#shen jiu will burn in hell

[binghefan]

big fan of luo binghe

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Has anyone considered the fact that Shen Jiu burning the Qiu manor to the ground and Yue Qingyuan arriving late to find the burnt manor means that not only was he convinced Shen Jiu died in that fire, he probably went back to the sect and made a memorial tablet for him. So yea, anyway, I was thinking, what if Shen Jiu found the tablet with his name on it later on after becoming a Qing Jing disciple and realized that Yue Qingyuan probably never showed up because he thought he was dead.

[mccromy]

In regards to why Yue Qingyuan is like that when it comes to Shen Jiu, I have some thoughts.

To begin with, I always interpreted their relationship as purely platonic/familial (though perhaps with potential to turn into something else had things been different. I think their personalities are compatible in that way.)

Because of that, I empathize with Yue Qingyuan from my place as the oldest sibling, and because of it I think I can understand him when it comes to his behavior regarding Shen Qingqiu. (Because of that, I admit I'm not objective, so don't take this as a serious analysis and just my thoughts)

And for this I feel that Yue Qingyuan, more than allowing Shen Qingqiu to do what he pleases because he feels guilty, feels responsible for Shen Qingqiu's actions. He doesn't let Shen Qingqiu abuse his disciples, be hostile towards their fellow peak lords, and "engage in debauchery" just because he doesn't want to further strain their relationship, but because all of this is his fault.

When Shen Yuan first transmigrated and Yue Qingyuan asked him to stop punishing Luo Binghe, it didn't feel like he was making an attempt to stop Shen Qingqiu from further abusing the boy, but like the admonishment of an older sibling telling their little brother to stop acting a certain way. A "why are you doing this? You are not getting anything out of it, there's no reason for this other than you being cruel, stop it." Had Yue Qingyuan been making an attempt to stop him from harming his disciple, he would've actually put an end to it. He's the sect leader, he could just take Luo Binghe to another peak if not outright order Shen Qingqiu to stop.

There was a time my younger sister started bullying a classmate, she didn't see it as such, and I know she's not purposely cruel but she was young and thoughtless. In that situation I didn't take the other kid's side and reprimanded her harshly, yelled at her for being mean, ordered her to stop. I asked her why she did that (boy was annoying/everybody else was doing it too (and so it couldn't be wrong)) and told her that what she was doing was cruel, that everybody was being cruel to that boy, explained to her how bullying works, asked her how would she feel if she was annoying and everybody made fun of her, and asked her if she wanted to be a bully.

Yue Qingyuan said something along the lines of ''that boy hasn't done anything wrong, he tries so hard, aren't you tired? Hasn't it been enough?" He didn't take Luo Binghe's side like he should have, but he appealed to Shen Qingqiu's logic. He knew Shen Qingqiu and had an idea of why he was doing it, and addressed it calmly, tried to convince him to stop because there was no point, he was only making himself angry. He wasn't assertive either, only coaxing, because he also felt all of this was his fault. And not only that;

I believe Yue Qingyuan genuinely loved Shen Qingqiu, but he didn't like him anymore, and he felt terrible for it. He cared so much for him, yes, Shen Qingqiu was the only person he actually cared about and he couldn't be objective when it came to Shen Qingqiu. But he was constantly exasperated by him, he was so disappointed, and he knew he could like him again if Shen Qingqiu just stopped acting so caustically. But what right did he have to dislike Shen Qingqiu after how he failed him? If Shen Qingqiu acted like this it was because he was hurt, and whose fault was that?

Love and like do not always go hand in hand.

Think about a parent, a friend, a sibling, an aunt or an uncle. Someone you loved so much as a child and who was good to you. Someone who gave you gifts and played with you and heard you ramble and rant for hours, who defended you from others, who always had a smile for you. Now think about the time you realized they were a bigot, or that they yell to waiters, are cruel to animals. That they hit their partners or their children. You felt disappointed (and even betrayed) but you still loved them, you just didn't like them anymore, and you could no longer trust them, but if something happened to them, you'd be inconsolable. And you just know that if they just stopped you would like them again, you'd be so proud, you'd be so happy. In many cases like this what actually happens is that people feel guilty for loving someone so awful. In Yue Qingyuan's case, he felt guilty for not liking him.

Shen Jiu was not a good man, but he was hurt and the world had never been kind to him, so Yue Qingyuan took it upon himself to be unconditionally kind to him (even if he didn't realize that the way he chose to be kind also hurt Shen Qingqiu) and Yue Qingyuan was also the reason why Shen Qingqiu was so hurt, if Shen Qingqiu was cruel or violent, the blame fell on Yue Qingyuan's shoulders. How could he even dare to side eye Shen Qingqiu for how he behaved, when he wouldn't be like this if it weren't for Yue Qingyuan?

Yue Qingyuan's guilt doesn't come solely from not getting Shen Qingqiu out of Qiu manor, but from every single consequence that followed his failure. He's at fault for any and all of Shen Qingqiu's sins. He is also the only person who will ever be good to Shen Qingqiu, who knows he isn't the monster he made himself to be. He has no right to be disappointed in Shen Qingqiu's actions because they are his fault, he would never dare impose his own will above Shen Jiu's because hasn't Shen Jiu been subjected enough to the whims of others? he will never use his authority to stop him, he's the only ally Shen Jiu has, and he's also the only person in the whole sect with power over Shen Qingqiu, not only because of his position as sect leader, but because of how well he knows Shen Qingqiu, his secrets, his past and weaknesses. This puts him in a position to hurt Shen Qingqiu in ways no other could, to damage beyond what any other would be able to.

Yue Qingyuan's regrets are way more complex than what people make them out to be. Yue Qingyuan is aware that his silence about the fact that he did come back but was too late wounds Shen Qingqiu deeply, and the longer he doesn't explain himself the more Shen Qingqiu hurts. But this is also the only way he has of punishing himself, and he also feels guilty about it.

Imagine how he must see his own situation, Yue Qingyuan is respected and well liked, rich and powerful, he will never have to submit to other's wishes, he is free, untouchable, his brother is alive and healthy and close by. He has it all and more than he ever dreamed of, and deserves none of it, how could he ever allow himself to be forgiven? When in the end he's the person who has hurt Shen Jiu the most.

There are more reasons why he keeps quiet about the Linxi caves, most stem from trauma, and I believe his own need for punishment is one of them.

So when I see his behavior being reduced to ''he doesn't want for sqq to hate him more'' or ''he's just ashamed and guilty'' I feel sad because, Shen Jiu might be the most misunderstood character by other characters in the story. But Yue Qingyuan is the most misunderstood character by the fandom.

[supposethismatters]

Was someone going to tell me that all of the crimes Shen Jiu was imprisoned for Bingge was guilty of or was I just supposed to pick it out of the subtext?

[sapphicjackal]

Bingyuan Remarried Empress au

Remarried Empress au

When Yue Qingyuan was 7, he was kidnapped by enemies and sold to slavers. He spent 5 years as a slave before he was rescued by a passing noble who had loyalty to his family. He was forced to leave behind the close friend whom he loved with all his heart, his Xiao Jiu. He promised that once he was old enough, he would return and buy off Jiu’s price so that he could bring Jiu home with him. He told his Xiao Jiu to wait for him.

Yue Qingyuan returned when he was 18 only to find that the manor his Xiao Jiu had worked for had been burned down. 

This broke his heart, and he mourned for the boy who held all of his love.

Yue Qingyuan chose to marry the 3rd son of the prominent Shen family despite it not being the most favorable match possible, because the third son, Shen Yuan, looked similar to his Xiao Jiu. It was still a good family, and Shen Yuan had trained extensively in the four arts along with strategy and ruling, not to mention he had talent with cultivation, he made a fine option for a future Empress.

Shen Yuan was a warm and friendly man with a kind heart. He put on a cold and impenetrable facade when in front of outsiders, but it couldn’t hide his good nature. Whenever they were alone together, Shen Yuan’s facade would fall and he would let Yue Qingyuan see his genuine self. Yue Qingyuan found himself falling in love with Shen Yuan, who made it all too easy to love him, even when he kept you at a distance.

Shen Yuan was younger than him by a few years, so they courted until he was of age. Then they wed, crowning Shen Yuan as the Empress of the Cang Qiong Empire.

