to the inevitable tragedy to come, the story warped to benefit his wims, and he's the only one who gets Airplane playing along personally with his story beyond the usual song and dance.
Yeah, for the possessive vessel who is in a love-hate relationship with his god... Peerless Cucumber is the one person he is willing to put up with the System in order to be able to pull him off his pedestal.
Lucky for him! The System has been getting bored with the usual storylines and decided that it wanted to see how User 002 would be able to handle a meta-knowing character and see if it can finally be free of giving said user Easy Mode. (It has to offer it and Shen Yuan keeps taking it...)
So it allowed Shang Qinghua to recall the past storylines and the things surrounding Airplane (Which is something that has been permitted before so no big deal), made sure that the traitor didn't go into his tried and true tactics of focusing on getting Mobei Jun to become king while doing everything to make the North the only true stable part of the demon world one Tianlang Jun gets sealed away. (Og Shang Qinghua has two people who are worth the heartbreak and suffering that ultimately is his fate: Mobei Jun and Airplane. Not that he would tell either of them, especially Airplane, but that doesn't mean he doesn't see them as the only people worth his effort.)
In order to get what it wants for this story, the System pushed for Shang Qinghua (still a lowly disciple and fighting against his need for human connection because he knows how it's going to end up) to make connections in the sect. Basically either make a friend with one of the other characters or find a lover with one of them.
And while Shang Qinghua isn't keen on facing the pain of connecting with another person only for it to crumble into tragedy... He has befriended Shen Jiu before. Mind you it never ends well. But he has.
While he always tries to keep a pessimistic view, Shang Qinghua actually has a lot of optimism regarding making changes in comparison to Airplane. So here he goes again attempting to have a relationship with Shen Jiu.
So Scumrat was a thing that had happened before Shen Yuan got transmigrated in. It ended pretty nastily but given that Shang Qinghua has a habit of leaving the past in the past while Shen Qingqiu has a habit of avoiding his actual feelings... Neither had brought their past up and have been moving on with a distant professional relationship.
However... Shen Jiu was in love. Still in love actually. There is one person he would lay with and that is his sneaky shidi who is too pretty for his own good. Shen Qingqiu had to fight to control his impulse to look at no other person when Shang Qinghua is in the same room. He was able to control it after a few years, but it is still a fight. (Shang Qinghua has a way of digging his way into people's hearts and just staying. Does he realize this? Nope! If he did it would be a thousand times worse.) He also has a weakness for Shang Qinghua's attention and touch. Thankfully, Shang Qinghua (who knows about this weakness) has never found a reason to use that weakness against him... Yet.
And while Shen Jiu is gone... his body is still present and the echoes of those memories are deeply engrained to where not even a soul transfer can change that fact.
Shen Yuan doesn't know this. And he doesn't have the training to ignore his body's need to watch and melt under the touch of Shang Qinghua.
Who is more than willing to use Shen Jiu's weaknesses against Peerless Cucumber. Especially once he notices that the transmigrator can't pull his eyes away when they first meet. Not even Luo Binghe can drag those eyes away and Peerless Cucumber has blatant favoritism to the little godling. (They meet before the IAC because Shang Qinghua is not dealing with shoddy paperwork thank you! Basically, he came back from a melon seed trade deal to an amnestic Shen Qingqiu and, while being completely aware of what happened, decided to be a 'good shidi' and assist his shixiong with relearning how to do the administrative side of Peak Lord work.)
The System is sitting back on Shang Qinghua's side and pushing on Shen Yuan's. If it could eat it would be popping back popcorn as it watched the showdown between the Author's Vessel and the Favorite Anti-Fan.
Still trying to figure out what happens after the sudden realization that the scum traitor is fully aware that you are not his shixiong and he has no reason not to use said shixiong's weaknesses against you.
Shen Yuan is desperately trying to remain standing and keep the protagonist from landing into the traitor's web. Because Luo Binghe likes his shishu for some reason.