#and Shen Jiu is like “ew a child”

[sillygoofyqueer]

Please tell me more about how awesome Wei Qingwei is 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ because I am required by law to know all Wei Qingwei details 🥸🥸

*Crawling slowly across the floor* Peach.........Peaaachyyyyyyyy. There are so many details that I added to that man that it's hard to tell what I've already said and what I haven't! I have, however, just found a notation thing I did in my free time aaaages ago, which is basically how the other Peak Lords interact with Wei Qingwei! There is some mention of my OC peak lords (Shui Muyang/Qingbo -> Zui Xian, and Jiang Qingbai -> Ku Xing (I've just remembered I never edited that one post I made about her...)), so do with that what you will. (Also these were rough notes directly translated from a piece of paper and I can't be bothered to fix the formatting xoxo)

Wei Qingwei -> Makes the cool whip for Shui Muyang, who immediately decides that they must protect him and is there when he goes on his first mission with Yue Qingyuan ↳ Yue Qingyuan is immediately hit with the daddy/gege beam, leaving him flummoxed and trying not to cry for some reason -> Wei Qingwei admires Xuan Su next to a barely functioning Yue Qingyuan while Liu Qingge huffs & puffs in the background because Wei Qingwei is his gege ↳ Of course, they are all older than him, but nobody knows it -> Mu Qingfang's shizun does, but he's utter bollocks at his job so he just doesn't mention it -> Wei Qingwei's shifu knows as well; he thinks it's hilarious

More often than not, there's a fight to the death over who gets to hang out with Wei Qingwei -> Shang Qinghua is often most likely to win this (without participating) because there is so much he needs help with & Wei Qingwei will always help out

Wei Qingwei becomes endeared to Jiang Qingbai when he excitedly yaps to her about the different talismans they could build into weapons to make them stronger, all the while giving time for her to write down her responses and vowing to learn how to do sign language (even if he can't see very well)

Shen Jiu falls to Wei Qingwei's determination to befriend him -> man helps him catch up with the others' combat wise & is the one to lead to the caves where he finds Xiu Ya (also similar senses of crappy humour) ↳ Shen Jiu is also more likely to realise that Wei Qingwei is actually younger than him -> either remains as seeing Wei Qingwei as father/gege or is immediately like 'ah, Wei Qingwei is a kind, helpful didi who looks up to his gege' and then hits Wei Qingwei with the gege beam ↳ I like to think that, instead of Wei Qingwei getting hit with Shen Yuan's wife beam, he hits Shen Yuan with his didi beam because he just doesn't change how he acts around Shen Yuan even if Shen Jiu has changed ↳ When Shen Jiu gets his own body, Wei Qingwei gets two geges

[xmoriartea]

SVSSS!Sibling Transmigration AU

Based so very loosely on this glorious art by @nibbelraz

Airplane transmigrates into the youngest infant son of the Shang family (and God damn he deserves better than this System he is their god!! Daddy Airplane?? Heard of him?? These people should not be changing his damn diaper hello??)

Shang Qinghua is already a young disciple when he visits home and meets his little brother for the first time and does no one else see there is something... off about this kid?

He makes regular trips home afterwards, eventually using An Ding logistics to find reasons to be near his hometown more frequently (and really does no one else see this kid is weird?)

Bby!Airplane is just too smart. SQH is convinced he saw the kid make eye contact with him once when he caught him stealing a dumpling behind their mother's back and it was like looking into the eyes of a demon who'd gut him if he snitched and not a human toddler

It doesn't get better as Airplane gets older and SQH hears him muttering about 1. things he shouldn't know at all regarding the sect when he thinks SQH isn't listening and 2. absolute nonsense (what System has done you so wrong didi?? you are four??)