Shen Yuan was a competent and righteous ruler, but he rarely let his cold facade down after being crowned. He felt he needed to embody being a good Empress, so he kept his emotions under a cool mask. 

Their marriage worked for 5 years, then, Yue Qingyuan ran into a runaway slave during a hunting trip. It was his Xiao Jiu. The boy that he promised his heart to that he searched for and couldn’t find.

He brought Xiao Jiu home with him at last, falling in love with him all over again at first sight. His Xiao Jiu was prickly and mean, but he forgave Yue Qingyuan when the man told him that he returned to Qiu Manor the day that he turned 18 but found it burned down. Jiu forgives his Qi-ge, and is happy to reunite after their bitter years apart.

What he doesn’t like is that his Qi-ge went and married a replacement. Someone who looked similar to him and was so clearly meant to be a way to replace Shen Jiu after Yue Qingyuan couldn’t find him.

Shen Jiu was suspicious of their similarities so he asked for a blood test to be done on him and Shen Yuan. It was a close match and so they found out that Shen Jiu is the lost first son and heir to the Shen family, one who was similarly kidnapped as Yue Qingyuan had been, only he had been younger and never managed to escape.

Shen Yuan was at first happy that his Er-ge had been found, but that quickly changed when Shen Jiu started making his life hell and trying to steal his husband. Now that Shen Jiu had legitimacy as an heir to a noble house, and a higher position than Shen Yuan himself within the household, he was technically a better candidate for marriage. He had none of Shen Yuan’s education and training, but he was a ruthless schemer and strategist.

Shen Yuan began losing favor over Shen Jiu, even among their own family. All he had ever done was make himself into the perfect Empress, and now years of his efforts were being spat upon.

Tensions are high when foreign diplomats come to negotiate a treaty between the 2 realms. The Demon Realm and Human Realm have had a tentative peace since the current Empress wed the Demonic Emperor 20 years ago. Their marriage almost resulted in a war when the King of Hua Huan tried to say that the Demonic Emperor had kidnapped one of his wards, but the Empress went into hiding and snuck into the Demonic Realms, already pregnant with the heir. They married and now there has been an uneasy peace between the realms.

The Demons now seek to solidify the unofficial peace with an actual peace treaty, and they send diplomats to make it happen.

Luo Binghe and Zhuzhi-Lang are the ones that are sent. Luo Binghe is secretly the crown prince of the Demonic Empire, and Zhuzhi-Lang is his cousin. They came under false pretenses and therefore have to keep their identities under wraps.

Luo Binghe can’t claim the throne as Emperor until he marries the spouse who will be his Empress. His Father has pressured him to seek out a marriage so that Tianlang-Jun can finally retire and go travel with his wife instead of ruling. Finding a bride is a secondary goal to establishing a solid peace treaty to aid in securing his oncoming rule.

Luo Binghe has the ability to transform into a small black dog, something that he uses for reconnaissance. During his wanderings as a dog, he runs into Shen Yuan crying in a garden late at night. Shen Yuan is taken by the adorable dog, and he ends up confessing his woes. Talking about how he tried so hard to be Empress but he was only ever a replacement for his brother and now his own Husband has turned against him.

Yue Qingyuan made Shen Yuan fall in love with him. The man courted him for years and made sweet promises. They wed each other and it was the happiest day of Shen Yuan’s life. All for what? All so that Yue Qingyuan could look at him while seeing his older brother.

Has Shen Yuan not been a benevolent and effective Empress?

Has Shen Yuan not been a caring and dutiful spouse?

Has Shen Yuan not dedicated himself to his tasks and risen to the occasion each and every time?

But Shen Yuan will never be enough because he will never be Shen Jiu.

Shen Yuan can’t fight back the bitter tears and painful confessions. His brother has been turning everyone against him and nobody else can see it. If he tries to say anything they would only say that he was being jealous and paranoid. Everyone knows that Shen Yuan was just the placeholder, it was obvious for everyone to see.

Yue Qingyuan acted like nothing was wrong, so caught up in his Xiao Jiu’s orbit. He acted like he hadn't forsaken his promises and spat in Shen Yuan’s face. Like he wasn’t the one to court Shen Yuan for 4 years and marry him after his 18th birthday. Yue Qingyuan promised him love, promised forever, promised fidelity.

He made all those promises to the shadow of Xiao Jiu and forsake them the moment the true object of his affections arrived.

Luo Binghe couldn’t believe that anyone could be so foolish as to break such a beautiful heart. How could someone not want to marry Shen Yuan and have him forever? Especially for such a spiteful wretch like Shen Jiu?

Luo Binghe wouldn’t let this opportunity go. One man’s loss is another man’s gain. Shen Yuan was a wonderful Empress for ungrateful humans, and would make an equally wonderful Empress to demons who would appreciate him. Luo Binghe would never let this treasure go.

The next day, Binghe wrote a note before placing it in a pouch with an attached necklace. He transformed into his dog form and maneuvered the pouch around his neck before trotting off to find his future wife. He found Shen Yuan in the same place, crying in his private garden. Binghe boofs and runs up to the tearful man, nugging himself against the man’s legs in comfort.

Shen Yuan let out a beautiful bell-like laugh that rang through the garden and enchanted Luo Binghe. “Oh? Has my cute little friend returned?” cooed Shen Yuan with a bright smile as he scooped up Binghe and placed the dog into his lap. Shen Yuan buried his face into the soft and fluffy fur of Binghe’s body, pulling back when he felt something odd.

Shen Yuan saw that there was a satchel hanging around the dog's neck. “What’s this?” Shen Yuan questioned, opening the satchel to find a message written inside.

‘To whomever has stolen Bingpup’s heart:

This one is the owner of that mischievous dog. This one hopes he has caused no troubles for you. Bingpup seemed enamored with whatever person he met. and this one has never known a better judge of character than my loyal dog. This one is interested in getting to know such a person that Bingpup has deemed worthy.

-Ice’

Shen Yuan looked down from the note back to the dog in his lap who sat patiently and sweetly. “You like me so much your owner found it odd?” Shen Yuan remarked, utterly charmed. Most people were warded away by the cold front that Shen Yuan employs as Empress, but this adorable dog seems to feel different.

Each day, Shen Yuan would come to his garden to meet with Bingpup and exchange letters with his owner. Shen Yuan found someone he could be somewhat genuine with, and he softened through their interactions. This secret friendship became the highlight of his days which only grew darker with the shadow his older brother cast over his life.

Eventually, Binghe reveals himself to be the one sending the letters and offers a marriage proposal to Shen Yuan. He also reveals himself to be Bingpup after an injury. Shen Yuan finds himself accepting, because he knows that divorce is coming his way and he honestly doesn’t feel like fighting for a man who he knows was only using him.

Yue Qingyuan eventually requests a divorce, and Shen Yuan accepts while asking permission to remarry. With Shen Yuan’s marriage to the crown prince, Binghe will ascend to being Emperor with Shen Yuan by his side as Empress.

They all go their separate ways, better for their parting. Both brothers are competent Empresses to their respective realms, and are happy with their spouses. Neither of the brothers care for each other, but there is no outright hatred. Shen Jiu undeniably pushed his brother out of the marriage, but he never attempted to outright kill or harm Shen Yuan, he mostly just sabotaged his standing. 

*

Yue Qingyuan slid an envelope across the table. “I’m requesting a divorce. We can remarry after a year with you as the second Husband so you do not use your place.” he says.

Shen Yuan gives him a cold look. “I accept your divorce and ask to remarry.” The Empress states unflinchingly.

Yue Qingyuan gave him a wounded look, “Would that make A-Yuan happy?” he asked.

Shen Yuan sneered at his soon to be ex-husband and future brother-in-law, “Do you care?” he scoffed, before nodding. “Yes, Emperor Yue. It would make this one happy to remarry.”

Yue Qingyuan flinched and smiled painfully. “Very well, A-Yuan. You have my permission to remarry. I wish you the best.” he says.

Shen Yuan walked away with his head held high, going to the rooms of his soon-to-be Husband. Luo Binghe welcomed him with a smile, taking Shen Yuan into his arms. “A-Yuan? Did it go well?” he asked, pressing a kiss to the crown of Shen Yuan’s head. 

