Guardian Readalong: Vol. 2, Chapters 3 & 4
Mar. 1st, 2025 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong! ♡
Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions on the schedule post (vol. 1 part 1, vol. 1 part 2, vol. 2), or via the !readalong tag.
This week's chapters:
- Chapter 3: Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng write a report about their hospital investigation. The concept of karmic lines and merit marks is explained. It turns out that Guo Changcheng can see merit marks, unlike most people, and he has unusually many merits himself. Drunk and heartbroken Zhao Yunlan stumbles into the office and throws up in the bathroom. The SID team supports him (some more than others), and Chu Shuzhi calls Shen Wei to pick Zhao Yunlan up. Shen Wei shows up immediately.
- Chapter 4: Zhao Yunlan is embarrassed and pretends to be asleep while Shen Wei takes care of him. Shen Wei steals a kiss and gets kissed back. Zhao Yunlan tells Shen Wei about the house he bought for both of them, and offers his heart the way he already did in the past. Shen Wei accepts, is overwhelmed with emotions and bites his own writst. They do 'literal sleeping together'. In the morning Zhao Yunlan makes some truly creatively flavored noodles, and gets called to go to the hospital - there are more victims.
The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are 48, 49 and 50.
Excerpts:
( 1) Karmic lines and merit marks explained )
( 2) Chu Shuzhi calls Shen Wei )
( 3) Shen Wei steals a kiss and gets kissed back )
( 4) Zhao Yunlan bought a house for Shen Wei )
( 5) Zhao Yunlan offers his heart, Shen Wei bites his own wrist )
( 6) Zhao Yunlan's noodles! )
Questions:
How do you like everyone's different ways of supporting Zhao Yunlan in his heartbreak? What do you think about Guo Changcheng's merits and view of his own life? And what are all your Weilan feelings? (Or some of them - all is a lot when it comes to these chapters!) And most importantly, would you eat Zhao Yunlan's noodles, and which flavor would be your favorite? :D
You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, or just comment without answering any of them at all! And if you see this post and you're not actually reading the novel: Hi there, I voraciously want to know what you think about any of this with limited context!
And here is the schedule, and that's where you can sign up to host a post! (This was my first time hosting and it's really fun, FWIW! :))