Zhang Shenyuan had stayed away for a good decade or so, and the child Xu Lin had picked up that day had grown well. Xu Lin had handed him over to a staff, and they'd gotten him new papers and identity after nothing came up in their searches; paternity test yielded nothing, for lack of a substantial database to match the results. Though the technology had potential, it was far too young to be universally useful.
Cheng Qingqing's parents had been shocked by the child suddenly appearing by her side, but had understood when she explained the situation. They had been enthusiastic when it became clear that the boy was intelligent and obedient, despite his lackluster emotional expression. He had preferred to spend his time at the department, too, after school. Every week Xu Lin would find him sitting at the employee kitchen's dining table, doing self-study. Sometimes they would drink tea. Sometimes Xu Lin would help him with 'homework', whenever it entailed literature and poetry.
Xu Lin could sense that the quiet distance enveloping this child was related to his experiences; whatever happy memories he might have had of his childhood had been wiped, thus leaving him only with his days as an abandoned child in the yaoguai slums. He looked all too happy to be around Xu Lin, which Xu Lin suspected was related to the aura he instilled upon the fearful more than any actual enjoyment of his personality.
This wasn't the first time Xu Lin had seen this. It wasn't surprising.
But he'd grown up now. A few years ago he'd gone to this thing the others explained was "college", and had returned a few weeks ago. He had studied Psychology— Xu Lin was surprised that such a thing had become standardized study, but there was still a lot he didn't understand about the world now. The international politics he had heard of was almost easier to imagine and understand than some of the more mundane things.
"There's no major on supernatural beings, sir," Cheng Xingyun had said wryly years ago, when he'd come to explain to Xu Lin his plans for higher education. "I considered my options. Although there might be better choices, I believe… this would help me understand the motivations of others better."
"It's more worthwhile than studying about supernatural creatures," Xu Lin said with a brief nod. "It's a better choice."
"A-ah, I… I'm glad you approve, sir."
He did his studies diligently, and did not waste too much time going back to the department. Other than for the New Years, he only made phone calls, rendered brief due to costs— for the rest, he sometimes wrote letters to Xu Lin. His handwriting was good enough, meaning that the few calligraphy lessons Xu Lin had given him had sunk through his skull, and the letters were always straight to the point.
Ages ago, Xu Lin would've been proud to push him forward as a candidate for the imperial examinations. That those tragedies befell him was a showcase of how unfair Heaven was, robbing both parents and child.
But regardless, fate had led them here. Now that he had returned, Cheng Xingyun became part of the department, which recently had been officialized as the Naturalization Department. After years of lobbying, it was finally here. And Cheng Xingyun was its first new employee, assigned to… sorting through the paperwork to naturalize the yaoguai Xu Lin had spent years screening individually. He would have to interview them and walk them through the procedure, and possibly, he'd need to help them tidy up their papers to apply for jobs.
It was one of the least glorious jobs there were. Xu Lin still found it astounding that he was putting so much into this.
Cheng Xingyun picked up the worn blue folder again, making sure none of the notes he took was sticking out. "All right then. Thank you very much, Mr. Xu. I will study these in more depth."
"It's only the Classics of Mountains and Seas," Xu Lin mused. "Those modern simplified versions work fine. Just use it as a list. Most of the creatures had long been extinct anyway."
A lot of the places were no longer here either. Xu Lin wished anyone seeking Mount Kunlun luck. Or Fusang, or the Ruo tree1The mythical mulberry tree in the far east, the perches from which the 10 suns or sun-birds would rise everyday. They make their way across to the Ruo tree, its equivalent in the west. Both are mentioned in Shanhaijing, but Allan posits that the Fusang and Ruo were part of Shang dynasty religion. When Mount Kunlun started appearing and becoming seen in its regional religion is something I'm delving into myself., for that matter. Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou, well, not even those from ancient times had reached those mysterious islands.
"I just… don't want to mistake someone and cause problems," Cheng Xingyun admitted, his hand coming up as if to hide his mouth. "That would be a diplomatic incident I'd prefer to avoid, especially if it's one of the more prominent ones."
