Chapter Text
1.
Shen Yuan stared up at his ceiling in rage and wondered how his life come to this. He had an “adversary”. A mortal enemy…an eternal rival, if you will. Like his life was an action film, written to serve the perverse pleasure of readers who thought the height of coolness was a huge pillar. What kind of grown man had an “adversary”? Groaning, he tipped his head back further. Fuck, was that mold, or a weird stain?
His mind kept going back to the issue at hand. Allow him to introduce Luo Binghe. His “adversary”.
This, is Luo Binghe: a first rate actor who was so popular a major airport once had to be shut down because his fans came to see him off in droves. This handsome young junior made smart script choices, and had excellent performance skills. He broke into the acting scene at the age of seventeen, as a young man cast into the abyss of World War Two. His role as the tragic main lead, highlighted China’s unsung part in the global conflict. Shen Yuan loved the film, and the white lotus Luo Binghe portrayed. Luo Binghe blew up at the time, but made the controversial decision to take a five year break from acting to complete his schooling. He finished in three. He scored top marks in business at China’s first ranked university, and achieved a minor in acting, because apparently juggling shit like that was easy?
His next film, long awaited, was an action film known as The Emperor Returns. In his adult body Luo Binghe was no longer a young, fresh-faced piece of meat, but, in the words of Shen Yuan’s sister, some kind of panty melting revelation. He was very much a white lotus turned black, a dark protagonist out to steal the hearts of the audience. The action film once again skyrocketed him to fame, and Luo Binghe never looked back. Critics and fans alike loved Luo Binghe, flooding his Weibo with praise and sending his ticket sales through the roof. In secret, watching The Emperor Returns was Shen Yuan’s guilty pleasure.
2.
In comparison, this is Shen Yuan: Shen Yuan, stage name Shen Qingqiu, was a senior actor known primarily for his art films, or on occasion, historical dramas. His career began with a small production that reached international acclaim, named Secrets of the Bamboo Forest. It was a heartbreaking film about a brilliant scholar plagued with depression. His most well known role, however, was his most recent, and he supposed… it was also his most hated. Shen Jiu. The part of a wretched, yet brutally complex court official who was the main villain in a hundred and fifty-two episode epic documenting the rise and fall of the Qingyuan Dynasty. The part had taken a lot out of Shen Yuan, but it had been satisfying to do.
If a director needed a scholar, a teacher, a court official, or a musician, and the budget was high enough, he was often the first pick, not to brag. Although…as he felt his neck ache from the angle he had it tilted, he’d been contemplating his retirement. Acting wasn’t as easy on these old bones as it used to be.
3.
In short, Luo Binghe was a hot-blooded, and hot-bodied young man, easily swiping up lead action roles, and great romance films filled with many, many, shirtless scenes, while Shen Yuan was an…actor’s actor, he supposed? Their acting careers were, really, very different.
Then, how exactly, one might ask, did Shen Yuan manage to become Luo Binghe’s “adversary”?
It was very simple. They worked under the same company. They debuted at different times, of course, and the resources they needed were so vastly different that it was borderline insane to believe that they could ever be completing for anything, not even side roles. Imagine, six-foot-four hunk Luo Binghe, and five-foot-eleven scholar, Shen Qingqiu, competing for the same role? What kind of magical role was this? ——
……
The more Shen Yuan considered it, the angrier he got, and the more sure he was that he had no fucking idea why the internet was insisting they hated each other. Did he push Luo Binghe off a cliff in a past life or something? Was this karma?
They had no reason to be in contention. They didn’t speak to each other often, were rarely seen in the same area, they didn’t even do any of the company press releases together, and yet somehow… he was “adversaries” with a junior, five years younger than him? Shen Yuan could not wrap his mind around it. What would they even fight over? The air they were breathing? Luo Binghe’s stupidly perfect face?
4.
