#BingJiu regression story but instead of going back to his...

except he has no will to live and just takes whatever abuse is hurled at him by the little palace mistress.
he's so out of it, he doesn't realise lbh is missing from the trial. the trial commences as it did before, qht and others coming forward to accuse him.
unlike the last time, he does not look toward yqy or his so-called martial siblings. he always knew he would find no help there, but now he had the image of the shards of xuan su burnt into his minds eye.
but at that point, everything turns on its head.
lmy is in the middle of giving her testimony, accusing him of killing lqg
the voice that rings out is one sj hadn't heard in years.
lqg enters the courtroom. he looks like he did at his prime. a veritable war god with anger etched into his face, fists clenched.
the mob erupts in whispers at the sight of a dead man.
he found the truth to the horrors of qiu manor, sharing his findings with the assembly.
lbh discredits the accusations of misconduct against female disciples, casting his baleful glare even at nyy, who had supported the lies.
"shizun has suffered for these misdeeds. this one sees no reason to continue on with this farce."
instead, he turns his fury on the old palace master and hhp.
he is allowed to return to cqm, which he declines, for favour of returning to the pavillion with his jiejies. the only ones who never doubted him. the ones who had seen his scars when no one else had.
he does not cry, does not speak. the jiejies field all visitors.
unable to even look upon yqy, no longer his qi-ge, he lets the girls cut the worn thread connecting his former brother
sj has not even the strength to argue with the man anymore, staring at lqg rage. why he didn't defend himself, why he never spoke the truth, even when they were disciples.
he spends his days listening instead. and lqg becomes a friend, strangely
teaching the girls the four arts when his words return to him, scratching his throat with every syllable.
months pass like that, sqq turned sj completely
except he has no wives. no bride has been welcomed to his court.
the demons' smooth and deep voice cuts through discordant tunes like a knife, piercing sj.
he's no longer afraid, sending the girls from his pavillion.
the man moves closer as if approaching a wild beast.
careful, slowly, hands in clear sight, held up in surrender.
he sits, massive frame folding in to become as unthreatening as possible.
sj still feels unsure. he feels the calm of knowing that he would be unable to protect himself.
but all lbh does is talk. he tells sj how he found his corpse, in a future that never was. how he had screamed and wailed at losing sj. just as he had seen what they could have been in another world.
a softer world he wanted for himself.
at a loss for anything else, lbh had sought out truths about his shizuns' past. he'd travelled the razed cqm, met people who had painted a different picture of sj
a man lbh had wanted even more than the soft and kind shizun from that other world.
he cries and cries, falling into the arms of one who tormented him, who he tormented.
and their tears mingle, as their lips press together.
tbh i love the idea of time travel and regression for sj and lbh to cqm, but coming back to the trial, when sj and his reputation are already ruined is also good.
... also i like svss nyy, but pidw nyy is so not for me. she seems to have no qualms sacrificing sj for lbh