#I have (checks pile of papers on desk) close to fifteen handwritten pages of post-canon Shen Qiao fic to transcribe I'm the literal worst

[hunxi-after-hours]

hunxi hunxi. where does bai rong fit into yanshen adoption. Where Is My Girl. does a-ling spend summers at hehuan zong does bai rong send silks for her clothes does she get the best sweets from hehuan zong hunxi please. you have created a monster this is all i will be thinking about

no anon you don't understand I've been absentmindedly yet steadily building an entire post-canon universe for 《千秋》 in my mind for the past few months

look I just think that Shen Qiao, in addition to being the first sect leader of Xuandu Shan who, y'know, has gone down the mountain, also has hella jianghu connections, so you know what that means??？

exchange programs wooo

hell yeah we're getting nerdy up in here, everyone in the jianghu is a battle nerd, and look, I just think that yearly conferences where Xuandu disciples mingle with Hehuan and Huanyue disciples for a bit of light educational sparring and heavy evening drinking (look, Yu Shengyan says sagely to Shen Qiao, they're young people and they're going to drink and make terrible decisions so they might as well do it where we can keep an eye on them)

and I like to think that if a Hehuan disciple realizes that she's quite drawn to the quiet, introspective lifestyle of Xuandu Shan, she could study abroad on the mountain for a year, and if a Xuandu disciple chafes at the disciplined, ascetic Daoist lifestyle, he can go down the mountain and spend some time in the chaos and wild energy of the demonic sects, 反正大家的关系都不错

I just think that post-canon Shen Qiao is particularly sensitive to the needs and wants and feelings of belonging of Xuandu disciples after (waves vaguely) the whole Tan Yuanchun business, and we know Bai Rong is also working on re-shaping Hehuan Zong culture, so I like to think that they started off exchanging disciples who are temperamentally suited for the other's sect and then it just became like, a thing

but yes you were asking about 凤岭儿 Feng Ling'er, the most powerful young mistress in the entire jianghu, and yes, of course Bai Rong gets her hands on her

Bai Rong shows up uninvited to a sword conference Xuandu Shan is hosting (this is the sixth year she's shown up uninvited, at this point Shen Qiao just pointedly leaves out cushions for her and her retinue, with a pot of Bai Rong's favorite tea because he's still Shen Qiao and he notices things like this) and it's the first year Feng Ling'er is old enough to participate, and it's not like Ling'er hasn't seen Bai-zongzhu before, it's just that Duan Ying or Yuwen Song is usually chaperoning Ling'er around at these events and they're definitely scared of Bai Rong, or Ling'er's with one of her Huanyue uncles and they always seem to be trading barbs with Bai-zongzhu whenever they cross paths, or Ling'er is with auntie Hengbo and auntie Hengbo has eyes for no woman other than auntie Zixiao, and Ling'er still can't figure out if those two are together because they seem to only care about the other's opinion but also never have a kind word to say to the other, and--

anyway. Bai Rong is watching Feng Ling'er compete at her first sword conference and she absolutely destroys two senior disciples and Bai Rong's eyes just light up like oh yes it is TIME, and afterwards she whisks Ling'er away with an airy "no need to fret, Shen-zhangjiao, I simply think that she needs, ah, a woman's touch" and Shan Qiao is like "Bai-zongzhu, there is no need for you to trouble yourself for a Xuandu disciple--" and Bai Rong is like "oh but there really is, you'll get her back in a few months, take care of my sect while I'm gone" and Shen Qiao is just like "what" and Bing Xian is like "don't worry Shen-zhangjiao, Bai-zongzhu has been planning this for a while now, you won't need to run Hehuan Zong" and Shen Qiao is still like "what" but then he has no more time to stare slackjawed because now he has to fend off Yan Wushi, who thinks this would be a great time to annex Hehuan Zong and re-unify the demonic sects, and while Yan Wushi isn't, like, wrong, Shen Qiao thinks it would be rather impolite to take advantage of Bai Rong's absence

which is to say auntie Bai Rong whisks Feng Ling'er away for a proper adventure down the mountain, and Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi have to take turns holding the other back from chasing them because Yan Wushi is like "I'm fine with Ling'er going on jianghu adventures, I just don't trust Bai Rong" whereas Shen Qiao is like "I'm fine with Bai Rong, I just don't trust Ling'er on jianghu adventures"

meanwhile, Ling'er is perfectly capable of taking care of herself (look, if Yan Wushi is raising a child...), so what really happens is that Bai Rong shows Ling'er the joys of kicking the shit out of men who don't drink their respect women juice and like, where to find the best snack carts in the outlying cities beyond Chang'an, which songhouses have the best lighting and the best music and which alleys to lurk in to enact brutal, electrifying justice. they spend a night camping out on a cliff overlooking Ye City and Bai Rong coaches Ling'er in the basics of vocal bewitchment and they take turns making owls fall out of the sky and giggling to each other over a pot of mid-shelf wine (the top shelf stuff would be wasted on you, Bai Rong says, and Ling'er protests but Bai Rong is bankrolling this entire trip so it's her call at the end of the day)

dlkfsjdflskj this whole business started as "Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi adopt a daughter" and has just turned into "the entire jianghu adopts Feng Ling'er" at some point and you know what, I'm okay with that

#me creating an OC: I'm going to give her EVERYTHING and no one can stop me #I have an unreasonable amount of these exchange programs thought out #I have (checks pile of papers on desk) close to fifteen handwritten pages of post-canon Shen Qiao fic to transcribe I'm the literal worst #千秋 backlog #hunxi thinks about QQ