One the rare occasions they did meet in person they were polite.They shook hands, smiled, and nodded to each other like they were interested in what the other person had to say. Usually some comment about the weather. Sometimes Luo Binghe looked a little nervous to Shen Yuan, but that wasn’t something the cameras could pick up. Luo Binghe always had a charming smile poised and ready, and Shen Yuan had a calm poker-face on lock, like it was nobodies business. He once did an interview drunk off his ass after Shang Qinghua dropped, what tasted like, half a bottle of vodka into the bubble tea he shoved into Shen Yuan’s waiting hands.
Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe were cordial. They weren’t best friends who added each other on their social media accounts, sending fan service messages back and forth, or having their PA’s do it for them, but they definitely weren’t frigid with each other either.
If it weren’t for the fact that some gremlin would appear every so often to stir up shit in the Weibo comments section, Shen Yuan wouldn’t have known he had a sworn enemy, in a completely different film genre.
How fun.
Is this what people did when they were bored, just made shit up so they could bitch about their imaginary problems to their imaginary internet friends? How nice. Shen Yuan aspired to be that free with his time.
5.
So what did “adversary” mean, in this context?
It meant that in the eyes of Luo Binghe’s fans：
When Shen Yuan smiled his calm, tranquil, trademarked smile at Luo Binghe, he really wanted to shank him in the back. When he brushed against Luo Binghe’s massive shoulders, he was calling him an unworthy mongrel. When he looked anywhere but Luo Binghe’s face in front of a camera, he was bitterly resentful and petty over Luo Binghe’s success.
There was no right answer, no right way to act because Shen Yuan couldn’t do anything about perception. If people wanted to see a fight then that’s what they’d see. Shen Yuan was a conniving snake even if he was half-way across the room minding his own business…but then again…Luo Binghe didn’t have it much better.
In the eyes of Shen Yuan’s fans:
When Luo Binghe smiled at him, it was a silent dare. If Luo Binghe brushed shoulders with him, he was calling Shen Yuan a leg-less coward, and disrespecting his senior. If Luo Binghe presumed to talk with others at the same party as Shen Yuan, he was being inconsiderate and rude. If he was quiet, it was even worse, who did he think he was, after all, to ignore Shen Yuan?
The propaganda was so vitriolic, and never-ending that if Shen Yuan wasn’t himself, he’d almost believe they were enemies too. It wasn’t fun.
6.
The last time they wore the same thing…
Shang Qinghua’s batshit idea of dressing only in jade green and white was beggining to make more sense than it should. That was not a thought Shen Yuan ever thought he’d have.
7.
If anyone was curious, as to how Shen Yuan knew so much about what he liked to call “this bullshit”…
8.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he returned the phone back to his long time, self proclaimed “personal life assistant” and actual agent, Shang Qinghua.
“Why are you showing me this?” He asked the sewer-dwelling cretin he trusted with his career. “I tell you all the time not to show me gossip Airplane-bro, and what do you do?”Shen Yuan continued.
Shang Qinghua looked at him with a serious stare, and placed his hand on Shen Yuan’s shoulder. Shen Yuan looked at his hand. Shang Qinghua immediately took it off Shen Yuan’s shoulder. “Cucumber-bro we have to be on top of the gossip. You can’t live on top of a mountain like a heavenly immortal separated from Weibo. We have to be ready.” Shang Qinghua insisted.
“Ready for what, exactly?” He asked, regretting it already.
“If we stay ready, we don’t have to get ready.” Shang Qinghua stated, like a man reading off some trash meme he found at three in the morning.
“…If I drown you in the bathtub no one will convict me.” Shen Yuan stated like a man ready to drown his agent in a tub.
9.
“Cucumber-bro you’ve got like three hours left before the next scene starts shooting. You will actually die of boredom if you don’t find something to do…aren’t you vain enough to search your own name up? I thought all actors did that?” Shang Qinghua knew very well that Shen Qingqiu did not like searching his own name up, but selectively forgot that information every time he was corrected.
“Look, here are some pictures of the newest starlet Liu Mingyuan, a peerless beauty, maybe if you look at -“ Shang Qinghua started only to be cut off.
“If you imply that I need to masturbate one more time, A’Shang -“
Shang Qinghua desperately waved his hands in front of his face, “No, no, no, I could never presume to do something like that.”
Liar. Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow at him, and Shan Qinghua cowered. It was satisfying.