"There really is only one person you need to know the name of in that crowd, and that person is Taotie," Xu Lin said. "The rest will not hurt you."
That made Cheng Xingyun turn thoughtful. "Taotie. Mr. Zhang? Zhang Shenyuan?"
Xu Lin hummed in reply. After a moment of silence, Cheng Xingyun realized that Xu Lin wasn't going to elaborate, and took it as a sign to leave.
"I'll be going then sir. Have a nice evening. I will see you tomorrow."
It was already quite late; most of the staff had left an hour or two ago, and only this studious young seedling was so eager to start on his work as a pawn of bureaucracy. It wasn’t the first time Cheng Xingyun left last, though, and as he made his way out he made sure to check the rooms along the way, shutting close forgotten windows and turning off the lights.
The hallways went dark. When Cheng Xingyun looked up from the street, car keys lodged into the driver’s side door, only Xu Lin’s room remained lit.
It always looked lonely. Perhaps that made two of them. In any case, Cheng Xingyun drove away, heading home.
Xu Lin’s room at this office building was the biggest, but it felt cramped with all the filled bookcases and the bed shoved into a corner. It was a sizable, soft and bouncy bed, a strange luxury he’d grown to depend on, but messy with some piled books. In fact, most of the room was that way: printed documents stacked atop leather-bound volumes atop wood-brown books, side by side like skyscrapers of this new age. On his sturdy, hardwood working desk were fragments of a project he was working on. A stack of xuan paper had been filled with illustrations of the creatures in the Classics of Mountains and Seas. Another stack was still pure white, waiting for him to find the time and energy to grind ink and paint the next batch.
Tonight was not that time. Xu Lin glanced over at the documents Cheng Xingyun had brought over to discuss. It was part of the report Xu Lin had written, approving a Huan2A one-eyed, three-tailed feline that was said in the Shanhaijing to be a superb mimic of 100 animal calls. to be “naturalized” as a citizen and be allowed to exist among humans.
But not even an hour had passed before Xu Lin looked up, sensing another presence within the building. Sure enough, not ten minutes later, the door to his room opened and in walked a certain man, dressed from head to toe in black while carrying something in his hand. Coming over without a preamble, Zhang Shenyuan sauntered up to the desk.
"I've come to… celebrate." He put down a bottle of baijiu with a noticeable clack. Leaning over the table, his smile grew wider, just off-kilter enough to be unnerving. “Xu Lin ah Xu Lin, it’s such a pleasure to know that you’re also willing to work alongside me. It was, however, very rude that you’d visited so many of my people and never showed yourself in front of me. My feelings were hurt. Fortunately, I’m a forgiving man.”
Xu Lin didn’t bother hiding the snort he made.
“The starvation is making you hallucinate,” he said. Peering over his glasses, he continued, “What brings you here? The paperwork’s all been approved. It doesn’t actually need your signature.”
“I come here with drinks and you bring up paperwork. Your bedside manners being like this, it’s no wonder the only person who had fucked you was me.”
As he spoke, Zhang Shenyuan pulled out two glasses— Xu Lin really didn’t want to know why these existed, but they were glass cups shaped like jue vessels, though distinctly lacking the meaningful patterns on its body. It looked like a novelty item, but Xu Lin didn’t even have time to be offended by it. Within minutes Zhang Shenyuan was pouring drinks for two, sliding one over to Xu Lin. Gaze hooded, he watched and waited as Xu Lin sighed and picked up the cup. When the liquor entered his mouth, he almost started coughing, but managed to curb the reflex and downed it in one go, shooting Zhang Shenyuan a scathing, teary glare.
“It’s what they drink nowadays to celebrate,” Zhang Shenyuan said breezily, topping up Xu Lin’s cup once more. “Here, cheers.”
This time, Zhang Shenyuan clinked their glasses and downed his. When he put down his glass, his gaze was deep as he licked his lips.
What happened next was well within the scope of their expectations. If anything, it almost felt like the two of them polishing off the bottle was simply for plausible deniability: whatever came after, predictable as it was, planned as it might be, it had nothing to do with clarity of mind.
