Thread by @bingjiuwus

#liujiu with yandere LQG Part II:

They hold a wedding ceremony at the Liu estate, just big enough to sate his family's pride but small enough that Shen Jiu doesn't lose his nerves from seeing the grand family he's marrying into and flees in the middle of the night.

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Indeed, his hard-won husband doesn't say a word during the wedding, doesn't sample any of the auspicious foods laid out for them in their marital room, nor does he smile when Liu Qingge finally lifts his wedding veil with a golden rod and takes him into his arms.

"It'll be alright," he tells SJ, who just buries his face into his shoulder and silently weeps.

They return to the sect after a few days' rest, but not before LQG introduces baby Yingying to his relatives and is pleased to see everyone fawn on her... and on a more personal note,

asks his parents' advice on how to get SJ to open up to him more.

They ask him about the two of them got together, and though LQG doesn't say much they get the grasp of it soon enough.

LQG has always been a hunter who stops at nothing to get what he wants, and they respect his drive and ambition. LQG was made the Head Disciple and future successor of Bai Zhan at fifteen, so snagging a spoiled and beautiful wildcat for a husband isn't difficult in comparison.

It's just frustrating sometimes, knowing how hard he has to work to get what he wants and still SJ might reject him randomly on a whim and LQG just has to keep trying and not lose his temper.

LQG's parents are both curious about SJ's family not being present at the wedding.

LQG is too; SJ's never spoken of them nor anyone from his past, and all he can surmise is that he's estranged or orphaned; either way, he's not in touch with anyone outside of the sect (he certainly can't visit that brothel of his anymore!), which suits LQG just fine.

His mother likes SJ, his beauty and intelligence and talent, but warns LQG to keep a close eye on him because he's the kind of beauty men like to pursue just for the challenge; SJ, with his haughty personality and tempestuous beauty, is an intriguing prize for any lord.

(LQG fell in love with him for the same reason, after all.)

LQG's father tells him to keep SJ beholden to him through his ill health, much like a hunter soothes a wounded beast, and openly nurturing him as a husband does while preventing him from taking up sword training and

any kind of heavy cultivation. LQG laments the fact that him becoming a Peak Lord means he'll always be attached to the sect, and he'll never be able to control SJ as easily as he could if he was the lord of his own estate, but it's just something he'll have to work around.

He takes his parents' advice into consideration regardless, and as the generational handover is not far off in the future, tells SJ to focus on taking care of Yingying and redecorating his quarters in Bai Zhan, as SJ lost the right to his Bamboo Cottage, and it would be absurd

for him to try and stay in the Qing Jing dormitories with Yingying now that he's officially been married.

The time comes, and LQG becomes the Peak Lord of Bai Zhan when their teachers ascend, though he can't help but notice the Qing Jing Peak Lord shooting him a nasty glance

on the way out.

Too bad for the old hag, he thinks dryly. She's going off to heaven now, and he's got the run of his place now.

After, Yue Qingyuan, now the Sect Leader, expresses disappointment SJ didn't come; many of their shidis did, as witnesses and an audience.

LQG pretends SJ was just tired from taking care of Yingying, but truth be told he was disappointed too.

SJ had just taken one look at his new Peak Lord's robes in the morning and walked off into one of the rooms to hide, all while Yingying was eating on her own and could have choked on her food.

It's been nearly a year since they got married, and LQG is largely happy with how things have gone - SJ largely stays within their house or in their small garden and rarely steps out to the rest of Bai Zhan, much less visit his former peak or accept visitors,

thankfully turning even YQY away,who as Sect Leader now hopefully knows better than to visit LQG's _shiniang_ in his house uninvited.

It's not like LQG expected to transform his wildcat into a fully docile housewife after, since that's clearly never been in SJ's nature.

For the first few months he had his old momo stay with them, so he and SJ could have time to each other while she took care of Yingying... not to mention his husband's cooking was strangely bland and flavourless. LQG somehow didn't know how _he_ was the better cook of the pair,

and he certainly didn't value spending his free time in the kitchen, so the cook from the estate made meals for them (and stayed in one of the servant dormitories, because he was _not_ having too many outsiders live with them).

