Can we talk about Shen Jiu?
What the author did with Shen Jiu was incredible, and something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
Shen Jiu was a nothing character in the novel. A one dimensional villain in some shitty power fantasy of a book and that’s it. He was just a bad guy that we were glad was gone.
Which is something I find very common in transmigration novels because usually the author doesn’t want to deal with the awful implications of the main character stealing somebodies body and life and loved ones for themselves.
So they work around it. Make it so they don’t have any loved ones, make them evil or dull so the reader doesn’t think about life lost. Then you can have a guilt free transmigration romp with all of it’s implied shenanigans.
And for a while that’s the way the author goes, Shen Yuan barely thinks about Shen Jiu except to cuss him out for making his life so much harder.
And then we get Shen Jiu’s backstory. And suddenly Shen Jiu isn’t a one dimensional villain, he’s an escaped slave. He’s a person who was abused for years because he was sure that Yue Qi was going to come save him. And when he realized he wouldn’t he snapped and killed everyone in that house but still had that presence of mind to leave the people kind to him alive.
And in that moment we the readers cheered for him. We watch Shen Jiu viciously work and fight his way up to the top beaten down every time until he becomes Shen Qingqiu. Not just number nine. He’s a peak lord now.
And this back story contextualizes everything we ever knew about Shen Jiu up to this point.
The reason for him going to brothels so much is because he only feels safe around women after his time as a slave.
He didn’t try to kill Liu Qingge he was trying to help him and just messed up.
The reason he was so angry and bitter all the time.
The reason why he felt it was okay to hurt Binghe because “Why not?” Shen Jiu was hurt all his life why shouldn’t everyone else?
We don’t approve of it but we understand it.
But then we get scenes with him, especially when he’s young and it kind of hits you like, oh this is a person. This is someone who went through hell and fought his way out. This is someone who has loved ones and a personality and reasons for doing the things that he does. A person who I personally liked the personality of. I thought he was funny.
And suddenly this isn’t just a transmigration comedy romp anymore. It’s a tragedy. It really is. That this person who I truly believe had the ability to be better, had he had any real positive influences in his life, is gone. And it’s a tragedy that he was never able to become that person.
There’s a reason why fanfiction authors became fixated on him meeting Shen Yuan and changing his ways, or having always been cool all along and all this was a misunderstanding. We the readers want him to be better.
So I really do applaud scum villain for taking this character that I had thought literally nothing about, and decided to hurt me with him.
