arknights: shu, shennong, and the endless rice fields of love

[betweenseasons]

The flowers bloom so beautifully after that parting, I wonder if you still know the way home.

Here A People Sows is THE Arknights event of all time to me. I think I could make like ten posts covering every aspect of it that I adored and still end up wanting to talk about it more. I need to talk about the trio, I need to talk about Ji, I need to talk about Dahuang as a setting, the list goes on and on and on. But since its Shu's birthday month, I'll talk about her relationship with a lovely lady called Shennong first (；′⌒`).

All excerpts from Arknights story reader: Here A People Sows | Shu Operator Record
Some relevant wiki references: Sui | Dahuang | Shennong


A quick refresher on the Sui sibling premise:
The Sui was once a mystical being that ruled over Arknights fantasy China Yan, that was split into 12 fragments following a war meant to subdue it. These fragments, pondering the question "Who am I?", each evolved into an individual with their own personality, with different characteristics. If the fragmented individuals were to ever fully reunite, they would once again merge into "Sui" and lose their personhood forever. After their "death", everything of theirs would disappear alongside them. Inventions, written words, and even the very memory of them would disappear from the world. Each fragment eventually found their own way of life, some of them accepting that their individuality would eventually be lost forever, while others aim to find a way to free themself from this fate.

Shu is 6th of 12 siblings, though she likes to think of herself as more of an elder sister than some of her actual elder siblings, who tend to be far more hands off than she is. It's in her nature to care, and to try to look after others. She's openly affectionate and sweet with her younger sisters, referring to them with nicknames and always urging them to eat well. She's a dependable presence, a sturdy rock for her siblings, and a guiding light for her students. There's a specific image I want to paint of Shu, someone wise and resilient and deeply caring of every individual she meets. Shu's a really hard character for me to talk about because there's so many pieces of her in her relationships with others, so it always feels like I'm neglecting so much of the larger picture of her by fixating on one thing... but to start to explain anything about her (and by extension, Shennong,) at all, the most important piece is the land she's protected on someone's behalf for the past thousand years: Dahuang. (I'll jump around the chronology of events a bit in the next few sections because I wanted to split up some aspects of their relationship I really love, and cover their first meeting all the way at the end, just like how its revealed in game. If it's confusing... my bad 💛)

✿ Devotion and Love, or a Thousand Year Curse?

Dahuang currently stands as the agricultural hub of Yan, known as the "Breadbasket of Yan" due to its role in the production of grain for the region. This same prosperous region, a thousand years ago, was instead a land of cold and barren fields. After experiencing the famine that came after a catastrophe, a certain unremarkable and stubborn farmer dreamed of a flourishing farmland that extended beyond what the eye could see, where people would never have to suffer the pain of hunger again. She dedicated her entire life to this goal, working tirelessly year after year to sow the seeds for her desired future. This woman, unknown by her true name even in present day, came to be known as the mystical farmer deity "Shennong", revered by the people of Dahuang. They celebrate a yearly festival, the Shennong Festival, to commemorate her achievements and pray for a good harvest at the statue erected in her honor. She is almost solely credited for the pioneering of Dahuang, as the driving force behind its growth into the prosperous farming region it is today. She's a figure of folklore, an infallible goddess of harvest, and the dearest mortal Shu has ever known, even a thousand years removed from her death. The first reference to her within the story comes from a conversation between Shu and her student, He Sheng (my beloved) (codename Wanqing) (this is a post about Shu and Shennong but I will still make it relate to Wanqing later trust). It's an offhand mention, but we start to see how long Shu has worked in the fields of Dahuang.

He Sheng: All these years, and nothing to show for it... not even a bud of hope.

Shu: Fifteen percent. Twenty-five years ago, that was the critical line that had us stumped. It took nine generations of crops before we found an Originium-resistant variant in the corner of one of the plates.

He Sheng: You and the Tianshis kept going for this long?

[...]

Shu: We tried so many different things, just to carve out a little piece of farmland for ourselves. It took generations after generations of trial and error to get agriculture to where it is today. As you said, the Wanqing project is one where hope is hard to come by.

Shu: Perhaps, many years later, people will look back at us the same way as we look back at the ancients who fertilized their fields with Fibrous Slug fluids. Only one thing is clear, though. Plates on their own can't produce enough food for everyone. People will always go hungry in the remote villages, places where the nomadic city can't reach.

Shu: And I'm willing to believe that, one day, we'll break the shackles of Originium, and then we'll truly have The Ten Thousand Qing of Fertile Fields... a certain someone said that to me, once upon a time.

What Shu and Wanqing are talking about here, is the results of his recent experimental plot where the goal is to develop a crop that can withstand high amounts of Originium pollution, much like Shennong's goal long ago. Shu has watched the resistance level of the crops climb from nothing, as it inched upward year after year, generation after generation. A thousand years is a long time to have watched over one place, something that Shu did not do idly. Her history is tied to this land, as one of its most foundational pillars, despite continuing to live there as an ordinary farmer. The dream she continues to hope for was originally Shennong's, something she has carried with her so long that it's become a part of her.
We hear more of the average civilian's perspective on Shennong when Wanqing recollects the local tales surrounding her to Zuo Le during the Shennong Festival.

Zuo Le: What's the story here?

He Sheng: Shennong passed away on a journey to the north, in search of new species. Her body was never found, only a basket and pouch filled with rice grains. They were brought back to Dahuang and buried in a cenotaph. Some say that in the summer of the year of Shennong's death, she was seen descending from the sky as the last rice was harvested, touching the harvested crops with gladness, and sowing new seeds in the fields. Since then, Dahuang has held an annual festival to welcome Shennong and pray for a good harvest.

Zuo Le: Is Shennong a figure of legend?

He Sheng: Absolutely not! While there are elements of myth in the stories associated with her, there is no doubt that Shennong did, in fact, exist. There are records of her existence in the Tianshi Bureaus' publications. She was the founder of Yanese agricultural theory, the first to summarize it in a systematic manner, and responsible for determining the patterns of the twenty-four Jieqi solar terms.

[flashback, to Zuo Le in the Sui Regulator archives]

Zuo Le: Shu, the Sixth, measured the signs of heaven and laid out the twenty-four Jieqi... she appeared in Dahuang at the time of a great famine, and has faithfully served the city for a thousand years since. I didn't realize there was one like that among the proxies...

