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A/N: Hello, people!
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"What about Liu Qingge? He has so many muscles that his robes aren't even loose around his biceps."
Shen Jiu sent him a deeply unimpressed look. "If his supposed muscles are so great why aren't you trying to earn his favor so that you can benefit from them in the future?"
"Uh…" Shen Yuan didn't have a good reply. "While he has a really pretty face, I've never been much interested in overly muscular people. Especially if their veins are too easily noticeable and it makes their proportions look off."
Liu Qingge was attractive, but he just had too many muscles. Shen Yuan was pretty much alone in his lack of interest in obviously strong men. He preferred more understated strength that didn't disrupt the lines of one's own clothing and didn't look awkward.
"Then what would possibly make you think that I would want to be with someone who fits that exact description?"
"Well, based on what I've observed of you, you definitely wouldn't want a partner who is good at self-defense or protecting others. So, unfortunately, the good doctor is out as his physical Cultivation isn't up to par. But you would also want somebody who doesn't need to be taken care of, but they also can't have a reputation that would negatively affect you. And when you really break it down, there's very few people in this sect who fit that description."
There was a moment of total silence between them, where it felt like he was being dissected under a particularly unimpressed gaze before Shen Jiu finally said, "And who are you to decide what I do and do not want in a partner?"
"Um…?"
"You who have known me for all of half a year. What makes you all-knowing in matters of love? And particularly what makes you all-knowing in the matters of my preferences in love?"
Honestly, he hadn't really thought about that part. Perhaps he had just gotten so used to reading romance novels, whether poorly or majestically written, and decided that he knew enough about romance and the different tropes involved in relationships that he could easily spot potential ships from a distance.
Instead of admitting to that, he decided to say, "I just noticed that you seem a bit lonely and could do with some companionship, so I decided to help you out by paying attention to everything you do and say and then forming a plot on how to move forward."
One eyebrow bent downward, making Shen Jiu look as if he was questioning Shen Yuan's intelligence. "And what about my demeanor would possibly convince you that I'm seeking romantic companionship in any fashion?"
And now he was in denial. See, this was why he needed someone like Shen Yuan to help him out, because he was honestly awful at trying to figure this stuff out himself. And no, Shen Yuan didn't really have any personal experience with romance, but he had seen enough stuff in person and read enough stuff in fiction to be reasonably assured of his abilities to set people up.
He reached out to pat the man's forearm, hoping to convey his determination. "I have this, don't worry."
Unfortunately, Shen Jiu didn't look convinced.
That was okay, though, because Shen Yuan was a very dedicated person, and once he actually put his mind to something, there was nothing that would stop him from accomplishing it. He once got someone banned from Zhongdian forever because they copied PIDW word for word with different names and a different title, and he hated plagiarism.
Nothing could stop him if he was motivated enough.
Shen Jiu wouldn't know what hit him, but so long as he was happy and getting laid, he'd be too busy to be a shitty teacher.
Did that mean than Shen Yuan basically intended to throw a lover at him as a means of distraction? Yes. Would this make things better for everyone in the long run? Also yes. Would he do it again in a heartbeat? Absolutely!
Sometimes things had to be done for the sake of the greater good.
He was just looking out for the future.
Now one might wonder why he was only scouting men for Shen Jiu, especially when his writing in the book suggested that he preferred women, considering all the time he spent at brothels and all the flirtation he apparently did with his students who were female. There was a very simple answer to such a question, and it was simply the fact that he'd met the man and interacted with him enough to know deep in his soul this man was not attracted to women at all.
There also might have been a little bit of light stalking in there, and he found out that the man went to brothels because that was his spy network full of older women who took care of him when he was younger.
It seemed that the Peak Lord did not like or trust men all that much, but was forever burdened by the knowledge that he was most attracted to them and them alone. And honestly, this was something familiar to Shen Yuan. Things he'd personally thought as well as heard many women say before.