And in those private moments when it was just the two of them and SJ forgot what their relationship had taken from him, it was the best. LQG finally got what he's always wanted, always envisioned from being together with the other man - sharing stories of night hunts

and treasure seeking and rare spiritual beasts with his husband curled up in his lap as they watched the sunset together from their home, a pot of tea and snacks by their side. LQG feeding SJ slices of osmanthus cake and SJ shyly licking away the sticky residue on his fingers.

LQG's heart swelled to see him so sweet and tender, and just for him.

It was just as good when Yingying joined them; their daughter was a plump little darling with chestnut-brown eyes and orange ribbons her momo wove into her soft hair.

When she wrapped her chubby arms around LQG's neck and squealed, "Baba!" while he had his own arm around SJ's waist, he truly understood what it meant to have a family and why his parents had warned him so heavily to keep SJ by his side at all times.

His heart had never been so whole.

But his husband was temperamental, and for all his loveliness, it wasn't uncommon to find him in their small library, having read the whole day while ignoring Yingying (who had her momo, but that was no excuse).

Once, he'd come home to find SJ had gone through all the correspondence in his office and was full of advice and suggestions on what LQG should do; it was as endearing as it was outrageous SJ thought he could act as his advisor now, and LQG smiled even as he knew he wouldn't

listen to any of his darling husband's suggestions. His own might had never failed him before, and SJ had long since lost any authority in the sect. Though he was still technically a disciple of Qing Jing peak, he hadn't been at his own peak since his own wedding.

Indeed, as time passed, people forgot there had ever been an appointed successor to QJ before the current Peak Lord.

And SJ was insistent on fighting with Xiu Ya and going on missions again, much to LQG's irritation. He eventually had Yingying's momo sent back because it gave

SJ far too much of an excuse to spend the day away from their daughter, but even when he was responsible for her care he would just set her up on a blanket with some toys and snacks while he practiced with Xiu Ya where just anyone could see him sweating through his thin robes.

LQG had already smacked a few shidis of his for gawking at his husband; even if SJ somehow felt no shame for letting his body be seen like that now that he was married, that didn't mean they had to stare at him like animals, did they?

Their first fight happens when SJ volunteers for a night hunt, and when LQG asks him who will take care of Yingying in his absence, SJ actually rolls his eyes and tells him YQY has agreed to take her for the night.

LQG sees red. Of all people, he has never, never wanted YQY

to interfere, knowing the man's own infatuation for SJ long before LQG was in the picture. If anyone else tried to get involved, LQG would be able to swat them aside like a fly - but YQY as a presence in his marriage, SJ's ability to run to him if he ever wants to leave LQG -

it's simply too dangerous.

He yells at SJ and grabs him by the arm, and by reflex SJ slaps him. He's horrified by his own reaction, naturally, and flees the house in shame. LQG has to chase him down to QJ and finds him by the Quiet Pool.

SJ admits he's a bad husband and parent, and doesn't understand why LQG is obsessed with him. He's not made for this confined little life and much as he loves Yingying, he also wishes sometimes he'd never had her.

He also has no idea how to please LQG, as everything he does seems to make him unhappy.

LQG consoles him as best he can, realising SJ is in the perfect vulnerable headspace for him to get closer to him. He agrees to SJ going on that night hunt if he can accompany him,

while musing that the only way for SJ to learn to stick close to him is by giving him a proper scare.

The day of the night hunt, LQG has a small flavourless brew sent to him from the estate, which he feeds to Yingying alongside her meal before dropping her off at YQY's.

He hates having to involve his daughter in this, but at least it won't be severe; it'll just make her stomach cramp for a few hours and she'll be fussy and upset, but no more.

And SJ, well...

LQG is a master hunter of beasts. SJ hasn't been on a mission in three years.