What Zuo Le realizes in this scene, is that a number of the legends regarding Shennong... were in truth actually to be attributed to Shu instead. The mythical goddess of the harvest was not one individual, but an immortal and a mortal working hand in hand. This scene is where the depth of their relationship begins to show, as the bits and pieces of their past are fed to us like crumbs scattered throughout the story. Shu and Shennong, partnered so closely that the deeds of one can be remembered through the other.

During a tense conversation with Ji, her younger brother, we start to see the cracks in Shu's dedication to Dahuang and its people. Not through her own actions, but through the concern of the sibling that used to know her best. (I need to throw out there the fact that I love these two SO much they make me feel sick. One of my favorite sibling duos ever 🥲). For a little context, Ji grew up in Dahuang after Shu took him in when he had just barely manifested as "himself". He's incredibly familiar with Shennong, and knows how much she and Dahuang mean to Shu, because this land was once also his home, the place where he learned the joys of the mortal realm for the first time. But Ji also holds some lingering resentment for the people of this land, because Ji's first priority is Shu and her wellbeing. Simmering under the surface of his plots, is the desire for Shu to be freed from whatever obligation she stays here out of.

Ji: How many Catastrophes have struck this land in the last thousand years? You knew when and where each and every one would strike beforehand. You feel everything that happens to this land, as though it was happening to you.

Ji: What are you holding onto? Who's the one working against the laws of nature?

Ji: Just like old times, I want to ask: Will you come with me, sister?

Shu: My answer is the same. I will not leave. I can't leave.

But the reason behind Shu's refusal to leave Dahuang all these years later remains unclear. Her siblings have traveled the lands, hidden away in realms of their own making, met all kinds of people in the long stretches of their lives. What holds her here, when she could just as easily wander freely?
The answer comes to light when disaster strikes Dahuang in the form of demonic pollution. More specifically, demonic pollution that had been festering under the land for a millennium. Shennong's last trip to the north had been in search of an extraordinary kind of crop, one that might survive the harsh conditions of the land. Corrupted by demonic influence, and on the brink of death, Shennong still dragged herself back to her home, seeds in hand. When she collapsed, the farmers discovered the seeds she had on her person, and buried them alongside her. Those cursed seeds sown a thousand years ago would have spelled disaster for the region, had it not been for Shu's presence. In present day, the situation spirals enough that an immediate evacuation order is given to all civilians, alongside the order to abandon all farming plots. Her sisters, upon learning of the situation, realize that Shu was bound to have had a last resort in preparation for this disaster.

Nian: She probably doesn't want to leave though... If the demons had already contaminated the land all the way back then... She's been single-handedly suppressing it all this time.

Nian: A thousand years... What would it feel like to have your consciousness gnawed by demons for a thousand years...? Shu... Good grief...

[...]

Dusk: Then, what about her?

Nian: What do you mean...?

Dusk: Surely she would've known that this day would eventually come? The question is... where is she now?

She [Shu] walks further and further, until her figure disappears altogether with a thunderclap.
Unlike the heavy rain from just a few days earlier, the rain right now is so tender and fine.
As the rain falls, all the cracks in the land fade away.
And thus, a soul trapped for a thousand years dissipates.
All things will come to grow.

Shu chooses to sacrifice herself using all that's left of her powers, to cleanse the land of the demonic corruption brought back to the land inadvertently by her dearest friend, and in doing so, effectively disappears from existence entirely, and from the memories of all the mortals that had loved her and depended on her.

Much later, in the heart of whatever it was that Nian built (I forget) (even though I'm literally referencing the story side by side as I write this) Shu awakens to the sight of her old friend, a manifestation of her memories. (Jumping up and down throwing up eating glass. everything. etc. This conversation is a literal hydrogen bomb and it gave me every single disease. YURI.)

Indistinct Woman: Did you plant all these?

Shu: The people here did. As you said, I can't use my abilities to meddle with their growth... I'll disappear one day, but these people will still be here for a long time.

Indistinct Woman:You've worked so hard... It's been a while, Shu.

Shu: How very strange. That brother of mine has been telling me he's seen you in his dreams lately.

Indistinct Woman: Why do you keep thinking about me...? Are you getting nostalgic with age?

Shu: You know how to make fun of me too now.

1. Marriage. They're so married. This is very serious commentary and analysis. Shu is straight up just widowed idk I don't make the rules!!!!!!! Jokes aside, Shu has always taken the things Shennong taught her during her short life to heart. It's a point emphasized time and time again, that their companionship genuinely changed the course of her entire life. Which she admits herself, as the conversation between her and this vestige of her memory continues.

Shu: The people here all remember a 'Shennong' who compiled the twenty-four jieqi solar terms, taught them how to till the land, and even risked her life to cultivate a vast expanse of frozen soil into fertile fields.

Indistinct Woman: How can I bear that title on my own? We achieved it all together, so why put everything on my shoulders?

Shu: It's been so long, is there still a difference between you or me?

Shu: All I remember is someone taking me in when I was wandering about aimlessly like a child, and giving me a home. She told me I needn't care about the differences between man and beast... that I should just live as a human.

Shu hadn't truly even lived until she met Shennong, and found a purpose for the very first time!!! Again the line between the two blurs, but this dismissal is one that Shu does repeatedly whenever thinking of the legends surrounding "Shennong".

Indistinct Woman: I didn't expect you to stay here even now.

Shu: I promised you I would. To stay and guard this land, so people wouldn't have to go hungry.

Indistinct Woman: Oh, Shu... have you ever resented me?

Shu: ...

Indistinct Woman: A thousand years. How can you call this devotion? This is clearly incarceration...

Indistinct Woman: Even though your consciousness is gone, you're still trapped here by your ties to this land, rather than go free. All because of one mistake I made...

Shu: I don't resent you for it... only myself. For not going north in your place.

And so we arrive to the heart of the matter. Beyond Shu staying to protect the people from a curse they unknowingly planted themselves, she stayed in Dahuang for a millennium, all because of the request of one ordinary girl whom she loved more than life itself.

Indistinct Woman: Shu... You know I've never seen you as a Xian, the whole time we were together. I almost forgot that you weren't mortal. I only realized when we parted ways, I had my own selfish motives, a 'human' selfishness. I wanted to beg you to stay, to continue helping the people here. All of my kin need you.

Indistinct Woman: But I wasn't sure if you would love them, as you loved me...

