Thread by @bingjiuwus

#bingjiu, nsfw

The Red Warm Pavilion was in an uproar when Shen Jiu returned from the pharmacy with everyone's medicine. The first floor was a chaotic mess with blood on the floors and costly vases smashed, the lush red drapes torn to shreds.

The blood drained from his face and he ran over to one of his jiejies. "What happened," he demanded. "Is everyone safe?"

"We - we're all fine, A'Jiu," she said, shaken but refusing to look at him.

SJ frowned. "Jiejie, please. Tell me who it is, and I'll - "

"You can't!" she cried out, clutching onto his sleeve. "A'Jiu, just forget it. Nothing happened."

As if SJ could pretend that nothing had just _happened._

"I brought medicine," he said, pushing the paper bag into his jiejie's trembling hands. "Don't forget to pay me later, alright?"

"A'Jiu," she said weakly, but made no move to stop him as he followed the trail of blood up the stairs, taking the knife out of his sleeve as he did.

The mess led him to the third floor of the brothel, to the Madame's own bedroom and the door barely open. SJ grimaced as he pushed it open, wondering if he'd see something truly horrific before killing the interloper with everything he had - and then he stopped.

Because right then and there on the Madame's bed was a heavily wounded young man being tended to by the Madame herself, and a flock of demon - creatures - beings who couldn't possibly be human.

One of them - furred all over, and with great big horns like a ram - snarled when he saw SJ at the door. "Get out of here!" he barked at him, but SJ refused to be intimated and walked inside.

"Oh, A'Jiu." The Madame looked relieved when she saw him.

"Hello, Madame Chun," SJ said, as if nothing was wrong. "I delivered everyone's medicine."

"Oh - oh, good." She closed her eyes, looking exhausted. "You're a good boy, A'Jiu. Thank you."

"Is he one of yours?"

The voice that emerged from the wounded man on the bed was low and smoky and dark. It was like taking in a lungful of incense and feeling both your eyes and mouth water.

SJ had never heard such a rich, masculine voice before. Some small part of him shivered, felt himself want.

And yet, he wasn't going to quell. Not now.

He looked at the man who sat on the edge of the bed with his legs lazily sprawled open and his black robes hanging down to his waist. Someone had stabbed him in the gut, ergo the bindings on his stomach and the Madame trying to put him back together.

And yet, she wasn't a doctor, so what the hell was someone like _him_ doing here?

SJ frowned. "There's a clinic two streets over," he said. "Don't come into a brothel if you want to get your booboos fixed of all things."

The man stared at him in shock while the Madame sucked in her breath, aghast. The man's demonic companions rumbled in disapproval, some putting hands - claws, paws on their swords to show SJ what they thought of his comment.

And then the man broke into a laugh, only to immediately lurch over in pain and spit out a little blood.

"Well, yes, this lord does have a few injuries to attend to," he gasped. "And all will be cured in good time, too."

"A'Jiu, kneel and apologise!" The Madame hissed. "That's His Majesty the Junshang you're talking to!"

SJ's lip curdled. _That_ man was the Junshang? Him?

"You?" he said in disbelief. "What the hell would the Emperor be doing at a place like _this?_"

"Getting my booboos fixed," Junshang said drily, and then the Madame grabbed SJ the sleeve and yanked him down to his knees.

"Say you're sorry," she hissed with frantic worry.

SJ grit his teeth and bowed his head. "My _apologies_, Junshang," he said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. As if he should give a shit about the man.

What had the Junshang ever done for rats like him or his jiejies? Just because a demon emperor now ruled them instead of a human one, that hadn't changed SJ's life for the better.

He still scraped out a living running errands where he could and living on what his jiejies gave him when he had no work to keep him busy.

Slavers still ran rampant, stealing runts right off the streets and selling them to nobles a town over. Husbands still beat their wives, wives still died. Whores still had to sell their bodies to make a living, and no one cared what happened to them when they aged out of it.

Did the Junshang care about people like SJ and his jiejies? Did he?

No, he didn't. So why should SJ possibly care about being respectful to someone like _him_.

"Look at me," Junshang said hoarsely.

SJ looked up from his kneeling position, glaring at His Majesty himself and uncaring if it got his hand chopped off or worse.

He'd lived his whole life dancing on a knife's edge, and if he was going to die one day, then better it be now while he was still young and angry than when he was old and broken down and had nothing but a mouth full of rotted teeth for company.

"Hm," Junshang hummed in approval, looking at him. "Lovely, aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm gorgeous," SJ snarked, not willing to let the man get the better of him and fluster him one bit.

"Atittude. I like that." His Majesty smiled. "This lord does need a bedmate for the night. I think you'll do nicely."

The Madame gasped. "Your Majesty, A'Jiu isn't - "

"Yes," SJ interrupted her. "Yes, that's fine."

Junshang's smile just grew wider, revealing a white fang.

"Beautiful," he purred in satisfaction.