Before Airplane is old enough to reasonably join the sect, SQH brings him back to the mountain anyway. He is fairly certain his brother is a seer and if that's the case, he's keeping the little welp close at hand

Airplane infinitely regrets how much bullshit he made An Ding deal with to ""hand wave lazy writing"" (shut up peerless cucumber!! he was writing porn not project management!!) but even just watching SQH run himself ragged over the peak has bby him exhausted (no wonder he ratted y'all out to the king yeesh)

He spends his early years as a disciple just following SQH and sometimes nudging his gege into record shattering discoveries because SQH will pat his head when he realizes and take him down the mountain for noodles afterwards (gg easy)

Airplane is a proper disciple in his own right in his teens when his notes and his story get jumbled in a way that has him tripping into one of his shixiongs when he hears the rumors - Head Disciple SJ returned to the mountain with a little brother (record screech glass shattering huh???)

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan transmigrated into Shen Jiu's unnamed younger half-brother After finding stability at the sect, Shen Jiu looks into his birth mother, knowing she sold him off when he was a child What he finds in Airplane's unwritten notes is a Fantine-Cosette backstory where his mother, a courtesan, gave him away to a good family after he was born. She sent them regular payments to ensure his care, but only found out when she was pregnant with SY that they had sold SJ off and were pocketing her money Unable to find SJ and unwilling to risk SY, she and the other courtesans raised SY within the brothel SY transmigrates into the body of a child at his sick mother's bedside with a twisted sense of deja vu having just vacated his own deathbed He doesn't know where he is, but if the orphan protagonist can make it to the sect, so can he right? (Transmigrator Halo? System? System why are you laughing??) He's barely into his second teens when SJ finds him. It takes no time at all after learning the truth for SJ to demand SY's guardianship and whisk him back to Qing Ding (See System? He DOES have a Transmigrator Halo, even if it is attached to the scum villain) SY is honestly shocked by how concerned(?) SJ is when packing his meager possessions. (No Jiu-ge (ew) no one has ever harmed him or touched him wtf would make you think they had?? He's baby??) It takes some time for glaciers to melt and for SJ to let SY in, but SY was raised around kind jiejies who taught him to be better than their worst clients and SJ feels safe around this little brat in a way he can't explain (SJ has had SY for five minutes but if anything happens to him SJ is taking out the entire mountain and then himself) YQY has NO idea how to react when SJ first returns with his brother, but he doesn't hesitate to smooth the way for SY's discipleship and watches from afar as SJ begins to finally let someone in, even if it's not him

SQH keeps telling Airplane he needs to work on his muttering to himself, that it's going to get him in trouble (bro you don't even know) but for once it's in his favor because SY overhears him just enough while YQY is sorting his shit out on arrival and suddenly they're just two spidermen pointing at each other on the peak

Cue the shenanigans of two hometown boys who have no bearing on the plot at all and are just along for the ride while their siblings handle the peaks. Anytime Qing Ding and An Ding need to work together on missions, these two volunteer and confuse the hell out of their martial siblings every step of the way

SJ does not trust the little logistics rat anywhere near his didi and glowers like an alley cat anytime Airplane is around (SQH is right, ofc. His brother IS weird and SJ does not trust it)

SQH meanwhile takes note of his weird didi's sudden and first friendship with SY and immediately starts keeping tabs on this kid because clearly Airplane's seerhood has steered him to SY for a reason, must keep note

The first time LQG makes any sort of fuss about SJ going to a brothel, SY forgets everything he's learned at the sect as Little Brother Mode™ activates to defend not only SJ but his jiejies too. (Fists are thrown. Hair is pulled. He might have bitten his shixiong, he can't say. He sort of blacked out for a minute there) Needless to say there isn't a second time and LQG has an hour long argument with his shizun about trying to poach SY for Bai Zhan peak while nursing a black eye (Airplane just side eying the GREMLIN that transmigrated here like bro wtf)

Before LBH even steps foot on the mountain, both their Systems ping about the incoming protagonist and it's not that they, you know, forgot about the story but they were distracted. Between finding each other and actually weirdly coming to care for these NPCs they... lost track of time

But the System pings and LBH enters the scene and SY refuses to let Airplane's work repeat itself (we're making your notes canon bro stfu and follow my lead. (what lead??? what plan??) I'm working on it!!)

