Guardian readalong: chapters 23 & 24

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Hi, all! Just a reminder that sign-ups are still open for this round of the Guardian readalong. Two more weeks and we'll have finished volume 1! Woohoo! Hope you're all having fun!

Welcome to this week's installment!

If you’re just joining us or need to catch up, here are last week’s chapters and you can find all previous chapter discussions on the schedule post or via the !readalong tag.

This week we're looking at:

Chapter 23 and 24: The Emissary looks after Zhao Yunlan, heals him, and tells him he has an "unstable soul". The pillar is the Mountain-River Awl, and it contains tens of thousands of evil spirits. Wang Zheng explains her backstory.

This corresponds with chapters 37 to 39 of the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation.

Excerpts
( 1) The Emissary, his robes, and his puppet )

( 2) The Emissary and Zhao Yunlan )

( 3) Zhao Yunlan admires the Emissary )

( 4) Zhao Yunlan has an unstable soul )

( 5) Zhao Yunlan on dignity and what makes people human )

Questions
- How much do you think Shen Wei's roles are bleeding into each other? Is the Emissary treating Zhao Yunlan differently because Professor Shen has got to know him, or would he act the same here regardless?
- Any thoughts about Wang Zheng's backstory, or the way it differs from the version in the drama? Do you have sympathy for Sangzan? How about for Gelan?
- What do you think of Zhao Yunlan's behaviour towards Wang Zheng in this chapter?

These questions are just conversation starters. Feel free to talk about your reactions to the chapters generally and highlight whatever stood out to you.

December/January fanworks round-up post!

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This is the fanworks round-up post for December and January! Please link in the comments to any Guardian (or related fandoms) fanworks you created or enjoyed over the last two months.

• all kinds of fanworks are welcome – fic, art, vids, picspams, etc. - including those made for exchanges and events
• new chapters of WIPs count
• meta or discussion posts, too
• whether or not you've already linked these in a post of their own, we still want them here!

If you're linking to fanworks you didn't create yourself, please clearly mark these "REC", so there's no confusion about authorship/creatorship.

(And please still do link your fanworks, meta, etc. separately, in their own post, at any time!)

So ... what Guardian and related fandoms works did you create or enjoy in December and January?