Shen Yuan melted into the embrace of his intended, thawing from the cold facade he must wear among others. “Shameless.” he scolds halfheartedly, “The Emperor approved.”

Luo Binghe smiled widely, boyishly charming with his joyful expression. “A-Yuan shall be my Empress, my one and only.” he swears.

Shen Yuan has been promised these things before and been thrown away without a second thought, however…

He can’t help but believe Luo Binghe’s words.

79 aren’t outright malicious, but they do care about their happiness and seek it at the cost of others. Shen Jiu is far more aware and scheming than Rashta, he is intentionally weakening Shen Yuan’s position so Yue Qingyuan can marry him and make him Empress. Shen Jiu is in no way naive, and he is extremely competent. He won’t actually make for a bad Empress because he will claw his way into proficiency and make sure that he is capable. 

*

Disclaimer: I actually read the Remarried Empress novel and manwha like 2 years ago, so this was based off memory + me altering things for SVSSS. It isn’t a 1:1 au of Remarried Empress, but it is definitely inspired by it.

Everyone does get their own happy ending even if it takes bad blood to get there.

79 and Bingqiu are happy. SY will never be friends with his brother or ex-husband but he doesn’t care about them because he's busy living his own life. Likewise, Yue Qingyuan doesn’t regret divorcing Shen Yuan because he’s now married to the love of his life. 

I did consider making this omegaverse or mpreg, however I don’t think that Shen Jiu needs to get pregnant for Yue Qingyuan to choose him over Shen Yuan. He’d choose Shen Jiu just because he asked. There is nothing he wouldn’t deny his Xiao Jiu. He did hold some affection for Shen Yuan and thought he loved him, but really he only loved the parts of him that reminded him of Shen Jiu. They were more like friends than lovers during their marriage and things had mostly cooled by the time they actually wed.

I did consider writing his as a fic, however one of my weakest points when it comes to writing is writing politics. I dislike politics irl and have very little understanding so it makes it hard to write. I wouldn’t actually be able to do this concept justice because I’m not great with writing what it requires. Maybe I’ll come back to it later, but for now here it is.

[gaywarcriminals]

I absolutely don't think Shen Jiu should ever be a parent, but I think he would be a bad parent in really interesting ways, even when circumstances are otherwise right for him to love his child (there are many ways for circumstances to Not be right, but we will not be getting into those today). There's a lot of ways for that to play out, but imo, these are his main flaws that would affect his parenting:

SJ is not good at regulating his emotions; in canon, as an adult, he seems to repress his "weak" emotions and let anger and resentment simmer until he blows up. There's a lot of reasons why emotional regulation is an important parenting skill, but the main ones are that children often pick up whatever behaviors their parents model, and SJ would likely pass his bad relationship with his emotions on to his child, and perhaps more importantly, that poor emotional regulation makes parents more likely to lose their temper with their children and treat them in cruel or otherwise age-inappropriate ways that they wouldn't normally.

SJ is bad at taking care of himself, particularly his emotional needs. There's several different possible outcomes of that, but I think the main considerations are that a man who is falling apart at the seams or rocketing towards is own self destruction will Not, generally, be very well equip to take proper care of another child. The second factor there is that an irresponsible parent often creates an adulitifed child as the child tries to either take care of the person they love, or mitigate the risk of their parent's poor moods.

SJ hates himself. Aside from the afore mentioned problem with modeling behaviors, if SJ too much of himself in his child could cause him to project that self hatred onto them as he does with Binghe in canon. 

SJ has [Qi-ge induced] abandonment issues, and in any situation where his relationship with YQY isn't fully resolved/mended, he is sure as hell going to be putting those issues on this little creature who has no choice but to love him/who can't leave him, at least for now. SJ doesn't trust anyone to really love him, which means he'll either preemptively place emotional distance between himself and his child in anticipation of them coming to hate him, or he'll desperately cling to the child's naive affection, certain its a limited resource that he has to preserve by force.

Anyways. We've see the range of how SJ treats children that aren't his with LBH and NYY, and I think that with SJ's own child, they'd likely experience that whole range, first in line for both his love and anger, stuck standing too close to a fire that both warms and burns.

[dangermousie]

A danmei lover's biased and incomplete het web novel rec list

@mercipourleslivres thanks for inspiring me!

When it comes to Chinese web novels, I mainly read danmei. I tend not to care too much for OP heroine with a hero who dotes on her for no reason as she fights with 14 year olds narratives, nor inner courtyard fights. BUT!!! There are some het web novels I like and so here is my biased and incomplete rec list. Most of these don't have OP heroines, and very little to none courtyard fights.

Before I start, my favorite het web novel authors are: Gong Xinwen, Mo Shu Bai, Peng Lai Ke, and Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. I have yet to read anything bad by them.

Anyway, rec list:

1000 Miles of Bright Moonlight - one of my ultimate favorites, this would make such an epic drama! A smart as hell heroine, a hero who is a monk and a warrior (but also terminally?) ill and such a vivid world and amazing secondary characters (heroine’s brother is possibly my favorite supporting character of all time) and so much angst and happy ending. This has an amazing romance but it’s not romance-centric if it makes sense - ML doesn’t appear for a while. But once he does, it’s worth it!

Accompanying the Phoenix - the one that just got adapted into The Legend of Shen Li, this is high adventure and cottage core and funny and tragic and powerful ML being putty in the hands of capable FL and just EVERYTHING.

Apocalypse Arrival - Gong Xinwen’s novels are made just for me. Her heroines are always powerful as fuck and rescue abused MLs. In this novel, our heroine who lives in the post-apocalyptic world, wakes up right before that apocalypse happens. She forms a survival crew and also rescues ML who has miraculous blood and has been drained of it and is now hunted after the rescue for it. SO GOOD!!!

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script - so fucked up, so good, with monster hero who learns to love and be human and heroine who learns to love and be human (but from the other side, her tower of perfection.) Much better than the drama which I did enjoy.

The Blue Whisper - the drama was so-so, but the novel is a bona fide angst masterpiece, which really delves into what it feels like to be imprisoned or to love.

Counterattack of the Cannon Fodder Chambermaid - I remember starting this and loving the realistic feel and the heroine and wanting to stab the hero and @mercipourleslivres telling me to be patient. She was right, by the end I was on board with both the hero (who was abused and is rather autistic-coded) and the OTP. Anyway, heroine is a servant who was a concubine in the last life and got killed as part of a rich family’s harem intrigues. In this life, she just wants to keep her head down but her life gets derailed anyway. She gets sold away and eventually made a servant in the household of an exiled prince who takes a fancy to her and she endures it because what choice does she have? All she wanted was to serve out her term and become a small time merchant. This is quite realistic about lack of options for women, especially lower class women or upper class male attitudes (ML is never vicious or mean to FL but it does not initially occur to him to wonder if she fancies him or enjoys being his concubine or w/e.) It is a DELIGHTFUL slow burn tho as they grow to love each other and grow together and become one of the most wholesome cnovel couples out there.

Dandere General and His Lord - hi there, Gong Xinwen! God, I love this one. Heroine transmigrates from modern world into a brutal slave-holding world at war (think something like Warring States era.) Our heroine transmigrates into the body of a noblewoman who just hung herself. When she comes to, she discovers that woman’s twin brother was the ruler of a city poisoned by a rival claimant and the besieging army of said claimant is about to take the city and original occupant of the body and the rest of the family chose suicide as a way to avoid dishonor. Our heroine refuses, schemes with advisors to pass as the brother and rally the troops. Once the invaders are defeated, she keeps on the masquerade and rides off to one of the never-ending wars “she” is summoned to. Our hero couldn’t be farther from this. A slave and a son of a slave, he’s escaped a horrific, starving childhood during which he narrowly avoided being murdered or raped, and ended up in the army. When the story opens, he distinguished himself in battle and as a reward, he and a few of his fellow slave warriors are invited to a banquet, where they are given some alcohol and to be playthings of any nobles who want them. One of them does not survive this but ML is lucky - heroine feels terrible and so “claims” him for herself. Instead she just tends to his wounds and sends him back. She does not fancy him or anything, she is just a human being with a conscience. And the story goes from there.

