Optimistic? no. mosquito? also no, surprisingly.

At a Peak lord meeting there is a big argument over some rare beast and then LQG grunts and is like "I know who can help" and just leaves and doesn't explain anything. Then a few days later he's dragging in this guy so hot he makes LQG look like he got hit with the ugly stick. He is polite and excitedly explains all this stuff they needed to know like it's no sweat.

YQY asks if he'll stay in the sect for a little while so they can work together. SY agrees and from that point onwards is absolutely wifebeaming basically everyone who crosses his path. Rumor has it that WQW almost threw down with MQF over this guy. Xuan Su and An Ding have been active combat zones for days. Even that prissy bitch SQQ got mildly pink and covered his face with his fan!! Do you understand what this means?!

Memory loss.

Shen Jiu tells him this is correct.

Shen Yuan looking Yue Qingyuan in the eyes and having zero clue who he is.

Shen Jiu tells him they hate Yue Qingyuan, and Shen Yuan simply shrugs and complies.

Shen Yuan watching Shen Jiu become Shen Qingqiu.

Fortunately, he landed in the body of a palace maid that had been on the verge of death and not his original body — the maid to wife #247 - who is actually the system’s first attempt at using Shen Yuan to fix LBH’s life but transmigrated him too late in the story and LBH hadn’t spent enough time with him to remember his presence in the harem

Shen Jiu is quite comfortable in her new body but not comfortable in the palace and intends to escape as soon as possible — at least until she learns the person LBH is searching for so earnest is the wife he’s so coldly forgotten in his harem

Shen Jiu decides to ensure LBH never finds happiness by first trying to sabotage Shen Yuan’s place in the harem by intentionally causing an embarrassing situation (which gains the attention of a sympathetic Ning Yingying — oof that hurts) so then Shen Yuan has the attention of #1 wife

Shen Jiu tries poisoning Shen Yuan but this only results in LBH sweeping in to save her and dammit now LBH is actually paying attention to Shen Yuan

Time for the ultimate plan — seduce the wife and disgrace her (wait — she wasn’t actually supposed to fall in love with shen yuan)

In the meantime, Shen Yuan is freaking out because she’s been perfectly content to be a discarded wife and not gain the ire of the more jealous wives but now not only does she have the attention of the protagonist, Ning Yingying, and all of the jealous wives but she’s starting to really like her high IQ maid who is suddenly very protective of her against the more dangerous wives and — the protagonist?

Is she intentionally making Shen Yuan (safely) I’ll every time Binghe plans to visit her? Well if she is, SY isn’t complaining, she isn’t sure she can handle a night with the emperor yet.

So a few years ago I had this idea where SY introduces DnD to QJP as "strategy training" and SQH ends up coming over every week or so to be the DM. (Ofc all of the scenarios are written by SQH) (under SY's supervision bc you can't trust that man) and SY helps with monster-related stuff and convincing YQY to let SQH spend more time outside of An Ding Peak (or smth idk)

Anyway 3 years later here's a short comic inspired by this idea

Shen Yuan, internally: Ah, this veiled beauty must be Liu Mingyan. She is much older than I expected her to be, if she is already an adult and Luo Binghe isn't even in the sect yet.

Shen Jiu: I recommend you stay away from him as much as you can. Liu Qingge is a cunt.

Shen Yuan: THE WAR GOD??? He's too pretty!

Liu Qingge, completely confused as to when Shen Jiu got a brother: Thank you? Wait no, fight me.

Shen Yuan: Oh no, I'd like to keep my bones intact. But know I am a massive fan. Let's be friends.

Shen Jiu: Oh okay, so you're just going to go against everything I say, some brother you are.

luo binghe eventually makes an account to argue with everyone in the comments, but cannot defeat peerless cucumber who is seriously concerned that airplane might have had a mental break with these new stories and starts paying for private DMs to harass and check on him, while at the same time arguing with Bing-ge's handle (which is like SupremeEmperorACTuALLYYES because all the other emperor variants were taken), because clearly whoever is writing Bing-ge's forum posts completely misunderstands the character and is focusing on the wrong things

Shen Yuan hates the new extra. Obviously. He hates the implications on canon, he hates that his likeness was used, and most of all he hates that the cucumber maiden acts nothing like him.

SVSSS x Witch Hat Atelier AU

Master Shen meets an unexpected visitor...👀

After Shen Qingqiu meets Shen Yuan on some sort of rogue mission, or at the Warm Red Pavillion, Shen Qinghua finds him an intriguing (if slightly annoying) figure. He likes that he's not salacious, like other men (he respects my body and does the bare minimum *dreamy sigh*).