A love, a promise, a selfish request when Shennong was at death's door, twisted over time into a curse that trapped Shu in this land. But a promise like this is never one-sided. Shu still blames herself for the way that Shennong died all those years ago, a meaningless and preventable death. A mere mortal should not have had to brave the demonic pollution of the north, when Shu could have gone, could have saved her. Shennong loved Shu for who she was, and knew she was loved in return. But in her last years, the divide between them was clearer and clearer, that despite their long companionship, human lives were just a footnote in Shu's continuing existence. Would Shu stay, even after Shennong passed on? Despite what her siblings, the Sui Regulator, or the memory of Shennong think, Shu's love for Dahuang, its people, and humanity, has always been unfalteringly genuine. She has never considered her time here a curse, just a duty she must continue to bear the weight of, without fail. Is it fair?, a certain younger brother might ask. But it doesn't matter to Shu, when this is the role she's felt is her purpose. In the end, it is her deep ties to this land that allow Shu to once again return to the mortal realm instead of fading from existence forever. She's once again erased from the history of this land, just like in the past, but she had never wanted to be revered as a goddess anyways. A simple life, where she worked for her grain and helped to fill the bellies of others, was enough.

Shu [to the manifestation of Sui]: You fear because you haven't really lived yet, you don't know how this great land truly is.
This world isn't frightening at all.
But you've never seen crops being harvested, or people cheerfully laughing.
You've never seen countless creatures vying to survive, enduring hardship, and continuing to thrive.
You should take a closer look, if you get the chance.
I am no longer an arrogant and lonesome Feranmut, nor am I a soul adrift all on my own.
I have lived a real life here, together with the infinite variety of life on this continent.

✿ Futility of a Shared Dream

Shu: There was a time, many years ago, when Catastrophes were frequent as they are now... There was nothing I could do. I watched as rice ready for harvest fell in the fields, leaving nothing but a tiny patch that could barely fill a single bag.

Shu: You said to me, your face full of mud, that there was nothing to worry about. Keep at it, year after year, and it will come. There were no wrinkles on your face back then. And you weren't Shennong yet.

Shu: So many years have passed. Why is the dream still so distant?

The Ten Thousand Qing of Fertile Fields, or the Wanqing project, is the dream of a young Shennong, shared with Shu, of a future where there would be acres of farmland flourishing, where no one would ever have to go hungry again. A dream that Shennong was unable to see to fruition in her short lifetime, that Shu carries with her now. The constraint of time was the highest barrier between Shennong and her dream, something we see her struggle with in the few moments we have with her. Early in the story, when Ji uses his threads to impart ominous visions upon some residents of Dahuang, Wanqing sees a peculiar vision of an old farmer who tells him to work the fields. As he does, he grows older, seeing the crops wither no matter how much he sows and harvests.

Old Farmer: I spent all my life farming here, but life is too short. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... numbers that are too big for me. I will never see them grow up. I don't have the time to wait for them to bear fruit.

Old Farmer: It is beyond my lifespan.

Within the story, this scene is meant to prod at Wanqing's own doubts about the the future, but the vehicle through which this vision is told, is Shennong. Time passes equally for all, and Shennong was merely a mortal, not a farming goddess, who could farm forever and see her dream come true. This urgency led her to the drastic measures she took towards the end of her life, turning to the pipe dream of a miracle crop that could save everyone. Shu and Shennong's goodbye paints a picture of this urgency, alongside the crushing reality that Shu and Shennong were not equals, that Shennong's time could never compare to Shu's.

Shu: You're leaving again?

Old Woman: You're not going to try to talk me out of it this time?

Shu: When have you ever listened?

Old Woman: I'll feel empty inside if you don't at least nag a little bit.

Old Woman: I can still walk, and my limbs remain sturdy. The spring wind is still chilly, so it's not like I can sunbathe in my chair.

Shu: You know how dangerous it is up north.

Old Woman: But, Shu... You also know we have no choice...

Old Woman: It took us decades just to carve out this little plot of land. But, it's still not enough.

Old Woman: We're always short on food and land... If we go a bit further north, we might just find some special crops that can grow in Originium-tainted soil.

Old Woman: Then, we'd be able to cultivate the entire continent, and nobody would go hungry ever again.

Shu: Even more reason for you to stay. If we can't find a crop like that, we'll just cultivate slowly. It might take ten generations, or a hundred, but eventually-

Old Woman: Does it look like I can wait that long?

Shu, having been by Shennong's side all this time, has come to see the world the same way she does, believing that the dream is within reach with every small step they take. Eventually, one day, it might come to fruition. In a way, its like time slowed down for Shu in the years she spent in Dahuang with her. A being who once passed time fruitlessly had felt it slow to a crawl, working day after day in the fields with Shennong. Shennong doesn't relent, and decides to leave after all. But she doesn't leave without gently comforting Shu with her optimism, like she always does. T__T

The woman smiles and unclasps her hand, revealing a small white flower in the middle of her palm. She pins the flower to the hair bun of the girl in front of her.

Old Woman: I found this in the fields today. I do believe it's the first flower to bloom this year, and that's surely a good omen. Maybe I'll make it back in time for this year's harvest.

Old Woman: You just keep track of the days, and have some short-rib soup ready for me.

You can't see me but I'm incapacitated on the ground right now because of how unwell they make me. Is this not crazy. Lets all just die. //Collapses to the ground a second time thinking about Shu's LNY skin having flowers in her hair...
One of Shu's abilities is her keen sense for future events, which she does through reading palms. I didn't add that snippet of conversation here, but Shennong asks Shu to read her fortune one last time, which Shu refuses to do, saying that it's something she wont do for Shennong anymore. As we fade out from this farewell, we see Shennong faltering as she asks Shu for hope to hold onto.

[Shennong] Oh, Shu...

[Shu] Hm?

[Shennong] You've always been able to see that future, haven't you?

[Shu] ...In the end, you'll...

[Shennong] No... Don't tell me. I don't want to know when I'll die.

[Shennong] I just want to ask...Will our dream of The Ten Thousand Qing of Fertile Fields come true?

Shu, at this point in time, was well aware of the fate that likely awaited her beloved. Her refusal to read Shennong's palm could be seen as her wish to not have that fear confirmed, even though she knew deep down what was likely to happen regardless. Instead, Shennong asks what she thinks of the future for their dream, though we don't get to see how Shu responds. There's an irony in the fact that this last trip Shennong took to the north was when she would return with the polluted seeds that almost destroyed their home.
In the present, when Shu meets the memory of Shennong after her own "death", Shennong again asks her what became of their dream.

Shu: I'm afraid I've let you down.

Indistinct Woman: So we failed in the end, right?