*

SJ was taken to another room to be bathed and scrubbed clean and fixed for the night like his jiejies before he stepped back into the Madame's bedroom,

which had now been cleaned and all its hanger-ons disappeared, save for the Junshang himself, who lounged on the large bed wearing silken black inner clothes with his robe hanging open, revealing his impressively built chest, and a smooth, uninjured stomach.

Somehow the injury from before had already disappeared. Unable to stop his own curiosity, SJ blurted out, "How?"

The man eyed him fondly as he entered the room, clean and scented with jasmine oil and wearing layered pink and green robes that made SJ look the delicate plum fairy he wasn't at all. "Come here," the man purred, "and I'll show you."

SJ rolled his eyes even as he did so, only to squeak in outrage when Junshang grabbed him by the waist and threw him onto the bed like an animal before climbing onto him.

"You - " SJ began. "Are you an emperor or a beast?! How could you just - " He was scarlet as he ranted, only to dissolve into silence when he realised the man had yet to molest him into indignity and ruin... but was just watching him with an amused look.

"Like I said," Junshang mused. "Beautiful. Just where did you come from and how didn't I see you before?"

SJ huffed, looking elsewhere. "I was running errands. Picking up medicine for everyone."

"Mm. Very filial of you." The man grinned. "You really are pleasing to look at, A'Jiu. You should have been born into a noble family; then, at least, your father might have given you to me as tribute to win my favour. That would have been something."

And become a casualty of the notoriously merciless Back Palace? As if!

"Very sorry to disappoint Your Majesty," SJ snapped at him. "But I have no idea who my parents are. I was a slave for most of my life. I'm the farthest thing from you the world can imagine."

Junshang's smile dimmed. "Not that far, truly," he murmured. "A'Jiu, darling, will you be mine tonight?"

Did he even have a choice, SJ thought hysterically, and yet he knew he had.

He could have let the Madame speak on without interrupting her, and let His Majesty take one of his jiejies for the night.

He was notorious for bedding beauties wherever he went, and even titling them as concubines or consorts after, though whether they survived the gauntlet in the harem after wasn't his concern.

But the man, charming as he was, looked like he could be cruel too, and SJ didn't want anyone in the Red Warm Pavilion to have to grit their teeth and endure his passions for a night.

Better him than them, right? After all, His Majesty had over a thousand wives but no husbands.

Maybe he'd give SJ a little coin the morning after, or more likely just forget about him altogether. Nothing wrong with that, really.

(And so help me, he really was attractive in the handsome, roguish way SJ liked in his men...)

"Yes," SJ said, even though his hands trembled in his delicate sleeves, even though he had never done this before. "Yes, Junshang, I'm yours."

"My god, you're _perfect_," the man breathed in, and bent down to finally - finally! - kiss him.

*

SJ woke the morning after stiff and aching all over.

He could feel His Majesty's seed still slick and warm inside him - both in the back of his throat and elsewhere, below - and the remains of his robes in tatters all over the carpets.

He staggered himself up to a sitting position and shuddered when he felt seed drip down his slack hole and ooze onto the silken sheets below. Dear god but they'd have to burn all the bedding after!

His Majesty had been ruthless in bed, and oh god but when he came it was _endless_. If SJ had been a woman, if he'd had a womb of his own, he was certain he'd have been knocked up last night.

(Thank goodness he wasn't! He'd heard some female demons could sire onto their lovers and male demons could give birth, but that had nothing to do with him! He was a plain human, thank you very much!)

And yet, His Majesty was nowhere to be seen.

It was to be expected, he thought with resignation as he looked around for a piece of clothing and grabbed the only thing he could find still in one piece - Junshang's own black inner robe, and wrapped it around his thin body for warmth and modesty's sake.

SJ had never been made for the thing called romance, not with an emperor nor anyone else.

Nevertheless, all the songs and folk tales said Junshang was a legendary lover, and to gain his favour was a true honour.

Well, one part of that might be true. Not both.

SJ eased himself out of bed and limped over to the door, seed dripping down his thighs as he moved. He'd find one of his jiejies, they'd let him wash up in their room, he was certain -

Only to bump face-first into a hard chest on the way out.

"And where were you going?" Junshang replied mildly as he caught SJ before he fell and made a fool of himself. "Were you going to run out on me?"

"As if," SJ snarled, mortified and hurting - the man's chest hadn't felt so hard last night! Was he made of rock or something?

"You're the one who left me and didn't say anything, bastard!"

"And now I'm back." His Majesty smiled without a care. "So you were looking for me when you woke, A'Jiu."

"Shut up. I wasn't doing anything," SJ smarted. "Now let go. I'm filthy and I hate it."

"In a moment," Junshang said, and gently forced SJ back onto the bed despite his hissing. "No, no. Enough for that for now."

SJ shut his mouth, but kept glaring.

"A'Jiu." Junshang sat on the bed beside him. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't one of the whores here? This lord wouldn't have taken you if I had known."

"Better me than my jiejies," SJ sneered.

The man studied him with endless black eyes. "And why would that be?"

"Because..." SJ took in a deep breath. "Everyone knows how you marry all the women you sleep with, only to forget them after in the Back Palace, and then your existing consorts all hurt and kill them after and you don't care about what happens to them at all."

