When Luo Binghe meets his eyes Shen Qingqiu closes his mouth with a snap. He fumbles for his fan to hide whatever his expression he's making, but it eludes him, slipping from his fingers, and he turns away in a panic. Sorry, he thinks, loudly, as he flees sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, I know you don't want me here, but god, is he really not even allowed to look? Is he doomed to live in the same house—albeit an enormous one—with Luo Bingge, and not be able to see him, cross paths with him occasionally, watch him speak and smile and crush his enemies from afar?

He hadn't given much credence to the theory that this could be the afterlife—he'd already lived a lot of an afterlife, in PIDW, and he hadn't died again before coming here—but that, in this moment, feels like an accurate description of hell.