It's a 50/50 crap shoot if SYs favoritism of bby!Binghe endears him to SJ or spikes up the resentment, but SY refuses to let harm come to LBH or for SJ to become the scum villain (someone is yelling, it might be SJ, it might be SY, it might be Binghe who doesn't want Shizun and Shixiong fighting over him)

On the other side of the plot, SQH is still a little snitch, even with his didi's visions guiding him to unprecedented success - but it's more than betraying the sect, more than wanting power and recognition. Seers are insanely powerful, highly sought after. Bringing Airplane to the sect protected him for awhile but SQH can't let him become a target. So when the OG meets MBJ, all his calculations come to a single unfortunate answer: throw your lot in with the biggest fish to protect Airplane (no one else can understand how weird his brother is because if they do his brother will end up dead)

Flash forward to when Airplane is squinting at his brother wearing fur collars year round, always running a little bit chilly for unknown reasons but refusing to see MQF about it. Airplane insists on SQH letting him check his meridians if he won't see MQF and SQH relents, puts his wrist in Airplane's hand, and squawks like a goddamn chicken when Airplane yanks his arm and tugs down his collar to reveal the mark of MBJ on his collarbone and SQH is once again met with that dead eyed 'bro do not fuck with me' stare

SQH does not question how Airplane knows, he just insists on Airplane staying far far away from MBJ (he might work for the demon, but he certainly does not trust him)

Of course Airplane defies all reason and knows the exact secret rendezvous point SQH uses (he did not suffer puberty twice to be denied seeing his most precious creation in the flesh, gege) and is spotted spying on the spy almost instantly by MBJ who is just holding him by his scruff and looking between a wide eyed Airplane and a barely-restrained-panicked peak lord like 'why oh why are there two of them'

Cue a full stand off between a demon and peak lord, ice knives at SQH's throat, a blade hovering at MBJ's heart, and Airplane just held like a kitten between them like fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck that SOMEHOW ends with MBJ rationalizing 'ah this weird mouse is important to my viper of a spy - if I want to keep the viper loyal, I will protect this mouse'

Which throws the Sheng brothers into a mess that neither of them know how to deal with. SQH thinks he needs to continue to be excessively useful to keep Airplane safe. Airplane can't let MBJ know he's his brother's best source or the demon might cut out the middle man. (Meanwhile somewhere MBJ just out here planning to court this weird little mouse to tie SQH's loyalties to him)

Whatever circumstances causes the Abyss plotline to trigger, SY 500% throws himself in after Binghe leaving SJ partially feral because his didi is in danger, Airplane CONCERNED, and SQH just casually like 'oh that's why my brother was interested in him, interesting' not at all realizing no, SY is likely just about to become his boss(-brother-in-law)'s boss's consort - whoops! whoops! whoops!

[joys-of-everyday]

Love Confession

I love Shen Jiu. He is literally my favourite character. Maybe not ever, but up there.

To SJ, I dedicate this rabbit hole of takes. (And omg this ballooned into a monster)

Take 1: He’s a scum villain.  

Take 2: He’s an abused, misunderstood soul who didn’t actual do most of the things he supposedly did. The Qius are the actual villains and taking vengeance was his right.  

Take 3: Yes, his past was pretty bad and sure he didn’t do all of the things he supposedly did, but that doesn’t excuse his bad behaviour (he canonically, explicitly, very brutally abused a child) and ultimately, he’s still a villain. The massacre in the Qiu manor was excessively violent, and probably harmed a lot of innocent people.   

Take 4: His actions and behaviour have to be taken in the context of the time. He lived in a world where violence and death were common, corporal punishment was acceptable, and subjected to violence from childhood. Judging him by modern standards is wrong. Also he was manipulated by Wu Yanzi.