Demon King's Repayment - another delicious Gong Xinwen tale with a powerful ML dedicated to capable FL. This one is a great fantasy plot (I keep imagining it as an animated series) and a sprawling cast of amazing secondaries (and secondary OTPs - there is, I swear, an OTP that is Dong Hua x Feng Jiu done thru GXW lens) to boot.

Doomed to Be Cannon Fodder - I hesitated to put this one on the list because by the end I was not keen on how misogynistic novel got to original female lead but it was one of my earliest novels and I loved it for 90% and it’s fucking hilarious at times. Heroine transmigrates as bit villainess into a novel, all she wants is not to die, but her new attitude of “pls stay away” catches the attention of her terrifying general husband. Honestly, imo still worth it.

Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir - my n1 novel on this list, smart and fierce and don’t really read this for romance because it does not start until really late, but ice cold heroine x ice cold hero both of equal brains and ruthlessness is everything. I went from loathing the ML to finding him fascinating to adoring him (and yet he softened around the edges only for FL, he never became “nice”) and loved FL throughout; secondaries are epic. If you read only one non-danmei web novel, make it this one.

The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl - my n2 novel on this list. Our heroine is the unlucky laundry maid A’Chou. She is a di daughter of an upperclass family but her family got destroyed in one of the political upheavals of the time and A’Chou, only a small child at the time, was the only survivor and was made an enslaved laundry maid. Due to various events, at the start of the novel she is a laundry maid in a minister’s household and the minister’s beloved daughter is having a fit because she’s supposed to marry the former Crown Prince which may have been great a few years back but Crown Prince had since been deposed, tortured, imprisoned and now is living in the middle of nowhere under conditions that are too meager to be called house arrest. And he’s seriously crippled too. Understandably, the young lady doesn’t want to marry him! She’d rather kill herself and so she does. And so, a desperate plan is hatched - why don’t we pretend the laundry maid is the di daughter of the minister’s household and send her off? And so A’Chu is sent as the bride. She arrives to discover a broke, seriously injured man on the verge of death…and we go from there. This is so gorgeous and tender and slow in just the right way and like AAAAAA! Secondary OTPs (one of which is MM) are also epic.

Futu Tower - the drama (Unchained Love) was a mess but the novel is such a lovely, dark exploration of coming back to life, for the ML from his dark revenge-strewn path and for heroine from not being allowed wishes of her own. She is a tribute bride, he’s a (fake) eunuch, they are both servants who use themselves to achieve goals and find peace and happiness together.

The Grand Princess - a tale where both members of the OTP reincarnate as their younger selves after killing each other in their 50s, and get a new start, this is smart and slow and so good in portraying old souls in young bodies. Their rediscovery of not just each other but themselves and their passion for living is just AAAAAA!

Heroine Saves Gentleman - Gong Xinwen novel so we have a tough martial artist lady saving a very upper class scholar and it goes from there. If elegant gorgeous ML being saved and protected (and lovingly dommed) by awesome FL is your bag, pls come right in.

Husband Be a Gentleman - schemer meet schemer. He’s an idle prince she’s perfect daughter, in reality both are wolves out for blood. Mmmm. Very OTP gets together early and is us against the world.

I’ll Be the Male Lead’s Sister in Law - one of my all time favorite novels. Heroine is made to marry a disabled nephew of the emperor. He used to be a victorious god of war but went mad and now is basically locked away and kept as a beast. GOD I LOVE THIS NOVEL SO MUCHHHHH! So much hurt/comfort and awesome OTP and after he eventually recovers, all he wants to do is to fight and murder things and dote on wifey. MMM. He’s honestly one of my fave MLs.

I Married a Disabled Tyrant After Transmigrating - if you have a Florence Nightingale complex, this is for you. Heroine wakes up as tribute bride to an almost dead dragon lord and slowly nurses him back to life as his rivals try to murder him. They are both utter adorable babies!

Let the Villain Go - another Gong Xinwen novel, this and Apocalypse Arrivals are AUs of each other. Heroine is surviving in the apocalypse, ML is the “bugbear” of the world but in reality just reacting to all abuse and torture and after she accidentally saves him, devotes himself. Fun fun fun!

Long Wind Crossing - Amazing ML and FL who grow together, clever plot, arranged marriage to love etc etc. Oh, and one point he feeds her his blood to keep her alive, what’s not to love? (Adapted into Chang Feng Du/Destined)

Lost You Forever - this is a short but delicately wistful tale of trauma and loss and love, wrapped in a high fantasy setting but so relatable despite it.

Love In Another Life: My Gentle Tyrant - so so fucked up in the best way! ML cannot live with OR without heroine. It opens on them banging in jail night before her execution (ordered by him) with corpses of men he killed for trying to defile her cooling nearby. If you want healthy relationships with respectful boundaries, gentle and considerate male leads who are modern men in period clothes, OP heroines who have everyone help them and are OP to the max, fluff and wholesomeness, that is about the worst book for you.If you want complexity, dysfunction, darkness, pain and an absolutely lyrical even if fucked up story, come right IN!!!!I am so fucking in love with the melancholy heroine, with ruthless psycho hero and the endless regret and devotion and paaaaain!

The Marquis Is Innocent - our heroine is a beautiful woman married to a warlord who hates her family. (Yes, this was gonna be The Prisoner of Beauty until SZE tax scandal.) Except she's a transmigrator from the future who knows how it ended last time around and has no interest to end up this tragically. This is in my top 5 - FL is smart but believably so (and doesn't have super battle powers) and ML is a believable period warlord. The way their relationship develops so gradually and the way his character changes so gradually as well (and the way they slowly fall in love, her slower than him) is just amazing. It is such a smart, nuanced, gorgeous slow burn. With some gonzo sex scenes :P

Mulberry Song - you like tragic endings? Come right IN! This is short and heartbreaking and wistful and very what-if.

Nightfall (Ever Night) - so long but also so smart and unusual and bloody and tho it’s not primarily a romance, you will never see another ML who loves his FL as much as Ning Que does his Sang Sang. 

Offering Salted Fish to Master - in some ways, this novel is a mess, but I am recommending it because this is a rare example of "nope he's 100% a villain and murderdude and odd, but he does love the heroine" that the author commits to.

Pihanjin - yet another awesome PLK novel, this is once again, like with Marquis, a ruthless man and a beautiful woman getting a second chance on a second go-around. FL is a lot more wounded this time around though. If you LOVE watching ML grovel and slowly, gradually win FL over, this one is for you.

Princess Agents - a dark tale with an incredibly competent and militarily powerful/ruthless heroine and two terrifying men who love her (but neither is as terrifying as she is.) There is an OTP switch halfway through that shockingly makes sense and it's just SO SO GOOOOOOOD

Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage - this is probably the one “typical” novel on this list, heroine is reborn as her youngest self and gets revenge on those who wronged her last time around. It is really really well-written and heroine is competent, hero is doting and powerful etc. It’s not a trope I tend to love but I do when it’s done THIS well.

Rebirth of the Tyrant’s Pet: Regent Prince is Too Fierce: Borgias cnovel style! Our heroine was empress in last life and put her husband on the throne tho he did not love her. However, he had her executed and had his half-brother carry out the orders and heroine died horrifically. She opens her eyes and she’s a little girl again. The OTP this time around is heroine and half-brother executioner. Why do I love it? Heroine is smart and tough but also this is a rare rebirth novel where heroine does NOT decide to seek revenge for past life wrongs because they haven’t happened yet! In fact, she sees ML abused and stands up for him because he’s a kid and no kid should be mistreated and this go around he hasn’t done anything wrong. She also gets and likes her former life husband. Anyway, this is fakecest galore because she’s supposed to be their half-sister and while she knows (from past life) she is not, they do not and fall for her anyway. ML is especially gonzo, at one point carving chunks of his flesh to save her. He’s feral and unhinged and she’s the one person he worships because she protected him and like - it’s all awesome. (I love secondary ML too.)

