Chapter Text
Shen Yuan had never thought that there was a life after death.
He had just died, so maybe it was a bit late to debate about it. While his illness had made it clear that he wouldn’t live for long, he had expected to make it to his mid thirties at last. He thought he would witness the wedding of his older brother or that his younger sister would finally be dating before they ordered a coffin for him.
He had tried to not think too much about his end in a detailed way, more in a far away kind of thing. He would die for sure, but he still had a bit of time, right?
But there had been a bad reaction (maybe between his meds? He took them as prescribed!) He remembered how the world had gotten hazy and he had felt dizzy.
(He really hoped it wasn’t his mum that had found him. She was so sensitive. It had been his no nonsense-dad that had helped him wash his body when the pain had gotten too much to handle that one time.)
At the moment he felt no pain at least, which was nice. It felt even a bit warm, almost cozy. If death was like that, he guessed it was alright. It could have been worse.
But the more he relaxed and became aware of things, he found himself, or what was the rest of himself - moving? Being moved?
As he opened his eyes, he saw something - the snotty face of a child, brown eyes full of stars.
What?
Shen Yuan tried to understand the situation. He blinked, finding the child smiling and taking him - in his hands?
Was Shen Yuan now so small that he only filled the hands of this child?
He heard the child and another person talking, the senseless noise becoming words he understood.
“Thank you ma!” said the boy. He was holding Shen Yuan close. “I will take good care of it!”
The mother, an older woman, patted the boy's head and sighed. “I hope this jade pendant will protect you. I heard,” said the mother as she smiled at her son, “that sometimes jade spirits live in it. They will protect their owner.”
“Really?” asked the boy. His eyes seemed to sparkle even more. He leaned down to Shen Yuan.
“Spirit! Do you hear me? I will take great care of you!” said the boy.
As much as Shen Yuan was still confused by the situation - was he now that? A spirit? - he couldn’t help but find the boy cute. He had always been nice to the other children in the hospital he met. As he saw how the boy smiled like the pendant was the best present ever, he thought to himself that he wouldn’t mind protecting that kid.
But what could he even do?
***
Over the next few days Shen Yuan slowly found out more about his environment. He saw how the mother seemed to be a washerwoman. The world he was now in seemed like an old Chinese setting. As he saw once a bird that wasn’t an animal he knew from his home world, he recognized the setting - it was a green-eyed dove!
He was in fucking proud immortal demon way!
After that Shen Yuan had been screaming himself hoarse for a bit, not that anyone would have heard him.
The only explanation was that the boy who was wearing him was Luo Binghe! And the washerwoman was his adoptive mother.
Fucking hell.
And Shen Yuan seemed now to be the spirit of the jade pendant. But hadn’t it been a fake? And wasn’t his destiny to be lost on the peak later?
Shen Yuan mulled over his situation for a while, before he decided to try his best either way.
He wasn’t hungry, thirsty or tired. He was awake at all times, and found that if he imagined himself standing next to the little Binghe, he seemed to be able to see the child from a different perspective.
That way he was able to look after Binghe a bit; he was just getting used to all of this, as he reacted a few weeks later out of effect.
Binghe was running with a fruit he got from a nice older person in the village since he had helped her. In typical fashion of small children he was smiling and just stumbled. It could have been a stone on the ground, or his threadbare shoes.
In effect Shen Yuan, who had followed along, listening to the little boy's humming, tried to catch the boy to prevent him from hurting himself.
Normally he wasn’t able to touch the boy. He had tried a few times, but whatever body he had - he had not been able to touch Binghe.
Now, maybe because it was with intent, he was able to catch the boy. The fruit was still in Binghe’s hands, while Shen Yuan screamed “Watch out!” before setting the boy down.
Binghe, shocked and confused, felt hands on his hips and a male voice calling out. As he was standing again he looked back, trying to thank the passerby who had likely saved him - but there was nobody there.
Binghe looked around, confused. He had heard a voice, felt even cold hands. The boy frowned, before his own stomach was making itself known, telling him that he needed substance.
In the end Binghe shrugged his shoulders, before now walking instead of running to his home.
Shen Yuan looked at his own hands, wondering. Could he repeat that?
***
Experiments needed time.
But Shen Yuan had nothing but time.
In the end he found out that he apparently had the ability to touch Binghe a short amount of time each day.
He didn’t want to scare him, so he had tried it mostly at night when Binghe was sleeping. It had gotten colder, but neither Binghe or the washerwoman had enough money to buy thicker clothes or blankets.
But still everyday Binghe was wearing the pendant, rubbing it clean. To Shen Yuan it felt like a small touch of his skin. Since it was the only touch he got he started to treasure it.
He just feared that time was running out. He didn’t know in which year the washerwoman would die. Binghe was still young, and as much as he tried to help his mother, his fingers were still clumsy.
Maybe, if Shen Yuan could touch things more…
***
“Hello?” asked Binghe as he felt something touching his head. He had felt for weeks now like something or someone was following him. Nothing bad, but still.
This world was full of beasts, monsters, demons and other creatures.
Spirits too!
Like a sudden connection was built, Binghe got his pendant out and looked at it.
“Is it you? Jade spirit?” asked Binghe.
The boy felt a small touch on his cheek, hard and cool, before it vanished.
Binghe felt his own smile grow. “You are!” His mothers words were true! He took care of the pendant, and now the spirit helped him!
Binghe felt so lucky. His life wasn’t bad, but he knew that they were barely making ends meet. He felt a slow tug on his hair, like someone was trying him to move into a certain direction.