“Look, why don’t you search up Luo Binghe instead?”Shang Qinghua offered.
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know, maybe reading people talk shit about him, might make you feel better about the things they say about you?”
10.
Fair enough.
11.
Shen Yuan had started scrolling down the comments section on Luo Binghe’s Weibo page, only to watch them multiply by the second. How many fans did this brat have? What was he, some kind of Movie God, with a harem of a thousand beauties all flooding his Weibo non-stop? Most of them were either talking about how great his acting was, or his chest, or both at the same time. It was boring. Where were the snake emoji’s? The cursing of his mother. Shen Yuan came here for the trash.
As he was monologuing on the unfairness of his life he saw a post that caught his eye:
@Red_BingqiuArmy: GROSSSOBBING our boys are out here spreading the love again, when are they going to get married? *picture of Bing-pup kissing Shen Qingqiu’s perfect face attached.
12.
…The fuck?
13.
What happened next would go down in the history of Shen Yuan’s life, forever. The comment had a link. He followed the link down a rabbit hole he was truly not prepared for.
14.
He was being shipped with Luo Binghe. They had a ship. Somewhere in the country, a few people were crazy enough to see two “enemies” and decide: they must be in love.
The story of a gentle senior actor, and his hot-blooded junior unfolded before his eyes. A kind member of the Bingqiu army had created a three hundred and seven page pdf. compiling the evidence that proved Luo Binghe and him were a real couple. They were clearly, shyly hiding their relationship for the sake of their careers, but their love was pure and strong. If they wore the same accessories, they had gifted them to each other in secret as presents. If they wore similar colours they were trying to match, and if they wore the same outfit it was a sign that they were going to get married.
It was…
It was…
It was really sweet. It was tiring to keep getting snake emoji’s while strangers who didn’t know him kept saying that he was out to sabotage a perfectly nice kid. Like he was some kind of weird, abusive senior who took advantage of his position to press down those below him, so that no one would ever rise above him. The role of Shen Jiu, while rewarding, left some people confusing his “real” personality, with that of Shen Jiu’s. He hadn’t had a role big enough to wash that stain clean yet. It was a great part, and he didn’t regret taking it, but Shen Jiu was hated by the public. He had people yelling Shen Jiu’s famous line, “Filthy beast,” at him, in the streets. The other day a woman tried to spit on him, and for a long time his Weibo was flooded with people calling for his castration. He didn’t need people online to be nice to him, but it took a toll to get so much hatred after a while.
Here, however, in this small corner of the internet, he was kind, and gentle, and sweet. He was still all of those things to a lot of his fans, but it was hard being the “adversary” of a young action star, when people currently didn't like him that much. It was so stupid. Maybe he should take it as a compliment to his acting skills, and the popularity of the series?
The manifesto, if Shen Yuan could call it that, was really well put together. By the end of reading it, if he wasn’t Shen Qingqiu he would be pretty convinced that Binqiu was real. How cute.
15.
Bingqiu was a terrible ship name though.
16.
So…for the next few hours he may have done a deep dive into the fandom. The art was really well drawn, and the drawings of Luo Binghe as a small fluffy dog were particularly favoured. Tiny Pomeranian Binghe was clearly the best Binghe. Shen Yuan laughed as he scrolled through drawings of Bing-pup in his arms, Bing-pup begging for treats, and Bing-pup scaring off rivals.
The drawings of Luo Binghe as a Demon, and him as bullied Maiden were less favoured, but he was rolling with it. The fanfiction ranged from sweet, to heartbreaking, to filthy enough that it raised Shen Yuan’s eyebrows, which was no small feat. He had a running, unpaid and never spoken of side gig, as Shang Qinghua’s gross porn editor.
17.
What did it mean when the entire internet seemed like it was dead set on setting up a duel to the death between Shen Yuan and a man he didn’t really know? Even his own fans thought he hated Luo Binghe, often becoming Luo Binghe’s anti-fans in order to “support” Shen Yuan. What did it mean when people keep asking him, about a non-existent conflict? Even interviewers kept sliding in “sly” questions about this or that moment, as they pretty much accused him of slighting Luo Binghe in order to try to get a soundbite they could play as proof of this “feud”.
