#also I am picturing PM visiting SQX every now and then and telling her 'if i'm gone for too long my chest starts to hurt. must be the curse

[fortune-maiden]

what i was thinking was that when swd made pei ming swear, he used some kind of binding artifact that forces pei ming to keep his promise. pm knew about it when the vow happened, but didn't care because he never thought anything would happen to shi wudu...and a year post-canon, pei ming's powers are fading and he doesn't realize why until he remembers the artifact. he confesses what happened to xl first, then they tell sqx together, and pei ming frames it as "sqx, thank you so much for doing this for my sake" and offers to house and feed her friends from the capital in return.

OH! MY! GOODNESS! I LOVE THIS A LOT!

This is going in a sad direction but in a very fun way! Pei Ming is someone who never wanted to get married in the first place but now has to or he'll die, and worse - he's effectively trapping SQX into the marriage. I can see him as stoically considering death before dragging SQX into this but SQX wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of someone else suffering because of her brother's protectiveness and questionable choices so - yeah, she does agree to it for Pei Ming's sake, and its deeply uncomfortable for both of them, especially because PM made this vow centuries ago and can't remember what the exact wording was

(But he insists - repeatedly - that he entered it willingly and knowingly and aside from a desire to smack SWD a few times, doesn't hold a grudge against him. And for his own sanity acts like his usual silly self)

But they're willing to make it work. At least temporarily while Hualian and Ling Wen find a way to free PM from the artifact's curse so SQX can be freed too.

And of course, as Pei Ming's legends go, any woman who enters into a relationship with him is guaranteed a good life so exactly as SWD would have wanted, SQX is set up with a good house for herself and her friends and both of them do their best to pretend that nothing has changed

(someone in heaven leaks the story to the mortal realm and SQX goes to watch plays of it when PM isn't around and feels very awkward and uncertain especially with how the story gets warped and embellished.)

(Meanwhile, something something lots of complicated SWD feelings because how could her brother do this to both her and his closest friend!)