He'll figure something out.

*

The night hunt is a simple one, clearing some ghouls in a swamp near a small village. LQG is ostensibly staying back and just observing while SJ does the work himself - and to his credit, he looks delighted, even if he's worked up a sweat at such

a mundane task.

But LQG quietly agitated the area the day before, so there's more disturbed ghouls than the request stated there would be, and it's not long before SJ is overwhelmed and calls for help.

LQG, of course, sweeps in just in time and eradicates everything, but not before SJ is injured in one of his legs, and Xiu Ya has "accidentally" been lost in the swamp. LQG carries SJ back to the sect to be looked at by Mu Qingfang, knowing there's going to be an upset Yingying

waiting for her parents as well.

In the end, it doesn't take SJ long to realise he's better off just sticking to the sect, now that his beloved spiritual sword has been lost, and Yingying cries as soon as he leaves the room without her for a moment.

LQG assures him he went back to the swamp to look for the sword repeatedly to no avail - and SJ will not be permitted to go into Wan Jian for another sword, nor does he want a new one.

It's not all bad news for his husband. LQG makes sure SJ always has new books and art supplies and needle and thread for his projects, and his mother writes to him frequently. Now that his husband is all but resigned to staying in their home, in Bai Zhan year round save for

when they visit the Liu estate or when LQG feels like taking him along on a mission for fresh air, he's even studied how to cook properly. It's thoroughly endearing.

Years pass, and LQG is delighted with how things have turned out. SJ's leg injury left him with a small limp,

which isn't the worst thing in the world but it certainly means he can't run or walk for long periods of time without discomfort. Instead, he spends most of his day teaching Yingying her letters or scribing books for calligraphy practice, and whenever LQG comes home

SJ looks happy just to be able to talk to another adult again. Now LQG doesn't even have to raise a brow before his husband clambers into his arms and demands he tell him about how his mission went, or who he saw and spoke to...

It's obvious how lonely he is, and stubborn yet.

After Yingying's incident years ago, he's clearly been too ashamed to ask YQY for anything since, and the Sect Leader knows it too. Over the years, LQG's brought up having a second child but SJ always vaguely dismissed it. Now that he's cooking for all of them now, LQG doubts

he can put a fertility drug into SJ's food or anything like that; in case, his husband's health _is_ quite delicate.

LQG's little sister, Mingyan, is eventually old enough to join Cang Qiong, and LQG has her visit SJ and Yingying regularly to keep them company

and prevent Mingyan from getting homesick. Mingyan dotes on Yingying and SJ likes his little sister-in-law too, cheering up whenever she comes around and plays with her small cousin. Seeing the three of them interact so sweetly, LQG cannot help but want another child in SJ,

especially since Yingying, now eight, is old enough to join one of Xian Shu's cloisters as a junior disciple. Mingyan has been begging for her xiao meimei to join her in Xian Shu for ages, anyway...

By now SJ has understood enough of the Liu family dynamics that he's not surprised when LQG tells him one day Yingying will join Xian Shu and visit them when she's free. The male cultivators of the Liu clan join Qiong Ding or Bai Zhan; the female cultivators join Xian Shu.

It's been like that since the beginning, and will always be still the end.

Having an empty nest - though he misses his daughter too - gives LQG plenty of time to plan out SJ's next pregnancy, though having spoken with MQF over the years about his husband's health has made him

aware SJ's body is a basket case in more ways than one. His spiritual meridians are a mess and have traces of qi deviation all over them even though it's been years since he's performed any serious cultivation - he's still in mid-golden core and will likely never advance

beyond that, not to mention countless old sequelae and badly healed injuries from when he was young - and likely abused. The thought his husband was hurt often in his childhood makes LQG's teeth ache with rage, but he can't do anything about it now, especially since SJ always

shuts down when LQG asks about his past. All that, combined with how poorly he treated himself during his first pregnancy, means a second will be dangerous if preparations aren't made first.