What did it mean, when during all of this, a small group of people believed that he wouldn’t do that? That he wouldn’t fight with a younger actor. That he was better than that.
It felt close to salvation. Like rain after a long drought. It felt good to be thought of kindly. The “feud” pre-dated his role as Shen Jiu, but after Qingyuan Dynasty it was as though a match had been put to gasoline. For the third time today Shen Yuan thought, it really was overwhelming to be so praised for his acting, and yet so hated.
18.
He may have been driven to delusion from all of the shit-posts Shang Qinghua kept forwarding to him.
19.
But he was sailing this ship. It was his now. He loved it. No one could take it from him.
At least until the Shen Jiu backlash died off. He could really use some people calling him a fluffy angel, who could do no wrong, right about now.
20.
Shang Qinhua opened the door with a dramatic slam, “It’s an emergency! Luo Binghe is going to be on set soon. You go pull the fire alarm, I’ll start the fire. No, I’ll pull the alarm, you start the fire, it’s harder to deny being caught with your hand on a fire alarm if they get a picture.”
Shen Yuan stared at Shang Qinghua for a long moment, “No.” He replied.
It was a bit of a surprise, to find out after he signed onto the series that he’d be working alongside his “adversary” for the first time, but it wasn’t the end of the world either. He was playing a gentle character, a teacher in a xianxia series called Proud Immortal Demon Way (name pending). Not a villain. His heart couldn’t take being a villain again, for the moment. Shang Qinghua knew all this, and yet here he was, apparently planning for them to…flee the set?
Shang Qinghua, stared at Shen Yuan intensely. “Okay, Plan B.” He said.
Shang Qinghua rubbed his palms together like a deranged squirrel, his grin unnerving, as he leaned down close to Shen Yuan and whispered, “Should I get the rope…the tazer…I can probably get a gun in under an hour. Or we can push him out the window!” Shang Qinghua hissed, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and he's pretty fucking big.”
The break room set up for the actors was on the first floor. So…
Shen Yuan reached a hand up and yanked Shang Qinghua’s messy ponytail once, but hard, “What kind of bullshit do you think we’re about to get up to?”He demanded.
“Ow, ow. Fine, fine.” Shang Qinghua rubbed his head, and grumbled,“Murder's illegal anyway. It’s fine, we can always arrange an accident later. That'll go over a lot better with the press. Plausible deniability, and all that.”
How would that be any better, Shen Yuan wondered?
Even his agent and oldest friend, at this moment, thought he was some kind of cheap Scum Villain. It was more likely that Shan Qinghua was fucking with him but still…what kind of life would he lead, if he didn’t have Bingqiu to hold on to? It was his light in the darkness. It would get him through a television series where he might be accused of poisoning Binghe by the press at some point if his junior so much as sniffled.
21.
He lazily waved a paper fan to dismiss Shang Qinghua, who was running off to get him a bubble tea, or a gun…he’d find out in a while anyway…you could never really know with A’Shang. Something sweet would nice for all this upcoming mess though.
Sighing, he popped open the MV he tabbed on his phone before Shang Qinghua came in with his dramatics.
It was a mash up of a small film he did where he played a reporter in the 1950’s, and Luo Binghe’s debut film. He was watching a heart wrenching clip of Luo Binghe’s eyes tearing up, as he begged his senior officer, who had been like a father to him, to not die. Previously it had been spliced with Shen Yuan in the hospital, so the implication had been pretty clear.
Somebody was knocking on the break room door. Assuming it was his agent he answered, “Come in.”
The door opened. A tall man stood there, his broad shoulders and good looks blinding. Every time Shen Yuan saw Luo Binghe he couldn’t help but notice how handsome the man was. Luo Binghe’s eyes were drawn to the phone in Shen Qingqiu’s hands, a strange, almost embarrassed look on his face.
22.
Fuck. Someone help. Shen Yuan was drowning. What was the protocol for being caught watching a fan-made music video shipping you and your new male co-star?