#mushen

Anyways here’s an au while my inferiority complex festers and my will & motivation to write slowly seeps out of me

HealingCum au ft.Estranged brothers SY and SJ

An au in which SY and SJ are brothers (wow shockers) and MQF falls for SJ’s mysterious brother that dabbles in poison work. SY’s older by like 7-9 years btw(pun intended).

So the whole thing with them is that the Shen family is a bunch of merchants and after having their eldest son (SY) they were happy and didn’t plan on any more children. And then SJ came and they dumped him somewhere because their eldest was doing just fine and they didn’t need another son (SY was not with them during the time, he was like… in the imperial city studying or something—point is, he didn’t know about SJ)

Anyways so SY transmigrates, retains the originals memories, and returns home because wtf else is he supposed to do? Anyways stuff happens, not super important, but eventually SY gets a glimpse of SJ, and he’s like “that’s an eerily familiar face…” so he asks his parents about it, and they eventually crack and confess.

Obviously SY’s pissed off and he goes to go get his brother from the Qiu household, except they aren’t being compliant. They’re being really rude, and it’s clear that QJL looks down on SY from being from a family of merchants—well known or not (SY came to the manor undercover but revealed his identity to QJL to try and get SJ back). Well QJL is an idiot because he’s obviously not aware of what the Shen family actually deals with. Poisons, they deal with poisons and curses. While SY prefers to be civil, at the end of the day he is morally grey with an extended knowledge of various poisons and curses, so he does what he needs to do.

After a nasty mix of both poisoning and cursework, the manor is thrown into chaos and SY walks out with SJ in tow unnoticed. People are scrambling to find a way to save QJL, who’s spasming on the floor with a thick, viscous, black liquid seeping from his mouth and nose. The panic intensifies when said liquid seems to take the form of centipedes and begin scurrying around.

ANYWAYS so basically SY doesn’t take SJ home because it’s clear that his parents are irresponsible and won’t treat SJ well if SY brings him home, so SY uses the connections the original body had acquired to pull some strings and get SJ into CQMS to give the child a better future. (Doesn’t know SJ is SQQ) SY promises to do his best to pay SJ back for the years of mistreatment and is like “If you need anything, send me a letter and I’ll do my best to help” and he overstays his welcome in CQMS fretting over SJ for a bit before he has to go back down and… do whatever it is he does (experiment w/ poisons and curses and prepare to sell them to paying customers or something)

SY feels super guilty and responsible (even though it wasn’t his fault that his bitchass parents in this world abandoned his brother) and has a hard time connecting w/ SJ so he tries not to push for anything and just remains supportive from the sidelines.

Anyways SJ’s so prickly and distrusting that he’s purposely trying to test SY and find his bottom line, asking for ridiculously expensive things or hard to find things in the hopes that SY will stop playing nice and reveal his true colors. Of course SY delivers each item as quickly as he can and always sends accompanying letters and gifts.

Over the years SJ develops a favorable impression of SY and views him as reliable. Sometimes they meet up and it’s nice (kind of awkward) but SY’s happy his brother’s grown up to have a bright future.. and when SJ becomes SQQ SY’s invited to the ceremony (about to get the shock of this life)

ENTER MQF, who’s always been somewhat interested in SJ’s knowledge about poisons (he learned from SY’s letters because SY very much enjoys yapping about what certain toxins do and how to counteract them) seeing SQQ’s older brother for the first time makes his curiosity spike. When SY comes close to congratulate his brother after the ceremony MQF’s nearby and he gets a closer look at SY. SY’s saying something about treating disciples right, and making sure to be a good teacher while also telling him to take care of himself. He has like a bunch of herbs good for cultivation as well as a good few poisonous ones that he shoves into SQQ’s arms, telling him to use the spiritual ones well and use the poisonous ones for good reason (or something idk)

Anyways so while SY turns to leave he bumps into MQF. MQF notes how SY smells faintly of oleander and something else that MQF can’t quite place his finger on, and SY also takes note of the scent of herbs clinging to MQF. Conversation quickly starts and SQQ notices the way MQF looks at his brother with clear interest (not romantic, yet) and he bristles like instantly. Immediately he interrupts the two to see SY off, eyeing MQF.