"The last time you laid me was during the Western Zhou," Xu Lin said dryly as he was pushed onto his stomach flat against the desk. Zhang Shenyuan's broad hand pressed him down, traveling up his spine before resting on his neck, forcing out a sharp exhale. Xu Lin's throat bobbed uncontrollably from the pressure against the hardwood. "Don't pretend like you know what you're doing that much."
"Ah? I seem to recall fucking you in a wooded grove while those Ruists3The Chinese for Confucianism is actually 儒家 Rujia, with the ru as the name and jia being more or less school (of thought). There is actually a push by members to be called Ruists instead, in the broader English-speaking sphere. were chattering about and playing the qin mere feet away. Whose crowd was it again? Mengzi4Mengzi, more commonly known in the west as Mencius, was a Confucian scholar living in the Warring States era.?"
"Don't act like you know." The syllables came out breathy as Zhang Shenyuan pressed down harder. Xu Lin's vision swam, and he couldn't tell if it was the asphyxiation or the alcohol. A hand tugged on his pants. After another hard, impatient tug, it finally slid down Xu Lin's hips and down his thighs, followed by his underwear. He let out a low groan when Zhang Shenyuan slapped his ass, hard, and the sky rumbled in the distance. The brief flash of lightning swelling in the clouds was as bright as the redness of the handprint left behind. "Uncultured swine… You only knew Sun Bin's camp."
"Heaven is too overprotective of you," Zhang Shenyuan commented when he landed another slap, and another rumble resounded. "The Bai Ze could handle a little spanking, can he not? Look, Heaven, at how much he likes it. Maybe I should move on to taking you raw. If Heaven strikes me, it would be worth it."
Heaven's wrath was far beyond whatever child's play of a thunder this was, though, and they were far from getting to that territory. Bai Ze was not about to die from being choked in bed.
Actually, they wouldn't kill him just because he took Bai Ze raw and bloody either. He'd done that once or twice, in his angrier days. Taotie was a bit burnt for several months, but one thing about fierce beasts was that they're resilient.
"Don't you have any oils?" Zhang Shenyuan grumbled. Despite his words, he was still thrusting, his cock rubbing against the dip of the cheeks he was spreading. Xu Lin's hole was twitching, so every now and then he pulled back and poked at it with the tip of his cock, Xu Lin tensing underneath him as if expecting him to force his way in.
Back in those days, Zhang Shenyuan would've. Despite what Xu Lin said, they'd fucked across the centuries since Western Zhou— they ended up in each other's beds more often than expected. Once during Northern and Southern dynasties, Zhang Shenyuan wormed his way to the good graces of an emperor, and fucked Xu Lin on a table among dishes granted to him as a reward. He'd used the melted dessert as lubricant, though it ended up so sticky and disgusting Xu Lin slapped him afterwards, pulling his head away by the hair when he lapped at and bit the remnants of said dessert off Xu Lin's red and puffy nipples.
"Despite being such a bitch, your tits don't even produce milk," he'd complained then.
"Go fuck a real cow," Xu Lin had cursed. He kicked Zhang Shenyuan then, the sole of his foot pressing against the bridge of his nose and forehead as he pushed him away, drunk eyes reflecting clarity.
"Well, if you don't got oil, we'll have to make do." Zhang Shenyuan turned around and grabbed the spinning chair closer, plopping down on it. Then, positioning himself, he leaned down.
"Fuck— Is that your damn—?!"
Tongue broad and pointed and not at all human, Zhang Shenyuan licked a flat stripe up to the dip of Xu Lin's lower back, nibbling the skin with his now-sharp teeth on his return back down. After leaving red marks, some pinpricks and some grazes of canines dragged close, Zhang Shenyuan turned his attention to the twitching hole below.
"Xu Lin," he said, rubbing the rim with a thumb. "Sometimes I want to shove other things up here. You reckon a baijiu will burn on its way up?"
"I will get your dick stuck on a full bottle of baijiu if you dare, Taotie."
"Touché."
And with that, Zhang Shenyuan leaned down and proceeded with eating him out.
