Chapter Text
Shizun had rejected him and thrown him into the abyss. Binghe had come to accept this over the years he had spent fighting his way out of hell.
But he couldn’t bear this.
Shizun had replaced him. Not only as head disciple - that was to be expected, on a peak like Qing Jing, where the position was one that came with onerous duties and many responsibilities.
But Shizun had replaced Binghe in his heart as well, welcoming this newcomer into his home. Shen Yuan had apparently taken over the side room where Binghe had lived, and was taking meals with Shizun, and according to one rumor might even have shared his bed!
Did this new head disciple get Shizun’s soft smiles, the ones he gave Binghe when Binghe had done well? Did Shen Yuan sit across from Shizun every day, hearing Shizun delight at his cooking, or ramble about this monster or that plant?
Binghe didn’t know. Because he had been discarded like trash, long before Shen Yuan had entered the scene. Binghe felt the ache of missing Shizun like a wound in his chest. Perhaps Shizun, too, had a hole in his heart where his care for Binghe used to be. And then Shen Yuan had arrived to fill it, and there was no longer room for Binghe there.
Shizun had given away the fan Binghe had painted him. Shen Yuan used it now. When he waved it around it was like a banner calling for war, and Binghe would answer this challenge.
Xin Mo fanned the flames of Binghe’s overwhelming rage, and for once Binghe didn’t fight it. He felt too much hate for this Shen Yuan, because of everything Shen Yuan had stolen from him.
It should be Binghe that was first in Shizun’s heart.
It would be.