ANYWAYS SO MQF AND SY START EXCHANGING LETTERS AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS UNTIL SQQ, WHO’S AWARE OF MQF MAKING EYES AT HIS BROTHER ANY TIME THEY’E IN THE SAME VICINITY (WHICH ISN’T OFTEN, TO SQQ’S KNOWLEDGE), GOES TO CONFRONT MQF ONLY TO FIND SY AND MQF LOWKEY GOING ST IT FRESKY STYLE. TBF HE PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE PULLED A LQG AND BARGED INTO MQF’S PRIVATE QUARTERS. HE JUST STOPS AT THE DOORWAY, HIS EYES FLARED WIDE AS HE TAKES IN THE SIGHT OF SY TIED UP, NAKED, AND LIKE .. MQF AND SY ARE DOING SOME TYPE OF PLAY? POISON PLAY? WAX PLAY? KNIFE PLAY? IDK SOMETHING MQF HAD TO EASE SY INTO PROBABLY. MQF IS LEANING DOWN OVER SY AND THERE’S THIS SCENT OFN INCENSE IN THE AIR AND SJ QI DEVIATES RIGHT THEN AND RIGHT THERE.

Dragon Spirit SY as chosen by this poll! Bonus doodle and ramblings under the cut :3c

[ID: A Scum Villain Drawing. Dragon Spirit!Shen Yuan leans on one arm as he sits in a sidelean in the grass. He has green horns and a green scaled tail with a fluffy end that curls around the back of him to the front. He wears a very loose and translucent white and green robes that do not leave much to the imagination. One sleeve is falling off his shoulder. His chest is very exposed. He has green scales on various parts of his body. His eyes are gold colored. His other arm is trying to brush away some of his long fluffy hair out of his face. Vines reminiscent of a willow tree and ivy hang down behind him. End ID]

Then, he fainted for the first time at seventeen, on his way home from exams.

After that, his life became nothing but doctors and tests and new medications. Each appointment made his resentment grow stronger. Every time, it was just a new doctor finding a new way to say he'd be sick for the rest of his life, the only treatment for his condition being lifestyle changes for symptom management and various attempts at medications that had a fifty-fifty chance of working or making him feel worse.

He grew tired as the years passed and his condition steadily grew worse. Symptoms and flare-ups that used to occur a few times a month, turned into a few times a week, turned into nearly every day. Things he used to do with ease turned into distant memories. Sports, dance, martial arts... Even grocery shopping, he found difficult by the time he was 24, the extended period of time on his feet and walking around something he was unable to handle anymore.

The minimization of his pain and suffering and struggling by doctors only made his resentment grow tenfold. "It's not that serious," or "it's not life-threatening," or a plethora of other ways they would minimize his illness, as if he didn't go from the Darling of the Shen's in Higher Society to a rumored recluse who didn't even leave his home to eat. As if he hadn't been forced to.

And sure, that resentment didn't just remain contained to being aimed at the doctors who never took him seriously and told him to just drink more water and exercise better, but Shen Yuan had little else to do anymore. So, he went online, he fell too far, and he became the infamous Peerless Cucumber. So what? Little else brought him joy anymore, gave him reason to live anymore. So what if he was a bitch to some shitty author?

He would forever defend his actions and words against the crime against literature that was Proud Immortal Demon Way.

He knows his logic is flawed. He had anger pent up for so long and he let it out against an un-involved source. In his defense, PIDW really was fucking terrible.

That's not the point here. The point is, Shen Yuan hated doctors. He hated them. And now, living as Shen Qingqiu -- given another chance at life only to fuck it up and get poisoned by Without-a-Cure -- he finds himself trying very, very hard to give Mu Qingfang the grace he never gave his doctors as Shen Yuan, and not fire undeserved vitriol his way despite the way the original owner of his body would have without a second thought.

Even now, as he sits on an overly familiar infirmary bed as Mu Qingfang stares at him with that overly familiar look of exasperation and concern, he reigns in the frustration simmering under his skin.

He bites the inside of his cheek and avoids worrisome eyes.

"Shen-shixiong pushed himself too far, again," Mu Qingfang says lightly, with careful, deliberate intonation.

Day 2: Mating Cycles [ pre-heat ]

+ my hc that is "what if sqq sleepwalks?"

Also what if Shen Yuan doesn't feel safe almost all the time, because he is constantly on guard, afraid of being discovered? He isn't sure exactly what behavior and mannerisms are expected from him and therefore avoids YQY at all costs, suspecting there must be some shared past between them.

He doesn't feel comfortable around LQG too as the man clearly disliked the original goods, and some part of this hostility still remains.

And as much as he's fanboying internally around LBH, Shen Yuan keeps in mind that he is his future tormenter.

So, MQF it is. His beloved shidi in this AU. It seems that the og didn't interact much with him, so there was little for him to expect from Shen Yuan. He could be more or less himself, not trying so much to be Shen Qingqiu.

Also he smells so nice.