Reborn to Love Lord Qiansui - yes, this is a eunuch novel! If you like gender tropes reversals, this one is for you. Heroine is a tough martial artist, hero is a smart as hell and powerful eunuch. A real eunuch. Heroine finds out she owes him her life and decides to protect him. This is a total delight and an awesome love story between two really scarred people. And yes, there is sex - heroine literally reads manuals on pegging :P

Return of the Swallow - so freaking long! But really good. Heroine is neither transmigrator nor reincarnator, just a smart period woman. She is a lost family daughter taken back in. Her father is a minister in a dying empire (father-daughter relationship is one of the best things in this novel), her OTP is enemy general, and the smartness and the awesomeness of this all knows no bounds.

Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes - probably the wackiest JLFX novel I read, this is quite different from Love You Seven Times drama that was adapted from it. Our deity protagonists go through a bunch of lives figuring out they fancy each other. It's light like a souffle but just as delicious.

To Be a Virtuous Wife - some people prefer 8 treasures trousseau but I never warmed up to that one. This one is so good, with smart people (who actually enjoy sex, a ratity) and a perfect mix of plot and romance.

Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - my very first web novel. A lot lighter than a lot of the ones on this list but a total delight. Heroine transmigrates into a novel as the heroine; she has no interest in drama or chasing true love, she just wants to live a nice life with her nice husband. Too bad for her, her husband has reincarnated into his younger self and remembers how she betrayed him, so is not interested. This one is funny and light and romance doesn’t start till late on but a total delight!

Wishing You Eternal Happiness - this is tied with Dreamer as my favorite het web novel ever though it couldn’t be more different from Dreamer, with its hard-edged and hard-souled protagonists ruthlessly cleaving their way to the world and, eventually, each other, its smart cynical air. Except in one thing - the world of Wishing is just as bloody and dark. Its two protagonists are gentle, deeply wounded souls who may find salvation in each other but even something as basic as safety almost seems out of reach.

Jliafu, our heroine, is neither a modern-day transmigrator, nor some exotic princess or demoness. She is very much a period woman of her time, from a weathy merchant clan, whose beauty is her curse. You can tell the novel’s tone from that utterly bleak opening chapter where she, a favorite concubine of a capricious dying emperor, is ordered to be buried alive with him and is not even given the “grace” of white silk but slowly suffocates in the coffin, scrabbling at the lid. There is no grand threats of vengeance on her part, not dramatic opera events. Just despair and death. The whole introductory chapter is haunted by emotional ghosts - the empress’ unrequited love for the monster on the imperial bed (turning into desire for Jiafu’s suffering after he dies), the emperor slowly dying in his prime after waging too many wars, and his fear of being haunted by Pei Youan, a brilliant if sickly minister who died of illness long ago on one of imperial campaigns. There is no triumph for anyone, only loss.

When she wakes up as still a young woman, all she wants is to escape the same fate. There are no plans for power or revenge, only a desire for survival. And so she latches on asking for help from Pei Youan, the only man in her past go-around who showed any consideration and desire and ability to protect her, though he barely knew her. Pei Youan is probably my favorite het web novel ML. Despite his brains and ability, he drifts through life. In modern terms, he clearly has depression. One of the biggest, best joys of the novel is watching these two very good, very quiet, very wounded people discover happiness and love with each other. I sort of want to cry just thinking about it, tbh.

The Yandere Came During the Night - a bit of fluff that’s oddly delightful. Heroine is reborn as a (fake) sister of ML, she hurts her legs saving him and the “siblings” form a bond that ends up in fakecest delight. They are both smart and efficient and he becomes a sexy marquis etc.

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

So, here’s my take on a soulmate AU:

Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky lives in a world where soulmates are real, so of course he wants to give his protagonist one, even though he’s never met the person who will make his own soulmark burn. He has a problem though — he also wants to write a harem for his protagonist and it would take all the drama out of it if his main character had a favourite! He comes up with a solution though, because in this world, soulmates aren’t necessarily romantic (although they often are), just people with their fates intertwined. There have been cases of soulmates who never got along, historical accounts of great rivalries, so why not make the soulmate of the protagonist one of the major villains?

Shen Yuan is one of those people lucky enough to have a soulmate, although his family often joke that he’ll never meet them if he never leaves his room. He’s obsessed with a truly terrible webnovel with surprisingly interesting monsters, and a protagonist that he loves (in a completely platonic way). The protagonist is actually the reason he started reading the book in the first place — he came across some fanart of him online and was struck by how similar the soulmark sitting on his exposed chest was to his own, almost as if they matched. It’s not the exact same, but soulmarks never are, each reflecting the one they mark while representing what links them. When it’s revealed that the main villain of the first part of the book, the one who spent years tormenting the protagonist before pushing him into a hell he spent years trying to escape… he’s disappointed somewhat. Sure, Luo Binghe has his harem, his hundreds of wives but… he couldn’t help but wish that he’d had a better soulmate.

Shen Jiu realises the mistake he’s made accepting a new disciple just because Ning Yingying had asked for it when he feels the soulmark hidden underneath his skin burn the moment the little beast gets close. It’s nothing he can’t tolerate, even as he watches as the boy gasps from the pain. He’s felt much worse when the brand was lowered over his own mark to make it ‘match’ the false one given to Qiu Haitang as a child to ensure her family’s status remained unquestioned. Even with the scar mostly erased by his level of cultivation, traces of it still remain. He refuses to care for this child — he’s lived his entire life perfectly fine without a soulmate, and the little beast will be better off the same.

Luo Binghe wipes tea off his face with his new disciple robes, already dirtied so soon after he got them, as the pain in his chest subsides. He doesn’t know what it was, he wasn’t sick or injured or anything like that. It almost felt like what he’d heard some people describe meeting your soulmate to be like — but Luo Binghe has never had a soulmate. The closest he has is an odd birthmark on his chest, but everyone knows that a soulmark is something else completely (when Su Xiyan sealed away his demonic heritage, she also sealed his soulmark) (when he stands on the edge of the Endless Abyss he’ll feel that burning pain again and know what it is).

[archerdepartures116]

pet cafe au story snippet

I can't write for shit but I've wanted to write something about the au for a while now

and cause content has been a little dry lately..

anyways cat jiu and bun qingge!

Burning.

 There are flames everywhere. What is happening?

It hurts.

 IT HURTS. 

What is happening?!

My meridians. 

it's like lava under my skin… 

…

The pain has faded.

What?

.

..

…

I hear ringing…

Shen Jiu jolted upright to the feeling of movement and subtle rocking. 

He was…..being carried?

Shen Jiu blinked and tried to get his vision to focus. His heart was pounding. 

When he woke up after a qi deviation he was sure was lethal, he noticed something wrong right away. He was proven correct a second after when he lifted a hand and what came into view was a white paw. He had been turned into a cat. 

What the hell?

The second thing he noticed that was off was the surroundings he was in. He was in some sort of cage, though the sides of the box were made of some weird material that had a shiny, slippery smooth texture. Only the exit to the cage was made of some metal. 

“Oh curse the heavens.” he sneered as he pawed and clawed at the door until a human's face came into view.

A face that looked strikingly familiar to him. 

It wasn’t a direct one to one copy but the human had his sharp eyes and narrow mouth, his high cheekbones and pointy nose. The human wore clear glasses around his eyes. The human’s clothes looked strange and underdressed. 

What was going on? He was sure he never had any family.

He hissed, his fur puffing up in suspicion. 

“Ansty aren’t we? Let's get you out now.” The human frowned and unlocked the door to his cage.

Shen Jiu jumped out the second the lock sprung free and took a glance at his surroundings. There was a huge mat that covered the entire floor and multiple soft looking pillows that surrounded the corners of the room. When he turned to look at the human, he was talking to another person. When the other human in the room looked down, Shen Jiu was struck by his face.

That was the face of a traitor. Shen Jiu seethed. 

He hissed and the fur on his back raised in agitation. The man looked rather shocked by his reaction.

“Oh dang, I guess he really doesn’t like me huh bro?”

“Of course, you look stupid.” The four eyes smirked. 

“Awe dudeeeee-”. Bemoaned the ratty looking man. 

“We have a lot of animals to unload here, get to work or I'm not paying you.” 

“We own the cafe together wha-”

The traitor lookalike was cut off by four eyes when he turned and put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Four eyes then brought out a cage, which was carefully lowered to the ground. He seemed to be holding his breath. 

From what Shen Jiu could see, the interior of the cage contained a lot of hay and padding. The man set that cage in front of a wall and unlocked the door to it. 