Shu: ...You never found the seeds, and I never managed to grow crops on Originium-tainted soil. We couldn't even protect this land.

Indistinct Woman: Man can prevail over nature... but when will that happen for real?

Indistinct Woman: Shu... Do you regret it?

Shu: ...

Indistinct Woman: You knew that everything I said would come to pass, didn't you?

Shu: Yes, I always knew.

Time had been Shennong's enemy, the one thing she felt she did not have enough of, always fighting against it to do as much as she could before she would have to depart from the world. But Shu had a millennium, and yet the two of them still failed. Shennong's ordinary days and Shu's immortality combined couldn't ensure that no one would ever go hungry again.

Ling: Has the end that you have been staring at for so long changed at all?

Shu: Never. Nothing but snow as far as the eye could see. The spring harvest, the autumn harvest, all buried in snow.

Ling: I see... Do you feel disappointment at the result? Regret?

Shu: Is life itself not a result? Do the countless mortals of the world give up living just because they realize it will eventually come to an end?

The fate that Shu had foreseen for their dream, was never a success, but the eventual burial of everything they had toiled for. But when her eldest sister asks if she regrets the struggle, the sweat, the tears she spent on this path, Shu can't agree. Shennong's tireless optimism has long become her own, and the end of her journey is yet to be seen. Whether it ends in a success or failure, Shu will have done all that she can for the future. Despite the long expanse of time a Sui fragment can live, there is still an end to their life. Death, and the looming threat of "Sui" itself, would result in the complete erasure of anything left behind by her. A fate they are all too familiar with after the death of their second sister, Jie.

Ling: For our other brothers and sisters, I worry that they don't see things clear enough. For you, I worry that you see too clearly. See too clearly, such that you fail to see 'yourself'.

Shu: I'm just farming here.

Ling: Everything has a heart, from the mountains to the rivers, to the trees and to the grass. To you, the trees and grass may not be any different from our own lives. What is it that you still can't put down? What keeps your mind occupied?

Shu: Jie left behind so many scrolls and books. She wanted to teach everyone to read and write. But all those scrolls and books disappeared with her. No one remembers her, other than us. But I've visited schools and the Tianshi Bureaus, and I've seen handwriting that looked exactly like hers in their books. All of her things are no more. Even I didn't manage to keep a single one. But the words she said are now being said by students, and the words that she wrote are now being written by the pens of students.

Shu: She once told me, 'It's the things I leave behind that count.' I just want to see what I can leave behind on the far end of all these fields of rice. What I can leave behind if the day comes that I am no more.

If the Wanqing project isn't one that can be seen to completion by her hands alone, then it's a dream she must entrust to others, the way that Shennong had with her. If the name of the project isn't obvious enough, it's time to talk about Shu's beloved disciple, He Sheng!!!!!

✿ Sowing the Seeds of the Future

(from left -> right, Grain Buds, Shu, Wanqing, Zuo Le)

From what I've heard, I came to Dahuang from the villages outside.
That year, someone found a wooden basin in the fields with a child who barely knew how to speak. Most likely, he had drifted into the fields from the river that flowed outside the city. Good thing someone found him.
Considering there was news of a Catastrophe, it's not so difficult to make guesses as to what had happened upstream.

Kind Woman: You're a lucky boy, clinging on to dear life in a field of grain... We'll call you He Sheng, for 'Grain Stalks.' This will be your home from now on.

Wanqing, like Shu and Shennong, and many of the farmers who came to stay in Dahuang in the intervening years, came to the land from outside. Separated from his parents and his origins, Dahuang became little He Sheng's home. He was raised by Shu and the farmers, everyone caring for him to ensure he grew up well. It's so [heart clench] to me that Shu was the one who named him when he was found, considering how important their relationship would be for him and his future. He's Shu's brightest student, and the one who decides to follow in her footsteps after her, of his own will. Shu imparted her wisdom, and her love, a name, and a dream to He Sheng. The codename he later takes on when he becomes playable joins Rhodes Island is Wanqing, the name of the project he and his teacher had been working on together ever since he formally began his role as a Tianshi. Shu gave him a name Twice... that's literally her son...
Wanqing's "origin" story so to speak, was when he went in search of his home village alongside Shu, only to discover that it had been abandoned due to Originium pollution in the fields. No crop could be harvested there any longer.

[baby He Sheng] Is there any way we can make these bad rocks disappear, so we can grow food on this land again?

Kind Woman: Many people have spent many years looking for a way. Would you like to join them?

[baby He Sheng] Yes...

Kind Woman: It could take a very long time. You might never see the results. Even after spending your whole life on the effort.

Kind Woman: Would you regret that?

[baby He Sheng] ...No.

Something Shu repeatedly asks him, time and time again, is the same thing that she has been asked by many people in her life. Will you regret it, dedicating your life to this fruitless mission, one that you will likely have to pass on to the next person without ever seeing the results yourself? Shu had never wanted him to live the difficult path that now lay ahead of him, but she also wanted to know if he had the strength to face the setbacks that would come his way in the future. Wanqing struggles with many of the things she and Shennong had in their journeys throughout the story, persevering through every disaster with a dedication awfully similar to theirs.

Grain Buds: Why are you holding your head like that?

He Sheng: Maybe Shennong really was a celestial Xian... Otherwise, how could she have carved out farmland in an environment like this?

Grain Buds: Sure, Shennong was amazing, but it's amazing how people have taken care of the land. Shennong would be so mad if you give up this easily!

Shennong's main role throughout this narrative, aside from her relationship with Shu, is to represent the struggle of the ordinary man in the face of the cruel nature of Terra. If Shennong represented the struggle of the pioneers in the past, then Wanqing represents one of many nameless farmers of the present trying to improve the livelihoods of all that depend on them, day after day. Their hand-in-hand role in this narrative is most clear in scenes where Wanqing ponders his own capabilities in the face of everything "Shennong" achieved, as well as the scene in which Ji conjures up a vision of Shennong based on the fears of his subconscious. However, their shared worries are not the only parallels to be drawn between these two stubborn farmers.

Well-Dressed Man [Ji]: What about you? Is there anything you would like to buy from me?

He Sheng: ...Me? Thank you, but there's nothing I want in particular right now.

He Sheng: Or should I say, what I want can't be bought. I have to earn it on my own.

