#since i haven't interacted too much with people ooc so far i thought this would be nice!

[neonghostcat]

Hundred Winters Grove: Author's Commentary

This is a post that acts as author's commentary for my LiuShen fanfic Hundred Winters Grove.

I'm about to move on to the next project officially and I wanted to write this all down before I forgot!

People who haven't read the story yet might want to do that first, though if you're one of those people who watch a movie for the first time with the Commentary track on, I salute you and support your choices. 🖖

Some of you who've read my work before and left comments that gave me a chance to ramble may already be aware that I enjoy slipping in a bit of ambiguity in my stories sometimes. I don't go for 'open endings' so much, but I do like a little bit of wiggle room for interpretations of a character's thoughts/actions; etc.

Hundred Winters Grove is just... full on, intentionally Open To Interpretation. And it starts with the tags: Not Canon Compliant & Schrödinger's Shěn Qīngqiū.

If you're not already familiar with the paradox of Schrödinger's Cat, you can read the Wikipedia article on it. Properly understanding the concept isn't necessary, though it is interesting!

The important part to understand is just simply, "Until the results of the experiment are observed, the different possibilities (theoretically) exist simultaneously."

Or, in other words -- when I say "Schrödinger's Shěn Qīngqiū" I am actually saying, "Who, precisely, Shen Qingqiu is in this story is open to your interpretation. What you observe is the truth."

---

There are four lenses you can read the fic through:

Shen Yuan transmigrates at the canonical time and all is as expected.

Shen Yuan transmigrates at the canonical time, but more of Shen Jiu lingers than normal.

Shen Yuan transmigrates earlier than canon... perhaps much earlier.

Shen Yuan is having a Second Chance Reincarnation/reset, not just a transmigration.

---

1 - All is as expected

Probably the lens most people were reading under -- which is obviously totally okay and not 'wrong'! Especially for those who were uncomfortable with the first kiss since that bit of crossing boundaries can be handed off to "the antagonist" figure and all is well.

---

2 - SQQ has more "Shen Jiu" than canon

I won't dwell on this possibility too much since it's pretty easy to read through this lens. All you have to assume is that he has more of SJ's memories and/or emotions lingering -- which is something I wanted because of the kisses I thought would be most fun to write naturally lead to a "sharper" interpretation of SQQ than the "soft" one I usually write.

Theoretically you could even read it as LiuJiu and switch it around. It's Shen Jiu, but when System tried to install the Shen Yuan patch, it didn't overwrite the base file.

---

3 - Early Transmigration

There are several suggestions in the story that SY may have arrived earlier and was forced by System to operate under "OOC" rules until roughly when he transmigrated in canon.

The further back you go the more of Shen Jiu's canonical experiences Shen Yuan likely would have been exposed to. This could easily lead to a sharper, more bitter personality and still be all Shen Yuan.

You can say the first hint of this possibility comes from their very first interaction -- when the quake happened and SQQ glanced over for reassurance from LQG. Obviously, it is possible that this is absolutely SJ and he at least trusts his sect-mate this far. But if you're trying to read through this lens, I'd definitely be looking for these smaller moments as supporting evidence.

It's circumstantial for sure, but there are more direct hints too, such as YQY's claims that he'd been noticing an improvement with SQQ "for years".

---

4 - Second-Chance Reincarnation

This is the one with the most (intentionally written) support. I'm not saying 'this is canon', because the whole point of writing/editing the way I did was to lean hard into the Schrödinger's Shěn Qīngqiū concept! But I am saying that I took full advantage of the "Not Canon Compliant" tag either way.

The biggest piece of evidence for this interpretation is in chapter 3 when they briefly mention the Skinner Demon.

The Skinner Demon plotline wasn't in PIDW -- only in SVSSS. But SQQ is aware of it and assigns himself to go and deal with it, leaving his disciples behind. (The wording is pretty vague intentionally, though.)

All of the canon events that are mentioned in HWG would have normally involved Binghe. But Binghe, though still loyal to SQQ, isn't as involved in this story as I might normally write. (I do, after all, adore the soft dynamic between them. I just prefer it as platonic if they're meeting when Binghe is a kid and SQQ is an adult.)

If SQQ is living his story the second time around, like, say... if the whole Back-Up Plan attempt went wrong and he reset instead of becoming plant-zun and he were more free from System's influence to do whatever he wanted, he could easily adjust how he behaved with Binghe to encourage a more... chill dynamic between them.

---

I was originally going to start pulling quotes to support lens 3 and 4, but you'll probably have more fun looking for them yourself. (Plus this is already quite long and I have run out of free time.)

