He will remake Qinghe—refurbishing its rooms, balancing its ledgers, soothing its master’s tempers—until it’s a place for a man like him.
This fic exists because of three specific scenes in The Untamed:
- in Episode 10, where the captain of the guard tells Meng Yao to go deal with his "trifles" like "greeting guests and cleaning house";
- in Episode 25, where Jin Guangyao is in full evil event planner mode before/during the night hunt;
- in Episode 41's Nightless City flashback, where Meng Yao is caressing Baxia in front of Nie Mingjue's face and telling him how Baxia "has suffered quite a bit under my hands"--I have no idea whether this is an accurate translation of the line by the subbers, but it Got My Gears Turning.
There are some differences as my headcanons have evolved, but this fic is the the spiritual companion to my other Nieyao fic; I wanted to feel out both POVs on what, exactly, was Going On in Qinghe back in the day. The title is borrowed from Li-Young Lee. Lastly, apologies to Hilary Mantel for shameless cribbing from the Cromwell books. I've you've read The Mirror and the Light and recognize how many parts of this story are grafted from HM... no you don't <3
Imported from Archive of Our Own. Original work id: 25177657.