That was fine though! He'd met many of the men in the sect ever since being brought here, and he could tell which ones were man enough to handle someone like Shen Jiu. Admittedly, the number wasn't as high as he would like, but there was still a considerable amount to work with.
Men accounted for seventy-five percent of the sect just in general. Of those old enough to not be considered inappropriate, about thirty-five percent remained, which was still a lot.
Of the thirty-five percent that remained, those that weren't idiots narrowed it down considerably but in the end, the sect was massive and spanned multiple peaks that all focused on different teachings and areas of expertise.
Once the list was finished, he had about one hundred people that were still options. So, even if Shen Jiu didn't seem to like Liu Qingge, there were still plenty of men to pick from.
Naturally, he'd considered Yue Qingyuan as an option considering their past, but that seemed like it would be a lot of effort. He was fully willing to get them into each other's orbit to break down those barriers, but he knew it's take time.
He wasn't giving up on Liu Qingge though! If he was going to be meddling with the Sect Leader's love life, why not just extend that to all possible options?
Shang Qinghua was an option for like five minutes, and then he opened his mouth and Shen Yuan wanted to hit him with an apple. And then did so.
And then found out he was also a transmigrator and was actually the writer of this fucking shitty novel!
"To pay me back for all the horrible things that are supposed to happen to me in the future, you are going to help me set up your stupid villain with the love of his life!"
"Who is that?" Shang Qinghua had asked, rubbing at his cheek to numb the ache from where the apple landed.
"Whoever I get him to fall in love with."
"Cucumber-Bro, what the fuck? Since when are you Cupid?"
"Since I don't want to die in a horrible massacre in the future."
Luo Binghe went on to become the ultimate hero-turned-villain and he didn't want to be the canon fodder that suffered because of a few people's actions.
So here he was again. Shang Qinghua got him some information about the other Peak Lords so he could have a better idea of what he was working with.
"Think about it. Feng Qinglong has martial skill and sufficient intelligence," Shen Yuan said as he pushed a scroll across the table for Shen Jiu's perusal. "His peak isn't in the lower half of work ethic or output and he seems to be genuinely interested in learning."
"Are you aware that he is a notorious philanderer and a gambling addict?"
His hand, which was still touching the scroll, immediately pulled it back. He shoved it deep into his sleeve and mentally cursed the man for being a fucking idiot. Of course, the one person he managed to find who could actually tick every single box that he made for what Shen Jiu would prefer in a partner had to be someone who was bad with money, bad with self-control, and bad with respecting his partners!
At least this time, the Peak Lord didn't seem to be as annoyed. He primly sipped his tea and stared narrow-eyed over the rim of his cup. "This is the second time that you have attempted to play matchmaker and interfere with my life and my choices, and I'm being incredibly generous by not eviscerating you for it."
Clearly, they had different definitions of what could be considered generous.
"Why do you feel so strongly about this? You have only been in this sect for only a few months and already you seem abnormally obsessed with my private life. It's sending a bad example to the junior disciples and especially sending unwanted messages to the senior disciples."
Shen Yuan's jaw dropped at what he was suggesting! "I'm just trying to help!"
"What makes you think I would need help?"
"Your miserable day-to-day life and your barren field of romantic entanglements," was Shen Yuan's easy answer.
"Allow me to rephrase the question then. What makes you think that I need help from you?"
The way the Peak Lord said it made it sound like a slur. Like something filthy that shouldn't be said because it was a bad word. Honestly, Shen Yuan felt a little offended after all this effort he was putting in.
"Since you clearly refuse to accept help from the Sect Leader in anything, the duty is going to have to be left to somebody else. I have all the free time in the world and I'm going to make sure that you get your happy ending."
"And why is my ending, happy or otherwise, any of your business?"
"...I don't want you to be lonely."
The visit was silent after that, but Shen Yuan's mind was still racing.
