#he doesnt even realize how life changing this is to binghe

[fairsweetlonging]

adding these tags from @duohensheng <3

i love how it's not just binghe too, but all the people around him, and how we as the readers slowly learn that everything shen yuan does as shen qingqiu is actually not the norm, but very much out of place in the world of PIDW.

we see everything from shen yuan's eyes, and to him, his kind actions make sense, so we think they make sense too, but they don't. liu qingge was stunned at being saved by shen qingqiu, not just because he thought shen qingqiu hated him, but because it was an entirely selfless thing to do and SQQ wanted nothing in return but a chance at friendship. liu qingge returns that tenfold later with undying loyalty because an action like that is one of a kind

the same goes for zhuzhi-lang, who was, thus far, abhorred by everyone who saw him; SQQ stopped gongyi xiao from killing him simply because he saw a creature defending its habitat, not harming anyone, and even said they were the ones at fault for disturbing and agitating it, while also (tho unawarely) helping zhuzhi-lang get the sun-moon dew mushroom he wanted.

you see it with ning yingying and the other disciples; shen qingqiu notes that when he returns to qing jing peak after traveling, ning yingying seems to have missed him more than she did luo binghe, that she wasn't a grieving wreck, but stronger than ever and delighted to see him. ming fang was the one to step forward when SQQ "died" to tell luo binghe that SQQ always believed in him and was heart broken for years; ming fang was even willing to die to avenge SQQ's death, only stopping when ning yingying told him that shizun would never want that for them, which, again, is very uncommon for a world that puts so much honor on "dying for the cause".

and with luo binghe specifically it's important to remember that binghe doesn't fall in love with his shizun the moment he's nice(r) to him, he's actually confused, acknowledging that he thought his teacher didn't care about him at all until shen qingqiu said he believed binghe would win the match (which, in binghe's limited pov, was an huge risk that put SQQ's and the sect's honor on the line) and then got poisoned to protect him. like, shen qingqiu threw himself in front of his disciple and got injected with an incurable poison that causes a slow, painful death, to protect binghe.

if it was just about kindness then binghe would have fallen in love with ning yingying, but he didn't, it's about how much shen qingqiu was willing to risk for him to protect him, how much shen qingqiu believed in him even if binghe didn't believe in himself (as it says in book 1: "no one had ever believed in him like this"). the other peak masters wouldn't have done that, they wouldn't have been cruel, but they wouldn't have let binghe sleep in their house either, or protect him so fiercely, or spoil him so much.

in short, SQQ inspires others to give back the kindness he gives them; "a drop of kindness must be repaid by a flood" as zhuzhi-lang puts it.

One thing i feel like people misunderstand in Luo Binghe's character is the belief that he would have fallen for any other peak lord that became his Shizun and was not absolutely horrible to him like Og!Shen Qingqiu was when that's just not likely. The reason why Luo Binghe fell for post-transmitgation Shen Qingqiu is not because he suddenly became a teacher who didn't abuse him and treated him like any other discipline, it's because Shen Qingqiu consistently went out of his way to be kind to Luo Binghe in a way no one else in the world would have, like, what Shen Yuan did may seem basic to some people, but in the PIDW world? Bro was being the epitome of unrealistic kidness and he did ALL that only for Binghe because remember, that's his little sheep. Luo Binghe wouldn't have fallen for any other peak lord who became his Shizun because they wouldn't have treated him with the same amount of kindness (and preferential treatment) Shen Qingqiu gave him because that genuinely did not exist in the PIDW world until Shen Yuan transmitgated