Warning: the following was created half on the Scumplane discord and half in my notes app
Au where Shang Qinghua has the power to automatically rewrite little things in the world around him but canât change people and canât change plot.
So he mostly uses the power to make things more convenient. His sword is actually very powerful, peak lords sign with stamps, there has always been a construction peak that does all the construction, things like that.
Except for some reason Shen Jiu and Luo Binghe (hero and villain) are the only ones who keeps their memory of what things were like before he changed them.
Shen Jiu feels like heâs being driven insane with the small but significant changes that no one else notices but he canât pin point the cause
One day Shen Jiu and Shang Qinghua are on a mission together as head disciples and Shen Jiu gets really frustrated with the other disciples on the way. Shang Qinghua then asks to stop by a town Shen Jiu has been to many times before and suddenly
The town has a brothel in it. It didnât before. Shen Jiu definitely would have found it if there was. Weirder there was a sweet shop and a noodle place right next to each other that Shen Jiu definitely would have remembered.
They all stop by the noodle place for dinner and Shen Jiu asks the waiter if the place is new. When the waiter says no he asks about the brothel and the sweet shot next and gets the same confused answer.
Shang Qinghua hears this and absolutely freaks out.
Shang Qinghua questions him the entire mission in a very suspicious way until finally Shen Jiu gets him alone to question HIM about whether heâs been noticing these changes to. Shang Qinghua is like âyep! Letâs go with that. I have also been to this town before and they definitely didnât have those buildings,â Shen Jiu asks him about other things that changed and Shang Qinghua keeps nodding and agreeing.
As little as Shen Jiu trusts Shang Qinghua, he isnât going to turn down a second eye witness and perspective. It definitely doesnât have anything to do with Shang Qinghua being proof of Shen Jiuâs sanity
So he tells Shang Qinghua about his theories and Shang Qinghua is like âall sounds plausible enough, but sounds like something bigger than the two of us head diciples and the peak lords would never believe us so letâs just focus on getting stronger for now!â Except that ends up backfiring because Shen Jiu decides that means âwait until we are peak lords to confront itâ and agrees to lay low and continue gathering information until the ascension.
Shang Qinghua thinks he is safe until then and avoids changing things that could be noticed by Shen Jiu
Shen Jiu also starts treating Shang Qinghua marginally better because he knows he needs him alive and well for when they are peak lords and can unravel this mystery. Not many other people notice but Shang Qinghua does and heâs a little terrified but also a bit moved.
He feels bad for causing Shen Jiu so much stress and decides to help him out in little ways he hopes arenât to noticeable. He canât stop the qi deviations or bullying but he makes the medicine in Qian Cao easier to steal and the food on Qing Jing tastier. He even makes it easier for Shen Jiu to sneak out to the brothel undetected.
Shang Qinghua starts accompanying Shen Jiu on more missions to makes sure things went smoothly and they donât become friends exactly but they become friendly acquaintances at least.
Shen Jiu canât prove anything but he starts to believe Shang Qinghua to be a good luck charm and puts together the fact all the changes seemed to benefit either one or both of them.
He starts saying complaining about little things aloud and surely enough, theyâd only change when he was around Shang Qinghua. He has no explanation as to how but somehow he knows Shang Qinghua had something to do with it.
He waits until the week after they become peak lords and schedules some private tea time with Shang Qinghua.
He isnât one for small talk so he gets straight to it the moment they both sit down
âWhen we were peak lords we made an agreement to lay low until we became strong,â he started âI believe we have become plenty powerful in both the political and physical sense,â
Shang Qinghua is always at least a little nervous and Shen Qingqiu knew his all his tells by now, but the way his face drained of color and his muscles tighten as if he were preparing to bolt, indicates something deeper than anxiety. Shang Qinghua is afraid, and that is damning evidence.
âThese changes, they havenât seemed malicious in nature have they? No oneâs gotten hurt and far as I know, no one has even noticed except for us.â He does not making eye contact or glance around the room, instead Shang Qinghua is looking down at Shen Qingqiuâs arms. Heâs anticipating a fight.
âWhoever is doing this clearly has the immense power to mold the world around them.â Shen Qingqiuâs started âbut it clearly has limits. If it didnât it would have no reason to hide its abilities or play nice with cultivators. It must have a goal beyond creating multigenerational family businesses and moving spiritual plants around to make them closer to the sect.â
âSo what do we do?â Shang Qinghua asks
âIâd like to offer my loyalty,â Shen Qingqiu smirks âand Iâd like you to except it,â
ââŚwatâ Shang Qingqiu freezes, face going blank
âCome on, itâs obvious that you at the very least have some influence over it. You arenât slick,â