His endeavor to find a suitable romantic partner from the sect was still ongoing, but he realized that he was going to have to expand the range of his search to include the nearby towns and potentially other sects as well.
Maybe with a plethora of options on hand, be they subpar or otherwise, the man would be willing to lower his expectations and preferences a little bit.
Shen Qingqiu hid a grimace behind his fan as Shen Yuan once again, came to him with suggestions on potential husbands. By this point, Shen Qingqiu had turned him away with all manner of speech and threats and nothing ever seemed to affect him. It was as if his personality, which was usually so abrasive to people, didn't bother him in the slightest.
While his understanding of Shen Qingqiu's taste in men was absolutely abysmal, there was some truth to him understanding the Peak Lord better than others. He didn't understand how it was possible because they definitely hadn't sat down for any truly meaningful conversations since the very first one they had when Shen Qingqiu encountered him out on a mission and dragged him all the way back to the sect.
He couldn't have someone who looked so much like him, despite not being related to him, to be out and about potentially getting confused for him and ruining the reputation he worked so hard to craft.
A bumbling fool he had seemed, and that had been enough of a warning signal in Shen Qingqiu's experience. So he dragged the brat all the way back to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect and forced Yue Qingyuan to allow him to join Qing Jing Peak.
And here they were. Again.
For the third time, but it wasn't someone from the sect. It was a minor noble from the surrounding area, and he'd been chosen specifically because he was what Shen Yuan would consider to be competent, and because he was a cutsleeve. The loosest possible criteria for someone 'deserving' of Shen Qingqiu's hand in marriage.
It was getting to be so impossible to deal with, that he spent his time arguing rather than… well… in the past he would have been more violent. In his experience, violence was usually the answer, and he resorted to violence for almost everything, all the time, but when it came to Shen Yuan, something felt different.
Maybe it was because the newest member of the sect had admitted to being very sickly while growing up and being incapable of doing many things others typically would. He wasn't useful to his family so he was shoved aside and told not to cause the family to lose face.
And then he ended up being the only survivor of some horrible event and he lacked considerable levels of training because he wasn't deemed important enough to bother with.
That part was not said out loud, but it wasn't difficult to understand what exactly he was getting at when he said that he was sickly, but it was fine because he was only the second son and they already had their eldest who was fully capable of taking over. It couldn't get more obvious than that.
Shen Yuan was used to being overlooked and used to being aware of the fact that he wasn't important enough to his family. He was used to bad health and medication and probably feeling like the weakest person around. And no doubt there were moments in there where he wished he wasn't alive or wished things had been different.
Maybe it was purely biased of him to not find the young man as annoying as he would if all of these things weren't part of the equation, but he didn't care. He could find it in himself to be far more lenient, because in a way it felt as if this was someone much like him. Yes, he had certainly been a privileged young master based on how he held himself and all of the knowledge that he did possess that commoners typically wouldn't be given access to, but no matter how much money one has access to, nothing can stop the cruelty of fate from turning everything on its head.
And no matter how much money one might have, money alone cannot forcefully speed up the process of medical advancement. No matter what, people are still limited to the passage of time and their bodily functions. Add on the fact that very few people seemed to be interested in improving the area of medicine, and wealth did nothing useful in the end.
It couldn't cure an incurable disease, it couldn't give people more hours in a day, and it couldn't make people truly love and care for you.
And maybe his parents did care in their own ways, but sometimes it isn't enough. Shoving gold at him to keep him out of the way wasn't love. Telling him to not embarrass the family with his illness was not love. And his older brother and younger sister being the ones to actually genuinely show care for him still wouldn't be enough in Shen Qingqiu's eyes. They weren't exactly a substitution for real parents, and it shouldn't be the job of the children to raise each other.
He had never gotten to grow up with a proper family dynamic, so maybe his beliefs were a little too progressive on that front, but he didn't really care.
Leaving his older brother and the heir to be the one to manage his siblings on their behalf? Such laziness would never be tolerated on Shen Qingqiu's peak.
