this was a great read! when i read the premise the first thought in my head was about that newspaper article that said “i married my stalker!” and well… shen yuan did indeed do that. i love atticwife shen yuan, and trophy wife shen yuan, as well as any other type of wife shen yuan could possibly be. now, onto how i felt about the fic entirely:
and i loved seeing this from shen yuan and binghe’s perspective. it just really made this fic feel so… real?? i loved how it felt like shen yuan’s mind was slowly breaking when it was from his pov, while for binghe the entire situation felt almost… tender and soft.
one of my favorite lines was definitely: “It was a blessing that A’Yuan did not speak when Binghe fondled him with proprietary hands. It was that lack of refusal, that silent acquiescence that had Binghe escalating.” this speaks volumes to how luo binghe views the situation. he thinks shen yuan not saying anything is a “yes.” and honestly, that’s like saying “oh, well, a no sometimes means maybe.” silence doesn’t equate to yes! however, binghe is so far gone. what does a “no” even mean to him? if his a-yuan, his yuan-ge said no… wouldn’t he just go ahead and grope and violate him anyways? i mean, for god’s sake luo binghe really just said: “‘Yuan-er loves me too doesn’t he? He lets me do such terrible things to him after all, hmm?’” with no subtlety or subtext.
the narration was so wonderful in portraying the mental process that someone in this situation or a similar one could go through. from shen yuan’s view, he know’s he’s being violated (“In fact, the first time Binghe’s touch became… inappropriate… Shen Yuan had told himself that he was imagining things but by now he had simply adjusted, casual groping had become part of his routine.”) and just told himself to adjust. to deal with it because this was his life.
but on the opposite end of this, there’s binghe. who, in his own special way sees his care as tender. he often compares it to caring for his sickly mother. at first, i wanted to say that binghe’s outlook really starts rubbing off on shen yuan, to the point where our little atticwife thinks he WANTS to stay in the attic. but at the end of the story, he’s still reluctant to call luo binghe husband? (though, that could be because of his thin face.) i also found it as equally intriguing as it was disturbing how binghe would treat shen yuan like he was unable to do anything (and often thought that shen yuan was entirely incapable of caring for himself.) luo binghe is making sure that shen yuan won’t be able to live without him. he’s basically saying: so what if he runs away? it’s not like he can put on his own socks, or brush his teeth on his own! he can’t survive in the real world.
the entire dubious consent here really ties together this story. in the end, what works for them, works for them. but i can’t shake that creeping feeling i get from thinking about shen yuan’s being treated. SIGH,,, at the end of the day, such is the life of an atticwife.
this was such an incredible read, thanks for writing it! i can’t wait to read more of your works. *ੈ✩‧₊˚
Thank you for the extensive comment. It was a fun read and you definitely picked on the creepier elements of their relationship.
"he thinks shen yuan not saying anything is a “yes.” and honestly, that’s like saying “oh, well, a no sometimes means maybe.” silence doesn’t equate to yes! however, binghe is so far gone. what does a “no” even mean to him?" - I did totally use language used to speak on issues of consent on purpose - because Bingge's views on consent are uhhh kind of fucked up. Very fucked up. The interesting thing is that, in this case, SY's silence...is actually a yes...but you were super on the nose when you questioned if anything would change, really, if SY said "no". The answer is, likely not - at the most Bingge would find another angle, another way to get what he wanted - but he wouldn't stop.
"luo binghe is making sure that shen yuan won’t be able to live without him. he’s basically saying: so what if he runs away? it’s not like he can put on his own socks, or brush his teeth on his own! he can’t survive in the real world." - Bingge's dream, really.
In short, their relationship is...batshit...and the fact that you're creeped out is super valid.
Shen Yuan likes his attic-wife life (both SY and LBH are very strange) but you're free to question the veracity of his thoughts/feel weird about his treatment.
Thank you again for the comment, it was super fun to read *smiles*.
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bellaisverystinky Sun 24 Jul 2022 01:40AM UTC
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