So. LQG does his best. He brings home the body of rare spiritual beasts, has SJ cook the meat to consume and gives the precious claws and liver and gallbladder to Qian Cao to refine into medicine for his husband so his health improves.

SJ has always been a peckish eater, preferring tea and inedia over everything, but LQG insists on him indulging himself. SJ reluctantly follows his wishes, and after a few months of steady extra-nourishing food and supplements SJ is finally - finally! - pregnant again.

LQG couldn't be happier. He sticks closer than ever to his husband, who he knows is thrilled, he's just too shy to show it. LQG often finds SJ in front of the bronze mirror in their bathing room, robe open and staring at his small rounded belly, the old silvery scar from giving

birth to Yingying.

He's always staring at his belly...

The only times SJ leaves the house nowadays is for a check-up at Qian Cao or to visit Yingying and Mingyan at Xian Shu. As LQG's shiniang and Yingying's mother he's more than welcome there, and the ladies are no doubt

to coo in fascination over his pregnancy.

Nevertheless, LQG arrives home from a mission to find SJ spent the previous night at Qian Cao. When he goes there, he discovers to his horror SJ miscarried their child. LQG breaks down, devastated, while SJ just strokes his hair.

He doesn't know what went wrong - how it just _happened_ when he was so careful. MQF consoles him by saying how frequent miscarriages actually are, but LQG stalks off in a rage.

After that, SJ always shakes his head when LQG brings home game meat or medicine for him to take,

saying his body is too worn out now and he'd rather the stuff be given to Bai Zhan's disciples. Indeed, he's practically vegetarian now.

LQG only ends up finding out the truth a while later, when he picks up Yingying from Xian Shu for the day and she asks him why he never sticks around unlike her mama. Amused, LQG asks her what SJ does with them in Xian Shu, and Yingying goes into detail about their tea parties

and poetry reading, though she complains about not spending enough time with SJ since he's always talking to her shizun and shigus, and she _hates_ that they give him secret presents he never shares with her!

LQG has never seen SJ bring home anything from Xian Shu.

From the way he talks about his visits, you'd think he just sat in a corner and read quietly. But he's friendly with Qi Qingqi and her shimeis, apparently? And they _give_ him gifts he's never shown to LQG?

He remembers thinking it was a little strange SJ was so calm when he miscarried when he was a complete mess his first pregnancy. It's been years since then, but how in the world was he was consoling LQG and not the other way around?

In fact, the weeks after he was practically sanguine.

(LQG doesn't think he's seen his husband shed a tear for their lost child at all.)

A disturbed LQG confronts SJ at home. SJ feigns ignorance at first, but under pressure admits he asked for an abortificaent from QQQ

because he didn't _want_ another child. LQG is furious, but SJ reminds him that he only altered his diet to prepare his body for pregnancy to begin with, that LQG never had a right to do any of that to him.

The way SJ talks about himself sometimes, it's like he's still a lone young cultivator with no responsibilities in the world, and he has no obligation to LQG, no bond tying them together.

Well, too bad. They're bound for this life and the next.

LQG can't - won't - hit SJ, not

without severely injuring his much more fragile husband, but he can punish him through other means. He forbids SJ to go to Xian Shu from now on, and when SJ objects, LQG says he will gladly have him spend a few months in confinement at the Liu estate to make him behave.

SJ scoffs at the idea, but LQG is dead serious. His family know him and they won't blink an eye at punishing a disobedient spouse, much less an outsider like SJ.

A stunned and upset SJ attacks LQG when he goes to bind him before taking him home on Cheng Luan. Restraining SJ isn't difficult, even if the heartbroken look in his husband's eyes is hard to take. LQG doesn't _want_ to punish him, but there are far worse punishments in the world

than a little confinement for killing a scion of the Liu clan. With SJ's faulty cultivation, his parents will guarantee he doesn't starve either.