He shuddered at the sudden realization that he felt a small bit of kinship with the young man and that was why he was being so tolerant. In fact, he shook his head in distaste, he also found Shen Yuan to be rather entertaining when he wasn't going on about romance or poorly written erotica. And he was attractive, so it wasn't a great strain to look at him.
Looking so similar to Shen Qingqiu, of course he'd be attractive.
Was it narcissistic of him to be attracted to somebody who looked so similar to him that they could potentially pass his brothers? And did someone like him care whether or not people thought he was a narcissist? Not really.
And then the idea struck him. An idea so wonderful he couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of it before now. If he wanted Shen Yuan to stop trying to set him up with other people, then clearly, he would have to set Shen Yuan up with someone. And as a particularly selfish individual who didn't like sharing, clearly that someone would be himself, because there was no way that he was going to let someone else move in on his territory when he finally decided what he wanted.
Now the biggest obstacle in his way was the young man himself, because he spent all this time trying to matchmake instead of seeing himself as a potential option.
No, he had no formal Cultivation training before arriving at the sect, and he didn't live up to many of the requirements he himself had set for what he thought that Shen Qingqiu would need in a husband, but there was time. Time to learn, time to teach, and time to grow. And he was a lot less annoying than half the people in the sect, so this would be better for the both of them.
"The man you have suggested doesn't pay his taxes," he said in response to the newest suggestion.
"What?!" the younger man gasped. "How do you even know that?!"
"I have my sources."
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "The brothel spy network. Sure-sure." He was silent for a few moments before saying, "Is tax evasion very bad in your eyes or only just a little bad?"
"I would never be attached to someone who commits crimes so poorly, Shen Yuan."
In fact, there were many crimes that he personally had no problem with, but he did have a problem with whether or not people were smart about how they committed crimes. There was no way that he would risk everything he had built up until now over something like that.
He sighed. "Back to the drawing board."
"Shen Yuan, have you considered that perhaps I am not interested in any of the people you've chosen nor people like them?"
"Are you actually saying you would willingly link yourself to an idiot?" he asked doubtfully, looking like he'd swallowed something sour.
"No, I am saying that I do not suffer fools who cannot be trusted to comport themselves properly at a moment's notice, meatheads who care more about their muscles rather than progressing their studies, or lazy scoundrels who couldn't be trusted around women and children. Your options thus far have been subpar."
"But the best option around is literally the Sect Leader, and you don't like him like that."
"Technically, he is the best option if we are strictly speaking about marriage prospects and who has what to offer," Shen Qingqiu agreed. "Personally, he would be the worst choice and that is my business that you may learn of at some point should I feel willing to share."
That declaration seemed to brighten him up considerably.
"Also, something that you have neglected to acknowledge up until now is the fact that just because he would technically be the best option does not mean that I want that. Not everything has to be about what is technically the best. People are allowed to have preferences, and you haven't acknowledged mine in the slightest."
Shen Yuan blinked, dumbfounded. "Well… what is it you like?"
"Intelligence. Those willing to learn. Conversation that isn't tedious. A sense of humor that isn't cruel. A good work ethic around their personal interests. A lack of a desire to drink alcohol or be overwhelmingly dishonest. You seem to forget that I am a Peak Lord and therefore lack for nothing. I don't need someone to have a lot of money or to have more money than me or to have notoriety that I can leech from."
Clearly, this idea had never floated across his mind before.
"Then who could you possibly want? I'm not sure there's someone who can fit all of those details plus more."
Shen Qingqiu reached across the table and trailed a single, slender finger down Shen Yuan's face, making him flush instantly. "Does that sufficiently answer your question?"
He swallowed and gave a jerky nod. "Um… are you sure?"
"Instead of pointlessly questioning my choices, shouldn't you be taking the time to woo me properly?"
"Uh…"
He sighed. This would take time.
A/N: FINISHED!
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