“Be quiet, this little guy is very skittish.” the visually impaired one whispered to his companion. 

One moment there was absolute stillness. The next was whatever that was inside that cage bolted out, nearly crashing into the man’s leg. 

“aCK-” four eyes yelped as he tried to grab the bolting white blurb.

It was quite unseemly and humorous to watch the two fumbling humans try to catch the creature that was performing nearly impressive acrobatics to evade grabbing hands. 

“HE’S VERY SKITTISH FOR SURE-”, the traitor look alike said as he dived right into the carpet whilst trying to apprehend what Shen Jiu could now see was a bunny. 

When the two animals locked gazes, Shen Jiu knew immediately who it was.

Liu Qingge, Baizhan peak lord, Cang Qiong Mountain’s War God, had been reborn as a bunny. 

Shen Jiun was going to ascend to the heavens by laughing himself stupid. 

It seemed like Liu Qingge was very puzzled by this change of events and his momentary distraction allowed the traitor look alike to scoop him up and wrap his arms around Liu Qingge’s struggling form. 

This day couldn’t get better, Shen Jiu thought amusedly

One would think that Liu Qingge would have been reincarnated as a cat like him or some bigger predatory creature due to his hot and volatile personality and hunting prowess. Shen Jiu could almost appreciate the irony of this scene.  

[the-bitterest-breakups-poll]

Poll: Round 1c #7

[ Image ID. An image of the first volume cover of The scum villain's self-saving system, and an image of the poster for Major Grom: Plague Doctor. End ID]

*Reminder that Break up is being used loosely here and not all relationships may be romantic in nature

Propaganda under cut:

Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan:

<tw: child abuse, slavery, torture>

- Child slaves who bonded very closely with each other through shared trauma. Ended up kind of feral about each other.

- Shen Jiu ended up being bought by a rich asshole solely for the purpose of making his life hell, after he saved Yue Qi from being trampled by said rich asshole’s horse.

- Yue Qi tries to save him over and over again, but fails every time, eventually runs away to become a cultivator and promises he will come back.

- Three years later, Shen Jiu snaps and kills the rich asshole and his family and runs off to apprentice under a notorious criminal. He assumes Yue Qi is dead.

- A year after that, he finds out that Yue Qi is not dead, but instead the head disciple of a cultivation sect, now known as Yue Qingyuan. Shen Jiu is very upset finding out that Yue Qi had abandoned him.

- Yue Qingyuan gets Shen Jiu a place in the sect, and eventually he becomes the second in command of the sect, while Yue Qingyuan is the leader.

- They don’t become friends again, even though their positions require them to interact. Instead, any time they have a conversation, they part on bad terms within five lines of dialogue.

- Shen Jiu, now Shen Qingqiu, kind of ends up being a terrible person because he has no idea how to cope with his trauma and is constantly lashing out. Yue Qingyuan tries his best to reconcile and accommodate him to the point where he often turns a blind eye to Shen Jiu’s actions.

- Eventually, Shen Jiu ends up imprisoned and tortured by his former disciple Luo Binghe as retribution for his abuse. Luo Binghe uses Shen Jiu to set a trap for Yue Qingyuan, and Yue Qingyuan dies very badly, which is what ends up completely breaking Shen Jiu.

- Later, you find out that Yue Qingyuan hadn’t abandoned Shen Jiu, but instead he had tried so hard to get strong enough to come back to save him that he ended up very nearly dying, going through horrific trauma of his own. By the time he got out of the cave he had been trapped in, he went to get Shen Jiu but found the estate burned down and assumed that his old friend was dead.

- They could be interpreted romantically or just as friends, but their breakup kind of ended up basically causing the destruction of the world over an awful misunderstanding.

- Anyway I am very feral over them.

Igor Grom and Sergey razumovski:

It's a friendship breakup! Except neither of them had made a friend in a long time so they didn't *realize* they were friends even though it was super obvious and other characters saw it. [SPOILERS FROM HERE] The unsaid made the breakup worse when Igor (the cop trying to catch the Plague Doctor (who makes some good points but goes about it in a bad way, like many movie villains)) finally understood that the Plague Doctor was Sergey. But neither of them knew that it was actually Sergey's alter personality. So Igor thought the Plague Doctor was Sergey's best friend, then learned that the guy had been dead for years, then went to see Sergey fully convinced that it was yet someone else, *anyone else*, that Sergey could help him find. Meanwhile Sergey had offered Igor his help to catch the Plague Doctor, and was happy to see his new friend come see him, just to learn that said new friend now suspects him of being a terrorist (give him a break T_T) The messy part is that Sergey immediately crashes a bottle on Igor's skull, then regrets it because he thought he killed his friend, then, because obviously Igor's not dead, sets him up so that Igor's colleagues think that *Igor* is the Plague Doctor and throw him in jail. When of course Igor breaks out and goes to confront Sergey (without any backup, because he doesn't want to endanger his two allies who are now the closest he's got to friends), they talk with their fists. And the furniture in the room. And also flamethrowers. It's messy. At some point during the fight Igor's plan is to throw both of them, Sergey and himself, together, from the window. Which he does. They're on the top floor of a skyscraper. That is such a reasonable, thought-out, restrained reaction to being disappointed by someone (/ironic). They only survive because other people catch them.

[afsosville]

Shen Jiu, if he was actually a competent shizun

My HC for how Shen Jiu is like with kids without trauma/healed trauma and shit: Honestly with a person like Shen Jiu, I can only see his interactions with kids going one of two ways, him being so very fond of them, and ofc, how he's like in canon. Ok look, in the third book under Shen Jiu's character description, it said that Shen Jiu definitely had more reasons to relate to Luo Binghe than to hate him yet he still chose violence for some fucked up reason. So yes, I for one headcanon that when he's in a better place mentally, he would choose to be doting and fiercely protective. We've seen that he's capable of being like that with Ning Yingying (and Qiu Haitang), and it's not outwardly obvious, but we can see it with the way she behaves around Shen Yuan when she thinks that's still Shen Jiu. She definitely acts like a spoiled younger sister/daughter who looks up to her guardian and shows a great amount of trust in him. So just imagine if that was extended to all of his disciples.

No coz if he was spared enough kindness for him to actually want to do better, he would choose the first option and emphasize with LBH instead BECAUSE smn gave HIM a chance and emphasized with HIM. LBH and SJ are parallels, and so whatever happens to SJ, it would be reflected onto LBH.

I am dead. I am so dead. I'm bleeding out so fast and goddammit it HURTS- SJ and LBH's whole story hurts sm.

Anyways-

I kinda like to imagine that when Shen Jiu's heart settles on the fact that maybe, just maybe, bleeding on ppl who didn't cut him and taking his hurt out on LBH is a no good very bad idea, he's going to end up over compensating for his whole fucking childhood and the way he projects on him is completely flipped.

"I'm going to treat you the way I wanted to be treated and ur going to feel loved and safe do you hear me?!?"

"Yes shizun (*＾v＾*)"

Here's the thing, he may be fond of his disciples, but he is still shit at taking care of them. He was robbed of his own childhood, so he doesn't know what normal kids act like in the first place. And he has no idea what the typical stages of development are and he would totally underestimate how dumb kids who didn't grow up like him would be. So yeah, shit at babysitting but loves them anyhow, for the same reason he would hate them in canon. (They remind him too much of himself). Idk, him being bad with kids regardless of trauma is so funny to me.

That moment when it clicks for him that he may not hate them after all: "oh gods these brats actually like…me? Me? Fuck what the hell do I do?! This is why no one should trust me with kids Aghhhhh!! Still think they're brats tho :( but they're my brats >:) "

He'd be like Shifu from Kung Fu Panda as a shizun. He's strict, harsh as hell and shows no mercy when training, coz becoming a cultivator/martial artist is fucking hard and requires alot of discipline anyway. So he really is doing his best to make sure his disciples come out on top. Shen Jiu is a prideful person by nature, it's just that his disciples are his pride. He's always there for them when they need him, and he will make sure that none of his disciples will ever have to go through anything he has. He wants to be the reliable adult that his disciples seek out. (He will never let it be known that he seeks his disciples' approval and validation as much as they seek his.)