Binghe’s heart felt warm and he followed. He found himself at the edge of the river his mother used to wash the clothes. He looked around, but didn’t find anything out of order.
Till he found something shiny moving at the edge of the water.
Binghe walked up to it, finding shiny crystals. Binghe didn’t know much about gems, but he knew that these could be exchanged for some money!
***
Shen Yuan was happy to see Binghe singing next to his mother. Finding the fluorit had been easy after he had the sudden epiphany - he was a jade spirit, shouldn’t he be able to find gems?
The river near their house didn’t hold many of them, and too much would get the interest of other people - but a child finding something in the river? Could happen.
The washerwoman sold it - Shen Yuan had no idea if the price was good - but they were now able to buy more food for a while.
And Binghe, who somehow gathered that the jade spirit had been helping him, started talking to his pendant now like Shen Yuan was standing next to him. Shen Yuan was, but still.
Warmth filled Shen Yuan's cold jade heart. He hoped he could help further. With how hard things would be ahead, he hoped he could make Binghe’s life a bit better.
***
A few years went by.
With time, Shen Yuan was able to talk to Binghe directly, touch the boy and change his environment. The jade spirit saw it as leveling up!
Binghe had asked for his name, and Shen Yuan had become A-Yuan or Yuan-gege fast. How cute!
While Shen Yuan was only partly able to help Binghe, as he couldn’t just change gravel into gems, Binghe had taken to wandering around, finding smaller crystals and gems that could be sold. Shen Yuan remembered enough about the world to help Binghe gather eggs from the green-eyes doves, mushrooms that wouldn’t kill them and berries that were sweet.
Binghe became known as a scavenger, selling these things while his mother worked as a washerwoman. It wasn’t much - sometimes Shen Yuan couldn’t find anything for days for Binghe to sell - but it was more than what they originally had.
And since Shen Yuan had gotten so strong, he even sometimes used his strength to teach Binghe a bit about this realm. He could manipulate sand to write words, for Binghe to copy them. He told Binghe about the world, about monsters and people while the boy wandered around.
It all helped to widen the child's horizon.
It was a good time.
But of course the plot still tried to happen.
Binghe’s mother got ill. At first she got a rash, before she got a fever. She couldn’t hold food down either.
“A-Yuan,” whispered Binghe as his mother was finally sleeping a bit. “What can I do?”
Binghe had already used their coins for medicine from the market, and it did elevate her pain a bit. But she was still ill. The doctor didn’t know exactly what she had.
“She most likely has the fever-pox,” said Shen Yuan. Most illnesses were stolen from his world after all. “There is a plant that could help, but it will most likely grow on the mountain with the snakes.”
It was a region they didn’t really visit. A lot of poisonous plants grew there, and snakes loved to hide between the stones.
Binghe nodded and got up. “I have to try it.”
***
In true storytelling fashion, the world was making it hard for Binghe. It even started to rain, and if Binghe hadn’t gotten at least two meals a day for a while the boy wouldn’t have had the stamina to walk that far either.
Shen Yuan tried to use his senses and warned Binghe where to put his feet. At least the rain made it unlikely for snakes to attack them.
Binghe climbed the last part of the mountain, as the thing happened that would make the reader gasp - the ground under him broke away and together with the wet stones Binghe was unable to get a hold onto anything.
Shen Yuan reacted and it was the first time Binghe saw the spirit that helped him so much in this life.
Glowing green-white, a figure appeared. The figure was male, but the face was as beautiful as jade. Strong green eyes watched over Binghe, strong arms holding him stable, while soft hands got him back on track.
“A-Yuan?” asked Binghe with wide eyes and mouth open. The handsome figure before him was wearing robes that shone green in the light. They flowed around the man like water.
A man that was cussing him out.
“Binghe! You need to be careful!” said the spirit. The light of his figure was already dimming. “I can’t save you every time something happens!”
Binghe nodded, before the spirit sighed and vanished. That shocked Binghe so much that he looked around in the rain. “A-Yuan?”
“I am still here,” said the jade spirit. “I think the plant is up ahead.”
Binghe, who focused again, climbed the last bit and found the blue flower standing strong against the rain.
“Don’t worry,” said Shen Yuan. “It should help your mother. Gather it and let’s walk back.”
***
With the flower Binghe made tea, and slowly his mother gathered her strength back. She could eat again and the rash was slowly fading.
After showing himself to Binghe once, Shen Yuan felt like he leveled up! It was now easier to touch Binghe or talk to him. It didn’t feel like he used much energy at all!
After Binghe’s mother was healthy again and Binghe wandered along the river, he hummed to himself.
“A-Yuan?” asked Binghe
“Yes Binghe?”
“Thank you again. With your help I could heal my mother,” said Binghe.
Binghe had already thanked Shen Yuan more than once, but the boy was still behaving like Shen Yuan was a god from the heavens.
“I will repay you,” said Binghe and meant it. He didn’t know what a spirit might need - A-Yuan didn’t seem hungry, or needed sleep - but he would make sure that the spirit would be happy. He would move the world for this spirit.
Binghe kissed the pendant, hearing the scandalized “Binghe!” from the spirit and smiled. He knew that A-Yuan could feel when Binghe touched the stone.
“I told you no kissing! It feels weird.”
“This one apologizes,” said Binghe but smiled still. A-Yuan ranted a bit before he led Binghe to an area which seemed to have some amber. With the sun shining, his belly full and his mother healthy, listening to the spirits rambling, Binghe couldn’t be happier.