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tonyglowheart · 2 months

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following up on this post though where I pinned down that by Chap 23/24, Shen Qiao already exhibits a shift in attitude wrt Yan Wushi. Which isn't to say he still doesn't rise to Yan Wushi's provocation, lol, because he very much does. But clearly by Chap 24... like, if he wanted to leave... he could? (Yes maybe Yan Wushi would stalk him and pop up wherever he went like :3 owo did you miss me? :3c) But he doesn't

And so that begs the question for me of like... why. Why doesn't he just leave? There's that line later in the chap about how if it were just a few days earlier, then he'd be uncomfortable all over (with Yan Wushi's provocation), but stuff like the goosebumps (he got), they decreased bit by bit until they were gone. - so yes he got used to it, but by early chap 24, he hadn't yet gotten to the point of, like... habituating to Yan Wushi's provocations?

so. really. I can only conclude that actually.... Shen Qiao likes it, lmao. Cuz, like, sure if Shen Qiao gives an inch then Yan Wushi will take a mile, but I also don't get the feeling that Yan Wushi really crosses any boundaries that Shen Qiao ultimately doesn't concede.

It's not like with Bai Rong - who he sets very clear boundaries with and doesn't really yield on them - or with like Huo Xijing or Sang Jingxing or the rest of Huanhe, who I think we can all agree are on another level of Bad, and who clearly SQ also sees as a different breed than Bai Rong (and tbh I think he sees Yan Wushi as being more akin to Bai Rong than like Yuan Xiuxiu or Sang Jingxing etc.)

With Yan Wushi, it's like... clearly Yan Wushi pushes his buttons and pushes his boundaries, but so far anyway, YWS doesn't seem to have done any pushes that are just a step too far beyond what Shen Qiao can tolerate.

So. Where does this leave us. Shen Qiao finds Yan Wushi irritating and but also stimulating I would guess? And at least tolerates his provocations if not continues to tacitly encourage it by being so permissive to Yan Wushi's antics. But also it gets his blood going and gives him jitters... hm why does this sound familiar........

Is. Yan Wushi. like a caffeine high that Shen Qiao is chasing lmao?? *insert all of the coffee memes of like it's so good but at what cost, sometimes it gives you accelerated exhaustion etc* i've connected the two dots dot.jpg

Which also means that, any time anyone asks Shen Qiao about Yan Wushi and like, what the heck clearly he just pushes your buttons and tries to get a rise out of you, why are you even sticking with this old man,. this is him:

#qian qiu #yanshen #shen qiao #yan wushi #i've connected the two dots dot jpg #cuz it's easy to be like well what does yws get out of yanshen - yan wushi likes being provocative and also in a way he bonsais sq into #being on his level - like his whole thing about are you even a rival to me. but like if you think about it a rival is also a peer #and yws is so peerless in the world that his ego aside it must be hard for him to make friends #it's sort of like... yes make intergenerational friendships. but if the only ppl you could make friends w are high schoolers....#then that's kind of awk as a like. working adult of many years. like the martial world goes by disciple generations sure and there are ppl #in his generation... but it also goes by skill level and there are very few if like. no one other than potentially sq on his level lmao #(clearly. as five (five!) dudes tried to kill him and FAILED)#(and even qi fengge himself was like. this guy has the potential to exceed me)#I do think that for yws sq goes from like. a curiosity to an experiment to like. blooming into his potential as a full peer #but the equation is a bit more difficult from sq's side #the like 'abandon trying to intepret sq as a normal guy and see the padme amidala post abt her being a freak and that applies here'#only rly goes so far. it got me part of the way there of like. okay you're thinking of this wrong you have to open your mind #but still it was like... so clearly at some point. he does in fact stick with/around yws (and must like it?? if he doesn't why would he?)#but... WHY #I was sort of halfway there of like. as much as yws sees sq as a curiosity so too does sq see yws as a curiosity?#as far as like... well I have my worldview widen it by showing my an almost ostensibly diametrically opposed one #like sq is very... unworldly? that's not quite it. like. otherworldly? very detached from the 红尘 (mortal world/human society)#the normie world ig? like he's been immersed in the Daoist/cultivation world since a young child #he really is very much close to the ideal of being/embodying 仙 #but he does also suffer from the. if you're so removed from the world that you don't know what you're removed from #you're not really doing it on purpose. you kind of are sure but you aren't really being #and yan wushi on the other hand is a very worldly guy. he's very much about worldly affairs and worldly things and worldly pleasures #and worldly emotions. etc. so they are similar in that they each are fleshed out in a way that embodies their ideal but they're two sides #of the same coin. two sides of the yin-yang equation #but on a more personalized note lol. like why does sq go along with this other than he a freak and he must like it?

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