Hope this was interesting for you to read. :)

[giaourtopita]

oh no i was summoned by a religiously traumatised 17 year old and now i gotta babysit them

again, kinda ooc. these are really fun to write, by the way if you have any suggestions for the next parts feel free to send me an ask or message me!! i don't know why i didn't mention this in the first chapter but this fic, especially this chapter, is very self indulgent!! i hope you'll like it<333

warnings; underage gn mc, religious trauma (about christianity)

< previous part

*after a few weeks from the first summoning of lucifer, mc really thought that he was just severely misunderstood. history and christians did him dirty, mc remembers themselves telling him. lucifer always felt his pride and ego boosted whenever they had a talk. mc really did look up to him, sure he didn't tell them everything about him or his family but they were okay with it. he tries to help them with homework from time to time, even if he's busy.*

*mc started thinking that if lucifer, a demon whose reputation in the human realm is beyond repair, is that nice to them then maybe someone would also be nice. lucifer told him they lucked out with him but if they tried to summon another demon things could possibly not turn out the way they wished to. it was almost as if lucifer not only wanted to keep them safe but he also wanted to keep them a secret especially from his brothers.*

*he loves his brothers a lot but he really didn't want them to spoil his fun. normally humans were extremely biased against him, so seeing a human especially one so young being so understanding and really trying to see things from his point of view really made him think that maybe not all humans are as pathetic as they seemed.*

*mc made a copy of the grimoire so that they could return the book back to the library. they thought if their parents were to find the original it would be much worse than just finding a notebook full of summoning spells and information about demons written using pretty glitter gel pens and having cute stickers stuck on the pages*

*they sat in their room while reading their own copy of the grimoire. satan, they read. almost immediately prepared themselves so they can do the summon.*

*they tried summoning him three times until they stopped. they thought maybe there was an error with the copy of the grimoire so they went back to the library to check just to be sure.*

*meanwhile in the devildom, satan was at the royal library. he was looking for any new books he could read. that is until he felt it, the feeling of getting summoned returned. he tried grabbing one of the new arrivals at the library but it was too late.*

*satan suddenly found himself grabbing the same book as mc. both exchanged a weird look before saying anything.*

mc: i thought the summon didn't work...

*satan didn't like getting summoned, let alone being summoned by a stranger. he didn't bother with pacts for this exact reason, he thought summons were a waste of time when he could just read instead, heck! even re-reading something is better than getting summoned, he thought.*

*satan noticing the book he and mc were holding, he got curious. average humans don't have such powerful magic. he was interested to know how this was possible.*

satan: i tried to delay the summon so i could finish my book in peace. now, how were you able to summon me?

mc: give me the book you're holding please.

*satan gives the book to mc and they turn to the page that's dedicated to him.*

satan: oh, but that requires a lot of power. are your family members sorcerers?

mc: oh no they're far from that, they would probably freak out if they ever find out that i have casted spells. maybe even send me to a christian boarding school and perform exorcism on me.

satan: how come you're not like them?

mc: i just felt forced into believing in it. the more i interacted with christians the more sure i was that i wasn't like that. sure there are good ones but most people i have interacted with say nasty things about people that haven't done anything to them and make up excuses about how their religion agrees with what they say.

satan: i see but why did you summon me?

mc: well, the other demon i summoned seemed pretty nice so i thought that since he was nice you would be nice too. i'm sorry for summoning you, you don't have to hang out with me if you don't want to.

*mc was nervous about his answer and kind of scared, but tried hard not showing it.*

satan: it's too late now, but if you're interested i could give you some recommendations on who to summon next.

*mc nodded and satan started looking for something in the grimoire while grinning. when he finally found the page he was looking for he turned the book to them and showed a demon*

satan: that's lucifer and make sure to summon him late at ni-

mc: that's the one i've summoned actually, he even gave me a spell so we can set a time for when i can summon him.

satan: oh.

*satan seemed disappointed, mc noticed that but they wouldn't comment on it.*

satan: lucifer is my, uh brother. he's the oldest actually, out of seven.

mc: really? when i was younger i used to think that he was you.

satan: you used to think that he was me?

*satan started laughing, he laughed very loudly. mc was starting to get concerned.*

mc: what happened? why are you laughing? people here do confuse you for each other.

satan: lucifer and i have a pretty rocky relationship, i don't really feel like talking about it. anyways i'll show you the rest of my brothers.

satan: here's the second-born, mammon. he is the avatar of greed so you can't let him near anything of value. unless you want him to steal it, it's kind of annoying.

mc: so if i summon him, what would happen?

satan: he would probably think you're one of the witches he's indebted to.

*mc continued to listening to satan talking about his brothers until it was pretty late and mc had to head back to their house. but there was one last brother mc just had to ask about*

mc: what about this one?

satan: this is belphegor, you should never summon him. he's holding a grudge against humans and he will not hesitate hurting you. you were lucky you summoned me and not him.

*satan said with a concerned and worried look on his face*

mc: okay i won't summon him, i promise. and thank you for hanging out with me.

*noticing how late it was, satan offered to walk them home. after arriving at their house he asked them to inform him first about summoning him and only do it if it's absolutely needed.*

*mc wished him goodnight and entered their house ready to be scolded for taking too long at the library.*

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