Hmm. The thing is, I think, for me that I took a really big impression from Binghe's "shizun knows too much" in the Bamboo House prior to the Maigu Ridge climax. It's so obvious he knows something is up with his shizun here, that it isn't the original in some way. He's pointing out a pattern of Shen Qingqiu knowing "too much"; not just the Holy Mausoleum, not just when/where the realm merge will happen, but more than this, and there is no way [Shen Jiu] Shen Qingqiu could know those things.
So while I always deeply enjoy any and all identity reveal fics (+/- System reveal to go with that plot), I don't think I ever considered "but Binghe thinks he's with his abuser!!!" as something actually Completely Irrevocably Canon that is a huge elephant in the Bingqiu post-canon room. The way there's much more hints than that scene in the Bamboo House that Binghe knows what's up if you look closer is just extra icing on top.
Does Shen Qingqiu need to come clean, still? Absolutely, because no matter how much Binghe has figured out, how on the nose he is, he can't know for sure unless confirmed by an independent source in some way. (Shen Qingqiu himself, willingly or unwillingly. Via the System, if that's the route we're taking.)
In the end I'm just... kind of relieved that there's plenty of proof, even without the new extras making it explicitly canon, that Binghe, who's Really Fucking Smart, has figured it out.
Because you know what? It's far more upsetting, and not in a fun way, to imagine that Binghe really did think it was "the same" Shen Qingqiu the whole way through, at least canon-wise. For fic, I can take it or leave it, since the point of the fic with an identity reveal is to provide the catharsis of assuring Binghe this is someone else, who didn't abuse him; it makes it enjoyable enough.
Because if Bing-ge can almost immediately question if the Shen Qingqiu in front of him is Shen Qingqiu (though he then puts that aside), how and why wouldn't Bing-mei figure it out, who's spent a lot more time with his shizun?
So yeah, it's just a pleasing relief that the proof is there, and that the new extras added an explicit scene to make the situation (as it already was) clear.
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
