Focus on: Da Qing and his bells

[undeadrobins]

This is my first time doing a scene focus, and one of the first times I've ever really looked at anything like this in detail. Meta is not my strong suit, so if anything I've put here makes no sense, please let me know!

This scene is just one small part of the whole "Zhao Yunlan returns to the present/future" scene that happens in episode 35 around the 15 minute mark. It's also the scene that had the most impact on me when I first watched the show, and influences a lot of my Guardian-related thoughts and writing ideas.

So the team have gathered all of the Holy Tools and Zhao Yunlan has just told Shen Wei that he's leaving. Da Qing, always the eavesdropper, overhears and comes running over.

( Spoilers and pictures and thoughts, oh my! )

What I love most about this scene
When I watched the show the first time, I was, like most everyone else, focused on the Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan relationship. Right up until I got to this scene.

This scene to me is more 'romantic in a platonic way' (yeah, I know, but I'm not sure how else to describe it) than anything else in the show. Da Qing is literally giving his heart away, to a man he's not known for long. Zhao Yunlan understands the depth of that love so completely, and in that moment understands how much he means to Da Qing and, in turn, how much Da Qing means to him.

Even if Da Qing never remembers this, Zhao Yunlan will, and his relationship with the cat he's known for so long will change.

We see Zhao Yunlan doing what he usually does in moments of heightened emotions and feelings – laughing – but he does it in such a fond way that it hurts my heart a little. It's a laugh that says "I know you so well" and "I care about you so much", and isn't meant in a bad way at all.

It hurts my heart that Da Qing doesn't get to know what happened to Zhao Yunlan. At least Shen Wei watched the Holy Tools pull him away; Da Qing was still unconscious at the time and then woke up with amnesia. Poor kitten.

It's been a while since I rewatched the whole show, so I might just have to do that, and keep my focus on Da Qing (and his relationship with Zhao Yunlan) this time. I feel like I need to note down everything we know about him!

Thoughts and questions

• How does Da Qing feel about Zhao Yunlan? Are his feelings purely platonic, or does he have some romantic love in there too?


• What was it about Zhao Yunlan that made Da Qing so sure that he was the one who deserved his bells?
  
• How might this conversation have continued if they hadn't been interrupted? How does Shen Wei feel hearing this conversation?


• What happens to Da Qing between this time and the time we meet him in the present? I would like all of the theories and suggestions (and fic! art!) about him through the years.


• Does this differ to the story in the novel? I've never read it, but I'm interested in how the relationship between Da Qing and Zhao Yunlan is portrayed in that.


• Where are the other cat Yashou? Apart from the annoying female that turns up, we never hear or see anything about them.