The two of them had known each other since the early days of Zhou, and had slept together for about as long. But Xu Lin was a man with grudges, and Zhang Shenyuan had bottomless hunger— Xu Lin would not give, and Zhang Shenyuan grew ever more impatient. Even as he lay flat on his own desk, ruining the notes he was writing with sweat, cock leaking and going untouched, Xu Lin bit down on his forearm instead of letting out an unhindered moan. The greedy bastard leaving nail imprints on his hips and using a beast's tongue to fuck him was shameless; the wet sounds of him pushing his tongue ever deeper, pulling him open wider with his thumbs, filled the air instead, somehow sounding far more obscene. Xu Lin's glasses, pushed up to his hairline when he started hiding his face behind his arm to hold back a groan, dislodged and clattered to the ground when a particularly pointed thrust made his entire body jerk from the sharp pleasure.
"You're, you're ah—" a breathless gasp as Zhang Shenyuan curled his tongue, "so hungry you'd… eat anything, huh?"
Taotie existed in a state of perpetual hunger, a greed that would never be fulfilled a single inch. Of course he would eat anything. And for a moment, Xu Lin felt like he'd returned to the Tang dynasty from how dutifully Zhang Shenyuan ate him out, his wide and pointed taotie's tongue fucking into him in ways no human tongue ever could. If there was ever a worship of Bai Ze in the recent centuries, this might just be it. Xu Lin's breath hitched. A soft whine escaped his throat.
A hand caressed his thigh at that, before leaving and landing a sharp slap against his ass. At the same time, Zhang Shenyuan's other hand kept him in place, nails digging into his waist, and Xu Lin choked on his own gasp as he jerked away and failed. That tongue—
Somehow, it was the thought that got to him. A deep shudder running down his spine, making his sweaty hands clutch harder at the end of the table, Xu Lin came.
Zhang Shenyuan kept going. Gasping for air from the intensity and creeping oversensitivity, Xu Lin tried to turn around and swat at Zhang Shenyuan's head, but only managed to smack his wrist right into the baijiu bottle, knocking it off the desk. After surviving all the jostling on this heavy table, it finally met its end shattered on the floor.
"Get off," Xu Lin slurred, tongue not feeling quite right. He'd never had this much trouble breathing in one round before.
Zhang Shenyuan rose to his full height at that. Without sparing another moment, he lined up his long-erect and throbbing cock against the hole he had so lovingly wetted and stretched, and pushed in just like that.
"That was the plan, Baobei," he said, going all the way in one push. "Happy to know your time in the sheets has softened your heart, and you care enough about me to eagerly ask for my seed in you."
Taotie could not get sustenance into his stomach, and thus could not actually get drunk, but Zhang Shenyuan always got drunk on the moment. Being fully dressed while Xu Lin was a mess in a bunched up white shirt, it was doing things to him. The too-long white shirt had been pushed up to his neck, exposing the back that Zhang Shenyuan had painted on with his teeth, while his pants dangled limply on an ankle.
Suddenly, he wanted to mark up the front, too.
Turning Xu Lin around, not even bothering to fully pull out, Zhang Shenyuan leaned in as he slammed back in. His hands found purchase on slim hips, his mouth on soft abdomen. There was something tantalizing about the way a shudder ran through it as Zhang Shenyuan nibbled on the skin. His bites climbed upwards and before long he was sucking on a nipple, lapping and biting and teasing the opening with his pointed tongue. His hands traced down the curve of thighs, and once they found the undersides of knees, he let go of his new oral fixation to shift them both. Legs now thrown over Zhang Shenyuan's shoulders, Xu Lin's lower back was lifted off the desk as he was bent in half, helpless to do anything but take the violent pounding that followed.
They always did fall into their baser natures the moment their lips touched.
Zhang Shenyuan found a new fixation on the neck he'd so happily wrapped his hand around, replacing the phantom fingerprints with red marks instead. It traced the curve of Xu Lin's graceful neck, like a collar; he bit a red circle at the center as a final decoration. Satisfied, he looked up.
Xu Lin's gaze was lost, and the loud whines and labored breathing had long since been beyond his control. A bright blush had spread beyond his cheeks to his entire face, and spit had left his reddened lips glossy, trailing down his chin as he fell too far down to think about anything but the cock inside him. Oversensitivity had turned pleasure to pain, but their twisted cores had turned that very pain into the heights of pleasure.
