#au where sj isn’t sold to the qius and instead is bought by/runs away to the beggars sect
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”I’m not above petty theft.”
Shen Yuan stared at the beggar in disbelief.
“I made a deal with the Beggars Sect and they said I would remain unmolested while I was meeting with their representative. Unrobbed. I want to talk to your—” your manager. He swallowed that quickly though, scowl intensifying. “—your superior. Who should be meeting with me anyway. Give my belongings back.”
The beggar eyed the embroidered qiankun pouch, hefting it as if that would tell him how much was stored in it, not that space storage arrays weren’t intended to hide that fact. “Unmolested? You’re walking through the poorest quarter of the city dressed like that—might as well be wearing a brothel’s worth of red lanterns telling everyone you’ve got cash on you.”
He hefted the pouch once more, then slipped it into his grungy shuhe. “For collateral.”
And then he had the gall to wink.
Shen Yuan was aghast.
If I’d been mugged like this in my last life, he groused, I wouldn’t have cared about leaving anything behind. I’d just run. At least the System had had the foresight to dump him in some no-name npc rich young master that only showed up for half a scene to make overheard comments about Wife #424’s beauty in a busy tea house that would trigger Luo Binghe’s newest addition to his harem.
But Shen Yuan would kill himself (again) before admitting that he couldn’t remember the tiny detail of what town the scene took place in. Which was why he’d approached the Beggars Sect in the first place. For information that he needed dearly. It appeared he’d arrived while the Protagonist was still just a disciple—or was currently making his roadtrip from hell in the Endless Abyss—as the the world at large seemed suspiciously quiet. Not that Shen Yuan minded a reprieve.
He jolted back at an unfamiliar touch at his hip. “I have nothing else for you to steal!” Shen Yuan squawked, slapping the beggar’s light fingers away.
“Perhaps the clothes on your back,” the filthy man purred. “It would certainly decrease your chances of getting robbed in a place like this.”
“Because you’ve already taken everything!” Shen Yuan hissed back, clutching his silk sleeves tight about his body. The movement inadvertently turned him to directly face the persistent beggar. Underneath the bruises and the mud, he seemed familiar. Like, I’ve seen him in a mirror familiar. That thought made Shen Yuan’s skin crawl.
The beggar rolled his pretty eyes. “This lowly one is honored by Young Master Shen’s approval and thanks him for such alms as he had deigned to give—”
Shen Yuan sputtered indignantly. “Hold on! That’s not—”
There was something like predatory amusement in the beggar’s green eyes. “—in return for information on one Miss Li Chunhua.” The tone was short, clipped. Officious. As deceptively cold as fresh fallen snow. Shen Yuan gaped at the sudden personality switch. The man seemed to grow taller, even as he bowed mockingly. “This lowly one is Shen Jiu, representative of the Beggars Sect.” His smile was hungry. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
also on ao3
#svsss#jiuyuan#shen yuan#shen jiu#my writing#svsss au#au where sj isn’t sold to the qius and instead is bought by/runs away to the beggars sect#ultimately ends in a happier/more flirty/less traumatized sj#as he still bonded with the brothel ladies but also never got entangled with wu yanzi and instead got actual training from the beggar elder#aus I’d love to write
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