#and theyre all suspicious of sqq. it takes years before the final girl chooses to trust him

[a-mere-dream]

how about instead of returning to the sect after finding the qiu manor in ashes, yqy runs off to become a dilf, pushing back his reunion with sqq by a number of years?

"Remember, parent-teacher meetings are tomorrow," Shang Qinghua said.

"Thanks for telling me, Shang-shidi," Shen Qingqiu ground out. "I never would have remembered it on my own."

A blatant lie, and they both knew it. Shen Qingqiu had been looking forward to this once-yearly event with all the enthusiasm of a man send to die.

In his opinion, it was one of the most asinine, useless, irritating days of the year; parents who thought to tell him how to do his job as Peak Lord, or those who came all the way to Cang Qiong Sect and then spend not a second asking after their child, instead choosing to spend their time trying to make Connections.

But no, Shen Qingqiu couldn’t just run off, because the Sect Leader never felt bad about levering their power to keep him on Qing Jing. "The shipments of paints will unfortunately be delayed, but if you make nice with the parents of that-and-that kid, I'm sure I can do something to help you," pah.

This year he had picked up three new disciples too. Siblings, though they did not look it. A moment of weakness; there had been something in the way they had been standing, that reminded him off... No matter.

*  *  *

He had been able to keep himself from spending time with the parents for most of the day simply by instructing his eldest disciples to lead them around while he stood to the side, loftily waving his fan and emanating an aura of You are not worthy enough to talk to me.

This did, unfortunately, bring with it the fact he couldn’t take out a book or sketching pad lest someone take that as an opportunity to strike up conversation with him. And so he had spent the day watching the people around him.

Most of it was a familiar sight; dolled-up men and women swanning around, flaunting their wealth and ignoring their children. Their robes cost as much as the yearly budget for paper, and that was without even speaking of the various trinkets they decorated themselves with.

One man stood out; his robes were old but well taken care of, patched up with so much care the stitching was near invisible. He hadn’t been able to do much about the washed-out colours, though.

He was surrounded by the three new disciples, each clamouring for his attention, pulling him to and fro to show him the best places on Qing Jing. He ooh'ed and ah'ed at all the right moments, an indulgent smile on his sun-worn but surprisingly youthful face.

He was holding something at his side; something thin and long, wrapped up in rags to obscure it from the world.

The girl--Wen Ming--pulled at his free arm, and without needing any more words, the man swooped her up to sit on his shoulder. He didn’t struggle in the least, acting like she weighed nothing at all.

Shen Qingqiu's eyes were drawn to his biceps without his consent.

... Strong.

The moment he noticed what he was doing, he hurriedly averted his eyes.

It was that moment, when he was silently berating himself, that the man chose to come up to meet him. His voice was a warm, low thing; combine it with the faintly familiar (and outrageously handsome) face he had, Shen Qingqiu was ashamed to admit he barely heard a word he said in favour of listening to the comforting rumble.

A sentence ended in an upward turn of his voice, snapping Shen Qingqiu out of his haze. "Could you repeat that question?"

The man smiled. "I was telling Master Shen how glad I was that Xiao Ming, Yuan'er, and Xiao Wei seemed to be doing well. I was wondering if next year I could be allowed to bring their siblings up to meet them? They miss them dearly."

Shen Qingqiu blinked. "More children?" slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

Luckily the man didn’t take offense. "Yes," he said, sounding immeasurably fond. "Six permanent siblings, and a dozen or so that only stop by every once in a while."

Did this man have an addiction, or what?

... Shen Qingqiu was tempted to agree, if only because it'd be really funny to see those men and women having to deal with what he was fairly sure was a bunch of former street children.

Enter a comedy of errors where Shen Qingqiu refuses to admit he wasn’t listening when Yue Qi introduced himself

They converse through letters, somehow still not learning of the other’s identity, and grow fond of each other

One drunken night, Shen Qingqiu writes a letter where he proposes the man marries him so Shen Qingqiu doesn’t have to deal with raising the children anymore, so he can just teach higher level skills

Yue Qi agrees

It is only halfway during the wedding preparations that they realise who the other is

The children had figured it out before the two even met each other for the first time, but thought they just didn’t like to talk about it