Take 5: He still abused a child, not just physically but emotionally, alienated him from his peers, purposefully stunted his progress, with strong implication that he just wanted to crush LBH because he was jealous AND that he had done this to other kids. That’s pretty bad. Even YQY knew this was Not Okay. He just didn’t do anything about it. Despite being manipulated by Wu Yanzi, we see that a lot of the bad things he did, he did entirely by his own volition.

Take 6: But look at his face! How can you hate anyone with a face like that? (#PrettyPrivledgesAreReal)

Take 7: Firstly, there are two questions to be asked here. How do we judge Shen Jiu ‘in world’? How do we judge Shen Jiu as an 21st century reader?

To illustrate the difference, if LQG stabbed a serial killer in the world of SVSSS he would probably get a pat on the back for his hard work. If he did that in London today, he would be arrested for murder. We have different standards nowadays. But both questions are important, because I think most people would agree that just because society thinks it’s okay, that doesn’t make it okay in some broader sense. (Without going too deep into the theory of morality.) (Note this is a very serious question people argue about irl, so a discussion on SVSSS definitely isn’t going to cover it. E.g. how do you judge influential historical figures that had connections to the slave trade?)

1) In world.

There’s not much we know about the ethics of the SVSSS world, but let’s say it’s roughly 'ancient China' (sorry, condensing a few thousand years into one here). The unfortunate predicament was that the magnitude of your crime depended on your class. (And I understand that we do a lot of ‘oh look how backwards ancient China was’ in this fandom but Europe was atrocious too. Equality is a fairly modern take.) I think (and I’m not an expert so definitely call me out if I’m wrong but ew I just skimmed Slavery in Medieval China (Chapter 11) - The Cambridge World History of Slavery and damn life was tough) QJL beating a 12 yr old SJ would be sort of morally sus, but not like… earth-shatteringly terrible. SJ stabbing him in the stomach? Heinous crime. Now SJ abusing LBH is slightly worse because LBH is a disciple not a slave, but again not an earth-shattering crime – a stain on his reputation, but nothing on the level of the Qiu massacre. YQY could probably get away with not stepping in.

But also note, the application of the law and the views of the common people were two very different things. A layperson would probably have found the behaviour as disgusting as we do, if portrayals of villains in contemporary romances are anything to go by. (really random, but in the Romance of the Sui and Tang (written in 1695) I vaguely remember one of the heroes comes across a young man beating a woman on the street, accidently kills him, realises he’s a young lord, and has to run off because he’s about to be arrested. It’s meant to be satirical, I think)

On a more holistic level, SJ has a series of ‘character faults’ – promiscuity (arguably), disrespect of superiors etc. – which would have been judged more harshly than we might judge them now. (Being a dick to your boss is not really seen as a moral failing nowadays, although it may or may not class you as an asshole.)

2) As a modern reader

Again, lets split the question in two. There are roughly two stages to SJ’s life: before entering Cang Qiong, and after.

For before, we have the massacre of the Qiu manor, as well as various crimes under Wu Yanzi’s tutelage. (and note, ‘it was for vengeance’ will not get you out of prison these days, whether you agree with that or not (and yes, you can disagree. The law isn’t what is right, the law should be what we aim to make what is right)). There’s a reason there is a separate justice system for adolescents and adults – for one, we appreciate nowadays that adolescents are so heavily influenced by their environment that judging them by the same standards as adults is wrong. Giving Shen Jiu’s upbringing, I am going to tentatively put aside all of the things he has done in this stage of his life.  

Now the primary failing of SJ’s character that we see during his time as peak lord is obviously LBH’s treatment, which by any modern standards would be a hideous, headline-worthy, prison-sentencing crime. And a bad childhood really doesn’t excuse that. Plenty of people have bad childhoods and end up fine.