This parallel with Shennong will become clearer when I cover her first meeting with Shu later, but just like her, Wanqing refuses to have the answers handed to him on a silver platter. There's so much he wants, both of them greedy and ambitious, but their dreams are something they need to achieve with their own hands, their own merits, their own strength. Wanqing represents the stubborn human will of Shennong's, and is part of the legacy Shu had long desired to leave behind. He is their thematical lovechild!!!!!!!!!! I will die on this hill forever. Wanqing is also just like Shu in that he also has a blue significant othe[cartoon anvil falls on my head]
To bookend Shu and Wanqing's first meeting, lets talk about their farewell. After the crisis is settled, Wanqing returns to the lab to assess the crop in his experimental plot that survived the Originium pollution, and runs into Shu, who is visiting the people she's known in Dahuang one last time before she departs. They might not remember her any longer, but they're a precious part of the life Shu has lived here.

He Sheng: Judging from your clothes, are you a Shouye Tianshi from the Bureau? I don't think I've seen you before...

Kind Woman: ...

Kind Woman: Yes... I haven't been here very long.

The young man scratches his head in confusion, as if he has forgotten something.
It is as if he has dreamed a long dream, and the emotions from it still vaguely linger in his heart. He just can't remember the people he met or the things he encountered.
After spacing out for a spell, the young man cracks a smile.

He Sheng: I'm an apprentice of the Tianshi Bureau, called He Sheng. I guess I ought to call you Laoshi now too.

Kind Woman: Hello, He Sheng...

Pausing here to tell you guys that I can physically feel my heart crack every time I read this scene and it NEVER GETS BETTER no matter what Shu's files do to soothe my pain. WHY DID THEY DO THIS TO ME. WANQING SENSING THE FAMILIARITY ABOUT HER BUT BEING UNABLE TO PLACE IT.. CALLING HER LAOSHI AGAIN AND INTRODUCING HIMSELF. SHU SMILING AND SAYING HELLO, TO THE LITTLE BABY SHE ONCE PICKED UP OUT OF A BASKET AND NAMED... JUST DISGUSTING WORK. HYPERGRYPH DIE NOW. This is the one situation where I am so fucking glad they walked it back in her files and mentioned that he and Grain Buds have remembered her again because the thought of them never being close with her again would have killed me dead forever. I',m sorry for disregarding consequences of the story for my blorbos but I am not immune..
coughs. Okay lets continue now.

He Sheng: I just discovered a very important crop... one that can grow on soil contaminated by Originium... This has been a long-term project. As long as this crop can be widely distributed, we'll be able to reclaim tons of wasteland into usable farmland, and nobody will go hungry ever again...

He Sheng: It might take a while to reach that goal, maybe even a really long time, but at least, there's a glimmer of hope now.

Kind Woman: In that case, are you willing to devote the rest of your time to that goal?

He Sheng: Yeah!

Kind Woman: I wish you luck. Do your best. I won't keep you from your research any longer. Zai gin.

He Sheng: Huh? You're leaving already? I was hoping to tell you a bit more about the project, and maybe get a few pointers...

Kind Woman: That's alright. I trust that you'll be able to accomplish your goals.

Shu is very subdued at the start of this scene, knowing that he won't have remembered her, but still pausing to take it in before she responds to him. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming at once, that she simply asks him again, whether he's ready to dedicate his life to this dream, an inside joke that no one but her would have known in this moment. She steps out of the picture as quickly as she came, because this path is now Wanqing's to follow without her supervision every step of the way. The dream shared to him now belongs to him alone, and she believes he'll be able to carry it forward, no matter what awaits him.

(oﾟvﾟ)ノTime for a little off topic tangent, since I'm hidden all the way near the end of the post~

It's probably quite obvious by now that Wanqing is my second favorite Arknights character, just after Shu lol. And it's not my fault, he's literally her student, of course they're so similar!!!! He has the same dry sarcasm that Shu shows from time to time, the same overworking habit that Shennong has, the same deep love for the land he calls his home... I love these three so muchhhhh.... Wanqing as a character is actually more notably "my type" in favorites compared to Shu, because I just adore this type of blunt yet dedicated and caring character.
I don't know if I have it in me to make a post like this about the Arknights ship I like even more than Shu/Shennong bc I take psychic dot every time I think about Zuowan (Zuo le/Wanqing...) But shoutout to them because they are like yaoi Ganqing to me in some ways. A blend of Ganqing/Nijiryo/something entirely their own. Wanqing and Keqing are respectively my favorites in the two pairings, but if I had to draw some silly similarities between the four, Keqing and Zuo le are the upright swordsmen from noble families... Ganyu and her green thumb is the obvious comparison for Wanqing, they do not play about their crops!! And the "workaholic-isms" that is really just zealousness for wanting to protect their homeland. Though Zuowan seriously need a vacation, they're just barely adults... go take a beach trip or something I beg. Wait no not beaches. The sea is haunted on Terra. They're better off visiting an actual haunted mansion for a day off. At least they can see Miss Christine there.
Jokes aside, the serious similarities are mostly just in the ways they come to understand each other slowly after a wrong start & see themselves in each other. I owe Shu and Zhongli my life for getting these guys to take a closer look at what there is to see about the other underneath the surface... 🪁🐍 💜💙 forever!!!

✿ An "Ignorant Girl" and a "Rustic Farmer"

The mute statue is covered in mud from the past few days of wind and rain, as if it has just returned from a day of work in the fields.
The woman steps forward and gently wipes the mud off the statue.

Shu: 'Shennong' spent her whole life diligently working the fields, but ended up worshiped as a Xian by you lot, expecting her to solve your problems. They only come to visit her when they have problems they can't solve, or obstacles they can't overcome.

It is time to talk about Shu's operator record FINALLY. I'm not gonna lie most of this section is just copypasting like the entirety of the text in there and being like DO YOU GET IT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND. This oprec saved my life. Also. The image of Shu wiping the mud off Shennong statue's as if it's something she might have done for her back in the day.. after a day of work..... 😵‍💫!!!!! It's so intimate to me do you get it... love..
Anyways, the operator record is a story from some time ago, when He Sheng had first been put in charge of his own experimental plot. Shu goes in search of him and finds him at the Shennong statue making an offering to pray for a good harvest. It's common practice for many Tianshi, but Shu reprimands him for doing so, asking if he'd give up just because of a bad harvest.

He Sheng: Was 'Shennong' a real person?

Shu: Why do you ask?

He Sheng: She came up with a calendar system and figured the twenty-four solar terms a thousand years ago... she even managed to cultivate such a wide expanse of farmland in a place so perilous... I honestly can't imagine that being the work of a single woman.

