Yeah, the dream arc is a very good one for Chu Shuzhi's relationship to Guo Changcheng content. His reaction in this episode really is heartbreaking.

Shadow Dude being on their side was not a twist I saw coming, so well played show to give us a recurring characters who can safely die. Seriously, though, I do like how they show us that Ye Zun hasn't gotten to everyone. This maybe plays out more later in the scene at that palace, but I really like that we see people in Dixing who don't buy into what he's selling.
+1 I like how the Dixingians aren't all cast from the same mold, and can and do have disagreements amongst each other, and in general are treated like people with opinions instead of interchangeable villain pieces.

The conversation on the bench is one of my favorites in the series. The two of them feel settled as partners in it, especially when Zhao Yunlan says there's no way I can rest until you're resting. It's such a good moment between them.
It is! And a final moment of quiet before the storm of the ending.

And it's the fic where usually it's Shen Wei topping Zhao Yunlan, and they both love it, it's great, and then the one time they switch Shen Wei gets pregnant, and yeah.
That would explain novel Shen Wei's neuroses about only ever topping! As for drama Shen Wei, well, I suppose that he's actually an excellent candidate for never getting any species-appropriate sex ed due to circumstances, so he could get very baffled by this surprise mpreg thing Dixingians are apparently capable of? (Complete with despairing Chu Shuzhi facepalming at this n00b mistake.)