On the other hand, many people have bad childhoods… and end up with bad adulthoods. Childhood trauma is linked to adulthood crime. Poverty is also another factor. There exists one (1) study which suggests a correlation between sexual abuse in males and becoming a perpetrator (please read with a very large dollop of salt. Abused becoming abusers is not as common as believed. See: The Myth Of The Abused Becoming Abusers | Defend Innocence. The issue is sensitive and complicated.) (Also I’m not going to argue whether SJ was sexually abused or not – that’s a whole other post. (which probably won't happen)) There is a serious question to be asked as to what level of personal responsibility can be taken by someone whose life shows a pattern of crime. Again, a very relevant real-life question people have argued about extensively for a very long time (e.g. reform vs punishment of criminals).

SJ’s life has been systematically stacked against him. His childhood taught him that having power excuses terrible behaviour. In adulthood, we see YQY systematically failing to teach him any better (and no shade on YQY – he had it pretty tough as well). Nobody shows any kind of deep understanding of his situation and his anxieties, because he is unable to communicate them without ruining his reputation (remember, slaves had few rights). We see his misbeliefs throughout the extra chapters – he is a bad person (for having natural responses to shitty situations), it is shameful for him to seek support and validation (toxic masculinity being harmful to men!), it’s better to be misunderstood than to be judged as weak. SQH suggests that after LQG’s death, SJ fully had a mental breakdown.

Trauma and mental health problems ruin people. (And btw, the stereotype that people with mental health problems are dangerous is extremely harmful.) That being said, being depressed can make you a pretty nasty person to the people around you. And I don’t just mean asking more of people sometimes, I mean the full-blown ‘knowing exactly what will hurt someone and doing it, out of spite’ kind of nasty. It’s a scary place to be in, that is extremely difficult to overcome without dedicated help. (And there’s strong evidence to suggest that adverse childhood experiences strongly correlate to health problems, e.g. mental health problems in later life. See the ACE studies.)

I think the question of how we judge SJ is so complicated, not least because we don’t actually know that much about him, but more so because actually what we’re all debating back and forth is a Very Hard Question. How do you judge someone like Nicky Cruz, gang member turned Christian Evangelist? Or even harder questions – if certain minority groups are statistically more likely to commit crimes, how do you deal with that? Sure, people who cause harm to others should be punished accordingly, but labelling them a villain and chucking them into prison causes mass injustice.

SJ is not a shining symbol of breaking class barriers. As an individual, he’s still a shitty person who did some shitty things. YQY is much better - he's a slave who became a sect leader and doesn't do much (much) wrong. But I think SJ does demonstrate that a better society for everyone (including SJ) leads to a better society for everyone (including LBH).  

To ask other questions: Okay, LBH’s revenge was definitely excessive (I'm sorry but they got rid of torture as a punishment in the Han dynasty, okay. It's really not a good way to deal with things. Edit: they did not, but they stopped cutting off noses?) But what would have been an appropriate punishment? Could SJ, given the right circumstances, have found redemption? Was there a better path he could have walked?

Finally, a note on being a Bad Person vs being an asshole. Being rude is not nice. But it is not a crime either. Someone can be dislikeable and not really do anything wrong. I think confounding the issue is that SJ is both a Bad Person AND an asshole (in the most loving way possible). The former makes us want to call out aspects of the latter (oh look how he fought with LQG) (and yes, it’s explicit that it was usually SJ provoking him. Edit: it is not, see discussions below), but the latter is not a moral failing.

For example, had SJ not killed anyone, nor abused LBH, then he could probably get away with being an acerbic but maybe lovable figure. You can agree or disagree whether you want to be friends with him, but you probably wouldn’t complain about his existence. If he committed all of his crimes but was a wonderful person to chat with… he would be a JGY, and that’s a whole other can of worms.

Anyway, thank you for sticking with this monstrosity written far later in the night than is healthy. I would love to hear criticism/other takes!