New Shen Gui'er Headcanons

Every time I do one of these I completely reinvent my OC, but that's fine!

Shen Gui'er's universe is dynastical China, probably Song/Yuan/Ming-ish, i.e. late dynastical but still a while away from globalization. Her father is a Jinyiwei (or equivalent) captain, so she's a bit of a xiaojie but not as prestigious as the real noble ladies.

She dresses like a boy to study at Hanlinyuan. Though she faces the social pressures of most girls in her time (marriage, femininity), her father teaches her martial arts and mostly just pretends not to notice her sneaking out to study.

One day, while in the woods, Shen Gui'er came across a cave covered in spiderwebs. She doesn't remember entirely what happened, just that it was dark and that she crawled out with a bite on her cheek. (In this universe, the radioactive spider is a zhizhujing who hadn't quite taken human form yet.) The scar on her cheek essentially barred her from any respectable marriage, and she became reclusive for a while. (How she officially became Spider-Demon is a story for another time.)

Because she has to pretend to be a boy to get her way in life, it's important to her that Spider-Demon is obviously a woman. She wears opera water-sleeves that double as web-slingers, and her mask mimics the style of noble ladies' makeup. It also has a huadian design on her cheek where her scar is.

Spider-Demon quickly becomes an embarrassment for the emperor. He can't stand to have his own soldiers mocked by a girl playing the hero. When Shen Gui'er's father fails to produce the culprit, he's accused of harbouring or abetting Spider-Demon and beheaded for treason. Shen Gui'er, now orphaned and a criminal's daughter, commits herself evermore to Spider-Demon.

After rotating atsv in my mind nonstop for the past three days I've come to the conclusion that we need a Chinese Spiderman. And I mean full, Dunhuang art style, spider demon, jttw cave of webs. Silk sleeves, qinggong, imitating Sun Wukong but in a spidery way. She's thwipping around with two fingers in front of her like she's casting a spell, running along her webs between the Beijing hutongs dressed like a cross between a bride and a jinyiwei. Veiled hat with web designs embroidered over it. Her name is Spider-Demon (蜘蛛精) and her secret identity is Good Student At Qinghua University Shen Gui'er (沈桂儿) (she was there at the white paper protests and fought a bunch of cops keeping her classmates safe).