"... it's not like that anymore," Junshang said, his smile crooked. "This lord hasn't taken any new wives in years."

Which meant the stuff SJ had accused him of doing _had_ happened before, just not right now. "And I know you've never taken on any husbands," he said. "So even if you hurt me when you fucked me - "

Which he had, just a little when he first entered SJ, but after, Junshang had kissed his brow and whispered something soft into his ear, and then all the pain had gone away and SJ dissolved into wanton, blissful pleasure.

" - nothing would happen to me after. I'd have just lost my virginity and nothing else."

"You were a virgin," Junshang said, astonished. "You should have said so. This lord would have - I would have been more gentle. I promise," he amended.

"As if it matters," SJ sniffed. Who cared about men's chastity to begin with? "Now go along, Your Majesty. You're all healed and fine now, and no doubt you have some rebellion to quell or some disobedient subordinate to extract all his fortune from.

I just want to wash up and get paid and go back to sleep, alright?"

"A'Jiu," Junshang said, taking his hands.

"_Shen_ Jiu," SJ corrected him. "I'm not your A'Jiu. I'm not your anything."

"You said you were, yesterday." The man's lips crooked. "So would you be mine forever? Would you marry me, Shen Jiu, and become my first and only husband?"

SJ gaped.

And then he ripped his hands out of His Majesty's own and laughed. "As if!" he said. "As if I want to be part of the Back Palace, as if I want to be forgotten by His Majesty and left to fend for myself just like that.

No thanks! If I'm going to ever get married - and that's a huge if - it's only ever going to be to one man, and I'm not going to be some lowly concubine or consort grovelling to the first wife for respect - it's going to be me alone.

I'm not going to share my husband for anything!"

"What a coincidence," Junshang croaked. "I don't like to share either."

He smiled. "A'Jiu, I don't know how you've heard so many strange rumours about me and why you've decided to believe them all, but truly, this lord's Back Palace has been empty for a long time. I have no Empress, no consort, no concubine, not even a single attendant."

SJ turned to look at him, astonished. "I don't believe you," he said. "Not _anyone?_"

"I swear," Junshang said, taking his hands again - and smile widening slightly when SJ let him. "I did have a vast harem, once, full of women I loved and women I thought I loved.

You were right. I did neglect them, and they hurt each other for my favour in my absence. Eventually, it became too much. Too many people died or left, and then I dismissed the rest and closed the Back Palace altogether. I have no one in my heart and home anymore, Shen Jiu.

"At least," he added, "not until I met you."

SJ coloured. "You just met me last night. I'm nothing like a court lady either. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to please an emperor or be the proper consort to him."

"But you have," Junshang said softly, gazing at him with warm eyes. "Just by being yourself yesterday, you charmed me. I was captivated."

"I was being an asshole," SJ said blankly.

"Mm. And a very lovable one too." The man winked at him. "So how about it? Be mine for a lifetime, my love. I won't share you, and you won't share me. You don't have to be anyone but yourself and I won't let anyone stand who would disrespect you."

"You'd better now," SJ said, adding: "I want a bride price. You'd better pay me exactly how much I'm worth and not a tael less."

"Oh, no doubt," Junshang said, grinning openly alright. "My love, have you ever seen a gold tael before? You'll have more of those than you'll ever know what to do with."

"Mm." SJ nodded. "And I also want to eat braised duck once a day - every day - and an earth dragon for my bedroom. And - and - and - "

He went on about every absurd, outrageously lavish thing he could conceive of, some he meant partially seriously, and some just to see what His Majesty would finally turn his nose up at and scold him for. But Junshang just kept grinning wider and wider the more SJ went on.

"Anything for my Empress," was all he said at the end. "You want it, I'll get it for you."

SJ sniffed, doubtful about all that. Hadn't King Zhou brought forth the downfall of the Shang dynasty through his infatuation with his consort Daji? As if he wanted to be a calamitous beauty like that!

(As if he even _could_...)

"Whatever, I didn't mean all that," he said, shrugging. "I don't need anything fancy anyway. So long as you love me and me alone, and treat me well, I'll be alright."

"I promise," Junshang said reverently, not looking away from him once. "I'll love Shen Jiu until the end of time."

"... A'Jiu."

"Hm?"

SJ pinked. "If you're going to be my husband," he said shyly, "then you should call me A'Jiu."

Junshang looked surprised - then his face transformed at what SJ just said, and it was as if all his previous smiles had been mere imposters, the way he glowed after _that_.

"Of course, A'Jiu," he said, emotional as ever. "I promise."

SJ smiled too. "Then I think we can get along," he whispered, and pecked his husband on the cheek.

END

(Just a fun little AU for y'all. WAH, isn't SJ so cute here?

I'll leave it up to you whether this is a canon-divergent AU where SJ somehow escaped his fate with the Qius and just lived a simple life running errands for the RWP until he meets Binghe, or if this is a second chance story with Bingge and SJ's reincarnation.

Either way, they're gonna be very happy together from now on hehe. Binghe's gonna treat his Empress very well from now on 😆)