Shu: It doesn't matter if you believe it or not—the changes in the seasons and soil beneath our feet are real and true. Someone must have done these things in the first place, for stories to be passed down about them.

He Sheng: What kind of woman was she to achieve such feats?

Shu: Her, huh...? Just an inconsiderate fool, that's all.

I really love the way Shu speaks of Shennong, it's so funny because literally no one knows what she's referring to EVER. Her jabs at her at Shennong's expense are a little joke only she knows the punchline for, and are often not really true. Regardless, Wanqing is right on the money here, and we'll get to see some of Shu's thoughts on "Shennong" as more than a single woman later. First, we get to go back in time all the way to the day the two of them had met.

Rustic Farmer: You told me your body was once taller than a mountain, and the clouds floating in the sky did not even clear your shoulders—what was the view like up there?

Ignorant Girl: The endless stretch of mounts you see are undulating slopes of earth to me; what you take for towering trees are more or less the seedlings growing by the roadside here. Dead mounts and still water for a myriad years.

Rustic Farmer: So you couldn't see the flowers and trees clearly, nor make out the cries of the fowlbeasts? That sounds like a lonely life...

Shennong caught onto the mystical nature of Shu's existence right away, but instead of awe, she responded with her typical blunt curiosity. Shu tries to bluster, talking up the experience of being above lowly humans, but Shennong pities her instead. She catches onto the exact issue that this aimless Shu is experiencing, the very reason she might have stuck around to chat with an ordinary farmer at all.

Ignorant Girl: You don't fear me?

Rustic Farmer: Why would I? You don't look like a monster, you look like us.

Ignorant Girl: But we're not the same at all. My lifespan is thousands of times longer than yours, and I could easily reduce you to dust, were you to anger me.

Rustic Farmer: Pfft—

Ignorant Girl: You dare laugh...?

Rustic Farmer: I've heard tall tales like that before. The Xians in these stories always descend to the mortal realm on account of boredom and loneliness. Why turn yourself into a mortal and come to our realm otherwise? Sure, turn me into dust, but then who are you gonna talk to?

Ignorant Girl: I'm not—

What really shocked me the first time I read this story, was this characterization of Shu in her youth. Coming away from the story of Here A People Sows, the image you'd have of Shu is this gentle and kind and selfless person, whom it would be a crime NOT to love. The way this backstory completely recontextualizes the Shu of today who we know, is so, so good. She was once haughty and unkind, prideful and ignorant. Her gentle nature of the present is something she had to choose, to grow into over time, despite it being against the nature of her powerful origins. Shennong is yet again incredibly funny, seeing this all powerful dragon girl trying to show off and being like awwww you must be so sad and lonely, good thing you have me to talk to <3. Shu being so flustered by this notion makes it even funnier, I love them, my sillies...

Rustic Farmer: If I had a body as big as you did, I'd let people plant crops of all kinds on me! Hey, how about that? Can you make plants grow better too?
Ignorant Girl: That'd be easy. I'll even prove it right now... see?

The girl gently waves her hand, and in the next instant, a green sorghum seedling in the ground ripens, bearing a bountiful harvest of grain.

Ignorant Girl: I could turn this entire snowfield into farmland, if I wanted to.

The farmer's eyes grow wide, and she does not speak for quite a while.

Rustic Farmer: Does it tire you out, doing that?

Ignorant Girl: Doesn't take much effort. Much less than your slow farming techniques.

Rustic Farmer: Then, what do you want from us in return?

Ignorant Girl: What could I even want from you lot? I just did that on a whim, since I'm in a good mood.

Rustic Farmer: Then... No, no... it's better if you don't do it again. I can't only think about now. You helped us today, but what if your mood turns sour? You might just leave us. If we were to depend on you, then wouldn't the crops here vanish once you left? We'd have forgotten how to grow our own food and we'd end up hungry. So it's best we work hard on our own to cultivate the land, and we'll free ourselves from those anxieties too.

The origins of Shennong's steadfast will! It was already quite obvious within the story, but here we get more confirmation of Shennong's absolute insistence that Shu must never use her powers to influence the growth of their crops. This is the scene I had in mind when comparing Shennong and Wanqing's similiarities when it comes to their goals. When faced with the prospect of everything being handed to them, they refuse and continue forward with their own strength. I've left out lots about Ji in this post so far because he's not relevant to the yuri-ness but he was actually incredibly close to Shennong as well, and she had once reprimanded him for using his powers all the same. Also, Shu saying she's in a good mood here is so cute. She's sooo happy to talk to her new friendddd. Too bad, she'll have to start farming soon~

Rustic Farmer: Hmm... here.

Ignorant Girl: What's this about?

Rustic Farmer: I can't learn your supernatural farming techniques, but I can teach you how we mortals do it. It's a bit slow, but it works.

Rustic Farmer: Learn how we farm, and you might just understand how us mortals think and feel too.

"Learn how we [live], and you might just understand how us mortals think and feel too." This is probably what lies at the heart of every Sui story, and I'll be damned if I don't eat it up every single time. It's just so so good. Nearly all the siblings we've met have their own Emotionally Significant Mortal who taught them a different version of what it means to live. This offhand notion of Shennong's quite literally changed the trajectory of Shu's life! We start to see the two of them growing closer, working together day after day.

[young Shu] Is it tough, being human?

[young Shennong] Of course! Just look at the frostbite on my hands... I'm still young, but my back already aches on rainy days.

[young Shu] I could take you somewhere else, a place with picturesque views and spring-like weather all year round. You wouldn't have to labor like this, and there's so much food over there you couldn't finish it all even if you were to live ten times as long.

[young Shennong] Haha, I knew it! You're afraid to be alone. You just want some company, right?
...But I think I'll pass.

[young Shu] You don't believe me?

[young Shennong] Of course I believe you. This great land is so vast I'm sure a place as good as that exists somewhere... but I'm also afraid. Afraid that I'll never want to come back after visiting your utopia. Our mortal lives are too short. As long as I can grow these crops right here, I'll be satisfied.

[young Shennong] ...Although, going out to have fun with you isn't entirely off the table, if... Only if you promise me everyone in this world will never go hungry again.