Really fucking specific but idgaf. My social teacher brought chocolate bars to class and gave them out one time. After a few moments she asked if everyone was enjoying themselves. After she heard us agree she went on a lesson about slave labour and the production of goods in underdeveloped countries. Shen Jiu. Would do this. Because he’s a madman.

And Binghe. He would still end up a little unhinged. Like sure being under a master that abuses you will fuck you up one way but if you had a guardian who will start genocides and watch cities burn for you… It does things.

Shen Jiu is morally ambiguous as fuck and that rubs off onto his disciples. He is still a terrible role model, but his kids wouldn't trade him for the world:)

Would be the type that gives 5 yr olds knives for birthdays, bc he had a shit ton of them hidden away on his person when he was that age and knew how to use them when he was on the streets.

“What? It's an appropriate gift! The kid needs to have smt to protect herself! Yeah I know she didn’t grow up on the streets so what? No need to rub it in. Ok fine! I’ll teach her then just shut up. Let’s go Yan-er, some people just don’t appreciate the value of giving practical gifts WAIT PUT THAT DOWN-”

Is this lowkey self indulgent? Yes. Do I particularly care? No. I just want my favourite blorbos to be happy, is that too much to ask for? My Roman Empire is that SJ probably could've been a crazy good shizun if he had a chance to heal. If you've read The Hidden Flower, then you know exactly what I mean.

I already made a post with all of the soft BingJiu fics ik. I could literally make another one rn where they're just chilling platonically, or even as an adoptive family bc I have no chill like that and read all the SJ fics there is to read.

It's already summer and all I have going for me is my job rn and I am sooooo close to going through all nearly 400 pages under the SJ tag coz I simply can.

[bingtuan]

I always knew Bingge was ruthless but DAMN THAT DUDE'S RUTHLESS!!

He razed Cang Qiong to the ground. Everyone on it, be it the peak lords or the disciples, burned.

Tortured and gave the most painful of deaths to his shizun. Made sure to take away anything and everything shen jiu ever held dear. His limbs, his life on Cang Qiong, his martial siblings and the life shen jiu had painstakingly built for himself.

An extract from volume one of svsss:

"…Within the dark, gloomy room, a metal chain hung from a beam. At the end of the chain dangled a ring. The ring was fastened around a person’s waist—if it could still be considered a “person.” This “person’s” appearance was filthy and disheveled, like that of a madman. The most frightening thing about him was that all four of his limbs had been severed. His shoulders and thighs were only four bare knobs of flesh. When touched, he would let out a hoarse “ahhh” sound. His tongue had been torn out too, rendering him unable to form complete words.

—Proud Immortal Demon Way, a selected passage on Shen Qingqiu’s fate."

Not to mention the way he killed Yue Qingyuan.

Lured him out using shen jiu and of course yqy would go. He abandoned Xiao-Jiu once before and even though it was obviously a trap, he did not want to abandon sj a second time. Dude died with a thousand arrows puncturing his body.

"In the original work, Yue Qingyuan’s death had been caused by his good shidi, Shen Qingqiu, okay?!

And what a horrific death it was. Tens of thousands of arrows had pierced him until not even his bones remained!"

Everyone who had wronged him died horribly. He was genial to women only and everyone else was trash in his eyes.

I'm speaking for myself here. I tend to overlook this ruthless and merciless behavior because of the Bingge vs Bingmei extra where we get to see that he's just a lonely guy. He just wanted somewhere he could belong. He did not understand why he was abused time and time again. Even when he was good, people still found ways to make his life hell. Why??

He's not happy despite having wives or riches or even the most powerful weapon. What he wants, what he needs is someone to really love him. Bingmei has that but Bingge was deprived of it.

Anyway, I just realized that I've been seeing Bingge through rose-colored glasses all this time.

[qeireinier]

I think what Original Luo Binghe did to Shen Jiu parallels what happened between Wei Wuxian and Wen Chao. Let me yap.

Look this might sound stupid to you but I just rewatched MDZS and I JUST saw some similarities with PIDW. After coming out of the Burial Mounds, WWX literally tortured WC before his death. The Burial Mounds is a place of literal torture and WWX went through HELL in it without his golden core. Because of what? Because of WC, he's the one who threw him into there.

It's an eye for an eye. WWX must've gotten his organs rearranged, bones crushed by constant attacks from walking corpses, eaten corpse fingers to survive, and many other horrors MXTX didn't mention. So WC SHOULD feel all of that, as payment for his sins to WWX and all other people he inflicted.

With LBG and SJ, the Endless Abyss is almost no different than Burial Mounds except it's festered with demonic instead of resentful energy (I think they're not really the same type?) and various types of beasts iirc. So even with his golden core, it's still harder for LBH because he barely knew how to avoid or fight them, where their weak spots are, etc. And instead of 3 months, it's 5 YEARS so it's enough time for his hatred for SJ to fester like a fairytale witch's soup. In the very beginning, he must've also gone through hell. Maybe the beasts ripped his limbs apart, stabbed his eyes, pulled his tongue out and only because of his Heavenly Demon blood that he recovered himself back (probably). It's very different from running away from resentful corpses because you KNOW just how to fight them off, even though it's just impossible for their number.

So, seeing LBH making SJ into a human stick doesn't surprise me too much. It's the case of an eye for an eye. No, it's still wrong, I'm not justifying it. I'm just making my analysis. THAT'S why it reminds me so much of WC's death.

Even both of the MCs have a demonic object in their hands, the Stygian Tiger Seal and Xin Mo. Both are untamable and capable of driving their holders insane. What differs our MC however—is that WWX has things to lose, and that's why he's often shown to be holding himself back from a killing spree. Hell, he's even the actual most righteous character in the novel.

While LBH doesn't have anything left to lose. He doesn't have a family, friends, all these wives and servants probably don't mean much on him. Also, his demon blood affects his mindset, giving his brain more "predatory instincts" as I'm gonna call it. Added with the fact that he spent more time in the Endless Abyss and how his mind had been corrupted by Xin Mo, LBH would pull a "No More Mr. Nice Guy, Heh >:)". That makes him not so kind as to give SJ the mercy of death. He probably wanted to keep SJ alive for 5 years or maybe forever til his brain finally decides "yep, that's it, go die or whatever idc anymore". Yeah, until BingggeMei extra happened and we could probably assume SJ's death is never gonna happen, but that's for another story nevermind.

However, it does mean that the latter won't hold himself back. The point where he crosses the line is when he burns down the CQMS, kills the Peak Lords, and even went so far as to merge the demonic and mortal realms. That's what differs him from WWX, so much. It's literally canonically said that he's not the nice kind of protag.

SO in conclusion—when I see people talking about how "SJ didn't deserve all that", I'm between agreeing and disagreeing. What LBG did to SJ is terribly inhumane, but that's to be expected from a demon emperor like him. Hey I'm a SJ stan, it doesn't mean my views are completely biased. Especially considering what LBG possibly went through in the Endless Abyss for five years as a mere disciple without a sword like Xuan Su.

I think this is why PIDW readers rooted for LBG, because the story was from his POV. Tragic MC, thrown into the pits of hell by his cruel master. Our perspective is widened through reading SV and we can see the tragic POV of SJ and so we start to root for him too. No, it doesn't mean that either of these 2 are completely right in their choices, the both of them are very flawed and they're trapped in this cycle of abuse, very harmful to the surroundings. We can't fully fault or justify them. Yes, they need therapists, perchance one hidden behind a very powerful barrier in case any of them decides to attack the poor therapist.

But this realization—the parallels between LBG&SJ and WWX&WC—just kind of amazes me. Okay, ted talk ends, thank you for surviving through, if you don't have any nice words to say please scroll away :(

[udaberriwrites]

A double drabble for @augusnippets' day 8!

Path of Comfort - Friends/Found Family

Fandom: Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Characters: Shen Jiu, Shen Yuan

Timeline: Cang Qiong - disciple days

Rating: G

Jiu-ge is avoiding him.

Oh, they see each other every day. Arguably they spend more time together now than when Qiu-fucking-Jianluo, may he burn in canon fodder hell, separated them to ‘toughen them up’. But there’s a distance that wasn’t there before.

“What’s your problem?”