Unfortunately his husband's predilection for qi deviation strikes at the worst moment, and when LQG realises SJ is suddenly bleeding from the mouth - his husband is qi deviating, trying to induce self-destruction of his half-formed golden core - ANYTHING to disobey LQG -

and LQG has to channel everything he can into keeping SJ alive before his idiot kills himself and blows up half of Bai Zhan with him.

LQG overwhelms SJ at last, and when his husband passes out with blood dripping out of his eyes and nose and mouth - but still breathing - LQG rushes with him to Qian Cao, where a horrified MQF and his disciples try to keep him alive.

It takes days, countless bowls of priceless medicine, a hundred golden needles in SJ's damaged body and the Sect Leader beating down on MQF's door before he's able to save SJ at last.

And he's alive. His husband gazes at LQG with lost green eyes - and a vague remembrance, but no hatred, not like the last time he had been lucid.

SJ had reached terrifyingly close to self-annihilation of both body and soul before LQG brought him back from the Naihe Bridge,

and the person his husband is after MQF treated him is... a little different. He still remembers them, still knows LQG is his husband, but there's something missing.

It's like his emotions have been cut out of him. Oh, he still vaguely smiles when Yingying and Mingyan visit,

still shyly draws his arms around LQG's neck when they embrace, still cooks for them every day even though his meals have gone back to bland and tasteless... but it's as if everything that made him beautiful has been sapped out of him.

And it's LQG's fault.

He knows that. He shouldn't have gone for such an aggressive punishment, even if he was devastated SJ killed their child and LQG would have never known had Yingying not accidentally let the truth slip.

He'd never punished his husband before, he should have known SJ would have taken it poorly.

(Looking back on it now, he should have had SJ stay with his family for a year after the marriage, at least. Let him get used to the family rules, what he was expected to do and follow.

LQG spoiled the child, then tried to use the rod all at once, and no wonder it backfired.

Being quietly asked by YQY what had induced SJ's horrific attempt at self-destruction is easily the most dangerous moment of LQG's life. Zhangmen-shixiong has always, always doted on SJ

no matter how cold he was to him in turn, and even the years after SJ got married and became a recluse hadn't changed his gentle but intense focus on his former shidi, even if he backed off trying to visit SJ out of respect to his marriage.

One wrong move, and YQY will sever his head with Xuan Su before LQG can even unsheathe Cheng Luan. He knows that perfectly well.

He lies with his life on a knife's edge, telling YQY SJ was trying to channel through a blockage on his own in their home, even though he hadn't seriously meditated for years, and that his qi deviation was the result of a heart demon gone too far. LQG arrived just in time

to save him, but clearly it wasn't enough...

YQY ruminates on those words for a long time, and LQG wonders if he'll have to preemptively strike at his own Zhangmen-shixiong to get out of this alive, before the man reluctantly concludes that this sounds like SJ.

He thanks LQG for saving SJ in time, but makes it clear he wants to see SJ in Qian Cao regularly from now on, and LQG shouldn't try to take care of him all on his own.

Even though YQY has no idea what's going on in their marriage, it's obvious he's going to impose his will

if he sees SJ getting hurt like that again, no matter what LQG does.

LQG is forced to agree, much as he hates it, and MQF will not allow SJ to leave Cang Qiong to be taken care of by LQG's family either.

Luckily, it doesn't really seem to matter. SJ is not attached to either YQY or MQF when they visit. In fact, apart from LQG and Yingying, whom he just vaguely dotes upon as if he knows he's supposed to, he doesn't care about anything else at all.

And of course a large part of LQG is heartbroken. The part of his husband he loved so much has all but died, and he doesn't know when he'll get his disobedient spitfire back again.

But SJ listens to him now. Doesn't fight with him, doesn't get tetchy when LQG behaves possessively and tells him not to smile so innocently at other people.

He eats everything LQG gives him without blinking, and at night he just gazes up at LQG with enormous green eyes and does whatever he asks of him without fussing or getting heated about it first.

