I'm here for the Queer stuff 🥳

It turns out that working 40 hours a week is just too much. Full stop, no ifs ands or buts. The tiredness and loss of focus it induces is enough that you're about 25% less productive per hour when you're on a 40-hour work week, and so the extra 10 hours a week cancels out. This effect is a little bit more pronounced for white collar work and a little bit less pronounced for blue collar work, but there's functionally not enough of a difference to care. And people who are working more than that actually become less productive in total.

The thing is that you don't immediately gain the benefits of being fully rested and focused by working less on just one day, or even one week. It can even take months to settle into the pattern of higher productivity per working hour, and that's frankly miraculously quick given that full burnout can take years to recover from. And during that transition you will be less immediately productive. Particularly for people who pride themselves on being hard workers and how much overtime they put in, the notion that working less can get just as much done can feel absurd and even insulting. Because it seems so painfully obvious that you get less done when you do less, and any experiences of being invited to do so feel like they back that up.

But it's true. We are all simply working more than we need to, pointlessly, to no benefit at all. It is an appallingly pointless waste of human life.

Test subject

It's very amusing even as Shang Qinghua is clearly not hurt he still looks cowed. And Shen Jiu is thoughtful, leaving his Shidi to get beaten by a small child

The next day the kids barely break soil before Shen Jiu is like: "That one" pointing at Shen Yuan

Everyone is surprised and pleased with his decision he leaves and in a frantic bit of panic Shang Qinghua nabs Luo Binghe

Which leads to Shen Yuan repeatedly stealing Luo Binghe and when questioned he says "he belongs on Qing Jing, not with that man"

Shen Qingqiu is delighted by the spite and joins Shen Yuan in trying to get Luo Binghe to switch to Qing Jing but Luo Binghe actually quite likes An Ding and Shang Qinghua who ruffles his hair and personally taught him to read.

(Shang Qinghua just wants to not die)

Anyway Shen Qingqiu secretly delights in Shen's sassy and snarky ways but he's also bad with children so he's like "fascinating." *pokes Shen Yuan with a long stick*

Ming Fan tries to bully Shen Yuan and gets called a "forgettable cannon fodder" and "ant boy" and immediately deflates and cries

Mobei picks up on the half demon brat hears the explanation and how Shang Qinghua keeps referring to this kid as his Son and is just:

Mobei lightly smacks Shang Qinghua once in front of Luo Binghe who is already calling Shang Qinghua A-die and Luo Binghe yells at him about how Shang Qinghua hates being hit and it's bad and he hates him.

Mobei: humans don't like hitting?

Binghe: NO!

Mobei: oh shit. Okay um what do humans like?

Binghe: A-die likes noodles!

Mobei: ...I can work with this

He eventually wins over Binghe and gets Shang Qinghua to understand that they should marry for the sake of the child

Neither comment on the fact that a marriage of convenience doesn't require fucking even as they do it everywhere

Because of the fucking they get sloppy and Shang Qinghua is outed as a traitor before the conference and Mobei plucks him and Luo Binghe right out of the confrontation scene like "never talk to my husband and son ever again" and Shen Yuan who was slowly coming to the realisation that maybe he wasn't 100% straight is Distraught that his crush best friend is gone

And Luo Binghe is very upset that his crush is far away

The day Shen Yuan listened to Yue Qingyuan doing his best to be non offensive and said "Do you even have a personality or a spine?" He was richly rewarded

He's also actually a good disciple and good with the younger children but he is mainly there for Shen Qingqiu's entertainment

Until the brat turns it on him

They get into a screaming match and Shen Jiu is going to have this kid whipped and Shen Yuan yells something that cuts just enough and gets him SO MAD that he stops using corporal punishment out of spite

And once he realises he's been played it's too late because if he switches back he's lost even worse

Shen Yuan has to insult poor Yue Qingyuan at least 3 more times to get back in Shen Jiu's good graces

at some point he's like "well if you think you can do so much better with them, why don't you handle it, huh???" and expects shen yuan to cave and start hitting the other kids within like a day. is shocked and appalled when shen yuan is actually a good teacher for little kiddos? but then realizes that he has successfully pawned off his least favorite work on someone else and is like... maybe i'll just make him head disciple and let him do all the stuff i hate?

and shen yuan does it, moaning and grumbling internally all the way, because if he doesn't do it, then this scum villain will go back to fucking everything up and get their entire sect razed to the ground! so!

(shang qinghua in the background: man, luo binghe's not even on your peak, you don't have to do all that work...