If world hunger was solved in Terra my sad farming lesbians could have eloped.. this is Doctor's fault somehow . I really love Shu wanting to sweep Shennong off her feet and take her away to some idyllic getaway, she is so fucking cute LMAO.. she likes her so bad!!! And of course Shennong is too farming-pilled to be swayed by this. Or rather, she can't afford to be swayed by it. (；′⌒`) She would love to travel with her and see the world through Shu's eyes, but she has to stay grounded and focus on the present. Ough..
Shu later asks Shennong why exactly she's so fixated on her goals, and what made her wish to accomplish them in the first place. When Shennong tells her of how she had experienced a famine once, Shu can't fathom what that would feel like. She can't understand why Shennong would send crops to nearby villages full of people she doesn't know, or that she wouldn't expect anything from them in return. She knows nothing of connection with others.

Rustic Farmer: I'm bad with words, I can't explain it well. I just think the plants and trees right here are pretty and want to grow more of them; I don't like how hunger feels, and I don't want anyone else to suffer it either.

Rustic Farmer: *sigh*... A Xian like you couldn't know what starvation feels like, how unbearable it gets...

Ignorant Girl: So what's it like?

Rustic Farmer: Your stomach hurts, your organs feel like someone's twisting them. Your body loses all its strength, and you just feel empty and nonexistent. As if your body's experiencing every suffering on this land at the same time.

Ignorant Girl: And how does that feel?

Rustic Farmer: Like... when a most beloved relative, or best friend passes away, and you know they'll never come back...

Ignorant Girl: ...

Rustic Farmer: ...

Ignorant Girl: I still don't understand...

Rustic Farmer: You say you don't, but you've been here with me for so long.

Shu knows little of starvation, little of grief, and nothing of the suffering Shennong speaks of. She wants to understand, but she can't grasp it at all. We already start to see a shift in her through her earnest curiosity.

Rustic Farmer: Well, I do enjoy our days together. My work feels less tough when I have someone to chat with. It'll be hard for me if you leave one day, so I'll figure out a way to make you stay here for a while longer.

Ignorant Girl: ...

Rustic Farmer: Oh, I didn't mean you have to stay here... I just remembered that you said you wanted to understand us 'mortals'.

Shennong too, has grown attached to Shu... I like Shu's pause here that Shennong interprets as hesitation to stay, when we know Shu is here at all because she's been longing for companionship. I think Shennong telling her she wants her to stay meant something to her... 🥺. Shennong is also very deliberate in how she treats her words around Shu, always assuring her that there's nothing holding her here if there's somewhere else she'd like to be. She doesn't want to cling to her, but she'd like her to stay, if that's what she wants.

Fast forward lots of years to Old Married Couple time..!!!

Shu: If you don't behave and go back home, there won't be any meat in your meals for the next few days.

Old Woman: Shu... you shouldn't be bullying the elderly.

Shu: Then act your age. Do you think it's romantic to watch the snow fall outside with just one layer on you? Today is Xiaohan, you know.

Kiss, NOW!!!!
Shennong begins to worry about the current harvest, only for Shu to get frustrated with Shennong's disregard of her own wellbeing.

Shu: That's not something you should be worrying about right now. Keep neglecting your health and you might not even make it to next spring.

Old Woman: That won't do... I'm planning to go north again when spring comes. I got lost in the northeastern forests last time, so I'll try walking west this time.

Shu: You're trying to anger me. Once you're in the ground, I'll have them build a statue here, looking towards the north that's always on your mind.

Old Woman: I couldn't ask for anything more. But don't let them carve the statue the way I am now. Too ugly. And as for the clothes, reference the outfit your brother gave me. I'm quite fond of it. Oh, speaking of which... I haven't seen him in so many years. I wonder if I'll manage to see him one more time...

Old Woman: Time flies so fast... it feels like I met you just yesterday. Several decades gone, just like that.

dnflkbsalg. Guys they're fucking married... Also Shennong is so stubborn. I FEEL BAD FOR SHU WHY IS SHE LIKE THIS. But this snippet is really really good in the context of the statue of Shennong that does exist in the present day.

He Sheng: The books say Shennong wanted to cultivate the land up north in her later years, but eventually succumbed to illness on her northward search for the 'Shen Gu' super grain. So why does this statue face southward?

Shu: Shennong labored her entire life away just to prevent her fellow man from going hungry and cold. She would've been very attached to the people of her hometown.

Shu: That's probably where she was looking, in her final moments.

[EAR SPLITTING SOUNDS OF DISTANT WAILING] OHHhhhh my god. SHU 😭. Yearning hall of fame. She's always flipflopping between saying something petty as a little joke for how Shennong would always frustrate her, and in the next moment, she'll show just how deeply she understood who Shennong was. She never wanted her to go to the north, knowing what awaited her, but she knew exactly why Shennong went. Her love for her people was just that immense!!

Shu: Over the course of those decades, Dahuang's fields have tripled in size, and our annual crop yields have more than doubled... everyone calls you Shennong, the godly farmer, why not be content with that?

Old Woman: Humans are always greedy for more. We're never content. Grow two yields of rice this year, and you'll want three the next; once you have a hundred mu of fields, you'll want two hundred...

Old Woman: Someday, when Dahuang's fields stretch beyond what I can see from here, I wonder if I'll still be able to visit the picturesque place you talked about?

Shu: Sure. Once you're well again, I'll bring you there in the spring.

Old Woman: You're lying to me again... I realized it a long time ago, you blink hard whenever you lie.

Shu: ...

Let's eat glass. Now please. Shu refusing to confront the limited number of days Shennong has left... Regretting that she'd never been able to whisk her off to that beautiful place she wanted to share with her love 😵‍💫 Hypergryph I',m once again in your walls. Even though Shu is struggling with this, Shennong seems to have already accepted this outcome. We come full circle to their conversation long ago about grief and connection.

Old Woman: Shu... you knew this day would come.

Shu: Of course. Didn't I say so? I was used to this long before even I met you. All living things abide the laws of mortality...

Shu: I...

Old Woman: Do you feel it now?

Shu: Feel what?

Old Woman: Feel like a human... Feel happiness over something trivial, feel sad knowing how something ends, feel anticipation, reluctance... I know how you feel... this is how humans connect with one another, through our common feelings.

Shu: You spent your entire life just to teach me a single thing... you're a pretty bad teacher, honestly.

Shennong spent her entire life "teaching" Shu the pain of being human... Except she did nothing but live at Shu's side and offer her own companionship. The short lifespan of a lowly mortal was enough to change Shu forever!!! And so, knowing that her time is running out, Shennong finally makes a selfish request of the immortal girl she loves.

Old Woman: So can you stay here in my stead, after I'm gone?