Jiu-ge sneers, which is real mature.

“This humble one,” yeah, so he definitely wants a fight, “has no issue with how Shen-shixiong spends his time. Surely there’s much worthier companions on Cang Qiong than this lowly disciple.”

Shen Yuan gapes. “You’re jealous? Of Shang-shidi?”

Jiu-ge purses his lips and looks intently at his guqin.

This is…

…

This is adorable! Hello? His ex-scum-villain brother is in a snit because Shen Yuan made his first friend? Is this pre-school??

Unable to contain himself, he tackles him in a hug. “This didi will always choose his gege.”

“Idiot. We’re brothers, you didn’t choose,” Shen Jiu snarls.

Ah, if only you knew.

The System beeps warningly in his ear. Shen Yuan brushes it off. Transmigration and shitty novels aside, Jiu-ge is his brother through and through now.

Slowly, Jiu-ge relaxes. He even rests his wrists loosely on Shen Yuan’s shoulders. Progress!

I won’t let you die, gege. Promise.

_

Full prompt list here

AO3 collection here

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Unhinged Take on why Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto) is insufferable:

That he is an emo whiny crybaby who turned evil for no reason and with no justification or foreshadowing

Reason why that's unhinged:

I’m not sure how prevalent it is now but it’s kind of fucked up that Sasuke is so hated considering the reason he is the way he is is because the brother he loved and trusted so much killed everyone in their family and then tortured him with visions of it, and propositioned sasuke to kill him so now he is going through something literally no one else is and he feels he has to avenge his clan which is something he’s had to deal with alone for so many years. Then when he’s finally chilling out after joining team 7, orochimaru places that curse mark on him which manipulates his brain back towards revenge and then itachi comes back and brings out Sasuke’s angst full force again. And then he freaking gets kidnapped by orochimaru’s goons after he was contemplating the best option for his path in life and if he thinks it’s worth it to achieve power by any means (even bad). When he finally kills Itachi he revealed he was actually a good person the whole time and the _real_ victim because he was a hardcore bootlicker AND the whole time it was actually konoha’s fault his brother killed their family so not only was he betrayed by his brother but he was betrayed by his entire village.

Unhinged Take on why Shen Qingqiu (Scum Villains Self Saving System) is insufferable:

that he is a bad teacher compared to shen jiu because he practiced some favoritism, wheras shen jiu (the guy he bodysnatched) was generally a good teacher and just was harsh on one student (same one qingqiu is doing favortism on)

Reason why that's unhinged:

the character that is the favorite/unfavorite (luo binghe) is the protagonist of the original novel that would come back and burn the school to the ground, killing everyone and torturing his teacher to death for trying to kill him, severe child abuse, and not teaching him anything. also kicking him into hell. and he is shen qingqius favorite character and the protagonist of the original novel.

[teufelsabbiss]

Story idea: Tianlang-Jun/Yuè Qīngyuán, saving the world with papapa

Yuè Qīngyuán dies in Luò Bīnghé's trap and cycles back to his disciple days. He remembers everything.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help him to change the things he wants to the most, since he's already bound to Xuan Su, Qiu manor is burned down and Shen Jiu is missing. Searching for him doesn't yield positive results, Wu Yanzi is good at hiding his tracks.

During a meeting with other sects, Yuè Qīngyuán meets Su Xiyan and nearly has a heart attack, because she looks almost exactly like Luo Binghe. Or rather, his future damn half-demon murderer looks like her. He is aware that killing her right then and there will be discovered immediately and will spell death for himself. He almost attempts it, though. The only thing that makes him hold back is that he's not a hundred-percent sure that she really was/will be Luò Bīnghé's mother.

Then he is saved from Wu Yanzi's murder attempt by Shen Jiu again. He still thinks he deserves Shen Jiu's ire for failing him, but this time he attempts to give him a more in depth explanation – and is shocked to be forgiven and scolded for hurting himself. He never thought that was an option! Now he knows he can change things and hopefully prevent the horrible fate that awaits them.

Many events happen as he remembers them regardless. But he tries to amend them differently, with mixed success. For example, he swears his fellow succeeding disciples to secrecy and reveals to them that Shen Jiu and him grew up together as slaves and that his little sworn brother was sold to an abusive noble house. Everyone's reception of Shen Jiu and his prickliness is very different this time around. Especially Liǔ Qīnggē and Qi Qingqi are more polite and Shěn Jiu far less hostile in turn.

Yuè Qīngyuán remembers from his last life what the Huan Hua palace master will tell them about Su Xiyan spying on the heavenly demon Tianlang-Jun. After seeing her resemblance to Luò Bīnghé, Yuè Qīngyuán is convinced that was either an outright lie or he omitted a lot of what happened beside this. In any case, those two must never meet so that there will never be a future mad demon-lord!

This is easier said than done, though. He has no idea where the two met. Yuè Qīngyuán had enough knowledge about establishing the importance of spy-networks in his last life. The one they had then was sadly bad. But now that he knows this, he finds some people himself who inform him about what is going on around the Huan Hua territory. Tianlang-Jun and his general are weird enough to attract attention at once, disguises notwithstanding.

Yuè Qīngyuán immediately rushes to where the demon-lord was spotted. He is prepared to find a menacing, spying monster hell-bent on conquering the human realm and plans to lure him away to an unpopulated area. Once there, he would alert the sect with an emergency flare talisman to the danger, even though he knows they won't be able to defeat the heavenly demon emperor without the preparation that went into the siege at Bailu mountain. But he hopes this will at least make it impossible for Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan to meet. And, who knows, maybe she dies in the later upcoming battles, thus ensuing they can't have a child later.

Instead, he finds an easily distracted, embarrassingly lewd, yet strangely charming weirdo who loves trashy romance novels and eagerly takes every opportunity to learn more about human culture. It becomes understandable why Su Xiyan had (most likely consensually) dallied with this demon rather quickly. And unless Tianlang-Jun is the best actor in all three realms, which Yuè Qīngyuán highly doubts, he's not interested in conquest or war with the human realm at all.

Yuè Qīngyuán decides the best course of action is to keep him entertained in Cang Qiong territory until he is satisfied and peacefully leaves again.

Yuè Qīngyuán has ample experience with diplomacy, decades worth. How hard can it be? As it turns out, in Tianlang-Jun's case: not at all! And after Yuè Qīngyuán finds out that beside culture and art, a bit of ruthlessness and a firm hand is appealing to the demon-lord, it works even better. He can do this!

It works far too well!

After a few weeks of dumping novels and other art on him, leading him around to theater plays and having friendly spars, Tianlang-Jun is making marriage proposals and showers him with courting gifts and bad self-written poetry. Worse yet, Yuè Qīngyuán finds that he very much would like to accept. He didn't think that was a possible result of his efforts. But then again, what better and certain way to hinder Tianlang-Jun from siring a child with Su Xiyan than capturing the heavenly demon's heart (and dick) for himself?

Tianlang-Jun is way too noticeable and too exuberant in his adoration to stay a secret for long. They manage to keep his demon nature secret, though. One and a half year after they first met, the old peak lords ascend and leave their successors in charge. As the sect leader, Yuè Qīngyuán has full access to security on the peaks and can design a space with safety measures that can hide his demon lover visiting.

They wait another 10 years until his leadership of the sect and reputation is generally lauded by the entire cultivation world, then Yuè Qīngyuán announces that he will enter peace and alliance talks with the demon realm. Eventually he announces that he will marry Tianlang-Jun for peace with the demon-emperor's domain and protection from rivaling or hostile demon forces.

The other sects are outraged once they learn about this, but can't really do much against it, since this alliance is for the safety of the human realm. Despite the former good standing, Cang Qiong and Yuè Qīngyuán in particular retain a bad rep in the cultivation world as corrupted after this, though.

Yuè Qīngyuán cares little. Their sect remains the strongest and their territory is so well protected that the mortal townsfolk loves them. Newcomers clamor to gain entry in droves. Tianlang-Jun is funny and a loving, attentive husband. The sex is awesome. Xiao-Jiu doesn't hate him and is safe. They are all safe from a revenge-obsessed Luo Binghe.

As far as Yuè Qīngyuán is concerned, the other sects can go fuck themselves if they are unhappy with the situation.