“You idiot,” Ye Baiyi chuckles at Long Xiao. “He was already panting for someone to have him like a bitch before you poisoned him. You’re doing us a favor by encouraging these two soup-for-brains to go off into the woods and fuck their feelings out.” Wen Kexing swears at Ye Baiyi, then threatens to pluck his eyebrows bald. Chengling blinks as he takes in the scene with round eyes. Long Xiao smiles, showing off his full set of adult teeth, eerily out of place in a child’s face. Zhou Zishu feels sick to his stomach; he wishes he could be drunk. Wen Kexing gets hit with fuck-or-die sex pollen on the way to Longyuan cabinet. Everything would be fine, except Zhou Zishu’s been keeping an unfortunate secret: the nails in his chest mean he can’t get hard anymore.

It's incredible that he doesn't cry. He must just be too tired, too wired, to let it out. Maybe his body is saving the liquid for something.

He doesn’t look up when Baiyi passes. Probably doesn’t even remember him. So what. You don't need a rosebush to remember you, you just enjoy catching sight of it here and there.

Ye Baiyi must really, really want to fuck him, Xie thinks. Maybe when he’s asleep Xie can drop poison in his ear. Or steal any treasures he carries. How has he lived this long if he’s actually this stupid?

“You were watching me,” the kid says, in a soft colorless voice. It could be a threat if it wanted to be, easily, but in that tone it’s just a statement of fact. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s the first time anyone’s ever looked at you,” Baiyi says. He sips his drink. “You must not get any attention in that outfit.” The corner of the kid’s red mouth quirks up. “I’m sure you get attention in those,” he says.

That night he lies in bed alone until the moon is high. When the rest of the house is deathly silent, except for the light snores coming from behind every door, he sneaks in slippered feet through the halls and over to the covered kitchens. There’s faint light coming from the smoldering hearth, where the coals are piled to keep them warm for tomorrow’s early start. Someone has curled up by it on a mat, like a scullery maid. But it’s not a maid, it’s a man. A tall long-legged man. His husband. The dubiously immortal master of Changming manor. What the fuck, Xie thinks.

Wen Kexing is aware of the following things. One, Han Ying would die for Zhou Zishu - and Wen Kexing likes that in a man. Two, upon their first meeting Han Ying dropped to his knees before A-Xu the moment Wen Kexing let go of his throat - and that is simply just interesting. Three, Han Ying is A-Xu's in a way no one else is anymore. That last part, he could find an issue with. Or, he could use it for the best - he is not called Philanthropist Wen for nothing, after all.

Wen Kexing stumbles upon the fact that Han Ying apparently ruins every one of his orgasms - because it would be *disrespectful* otherwise. He's not about to ignore *that*, now is he.

When Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing stage an ambush to save Gao Chong and Zhang Chengling from Tian Chuang, they soon realize Wen Kexing has been poisoned, and only Han Ying can help him. Written for the following kink meme prompt: WKX gets hit by sex pollen or similar plot device that requires he get fucked but ZZS can't get it up because of the nails [...]

If a little fondness slips through, it apparently only makes Han Ying bolder. “Would you allow me to call you Valley Master, if we did?” Wen Kexing laughs under his breath at the brazen request, tipping Han Ying’s face back with two fingers beneath his chin. Narrows his eyes and looks down at him, assuming an air of cold indifference. “Are you a ghost, Han Ying?” “I could be,” Han Ying says quietly. “If you wanted me to be.”

One of the most closely guarded secrets of Wen Kexing's life, more so than his hoarded memories, almost more so than his old name, is the fact that the Ghost Valley Master is an omega. When his heat suppressants run out on the way to Longyuan Cabinet, Wen Kexing is plunged into the worst heat of his life. He's desperate for some kind of relief, but Zhou Zishu's encroaching illness means he's no longer able to perform in that regard — and anyway, he's not an alpha. But Ye Baiyi is.

The Ghost Valley and Prince Jin's forces have been at war for a while now; but there was nothing to suggest the Valley was so close to infiltrating the palace. Nothing, until they were flooding the grounds and taking captives. Nothing, until the Ghost Valley Guzhu himself laid eyes on Zhou Zishu and deemed him a worthy prize. *Don't be a sore loser, Wangye. To the victor go the spoils.*

Xie'er goes viral dancing a drunken tango with a stranger. It's probably Wen Kexing's fault. (The competitive ballroom AU you didn't know you needed.)