Old Woman: I don't need you to be their patron saint. Just live here, as a human.

Old Woman: Teach the children the farming methods we developed, a woman as bright as you will surely do a better job teaching than me.

Shu: ...They'll remember there was once a woman who spent her entire life on this freezing snowfield just so her people wouldn't go hungry.

Old Woman: Just me alone? I clearly had a Xian in human form at my side this whole time.

The catalyst for Shu's thousand years in Dahuang, was simply Shennong's earnest wish for Shu to continue living as a human among the people that she loved. It was a selfish wish, but it was one full of love T___T

Shu doesn't let Shennong downplay the sacrifices she's made for this land, and in turn, Shennong is always the one to emphasize that the two of them walked this path hand in hand. "Shennong", the goddess of the harvest, is a partnership between two women, mortal and immortal. This habit Shu has of pretending her own feats belonged to Shennong, and Shennong refusing to let her forget of their partnership, is actually what gave me enough brainworms to want to put it all together in one place. Because there's so many places where Shu does this and it kept me thinking of all the reasons she'd have for doing it. It's especially fun when she does the reverse, and takes something of Shennong's for her own.

He Sheng: Actually, what made you decide to become an Nongye Tianshi in the first place?

Shu: When I was young, I learned how it felt to starve, once. Since then, I decided I wouldn't let anyone else go through that.

He Sheng: So you also suffered a famine...

Shu: Well... that was long, long ago.

He Sheng: Just like Shennong...

He Sheng one day you will find out that your laoshi is not a normal woman. But you are dense and not as good with people as Grain Buds so I forgive you. That aside, there's a couple ways this moment can be taken that make me feel sick all the same.
1. Shu stealing Shennong's backstory as her own.. what's yours is mine.. I love a little identity theft it's so romantic actually. More on this later.
2. The "famine" that Shu speaks of here isn't a literal famine, but the feeling of grief she experienced when she lost Shennong. Starvation, as Shennong said, is not unlike the feeling of every suffering at once, the feeling of grief when someone beloved to you passes. Shu has never experienced such hunger, but she did experience this aching grief. If that was what starvation felt like, how could she ever wish it upon another?

He Sheng: We still don't know if they were historical people or just myths. Could it be that Shennong wasn't just one woman? She only hoped for more to follow in her footsteps, instead of remembering who she was, so she hid her identity. But this way, no one really remembers the person she was...

Shu: If someone like that really existed, do you think she'd care if the people here remembered her name at all, if she could see what Dahuang has become?

Shu: Or maybe she was just shy and didn't want to leave her name and likeness behind.

Shu I love when you lie it's so cute to me. One of the few things that we do know about Shennong, is that she was a little vain!! As fashion expert Ji told us back in the main story, Shennong took care of her appearance!!

Ji: I never liked this statue. Who decided that Shennong should be shabby and weathered? She liked to look pretty. She always had flowers in her hair, and she liked the clothes I made. And I remember how much her eyes looked like yours. If only Dusk had a portrait of her... but that was before she started to paint.

When Shu and Shennong had their little back and forth about the statue, she honestly enjoyed the thought of Shu getting the people to create a statue in her honor. She even specifically asked her to choose one of Ji's outfits for it, which it seems Shu (or the townspeople) did not abide by lmao. It's a cute moment of Ji being exactly on the money, because he knew her quite well too 🥺. My point being, the person Shu's talking about being "shy" here, is probably just herself. The line between her and Shennong in present day is blurred, to the point of there being no difference between the two of them. When Shennong is spoken of in the future, they are also speaking of Shu. When Shennong is remembered, it's the two of them being remembered in tandem. In this way, they'll never be too far apart. Shu herself doesn't need to be remembered alone, or as a partner, it's enough for her that she'll always be inexplicably linked to Shennong in this way. If you need me, I'll be bawling my eyes out in the corner o(--( Fellas IS IT GAY TO YEARN FOR YOUR DEAD WIFE SO INTENSELY THAT YOU WANT ALL YOUR MERITS TO BE HERS AND ALL OF HERS AS YOURS. Fuck my stupid baka life. The inherent romance of identity theft,,, Or reverse identity theft in this case,..,,,..

The last wish Shennong leaves Shu with in this story, is a wish that she won't have to lonely ever again, now that she's felt the joys and the pain of companionship.

Old Woman: I won't get to see it, but perhaps a day will come when Dahuang becomes the place you spoke of... I'm sure there'll be many by your side to admire the scenery, and you won't be lonely anymore.

Old Woman: When the winter jasmines on that hillside bloom next year, will you weave a wreath of them for me?

And Shennong's words ring true, for all the bonds Shu has forged over the years. To target Me, Specifically, this wish of hers is followed directly by Shu's precious student bidding her farewell. The legacy she'll leave behind with him, as well as the comfort of knowing that someone will also see her own dream continued alongside her once again. I reiterate that He Sheng is the thematical lovechild <3 I'm so right always.

He Sheng: It's getting late, Laoshi. I'll go prepare the transplanting tools. I'll give it my all, no matter how this year goes.

Shu: Mm, off you go.

Shu: See? They still remember you. An ascetic like you is still on their minds, even after a thousand years... What can I say?

A fowlbeast brings up a small yellow flower in its beak and drops it on the statue's bamboo hat.
It seems to have picked a good nesting spot, and fetches several more flowers with branches in bunches. Yellow flowers soon cover the brim of the hat.
The flowers bloom so beautifully after that parting, I wonder if you still know the way home.

Shennong, still remembered after a thousand years, and Shu, who will be remembered alongside her, even if it won't ever be as directly as Shennong would have wished. The rice fields of love they planted will surely continue to flourish, through everyone that comes after them. 🥺

6k words of me blabbering incoherently about farming lesbians that no one fucking knows, there's a nonzero chance that I'm being delusional about half my interpretations, but the only way to prove that is if you read the event and talk about it with me. Win!! If you actually made it all the way through I will send you a heartfelt thank you letter and also an insistent request that you read Here A People Sows, NOW!!! THE RERUN IS IMMINENT AND YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE. DO IT FOR SHU. DO IT FOR HER DEAD WIFE. Billions Must Love And Understand Shu Arknights.

I think next I want to put together my thoughts on Exodus From The Pale Sea (Thorns alter event), because I didn't expect it to scratch my brain just right in the themes it covered...love a good xxxholic-core portrayal of what it means to be "whole" in this world. And then after that I will be normal and post stuff like top ten tiramisus I've eaten or something.