Breath hitching, Zhang Shenyuan felt yet another lock on his original form break— he, he needed to breed this man with his true form's cock, to permanently imprint him with its monstrous shape, to fill him with his purest energy.
But most of all, deep inside him, he wanted to kiss Xu Lin.
Xu Lin's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the cock spearing him into the desk grew, and grew bumps not there before. The position kept the rest of his body from moving too much in response, but his arm, after several jerks, managed to find its way up back to his face as Zhang Shenyuan pulled out, and slammed back in with vengeance. A hoarse moan ripped through the air, as pointed and striking as the bump on his stomach that appeared whenever Zhang Shenyuan was fully sheathed within— here, Taotie was the one fucking him now, his form human but his stomach, his manhood that of a starved beast, plundering and occupying out of greed, greed, greed—
But he needed more. He needed a kiss.
So he slowed down, and almost lurched forward— a hand left its place on Xu Lin's thigh to grab at his face instead, pulling it into position. And, in the face of a dazed, half lidded gaze, Zhang Shenyuan stole a kiss.
A strange sensation rippled through his core, all encompassing and dazzling. Zhang Shenyuan's breath hitched, and then— he spilled.
Faintly, he sensed a wet warmth hitting his abdomen as he filled Xu Lin with his seed, an unfamiliar fullness filling the cavity in his own chest with abstract warmth.
"Good morning Mr. Xu," Cheng Xingyun said as he entered the room. He paused at the doorway upon seeing Xu Lin half sprawled over his desk, clearly having fallen asleep there without a second thought. On the floor right by the desk was a shattered wine bottle, though there was barely any liquid pooling; it was undoubtedly polished off. Cheng Xingyun eyed Xu Lin's sleeping form with some wariness, and chose to put his files atop a nearby table before pulling out his gloves to start picking up the biggest shards.
The trashcan, which was emptied daily by the staff, was full with balled up papers once again. After following Xu Lin for as long as he could remember, quite literally so, Cheng Xingyun was more or less familiar with the patterns of Xu Lin's repetitive life. He only wasted this much paper when he was frustrated.
And yet… Cheng Xingyun eyed the label scraps on the glass fragments. Moutai.
Xu Lin did not drink much liquor; when he drank, he preferred rice wine, partaking it primarily during festivals. Moutai, it was unheard of. Did someone…?
"-ingyun?"
Cheng Xingyun almost cut himself with a shard when he startled. "Y-yes sir?"
"What are you doing squatting there."
"Picking up shards, sir. It would be dangerous to leave it here, and you often walk bare feet."
Xu Lin, voice still scratchy from sleep, snapped, "Get up. What are you doing? Show me what you came here for."
He looked like he had a really rough night, but Cheng Xingyun doubted that his pushing would've been welcome. Mr. Xu was a private person, and for all intents and purposes his superior.
Anyway, though he looked rough, he didn't seem too different from usual. His shirt was very rumpled and he looked like he'd been in a fight, but it wasn't as if there were wounds. There wasn't a mark on him.
"It's nothing that couldn't wait, sir," Cheng Xingyun said instead, despite his watch ticking steadily towards ten o'clock. "I brought breakfast."
"Oh."
His hand reached up to hide his mouth, and somewhat embarrassed, Cheng Xingyun said, “I think it might be better to eat at the dining room. I put the food there to keep warm. Or would Mr. Xu like me to bring it over?”
You don’t look so good, he really wanted to say, but did not.
Xu Lin shook his head, too, as he rose to his feet. It didn’t seem like he was hurt; there was only a mild cracking sound from his back and neck as he stretched it a bit, but that wasn’t out of the norm, sad to say. Xu Lin had a habit of falling asleep on his desk. Respecting his answer, Cheng Xingyun moved to head to the door. Still, a question nagged at him.
"Mr. Xu, if I may ask?"
Cheng Xingyun glanced at the shattered bottle, the shards of which Xu Lin bypassed as though by magic.
"Did someone come to visit after work hours last night?"
I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.
Pablo Neruda
