Shen Yuan has thrown Binghe into the Abyss. He's deep in his Widow Era, being very visibly sad and depressed, having entire episodes of disassociation that last days; and after one night too many of Mu Qingfang having to go over and force his Shixiong into bedrest, he snaps. He ropes LQG, SQH, and QQQ into a secret meeting and *plots.*
A month later, YQY is presented with a plan he cannot refuse. No, literally, he can't. Ho boy does he want to, though. What's the plan? Get SQQ a wife.
That's right! Arraigned marriage! It's kind of an open secret by now that Luo Binghe wasn't just a disciple to SQQ (and no one saw anything wrong with it because Luo Binghe was obviously very willing), but! The loss of a wife, unofficial as it was, is a hard thing to accept for any man, let alone an Immortal Peak Lord so obviously in love with centuries now ahead of him without his beloved wife! So, Mu Qingfang prescribes a new life companion for his dear depressed Shixiong!
Shen Yuan is not told anything about this until its too late, but he does notice when certain disciples go missing for a day and return with an odd glint in their eyes. Yingying is the worst, prodding around certain subjects and outright jumping on others. He realizes she's up to something but can't quite figure out what- especially after she asks him if he has a preferred gender. He tries to find sense in his head disciple, but Ming Fan isn't much better. He just keeps glowering into space and muttering about "another person stealing shifu's time."
There's a whole year or so of this before, suddenly, things start moving very fast and Shen Yuan finds himself in a whirlwind of way too much. He's barely been told he's getting married when suddenly he's standing beside a young woman, both of them decked in red, surrounded in a very, very overwhelming amount of wedding decorations, and being told that it's time to bow three times.
His new wife (?!?!?!?!) is a very sweet woman. She's also very beautiful. She cooks for him, cleans for him, helps him with his hair, and- and-
She has to be part of the Harem. She has to be. How come he can't remember her, he doesn't know, but if he had any chance of a swift death before, he's definitely going in the pickle pot now!!
She's kind to him. She listens. He doesn't say much these days, but when he speaks, she hears, and when he doesn't speak, she hears that too. She once sat beside him the whole day, murmuring quiet words, urging him to drink some tea or eat some snacks. He doesn't remember a whole lot about that, but then, he does seem to lose a lot of time when he sits before Zheng Yang.
He does remember the moment she laid her head on his shoulder. She seemed truly very tired, and he wasn't so awful a husband that he'd wake her just because of a little discomfort; so instead he picked her up and took her back to the bamboo house.
By technicality, they share a bed. In truth, he hasn't used it since the moment they both walked through the front doors married.
His wife is a sweet woman. She understood when he hesitated to consumate their marriage, and even now, she doesn't insist when he denies sharing a bed. However, she is also very clever. If a bed wasn't an option, then any other surface was good enough as long as it was clean, soft, and wasn't the floor.
Shen Yuan was...admittedly becoming a bit fond of her. On the same hand, she often confused him. Wasn't it strange to have a wife who insisted on exercising her every right as the Xiu Ya's Sword's spouse, only to almost never use it for herself? He could count on one hand the number of times she'd used it frivolously, and he was almost sure she'd only done it because he'd insisted on it- and even then, he wasn't entirely sure she'd done it purely for herself. In fact, wasn't it strange that her "frivolous moment" benefitted him too?
...though, she did like to remind others of her title frequently. He's ashamed to say he didn't understand at first, but now he's quite sure; his wife feels insecure in her position! He needs to figure out how to fix that.
After two years of this, Shen Yuan's listlessness never truly eased, but he found whenever his mind began to drift or spiral, he'd glance to his side and find his wife right beside him, offering tea, snacks, idle chatter, or just a listening ear when he decided to tentatively explain himself.
She was really, very good to him.
Shen Yuan dreaded the day Binghe came for him.
Wasn't it strange? Before, he'd feared quite a bit. For his life. For his home. He'd feared the pickle pot, yes, but most often he'd feared the pain of looking his favorite disciple- his favorite person- in the eyes and seeing a man who he didn't know.
His wife loved Qing Jing. His wife was *loved* on Qing Jing. She hasn't said much about her past, but he understood enough subtext to understand an unhappy situation when he heard one; and now, here in this simple bamboo house, she'd found contentment. Happiness.
And it was all going to be taken from her by a man who wouldn't love her like she should be. Like she *deserved* to be.
(That was, of course, assuming Binghe would even consider taking her into his harem. He only ever took the willing, and...well...Shen Yuan wasn't entirely sure she would be. There was also just the chance that Binghe would take one look at her current status as Shen Yuan's wife and kill her outright. It was a small chance, but Shen Yuan feared it all the same.)
Wasn't it odd? Shen Yuan had gone into this marriage with the goal to be a good husband and not getting attached. And yet, something about her was so...it was easy for him. It was like taking hold of a hand that had always been at his side, and finding it warm and happy to grasp back.
He didn't want to give her up. He didn't want to see her be taken in by another man; not even Luo Binghe. She was better than that. Worth more than that. She was- She was-
Fueled with a new fire, Shen Yuan started planning. He couldn't change Binghe's fate, and he can't change his, but by the gods, he would make sure his wife’s was nothing short of the best life she could possibly have.