And LQG loves this new version of his husband too. SJ still curls up in his lap and listens to LQG talk about his missions and fights, still eats sweets from his fingers and licks the sugar off them afterward. He even knows to turn his sticky sweet mouth to LQG for a kiss,

the way his old self was far too self-conscious to do unless he was drunk.

And this time, when he gets pregnant, LQG knows he doesn't have to worry. SJ won't do anything on his own without his saying so.

In fact, SJ almost seems as excited with this new pregnancy as LQG is.

He reads up on books about parenting and giving birth with fascination, and practices swaddling and nursing with one of Yingying's old dolls, much to LQG's amusement.

And SJ does ask to see Yingying again. LQG monitors their visits strictly nowadays, allowing Yingying only to

visit her mother but never the way around. QQQ was his colleague and he couldn't openly confront her without proof of how she'd helped SJ, but he would always remember what she'd done.

(She was _his_ shijie. Not SJ's.)

And now that there was no worry about SJ running off or hurting the baby any longer, LQG encouraged him to stretch his legs and walk around Bai Zhan.

His shidis and disciples always kept an eye out for their delicate shiniang, who, after years of reclusive behaviour and sullen glances in their direction, had finally become domestic and soft towards the so-called brutes of the sect.

With LQG's fellows SJ would be curious about what they ate, if they were married themselves and if they liked children, which always sent them into spluttering coughs of excuses (single dogs, all of them!). LQG was delighted; SJ had never talked to his shidis before.

And his disciples, the wet-eared brats with bravado and gumption and half a thought between all their minds altogether, SJ enjoyed fawning on them. Would always walk among them after practice with his languid, limping step and rub a dirty spot on their cheeks with his sleeve

or ask them not to be so rough with each other while they just stared at him with doting eyes, overwhelmed to have their shiniang's favour.

So sweet. Perhaps the qi deviation, nasty as it had been, had been a boon to their marriage, LQG thought.

Only after his brain had rattled around and spit out half of him had SJ truly embraced being part of Bai Zhan Peak, looking after its people like they were his own family.

He was finally one of theirs, just like LQG had always wanted.

And indeed, LQG realised SJ had a particular favourite among the new batch of brats, a curly-haired brat with dewy black eyes that reminded LQG of Yingying's own innocence, and a gaze that transcended adoration when he looked up at SJ.

After a beginner lesson in which SJ performed his usual routine of going among the children and gently fawning on them while they chattered for his attention, he spent the longest time with the new boy, the one LQG had picked out on a whim because of his talent.

Honestly, he thought, amused. His husband was so attached to these kids now. He was six months along now, he should be worried about the baby in his belly instead. But he kept doting on the brats endlessly, as if practicing for the little one inside him...

LQG called out the kid SJ spent practically a quarter-shichen rubbing his face clean and combing out his mess of a ponytail in public.

"Greeting Shizun!" the brat saluted him in a prompt stance and a high boyish voice.

LQG snorted; still hadn't dropped, huh. "What's your name."

"This disciple's name is Luo Binghe, Shizun, " the boy said with shining eyes as he gazed up at LQG - then a mere moment later, glanced back to look at SJ a dozen feet away, who was waiting for them to finish.

LQG's own smile faltered for a moment before the kid turned back to him to babble about how grateful he was to be on Bai Zhan and how honoured he was to be LQG's disciple. He couldn't help but look back at SJ once in a while though, who smiled at him as he did so every time.

"Of course you're lucky to be on Bai Zhan," LQG agreed blandly, and wondered if among his flock of sheep he had let in a hungry little wolf.

It would be years before he would find out what Luo Binghe truly meant to his husband, however, or the other way around.

END OF PART II

(Ohh, the story continues with more horrific implications! SJ has been tragically nerfed... but will he remain so forever? Bingbing... well, you know what he's all about, I don't need to say anything here.

And LQG... don't you want to bully him more in the divorce AU extra as a result? lmao. Who knew he could be such a hot mess*?

Story will conclude with the next part in a couple of days!

*I say, as I deliberately write him to be deranged)

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