At the same time, Shen Qingqiu is finally starting to realize that Shang Qinghua is far more competent (and funny) than he lets on, especially when it comes to Cang Qiong interpersonal dynamics/affairs. AKA, he gossips and trash talks when he feels safe. He the proceeds to read Yue Qingeyue to absolute filth, and Shen Qingqiu doesn't know it yet, but he has just fallen head-over-heels.

When Cumplane has their monthly meeting where they get drunk and read trashy yellow books (Shang Qinghua's scripts), they instead just start drunkenly gushing about how hot Shne Qingqiu is. Shen Yuan denies being romantically interested (he may not be homophobic anymore, but he's still a tsundere), and that he can't *possibly* be blamed because Shen Qingqiu is clearly a peerless jade to all who have eyes. Shen Qingqiu starts to suspects that Shang Qinghua harbors some sort of feelings for him, but he's also just a flustered, anxious wreck on the best of days, then finds Shen Yuan supremely oblivious when men flirt with him at the market.

After a while, Shen Qingqiu ends up hanging out with one of them, and the other just happens to intrude on their time. (Having tea with Shang Qinghua, or out hunting for rare herbs/fungi with Shen Yuan.) Shen Qingqiu then discover that they know each other, when Shen Yuan gets flustered and hits him with a fan in retaliation for some of his trademark crude flirting. Obviously, Shang Qinghua cowers and sniffles, but he's right back to taunting him as soon as he's done nursing his “bruised" ego.

When they finally come back from their own world realize who they're in the company of, Shang Qinghua shouts that “shen-di is being so meeeean! Tell him to stop!” & Shen Yuan's like “no, Shen Qingqiu would agree with me, because *unlike you*, he's got more common sense in his pinky finger than you have in your whole body!” & then shrieks when Shang Qinghua does something stupid; like tackle him, pull his hair, or lick Shen Yuan's hand after it was (rightfully) placed over his infuriating mouth.

QQQ: What are you talking about?! We can literally see a whole group of ghosts clinging to him with the bare eye!

WQW: I tested him with every sword, he’s not—

LQG: Well if he’s not possessed then what is this?

YQY: Don’t worry Xiao-Jiu, I’m sure we’ll figure out how to fix this….

SQQ: Do NOT call me—

MQF: Hey hey hey let’s all stay calm… please…

SQQ: I am calm.

MQF: Shen shixiong—

YQY: Xiao-Jiu—

QQQ: And what’s up with you, ah? You can barely keep your babbling mouth shut most of the time and all of a sudden you’re quiet as a mouse.

All eyes turned to Shang Qinghua. All of them carried expectant gazes like he could magically fix this bizarre situation. A very strange group of ghosts had made their way onto Cang Qiong Mountain. They were neither malicious nor resentful; actually they didn’t really do anything but stick to Shen Qingqiu. It was truly a strange sight to behold. They were almost entirely white in color, faces distorted or gone entirely, bodies far too small and dressed in the simplest of garments.

They looked like children who had died before they even understood the concepts of life and death and their identities. Well, they looked like that because that’s exactly what they were.

SQQ: You do know something don’t you? Spit it out already, you rat!

SQH: Ah— that— so I— Shen Shixiong, they’re harmless I promise!

YQY: Shang shidi, if you know how to resolve this…

SQH: Oh no. No no no. Let’s just— let’s just wait and see? They really are harmless so—

SQQ: What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just wait and see?

MQF: Shang shidi, please.

SQH: how about we don’t…

LQG, QQQ & SQQ: Shang Qinghua!

SQH: Okay, look. You won’t like what I know about them and it doesn’t really help to get rid of them anyway so how about we—

SQQ: Spit. It. Out.

SQH: Okay okay okay but you gotta promise to not kill me!

SQQ: …

SQH: Promise!

SQQ: Urgh I promise. Now talk.

SQH: Well, okay, so… I can’t— I don’t really remember what they’re called right now but… I have actually, unfortunately encountered them before. They really are harmless. These ghosts they… stem from children who died very young. Like really young. Usually in slow, brutal ways… torture, assault, those things…. All they really do is cling to each other for comfort and flow from place to place.

The room stayed quiet for a moment.

SQQ: And? Why are they sticking to me?

SQH: That— I— You really don’t want me to say it, Shixiong…

If a gaze could kill.