winning the star war

This is an excellent scene to explain how shen yuan is a truly unreliable narrator because if you think about it, he didn't know Binghe for long before he himself took Without A Cure.

Right after transmigrsting he couldn't hang out with Binghe due to ooc. As soon as he got the ooc unlocked, he went to the cultivation caves, and he took Without a Cure right after exiting. The actual time they spend together between these moments was what, like... 3 conversations? One carriage ride?

So his "criticism" here is him unironically saying "because of Airplane's shitty writing, a girl jumped in front of the poison for Binghe after knowing him for only two hours 🙄🙄 unlike me, who jumped in front of the poison after knowing him for like a day and a half, which is very reasonable."

image massively undersells wildness.

You're right, that could have been more helpful.

the critique of this kind of fuck-emperor (i'm told many centuries established in chinese literature) that he is very clearly miserable.

that you don't live like that unless there's a gaping hole inside you that no amount of sex or power can do anything to fill, and yet you can't find any other way to even patch it over.

and then it's like. okay so why is he like this. does he have another option. the narrative doomed him to this; he is the audience's little toy. he is the audience's collective scream. he is the cycle of abuse made flesh. he is thirteen years old forever. at what point was he still salvageable. could he have ever saved himself.

and the answer to that last one is simultaneously no, he could not, people aren't made to be alone, how can you learn to be good and happy when the world gives you nothing but pain and betrayal; everyone needs a little kindness, sometimes all anyone needs is just a little kindness. but also:

#still thinking abt that one twitter user who said SV qualified as psychological horror / a dark romance#the psychological horror aspect comes in how nonconsensual the premise is? shen yuan dies and gets transmigrated to a novel against his wil#where he Knows he will be killed and tortured and die a painful death (and he’s. a 21st century rich boy nerd)… how would YOU feel#i love shen qingqiu bc he’s funny but he’s funny because he is using humor as a COPING MECHANISM. he is Distracting Us from his depression!#also luo binghe is both the love interest AND the villain (and he is actually also. A victim lemme elaborate)#their mutual noncon scene bc the plot made them do it (/neg)… a delicious subversion of romance novel tropes. sorry they had a bad time tho#I Have a Lot of Feelings#(i genuinely love how they both start out bad at sex bc theyre both virgins HAHSHSHSJS so refreshing how it wasnt a perfect first time LOL)#and we know luo binghe improves. he’s TOP student for a reason… in more ways than one i guess no pun intended)#svsss#PEAK FICTION by the way

She sounds so tired

So tired of wanting a man who doesn't care for her

So tired of living with what is essentially a curse all because it made her sexier to men she doesn't even know exist

It's such a brief window in how uncomfortable it is for her

I cannot express how deeply I feel for her in that moment and it's only such a tiny section of the text

Then you're outed against your will and he tells you you're disgusting. You go "but you said you didn't hate them!" And he says but it's different for YOU and kicks you out of school

Then you return to your high-school after graduating from college to show him see I ended up being a good educated person! You hate him for being so cruel but also want him to give you another chance... then you realize the trophy case has your picture and everyone says "you didn't know?? When you left he was so sad he fell into depression and he'd come stand in the hallway and stare at this pathetic shrine he made for you"

You try to talk to him but he runs away from you. Clearly he doesn't want to associate with a gay person like you - is what you'd think, except he's hanging out with your FLAMING father!!!!?

awakening of the creator

inspired by this

Shen Jiu...